In Zyx's small room in a small Korean town near Seoul, the soft glow of the moonlight that filtered in painted the worn wooden floor in shades of silver. As he lay on the borrowed bed, the sudden warmth of Jihye's home stood in stark, almost painful contrast to the icy fear that was settling deep in his chest. Two months had passed since Luis's death and two months since his own fall from the sky. That meant the Ascension Royale was hurtling towards its three-month mark, the grim threshold when the Diamond-Class monsters would begin their dreadful ascendance across every continent—each one, if the old divine whispers were true, capable of devouring entire landmasses. He had to prepare. Not for divine approval, but for the fragile, kind humans like Jihye and Min-jun who deserved saving. He needed to become a bulwark, a strength beyond what even the gods imagined.
He slipped from the bed, the familiar ache in his newly human body a dull, constant thrum, a reminder of his utter frailty. He brought up his system tab, the ethereal screen shimmering before him in the moonlight. He scrolled through blueprints, from flimsy Scrap Tier trinkets to the elusive Celestial Gear. The Curse Mark was a double-edged sword: it slashed costs by a staggering 99.9%, making even a Divine Artifact theoretically within reach. But it was a cruel jest. Any item he, Zyx, wore or used directly would have its stats similarly crippled, reduced by that same crushing 99.9%. A weapon for nothing, that did nothing. He needed a loophole.
"Useless," he muttered, running a phantom hand through his suddenly heavy, human hair. He required an extension, a vessel that avoided the curse's pernicious hold on his newly discovered mortality, rather than him exercising the power.
Then a bright, sharp idea pierced the darkness of his mind. Exo-suits. Mechs. Luis had spoken with such passion about "Iron Man," about formidable external suits. Luis had been an Engineer, the creator. What if he didn't just wear a suit as a mere second skin, but instead, piloted it? A separate entity, a living weapon, a robot that followed his every command, untouched by the divine blight that clung to him. A robot wouldn't suffer from a god's curse. It would simply be.
He closed his eyes, channeling what remained of his divine insight, focusing it, melding it with the fragments of Engineer knowledge he'd inherited from Luis. He pictured it, piece by gleaming piece: a sentient exo-mech, light-years beyond Luis's rudimentary EXO-MASKED design. This wouldn't just be armor; it would be a true Iron Man suit, a mobile fortress. He poured every wild sci-fi dream Luis had ever harbored, every whispered thought of ultimate power, into the raw blueprint taking shape in his mind.
The system tab shimmered, transforming. The monstrous specifications of his ultimate weapon glowed before him:
[INFINITE CONSTRUCT: AEGIS PRIME (Mk. I)]
TYPE: Sentient Exo-Mechanized Combat Platform (Pilot Required)
HP: 1,000,000
ATTACK: 10,000
DEFENSE: 10,000
RESISTANCE: 10,000
MOVEMENT SPEED: 10,000 m/s
[SPECIAL ABILITIES]
Celestial Phasing: Allows for silent, high-speed atmospheric flight and limited, short-burst teleportation (0.5s cooldown).
Graviton Pulse: Emits a localized gravity wave, repelling or crushing targets within 50m.
Adaptive Plating: Automatically reconfigures armor composition to resist dominant incoming damage type (3s activation).
Arc Reactor Barrage: Unleashes concentrated energy beams from chest and palms, capable of incinerating targets.
COST: 5,000,000 Soul Essence (Reduced to 5,000 Soul Essence by Curse Mark.)
Five thousand Soul Essence. Exactly what he possessed. This was no coincidence. It was destiny, Luis's legacy, a silent promise of protection. Without a moment's hesitation, Zyx tapped "Create."
His last five thousand Soul Essence disappeared, melting into a glistening whirlpool of black energy that crackled softly. An exo-suit made of smooth, matte black metal that appeared to absorb the moonlight and had a blank surface appeared in its place. It radiated a cold, lethal power from its aggressive, sharp lines. It was undeniably similar in silhouette to Luis's EXO-MASKED, yet felt a thousand times more potent, more alive. Zyx felt a surge of unanticipated emotion—a deep, heartbreaking sadness for Luis, who had longed for such strength but was now only a sour recollection, and an odd, ferocious pride for the dream they had unwittingly shared.
His muscles protested with each step as he approached it, his new human body still weak, but his eyes were hardened by a fierce resolve. He extended a quivering hand and touched the black metal's cool, smooth surface. It was real, solid, and frightening.
In the quiet room came a clear, synthetic, low, resonant voice. "HELLO, MASTER. HOW CAN I SERVE YOU?"
"Cover me," Zyx commanded, his own voice sounding small, almost lost within the vastness of the suit's presence.
The Aegis Prime responded instantly. Its chest plate smoothly parted, articulated segments shifting with a soft, internal hum. Zyx stepped inside, the black metal closing around him with a barely audible sigh, enveloping him in cool, solid power. The plates reconnected, sealing him within its immense strength.
He lifted an arm within the suit, a simple motion that now felt imbued with impossible force. He brought up his system tab. As usual, the Curse Mark, a pitiful string of zeroes, crippled his personal stats. However, the Aegis Prime's stats, which were 1,000,000 HP and 10,000 Attack, remained unaltered and shone brilliantly. The loophole held. This was it.
"Follow and mimic my every movement," Zyx ordered. He felt the suit respond, becoming an extension of his very will. Every motion, even within his frail human body, felt utterly weightless, perfectly translated into the Aegis Prime's immense strength. He took a step, then another, the metallic footfalls silent on the wooden floor. He needed to try this outside.
He walked to the window, the suit moving with him in fluid synchronicity. With a thought, the Aegis Prime activated its Celestial Phasing ability, causing its back thrusters to flare silently and powerfully. A dark silhouette against the moon, he rose into the cool night air and floated out. From a host's recollection, the suit moved with terrifying speed—faster than the fastest jet he had ever seen—a blur rising into the star-dusted sky. The ground receded in an instant, the small town near Seoul shrinking to a cluster of distant, twinkling lights.
He flew towards the desolate peaks of a mountain range west of Seoul. Here, there was only raw rock and untamed wilderness, far from human eyes. Time to truly test the Aegis Prime.
The suit's internal dampeners absorbed the impact as he fell to the ground, barely trembling. Attracted by his sudden appearance, a group of Silver-Class monsters—grotesque, chitinous creatures with razor-sharp claws and eyes that glowed with malevolent hunger—came out of the shadows. With a chorus of guttural challenges, they roared.
Zyx felt a surge of cold fury, a primal urge for retribution. This was for Luis. This was for every lost, terrified human.
He held up his hand, and the Aegis Prime mimicked the motion, its palm glowing dimly. The suit's low, ominous voice declared, "ARMATUS: ARC REACTOR ENGAGED." Slicing through the cool night air, the Aegis Prime's palms released twin beams of pure, searing white energy. With suicidal abandon, the hulking brute that was the lead monster roared and charged. It was hit squarely by the beams. The energy was not even slowed by its thick carapace; the creature exploded in a shower of steaming gore, with shattered chitin and chunks of pulverized meat flying in all directions.
He moved through the pack, a silent black phantom. He didn't even need the energy beams. With a thought, the suit's fists clenched. He lunged, the Aegis Prime moving with impossible speed. His fist connected with the side of another Silver-Class monster's head. The impact was sickeningly satisfying – the creature's skull imploded, its body bursting into a messy spray of blood and pulverized flesh. Another monster lunged, claws extended, but the Aegis Prime simply backhanded it. The force was immense; the monster's torso caved in, its insides rupturing, sending fragments of bone and muscle flying in all directions.
Graviton Pulse, a silent surge of crushing force radiating outward from the suit, was activated by him. Other creatures, trapped within the invisible radius, let out shrieks as their bodies were compressed, causing their forms to twist and contort before collapsing into crimson, wet puddles.
A faint, nearly undetectable change in texture, the Adaptive Plating hummed as it adapted to the acidic spit of a winged creature and then hardened against the blunt, concussive impact of a massive, armored worm. The surface was not even touched by anything they threw at him. He was a silent, lethal tornado, a force of nature.
The Adaptive Plating hummed, a subtle, almost imperceptible change in texture, as it hardened against the blunt, concussive impact of a huge, armored worm and then adjusted to the acidic spit of a winged creature. Nothing they threw at him even touched the surface. He was a natural force, a silent, deadly tornado. Caves became charnel houses, their depths cleared of monstrous life. When he finally stopped, hovering high above the devastated landscape, his system tab shimmered.
[SOUL ESSENCE: 100,000]
A hundred thousand. In one hour. He was speechless. The raw, terrifying power he wielded was beyond anything he had ever conceived for a mortal. It was an echoing, divine might, warped and amplified by his curse.
He flew back to Jihye's house in the sleepy Korean town as the sky was painted with the first light of dawn. Silently, he landed outside and, with a thought, shrank the enormous suit and put it back in the drawer like a folded coat.
The morning smell of breakfast filled his new human nostrils as he walked down, and the sound of pans clattering and the soft whispers of Jihye and Min-jun were a welcome relief from the carnage of the previous night. On the tiny TV, they were watching the news while seated at the small table.
Without taking her eyes off the screen, Jihye said kindly, "Oh, you're awake, come, let's eat."
On the Television, a blurry, shaky clip played – a dark, human-like figure streaking across the night sky near the mountain range west of Seoul. The news anchor spoke with a breathless urgency about an unknown flying entity, a potential Golden-Monster level threat sighted over the Korean peninsula, sending shivers down the spines of the reporters. The whole country was on alert.
"Can you believe it, Mr. Zyx?" Jihye murmured, shaking her head, her face etched with a mix of fear and wonder. "So scary. Another monster, so fast, so powerful."
Zyx simply picked up his spoon and nodded. He forced a calm he didn't feel and said, "Yes." He considered Luis, her husband. He considered Aerion ( HI-MONSTER Golden-Class entity) "Very scary." He concealed his actual feelings, the terrifying but oddly empowering secret of his newfound strength a fiercely guarded flame in his human heart. He simply ate, allowing the basic solace of Jihye's attention to envelope him, a tenuous warmth against the impending, unavoidable storm.
In the meantime, Jhin Won, Level 32, stood amid a scene of complete destruction hundreds of kilometers north in the rocky, scarred mountains west of Seoul. As far as the eye could see, the earth was pocked with deep, new craters. The ground was roiling as though by some enormous, invisible hand, and trees were broken, their powerful trunks reduced to kindling. It wasn't just monsters who did this. This was a completely different matter.
"What do you think did this, Eoduin?" Jhin Won whispered softly, speaking to his patron deity, the Pale Moon of the Forgotten Night, who was invisible. He appeared as a sharp silhouette against the devastated ground, his black armor seemingly absorbing the dim light.
Eoduin's voice, calm and smooth, echoed directly into his mind. "This damage, Jhin, it is far too extensive for a mere Golden-Class Monster to inflict. And it is not yet three months into the Royale; the Diamond-Class beasts are not meant to walk the world's surface yet. No, the only logical explanation… it must be the anomaly witnessed in the reports from last night. The flying entity."
"So, a Host?" Jhin Won's eyes, sharp as a hunter's, narrowed slightly.
"It is not impossible," Eoduin conceded. "But consider, Jhin: within the Korea's Force of Hosts organization, you currently stand at the top. You lead our organization. I am not aware of any Host in this nation, or indeed, on this continent, capable of such widespread, utterly overwhelming destruction. The most probable explanation… is an appearance of a HI-MONSTER Golden-Class entity. One that moves and behaves like no other."
They stood there, the stillness profound, staring at the incomprehensible damage. Jhin Won's mind raced, categorizing, analyzing. What power could possibly cause this? And if it was a HI-MONSTER, why did its signature not register on his divine senses? The implications were chilling.