Chapter 73: THE EXECUTION OF PRESIDENT JAMES

The cold subterranean air inside the ruined Apex Chamber hung completely motionless.

The white-hot molten glass floor had begun to harden into jagged black obsidian, reflecting the ominous golden glow of Renan’s eyes and the erratic violet pulses of the cracked Ancient World Core embedded inside President James’s chest.

The twelve-foot Pseudo-Monarch was pinned on its knees, its severed chitinous wings lying in smoking piles of black ash behind it. Blood—thick, viscous, and saturated with unstable primordial mana—poured continuously from James’s flayed sternum, dripping onto the hardened obsidian floor with a loud, rhythmic hiss.

"R-Renan..." James choked out, his raspy, double-toned voice trembling as the tip of Renan’s dark Monarch blade pressed tighter against the center of the pulsating crystal heart. "Wait... listen to me! I have access to the International Emergency Vault in Geneva! I have the private passcodes to thirty SS-Rank resource stockpiles across Asia and Europe!"

Renan’s expression remained utterly unreadable, a mask of cold, absolute authority. "You spend your final breaths offering me metals and papers that I will take by force regardless."

"I can be your political proxy!" James shrieked in sheer desperation, coughing up thick black gore as the cracks along the Ancient World Core widened, leaking arcs of violent purple lightning across his face. "The World Federation will never recognize a ruler who conquered a nation through blood and shadow! They will brand you a calamity! You need a puppet... you need a face to talk to the global media!"

Renan looked down into James’s terrified crimson eyes with deep, unyielding disdain.

"I do not need a proxy to speak to the world, James," Renan whispered, his layered, double-toned voice reverberating through the cavernous dome like a executioner’s bell. "The world will listen when my shadow army stands upon their borders."

Renan tightened his grip on his dark Monarch blade and drove the tip straight through the center of the Ancient World Core!

[Skill Activated: ’Sovereign’s Core Rupture’]

Target: Ancient World Core (Tier-EX Primordial Artifact)

Action: Forced Vector Overload & Mana Inversion

CRACK-SHATTER!

The heart-shaped crimson crystal, which had powered the Association’s subterranean fortress and stabilized President James’s mutated body, violently exploded into a million glowing purple dust particles!

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" James screamed in utter, agonizing horror as the primordial mana sustaining his mutated flesh was instantly reversed.

The twelve-foot Pseudo-Monarch frame began to shrink rapidly. The chitinous armor plates, extra bone scythes, and dark swollen veins withered away like dry leaves in a furnace. In less than ten seconds, the monstrous beast collapsed back into the broken, frail form of an aging man in ruined armor, lying face-down in his own dark blood on the cold floorboards.

James gasped weakly for air, his vision fading to gray as his lungs filled with blood. He looked up with his one remaining eye, watching Renan’s boots stop right beside his head.

"Your system... is dead, James," Renan said softly, raising his right palm above the dying President’s head as dark violet miasma erupted from his fingertips.

"Curse you... Renan..." James whispered with his final breath, his eyes turning lifeless as his heart gave its final beat.

[Target Neutralized: President James (National Hunter Association)]

[Absolute Extraction System: Processing Soul & Master Strategic Core...]

WHOOOOOOSH!

A massive, violent geyser of pitch-black and violet lightning erupting from James’s corpse, tearing through the ceiling of the Apex Chamber. The dark miasma wrapped tightly around James’s physical body, dissolving his flesh, clothes, and broken armor into fine black dust that swirled wildly in the air.

From the deep shadow pool left on the obsidian floor, a towering, regal shadow figure emerged.

It was clad in heavy, obsidian-and-gold Monarch plate armor, draped in a dark spectral cape that billowed without wind. In its right hand, it held a massive, black spectral scepter topped with a glowing violet orb—the manifestation of the extracted Ancient World Core.

The new Shadow Commander took three slow, heavy steps forward, clanking its black iron boots against the floor, before dropping onto both knees and pressing its forehead against the cold stone at Renan’s feet in fanatical, absolute submission.

[Extraction Successful!]

[New Entity Acquired: Shadow Commander ’James’ (Rank-EX / Master Strategist)]

Special Ability: ’Absolute Administrative Domain’ (Grants full operational control over all human-built networks, security grids, and global communication arrays).

+1,200 Strength

+800 Agility

+1,500 Vitality

+3,500 Mana

[New Permanent Physical Stat Total: 57,000 Points!]

BOOM!

A golden kinetic shockwave exploded outward from Renan’s body as his total physical stats crossed the monumental 57,000-point threshold! Glowing Monarch runes flared visibly across his neck, arms, chest, and face, burning with a blinding, golden light that completely illuminated the vast subterranean dome.

Renan felt his Monarch core expand to a level of density he had never experienced before. His perception stretched beyond the subterranean bunker, sweeping across the entire Capital Sector, sensing every single living soul, every shadow, and every mana flow within a hundred-mile radius.

"Rise, Commander James," Renan ordered smoothly.

"By your absolute will, My Sovereign Monarch," Shadow Commander James replied, its deep, layered voice echoing with absolute loyalty as it stood to its full height, holding its spectral scepter high.

Renan turned toward the high marble balcony where Shadow Commander Vane, Drake, Marcus, and Ignis stood in formation.

"James," Renan commanded, his golden eyes glowing through the lingering dust clouds. "Override the broadcast systems across every television channel, radio frequency, and global news network in the world. Prepare the global broadcast."

"It shall be done in ten seconds, My Monarch," Shadow Commander James bowed, tapping its spectral scepter onto the floor, sending a surge of dark code into the bunker’s central server mainframe.

Renan walked out of the Apex Chamber, stepping onto the central podium as thousands of camera lenses and holographic projectors built into the room flared to life, locking onto his towering figure.