The Author's POV

—Bang! 

Crashing against the trees on the ground, was one of the black-hooded elders. Breaking multiple trees, his body skid on the ground leaving behind a massive trail of destruction. 

"Brother!" 

"Youngest!" 

Accompanying the fall of the black-robed elder were two hoarse voices. It was the two other elders.

Once the dust cleared, the black-robed elder appeared on the ground passed out. Compared to before, the aura revolving around him was extremely faint, indicating that he had been severely injured. 

"Kill this bitch. We can't let her live after what she's done!" 

Staring at their brother, the two elders looked at each other with rage clouded eyes. However, even though they said those words, neither moved. The frightening power that Monica had displayed to the both of them, had left lingering feelings of fear inside of their minds. 

To make matters worse, now that their brother was gone, their power had halved. Even then, their indecisiveness didn't last for long as their aura skyrocketed. 

Staring at them from the corner of her eyes, Monica's orange eyes blazed brightly. Turning her head to get a better look and observing them from her position, she could tell that they were on their last struggle. One more move from her, and they were done for. 

This was to be expected though. For the past five minutes, they had been going at each other non-stop, repeatedly releasing their most powerful moves whenever they could. In those exchanges, Monica had managed to gain the upper hand almost every single time. Now that one of their brothers was gone, the fight was as good as done. 

"Haa..."

That being said, Monica was also not in optimal condition. Even though her injuries were far lighter than the three elders, her stamina wasn't. She estimated that within ten minutes, her mana and stamina would deplete completely. 

She had to ends things quickly. 

Raising her sword in the air, the mana within her body surged like a torrent of water as the hue around her expanded rapidly. From below, it looked as though a sunset had appeared from behind her.

She looked absolutely majestic. 

WAAAAAANG—!

As Monica was preparing herself to finish the two remaining elders in the air, on the ground, a terrifying beam of light shot towards a massive black tangible shield that radiated massives amounts of mana.

Like a shooting star, wherever the beam passed, nothing but the devastation was left behind as it scorched everything within its vicinity. 

BOOOOM—!

Finally, the beam collided against the shield, and a powerful shockwave spread across the area resulting in a massive crater being created as dust enveloped the area. 

Once the dust from the collusion cleared up, in the middle of the crater there was only one area that remained unaffected.  Standing in the middle of it, on top of a small structure, was Amon whose arms were crossed in a perpendicular manner. Levitating a couple of meters in front of him was the black shield. 

Pushing the shield away from him, Amon provocatively looked at Tasos and mocked. 

"You think that this kind of attack can hurt me?" 

"Hmm, not really."

Tasos tightly held onto the rapier in his hand.

A rare trace of solemness flashed across his eyes, as his gaze never left Amon who was standing opposite to him.

"To be honest, I thought that I would've at least been able to scratch your shield, I guess your nickname is not for nothing." 

Although he had known about Amon's capabilities for a long time, experiencing them for the first time, he couldn't help but feel like people had undersold just how strong his defense was. It was much sturdier than he had expected. 

It was so strong that, not even a full-powered normal attack from him left a scratch on it. It was extremely sturdy. 

Finally realizing just how tough Amon's defense was, Tasos wasn't disheartened. Closing his eyes, he let out a long breath. 

Suddenly the mana within his body surged out in all directions. After which, slowly, it started converging towards the rapier in his hand.

SHIIIIIING!

A bright and powerful glow materialized on the rapier until it slowly started elongating. Sharp, threads of mana shot in all directions, causing some distortions to appear in the air. 

"I'm ready." After a while, Tasos looked at Amon and raised the rapier in the air. "Let's see if you can tak—" 

BAAAM—! BAAAM—!

Cutting Tasos off just when he was prepared to unleash his attack, two black silhouettes crashed near him. Glancing towards where the silhouettes crashed, Tasos's brows knit.

Once the dust cleared up, and the features of the silhouettes became clear, a trace of disdain appeared on Tasos's face. 

"...useless." 

It was the two brothers. 

Just like their other brother, they had been defeated by Monica. 

Raising his head, Tasos stared at Monica who was looking back at him from the air. 

At the moment, her complexion was fairly pale, and the orange glow around her had diminished considerably. Even then, her mana was slowly showing signs of recovery. She had most likely consumed a high leveled potions. 

"Monica, get behind me," Amon shouted from below. "I'll protect you while you recover your mana. I've already contacted the others and told them to retreat." 

"...Alright." 

Monica nodded her head after a short pause. She wasn't mad about Amon decided to retreat. In fact, she was all in for it. 

The moment Tasos betrayed them, it became clear to her that the operation had failed. Amon's instructions and actions were the appropriate ones given the circumstances. In order to minimize the losses, it was best to end the operation now and go back to the Union. 

She had faith in Amon's defensive capabilities. As long as he was here, she didn't have to worry about Tasos. 

Therefore, descending from the sky, she made her way towards Amons. 

"What do you think you're doing!" 

However, just as she was about to arrive next to Amon, Tasos's enraged shout rang from the distance. Following this, a tremendous light blue beam appeared in front of her vision, slowly enlargening with every second that passed. 

"Hmph, not on my watch." 

The first one to react to the attack was Amon, who stomped his foot on the ground as a green glow flashed underneath his feet. After which, he disappeared from where he was standing as a thunderous roar rang out.

BOOOOM—!

Appearing right in front of Monica with his shield in front of him, the beam of light ruthlessly smashed against the shield, sending shockwaves everywhere. Successfully blocking Tasos's attack, instead of being happy, Amon's brows furrowed tightly. 

Turning his head right, and looking upwards, Amon's stern eyes swept around as a chill flashed across them. 

"Come out!" He roared. "I know that you're here. Come out!" 

"What?" 

Being next to Amon, Monica was obviously confused as she felt nothing. However, this later changed when.

"Oh? As expected of one of the seven heads of the Union. It truly is hard to hide from your senses." 

Startling everyone, a vast and mighty voice resounded over the sky before finally spreading all over like furious rolling-thunder. It reverberated beside the ears of a countless number of people, breaking the eardrums of some. 

Then, like an immortal from the novels, a gray-robed old man whose origins seemed to be Asian, appeared in the sky. With his white hair cascading down on his back, and long grey beard, the old man's presence completely enveloped the surroundings. 

"——!"

Upon spotting the old man, Monica's and Amon's eyes opened widely as they exchanged glances with each other. The grip of their weapons tightened. 

Not looking at the two, briefly glancing at the three black-hooded elders on the ground, a slightly disappointed look flashed across the old man's eyes. 

"Haizz, I really thought that they would've been enough."

He muttered in a tone loud enough for everyone to hear. Then, taking his eyes off of the bodies of the three elders, his eyes paused on Tasos.

  A faint smile appeared on his lips. 

"It's been a while since we last saw each other, how have you been?" 

Staring at the old man in the sky, Tasos lowered his rapier. Smiling, he bent down slightly. 

"Never been greater, Vice-leader." 

***

"This..." 

Gazing at the scene from below, sweat trickled down my forehead.

The pressure radiating from the people in the distance made me involuntarily swallow a mouthful of my saliva.

However, this was only before the elder suddenly appeared in the sky.

Upon his arrival, my throat instantly became dry and breathing started to become difficult. The back of my hair stood, and I involuntarily took a step back. 

"...What is this pressure?" 

Snapping out of it, I looked towards the elder in the distance with a newfound trace of fear. 

Just the pressure coming from him made me feel as though a heavy train was loaded over my shoulders, and this was considering the fact that he was quite far from where I was. Had I been standing next to him, chances were that my body would've long been pulverized. 

Just the thought sent shivers down my spine. 

"An old man with grey clothes in the Monolith, who is he?"

The gears inside of my mind started turning as I tried my best to recognize who the old man was. Because barely anyone knew what the executives of the Monolith looked like, there were no images of them anywhere. 

'Old man, grey clothes, Asian origin, unfathomable strength—ah!'

As I was thinking, it was then that it suddenly hit me. 

In the novel, there was only one person that matched the descriptions of the old man in the distance.

Mo Jiahao, the Vice-leader of the Monolith, ranked 2 in the villain ranking, and a <SS+> ranked villain. 

"It can only be him." 

The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced I was about the identity of the old man. 

Unlike the Union where there were seven heads, the Monolith operated differently.

They had one leader, one vice-leaders, and four elders, each ranked based on individual strength and following. 

'That aside, if he's here...'

"Shit!" 

Pausing mid-thought a curse escaped from my lips as I stared at Monica and Amon in the distance.

If the Vice-leader had shown up, then they were in extreme danger.

'No, no, no, this can't be happening' Pacing around the room with my hand on my chin, I started pondering about the situation. 'Mo Jiahao's rank is <SS+>, whilst Monica's and Amon's are <S+> and <SS> respectively. Added with the fact that the Tasos is here as well, and his strength is <SS->...they stand no chance.' 

The more I thought about the situation, the more I realized how severe it was. 

Simply put, Monica and Amon were about to die. 

"No, they can't die." 

They couldn't die, not because they would play a role in the future when fighting against the demon king, but because their death would bring total disaster upon the human domain.

Their death would literally sign the death warrant of humanity. 

Although the Union wasn't the most righteous organization out there, they were still the organization that shielded humans from the other races and villains. If anything happened to them, then humanity would be doomed. 

Therefore, if the Union lost Monica, a future <SS> ranked, and Amon, an already established <SS> rank, then it would deal a devastating blow on humanity as a whole. 

Without them, the demons and the Monolith might take advantage of the situation and directly attack the Union. With two of their key members missing, dealing with the Union wouldn't be as much of a problem as it was before. This would unquestionably lead to a tragedy. 

"Damn it, just when I was so close to escaping." 

I cursed out loud as I stared at the portal in front of me that was slowly forming. There was only a minute left till the portal formed, and freedom had never been so close. 

But, I knew that this was no longer an option.

If the Monolith truly did manage to kill both Amon and Monica, even if I managed to escape, within 9 years the whole world would end up being destroyed.

'Do I really have no choice?'

Staring into the distance, and seeing Monica and Amon struggling, I clenched my teeth. 

"Aahh, fuck!" A cursed out loud. "Let me catch a break for once!" 

Pouring out all my resentment at the portal, I turned around and dashed out of the room. 

Even though I didn't want to, I had no choice.

Monica's and Amon's death signified the downfall of humanity as the enemies would definitely take advantage of the situation, and even if humanity somehow managed to survive that ordeal, by the time they recovered to what they were, the third cataclysm would descend. 

"Haa..haa...should be this way?" 

Running through the narrow corridors of the room, checking the map on my watch, I quickly followed it and headed for the general portals. 

As I was running, glancing towards the distance one last time, biting my lips hard until blood trickled down by the side, the gears of my mind turned at unbelievable speeds. 

Slowly a plan started formulating inside of my mind.