Shadow Monarch in DC-Chapter 81: World of Tyrants

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Cadmus walls crumbled. Lights flickered. The entire facility groaned like it was holding back the apocalypse.

Then... they came.

A low rumble, like distant thunder across the battlefield.

The sound of something unnatural... ancient... inevitable.

From the shadows, they emerged, Arthur's Shadow Demons.

Blackened armor. Glowing eyes. Some of them tall as titans. Silent as death.

Their presence turned the air cold, reality itself seemed to bend around their ethereal forms.

Kara took a sharp step back, eyes wide. "No way..."

Batman's cape fluttered as he narrowed his eyes, analyzing instantly.

Flash blinked. "Uh, did we accidentally open the door to hell or...?"

Green Arrow raised his bow on instinct. "Okay. Can we all agree these things look like the end credits of a horror movie?"

Black Canary took a defensive stance. "They're not attacking..."

Kara's comms clicked again

Jason Todd's voice came through.

"Well, since his magic, or whatever these things are, is still walking around like nothing happened... I don't think he's dead."

He paused, then added with a bit of dry sarcasm

"Anyway, I'm out. Not really in the mood for a heart-to-heart with Bruce. Peace."

Comm disconnected.

Kara stared at the soldiers, her jaw tightening. "I didn't see their bodies... so maybe... he's right."

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She walked forward slowly, cautiously, eyes locked onto the one leading the pack. Its armor was different. Taller. More jagged. A veteran from Arthur's inner circle.

She stopped just short, voice calm but demanding:

"Where is your master?"

The shadow knight said nothing.

Nothing.

It simply tilted its head... then turned.

Without a word, the shadows, all of them, marched away. Moving like a river of death.

Kara clenched her fists, biting back emotion.

Green Arrow exhaled. "Why do they look like they are answering a call... Like dogs heading back to their master.."

****

Batman stood tall, the glow of the Shadow Soldiers long faded. His cape fluttered behind him He scanned the wreckage, calculating. Cold. Sharp. Focused.

"We've wasted too much time here," he said finally, his voice cutting through the silence. "Flash, go. Head to the Command Center, fast. Sweep it. Make sure there's no one left who can throw something else at us, Amanda Waller and the scientists there, all of them should be still in here."

Flash gave a nod, stretching his neck. "Got it, Bats. Let's wrap this up before someone decides to hit the reset button or something."

In a blink, he was gone, lightning trailing in his wake.

Batman turned toward Kara. His tone didn't waver, but there was a weight to it. "You should go home."

Kara didn't look at him. Her gaze was locked on the cracked floor beneath her boots, her fists were trembling... not from fear, but from restraint.

Batman paused for a second, as if to say more, but didn't. He walked away.

Kara stood there alone, surrounded by the ruins of everything Cadmus had tried to control of everything they lost.

Her voice was quiet.

But it hit like thunder.

"He better be alive."

****

??? -

Arthur stood, burned clothes clinging to his frame, but his posture was as strong as ever. At his side, Shadow Galatea knelt, awaiting orders, her eyes glowing, hair fluttering in the breeze like a phantom of the storm.

Arthur didn't look at her when he spoke, just kept his gaze fixed on the endless horizon.

"Listen up. This'll be your first mission."

He turned slightly, voice steady. "Fly, pick any direction. Doesn't matter. Find the nearest city, the nearest signs of civilization. Do not reveal yourself to anyone. You're fast enough to dodge anything they throw at you. I want information, where the hell are we."

Galatea raised her head slightly, hand to her heart.

"At once... my King."

And with that, she was gone, a streak of blackened shadow cutting through the sky like a bullet.

Arthur exhaled and sat on a moss-covered rock.

He looked over to the side, where Shadow Lex Luthor stood, stoic and silent.

"Well then," Arthur muttered, cracking a branch off a nearby tree and tossing it toward the shade. "Since you can't speak... here. Take this."

Lex caught the stick in a smooth, eerie motion, almost too human for a shadow.

Arthur narrowed his eyes. "Explain to me what that machine was. Why it felt like my damn soul got ripped through ten layers of hell."

Without hesitation, Shadow Lex knelt, and began to drag the stick across the dirt.

First, a rough circle.

Then another.

Then another.

Soon, a line of orbs, each detailed slightly differently, land masses, cloud swirls, jagged magnetic fields. Each one a distinct Earth.

Above them all... a crude sketch of a machine. Like a dome with jagged teeth, intersecting rings pulsing around it like some apocalyptic gyroscope.

Lex tapped the drawing. Then the machine. Then Arthur.

Arthur stared in silence. His jaw clenched.

"...So my theory was right," he muttered. "This is an alternate reality. Another Earth... and we were the test subjects or at least me and Galatea were, till i dragged you along with me.."

He stood slowly, glancing at the sky above the trees.

"Tell me..." he asked, eyes still fixed skyward, "can you get us out of here?"

Shadow Lex turned...

And shook his head.

Once.

Arthur sighed, his breath heavy with frustration.

"Shit."

But then his eyes lit up with that cold, calculating spark.

"...At least I can find this world's Lex," he said with a grim smirk.

"Some version of him's out there, same ego, same obsession with winning, same brains."

He turned, eyes locked on the fading trail Galatea had left behind.

"Maybe he can get me the hell out of here."

"And if he doesn't..."

He cracked his knuckles.

"I'll make him."

Arthur exhaled and raised his hand.

A familiar dark-blue System Interface bloomed into existence before his eyes floating, semi-transparent, and laced with that eerie, digital whisper of power.

[System Alert]

You have slain: Galatea – Cadmus Bio-Weapon (Kryptonian-Class)

Processing Rewards...

Item Gained: Solar Gauntlets

Type: Kryptonian-Infused Melee Gauntlets

Effect:

• +50% Strength in direct sunlight.

• Ignores Armor.

• Charges with solar energy to unleash a Solar Pulse.

Arthur raised a brow, swiping the gauntlets into his inventory with a smirk.

"Sun-charged power gauntlets?"

He rolled his wrist.

"...Kind of weaker than my Doomsday bone ones, but they've got their charm."

[New Title Acquired: "Solar Reaper"]

Effect:

• +50% Damage in Sunlight

• -20% Damage Taken from Energy Attacks

You hunted a daughter of the sun. Now, the light answers to you.

Arthur chuckled. Dark. Low. Sharp.

"I see a pattern here..."

Then he brought up his Status bar with a simple command.

[Status Bar]

[Name:] Arthur Blackwynd

[Job:] Necromancer → Shadow Monarch

[Title:] Solar Reaper

[Level:] 99 → 100

[Fatigue:] 75

[HP:] 1900 / 7800

[MP:] 4900 / 9300

[Strength:] 200 → 201

[Health:] 161 → 165

[Agility:] 169 → 170

[Intelligence:] 191 → 192

[Sense:] 140 → 141

[Available Ability Points:] 3 → 0

[Passive Skill:]

• Tenacity (Level 1)

• Insanity's Gambit (Immunity to Mind Control, Fear, and Sanity-Based Debuffs)

[Job-Specific Skills:]

• Shadow Extraction

• Shadow Exchange

• Monarch's Domain

[Skills:]

• Bloodlust (Level 2)

• Ruler's Authority

• Mutilation

• Sword Rush

[Equipment:]

• Omega-Hardened Hide

• Abyssforged Necklace

[Inventory:]

• Doomsday's Bone Gauntlets

• Abyssforged Necklace

• Azarath Knight Armor Set

• Greatsword of the Lowborn

• Promethium Sword

• Anti-Kryptonian Blood Vial (Epic)

• Shattered Bolt

• Demon King Longsword

• Kryptonite Sword

• Solar Gauntlets

• Tower of Fate Key

• Legacy Shadow Legion Dungeon Key

Arthur stared at the screen for a long moment, the light flickering across his tired but determined face.

"...Level 100," he muttered, "and now a full-fledged Shadow Monarch."

He let out a breathless laugh, not from joy, but from sheer anticipation.

"But not really... I'm still nowhere near the peak..."

He dismissed the screen, eyes now glowing with that deadly blue hue as his shadow twitched at his feet alive, hungry.

"I'm far from the real thing," he murmured to himself. "I can get so much stronger than this."

****

Galatea came back swiftly, her dark appearance cutting through the air like an avenging specter. She landed with a quiet grace, kneeling before her king, her expression cold but loyal.

"I found a city, my king," Galatea spoke, her voice low but steady.

"Blüdhaven. East of here. Not that far."

Arthur's gaze shifted toward the horizon."Good. This means we are in a familiar place." Arthur nodded, his voice a smooth, controlled growl.

Galatea's tone didn't waver, but there was an undercurrent of caution. "I'm afraid not, my king."

Arthur's brow raised, his silence now a command. A small, imperceptible shift in his stance, a readiness to hear the truth.

"The city is called 'Blüdhaven,'" she continued, "but it's a corrupted mirror of the one we knew."

Arthur's mind raced, a dozen possibilities spinning in his head as he studied Galatea's cold expression.

"The people I just saw don't live," she went on, her voice clipped, cold, "they endure. Surveillance constructs float above every district. Armed patrols enforce curfews with lethal efficiency. I stayed away, just like you commanded."

Arthur clenched his jaw, the gears turning in his mind. "That sounds awfully familiar."

something about her description felt too close to the life of control and fear. 'The Injustice Earth.' Arthur thought to himself. It reeked of that unyielding tyranny.

"What else did you see?" Arthur's voice was quieter now, but laced with intent. There had to be more to this world. Something to uncover.

Galatea hesitated for only a second, then continued with a brief nod. "Symbols and statues. One that resembles Superman."

"Shit, it's Injustice earth isn't it... now anyone that does a minor crime they are basically playing with their lives.." Arthur sighed.

Galatea's eyes flickered with understanding, but then she corrected him "On the contrary my king, I saw chaos. Crimes being committed, but they did nothing about it."

Arthur froze, his mind grinding to a halt. "Wait a minute..." He turned sharply, his eyes locking onto Galatea's. "What do you mean, they did nothing about it?"

The realization hit him like a thunderclap, his hand moved instinctively to the hilt of his sword, and he began drawing in the dirt, tracing out a shape, like a crude sketch of the symbol that he is familiar with. His fingers etched it with precision, even if the lines were rough: a 'U' with sharp edges.

"Wait a minute..." His voice was softer now, but the intensity was building, a storm gathering. "The symbol ons 'Superman's statue'... does it look like this?" He traced over the 'U' with a steady hand, locking eyes with Galatea.

Galatea's eyes narrowed slightly as she inspected the drawing. She nodded, a fraction of a second too long. "Yes, my king."

Arthur's heart skipped a beat as the full weight of the revelation crashed into him. "Well this is troublesome.. we might have to deal with some sick bastards..." He stood upright, his blood beginning to boil as the realization hit. "That's Ultraman."

/-\

If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Solo leveling in Westeros.

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