Twenty years ago, the world faced extinction.
From beyond the void came beings humanity called Monarchs — entities of pure mana that devoured life to sustain their existence.
Cities fell overnight, nations vanished within days, and humanity's weapons turned to dust against divine power.
But when despair consumed the world, nine heroes rose.
Chosen by fate, bound by will, they fought across continents, uniting humankind for one final war.
Among them were Han Seojin and Lee Mirae — Korea's strongest heroes, wielders of light and steel.
Their final battle took place above the ruins of Seoul, where the Monarch of Oblivion, the oldest and most destructive of his kind, descended.
The sky cracked like glass. Mana storms raged for seven days.
When the light faded, the Monarch's colossal form fell, dissolving into golden motes of energy.
Mirae stood over the fading remnants of a god.
Breathing hard, her sword dripping with light, she whispered,
"You've lost."
The Monarch smiled — a hollow, ancient expression.
"Lost? No, mortal. I am simply… waiting."
His words resonated across the burning sky as his body disintegrated into dust, leaving only a fragment of his core, pulsing faintly amidst the ruin.
"When the Monarch of Calamity returns, he will awaken the others.
When peace blinds you… they will remind you of fear."
The war ended, and the world rejoiced.
To the public, the heroes declared victory — the Monarchs destroyed, the Earth safe, and a new era of peace born.
But behind closed doors, the truth lingered.
The Monarch's words weren't a curse.
They were a prophecy.
The surviving heroes and world leaders knew peace was temporary. The Monarchs might one day return — and when they did, humanity needed to be ready.
To prepare for that unseen future, the heroes founded the World Hero School System — a global network of academies disguised as training grounds for aspiring defenders.
Publicly, they claimed it was to nurture new generations of heroes.
In reality, it was a massive surveillance and selection program — designed to locate individuals with unusual mana signatures, potential successors, or… anomalies.
Individuals like Han Jiwoo.
Years later, Han Seojin and Lee Mirae devoted themselves to researching the fragment of the Monarch's core, seeking to understand the nature of its energy.
After three years of researching, the fragment pulsed one final time — silent, unseen.
And in that moment, within Mirae's womb, an unborn child stirred.
The fragment didn't corrupt him.
It didn't consume him.
It became his power.