A while later...

The lots had been drawn, and the groups had been formed.

Muku and Raya's team got Hope, who was smiling from ear to ear as one would expect from her whenever she gets a chance to cling onto Muku.

The other teams were Layla, Audrey, Freya, and Lisa. Then Chloe, Emily, Elsa, and Jade. No one was against the lineups. Then again, no matter who was where, they were all great.

It's the advantage of everyone being competent.

"Now with that done let's get this over with. We'll meet again after two hours of looking. And stay in touch. If you find anything weird or something along those lines, do not approach alone. Yeah, even if there are four of you, I still consider it "alone" we should all gather together before doing such things" Muku gave his directive.

The girls understood and agreed. They weren't planning on making such rash moves anyway.

After all, like any other expert out there, they were super cautious. It was something that came with strength ironically.

After that, the three groups split and went their own ways.

Four groups would have been better but there weren't enough people for the groups to have a minimum of three people. So instead of spreading them too thin, Muku chose slightly bigger groups.

He felt that he and Raya could do a lot of damage alone, but the girls would probably refuse such an arrangement. After all, they had as much say in his life as he did in theirs. The only reason they usually just went with whatever he said was that he usually considered their reaction before saying anything.

When it's reckless they will speak up and shut him down.

Anyway, as they investigated separately they all reported the same things. Wherever they looked, they saw ruins, skulls... simply destruction.

Even after two hours none of them had seen any living being.

This made them wonder if the beasts had really wiped each other out.

That can't be it. After all, the remains they came across belonged to R8s at most. And from what they knew, R8s weren't even close to being the strongest.

So for now they couldn't come to the conclusion that the beasts had wiped each other out.

As for how they knew the remains were beyond R7 but not beyond R8. Well, it was due to experience.

They had experienced enough in their lives to come to that conclusion simultaneously.

Anyway, they soon gathered back together again.

They could continue their search or speed it up by billions of times, but they chose not to. Being in an unfamiliar land was really restricting, especially one that was clearly war-torn.

It also made them wonder if this was how their world was going to look after the first R7 from the new era appears there.

"So now what?" Jade asked as they all sat on top of a skull.

"Why not follow me to my place?" An unknown voice replied.

She looked behind her and saw an unfamiliar mature lady standing there with a smile on her face.

A chill instantly went down not only hers but everyone else's spines.

The lady had approached without being noticed by any of them.

But that didn't stop them from sprinting into action ready to fight for their lives.

"Awe. So cute. But please don't. Your current strength isn't enough to even make my hair move. And if I wanted to kill you. You would already be dead" The lady spoke with an amused smile on her face.

"Okay. But who are you? It makes no sense to go somewhere we don't know with someone we don't know don't you think?" Muku replied bravely.

While he believed the other party's claim about being much stronger than they were, he refused to show weakness. For it was over the moment you did that in such situations.

"Fufu. What an interesting little human. All of you are interested in fact. Despite knowing that I'm stronger than you by so much it's absurd, none of you are scared. I wonder why that is. Well, whatever, I'm sure I'll find out eventually. For now, let's introduce ourselves. I am Althea... The Monarch of Destruction. You?" The lady spoke with a cute expression on her face as if she didn't just say the most horrifying words ever.

Muku and the girls instantly went pale. All the fight in them disappeared.

How could it not after they finally met a true Monarch so suddenly?

As for why this was their first Monarch. Well, the ones they met before were either souls, newly resurrected, or possessing something. And this lady was definitely in the flesh.

They could barely survive the past Monarchs so what avoid a real one at full power? One that was called the Monarch of Destruction at that.

Anyway, the point here was that they were screwed and they knew it.

In normal cases, they would instantly retreat into the embryo. But they dared not expose it at that moment.

Who knows what the Monarch could do? She was likely way faster than they could retreat. And maybe she would let them retreat and follow them inside. Everything would be over by then.

After all, even if Muku was the absolute being in the embryo, he didn't have enough power to contend against a being like a Monarch. It wasn't even close.

As for the erasing gaze? Bullshit! He couldn't use that anymore. Now he had erasing fists. And there was no way she would let him punch her.

Hell, even if he still had erasing gaze, she could probably dodge it and end him. And from what he was told by Mrs C, using his bloodline power in front of a Monarch was simply seeking death.

So he dared not test that theory. It will just make things worse. After all, it looked like she was in a good mood so death wasn't guaranteed yet. But if he dares to try that, then death will likely be the only ending for them.

"Destruction? I thought it would be Desire, Just, or something along those lines honestly. I mean, you give off that vibe" Muku replied.

He wasn't a bootylicker even if it meant saving his life. And Althea didn't seem like someone who would appreciate a bootylicker anyway.

"Haha. Really? No one has ever said that to me before. How interesting. And you're right. Once upon a time I was just the Monarch of desire, but as an unmarried lady who likes to fight, I figured I might as well kill a few Monarchs and change my title. There were originally 12 Monarchs but after I was done there were only 8. Of course, the posts were taken over by new ones, but you know what I mean. Anyway, you haven't told me your names yet. Isn't it rude after I told you mine not to tell me yours?" Althea replied in a jolly tone.

Her words made Muku's side even paler. They had not only come across a Monarch but one of the stronger ones who seemed to have mental issues too.

After all, she literally killed a few of her colleagues because she was bored and disliked her title.

While there was no hope of escaping before, there wasn't even the thought of hope now.

"You're. Right. I'm Muku, and these are my wives. Audrey...." Muku introduced himself and the girls.

Elsa wanted to ask when she became his wife but knew that it wasn't the time. And strangely enough, she didn't dislike it.

The others just blushed shyly. A few looked at the blushing Hope with questioning gazes but ultimately said nothing.

Raya was the only one who had a look of disgust on her face. She was definitely going to settle scores with Muku later. How are hw lump her in with his girls? Was he worthy of a great being like her? Was anyone worthy? Of course not!

"Oh ho! Looks like we have a player here. But these girls are so cute that I understand. Who would want to leave them to anyone else? But from what I can see, you haven't sealed the deal with a few of them. Why is that?" Althea asked with glowing eyes. Clearly a gossiper.

As for how she, a Monarch knew terms like "player", no one thought of it too much. She had probably studied humans of the past at some point or something like that.

"I know right. I once thought of only taking one but it just didn't sit right with me you know. As for why I haven't sealed the deal with the others. Well, you can't casually do such things. It would be their first time, and you have to get the mood right. It has to be special. After all, it's more about them than it is about me" Muku shamelessly shared.

The girls felt like beating him up on the spot. How dare he so freely expose their private affairs to a stranger like that? So what if she was a Monarch and it was likely to preserve their lives?

They would rather die than be so embarrassed... Then again, they were happy to know that he was so considerate. So maybe he should speak more and they can learn his thoughts... As always, they had mixed feelings and thoughts.

"Is that so?... You know what. Let's go to my place and continue this talk there. I'm sure you're curious about why it's like this here. I'll tell you that too" Althea spoke while looking at Muku in a weird way that felt threatening to the girls for whatever reason.

"Sure. Let's go" Muku readily agreed. It wasn't like refusing was an option anyway.

Besides, if they can make it out alive, they will learn a lot from this encounter.

If they had to encounter a Monarch, he was happy that it was Althea. At least she was willing to speak first.

If it had been Ares, even if they didn't know each other, that bastard would probably start by saying, "Submit or perish" or something like that.

With that said, Althea took everyone away with a wave of her hand...