Deciding not to think about it anymore, Steve chose to focus on what he had gained from this entire encounter.
"The Rulers are really desperate, aren't they?" Steve asked.
Even the blind could see it: according to what the Architect had said, both sides had been at war since time immemorial. However, it seemed that this time, the Monarchs were a bit more prepared than the Rulers were.
He hadn't known what it was back then, but now he could clearly tell after coming into contact with Sung Ill-Hwan.
He had met others affected by the Rulers before. The Chairman was one of them, and even that woman—though she was upgraded in a different way.
"What a crude method, but an admirable one," Steve thought.
Both sides sought to draw out their power through human possession, but the Monarchs went further, trying to take complete control of the host's body. The Rulers, however, chose to transfer their power subtly to their hosts, allowing the human to eventually become strong enough to fight even a Monarch on equal ground.
It was an admirable thought, but a foolish one, if you asked Steve. If you can't descend into the human, why give your power away?
"So, what are your plans now?" Judy asked as she turned to him. She didn't fully understand what had just transpired here. Left to her, she would have killed the assassin, whether he was the boy's father or not.
The amount of power she saw within him was enough to create three new Monarchs. As her master had said, it was such a crude work. It seemed that, to make up for their lack of time, the Rulers had simply forced as much power as they could into the man without considering the risks.
This meant that the power wasn't attuned to its wielder, which would require twice, if not three times, the energy to bring him to the level they wanted. To create a Monarch-level being, they had to use three times the energy, and yet her master had let such a surplus go for free.
"Who said I let the surplus go?" Steve suddenly asked.
"Huh?"
"I don't work for free, you know," Steve said as he manifested a small, bright golden orb that lit up the area.
It would have been wicked of him not to take the rest of the energy from the man, especially after conditioning his soul and body to contain it. He had to collect payment in some form—and what better payment than energy equal to that of two Monarchs?
He had never fully absorbed the power of a Monarch before—only fragments released after death—but this was equal to the energy of two different Monarchs. Even he wasn't sure what would happen, but he wasn't eager to find out. So, he quickly split the power in two.
Looking at the two Monarchs before him, Steve divided one half and bestowed it upon them. It wouldn't add much to their power, but even an addition of one to infinity is still an increase.
Since that was done, Steve took his time and prepared himself before finally absorbing the rest of the energy he had taken from Sung Ill-Hwan.