Takeshi's breath caught in his throat. The parchment shimmered with golden ink, and the name burned beneath his eyes: Takeshi Mori.
Elira stepped beside him. "What does it say?"
He hesitated. "It says... I'm the True Monster King."
The silence that followed was heavy. Even Sir Haiku dropped his poetic silence.
"That… complicates things," Fyria said, flickering nervously.
Saphira's voice echoed from the shrine walls. "The title does not define your destiny—it reveals your origin. Long ago, the soul of the Monster King was fragmented, sealed across generations. The final piece—your piece—has awakened."
"I didn't ask for this," Takeshi muttered, fists clenched. "I'm just a nerd who died by truck."
"But you are also the boy who healed the broken," Saphira said. "The one who tames not with control, but with compassion. Perhaps that is what the world truly needs in its king."
A choice lay before him.
To claim the Codex fully meant unlocking his latent powers—and drawing the attention of every force in the world, ally or enemy. To reject it meant facing the False King unarmed.
He took the page.
The shrine shook.
A spectral crown floated above his head, then shattered into a thousand lights that flowed into him.
He was no longer just the Bondforger.
He was the Heir of the First Bond.