The Black Crown (I have an army of monsters)
In a world ruled by power, rules decide who deserves to live.
Ryder McKalliff was nothing special—a shy construction worker with a minor ability, a loving mother, and a sister he swore to protect. But one mistake was enough to brand his family as criminals. In a single night, the system he trusted executed his mother, murdered his sister, and declared him a fugitive.
Hunted by society and abandoned by justice, Ryder awakens a forbidden power—Dark Overlord, an unknown skill that drags him into a ruined world where monsters reign and survival demands blood. There, every kill makes him stronger, every ally bends to his will, and every step pulls him further away from the boy he once was.
When he returns, the world hasn’t changed.
Only he has.
Now living under a false name, Ryder steps into the shadows of underground combat and global tournaments, climbing a hierarchy built on cruelty and spectacle. To tear down the system that took everything from him, he must become something far worse than a victim.
Not a hero.
Not a savior.
But a ruler of darkness.
Because in this world—
only those who break the rules get to rewrite them.
