Zahard

"''Let me ask you something. What am I to you people? I was the first one to climb the Tower. I was the greatest Fisherman in battle. And I pioneered a civilization of mutual understanding among the people of the Tower. But you probably know me best by a different word. The word... "King""

- Zahard to Team Khel Hellam.

Zahard (자하드, "Jahadeu") is the famed "King of the Tower" and the most famous and greatest being residing inside; he is like a god to the inhabitants of the Tower. He is a High Ranker, currently retaining the 3rd spot in the ranking, and the overarching ruler of Zahard's Floors and founder of the Zahard Empire while still conquering the Tower.

Infamous for his prevailing immortality, he has become the prime target of FUG.

After the events of the Hidden Floor, Zahard came out of hibernation and is active once again, making him the highest ranked Active Ranker in the Tower, right above Urek Mazino. Due to his actions, Zahard can be considered the primary antagonist of the series.

History
In ancient times, when there was no civilization in the Tower, Zahard came into the Tower and built his own empire. Zahard conquered the Tower with the Great Warriors and gained the control of the first 134 Floors from the Floor Guardians. It is said he was the first person to form a contract with a Guardian of the Tower. [ 4]. This conquest is known among the Tower's residents as "The Great Journey". He became king through contracts with the Guardians.

On the day Zahard declared himself the King of the Tower he decided to stop climbing, thus hiding the Key of the Tower that would open the door leading to the higher Floors so that no one could go beyond the 134th Floor. It was later revealed that Zahard had split the Key of the Tower into two parts, the first part of which was turned into the 13 Month Series and the second part became melted rings given to Prince of the Red-light District.

There were two forgotten individuals in the history that Zahard created however: Arlen Grace and V. Zahard had been in love with Arlen and asked her to marry him, and was enraged when she refused and, alongside V, rebelled against him. He engaged them and their organization along with others who opposed him in a long war that would be known as the Age of Genesis. Zahard forced Arlen and V into hiding, branding them as fugitives. When he learned Arlen had a child, Zahard furiously tracked them down and killed the child in front of Arlen in what was described as being the most resentful and brutal manner. He would do his best to erase all traces of Arlen and V's existence. In time, Zahard became tired with the long war and decided to give the nations and rebel groups a chance of coexistence by sealing away their own war heroes within massive walls. At some point during this war, learning of Khel Hellam and Hidden Grove's desire to attack him using Khel's power to see fate, Zahard, who could see fate to an even greater extent, already knew everything about Khel's plan. While Khun Hynd Luch betrayed and led Hidden Grove away in exchange for their survival, Zahard allowed Khel to easily push through and confront him, where instead of him being asleep in a floating castle with no guard, Zahard himself was waiting for them at the end of the path. As Khel Hellam's team questioned on his identity, Zahard merely asked what he is to them and after describing himself as the first one to climb the Tower, the greatest Fisherman in battle and the pioneer of a civilization of mutual understanding among the people of the Tower, he revealed his identity by stating that they would definitely know him as King. He ridiculed Khel Hellam's disbelief, contemptuously dismissing his arrogance over his power to just slightly look into destiny and becoming blind to the truth staring right in his face, before he exploded the cliff they were standing on and challenged them to fight him, stating that the moment they fight would allow Khel to see the truth that he is really the King. Although the flashback only showed little more, with Zahard summoning multiple giant golden needles while Khel Hellam was still intent on fighting Zahard only to learn that the Hidden Grove cannot be reached and express horror that it was not the destiny he saw, Zahard easily slaughtered Team Khel Hellam while Po Bidau Lyborick Khun defeated the Hidden Grove. The Hidden Grove was spared but captured while seemingly no one in Khel's team but Khel himself survived and escaped capture. With Zahard having effectively won the war, his Empire became the primary force in the Tower and the Age of Coexistence began.

At some point after this, Zahard was stated to go into some form of hibernation. Even later on, Phantaminum slaughtered his way into Zahard's inner sanctum and apparently encountered the dormant king directly. Nothing is known about this encounter, save that Phantaminum left right after, and was never seen since.

Appearance and Personality
Zahard is extremely tall and muscular for a human. He has golden hair and wears an armor with a long red cape that gives him a strong intimidating outlook. He seems to carry 3 weapons sheathed on his armor. His eyes have golden irides and his pupils are of different colors, his right eye's pupil is blue and his left one is red. He has 2 earrings with the shape of his symbol and what seems to be bands on both sides of his head. In the past, when confronting Khel Hellam's team, he wore a long-flowing red robe with multiple linings and sigils in the back and an earring with the shape of his symbol on at least his left ear. He also appears to carry at least a single weapon sheathed in his outfit during the Age of Genesis.

Not much of Zahard's personality is known. However, despite being well-respected and famous for all his achievements to those who know him, Zahard is known to be a cold and ruthless king. Although he sired the Princesses of Zahard and is known to play favorites with them, he does not consider them truly as his children, as proven by how he is not bothered by how even the ones his favored fought each other to the death and he would not hesitate to punish them for their mistakes. In addition, he even went as far as to create the Ghost of the 13 Month series to kill the princesses who managed to get close just because he had no intention of getting married. His firmness as a king is feared by all to the point that even when his orders could cause chaos to the entire tower, they still carried it out of fear. Kallavan described Zahard as seeing all others but himself and the 10 Family Heads as being completely equal. He does not care about the deaths of a few of his subjects, does not get distracted from the big picture, and is solemn and tranquil. Even towards his companions, Zahard could be aloof and uncaring, as shown by how he influenced his data self into deleting the data of his companions and in the present had no qualms with ordering the elimination of the Po Bidau Family when Gustang betrayed him by stealing an important object from him.

While his data indicated that Zahard once believed that destiny is absolute and even if he doesn't like his fate, he had to go along with it, the current Zahard has become more than willing to defy his destiny, stating that while he once believed that if his fate is to be eternal adventure then he would have to accept it, now that he can control fate on the same level of a god, he seeks to gain complete control over even fate, showing arrogance.

Zahard is calm and disciplined even in the face of handicaps, as displayed by how he remained fully composed even after failing to kill Baam, seeing his data-self working with Eduan despite admitting to being surprised by it and also calmly remarking on the space control skill that allowed Baam to escape from his grasp.

Towards those he dislikes, Zahard is shown to be not only able to be ruthless, but also show cruelty, as he took time to taunt Baam after rendering him at his mercy that he will kill everyone he cared for. He even admitted that he relished the chance of killing the son of the woman who rejected his love. He is also shown to be capable of mocking others, as shown when he mocked his data as a poor thing and fake for not knowing what happens in the future and being set to have a strong adverse reaction and start forgetting the names of those in his past as soon as they were mentioned, taunted Hwang for not only failing to complete his goal to leave the Hidden Floor but instead opening a way for him to enter, and called Khel Hellam a blind fool for believing he could defeat him and know everything just because he could see fate and yet unable to see the truth before him when it failed to live up to his visions.

However, Zahard is not entirely without emotions. He was noted to have fallen greatly in love with Arlen and later said he loved her more than anything. After becoming King, he proposed to her and despite the rejection and her declaring war on him, he allowed her and V to go into hiding after she could no longer attempt any rebellion. He has not moved on from Arlen despite all she had done to him and has no intention of getting married.

It has been hinted that Zahard was once a more noble and better person, as the "God" of guardians noted on how Zahard wished for power to make everyone in the Tower happy and noted he was similar to Baam at first but differed in that he sought to use his power to stand above others to be able to change them. Likewise, the mysterious person who talked to Dowon stated that he wasn't always like the person he is now. In addition, his data stated that his fate is to become King whether he likes it or not, suggesting that Zahard at first did not like his destiny but ultimately accepted it anyway.

About
Zahard is ranked 3rd which seems poor when reflecting his influence and the splendour of the past (he was firmly the No. 1 Ranker before Phantaminum and Enryu appeared). He is the supreme ruler of the Zahard Empire, but because he was inactive—said to be "hibernating"—the Three Lords handled the day-to-day ruling in his stead. He is technically an Irregular but he is not considered to be one by anyone with the exception of the Floor Guardians.

Zahard was resting, leaving the outside activities to his daughters and the Three Lords, but a lot of people expect that the day Zahard is on the move again is the day Zahard Empire expands by another Floor. It's said, after the next shift of the political system, Zahard will be active again and capture the at the very least the 135th Floor.

Of course, more and more people are anticipating the return of Zahard's rumoured 'only son'.

After the events of the Last Station, Zahard became active again, marking him as the current strongest active Ranker in the Tower, just above Urek Mazino. He has also began to issue orders from his Altar and though it is uncertain if he has retaken full command of his Empire, he clearly maintains an unquestionable authority over it, as his three recent orders showed: destroy FUG, Po Bidau Family and kill the Regulars who finished the Hell Train. Despite how complex and perplexing these orders were, none of his subordinates dared challenge it. His recent orders include sending Kallavan and Yasratcha to the Wall of Peaceful Coexistence, using his ability to see fate to correctly predict and bring about the results he desired: Dowon surrendered to Kallavan while Yasratcha's mind control completely countered Khel Hellam's efforts to use the canine people and led to half of the species being slaughtered.

One thing that should be noted is that his chosen Family—the Zahard Family—is the greatest authority in the Tower. Although none of his 'children' are bound to Zahard by blood, he has managed to create and sustain the most powerful and the largest family in the Tower.

Throughout the tower, many people worship Zahard like a god. One of the worshippers believes he is the 'one true king.' An omnipotent and omniscient being.

Zahard Symbol
Zahard and his empire are represented by a symbol known as the "Red Three Eyes" (적색삼안, Jeoksaeksahmahn), which consists of 3 eyes and 3 dots; the eyes are above and the dots are below. A similar symbol consisting of 3 eyes, 3 dots, and a cross, was seen in the cave area where Baam was sealed. However, it's unknown what meaning that symbol carries outside of the Tower or whether Zahard's own symbol has any connection to the one seen in Baam's cave.

{{Scroll Box|height = 450px|content = ==Tower of God: Part 2 - The Hell Train==

The Advent
When Hwang destroyed the scale and stood before the Mirror, the fail-safe Zahard implanted activated and alerted Zahard in the real world. Zahard projects himself there, his mere presence causing great pressure to Baam, Eduan and his data self. He uses a fraction of his power to kill Hwang, after mocking his desire to leave the Hidden Floor, before being dispatched by Urek's Sworn Enemy. As Data Zahard is about to give the bracelet to Baam, Zahard manifests and reclaims it, while asking his younger instance what he was doing. Looking at Baam, Zahard is surprised by the fact that Arlen's son, who he had killed, is alive. When Data Zahard asked on what he said, Zahard mocked him for being unaware but is surprised when Eduan arrived to aid his data self: In the real world, Zahard and Eduan are not on good terms.

Zahard turns his attention back to Baam and relishes the fact that he gets to kill the son of the woman he loved unrequited, and begins slowly choking Baam to death. Zahard taunts Baam with the promise of finding and killing every person Baam has met and sending them to meet him in the afterlife. With Baam completely powerless to fight Zahard due to the vast difference in power between them, having only barely won against Data Zahard. Zahard effortlessly repels the attempts of Eduan and his data self to free Baam before a space-control skill activates to save Baam momentarily. Zahard still has Baam firmly restrained until Eduan used the self-destruct pill to destroy the data world and erase Zahard's digital hand. Zahard questions his data self on why he would aid Baam and, after listening to his data self's wish for Zahard to have another adventure, Zahard reveals that having acquired the sight on the same level as God. Having learned how to play with fate he desires to rule over even destiny. Deciding to show respect of his data self's decision however, Zahard allows Baam to teleport away safely. He takes the bracelet with him so Baam, if he is truly worthy of it, will appear before him again. Gustang uses the treasure eating stingray to steal the bracelet from Zahard, and Zahard realizes quickly that Gustang stole the bracelet.

After this event, Zahard would order the destruction of FUG, and the extermination of all the Regulars who completed the Hell Train, and finally the destruction of Po Bidau Family, as Gustang had proven to be a traitor, leading to the events of Last Station.}}

Powers and Abilities
Zahard is an extraordinarily powerful and skilled warrior and the one and only true and great king of the Tower. Although there are very few people to have seen him in combat directly, Zahard's immense prowess and power are well-known and famous throughout the entire Tower regardless and until the arrival of Phantaminum and Enryu, he was the top Ranker in the Tower. "White Sword" Arie Hon, the strongest of the Great Warriors, had recollected "I have fought Zahard ten times and was always defeated, thereby I became his servant". Khun Hynd Luch believed that even with Hidden Grove working together with Khel Hellam's team, who were among the most powerful fighters FUG had during the age of Genesis, they would stand no chance against Zahard to the point where he went as far as to betray Hidden Grove to save them, after which Zahard single-handedly defeated Khel Hellam's team.

By just investing some of his powers into his daughters, who are not blood-related to him and are selected by a specific set of tests or a specific procedure, alone is sufficient to make them the "ultimate species". At his younger days alone, his power was already tremendous to the point that his data-self was unrivaled as the ruler of the Hidden Floor and he was capable of effortlessly trouncing Baam and the data of Khun Masccheny when she already had acquired his power. He is also stronger than the data self of Khun Eduan, as he himself openly admitted. In his rematch with Baam after his month of training under Eduan, Zahard maintained the upper hand towards the majority of their clash while yet fighting seriously and upon getting serious, despite being initially overwhelmed, he was able to ultimately stalemate Baam using the full power of the Thorn, although he admitted defeat. His current level of power is noted to be dramatically greater to the point his data self noted that the real Zahard can kill both him and data Eduan easily if he wants and he was able to render Baam entirely helpless and would have killed him had he not been teleported out, all the while being noted to be nowhere near full power as it was just a digital version of his true self. According to Urek's sworn enemy, Zahard's data is stronger than himself.

As one of the top Rankers, while his main position may be a Fisherman, with Zahard describing himself as the greatest fisherman, he is also proficient in all other positions and can fit them magnificently well too.

Should the scale of the Hidden Floor be destroyed, Zahard would be capable of projecting a small amount of his power into the digital world to interfere,

Precognition and Fate Manipulation: Zahard has the power to see the destiny of others and control fate to a degree far greater than others who could see fate, capable of completely tricking and deceiving them with false scenarios, as displayed with Khel Hellam, who he managed to trick twice, first when he allowed Khel Hellam to confront him and his team so he could show his surpassing power, notably tricking Hellam to the point where despite seeing him asleep in his Floating Castle, Hellam didn't even knew what he looks like, and then when he sent Yasratcha to the Wall of Peaceful Coexistence so that he could turn Khel Hellam's attempt to use the Canine People against him.

Red Horn Tentacles: Possessing a demon with red horns tentacles inside his body, Zahard is capable of transforming his face to reveal the demon inside him and at least his adult self can manifest red horn tentacles that are sharp and deadly. He used it to pierce Hwang, the Big Breeder who was in the form and appearance of Ha Yura's brother.

Spells: While it's unknown to what extent, Zahard is at least capable of using Spells, as he was known to have been the one who transformed the spirit of a vengeful failed candidate of the Zahard Princesses system into the Ghost of the 13 Months and enchanted the 13 Months Series so that anyone who ignited more than one of them would be subsequently possessed by the Ghost.

Blood: Zahard's blood is known to be so potent that no ordinary woman could bear his child. Imbuing others who can properly receive just a fraction of his blood alone is capable of granting them an incredible boost in power, as shown with the Zahard's Princesses, and it is said that Zahard is capable of controlling them, which is proven by how his data could render both Androssi Zahard and Data Maschenny motionless with his sheer presence.

Immortality and Invulnerability: Zahard is immortal just like his other companions but due to an additional specific contract with the Floor Guardians, he is also invulnerable to harm from anyone who came from the Tower; in effect, this means that only an Irregular can kill him - the organisation with the closest possession of the means to do this is FUG.

Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Known for many as specifically being a Fisherman with brutish strength, Zahard is apparently a sublime hand-to-hand combatant. Even back when still having only cleared the Hidden Floor, Zahard, as displayed by his data self, already has a vast amount of hand-to-hand combat skill, as shown when he fought Data Eduan at close-range with tremendous ferocity, when he effortlessly blocked all of Data Maschenny's unarmed lightning-enhanced attacks without having to take even a single step, and when he easily gained the upper hand over Baam in close-quarters combat, despite Baam being an accomplished martial artist who had also been trained by Ha Jinsung, an extremely skilled member of the Ha Family.

Immense Speed and Agility: Zahard's young self has displayed immense levels of speed and agility, as shown when he fought Data Eduan, the two of them moving at such speeds that their movements looked like a blur. With a single jump, he could effortlessly catch up to Baam from a great distance despite him using Blue Oar and swiftly deliver hits that Baam could barely react to, badly injuring him.

Immense Reflexes: Zahard's young self has such immense reflexes that he can block with a single hand all of Data Maschenny's lightning-enhanced attacks without any effort.

Immense Strength: Even while nowhere near full power in the Hidden Floor, Zahard was easily strong enough to choke Baam nonchalantly one-handed, nearly killing him, and was able to firmly keep him in his grip even when a spatial control skill activated to take Baam out until Eduan erased his hand.

Immense Shinsu Resistance and Durability: While still a Regular back when he had just cleared the Hidden Floor, Zahard already had tremendous shinsu Resistance and durability, to the point where he was able to effortlessly shrug off Data Maschenny's lightning attacks and Baam's Extreme Black-Winged Butterfly Attack, which despite cracking his mask did no damage on him otherwise. As a top High Ranker, Zahard's resillience and shinsu resistance has reached such phenomenal levels that when trying to kill Baam, while being nowhere near full power, none of Data Eduan's lightning shinsu attacks had any effect on him and when his data attacked him with Leviathan, which had clashed evenly with Baam's strongest technique, he was not only completely uninjured but the tip shattered upon clashing into him.

Great Shinsu Power and Mastery: Zahard is noted to be extraordinarily skilled in the use of Shinsu: Although he wasn't its greatest user, he is still among the greatest at manipulating Shinsu. Even as a Regular after having just cleared the Hidden Floor, his younger self's level of control could already effortlessly and almost instantly create and perfectly control from 20 to 30 Baangs of great power without even needing to move, going as far as to be able to create enough Baangs to stop Baam's Orb - Shinwonryu with only minor effort, and perform extremely powerful attacks, including creating shapes such as massive needles, balls, and planetary objects with ease, a skill that is said to be very difficult and proof of his talent and mastery of Shinsu even while still a Regular. The level of power Zahard's current self has was so great that his presence could exert sufficient pressure to pin down Eduan and Baam as well as his data self. He was also shown to be able to completely freeze Baam in place and he is shown to be able to effortlessly unleash Shinsu attacks at great speeds, as he effortlessly blasted his Data when he tried to stop him from killing Baam and without even needing to move at all, released a powerful wave of Shinsu capable of collapsing an entire cliff to begin fighting Team Khel Hellam.

Other power and abilities: The following are Zahard's techniques and skills collected from his data version in the Hidden Floor. It's pretty obvious that after he become the top 3 High Ranker and King of The Tower, each of this techniques' battle data record has far exceed our knowledge of young Zahard and can't be used to measure the power of real Zahard. However, considering how it is unlikely for him to just abandon those skills, it is safe to expect that the current King Zahard still have all of those skills, but at an entirely different level than his data.
 * Shinwonryu: While we know that the young have already mastered this technique and is capable of inserting his Shinwonryu into his own body and then releasing it as a powerful explosion, it's still unknown to which extent he has trained this technique, whether he had changed his way of using Shinwonryu or how much it's power have increased after his journey to the top of the tower ended.
 * Golden Needle from Mystery Island (수수께끼 섬의 황금 니들): Zahard creates a giant golden needle made out of Shinsu. As the King of the Tower, Zahard has improved the technique to the point where he could release multiple golden needles simultaneously that are far larger and sharper than the usage of his data self.
 * Zahard Style Air Explosion Iron Fist (자하드식 공파술 금강장): Zahad sends his enemy flying with a strong Shinsu blast. With this attack, Zahard disrupts the Shinsu in his opponent's body without touching him.
 * Zahard Style Lethal Move - Rampage (자하드 류 살인기 팡란): a technique used for close combat where Zahard first punches an opponent before enhancing the force of the attack with a blast of Shinsu.
 * Zahard Style Shinsu Control Skill - Cosmos (자하드식 신수제어술 코스모스): A technique that creates several Baangs shaped like the solar system, used with the intention to a cause massive destruction, but it was nullified by Baam's Shinwonryu.
 * Second Cosmos (세컨드 코스모스): A more powerful version of the Cosmos technique that creates more numerous and massive baangs shaped into planetary objects.
 * Zahard Style Shinsu Control - Golden Bomb (자하드 류 신수제어술 금탄): a projectile technique used by data version of young Zahard in the Hidden Floor that unleashes a large yellow Baang as a powerful beam.

Relationships
Due to his famous accomplishments, many of the Tower's inhabitants greatly admire and respect Zahard. However, there are also some envious and trying to rebel against his reign.

Zahard's companions, the Great Warriors seem to be acquired by him through either coaxing or force, as Arie Hon noted that as Zahard had decisively proved himself superior, he decided to pledge himself to him. Although how he held them is unknown, considering the fact he allowed them to start their own families, it is safe to assume he trusts and tolerates them. His personal relationships with them has been shown only by glimpses, but in the present, most of the Great Warriors appears to have become distant from Zahard as none but the Lo Po Bia Family Head was willing to provide assistance.

Weapons

 * Lecalicus: A powerful weapon used by young data version of Zahard. It's still unknown if this weapon is still in the possession of Zahard after he become a king. There's no further information about what happen to Lecalicus after Khun Eduan "force delete" the hidden floor. We also still don't know either, if Lecalicus inside the hidden floor was the real one or only a fake weapon that was generated and copied by the system.
 * King Zahard's Deadly Weapon No.9: Anti High Rankers El Robina: A powerful canon weapon in the shape of Floating Ship specially built to fight and eliminate High Rankers. Zahard still possessed 9 weapons like El Robina.
 * Zahard's Bracelet: A bracelet that contains Zahard's secret. Zahard hide the bracelet intentionally in the Hidden Floor because it's apparently the safest place since no rankers can enter the Hidden Floor because it's a regular area. The King tasked the data of his younger self to protect the bracelet. This bracelet was stolen by the Treasure Eating Stingray, a shinheuh that belongs to Po Bidau Gustang.

Alternative translations

 * Jahad (LINE Webtoons)

Notes and Trivia

 * SIU once responded a twitter question that are written in English that asked him about "Zahard or Jahad", and SIU replied with "Z" letter, confirming it is "Zahard" or "Zahad".
 * In the official Chapter 52 on NAVER, there is a poster of Ha Yuri Zahard written in English. It displayed her Sobriquet, the "Black Snakehead" and the name of "ZAHARD". It's the scene where Khun Aguero Agnis and Ship Leesoo took a break after the Hide-and-Seek test. However, English LINE Webtoon change the name of "ZAHARD" into "JAHAD".


 * Zahard seems to hold a level of knowledge of Baam's inner power, as he told his data self he may regret his decision to save him, although he admits he does not fully understand him.


 * Zahard is currently the strongest antagonist Baam has ever encountered. In addition, with the possible exception of Urek Mazino, Zahard is currently the most powerful character Baam has met.


 * SIU made Zahard's body as tall and bulky as he did to show his threatening power.

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