Prologue: A new beginning

As such self-punishing thought swirled her mind, she suddenly heard a tremor... No not tremor, but a heartbeat... It is was faint, very faint. But earth-shattering at the same time. And it originated from Ashborn.

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Meanwhile, Ashborn found himself standing at the base of a beautiful tree. A tree so big that he couldn't see the top of it as if it pierced the sky and its branches stretched across the horizon.

[Where on earth am I?] As he pondered, he found a grumpy but handsome man writing something on a big book sitting on one of the roots of that tree who said to him without removing his eyes from the book,

-This place is not on your earth... not of any earth. It is called the last boundary of the firmament. Very few ever reached here, fewer went beyond. Though this place is not the real deal, just an illusion stemmed from your incomplete prowess, you should consider yourself lucky just being able to enjoy the sight.

-What do you mean? How is that possible? Who are you? How did I get here? The last thing I remember is... being shot behind my back... Don't tell me I am dead?

Hearing those questions, the man stopped writing and closed his book. Then he looked directly at his eyes, and just as he laid his eyes on Ashborn, everything around them burst into small light particles and only a pure white world with no limit remained. He was astonished as the man replied,

-No, you are not dead... yet. But you are standing right in front of it. And this place is what you used to call the realm of eternal rest. Pretty exaggerated if you ask me. It is just a dimension inside your mind constructed of mana.

-Does that mean you are...

-I am the angel of death, collector of souls of all beings with free will. I am here to collect yours as you are about to die.

-Oh I see, you look surprisingly normal... Do you know I am going to heaven or hell?

-That knowledge is out of my jurisdiction, I only know whence and where someone will die as that is the knowledge has been granted to me.

The man came and stood in front of him. Ashborn said with a downcast gaze...

-So, what are you waiting for?

-As it is stands, I can't. Because you have been granted two options.

-Ohhh, what are they?

-Before that, let your memory be returned.

Saying that the man tapped his forehead and memories of millions of years came back to him.

I see up until to the point he gave up his existence to the human called Sung Jin-woo. He was the first "Shadow Monarch", and even before that was "the most brilliant fragment of light". But now that he looks back, the so-called "Absolute" was most probably another creation of God, who tried to pose as God, only to get killed by the very things that were supposed to protect him. At least he is not the first and certainly will not be the last. As for Ashborn himself concerned, he probably didn't even have a free will until Absolute died.

-Yes, you are right. You didn't have free will... As you didn't have a soul, only consciousness.

-But didn't I gave up all my existence to that boy. I even look like him now.

-What you did was to make sure your legacy continues. It is no different than lower animals instinct to propagate.

-So, what happened to my peace? I thought I would be able to rest in peace once I return to nothingness.

-Normally you should have erased from existence as a non-living. Looks like one of the ascended made up appeal for you to the God, the most loving. And it was granted, your existence was remade, imperfections washed out, granted with soul and born as a human so that you can find that eternal rest of yours.

-So, now that once I die, shall I rest in peace at last?

-That is something that I don't know. Since you lived a life of human you shall be judged as one in judgement day like all other in this timeline. It depends on how much good karma and bad karma you gathered in your life, but as I said, I don't know and I don't care.

-So, you said I have two options now before you collect my soul.

-Yes, one you can choose to leave this life and you shall be put to a comforting rest until judgement day, or you can choose to stay alive, as you have unlocked your attributes. With all your attributes unlocked, I must warn you though. Choosing the second option might not be the best option. With your constitution, you might not be called back before the arrival of "the Last Hour".

-I see... But still, I am going to choose the second option.

Hearing that, the Angel of death just shook his head. As he turned to leave Ash asked,

-Wait, what did you mean by having my existence remade, imperfection washed out?

-Well, that's a surprise for you along with a few other new gifts. Have fun exploring them! Until we meet again.

Saying that the man vanished from the space. At that time, he collapsed on his knees trembling.

-What a joke! King of the dead! Compared to him, I amount to nothing. Oh well, let's activate my black heart first and return to the real world.

Saying that he concentrated on his body and tried to activate his bleak heart situated at the right side of his chest. Something did activate, but it wasn't as simple as a black heart. It was his energy source, but both dark and light energy stood in perfect harmony in it. And the resulting energy oozing out of it is not something he had ever experienced before. He felt like it would burst out of his body.

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Back in the real world...

Hearing the heartbeat Tsunade couldn't believe it. She put her ears against his chest over the heart. Alas, she found nothing. But just as she was about to return to disappointment, she felt the beat coming from his right. Confused she moved her ears to right and there it was, the beat. But she also realized the peculiarity, it wasn't an organ made of flesh, but organ made of unknown energy. The organ was pumping out a tremendous amount of the same energy as its beats quickened slowly. At this rate the energy would even start to hurt the fleshly body of Ashborn, so she tried to calm it down using her chakra or at least put a stop to its rampage. But her chakra simply vanished like a bucket of water in the ocean as the first shock wave of excessive energy pushed both Shizune and Tsunade two feet away.

-Looks like whatever was sealed inside him is awakening. We need to put a stabilizing barrier around him or the whole block will be blown apart at this rate alongside his body.

Tsunade said with a smile. Now she can feel his original heart is beating too. That means he is alive.

-But we have only one set of barrier seals and stabilizing seals with us. If we use it...

-Now is not the time Shizune...

Tsunade shouted as they were pushed back one foot more by another shockwave.

They set up a small but very sturdy barrier around him so that the shockwaves remain inside and energy inside stabilizes somewhat, but the explosions of energy continued to rise. Well, chakra stabilizing seal wasn't that effective on mana in the first place...

-Tsunade sama! I don't think the seal shall hold on for much longer.

Shizune said with an ashen face. Tsunade gritted her teeth and said,

-Grab the lady and leave.

-What about you...

-NOW...

Shizune picked up the bullet-riddled lady and left the place.

Tsunade released the full might of her seal and put her all remaining chakra in the seal trying to stabilize whatever happening inside. She was very worried. If this amount of rampant chakra erupted from anyone, she doubted even her grandfather wouldn't survive the backlash on flesh and bone. And this energy is even more potent than sage chakra.

[You can overcome this, I know you can.], she tried to reassure herself.

Shockwaves continued to blast on the barrier only to get stronger over time. If there was no barrier, the building or the area around 100 meters would have destroyed by now. Tsunade quickly started to hit the bottom of her reserve. Even her skin started to show signs of being wrinkled as if her transformation jutsu is about to be undone.

At that moment, as if the energy inside the barrier reached saturation, rather than releasing shock wave, it started to release outward pressure. Tsunade couldn't hold on any hold on any longer with the high amount of demand of chakra. As the amount of chakra supply dwindled, cracks started to form on the barrier.

Her eyes became foggy as she was losing consciousness.

[So this is the end for me, huh! Pretty anticlimactic... If there's something like an afterlife, I would like to be with him wherever it is...]

The chakra supply dropped and being unable to hold off the inside pressure, the barrier shattered releasing a violent explosion of pure mana and other energies. But before the first wave could hit Tsunade, she without any sound vanished from her place.

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-Tsunade sama...

Unable to sense her presence anymore, Shizune cried who was standing about 500 meters away. The violent wind blew against her originated from the explosion. Just as she dropped on her knees and cried, unable to believe what just happened, a familiar voice sounded from behind her,

-I never knew, you were this emotional Shizune chan.

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Tsunade was having a nightmare. First, it was Nawaki's gruesome death, Dan's bloody death, endless war killing, lastly it was Ashborn, who was shot and died in her arms. Nawaki's phantom appeared, saying, "Why didn't you stop me from going to war, Nee-san?" "Why did you come late Tsunade?" Dan followed. Lastly Ashborn appeared saying, "Why didn't you save me, Tsunade?" At which she continued to answer, "I am sorry, please forgive me..." As she was crying, a warm embrace hugged her from behind, saying,

-It's okay dear... You don't have to beat yourself up anymore...

Feeling the warm embrace which filled up her very being in gentle warmth, she turned back only to find Ashborn, way more handsome than he was before whose body is covered with rainbow coloured ever-changing... energy. Only his face was open. He held her cheeks with that energy flowing hand. The energy started to flow into her from Ashborn, rejuvenating her with a warm euphoric feeling...

-You don't have to live in the past anymore, let it go Tsunade. I shall be beside you till the end of the universe and shall not let any sorrow touch you ever again.

Saying that Ashborn pulled her into a hug. Now her whole body started to glow with mana like him. Tsunade was confused as she found them in a world of pure white suddenly which felt very peaceful. She asked,

-I don't understand? How are you...? Where am I..? What is the meaning of all this?

-Right now... you don't have to worry about any of those... Just let it flow and return to us okay.

-I don't under...!!!

She couldn't complete the sentence as her lips were closed by her lover's. She just didn't feel like thinking anymore and let the blissful moment pass filled with peace...

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When she woke up, she found her in her bed. Smiling she got up...

[What a beautiful dream...! I wonder what Ash is... Oh my, Where is Ash?] As she thought and looked around the room to make headway of the situation... She found Ashborn coming in with a tray of breakfast and juice...

-Oh, your beauty sleep is at last over, princess! Geez, you got me worried there for a moment, wondering when you are going to wake up. It's 11 already. Here, I made you breakfast...

Tsunade was in a confusion of her life. Last night last she remembers she was about to get hit by that unknown energy explosion before she lost consciousness. Then she was having this nightmare which turned into this sweet dream where she made out with Ash... who was super handsome... and sexy... and was literally covered with that unknown energy!!!!! Then a realization hit her and she looked at him dumbfoundedly. He was already tall, but now he felt like taller, his skin was glossy and absolutely blemish-free. Calling him the most handsome man of the earth was an understatement as such a man didn't exist in her world either. But more importantly, the aura around him changed. From a normal human to an unfathomable existence. It is gentle yet terrifying at the same time. If she were to gauge the raw amount of energy that body held, she would go with... all the freaking tailed beasts have been put together to create a new one... only instead of getting 10+10=20, they got 10*10=100. But all while checking him out, she forgot a more important thing, to check herself out. then suddenly all of it vanished.

-Ahaha(awkward laugh), control over my new power is still a bit of shaky and my aura leaks out sometimes.

-Ash... you... What happened to you?

-To sum it up in few words, it turns out, you were right my dear... I am really a mystical "Monarch" having control over all the elements plus ability to replicate the existence of dead creatures with my mana, also infinitely empowering them. Or at least that's what I was before being granted the chance to be born as a human. But I am very glad you asked it this way? If you asked "What are you?" then I would have been sad.

-Wait what? Why would I think like that? At the end of the day, you are still my Ash, right? Though it makes sense considering what I felt inside you, I am really confused? Why now? Is it because you almost died?

-Yes, you can put it like that. It was one of the condition to awaken my abilities. You see "Monarch of the Shadows" "King of the dead", you get the idea... the last one still make me laugh though...

-That is not a laughing matter... It is kind of scary. You won't turn into some 3rd rate world dominator, are you?

-Haha(emotionless sarcastic laugh)... And Donald Trump loves Muslims... You should have met the angel of death... That. Is. Scary. (Lightly shivering while shaking his head.)

-Wait you met *The* Shinigami...?

-Ya, though he looked gentle, his aura was out of this world, even for me at my prime. Well jokes aside, I have a piece of good news... and a piece of very good news... Which one do you want to hear first?

Ash said while handing her the breakfast.

-Well, for a moment I thought you would say bad news... Whatever, go with the good one first.

She said while taking a bite [Ummm, even his cooking tastes better now.] she thought.

-Well, why don't you look at yourself first?

Ashborn snapped his fingers and a water mirror appeared from gathering little particles of mana. She was impressed a little by the new show. But she was dumbfounded when she looked at her own features.

She was blemishless and glossy skinned just like Ashborn, this was a clear improvement from her previous self, but nothing to lose mind about. But the problem was, there was no thousand seal mark at her forehead. Doesn't that mean her transformation jutsu is down? And that is what suppose to happen as she released the seal yesterday night. But she looks like at her prime, not the old woman looking like 90 years old she was in reality. And quickly she checked her body and realized, indeed, her body was back at her prime at around 27 to 28 years of age. And there's more. Besides far more dense chakra than her original chakra in her chakra coils, there flowed a mysterious energy thousand time more potent around her whole body. Though the amount was not very much right now, maybe only 10% of her total chakra reserve. She instinctively knew, the things she could do with this amount if she could access it, it would be two times than her total chakra.

Then she remembered last nights dream and she knew Ashborn did something to her. She doubtfully asked,

-What did you do to me... while I was asleep...? You didn't take advantage of me, did you?

-Of all the things, you are concerned about that! [Released a sigh] I may have taken the liberty to regress your body's age with one of the purest and most balanced energies called origin mana. Make it more resilient, increased your chakra reserve. Excited your cells to the presence of my origin conveniently, so maybe someday you can use it instead of chakra. And...

-And.....?

-[Looking sideways]Maybe kissed you a little while I was at it. Maybe hugged you little too. [Veins popped on Tsunade's forehead] I swear I didn't do anything else.

-You freaking pervert! What were you doing to a helpless sleeping lady?

And a resound slapped echoed the whole neighbourhood.

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While rubbing his cheeks, Ashborn said,

-You are welcome...

-I was just a little embarrassed. But you took full advantage of me, so that makes us even. Hmph... [As she completed the breakfast and drank half of her fruit juice.] Thank you, Ash. For, fixing my body. Not the other thing. I...

-Thank me for what? Who doesn't want a hot wife! I was merely helping myself...

-You freaking douche...

Saying that she threw a pillow at him, then started to bash him with a side pillow she found in her reach...

-I was joking, I was joking... Calm down, okay.

[Another minute later... As she finished her juice]

-So what's the very good news?

-Huuuuuu, I need you to remain calm for this one.

-I am pretty calmed down since you have been acting like a prank-playing brat.

-Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..... Okay. It turns out that, I can open inter-dimensional portals with my near-infinite amount of mana.

Tsunade froze hearing that, while Ashborn waited for the words to sink in. Tears formed in her eyes as she asked,

-Does that mean...?

-Yes, my dear! We can return to your home soon if you want.