Chapter 123

[Third Person's PoV]

"Arise," Shadow demanded coldly as he walked across the blood-filled ground.

As he attempted to enter the glowing blue gate, a rollie-pollie type of monster appeared—a creature with a dark, spiked shell spinning towards Shadow.

Shadow covered his fist with Haki and utilized internal destruction as he punched the creature, causing it to explode into multiple pieces and splatter blood everywhere. Despite the close encounter, the blood did not seem to touch him. With that done, Shadow entered the dungeon—his very first.

Upon entering, he examined the gate using all his senses, even activating his dragon eyes to study it. 'I see, so that's how they're made. I'll take note of that,' Shadow thought as he stepped fully inside.

As he did, the gates behind him sparked with power before glowing bright red, causing Shadow to scoff. Surveying his surroundings, he found himself in the midst of a forest. His Observation Haki detected all life forms inside the dungeon—over 10,000 different types of monsters from various bug species, with more seeming to be birthed rather than spawned.

Shadow let out an exhausted sigh—not from physical fatigue but mental weariness. He desired nothing more than to end this and spend time with his newborn daughter. After another sigh and closing his eyes, Shadow muttered, "Sin Series: Monarch's Pride."

Black wisps of Shadow's power emanated from his body as his eyes snapped open, activating his Conqueror's Haki. The monsters had no time to react before collapsing, their eyes growing dull as their bodies hit the ground. Yet, as their husks fell, their soul—manifested as shadow soldiers—remained, bowing in Shadow's direction.

Almost nothing filled a Monarch with so much pride than witnessing beings submit and bow before their might.

Monarch's Pride: a technique Shadow developed, using Conqueror's Haki and the necromantic powers of the Shadow Monarch. It enforces Shadow's will upon other beings, causing them to abandon their mortal shells and serve the Monarch.

Shadow spread his shadow, collecting the carcasses. 'Eta is going to have a field day with these,' he thought before summoning the strongest monster that had been slain.

Before Shadow knelt a woman figure with a grotesque face, honeycomb eyes, two antennas, and the body of a bee, its usual black and yellow coloring replaced by black and purple. Protruding from it was a giant stinger larger and thicker than Shadow's arm. Despite kneeling, she stood close to 5 meters tall.

"Share your memories with me," Shadow demanded bluntly, and the Queen Bee happily complied.

Shadow immediately honed in on the memory he sought.

...

A tall, attractive young woman with glowing red eyes, pale skin, long flowing black hair, dark purple lips, a voluptuous figure, and insectile characteristics on her legs and arms sat on a throne made of bugs and insects. She wore greenish-black armor that left her upper cleavage and shoulders exposed.

She pressed her hand on the Queen Bee's head, smiling smugly. "Go forth and bring me the daughter of the Shadow Monarch. He resides in a weak and pathetic world, so he should be weak. He has never left that world we detected him in. Hahaha, the Shadow Monarch was rather smart and dumb simultaneously."

"By possessing the body of a child, he ensures it grows accustomed to his power—it's absolutely brilliant. However, he failed to consider the strength of the world he was born into. It isn't potent enough to aid in rebuilding his power.

Following his lead, I will leave my realm with the human vessel. His daughter will become that vessel. She is the ultimate vessel for any Monarch—possessing Monarch potential while being half-mortal, allowing us to escape my dimension's prison.

Now, my beautiful child, breed, create more minions, and destroy his world. Killing the Shadow Monarch is secondary; his daughter is the priority. After acquiring her, I will kill him myself, relishing the despair on his face as I use his own daughter to end him."

…

The dimension in which Shadow stood started shaking, coming close to collapsing as Shadow's Conqueror's Haki spilled out of him like a tidal wave. His dragon eyes shrank as veins started protruding from his forehead. "These people are really testing my patience," he said through gritted teeth.

…

Igris, who stood beside Aurora and Celeste, looked toward the area where Shadow had left. The others did the same; Delta started growling and Zeta started hissing.

Aurora turned towards them, then looked at Igris. "Can you tell me what's going on? Why did Cid suddenly leave, and why did they start getting angry? You even looked toward that direction," Aurora asked anxiously, as Celeste clung to her chest drinking her milk.

"My liege is enraged... a feeling so strong it's resonating through our connection with him. Whatever he discovered in the gates I can't image was very pleasant," Igris explained.

Alpha turned towards Igris. "That term, Cid used it as well. Just what is it?"

"It's complicated. I cannot reveal anything without my liege's permission as it pertains solely to him."

'My liege, please calm your emotions; the girls are being affected as well. They wish to know what is currently going on.'

"..."

'Sigh, sorry about that Igris, and it's alright; you can tell them, but only them. Make sure the others leave the room,' Shadow commanded.

Igris nodded at Shadow's command and then turned toward Alpha. "Dismiss the ones that aren't connected with our liege; he has given me permission to explain the current situation."

Alpha nodded and did as instructed, causing the lower-ranking members of Shadow to leave in understanding, knowing there was information they weren't allowed to know.

"Is Cid alright?" Sherry asked nervously.

"Worry not; our liege is strong. He's almost impossible to kill... Now, for the important matter, as you all must already be aware, our liege isn't human; he is from an ancient race known as Monarchs."

"Wait, that should be impossible; he was born from my mother and father, both of whom are human. He's my little brother, so how could he be from another race altogether?" Claire said anxiously.

"Please allow me to finish and direct those questions towards my liege, not me," Igris responded. 'Forgive me, my lord, but even I know those are waters one needs to tread carefully.'

Claire looked at Igris, then bit her lip and nodded for him to continue. "My liege was created by the Absolute Being, a being that has long since perished, but my liege wasn't the only one. The Absolute Being—"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Alexia interrupted, something the others were also going to do. "The Absolute Being!? Who is that!?"

Igris almost groaned but maintained his composure and answered her inquiry. "He was God. At the dawn of time, when light and darkness were all that existed, the Absolute Being split the light to create the Rulers and split the darkness to create the Monarchs."

All their eyes widened as they stood with their mouths slowly agape. "So, in other words, our lord is a being born from darkness..."

"No," Igris shook his head. "Our liege was born a Ruler. In fact, out of all the Rulers, our liege was the strongest of them all."

Upon hearing that, their chests swelled with pride. 'As expected of our master.'

"But I thought you said he was a Monarch?" Beta asked curiously.

"He was... You'll understand in a moment. You see, the Rulers and the Monarchs were in constant war with each other. This war led to countless deaths and bloodshed. The Rulers asked the Absolute Being to gift them strength to finally end the Monarchs and stop this war, but the Absolute Being did not reply. It was then that the Rulers realized that their war with the Monarchs was mere entertainment to him and that the Absolute Being did not want the war to end.

This fact, along with the realization that the war would never end as long as the Absolute Being was alive, led seven of the eight Rulers to rebel against their god. Our liege, the last and strongest Ruler, was the only one who remained loyal to the Absolute Being and tried his best to stop them, but they eventually defeated him and left him for dead."

Delta began to cry, "Nooo! Bossu! He can't be dead!"

The other girls slowly turned to look at Delta, who was on the floor close to despair.

"Delta, remember our connection; our master is alive."

Delta immediately stood back up and appeared normal. "Oh right, please continue."

"My liege didn't die; before he could die, he discovered that the Absolute Being had hidden a monstrous power inside his body and promptly activated it, transforming himself into the Shadow Monarch.

With his health fully restored and now even stronger than before, Ashborn returned to the battlefront to continue the fight. But by the time he got back, he found out that he was too late, as the rebellion was already over, and the Absolute Being was already dead."

…

Shadow paused and looked toward Igris in confusion, listening to their conversation. "

'What is he doing? Why is he talking like I'm Ashborn or something? I'm pretty sure in the survey I chose Jinwoo... So why, why is he talking like I'm Ashborn?'

'That is because that's who you are,' a voice responded coldly.

Shadow froze, his eyes widening in disbelief.

"And who are you?" Shadow carefully asked.

The voice coldly scoffed, 'Come on now, don't act like you don't remember your creator.'

"The Absolute Being... But how?" Shadow muttered.

'I am but just a Will that remains, a part of my will I inserted into the fragment laying hidden within you.'

********************************

A/N: Reveal after Reveal, how you like them apples.

Anyways I seen a few interesting comments last chapters which I have to address

First of all yall nasty lmao commenting that on that pic smh, you should be ashamed of yourselfs.

And second of all I seen a comment suggesting to make Celeste a reincarnator and another one saying not to, so I decided to leave that up to you guys, you will decided that.

[Reincarnated]

Or

[No Reincarnation]