88 Epilogue

One year has passed since Ashborn returned to his domain.

It wasn't a glorious comeback. Most people were still desperate, and everyone still had hope in their eyes that they might see their friends and family again who were not evacuated. Some people even wanted to return to their homes. Ashborn had no choice back then. He created a screen everyone could see. He showed them what happened to their planet. The destruction that caused the flying continent Epheotus to fall on the ground. Creating giant tsunamis, the size of mountains, destroying everything that they once knew. Alacrya and Dicathen are no more. And anyone who was left is dead now. A long silence followed after Ashborn showed the people what happened. After that, they began to cry. A sea of crying and desperate people. He genuinely felt bad for them. But he also knew he did the right thing. It was necessary to show them what happened. Hope is a good trait. However, false hope will only create more pain.

Now he was watching the city he created in the relictombs. The relictomb itself was just one layer, but it was the size of a continent. He didn't think of a name when he created it, but after the people saw what happened to their planet, they started calling the city Arc. So soon after, it became the official name. The design was close to Xyrus's, but he made a few changes. Like creating separate districts for the different races. He knew that separating them would cause some trouble, but he wanted to make them feel comfortable after they lost their homeland. Also, nobody was forced to stay in a district.

Most elves decided to leave Arc. They were used to living in nature. So Ashborn recreated Elenoir for them. It wasn't the same, but close to it. And the borders were always open for everyone. He expected the dwarfs to do the same, but surprisingly, they decided to stay in Arc. They always lived in the underground, and one reason for that was protection. But they didn't need that anymore.

He even recreated the academy of Xyrus as the main educational institute of this continent. But the schedule changed a lot. Xyrus was supposed to be a military academy. Kids learned how to fight. Now there was no need for this anymore. Armies did not exist, and Ashborn wouldn't allow any more wars in his domain. Now the academy was mostly about basic education and everyone could join. They finally learned how to build things instead of destroying them. Ashborn was about to intervene as he was reading through the content of the classes. They were still talking about their stupid cores, elements, and all that useless stuff. But he decided not to. They needed to progress by themselves.

Something else changed in the academy. Goodsky became the headmaster once again, but Aldir also decided to join the institute. So, contrary to before, it wasn't only human, dwarf, and elven knowledge that was taught. But also asura knowledge. Some Asura kids even joined the academy after they heard about that.

Someday they decided to make a melee combat class and a lot of kids were excited about it. An asura volunteered as the teacher. His name was Kordri. After the first lesson, there were only a handful of people left. So the reason for not stopping the class once and for all was opening his lessons for outsiders. Even Arthur joined them. Ashborn laughed at him because he was supposed to teach melee combat, but after watching one of the lessons, Ashborn had to admit. This guy was top-notch. In terms of melee combat, he had never seen someone who was comparable in his long life. Only Igris might have stood a chance against him.

There was also Agrona. He wanted to teach science classes. But well, he had to change his methods first. A lot of people were against it. They even forbade their kids to attend the academy. The solution? A big, fat lie. The official reason for the war was to entirely blame everything on Kezzess. He was the one who was behind everything. And in the end, he summoned dangerous creatures into his world and caused all the trouble. Agrona only wanted to stop him.

But the version wasn't only helpful for the academy. Several Vritra blooded lived in Arc now. In the beginning, there was high tension between all the races. Even today, there is bad blood, but it's less and most people accept that everything was caused by a mad man.

His biggest surprise, however, was something he would never have imagined. He knew that his high-ranking soldiers kept their personalities after he arised them. After the war, he decided to not keep his army in his shadow, but let them live in his domain with everyone else. To his surprise, they actually adapted really fast. Even his low-ranking soldiers showed their own personalities. He never thought about that. His shadows were nothing but a mere tools for him in his past life. They were shadow soldiers in his shadow army. Now, there is no need for an army anymore. But after one year, they lived their own lives. Talking in the city with other people. Some of them even returned to their families and friends, like Sylvia, who lives in Ashborn's villa together with Arthur and Sylvie. She is her mother after all...the father, Agrona...There are complications with him, but everyone is happy.

It was weird for Ashborn to see his soldiers having their own lives. Maybe he was always in the wrong and his power wasn't supposed to be building an army. The only thing that didn't change from before was their undying loyalty towards him.

In the beginning, he expected them to stay as close as possible to him. But he was wrong. Almost all of the beasts left the city and lived outside in the woods. His ants vanished one day. Ashborn asked Beru where they were, but he answered that they were preparing something. After only a week, Beru asked Ashborn to follow him. The ants now lived in a mountain. They made their own anthill. But it wasn't an anthill like you would expect it to be. They created roads, buildings, and even a palace underground. Even the dwarfs wouldn't have a chance against the structures. But the major difference is statues. In every corner, there was a statue of him. In the middle of the city, there was the biggest statue. A monument that even made the Statue of Liberty, something he saw in the memories of his successor, look like a small child. Even for the Shadow Monarch, that was unexpected. But he appreciated the effort. The palace was obviously also for him, and he felt bad for his ants because he wouldn't spend much time there.

After a few months, he decided that there should be an adventurer's guild again. Also, Kaspian needed something to do. So he recreated the beast glades in a different lair of the relictombs only available for official members of the adventurer guild. But there was a major difference. He didn't want to let people die. So instead of dying, they lost everything and spawned at the beginning of the beast glades. In the beginning, there were a lot of brave people who decided to go for it alone. Because, well, they can't die, so why share the loot? That was before they realized that they would lose everything. So, after a few adventurers died and respawned in front of other people who were about to enter the beast glades, it caused some funny reactions. because they were completely naked. After that, they began to take it seriously, and beast cores and corpses became valuable again. He also decided to recreate the demon castle with a system that his successor had once conquered. After all, everyone needs a hobby, right?

His personal life changed a lot. For the first time in centuries, he didn't have to become stronger and fight. There was no need to strengthen his army, prepare for an upcoming war, or become stronger as fast as possible as he did when he first came into this world. So, besides his building hobby, he spent his days with his family. He didn't want to rule over people because the responsibilities would just annoy him. So he recreated something at the Helstea Mansion in Arc for his family. He kind of went overboard by making it bigger than the royal castle, but who would blame him? Also, there wasn't just his family but other people he knew. The Twin Horns had their own area. In the beginning, they spent most of the time in the house, but it became boring for them, so they decided to become adventurers again and spent most of their time in the beast glades.

That blue-haired girl, Caera, also moved in. She now lives in the same villa as Ashborn, as the Scythe Seris also lived there. The girl only knew Seris prior, but now she has also become good friends with Tessia. She has her own room. It's probably not suitable to describe it as a room, because every room in the mansion was bigger than the rooms in the royal castle, but whatever. After all, she likes living there as Seris is always there for her.

Then,

Ashborn enjoyed spending time with Seris. It wasn't so much in the beginning, but by now they talked on a daily basis. So, besides his family, she was the person he talked the most to. Maybe, one day, he will tell her about his past without holding back anything. She was surprisingly smart and wise for such a young (in his opinion) girl.

About six months ago, Arthur and his long-eared girlfriend invited everyone they knew for some big news. Ashborn expected them to announce that Tessia was pregnant because he didn't know what the other big news could be. Isn't she too young for that anyway? Ashborn didn't know much about such things because he never cared, but also thought that someone who fought in a war, killed people, and risked their lives countless times, should be able to make such decisions by themselves. However, in the end, they announced that he and his girlfriend were now officially a couple. Ashborn and that old geezer, Virion, just shook their heads at the "big news". What a waste of time.

Shortly after that, something big happened. Seris and Ashborn have met in Arc. And the Seris' horns weren't there. She said that she was using an artifact to hide her horns in public because a lot of people were still avoiding Vritra blooded. Ashborn immediately destroyed the artifact and did something he tried to avoid all the time. He made an announcement by himself the same day and set some rules. The first, and most important rule, was that there won't be any discrimination anymore and everyone in his domain is equal. An asura spitted out that he wouldn't be equal to lessers. In front of ten thousand people, Ashborn almost beat him to death. Also, he forbade the word lessers. Apparently, they call it the L-word now. He made it pretty clear that this wasn't just a law, but an order. It was the only time he used his full authority.

The second rule was something that was more personal. He still had a sour taste in his mouth when he saw people kneeling in front of other people. Because it reminded him of the time when his family first met the human king. So, in order to create equality, he also forbade that. Obviously, that didn't count for his shadows. Even if he threatened them with Eternal Nothingness, they wouldn't stop. After all, you can't forbid a human to breathe.

"Are you happy?", a voice interrupted him in his thoughts while he was sitting on a mountain near Arc.

It was his successor. He frequently visited him. However, it became less because his wife was pregnant. He suggested giving them a small pickaxe as a pregnancy gift, but after Jin-Woo finally stopped laughing, he said that even in this realm he wouldn't be safe if he did that. It was nice to have someone he could talk to without any restrictions or hiding.

"Yes, I think so." Ashborn answered after recalling the last year.

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So, is this the end of the entire story?

Hell if I knew. I'm satisfied with what I wrote and a lot of people seem to be enjoying it with me.

I want to use this moment to thank all the people who helped me on this year-long journey. Without King James, I probably would've never reached this point.

And by this time, I had grown as an author. That's for sure. I can feel it. For other authors, especially those I knew personally. Guys, finish it. It's an exciting feeling when you finish your own story, even though a lot of stuff from different works were used. It will give you confidence.

Now let's talk about this fanfic. How did we reach this point of development, why soo many things I MIGHT have promised, changed all of a sudden.

Because, I wanted it to satisfy ME. Otherwise, it'll be all gone for. I kind of like how many people proposed their ideas and wanted them to be in the story. I added some, some I did not. They did mess up with my initial plan but come on, they adjusted me to what it is today.

I gave a lot of foreshadowings that this story was a crossover. There were only a few people who guessed that. From the earliest chapters to the middle of the story, (Then it became a lot more obvious.)

People might hate me for not making Caera a love interest, but it'll be just dumb. Idk how I agreed to the discord poll. The romance itself...with the Shadow Monarch, Ashborn at that, just didn't seem right. So, I settled with what we have right now.

The fight scenes were good. I improved in that aspect. I believe it was suitable for Ashborn and Antares...

If there are such people here, wondering what role the Supreme Being played in this franchise of sorts. Some mentioned that it was evil, (Some consider it to be neutral.) But definitely not in the way I described him in the beginning.

Well damn, this is MY fanfiction and I was trying to make a sense out of everything... I'm talking too much already. Give me your opinion about this fanfic :))) I'm interested in what your view is about it. GIVE ME THOSE FINAL REVIEWS PLS!

For now all I will tell you for now is,

See you later!