125 Chapter 124

[Third Person's PoV]

Shadow stood there, unsure of what to do or say.

It took Shadow a few seconds to fully compose himself. "So you're telling me I'm Ashborn, or a possible reincarnation of him? But how—I thought whatever that survey was, I chose Jinwoo? If anything, shouldn't I be a close reincarnation of him or something?"

"And you did, and you are," AB replied (Absolute Being). "You are both a reincarnation of Ashborn and the being known as Sun Jinwoo."

"But how?" Shadow asked, still unsure and unable to make sense of the situation.

"It's because of the brilliant light fragment. As you passed on as Ashborn, you truly didn't pass on. Although your consciousness was erased, your essence stayed inside the light fragment, thus making you a part of Jinwoo. Your being and Jinwoo's became one, thus making Jinwoo Ashborn, and Ashborn Jinwoo."

Shadow was a bit surprised upon hearing that, but it made sense. "But then how do I come into play?"

"Here, let me show you," AB said.

Suddenly, like something was unlocked, memories started pouring into his mind.

…

Jinwoo was surrounded on all sides, everything around him appearing as a wasteland. He gripped two daggers, his expression unreadable as he faced the beings before him.

They looked down on Jinwoo mockingly. "What's wrong, Shadow Monarch?" Antares said in a taunting tone. "Aren't you able to summon your soldiers? Have you spent all your mana? How do you plan on beating us? Although these Vessels are only temporary, they will be more than enough to finally kill you once and for all."

Jinwoo remained silent and shot forward in a blur, his gaze cold.

The other Monarchs sneered mockingly and in amusement before each of them attacked Jinwoo with bloodthirsty smiles.

Thus began their battle royal, lasting several days and nights. As Jinwoo tried to recover his mana, the Monarchs continually forced him to expend it again.

The Dragon Monarch laughed with obvious joy at Jinwoo's struggles, but Jinwoo kept on fighting, his cold expression never wavering.

The Dragon Monarch spread his arms, causing multiple portals and gates to appear, summoning reinforcements.

Jinwoo fought relentlessly, killing many of the Monarchs' subordinates and injuring some of the Monarchs themselves.

By the end, Jinwoo was huffing and covered in injuries, blood running down his body.

The Monarchs were no better off, some missing an eye or an arm, but they never lost their sneers and smiles.

As Jinwoo looked over their faces, his eyes widened when he didn't see Antares among them. He quickly turned, but Antares, who was behind him, thrust his hand right through Jinwoo's chest, gripping his black heart and crushing it.

Antares withdrew his hand and grabbed Jinwoo by the throat. "Any last words, 'Shadow Monarch'?"

Jinwoo coughed blood and slowly raised his daggers, showing Antares his middle fingers with a sneer, his cold expression and glowing purple eyes unfaltering.

"HAHAHA, you never fail to amuse me. Even in death, you still act like this," Antares scoffed. "But it won't do you any good."

Antares used his authority to destroy, starting to obliterate Jinwoo's body. However, just as Jinwoo accepted his fate, the brilliant light fragment inside him glowed, whisking his soul away unnoticed by the Monarchs.

...

Shadow then saw Jinwoo reincarnated into who he was before—his 'first life,' or more like his third life as Ryan Martin—with no memories of who he was before. Everything slowly started to come together.

Shadow still covered his face with his hands, almost like he wanted to die from embarrassment.

'I can feel it. Jinwoo and Ashborn would have judged me heavily for this and chastised me for what I'm doing, especially with my sister. I can already feel their disappointed gazes because I've know what they would be thinking because of all these memories—memories of these two.'

'But even with all these new memories, I still feel like myself, like nothing much has changed. I'm thankful I'm still me throughout all of this.'

"Wait, so since it was you who gave me the survey, why did you do it? Was there a need for all of this?"

"But of course. If I didn't intervene, you would have just continued floating aimlessly throughout reincarnation, never recovering your memories until your soul would have been extinguished from the constant cycle.

So I used most of my will to activate the fragment and reincarnate you to a place you wanted to go, while influencing your mind to become the Shadow Monarch—though there was really no need for the last part, as that was something you were naturally attracted to. I had used most of my will while doing so, leaving me only enough to unlock your memories once a trigger was activated and give you one final order as your creator.

As your creator, I give you this final order: Kill them all. Kill all the Monarchs, kill all of the Rulers, leave none of them alive. After that, live your life however you want.

With these final orders, I bid you farewell, Ashborn… No… Cid Kagenou… And thank you for remaining loyal to the very end."

Shadow slowly lifted his head, revealing his glowing purple eyes. "I shall obey." He said in a serious and deep tone, a tone that almost sounded like it didn't belong to him. He wasn't talking like Cid or Shadow or Jinwoo for that matter. He was talking like Ashborn.

Once the will of the Absolute Being was gone, gone for good, Shadow snapped his fingers.

Blue portals started materializing all around Shadow, each brimming with power. From these portals, angel-like beings started emerging. These beings were black in color with a mix of purple, signifying they were under the control of the Shadow Monarch.

One of the angels that appeared reached down and knelt before Shadow, lodging his giant sword on the ground. The other angels followed his example, dropping down and kneeling towards Shadow with great sincerity.

"My lord, it is great to see you have finally regained your power. It would be a great honor to fight beside you once more."

Shadow smiled towards the angel before him. "Bellion… it's been a while…"

Bellion lifted his head and smiled towards Shadow, "Yes it has my lord"

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

A/N: I forgot to mention reincarnation won. And it was fucking close too lmao, No reincarnation had 53 point and reincarnation had 54, I even took out the ones spamming.