❛ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 ❜ ━━━ (𝘀. 𝗷𝗶𝗻𝘄𝗼𝗼)

| forty two ; the bridge between two sides

while the king of beasts ran away after abandoning its soldiers, the king of demons, baran, had to pay the ultimate price.

but then... one by one, the rulers began kneeling before the shadow monarch.

***

"please, it's time for you to forgive us, oh, the greatest fragment of brilliant light."

the rulers were asking for forgiveness from the shadow monarch. though they possessed enough power to send him back to nothingness if they so desired, they chose to pursue peace. they showed him respect for the time i was their ally, fighting on the frontlines while leading the army of brilliant light.

"there is no reason for us to fight any longer."

"no reason, you say?!" the monarch yelled and hovered his blade at the neck of the ruler. "have you not harmed my liege with your swords and spears?! have you not left lucia to die?! have you not saved her?!"

"he was our master as well. lucia was our ally too."

the shadow monarch grabbed the collar of the ruler harshly and glared at them.

"that is precisely why your crimes are more heinous!"

"you should understand better than anyone what we felt when we raised our banners of rebellion against our master. we simply wanted to end the war, and our master killed her. there was nothing we could do."

"then pierce my heart with your spears! this is the end that you so desperately seek! you shall finally become the victors of this war!" the shadow monarch hollered.

"please, find it in your heart to forgive us," the ruler begged.

"kill me now!"

"please quell your anger, greatest fragment of brilliant light."

the shadow monarch looked at the silver-clad soldiers in the air, reminiscing the greatest warrior to ever grace the heavens, to place their fists where their hearts were and lower their heads.

***

"i was overwhelmed," the monarch admitted. "i could not come up with any solution so i decided to hide for the sake of revenge. since i had trapped the monarch of white flames within me, i was planning on striking the forces of the beast monarch once i had recovered. while i was hiding, the monarchs who had lost the majority of their powers were defeated by the rulers."

"when i reappeared in front of the monarchs, who took their chances and escaped to the crack between the dimensions, the king of dragons did not permit any fighting, knowing it was time for them to recover their strength. and as such, he allowed me to join his forces."

jin-woo looked at the humanoid form of the dragon king and gulped. he was aware that the figure before him was just a fragment of the shadow monarch's memories, but the insane level of power oozing out from a simple glare made jin-woo shudder.

just then, countless galaxies and planets flew past jin-woo's eyes and eventually, the footage stopped at a certain planet.

"we went searching for a new world for the sake of building our army," the shadow monarch spoke.

"earth?" jin-woo asked.

"that is correct. to the humans, the appearance of the monarchs must have seemed very unprecedented. their annihilation was inevitable."

jin-woo's expression hardened as he watched the cities get reduced to smouldering rubble. he found himself seeing the same scenery before and remembered the demon's castle.