After crossing over into the dimension rift, Jin-Woo picked up a habit he didn't have on the outside. Recording what he saw and heard each day in a notebook. It wasn't anything as grand as wanting to leave a written account of his fierce battles with the Monarchs. The dimension rift was a complete void of nothingness, similar to the Resting World. This world of emptiness, where only endless darkness existed, was so desolate it was hard to endure when no battles were taking place. But it wasn't solely because he had nothing to do. Through the experience of living through the same time once more, Jin-Woo realized that his perspective on the same things could change as time passed. He learned that as time went by, things he hadn't noticed before would come into view. So. He wondered what it would feel like, far into the future when his memories had faded, to read the records he'd left here. Would he be embarrassed that he'd kept a diary? Or would he regret not having done a better job? Or perhaps he'd come to miss this wretched war. That was why he kept a "diary" in his spare moments. *Scribble, scribble.* In the endless darkness, only the sound of a pen scratching across a notebook echoed quietly. As Jin-Woo was writing down today's entry, he suddenly let out a soft laugh.
'...No matter what, there's no way I'd ever miss what happened here.'
When Jin-Woo looked up, countless monster corpses lay strewn about as far as the eye could see. Once again. Jin-Woo had won the battle against the Monarchs, and had captured the "Monarch of the Rift" who had been causing him so much grief. Twenty-seven years since coming to the dimension rift. Finally, this long, tedious, and brutal fight was beginning to show its end. The only enemies remaining were the Dragon Emperor and his direct soldiers, the "Legion of Ruin." At the thought that he might finally be able to go home, his heart fluttered with a light beat.
'It's a good thing time flows differently here than on the outside.'
Probably about two years had passed on the outside. A reunion after two years. How much would Jin-A have changed? How were his mother and father doing? Should he have explained the situation better before leaving? Various worries flitted briefly through his mind.
'No.'
Jin-Woo shook his head as if to shake off his thoughts. Now was the time to focus on decorating the final page of this "diary." Just then, Bellion approached and bowed before Jin-Woo.
[My liege, the cleanup is fully complete. There are no enemies left breathing.]
Jin-Woo looked around. The shadow soldiers who had returned after sweeping the entire battlefield and finishing off any survivors stood in endless rows, awaiting Jin-Woo's next command. *Gooooh—* He had long since given up trying to count his soldiers. Jin-Woo smiled and closed the diary.
"Good."
After storing the diary and pen in his pocket dimension storage, Jin-Woo climbed down from the mountain of corpses he'd been sitting on and stood on the ground. Now it was time. The ultimate rival he had always wanted to face again. It was time to go meet the one who had handed him his very first defeat after becoming the Shadow Monarch. Even though the Rulers' interference had flipped the result, Jin-Woo had clearly been defeated by the Dragon Emperor in that fight.
'...I won't lose a second time.'
A fierce, icy light poured from Jin-Woo's eyes. His heart, which had only fluttered lightly at the thought that the day of returning home was near, now pounded so hard his ears ached. *Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.* Suddenly, while listening to his own heartbeat, Jin-Woo thought that perhaps, after a truly long time had passed, there might come a day when he'd miss this fight after all. Jin-Woo turned toward the direction where he could sense the Dragon Emperor's energy. With the soldiers who would join the final battle.
"Rise."
At the Shadow Monarch's command, shadows equal in number rose up beside the countless corpses strewn about. Behind Jin-Woo, the three Legion Commanders—Bellion, Beru, and Igrit—stood in line with their subordinate commanders behind them. Behind them waited a force large enough to blanket an entire continent.
'...'
Though there should have been no wind in this place, a faint breeze seemed to blow—the wind that heralded the end of a war. Jin-Woo closed his eyes and quietly drew a breath. And when he opened them again, a single phrase to end the war fell from his lips.
"We're going to take down the Dragon Emperor."
* * *
The Dragon Emperor felt it too. He could sense a force so massive it was hard to even guess its scale heading his way. When had it started? The Shadow Monarch, who had been gradually picking off troops from the edges of the Legion and continuing his hit-and-run tactics, had now begun to engage head-on with his full force. The Legion that had been chasing him had now reversed roles and was being chased by him. Among the scattered Legions, only the Legion of Ruin remained. So it wasn't particularly difficult to predict where the Shadow Monarch's gaze would land last. The final battle. He had never imagined that a clash between Monarch and Monarch—one that was not a fight against the Rulers—would decide the end, but as the battle to crown everything, it wasn't bad. Did his blood not boil even now when he recalled the battle against the Shadow Monarch decades ago?
'...'
One of his subordinates cautiously approached the Dragon Emperor, who stood still, gazing in one direction.
[Dragon Emperor...]
The Dragon Emperor, arms crossed, answered immediately.
[Yogremt has fallen.]
The subordinate briefly looked surprised at the news that the Monarch of the Rift had fallen, then bowed his head again.
[Then perhaps we should move further away from them...]
[No.]
The Dragon Emperor bared his teeth, revealing a fierce killing intent.
[He's sick of us showing our backs too. We fight them here.]
They had spent over twenty years hunting down the Monarchs' forces. There was no way he'd give them time to regroup. If he couldn't escape their encirclement, he would meet fire with fire and settle it right here. That was the choice befitting the king of the Destruction Dragons.
[Prepare for battle!]
At the Monarch's single command, the entire Legion of Ruin assumed combat formation. *KRAAAAAAH—!* The ancient dragons, the dragons, the dragonfolk, and even the wyverns they rode all raised their heads and roared.
'Here they come!'
The Dragon Emperor turned his head toward the direction where the massive movement of power had been detected. The reason the Legion had fallen to a single Shadow Monarch was clear.
'...Mobility.'
The mobility of the shadow army that the Shadow Monarch could summon at will—no matter how close they got, they could vanish in an instant, and no matter how far away they were, they could appear in an instant. The Dragon Emperor was now witnessing that reason with his own eyes. From the darkness, the Shadow Monarch slowly rose into view. And at the same time, hundreds of thousands of enormous black soldiers lined up behind him. The Shadow Monarch! The combined might of him and the Shadow Army arrayed behind him was enough to make even the Dragon Emperor sick with dread. After decades of war, this was the mightiest army he had amassed. *Kahaha—!* Facing them, the Dragon Emperor burst into a hearty laugh.
[Impressive. Truly impressive, O King of Shadows.]
Many against few. The situation was the complete opposite of when they first met.
[To think a single one of you could shake an entire Legion to its core. I never imagined you'd come this far.]
Clad in pitch-black armor, the Shadow Monarch stared at him in silence. The arrogance he once had was gone, replaced by a quiet weight in its place. The Shadow Monarch now radiated a far more formidable presence than before. *Twitch. Twitch.* The Dragon Emperor's body trembled with excitement before such a powerful rival. He wanted to tear him apart. To rip him to shreds and swallow him whole, over and over. The nature of the Destruction Dragon writhed within the Dragon Emperor. But it was still far too early to determine whether this was a festival or a punishment. He wanted to savor this trembling anticipation just a little longer.
[One thing I want to ask.]
He did still have things he wanted to ask, after all.
[Why did the Rulers use the 'Cup of Reincarnation'? Why did they revive the dead Monarchs and their soldiers?]
He had clearly been killed that day by the Rulers' hands. The pain of the spears that had pierced his entire body was still vivid. The Legion, having lost its commander, would have crumbled soon after, and with that, the long war between the Monarchs and the Rulers would have drawn its curtain. The Rulers' victory. A total defeat that left not even a shred of an excuse for the Monarchs. But. For reasons unknown, they had revived all the Monarchs, including himself. By using the 'Cup of Reincarnation' to turn back time. Since that day until now, he had thought countless times about the Rulers' intentions, but he couldn't even begin to guess. So there was no choice but to ask the Shadow Monarch, who had been with them at the time. And then.
[I wanted it.]
At the unexpected answer from the Shadow Monarch, the Dragon Emperor's eyes widened.
[What...?]
Jin-Woo slowly repeated, enunciating clearly so the Dragon Emperor could understand.
[I asked them to use the 'Cup of Reincarnation' because I wanted to kill all of you with my own hands.]
Crazy bastard! The Dragon Emperor barely held back the string of curses that surged up to his throat. To use even a divine tool to turn back time, just to fight ten million soldiers with a mere hundred thousand! It was absurd, but now all his questions were answered. The reason the Rulers had used the 'Cup of Reincarnation,' and why the Shadow Monarch had started running wild—they were not two separate matters.
"Haha... Ahahahahaha!"
The Dragon Emperor shook his head in disbelief and burst into a great laugh. The Shadow Monarch had voluntarily wished to fight the Legion again, and had succeeded in driving them into a corner, just as he'd wanted. Awe beyond awe. That was the only way the Dragon Emperor could express his sentiment toward the Shadow Monarch, who had nearly succeeded in a challenge that should have been impossible. The Shadow Monarch had finally arrived at the last hurdle of that challenge. Eat or be eaten. The Dragon Emperor wanted to know the name of the first opponent who would either be devoured by him or devour him.
[My name is Antares.]
He told the Shadow Monarch his true name—one he had been granted by the Absolute Sovereign but had never told anyone.
[That is my name.]
It was because he wanted to know the Shadow Monarch's name as well. The Dragon Emperor asked with a more serious expression than he'd ever worn.
[What is your name?]
The Shadow Monarch—Jin-Woo—answered the Dragon Emperor's final question.
[Sung Jin-Woo.]
And then he said, as if to indicate there would be no further exchange.
[Got anything else to say?]
From atop Jin-Woo's shoulders, the power of death—pitch-black aura—crept upward grotesquely. In the dimension rift, which resembled the Resting World, it was even easier to draw out the power of death. The shadow soldiers, attuned to the Monarch's power, also raised their fighting spirit. *UWAAAAAAAHHHH—!* The entire Shadow Army surged. Watching them, the Dragon Emperor's lips curled upward.
'Anything else to say, huh.'
With such a magnificent feast spread out endlessly before his eyes, what more was there to say?
[...Nothing.]
The Dragon Emperor transformed into a blazing dragon, and Jin-Woo stood before him as a black giant. Mountain against mountain. The two colossal beings glared at each other before the final battle. For just a moment. *KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH—!* The Dragon Emperor unleashed a roar that shook the dimension, and the entire Legion of Ruin charged. Compared to that, Jin-Woo simply pointed forward in silence. In that instant, nearly ten million soldiers surged into motion. Almost simultaneously, Jin-Woo also sprinted toward the Dragon Emperor at full speed. The end of a long fight. Who knew how eagerly he had awaited this reunion with the Dragon Emperor just to see it through. A chilling light gathered in the Dragon Emperor's mouth. It was time to show how the experience before turning back time, and the long battle fought here, had changed him. All of time slowed, and in Jin-Woo's vision, only he and the Dragon Emperor remained. Slowly, as a flash of annihilation burst forth, Jin-Woo's fist, laden with black aura, shot forward. And so, once again, light and darkness collided within the dimension rift.