'Is there something you're trying to warn me about Didi?' Arthur asked.
'Your crusade against the beings of darkness is a noble thing. But it attracted the attention of those of light long ago... much like us the endless. And the Rulers, who are but a lesser version of the Silver City. They have already made their own judgment. Now we await the others, the real deal to make their own judgement.'
She paused.
'When it comes, I'll put in a good word for you with the Presence.'
Arthur laughed a quiet, genuine sound. 'You think I'm not a match for Michael? That my Shadow Army is nothing in the face of the might of the Silver City?'
Didi was quiet for a moment. 'I'm no fighter. I can't say much about it.'
Arthur nodded slowly. 'Thank you for your honesty.'
'Always, Arthur.' she teased.
The battle raged on.
It took time, more time than any of the Monarchs had anticipated. The heavenly soldiers fought with a ferocity that bordered on fanaticism, their discipline unbroken even as their numbers dwindled. But the Monarchs' armies did not break. They did not falter or retreat.
They simply kept fighting.
And every time a heavenly soldier fell, a new Shadow Soldier rose.
The tide turned slowly, then quickly, then all at once. The heavenly host, which had descended from the sky like an endless storm, was now a ragged remnant, its formations broken, its soldiers scattered. The Monarchs' armies pressed their advantage.
Superman landed in the center of the battlefield, his eyes carrying a deep, unshakable sadness. He had fought for the entire time. He had held back. He had tried, with every word, every gesture, every moment of mercy to reach the heavenly soldiers.
None had listened. None had laid down their arms and gave up.
He looked at the battlefield at the bodies of the fallen, at the shadows rising from them, at the cost of the victory they had won.
Then he looked away and returned to where Arthur stood.
Arthur was no longer on the plateau. He had descended to the battlefield itself, his cosmic shadow armor gleaming in the dying light, his violet eyes fixed on the remnants of the Rulers' army. The heavenly soldiers who had survived the battle were scattered across the plains, their wings broken, their light-helberds shattered, their formations destroyed.
They looked up at Arthur with wide eyes.
Arthur closed his eyes, for a moment, there was silence.
Then he opened them, violet fire blazing, bright enough to be seen from every corner of the battlefield.
"ARISE. "
The word echoed across the plains like a thunderclap.
And the remaining fallen rose.
Heavenly soldiers who had died in battle, thousands rose from the ground as shadows. Their wings were dark mirrors of the ones they had possessed in life. Their armor was black as night and their eyes burned with violet fire.
They stood in perfect formation, waiting for their new monarch's command.
The few surviving heavenly soldiers stared in horror.
Arthur looked at them. His voice was calm, quiet, but it carried across the entire battlefield.
"Your masters knew of this defeat, yet they sent you to be claimed by Death."
"Go back to your masters and tell them what you saw here. Tell them that the Rulers are not the only ones who can command an endless army. Tell them to send another force against us, I will not stop at defeating them, and I will not spare the survivors again, until I reach them."
He paused, his eyes blazing.
"I will consume them."
The surviving heavenly soldiers fled, not through the wound in the sky, but through portals of their own making, desperate, terrified, broken.
Arthur watched them go.
Then he turned to his armies, the Shadow Legion, the ice elves, the beast-kin, the giants, the insectoid horrors, the demons, the Marshals, the Monarchs, and every soldier who had fought under his banner.
He raised his hand.
"This first battle is ours."
The armies roared as one.
.
.
.
The Sixth Dimension - The Rulers' Sanctum
The Rulers gathered watching the battle unfold, and then the vision had ended. The battle had been witnessed, the defeat had been absorbed.
And for the first time in eons, the Rulers were afraid, not of the Monarchs but of the single entity among them, the Shadow Monarch.
"The heavenly host is defeated," one of them said finally, "We expected defeat, but not like this.."
"We provided him with reinforcments," another corrected. "Converted. Every soldier that fell rose again as one of his, and he didn't even take part in the battle."
"He turned our own army against us, much like Ashborn's tactics, we must reconsider our approach next time."
Silence fell across the chamber.
Then, a voice older than the others.
"This is not what we anticipated."
"No. We anticipated the Shadow Monarch fighting us with everything he had." A pause. "We did not anticipate him not taking part in the battle, we hoped that he would at least tire himself, even for a bit."
"He is not just the Shadow Monarch anymore. He is Death itself. The concept made flesh. The end of all things with life." The voice trembled just slightly, just enough to be noticed. "This... this is different from Ashborn, I hope you all realize that this person would not think twice about killing us, so we should consider the same, it is time for that power to be extinguished from existence, he is a danger to all life."
"We cannot defeat him with soldiers. Not with the heavenly host. Not with any army we can field. He will simply take them, one by one, and add them to his own forces."
"Then what do we do?"
"We unleash that."
The chamber seemed to darken, the light dimming as the words hung in the air.
"The one we have kept hidden. The one we swore never to use."
A pause.
"It will kill the others. The new Monarchs, the ones he created, the ones he trusts. It will tear through them like nothing. It will destroy his Marshals to the point that he would recall them because it will consume his mana, and it will devastate his armies. It may even wound him."
"May?"
"It may wound him. We do not know. We have never faced a being like him before. We have never faced Death itself." The voice hardened. "But even if it cannot kill him, it will kill everything around him. It will take from him everything he has built. And then, only then will he understand the cost of defying order."
Silence.
"Can it truly do that? Can it truly wound the Shadow Monarch? You know that we cannot control it once it is free, this is serious."
"That thing was forged in the darkness that existed before the light. It is as old as the World Tree, it is... wrong. A mistake that should never have been made. A weapon that should never have been wielded."
"And we are going to use it, now? This soon?"
"We have no choice. If we do not, he will come for us. He will tear down our realm, shatter our sanctum, and scatter our essence across the void. He will not stop until we are nothing but a memory, and even that memory will be forgotten."
A long pause.
"Then we unleash it and we pray, to whatever truly higher being may still be listening, that it is enough."
The chamber fell silent, and somewhere, in the depths of the Rulers' sanctum, something ancient stirred, a thing that had been sleeping for eons, a being that should have stayed asleep and would have been better left forgotten
.
.
.
The Dragon Monarch stood on a ridge of black stone, far from the battlefield, far from the armies, far from everything that had just happened.
His red hair moved in the wind, each strand glowing with the light of living flame. His draconic armor glowed with the same color, his eyes piercing, serpentine, with dark slits were fixed on the horizon.
And he was smiling.
It was the smile of a being who had been waiting for this moment for a very, very long time.
Behind him, a dragon landed, one of his lieutenants.
"My King," the dragon rumbled. "The battle is over. The Shadow Monarch has won."
"I know," the Dragon Monarch said. "I was watching as well."
"The Rulers' army was destroyed. Their heavenly soldiers were consumed just like you said, it seems we can't join in just yet."
"I know."
"The Shadow Monarch did not even fight. He simply stood there and let his armies do the work. And when they were done, he raised the dead and turned them into his own soldiers."
"Pretty nice."
The dragon hesitated. "Then... what do we do?"
The Dragon Monarch turned, his smile widening.
"Nothing."
"But, my King.."
"The Rulers will not accept this defeat. They will not simply retreat and lick their wounds. They will unleash something." He paused, his smile sharpening. "I want to see what it is."
The dragon's eyes widened. "You want to see what they unleash? Even if it threatens the Shadow Monarch?"
"Especially if it threatens the Shadow Monarch." The Dragon Monarch laughed a low. "The Rulers are foolish. They think their weapon, whatever it is, will give them a chance.." He paused. "But they do not understand what he has become, what we became."
"And what has he become, my King?"
The Dragon Monarch's smile didn't waver. "He has become Death. The end of all things. The one certainty that even the gods cannot escape." He turned back toward the horizon, his gaze fixed on something only he could see. "And they think they can kill Death? A being with no end in sight?"
He laughed again, louder this time.
"They are fools. But they are useful fools. Let them exhaust themselves against him. Let them unleash their weapon, whatever it may be. Let them believe, for a moment that they have a chance."
"And then?"
The Dragon Monarch's eyes blazed.
"And then, when they are spent, when their weapon is broken, when they are on the verge of destruction... I will arrive. I will claim what is mine. And I will end this war on my terms, you should also remember your assignment, you are not to join unless there is a clear winning side."
The dragon bowed its head. "As you command, my King."
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