The problem wasn't ignorance.
It was scale.
Jinyoung stood at the center of a shattered observation hall, light from fractured stars filtering through broken dimensional glass. Around him, countless projections hovered—records salvaged from fallen worlds, battlefields frozen in time, and echoes torn from dying universes.
This wasn't history.
This was preparation.
"We can't fight what we don't understand," Haru said, his voice steady as arcane symbols rotated around his hands. "If Monarchs and Rulers move… their armies will follow."
Riku leaned against a broken pillar, arms crossed. "And if we're wrong about even one of them, we die."
Riyomi didn't speak. She watched the projections with the focus of a killer memorizing targets.
Jinyoung exhaled slowly.
This is what they've been fighting toward…
Monarchs — Concepts of Chaos
The first projection stabilized.
A battlefield reduced to dust.
At its center stood a colossal figure wrapped in collapsing matter.
Anthony — Monarch of Destruction
Entire worlds burned simply by existing near him.
"Annihilation," Haru muttered. "Not fire. Not explosions. Erasure through force."
His army manifested next—Desolators.
Skeletal dragons falling from the sky.
Molten giants cracking continents.
Knights burning from within.
"When they die," Riku said grimly, "they explode."
Jinyoung clenched his fist.
Direct confrontation means mutual destruction.
Another projection.
An ocean of rot.
Quuerasha — Monarch of Plagues
Blightborn swarmed endlessly—infected humanoids, crawling parasites, living diseases.
"They multiply mid-battle," Riyomi said flatly. "Every wound is a loss."
Metal eclipsed the view.
Tarnak — Monarch of Iron
An army that didn't bleed.
Golems reforging themselves.
Titans absorbing fallen weapons.
Machines that adapted with every strike.
"Magic resistance," Haru said. "Physical immunity. A wall that marches."
The temperature dropped.
Yogumont — Monarch of Frost
Frozen mana streams shattered like glass.
Glacials moved in silence—wolves, giants, undead locked in eternal stillness.
"Mana suppression," Riku said. "Fighting him slows you down until you stop moving."
Jinyoung felt a chill.
Silad's influence…
Beasts followed.
Rakan — Monarch of Beasts
No tactics.
No formations.
Only overwhelming instinct.
"They don't retreat," Riyomi noted. "They overwhelm."
Stone and crystal formed mountains that moved.
Harold Hadrada — Monarch of Stone
Titans evolved mid-battle, absorbing minerals, reshaping themselves.
"He grows stronger the longer a fight lasts," Haru said.
Lightning tore the sky.
Kaelor — Monarch of Storms
Tempestborn warped across the battlefield—teleporting, chaining lightning, tearing formations apart.
"Unstable," Riku said. "But fast."
Jinyoung noticed something else.
Kaelor never attacked alone.
Mirrored realities overlapped.
Elyndra — Monarch of Echoes
Battles replayed themselves.
Enemies duplicated.
Future possibilities overlapped present action.
Riyomi frowned. "You don't fight her once. You fight her outcomes."
Darkness swallowed light.
Mireth — Monarch of Shadows
Shadeborn assassins erased entire squads before alarms sounded.
"No battlefield," Riyomi said quietly. "Only executions."
Chains descended from nowhere.
Vorlath — Monarch of Chains
Enemies immobilized mid-thought.
Mana bound.
Movement restricted.
Will crushed.
"He doesn't kill quickly," Riku said. "He owns you."
Ash fell like snow.
Seraphyx — Monarch of Ash
Worlds burned—and were reborn just to burn again.
"They resurrect," Haru said. "Purification through destruction."
Finally—
The projection faltered.
A void without shape.
Yogaroth — Monarch of the Abyss
No clear army formation.
Only evolving shadows.
Devouring undead.
Beasts that adapted instantly.
Soldiers that rose again stronger.
Jinyoung felt his Duality stir uneasily.
This is what I inherited…
Rulers — Concepts of Order
The tone shifted.
The battlefield stabilized.
Solarius — Radiance
Light exposed corruption. Lies burned away.
"Judgement through revelation," Haru said.
Arctyron — Gravity
Planets crushed into weapons.
Entire armies pinned by mass alone.
Valerion — Life
Forests reclaimed ruined worlds.
Soldiers healed mid-combat.
Zephyriel — Wind
Speed. Freedom. Storm control.
"He counters Kaelor," Riku noted. "Not through force. Through motion."
Chronaxis — Time
Timelines reinforced.
Causality repaired.
"You don't beat him," Riyomi said. "You fail to reach him."
Aetherion — Mana
Mana itself obeyed.
Spells denied. Systems rewritten.
Umbrael — Souls
Reincarnation stabilized.
Memories guarded.
Jinyoung felt a faint pull—then resistance.
Seraphel — Judgement
Law made manifest.
Execution without hesitation.
A Missing Piece
The projections ended.
Silence followed.
Haru frowned. "Something's wrong."
"What?" Riku asked.
"There should be balance," Haru said slowly. "But something is… missing."
Riyomi narrowed her eyes. "A role unfilled."
Jinyoung felt it too.
A gap where something vital once stood.
Not destroyed.
Removed.
He said nothing.Resolution
They shut down the archive.
Not because they had answers—
—but because they had enough to survive.
For now.
As they stepped back into fractured space, Jinyoung thought:
Monarchs chase transcendence.
Rulers chase control.
And the multiverse bleeds between them.
Whatever the Absolute Being was…
It left behind a war that never ended.They were about to leave when the archive reacted.
Not violently.
Not defensively.
Mournfully.
A final projection flickered to life on its own.
Jinyoung froze.
"This one wasn't activated," Haru said slowly.
The image stabilized.
A vast, endless expanse appeared—an ocean made not of water, but of light and drifting silhouettes.
Souls.
Countless souls.
They flowed gently toward a distant horizon where a colossal structure loomed.
A tree.
Its roots stretched endlessly into the void.
Its branches pierced dimensions.
"…The World Tree," Riku whispered.
Jinyoung felt a pressure in his chest he couldn't explain.
Baran — The One Who Carried the Dead
A figure appeared beneath the tree.
White flames burned around him—not destructive, not cruel.
Calm.
Balanced.
Baran.
Not the demonized echo known in some worlds.
Not a corrupted remnant.
But the original.
"This record predates the current Monarch hierarchy," Haru said, voice hushed. "He wasn't just a Monarch."
Baran walked along the shore of the glowing sea.
Souls followed him.
When he raised his hand, they crossed safely into the depths—vanishing peacefully.
"The Sea of Rest… or Rebirth," Haru continued. "A transitional domain."
Riyomi's eyes narrowed. "He guided them."
"Yes," Haru said. "He wasn't a weapon. He was a function."
A necessary one.
A Monarch Too Important to Exist
The projection shifted.
War.
Anthony.
Destruction incarnate.
Baran stood before him, white flames steady.
Not attacking.
Blocking.
Holding.
Riku clenched his fists. "Why would Anthony kill him?"
Haru answered grimly.
"Because Baran had potential."
The record fractured, but meaning bled through.
Baran was neither fully chaotic nor fully ordered.
He embodied transition.
Life to death.
Death to rest.
Rest to rebirth.
"A Monarch acknowledged by the Rulers," Haru said quietly.
"That alone made him dangerous."
Anthony struck.
White flames clashed against annihilation.
And for a moment—
Baran held.
Then he fell.
The Consequence No One Talks About
The Sea trembled.
Souls scattered.
The World Tree flickered.
The archive showed aftermaths across countless universes:
Souls lingering too long
Reincarnations delayed
Spirits rotting
Worlds destabilizing
Riyomi whispered, "So that's why…"
Haru nodded. "The Rulers intervened."
Not with a replacement.
But with a law.
A spell woven into reality itself.
A system.
A rule that mimicked Baran's role.
"It works," Haru said. "But it's artificial."
Riku swallowed. "Meaning if it fails…"
"Everything collapses."
Yogaroth's Exception
The projection shifted again.
Anthony advanced.
Another figure stood in his path.
Yogaroth.
Younger.
Sharper.
Unawakened.
But vast.
Anthony attacked.
The image distorted—then skipped.
Yogaroth remained.
Unharmed.
Not victorious.
But untouched.
Jinyoung's breath caught.
"…Why didn't Anthony kill him?" Riku asked.
The archive answered with a single line:
INTERVENTION CONFIRMED
ERASURE DENIED
Haru stiffened.
"Someone… or something… prevented it."
Jinyoung felt his Duality stir violently.
Yogazoth.
But he said nothing.
Some truths were dangerous even to think.
Closing
The archive shut down permanently.
No more records.
No more answers.
They stood in silence.
Finally, Riyomi spoke.
"So Monarchs aren't just conquerors."
Riku nodded slowly. "They're replacements. Pieces of a broken system."
Haru exhaled. "And some pieces were never meant to be removed."
Jinyoung looked toward the fading image of the World Tree.
If Baran was necessary…
And Yogaroth was protected…
Then the war wasn't random.
It was structural failure.
And somewhere—
Something was still holding reality together.
Barely.