**Prologue: When the Shadow Was Split**
Long ago, when the war between Monarchs and Rulers reached its end, the universe teetered on the edge of annihilation. Ashborn, the Shadow Monarch, the King of the Dead, had forged victory with his undying army and passed his power onto a human—the one known in legends as Sung Jinwoo.
But in this timeline, something went wrong.
Ashborn never found his successor. The System—his last invention to locate a suitable vessel—malfunctioned. Whether due to cosmic interference, the will of the Absolute Being, or sabotage by the Antarims, no one knew. The result was simple: the Shadow Monarch's power fractured into thousands of shards and scattered across the cosmos.
And the shards did not choose wisely.
Each of the remaining Monarchs seized fragments of shadow power. The Rulers, once beacons of divine order, were tainted by death and ambition. Even the mysterious Antarims, watching from their higher dimension, descended with their otherworldly minds driven mad by their sudden bond with death itself.
Earth, once protected, became the battleground. The sky turned black with wings of shadow. Colossal beasts cloaked in smoke marched across continents. Cities crumbled beneath the feet of warring god-kings.
From the ashes, the world whispered the name of a forgotten legend.
Sung Jinwoo.
Only one hope remained: a child born in secret, marked by a whisper of Jinwoo's will. Not power—but **will**. The last remnant of the original Shadow Monarch.
Their journey begins now.