"You're not from here…" A charming voice echoed, drawing Ashborn's attention. His gaze landed on a beautiful goth girl who was sizing him up with a curious expression. For a split second, he was caught off guard by her beauty, but he quickly snapped back to reality when he realized who she was.
"Death?" he asked, his voice laced with disbelief.
This wasn't the Marvel Universe's Death—no, she was different. This was Death of the Endless, a being that shouldn't even be here.
"At your pleasure," she said with a friendly smile. "You seem to be from next door. It's been a while since I've been there."
"What?" Ashborn asked, momentarily speechless.
Death nodded. "I stopped by Rick Jones and Marlo Chandler's wedding… but that's not important. What's impressive is that you somehow passed through the barriers of our two worlds and only suffered such light injuries."
Ashborn's eye twitched. Light injuries? He was in a half-dead state, barely clinging to existence. What part of that was impressive?
"Weird…" he muttered, watching as Death's form began to shift, twisting and distorting in ways that made his mind reel.
Death paused, her eyes widening as she realized what was happening. Ashborn wasn't just seeing her—he was seeing through her chosen form. The illusion of a charming goth girl wavered, and for the first time, his evolving mind caught a glimpse of her true form.
The sight horrified him.
For all his power, for everything he had seen, nothing could have prepared him for this. This wasn't just a personification of death—it was Death itself in its purest, most incomprehensible state. It was a concept given form, a force beyond time, beyond space, beyond anything his mortal mind had ever been able to grasp.
For the Death standing before Ashborn wasn't the weak Death found in Marvel—the one that merely governed the process of the living dying. No, the being before him was The End itself.
She had been there at the beginning of the DC Universe, and she would be there at its final breath. When anything ended, be it a thought, an era, a relationship, a life, or even something as small as a fleeting moment, it was because of her. She was the end, the ultimate finality, the force that closed the book on all things.
And such a being now stood before him.
For the first time in a long time, something made Ashborn's very soul tremble. The sheer weight of her existence, the sheer concept of what she was, threatened to crush him under its presence. But then, his fists clenched. He suppressed that fear.
Why? Because his potential was limitless—so limitless that one day, he would rule over the end itself. That endpoint, that darkness, that finality… was that not his destiny?
Why should he fear the end, when one day, he would reign over it?
"W-what's this?" Death stepped back, genuinely shocked by the darkness exploding off Ashborn.
The [Shadow Monarch Force]—it hadn't just grown stronger… No, stronger wasn't the right word anymore. As Ashborn gazed into Death itself, grasping even a fraction of its secrets, how could his mastery of his own power remain stagnant?
His very being evolved in that moment.
Ashborn straightened, eyes gleaming with newfound understanding. "I'm Ashborn Blackheart, the future overlord of the primordial void. It was a pleasure meeting you!"
With those words, the dark world shattered.
A heartbeat later, Ashborn's eyes snapped open, only to find himself lying in what looked like a hospital room.
[Due to unforeseen events, the host has found himself outside of the Marvel Omniverse… The system has decided to remain with the host and is currently charging energy to send the host back home.
The host has suffered serious injuries from battling the end storm… All stats have been suppressed, and every ounce of energy is being used to keep the host alive. Restoring full strength…
The host has grasped Death of the Endless and witnessed the end itself… The host's [Shadow Monarch Force] has evolved. Having seen the birth and end of all sets of infinity, shadows will no longer be measured in multipliers of their former strength. Instead, they will bathe in the host's power to grow, just as the host will bathe in their strength to evolve in turn.
(Note: This does not mean the host and all shadows will be equal in power. Rather, it places both on the same level of infinity, albeit with many limitations. However, as the host is currently outside of the Marvel-verse, this ability is locked until further notice.)]
[Mission Complete: [Gorr the God Butcher]
Objective: Kill the Evolved God Butcher within the given time.
Reward: [3x 100% Shadow Extraction Chances],
[Mission Complete: [He Has Awakened]
Objective: Survive or kill the Eldritch God of Darkness.
Reward: [Depends on Success]
[Mission Complete: [The Void's Will]
Objective: Survive the Void's attempt to devour you.
Reward: [Depends on Success]
[Reward for the {He Has Awakened} quest: [Undying Shadows]]
[Undying Shadows] – You are now the core of all your shadows' existence. If any shadow is ever killed or erased, they will return to you, and in one week, they will be fully reformed and ready for battle once more.
[Reward for the {The Void's Will} quest: [Evolution into a Mutated Monarch Race]]
Race: Monarch
Description: As one of the two races created by the Absolute Being in the Solo Leveling universe, the Monarchs are among the strongest beings in existence, surpassed only by the gods. Their strength scales at a universal level, making them incredibly powerful.
However, this race is not without flaws. Due to their mana-based biology and lack of organic forms, Monarchs cannot freely cross into the human world without a suitable human vessel—a trait they share with the Rulers. Unlike the Rulers, however, Monarchs fully possess their vessels, stealing their bodies for their own use.
While this technique allows Monarchs to exert their full power in the human world, it also means that if their human vessel is slain, the Monarch perishes as well.
'Monarchs are weak compared to the Marvel world. They would struggle to destroy a single dimension, considering how many extra dimensions and realities a single universe contains,' Ashborn thought as he reviewed the information before him. His gaze shifted to the sea of mutations available for selection.