"What the hell!!??" Kristella shouted at Avallon, her voice violently echoing throughout the chamber while Legion and Mercy hurried over to help Cannon and Chelsea up from the ground, both of them still battered from the aftermath of the battle.
"I thought you said our actions wouldn't attract the Dragon Monarch!?!?" she yelled again, fury rapidly boiling over inside her as she stepped closer toward him.
Avallon neither moved nor responded.
The silence only worsened her anger.
Legion, Mercy, Cannon, and Chelsea slowly walked forward to stand beside Kristella, while Viroth and Eclipser joined them a few moments later after exchanging wary glances between themselves.
"Hello??" Kristella snapped again, her jaw tightening as she stared directly at Avallon. "Are you just going to ignore us?"
For several long seconds, the room remained completely silent.
Then, finally—"It was according to plan," Avallon said calmly.
Kristella stared at it in disbelief before immediately stepping forward again. "How?" she demanded. "If Chelsea and I had hesitated for even a second, both of them would've been killed. How exactly was that part of your plan?" Her eyes narrowed sharply. "And what's worse is that he knows now. The Dragon Monarch is aware Humans of Ruin exist out here."
Avallon remained still. "You do not understand it now," it said quietly, "but in due time, all will know."
A faint trace of uncertainty lingered beneath its voice, though none of them recognized it.
Then, one aspect appeared beside him.
Then another.
And another.
Until the number of aspects surrounding him perfectly mirrored the number of people within Kristella's group.
"Rest assured," Avallon continued calmly, "everything within my plan will come to fruition. The birth of the Barrier Queen is only one year away."
Without another word, the aspects began escorting the group out of the room and into the hallway beyond, where they remained stationed silently outside the chamber doors like lifeless guards watching over prisoners rather than allies.
Kristella clicked her tongue in irritation before turning sharply and beginning to walk away, the others following shortly behind her.
"That's a load of bullshit," Cannon muttered bitterly, causing everyone except Eclipser and Viroth to nod in agreement almost immediately.
"Agreed," Mercy said coldly. "Does he genuinely take us for idiots?"
"Honestly, I'm sick of him," Kristella snapped. "He claims to be 'All-Knowing,' yet half the things he says never even happen."
Chelsea, Cannon, Mercy, and Legion all nodded again in shared frustration.
Meanwhile, Viroth merely glanced sideways toward Eclipser, whose expression remained unreadable beneath the dim hallway lighting.
The seven of them continued walking down the corridor leading toward their rooms, the atmosphere around them tense and heavy with growing distrust.
Chelsea and Cannon stepped into their room first before shutting the door behind them, while Legion and Mercy quietly disappeared into theirs shortly afterward.
Kristella let out a long sigh before entering her own room without another word, leaving only Viroth and Eclipser standing alone within the hallway.
The two looked toward one another briefly before silently continuing toward the very end of the corridor where their room awaited them.
Once inside, Eclipser shut the door behind them and locked it immediately.
Viroth moved toward the desk positioned near the corner of the room and sat down slowly, while Eclipser laid back across the bed with one arm behind his head.
For several moments, neither one spoke.
Then Viroth finally broke the silence.
"You know what this means, right?"
Eclipser tilted his head slightly before nodding once. "That Avallon doesn't actually know what he's doing?" he replied dryly.
A faint smirk of genuine amazement crossed Viroth's face.
"No," he said. "Though that is funny." He leaned forward slightly. "I'm talking about Alma... and the Cerberus and Cetus Monarchs."
Viroth quickly sketched something across a sheet of paper before holding it up.
"Don't you think it's strange?" he asked. "Avallon was able to predict the exact moment the Cerberus and Cetus Monarchs would strike—not a second early or late, but perfectly on time." His eyes narrowed slightly. "Yet somehow, he had no idea Alma was coming."
Eclipser remained silent for several seconds as he thought carefully.
"Because Alma exceeded his expectations?" he guessed.
"No," Viroth replied immediately, "though that's still a good theory." He held the sketch higher. "The Dragon Monarch must exist outside of whatever Avallon is capable of seeing."
Eclipser slowly sat upright now, his attention sharpening completely. "How so?"
Viroth leaned back slightly in his chair before answering.
"He accurately predicted when the Cerberus and Cetus Monarchs would arrive, and he even knew we ourselves would come here beforehand. He prepared rooms for us before we ever arrived." Viroth tapped the paper with one finger. "The only explanation for why Alma couldn't be seen through Avallon's ability is because he exists outside of it entirely."
Eclipser's eyes narrowed faintly. "Meaning..."
"He's truly unpredictable," Viroth finished quietly.
A silence settled briefly between them before Viroth continued. "And that isn't all."
Eclipser watched him carefully.
"The Chimera Monarch couldn't be detected either," Viroth said. "Which means one of two things. Either the Chimera Monarch is exactly like Alma and also exists outside of Avallon's perception..." He paused. "Or Alma has direct contact with him somehow, which prevents Avallon from seeing him as well."
Eclipser shook his head immediately. "Isn't that a bit of a stretch?" he asked skeptically. "Your first theory about Alma made sense, but now you're saying mere contact with him could make someone invisible to literal omniscience?"
"I know," Viroth admitted. "It sounds ridiculous. But it's the only explanation I can think of."
He leaned forward again. "You remember what powers Dragon Monarchs possess, right? We were both there when Keaton explained it."
Eclipser nodded slowly. "I remember."
The room grew quiet again before Eclipser suddenly spoke once more, though this time his voice carried something Viroth had never heard from him before.
Fear.
"What does that leave for us, then?" Eclipser asked quietly. "What hope is there against someone like Alma when he's basically a god compared to everyone else?" His head lowered slightly. "I'm starting to feel hopeless."
Viroth stared at him in genuine shock.
Eclipser was fearless. Rational. At times, even optimistic.
Since the very beginning of their existence, Viroth had never once seen him react this way toward anything. But they both understood the same terrifying truth.
The return of the Dragon Monarch was the single worst thing that could have happened to Beasts and Humans of Ruin alike. With each passing day, victory over humanity felt as though it slipped further and further from their reach.
Viroth lowered his gaze into his lap while silence slowly consumed the room once more. He understood exactly where Eclipser was coming from.
After witnessing the sheer overwhelming might of the Dragon Monarch, and after seeing the footage Kristella had shown them, it genuinely felt as though their lives had become nothing more than hiding in darkness and silence, constantly wondering whether Alma had already noticed them... or whether he simply hadn't acted yet.
They may have been monsters to humanity.
But Alma was a monster even to them.
He was unpredictable. Unforeseen. Impossible to prepare for.
A true monster among monsters.
And Viroth could not help but agree with Eclipser's thoughts.
Alma truly was a godlike existence compared to everyone else on the planet. Even Emmanuel—whose strength had once seemed untouchable—had now been surpassed to such an absurd degree that the comparison itself almost felt insulting.
"I don't know," Viroth admitted quietly at last, finally breaking the silence that had stretched between them for several minutes. "Honestly... I think he could just walk in here and kill every single one of us whenever he wants."
His eyes slowly drifted upward toward the ceiling. 'f we made peace with him... would he spare us?'
Then he looked back down at the sketch resting in his lap. 'No... that's too optimistic. After everything we've done... he'd kill us on sight.'
"But we're not going to stop, right?" Eclipser asked after letting out a long sigh. "That's been our purpose since our creation—to continue forward until our goal is achieved... or until we're destroyed."
Viroth smiled faintly, his eyes closing halfway. "Yeah..." he murmured softly. "We never will."
He stood from his chair and walked over toward the bed before sitting beside Eclipser.
"But honestly..." Viroth admitted quietly, "I feel like our deaths are much closer than we realize. Sometimes I wish I possessed omniscience myself... if only so I could know exactly when I die."
Eclipser nodded before laying back down against the bed again.
"That would actually be nice," he admitted. "I could avoid death over and over until I eventually got tired of living." Then he slowly turned his head toward Viroth.
"But I do have one question..." he said flatly.
Viroth raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Why are you in my bed?"
Viroth immediately wore an expression of exaggerated hurt, pressing a hand dramatically against his chest as though Eclipser had wounded him emotionally. "What? I can't cuddle with you now?" he asked in mock offense, his tone light despite the exhaustion lingering beneath it.
Eclipser stared at him flatly for a moment before one brow slowly raised. "Cuddle with me?" he repeated dryly, clearly unimpressed. "Are you seriously that upset right now, or do you just desperately want to be close to me for some reason?"
"A little bit of both," Viroth admitted without hesitation, his honesty so immediate that it almost caught Eclipser off guard.
Eclipser snorted quietly. "That's pretty gay, dude."
"We physically cannot have intercourse because neither of us possesses genitals," Viroth replied matter-of-factly, sounding almost offended by the accusation itself. "Sexual orientation literally does not apply to us. And besides, I'm not attracted to you." His voice lowered slightly then, becoming quieter and more genuine than before. "I just... need to be near someone I trust right now."
As he spoke, Viroth shifted closer before laying down beside Eclipser on the bed, exhaustion finally overtaking the constant sharpness in his expression. The earlier confidence he always carried had dulled significantly after everything involving Alma and Avallon, leaving behind something far more human beneath the surface.
Eclipser stared at the ceiling for a moment before sighing heavily and rolling onto his side slightly. "Whatever you say, Gay-roth," he muttered under his breath.
Viroth clicked his tongue in annoyance, though no real irritation existed behind it.
The room gradually fell silent afterward, the tension that had followed them since returning from the Ruin Zone slowly beginning to fade as the two rested beside one another. Neither spoke for several long minutes. The only sounds that remained were the faint breathing of the two.
Despite everything, the silence felt comforting.
For the first time since witnessing Alma's overwhelming existence, neither of them felt entirely alone in their fear.
Then suddenly, Viroth's eyes widened slightly as a thought struck him.
"Hold on..." he murmured, immediately sitting upward. "I think I just came up with something."
Eclipser tilted his head upward from the pillow, looking at him with mild curiosity. "And what exactly would that be?"
Viroth glanced briefly toward the ceiling, then toward the walls surrounding them, his expression becoming noticeably more cautious.
"I can't say it out loud," he answered quietly. "Avallon could very easily be listening to us right now."
Eclipser's duck slightly at that, as though he was wasting his time.
Then Viroth slowly smiled. "You'll see."
---
February 12th, 2033.
The conversation between Alma and Emmanuel remained strictly between the two of them, locked away behind the walls of the Oval Office with a weight neither man could ignore, because Alma had absolutely no intention of turning the President into an enemy, and even more than that, he intended to protect his children no matter what stood in his way. The way he handled the situation was far from what he personally wanted, but it had been enough to make the message unmistakably clear.
Emmanuel, the one forced to receive those words, understood the terrifying seriousness hidden behind every sentence Alma had spoken, because the world—let alone the United States—wouldn't benefit immensely from the revelation that Alma Alastor possessed complete resistance to the Ruin Zone. If such information truly became public knowledge, then who exactly would exist to contain him? Who could realistically stop him from simply continuing to live his life as he pleased? Emmanuel inwardly cringed as he remembered the things he himself had said during that discussion.
He would never attempt to kill Alma, not even if the entire world stood behind him demanding that he do so, because outside of both of them being Monarchs, he and Alma shared something far more important: the desire to remain free, or at least Emmanuel did. And even if they had not shared that ideal, he still would not sacrifice Alma's life merely to satisfy the paranoia of other nations, because Alma was genuinely a kind-hearted and respectable man, worthy of admiration rather than fear. Those other countries were far less honorable than him. In many ways, the entire situation reminded Emmanuel of his own brother—the previous Dragon Monarch, Sammuel.
Emmanuel slouched deeper into his chair, pressing a hand against his forehead as he thought about the future awaiting not only himself, but America and the world as a whole, because lately every single day felt as though a new apocalypse was slowly rising from the horizon, like a bomb whose timer endlessly ticked down without ever truly exploding.
"Sir? The Cerberus and Cetus Monarchs wish to speak with you," a woman's voice said through the speaker.
Emmanuel immediately straightened himself inside the chair and ran a hand through his hair in an effort to regain a more professional appearance. "Alright," he answered calmly. "Send them in."
A few seconds later, Ora and Montana stepped into the Oval Office before taking seats in the guest chairs opposite one another, and after only a brief silence, Ora spoke first.
"You know why we're here, right?"
Emmanuel rested his elbows against the desk and clasped his hands together in front of his mouth. "I have an idea," he replied carefully. "This is about your final evolution, correct? The Last Stage?"
Both Monarchs nodded immediately.
"Yeah, that's right," Montana answered. "We want to know everything about it."
Emmanuel raised a brow slightly. "Didn't your Mythical Beasts already explain it to you?"
"Well, yes," Montana admitted, "but you're not only older than us, you're also someone who has far more experience with the Last Stage itself. It's been well over a decade since you reached that evolution."
Ora nodded in agreement. "And we want to know what you personally did, and how we're supposed to best use our Dimensions."
"I understand," Emmanuel said, "but you do realize that your Dimensions cannot be refined any further, right? Once you've reached the Last Stage, there is nothing left to improve except for the abilities you already possessed beforehand."
Ora and Montana nodded once again.
"We understand that," Montana replied. "But we still need your guidance."
"Yeah," Ora muttered reluctantly. "And it honestly pains me to ask, so either accept already or just decline and get it over with."
A hearty laugh escaped Emmanuel at that response.
"Oh, good," he said with a smile directed toward Ora. "I was beginning to think reaching the Last Stage somehow changed your personality. Seems I was worrying for nothing."
Ora rolled his eyes slightly while Emmanuel continued speaking.
"I accept," Emmanuel said. "Though I won't physically be there to teach you all the time. Between being both the President and the Chimera Monarch, my schedule is already overwhelming enough as it is. That's exactly why I've never personally trained newly found out Monarchs before."
Emmanuel pulled a blank sheet of paper toward himself before beginning to write across it carefully, and once he finished, he placed the pen down before looking back toward the two Monarchs.
"I'll leave detailed instructions for both of you to follow," he explained while standing from behind the desk. "It's the best I can realistically do."
He walked around the desk and handed the paper directly to Montana before motioning for both Monarchs to follow him outside, and after several moments, the three of them arrived in the White House front yard before Emmanuel finally stopped walking.
"Because I'm the President, I can't stay away from the White House for very long," Emmanuel explained calmly. "And since we're only practicing Dimensions, there's no reason to relocate somewhere else."
Montana blinked in confusion while Ora looked equally puzzled. "Huh? There isn't?"
"That's right," Emmanuel answered. "In terms of raw destructive capability, Dimensions are actually very weak. Their true power doesn't come from destruction itself."
He looked between the two of them carefully.
"I'm sure you've noticed that whenever a Dimension collapses—which should always happen after its completion—it leaves absolutely no permanent damage on the surrounding terrain."
Ora nodded immediately, but Montana shook her head instead.
"You didn't notice that, Montana?" Emmanuel asked, visibly stunned.
"Not really," Montana admitted awkwardly. "I was basically unconscious the moment my Dimension shattered."
Emmanuel stared at her for a moment before exhaling slowly. "Wow... that's unusual. It must have been a near-death evolution, then. The most dangerous kind."
Ora immediately frowned. "Most dangerous? How?"
"Because it's also what you would call a forced evolution," Emmanuel explained. "You two may have naturally unlocked your Dimensions eventually, but during that life-or-death situation, both you and your Mythical Beasts accelerated your evolution dramatically in order to preserve your lives. Alma told me that you looked pretty bad, but I thought you unlocked your Dimensions before then."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"Anyway, that process generates an overwhelming amount of spiritual energy—far beyond what your bodies can normally produce, output, or withstand. And if you had failed to unlock your Dimensions, then that energy would have had nowhere to go..." Emmanuel's gaze darkened slightly. "And both of you would have died."
"Seriously!?" Ora and Montana shouted simultaneously.
"So it was basically a fifty-fifty gamble!?" Ora exclaimed.
"In reality... no," Emmanuel corrected calmly. "It was closer to eighty-twenty, with the twenty favoring both of you. It wasn't simply a gamble. It was a sacrifice. You were willing to exchange your own lives for the sake of protecting the very things that decision itself threatened to take away. Isn't that a cruel irony?"
Ora and Montana remained silent.
"Anyways," Emmanuel continued, "moving on to your Dimensions. Ora, we'll begin with yours first so that you can later help Montana understand her own more effectively as well."
"Actually," Ora interrupted, "we wanted to ask you something first, President."
"Dimension Creation: Immeasurable Abyss."
The moment Montana formed the sign for her Dimension, reality immediately cracked open behind her into a thin fracture slightly wider than her own body, and before Emmanuel could react further, the Dimension swallowed all three Monarchs whole before collapsing shut behind them.
The endless ocean of Immeasurable Abyss stretched infinitely in every direction beneath dark storm clouds, and Emmanuel found himself trapped in the water just beneath the surface, with only his head remaining above it while Ora stood beside Montana, both of them staring downward at him.
Emmanuel sighed quietly.
"I had a feeling you two wanted something more than simple training," he admitted calmly. "It never made sense that you would ask to refine something that fundamentally cannot be improved."
"We want answers about the Dragon Monarch," Montana said sternly.
"You've been hiding information about his abilities ever since what happened in the Ruin Zone," Ora added just as firmly. "We want the truth."
"There honestly isn't much to tell," Emmanuel answered. "He possesses no Monarch-related abilities outside of flight, and there doesn't appear to be any progression tied to those abilities either."
Montana stared at him blankly. "What...? You mean he's naturally that strong?"
"I mean exactly what I said," Emmanuel replied. "There is nothing to explain. Nothing that clarifies why he's immune to the Ruin Zone, why he possesses overwhelming strength even without abilities, or why he functions the way he does at all."
Emmanuel looked out across the endless ocean surrounding them.
"He's a blank canvas."
Montana and Ora looked toward one another after Emmanuel's explanation, yet neither of them spoke for several long seconds, both clearly trying to process the idea that the Dragon Monarch possessed no true Monarch-related abilities beyond flight, and that everything else about him—his overwhelming strength, his resistance to the Ruin Zone, and the terrifying presence they had experienced firsthand—was apparently something entirely natural to him.
"Now cancel your Dimension, please," Emmanuel said calmly after the silence stretched on long enough. "I need to get back to work."
Montana nodded quietly, and almost immediately afterward, the crack that signified Immeasurable Abyss, shattered apart into countless fragments resembling broken glass before fading away entirely, returning all three Monarchs back onto the White House lawn as though nothing had happened at all. Emmanuel gave the two of them a small wave before turning around and walking back toward the White House without another word.
Ora watched him leave before finally speaking. "What the hell is he?"
"I don't know..." Montana admitted quietly before looking toward Ora. "Do you think he was telling the truth?"
"Most likely," Ora answered after a brief moment of thought. "He had no reason to lie to us, especially while we were inside your Dimension where nobody else could overhear the conversation. But maybe he's still hiding something because he's afraid one of us might accidentally let it slip."
"Maybe," Montana muttered, clearly uncertain. "It's hard to tell. But if Alma really doesn't possess any Monarch abilities outside of flight... and he's naturally that strong..." Her voice slowly trailed off.
"Then he's a monster," Ora finished for her. "Unlike anything that's ever existed before him."
Montana frowned slightly at that. "I wouldn't call him a monster. He honestly seemed like a really nice person."
"Agreed," Ora replied. "But you remember what our Mythical Beasts warned us about, right? Even Humans of Ruin are terrified of his presence."
Montana slowly nodded in agreement.
"I guess we'll just have to wait and see."
───
February 16th, 2033.
Alma had eventually explained to both Max and Jasmine everything that had happened inside the Ruin Zone, including the appearance of the two Humans of Ruin and the conversation he later shared with Emmanuel, and despite the fact that he had not exerted himself physically in any major way—at least not compared to what he normally considered exhausting—he still ended up feeling completely drained afterward, both mentally and emotionally.
For five straight days, Alma barely left the apartment at all, only getting out of bed long enough to prepare breakfast, lunch, and dinner before returning to isolation once more, rarely stepping outside and never taking Max or Jasmine anywhere to eat or spend time together like he normally would have. Something was obviously bothering him deeply, but neither Jasmine nor Max truly knew how to ask about it without making things worse.
Meanwhile, Max had been desperately trying to complete the project he intended to give Alma as a gift, yet at the pace he was currently progressing, it would realistically take well over a year to finish, nowhere near enough time for Alma's birthday or even for right now when he clearly needed something uplifting most. The thought gnawed at Max endlessly, like an itch buried deep inside his mind that refused to disappear, because he hated the idea that he could not give his father what he deserved during the exact moment he needed it most.
Jasmine, meanwhile, had begun secretly practicing how to control the immense amount of energy inside her that only continued growing larger with every passing day, because she believed that if she could somehow master it, then maybe it would remove at least one of Alma's many worries. At the same time, however, she also understood that if anyone ever discovered what she was doing, it would likely only place even more stress upon him instead.
Still, her efforts had begun to produce results.
The method she developed for controlling the energy involved focusing entirely upon it until nothing else in the world existed within her thoughts, where nothing existed outside of her body, and then carefully attempting to pour it into something external rather than allowing it to remain bottled up inside herself. She first tested this inside the storage closet by placing her hand against one of the walls, carefully directing a tiny amount of it only for the surface to instantly crack apart where she touched it.
Afterward, she climbed the fire escape and carefully made her way onto the roof of the apartment building.
"Come on... you can do this..." Jasmine whispered nervously to herself as she tried to steady her breathing. "Just do it like you did with the... the wall..." Her expression immediately stiffened with panic. "I really hope Dad never finds out about that..."
Her own attempt at encouragement only seemed to frighten her further.
Jasmine shook her head forcefully and cleared her thoughts before raising her hand toward the sky and concentrating as hard as possible, forcing the energy outward and into the air above her. At first, it flowed smoothly and steadily from her palm, causing Jasmine to smile with excitement at her apparent success.
Then she briefly lost control.
Instantly, a colossal beam of blinding light exploded from her hand and tore upward through the sky with catastrophic force, piercing directly through the clouds while massive streaks of energy spread across them like lightning branching through a storm. The beam continued beyond the atmosphere itself and shot past the moon, narrowly missing it but still burning part of its side from sheer proximity alone.
A deafening boom erupted across the heavens immediately afterward, loud enough to be heard from hundreds of miles away as car alarms began ringing throughout nearby cities while electrical systems short-circuited from the stray energy raining downward, causing streetlights and power lines to violently flicker with overwhelming brightness, busting glass all over.
Jasmine immediately grabbed her own forearm with desperate force as though physically squeezing it might somehow stop the energy pouring from her body, and a scream of agony escaped her throat as the light itself began burning away her hand.
For fifteen horrifying seconds, the massive beam continued firing uncontrollably into the sky.
Then finally, the output stabilized.
The instant it did, Jasmine desperately cut the flow off completely before collapsing onto her knees while gasping heavily for breath. Her entire hand had been burned away entirely, leaving behind only the exposed joint extending from her wrist as smoke slowly rose from the ruined limb.
Tears instantly welled within her eyes as she stared at the injury in horror and pain, now she would be forced to tell Alma what happened, which meant Alma he would discover everything she had been doing behind his back.
Then suddenly, her hand began regenerating.
Jasmine froze completely as she watched flesh rapidly reform over the exposed joint, her expression becoming filled with disbelief, fascination, and awe all at once. In barely ten seconds, her hand had completely returned as though nothing had happened at all.
Then Alma and Max suddenly appeared on the rooftop.
The moment Alma sensed the explosion of energy—easily the most powerful presence he had ever felt in his entire life—he immediately pinpointed its exact location and brought Max alongside him, while Max himself stood completely frozen in fear.
"What was that?" Alma asked sharply while staring directly at Jasmine.
"Um... that was..." Jasmine desperately tried to think of an excuse, but between Alma's overwhelming perception of energy, his ability to distinguish lies from truth with ease, and the intense stare he was giving her, she could not think of a single believable explanation. "...I was trying to learn how to control the energy inside me," she admitted shamefully.
Alma's eyes widened.
The sheer amount of power he had just sensed was monstrous beyond comprehension.
And all of it had come from Jasmine.
"Are you crazy!?" Alma shouted suddenly, causing both Jasmine and Max to visibly flinch. "That could have killed you!!"
Jasmine immediately lowered her head as tears formed in her eyes, while even Max looked close to crying himself, because neither of them had ever truly seen Alma angry before, and both knew Jasmine had made a terrible mistake.
Then Alma took a deep breath.
Almost instantly, he calmed himself before stepping forward and pulling Jasmine into a tight embrace while softly patting her head.
"I'm sorry, honey," Alma said quietly. "I got caught up in the moment because I was scared for your safety. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"It's okay," Jasmine answered weakly. "Your reaction was deserved. I shouldn't have tried practicing without you watching over me." She hesitated slightly before continuing. "But I've seen how you've been laying in bed all week, and I thought that if I surprised you by learning how to control this energy... then maybe you'd feel less stressed."
Alma looked at her softly.
"Jasmine... you never needed to do something like this just to make me happy," he said gently. "Being with you is already enough."
"Then why have you been staying inside all the time?" Jasmine asked almost pleadingly. "You barely do anything anymore except cook, clean, and sleep. What happened? Can I help with it?"
Alma smiled faintly at the realization. 'She risked her own life just because she wanted to ease my burden... how lucky I am.'
"If I had any sense at all," Alma said quietly, "then I never would've let this problem affect my life with the two of you."
He stood up afterward and gently grabbed both Jasmine's and Max's wrists.
"Come on," he said softly. "I'll explain everything once we're back inside."
Once they returned to the apartment, Alma sat both of them down on the couch before finally speaking again.
"It's this entire situation with Emmanuel that's been bothering me," Alma explained. "Like I told you before, he tried threatening me with the information about my immunity to the Ruin Zone, and he asked what I would do if that secret ever became public."
Jasmine and Max both nodded silently.
"So for over half a week, I've avoided going outside entirely," Alma continued. "I even turned my phone off just so I wouldn't receive calls from him. I don't want Emmanuel as an enemy, but I don't want him threatening me either."
Alma leaned back slightly.
"It's obvious he wanted some kind of reaction out of me during that conversation on the eleventh," he muttered. "But the real question is... why?"
His eyes narrowed slightly in thought.
"I wonder if somebody has been feeding him lies about me," Alma said quietly. "Or twisting the truth... or giving him misinformation."
He paused.
"One name immediately comes to mind..."
"And who would that be?" Jasmine asked quietly, her curiosity immediately overtaking the concern that had been lingering on her face ever since Alma explained the situation with Emmanuel.
"Cordell Brodie," Alma answered without hesitation. The moment the name left his mouth, his expression hardened ever so slightly, though not out of rage, but from an irritation that had clearly existed for far longer than he wanted to admit. "Ever since the day we first met, it has always felt like he hated my very soul itself. I can only imagine what his reaction must have been when I became the Dragon Monarch. After that, I wouldn't be surprised if he immediately shifted toward feeding Emmanuel misinformation about me—telling him I'm dangerous, unstable, or something equally ridiculous."
Alma exhaled slowly and leaned further back into the couch, one hand resting against the side of his forehead as exhaustion still lingered heavily within him despite finally speaking about everything openly.
"My reaction to Emmanuel was childish," he admitted after a few moments of silence. "But at the same time, there was nothing I could realistically do to expose Cordell even if I wanted to. He's the Vice President of the United States. Making a move against someone like him could either end very badly… or very well. There's no middle ground in a situation like that." He shook his head lightly. "Either way, there's nothing I can do about it now."
His eyes drifted toward Jasmine and Max again, softening almost immediately the moment he looked at them.
"But I'm done letting it control my life the way I've been allowing it to," Alma said firmly. "I've spent nearly an entire week sitting inside this apartment, doing nothing except sleeping, cooking, and overthinking things that may not even be true. That isn't healthy—not for me, and definitely not for you two."
Then Alma turned his attention toward the nearby window, staring out at the darkness beyond the glass as the lights of the city glowed quietly beneath the night sky.
"It's too late to go anywhere tonight," he said before a smile slowly spread across his face again, lighter and more genuine than anything either Max or Jasmine had seen from him in days. "But first thing tomorrow morning, I'm finally getting outside and taking a proper breath of fresh air!"
───
February 10th, 2033.
Anastasia Tamsen—the Leviathan Monarch—stepped through the front door of her home far earlier than she normally would have. The tension radiating from her presence was immediate, carrying through the room before she even spoke a single word.
Emily Grace—the adoptive daughter of Anastasia's sister—looked up from where she had been sitting and immediately noticed the dark expression written across Anastasia's face.
"You're back early," Emily said slowly, one eyebrow raising with concern. "What happened?"
Anastasia's jaw tightened.
"That bastard told me another year," she said coldly, venom coating every word.
Emily immediately straightened. "So… what are you going to do?"
Anastasia didn't hesitate.
"I'm done waiting for responses that never come," she said bluntly. "A week from today, I'm going to kill him."
Emily's eyes widened instantly.
"Woah, woah, woah, hold on—kill him!?" she shouted, immediately standing up in disbelief. "Do you even hear yourself right now, Anastasia?"
The fact that Emily had completely dropped her usual nickname for her—Annie—only further emphasized how serious she viewed the situation.
"I hear myself perfectly," Anastasia replied without even the slightest trace of doubt. "All he's done for weeks is drag me around in circles, constantly promising that things will happen, that plans are moving forward, that change is coming—and none of it ever does." Her fists slowly clenched at her sides. "He abuses our relationship, uses my sister like she's some disposable pawn in a game, and throws you and the others away whenever it benefits him."
Emily visibly grew more nervous with every word. "But Anastasia…" she said quietly, almost fearfully now. "He'll kill you. I really don't think this is a good idea."
"It'll be fine," Anastasia answered immediately. "And if it isn't, then I'll retreat."
"But what about us?" Emily asked quickly. "Me, him, your sister—if something goes wrong, the consequences aren't just going to stop with you. They'll fall onto all of us too."
"Don't worry about that," Anastasia replied, stepping forward before gently patting Emily on the head despite the storm of anger still burning behind her eyes. "I already have a countermeasure prepared. All of you will be protected."
At that exact moment, Anastasia's sister quietly entered the room, having clearly overheard enough of the conversation already to understand what was happening.
Her worried gaze settled onto Anastasia immediately.
"Are you absolutely sure about this?" she asked softly. "This risks everything."
Anastasia nodded without hesitation.
"I do not intend to fail," she answered firmly. "And if I somehow do, then I refuse to let the three of you fall alongside me." Her expression softened ever so slightly. "Trust me on this, if nothing else."
Emily slowly looked up toward Anastasia's sister, silently searching for reassurance.
After several long moments, Anastasia's sister finally nodded downward toward her.
Emily trusted both of them equally, but she still needed that second confirmation before she could force herself to accept any of this. It didn't matter whether she truly agreed with the plan or not. The decision had already been made.
All she could do now… was hope Anastasia survived.
───
February 17th, 2033 — 2:00 PM.
A scream tore violently through the living room of the house.
It was so loud, so raw, and so filled with horror that Emily immediately sprinted toward the source without thinking, followed closely behind by a smaller cloaked figure who moved far more hesitantly, almost fearfully.
The moment both of them entered the room behind Anastasia, they froze.
What Anastasia saw was not hidden by her body.
There was no shielding them from it.
Emily recoiled instantly, turning away just in time to vomit onto the floor while the cloaked figure stumbled backward silently as tears immediately began pouring down beneath the hood.
The corpse lying in the center of the room no longer resembled a human being.
Anastasia's sister had been utterly mutilated.
Her skull had been completely crushed inward, fragments of bone mixed into the enormous pool of blood spreading across the floor beneath her body. Both of her eyes floated separately within the crimson liquid, detached and lifeless.
Her intestines had been ripped violently from her stomach cavity and wrapped tightly around what remained of her shattered head, making it horrifyingly clear that she had been strangled with her own organs before death.
Every fingernail and toenail had been carefully torn out one by one.
Her chest had been sliced apart into uneven pieces, exposing a broken ribcage beneath mangled flesh, while her arms and legs had been twisted backward at unnatural angles that no human body should ever be capable of reaching.
Her organs—including her heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, and bladder—had all been removed and deliberately arranged around the corpse with grotesque precision.
It was not merely murder.
It was desecration.
It was hatred given physical form.
Anastasia felt her chest tighten so violently that she instinctively clutched at it, lightly striking against herself as though trying to stop the heart attack she genuinely believed was beginning to overtake her.
Fear.
Grief.
Rage.
Hatred.
Every emotion slammed into her simultaneously with enough force to make her vision blur.
Then she screamed again and slammed both fists downward into the floor hard enough to splinter straight through the wooden boards beneath her.
The next instant, she shot upward and grabbed both Emily and the cloaked child harshly by their wrists, unintentionally hurting them in the process.
"Ow—Annie, that hurts!" Emily cried out immediately.
But Anastasia didn't hear her.
The cloaked figure said nothing at all, only crying harder as trembling overtook their body.
Without another word, Anastasia dragged both of them outside, shoved them into the backseat of her car, fastened their seatbelts herself with shaking hands, and immediately began driving away.
There was only one place she could think to go.
───
February 17th, 2033 — 1:50 PM.
For the first time in days, Alma had finally decided to stop isolating himself inside the apartment.
The moment he stepped outside, he inhaled deeply, allowing the cool afternoon air to fill his lungs completely as sunlight touched his face.
"Ahhh… what a beautiful day," Alma said with a small smile as he stretched lightly. "I can't believe I wasted so many days hiding inside while weather like this existed. What a shame."
He began casually walking down the sidewalk afterward, simply enjoying the atmosphere around him for once instead of drowning himself in thought.
Eventually, he stopped by a nearby coffee shop and purchased a drink, originally intending to sit peacefully inside and relax for a little while.
Unfortunately, the moment people recognized him, that plan immediately died.
Within seconds, he found himself surrounded by excited fans attempting to approach him all at once.
Alma teleported away almost instantly.
Fortunately, his coffee remained in hand. He sipped it before throwing it away in a random trash bin.
He had originally planned on heading toward a nearby park so he could finally settle quietly into nature for a while, but before he could get very far, a loud honk suddenly echoed from behind him.
Alma turned around just as a vehicle pulled over nearby.
The driver's door opened.
Anastasia stepped out.
Immediately afterward, she opened the rear passenger door and hurriedly pulled two children from the backseat, one of whom Alma immediately recognized as Emily.
The second child, however, was completely unfamiliar to him, their entire body hidden beneath a cloak from head to toe.
Anastasia quickly approached Alma while holding one child by each hand.
"Alma…" she began awkwardly, clearly struggling to figure out how to phrase what she wanted to say. "I… need your help."
Alma blinked once.
"Okay?" he answered slowly. "You want me to babysit them or something?"
"Yes, exactly!" Anastasia answered almost immediately before continuing in a frantic rush. "I need you to watch them for a while. Just… keep them safe. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but if anyone can protect them, it's you."
Before Alma could even respond properly, Anastasia had already turned around, jumped back into her car, and sped away at a speed well beyond the legal limit.
Alma stood there silently for several moments while looking down at Emily and the cloaked child in complete confusion.
He also felt strangely happy for some reason.
Eventually, Alma slowly crouched down onto one knee in front of them both, offering a gentle smile.
"Hey," he said softly. "Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt either of you. My name is Alma. What's your name?" he asked the cloaked child gently.
The child remained completely silent.
Alma visibly looked a little hurt by the lack of response, though only slightly.
He then shifted his attention toward Emily instead.
"Are you two okay?" he asked carefully. "And why was Anastasia acting like that?"
Emily hesitated immediately.
"It's… um…" she stammered while desperately searching for the correct words.
Both of them were visibly shaken.
That much Alma could tell instantly.
The cloaked child appeared even more terrified than Emily herself, though Alma wasn't entirely sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Without pushing further, Alma gently took both of their wrists into his hands before beginning to walk them back toward his apartment.
"Do you remember me, Emily?" Alma asked gently as the three of them continued walking down the sidewalk together, his voice calm and warm enough to contrast against the lingering tension surrounding the two children beside him.
Emily slowly looked up at him with the same nervous and worried eyes she had been carrying ever since Anastasia left them behind, only to meet Alma's soft gaze staring back down at her, steady and reassuring in a way that immediately eased part of the fear twisting inside her chest, even if it failed to remove it entirely.
"Yeah… I do," Emily answered quietly before lowering her eyes back toward the concrete beneath their feet as they walked. "You're the guy Annie can't stop thinking about."
'I knew those two were keeping something from me,' Alma thought immediately, his mind drifting toward Max and Jasmine after remembering the odd reactions when they first met Emily and Anastasia that day.
"Oh, really?" Alma asked, sounding far more amused than embarrassed by the revelation. "Does she simply fancy a taller man?"
Emily looked back up at him strangely for a moment, as though she genuinely could not understand how that was the conclusion he had reached.
"One of many things," she answered vaguely, intentionally refusing to elaborate any further.
"Ah, I understand," Alma replied with a nod, though the slight smile on his face made it obvious that he absolutely did not understand. "But isn't she rather close with Ora?"
"Who's that?" Emily asked in confusion.
One of Alma's eyebrows raised slightly.
"The Cerberus Monarch?" he clarified.
Emily's face immediately lit up with recognition. "Oh, that guy!" she exclaimed. "Yeah, she is close with him, but not like that. She doesn't see him as a lover or anything."
Alma hummed softly in understanding while continuing to walk beside her.
"I genuinely thought the two of them were romantically involved," he admitted. "At least from what I've personally seen, they're almost always together whenever they're handling Beasts of Ruin, so I naturally assumed that level of constant cooperation had developed into some sort of relationship." He paused briefly before continuing. "At the very least, I thought they shared a particularly deep bond."
Emily nodded slightly. "Close friends, maybe," she answered. "Honestly, I don't know much about their love lives either, but there's always this weird tension between them whenever they're around each other."
She frowned thoughtfully afterward. "It's strange, honestly," Emily continued. "They seem perfect for each other, but at the exact same time, they also seem really distant. It's hard to explain."
Alma nodded slowly in agreement before stopping alongside her at a sidewalk crosswalk while the stoplight glowed red above them.
Then his attention shifted toward the cloaked child whose wrist still rested gently within his grasp.
"Are you doing alright?" Alma asked softly while lightly shaking the child's hand in an attempt to comfort them.
The child remained completely silent.
Emily looked over toward the cloaked figure and smiled warmly, clearly trying to encourage some sort of response as well, but even that failed to draw a reaction.
After a few seconds, she looked back up at Alma and lightly tugged on the sleeve of his shirt.
"He doesn't have a name," Emily explained quietly. "And he's really shy… especially around people he doesn't know yet." She hesitated briefly before adding, "Please don't hate him for it."
The boy flinched slightly beneath the cloak the moment she said that.
Alma immediately smiled down at her reassuringly. "I wouldn't think of that. Thank you for telling me," he said gently.
Then, once the crosswalk light changed, the three of them continued walking forward together.
───
The Ruin Zone — 2:30 PM.
A lone figure moved through the Ruin with fury and determination written clearly into every step they took.
Light green and blue scales completely covered Anastasia's body in the form of armor, each plate shimmering faintly beneath the dim and dying light leaking through the endless clouds overhead.
Then, several meters ahead of the her, something enormous slowly manifested from the darkness.
Its body was grotesque.
White human faces covered nearly every inch of its form, each one now frozen in different expressions of agony, joy, sorrow, and madness. Its proportions were deeply unnatural, with limbs and features that seemed slightly incorrect no matter how long one looked at them.
Everything about its existence screamed for living beings to run away.
It was Avallon. The One of Many Faces.
Yet Anastasia did not hesitate for even a second.
If anything, the sight of him only caused the rage inside her to intensify further.
"Anastasia…" Avallon spoke calmly, both a male and female voice emerging simultaneously from its cursed form in a horrifying synchronization. "What brings you all the way out here? Our meeting is not until tonight."
"YOU BASTARD!!" Anastasia's scream tore violently through the Ruin as she launched herself forward at incredible speed before slamming both feet into the ground hard enough to send decayed dirt exploding upward in every direction while the earth beneath them trembled violently.
Yet when the debris finally settled…
Avallon remained standing exactly where it had been before.
Unmoved, Unharmed, and completely unimpressed.
"What is this betrayal?" the male voice gasped dramatically in mock offense.
"I thought we had a deal," the female voice added immediately afterward in a disturbingly cute tone that only made the situation feel even more sickening.
"The deal ended…" Anastasia snarled while charging toward it again, "…the moment you MURDERED MY SISTER!"
She slammed her fist downward where Avallon stood.
The attack missed.
Avallon's body appeared to slide backward unnaturally, almost as though reality itself had simply repositioned it elsewhere.
Anastasia charged again.
This time, her attack struck nothing but air as Avallon's form stretched backward further like a slinky being pulled beyond its limits.
"I would never commit such a heinous act," the male voice began before abruptly shifting mid-sentence into the female voice while narrowly avoiding another strike. "And now you insult my loyalty to our agreement."
"How much more can you possibly strip away from me?" the male voice whined dramatically.
"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT YOUR LOYALTY!" Anastasia roared.
She slammed downward one final time, splitting apart the ground beneath her feet while Avallon still remained untouched.
"You killed my sister!" she screamed. "You mutilated her body! You violated her even after death, and you DARE to still call yourself loyal!?"
Then Anastasia suddenly grew calm.
Terrifyingly calm.
"Sea King: Appearance of the Leviathan."
The instant the words left her mouth, an enormous wave of water erupted into existence behind her before surging violently toward Avallon with overwhelming force.
Avallon dodged, but the attack was far from over. A puddle suddenly formed beneath its feet. The next instant, a gigantic Leviathan exploded upward from the water below, its jaws wide open as it lunged toward Avallon.
Avallon dodged again. Then another puddle appeared. And another. And another.
Soon the battlefield was flooded with countless pools of water, each one producing massive Leviathans that erupted upward before diving between puddles in chaotic patterns that transformed the battlefield into a relentless oceanic assault.
Yet Avallon avoided every single attack with disturbing ease.
Then, after a brief pause in the barrage, one of its hands slowly reached into the mouth of one of the white faces embedded in its flesh. From within, it pulled out a set of black chains soaked in an unknown liquid.
Avallon grasped the chains tightly with both hands before swinging them overhead like a lasso.
Anastasia narrowed her eyes in confusion for only a moment before immediately charging straight toward him again.
As the chains spun faster and faster above Avallon's head, white flames tipped in black began erupting outward from them, scorching the air itself and leaving warped distortions behind in the atmosphere.
Then Avallon swung downward.
A towering wave of white fire surged toward Anastasia instantly.
She narrowly dodged to the right, avoiding the majority of the flames, though part of the attack still brushed against her left shoulder.
She felt no pain.
No heat.
Yet despite that, her armor had begun melting rapidly where the flames touched it.
Even the Defense of the Sea King itself was being destroyed.
Then a deafening explosion erupted far behind her in the distance.
Anastasia instinctively turned her head just enough to see an enormous pillar of destruction rising into the clouds where the flames had landed moments earlier, violent winds from the blast barely failing to knock her off balance.
'What the hell…!?' Anastasia thought in shock before immediately snapping her attention back toward Avallon.
It was already attacking again.
Another tower of flames surged toward her.
Then another.
And another.
Anastasia dodged desperately as the attacks came one after another without pause, though each near miss still grazed portions of her armor and melted away more and more of her protection until parts of her abdomen became exposed, revealing the fabric of her shirt beneath.
Already, the Ruin had begun affecting her, though it was slowly, but undeniably.
Then suddenly, Avallon's right hand twisted violently, reshaping itself into a massive black blade before instantly slashing sideways. Anastasia barely leapt backward in time to avoid being split completely in half. Even so, the attack still cut her.
Blood sprayed outward.
Immediately, Anastasia covered the exposed portion of her abdomen with both arms before slowly rising back to her feet.
She could not tell whether Avallon was smiling due to the hollow face, but felt like it was.But one thing she knew for certain... was its sinister presence intensifying further.
Something had changed the moment the blade touched her.
The realization struck instantly.
Without wasting another second, Anastasia thrust both arms outward, the back of her left hand pressing firmly against the palm of her right.
"Dimension Creation—" Before she could finish activating it, both of her arms were severed simultaneously from the elbows downward.
The unseen attack had completely bypassed her armor altogether, cutting directly through flesh and bone beneath it as though the protection never existed in the first place.
Anastasia did not scream.
She did not hesitate.
The instant she understood what had happened, she abandoned the fight entirely and fled at once, massive waves carrying her rapidly away from Avallon and deeper into the Ruin.
She broke free from the Ruin Zone at last, stumbling out from its suffocating atmosphere while discarding the remains of her shattered armor piece by piece, the scaled fragments crashing against the ground around her as she greedily inhaled a sharp breath of clean air into her lungs. Her exhausted body trembled from both pain and relief as she thought only of finding Amelia Spring and having her injuries healed before the damage worsened beyond recovery.
But then—a claw suddenly pierced straight through her chest from behind.
It looked horrifyingly familiar, resembling the clawed hand from her own Leviathan armor almost perfectly, except twisted into something darker and far crueler.
Anastasia's eyes widened in horror as she slowly lowered her gaze toward the foreign object protruding directly through where her heart should have been, blood dripping steadily from the black claw while agony exploded violently throughout every part of her body. It forced her breathing into uneven, choking gasps as shock overtook her mind completely.
Then, slowly, painfully, she turned her head behind her.
And there stood Avallon. Not outside the Ruin Zone, but still inside it.
She had never escaped at all.
"You let yourself go... Anastasia Tamsen." The male voice said calmly.
"You were once the strongest Monarch aside from the Chimera Monarch... and now the Dragon Monarch." The female voice continued almost mockingly. "And now...?"
Then Avallon violently ripped its clawed hand out from her chest with a sickening, viscous yank, blood spraying across the ruined ground as Anastasia's body collapsed backward. Her legs finally gave out beneath her while ragged breaths tore desperately from her throat.
"You've even allowed the Cetus Monarch to catch up to you." The male voice said coldly. "Had you remained focused on your duties as a Monarch, you never would have sought out a deal with me in the first place."
"And I highly doubt that I would have been so victorious this effortlessly." The female voice added. "But you are weak now. Fragile. Not merely in body, but in mind... and in aspiration."
Anastasia tried to move, but her strength was leaving her rapidly, her vision beginning to blur around the edges as warmth spread beneath her body from the blood pouring endlessly from her ruined chest.
"You were wise to entrust those children to the Dragon Monarch." The male voice continued. "Even I would not dare tread directly against him."
The female voice laughed softly. "But they will not remain safe forever."
"There will come a moment," the male voice said quietly, "when the Dragon Monarch cannot protect everyone at once."
"And when that moment arrives..." the female voice whispered.
"I will be there." Both voices spoke together. "In between the gaps."
As Anastasia's consciousness slowly faded from the world, as the darkness steadily swallowed her vision and the sound of Avallon's voices became distant echoes, she offered one final prayer to whatever god might still be listening.
Protect the children.
And then—the connection vanished.
Every Monarch across the nation felt it instantly.
Weston and Amelia froze in the middle of their training, both recoiling violently as though something deep within their souls had suddenly been severed apart.
"Did you feel that?" Weston asked immediately, his voice tight with alarm.
Amelia lowered her gaze slowly, sadness overtaking her expression almost instantly. "Yeah..." she whispered quietly. "I did..."
'Anastasia...' Montana thought silently while sitting on the couch inside her parents' living room, her chest tightening painfully from the sudden absence she could no longer feel.
Ora had just stepped outside the graveyard he frequently visited when it struck him.
The moment the connection disappeared entirely, he clutched violently at his chest as though something had physically ripped itself out from inside him before collapsing onto his knees against the pavement, tears immediately welling into his eyes. "ANASTASIA!!"
Inside the White House, Emmanuel instantly shot upright from his desk the very moment he felt it, dread washing across his face as realization settled into him.
"Oh no..." he muttered under his breath before immediately springing into action. "Call every Monarch. NOW!" he shouted toward the room outside his office and even into the phones on his desk. "GET THEM IN HERE IMMEDIATELY!!"
And inside his apartment, Alma sat silently at the dining table with Emily, the cloaked boy, Jasmine, and Max, when the sensation reached him as well.
The cloaked boy beside him flinched suddenly, turning his head toward the window as if instinctively sensing the same thing.
Alma's expression darkened, his smile fading instantly. 'That feeling just now...' he thought silently.
Then his eyes narrowed. 'Was the death of the Leviathan Monarch!'