The Eminence of a True Monarch of the Shadows

[Third Person's PoV] 

As soon as Shadow finished his speech, he raised two fingers near his face and slashed them downward.

The space before the gathered members of Shadow Garden split apart, forming a gateway between worlds. It shone like a constellation, pulsing softly with unknown energy, beckoning them back to the world they had left behind for months.

The leading members of Shadow Garden stepped forward with elegant, authoritative grace, moving through the portal without hesitation. As the Sins and Virtues entered, the rest of the organization followed in disciplined rows, vanishing one by one into the shimmering passage.

Hundreds upon hundreds of Shadow Garden members disappeared, the once-crowded chamber growing empty. Finally, as the last member stepped through, Shadow calmly approached the portal, his hands resting casually in his pockets. Celeste sat atop his shoulder, a tense and serious expression on her face—an unnatural look for a baby.

'They… they really don't like this organization, do they?' Celeste mused, gripping Shadow's hood tightly. 'My vocabulary isn't advanced enough to describe the emotions they were all showing. Is what Daddy said really true? Were they experimented on? Mommy looked upset too…' 

Her small hands tightened their grip. 'If they made Mommy upset… then they deserve what's coming to them.' 

For a brief moment, despite her sealed powers, her eyes glowed with a vibrant light, her emotions momentarily overpowering the seal.

As Shadow stepped through, the portal snapped shut behind him. The Shadow Garden members found themselves in a gray, frozen world—the outskirts of Oriana. But they quickly recalled why. Shadow had stopped the flow of time in their world.

Slowly, Shadow lifted off the ground, a miniature shockwave rippling beneath his feet. Closing his eyes, he began weaving his various powers together—Observation Haki, his dragon's eyes, and his newfound authority over Aether—to peer into the mechanisms of Fate.

Unlike before, he no longer needed to search for individual threads, tracing them manually. With a mere thought, the infinite strands of Fate faded from sight, leaving only those tied to their enemies—to the members of the Cult of Diabolos.

The strings that remained were an ominous black, marking them as doomed. 

Shadow snapped his fingers, and two things happened at once.

Light and color flooded back into the world, and time resumed in the reconstructed Kingdom of Oriana, the site of their last battle against the Cult and the demon invasion.

At the same time, a vast, interwoven grid of fate lines became visible to everyone present.

"What you see before you," Shadow intoned, his voice carrying a mystic weight, "are the strings of fate that tie you to the Cult of Diabolos. Focus. Think of the one you seek—the being that made you suffer. The one who stole from you, broke you, wronged you. Let Fate guide you to them, so that you may deliver the judgment they deserve."

He extended a hand, his aura wrapping around them—a silent promise of protection.

All at once, the members of Shadow Garden sprang into action. From the crowded streets, they leaped onto rooftops, then into the sky itself.

Beneath them, their shadows writhed, dark purple eyes flickering to life within the abyss beneath their feet. The moonlight above cast long, shifting silhouettes, and from those shadows, dragons emerged—massive, fearsome beasts rising in unison.

Each Shadow Garden member had one. A gift from their Lord. A symbol of appreciation for following him into his previous war. Their Guardian Shadow Dragons would protect them, serve them, and fight alongside them.

The citizens of Oriana, gathered for what was meant to be a celebration, watched in horror.

First, they had endured an invasion of demons.

Now, dragons filled the skies, their earth-shaking roars echoing through the kingdom.

Panic gripped the streets. They didn't know why this was happening or what it meant, but they all understood one thing: the world was about to change.

And nothing would ever be the same again.

Two figures stood together atop a massive dragon soaring through the night sky. Their golden hair whipped wildly in the wind, while their cat-like ears twitched and their tails swayed in anticipation.

"Zeto, are you ready?" Zeta asked, her voice sharp with fury. Her teeth were clenched so tightly that veins had begun to surface on her face. Her arms remained crossed, her piercing gaze fixed ahead, though her eyes briefly flicked toward her little brother.

Zeto, who barely reached her hip in height, gripped the handles of his two large daggers—though, in his small hands, they looked more like short swords. He tightened his grip and gave a firm grunt in response.

Then, hesitating for a moment, he looked up at his sister, his voice softer.

"Hey, Z..."

"Hm?" she acknowledged without looking at him.

"What were they like? Our parents, I mean? I don't remember anything about them. I have no memories of them at all," Zeto admitted, his voice laced with uncertainty. "You and the rest of Shadow Garden are the only family I've ever known, so I never really thought about it before. But seeing you this angry… it makes me wonder what they were like."

Zeta's hardened expression softened as she regarded her brother, who looked away awkwardly. A faint smile tugged at her lips as she ruffled his hair.

"They were the biggest idiots I ever knew," she said.

"Wait, what?" Zeto looked up in disbelief, completely thrown off by her answer.

Zeta scoffed and nodded. "It's true. When Lord Shadow first appeared before us, he gave our parents a chance to be resurrected—to return from the afterlife. But they declined. They left us in his care, rejecting their own rebirth out of sheer, useless pride."

"Are you serious?" Zeto asked, still in shock.

Zeta let out a heavy sigh. "However, despite that, they were still proud and caring warriors. They knew the truth about our clan's traditions—how anyone who showed signs of the curse was considered an ill omen, someone to be 'purified' by fire. But when I started showing symptoms, instead of believing in that nonsense, they risked everything to find a cure for me. They hid me, protected me... But in the end, the rest of the clan found out and called for the Church."

She clenched her fists as she continued. "That was their biggest mistake. Because the Church didn't just stop at me—they slaughtered every single one of them. Not a single soul was spared."

Zeto listened intently, hanging onto every word.

"Father used our bloodline's forbidden skill to hold them off, giving Mother the chance to escape with us," Zeta explained. "We ran through the forests, trying to outrun them. But at some point, Father must have fallen, because our mother had no choice but to give you to me. She led them away as a decoy while we ran in opposite directions… But in the end, it was all for nothing."

Her voice was calm, but there was a weight behind every word.

"The path Mother sent me down led straight to the sea. I was cornered. And the man who hunted us… he was about to kill you first."

Zeto stiffened.

"I begged him to stop," Zeta continued. "He pretended to agree, but I could see it in his eyes—he was going to strike the moment I let my guard down. And then—"

"Aniki arrived, right?" Zeto interrupted with a small smile.

Zeta's lips curled into a grin. "That's right. He dropped down from the sky like a vengeful god and stomping that bastard again and again and again. It was almost funny watching him. He was furious about what was happening. But in the end, he didn't kill him."

Zeto blinked. "Wait—what? Why not?"

Zeta's grin widened, her golden eyes gleaming with predatory hunger. "Isn't it obvious? He let him go so that I could have my revenge. So that I would be the one to kill him myself."

Zeto took a deep breath, gripping his daggers even tighter. Then, in one swift motion, he unsheathed them and twirled them expertly in his hands.

"I see," he murmured. "So that's who we're meeting tonight."

Zeta nodded.

"Then let's make sure our parents' sacrifices weren't in vain," Zeto declared, his voice firm.

The dragon beneath them let out a deep, thunderous growl as they surged forward into the night, heading toward battle.