Silence.
That was the first thing Aiden noticed after the monster's ashes faded into the wind. No sirens. No screams. Just… stillness.
A stillness that didn't belong to a living world.
The fractured horizon glowed faintly with purple veins, like an injured sky trying desperately to stay together. Floating chunks of city drifted overhead, dragged along invisible tides. Gravity existed only because the world hadn't yet remembered how to stop obeying it.
Aiden touched his chest.
He could still feel it. The moment reality bent for him.
Not magic.
Authority.
[Realm Monarch System Operational]
[Primary Function: Command and Claim]
His hands trembled.
"Why me… again?"
He remembered flames devouring continents. He remembered people disappearing into cracks of darkness. He remembered standing against something impossible.
And failing.
His jaw clenched.
If fate had given him a second run… then he wouldn't waste it.
A faint tremor shook the ground.
Aiden turned sharply.
At the edge of the shattered plaza, a young girl crawled out from beneath a collapsed storefront. Dirt streaked her face, knees scraped and bleeding. She couldn't be older than twelve. Her school uniform was torn, but she was breathing.
Alive.
She looked around in terror, eyes wide at the sight of the floating ruins and bleeding sky.
Then she saw him.
Her lips trembled.
"P-Please… help…"
For a split second, Aiden froze.
Last time — he remembered turning and running. He remembered convincing himself he couldn't save everyone.
That memory ended in screams.
Not this time.
He sprinted toward her just as another crack ripped open in the sky.
The air twisted. Gravity wavered. The girl screamed as the ground beneath her tilted and began sliding toward the yawning abyss below.
Without thinking, Aiden reached out.
"STOP!"
The world did.
Literally.
Stone froze mid-slide. Dust hung in the air like suspended raindrops. Even the wind paused — caught between existence and obedience.
A golden crest shimmered behind him like a phantom crown.
[Authority Command — Executed]
[Territory Stabilized]
[Duration: Temporary]
Aiden exhaled shakily.
He didn't just influence reality.
He ruled it.
He walked forward calmly, lifting the girl into his arms as the frozen world slowly remembered how to move again. The ground settled. Gravity returned. Time resumed.
She clung to him, shaking.
"Are… are we going to die?"
Her voice was small. Fragile. The kind of voice that broke something in your chest if you let it.
Aiden forced a steady smile.
"No," he said softly. "I won't let that happen."
For a moment, the world felt less terrifying.
Then the shadows moved.
Across the plaza, more creatures crawled out of the sky fractures — eyeless beasts with jagged limbs scraping against twisted air. Their movements were wrong, like they didn't belong in reality but were forcing themselves into it.
Aiden gently set the girl down and stood.
Fear whispered in his mind.
Run.
Logic screamed.
You can't fight them all.
But the crown behind his head pulsed.
[Monarch Directive Available]
Command the land. Command the world. Command everything within your territory.
Aiden stretched his hand forward.
"Then hear my command…"
The ground rumbled.
Broken streets shifted, concrete flowing like liquid before rising in towering stone pillars. Floating cars twisted into metallic lances. Rubble compacted into razor-sharp walls.
The monsters shrieked.
Too late.
The city itself devoured them.
Stone spears impaled. Metal blades shredded. Gravity inverted — crushing them into the pavement.
Silence returned.
The girl stared at him like he was a god.
Aiden looked at his hand.
He wasn't just fighting in this world.
He was shaping it.
But something else appeared — a final window. Bigger. Heavier. More ominous than any before it.
[Welcome, Monarch.]
[Your reign begins now.]
[World Status: COLLAPSING]
[Opponents: Gods • Monarchs • Entities Beyond Reality]
[Primary Objective: Conquer or be erased.]
Aiden narrowed his eyes.
So the world wanted a ruler?
Fine.
He would be one.
He looked toward the bleeding sky and smirked.
"Round two… let's see who governs who."
The crown behind him burned brighter.
The world trembled.
And far beyond the fractured heavens…
Something noticed him.