“ | I am the record of your bitter struggle. I am the evidence of your resistance. I am the reward of your pain. I am death, I am eternal rest, and I am also terror. I am you. | ” |
—Ashborn to Sung Jinwoo, Chapter 162 (Webtoon) |
Overview |
Ashborn (아스본) was the King of the Dead and the original Monarch of Shadows. He was also the strongest Ruler and the Greatest Fragment of Brilliant Light.[1]
Appearance
Ashborn was a large and muscular shadow warrior with glowing flame-like purple hair, glowing purple eyes, two curved black horns, and sharp claws. He also wore jet-black armor and a long smoky black cloak, and wielded a pure black sword.
As a Ruler, Ashborn was a burly white knight with large white wings, long silver hair, and glowing white eyes. He also wore silver robes with light tan armor and a grayish-blue cloak, and wielded a white sword with a light tan guard and a gray hilt.
Personality
Ashborn cared greatly about life and had a benevolent attitude towards humanity. He also had a profound desire for peace and was weary of the endless war between the Monarchs and the Rulers, leading him to eventually entrust both his ambitions and his powers to a human in hopes of putting an end to the bloodshed once and for all. However, at the same time, he was blindly loyal to the Absolute Being and continued to fight on the latter's behalf even after learning the truth behind his existence.[2]
History
Eons ago, Ashborn fought alongside the other Rulers in a devastating war with the Monarchs at the behest of their god, the Absolute Being. When his brethren rebelled against the Absolute Being for using them as pawns for his own entertainment, Ashborn was the only one who remained loyal to their creator and attempted to stop them. However, despite his efforts, they easily defeated him and left him for dead.
As his injuries were fatal, Ashborn believed that it was the end for him and prepared for death. However, before he could die, he discovered that the Absolute Being had hidden a monstrous power inside his body and promptly activated it, transforming himself into the Shadow Monarch. With his health fully restored and now even stronger than before, Ashborn returned to the battlefront to continue the fight. But by the time he got back, he found out that he was too late, as the rebellion was already over and the Absolute Being was already dead.
After the Rulers captured Legia, Ashborn realized that the Monarchs would lose if he didn’t step in and decided to offer them his help, an offer that they reluctantly accepted. Unfortunately for Ashborn, even though he managed to stabilize the power balance and keep the war going, his overwhelming powers earned him great fear from both sides and eventually led two of the nine Monarchs, Rakan and Baran, to turn on him. Although Ashborn easily defeated them in battle and killed Baran in retaliation for his treachery, his shadow army was nearly annihilated in the process.[3]
Right after he killed Baran, the Rulers descended in front of Ashborn and asked him for his forgiveness. Although Ashborn initially refused to accept their gesture of peace and furiously demanded that they kill him so that they could finally win the war, the Rulers persisted in their plea and Ashborn was so emotionally overwhelmed that he couldn’t give them an answer. Deciding to seek revenge against Rakan instead, Ashborn left the battlefield and went into hiding to rebuild his shadow army, allowing the Rulers to finally defeat the Monarchs and force them into hiding. However, at some point after this, Ashborn returned to the Monarchs and Antares, the strongest Monarch, was happy to welcome him back to their ranks, as two of the Monarchs were lost and the rest were still greatly weakened from their defeat against the Rulers.
Centuries later, when the Monarchs launched their assault on the human world, Ashborn followed them there out of his own desire to find his place in the universe, as he never felt like he had truly belonged in the chaos world. At the same time, he also started looking for a suitable human vessel with the aid of a mage named Kandiaru, who agreed to help him in exchange for immortality and created a program specifically designed to accomplish this task.
At some point during Kandiaru's search for a human with the right physique and mentality to serve as the Shadow Monarch's vessel, Ashborn noticed that there was one human who had stepped beyond the boundaries of the program Kandiaru created and deviated from all of its rules and expectations: Sung Jinwoo. Despite the fact that Jinwoo was pathetically weak and constantly within death's reach, he somehow always managed to escape with his life and the resolve that he demonstrated in risking his life over and over again for the sake of his family impressed Ashborn so much that he eventually came to believe that Jinwoo was worthy of becoming his vessel.
D-Rank Dungeon Arc
Despite Kandiaru's disapproval of his decision, Ashborn chose Jinwoo to be his host a few months before the Monarchs intended on hunting down the Rulers in the human world and started to slowly breed him into a vessel strong enough to fully absorb his powers through the System.
Double Dungeon Arc
When Jinwoo reached level 100, Kandiaru invited him back to the Double Dungeon so that Ashborn could take control of him as his vessel. However, what Kandiaru didn't know at the time was that Ashborn no longer had any intention of taking control of Jinwoo as his vessel and wished to transfer his powers to him instead so that Jinwoo could succeed him as the next Shadow Monarch. As a result, he chose to betray Kandiaru by locking him out of the System, reneging on their deal, and giving Jinwoo his black heart. This would enable Jinwoo to later regain control of his body and kill Kandiaru after the latter realized that Ashborn sold him out and changed sides to the Rulers.[4]
Monarchs War Arc
When Jinwoo was killed by Rakan in battle, he was seemingly transported back in time to when the System first chose him as its Player. As he still retained both his appearance and powers, Jinwoo initially believed that the entire experience was real. However, after speaking to an alternate version of Go Gunhee, Jinwoo eventually realized that it was all just an illusion and yelled at whoever was casting the spell to stop wasting time and show himself. Much to his surprise, the spellcaster turned out to be Ashborn.[5]
Deciding to keep things as brief as possible, Ashborn introduced himself to Jinwoo and explained to him everything he needed to know, including his backstory, the true identity of their enemies, and the reason why Jinwoo was chosen to be both his vessel and his successor. Once he was finished, Ashborn offered Jinwoo two choices: to either live inside his personal fantasy world for eternity or finish his fight with the Monarchs. Naturally, Jinwoo chose the latter option and Ashborn bid him farewell as he ascended back to reality and was revived with the true powers of the Shadow Monarch.
Academy Arc
Upon learning from his wife, Cha Hae-In, that their son Suho was being shunned by his classmates at school for his growing magical powers, Jinwoo would reflect on this and note to himself that the Absolute Being gave Ashborn the powers of the Shadow Monarch in the first place because he wanted a way to destroy his creations if they ever rebelled against him.[6]
Abilities
As the Monarch of Shadows and the Greatest Fragment of Brilliant Light, Ashborn was one of the strongest of his kind, rivaled only by Antares, and arguably one of the strongest beings in existence.
- Immeasurable Strength: Ashborn possessed a tremendous amount of physical strength. As a testament to this, he was strong enough to decimate entire armies with just brute force, brutally overpower two Monarchs at once in battle, and pop Baran's skull like a grape with one hand.
- Power Bestowal: Ashborn was able to grant his powers to a human strong enough to harness them. However, due to his overwhelming power, he could not find a human with the strength required for this task and was ultimately forced to grow one himself through the System.
- Umbrakinesis: As the Monarch of Shadows, Ashborn possessed absolute control over shadows and darkness, and could reshape them into any form he desired.
- Ruler's Authority: Ashborn was able to telekinetically move and control objects via telekinesis.
- Shadow Extraction: Ashborn was able to extract shadows from the corpses of his enemies and add them to his army.
- Shadow Exchange: Ashborn was able to use shadows as portals to travel vast distances in an instant.
- Shadow Preservation: Ashborn was able to preserve his shadows in storage and monitor them by perceiving their senses.
- Monarch's Domain: Ashborn was able to buff the strength of all of his active shadows by 50% in battle.
External Links
- Ashborn on the Heroes Wiki
References
- ↑ Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 162
- ↑ Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 163
- ↑ Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 129
- ↑ Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 130
- ↑ Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 161
- ↑ Solo Leveling Webtoon: Chapter 192