Beru's shadow portal opened without a sound, a rift in reality that revealed the shattered landscape beyond. Sung Jinwoo stepped out, his army of shadows silently surging around him before retracting, ready. The air in this place reeked of destruction and the residual energy of an immense, almost primordial power. It was the epicenter of the disturbance he'd felt thousands of miles away.
His eyes scanned the scene. The freeway was blasted, the asphalt cracked and lifted as if shaken by an invisible force. Nearby buildings showed signs of having been hit by uncontrolled energy, their facades melted or charred. And scattered across the ground, unconscious, were the bodies of several of America's National-Level Hunters. He recognized them instantly: the armored man, the ice master, the psychic... the strongest in this nation, reduced to an inert state with no visible signs of serious injury.
And at the center of it all, standing amidst the chaos he had seemingly orchestrated, was the dark-cloaked figure with an expressionless mask: Shadow.
Jinwoo felt a complex mix of emotions: awe at the scale of power on display, concern for the unconscious Hunters, and a profound strangeness at coming face-to-face with this Nexus man again, here in his own world. The energy signature was unmistakably the same, but now he felt it directly, an unfathomable density beneath the calm exterior.
He moved forward slowly, his senses on high alert. The atmosphere around him thrummed with Cid's latent energy. It wasn't directly hostile to him, but it was immense and completely under his control. Jinwoo stopped about twenty meters away, staring at the masked man who hadn't moved since his arrival.
"You," Jinwoo said, his voice low and heavy with seriousness. "It's you. The man from the Nexus."
Cid Kagenou, beneath the Shadow mask, turned his head slightly toward Jinwoo. There was no surprise in his posture, only a kind of calm acknowledgment, as if Jinwoo's arrival was something expected, part of a larger plan.
Cid thought: The Designated Shadow Asset has arrived. Located and found. The recruitment phase proceeds as planned. Their timely arrival validates the System's prediction... or rather, my own strategic prediction as a Level 7 Agent. Now, formal initial contact.
"Monarch," Cid replied, his voice calm and resonant beneath his mask. "You have responded to the signal. As expected of an asset of your caliber."
"The signal?" Jinwoo retorted, gesturing toward the wrecked highway and the unconscious Hunters. "You call this a signal? You've caused massive chaos and neutralized this nation's elite. Why did you come here? What do you want?"
Cid maintained his impassive stance. The seriousness and frustration in Jinwoo's voice were evident, but to Cid, this was simply the expected reaction of a local asset encountering a high-level operative in the middle of a covert operation.
Cid thought: The initial objections. It's typical. Local operatives often don't understand the scale or necessity of high-level agents' actions. I must explain it in terms he can process, without revealing the full magnitude of the Organization right away.
"The chaos was... a necessary side effect," Cid replied, his tone unapologetic. "A method to... ensure the attention of the required asset. The Cosmic Allied Organization has sent me. Directly to you."
"The Cosmic Allied Organization?" Jinwoo frowned. The name sounded grandiose, almost ridiculous, but Cid's seriousness and the power he radiated told him it was no joke. "What is that? And why would you seek me out?"
"The Nexus was just... a preliminary phase," Cid continued, partially ignoring Jinwoo's questions to follow his own strategic thread. "A global assessment of potential assets. You and I... were identified as crucial. By a threat... that transcends realities."
Jinwoo felt a pang of apprehension. A threat that transcended reality? The idea wasn't foreign to him after the war against the Monarchs, but the way this man said it, with such absolute calm, made it unsettling.
"What kind of threat?" Jinwoo asked, mentally preparing himself for anything. His army of shadows pulsed under his will, ready to manifest if this peaceful gathering (or as peaceful as it could be with unconscious National-Level Hunters around them) turned dangerous.
Before Cid could respond with another cryptic explanation worthy of a cosmic secret agent, a third presence intervened. It didn't appear physically, but they both felt it. It was the same vast and immense presence Cid had experienced at the System base. It manifested as a soundless voice, a direct communication within Jinwoo's mind, similar to how he had communicated with Cid.
[The System: Stop. Contact established. The recruitment process enters the joint briefing phase.]
The System's voice was neutral, absolute. Its intervention was a command that halted the tense conversation between the two men. Jinwoo felt the same sense of quiet but undeniable power he had briefly felt in the Nexus, now much stronger. Cid, for his part, stood tall, acknowledging the authority of his "superior" from the Allied Organization.
[The System: Sung Jinwoo. Shadow Monarch. Cid Kagenou. Level 7 Agent. Both of you have been selected. There is a threat. A threat that you, Sung Jinwoo, have felt in the periphery of your being. A threat that you, Cid Kagenou, are designated to confront.]
The all-encompassing presence now addressed them both, a telepathic communication between the two, laying the groundwork for the explanation that would follow. The initial confrontation had been halted by the intervention of the true authority behind the mission.
Cid thought: The superior's intervention. Joint briefing protocol activated. It was to be expected. My demonstration of capability was successful in attracting the asset. Now, The System will provide the essential information directly. My role as a high-level 'diplomat' has temporarily concluded.
Jinwoo, for his part, felt his mind opening to an influx of information, the same one Cid had received, but perhaps tailored to his own understanding. The soundless voice of the System was about to reveal to them the true nature of the threat connecting the Nexus, the void, the shadows, and the arrival of this strange masked man to their world. The reunion, tense and full of questions, had given way to an imminent revelation.
.
Hello everyone, what did you think of the chapter? Please let me know in the comments. If you want to download the full book, it's available on my KO-FI page. The link is here. 👉
🤩ko-fi.com/winterstar01/shop🤩