The world was beginning to lose its color.
What once felt like a planet filled with life, energy, and endless sky had started to shimmer with strange distortions, like glass bending under heat. Every city in the world was wrapped in faint outlines of mana veils, and people who were not even awakened could now feel it in their bones. Something was changing, something deep and irreversible.
At the center of this shift, Sung Jinwoo stood upon the ruins of what used to be an abandoned cathedral outside Seoul. The winds carried threads of mana across the broken spires, humming with a frequency that only he could fully interpret. The Nexus was no longer a myth whispered by the System. It was pressing through.
His eyes glowed faintly violet as System windows floated around him, projecting images of various rifts opening simultaneously across the world.
System Message: Dimensional Stability Dropping – 49%
Warning: Remaining Anchors Activating
Location Traces: Tokyo, Alaska, Cairo, Seoul
The last word pulsed brightly, signifying danger.
Cha Hae-In appeared beside him, her aura flickering like sunlight through water. "It has started, hasn't it? The final four Anchors."
Jinwoo nodded slowly. His tone was calm but heavy. "Yes. The Nexus has begun its full convergence. Once all four Anchors are active, the boundary between realms will dissolve completely."
From behind them, Beru hovered silently, his insect wings trembling. "My king, the shadows whisper. The Anchors are living constructs. They are not mere gates. They feed on mana itself."
"That explains the distortion," Jinwoo said softly. "Every breath we take, every movement we make… they are feeding on the world's essence. The Nexus is pulling life from reality itself."
Down below, inside the temporary base established by the Hunter Association, hundreds of hunters moved in synchronized order, relaying reports, stabilizing energy zones, and coordinating with international guilds. The world's strongest had gathered again, but even they could sense the thinness in the air, the almost liquid tension of reality.
Jinwoo's sister, Jinah, approached from the camp, her eyes filled with worry. "Oppa, the readings are spiking across every major leyline. If this keeps up, entire continents might experience dimensional collapse. The scientists are calling it mana over-saturation."
Jinwoo placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "Stay with the research teams. We need accurate readings before we move. I cannot close what I do not yet understand."
She nodded reluctantly and hurried back inside.
Cha Hae-In watched her leave before turning to Jinwoo. "You're thinking about entering the Nexus again, aren't you?"
"I have to," Jinwoo replied. "The remaining Anchors won't stop by force alone. They are fragments of a larger core—the Nexus Heart. To stop them, I need to understand their origin."
Beru's head tilted slightly. "My king, entering the Nexus unprepared would risk your essence. The laws there are older than time. Even shadows may lose their loyalty."
Jinwoo smiled faintly. "Then I'll just have to make them remember who they belong to."
He turned his gaze skyward. The clouds swirled unnaturally, forming spirals that stretched beyond vision. Faint red cracks glowed within them—Gate markings, but different. They pulsed with patterns that resembled living veins.
---
Far beyond the mortal plane, in the very center of the Nexus Realm, Agnorath sat upon a throne of living stone. His aura filled the dark chamber, glowing like molten silver. Around him floated the remaining Anchors—massive crystalline hearts that beat with unnatural rhythm, each one humming with a different frequency of power.
His voice echoed across the hall. "So… the final phase begins."
The System around him projected a faint outline of Sung Jinwoo's image. It flickered with readings that climbed ever higher.
"SS Rank soon," Agnorath muttered, a slow grin spreading across his face. "But still far from me."
Behind him, the five ES-ranked beasts knelt, their bodies trembling under his power. They had survived the earlier summons, awaiting command.
Agnorath rose from his throne, his figure towering, surrounded by the energy of a god. "When the Anchors align, I will not just cross into his world—I will merge them. The mortal realm will become an extension of the Nexus, and all power will bow to me."
He stretched out his hand. One of the Anchors pulsed violently, sending tremors through the void.
System Message: Anchor Activation – 75% Synchronization
The ground beneath the Nexus shifted, and energy surged upward, blasting through the barriers of reality.
"Rise, my creations," Agnorath commanded. "Let your awakening shake his fragile world. Let him know what awaits beyond the threshold."
---
Back on Earth, the first tremors were felt in Tokyo. The sky fractured into geometric shards of color, and a sphere of crimson light appeared above the sea. Ships were lifted from the water, suspended midair as if gravity had forgotten its purpose. Hunters stationed there raised their weapons, but their attacks vanished into thin air.
The Anchor pulsed once, twice, and then began expanding outward. The energy distorted the sea, the atmosphere, and even the thoughts of those nearby.
Cha Hae-In's communicator flared to life. "Emergency broadcast from Tokyo Division! The second Anchor has emerged! We're losing control of the barrier!"
Jinwoo's expression hardened. "That makes two active. Once the other two awaken, we'll lose all separation between planes."
Baek Yoonho appeared through a shadow portal, his expression grim. "My teams report dimensional overlap near Cairo and Alaska. Reality is thinning. Some hunters have already disappeared into thin air."
"Disappeared?" Jinwoo asked.
"Not killed," Baek said. "It's like they were… pulled. As if something called them inward."
Jinwoo's gaze darkened. "Then the Nexus is calling to those with mana affinity. It's absorbing power sources before the full merge."
He clenched his fists. "We don't have time. I have to enter now."
Cha Hae-In's eyes widened. "Now? Alone?"
"I won't be alone," Jinwoo said. He looked at his shadow army. "Igris. Beru. Tank. Iron. You're coming with me."
The shadows knelt in perfect formation. "At your command, my king."
He took one step forward, and the air around him began to twist. The shadows beneath his feet deepened, forming a swirling black circle. Wind rushed violently outward, pulling in debris and light.
Cha Hae-In reached out to him. "Please… be careful."
Jinwoo looked back, his expression softening. "I always am."
With that, he stepped into the circle, and the world around him shattered like glass.
---
Inside the Nexus, everything was silent. The air glowed with silver mist, and strange creatures of light moved like drifting spirits across the sky. Jinwoo landed on a massive plain of crystal that reflected the constellations above.
His body immediately felt heavier, as if the very air resisted his existence. The System interface flickered, its voice distorted.
System Warning: Realm Laws Unstable
System Adjustment: Adapting Parameters to Nexus Field
He exhaled, adjusting his stance. "So this is the Nexus."
Igris appeared beside him, scanning the horizon. "The energy density is unlike anything I've sensed before. Even your shadows feel… alive."
Indeed, the shadows at Jinwoo's feet rippled like water, reaching outward as if tasting the new world. Every one of his summoned soldiers seemed more conscious, more aware.
Beru hissed quietly. "This place is the origin of all essence, my king. It remembers creation. Even we feel it."
Jinwoo gazed at the horizon where massive structures floated—spires of stone and light, stretching toward infinity. Between them, vast gates rotated in silence.
At the center of it all stood a monolithic structure, pulsing like a heart. The Nexus Core.
Before he could take a step forward, the ground rumbled. The air split apart, and a towering being emerged from the mist. It was faceless, with shifting colors across its body, neither solid nor fluid. Its voice entered his mind directly.
"Traveler of Shadow… you should not have come."
Jinwoo's aura flared, creating ripples in the mist. "I'm not here to fight. I'm here to understand why your world is merging with mine."
The being tilted its head. "The worlds were one before time. Separation was a wound. The Nexus seeks to heal itself. You are the fracture that resists."
Jinwoo's eyes narrowed. "Then I'll heal it on my terms."
The creature's form expanded, its voice deepening. "Then survive the awakening."
The ground burst open as thousands of mana tendrils shot upward, slashing through the air like blades. Jinwoo moved instantly, his shadows forming a barrier that absorbed the first wave.
Igris and Beru charged forward, striking the tendrils and cleaving through the mist. The creature's body dissolved into fragments, reforming several meters away.
"Energy-based lifeform," Jinwoo analyzed quietly. "Physical attacks are meaningless."
He raised his hand, gathering dark mana in his palm. "Then I'll use pure essence."
The air trembled. "Shadow Break."
A sphere of condensed darkness erupted from his hand, striking the being and unraveling its form completely. When the light cleared, only faint echoes remained, whispering through the mist.
System Message: Obstruction Neutralized – Nexus Resonance Increased
The path ahead brightened, leading directly toward the Core.
Jinwoo stepped forward, his shadows flowing behind him like a tide. "The Anchors are tied to this Core. If I destroy it, I end the convergence."
Beru hovered beside him. "But my king, doing so may erase this entire realm."
"I know," Jinwoo said. "But if the Nexus consumes our world, then both will die anyway."
He placed his hand on the glowing surface of the path. It pulsed warmly, as if recognizing him.
From the darkness above, Agnorath's voice echoed faintly. "So you finally arrived, Sung Jinwoo. The stage is almost ready."
Jinwoo looked up, his gaze sharp. "Then I'll see you soon."
---
Outside, in the mortal realm, Cha Hae-In and Jinah watched as a massive beam of dark light shot into the sky from Seoul. The clouds parted, revealing cracks of violet energy spreading across the heavens.
Baek Yoonho's voice trembled through the communicator. "All readings point to one conclusion. The worlds are aligning."
Cha Hae-In clenched her fists. "Then the final battle has begun."
The wind howled, carrying fragments of energy from the Nexus across the air. The remaining Anchors pulsed like stars about to go supernova.
And within the heart of the Nexus, Sung Jinwoo marched forward—toward the Core, toward Agnorath, and toward the fate that would decide the future of both worlds.