The world around Sung Jinwoo dissolved into silence. One moment he stood before the glowing rift in the sky, the next his body was weightless, surrounded by a blinding silver light that shimmered like liquid glass. His breath caught as gravity vanished, replaced by a strange pull that seemed to draw him through layers of reality itself.
When his vision cleared, he was standing in a vast expanse that defied logic. Mountains floated in the air, their reflections suspended upside down beneath invisible waters. Rivers of light flowed backward into the sky. Every surface pulsed faintly with energy, as if the world itself was alive and aware of his presence.
He looked down. Shadows stretched beneath him like living things, and each one trembled. His connection to them felt different here. Stronger. Wilder. The System's voice echoed faintly, distorted as though struggling to anchor itself in this strange place.
"Location recognized. Dimensional coordinate: The Nexus Realm. Time: Unstable. Energy: Infinite."
Jinwoo exhaled slowly. The Nexus Realm. He had heard the name whispered only once in the depths of the Monarch Wars — a plane between all others, where the boundaries of existence blurred. If Agnorath was truly trying to control reality, this was where the corruption would begin.
Behind him, a faint blue light flickered. The boy who had followed him from the city hovered a few meters away, unconscious but alive, his aura still pulsing weakly. The energy that had connected them in the human world was even stronger here, vibrating like a beacon. Jinwoo realized the boy was acting as a stabilizer — the Nexus had accepted him as an anchor.
"Igris," Jinwoo said quietly.
A dark mist formed beside him, and his loyal knight materialized, kneeling. "Master, the dimensional flow is irregular. The shadows are restless. Something ancient watches us."
"I know," Jinwoo replied. His gaze swept the horizon. "We're not alone."
From the distance, waves of light began to bend, rippling toward him like heat distortion. The ground cracked open, and a figure emerged — tall, humanoid, its body made of crystalline energy. It spoke without moving its lips, its voice echoing through Jinwoo's mind.
"You are the inheritor of shadows. You tread in a place meant for none of flesh. The Nexus judges all who enter."
Jinwoo didn't move. "Then let it judge me."
The figure extended a hand, and the world around him shifted again. The floating mountains dissolved into an endless field of mirrors. Each reflection showed a different version of him — Sung Jinwoo as a weak hunter, as the Shadow Monarch, as a godlike being surrounded by fallen worlds. The reflections whispered his fears back at him.
"You failed them."
"You destroyed the world to save it."
"You are no different from Agnorath."
The voice of the Nexus was neither cruel nor kind. It was truth given form. Jinwoo took a step forward, his shadows crawling at his feet. "If this is your test, then I accept it."
One by one, the reflections shattered, and energy flooded through him like a river of fire. His veins burned with raw mana. His heart thundered, syncing with the pulse of the Nexus itself. He saw visions — hunters he had fought beside, his sister, his mother, Cha Hae-in smiling at him through the haze of light.
He clenched his fists. "I will not let this world fall again."
The mirrors exploded outward, dissolving into shards of pure energy that absorbed into his body. The System's voice returned, clearer now.
"Synchronization with Nexus Energy: 12%. Compatibility: High. Warning: Entity Agnorath detected in distant quadrant."
Jinwoo opened his eyes, sweat glistening on his brow. The realm had accepted his presence, but he knew the trial had only begun. The Nexus was endless, and its guardians would not let him pass freely.
Behind him, the boy stirred, whispering faintly. "Master… something is calling me from deeper inside. I can hear… a voice."
Jinwoo nodded slowly. "Then that's where we're going."
He lifted his gaze toward the horizon, where the light bent into a towering gate shaped like an unbroken circle. From its center flowed energy that felt ancient — older than the Monarchs, older than humanity itself.
He summoned Beru and Iron beside him. Both bowed low, their forms flickering under the strain of the Nexus's energy.
"Stay alert," Jinwoo said softly. "This place tests the soul before it tests strength."
Beru clicked his claws nervously. "Master, the air tastes like eternity. It is dangerous."
Jinwoo smiled faintly. "Then we'll walk carefully."
As they advanced, the terrain changed with every step. The mountains turned into oceans, the oceans into deserts of glass, and the deserts into endless night skies filled with floating stars. The Nexus wasn't a world — it was all worlds overlapping, a memory of existence itself.
At the center of it all, Jinwoo could feel Agnorath's power pulsing like a heartbeat. Slow. Patient. Waiting.
He clenched his hand. "Agnorath… you're already reaching into this place, aren't you?"
A low tremor passed through the ground, almost as if the realm itself was answering him. Then, faintly, a voice whispered through the wind — deep, resonant, and familiar.
"You're late, Jinwoo."
His eyes widened. That voice belonged to Agnorath. Not an illusion. Not an echo. The real presence.
And it was close.
The Nexus Realm was vast, but it was alive — and somewhere within its infinite expanse, his greatest enemy was already moving.
Jinwoo took a deep breath, shadows rising like smoke around him. "Then let's begin."
The first true steps into the Nexus Realm had begun, and the silent war between shadow and chaos was about to awaken once more.