pristine white portal behind Jin-Woo snapped shut, and the Shadow Monarch materialized instantly in his Guild office in Seoul. The familiar, sterile smell of concrete and high-grade Mana instantly replaced the scent of ozone and spiritual anguish.
He was home.
Jin-Woo took a deep, steadying breath. His body was fully recovered, his Mana Core thrumming with renewed power, but a heavy, inexplicable sense of anxiety clung to him—a conceptual residue of the Nexus Core's chaotic compromise.
He moved to the window, gazing out over the city. A high-ranking Red Gate had opened hours ago in the city's outskirts, requiring his personal intervention. The Gate shimmered with violent, unstable energy—but something was fundamentally wrong with its Mana signature.
"Igris. Beru. Report," Jin-Woo commanded silently.
Two shadows immediately rose from the floor. Igris, the loyal general, and Beru, the manic ant king. But they weren't their usual, imposing selves.
Igris, usually stoic, was now standing with his massive armor subtly polished to a blinding, absurd shine, almost like a disco ball. He was attempting to strike a pose he clearly thought was "cool."
Beru, the terrifying ant king, was muttering about the existential dread of being an eternal servant and kept trying to offer Jin-Woo a badly drawn watercolor painting of a sunset.
"What is the meaning of this?" Jin-Woo demanded, his voice tight.
"My King!" Beru screeched, bowing low. "Forgive this lowly Shadow! The residual energies of the Spiritual Humiliation from the little Sorcerer's friend is clinging to my form! I cannot sustain my majestic aura! I feel... uncool!"
Igris shifted uncomfortably, the reflective armor catching the office light. "My Liege, I also feel compelled to express profound, literary sadness. It hinders my ability to ruthlessly dispatch foes."
The Conceptual Tangle hadn't just been destroyed; its chaotic energies had been scattered and were now infecting the Shadow Army, tainting their high-concept power with low-concept absurdity.
The Red Gate of ShameJin-Woo stepped through the unstable Red Gate. The surrounding area was silent, the local Hunter forces having evacuated after sensing the unprecedented volatility of the Mana signature.
Inside, the Gate's landscape was familiar: a destroyed, desolate cityscape. But the monsters—high-level Giant Golems and powerful Griffons—were behaving strangely.
The Golems weren't attacking. They were wandering aimlessly, tripping over their own stone feet, their attacks constantly hitting nearby rubble instead of Jin-Woo. They were infected with Kazuma's Perpetual Bad Luck.
The Griffons, attempting to fly, would suddenly become paralyzed by inexplicable fear and crash into buildings, convinced they were being stalked by an invisible High-Speed Spiritual Granny.
This was Jin-Woo's nightmare: a high-stakes emergency that required brute force and tactical genius, but where the enemy was defeated by sheer, dimensional nonsense. His Shadows were useless, and the enemies were merely pathetic.
This is a waste of time. I can't even get a clean fight, Jin-Woo thought, exasperated.
He raised his hand, intending to finish the fight quickly, when the true problem manifested.
The Blade of KindnessA flash of vibrant, clean energy erupted from the central core of the Gate. The energy wasn't malicious, but it was powerful enough to nullify all Mana in the immediate area.
Standing on a pile of rubble, looking confused but focused, was Tanjiro Kamado, his Hinokami Breathing Focus Stone glowing brightly. He was holding his Nichirin Blade.
"I'm sorry! I don't know how I got here! One moment I was practicing my Water Breathing form, and the next, I felt a deep, profound disturbance in the scent of kindness!" Tanjiro exclaimed, his eyes scanning the scene.
The mere act of Tanjiro's arrival, driven by his pure heart and powered by the Nexus Anchor's link, had triggered his dimensional transportation. His presence, coupled with his Total Concentration Breathing, instantly purified the Mana-corrupted air.
"Tanjiro," Jin-Woo said, trying to maintain his calm demeanor. "You have to leave. Your dimensional presence is creating an anchor anomaly here. It will destabilize the entire Gate."
"I can't!" Tanjiro said, bowing apologetically, but standing his ground. "The scent of these monsters—they are not inherently wicked! They are afflicted by a deep, dark despair! I must use the Blade of Kindness to cut the thread of their sorrow, not their lives!"
Tanjiro raced toward a stumbling Griffon, his blade held high, ready to deliver a non-lethal strike meant to cure the conceptual curse plaguing the monster.
Jin-Woo sighed. His high-concept, existential threat had devolved into a rescue mission for a kind-hearted swordsman who was trying to counsel the enemy.
This is going to require the ultimate low-concept counter, Jin-Woo realized. He needed a true reality negator.
He focused all his intent on the memory of the Nexus Anchor.
"Dazai," Jin-Woo commanded, his voice reaching across the void. "If you value the continuation of your self-pity, nullify the Swordsman and send him home!"
A faint, melancholic sigh echoed in the Gate, and Tanjiro vanished in a flash of white light, mid-swing.
The Griffons and Golems immediately returned to their usual, monstrous ferocity, freed from the confusing spell of kindness.
"Well, that's one problem solved," Jin-Woo muttered, raising his hand, and finally getting the high-grade fight he needed. "But if the slightest emotional shift sends one of them here, this is going to be a long year."
The Nexus Seven are already demonstrating the chaos of their interdimensional link! Jin-Woo had to deal with a kind-hearted intervention and humiliated shadows.