NOVEL WEB Chapter 8: A Summit of Shadows
The ruined ramen shop felt like the eye of a hurricane. Outside, the Midgar Royal Capital was buzzing with panic and confusion. Knights were cordoning off streets, mages were repairing structural damage, and the whispers of what had transpired were already beginning to form into wild, contradictory legends. Inside, there was only a profound stillness.
Sung Jin-woo sat on one side of the damaged counter, the otherworldly purple glow in his eyes dimmed to a more thoughtful, human intensity. Opposite him, Cid Kagenou sat on another stool, his posture that of a nervous student summoned to the principal's office.
The Monarch of Shadows stared at the Eminence of Misunderstanding. The silence stretched, thick with unspoken power and unasked questions.
Jin-woo broke it first. "The Abyssal Weavers. You used a similar term. 'Eaters of stories.' What do you know about them?"
Cid's mind went into overdrive. 'Abyssal Weavers? Eaters of stories? I just pulled that out of thin air to sound cool! He actually thinks it's a real name! This is amazing! He's feeding me lore for my own world! I have to build on this. What would a true Eminence in Shadow know?'
He adopted a grave, serious expression, as if recalling a painful, ancient history. "It is a tale... not meant for mortal ears," he began, his voice a low whisper. "They are not creatures of our reality, or yours. They are the antithesis. Where we build stories, they create silence. Where we live, they create void. They are the universe's auditors, seeking to balance the books by erasing all existence."
Jin-woo listened intently, absorbing every word. This aligned with what he had felt from the Fracture—that sense of pure, conceptual erasure. This "Cid" wasn't just powerful; he was knowledgeable. He was a keeper of cosmic secrets.
"Why are they attacking now?" Jin-woo pressed, leaning forward slightly.
Cid inwardly panicked for a split second before his chuunibyou genius took over again. 'Why now? I need a good, dramatic reason. Something that puts me and him at the center of it all!'
"Power draws them," Cid said, his eyes unfocused as if looking into the distant past. "For eons, our worlds were quiet, unremarkable embers in the cosmic dark. But now... now, two great flames have been lit." He subtly gestured from his own chest to Jin-woo's. "Two beings whose power has reached a scale that it now casts a shadow across dimensions. Our very existence has... attracted their attention. We have become the grandest stories, and thus, the most tempting meals."
It was a brilliant, self-aggrandizing explanation. It was also, from Jin-woo's perspective, terrifyingly plausible. His own ascension, his war with the other Monarchs, his rewriting of time—it was a story of cosmic proportions. It made sense that such an act would draw unwanted attention. And it confirmed that this "Cid" was a being on his own level, a "great flame" in another reality.
The System, which had been quiet, flickered with a new, chilling notification.
[Hypothesis Corroborated. The emergence of a second entity of 'Monarch-Class' power has created a dimensional resonance... a beacon. Threat Level: COSMIC. Probability of Continued Incursions: 100%.]
Jin-woo's face grew grim. It was true. Their very existence was the problem. "So they will not stop coming."
"They will not," Cid confirmed, his voice filled with fake gravitas. "They will send their pawns, their 'Weavers,' to fray the edges of our realities. When we are sufficiently weakened, their masters... the Grand Weavers... will arrive to consume the rest."
'Grand Weavers?' Cid thought. 'Ooh, I like that. I just invented the final bosses. I am a genius.'
Jin-woo processed this. Pawns and masters. It was a hierarchy he understood. Like his shadow army, but for annihilation. "This... Shadow Garden of yours," Jin-woo said, changing the subject. "The elf, Alpha. The beast-girl, Delta. They are powerful. Their loyalty to you is absolute. What is your goal?"
He was trying to understand Cid's motivations. Was he a protector? A conqueror? A simple hermit?
Cid saw his chance to deliver the core, central philosophy of the Eminence in Shadow. He had to answer in a way that was both cool and completely opaque.
He chuckled, a dry, humorless sound. "Goal? You think in such... linear terms." He picked up a shard of a broken ramen bowl, observing it as if it held the secrets of the universe. "A king seeks to rule the light. A tyrant seeks to crush it. A hero seeks to defend it. All their stories are told on the sunlit stage, for all to see."
He closed his hand, and the shard crumbled to dust.
"I have no interest in the stage," he continued, his voice dropping to that familiar, chilling whisper. "I am the one who builds it from the shadows. I am the one who writes the script. I am the one who moves the pieces, unseen and unknown. My goal... is to create the most epic story imaginable, and to be the ultimate, hidden power behind it all. The Eminence in Shadow."
Jin-woo stared, completely and utterly baffled.
For the first time, he considered the possibility that Cid wasn't being metaphorical. What if he was being literal? What if this being of unimaginable power had, as his sole motivation, the desire to be a master manipulator in a self-created drama?
It was insane. It was narcissistic. It was the most ridiculous, childish, and terrifying motivation he had ever encountered. It was more alien than any monster or Monarch he had ever met. A being who could unmake reality but chose to play puppet master for his own amusement.
"So... this is all a 'performance' to you?" Jin-woo asked, the words feeling absurd on his tongue.
"Everything is a performance," Cid countered, a faint, knowing smirk on his lips. "You, Monarch of Shadows, have simply been cast in a leading role. The question is, will you play your part?"
Before Jin-woo could respond to that maddening statement, his senses flared. Something was wrong.
"Your world's energy... the 'mana'," Jin-woo said, standing up abruptly. "It's being drained. Rapidly. To the north of the city."
Cid blinked, genuinely surprised for the first time. He focused, pushing his senses out. Jin-woo was right. A massive amount of magical energy was being siphoned away from the capital, drawn towards a single point in the northern forests. It felt... like the Fracture, but more focused. More deliberate.
"It seems," Jin-woo said, his eyes glowing with renewed intensity, "the next act of your 'story' has begun without you." He looked at Cid. "The Abyssal Weavers are making another move. They are creating a beachhead."
Cid's mind raced. 'A beachhead! He's right! While I was here monologuing like a genius, the real plot was happening somewhere else! I need to get there and strike a cool pose before it's all over!'
"Hmph," Cid grunted, turning his back and starting to walk towards the exit. "The overture is over. It is time for the symphony of battle to begin." He had to get there first to maintain his image as the all-knowing mastermind.
Jin-woo watched him go. This alliance was going to be a nightmare. He was allied with a madman. A god-tier, chuunibyou madman. But he was also the only one who seemed to know anything about the enemy.
"Wait," Jin-woo called out.
Cid paused at the ruined entrance.
"I need a way to communicate with you," Jin-woo said. "And I need a cover. I cannot walk around like this." The shadows around him receded completely, revealing his face and normal clothes to the empty room.
Cid thought for a moment. 'A cover! The powerful Monarch needs to hide his identity, just like me! This is perfect! He's learning the ways of the shadow broker!'
"There is an academy," Cid said over his shoulder. "The Midgar Royal Spellsword Academy. Be a student. It is the perfect cover for a 'mob' character. No one ever pays attention to them." He tossed a small, heavy pouch of coins over his shoulder. It landed with a soft thud at Jin-woo's feet. "For the enrollment fee."
"As for communication," Cid continued. "When the time is right... find me in the shadows."
And with that, he walked out of the shop and vanished, leaving Sung Jin-woo, the Shadow Monarch, the King of the Dead, Conqueror of Monarchs and Hero of Humanity, standing alone in a ruined ramen shop with a pouch of money and instructions to... enroll in high school.
He looked down at the pouch, then at the empty doorway.
A single, weary thought echoed in his mind.
"This is going to be hell."