SWNOVELXO Chapter 22: The Seed's Revelation
The sirens faded into the distance as the four figures stood in the quiet darkness of the Gangnam alley. The adrenaline of the 'heist' and the subsequent skyscraper jump was slowly replaced by the calm of a successful mission.
"The authorities are completely baffled," Beta reported, scrolling through live news feeds on her phone. "Initial reports are blaming a 'major power surge' and 'mass system failure' at the KBC station. Our digital footprints were erased the moment the Weaver was severed. As far as this world is concerned, nothing happened here tonight."
"A perfect crime," Cid said with a dramatic sigh of satisfaction. "A ghost hunted by shadows, leaving no trace but a confusing story. Flawless."
Jin-woo, however, was not focused on their escape. His attention was entirely on the object in his hand. He had materialized the Seed of the Void from his inventory. It no longer felt empty. It felt... complete.
The small, black sphere was now surprisingly heavy. The swirling images within had resolved. It was no longer just a mask or a broken instrument. He could now see a clear, miniature diorama within its depths. Three figures—the armored warrior, the jester, and the silent observer—were chained together, kneeling before a colossal, shadowed throne. And on that throne sat a vague, terrifying silhouette, a being whose presence dwarfed the three Grand Weavers combined.
The Weaver King.
As they all focused on the Seed, it pulsed with a new energy. A single, pure concept, distilled from the combined essence of the three defeated Weavers, flowed from the Seed and directly into Jin-woo. It was a piece of information, a key.
[You have absorbed a 'Chord of Annihilation' from the Seed of the Void.]
[New Skill Acquired: 'Conceptual Severance' (Lesser).]
[Skill Description: By focusing your will, you can temporarily sever the metaphysical connection between a target and its source of power or reality. Ineffective against beings of higher conceptual weight. Requires immense concentration.]
Jin-woo's eyes widened. The Seed hadn't just imprisoned the Weavers; it had reverse-engineered their fundamental ability and granted a weaker version of it to him. He now possessed a fraction of the very power they wielded. This changed everything. He now had a weapon that could, in theory, fight them on their own terms.
He shared this, too. Alpha's expression was one of profound awe. "To not only defeat your enemy, but to absorb their very power... Lord Monarch, your capabilities are truly boundless."
Ignoring Cid's mental grumbling, Jin-woo focused on the practicalities. "Our work here is done. It's time to return to Midgar."
"How?" Alpha asked. "Can you open another Gate without the Weaver's energy signature to lock onto?"
"I can," Jin-woo confirmed. "But it will be more difficult. I'll need to pinpoint your world's specific dimensional frequency. It will require concentration, and the Gate will be unstable. We must go at once."
Finding a secure location was paramount. Woo Jin-chul, ever-efficient, directed them via a coded message to a discreet location: a deep underground bunker beneath the new Hunter Association headquarters, a relic from the old days designed to withstand an S-Rank Gate break.
Once inside the cold, concrete room, Jin-woo began the process. He closed his eyes, extending his senses beyond the physical world, past the veil of his reality, searching the infinite cosmic sea for the specific energy signature of Midgar. It was like trying to find a single grain of sand on an endless beach.
His Monarch's aura began to fill the room, the air growing heavy and charged. Shadows coalesced, swirling around him as he focused his immense power.
Cid, Alpha, and Beta watched in silence. For Alpha and Beta, it was another chance to witness the raw, majestic power of the Monarch. For Cid, it was a chance to critique his "portal-opening" form.
'Hmm, his stance is a bit stiff,' Cid thought. 'He should add a bit more of a dramatic flourish with his hands. And maybe a cool incantation. Something like, "By the shadows that bind and the darkness that tears, I command the path between worlds to open!" It would really add to the presentation.'
Finally, Jin-woo found it. A faint hum. The frequency of a world saturated with magic.
He thrust his hand forward, and with a guttural exertion of will, he tore a hole in the space in front of him.
Unlike the stable vortex from before, this Gate was a violent, raging maelstrom of raw energy. It spat sparks of purple lightning and warped the air around it. It was a wild, untamed rift.
"It's unstable!" Jin-woo grunted, sweat beading on his forehead. "It won't hold for long! We have to go now!"
Cid didn't need to be told twice. A quick exit was always dramatic. He grabbed Beta's arm. Jin-woo moved to Alpha's side.
"Wait!" A voice called out. Woo Jin-chul ran into the bunker, his face flushed. "Monarch-nim! Before you go! The world leaders... they know you've returned. They wish to speak with you. They have questions..."
Jin-woo looked at the struggling Gate, then back at his loyal friend. He knew he couldn't stay. His battle was no longer here.
"Tell them," Jin-woo said, his voice echoing with the authority of a king, "that I am dealing with a threat that makes Monarchs and Gates look like children's squabbles. The world is safe... for now. My work continues in the shadows."
It was a message that would confuse and terrify every leader on the planet, which was exactly what was needed to keep them from interfering.
"And Jin-chul," Jin-woo added, a rare, small smile on his face. "Thank you."
With that, he pulled Alpha through the raging vortex. Cid and Beta followed a second later. The Gate, its anchor gone, collapsed with a deafening implosion that threw Woo Jin-chul back against the far wall.
He was left alone in the silent, scorched bunker, with only the Monarch's cryptic final words and the impossible memory of elves, magic smartphones, and interdimensional pretty boys. His job had just gotten infinitely more complicated.
They tumbled out of the other side of the Gate, landing not in the luxury penthouse, but in a darkened, unfamiliar alley in the Midgar capital. The unstable Gate had drifted slightly off-target.
The moment they arrived, the familiar, thick blanket of ambient mana washed over Alpha and Beta, and they both let out a sigh of relief. They were home.
Before they could even get their bearings, they felt a new presence. A figure stepped out of the shadows at the end of the alley. A figure they knew all too well.
It was Princess Iris Midgar, clad in the brilliant silver armor of the Crimson Order, her hand resting on the pommel of her sword. And behind her were two dozen of her most elite knights, their blades drawn, sealing the alley completely.
She had been hunting them. Tirelessly. And her quarry had just appeared out of thin air right in front of her.
Her sharp, intelligent eyes took in the scene. The four of them, appearing from nowhere in a flash of dark energy. The strange, foreign look in Jin-woo's eyes. The otherworldly confidence of the two elven women.
"So," Iris said, her voice as cold and sharp as honed steel. "The ghosts of the academy finally reappear." Her gaze was fixed, not on Cid, the "lucky" one, but on Jin-woo, the one whose power she instinctively knew was the true anomaly.
"I don't know what you are," she declared, her blade now pointed directly at him. "But your little games in my kingdom are over. Surrender now, or be cut down."
They had just escaped one world's authorities only to be cornered by another's.