The Chamber of the Unwritten Page was charged with an energy it had never known before. It was the energy of usurpation, of creative rebellion. The glowing ink on the Unwritten Page, which had been in the middle of writing a new synopsis, paused, as if the divine author had just felt a hand grabbing his wrist.
Cid Kagenou stood before the page, the spectral Author's Pen held aloft like a conductor's baton. Jin-woo stood beside him, his hand resting on the Unwritten Tome, its infinite potential serving as their inkwell.
He took a deep breath, like a painter before a blank canvas. His 'Fourth Wall Break' ability was in overdrive, allowing him to feel the very structure of the narrative they were about to impose.
"The problem," Cid said aloud, beginning his 'pitch,' "is our runaway fame. Our echoes. They are well-intentioned but chaotic variables. To solve this, we cannot simply hunt them down one by one. We need to create a single, definitive story. A 'canon' event to unite them."
He touched the tip of his Pen to the Unwritten Page. The Author King's glowing script vanished, leaving the page blank, waiting.
Cid began to write, his pen strokes not leaving ink, but weaving concepts into the fabric of the page.
Title: The Trial of the Seven Shadows
[Synopsis: A mysterious world, a grand 'Gauntlet,' has appeared in the space between dimensions. It calls to all those who carry a fragment of the 'Shadow's Legend,' drawing them to its gates. Heroes who believe they fight a great evil, villains who believe they serve a dark master—all echoes are summoned. They are told that this Gauntlet is a trial set by the original 'Eminence in Shadow' to find his one, true successor. They must overcome a series of trials, each designed to test their ideology and skill. The last one standing will earn the right to face the master himself.]
It was a brilliant, narcissistic, and perfectly designed solution. He hadn't created a world to kill his echoes. He had created a tournament arc for them. A grand competition to prove which version of his own legend was the best.
Now, for the masterstroke. The story needed a location, a power source. They couldn't just create a world from nothing.
Jin-woo placed his hand on the Unwritten Tome. He focused, not on a skill or an entity, but on a place. He opened the book and "recorded" the concept of the Tower of Trials itself—the empty, neutral, infinitely customizable dimension.
[Concept Recorded: 'The Tower of Trials'. One Page Used.]
Cid then took that recorded concept and, with his Pen, "wrote" it into his story as the setting for the Gauntlet. They were using the Author King's own dungeon as the stage for their self-published adventure.
The Unwritten Page began to glow with a fierce, intense light. It was processing their request. It was judging their story. The Citadel itself seemed to hold its breath.
Then, the light softened. The text of Cid's synopsis settled, becoming a permanent part of the Page's history. And below it, a single, glowing line appeared, a comment from the editor himself.
['A bold and unexpected narrative direction. The author is intrigued. The tale is approved. Do try to make it interesting.'
They had done it. They had successfully hijacked the system.
A new portal opened before them, this one leading to their own, custom-made world.
They arrived in a familiar space: the empty, white, bone-like platform of the original Tower of Trials. But it had been... redesigned. The sky was a swirling vortex of shadow and light. And before them stood a massive, ornate gate, emblazoned with the symbol of Shadow Garden. This was the entrance to the Gauntlet.
"Our stage is set," Cid said with deep satisfaction.
"They are already arriving," Jin-woo stated, his senses spreading out. He could feel dozens of new, fragmented energy signatures appearing in this dimension, all drawn by the call of the Gauntlet.
They cloaked themselves in shadow and ascended to a hidden observation platform high above the Gauntlet's entrance, a VIP box for the story's true authors.
The echoes began to gather.
The first to arrive was the "Shadow-Slayer" knight from the world of high fantasy, his expression noble and determined. "So this is the stronghold of the dark master 'Shadow'! I will face his trials and prove that the light can conquer all!"
Next came Zenith, the echo from the noir city. He looked around at the impossible dimension, his grim determination unwavering. "A trial to find a successor... So the original is stepping down. I must prove I am worthy to carry on his mission."
But then, other, stranger echoes began to appear. A space-faring echo in a sleek black starship, who believed "Shadow" was the secret emperor of the galaxy. A wild, feral echo from a jungle world, who saw "Shadow" as a great predator spirit.
And then came the villains.
A dark sorcerer echo, who believed "Shadow" was a demon lord he was destined to serve. A corporate CEO echo from a cyberpunk world, who ran a company called "Shadow Corp" and believed his ruthless business practices were all part of his master's grand economic plan.
Heroes and villains, all born from the same legend, all with their own, wildly different interpretations of what the "Eminence in Shadow" truly was. They all looked at each other with suspicion and rivalry.
Cid watched from above, a single, perfect tear of joy rolling down his cheek. "It's beautiful," he whispered. "It's a convention. A convention of me."
"The first trial is beginning," Jin-woo said, pointing towards the gate.
The gates to the Gauntlet swung open, and a single, massive Fused Golem, a copy of the one they had fought, stepped out. But this one was not a fusion of Jin-woo and Cid. It was a fusion of all the heroic echoes on one side, and all the villainous echoes on the other. A Golem of pure, conflicting ideology.
The first trial was simple: the echoes had to team up, heroes and villains alike, to defeat a reflection of their own internal conflict.
"This," Cid declared, settling into his comfortable observation seat, "is going to be the greatest show I have ever produced."
He was no longer a character, not just an author. He was now a showrunner, a dungeon master, and the ultimate judge of his own legacy. The Trial of the Seven Shadows—or rather, the trial for the dozens of shadows—had officially begun.