Ascension: Shadow Protocol

Chapter 17: Message from Beyond

Location: Outpost Edge – Safe Zone Outside the Tertius Dungeon

The key of code still shimmered in Ryo's hand.

Not warm. Not cold. Just… humming.Like it wasn't really there, but also more real than anything else he'd ever touched.

"[System Notice: Unknown Fragment Analyzed.]**[Message Decoded: Origin — CLASSIFIED. Temporal Trace Inconclusive.][Display Now? Y/N]"

He hesitated.He could feel it again—the pull. The tug from something far away, yet terrifyingly close.

"Show it."

The key dissolved into lines of blue light, which twisted and reformed in the air into a holographic screen.

Then a voice crackled through.

"If you're hearing this… it means the Void accepted you."

The Ghost Message

The face on the screen was covered in a black mask. Static ran across the feed like dying circuitry. A symbol pulsed on the chestplate—a crest made of broken wings and data lines.

"Name: Kael Nomura," the voice continued. "Rank: Classified. Status: Deceased—though that might not be true anymore."

Ryo's heart stopped for a moment. That name. Kael.

He'd read it once. Deep in the forbidden files of the Guild's data bank. A name wiped from protocol history. A hunter who vanished a decade ago in the first recorded Shadow Collapse event.

"I activated the Shadow Protocol long before you," Kael's recording said. "I thought I could master it. I thought I could rewrite the world."

The voice faltered.

"But I was wrong."

Legacy of the Lost

The image shifted. Now a map. A ruined zone deep underground, blinking red.

"There's a place the Guild doesn't know about. A place the Protocol grows wild. I left behind a backup there. Not just data... but power. My final weapon."

Kael's voice returned.

"You need to get there. Before they do. Before the Overseers purge it."

"Who are the Overseers?" Ryo muttered.

As if in response, the feed glitched again—this time revealing a blurred silhouette of something huge.Mechanical. Monstrous. Dozens of eyes glowing like command ports.

"They are not gods," Kael growled. "They are errors in creation. Ghosts in the machine that run this world's rules like tyrants."

"They erased me. They'll come for you, too."

"You are the second protocol bearer. But if you fail... you'll be the last."

The message ended with a single directive:

[New Main Quest: Locate the Forgotten Server – "Kael's Vault"]Estimated Threat Level: S-Rank+Location: UNKNOWN (Search Required)

Ryo's fingers trembled.

Iri Intervenes

"I saw the light," Iri said from behind, stepping through the door into the clearing. "What the hell did you activate this time?"

"Kael Nomura left me a message."

"Kael's dead."

"No," Ryo said, eyes fixed where the image had vanished, "he's just... unfinished."

Iri crossed her arms. "This 'Vault'—you're planning to find it?"

"I have to. He said they'll come for me."

"They already are," Iri muttered. "The Guild just issued a global bulletin. You've been flagged as a rogue protocol user. There's a kill-on-sight bounty now."

Ryo smiled darkly. "Then I better get stronger before they find me."

The Watchers Move

Back in the deep system beyond human reach, within a hidden control room cloaked in black data clouds, six Overseers stood in a circle of light.

Kael's message had triggered something.

"The second bearer accessed the Void Key," one intoned.

"He's progressing faster than the first."

"Shall we terminate?"

"No. Observe. The Protocol tests the worthy through suffering."

On the table before them was a flickering 3D image of Ryo Kazen.

"He will either ascend… or collapse."

Back on the Move

Ryo's eyes burned with new determination.

A trail.A clue.A purpose that went beyond revenge.

This wasn't just about his sister, or the traitors, or the dungeons.

This was about something far greater.

"Iri," he said, standing, "We're going underground. We're going to find Kael's Vault."

"Great," she groaned. "Because our lives weren't already insane."

He pulled his hood over his head.

"This world is running on corrupted rules. And I'm going to rewrite the code."

End of Chapter 17