Ascension: Shadow Protocol

Chapter 2: Descent into the Dungeon

The silence was deafening.

Where there had once been the ragged breath of a dying boy, now only stillness remained.

Ryo Kazen opened his eyes.

But they were no longer the eyes of a powerless teenager.

They gleamed faintly — obsidian laced with flickers of violet code, like distant stars blinking in the abyss.

[SHADOW PROTOCOL: STAGE ONE INITIATED]User: Ryo KazenVital State: Stabilizing...Physical Reconstruction: 43%Cognitive Sync: In Progress...Accessing Environment…

The world reloaded.

Ryo's vision sharpened, brighter than ever, as if he'd stepped into a high-definition version of reality. He could see the shimmer of mana leaking from the cracked dungeon walls, the faint trail of blood left behind by the other hunters as they fled — and the pulsing red glyphs etched deep into the stone beneath his feet.

The glyphs hadn't been glowing before.

They were reacting to him.

No — to the protocol.

He stood slowly. His wounds were gone. The pain, the weakness, the emptiness… all of it had been replaced by something alien. Something darker.

"W-What… what am I?" he whispered, his voice oddly flat, as if spoken through a hollow space.

[Warning: Host Soul Integrity Below Threshold]Emotional Recalibration Suggested.Would you like to suppress emotional feedback?→ YES | NO

Ryo's finger hovered instinctively over the option glowing in his vision.

He hesitated.

Suppress emotions? Was that what this power demanded?

He tapped NO.

He needed to feel. If he didn't… he might forget why he started this journey in the first place.

He wouldn't become a monster. Not yet.

Deeper in the dungeon, the corrupted core pulsed with new energy.

Creatures that had once slumbered stirred. Eyes blinked open — dozens of them — crawling forth from the shadows like echoes of a forgotten nightmare. Dungeon corruption spread like veins through the floor, and at its center stood Ryo, utterly still, completely alone.

[New Objective: PROTOCOL TEST - SURVIVE]Duration: Until External ExtractionEnemies Detected: 6Dungeon Type: Glitched-Class InstanceTier: UnknownThreat Rating: ???

"Survive, huh…" Ryo exhaled, raising his hand instinctively.

And that's when he noticed it.

His hand was no longer entirely human.

It looked like smoke — or data — constantly reforming, twitching, reforming again. A black mist trailed from his fingers, and where he focused, the shadow thickened, curled, and hardened.

[Skill Acquired: Shadow Armament – Rank F]Description: Forge weapons using manifested shadows. Cost: Low.Note: Prototype version. Stability unreliable.

He raised his other hand.

A blade formed — not steel, but pure shadow, jagged and elegant. It pulsed in sync with his heartbeat.

Then he heard them.

Skitter. Click. Snarl.

Six corrupted beasts crawled into view — spiderlike constructs fused with bone and crystal, their bodies twitching with unstable mana. Dungeon Splicers. Glitched-class mobs that even C-rank parties feared.

They surrounded him, claws clicking on stone.

One charged.

Ryo didn't move. Not until the last second.

Then — blur.

His body responded before he could think. The world slowed. The creature lunged, and Ryo sidestepped fluidly, like dancing through molasses.

And then he cut.

Slice.

The blade tore clean through the monster, dispersing it into pixels of shrieking data.

[Target Eliminated – Assimilation Available]Assimilate Skill?→ YES | NO

"…Assimilate?"

He tapped YES.

[Assimilation Complete: Core Fragment Acquired]Temporary Skill: Rapid Skitter – Enhance movement speed for 3 seconds.Cooldown: 15s

Ryo blinked.

He'd gained the enemy's skill?

"I can steal their powers…"

Another beast lunged. This time, he was ready. He activated Rapid Skitter.

He vanished.

Reappeared behind the creature.

Slice.

It didn't stand a chance.

The next few moments were a blur of movement, light, shadow, and data. One after another, the creatures fell. And with each kill, he grew faster, sharper, more attuned.

[Protocol Sync 19%]Shadow Core Stability Increasing…

He stood amidst a field of fading corpses, breathing heavily — not from exhaustion, but exhilaration.

"I'm not weak anymore," he muttered.

And yet, something inside him trembled.

Because the more power he claimed…

…the less human he felt.

Elsewhere – Surface Level

Shinji paced anxiously outside the collapsed entrance of the dungeon. The guild emergency response team had arrived too late — the dungeon's core had destabilized, sealing the gate.

"Any word?" he snapped at the comms operator.

The woman shook her head. "Still no signals from inside. It's… it's like the entire floor is jamming our scans."

Shinji clenched his fist.

He should've pulled Ryo out sooner.

But he'd wanted him dead.

And now?

"Just my luck…" he muttered bitterly. "The brat might actually survive."

He looked up.

The dungeon flickered — not physically, but in his perception. As if something inside was rewriting the instance from within.

Shinji felt a chill crawl down his spine.

"…What the hell did you become, Ryo?"

Back in the Dungeon

Ryo stood before a mirror of obsidian glass.

It hadn't been there before. The dungeon was changing. Evolving.

And in the mirror, he saw himself.

A boy no longer.

He looked older, more refined — a prince forged from shadow, his eyes glowing with silent fire. But behind that face, behind the power pulsing through his body, something else stirred.

Something ancient. Something hungry.

[Warning: Shadow Protocol Sync Exceeding Safe Threshold]Host May Begin Integration with Subconscious Entities.

"…Subconscious what?"

A whisper curled through the air.

"You are not alone anymore, Ryo."

He spun.

No one was there.

But in the reflection — a second figure stood behind him. Its form was blurred, half-his, half-something else. A cloak of darkness draped across its frame, eyes hollow, mouth whispering secrets only shadows could understand.

And then it smiled.

Ryo stumbled back, but the reflection shattered — not into glass, but into code.

The dungeon rumbled.

[Shadow Protocol Sync: 20% – Stage Two Unlocked]

Far below, something deeper awakened.

And Ryo?

He smiled faintly.

"…Then let's descend even further."