Ascension: Shadow Protocol

Chapter 14: Shadows in the Market

Location: Kaizen Market District – Sector 5, Guild Escort Zone

"Try to look less like a walking time bomb," Iri muttered as she adjusted her Guild insignia. "You're attracting attention."

Ryo tugged at his borrowed Guild jacket. It felt wrong. Too official. Like a uniform someone else should be wearing.

"I'm not exactly used to walking around with a target on my back," he said.

Iri smirked. "You've had one since you touched the Protocol. Now it's just glowing brighter."

The bustling chaos of Kaizen's Sector 5 was a warzone of its own—only instead of monsters, there were merchants, forgers, and black-market dealers shouting over one another. Above them, holographic ads flickered between bounty announcements and dungeon clearances.

"Hunter Needed – Urgent Raid!""New Class Stones Available – Illegally Acquired!""Wanted: Ryo Kazen – Dead or Alive"

He stopped cold.

"Did you see that?""Yep," Iri said, unimpressed. "Relax. That bounty's fake. Probably a trap to lure you out."

"That makes me feel so much better."

The Mission

Their "simple escort mission" was anything but. They were assigned to protect a merchant named Zell, a squat, red-bearded man with more bodyguards than wares.

"I don't need kids watching my back," Zell grumbled, loading crates onto a floating cart."You're moving Class Shards," Iri replied. "You need divine protection."

Ryo remained silent. He kept feeling it—that subtle buzz in the air. Not mana. Not danger. Something else. A ripple in the system.

"Protocol anomaly detected."

His Shadow Protocol activated on its own. Symbols blinked across his vision.

[Threat Approaching – Camouflaged Hostiles Nearby][Status: Shadow Entities – Inverted Signature]

"Iri…" he said. "We're not alone."

The Ambush

It hit like a blackout.

Shadows peeled off the walls, forming humanoid figures with glitching, pixelated limbs and glowing red eyes. They attacked in perfect silence—no screams, no weapons, just raw digital malice.

"INVERTED!" Iri shouted, already drawing twin daggers. "Zell, take cover!"

Ryo stepped forward.

His own shadow surged.

"Shadow Protocol," he whispered. "Assimilate!"

A black aura exploded from his feet, wrapping around his arms like living armor.

The first Inverted lunged.

Ryo moved like instinct—ducked, flipped, drove his fist through its chest.[Skill Data Absorbed – Phantom Fade Acquired][Skill Installed: Phantom Fade – Blink (Short Range)]

He vanished in mid-air, reappearing behind two more enemies and driving a shadow blade into both.

Blink. Slash. Phase. Slash.

He was a storm—uncontrolled, raw, beautiful.

Iri's Real Test

She watched him move. Too smooth. Too fast. His instincts were syncing with the Protocol itself. Most users fought with their system. Ryo fought as it.

"You're not supposed to be this advanced yet," she whispered.

"What?""Nothing," she said, slicing through a third shadow. "Just reminding myself not to fight you."

Aftermath

The enemies dissipated like corrupted data. The ground was scorched with strange glyphs—old coding marks from a lost age of hunters.

Zell emerged from cover, pale and sweating.

"What the hell were those things?!""Inverted Shadows," Iri said. "Enemies created when a Protocol user dies while still connected to the system. They get… rewritten."

"You mean…" Ryo asked, eyes narrowing. "They were once like me?"

Iri nodded slowly.

"And the stronger you get, the more will come. You're attracting them now. Like bugs to a virus."

A Message in the Glitch

Just before the last Inverted vanished, it dropped a small, broken shard.

Ryo picked it up.

The Shadow Protocol responded instantly.

[Encrypted Message Fragment Recovered]Decode?→ Yes.

"He's not dead. The Voidcrown lives.""Initiate the next hunt. The Reaper is waking.""All hail the true Shadow Sovereign."

Ryo's blood ran cold.

Voidcrown.The name again.

"I need to know who that is," Ryo said quietly.

"Then you need to survive long enough to find out," Iri replied, eyes hardening. "And from now on... the real monsters aren't hiding in the dungeons."

End of Chapter 14