Ascension: Shadow Protocol

Chapter 18: Hunted by His Own

Location: The Wastes – Outskirts of the Inner Sector

The sky had turned a shade of iron.

Wind carried dust like razor blades across the barren road ahead, and every footstep Ryo took crunched against the dead gravel of what used to be a Guild outpost—now nothing but ruins and silence.

Iri walked beside him, scanning the horizon with her eyes glowing faint cyan from her interface lens.

"We're not alone," she said flatly.

"I know."

Ryo didn't need her sensors to tell him.He felt it.

A presence trailing just beyond sight.No—not one. Several.

And one of them… he knew intimately.

The Shadow Squad Arrives

They struck just after sundown.

Figures blurred into view—cloaked in stealth gear, moving like ghosts over cracked ground. There were five of them, each marked with silver bands on their arms.

Guild Division: Protocol Eradication Unit – Code Designation: Eclipse

The leader stepped forward—his helm unfolding to reveal sharp, clean features and a scar across his left eye.

Ryo's chest tightened.

"Juno."

The man's eyes narrowed. "Ryo Kazen. Protocol Possession confirmed. Orders are clear: Return the Shadow Core—or your corpse will suffice."

"So it's true," Ryo said quietly. "You joined them."

"No," Juno replied. "I am them. The Guild saved me. Gave me rank. Purpose. Something you threw away the moment you activated that cursed system."

Iri moved beside Ryo, pulling a short-blade from her sheath.

"Five hostiles. Code-jammers on their belts. They're here to disable your protocol access."

Ryo cracked his neck.

"Let them try."

Battle Protocol Activated

The moment the first attacker rushed forward, Ryo's system surged.

[Shadow Protocol: Partial Sync – 42%][Combat Runtime Enabled – Execution Speed Multiplied x3]

Time warped.

The assassin lunged. Ryo spun, ducked, and drove his elbow into the attacker's gut. Another came from the flank—he caught the strike with his forearm, twisted, and hurled them into a broken pillar.

Iri blurred forward, her blade dancing in arcs of light, matching them blow for blow.

"They're using predictive movement AI!" she shouted.

"Then I'll be unpredictable."

Juno vs. Ryo

Juno drew his weapon—an obsidian twin-blade that crackled with violet light.

"You always were a wild one, Ryo. But raw power means nothing without discipline."

"Funny," Ryo said, stepping forward. "I was about to say the same."

They clashed.Steel against shadow.Old mentor against rising force.

Juno's strikes were precise, mechanical—military style. Ryo's, by contrast, were wild, fluid, corrupted by shadow's chaos yet adaptively learning. With every exchange, Ryo grew faster. Smarter.

Stronger.

But then—Juno pulled out a code disruptor and slammed it against Ryo's chest.

[Protocol Interference Detected – Lockdown Engaged]

Ryo gasped, stumbling as his vision blurred.

"You always leave yourself wide open to emotion," Juno said coldly. "Still not ready."

Iri's Gambit

"Hey, Guild trash," Iri called, throwing something from her pouch.

A pulse grenade detonated in a flash of electric blue, shattering the field around Ryo. His systems sparked, rebooting.

[Shadow Protocol Rebooting… Complete.]

"Thanks," Ryo muttered, eyes glowing.

"Next time, dodge smarter," she shot back.

Unleashing the Echo

Ryo's body pulsed with dark mist. The shadows beneath him writhed like living tendrils.

[New Skill Unlocked: Shadow Echo – Create a delayed mirror attack within 2.5 seconds of original strike]

He smiled.

"Let's try something new."

Juno lunged—but Ryo sidestepped and sliced once.

It looked like a miss. But two seconds later, a shadow clone of his blade mimicked the exact strike, slashing through Juno's side.

"W-What the hell was—"

"A delay," Ryo whispered. "But deadly."

Retreat or Die

The other four agents regrouped, dragging Juno back.

"Fall back!" one of them shouted. "He's breached adaptive limits!"

Juno glared at Ryo as they vanished into a shroud of smoke.

"This isn't over."

"I'm counting on it."

Post-Battle

Night returned to silence. The wind blew through abandoned wreckage.

Ryo stood over the cracked stone, the remains of the battlefield echoing with fading system alerts.

"They won't stop coming," Iri said. "The Guild won't let this go."

"Let them come," Ryo said, his voice steel. "Every time they do, I learn. Every fight... I ascend."

He looked toward the ruins beyond—the direction the Vault was rumored to be.

"But next time, I hunt first."

End of Chapter 18