Ascension: Shadow Protocol

Chapter 8: Echo of Death

Location: Sector 7 – Protocol Black Market, "The Sink"

The stink of oil, blood, and desperation saturated the air.

Ryo stepped off the rusted transport platform and into the belly of the underworld—The Sink—a labyrinthine sprawl beneath Sector 7 where laws didn't reach and Protocol users roamed unchecked.

Neon signs flickered overhead, hawking everything from hacked skill cores to black-market evolution stones. Mutated beasts were caged in glass, twitching with implants. People moved like shadows, hiding behind masks and silence.

But Ryo? He walked with fire in his veins and shadow trailing his every step.

He wasn't hunting loot.

He was hunting a name.

"Echo."

A Protocol user rumored to be an ex-Obsidian test subject—just like him. One who left only shattered systems and corpses in his wake.

Shadow Protocol Update

Tracking Target: "Echo"Bounty Level: Omega BlackWarning: Subject exhibits unstable Protocol fusion and memory fragmentation.

Reward for Termination: Class-A Evolution Core.

Inside the Market

"Keep moving, kid," a masked vendor muttered. "Eyes like yours? You'll get yourself dissected here."

Ryo didn't answer.

His Protocol scanned the crowd in pulses, identifying weaponry, threat levels, and energy trails. Finally—he caught it.

A shadow without a source.

Following the anomaly down a forgotten alleyway, Ryo descended into darkness that felt like a pulse.

Each step echoed like a countdown.

Echo's Lair – A Forgotten Data Forge

The walls were alive—covered in scribbled code, flickering with corrupted memories.

Ryo stepped into the main chamber and froze.

In the center, a figure stood over a dissected man. Blood and data leaked in equal measure.

He wore no mask. His face was pale, eyes sunken, veins glowing with black light.

He looked up. And he smiled.

"They sent a boy? Oh… no. You're one of us. Aren't you?""Name's Echo. Or it was, before they stripped it out of me.""What's yours, little shadow?"

Ryo clenched his fist. "Ryo Kazen. Project Obsidian."

Echo laughed—hollow, broken.

"That place. That hell. We were never meant to live past it. So why are you pretending to be whole?"

BATTLE INITIATED

Enemy: Echo – Rogue Shadow UserProtocol Signature: [Fragmented / Fused]Danger Level: S-

Echo moved like a blur, launching [Shadow Chains] and [Phantom Steps] mid-speech.

Ryo dodged narrowly, activating [Shadow Clone] to flank him.

The clone struck—but Echo expected it. He absorbed the attack and redirected the data into a backlash, knocking Ryo into a wall.

"Your system is still pure. You haven't had to kill to feed it yet."

"You will."

Ryo gritted his teeth and triggered [Data Drain]—this time, feeding on the corrupted zone itself, drawing energy directly from the forge.

The room twisted as Ryo's aura exploded outward, merging black flame with raw code.

New Protocol Surge Detected

Skill Unlocked: [Obsidian Pulse – Lv. 1]Create a burst of compressed shadow energy that stuns Protocol users and erases short-term memory fragments.Cooldown: 3 minutes.

He fired the [Obsidian Pulse].

Echo screamed—staggered—and for a moment, he remembered. A flicker of humanity.

"...Ayaka… is that you?"

Ryo's heart stopped."You knew my mother?"

Echo smiled weakly. "She… she tried to save us. But the Protocol—it used her, too."

Then he launched a suicide lunge—both blades glowing.

Ryo's clone intercepted it.

Boom.

Both shattered into sparks.

End Result: Enemy Terminated

Shadow Protocol Absorbed: [Chain Echo]Memory Fragment Acquired: "Ayaka's Last Transmission"Bonus: +1 Shadow Skill SlotObsidian Compatibility: +3%

Later That Night

Ryo sat on the roof of the forge, the moonlight turning the blood on his hands silver.

He replayed the memory fragment.

[Ayaka Voice Log: 14-A]"To any survivors of Project Obsidian... I'm sorry. I couldn't protect you. But if you're hearing this… find the Ascension Code. It's the only way to stop what's coming."

"I love you, Ryo. Always."

Tears slid down his face—but his eyes were darker than before.

The shadows no longer followed him.

They obeyed.

Shadow Protocol Update

Mission Complete: Echo EliminatedNew Mission Unlocked: [Locate the Ascension Code – Trace #1 found in the Memory Forge]Threat Level Rising…

End of Chapter 8