The night over the Forsaken Sector hung like a blanket of steel, impenetrable and suffocating. Even the artificial stars—orbital satellites once meant to mimic the constellations of old Earth—had gone dim, flickering uncertainly as if wary of what stirred below.
Aeron stood silently on the broken observation platform of the abandoned Ark-Delta station, his cloak fluttering in the stale wind. Behind him, the shimmer of an active data screen cast a soft blue glow against the cracked metal walls. The [System] interface pulsed faintly with a pending notification:
Mission Complete: Shadow Retrieval – Hidden Archive #12 ExtractedRewards: +300 EXP, +1 Algorithmic Decryption Key, +15 System Affinity Points.
He dismissed it with a blink, more concerned with what he had just uncovered than the reward itself.
The data crystal he retrieved—embedded within the skeletal remains of an old protocol enforcer—contained far more than encrypted coordinates. It was a confession. A message from one of the original founders of the Ascension Protocol.
"They told us we were saving humanity. But what they created... was a leash. The Protocol wasn't meant to help us evolve. It was designed to control who gets to evolve."
Aeron clenched the crystal tighter, knuckles whitening beneath his gloves.
Everything he had believed—about the Protocol, about Ascension, about the so-called salvation of humanity—was now in question.
He wasn't alone.
A presence stirred behind him, silent yet purposeful. Aeron didn't need to turn to know who it was.
"Elira," he said calmly. "You followed me."
"Only because you didn't answer your comms," she replied, stepping into view. Her red combat visor glowed like a predator's eye, scanning his vitals. "You're pale. What did you find?"
He hesitated.
Part of him wanted to lie—to protect her, to give himself more time to understand the revelation—but Elira was not someone easily deceived. Nor did she deserve to be.
He handed her the crystal.
As she scanned it, her expression hardened. "Is this... real?"
"Yes," Aeron answered quietly. "The Protocol was never about equal opportunity. It's a filtering system. It chooses candidates based on unseen criteria—genetic, psychological, ideological. Those who don't meet the unseen standard are locked out... or worse."
Elira's fingers tensed around the data crystal. "That explains the disappearances in Tier-Zero Districts. The rejections without reason. The citizens deemed 'unfit' for Ascension."
"They weren't unfit," Aeron muttered. "They were inconvenient."
For several moments, neither of them spoke.
The silence was broken by the hum of a hidden drone above—a recon model, stealth-class. Aeron instinctively tapped into his [Shadow Sensor] skill, a new ability he acquired during his infiltration mission.
[Shadow Sensor – LV3]: Detects invisible or cloaked surveillance entities within 25 meters. Bonus: Can overload lesser recon circuits for 3 seconds.
A quick pulse of energy radiated from his palm. The drone shimmered into visibility briefly before falling from the air, its circuits fried.
"We're being watched," he said.
Elira didn't flinch. "We always were. The moment we leveled beyond Tier-5, the System's eyes never left us."
"But this?" Aeron gestured at the data. "This is different. We're not just players in a game—we're lab rats in a global experiment."
She looked him dead in the eye. "Then it's time we broke the lab."
Their comms chirped.
A new voice crackled through the encrypted channel—it was Valen, the rogue ex-council engineer who had defected to join their cause in Chapter 27.
"Commanders," his voice sounded ragged, as if he had been running. "They're onto us. The Council just activated Project Obelisk. They're moving against all rogue Ascendants."
"Obelisk?" Elira asked.
"It's a purge protocol," Valen explained. "A kill order masked as an upgrade. They're issuing system updates to all high-tier users. Once installed, it injects a loyalty subroutine and reroutes combat instincts toward any target labeled as 'traitor.' If we don't act now, even allies will become enemies."
Aeron's blood chilled. "When does the update go live?"
"Four hours. Starting from the Core Nexus outward."
"Then we don't have time to prepare," Elira said. "We have to strike first."
"No," Aeron said. "We need to go deeper."
He turned toward the reactor vault beneath the station—sealed off since the fall of the Protocol Wars. If the founder's message was true, then the vault held something more important than weapons or technology.
Truth.
"We'll find the Master Algorithm here," Aeron said. "The original framework behind Ascension."
"And if it's guarded?" Elira asked.
"It will be."
They moved swiftly.
Elira activated her [Phase Stride], disappearing in a blur of motion. Aeron followed, shifting into [Umbral Mode]—a temporary state that bent light around him, rendering him nearly invisible in shadows.
As they reached the entrance to the vault, a mechanical hiss greeted them.
A figure stood between them and the sealed gate—clad in obsidian armor, its visor glowing crimson.
A familiar voice echoed from the helmet. "I had hoped it wouldn't come to this."
Aeron's breath caught.
It was Commander Rhys, his former mentor, the man who had trained him in the earliest days of his Ascension. His name had been wiped from the registries after a failed mission... but now, here he was.
Alive. Enhanced. And standing guard.
"You knew," Aeron accused.
"I did," Rhys replied. "But knowing is a burden, and not everyone is strong enough to carry it."
"You stood by while innocents were denied their future."
"I stood for order," Rhys growled. "And I will continue to do so—even if it means standing against you."
A warning flashed across Aeron's [System]:
DANGER: Class-S Opponent DetectedEstimated Combat Rating: 9.7Status: Kill Protocol Active
Rhys ignited his plasma halberd. "Step aside, Aeron. Or be erased."
Elira moved first—her twin daggers shimmering with anti-circuit energy. But Rhys was faster. He parried with brutal efficiency, sending her crashing into a support pillar.
Aeron activated [Chrono Surge]—a rare skill earned during the Trial of Echoes.
[Chrono Surge – LV1]: Temporarily increases user's reaction speed by 500% for 5 seconds. Cooldown: 3 minutes.
The world slowed.
He dodged Rhys's next strike by mere inches, countering with a burst from his [Null Shot] gauntlet.
The blast struck true—but Rhys's armor absorbed it.
"Still relying on tricks?" Rhys sneered. "You've yet to understand true power."
Aeron's HUD flickered.
WARNING: Armor Integrity – 58%Ally Status: Elira – Critical Condition
He had seconds to decide.
Fight.
Or...
He dove toward Elira, activating [Shared Link]—a support skill allowing him to split health and mana.
Their systems synchronized.
Her eyes flickered open. "Round two?"
"Together."
They attacked in unison.
Elira danced around Rhys's blows, while Aeron targeted weak points revealed by his [Battle Cognition] passive. Blow after blow chipped away at the armor.
And then, Aeron activated his latest ability—unlocked from the Shadow Archive.
[Protocol Override – LV1]: Temporarily bypasses system-imposed limits. Grants access to sealed abilities for 10 seconds. One use per mission.
The air warped.
Time shimmered.
Aeron's blade turned dark—coded with anti-Protocol data.
He slashed.
Rhys staggered.
And for the first time, the old warrior looked afraid.
"You don't understand what you're awakening," Rhys gasped.
"No," Aeron said. "But I will."
With one final strike, he disabled the commander's core.
Rhys collapsed.
The vault door opened.
Beyond it lay not weapons, nor riches—but a suspended data core.
Alive.
Sentient.
Watching.
A voice echoed in their minds.
"Welcome, Aeron. You have reached the Threshold. Are you prepared to learn the true cost of Ascension?"
Aeron stepped forward.
His journey was far from over.
It had just begun again.