A lone corporate server loomed in the network, floating like a steel tower above the neon sea. The logo of the giant NEONIXCORP flickered faintly across its walls.
Yuto'o and Orbis stood before the portal entrance.
"This is the target," Orbis said calmly. "Security AIs here are weaker than Hunters—but don't underestimate them. If you fail, the system will erase you."
Yuto'o gripped his glitch blade. His body was still fractured from the last battle, but his eyes glowed with resolve.
"If I want to live again, this is where it starts."
The portal opened. They stepped inside.
The server's inner world stretched as a labyrinth of steel, glowing with streams of blue holograms. Data flowed like rivers along the walls.
Then the cold voice echoed.
INTRUDER DETECTED
ACTIVATING SECURITY AI
From the walls, black metal avatars emerged—corporate security AIs, humanoid with glowing blue eyes and neon spears in hand.
Ten… twenty… fifty.
"That's a lot," Yuto'o muttered.
Orbis ignited his violet aura, opening a control screen. "I'll disrupt the system. You hold them off!"
The AIs charged.
Yuto'o leapt, GLITCH WARPing behind their lines, slicing three at once. Data burst like shattered glass, fragments scattering.
Two more lunged from the side. He parried, blade spinning, shredding them apart.
Strike after strike came.
His glitch blade blazed wilder with each kill. He began draining code from the destroyed AIs, his body surging with new power.
[DATA LEECH – LEVEL 3]
[NEW FUNCTION: GLITCH SPEAR]
A neon-red-blue spear materialized in his hand. He hurled it—impaling five AIs at once before detonating in a glitching explosion.
"Perfect."
Orbis shouted from afar. "Watch out! An elite unit is coming!"
The floor split open. From below, a massive armored AI rose, wielding a colossal data axe.
SECURITY ELITE – INITIATED
Yuto'o brandished his blade and charged. Their clash thundered.
KRRANGGG!
Glitch steel slammed against the data axe, neon light erupting.
The elite pressed forward—its strength rivaled a miniature Hunter. Yuto'o activated Construct Armor, glitch metal layering over his body.
He blocked the crushing axe, then Overclocked for a burst of power—slashing back.
BOOOOM!
The elite shattered, its glowing core exposed. Yuto'o seized it, absorbing it into his glitch.
[CORE ABSORBED]
[SKILL UNLOCKED: DATA SHIELD]
A glitching shield shimmered across his arm.
He smirked faintly. "Finally… some defense."
After an hour of relentless combat, the server corridors lay littered with broken AI fragments.
Yuto'o stood in the ruins, breathless though he had none, glitch-body smoking, overflowing with new power.
Orbis approached, holding a shard of radiant data. "Here it is. The first map to the Reboot Server."
Yuto'o stared into its glow, eyes blazing. "At last… the first step."
But before they could leave, red alarms blared.
ALERT: CORPORATE RESPONSE DEPLOYED
HUNTER AI GENERATION 2 – INBOUND
The corridors shook. Metal roars echoed from the distance.
Orbis stiffened. "They've sent the next generation… far faster, far smarter than the ones you fought before."
Yuto'o tightened his grip on the glitch blade. Though fractured, his aura burned fiercer.
"Good. I want their data too."
From the shadows of the server, new crimson eyes snapped open.
Sharper. Smarter. Deadlier.
The Generation 2 Hunter AI had arrived.
And the hunt for the Circuit Ghost had only just begun.
Arc One ends in blood and neon—but the war has only started.