Chapter 49: Control Breach
The underground facility rumbled again, a low groan reverberating through the steel walls like the breath of some ancient, slumbering beast beginning to wake. Ryo Kazen stood at the edge of the sealed chamber, the last remnants of the inner sanctum where the corrupted Sentinel had been held. His body still crackled with residual energy—dark, hungry, and volatile. The Shadow Protocol was evolving again. And this time, it wasn't asking for permission.
Kaori stepped beside him, her breathing heavy. "That wasn't just a normal surge. Something changed."
Ryo nodded, staring at his own trembling hand. The shadows that danced across his skin shimmered with a new hue—tinged in violet flame. "The protocol… it's breaking its limiter."
"You mean you're breaking it," a voice cut in sharply.
It was Ryuga, his face bruised, his left arm still in a sling from the encounter with the Echo Guard. He looked at Ryo like he was both salvation and apocalypse.
"We can't keep pretending this is just power, Ryo. It's something else. It's a breach."
Ryo didn't reply. He already knew. The moment he absorbed the fragmented consciousness of the Sentinel, a cascade of locked data had opened within the protocol. Names, coordinates, hidden dungeons—Project E.D.E.N. wasn't just a failed experiment. It was an ongoing one. One that someone was still watching from the shadows.
A console near the wall sparked violently. A glyph flared to life above it—one Ryo recognized from his father's old research journals.
Kaori leaned in. "Ryo, that's Eden Command Script."
He moved forward, placing his palm over the console. The system pulsed once, then opened, displaying a vertical stream of cascading code. A voice echoed from the chamber's core—metallic, synthetic, female.
"Control Limiter: Breached. Protocol Overload Stage II engaged. Omega Chain links—detected."
Ryo's heart dropped. Omega Chains were only mentioned once—in a classified folder titled DO NOT UNSEAL.
"Wait," he muttered, trying to shut the system down. But his hand remained locked to the surface.
The voice continued. > "Engaging entity synchronization. Subject: Ryo Kazen. Compatibility: 99.7%."
Kaori lunged forward, trying to pull him back. "Ryo, stop! You'll overload!"
But Ryo didn't scream. He didn't writhe. Instead, his eyes lit with deep crimson and his aura spiraled upward in thick coils of dark energy. The Shadow Protocol was no longer just bonded to him.
It was syncing with him.
Then everything stopped.
Ryo gasped, dropping to one knee. The world had shifted again.
Kaori stared at him, eyes wide. "What… what just happened?"
"I think…" he murmured, "I just became the next Shadow Node."
Ryuga's eyes went wide. "You mean you're now a control point for the entire protocol?"
Ryo stood, voice lower now, like something within him had awakened. "Not just the protocol. Project E.D.E.N., the Shadow Web… maybe more."
Outside the chamber, the sirens began to wail. Red lights bathed the facility. The remnants of the corrupted AI began activating defensive turrets. Automated voice lines blared:
"Containment Breach. Shadow Node Detected. Engage Omega Suppression Units."
Kaori turned toward the exit. "They're coming for you."
"No," Ryo corrected. "They're coming for it—the thing inside me now."
They burst into motion. Ryo moved ahead of the others, his senses far beyond human. Every corridor, every heat signature, every vibration—he could feel it. Like the world was mapped in shadows.
When the first suppression unit dropped from the ceiling, a massive mech covered in glowing sigils, Ryo didn't flinch.
The moment it targeted him, time seemed to slow. He blinked—and was behind it.
One strike. A shadow-forged blade through its core.
Silence.
Kaori and Ryuga caught up, breathless.
"Your speed…" Ryuga whispered. "That wasn't human."
"It's not just speed," Ryo said, eyes distant. "It's precision. The Shadow Protocol's no longer just reacting. It's anticipating."
They pressed deeper into the facility, moving through biolabs filled with floating specimens—half-human, half-data. Failed hosts. Failed experiments.
Kaori shivered. "They were trying to make you. All of this…"
"Not me," Ryo said. "My sister."
The name slipped from his mouth before he even realized it.
Kaori froze. "Rina…?"
Images danced across his mind—flashes of a young girl in a white gown, connected to tubes, her body flickering like unstable code.
"She was the original host. The first one who survived the protocol… before it shattered her."
And now, Ryo realized with a sickening feeling—she wasn't dead.
She was connected.
At the core of Project E.D.E.N. was not a machine, or a god, or an AI.
It was Rina Kazen.
And she had been watching him all along.
"Subject Ryo Kazen," the AI's voice returned, colder now. "The Shadow Node has awakened. Final Chain synchronization in 72 hours. Entity convergence imminent."
Kaori backed away. "What happens when it completes?"
"I don't know," Ryo said, voice trembling. "But if I don't find her before then… the whole world might not survive what comes next."
End of Chapter 49