NEON RECKONING**
**[DUNGEON COOLDOWN COMPLETE]**
**[CURRENT RANK: A- (16%)]**
**[SHADOW CONVERSION CHARGES: 3/3]**
The Neon Abyss pulsed like a dying star before them, its electric blue maw tearing at the fabric of reality. Seun stood at the threshold, his shadowforged gauntlets humming with restrained power. The System's warnings scrolled faster than usual, the golden text flickering erratically:
**[DUNGEON ANALYSIS: NEON ABYSS - ANOMALIES DETECTED]**
- Threat Reassessment: S- (Not A+)
- Primary Resident: Circuit Devourer (Evolved Variant)
- New Hazard: Reality Glitches (Localized Space-Time Fractures)
Behind him, his generals materialized from the villa's dimensional folds.
**"Monarch."** Ryoto's katana shimmered with restrained energy.
**"Monarch."** Winterscorn's icy breath frosted the cracked pavement.
**"Monarch."** Lina's form flickered between visibility and shadow.
Seun stepped forward—and the corrupted dungeon swallowed them whole.
---
### **DESCENT INTO THE GLITCH**
Reality unraveled in jagged fragments.
One moment they stood in the ruins of Old Shibuya—the next, they were tumbling through a nightmare of **fractured code and screaming data streams**. The Neon Abyss had evolved beyond its original parameters:
- **Platforms of corrupted memory** floated in the void, their edges glitching violently
- **Pale tendrils of lost data** snaked through the air like ghostly vines
- The very atmosphere **wailed**—a chorus of a thousand fried neural interfaces
**[WARNING: REALITY INTEGRITY 63%]**
Lina's neural disruptors sparked violently. **"This isn't the same dungeon we scouted—"**
The attack came from everywhere and nowhere.
---
### **THE DEVOURER PRIME**
It didn't emerge—it **manifested** from the glitches themselves.
The Circuit Devourer Prime was **wrong** in ways that hurt to observe. Its chrome-plated segments stretched across ninety meters of twisted space, each joint **phasing in and out of reality**. Where there should have been shadow between its armor plates, there was only **hungry static**.
**[TARGET REASSESSMENT: CIRCUIT DEVOURER PRIME]**
- Threat Level: S (Confirmed)
- New Ability: Spatial Anchoring (Prevents Dimensional Escape)
- Conversion Probability: 6% (Fatal Compatibility Risk)
Seun barely had time to activate his shadowcloak before the beast **rewrote the battlefield**.
---
### **THE FIRST FAILURE**
Ryoto died in the opening seconds.
The general had barely raised his katana when the Devourer's tail—**phasing through reality itself**—punched through his chest with a railgun's force. The impact sent his shattered form careening into the abyss below.
**[SHADOW GENERAL STATUS: RYOTO - DESTABILIZED]**
**[RECOVERY TIME: 71 HOURS IN SHADOW STELAE]**
Seun's first conversion attempt was an act of desperation. He managed to lay hands on the beast's flank—
**[CONVERSION ATTEMPT: 8% SUCCESS]**
—before the Devourer **inverted the process**, flooding his nervous system with corrupted data.
**[CRITICAL DAMAGE: NEURAL OVERLOAD]**
Seun's scream was silent as his body **locked rigid**, every nerve ending set ablaze.
---
### **THE RETREAT**
They escaped by **sacrifice and sheer luck**.
Winterscorn detonated its own core to freeze a path through the glitching space. Lina dragged Seun's paralyzed form toward a fading rift—just as the Devourer's plasma mandibles **shattered** the ice behind them.
The last thing Seun saw before blacking out was the beast's **violet eyes** watching through the closing rift.
**Hungry.**
**Patient.**
---
### **THE VILLA'S SANCTUARY**
Consciousness returned in agonizing waves.
Seun found himself in the villa's **Sanctuary Chamber**, a dimensional pocket even deeper than the villa's normal space. The room was a perfect sphere of black marble, its walls inscribed with **ancient shadow runes** that pulsed in time with his heartbeat.
**[MEDICAL REPORT]**
- Neural Damage: 42% Repaired
- Shadow Core: 11% Regenerated
- Skeletal Fractures: 8 Remaining
Lina materialized from the chamber's shadows, her form still flickering with residual corruption. **"Monarch."** She hesitated—something no shadow soldier had ever done before. **"The hunters... they can't see the villa, but..."**
A hologram flickered to life, showing four figures prowling the ruins where the dungeon entrance had been. The lead hunter's coat bore the insignia of the **World Hunter Association's Elite Division**.
**[THREAT DETECTED: S-RANK HUNTER "VOID EYE" KIM]**
- Specialty: Dimensional Resonance Tracking
- Current Activity: Scanning for Residual Shadow Signatures
Seun's remaining hand clenched. The villa was safe—**for now**—but Kim's presence changed everything.
**"How long?"**
**"72 hours until Ryoto reforms,"** Lina said. **"36 until Winterscorn recovers. You... the System estimates 18 hours for full combat readiness."**
Seun closed his eyes. The numbers were unacceptable.
The System pulsed with a new alert—one that shouldn't have been possible:
**[DUNGEON ORIGIN TRACE COMPLETE]**
**[SOURCE IDENTIFIED: ARTIFICIAL CORRUPTION]**
**[SIGNATURE MATCH: HUNTER ASSOCIATION BLACK LABS]**
Seun's blood turned to ice.
The dungeon hadn't evolved.
**It had been sabotaged.**
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