Chapter 1:Awakening in the Virtual Cage.

Leonis Shadowblade opened his eyes to the cracked ceiling of a thatched hut, his vision swimming in and out of focus. The air smelled of damp straw and something metallicblood, perhaps.

His skull throbbed as if split by a blade, and when he tried to sit up, his muscles screamed in protest.

*Where am I?*

Fragments of memory surged like a tidal wave: the sterile glare of a lab, the cold press of a needle against his neck, the smirk of the corporate enforcer as a viscous, shadow-laced toxinShadowcryst Venom"*fooded his veins. Then, darkness,

But this was no lab.

This was a village, crude and rustic, bathed in the eerie glow of a blood-red moon. The walls of the hut trembled as a qust of wind rattled the shutters, and Leonis realized with a jolt that he wasnt just *somewhere*he was inside *The Shadow Epoch*, the virtual reality game he'd hacked into months ago.

The game that had gotten him killed.

Or so hed thought.

He staggered to his feet, his body heavy and foreign, and caught his reflection in a shattered mirror propped against the wall. What stared back was a nightmare. His left arm pulsed with writhing shadows, tendrils of darkness coiling around his fingers like living smoke.

His right arm, in stark contrast, burned with a radiant, almost holy firegold-white flames licking at his skin without consuming it.

*"Welcome to The Shadow Epoch, Player Leonis."*

The voice was mechanical, devoid of warmth.

It echoed in his skull, not through his ears.

*"Dual Bloodline detected. System designates you as an Anomaly. The Void Covenant has been activatedyou cannot die. You cannot level up."*

Leonis clenched his fists, and the conflicting energies within him flared in response.

The shadows hissed; the flames roared. The pain was unbearable, a war raging beneath his skin. With a snarl, he drove his fist into the mirror, shattering it. The shadows erupted from his left arm, lashing out like whips, reducing the wooden walls to splinters.

The hut groaned, collapsing around him as he stood amidst the wreckage, chest heaving.

The village beyond was no better. The streets were empty, save for hollow-eyed villagers shuffling like puppets, their movements jerky and unnatural.

The blood moon's glow painted everything in shades of crimson, and Leonis understoodthis wasnt just a game. It was a prison. A *cage*.

A notification flickered in his vision:

**[New Quest: "Shadow's Touch"]**

*Speak to the Village Elder in the town square.*

Leonis exhaled sharply. If the system wanted him to play, he'd play. But he' d rewrite the rules,

The village square was a graveyard of silence. The elder, a gaunt man with milky eyes, stood beneath a gnarled oak, his lips moving soundlessly. Beside him, a woman leaned against the tree, her silver hair gleaming under the moon.

She wore the leathers of a bounty hunter, a curved blade strapped to her back. Her gaze locked onto Leonis the moment he stepped into the clearing.

*"Youre late,"* she said, her voice like frost.

Leonis frowned. *'Do I know you?"*The woman smirked.

*"Not yet. But you will."* She pushed off the tree, her movements fluid, predatory.

*"Name's Celia Moonblade. Ive been sent to clean up anomalies."*

Leonis's blood ran cold. He knew that name. Celia had been a legend in the hacking underworlduntil she vanished.

Now here she was, inside the game, staring at him like he was prey.

*"Youre not a bounty hunter,"* he said slowly. *"Youre a corporate hound."*

Her smirk vanished.

In one fluid motion, her blade was at his throat, the edge kissing his skin.

*"And youre the hacker who thought he could expose the Syndicate."* Her grip tightened. *'Funny. They told me youd be dead by now."*

Leonis didnt move.

*"Disappointed?"*

Celia's blade flashedbut instead of slicing his throat, it grazed his shadow-wreathed left arm. The darkness surged, writhing in agonyand then, impossibly, the shadows *flowed* into his right arm, the flames devouring them.

A rush of warmth flooded his veins, and for the first time since waking, the pain *lessened*.

Celia's eyes widened. *'What the hell?*

Leonis didnt hesitate. He *pulled*, and the remnants of Celia's moonlight-infused strike *ripped* from her blade, flooding into him.

Powerra w, electriceoursed through his limbs. His vision sharpened; his muscles sang,

Celia staggered back, her face pale. *'Youyou *stole* my skill?"*

Leonis flexed his fingers, watching as moonlight danced across his knuckles.*"Guess I did."*

For the first time, Celia looked uncertain. *'That's not possible."*

Leonis grinned, sharp and dangerous. *"Welcome to the anomaly."*

The blood moon hung heavy over the ruins of the village shrine, its glow illuminating the ancient runes carved into the stone. Leonis pressed his palms against the altar, his mismatched arms trembling as the system's voice boomed in his skull:

*"Blood Moon Ritual activated. Proceed with the Forbidden Inheritance?"***

He didnt hesitate. *"Do it."+

The world exploded in light and shadow. His arms *fused*, the darkness and flame twisting together into something newsemething *more*. The pain was excruciating, but beneath it, Leonis felt *power*.

And then he saw it.

Etched into the altar's base, half-hidden by moss and time, was the unmistakable insignia of the Syndicate,

This wasnt just a game.

It was a *trap*.

And hed just stepped right into it.