Chapter 6

The safe zone wasn't supposed to feel like a battlefield.

But to Justin, it did.

Even with no weapons drawn, no blood spilled, and no visible enemies lurking nearby… his instincts were screaming. The kind of primal warning that came before a trap snapped shut.

The firelight in the center of the square flickered weakly, casting long shadows on stone walls smeared with signs of rushed messages and fading blood. Players sat in clusters—some sharpening blades, others bartering information. Many wore smiles too wide to be real.

And Justin? He leaned against a broken pillar, arms crossed, hood up. Watching. Calculating.

Bruno sat a few feet away on a stone bench, cleaning the barrel of his rifle with a greasy rag. Matilda stood beside the map board, fingers tracing the scribbled lines of floor routes. Her movements were slow—still favoring her left leg from the wound she'd taken during the Gutrend fight.

They were together now. Sort of.

Allies by necessity. Friends? Not yet.

And yet, in a world this brutal, trust was a currency far more dangerous than gold.

[System Notification]

Safe Zone Countdown: 12 hours remaining until next purge.

Next Floor Gate Opens In: 16 hours.

PvP: Active outside the Central Fire Radius.

Warning: Shadows have entered the Safe Zone.

Justin's eyes narrowed at that last line.

"Shadows?" he muttered under his breath.

"I saw that too," Bruno grunted. "Sounds poetic. Probably just another way of saying we've got rats hiding in the walls."

"No," Matilda said softly from the map board. "It's something else. Players have been whispering about them. Killers… who can enter Safe Zones without triggering the PvP penalty."

Justin turned to her slowly. "That's not possible. Safe Zones are coded into the system."

Matilda met his eyes. Her voice was quiet, but firm. "Then why are so many players disappearing during the night?"

They gathered near the dimming fire as the last players drifted off to their corners. Justin sat with his back to the wall, dagger across his knee, fingers lightly brushing the hilt. A reflex. Matilda folded her legs beside him, her chain-dagger Blood Reaper coiled on her lap. Bruno stood, always standing, eyes sweeping the area like a turret waiting to spin.

The silence between them wasn't awkward. It was heavy.

Because they all knew something had changed.

The safe zone was no longer safe.

And the message they'd received earlier—etched into the wall of the chamber in crimson code—still haunted Justin's mind:

"The war begins at dawn. Choose your side, Lethal Assassin. Or die without one."

He didn't recognize the sender.

But the game was making its move.

"They're organizing," Bruno said after a long stretch of silence. "Guilds. Factions. And we're behind."

"Behind?" Matilda asked.

Bruno nodded. "One of the higher-level teams, The Crimson Fangs, already took control of the southern camp. They've got fifteen players, food stockpiles, floor keys, and something worse: loyalty. They're absorbing smaller teams into their structure and killing the ones that refuse."

Justin didn't flinch. But something inside him stirred.

This wasn't a game anymore.

It was politics. Power. Territory.

"This is turning into a war zone," Matilda whispered. "And we're just three people with fresh wounds."

"No," Justin said finally. His voice was quiet. Focused. "We're three killers with purpose. That's more dangerous than any guild."

[Private System Message – Hakuda]

"A storm brews. Your name is spreading.

They fear you, Lethal Assassin. Use that.

Power comes not from being liked—but from being inevitable."

Justin closed the window with a swipe of his hand.

I don't want power, he thought.

I want freedom.

And survival.

And maybe, just maybe... revenge on every player who thought they could trap others here like prey.

Later that night, when the fire had died to embers and most players were either asleep or pretending to be, the silence cracked.

A single scream. Far off. Cut short.

Then another.

And another.

Bruno was the first to his feet. Rifle cocked.

Justin moved a second later, blades drawn.

They rushed down the left tunnel—one of the lesser-traveled branches of the safe zone—and what they found chilled them.

Four players. Dead. All with slit throats. No alerts. No combat logs. No PvP penalty warnings.

And no trace of the killers.

Only a single message burned into the stone beside the bodies:

"The Shadows welcome your silence. Speak our name… and we will come."

Back at the fire, panic had started to ripple. Rumors spread like infection.

"Was it them?"

"Those new killers?"

"I heard they use cloaking skills—vanish in plain sight!"

"Why didn't the system alert anyone?"

Justin listened. Matilda tried to calm the chaos. Bruno stood like a guard tower. But in Justin's mind, one thing was clear:

This wasn't about resources anymore. It was fear tactics.

Someone—or some group—was changing the rules. Bending the system.

And if players started to believe that no one was safe, not even in a coded sanctuary…

Then the real death game would begin.

That night, sleep didn't come.

Justin sat with his back to the wall, eyes wide open, blades within reach. His mind ran loops around possibilities.

The Shadows.

A group that didn't care for rules.

Or maybe… they were players who had hacked the system.

Or worse.

Something not human at all.

He didn't know what chilled him more: the threat of death, or the unknown.

The next morning came with gray light and a system-wide notification:

[World System Alert – All Floors]

"New Faction Detected: THE SHADOW SYNDICATE."

Type: Rogue Players

Visibility: Cloaked

Current Safe Zone: Floor 2

Warning: Affiliated players are immune to Safe Zone PvP penalties.

Eliminate or Join. Choice must be made within 48 hours.

Gasps filled the camp. Some players backed away from the fire. Others drew weapons.

And in the middle of it, Matilda whispered what they were all thinking.

"This changes everything."

Bruno scowled. "They're not just killers. They're rewriting the rules."

Justin stared at the message, fists clenched.

So this was it.

The moment where the world inside Ascension Protocol stopped pretending to be fair. Where systems bent to favor chaos.

Where the people who dared to think differently… were either crushed or crowned.

He took a breath. Cold. Sharp. Focused.

Then he looked at Matilda and Bruno.

"I'm going hunting."

(To Be Continued ....)