Chapter 36: Training in the Abyss
The abyss wasn't what Ryo expected.
It wasn't just darkness.
It was silence.
Not the peaceful kind, but the kind that crept into your skull, echoing your own heartbeat until it felt like thunder. No wind. No whispers. Just the void. Even the system UI flickered here, as if it feared the place.
"Welcome to the Abyss," came a voice from the black, sharp and cold.
Ryo turned instinctively, shadows shifting like waves beneath his boots. The terrain beneath was unstable—neither solid nor liquid, just... code in flux. Unstable data. Glitches turned into stepping stones.
Out from the gloom stepped a tall figure—his build lean, face half-shrouded by a bone-white mask shaped like a broken crescent moon. His aura didn't hum with power; it screamed with restraint.
"You're the one they call the Shadowborne," the man said.
Ryo tensed. "Who's asking?"
"Protocol Handler E-7. Call me Echo. I'll be your instructor—if you survive long enough to learn."
Before Ryo could react, a dagger flashed. Pure instinct saved him. He ducked, the blade grazing his cheek, burning with cold data corruption.
"You're slow," Echo hissed, vanishing.
[Warning: Combat Environment Initialized.]
[Objective: Survive 3 minutes.]
A timer appeared in his vision. 180 seconds. That should have felt short. It didn't.
Ryo dove, shadows erupting from his back in tendrils, forming a shield. Another flash—this time from behind. He barely redirected it, using Shadow Veil Phase Step to teleport a few feet left. Echo appeared mid-slice, his movements nearly invisible.
"Lesson one," Echo murmured, "Power means nothing if your instincts are weak."
Ryo didn't reply. He couldn't. He was too busy staying alive.
Every second in the Abyss was a blur of combat. Echo didn't fight to train—he fought to kill. And that, ironically, was what made it training. Ryo's system fed him real-time data, trying to keep up.
[Shadow Pulse Block Executed.][Protocol Delay Detected – 1.7s Lag.][Recommendation: Optimize movement through prediction.]
His thoughts raced. This wasn't just a physical test—it was mental warfare. Every flicker of Echo's presence, every whisper in the dataflow, was a warning.
And then something snapped.
The timer hit 0:00.
Echo froze, his blade inches from Ryo's jugular.
"Not bad. For a first run," he said, stepping back.
Ryo collapsed to his knees, breath heaving, vision shaking.
"Most die in their first 30 seconds. You? You've got potential. But you're too predictable."
"I... can learn," Ryo panted.
Echo's eyes, barely visible behind the mask, narrowed. "That's why you're here. But know this—every minute in the Abyss will cost you something. Sanity. Strength. Humanity."
Ryo didn't flinch. "I'm not here to stay comfortable. I'm here to win."
Echo gave the faintest nod.
[Day 2: The Broken Loop]
Ryo awoke to glitching echoes of himself flickering in the blackness. It was part of the Abyss's twisted logic—each failure spawned a phantom version of you, a reminder of how you could've died.
These "ghosts" were his sparring partners today.
[Training Sequence: Phase Simulation – Mirror Combat Initialized.]
Ryo faced himself—version 1.3.2. His past self. Weaker. Less refined. But just as ruthless.
They clashed, blade to blade, shadow to shadow. Ryo adapted fast. Unlike Echo, his phantom self didn't hold back because it was him. All of his flaws. All of his habits. Used against him.
He began changing rhythm.
Unpredictable moves.
Inverted patterns.
And the more he adapted, the less the phantom mirrored him—until finally, he outmaneuvered himself.
One clean strike.
[Simulation Complete. Analyzing Performance.]
[Skill Upgrade: Shadow Veil Phase Step (Lv. 2) → Phase Sync Blink (Lv. 3)]
[New Passive Skill Unlocked: Predictive Pattern Deflection]
Echo reappeared from the dark. "Good. You've learned the trick."
"What trick?" Ryo asked, wiping blood from his mouth.
Echo's voice was cold. "You have to kill the version of yourself that's too weak to survive. Every time. Or the Abyss will do it for you."
[Day 5: Code Saturation Threshold]
The deeper Ryo trained, the more corrupted his system interface became. Notifications began showing glitches. Colors bled. Voices whispered.
And worst of all—the shadows began speaking back.
"Kill."
"Devour."
"You're almost ready."
Echo noticed. "You've touched the edge. Your system's syncing too well. If you don't anchor yourself..."
Ryo narrowed his eyes. "I'll lose control."
"Worse. You'll become another Echo. Lost. Trapped in the code."
"Then teach me to fight it."
Echo turned, cloak whispering like oil across data mist. "Only you can teach yourself that."
[Final Day of Training]
[Unlocking Final Trial: Data Collapse Combat Mode.][Enemy Deployed: Echo (Suppressed)]
"What?" Ryo stepped back. "You?"
Echo drew two blades this time. His stance was different. Not training. Real combat.
"I'm going to kill you now, Ryo."
"Why!?"
"Because if you survive this... you'll never need me again."
There was no countdown.
No system tip.
No UI buffer.
Just the whisper of death.
Ryo unleashed everything.
Shadow spears. Phase Blink. Data Pulse Overdrive. The fight raged in twisted motion, time itself folding with every clash. He bled. Echo bled more. Shadows collided, screaming.
And in the end, Ryo won.
Barely.
Echo knelt, laughing weakly, blood trickling from beneath his mask.
"You're ready," he said. "More than I ever was."
Ryo stood, barely conscious, shadows dancing around him like tamed monsters.
"I wasn't here to survive. I was here to evolve."
Echo nodded. "Then ascend. And don't look back."
The Abyss opened a rift behind him. The system chimed.
[Abyssal Training Complete.][New Title Unlocked: Shadow Adept.][Bonus Skill Unlocked: Abyssal Instinct (Passive)]
Ryo stepped through.
His training was complete.
But the real war was just beginning.
End of Chapter 36