Darkness.
The neon around him quivered, as if the virtual world itself trembled at what was about to emerge.
Yuji—now Yuto'o—stood among the wreckage of the drones he had just destroyed. His glitching body still pulsed with the data he had absorbed.
[DEPLOYING HUNTER AI] [TARGET: CIRCUIT GHOST]
The system voice echoed again and again, colder, sharper, more menacing.
Then, the neon air split apart.
From the void, a massive silhouette emerged. Each metallic step thundered as its feet struck the digital floor. Its eyes—two blazing red torches—locked onto Yuto'o.
"What the hell is that?" Yuto'o muttered, frozen in place.
The violet-eyed NPC at his side only smirked faintly."That is the HUNTER AI. A killing machine built solely to erase anomalies. It is the first—and most dangerous—enemy every Circuit Ghost must face."
The Hunter AI advanced. Towering three meters tall, its body was armored in gleaming black data, its arms shifting between blades, cannons, and chains of neon code.
A cold mechanical voice rang out:"BUG DETECTED. TERMINATION INITIATED."
Yuto'o swallowed hard—if he even still had saliva."Great… I just unlocked my powers, and I already have to fight a boss?"
The Hunter's arm morphed into a chain, snapping forward with blinding speed.
Instinctively, Yuto'o's body shattered into glitch fragments, warping aside. Glitch Warp! He reappeared behind the machine.
"Okay… maybe I can fight this thing."
He thrust his glitching hand into the Hunter's armor, trying to possess it.
But the moment his code tried to invade—
[ERROR: ACCESS DENIED] [PERMISSION LEVEL: RESTRICTED]
Yuto'o was hurled backward, his glitch-body cracking apart, shards of data scattering.
"Arghhh! He's too strong!"
The Hunter advanced, its arm shifting into a cannon. A ball of searing red energy began to charge.
The violet-eyed NPC spoke calmly."Listen, Yuto'o. You're not strong enough to possess it. But you can use what's around you."
"What's… around me?"
He glanced back.
Scattered across the glitching arena lay fragments of the destroyed drones—code, metal, data memories still floating.
Yuto'o understood.
He shouted, stretching out his hand.
The drone fragments glowed, drawn into his glitch-body. Foreign code fused into him, making his form tremble violently.
[SKILL UPGRADE: DATA LEECH – LEVEL 2] [NEW FUNCTION: CONSTRUCT FORM]
His body transformed. Glitching arms fused with shards of metal, morphing into a massive neon blade.
The Hunter's cannon finished charging.
BOOOOM!
The energy sphere slammed into the neon floor, ripping cracks of raw code across the ground.
Yuto'o leapt forward, neon blade arcing down. Sparks and digital fire exploded as steel met data.
The clash shook the arena. The Hunter staggered back slightly, its glowing red eyes blazing brighter.
[NEW ASSESSMENT: TARGET UPGRADED] [TERMINATION PRIORITY: MAXIMUM]
The cold voice boomed, harsher, deadlier.
The violet-eyed NPC slowly stepped back, his voice a whisper."Now you understand… the real hunt has only just begun."
Yuto'o stood tall, his glitch-body fractured, his neon blade trembling in his hand.
The Hunter AI marched forward again, each metallic step pounding like a war drum.
For the first time, Yuto'o realized—he wasn't just an anomaly.
He was a target.
And now the entire virtual world wanted him erased.