Night in Neon Haven was no true night.
The sky was nothing but glitching holograms—neon lights and floating billboards flickering endlessly, drowning out the darkness that should exist.
In one shadowed corner of the under-market, Yuto'o sat slumped against a cracked wall. His body was fractured with glowing red-blue fissures, data-blood dripping slowly onto the steel floor.
Every ragged breath sounded like a death rattle.
Orbis hovered in front of him, fingers dancing across a hologram, desperately trying to stabilize his code flow. His brow furrowed deeper with each scan.
"Yuji… your corruption has reached sixty percent. Any higher, and the system will start overriding your consciousness. You… might not even be yourself anymore."
Yuto'o simply shut his eyes, his hand still clamped around his glitch-blade resting on his lap.
"I don't care about numbers. I'm still alive. That's enough."
Yuuki leaned against a hologram pillar nearby, her crimson eyes faintly glowing, her smile thin but cold.
"Stubborn brat. I've watched hundreds of Ghosts like you. They all said the same thing—'I'm still alive, that's enough.'"
She stepped forward, her phantom whip sparking violet-pink.
"And in the end, they all screamed before they were erased. The only difference… they didn't have me as a witness."
Yuto'o lifted his head, his eyes blazing.
"The difference is… I'm not them."
He raised his glitch-blade, though his hands trembled.
"I am the Circuit Ghost. I won't be erased until I reach Reboot."
Yuuki stared at him for a long moment before letting out a low laugh.
"If you really believe that… prove it tomorrow. The Neon Labyrinth isn't a game. It's no gladiator like Germ, no ordinary hunter. It's a beast the Syndicate itself created—one they could never control."
Orbis stayed silent, his eyes heavy.
"Yuji… if you go in there, the chance of you walking back out is almost zero. But…"
He swallowed hard.
"…if you succeed, you might be the only Circuit Ghost who's ever stepped further than all the legends before."
Yuto'o rose slowly, his cracked body glowing, but his eyes sharp with fire.
He turned to the hologram sky above Neon Haven, where glitching billboards flickered chaotically.
"…I lost my real world. I lost my identity. Everyone hunts me, everyone wants to see me erased. But I won't stop. As long as there's a shred of me left—"
He gripped his blade with both hands, data-blood dripping onto the floor.
"…I will walk this path. I swear… I will reach Reboot. And if I fall, let history record me as the last ghost who dared to fight the world."
Yuuki's crimson gaze locked on him, her expression serious for the first time. She gave a slow nod.
"…If that's your oath, then I'll be the witness. Whether you rise as a legend… or vanish like all the others."
From deep within Neon Haven, a digital roar thundered, so powerful it silenced the marketplace. The sound of a glitch-beast waking.
Kaelith emerged from the shadows, his smile sharp as knives.
"Good. That's the spirit I wanted to see. Tomorrow… the Circuit Ghost faces the Guardian of the Neon Labyrinth. Either you bring back its head… or you become another corpse in Haven's history."
He turned, his neon cloak flashing as he vanished back into darkness.
Orbis shut down his hologram terminal, staring at Yuto'o with unease.
"Yuji… if your corruption keeps rising like this, tomorrow your oath might just be words."
Yuto'o sat cross-legged, blade across his lap, eyes shut tight. His breathing was ragged, but inside his heart, a single voice echoed:
"I will not be erased… I will reach Reboot."
And beneath Neon Haven, the glitching gates of the Neon Labyrinth pulsed faintly—waiting for the Circuit Ghost's arrival.