The rusted iron gate groaned open, the air thick with the scent of decay and ancient ruin. Toji stepped forward, his eyes narrowing as the atmosphere shifted. Frankie followed, his scholar's robes brushing against the old stone, eyes filled with nervous curiosity.
A dark wind rolled through the corridor like a sigh from something long dead.
Toji clenched his fist, channeling energy into his core—nano-scale particles glimmered faintly across his veins like constellations under his skin. His senses sharpened. The dungeon was alive, in some haunting, unnatural way.
They advanced deeper, and the first ambush came swiftly.
The shadows stirred, and out leapt creatures that resembled humans—twisted mockeries of men, their skin blackened, mouths frozen in silent screams, and their eyes devoid of light. They moved erratically, like puppets with their strings frayed. Toji didn't hesitate.
His footwork was precise, honed from years in his former world. He ducked, sidestepped, and delivered a crushing blow to the nearest creature with an explosive punch powered by condensed energy. Nano-magic flared from his hand, scorching the demon's flesh.
Frankie gasped. "They... they're not just corrupted beasts. They look like us."
"That's what I thought," Toji muttered, watching the creatures dissolve into black mist.
They pressed on.
The dungeon began to change. The walls were no longer rough stone but smoother, carved intentionally. The darkness pressed closer. Murals appeared—macabre illustrations of sacrifices. Alters drenched in old blood. Symbols repeated in a circular pattern, etched into every surface: a spiral eye consuming a tree.
Toji paused, kneeling before one altar. "Why are these symbols all the same?"
Frankie ran a hand along the markings, his voice low. "It's ritualistic. Coordinated. This wasn't the doing of feral beasts."
They walked further into the abyss until they reached the center.
And there, buried in the heart of a primeval dungeon, stood something impossible—a laboratory.
It was pristine. Metallic. Lit by long-dead lights flickering faintly. Toji's eyes widened, a chill crawling up his spine.
"No... this is advanced tech. Real tech. The kind from my world."
Frankie's jaw dropped. "What? What do you mean?"
Toji stepped into the lab, staring at sleek tables, consoles, and preserved bodies within tanks of glowing fluid. Most were unrecognizable, mutated. One, however, was human.
He walked closer.
The man inside looked peaceful, as if merely asleep. But something felt wrong.
Frankie stumbled behind him, eyes darting. "This entire dungeon is built around this lab. It's like... they were protecting it. Or hiding it."
"Or guarding it," Toji said grimly.
Suddenly, the tanks hissed. The temperature dropped. One of the mutated forms slammed its hand against the glass, eyes snapping open.
Toji whirled around just as three other tanks burst open.
Creatures poured out—half-human, half-machine. Flesh wrapped in metal. Eyes glowing red. Their bodies emitted pulses of corrupted magic.
Frankie scrambled backward, but Toji stood his ground.
Energy surged through him. "Nano-trigger: burst mode," he said under his breath. His skin shimmered. Blue circuits danced across his arms. His vision expanded.
One creature lunged.
Toji met it mid-air, twisting to slam it into the ground. Another swiped with razor claws, but Toji vanished in a blur, reappearing above to unleash a blast from his palm that lit the lab in a blinding flash.
Each movement was fluid—precise. He didn't just fight with strength. He fought with memory, with thousands of battles encoded into his muscles.
Frankie watched in awe. "That's not magic... it's like art."
The final creature lunged for Frankie. Toji shot a sharp nano-thread, wrapping around its throat and yanking it away. The creature slammed into the wall, convulsed, and went still.
Breathing heavily, Toji looked around. "This tech... this place... it doesn't belong here. And these creatures weren't corrupted. They were made."
Frankie steadied himself. "By who? And why?"
Toji walked to a console and wiped dust off a screen. Lines of data scrolled in an ancient tongue, but one word stood out: Ascension.
"This was a facility for experimentation," he said. "Not just biology. Magic. They were trying to fuse the two."
Frankie paled. "But why bury it in a dungeon?"
"To hide it," Toji said. "From people. From gods. Maybe from something worse."
Frankie looked at the glass tanks. "Are we alone down here?"
Toji's eyes narrowed. "I don't think we ever were."
The air within the lab was heavy with the scent of dust and chemicals, and the only sounds were the mechanical hums and occasional sparks of malfunctioning machines. Dim, flickering lights illuminated the strange metallic walls—foreign to this world, even more so to Frankie, who stood frozen, unsure whether to be terrified or amazed. Toji, however, scanned the room like a predator in unfamiliar terrain. To him, this technological anomaly stirred memories, not awe.
And then—the echo of footsteps.
Both Toji and Frankie turned toward the sound. A tall figure stepped into view from the adjoining hallway, his robe trailing behind like a shadow made flesh. He didn't flinch when he saw them. Instead, he halted, the light from a broken screen casting an eerie glow across his face.
"Who goes there?" Toji demanded, lifting his hands just slightly—enough to signal readiness, not aggression.
The man raised both hands slowly. "Please, don't hurt me."
Frankie narrowed his eyes. "You're… human?"
The man nodded. "Yes. My name is Elian. I'm a scholar—or was. I didn't expect to find anyone else here."
Toji and Frankie exchanged glances. There was no mistaking it. He looked tired, starved even, with a beard that hadn't seen a blade in weeks and robes torn from wear. But human he was.
"You'll forgive us if we don't just take your word," Toji said coldly. "You came out of nowhere. And this place doesn't exactly scream 'welcome.'"
"I understand." Elian looked around, visibly shaken. "I was with a hunter team. We ventured into this dungeon two weeks ago. It was supposed to be a standard cleanup. Just a few corrupted beasts. But when we entered, something changed. The dungeon shifted. We were separated. I… I think I'm the only one who made it."
Frankie softened a little at that. "And you've been here since?"
Elian nodded. "Yes. I've been hiding, mostly. Trying to understand what this place is. This lab—it's nothing like anything in our world."
Toji, still silent, observed the man closely. Then, in his mind, the thought came:
Of course he wouldn't understand. None of them would. Because this lab isn't supposed to be here. Not in this world.
Frankie crossed his arms. "If you're truly just a scholar, how did you survive?"
"I got lucky," Elian said. "When the others were slaughtered, I fled. Found a vent system that led to this area. The demons didn't follow. Maybe they couldn't."
Frankie looked at Toji. "He seems genuine. But what do you think?"
Toji lowered his blade. "He's coming with us. Whether he wants to or not."
Elian raised a hand. "Wait! Before we go… there's something I want to show you. It's why I stayed."
Toji's gaze sharpened. Frankie stepped forward. "What is it?"
Elian looked back down the hallway he'd come from, shadows playing across his worried face. "It's something… unnatural. Something I think is still alive."
Toji tightened his hands. "Lead the way."