Prologue or Epilogue?

A huge upside-down, helix-shaped cone made out of nothing but gold, floating above the endless Lull Sea, with half of its main body submerged below a ginormous whirlpool.

That was the world that we dreamed of living in…

The diameter of the top floor where we stood was approximately one million kilometres squared, large enough to fit the entirety of Japan.

The tower, clad in shimmering gold, had four floors that ran across the conical interior, each approximately half the diameter of the floor above it, eventually stretching down into the pitch-black abyss of the roaring ocean.

The tower ended at a downward point; its sheer size was unfathomable. It was impossible to even fathom exactly how much data each structure contained. Each block contained trillions of microdata that could only be constructed into specific materials after years of tireless research, accumulated by the many brilliant brains of thousands of quantum physicists.

Inside, there were many large cities and countless small-scale towns and villages, with lakes, various biomes, and islands that have dedicated cultural inhabitants with small oceans of their own.

Only one stairway linked the four floors to one another. These stairways existed in dungeons where large numbers of monsters roamed, meaning that discovering and getting through was no easy matter. However, once someone makes a breakthrough and arrives at a city on one of the lower floors, a teleporter will be seen floating silently in the lower city, connecting the teleporters of the upper cities with each other, making it possible for anyone to move freely between the floors of the golden tower. These dungeons, known as Delves, require the elimination of a boss that resides somewhere within the labyrinth to allow safe passage. Upon the defeat of the boss, safe passage through the delve is guaranteed.

The tower, known as the <Yuyami Kyuden>, contained a world cloaked in darkness and violence. The world within was overrun by monsters, armed to the teeth with weapons of every type imaginable.

It has continued floating for more than 6 months now and has engulfed approximately 1.3 million people from all over the world.

This is the realm of Dusk Protocol.

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Blood has always terrified me—not just the idea of blood but rather the blood of someone close to me. I used to fret about the thought of dying before learning who I truly am, but now what I fear the most is losing the people I care most about. Just a few inches away from me was a magical iron radiating a grimace; its long, skeletal curve encircled Kazami, who was gasping for air. He screamed in fear as the serpent-like chains dug their teeth into him, leaving a trail of blood on his clothing. It was at this moment that I knew there was no hope of escaping this game alive, at least not in this life.

"Do it…" I stuttered, wiping the blood off my dress before standing up. "One last time, Ukiyo, I'll set things right."

The girl besides me was dying. Tears streamed down her worn-out clothes as her eyes slowly decayed. "I don't want anyone else to suffer. So please don't do it," she cried out.

"One last time. I promise this time I'll set things right. I'll protect the one thing I want to protect until the very end."

"For every wish that is granted, a curse is born. If it's for your sake, then I don't mind being locked in this enteral maze until all of us can live under the same sky once again."