Prologue - Deal with the Devil

                                    

                                          

                            

                                
                            
                              
                                  
                              
                              
                                
                                  
                                  
                                
                              
                             
                            
                            
                          
                          
Old net.
Cyberspace was once called the ocean of information, but it is now a restricted area due to the RABIDS virus spread by legendary netrunner Rache Bartmoss in 2013.
Now, the Old Net was no different from hell, with the ICE program Blackwall trying to block netrunners trying to access it, the spirits extracted from the Soul Killer inside, and various rouge AIs that Corpos used for sabotage missions.
Unchained AIs evolve infinitely through self-learning abilities, but each Megacorp and Netrunner did not stop trying to access the Old Net at all times to achieve their goals, even when they were stuck on the intranet.
The information and AI before DataKrash had enormous potential to increase the power of megacorps, and in an era where information became a weapon and money, a place to obtain information that was thought to be lost was like a gold mine.
The representatives of this group are Arasaka and Militech.
Among them, Arasaka frantically poked holes and explored the Old Net, using even young orphans to find information before the DataKrash.
The orphan sent on that mission, Lucyna "Lucy" Kushinada, was one of them.
Whenever she searches for rare data, malicious AIs attack her and her colleagues, and most of her colleagues are trapped in the Old Net.
And now, Lucy is also on the verge of being trapped in the Old Net by AI.
-Krrrrr...
Three rogue AIs cornered Lucy. She no longer had a way out, and her AI surrounded her with powerful beings. Above all, it seemed obvious that if she delayed her time, she would be trapped in the Old Net.
'This is my grave...'
Lucy resigned and closed her eyes. She remembered how she had endured difficult training while dreaming of 'one day working for the most powerful Megacorp in the world.'
Chasing a false dream that she did not choose herself, she completed her training, but Arasaka treated them as disposable items and dived them into the Old Net.
But soon she began to have doubts.
'Why must I die helpless?'
'Why can't I reach the top just because I was born different?'
As those thoughts continued to flow, she became angry.
'Why must I die helplessly?'
'Why do I have to die in a cold prison?'
'Why shouldn't I even have a single hope in my whole life?'
As the anger was building up, when she came to her senses, the AIs in front of her had disappeared far away.