![The Hollow Circuit War [Cyberpunk Samurai Dark Fantasy]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.royalroadcdn.com%2Fpublic%2Fcovers-large%2F186306-the-hollow-circuit-war.jpg%3Ftime%3D1786663031&w=640&q=75)
by Terayama_Works
In a neon-lit capital where torii gates record every passerby and a bureaucratic HUD decides who is damaged, useful, or ready for disposal, Itsuka hunts yokai (bugs) for the system that keeps the city running.She is good at surviving. Too good.Years of impossible shifts have left her exhausted, replaceable, and with nowhere else to go. Then a corrupted update produces something wearing her face.It knows her memories. It knows the ideals she abandoned. And it keeps asking questions she would rather leave unanswered.As computational pressure tears holes through the city and her own authentication begins to fail, Itsuka finds herself caught between a system that still needs her labor but no longer knows how to classify her, and a second self that refuses to disappear.Escaping may be possible.Freedom is another matter.
No streak history
One state-enhanced oracle order, filtered by each list. Observed Royal Road ranks remain separate ground truth.
Rank updated 8 Oct 2026, 09:38 UTC
Entry forecast updated 8 Oct 2026, 09:38 UTC
Ranking model: rs-public-oracle-state-v1
Forecast model: rs-model-entry-v1
Chart history contains only this ranking model's runs; legacy points are not spliced in.
Not enough recent follower history to estimate a shadow rank yet.
beats 21% of similar stories
not enough data yet
beats 36% of similar stories
Mid-pack, room on both levers
Traffic and conversion both sit mid-field for a story this size. Growth here compounds from consistency: steady cadence feeds traffic, and a sharper hook lifts what each view is worth.
Benchmarks: 8,060 active Royal Road stories, percentiles within the 5–9 chapters band, cohort of 2026-07-02. Conversion is measured as followers gained per 1,000 views lifetime.