[Velmora — Industrial Ward, Underground Clinic]
The rumble aboveground hadn't stopped.
Kiro lay motionless on a cold slab of reinforced steel, his body twitching with every pulse of energy erupting from his veins. Cracked red symbols shimmered along his arms, chest, and throat—etchings of the Blood God System mid-transformation.
A dozen metal rods held him in place, clamped to his limbs as the system pumped raw Omega Core energy through his organs. It was a forced integration—violent, foreign, unnatural. Each wave burned like swallowing stars.
System Notification:Blood Core: Tier Ascension in Progress...Pain Threshold: 92%. Omega Conversion: 67%. Mutation risk high. Continue? [Y/N]
Forced Override: Confirmed.
Kiro's scream echoed through the metal corridors.
Pablo stood outside the room, leaning against a cracked wall, watching through a narrow window. His arms were crossed, his coat wrapped tight, but the concern in his eyes was unmistakable.
He hadn't returned to the El'Vertigo estate. Not yet.
There was something about this boy—this blood-wrapped weapon—that refused to leave his thoughts.
And then came the quake.
The ground shook like something massive had collided with the sky. A red pulse rolled over the city, and Pablo felt his bones vibrate with the force of it.
Down the hallway, an old television flickered to life—crackling static and emergency sirens overlayed by a trembling voice:
"—Velmora Command to all citizens... Unknown entities breaching from upper atmosphere. All sectors prepare for immediate lockdown. This is not a drill—Void rift confirmed—repeat, Void rift—"
The screen cut to black.
A second later, the sky outside screamed.
[Street Level — Velmora's Lower Sector]
Buildings erupted in chaos. Civilians ran screaming through alleys and plazas as hundreds of Voidlings descended like a wave of nightmares. Their bodies twisted mid-fall, snapping bones and reforming spiked limbs, eyes glowing with sickly violet flame.
Walls were shredded.
Turrets exploded.
A single Voidling landed atop a marketplace stall, tearing a rebel guard in two with a screech that shattered glass.
Kiro's eyes snapped open.
System Directive:"The energy from the Omega Core has punctured the veil between worlds. This was not chaos—it was a summoning."
He sat upright, coughing blood. His arms trembled, his veins still glowing red—but he was alive. Changed.
His skin had darkened faintly with the Blood Core evolution, and along his back, a pair of spectral wings shimmered faintly—half-real, pulsing with residual Omega power.
"Pablo," Kiro rasped, standing.
Pablo stepped inside, already igniting a sliver of his Dark Viora. "You felt it?"
Kiro nodded, eyes hard. "The Omega Core didn't just feed me. It signaled something. Like a flare. The Voidlings... they answered it."
The clinic's roof buckled under a crashing body.
They rushed outside just as a massive Void Demon—hulking, plated in molten black chitin—smashed into the street. People screamed and scattered as it roared, arms like scythes, its presence warping gravity.
Kiro moved without thought.
Blood ignited from his palms, forming a lance of red venom. He sprinted up debris, leapt onto a rusted pipe, and drove the lance into the creature's chest—BOOM!
It shrieked and collapsed in a plume of dust.
But there were more.
From every direction, Voidlings poured in, clawing, slashing, breaking the city apart. The spire's ruins loomed behind them like a grave marker.
Kiro dropped beside Pablo, panting.
"We're not enough," Pablo said.
"We don't have to be," Kiro replied.
He pressed his palm to the ground—Blood Code Surge. A burst of red lightning shot out, interfacing with the system's city scan.
System Scan Engaged — Combat Viability Analysis: 7%
Recommendation: Seek higher vantage. Unknown Void entity is approaching. High-tier Void signature — Source-ranked.
Above, the sky ruptured again.
Pablo and Kiro turned upward as the heavens tore apart.
And from the black rift stepped a figure.
Floating. Cloaked in shadows. Horns twisted from his skull like a demonic crown. Black garments rippled like ink across dimensions. His eyes were voids—not black, but pure absence.
The first Void King had entered Velmora.
And below, even the Voidlings paused, bowing midair in reverent silence.
Kiro felt it deep in his soul—an ancient hunger, older than any system, any god.
System Warning:"Source-tier threat approaching. Blood resonance decreasing. Do not engage alone."
Pablo unsheathed a blade of black Viora. "What do we do?"
Kiro looked at the demon, then to the burning skyline of his home.
"We fight. For Velmora."
He stepped forward—into the storm.