The launch deck was silent. No farewells. No final salutes.
Just the dull thrum of engines powering up and the towering gate to Moonbase Helix yawning open like a steel mouth. I stood beneath the shadow of the Dark Leviathan, my heart beating faster than its reactor core.
Kruger agents scanned my identity for the third time before waving me forward. My name didn't come up anymore—just a code tag: P-Elv.17.Temp. Temporary. Erased.
Before I stepped inside the dropship, I pulled out my holopad and recorded a message.
My thumb hovered over the encryption settings. I maxed it out. Only one person would be able to open it—someone whose blood system responded to chaos like a compass to magnetic death.
Kiro.
"If you're seeing this, I've already left orbit.The El'Vertigo fleet is gone.And soon... so is Velmora.The Empire authorized a World Eater. It's coming.You have to get out. Whatever you're planning—don't do it here. This place is already ashes.But if you live, find me. Kruger won't break me.—Pablo"
I hit send.
Then the door sealed shut behind me.
[Streets of Velmora – Kiro]
Smoke rolled over shattered buildings like slow waves. The spires were scarred with void residue, the roads cracked and burning. Kiro walked alone, boots crunching over debris and glass, his coat torn and stitched by dried blood and demon spit.
He paused mid-step.
A faint vibration passed through his wrist.
He turned it over—his Blood Core pulsed. A red sigil hovered above his forearm like a ghostly glyph, flickering with encrypted pattern-locks.
A message. One only his system could read.
Kiro's jaw clenched as Pablo's face emerged in a dusty red hologram, the boy's voice low and tired.
"...The Empire authorized a World Eater. It's coming..."
The recording ended. The sky answered.
Kiro turned toward the horizon.
Above the central tower—what was once the capital's main Spire—hundreds of vessels roared into the sky. Dropships, cargo haulers, cruisers. They rose like locusts fleeing a burning field.
At the head of the fleet: the El'Vertigo flagship. Sleek, white-veined, and cruel in shape.
Inside, Kavo El'Vertigo stood at the helm. Not even pretending to look back.
Cowards.
Kiro's hand dropped to his side. His claws itched to rip something apart. But rage wouldn't help right now.
Think, dammit.
He took one last look at the retreating fleet—then turned down an alley, blending into the broken bones of the city.
[Underground – Rebellion Hideout]
Velmora wasn't dead yet.
Beneath a collapsed transit station, past barricades of melted steel and mutant flesh, a tunnel entrance pulsed faintly with bloodlight.
Kiro followed it, steps steady. Something called to him. A scent he couldn't name, an instinct older than thought.
The tunnel opened into a chamber lit by glowing veins of crimson energy. Scavenged gear, encrypted terminals, half-dead rebels. But at the far end—a terminal connected to a Blood Relic. Half-machine, half-organic. Like a severed god's heart wired into a screen.
A surviving rebel glanced up and whispered, "You're him, aren't you?"
Kiro didn't answer. He approached the relic. His core pulsed.
The machine flickered. Its interface opened—bloody, visceral, like skin peeling back.
Blood System Upgrade Detected
Accessing Mutagen Archive...Unlocking Combat Skill: Sanguine BloomDescription: Unleashes a burst of blood thorns in a 20-meter radius, impaling enemies and absorbing their vital energy. Can be used to regrow limbs or temporarily double movement speed.
Kiro felt the system pulse through his spine.
He turned to the rebels.
"You want to survive the World Eater?" he asked.
They nodded slowly.
"Then follow me."