The cavern walls pulsed with crimson light.
Symbols older than language burned across the stone, twisting into runes that screamed in silence. At the center of it all stood Kiro, hands dripping with blood—some his, most not. Around him, a ring of sacrificial bodies lay still, their life drained into the jagged altar.
The Blood Gate was nearly open.
Adim's voice echoed in his skull, deeper and colder than before.
"One more moment. The Gate nears alignment with the Red Vein. The City of Blood is stirring."
Kiro stepped back as the ground cracked beneath the altar. A column of liquid shadow rose from the center—a swirling, vertical wound in space. It screamed and whispered all at once.
The gate had opened.
He turned to the six hundred, all of them pressed against the far wall, watching in awe and terror.
"You'll survive in there," Kiro said, voice rough. "Food, shelter, protection. The City of Blood will accept you because I command it."
A tremor cut him off.
Then another—heavier. Rhythmic.
Footsteps.
Engines.
Kiro's blood went cold.
One of the scouts burst into the chamber, stumbling, pale. "Arion walkers—coming down the Ridge! Drones in the tunnels! They found us!"
Screams echoed deeper in the caverns. Plasma blasts followed.
The enemy had arrived.
Without hesitation, Kiro turned to his people.
"All of you—into the Gate. Now!"
At first, no one moved.
Then one of the younger soldiers—Rhelt, the boy Kiro had blessed with strength—grabbed the nearest man and pulled him toward the swirling red portal. They vanished in a flash of screaming light.
That was all it took.
The others surged forward, chaos breaking loose as the six hundred stampeded toward the gate. Kiro held the rear, blood-soaked and burning with power, watching them vanish one by one into the tear in reality.
Blasts rocked the tunnel entrance behind him. Arion soldiers poured in, armored, helmeted, faceless. They raised their weapons—
But Kiro raised his hand first.
Blood erupted from the cavern floor like spears, impaling the first wave. He threw his other hand out, and the stone ceiling cracked, bringing down debris to slow their advance.
He turned just in time to see the last of his people vanish into the Gate.
Now only he remained.
His skin crackled with red lightning. His blood system screamed for battle.
But the Gate pulsed behind him, slowly closing.
"Leave now," Adim warned, "or be trapped forever outside the Vein."
Kiro took one last breath. His eyes met the Arion commander stepping through the rubble, gun raised.
"Next time," Kiro growled.
Then he stepped backward—into the Gate.
And vanished.
The cavern exploded behind him.
The Gate snapped shut.