Nightfell breathed like a dying god.
Kiro moved through the ash-choked woods, where trees had no leaves—only bone-white bark and vein-like tendrils that pulsed to some distant heartbeat.
His armor was cracked.
His blade chipped.
And the Blood System inside him hissed like it was suffocating.
[Nightfell-Class World: Tier III Corrupted][Environmental Threats: Radiation / Bio-Void Parasites / Reality Instability][Warning: Mutation Suppression Active. System Evolution on Hold.]
He spat to the side. "Figures."
Three hours since the crash. No food. No water. No signs of civilization. Just a blood-red moon, the taste of metal in the air, and whispers beneath the soil.
He kept moving.
Every instinct screamed at him to stop.
To hide.
But he was Kiro.
And there was no hiding anymore.
Nightfell Depths – Zone 3
He found the first corpse half-buried beneath a fossilized tree. It was humanoid. Mostly. But the head had elongated, the ribcage cracked outward like something tried to crawl out from inside.
A symbol was carved into its chest—half-erased by time.
Three interlocking circles. Each with a black slit in the center.
Kiro knelt.
The Blood System reacted violently.
[RECOGNIZED: Pre-Void Cult Insignia – "The Watchers Who Wait."][Void Residue Detected. Mutation Grade: Obsidian. HIGH THREAT.][Reactor Fragment Discovered. Potential Fuel for Blood Core Recovery.]
He reached forward.
The moment his fingers brushed the relic—
—he screamed.
Flashes seared into his mind.
Chains made of bone. A great gate in the sky. A horned figure stitched from a hundred bodies, laughing.
And a voice.
"The one who bled the god... will one day become him."
Later – Nightfell Ravine
Kiro awoke beneath the cliffs. Sweating. Shaking.
But alive.
And more than that—stronger.
[Blood Core Partially Stabilized – 63% Functionality Restored.][Mutation Limit Raised.][System Evolution Rebooted – Awaiting Anchor.]
Kiro stood, the world swimming around him.
In the distance, a shape moved.
A massive hound, skin stretched over exposed muscle, multiple eyes blinking along its spine. It was sniffing the air.
Hunting him.
Kiro narrowed his eyes.
He'd faced worse.
He drew his weapon.
"No more running."