Chapter 73 – The Beast Beneath the Moon
The hound charged.
Its howl tore across the ravine like a siren of the damned—too deep for a beast, too sharp for anything human. Dozens of jointed legs clawed the blackened earth, and eyes blinked with unnatural rhythm.
Kiro didn't flinch.
He stepped forward.
The cracked earth split beneath his feet as blood surged from his core—not in waves, but in threads, thin and precise, weaving across his forearms and into his weapon.
[System Reactivation: Partial Combat Protocols Online.][Blood Technique Unlocked – "Pierce Thread" (Prototype Form)]
The beast lunged, fangs wide enough to cleave a tank in two.
Kiro vanished mid-step.
Reappeared above it.
He spun once—threads trailing behind like a crimson spiral—and slashed.
The air bent.
A sonic snap echoed as the threads carved into the beast's neck, severing three eyes and opening its side. It howled and twisted, slamming Kiro into the ravine wall.
Bones cracked.
Kiro spat blood—and grinned.
He stood again.
"Still alive?" he whispered. "Then it's my turn."
Twelve Minutes Later
The corpse twitched as the last of its nerves died.
Kiro stood over it, chest heaving, soaked in blood that wasn't his. His threads hissed as they unraveled from the carcass and flowed back into his skin, absorbed.
The Blood System pulsed like a heartbeat.
[Blood Core Adaptation Complete.][System Evolution: 44% Progress – New Mutation Anchor Detected.][Void Resistance Increased.][You are being watched.]
He froze.
The last message remained.
[You are being watched.]
A presence hung in the sky.
Not above—beyond.
Through the clouds, the crimson moon began to change. It peeled like skin, revealing a darker void underneath. Shapes drifted across it—faceless, long-limbed, spectral.
Kiro didn't blink.
"You think I'm prey?"
He raised his hand, and the blood of the beast floated into a spiral before solidifying into a new sigil on his forearm.
"I'm just getting started."
Deeper in Nightfell – Unknown Location
A shrine stood.
Buried in black stone, lined with bone relics and bleeding candles. At its center, a horned corpse chained to a throne twitched—its empty eye sockets suddenly glowing red.
One word rasped from its mouth.
"Kiro..."