Chapter 24
The sky above the outer district was the color of rusted iron. The clouds didn't move—they loomed. Still. Watching. Just like the city.
Kiro crouched on a ledge of shattered concrete, the ruins of a collapsed processing tower behind him. The smell of fuel and blood mixed in the air. Below, nestled between industrial ruins and rows of mechanical garrisons, stood the Imperial supply outpost.
It pulsed with power. Heavy turrets rotated in timed intervals. Drones hovered. Patrols shifted in quadrants. Every movement was synchronized. Perfect. Efficient. Unforgiving.
A single misstep here didn't mean death.
It meant complete erasure.
But Kiro didn't move like someone afraid of death anymore.
His crimson eyes scanned the compound. He could feel his Core pulsing—like a second heart, deeper, older, and far more alive.
The Blood God System was evolving.
Not in levels or numbers.
But in form. In will.
In hunger.