Chapter 60
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."