The journey had bled the weak.
Five hundred miles through scorched valleys, broken plains, and shifting red dunes. What remained of Kiro's company now marched beneath tattered cloaks, their armor dulled by wind and time.
Kiro stood at the front, cloak torn, his face unreadable beneath the hood.
Behind him, the 600 had dwindled. Only 482 remained.
Some had died in the first week. Others disappeared into the storms. A few turned mad from the whispering wind that blew from the north—where the stars no longer aligned and the bones of old empires jutted from the earth.
Ahead, a silhouette finally broke the dust-choked horizon.
A wall of iron.
Towers built from crashed warships and orbital wreckage.
A city built on the corpse of a battlefield.
"Hungers," Kiro murmured.
Even the Blood System pulsed uneasily.
[WARNING: Pirate-Territory. Factionalized Control Detected.][Dominant Clan: Ferric Maw. Secondary: Dune Corsairs.][Primary Artifact of Interest: Class-3 Starship 'Black Spindle' docked near Core Wreck Bay.]
Kiro's gaze narrowed. That was the ship.
The one the System spoke of.
Their way out.
And a thousand scavengers would kill for a seat aboard it.
Inside the Outer Slums – Nightfall
Hungers was madness wrapped in rust.
Every step inside its borders felt like walking through a tomb that refused to die. Children traded plasma cores for meat. Former mercs sold bones and machine parts like currency. Augmented dogs prowled the alleys, sniffing for weakness.
Kiro and his group moved like shadows—hooded, weapons concealed.
Until a horn blared from a watchtower.
They'd been seen.
"Scatter!" Kan roared, already drawing his blade.
Shots cracked through the alleys—smoke rounds and nettraps. Pirate slavers. Enforcers from the Ferric Maw. They'd spotted Kiro's blood aura, even restrained.
He moved like lightning—cutting through the air, carving a path through the slums.
But it wasn't enough.
A plasma cannon hit a wall near him. Kiro flew back, skidding through trash and dust.
He rose.
Breathing hard.
Face cut.
And the Blood System whispered in his mind:
[You are close.][The ship lies behind the Maw Citadel.][Access to Black Spindle requires command key held by the Ferric Warlord.]
Kiro's eyes lifted toward the center of the city.
A tower of smoke and bones.
And above it—docked in a half-sunken cradle—was the ship. Black. Ancient. Beautiful.
Their way out.
"Then we're taking it," Kiro growled.
The ship sailed in silence.
No Empire. No Voidlings. No war.
Just stars.
Just breath.
In the great chamber of the Black Spindle, Kiro stood among his people—scarred, hollow, alive. He looked at them not as followers, but as survivors. As the last light of a forgotten rebellion.
"We are not the weak.""We are not the lost.""We are the blood that would not drown."
And his people bowed their heads.
In that silence, the Blood System whispered:
[New Phase Unlocked.][System Upgrade: Starborne Dominion – In Progress…]
And so began the next chapter of Kiro's war.