The descent had been brutal.

Gaeth-9's upper atmosphere fought like a dying beast—storms clawed at Kiro's path, winds laced with industrial ash and the memory of burning worlds. But the Blood Core within him pulsed like a lodestar, guiding his every motion through chaos and ruin.

He landed just beyond the ash plains, near the ancient freight junctions that once fed ore to the orbitals. His boots sank into black dust—soft and thick with the weight of forgotten labor.

For a moment, it was silent.

Too silent.

Kiro adjusted his cloak, hiding the faint red gleam of his veins. Blood Venom hung from his back like a shadow—still warm, still hungry. His body was different now. Stronger. Sharper. Every breath he took hummed with potential.

But his mind was even sharper.

The Kargal Empire wouldn't leave this place unguarded.

And he was right.

The first shot came from beneath the ground.

It didn't make a sound—just a blink of light, a distortion. Kiro twisted, barely in time. The bolt skimmed past his shoulder, searing flesh. He rolled into cover, behind a rusted pillar of collapsed alloy.

A voice crackled in his mind, the System speaking with mechanical calm:

"Threat Detected. Viora-Class Energy Signature.""Designation: Sleeper Cell – Kruger Division."

Then they rose—from the black sand, from false corpses, from the machinery itself. Seven in total. Clad in scrap uniforms and forgotten armor. Each one wore a mask carved from bone-metal, their skin etched with suppression runes.

Sleeper Cells.

Programmed with the Empire's contingency protocols. Buried in the surface like landmines with a pulse. Alive, yet not human anymore.

One stepped forward—taller than the rest. A woman, maybe, though the mask rendered her genderless. She flexed her arms, and Viora energy flared across her skin—burning blue, crackling with intent.

"We saw you fall," she said, voice distorted by the rune-plate. "We heard the god scream."

Kiro rose, eyes cold.

"I'm not here to talk."

She tilted her head.

"You carry a monster in your veins. You think that makes you strong?"

"No," Kiro said, and drew Blood Venom.

"It makes me inevitable."

She launched first.

The clash was brutal—no ceremony, no posturing. Just pure movement. The Sleeper's strikes came fast, her Viora coating her fists with momentum-breakers. Each blow threatened to shatter bone, but Kiro's Core sang with counterforce.

He parried, slid in close, drove a spike of Blood Venom into her side—but she didn't fall. Viora flared, ejecting the blade with a hiss of reverse energy.

Another attacked from the flank. Kiro ducked, spun, used the first Sleeper as a shield. Plasma rounds tore into her back, and she screamed—not from pain, but rage.

Kiro didn't hesitate. He drove Blood Venom through her neck.

The kill was clean. Efficient.

But the others didn't retreat.

They were Sleeper Cells. They didn't know fear.

One by one, they came—and one by one, Kiro cut them down. His Blood Core surged. His mind went silent. There was only motion. Hunger. Purpose.

When it ended, the sand was soaked. The ruins steamed with heat and blood.

The last Sleeper tried to crawl away, whispering a prayer in the old Imperial tongue. Kiro stepped over him, kneeling. There was no pity. Only clarity.

"Tell your masters," he said softly, "that Gaeth-9 doesn't belong to them anymore."

Then he drove the blade in.

The System pulsed:

"Core Charge: 47%.""Mutation Pathway Stabilizing.""Instinct Layer Unlocked: 'Blood Memory – Void-Gaze.'"

Far above, aboard the Obsidian Fang, the Watchers stared at the screen.

"Four minutes," one whispered. "He eliminated all seven."

General Veyren said nothing.

His fingers drummed against the war table.

"Send the Executor," he said at last. "Now."