The sky cracked open like a shattered mirror.
A thunderous roar swallowed the city's dying screams, twisting steel and glass into a rain of razor shards. Darkness poured from the fissure—a black tide swallowing the sun—spilling shadows that seeped into every broken street.
Yin Zhou stumbled through the chaos, blood slick on his cracked palms. His breath was ragged, lungs burning as he pressed forward, chasing a flicker of life amid the ruins. Around him, the desperate clawed at each other like starving beasts, eyes wild with terror or madness. There was no order here. No salvation.
Just hunger.
A sudden explosion blew out his ears, throwing him to the ground. The world spun, a kaleidoscope of fire and ash and agony. Somewhere close, a scream was torn apart—human, then something else.
He forced himself up, teeth clenched against the pain. His vision blurred as shadows crawled at the edge of his sight, whispering in a voice only he could hear.
"Join me."
"The contract awaits."
"Blood is power."
Yin Zhou swallowed bile. His mind screamed for reason, but reason was a broken relic. He had nothing left. Nothing but rage and the cold, sinking certainty that death was the only escape.
Then the voice spoke again, clearer, sharper.
[System Integration Complete.]
[Contract Bound: Candidate Yin Zhou — Blood Warlock.]
[Primary Link Established: Entity Lilith, Temptress-Class, Infernal Plane.]
The air thickened, heat blooming against his skin. A figure emerged from the darkness, a woman with eyes like burning coals and a smile that twisted sanity.
"Do you wish to survive, Yin Zhou?" Lilith's voice was velvet dipped in venom. "I offer you power—blood for blood."
His hands trembled. The world was collapsing, but here, in this moment, a terrible choice was laid bare.
Desperation won.
"I accept."
The contract burned through his veins—a wildfire that shattered his bones, rewrote his soul. The city's screams faded beneath the pounding echo of a new heartbeat: dark, hungry, unstoppable.
He was no longer just a man.
He was a Blood Warlock.