CHAPTER 5 — THE RED PROTOCOL AWAKENS
385 Words
That night, the sky looked as if someone had dragged a crimson blade straight across it.
Not clouds.
Not atmosphere.
A signal.
Kairos had just stabilized the Blood-Core embedded in his chest when his entire body jerked upright, as if pulled by an invisible wire. A cold stream of data slid down his spine.
— RED PROTOCOL: UNSEALED —
This wasn’t an upgrade.
It was a warning.
Instantly, the mechanical plating on his right arm shifted in color—from steel silver to bright, blood-stained red. Circuit lines across the arm lit up, glowing hot enough to melt stone.
Kairos muttered under his breath,
“Impossible… it’s way too early.”
Before he could analyze anything, the ground beneath the town split into long jagged fissures. From the depths, Sentinel Husks clawed their way up—hollow metal shells that once housed the empire’s ancient warriors, now reanimated by an unknown directive.
They had no soul.
No purpose.
Only a command: eradicate every host of Blood-Core energy.
Kairos vaulted off the rooftop, landing with a heavy metallic thud.
A Sentinel lunged.
Too fast.
He raised his arm to guard—
But this time, the Red Protocol reacted on its own.
A rotating mechanical ring snapped open along his forearm, and a thin scarlet energy blade ignited with a hiss, sharp enough to split silence.
One strike.
The Sentinel cleaved cleanly in half.
But victory didn’t feel like victory.
In the distance, from the deepest fissure, a colossal figure rose—towering over the shattered buildings. Its form was a grotesque fusion of ancient armor, human bone remnants, and red cables pulsing like exposed veins.
Kairos recognized it instantly, from forbidden archives:
— Blood Warden, Watchtower Unit Zero —
It was never meant to awaken.
Yet here it stood.
The Warden raised its massive arm. A beam of blood-colored energy roared toward Kairos. He boosted sideways, barely dodging—yet the explosion obliterated the houses behind him.
Kairos gritted his teeth.
“If the Red Protocol is open… that means they know I’m alive.”
He tightened his grip on the Blood Blade.
Crimson veins rippled across the sword, beating in sync with his pulse—faster, hotter, more alive than ever.
The first true battle of the Mechanized Blood Blade began that night.
- Writer
