Bloodsteel Gangster
Episode 10 – The Pulse
The city still smoldered.
Gangs were broken. The police gutted. Mercenaries burned.
But Kuro kept walking, his trench swaying, his glowing red eyes steady as ever.
Now the ones lurking in the shadows had started to crawl out. Not governments. Not syndicates.
Supernaturals.
⸻
The Blood Fang Crew
It began in the ruins of an abandoned subway line. Kuro heard them before he saw them—laughter echoing through the tunnels, sharp and cruel.
When he stepped inside, the air stank of old blood. Broken lights flickered across graffiti-stained walls. That's when they appeared.
Ten of them—vampires. Not ancient lords, but young bloods twisted into a gang called the Blood Fang Crew. Their eyes glowed scarlet, fangs gleaming. Chains wrapped their arms, blades glistened with stolen blood.
Their leader, tall and gaunt with tattoos crawling up his neck, grinned wide.
"Yo, trench coat. We heard you've been carving up this city. But this is vampire turf. You bleed here."
Kuro exhaled smoke. "Then let's climb."
They rushed him all at once, claws raking, chains whipping. One leapt from the ceiling, fangs wide for his throat.
Bang. Kuro's pistol blew the vampire's head apart midair. The body crumpled in a spray of ash.
The others screamed, slashing into him, tearing his body apart piece by piece. Kuro didn't dodge. His torso shredded, his arms ripped open—but every wound sealed instantly, his veins pulsing with molten steel.
He cut them down methodically. Blade through the chest. Bullet to the skull. Ash filled the tunnels like smoke until only their leader remained.
The vampire snarled, eyes glowing brighter, muscles swelling with blood magic. He lunged, claws piercing Kuro's stomach.
Kuro leaned close, calm. "Not enough."
His blade-arm slid up through the vampire's chest, piercing his heart. The creature howled, then burst into a pile of ash.
LEVEL UP. Current Level: 1,312.
Balance: $1,311,000.
The Bone Witches
Hours later, in the industrial district, another crew came. The Bone Witches.
They weren't elegant. They weren't pretty. They were witches who feasted on corpses, their bodies stitched with bone charms, their eyes glowing white with necrotic fire.
Three of them circled him in an abandoned warehouse, chanting in tongues older than the city itself. Shadows wrapped the walls. Bones rattled to life. Corpses rose from the ground, reanimated with jerking movements.
Dozens of undead rushed him.
Kuro's pistol barked. Heads exploded, skulls shattered, bodies collapsed. His blade carved through rib cages, spilling dust. The witches screamed louder, summoning more, the warehouse filling with rot and claws.
One witch fired a bolt of black flame into his chest, searing a hole the size of a fist. For a moment, Kuro staggered. Then his veins glowed, sealing the wound instantly.
He shot her between the eyes. Her body crumpled.
The others shrieked, their power spiking, corpses rising faster. But Kuro didn't stop walking. He cut down the dead like grass, bullets and steel turning the warehouse into a slaughterhouse.
Finally, his blade pierced the second witch's throat, ripping her open. The last tried to flee, but Kuro's bullet split her spine in half.
LEVEL UP. Current Level: 1,320.
Balance: $1,319,000.
The Howlers
The next night, under the broken moonlight, Kuro heard them—the wolves.
A pack of feral werewolves, not lords, but gang animals known as The Howlers. Ten of them circled him in the ruins of a stadium, their eyes glowing yellow, their claws dripping saliva.
They attacked together, fangs snapping, claws slashing.
Kuro was torn apart again and again—his chest ripped open, his arms shredded, his throat torn out—yet every wound healed instantly. His calm never broke.
Bang. Bang. Bang. Wolves dropped, heads exploding. His blade ripped others in half, fur and blood spraying the seats.
The alpha lunged last, three times Kuro's size, fangs the size of daggers. He pinned Kuro to the ground, claws digging into his chest.
Kuro raised his pistol to the beast's mouth. "Bite this."
Bang.
The alpha's skull exploded.
The pack fell silent, their bodies broken, the stadium reeking of blood.
LEVEL UP. Current Level: 1,330.
Balance: $1,329,000.
The Pulse
That was when it happened.
The ground trembled. The air split. Every light in the city flickered, then died. For one heartbeat, silence swallowed everything.
Then it came.
A supernatural pulse, a shockwave of raw power that tore through the world. It spread like wildfire, racing across galaxies, dimensions, planes of existence. Every demon, every angel, every vampire, every werewolf—every supernatural being in every world—felt it ignite in their blood.
The weak grew stronger. The strong grew monstrous. The city howled with sudden power.
And at the center of it stood Kuro, his body convulsing as the pulse ripped through him. His veins glowed white-hot, his steel burning, his muscles tearing apart and reforging stronger.
The voice in his skull roared louder than ever:
EVOLUTION STAGE UNLOCKED.
Level: 5,000.
Balance: $4,999,000.
Kuro's body transformed. He grew larger, broader, his skin crawling with molten steel veins that pulsed like living circuits. His trench fused tighter to his form, like it had become a part of him, alive and indestructible.
His pistol expanded into something heavier, glowing with steel runes, its rounds humming with endless energy. His blade grew longer, sharper, pulsating with light, an extension of his rage.
When the evolution finished, he stood calm again. Cigarette between his lips. Eyes glowing so bright they lit the dark.
And now the city itself shook. Because all the gangs, cops, mercs, and monsters who wanted him dead… had just been given power to match.
Kuro exhaled smoke. His voice was calm. Cold.
"Finally. A challenge."