The God-Tier Beast Architect

Chapter 3 The Forbidden Blood Bond

The damp air inside The Burrow bunker suddenly went silent, not just a normal silence, but a vacuum. Oxygen seemed to be sucked toward the surgical table, where Kenzo Julian lay limp, his palm still pressed against the black, cracking shell. There was no friction, only a low-frequency vibration that caused the concrete floor to fracture, sending dust motes floating in the air, weightless.

Kenzo jolted in his sleep. His brain felt as if it had been doused in boiling liquid metal. He wasn't just hearing sounds; he was seeing memories that weren't his. Images of a gray sky covered by ancient warships, flames that burned not red but pitch black, and the screams of thousands of souls devoured in a single second.

“Integration 40%, neural synchronization reaching critical levels!” the Eye of Origin system roared in his head.

"Argh!" Kenzo groaned, clutching his head. The pain was so sharp it split his vision in two. On one side, he saw the dilapidated bunker. On the other, he saw the form of the Nihilus, newly hatched, chewing through the reality surrounding the bunker.

BOOM!

The concrete walls could no longer withstand the pressure. The iron support bolts popped out one by one, erupting from the cement with a metallic clanging that pierced the ears.

Outside, in the ruins of the cathedral above, hunters from the Goldenthorn clan stood frozen. Captain Hans, a man who, minutes ago, felt like the master of this valley, was now slumped over, clutching his chest.

"Captain! What’s happening with the signal detector?" one of the soldiers asked, his voice trembling.

Hans didn't answer. His face was ghostly pale. His aura detector was spewing black smoke, its circuits fried from picking up an anomaly he couldn't comprehend. "That’s not a human aura, nor a Beast's," Hans muttered. "It’s a hole. Everything just ... vanished!"

Inside the bunker, Kenzo felt as if he were being skinned alive. The blood flowing from his hand was no longer just dripping; it was being forcibly pulled into the small entity on the table. A creature, the Nihilus, had now fully freed itself from its obsidian shell.

The Nihilus looked like a dragon hatchling made of pure shadow. Its scales resembled shifting obsidian, flowing like liquid and refusing to reflect a single shard of light. The creature had no eyes, but its presence felt like a bottomless abyss.

“Host blood assimilation reaching 70%. Subject soul resistance detected. Initiating cognitive takeover.”

"Shut up, you damn system!" Kenzo shrieked. He channeled every ounce of his remaining willpower. As someone living in the Zero caste, Kenzo knew one thing: no one would control his life, not even an ancient monster.

He forced himself to stand, even as every muscle fiber felt like it was being twisted. "Listen, Nihilus," Kenzo muttered, his voice raspy and broken. He didn't shout; instead, he tried to establish a mental connection with the monster.

The Nihilus stopped. The small creature tilted its head to the left. The frequency that had previously shattered the cathedral glass shifted into a low hum, soothing, yet heavy with raw threat.

“Master?” a whisper echoed in the depths of Kenzo’s mind. It wasn't words, but a sensation of thirst for existence that he interpreted as communication.

"Not Master. Partner," Kenzo replied. "We’re the only trash in this world worthy of standing at the peak. Don’t eat my memories, eat the chains that bind us."

Outside, the cracked concrete wall finally collapsed entirely. Hans and three other Goldenthorn soldiers pushed through the rubble, their magical rifles leveled at the surgical table.

"Got you, rat," Hans said, his voice arrogant despite the cold sweat pouring down his forehead. "What did you bring to this cathedral? Was that stolen goods from the Aethelgard Valley? Hand it over before we strip you of every limb you own!"

Kenzo stood tall, his back to Hans. He wiped blood from his lips. His back was drenched in sweat, and his left hand trembled violently, a sign that his Eye of Origin was pushing beyond its limits.

Kenzo slowly turned around. The Nihilus, once bizarre in shape, now curled around his shoulder like a shadow scarf. The Goldenthorn soldiers were stunned. They looked at Kenzo’s left eye; the iris had changed into a pulsating red concentric pattern, staring at Hans as if looking at an ant marching toward its own demise.

"You still think I'm the prey?" Kenzo asked. His voice sounded flat, yet every word carried a weight that stifled the breath of those before him.

"Enough games! Finish him!" Hans shouted.

TAP!

Two five-foot-tall Earth-Hounds leaped toward Kenzo, jaws agape to reveal teeth inlaid with precious metals. But before the beasts could touch their target, Kenzo didn't even move a finger.

He simply exhaled a long breath.

The Nihilus, the tiny dragon, moved with a speed that defied the eye. In a blink, the space between the soldiers and Kenzo seemed to fold. The Nihilus didn't bite the Earth-Hounds; it devoured the air in front of the beasts' faces.

The next second, the fierce Earth-Hounds suddenly lost their form. Like a painting erased by a giant eraser, the front halves of the Beasts dissolved into black ash before vanishing entirely into the void created by the Nihilus.

The remains of the beasts fell to the ground with a heavy thud, dead without shedding a single drop of blood. No screams. No roars. Everything was destroyed instantly.

Hans and his men froze. Their faces were as pale as paper. This wasn't magic, nor was it a standard Beast aura. This was something that erased the fundamental laws of physics.

"What ... what the hell is that thing?" a soldier muttered, shaking violently as his weapon clattered to the ruined cathedral floor.

Kenzo stepped forward. The Nihilus rested calmly on his shoulder, its obsidian shadows beginning to merge with Kenzo’s worn-out cloak. "You always said the Zero caste was trash with no place in history," Kenzo said, stepping closer. "Well, welcome to the end of your history."

Hans tried to pull the trigger of his magical rifle, but the machine emitted a long clicking sound. All the magical aura stored within the weapon was sucked out, flowing toward the Nihilus as if drawn into an invisible black hole. The weapon in Hans's hand was now nothing more than dead scrap metal.

"Don't come any closer!" Hans backed away, step by step, until his foot caught in the edge of the bunker hole. He fell, his motor control slipping under the weight of sheer terror.

Kenzo didn't kill them. He stared into Hans's eyes with his glowing red left eye. His Eye of Origin processed every heartbeat, every fear, and every secret hidden in the corrupt soldier's mind.

"Go home," Kenzo said simply. "Tell Duke Maximilian that the property you were looking for has found its true owner. And tell him, if they dare send anyone else, they won't be returning with their lives."

Kenzo turned his back. He walked toward the remaining darkness of the bunker, leaving the soldiers shivering in place.

As he re-entered the depths of The Burrow, Kenzo’s knees gave out. He collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air. The blood contract had nearly drained his remaining vitality.

"System," Kenzo whispered weakly. "Report status."

“Subject Integration : 85%. Warning : Host neural damage detected. However, resonance with Nihilus is stable. We are no longer standard human, Kenzo Julian.”

Kenzo chuckled, despite the pain agonizing his chest. He stroked the back of the Nihilus, which was now dozing on his shoulder. "Human? That’s just a word made up by those who feel superior because of their aura status."

He looked out at the destroyed cathedral opening. The night sky of Neo-Berlin looked increasingly grim, filled with flashes of artificial light. In his right hand, he clutched a piece of the enemy’s destroyed weapon. With a single touch, the metal decayed, rusted into dust, and vanished, swallowed by Void energy.

"Let them come," Kenzo said, his eyes glowing a perfect, piercing red in the darkness of the cathedral. "Those who insulted the Zero caste will become the foundation of the revolution I’m going to build. Nihilus, it’s time we become the nightmare they fear."

Amidst the silence enveloping the ruins of the cathedral, the blood threads binding Kenzo and the Nihilus glowed brightly, uniting the heartbeat of the discarded human and the ancient monster into one synchronized rhythm. Their war hadn't yet begun, but the declaration was already written across the debris.