Even Death Grew Tired of Killing Me-Chapter 60 - 55

[Third POV - General]

The theater shook as the Grave Choir Thrall adjusted its shape.

The fused bodies leaned forward in unison, mouths widening, the layered tones blending into a heavier resonance. The sound pressed against Astrae’s skull, trying to pull her down the same way it had dragged Theo.

She clenched her jaw and stepped forward.

Kyrene moved at the same time.

He activated Arcstep, his body blurring in a short burst of speed that folded space just enough to reposition him directly in front of the stage. The movement was clean and controlled, not flashy.

The Thrall reacted immediately.

Several torsos twisted at once, arms stretching outward unnaturally. Fingers elongated into hooked claws reinforced by black sinew. They slashed downward.

Kyrene met the first strike head-on.

Aether Edge flared along his blade, coating it in condensed arcane force. The edge shimmered faintly as he cut through the incoming arm. Flesh split open and black ichor sprayed across the cracked stage.

The severed limb did not fall.

It melted.

The cut surface turned gelatinous, reforming even as Kyrene stepped back. The arm flowed back into the mass, reattaching seamlessly.

"It’s not solid," Astrae observed, forcing divine energy into her palms. A thin glow surrounded her fingers, weaker than it should have been but still sharp.

The Thrall’s bodies shifted again, collapsing and rising in a different pattern. Mouths opened wider. The sound grew distorted, like broken chimes vibrating in different directions.

Astrae moved.

She launched herself onto the stage despite the instability, her weakened state forcing her to rely more on precision than raw force. She drove her hand into one of the central torsos and released a focused burst of divine heat.

The flesh sizzled.

For a moment, it peeled back.

Something dark and semi-liquid pulsed beneath the surface, like a core buried too deep to reach.

"There," she hissed. "It has something like a central core that holds it together."

Kyrene appeared beside her using Arcstep again, blade flashing in a tight arc. He carved downward with Aether Edge, cutting deep into the mass.

The wound opened wide.

Then it folded inward like soft jelly, sealing over itself.

The Thrall responded violently.

Multiple bodies detached partially, torsos stretching out on sinew cords, snapping forward to slam into them. One shoulder clipped Astrae and sent her skidding across the stage, blood streaking across broken boards.

Kyrene stepped in front of her and triggered Counter Surge.

He let one heavy limb crash into his guard, absorbing the momentum for a split second, then redirected it in a sharp upward slash. The recoil sent the Thrall’s upper section flying backward, bodies tearing and slamming into the back wall.

Even that was not enough.

The pieces slithered back together.

Astrae pushed herself upright, breathing hard. "You could end this in one strike."

Kyrene glanced at her briefly.

"Not really," he replied evenly.

She frowned. "You’re just holding back. I could even do it if I’m not drain with my power, even without my wings."

"I barely have a fraction available," he answered, cutting through another lunging arm without looking strained. "That’s how it is right now."

"Sealed?" she pressed, forcing more light into her hands and blasting a cluster of mouths apart.

Kyrene’s blade flashed again, clean and efficient.

"Not really," he uttered. "But in a way, yeah."

Astrae stared at him for half a second longer. "What does that even mean?"

He stepped forward, carving a path through the shifting mass. "Just as I said. Don’t think too much about it."

The Thrall convulsed, its bodies rearranging again. The stage cracked further under its weight. The black sinew thickened, tightening around a central region that pulsed irregularly.

Astrae narrowed her eyes. "The core is moving, it changing the location whenever."

Kyrene nodded once.

"It’s protecting itself."

The Thrall’s mouths opened fully now, and the layered tones intensified. Even from the edge of the stage, they could see Theo still on his knees, eyes white, unmoving.

Astrae’s expression hardened.

"We do not have time."

Kyrene’s eyes sharpened.

"I know."

He activated Arcstep once more, vanishing from the Thrall’s front and reappearing mid-air above it. His blade flared brighter under Aether Edge, then came down in a precise vertical strike aimed where the pulsing mass had been seconds earlier.

The blade sank deep.

For a brief instant, something inside the Thrall flickered violently.

Then the flesh liquefied and swallowed the strike.

The stage shuddered.

The mass collapsed inward, then expanded outward, spreading across the theater floor like living tar. Bodies reformed in new positions, twisting and layering in ways that made it harder to distinguish where the center truly was.

Astrae’s breath grew heavier.

"It is adapting."

Kyrene’s lips curved faintly, not amused but focused.

"Good," he murmured.

The Thrall’s mouths turned toward them again.

And this time, the bells began to change into something deeper.

Something closer to voices.

The fight was far from over.

~~~

[Third POV – Madison]

Madison felt it before she understood it.

It was not a tremor in the ground or a surge in mana. It was a thinning. A faint strain along a line that had been carefully buried, layered, sealed beneath years of deliberate silence.

Theo.

She sat perfectly still by the window, sunlight touching the edge of her white dressed sleeve. From the outside, nothing about her changed. Her posture remained composed, her breathing steady, her gaze calm.

Inside, something tightened.

He is close. So very close.

Not physically. Not even spiritually.

Close to remembering.

She closed her eyes.

The ripple had started faint, like someone pressing from the other side of thick glass. But now it was sharper. Something had forced him inward. Something had pushed against a part of him that was never meant to be touched this early.

That creature.

She could feel its nature through the distortion. It had not meant to awaken him. It was simply doing what it was created to do, digging into memory, amplifying fear, replaying buried fragments.

But Theo was not a normal mind.

His memories were not sealed the way mortals sealed trauma.

They were layered.

Deep.

Ancient.

And something down there had shifted.

Madison inhaled slowly.

She hated this.

She did not want to interfere again.

Every time she stepped in, even subtly, it nudged the board. Even the smallest adjustment created waves she had to account for later. And she had worked too long to position everything carefully.

Barely any of her groundwork was complete.

Theo was still human enough.

If he awakens now...

She opened her eyes.

All hell will break loose

Not metaphorically.

Literally.

The gods who had agreed to let the board stand would feel it.

Those who resented the stalemate would seize the opportunity.

Those who feared her would rally.

It was far too early.

She exhaled softly, irritation threading through her calm.

"Do I really have a choice," she murmured to the quiet room.

The answer was obvious.

No.

She lifted her hand slightly, palm open.

"Come out," she called gently.

The shadows near the far wall deepened, then peeled away from the surface as if something had stepped forward from within them.

A young man emerged.

He looked around Kyrene’s age, perhaps just a year older. Deep black hair fell loosely around his face, straight and unbothered. His eyes were a striking, unsettling red, not bright, but dark and steady, like dried blood beneath glass.

His expression was cold, sharp, assessing. The kind of face that would draw attention without trying, the kind that would make people curious even if they did not understand why. He could even pass for Madison’s younger brother.

He stepped fully into the light, adjusted the cuffs of his black trousers casually, and walked toward the couch as though this were an ordinary visit.

He sat.

Leg crossed over knee.

Unhurried.

"You called," he remarked evenly.

Madison studied him for a moment.

"He is close," she replied.

The young man tilted his head slightly. "Close to what."

She held his gaze. "Breaking."

That made him straighten just a little.

"That early?" he asked, tone sharpening.

"Yes."

He leaned back again, though his eyes had lost their earlier laziness. "I was planning to let Kyrene look for me a while longer. It makes things more interesting."

Madison’s expression did not change. "Your games will end the moment Theo awakens."

The young man’s gaze flickered. "Awaken," he repeated quietly.

"A creature they encountered dug too deep," she explained. "It should not have reached that layer. It was not designed to. But it cracked something."

She paused briefly, measuring her words.

"The deepest layer."

Silence stretched between them.

For the first time since he arrived, the young man looked serious in a way that was not playful.

"If he remembers fully," he said slowly, "the board collapses."

"Yes."

"And the others will notice."

"Yes." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

He stood.

No dramatic movement. Just quiet decision.

He slipped his hands into his pockets and walked toward the window, looking out briefly as if he could see through layers of reality to the place where Theo was kneeling.

"Is he aware," he asked.

"No," Madison answered. "Not consciously."

"Good."

He turned back to her.

"I’ll go."

Madison gave a slight nod. "Suppress it properly. Do not damage anything. Just push it back where it belongs."

His lips curved faintly. "You always make it sound simple. I’m not like you."

"It is simple," she replied. "If you do it correctly, and no existance exist like me, that’s given."

He studied her for a moment longer, then asked quietly, "You’re worried."

Madison did not answer immediately.

"I am careful," she said instead.

He accepted that.

Without another word, the young man stepped backward.

The shadows rose again around him, not violently, not dramatically, just enough to swallow his outline. His red eyes were the last thing visible.

Then he was gone.

The room returned to normal.

Madison remained seated.

She rested her chin lightly against her knuckles and stared ahead, expression unreadable.

"Do not wake yet," she murmured softly into the quiet. "Not until everything is ready."

Far beneath the palace, something unseen began to move toward Theo.

And the board shifted, just slightly, once more.