I Die to Rise: Resurrection System-Chapter 61: Back in Black!

Cassandra’s blade trembled in her grip for just a moment, her eyes locked on Kurt’s lifeless body. "What just happened?"

Lizzie’s gaze darted frantically from Kurt’s corpse, to the sky, to Zaza, before settling on Rook with desperate hope. "He always wakes up, right? He never mentioned a countdown, but it doesn’t change anything, right?!"

Rook stood frozen, fists clenched tight. His voice remained calm. "I don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see."

Zaza, still watching from her vantage point atop a pile of rubble, tilted her head with mild curiosity. Her purple eyes tracked Kurt’s body like he was a puzzle she hadn’t quite solved. "Hm. I suppose I could wait."

That single sentence, delivered with such casual indifference, triggered something primal in Emma. Her grip on Storm King tightened until the weapon’s shaft groaned, and she took a sharp step forward.

Anticipating what she was about to do, Rook’s hand caught her wrist before she could close the distance. "She doesn’t seem hostile anymore. Stand down."

Emma whipped around, her grey eyes blazing. "I’ve had it up to my neck with these Silver Tail sons of bitches, Rook!" She grabbed his arm with her free hand, ready to yank it off, but stopped when she saw his face. He looked exhausted, eyes heavy with strain, and her rage cooled by a degree.

"Whatever happens," Rook said quietly, "we face it together."

Emma exhaled slowly, then dismissed Storm King in a flash of light reluctantly. "Yeah. Together."

Rook squeezed her shoulder, then turned toward the rest of the team. "I’m going to check if everyone made it out safe. You three keep an eye on our friendly neighborhood psychopath here."

Cassandra’s blade remained half-drawn. "With pleasure. I always found her weird."

Rook walked away, his steps heavy, and the battlefield fell into uneasy silence.

***

Back in black, Kurt’s eyes snapped open. He wasn’t on the ground anymore. He was standing in an endless expanse of black, with swirling specks of light drifting lazily across the void like cosmic dust. There was no up or down, no left or right. Just existence, stretched infinitely thin.

The System chimed.

[EMERGENCY QUEST COMPLETE: Protect the Guild]

[- Reward: +15 Points]

[EMERGENCY QUEST COMPLETE: Survive Braun Ironside]

[- Reward: +15 Points] 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

[Total Points Awarded: 30]

[Available Points: 30]

Kurt stared at the notification, then dismissed it with a thought. He was more concerned with where he was than how many points he had. "Where the hell am I?"

"Welcome, Kurt Manchester." The voice came from everywhere and nowhere at once. "I’ve been expecting you."

Kurt spun around, searching for the source, and found nothing but void. "Who—?"

"We will not be doing this again," the Keeper of Endings interrupted, and suddenly it was there, standing directly in front of him. The same robes, the same mask, the same disturbingly feminine curves hidden beneath shadow.

Before Kurt could respond, the Keeper raised one hand, and something slammed into his mind.

A memory.

He saw himself standing in this exact place. Saw the deal. Felt the choice. Watched his memories being ripped away piece by piece.

The vision ended, and Kurt staggered, breathing hard.

[MEMORY FRAGMENT RECOVERED]

[- The Deal with the Keeper of Endings]

[+5 Points Awarded]

[Notice: Increased Luck attribute has improved reward rate]

[Available Points: 35]

Kurt stared at the notifications, then at the Keeper. "It was you... you took everything."

"We had an agreement," the Keeper said calmly, gesturing toward the floating text. "And the System is designed to be absolute. It will function as promised. But there are consequences if a Reaper kills you. That’s why you’re here."

Kurt’s stomach dropped. "Right. My friends... what’s happening to them?!"

"You have ten minutes remaining before your resurrection completes in the mortal realm," the Keeper said, walking in a circle around him, or perhaps the void itself rotated, it was impossible to tell. "But here, in this place, we have as long as I will it."

Kurt’s mind raced, questions piling up faster than he could articulate them. "What’s a Reaper? Why is one coming for me?"

The Keeper stopped, facing him fully. "Reapers are enforcers. They maintain the balance between life and death. You are breaking that balance. No one gets to cheat death, Kurt Manchester. And they will come to correct the error."

Kurt swallowed hard. "But I’ll still come back, yeah? They can’t actually punch my ticket permanently?"

"Correct." The Keeper held up one finger. "But there are consequences. First, death by Reaper brings you here, to me. Though, I wouldn’t call that a consequence." The mask tilted slightly, the swirling patterns shifting in a way Kurt interpreted as amusement.

He tugged at his collar uncomfortably and forced a grin. "Right. What else?"

The Keeper raised a second finger. "If a Reaper kills you before you spend the points you’ve accumulated, you lose them all."

"Bollocks."

A third finger. "You will be unable to upgrade any abilities for three days. All abilities will revert to F-rank during that time period, and you’ll rely solely on your physical stats."

The Keeper raised a fourth finger, and its voice dropped to something almost solemn. "And the death itself will be the most agonizing you will ever experience. You can never get used to it."

The Keeper dropped its hand and tried to paint Kurt a picture. "Imagine spaghettification... your body stretched infinitely by gravitational forces. Every atom of your being torn apart in what seems like forever due to time dilation. Now multiply that agony by two eternities."

The Keeper moved behind Kurt’s chair, its presence cold against his back. "If you let it break you, it will chip away at your soul. Piece by piece, with each death, until you’re hollow."

Kurt’s throat went dry. "Easy enough..."

"But only if you let it," the Keeper added quietly.

Kurt ran a hand through his hair. "Anything else? Or is that the full list of how I’m completely screwed?"

"Ah. Sarcasm." The Keeper manifested a chair from nothing and Kurt found himself seated without choosing to move. "One of the many things I’ve come to understand about mortals through our arrangement."

The Keeper’s hand rested on Kurt’s shoulder from behind the chair, and he felt the coldness radiating through the fabric. "The real question, Kurt, is whether they can be stopped."

"Yeah, I was getting to that," Kurt said, forcing a grin. "Can they?"

The Keeper walked forward, then reappeared from behind, as if space itself had looped. "No. But human potential is limitless." The mask turned toward him meaningfully. "And the System has fundamentally altered you."

"Yeah, I gathered that much," Kurt muttered. "What does that even mean?"

The Keeper moved closer, and suddenly its hand pressed against Kurt’s forehead. Images of complex diagrams flooded his mind. At the center of it all was blood. His blood.

"Your blood, Kurt Manchester. Your blood is the key."

Kurt tried to focus on the symbols, the meaning behind them. "What is this supposed to—? And these scars? Why do I—?"

"We’re done here." The Keeper dismissed him before he was done talking, and the void shattered.

***

Kurt gasped as his eyes snapped open, lungs filling with air, and he was back on the battlefield, staring up at the smoke-filled sky.

[RESURRECTION COMPLETE]

[Deaths: 14]

[New Ability Unlocked: Swindler - F Rank]

[- Can steal tangible, physical objects]

[+10 points awarded: Death]

[Available Points: 45]

Lizzie’s face appeared above him. There was a wide smile and then a confused look, then back to a smile. "You’re back!" She threw her arms around him, kissing his cheek repeatedly.

Kurt patted her head weakly. "Yeah, no thanks to the crazy psycho over there." He pointed at Zaza who looked at him, her cheeks turning rosy for reasons she couldn’t quite name as she started moving.

Emma stood a few feet away, pulling out her regular handgun, aimed directly at Zaza, and Cassandra flanked her, blade drawn. "That’s a few steps too many," Emma said, turning off the safety with a soft click.

Zaza had dismissed her scythe and returned to her modest dress, but she was descending from her perch on the rubble, her expression back to being unreadable.

"I’m sorry," Zaza said quietly, her hands clasped in front of her. "I just wanted to... see it." She looked down, chewing on her lower lip. "I didn’t mean to... Cassandra, tell them I didn’t mean to."

"Try harder." Emma’s eyes narrowed, while Cassandra sighed, sheathing her blade.

"No time for that!" Kurt pushed himself to his feet, swaying slightly. "We’ve got bigger problems."

As soon as Kurt said that, Rook arrived with the rest of the surviving guild members trailing behind him, their faces pale and exhausted. Sam wasn’t among them.

Lizzie’s eyes darted around frantically. "Where’s Sam?"

"Long story," Rook said quickly. "She’s resting. Safe." He turned to Kurt. "What bigger problems?"

The sky answered before Kurt could.

Thunder roared overhead, so loud it rattled teeth, and the clouds began to swirl unnaturally. They moved with purpose, spiraling inward toward a single point. Then the sky tore.

Reality split open like fabric, and something stepped through.

A figure in a black suit and tie, immaculate and corporate, holding a scythe that looked ancient and impossibly sharp. Its blade was pitch black, and the figure’s face was obscured by a featureless white mask.

The Reaper had arrived.

Kurt pointed up at the descending figure, his hand trembling slightly. "That bigger problem!"

The Reaper’s feet touched the ground without a sound, and when it spoke, its voice was calm, professional, and utterly devoid of mercy.

"Kurt Manchester. Your time is up."