Even Death Grew Tired of Killing Me-Chapter 71 - 66 - Morveth Kael’Zhyr (2)

[First Person - Theo]

Morveth did not move first.

It simply hovered at the center of the vast cathedral-like cavern, bone plates layered at wrong angles, black tar pulsing faintly between the gaps. The violet veins beneath its structure throbbed slowly, almost lazily, as if none of this required urgency.

The pressure increased, not in an explosive way or dramatic.

Just heavier.

Like the air itself had thickened into something you had to push through to breathe.

Kyrene stepped half a pace forward.

Astrae shifted her stance beside me, light gathering faintly around her hands despite the strain it put on her.

Morveth’s elongated skull tilted.

"You are aware," it rasped calmly, "that none who reach this depth leave by choice."

Kyrene answered flatly, "Yeah. We’re not here by choice either."

The lich’s split jaw opened slightly, translucent tendrils twitching within.

"Such defiance, such confidence," it murmured. "And yet... Predictable."

Then it moved.... Not forwards as predicted.

But down.

The air beneath it ruptured.

A shockwave detonated outward in a circular blast that shattered stone and sent shards flying like shrapnel. The ground beneath our feet cracked violently.

I barely had time to react.

My increased agility carried me backward, boots sliding over wet stone as debris tore through the space where I had stood a second earlier.

Kyrene vanished in a blur.

Astrae raised a barrier of light, barely in time.

The impact slammed into her shield and drove her backward several meters, boots carving trenches in the damp floor.

Morveth did not land.

It dropped into the center depression and the stone around it blackened instantly, tar-like substance spreading outward in jagged veins.

The floor became hostile.

Kyrene reappeared above it, Arcstep activating in a burst of spatial distortion. He struck first, Aether Edge flaring along his blade as condensed arcane force reinforced the edge.

The blow landed cleanly against Morveth’s shoulder.

Bone split.

Tar sprayed.

Violet light flared violently from within.

And then the wound closed.

Not slowly.

Immediately.

Morveth’s head turned toward him with deliberate curiosity.

"Adaptive reinforcement," it uttered, tone almost analytical. "Interesting."

A spear of black matter erupted from its side without warning.

Kyrene twisted mid-air, but the edge clipped his ribs.

Blood sprayed across the cavern wall.

He landed in a low crouch, breathing steady, eyes sharp.

He was smiling faintly.

But it was not amusement.

It was focus.

Morveth extended both arms and the cathedral answered.

Bone erupted from the floor in jagged pillars, slicing upward in erratic patterns. Water burst into steam as the tar veins pulsed brighter.

"Astrae!" I shouted.

She moved, divine light bursting outward in focused arcs, slicing through the rising bone spikes before they could impale us. Her movements were sharp and economical, conserving energy wherever possible.

Morveth’s aura shifted.

The pressure multiplied.

It felt like gravity had increased only around us.

My knees buckled.

Kyrene stepped forward into it instead.

Veiled Flow smoothed his movement despite the crushing force. He advanced steadily, blade humming with reinforced arcane energy.

He did not attack wildly.

He tested.

Feint left. Real strike right. Counter Surge triggered when Morveth’s limb lashed toward him, converting the impact into a retaliatory slash that carved through layered bone plates.

This time the wound lingered for half a breath before sealing.

Morveth’s tar core pulsed faster.

"You are disciplined," it rasped. "Unusual for one so young."

Kyrene’s voice dropped. "You talk too much."

He Arcstepped again, reappearing at Morveth’s blind angle. His blade cut diagonally across the lich’s spine structure, severing two major bone plates and exposing the violet-veined mass beneath.

Tar exploded outward like boiling oil.

One droplet struck my forearm.

It burned through skin instantly.

I hissed, tearing the sleeve away before it could spread further.

Morveth reacted faster this time.

Its entire torso rotated unnaturally, spine segments shifting independently. A crushing wave of force slammed outward from its core.

I did not move fast enough.

The wave hit me square in the chest.

Bones shattered.

Darkness swallowed everything.

—

I returned standing several meters back, lungs seizing as if I had just surfaced from deep water.

Total deaths: 367.

The number settled quietly in my mind.

No shock.

No panic.

Just confirmation.

I sprinted forward immediately, Failure Converter feeding me micro-corrections as the battlefield pattern shifted around us.

Astrae shouted something and launched herself into the air, wings of fractured light manifesting partially behind her. They were incomplete, but enough to grant lift.

She dove, spear of divine light forming in her hand.

It struck Morveth’s exposed core.

The impact detonated in a blast of white brilliance that forced me to shield my eyes.

When the light faded, Morveth was still there.

Tar poured from the wound, but it did not disintegrate.

Instead, the tar rose into the air and formed a blade.

A massive, curved edge of condensed decay.

The lich swung.

The strike met Astrae mid-air.

The blade carved through her divine projection and continued.

For a split second, I thought it had taken her arm entirely.

Blood sprayed across the cavern.

Astrae screamed.

She dropped from the air, crashing hard against stone. Her right arm hung at an unnatural angle, bone nearly severed, flesh torn open to the shoulder.

Kyrene’s expression changed.

The faint smile disappeared.

He did not shout.

He did not rage.

He moved.

Arcstep activated in rapid succession, three bursts in less than a second. He closed the distance and drove his blade directly into the center of Morveth’s exposed tar mass.

This time he did not pull back.

He twisted.

Aether Edge flared brighter than before, cutting not just through bone, but through the flow inside it.

Morveth recoiled slightly.

Only slightly.

Its elongated skull leaned down toward Kyrene.

"You are not ordinary," it whispered.

Kyrene answered quietly, "Neither are you."

Morveth’s body split open along its ribs.

Dozens of tendril-like strands shot outward, piercing stone, wrapping around pillars, anchoring it to the chamber.

Then it pulled.

The entire cavern shifted.

The pillars cracked and began collapsing inward.

The cathedral itself was being weaponized.

I grabbed Astrae and dragged her behind fallen debris as a massive chunk of ceiling crashed down where we had stood seconds earlier.

Kyrene leapt free just before a pillar crushed the space beneath him.

Morveth’s aura expanded again.

Now it felt suffocating.

Not just weight.

Corrosion.

Every breath tasted metallic.

Kyrene wiped blood from his side and adjusted his stance.

He was taking this seriously now.

The lich extended one hand toward him.

The tar beneath Kyrene’s feet erupted upward, forming a cage of bone and void-metal that snapped shut around him.

For a split second, I thought he had been caught.

Then the cage shattered from within.

Arcstep flashed again.

Kyrene reappeared above Morveth and drove his blade downward with full force.

The strike split the lich’s skull down the center.

Violet light burst outward in a violent flare.

The cavern trembled.

Morveth’s body hung motionless for one breath.

Then it began to reform.

Bone plates shifted.

Tar thickened.

The split skull fused slowly, almost deliberately.

"You will exhaust yourselves," it rasped calmly.

Astrae forced herself upright despite her nearly severed arm, light knitting partially through torn flesh just enough to stabilize it.

"Shut up," she spat through clenched teeth.

Kyrene’s breathing was controlled, but heavier now.

Even he was feeling it.

I steadied myself and stepped forward again.

Failure Converter flickered.

There was a rhythm to Morveth’s regeneration.

A delay.

Microscopic, nevertheless present.

"We have to hit the same place repeatedly," I called out. "Don’t let it reset fully."

Kyrene glanced at me briefly, then nodded once.

Morveth’s tendrils lashed outward again.

The real fight was only beginning.

And for the first time since entering this cavern, I understood something clearly.

We were not overwhelming it.

We were surviving it.

For now.

~~~

[Third POV – Theron]

Caedryn’s private chamber was sealed long before Theron arrived.

The room was circular and lined with engraved sigils carved deep into black stone. Layers of containment glyphs overlapped one another in careful geometric precision, designed to suppress divine resonance and distort external interference. Faint blue light pulsed along the floor in rhythmic waves.

Caedryn stood at the center of it, hands clasped behind his back, chin lifted.

He had been expecting something.

When the shadow near the far wall thickened, he did not flinch.

Theron stepped out quietly, hands resting inside his pockets as usual, expression blank, ruby irises catching the light.

Caedryn’s lips curved into a tight smile.

"So," he began evenly, "you finally show yourself."

Theron did not respond.

Caedryn walked a slow circle, boots echoing faintly against stone. "Are you here to negotiate for the lives of your subordinates?" he asked, voice smooth and controlled.

Theron’s gaze drifted lazily across the engraved sigils on the walls. He neither confirmed nor denied.

Caedryn mistook the silence for caution.

"Do you feel it?" Caedryn continued, spreading one hand outward. "This chamber was specifically designed for beings like you. Every rune calibrated. Every sigil layered to bind higher entities."

He stopped in front of Theron, smiling wider.

"You are trapped," he declared. "You have no choice now but to submit."

Theron finally looked at him fully.

His red eyes burned faintly, not with anger, but with amusement.

Caedryn misread that too.

"You think I cannot capture you?" Caedryn pressed. "You overestimated yourself. Just like your... allies. Just like all beings like you who thinks we are beneath you."

Theron tilted his head slightly.

The faintest curve touched his lips.

"Is that what you believe?" he murmured.

The sigils along the walls flared brighter.

Caedryn activated them with a subtle gesture. The floor glowed intensely, energy rising in layered bands meant to compress and restrict divine presence.

The air grew heavy.

Theron remained exactly where he stood.

No strain.

No flicker.

No reaction.

Caedryn’s brows drew together faintly.

"You are perfectly bound," he insisted.

Theron withdrew one hand slowly from his pocket.

A thin line opened across his palm.

Blood welled up, dark and almost black, thicker than it should have been.

It did not drip.

It stretched.

The blood elongated into a narrow thread before thickening, twisting, and forming something alive.

A long worm-like creature slid from his palm, segmented and slick, its body lined with dozens of tiny, restless legs. Its surface gleamed faintly crimson as if lit from within.

Caedryn stiffened.

"What is that?" he demanded.

Theron did not look at him.

He simply let the creature drop to the floor.

It did not splatter.

It landed softly and immediately began moving.

Fast.

It crossed the distance between them in less than a breath.

Caedryn attempted to step back.

The sigils flared brighter in response, attempting to bind the foreign presence.

The worm ignored them.

It leapt.

It struck Caedryn at the base of his throat.

He tried to scream.

The creature forced itself into his mouth.

He gagged violently, clawing at his own jaw as the segmented body burrowed deeper, legs scraping against teeth and tongue before vanishing down his throat.

The chamber fell silent except for the sound of Caedryn choking.

Theron watched.

Detached and calm.

Caedryn staggered backward, slamming against the engraved wall. His hands clawed at his neck as if he could tear the creature back out.

"You... what did you...?" he choked.

Theron spoke softly.

"It will not kill you," he explained evenly. "Not immediately at least."

Caedryn’s body convulsed.

A bulge moved beneath the skin of his neck, sliding downward slowly.

He dropped to his knees.

His breathing became erratic.

Inside him, something was moving.

Not violently or tearing in bursts.

But slow and measured.

Caedryn screamed this time, the sound ripping from his throat as the worm’s legs began carving through him from the inside.

He could feel it.

Every scrape.

Every shift.

It did not chew randomly.

It ate deliberately.

Organ by organ.

Piece by piece.

Blood began to seep from his nostrils and ears.

Theron stepped closer, boots echoing softly.

"You believed the sigils would restrain me," he remarked casually. "They restrain divine resonance. I am not projecting anything divine."

Caedryn’s eyes rolled wildly.

The bulge moved across his abdomen now, pressing visibly against the skin before sinking deeper again.

He tried to stand.

He collapsed.

His fingers dug into his own stomach.

The worm reached his lower ribs.

Caedryn shrieked as something inside him ruptured.

Theron crouched in front of him.

"This is not how you were meant to end," he said almost thoughtfully. "Madison had something quieter planned."

Caedryn’s nails broke skin.

He began tearing at himself.

Fingers digging into his own abdomen, ripping flesh open as if he could claw the creature out.

He remained fully conscious.

Fully aware.

The worm slid upward again, moving through muscle and bone.

He felt every inch of it.

Theron’s expression did not change.

"You upset her," he continued evenly. "And that altered the script."

Caedryn began laughing and screaming at the same time, his mind fracturing under the unbearable sensory overload.

He grabbed a fallen shard of broken sigil stone and stabbed himself in the stomach repeatedly, desperate to kill whatever was inside him.

The worm avoided the blade.

It continued eating.

Slowly.

Carefully.

Caedryn’s own hands joined the assault, tearing at his flesh, chewing at his own arm in blind madness as the pain became too much to process.

He was aware of it all.

He felt the tearing of muscle under his own teeth.

He felt the worm carving through his organs.

He felt the loss.

Theron stood.

"You wanted to control something greater than yourself," he remarked coolly. "You wanted leverage."

Caedryn’s laughter devolved into incoherent sobbing.

Blood pooled around him.

The sigils on the walls flickered weakly.

"They never taught you scale," Theron added softly.

The worm finally reached Caedryn’s heart.

It did not pierce it immediately.

It circled it first.

Caedryn gasped, eyes wide and unfocused, saliva and blood mixing as he tried to speak.

Theron looked down at him with mild disappointment.

"This is not how you were supposed to end as Madison intended," he said quietly. "But you irritated her."

His ruby eyes dimmed slightly.

"And for something insignificant like you, irritation is enough."

The worm pierced the heart.

Caedryn’s body spasmed violently once.

And the. again.

Then went still.

The creature slid back up through torn flesh and crawled across the blood-slick floor toward Theron.

He extended his hand.

It climbed up his wrist and dissolved back into his palm, the wound sealing seamlessly.

The sigils around the chamber flickered out entirely.

Theron glanced once at the mutilated corpse, expression unreadable.

"Clean," he murmured softly.

Then he stepped backward into the shadow.

And vanished.