— Among all these bodies you destroy without remorse, there could be acquaintances, friends! Neighbors!
As she spoke, the heads of several corpses flew in all directions, one in particular catching Theos's attention.
— How merciless you are! Isha observed ironically.
Eerie halos gradually appeared in Theos field of vision, but these halos were rather the result of his mind's attempt to give shape to what surrounded him in addition to the undead.
Save us!
Kill them!
Kill them!
Kill us!
Why me?
Save me!
They were moaning and groaning, blood-curdling sounds mingled with the din of the undead—a hellish vision worthy of a horror movie.
Overcome by intense emotion, Theos screamed and called out for Isha to come to him. Although he fought fiercely against the dead, he realized that if he continued like this, he would only die miserably without being able to hurt or kill her. Even if he had to appear crude, he provoked her into a duel.
As if the wandering spirits had some negative effects that Theos did not understand, he unconsciously suppressed certain brain functions and focused all his attention on the idea of killing Isha. By this point, he had become a berserker.
He spun around, grabbing the undead and smashing them against each other, fighting hard in a battle where human bodies were reduced to mere numbers.
But Theos' provocation had the desired effect. He didn't know why Isha had reacted that way, but she had disappeared from her position in an instant, reappearing four meters away from him, which was enough to expel the surrounding undead.
Theos remained unfazed by the wave that had cleared out.
In a wide perimeter, there were no more corpses, only two people standing face to face.
This is my chance; it won't come again.
I'm going to put everything into this!
Restructure.
Isha had done something again, but Theos didn't understand what. Her body emitted a bluish light, and her dark kimono had been replaced by jogging clothes.
Theos gritted his teeth.
Is she going to humiliate me to the end?
— To act in this world, you need a vessel, and no human can withstand the presence of a being like me, or rather, I have little will to use such means. But creating a shell that I can manipulate at will is not impossible. I've simply modified this body to reach the level of the weakest human warrior in the world where you will be reincarnated, Isha declared calmly.
— Then come and...
Theos didn't let her finish her monologue. He closed the four-meter gap in an instant with a flurry of blows, but Isha dodged them all with disconcerting ease.
Isha's movements seemed to skip intermediate steps, making her dodges very fast but not very dynamic. To give an idea, if you break down the motion of raising an arm into three steps: raising it to shoulder height, slightly bending the elbow, and finally lifting the arm above the head.
Well, for Isha, the part where her elbow bent seemed nonexistent, which made the process faster but less fluid despite her agility.
Theos tried to grab her by the collar to repeat his ippon, but it was a failure. Isha had moved back, but Theos didn't lose heart and launched a high kick with his right foot aimed at Isha's head. She bent backward, leaving her stomach exposed. Theos then raised his left foot very high to perform a downward push and crush Isha's stomach. But even in this position, she managed to twist her body, and the blow didn't land. In such a position, her spine should have snapped.
However, still bent over, she placed her hands on the ground and performed a backflip. Theos stepped back to avoid her foot hitting his face, and they found themselves four meters apart once again.
Isha stood there, a neutral expression on her face.
— Look, she said quietly.
The atmosphere around her had changed, as if an enormous pressure was being exerted on her. The ground cracked all around and sank, but what was strange was that her hair was slightly lifting, as if a light breeze was carrying it upward.
Theos decided to cut Isha's momentum short and rushed at her, but as he took his second step, Isha suddenly appeared in front of him.
Her right foot was slightly bent forward, and her fist was in Theos' stomach. He had just taken a violent blow that stopped him in his tracks.
His body was lifted a meter off the ground, blood and vomit spurting from his mouth, and before he even hit the ground, Isha spun around to deliver a kick that sent him flying.
His body smashed through the windows of several buildings, soaring a great distance, but Isha reappeared above him, spinning as if she were hitting a ball, and Theos crashed down like a stone.
He had lost all his strength.
His body was in tatters—tears, abrasions, burns, bruises, and so on.
Clinically, Theos should have been dead long ago.
He couldn't move anymore, his eyeballs black with blood pouring from them, his pink pajamas torn and bloodstained. Theos lay on the grass of a small green space.
His vocal cords had abandoned him; they were no longer of any use.
Is this it?
Have I reached my limit? I no longer have the strength to get up, and my vision has weakened. I'll soon be blind, not dead.
It's over. I'm going to die, and all this will stop. But reality was perhaps even worse than he thought.
He immediately realized where he was.
The closer the girl came, the more his heart sank, his eyes rolled back from the bite marks, his mouth bloodied. Theos wondered why he was still alive, why he had to endure all this, why he hadn't gone blind and deaf, watching the girl he loved become a zombie. It was punishment; he had hit rock bottom.
The guilt of having killed the people attacking him—his neighbors, his friends—all of it came back to haunt him. He was a sinner.
— Like all those who became undead, I'm going to give you a happy ending,Isha suddenly appeared and said.
— This is a gift for your next life. Isn't it the greatest proof of love to be devoured by the person you love?
For the first time in his life, Theos couldn't suppress his fear. The pain had completely vanished, and he could only feel fear.
And as Isha spoke, the living corpse that Esiah had become began devouring Theos.
— It's customary that if you're bitten, you join the horde, but don't worry, I won't let that happen to you. You'll be continuously devoured until there's no trace of you left in this world,Isha added, implacable.
As Isha spoke, Theos' consciousness gradually faded away.
And so, Theos Martin left this world, but he would never rest in peace.