According to what Theos understood, the restructuring had made him stronger, and that was enough. Indeed, by using the restructuring on Theos, she had modified his body, allowing him to unleash all his latent potential.

  However, it didn't stop there; the reasoning behind it was much more complex than what an average human could imagine. His body, his mind, all his senses were exploding.

  Theos felt stronger than ever. He took a few steps toward Isha, as if he had stepped out of a bubble where time was frozen, and the world had changed. What should have been a peaceful and quiet city was now a terrible disaster, a true chaos. The city had been trampled by the dead.

  Stunned, Theos noticed that there was no one around him, but now many people were approaching him. Yet he instantly knew that they were not in their normal state.

  Huh?

  How had things deteriorated so much? Isha was slowly retreating behind these people, who were merely additions to the scene.

  Are they dead? The corpses charged at Theos as soon as Isha had retreated enough.

  — Kill them! Theos whispered, determined to eliminate them.

  — My dear Theos, these aren't even fragments of divinity. Let's have some fun. We won't get bored, will we? she replied mockingly.

  The enemies came toward him, arms outstretched, driven solely by instinct. Like in judo, their goal was to grab him; their mouths leaned forward, aimed at biting him. In this case...

  Theos advanced his right foot and bent it slightly. It was a good way to position himself, with his right hand pointed downward and his left hand bent, of course with open palms. When the first man, resembling a corpse covered in bruises, with bulging eyes and a mouth full of blood, was within a meter of him, Theos pushed off his right foot and pivoted. The centrifugal force allowed him to deliver a powerful kick with his left foot, sweeping the ground.

  The dead man's skull was crushed in the process, but the shockwave caused him to fall. As there were many corpses in his alignment, this created what one might call a snowball effect. One row had just fallen, but to prove that it was just a drop in the ocean, the horde of the dead did not stop; they were very close.

  However, something was wrong, Theos thought. In the distance, Isha's calm voice echoed:

  — You have good judgment, have you noticed? The fresher they are, the livelier they are.

  No, it wasn't just that; they weren't all that lively. Was it a process? How much time had passed since this morning? Could all this chaos really have been generated in such a short time? Theos was drowning in confusion.

  There was a true disparity between the reality Theos perceived and that which the world perceived; he was out of sync with time, as if he had suddenly sent to a near future.

  Theos paid no attention to these thoughts; his goal was clear: the more he dispersed these reflections, the more this desire to kill her, to twist her neck, to destroy her, would fade. He shouted at Isha:

  — Are you going to hide behind those things?

  — And that's how you're going to reach me? she retorted.

  Theos grabbed the arm of one of the dead to his right, punched it in the chin, lifted it, and used it as a kind of slingshot, sweeping the other corpses around him. The dead man's head was thrown toward Isha, but she remained impassive. As with Theos's punch, she merely tilted her head so that it passed her by.

  They're not very bright, and their movements are very basic, Theos thought. But I mustn't let myself be overwhelmed and dragged to the ground. Indeed, the enemies' objective was to devour him. Therefore, preventing them from touching him and being pulled to the ground was the best possible solution: no hold could protect him from being bitten by so many enemies.

  Jaws flew, arms; for every blow Theos landed, corpses fell.

  — Shut up! Theos yelled, annoyed. Too many enemies were bearing down on him. He had just realized that unlike a street fight, where even if there were several opponents, they could not attack at the same time, the undead did not have this problem. As long as there was a bit of space, each of them could bite. It was truly a puzzle and required a high level of vigilance to handle.

  Isha stood quietly, watching the hordes of the dead attack Theos. Fortunately for him, or unfortunately, they were in an open space. In short, there was plenty of room, though no place to flee. Theos knew he was going to die soon.

  Whether it was she who killed him, the dead who devoured him, or his body collapsing, he was destined to die from that moment on. Unleashing all his potential and fighting as he did came at a price.

  He didn't know what she had done to him, but he immediately understood the effects: his heart pumped his blood faster, his blood circulated more rapidly, and the amount of information his brain could process simultaneously had increased. All his senses were sharpened.

  He felt strong, and his brain continually released various substances that inhibited the sensation of pain and fear, although the fact that he even felt any was already debatable. He felt powerful. However, his opponent smiled, showcasing her superiority over him, which irritated him to no end.

  — I'm going to kill you! he shouted.

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  He needed to make his way through. Theos decided to compress his muscles to unleash explosive speed and reach Isha quickly, the shockwave pushing the dead behind him. He struck those in front of him while continuing to run, his speed constantly increasing, as was the tearing of his muscles, but he didn't realize it.

  His speed was no longer in the realm of athleticism; it was in the realm of machinery. He mowed down all the dead in his path.

  But suddenly, an enormous pressure, as if coming from nowhere, crashed down on him. The natural regulation of his body had already disappeared, symbolizing that the effort involved was more than his body could handle. This time, it felt as if his stomach was boiling, and he suddenly felt nauseous.

  He had stopped running, but this sudden change in speed was not without risk; his body had been overstrained, blood began to seep from numerous pores in his body, and his eyeballs turned scarlet, too many blood vessels had burst there.

  —Have you finally understood? Isha exclaimed. All those dead that you torment without remorse in an attempt to kill me, even if they are dead and have no right to life, where do you think their souls are?

  — Ah, you should be able to see them, right, Theos! She began to laugh.

  Sinister halos began to appear in Theos's field of vision.

  — 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.