Eternal Thief

Chapter 1634: Once you See it, You can’t Unsee it!

High above the sealed passage, in the abyssal chamber where the throne stood rooted like the heart of a dead deity, silence did not last long before it fractured.

The Corpse Governor remained seated, unmoving at first glance, yet something beneath that stillness had begun to unravel. His corpse

flames flickered erratically, no longer steady, no longer controlled, and fragments of thought clashed violently in his mind, overlapping, breaking apart, reforming into something incomprehensible.

”...no trace... again... impossible... not real... it’s not real...”

His voice was low, uneven, words slipping out in broken murmurs. One moment coherent, the next reduced to whispers that carried no meaning at all.

”...watching... always watching... behind it... behind the seal...”

The throne beneath him pulsed faintly, and from its base, thick corpse veins stretched outward and upward, some coiling around his limbs, others embedded deep into his back and spine with ancient runic sequences shimmered along their surfaces, dim at first, then brighter as his aura began to fluctuate.

The next moment, they tightened firmly, like restraints that had long grown accustomed to their prisoner, and when his aura spiked, those veins responded, suppressing, stabilizing, forcing the chaos in his mind back down.

After a moment of struggle, his breathing slowed, yet madness didn’t disappear, but it dulled, pressed beneath layers of restraint.

”...not yet...” He muttered hoarsely. ”...can’t... lose control...”

Yet even as suppression took hold, unease remained, a hint of eerie certainty, as he was sure that something was wrong, and, despite everything, despite the instability clawing at his mind, he made a decision.

He would leave the corpse puppet there right before the seal. Even knowing the risk, even knowing how dangerous it was to place a puppet so close to that thing, he still chose not to withdraw it.

”...watch it... watch it closely...”

He whispered, almost pleading, though whether to himself or something else was unclear because if something truly was happening, then that was the only place it could be.

Just as he forced his thoughts into alignment, just as the throne’s suppression began to steady him, a faint pulse occurred.

The corpse flames within his abyssal sockets flickered sharply as irritation surfaced through the instability because that faint pulse was an urgent communication request, but he didn’t want to respond.

At least not like this, especially not while his mind was fractured, while that hidden flaw, his greatest weakness, threatened to surface. Absolutely no one could see him like this, especially the Corpse Clan, for he was their pillar of support.

But he couldn’t just ignore it, so his skeletal finger tapped once against the armrest, and the throne responded as a ripple spread outward, stabilizing his aura just enough.

Then a voice echoed into the chamber.

”Lord Governor, I have something important to report about the Great Corpse Carnival...” It was Belfast’s calm, respectful voice, tinged with urgency.

The Corpse Governor tried to focus, to listen, to hold onto that fragile thread of control, and then something seemed to abruptly snap within him.

’The connection with the High Guard is...gone!?!’

Indeed, what he just felt was his connection with that Corpse Puppet abruptly cut off, not weakened or even interrupted, but completely severed!

For a single, frozen moment, everything inside him stopped, and then...

”WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?”

The roar exploded from him, raw and violent, shaking the entire chamber. His aura surged outward in chaotic waves, no longer restrained, no longer contained.

The puppet, he couldn’t feel it, as not even a trace or a fragment of connection remained, and in that instant, every doubt, every suspicion, every whisper of paranoia became truth!

”...it’s real...” he breathed, voice trembling with something far darker than fear. ”...it was all real...”

The throne pulsed violently as the Corpse Veins tightened again, their runes blazing as they tried to suppress the surge.

But this time, they failed!

The next moment, slowly, for the first time in an immeasurable span of time, the Corpse Governor began to rise.

The moment he stood, the veins stretched with him, pulling tight, resisting, while the runic sequences flared wildly, as if screaming in silent warning, but he no longer cared.

”I will stop it...” he muttered, his voice low, shaking with restrained madness, ”I WILL STOP IT!”

Thereafter, his aura erupted, and killing intent surged like a tidal wave, filling the chamber, distorting space itself.

For a moment, the corpse veins strained, and then they snapped, one by one, and then all at once. They tore free from his body with wet, tearing sounds, fragments of runes shattering into fading light.

The suppression collapsed instantly, leaving only pure chaotic madness. His corpse flames burned wildly, flickering with terrifying instability. Madness churned within them, barely held back by a single, fragile thread of sanity.

But that thread was enough, as without hesitation, he vanished without any restraint or shackles to hold him back, and his destination was none other than the location of the Undead Heart Seal!

It took him less than a minute for the pathways and distance meant nothing to someone like him.

However, the moment he arrived, he stopped, more accurately, literally everything inside him halted, the madness, the rage, the killing intent...all of it silenced.

Because what stood before him was nothing, for there was literally no seal, no barrier, or not even runes. Only a hollowed space, carved out as if something immense had been ripped away from reality itself!

”...what...?”

His voice came out faint, almost human.

”...where...?”

His gaze trembled.

”...no... what is...?”

Nothing made sense, and for a moment, he truly believed that this was his madness creating a hallucination or some trick to further muddle his mind.

But deep down, he knew, for he could feel the lingering aura of that loathsome seal still faintly present in the air, and on top of that, his puppet’s presence was also there despite it being gone.

More importantly, that massive impression of the Undead Heart Seal remained, which means, unmistakably, that terrifying seal was gone or absurdly...taken!

Right at that moment, as he focused on the impression, he finally saw ’it’. At first, just a distortion in the darkness, then clearer, sharper, until it stood before him in full.

It was a pitch-black mural, and vivid beyond reason!