Chapter 125 — The King Who Would Not Die
Darkness swallowed the room.
Brook moved first.
A sharp click echoed through the chamber.
Then light returned.
A small flame burned above his palm.
Henry stared at it.
"Since when can you do that?"
Brook looked at him.
"I can't."
The flame grew brighter.
Crowley stood behind him, one hand raised.
Brook nodded.
"Right."
Crowley looked unimpressed.
The chamber slowly came into view.
The chained man was still there.
But something had changed.
The walls around him were moving.
Henry saw it.
"Uh."
Sera lifted her weapon.
"What?"
Henry pointed.
"That."
The stone wall rippled.
Not cracked.
Rippled.
Like something beneath it was breathing.
Brook felt the second presence again.
No lifeline.
Then another.
Nothing.
His eyes narrowed.
"Back."
Hades stepped forward.
"What is it?"
Brook shook his head.
"I can't feel them."
The chained man laughed weakly.
Crowley turned on him.
"What are they?"
The man stared at him.
Crowley's voice hardened.
"What are they?"
The man smiled.
"You still have that temper."
Crowley moved.
In one step, he crossed the chamber.
His hand closed around the man's throat.
The chains rattled.
Brook stepped forward.
"Crowley."
Crowley ignored him.
The chained man's eyes narrowed.
"You really don't remember."
Crowley's grip tightened.
"Remember what?"
The man looked toward the darkness.
"Everything."
The wall burst.
Brook turned.
Something came through.
A hand.
Grey.
Long.
Its fingers were too thin.
Henry fired.
The shot echoed through the chamber.
The bullet struck the hand.
The thing pulled back.
For half a second.
Then the wall moved again.
The hole closed.
Henry stared.
"Okay."
Brook looked at him.
Henry slowly lowered the gun.
"That was new."
Sera stepped forward.
Words formed around her fingers.
The creature came through the opposite wall.
This time it had a head.
Almost human.
But wrong.
Its face had no eyes.
Its mouth opened too far.
Sera spoke.
One word.
The air struck the creature.
It slammed backward.
The wall cracked behind it.
Brook moved.
Michael carried him forward.
He appeared beside the creature.
His fist crashed into its face.
Bone broke.
The creature hit the ground.
Brook grabbed its arm.
Twisted.
The shoulder snapped.
The creature screamed.
Brook stared at it.
Then realized—
he couldn't feel it dying.
No lifeline.
No pain.
The creature smiled.
Brook froze.
Its mouth opened.
And something crawled out.
Brook jumped backward.
The body collapsed.
The thing that emerged was black.
Wet.
Formless.
It moved across the floor.
Henry immediately backed away.
"Brook."
"I see it."
The black mass suddenly rushed forward.
Brook teleported.
It missed him by inches.
Crowley raised his hand.
Dark energy struck the creature.
It exploded against the wall.
For a moment—
nothing moved.
Then the pieces began crawling back together.
Sera stared.
"What is that?"
The chained man laughed.
Brook turned.
"What is that?"
The man smiled.
"You haven't seen one before."
Brook stepped toward him.
"Crowley."
Crowley released the man's throat.
Brook leaned close.
"Answer."
The man's smile faded.
The wall behind him moved.
He looked toward it.
Fear returned.
"They aren't supposed to be awake."
Brook stared.
"Who?"
The man looked at him.
"The Watchers."
The chamber shook.
Hades's expression hardened.
Crowley frowned.
Brook turned.
"You know that name?"
Hades didn't answer.
Brook's voice became louder.
"Hades."
The King of Remus looked toward the walls.
His magic began forming around both hands.
"I know what the old records called them."
Henry pointed at the wall.
"Would've been useful information earlier."
Hades ignored him.
Sera looked at the chained man.
"Why are they here?"
The man looked at her.
"Because they guard the prison."
Brook frowned.
"Your prison?"
The man's expression changed.
"No."
Everyone went quiet.
The chained man slowly looked upward.
Toward the stone ceiling.
Toward Remus.
"They guard hers."
Brook's stomach dropped.
Sera stared.
"Shoyo?"
The man closed his eyes.
"She was here."
Brook stepped forward.
"Who are you?"
The man opened his eyes.
For several seconds, he simply looked at Brook.
Then Crowley spoke.
His voice had changed.
Quiet.
Uncertain.
"Vaelor."
The chamber went silent.
Henry looked at Crowley.
Brook looked at the chained man.
Hades's eyes narrowed.
The man smiled.
"There you are."
Brook's eyes moved toward Crowley.
"You know him."
Crowley stared at Vaelor.
Fragments were moving behind his eyes.
Memories.
Brook could see it.
Crowley stepped closer.
Vaelor looked up at him.
"You took long enough."
Crowley stopped in front of him.
"I made you immortal."
Vaelor laughed.
"Congratulations."
Crowley's expression hardened.
Vaelor continued.
"You did exactly what I asked."
Brook looked between them.
Crowley had told them.
The deal.
The fire.
Vaelor's family.
Crowley said he had made the former king immortal.
But Vaelor wasn't supposed to be here.
Brook looked at Hades.
"This is your prisoner."
Hades shook his head.
"No."
Everyone turned.
Hades looked at Vaelor.
"My prisoner is beneath the western foundations."
Vaelor laughed.
"You really should visit him."
Henry stared.
"What?"
Brook's eyes narrowed.
Hades's expression became cold.
Vaelor pulled at his chains.
"They call me the former king."
Crowley stared.
Vaelor smiled.
"But I wasn't the last."
The words sat heavily in the room.
Sera stepped closer.
Brook immediately caught her arm.
She looked at him.
Again.
He released her.
Sera faced Vaelor.
"What do you mean?"
Vaelor looked at her.
"The Old World had more than one king."
Crowley narrowed his eyes.
Vaelor looked at him.
"You remember that much, don't you?"
Crowley remained silent.
Vaelor's smile widened.
"Of course you don't."
Crowley grabbed his face.
Vaelor's head slammed against the wall.
The chamber echoed.
Brook stepped forward.
"Crowley!"
Crowley stopped.
His hand remained against Vaelor's face.
Vaelor laughed through the blood.
"There he is."
Crowley released him.
Vaelor's head dropped.
Then he whispered:
"You weren't always so controlled."
Brook watched Crowley carefully.
Lucifer stirred inside him.
Enjoying it.
Brook hated that he could feel it.
Hades stepped closer.
"Tell us why you are here."
Vaelor raised his head.
His smile disappeared.
For the first time, he looked serious.
"Because she put me here."
Sera froze.
Brook's eyes narrowed.
"Shoyo."
Vaelor nodded.
"Yes."
Sera stared at him.
"Why?"
Vaelor's expression changed.
Not anger.
Something closer to shame.
"Because I made a mistake."
Henry whispered:
"That's a big understatement."
Vaelor looked toward him.
"Young man."
Henry raised his hands.
"Sorry."
Vaelor looked back at Sera.
"I opened the door."
Silence.
Brook's grip tightened.
"The door beneath Remus."
Vaelor nodded.
"Long before this city."
Crowley stared.
"Why?"
Vaelor looked at him.
"Because I thought I could control what was behind it."
The chamber walls moved.
The Watchers were listening.
Vaelor continued.
"I was a king."
His voice became bitter.
"I thought that meant something."
Brook stepped closer.
"What was behind it?"
Vaelor looked at him.
For once—
he didn't answer immediately.
Sera whispered:
"Something worse than you."
Vaelor looked at her.
"Much worse."
The lights flickered.
Crowley looked toward the ceiling.
"What happened to Shoyo?"
Vaelor's face hardened.
"What do you mean?"
Brook looked at Crowley.
Crowley answered.
"We heard her voice."
Vaelor went still.
The chains around his wrists tightened.
"No."
Brook watched him.
"What?"
Vaelor shook his head.
"No."
His voice had changed.
Fear.
Real fear.
Crowley stepped forward.
"Vaelor."
"No."
"Answer me."
Vaelor pulled against the chains.
The walls around him began moving violently.
Henry backed away.
Brook stepped in front of Sera.
Vaelor's eyes were wide.
"If you heard her—"
The Watchers began screaming.
Not one.
Dozens.
Their voices came from the walls.
Brook's ears rang.
Sera grabbed her head.
Crowley shouted something.
Brook couldn't hear it.
The walls split open.
The black creatures began pouring into the chamber.
Hades raised both hands.
Magic erupted.
The first Watcher was thrown into the ceiling.
Brook moved.
Michael.
He appeared above another creature.
His knee crashed into its face.
The creature hit the ground.
Brook landed beside it.
A claw came from behind him.
Brook twisted.
The claws sliced across his shoulder.
Brook grunted.
Lucifer laughed.
Brook's eyes darkened.
"No."
The creature attacked again.
Brook grabbed its wrist.
His fingers tightened.
The bones cracked.
The creature screamed.
Brook drove his forehead into its face.
Once.
Twice.
Then kicked it backward.
It crashed into another Watcher.
Henry fired.
One bullet.
Then another.
He wasn't wasting them.
Each shot was deliberate.
Sera stepped forward.
Her eyes focused.
Three creatures rushed her.
She spoke.
"Stop."
The word struck them.
Their bodies froze.
Not permanently.
Only for a second.
Long enough.
Crowley moved.
Darkness wrapped around his arm.
He struck one creature through the chest.
Then pulled his hand free.
The creature fell.
But it wasn't dead.
It crawled.
Brook noticed.
They were adapting.
Hades did too.
"Do not let them surround you!"
One came from above.
Brook saw the shadow.
He teleported.
The creature landed where he had been.
Brook reappeared behind it.
His fist struck its spine.
The creature folded.
Brook grabbed its head.
And drove it into the stone floor.
The impact cracked the ground.
For a moment—
silence.
Then the creature smiled.
Brook froze.
Its body dissolved.
Black liquid spread beneath his feet.
Brook teleported away.
The liquid rushed toward him.
Crowley raised his hand.
A wall of darkness stopped it.
"Brook!"
Brook looked toward him.
"I know."
The chamber shook.
Then Vaelor screamed.
Everyone turned.
The chains around him were tightening.
Cutting into his arms.
Brook moved toward him.
Crowley grabbed him.
"Don't."
Brook looked at him.
"He knows something."
Crowley stared at Vaelor.
Vaelor was looking upward.
Not at them.
Beyond them.
His face was white.
"She's coming."
Sera froze.
Brook looked at him.
"Who?"
Vaelor laughed.
It was a broken sound.
"You don't understand."
The walls split open.
More Watchers emerged.
Vaelor screamed:
"She shouldn't be alive!"
The chamber went silent.
Brook stared at him.
Then Vaelor looked directly at Sera.
His eyes filled with terror.
"The First Witch died."
Sera stopped breathing.
Brook felt his stomach drop.
Vaelor shook his head violently.
"I watched her die."
Silence.
Crowley looked at him.
Brook looked at Sera.
Nobody knew what to say.
Vaelor's voice became barely audible.
"But if you heard her voice..."
The darkness behind him moved.
Vaelor looked over his shoulder.
And screamed.
Something reached through the shadows.
A hand.
Vaelor's chains snapped tight.
The former king was pulled backward.
Brook moved.
Michael.
He appeared beside Vaelor and grabbed his arm.
"Brook!"
Henry shouted.
Brook pulled.
Something pulled back.
The darkness swallowed Vaelor's body.
Brook refused to release him.
His arm stretched.
The darkness tightened.
Brook gritted his teeth.
Then—
Vaelor looked at him.
For a second, everything became quiet.
His expression changed.
He smiled.
Not because he was happy.
Because he understood something.
"Find Shoyo."
Brook tightened his grip.
"I'm trying!"
Vaelor laughed once.
Then his arm slipped from Brook's hand.
The darkness took him.
Brook stumbled backward.
The shadows vanished.
The chamber became still.
No Watchers.
No movement.
Only the sound of everyone breathing.
Sera stared at the place where Vaelor had been.
Crowley walked toward the empty wall.
He touched it.
Nothing.
Brook looked at him.
"Can you find him?"
Crowley didn't answer.
Hades stared into the darkness.
Henry slowly lowered his weapon.
"Well."
Nobody looked at him.
Henry swallowed.
"I think we should find Shoyo."
Sera looked toward the corridor.
Brook looked at her.
She nodded once.
Not because she understood.
Because she had made a decision.
Brook looked at Crowley.
Crowley finally turned.
"We're leaving."
Hades frowned.
"You are not taking this lightly."
Crowley stared at him.
"We just watched your prisoner get dragged into a wall."
Hades's expression remained cold.
Crowley continued.
"And the only useful information we have is that someone may have killed the woman who raised them."
Hades looked at Brook.
Brook said nothing.
Crowley turned away.
"Yes."
They were leaving.
Brook followed Sera toward the stairs.
But halfway through the chamber—
he stopped.
Lucifer was laughing.
Brook closed his eyes.
"What?"
Henry looked back.
Brook shook his head.
Lucifer laughed again.
Not loudly.
Not wildly.
Quietly.
Almost pleased.
Brook's hand moved toward his chest.
A thought entered his mind.
Not his.
She's alive.
Brook froze.
Henry frowned.
"Brook?"
Brook opened his eyes.
He looked toward the darkness.
Lucifer was still amused.
Brook didn't understand why.
But one thing was clear.
Something beneath Remus had lied.
And Shoyo—
the woman who had practically raised him—
was somehow connected to it.
Brook looked at Sera.
"We're finding her."
Sera nodded.
"Yes."
Neither of them knew what they were about to discover.
But somewhere far away—
Shoyo opened her eyes.
Rick stood beside her.
"We felt something."
Shoyo looked toward the distance.
Her expression was calm.
But her hands were shaking.
"Yes."
Rick noticed.
That alone worried him.
"Are they in danger?"
Shoyo closed her eyes.
"Brook is."
Rick immediately reached for his weapon.
Shoyo stopped him.
"Wait."
Rick looked at her.
"What?"
Shoyo opened her eyes.
Her voice was quiet.
And afraid.
"Something remembered him."
Far beneath Remus—
the ancient door slowly opened.
End of Chapter 125