Chapter 162 — What Elias Refused to Forget
The chamber was collapsing.
Sera and Crowley ran through falling stone.
Behind them, the ruined Ectoplasm facility disappeared beneath dust and broken concrete.
Crowley stayed beside Sera.
Neither spoke.
Neither looked back.
They had left Elias beneath the chamber.
They had watched the Ectoplasm pull him down.
It should have been over.
Sera knew that.
Crowley knew that.
But neither of them believed it.
Then the entire corridor stopped shaking.
Sera slowed.
Crowley immediately raised his weapon.
"What?"
The dust settled.
Silence.
Sera looked behind them.
The corridor was empty.
"Why did it stop?"
Crowley didn't answer.
Something dripped onto the stone.
Sera looked down.
Black.
Ectoplasm.
Crowley's expression changed.
"Sera."
She looked up.
The ceiling was covered.
The black fluid had spread through the cracks.
Across the walls.
Across the floor.
Surrounding them.
Sera stepped closer to Crowley.
"No."
A voice came from behind them.
"You should have killed me."
They turned.
Elias stood at the end of the corridor.
Sera's face hardened.
Crowley went completely still.
Elias looked worse than before.
One side of his body was covered in black fluid.
His skin looked burned.
His breathing was uneven.
But he was alive.
And smiling.
Sera slowly raised her weapon.
Crowley whispered:
"Stay focused."
Elias laughed.
"Why?"
His eyes moved to Sera.
"Afraid I'll make you angry again?"
Sera didn't answer.
Elias smiled wider.
"Kael would have."
Crowley moved.
Sera moved with him.
They attacked at the same time.
Elias raised the Ectoplasm.
Crowley cut through it.
Sera came through the opening.
Her weapon struck Elias across the chest.
Elias stumbled.
Crowley was already behind him.
His attack drove Elias into the wall.
Sera didn't allow him to recover.
She attacked again.
Elias blocked.
Sera twisted.
Her knee struck his stomach.
Elias bent forward.
Crowley's weapon came down.
Elias moved.
The blade tore through his shoulder.
Blood covered the floor.
Elias stepped backward.
The Ectoplasm surged.
Crowley disappeared beneath it.
"CROWLEY!"
Sera attacked.
Her weapon tore through the mass.
Crowley emerged on the other side.
The Ectoplasm had wrapped around his arm.
Elias smiled.
"You remember?"
Crowley's face changed.
The Ectoplasm tightened.
A memory entered him.
Kael laughing.
Crowley sitting beside him.
A fire.
A group around them.
Xcution.
Crowley couldn't remember everyone's faces.
But he remembered Kael.
Not clearly.
Not perfectly.
Enough.
Then—
Kael standing alone.
Looking toward someone.
Elias.
Crowley's body froze.
Crowley returned.
Elias was smiling.
Crowley's eyes filled with rage.
"You were there."
Elias tilted his head.
"Yes."
Crowley's voice lowered.
"You were one of us."
Elias laughed.
"No."
Crowley tore the Ectoplasm from his arm.
Elias's smile faded.
Crowley stepped forward.
"You wore our name."
Elias backed away.
Crowley raised his weapon.
"You sat beside us."
Another step.
"You fought beside us."
Sera appeared beside Crowley.
"And then you killed one of us."
Elias looked between them.
The amusement was beginning to disappear.
"That's what you're angry about?"
Sera answered.
"You have no idea."
Elias laughed.
"Kael was nothing."
Sera attacked.
This time, Elias didn't have time to raise the Ectoplasm.
Sera's first strike hit his face.
The second drove him backward.
The third cut through his side.
Elias screamed.
Crowley watched her.
She wasn't fighting wildly anymore.
She was focused.
Every movement was controlled.
Every strike carried the anger Elias had tried to pull out of her.
But she wasn't losing herself.
Elias attempted to retreat.
Crowley blocked the path.
Elias stopped.
Crowley looked at him.
"Where are you going?"
Elias's expression changed.
Crowley attacked.
Elias barely blocked.
Sera came from the side.
Elias moved.
Crowley struck again.
They trapped him between them.
Elias tried raising his hand.
Crowley grabbed his wrist.
Sera struck his other arm.
Elias screamed.
The Ectoplasm exploded from his body.
All three were thrown apart.
Sera rolled.
Crowley hit the wall.
Elias remained standing.
But barely.
The black fluid crawled over his body.
Sera looked at it.
Then at him.
"You're dying."
Elias laughed.
"Everyone does."
Crowley stood.
"Not like this."
Elias smiled.
"No?"
The Ectoplasm behind him moved.
Sera immediately understood.
It wasn't protecting Elias anymore.
It was consuming him.
Elias's body shook.
The memories he had forced into it were returning.
Crowley saw them.
Not through the Ectoplasm touching him.
Through Elias.
His expression.
Fear.
Elias looked around wildly.
"Stop."
Nobody moved.
Elias grabbed his head.
"No."
A scream echoed through the corridor.
Then another.
Thousands.
Elias stumbled.
Crowley whispered:
"They're coming back."
Sera looked at him.
"What?"
Crowley watched Elias.
"Everything he kept."
Elias fell to his knees.
The Ectoplasm wrapped around his legs.
Sera raised her weapon.
Crowley reached for her arm.
She looked at him.
Crowley shook his head.
"Wait."
Elias looked up.
His eyes were wide.
"Help me."
Sera stared.
For a moment, Crowley thought she might.
Then Elias smiled.
Just slightly.
"You should have seen Kael."
Sera's face changed.
Elias laughed.
Even now.
Even terrified.
Even dying.
He laughed.
"He believed I was his friend."
Crowley stepped toward him.
"Stop."
Elias ignored him.
"He trusted me."
Crowley grabbed Elias by the collar.
Elias looked at him.
"And he died knowing I lied."
Crowley's fist struck him.
Elias hit the ground.
Crowley struck him again.
Then stopped.
Sera was watching.
Crowley was shaking.
Elias wiped blood from his mouth.
Still smiling.
"You forgot him."
Crowley stared.
"Yes."
The answer surprised Elias.
Crowley continued.
"I forgot him."
Elias's smile weakened.
Crowley stepped closer.
"I forgot his face."
Another step.
"I forgot his voice."
Crowley's weapon lowered.
"But that doesn't mean he was nothing."
Sera looked at him.
Crowley's eyes remained on Elias.
"It means I failed him."
Elias stared.
Crowley continued.
"And that's the difference between us."
Elias's smile finally disappeared.
"I forgot."
Crowley looked toward Sera.
"But she didn't."
Sera stepped forward.
Elias looked up at her.
The Ectoplasm was climbing his body now.
His control was gone.
The black fluid had reached his chest.
Sera stopped in front of him.
Elias smiled weakly.
"Do it."
Sera didn't.
He laughed.
"Coward."
Sera looked down at him.
"No."
Elias's expression changed.
Sera continued.
"You want me to kill you."
The Ectoplasm tightened.
Elias screamed.
Sera didn't move.
"You want me to become part of your memory."
Crowley understood.
Sera had understood Elias better than either of them had realized.
Elias's entire existence was built around memory.
Pain remembered.
Death remembered.
Victims remembered.
He wanted Sera to kill him.
So he could die believing he had left one final wound.
Sera stepped backward.
Elias reached for her.
"Wait."
Sera looked at him.
"You don't get to make Kael's death the last thing I remember about you."
Elias froze.
Crowley looked at her.
Sera's voice became quiet.
"You were a liar."
The Ectoplasm climbed higher.
"A coward."
Elias's breathing became desperate.
"And you're going to disappear."
"No."
Sera turned away.
Elias's face broke.
"Sera."
She stopped.
Crowley watched.
Elias's voice was barely audible.
"Don't forget me."
Sera closed her eyes.
Then continued walking.
"No."
Elias screamed.
The Ectoplasm covered his face.
Crowley stood for several seconds.
Looking at him.
Then Crowley whispered:
"Kael."
Elias stopped struggling.
Crowley looked directly at him.
"I'll remember him instead."
The black fluid closed over Elias.
His scream disappeared.
The corridor became silent.
Then—
the Ectoplasm collapsed.
Not onto them.
Away from them.
Like a body finally releasing its last breath.
Sera stared at the empty floor.
Crowley walked toward her.
For a while, neither spoke.
Then Sera asked:
"Do you remember him?"
Crowley looked down.
"Not everything."
Sera nodded.
Crowley looked toward her.
"But enough."
Sera smiled faintly.
Crowley looked back at the black remains.
Then at the path ahead.
"We need to find the others."
Sera nodded.
They began walking.
Together.
Behind them—
nothing moved.
Elias was gone.
And this time—
neither of them looked back.
End of Chapter 162