Jax felt the tremor run up through the living chains before the water exploded. A ridge of black spines broke the surface, taller and meaner than anything they had faced before. The creature's blunt head rose next, eyes glowing the same sickly green as the god-corpse they had just robbed. Its mouth opened and Lena's voice poured out again, raw and drowning.
"Jax… it's filling my lungs."
The words punched straight through the survival calculus he was trying to hold together. For one ugly second he saw her clearly through the bleed — water over her nose, head tilted back against the cot, one last desperate bubble escaping her lips. Her eyes were still open, still looking for him.
The leash around his wrist tightened, warm and almost affectionate, like it was trying to comfort him while it killed him.
He snapped the leash forward before the hesitation could root. The god-corpse fragment inside it answered instantly, blue light flaring along the links. The strike slammed into the creature's snout with a sound like cracking stone. The sea thing recoiled, but it didn't retreat. It opened its jaws wider and the stolen voices roared louder, all Lena, all begging.
Mira vaulted a swaying section of bridge and drove both fists into the creature's lower jaw. Lightning exploded inside its mouth. The smell of scorched meat rolled up, but the thing only thrashed harder. Its spines scraped the bridge supports, sending broken links raining into the sea. Her shoulder jerked violently with every punch, the old memory of holding her brother riding her hard. "I held him too long!" she shouted. "I won't watch you drown the same way!"
Sable slid to a stop beside Jax, nullifier shard glowing brighter at her throat. "It's drawn straight to your new echo. Feed it something weak or it'll drag the whole bridge down with us."
Lira pressed her hand to the chain floor, blood pouring from her face. "The futures are breaking again. The Choir leader is right behind us on the water. He's binding something from the corpse on his side."
The sea creature lunged. Its massive jaws snapped shut around the middle of the bridge. The entire structure jerked violently. Jax lost his footing, boots sliding on the slick links. The leash reacted on its own, wrapping a support chain and yanking him upright. The affection in its grip felt almost protective, like it didn't want to lose its favorite host yet.
He twisted the leash and fed the weakest new echo: the braided voice from the tower straight into the strike. Dark mist flowed from his links and into the creature's open mouth. The sea thing shuddered, eyes flickering, then sank slowly beneath the waves, satisfied for the moment.
Power left Jax in a cold rush. The leash felt lighter, but the absence of that single echo left a hollow ache in his chest, like he had given away another piece of the guilt that kept him moving.
The bridge held.
They reached the far tower just as the first Choir cultists tried to swarm after them from the opposite end. Jax turned at the doorway and lashed the leash one final time. The god-corpse echo roared through the links, shattering the remaining bridge supports. The entire structure collapsed into the black sea, taking half the Choir with it.
Silence fell for a heartbeat.
Then the tower door behind them slammed shut on its own. Firelight from inside spilled across the threshold. Voices murmured: real voices, other Cursed already inside.
Sable leaned against the wall, breathing hard. "You fed it something. I saw the mist. What did it cost you?"
"Time," Jax said flatly. "And one less voice trying to sound like her." He didn't tell them the real price which is the vision of Lena had sharpened again. Through the bleed he could still see her, water over her nose, eyes fluttering.
Mira collapsed beside him, shoulder still twitching. "We made it. Barely."
Lira wiped blood from her chin, fingers resuming their slow circle. "The futures are shifting again. Something inside this tower already knows we're here. And it wants the same thing the Choir wanted."
The leash pulsed once, warm and patient, as if it already knew what it would ask Jax to feed it next.
He pushed the tower door open and stepped inside.