WMG / Axiom Verge

Athetos didn't truly die, he transferred himself into Trace.

Prior to the events of the game, Athetos had to seal himself inside of a fluid-filled tank inside of a strange looking machine, which protects him from the effects of the pathogen as he explains to Trace. However, during the Golden Ending of the game, Athetos appears in front of Trace who thinks he's back on Earth (when it's shown in credits that he is actually in a dream-like coma that Rusalki have subjected him to), and tells him to wake up. In Axiom Verge 2, Indra stumbles upon a corridor which contains the exact same machines that Athetos was placed in, only viewed from a different angle; her ally Damu explains these machines were used to turn selected individuals into a living nanite swarm called Apocalypse Arms which were assigned a living human as a Wielder, much like how Indra became Amashilama's and Damu's Wielder. It's possible that, prior to being blasted by Elsenova, Athetos made an emergency transfer of his consciousness into Trace, and is possibly going to help him wake up from his coma and enact vengeance against the Rusalki for lying to him and using him for their own agenda.