diff --git a/.changeset/modern-bears-deny.md b/.changeset/modern-bears-deny.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..876535a5c033
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/modern-bears-deny.md
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+---
+'astro': major
+---
+
+Makes the `compiledContent` property of Markdown content an async function, this change should fix underlying issues where sometimes when using a custom image service and images inside Markdown, Node would exit suddenly without any error message.
+
+```diff
+---
+import * as myPost from "../post.md";
+
+- const content = myPost.compiledContent();
++ const content = await myPost.compiledContent();
+---
+
+<Fragment set:html={content} />
+```
diff --git a/packages/astro/src/assets/vite-plugin-assets.ts b/packages/astro/src/assets/vite-plugin-assets.ts
index 57bbf847a4ff..f7c541eb6265 100644
--- a/packages/astro/src/assets/vite-plugin-assets.ts
+++ b/packages/astro/src/assets/vite-plugin-assets.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ import { extname } from 'node:path';
 import MagicString from 'magic-string';
 import type * as vite from 'vite';
 import { normalizePath } from 'vite';
-import { extendManualChunks } from '../core/build/plugins/util.js';
 import { AstroError, AstroErrorData } from '../core/errors/index.js';
 import {
 	appendForwardSlash,
@@ -106,19 +105,6 @@ export default function assets({
 		// Expose the components and different utilities from `astro:assets` and handle serving images from `/_image` in dev
 		{
 			name: 'astro:assets',
-			outputOptions(outputOptions) {
-				// Specifically split out chunk for asset files to prevent TLA deadlock
-				// caused by `getImage()` for markdown components.
-				// https://github.com/rollup/rollup/issues/4708
-				extendManualChunks(outputOptions, {
-					after(id) {
-						if (id.includes('astro/dist/assets/services/')) {
-							// By convention, library code is emitted to the `chunks/astro/*` directory
-							return `astro/assets-service`;
-						}
-					},
-				});
-			},
 			async resolveId(id) {
 				if (id === VIRTUAL_SERVICE_ID) {
 					return await this.resolve(settings.config.image.service.entrypoint);
diff --git a/packages/astro/src/types/public/content.ts b/packages/astro/src/types/public/content.ts
index ac58c918f48f..77c0b2f17620 100644
--- a/packages/astro/src/types/public/content.ts
+++ b/packages/astro/src/types/public/content.ts
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ export interface MarkdownInstance<T extends Record<string, any>> {
 	/** raw Markdown file content, excluding layout HTML and YAML frontmatter */
 	rawContent(): string;
 	/** Markdown file compiled to HTML, excluding layout HTML */
-	compiledContent(): string;
+	compiledContent(): Promise<string>;
 	/** List of headings (h1 -> h6) with associated metadata */
 	getHeadings(): MarkdownHeading[];
 	default: AstroComponentFactory;
diff --git a/packages/astro/src/vite-plugin-markdown/images.ts b/packages/astro/src/vite-plugin-markdown/images.ts
index b9ea98b82b50..d0ed625358ff 100644
--- a/packages/astro/src/vite-plugin-markdown/images.ts
+++ b/packages/astro/src/vite-plugin-markdown/images.ts
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ export function getMarkdownCodeForImages(imagePaths: MarkdownImagePath[], html:
 													const matchKey = ${rawUrl} + '_' + occurrenceCounter;
 													const imageProps = JSON.parse(match[1].replace(/&#x22;/g, '"'));
 													const { src, ...props } = imageProps;
-													
 													imageSources[matchKey] = await getImage({src: Astro__${entry.safeName}, ...props});
 													occurrenceCounter++;
 											}
@@ -33,32 +32,28 @@ export function getMarkdownCodeForImages(imagePaths: MarkdownImagePath[], html:
 					return imageSources;
 			};
 
-			async function updateImageReferences(html) {
-				return images(html).then((imageSources) => {
-						return html.replaceAll(/__ASTRO_IMAGE_="([^"]+)"/gm, (full, imagePath) => {
-								const decodedImagePath = JSON.parse(imagePath.replace(/&#x22;/g, '"'));
-		
-								// Use the 'index' property for each image occurrence
-								const srcKey = decodedImagePath.src + '_' + decodedImagePath.index;
-		
-								if (imageSources[srcKey].srcSet && imageSources[srcKey].srcSet.values.length > 0) {
-										imageSources[srcKey].attributes.srcset = imageSources[srcKey].srcSet.attribute;
-								}
-		
-								const { index, ...attributesWithoutIndex } = imageSources[srcKey].attributes;
-		
-								return spreadAttributes({
-										src: imageSources[srcKey].src,
-										...attributesWithoutIndex,
-								});
-						});
+		async function updateImageReferences(html) {
+			const imageSources = await images(html);
+
+			return html.replaceAll(/__ASTRO_IMAGE_="([^"]+)"/gm, (full, imagePath) => {
+				const decodedImagePath = JSON.parse(imagePath.replace(/&#x22;/g, '"'));
+
+				// Use the 'index' property for each image occurrence
+				const srcKey = decodedImagePath.src + '_' + decodedImagePath.index;
+
+				if (imageSources[srcKey].srcSet && imageSources[srcKey].srcSet.values.length > 0) {
+					imageSources[srcKey].attributes.srcset = imageSources[srcKey].srcSet.attribute;
+				}
+
+				const { index, ...attributesWithoutIndex } = imageSources[srcKey].attributes;
+
+				return spreadAttributes({
+					src: imageSources[srcKey].src,
+					...attributesWithoutIndex,
 				});
+			});
 		}
-		
 
-		// NOTE: This causes a top-level await to appear in the user's code, which can break very easily due to a Rollup
-	  // bug and certain adapters not supporting it correctly. See: https://github.com/rollup/rollup/issues/4708
-	  // Tread carefully!
-			const html = await updateImageReferences(${JSON.stringify(html)});
+		const html = async () => await updateImageReferences(${JSON.stringify(html)});
 	`;
 }
diff --git a/packages/astro/src/vite-plugin-markdown/index.ts b/packages/astro/src/vite-plugin-markdown/index.ts
index 694b96448fb5..a85eaff4659c 100644
--- a/packages/astro/src/vite-plugin-markdown/index.ts
+++ b/packages/astro/src/vite-plugin-markdown/index.ts
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ export default function markdown({ settings, logger }: AstroPluginOptions): Plug
 					// Only include the code relevant to `astro:assets` if there's images in the file
 					imagePaths.length > 0
 						? getMarkdownCodeForImages(imagePaths, html)
-						: `const html = ${JSON.stringify(html)};`
+						: `const html = () => ${JSON.stringify(html)};`
 				}
 
 				export const frontmatter = ${JSON.stringify(frontmatter)};
@@ -124,8 +124,8 @@ export default function markdown({ settings, logger }: AstroPluginOptions): Plug
 				export function rawContent() {
 					return ${JSON.stringify(raw.content)};
 				}
-				export function compiledContent() {
-					return html;
+				export async function compiledContent() {
+					return await html();
 				}
 				export function getHeadings() {
 					return ${JSON.stringify(headings)};
@@ -148,9 +148,9 @@ export default function markdown({ settings, logger }: AstroPluginOptions): Plug
 								compiledContent,
 								'server:root': true,
 							}, {
-								'default': () => render\`\${unescapeHTML(html)}\`
+								'default': () => render\`\${unescapeHTML(html())}\`
 							})}\`;`
-							: `render\`\${maybeRenderHead(result)}\${unescapeHTML(html)}\`;`
+							: `render\`\${maybeRenderHead(result)}\${unescapeHTML(html())}\`;`
 					}
 				});
 				export default Content;