Global Lord: My Unit Commander is Vampire Queen-Chapter 43: Selena’s Baptism

Selena’s words hung in the air like a promise of transformation as she descended from the cathedral’s impossible heights with grace that made the laws of physics seem like mere suggestions. The thousands of kneeling worshippers watched with expressions ranging from terror to desperate hope as their self-proclaimed goddess approached the elderly village elder who had spoken for them all.

"You chose loyalty," Selena said, her voice carrying harmonics that made the cathedral’s stones resonate with sympathetic vibrations. "But loyalty without understanding is merely fear wearing a prettier mask."

Lucas observed from his elevated position as Selena circled the trembling elder with predatory elegance. Her Divine Devourer nature had evolved beyond his initial calculations, and each movement suggested she was preparing to demonstrate exactly what transcendent power looked like when properly applied.

"What is your name, brave speaker?" Selena asked, her tone carrying warmth that somehow made the question feel more dangerous than any threat.

"Matthias Grendel," the elder replied, his voice steady despite the obvious terror in his eyes. "I’ve served as council leader for Millbrook Village for thirty-seven years."

"Thirty-seven years of mundane leadership," Selena mused, her fingers trailing along the man’s weathered face with a touch that left traces of dark energy. "Thirty-seven years of making small decisions for small people living small lives. How exhausting that must have been."

Lucas recognized the psychological approach immediately. Selena was not simply asserting dominance—she was offering a transformation that addressed the deepest unfulfilled desires within her target. The Divine Devourer’s evolution had given her an instinctive understanding of how to manipulate spiritual hunger.

"I... I did my best for my people," Matthias stammered, but his eyes held something that suggested Selena’s words were resonating more deeply than simple fear would explain.

"Your best," Selena repeated, her laugh carrying notes that made several worshippers weep without understanding why. "But what if your best was never meant to be enough? What if you were destined for something far greater than village politics and grain distribution?"

The question hit the elder like a physical blow, and Lucas watched with fascination as decades of suppressed ambition and frustrated potential flickered across the old man’s features. Selena had identified the psychological pressure point that would make her next move not just accepted, but welcomed.

"I offer you transcendence," Selena whispered, her words carrying such concentrated spiritual authority that the cathedral’s architecture began to shift in response. "I offer you the chance to become something that your mundane existence could never achieve."

"What... what do you mean?" Matthias asked, but his voice held anticipation rather than fear.

Selena’s smile revealed fangs that seemed to gleam with their own internal light as she placed both hands on the elder’s shoulders. The touch sent visible waves of dark energy coursing through his body, and Lucas realized that she was preparing to attempt something unprecedented—not just creating a vampire, but forging an entirely new type of supernatural entity.

"I offer you rebirth as my first Night Priestess," Selena declared, her voice carrying to every person in the massive courtyard. "You will become the bridge between divine will and mortal understanding, blessed with power that transcends death itself."

The transformation began before Matthias could respond. Selena’s hands blazed with energy that was neither light nor darkness but something that existed in the spaces between concepts, and the elder’s weathered features began to shift and flow like wax heated by invisible flames.

But this was not the violent metamorphosis that characterized typical vampire creation. Lucas watched with professional interest as Selena’s Divine Devourer nature crafted something far more sophisticated—a transformation that preserved the subject’s essential identity while augmenting it with supernatural capabilities designed for specific purposes.

Matthias’s scream was not one of pain but of overwhelming sensation as decades of accumulated spiritual frustration were burned away by divine fire. His aged body straightened and strengthened, weathered skin smoothing while his eyes blazed with newfound purpose that transcended mere existence.

"Feel it," Selena commanded, her voice resonating with power that made reality itself bow in recognition. "Feel the weight of true authority flowing through your transformed essence."

The elder’s transformation accelerated as dark veins of energy spread across his skin like living tattoos, each pulse bringing new capabilities that Lucas’s tactical mind immediately recognized as weaponized. This was not just spiritual elevation—Selena was creating a being specifically designed for psychological warfare and crowd control.

"My goddess," Matthias whispered, his voice now carrying undertones that made several nearby worshippers collapse in spontaneous worship. "I can feel them all. Every fear, every desire, every secret shame. The power to shape souls themselves."

Lucas felt a surge of dark satisfaction as he realized the tactical implications of Selena’s creation. A Night Priestess with the ability to manipulate psychological pressure points on a mass scale would be invaluable for maintaining control over conquered populations, but the way Selena was conducting the transformation suggested she understood applications far beyond basic crowd control.

"Show them," Selena commanded, stepping back to observe her handiwork with the pride of an artist unveiling a masterpiece.

Matthias turned toward the kneeling masses with movements that flowed like liquid shadow, his transformed presence radiating authority that made even hardened merchants and farmers weep with spontaneous spiritual ecstasy. When he spoke, his words carried weight that bypassed rational thought entirely.

"Kneel deeper," he said simply, and thousands of people pressed themselves against the ground with such desperate enthusiasm that several suffered injuries from the stone courtyard. "Feel the blessing of true submission."

But the demonstration revealed something that made Lucas’s strategic instincts flare with warning signals. The crowd was not just obeying Matthias—they were experiencing genuine spiritual fulfillment from the act of submission itself. The Night Priestess possessed the ability to make psychological manipulation feel like a divine blessing.

"Magnificent," Selena breathed, her Divine Devourer nature analyzing the success of her first creation with satisfaction that bordered on the predatory. "You understand the gift I’ve given you."

Matthias bowed with grace that seemed to bend space itself around his transformed form, his new nature radiating capabilities that Lucas recognized as potentially game-changing. "I understand that I serve a goddess who offers not just power, but purpose itself."

The response triggered something in Selena’s expression that made Lucas realize his companion was learning to enjoy the act of creation almost as much as destruction. The Divine Devourer’s evolution was not just making her more powerful—it was making her more sophisticated in how she applied that power.

"My King," Selena said, turning toward Lucas with an expression that held both devotion and something far more complex, "observe what loyalty properly cultivated can achieve."

She gestured toward Matthias, whose transformed presence was now radiating influence that extended far beyond the immediate courtyard. The Night Priestess was not just controlling the crowd—she was fundamentally altering their psychological relationship to authority itself.

"They no longer fear submission," Selena continued, her voice carrying notes that made the cathedral’s impossible architecture resonate with harmonic approval. "They crave it. The Night Priestess has made spiritual surrender feel like transcendence."

Lucas recognized the strategic brilliance of Selena’s creation, but also understood that she was demonstrating capabilities that went far beyond what he had originally envisioned for their partnership. The Divine Devourer was not just following his strategic framework—she was improving upon it.

"Create more," Lucas commanded, his voice carrying the weight of absolute authority even as he recognized that his control over Selena was becoming increasingly theoretical.

"As my King desires," Selena replied, but her tone suggested that his desires and her intentions were simply coinciding rather than one determining the other.

She moved through the crowd with predatory grace, selecting candidates with criteria that Lucas could only partially understand. Not the strongest or most intelligent, but those whose psychological profiles suggested they would become the most effective instruments of spiritual manipulation.

The second transformation was even more spectacular than the first. Selena chose a middle-aged woman who had been quietly weeping throughout the entire proceedings, someone whose emotional sensitivity made her an ideal candidate for psychological warfare applications.

"Elena Thorne," the woman whispered when Selena approached, her voice carrying such desperate hope that several nearby worshippers began sobbing in sympathy. "I’ve spent my entire life feeling everyone else’s pain. Is there... is there a way to make it stop?"

"Do not stop," Selena replied with a smile that promised transcendence through transformation, "but transform that sensitivity into something magnificent."

The second Night Priestess creation demonstrated even more sophisticated capabilities than the first. Where Matthias radiated authority that demanded submission, Elena’s transformed presence generated empathy so intense that it became a form of psychological control. People found themselves confessing their deepest secrets simply because her proximity made emotional concealment impossible.

"I can feel it all," Elena whispered, her voice now carrying harmonics that made truth-telling feel like spiritual release. "Every lie they’ve ever told themselves, every dream they’ve abandoned. The power to heal souls by showing them their honesty."

But as Lucas watched Selena create her third and fourth Night Priestesses, each with specialized capabilities designed for different aspects of population control, he began to understand that his companion was not just demonstrating loyalty to his strategic vision.

She was building an army. Not of soldiers or vampires, but of beings specifically designed to reshape human consciousness itself. And with each successful transformation, her confidence in her divine authority grew more pronounced.

"My beloved congregation," Selena announced, her voice carrying to every person within miles of the Night Cathedral, "witness the birth of a new order. No longer will you struggle with the burden of meaningless existence. Through service to your goddess, you will find purpose beyond your wildest dreams."

The response was immediate and overwhelming. Thousands of voices rose in spontaneous worship that carried such concentrated spiritual energy that the cathedral’s impossible architecture began to literally glow with accumulated devotion.

But as Lucas observed the scene of mass transformation and worship, his tactical systems detected something that made his strategic instincts scream warnings.

Unit Created: [Divine Torturess - Epic]

The system notification appeared in his consciousness like a blade of ice, accompanied by readings that suggested Selena’s creations were registering as threats rather than allies.

His Vampire Queen was no longer just creating servants. She was creating something that might eventually challenge even his supremacy.