Reborn As A Ghost: Time To Build My Undead Army!-Chapter 1719: Maria Versus Vesperine

-----

"I am Vesperine Lucarion, Seventh Duchess of House Lucarion, known as the Binder of Souls! What is your name?!"

The Vampiress laughed as she clashed against Maria. An explosion of Blood Energy and screaming Souls erupted. The instant they made contact, Maria realized that merely touching her opponent began to drain away not only her Lifeforce but her very Soul Essence.

"A siphoning ability, huh? And what’s more..."

Maria’s crimson eyes analyzed everything in that first exchange. Vesperine swung her legs upward, kicking Maria’s chin and sending her flying several meters back.

CLAAASH!

"Come on, tell me your true name! Which house do you serve?!" Vesperine roared. Her red armor grew around her hands, forming massive metallic claws. Maria evaded them, using the Void to warp short distances.

Yet Vesperine had already read her movements. Her claws glowed as waves of slashing blood energy erupted and chased Maria relentlessly until they caught her and detonated across her body.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Maria emerged from the smoke, her black dress torn with large holes. Vesperine noticed the black threads already wriggling, sewing the fabric back together.

Maria’s Aura began to swell. Phantasmal Power and Nightmare Energies fused into an Abyss that twisted space around her. She spat blood along with several teeth, which regrew almost instantly.

"I can’t absorb her Soul Essence. It’s bound by a powerful Divine-Level Curse tied to her Soul... and something else. Her Bloodline?"

She quickly understood that for Vampires, Bloodlines were far more than family heritage. They were living powers, magical connections, bonds, and a mystical force flowing directly from their ancient ancestors.

"Hoh, unscathed? No, you resisted that well. You have a beautiful dress, now that I look at it," Vesperine said with a wicked grin. "Do you think it would suit me? Once I kill you, I’m definitely taking it."

"Sorry, but I doubt this dress will ever be worn by anyone else," Maria replied with a faint smile. "It’s very possessive, after all."

FLASH!

Her dress shuddered. Black threads erupted from every part of her body, shooting toward Vesperine and wrapping tightly around her limbs.

"Ngh?! You think this will work?!"

The Vampire Duchess roared, spinning midair and slashing through the threads with her metallic claws, tearing Maria’s dress into ribbons.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

At the same time, she kicked the air, sprouting huge black wings made of souls and shadow. In an instant she reached Maria, slamming a hand against her face and driving her downward.

"Come on, tell me your name!"

Maria crashed into the mountainside, spiderweb cracks spreading across the rock as the entire peak trembled. Massive boulders began tumbling from above.

RUMBLE!

Yet Maria only smiled. Thousands of phantasmal hands surged from her body, striking Vesperine with consecutive Phantasmal Fists.

BAAM! BAAM! BAAM! BAAM!

"Ngaah! You think you can harm my soul?! It won’t work!"

Vesperine hissed, soaring upward to evade the falling boulders, only for Maria’s sentient dress to seize her ankle and yank her back down. The boulders crashed over both of them.

"Agh!"

CRAAASH!

Vesperine shredded the boulders with her claws, then summoned a massive crimson spear that pierced straight through Maria’s forehead.

"Die!"

Blood sprayed everywhere.

Only for Maria to dissolve into phantasmal mist and reappear behind the Duchess.

"HAAAAH!"

Vesperine’s eyes widened.

She did not attack directly. Instead she unleashed her Aura, making the ground quake as gigantic demonic arms with enormous hands erupted, seizing Maria and slamming her downward to immobilize her.

Vesperine transformed her metallic claws into twin long spears, infusing them with explosive dark energy, and thrust toward Maria’s head and heart.

Yet.

FLASH!

Maria turned into phantasmal mist once more, slipping free. Her form expanded into a writhing mass of shadows filled with thousands of sharp fangs and glowing red eyes, lunging to devour the Duchess whole.

"W-Wha...?! What are you?!"

Vesperine faltered. Crimson light burst from her body, blasting a hole through the shadow mass and allowing her to escape.

"Aw, I guess that didn’t work as well as I hoped."

Maria returned to her normal shape. Her long white hair lengthened further, twisting into gray phantasmal tentacles that lashed toward Vesperine.

"You’re a strange creature... You’re not a Vampire, nor human... Are you some sentient monster? You can’t be a ghost either—no ghost can do what you just did!"

"Oh dear, I’m much worse than that. Imagine the worst thing I could be and multiply it by a hundred. That’s what I am... quite literally your worst nightmare."

And she was not exaggerating. Maria had evolved into a Nightmare.

FLUOSH!

Her entire being dissolved into darkness once more. This time it spread rapidly, distorting reality itself.

The Vampiress, unlike any foe Maria had faced before, recognized the technique instantly.

"A Domain, huh? That’s what you’re trying to create!"

As the darkness engulfed everything, the void began to devour the world around them. Vesperine raised a giant sword of gold and crimson jewels that blazed with the same radiant crimson light.

"You think Vampires don’t fight each other? Oh, we do! And we always exploit each other’s weaknesses!"

FLAAASH!

Brilliant crimson light surged from her strange sword. Maria’s darkness shuddered; the artifact was capable of negating Domains and even her own Darkness.

Yet Maria only smiled.

"{Fake Martial Soul}"

RUMBLE!

Her Aura detonated. A colossal skeletal goddess rose from the shadows, tearing through space itself. Gigantic black claws covered in starlight slashed downward.

At the same moment, dozens of perfect copies of Maria materialized throughout the darkness, attacking the Vampiress from every direction.

Vesperine carved through them with her sword, discovering each one was merely a clone of shadow and phantom energy.

"Coward! Show yourself!"

She roared, compressing her Aura before expanding it into hundreds of blood-born monsters that charged Maria’s Domain.

But the Fake Martial Soul struck, unleashing a barrage of blows that forced the Duchess away from the shadows she sought to destroy.

"I see. The shadows are your real body. If I destroy enough of them, you’ll die!"

The Duchess laughed, summoning three more identical swords. All four blades unleashed relentless barrages of crimson slashing light.

Maria’s shadows trembled, sliced apart and began to dissipate.

"Hahahaha!"

Vesperine kept laughing as she shredded the darkness, forcing Maria’s form to shrink rapidly.

Her Fake Martial Soul crumbled into countless bones, unable to withstand the onslaught.

"You’re so weak! You have interesting powers, but you’re NOTHING against House Lucarion! You lowly ghost—become my pet and I’ll spare your life!"

"Huh? So you think I’m losing?"

Maria’s voice echoed across the sky.

Vesperine looked down and saw a vast sea of black void-water swirling beneath her.

"...Huh?"

She had been so focused on destroying the shadows that Maria had quietly completed something else.

The sea of black water, like a gigantic black hole in the sky, suddenly surged upward.

And from its depths, Maria’s true form emerged.

"Ngh?!"

The Vampire felt sharp pain in her chest and head as the colossal eldritch entity fully revealed itself.

"You’re strong enough to withstand me holding back, so let’s go a little further... I don’t want to use spells. They’re too boring."

"Hahaha...! T-This has to be an illusion...!"

"Is it?"

Maria’s enormous hand descended. Vesperine braced herself, only for the giant palm to strike with an explosion of burning moonlight that seared her flesh.

"GYAAAAAH!"

As she screamed, her beautiful white skin blistering, Maria’s other palm slammed from the opposite side, pressing the Vampiress between two gigantic hands.

"{Selene’s Palm}"

She invoked the power of her Selene Evolution—her first truly powerful form that had once raised her strength tremendously.

Even now, every ability from her past evolutions remained, growing stronger with each new stage.

TRUUUM!

"Ngaaaahhhh!"

Vesperine screamed, flooding her bloodstream and muscles with blood-soul specters, multiplying her strength dozens of times over.

She resisted the crushing palms and slashed through Maria’s hands with all four swords, severing fingers and spraying black blood across her body.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

"You monster! You’re a monster! A creature of the abyss! Are you some unknown demon?!"

The Vampire shot into the sky, gasping for breath as she watched Maria’s bleeding hands—fingers missing and not regenerating.

"I used to be human... well, I still consider myself human sometimes."

"Human?! You wicked creature! But... this is an incredible opportunity! If I kill you and harvest your remains... I could ascend to the next Realm! I could become a Vampire Archduchess!"

"Is that so?"

Maria smiled through black tears. Vesperine grinned ferociously, pushing her power beyond its limits.

Millions of blood souls screamed, compressing around her and distorting both space and time.

"{Domain Expansion}: {Myriad Twisting Blood Souls: Crimson Purgatory}!"

TRUUUM!

-----