Reborn As A Ghost: Time To Build My Undead Army!-Chapter 1722: Welcome To My Undead Army
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Maria sighed in relief, her Dominion slowly dissipating as she smiled at the clear blue sky, feeling she had gained a great deal from this battle.
"I bet they’ll love to learn this technique too, huhu!"
As she giggled with child-like wonder, she descended gently. Everyone greeted her with relieved smiles; she had taken a little longer than usual.
"What happened? Was that vampire really that strong?!" Partner asked in disbelief.
"Somewhat," Maria said, nodding. "She was at least five times stronger than the White Mist Immortal."
"What?!" Lucifer gasped. "And she said something about being part of a big family?!"
"Yeah, the Crimson Order has ten different families," Maria explained. "Dukes and Duchesses hold the third-highest position in their respective families, with Archdukes and Archduchesses above them, and then the Family Heads. Pretty straightforward hierarchy."
"I can’t even imagine how strong the Archdukes must be..." Emeraldine said with worry. "Can we really handle them?"
"For sure," Maria nodded confidently. "And if you’re worried, then we just have to grow stronger. This place has taught me a lot. Have you been paying attention too? Slowly growing while learning how Martial Arts and Cultivation Techniques work?"
"I have..." Lucifer nodded. "It was an amazing feeling. I’ve grown stronger, but I still need more training."
"Me too!" Partner added. "I grasped something strange... my skeleton hands really came in handy."
"I managed to turn into my red dragon form again, Mom!" Nyx said excitedly. "But you missed it!"
"Ah, sorry about that! I’ll make it up to you later," Maria smiled, kissing her daughter’s forehead. "Looks like we fended them off well enough... Now, let’s see—who’s alive and who’s dead?"
"The vampires are definitely dead," Partner said. "Can I drink their blood?"
"Sure," Maria nodded.
"Nice!" Partner quickly used her Blood Arts to absorb all the blood from their corpses, forming a huge sphere that included even Vesperine’s blood.
Then she drank it all in one go. Maria considered taking some herself; at some point she had started absorbing bloodlines.
But she shook her head. She was now walking her own unique Martial Arts Path and didn’t want to give in to such temptations.
She wanted to keep refining her own power instead of taking it from others.
Though that didn’t mean she would never consume souls or divine powers again. For now, if it wouldn’t truly help her, she would simply ignore it.
And instead...
"Rise."
Her eyes glowed brightly. The shattered remains of Vesperine slowly reassembled, emerging from her Shadow Realm. Her broken, wounded soul was carefully stitched back together.
At the same time, her two servants rose once more, surrounded by bright red auras. Their souls had lingered nearby, making the process easy.
The two male vampires remained permanently locked in their half-bat beast forms, while Vesperine stayed in her demonic state.
Maria had noticed this peculiar rule before, when someone died while transformed, they stayed that way forever as Undead.
What was more, they now resembled the Rakshasa, effectively becoming three more members of this strange race of demonic zombies from Murim.
"W-What...?! Where...! Ugh... my head... my soul! It hurts so much— AHHHH!"
Vesperine screamed in horror as she saw Maria’s smiling face and realized she was surrounded by Maria’s family.
She tried to crawl away, shrieking.
"No, no, no! I’M GETTING OUT OF HERE!"
She couldn’t move past a certain point. She was now Maria’s Undead, and with a single thought, Maria could restrict her movements completely.
"Nope, you’re not going anywhere, Vesperine," Maria laughed, placing her boot lightly on the vampire’s head. "You’re staying with us, all right? Let’s be friends forever—for eternity."
"A-Aahhh! No, no...! Please...! What did you do to me?! Ugh...! I can’t... turn back to normal?! Why am I so hideous now?!" she wailed. "I’m huge and muscular! Ewwww!"
"You’ve become a Rakshasa. A fitting punishment," Wu Lieng said, stepping forward. "Be grateful. Maria could have devoured or destroyed your soul, yet she forgave you and gave you a second chance to atone for your sins."
"What?! I don’t care about sins, you stupid old man!" Vesperine surged to her feet and tried to punch him, but her body froze mid-motion.
Wu Lieng stood confidently in front of her, no longer afraid now that she belonged to Maria.
"I could shut down your consciousness entirely and turn you into a cold, unfeeling drone," Maria explained calmly. "I could make you my puppet. But I won’t. I want you awake. I want you to cry, to regret, to curse me with all your heart. I want to watch you slowly change until you act with honesty and abandon your wicked ways."
"W-What kind of nonsense are you spouting, you lowly mutt— ACK!"
Vesperine suddenly couldn’t speak, only groan.
"What? I can’t hear you," Maria laughed, patting her head. "Come on, you and I have a lot to discuss! I’ll invite you into my sect so we can all be friends forever."
"Aaagh! Raarrr!" Vesperine kept trying to speak, but only dry screams came out.
Her two servants regained full consciousness and stayed silent, watching their former master with confused expressions.
"Nnnggh!" She tried to strike them too, but her body refused.
"She really was used to abusing her servants. What a terrible boss," Arthur said, glancing at his sister. "Big sis, the other scum that attacked us are over there."
"Hmm, let me see," Maria walked over and saw that all nine cultivators had somehow survived, though they were on the verge of death. "It would be easier to kill them and turn them into Undead, but... repenting while alive isn’t a bad option either."
Maria extended her ghostly aura over them, quickly binding them with Ghostly Cursed Chains that linked their souls to hers, granting her the same control she held over her Undead.
"It’s done," she nodded. "You can heal them now, Jonathan."
"Thank you for sparing their lives," Jonathan said. "We will reform them with hard labor; we will make sure their strength is used to help and protect the innocent from now on!"
"Are you sure about this?" Lucifer sighed, looking at Maria.
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