Reborn As A Ghost: Time To Build My Undead Army!-Chapter 1891: Desperate Battle

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"There’s no time!"

Jonathan vomited blood but kept his fists clenched tight.

The energies within his meridians surged wildly, concentrating in his Dream heart.

His Soul Aura flared outward, enveloping his body.

Souls functioned like second brains; they housed a person’s mind and memories as well.

By wrapping himself in the "memorized techniques" he had witnessed, he began condensing everything into his flesh.

He fused body and soul, forcibly transforming his form—even if only temporarily—into a true martial art body.

His dream weapon sword honed his very skin.

And in that instant, Jonathan started to evolve.

Beyond the boundaries of humanity.

He, who had never embraced any other power that could allow evolution before, now stepped onto a new path.

To transcend mere humankind.

To shatter the limits gods and the tower had imposed on his species!

The Spiritual Formation crackled violently as lightning arced in every direction.

Everyone maintaining it watched in awe as Jonathan’s aura evolved and swelled.

His entire body—his pale white skin—turned metallic, radiating a silvery-gold glow.

His hair lengthened into shimmering threads of light.

His eyes burned like twin stars.

From his hands, a massive sword of pure light took shape.

This was...

"My Sword Soul Heart."

Remembering Maria with quiet fondness, Jonathan smiled. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

At the same moment, Celes’s Spiritual Water compressed violently. Suddenly, the Divine Spirit of Water revived.

FLAAASH!

"Ah!"

Celes’s eyes blazed with brilliant blue divine light.

Though he was only spiritual water, he felt something long dormant awakening inside him.

A power he had never known he possessed.

To become pure spiritual water once more...

Like in his past life.

A technique lost to time!

"The humidity in the air... every tiny droplet of water... can become me..."

His eyes shone brighter as his mother rushed forward to embrace him.

"Celes! Are you okay? Celes!"

"Mother... please don’t lower your guard. That monster will come here soon, and it will be the end of us. We have to defeat him—quickly."

"C-Celes?"

Nia stared in shock. The young boy suddenly radiated tremendous maturity, as though he had aged far beyond her in an instant.

At the same time, an aura of profound divinity poured from him.

"What happened to you?" Nia asked.

"When I was water, I spoke with someone..." Celes said with a gentle smile. "She told me everything she knew and helped me push even further beyond... while finally allowing me to accept what I am—and who I am."

"...?" Nia gazed at her son in confusion.

"Takeshi, Alma... I’ll need your power," Celes said. "Alone I cannot fully release it. I lack the time to grow and unlock it completely. But if you help me..."

"You don’t even need to ask!" Takeshi nodded firmly.

"Sure!" Alma agreed without hesitation.

"Then please, infuse your Dream Essence and your Water Spirit Mana into my Soul," Celes said, floating calmly in midair.

Nia noticed parts of his body constantly dissolving into spiritual water before reforming into his human shape.

It was as though he had become water itself—merely wearing the appearance of a boy.

Alma’s staff and Takeshi’s fishing rod unleashed their power, suddenly amplified far beyond normal.

Icy frost water surged upward, coiling into dozens of roaring dragons.

At the same instant, sea serpents of ice and the steel wire of the fishing rod shot skyward together.

Hercules glanced down, spinning effortlessly as he evaded Tear’s and Darkbound’s relentless attacks before kicking both strikes away simultaneously.

BOOOM!

An explosive shockwave roared downward toward the two—only to be split apart by a single swing of a golden sword.

SLASH!

RUMBLE!

The shockwave was cleanly "cleaved," its cause negated in an instant.

"...?!"

For a heartbeat Hercules felt something strange. He looked toward Jonathan.

The boy’s arm extended in that direction.

Yet the attack had originated hundreds of meters away.

And with one casual swing of his hand...

He had sliced through a shockwave and erased its effect?

"Hoo... Well, look at him, copying my Flow..."

As he smirked, Darkbound gathered all his strength into his swordsmanship.

He swung his blade up and down, left and right in a furious rhythm.

Hercules remained untouchable.

But!

Darkbound pressed harder, though his strikes barely scratched the surface.

They left only tiny marks on Hercules’ orichalcum-like skin.

Yet those small scratches steadily grew—widening into deeper, bleeding wounds.

Tear understood and supported him, constantly freezing Hercules to disrupt his regeneration and steal his focus.

Hercules shattered her ice again and again while fending off their assaults and watching the same spells rise relentlessly from below.

"Heh... Ooh, I see."

He laughed lightly as realization dawned.

The humidity in the air had thickened dramatically.

That moisture poured into his lungs, seeped into his body.

Even his internal organs were as tough as his exterior...

But this water was Celes.

Every droplet was the boy.

Though he could not truly harm him in the end...

He didn’t need to.

Slowly, over time...

Celes began subtly disrupting the flow of Hercules’ internal energies with faint pulses of spiritual power released inside him.

"Quite impressive. But..."

With calm confidence, Hercules rapidly heated his own body until his blood began to boil.

Celes’s eyes widened in alarm as his water droplets evaporated and streamed out of Hercules’ nose, ears, and mouth.

"He’s boiling his own blood?!" Tear gasped.

"How can a Vampire even do that?!" Darkbound demanded.

As they clashed against him again and again, worsening the tiny wounds, Hercules answered without concern.

"The limits and weaknesses of Vampires can be overcome. Endure burning under the sun for months and you gain Sunlight Resistance. Survive for years and you achieve Sunlight Immunity. After centuries... Sunlight Absorption!"

FLAAASH!

Sunlight pierced the clouds and poured into Hercules. He absorbed it greedily!

Like a plant, he drank the light and began to heal...

"He’s healing!"

"Stop him!"

Darkbound and Tear panicked.

All their effort would be wasted if he fully recovered now!

They attacked furiously, targeting the small wounds.

And!

CRASH!

Hercules’ face twitched as Darkbound’s blade...

Finally pierced his skin.

"I got you."

"Heh, you think so?"

"{Myriad Ghostly Curses}!"

"Hm?!"

Hercules coughed blood as thousands of ghostly curses flooded through the wound!

They tried desperately to devour him from within, to wither his body and end him!

Yet...

"Gyaaaahhh!"

The curses were the ones screaming in torment—trapped inside a body that refused to wither or die.

Hercules’ cells, saturated with sunlight, blazed brilliantly, turning his body as radiant as the sun itself.

"Aaaaagh!"

Darkbound screamed, burning under the searing light. Tear threw up a massive wall of ice to shield him.

In that instant, every curse infecting Hercules incinerated and vanished.

"Were you saying something, skeleton?" Hercules asked, glancing at his now-perfectly healed wound. "Well, that didn’t even leave a scar..."

"..."

A fragment of Darkbound’s soul looked downward at Celes and Jonathan preparing.

Everyone else with them maintained the Spiritual Formation, which continued boosting their power and growth.

"Tear, let’s do that!"

"That?! Are you sure?"

"Yeah!"

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