Reborn As A Ghost: Time To Build My Undead Army!-Chapter 1881: Slowly Overcoming Death Itself

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"A fragment of an outer god's corpse?! Haahahaha!" Maria laughed. "Truly, you're an incredible Necromancer, Annette! But can you do this?!"

Maria didn't summon more Undead. Instead she rushed straight toward Annette, calling forth her soul sword and swinging it with full force.

"Trying to go one-on-one this time? How unsightly! Protect me!" Annette hid behind the titanic tentacle, which immediately clashed against Maria's blade.

CLAAASH!

"Hah, ridiculous!"

Maria laughed as the Outer God fragment's tentacle halted her sword and shoved her backward—further and further.

At the same time, countless curses ravaged her body and soul. Her living flesh withered endlessly, aging at an impossible rate.

Her eyes widened in horror as she realized she had become as old as a grandmother.

"T-This is…?!?"

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

While Annette cackled, Maria's entire body crumbled into ashes. Her soul twisted in agony under the mere gaze of a corpse fragment.

That single stare had been enough to defeat her completely.

Her martial arts, her skills, her efforts… all nullified.

The worlds she had visited, the people she had met, the challenges she had overcome… all meaningless.

Death claimed her. Nonexistence and the void swallowed her consciousness.

As Maria faded, her family screamed in horror.

They never imagined things would spiral into such madness.

They had underestimated the Vampires, grown too accustomed to battling powerful foes in the tower, convinced Yggdrasil couldn't possibly hold enough threats.

Yes, death embraced her…

And the void.

"Well! I thought you would last longer, my dear," Annette laughed loudly. "Look at the pitiful state your master has become! A pile of ashes! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"F-Fran…?!" Laura gasped, eyes widening. "No… this wasn't supposed to happen… No… no… no… NOOOO!!!"

Laura charged toward the Vampire, but the giant tentacle rose to block her.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!"

Her powerful punches struck the entity, yet it didn't even flinch. Its gaze pierced straight through her, and blood began pouring from every orifice.

"LAURA!"

Catarina dove in next, followed by Brunhild, Violet, Arthur, Arachne, Partner, Nyx, and everyone else. They combined their Auras and fought desperately against a single tentacle.

"Nngaaaahhh! Maria! Maria! Come back! I know you're not dead! Stop messing around…! COME BACK THIS VERY INSTANT!" Partner roared in fury.

"Heheh…! HAHAHAHA!" Annette laughed. "We've prepared for thousands of years! So meticulously! We plotted the extinction of all humans and the death of the gods with such care! Oh, how much we suffered! But now! Now that we are here, nothing—absolutely nothing—can stop us! PERISH! PERISH ALL OF YOU! HEHEH! HEHEHEHEAHAHAAHAHAHAAAAAAA!"

BA DUM!

BA DUM!

BA DUM!

"…?"

For a moment Annette's wicked laughter faltered as she heard the steady beating of a heart.

She looked toward the spot where Maria had fallen.

A small nebula of stardust floated in the empty air.

And at its center, a tiny crystal heart pulsed.

Dream essence, lifeforce, ki, mana, and abyssal energies poured from it.

"What…?"

Blood vessels, bones, flesh, organs…

A living, functional body suddenly took shape around that dream heart.

Long black hair. Green eyes.

"What is that thing?!" Annette snarled, gritting her teeth. "She's regenerating from nothing?! Ridiculous! RIDICULOUS!"

As she screamed in rage, thousands of eyes fixed on the reforming body. Curses surged through Maria's existence.

The curses were whispers—the voice of the dead Outer God.

"DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE…"

Maria's body withered again but regrew even faster.

The more she died, the quicker she revived.

"She's building resistance!"

Annette glanced back at those battling the tentacle. Half of them had already withered and perished.

"Hehe…! HEHEHAHAHAHA! IT DOESN'T MATTER! YOU'RE ALL GOING TO DIE! YOU'RE ALL— Ah?"

FLAAASH!

Maria's arm regenerated first. She pointed it toward the ashes of those who had just fallen—her sister, Partner, Arachne.

"Arise."

A brilliant explosion of light engulfed them. Their bodies regrew from the ashes, souls returning stronger than before.

"Thought you could kill us so easily?!" Partner smirked.

"Back to it!" Laura roared.

"As long as Mama is here, we won't die," Arachne said.

"E-Eh? Eh?! Eeeeeh?! What is this?! What do you mean you cannot die?! DEATH IS EVERYTHING! I AM THE HORSEMAN OF DEATH!" Annette's true, broken self emerged as she clawed at her own face in rage and disbelief. "More… I need more."

Thousands, then tens of thousands of Undead fused and were sacrificed.

More pieces emerged.

A gigantic eyeball.

A massive mouth.

A titanic hand!

Four!

Four fragments!

All targeting Maria at once!

"Haaa… Heh…! T-This is my limit! Four at the same time! C-Can you handle this much?! CAN YOU HANDLE THE EFFORTS I POURED INTO MY MAGIC FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS TO AVENGE MY PEOPLE, MARIA?!"

Maria's body withered and died a dozen times in a single second, yet she relentlessly regrew, healed, and revived her family.

Relentlessly.

She refused to give up, even as dying over and over inflicted unimaginable agony on her existence.

At some point in this endless cycle of death…

Maria's consciousness began leaking outward.

She was reviving herself in every atom around her.

Every atom now held a tiny piece of hers.

And then…

"I see. This should be enough."

"Eh?"

"Thank you, Annette. You've helped me discover one of my powers."

"…?!"

"It was right there all along, and I had to figure it out by dying a hundred times. I truly am a talentless dullard compared to you."

"W-Where?! Where are all these voices coming from?!"

Annette looked around in disbelief.

Within a one-kilometer radius around her…

Everything was Maria.

"The power of Outer Gods… they're so strong because they meld with reality itself. They are fragments of existence," Maria explained. "And as you can see, I am an Outer Goddess too—just a very young, inexperienced one."

"O-Outer Goddess?! Hah! You were a damn ghost a few years ago! What in the godforsaken world are you even talking about?! I… I… Ahhh… T-This is…"

Then she saw her.

Amid the fog, amid the clouds, in the very air she breathed into her lungs!

Everywhere.

Maria's face emerged from everything.

And her red eyes wept.

The eyes of the Outer God's corpse no longer held power; after all, they were only a dead fragment of a being that was never truly alive.

And in fact…

The fragments began to unify, controlled by Maria's Necromancy and merging into her true consciousness.

FLUOSH!

Reality warped as Maria was reborn anew, using the corpse fragments as raw material.

Her true living body emerged once more—even though it died.

Now linked to her existence, it would never truly vanish.

Her soul—an Outer God.

Her body—a human.

Their perfect unification created an existence that defied the heavens.

Annette finally beheld Maria's true form, the one she had never allowed to fully manifest before.

A mourning Outer Goddess, weeping without end.

Maria was back!

"What did we tell you, bitch?!"

Partner roared, striking Annette from behind.

But Annette whirled and touched her with a single hand.

BOOOM!

Partner's flesh tore away instantly, revealing only her crimson, metallic skeleton beneath.

"What?!" Partner stared down at herself.

"I knew it! You're not a Vampire like us—you're a skeleton monster that evolved!" Annette laughed. "Good. You're mine now!"

"Partner!" Emeraldine screamed, unleashing thousands of arrows at Annette in the same instant.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

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