Reborn As A Ghost: Time To Build My Undead Army!

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Lucifer pierced the void through Maria's Divine Thunder Ego fusing with his body, temporarily giving him incredible speed and the power of the Divine Thunder that Thor's Divine Spirit wielded to almost kill them all back then.

FLAAASH!

"W-We're out!" Lucifer celebrated, noticing they were all above the skies, right over the city of Sapphire Temple!

"The Dimension was all the way up here?!" Nia, Celes' mother panicked. "I-I can't believe they dragged us so far away in an instant…!"

"It certainly is an ominous power." Maria said. "But I won't let that ever happen to us again… I'll make sure of it!"

TRUMMM…!

As they talked, the skies shattered wide open right behind Maria, her eyes opening wide to realize Belphegor was not done yet!

His monstrous form emerging out of the Dimension and letting it all out, spreading darkness and void across the skies of Sapphire Temple.

The people right below panicked, screaming as they saw a gigantic and grotesque abomination emerge, covering their skies with pure darkness.

The sunlight could not even reach them anymore, as his miasmic and void-made body kept spreading around, in the form of a mantle of endless eyes, tentacles, and jaws…

"GRUUUAAAAGGHH…! I'LL DEVOUR YOU ALL! FOR THE SAKE OF REVIVING OUR GREAT LORD!"

He wasn't even paying attention to Maria and her group anymore, as his countless eyes glanced at the thousands of people down below, greedily desiring their souls as sacrifices…

"That bastard's slowly moving down… If this continues, he'll destroy the entire city!" Partner panicked. "Shit! W-What do we do?! ARRGH!"

"Stop panicking!" Emeraldine told her, smacking her face. "Calm down, Partner! It's alright, we can do this somehow…!"

"We have to." Lucifer said. "There is no other way out of this…"

"I'll help as much as I can, my Swordsmanship and my Magic could be of some use against this being of darkness…" Jonathan commented. "I cannot let this monster ruin this beautiful city and its people! I've already seen enough of how this church treats its people… And those Paladins that cannot even be called Paladins to begin with! This entire city is rotten to the core, yet it holds so many innocent and goodhearted people… I cannot let these bastards destroy it. I'm tired of seeing them do as they please… I'm tired of always standing in the sidelines… I'll act!"

"Wow, what a speech…" Partner was taken aback. "Y-Yeah, I guess you're right… If the blondie's braver than me then what the heck am I even doing? Alright! Let's do this."

Unexpectedly to Maria, Jonathan's inspiring words ended cheering up Partner more than she could have ever imagined…

"Yeah, we have to." Maria nodded. "Everyone else here, you need to rest. We'll take care of this ourselves. You've fought more than enough, Fabian, everyone."

"W-We'll leave it to you then!" Fabian nodded, as he and everyone else with him were sent inside of Maria's shadows, including the sleeping Nyx and Celes.

However, at her side, Blackie kept whining and groaning at her, as if he was trying to tell her something. Although everyone inside his shadows was unconscious, Maria felt like there was someone inside there asking her to them out.

"What is it, Blackie? What are you trying to tell me?" Maria wondered. "Inside your shadows? But- Ah…!"

Maria's eyes opened wide, quickly realizing what had happened… Something she had completely missed, the corpse of Catarina torn to shreds, dead.

"C-Catarina…?!" She cried, quickly recalling how Lancelot had died despite being an Undead.

Sometimes, even Undead cannot be repaired completely. If their Souls are too exhausted, or too damaged, they'll break apart and dissipate, killing them.

And this was what Maria thought in that very instant, her entire heart wavering at the thought of yet another companion dying…

"I-I'm not dead yet! Well, I am! But… my soul has yet to give up! Hey!"

However, the annoying and tomboyish voice of Catarina within Blackie's shadow told her otherwise!

"Catarina, you're not dead dead?!"

Maria ran inside of Blackie's shadows, merging its contents into her shadow realm while putting Blackie inside, and hugging Catarina's red-colored soul, which had many cracks and missing pieces.

"Argh! Why are you hugging me- Ugh! Stop it! It hurts!"

"I'm so happy… I don't want to lose more people…"

"M-Maria… What happened? Did someone… die?"

"Someone you didn't get to see… A brave little ant I recruited and… Well, a sorrowful Frost Ghost, Veredorr…" Maria sighed.

"T-That's…" Catarina muttered. "I didn't knew… But- ugh, I'm alright, my soul's strong and I'm fine! Now let me out! I want to fight too!"

"You can't fight in that state…" Maria sighed. "Stay here for now and rest-"

However, Maria's arm was grabbed tightly by Catarina, she suddenly noticed her crimson blood flare powers emerging from her very soul, slightly burning her.

"Let me go, Maria." She said, her soul eyes glaring with conviction. "That bastard… he killed me, and almost killed your daughter, and almost killed everyone I've grown to love now… Let me go, I want to beat the shit out of them!"

"…" Maria stayed glancing at her in silence, and then touched the depths of her soul. "[Death Restoration]"

FLASH!

A wave of death energy and phantasmal power healed Catarina's soul in an instant, her cracks were quickly healed back, and although her missing pieces were not back, most of her mass was regained.

"Creating a new body would take too long and… As you can see, we're in a bit of a hurry. Your Soul alone will have to do… Make a contract with me." Maria proposed.

"A contract?" Asked Catarina.

"Like the other Ghosts, your brothers, who I left back home to protect the village." Maria explained. "Once you ascend into a ghost, you will become a Spirit if we create a contract, our connection will make you much stronger… But you'll have to bear with the transformation."

"I can bear with anything." Catarina said. "So please…!"

"Alright…" Maria nodded. "[Creation of Death]!"

FLUOSH!

Maria channeled her powers, as her Soul Grimoire emerged in front of her, in a few splits of a second, she swiftly decided Catarina's transformation, automatically adding compatible and spare materials inside of her inventory.

"This Form… I had never seen something like this before…"

FLAAASH!

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