Reborn As A Ghost: Time To Build My Undead Army!-Chapter 1897: Lucifer’s Desperate Last Stand!

-----

"Nightmare?" Sirius asked, his eyes wide with surprise and intrigue. "You've become several times stronger! What is this?!"

"WANNA HAVE A TASTE?!" Lucifer roared, lunging at Sirius.

"Hmph!"

Sirius unleashed a massive Aura blast from his body, exploding toward Lucifer—only for Lucifer's claws to rip straight through the beam and the detonation, striking Sirius directly.

"{Dragon King's Dual Flame Fist Style}: {Second Form – Nightmare Purgatory}!"

Lucifer twisted and warped his martial arts as desperation consumed his sanity. His powers surged and erupted in every direction, every extension of himself lashing out, fighting Sirius on near-equal footing.

Tentacles bursting from his chest filled the sky around him, leaving Sirius almost no room to maneuver as he desperately dodged like the plague.

At the same time, his six massive, clawed fists chased Sirius relentlessly, slashing with searing blade attacks that tore through everything.

Sirius, overwhelmed, was forced to take hits while defending.

His Magic surged first—hundreds of Blood Stars materialized and detonated, obliterating half of Lucifer's Nightmare Heart tentacles.

But the moment he focused on magic, Lucifer's claws struck instantly, covering Sirius's body in deep, bleeding cuts.

He was finally bleeding!

Lucifer pressed the momentum, somehow forcing himself to mimic "Flow" through sheer desperation. His eight heads worked hundreds of times faster, fueled by Dream Soul Spheres embedded inside them.

As Sirius blocked the claws and shattered them with his fists, Lucifer kicked upward from below, sending him soaring into the sky.

Lucifer gave chase.

Sirius focused, his Aura exploding outward, manifesting a hundred hands of blood energy.

Each hand formed different seals, conjuring an enormous magic circle above him that summoned a monstrous, massive crimson-and-black eye!

The eye charged power and fired a devastating beam, disintegrating Lucifer's tentacles in an instant.

He shielded himself with his six arms, burning them black as charcoal.

But he survived.

Forcing his way upward with raw willpower, Lucifer caught the monstrous genius.

He concentrated, compressed, and released everything he had—hundreds of new tentacles erupted, wrapping around Sirius just in time.

And then…

He punched him!

As hard as he possibly could!

"{Dragon King's Dual Flame Fist Style}: {Third Form – Endless Cycle Of Agony}!!!"

Black and white flames fused with Lucifer's deepest nightmares, his darkest emotions exploding into chaotic, destructive force with every fist.

It was an endless cycle of agony, forcing Sirius to endure overwhelming pain as he was pummeled relentlessly, black-and-white flames erupting across his body.

"Nnnggh…!"

Sirius's face twisted in agony. He spun fiercely, kicking Lucifer's tentacles apart, then fused dozens of Blood Stars into a gigantic crimson spear.

"God-Ending Crimson Spear!"

The spear plunged downward, piercing Lucifer's stomach and detonating, disintegrating half his body on impact!

"Nngaaaaahhh!"

BOOOMMM!!!

The massive explosion hurled Lucifer downward.

Sirius charged to finish him, his aura arms retracting into his main arms before releasing a concentrated barrage, red-and-black beams twisting into countless serpents that tore into Lucifer's body.

As Lucifer fell, blood, scales, bones, and flesh ripping away…

He clenched his teeth, coiling his many heads protectively around himself.

His arms were nearly gone, but he refused to stop.

His Nightmare Heart remained intact. It spread thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, then millions of nightmare-crystal and miasma tentacles around his body.

"UUOOOOHHHH!"

With a roar of desperation, agony, and wrath, Lucifer regrew his arms anew and struck back—even as his pitch-black limbs were torn apart the moment they touched Sirius.

He kept regenerating, kept fighting, pushing himself beyond all limits.

Through that relentless desperation, Sirius felt it!

"What…! You're still struggling, Sir Lucifer?! Even after you've completely lost to me?"

"I HAVEN'T LOST!!!"

His rage reached its breaking point. His Nightmare Heart laughed viciously as it expanded further, overtaking him completely.

It shifted from black… to red!

An unprecedented evolution—an entirely new form for a Nightmare Heart.

"GEHEHEHE! KILL! KILL! KILL!!!"

The Nightmare cackled wildly. Countless tentacles sprouting jaws and eyes burst from Lucifer's chest, forming new arms and claws that assaulted Sirius.

"You are truly formidable!"

Sirius acknowledged him as they clashed!

Even as he tore one piece away, more monstrous tentacles and nightmare limbs erupted to replace them.

Lucifer had once been a zombie, then revived.

Now it felt as if he had reverted to that state.

He no longer knew how much of himself remained and how much was simply his Nightmare compensating for what he had lost.

But he didn't care.

He had to buy time—no, he had to show Sirius something.

He had to prove he was the Dragon King!

And that this arrogant brat could not disrespect him…

Nor the legacy his father, the previous Vampire King, had left behind!

"I WILL SHOW YOU THE LEGACY OF YOUR FATHER, SIRIUS!"

"What?!"

Sirius's eyes widened as Lucifer's black-red crystals converged into a single point, manifesting a gigantic knight clad in red crystal armor and wielding a long sword.

Pure insanity!

Lucifer was drawing on his own memories, using his boiling rage and negative emotions to craft Nightmare Demons through his Nightmare Heart.

There was only one name for it: "Nightmare Craft"!

"That's…! What is this?"

Sirius, stunned, gathered his Martial Unity and blitzed forward, smashing dozens of Lucifer's arms into fragments.

Yet the knight advanced with a stern expression, stepping toward his son.

"{True Vampire King's Blood Sword Art}: {Seventh Art – Severing Bloodline}!"

SLAAAASH!

"What is…?!?"

Sirius gasped as the strike landed in an instant!

The immense slashing attack—embodying Lucifer's memories of his old friend, Sirius's father—struck true, shattering Sirius's barrier and carving a deep wound across his chest.

It sent him crashing downward into nearby buildings.

BOOOOM!

"Haaa… Haaa…"

Lucifer gasped for breath, coughing black blood as he groaned in pain, glaring at Sirius in the distance.

Sirius rose slowly, still bleeding but radiating incredible power, a calm smile on his face.

"This bastard…!"

Lucifer collapsed. His body began to break apart…

Completely drained, he reverted to his humanoid form, emerging from the husk of his dragon corpse.

"Most impressive…" Sirius approached, wounds still bleeding yet his aura overwhelming. "Your power is incredible, Sir Lucifer. I've decided… I shall turn you into my Vampire Dragon subordinate."

"What?! Stop…! Don't you dare—ACK!" Lucifer screamed as dozens of blood hands surged from the surroundings, seizing his body and forcing his mouth open.

Sirius walked forward, slicing his wrist and letting blood drip.

"Now, even if you don't want to, you will drink my blood and become part of my family!" Sirius laughed, his eyes gleaming with malice.

In that moment, Lucifer realized the young, innocent child he once knew was truly gone.

Sirius had become a monster to survive in a world that accepted only monsters.

He didn't hate him.

He couldn't.

Sirius was merely a victim of a world that crushed the weak.

"You've done considerable damage to me…" Sirius said. "But it's nowhere near enough. Once you become my subordinate—my family—I can steal part of your power and grow even stronger…!"

Sirius smiled as his blood neared Lucifer's lips.

"Now, join my family and—"

BBZZTTT!

"…?!"

CLAAANK!

Sirius instinctively blocked with his Aura as a sharp sword of nightmare and soul essence struck at lightning speed.

If he hadn't heard dragonfly wings a split second earlier, he would have taken real damage.

"It's you."

Sirius glared at his ambusher.

"Maria, right?"

"Don't you know, old man? He's taken. So keep your stinky old fingers away from my husband."

"Hah…"

Sirius laughed, glancing around.

Two more figures appeared.

Behind him—Jonathan.

To his right—Scarlet.

And more…

A small figure rushed to Lucifer, feeding him elixirs.

"Papa! Papa!"

It was Nyx, healing her exhausted father.

Sirius's Blood Hands froze instantly, then dissolved.

Someone of equal mastery over Blood Magic had seized control and shattered the spell in a heartbeat.

Not Maria—but the red-haired woman, Scarlet.

Formerly known as Partner.

After giving up her skeleton and shedding her old identity as a mere familiar, she had been reborn with a new name and a new body.

She had grown so powerful that her Rank now rivaled Maria's.

And Sirius's.

But that wasn't all. The scarred blonde man, Jonathan—missing an arm yet radiating immense strength—had also evolved dramatically.

He had forced his body and soul to refine and forge themselves to an absurd degree.

So even though Sirius had defeated Lucifer, his family had arrived.

Now Sirius stood surrounded by three formidable fighters.

"Hah… Is it just me, or did you all grow stronger during these battles? I can tell—my daughter and my son are dead, hm?" Sirius mused.

"You probably don't care, do you?" Maria asked.

"What? I care about every member of my family!" Sirius replied. "However, sometimes sacrifices are necessary… My two children were the strongest. So yes, I am quite shaken."

"It doesn't look like that to me," Scarlet said, glaring as her Aura surged. She summoned her twin spears—now forged entirely from her Soul, Dream, Nightmare, Shadow, and Blood—fusing them into something akin to Maria's Sword Soul Heart.

-----