I Got Reincarnated as a Zombie Girl

While space and time in the garden of Persephone’s Castle remained tightly locked to protect the absolute evolution of Sylvia and her two sisters, a far more brutal and noisy reality was unfolding in another dimension.

Earth. Several kilometers beyond the borders of the magnificent and heavily fortified city of Nocture, the landscape of the mortal world still displayed the torn wounds left by the apocalypse. The sky above that dead city was a dense gray, covered by clouds of dust and ash that seemed unwilling to dissipate. Skyscrapers that had once been symbols of human pride were now nothing more than rusted concrete skeletons wrapped in mutated vines.

Yet it was not that dystopian scenery that made the air feel so heavy and suffocating. It was the sound of hoarse growls, the scraping of millions of feet dragging across shattered asphalt, and the thick stench of rotting flesh so dense it could drive ordinary humans to madness.

It was a sea of the living dead. A tidal wave of thousands of wild zombies flooding the streets, sweeping away everything that blocked their path. These were not the orderly undead troops Sylvia usually commanded. They were the remnants of the first Zombie Apocalypse that had swept across Earth miserable creatures infected by a cosmic mutant virus that had transformed them into mindless flesh-eating monsters.

They had been left to roam for far too long, preying on one another, evolving, and mutating until they reached Rank 3, Rank 4, and some among them had even touched the threshold of Rank 5.

And in the middle of that ocean of death that surged like a flood, three girls stood as the sole line of defense, creating their own storm of slaughter.

SWUUUSSHHH!

A pillar of golden light exploded in the middle of the throng, hurling a dozen Rank 3 zombies into the air before their bodies shattered into pieces. At the center of that pillar of light floated a girl whose elegance stood in stark contrast to the hellish scenery around her.

Sofia.

Eight angel wings made of feathers of sacred light spread magnificently across her back, radiating a golden glow that illuminated the dead city. Her blue eyes, which usually shone with gentleness, now burned with sharp determination and killing intent. In her hands, a sacred spear engraved with heavenly characters spun at lightning speed, slashing, thrusting, and cleaving every monster that dared leap toward her.

TRANG! CRAT!

Sofia’s spear pierced the chest of a Rank 4 mutant zombie with blade-arms, tearing through its heart in one fluid motion. The zombie snarled in rage, uncaring of the massive hole in its chest, and continued to charge forward to bite Sofia’s neck.

Unlike undead driven by dark magic or death miasma, these zombies were the product of extreme biological virus mutation. Because of that, Sofia’s Sacred Light element which was normally an absolute curse upon dark creatures and demons did not produce the instantaneous annihilating effect on their physical bodies. Sacred light could not "burn" the virus the same way it burned black magic.

Yet Sofia was no weak girl who relied solely on elemental superiority. If her magic could not burn their bodies, she would use her physical strength that had been forged beyond human limits.

"Shatter," Sofia hissed coldly.

She twisted the shaft of her spear, releasing a physical shockwave that instantly exploded the Rank 4 zombie’s head into a mist of black blood and bone fragments. Together with the destruction of the monster’s head, a fist-sized crystal Zombie Core colored murky purple from viral toxin was flung into the air.

Without wasting time, Sofia’s light wings spread and sent a beam of sacred energy that enveloped the core. This was where her light element shone brightest. Although ineffective at destroying viral flesh, her Sacred Light possessed absolute purification capability. In a matter of seconds, the purple fog contaminating the core was burned away completely, leaving a clear crystal that radiated pure life energy.

Sofia stretched out her hand, caught the purified crystal, and absorbed it at once. A warm current of energy flowed into her veins, restoring her drained stamina and pushing her level limit little by little. In the middle of this relentless, exhausting battle, Sofia’s ability to instantly purify and absorb cores was the key to their survival.

"Celes! Left side! A wave of Hunters (Rank 4) is trying to circle us!" Sofia shouted, her voice amplified by mana so it could be heard above the roar of thousands of monsters.

"Understood," came a flat reply as cold as ice.

On the left wing of their formation, Celes moved like a ghost. The silver-haired girl did not radiate conspicuous light like Sofia, yet she emitted an aura of danger that made the space around her feel unstable. In her hands, a long sword of dense black with silver lines sliced through the air.

It was no ordinary sword, and the element Celes commanded was not conventional. She was the master of the Space Element.

A group of Hunter zombies with agility equal to leopards leaped simultaneously from atop car wrecks, jaws wide open and ready to tear Celes apart. Yet Celes did not even look at them. She simply swung her sword horizontally in a motion that appeared extremely slow yet in reality surpassed the speed of sound.

SREKKK!

There was no sound of metal striking flesh. No explosion. Only a soft sound like silk being torn.

Space in front of Celes split. A jet-black distortion line appeared in the air, separating the dimension itself. The five Hunter zombies that were still mid-air suddenly froze, their momentum stopping unnaturally. The next second, their bodies split into two perfectly symmetrical halves not because they had been cut by a blade’s edge, but because the space in which their bodies existed had been forcibly separated. The body parts fell to the ground, black blood pooling endlessly.

"Spatial Severance," Celes murmured, rotating her wrist. "Left wave cleared for the next ten seconds. Aurellia, don’t hold back your fire, they’re piling up in front."

"You don’t need to tell me, Celes! I’m sick of this stench!" came a reply full of explosive spirit.

On the front line, Aurellia stood with both hands raised toward the sky. Giant magic circles the color of ruby red spun beneath her feet and above her head. The air temperature around the girl rose drastically until the asphalt under her feet began to melt and bubble. Her red hair fluttered wildly, radiating heat equal to a magma core.

"Burn to ash! Hellfire Lotus: Raging Inferno!"

Aurellia slammed both hands forward. A giant wave of fire shaped like a blooming lotus swept across the street. That fire was no ordinary flame; it was a magical fire with a temperature of thousands of degrees Celsius. When the red wave struck the front ranks of zombies, there was no resistance. The bodies of Rank 3 and Rank 4 zombies instantly evaporated flesh and bone burned away before they could even scream in pain.

The road hundreds of meters ahead of them turned into a river of fire, incinerating hundreds of zombies in a single lethal attack. Thick black smoke billowed upward, carrying with it hundreds of Zombie Cores that fell to the ground after their hosts were destroyed.

Sofia immediately beat her wings and flew low over the sea of fire Aurellia had created, releasing a net of light that swept up hundreds of those cores. She purified them all in a single breath, then distributed the pure energy through mana resonance to Celes and Aurellia. The three of them returned to peak condition, ready for the next wave.

This battle was truly brutal. They had fought without rest for three days and three nights.

This was no sudden invasion. These hordes of zombies had been deliberately gathered and herded into this area by the Earth’s Avatar. The planetary guardian entity had made a secret agreement with Sofia. Realizing that Sylvia, her lover, would soon evolve to an extremely high stage (Tier 7), the Earth’s Avatar knew that the threats that would come to Earth in the future could no longer be handled by low-level existences.

The Earth’s Avatar offered a hellish training. It would gather all the most dangerous zombie mutations remaining from the ends of the continent, lock them inside a giant barrier dome together with Sofia, Celes, and Aurellia. The goal was simple: fight, survive, kill them all, absorb their power, and evolve. If they died here, then they were not worthy to stand at Sylvia’s side.

GRAAAUUGGHHHHH!!!

Suddenly, from the direction of the ruins of a shopping mall in the distance, a roar that shook the earth was heard. The roar was so loud it shattered the remaining window glass throughout the city. Extremely heavy footsteps made the ground tremble.

From behind the thick smoke emerged a giant monster. Its height reached fifteen meters, its body covered in swollen rotting muscles and decorated with bone spikes that pierced through its skin. One of its arms had mutated into a giant flesh mace, while the other was covered in dozens of mouths that clicked hungrily.

"Looks like the warm-up is over," Celes said, narrowing her eyes. She wiped a little sweat from her forehead, then raised her sword again. The spatial blade of her sword resonated, producing a high-pitched humming sound.

"Good!" Aurellia laughed with full spirit even though her breathing was already labored. "I need a Rank 5 core to break through the limit of my fire element. This big boss is mine!"

"Don’t be reckless, Aurellia," Sofia warned, landing back on the ground and standing between her two companions. Her sacred spear now radiated a brilliant white aura, enveloping the three of them in a temporary protective dome. "That Zombie Titan is immune to area attacks. Its mutant muscles are designed to absorb elemental damage. If you hit it with ordinary fire, it will only get angrier."

"Then what’s the plan, Leader?" Aurellia asked with a confident grin, turning toward Sofia. Here, on the battlefield without Sylvia’s presence, Sofia had proven herself an exceptional tactical commander.

Sofia’s blue eyes locked straight onto the Rank 5 Titan that was currently brushing aside hundreds of smaller zombies in its path just to reach them. Her mind raced, calculating distance, speed, and the enemy’s defenses.

"We use the Three Points of Destruction formation," Sofia ordered. The beat of her eight wings created a storm of sacred wind that blew the dust around them. "Aurellia, I want you to focus all your fire into a single laser point, not a spread attack. Burn the joint in its right leg and make it kneel."

"Leave it to me," Aurellia brought both palms together. The giant magic circle above her began to shrink, compressing the heat pressure until it reached a critical point.

"Celes, when it loses its balance, I need you to cut the space around its neck. You don’t have to sever it completely. The neck muscles will definitely be very thick but you must destroy the bone defense layer."

"Understood. I’ll prepare Void Guillotine," Celes replied, her figure beginning to fade as if she were merging with the surrounding dimension.

"And I..." Sofia gripped her spear tightly, sacred energy flowing fiercely from her wings toward the tip of the spearhead. "...I will pierce its heart directly and destroy the core from within."

The giant zombie titan was fifty meters away, swinging its flesh mace into the air, preparing to crush the three glowing ants that dared block its path.

"NOW!" Sofia shouted.

Aurellia released her attack. Instead of a giant wave of fire, what emerged from her hands was an extremely thin and dense red beam. Piercing Sun Ray. The super-hot beam shot forward at lightning speed and pierced exactly into the right knee of the Titan. The giant zombie roared in pain as its flesh and bone melted in an instant, causing it to lose balance and fall to one knee with a heavy impact that shook the asphalt.

At the same moment, Celes manifested right above the Titan’s shoulder. Without emotion, she swung her sword downward, targeting the thick neck protected by bone plates.

CRATTT! BOOOM!

Space split, forcing the bone protective layer to shatter into pieces and leaving a gaping tear that sprayed black blood like a fountain. The Titan let out a hoarse scream and tried to swat Celes away, but the girl had already vanished back into a dimensional rift.

Now the enemy’s defenses were wide open.

Sofia shot through the air, breaking the sound barrier. Her eight wings beat powerfully, providing thrust equal to a ballistic missile. She focused every ounce of intent, pain, and determination into the tip of her spear.

Her thoughts drifted for a moment. She remembered Sylvia. Sylvia who always protected her, Sylvia who always carried the heaviest burden, Sylvia who was now enduring agony inside a cocoon as she evolved toward the realm of gods.

If I can’t defeat this scrap monster... how can I stand by your side, Sylvia?

"DIE!!" Sofia roared, releasing every last shred of gentleness in her heart.

Holy Judgment: Spear of Dawn!

Sofia crashed into the giant’s chest. Her spear, now shining dazzlingly like a small sun, pierced through thick muscles, through the Titan’s ribs, and stabbed exactly into the giant black heart where the main core resided.

BOOOOOOMMMM!!!!

An explosion of sacred light burst from inside the Titan’s body. The light was so bright it illuminated the entire dead city, burning every kind of virus and darkness from the inside out. The fifteen-meter-tall giant body froze for a moment before finally cracking and shattering into ash that was carried away by a whirlwind.

A core the size of a human head, deep purple in color, floated downward. Sofia stretched out her hands and released high-level purification light. The Rank 5 core resisted, radiating poison, yet the power of Sofia’s love and determination was far stronger. Seconds passed, the poison vanished, leaving a pure gemstone crystal that pulsed with extraordinarily massive mana.

The moment Sofia absorbed the energy from the Titan’s core, pillars of light enveloped her body, followed by Celes and Aurellia. The system chimed in each of their ears.

Sofia landed gracefully on the scorched asphalt, her breathing labored yet a satisfied smile adorning her lips. Her eight wings faded and retracted into her back. She turned toward Celes and Aurellia, who were also regulating their breathing and wiping enemy blood from their faces. The three of them looked at one another, then smiled a smile of victory from survivors who had passed through hell.

Yet the sea of zombies beyond still remained, thrashing behind the leftover walls of fire. The trial from the Earth’s Avatar was not yet over.

Sofia gripped her spear tightly once more and lifted her gaze toward the gray sky, as if her eyes could pierce dimensions, pierce the cosmic void, and look toward the underworld.

I will keep growing stronger, Sofia thought, her eyes radiating steel-like resolve. I will slaughter every obstacle in my world and cleanse this Earth to welcome your return.

"Wait for me, Sylvia. When you open your eyes... you will see someone worthy of standing by your side."

Sofia lowered her gaze back toward the thousands of zombies beginning to approach. Without hesitation, she spread her eight angel wings once more and shot forward, bringing a new storm of slaughter. This training had only just reached its peak.