"Cough, cough."
After opening her eyes, the woman was confused. She felt her entire body hurting as if a stampede of beasts had run her over.
Looking around, she couldn't identify nor remember where she was.
"Where am I?"
Her eyes widened sluggishly as the tone of her own voice sounded so hoarse and damaged that it made her gut twist.
"My voice-."
She quickly stopped speaking and thought. 'What happened to my voice? No, what happened to my entire body? Why does it hurt so much? System?'
The woman, Sarah, asked in her head, but to her confusion, nobody answered.
"Oh? You are awake?"
A gentle and ethereal voice reached her ears, making her body shudder. 'Such a pleasant voice.'
With a somewhat blurry sight, she lifted her head and looked at the woman. Her appearance instantly stole her breath away.
The woman looking at her wore white and green royal clothes of an oriental nature, and her hair was as white as snow. Her two phoenix eyes commanded respect, and the ghostly green color gave an eerie but captivating aura.
The gentle-looking and ethereal woman smiled softly, lighting up the dark surroundings with her unreal beauty. "Hello, my esteemed name is Jian Ying Yue, the [Undead Empress], one of the strongest undead under the Death Empress's absolute command. Her Majesty, the Death Empress, has personally informed me to take care of you and heal your wounds until she halts her closed-door cultivation session. After all, she was preparing to break through, but she interrupted her session to welcome you."
'Take care of me? Welcome me? Why-.'
Then, like a film playing at forward speed, the events that happened previously flashed through her head.
The woman's honey-colored eyes widened. "Right, I was fighting Yasenia… My arm!"
She quickly looked down, but to her surprise, she had both arms. Moreover, her voice also seemed to have significantly recovered. 'Was I hoarse because I just woke up?'
As she thought that, a question reached her ears.
"Hm? Fighting who?"
The pretty brown-haired woman, Sarah, looked up and saw that the gentle smile of the woman who called herself Jian Ying Yue had widened. 'Is she worried?'
Feeling goodwill toward her, she quickly begged the gentle-looking woman. "P-Please, help me save some people! I swear I'll return the favor no matter how much it costs me!"
Sarah saw the otherworldly beauty look at her intensely. Then, she asked again, strangely focusing on one point. "Who did you say that you were fighting?"
Sarah blinked, confused. "Someone called Yasenia. B-But that's not important; I need to save my lovers from her! If I'm late, she might kill them!"
The white-haired woman pondered and then smiled. "Let's focus on your opponent. Remember that I haven't been told anything, so I need to understand your situation a bit before I do anything. You said she was called Yasenia? Can you describe her for me?"
Confused, Sarah asked. "Will this help with my request?"
Jian Ying Yue laughed, her ghostly green eyes shining with profound emotions. "Of course, even if you want me to go somewhere, I need an anchor or something to search for that place, right?"
Sarah's eyes shone with realization. "I see. Well, Yasenia is a dragon woman. She is very tall, at least a head taller than you. Then… She is very voluptuous, with golden slit eyes and long midnight-black straight hair! Oh, right, she has a long blue-colored dragon tail with golden rings, and the tail sparkles white lights."
Jiang Ying Yue's smile widened as Sarah spoke.
"Oh." She uttered.
Sarah blinked, not knowing what that sound even meant.
"Out of curiosity, how are things between you and her?"
Unable to read anything from the woman's smiling face, Sarah frowned and said with hatred. "S-She killed my lovers! Although I used a trump card, I don't know if I managed to kill her. However, I know that I-."
"Kill her? You almost killed her?"
Sarah stopped speaking after being sharply interrupted and looked back at the otherworlder woman. "Yes. My memories are fuzzy, but I know that she received an attack that heavily injured her. It would be best if she had died from the wounds, but I'm not sure. Listen, Lady Jian Ying Yue, that woman is trying to kill my lovers, so I need to help them quickly. Can you aid me? I can feel that you are a powerful person!"
"Fufufu, help you? Ah… Right. I'll help you. Follow me."
Sarah quickly stood up, and her face was filled with wonder. 'My wounds are all healed? Did the one called Death Empress help me? She must have used very precious medicine.'
Sarah couldn't help but feel grateful, and she hastily followed Jian Ying Yue. "Lady Jian Ying Yue, can you give my thanks to Your Majesty the Death Empress? After all, the wounds on my body were not light."
Jian Ying Yue answered her without turning back. "Don't worry. It was I who healed your body. I didn't use much effort. However, what did you use to become that injured? Was the thing that allowed you to fight with the little princess- Cough, with that dragon?"
Sarah frowned at the "little princess," but a small energy wave rippled through her, making her ignore those words and answer honestly. "Yes, if I remember correctly, I gained peak-level Dantian Spiritualization realm cultivation and attacked Yasenia with it. If it weren't because two people interrupted, she would've probably been instantly killed."
"Hahaha, I see. It seems that doing it normally will be too merciful."
Sarah was confused. "Merciful?"
"Don't worry about it. We are reaching the main halls. Remember to keep your head down until you are told to lift it. The Death Empress's mood is very fickle, and she can kill if something or someone bothers her."
Sarah nodded. "I see. Thank you for the advice, Lady Jian Ying Yue."
The beautiful Undead Empress answered with a gentle laugh. "Don't worry. I don't think she will kill you even if you ask for it. I'll make sure to protect your life. I want to stay a long time with you, after all."
Sarah tilted her head, not understanding. "Why?"
Jian Ying Yue kept silent until they reached a pair of titanic gates, mainly black colored with bright green tones in the decorations, which followed the theme of everything else she had seen until now.
White marble floors, black walls with green decorations, very tall ceilings, and many undead-like decorations, with dragon-like newer decorations.
Sarah could tell that those draconic decorations had been placed recently as if they were commemorating something. 'Hm? That dragon form… It looks familiar?'
Jian Ying Yue's voice interrupted her. "Sarah, right?"
"Y-Yes, senior!"
Her eyes refocused on the woman placing her dainty hand on the gates that dwarfed hills.
"The reason I don't want you to die anytime soon will be revealed once you step inside and manage to see the Death Empress. Don't worry, and be brave. I promise you won't die."
Sarah nodded, feeling a bit nervous, and then her eyes widened as Jian Ying Yue lightly pushed open the gates that looked heavier than a mountain. 'S-So strong.'
The cracking of doors opening was the only sound for a few seconds, and Sarah looked down, remembering what Jian Ying Yue had said.
GONG~.
"Enter."
It was a single world, but Sarah felt like she had become small. She felt so tiny that calling her insignificant would not be inappropriate.
The power, authority, and tyrannical presence behind the cold, elegant voice made her heart thump with fear.
Not daring not to listen, Sarah walked forward.
She didn't know if to stop walking or not, but she kept walking forward, just in case.
The steps of Jian Ying Yue helped alleviate her nervousness since she heard them closely following behind her.
After walking forward for fifteen minutes, someone spoke.
"Halt."
The same cold voice ordered, and Sarah obeyed.
"Hm? Why are you looking down?"
Sarah didn't know how to answer, but the same cold and elegant voice muttered.
"Ah. I see. It was Ying Yue who told you. Well, it was unnecessary, but keep your head down for now."
"Y-Yes, your majesty!"
"Hm… Well, first of all, what is the last thing you remember?"
Sarah was confused but answered nonetheless. "I used a very powerful skill to fight an enemy, fainted, and appeared here."
"I see. It was you who triggered it… So, it wasn't lying…"
Sarah heard the mutters, but she didn't dare ask. The pressure coming from the place before her was the highest she had ever felt, even dwarfing one of the scariest moments in her life created by Yasenia's mother. 'T-This person is too powerful.'
"Well, I'm relatively powerful. But depending on who looks at me, I'm also relatively weak."
'Huh?'
"Surprised? A little Unification Realm expert, you didn't think that you could hide your thoughts from me, right?"
"I-I don't dare." Sarah's entire body erupted in cold sweat.
"You fear me, good. Well, let's stop here. I've heard what I wanted. Lift your head."
Sarah gulped and slowly lifted her head slowly.
First, the white marble floor was covered in an elegant black carpet with beautiful patterns extended forward.
No one was in the massive hall, so only the luxurious accessories and decorations entered Sarah's eyesight.
Her eyes met with a staircase, and she followed that staircase upward, finally landing on a complex and beautiful white, black, and green throne.
In the middle of the throne, with a contrasting red royal dress, a single woman sat leaning her face on her fist and looking at her with a pair of freezing red-colored eyes. On her hand was a strange orb that twisted the space around it. It was trying to move but was unable to.
"Eh?"
The lips of the woman sitting on the throne arched, and she asked. "Surprised?"
Sarah's brain stopped functioning for a good while. She didn't understand why the person before herself was someone who shouldn't be here.
Sarah blinked, and the woman who was far away appeared right in front of her eyes.
The gorgeous red royal robes fluttered without wind, and a tiara-like crown rested on top of her head. The aura around her was so powerful that the air twisted with just her mere suppressed presence.
Those ruby-like eyes released red light from the outer corner that trailed behind her while her red lips parted slightly as she looked down at her.
The face before her eyes, while it was the same she had seen before, was also incomparable.
So beautiful, so charming.
In Sarah's life, nothing could be compared to the beauty of the person coldly looking at her, not even Yasenia. There was an extra layer of beauty that eclipsed any physical appearance.
'Perfection? No, it's above that. A face crafted by a God to represent elegance, power, and beauty.'
If someone needed to describe Tatyana's natural beauty, the adjective "Violently gorgeous" would fit perfectly.
(Author Note: I've made Tatyana's image public since it will become a cover image shortly. It's also very fitting for the current situation~. pa tre on.com/posts/death-empress-69287914 )
Tatyana spoke flatly. "Sarah. Your first mistake was trying to court my daughter. Your last mistake was hurting my daughter. From now on, you'll become my Undead, with your soul and consciousness trapped within, being unable to do anything for as long as I live. Your fate is eternally becoming one more undead of my endless army."
Sarah's eyes opened widely, finally snapping out of her trance. Then, she stuttered with fear corroding her insides. "W-Why!? I-I don't deserve this!"
Tatyana lifted her elegant eyebrow. "So what?"
Sarah blinked, stunned. "Huh?"
Tatyana smiled, a profoundly evil light flashing from her eyes. "So, what if you don't deserve it? If I want you dead, that's your Fate. You can do nothing to prevent it."
Sarah took a step back and blurted. "T-That's not fair! Y-You can't do that. I-It was all Yasenia's fault! If she didn't seduce me at first, I wouldn't have approached her!"
Tatyana followed Sarah's steps, making her trip with the heaviness of her gaze, and looked down at her indifferently. "You still seem not to understand. I care not about whose mistake it was. I couldn't care less about how things reached this point. You attacked Yasenia with the intention to kill, and Yasenia wants you dead. That's enough for me to kill you. I'll teach Yasenia whatever she did wrong… But after I deal with you."
Tatyana lifted her hand holding the crackling orb and spoke. "The fact that you almost killed Yasenia after trying to capture her with this disgusting system is just an extra. To put it bluntly…" The Death Empress looked at Sarah with her indifferent red eyes. "Your existence is a bother."
Sarah was trying to make distance while crawling back, and she quickly tried to stand up and flee once she understood that she couldn't escape.
Her face landed on a white and green dress, forcing her to a stop. Looking up, Sarah saw Jian Ying Yue's face. Desperate and with no other way out, Sarah screamed. "L-Lady Jiang Ying Yue, y-you told me that you wouldn't let her kill me. Please save me!"
Jian Ying Yue laughed gently. "Stupid woman. I told you I wouldn't allow her to kill you because I want you to suffer for eternity. How dare you place your filthy paws in my little princess? I can't wait to pamper her until she becomes a spoiled and happy little girl, and you dare almost kill her?"
Her ghostly green eyes leaked flames filled with Death energies as she uttered in a nightmarish phantasmal voice. "Don't fear Lady Death Empress because the one you will have to be the most afraid of is me."
Before Sarah could speak more, a beautiful hand with long fingers pierced her back and burst from the front. Then, leaning over her shoulder, Tatyana muttered. "Now, it's time for you to join me. [Innate Skill: Death Phantom]."
"AHHH!!!!!"
Extremely pure Death energies consumed her entire body, and pain, unlike any other, filled her whole being.
However, different from what usually happened in the past, her flesh didn't fall off her bones, becoming skeletal Undead. Instead, it was reinforced by Tatyana's resentment toward her.
Sarah's strength skyrocketed, and her body burst with an aura comparable to the one released from the system's outburst.
Jian Ying Yue smiled. "Oh? A new general-class undead. Two more additions in quite a short time. First, it was that Alyssa, and now, it is this one."
Tatyana retrieved her hand from Sarah's chest, and the flesh quickly healed, becoming pristine. Moreover, Tatyana's hand was spotless. "How is Alyssa doing?"
Jian Ying Yue answered. "She is about to enter the Transcendence Realm."
Tatyana frowned. "So weak?"
Jian Ying Yue nodded. "She is quite untalented, even as a general class."
Tatyana said coldly. "Useless even after Death."
Meanwhile, Sarah's hair and skin quickly discolored, becoming pale white, and her honey-colored eyes changed to ghostly green. Then, her brown hair became white, and her body temperature plummeted.
Afterward, the Dantian was invaded by Death energies and resentment, enhancing her five attributes with the Death attribute and changing her blood essence to undeath essence.
Finally, the corpse gained a new soul, and Sarah's soul became the core of that new soul, feeding it with the essential knowledge to know how to move the body.
"Sarah" opened her eyes slowly and looked at her hands mechanically, looking around curiously with her new ghostly green eyes right after. After seeing Tatyana, without caring about the hole in the middle of her clothes that showed her breasts, she went to one knee and spoke in an emotionless voice.
"Long live the Death Empress!"
Tatyana turned around and ordered coldly. "Train her as a Shadow Undead. Since she hated my little treasure so much, I'll make her become Yasenia's personal bodyguard when my love returns to the Sky Continent until she is useless. After that… Do as you please with her."
Jian Ying Yue gently bowed. "The Death Empress's orders are eternal, and we shall obey."
Tatyana then vanished and entered her cultivation room. She looked at the orb in her hands, not knowing what to do with it. "I extracted the system, but using or destroying it is impossible without angering the heavens to the point that it will become bothersome…"
Tatyana tried to suck energy from it out of curiosity and felt a non-negligible amount of Fate energy entering her body.
The Death Empress blinked, and her indifferent face changed to one filled with curiosity. "Oh?"
She gently absorbed that energy for a few seconds while inspecting if it had any influence on her. 'There is nothing. It's a very pure Fate energy… Primordial Fate energy?'
She calmly sat cross-legged and closed her eyes, placing the system between her hands. "Now, I need to continue gathering energies for my breakthrough. If I use this and the thing doesn't stop giving me energy, I will need about 40 more years instead of 100… Well, since there are no drawbacks, let's try it."
After that, torrential waves of Death and Fate energy rushed toward her from everywhere in her domain.
In just a second, Tatyana had absorbed enough energy to make an average cultivator go from a mortal straight to the Transcendence realm.
In higher realms, the energy required to overcome levels became staggering.