I Became A Zompirewolf

Rage gripped Ashton through its claws. Phantom's laughing figure was all he could see as his vision narrowed down to him. However, his laughter wasn't all his ears could capture, as Anna's painful cry kept resounding in his mind.

Ashton's human form proved to be inadequate against Phantom's maximum power. But just like Phantom, Ashton wasn't using his full strength either... at least not in the conventional sense.

The power of an A-grade being was nothing to laugh at. Phantom knew it very well. That's why he was so cocky while attacking Eula's planet and now Earth.

No matter how strong Ashton had gotten, as long as he hadn't achieved the realm of an A-grader, Phantom had nothing to be scared about. Unfortunately for him, his overconfidence made him forget about a crucial detail.

Ashton was no ordinary being. Not putting his Zompirewolf capabilities into consideration, he was still half-Precursor. Drunk over his power, Phantom failed to consider any uncertainties before striking Anna.

In his eyes, attacking Anna was a sure-hot method of making Ashton drop his guard and lose himself to his anger. Once a fighter had lost their composure, even a cochega could kill them.

However, the result was much different from what Phantom had planned. Following Ashton's initial outburst, he showed no signs of losing his cool. If anything, he was more focused on exacting his revenge.

'What will be your next move...'

Phantom kept repeating those words when a wave of darkness shot out of Ashton's shadow and surrounded both men. Within moments, they found themselves in a separate domain.

"Silent Kill Zone," Phantom chuckled, "If I had a Yeno for every time someone had tried stopping me using this skill, I would be... 4 Yenos richer-"

Within moments, the cocky smile plastered all over his face faded. Phantom realised that although it was a skill similar to [Silent Kill Zone], it wasn't the same.

"Afterlife, have you ever thought about what it would feel like to be there?" Ashton coldly mumbled, "I did, and this is the result of my imagination. Think of it like an Astral plane. A world that imitates reality but bends over to fulfil its ruler's wishes."

"..."

Phantom kept observing his opponent through spooky eyes. Having no idea what was going on, there wasn't much he could have done either way. But he was sure of one thing... Ashton wasn't lying.

Both of them were in a different world, or something like that. Although the place looked similar to Earth, it had an eerie aura surrounding it—the aura of death.

"How can this be possible!?" Phantom finally snapped.

What kind of power must a man possess to conjure an alternate world on a whim? Phantom had been to countless planets to take countless souls away but never had he seen or heard someone possessing such a frightening ability.

"You should have known this. If partially killing a Precursor gave him the strength you're known for." Ashton growled, "Now imagine what powers a Precursor's offspring would have?"

The mention of 'Precursor' was enough for Phantom to go wide-eyed. His previous life flashed before his eyes. It was a time when his strength in the universe was laughable, to say the least.

In his desperation for money and fame, Phantom turned into an assassin. But as luck would have it, his abilities were not suited for the job.

After one unfortunate incident, he had to run for his life, and that's when he stumbled across Nirvana. That place was heaven for him. For the first time in his life, people admired his strength.

The undead proposed to conduct tests on him to increase his strength further, and Phantom readily agreed. That's where he met a researcher who was different from the rest.

When Phantom saw the man, his body kept screaming for him to run. However, he had grown tired of running away. Thus, instead of running away, he decided to eliminate the cause of his anxiety.

After planning for a while, he 'killed' the researcher named Johnathan. It was the first time Phantom ever felt the rush of murdering. But that wasn't the only thing he felt as a new power awakened within him. The power which he used to terrorise the entire galaxy for a decade!

A moment later, Phantom threw a fit of laughter. Connecting the dots from what Ashton said, he realised why Ashton was so calm. Unlike what Phantom had imagined, Ashton wasn't fighting him to protect his people; he was fighting to avenge his father's death.

"Oh, the joy!" Phantom exclaimed while wrapping his hands around him, "Haha! The rush... the pleasure I felt from killing that bastard. How long have I been chasing that feeling? For a Decade! Thanks to you, I'll get to relive that moment once again! I-"

Suddenly the world began swirling around right before Phantom's eyes. Being clueless, he assumed he was dizzy, but the truth was much worse.

It wasn't until Phantom hit the ground did he realised something was off. He could see the rest of his body standing still. How could he SEE his body from such an angle? Something was wrong!

"You will feel a rush, alright. But it won't be nothing like you had imagined." Ashton whispered while holding Phantom's head through his hair, "I appreciate your truthfulness, and as a way to thank you, I'll ensure you die in the most horrible way possible."

Saying so, Ashton summoned a skeleton, who came digging out of the ground. At the moment, Ashton was inside [Valhalla]. Usually, any living being would die the moment they stepped foot inside. However, it was different when Ashton was in his Grim Reaper form.

"Wait! What are you-"

Phantom couldn't even struggle as he had been freed from his body using [Disassociation]. He could only watch in horror as Ashton replaced the skeleton's head with Phantom's.

"What else? You're going to torture yourself for all eternity!" Ashton nonchalantly replied.

Even without its head, the skeleton was alive and could function normally. That's why when Ashton gave the command, the skeleton walked up to Phantom's body and began slicing him, one centimetre at a time.

Since Phantom's head had been severed using [Disassociation], he could feel the pain of being sliced alive. But he could only watch on in horror as 'his' new bony arms scored him apart.

But Ashton wasn't done yet. Before departing, he summoned another skeleton, gave him a shit-ton of healing potions, and one instruction.

"Make sure that bastard doesn't die."

The skeleton nodded before joining Phantom in the slicing process.

"Y-You can't do this! AAAARGH! PLEASE, ANYTHING BUT THIS! PLEASEEEEE!"