Reborn as the God-Emperor in Marvel

Solomon carefully observed the woman standing before him.

With his sharp eyesight, he noticed the faint redness in her eyes, the blackened veins around her eyelids appearing like congealed blood. Her hands, crossed in front of her waist, had sharp black nails. Even the orange-red firelight couldn't change the pallor of her skin, which made her crimson lips look even more striking.

The ghost floating behind her bore an identical appearance, down to the same attire.

Even though Solomon had never seen her before, he could roughly guess her identity. In Barnabas' story, she had been mentioned many times. This woman was Victoria, who had been murdered by Angelique and later turned into a vampire by Barnabas. The ghost was surely Josette.

Though both women were long dead, their appearance remained pristine, which explained why Barnabas had never forgotten Josette over the course of two centuries.

Victoria's gaze was cold as she stared at Solomon, filled with hatred and anger—rage toward the one who had hurt her and deep-seated loathing for the living. Her thirst for warm blood was palpable, and all of it was directed at Solomon.

It would only take four seconds to drain him dry.

If Solomon weren't a sorcerer, such a stare would have paralyzed him with fear. No ordinary person could face a creature capable of effortlessly breaking human bones, especially one that drank blood.

Victoria's hatred wasn't without cause. Watching Solomon brutally strike Barnabas had shattered her heart, as well as Josette's.

After using her self-taught powers to whisk Barnabas away, she appeared before Solomon alone, seeking vengeance. Josette, too, shared this desire. The one who cursed Barnabas into vampirism, Angelique Bouchard, was already dead.

Now, this young man had to die as well.

No one could harm a member of the Collins family and live.

The flames from the velvet curtains crawled up to the ceiling, scorching the wooden beams. The corridor filled with the acrid scent of burning protein mixed with the rich aroma of teakwood starting to char.

Yet Victoria showed no signs of panic. She had no intention of speaking either. Instead, she crouched down, picking up Barnabas' cane from the floor.

She grasped the brass head of the cane firmly, holding it like a short club, with the tip angled toward the ground. Though she remained silent, Solomon spoke.

"I intended to kill him before coming for you," he said. "I will send him to where he belongs, and your soul will rest in eternal silence. But I see now that I have another target to send off."

As he spoke, his hands never stopped moving.

He produced a small piece of cured leather and a vial of silver powder, casting specific protective spells upon himself.

Mage Armor would provide him with a layer of defense, even as his muscles ached, while Protection from Good and Evil would shield him from the ghost's possession and fear magic.

So far, every spell Solomon had cast was deliberately chosen.

With the added strength of his Stigmata, as long as he could land a hit on the vampire or the ghost, he could deal significant damage. The magic encasing his fists was drawn from the Vishanti, and positive energy was like poison and acid to the undead.

But Victoria had no desire to talk.

Suddenly, she lunged at Solomon. The whale-bone-supported skirt of her gown did nothing to hinder her movement. The ghost of Josette followed close behind, claws outstretched toward the sorcerer.

Both the vampire and the ghost moved with incredible speed. If Solomon hadn't already mastered part of the Stigmata, he wouldn't have been able to track their movements, especially the ghost, which constantly flickered in and out of sight.

This was a characteristic of ghosts—they could freely shift between the Ethereal Plane and the material world, making them difficult to predict, even for someone with experience.

Solomon swiftly dodged Josette's seemingly harmless caress, only to be met by Victoria's cane strike. His hand shot out, catching the brass head of the cane as it collided with the protective sigil he had quickly drawn in the air, producing a sound like shattering glass.

Another fierce strike followed, but it, too, failed to break through the protective sigil.

Undeterred, Victoria raised the cane high, preparing to swing down with all her strength.

Solomon stepped forward with his left leg, narrowly avoiding Josette's claw. Crossing his wrists in front of him, he blocked Victoria's arm. His left hand flipped, locking his thumb around her cold wrist. His right leg stepped forward, his knee bending into a bow stance, and he drove his elbow upward into the vampire's chest with tremendous force.

"Bang!" The loud impact drowned out the creaking of their footsteps. Victoria was sent hurtling like a cannonball, her speed nearly too fast for the eye to follow. She crashed into the wall three rooms away at the far end of the corridor.

The collision shattered the wooden wall, and Victoria was thrown into the room beyond. Solomon could even hear the sound of furniture being toppled as she landed.

That was the Baji Quan move, Ding Xin Elbow. Not only did it stop the force of Victoria's cane, but it also sent her flying, keeping her fangs away from Solomon. The brass cane had disappeared with her into the darkness of the room.

Solomon wasn't concerned about Victoria returning immediately. Even vampires had to abide by the limits of anatomy. With her spine or ribs injured, Victoria wouldn't be moving for a while.

Suddenly, a horrifying face appeared right in front of Solomon.

The face was a grotesque combination of decaying flesh and peeling skin barely clinging to the rotting muscle underneath. Crooked and broken teeth jutted out, with maggots writhing under the skin. One half-rotten eyeball bulged from its socket, oozing yellow pus. Sparse dark hair barely concealed the decaying scalp and the blackened brain underneath.

A worm cheerfully wriggled out of the brain, raising its head as if to greet Solomon.

But a surge of mental fortitude quelled the fear rising in his heart. Solomon clenched his left hand, and orange-red rings of energy unfurled around him. He twisted his body to the left and slammed the Ring of Raggadorr into the ghost's face.

Before Solomon and the ghost could separate, the sound of scurrying rodents and the rapid flapping of bat wings echoed once again from the other end of the corridor.

Solomon stood his ground and quickly chanted a spell, sending a gust of wind roaring down the hallway. The wind scattered the rats and bats, knocking them to the floor.

As the creatures squeaked in confusion, Solomon leaped backward, diving into the shattered, mirror-like space behind him.

Josette followed him in, and the fractured mirror surface disappeared from the corridor.

Meanwhile, the fire continued to spread. Flames licked up the dry ceiling, causing burning wooden planks to fall to the floor, sending a shower of glowing embers across the hallway. Thick smoke billowed through every crack and gap, pouring out of the windows and filling the dark sky with fiery sparks.

In the garden outside Collins Manor, a circle of sparks suddenly appeared. These sparks formed a ring, from which Solomon emerged.

Josette was left behind in the Mirror Dimension. He would deal with the ghost later. His priority now was to find Barnabas and kill him, for the vampire remained his primary target.

Tonight, the hunt would continue.

___________________

Read Ahead

[email protected]/Mutter