I Got Reincarnated as a Zombie Girl - Chapter 318

Chapter 318: Chapter 314 – Waves of Souls and Colliding Flames
The screaming did not stop.

It no longer sounded like human voices, nor the lament of individuals. The cries had fused into a single vast echo, layered upon itself, overlapping until their original shapes were lost. The sea around Alicia was no longer just water and shadows, but a dense mass of emotions that had never reached an end.

The souls grew more frenzied.

They spiraled around Alicia like a storm vortex, vague faces twisted by losses that had been carried for far too long. Some tried to pierce her soul-light. Others crawled along the surface of the water, transparent hands grasping at emptiness as if trying to drag Alicia down with them.

Alicia gasped.

Her soul-light remained stable, still firm, but the pressure was rising rapidly. These were no longer just wandering spirits. This was the accumulation of thousands of memories that refused to be forgotten.

“…You’re really stubborn,” she muttered, her voice trembling slightly not from fear, but from empathy pushed too far. “I said I hear you.”

A massive soul surged upward from below, slamming into the layer of light and hurling Alicia several meters into the air. The sea shuddered, water split apart, and the screams climbed another octave.

On the shore, Sylvia stepped half a pace forward.

Her death aura stirred softly, old instincts whispering that this had crossed the line of safety. The chains beyond the empty space trembled, ready to emerge if summoned.

“Alicia,” Sylvia called, her voice calm but lower. “Do you need help?”

Alicia turned her head. Her translucent face looked exhausted, yet her eyes remained clear. She gave a crooked smile, the familiar one that always appeared once she had made up her mind.

“No,” she answered shortly. Then her tone sharpened. “Besides… your opponent has already arrived.”

Sylvia lifted her gaze. And the sea… answered.

The churning surface froze instantly.

Not calming. Not settling. But locking into readiness like thousands of soldiers falling silent at once, waiting for a command.

Then, far out in the distance, the sea rose.

Not by wind. Not by quake.

The water lifted as if drawn upward by an invisible, colossal hand. A wall of liquid as tall as a mountain slowly rose, blotting out the golden sky of the gods’ realm. The silhouette of Nerys’s temple vanished behind the ever-thickening mass.

Sofia held her breath. “That’s… not an ordinary wave.”

Stacia studied the flow of time around the phenomenon, her expression hardening. “The water isn’t moving by fluid dynamics. It’s being compressed by will.”

The little treant pressed closer to Sylvia’s head, its branches trembling.

Plop…

(Big…)

Sylvia let out a slow breath.

“…Nerys,” she murmured.

The name was not spoken as a challenge. Nor as excessive reverence. Just acknowledgement like naming the sea before sailing.

The colossal wave continued to rise, its crest shimmering dark green. Within it, silhouettes of souls could be seen moving, dragged upward, merging with the water like memories that could not be released.

Spiritual pressure slammed into the shore.

Sand lifted. Stones cracked. The air grew damp and heavy, filled with the scent of salt and ancient sorrow.

Sylvia stepped forward one more pace.

“Alicia,” she said without looking back. “Get ready. I’ll split it.”

Alicia gave a short laugh, even as her soul-light trembled. “I figured you wouldn’t be patient.”

Sylvia did not answer.

She simply closed her eyes for a brief moment.

In her right hand, Death Flame formed a dense black fire, cold, absorbing the light around it. Silent. Controlled. A flame that did not burn, but ended.

In her left hand, she summoned the fire that had recently become part of her.

War Sun Flame.

White fire blazed brightly, far hotter than ordinary flame, yet not blinding. It shone with extreme density, like a sun compressed into her grasp. Korthan’s war aura still lingered within it, but now it obeyed, pulsing in rhythm with death.

The two flames stood side by side.

White and black.

Two laws that should have erased one another… now held by a single entity.

Sofia unconsciously clutched Sylvia’s cloak. “Syl…”

“I know,” Sylvia replied quietly. “I’ll control it.”

She opened her eyes.

Mana flowed.

Not in a wild surge, but in a precise measured stream, like someone pouring liquid into a mold they understood perfectly. The two flames intensified, condensed, and the world around Sylvia began to tremble.

Stacia stepped half a pace back, instantly erecting layers of temporal protection around them. “The pressure’s spiking. Prepare.”

Alicia pulled back slightly from the soul vortex, giving space. “Alright. Your stage.”

The wave was ready to fall.

Within the mass of water, a vague face began to form not a physical face, but an accumulation of expressions layered together: sorrow, anger, loss, regret. A face born from thousands of drowned souls.

A voice echoed not from a single point, but from the entire sea.

“DEATH… WHY HAVE YOU COME?”

The tone was not angry.

It was tired.

Sylvia raised both hands.

“To walk,” she answered simply.

Then she released.

BOOMMMMM!!!

Death Flame and War Sun Flame shot forward together, two spears of fire spiraling around each other as they flew. The air between them distorted violently. Temperature spiked and plummeted in fractions of a second.

When the two flames struck the wall of water… the world shattered.

The explosion was not spherical, but layered destruction peeling outward in strata. The water did not instantly vaporize; it was forced to boil from within, fracture into energy fragments, then explode again.

WHOOOOOOOOSH!!!

Steam blasted in all directions under brutal pressure. The impact sound was muffled by the density of water and flame colliding. White and black light fused, reflecting within the thick vapor like lightning trapped in clouds.

The entire region was swallowed by scalding mist.

Vision vanished.

Sound vanished.

Only vibration remained, crawling through land, sea, and air.

Sofia held her breath, her hands shaking. “Sylvia…”

Stacia focused on maintaining the temporal layers, a thin sheen of sweat forming at her temples. “The blast… is controlled. But the impact is massive.”

The little treant covered its eyes with its branches.

Plop…

(Hot…)

Within the steam, something moved.

The vapor slowly parted, like curtains drawn aside by an unseen ocean current. A calm, deep green light emerged from behind the fog like the eye of the sea finally opening.

And the voice sounded again.

Closer.

Clearer.

“Fire and death…”

“You disturb my sea.”

Sylvia stood upright in the center of the steam, both hands still faintly glowing with the remnants of black and white flame. Her hair fluttered gently in the heated currents, her gaze fixed forward.

“I know,” she replied.

The steam thinned further.

And before them, the silhouette of a woman formed from the water itself, her body seemingly carved from the sea, her hair flowing like waves, her eyes reflecting thousands of memories that never slept.

Nerys finally revealed herself.

Nerys did not step forward.

She sat.

Atop the wave that should have collapsed after the explosion, the sea instead held itself together, forming a darkly gleaming throne of liquid. The water beneath her ceased its turmoil, as if aware that what rested above was not a burden, but a center.

Her hair was deep blue not sky-blue, but the color of the deepest sea never touched by light. Each strand moved slowly, following currents only she could hear. Her eyes… were black. Not empty black, but bottomless vortices, as if gazing into everything that had ever sunk and never returned.

Even Sylvia… felt a chill.

This was not a god who shouted or forced her will. This was a goddess who had waited for thousands of years and forgotten nothing.

Sylvia took half a step forward.

Her death aura whispered outward, Death Flame and War Sun Flame responding reflexively, ready to flare again. The sea around her feet retreated slightly, as if avoiding contact with something it did not wish to touch. Before she could advance further, Sofia caught her hand. The touch was gentle, but firm.

“Syl,” she said softly.

Sylvia turned. “I can…”

“No,” Sofia cut in, still gentle, but carrying an unusual firmness. “This time… not you.”

Sylvia frowned slightly. “Our elements are…”

“…connected,” Sofia continued, meeting Sylvia’s eyes. “And precisely because of that, they oppose each other.”

She released Sylvia’s hand and stepped forward, placing herself between Sylvia and the sea.

“Death and the ocean,” Sofia said. “Both accept. Both preserve. Both are unhurried.”

Nerys did not move. The wave beneath her pulsed slowly, as if listening.

“If you advance,” Sofia continued, “this will become an endless tug-of-war. You cannot ‘end’ the sea. And the sea cannot ‘swallow’ death.”

Sylvia fell silent.

She knew it was true.

Sofia drew a deep breath.

“Let me.”

She stepped forward again.

Her eight white wings spread fully not in a burst of light, but in a smooth, majestic motion. The wings were layered in soft radiance, each feather reflecting a glow like the morning star. An aura of life and protection spread from her body, pressing against the humidity without banishing it.

The sea… reacted.

The water around Sofia shimmered instead of retreating. Small waves formed, rotating gently, as if recognizing something distinct from death.

Alicia held her breath. “Sofia…”

Stacia watched intently. “…This is the right choice.”

Sofia did not look back. Her gaze remained fixed on Nerys.

“I don’t step forward because I’m more suitable,” she said, her voice clear and strong. “I step forward because I don’t want to be a burden anymore.”

Her wings trembled softly.

“All this time, I’ve always been behind. Protected. Saved,” she continued. “I’m grateful… but I don’t want to stand beside Sylvia as someone who’s always pulled out of danger.”

She clenched her fist.

“This time, I’ll stand in front.”

Nerys finally moved.

Not rising. Not attacking.

She tilted her head slightly, blue hair shifting with the current. Her voice sounded like distant waves touching the shore at night.

“Light of life…”

There was no mockery in her tone.

No disdain.

Only… evaluation.

“Why do you choose to stand before me?”

Sofia lifted her chin.

“Because I want to prove,” she answered firmly, “that I am worthy to walk beside death not as a shadow, but as a partner.”

The sea pulsed more strongly.

The wave beneath Nerys rose slightly, then stopped. The vortices in her eyes rotated slowly, as if calculating countless possibilities.

“…Resolve,” Nerys whispered.

“It has been a long time since I saw it without despair.”

Sylvia watched Sofia’s back.

For the first time… she did not step forward.

She entrusted this field to someone else.

The little treant raised its branch softly.

Plop.

(Go, Sofia.)

The air above the sea tightened. Not because war was about to begin. But because judgment was underway. And if Sofia failed, this would not just be a battle she lost It would be her right… to stand beside Sylvia… that was at stake.