Epic of Caterpillar
chapter-742

Annabella Down had been living for more than three hundred years as of now, despite being originally born as a Human, who had an estimated lifespan of 70 to 80 years.

Born in an aristocratic family within the old Athetosea Kingdom, she was only the eighth daughter of a large family, with many of her siblings fighting for the head of the family, earning merit for their father, while also plotting and scheming against their other siblings, it was a chaotic internal battle that commoners would never imagine that those living in luxury would suffer.

Annabella was stepped over many times, however, each time, she learned an important lesson, she slowly bottled up her emotions and weaknesses, becoming cold and calculative, learning from every loss, and becoming more and more wicked and scheming.

She slowly gathered a group of followers, and gathered strength through the practice of forbidden magic, Dark Arts Magic, slowly becoming experienced on its use as she learned from ancient books bought from the connections she held with the Kingdom's Underworld Organizations.

With this power, she learned how to curse, how to make her siblings suffer, and how to put all of them in the worst possible scenarios, making them all end up as the ridiculed ones, attaining revenge as she bathed in their tears.

Her father and mother quickly fell ill due to a 'mysterious' disease, and fearing their deaths, they ultimately made Annabella the head of the Down Family, holding in all the riches and authority of her aristocrat family, she couldn't possibly rest with only that.

Using her Dark Arts Magic and scheming even further, she forced her siblings to marry different families, and slowly encroached such families with her powers, as the years went by, her power and authority grew even further, and she even expanded in the Kingdom's Underworld, holding power both in the surface of this Kingdom and in the world where criminals governed…

Like this, she lived for many years, becoming a feared witch with enormous influence and authority who no one dared to provoke.

Up until a certain point, where things changed slightly…

Annabella received a certain notification within her mind as she slept, alerting her of what was named as a 'Epic Skill'.

She had been given the title of a Champion, named as the Phantom Dark Witch.

With such prowess, her ego grew even bigger, and her influence even more…

Not long after, she met her companions, and the future Legendary Hero of Sun, Sol.

Amongst them, there was also Geraldine, who would grow to be her greatest rival within the attention for Sol, the Hero she had fallen in love with due to his fascinating spirit and heroic prowess.

There was something that awakened within her when she saw Sol do heroic things, something so deep within her macabre soul that she could barely hold herself back.

She wanted him.

She wanted him more than anything.

She wanted him to be hers, to be hers and from no one else!

However, the Maiden of Tundra, Geraldine, was there, as an obstacle…

She might have intimidated the other women within the party, but Geraldine was strong-willed and did not want to let go of Sol's love, which was mutual with hers.

In such terrible jealously, Annabella ultimately schemed a terrible crime, where Geraldine's life was taken in a battle against a powerful Boss, even though it was not supposed to go like this… she had carefully manipulated the battle for this scenario to unfold.

As Sol cried in sorrow and regret while Annabella comforted him, she smiled devilishly, as her scheme had gone even more perfectly than she had ever imagined.

However, even then, the hate against Geraldine remained, as Annabella used her Dark Arts Magic and Phantom Magic to seal Geraldine's soul within the dungeon, leaving her as an eternal prisoner within the walls of such a world…

Afterward, Annabella planned the death of every single member of Sol's party, until the only woman he could see, and love was she… and only she.

Finally having Sol for herself, she lived 'happily' while improving and manipulating her body through her magic and alchemy, attaining new powers, and even forcing a change in her race.

Not long after, several aristocratic families within Athetosea plotted against her, accusing her of being a Demon, and even putting her servants and family against her…

In the end, she furiously set in fire several aristocrat houses, burning alive and eating the souls of all those that had dared to scheme against her.

Afterward, she ran away from the Kingdom alongside her beloved Sol, who she had already brainwashed and made into a loyal slave that could never say 'no' to any of her requests.

Losing several aristocratic houses and their heroes, the Athetosea Kingdom was left weakened, and only the Gods that looked over it, such as Zeus and Athena, slowly nurtured the mortals from there, for new Heroes to be born later.

Annabella ran away from her Kingdom knowing very well that the Gods themselves would not let what she did slide so easily, finding shelter within the Kingdom of Demons, Thanatos, where the Demon Gods led by Thanatos saw her as nothing much, unknowingly protecting Annabella from the Gods that protected Athetosea, who held a strong grudge against her for the horrors she committed.

After a few years, through her experiments, Annabella became a Demoness, forcing an evolution into her own body, and losing her humanity completely.

Sol, who had lost his life when his lifespan ended, was revived as an Undead, and even more loyal servant for Annabella's desires.

And though dozens of years, she slowly gathered the corpses of her fallen comrades once more, raising them as Undead, except Geraldine, which she could not find due to the complexity and difficulty of the Dungeon where she was sealed by her.

Creating a new concoction that forced a powerful reaction in Undead, she forcefully evolved Sol's zombie into a powerful Fallen Undead Hero, gaining an incredibly powerful ally.

And at the same time, she herself gained a new Title through her long Epic, becoming a Heroine herself, despite not being a Human anymore.

After that, she showed the Kingdom and its royal families her inventions and powerful army of Undead, being recognized as a strong mortal, she was made to the 15th Demon General, gaining the Title of 'Wicked Necrophile' due to her forbidden love with the Zombie of Sol, something that disgusted even the Demons of Thanatos Kingdom.

As one of her first missions as the new Demon General, Annabella was sent alongside all of the other Demon Generals towards an invasion against the Dark Moon Empire of Monsters, a new Empire that had been born recently, which had reached enormous things in less than a year since being formed…

Seeing it as a little adventure with her lover, she could have never expected for her to have been suddenly caught in a one-sided battle against ridiculously powerful beings, Kireina's allies and children.

For a long time, she always thought of herself as someone powerful… and even more now that she had reached a new height of power as a Heroine and also as a Demon General, alongside her powerful Undead Husband Sol…

However, things were different, quite different.

The moment Annabella saw mechanical titans flying in the sky and releasing enormous lasers and proton cannons was when she almost lost it…

And just after that, she was trapped in a world of phantoms and ghosts out of nowhere alongside her party.

She was left baffled, as what greeted her wasn't an army that could go against her own army of Undead Demon Generals from ancient times that were brought from Thanatos' graveyards, but just a group of a few demi-humans.

However, their strength fairly exceeded that of her army, and even more the one giant Lamia with white hair and scales, smiling calmly from the back as she saw the others fight for her…

She was indeed Amiphossia, who had schemed to finally meet with Annabella, one of the people that had brought a lot of suffering to one of her close friends and servants, Geraldine.

She knew all about her and how she was coming to her thanks to Kireina's Slime Clones, who had spied the Thanatos Kingdom in the past and had gathered info about Annabella, ultimately recognizing her within the armies and quickly alerting of her presence to Amiphossia, who quickly brought Geraldine and the rest of her party with her.

"Welcome, Annabella… Oh, it seems that you got an army of Undead! Although my friends are doing wonders with it, maybe I should also invite my hundreds of friends? Fufu…" laughed Amiphossia, extending her powerful Divine Phantasmal Soul, and releasing hundreds of Specters, Ghosts, Wails, Skeletons, and other Undead creatures, raining over Annabella's army as she despaired!

"T-This… What kind of being are you?! Such power…! TO be capable of storing so many Undead inside of your soul… What are you, a Goddess?!" asked Annabella, she was frustrated, enraged, and frightened!

"A Goddess? Fufu, mommy always says that I am not yet one…" laughed Amiphossia, as she carefreely glanced at the battle unfold.

Annabella gnashed her teeth in rage and frustration, as she stepped back and sent her strongest servants, Sol, the former Hero of the Sun, the Fierce Huntress of the Forest, the Holy Priestess Warrior, and the Serene Lady of the Ocean, the rest of Sol's party that was killed by Anabella's plots and schemes, which were raised as undead with their original souls and bodies, but their minds were being suppressed and controlled by Annabella's Dark Arts, Phantom, and Soul Magic.

"Go!" said Annabella, as she created several defensive spells and fired powerful phantom spheres, dark spears, and other attacks against the army of Undead that ran towards her with not the best intentions.

However, instead of easily defeating them, the former legendary party raised into Undead was quickly blocked by Amiphossia's strongest friends.

A young and handsome human (former) bot with shiny blonde hair and aquamarine eyes stopped the wrathful rampage of Sol, Evan, the Hero of the Dark Moon Kingdom, and the fiancée of Amiphossia.

"It will be an enriching experience to fight a senior such as yourself, Sol-sama. Please, go easy on me," said Evan with a smile filled with strong conviction.

"You… Your Aura… A Hero? Interesting… Very well then…" said Sol, muttering words that Evan could barely understand as the Undead Hero quickly rushed towards Evan while being covered in countless blue and purple flames!

Clash! Clash! Clash!

Evan's Durandal clashed against Sol's Bone Blade, as both powerful light and dark flames exploded against each other, the enormous power that both held was big enough to generate shockwaves all across the battlefield.

"Evan, don't push yourself!" said Durandal, the talking sword of Evan as Evan smiled, filled with the exhilaration of fighting one of the former Heroes that shaped the history of Athetosea, Sol!

"You say that, Durandal… But I cannot help myself… His techniques, his strength, his masterfulness over the blade… And even as an Undead, he is resisting my Light Attribute like nothing…! I have always dreamed to test myself against another Hero other than my brother… This is finally the opportunity to break through my limits!" said Evan, his aquamarine eyes shining brightly as his blade clashed against Sol's Bone Blade, both releasing light and darkness, a catastrophic fight even for Gods…!

"That boy… Who is he?! How can he keep up with Sol?! I have used enough potions on Soul for him to reach the pinnacle of the mortal hood, and he had even exceeded that limit fairly commonly…! Is he… a Legendary Hero!?" asked Annabella in surprise, as she fended off several Ghosts and Phantoms.

She quickly realized that the rest of Amiphossia's party was also taking care of the other three powerful Legendary Party Members with ease.

"Don't lose focus, Sesshomaru!"

"I should tell that to you, Seishin!"

Seishin, the Twelve Limbed Phantom Wolf, and Sesshomaru, the Nine-Tailed Phantom Fox fought against the Fierce Huntress of the Forest, using their blades in quick succession and surprising the arrow-wielding Undead Elven girl with powerful techniques that combined both their sheer strength and also their Phantom Aura.

"Fuyu-chan, back me up!"

"Foo, foo!"

Shirohibe, the Lamia-type Phantasmal Yokai, and Fuyu, the Mythical Winter Fox, fought fervently against Holy Priestess Warrior, as Shirohibe combined her powerful Phantom Magic alongside her Phantasmal Poison to slow down the priestess movements, while Fuyu released a storm of ice spears for the offense.

"Finally, a worthy opponent!"

And Athos, the Sword Dragon Princess battled against the powerful Serene Lady of the Ocean, resisting her enormous streams of concentrated water with her fiery blaze that easily evaporated it alongside her masterful ability to transform into a sword back and forth, surprising the Undead.

Amiphossia smiled, as Annabella clenched her teeth…

However, suddenly a figure came from the skies, crashing against her barriers and breaking them all apart with a combination of black thunder and phantasmal flames!

CLASH!

"Nnnghh?! Another… one?!" asked Annabella in anger, glancing at the shadow behind the magic smoke.

It was an adorable cat girl with a powerful physique… however, amongst such a different appearance, Annabella could clearly sense it… her eyes shined brightly with the same feeling, and even her Aura was like that of her!

"You…!? YOU?! From all things… GERALDINE?!" she roared, in complete disbelief.

"Oh yeah, that's my name…! Long time no see, Annabella! Do you like my new look? I love yours!" laughed Geraldine.