Apocalypse: King of Zombies

The clash of titans was about to begin—the first true battle between two Voidborn Undying.

Gravestone, the Overlord of Southvale, stood tall with confidence. After all, his ace in the hole was still on the way: a horde of millions of zombies marching to his aid. That was his real trump card.

”I want to see just how strong you really are!” he roared, his voice booming like thunder.

Without waiting another second, Gravestone launched himself at Ethan, moving with terrifying speed. His clawed hand clenched into a fist, aiming to land a brutal blow.

But Ethan’s Domain of the Dead flared to life in an instant, its power surging outward like a tidal wave. The very air seemed to freeze, space itself thickening under the weight of his aura.

Inside the Domain of the Dead, Ethan had never met a worthy opponent—not even Serah, the legendary human war goddess, could match him here.

Gravestone felt like he’d just stepped into quicksand. His speed dropped sharply, his momentum grinding to a crawl.

”An Absolute Domain?” he muttered, his expression shifting from aggression to alarm.

Before he could even throw his punch, a sonic boom cracked through the air—Ethan’s fist was already in his face.

Eyes wide with shock, Gravestone barely managed to raise one arm to block. His skin shimmered with a dull yellow glow, hardening like stone just in time.

BOOM!

The impact was monstrous. Gravestone was sent flying backward, skidding over a hundred feet before he finally managed to dig in and stop himself.

The scene was eerily similar to when Gravestone had fought Umbradrake—but this time, the roles were reversed.

”Boss Gravestone!” the other Zombie Kings shouted, their voices tinged with panic. Something felt off. Way off.

The enemy Zombie King—Ethan—was clearly stronger.

”I’m fine! Don’t worry about me!” Gravestone called back, trying to reassure them.

And to be fair, he wasn’t lying. He was still in one piece.

Gravestone’s awakened ability, [Hardened Skin], gave him insane durability and a body built to take punishment. For now, he could handle the hits.

”You... actually have an Absolute Domain?” he asked, still shaken.

That was no small thing. In all of Necroterra, only a handful of Voidborn Undying had achieved that level of power—and every one of them was a terrifying legend.

But this guy? He’d never even heard of him.

Ethan, meanwhile, looked genuinely puzzled. ”Wait, you don’t have an Absolute Domain? Then how the hell did you evolve into a Voidborn Undying? Just by being... hard to kill?”

”...” Gravestone’s face darkened. The contempt in Ethan’s voice was impossible to miss.

He was the Overlord of Southvale, damn it. No one had ever looked down on him like this.

Rage boiled in his chest.

”Die!” he snarled, charging again like a runaway train.

But Ethan wasn’t impressed. In his eyes, Gravestone might’ve made it to SSS-tier, but he was still scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Honestly? He didn’t even measure up to Howard Hawke.

As Gravestone barreled toward him, fist raised high, Ethan didn’t flinch. He met the attack head-on.

Zombie Kings were known for their brutal, no-holds-barred fighting style. Ethan was no exception.

He clenched his fist and swung.

BOOOOM!

The shockwave from the collision was even more intense than before. Gravestone’s entire arm glowed with that same yellow light, now fully transformed into solid stone. His strength had clearly ramped up.

But inside the Domain of the Dead, he was still at a disadvantage. Ethan’s power reigned supreme here.

The counterforce from the clash sent Gravestone stumbling backward, barely keeping his footing.

”Damn it!” he growled through gritted teeth. He had to admit it—inside this Absolute Domain, he was outmatched.

He’d just managed to steady himself when he realized something was wrong.

Ethan was gone.

”What? Where’d he—?”

Before he could finish the thought, Ethan appeared right beside him, moving like a shadow.

With a swift, brutal kick, Ethan drove his foot into Gravestone’s gut.

The blow landed clean.

Gravestone’s massive body folded in half like a crushed can, and he was launched backward like a baseball off a bat. He smashed through several boulders with a series of thunderous crashes, then tumbled across the ground in a cloud of dust before finally coming to a stop.

He lay there, face-down in the dirt, covered in grime and looking like a total wreck.

”Boss Gravestone! You okay this time?” The other Zombie Kings were visibly shaken, rushing over with concern in their voices.

”I... I’m still standing!” Gravestone growled through clenched fangs, his glowing eyes burning with fury as he slowly pushed himself up from the dirt.

You had to give it to him—he could really take a beating.

But after getting slammed around like that, even Gravestone was starting to wise up. He wasn’t charging in recklessly anymore. Now, he was watching Ethan with a lot more caution.

Meanwhile, on Umbradrake’s side, the mood couldn’t have been more different.

”Damn, he’s strong! Look at Gravestone—he’s getting wrecked out there!”

”Totally,” Howler nodded enthusiastically. ”That’s a real Voidborn Undying for you. No joke.”

”Once our boss finishes Gravestone off, we’ll be running Southvale like kings. Hell, maybe we’ll even start raiding other zombie nests again.”

”Uh...”

Howler blinked, a little thrown. Wasn’t he the one who used to hate raiding other nests for livestock? When did that become his thing?

But before he could dwell on it, the sky suddenly darkened. What had been a clear, sunlit battlefield was now cast in shadow. Thick, roiling clouds surged across the horizon, blotting out all three suns.

”Wait... what the hell’s going on?”

Umbradrake’s instincts flared. Something was wrong.

He turned toward the disturbance—and froze.

That wasn’t a storm.

It was killing intent. A suffocating, overwhelming wave of bloodlust, thick enough to blot out the sky. The kind of aura only a massive Zombie Horde could generate.

And then, beneath that dark cloud, they appeared.

Zombies. Thousands—no, millions—of them, pouring across the open plains like a tidal wave of death. Their howls echoed across the land, shrill and maddening, growing louder by the second.

Their faces were bloodstained, twisted with hunger and rage. Some were already rotting, their flesh peeling from their bones after weeks of migration without food.

They were starving. And they were furious.

A sea of the undead, driven by pure bloodlust, was stampeding toward them.

”Is that... Gravestone’s army?” Umbradrake asked, dumbfounded.

”Looks like it,” Howler replied, eyes narrowing as he analyzed the scene.

Umbradrake frowned. ”Why isn’t it our boss’s?”

”Don’t worry,” Howler said quickly. ”Our boss’s forces aren’t weak either. Remember when we hit Solaris Citadel? Those four fusion-type mutant plant Zombie Kings? He wiped them out like it was nothing.”

He paused, a flicker of uncertainty crossing his face. ”Wonder what happened to those guys anyway...”

Umbradrake nodded firmly. ”Yeah. I believe in our boss. He’ll hold the line, no matter how many of them come.”

”...”

On the horizon, the undead tide surged forward, endless and unstoppable. The real battle was about to begin.

Behind Gravestone, his Zombie Kings were already fired up.

”Bring it on! All of you!”

”Let them see the might of Southvale’s greatest Zombie Horde! What can you possibly do against this?”

”Good thing we sided with Boss Gravestone. If we’d gone up against Umbradrake ourselves, we’d be dead meat by now!”

”Damn right...”

The Zombie Kings exchanged glances, a mix of excitement and relief in their eyes.

And as the horde drew closer, Gravestone’s aura surged again, stronger than before. He stood tall, radiating the presence of a true overlord—dominant, unshakable.

”So what if you’ve got an Absolute Domain?” he sneered. ”Let’s see how long you can hold it.”

”I want to see how many you can take on... a hundred thousand? Half a million? A million?”

...