Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

"You really are letting those two struggle, I thought it was exaggeration but those poor undeadlings are really left on their own" bony feet walking upon pure iron, one hand behind the back, the other holding on a jagged, rocky staff, the end of it tapping alongside the skeleton's steps, a slight crack still lingering upon his skull, every bones clearly dusty and ancient.

Dressed in a brand new brown robe, with white and black stripes decorating its surface, once bare hands now decorated by rings of silver and precious metals rich with elemental earth mana, a simple brooch upon the chest, denoting this undead's particular rank as a personal guard of the king.

Indeed, the old robe deeply infused with dust and other floating particles had been ditched, as the undead workshops sprouted all over the land, as materials were developed, cultivated en masse in the greenhouses of Yuolrt, generated at neck breaking speeds in mountains ripe with iron and other materials, the undead empire had experienced an explosive, enormous economic and productive boom after conquering the entirety of Viridis, only further growing as expansion continued, the biome-creating and immaculate landscaping methods of the dead allowed for unending, eternal ressources to flow in, leading to an uninterrupted chain of harvesting, processing and creation.

So great that even non-necessary items and trinkets were being created in the constant flow.

The undead's very own garb showed this great evolution.

"Unacunerra, I was not expecting you so soon" spoke Loimos, still standing right at the top of the tower of black iron, overlooking the progress of his vanguard on Belliste, as well as the encirclement of miasma around the continent, its advance was remarkably quick as it was a condensed approached, the surface covered by the miasma was small, first focused on getting completely around the barrier, constricting like a snake would to its prey.

"Soon? It's easily been a decade since the last time we met" the mage walked closer, lightly hitting Loimos in the forehead using his staff.

"I was wondering how you were doing over there, and I see that your not being kind on your subordinates, well, I suppose it is to be expected, you only have efficiency in mind, if you saw Slotriig training little knights, the big guy is velvet dressed in iron after all" crossing his arms, stepping to the putrid skeleton's side, overlooking the horizon as well.

As it turns out, this tower was not a simple one, it actually aided one in seeing from further away, not exactly very useful for Loimos with his heightened senses and spies but he was testing things out, such towers would be greatly helpful for future projects, no doubts.

"I myself, have been mostly teaching hordes of landscapers, the profession is more attractive than I had imagined, seeing all the lands you're conquering, many feel the need to do something immediately about them, we are not subject to nature's whims like the livings were, all environments can house undeads with ease, we can modify and terraform as we see fit, don't repeat this to Yuolrt, I know she prefers to maintain the original identity of biomes, but in view of allowing all sorts of undeads to sprout naturally, places like volcanic plains, frozen wastelands and other toxic oceans are necessary, a good number of natural vampires have been appearing on a large island you conquered, not to mention the rotlings born thanks to your advancement…"

"...But I suppose you are aware of this already?"

"Indeed, one of my lieutenants is a vampire that chose to remain lordless, she is the most competent astrologer there is" hearing this, the royal guard rubbed his chin.

"Ah yes, there are also sorceries, you learned of them from all those tomes you read, right?"

"You must have read them as well, there is much we still do not know, countless paths for one to choose from in the pursuit of greater power, the system that dwells in all that is, was, will be and even what is not, the various schools of energy manipulation, battle arts to only cite a few, to dominate life, we must master all paths" Experience new stories on My Virtual Library Empire

"Is that why you keep on collecting them? To grow stronger still?"

"Precisely, life and death may mirror one another, but the reflection is life, death is superior, and thus, all that life can do, death can do as well, surpass and go beyond, and as death's champion, I must embody this very fact"

Unacunerra did not say anything for a few moments, taking in the information, it was not typical for Loimos to speak about such topics, it was like suddenly being engaged in a philosophical debacle by an orc berserker, truly bizarre.

"You know Loimos, I had never thought that the odd skeleton allied with the deviant, putridity-lover, sun-walking vampiress would reach where you stand now, never did I think I would ever utter this sequence of words either, perhaps it is that One girl who's the weirdest…"

"...But that is beside what I meant to say, what I wanted to tell you, is that pretty much all undeads believe you to be untouchable, indestructible and capable of slaying any and all livings in the way of undeath, a skeleton that came from nowhere, started as the lowest of the low, elevated to the seat of champion by The Prince Of Death, ever since you triumphed over Thanatok Ynigós, none can really imagine any opponent that could push you to defeat"

"It is not so impressive, Lord Nosferatu could hold his own against him, the only reason I could win is because I could wield death in the same manner he wielded life, in fact, I came close to losing more than once, I could only squeeze out the narrowest of victory"

"Very humble, but you did kill him…" he marked a pause "Do you think there is anything that could threaten you?"

Loimos did not mark any pause on his end.

"Of course, Thanatok Ynigós was a problem because he was the pure living, but I believe his raw power and strength was not that impressive, at least, in the grand scheme of things, he simply appeared unbeatable because his devouring life made him near impervious to anything having to do with death, not only was he nigh immortal naturally, but he faced against undeads, without my festering death, even if manipulating death force just as potent, I would not have been able of snatching a win" Loimos responded, the older skeleton remaining silent as it was not obvious whether he was done speaking or not.

"If we exclude the realms, who could have for effect of weakening death excessively, I do believe that the other continents would not be simple to conquer even if I personally went all out, especially Dragonnerie, Dragonlord Ronarkatast is a creature of pure draconic might"

The two undeads remained in perfect silence as they both continuously stared off into the distance.

"Since you are here, Unacunerra, would you mind giving a hand to one of my lieutenants? I am indeed deliberately putting them in harsh situations, forcing them into situations where mistakes are inevitable, however, Horhir is on the right track, only that the means at his disposal will fall short against the measures of the feasters" asked Loimos.

"Of course, what do I need to do?"