Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead-Chapter 774 Operation Arid Soil Part Eigthy-Five

774: Operation Arid Soil : Part Eigthy-Five

774: Operation Arid Soil : Part Eigthy-Five

Seconds felt like minutes, and minutes like hours, hours were days… And by the second hour, countless had fallen as the temperature was simply too dreadful to endure, surviving civilians struggled to endure it even when hidden in the shadows, in so little time, Cleansing Undeviginti was the one to stack the most bodies, and just like that, a mere two hours after claiming the throne in the sky, the radiant sun left, as suddenly as it had appeared, it disappeared and left the place to Illusory Undeviginti, which manifested in its true form.

A pink sun, under its authority, the sand of the realm turned purple, although it wasn’t so noticeable due to the layer of glass remaining upon it, no mirages seemed to manifest, as though the solar star seemed to be enthralled in the spectacle down below, the instant it took the spot of the youngest Undeviginti, fight resumed, the first strikes were sluggish, but many fell in that short instant.

Like rabid animals, the warriors, be they living or undead, were at each other’s throat without even bothering for a break, seemingly uncaring for the ruins they were creating all around them, or for the amount of lives that had been lost, for the people that had been completely erased.

But quickest of all, were Ir’Houwl and Ny-Hor, whose halted movements resumed the instant the purging light was no longer a threat, the two powerhouses, knocking one another away as their attacks collided, the undead had already been thoroughly damaged by the punch imbued with a natural stack earlier, and the dreadful shine had burnt marks upon her dried flesh and bones, and although she had had plenty of time to figure out of to expel the vapour, the energy was not allowing itself to be moved, as though possessing a mind of its own, further complicating things.

As for Ny-Hor, he had also received plenty of damage over the course of this entire confrontation and was far from being in top condition, the dreadful heat having chipped away at him as well.

Neither of them were fighting at their best right now.

The bandages covered the Ersta’ra’s face were drenched with sweat and partly burnt, his eye remaining clearly focused forward even through the exhaustion, he too, had had plenty of time to prepare something, nothing was allowed to move under the white light, but within, he had been free to do whatever he wanted.

“Ir’Houwl, was that your name?” he held out his hand, and a dense sphere of watchful vapour manifested before him “Witness the light”

It was the same transcend-level spell as before, simply manifested using a different kind of vapour, whether it was a bit weaker or stronger than that used by the Prime Ersta’ra did not matter, this thing packed intense power, and with her current state, the minor lord would not dream to think that she could just endure it like she did before.

It was fantasy to imagine resisting the power of such a majestic display of mastery, but it was perhaps even less conceivable for Ir’Houwl to fail in her endeavour, Loimos had given her a mission with the view for her to grow through adversity, it did not matter if she would be sent back to The Graveyard in case of destruction, failure was out of the question, as such, she needed to not only find of way to not be destroyed, but also to still be capable of fighting afterwards.

Siccitas was already activated, her scimitars were currently far too damaged to be used effectively and would need some time to repair themselves, she did have the special weapon Loimos had granted her, the weapon capable of sending a negator to be trapped into the Lithitree instead of reformed by The Graveyard, but while undeniably a blade of incredible power, it wasn’t adapted to the just counter a transcend-level spell that imitated the might of a sun.

Instead, she would have to come up with something right now, so she just held out her hand, palm facing the living, as though challenging him to launch the solar spell directly at her.

And soon enough, the miniature sun formed out of dense vapour began moving, nearly instantly met with a powerful spray of red sand emerging from the undead’s hand.

‘It didn’t do anything before, why would anything be different this time?’ thought the living, only remembering what had happened just before Cleansing Undeviginti put their fight on pause.

Ir’Houwl had already began to learn how to drain the vapour through her red sand, it had not been long since then, but she was still willing to try and pit her innate ability against a transcend-level spell formed out of an energy she had only just barely understood how to absorb, the red sand was no longer so easily consumed by the dreadful small sun, grains wrapping all around its surface and closing in on it, not simply draining at the energy making it up, but pushing it inward, preventing the Ny-Hor from forcefully causing the spell to explode.

They were at a standstill.

The Ersta’ra veins bulged upon his face, eye turning bloodshot as he put his all into wrestling against Ir’Houwl’s innate ability, pouring more vapour into the spell as it was being broken down, essentially maintaining it as it was whilst trying to detonate it right there and then.

Although the undead seemed just fine, she did require her maximum focus, right now, her red sand had to be used solely to keep to the tiny sun in check, unknowingly, the dark red flames within the minor lord’s sockets were growing fiercer as the intense usage of her ability seemed to be pushing it further, having to struggle against such a powerful opponent with the consequences of loss being what she would consider to greatly disappoint the champion, Ir’Houwl strained the red sand to previously untouched heights.

‘It feels just like back then… When I broke my oath’

To Ir’Houwl, a warrior should be totally loyal to their ruler, this mentality had been with her for so long, that it seemed as though she had been born with it, so when her living self had ascended to the highest position a warrior like herself could reach within the empire of Pezerx, and that she learned that her job was to actually to obey people that hid in the shadows like rats, puppeteering child emperors one after the other, using her as the executioners when the time came, it had felt like the entire world had collapsed.

For years, she attempted to rationalise it, but eventually, Ir’Houwl refused to cut down the latest child emperor, and instead slaughtered the shadow council, before turning her blade toward herself.

And it was only after many years in Oblivion, cradled by death, that she was finally able to become the warrior the naive child from before had wished to be.

It must have been why going against the congress of rats had felt so liberating, she was not merely absolving herself of the sins she had committed, but also taking a step toward a much greater existence.

“Living, I am very grateful” she said, right as Ny-Hor manifested a war pick in one hand, and brought it down on the sphere surrounded by red sand.

The world seemed to drown in the pale shine of the watchful one.