Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

"Come on! Sing for me! Sing for me! I want to hear your voice, so scream! Louder! Louder I said!" Maliah's enthusiastic encouragement to her current victim were heard and understood to everyone as she was speaking in the pale tongue and was equipped with the blessing of comprehension, it had not taken long for some of the salt warriors to realise that they should probably just retreat, or rather, run away in terror.

Unfortunately, the ways they came from mysteriously turned out to be blocked by invisible barriers, forcing them to stay inside and try their luck fighting against the monsters.

The Death Dealer was pretty bad, but some of the livings could not bother to pay attention to her as they had their own problems to deal with- After all, it was easy to forget, but One was a warrior to begin with, before demonstrating talent in alchemy and the development of various drugs, as well as becoming known to be especially obsessed with Loimos… Before all of this, the vampiress had been a warrior alongside the other members of Alizée.

Today, the salt warriors were getting to experience that, wielding two short blades that looked very much like they were of Tochian manufacture, she parried one living before splitting his skull in half with a swift slash, his natural, salt armour proving inefficient in preventing the lethal blow.

Although they looked Tochian, the blades were very different from anything forged there, they both lacked the ability to stab, the blades ending with flat tips, not only that, but contrary to the dexterity One demonstrated, and all the little spins she was doing in between brutally killing people, those blades were actually absurdly heavy for their size.

One salt warrior who thought that a heavy swing of his mace would surely send the smaller woman flying experienced the fact as the impact between his weapon and One's sent a strong quiver right through his arms, leaving him wide open as the vampire went low to the ground and severed both of his legs at the knee joint.

With a drop of her own blood sent through the air, she seized control of the brownish-red blood that poured out, causing the viscous and grainy substance to rise, making the nearby salt warriors back off reflexively.

The vampiress brought one of her blade up to her mouth, and licked the blood that had gotten on it, the texture was absolutely horrendous, but the taste was amazing, very novel, it felt very nourishing, more so than most of the bloods she had tested in the past, even the blood that was being produced en masse currently in the Empire was not quite as good in term of nourishment, this was an incredible opportunity for One to grow her strength as a vampire.

She had been planning on using that blood to perform attacks, but instead, she controlled it all, and the great mass of blood, which had been taller and wider than herself, was all sipped in a matter of seconds under the terrified and confused gazes of the nearby livings as they watched the corpses of their fellow be sucked dry to the point that they turned into thin husks., unrecognisable as the people they were.

Tension increased a notch as they observed the vampire closely, One was currently garbed in black, though, she was not wearing the suit of armour that she had had when first meeting Loimos, it looked like she had decided to take something out of Imyre's wardrobe.

Ample black clothing that would seem at home in a desert environment with only boots and gloves that truly stayed close to the body underneath, and the upper garment extended into long pieces of fabric, one covering the front, the other the back.

Though, there were steaks of dark red upon the clothing, which were a perfect match for the armour she used to wear.

To the salt people, such an attire was completely alien, not only was black a colour they barely saw, as salt was everywhere in their realm, but also, they did not quite understand why she looked like that, where was her natural salt armour? What was that hair colour? Why were her eyes red? And why did she have fangs like that?

To say that the salt warriors were confused and apprehensive would be a major understatement.

They had felt somewhat confident since their opponent was a rather thin-looking woman, maybe a bit taller than the average girl, but nothing much, absolutely nothing indicated that she could tear through their armour so easily.

Those unfortunate souls were getting to experience a taste of undeath, and things only got worse after One discovered the nature of their blood.

Focusing on her legs, employing what little of stack she had been able to grasp from Loimos, she surged forward, also manifesting blood beneath her feet, sliding forth with sudden acceleration, bisecting two livings, their blood quickly beginning to be dragged out from their carcasses.

One feasting as she pursued the rest.

A warrior who turned his back on her, attempting to flee, was beheaded by a blood blade.

Another, braver than his fellow, lashed out with his spear, stabbing right through the back of One's head, only that he only pierced a pink blood mist that her head turned into just before he could land the strike.

Greatly confused, he was unable to dodge as she turned around and using both blades, sliced off his arm.

The living who had made the order to attack had his back against one of the invisible barriers, watching as the many warriors he had gathered were being massacred, here, there was the majority of his forces, this wasn't just a massacre, this was the death of his rule.

'I sacrificed so much! I betrayed all of the others to be the sole ruler, I had all of the warriors under my command- What happened? What is this? Who are they? Why does it have to happen to me?!'

Even the mages he had gathered were disposed of with ease, their spells, which were known to be capable of slaying most salt beasts in a single strike, felt about as effective as a handful of salt thrown by a child.

Within just a few minutes, all of the warriors were massacred, killed in a torturous way by the dark cloaked woman, or drained of their blood by the blonde woman.

He felt their murderous gaze settle on him.

"Y-You over there!" he pointed at Loimos, who had not budged at all the entire time.

The one who did nothing was always the leader, the man knew this.

"Y-Y-You want to kill me and my- My rightful rule?! Huh? Then be a man and don't send your… Your… Your harem at me! Come at me yourself, you coward!" stuttering uncontrollably, he issued a challenge to the armour figure.

"What the hell did you just say, you little piece of shit?"

"Don't insult Loimos like that, if he sent every woman who wants him, your puny realm would quadruple in population! And I am being conservative with the numbers!"

"Huh…"

'...Crap, I angered them…'

In the next instant, the man suddenly lost consciousness.

Loimos made his move.