Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

'What are we waiting for?' Milo wondered, another month had gone by without anyone taking any actions, both sides seemed to be waiting for the other to act, but that was clearly wrong, the undeads were growing in strength and influence every single day, surely, the ones in charge were preparing for something but that still seemed too slow.

He was standing near the edge of the barrier, on its inside, standing as a lookout even though no one had told him to do this, Helena had just gone by and as such, the last thirty seconds of so had been spent in some sort of vegetative state as he looked at her walking away.

Not getting bored of the view even after multiple years by this point.

Milo sighed, he had originally been planning on proposing after they both graduated from the academy, but fate had decided otherwise, the both of them alongside every student had been scooped up and drafted into a war against the undead, something that could not exactly be ignored.

'The undead…' being reminded of David's ultimate fate was still just as unpleasant as it used to be, and with undeads crawling inside bastions well within view, it was hard to not think back on it, the rot, the decay…

Those undeads did not move around awkwardly, they were soldiers, trained and ready to fight without any fear, never stopping until victory was achieved, and there were so many of them.

A few skirmishes had happened here and there, but the undeads that had approached were but mindless ones, born of the corrupted lands and made to wander without much purpose, reports said that most of them headed deeper into the undead territory, but some were allowed to prowl as they pleased, probably as a means to make sure nowhere was free of death's presence.

Curiously enough however, his thoughts on David's rotten corpse were now also followed by images of the royal courier, Loimos.

'What is up with this guy?' Milo was seriously intrigued for reasons he wasn't certain of, he might have some theories, but that was naught but gut instinct.

He shook his head.

"This is stupid"

'I'll just go join the other and train some more-'

He spotted someone.

"Hey you! Don't get close-" but his words fell on deaf ears, the person, a child from the looks of it, just walked right through the life barrier and into danger.

The life barrier allowed the living through from both sides, one didn't even need to push hard, it was like it didn't exist for them.

He rushed up to the spot that child had stood, watching them just taking off like their life depended on it, and clearly, it did, for that kid was just sprinting in the direction of a fortress, and not the nicer amongst the plethora around the pyramidal barrier, this one was filled with flesh-eating ghouls, this kind in particular was dangerous because they were not only fast and in possession of sharp claws, but also bulky and capable of spitting acid.

The molten flesh and bones would eagerly be sipped, a sight that had made Milo's stomach turn more than once as refugees from the outside were intercepted as they attempted to get in.

'Hold up, the edges are supposed to be free of civilians… What is that kid doing here? Did they walk on their own? Running from something? Is it a trap? How could the undeads do anything inside the barrier?' a torrent of questions flooded his mind, doubt and suspicion arose and were shot down in an instant.

Not only was the barrier there, covering every possible access point, but the inside was flooded with life mist, invigorating the living and harmful to the dead, so even if undeads had been inside Tamaris during the erection of the barrier, they could not do anything as they would be weakened and forced to hide.

"Ah shit…" Milo could rationalise a bunch, but the situation just was not fair to him, even if suspicious, the slightest possibility that an actual child was running straight to their brutal doom was enough to get him moving, and once he kicked off the ground, he had grabbed onto the child within a second.

A little boy, no older than nine he assumed, staring blankly at him, not an ounce of ego or thoughts laying beyond that dead fish gaze.

'Well…' he had heard of this, people turned into mere flesh puppets, but it was not the work of the still at large Ironic Puppeteers, instead, this was the mark of a more recent group.

'Alizée? But what is the point-' he rolled away, the little boy going inert in his arms, a deep gash left in the ground.

He put the boy down, unable of doing anything for him at this point, turning to face the undead that had just appeared in a flash.

Rising his fists, circulating golden mana, Milo eyed the barrier that was not so far from his position, the only problem being that the undead had positioned itself to stand in the way, there was hardly any bypassing this one, especially not with the sort of speed demonstrated just prior.

But Milo was already analysing his opponent.

A skeleton by the looks of it, dressed like a trainee swordsman from Tochi, clothes discoloured, gripping onto his withered blade with both hands.

'Miss Syklon called this one a simple basic… That's an undead from one of the bastions further beyond the mountains' he had done his homework and learned about the fortresses that he had not personally scouted out.
Stay connected via empire

All was well, this was not ruler of any of the forts, this was perhaps an elite, or maybe semi-elite under the command of a Tochian undead.

'Is he alone? What even is the point of this ambush?' Milo was confused, but he had to focus, the undead sheathed its blade, and made a sudden movement using a battle art, it seemed like only basic arts were at this one's disposal.

Reinforcing his hands, Milo caught the blade in a way only a madman would consider, grasping onto the edge with his fingers, the undead naturally attempted to pull his sword back, which would have typically severed several fingers, but Milo's reinforcement was powerful, and after his bad experience with a certain swordswoman, he had spent some time learning how to defend against slashing attacks in particular.

Both of them landed a punch to the other's jaw, Milo was bruised a bit, the undead lost its lower jaw and some teeth, not that it was a big loss.

However, the golden mana rippled through its bones, making the undead let go of the sword and step back, not willing to spend too much time in enemy territory, Milo ran for the barrier, throwing himself through, still clutching the sword.

A bit of steam rising from his face.

He turned around, but the undead was gone, and so was the unmoving body of the child.

Even though it had gone through the barrier, Milo threw the sword outside, not willing to take any chance with something an undead had been using.

'Was this an odd coincidence, or is Alizée working with the undeads?'

'I better relay this…'