Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Whilst slowly recovering from the accumulated damage, Loimos sprinted toward the blind mage and champion of water, the former was a sitting duck without access to his mana senses, meaning that only the bespectacled champion was able to confront him right now, her two fellow champions who remained alive had already been wounded and were unable to fight, or even move effectively right now, Merno was rendered completely blind, and Marl was too far, having been attending to Forven and Alosfit.

Swinging her rapier at the undead, she did not dare to get too close, nearly putting all of her efforts into dodging- But she could not run off, as that would just let the skeleton target the vulnerable Merno, so Defoim'nocle had to stand her ground as well.

Her movements like the motions of water, switching between a calm flow, and brutal cascade, a most refined style of battle, perfectly suited for her, but somehow, the undead seemed to already have it completely figured out, even without any weapon, and a still unusable left arm, he was able to kick the blade out of her hand, a punch coming straight for her, it undeniable that even if stripped of everything, the skeleton's body was still overflowing with incredible strength, there was no doubt in her heart that being struck by that attack would certainly be what put an end to this short-lived confrontation between the two of them.

The champion of water was unwilling to admit defeat however, wasn't the spirit of life supposed to be indomitable? Even if the one who had spoken these words had ironically already been defeated by the very same undead she was facing, it did not mean that he had been wrong.

Defoim'nocle punched back the oncoming, bony fist, both of their right hand colliding against one another, and for a short moment, it almost seemed like the champion of water was equally matched with the undead, but the stone prosthesis that had placed her arm from the elbow and down cracked, and shattered- Causing her to move past the undead, and the undead past her.

The undead turned around immediately, only to get struck in the skull by her left fist instead, the attack did not budge him, and he simply reached out, snapping the arm like a twig, the champion cried out in pain, but not for long, as Loimos wrapped his skeletal arm around her neck, picking her off the ground, and with a swift motion, broke Defoim'nocle's neck, draining her before letting the limp body hit the ground.

This happened just as the magical capabilities of everyone returned, leaving only four livings on the battle against a Loimos whose left arm fixed itself right before their eyes, his lower jaw regrowing, his jaw clacking loudly as all traces of the scorching disappeared from his bones, the cracks were nearly completely gone, his armour and mantle also beginning to reform.

"This… This is bullshit…" Merno muttered to himself, as for a few moments, even with the ability to cast spells once again available to them, the livings simply stood still and silent, the blind mage gritted his teeth as he began to walk toward the skeleton.

'Our time together felt much too short, but now that you are gone- There are only two options left for me, either live on after at least avenging you… Or just join you on the other side…'

Merno ignored Marl trying to stop him from approaching the pure undead, only stopping his advance once they were only within a handful of meters of one another, Loimos was certainly appearing in a far better state than before, his armour and mantle were completely back now, the only signs of damage, being the broken off portion of his skull on the top right side, and a few, hard to see cracks to go along with it.

Right now, he only needed the helm back to appear the same as he always did, but it seemed like the corpse was not going to reform the helm back just yet, if Merno had to guess, the skeleton was still incredibly weakened overall and probably could not manipulate the primeval rot as precisely as he normally could, so he was keeping his jaw out in the open in case he needed to use it.

The purple glow was still emanating from him, but Merno knew nothing of the significance of this colour, of this shade of purple he had never seen before, and would probably only ever see coming from Loimos.

Blood flowed from the mage's nose and mouth, even pouring down from his destroyed eyes, he was putting everything on the line for this final chance at perhaps, accomplishing something, he did not even know if it would actually work, for all Merno knew, he might just drop dead on the spot without achieving anything, but it did not matter, he was going to try anyways.

"Zone!"

The ambient energies in the environment all turned into the living's inner mana, forming the first ever zone he ever manifested, every ounce of mana surrounding him within the range of around ten to twenty meters now belonged to him, and each of them served as conduit for the spell he had decided to cast as part of this zone, purely based on offence, each particle of mana was simultaneously of the fire, water, earth and wind element, all four of the most common elements merged together, weaved into a most destructive existence.

Every bit of mana agitated, moving chaotically into every direction within the zone, anything that was not itself or its caster was to be torn to shreds.

Loimos wrapped himself into a protective spell, and walked up to the mage who had just achieved an incredible feat, although it came at a high cost, he had indeed just cast a genuine zone, this was something few living mages of this age could boast about.

"Your future is filled with dark and light"

"Fret not, you shall spend eternity do what is right- So rise, for that is your blessing too, now"

Like the Devil's whispers, Merno felt as though the words of Loimos seeped into his very mind and soul, just as the skeleton pressed his index against the blind mage's forehead, piercing right through his skull and brain, draining him of everything he had to offer, causing the zone to be instantly dispelled.

A genuine zone indeed, but still a nascent one, Merno did not know how to counter anti-zone techniques, otherwise, he might have lasted for a bit longer.

The instant Loimos revealed himself unharmed from the zone, a composite spell slammed right into him, flames strengthened by winds, both enhanced by holy energy of Phanes, a deity of life.

It was of little effect, as the undead swiftly went out of the stream of lively flames, piercing the cleric through the heart, stomping right down on the champion of fire and beheading the champion of wind with a swing of his palm.