Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

"Did you hear? Milo and Helena ran into the earth mage, the one that was able to clash with Rosemary!"

"Seriously? How in hell are they not dead then?"

"How should I know?"

"Probably got scared by Miss Rosemary, he must have gotten his dose already last time!"

Chatters and rumours rhythmed the discussions of the students, standing and sitting around, drenched in sweat and nearly out of breath from yet another day of training, they might have graduated, only by technicality however, the youths were still stuck with Rosemary, and even worse now.

Agilulf Wanneck had gotten all of them to come to his kingdom, getting them a premium spot in his very own palace, where they could enjoy training from the best of the best that there was to offer.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Rosemary, uncontested, at least until recent events, master of magic and prodigy.

Syklon, queen of the battle arts, called as such by Ohrn, her only remaining elite, the elder had made sure that the students would also refer to her with absurd titles, there was little to be done about the antics, the talent demonstrated by his lady was deserving of such ridiculous praises.

The copper knights, Bough and Pierre-Ornée, the shield and blade of the Tamarisian King, the finest warriors that could be found on the continent, all four of those monoliths of strength were gathered in Tamaris, making the rest of the nations understandably spooked, especially with the moves to seize the talent holders and academy students, the deal with the death hunters and training of many more troops than was necessary, strengthening the borders, a call to all talents to gather together.

And of course, Agilulf Wanneck was a man that was hard to refute, his treasuries were filled to the brim, and with the sort of people willingly following him, there was basically nothing to lose, only the people with deep ties to their homeland found the resolve to say no.

Many flooded in from Tochi, a nation left with no rulers, the majority of the people could no longer sustain themselves as the numbers of bandits and nobles vying for the throne increased, Tamaris welcomed both citizens of warriors, in exchange of their allegiance and for work of course.

Of course, to lead so many soldiers, warriors, knights and the likes, all from different backgrounds and nations, even vastly different species, not all generals and leaders of the original army knew how to adapt and handle just an influx of troops, who brought with them exotic technologies and formations, some had knowledge of how to fight with legs deep in the snow, others how to fight under a burning sun in a vast expanse of sand, there was only one that knew how to properly lead so many, nearly instantly.

"The mage? What about the plague knight?" Antieeld asked, surrounded by her fellow talent holders, as well as the lovebirds and of course, Griar was here too, he had been spending more time with the commandant, both used a sabre as their main weapon after all, at least, that was the excuse the blond noble of came up with.

"Sorry, he was not anywhere to be found" Helena rubbed the red-haired girl's back, Antieeld showed no reactions to that information, but there were rarely any days during which she would not question someone about this unknown knight, who had made no apparitions since his first.

"I see…"

"Hey kids, it's time" everyone jumped or fell back, the sudden appearance of one of their instructors, even the massive bearfolk, Poho made himself small.

"Good day Miss Syklon! Why- Why is your sword unsheathed today?" Milo took the lead, Syklon was quite the frightful teacher, especially so because the farm boy feared that she did not hold him in high regards considering that his talent with battle arts was almost null.

"Don't stutter big little boy, that's not my sword, it's perfectly, and utterly blunt" she lightly hit him over the head.

"See? We are doing some live practice today, I'll take time with each of you kids, some of you are unfit for the arts, so we'll start focusing on pure battle styles instead"

She announced, a bright smile on her face.

Somehow, training was getting more and more intense.

_____

Discover hidden stories at empire

The uncaring, lethargic denizens did not react when a huge caravan, ripped, curtain-like pieces of cloth hanging from the sides and back, pulled by two veiled horses, the driver barely had time to get off before a blonde vampire charged him.

Grabbing onto his neck with both arms and spinning around his unmoved frame.

"Loimos, my Loimy! How are you today?" One was what one might call, clingy, overly so, only those starving for such extensive attention and the thick-skinned could possibly bear it, especially the repeated kiss directly against the helm.

Of course, Loimos could not be bothered, she was not even heavy enough to impair his movement speed, if she wanted to paint his helm with bloody kisses, it was up to her.

"I got all the things you asked for, Unacunerra sent in the magical items, he has already set up a hidden base near Bourgliotte, the digging is efficient, but he needs to go slowly and be meticulous considering that he uses magic for it…" she got down to her feet again, raising one arm up above her head.

"Did you grow in height again?"

"Yes"

"Oh boy, I mean, follow me, it's all in the tower" she led the way, Loimos minimised the caravan and horses, putting them on a table inside the partly crumbled tower.

Inside, various items and tools were to be found carefully laid out, most prominently a bright suit of heavy armour, shining brightly with a white light, ornate with silver, a great helm and a huge mace, giving the definite vibe of a paladin going on a crusade, ready to turn a the brains of a many infidels to mush.

These days however, crusaders had no occupations proper to the title of the job, instead making for better qualified paladins, this was the armour Loimos was going to slither into, One and Unacunerra had worked hard to create this, it was not as simple as it seemed on the outside, impossibly heavy, the inside of the stomach area was the only place that featured a large hollow area, the rest of the suit only having narrow passage-ways even snakes would find trouble manoeuvring inside.

Coupled with various items, Loimos was going to create himself an alternate personality once again.

"And as for the priest you asked for, well, I did not have to look far for someone with a strong faith in a god, she was hard to convince but I managed, Two is actually very pious"