Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Approaching the collapsing star, Herlbe felt himself catching up in flames, bright white flames that seared even his incredibly resilient body, the vermillion cloak was reduced to cinders in an instant, but he did not slow down in the least.

'Ah… So that's how this feels…' it was the first time he was properly wielding Loimos's gifts, in an actual battle, this was no mock trial, if he failed right now, he would be consumed completely and be sent right back at home, he would fail his mission utterly, forced to admit that his attempt at brute force had backfired, that his way of doing things was inferior to his peers.

This had already occurred once when had been slayed as a living during the first undead war, he remembered it clearly, his three heads split and severed- His rib cage hollowed out, utterly defeated in his reckless attempt to invade the royal crypt, he hadn't even made it past the gates, intercepted and easily pieced up by none other than Alkayne, the zombie hadn't even made use of his innate ability, he had overpowered and outskilled the three-headed goliath.

He, who had been the most powerful of his kind, his birth considered divine for he had two innate abilities and an extraordinary physique, the head of beast, of a man, and of a woman, this was the perfect combination amongst his people, signifying perfect balance and harmony.

Only to be crushed by a guard of the crypt, one who wasn't even a minor lord at the time, merely a knight in service to the skeleton king, what a humbling experience it had been, what an experience in gratitude it had been upon his rebirth as an undead, despite his brashness and humiliation, the undead empire had still blessed him and even allowed for his ascension to the rank of minor lord.

As a servant of King Nitok, he could not fail.

Ierpalam and this great cleaver were borrowed strength, the former an ability bestowed by General Loimos, the ability to empower oneself with his festering death force, given with the instruction to one day learn to make this power a part of himself.

As for the great cleaver, it was everything Ierpalam was, but also a definite granting of trust, weapons such as this one were only given to a handful, in fact, Herlbe believed that only nine of Loimos's subordinates were given the right to wield them freely, for they held the power to destroy a fellow undead and send them directly to the Lithitree, a weapon to cull negators could only be granted to those that were deemed worthy as they couldn't fall in anybody's hands.

However, General Loimos had not just granted a tool, it was a bonafide weapon made and created for its wielder specifically.

Knowing all of this, Herlbe could not permit himself to fail, which was why, against all reason and even his own better judgement, he was currently soaring through the air directly toward a star whose simple heat would normally evaporate his entire existence, and he was going to cut- Yes, Herlbe was going to split this star in half and destroy it right here, before it could get any closer to the ground.

His three main heads laughed boisterously, and so did the many others he had added upon his back, the chains wrapped around his body had since long turned an incandescent white and so had his claws, but one forged with part of him, they held on like him.

The closer he got, the stronger he burned and the louder he laughed, right up until the cleaver made contact with the white star, cutting right through its surface, activating his innate ability to release physical force, he concentrated it into the very tip of the cleaver, condensing it, holding on until he reached the center of this star.

Detonating it from the inside out, into a smouldering firework.

'By divine grace…' watching unblinkingly, Hartracite only came back to her senses when she heard something heavy landing a distance behind her.

"You… What the hell are you?"

'Minor lord? Is that what he called himself? What the hell is greater lord then?! And what monster is the king he serves?!' it would be a lie to say that she hadn't been impressed with his earlier performances, Herlbe had already been an extraordinary foe to keep going for so long against her, the strength, resilience and speed he showed were incredible.

But this went against all common sense, one did not cut a star, a star was not something that should be sliced, that should be the domain of the gods, not of a mere corpse that existed on the same plane of existence as she did.

"Heheh… I guess I'll have to be called Star-Slayer Herlbe now! Ahahah!"

Turning around, his right arm, most of his chest and right-most face had been burnt deep, leaving only black bones, but the fact was that even stripped of flesh, his limb worked perfectly well.

The goat head clacked its bony jaws together in clamour, the extremity linking blackened bone and rotten flesh resembled scorched stone.

Propping the giant cleaver against his back, he looked down at the tsarina.

"Aah… What is that look on your face? Like it's that surprising to see, you freaking conjured it up in the first place! Anyways… Maybe you are reconsidering my earlier offer now? I am certain you could go very far within the undead empire, especially since you are already set to be this realm's regional lord… I'll vouch for you even, I like your star-calling trick, maybe you could do it again…"

"I- I am Tsarina Delelgoliol'Erstvourst Von Hartracite, I will not yield! You may be capable of cutting a star- But- But! Can you resist this?!" the conjuring of a star had taken a lot out of her already, and this further amplified the problem as blood began seeping from her ears.

"Oi… No need to push yourself so hard" some sort of unseen force struck Herlbe, but nothing happened.

"Damnit! Fuck it! I am burying all of my people!" and with that, she imagined the most vile and powerful thing she had ever gotten to witness.

Herlbe instantly reacted as he felt it coming, Loimos had made sure to warn them of it, of the danger that was the Abyss.

He swung his cleaver, splitting the tsarina in two, who was struggling to keep herself alive.

"Shit…"

"Breath in and out, girl…"

"...Defeat isn't that bad of a thing"

Bringing his cleaver down one last time, Hartracite's imagination no longer performant enough to put herself back together.