Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead-Chapter 650: Harvested

Bilistam really could not begin to understand where his opponent had come from, a warrior who was capable of seemingly unlocking both steps, possessed a similar mastery of Siften Steppe as him, would not do as much as flinch when subjected intense pain, and wouldn't fall even with his spine having received severe damage.

And now, as they clashed whilst Bilistam's manifested soul object, under the form of his second step, Guillotine, soared through the air, carving through the soul-rich air of the plains of dust, something else happened.

Up until now, the purple-eyed fiend had fought and moved like Bilistam would expect from one of his fellows, even if every warrior had their own style due to the variety in abilities, there were constants amongst those that wielded similar weapon types, but just after he blocked the very very strike aimed at him using his blade's handguard, his opponents rhythm, his tempo warped completely, the way he moved, the way he swung, all changed completely in a mere instant, and it did not settle down, indeed, at random points, be it at the start, end or in the middle of any type of action or motion, everything could change again, or just a small thing.

Bilistam completely lost all opportunity at taking initiative, incapable of predicting even the simplest of actions his adversary might take, in the mere seconds that it took for his blade to come flying back, three gashes appeared upon his mortal body, shoulder, chest and thigh, each of them began to bloom with most nauseous things, the first two strikes did the same as the initial attack he had endured at the very beginning.

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In that very first instance, Bilistam had been able to quickly cull the malignant growth, but now, the slashes were two large and in places that he could not easily slice off with precision, so he had no other choice but to allow it and resist using his soul energy.

Only then did he realise that it wasn't a strange toxin, but that his enemy was instead inflicting gangrene where his blade had landed, his flesh took on most worrying shades as it began to lose its original shape and turned black, the texture awfully reminiscent of some mushrooms at a glance.

"How… Unsavoury" the abilities developed through the ways of power of this realm were a reflection of one's soul, and the sort of person one would need to be to earn themselves such a power was no good.

'But his other ability is to extend the reach of his sword…' both seemed rather far apart, but Bilistam wasn't done being made to ask questions, as the wound on his thigh did not develop gangrene, somehow, something even worse happened, as the cut was forced wider, his skin and flesh extended as something writhed beneath, maggots emerging, flinging themselves outside his body whilst covered in blood, he could feel them gnawing and moving, seemingly multiplying faster than they ended up throwing themselves out.

'Three abilities? Or are the gangrene and maggots one ability with multiple options?' he clicked his tongue, those few seconds had seemed like an eternity, but at last, Guillotine came swooping in, forcing his aggressor to stop attacking and jump over the blade instead, putting some distance in between them both again.

But Bilistam knew that it was folly, both of them could make use of Siften Steppe without saying a word, there would need to be many more meters separating them to truly begin to call it distance, both were within the range of one another.

Especially so in the case of the purple-eyed man, who casually swung, blade extending mid-swing, yet conserving its original momentum, a hill of dust was partly sliced apart.

Since there was no sense to running away in this desolate place, Bilistam could only evade and swing, sending his flying blade forth, Guillotine's edge was as sharp as that of a razor, coupled with its weight and speed, few could hope to not be cut in half if struck head-on.

His opponent seemed to think the same, as once again attempted to evade, but Bilistam stomped his foot down, swinging his bladeless nandao to the side, but rather than massive blade, it was a swarm of smaller blades that befell the enemy, discarding Guillotine in favour of Lingchi, Bilistam knew that it was the first step of his manifestation that was most likely land a hit, against small humanoids with that much agility, Guillotine wasn't really that useful.

Ignoring the pain caused his wounds, he went on the move, rushing into the own hail of his own blades without fear, he felt satisfied to see that cuts were stacking upon his opponent, but to no reaction once again- It was like this guy did not care about losing blood or feeling pain, it felt like it was completely inconsequential to him.

In the blink of an eye, all of the small blades returned to the nandao, Bilistam striking in close-quarters, wishing to make use of the element of surprise, but before his strike landed, he used Siften Steppe and moved behind his adversary, thrusting toward the heart.

With a gut-wrenching crunch, Bilistam found himself staring into those deep, dark purple eyes, feeling like he was being greeted by a creature beyond his comprehension, like his gaze had just landed upon something that marked its bearer as inherently superior to the likes of him, he remembered experiencing similar things when he had first met Alistel, he and that ancient woman may be of the same species, but there was a boundless ravine separating them, even now, he felt like an ant in her presence, and yet, he did not feel nearly as small as he did now.

His blade was easily parried away following another ghastly crunch, these sounds were those of his opponent twisting himself in lethal manners, currently, his neck was bent one-hundred and eighty degrees, like an owl except that he had absolutely destroyed his neck doing it, same with his sword-holding arm, the elbow had been forced to bend the other way to allow their blades to clash.

Unable to defend himself, Bilistam was struck by a slash going up from his hips, all the way to his shoulder, every bone in the way slashed through as rivers of blood poured upon the ground.

Stumbling back, gangrene and maggots overtook the already mortal injury, with almost all of his ribs damaged, his organs were supported properly anymore, no matter what, he was dead, he had not yet breathed his last, but death had already marked him.

"You… What are you?' he couldn't help but ask, collapsing down to his knees, still refusing to let go of his sword.

But it was meaningless, he wouldn't be swinging it again no matter what amount of resolve or determination might be coursing through his veins, his opponent stepped forward after twisting his body back into place, which did nothing to erase the grievous damage that he had inflicted upon himself.

"I am an undead"

"Un- Dead…?"

"You shall be one too, you shall experience existence as a being of truth"

"To you, living, I promise an eternal voyage, guided by Death" Bilistam thought he heard more words afterwards, but his vision faded and his body fell, the nandao, yet ungrasped, disappeared in the same sparks that it had appeared from.