Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead-Chapter 658: Open Book

Swarms of black flies that glowed red and clouds of gold mixed together as Irlanx Xacobus tried to strike Loimos, if he could land some dust on another's of Loimos's limb- Or simply hit him with at least one fly, but like some sort of speed demon, the king's opponent moved and zoomed from place to place, his movements wholly unpredictable, not even once, not once had Xacobus managed to guess what Loimos would do next, not even by chance.

Whilst the opposite was true for his enemy, each and every one of the golden lord's moves and actions seemed known to Loimos before they occurred, it was like a blind man having to fight an all-seeing devil, even though the corpse in disguise currently only had one way to move through the air, he was managing to utilise siften steppe with frightening efficiency, demonstrating an understanding and mastery of this ability of the living that was simply unbelievable.

Never attacking in the a way that Irlanx was expecting, as though picking and choosing like he could directly read the restless's mind, but it wasn't quite the case, Harbinger's Harvest being a combat style that prized itself on being all-encompassing, one aspect of it naturally was to to constantly absorb and learn the styles of others to incorporate and assimilate them.

Unbeknownst to Xacobus, it had already happened, by deciding to not reveal the black flies earlier, he had already clearly demonstrated what his style was with just the chains, and with the addition of his secondary power only now, Loimos had had no issues dismantling the core of his style, giving the undead a clear view into his mindset, patterns…

To put it simply, Loimos could now read his opponent like an open book, only by bringing in moves and tactics that he had yet to show could Irlanx hope to accomplish something, and even if he didn't understand how undead before him had managed to become seemingly untouchable, that is exactly what he did.

Exerting the full power possible over his golden chains, he summoned forth four chains on each side of his body, each as wide as his own body and ending with even larger round masses of gold, resembling mace heads.

The chains did not reach for Loimos however, it was useless with his ability to rust the gold, and anyways, such an attack could be seen coming from a kilometer away, it would never hit- Xacobus instead slammed them against one another, each in a different direction, the massive spheres of hold exploding into clouds larger than any other before them, as he continued on floating in circles and using his flies to bail himself out when his opponent got too close, he repeated this same action multiple times, soon bringing together a sky of golden clouds.

Still, although the terrain was to his advantage, and the radius of his dust too large to be rusted effectively and rushed through, Loimos was still a most swift rat that seemed incapable of committing the slightest of mistakes or miscalculation.

Xacobus knew that they, the undead, were particularly strong of mind and thinking, but that seemed exaggerated in Loimos's case, he was starting to wonder if dust had landed in the first place solely because the opponent had allowed for it.

'No… I just had enough speed compared to him back then…' with twin flames smouldering in his empty sockets, he retreated directly within the golden dust, giving himself some reprieve, but he didn't linger in for to long, knowing that Loimos would find a way to strike him even then, and indeed, a flying slash of reddish-brown passed right by him, not doing much to the suspended dust as it was too thin and swift, but definitely capable of slicing his bones.

'Heh… Never have I ever used a move like this before… Will you be capable of guessing my next action then?' raising one hand up, Xacobus manifested many chains that wrapped themselves together at their base, placing themselves being the restless king, they extended to their full length, one against one another, they formed a near-perfect circle behind him.

'Let me see how you dodge this…' the chains began spinning clockwise, nearly instantly picking up speed, and pushing the floated dust of gold away, sending it all flying right at the undead, moreover, more dust was being produced before the spinning chains, constantly sending out more forward on top of that which was already present around.

Irlanx stayed on his guard, his flies still close at hand and ready to defend him if needed.

'I am not sensing my dust gaining control over his body… Where did he go? Even with the annoying movement technique of the livings, he shouldn't be capable of rushing through… Did he escape in time? Did he foresee my action, or was I too slow? He did not find a way to resist my dust, did he?' many thoughts flashed rapidly through the restless's mind.

'Just in case, I should-' just as he held out his arm, preparing to manifest a weapon for himself, he felt it force its way through the golden dust.

It was far, but it was fast.

Irlanx understood what had happened, Loimos had not done any of what he had imagined, at least not at first, he had been using siften steppe repeatedly to outrun the approaching blizzard of gold whilst preparing for a counterattack, which took the form of a large bird-like creature, its body and feathers all made up of rusted iron.

Loimos had created a soul beast composed entirely from the same rust he had been creating by striking the chains, Xacobus had not thought of the possibility that this rust could be created on its own, having chalked it up to the result of his opponent's ability and his clashing.

'It's still too slow' confident, Irlanx did something he hadn't done since the time the current leader of the living had clashed, both he and her had been young back then, and this had been his ace in the hole that had forced his opponent to withdraw.

It looked as though he was manifesting the same greatsword as before, but stopped after the guard manifested, and flies instead rushed at him, pressing themselves together in the form of a blade, a black blade shimmering with dark red points all over its surface.

Without hesitation, he slashed at the rust beast, the instant the flies got themselves on it, they would start to multiply and devour it no nothingness, the process took mere seconds normally, when condensed as his weapon, it would take even less.

His sword came down with precision, the bird would cut in two without question, at the last moment however, its back burst open and particles of rust spread everywhere, overtaking the nearby gold whilst a purple-eyed shadow emerged, with a single swing, the spinning chains were broken.

Xabocus attempted to back off, but his opponent's sword was already stabbed through his chest.

"You missed!" he raised his word, the enemy's blade had stabbed in between his ribs, but the king never went through with his own attack, as Loimos's blade shifted its size into countless jagged blades and spikes, coiling around Irlanx's whole body, threatening to infest his golden bones with rust.

All flies and gold dispersed.

"I yield"

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