Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead-Chapter 623: Operation Polar Winds : Part Twenty-Eight

Blood turned freezing waters a stark red, tainting the nearby ice with its colour, snow was already stacking up atop the headless body, the flow of sanguine liquid rapidly halted as the dreadful wound was crystallised by ice.

Meanwhile, the smell of burnt flesh permeated part of the monastery as fat sizzled under the pressure of powerful flames, a nearby undead knight sticked a fallen arm back on whilst another inspected their ruined shield, but that was all they did, none ventured further into the monastery, the lord had been clear on what the signal would be, and it had yet to come.

Below ground, Alkayne and Janus faced one another, the former wielded only his trusty halberd, a magnificence of undead craftsmanship, so perfectly tuned for its wielder that it was almost uncanny.

The latter, on the other hand, held a tall sceptre in his right hand, and a thin sword in his left, after retrieving a heissbloom and marrying his beloved, he had first joined as a paladin and been the one to first wield one of such weapons in this realm, his swordsmanship was fully original and self-taught.

Forged entirely out of cold steel, the sword began to emit steam, heating up until reaching a blinding level of incandescence, one couldn't even perceive the weapon or arm holding it anymore.

The zombie was not impressed, a blinding shine as mundane as this one could not stop his sight from allowing him to see everything, especially not now that light and dark were married within the undead empire.

"I take it that my little trick isn't working? I guessed so, you don't even blink"

"That's mostly because my eyelids fell off" with a casual response, Alkayne stepped forward, his body wrapped in frigid winds, enhancing his speed above normal, the minor lord got within range and sued the sharp point atop his halberd, to repeatedly thrust at the pope, who evaded every strike like an eel whilst stepping back, raising his scepter, the temperature in the room rose.

"O, Dame-Sommer… Grant me the strength-" reciting prayers, the warmth further intensified, and this wasn't coming from Janus's blessing, he was genuinely manifesting the goddess's power, it was much like a priest using holy energy, but only that it was warmth.

Alkayne had suspected that it was possible, but had not seen any of the other worshippers perform such feats, he guessed that warmth was harder to get a grasp of than holy energy, considering that it was genuine heat that was being manifested, and not a form of actual energy like mana and the likes.

Still, he create a powerful gust of cold winds, forcing his way through the warmth and swung, his halberd clashing with the pope's slender blade, instantly, it became clear who was the stronger of the two men as Janus was forced to duck and weave, diverting the halberd before his guard was overpowered, rapidly, he counterattacked, his incandescent blade lunging for the undead's stomach area.

The sword didn't reach its mark, the searing weapon grabbed by Alkayne's free hand, Janus could only frown questioningly as he watched it happen, but the zombie wasn't actually touching the sword, it was held in place by powerful blades of frigid winds.

"Hold on-" seeing this, the pope wanted to pull away, but it was already too late, a blade of cold wind was already launched straight at him, carving a gash into his chest with ease, the frost was chased away by the living's high body temperature, and surprisingly, not much blood seeped out as the heavenly warmth seemed to be healing him.

Finally wrenching his sword away from Alkayne, Janus needed some time to evaluate the situation, he had watched Alkayne through both Jarl's and Julo's eyes, he was aware that he had most certainly not seen the true extent of his power, but that was even beyond his expectations.

The zombie was an incredibly difficult foe that certainly had even more up his sleeves.

"You may surrender, Janus, I can guarantee that undeath will solve your Jiela's problem" spoke the undead, although the pope was definitely skilled and resourceful, he was not an adversary Alkayne was worried about, even if an incredible swordsman, his talent had not been allowed to develop with opponents to battle, and even if he possessed an incredible control over the warmth granted by Dame-Sommer, it wasn't nearly enough to pose a problem.

And if it did, Alkayne would just use the blessing he had received himself to counter it anyways.

"It… It is a bit hard for me to fully believe that… This curse… it is most definitely a curse to most, but it is a blessing to others, especially to me… Those overtaken by the curse are special you see, I discovered that their faith and sacrifice were viewed differently by Dame-Sommer… When a pious kalt dies, it is like kindling is added to the flame that fuels our goddess's warmth, but when an accursed that retained faith passes… That kindling is much stronger, only that it is temporary…"

"So you want to sacrifice a maximum of accursed at once to allow Dame-Sommer to use a miracle of resurrection on your wife?" he said resurrection, but Jiela wasn't actually dead at all, she was in stasis inside that unmeltable block of ice, he presumed that she was ill or something of the sort.

"Basically, yes- It isn't very refined, it is immoral to have used the poor folks who suffered from the blizzard as fuel, to have lied to them and cursed them… I also deceived my own followers with promise that this would all bring back the mystical green fields of yore, but you see… Even the most abject seems like nothing if the result is for her to be back"

Alkayne did not quite get it, but nodded nonetheless.

"Well, all is fine… Death will solve all of those issues" stepping forward, readying to attack again, a gust of frigid winds tore through the air, its howl reverberating throughout the secret underground, but Janus was not hurt, nothing blasted through his forehead or chest, instead, something cracked.

He turned his head to see that a black needle had perforated the cube of ice and embedded itself right into Jiela's heart.

All of the ice shattered and her body came slumping down, still, perfectly still, like a corpse, Janus held his breath, even as he sensed no signs of life, he knew that it had worked.

But would she be fine? That question plagued his mind, without care, he dropped his sceptre and sword, holding her up against him.

"Jiela?"

"Janus?"

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Hearing her voice, he froze, not certain to say.

Alkayne, not too keen on the sentimental scene, walked up to the pope and stabbed him with another black needle.