Chapter 992: Restless Undeads

Dressed in long and ample, dark flowing robes, an undead was floating in the sky, garments fluttering ever so slightly, the only exposed portion of his body was his skull, showing an angular jaw, a shape reminiscent of that of a human, yet, not quite a perfect match for the most prolific of sapient species, thanks to gashes upon the pristine white bone, one could see gold hidden beneath, coupled with the golden crown secured atop his head with chains of gold, this one made for quite the sight as came floating down.

Everyone was surprised by his arrival, having been recruited by Loimos directly and left to manage his portion of the Soul Realm, most undeads had never even actually heard of him, and the livings were taken aback as well, as his status as a ‘restless’ granted him a much different aura compared to the other undeads they had encountered until now, the strength of the stagnant soul energy within him felt strange and alien, and this was not limit to Irlanx Xacobus, the same was true for many of his soldiers.

Each garbed in an unfamiliar type of clothing, with the exception of certains bestial-looking skeleton-like beings, or of those who reassembled more like mounds of bones than actual creatures, the number of warriors accompanying him was not that much higher than that of the previous minor lords, but the strength of some of those undeads was definitely far too high to really be referred to as soldiers.

“We can do this the easy, or the hard way- Which one would you prefer?” descending from the sky, onto the ground, Xacobus rose his arms up, revealing his bony hands as he looked ahead at the life barrier and the emerald folks, for someone who had spend his existence in a realm with only two sapient groups, the people of the Emerald Realm looked quite odd at a glance, it took a few moments for him to get a read on them.

No one responded to him directly, but since they all poised themselves for combat, it probably meant that they had chosen the hard way.

“Do you think it ever happens for someone to take the easy way?” in death tongue he asked a question to the one right next to him.

“Of course not, everyone wants to fight until the end, for the glory of combat, for the glory of being killed after making one last stand” the he addressed was Alistel, who was currently holding her sheathed soul manifestation weapon, the tall woman was rather recognisable even after becoming undead, though her face had turned nearly completely skeletal, now, potent soul flames were always burning in her hollow sockets, making her look quite dashing in Irlanx’s opinion.

The king of the restless glanced back toward the dark keep, sensing all sorts of undeads that he had never gotten the occasion to meet in person, having only ever heard from them through Loimos back in the Soul Realm.

He was looking forward to seeing them face to face, and if only for one reason, it would be to brag that he had been able to have Loimos as his marriage celebrant, not that the pure undead had needed convincing or anything, there had just not been any reason to refuse such a simple task, but Xacobus was still definitely going to mention to everyone within reach.

For now however, he was tasked with defeating the remnant forces of the Emerald Realm, Dracula had come to the Soul Realm specifically to ask him to do that, so naturally, he brought out the means to ensure that it would happen.

For one, he had brought his wife, Alistel, who definitely counted as a weapon of great destruction, and she loved a good fight, so this counted as a romantic date, two birds with one stone here.

Of course, his restless generals were also present.

Xator with his impressive capabilities at manipulating stagnant soul energy.

Xaros with his ability to manifest ghost-like entities of himself and other creatures as long as their skulls were tucked inside of his ribcage.

And Xaltar, with his soul gas that could be ignited to create a massive blast of soul fire.

Xarina was absent, her lotus-like body formed from massive ribcage alongside her ability to cast powerful attacks made from stagnant soul energy would have been useful, but she was just too much of a giant to be easily deployed, especially when they were supposed to try and avoid damaging the environment.

Destroying the surroundings was not something she could not do.

Of course, Aldaii and Aliocen were also present since they had become undeads, but like with Alistel, their soul energy had not become stagnant like that of the native undeads of the soul realm.

And of course, many more restless ones and soul people turned undead were also present, giving Irlanx’s army a dual feel due to the differing types of soul energy present within it.

“Xator, make them experience fear” the eight minor lord snapped his bone fingers, and his general with a circular hole in place of a face stepped forward, unlike before, the restless ones were dressed in brand new clothing instead of garbs that had been stolen from past victims, really making them look civilised.

Gathering the stagnant soul energy stored within his skull, although all restless had a soul energy that was clearly different from that of the people inhabiting the other portion of their realm, really only Xator had a soul energy that could truly be called stagnant as it did not move one bit and had turned toxic as a result, but after the Soul Realm was conquered by Loimos, stagnant soul energy became the standard name for the energy wielded by the restless…

Condensing it, Xator suddenly jerked his head forward, launching a bolt of pure soul energy directly at the life barrier, blasting a hole right through it before the toxicity of his inner energy began to erode it further.

That little show of strength did what Xabobus was hoping, as the living warriors were naturally frightened as their main tool of defence was pierced by a single attack, from a single undead, who wasn’t even the leader of the opposing army.

But reassuring them, Ioleznta appeared in front of them, facing the minor lord.

In response, the skeleton floated upward silently, the herald doing the same until they reached a high enough altitude.

Irlanx slightly waved his hand, and his troops surged forward without hesitation.

“You are dying today, little girl”

Ioleznta smirked.

“Is that supposed to be a threat?”

“A threat? No, I am being nice and telling you that everything will be alright! Ah, conversing with livings makes my bones hurt…” he flicked his sleeve, countless golden chains bursting forth toward the Emerald Herald.

The final battle for the Emerald Realm had begun, whether they be conquered or earn a century of peace was to be decided within the next few hours until the sun set.