Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead
Chapter 829 - 829: Negotiations With A Corpse

"That is correct, I am Solzmimi, the kind sun, and she is Hirzartanli, the All-Beast- It is a pleasure to be meeting you today, Mister Loimos… We have heard quite a lot about you" the happy go lucky ancestor felt a bit disturbed by the corpse in front of her, as it truly felt wrong, it was only normal to be taken aback and repulsed when seeing something that should be dead just freely moving around and speaking, but that reaction was much stronger with Loimos than with any other undead.

Other undeads had hints of deeper personalities, emotions, goals and the likes, you could feel that the corpse was at least somewhat of a person, but that was not the case with Loimos, he truly felt like an anomaly, it felt like speaking with buried remains and actually receiving answers, but not being certain that it was the cadaver responding.

When Loimos spoke, his voice came from where he stood, but also not, when he moved, it felt like a trick of the mind, as no matter how many times it happened, it simply seemed like he was a regular corpse, and should not be capable of such a thing.

To say that it was disorientating would be a vast understatement, and to add to the tension, they could not get a single grasp of his power, everything about him was concealed, but it still seemed obvious that he was not to be trifled with.

Though, for some odd reason, both of the ancestors experienced a sensation of nostalgia upon actually meeting him.

"Then, would I be correct in assuming that you two are at the highest level of authority within the realm?"

"You would be correct, indeed… And you are the highest authority amongst the undead present here, yes?"

"That is correct as well, as the general of the vanguard, I am the one in charge of all operations here, what is it that you wish to discuss with me?" from the ground, a small, round table emerged, carved out of black stone as well, it came alongside three seats, and in a most natural, yet clearly unnatural manner, the undead took a seat, resembling an excellent taxidermy once he stopped moving.

The ancestors glanced at one another, and took the seats opposite to him.

"Mister Loimos… We would like to speak about peace, I think we all agree that it would be best not to resort to violence to solve this conflict" Hirzartanli said, her old self would not believe that she could utter such words, but she truly believed them, it was obvious that an open, direct conflict with the undead would leave the realm devastated, they had already showed the ability to corrupt the laws governing the Emerald Realm, who knew how much further they could go.

"I agree, peace is preferable to war, even as one wielding the four aspects of the apocalypse, I would not engage in combat if it was possible to simply negotiate, but what do you propose? The empire will not back off from the Emerald Realm, that much I can assure you, no land, no underground, no sea and no sky are to be left accursed, including the most treacherous and unassailable of realms"

From the table, small cups and a teacup just sprouted.

They were definitely not drinking any of that.

"Could we perhaps, agree on a temporary ceasefire, and perhaps… On rules of war?" Solzmimi offered, and did not even try to get a read on Loimos, might as well stare at a wall for the same result, he just cranked his head toward the ancestor to signify that he had heard her speak.

"We could" he did not elaborate.

"Aherm… What is there that we could do to achieve a ceasefire?"

"Kill Milo, and bring me his corpse"

"Excuse me, could you repeat that?"

"Kill Milo, and bring me his corpse"

"..."

"..."

"The bearer of gold, as you must already know, is a threat, one that King Nitok treats very seriously, if you slay him and bring the proof to me, I can guarantee a ceasefire, in fact, I can promise a ceasefire of at least three hundred years, I shall even seal the keep and remove ninety-nine percent of undead personnel currently in the realm for that period of time, and shall sign multiple contracts that will bind the empire itself to the promise"

"You would do that, just for a single life?"

"All life is meaningless and requires to be extinguished, but some lives are most definitely worth more than others, if you fulfill this request, I will even be open to further negotiations on top of what I already offered"

The two ancestors exchanged no words, and only looked at one another, the All-Beast eventually sighing.

"Sorry, Mister Loimos, but we are not so disgraceful as to do such a thing, we- The emerald folks, are not so keen on such compromises, we might have agreed a few years back, but all outsiders are no longer considered such, they are our people too now, I hope you understand what I mean"

"I do understand, it is a shame"

Loimos did not seem to actually think it was a shame, but he did not seem like many things.

"That is the only offer for a ceasefire I have, as for setting up rules for the war, what do you have in mind?"

"Concerning destruction of the realm's natural wonders…" Solzmimi began, but Loimos slowly raised his hand to stop her.

"Certain amounts of destruction are inevitable, but I must make it clear, the empire does not intend on turning the Emerald Realm upside down, all of its plants, all of its creatures, all of its citizens, and all of its culture and customs are to be integrated and merged, not erased"

"Sun and beast worship shall remain as they are now, the church of death does not require the citizens to only pray to Death, it is the bringing of all faiths and religions under the tender care of Death" he added.

"As such, no unnecessary destruction shall be carried out in the first place"

"I see…" Hirzartanli had a hard time believing that the dead were like this, they would be much more efficient in their conquest if they just razed everything down, but they wanted to rule- No, they weren't just content with ruling, they wanted absolute loyalty from everything and everyone.

Every other point that was raised was similarly met with such responses, and in the end, it seemed like nothing had actually been done, or rather, they only earned themselves a better understanding of how the dead operated.

Loimos was inflexible when they tried to negotiate with him.

"One thing" he suddenly said.

"Would you agree to allow members of the church of death to preach our gospel to your people? Agree, and it shall delay the moment the war will start"

"By how long?"

"Four weeks"

"If any accident occurs…?"

"Then the war shall start immediately from the moment of said accident"

"May we do the same thing in reverse, for an additional four weeks?" Solzmimi asked.

"That is a fair demand, eight weeks it shall be" surprisingly, Loimos agreed without trying to squeeze anything out of them, which was probably something to be suspicious of.

"I believe we have nothing else to speak of, you may leave, Robert will escort you back"

The two ancestors stood up, the table and chairs sinking back into the ground.

"Mister Loimos… May I ask another question?" Hirzartanli couldn't shake off that strange impression of nostalgia and familiarity.

"Go ahead"

"Have we… Have we perhaps met before? Maybe when you were not yet an undead?"

"We have not" Loimos was always an undead, his existence had begun in the guts of a broken dungeon.

Solzmimi, who also felt the same impression as her fellow, had an idea.

"Is there something unique that you might have in common with someone else about you?"

The pure living had already compared Loimos to someone else due to a specific trait of his.

His helm illuminated with a deep purple, the shine that had led Thanatok to likening Loimos to The Defiler Of The Holy.

Both ancestors had a small pause in their heartbeat upon seeing it, however…

"Thanks for your time, Mister Loimos, we'll be taking our leave"

…They did not seem willing to share anything at the moment.