Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead
Chapter 913 - 913: The Carver

As the battlefield grew more dire and exploded with newfound violence, Arzt brought down his blade of stone upon the undead, narrowly missing as Loimos sidestepped and thew a kick at the emerald folk's side, which the old man sought to block using his sword, put before that could happen the skeleton stopped in his track and pulled back.

"Huh… I don't think I have let anyone in on my secrets for several decades, you must have some pretty good instincts then" the old living would have liked to get a few cheap shots to start out this fight on a good note, but it seemed like the undead was too cautious to make contact with the sword.

"Do you not want to talk? Even if you don't respond, I'll just start running my mouth anyways, you know? I am old and lack people with whom I can converse, after all, and who better to speak with than a dead man?" stomping the ground, Arzt swung his blade at Loimos, who once against dodged, manifesting two bones blades from his fists, and he slashed through the air, the two blade extending as his arm moved, cutting down a whole slew of trees before the bones when shattered by the living.

Arzt went to counter attack, but sunk into the ground as it had been swiftly replaced by a swamp of decay and black blood, trying to make him rot alive and liquify his flesh away as bony arms erupted from below, grabbing and dragging him deeper- Without a hint of panic he deflected a spell fired by Loimos with astonishing ease before stabbing his sword into the swamp, causing everything to falter and allowing him to burst out without as much as a scratch on his body.

The living immediately went on the offensive, evading barbed tendrils, and attacks aimed at his mind and soul, seemingly aware of everything that came his way, he thrusted his sword forth, piercing the trunk of a tree instead of the corpse's torso, Loimos manifested claws and attempted slash at the living's jugular, only for Arzt to rip his sword out and launch countless splinters at the undead.

Instead of shamelessly bouncing against his rock-solid defences, the splinters somewhat went right through him like butter, hitting him as though they had been launched at speeds high enough for them to pierce steel, disrupting his attack and allowing the living to land a direct kick to the abdomen.

"Carving is a large part of my craft, and certainly an important one… But it is what comes after that truly matters the most in my creations" he struck again, but the undead spewed a stream of burning blood forth and rolled away before the hit could connect, the countless holes in his body already sealing themselves shut.

"You've already figured it out, haven't you? I don't know how you did it, but you were able to spy on nearly everyone within the barrier for a long while, huh? I feel like that explains a lot, you've known about everything since the very beginning, it's probably why you're here today and after Milo…" the emerald folk grinned "...Who would have thought that the pure undead would be so worried about a single living, that he would take such drastic actions?"

Another swing of the blade of stone cut down a tree before slicing apart of a burst of black flames, everything that seemed to come into contact with the sword seemed to instantly lose much of its potency, Loimos could feel that the kick from earlier had also nearly done something to him as well, so although less swift and efficient, the living himself could also do whatever his sword was doing.

And indeed, Arzt was correct in his belief, Loimos had indeed been keeping close tabs on the livings, even under the protection of the barrier, he had been able to spy onto them, and thus, knew already that the ancient living before him was not just a random old man with a passion for carving, Arzt actually practised a way of power different from beast and sun worship, in fact, it might be said that he practised two ways of power at once.

Ways of power which seemed to be unique to him, or at least, had been perfected into something greater under his care and diligence.

Arzt was capable of carving many things out of stone, but naturally, it was far detached from mundane carving, using the exact same type of stone that was used to build immense towers and solid foundations for towns to create perfect prosthesis that mimicked the texture and could channel inner energies without issues was not something anyone with a chisel and block of stone could achieve.

To do so, generally, enchantments, runes or similar things would be used, but Arzt did none of those things.

Carving was a way of power to him, and he could imbue what he desired into what he created, but it did not stop there, because there was the second way of power, far more powerful and mysterious, Naming.

For example, to provide a perfect replacement for Alosfit's left leg, which had been lost because of Loimos, Arzt first carved a most exquisite leg from stone, which on its own would have already been incredible, but to really make it perfect, he had given it a most simple name, 'Left Leg Of Alosfit', and somehow, that act made the words reality.

Giving names to carvings was one thing, but this way of power was to be feared not for that aspect, which was mostly an act of craftsmanship, but on the effects it could have when the user of that way of power was strong and skilled enough to change the name of existing things.

When he ripped his sword out of the tree, the splinters were all renamed in a way that allowed them to pierce through the undead, when he sliced the black flames, they turned orange for a moment as he renamed them to 'Weak Mundane Flames'.

That ability was powerful, but required some time to take effect normally, but Arzt was bypassing this by using his sword, which acted like a quill for him to erase the true names of things and give them new ones.

A most terrifying ability that was perfectly capable of going up against exceptional beings, although, when Loimos received that kick earlier, it was not his own name that the living trying to change, but the name of the rot woven into a mantle around him.

It may be because that was what he was directly touching, or it could be because Loimos's name was not something he could trifle with.

After all, Loimos had been given his name by the system, which was not an entity one could just go against as they saw fit.

"Mmh… " the living narrowed his eyes, and then stabbed the ground- The earth, as deep as five meters, transformed into pure life force.