Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

As one should have expected, the death of the tsarina led to the great menhir to come crashing down, sensing a wave of destructing into every single directly as crashed down upon the earth, rendering countless livings to the same state of matter was a wet towel, and also quite a few of Herlbe's own troops, of course, they were fine in undead metric but that wasn't a great look to blast some of one's own soldiers into some sort of ground meat.

"Though, despite the near-cataclysmic destruction the stone palace caused by falling, the battle-driven lunatics that were the realmnites were not deterred at all from fighting, somehow, they grew even worse.

"The tsarina has fallen!"

"The throne is empty, the crown is without a head!"

"Raaah!"

All suddenly switched from fighting in the name of their monarch to fighting to take over her title, not even stopping for a second to think about how any of them could possibly achieve victory over an enemy who had overpowered Hartracite, they were definitely not the smartest bunch.

'My, oh, my… They are even worse than my boys' already thinking that a few would make a nice addition to his personal ranks, he also had to admit that they would definitely be making great living soldiers as well, if a strong figure was all they needed to turn docile and obedient, then there were plenty of them in the empire, leading these livings around would be as easy as showing them a bit of General Loimos's shadow.

He looked over at Tsarina Delelgoliol'Erstvourst Von Hartracite's body, that last hit of his had just split her skull in half, a mortal strike of the great cleaver upon a living should have turned her into an undead but it seemed that she was a bit too strong for that to work, or perhaps too proud to be converted so easily.

So, Herlbe took out a crystal needle and carefully pushed it through the corpse's chest, piercing the heart, once the needle shattered and the refined death force within left by Champion Loimos permeated the coldening body, there was no room for failure, the tsarina was turned into one of the chosen, an undead, a part of the empire.

The revenant had seen this process of conversion quite a few time, but he looked at this one in particular with questioning wonder, it was no secret that in the case of livings turned undead, the type of undead they may become could vary greatly depending on a variety of elements, the state of the body often reflected one's appearance as a member of the dead.

But not always, the way one died could also influence the sort and potential additional abilities one acquired, but ultimately, it was often a bit random, Herlbe was aware of that, he had only become a revenant because of the deep-seated resentment and grudge he bore at the time of death, but he might as well have become a zombie or skeleton, still, that wasn't too out there, unlike what he was witnessing right now.

'Mmh, I don't know this type…'

"What's your problem? Never seen a girl all natural?" spoke the tsarina immediately after coming back to her senses, in the exact same manner as she did when she was alive despite the obvious differences.

"I have never seen a girl randomly turn into a rabbit before" he responded, looking down on a most deviously fluffy little animal which was currently sticking its head out of the tsarina's ample clothing and speaking without opening its mouth.

"Rabbit? I am a viscacha you absolute philistine, I am a rodent close to chinchillas, absolutely nothing like a rabbit"

"You have rabbit ears, and a rabbits face"

"I am not a rabbit"

"Alright, if you say so, princess"

"Tsarina is my title, you oversized hoodlum… Why are you back like nothing happened anyways? Even your cloak is back" moving around surprisingly fast, she couldn't help but notice that the substantial damage Herlbe was sporting no less than a minute ago was gone.

"That's just my second innate ability, when I kill something, I get restored, and since my equipment is bound to me, it also counts- But do not change the subject, I doubt you just randomly turned into an undead rabbit, you aren't even like your people, are you?" sitting down, Herlbe crossed his arms.

"Did my fluffy exterior give it away? I was indeed not born from these savages, can you even fathom the amount of mutations and luck required for someone like me to be birthed amidst these fools? No, it makes much more sense that I was born a viscacha with heightened intellect and the ability to bring imagination into reality" and in fact, she was indeed an animal like any other on the outside, even whilst speaking with the most smug attitude ever, one could only see the regular expression of a beast upon her.

"I simply assumed the guise of them- With some adjustments- To rule over this place, as they are still the dominant species around here, and scouring the mountains like my kin is simply too pedestrian for I, Tsarina Delelgoliol'Erstvourst Von Hartracite"

"You came up with the name yourself?"

"I certainly did"

"I could tell"

"Do not think that I do not discern your sarcasm…" she paused, turning her head to side whilst standing most adorably on her hind legs, she sighed "What now? Are you going to slaughter them all?"

"That would be the funnier option, but no, they have value alive, for now- Are you going to cooperate?" Herlbe looked at her, and she looked at him, an expressionless corpse and fluffy animal staring one another down as if each was trying to make the other explode with a thought.

"I have lost, my imagination wasn't refined enough to erase you, I can only keep my pride by accepting defeat" the viscacha shook her head, the ears, which definitely looked very much like those of a bunny, bopping from side to side as a result before she used her ability to assume her humanoid form against, perfectly regrowing into her ample clothing.

'Ah, so that's why they are so wide! Does that mean she just hangs around her empty palace as a rabbit all day?' whilst he lingered on meaningless details, Tsarina Hartracite, loudly whistled, the sound carried all over the city for all to hear.

"Sit your asses down, I am still here and I command you all to admit defeat!" speaking like addressing a bunch of unruly children whomst she greatly despised, against their own will, they agreed and seeing the enemy surrendering, the undeads also stopped fighting.

"Ahahah! I really did conquer my realm in little time huh?" slapping his knee in delight, Herlbe would have something to brag about.

"Conquer? Are you an idiot? I may be the most supreme ruler of this realm and leader of the only sapient species, but defeating me is not at all equivalent to conquering this entire place" Hartracite bumped down his glee a notch.

"You really are not much of a thinker are you? To the north, there is the great okean, which is the domain of my only peer, Tsar Pangea'Kalst, he is naught but a big monster without refined intellect like I, but he makes up for it by being so large and powerful that even dropping my palace on him is no different from a drop of rain"

"I do not mean to sour your victory, but I believe that you would not consider this place 'conquered' with such a foe still hanging around" witnessing the most cheeky attitude he had ever laid sight upon, Herlbe didn't know what to say.

"Urgh… Why can't it ever be simple? Fine, would you show me the way to this fellow? If he just all size and power, I should find a way to kill him"