Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

First things first, when Alkayne arrived at his fortress, he surveyed the amount of accursed that had been killed, and from the looks of things, they had ceased approaching this place as the pile which had been dozens of corpses strong before was now a mere two bodies sprawled on the ground, looking up, he sensed Jiji's life force and Cecili's death force within his private quarters, proof that has he had expected, the nightbird was competent enough to pull something like that of.

Truly, he did not know why she had wanted to serve as a messenger here instead of joining the greater portion of her caste with Ourlon, in a realm like his their ability could really shine and would surely further hone their skills, for a nightbird as talented as herself, it truly was a strange decision, even if her moniker as 'The Penguin' suited this environment in some capacity, Alkayne did not quite get it.

Greeting the soldiers he met on the way, who had all never doubted that he would succeed in his mission.

"Don't forget to have fun, Lord Alkayne!" a zombie with a bloated face said before getting tackled to the ground by a skeleton with a big gash in his skull.

'Fun, huh?' the minor lord did not view it as such, so he tried to push it back by delivering the extra heissblooms he had gathered himself instead of having a soldier do it in his stead, there was no rush after all, no rush to get that blessing…

'General Loimos, now I understand, you intended for me to encounter this obstacle, didn't you? To test my will and loyalty!' as he put down the excess heissbloom, and was left with a single one, which just so happened to the prettiest of the bunch, there was no slithering around anymore.

Alkayne had been a knight and soldier for as long as he could remember, even as a living, he had fought countless wars in the service of others, to him, it had been naught but a duty he had taken in gratitude to the nation who had seen him be born and grow up, it was only natural to spill blood to protect it, even if some of these wars had occurred for reasons he could not agree with, the second his country needed him, he would be there.

When the wars settled down, he became a bonafide knight, more knightly than most as he actually sticked to his own code of honour, unless it was valuable to the goals of his ruler or truly beneficial as a whole, there were many rules he would abide to, some of them however, he had never expected would fall under the exception of value and benefit.

To him, Jiji was nothing but a defenceless civilian, such people were to be granted swift death and entry into undeath, considering his own status, it very much felt like he was taking advantage of her vulnerability, it was all to ensure that his plan would go well, Alkayne knew that, but hard nonetheless, it was to lay his hands on her.

Afterwards, to be a proper knight, once she became an undead, he would have to marry her, as the one who was going to take her purity, it was only natural to take responsibility, few would probably see eye-to-eye with him in this situation.

Moreover, Alkayne had not engaged in such practices since his death, and even a while before that as he had been deployed to fight for a few years, although his memory was pristine as to how to go about it, since then and now, he had tremendously increased in strength and was now an undead, so there was the worry that he might just accidentally kill her, which would be bad as he wanted her to stay alive, as while showing up with the blessing of Dame-Sommer was nice, having the nun in question healthy and well with him would be better, otherwise the imagination of the locals might run wild.

Not to mention that failing to adjust his strength properly and killing her would just be a bad look in general.

'Unbelievable, of all things, this is what is getting my undead self worried…' he experienced no strong emotions in the combat at all, although this could be considered another sort of fight, it simply wasn't right to be so concerned like this.

As a minor lord, he needed to show a good example of undeath and remain perfectly calm, composed and logical at all times, even if only Loimos could achieve that state for real as the pure undead, it did not mean that the rest could slack.

'Alright Alkayne, you've done it plenty of time, your body is only missing bits of its face and skin here and there… There is no technical limitation…'

'General Loimos wouldn't hesitate, if he were in my shoes, he wouldn't even have any second thought about doing something for the good of the mission'

Carefully holding the heissbloom in one hand, he entered his private quarters in the exact same manner he always did, finding out that Jiji had moved the simple bed she had been given inside of her cell to the center of the room.

Alkayne had almost forgotten that the woman he was dealing with was far from seeing any problem with the situation, in fact, she was sitting on the bed all expectant.

The moment she saw him arrived, it was like two lighthouses lit up in her eyes as she grabbed Cecili's hand.

"Mister Alkayne! Do you mind if she joins in?"

"Pardon?"

He did not await confirmation as he had clearly heard the first time.

"Come now, Cecili is a subordinate of mine, it wouldn't be right… And she surely doesn't want to" he addressed the nightbird who was looking back and forth between him and Jiji, the latter nodding her head enthusiastically.

The nightbird was already regretting having even engaged this nun in discussion in the first place.

"Lord Alkayne, the true reason I wanted to serve as your messenger is because I a deeply enthralled by you"

"It was pretty difficult getting her to admit that" added Jiji, all proud of herself.

"Silence! I am merely an undead in which death's aspect of love is stronger than most"

"Sure, sure, keep telling yourself that"

Alkayne tilted his head up at the ceiling, unfortunately, his advanced senses and undead synesthesia meant that he could not truly look away.

It certainly was rather dishonourable to get in bed with a female subordinate, but denying a confession and then immediately afterward getting in bed with a living? That was a straight up insult.

"If it's your wish, I see no problem" he said, against his will.

'Now, there is no way I am escaping the mockeries, what will the others think I have been doing inside this realm?'