Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

In the end, full of suspicion, Rosemary had made the decision of simply shifting the creation of those weapons to the castle, where they would always be created and assembled under her watch, even if they didn't have the same infrastructure and such already present, she could arrange something, always better than receiving sabotaged goods that would result in poor performances and lives lost trying to operate them.
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Those trebuchets and other great weapons were of tremendous importance, before, the undeads had already been an unstoppable tide, within miasma, they held a distinct advantage over the soldiers and other living troops, but now, the darkness was the last nail sealing their coffin, the dead held a potent additional sense within whilst they were completely blind.

In this scenario, the soldiers of eternity would trample on Tamaris's mundane forces even if lesser in numbers, to this end, the battlefield would have to be illuminated somehow, so they had been pouring their all in finding ways to shine light through the Prince Of Death's dominion.

One of those means served two purposes, obviously, a trebuchets could deal significant damages to ranks, but if shooting specific projectiles equipped with luminous properties, then it would also allow troops to see what they were going up against, and the commanders to actually assess the situation, allowing for actual orders to be given.

Attempts were made to create magic items granted one dark vision, but not only was that a difficult affair in normal circumstances, but the darkness conjured by the undead monarch was not so simple either, this was not just true darkness, it was eternal and devoured light itself.

The creation of something capable of piercing King Nitok's veil would require a keen understanding of him, his magic, and his dark sun, no one could brandish understanding of either of those, the idea was thus scrapped entirely in favour of other options.

Yet, even after making this decision, she did not leave the academy grounds just yet, well, she had claimed to be leaving, but she really just stood in a corner, her eyes brimming in the darkness as flames went to enhance her vision, her very fire was going to be the fuel that shine upon the future battlefield, although Rosemary could not see that far like this, it was not even required to begin with, mostly using her mana sense in spite of the darkness interferences to direct herself.

No matter how much to old headmaster tried to reassure, the volcano witch was not buying into it, the foul play was occurring within the academy, no doubts were held on this point, the old man's neat surveillance had been fooled somehow, that, or his activities with whoever had really gotten him daydreaming at all times.

Which was not out of the question, this elder had been stuck all by his lonesome looking over Toordefer for decades now, any sort of action could have muddled his muddy brain even further.

Walking around with her arms behind her back, like a stern teacher, the sheer calmness of the academy after the time for learning was over remained immaculate even as it was made into training grounds for soldiers and the likes, even as it welcomed many more people than it used to, this was a comforting atmosphere for Rosemary, having always enjoyed the tranquillity of the dark lull, reading smelly books and ancient tomes late at night with only a flame from the top of her finger to shed light.

Her years as a child were still great memories, and they had been spent in this very building, but there was bitterness too, it was also here that she had been fooled by Osworth, or rather, as it appeared, Loimos.

Rosemary had really believed to have found a kindred spirit, only for him to turn out to be a most vile undead, foul for he had truly blended into the scenery and placed himself right beside her, knowing full well that it was an advantageous position, all taking root from a chance encounter with Antieeld.

He had remained here, perfectly at ease, without ever doing anything objectionable, in fact, as the volcano witch had since long wondered what had been his aim, simply direct her to go through with that field exam at the mines? That could be it, but he had been here for so long, what else could have been done?

Loimos had been trusted with the charge of great tasks, clearly not a random undead that just happened to be around, such a person required to be capable of taking opportunities, but she had been unable of figuring out if there had been anything else to his intrusion.

Rosemary reached an open space within the heart of the academy, stepping onto a carpet of blue flowers, a place where students were to learn outer manipulation with the thicker presence of mana thanks to the flowers pulling it in, shaped like a square, this area had four entrances that shaped a cross, three of which were shut and locked, the sky controlled by undeath right above.

Tilting her head a slight bit, looking back at the gate she had gone through, she stepped further, toward the center piece of this area, a small blue tree that served the same purpose as the flowers, it had been planted a while back, but it had never managed to grow further than this meagre form.

The situation was obviously odd, she expected the fourth gate to shut behind her back, but it did not, instead, a voice rang out a distance behind, accompanied by steps on the flowers, wholly unconcealed, despite the energy signature of this individual remaining null.

"Hello there! How are you doing today?" it was a rather joyful voice, turning to try and discern the man, he was standing just about on the edge her enhanced vision could gleam through, waving at her exaggeratedly, like he was an old friend going off into the horizon.

Stepping forward and enhancing the augmentation to her eyes, gaining a better idea of this absolute stranger that was definitely not supposed to be here.

Rosemary did recognise him, he had shown up to the royal palace to strike a deal with the king.

"Arleqkin, Fin-Limier leader, what brings you here of all places? You have not given signs of life in a long while, we assumed you and your troop to have perished at the hands of the undead" raising an eyebrow, looking around for anyone else.

Just now, she had managed to pierce through his layer of stealth and get a hold of his signature.

His mask was already shifted into a sad look.

"Boohoo… We almost did, most certainly did fall prey, but! We have arrived here at last, and frankly, I was a bit lost at first, so I just went to the first building I recognised, well, going to the royal palace when everyone seemed to have decided that it was time to sleep would have been a clear lack of decorum on my part" he stood still for a few seconds, then waved it off and shook his head.

"It is great that you are here Miss Rosemary, would you bother accompanying my lonely self to the castle? An assassin can't just show up unannounced…" once again with a latence, his mask smiled.

"I would love to, but-" something shined behind her back, a flaming barrier resisting the assault of a blade.

"-It seems like you would rather guide me to the grave instead"