Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead-Chapter 1226: Faraway

Ronarkatast threw five golden heads to the ground, stomping down on the still writhing body covered in golden scales, unleashing a scalding inferno, leaving nought of the ancient Dragonlord.

Three of the All-Draco's uncountable number of heads manifest a beam of compressed energy, annihilating the feathered serpent's undead form completely…

"It would seem that I haven't been Dragonlord for longer than all of you combined for nothing, heh? You are not weak, my friends. It is simply that there is only one lord amongst us right now"

The current Dragonlord turned his attention to the wingless wyrm, whose scales were black like soot, but with undertones of swamp-green. This one was the former ruler of Dragonnerie that Ronarkatast had had to face in combat before ascending to the throne.

He retained vivid memories of this time. Back then, he had not been the being that he now was. He had been a dragon, like there were many others. Prideful. Lusting for power and authority beyond anything else. Yearning for all others of his kind to bow down to him…

This fight had been far from easy, and even after achieving victory, Ronarkatast had been left poisoned and weakened. Many were those who attempted to take advantage of his weakened state to claim the crown for themselves–All failed without exception. All were defeated in combat by a half-dead Dragonlord.

"My old nemesis. It pains me to have to fight you again after so long… This is not the sort of fight you deserve"

The fight between them should have been a tie. The poison should have ended up killing Ronarkatast without the shadow of a doubt–Except it had not. For he understood the essence of draconic breath before it could reach too deep into his body. He became a completely different being. In stripping himself free of life force, replacing it with an elusive, pure manifestation of the natural way of power possessed by dragons… In doing so, he truly ascended to the throne. Alongside a new name, he became an entirely new entity.

He became the All-Draco, embodying the very concept of those bearing draconic blood. Becoming a shapeless chimaera. He was pretty much immune to all forms of attacks from other dragons at this point. The poison could no longer affect him, and the dire physical strength of the wyrm was no longer an issue either.

Thus… The fight ended in an instant.

Ronarkatast once again proved his right to supremacy by utterly crushing the five previous Dragonlords with ease. Without suffering any amount of damage whatsoever.

If left alone, Ronarkatast could absolutely quell the undead breakout across the entire floating continent–Of course, he was not alone at all.

In the sky, a rotting, utterly gigantic dragon was flying. From the carcass's putrid mass, countless creatures were forming, falling, or flying out of it… All the while, seemingly releasing just about every time of horrifying filth possible. Unleashing floods of black blood from its maw, parts of its rotten hide bursting, unleashing rains of vile flesh, emitting clouds of noxious smoke from its wings…

Ronarkatast knew this dragon. He had gotten to see it up close on a few occasions as part of the trade deals between Dragonnerie and the Undead Empire.

This was one of Loimos's Disaster Beasts. The Affliction.

A creature even the All-Draco struggled to comprehend, for it had been born from the Pure Undead's Primeval Rot. It was not strictly a dragon. It was made of rot mimicking countless different types of beings, making it difficult for Ronarkatast to truly peer into its draconic nature.

Nonetheless, its presence here strongly implied that the Dragonlord was correct…

"Loimos! Show your-"

The dragon stopped himself. In the split moment, a blind spot was created, the undead had appeared. Simply standing there, simultaneously appearing as harmless as an inanimate object, and threatening like nothing else could rival…

"...There you are. I see that today is the day, huh? It was obvious that the Empire would eventually seek to conquer the other superpowers. Though… I wasn't expecting you to make a move so quickly, Loimos"

Loimos merely manifested rot in response, his form changing into that of an abominable, putrescent dragon–Which sported six legs, two sets of wings, with one much smaller than the other, a clubbed tail, and surprisingly only a single head… Though it was equipped with several more rows of teeth than there should be, and a collection of eyes that seemed to grow atop the head and one another like fungus.

"Challenging me, are we? Are you doing that because you know that I'll stay to fight for sure now? If so, that's quite smart, because it's definitely going to work!"

Ronarkatast unleashed an incredibly destructive beam from the get-go, with this thing, even the surrounding areas that weren't destroyed would be rendered uninhabitable for several centuries. The sort of ailment it unleashed made creatures die, but sometimes, if they survived, it would result in their offspring being born completely deformed.

Loimos merely ate it. Literally. He devoured the beam like it was a snack.

"Alright then. I don't like it when a fight lasts longer than it should…"

With these words, Ronarkatast went ahead and used his strongest combination of draconic breaths, manifesting all around the area, ensuring that nowhere was safe for his adversary to go.

The colour of the world changed. Everything turned incandescent white. The entirety of the floating continent rumbled like never before. It felt as though a titan had grasped Dragonnerie itself and was wildly swinging it around. It was to the point that the air itself was shaking, making it impossible for anything to fly properly.

Even the ocean below was subject to the tremors. All sorts of natural phenomena spontaneously formed, resulting in tsunamis, great waves of all kinds, and tornadoes…

The winds stirred by the power unleashed by Ronarkatast made it even worse to fly. Even the mightiest of dragons would be thrown off course… It was to the point that the clouds were torn apart and promptly brought back together in a different form, bringing about a change in the weather…

Rain began to pour down. Yet… The undead appeared to be shielded by an invisible layer of protection. No drops seemed to be able to reach him. Of course, Ronarkatast quickly realised that it was because all raindrops near the undead were quite literally being 'killed' and rotten into apparent non-existence.

As the rain and rumbling intensified for several long seconds, glimpses of the confrontation could be caught from time to time by eagle-eyed individuals… The rain and other phenomena stopped after several minutes, leaving place to an eerie silence.

It was around this time that Solast managed to reach his home. The consequences of a big fight got in the way, but he made it nonetheless…

"Ariespes?"

He did not sense his broodmate's presence, his three heads looking all around the wide halls frantically, until the sun dragon stopped, spotting a small, humanoid figure standing in the immense doorway, seemingly completely unbothered by the chaos outside.

The sun dragon froze and then turned his body to face the intruder.

"...As I thought, you are behind this, Loimos…" the three-headed dragon marked a pause "...Where is she?"

"She is not here"

"This is not an answer"

"Ronarkatast is dead, Solast. The Dragonlord has fallen. You know what this means for Dragonnerie"

"You killed His Majesty?"

There was a long period of silence. If what Loimos was saying was true, then Dragonnerie was on the verge of total collapse. Countless dragons would instantly rush to claim the throne, resulting in a bloody conflict that was certain to not just leave deep wounds in the floating continent but also severely weaken Dragonnerie as a whole compared to the other superpowers.

"Whatever you want from me, Loimos… I do not care. Where is Ariespes? Where are my children?"

"They have gone to her former place of residence"

"Is that so?"

The sun dragon heaved out of his nostrils, bright, incandescent flames flaring out for a brief instant.

"That's good to know"

Then, he raised his three heads at once.

"What you want from me… It is to serve as the leader of all living dragons and convince them to switch over to undeath while you are busy lifting Dragonlord Ronarkatast from death, right?"

"Precisely"

Solast growled.

"I am a dragon, Loimos. You'll have to do more than this to get me to follow your command!"

In the next instant, above each of Solast's three maws, three miniature suns formed, soon coalescing into one–It cast a blinding shine, rapidly heating and melting everything the light entered into contact with, causing the very air to ignite with flames.

Loimos began walking at a regular pace as the sun was hurled directly at him. As the burning mass of solar power was about to crash into him, provoking an incredible blast that would leave the area scarred for years to come–The undead merely lifted one arm, letting his index finger come into contact with the sun.

In the next second, all light was gone. The sun had turned into a black, fragile shell that was blown apart by the next gust of wind.

"I strongly recommend that you comply with my demands, Solast"