Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Far, far away from the simple preoccupations of a mundane living, two mythical figures exchanged blows and blows under the incessant and powerful rain, caught in the memory of a realm neither of them knew of, they moved and weaved like only legendary beings like themselves could.

The rain was so powerful and constant, that one would be practically both blind and deaf if caught within it, their body would be battered and covered in bruises within seconds of enduring the fall of these raindrops, but that was not all, every few seconds, towering pillars of lightning would come crashing down, blasting apart a portion of the immense, stone-like platform beneath the feet of the two combatants.

They had been fighting within this particular memory for a long time now, having broken through the floor several time, only to fall into a place that looked exactly the same, and despite having supposedly several layers of stone above their heads by now, the thunderstorm did not cease or decrease in power, only intensifying as time progressed.

It was getting to the point that mountains could be eroded into flatlands by the rain alone, and whole villagers turned into craters of cinders by the bolts of lightning, entire spans of regions rendered momentarily deaf by the ensuing claps of thunder.

But no matter what, neither of the two combatants seemed affected in the least, compared to what they had endured in previous memories, this was truly nothing to worry about…

With a flash of gold that overtook all lightning, Sonnenträger swing his mace through the rain, his attack evaded as Loimos crouched low and sweeped down at the hero's feet, causing water be sent upward as the attack was evaded with a backstep, for several minutes, seemingly without rhyme nor reason, the two warriors engaged in rather simplistic-looking close-quarters combat.

Although far less flashy than their calamitous clashes that had come before, the full brunt of the martial arts deployed by Loimos without even making use of any rot to transform his body or without manifesting weapons was perhaps what Sonnenträger found most complicated to handle, massive, overly powerful creatures that could render wide spans of land was something he was used to.

When he faced off against emissaries from the Abyss, True Void or White Bog- They had all been certainly cunning beings, but still creatures that relied on pure power and size, their idea of refined combat was simply to allow their warped, abnormal nature take control and to spread the vile corruption that had birthed them, and he had also fought against The Defiler Of The Holy, a great warrior for certain, but much a brute still in the end.

Loimos had demonstrated that he could match his past adversaries, but although he could deploy massively powerful attacks and the likes, the golden one always had the means to deal or resist such things, it was merely a contest of the power Loimos could bring out, and the overwhelming power of gold, it would result in a simple clash.

Instead, what Sonnenträger had only very rarely gotten to face where human-sized opponents who fought like humans, and could also stand up to him in terms of brute strength, he had only experienced such things before awakening to the power of gold, it was all a distant memory back when he had been young and inexperienced, and after overcoming the heretic, his opponents had nearly never been people or anything resembling a person.

So faced with Loimos, who had literally mastered every martial arts and combat styles, blended them together into a perfect mix, and created his own fighting style, which could grow and expand for as long as new concepts were fed into it, even when merely limited to unarmed martial arts, Harbinger's Harvest remained a mythical creation.

And this was exactly why Sonnenträger could feel his heart beating so strongly inside of his chest, pumping golden blood throughout his body, he had not realised it, but he had become jaded from simply being too powerful, too indestructible- To the point that even a dragon-like creature born in the depth of the Abyss could not challenge him, to the point that the maddening and world breaking presence of True Void beings could barely made him feel a tickle, to the point that simply nothing could stand up to him and satisfy his warrior self.

Sonnenträger, The First And Only True Hero… He had never thought about that, for even then, those fights had had incredible stakes, he may have not been personally in danger, but countless people had been, and this had been all that was needed for him to take action and face those threats in earnest.

He did not seek satisfaction as a warrior.

The reason he had taken up arms was not for himself, it was not for senseless revenge that meant nothing.

It was not to struggle against the natural ways of the world.

To him, the essence of combat was simply to do what he could do to help others.

Being weak was not a sin, so those that could not fight should not receive punishment or retribution for being weak.

Despite his title, he did not truly believe himself to be a hero, he just did not know what a hero even was, what sort of elusive traits such a being was supposed to possess, this title was one that he did not choose, it was bestowed upon him.

The golden one smiled, using his mace to block a direct kick from Loimos, the attack sending him sliding upon the wet stone.

The silver mace showed a crack upon its surface, but Sonnenträger merely glanced at the undead.

"Tell me, Loimos, what do you believe is the point of combat?" a halo of gold manifested behind his back, and for a few moments, it was like the two fighters were frozen in time as the rain appeared to slow down to a crawl.

"It is but one means to ensure Death's supremacy"

Sonnenträger rose his head, the excitement of battle slowly fading away from him, instead replaced by an utter calmness, still, a smile remained upon his visage.

"Is that so? I suppose that fighting is usually a means to an end…" the golden hero stayed silent for a moment, his green eyes meeting the purple glow peering from beyond the skeleton's helm.

"...You fight for death because you are an undead, I fight for all others because I simply believe that it is the right thing to do" the man shook his head.

"I am made of gold, Loimos, what are you made of?"