Crackling with bleak electricity, Alkayne summoned the cold winds, kicking off the ground, charging forth with rapidity at an odd angle, swinging his halberd at Milo midsection, following with thrust, loosening grip, the zombie spun around, weapon reaching as far as it could all around him, a swirl of frigid winds shielding him as he did so.
Milo lowered himself, avoiding the edge, turbulent coldness encroaching upon him as he moved forward, positively brimming with his golden mana, without a care for the necrotic lightning that had gotten onto him through the winds, neither for the layers coating the armoured undead, he struck Alkayne straight in the chestplate, pushing him back with a loud bang.
The bleak lightning danced atop the living's knuckles, turning his skin thickened from work on the farm and on nearly constant training, tanned from standing in the sun for long periods, it darkened, bitten by necrosis, but reinforced with his golden mana, it was nothing but superficial damage for now.
Of course, this sort of injury was deemed to be harder to heal, and if Milo did not defeat or otherwise put Alkayne out of combat, the necrosis would eventually reach deeper, until it eventually sunk into his very bones.
But that was all in the prospect that he was not defeated himself before then, he narrowly dodged an attack from the back end of the halberd, which possessed a heavy metal protuberance, Milo stepped back, his enemy taking this opportunity to raise his halberd up at the sky, necrotic lightning raining down on him from above, his coat of bleakness was growing larger and more chaotic, more powerful, reaching out from himself, attempting to latch onto something that made the offence of not being decayed already.
Once again, the minor lord used the cold winds to move right up into Milo's face, swinging his polearm with expert skill, this was a problem that Milo had quickly noticed, but pretty much any undead of any amount of importance was certain to be a master of their craft, not only was their king certain to chose talented individuals, but undeads had plenty of time and no stamina and sleep to worry about.
Milo's raw talent, natural instincts and arduous training couldn't even compare to a warrior that had done the same in life, and continued even in death, Alkayne knew the ultimate loss of any living, shaking him was nigh impossible for the young man.
The zombie swung his halberd above his head, intense freezing currents gathered around him, accompanied by his necrotic lightning, it was like a storm was being called forth, remaining standing, Milo attempted to shoot a mana bullet at Alkayne, but it was useless, its momentum was taken away as winds diverted mana from its course, the fact that everything was conjured from an innate ability, meant that the freezing and necrosis even affected mana itself, Milo's simple, yet powerful spell was broken down in seconds, none of it ever reaching its intended target.
Milo circled around, not remained on stand-by not certain what to expect, he periodically glanced at his two friends, as well as trying to sense Helena on the other side of the wall of pale roots, but he could not afford to bother about them too much.
Milo was the most durable of the group, so he had moved to fight Alkayne, the cold and decay were things he could resist, and unlike the corvid undead, they were about on par when it came to their body differences, the zombie did not have absurd reach compared to him, and neither could he just start swinging while in the air.
Milo could drag Alkayne into his turf, which was within punching distance.
The storm of cold and decay ceased, giving sight to an absurdly fast undead, Milo was taken aback, but not quite by surprise, raising his arms defensively, he diverted one attack and blocked one, hastily letting go before too much lighting went through him.
Something fell sharply a distance behind Milo, stabbing into the ground, he already knew what it was without needing to look, Alkayne had just attacked him without a weapon.
'What could that mean?' still calm, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face, Milo ignoring the numbness and spots of darkness all over his fists and forearms, the pain was immense, and seemingly without limit, the golden element was helping alleviate some of it.
Why discard his halberd? It granted him a clear advantage, not only in terms of reach, but also because he would simply need to stab and lodge it one good time to just funnel the necrotic lighting directly into him, it was a path to a simple victory, willingness to give that up only meant one thing.
But Milo could not understand the process of it, what did he know about lightning? Not much really, it was something that occurred in the sky every once in a while, it was destructive, it was fast, it was loud.
Alkayne's lightning had shown neither of those aspect, it had the looks of it, but nothing else, it was barely audible as it cracked on the zombie armour and body, dancing at pace which could be followed by a mundane person and it had shown no explosive prowesses when striking.
But of course, it was an innate ability, it did not have to follow the laws of regular lightning, this was the conclusion Milo had naturally come to.
Crackling along the sharp point of the halberd, Alkayne pointed one single finger toward Milo, the undead, the living, the weapon, they formed a straight line, necrotic lighting from the halberd gathered up, returning to its master, piercing right through anything in the way.
Right through Milo's liver, destroying it and spreading necrosis within, he faltered.
Alkayne put one foot forward, ready to bury the living right here and there, abruptly stopping when Milo steeled his posture through the pain anyways, fists were clenched, vibrant eyes meeting hollow ones.
The zombie made a small noise, a guttural grunt-like sound.
"The general was right, you have some guts golden boy, I am Alkayne, minor lord in service of King Nitok, Monarch Of The Eternal Night"
Milo focused his mana on his destroyed liver, at least, around the area he was hit, he could not tell with certainty what had been struck, steam rose from him.
'So you know how to heal with your mana… Impressive, but necrosis can not be healed so easily'
Milo did not bother to return an introduction, both combatants burst forward, raising their fists up.
Milo blocked a series of strikes, replicating at every occasion, Alkayne, diverted and pushed Milo to the side, grabbing his left arm and landing a clean hit straight on the living's liver, a hefty dose of frost and lightning striking alongside him.
Gritting his teeth, Milo swung down, slamming the undead's arms away, following with a right hook, and then punching the zombie straight in his rotten face, met with much more resistance than a decayed body had any right possessing, cutting his knuckles on Alkayne teeth.
Stepping back, avoiding a counterattack, the living crouched and sweeped at his legs, missing.
Rising back up, Milo narrowly avoided a swift blow, only to get struck at the knee with a kick, buckling, Alkayne grabbed him by the back of his head, headbutting him once, breaking his nose.
Pulling the dazed living closer, Alkayne called forth a storm once again, frostbites and necrosis stacked up on Milo, who quickly recovered from the headbutt, repeatedly striking the zombie, but under the swarm of attacks, he was not doing much.
The minor lord marvelled at his toughness, but it did not matter, it was over.
Amidst the frost and bleak lightning, a dark blue light pierced through.