"Foul ghost!" that was what Körpersucher thought he heard spat in his general direction, but quite frankly, it was hard to tell anything apart coming from Fioldron Ferrcrona, his voice was covered up by the constant groaning of the iron, and the unending release of steam, coupled with the destruction caused by the clash, the ghost lord might as well be imagining the lines.
The steam that was evacuated at all times was not so simple, within the last steam knight, the iron king was being burned, boiled alive at all times, this was not a drawback, it was a condition for a steam knight to function, warriors were said to feed themselves to the armour, the burning of their flesh would never end, as the steam that was produced from this gruelling progressed was deeply infused with the wearer's life force, constantly stimulated to the maximum, making it exceptionally more potent than normal.
It was through suffering and agony that the steam knights could contend against the forces of undeath, and the one Fioldron Ferrcrona was currently controlling was special, for only a king, only the king of Starkefolten, nation who had invented and pioneered these knights.
The pain was immense, and without limit, the steam healed and scorched at the same time, never would the iron king be graced by having his nerves burnt away, and unlikely was it that he would be capable of leaving the suit were he to survive today, nothing other than fighting was on his mind right now however, he had just discovered that his daughter had been made into a mere flesh puppet, his kingdom had been crushed and overtaken by the vile dead.
His agonising mind was focused on nothing but revenge and retribution, but even when exerting the full power and weight of the royal steam knight, the ghost lord proved to be too strong to even grace the living with a hint of surprise or worry, a filthy trickster like Körpersucher somehow held the strength to parry and block the greatsword shrouded in life steam with his bare hands.
Weaving around, floating wherever he wished, the lord struck the iron king in the chest, his fist seemingly striking the physical, yet also sending the mind reeling, completely ignoring the sturdy defences that he could not breach with might alone, clawing with his crooked finger, whipping with his tail, wrapping it around the iron king's neck, opening his maw wide open puking ectoplasm right in the knight's face, seeping into the pore's releasing steam, forming an elastic firmament over the armour, and of course, it interfered with the good workings of Fioldron Ferrcrona's mind, good thing it was already compromised by the pain and rage.
Erupting with a pulse of steam, blowing away the ghostly substance and the ghost himself, taking a second to regain proper control of his movements, the living charged again, thrusting with his greatsword, throwing himself alongside with it, moving to the side a slight bit, Körpersucher allowed the blade to pass underneath one of his arms and just to the side of his body, wrapping his arm around the forearms of the iron king, keeping hold even as the entire weight of the knight accompanied by his life steam slammed into him, grappling and lifting Ferrcrona off the ground, slamming in against the roof and back into the palace.
The royal steam knight was not willing to just fall, even as the roof crumbled as he tried to hold on, he always managed to hoist himself up enough to find a solid area to grab onto until finally finding a portion that did not collapse immediately, only that it gave ample time for the undead to get into a good position, landing a series of right and left hook directly against the king's helm, finishing by joining both hands together, sending the living back inside for good this time, the heavyweight of the armour bringing him down especially hard.
Lying on his back, Fioldron Ferrcrona had no time to even stand up, that the ghost lord was already right there, staring down, his eyes as expressive as those of a dead fish.
"Hey there, doing good kingdomless king? Nice armour you got there, unfortunately, no amount of steam knights managed to be a threat to anything more than our soldiers, yours is pretty neat though, would you rather rot inside and be a good boy, or be taken out?
Artencil would love to take a look at it" annoyingly tapping the king's helm, he talked quickly, readily going back to attacking, keeping the steam knight on the ground.
Vomiting ectoplasm all over him, howling with his mind-numbing cry at close range, Fioldron Ferrcrona was not relenting even as he was beaten into the ground, barely even forming any coherent thoughts anymore was his mind took much more damage than his body, the life-imbued steam healed flesh and bones only.
Amidst the clamour of the steam knight and Körpersucher's relentless assault, the ghost noticed a well-concealed living approaching, leaping into the air, pulling upon the string as far as it would go, many arrows nocked in at once, lightning striking from above upon them, all hit the ghost lord squarely upon his bent back.
Like the arrows from before, the lightning coating them could also strike the undead even as he was incorporeal, even having the effect of paralysing him for a split second, enough for a blur with two ears flapping to dropkick him in the face.
Körpersucher was sent spinning, hints of lighting dancing over the rabbitfolk's boots, vegetation quickly growing, sending particles of healing all over the area.
The iron king standing back up with difficulty, the copper king nocking more arrows, two champions nearby, the last one, Körpersucher's would-be flesh slipper, was enacting the dance that reinforced allies a fair distance away, but still in plain sight.
The lord mimed a yawn, even if equipped to hit him, it was all meaningless when the damage dealt was severely non-substantial, no one here was a Thanatok Ynigós or Maiele Liameilos, not even close, all truly powerful champions of Tamaris had been kindly occupied by the other gravelords.
None of them were dead yet because the ghost lord wanted one as a meat suit, and because the rest would make for fine undead soldiers.
"Oh well, with all that new territory, surely King Nitok won't find it difficult to get the same result out of a corpse without life force remaining, certainly…" he spoke aloud, making sure that they all heard him.
Twisting his tail, he launched himself up in the air, making a sudden and complete stop, grabbing Yuhu out of the air, roaring after putting her directly inside of his maw, throwing her unconscious body at the elf.
"...I can kill a few…"