Upon his return after what was a little amount of time to him, the first thing Loimos did was take a look at the situation on Belliste, from the looks of it, the work of Yuolrt and her followers had gone without a hitch, all the current flora and fauna had become undead and the newly introduced species had taken the roles intended for them without anything unexpected happening, the royal miasma had been allowed to permeate all of this continent.
From the great heights of the sky to the depths of the earth, clearly, the complete elimination of life on Belliste had allowed for a rapid spread of the miasma as it finally was allowed to flood inward, as for the mission of Ourlst and Horhir, which was to track down all negators and truly convert all of the former livings to loyal members of the empires, it seemed to be going rather fine.
Of course, this was not a typical job for the two lieutenants, especially for Horhir but the both of them were working together on this one, this simple fact drastically reduced the amount of mistakes either of them would have committed on their own, the four main regions seemed to all be relatively passive for now.
Even the south looked tamed, thanks to the unending knowledge and resources of the empire, the people here were not forced to change their way of life, as ridiculous as it could sound, farming was something undeath could accomplish, in fact, the south was on its way to becoming the prime ground for the greater majority of this death-filled farming was going to take place.
And with the domination of the Eastern Peaks, feasting was being integrated into the empire as well, introducing consumption to all undeads regardless of how nonsensical it might look on the surface as many did not possess the necessary parts to even begin to eat, but such a trifling matter would easily be solved.
The feasters were helpful on that front, the culling they experienced due to the prominence of negators and other power hungry individuals had been heavy, but brutality had always been a part of their lives, so it wasn't too shocking to those that remained.
They made full use of the Searing Mausoleum and were developing their way of power like never before, undeath providing options they had never considered before, things like the consumption of poisons and disease-ridden flesh was now available without any repercussions if it failed.
Derdlim Maulerd turned out to be rather cooperative, humbled by her defeat at the hands of a mere lieutenant under the command of a general who served a king that had never even showed up, in such cases, it only seemed natural for the loser to lower their head and be grateful that this loss was not the end of the east.
Indeed, although defeated and made into regional lords of the empire, they weren't stripped of their titles as warkings and warqueen, their identities were maintained and the influence held over the region they ruled was close to the same, in fact, as vassals of King Nitok, they were given power and resources that allowed for even more control than before.
With the conquest of the Western Cliffs, transplantation was being studied, as well as the deep sludge coalescing at the bottom of their ravines.
It turns out that their small population was not the greatest factor in their lack of rebels, Tilmiel's actions, whilst originally taken purely from her own moral standpoint, had great ripples when the child she spared from oblivion was born as an undead.
A sign of the empire's mercy to the westerners, and proof that there was renewal even in death.
Jaral Cribler made sure to show his people that the right way was by swearing loyalty to the undead using these facts, well aware that any amount of dissidence would not amount to anything, besides, experiencing undeath for themselves was quite something.
All were tireless, felt stronger, more aware… And their unique way of power was greatly enhanced by the mere fact that its users no longer possessed living bodies, there were now little chances for complications, one could actually just remove whatever they wanted to transplant without risking bleeding out, shock or infection.
Although transplanting more than once remained bound by one's innate talent, now, people could easily keep on upgrading the one that they had, all that was without counting the advancements being made by the empire in refining this way of power.
As for the Northern Swamp, it was set on being loyal from the very beginning, Loimos's display there had rattled and impressed all to their cores, and witnessing their king managing to hold his own was inspiring, rather than has a heartless conqueror, they viewed Loimos as a benevolent master of pyromancy that had come to bless them with greater power.
Which was insidious as it wasn't that much of a lie, the empire's goal was to convert the living to undeath, which they saw as an ascension and for those who did not cling to their past lives, it truly was how it felt.
It seemed like there were only benefits to stripping themselves of life force.
Irlke Combuscrus led his people to value undeath, instructing all to pursue pyromancy as the dangers once associated with it were now gone, even if you were reduced to ash, the king's divine beast would simply bring you back.
The Southern Shores, once bastion of countless negators, seemed to be on its way to pledge complete loyalty as well, it was complicated to render the resentment to nothingness, but the occupation of the farmlands proved to be useful.
Undeads had existed alongside the southerners here in relative peace, many had held somewhat good views of the invaders, knowing that this sort of friendly behaviour for one that had all the power was incredibly rare, especially when it became known that the so-called oath had been made null long ago.
Still, those who had faced the undead in combat and experienced The Death Dealer's incredible cruelty were far from accepting of their newfound undeath, many were purged, only a few were rehabilitated but ultimately, it was thanks to Alisart Cleavster that hostilities died down.
The warking still held authority and respect, even more so after having basically sacrificed himself to face Maliah, as much as he held ire within him, as ruler of the south, he knew best than to try and strike back, they had to learn and become members of the empire.
There was no other way.
Loimos could tell that it would still take a while for the finishing stroke to be made, as not a single negator was to be allowed through, then, they might just try and force newly created undeads to think like themselves.
Carnifex would be doing a sweep through just in case, but for now, it was still up to Ourlst and Horhir to find ways to deal with that problem.
Though, the situation was stable, meaning that King Nitok would probably want to meet his newest regional lords soon.
An encounter between the warlords and The Prince Of Death would most certainly be the event that turns their loyalty unbreakable, if they thought that Loimos inspired reverence, they would be in for a shock.
There was a difference between the one chosen as the champion of death, and the one picked to be the prince.