Ny-Hor was visibly confused and genuinely thought that the undead was faking it, but the great improvement to his energy flow, and the refreshment brought upon his body as a result of landing a natural stack soon convinced him otherwise, though the living still remained quizzical, not having the slightest clue what had just occurred, so naturally…
"Praise Watchful Undeviginti! Its soft glow shines down upon me!" the natural event was attributed as a godly intervention, not that Ir'Houwl had any intention of making an explanation right now, standing tall, she and the worshippers stood a distance away without moving.
It made no doubt that a natural stack was a completely different beast than the manual method in use by Gravelord Nosferatu and General Loimos, they mimicked the process perfectly, but it seemed like the chance aspect was simply a variable that greatly enhanced the whole thing, almost like it was some sort of natural battle art that required luck.
The exact nature of this phenomenon was of little importance right now however, the minor lord had just been hit hard, and with all of the vapour that had unlawfully taken root into her bones, she wasn't recovering as swiftly as she should, in fact, she wasn't recovering at all right now, and although confident in resistance to damage, if she were to be snapped in half, fighting would be much more difficult.
'Mmh… Yes, I am close, just on the verge… But there is something else, huh?'
Thankfully, as long as she wasn't actually broken into pieces, the minor lord would not fall apart, the death force keeping her together as an undead was potent, and Siccitas was still active, so the festering death still remained too, thanks to it, her entire body could currently naturally channel the properties of red sand, mere contact would result in rapid scratching that could eat through flesh and severe draining of all kind of things for the victim.
Ny-Hor launched a crescent slash forth, running right behind it, the minor lord threw a slash of her own, the two attacks crashing against one another, they barely had time to dissipate after cancelling one another out, their caster already at their opponent's throat.
From close range, Ny-Hor manifested a spike of vapour aimed at the undead's head, Ir'Houwl making no effort to dodge the spell, as red sand engulfed it, not merely obstructing the way, but absorbing the energy making it up, a small bit at first, but it rapidly picked up in pace, sure-sign that the minor lord had unraveled the way to drain this particular energy.
The bandaged man frowned but did not back down, manifesting a blade upon his right hand and swinging at her partly destroyed chest, hoping to bisect Ir'Houwl in half for good, the undead's fist instead headed directly for the living's face, it seemed like both would strike at the exact same time.
Then, the black sand turned a vibrant golden, and they instinctively froze, seconds before the pale red glow of Sanguine Undeviginti was chased away, and replaced by an incandescent white, so awfully bright that the living had to close his eye to avoid having his retina singed, so terribly luminous that for the first time ever, that the undead's darkness awareness was genuinely, completely disturbed.
Cleansing Undeviginti was here.
Claiming the spot of sovereign of the desert's sky faster than it had ever before…
The temperature rose sharply, and without wait, the very air began to catch fire, the entire realm was bathed in murderous light, countless creatures and people were instantly reduced to utter nothingness, caught off-guard by the arrival of the incandescent one, somehow, the sollock, or bush-trees, were perfectly fine even under such tyrannical heat.
But across the entire realm, the furious combat grew still, all vapour wielders and undeads clearly sensed the danger coming, and the initial losses amongst the warriors of both sides were minimal as nearly everyone instinctively ceased all movements.
Those who failed, well, only the fact that there no longer was any proof that they had been here in the first place was the only evidence that showed that they had failed at the game of Cleansing Undeviginti.
Although its initial appearance was a surprise considering that Sanguine Undeviginti hadn't been around for that long, and the fact that the switch had been much quicker than normal, the casualties were few.
But it wasn't the start that was bad with the murderous one, now, the people could hardly move at all, although it was said that one could move slowly under the white shine, no one was willing to try, and thus, everyone, without exception, be they dead or alive, was stuck in the position they had assumed before Cleansing Undeviginti had casted its light upon the desert.
The undeads held a clear advantage in that regard, as not moving was part of the basic skill set of being a corpse, so even if awkwardly positioned, they would budge at all, even if they were being slowly cooked by the dreadful heat that was suffocating the realm.
Prime Undeviginti could get worse than this, but only with many of its decoys, and it wouldn't always be casting such a dire level of heat, thankfully, unlike the first sun, the cleansing one did not possess the ability to heat up energies as well, it only wielded mundane temperature, which was still monstrously dangerous, but a bit less so.
As long as it was just normal heat, the corpses could handle it, even if they caught on fire and their bones were smouldered black, they would not move a single millimeter.
The livings however, they were in trouble, those that did not have the great luck of being hidden in the shades, and were thus not forced into Cleansing Undeviginti's mad game of statues, those that were not so fortunate were forced to remain in place and endure, sweat soon covered their entire bodies, burning marks formed upon their exposed bits of skin, fresh wounds were cauterised.
The pressure put upon them was enormous, but that wasn't even the worst of it.
Fights did not end everywhere, as not everyone had been caught out into the open, the capital was still peaceful, but for the cities under assault, that was a different story, many of the warriors and titled members of the solar worships had been forced out into the open during the confrontation, and many parts of the bush-trees that provided shadows to hide in had been destroyed during the fights.
Where the incandescent light did not reach, blood was still flowing.