"Die, you bit-" an arm-bearer of Prime Undeviginti was cut off as he was elbowed in the jaw, spinning the dazed man around before two pale red sickles wrapped around his neck, a single kick was sent against the man's back and just like that, a head came rolling to the ground as the rest of the corpse fell to the ground like a sack of bricks.
Blood barely had time to flow before the crushing heat caused the wound to dry up and solidify.
Benerib tilted her head to the side, looking down upon the man whose life she had just ended in an unnecessarily gruesome manner, there was no remorse to be found beneath the steel mask, only stuffy, warm breath and a frighteningly pale visage were to be discovered.
Holding her two sickles formed out of sanguine vapour, the headless body at her feet had thought that now that her patron sun was gone, that she would be an opponent he could take on, unfortunately, this belief had been completely wrong.
She pushed the disembodied head to the side and walked through the shadow-covered city, everything had turned awfully quiet, which was odd, it was highly unlikely that she and that man had been the only ones still within when the white sun arrived, more people should be fighting at this very moment, yet, she heard no sound.
'Did the corpse with a bag on his head do something? No, that can't be it, that guy went to another city entirely…' she continued to walk with calm steps, sickles still manifested in her hands.
Stalking the street corners and checking into the habitations, the civilians of this city had, for the most part, made a run for it when the fighting began and nearly instantly went out of control, so even if they had managed to escape, they were probably dead in the desert now, especially the young and old, they wouldn't hold out for very long at all under the tyranny of Cleansing Undeviginti.
But no matter, Benerib cared little for the non-combatants, they were only fit to do menial work and to push out babies, besides, Ir'Houwl had claimed that all would be granted the 'blessing', the so-called blessing was death, that much was obvious, but clearly, death to the corpse woman, and death to the people of this realm, were very different, continuing to be and exist after passing away was not normal to them, the closest thing would be some bone-puppets that displayed more intelligence and power than other, but these were not proper undeads according to those who called themselves that.
But the sanguine vapour melding with remnants of mind, spirit or whatever else that lingered into the remains, creating an entity that was neither wholly new, but far from what it originally was.
The living cared little for the semantics, she only wanted to put her sickles to work, and hopefully, one day had Sanguine Undeviginti rule on its own, without having to share with anything or anyone else.
Indeed, Benerib had a dream…
She stopped walking, turning her head slightly to the side, directly at a crack in the wall of a habitation, catching sight of movement as soon as her eyes landed on the tiny gap.
'Either a vapour wielder concealing themselves, or a regular civilian… The latter would be easier to kill' with composed steps, the golden sand beneath her feet squished to the sides with a soft crunch, approaching the entrance, calmly hooking the leaf curtain with one of her sickles, and prying it open.
An unknown projectiles wooshed past her head as she slightly tilted it to the side, followed by the curtain being flung forward as man wearing pale blue robes, tackling into her and sending the both of them rolling in the middle of the street as she stabbed the handle of both her weapons into his shoulder blades.
The man groaned in pain, rolling in the sand and cursing under his breath as grains of sand got into the wounds.
"By Undeviginti, you are a despicable strumpet, heretic!" he said, gritting his teeth as he painfully pushed himself off the ground as Benerib did the same, the man before her seemed to be an Ersta'la considering that he wore robes, and since he had not just fired more attacks after the first one, she had deemed him too unskilled to be an Ersta'sol.
He pulled out a dagger forged to greatly resemble the shape of a beast's claw and barred it at the sanguine arm-bearer, one good thing about Cleansing Undeviginti being sovereign was that wounds did not bleed for long, blood solidified in mere moments, though, it was very superficial and every wide movements near the wounds would cause it to open again and bleed some more, which was beyond distracting and painful.
"You want to kill me, heretic?! Then come and-" his head was cut in half, Benerib wasn't the sort to bother listening to dead meat, and just threw one of her sickles right through his face, manifesting a new one to replace it shortly after before stepping away to continue looking around.
She ran into a few non-combatants hiding like rats in their own homes, they knew how to beg fairly well, that was the one thing Benerib could compliment about them, apart from that, they didn't get to show much about themselves before being forcefully separated into pieces.
'Is everyone beside me just hiding? Even that Ersta'la had just been waiting inside of a house, he probably wouldn't have even come out to attack me had he not been noticed…' the masked woman peeked into another house, walking in as she heard the small sound of something shuffling around.
"Well, where are you parents, little one? Leaving a baby like you all alone… That's unsafe" one sickle was raised up in the air, the sharp end aimed directly for the newborn's forehead.
Benerib's affection for the youngest of her own kind only extended to allowing them a clean and swift end.
The sound of sand stone being pierced rang out, followed by the sharp noise of steel being struck hard, the sanguine arm-bearer was sent stumbling all the way back against the wall behind her, an arrow of pale of blue vapour had just went right through the wall and hit her straight in the face, but thanks to her mask, she was just a bit dazed.
A man, younger than she was by a long shot, perhaps young enough to still be called a boy, stepped into the house and got in between her and the baby, judging by his attire and apparent age, he was a junior arm-bearer.
"Do you have no heart? That's a baby! It doesn't even know anything about our different faiths!" shouted the boy, his voice squeaky enough to pass off as that of a girl.
"Who said that I was going to kill it because it's born in a city controlled by the watchful worshippers? I simply don't intend on sparing anyone, and besides… Babies have no value, we only get value when we can start working, you should have just let me kill it and stayed hidden like a good boy" responded Benerib, taking the occasion of this back and forth to channel vapour over her face, in case damage had penetrated through the mask.
"You…! You're a monster!" gripping his decorated ikakalaka sword, the youth sent a slash forth before grabbing the baby and promptly making his escape.
The attack was swiftly diverted, and Benerib gave chase.