"My General, we have five thousand rank and file soldiers ready for action, and the number is growing, what shall we do?" standing straight within a large room, the words of death tongue seemingly refusing to echo across the wide emptiness.
Banners hung from the walls and ceiling, emerging from a deep dark that seemed to extend far beyond what one could perceive, the walls were like everywhere else within the keep, constructed more black stone, as of currently, no material in the possession of the undead was greater when it came to building fortified positions, the architects had already erected entire mountains from it across certain spans of the conquered ocean.
And as of now, it was so great, that it was predicted that no stone greater than this would emerge in another decade, being so good that even undead ingeniosity would require many years before being able to surpass itself yet again.
The room itself sported an over elevated platform, what was upon it was hidden by large curtains that seemed to wrap around the structure, although it was supposed to be the heart of the dark keep, where the general was to command his troops, it had been constructed in the shape of an arena, circular, the edges lacking a ground and instead giving into what appeared to be an endless pit, the bottom having been filled with something that most undeads wouldn't be able to come out of.
So it was best not to get too close to the edges.
"Keep the troops hidden, only the lieutenants, a handful of elites and the builders are allowed to be seen by the livings, but remember to switch the builders every three hours" the reply was swift and concise.
"Very well, what shall we do if they decide to strike at us first?" the undead speaking wore an armour that marked him as a fire knight, his sword lean and dreadfully long, so much so that he could only hold it in his hand rather than sheath it, not even carrying it on his back could be of use.
Though, he sported a red cloak over his suit of armour, and the fact that he was addressing the general personally when there were many lieutenants around could only mean that he was one as well.
"If they decide to attempt an attack, we retreat within the keep"
"I know what you are thinking, you are allowed to express yourself"
Stellar had risen through the ranks, from a simple rank and file amongst the vanguard, to a fire knight and then ascending into power high enough to be recognised as a lieutenant, he had fought many battles, and despite not being pure like the champion was, he had never experienced any doubt or hesitation when wielding his sword and burning livings to ashes, be they combatants, civilians or even children, but the instant it seemed like he was being pressed by Loimos, he experienced a momentary sensation, and felt compelled to kneel.
Even though all that happened was that a few words were directed at him, nothing else.
"My apologies, General Loimos, I should not doubt your strategy"
"You wish to know the details, that is natural"
The fire knight did not say anything, and simply let the general continue to speak.
"After the fundamental laws of the Emerald Realm were altered to prevent us from being broken down into spirit life, the enemy naturally countered us by doing the same, unfortunately, we are totally outmatched in that department, their mastery is not something we can hope to replicate without getting our hands their most competent"
"In fact, I believe that we will not be able to make any further change until we specifically get the one who put a seal upon it all, for now, even if we had the means to combat them on that front, we would not be able to"
"The change that they made before shutting everything down is simple, the realm now actively weakens the undead, proportionally to the amount of spirit life in the air"
"Then, My General, could we not fight them by corrupting or capturing spirit life?"
"We can not, it is once again a domain where he can not hope to put up a fight, we have been able to do something once, but it will not happen a second time"
"Wait, General Loimos, that weakening is in effect right now? I do not sense it"
"Here is the core of our current strategy, the livings will be observing us, trying to see how weakened we are, hence why only our strongest are allowed to show themselves, through they are forbidden from demonstrating any feat that could show their strength, by only allowing them to appear, and by cycling through our builders, we will pretend to be affected and if they attack, we will not fight to reinforce that idea"
"General, does that mean that the restriction they put in place does not work?"
"It does work, and it is in fact, incredibly potent, the rank and file would be barely able to move if they were to endure its effects as intended, and even one such as you would find himself struggling against an opponent that would normally pose no problem"
The fire knight tilted his head.
"I am shouldering all of the effects of the weakening" spoke Loimos "The enemy may or may not realise this fact, and our current strategy shall also probe at whether or not they are aware that one can take one hundred percent of the effect and leave others unhindered"
"I understand, I should not have doubted"
Stellor listened and believed without question.
He could hardly believe that the general was enduring the whole of this restriction, as he had sensed no difference from usual from Loimos, the pure undead was moving and acting the exact same as usual.
Loimos said that if the restriction was allowed to work as normal, then rank and file soldiers would be rendered defenceless, and lieutenants would be severely weakened, and that would be when everyone endured just parts of it, yet, the general could just take all of the effect meant for an entire army without problem.
And the Emerald Realm was not very hospitable to the undead to begin with, being so abundant with life.
"General Loimos, are you capable of fighting in this state?" he asked, because if not, some guards would have to be dispatched to protect him.
"Most of my abilities are unusable, but I can still fight, I might lose if an enemy wielding devouring life came for me, however"
"I understand, any further orders, My General?"