Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

"Still nothing?" a man of stalwart build, his shoulders wide and his face seemingly carved out of smooth stone, he asked a young woman wearing bright robes similar to his.

Unlike him, whose skin was rather fair and whose head was adorned with buffalo horns, his ears similarly that of the animal rather than human ones, the young woman was rather smell and had oversized ears that didn't seem to be that of any known animal, her skin reddish and decorated by slight bumps resembling pebbles growing out of her body.

"No… Despite having definitely entered the city, the package you ordered has completely vanished, the man driving it was rather peculiar and was spotted on multiple occasions, his mana signature is rather hard to follow, ambient mana just spontaneously fills in and replaces his mana residues…" she spoke carefully, only looking up at the horned man from time to time, his expression had been rather scary at the beginning of this.

As a few days had gone on, he just looked tired now however, the initial anger had since faded away, the holy mage only wishing to uncover what was going on, it didn't make any sense.

The guards under his boot had assured him that the coachman had arrived with the package, witnesses had seen him inside the city as well, his bizarre mana hard to ignore, yet, the good, alongside the carriage and two whole horses had vanished into thin air, and now, like a ghost, the coachman was wandering around, doing whatever.

Who wouldn't have cashed in the money for the delivery? Had someone else offered more money? At the last second? The more he tried to find reason, the more nonsense he uncovered.

"What do you want to do, Sir Maelstroff?" his assistant asked him after a minute of utter silence, her ears twitching.

"Only the coachman can give me answers, I'll go look for him myself" he dismissed her and slumped in his seat, it was already late, tomorrow would be the day.

He closed his eyes for a few seconds, falling asleep surprisingly quickly, only awakening much later when the door to his office was unceremoniously pushed open, the entire room had turned significantly darker, only illuminated by the mana crystals on the ceiling, casting a faint and comfortable glow.

Quick to awake and rid himself of any grogginess, the holy mage stood straight in his seat, used to having late night visitors, although those visitors weren't generally here for work purposes.

Standing in the doorway, their face cast with shadows, a deformed-looking figure stepped into the room with remarkable casualness, still, the mage had already leaped out of his seat and taken multiple steps back, that didn't seem like an friendly visit.

"Name yourself" he ordered, ready to cast a spell at the intruder, his horns brightening with bright, gold-like light, revealing that he had etched runes and such into them.

"I am sure you can guess" stepping forward, basking into the bluish light of the crystals was a woman, garbed in a horrendously long and wide dark cloak, she showed him her hands, apart from her face, everything was wrapped in dark as well, some sort of leathery matter it seemed but it was hard to say.

'Dark brown hair, a bit curly, weird obscene look in the eyes, palish, not a bad face, negligible curvatures…' analysing her with his expertise, he suddenly backed away further, noticing a thin dagger strapped to her waist.

"The Death Dealer? Who the hell put a hit on my head?" he asked, knowing with certainty that he wasn't big enough of a deal for the murderous maniac of the Fin-Limiers to show up on his doorstep.

"It's a bit difficult to explain, but the king heard of some rise in slave trade within the country, ordered some of his nobles to deal with it rapidly and one of those nobles hired me so that they could be very, very efficient" she didn't see any problem telling him this, clearly, she was intent on silencing him.

"I hear you, I hear you, but I have nothing to do with any sort of slave trade, I can assure you" he had heard plenty about the one called Death Dealer even amongst a group of assassins, she was no stranger to killing even those that had nothing to do with her missions, even if he was to prove with perfect evidences that he shouldn't be put on the chopping block, she was still likely to murder him right here and there.

"No need to lie, I heard it all from the seller and delivery guy already, I know that you aren't the only one either in this town" she retracted her arms behind her oversized cloak, and she began stepping forward, each and every movement of hers nearly impossible to follow with the eye, it was like every part of her bent and weaved at uncomfortable, impossible angles.

Without hesitation, Maelstroff unleashed the spell he had been charging up, sending a brilliant barrier covering the entire room in length hurling right at the assassin, instantly rushing for the window behind his desk, breaking through the window and landing on the roof of another building next door.

Somehow, before he could rush forward again, the malformed shadow that was The Death Dealer landed without a sound right in his path.

He had trouble believing that she could deal with his barrier so quickly, but he had no time to think, the assassin was already right in his face, impossible to detect with his mana senses and dreadfully fast, he casted multiple spells all at once, weaving and manifesting them in an instant before the dagger pierced his neck.

First, a wave of holy of mana, forced The Death Dealer away, secondly, a serie of barriers formed in between the two of them and at odd angles around the assassin, wanting to restrict her movements as he unleashed yet another spell, a bright light illuminating the city in the middle of the night.

But the idea wasn't to alert anyone, the mage knew that no one would get here quickly enough, especially when he saw the assassin carving through his spells like they were warm butter.

'That dagger…' the blade she swung around with as much strangeness as she moved was nothing short of a tool designed to slaughter mages.

He had first believed to be able to run from her, that option out of reach, he circulated his mana once more and called forth a luminous figure armed with two swords, sending it forth as a distraction as he reached for something around his neck, crushing it, he felt a his neck being slashed right as he was transported away.

"Mission accomplished" The Death Dealer stretched her arms, knowing that the holy mage was already done for.