I was partially shocked at the new-found intellect of the four chosen undead. It seemed that my brethren would eventually gain their own natural self-awareness and essentially 'evolve' whenever they gained enough power from their fallen foes. I tapped into their conscious to try and see the limits of their sentience, but there were none. It seemed that they had the capacity to learn and grow ever-stronger. This was essential in what I aspired to do, for I cannot be many places at once in my conquest for the purging of corruption in this world. I yearned to make my subordinates stronger, and I decided to make these four my generals, to command sections of the army that I will build to show the world true death.
"You four have pleased me with the results of your evolution. Thus, I will bestow upon you a name. You will be first. Come, my loyal subject."
One of the four, the farthest to the left, comes closer and kneels before me. I take out Purge and take a stance, similar to how the human royalty would do a knighting ceremony.
"From this day forth, you will be known to all as Uriel."
The undead, now known as Uriel, quivered as I placed my sword on his left and right shoulder. I felt a portion of my power disappear from within me, and it went straight inside of him. His eyes glared with a stronger light and his body grew. The former black mist around him turned into a brighter green hue, and his flames changed to a more pure green color, lighting up the area evermore. When the transformation was finished, he suddenly banged his head onto the floor, causing a crack filled with small green flames to appear on the impact.
"I pledge eternal allegiance to the Sovereign and Herald of Death!"
"Rise, and await your orders."
Uriel rose up and waited as his bright green eyes burned with passion.
They came from left to right, and I named them in that order. After they were named, they all had their respected colors assigned to them. Uriel's flames were emerald green, Falkor's were amethyst purple, Genithul's were a golden yellow, and Mareth's were a dark, seemingly void of light, black.
They all were of similar height, all grew an entire two feet taller than their peers, only a small margin shorter than my own stature.
"Go, and deal with the rest of this corrupted city. This will be your first commands, do not fail me."
""""Yes, my liege!""""
They gathered up the rest of the undead within the Hall of Order, and divided them respectively in four groups. As they marched off into the distance, I yearned myself for more power.
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Only fools stop increasing their own strength, I must do the same. There are more stronger than me, and to show all true death, I, myself, must become it.
Death told me that in order to increase my strength, I must harness hatred within me and outside of my body, from outside forces, and absorb them. Souls and bodies, anything that has to do with living beings and concepts, I am able to absorb. As I think of a way to increase my strength, I play the words of Death into my mind.
No one can escape death.
I spread my arms across from me, and lift my head high. I further clear my mind, and feel the air around me. I feel the ground beneath me. I feel the flickers of the torches and lights reflecting across the room. Then, I feel it.
All of the life around me, all of the breath and existence inside of all the particles and matter surrounding me. The flames that flicker, the lights that reflect, and the stones that make this very hall, I feel the life inside all of them.
I take it all away. The black mist expands greatly, until it covers the entire Hall of Order. Onlookers, brought in by the four generals, gasp in horror and shock as not even the gates of the estate are spared. The very stones wither away until not even dust remains. The lights and flames immediately snuffed out, leaving me in the total darkness of the now-crumbling hall. The process takes hours, and as the sun rises, light starts to pour in. As it touches the radius of the mist, not even that is spared, leaving a gigantic dome of total darkness. Not a single shred of light is able to penetrate before being devoured, making the various townspeople, merchants, and occasional nobles not able to see anything.
My body grew and never ceased to stop. I concentrated the mist around me more and more as I grew stronger by the second, instead of spreading it further. I didn't want to devour the civilians as well, for no reason. I could use the light itself as a source of power, their corpses were no longer needed. I had the ability to absorb it all this time, I just never tried to. The enlightenment that I achieved during my yearn for power gave me a near infinite source of rapid strength.
I could still see the area surrounding me, and when the buildings of the city began to look the size of benches to me, I knew I had to stop growing, or it would prove troublesome. I stood a little more than 50 meters tall, and focused on shrinking my bones back to a more suitable size. I condensed my bones more and more, focusing them to become stronger and stronger, denser and denser, until my body shrank back to a more suitable 3-to-4 meter range of height.
I began to retract my aura, and as I did, in the eyes of the undead I saw the onlookers wearing faces of bewilderment. Those that tried to resist were slaughtered, but many still harbored rebellious thoughts. They first categorized my brethren as monsters and in the same category as demons. But, as my aura retracted and they were finally able to see the utter disappearance of the Hall of Order, they knew they were not a match.
The sun's light gleamed throughout the now wide, empty space that was the Hall of Order. The only thing unscathed was the ground.
The generals had the thousands of people kneel before me, and at the display of my power, only the blindly-devoted people of the Holy Temple still decided to rebel. They were slain on the spot, and the blood spewed across the nearby civilians, traumatizing those that haven't seen death. They watched as their corpses withered away as they were absorbed by the undead. Some people in the arts of magic showed faces of despair as they could see the very souls of the fools being crushed and devoured by my brethren.
All thoughts of resistance were utterly destroyed.