The festival ends with new promises being made between the various families. With no blood between them anymore, The Bloodthrones view themselves as a house ascending. The Bloodthrone master is riding with his children, returning to his mausoleum that suddenly feels like a palace to him. The master is beaming with pride because of his son. His youngest and brightest boy challenges the universe.
At this, a powerful unseen force enters the minds of all it can, making them more agreeable with what is about to happen. This force, no longer able to directly interfere with Pluto, got lucky as one of its agents is in the crowd.
Pluto in that moment, had embraced all he is now, letting go of the hope he had in a trickster god of light. It had been building in him this frustration at his place in life, sure his vows to himself are important. However, until just now, he wasn't really sure he could do it. Only when he is surrounded by the corpses of those, he defeated did he feel something. A hunger to destroy because his plan for the first time feels concrete to him. So he declared, in front of everyone in the ancient blood hall. He remembers the story of the creation of the undead.
"I Pluto Bloodthrone pledge to rid us of the light that corrupts that which is still." He is quoting directly from the unholy Necromonicron that belong to the Lifeless Saint Rüstorf. It is a shorthand for the creation of the world unlife or the stillness, the great darkness that which is existed before light is where the unlifers and undead come from. Pluto wants the gods to suffer, and to do that, he will need to destroy all they claim to love.
"I promise you all a return to that stillness!" The crowd murmurs in shock a boy barely in his bones is declaring that he will start a Dark Crusade. Even the master is shocked. No one since the golden age of blight has come close to doing it. The sheer necroforce required will mean at least one dread crusade that takes a billion lives.
"The world will blood and, by our power, return to the ashes!" The younger generation is not so convinced but sees it as the mad rambles of a young soul. To them, he is intriguing, to the adults, those who suffered under the current peace with only small invasions into the light lands above. Still, the lesser lords, barons and common undead start a chant.
It is the unholy dirge of undoing, they sing for Pluto to claim the only thing that will make them submit. The reason every undead from Mortistrand to the Morgul plague lands. Come to the Moribund Holy Crusade Academy is to claim the still-beating heart of Basuni, the first Death God who fell in battle against the light gods. For an hour they sacrifice hundred thousand souls, all hoping to make this dirge come true.
They are all riding back when Reeva stops the carriage. The driver has to wrestle with the flying spectral horses in the skies above Moribund. "Father this is our stop." The master cranks his head, not understanding he has an invitation from a Lich king Arthol. They are heading towards one of the hanging gardens right now. Yet his wicked children are leaping out of the carriage. He knows what is below and only hopes they can convince him. The Master continues on. Even without his, children this should be an eventful meeting. The Blood thrones used to own a hanging garden, the sweet blossoming of death rattle lilies, the flowing waters of pure etherealium are but a few of the splendours they enjoy.
The pair of mischievous kids are plummeting towards a side of the city, where undead languish trying to through prayer and gospel music to repent. Pluto, after making a superhero landing, "The gods don't care about them, why do they still pray so much?"
Reeva is equally disgusted by these people who are actually this way because of the light gods and how they turn around and still worship the same entities that condemned them. "This is what happens when you believe their lies. All undead are monsters they need to wipe off the face of the earth. They can't even imagine it themselves. They hate what they are and believe it is their fault somehow." She leads him to the favourite hangout spot of their older brother.
A holy church that was sucked during the third crusade led by Skeleton lord Archmeritous. It is popular because it is a great way to build resistance against holy damage. The aura it emits brings Pluto to his knees. "By the nine below!" He is lucky enough that is a crippling aura not a damaging one. Given his weakness is at four hundred per cent, the aura takes him to a pathetic one per cent of his power. He can barely move.
Reeva turns around. She didn't think it would be this bad. To her, it makes sense one of the easiest ways for the undead to be as powerful as Pluto is to have an extreme weakness. She just didn't think he would select holy damage. Getting him the right talisman will be very expensive. She doesn't know why but when Pluto spoke early, she believed him. So she carries him in over time he should get better but she will have to fix this. Especially if he is joining the school getting the souls required is only going to effort.
Reeva sees Topa as always. I in his arms are half-naked Banshrills drinking baby blood number 9. It is a particular blend made from the bodies of ten thousand dead babies hung out to dry for six weeks. The meat isn't something Reeva likes herself as she prefers her human fresh but to each their own.
The shaky Pluto is stumped in his armour. His brother is a particularly human, his skin beaming, long flowing black hair and muscles like a god. There is only one kind of undead that is this lifelike. A Tokoloshi, this particular blend of undead, is known to rip the flesh of their victims and wear them meat suits. However, the stronger one gets, they no longer need meat suits and spend thousand of years feeding on an unsuspecting community. In his past life this type of undead was associated with serial killing as they are extremely specific about what kind of meat suit they consume.
"Reeva! Reeva rip out my liver and call dead. Is that really you, baby sister?! In a place like this, I bet the old man must be losing his plasma." Reeve isn't as excited as Topa, who basically flung the Baneshrill away from him, threw the baby blood behind onto the wall and is setting a seat for her. To Topa, Reeva has always been someone he tries to show his better side. Even with the grievance, he has against their father, he has made sure to never take it out on her.
She puts Pluto down, who is slowly coming to his sense. Topa eyes the boy. A new soul smells like the living, which is why they often get prayed on. Topa's first thought is that he should have stayed topside longer. Moribund is full of spirits that eat of other spirits, especially those with King in their name.
"Yep, it's me. You were supposed to visit me!" She grabs him by his weak spot. Few know this, but a tokoloshi can't perfectly imitate a human body. They have a soft patch of skin under the third rib. This is Reevas' hand is in wiggling it about. Causing him immense pain and suffering. Topa dances about taking his punishment better this, than having her crave out a few souls from him
"Alright goddammit! Pull my ribs out and call an Adam!" Topa made a poor joke just now, an adam is the most deadly kind of skeleton made from the toughest bone and virtually unbreakable. It is also the reason Topa left their home. He lets his sister sit and they get to why she is here, over a glass of deadman's blood.
Reeva explains to Topa who Pluto is. Topa, a little heart sore, can only solace in that he brought himself and wasn't actively recruited, meaning that his father still believes he is the best undead in the family.
Topa, fixing his voice to its normal self, "It won't be cheap, it will cost more than prayer dear sister. If I give what I have."
Reeva doesn't care about cost, Pluto has to go levelling soon or they will eat him up at the academy, literally. "He needs a real battle spirit, like you, he thinks with his dick and some flimsy big titted idiot as a general.
"Bring him to back and let's what can do for him. You know he is dope sick, the holy magic is poisoning him. What kind of undead did you bring me." Reeva shrugs she has never seen what lies under the armour.