Whilst the animated corpse awkwardly walked towards Zadius, he felt a sudden surge of animus fill his body.
To the strange creature, Zadius had only made himself a more bountiful meal.
With its monstrous strength, the adventurer's corpse lunged towards Zadius with blinding speed, but his stigmata had already come into effect.
Dark, purple, glowing bands ran their way across his skin, two bands moved down his forehead to just under his deep eyes. Another set of bands ran along his arm and stopped in a circle at the back of his hand.
Each band seemed like a bottomless abyss that held untold horrors. From them, a purple shadowy mist began to seep out, threatening to consume all surrounding light.
Zadius felt his body fill with newfound strength, his dominion over the shadows had also become noticeably stronger as well.
The best boon of it all, was the sudden rejuvenation stigmata had blessed him with.
Before the corpse could impale him with its hand, the pale moonlight that illuminated the beautiful hydrangeas had darkened in Zadius' presence.
The beast ignored the shifting shadows around it and lurched its hand forward. However, Zadius rolled out the way with his new strength.
The tree groaned as the beast's arm lodged itself deep in its large trunk, the devastating blow erupting a cloud of dust, bark and pollen.
The hydrangeas pulsed once more, releasing another thick cloud of pale blue spores.
Taking the moment, Zadius dashed towards the temporarily unmoving aether beast and strengthened his body as best as he could.
He held his breath as he approached the heavy, insidious cloud of weakening spores and slammed his fist into the corpse's side.
Its armouring aspect caved in from the force of his blow and the beast's gaping mouth released a pained, guttural groan.
As the beast flew back, its arm was still stuck in the thick tree's bark. While reeling backwards, Zadius heard the corpse's elbow pop and then he heard dried sinew and muscle tearing.
The force caused the creature's arm to rip off at the elbow.
Now free from any restraints, the puppeteered corpse soared for a moment before crashing into another large tree.
Zadius looked down at his hands for a moment and back at the beast he had sent flying.
"Good, this is good." He smiled, clenching his fist tightly.
***
To Zadius' right, the familiar, thick, golden glowing lines had run across the sides of Xaryus' face and arms once again. Just as Zadius' transformation had darkened the surroundings, Xaryus' presence had brightened all sources of light around him.
In the small moment Xaryus used to activate his stigmata the corpse in front of him dashed forward with the intent to fill Xaryus' lungs with spores.
Before its pollen filled body could reach Xaryus, he promptly activated his [Illuminate] ability.
As the hydrangea filled arms approached him, his body suddenly flashed with an immensely powerful light; causing the aether beast to stagger momentarily.
Stepping forward, his eyes glowed more intensely than ever before.
With the flash of his glowing sword, he severed the beast's arm and cauterized the wound at the same time; preventing the eerie pollen from escaping its body.
The beast reeled back in pain from the blade's searing heat, but Xaryus had already severed another of its limbs. In another instant, he dropped his sword onto its shoulder like a shining guillotine.
Even with his enhanced strength, Xaryus' sword stopped halfway down the corpse's torso. The blow revealed the thin, bloodied vines that filled the corpse.
Fighting against the harrowing pain Xaryus inflicted, the aether beast moved forward with primal intent to spread the parasitic hydrangeas.
Gritting his teeth, Xaryus cursed as he dragged his sword from the corpse's chest and slammed his heel into the abomination's abdomen; causing it to stagger back.
By the time it came to a halt, Xaryus retracted [Solaris] from his sword and gathered the mystical power within his palm.
With a powerful thrust, he extended his arm. What was usually an orb of condensed light hurled towards a target had become a violent beam of uncompromising animus and destruction.
The ability screamed forward in blinding rays of light, slamming into the aether beast with full force and eviscerating the forest with it.
Xaryus exhaled softly, the wind carrying the scent of ash and burned hydrangea, "That was… cool." He cheerfully thought as his mind became blurry.
***
Meanwhile, Zadius looked on at the mangled corpse slowly rising to its feet. Its hydrangeas flowed silently in the cool night wind.
Then, they shifted violently as the frail corpse moved with monstrous devotion and speed. Its footfalls were erratic and the pale blue light nestled in its gaunt eyes were filled with hunger.
Zadius dashed away from the beast, running towards his daggers. The corpse quickly trailed behind him, unable to catch up.
Quickly, Zadius grabbed his blades and easily willed the shadows around him to cloak them.
Holding his breath once more he charged towards his target. After a few steps he ducked under a monstrous attack that threatened to rip his head off.
Not letting up, he swung his cloaked dagger upward, ripping through the weakened aspect and biting into the beast's flesh.
Ignoring the spray of blue pollen, Zadius jammed his second long dagger into the creature's side.
Releasing another pained screech, the creature brought its hand down towards Zadius.
Without enough time to evade the attack, he released the dagger jammed in the creature's side and twisted his body with the attack.
The blow that intended to rip through his mundane armour and his insides only left deep claw marks in his chest plate.
Using his momentum, Zadius spun around and pressed his second dagger into the creature's neck. In another swift motion, he pushed off the ground and landed another back kick on the beast's chest.
Skating across the forest's floor, the creature dragged its fingers through the ground. As it came to a halt, it hastily pulled the daggers out of its side, reeling in pain from the insidious shadows that cloaked them.
Releasing another guttural roar, the animated corpse lunged forward once again. Its pale blue eyes eager to rip Zadius apart and feast on his blood and animus.
Zadius watched the animated corpse fly through the air towards him. Strangely, a feeling of pity and responsibility crossed his mind.
"If I had asked Velmo to kill this thing when we passed by… These people would have lived another day." He thought, dropping his arms to the side.
He had to take responsibility.
Reluctantly, Zadius allowed his stigma to consume his animus.
In its absence, ancient shadows began to pour out of his purple markings like a horde of undead charging at their master's behest.
"You can rest now." Mumbling under his breath, Zadius shot his hands forward and the deep shadows that poured out of his markings flowed with it.
His animus fueled the shadows with strength far beyond normal. Their malleable shape solidified and pressed forward like onyx blades.
Before the corpse could reach Zadius, the tide of ravenous, sharp tendrils impaled the creature, stopping it in its tracks and keeping it aloft.
The puppeteered corpse released a low guttural groan as the pale glow within its empty eyes vanished.
Zadius looked at the adventurer's corpse with pity and a feeling of guilt. Then, a bright light flashed across his face before a massive boom followed.
To his right, Xaryus stood with his hand extended.
In front of him was a massive, charred crater in the ground that stretched a dozen metres.
Laying in it was the partially burnt corpse of an adventurer, many of the hydrangeas that had bloomed across their body were burnt and others were slowly burning away.
The beast released a pained groan that slowly faded away.
Zadius would have felt elated at his brother's success in battle if he did not collapse the moment he looked over at him. Worried, Zadius released his shadows and rushed over towards Xaryus.
He fell to his knees and flipped Xaryus over.
Looking over him frantically, he noticed that Xaryus' stigmata faded and he fell unconscious.
Zadius released a deep sigh, relieved that his brother only collapsed from exhaustion.
"I guess using stigmata twice a day is too much." Zadius thought, tapping Xaryus on the chest and looking at his destructive power.
Unbeknownst to him, his stigmata had also faded away. It seemed that the ability could not be held indefinitely even if the caster wished for it.
As the mystical power of his stigma vanished, a deep pain ran through Zadius' body. All his rejuvenated strength had left him in a moment's notice, and his consciousness began to fade.
"I can't even use my stigmata once? That's so unfair…" Zadius thought as his consciousness faded.
***
The night's silence slowly flooded the forest around Xaryus and Zadius once again.
It was peaceful.
The wind slowly ran through the trees and the stark blue hydrangeas flowed beautifully with it. They elatedly swayed along the mangled corpse Zadius believed to have defeated.
A low groan escaped its wide maw as it slowly rose from the ground and walked towards the unconscious brothers. Its flowers shook erratically as it got closer, as if they couldn't wait to satiate their hunger anymore.
With another step, the blue hydrangeas gathered together for a moment before their petals spread apart, revealing a mass of roiling flesh.
From them, dark green vines covered in a thick crimson slowly crept its way out into the beautiful moonlight.