Bro, I'm not an Undead!

The bald man wore a smug grin as servants brought in sacks full of gold coins and laid them on the table between him and the short Governor who was sweating profusely.r

"You thought you could swindle sixty thousand in gold past me? How tactless and inconsiderate. Your miserable existence has been well fed and well defended for the past eight years and you dare insult me like this?" Dionas scoffed.r

"No, I..."r

"Quiet! All gold in this city is mine. I manage every operation. I manage livelihoods. I manage your security. All you have to do is smile and wave at the crowd while feeding on the crumbs I leave you. Is that not enough? If I see some more...heroism from you again..."r

"You will not, Lord Dionas, I swear!" the Governor shrunk while bowing to his knees.r

"And you call me a tyrant?" Dionas said as he stood, one the guards at his side collecting the fat gold sacks into his spatial storage.r

The bald man exited the building and entered his flashy carriage which immediately set out.r

\'These Governors are getting more and more bold. Was he gathering the money to fund some sort of resistance or was he simply trying to use it to win the people? I should consider replacing him and all the others,\' Dionas thought.r

Dionas had seen it all before. The benevolent, righteous types that tried to serve the people well enough to encourage them to fight against his rise and those that save up coin to buy mercenaries that could overthrow him...r

They had all fallen eternally silent and been buried far deep with their resolve.r

At the end of the day, tyranny and money was what made a man invincible. Dionas had learned this the hard way.r

\'Now, I should probably go t—" r

BOOOOOOOOOM!r

In the distance, a thunderous explosion sounded, with a mighty shockwave blowing outward like sandstorm to eradicate infrastructure throughout the entire city!r

Dionas\' carriage was pushed away by the remnants of the stupefying momentum, causing it to fly high and hard to the ground!r

The thrumming vibrations that sounded from the ground tickled Dionas\' hands that were pressed against the dusty ground, the weight of the carriage leaning against him making him cough and grunt in pain!r

His guards were nowhere to be seen and everything that was reflected in his eyes was in shambles.r

Buildings had collapsed, many people were screaming in pain with torn limbs or dead – impaled, crushed by falling debris or shredded mercilessly by the force of the shockwave!r

\'Dear Quintess...\' Dionas paled.r

What was this?r

What happened?r

*r

The BoneTender stood tall in the midst of the city, its ethereal robes fluttering serenely.r

Few who had been near where it landed had survived and some of those who were alive right now were barely hanging by a thread.r

In the sight of the BoneTender, the living humans had flames burning within them, though there were differences in the size and ferocity of the flame – some were larger than others.r

ραпdα nᴏνa| сom \'Curious... Why are these beings so weak? Their deaths would not provide that much Null Life Essence. Ah, is it perhaps... Are there Deities in this world protecting them?\' the Bone Tender thought with the shake of its head.r

No matter. r

What it sought was not Null Life Essence anyway.r

It needed clusters upon clusters of burning emotions that formed desires... ambitions. All of it from as many living things as possible. And fast.r

Unlike millenia ago, there were restrictions imposed upon it now, just as it was with other weaker Null Lifeforms that had managed to escape from Serenity\'s treasure. Her prison. The same case was with its host.r

Flaws.r

It couldn\'t wantonly appeal to any creature it wanted to do as it pleased with them anymore.r

This was a challenge, given the time limit it has.r

The fragments of light dispersing from its robe were telling, turning it dimmer and tearing it apart slowly.r

On the ground beside its feet, Yuyui had spawned once again thanks to the Inhumane Eye, the force of the landing having killed her instantly.r

It took her a few moments to realise what was happening, but when she did...r

\'Are we back at... No! What is it going to do?!\' she thought while looking up at the tall apparition which quivered vehemently and started to... duplicate!r

...!r

Slender variations of the BoneTender flashed out of its original body, their proportions smaller but equally as horrific!r

They sped through the air at rapid speeds like shooting stars and sought out all the humans in the vicinity, energetic, almost desperate resolve fueling them.r

One of the BoneTenders reached a young woman who was partially buried under thick rubble, blood gushing from her mouth as her life flashed in front of her cloudy eyes.r

The Bone Tender loomed over her, its pristine bony hands caressing her face.r

Sadly, this woman, like all the other humans here couldn\'t see the BoneTender as Yuyui could but a seductive energy invaded her mind, attracting her to the voice of the Bone Tender, dismissing the need to comprehend the language it spoke.r

"Do you wish to gamble on it? Glorious, empty bliss that may last for all undone time?" the Bone Tender asked patiently.r

The woman felt a feverish joy that encouraged her to say \'yes\' and she didn\'t struggle against it. She was at death\'s door. Anything was better than the darkness about to smother her. Her lips curved, an involuntary smile creeping into her blood face as she answered the damn question.r

"Yes," she said.r

Immediately, before her eyes, 72 cards appeared in her sight, all of them with different abstract designs acted as their cover. Behind the abstract design, the identity of different realities were depicted on these cards that floated in the air in neat rows, hiding their content from the woman. She just had to pick a card and then it would reveal what it had in store.r

"Then pick your fate," the Bone Tender said.r

The woman did not need elaboration as the seductive feeling invading her mind nudged informative detail to her.r

All she had to do was pick a card.r

To pick a fate.r

Even the Bone Tender could not influence what she chose.r

With little thought because she was fading fast, the woman picked a card and when her choice was registered, the card flipped, showing the minimalistic depiction of a humanoid figure bathing in gold coins!r

The Bone Tender sighed in defeat.r

"A shame..."r

In the next moment, as promised by the Bone Tender\'s deck, gold coins began falling on the dying woman in abundance, their ring as they knocked against each other, falling from thin space resounding with morbidity.r

Slowly, they buried the woman under their weight and unending rain, finishing the last embers of her life in the process.r

In another location, a young man who had been trying to pull his unconscious, bloody wife from a ditch was visited by one of the Bone Tenders, its touch on his face luring him into a sweet trance that made him drop his beloved without care.r

"Do you wish to gamble on it? Glorious, empty bliss that may last for all undone time?"r

The young man hesitated, but fell for the delightful feeling as well.r

As a deck of cards hung in the air before him, he too chose his fate, his card depicting the minimalistic image of a humanoid figure with tears in its eyes, a dark storm cloud over its head.r

\'What a terrible choice...\' the Bone Tender scoffed while watching as the air turned furious, a dark cloud that spilled heavy rains and lighting rising up above the man to cover the sky!r

The man suddenly started to weep bitterly, cradling his legs like a child in a sudden fit of violent sorrow that prompted the storm clouds above to spew even more treacherous amounts of rain and lightning!r

"Do you wish to gamble on it? Glorious empty bliss that may last for all undone time?" r

This same question was presented over and over and over again to every living, conscious human in the city, with obscure gifts or evil omens being the reward.r

One child chose a card with the minimalistic depiction of a bulky man with a mighty air of transcendent power around him and that fate was what he received.r

His body glowed with a blue light and he felt an endless surge of raw physical might that rivalled that of a Peak Master Stage expert. He began cackling madly moments later and drowning this power, losing his sanity.r

Another, a woman who had been cowering within her half destroyed house chose a card that depicted a humanoid figure crossing a vertical line to the other half of the card where its image turned hazy and a bit discoloured.r

As reality would have it, she died immediately but her soul remained, floating over her corpse in astonishment.r

"Curious..." the main body of the Full Deck Bone Tender said. The results were as random as always, but some were already promising.r

There were six powerful presences it already sensed within the city, meaning that its makeshift, secondary objective had been fulfilled but... its primary one remained.r

One of these humans needed to pick or be chosen by that card before it was too late, otherwise this unexpected chance would be wasted.r

Just one of them needed to choose that card.r

If not...r

"Oh..." the apparition\'s attention was ensnared by something burning bright from the distance.r

It grabbed the frightened Yuyui in its hand and rushed towards the source of this light.r

As direction would have it, a bald human trapped under a wooden locomotive was emitting this attractive light.r

No.r

It wasn\'t light.r

It was a bright flame. A bonfire, in fact!r

Unlike the rest of the humans here, he was completely different. His ambition and desire, it was too grand!r

The Bone Tender expectantly reached its bony hand to Dionas\' face and caressed it, bringing his panic to a hold.r

"Do you wish to gamble on it? Glorious, empty bliss that may last for all undone time?" it asked.r

The result was...r