Lord of Annihilation

Clunk! Clunk! Clunk!

The sound of metal hitting the ground rang out in unison. Having heard Lucius' command the black-armored Fogrgotten kneeled unhesitatingly. 

Seeing them so obedient Luicus inwardly released a sigh of relief. He relaxed his tense muscles and withdrew his soul power. Although Ka'lor'ah had given her confirmation on the states of these beings, Lucius could not help but be cautious. 

'We finally succeeded.' he thought to himself.

'With this, I now have a permanent, undying force under my command. It's a shame I had to kill the previous wills residing in the body.' he shook his head.

At this moment, Ka'lor'ah floated towards Lucius and entered his pocket. The drawing of the runes and the execution of the spell had consumed a large amount of her energy,

Shining with dim light, she spoke from within Lucius' pocket.

"They are now connected to your soul and are under your absolute command. Sustaining them will require a constant consumption of your soul power, we have to find a way to solve this," she advised.

Hearing her words Lucius nodded in response. The price for erasing the wills and assimilating the souls of the Forgotten meant that they would no longer be able to replenish their soul power. As such, in order to sustain their activities, they drew upon Lucius' soul power.

Standing quietly for a few minutes, Lucius calculated the amount of soul power being consumed. Having calculated the result, his brows furrowed.

'5% of my soul power is being consumed every 5 minutes. My natural recovery is at 3% every 5 minutes. At this rate, I will not be able to sustain them. Who would have thought that there would be 23 Forgotten at the same place?'

Looking at the kneeling warriors once more, Lucius felt a faint heartache.

'Do I have to abandon some of them?'

It has to be mentioned at the strength of each one of these entities was only 1 Level lower than Lucius'. Basically, he now had 23 Mid Level Stage 1 beings who were under his absolute control.

Not only that but as Lucius' soul cultivation increases in its levels, the strength of these entities will also increase. Having such a force under him will only play to Lucius' advantage.

However...

'There is no point in keeping them if I cannot support their expenditure. The purpose of these entities is to assist me in my plans. I would rather take a loss than have them tie me down.' he shook his head.

Just as he was about to cut the soul link with 10 of the other parties, Ka'lor'ah's voice interrupted him.

"Hold on a second...I think there might be a way to keep all of them."

Lucius immediately stopped his actions. Looking into his pocket, he asked.

"What?"

"If we look at this problem in theory...the Forgotten Ones do not exist in a material state. Going further, they do not hold any 'Cause' nor have any place in the Universe. Strictly speaking, they do not exist."

"Not only that, after having their previous will wiped and their souls assimilated into your own, in a way they are considered to be a part of you. An extra part belonging to the same whole."

"So...?" Lucius asked in confusion. He could only vaguely understand the rationale behind her words, but could not figure out how this would solve their current predicament.

"Hehe. Activate [Void Step] and command them to step into the Void," she instructed.

Lucius followed her instruction. Activating [Void Steps] a pitch-black shadow spread out from underneath Lucius. Using his connection to the Forgotten, he ordered them to step into this shadow.

At the next moment, something astonishing happened. The black-armored beings started to sink into the Void and disappeared.

"Deactivate your ability," Ka'lor'ah ordered.

The pitch-black shadow then retreated towards Lucuisu and finally disappeared. At this moment, a look of astonishment appeared on Lucius' face.

The constant drain on his soul power had disappeared! Using his connection to the Forgotten, Lucius discovered that they still remained close to him.

"How?!" unable to hide his astonishment Lucius exclaimed.

"Just as I thought. Well, I am a genius after all." Ka'lor'ah stated with a smug tone.

Hearing her smug tone, the excitement within Lucius immediately died. With a cold voice, he spoke.

"Explain."

"For you see! The Void instinctively rejects all material things, right? However, you being the 'Child of the Void', have the authority to subvert this. By expending a small amount of Void Energy, you are able to bring material things into the Void."

Ka'lor'ah explained while reminding Lucius of the test that they had conducted on his abilities.

"Rember that every time you enter the Void, using [Void Steps]. Apart from the cost required for entry and exit, there is no cost for your body to remain within the Void!"

"Now combining the fact that the bodies of the Forgotten are originally in an immaterial state, with their existence being a part of you, you can store them within the Void without any additional cost!"

"The reason your soul power is being constantly expended is because, the black-mist has to assume a material state when it is in the physical world. Inside the Void, however, this is not required!"

"I see.." Lucius involuntarily mumbled. 

"But isn't this against the Rules?" he asked in a doubtful tone.

"Of course not! It's just a clever loophole around it. This is the reason why I said that your race is basically a 'cheat existence'." she replied.

"Well, I'm going to sleep now. That spell really drained me." after saying so, Ka'lor'ah's voice eventually faded into silence.

Lucius stood alone in the mausoleum deeply engrossed in his thoughts. After a few minutes, he raised his head.

'With this method, I will be able to collect even more the Forgotten Ones. Only having to expend my soul power when I call upon them in battle.'

Straightening his thoughts, Lucius then looked around to check whether he had missed anything within the mausoleum. Having found nothing, he then dashed towards the exit.

It was time to head to their next destination.

The Neutral Zone.

-----------------

Making it outside the corridor and into the small crack, Lucius belatedly noticed a small matter.

'Strange. When I arrived on this planet, the surrounding temperature was very cold. Having to circulate my soul power just to ward off its effects.'

Lucius then extended his hand to tough the surrounding ice-wall. With the amount of soul power being very low, after the battle with the Forgotten, he was currently not circulating it around his body to conserve it.

Strangely, however, Lucius found himself to be quite comfortable in the cold. The icy-winds hitting his skin only felt like a cool summer breeze.

'How did this happen?' he immediately used sunk his consciousness into his body and inspected it.

Inspecting the various parts, Lucius was suddenly shocked.

'My body has changed!!' he exclaimed within his mind.

Underneath the layer of his smooth, white skin, Lucius discovered the existence of a light-blue gel-like substance. This substance was evenly present across his entire body and seemed to be providing protection against the cold.

'Wait a second... isn't this the same thing that was present inside the Fjord Beasts? Why do I have it?!' 

'Is it because of....[Devour]?' Lucius started to vaguely realize something.

Wanting to confirm his thoughts, he started to carefully inspect the other parts of his body. 

'Other than the bodies of the Fjord Beasts, I also consumed the bodies of the Sickle Bug and the Spitter Bug.'

After a few rounds of careful inspection, Lucius found that there were no other changes in his body.

'Was my line of thought incorrect? Could the reason be something else?' he wondered.

'I have to investigate this matter in detail. If using [Devour] is causing problems within my body, I must find a solution for this.' he concluded.

'Speaking of [Devour], my Void Energy is really low. I am starting to feel hungry. I must get to the Neutral Zone sooner.'

Just as Lucius was about to take a step forward, the ground beneath his feet intensely shook. To be precise, the entire mountain upon which he was standing fiercely trembled.

From the tiny crevice which served as the entrance, Lucius could see a vague an entire valley moving in the distance. With his enhanced hearing, he could hear the faint cries of the Fjord Beasts coming from this location.

Lucius' pupils shrunk in size, as he immediately kicked off the ground. 

'Something went wrong with the Fjord Beasts!'

-----------------

Watching the sides of the ice-valley collapse and an avalanche of snow heading towards her, a bright smile formed upon Olivia's face.

She watched in delight as the numerous Fjord Beasts cried in panic and trying to dig through the now collapsed entrance of the valley.

She had succeeded in drawing the beast horde and trapping them within this valley. With the successful triggering of the avalanche, millions of tons of snow were about to bury herself and the beast horde, in an internal coffin of ice.

'Haha, I succeeded. All of you pathetic beasts can now die alongside me!'

Her body could no longer move as her physical, mental, and soul energies were completely exhausted. Rasing her pretty face and gazing towards the dark skies, she thought to herself.

'This is the extent of my usefulness, Lucius.'

'I guess I am pretty after all.'