Lord of Annihilation

After killing the old Bertarian guard, Lucius quickly activated [Devour]. He had no time to waste and had to quickly recover his strength.

'Mid-Level Stage 2 strength and there are more of them outside. They seem to be people of importance too. The situation is extremely bad." Lucius's expression was grim. His strength was nowhere near enough to handle his current situation.

'The reason I managed to kill this one, was only because of Olivia's surprise attack and me releasing [Annihilation Intent], catching the other party off-guard.' he then looked towards the figures of the others standing outside with his [Flaw Detection]. 

'I'm afraid, this won't happen again. I will have to face the others directly.' Lucius concluded. He had already devoured most of the corpse and was in the process of digesting the void energy: 'They might have already called for reinforcement. I need to kill everyone here and must also be quick in doing so.' 

If there was a choice, Lucius would have preferred not to engage in combat against the Bertarians. Unlike Olivia who was new to this planet, Lucius had already been here in his previous life. He was very clear on the various cities and forces that were present on the planet.

And this Bertarian force was one of the largest [Good] factions on the planet. 

'Fighting it out with the Bertarians is detrimental to my plans. Alas, I have no choice.' he sighed. 

He could blame no one other than himself for this situation. His was luck was very bad to have run into a party of Bertarians, the moment he had arrived on this planet.

Heck, it would have been fine if he had been sane during the meeting, however, Lucius had gone 'Berserk' and directly attacked them!

There was simply no grounds for reconciliation between both the parties now. The other party was definitely antagonized and wouldn't let this matter simply pass.

'Considering the xenophobic personality of the Bertarians, they are sure to hunt me, no matter the choice I make.'

He had no choice but to kill this batch of witnesses and quickly leave this place. He had no time to hesitate. 

Rubbing his forehead, Lucius thought to himself: 'How troublesome.'

By now, he had already finished with his [Devour] and had regained all of his strength. Inspecting his body, Lucius nodded his head in satisfaction: 'Not all is bad. The fresh corpse of a Stage 2 being, provided me with a large amount of energy. After consuming one, I'm already full.'

He no longer felt hungry and could easily dispel his 'Berserk' state. However, Lucius chose not to do so. 

'Being in this state makes my body faster and stronger. My instincts are also stronger and less susceptible to pain.' Repeatedly clenching and unclenching his fists, Lucius tested his strength: 'Very good. The strength of my body is infinitely-close to Stage 2, that is in terms of physique I match them.' 

'My soul power is only at Peak-Level Stage 1. Quantity-wise I'm far from them. However, the quality of [Annihilator] isn't any lesser than them.' Lucius' eyes shone with a brilliant light: 'Racial skills and my soul abilities, if I combine both of them... perhaps victory isn't impossible.'

'As for the lacking quantity, I can just use [Devour] to consume the dead bodies and their souls during battle. This way, I will not run out of void energy or soul power.' a proper battle-plan formed within his mind.

Just then, he suddenly heard Olivia speak.

"Lucius..." turning around he saw her holding onto his scythe: "I found your weapon amongst the ship's debris.' saying so she offered it to him.

Lucius did not say anything in reply and simply took it off of her hand. Seeing his lack of response, Olivia felt a little awkward and embarrassed but managed to hold it in. She soundlessly stood beside him, ready for battle.

"From my initial analysis, the opponents we are facing are at the very least, Stage 2 in strength. Their souls should be either of the Light-type or Astral-type." he started to inform Olivia.

"The old guy who attacked us was wearing a uniform. This tells us that he belongs to a force, probably works as a protector or a guard. Taking that into consideration with our current situation, we can infer that he was sent here to protect someone."

"The two youngsters," Olivia mumbled in realization. 

"Precisely." Lucius nodded his head. He then continued: "Now, surrounding the two youngsters are two more guards. Seeing that the old man did not come out after going in, they must be alerted and ready for combat. They might have also sent a request for reinforcements."

"They do not know of our strength and numbers, while we are clear of theirs. This is our advantage, we have to eliminate them before their reinforcements arrive and leave this place."

"While they have a higher strength, they will not be able to completely utilize it as they have to protect those two. This is also our advantage. One that we have to fully make use of."

Hearing up to here, Olivia had a hesitant expression on her face: "Must we kill the younger ones?" inwardly hoping for the answer to be no.

However, Lucius immediately dashed her hopes: "Yes. No witnesses must be allowed to escape this place."

"But-!" just as Olivia tried to speak up, Lucius immediately turned towards her and spoke with a serious expression.

"Always remember! The Universe isn't a place where words can be used to solve problems. Unless you have sufficient strength, the others wouldn't even bother to look at you, much less give you the option to choose!"

"If you are to let minor things like morality or a sense of justice restrict you. You will have no future. You will have no freedom. They will forever become a chain binding you!"

"Weakness is a sin."

Hearing his serious tone, Olivia absent-mindedly mumbled: "...Weakness is a sin."

"We shall begin now. Restrict the two youngsters in the back and if possible kill them."

"I will deal with the other two guards myself."

"Remember, do not hold back. Use everything you have!"

Having finished his words, Lucius disappeared into the Void. 

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

"Are you feeling okay, Young Lord?" one of the guards asked Kiren, as she healed his injuries.

Her hands shined with bright, white-light which then gently fell atop Kiren's body. This was one of the basic light-type healing spells, [Cure Minor Wound]

Hearing the words of concern, the pale-faced Kiren nodded his head. Summoning his courage, he then asked: "What was that thing, that attacked me?"

The expression of the guard turned a little strange as she replied, "I'm unsure, Young Lord. Perhaps it's a beast from the Beyond. Regardless, of what it is, we must kill it for daring to attack the children of the Governor!"

Kara who was standing a little distance back spoke at this moment: "Did father send you to follow us?"

The guard's face froze, as she was unsure of how to answer that question. After all, the Governor's instruction was to protect his children in secret, which the guards had failed to perform. 

Kiren noticed the awkwardness of the other party and stepped in to help the female guard out.

"Come on Kara, have you still not figured out Lord Father's arrangements? If not for sister guard, we would have lost our lives to that monster." he gently admonished. 

Kara hurriedly apologized, while the female guard frantically waved her hands, telling her it was fine. It was then, that the other guard, shouted towards the female guard: "Come over here!" 

The female guard excused herself and headed towards the place where the other guard was squatting. He then pointed at a certain place with his fingers and spoke.

"Look at this place while using [Bright Vision]" he instructed.

The female guard immediately followed. Her brows immediately furrowed, as a look of worry appeared on her face. At the location pointed by the male guard, was a sphere of blackish-grey energy. It was very faint and appeared illusory, invisible by normal vision.

In fact, if it wasn't for the male guard, who was the scout always maintaining [Bright Vision], they might have failed to notice this sphere of energy.

"What is this thing?" the female guard muttered lightly.

Having heard her, the male guard shook his head: "I don't know. This is the first time I've seen something like this. However..." he hesitated before continuing: "It gives off a very dangerous feeling. It feels as if I'm in the presence of an apex predator."

"What do you mean?" the female guard was unable to understand.

"It's like that time I faced against a Canis, during my training. That feeling of being looked at, like prey. This mist gives me that same feeling." the male explained.

"The feeling of being prey?" the female guard asked while being unsure, to which the male guard nodded his head.

At this moment, Kiren suddenly spoke out loud.

"Protectors! Don't you feel like the uncle who went inside to kill that beast, is taking a long time to return?" 

The two guards suddenly realized. Indeed, it was too strange that their captain was taking too long to kill a mere beast. The two of them stared into each other eyes. An ominous feeling surfaced in both their hearts.

'Could it be?' 'Do you think?' 

Both nodded their head in unison and immediately acted.

"Let's back off. Contact the city and request reinforcements!" the male guard hurriedly instructed.

『Too late.』 a voice suddenly spoke, as a shadow appeared behind the female guard.