Lord of Annihilation

BADUMP! BADUMP! BADUMP! BADUMP!

Lucius' heart started to beat increasingly faster. The stone-grey color of his skin turned a shade darker, resembling the color of wet rock. An almost tangible aura leaked from within his body.

His left eye shone with a bloodthirsty crimson, while his right eye shone with a holy gold. Common between both the eyes, was the unrestrained anger and madness. However, within the depths of his eyes, also lay....absolute calmness.

'I see. So this is what it means to be a Void Eater.' Lucius calmly thought. 

The attack from the female guard had caught him off guard and had almost made him lose control.

Fortunately, during the very last moment, Lucius managed to control his emotions and remain lucid. It was then, that a strange balance of calmness and madness was achieved.

Right now, Lucius felt his body overflowing with energy. This energy flowed into his body from everywhere and seemed infinite. 

He no longer felt restricted. No longer felt unfamiliar with his own body.

He felt strangely free, yet connected to something greater.

Looking at the hundreds of tentacles surrounding his body, he could precisely feel every single one of them. He no longer felt uncomfortable controlling the tentacles, and could instantly control all of them at will, meticulously.

The shadows underneath his feet provided him with the sensory information of everything that was within a 15m range. He felt that he could move anywhere in this area instantly, at his will. 

At this moment, Lucius could feel a multitude of sensations around him providing constant information on everything! This feeling was simply...

'Euphoric!' Lucius excitedly screamed within his mind, starting to feel addicted to this feeling.

'This state, I shall name it...[State of Devour].' he suppressed his desires and looked elsewhere.

Looking towards the two Stage 2 Bertarians, he spoke.

"Good attack. But now....it's my turn!", the pitch-black tentacles exploded forth fiercely at his command. He held nothing back. 

They dashed forth like a wave of darkness, engulfing everything that lay within their part. 

The Bertarian guards watched this scene with a pale face. Identifying the danger of this situation, they instantly acted. 

The male guard moved forward, as his body shone with golden light. He madly poured all of his soul energy into his body and activated [Golden Body], with all his power.

『Come at me, beast!』 he roared, seemingly unafraid of death

『[Warrior's Courage!]』 the female guard similarly roared out loud, as she cast a buff-type spell on the male guard.

[Warrior's Courage] was a common Stage 2 light-type spell. It protected mental-type and soul-type passive attacks and also boosted one's soul power, elevating the strength of one skill.

Against Lucius who was releasing [Annihilation Intent], this protection was essential to protect their souls from being overly damaged. 

『[Reinforced Light Shield]』 with extraordinary efficiency, the female guard casted another spell.

[Reinforced Light Shield] created a shield in front of the user. While it was nothing extraordinary, it was extremely practical in usage, requiring low soul power and effort from the caster.

With the extraordinary defense provided by [Golden Body] that was further buffed with [Warrior's Courage] and [Reinfornced Light Shield], the male guard seemed to form an infallible wall.

'I can block this attack!' the male guard felt confident. He was in the strongest state, he had ever been in.

Unfortunately, simple confidence wasn't enough.

CRASH!

The black wave crashed into the body of the male guard and instantly broke all of his defenses. It was like a sharp knife tearing through a piece of paper. Smooth and effortless.

The male guard immediately died from the backlash of his skills being broken. The wave continued past him and ripped every single part of him, body and soul, asunder. 

The female guard also stumbled backward, while throwing up a mouthful of blood. Blood flowed from all of her seven orifices, as her body collapsed onto the ground. Using all her strength, she turned her head towards the two Bertarian siblings fighting Oliva. Her mouth moved slowly, yet no words were uttered.

'I'm sorry, young lords. I was unable to protect the both of you.' she then turned her head to face the mass of tentacles.

Looking at the wave of darkness head towards her, she bitterly thought to herself.

'I'm sorry, master. I was unable to complete my duty.' closing her eyes, she was consumed by the darkness. 

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

『NOOOOO!!!』 Kiren screamed at the top of his lungs. His body powerlessly collapsed onto the ground, as a look of despair was present on his face.

Blankly staring at the spot where the two guards had died, he unconsciously clawed at the soil underneath his hands. His little sister had also collapsed onto her knees while crying, next to him.

Seeing this scene, Olivia also had a heavy feeling in her heart and stopped attacking. She sighed soundlessly, but said nothing and walked away from the two siblings.

She wasn't afraid of them running away, since there were still three Forgotten warriors guarding the surroundings.

The wave of tentacles had already disappeared back into Lucius' shadows, and Lucius himself had also dropped to his knees while clutching his head.

His burst strength during [State of Devour] was absolutely fearsome. Unless one was at least at Peak-Level Stage 2 or Low-Level Stage 3, it was impossible to block that wave of black tentacles. 

However, all things came at a cost. With incredible power, came an equally incredible backlash.

HIs stone-grey colored skin had already disappeared, revealing a deathly pale white. His muscles had atrophied to an extreme, revealing a set of fragile skeletons. Currently, Lucius looked like a malnourished corpse. 

He was experiencing a tremendous headache, due to the overflow of sensory information into his brain during that earlier state. 

It wouldn't be wrong to say, that right now. the slightest touch could kill Lucius. He was currently in his weakest state.

'I-I-must-aveng...' Kiren also realized this but had no courage to move his body. 

Seconds passed by, yet there was no movement on the battlefield.

At this point, Olivia had already arrived next to Lucius and was carefully guarding him. While she felt pity towards the siblings, she was not stupid. Carelessness would lead to death, this point was firmly ingrained into her mind.

Looking at his current state, Olivia felt her heart, ache: 'I'm still not strong enough!' she inwardly thought to herself.

"Ah...That was terrible." Lucius spoke with a hoarse voice. His voice sounded like two pieces of rock grinding atop one-another, simply put, it was dry and unpleasant.

"Are you okay?" Olivia worriedly asked.

Opening his eyes which had reverted to black, Lucius slowly nodded

"It's...under control. I exhausted all of my soul power and energy during that move, overstraining my body. I might not be able to use my racial abilities for some time." he briefly explained and spoke no further.

Hearing that there was no significant danger to his life, Olivia's heart eased a little. She then bent down and placed her hands underneath his arms. Holding him firmly, she gently lifted him off the ground, helping him up to his feet.

Lucius' feet were still unsteady, but Olivia had already considered that. She made him lean on her body and slowly began to move. She also handed his scythe back to Lucius, which he silently accepted.

During this entire series of actions, Olivia had a calm expression on her face and did not speak. In fact, she did not even look towards Lucius. He did not speak, but she understood.

Regarding her actions, Lucius did not say anything. While he had briefly explained his current state to her, he had also not mentioned the fact that he couldn't move his body currently.

As for the reason, it was because the thought of asking for help had never crossed his mind. Having spent most of his previous life alone, Lucius had gradually lost the feeling of reliance. 

It had always been himself, fighting alone against the world. A Killer, fighting against the entire Universe, alone.

Being helped by Olivia right now, Lucius' eyes shone with a strange light. He could vaguely see the face of another figure overlap on top of Olivia's face. 

'Aroura...' a name appeared in the depths of his mind. However, Lucius immediately suppressed this thought and the figure disappeared from his mind.

His heart was still, and his eyes were indifferent.

With absolute clarity, he thought to himself: 'No distractions can be allowed to exist within my heart. My second chance exists only for the execution of the plan.'

A glint suddenly appeared in the depths of his eyes as he continued: 'To think such distractions could appear within my mind. Seems like recent events have indirectly affected me. This cannot continue.' he made up his mind.

With Olivia's assistance, Lucius had already made it to Bertarian siblings. Kiren had a blank look and a defeated expression on his face. Kara, however, raised her head and looked towards Lucius.

An incomparable fury was present within her eyes. With a strained voice, she bellowed while crying.

『Why?! What did we do to deserve such a fate?! How did we offend you!?』 her voice was a mixture of grief and helplessness. 

While Olivia could not understand the girl's words, she could still understand the general meaning behind them. She silently looked towards Lucius but chose not to say anything.

His decision would be hers. His sins would also be hers. 

'No matter your choice, I shall never judge you. No matter your choice, I will always follow you.' Olivia had resolved this, the day she had decided to accompany Lucius.

Lucius indifferently looked towards the crying girl and spoke.

"It's because you are too weak. Too weak to decide your own fate."

"And if one day, I end up in a situation similar to yours, this would also be my fate."

Saying so, he gently slashed at the throats of both the siblings, ending their lives in a single motion. His heart did not waver, and his eyes did not flicker. He was utterly indifferent.

Raising his head to look at the distant, dark sky, Lucius remembered a certain poem he had read in his youth.

'How fragile are the bones of the dying,

Eroding like stone that turns to sand.

How fragile are the eyes,

A weak glimpse into surrounding darkness.

How fragile is life,

Once prosperous as spring, now fading like the autumn wind. '

This was the fragility of life.