Lord of Annihilation

Watching Lucius nonchalantly walk out of the shop, the old man stood stiffly in shock. His face sported a comical expression in a daze.

"W-wa-wait! I-I'll c-ome t-oo!" Olivia's pained whimpers in the background managed to wake Baltmer from his daze.

He quickly approached Olivia and kneeled beside her.

"Don't move your body! Don't try to fight against the Babel Fish and accept its presence." He quickly advised seeing the violet-eyed girl in pain.

Olivia obeyed his advice and immediately acted. The pain quickly subsided followed by a numb feeling in her brain.

"There, there, easy now. Take it slowly and get used to the changes." Baltmer helped Olivia sit up and fed her a blue-colored vial of liquid. With his assistance, Olivia found herself quickly recovering from the pain.

She then tried to stand up, only to immediately collapse. Her legs lacked strength and felt wobbly.

"Jeez, calm down for a second! It will take some time for your brain to get used to the Babel Fish. Until then, your faculties will be uncoordinated and weak." He scolded.

'But Lucius…" Olivia tried to retort only to be interrupted by Baltmer.

"Your friend's actions cannot be judged by common sense. He's simply a monster for adapting so fast." His mind recalled how Lucius had not even frowned when adapting to the Babel Fish.

Hearing his response, Olivia quietened down.

Clenching her fists she thought to herself: 'I'm still so weak. Such a frail fish can immobilize me.' Her eyes blazed with determination.

"Say..." Baltmer suddenly opened his mouth and asked: "Will your friend be alright?"

"He will. Such pathetic weaklings could never hinder him." Olivia confidently replied. 

The sheer confidence in her voice astonished Baltmer. While he wanted to retort, he found himself unable to.

Sighing to himself, he inwardly thought: 'Both of these youngsters aren't normal. I pray that he comes back alright.'

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Navigating through the narrow alleyways, Lucius was followed by the five Forgotten warriors. While walking in silence, Lucius seriously pondered about the upcoming battle.

'Thirty opponents, with a single Stage 2 leader and Twenty-nine Stage 1 combatants. Being in the Pandemonium means their combat abilities are not to be underestimated.'

Surviving in the city was extremely hard. Without sufficient strength, it would be hard to survive, no matter how great one's backing is.

'Winning against them in direct combat isn't impossible but very inefficient. I can't waste too much of my time in this matter.' Lucius continued to ponder.

His mind constantly ran simulations of the fight, while seeking the most effective path to victory. 

'My racial abilities cannot be used currently. That means [Void Steps] cannot be used to traverse and [Void Hands] cannot be used for variety. My combat effectiveness is down by almost 40%' his brows furrowed as he evaluated his battle strength.

While [State of Devour] was a very power killer move with near Stage 3 strength, its drawbacks were similarly enormous. Lucius' Void Energy had gone into a state of over exhaustion and had yet to recover.

'The Forgotten warriors can keep them occupied, but will quickly die once my soul power bottoms out. Once I lose them, it will be game over.' 

His squad of undying warriors can last as long as Lucius supplied them with soul power. However, without the convenient combo of [Void Hands] and [Devour], Lucius had to manually eat to recover his soul power. In a tense battle situation, it was impossible to do such a thing.

Having almost arrived at the main road, Lucius stopped for a second.

'The most viable solution is to sneak in, catch the leader off-guard and kill him, then wipe out the guards. The key to this battle will be the element of surprise and my effectiveness in dealing with him.' 

'Question is, how do I sneak in?' Lucius' eyes darted around. His eyes involuntarily fell on a piece of clothing, hanging from a nearby balcony. A small smile formed on his face as he concluded.

'This will work.'

The Pandemonium was a large city, that was divided into separate territories each protected and managed by one of the Gangs inhabiting the city.

Each territory was marked and carefully guarded by their respective gangs. Fights for territory are extremely common among rival gangs, with wars also being very frequent. The importance of the territories lied in the businesses that were present in them.

As seen before, when Lucius had entered the city, the majority of the businesses included brothels, bars, taverns, weaponsmiths, armor shops, gambling dens, and other places of luxury. These businesses formed the economy of the city.

Resources were often scarce, with too many mouths to feed but too little to go around. Hence, having a richer territory means that gangs had better resources for growth. Apart from the resources, the revenue generated was also equally important for trade with other cities.

Revenue was gathered in the form of taxes, which were also reliant on these businesses. The taxation slightly differed amongst each of the territories but was more or less equal. However, compared to the other cities in Pectron, it was still too much.

This couldn't be helped since the nature of these businesses were often 'less-stellar' and was more reminiscent of black markets. Items that were usually banned in the other cities were usually found here.

Pandemonium also hosted the largest hub for the exchange of ill-gotten goods. Wanderers or convicts on the run would usually head towards this city to dispose of their goods. On the whole, it was quite an affluent city.

Due to the rich amount of benefits involved, the order of powers was equally convoluted. On the whole, however, the division of territories was between five gangs, locally called the 'Five Big Ones'.

These 'Five Big Ones' equally distributed the biggest share of the pie. Collectively, they held control over more than 80% of the businesses within the city and were the local hegemony. Fights between the Five Big Ones were quite rare, for the cost exceeded the benefits gained in a venture.

The real mess was the remaining 20% of businesses which was the goal of competition between the small and mid-sized gangs. These gangs were more often than not, agents of the Five Big Ones.

In other words, these conflicts were more of an above-board scheme for dominance amongst the Five Big Ones. And the Minaccia Gang was one such agent.

Minaccia Gang's HQ. 

Two burly guards, one a Lacerman and the other a Terran with bronze-colored skin stood in front of a large iron-gate, that lead to a mid-sized mansion.

"Ahh, this goddamned heat is making me shed my scales off!" the Lacerman loudly complained.

"It's summer. What else would it be, if not hot?" the bronze-skinned Terran with brown eyes scoffed.

"Come on, do we have to stand here all freaking day? We are the Minaccia Gang, our Boss has connections with one of the Five Big Ones. Who in their right mind would dare to attack us?" The Lacerman retorted. 

He then randomly pointed towards a scrawny-looking pedestrian and said: "Him?"

At his question, the Terran glared towards the Lacerman and said.

"Don't even think about ditching your post! You know how mad Boss gets when you disobey his orders."

"Yea, yea, whatever." The Lacerman just waved his hand: "I just want the day to get over, so I can visit my darling!"

"Oh? You mean that sl*t? I just heard today, that the brothel got their hands on a Bertarian slave." The Terran maliciously licked his lips: "I wonder how she would taste."

The Lacerman rolled his eyes at his partner's behavior and replied: "Can you even afford that?"

"Am I not even allowed to dream now?" The Terran complained: "Plus, I want to see what all the fuss about a Bertarian is. What the heck makes them so expensive?"

"It's all about the quality and demand. I'm telling ya man, all these prices are a lie. These brothels have their hands joined together behind our backs. They restrict the goods to increase the demand and inflate the prices, it's called the Scarcity Principle. Actually…" The Lacerman adopted a serious demeanor and started to explain.

"Hold up! What the hell are you even talking about? Those are just made-up words." The Terran retorted.

"No, those are actual terms. You see the economy of our city…" just as the Lacerman was about to start on another lecture, the Terran quickly shut him up.

"Just shut up!" he waved his partner off. Turning his head, his gaze settled on a pedestrian.

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{Terrans} 

A carbon-based life form that is NOT to be confused with humans (Mankind). They are a Grade 3 species, with predominantly bronze-colored skin and brown eyes (sometimes black). Terrans contain both male and female members, with similar genetic makeup as humans.

Their average height ranges from 1.6m to 2.1m. A species that discovered the existence of soul power, before science and therefore cultivated a different path form humans.

Their technology is quite underdeveloped and is reminiscent of the Middle Ages. However, their combat capability is nothing to scoff at.

Similar to the Bertarians, they are one of the most populous races in the Universe. Unlike the Bertarians however, they have members belonging to both the [Good] and [Evil] faction. (AN: You'll see them quite often from here on out.)