Lord of Annihilation

In the instant that Lucius released his boundless murderous intent, the tribulation clouds of the Fourth Ascension seemed to freeze. The winds in the desolate plains died and chatter on the distant walls of Royal City paused. 

The sky, the earth, and the people, all paused in unison. 

At this moment, all attention was raptly drawn towards the black-robed youth, standing in a half-kneeling position in the desolate plains. All of them, living and non-living could feel a feeling that was both familiar and foreign.

It was the feeling of their life gradually slipping away in the hands of Death.

All the Stage 4 experts present atop the city wall looked beyond the screen and into the desolate plains with shock and fear apparent in their eyes. Even Klytius, the strongest person in the scene, could feel the dread growing within his heart as he stared into the desolate plains.

The desolate plains which were previously desolate as the name mentioned were now filled clouds of torrential red-colored energy that stretched as far as the eye could see! 

The earth, the sky, and even the invisible air itself seemed to be bleeding as the concentration of the red-colored clouds increased in numbers. 

Of course, it wasn't actually blood but the manifestation of the hatred and bloodlust caused by Lucius' slaughter throughout his three-hundred years of life, the exact number of which was beyond calculation.

These red-colored baleful clouds were the Stage 7 Killer's, greatest achievement and heaviest burden. His very soul was tainted by this unholy redness that could never, ever be washed away.

While time continued to seemingly be paused, the manifestation of the red clouds continued to occur. They continued to endlessly multiply and continued to paint the world around them black-colored youth in deeper shades of red.

Of course, painting wasn't the only thing that they were doing.

As the people atop the walls of the Royal City continued to absentmindedly stare at the growing mass of red clouds, their minds were starting to be spontaneously drawn into the ocean of manifested slaughter.

They subconsciously entered a dream-like state whose likeness was infinitely close to reality. Within this dream-like state, each individual soon found themselves in a situation where death was inevitable.

Killed by their worst enemy. Crushed by a massive star. Betrayed by their closest friend. Poisoned by a heinous criminal.

Each one of the thousands of individuals atop the city wall saw themselves dying in the hands of their deepest nightmare within the dream. And once the dream was over,…another one began.

In just moments, each individual found themselves stuck within an infinite loop of nightmares, the plot of which was solely their death. Within each nightmare were a new situation and a new method of death.

Death, death, death, death,…no matter what they tried or how hard they fought within their dreams, the only sole outcome was their death.

Numerous religious scriptures say that death is the greatest form of peace. That one would be completely free of all their burdens and worries in death. However, within these nightmares such was not the case.

Within just dozens of seconds since the arrival of these red-colored clouds, the light within the unfocused eyes of many of the weakest people atop the city walls lost their shine. Their faces turned as pale as a sheet of paper and their hearts stopped beating.

Without a word, a whisper even, they dropped to the ground never to wake up again. 

Again. And Again…And again…

Just as the death count crossed the one-hundred threshold, a deep roar sounded out from the sky.

"WAKE UP!! CLOSE YOUR EYES AND GUARD YOUR MINDS!!!"

The owner of the voice, which naturally belonged to Klytius, had an expression of fear on his unusually pale face. Cold sweat bordered the top of his face and much of his back.

When the sound of the roar reached the thousands of bewitched spectators lost within their dreams, their bodies collectively shuddered, and focus returned to their eyes. Staring into blank space for a second, their faces turned bloodless with shock as they hurriedly hung their heads, closed their eyes, and guarded their minds with their soul power.

Fear had already overtaken the hearts of these experts and they dared not to sneak a peek at the scene before them. Many were even dreading and regretting coming to this place in the first place.

Seeing that all of them had woken up from the nightmares and had guarded their minds, Klytius let out a sigh of relief before turning his face towards the ninety-seven randomly scattered bodies. 

Thirty-four of them belonged to the Giants while the rest were people of foreign races. Each of their faces was warped with traces of horror and trails of wet tears.

Seeing those cold corpses filled him with both pity and dread. Shaking his head to rid his mind of this feeling, he then looked towards the two 'guests' of his. 

The small-bodied Faerie continued to watch the screen with an indifferent expression on her face, while the purple-robed girl looked around with confusion.

Looking at their demeanors, it was obvious that the two of them were not affected by the clouds of murderous intent.

'Strange. Extremely strange,' Klytius muttered within his heart. Still, this wasn't the time to deeply ponder on this strangeness. He had to confirm something before that.

Turning to face the infinitely multiplying clouds of murderous intent, Klytius saw with his eyes what most people missed. The reason why thousands of people, including himself, were pulled into a nightmare and a hundred of the weaker-willed died.

For within those red clouds was…

'The Rule of Death…!' Just thinking its name filled Klytius' heart with fear. 'And cultivated to this extent too. What kind of a Killer, nay, vile demon is he?'

For the first time since he had met the talented youth, the battle intent boiling within his blood had cooled and replaced by apprehension and caution.

'Just how many people has he killed?' 

A solemn look appeared on Klytius' face as he raised his caution and made preparations in his heart.

----------

At the center of the boundless expanse of red-colored clouds, Lucius stood on the crumbling first golden step and stared up at the sky with an indomitable will within his gaze. 

His previous, half-kneeling posture had already changed to assume a straight, unyielding stance. Feeling the changes in the tribulation, Lucius inwardly analyzed within his heart.

'Releasing all of my suppressed killing intent is causing great damage to my mindspace and soul. At this rate, my mindspace will crumble and my soul will disperse in just three minutes.'

'I need to reach the top of the 108 steps within these three minutes and complete the ascension if I want to live and save my soul.'

'After that, I need to grab Ka'lor'ah and Olivia as soon as possible and leave the Land of Giants immediately. I'm afraid that by releasing my complete 'Killing Intent', I've more or less branded myself as a member of the [Evil] faction. Spending even a second more in here will only result in my capture or worse, my execution.'

The act of killing, no matter its reason or justification, was still an act of 'evil'. Of course, that is not to say that the people belonging to the [Good] faction were completely innocent with untainted hands. 

Some of the big shots of this faction were in fact arguably worse than their counterparts in the [Evil] factions. At least in the [Evil] faction, they were honest about their crimes.

Everyone has killed someone. Some have killed dozens while others have slaughtered dozens. Those with greater power have their hands dripping with crimson blood, while those of a lower Stage tend to keep within the lines.

That being said, the act of killing others, amongst the denizens of the [Good] faction, was acceptable and tolerable up to a certain limit. This limit was once again, a large grey area, which depended on the fact of how capable a person was.

Lucius, however, was an anomaly. He was someone with a kill count that would greatly dwarf anyone in the history of the Universe.

As such, when he reveals his cumulative murderous intent in front of someone belonging to the [Good] faction, say like the Giant King, Lucius tends to come across as a person of great evil who enjoys slaughtering people.

This, coupled with his incredible power and potential which had impressed the Giant King himself, and the fact that no one seemed to have heard his name in these parts…shortly put, it was a perfect recipe for a terrible misunderstanding.

In the eyes of the people of the [Good] faction present on the scene, Lucius was probably a Great Devil and a person of immense renown in the territories of the [Evil] faction. In other words, their mortal enemy and a valuable target.

Who knows, he might even be the progeny of some big shot within the [Evil] faction.

Now then, if Lucius already knew these things, why did he reveal his complete murderous intent?

Well, it was because he had no choice. 

No, not because of that immense aura he faced at the start. But because of what he faced after that aura.

Looking at the innumerable, illusory chains trying to pierce past his layers of murderous intent and bind him, Lucius let out a snort and lowered himself.

'I must be quick.'

The instant this thought passed through his mind, Lucius jumped upwards with all his strength, shattering the already crumbling golden platform underneath his feet.

In just a single jump, Lucius rapidly ascended thirty or so steps, arriving at the foot of the fortieth golden step. Of course, the moment he landed, so did his troubles.