Lord of Annihilation

Atop Klytius' Platform.

Olivia cautiously looked around, confusion coloring her face. She, who had just sunk into a state of deep concentration, had been forced to wake up.

Boundless red clouds radiating a feeling of immense danger, a strange force inside her mindspace tugging at her consciousness, people randomly dropping to the ground… the previously bustling scene had suddenly become silent and solemn.

Just as Olivia was about to fly off the platform to get a closer look at the affected, she heard her teacher's voice within her mind.

'Don't move and don't leave the platform.'

Picking up on the mixture of nervousness and solemnity within her voice, Olivia audibly gulped and internally replied. 

'What's happening?'

Hearing that question, Ka'lor'ah did not immediately answer but continued to look at the static, flickering image of the black-robed youth within the light screen. 

Noticing the absence of whites within his eyes and the subconscious twitching of his finger between the interrupted frames of the image, Ka'lor'ah inhaled deeply and mentally spoke.

'Recover as much of your soul power as possible and get ready to battle. We need to get out of this place as soon as Lucius completes his ascension.'

Hearing those words, Olivia's eyes unconsciously widened. Suppressing the slew of questions within her mind and the nervousness within her heart, Olivia began to prepare.

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Just as the tip of Lucius' foot touched the edge of the thirty-ninth step, thirty-nine figures of pure light manifested and surround him.

『Stop, you heathen! You shall pay for the sin of disrupting the natural order!!』 Each of the golden light figures resoundingly declared in unison. 

The shape and size of each manifested figure varied greatly. Some possessed human figures while others were of the heteromorphic variety. The common point between all these manifestations were bright golden, translucent bodies, battle armors, and weapons that looked ancient by their outward appearance, and their unified intention of eliminating the trespasser who sought to ascend the natural order.

The official term for these light manifestations was, Rule Guardians. 

They were an artificial, soulless construct of unknown origin whose duty was to preserve the natural order. Their existence was a familiar mystery to all those who had ascended past Stage 4.

The Rule Guardians appeared for the first time during the Fourth Ascension/First Transcendence. After this, they appeared each time a person had their strengths increase by a minor realm (Low -> Mid -> Peak) within a Stage and each time a person broke through to the next Stage. 

As their names suggested, Rule Guardians were the guardians of the infallible Rules. They existed to both protect them and to stop living beings from ascending. As such, they were a familiar sight to all powerhouses, much less Lucius.

Hearing their familiar introductory yell which was soon accompanied by their rapid charge towards him, Lucius immediately activated [Flaw Detection] and read their strengths.

'Thirty-nine, each at Half-Step Stage 4 realm. Nineteen of them are humanoid while the rest belong to the heteromorphic variants. Threat level…'

"Pathetic." He declared while clicking his tongue with annoyance. 

Kicking off with the tip of his toes, Lucius instantly closed the distance between them. Grasping the ominous, black scythe with both his hands Lucius spun it in his hands while rotating his body.

Shiiirng!

The sharp sound of metal grating against metal piercingly rung out and the edge of the black scythe cut into the xenosic bodies the two foremost non-humanoids; an oversized shark and another which looked like an unholy cross between a kangaroo and a mantis.

After cutting across the torsos of the first two Rule Guardians, Lucius felt the force applied behind the edge of the blade come to a grinding halt and felt great resistance. Immediately, he redistributed his grasp over the shaft of the scythe and applied force similar to how one would row a boat.

With renewed vigor, the scythe continued to cut through its third victim- a humanoid with three eyes and a crystal-like body- before Lucius had to jump upwards to dodge an incoming attack.

Creating a step out of soul power in the air, Lucius shook the scythe once to habitually remove the blood sticking to its surface. This time, however, there was no blood on the edge of the blade as the Rule Guardians did not possess blood themselves.

They were constructs of light with a semi-material nature. While their bodies look real, they did not possess the normal life functions of one.

'Three down,' noting as such, Lucius raised the scythe over his head and swung it down with tremendous force. 

A ray of black light shot out of the blade as [Annihilation Energy] congealed in a crescent-shaped form. The attack cut across the remaining space at unseen speeds and ripped apart the bodies of the seven Rule Guardians, who had jumped into the air to catch up to Lucius, into shreds!

[First Movement: Slash]

Delivering that attack, Lucius straightened his body and abruptly spun his body towards his right. Extending his right hand, he assumed a claw-shaped grip with his fingers and used it to suddenly pierce into empty air.

Huck!

A short gasp was heard and the space before Lucius flickered to reveal another Rule Guardian. His body, which looked like an amalgamation of shadows, belonged to the 'Shadow Crawlers' race. A race that was near-extinct in the Current Era.

Lucius' right hand was currently pierced at a spot just below the joint where their 'head' and main body met. It was in this spot that the 'Energy Gland' of the race was present; in other words, their 'heart'.

Pouring copious amount of [Annihilation Energy] into his right hand to destroy its vital organ, Lucius menacingly stared into its green-colored, dot-shaped eyes. The Rule Guardian's eyes flickered and a voice mysteriously exited from its mouth-less body

『You have not won, heathen!』

The language that the Rule Guardians used was the natural language of the Rules themselves. (Side note, it was also based on this language that the study of 'Runes' had been established)

『Not yet.』 replied Lucius, using the same language.

A 'look' of surprise flashed across its face and its body dissipated into golden light. At the same time, a fake body conjured by the creature to confuse the ascender also disappeared from within the crowd of Rule Guardians.

Having dealt with this sneak attacker, Lucius clicked his tongue and leaped into the air once again to evade another slew of attacks. Stepping atop the armored head of a heavily-armored humanoid warrior, Lucius kicked off with immense force and leaped toward the fortieth step, crushing the head of the warrior in the process.

Dealing with these Rule Guardians was easy but annoying and especially time-consuming. 

Lucius' greatest hurdle in this ascension wasn't these Rule Guardians that appeared in each step with increasing strength, but those illusory chains that were temporarily being held back by his murderous intent.

'I'll gather a few more of these guys before ending it all with a single attack.' Lucius planned.

Just as he landed on the fortieth golden platform and was about to climb onto the next step while ignoring the golden light that had begun to coalesce, one illusory chain managed to break past Lucius' murderous intent and latched onto his left ankle.

Immediately, and without zero hesitation, Lucius swung his scythe, its edge brimming with [Annihilation Energy], and chopped off his left leg from below his knee.