Lord of Annihilation

Having heard the command, the dozens of Spitter Bug which were present in the immediate vicinity, immediately started to gather their soul power into their throats. The soul type which was cultivated by these Spitters was called [Acid Dart]. It a common rarity soul, which was unique to insect type life forms.

[Acid Dart] gathers the soul power in one's throat and converted it into poisonous toxins. The level of toxicity depends upon the species, bloodlines and other various specialties inherent to the insect.

These Spitter Bugs for example, had enough toxicity in their spits to directly corrode an alloy of Steel and Graphene which has 5 inches thick. Frightening to the say the least.

Sensing the energy gathering around him, Lucius did not panic. In fact he was so relaxed that he looked like a spectator rather than the target of numerous potential attacks.

Tapping his thumb on the small indent present on the surface of the scythe, Lucius compacted it into it's metal rod state. Then inserting it into his belt, Lucius casually used his left hand to close the large, gaping wound present on his right shoulder.

Due to over drafting his soul power, Lucius body was in an extremely weak state. His muscles were too tired for him to exercise his control over them. Stemming the bleeding with his left hand, Lucius casually lifted his head and stared at the Leader Bug in front of him.

"Don't you feel it yet?" he quizzically asked.

The black armored Leader Bug couldn't understand the language of the humans. As a result, while it couldn't understand Lucius' exact words, it instinctively felt something to be wrong. It released it's grasp on the broadsword and immediately stood up with the intent to retreat.

The indifferent look on Lucius' face coupled with his casual actions, gave birth to a inauspicious feeling within its heart.

Unfortunately it was too late.

The Leader Bug suddenly felt its four limbs stiffening. A dull ache rose from its chest and paralyzed it from it's neck all the way to its toes. Inside its chest cavity was a fist-sized, dark-gold rapidly engulfing the transparent Life Crystal.

"Making me do such underhanded stuff. My dignity is being destroyed!" from within Ka'lor'ah grumbled to herself.

The large compound eyes of the Leader Bug, expanded in horror. It could slowly feel itself losing control over its body, with each passing seconds.

『ROAR!!』it screamed within its mind, unable to use its mouth.

'Silence!' a loud, monarchical tone, bellowed within its mind.

Inside the mindspace of the Leader Bug, a dark-gold figure completely covered within robes, gazed menacingly at the vague silhouette of the Leader Bug. The Leader Bug could feel its will breaking down and dissipating with each passing second, unable to resist the invasion of this dark-golden figure, within its mind

『...Queen?』awash in horror, the Leader Bug suddenly seemed to realize the identity of the other party. It immediately gave up resisting and willingly embraced its death.

『.....Long live..... Queen.』with the last dregs of it's consciousness the Leader Bug declared before dissipating into nothingness.

Looking at this fanatic 'creation' of hers willingly surrendering itself, Ka'lor'ah let out a gentle sigh. 'Poor child.' she spoke before taking full control over the Leader Bug's body.

On the outside, the body of the Leader Bug which had stiffened for a few seconds suddenly loosened up. Shrugging its shoulders a few times, the Leader Bug raised its head and stared at the army of Bugs.

『Stand down. Do not attack the human.』it spoke with a shrill voice.

The army of bugs raised their heads and stared at their leader. Confusion and incomprehension filled their large compound eyes.

『I said stand down! That's an order!』the Leader Bug(Ka'lor'ah) bellowed once more.

Immediately the Spitters withdrew the soul power which they were channeling and backed-off. The other Bugs forming a giant circle around the two figures also retreated.

『All units attack the human base. I'll settle this human.』upon giving this instruction, Ka'lor;ah glared at the other bugs. They begrudgingly obeyed before heading towards the human base.

Letting out a small sigh, Ka'lor'ah walked towards Lucius. Nearing him, the body of the Leader Bug stiffened once more before falling to the ground. A dark-gold crystal floated out of the body and levitated near Lucius.

"My acting is still quite good, isn't it?" she smugly stated.

"....." Lucius replied with silence.

His legs, which were standing upright purely out of his will power, collapsed onto the ground. Kneeling on the ground, Lucius started to gather his soul power.

"Share some of the accumulated life energy with me. My arm needs to be regrown. " he instructed Ka'lor'ah.

"Fine fine!" she grumbled before heading towards Lucius. Placing herself at the at the dismembered shoulder, she spoke in a low voice.

"I guess, I'll give you a ????????????????." she spoke while emphasizing on the last word, before breaking into a fit of laughter.

Ka'lor'ah felt quite satisfied with her pun and comedic timing. Lucius, however was not amused. He continued to ignore her and slowly recovered his energy.

'The rest of the army can be deal with, by the others. It's a shame, I was only able to gather 2500 lives.' he spoke about his advancement condition.

The condition to take 10,000 Grade 3 lives, did not mean to directly kill the others, but to be within a certain area of influence at a precise moment of death thus allowing him to 'reap' their lives. The earlier explosion, satisfied this condition and allowed Lucius to gather the 2000 lives.

'I still have a long way to go.' he mused, while ignoring the laughing Ka'lor'ah.

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

Atop the compound walls, Alex gazed at the 2000 or so alien bugs heading towards him. The remnants of the alien army were completely disorganized. None of their previous discipline or formations could be seen.

In sharp contrast to this scene was the neatly arranged human soldiers lined atop the compound walls. Each seemed to be bursting with vitality and their eyes shone with an intense desire to battle.

Each soldier was armed with a pulse rifle, with snipers being present in various strategic positions, holding onto an electromagnetic rifle. Alex had organized the army with great proficiency. The glow of the future 'Great Commander' seemed to shine from within him.

"Fire at will! Remember to not spare a single one of these bastards!" he bellowed.

Immediately upon hearing his command, the soldiers atop the wall began shooting at the incoming bugs. The plasma cannons also aimed at the areas of large density, wiping out 500+ bugs in a single shot.

"Snipers, aim for those spitting bugs at the back!" Alex remembered the death and destruction caused by this hateful creature. He couldn't risk this long-range soul type unit to cause any more deaths among his men.

In just under 10 minutes the final remnants of the bugs were completely wiped out. The grey plains of Deatov were dyed with bodies and blood. Numerous pits, scorch marks, fire pits dotted the scene.

"WE WON!" "YAAY!" "THAT'LL SHOW THEM!!"

A cacophony of cheers rose from among the soldiers. Truly, it had been a brutal struggle against an enemy of unknown origin and abilities. Seeing the joy radiate of the various soldiers present around him, Alex felt his heart settle. A brilliant smile rose to his lips, as he surveyed the scene below him.

"Wait, wait! Aren't we forgetting something?" one of the younger soldier's voice cut across the atmosphere.

The eyes of all the soldiers including Alex was placed upon this young man,

"We haven't thanked that person in the field! If he hadn't killed their leader, our fight would have been much tougher!" feeling the various gazes directed at him. the young soldier did not panic and fluently spoke out.

Hearing his words, looks of comprehension was seen on faces of the various soldiers. Although they did not quite understand, how that young man was able to undergo such an earth-shaking battle against the black-armored bug. All of them understood that they owed their lives to him.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go and meet that hero!" a senior soldier said before climbing down the wall. The others also naturally followed him.

After hearing the words of the young soldier, Alex was in a daze. His mind recalled the earlier battle and a bitter smile formed upon his face.

'How will I ever beat that monster?' he thought to himself deprecatingly.

And yet, a satisfied smile formed upon his face. No matter the reason behind his actions, at the end of the day it was a fact that Lucius had saved their lives.

If he had not shown up, Alex understood that he would have died at the hands of those hateful bugs. No matter how much Alex hated Lucius for his awful personality, his hurtful words and his twisted worldview he wasn't ungrateful. Towards the savior of his life, Alex would still thank him.

'I should go, before the other soldiers meet 'that guy'. Considering his personality, he would call them 'worms' and utterly crush their morale.' thinking such, he directly jumped of the watch tower. Using his hands to grip the various cracks and crevices on the surface of the wall, Alex used it to safely land onto the ground.

Just as he was about to dash towards Lucius, a loud bang was heard in the sky and a large pillar of light, fell atop him.

The golden rocks which were previously floating in the sky, serving as a beacon exploded at this moment. Upon their explosion, beams of light fell atop the bodies of every soldier encompassing them within a pillar of light.

Alex, who was also surrounded by a pillar of light, suddenly felt his body become weightless and unbounded. Precisely, his soul started to leave his body.

'What's happenin...?' before he could complete his question, he suddenly felt his soul, transported elsewhere.

All the other soldiers also felt the same thing happening to them. Their bodies were first encompassed with white light, after which their unawakened souls left their bodies heading towards an unknown dimension.