Lord of Annihilation

Looking at the enormous battle-axe cleaving towards his body, Lucius immediately moved. Exerting force onto his legs, he exploded forwards with terrifying momentum.

Judging from the figure and the momentum of attack of the other party, it was clear that the large black shadow-like entity was superior in strength. As such the smarter way of battle would be to evade the attack and wait for an opportune moment to counter-attack.

Alas, Lucius had his own considerations.

'I need to finish this battle before the others wake up.' he thought to himself.

Indeed, just the like coffin of this large entity which exploded after rapidly shaking, the other coffins surrounding Lucius were also in the process of breaking apart. As such, Lucius needed to quickly finish this battle, before he gets surrounded by the other entities.

Swingin his scythe diagonally, Lucius used the entire of his strength behind the attack. He could not afford to be careless at this moment.

CLANG!

The sound of two metal rods hitting each other echoed throughout the quiet mausoleum. Feeling the force behind the impact, traveling through his weapon, Lucius decisively abandoned his grip over his scythe.

『Oh? Abandoning your weapon in the middle of the fight? Foolish!』 the shadow entity snorted.

Judging from its condescending tone, it was clear that the other party hadn't used much of his strength. Therefore, he resorted to using this opportunity to taunt his opponent. 

Unfortunately for him, Lucius did not understand his language. Even if he did understand, such tactics did not affect him.

Having abandoned his weapon, Lucius then closed into the range of his opponent. Balling his hands and making a small fist, he infused 20% of his total soul power and punched underneath the shadow entity's armpits.

Lucius' fists tore through the air and made contact with the body of his opponent. However, the soft, weak flesh that he was expecting to hit did not occur.

THUD! Crack!

With a dull sound, Lucius felt the bones in his fist break. The shadow entity was wearing inner armor.

'Hiss!' with a sharp intake of air, Lucius used his superior speed to jump back. The black-gauntlet covered hands of the entity struck the air where Lucius was previously standing. 

Retreating to a distance of 5m, Lucius shook his hands to relieve the excess force. The region below the forearm of his right hand now lay limply. His fingers and wrists were broken and his muscles had torn. 

However, Lucius' face continued to remain expressionless. 

『Quite strong aren't you? A natural warrior with good instincts.』 the entity praised. It then shook his head and said.

『A pity that I have to kill you.』 immediately after, it stomped its mighty feet on the ground and dashed towards Lucius. The shadow entity was taking the first move. 

It casually swung its battle-axe towards the 'unknown' creature standing in front of it. However, this causal seeming attack was anything but casual. The angle of the swing, the timing of the attack, the range of its reach, every single factor about that attack was simply...perfect!

It was a perfect attack, that couldn't be dodged.

Looking at the shadow entity come towards him, Lucius did not move. He calmly gazed at his incoming foe and gently operated the soul power in his body. The soul power moved towards his eyes and activated one of his newer abilities.

[Flaw Detection]

Immediately upon activation,. Lucius felt the world around him change. The shadow entity, the coffins, all the colors, and shapes in the field of his vision disappeared. Replacing them were white and red lines.

The entirety of Lucius' vision was filled with threads of white lines and a few red lines. A sudden realization followed by a sense of unboundedness filled Lucius. At this moment, he felt like he could truly....see!

That's right. Having activated [Flaw Detection] for the first time, Lucius felt like a blind man gaining his vision for the first time.

There were no resplendent colors or unprecedented shapes. His vision was filled with simple horizontal and vertical lines. However, it was exactly after seeing these lines that Lucius realized, how blind he had been his entire life.

'This is it!... This is the real world.' he wondered.

At this moment, in his vision, Lucius could see threads of red lines heading closer towards his neck. The white lines moved and the red lines headed nearer and nearer to his body. Observing this event, Lucius calmly pulled his head back by a few centimeters. 

Immediately after he had done so, the red lines disappeared and white lines filled his vision.

'I see... so these red lines are the 'flaws'.' he instantly realized.

A smile formed on Lucius' face as a sense of excitement filled his body. A long-forgotten desire to battle an opponent filled his body.

'Let's see the extent of his ability.' he moved.

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

Meanwhile, Ka'lor'ah who was standing outside the circle was filled with apprehension. Watching the bear-like black armored entity fight against Lucius, she naturally felt worried for him.

It wasn't that she was unconfident in Lucius' abilities, but because she knew the identity of the other party.

The shadow-like entity which had awakened from its slumber was called a 'Forgotten'.

The Forgotten were warriors belonging to the previous era, who fought against the 'Order of Lords' and witness the reset of the Universe. They were Peak Level Stage 7, being who had directly fought against the 'Lords' themselves. 

So then, how and why are they here?

Buried in an unnamed coffin, inside an unmarked grave, in the middle of an undiscovered planet. Logically speaking, since they had such mighty strength and had even lived after the fall of the 'Order of Lords', shouldn't they be holding positions of power and authority in the Universe.

Unfortunately, this was not the case. After the fall of the 'Order of Lords', the Universe undergoes a reset. A reset, which clears all existing 'Cause' and restarts with a few beginning. During the process of this reset, all living creatures, which do not belong to the Primordial races would perish. These warriors were also included. 

Then again, how are they here? 

Well, that is because they aren't living anymore. But they aren't dead either. They still had a part of their souls.

They are beings whose 'Causes' were reset by the Universe but ended up without facing death. After having their 'Cause' reset, their Peak Level Stage 7, strength had also left them. Dropping all the way to Stage 1, they could not regain it either.

After all without 'Cause', how can there be an 'Effect'? Without having a complete soul, how can they cultivate their strengths?

Unable to die. Unable to regain their strength. Living in an era in which they held no place. Simply put, they were specters of the past, living in eternal limbo. A 'Forgotten' being.

Without being able to kill themselves, nor being abler to cultivate their strengths, they decided to seclude themselves in unknown planets and sink into slumber for an eternity.

Coming back to the story, Ka'lor'ah and Lucius' goal of coming to this planet was naturally to seek these 'Forgotten' ones. To recruit them and increased their forces.

As for the Forgotten not being able to increase their strengths. They naturally had a method to solve that too. Therefore, after waking these entities from their slumber the duo's first task was to convince them to join their forces. 

Having been a Peak Level Stage 7 existence herself, Ka'lor'ah understood the mentality of these beings. They would never come under the command of another person, especially when said person was simply too weak(in their eyes).

During the process of their planning, Ka'lor'ah had been pondering for a long time over this issue. The 'Forgotten' played an important role in their future plans and were absolutely essential. When she had asked Lucius for his advice on this matter, he had replied.

'Beat them up until they accept. If they don't, beat them up even more.' 

A simple and effective solution. As expected of a Stage 7 Killer.

And hence, we arrive at our current situation. A battle between two ex-Stage 7 beings, each with a varying amount of battle experience. 

Looking at that perfect attack head towards Lucius, the anxiousness within Ka'lor'ah multiplied by several folds. The Forgotten couldn't die, but Lucius was not the same! If that strike hit him, he would most definitely die.

Just as she was about to dissuade Lucius from continuing, a change occurred in the battle. With an extremely smooth and natural movement, Lucius had evaded that perfect attack!

『What?!』 the astonishment was evident in the tone of the Forgotten. 

He had fought in the battle against the Lords. His battle experience could not be described with mere words. As such, seeing this unknown, 'weak' opponent of his dodge his attack, he was stunned.

His movements paused for a second, as his mind was unable to process this surprise. However, a second was all that Lucius needed.

Activating [Void Hands], he controlled his tentacles to retrieve his scythe. Holding the scythe with his hands and controlling the tentacles as extra limbs, his combat efficiency exploded by a few margins.

"My turn." Lucius confidently declared as he moved to face his opponent.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

At this moment, the remainder of the coffins within the platform exploded. Black mist and dust gathered together and vague black-armored figures of varying sizes formed.

The rest of the Forgotten had awakened at this moment, surrounding Lucius on all sides.