Lord of Annihilation

'Danger!' the second she heard that unfamiliar voice, the female guard was instantly alerted. Instinctively, she rolled forward, while turning her body sideways.

BANG!

The sound of a hammer striking a metallic surface resounded throughout the silent battlefield. The eyes of the female guard fiercely expanded, as she spat a mouthful of blood. Her body flew through the air.

'Tch! She evaded.' the person behind that attack, Lucius, clicked his tongue.

To be fair, that attack was executed to absolute perfection. He had waited for an opportunity to catch his opponents off-guard, soundlessly arrived behind the caster, and had delivered a blow containing all of his strength. 

Unfortunately, the gap between Stage 1 and Stage 2 wasn't that easy to close. Lucius had managed to injure her, but the attack wasn't anything threatening or decisive. At best, it would buy him a minute's worth of time.

By this period, the male guard had already reacted. He had immediately retreated back towards his two masters and had raised both his hands to form a guard. In his hands, were a pair of white-bone daggers radiating with golden light.

"Despicable monster! You dare attack the children of our master!" the male guard howled. Of course, Lucius couldn't understand his language. And even if he had, he wouldn't have bothered to reply.

With his eyes focused on the male guard, Lucius casually waved his hands into the empty air.

『Come forth.』

When the sound of his voice fell, the shadow underneath his feet rapidly expanded. An eerie wind blew through the battlefield, as the trio of Bertarians watched with the grey-skinned monster with dumbfounded eyes. 

To be precise, they saw behind him.

Twenty-three black armored heads slowly rose from within the shadow. As the figures appeared into the world, soul power gathered around them to form their bodies.

Lustreless black steel that seemed to devour the light wrapped around the entirety of their bodies, save for their cold, blue eyes. Lumps of black mist continued to float out of the Void and into their hands, as they formed a variety of weapons of their choice. 

Hammers, axes, swords, spears, cudgels, and many other forms of weapons were required onto their head. Their bodies too were of different sizes. There was one whose body was as big as a small house, holding a double-handed battle-axe.

The moment these, Forgotten appeared, Lucius spoke a single word.

"Attack." 

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Not daring to waste any time, Lucius led the attack personally. Stepping into the void once more, he instantly arrived in front of the male guard wielding the pair of daggers. 

Having already extended his scythe, prior to his attack, Lucius now swung it with all his might.

[Dance of the Death God- Second Movement: Shred!] 

A miniature whirlpool of soul power formed at the edge of the large blade, as Lucius swung it towards the male guard. 

'I cannot block it!' the male guard realized the strength behind this attack. However...: 'I can't evade it either.' a bitter smile formed on his face.

Evading the attack meant, exposing his two masters to this fearsome attack. Taking their strengths and experience into consideration, they had no way to block it.

This was precisely Lucius' intention.

'What a fearsome mind!' the male guard's heart chilled as he clearly understood Lucius' intention. Alas, he had no choice but to comply.

CLANG! BOOM!

The attack landed and the male guard blocked it with his daggers. The force behind the attack was transferred in its entirety onto the male guard's body. Instantly, the bones in his arms cracked and his body sunk into the ground.

"AHHH!!!!" the male guard bellowed and pushed back with all his strength. In the end, he was still a Stage 2 being and Lucius couldn't match his strength.

Not wishing to engage in a scuffle, Lucius decisively backed-off. However, just before the male guard could rejoice, six Forgotten warriors flooded that empty space. 

'Dammit! What are these things?!' the male guard cursed within his mind. He felt helpless, but could only fight back.

Retreating a few steps, Lucius paused for a second. Inwardly he was estimating the opponent's strength: 'Low-Level Stage 2 strength, at the border of Mid-Level. That female Bertarian should also be of a similar level.' 

'This fight isn't impossible to win.' he concluded. 

Looking at the Forgotten warriors fighting the male guard, Lucius was satisfied. Although their strengths were nowhere near that of the other party's, their skills were at a completely different level. 

This was naturally due to Lucius' efforts. Other than training Olivia in combat, he also spent some time training the Forgotten warriors. After he had enslaved the 23 warriors, their previous combat accumulations were erased, as such, Lucius had to spend some effort training them.

The entire process could be described as..... a breeze.

Rather than call it training, re-training would be an appropriate word. He had to show them once, and they learned. After spending some time polishing their movements, the Forgotten were already at a level, that Lucius considered being 'passable'. 

Looking at them right now, Lucius thought to himself: 'Although their skill is better than the opponent, they lack actually combat experience and....strength.' 

The moment he had finished thinking this, the six Forgotten warriors were destroyed by the Bertarian. They turned into blobs of black mists and retreated back into Lucius' shadow, entering the Void.

"Is that all you have!!" the male guard screamed as his body shone with intense golden light. Looking at him, Lucius recognized the skill he used. 

[Golden Body], also called as the [Indestructible Golden Body] 

A Stage 2 skill that was rather uncommon among the [Light]-type souls. It covered the user with an armor of golden light and was effective in blocking a majority of attacks under Mid-Level Stage 2. It could even reduce the damage dealt by a Peak-Level Stage 2 being. Its drawbacks were, it slowed the cognitive speed of the user, that is, it made them think slower and it also consumed a large amount of soul power.

Seeing him use this skill, Lucius inwardly thought: 'I can begin to draw him away from those two' referring to the two youngsters.

Mentally commanding the five more Forgotten to join the fight, he slowly started to draw the male guard away from the two youngsters, who were currently fighting against Olivia. Lucius also sent a few Forgotten warriors to assist Olivia. 

"Stop running away, coward!" at this point, the male guard had already realized that the other party was an intelligent being similar to him and not a mindless monster. However, this fact only made him more depressed.

He thought to himself: 'The strength of those black warriors and this 'grey-skinned' being isn't that high. However, they keep evading my attacks and counter-attack during crucial moments! This is so frustrating!' he fumed.

At this point, it had only been a few dozen seconds since the beginning of the battle. Lucius had already gotten a solid grasp on the other party's skill and was firmly controlling the tempo of the battle.

He carefully controlled the maai between himself and the opponent, while cycling the Forgotten warriors to exhaust the male guard's soul power.

'A Flaw!' Lucius' right eye shoe with crimson light, as he detected an opening on his opponent's defense. Instantly he shrunk their maai and closed into his opponent. 

Gathering soul power into his arms and channeling it into the scythe, Lucius swung it diagonally across the male guard's underarm. 

[Dance of the Death God- First Movement: Slash!] 

'Oh no!' the male guard immediately noticed the danger behind that attack. If the attack hit him, he would lose his arm!

Clenching his teeth, the male guard suddenly turned around. exposing his back to the Forgotten he was fighting with. Crossing his hands, he firmly blocked Lucius' attack. 

CRACK! THUD!

A crisp noise, followed by the sound of the dagger breaking. The golden light on his body also flickered, before suddenly breaking apart. A streak of blood flew into the air, as an attack from the Forgotten landed on his body. 

"Blergh~!" the male guard also spat out a mouthful of blood, as he faced the backlash of his skill being forcibly broken.

'One more attack.' Lucius calmly thought to himself, as he infused his soul power into another attack. This was an excellent opportunity to kill this guard.

Just as he raised his scythe to swing it down towards his neck, Lucius was suddenly hit by a spell on his back.

"[Light Bullet]!" a female voice roared.

'Hiss!!' he hissed in pain. Feeling his instincts ring once more, Lucius forcibly withdrew his soul power before lowering his body to the ground. 

"Are you okay!" the voice of the female guard was heard. She had finally recovered from Lucius' earlier attack and joined the battle. 

"...yeah. I'm...fine." the male guard slowly replied. 

The female guard quickly approached him and placed both her palms atop his body. A gentle, light shined within her plans and the injuries on the male guard rapidly began to heal.

"[Intermediate Cure Wound]" she chanted. 

The male guard quickly recovered from his injuries and gradually stood up. The faces of both the guards were livid with anger, as they hatefully stared towards Lucius. They then immediately turned back and looked at the other battle that was happening, some distance away.

"Not good! The two young lords are losing!" the female guard panicked.

With the help of the Forgotten, Olivia managed to gain an upper-hand and was gradually suppressing the inexperienced Bertarian siblings.

The two guards wanted to head over there and help. However, one look at the grey-skinned 'monster' firmly dismissed these thoughts.

Lucius slowly stood up.

A gaping wound was present on his back, almost exposing his bones. A cruel smile formed on his face, with a thin line of blood dripping from the corners of his mouth. The previously present indifference disappeared from his face, only to be replaced by a look of insanity. 

『Good attack. But now....it's my turn!』 he growled in a low voice, as his eyes shone menacingly.

The shadows underneath his feet exploded and an innumerable number of pitch-black appendages rose into the air from behind his body.