Lord of Annihilation

"[Flame Sweep]!" Alex's chilling voice slowly sounded out.

Following his declaration, a tiny spark existed from Alex's hand. This spark seemed so insignificant and feeble, that a gentle wind could blow it out. Leaving Alex's hand, it slowly floated along towards the Formician swarm.

However, Alex who had cast this spell was profusely sweating with a pale face. His body seemed so drained of energy that his hands faintly shook and his body quivered.

"What the fu*k?" one of the awakened, floating behind Alex muttered while feeling appalled.

'Even my fart would be stronger than that. Is this all he's got?' the man thought with disdain. Alex's dominant image had utterly collapsed. 

Anya ignored the man's remark and neared Alex. Using her hands to support his wobbling body, she asked.

"You're starting off with 'that'?"

Flashing a smile, Alex replied while feeling relaxed: "Exactly. I'm using 'that'."

His tone sounded like victory was already in the bag. Seeing such a situation, the other awakened humans felt very confused.

"What do you mean by 'that'? What type of attack is that?" a female awakened with a skull-shaped tattoo on her face asked.

Waving his hand, Alex blandly replied: "You'll see in a moment."

Incomprehension flashed on the faces of all the humans. To tell the truth, facing the terrifying number of opponents, the courage of all the awakened humans had already shrunk. 

In fact, if it were not for the numerous benefits and concessions promised by the Alliance, the fame they would receive if they were to win this battle, and the threats posed by Alex, they would have already run away.

Seeing the lackadaisical and relaxed attitude of their supposed 'Leader', their courage and confidence plunged.

The spark which had traveled quite some distance away still showed no signs of changing. If anything, it seemed to be getting weaker.

The Formicians swarm seemed to take Alex's 'weak' attack as a declaration for the start of the battle. With a loud roar that also resounded only within the minds of the Formicians, the swarm led by the Golden-Mech Warriors charged towards humanity.

As for the spark, they had completely ignored it, throwing it to the back of their mind. Some had even considered that attack to be some kind of starting ritual of the humans.

Like a large group of locusts swarming towards a green-field of rice, the Formician army swarmed towards the battlecruiser.

Conversely, seeing the Formicians charge, human soldiers behind Alex also roared and started to move. Due to the distance between Alex's group and the common soldiers, most of them did not see Alex's initial attack.

They had taken the Formician charge as the first act of aggression. Not willing to be outdone by the enemy, they also charged forward.

However, compared to the Formician swarm, the human side lacked the 'visual effect'. This had resulted in the lead group of awakened warriors, not feeling any more confident of their victory.

"Ah, screw this! There's no way we can win! I'm leaving!!" A scrawny-looking guy, with shifty eyes, finally lost his courage and turned around to flee. 

He exploded the soul power at his feet, darting his body towards the army of rushing soldiers, deciding to hide between them and use the normal humans as his shield.

Just then…

Shuah! Shuah!

The sound of wind being cleaved was heard. Weirdly enough, wind did not exist in outer-space.

"You---" the scrawny-looking awakened who had fled, not five steps suddenly felt his head spinning and his head blacking. His body wobbled for a second before his head soundlessly fell off.

He was beheaded.

"To flee during a battle. According to the Military Penal Code, you deserve death." Anya coldly stated. She lowered her raised hand and expressionlessly turned towards the Formician swarm.

Huff!

Seeing one of their own die soundlessly, they gasped in shock. Their widened eyes stared towards the couple, who were expressionlessly watching the invaders charge towards them. 

'Ju-just like that! He was killed in just a second!' any and all thought of desertion had left their mind, in that second.

Alex seemed to pay no mind to Anya's actions and acted as if nothing had occurred. His mind, however, was seething with rage.

'That bastard deserved a crueler death! To think he dared to use his own kin as a shield! Hateful!!' Alex was in a very bad mood but did not express it in his face.

At this moment, the Formicians had almost neared their group. They were less than 3000m away from them and would face them in approximately 10 seconds. The human soldiers behind them would take around 20 more seconds to meet the Formician charge.

Alex however, showed no signs of acting. He had his hands folded and eyes closed while focusing on recovering his spent soul power.

"Le-leader, are we not going to act?" a tall, bulky-looking awakened nervously asked, voicing the thoughts of all the others.

"Just wait." Alex blandly replied.

'Wait?! Wait for what?! How are you so relaxed while facing millions of enemies who want to tear you apart!?' he cursed within his mind, daring not to voice it out.

It was then, that the spark sent out by Alex finally met the lead Formician.

The Formician Warrior had focused all his senses on Alex, the person who his senses told was the most dangerous. As such, he had ignored the spark, phasing through his body and golden armor.

Just as he was a 1000m away from Alex, the lead Formician suddenly thought: 'Why do I feel hot?'

As he felt the heat increasing, the Formician slowed down his charge. He then subconsciously circulated his soul power, in order to ward off the heat.

However, circulating his soul power had the opposite effect. 

If the precious heat could be considered as an uncomfortable midday sun during the summer, then the heat he felt right now was similar to being placed inside an oven.

No, he wasn't feeling hot. Rather, he was burning.

'SO HOT?!' His charge suddenly stopped as he felt pain from every region of his body flood into his mind. He opened his mouth to scream, only to have nothing come out.

His mouth had already turned into ash!

『Hot! Hot!』

『O' Great Mother! What's happening?!』

『MY-my body is BURNING! AH!!!』

The last thing that this Formician saw was hundreds of his brethren surrounding him, have their bodies burnt by a strange orange flame and turned into ashes.

The last thought that passed through his mind was one of puzzlement.

'Doesn't fire require oxygen to sustain itself?' 

Alas, his vision darkened before he managed to figure out the answer to his question.

----------

The human soldiers, who had been bravely rushing forward, while seated inside their mechs and space shuttles, unconsciously slowed their charge at the same time. 

Their charge slowed and slowed, before finally coming to a stop just behind Alex's group. 

Silence resounded within their comms with a mixture of static due to the interference. This silence was then finally broken by the sound of collective gulping.

The scene before their eyes was simply too fantastical.

Hundreds upon hundreds of the golden armored invaders were burning inside an orange-colored flame before disappearing into ashes.

The flame did not discriminate and burned all the invaders, irrespective of their types. The Space Warriors were the first and quickest to burn, followed by the much slower Golden-Mech Warriors. 

Although the orange flame landed upon the boat-like ships and burned, they did not manage to do anything. 

However, the orange flame had succeeded in stopping the charge of the Formicians. Silence resounded on their end too.

"For that. That is what we were waiting for." Alex finally broke the silence, explaining to his team members.

"Ho-how are they burning without any air?" one of the awakened warriors asked while gulping.

"Oh, that's nothing. The fire is fueled by their soul power. The more they try to use their soul power to suppress it, the faster it will burn and the quicker they will die." Alex shrugged causally.

"It's a pity though. It can only kill around two thousand, before dying out."

"Also if the opponent were smart enough, they would have realized the trick behind the flame and put it out without much trouble." He shook his head.

Alex then tapped the side of his battlesuit, when a strange metal rod popped out. Holding it in his hand, he pressed on an obvious indent on its surface.

The metal rod expanded outwards forming a red-colored spear, decorated with a flaming pattern surrounding its body. Holding it in his hands, Alex roared.

"FOR MANKIND!" He then charged towards the dumbstruck Formicians.

His roar awakened the other soldiers, who similarly roared before charging out

"FOR MANKIND!!"