Lord of Annihilation

"Deploy Domain – {Starfall Plains}!" 

The furious bellow of the Bertarian echoed throughout the quiet forest, following which the changes occurred.

With the Stage 3 Bertarian as the center, a truly 'massive' amount of soul power rapidly left his body and flooded the surroundings. With the arrival of the soul power, the natural spiritual energy of the surroundings was rapidly pushed out and the surrounding environment began to change.

Stage 3. 

There was a reason behind why Stage 3 was the minimum requirement of power to safely traverse the Universe. 

A reason, why they were widely feared in weaker worlds. 

A reason, why they had the power to alter the very world itself!

It was due to their ability to use Domains.

Starting from Stage 3, the very nature of battle or combat between combatants changed. It no longer depended on how fast a person was, or how much harder they could hit.

Victory and Defeat. Life and Death. Survival depended on one's Domain. 

And right now, the middle-aged Bertarian finally deployed his Domain.

With the soul power of the middle-aged Bertarian forcing out the natural spiritual energy of the world, the environment surrounding them changed and the Rules started to distort.

Dense dark clouds started to spontaneously appear within the sky, blocking out the clear skies of Pectron. Bolts of purple lightning flashed frighteningly followed by thunderous rumbles of thunder.

On the ground, the soil started to undergo changes turning denser and coarser. It lost its natural brown color, changing to an eerie dark, almost volcanic soil.

The trees that occupied the vicinity instantly lost their luster and vitality, rotting into heaps of black waste in a mere instant of time. A burnt, toxic air filled the entire space making it deadly for weaker beings to breathe.

With furious winds surrounding his figure and multiple bolts of violet lightning forming a protective sphere around him, the middle-aged Bertarian raised his finger and pointed towards Lucius.

"Fall." 

The instant his words feel, Lucius felt his surroundings abruptly change. The gravity around him became heavier and the air around him turned denser. Bolts of lightning each almost dozens of meters in radius, fell from the dark clouds rushing towards his body at unimaginable speeds.

Although his body was greatly resistant to astral energy attacks, Lucius was not a person to receive any (attacks) in the first place.

Stomping the ground with such incredible force that the earth beneath him cracked, Lucius dashed away from his initial location at incredible speeds.

The lightning was fast, yes. But Lucius was even faster.

Lucius' figure blurred from vision, as he moved at incredible speeds evading each of the lightning strikes. As the Domain continued to expand and receive nourishment from the Stage 3 soul power, the frequency and the magnitude of the attacks also grew.

Not to mention, the increase in gravity and toxic air.

'Three bolts arriving at two steps to your left!' Ka'lor'ah did not remain still and helped Lucius in computing the location of the lightning strikes.

Lucius, of course, did not respond. He had entered a high concentration state, similar to when he had fought the Stage 5 crimson soul with his body. 

He could not afford any distraction. Not a single bolt of lightning can be allowed to hit him.

While the damage caused to his body was low, the concentrated electricity within the lightning would still serve to momentarily paralyze his muscles.

And within a Domain, this momentary paralysis was all it took for him to lose his life.

Get hit once and it would be game over.

Knowing this, Lucius moved with all he had because honestly, his life depended on it. 

"How much longer will you run, little ant?" 

Amidst frantic evasions, the condescending voice of the Bertarian resounded within the Domain.

"When I said 'Fall', do you think I mean the lightning?" He cruelly laughed.

'Lucius! Above!!!' Ka'lor'ah's desperate shouts resounded within Lucius' mind.

Turning his head to look at the sky, Lucius could finally understand what the Bertarian had meant.

A massive meteor, spanning almost 500m in length was falling towards him!

'Must move!' The second he saw the meteor fall towards him at mind-numbing speeds, Lucius immediately reacted.

Jumping as high as he could into the air, Lucius repeated the same trick he had used to reach the flying Bertarian. 

He gathered his soul power near his feet, condensed it to the utmost, shaped it to form a small tile, and stepped  on it. With each step that he took, a new tile was created within the air.

The unique applications of Stage 2 Soul Power.

Physical materialization of soul power outside one's body. This allowed one to create small objects made of soul power that existed for a short amount of time in the real world.

One of its uses in combat, to create steps to walk on air.

The ability to use one's soul power in such form was largely unknown to the general public. In fact, it was a secret that was only taught within combat schools and within the better, more advanced sectors of the Universe. Most people however were entirely clueless about this fact.

As a fact, Lucius himself managed to discover this and other unique tricks of Stage 2, after numerous years and innumerable attempts. 

To discover this on their own without the assistance of a teacher, one would have to have both enormous talent and achieve absolute perfection in their ability to control their soul power.

Utilizing this unique application of his Stage 2 soul power, Lucius quickly created such steps effectively turning his two-dimensional movement, into a three-dimensional one, making it harder for the lightning to hit him.

Using the precious seconds he had bought as a result of this maneuver, Lucius managed to get outside the impact area of the meteor.

BAAAAANNNGGGG!!!

With a crash that quite literally rocked the earth (AN: Pun intended), the meteor came to stop. A large crater had formed on the ground as a result of the crash, with the land cracking under the assault.

Some distance away, Lucius narrowly evaded another lightning bolt before landing on the ground. While he could create steps of soul power in the air, it also tired him out greatly while costing an enormous amount of soul power.

After all, control was important in creating those steps and even Lucius' overly inflated capacity had its limits. Any small mistake would result in the soul power exploding and Lucius losing his footing, while wonton use would deplete his soul power.

Stamina and soul power. If he lost either of those, Lucius would undoubtedly die!

"Tch! You truly are annoying!" The Bertarian scoffed in contempt. Immediately, however, a victorious smile formed on his face.

"But that was only the beginning. How many more meteors can you dodge? How long will your soul power exist?"

"Just give up and obediently die!!" He screamed.

Following his scream, multiple shadows fell atop Lucius' figure. Looking up once more, a dense congregation of meteors headed towards him, spanning a three-kilometer radius.

Under the enhanced gravity which was almost 20 times that of Earth's, they would reach him in a fraction of the time, robbing him of the time required to exit its impact area.

'Lucius, I scanned the surrounding area with my senses! The Domain extends up into ten kilometers of the surrounding area!!'

Caught within a ten-kilometer area with nowhere to run. 

It was checkmate.

Evading a cluster of thick violet lightning, Lucius noticed that no new ones were heading in his direction. Stopping his movement and turning to look up, he saw that the congregation of meteors had almost reached him.

Facing his impending doom, Lucius was strangely calm. His mind was completely cool and his emotions were thoroughly restrained. 

The warnings from Ka'lor'ah, the rumbling thunders, the howling winds, Lucius' mind started to ignore all this information. The colors in his vision, the shapes of the surroundings, all such extraneous information devolved to the most basic of shapes and lines. 

At the peak of Combat Awareness lay simplicity.

A realm that only those who had reached the peak of battle experience could reach. 

And Lucius who had reached this realm saw the world for what it was. He could see the world in its purest, most simple state. And in here, he found the answer to this hopeless situation.

"Set Boundary."

"Expand Field."