Lord of Annihilation

Absorbing the soul of a living being through [Devour] before it passes on into Limbo, will mostly be converted into soul power. 

With the capacity that Lucius possessed a single Stage 2 soul hardly replenished 30% of his soul power. However, Stage 3 was a completely different realm.

As such, when [Devour] successfully digested the soul and converted it into soul power before infusing it back into [Annihilator] soul, his Low-Level Stage 2 soul directly broke through into Mid-Level Stage 2!!

The vast clouds of soul power quickly condensed to resemble liquids, from their previous gaseous form!

A transition that would have normally taken months of boring, repetitive hard work was easily gained after a single session of killing and devouring!

'With this as long as I consume enough souls and properly assimilate the soul power, the rate at which I advance will be phenomenal!' Lucius estimated.

'Hmm, the foundation is a little unstable and some minor impurities are mixed into my soul power. However, this is hardly an issue and can be easily solved by manually refining it.'

There was no lack of opponents to fight or enemies to kill. The only thing that would hinder or delay his maximal growth rate would be the 'advancement conditions' before ascending to the next Stage.

Void Eaters were monsters in the truest sense. 

'No wonder they're extinct and little to no information exists about them. Any individual with such growth potential would become a guaranteed Stage 7 existence.' 

'Speaking of advancement conditions…the next one is a bit troublesome.' Lucius continued to ponder.

When he had advanced into Stage 2 after defeating Flauros, the advancement condition to ascend into Stage 3 had appeared within his mind.

[Stage 3 Advancement Condition: Kill 5 Stage 3 existences.]

[Completion – 1/5] 

The moment he had killed the Bertarian, Lucius had felt an invisible lock being open within his soul. With this battle, he was already one-fifth of his way there.

'Finding Stage 3 opponents are not a problem. The troublesome part is killing them. Their bodies are too strong, the rate of regeneration is simply too high, and offensive abilities are simply monstrous. Not to mention, their Domains are troublesome.'

While Lucius' battle against the Bertarian looked simple, in reality, it was not so. If Lucius had made a single mistake or had given the slightest of a chance to his opponent, he would've quite literally, been crushed.

The Domain {Starfall Plains} did not have much of an effect on Lucius, due to their Rules being similar in nature. However, this would not be the case with the other Stage 3s.

Domains could only be countered by other Domains. And that was a fact.

'While I'm not completely helpless against Domains and have my own Field, there's no way I can outlast their Domains with my Field.'

Field. 

The technique Lucius had used towards the end of his fight with the Bertarian was a special technique, similar to Domains. In fact, it was called the precursor to Domains.

A Field had a minimum range of 5m all the way up to 300m, whilst a Domain had a minimum range of 500m all the way up to 30km. 

A Field could not cause any changes to the environment or distort the natural Rules. However, it would enhance and boost the abilities of the user anywhere from 110% to 330%. The boost will depend on the quality of soul power, degree of control, and depth of understanding of one's power.

Unlike a Domain that could move, a Field was static and unmovable. However, this is not absolute. Individuals with absolute control over their soul power, perfect spatial perception, and a monstrous amount of battle experience could move a Field.

In other words, Lucius could do so.

However, this also had its own drawbacks such as; tiring the user too quickly or being extremely unstable, such that a minor error would cause the Field to explode.

"Lucius, are you done?" Ka'lor'ah voice brought him out of his contemplation. 

'There's no point thinking about this right now. There are bigger problems to face before that.' Lucius sighed to himself.

With the threat of facing a Lord ever so close, there was doubt as to whether they would survive for long or not.

"Are you okay?" 

Seeing focus return to his eyes, Ka'lor'ah perfunctorily asked. She had already scanned his body with her spells and had confirmed his current state.

Hearing her question, Lucius shook his head. He then kneeled and started to perform the Void Eater's duty.

The soul was akin to dessert. There was still the main course lying underneath his feet.

----------

"Are you not going to eat the rest?" Ka'lor'ah asked, seeing as to how Lucius stood up before finishing his meal.

"I'm full." Lucius curtly replied before opening Void Storage and tossing in the remaining, uneaten part of the body, which was the head and some portion of the upper body.

He then took the torn robes, which were worn by the Bertarian, and used them to finally cover his naked body.

Due to the intensity of the battle and how Lucius had attacked the opponent with no regard for his clothing, what was previously a multi-layered robe, now resembled a chlamys. 

"Anything good?" Ka'lor'ah asked referring to the robes.

"All enchantments were destroyed in the battle. The small devices and artifacts were also destroyed during the course of the battle." Lucius replied unbothered.

It wasn't like he needed the defensive enhancements of the robe anyway. He simply needed a piece of cloth to cover his body with.

After clothing himself, Lucius then checked the state of his body. 

Having consumed the flesh of a Stage 3 his void energy had been restored to its peak. However, Lucius quickly discovered that he still couldn't use his racial abilities, apart from [Devour] and [Void Storage], as his Void Eater bloodline was seemingly in a cool-down of sorts.

'How long was I in [State of Devour] anyway?' Lucius wondered to himself.

Not finding an answer, he turned to face Ka'lor'ah and asked.

"How long did we stay inside the labyrinth?"

"I'm just as clueless as you. It couldn't have been too long, right? I'm guessing 6-7 months." Ka'lor'ah ventured a guess.

"Anyway, if you're done let's get moving. We have to meet with Olivia, before finding a way to return to Mankind."

Her tone then turned to one of pity and concern as she continued.

"I wonder how much my poor disciple has suffered during this time. It's my fault for trusting someone as irresponsible as you to look after her."

"It was a test." Lucius calmly replied.

"Keep telling yourself that lie. I have to reunite with her quickly and reeducate her before that nonsense you filled her head with starts taking root."

"There was nothing wrong with what I taught." Lucius firmly stood by his principles.

Ka'lor'ah simply 'rolled' her eyes at his response.

"Let's just go. Do you know which direction that city is in?"

Lucius closed his eyes and spread his senses into the Void. He was trying to feel the general direction of the five Forgotten Warriors he had left beside Olivia.

Searching for a few seconds, he could vaguely feel a response. However, he could only feel the presence of two Forgotten Warriors at a distance with the others were inside the Void.

If they had returned into the Void, it meant they had been destroyed completed. And without Lucius' soul power to reconstruct them, they would stay inside the Void.

Pointing his finger in a certain direction Lucius spoke.

"I can feel the presence of two warriors in that direction. They are together but don't seem to be moving. However, three of the other warriors that I left with her have been destroyed and returned to the Void."

Hearing that Ka'lor'ah immediately grew concerned and asked.

"Their combat ability is at least 70% as good as yours, in other words, if the five of them worked together they can bring down a Mid-Level Stage 2 at least! That is to say…!"

"They were either attacked by a group of Mid-Level Stage 2 or were ambushed by a Peak-Level Stage 2." Lucius finished her sentence in a nonchalant tone.

"That's really bad! What if she's in trouble?! Let's move!!" Ka'lor'ah immediately urged Lucius.

While Olivia undoubtedly had her worth as a person having a connection with the ancient Temple of Fairness, Ka'lor'ah did not consider that factor at all. She had simply come to like the hardworking and talented girl, purely as a person.

A girl who had stubbornly decided to follow Lucius even while knowing that she might die at any point. Just this fact alone required a lot of courage and dedication.

Therefore, hearing that she might be in danger, prompted Ka'lor'ah to immediately move. 

Seeing the golden crystal fly in the direction which he had pointed out, Lucius did not say anything and simply followed.

He wasn't all that concerned with Olivia's survival but would find it a pity if she had died. After all, she was quite talented, even while considering his standards.