Lord of Annihilation

Lucius' journey continued for a week during which he came across three more or such encampments.

The sizes of these three were much larger than the first, occupying hundreds of square kilometers of area and housing three, eight, and thirteen million human traitors respectively. 

The strength of the humans was under Stage 3 and their weapons could not touch Lucius, owing to his inane speeds. As a result, clean-up was more or less the same, with only the time taken differing with their numbers.

The first base took over sixteen hours, while the second and third took 26 hours and 32 hours respectively. Lucius had to ration his void energy usage, impacting his efficiency. 

Over the course of the battles, Lucius learnt that all of these humans settling in these newly terraformed planets were followers and believers of the Sors Fides cult.

With the help from the Formicians, they had terraformed these previously uninhabitable planets and set up cities. In exchange for the help rendered, they had sold out their other human companions, selling information, technology, and the likes.

While Lucius could not be bothered with the disputes and betrayals of man, he still killed all of them owing to their connection to a Lord.

At this point, it was clear that Sors Fides was a cult worshipping a Lord. 

The very moment Lucius confirmed this fact, he understood how his share of Cause invested in Mankind was disappearing. 

By expanding his cult and converting more humans into his believers, the Lord was able to effectively steal Mankind's Cause whilst simultaneously reducing Lucius' share of it.

The more these people expanded and prospered, the greater will be the Cause generated. Obviously, such an action could not be allowed, resulting in Lucius performing large-scale genocide.

Such cruel actions were nothing new to the old Stage 7 monster. After all, one of the requirements to ascend to Stage 7 of [Killer] was to erase the entirety of the Universe's population by half.

It could be said that no other being in existence was more familiar with the process than Lucius. Not even a certain big-jawed, purple-colored figure could match his expertise.

Moving on…

Lucius had also come across lots of under information, informing him of the events that had occurred to Mankind in the three years of his absence. Of course, this knowledge was in regard to the Sors Fides side.

Few months after the battle in Deatov, when the Ascension started to affect the other planets under Mankind, a mysterious person referring to themselves as the 'Pope', established the cult of Sors Fides.

This person then started to anonymously recruit believers, mostly humans whose lives had been impacted by the Ascension.

In these times, when the supernatural and fantastical were becoming commonplace, faith in a higher power was starting to spread as more people started to believe in the existence of a God. 

The concept of religions, prayers, and vanished, which had vanished with the advancements of science had taken center stage once more as more people started to believe.

The addition of a foreign invader had only served to strengthen the hopelessness of the humans, resulting in more converting their faiths and joining the religion.

In but a matter of months, Sors Fides had expanded to a size where it couldn't stay hidden anymore.

Such being the case, the cult, under the leadership of people who referred to themselves as the Watchers, surfaced and started to assist the struggling humans with their war efforts. 

With their addition, Mankind's continuous, disheartening losses finally saw a change as they started to win their battles. The popularity of Sors Fides exploded and they were being heralded as the saviors of Mankind.

Their size and operation soon exceeded the size of the Alliance itself with more people and even influential families joining the cause.

Of course, all of this changed a year ago when it was revealed that Sors Fides was colluding with the enemy, the Formicians. It was revealed that the battles were staged, with the victories actually being the result of negotiations with the Formicians.

When the numbers were tallied up, a shocking truth surfaced. The supposed victories had actually cost more human lives and expended more losses, than the previous defeats. 

This fact, coupled with the Watchers revealing their true intention - which was to guide all the humans to the kingdom of their god and the only ways to achieve this was either joining the cult and dedicating your life to it or by dying in the hands of the Formicians- was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Mankind split into two, one side consisting of the cult and the other making up the Allied Liberation Army. 

This single, greatest act of betrayal largely reduced Mankind's strength, and the addition of the pirate group into the war only served to worsen the situation. 

Of course, not all who joined Sors Fides went through with their betrayal. Many left the cult and joined the Allied Liberation Army, wanting to fight the invaders till their final breath in hopes to preserve Mankind. 

Jack White, previously a Watcher, was one of these people. Although his motivations were selfish and far from being considered noble.

The Sors Fides had an ally in the Formicians and enemies with the Allied Liberation Army and the pirate group. 

Mankind had no allies and faced all three groups as its opponents.

The Formicians had the singular purpose of extincting Mankind.

The pirate group, Flying Dutchman, was only here for profits and was fishing in troubled waters.

And the one watching these events as chaos unfolded was an unknown Lord.

Having learnt all this, Lucius finally came to an understanding of the complex situation of Mankind.

'The side that I should be supporting is the Allied Liberation Army. The sides I must eradicate are the cultists, the Formicians, and the pirate group.'

'The pirate group and the Formicians are quite straightforward. I only need to kill their Stage 3 leaders before wiping out the rest. The matter with Sors Fides, however, is more complex.'

'The troublesome issue is not the people who had openly defected, but the ones who are hiding within the Allied Liberation Front while serving the Lord. It will be difficult to find them and much harder to prove their loyalty. Unlike the others, I can't simply kill everyone.'

'Leaving them alone is also not an option, since it would only lead to more issues in the future, impacting the Great Plan. It might also lead to the Lords getting an idea of what we are doing.'

'Ah, this is exhausting. I must leave this matter to Ka'lor'ah or Olivia.' 

Lucius was never the type to plot or scheme. When given a target, he would take the most direct approach by directly eliminating it.

His answer, when faced with any problem, was to use violence. 

And when that wasn't enough…use more violence.

'Also, the issue with the Lord still exists. How is He influencing Mankind?'

'Due to the restrictions placed by the Rules, Lords cannot directly intervene with the affairs of the Universe. At most, they can only indirectly affect it by using other beings.'

'Question is; who is bearing the Lord's will? Is it the elusive Pope who has never appeared in public? Or is that group called the Watchers? Mayhaps, someone who is hidden in the shadows?'

"I hate this," Lucius muttered silently.

Being the only other person in proximity to Lucius, the Terran who was piloting the ship clearly heard his words. 

In an instant, his body completely stiffened and his breathing stopped. His pupils shrunk to the greatest extent possible and despair flooded his heart.

'Haha, this is it. This is how far I'll go. The monster has finally grown tired of me.'

Taking his hands off the ship's controller, the Terran slowly stood up from his seat and turned to face Lucius. His face carried a determined, yet peaceful expression similar to a pilgrim having finished his pilgrimage.

"I'm ready now. Do it quickly!" The Terran closed his eyes, widened his arms, and screamed after gathering the entirety of his courage.

If he was to die, he wanted it to be quick and painless.

"What are you doing?" Dumbfounded at the Terran's sudden exclamation, Lucius asked with a neutral tone.

Confused, the Terran opened his eyes and asked. 

"Aren't you going to kill me? I'm ready."

"…do you want to die?" Lucius asked back, confounded at the sudden confession.

Unsure of what to say, the Terran replied. "No…?" 

His expression displayed the words 'what is happening?'. It was a rather comical sight to behold.

"Then stop wasting time and get back to work." Lucius snapped back, releasing a hint of his aura in the process.

The cold, sharp killing intent broke the Terran out of his confusion. He realized the stupidity of his actions. Stumbling on his feet, he hurriedly apologized while stammering.

"Ye-yes, si-sir! Ri-right away!!"

He immediately turned around and sat back on his seat, returning his hands to the controller. His back was extremely straight as he dared not to slack in the slightest.

'What just happened? I'm so confused.' The Terran cried within his mind, as he survived another close shave with death after his misunderstanding.

It was then that Lucius, who had closed his eyes while leaning back on his seat suddenly sat up straight while snapping his eyes open.

His gaze sharpened as he stared out of the window of the spaceship.

"Stop the craft. We have enemies in the front."

The Terran did not dare delay and immediately stopped the vessel. He then stared with squinted eyes into the dark, void of space.

'Enemies? Where?' he questioned himself, as there was nothing in view ahead. Only more of the same endless void.

Lucius, however, had an incomparably serious expression on his face. His nose twitched as he recognized the scent of the enemies ahead.

'Formicians. Two of them.'

The feeling of danger assaulted his mind, as his sixth sense accurately gauged the strength of the enemy.

'Both at Stage 3.'

Getting up from his seat, Lucius walked towards the airlock.

'Perfect timing. I was just getting annoyed.' 

He was intending to fight against two Stage 3 beings at the same time!