Lord of Annihilation

Sitting upon his throne of corpses, Lucius' pitch-black, abyss-like eyes continued to stare towards the distant grey sky with a cold, determined look. 

The killing intent oozing out of his body continued to climb in intensity, reaching a point where even the space surrounding his figure started to distort and twist. 

This stand-off continued for a few minutes longer, when suddenly Lucius' expressionless face became pallid and twisted with tremendous pain. 

Veins bulged throughout his body as viscous black blood started to uncontrollably leak from all of his facial orifices. Closing his eyes, Lucius grabbed onto his head and let out an inaudible scream.

The throne beneath him suddenly disappeared, followed by portions of the peak disappearing. As the footing beneath him disappeared, Lucius' body started to fall towards the ground.

Color slowly returned to the world, alongside the disappearance of large sections of the corpse mountain range. 

The pressure inside the Domain started to wane, as Lucius' Domain started to collapse. Soon, the 10km boundary also disappeared with my tiny figure rushing in.

Still, none of these changes were noticed by the rapidly falling Lucius, as his full attention was placed inside his mindspace.

Within his mindspace, an identical copy of the Domain which had manifested outside existed. In fact, upon reaching Stage 3 the previous scenery of mindspace, filled only with clouds of soul power, will no longer exist.

A Stage 3 existence built and improved their Domains within their mindspace. It was only after their Domains were fully built and cohesive with their Rules, would they be able to deploy it into the real world.

Usually, this was a long process, taking anywhere from months to years, and was filled with many trials and errors. Most beings after reaching Stage 3 will undergo a period of closed cultivation to identify and experiment with their Rules, eventually building the basis for their Domains and hence shaping their mindspace.

This process could absolutely not be rushed as Domains built out of Rules conflicting to the user's nature would result in self-destruction and death. In a word, this process was absolutely…crucial.

However, Lucius was not like most beings. 

Having already reached Stage 7 in his previous life, he possessed a perfected Stage 7 Domain called the [World of Death] which stood at the very apex of the [Killer] path. This Domain was also the reason for Lucius' moniker as the 'Strongest under the Lords'. 

Such being the case, Lucius in his fight against the black-robed figure, decided to use a fragment of the [World of Death], namely the [Corpse Mountain Range] to construct his Stage 3 Domain. 

Being the original creator of the Domain, there was no one more familiar with its structure and Rule composition than Lucius. Hence, he was able to near-instantly create the Domain within his mindspace and deploy it against the black-robed figure.

The deployment instantly crushed the [Thousand Shadows] Domain and effortlessly killed the Peak-Level Stage 3 existence.

And it was precisely here where the problem occurred.

Within Lucius' mindspace, the [Annihilator] soul floated above the peak of the tallest point of the Corpse Mountain Range. Its transparent, ethereal body continuously spewed out [Annihilation Energy] seemingly rejecting the newly constructed Domain.

As if this wasn't problematic enough, the pitch-black ocean, which floored his mindspace, created large 5km tall waves of liquefied void energy and sent them crashing towards the island holding the Domain. 

(AN: If the picture isn't clear enough, imagine an endless black ocean in the middle of which is an island. That island is the [Corpse Mountain Range] Domain. The dimensions of the island are a perfect, 10KMx10KMx10KM.)

Even the Void Eater bloodline seemed to be at odds with the newly constructed Domain.

With both the soul and body attacking, the newly-constructed Domain was slowly breaking apart and collapsing, causing immense mental and physical pain to Lucius.

Diving into the center of this conflict with his consciousness, Lucius used his full focus to resolve it. This newly constructed Domain was the core of his current and future power, and Lucius could not hope to lose it.

If it were to be destroyed, Lucius would effectively find himself crippled, never to grow further. He would forever be stuck at the bottom of Stage 3.

Lucius' plan to reuse the Domain optimized for the [Killer] path had effectively backfired. The Rules used in the Domain's construction was conflicting with his soul and body, causing the rejection.

Recognizing the problem, Lucius suppressed the pain he was currently feeling and desperately sought a solution.

'I thought that with the [Annihilator] being an evolution of the [Killer], I would be able to reuse my previous Domain. Clearly, that didn't work.'

'Actually, the feeling of rejections that stems from the [Annihilator] soul is not of intolerance, but seems to be…disdain? It's like the [Annihilator] soul feels disgusted by the low-level of the Rules used in the Domain's construction.'

'This is simple to fix, I simply need to preserve the core Higher Rules, while cutting away the rest. The Domain would become unusable but my potential will be preserved.'

As stated previously, a Domain was an intricate and complex mix of Rules, ranging from higher-ranked ones such as 'Life' or 'Death' to lower-ranked ones such as 'Sound' or 'Size'.

A perfect Domain required a precise mixture of Rules to create the most stable, self-sustaining worlds capable of growth. 

The current problem with Lucius' Domain and the [Annihilator] soul can be described as such; the [Annihilator] soul is like a rich, posh, high-class lady asked to dine at a middle-class restaurant. Eating dishes made from common, sub-par ingredients makes her feel insulted and disgusted.

[Corpse Mountain Range] was this dish, made from low-level ingredients. No matter how delicious the final dish was, it was still made from low-class ingredients, resulting in the [Annihilator] soul instinctively rejecting it.

Having understood the root of the problem, Lucius immediately acted upon it. He started to deconstruct his Domain while cutting away all of the lesser Rules. 

The Domain started to visibly change as the mountains became smaller, the ground became rockier and dry, various fissures and holes appeared throughout the island. By the time Lucius was done removing all of the conflicting Rules, a majority of the Domain had become hole-ridden and barren. 

In its current form, it was unusable.

'I will need to spend a lot of time experimenting and fixing it.' 

Lucius sighed to himself, as he saw the [Annihilator] soul slowly settle in the center of the Domain. It did not seem satisfied, but at least the rejection no longer occurred.

'Now, for the next problem.' Floating to the sky once again, Lucius looked at the unruly ocean causing trouble.

'The Rule that makes up the majority of my body and my bloodline is the Rule of Void, a top-tier Higher Rule. Currently, the rejection is occurring due to the complete absence of this Rule or any of the lesser Rules related to this path.'

'As long as I can add a fitting Rule into my Domain, the problem of rejection should be solved.'

Arriving at this fact, Lucius started to hurriedly search his memories for a solution. 

With his long life and abundant battle experience, Lucius had faced many foes who used 'Space', 'Dimensions', 'Absence' as the Core Rules within their Domains. These were some of the Rules directly or indirectly related to the Void.

However, although Lucius knew that these Rules existed and how they generally worked, he had no personal experience using them or even studying them. 

Without proper study and experimentation, he could not reproduce those Rules and make them fit his current Domain.

'Time! If only I had time!!' Lucius cursed within his mind. 

Every second that he delayed the more attacks that his Domain faced from the pitch-black ocean. If Lucius did not fix the issue soon, his Domain would collapse crippling, if not killing him forever!

'The Core Rule of my Domain is 'Death'. Death…death…death…'

'Hold on, my current Domain works by evaluating the kill count (i.e. number of beings who have died by the actions of the user) of the people within the Domain and comparing them. The ones with the lower kill count will undergo judgment from those with the higher kill count.'

This was a Domain optimized for the [Killer] soul.

Being a [Killer], it was nearly impossible to have a lower kill count than your opponent, as long as both parties were within the same stage.

'The more I kill, the more 'Death Energy' is added to the Domain. The higher the 'Death Energy', the harsher and more severe will be the penalty of the ones being judged.'

Death Energy was another type of energy. It was released the moment a being dies. The higher the Grade of a being, the more 'Death Energy' was released.

If one possessed complementing Rules, they would be able to harness and wield this energy, supplementing their power.

'Wait! The core strength of the Void Eater isn't its ability to access the Void. Rather, it is the ability to devour another's strength and add it to my own. So the Core Rule isn't Void, but rather something like Devour!'

'Death and Devour' are concepts that go hand-in-hand. So if I simply, use the Death Energy in a way that compliments or supplements my Domain, this feeling of rejection will stop!'

The moment this thought appeared within Lucius' mind, he felt something click deep within him. It felt similar to finding the missing piece of a puzzle or a key to an unknown lock.

His instincts borne out of his experience and knowledge instinctively told him that this was the solution. 

Without wasting a single moment of time, Lucius immediately started altering his Domain. 

Larger cracks and fissures appeared on the island, as multiple river channels started to form. Rather than separate the Domain from the ocean outside, Lucius changed its Rule structure to include it, hence incorporating the island and the ocean.

Five large river channels were formed, which were then immediately filled by the black waters of the ocean. A shapeless, odorless, black-colored mist started to rise from the barren ground of the Domain, moving towards the closest of the five large rivers.

When arrived near the river, this black mist liquefied into droplets of water and fell into the river. The very moment these droplets fell into the river, the surface of the river intensely rippled and its waters started to suffuse into the lands of the Domain.

The island seemed to be giving something to the river, which the latter upon receiving started to nourish the island. 

The desolate, ruined Domain now seemed to show slight signs of recovery. It wasn't complete and was nowhere near perfection, but at least now, seemed to have become stable.

The [Annihilator] soul also did not reject these new changes, further proving that he had done something correctly.

Floating high up in the sky, Lucius surveyed the changed island. Everything seemed to work nicely and there was no sense of rejection. 

'Crisis averted.' Lucius finally put down his worries.

His strength had dropped by a large margin and his Domain was incomplete. 

While Lucius had managed to successfully reach the realm of Stage 3, he would not be able to recreate his feat of killing a Peak-Level Stage 3 at Low-Level, unless he restored his Domain.

'At least, my path forward no longer faces the risk of being abruptly cut short. All in all, this happening wasn't a bad thing.'

'A Domain that not only kills but also nourishes and continuously grows from the act…If I can perfect it and reach Stage 7, I will be vastly stronger than my previous self. The Lords…may not be unkillable after all.'

Having solved his interior problems, Lucius surfaced his consciousness and opened his eyes.

The first thing that he was a pair of mysterious violet eyes, followed relieved, caring voice of a woman.

"Hey, you're finally awake."