Lord of Annihilation

Arriving at the base of the mountain, a few dozen minutes later, was the party of Ka'lor'ah, Riker, and Olivia. Halting their movement, the trio looked up towards the peak of the mountain in unison.

"Such pure and dense killing intent…" Riker muttered, his face reflecting the shock within his heart.

Having served as a Vice-Commander for many years, Riker had met his fair share of powerful opponents, strange races, and rare soul types. Of course, Killers were no exceptions.

While the [Killer] soul type was listed as 'Common' in the [Souls Compendium], which was a record detailing the information about every soul type ever to exist, this was only in reference to its total number.

[Killer] souls were commonly found within the Wild Beasts populace, however, to find an intelligent being possessing the [Killer] soul was quite rare, especially one in the Stage 3 realm and beyond.

While the [Killer] soul granted its owner unparalleled strength it also had equally significant and concerning drawbacks. 

All Killers were irascible, reckless, and unable to be reasoned with. They possessed little to no self-control and had no sense of value towards their own lives or to the lives of others. 

To kill and slaughter was their sole motivation and the only meaning to their existence.

Of course, the points stated above were common knowledge within the Universe and also the case with the Killers that Riker had met. This was also the reason that Riker found Lucius to be odd. 

The aura that he released was similar to the Killers that Riker had met albeit being more condensed and pure. The odd factor was that Lucius also showed significant clarity and self-control. He was cool, calm, and collected and showed no signs of being irascible. 

A [Killer] with proper self-control and who was not a psycho? Had it not been for Riker meeting such a person himself, he would've laughed at its mere mention and dismissed it as a joke.

Analyzing the intent in proper detail, Riker suddenly furrowed his brows and mumbled, "No wait…this intent doesn't belong to him. It's coming from another source."

Scanning the mountain peak with his Peak-Level Stage 4 soul power revealed further information to Riker. 

Due to the battle between the weapon and Lucius, the Rules at the peak were incredibly chaotic. This resulted in Riker gaining an incomplete picture of the mountain detail and some faint details that managed to survive the conflict of Rules.

"There seems to be some trouble at the peak," Riker heavily spoke.

"We need to go up there and see if we can help him," Ka'lor'ah immediately answered. 

She had also used her own methods to gain an understanding of the ongoing conflict at the peak and had arrived at the same conclusion as Riker.

"L-l-let's g-go!" Olivia stuttered with great difficulty. 

Her body was fiercely trembling and her face was deathly pale. She was struggling to stand on her own two feet and was currently leaning on Thorn for support. 

However, while her mind and heart were willing to ascend the mountain and assist Lucius, her body, unfortunately, was unable to comply.

In the end, she was still a Stage 2 existence, and being in such close proximity to where a battle of Rules was ongoing was dangerously deadly for her. Just the remnant auras and shockwaves of the battle at the peak were enough to kill her.

It was only after she had spoken did Riker notice her situation. He immediately waved his hand and enveloped both Olivia and Ka'lor'ah with his power. The Imperceptible Domain of a Stage 4 existence expanded and protected the weaker duo. 

Feeling the life-threatening pressure forcing upon her body disappear, Olivia managed to finally spare a breath and thanked Riker.

"Thank you…" 

"Please don't mention it. It was my fault for ignoring the state of my guests and placing them in such danger," Riker politely replied.

He then waved his hands once more and almost immediately, Olivia felt pure life energy enter her body and heal her injuries. In just seconds, he was restored to her perfect state.

"Whoa!" Olivia exclaimed, to which Riker simply smiled and explained.

"My [Untainted Nature] Domain has the ability to heal any injuries and restore the perfect state of the target under stage 5. Of course, this is simply one of its numerous abilities."

He then turned his attention to the peak once again and warned the duo, "Please mind your balance. Let's go and take a look at what's happening up there."

Upon finishing his sentence, Riker jumped. Ka'lor'ah and Olivia, who were also with him inside his Domain, were carried alongside him.

----------

"What are they doing?" asked Olivia, looking at the scene before her.

Arriving at the peak of the mountain only took a few seconds and an additional two jumps from Riker. 

Upon coming here the party managed to immediately discover Lucius and the scythe, seeing as to how everything in the vicinity, other than these two entities, had been virtually destroyed. 

Right now, the party was staring at the 'stare-off' that was going on between Lucius and the scythe, from a good distance. 

Unable to understand what exactly was happening led Olivia to voice her earlier question.

However, neither Ka'lor'ah nor Riker immediately answered her question. The duo stared at the two entities in the distance with a serious expression. 

After a few minutes, Ka'lor'ah removed her gaze from the 'stare-off' and turned to answer Olivia.

"They are fighting. Lucius wants the weapon to submit itself to him, while the weapon wants to escape and grow independently."

"Fighting? But I don't see them moving at all."

"That's because they aren't," Ka'lor'ah chuckled and explained. "They are using their understanding of the Rules to fight. Although Lucius is losing in quantity, due to his lacking power level, he's making up for it in sheer quality. It will be over in a few minutes."

"I see," Olivia let out a sigh of relief. Even Thorn, which was hovering by her side, seemed to visibly relax.

Ka'lor'ah regained her normal expression and watched the invisible battle with interest.

Riker, on the other hand, continued to stare with increasing seriousness. A few moments later, his taut face suddenly loosened and a lost look appeared within his eyes. He seemed to have lost himself within his thoughts.

As the trio continued to wait for the battle at the distance to come to an end, Olivia suddenly chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Ka'lor'ah curiously asked.

Shaking her head, Olivia explained while giggling, "It's just that I was reminded of an old show from Mankind, seeing this scene before me. The battles in that show consisted of two grown men standing at a distance and staring at each other menacingly."

Olivia then took a moment to suppress her laughter and continued.

"I always imagined that it would be funny, being a spectator within the show and seeing one of the main characters suddenly throw up blood after an intense stare-off."

"That does sound funny and similar to what's going on right now," Ka'lor'ah nodded her head. "What's the show called?"

"It's JoJ---" Olivia was in the process of naming the show when suddenly, an explosion sounded out and a shockwave hit their bodies.

The power of the shockwave was tremendous, having leveled the entire mountain peak by a few dozen meters. Thankfully, Olivia and Ka'lor'ah were still inside the Domain extended by Riker, allowing them to survive the sudden attack with minimal injuries.

"What happened?!" Recovering her unstable footing and immediately assuming a combat stance, Olivia asked while extending her soul senses.

Ka'lor'ah, who was blown back a few meters, flapped her wings a few times and regained her balance. She then immediately extended her detection, trying to make sense of what just happened. 

It took a few moments for the duo to navigate past the dust and smog shrouding the surroundings before gaining a proper vision.

At the location of the invisible battle, Lucius had finally moved from his previous location and had arrived next to the floating scythe. Extending his hands, he grabbed onto the weapon and tightly held it.

The weapon released a few low-pitched hums signifying its unwillingness to submit. However, it was too late as it had already lost to its new owner.

"Shut up and be obedient," Lucius coldly uttered.

The muscles on his body had greatly shrunken, his cheeks had hollowed and his eyes had sunken. Coupled with the dark circles underneath his eyes and his general tired-looking demeanor Lucius now looked like a malnourished youth who hadn't eaten or slept in a week.

However, his tiredness couldn't hide the light of excitement within his eyes.

Holding the newly forged scythe with both of his hands, Lucius started to move. 

Taking a step forward with his left leg, Lucius moved his right leg to the side. Lowering his knees by a few inches, he then twisted his body to the side, while lifting his hands holding the weapon. 

Raising the weapon into the air, Lucius stepped forwards with his right foot and gently swung down with the scythe. A crescent-shaped flash of energy shot out of the edge with absolute silence and unseen speeds.

Instantly appearing before the mountain peak of the neighboring mountain, the streak of energy cut through the layers of solid rock before appearing on the other side and then slowly dissipating.

Time itself seemed to have been frozen as everything stood still for a few seconds. After that moment of calm…came the storm.

RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!!!

An avalanche of mud and rock started to fall from the neighboring mountain, as its entire peak, a few kilometers in diameter started to slide after being cut by the blade of energy. Boulders fell and crashed increasing the damage caused by the carnage as the mountain started to gradually collapse.

The rumbling sound was so loud that the noise traveled for a few hundred kilometers, being heard at dozens of towns and multiple cities!

Meanwhile, Lucius, who was the cause of this mountain collapse, paused in his motions and softly uttered.

"[Dance of the Death God- First Movement: Slash]"