Lord of Annihilation

"Who?" Luther who was standing behind Keith was the first to notice to this sudden intrusion, reacted involuntarily.

Looking at the tall, red haired, crimson eyed youth, standing before them, with a spear in his hands, Luther suddenly realized.

"Alex Hellwig!"

By now the rest of the guards standing by had also reacted, by drawing out their respective weapon. Some carried knives while other carried guns. Most of them carried an electromagnetic rifle, known for it's quick rate of fire and for it's minimal knockback. It was the preferred weapon among people for their nature, due to it's unseen bullets and remarkable silence.

Keith's eyes shrunk as he hastily ordered, "Silence him!"

Alas, upon hearing his words, it was Alex who moved first.

Circulating his soul power to the maximum, he moved towards the four men standing near Olivia, first. Before he fights, these other 50 men, he had to ensure her safety.

From the position where Alex had landed, after he jumped from the platform up above, there was a distance of 160m between him and Olivia. For an average person, assuming he was running at full speed, it would take nearly 15 seconds to cover this distance.

Alex crossed the same distance in 5 seconds.

Arriving before Olivia, he swiped his spear horizontally to knock out the 3 men standing behind her. Retracting his spear, he stabbed his spear into the chest of the man, holding her down.

"Quickly! Hide behind me." he instructed.

Although Olivia did not understand who this person was or why he wanted to save her, she obeyed his instructions. Shaking of the hands that had previously held her, she moved to stand directly behind Alex. Upon reaching that position, Olivia involuntarily turned back to look at the man who had held her.

A body with a huge hole in his chest, greeted her sight. His eyes, the only observable part of his face were filled with unwillingness.

Seeing the blood and flesh flow out of him, Olivia felt her stomach churn. She wanted to vomit. At this moment she heard the voice of that unfamiliar youth.

"I understand that you are feeling scared, but please focus on your survival first. Tune out your emotions until we get out of here alive." he spoke in a gentle voice. A direct contraction to his arrogant voice earlier.

Pushing down that uncomfortable feeling she felt in her stomach, Olivia answered in a meek voice, "Understood. Thank you."

A smile blossomed on Alex's face as he replied, "You can thank me, once we get out of here alive."

He then stared at the men in front of him and let out a loud roar.

ROAR!

Without waiting for them to move, he immediately jumped into their fray.

His spear moved like and serpent and struck his foes like lightening. The sheer speed at which he thrust and retreated his spear was simply nonsensical.

It was as if the concept of resistance did not apply to his spear. It moved through the bodies of the various men, just as easily as it moved through the air.

Alex took care to continuously move, in order to avoid the bullets being shot at him. He also took care to protect the young lady taking shelter behind his back.

This was the first time Alex had fought amongst such a great amount of people. Previously, he had always fought one-on-one duels to train his spearsmanship. His opponents were also greatly skilled compared to him, making a victory really difficult to obtain.

Still, this had laid a very firm foundation for his strength, allowing him to utilize his soul power to the greatest extent, not being lesser than Lucius in the least.

'This feeling of protecting someone, doesn't feel to bad.' Alex thought to himself, as he easily cut down another person.

Less than 30 seconds had passed and Alex had already killed 12 people. Although this was relatively less compared to the large amount of people present, one has to remember that he was fighting in close combat, whilst protecting another person.

The difficulty of his situation was difficult to explain.

'Projectile Incoming!!', just as he cut down the last person within his reach, he heard Ka'lor'ah warning sound within his mind.

Driving most of his soul power into his eyes, the world in Alex's eyes suddenly slowed down. This was not a product of time actually slowing down, but because of Alex's visual acuity suddenly increasing by a great margin.

In his eyes, he could now see the bullet heading towards his position in great detail. It was aimed precisely towards the center of his head.

Seeing that it was too late to dodge, Alex mobilized the remainder of his soul power into his arms. He then moved his arms holding the spear to deflect the bullet coming towards him.

Just as the bullet enter within the 30cm field of his head, his spear tip barely hit the surface of the bullet, successfully deflecting it.

'Haha! I did it!' before he could fully express his happiness, Alex felt a great deal of weakness invade his body. His entire body suddenly felt a sense of emptiness

'Wha? What happened?' Alex questioned within his mind.

If Lucius was in his situation, he would have immediately identified this feeling of weakness and emptiness. It was soul energy exhaustion.

Alex had not taken care to carefully conserve and effectively manage his soul power. The feeling of power overflowing in his body and the ease at which he was cutting down these villain, had led him to forget an important fact.

Soul energy wasn't inexhaustible.

'You fool!' Ka'lor'ah admonished him within his mind. Although she knew he could hardly be blamed for it, she still felt a feeling of powerlessness in this situation.

Alex's body could no longer stand with it's two legs. Any and all semblance of strength had left him in it's entirety.

Olivia standing closest to Alex was the first to notice his abnormality. She immediately reacted by pulling him by his shoulder and diving behind the nearest cover.

The warehouse wasn't empty in the least. Multiple crates both big and small were neatly stacked across the entire floor.

Maybe owing to coincidence or perhaps their great luck, Alex and Olivia were relatively closed to metal crate, which was just more than a meter in height. It served as a perfect cover, which could be easily defended against.

Jumping in with Alex in tow, Olivia also grabbed a electromagnetic rifle that had fallen to the floor near her. Staying in cover, she raised the gun overhead and sprayed the bullets.

The guards who were approaching them in haste, were caught unaware by this sudden action.

When they saw that young man suddenly collapse, they were greatly relieved. Seeing him kill over a dozen of them in quick succession was unnerving to say the least. With only the young lady left, they had quickly rushed towards them, in order to attain the merit for getting rid of them.

This very action, led to them being hit by the blindly fired bullets, with two more of their men losing their lives.

15 of their men had already dies. One must remember that all of these men were professionals, with a fair bit of experience under their belt. Yet seeing that young man who was almost half their age move with nonsensical speed and strength, had overturned all of their conceptions.

With him bring still alive while also being in such a perfect firing location, all of them quickly retreated. Dying in the cross-fire like those two men previously would be one of the saddest ways to die.

Meanwhile, while firing in fixed amounts of time, Olivia hurriedly asked the young man near her, "Are you alright?"

Hearing the concern in her voice, the young man blushed slightly, "I-I am fine."

Of course, Olivia who was busy did not notice this reaction of his. She was visibly relieved for a second, yet panicked again. A loud voice thundered through the empty warehouse.

"WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING?! KILL THEM" Keith screamed in rage. Seeing his carefully made plans, being thwarted once again, brought back some unpleasant memories.

One of the guards close to him, hesitantly spoke out, "Boss, it's risky to approach them while they are under cover. It is easy to get shot while moving towards them." he slowly tried to explain the situation.

Hearing him, Keith wasn't pleased in the least. He bellowed out, "YOU THINK I CARE ABOUT YOUR WORTHLESS LIVES. I DON'T PAY YOU TO HIDE LIKE RATS, DO I!!"

Hearing his words, all the remaining guards frowned.

'Yes! Please fight amongst yourselves!' Olivia prayed within her heart. Alas, reality was a cruel mistress.

"Please don't mind his words, Sirs. This man has lost his mind." Luther who had been quiet all this while suddenly spoke up.

"You-" before Keith could complete his words, Luther's fist arrived in front of his face. Luther directly punched Keith in his face.

Keith's body staggered back a few steps, before collapsing to the ground. It was a one-hit KO.

Waving his hands to get rid of the pain, Luther spoke out, "Please take your time, but ensure that neither of them live. I'll pay what he promised to pay you, Sirs."

All the guards nodded. As long as they got paid, they did not mind whose orders they were listening to. They re-organized themselves and slowly advanced towards the position where Olivia and Alex were present.

Seeing the situation take a turn in the worst possible way, Olivia was greatly distressed. The young man who was moving with such great vigor previously couldn't move a single inch right now.

At this moment, Olivia was suddenly reminded of Lucius' words.

'Weakness is a Sin.'

'If only I was stronger.' Olivia thought in regret. Alas, thinking about such stuff was too late.

Just as she was about to give up, she heard a strange voice.

"Do you seek, Power?"