Lord of Annihilation

In the distant flatlands above an area blackened due to the previous lightning storm, Klytius floated in the sky, underneath a dense aggregation of tribulation clouds. 

His gaze was serious and his face was solemn as he stood upright while crossing his arms in front of his chest. Staring unflinchingly at the rumbling clouds, he seemed to wait for someone. 

A few minutes later, a voice mechanically spoke, "Not going to attack?"

"I don't have a habit of attacking an unprepared opponent," Klytius replied, uncrossing his arms.

"Pity. It's a waste of time and effort," answered the voice.

Narrowing his eyes, Klytius said, "That's just how us, the people of the [Good] faction, are."

"I see," paused the voice, "Are you here to capture me?"

Nodding his head, Klytius began to release his aura, "Yes. I would advice surrendering yourself. I swear on my name to grant you a fair trial for your crimes."

"I see." The clouds before Klytius suddenly trembled intensely before parting. An overly handsome youth dressed in tattered black armor appeared floating in the sky.

Lifting his head and staring at Klytius, Lucius droned, "That's not possible."

"Good! 'Cause I was really hoping to beat you up!!" Klytius declared with a roar and disappeared from his previous spot.

Instantaneously arriving before Lucius with his right arm charged back, Klytius bellowed at the top of his lungs before punching forth with his enormous hand!

"TRY NOT TO DIE TOO SOON!!"

The moment his punch fully extended, the air around the two figures stilled for an instant before bursting apart. The ground beneath them split to form a fracture and the clouds of tribulation instantly dissipated from the force.

At the tip of his clenched fists, space warped with microscopic tears appearing in it, purely due to the overt force contained within Klytius fists. This was a punch that contained a fair amount of the Mid-Level Stage 5 being's power!

Seeing his fist pass through Lucius' face, Klytius immediately frowned. 

He did not feel any feedback.

Just as the thought appeared within his mind, the 'face', which he had delivered his attack onto, disappeared. Inches away from its previous location was Lucius' actual face.

Klytius had hit an afterimage!

"You missed," Lucius' unenthusiastic voice sounded out. "My turn."

The instant he finished talking, Lucius punched out using both his hands. His movements were precise and efficient and his fists were chockfull of Stage 4 [Annihilation Energy]. 

Landing his two fists on the joint where the arm meets the shoulder, Lucius exerted more of his energy and punched through. Soul power exploded and [Annihilation Energy] instantly tore everything that it came into contact with.

Klytius eyes instantly narrowed with pain and his gigantic body was thrown back a few hundred meters. The barrier of soul energy which he surrounded himself with, seemed to be nonexistent in the face of Lucius' [Annihilation Energy].

'Such strength!' Klytius clenched his teeth as shock filled his heart. That one attack from Lucius had almost nearly torn his entire arm off!

Didn't this guy just finish ascending a few minutes ago? How is he already so strong!?"

On the other side, Lucius shook both of his hands as blood and broken bones fell out. Delivering the previous attack had resulted in the bones on his fists shattering from the impact. 

However, not a single trace of pain was present on Lucius' face as he nonchalantly continued to shake his hands. Colorless energy started to pour out of his wounds which instantly healed his injuries. 

The recoverability of a Stage 4 being was simply too frightening.

After healing his wounds, Lucius stared at his opponent Klytius who had also finished healing his wounds. Opening his mouth, he calmly asked.

"You should've felt it. The strange energy that can effortlessly cut through your soul power barrier and injure you. Engaging me in direct combat is unwise."

"Then I'll use my weapon!!" yelling at the top of his lungs, Klytius snapped his finger causing an enormous, dual-sided hammer to appear within his hands.

Swinging his weapon into the air, he leaped up while using the intangible air as a platform and fell towards Lucius. Seeing the raging whirlpools of wind and energy caused by the hammer's swinging, Lucius' eyes narrowed with seriousness.

Pushing his circulation of soul power to the maximum, Lucius executed his [Absolute Evasion] and rapidly retreated while leaving behind dozens of afterimages.

"Your trick will not work again! BWHAHAHA!!" Roaring laughter tinged with battle lust and madness exited Klytius' throat.

He then continuously swung his massive hammer left and right, without any form or factor! The massive weapon effortlessly crushed each afterimage and left sonic booms in its wake. Space shuddered while the speed of the hammer continued to increase.

Looking at the Giant slowly getting closer and closer, and the might of the gigantic hammer growing bigger and bigger, Lucius loosened the frown on his forehead and inwardly concluded.

'I can't win.' His analysis was extremely curt and accurate. 

With his exceptionally sharp perception, Lucius immediately realized that Klytius wasn't being serious in this fight. The strength of his attacks was carefully limited to Peak-Level Stage 4 and did not reach the Stage 5 mark.

Just enough to grievously injure him, but not enough to kill him. It was evident that Klytius' primary intention was to capture Lucius, the supposed great demon of the [Evil] faction.

Had Klytius actually been serious in his attacks, Lucius would barely be able to stand under the pressure much less retreat. Having realized this, Lucius quickly renewed his plan.

'Defeating or killing Klytius is not my goal. Getting out of this place with Ka'lor'ah and Olivia is. As such, engaging in battle with this guy is a waste of time and effort.'

Every extra second that Lucius spent on this planet increased his chances of getting captured. The sooner he manages to leave this place, the better.

'I need to distract him and buy some time. Although it's risky to use this ability, I have no choice,' Lucius inwardly shook his head.

'I need to mask the aura of the void using a greater aura.'

Lucius had already retracted his murderous intent back before he began the final step of his ascension. Releasing it once again was a terrible choice as it would once again gravely injure his recently-healed soul. Additionally, he did not possess the miraculous effects of the ascension to heal it back.

Having a damaged soul during the next phase of the plan was akin to standing in the middle of a roaring fire naked and hoping you wouldn't get burned.

Having said that, there was only one way out of this situation.

Abruptly exploding 15% of his soul power, Lucius opened up a fair distance between himself and Klytius. Stopping his movement, Lucius quickly brought his two palms together and started forming hand signs.

Seeing his opponent suddenly retreat and perform some strange actions initially confused Klytius. However, in the next instant, he discovered a strange, blood-red aura radiating around Lucius. 

With his Stage 5 perception, Klytius immediately discovered the minute changes to the Rules in the surrounding area. Realizing Lucius' intention, he hurriedly lifted his enormous and erroneously heavy hammer into the air and threw it towards Lucius.

"NO YOU DON'T!!"

The hammer cut through the air at unseen speeds and almost immediately arrived before Lucius. Unfortunately, it was an instant too late as Lucius successfully formed his final hand sign.

"[Deploy Domain: Sea of Blood]!"

With a final clap of his hands, both Lucius and his surroundings disappeared.

What was previously an endless expanse of vast, empty flatlands was now a boundless ocean of crimson blood. 

Blood which sought to corrode and putrefy everything!

----------

Using the overwhelming bloody aura of his Domain to mask the void fluctuations, Lucius used [Void Step] and disappeared from his battlefield with Klytius. 

Phasing in and out of the void a couple of times, he arrived inside the small air pocket within the mountain pile of rubble housing Ka'lor'ah and Olivia. 

Stepping out from the void and into the small cleared space, Lucius suddenly felt two hands close his eyes. 

"Guess who?" a melodious voice rang out near his ears.

For an instant, he froze. 

Feeling that familiar presence and hearing that familiar tone, Lucius felt like he was back inside the cold, dry corridors of that humongous castle walking around aimlessly when a certain, annoying person jumped out from a hidden corner and performed the same set of actions. 

Closing his eyes and asking him to guess who. 

Frankly, Lucius found it vexing and had told off that person numerous times. However, that person ignored him every single time and did it anyway.

However, this time, in this life he found it…strangely comforting.

"I warned you to stop doing that," Lucius replied in the same manner he did during his previous life.

"And I'm gonna ignore you and do it anyway. Whatcha gonna do? Stop me?" was her response. 

Using his hands to remove hers from his face, Lucius turned around and answered with a slight nod.

"Ka'lor'ah. I see you've got your body back."