Lord of Annihilation

"Release Incomplete World."

The instant his words fell, the air stilled and color started to drain from the world. The violent sounds of energy clashing and the ground breaking disappeared, replaced by utter silence.

Grayish-black energy surged out of Lucius' body with utmost quietness and altered the world around him.

The sky above his head shed its colors, turning monochrome. Dark grey clouds appeared out of thin air and sparsely decorated its ashen stretch.

The ground beneath his feet dried and cracked, forming small gorges. Out of these gorges, a crimson liquid slowly bubbled up and tranquily filled the surface. A bloody scent pervaded the air, draining its trespassers of strength and will.

Endless mountains built from millions of boney corpses stretched as far as the eye could see and in the horizon beyond their reach, sat a sea of red.

The World of Death, in all its partial, incomplete glory appeared before the eyes of the two Magi.

Seeing the soundless appearance of the Mental World before them, Willem and Earnest, who floated within the confines of their own World, looked on wordlessly. 

Seeing this sight, the two Magi inwardly admitted.

Lucius' World possessed a dark beauty and a quiet allure that subconsciously drew them in. 

In fact, this attraction was so strong that it subconsciously influenced them to drop their resistance and walk into it, forever becoming one with its peace.

Just as this thought appeared within their minds, Willem and Earnest, immediately shook their heads and moved their soul power to cover their consciousness. 

Shock filled their hearts and the grimness within their eyes turned a darker shade.

'To be able to subconsciously influence my mind into walking towards my own death…just how strong are his Rules!!?' the two Magi internally cried out in unison.

"Oh." Seeing the Magi shake off the effects of his World, Lucius let out a short sound of disappointment.

He wasn't expecting them to completely fall for it, however, the fact that they managed to shake off its effects soon made him realize just how weak his Domain was.

While Lucius was feeling disappointed with his level of strength, the two Magi were cursing to high heavens at how unfair the Universe was and looking for ways to escape his place.

The Magi were rational creatures. Very rarely did they allow emotions to dictate their decisions which would otherwise be solely dictated by the exchange of benefits. 

If an action was profitable, they would take make that action. If it was not profitable, they would abandon ship with full haste.

Currently, battling Lucius was a no-win situation which not only wasted a lot of time but also exposed them to needless danger.

While they didn't believe Lucius' claim of being able to kill them, they had to admit that the two of them wouldn't be able to come out of this situation unharmed.

Being severely injured while not gaining anything in return…who would choose to make such an action!? 

Willem and Earnest surely did not.

As such, the moment Lucius showed his strength and proved that he was an opponent that wouldn't do down easily, the two of them immediately started making plans to flee. 

Of course, being the people that they were, the first plan that simultaneously occurred in both their minds was…

'I need to use that idiot Willem/Earnest as a shield and get out of this place!' 

And being the resolute Magi that they were, they immediately acted upon their plan.

Retreating a hundred kilometers in an instant, Willem immediately raised both of his hands and yelled, "Extinction Solar Wave!!"

The pillars of world-ending light instantly gathered upon his call and formed an enormous wave spanning hundreds of kilometers wide and dozens of kilometers in height. 

"Go!" Pushing out his palms, he sent the destructive wave towards his two opponents. 

Seeing that his arch-enemy had managed to make the first move, Earnest clicked his tongue and clasped his palms. Having lost the initial advantage, he now had to first protect himself from that destructive wave before making his next move.

As such, Earnest employed a spell of his own.

"Negative Barrier!"

The Negative Sun which slowly spun in the middle of his World suddenly sped up with his yell. 

With the sun as the center, dense black energy streamed out and formed a wall at the borders of his world. This black wall extended from the ground, all the way up to the very limits of the sky.

'I should be safe now,' having completed his preparation, Earnest let out a sigh.

He and Willem were peers with similar levels of strength. As such, the power of his Extinction Solar Wave shouldn't be great enough to overwhelm his defensive Negative Barrier.

His senses then turned towards that abnormally silent region where the majority of Willem's attack was heading towards.

'Perhaps this move will be able to deal severe damage to that demon, forcing him to retreat,' Earnest wishfully thought.

For entities within the same Stage, killing each other was nightmarishly difficult. Having attained the Body of Rules, they had shed most, if not all, of their fatal points while possessing near-instantaneous regeneration. As such, completely destroying their physical bodies was a nigh-impossible task.

Destroying a soul was impossible because…well, it was impossible. This was common sense. (AN: Oh, my sweet, naïve summer child.)

The only 'weakness' that entities of this realm possessed were their consciousnesses. Still, unless they were up against an opponent who specialized in Mind/Mental-type skills, they were mostly protected against such attacks. 

Even if they were to face opponents who countered them in this manner, every powerhouse had a trick or two up their sleeves to protect themselves. 

As such, while Earnest knew it would be impossible for them to completely kill Lucius, he still wished that Willem's attack would force the other to reconsider his priorities and peacefully retreat.

Little did he know, how utterly wrong he was in his thoughts.

Lucius used to be (and still is to a certain degree) a Killer. And Killers…do not know the word retreat.

Seeing this blinding wave of destruction rapidly heading towards him, Lucius spread out his arms and snapped both of his fingers. 

And instantly, the quiet mountains behind him came 'alive'.

Millions upon millions of unmoving corpses suddenly began to quiver as the mountain range soundlessly rumbled. 

At the very bottom of one of the mountains within the range, the hand of a skeletal humanoid suddenly shot up and grabbed onto the body above it. 

Exerting force onto its hand, it pulled its body out from the densely packed collection of corpses, raised its half-destroyed head, and looked towards Lucius with its hollowed eyes. 

And it didn't end there.

One by one, the seemingly innumerable corpses woke up from their eternal sleep and looked towards their master…their God, who floated in the sky. Their members included humans, demons, fiends, Giants, Dragons, Titans, etc.

They did not have a consciousness, they did not possess a life force, and they did not even have a soul. Simply put, they possessed nothing aside from their own bodies.

These corpses were merely empty husks constructed in their previous image by Lucius' soul power; a simple amalgamation of Rules that were powered by his Rule of Death.

And now, receiving an order from their supreme ruler, these empty husks woke from their slumber and awaited their instructions. 

Watching the wave that had almost reached his Boundary, Lucius softly uttered.

"Stop it."