Lord of Annihilation

Chapter 92: Interlude

Two long shadows were cast upon Lucius body. Looking up, the two Tanker Bugs had already closed into his soul power's detection field. Their forelimbs which were shaped like battering rams, headed with ferocious power to where Lucius was standing.

Unlike the common misconception where, larger bodies=slower movement speeds. These Tanker Bugs were just as fast as their smaller brethren, the Sickle Bugs.

'Tch' with a small click of his tongue, Lucius raised his head to look at the large cylindrical forelimbs, head towards him with a ferocious power. Due the speed and strength behind the attack, coupled with the effects of soul power, the air around it's limbs distorted.

Just as the two parties were about to make contact, Lucius who was standing below suddenly disappeared. The attack landed on the empty ground, creating a large crater in place.

"Too slow." just as the two Tanker Bugs were wondering, where their target had disappeared an indifferent voice sounded atop them. Shocked, they immediately turned around.

Unfortunately it was all too late.

At the every moment Lucius had noticed the powerful attack directed towards him, he had immediately exploded the soul power at his feet. This initial thrust along with a powerful jump, boosted Lucius into the air at blistering speeds. So much so, that he seemed to have directly teleported into the air.

From mid-air he aimed his scythe towards the Tanker Bug which still had it's head attached to it's thorax. As it turned, Lucius immediately threw the scythe towards it's head.

The scythe left his hands and swirled through the air, carrying a powerful amount of soul energy and the baleful aura of 'Slash'. Before the Tanker Bug could fully turn it's head and notice the attack, the scythe perfectly struck its joint and forced the Tanker Bug down towards the ground pinning it in the process.

Lucius on the other hand, gathered his soul power into his palms creating a sharp blade of wind. Falling atop of the other Tanker Bug, he aimed his palm at the empty spot where it's head had been previously.

His slender, white palm met the hard exoskeleton of the Tanker Bug and sunk into it!

Using his body's weight as leverage, Lucius directed his hand to cut through the full length of it body. His palm sliced through its carapace, tearing a horizontal line across the length of its body.

Just as he reached the mid-section of it's body, his left arm which was currently free, abruptly moved and reached into it's body. With an eagle-claw like grip, his arm entered the body of the Tanker Bug and suddenly felt the existence of a small, hard, pulsating object. Having found what he was looking for, Lucius closed his palm around the object and pulled his arm out.

Hanging mid-air with his right hand holding onto the carapace of it's body, Lucius opened his fingers to inspect the object.

Atop his left hand was a transparent circular orb. It was the size of a tennis ball and was pulsating with energy and blood.

"That's it! Give it here!" Ka'lor'ah jumped out of Lucius' pocket and rapidly began to consume the Life Crystal of the bug. The transparent orb continued to shrink in size, as Ka'lor'ah absorbed the energy within it.

Without the presence of its Life Crystal, the upright standing Tanker Bug collapsed, truly dying this time. Lucius casually jumped of and smoothly landed onto the ground. Looking at the other Tanker Bug which was pinned onto the ground he could clearly see despair in it's large compound eyes.

"Quick! Catch that other fellow, before he detonates his crystal and suicides!" Ka'lor'ah ordered Lucius excitedly.

Not bothering to get into an argument with her, Lucius silently walked over to the other bug, killing of the other smaller fries around him in the process.

"Onwards!" she shouted once again, while stuffing herself with the other life crystal.

'This is going to be a long day.' Lucius sighed within his mind.

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The black armored 'Leader Bug' had it's large compound eyes narrowed in frustration as it looked at the scene before it.

A single human, was slaughtering its army.

Roughly fifteen minutes had passed since the start of the battle and it's army had shrunk by 500 units. This single human had caused more damage than the entire colony of humans inside the large wall.

Even worse was the fact that this human seemed to not tire and continued to kill it's units with greater efficiency with each passing second.

Although this human is very strong, he seems to be weaker than me. Should I intervene?the Leader Bug wondered.

The purpose for this Leader Bug and the army of alien bugs for arriving at this planet was to test this new species of humans, prior to their ascension. This Leader bug was simply one from an uncountable number of other Leader Bugs who was sent to various corner of the Universe to facilitate the Ordeal.

Directing the Ordeal was sacred mission entrusted to the it by the Great Mother, the progenitor and ruler of all the alien bugs. A being who was at the apex of the Universe, under the rule of the Lords. One could say, the very purpose for the Leader Bugs life was to conduct the Ordeals. This was it's worth.

Normally, the mission of the Leader Bug was to simply direct the battle and command the army while not directly participating. Once the army was successfully killed, the Leader Bug would disappear and the newly victorious species would then ascend.

After all, the Ordeal was meant to be a test. Having a Stage 1 Peak Level life form such as itself, directly participate in combat would be overkill.

By participating in battle, the Ascending species would have to prove it prowess to be worthy of the infinite cosmos. The strong survived while the weak perished.

This time however, was clearly a special case.

This human had clearly entered Stage 1. How is this possible?

As stated earlier, without undergoing Ascension, it was impossible for a life form to transcend it's natural limits and enter Stage 1. This was due restrictions set by the Rules, which governed the functioning of the Universe.

Just as the Leader Bug was having an internal struggle on whether to participate in this battle or not, it's large compound eyes abruptly shrunk.

A frightening amount of power was once again gathering atop those large walls. This time however, there was no transparent crystal to stop it.

Must kill this human!

Immediately, it dashed towards the Alliance base.

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"It's done. All energy systems are back online." Reyna spoke as she wiped the sweat and grime off her face.

Standing upon a watchtower inside a temporary office, Alex who had heard her reply immediately instructed the men around them.

These soldiers looked fresh and were bursting with energy and battle intent. The fifty scarred and wounded soldiers were no longer present atop the wall and were recovering somewhere inside the base.

"It's about time we show those filthy vermin the power of our weapons. Man you battle stations!" Alex commanded out loud.

The soldiers and cannoneers immediately complied and started to prime the plasma cannons. Lining up the crosshair on the areas where the bug were greatly concentrated, they waited for the energy weapons to gather power.

Reyna made her way towards Alex and climbed atop the watchtower. Her chest rose and fell with great regularity, as she struggled to breathe.

Finding the source of the problem, deducing a solution, fixing all the energy weapons had taken a large amount of her mental and physical energy. Not to mention, she had to complete this in 15 minutes.

'Ah! I did just as Lucius instructed.' she thought to herself, when she heard Alex's solemn tone.

"Reyna."

"Um?" she raised her head to look at Alex whose face seemed to be extremely serious.

"Something seems to be wrong with Olivia. Did something happen?" he asked her.

Reyna immediately recalled the scene of Lucius arriving to save them. Hesitating for a moment, she finally relented under Alex's intense gaze and explained the prior events to him. Hearing Reyna, an incredible amount of anger filled Alex's face.

Slamming his fist into the table before him, he cursed. "That bastard! How can he be so inconsiderate!"

Regarding Alex's outburst, Reyna did not intervene. Although she loved Lucius, even she felt that he had been way too cruel in demeaning Olivia. Being present during the scene, she could clearly feel Lucius' words directed towards Olivia.

"Does he know how hard Olivia had been working on her soul power and fighting techniques. She kept pestering me to teach her and duel with her, so much so that she forewent her breaks and sleep!" he continued to lash out.

"Every free minute available to her, she spent on practicing and improving her strength. Just to meet that bastard's expectation and to be recognized by him!"

Being in the same base as Olivia, Alex understood how hard she had worked. The amount of blood and sweat she had invested in this period was something that even Alex was not confident of replicating with his mental state. Her resolve was too terrifying.

No matter how tired she was or how much her injuries had hurt her, Olivia continued to practice and duel with Alex. Her skills and techniques had improved so much that even he was in awe at her talent.

From being a complete newbie to having a 50% win rate against Alex, her frightening talent could clearly be seen.

Even at the moment Reyna had met the both of them in the case, Olivia had been discussing fighting techniques with Alex. She was very eager to show her improvement to Lucius and earn his praise.

Alas, her expectations were completely shattered. Just a single statement from him, had invalidated all her hard work.

Taking multiple breaths to calm his rising anger, Alex spoke, "Please find her and talk to her. When she came to me to borrow troops for placating the inhabitants of the base, she looked completely lifeless."

Reyna also wore a serious expression on her face as she nodded her head. "I understand." saying so, she left the temporary office to find Olivia.

Turning his head around, Alex stared into the battlefield where Lucius was singlehandedly fighting against the army of bugs.

'What do you even want from us? When will we ever be good enough for you?' he mused.

"Men! Fire at my command! Let's show these ants the power of mankind!" he bellowed.

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Meanwhile in the battlefield.

Feeling the energy gathering behind him, Lucius slightly nodded his head. The energy cannons had been repaired and their barrels were pointed towards the large hordes of enemies around him.

'Seems like trash does have it's value after all.' he thought to himself. He then turned his head to look at the rapidly speeding dot.

"Looks like it can't wait any longer." he softly spoke as the Leader Bug speedily approached him.