Lord of Annihilation

Chapter 82: The Fall.

{WARNING! LARGE OBJECT APPROACHING THE POD! TIME OF IMPACT..... 8 SECONDS!}

The voice of the pod's AI sounded out in alarm. The noises of alarms and rapid blinking of red lights resounded throughout this small pod.

{WARNING! LARGE OBJECT APPROACHING THE POD! TIME OF IMPACT..... 7 SECONDS!}

"Dammit!" Lucius cursed out loud. Infusing his soul power into his palm, he immediately cut the belt holding him and Reyna together.

Both of them immediately bounced to their feets, each running in opposite direction.

{WARNING! LARGE OBJECT APPROACHING THE POD! TIME OF IMPACT..... 6 SECONDS!}

Accessing the console, Reyna tried to get an understanding of the situation. The rapidly blinking red of the panel illuminated her beautiful face which rapidly turned pale.

"Lucius! Something's about to hit the pod! We cannot stay aboard any longer!" she immediately turned around and warned.

{WARNING! LARGE OBJECT APPROACHING THE POD! TIME OF IMPACT..... 5 SECONDS!}

Lucius who was standing in front of the pod's entry hatch, opened it. A gust of hot air immediately hit his face blowing his hair back. The ferocious wind streams sought to tear his face. The outer surface of the pod was glowing red-hot, due to the friction between it's surface and the air.

Using his soul power to create a temporary shield to block the winds, he narrowed his eyes and looked at the scene in front of him.

Grey skies stretched as far as the eyes could see with black clouds lining the bottom of his vision. A single sun was present in the background shining crimson in color. The entire scene looked still, just like a paining.

Just when everything seemed normal, the ocean of greyness in front of him was suddenly intruded by golden strips of lights. The large asteroid rocks, which had previously destroyed the space station were falling into the planet!

'Too soon!' Lucius took a sharp intake of cold air. He was alarmed at the ridiculous speeds at which the rocks were falling.

Their golden glow left behind a trails of golden light as they entered the planet's atmosphere, heading towards the ground. Oddly enough, a layer of golden energy seemed to cover the surface of these rocks, effectively cancelling the effect of air resistance.

Lucius had a very serious expression on his face. The speed at which the asteroids had entered the planets surface was completely out of his expectations.

{WARNING! LARGE OBJECT APPROACHING THE POD! TIME OF IMPACT..... 4 SECONDS!}

Turning his head inside, he shouted towards Reyna.

"What's our altitude?"

{WARNING! LARGE OBJECT APPROACHING THE POD! TIME OF IMPACT..... 3 SECONDS!}

"65,000ft!" she shouted back.

{WARNING! LARGE OBJECT APPROACHING THE POD! TIME OF IMPACT..... 2 SECONDS!}

"DAMMIT!" Lucius bellowed out once again.

His acute senses had already picked up the presence of the massive rock above their head. If they remained within the pod, that massive rock above them whose length spanned a whopping 700m would utterly crush them.

Immediately grabbing the bag that was placed near the seat, Lucius used his other hand to pull Reyna towards his body.

"Grab onto me! We are going to jump!" without waiting for her reply, Lucius immediately jumped.

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{WARNING! LARGE OBJECT APPROACHING THE POD! TIME OF IMPACT..... 1 SECONDS!}

Just as the final vestiges of the AI's voice had sounded out, the loud sound of an impact was heard.

BANG!!

An explosion sounded out behind Reyna's body. Without opening her eyes, she knew that the pod in which they had escaped in had been completely, utterly destroyed.

"WAI--------AHHHHHH!!!" her screams were heard as she felt her body rapidly descending towards the ground. One must know that the maximum altitude from which a normal person skydives was approximately 18.000 feet. The height from which they were currently jumping was roughly four times that.

Reyna felt the surface of the clothes on her body rapidly heating up. Her body was also burning up, as her skin started to turn red and boil. The sheer amount of friction one would feel at this height was enormous.

Reyna's mind had long since descended into a state of panic and terror. She was unsure of what to do.

'WE ARE GOING TO DIE! WE ARE GOING TO DIE!', she screamed within her mind

Just when Reyna was about to completely give up, an extremely calm and indifferent voice sounded out from behind her.

"Control your soul power and let it circulate around your body, following it's paths. Don't stop." he instructed.

Without wasting a single second, Reyna's body unconsciously followed his commands. Drawing the soul power from within her body, she instinctively let it circulate along the paths, which Ka'lor'ah had taught her. The burning feeling experienced by her body immediately receded.

Just as Reyna was about to ask for further instructions, she suddenly felt the furious gusts of air hitting her face suddenly disappear.

'Did we land? Are we safe?' this thought was immediately denied as she still felt her body rapidly falling. It was just that, she no longer felt the air pushing against her body.

Opening her eye's by a tiny slit, Reyna noticed a reddish-black barrier formed of soul energy, blocking the incoming winds. Lucius had used his soul power to effectively create a windshield!

"Can you hear me?" Renya suddenly heard a voice sound out within her mind.

Her body suddenly jerked in fear, when she felt two slender but strong arms tighten its grip around her body. Feeling the warmth of the body behind her, Reyna's mind immediately calmed down.

"Lucius!? Is that you?" she questioned within her mind.

"Yes. Stay calm and keeping circulating your soul power inside your body. Try to breathe as little as possible, the oxygen up here is too little." Lucius' voice calmly tried to placate her.

"Are we going to die?" her voice suddenly turned low as she asked the obvious question.

Taking a pause, think about it for a second. Two people are currently falling out of the sky, from an altitude of 65,000ft. They had no parachutes nor any other device, which could be used to reduce their falling speed or land safely. The air resistance and the ferocious streams of winds were temporarily being held back due to the existence of the barrier. Alas, his soul power was being rapidly consumed and could not last forever.

With the prowess of her mind, Reyna naturally drew up a conclusion.

The answer was naturally a.... no.

No matter how magical soul power was. It could not save them from their current situation. Their bodies were still made with flesh and blood after all. The fact that they had not already been reduced to ashes was already a testament to the extraordinary nature of this energy.

'Just when I have found my love. I'm already going to die?' depressing thoughts started filling up her mind. The tiny ember of hope which remained within her heart was rapidly being extinguished.

Her mind was filled with melancholy and tears had begun to spill out of her eyes, when she heard an bland voice sound within her mind.

"I have no plans on dying. Just hold tight." that voice was a ray of sunshine cutting across the darkness within her heart.

His words which were completely nonsensical, provided Reyna with that tiny bit of hope that she needed. Hugging his body extremely tight, she decided to rely upon him once more.

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Feeling Reyna hands tighten around his body, Lucius let go of her waist. His face was the mask of seriousness. Both his pupils contained rings of crimson light within them as he activated [Killer Vision].

Lucius focused all of his senses and gazed intently at the large asteroid which had destroyed their pod just a few moments ago.

It was shining with a bright golden light.

'That rock contains massive amounts of natural energy.' he concluded.

While their current situation was extremely hopeless, it wasn't without a solution. A solution which was extremely risky and so as to speak, plainly crazy.

"If you can make it atop that giant piece of rock, that natural barrier surrounding it would protect both of your bodies from the fall. Using other such rocks as footholds, you can safely descend onto the ground."

"Of course that is under the precondition that, more of such rocks exist in lower altitudes and you being able to safely make it atop them. Miss a single foothold and all of us will die."

'So I just jump from rock to rock, without missing a single one, until we make it to the ground?'

"Exactly."

Taking in a deep breath, Lucius' hand reached on to his waist. His hand rested upon a long, narrow metallic rod present there. Pulling it out and into his hands, his thumb pressed on top of that small indent on its body. The rod rapidly expanded, lengthening both in height and width. A long scythe, rapidly formed within his hands.

Gripping onto this familiar weapon, Lucius closed his eyes before opening them once more. The indifference in his gaze was currently absent and a look of determination filled its place.

'This time...' he told himself.

'I will not fail!'

Saying so, soul power suddenly exploded at the soles of his feet as his body which had been in freefall all along abruptly moved forward. It headed directly towards that giant piece of rock.