Lord of Annihilation

"How are things on the outside? Any big news that I should be aware of?" Prometheus hurriedly changed the topic and asked.

"News...," Lucius thought for a second before asking, "Are you asking about the situation in the Empire?"

Flashing a smile, Prometheus replied, "Hahaha, look at this. We've known each other for less than fifteen minutes and you already know what I'm thinking within my heart. Perhaps, our meeting here was ordained by fate. We are but two birds destined to—"

"Do you want to know or not?" Lucius interrupted him, annoyed.

"Oh. Yes, please." Prometheus immediately folded. 

Letting out a sigh, Lucius started to explain the current political climate within the Empire. 

While he wasn't very interested or keen on this topic, Olivia had made sure to keep him up to date on the major events and of the general flow.

Listening to Lucius' narration, Prometheus, for the first time since the beginning, wore an actually serious expression and carefully listened. He did not carelessly interrupt or crack jokes towards the former and instead supplemented Lucius' narration with his thoughts and reasoning.

All things considered, Prometheus wasn't chosen to be the successor of the Empire, half-heartedly. He was someone who stood leagues above his various brothers and sisters, in his genius and ability to manage and lead the Empire towards a better future.

That being said, Prometheus wasn't very silent either. His personality was simply too colorful and rich to be contained within his fleshy body and mind.

To ask him to resist making snarky comments was a task whose difficulty was akin to a mosquito cultivating to Lordhood. 

In other words, it was impossible to get him to fully shut up.

"Wowow, FIVE years and that fat brother of mine has STILL not gotten his grubby hands on the throne? I mean, I knew he was incompetent but the sheer degree of his incompetence simply baffles me!"

"Ha! I knew something was up with that old geezer with shifty, beady-looking eyes! Now, look at him going at it with his own faction! Good for him. Good…for…him…"

"Prince Dirk? Who's that? My half-brother? Never heard of him. Wow, the conflict out there must be really basic if some rando, unknown dude is participating in the race for the crown."

"Ah, Ehril. I remember this one. One time, I was experimenting with this new form of a runic array, right, and she just walked right into my testing room! Like, just like that! No caution, precaution…nothing! Thankfully, the array wasn't that dangerous. She only had to live for the rest of the week in the form of a pig, but imagine! What if the array I was playing with that day was something really dangerous? Like 'Reality Compression'?"

"Elma, Lydia, nope, I don't know any of these guys. But really, you can't blame me. My father had something like three-hundred children. I can't be expected to learn about each and every one of them! What's the fun in doing that?"

"I do know Arnold, though. Nice guy. He was the only one that talked with me more than once. Shame to hear that he died in a Spatial Gate accident. May his soul rest in peace."

After a solid fifteen minutes, Lucius' explanation of the political war taking place in the Empire finally came to an end. 

"Hmm…" Prometheus paused in thought for a few seconds, before nodding his head, "Looks like a lot of things have happened during my absence. A lot of…fun things."

A full smile suddenly bloomed on his face as he declared.

"Looks like the time has come for me to go out and play."

The instant he finished saying so, Prometheus snapped his fingers. The air seemed to be still for an instant before suddenly, an abrupt sound was heard.

Clink! Clink!

It was the sound of metal locks unlocking. 

Clink! Clink! Clink! Clink!

The metal clasps around Prometheus' wrists, forearms, shoulder, neck, chest, abdomen, and fifteen other places, suddenly became undone and opened up.

Just as his body was about to drop into the dark abyss below, Prometheus grabbed onto one of the rusty chains which were previously binding him and hung in the air.

"Ground," he uttered a single word and in the next instant, energy erupted from within the magic organ in his forehead and condensed in the air beneath his feet.

The colorless energy coalesced to form a stone-grey platform, 5x5m in size, and quietly floated below his feet. Letting go of the chain to which he was holding onto, Prometheus landed on the floating platform with a small thud.

"Whew, these metal clasps really do a number on your body," he muttered while rubbing the area around his wrists. 

He then raised his head and looked at the other person still bounded by the chains. Lucius' face was wearing an expression of utter surprise and shock.

'Hehe, that's more like it,' satisfied by Lucius' display of emotion, Prometheus inwardly nodded his head.

Just as his internal monologue came to an end, he heard a cold, unfeeling voice ask.

"How did you do that?"

Sporting an extremely smug smile on his face, Prometheus swiped his nose and spoke.

"These little things?" he asked, pointing towards the rusty metal chains and clasps hanging in the air, "It took me a grand total of fifteen minutes to break free from them when I first arrived here. They are not all that difficult to crack, you know."

"Buuu~t, then again, I'm a 'one-of-a-kind' genius. So it's understandable if you're not able to do what I did." He concluded with a smirk.

"Now then, I suppose, I do have something to thank you for," performing an exaggerated bow with his corpse-like body, he continued. 

"Thank you for delivering me news on the outside world. It's not much, but your timing does count for something.

He then turned around and showed his back to Lucius. Couching on the floor, Prometheus touched the surface of the stone-grey platform beneath his feet and controlled it to rise.

The platform continued to rise in the air and soon arrived at the base of the endless dark sky filled with constellations in the ceiling. Getting up on his feet, Prometheus placed his left hand on his chin while reaching forward with his right.

"I have to admit, this one did give me quite the challenge. For the first time since my birth, I had to 'actually' try and actively solve it. Took me a whole five years too."

Tapping with his fingers at different points on the sky-like ceiling, Prometheus then formed a finger gun with his right hand and playfully aimed towards specific stars.

"Phew, phew, phew…" childishly vocalizing the sound of firing, he shot bullets of condensed energy towards specific stars.

After doing this for a minute, he then suddenly stopped and blew the top of his index finger before making a motion of sheathing his hand.

"So, props to whoever designed this seal. You did a fine job at keeping me entertained for five years," Prometheus announced with a smile.

The air within the cave completely stilled for a moment and absolute silence ensued. Then, a crack ran across the entirety of the endless night sky within the ceiling, followed by a great rumble.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"Ah, yes. Boom, boom, boom, indeed," Prometheus lightly chuckled.

The cacophonous sounds of endless explosions rung within the dry, dimly lit cave as the ceiling rocked with tremendous force. The stars within the night sky blew up one after the other, triggering a chain reaction which was a repeat of explosive sounds and exploding stars.

The entire dwelling furiously trembled with Lucius being thrown left and right, hitting the walls on the sides while being subjected to the cave's shaking. 

As for Prometheus, he was mostly unaffected, save for the fact that he almost fell from the materialized stone platform due to being startled by the continuous sounds of detonation. 

"Dammit! Be done soon!" Prometheus yelled but was unfortunately drowned out by the explosive sounds.

The detonation of the stars and the cracking of the dark sky within the ceiling continued for a few minutes before coming to a stop. The previously mesmerizing scene of the night sky was now a completely dark space, void of everything.

Removing his hands from the side of his head, Prometheus shook his head to get rid of the dust that had fallen on it, while grumbling.

"I rescind what I previously said. To whoever made this seal, I sincerely hope that you get shit on by a bird, every single day."

"Anyway, for the final seal," he performed specific hand seals with his fingers and exclaimed, "Disappear!"

An enormous wave of energy pulsed from Prometheus' hands and struck the dark ceiling. Instantly, the light within the cave disappeared for a moment before appearing.

Lucius, who was watching the shocking change of events while being bounded by the rusty metal chains, felt his vision darken for a second before appearing once again. Looking at the scene before him, he was once again shocked.

In the wall before him was an enormous circular stone door filled with numerous complicated lines of light and mysterious flashing characters. 

Looking at this sight, immediately reminded him of the exit from his previous life.

"Bingo. The final layer has appeared." 

Prometheus casually said while wearing a confident smile on his face.