Lord of Annihilation

"Bingo. The final layer has appeared," saying so; he then got to work while whistling a carefree tune.

Floating in front of an enormous circular stone door embossed with numerous glittering runic arrays, Prometheus extended both of his hands and typed on its surface with his fingers.

His dirty, boney fingers danced at blurring speeds as lines and mysterious characters formed of magic power formed on the air in front of him and flew towards the various arrays on the stone door.

The moment those characters reached their destined runic array they simply sunk into its surface and merged with it. The array then intermittently blinked with flashing light, a few times, and then disappeared from the stone door.

Essentially, Prometheus was breaking the runic array seals placed on the circular exit door at speeds unseen by the naked eye while replacing them with seals of his own to not trigger any alarms.

His speed in breaking and replacing these seals could only be described as godly! The study of Runes, which was the most complicated subject within the entire Universe, seemed like child's play in his hands!

After spending a few minutes drawing out thousands of lines, his fingers finally showed signs of slowing down and gradually came to a stop. Interlocking his fingers, he stretched his hands, producing a satisfactory 'crick' sound.

"Ah!~ That felt good," Prometheus moaned. He then formed one final symbol and made it hover above his right palm. Turning around, he shot a parting gaze towards Lucius.

"It was nice talking to you, nameless guy," he spoke with a charming smile, "When I author my autobiography in the future, I'll remember to leave you a footnote somewhere in the middle."

"Now then, if you don't mind, I shall bid you, adieu!" 

Prometheus exclaimed and crushed the symbol hovering in the middle of his palm.

A bright white light flashed, drowning the cave and blinding Lucius in the process. After waiting for the light to disappear, Lucius opened his eyes and looked at the spot where Prometheus was previously floating.

There was no one present.

Just an enormous circular stone door with hundreds of shining arrays that matched the picture Lucius had within his mind, to a tee. The exit, as it was right now, was exactly how it was in his previous life.

In other words, the mind-numbingly difficult seals that Lucius had spent hundreds of hours and thousands of trials to a breakthrough were, in actuality, a half-hearted patchwork which was performed by Prometheus on his way out. 

Staring at the stone door for a few seconds, the expression on Lucius' face gradually went back to its usual placid state. 

'Wow,' he remained silent for a good ten seconds before continuing, 'I was terribly incorrect in my estimation.'

'Prometheus is…a genius.' 

Lucius was neither petty nor close-minded. After having watched Prometheus' spectacular escape, he had to admit that the latter was indeed special and one-of-a-kind.

'He is indispensable to the cause now. With his active participation, perhaps the plan will see a dramatic increase in its success rate.'

Runes were the language that was closest to the Rules. And the Rules were the very essence of the Universe.

As people who were fighting against the Universe and its established order, Lucius and Ka'lor'ah faced an uphill, unpredictable, and dangerous battle whose outcome or flow couldn't be predicted by some mere plan. And as seen numerous times already, the Great Plan was more of a guideline than an actual step-by-step instruction manual. 

As such, it was important to improvise, adapt, and overcome as and when the challenges came.

It was impossible for such a large burden to be shouldered by only two people, even though they had done an excellent job in coming so far. Ultimately, it boiled down to a single fact.

Lucius and Ka'lor'ah will have to share the burden if they are to walk to the end of the road. 

Olivia was a worthy addition and now, after seeing Prometheus' true abilities in full action, Lucius' evaluation of him broke through the limits.

This was a person whose ability could single-handedly change the final outcome. In other words, he was similar to Lucius in his importance to the big picture.

In short, it was imperative for Prometheus to join their cause. Either willingly, or…

'I can just force him if he's unwilling,' decided Lucius.

'However, first things first…' 

Closing his eyes, Lucius started to vibrate his muscles in a specific way and frequency. Their movements were imperceptible to the naked eye but were present nonetheless.

In the beginning, there was no outward change and Lucius' doings seemed to be meaningless. However, just as a minute had passed, changes occurred.

The iron clasps which were binding Lucius began to suddenly vibrate in lieu of the frequency that Lucius was vibrating his muscles. The vibrations soon intensified and eventually turned into full-out trembling and further into rampant shaking.

This rampant shaking lasted for a few dozen seconds before an obvious sound rang out.

Clink!

The metal clasps which was binding Lucius' left ankle suddenly came apart. After having his ankle freed, Lucius suddenly changed the frequency of his muscles vibrations, this time, centering it around his recently freed limb, instead of his entire body.

The metal bindings' pattern of shaking also underwent a change and very soon, the obvious sound ran out once again.

Clink! Clink!

The clasps on his left thigh and upper leg also came undone, one after the other. Now, Lucius' entire left leg was free.

Stretching his leg, Lucius twisted it back and forth to release the pent-up stress within them before getting back to his task.

'…let's get out of these annoying chains.'

A new pattern was employed and the 'clink' sounds followed.

----------

Moving with a joyful skip in his every step, Prometheus carelessly walked through a long, pitch-black corridor. 

His face wore an expression of happiness while his mouth continuously whistled cheerful tunes. More importantly, Prometheus' appearance had undergone significant change.

His previously boney, corpse-like body was now properly filled with muscles and skin. The maggots that had previously been feasting on his body had also disappeared, having served as snacks for Prometheus' celebration of having gotten out of that place.

His ankle-length, dry and ashy hair was now gone and replaced by lustrous, rich, and smooth indigo-colored hair that extended to cover his back. 

Prometheus' skin was soft, supple, and peach in color. A healthy blush was present in both of his cheeks, enlivening the handsomeness of his face.

And boy, how handsome he was.

Prometheus' looks could simply be defined as first-class and only the slightest bit inferior to Lucius' own. 

While the latter(Lucius) possessed a charm that was all-rounded and equally deadly to all sexes, the former(Prometheus) possessed a sort of intellectual, yet wildly arrogant charm. 

The resplendent ruby-colored gem on his forehead brightly pulsed sending shockwaves of energy through the narrow corridor. Reading the aura emitted by the gem, it became known that Prometheus was a Low-Level Stage 5 entity!

Not only was he a 'first-of-his-kind' genius in the study of Runes, but his talent at cultivation wasn't too bad either. In terms of Magi age, Prometheus should still be considered a young adult (Mankind: early 20s).

He was the perfect specimen of a young genius!

Jumping off a rock and landing on the dark floor, Prometheus performed a full twirl before yelling out.

"Ah!~ The taste of freedom is just…exquisite!" 

Just then, a cold, demonic-sounding voice echoed near his ears.

"Is that so?"