"Magus, hand over the artifact and we may spare your life."
"You have nowhere to run. We have completely sealed this area."
"Hahaha! Who would have thought? The mighty Magus Stockholm would be reduced to such a miserable state!"
"The greatest genius of the universe? Hah! What a load of bullshit! Look at you now."
Magus Stockholm was in black armor that had mostly been destroyed. His entire body was covered in ghastly wounds and he was missing an arm. Blood endlessly gushed out of his wounds and formed a puddle underneath his feet.
Hundreds of corpses were strewn around him, dyeing the once-green plain a scarlet color. He coldly stared at the remaining Magi numbering in the thousands. There was no way out for him.
It was a foregone conclusion that his end was near.
The top powerhouses had surrounded him completely. Some were taunting him, some were cursing him, but none of them dared to come closer. Fear was evident in their eyes. None of the Magi moved, afraid of Stockholm's final attack.
Suddenly, Stockholm stretched his arm causing the surrounding Magi to go on high alert. The next moment, a white lotus materialized on his palm causing the Magi's eyes to shine with greed.
Stockholm looked at the white lotus and smiled bitterly as he thought, The weight of this artifact is too much for me to bear. Perhaps, this is not my destiny…
The next moment, his eyes shone with firm resolve and he turned to look at the thousands of Magi.
"All my life I have pursued the peak of magic. And although I will perish here today, I have no regrets. One day someone will inherit my will and carry on my dream."
Stockholm's lips slowly curled up into a cold smile as he continued, "But… now that you all have come all the way here, might as well accompany me to the afterlife."
The thousands of Magi surrounding him felt an intense foreboding feeling well up in their hearts. But before any of them could make a move, a terrifying otherworldly pressure descended on them making them tremble in sheer horror.
The source of this pressure was the white lotus!
Space froze within thousands of miles as the white lotus bloomed. Stockholm's expression was solemn as he injected all his energy into the artifact.
A terrifying energy vortex began forming with the white lotus at the center and tiny cracks started to appear in the space all around.
The divine might of the lotus had caused the void to collapse!
The thousands of Magi tried to escape but it was futile. One by one, their eyes turned listless as their souls were sundered and absorbed by the lotus.
Stockholm gritted his teeth as his consciousness slowly began fading. Within a few moments, the surrounding powerful Magi died one after another, their bodies devoid of their souls.
Finally, Stockholm couldn't endure anymore and his soul was annihilated and absorbed by the white lotus as well.
The greatest genius of the Magus Universe had perished.
As for the other Magi that had died, all of them were powerful enough to rule planets, their dominance awed trillions of people in the vast universe. However, in front of the white lotus, they were nothing but mere ants.
The interesting thing was that none of them suffered any physical injuries from the attack of this artifact. Instead, it was their soul that had been directly destroyed and devoured.
After devouring all the souls, the white lotus majestically hovered in the air. Before long, it entered one of the cracks in the void and vanished.
The legendary artifact silently travelled through the boundless universe, waiting to be inherited by the one with great destiny.