Lord of Annihilation

The light-covered arm carrying the full-strength of a Stage 2 being, neared Lucius' defenseless head. With his mind conflicting with his body, Lucius was unable to move his body and evade the attack.

'If I could just have a single second!' Lucius inwardly thought. Alas, there was nothing to block the old Bertarian's punch from landing on his face.

Just as Lucius felt the compressed air striking his face, a sharp sound of metal striking out was heard.

SHICK!

A violet-colored blade of energy struck the light-covered hand at the very last second. Precisely striking at the weak point of the punch, the violet-colored blade managed to offset the direction of the punch.

『What?!』 the old Bertarian screamed in shock. His punch missed Lucius' head by a hair's breadth and landed on the metal debris next to him.

"How dare you?!" a low, threatening growl filled with an overwhelming amount of murderous intent sounded out.

The old Bertarian raised his head in shock and looked towards the source of that voice. A black-haired, violet-eyed female was staring at him with an expressionless face. Her hands were clutching onto a longsword that was devoid of any decorations, looking quite plain. It was long and slender, clearly made for a female user. 

Currently, streams of violet-spirals surrounded the blade, giving off a threatening feeling. That earlier attack had originated from this weapon.

Seeing her face, the old Bertarian was caught off-guard for a second. 

'Such a beautiful girl...' he found himself distracted by the other party's beauty. His battle intent fell and the old Bertarian found himself hesitating to fight. Just as he was about to open his mouth to speak, his eyes widened in shock: 'Oh no! I was struck by a mental spell.' he instantly tried to retreat.

However, it was already too late.

"Just what I needed." Lucius' voice softly spoke.

Before the old Bertarian managed to move away, Lucius shot out his hands and grabbed onto the other party's wrist. With a simple movement, that contained all of the Void Eater's strength, he pulled.

『AHHHH!!!!』 the old Bertarian screamed with pain. His entire right arm was ripped off of his body by Lucius. Blood poured out of his wound unceasingly like a waterfall.

Gritting his teeth and suppressing his pain, he managed to roll away from Lucius. After gaining some distance, he then raised his head and look towards Lucius. His eyes contained fear and shock. 

Lucius slowly stood up and raised the torn, bloody hand to his mouth. Opening his mouth, he swallowed the arm in its entirety.

"*Glup*...Ah, that was barely enough." Lucius spoke while shaking his head. His skin was still grey and his eyes were faintly colored. Within his gaze was a combination of madness and eerie calmness.

'This hunger. This desire to devour. It's all a part of me. Rather than try and fight it, I must accept it into me.'

'Ah! I can feel my strength returning to me. This feeling is quite nice.'

'To devour....what does it really mean? I feel like there is something that I am missing here.' Lucius seemed to have vaguely grasped something. He then shook his head and thought: 'Pity, I can sit down and think at this moment.'

Looking towards the party of Bertarians he continued: 'Let me first satisfy my hunger.' 

"Lucius?! Are you okay?" just as he was about to move, he heard a worry-filled voice from behind him. Turning back, he saw pale-faced Olivia heavily panting. Her eyes however looked towards him with concern, a direct opposite to her previous look.

Opening his mouth, he faintly said: "Decent attack. Good work." almost no emotions were present in his voice. It felt like he was giving a random remark.

However, for Olivia, it was the greatest praise she had ever received from Lucius. A feeling of validation and intense joy rose within her heart. 

'H-He praised me!!' Olivia was almost delirious from hearing his praise. However, she managed to quickly calm herself down and become serious. After all, she realized the seriousness of their current situation.

'Just a single attack to offset that punch consumed 45% of my soul energy. Not to mention...' Olivia quickly calculated. She then looked towards the party of Bertians and thought: 'I'm afraid, their strength is greater than Stage 1, with four others.'

Just as she felt their current situation to be quite grim, she heard Lucius speak.

"Wait for me to attack and take care of the two younger ones in the back. Prevent them from running away. I will handle the others." without waiting for her confirmation, Lucius disappeared from their sight.

[Void Steps] was activated.

------------------

The thoughts of the old Bertarian was in utter chaos. 

'Wha-what is that thing?!' he was simply unable to comprehend his current situation. 

Earlier today, he was summoned by his master, the City Governor, and was instructed with a duty.

"My naughty children seem to be up to some mischief. Please follow them with a squad and silently protect them." his face wore a contend smile as the Governor explained.

"Your servant obeys, My Lord!" the old Bertarian gave a salute and walked off. 

After gathering two of his fellow companions, the old Bertarian silently followed the pair of young lords, watching over them from a distance. Everything seemed to be going fine when suddenly an object from the Beyond was spotted by the young lords.

The old Bertarian was hesitant on whether to inform his master but then decided not to do so. Stumbling across an object from the Beyond, counted as a sort of fortuitous encounter. As such, the old Bertarian decided to take a 'wait and see' approach and quietly followed behind the young lords.

And now, he regretted his choice.

'To think that would lead me to such a situation!' the old Bertarian felt a chill passing down his spine. Staring at this grey-skinned 'beast' whose eyes stared at him with a voracious gaze, caused this old servant who has experienced decades of life, to feel afraid.

He did not feel any shame in admitting it. He was feeling very afraid.

When he had seen the beast jump towards the young lords he had immediately moved to save them. With a powerful attack, he saw the beast fly away with heavy injuries. Noticing that the beast seemed to be in a weakened state, he immediately followed with another attack to kill it.

However, he did not expect the beast to have a partner. What was worse? This partner seemed to be a mental-attack type. A powerful one in that!

The old Bertarian was unknowingly caught up in her attack and had paid the price with his arm! eh then watched as the humanoid beast calmly swallow his arm. And this was when the old Bertarian started to become afraid.

The beast which was previously in a weakened state suddenly started to recover. And the worst thing was that the moment the beast swallowed his arm, the old Bertarian suddenly felt an inexplicable feeling of losing something. 

And he did!

He had suddenly lost 10% is his soul power cultivation permanently! 

One has to remember, soul power was the foundation of one's strength and advancement. Losing his cultivation permanently, meant that he would never be able to progress anymore!

'What kind of monster can eat one's strength?!' he felt alarmed and afraid. Any thoughts of resisting or fighting back had already been drowned by his fear. However, this feeling of weakness only existed for a very short time. The old Bertarian quickly suppressed his fear and thought.

'I must quickly inform about this matter to master!'. His pupils then fiercely expanded as he realized: 'Oh no! The people outside do not know about this monster! I must quickly warn them!' 

He struggled onto his feet and turned around. Holding his gaping wound with his left hand, he bit his lips and tried to make it outside. However...

『Where do you think you're going?』 he suddenly heard the voice of the monster. Just as he was about to turn around and attack, he suddenly felt his body becoming weightless.

'What's happening?' the old Bertarian could see his vision tilting and spinning. Before he was able to comprehend his situation, his vision went black. His head was separated from his body.

A Stage 2 being had died without putting up a fight.