Lord of Annihilation

Swoosh!

Streams of stale air and dust flew outside the moment Lucius pushed open the large door. Holding his breath, Lucius took care to inhale the incoming air and continued to exert strength into his muscles.

His large frame creaked as delicate sounds of bones snapping and muscles stretching resounded in the quiet atmosphere. Lucius' eyes appeared squinted, as he used all his strength to push the door open.

'So heavy.' He inwardly thought to himself.

THUD!

Giving it one final push, he managed to nudge the door wide enough for him to fit. 

Turning back, he called out to Ka'lor'ah once more.

"Can you read any signs in there?" 

Being one step ahead of him, Ka'lor'ah had already cast the required observation and detection spells to check the interior.

The crystal body shook itself to signify denial. She flew over to him and replied.

"Apart from that large, concentrated mass of life force I can't detect anyone else. There are no threads of Cause either."

Nodding his head, Lucius did not reply.

Without any hesitation, he turned around and stepped into that narrow entrance, entering the other side of the door. With just two steps, Lucius' body disappeared into the other side.

"Wait for me!" Ka'lor'ah echoed flying into that crack.

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BANG!

The moment Ka'lor'ah crossed over, the large, patterned door through which they had just entered slammed shut.

The bodies of both Lucius and Ka'lor'ah stiffened, as grim darkness enveloped them.

'I-I can't see anything…' Ka'lor'ah's nervous voice sounded within Lucius' mind.

The very instant, darkness veiled everything around them, Lucius' 5 eyes shone with brightness. [Dark Vision] an ability which he had gained from devouring the creatures of the labyrinth activated.

However, Lucius could still not see anything.

'This-! DODGE TO THE LEFT!!' Ka'lor'ah suddenly screamed within his mind, her voice filled with panic and terror.

Although Lucius could neither see nor feel the approaching danger, he did not hesitate to trust her words.

Exerting strength onto his feet, Lucius immediately jumped to the left. He had also denoted the soul power near his feet to get some extra thrust.

BANG!

The moment Lucius was in the air, flying towards the left he could feel the very space around him twist and tear asunder!

All five of Lucius' eyes shrunk to form tiny slits. He immediately held his breath, not daring to breathe.

'My danger senses did not detect that at all!' 

The passive 'sixth sense' of Lucius, crystallized from all his battle experience of his previous life, did not warn him at all!

Falling onto the ground with a hard thud, Lucius was just about to get onto his feet when Ka'lor'ah's voice resounded within his mind once again.

'Roll backward for 50 meters!' she instructed.

Obeying once more, Lucius gave up on recovering his balance. Instantly bending his spine, Lucius forced his body to roll backward, continuing the momentum of the fall.

BOOM!!

The solid stone ground exploded into countless fragments, the very next instant that Lucius had moved. 

Pain trickled into his conscious mind, as some of the fragments of the stone, flying at speeds unseen by the naked eye, struck his body and pierced into his skin.

While this sudden bout of pain might have distracted a normal person, Lucius was hardly moved by it.

'When I say, jump onto your feet and open your wings. Fly towards that direction and do not stop!' a mark suddenly appeared within Lucius' mind pointing the direction that he had to take.

Waiting for Ka'lor'ah's word, Lucius' body continued to roll. The initial panic had already disappeared, replaced with utter calmness.

The Void Eater's beastly instincts tried and reared its head every now and then, for he could sense the extremely dense life force surrounding him. Greed, desire, gluttony, various emotions rose within his heart, only to be firmly squashed by Lucius.

At this moment of life and death, Lucius could not afford to give in to his desires. Perhaps sensing the threat to his life, the maddened instincts also calmed.

'NOW!' Ka'lor'ah thundered.

Rolling on the ground, Lucius' back had just been touching the ground when he heard Ka'lor'ah's shout. Bending his spine to create an arch, Lucius pulled back his legs to tuck them under his body.

With one hand on the ground and the other in the air, Lucius exerted all the physical force that he could muster and launched himself into the air.

Swick! Swoosh! Swick!

Bolts of invisible energy swept across the room, their directions and intentions, unknown. Lucius could hardly see anything, but could intuitively 'feel' it.

The feeling within his mind was something akin to a large web enclosing around him, constricting and trapping him. Flying upwards into the air, Lucius could feel himself become heavier by the second.

Realizing that he was in much greater danger than he had thought, Lucius did not dare hold back.

[Annihilation Intent] was unleashed to the fullest and [Annihilation Energy] was moved to coat his body. Three pairs of fleshy, dark wings extended from his back, as Lucius heaved a mighty flap.

The muscles on his back pulled taut for a moment and relaxed. 

Swoosh!

Winds swept across his face, as Lucius experienced the updraft of wind striking against his face.

'Move, move, move! It's getting closer!' Ka'lor'ah hastened him.

Not asking, what 'it' was, Lucius continued to flap his wings heading towards the location marked by the pointer. Spheres of soul power continuously appeared underneath his wings, only to explode the very next seconds. Each explosion pushed him forward and made him faster. 

'Angle yourself at 40° to the left and fold your wings. The instant you touch the ground, turn around and launch your strongest attack outwards!'

Angling himself…done.

Folding his wings…done. 

Feeling his body drop, Lucius calmly waited. With most of his senses blinded, Lucius could not make heads of what was up or down, left or right.

That entire set of actions done previously had been executed solely from the hints provided by Ka'lor'ah, and his own judgment. If even a single action had been executed incorrectly or had there been a millisecond of delay, Lucius would have wounded up dead.

THUD!

With his body hitting solid ground, Lucius immediately acted once again. 

Stomping his feet, the ground beneath his feet splintered, as Lucius forcibly canceled his momentum. Crossing both his hands before his chest, Lucius extended the dark claws on his hands and performed a move, for the first time in his current life.

[Dance of the Death God: Third Movement- Eviscerate]!

80% of his soul power, having completely transformed into [Annihilation Energy] burst forth.

Glimmers of white light appeared within the absolute darkness of this space, as millions of threads of shimmering white light flew through the air.

This scene that reminded one of the starry skies contained a frightening amount of power. The sheer aura that was felt from the attack, was enough to stop a Low-Level Stage 2's heart.

Making their way through the silent air, the millions of threads of light suddenly stopped within the darkness. Seemingly having met something, the lines suddenly contracted into a single, infinitely thin line and…

…exploded!

"AHHHHH!!!!" A horrifying scream shook Lucius' very body and soul.

Intense dizziness and the urge to vomit assaulted his consciousness, as his knees buckled and Lucius fell to the ground. His skin began to rip apart and dense black blood dripped from his wounds.

Lucius started to bleed from all of his orifices, with two of his eyeballs exploding into balls of flesh.

"AHH!! YOU--!!" In the background, that horrifying voice continued with its scream. 

Every single syllable of its voice seemed to have some sort of profound effect, as Lucius felt a pain akin to a sledgehammer slamming into his head. 

Kneeling on the ground, Lucius hardly had any strength remaining. 

The combination of the mysterious voice's scream, the continuous high-intensity movements, and that final all-out attack with his strongest move had drained him of everything.

Shatter!

It was then, that the sound of glass shattering, echoed quietly. With the point where Lucius' attack had met as the center, visible white cracks formed in the air, and the darkness surrounding them finally disappeared.

A large stone-walled room came into existence. Tall pillars made of a strange red-colored rock extended from the ground, holding the stone-covered roof. 

Eerily burning blue torches, were placed on the pillars, within whose flame, transparent faces could be seen. These faces appeared and disappeared at random, each time sporting a different expression.

Some were laughing, some crying, some screaming with a pained expression, while some looked on with indifference.

The pillars, the floor, the four walls, and the roof, were carved with intricate patterns and letters, forming asymmetrical, yet beautiful patterns. 

Various strange-looking devices also occupied fixed positions, as they pulsed with blue-colored energy while stirring the surrounding spiritual energy.

These devices were all pointed towards a certain direction and seemed capable of turning themselves at will.

At the center of their pointing was the star of the room. 

The master of the labyrinth, if you will.

Floating in the air was a ghostly apparition with a face twisted in pain. Its 2m tall figure was entirely crimson in color, as its body rippled with bouts of solidarity and transparency.

Staring at it, one would be able to see the scene behind its figure.

Its two arms clutched onto its chest, where a long, visible white cut ran across the entirety of its upper body.

A cut, from which whitish-red gases constantly escaped, dissipating into nothingness. 

"Piffling worm! I will kill you for this!" the ghostly figure hissed hatefully. Its two onyx-colored eyes drilled into Lucius' figure.

Rapidly gasping for air, as he kneeled within a small cave, formed of a crack on the wall, Lucius raised his head and looked towards this translucent figure.

With the knowledge that he possessed, he immediately understood what he was looking at.

"A Stage 5 soul existing in the absence of its body…" he mumbled, absentmindedly.