Lord of Annihilation

'Hmm? What is this place?' The Master of the labyrinth scoured his surroundings in confusion. 

Reflecting in his vision was a large space with sparsely scattered crystallized clouds of soul power. At the tallest point in this space was a resplendent golden ball of sun that was routinely sending waves of golden light outwards, into the surroundings. The ground of this space was covered by a layer of thick, viscous, tar-like black substance which ebbed and flowed like the ocean.

On the Master's crimson-colored face a noticeable frown appeared as he looked continued to fly through Lucius' mindspace.

'No Stage 1 being can have such a large mindspace. This space has already reached the 'Mental World' level, possessed by Stage 4 and above beings.'

Stopping next to a crystallized cloud, the mouth of the crimson soul moved and a strange light appeared, falling on the cloud of soul power. 

The frowns on the Master's head deepened as the results of his test appeared within his mind.

'Strange, this soul power is clearly at Peak-Level Stage 1. How can he support such a large space with such minute soul power?' 

The look on the Master's eyes was colored with confusion, as he looked around this strange space. A queer feeling appeared within his heart along with unease. 

Squashing this feeling of unease, the Master shook his head to rid himself of his confusion.

'This isn't the time to question such matters. I have to first find this guy's soul and capture it. After that, there will be plenty of time to question him and perform some research into this place.'

A flash of madness dashed across his eyes, as the Master thought of something.

'Perhaps, the answer to 'that problem' can be found within this guy's soul…' A horrific smile formed upon his crimson face.

----------

"LUCIUS!! LUCIUS!!" 

Ka'lor'ah's screams echoed within the empty cavern. Her crystal body circled Lucius' monstrous body and multiple spells fell atop him.

"Lucius, you have to wake up!!" She continued to scream but to no avail.

Lucius was completely unresponsive. All seven of his eyes stared forward blankly and his body stood perfectly still. His left hand was raised forward into the air, while his right hand was carefully gripping onto his scythe.

'What is happening? His body is completely fine and there are no traces of any 'puppetry' or 'control' spells on him. The heart rate, blood flow, nerve signals, everything is perfectly fine!'

By now, Ka'lor'ah had already broken the runic formation set by the Master of the labyrinth. Her detection spells were no longer blocked and were scanning the full extent of this underground space.

However, she could not find the opponent! There was only herself and Lucius.

'It's almost as if he's---!' 

With a flash of inspiration, a possibility appeared within Ka'lor'ah's mind. Almost acting on instinct, she hurriedly withdrew all of the soul power into her body and cast [Isolation Barrier], surrounding herself and Lucius.

Casting a spell to strengthen her mental power, Ka'lor'ah quickly moved her consciousness to dive into Lucius' mindspace, following the line linking their souls.

'Don't lose yourself, Lucius!!'

----------

'Found his soul.' A vile smile spread across the Master's face. 

With his expertise in the domain of souls, locating Lucius' soul within this vast mindspace was hardly a challenge for the Master. In just a few minutes, he had already arrived at the location of the vague, translucent silhouette floating in the air.

'There is something very strange about this guy's soul. These clouds of soul power have some sort of corrosive effect and keeping attacking my soul. Honestly, it's getting very annoying. This expenditure is needless.'

Closing in on Lucius, while avoiding the clouds of soul power, the Master thought to himself.

'After I finish capturing him, I have to relocate my lab and move to another planet. The barrier in this place has been destroyed and my research cannot continue until I finish reconstructing the barrier.'

Just thinking about the time he would have to waste relocating, made the Master grit his teeth.

'If only this guy had not come!! I was so close!'

'SO VERY CLOSE TO THE TRUTH!!'

Floating right in front of Lucius' soul, the Master finally opened his mouth and spoke.

"With the will slumbering, the soul remains bare to the truth. Show me. Show me everything."

The moment his words fell, the translucent, [Annihilator]'s soul rapidly shivered, before starting to violently shake. Having detected the threat, the black ocean shook and roared, wanting to tear this intruder apart.

Alas, it was helpless…for the intruder was far too strong.

'What secrets do you hide?' The Master thought to himself, just as the world before him collapsed and started to change.

Lucius' memories were being revealed.

----------

In a bare open field, a queue of slaves wearing thick, metallic chains binding their hands and feet were pulling a large corpse of a monster. The monster's corpse was humongous in size and could easily be mistaken for a mountain at first glance.

Within this line of slaves, was a filth-covered human with pale skin and thin stick-like limbs.

"Move it! If any of you dare to stop, I will skin you alive!" A rough-voiced alien grimly reminded the slaves.

The thin-figured human continued to silently march forward while pulling at the rope. Walking a few steps forward, his legs suddenly shook, which resulted in his body collapsing onto the ground.

Crack!

The sharp sound of whipping resounded through the air. A long, metallic whip barbed with sharp fringes appeared for a moment, before disappearing into the air once more.

Crack!

Once again the sharp sound resounded only this time, a chunk of flesh and streams of blood followed.

The figure of the human who had just been whipped groaned in pain, as he struggled to stand up.

Crack!

Another blow fell atop his back, tearing another chunk of flesh from his malnourished body. The figure shook twice before he managed to regain his footing.

Without a word of complaint, he held onto the rope once again and continued to pull the large corpse.

Meanwhile up in the air, a crimson figure watched this scene in silence. He stayed for a few more seconds before suddenly vanishing.

----------

"Quick! Continue chasing him. Don't let him escape!!" A shrill voice bellowed in the dead silence of the night.

"Stop running, you criminal scum! How dare you assault our noble princess! Your kind must be burnt at the stake!!" 

Another voice thundered, as it continued to chase after a distant figure.

"If you surrender right now, you will be granted an easier death!!" 

A third insinuated, unable to hide the rage which he felt.

The dark figure, running in the front did not respond to the provocation. The figure darted across buildings and structures, blending with the night. 

The screams and shouts from behind grew fainter and fainter until finally no more shouts could be heard. After confirming his safety, the figure came to a halt and hid beneath a rocky outgrowth. 

Lying on his back, the figure raised his hands to take a look, only to find them shivering violently. Turning them back, he could see a thin green line running across the length of his arm, leading all the way up to his shoulders.

"Poison." The figure softly spoke. 

His eyes wavered and he turned to look at the three white moons, present in the distant sky. Complex emotions flashed across his eyes, before finally settling on a single one.

"Why?" he asked in confusion.

At a distance away from this figure, deep within the forest, a crimson figure disappeared into the darkness once more.

----------

"Hahaha, look over here! My pile is both larger and taller. I won the bet~!" A pearl-like laughter, followed by the excited voice of a woman, announced, pointing to a 300m tall mountain of corpses.

The corpse mountain included figures of various shapes and sizes, some humanoid in the figure, while others were just plain monsters.

"You cheated." A monotonous male voice refuted.

"Cheated? How? Got any evidence?" The woman unhesitantly provoked, approaching the male figure closer. 

Her long, slender legs confidently stepped forward, while her two hands gripped onto a silver-colored scythe that was placed against her back.

Hearing the woman's provocation, the man remained silent. He had no evidence and therefore stood no chance at winning the argument against his companion.

"Hehe, that settles it then. I win!" The woman declared. 

She then suddenly dashed forward and pounced atop the male figure. The man was unable to react any quicker and had hardly reacted before he was pinned to the ground. His hands were then quickly seized by the woman and held firmly in place.

With the man lying flat on the ground and the woman mounting him, the scene was suddenly frozen in place. The woman's long, straight silver hair fell atop the man's face, covering his face and expression.

The woman closed in with her head and used her small nose to part the hair from his face, exposing the man's expression. 

He had none.

"Tch. Stone cold as always," The woman unhappily clicked her tongue. Her pink-colored eyes stared into those of the man's and asked. "Do you seriously feel nothing, even after being straddled like this by me?"

Feeling her hot breath tickle against his skin, the man remained unmoved. He continued to silently stare into the woman's eyes.

Facing his silence, the woman's mouth curved to form a bright, teasing smile. 

"Oho, so the ever stone-faced Killer does feel something. Might this lady ask what it could be?" The woman drew even closer while asking sensually.

"You are being too close." The man impassively replied.

"Am I now? But I don't care." The woman shrugged it off. 

She continued to silently stare into the man's eyes, only this time the look in her eyes turned nervous and expectant. 

The man's mouth opened and closed multiple times and the look in the woman's eyes grew more and more expectant. 

The man, then finally seemed to have decided something as his gaze turned serious.

"Aurora, I—"

It was then that suddenly the scene shattered followed by a scream.

"LUCIUS, YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP!!"

"HE'S INVADING YOUR SOUL!!!"