Lord of Annihilation

In the distant, dark void of space.

BANG!

A human-shaped figure crashed atop a large, floating piece of space rock. The figure's arrival caused the entire rock to destabilize causing a large crater and multiple fissures.

"Grhh!!" The figure, whose entire body was ashen-grey in complexion, let out a deep, unearthly growl. 

Lifting its head, one could see a pair of mismatched, brightly shining eyes, look into the dark void of space with desire and murderous intent. The figure's head looked around a few times before locking its eyes in a certain direction.

Upon reaching some sort of confirmation, it let out a beastly grunt before kicking off of the space rock and dashing into the dark space at inhuman speeds. The sheer energy behind its kick completely pulverized the rock, exploding it into an uncountable number of fragments.

This figure, who was now flying through space at speeds that could rival a spaceship, was naturally Lucius.

As a result of losing control over his emotions, Lucius had entered the 'Berserk-state' of the Void Eater, being solely controlled by his desire and hunger to kill.

The scenery within his mindspace had also undergone a change due to this state, with the pitch-black sea boiling while releasing an inordinate amount of black smoke which served to blanket the sky and suppress the golden sun.

The [Annihilator] soul which was silently floating at the center of his mindspace did not seem to be affected by this black smoke, as anything that entered within a 5m radius of itself was promptly destroyed.

The [Annihilator] also did not do anything to suppress or stop the actions of the boiling pitch-black sea, allowing the latter to do as it pleased. 

With the Void Eater's desires taking over and the [Annihilator] soul not taking anything actions to control it, Lucius' consciousness was overpowered, rendering him incapable of any sense or reason.

Over the last few hours, Lucius had killed and devoured a large number of living things with the exception of Stage 3 beings, allowing his soul power's quantity to climb to an absurd degree. 

One would think that having killed and eaten so many beings, one would grow tired and stop. However, Lucius being under the Void Eater bloodline's influence did not have a single thought of stopping.

If anything, the more he killed and devoured, the greater was his desire to continue doing so. After all, for a Void Eater, devouring everything was their sole purpose of existence. 

'Food! There!' 

Some distance away, Lucius could see a small, spherical object floating around in space. The spherical object was around 2-meters in diameter with the corpse of a freshly deceased Stage 2 being fastened around it.

His eyes brightened by another degree as his body accelerated towards this offering. Grabbing onto the spherical object with his two hands, Lucius immediately lowered his face into the chest of the corpse and started to devour it.

His actions were practiced as this was the fifteenth such offering that he had come across in the past hour.

Under his incessant devouring, the corpse was quickly consumed, inclusive of bones and all. Its soul, however, had long since returned to Limbo.

Having finished consuming the snack, Lucius raised his bloodied face and scanned around some more. His eyes constantly searched around space, before finally locking on to another similar offering.

Without giving it a second thought, he quickly kicked off the metallic object and rushed towards the next.

Had Lucius been sane during these proceedings, he would have long since noticed the abnormality of his situation. To come across elaborately spaced probes containing what could only be considered as bait, was by no degree, normal.

It was clear that someone was baiting Lucius and luring him to a certain location. Unfortunately, Lucius was in no proper mind to see this and fell into an obvious trap.

After two more hours of following the bait, Lucius' figure came into the vicinity of a barren moon. This moon, or at least resembled a moon, was primarily brown in color, orbiting the remains of a destroyed planet.

The moment this moon came within Lucius' sights, his eyes shone with glaring brightness and a look of ecstasy appeared on his face. With the Void Eater's senses, he could identify an absurd amount of life force coming off of the surface of this moon, which only meant one thing.

Living Beings! 

Or in the Void Eater's language…food that was in its freshest and delicious state.

Burning his void energy, Lucius used [Void Step] to close the remainder of the distance and crashed onto the surface of the barren moon. 

His figure, stepping out from the crater of his creation, looked more beastly than any of the Wild Beasts of the same quality. His face containing boundless ecstasy stared with drooling lips at the hundred or so Stage 2 beings that surround him with threatening weapons and menacing expressions.

The badge containing the silhouette of a black ship sailing across the stars was worn on every person's chest. It was the signature of the 'Flying Dutchman'!

Looking at these hundred figures, each of whom was at least Mid-Level Stage 2 in strength with the two in the front radiating the aura of  Peak-Level Stage 2, it was evident that this group of hundred was an elite group sent for the sole purpose of eliminating the fiend who destroyed their Western sector's forces.

The air was thick with tension as neither side moved first. The faces of the elite henchmen were taut as they stared at the grey-skinned 'beast' of unknown strength in front of them.

The faces of the two, Peak-Level Stage 2s, however, showed confusion. While they weren't able to see through Lucius' strength (owing to his superior quantity and quality of soul power), they also did not feel the overwhelming pressure that was released by a Stage 3 existence.

For a moment, doubt surfaced in their minds as they thought to themselves.

'Is this that mysterious entity whose danger level is at 'Catastrophe'? Did we get the right person?' 

However, they quickly shook their heads to rid themselves of their doubt. Their leader, Jaros, had instructed them to test the strength of this entity.

Such being the instructions of a Stage 3 existence, they would unhesitantly carry it out.

"START YOUR ATTACKS! KILL THAT FIEND!!" Screaming with courageous valor, the Peak-Level Stage 2 led the attack against the Void Eater.

"WOOO!!!!" 

The elite henchmen replied with enthusiastic cries and dashed towards the figure at the center.

Victory meant survival. Defeat meant death. Such being the odds, none of them dared to hold any of their strength back.

If the figure in the center was any normal Peak-Level Stage 2 existence, then being attacked by such a group of one hundred elites, the outcome would obviously be defeat, followed by death.

Heck, even if the figure in the center was a remarkable figure from an Upper or Superior Grade Race, under the exact same conditions, no matter the techniques learnt or the training they have undergone, they would still die. The only difference being, how long it would take them to do so.

However, the figure currently in the center was neither of these two. It was an entity that was the only one of its kind in the entire Universe. 

It was an ex-Stage 7 battle maniac, with the body of a Void Eater. A race that took the crown for being the most overpowered and broken species that was in existence!

Although the current Lucius' wasn't completely sane and rational, his battle experience and combat senses were hardly affected.

If anything, they had undergone improvements under this state.

Watching the group of elites rush towards him, Lucius lightly snorted and disdain flashed across his eyes. Lowering his body towards the ground, he tensed the muscles on his legs before exploding forth with pure physical strength.

The ground beneath his legs fissured and Lucius' figure disappeared into a blur. His movements were so fast, that the only thing that could be seen was the afterimages of his movements. 

Unlike his opponents who used their techniques, skills, abilities, and weapons, Lucius used none. 

Facing this crowd, just the physical attributes of his body were more than enough.

The first ones to take notice of Lucius' ungodly speeds and movements were the two Peak-Level Stage 2 beings. Even with their strengths and experience, they only managed to react after the former had already moved.

"GROUP 3! MOVE OUT OF TH—" The Peak-Level Stage 2 Terran yelled into the communication device mounted inside his helmet.

Alas, the shouts of his warnings came too late.

The group which he had referred to as Group 3 was where a dark streak had passed through. No one among the group seemed to have noticed the dark streak, as they continued to rush towards Lucius' afterimage in the center, blissfully unaware of their impending doom.

Hearing that shout of warning from their Vice-Captain, the members of the group simultaneously turned and shot towards him, looks of confusion. Just as they were about to ask; what the warning was about, their bodies suddenly froze and their eyes shrunk to form pinholes.

Blood mists appeared behind the backs of the nine Group 3 members, along with the appearance of a fist-sized hole in the middle of their chests. Pieces of broken armor slowly fell to the ground and blood poured from within the wound.

The light in their eyes disappeared, followed by the heavy thuds of their bodies dropping to the ground.

The entire attacking group came to a sudden pause, as they watched this shocking event with dumbfounded eyes. They simply could not believe what was happening.

One moment, they were all rushing towards the grey-skinned figure at the center. The next, nine of their men suddenly dropped to the ground with holes on their chests.

"Ah…" The satisfied sigh mysteriously resounded within the heads of each remaining member. Their eyes simultaneously moved to land on the figure which had bizarrely appeared behind the fallen bodies.

A grey-skinned humanoid, seemingly oblivious to their stares, threw in the final two masses of flesh into its mouth. Munching on the two hearts a few times, it swallowed for a final time before turning its gaze towards the remaining survivors.

Licking its lips with deliberate movements, the beast smiled at the group before disappearing into a blur once again. 

The hunter and hunted had switched places. 

Right now, it wasn't Lucius who fell to a trap set by the group of hundred elites, but the elites who were trapped in this place with Lucius.