Lord of Annihilation

Inside the Swamplands of the Second Labor.

ROOOAAARRR!!!

The nine heads of the Nine-Headed Hydra roared with such intensity and vigor that it shook the space within the swamp. Extreme rage and hatred reflected within its eyes as seven of its heads turned and locked their gazes in a certain direction.

Opening their humongous, threatening maws in unison they collectively spat out a pressurized stream of black-green-colored condensed poison. The stream of poison cut across the air and instantly closed the distance between its target.

Lucius, who was the target of their collective wrath, watched the stream of death and corrosion close in on him and calmly moved. 

Condensing tiles of soul power underneath his legs, he shot out with his body at speeds unseen by the naked eye. Turning into a blurry phantom, his figure instantly appeared behind the enraged behemoth and the scythe within his hands was swung down once again.

'[Slash]' 

A long blade of condensed energy hundreds of meters in length instantly bisected the middle head and half of the body of this two-thousand-meter beast.

Copious amounts of viscous, colored blood burst out of its wounds and poured onto the swamp water like a furious deluge. Lucius calmly watched this scene while calming the boiling energy within him.

'Its regeneration is slowing down. A few more minutes of continued assault and its stamina should disappear,' Lucius inwardly analyzed.

He then peeked into his mindspace and estimated the amount of soul power remaining.

'Soul power is just under fifty percent. Void energy is over ninety percent.'

Nodding his head with satisfaction he then turned his gaze over towards the island within his mindspace. 

Inspecting hid Domain which was currently undergoing some minor changes, Lucius inwardly thought, '93% completion. By the end of this battle, it should reach 94%.'

To sum up Lucius' current mood in a single word, it would be; greatly pleased.

Not only did the battle with the Stage 4 Hydra greatly him of his boredom for entering this trial, but it also helped him understand and integrate his power better and increase the completion of his Domain.

To increase one's completion of their Domain, one had to have a proper understanding of their power and the Rules that govern their power. As their understanding increases, so would their rate of completion of their Domain.

Lucius' current Domain [Corpse Mountain Range] centered around three Higher Rules; Death, Judgment, and the more recently added Devour. 

The challenge not only lied in finding the perfect balance and mixture of these three Core Rules but to also weave them in a way that cooperated and supported both his Void Eater body and his [Annihilator] soul.

The latter task was especially difficult for Lucius since both his body and soul were incredibly prideful and refused to mingle within any Rule that they considered to be at a lower level.

Nonetheless, after nearly four years of study, experimentation, and testing, coupled with his ungodly amount of talent, Lucius managed to find the perfect balance and neared the realm of perfection for his Domain; a task that would've taken any other genius, dozens or even hundreds of years.

Due to a multitude of factors, Lucius was vastly stronger than other being at the same Stage. He completely outclassed them in battle experience, soul power quantity and quality, and even Domain level. 

This, unfortunately, meant that Lucius found it difficult to challenge his limits and push past his boundaries. Challenging being belonging to the next Stage was the only avenue for improvement.

However, the impossible divide between Stage 3 and Stage 4, rendered it impossible for him to recklessly challenge such a being. Even factoring in all of his strengths, Lucius would find it hard-pressed to survive the assault of a Stage 4 being's Domain.

However, there was a small exception to this rule. 

Well, one can't exactly call it an exception since anyone else other than Lucius would find it impossible to do such a thing.

This exception was challenging Stage 4 Wild Beasts.

Unlike their intelligent counterparts, Wild Beasts lacked the ability to deploy a Domain. Their strength purely comes from their superior physical prowess, their unique racial abilities, and their enormous quantity of soul power. 

They completely outclassed people in all these different avenues and hence reigned superior to their counterparts, even though they lacked a Domain.

However, imagine this… 

An intelligent living being that possessed the ability to deploy a Domain and matched a Wild Beast in both physical ability and soul power quantity. 

Not only that, but he also possessed racial abilities that were borderline cheating.

Would such a being still be disadvantaged when fighting a Wild Beast of a Higher Stage?

No, of course not! If anything, the Wild Beast would be the one disadvantaged since the opponent had the ability to deploy and Domain and suppress it!

This was the case with the current battle with Lucius and the Nine-Headed Hydra. He might not have the ability to kill a Stage 4 intelligent being, but he was more than capable of destroying a Stage 4 Wild Beast.

GROWL!!

Watching the beast let out a growl filled with irreconcilable hatred that was laced with tiredness and fear, Lucius judged that he had milked everything that he could out of this battle.

'I won't be able to improve my rate of completion anymore. Let's finish this.'

He then looked at the roaring beast with indifference and boredom whilst softly uttering.

"Deploy Domain."

Colorlessness descended upon the beast and the Nine-Headed Hydra lost its life.

There were no cries. There was no struggle.

Death had soundlessly reaped the life of this magnificent beast.

----------

Shwick!

"Old man Lu'uf, quickly move out of the way!" A woman's clear and mature voice resounded through the air.

The instant that her voice had sounded out, a black-colored flash of light pierced through the golden hide of the Nemean Lion, blowing apart a large wound underneath its soft belly.

Chunks of meat and flesh fell onto the ground, followed by a river of blood. The Nemean Lion let out a disgruntled roar, before collapsing lifelessly onto the ground.

THUD!

The moment the mountain-like beast weighing a few thousand tons collapsed onto the ground, the earth and the surrounding valley walls shook and trembled. 

A few seconds passed and silence returned to the valley.

Step. Step. Step.

Using the [Sky Steps] technique taught to her, Olivia created tiles made of soul power and elegantly descended from the sky. With her inability to truly fly at her stage, this was the closest she could get to true flight.

Whooo!

Landing onto the ground, Olivia pursed her lips and let out a sharp whistle. A low hum sounded from within the dead beast's corpse, followed by the appearance of the black flash.

The black flash, which was obviously Olivia's Living Weapon Thorn, created a new hole on the surface of the beast and excitedly returned to its owner.

Appearing next to Olivia, it gently hovered next to her hands and tilted its body to the front. Another low hum resounded from the weapon seemingly asking its owner for something.

Olivia displayed a kind smile and caressed the body of the weapon. She understood that it was asking her for a reward, to which she happily complied.

Shivering with pleasure and excitement, Thorn released another bout of low-pitched hums.

"Whoa! Someone's every excited after their first battle," Olivia teased, turning her caresses into tickles.

Tickling the body of her weapon, she laughed as she watched Thorn quiver and struggle. Just as she was to increase the intensity of her tickling, an unhappy voice resounded.

"Dammit, brat! Could you not have warned me in advance!!" 

One of the severely wounded paws of the large beast slightly moved and a dust/blood-covered Lu'uf appeared. His robe was dirtied with the blood of the mighty beast, while his face was covered in dust and soot.

Coming out from underneath the dead beast's corpse and looking at the scene of the brat before him playing with her sword, Lu'uf was incensed.

"It's on you for being so slow, old man," Olivia rolled her eyes at his claim.

"Stop calling me an old man! I'm only 257 years old! That's only middle-aged in Bertarian years!" Lu'uf yelled.

Unfazed, Olivia replied, "And I'm only 27. So you do the math and tell me if I'm wrong."

Hearing her reply, Lu'uf speechlessly stared at her. His face then went through a series of emotions before settling into one of tiredness. 

Sighing out loud, he rubbed his forehead with his hands and thought to himself, 'Arguing with this lass is pointless. Only my blood pressure is being affected.'

He then used his soul power to rid his body and robes of dust and walked towards Olivia. 

Watching the weapon hovering before her with envy and desire, he spoke, "You know, before today I've only heard legends and stories about Living Weapons. Who knew that coming to the Twelve Labors would allow me to meet a disrespectful, little brat wielding such a legendary weapon."

"What? You feeling jealous? Olivia asked.

"Of course, I am!' Lu'uf honestly replied. He then shook his head and continued, "However, I know my own limits and potential. I'm not worthy of wielding such a weapon."

Seeing the look of undisguised pride on Olivia's face, he continued feeling annoyed, "Still, it's a shame that such a weapon ended up with someone like you. While your talents are unquestionable, your personality leaves a lot to be desired."

"I can only imagine how that sword would cry if it had a mouth."

Olivia rolled her eyes at his poor attempt to get back at her and turned to face Thorn. Gently caressing the sword she asked it.

"Is that true, Thorn?" Olivia made her tone to be unusually soft and pitiful.

Hearing its mistress' pitiful voice, Thorn vehemently shook its body signifying its rejection. 

Seeing that gesture, Olivia smiled and looked at Lu'uf with an expression that seemed to say, 'how about that?'

Lu'uf simply let out a sigh before chuckling. He then watched as white light surrounded both him and Olivia and spoke.

"Well, looks like we are being transported to the next labor, brat. It's been nice getting to know you."

"Likewise, old man," Olivia replied.

White light fully enveloped their two figures and teleported them to separate locations within the second labor. In the final moment, Olivia could hear Lu'uf say.

"Be safe and don't die, kid."

Disappearing into the light, Olivia softly muttered, "You too, old man."