Lord of Annihilation

Underneath the bubbling, filth-filled swamps of the Third Labor slept a mighty creature of great renown. 

His dark, majestic body rivaled a mountain in weight. His nine necks connecting nine of his fearsome reptilian heads were as wide as five tree trunks placed side-by-side. His heads, covered in the shiniest of his boney scales hid within them great intellect and even greater power.

This fearsome creature, who was the youngest of his brethren to carve out his own territory within the Third Labor, was called Kraal.

'Haap. Hungry. Eat food.'

Waking from his restful slumber, Kraal raised his fearsome heads and looked around dreamily at the polluted waters of the swamp. Pairs of crimson eyes lazily scanned the immediate vicinity as they sought food.

Finding none of his favorite meals readily available around him, Kraal let out a ferocious growl and begrudgingly moved. He first used three of his leftmost heads to lick his humongous body clean, before moving on to using two of his rightmost to scour the area. 

Owning a territory was not as easy as to simply claim it and live within, but properly protecting it from land grabbers and tyrants. 

Kraal, being the youngest of his brethren, had to be extra careful of any sudden challenges for territory seizure.

After properly cleaning himself up and ensuring that there were no attempts or challenges, Kraal moved his mountainous body to seek food. His massive stomach had been rumbling for quite some time and it was his instinct to satisfy it.

Gliding through the filthy swamp waters that he called home, Kraal was a surprisingly agile beast. His movements underwater defied every known notion of physics as his massive body moved with incredible agility and surprising finesse.

Quickly arriving at his favorite hunting spot, Kraal spotted a school of his favorite meal. A beastly grin appeared on his reptilian faces as he inwardly rejoiced.

'Haap. Hunt good food.'

Suppressing the immediate desire to jump towards his prey, Kraal sank to the bottom of the swamp and camouflaged himself against its dark bottoms. As mighty and great as he might be, Kraal still needed to properly execute his hunt if he wanted to eat today and not scare away his prey.

Using six of his heads to watch his prey while using the remaining three to observe the surroundings, Kraal left himself to his instincts and carefully moved. 

His mighty body moved inch-by-inch taking care not to cause unnecessary turbulence in the water. His prey was as tasty as it was careful. A sudden jerk might startle the prey, denying Kraal his immediate meal.

Minutes ticked by in this manner as Kraal moved closer and closer. His crimson eyes were as alert as ever and intently watched the movements of his prey.

Nearly thirty minutes had passed when Kraal finally made to the spot directly beneath the largest congregation of his prey. 

Today seemed to be a good day as thousands of his favorite prey swam together in unison. Usually, his prey only grouped in the hundreds and rarely reached a thousand.

With drool-leaking from the edges of his nine mouths, Kraal surprised his rapidly rising excitement and patiently waited. The fact that this hunt was going to be his biggest catch ever wasn't going to distract him and cause him to mess up. Kraal was careful like that.

Slowly and with as little disturbance to the surrounding water as possible, Kraal moved his nine heads and positioned them at specific spots. He was executing the standard hunting tactic in which he had trained for most of his life and boasted great proficiency.

After encircling the school of fish and blocking off all of their possible escape routes, Kraal's crimson eyes locked onto his prey with visible desire and greed. Holding in his breath, Kraal waited for the best possible movement before…

…lunging forth.

Nine large mouths completely expanded to reveal the spine-chilling horror of teeth and flesh. Unordinary darkness existed in the depths of its mouths, out of which came an incredibly strong force of suction.

Hundreds of monstrous fish each extending five meters in length were pulled into the darkness with little to no resistance. Against a Mid-Level Stage 3 beast like Kraal, these little fishes stood no chance from the start.

Like a vacuum sucking in a patch of dust, Kraal's nine heads sucked in the thousands of fish stiffly swimming around in circles. 

The eyes of these fish were strangely lifeless and their bodies routinely oozed an unusual violet mist. Their plump bodies were strangely cold and possessed a befuddling charm that existed to draw the Nine-Headed Hydra towards them.

However, in his excitement, Kraal failed to pay attention to these peculiar factors and lost himself to satisfying the cries of his stomach. 

Cleaning up the final remnants, Kraal grinned with satisfaction and happily watched as the other creatures in the surroundings escaped with terror evident in their eyes. He did not bother chasing them like he usually did as he relished himself in the satisfaction of a hearty meal.

'Haap. Tasty meal.' thought Kraal.

His powerful stomach started its work by releasing powerful, poisonous acids to secrete the meal. Blood, flesh, and bones of thousands of fishes were broken down in a matter of minutes, leaving behind almost nothing.

Or so was the case usually. This time, however, there was a strange violet-colored energy that remained behind. This energy that previously filled the bodies of those thousands of fish now filled the stomach of Kraal in its entirety.

Not accustomed to scanning the interiors of his body, Kraal failed to notice this peculiarity as he returned to his lair for an after-meal nap. His nine mouths curved with a smile of satisfaction.

'Haap. Kraal mightiest Hydra. Better than family. Better than father.'

'Haap. Sleepy now.'

Resting his heads on the floor of the swamp, Kraal sank into a deep slumber. 

Meanwhile, the remnant violet energy that filled his stomach finally started to move. 

Permeating past the thick membrane of his stomach, the energy gathered into streams and headed towards each of his nine heads separately. 

Not an ounce of malice was felt from this energy. Nonetheless, they seemed threateningly inauspicious. 

----------

GWAAARRR!!!

An earth-shaking roar startled Kraal from his after-meal nap and quickly awoke him. His nine heads rose in unison and his crimson eyes warily stared into the dark waters. 

"Gwrrr!~"

A menacing hiss exited his mouths and great hatred filled his eyes. Ferocious killing intent gushed out from his body as Kraal recognized that roar of challenge.

It was a voice that Kraal would never fail to recognize, even in his death.

'Haap! Father!'

ROOAAARRR! ROOAAARRRRR!!

Simultaneous roars followed Kraal's hiss as two new voices joined in. These roars were filled with derisive mocking and scoffing.

'First brother! Second brother! Haap!! Challenge the mighty Kraal. How dare you!!'

Kraal could not contain his anger and hatred anymore.

Snapping the rear part of his body, Kraal shot towards the source of the roars with blinding speeds. His mountain-like body moved like a bullet as it cut through the dense, murky water with little resistance.

Arriving at the border of his territory, Kraal quickly swamp to the surface of the water and broke out. The sky was grey and a thick curtain of rain covered the surroundings.

But Kraal did not care for them. In fact, he did not care about anything around him at all.

The only thing that filled his mind was the repulsive figure of his tyrant father and his two brothers. These three figures, who possessed bodies much larger than his own, were the object of his greatest fear and hatred.

ROAAAR!

ROAAARRR!! ROAARRRR!!

And now, all three of them seemed to be challenging him for his territory.

"GRAAWWWRRR!!~" 

Kraal let out a thunderous roar of his own and lunged forward to face his greatest foes. Bodies slammed against bodies and heads crashed against heads. Poisons streams cut through the rain and air, polluting the surrounding waters.

'Haap! Kill you Kraal will!!'

And so, Kraal began to battle with his life on the line.

A battle in which he was able to match the Peak-Level Stage 3 prowess of his brothers and the Low-Level Stage 4 prowess of his father with his own strength, at the same time.

A battle that made no sense in both reality and otherwise.

----------

Floating in the air some distance away from a crazily flailing Nine-Headed Hydra which seemed to be fighting with the air was Olivia.

Her face was unusually pallid while her eyes were sunken and tired. Her skin and hair looked dry and moistureless while her ample bosoms heaved with obvious breathlessness. Cuts, tears, dirt, and grime-covered much of her purple-colored uniform and even more of her own body. 

Still, if one were to look past the sordid exterior and gaze underneath her blackened face, one would find a brilliant smile that oozed with confidence and a sense of victory.

Tightly clenching her fists, Olivia muttered in a proud tone, "I did it."

"Two full weeks of effort and soul power and I finally managed to do it."

Facing the sky and thrusting both her hands into the air, Olivia screamed at the top of her lungs.

"I DID IT!"

"I FRICKING DID IT!! YAHOOOO!~"

Yelling and screaming with elation to the point of growing breathless once again, Olivia finally calmed herself down and addressed the floating sword underneath her feet.

"Head over to that rock pillar and drop me there, buddy. It's time for you to end that poor bastard's suffering."

Thorn gently trembled as a show of understanding and obeyed her words. 

Dropping off Olivia at the rock pillar, it turned to look at its mistress one more time before shooting towards the still crazily flailing beast. 

Thorn increased its speed to the extreme, turning into a streak of black light that blended into the dark surroundings. Nearing the mountainous body of the Nine-Headed Hydra in seconds, it effortlessly pierced through its scales and headed towards the nearest heart.

The moment Thorn neared the Hydra's heart it released its boundless, compressed Sword Energy and ripped everything in the surroundings into uncountable pieces and innumerable shreds.

RWAAARRGGHH!!!

The Nine-Headed Hydra let out a sky-splitting roar in response to this attack. However, the crazy failings and its random attacks into empty space did not seem to lessen but rather increased in response to this attack.

The hatred within the Nine-Headed Hydra's eyes as it murkily stared into the empty air was both visible and tangible. 

Meanwhile, Thorn had already returned to the side of its mistress, who was refilling the sword energy within its body.

With a smile on her face, Olivia spoke, "Good job, Thorn. Just two more times and we will finally exit this foul-smelling place."

Thorn faintly shook its body as a show of acquiesce. As a result of sharing a soul link with its mistress, Thorn too had come to greatly dislike this dirty swamp.

After a few minutes, Thorn released a low-pitched cry and headed towards the mindless Nine-Headed Hydra a second time.

Ten minutes later, Olivia succeeded in slaying the Nine-Headed Hydra and completed the Second Labor. In the process, she also became the record holder for the 'Longest Time Taken to Complete a Single Labor', taking a total of two full weeks!