Lord of Annihilation

{WARNING: IMMINENT DESTRUCTION IN T-MINUS 2 MINUTES AND 30 SECONDS!}

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{WARNING: IMMINENT DESTRUCTION IN T-MINUS 2 MINUTES AND 15 SECONDS!}

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{WARNING: IMMINENT DESTRUCTION IN T-MINUS 2 MINUTES!}

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The sounds of the wind blowing and the mechanical tone of the AI, as it issued the warnings was heard by Lucius. The corridor was long and narrow with no one else, other than Reyna and himself.

Floating in front of Lucius who was running at his top speed, was a dark-golden crystal which pulsed with light and energy. A mysterious voice seemed to be heard from the crystal as it provided instructions to Lucius.

"Turn right here! Go through that wall!" Ka'lor'ah hurriedly shouted.

Listening to her instructions, Lucius immediately complied. Using his bloodied fist, he circulated the soul power in his body and smashed at the wall.

BANG!

A loud sound was heard and the wall crumbled like paper. Lucius' strength was simply too much for the wall to endure.

Just as Lucius was about to enter, Ka'lor'ah's panicked voice sounded out.

"Wait! DON'T GO IN THERE!!" she bellowed at the top of her lungs. Unfortunately her warning came too late.

An enormous force of suction, contained on the other side the metal wall of the corridor broke free. It immediately started to pull Lucius and Reyna who was being carried by Lucius towards it, catching him unaware.

Lucius' pupils abruptly shrunk as he caught a glimpse at the massive crack present in the room, revealing the dark and cold space present outside. A feeling of chillness immediately assaulted their bodies.

Not wasting a single second, Lucius immediately reacted. Using his soul power, he wrapped it around the heads of himself and Reyna creating a small air bubble ,allowing them to temporarily breathe. Then using his free hand, he grabbed the crystal in front of him which was being rapidly pulled outside.

Lucius immediately felt a sense of weightlessness which was to be expected in space. The gravity regulators within the room seemed to have broken down, resulting the presence of zero gravity.

Wrapping both his arms around Reyna, Lucius immediately turned his body to have his back face the crack outside. He then curled both their body into small balls, to reduce the surface area being exposed towards the force of suction. This action in turn reduced the speed of suction, buying them a precious few seconds.

As his body floated towards the crack , Lucius started gathering all of the soul power remaining within his body. Controlling the lines of energy, he directed it towards his back and started compressing them.

Lucius' control over his soul energy could be described in a single word- perfection.

Without even having to look at the soul power and only relying on his senses, Lucius could control the flow and compression of soul power outside his own body. This was a realm that only people, who had achieved Stage 3 in their soul cultivation would be confident in achieving. Even then, they would not dare call it perfect.

The difficulty to control soul power outside the body in the lower stages was caused due to the fact that it was too sparse and thin. The quantity and density was simply too little in the lower stages, thus rendering most people incapable of achieving perfect control over it, wasting a fair bit of the energy in the process.

Reyna using almost 90% of her soul power to break a single door was due to this reason. It wasn't because her energy was too weak but because her control over it was too shallow. If it had been Lucius however, under those same conditions, he could have broke the door using just 20% of his soul power.

As he rapidly floated towards that huge opening in the wall, Lucius had rapidly compressed his soul energy until it reached the size of a basketball. It looked small but the amount of energy it contained distorted the air around the ball.

Lucius did not hold back and used every bit of soul energy which was usable in his body, pouring it into this ball. His face rapidly paled and drops of cold sweat lined his face and back.

His forehead was deeply furrowed. The amount of concentration required to perform this feat was no small matter, especially in these conditions.

'Wait for it.' Just as the ball reached its saturation point and was in the danger of exploding, Lucius forcibly contained the forces it held. Detonating it right now would be a foolish choice.

His body approached dangerously close to the crack on the wall, yet Lucius showed no releasing the ball of energy.

Positioning his body in a diagonally to the crack, he simply stared at the other side of the room with an expressionless face.

Just when one-half of his body passed through the crack, Lucius screamed within his mind.

'NOW!'

He immediately denoted that frightening ball of energy.

BOOM!

A bright explosion of light, followed by waves of energy spread spread like ripples in a pond with the region just behind Lucius being the epicenter. Frightening waves of heat seared his back, as the ball exploded outside the ship in space. Due to the vacuum, present in air there was no sound released in the explosion.

Using the force generated by this explosion, Lucius body was flung right back into the ship.

Just as he was about to hit the wall, Lucius turned once again mid air. Turning his back against the wall shielded the impact from hitting Reyna. With a loud bang, Lucius' body ferociously slammed against the wall. Due to the great moment at which he was hurled at, Lucius' body tore through the weakened metallic wall.

Along with the young woman in his arms, he once again fell on the cold metallic floor of another corridor. This was the direction, Ka'lor'ah had originally directed him to follow. Although he had to take a slight detour, Lucius still ended up getting where he needed to go.

Hitting the floor with his back, Lucius performed a smooth roll, to mitigate the remaining force. Landing onto his feet he immediately got up and started running once again.

"Continue leading the way." he emotionlessly spoke to Ka'lor'ah while throwing the crystal back into the air.

Reyna who had her eyes closed this entire time, slowly opened them. Holding onto Lucius' back, she suddenly noticed a strange sticky and wet sensation in her palms. Curiously lifting one of her palms, she was suddenly stunned.

Her entire hand was dyed crimson. Lowering her shocked eyes, she stared at Lucius' back only to find a glaring wound, dripping with frightening amounts of blood. His flesh had been charred black and a large gaping wound was present, covering his entire back. A long trail of blood was left behind in the floor as he continued to run.

He had escaped narrowly from the clutches of death, paying an appropriate sum in exchange.

"LUCIUS! LET ME DOWN!!" she screamed as she began to struggle.

No person can continue staying conscious after receiving such a serious injury, not to mention running at full speed like Lucius.

"Stop struggling. We don't have time." Lucius cold voice sounded near her ears.

"YOU ARE SERIOUSLY INJURED! LET ME DOWN!!" Reyna cried out once again, intensifying her struggles.

"Stop." an extremely threatening voice sounded next to her ears.

The sheer amount of bloodthirst and hostility in that voice froze Reyna's body. Halting her struggles she slowly turned to look at Lucius' face.

A savage and crazy expression was present of his face. His eyes no longer seemed indifferent as they radiated a strong sense of bloodthirstiness and madness. The powerful desire to consume was seen in those eyes.

"Lucius?" Reyna hesitantly asked. Currently, her body was faintly quivering from fear. Her instincts screamed within her mind.

This young man, was extremely dangerous.

"AHHHH!!!" Lucius suddenly let out a powerful growl. His voice did not resemble a human, rather resembling that of a hungry beast!

"NOO!" he screamed once again, as he tried to suppress the instinct that was trying to escape from within his body.

Inside his mindspace, a mysterious energy was locked in an intense battle with his [Killer] soul. Waves of colorless and reddish-black energy clashed with each other trying to destroy one-another. Lucius' consciousness stood by the side watching this battle happen. He was helpless to do anything!

On one side was his soul, the very proof of his existence. On the other, was a mysterious energy which seemed to originate from within him. The origin of both these energies, was Lucius himself.

Outside Lucius' body had not stopped running. Groans and growls periodically leaked from within his mouth, as his face changed his expression numerous time. He was unwittingly released his [Killing Intent] and a crazed beastly aura from his body.

Reyna, who was the closest person to him could feel the full brunt of this aura on her body. Her entire face was pale, with her body uncontrollably shaking. She did not dare breathe, lest her breathing break this unstable equilibrium.

{WARNING: IMMINENT DESTRUCTION IN T-MINUS 1 MINUTE!}

Just as this warning sounded, Lucius suddenly closed his eyes. The aura being released, also swiftly receded.

Opening his eyes, it was no longer black but entirely crimson. The original look of indifference was gone replacing it with madness and the desire to eat.

The mysterious energy within Lucius' body had won. Once again, the 'hunger' state within Lucius had returned!