Lord of Annihilation

Inside the cold storage room at the Earth Alliance Base in Deatov.

Three figures stood upon a raised platform.

The platform was large enough to occupy five people at a time. Guard rails bounded its edges and a fixed pedestal stood at the very front of the platform. The pedestal held a control panel which could be used to control the giant mechanical hand that was hanging from the ceiling.

Underneath this platform was a large pit filled with a multitude of alien corpses. The corpses included those of the Sickle Bugs, Tank Bugs, and Spitter Bugs. The body of the Leader Bug could not be retrieved due to its unfortunate destruction during Lucius' 'ascension'.

Some of the corpses were relatively complete while others were smashed into meat patties. Burns and cuts littered many of the corpses reminding those who looked at them of the arduous and dangerous battle.

The gazes of the three figures atop the platform weren't directed at these corpses.

Alex, Reyna and Oliva stared in shock, at the handsome young man who was standing in the middle of this pit filled with alien corpses. He was letting out a peal of maniacal laughter as a black shadow expanded from under his feet and started to engulf these corpses.

"Devour! Devour!" the voice from the center of the pit continued to increase in volume.

Upon being engulfed by this strange shadow, the corpses started to mysteriously sink into the darkness. Similar to a small pebble thrown into a lake.

Lucius' eyes continued to shine brighter and a sense of madness was rapidly filling them. His pristine-white skin slowly started to turn into a stone-grey color.

It was at this moment that a black mist started to exude from within his shadow. Upon its appearance, a strange force of attraction was released from Lucius' body. The pores on his newly grey skin opened and started to suck the black mist into them.

Wave after wave of malevolent energy gathered towards Lucius, only to be immediately sucked within his body.

"MORE! DEVOUR MORE!" the hints of rationality within his eyes started to quickly disappear. Replacing it was a bestial desire to devour everything.

The shadow underneath his feet started to increasingly become wider in range and more corpses started to sink within it. These corpses then turned into black energy which was then released from the shadow and sucked into Lucius' body.

"AHAHAHA!!" Lucius' high-pitched laughter continued to increase in volume.

His bony-looking body was starting to recover its strength as energy started to fill him. The withered muscles immediately returned and his slouching back straightened up once more. The greyness of his skin started to turn darker and darker as waves of black mist continued to be absorbed by his body.

An oppressive pressure was released from his body and descended onto the trio atop the platform. They found to harder to breathe. Their breathing was labored, akin to their lungs being filled with water.

As they continued to watch Lucius absorb that strange mist, fear was beginning to be birthed in their hearts. The same fear, that prey would feel when it was trapped in a place with an apex predator.

"I-is it fine to let him continue like that?" Alex's voice trembled as he pointed his index finger towards Lucius. His mind was flooded with fear and his instincts warned him to stop Lucius from continuing.

Hearing his question, the two girls did not reply. Or rather they could not reply. Their minds and bodies were frozen stiff in fear. Seeing the two girls frozen, Alex decided. He forcibly pushed down his fear and started to move.

'Screw it!' he decided to trust his instincts.

Leaping down from the platform, Alex brought his hands together and clasped his palms. Pouring his soul power into his palms, he closed his eyes and willed the energy to change. After doing so he then separated his hands and opened his eyes.

Two red spheres of raging red flames floated atop each of his hands. His eyes shined with bright crimson as he continued to pour his soul energy into these spheres of flames.

"Fireball!" he bellowed loudly and threw the two-spheres towards the grey-skinned Lucius.

In less than a second, the two fireballs had reached Lucius' body. Upon contact, they exploded. Heat and light enshrouded Lucius' figure in the middle.

Searing heat spilled in every direction and incinerated some of the corpses in the ground. The fireballs contained an incredible amount of heat, enough to melt solid iron. The piercing light was especially intense in this dark, enclosed room as it moved to clear the dark mists in the air.

This was the first showcase of the soul, [Ruler of Flames].

Reyna and Olivia's eyes stung as they finally awakened from their stupor.

After the attack, Alex felt a sense of weakness spread throughout his body. Although the quantity and quality of his soul power had increased by a large amount after the 'Ascension', his control over his newfound power was quite lacking.

Alex had wasted almost 40% of his soul power into that one attack!

While he wasn't weakened to the extent of being paralyzed, he was still rapidly panting.

'Did I succeed?' Alex questioned within his mind. He held no intention of killing Lucius, only wanting to wake him up. He had considered the toughness of Lucius' body and held back from seriously injuring him.

He reckoned that a few minor wounds would be enough to awaken Lucius and make him stop whatever he was currently doing.

And to be fair, he somewhat succeeded.

Lifting his head, he looked towards the center of the earlier explosion. The heat and light were starting to dissipate and the contents of what lay beyond were slowly being revealed.

A grey-skinned figure continued to stand in the middle with his eyes closed. The surrounding area in a 5m radius was completely empty, save for the burnt ashes. The figure standing in the middle however was shockingly unhurt.

Not a single burn or scorch mark was present on Lucius' skin and neither was his patient's garb burnt!

The shadow underneath Lucius' feet had retreated and the black mists were no longer being produced or absorbed. Seeing that he had succeeded, Alex let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Just as he was about to talk, he heard the grey-skinned figure open its mouth.

"Are you done playing with your fire?" his tone was filled with mockery.

Alex watched as Lucius opened his eyes.

A beautiful pair of heterochromatic eyes. One gold and the other crimson. However, the eyes did not contain indifference like it usually did.

Only a gaze of mockery and desire was present.

Lucius' mouth opened fully to showcase the rows of teeth within. Unlike the 32 individual tooth present in the human mouth, Lucius' mouth contained a staggering 120!

Each tooth was silver in color and was as sharp as daggers. Their purpose- to bite and tear anything they encounter.

"For interrupting my meal...." he spoke. Alex had not heard the sentence being completed when he suddenly saw Lucius' figure disappear.

Alex immediately pulled his hands together to form a guard and leaned forward to protect himself. His actions were completed in less than 0.1 seconds. His brain was quick to think and his body was even quicker to comply. A remarkable reaction time. One worthy of a trained warrior.

Unfortunately, Lucius was even faster.

The figure which stood about 15m away, now stood directly in front of Alex seemingly having teleported. A slender, grey hand punched Alex's body and his guard was immediately broken.

A large amount of force was delivered onto his chest as Alex felt a couple of ribs break under the impact. He threw up a mouthful of red blood and his eyes shrunk from the pain.

"...you shall pay with your flesh!" he finally heard the sentence complete near his ears.

Lucius' right hand shot towards Alex's neck and held him with an iron-like grip. He lifted the 1.82m tall, 90kg young man, effortlessly into the air. His mouth opened once again and Alex got to witness the horror of those saw-like teeth up close.

"Such a tasty looking soul! This will do!" Madness was the only emotion present in his eyes.

One bite and his life would end just like that.

Lucius however did not immediately bite. With the hand that was holding Alex, Lucius used his long, black nails and pierced into Alex's throat.

Alex's body which had been struggling earlier suddenly stiffened. He felt his body rapidly weakening as his soul power was being drawn towards Lucius.

To his horror, Alex could see his soul power being absorbed by Lucius! His blazing red soul power seemed powerless as it was pulled into Lucius' body.

"Wonderful! Such exquisite taste!" Lucius exclaimed. The madness in his eyes started to shine even brighter.

Not being able to hold back his instincts anymore, Lucius neared his mouth towards Alex's throat.

"A tasty soul. I wonder how your flesh tastes!" his teeth slowly pierced into Alex's skin. Just as Lucius was about to bite down, a loud bellow was heard in the background.

"Let him go!"

Followed by the shout was a bright flash of violet light which hit Lucius directly in his face.