Lord of Annihilation

Chapter 382: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.

Seeing his attack shred Willem into nothingness, Lucius used [Void Step] and instantly appeared over where the body had previously been. 

The shadows underneath his feet exploded, covering the space inside a dark veil. Lucius then constructed a barrier out of his [Annihilation Energy] to further reinforce this veil of darkness. 

After confirming that he had hidden this space sufficiently, Lucius reached his hand into the blue mist of blood and retrieved a small cluster of light.

This light cluster was extremely dense and solid and was similar in looks to Willem. This was the Condensed Soul that powerhouses in the Stage 4 and Stage 5 realm possessed.

A Condensed Soul was the precursor to the Existence Crystal which was the final evolution of a soul and the mark of entering the realm of Stage 6.

Holding the unnaturally heavy soul within his hand, Lucius saw an expression of extreme anguish on the figure's face. 

The light of intelligence was still present within its eyes as the figure, upon seeing Lucius holding it, immediately let out soundless shrieks of rage and unwillingness. 

From Stage 4 onwards, the loss of the physical body does not result in immediate death. If an entity still possessed a majority of its lifespan, its body would automatically recreate itself after some time at the cost of an exorbitant amount of energy and lifespan.

Of course, it went without saying that their souls must not be disturbed during this process. The number of times that they could be disturbed and restart the recreation process was limited and depended upon the strength and Stage of their soul. 

And then there was the final factor; Limbo.

As mentioned previously, Limbo was the final destination for souls upon death. 

All souls, after having lost their physical bodies will be pulled into Limbo where their strength, will, and memories will be stripped away until nothing remains. The pure soul will then wait until the time for its reincarnation comes at which point it will reenter the Universe in the form of a new life.

This rule remained true during the aforementioned case of physical body reconstruction.

As such, when the powerhouses, who had lost their physical body, try to recreate it, they will face hindrances from Limbo as it tried to draw their soul back into the cycle of reincarnation. These hindrances will naturally grow stronger as more time passes.

As such, powerhouses seeking to recreate their bodies will have to consider this into their calculations before they start the process. 

The whole ordeal was severely complicated and nightmarishly difficult.

Unfortunately, Willem, who was now in Lucius' hands, had never considered the possibility of him losing his physical body and hence hadn't made any preparations for it. 

As such, he could only shoot resentful looks towards his opponent who had brought him to this fate while waiting for Limbo to claim him.

Unfortunately, Lucius wasn't quite done dealing with Willem.

After performing one final check at the barrier that he had created, Lucius then brought the hand holding the soul towards his face while opening his mouth.

The look of hatred within the small soul figure's face turned confused for a second before becoming horrified. The soundless screeches and yells that exited its mouth increased in both intensity and frequency.

Alas, it was of no use.

Bringing it to his mouth, Lucius unhesitantly swallowed the soul and gulped. The instant the soul entered his body it was immediately assaulted in all directions by the Void Eater's unique power and was immediately torn apart and reduced to the purest of soul energy. 

Closing his eyes, his eyelids shuddered as Lucius felt an incomparable bliss fill his entire body. The divine feeling made his mind blank out for a second as his body relished Willem's taste.

It was an exquisite feeling.

"Ah~" Releasing a low moan, Lucius opened his eyes and took a moment to gather himself. He then took a look at his own soul and saw that it was almost halfway towards the next minor realm.

'A single Mid-Level Stage 4 soul and my progress leaped by 35%. Five or six more and I will be able to reach Mid-Level myself.' (AN: Addition is not cumulative)

The second this thought flashed across Lucius' mind, he immediately turned his head and locked his gaze on Earnest, who stood frozen with shock.

Immediately removing the barrier around him, Lucius entered the void while simultaneously sending out new instructions.

"Invade that other World."

With Willem's death, the purplish-green World had also begun to automatically collapse. As such, the corpses invading the World had lost their purpose and silently stood while awaiting new orders.

And now it was given, the corpses started to move towards Earnest's World.

A deluge of boney, decaying corpses crashed against his World's Boundary and desperately clawed at it, wanting to tear open an entrance. 

(AN: Little thing I forgot to mention in the previous chapter. The Mental Worlds have a barrier around their boundary that prevents things from the outside to come in. In order to invade another's World, this barrier must first be torn apart.

Previously, Willem's Solar Extinction Flare managed to make it past Lucius' Boundary by the virtue of it being a very powerful attack. Of course, it didn't make it far as you've already seen. 

Then, in order to invade Willem's World, Lucius used his forces to force open an entrance. I glossed over this fact in the previous chapter, and am only elaborating it once again.)

Stepping out of the void, Lucius arrived at the edge of Earnest's Boundary where his army of endless corpses was struggling to enter. 

Re-equipping the scythe, he assumed a combat stance and moved.

"[First Movement: Slash]"

The blade swung out and effortlessly tore through the Boundary of Earnest's World. The deluge of stampeding corpses immediately swarmed through the entrance and rushed to destroy the pure-black space.

Lucius did not bother causing such minor destruction and rushed towards the heart of the World. His gaze that was locked onto Earnest noticed the latter trying to escape by sacrificing a part of his World.

While such an action would significantly harm his foundation and cause his power level to fall significantly, it would at least help him maintain his life.

With his abundant experience, Lucius immediately caught what Earnest was trying to do and hence pushed his speed to its limits. He could not allow Earnest to successfully escape as that was not in line with his mission.

Plus, it would be a shame to lose a chance at consuming another delicious soul.

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"Fu*k, Fu*k, Fu*k, Fu*kFU*K!!" Earnest cussed out at the top of his lungs. His mind was still in a state of shock while his heart intensely palpitated with fear. 

'HeHe killed him! Willem died to that demon!!' his thoughts were in disarray as he recalled the scene from a few moments ago.

With a single swing of his weapon, Lucius had completely destroyed Willem's body! 

A SINGLE SWING!!

'H-how is he s-so strong?! WHY IS HE SO STRONG!!?' Unfortunately, Earnest did not know the answer to this question. And even if he knew, it wouldn't matter too much.

Earnest, being the true-blood, rational Magus that he was, immediately understood the gulf between himself and the young demon. While the young demon might seem weak, he was actually a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Earnest's confidence was utterly broken and his will to fight was entirely non-existent. Right now, only one thought filled his mind.

'I need to live! I need to escape this place!!' The phrase continuously repeated within his mind like a spell.

But alas, it was not to be so.

For the wolf wearing sheep's clothing had already caught up.

"[Second Movement: Shred]"

Earnest's body and the space surrounding it were torn apart and his unwilling soul landed inside the wolf's grasp.

And just like that, the feats under the name of 'Black Blade' Lucius grew:

1. Caused the destruction of Royal Giant City, killing thousands of Giants in the process.

2. Killed two 'Ambassadors' of the Grand Alcana Empire; Sir Willem Kroft and Sir Earnest Cuttil.