Lord of Annihilation

Chapter 25: The Monster Within- Part 1

Delving into this mind space, Lucius noticed the newly acquired white haze in the centre of the reddish-black soul. It was being rapidly dissolved into a stream of pure energy and being sent into his body. Lucius tracked the flow of the energy and noticed it was heading towards the injury in his abdomen.

Compared to the injury on his leg which was the result of Lucius' ploy, his injury in his abdomen was far more serious. Coming back outside his mind space, Lucius noticed his abdomen itching a lot. Lifting his shirt, he noticed that the blood flow had already stopped and new muscles were growing in its place.

Lucius was completely shocked. Even in his 300 years of existence he had never seen or heard of such a thing happening.

'That white haze must be that man's soul.', concluding this much, he drew in a sharp breath of air. A soul of another organism was simply indestructible. This was an immutable law. Much like how fire is hot, this was a fundamental law of this universe. The 'Rule' of the cosmos.

Rules were indisputable and inviolable. Everything in the cosmos obeyed the fundamentals called the Rules. Even Lucius or Ka'lor'ah at their peaks were no exceptions.The 'Rule of Souls' was one of the highest Rules in existence. Yet, seemingly Lucius had just broken this fundamental rule.

The soul represented the proof of existence of a person and can never be destroyed. Not even 'they' can destroy the soul and can only tinker with it.

If he could destroy a soul, it meant that.....

Lucius took a deep breath to calm his thoughts. He was not an expert on this topic like Ka'lor'ah.

'i must ask her about this when I get out.' Lucius thought to himself.

He then proceeded to look at the body on the ground. The headless body lay there unmoving.

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'I mustn't have killed him', Lucius thought to himself.

He himself was quite confused. SInce the time Lucius woke up, he did not feel like he was in control of his body. The usage of charm to gather information from him, calling the human an 'ant' and subsequently killing him all of this was done subconsciously by him. His mind automatically moved his body and executed this set of actions.

Lucius felt unnerved at this thought. Not having control over one's body was unacceptable , it usually meant being under the control of someone else.

The deep hunger he felt, returned promptly after the healing was done. His abdomen was completely healed and not even the scar could be seen. Yet the hunger he felt now was even greater, the brightness of Lucius eyes slowly increased.

The hunger was slowly growing.

'Need more souls.' this thought popped into his mind. Strangely Lucius did not reject it and continued to head down the path that the man was taken.

According to the man. 'The Pit' lay on the other side. The hunger Lucius felt urged him to move towards that path. Whatever was there could satisfy his hunger.

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Lucius walked through the long tunnels, the tunnels were shrouded in darkness, save for a few flickering lights placed at even distances. Usually, Lucius would have proceeded with caution, as the chances of ambush were quite high in such places. However none of those thoughts were present on his mind.

With every step that he took, Lucius felt the hunger in him grow stronger and stronger.

'What's happening to me?', Lucius felt really confused. Such a thing had never happened to him before.

'Is it because I consumed that soul. But 'Killer' isn't supposed to have such abilities.' His steps continued to grow quicker and quicker and his thoughts were being forced out.

'Eat! I need to eat!', this was the only thought that was clouding his mind. What started as a calm walk at the beginning, had almost devolved into a crazed dash. The hunger he felt inside him was urging him to go faster. A different sense of pain assaulted his mind. His eyes were now radiating light. The bright crimson light leaking out of his eyes, would unnerve anyone who could see it.

He kept moving faster and faster till he came across a iron gate. On the other side of the gate, was a dense jungle. Tall trees and large bushes filled the entire area and painted it green.

Lucius madly leapt onto the the iron gates and tried to break it apart. He even mobilized his soul power, yet the iron gates did not budge. In the first place, it wasn't iron at all.

"Looks like all participants are here. Wonderful!", a excited male voice was suddenly heard.

The voice then cleared it's throat and said, "Welcome to all my wonderful patrons for joining us today. Oh what is this I see, a full house. Excellent!", the voice exclaimed.

"For all people who love to see blood. The ones who crave for gore. The men and women whose bloods boil for battle, I am very happy to announce another round of 'The Pit'."

"100 men will enter but only 1 shall prevail! As always, exciting battles and gruesome deaths are promised. The bets are now open and can be freely placed. Choose your warriors wisely and you may end up winning a lot."

Waiting for a few minutes for all the bets to be placed, the man then continued.

"Ooh so many rich patrons today. Looks like this rounds going to extra fun. Well then, without further ado, I proclaim this round of 'The Pit' to BEGIN!!"

On his cue, the iron gate stopping Lucius immediately opened up. Lucius jumped forth and hid into the bushes.By now all semblance of rationality had seemingly left Lucius. He was no longer resembling a human youth and was completely following his instincts.

Hunger had literally driven him mad.

Lucius looked up into the air and sniffed. A small amount of reddish-black haze escaped his nostrils and moved towards a certain direction.

Noticing that, Lucius immediately begin running after it.

'Eat! EAt! Eat! EAT! EAT!', all the thoughts that filled his mind were of satisfying his own hunger.

He jumped from tree to tree with astounding grace and agility. Every time he moved, small bursts of his soul energy radiated of his feet and hands.

The speed Lucius was moving with was simply inhuman. His body stretched to its limits and his limbs moved with uncharacteristic ease. It resembled a predator in hunt of it's prey. The injuries on his body felt non-existent at this moment.

Running in speeds which could rival the likes a vehicle, Lucius quickly arrived at a certain spot and stopped. It had taken him less than a minute to reach this place, making a testament to his speed.

His body immediately hid itself among the the available foliage and carefully positioned itself. Although Lucius' body was now moving with it's instincts it still understood the dangerous situation it was in. He felt felt the eyes of someone or something constantly watching him. Although he ran in a strange manner, it was done so in order to avoid this gaze.

Lying in wait, Lucius' body scouted it's surroundings. It was now sure that nobody was watching it and checked to confirm this.

The small bit of soul power that was pointing the direction all along, still pointed towards a certain spot. Lucius was lying in a underbush, beside a large tree. Seemingly in wait for something. A characteristic fact of any successful hunt was patience. Though, Lucius mind was clouded and his ability to think was non-existent, this hunting behaviour that had surprisingly awoken inside him, knew the fact.

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Although this place resembled a jungle, it was in fact situated underneath the city. This fact was further proved by the stone ceiling that could be seen directly above.

The jungle like scene was created to improve the viewers excitement as they saw prey(other humans) hunt each other. To the people watching 'The Pit' is was no more than a form of entertainment. A mere method to pass time. Many rich tycoons and people from influential families often came here to view these battles.

The jungle setting was not the only setting available and many other such settings existed. The settings were swapped out and new ones were used for every round.

The humans placed inside The Pit consisted of many varieties. There existed the criminal ones, the adventurous ones, the ones seeking money, the ones threatened, or in Lucius case, ones placed for death.

One thing that was common among all participants was that they were all heartless. They strived to take lives in the most brutal way possible.

Rather than calling them humans, beasts were a more appropriate term

But, little did they know, they had unknowingly placed a 'real beast' among them, this round.