Capítulo 20: Chapter 20: Embracing the Darkness

"What… are you?"

The quiet Waldo did not know what was louder; the whisper of disbelief escaping his mouth, or his blood dripping from Lucian's mouth. Waldo had met several normal humans in his life due to the nature of his job — even his boss was a normal human.

He knew how the lowest of the low acted, how weak and submissive they were. And so, he was sure that the person hanging on the ceiling right now like some sort of lizard was not a human at all. Lucian's eyes were completely dark, but it almost seemed like it was glowing in certain angles.

Waldo could feel hints of lith in his Lucian, but barely even a tinge, and even weaker than him.

"What—"

And before Waldo could continue speaking, Lucian suddenly disappeared from the ceiling. Waldo was about to look for him, but he just suddenly stood in front of him without even whispering a sound.

"Have you killed people before, Waldo?" Lucian tilted his head to the side; his words, filled with breath and an almost quiet growl, "How many?"

"Grah!" Waldo did not answer him at all and just swung his fist straight at the bottom of Lucian's chin. Lucian, however, just tilted his head back; his eyes that were not looking at anyone's eyes, not looking straight into Waldo's.

Waldo did not seem to care about this, however, as he once again swung his fist; giving a right hook straight toward Lucian's cheek, and then ducking while punching straight toward his stomach.

Waldo continued to attack, even switching his stance to try and confuse Lucian. But none really hit as Lucian just took several steps back to avoid all of it — there was no frustration in Waldo's face, however, and his lips even curled as soon as Lucian's back finally hit the corner of the wall.

"Got you," Waldo whispered as he drew closer to Lucian, switching his stance again while gritting his teeth,

"Seven Hells Uppercut!"

Lucian's eyes slightly widened as he heard Waldo's sudden roar, but after his initial surprise, he quickly just ducked down and quickly crawled away as Waldo slammed his fists upward into the wall several times; completely shaving the cement wall with his fists.

"Why would you telegraph your moves, Waldo?" Lucian seemed visibly confused as he slowly stood up, and true to Waldo's words, he punched 7 times even though Lucian was already able to dodge his first attempt. Of course, Waldo's fists were fast, but none of them really hit Lucian in the first place.

It was weird, however, the rush of emotions that Lucian was feeling was new to him; foreign, even. The only time he could really feel like this was whenever he was with Malenia — it was a welcome feeling, but not in the current circumstance.

There was… a sort of excitement boiling in him, almost as strong as the boiling in his stomach.

"I'm really starting to get hungry, Waldo," Lucian then let out a long and very deep sigh, "I am truly sorry about what is going to happen next."

"Hm, you suddenly turned talkative," Waldo grunted as he put up his fists again. He was about to say something else, but just squinted his eyes as he saw Lucian also raising his fists… and completely mirroring his stance. Waldo just stared at Lucian's completely dark eyes for a few breaths, before just rushing toward him again.

Lucian also rushed toward him at the same time, bobbing and ducking his head the same as Waldo. And as soon as Waldo was about to attack, Lucian did so first and hit him straight on the nose.

"!!!" Waldo felt his consciousness almost fade there and then — he had been punched by someone of the same Cultivation level before, but it was not like this at all; he could, at the very least, force his way through the punch and counter one of his own…

…but Lucian's single hit almost incapacitated him, and his lith was obviously lower than his.

"Kh!" Waldo then quickly put up his guard as Lucian threw a hook at his right cheek — but could not help but be shocked as Lucian just stopped an inch from hitting him, and instead punched him straight on the side of his stomach with his other fist, causing him to just fly for almost a meter into the air.

Waldo gasped; struggling to breathe as he felt his ribs completely shattering and pinning through his lungs — a mistake, because as soon as he landed on the ground with his focus completely faded, Lucian was already there to welcome him with a stance that was extremely familiar to Waldo.

Seven Hells Uppercut.

"!!!" And each one of them hit him straight on the chin, completely shattering his jaw and even causing some of the bones to pierce through his flesh. He almost lost consciousness again… and perhaps he should have.

Because what happened next was brutal.

With Waldo completely disoriented and his legs giving out like wet noodles, Lucian grabbed him by the shoulder and thigh and then lifted him up over his head; the very same thing that Waldo did to Lucian at the start.

Waldo braced himself by covering his head with his hands… but Lucian did not slam him to the ground at all—no.

"Kh…!?" Waldo's eyes widened as soon as he felt Lucian's grip tightening. And as he felt his limbs, flesh, and spine starting to stretch, he violently wiggled and struggled, "What… what are you—!!!"

"Ha…" And without even letting him finish his words, Lucian let out a loud hiss as he split apart and completely tore Waldo's large body in half; letting his blood and guts shower over him without even a slight hint of disgust. If anything, there was a small smile crawling on Lucian's face as blood dripped into his mouth.

"Ha…hahaha…" Lucian let out a quiet chuckle as he let go of Waldo's torn body. He then stared at Waldo's lifeless face for a few seconds before just crouching down and retrieving his knife from his bag and proceeding to dig for his lithium.

Lucian did not need to at all, however, as Waldo's lithum was already hanging from his intestines.

"Convenient," Lucian whispered out as he just picked up the lithum and proceeded to just crack it with his sharp teeth and chew on it like it was just a stick of carrot. He was about to return his knife to his bag as he felt himself feeling satiated by the second, but then squinted his eyes as he looked at Waldo's corpse again, "It will be a waste to just leave you here. I suppose…

…I could save money if I just loot your flesh and eat it for later, Waldo. You won't be needing it, after all."

And with those words, Lucian just expertly started slicing Waldo's flesh; starting with his thigh, and then moving onto his chest, and arms. And as Lucian was satisfied that he had enough, he just grabbed a plastic bag from his bag and placed it there like they were groceries.

"Ha…" Lucian then let out a long and very deep breath as his emotions began to return to their normal, numb state. And very soon, his eyes also returned to normal — Lucian was about to leave the abandoned building that was Ferguson's office, but his eyes caught a glimpse of the locked shelf where Ferguson was keeping all of his goods.

Lucian looked to the side for a few seconds to think, before just shrugging his shoulders and approaching the closet; crushing the lock with his bloody bare hands before carefully picking everything he needed.

"Waldo, what is taking you so long!? What the—what are you doing running through my stash!?"

And as Lucian was about to close the shelf, Ferguson finally entered the building.

"Mr. Ferguson…" Lucian glanced back; his face completely stoic and the tone of his voice regaining its monotony,

"...Good timing."

"W… what's going on here?"