Lord Joyde The Madman: Heylo, everyone! How are you all doing?

Its been a while since the last chapter and I must say, those 16/5star ratings aren't making things any easier.

You guys love putting pressure on me, don't you?

One hours later... - Lucius' Point Of View...

"So, since my beloved husband has decided to throw you into our little party here without any mention of it to anyone else, would you be so kind as to introduce yourself, my dear?" A grey haired, but not elderly woman glared at me from the front seat as I twisted in the back of the van. Mr Faust seems to be a bit forgetful sometimes, as I didn't exactly think I'd be shoved into a hover-van without any seat."My name is Lucius, though people usually just call me Lu."

"Just Lucius?... how rude." I shrugged at Miss Faust."There's no need to worry, miss. I'll be out of your hair as soon as we arrive."

Mr Faust, to his credit, just let out a massive sigh."Right... I threw my stuff into that blue box in the corner next to ya, kid. Might be a good idea to gear up before we arrive." Just as he said that, the hover-van jumped as it hit against a bit of wind, causing me to nearly hit my head on the ceiling."I'll do my best."

"You're Lucius Prodigium, right?!" The couples only daughter, who also seemed to be the eldest of the trio, a teenager to be exact, suddenly jumped up from her seat in excitement."Um.. yes?"

"OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG! I'M IN THE VAN WITH THE HERO!" She screeched at the top of her lungs, causing us all to cover our ears, her younger brothers each giving me the biggest stink eye I've ever witness in my life."Hero? Clara, darling, what are you screaming about?" Her mother, whose name is Clarice by the way, asked with sudden interest within her gaze.

"DON'T YOU GUYS WATCH THE TV?! HE'S FROM-" Her father had enough."QUIET! Boys, keep your sister down." The two younger siblings eagerly pushed their overly-energetic sister back into her seat. I coughed into my right fist."Remember how I said I was from HZ42?... I'm the guy who killed those rakers."

Mr Faust blinked in surprise."Oh. Oh... Oh, I -... I understand." The mother seemed adamant on prying more information, but her husband turned towards her with a negative shake of his head."No, honey. Let the boy be, he's been through too much."

"Lemme go, you little shits!" The girl rummaged through her entire attire and I let out a massive breath of relief once I realized she couldn't find what she was looking for."Ah-fuck!... where the fuck is my phone!?"

"I took your phone and locked it away at home. The same goes for you, boys." The mother replied with an arrogant smirk and tone. I would have thanked this woman, but I don't feel like it. Her personality is genuinely bad... then again, I am about to murder her entire family so maybe its just her motherly instinct acting up.

Anyways, I promptly ignore the family's antics and decide to check out Mr Faust's gear. The second I opened the blue box in question, my eyes went flying wide open."Is this... a kinetic, repeater shotgun?" Oh my.

Faust swallowed down hard and turned around to give me a pleading look. I shrugged and nodded, much to his wife's curiosity."What? Is something wrong with my husbands gear?"

I blinked as I stared at her in a disbelieving manner."No, miss. Its just... unusual. Most people simply use rifles, but I don't blame your husband for using a shotgun. You can never know what you'll run into on this alien world." To explain: shotguns are illegal as hunting weapons.

Perfect for me. Looking back into the box, the guy seems to have a pair of gloves as well~.

"Alien? ... oh, greeeaaat, you're a homeworlder too." Now she was rolling her eyes."Excuse me?"

"Nothing, nothing. Just stay the fuck away from our picnic." My jaw was wide but I didn't reply."FUUUCK THAT! You've gotta come eat with us! Pleeeasse?!" The daughter exclaimed with a begging tone, directly mainly at her mother."Sorry, little lady, but I've got surveying to do."

She quieted down, seemingly in understanding."Um, okay but, will we see more of you?"

I blinked in confusion."Uh, what do you mean by that?"

"Will you be doing a collab with Foxymoon?!" I tilted my head, even more confused."... what?"

"I mean, you're her b-boyfriend, right?!" Now, I was completely flabbergasted."... erm, no?"

"... but she commented on -ah, never mind! That mean's you're free, right?!" I shook my head in negative as she pointed towards herself suggestively, much to the chagrin of her younger brothers."No, thank you. I already have a woman in my life and I do not want or need more."

"Smart man..." Faust muttered out and nonchalantly blocked a few slaps from his wife with an arm."Awww... how boring." Thankfully, that seems to be the last we heard from the daughter.

And I decidedly kept my mouth shut, even with all the obviously excessive weaponry that Mr Faust carried around. Hmm.. for a hunter, even if there's a thousand credits at stake, he seemed quite willing to throw away his zone. How very suspicious~...

"We're here." The man in question suddenly exclaimed, waking me from a short but valuable trance. The hover-van landed fairly easily in a forested clearing. The trees around here were freshly cut down and remade into fashionable wooden furniture, perfect for a family picnic in a peaceful place far away from civilization. It seems these two decided that their kids were too much into technology.

Or well, the mother decided it. We all got out of the van without a problem and the man spent a few seconds addressing his children and wife before turning around towards me and blinking in surprise, panic and confusion."H-hey! You can't bring that with you! The govs will have my head if you hunt with it!" He whispered with a tone of uncertainty.

What I had in my hands was the very illegal shotgun from before. I turned towards the and smiled wickedly as I positioned the weapon to his chest."Good thing for you then, that I won't be hunting with it~." With a sing along voice, I pulled the trigger.

Time seemed to slow down, much as it did when I fought the raker matriarch. His head burst into smithereens as his family's faces immediately twisted with horror and despair. I felt my expression twisting alongside theirs as the blood covered the rich, blackened soil.

It seemed that the rain hasn't stopped during the short time I was away.

The two boys both fell as they turned to run, their mother covering them with her body.

Not that it did much to help anyone, as my next shot blasted a hole through her entire back. And since she was kind enough to hug her boys tightly, their faces went alongside her own flesh. I began chuckling madly as I slowly approached the now silently screeching fangirl.

And laughed as I watched the yellow pool between her legs. Her mouth was agape, her eyes already blaring with grief. Suddenly, she turned her body and slammed a hand onto the ground, sending a patch of dirt directed at my eyes. Alas, even blinded, my shotgun was positioned towards her and I fired.

This did not kill her immediately, unlike her family. No, it filled the forests with a beautiful scream as her foot was separated from her right leg, an explosion of gore and blood that covered me further. Cleaning off the wet dirt took a while, enough time for her to reach for a stone.

She tried to pull it out, possibly hoping to throw that at me too. Alas..."Shouldn't have skipped leg day, eh?" I laughed out loudly as I aimed directly at her head and wasted no time blowing it off.

The adrenaline died down as her life was extinguished and I felt myself suddenly... weakened.

Numb.

... in much the same way one feels after an incredible orgasm. The gun fell from my grasp and I took in a massive breath, enjoying the already forming stench of death to the fullest."Haa..." A deep exhale left my body and I felt even lighter, like a long-lost treasure had finally been returned.

The feeling...

Of murder.

Crimson, eldritch energies surged from the ground as the world seemed to lose all color once again.

Yet this time, only red remained.

Their blood covered everything.

The soil, the trees, the rocks.

The sun, the skies and clouds too.

Everything was red.

Everything was blood.

Everything was...

A sharp pain formed within my abdomen. It was.. a familiar kind of pain yet not one I experience frequently.

A pain I haven't felt since I ran away from father and found some sense of stability in my life.

Hunger.

No..

Starvation.

Then the crimson coloration receded and left the world nearly colorless, only the corpses and the blood splatters on the ground were still red, still colored. I found myself staring at the girl's broken body... her young flesh, her teenage meat.. it looked so..

Good.

So..

Delicious.

So... hungry...

With my right hand, I reached for her bleeding flesh, spurts of blood still leaping for the air from the shattered meat. And I found that my fingers were... long.

Her body was... within close reach.

I do not remember it being so close?

I blinked.

And the confusion devoured the haze that had consumed me, even if only for the briefest moments. There was a pond nearby, I could smell the water. My hunger forgotten, I rushed towards it and found the springs crystal clear. It gained coloration, almost as if I just remembered that water was supposed to be blue and not grey.

Another blink as I finally reached the pond. It seems... I have transformed.

My current body was around a meter and a half tall, given that I was hunched over. My legs had become like that of a lion, with the addition of deer-like hooves at the ends instead of paws or feet. My torso was grotesquely elongated, but humanoid nonetheless. My hands, stick like, with clawed fingers which seemed to be made for the exact purpose of slicing or impaling.

On my forehead was a set of deer-like antlers, protruding and twisting backwards. Upon each antler was rotted skin, showing the bone beneath, almost as if I was malnourished. My back, broad and muscled, was covered in mycellian fumaroles, almost volcanic-formations made out of white, deathly meat and bone.

My skin, if it could still be called that, was more akin to bark than anything else, as it formed a think barrier between my flesh and the outside. I felt smaller than I was... the bark-skin was dead, like hair, without a trace of blood rushing through.

And my face...

Appeared to be shaped like a caved-in human skull without any skin upon it, though it was covered in my bark, with the lower jaw seeming very much broken. Near my forehead were also four extra eyes, one of which was open now.

Three open eyes.... yet, my vision did not really change much. It seems, while open, the eye was still blind. I tried to open my mouth in order to see my tongue and found that my lower jaw could be dislocated and reformed at will, sort of like that of a feeding snake.

My tongue lashed outwards and struck against a tree, managing to slice it in half. Its uppermost part was covered in sticky slime, which nearly made me swallow a branch. Thankfully, I ripped the branch off of my own tongue before it could land inside. So I have a bladed, toad-like tongue?

Interesting.

Anyways, I assume this new form is your doing, Lu?

The ancient being merely chuckled at my question and replied seemingly in its own voice rather than my stolen one."No. This form... is of your own making. It seems that your profession has seeped into your very soul. And that hunger... hmm! Maybe, even if your power were born of my energy, it seems that you won't be able to grow stronger in exactly the same way..."

"What do you mean?" I turned back around and ran towards the corpses I left behind, smashing the shotgun on my way there as I began to gleefully consume the remains of the Faust family. The taste of the flesh was... euphoric!"Us Dormient are able to gleam power from every murder, regardless of how that murder was committed. Naturally, the greater the sin, the greater the power that may be gleamed... but it seems that you are bound by a few... limitations."

I blinked in confusion and grumbled as the last of the corpses was gone, consumed entirely, even the clothes. My gaze wandered around the forest and I found them settling on a peculiar shade of red in the familiar shape of a ripstag...

A lone ripstag? Must have lost a fight against a rival and was exiled from his herd. What an unlucky day for this guy~. My charge toppled over a few trees as I rushed the poor animal and sent it flying into the air as my right arm punched its abdomen from below. I felt myself leap into the air after it, my jaw unhinging wide open.

The way my throat took on the shape of the ripstag as I swallowed it in its entirety was almost comical.

... the sound of its tearing bones and ripping flesh was not, but I took great joy in it nonetheless. Anyways, you were saying something about limitation, Lu?"Hmm, yes. It seems that you are only capable of consuming the essence of.. *worthy* kills. Meaning that weak prey will only feed your hunger, but not the need itself."

Huh.

That almost sounds like a vampire or werewolf. How werewolves can eat animals but they still have the risk of transforming and vampires must drain their victims dry or be left unsatisfied."WHAT IN THE FUCK IS THAT?!" A man screamed from a nearby bush as I turned my head around.

The world was still completely grey, but everything living was emblazoned red. I felt myself chuckle.

Only prey was visible to me now. How wonderful.

Looks like...

Its time to hunt.

kILl.

bUTCher.

mUrDER!

RAVAGE!

That's it for this chapter! Hope you all enjoyed it!

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