Lord of Annihilation

Time passed as the spaceship boarded by Alex finally reached Earth. 

Stepping onto the ground and inhaling the scent of fresh air into his lungs, Alex felt strangely reminiscent.

"Ah. Home once again." he said with a light smile.

Turning his head to look at the devil/mentor, he asked.

"Ever been to Earth before?" 

Anya who had descended from the spaceship, while carrying her luggage heard his question. She shook her head and replied.

"No, I haven't. This is my first time." 

She looked around and saw the busy spaceport with an innumerable number of people moving to and fro. Looking up, the sky was blue and cloudless. The light of the sun gently entered the atmosphere and provided a refreshing warmth. The air was clean and fresh, and most importantly it was natural.

Having landed on Earth, Anya felt a mysterious connection to the planet. She felt like a traveler returning home after wandering distant places for a long time.

'Is this humanity's mother planet? What a strange feeling.' she thought to herself.

Looking at the dazed expression present on Anya's face, Alex teased.

"What's with that country bumpkin-like expression on your face?"

Anya simply snorted in response and did not bother to reply.

"Want a tour? There is still a few hours before we have to report to the Academy." seeing the serious expression on her face, Alex offered.

The orders given to Alex were to report at the central island of the Earth Alliance Academy, where his assistance would be required at his next post. As for what that assistance was, he did not know. 

Looking at the time, Alex noticed that they still had a few hours before the time of reporting. As such, he decided to act as a guide for Anya and show her around the city.

Hearing his offer, Anya lightly nodded her head. 

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"See that shop over there. It has the best nutritional drinks in the entire city. A little on the expensive side, but the effects are simply excellent!"

"Oh! That place is the private gym where I used to go for my training. It has the Combat Imagery facility and also a full immersion room. Not a lot of people come here, so it is a really quiet environment for training. Just as I like!"

"Ah, that place is a martial dojo, that practices in the fist arts. I used to go there for some time before I started to learn the spear. Great place with great teachers!"

"This place....is popular among the students, I think? I don't really know. Never been here before, but there was a lot of talk about this place among the students."

"See that place. It's an arcade with this really popular VR mech-fighting game. It's really popular amongst the military students. I used to come to this place for a while, but it got really boring after some time. The matches were simply too easy."

One by one, Alex walked around the Commercial District of the city, while introducing Anya to the various points of interest. However, instead of going to the various landmarks and tourist locations, he brought her to places that he found interesting.

As they went from one place to another, Anya started to get a little speechless. Unable to withhold her curiosity she directly asked.

"Say... you don't have any friends, do you?" 

Alex who was walking in front of her suddenly stumbled upon hearing that question. Turning around he asked hesitantly.

"Wh-why are you asking me that?" Alex's tone was very awkward.

Seeing his reaction, Anya immediately understood. Her eyebrows curved as a teasing smile appeared on her beautiful face.

"I see...I see..." she nodded her head and a pitying look appeared within her eyes. Staring directly into Alex's eyes, she spoke.

"No wonder you are showing me around to such loner-like places. You spend all your time alone with no friends, don't you, Sir General." the corners of her mouth rose to form a mocking smile.

Hearing her words, Alex's face reddened in shame. Her incisive words had directly struck at his sore spots. 

It was indeed as she has said. Alex had no proper friends during his time in the Academy. 

It wasn't that he isn't popular, in fact, it was the opposite. Alex was a very popular person whose name was known by almost every citizen in the Alliance. 

He was ranked in the top 10 amongst the 'Brilliant Stars' Ranking.

The 'Brilliant Stars' Ranking referred to a ranking amongst the youngest generation of the prominent families. Being ranked amongst the 'Brilliant Stars' was proof of one's extraordinary talent, potential, and achievements.

The greater one's accomplishment, the higher one's ranking within the 'Brilliant Stars'. As such, the one's that were ranked lower were allowed to challenge the higher-ranked for their position in the ranking.

Achievements could be of any kind. It could be becoming a talented musician, a genius strategist. or a renowned scientist. Any improvement or new innovation in an established field counted as an achievement, with the goal being improving mankind.

What were the benefits of such a ranking, you ask? Simply put it was- greater recognition.

In order to elevate the standing of one's family, one needed sufficient connections within society. Being highly ranked within this list meant that one reputation and future prospects were higher. As such, they would be able to form better connections and get acquainted with a bigger circle of people.

Alex Hellwig, Reyna Snowden, the heir of the White family, all of these youngsters representing their families ranked within this list. As such, Alex never lacked any popularity amongst his peers.

And this was also where the problem lay. 

Being ranked in the top 10, Alex faced many situations where other students would worship him or approach him with unkind intentions. Rather than getting close to him as a friend, they would try to get to know him for his connections. 

Considering Alex's arrogant and straightforward personality, he looked down on such petty plots and voluntarily isolated himself from the others. This, in turn, resulted in him having titles such as, 'Ice Prince' or 'Lone Wolf' which served to further increase his reputation forming a vicious cycle.

Of course, he could try to form bonds with the others on the 'Brilliant Stars' Ranking. However, the young geniuses here also possessed similar pride and arrogance like Alex and were more fixated on getting a higher ranking. As a result of which, he was usually met with challenges when trying to communicate with others.

It had to be noted that, only the youngsters belonging to the influential families were ranked within this list. Commoner students such as Lucius or Olivia were not included. However, even if they did, it was very hard for them to attain a higher ranking.

Firstly, the lowest ranking in this list was 500. That is to say, there were at least 500 young geniuses whose abilities and achievements were great enough to be publically recognized.

And secondly, commoners had no support. While they might be able to get an initial ranking, they would find it very difficult to maintain it or surpass their initial ranking. Coming from an influential family, meant having a higher starting point. 

Was it fair? Of course not!

But this was how cruel society was. If one was born as a commoner, their highest achievement would be becoming the subordinate of a 'Brilliant Star'. To be recruited by an influential family and work under them until death.

If not for the Ascension and the events that followed, Lucius' fate would have also been the same. He would have never become the Stage 7 [Killer] he was and would have ended up working as an assistant or an ordinary salaryman.

Fate was truly a mysterious thing.

Returning to the story, Alex grit his teeth and replied.

"No."

Seeing the serious look on his fact, Anya decided not to tease him further. The previously light mood had disappeared and a tense atmosphere had set in. An awkward silence prevailed.

"Cough. Cough... Do you know of any restaurants here? I'm getting quite hungry you know." being the older and therefore more mature amongst the two, Anya spoke up.

"..Well, I know a restaurant that everyone says is good but have never personally visited there. Should we try?" Alex thought for a moment before he replied.

Anya strolled past Alex and lightly smiled.

"What are we waiting for? Lead the way." she sweetly spoke.

The previous atmosphere returned as Alex smiled and nodded in response.

"Follow me."

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Quickly arriving at their destination, the duo entered the restaurant. 

Seeing the military attire of the duo, the waiters within the restaurant became greatly respectful and tended to them with great care. 

Choosing a meal of their liking, the two of them started to eat. After having the tasteless liquid meals and dry rations aboard the spaceship, the tastebuds of the duo were greatly craving for something tasty. 

As such, the reputation of the restaurant did not let them down. The meals were carefully prepared and were incredibly tasty. So much so, that looks of absolute satisfaction and bliss could be seen on the duo's faces.

During their meal, they also paid attention to the holographic screen, which was playing the message from the Alliance. Naturally, it was related to the Ascension.