Lord of Annihilation

A few hours after the procedure.

"…comparatively, 'Wild Fire' was the gang that was very troublesome to get rid of. The others, I was able to incite their greed and suppressed resentment to trigger infighting, before sweeping them in one fell swoop, however, this gang was very united and had the most number of 'Executives' as well." 

Seated opposite Lucius, Olivia recounted her experiences in Pandemonium while wearing a pouty expression. Her eyes stared at the ceiling, while occasionally turning towards Lucius while shooting a bitter look of discontent.

In short, Olivia was angry at Lucius' actions. Or perhaps, his inaction? 

Either way, after she had woken up and had gotten a sense of what had happened, Olivia proceeded to completely ignore Lucius and refused to acknowledge his presence, therefore expressing her anger in a childish form.

'Humph! I'm not talking to you. I'm going to completely ignore you.'

Lucius, who was subject to this ostracization, did not know that he was being given the cold shoulder and continued to mindlessly meditate. 

This did not help with resolving the situation, only serving to further fuel Olivia's dissatisfaction. She proceeded to angrily glare at him, all while trying to restrain her anger.

Ka'lor'ah who was witness to this quarrel barely managed to suppress her laughter. After quietly spectating the childish squabble for a few minutes, she stepped in to distract and placate Olivia, seeing as to how the latter was on the verge of lunging at Lucius and strangling him.

"So, how did you manage to deal with them?" Interested in Olivia's experiences, she questioned.

After shooting another glare of discontent towards Lucius, Olivia faced Ka'lor'ah before replying. "I brought in some outside help."

Confused, Ka'lor'ah asked, "Outside help?"

A proud smile formed on Olivia's face as she explained, "While gathering information about the 'Wild Fire Gang', I happened to stumble upon an interesting rumor." 

Locking her fingers, Olivia placed her hands beneath her chin and leaned into the table. 

"The Governor of the Moonwater City was hunting for a Lacerman who had a burnt scar on his right chest, for almost 20 years. Incidentally, I knew someone who met that requirement in this city."

"It was the right-hand man and sworn brother of the WildFire Gang's leader. A Lacerman called Krabul."

"Of course, simply trusting a rumor from 20 years ago would be foolish. So I sent some of my men on a scouting mission to Moonwater City to confirm the veracity of the rumor."

"Not only was the rumor true, but it seemed that the Governor of that city was still looking for the Lacerman. With some digging, I found out that Krabul was responsible for the murder of the Governor's mother, with the later swearing to end the murderer's life."

A smile bloomed on Olivia's face, as she continued. 

"Armed with this information, the next part was almost too easy. Pitting both the sides to war, I swooped in when things seemed to be going my way and effectively eliminated the gang."

"Not only was my biggest problem solved, but I also gained a reliable ally in the Moonwater City's Governor. The Governor of that city was a 'Faerie', and apparently, people of this race take promises very seriously."

"After that incident, there was only some cleanup and restructuring of order to do within the city itself. With the Moonwater City's help, it was easy to complete both these challenges."

"Pandemonium was a city with the largest volume of stolen and illegal goods. With such a resource in place, it would've been criminal of me to not turn it into a profitable venture. As such, with some help, I set up the largest trade hub and trade network this world had ever seen."

"Wow!" Ka'lor'ah gave voice to her exclamation. If not for her lack of hands, she would've definitely clapped at this point.

Not only did Olivia had a great mind for strategy and plotting, but she also had incredible management skills and a decent business sense. 

Ka'lor'ah had to admit, even if it was herself placed in Olivia's shoes, there was not much that she could have improved upon.

"The profits must've been enormous. How much did you profit from this venture?" Ka'lor'ah asked.

"1.3 million Spirit Coins. All in liquid assets." Olivia replied with a straight face.

Hearing that number, not only was Ka'lor'ah caught in a daze, even Lucius who was meditating silently by the side opened his eyes in shock.

Seeing their respective reactions, a worried look appeared on Olivia's face. "Is that not enough? I-I did not know what we would be doing next, so I tried to gather as many funds as possible. I heard that Spirit Coins are the universal currency within the Universe."

Feeling the blank stares of Lucius and Ka'lor'ah on her, Olivia started to panic. "Wa-was I not supposed to?"

Olivia's eyes nervously alternated between Lucius and Ka'lor'ah. In a certain sense, her actions resembled a startled deer. 

"Olivia." Ka'lor'ah called her out in an unusually deep tone, to which Olivia nervously replied, "Yes?"

"I love you." 

A confession that was said in the most serious tone possible.

"Huh?" Olivia just looked towards the floating crystal with confusion.

"I freaking love you! L-O-V-E Y-O-U! It's decided, you are officially my most precious and treasured disciple!!"

The dark-gold crystal dived into Olivia's figure while screaming the above line. Floating up to her face, Ka'lor'ah used her crystal body to squish Olivia's cheeks.

"You are simply the best! You have saved us so, so much time in the next phase of the plan!" Ka'lor'ah continued to roll around Olivia's body.

Even Lucius showed a rare sign of appreciation and spoke.

"Indeed, with that much wealth, we no longer have to waste time in gathering wealth to start the next phase of the plan. We can directly begin once we get there."

Lucius raised his right hand and suddenly paused with his eyes showing some confusion. He then gripped his hand to form a 'thumbs-up' sign and continued.

"You did a good job."

"Good job?! She did an AMAZING job!! Lil' Olivia has become our 'Sugar Mama'. Hahaha!" Ka'lor'ah thunderously laughed.

Olivia, who was subject to this praise, blushed while feeling embarrassed. Her two fists were tightly clenched, to the point of revealing the whites in their knuckles as she thought to herself.

'I did it. I did something useful!' The weight within her heart slightly eased.

Calming her emotions, she then raised her head and asked the duo.

"So, what is the next phase of this plan? Where are we going?" 

Lucius and Ka'lor'ah looked at each other for a second, before the latter replied.

"Well, originally we were supposed to leave to the Grand Alcana Empire to meet someone. However…" Ka'lor'ah paused for a moment before continuing, "We seem to have run into an unexpected trouble back home."

"Trouble back home? You mean Mankind is facing some danger?" Rising from her seat, Olivia immediately asked with worry.

"Possibly. We don't know the exact situation either. Let's just say, someone who isn't supposed to be there, is currently over there." 

Hearing that only served to deepen Olivia's worries. Her face turned paler and her breaths turned quicker as she hurriedly asked, "How much danger? Will my father be alright?"

Olivia's biological father, her only family (other than Lucius) was residing on one of the planets in the Middle-Rim of Mankind's territories. 

Having been raised solely by her father after her mother's early demise, Olivia's earliest memories were with her father. She dearly loved him and cared for him.

A part of the reason behind Olivia following Lucius into space was in helping him and standing beside him, the other part was to achieve enough power to protect her father.

If Lucius' motivation for power came from his desire to complete the 'Great Plan' and rid the universe of its bindings, then Olivia's sole motivator was her family, both Lucius and her birth father.

"Well, it's only been 3 years. There shouldn't be much problem. That person wouldn't be able to directly mess with Mankind, nor does he have any reason to." Ka'lor'ah tried to comfort her.

Olivia nodded her head, but still seemed unconvinced. Her eyes reflected the worry in her heart and her hands started to nervously fidget.

Ka'lor'ah, given her keen perception, noticed Olivia's worry. She then looked towards Lucius and mentally messaged him.

'Hey, do something.'

'Why? You just explained to her and she nodded her head.' Lucius shrugged his shoulder.

Receiving such a blasé response, Ka'lor'ah rolled her eyes and explained, 'Not everyone is as one-dimensional as you, Lucius. This is especially true for this little girl who doesn't want to show any weakness in front of you.'

'I don't understand.' 

'Just tell her everything will be fine.'

'You just did th—'

'It's different when you do it. Can you please just do that?' 

Sighing to himself, Lucius rose from his seat and spoke.

"Olivia." 

The lady in purple turned to look towards Lucius. Her violet eyes contained nervousness and worry.

"Everything will be fine." Lucius continued in his signature monotonous tone.

His voice was void of any particular feeling or emotion and didn't contain the reassurance one would have when comforting someone. It was empty.

Olivia stared at his deep, dark eyes. A pair of black eyes that always remained calm and unperturbed, with a faint touch of superiority. No matter the severity of a situation, she had never seen that look within his eyes change. 

Seeing those endlessly deep and serene eyes, calmed Olivia's own. With Lucius' assurance, Olivia's worry disappeared. This just goes to show how much trust Olivia possessed in Lucius.

A few moments later she replied calmly, "Okay."

It was then that the door to the office suddenly swung open and two figures rushed in.

"Lady Governor! Stellar Light City launched another attack! Please give us your orders!"