Lord of Annihilation

"Why do you automatically assume that you did something wrong?" Ka'lor'ah asked with surprise.

She then looked at Olivia's indignant expression as the latter's eyes darted between herself and Lucius. Olivia's expression seemed to say; 'didn't you just guys have a secret discussion about me? Obviously, I'm nervous and worried!'

"Oh right," Ka'lor'ah suddenly nodded her head in understanding. She then continued, "Don't worry about that. Lucius and I were discussing something." 

"Is it related to me?" Olivia asked worriedly.

"Kind of," Ka'lor'ah honestly replied. She then waved her hands and explained, "Anyways, it doesn't matter now. We decided to drop the subject for now. Don't think about it too much." 

"…okay," Olivia hesitantly replied only partially convinced by Ka'lor'ah's explanation.

"Moving on from that, how do you feel?" Ka'lor'ah asked, gesturing at her body. "You were asleep for a long time and showed no signs of waking up."

A teasing expression appeared on Ka'lor'ah's face as she joked, "I was thinking about enacting the method from 'Sleeping Beauty' using Lucius, in hopes that it would wake you."

Shaking her head, Ka'lor'ah continued, "Such as shame you woke up before I could do that."

Lucius, who was standing at the side, snorted at her words. It was clear from his expression that he would've never agreed to it.

Olivia, on the other hand, had an excited expression. A desirous glint flashed across her beautiful violet eyes. 

Lewdly licking her lips with her tongue, Olivia spoke, "I can sleep again. You can go ahead." She then lied down once again and closed her eyes.

This, of course, earned her a pebble-strike on her forehead from Lucius. 

Yelping from pain, Olivia sat up and rubbed the red spot on her forehead. She shot a discontent expression at Lucius, before quietly mumbling to herself, "...tch, a missed opportunity."

Ka'lor'ah watched this sequence of events while holding her belly and suppressing her laughter. Droplets of tears slid from her eyes, making it evident that she was enjoying this too much.

Huffing from a short of breath, she took a few moments to recover before speaking once again, "Looks like there are no problems. Next question then, did you ever at any point realize you were in a coma? Did you have any dreams or visions?"

Olivia thought for a moment and replied while shaking her head, "Nope, Nothing of that sort. I wouldn't have even realized that I was sleeping for such a long time if you hadn't said anything about it."

"I see," Ka'lor'ah nodded her head and asked the next standard question, "What is the last thing that you remember?"

Sitting up straight on the bed, Olivia unhesitantly replied, "The battle with the Stage 3 Sword-Winged Angel. I managed to successfully kill her."

Her voice while speaking the second sentence contained an unmistakable pride. 

Recognizing that, Lucius, who was silent all this while, adopted a serious expression and warned, "Don't be too cocky. You succeeded because of sheer, dumb luck and not out of your ability."

"Now, now, Lucius, there's no need to put her down," Ka'lor'ah intervened. "Luck is also a part of an individual's ability."

She then faced Olivia and continued seriously, "But he is also right, Lil' Ollie. You were ultimately able to succeed because of chance. Your own abilities are still lacking and you have yet to reach the level where you can solo a Stage 3 being."

"If you hadn't received some external help during that crucial moment, you would not be here today," Ka'lor'ah worded grimly.

"External help? But I didn't receive any external help. There were only me and that Stage 3 hussy during the battle," Olivia retorted. 

"I managed to reach the 'Perfection' realm and was able to use 'Moving Field' to cancel out her suppression. After that, I used the clouded surroundings to my advantage and agitated her. When she turned irrational and flew to the top of the gorge, I managed to spring a trap on her and discombobulated her. Finally, she fell under my strongest spell, after being caught in my arrangement."Olivia zealously explained. 

To her, the entire battle was short but incomparably intense. Had her reactions or arrangements been mistimed in the slightest, she would have unequivocally lost her life. 

Even then, her injuries had been too severe and she would've still lost her life if not for Lucius and Ka'lor'ah's intervention.

In short, Olivia believed the result to be a product of her own effort and the crystallization of all her hard work. To the ignorant her, there was no external factor assisting her in her victory.

Faced with such a zealous explanation, it was Lucius who replied first, "Don't you think it's weird that the Stage 3 being did not use her Domain at all?"

His voice was cold and detached as always but contained additional scorn. 

"The battle was too short and I did not give her a chance to deploy it," Olivia resolutely answered back.

Hearing that reply, Lucius simply laughed with derision. He then walked towards Olivia, placed his hands atop her head, looked her in her eyes, and spoke, "Let me show you something."

Lucius' left eye turned golden and strange energy shot out of it. Olivia's body wobbled once before her eyes became unfocused.

Lucius' left eye continued to shot out a strange energy while his hands, which were resting atop of her head, continuously released soul power into a spell.

Ka'lor'ah, who was looking at this scene, became curious and asked, "What is that spell? I've never seen you use it before."

While keeping his focus on Olivia, Lucius answered, "It's just a small trick that I created from combining the unique spell of that crimson soul from the labyrinth, the Domain used by the Formicians, and my strange [Charm] ability."

"What is its effect?" 

"It allows me to trap the consciousness of an individual inside a simulation of my creation. Everything will feel real and the individual will retain all their memories, abilities, and skills." 

"Holy crap, that sounds amazing! When did you come up with this?" Ka'lor'ah asked with excitement. 

"A few months ago when I had nothing else to do," Lucius casually replied. "It's not that good. There are a lot of annoying restrictions for its usage. I have to remain in physical contact with the target, there should be unhindered eye contact, the simulation must be manually controlled… it's very bothersome to use, actually."

"Oh." Hearing the long list of restrictions, Ka'lor'ah quickly lost interest. However, a question suddenly popped up within her mind which she then voiced, "That's odd. You never waste your time on creating techniques that are unsuitable for battle. Why suddenly?"

The spell did not have any practical usage and was too troublesome to be deployed during battle. According to Ka'lor'ah judgment, its only use was perhaps as a method of teaching/training. 

Lucius did not answer and pretended to not hear her question. 

Seeing his odd reaction, Ka'lor'ah seemed to suddenly realize something. Switching her gaze between Olivia and Lucius, Ka'lor'ah understood.

'I see,' she inwardly smiled and changed the topic.

"Still, the fact that you managed to recreate a 'Mental-type' spell, even though you have none of those rules speaks about how freakish your talent is," said Ka'lor'ah.

Lucius was able to create this spell after experiencing those spells and abilities only once. 

If this wasn't the epitome of combat talent, Ka'lor'ah did not know what was.

"Anyways, what are you simulating for her?" Ka'lor'ah asked. She already had an inkling of what it was but wanted to hear it from Lucius.

"A battle with the Stage 3 Sword-Winged Angel," Lucius replied. "She has already failed thrice."

"Already? Hasn't it only been a minute or so?" 

"I can speed up time in the simulated reality. More than an hour has passed since she started to fight. Oh, she died again," Lucius capriciously said.

Looking at him continued to pour soul power into the spell, Ka'lor'ah worriedly asked, "How many times do you plan on making her repeat?"

"As many as it takes her to understand the difference," Lucius replied. 

"Can't she just not comply or participate?" Ka'lor'ah asked.

"I told her that I would double her evaluation reward if she succeeds and would cancel it if she fails or gives up."

Hearing his reply, Ka'lor'ah shook her head and sighed. She then looked at Olivia's unfocused but serious expression and retreated.

Taking a seat in one of the available chairs, Ka'lor'ah thought to herself, 'This is going to take some time.'

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SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

Swinging a bone sword repeatedly, following the motions of the [Power Unity] sword technique created by Lucius, Olivia constantly mumbled to herself in a soft voice, "…stupid Lucius…stupid Lucius…I hate you…stupid Lucius…"

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

Each slash was precise and fluid, as every swing gathered sword energy while every slash dispersed it. Olivia continued to rigorously practice its motions while wearing a discontent expression.

SWOOSH!

The door to the training room suddenly opened and the tiny-bodied Ka'lor'ah flew in.

"…taking away my reward…I hate you…stupid Lucius…"

Hearing Olivia's soft mutterings, Ka'lor'ah sighed and spoke, "I see you're still holding quite the resentment. It's already been four weeks, you know."