Lord of Annihilation

After almost fourteen hours of dull and tedious flight, Lucius finally arrived before his spaceship, which was lifelessly floating through space.

Sighing inwardly, Lucius thought to himself, 'It took too long and too much energy to get back here. Stage 3 is very inefficient for space travel.'

Gently landing atop the roof of the slender black vessel, Lucius continued, 'I need to quickly ascend to the next stage.'

At Stage 3, one could only use their soul power to propel their body through space. Not only did this process consume a lot of soul power, but it was also very inefficient both time-wise and energy-wise.

While he could use his racial ability, [Void Travel] to cut down on both these factors, Lucius did not want to rely on his racial skills unless absolutely necessary. 

Walking over to the roof-top hatch that would provide him entry into the ship, Lucius opened his [Void Storage], took out the smartwatch that was connected to the ship's computers, opened the hatch, and jumped in.

SWOOSH!

The instant Lucius' body entered the ship; the hatch closed above him and resealed the vessel. Lucius then waited for the ship to re-pressurize the room, before walking out.

SWOOSH!

The bulkhead opened and closed, allowing Lucius entry into the main body of the ship. The moment he stepped outside the entry room, Lucius was greeted by the duo of Olivia and Ka'lor'ah.

"Welcome back, Lucius," Olivia gently greeted with a smile. Her mesmerizing violet eyes stared unflinchingly towards Lucius.

Raising his head, Lucius met her eyes and instantly found something to be different in her gaze. 

Usually, her gaze towards him would be filled with a variety of rich emotions such as love, awe, curiosity, and many other emotions that Lucius found annoying. Still, with constant exposure, he had gotten used to it.

Now, however, there was an obvious change. 

An emotion, which Lucius, owing to his lacking EQ, was unable to recognize, was added to her gaze. An emotion that made him feel uncomfortable yet oddly reminiscent.

Immediately turning his head to look towards the only other figure in this room, Lucius stared at Ka'lor'ah and mentally asked, 'What did you do?'

Ka'lor'ah, who was in the process of delivering her greeting, was instantly interrupted. 

Staring towards Lucius with an expression that seemed to say, 'are you kidding me?' she replied, 'Do what? I'm going to need more context to understand that question.'

'Also,' she immediately continued, 'I didn't do anything!'

'I'm referring to Olivia,' Lucius gestured with his eyes towards Olivia, who was still looking at him with a smile and that strange gaze. 'The way she is looking at me is different.'

Hearing his words, a playful expression appeared on Ka'lor'ah's face as she asked, 'Oh? I didn't know that you cared about the way people looked at you. This is new.'

She then continued, 'Different how?'

'Previously it was…' Lucius was stumped and unable to continue as he was not quite sure how to explain it. 

Anger, hatred, jealousy, and other such strong, direct emotions were easy to read and recognize. Even Lucius, with his abysmally low EQ, was able to recognize them.

When it contained complicated emotions such as love, concern, care, etc, Lucius was helpless. That part of him that could feel and empathize with those emotions was absent or suppressed.

As such, the best explanation that Lucius could come up with was this.

'Previously, I found it annoying and tiresome. Now, however, I find it uncomfortable and strange. What did you do?' Lucius asked once more.

'I gotta say, man,' Ka'lor'ah made a 'hurtful' face and continued, 'It's hurtful to know that both my disciples consider me like that. Will I always be 'that person who always causes problems in your eyes?'

Lucius did not reply and continued to stare at her with a blank expression.

'Sometimes silence speaks more than a thousand words ever could, I finally understand that expression.' Ka'lor'ah 'tearfully' quoted. 

She then immediately chuckled, reverted to her normal, non-serious expression, and spoke, 'To answer your previous question; no, I did not do anything to her. She only had some questions regarding her future and I answered to the best of my abilities.'

'What questions?' Lucius asked.

'I can't say,' Ka'lor'ah shrugged her shoulders and discreetly gestured towards Olivia, 'If you want to know, you will have to ask her. It is a private affair after all.'

Hearing her reply, Lucius turned towards Olivia, intending to question her. The latter, on recognizing that his gaze on her, immediately raised her head to meet his and sweetly smiled. 

This reaction only served to make Lucius even more uncomfortable, while increasing that odd sense of familiarity. 

Unsure of how to proceed, Lucius blankly stood. All thoughts of questioning her had disappeared from his mind.

Meanwhile, Olivia, being as sharp and outgoing as she was, noticed the discreet interaction between Lucius and Ka'lor'ah. While she could not listen to the contents of their dialogue, she could more than well, read the expressions of both parties.

Ka'lor'ah's expressions were simple and direct to read. Unless she was tricking or deceiving somebody, her teacher was more often than not honest. 

Lucius, on the other hand, was almost always expressionless. 

While a newcomer interacting with him for the first time would find him blank and impossible to read, Olivia, who had spent years together with him, could accurately read his mood.

This ability of hers, coupled with the new information that she had learned from Ka'lor'ah about him, enabled her to understand Lucius better and guess his thoughts to a certain extent. 

For instance, she was doing it right now.

'Looking at his partially disordered aura and stiff facial muscles, he seems annoyed. Oh, he's looking towards me…This is, hesitance and uncertainty?'

Olivia's smile turned slightly bitter as she continued, 'Indeed, it is as Teacher had said. After what has happened, Lucius has closed himself off so much that he finds it difficult to interact with others.'

It was unknown what Ka'lor'ah has said to her. However, it was evident that Olivia had changed.

Stepping forward, Olivia walked towards Lucius and extended her hands around his neck.

"What are you doing?" Lucius immediately stepped back and stiffly asked.

However, Olivia seemed to have expected this reaction as her hands compensated for his movement. 

Placing her hands on his shoulder, Olivia tugged at his overcoat and spoke, "Removing your coat. You don't usually wear it inside the ship, right." Her tone was clear and carried certain firmness within it. 

A firmness that carried with it the meaning, that her actions could not be refused. 

Being stared at by Olivia's unrelenting gaze, Lucius unconsciously complied, "…yes."

Not speaking any further, Olivia carefully removed the coat from his body, observed the item, folded it within her hands, and continued, "The coat is covered with too many bloodstains and other strange gunk. I will wash it and give it to you later."

Turning around, she walked towards the door leading out of this room, stopped for a moment, and turned around. 

"Training with continue in the Training Room in ten minutes, right?" she asked.

"Yes," Lucius absent-mindedly replied.

Nodding her head, Olivia exited the room. The door closed behind her, leaving alone Lucius and Ka'lor'ah within this room.

One continued to stand stiffly, unsure of what had just happened, while the other looked at the scene with a strange smile on her face.

'Taking the offensive, huh? That's more like it,' Ka'lor'ah thought to herself.

-----------

Days later, inside the Training Room. 

"Haah!" 

With a loud yell, Olivia swung down the bone sword within her hands unleashing a powerful array of violet-colored light containing immense amounts of soul power and sword energy.

Closing the distance between herself and her opponent, a Forgotten Warrior, almost instantly, the attack effortlessly cleaved apart the Forgotten Warrior, dissipating him into a cloud of shadow and darkness.

A sense of accomplishment flashed across Olivia's face as sweat profusely fell onto the floor from her pale face. Stumbling unsteadily, Olivia carefully sheathed the sword in her hands, before plopping onto the ground.

Turning her beautiful face towards the youth who was sitting on the floor while leaning against the wall, Olivia asked, "How was that?"

That powerful attack that had effortlessly cleaved apart the Forgotten Warrior, whose body was in the Stage 3 realm, was the [Kill] technique that had been taught to her by Lucius. 

Casting the technique required Olivia to expend all of her energy: mental, physical, and spiritual (soul), but, in response, granted her sufficient power to kill a Stage 3 being.

"Decent enough, but lacks direction." nodding his head, Lucius replied, "You need to infuse it with some will and purpose to make it more receptive and flexible. Like this…"

Lucius made a sword with his index and middle fingers and casually waved his hand. A miniaturized version of Olivia's previous attack flew from his hands, elegantly made some twists and turns in the air, and landed on the ground next to Olivia.

Compared to the stiff attack executed by Olivia, Lucius' attack resembled the fluid movements of a fish. One was solid and the other was flexible.

Seeing that attack, Olivia closed her eyes and pondered. 

A few minutes later she opened her eyelids, revealing a pair of dazed-looking eyes. Unconsciously, Olivia swung her right hand in a motion similar to Lucius. 

A trace amount of soul power exited her fingers, but then immediately collapsed. Olivia's face paled even further and even her cheeks sunk in. Snapping out of her daze, Olivia quickly recovered herself.

"You're on the right track. Wait for your soul power to recover before trying again," Lucius advised.

Nodding her head, Olivia then asked excitedly, "Does this mean I can win against that sword hussy, now?" 

Olivia's personal hatred against the Sword-Winged Angel continued to remain even though months had passed since the Cloud Cover Continent. Her manner of referring to the Stage 3 being continued to remain extremely disrespectful.

Lucius paid no attention to her manner of reference and replied, "If she doesn't use a Domain, then yes. You will be able to kill her."

"However, if she or any Stage 3 being for that matter were to release their Domain, then you will most likely die. You still lack experience fighting within Domains," Lucius concluded.

"I see," Olivia muttered in understanding. 

"When will I get to experience Domains?" she asked, curiously. 

"After we finish our task in our next location, you will battle against the Stage 3 beings of the Giants race," Lucius replied.

"Giants? That Grade 5 race which is known as the lesser descendants of the Titans?" Olivia asked.

"Indeed." Lucius nodded his head.

"How long will it take for us to get there?" 

"A year and a half."

Of the five-year time period that remained before the start of the events in the Grand Alcana Empire, less than three currently remained. That is to say, the territory of the Giants would be their final training location.

"A year and a half…" Olivia's forehead furrowed as she thought about the long period of waiting. 

She had already reached the apex of Stage 2 and was waiting for the appearance of an opportunity to ascend into Stage 3.  Perhaps, experiencing the Domain of a Stage 3 would become that opportunity.

Just as Olivia was lost in her thoughts, Lucius suddenly spoke up, "I can simulate a Domain within your mind using my technique."