Lord of Annihilation

Seemingly awaiting this moment, Olivia quickly asked.

"To portray my full strength, I will need a sword-type weapon. Can I use something other than my personal Living Weapon? Something like a normal, ordinary sword?"

"You may," Ovid answered.

"Ah, thank you very much," Olivia thanked and bowed.

She then quickly turned around to face Lucius and asked, "Lucius, can I borrow one of those bone swords that you have?"

Hearing her request, Lucius simply reached into his shadow and brought out one of the remaining Stage 3 bone swords taken from the wings of the Sword-Winged Angels from his [Void Storage] and threw it to Olivia.

The latter caught it deftly from the air and showed it to Ovid for confirmation.

"This will do," it replied, confirming that the sword wasn't anything special.

Lucius' action of opening his [Void Storage] did not garner much notice from the Peak-Level Stage 4 powerhouse as it was common for beings above Stage 3 to own a spatial storage skill or device or artifact, for the sake of convenience. 

Since the Void Eaters were creatures that were extinct for many Eras, there wasn't much knowledge available to the common populace about their skills or abilities. 

Even amongst top powerhouses and ancient organizations within the Universe, this knowledge was hard to come by. 

As such, there was no need for Lucius to hide convenient skills like [Void Storage] from common eyes. Only skills such as [Devour] or [Void Hands] would directly expose his identity as a Void Eater, the race which was dubbed as the 'Enemy of All Life'.

"Now then, I have some doubts regarding the second constraint…"

"Before the start of the challenge, I will have my 'Sight' taken away, correct?" questioned Olivia.

"Correct."

"And then from the start of the challenge, I will have one more of my sense removed in three-minute intervals, right?"

"Right."

"Which means at the three-minute mark, I will have my sense of 'Sound' taken away alongside my 'Sight. At the six-minute mark, I will have my sense of 'Smell' removed. So on and so forth…"

"At the fifteen-minute mark, I will have my final sense, the ability to sense my surroundings using soul power, removed. In other words, I will not be able to feel anything much less sense my surrounding space."

Taking in a deep breath, Olivia asked.

"How am I supposed to continue with the challenge then? Of course, this is assuming that I haven't been able to succeed in the first fifteen minutes."

Hearing her question, Ovid displayed a hideous, monstrous smile on all three of his faces and replied.

"Oh, but you see, this is the challenge. It is something that  'you', as the challenger, must figure out yourself."

"But—"

"Enough!" Ovid interrupted Olivia's query and continued, "No more questions will be answered."

His heavy words crashed down on Olivia, pressuring her body and constraining her soul. 

The tangibly dense aura released by Ovid, filled the space within the mountainous clearing making it difficult for Olivia to freely move in, much less breathe normally. 

Once again, Olivia was reminded of the identity of the beast before her. 

It wasn't some regular three-headed dog, but a Mutated Cerberus who was exceptional even amongst his illustrious kin.

It was a Peak-Level Stage 4 powerhouse that could crush thousands of beings like her with a simple breath.

Sure, Lucius could remain as casual and nonchalant as ever before this creature. But she wasn't Lucius.

And she definitely didn't have his strength.

Emitting a mind-shaking degree of pressure, Ovid exhaled slowly and heavily spoke.

"Unlike the previous Labors, the Twelfth Labor isn't a test of strength, wit, or skill. The Twelfth Labor is a test of talent and potential."

"Since the inception of the Twelve Labors, thousands have reached this stage and received my challenge. However, out of those thousands, less than a hundred have passed."

"Is my challenge unfair? Of course, it is! Is my challenge near-impossible? Sure! Is there a definite method for success? Not at all!"

"My challenge is a test that can only be overcome by the talented, the geniuses, and the prodigies. My challenge is the test that separates the exceptional from the ordinary."

"So then, show me!" 

"Show me what makes you exceptional!"

Ovid's three heads concluded their passionate chorus and looked down at Olivia's figure. 

With his exceptional sight, he could see her beautiful face pale and the hand holding the bone sword tremble. A conflict of inner thoughts could be seen on her face.

It was a familiar sight. Ovid had seen this exact sight amongst the thousands of geniuses that he had tested.

'So then, will you fail and disappoint me? Or will you overcome all odds and reveal your exceptional self?'

Just as Ovid's thoughts had come to an end, he felt a familiar aura rise from the little challenger's body. It was an aura that was also familiar to Ovid and was one that usually brought him great satisfaction.

"We can begin," Olivia's voice rung out in a low tone.

Exposing a beastly smile on his faces once more, Ovid replied.

"Alright then, without further ado, let us begin!"

The moment his words fell, Olivia's body flashed forward with violet light and darkness surrounded her sight.

----------

Leaning against a pillar of rock with his arms folded, Lucius watched with closed eyes as a streak of purple light danced around the colossal body of the Mutated Cerberus.

Having personally undergone the challenge himself, Lucius was no stranger to the test.

'As the big dog said, the challenge itself is very simple. However, it is precisely that simplicity which makes the challenge difficult.'

'Fighting with her senses sealed should be of no challenge for Olivia. I did, after all, rigorously train her in that aspect. Still, the first fifteen minutes should be uneventful.'

Lucius did not even stop to consider the possibility of Olivia completing the challenge within the first fifteen minutes because doing so was impossible. 

This wasn't only the case with Olivia as not even he, with his three-hundred years of pure combat experience, could do so.

Of course, this wasn't because Olivia or Lucius were lacking in their ability but was because of the insurmountable difference between the levels of themselves and their opponent.

Fighting a level above his own Stage was the norm for Lucius and was the also case with Olivia to a lesser degree. However, Ovid was a Mutated Cerberus with Peak-Level Stage 4 strength. And as stated earlier, the divide between the Stage 3 realm and the Stage 4 realm was impassable. 

Ovid possessed a level of strength where he could effortlessly crush tens of thousands of Olivia-level beings and dozens of Lucius-level existences. While he was suppressing his real strength for the sake of the trial, that suppression did not extend to his experience and most importantly, his perception.

No matter how fast a challenger was or how mystifying their skills were, Ovid's perception, which was even higher than normal due to his identity as a Wild Beast, remained inviolable by being of lesser strength.

Then, wasn't it impossible for challengers to succeed in this trial given that the upper limit for entry into the 'Twelve Labors' was at Peak-Level Stage 3? How could anyone possibly complete the Twelfth Labor?

'The 'real test' starts after the passage of the first fifteen minutes.' Lucius inhaled deeply and continued with his thoughts, 'What the big dog intentionally failed to mention, is that every time her senses are sealed, the same sense is also sealed for the big dog.'

While Ovid listed the constraints that would be placed on Olivia, he intentionally withheld from her an important piece of information. Each time that Olivia lost one of her senses, Ovid would also lose that very same sense.

Currently, nine minutes and thirty-seven seconds had passed since the start of this challenge. Olivia and Ovid had both lost a total of three senses; sight, sound, and smell.

No matter how desperately Olivia tried to reach her target, the star-shaped spot on Ovid's forehead, she was thwarted by the Mutated Cerberus at the last second.

'In the end, it boils down to whether the challenger has talent surpassing that of the big dog. Whether Olivia has the potential to fight beside me…'

Thinking as much, Lucius ceased all thought and calmly waited for the trial in front of him to end. Regardless of the outcome, this would be his final test for her.