《Lord of Annihilation》 Announcement! [Dont read before reading Vol 1] 99 chapters and 150k words later, we are finally here. The end of the first volume. I know it wasn''t perfect but I think I''ve improved as I continue to write. (or that''s what I like to think to avoid being depressed.) I thank all the readers who have followed the novel this far. Your support, reviews, tips, everything had helped me to improve as an author. A special thank you to those readers who point out my typos and grammatical errors. You''re the real MVP. Continuing with the vote of thanks, I would like to thank the platform, my family, the first readers..... "Shut up." a cold voice interrupted. .....Who''s that? "Stop being so longwinded and just get to the point!" a cold, mechanical voice continued. The tone was indifferent with a slight hint of killing intent mixed within it. Just as the author was confused about the series of events, a spatial rift tore open within his room. Chaotic streams of energy flowed from within the spatial rift, as all the objects within the room started to fly backward. A sharp jarring sound was heard as the wind tore through the room. The Author, who was sitting on the chair felt the ferocious stream of energy directly hit him and throw him backward. Just as he was about to fly up, a long slender arm caught hold of his body. "Stop wasting time and get to the announcement." he heard an indifferent voice speak to him from within the void. Followed by the appearance of the slender arm, was the rest of the body. A slender but strong body, 1.9m in height cloaked entirely in black robes. Well, except for his eyes. One golden and the other crimson. With the appearance of this person, the author lost his cool. "Lu..Lu...Lucius!" the author felt his voice tremble. He was unsure whether the trembling was due to fear or excitement. Either way, the other party did not seem to care. Lucius'' body finally exited the spatial rift and the crack was sealed behind him. The chaotic streams of energy disappeared and the room regained its peace. If not from the scattered objects within the room, one would start questioning the author''s sanity. If he was to mention this scene to others, of course. The author''s body shivered. Pointing his trembling finger at the black robbed man, he quipped. Yo...you? Why are you here? "Why wouldn''t I be here? Isn''t this announcement about my story? Speaking about the announcement, you should start talking." Lucius indifferently shrugged his shoulders. I was! Before I was rudely interrupted! The author seemed furious. Alas, Lucius did not seem to care. "Still wasting time. Are you intentionally speaking such crap, just to increase your wordcount? If yes, then you''re even worse a monster than I am." saying so Lucius gave the author a disgusted look. You!! The author felt his face turning red in anger. He was truly furious. How dare a mere character of mine posses the audacity to look down on me! Just as he was about to admonish Lucius, he felt a trace of [Killing Intent] leak from the other party''s body. Similar to a balloon deflating, the author felt all his anger dissipate into thin air. Having given up, he finally started his announcement. ???????????????????????? ???? ???????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????? ????????????????????????????????, ???????????? ???????? ????????????????????????????????. ???????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????? ????????????????????????????, ???????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????? ????????????????. ???????????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????? ???????? ???????? ???????????????????????????????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????? ???????? ???????? ???????? ???????????????????????? ????????????. ???????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????/???????????? ????????????????????????????. ???????????????????????? ????''???? ????????????????-???????????????? ????????????????. ???????????????? ????????????????, ???????????????????? ???????????????? ???????? ???? ???????????????????????????? ???????? ???? ????????????????????????????/????????????. ???????????????????? ???????????????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????. ???? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????? ???????????? ????????????????????????????. There I''m done. Are you satisfied? The author shot a disgruntled look towards Lucius. "Aren''t you forgetting something?" his tone seemed to turn colder and harsher. Feeling the danger to his life, the author immediately started to browse through his memories. What is it?! What did I miss?!! Ah, That''s it! I was thinking of having a ???????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????! Leave a comment under this chapter, naming your favorite character from the story (and maybe what you would like them to become?) While you type, just remember to follow this pattern: [Name of Character] - whatever you like and want them to be. This way, it makes it easier for me to tally the votes. The top character with the highest amount of votes will get a special auxiliary chapter, with a 3000-word side story! (it won''t affect the future plot). This way you would be able to learn more about your favorite character! There that should be it, right? Lucius directly nodded his head. Just as the author was about to let a sigh of relief, he heard Lucius talk. Hearing his words, the author''s body froze. "I don''t understand why you want to recount my story to these ''insignificant vermin''. Do they not have a life to live? Oh, I''m sorry that was a rhetorical question. They wouldn''t be here if they ever had a life." With a look that seemed to suggest that he pitied them, he sincerely spoke. "Pitiful worms, rather than read about another person''s life and wish you could be them. I suggest getting a rope and h...." SHUT UP! Stop talking! Nobody asked you about anything! At this instant, the author seemed to overcome his fear of death! He directly pounced upon Lucius and used both his hands to cover his mouth. That''s it for the announcement! Don''t forget to read the Author''s Thought! *Ctrl+S and quit!* Chapter 1: Prologue- A Colorless World The world was in turmoil. The multi-coloured sky which was usually clear,apart from the few flocks of flying creatures, was completely covered. The 81 celestial bodies surrounding the sky since times immemorial could not be seen! It was completely filled with a dark blanket. The reddish-blue lands were also similarly covered with a dark blanket. Looking closely, one would see that this blanket was actually a great horde of creatures Billions and billions of lifeforms, both in the sky and the lands could be seen rushing in a certain direction. Creatures varying in sizes, species and even life cycles, could be seen running. From as small as a few centimeters in length to humongous creatures standing thousands of feet tall. Even prey and predator were running together, not caring about their natural enemies. In the direction in which they were heading, was an enormous castle. A castle of such scale that it could be seen from thousands of miles away. All creatures running for a while suddenly came to a stop. They were still looking at the castle, seemingly wanting to rush towards it, but still held back. Looking in their eyes, great reverence could be seen. The same reverence one would have, looking at one''s ancestor. They stopped at a distance of 5 kilometers from the base of the castle and suddenly began howling. The combined howls of billions of creatures roared throughout the infinite world and resonated among the cosmos! Zhisst! Suddenly, a sharp sound tore through the screams of all the creatures. Looking up, a large crack could be seen in the sky. Seeing this, all the creatures turned back towards the castle and seemingly begged someone. The crack in the sky slowly started expanding side-wards and a greyish-black color started spreading. One of the creatures flying in the sky got caught in the expanding crack. It screamed out in pain and fell down to the ground. The creatures on the ground immediately moved back and created a circular space with the flying creature in the center. "ROAR!!!",it was painfully writhing in the ground and wailing out loud. All the remaining creatures looked at this scene with absolute fear in their eyes. They could see that the greyish tinge had spread on to this creature and its body was slowly losing all its color. It''s large body was slowly getting smaller and smaller as the areas where the grey had spread, was dissipating into nothingness! The area in the sky was also dissipating into nothing, giving birth to a hazy black fog, behind which nothing was clearly seen. There was an absolute silence in the air! All of them turned back towards the castle, waiting, but not daring to cross the distance. -------------------- The castle stood still in silence, giving off a feeling of absolute power. It''s towering walls extending thousands of feet up into the air, seemingly connecting the earth and the sky. Inside it, hundreds of rooms were laid out in a non-symmetrical fashion. It gave people a mysterious, yet dangerous feeling. Huge pillars whose total heights could not be seen were placed everywhere. The pillars were unadorned and were completely plain. The stone floors were smooth with no obvious marks. A thick layer of dust was prevalent in every single inch of this magnificent castle. Heading deeper into the castle, one would notice that there was absolutely nothing in here. No carpets, lamps, furniture nor any people! Nothing except dust! The walls themselves gave out a dim yellow light. If one did not know better, they would think no one lived in this castle. Yet a frightening presence could be felt in the air. This presence came from deeper in the castle, giving off a sense of domination and indifference. At the very center of this majestic castle was a huge hall. The roof of this room couldn''t be seen and there was at least a kilometer of distance between the two walls on the sides. An extremely large array written with an unknown substance, covered the entire floor. Dozens of mysterious and ancient languages filling the gaps between the array. These words were giving off a faint feeling of suppression and were distorting the space around them. Thousands of such words covered the gaps, throughout the array. In the center of the array, two figures could be seen. A woman was lying on the floor with a man sitting next to her. The woman was covered in dark gold robes, while the man was covered entirely in black. None of their faces could be seen, except their eyes. One pair golden while the other was black. --------------------- "It has begun. The ritual was completed successfully.", said the woman. "With this the Rules have begun resetting. Not even ''They'' can change the outcome." she continued. "Making the ''great'' me work for ''Them'' for free, They sure are gutsy. This will show them, Humph!" she snorted smugly. "Hey! Say something!", she looked towards the man angrily. The man just sat there looking at her, not bothering to reply. "Say, are you perhaps sad that I''m dying. Hehe are you perhaps crying?" she said giggling. "Perhaps you are finally regretting not paying attention to me all this time. Don''t worry we still have some time, go on cry loudly, hehe.", she continued. Looking at her giggling face, the man replied. "I don''t have anymore tears to shed" he said. His tone was completely emotionless. "Humph! You''re no fun, can''t even read the atmosphere" said the woman, obviously angry at the man''s reply. The array which was silent till now, started rapidly fluctuating with light and energy. The words on the floor also started glowing with various colorful lights. The room was filled with obvious splendor. Suddenly, the air above the woman started shaking fiercely and started distorting. A black portal was starting to take shape and was furiously absorbing all the energy. Meanwhile outside, all the creatures, the land , the sky and even the walls of the castle has lost their color and had dissipated completely. "You need to leave now. It would be a shame if the plan were to fail now." the woman said seriously, no longer joking. "Oh and don''t forget to take my crystal. Very important stuff." she continued. The man nodded at her and took a step towards the newly formed portal which had now calmed down a little. "Che! He''s not even bothering to look back at me." she clicked her tongue furiously. "You better not mess up my plans!", she screamed towards him as his body completely stepped into the portal and disappeared. The space around the woman had mostly dissipated the the grey color had stuck onto her. The woman looked at herself, as she saw the grey tinge spreading onto her body. She was also slowly dissipating. Surprisingly she hadn''t screamed in pain. Even her eyebrows had not furrowed. Her eyes showed a feeling of satisfaction as her lips curled into a smile. Looking back at the spot where the man had disappeared into she thought to herself. ''It''s finally going to begin.'' ''The fate of all of us, depends on you.....Lucius." she said as she closed her eyes for the final time. Everything in existence had completely faded away! ------------------------ Chapter 2: Restarting Once Again After his body entered the portal completely, Lucius felt his mind get hit by a wave of energy. He immediately felt dizzy and his body was overcome with sluggishness. ''What is happening?'', he thought to himself. Right now, Lucius could neither see nor feel a single thing. His vision was pitch black and his perception seemed non-existent. He tried concentrating on feeling his surrounding, but it was to no avail. In a place where the flow of time could not be perceived it seemed to stretch on forever. After waiting for an unknown amount of time, Lucius thought to himself. ''Sigh, did it fail'', he sighed. ''With not being able to even feel my own hands or rather my body, I couldn''t even kill myself if I wanted to'', he laughed deprecatingly. Suddenly, after what seemed to feel like forever, a strong suction could be felt. It started to pull Lucius into it. ''Something''s happening!'', he alerted himself. A bright light emerged in front of him and completely blinded him. Before Lucius could even think of what''s happening, he was pulled into that vortex of suction. ----------------------------- ''Where am I?'', Lucius thought to himself. ''?!!!'', he abruptly realized that he could feel his surroundings once again. ''What happened back there? Was the ritual successful?'', he thought to himself. ''And why do I feel weightless'' he continued pondering. Gathering his concentration and with the greatest of efforts, Lucius slowly opened his eyes. He could see sunlight and could vaguely make out his surroundings. ''Why is everything moving backwar..'', before Lucius could complete his thoughts, his body hit something. "Sssss", he took a sharp intake of air and pain flooded his mind. He could feel his body twitching and shaking, every part feeling great pain. He again opened his eyes slowly and could see three boys in front of him.Two of them were muscular with a large frame, they stood 1.9m tall and were walking towards him with large strides. The other boy was slender and slightly shorter, standing at 1.75m tall. The taller boys were darker in tone, while the shorter one was fair and handsome. From the way he walked one could feel his authority. ''Who are these people and why does my body hurt so much?'', Lucius thought to himself. ''Calm your mind, Lucius. Recall what happened'', he closed his eyes. ''The ritual was a success and I stepped into the portal. I or rather my consciousness was brought to a weird dimension where I was surrounded by endless darkness. I couldn''t feel a thing and after an unknown amount of time, something started pulling me and I ended up here.'' ''After I woke up here, I was sent flying in the air and hit, what seems to be a wall. Opening my eyes I see three people walking over with unkind intentions in their eyes.'' ''It can be deduced that this body of mine got into a fight with these three and was completely overpowered. Also I was injured to such an extent!'', thinking up to here, Lucius completely sobered up. "Hey! We are talking to you bastard!.", a voice of a boy was heard. Judging from his tone he seemed to be impatient. One of the bigger boys reached out his hand and grabbed Lucius by his head. He dragged Lucius up till their eyes were at the same level. "Look at this trash, we are obviously talking to him yet he''s ignoring us", said the boy, his voice filled with contempt. "Also he clearly looked at us approaching him and yet he closed his eyes", said the other muscular boy. "Are you still going to ignore us?", said the boy holding Lucius. He sneered and suddenly punched in Lucius'' stomach. Feeling the great amount of force being delivered onto his already feeble body, another bout of pain washed over his head. Lucius currently felt weakness in every part of his body. His arms and legs felt powerless and his head was in great pain being held up by the boy. Yet despite all this, Lucius'' mind was completely calm. He was carefully assessing every inch of his body to understand his current situation. It seemed like all the dialogue and abuse was happening to another person! "You still dare ignore us?!!", the boy was enraged and and dealt another series of punches onto him. Still, Lucius did not react at all. It seemed as if he was unconscious. "Stop." a new voice instructed. The enraged boy who was about to continue hitting Lucius, suddenly calmed down and stopped. ''It seems as if the real person boss is going to talk.'' Lucius thought to himself. His eyes were still closed and he wasn''t fighting back at all. The shorter and handsome boy walked in front of Lucius, who was still being held up by his head. "Say, classmate Lucius, how long are you going to continue being stubborn." said this new voice. "All I want is for you to handover that project you were working on and I will stop bothering you. Isn''t it a very simple deal. I get what I want and you get to live in peace" the voice continued in a very soft convincing manner. "Yeah! You better listen to what our boss is saying kid, if you want to live that is." said the other muscular guy. "Shut up!", the boss interrupted. "Don''t you see that I am talking to, our friend Lucius over here about a very important thing" the boss said in a cold tone. He was in a very bad mood after being interrupted by his subordinate. "So-sorry! Boss Luther.", the muscular guy said in a terrified voice. "Now then, what is your response, classmate Lucius?", Luther asked turning back to look at Lucius. ''He''s after something that this body of mine has. It seems quite important too. Considering from his words, it seems that this isn''t the first time this body has been subjected to abuse.'' thought Lucius By this time, Lucius had already finished assessing his body''s condition. ''I have 3 broken ribs, my left arm is dislocated and my shoulders are bruised. My abdomen is in great pain and my right ankle is completely crushed.'' Lucius thought with absolute calmness. If an ordinary person were in his position, they would lose their sense of thought in the pain, let alone maintain the degree of rationality Lucius did. ''My combat effectiveness is at 43%'', Lucius continued as he slowly opened his eyes. His pitch black eyes stared right into the slender boy standing in front of him. There were no emotions of any kind in within those eyes. Seeing those terrifying eyes, Luther felt his hair stand on his back. ''Now do I kill them or not?'', Lucius thought to himself as he stared at Luther in the same manner as one stares at an insignificant object. A faint killing intent was quietly brewing in his eyes. Chapter 3: First Fight ''Now, do I kill them or not?'' questioned Lucius. Seeing the startled look on Luther''s face, Lucius immediately reacted. He stretched his left leg to kick on Luther''s chest. Luther, who was distracted couldn''t react in time. He suddenly felt a large force being delivered onto his chest and the sharp pain that came along with it. He immediately wanted to scream with pain, only to find that he couldn''t draw his breath. The two muscular guys seeing their prey attack their boss, were suddenly stunned. Not giving them any time to react, Lucius used his right arm to strike at the elbow joint of the boy who was holding him. The boy howled in pain and dropped Lucius on the ground. Lucius calmly rose onto his feet and looked at the scene before him. The boss Luther was on the ground struggling to breathe, one of the muscular lackeys was holding onto his arm in pain and the other was staring at Lucius dumbly. Lucius took a deep breath to ease the pain he was feeling in his body. He stared ahead to look at the three and asked. "Say, how do you want to die?", he asked in an emotionless voice. Hearing this voice the other muscular guy shivered. But then he felt anger surging in his body. ''I-I- was afraid?! Of this weak bastard?'', he thought. He then let out a loud scream and rushed towards Lucius with his arms raised in a defensive position. Looking at what happened to his boss and his brother, he dared not to be too careless. ''Well, seems like this one isn''t a complete idiot. I guess I''ll start with him'', Lucius thought to himself as he adjusted his center of balance. The muscular guy closed the distance between them and then threw a punch towards Lucius. He wanted to use his raw power to overpower Lucius. Seeing this punch, Lucius casually leaned back. The punch originally aimed at Lucius face, narrowly missed his nose with a hair''s width of a distance. Lucius clenched his hands to form a fist and hit the guy''s armpit. Already having missed his punch, the muscular guy was currently off balance. He received Lucius fist and immediately screamed in pain. With the pain clouding his mind he dropped his arm that was acting as a guard. Lucius immediately used this opportunity to strike at the guy''s throat. This strike would have been fatal if there was sufficient force behind it. Alas, Lucius'' body was already exhausted and there was no more strength left to use. ''This body is so weak'' Lucius clicked his tongue. This guy was still holding onto his broken arm and painfully writhing in the ground. Lucius walked over to him and stepped on his broken hand. Then he slowly increased the amount of force to gradually increase the pain the muscular guy felt. "Ahhh!!" the muscular guy wailed out loud. "So noisy" Lucius grumbled. He then kicked the guy in his lower jaw. The boy, now with his jaw broken couldn''t even scream to relieve his pain. Lucius then continued to kick at the guy''s other arm to fracture it and crushed both of his ankles. Eventually, the muscular guy passed out from the pain. ''That''s two done, now to deal with their boss'' Lucius thought to himself. Luther, who was attacked first had by now regained some of his senses. As he looked at how Lucius slowly tortured his opponent, he felt a shiver pass down his spine. Cold sweat had started dripping from every pore of his body and his back was entirely drenched. ''Is this the same guy?'' he thought to himself. He then felt terrified as he realized that Lucius was done with the other guy and was looking at him. He saw Lucius'' pure black eyes looking at him with complete indifference. There was no anger, no pain nor any compassion. It felt the same way one would feel looking at an ant. Lucius then started heading over towards Luther. "Ah-ah, wait don''t come over here" Luther screamed as he struggled to move away from this devil. By now he had completely lost all his elegant composure. The only thing on his mind right now was to escape from this demon. "If-if you d-do an-anything to m-me, my family wont let you off" he tried to threaten Lucius. Lucius ignored his pleas and threats and calmly headed over to him. He stood before Luther and watched him. Seeing that Lucius hadn''t done anything to him, he felt that his threats were having effect. He then continued. "Tha-that''s right, if you dare do anything to me, I''ll tell my family to eradicate you off the face of this world" he said regaining some of his lost confidence. "You better hand over that project and grovel at my feet. If you sincerely beg me I might let you off", he continued. In his mind he added, ''If I let you off after what you did to me today, I wouldn''t be called Luther'' "I don''t understand", said Lucius suddenly. "You seem to place a lot of importance on the ''object'' that''s with me, so you wouldn''t have told anyone what it is. Also from your threats it can be inferred that you come from a large influential family." Lucius analyzed. "In order to gain the recognition of your family elders, you would need to provide some benefits to the family. Now I can assume that this ''object'' of mine is the key to this benefit" he continued. "Now tell me this, ''Classmate'' Luther, how is your family going to eradicate me if you don''t make it out of here alive and tell them?" Lucius calmly said. Luther suddenly realized the logic in Lucius'' sentence and the fear that had left him started flooding back. "Th-this." Luther couldn''t respond. "So I can just kill you here and be done with it. Nobody would suspect me." Lucius concluded He then walked over to Luther who was sitting paralyzed in the ground. He had lost all hopes to live and was staring ahead blankly. Lucius reached over to break this guy''s neck. "Now to be done with this", he thought as he was about to break Luther''s neck. "Lucius!!!", suddenly a loud scream could be heard. ''Another person?!'' Lucius'' pupils shrank as he heard that voice. ''I can''t kill this new person as their combat capability is unknown and I barely have any strength left in my body'', Lucius thought. ''I can''t kill these guys now, lest I leave any witness'' as he thought up to here, Lucius then proceeded to strike Luther''s head. ''These guys wouldn''t wake up for at least a week, I must deal with them within that timeframe'', Lucius thought to himself. ''Now how do I deal with this new person?'', Lucius was thinking to himself when that voice was heard again. "Lucius! Are you alright?" the voice sounded again. It was high-pitched and was clearly filled anxiousness. A vague silhouette could be seen rushing over here from afar. ''Human. Female.'' Lucius thought to himself when he suddenly felt his body completely lose strength. ''Great, I am losing consciousness again'' Lucius thought impassively when his surrounding blacked out for a second time, the same day. Chapter 4: A Dream Bright sunlight filtered through the sky. White patches of fluffy clouds were sporadically, streaming forth the, vast and endless blues. On the ground green meadows and fields stretched as far as the eye could see. Various crops were growing in the these fields further enhancing the beauty of this scene. On the mud track that seemed to cut through this field of green, two small silhouettes could be seen running, one behind the other. "Stop running so fast!", on of the figures said. The person who spoke this was a little girl. She had dark shoulder width hair and pair of bright lustrous eyes. Her eyes were blue in color and shined brightly similar to sapphires. She was wearing a blue frock and was chasing after a little boy running in front of her. "Keep up or we are going to miss the train", the boy ahead shouted. He had black hair and pair of pitch dark eyes, carrying a trace of childish innocence. He was wearing a dark red t-shirt and black pants. Both of them around 9 years old. The girl was slightly taller than the boy. "Hurry up!", the boy urged the little girl. Both of them ran for the while, when they caught site of the train. It was arriving at the station. "Crap! We got to run faster.", the boy said as he reached in to pull the girl''s hand Both of them ran at their top speeds, as they just made it in time before the doors closed. "We made it!", the girl exclaimed as she heaved short breaths. "If we had not ran all the way here. we would have definitely missed the train.", said the boy panting. "Geez fine. Stop nagging,", replied the girl. Both of them paid for their tickets in an electronic counter and made their way to empty seats and occupied their respective position. The train continued on its journey, with the surroundings rapidly moving. After an hour, the train finally came to a stop before a large town. "Mag-lev trains, sure are impressive. No matter how many times I travel in it, it never fails to amaze me.", exclaimed the boy, carefully getting off the train. "Uh-uh!", the girl nodded her head. They then made their way through the streets before they came to a stop. Before them was a large building. It walls were faded and slightly cracked, showing the lack of proper maintenance. On it''s entrance hung a signboard reading the word "Orphanage". The duo made their way into the building and came to a stop before the large counter. There was young, beautiful lady sitting behind the counter. She was seemingly doing something and didn''t notice the two as they came in. "Um, Excuse me.", the boy spoke up softly. His voice so soft that even the girl standing next to him didn''t hear him. The attendant did not respond. "Excuse me, Madam.", this time the little girl spoke up. The attendant looked over and saw the two children. Her eyes focused on their faces and she recognized them. With a slight smile she spoke up. "If it isn''t you two again.", she said. "Umm Miss Dorothy, did the orphanage receive any news?", the boy asked hesitantly. The smile on Miss Dorothy''s face suddenly turned bitter. Carefully weighing her words she gradually spoke. "I''m sorry Lucius, but there was no news on your parents.", she said bitterly. The boy''s face turned ashen, he slowly nodded and started walking outside. The girl on his left also followed him out. Seeing the two children leave, Miss Dorothy sighed. "What a poor child.", she said sourly and continued with her work. Outside, Lucius stood still, facing the road. The girl also stood quietly next to him. Neither of them spoke for a while. Seeing the silent boy, the girl slowly spoke up. "You don''t have to be too sad Lucius, after all you have me and my dad. We will stay with you", the little girl said slowly not knowing how to comfort him. Her tone innocent and gaze firm. The boy suddenly looked up and said, "You are right. I do have you and Uncle." "Race you to the station", he continued and took off The girl suddenly startled by his reaction chased after him. "Wait! That''s cheating.", she said loudly. -------------------------------- ''What was that dream'', Lucius thought to himself. His mind still utterly calm. There wasn''t a single fluctuation in his emotions ''Who was that girl and why was she calling my name?'', he continued pondering. ''Oh right, I was in a fight with that guy and his two lackeys. I passed out in the last moment'', he realized suddenly. Slowly opening his eyes, he was hit with a flash of bright, white light. "Too bright", he squinted his eyes. Waiting for a few seconds his eyes slowly adjusted to the light in the surroundings. Opening his eyes fully, he saw that he was lying in a bed next to some electronic instruments. He was wearing a white one-piece gown. He could smell the faint smell of medications in the air. ''It seems I am in a hospital. Looks like someone did come at the end there.'', he analyzed. Thinking back, he carefully recalled the person who came back then. ''It was a human female, I couldn''t see her features clearly. It seems she doesn''t have any evil intentions towards me.'', he continued Lucius then tried moving his left arm and his two legs. Surprisingly, they worked quite well. His strength had also restored quite a bit. All the broken bones and torn muscles had completely healed. Focusing his senses he heard a familiar sound. A constant electronic beeping was heard in the background. It was a huge machine filled with a special kind of blue liquid. It''s mechanical steel body gave off a cold feeling. ''A medpod.'', Lucius thought to himself. Suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps. As he turned over he saw a young girl walking over to him. She had long black hair and a pair of blue eyes. She was quite tall for a girl and had a well proportioned build. She seemed to be 18 or 19 years of age. She was very beautiful and was quite a head turner. Seeing that he was wake, she hurried over to his bed. Seeing the girl come close, Lucius felt an odd sense of familiarity. His pupils suddenly shrunk at this feeling. ''Doesn''t she look like that little girl in my dream. I wonder if that''s why she seems familiar. But why don''t I recall anything about her.'' Before Lucius crossed over, as a result of the ritual, he was 317 years of age. Lucius tried hard to recall in his memories, but couldn''t find anything related to her. Ever since he had seen her, Lucius'' heart had been beating irregularly. It was the result of an anxiousness that he couldn''t exactly pinpoint. Seeing that she was almost next to him, Lucius'' suppressed his thoughts. He was back to his signature cold and emotionless state. "Lucius, are you alright? Do you feel pain anywhere?", the girl asked in concern. "Those bastards Luther and his two lackeys have gone too far. They actually hurt a student to this extent.", she shouted indignantly. Her voice was pleasant and quite nice to hear. "Oh and what happened back there. When I arrived, two of those brutes were seriously injured and unconscious. Not to mention you and that bastard Luther.", she continued. ''Seems like she doesn''t know what happened. She did not even consider the possibility that I might have injured them. I have to continue this conversation'', Lucius thought. "They were threatening me, when a stranger suddenly arrived and got into an argument with them. I don''t know what happened after that as I passed out.", Lucius said calmly. "Oh! Did you see how he looked like?", the girl questioned. "No", Lucius replied. "That''s weird. Well they deserve it for what they did to you..", she said. "Indeed they deserve it. Anyway, what is the date today?", Lucius questioned. "You don''t know?", the girl suddenly looked up and stared at Lucius in a weird manner. Seeing this reaction, Lucius inwardly cursed, ''Seems like I messed up with that question''. "Well, since I was unconscious earlier, I want to know the exact time and day.", Lucius answered cautiously. "Oh so that''s it. It''s currently 6:30 in the evening on the 23rd of August 2320 IGE", she replied as she pointed to the holograhic display on her watch. Hearing this Lucius'' pupils shrunk.'' IGE, Inter-Galactic Era, That too 2320? I went back 300 years?!'', Lucius'' mind was utterly chaotic after hearing this information. ''It wasn''t supposed to be this way. I must not have gone this far back.'', Lucius tried to analyze calmly,but alas he couldn''t remain calm. ''Did she change the coordinates'', Lucius'' mind suddenly thought of a possibility. The image of the woman in dark gold robes passed through his mind. "Hey are you really okay? You are acting weird.", Lucius suddenly heard the girl speak up. Chapter 5: Knowing His Place. Hearing her voice Lucius turned to look at her. Her face was filled with concern and care. "Your face looks very pale. Are you sick?.", she continued as she reached in to touch his forehead. ''I''m fine.", Lucius uttered calmly. He smoothly dodged her hand as he spoke. "Oh, okay then.", she said confused. ''Why did he suddenly dodge my hand? Don''t I usually do this? He''s acting very weird today.'' she thought to herself. ''I need to calm down right now. I can still think about what happened later. Right now, I need more information!'', Lucius thought to himself. As the both of them sunk into their thoughts, a loud beeping sound approached. Both of them looked up to see a miniature robot flying to them. "Patient name- Lucius. Scanning for injuries..... None detected. Eligible for discharge. Please clear the bed and leave.", the robot scanned Lucius and then spoke mechanically. "Is he really fine?", asked the girl with concern. "No injuries detected. Mental fluctuations stable. Cleared for discharge", the robot replied and left. "I guess I''ll wait outside then.", said the girl as she looked at Lucius. Lucius nodded. After she left, Lucius got up from the bed and started getting dressed. ''Firstly I need to find out who this girl is. Then I need to collect more information'' Lucius thought to himself. As he was dressing himself, he realized there was something in his pocket. Reaching in he grabbed the item to check what it was. As he opened his fingers, he found a small crystals resting in his palm. It was dark gold in color and was giving off a faint light. Occasionally a faint sound of a pulse could be heard. It was different from that of a heartbeat and more similar to that of moving current. ''It''s Ka''lor''ah''s Existence Crystal.'' Lucius thought to himself as he recalled the woman in the dark gold robes. He then put it back in his pocket as he walked out. Outside he found the young woman waiting for him. He then spoke up. "Can you help me back to my room, I feel a little dizzy", Lucius spoke trying to sound a bit more humane. He was worried he might expose himself if he spoke with his characteristic emotionless voice. "Sure!", she quickly agreed. "By the way, why does your voice sound so weird.", she couldn''t help but ask. Throughout the entire conversation with Lucius, she noticed his voice was different from usual. Previously he sounded more bright and sunny, whilst currently he sounded like the autumn chill. Too calm and detached. "I guess, I need a glass of water. My throat is sore.", he replied while further adjusting his voice. He then thought to himself. '' This girl is very familiar with me. I need to be extra cautious''. Neither of them spoke after this. She silently held onto his arm to prevent him from falling, whilst guiding him back to his room. Coming out of the medical facility, Lucius could see the evening sky darkening as night slowly settled. He walked silently as he sharply watched his surroundings. Many young boys and girls of similar ages could be seen walking back and forth. He noticed an emblem pinned to their clothes. Taking a closer look at the symbol, Lucius noticed something. ''That''s the symbol of Earth Space Alliance Academy. I''m back here?'', Lucius thought to himself as he carefully recalled. Before crossing over Lucius was 317 years old. He had a long life filled with many hellish instances. The human race was annihilated and he was the only surviving human in the cosmos. He had no friends, family or relatives. He had been in the truest sense alone and discarded. Lucius quitely concentrated and looked through his memories, although he had forgotten much of his earlier life some important events that had left a deep impact on him remained. ''As of the year 2320, I am 17 years old. I did study in the Earth Alliance Academy. I was in the Space and Interstellar Mechanics Department. If I recall correctly ''that event'' will start next year in February. I don''t have a lot of time to prepare.'' clenching his fists, continued ''I will absolutely not let history follow its course again.'', Lucius thought with determination. The look in his eyes sharpened as he stared ahead resolutely. What he did not notice was that, with change in his thoughts and the confirmation of his goals, the crystal in his pocket gave off a deep radiance and a small change occurred in its depths. At this point they had already arrived in front of Lucius'' residence. The girl quickly let go of Lucius and spoke. "We are here now. Be careful and don''t exert yourself too much. If you need my help, contact me immediately." Lucius'' nodded as he spoke, "Thanks for everything." The girl smiled and replied. "Anytime." As they faced each other, Lucius suddenly swayed as he tripped and fell towards her. The girl reacted quickly and caught him. "Careful", she said with concern. "Ah, I tripped over my legs. I think I have to rest now. See you tomorrow", Lucius spoke as he walked into his house. "If you aren''t feeling well, you don''t have to come for class tomorrow. I''ll vouch for you.", the girl quickly spoke as she saw him leave. Seeing that he nodded, the girl sighed to herself and left quietly. Inside the house, Lucius locked the door and then looked at this hands. In his hands was a thin metal card like object with the Earth Alliance Emblem on it. He tapped at the emblem and an holograhic screen shot out. "So, her name is Olivia Mayer huh. I don''t remember such a person in my memories.", Lucius spoke to himself as he stared at the screen in front of him. On the screen was the image of the girl who has just helped him along with her details. At the last moment, Lucius had deliberately tripped into her. AS she reached in to catch him, Lucius had picked her ID card that was in her left pocket. He had seen her place it in her pocket when she had opened the door to his room at the medical facility. "Single child with a single parent. She''s from the same place as me.", Lucius continued looking through her ID card. Unfortunately, the information available was quite limited. "I guess, I can somewhat manage the next time I see her. Although I have to keep our interactions minimal.", Lucius concluded. "Now then, let''s look at this body of mine.", Lucius said softly as he proceed to his bathroom. Standing inside his bathroom he made his way to the mirror that was placed in the wall adjacent to the bathroom door. He stood before the mirror and looked at his face. He was startled at what he saw. Chapter 6: Fitness Testing! Part 1 Staring into the mirror, Lucius found a young, handsome boy looking at him. He had dark black hair and deep black eyes ,similar to the deep endless abyss. He was 1.75m tall with a slender build. He was thin and had no muscles to speak of. He wore an impassive and indifferent expression on his face and his eyes were cold and detached. Touching his face, Lucius noticed that his skin was very fair and smooth. If not for the healthy red in his cheeks, people would probably mistake him for a corpse. ''It really is my body'', Lucius was shocked. From the time, he crossed over, Lucius never really had time to accept the fact that he really had gone back in time. Now that he was finally alone, reality hit him like a tidal wave. Lucius immediately stripped, started examining his full body. He was looking and checking at his bone and muscle structures and exercising his control over his body. ''My body is really frail and weak'', he thought as he shook his head. ''I need to start building my strength immediately.'', he continued. Lucius then sat down on the floor and reached out to his pocket. He then retrieved the crystal, which was still giving off a faint glow. Sitting with his legs crossed, Lucius held the crystal in his hand and closed his eyes. He then started focusing inwardly. He was seemingly trying to find something within him. After a few minutes, when Lucius was at the peak of his concentration, the crystal in his hand started floating up into the air and started spinning. The light it was giving off rapidly weakened. Meanwhile, Lucius suddenly felt a strong sense of attraction within his mind. His consciousness started heading in that direction in his mindspace. After what seemed like a long time, he saw something at the depths of his mindspace. It was a reddish-black hazy cloud which was 1 metre in diameter. It''s colour was very vibrant and the cloud exuded a sense of extreme danger. The same sense of danger one would sense in a life or death scenario, like having a car heading at extreme speeds towards them or when falling from a tall building. As soon as he saw this cloud, Lucius immediately focused his mind even further and started attracting the cloud towards him. As it started heading towards him in a slow space, Lucius started retracing his way back to his original position, his conscious mindspace. This cloud like object was actually the strongest part of a living thing''s existence. The strongest part of a living being is not it''s arms, legs nor it''s brain. It was the soul. A soul is the centerpiece of one''s existence. It gives validity to a being and is a part with unfathomable potential. A soul is immortal and can never be destroyed. When a living being dies, it''s actually their minds and bodies that die, but never the soul. Most people never uncover the existence of the soul throughout their entire lives. It''s something that everyone knows that exists but have never seen it, similar to the air that surrounds us. Only in extremely rare cases do people find their souls, or at least a part of it. This happens in times of enlightenment, or in cases of life and death. As Lucius was drawing the soul slowly up onto his conscious mind, outside in the real world a hazy fog started manifesting around Lucius'' body. The crystal which was rapidly losing it''s lustre, suddenly started bouncing up and down in front of Lucius'' body seemingly overjoyed. It then started sucking the fog into its body, rapidly restoring it''s glow and further enhancing it. Right now, Lucius'' body was twitching and shivering uncontrollably, His head and body were littered with innumerable sweat drops. Inside his mindspace, Lucius was still focusing on bring that cloud into his conscious mind. It was a slow and gruelling task, yet he soldiered on unhesitantly. Time passed on unceasingly as Lucius'' focused. His entire body was now wildly spasming. After almost three hours, there was sound of a muffled explosion. Lucius'' shook wildly one last time and all his taut muscles became loose. He still had his eyes closed as his body slowly relaxed. His breaths were long with short bursts mixed in between them, seemingly following a pattern. On his expressionless face hung a faint smile. After another hour, Lucius slowly opened his eyes. He jumped unto his feet and examined his body one more time. On the outside there was no visible difference to his body, yet it was inherently different. ''My body is finally infused with my soul now. I can now tap into my soul power.'' Lucius thought, seemingly content with himself. ''I need to check my precise strength to understand the limits of my body and soul power'', Lucius thought as he started dressing himself. He noticed the time and noticed it was almost 11 PM. Still he thought of going to the gym to test his physical strength. ''Oh, this thing absorbed some of my excess soul power.'' Lucius thought as he looked at the crystal which was now lying down on the floor in a satisfied manner, Lucius quickly picked up the crystal and placed it in his pocket. Using the map function on the newly acquired ID card, he proceeded towards the gym. Lucius jogged his way to the gym whilst utilizing a special breathing method, to quickly reach his peak state in his current body. After 15 mins, he arrived in front of a huge building. It was 4 storey building, and had glass panels throughout its entire outer walls. One could clearly see the inside the building, yet not the people in it. It was a fantastic mix of technology and architecture. Closing in on the building, Lucius used Olivia''s card to enter it. Throughout the academy, a student would have to use their ID to use the various facilities. One would be restricted by their ID. This is done to restrain the students and also the protect the academy. Lucius wasn''t sure where his ID was, hence he decided to make do with Olivia''s for now. Entering the facility, Lucius was greeted with the site of a large open space lined with a glass flooring and various fitness and testing equipments. Ever since humanity had entered the Interstellar travel era, physical fitness became a necessity. One could not travel through space nor visit the various colonized planets, if one wasn''t physically fit. Hence the practice of fitness training became integrated into the lives of every human. The gym was mostly empty, save for the few students who were scattered randomly. No one took notice of Lucius'' arrival and neither did Lucius bother with them. He then made his way towards one of the testing rooms which was empty and entered. Upon entering Lucius heard a mechanical voice speak to him. "Please select, which area to be tested?", said the voice. "Full-body.", Lucius replied in his emotionless voice. "Testing begins in 5 seconds. Please prepare.", said the voice. "Let''s begin then.", Lucius spoke as he close his eyes. He then started employing his unique breathing method, but this time he was doing it with his entire body. His muscles tightened up and his veins had become visible. A faint haze could be seen moving through his bloodstream. This was soul power! Chapter 7: Fitness Testing! Part 2 "5 seconds.", said the machine. Lucius adjusted his state of mind and balance. "4 seconds." He began to tighten and loosen his muscles. "3 seconds." He began adjusting his breathing to his optimal state. "2 seconds." Lucius then began controlling his soul power to to have it go through his eyes, his nerves and his limbs "1 second.: He then opened his eyes. A faint red could be seen in the depths of his eyes. "Begin Reaction Testing.", said the mechanical voice. Immediately after that, the wall in front of Lucius opened up. Lucius dashed into it at his top speed. He started going all out from the beginning to get his optimal results. As he entered the new room, the walls on both sides opened up to reveal, small circular disks. Each disk was 30cm in diameter and was flat. Lining their edges was red circular light. As soon as the machines detected Lucius'' entrance, they fired off in his direction seemingly trying to hit him. They came in all sorts of directions and did not seem to have a fixed pattern. ''It seems my goal here is to not get hit by these.'', Lucius calmly thought as he prepared to dodge them. Seeing the disks enter a meter, of his range, Lucius quickly twisted his head and upper body in a weird manner. Looking from afar, one could see that his upper body and lower body were not in the same line. They were in fact parallel to each other! The disks narrowly missed him and fell behind. After dodging the first wave, Lucius did not relax for even a second and continued to move at his top speed. He dodged each disk in a variety of manners from jumping, twisting, rolling on the floor, zig-zagging, etc. He even evaded one disk while having it clash into an another on by moving in their trajectories ''They are too slow.'' Lucius thought to himself. After infusing his eyes and limbs with soul power, the world in Lucius'' opinion had slowed down. All sorts of calculated directions and trajectories could now be clearly seen with his eyes. He even had the energy to calculate their precise path and dodged them in a very narrow manner. Of course he could dodge them with room to spare, but Lucius did not do so. After the fight earlier, he noticed his body was too uncoordinated with his mind. His body did not move in the way he wanted it to. Therefore he was using this method to train his body under the infusion of soul power. By this time Lucius had covered 3/4th of the total distance of this test. As he was continuing his mind suddenly alerted him fo danger. He quickly twisted his head downwards in a 90 degree angle, and felt his hair being ruffled. He quickly looked at the newly fallen disk. ''That was close. It actually caught my blindspot and almost knocked me out.'', Lucius analyzed calmly. If it had been an ordinary student they would have surely caught off guard by that attack. Fortunately Lucius had his senses enhanced by his soul power and his monstrous battle experience. He became even more cautious after that attack and quickly completed the rest of the testing with ease .A laser recorded his finish and the disks stopped firing. "Reaction Test complete", said the machine. "Proceeding to Strength Testing. Please hit the pillar ahead with your full strength" ,it continued. In front of him, Lucius noticed a pillar giving off a metallic lustre. It was completely smooth devoid of any markings. A circular indent was seen in the center of the pillar. Lucius stood in front of the pillar and started gathering his breath. He concentrated and started to channel his soul power to his fists. He then assumed a fighting stance and with a sharp exhale punched the pillar with his full body strength combined with his soul power. BAAM!! A loud sound echoed through the empty room. Lucius felt drained and struggled to stand. He noticed that his soul power was very low. ''I guess that''s the capacity of my soul power. 5 minutes of high intensity movement and 1 full powered attack'', he thought to himself. "Strength Testing confirmed. Proceeding to Endurance Testing.", the machine spoke up after a few seconds. A door opened and a new room appeared. The room was empty except for a steep incline on the ground. On the top of the incline was a red flag. "Please reach the red flag to complete your testing.", the machine instructed. Lucius gathered his remaining energy and had it cycle in his body. He then proceeded to walk towards the red flags. As soon as he took the first step, Lucius felt his back being burdened. It seemed as if weights had been added to his body. ''A Gravity Simulator. This is going to be hard.'', Lucius inhaled a sharp breath. Unlike adding weights onto a body, a gravity simulator manipulates the surrounding gravitational force to increase or decrease. This adds weight to all parts of the body including the inner organs. Lucius even felt his lungs being weighed down and found it hard to maintain his breathing technique. He grit his teeth and continued to move forward one step at a time. With every step he took the load on him increased and the terrain gradually inclined. Lucius found it hard to move forward after 15 steps. ''I need to move forward.'' Lucius thought firmly. After the 30th step, the gravity in the room had already tripled to that of normal. He found it impossible to stand let alone take a step forward. Lucius firmly clenched his teeth and started drawing his soul power once more. He then proceeded to take 5 more steps before his felt a sharp pain tear across his entire body. His soul power had been completely exhausted! ''Just 5 more steps!'' Lucius thought to himself as he struggled to suppress the pain he was feeling at this moment. Unlike physical pains or internal injuries, exhausting or overdrafting of soul power had a different kind of pain. It felt similar to having one''s muscles being torn apart piece by piece, whilst increasing their sense of pain. Any normal person or even a trained soldier would have passed out at this moment, alas Lucius was none of the above. He was an inhuman 300 year old monster, who did not understand the meaning of giving up, Through his life he had simply lost too much. He persevered and finally took that final step towards the red flag. As soon as he took that step the gravity was immediately restored to normal. Having the weights taken off him Lucius body collapsed onto the ground. He had been holding on off his perseverance for those final few steps. "Congratulations Miss Olivia, You have successfully completed the tests. Your results have been calculated and is shown in the screen ahead.", the machine spoke without an ounce of excitement in it''s voice. ''Wait, what.'' Lucius thought to himself. Chapter 8: A Visit at Night. ''Miss Olivia? Don''t tell me it recorded under her name.'' Lucius was suddenly confused for second. ''Is it because I used her ID? Sigh, there is another reason for me to avoid her.'' Lucius sighed to himself. Laying in that position for a few minutes, Lucius then got up when he regained a part of his energy. He then walked towards the screen that showed his results. [Name: Olivia Mayer] [Age: 17] [Gender: Female] [Reaction and Agility Results: 103.12 points] [Strength Results: 110.56 points] [Endurance Results: 162.14 points] Lucius looked at his results with a calm face. 100 points was the human average on these test. It was the average of all people who had taken this test and had their results recorded. Under a 100 was already pretty good, while scoring above 100 was exceptional. Most people would require months of training to achieve such results, yet Lucius achieved the same with just his usage of soul power. This went to show how useful soul power was. ''My body is too weak.'', Lucius shook his head as he saw these results. ''With such strength there is no way I can survive ''that event'' in February. I need to train my body and soul power faster.'' Lucius clenched his fists as he thought with determination. "Participant''s body is injured. Please receive a nutrient fluid.", Lucius heard the machine speak again. Turning back he saw the machine floating next to him holding a blue vial in its hands. He reached out to grab it and drained it''s contents directly. ''Sure enough. Nutrient Fluids are quite effective after overdrafting my body. I can use it to get better results after my training.'', Lucius thought to himself. As he drowned the blue liquid, a cool and refreshing feeling enveloped his entire body. He felt every cell of his being energized and his pain lessen by a large margin. "After you are done please exit the testing room", the machine continued. Hearing this Lucius, immediately left the room and arrived at the large open gym space again. This time a lot fewer people could be seen. Checking the time, Lucius saw it was almost midnight. From the dozens that were originally present when he came in. Only a few people were left now. Seeing that it was too late, Lucius decided to head back to his room. As he was returning to his room, Lucius'' mind wondered about his current situation. Currently he was in the year 2320 IGE. Ever since mankind first stepped into space, its ambition grew to explore and eventually to conquer it. In less that 200 years since then, humanity unlocked the secrets of Interstellar Travel and found it self travelling and developing itself in multiple new planets and systems. With the increase in resources available it''s development skyrocketed, eventually leading to today. As of today, mankind has successfully colonized hundreds of planets and has increased its reach over multiple systems. Of course with it''s expansion and discovery of new valuable resources came many challenges. Humans could no longer withhold their greed and started waging wars to compete over resources. Allies became enemies and even the longest of friendships turned into bitter hatred. Thus followed a long time of bitter fighting and bloodshed. Humanity''s population dropped by almost 20% at this time. Eventually some of the superpowers among these countries, came together to form the ''United Earth Council'' which was later restructured into the current ''Earth Alliance''. It was established in the year 2260 and has been growing strong the expanding till date. It has established various such academies in various colonized planets to further expand its forces. One curious fact was that, although mankind has explored thousands of planets and colonized hundreds of them, it has never found another intelligent species. Some planets were similar to earth and even older that it, yet not a single new race was found. Many planets were filled with various minerals and suitable living conditions yet not a single intelligent race was found. This fact led mankind to believe, that they were the strongest race and unrivalled in the universe, leading to further battles between themselves and subsequent divisions and hatred. Although the Alliance did forbid wars from taking place between allied powers, without any external power forcing them to band together, humanity''s greed rose again. Alas. little did they know that times were changing again. Thinking up to here Lucius sighed and shook his head ''Greed is the original sin and complacency leads to death. Brothers and friends kill each other all for greater wealth. In the grand stage, what does a few more stones or notes actually account too? Wealth is but an illusory object, that humans have invented to satisfy their vanity and avarice. In the face of true power, all these things are but insignificant dust.'', Lucius'' thought to himself as he sighed again. ''I need to strengthen myself to the maximum extent possible. Only then can I play a role in ''that''.'', Lucius reaffirmed his thoughts and started heading to his room in a faster pace. As he approached his room, Lucius noticed two silhouettes lurking near his house. Lucius immediately slowed down and jumped into the bushes lining the path. He moved carefully in order to not alert them. He slowly moved towards to try to overhear their conversation. "This is the place, right.", said one of the guys. "Should be. That''s what his ID tells me.", replied the other. "Who do you think attacked boss, it can''t be this guy right?", asked the guy. "It shouldn''t be. He''s a nerd after all, he couldn''t possible take down boss, and those two guys all alone. He must have an accomplice.", replied the other guy, thinking over it for a second. "Go ahead and open the door. We need to get this over with quickly.", said the guy. Meanwhile Lucius who had closed in enough to hear this conversation realized. ''So these guys have my ID. It seems they are from the same gang as that Luther guy.'', Lucius thought to himself. ''Might as well take care of them of here.'' he continued. Noticing one the guys heading into his room, Lucius positioned himself in the closest location, where the other guy was standing in. He then looked for cameras and calculated its blind spots. Factoring this he once again moved to a more optimal position. Lucius then waited patiently for one of the guys to move away. He also parted the bushes in such a way that, when he retreats no movement would be seen from the front. As he waited, one of the guys finally used Lucius'' ID to enter his house. If the owner is not physically present, one can also use their ID to open their doors. Seeing the other guy move, Lucius quickly leapt out to deal with the other guy. He angled both his hands in the shape of a V, and used one hand to cover the guys mouth and the other to hold his chest. As soon as his grip was secured Lucius pulled the guy and retreated back into the bush. The guy was indeed staying alert, but he did not expect someone to jump out of nowhere and grab him. He instinctively wanted to struggle, but found himself not being able to. He then looked up at his assailant and found an emotionless face looking at him with his cold eyes. He stared into those eyes and noticed a tiny bit of red in the background. As soon as he stared at that red he found his body being immobilized. His thoughts also became sluggish. What he saw in the depths of Lucius'' eyes was a part of his soul. A soul that had taken innumerable number of lives throughout its existence. Lucius then quickly used his soul power broke the guy''s throat. The above mentioned actions happened in less than 5 seconds. Lucius'' then hid the body in the bushes and crawled up to his room. ''Now to deal with the other intruder.'', Lucius thought as he made his way into his room carefully. Chapter 9: Clearing Troubles. In the house, the other intruder was searching for Lucius. He carefully searched every corner but found no one inside. "Did he know we were going to come. and ran away.", the man thought out loud. He turned a round and noticed that his partner had not followed him inside. "Hey, quit lazing out there and look around. He''s not in here!", the man shouted to instruct his partner. He waited for a few second but no reply was heard. "What''s happening?!", the man started panicking. An eerie feeling set in. "He''s not going to be able to answer.", a voice suddenly interjected. The was cold and almost mechanical. No emotion could be felt from that voice. "Who-Who''s there?!", the man completely lost his cool and started screaming and jumping. "Who else could it be? Aren''t you here for me.", the voice calmly replied. Hearing his answer the man squinted his eyes and saw a handsome boy standing in front of him at a distance. He was hidden by the shadows and was calmly watching his every moment. The intruder suddenly felt that his life wasn''t in his hands anymore. Already feeling very scared the man couldn''t maintain his state of mind anymore. Lucius used this opportunity and infused a bit of his soul power in his eyes and his voice. The man who was looking at Lucius with a scared face, suddenly noticed a red in Lucius'' eyes. He found himself unable to move his eyes away from Lucius. The look on the intruder''s eyes became blank. His body relaxed and he looked similar to a puppet. His hands hanging limply and his face calm. "Tell me, why are the both of you here?", Lucius spoke up, there was a irresistible charm in his mechanical voice. The intruder mindlessly replied, "Boss Luther did not show up earlier today and we got to know that he was hospitalized. Vice-leader asked us both to come here and interrogate you at night." "Oh and why is your vice leader interested in me?", Lucius continued to investigate. "I am not sure but I overheard the Vice Leader talk to Boss about gifting the project you were working on to someone." the man replied. "How did you get my ID?", Lucius asked. "While you were leaving from the lab yesterday one of the students pickpocketed your card and gave it to vice leader." ,he replied. "Final Question, who is your vice leader?" ,Lucius asked for the final time. By now he had gotten a general idea on what was happening. "It''s Young master Keith from the Cline family." the man replied. ''Keith Cline, huh.'' Lucius closed his eyes and browsed his memories. He had no recollection of this name. ''Someone insignificant'', Lucius concluded. He then walked towards the intruder and slowly snapped his neck. The way he performed the action looked very natural, similar to how one would breathe. As he watched the man die, Lucius had no change in his expression or mental state, although his soul seemed to rejoice. ''I need to dispose of their bodies somewhere.'' Lucius thought as he moved. He first tied the hands and legs of the guy and carried him outside. He then similarly tied the body of the other guy who was outside. Lucius then carried both of them over his shoulder and started travelling deeper into the dense forestry that was next to the residential area. Lucius took extra care to avoid the cameras and travelled in a quick manner. Compared to the hellish Endurance test he had finished, this task seemed a lot easier. Plus he had mostly recovered his soul power by now and was putting it to good use. The Earth Alliance Academy, in Earth is known throughout the Alliance for it''s vast open spaces and dense forests. It was also the first academy established by the Alliance. No matter how many planets humans colonized, none of them had the same feeling as their home world. The mother planet felt inherently different. These vast open spaces and dense forests became the perfect cover for Lucius to hide these bodies. Lucius travelled for around 30 minutes and then found a spot that was decent enough. It wasn''t too obvious nor was it secretive. He in fact wanted the the academy to find these bodies and publicize the news. Lucius did not have the strength or backing to directly clash with Keith nor Luther. He wanted to use this opportunity to buy himself some time. Lucius knew who his opponents were, but his enemies were clueless. This scenario was a perfect example of hiding in the darkness, while watching the light. Lucius wanted to make full use of this. He then carelessly dug up a bit of the earth and buried the bodies in a hurriedly manner. He wanted to give the others a false impression on what really happened. After making sure the scene was perfect, Lucius wiped his hands and made his way back. halfway through Lucius got rid of the clothes he was wearing and buried them inside a tree trunk. This was a location where people would constantly look at, but wouldn''t investigate as it was too obvious. Lucius ran the rest of the way naked and finally made it into his house. He then changed his clothes and sat down cross legged. ''It''s about time that I activate this.'' Lucius thought to himself as he held the dark gold crystal in hands. He then closed his eyes and sunk into this consciousness. In there he saw the reddish-black cloud floating calmly. Lucius neared the cloud and started drawing a part of it outside his body. As soon as he began doing this, a sharp pain struck his body. He felt his body being chopped into pieces and then further grinding the said pieces. He grit his teeth and continued to draw a part of the cloud outside. The crystal which was sitting in his hands silently, suddenly started bouncing up and down after it realized what he was doing. Lucius kept pulling the cloud and then finally directed it towards the crystal. The crystal after coming into contact with the cloud immediately started absorbing it in a furious manner. Lucius opened his eyes and calmly stared at the crystal. It was rotating at high speeds while being covered with a reddish-black cloud. Faint rays of golden light was peeking through the gaps in the cloud. The cloud slowly started shrinking in size. This process went on for 15 minutes, when the cloud completely vanished and the crystal abruptly dropped to the ground. There was no visible change in the size of the crystal. It still was the size of a palm and was shining a bit brighter than before. Lucius stared at the crystal on the floor for a few minutes and then suddenly spoke up. "Stop acting and wake up." Chapter 10: Awakening! "Stop acting and wake up.", Lucius said coldly as he stared at the crystal on the floor. "The gig''s up, huh", a voice was heard from somewhere. The crystal that was lying silently in the floor suddenly quivered and started floating up. Surprisingly the voice was heard from the crystal. "Now do you understand how it feels to be ignored, when you are talking. Humph!", the voice spoke as it snorted. Lucius sighed and spoke up, "Can we skip the banter Ka''lor''ah. I have got something important to ask you." "Stop acting like you haven''t heard me.", the voice shouted in grievance. "Why did you send me 300 years back. You know this wasn''t the original plan that we discussed.", Lucius questioned her in a serious voice. Seeing that he was serious, Ka''lor''ah was no longer rebellious and answered. "Since we were going to affect the ''Rule of Causality'', I figured, might as well send you to a time, when the Rule was at it''s peak." Her voice was nonchalant, no longer sounding like she previously did. She sounded like a Monarch, one who controlled the life and death of billions of living beings. Her voice was filled with regal authority and indifference. Lucius did not seem surprised at this change and continued, "But this wasn''t what we discus-." "Would you have agreed if I told you in advance.", she abruptly cut him off. Her voice was sharp and incisive. Hearing her reply, Lucius suddenly became tongue-tied, he truly couldn''t answer her question. "This had to be done. There is no room for discussion on this matter. You know, what is going to happen in February next year.", her voice became firm and cold. Lucius stood there silently. There was an oppressive feeling brewing in the air. After a while, Lucius took a deep breath and replied in his emotionless voice, "This is the last time, you will be doing something like this behind my back. The next time this happens, I will kill you without fail. Even if that means I have to carry out the plan all alone. I''m quite used to being alone.". Lucius stared at the crystal with cold eyes. A boundless killing intent lurking in his eyes. The space between the both of them suddenly turned cold as a reddish-black haze leaked out of Lucius'' body. It was manifestation of his soul power outside his body. After 5 seconds it abruptly stopped flowing and retreated back into his body. Lucius'' withdrew his soul power. If someone else had been in the room during this period, they would''ve had their hearts stop beating out of terror. Hearing this Ka''lor''ah sighed. She then calmly spoke up, "Give me a situation report. How long as it been since you came back and what happened during this period." Lucius then started giving her a detailed report. After hearing everything the crystal remained quiet for a while. Then she spoke up. "So let me get this straight. You have been here for less than 24 hours and already caused so much trouble.", she asked her voice quivering. "Indeed.", Lucius calmly replied. "You! Why didn''t you wake me earlier. I missed out on so much fun. You unfilial disciple, how could you make your master miss out on so much excitement. Ahhh!!", the voice cried out. For people who haven''t figured it out. This crystal is the "Existence Crystal", of the woman in the dark golden robes. A ''Existence Crystal'', is the core of a soul. Once a soul is sufficiently powerful, it produces a single crystal. As long as the crystal is not destroyed, that person can live indefinitely, although in the form of the crystal. As soon as Lucius heard her say this, he figured out that she was starting to play around again. He then coldly stated, "Stop joking around and be serious. We need to plan our course of action." "How am I joking! I am completely serious. If only I could have seen the scene of you being beat up, I would''ve recorded it and used it against you forever. Such a precious opportunity has been wasted.", the voice sounded, almost sobbing. Lucius ignored her rants and spoke out, "So who''s the focal point in this round. We need to start from that person." "Hmm. oh the focal point, right. It should be Reyna Snowden for this round. You must remember her. She was your first girlfriend after all.", Ka''lor''ah said teasing Lucius in the process. Lucius was completely unfazed by this and said, "So we need to ensure her survival. We must also have her speed up her achievements." "That''s easy, we just need to get close to her and influence her ''Causality''. ", she replied. "How do I get close to her. At this point there has been no point of interaction between me and her.", Lucius asked as he furrowed his brows. "That''s even simpler, you just need to seduce her. After all you have already done it once.", she replied in a matter-of-fact tone. Lucius immediately glared at the crystal and spoke, "Are you that keen on dying?" "Che! What a killjoy. I guess we have to take the longer less fun path.", she grumbled. "You already have a method?", Lucius asked in a questioning tone. "Why of course, my dear Watson. I, your master, after all am the greatest being in the universe.", she replied. Her tone oozing with narcissism. "Get to the point!", at this point Lucius was already starting to lose his calm. Normally, Lucius is a very patient and calm person. Even in the most desperate of scenarios he never loses control of his emotions easily and always remains level-headed. But the only person who infuriate him, is this teacher of his. "Do you still remember, why this girl becomes the focal point of Humanity''s Causality?", he asked Lucius in the demeanor of a teacher. Lucius thought for a while and replied, "Because of her Body-Soul Resonance device." "Exactly. You know how difficult it is to uncover the soul of an individual. This revolutionary gadget of hers, single-handedly prolonged the time of humanity''s demise by 30 years and gave it a fighting chance!", she said. "But she hasn''t figured out the mechanics behind it yet. And we can''t just hand it to her because of the ''Rules''. Also how is this going to help us get close to her?", Lucius asked her, not quite understanding her plan. "What was the device that first made her famous?", Ka''lor''ah asked in an amusing voice. "It was the Mind-Body Synchronizer", Lucius replied unhesitantly. "And what were you researching on during this period?", she continued asking him. "Fluctuations caused by difference in the state of mind during traversal...Ah!", Lucius suddenly realized. "Exactly! She somehow got her hands on your research and that paved the way for her eventual success. This is also the reason why you later met her in your life, although you never understood how your previous research got into her hands. Now assuming by the information you got from interrogating that guy, we can assume that this Keith guy gifted it to her.", she chuckled towards the end. "He tried so desperately to get into her good books, not knowing that he played the matchmaker between the both of you. Talk about a twist, ahahaha!", she started laughing. Lucius was ignored her antics and thought to himself, ''Reyna.'' The memories of the blonde haired girl started surging in his memories. Their time together, her laughter, his first kiss. All sorts of forgotten memories surged forth from the depths of Lucius'' mind. Yet, Despite all of this Lucius'' heart remained unmoved and his mind, utterly cold. He did not seem to care, and forcefully suppressed his thoughts. He then sat down to cultivate his soul power. Ka''lor''ah could see what was going through his minds, as their souls had linked upon the activation of her crystal. After she saw, what he did she mentally sighed. ''This guy....'', she thought then remained quiet as she watched Lucius cultivate quietly. Chapter 11: A Plan Begins The next morning, Lucius opened his eyes and rose from his cultivation. "A good session huh.", he suddenly heard a voice near him. Looking in that direction he saw, Ka''lor''ah staring at him. Lucius ignored her and started getting dressed. After dressing himself, Lucius put her in his pocket and made his way out of the house. "Hey could you not, handle me properly. Is this how you treat a lady!", she grumbled. Lucius ignored her and spoke,"We must first go to a lab and retrieve my project. Then we will then think about how to deliver it to her." Lucius then made his way through to the campus, heading towards one of the labs. The labs for research were not free to use in the academy. One had to have sufficient academic points to gain access to labs. Academic points are gained from completing the monthly tasks allocated by the academy. It can also be gained from ranking in the top, in the examinations. Lucius being quite the hardworking student, always placed in the top 10 and completed his tasks almost religiously. The Earth Alliance Academy was one of the toughest academies to get into. Not only does one have to be smart, but the they must also come from an influential family. It is almost impossible for a student, who is not from a prominent family or without any connections in the academy to be admitted in it. The only other way to get admitted into the academy is through scholarships. But getting a scholarship is no easy task. One must contribute to humanity in any field, and the contribution must be of considerable importance. Throughout the existence of the academy, less than 10 students have entered it through scholarships. Two of which, were admitted this year. Lucius who was admitted into the academy this way, can be considered as a once-in-a-decade prodigy. The other person who was admitted this way, was of course, Olivia. Even though, such students enter the academy with great honours, they are generally discriminated against by the other students. Since the other students come from an influential background, they consider the rest as ''commoners'', and heavily bully or discriminate them. Although the academy does have the power to step in and deal with these issues, in reality they do not bother to do so. They would rather see a genius be bullied, than risk stepping in and angering an influential family. Hence as long as the students don''t take it too far, the academy turns a blind eye to such situations. That is why, even though everyone knew Lucius was being bullied by Luther and his gang, no one bothered to step in. In fact, some of the other students were even encouraging such activities. This is why Lucius and Olivia always have each other''s back. The fact that Lucius is her foster brother, further reinforces her care for him. Lucius, who had been heading to the labs, finally made it to the place. In front of him, stood a large circular building with black-stained glasses. Lucius calmly made his way inside and was greeted with the sight of a large lobby area. The lobby was richly decorated and had many leisure facilities. Since the academy hosted, children form, large rich families, all buildings and facilities were also carefully catered to their liking. Lucius, then made his way to one of the electronically manned booths. He then spoke. "I would like to rent a lab for an hour. Student Lucius.", he said as he offered his ID to the robot. Upon being admitted to the academy, each student will have a personal profile created for them. All of their academic points, research, lab sessions, etc, were recorded in these profiles. No person, other than the individual themselves, can access their profiles. All profiles were linked to a student ID and were stored in the academy''s central monitoring facility, and is guarded by an AI. In Lucius'' plan to get closer to Reyna, he had decided to give her a part of his project. The same project that Luther and Keith had been trying to get. One way or another, it was going to reach her, hence Lucius figured that he might as well use the opportunity to succeed in his plans. After paying the robot, with some points. Lucius made his way to one the free labs. He then accessed his profile and downloaded the project. While, downloading Lucius also read through it to refresh his memories. "This research is so prehistoric.", Lucius clicked his tongue. "While it may be prehistoric for us, it''s something that is completely new to the people in this timeline. Although I have to admit, the you of 300 years ago, really was a genius, even from my standards. You ventured into a branch of study, that most people were still debating on whether it exists or not.", Ka''lor''ah remarked. "If not for the events that are going to occur next year, people would have treated my research as trash. After all the existence of the soul cannot be understood by lower beings." , Lucius said cynically. After the project finished it''s download, Lucius retrieved the drive and made his way out of the building. He then paused and thought about his next course of action. He couldn''t exactly walk up and give it to her, as there were various issues with it. One, he might get brushed off as a crazy guy trying to win her favor. Two, ''They'' might notice the altered causality and might intervene. Although the chances of that happening were quite low, as the cosmos are incomparably large, Lucius and Ka''lor''ah could not afford to take such risks. After all, they were not supposed to be here. Lucius continued to ponder as he resumed his walk through the campus. The Earth Alliance Academy, is situated in humanity''s mother planet, Earth. Although other colonized planets also have their own branches, none can compare to this one. It sprawled over a total area of 12,000 acres and is situated in one of the most beautiful lands on Earth. Lush forests, green meadows, snow capped mountains, all sorts of natural environments were found inside the campus. Even the weather and season cycles were carefully controlled by the academy''s AI. All major and minor fields, were available for study in the academy. Though the academy was extremely vast, the amount of students in it was very low. Technically, the academy wasn''t actually built, solely for the purpose of learning or teaching. It also plays headquarters to the ''World Council''. All major families and corporations were situated just outside the academy. With the academy as the centre, a large city flourished all around it. This was basically the gathering spot for the most important and influential people in the ''Human Alliance'', save for the leaders of the ''World Council''. Although mankind expanded into the vast cosmos, it never abandoned its mother planet, similar to how successful child would never forget their own parents. This planet was their origin and they would always return to it. This was a feeling of kinship. As Lucius continued to walk, he unconsciously put his hands into his pocket. Finding a thin metallic card in there, he pulled it out to see. Seeing the card, a change occurred in his emotionless face. A devilish smile formed on his handsome face. Chapter 12: Acting on the Plan- Part 1 Holding the ID in his hand, Lucius'' mind started to rapidly draw a plan. Seeing the plan forming in Lucius'' mind, Ka''lor''ah was stunned."This, will work?!", she asked in a disbelieving tone. "Considering her personality, 100%", he calmly replied. Hearing his confident reply, Ka''lor''ah gave him a sign of confirmation. Lucius then immediately started running back to his home. If this was going to work, he needed to work really fast. Once he made it back home, Lucius changed his clothes to an all black version. He then covered his head with a dark cloth, hiding his features save for for his eyes. Once he was done with the preparation, Lucius started heading to a location he had just shortly been to. The Medical Facility. ---------------------------- In the medical facility a group of teenagers were surrounding a bed. In the bed was an handsome, slender boy, who was seemingly asleep. His breath was even and his expression was serene, if not for the metal tubes that had been inserted into him, people would think he was just sleeping. One boy among these teenagers stood out, he watched the boy in the bed with a furrowed expression, seemingly in deep thought. He then turned his head and asked to one the boys near him, "What did the Medcare Bots say?" The boy who was questioned, hurriedly replied, "It seems boss Luther had been injured pretty bad. The bots repaired his body, but his mind seems to have experienced heavy mental trauma. The bots aren''t sure if and when boss might wake up." Hearing this the boy remained silent. One the people next to him hesitantly asked, "Boss Keith, who could''ve done such a thing. Not only did this person injure Boss Luther heavily, two of our other brothers are in an even worse state." "I don''t know.", Keith replied. This young man standing with a thoughtful expression was Keith Cline, the vice leader of Luther''s gang, He was also the person, who sent the two intruders to interrogate Lucius after he learnt what happened to Luther. Right now, Keith was thinking to himself. ''Luther and his two goons, went after that kid Lucius, after I ''slightly'' instigated him to rough up the kid and get that project from him. Yet, somehow this fool got beaten up to such state while that kid is fine. What could have happened, who intervened?'', Keith thought hard but couldn''t come up with a concrete answer. ''Did that kid, Lucius do this?'', Keith surprisingly even considered the possibility that Lucius might have attacked him. ''No but that''s impossible. I''ve seen that kid myself, he doesn''t have the ability to do something like this, unless he transformed into some kind of an expert all of a sudden'', he concluded. Little did Keith know, this random inexplicable guess of his was what actually happened. While Keith was deeply in thought, something suddenly flew in through the window next to him. A small paper enclosing a metal object flew in Keith''s direction. Seeing this from the corner of his eyes, Keith did not panic and calmly reacted. He slightly moved his feet and caught the object in his hands. He immediately opened the package and saw a message and an ID. "You better give up on that kid. What he has belongs to me.", the letter stated. Keith then took a look at the ID and his pupils froze. A familiar name was written in the ID,Cole. ''Didn''t I send this guy to interrogate Lucius?'', Keith was deep in thought when a voice interrupted him. "Boss! Are you okay!", the voice was very panicked. Keith took a deep breath and calmly answered, "I''m fine. Did anyone see who threw this?", he asked while looking at all the faces in the room. Hearing his question, everyone immediately shook their heads. Keith then instructed the members, "4 of you go immediately and get that project from Lucius'' hand. You must be quick and make sure to do it in a secluded spot." 4 members among them, immediately complied and took off. Keith then thought to himself, ''If I get it first, what can you do.'' he sneered. Meanwhile, the four of them immediately began on the job and started seeking Lucius. After interrogating some the people who lived near him, they got to know that he went in the direction of the cafeteria. Hearing this, the four of them immediately started heading in that direction. -------------------------------- "That concludes the initial preparation. We can begin the next stage.", Lucius spoke to himself. "You were quite close to that girl ,huh. To the point that you still remember where she used to have lunch and all.", a voice sounded from his pocket. After throwing that paper at Keith, Lucius then made it back home, without anyone taking notice of him and changed his clothes again. He then started moving in the direction of the cafeteria to begin the next part of his plans. Hearing that smug voice, Lucius immediately ignored her comments and continued walking. Seeing him not reply and voice got even more bold and continued, "Heh-heh, do you want to get close to her again. Is that why, you made this plan. Although seeing where you are coming from, your actions are completely reasonable. After all, who does not want their first love to succeed." "Shut up.", as she was about to continue, Lucius interrupted her with a cold voice. "You don''t tell me when to shut up..", seeing Lucius reveal his killing intent ,she immediately became obedient. Currently they, had already arrived before the cafeteria. Lucius then retracted his killing intent and made his way towards the food counter. It was already lunch time and the cafeteria was quite packed. He spent some of his points at the counter and bought a basic meal. Lucius, holding the tray in his hand, started walking towards the place where he was planning to confront the people, who were going to come after him. As see was walking, Lucius noticed a blonde hair girl walk past him. Seeing her, Lucius'' mind suddenly became chaotic. ''Reyna,'' a name popped up into his mind. Lucius paused his steps and did not continue. His mind was no longer calm and was abuzz with a thousands of thoughts. He wondered whether he should walk over to her, talk to her or perhaps explain himself to her. A strange thought began forming in his mind. For some reason, he wanted to walk over towards her and hug her. As Lucius'' mind was being flooded with chaotic thoughts. The reddish-black fog, which was usually calm, suddenly began stirring. A strange kind of energy started being radiated from it''s center and started to purge Lucius'' thoughts. As soon as this energy started spreading, Lucius'' mind became utterly calm. After purging all chaotic thoughts, the cloud returned to it''s previous state. His face regained it''s emotionless look and his eyes became cold and deep. ''To think that, I would lose my calm from merely meeting an acquaintance from my previous life. How pathetic.'', Lucius began brutally admonishing himself. ''Are you really going to mess up everything, after just reaching this point. I am disappointed in you, Lucius. A person like you, deserving a second chance to correct your wrongdoings, is already way over what someone like you deserves.'' as his thoughts continued Lucius strangely started referring to himself in third person. It was as if the person thinking in his mind wasn''t him but someone else. Ka''lor''ah watched this internal conflict happen but did not do anything. She calmly watched the whole process with a cold stance. ''It''s already this serious, huh. His state of mind is one of the most complicated ones I have ever seen. Fixing it is going to be very difficult.'' As she thought upto here, she noticed 4 new people enter the cafeteria. Seeing them, she immediately informed Lucius. "It seems the pawns you were waiting for have finally arrived.", hearing her voice, Lucius extracted himself from his thoughts and looked up. Seeing them, Lucius spoke up, "Proceeding with the next stage." Chapter 13: Acting on the Plan- Part 2 Seeing the four of them enter the cafeteria, an unnatural glint passed through Lucius'' eyes. He then took a deep breath and started to act. According to what others should know, Lucius'' was a weak, smart and unrelenting 17 year old boy. He was very smart, but that was it. He was physically weak and had never retaliated to their precious bullying. Putting on an act and pretending not to notice them, Lucius started heading in a specific direction. He was currently in a very bad mood and wanted to let off some steam. ------------------------ The four members, immediately upon entering the cafeteria, started looking around for Lucius. One of them looked in a certain direction and saw a weak boy walking in a certain direction, "Leader, I see him." He immediately alerted the other. The leader looked in the direction, one of his members was pointing and confirmed, "That''s him. Let''s follow him." After hearing this command the others nodded and started walking after Lucius. The cafeteria was a large building, with many floors. Each floor provided students places to sit and have their meal in a comfortable environment. Of course, one does not necessarily has to eat inside the cafeteria. Students could also take their lunch and have it with in other places. Littering was not an issue, as cleaning robots were present everywhere in the campus, cleaning 24x7. The four, intently followed behind Lucius. By now they had almost been walking for 10 minutes. One the them, angrily cursed," Fuck, does this kid want to eat or tour the campus. We left the cafeteria 10 mins ago." The others nodded their heads at his reamark. What the other''s did not know was the Lucius was specifically dragging for time. He wanted a certain someone to catch up to them, for his plan to work. After walking for another 5 minutes, Lucius noted the location around him and sat down. ''She must be arriving soon'', he thought to himself. The area Lucius was currently in could be described as, deserted. It was off the main paths, and was closer to one of the older unused buildings. The path went around the old building with a sharp curve. Upon turning one would be met with a beautiful scene. A partly broken stone staircase stood unmoving in the corner. It had collapsed halfway to the top and the rubble just remained there. Weeds and other beautiful plants grew all of the broken staircase. Opposite to the broken staircase, occupying the majority of the area was a broken greenhouse. Various beautiful plants grew all over the place. It could be seen that someone had been taking careful care of all the flowers as they were in perfect bloom. Even though it was August, the season of fall, the climate control system of the academy kept the environmental conditions at the peak of spring. A small clear pond, surrounded the greenhouse and had beautiful lotuses growing in them. Lucius did not take much notice of the area as, he had been here many times over in his previous life. Seeing that it was almost time, Lucius sat down and started eating his lunch. The four others who had been following Lucius all this while, halted near the curve. They then surveyed the area around, to check if there were any students or cameras around. Noticing that nothing was around, they started heading towards Lucius. The guy who cursed earlier suddenly spoke up,"Leader I think something is wrong." The leader hearing this was suddenly confused, "We checked the surrounding area. No students nor cameras were present. What are you worried about?" "Isn''t it weird that this location has no people or cameras. Boss did tell us to be cautious and secretive, but isn''t this place too good to be true. Hell, the location is almost perfect.", he replied. Hearing this question, the others also started thinking. They had been thinking how to get Lucius away from a crowded location, but coincidentally he had led them to the perfect location. "You think this might be an ambush?", the leader asked. "It could be.", the guy replied. As they were wondering what to do, one of the others suddenly spoke up, "Leader, he''s already done eating. If we lose this opportunity, we might not be able to rob him if he enters a lecture hall." Hearing this the leader grit his teeth and spoke up,"We must act now. If it''s a ambush so be it. The mysterious man wouldn''t go as far as to kill us. Worst case scenario, we all end up hospitalized. But I refuse to believe that four of us can''t bring down a single person." The other''s felt convinced with the leader''s words and set into action. They stepped in and headed towards Lucius. "Stop right there, Lucius!", they bellowed. Lucius who had just finished his and was about to up heard this. He immediately looked up and saw four big, muscular guys heading towards him. Lucius put on a ''fearful'' expression and ased, "Wh-who are you guys?". Seeing the boy trembling and looking at them with a fearful expression, the hearts and minds of all the members eased a bit. Still they maintained their alert and prepared for possible ambushes. "Kid, you better obediently hand over your research to us.", the leader spoke. "Why is everyone after my research. This is the third time in 2 days, someone has come after me.", Lucius cried out with an aggrieved look on his face. The leader immediately replied, "You don''t need to know all that. All you have to know is that the young master of the Cline Family wants it. Do you dare not obey?" Hearing this the ''look'' on Lucius'' face changed. His face became very pale and his entire body was trembling. He then cried out. "Why doesn''t your young master do his own research. Does he only know how to snatch and steal from other people? We are all students of the same academy. Is he not afraid of the teachers finding out?" The leader sneered and spoke,"Teachers? Our boss isn''t afraid of mere teachers. What would a country bumpkin like you know about, how influential the Cline family is. If our boss wanted he could easily kill you and no one would ever find out" By now two of the muscular guys had approached him and held Lucius by his hands. Lucius tried to struggle but was evidently weaker than the others. He then stammered a few times, before eventually his body slumped. "You ,you,....Please leave me alone.", towards the end his voice whimpered. It seemed he was on the verge of crying. The boss smiled at this reaction and thought to himself, ''He was broken too easily. I guess that''s what a weakling like him accounts too." He then neared Lucius and spoke into his ears, "I promise if you give up your research right now, we will leave you alone. Of course that is under the condition that you don''t speak of what happened here to anybody." Lucius did not reply immediately and just nodded. He then looked at the leader''s face with listless eyes and said in a grieving tone."In..in my left pocket" The leader heard this and and reached his hands into Lucius'' pockets. His hands then grabbed an object and he pulled it out. In his hands was a storage device. "Is it in the disk?", the leader asked. Lucius listlessly nodded and replied, "Under a file named ''Mental Fluctuations during Interstellar Travel''." The leader nodded his head and suddenly punched Lucius on his stomach. Lucius body spasmed and fell down. He slowly curled up from the pain. "We got what we came for. Let''s leave quickly." the leader spoke up and left with his 3 members. What the 4 muscular guys failed to notice was, while they were bullying Lucius, a slim shadow had hid near them and watched the entire process. Watching the four of them walk out of sight, the shadow slowly came out of the hiding place and hurried towards Lucius. "Are you okay?", a voice asked. Chapter 14: Actions Result in Consequences. "Are you okay", Lucius heard a voice ask. Looking up, Lucius saw a blonde haired, girl with green eyes, covered with glasses looking at him. She had a beautiful looking face and the glasses she wore, further accentuated that fact. She was around 1.7m tall with a fairly large chest. She looked smart, graceful and noble. Lucius looked at her with a listless expression , he then spoke, "Are you here to rob from me too?" "Huh? Ah, no, I''m sorry I saw you getting beat up by those guys and came over to help.", she failed to process what he sad at the beginning, but then hurriedly explained. "So you just watched as they hit me.", Lucius continued. "I..", the girl was tongue-tied. She did not know how to reply. What he said was indeed correct. She simply stood in the sidelines and watched as 4 men bullied a fellow student. While she could have stepped in, she stopped when she heard the name, Keith Cline. Knowing that she was in the wrong the girl looked at Lucius with a guilty expression on her face. Seeing the girl silent, Lucius spoke up,"I understand.". He then did not say anything, but silently struggled to stand up. "Ah. let me help you.", the girl tried to help him. but Lucius just waved his hand and replied," I''m fine. After all I''m just a commoner." He then walked away with a dim expression on his face. The girl watched him go and felt a sour feeling in her heart ''Did I do something wrong?'', she thought to herself. This was the first time in her life, where she encountered such a situation. Naturally she did not know the right thing to do. ---------------------------- As Lucius walked, quite far away, he slowly straightened his gait. All the events previously were part of Lucius'' plan. He wasn''t really injured and was putting up an act. "Good acting back there, I''d rate it a 8/10. It needed more theatrics to really hit it in the feels.", a certain critique gave her opinion. "But, aren''t you afraid that the Keith guy might mess with the drive. If he renames or changes the author of the project, that naive lass wouldn''t come and seek you", she continued. Hearing her concern, Lucius nonchalantly replied, "Of course I thought to such a scenario. That''s why I wrote a small hidden program, this morning that reverts all changes done to the contents of the drive." "Smart!", the crystal gave a concise reply. "Now, we just have to wait. I might as well go to the gym now.", Lucius stated as he started moving towards the gym. ------------------------------ Meanwhile, in one of the more higher-classed residences within the campus, 4 men were standing in front of a young handsome man. This was obviously Keith. "So, you guys followed him to a secluded area and snatched it from him. During this period no one attacked you?" , Keith asked in a questioning tone. Facing him, the four men were sweating from head to toe. After getting the drive from Lucius, the four of them quickly made it back to Keith''s residence. They expected that the young master would be very happy and maybe even reward them for completing his task so quickly. Yet, once they told what happened, he made them repeat the events again carefully and even cross-checked with each of the other members. During the entire process, the young master did not even show a hint of a smile. His face actually was getting graver and graver with each passing second. Currently Keith could not comprehend the flow of events that was taking place. After the declaration from the mysterious stranger, Keith had sent these 4 men to test the waters as well, identify the combat power of the other side. He was fully expecting to lose these 4 men and had them act as canon fodder. Yet, unexpectedly they had not only returned safely, but also succeed in their mission. ''What am I missing here? Was that earlier threat just a joke? Or is there a deeper plot involved.'', Keith thought to himself. He then questioned the four of them once again,"Are you sure that you made no contact with anyone on your way here. You should know the consequence of lying to me.", he said in a grim tone. The four instantly started sweating and replied in a hasty tone, "We wouldn''t dare lie to you, Boss. We absolutely never spoke to anyone nor stop in our way here. After getting the drive from that kid, we instantly made our way here." "Are you sure no-one was present in your surroundings when you attacked Lucius?", Keith questioned once again. "We are very sure that no other soul was present in the surrounding, during the process. I even stationed one of my members to keep a watchout for potential threats or ambuses. Not even a fly could have escaped our notice.", the leader of the four, replied. He was inwardly cursing in his mind, ''How many times do I have to tell you this.This is the 4th time you are asking the same question.'' "Is that so.", Keith became silent as he pondered. This silence continued for a few minutes. During the entire time, there was an oppressive feeling in the room. The four men did not dare let out a breath, lest they disturb this terrifying boss of theirs. After a few minutes, Keith eventually spoke up, "I can''t figure out what is wrong in this situation. Hand me the disk for now. I have to verify the contents." The leader immediately complied, while thinking in his head, ''There is something wrong with what we did?''. He was utterly confused. Keith received the disk and inserted it into his personal system. The disk took a few minutes to decrypt and then eventually showed it''s contents. ''Under a file named ''Mental Fluctuations during Interstellar Travel'', is what they said.'', Keith searched through the data in the disk and found the file. He then clicked on the file and started reading it''s contents. ''This kid really is a genius.'' Keith was astonished as he read through the contents of the research. Although he couldn''t fully comprehend the contents, he was still amazed by the sheer hypothesis formed by Lucius. He had explored a unknown concept from a completely new point of view and had presented real data in a concise and to-the point manner. ''Shame I can''t recruit him now. He would have made a worthy subordinate. Much better than these muscular brutes, with no brain in them. All that''s left is to make some changes to the data and present it to Reyna.'' Thinking about the girl, Keith''s lips curled up. The reason why, Keith made such plans and had Luther go after Lucius to get this data, had to do with Reyna. During the last social parties, between the younger generations of the various top families. Keith learned that Reyna, had hit a wall in her latest research. She wanted any material pertaining to the mind under special conditions to possibly have a breakthrough. Reyna was a young and beautiful woman from a very influential family. Not only was she beautiful, she was also extremely smart and also very kind and gentle. Many young men had taken a fancy to her and Keith was no exception. If he could get in a relationship with Reyna and possibly marry her, His standing in the Cline family would see an overnight rise. Upon hearing her predicament, Keith wanted to help her but alas wasn''t familiar with her research topic. But as they say, when the Heavens close a door, a window appears. He had heard from one of his underlings that the honor kid was researching on a related topic. After investigating a bit, Keith understood that this might help him gain favor from Reyna, if he snatched the project from Lucius'' hands and presented it to her. With her unaware of the entire story, she might feel grateful towards Keith and this might possibly spark something. As for Lucius, nobody cared about a commoner. After making the required changes, Keith checked the time and noticed it was just past 4 PM. He then immediately made his way towards Reyna''s Personal Lab. He couldn''t hold his excitement and wanted to gift it to her immediately. Chapter 15: Reynas Dilemma- Part 1 Lucius, was currently at the gym training his body. After some preliminary warming exercises, he moved onto High intensity interval training. After doing a few sets of that, Lucius noticed his body already feeling weak. He had been doing all these sets, without using any soul power. The difference between using soul power and not doing so, was clearly seen. While using soul power does bring out significant results from a person''s body, having a weaker body means the efficacy of soul power is weakened. Having a stronger body enables the user to draw out more of their soul power at a time and use it more effectively. Drawing a sharp breath. Lucius paused his workout and moved towards a nearby bench. He then reached into his bag and grabbed a vial of Nutrient Fluid. Drowning its contents, Lucius immediately felt a change in his body. His originally overtaxed cells, felt a fresh rush of energy entering them. He instantly felt a refreshing and comforting feeling wash over his body. It felt similar to coming out of a steam bath. Currently looking at Lucius'' body, one could see faint muscle outlines already forming. When Lucius'' was ingesting the the Nutrient Fluids, he also circulated his soul power throughout his body, to increase the efficiency of his cells absorbing the contents. Combined with sufficient nourishment and his almost Hell like training program, Lucius'' body was rapidly strengthening. ''Although I knew my body would strengthen rapidly, this speed is just too much!'', even Lucius'' himself was dumbfounded at the speed of his advancement. A human body, in the end was still a human body. No matter what supplements are provided there are still natural limits. If it should have originally taken Lucius'' 1 week of effort to reach such a stage, it had only taken him 1 day''s effort to get there. As Lucius was thinking over this matter, a voice interrupted him as always, "It seems my guess was correct after all!", it confidently stated. Ka''lor''ah who was watching him train, continued to present her thoughts, "I always thought something was weird about you. When I first found you back then, you were giving me an odd feeling. Although your body seems quite normal on the outside. Deep down something feels different." Lucius then asked her, his voice a little strange,"You think I am not human?" "Maybe, maybe not. We better prepare for that as well. Whatever you are, we will know during ''that''.", she replied and became silent. ''Maybe not,huh?", Lucius thought to himself and continued his training. ------------------------------ Meanwhile, Keith was currently outside the academy. Some students hailing from some very powerful families did not stay inside the campus. Of course, students who preferred it inside the campus could remain in it. Surrounding the academy was a large city. Many influential families and corporations of the Alliance, had their main headquarters or homes, stationed in this city. It could be said the majority of the Alliance''s influence was centered in this city. One could find various celebrities, business men or even important scientists walking through the streets. All these people held significant power in their hands and are not to be underestimated. The city was filled with large, tall skyrise buildings, floating structures, mag-lev trains, warp stations and even space ports just outside the atmosphere. At the very centre one could also see a space elevator leading up and out into the ''Space Gathering Hub'' situated in the earth''s orbit. Keith was also standing in front of one such glass covered building. The entire city was filled with the latest of scientific creations, yet the building currently before him was undoubtedly the most advanced among them. It could be said, in the entire city or the alliance for that matter, this building contained the most amount of scientists and the latest of technology. This was the home of numerous scientific breakthroughs that changed Humanity''s fate in the universe. The Snowden Corporation. And Reyna was it''s only heir. Just from this it can be understood, why so many young men tried to win her favor and court her. Yet the girl showed no interest in such things. The only thing that filled her head was science and how to improve her research. And Keith currently held the key that might help him enter her heart. Just thinking about this, Keith''s head felt giddy from excitement. He could not wait to hand this drive to Reyna and get into her good books. Upon confirming the contents of the drive, Keith immediately dressed himself and rushed over here. He was waiting for Reyna to comeback from the academy, so that he could personally hand it over to her. While the Cline family was influential anywhere else in the Alliance, before the Snowden Corporation, it wasn''t even worth mentioning. None of the other families were worth something for that matter. The corporation was simply to great and it''s authority too vast. This corporation was also the one responsible for pushing humanity into the interstellar age. Just from this point alone, it''s tremendous value can be assessed. As Keith was fantasizing about his future, he saw a large horde of cars heading in his direction. Seeing this Keith immediately straightened up, he adjusted his clothes and put on his best smile. ''This is my time to shine.'', he thought to himself. --------------------------------- Reyna Snowden. She is a 18 year old young woman and the only heir of the Snowden Corporation. Ever since a young age, Reyna was very smart. She was an absolute prodigy when it came to the art of science and mechanics. She built her first machine at age 7. Published her first research at age 13. Became the youngest to win the ''Build the Future Alliance'', competition at age 17. The competition focused on new technological innovations that could improve the lives of ordinary alliance citizens. The competition takes place once every decade, and she is it''s youngest winner. A genius, that had a loving father and hundreds of caring scientist uncles and aunts. She was tutored personally by top alliance scientists and even her father, who was a famous scientist himself. She had never attended schools or interacted often with other people her age, until she joined the ''Earth Alliance Academy''. In Reyna''s eyes the world is a bright place filled with smart people and constant innovation. Suffering and hunger of the common people were things of the past and everyone is currently happy. This was how Reyna saw the world, until the incident today. On her way to lunch at her favourite spot, she noticed that a couple of people were already there. At first Reyna was a little angry that others had found her secret spot. But when she saw what was happening she was shocked. Four large boys were beating up a smaller boy and snatched his research. They did not hold regard for the rules of the academy and directly used their power to steal another''s property. ''How could they do something like that? Isn''t it wrong to steal from others. Father used to tell me that one''s knowledge is theirs own, until they are willing to share it.'', This was her current thought process. After the big and scary boys left, she hurried forward to help the other boy, Yet upon a simple question from him she was stunned. ''Indeed he is right. Why did I not help him?''. Reyna couldn''t be exactly blamed for her actions since this was the first time in her life that she came across something like this. Her thoughts were confused since the beginning and became even more confused upon hearing the scary boys speak Keith''s name. ''Is he also like them. No, that couldn''t be. I''ve seen Keith and even talked with him before, He is a kind and polite young man who even treats the lesser with care.'' "Young Lady, we have reached." , a voice extracted her from her thoughts. Looking up, Reyna saw that they had already arrived to her father''s office and her home. She slightly hit her cheeks and told herself, ''No point in thinking about this, Reyna. Maybe that Lucius guy did something wrong.'' She then got of her car and started heading towards the building. As she was walking she noticed a young man with a bright smile heading towards her. ''Isn''t that Keith, why is he here?'', she wondered. Keith approached Reyna and spoke up in a polite voice, "Miss Reyna, fancy meeting you here." "Good to meet you to, Young master Keith.", she replied "Haha, I don''t deserve such words Miss Reyna. I just came here to give you something.", he said and reached into his pocket to retrieve the drive. He then carefully handed it to her. Reyna had her curiosity piqued and asked, "This is?" Keith gave a light smile and replied, "Something I believe might help you with your research. I hope to share my latest research results with you Miss Reyna. Since I have given it to you, I''ll take my leave" Saying this Keith immediately left. He didn''t stay to make small talk since he knew it wasn''t effective and was simply a waste of time. Plus, Reyna liked when people were straightforward to her. Receiving the drive, Reyna was stunned. Before she could come to her thoughts and thank him, she noticed that he had already left. Looking at the drive in her hand Reyna, thought back to that poor boy being bullied and threatened. ''It can''t be, right?'', Reyna thought to herself in disbelief. Chapter 16: Reynas Dilemma- Part 2 Holding the drive in her hand, Reyna could no longer withhold her curiosity. She immediately began running towards her lab to verify her suspicions. Once she entered the building she rushed towards the elevator the entered into it. "Which floor would you like to go to, Miss Reyna?", a mechanical voice asked. "217!", she replied. The elevator immediately began moving and arrived to the required floor in less than 10 seconds. Reyna then continued to rush towards her lab. Outside the elevator was a long corridor leading to 2 rooms, one on the left and the other on the right. The room to the left was her personal laboratory and the other was her personal residence. Directly above this floor was where Reyna''s father had his office situated. Running into her lab, Reyna immediately inserted the drive into one of the computers. Upon receiving the drive, the computer began it''s process of decrypting the data. "Hurry up!", she urged the computer to go faster. For some reason, Reyna felt a sense of guilt and shame rapidly fill her heart. The computer loaded for a few seconds and then prompt was seen. [Changes have been performed on the data in the past 4 hours. Undoing all changes performed. This process might take a few seconds.] ''Changes have been made? A reversal program was written.'' Reyna quickly understood the meaning of the message. After waiting a few more seconds, the contents were finally displayed on the screen. Reading the contents, Reyna''s heart stopped for a second. Her pupils frozen in shock and her face pale. {Mental Fluctuations during Interstellar Travel A study on the effect warping and the effects it has on the human mind. By:Lucius} ''Lucius?!'', Reyna''s eyes stopped on that name. ''Why would Keith lie to me? Why would he say this was his research? Why steal? Why?'' Reyna''s mind simply couldn''t process this incident. This was the first time she came into contact with a situation, where strong preys the weak, if you were weak you could not have any benefits. Rights? That''s only for people who have sufficient strength. Reyna sat there paralyzed for a few minutes, She then strongly shook her head and got up. She wanted to read what the research was about first. She had already understood that Keith had lied to her in order to gain her favor and had stole this research from Lucius. After all she was there the entire time , watching the events take place. Although she knew reading another person''s research was taboo, she simply couldn''t hold back her curiosity after reading that title. She simply loved science and research too much. Reyna then sat before the monitor and slowly read through the research. Her beautiful green eyes becoming larger and larger, and her cute mouth opening involuntarily. "Thi-this is simply amazing! To think that we could tackle this question from such an angle. That section on the different emotions having different impact on warping and the hypothesis formed are simply marvelous. The tests and examples quoted are simply flawless.", Reyna started speaking out loud from her excitement. She continued reading line by line, faster with each passing second. ".....since warping is performed on a linear scale, with the atoms being superpositioned within a fixed scale, the changes thus taking place among various tests can support the presence of a singular unknown entity.Huh?!" Reyna suddenly stopped at that point. "Where is the rest of the results?", she screamed out loud. She then realized what she was doing wasn''t exactly proper and suddenly coughed. Her face, ears and her entire neck was covered with a red blush. "Cough, cough. This isn''t the way for a scientist to act. Anyway where is the rest of the research.", Reyna explained out loud, even she herself wasn''t exactly sure who she was explaining to. ''Could it be that he didn''t finish his research. That must be it. I must immediately find him tomorrow and have him complete his research.'' Reyna thought to herself. A light shone in her eyes,but suddenly dimmed, ''How do I explain, where I got his research from. Wouldn''t he think I was behind the case of him being bullied and refuse to help me.'' While Reyna was lost in her thoughts, a set of footsteps was heard in the background. It was firm and powerful, similar to that of a king. Reyna who was lost in her thoughts did not seem to notice. A hand suddenly descended onto her head and slightly rubbed it. "Ah? Father,", Reyna woke up and verified the owner of the pair of hands. "Silly girl, I have been waiting for you to show up for dinner all this while. I come down here and what do I find. A silly girl daydreaming.", the voice gently admonished while stroking her hair. Feeling the hands stroke her head, Reyna suddenly felt a wave of bitter feeling, threatening to fall out of her eyes in the form of tears. All the happenings of the past day which had been burdening her heart, weighed on her mind and this feeling of comfort made her feel guilty again. "Ah! Why do you look like you are going to cry? Did someone bully you?", Reyna''s father asked noticing his daughter''s expression. "No, Father.It''s just that..", she wasn''t quite sure how to explain this to her father. Noticing her daughter''s hesitation, he gently said," Whatever the matter is, saying it out loud decreases the burden in your heart." He then looked her in her eyes. Hearing her Father''s words was the straw that broke the camel''s back. She immediately told him everything that happened. Reyna''s father calmly listened to his daughter speak, his brows slowly furrowed. Once she was done speaking, he took a deep breath and said in a solemn voice. "Reyna, you made a few mistakes here. One, if you see someone getting bullied, you must step up and help them without hesitation. Of course, you also need to understand the situation and react accordingly. Two, you musn''t form opinions on others just after meeting them once. Third, never trust anyone easily, especially the heirs or children from the other families. All of them wear their true face and motives behind a mask." Hearing her Father''s words, Reyna processed the information she was receiving and nodded her head repeatedly. He then continued, "As for that Lucius boy, just go talk to him." Hearing this Reyna hesitated for a second before asking him, "But is it okay for me to go ask him for his help. After all I didn''t help him, when he needed it. Wouldn''t it be wrong of me? Wouldn''t he refuse to help me and hate me for it?" The father gently smiled at his daughter''s concerns and said,"Silly girl, you are simply over complicating the situation in your head. Just go and apologize to him. Tell him the truth and be sincere about it." He then paused for a second and said in a serious voice, "Also stay away from this Keith kid." Seeing his daughter nod her head seriously, he smiled and said, "Now go and have a bath. Let''s have dinner together once you are back." Listening to him, Reyna immediately complied. She then quickly ran away to her room. Her father who had been sitting there thought to himself once she was gone, ''My daughter is growing up this quickly huh.'' His eyes suddenly turned cold, ''The Cline family, huh. I will remember this. Nobody will be allowed to use my daughter as an object of exchange.'' He then slowly got up and walked away. The sound of his footsteps quietly echoed in the empty lab. Chapter 17: Lucius Gym Training The next morning, Reyna finished dressing and collected the drive. She was planning to return this to Lucius'' and apologize to him properly. Once she got into the car she suddenly spoke up. "Uncle Black, could you please help me find a student by the name Lucius?" The man driving the car heard this and replied, "No problem Young Miss. I will find that boy for you. What do you want me to do to him?" Reyna immediately replied, "Please tell me where to find him, I want to talk to him." "Will do.", Uncle Black replied concisely. Clenching her hand which was holding the drive, she thought to herself, ''I must make things right with him.'' -------------------------------- The boy in question, was currently treating the gym as his house. Ever since Lucius'' noticed the effects of the training on his body, he further increased his training difficulty to an even greater extent. Some of the other students in the gym saw this and had their eyeballs pop out. "Hey is that even possible?", one guy asked in disbelief. "That guy''s been here since yesterday. I don''t think he ever left", another stated, "Holy! He increased the weights and gravity again!", another was shocked. Lucius was continuously training his body without break. Every time he was tired or felt his energy weakening he just grabbed a vial of Nutrient Fluid and drowned. He did not take a break since yesterday and continued without pause. After another set of exercises at 3.2 times gravity, Lucius noticed that his stockpile of Fluids had finally run out. Yesterday, he had spent all his accumulated credits to buy 42 vials of it and now it had finally run out. A normal person could not ingest more than 3 vials a day. Anymore than that, one would feel extreme discomfort and pain in every single part of one''s body. This is because of excessive ingestion of energy and the human cell''s inability to convert them into a useable form. However, Lucius'' body seemed like an ever devouring black hole. No matter how much he kept ingesting, his body kept absorbing everything. He even stopped using his soul energy to help in digestion because he noticed that after the 20th vial, it wasn''t doing much. His cell''s rate of energy conversion was much faster than that of his soul power. Seeing that he could not continue any longer. Lucius finally stopped and left for his room. He had been training for almost 24 hours and was smelling very bad. Seeing him leave, all the others students collectively let out a sigh of relief. One of them suddenly asked, "Have any of you know who he is? Is he from the army department?" Another boy immediately replied, "I am from there and have never seen him before. If he was in the army, I must''ve seen him during the drills." "He sure is very good looking.", one of the girls in the gym suddenly stated. Hearing this, all the other girls also started discussing. ------------------------------- ''My body''s strength is at a decent level now. I can increase my soul power''s efficiency by 20%'', Lucius thought to himself as he made his way home. While running at his top speed, he was also making small actions with every inch of his body to test out the effects of soul power. Feeling his speed of improvement, Lucius was satisfied. "Yeah, If you are not satisfied, even with this speed. I don''t know what to say. Previously I used to joke about you being a monster, but now I sincerely feel so.", the omni-present voice interjected. She then continued, "So what''s next. You are currently broke and cannot afford anymore Nutrient Fluids nor can you go back to the gym. Not if you want to stay low." Hearing this Lucius replied, "We wait." "Wait? Wait for what?", she asked not understanding Lucius'' plan. "Wait for the focal point to meet us.", he calmly replied. "You mean that girl, Reyna. You think she would meet you so soon.", Ka''lor''ah asked. While Lucius'' plan was quite effective, she believed that it might take at least 3 days before they would meet with her. Hearing Lucius speak, she was naturally confused. Lucius did not mind her confusion and patiently replied," Since I threatened Keith, he must''ve been feeling quite anxious. That''s why he immediately sent those 4 guys after me. Once he retrieved the drive from me, no matter how confused he felt at the smoothness of the entire event, he wouldn''t dare delay giving it to Reyna. According to my estimation, he must''ve given it to her yesterday when she was going back to her house. Since she received the drive last evening, she must have opened the drive immediately, owing to her curious nature." "Ah! Then she must''ve seen the drive after the changes had been removed and understood the whole situation. Therefore, she would want to meet you as soon as possible.", Ka''lor''ah continued his analysis. "As expected of someone trained by the great me. Such intricate planning, you sure have taken after me, my disciple." and then she continued with her shameless boasting. After running for a few more minutes, Lucius finally made it to his room. He entered his room and immediately made it to the showers. After intaking his 20th Nutrient Fluid yesterday. Lucius noticed a change in his body. He felt a kind of growing hunger come from the depths of his cells. He then immediately ingested another 3 vials, before this hunger was finally satiated. He then noticed that this muscles were more compacted and his skin was much smoother than before. Although he still looked quite lean and slender. His body was now filled with much greater strength Lucius theorised that if he fought against Luther and his two goons again right now. He could take care of them, without even breaking a sweat. Considering that it has been 3 days since Lucius had crossed over, this speed of advancement can be considered in as simply...monstrous. Stepping into the shower, Lucius slowly washed his entire body. Before, since he was wearing clothes he didn''t notice that his body had patches of brownish black filth. It covered him in various regions of his body and was giving off a disgusting smell. Lucius calmly washed himself for a while and stepped out. He stared at his body and slowly evaluated himself. Where there was previously skin and bones, were now filled with tightly compacted muscles. His skin turned another shade lighter and was completely smooth, devoid of any scars or creases. ''If I retake the test, i can surpass my previous result by a fair margin without using my soul power. If my employ my soul power. I can easily double my current score.'', he thought to himself. He then dressed himself and then walked out of the bathroom. Grabbing Ka''lor''ah in his hands and pocketing her, he walked out of his house towards one of the common areas. ''Now to meet with the focal point.'' Chapter 18: The Meeting with Reyna The common areas consisted of large spaces of open gardens, with benches and gazebos scattered around. Stone fountains and sculptures placed at even intervals throughout the entire area. Large trees and carefully trimmed bushes were found aplenty. Just by entering such an area, one would feel their mind calmed and their spirit soothed. Many students were seen sitting and seeing this beautiful scenery or interacting with their friends. Lucius entered this area and looked around to find an empty bench. He found one a little farther away under the shade of a tree. Walking up to it, he then calmly sat down and closed his eyes. ''Might as well train my soul power while waiting here.'' ------------------------------- Meanwhile in another area. "Young Miss, we have found the person you were looking for.", a person wearing a black suit replied. He had his face covered with a black mask . "Really! Thank you very much, Uncle Black. I''ll head over to talk to him.", an excited voice replied. "I will come with you, Young Miss.", he calmly said. Hearing this, Reyna curiously asked, "Huh? I''ll be fine alone, Uncle Black. You don''t have to follow me. I am just going over to talk to him" The man in the suit wasn''t fazed and replied,"It''s you Father''s orders, Young Miss." Reyna was stunned for a second, but then replied, "Okay then. Please lead the way." ------------------------------ Deep within his mindspace, Lucius was drawing more of his reddish-black soul out to fuse with his body. After the initial linking of a person''s soul with their body, more of it has to be gradually drawn out and linked. This process was often termed as "Accumulation" and ensure the steady growth of one''s soul power. Accumulating a larger amount of the soul into the conscious mind increases both the strength and activation time of soul power. If 3 days ago, Lucius had enough soul power for 5 minutes of intense movement and 1 full powered attack. He now had enough for 30 minutes of intense movement and 5 full powered attack. Of course the results will greatly vary from when it was tested, due to the vast improvement in the state of his physical body. As Lucius was focusing on drawing his soul, a thought was suddenly heard in his mind. "She is here. Wake up.", Ka''lor''ah said. With the increase in Lucius soul power, she who was also linked to Lucius soul had more functions unlocked. Sending her voice into Lucius'' mind was one such function. Lucius'' immediately gave up drawing the resisting soul and opened his eyes. He could see a tall, blonde haired girl wearing glasses heading his way. She was wearing a white lab coat with a black dress inside of it. She looked like a model scientist combined with a beautiful, spirited young woman. Unlike the last time when Lucius'' mind was overwhelmed with chaotic thoughts and memories, this time it was completely calm. The effect of his soul''s influence on his mind was astonishing. Lucius calmly watched her walk up to him with an expressionless face. It was neither inviting nor repelling. His eyes carried an aura of indifference. Reyna noticed the expression on his face and felt a little hurt by it. Usually, everyone who approached her had an inviting smile on their faces. Even her Father, who always had a stern look on his face, smiled when talking to her. She thought that he was angry with her actions yesterday and felt a little guilty. Still she remembered her father''s words from yesterday and bucked up her courage. ''You can do this Reyna!'' she encouraged herself in her mind. After she approached him to a sufficient distance, she immediately bowed before him and spoke, "I apologize for my actions yesterday. I realize that I should have stepped up to help you when you were being bullied but did not do anything. I hope you can forgive me and we can be friends afterwards." ''There I delivered it perfectly. It took me a whole night to think up an apology.'' thinking such she straightened up to see his reaction, but was disappointed to still find his expressionless face. Inside Lucius'' pocket, Ka''lor''ah was struggling to keep her laughter to herself. Hearing the young girl deliver such a formal apology she felt like laughing. ''You here that Lucius. How could you remain unmoved after hearing that. Go on be friends with her, hahahaha'', she sent her thoughts to Lucius'' mind. Hearing her laugh in his mind, Lucius was feeling a little annoyed. Still he spoke up to the girl who was anxiously waiting for a reply, "It''s fine. It''s not your fault, I was simply to weak and couldn''t oppose them. A young princess like you musn''t apologize to a commoner like me." Hearing him Reyna felt relieved but also a little angry. She couldn''t help but speak up, "There is no such thing as commoner and royalty. All of us are the same kind of people. if a person does something wrong, they must admit it. That''s what my father taught me." Ka''lor''ah was rolling in Lucius'' pocket at this moment, she was very amused by this young girl''s thought process, ''Such a pure little gem, hahaha. Ho-how did you become her boyfriend in your previous life Lucius. Must have been very hard for you.'' She then continued transmitting, ''To think you would taint such a pure little girl, how dare you!''. She even sounded a little indignant. Naturally Reyna''s naivety hit a spot for Ka''lor''ah. ''How could such a naive girl exist in these times. The universe sure is a big place.'' Lucius was completely ignoring her at this point and spoke to Reyna, "If that''s what you say, Young Miss. Also you never introduced yourself. How else am I supposed to address you." "Ah!", Reyna realized her blunder and hurriedly spoke, "My name is Reyna Snowden. You can address me as Reyna." "Young Miss Reyna, is it?", Lucius asked. "Just Reyna is fine. I don''t like others calling me Young Miss.", she immediately replied. "Tell me then, Reyna. Why are you here to find me. I don''t believe it is just to apologize." Reyna was stunned for a second and asked, "Indeed. How could you tell?" "If you were just here to apologize then you wouldn''t have bothered telling me your name. Nor correct the way I said it." Lucius explained it to her. "Wow! You really are a genius!", she exclaimed. ''Pray, how can a 18 year old girl be this naive. How has nobody kidnapped her yet. Too cute.'', Ka''lor''ah was completely infatuated with Reyna at this point. "I received some research data from an acquaintance of mine.", her tone towards the end was filled with disgust. She then continued, "But when I was looking through it I realized it belonged to you. It was incomplete and I wanted your assistance to complete it. It is really important for my research." Suddenly she realized something and hurriedly spoke, "Ah! I''m sorry that I looked through your research data without your permission." She then repeatedly started bowing and apologizing. In his mind Lucius thought, ''She is still the same. That extreme amount of naivety and innocence. If I want to alter causality, I need to begin with her personality.'' He then stood up and spoke to her, "You can stop apologizing. Anyone who is interested in the path of science would be tempted." He spoke while finally putting on a ''understanding'' look. His face was no longer expressionless and his voice was filled with care, "As for your offer, I agree. Except.", speaking up to here, he hesitated to continue. "What is it?", Reyna felt happy after finally seeing him change his expression and talk to her. "It''s just that, I don''t have any credits to rent a lab anymore. Plus, I''m not sure if Keith and his friends would leave me alone", saying this Lucius put on an aggrieved expression. "That''s not a problem!" Reyna said confidently as she hit her chest. "You can come with me and use my personal lab. It has everything you would ever need in it." "Really?!", Lucius asked. A faint excitement in his voice. Seeing that he was finally excited, Reyna felt a little smug. She then continued excitedly, "Let''s begin immediately. You will have a better idea once you see my lab. Science waits for no man." Saying so, she grabbed Lucius by his arm and started dragging him. Clearly excited on wanting to show off her lab. ''Perfectly played. We have hooked the focal point'' Ka''lor''ah thought while she sat in Lucius'' pocket. Chapter 19: Keiths Troubles While being dragged away by Reyna, Lucius'' suddenly turned his head in a certain direction. His gaze was aimed to a tree, that stood a few meters away from them. Apart from being slightly bent and hence providing a bit more shade than the others, there was no difference between this tree and the others. Yet, Lucius started at this direction without turning his head away. He even infused a bit of his soul power into his eyes, making a deep red appear in it''s depths. Sensing that he was looking somewhere else, Reyna curiously asked. "Is there something there?", she also looked in the same direction but could find nothing. "No. I thought someone was watching us.", Lucius shook his head and replied. ''Was that my imagination?'', Lucius thought to himself, before eventually sighing and shaking his head. He had to plan his visit to Reyna''s lab and did not spare another thought to this weird feeling. --------------------------- In a certain residence. "What is it?", Keith calmly asked his subordinate, who was standing before him. "Boss, it''s just that...", the subordinate hesitated. He truly did not know, how to deliver this information to his leader without making the other mad. Seeing his subordinate hesitate so much, clearly made Keith angry and annoyed. He was currently in a very joyful mood after yesterday''s events. He dreamt the entire night about his blissful life after Reyna seeks him out to thank him. He could imagine the look on the faces of those other pursuers, after learning about of his success. Even now, he was in a fantastic state of mind, but was annoyed by seeing his subordinate''s foolish look. "Boss, you had asked me to keep a watch on Miss Reyna.", the subordinate paused after speaking this. "And? What happened? Has she come to find me? Is she sick or something. Stop dawdling and spit it out!", Keith became nervous after he heard him. A tiny sense of fear sprouted in his mind. ''No. It can''t be.'' "Miss Reyna, was looking for Lucius since this morning. She then found him in, one of the common areas and went to apologize to him. She then invited him to her lab and they headed together.", he spoke it out ion one shot without pausing. BANG! A large sound was heard and the table before Keith caved in. The shear force behind Keith slam, broke through the surface of the table and splintered it. One had to know, the table wasn''t the cheap kind either. It''s wood was procured from a genetically enhanced tree, which was known for its durability and strength. "What did you say?!", he was truly angry. The subordinate was frozen in shock. He knew his boss would be mad, but failed to foresee the sheer intensity of the anger. He could not reply Keith''s question and just stood there. Keith suddenly dashed out and held his subordinate by his throat. He then slowly lifted him up and had him hang in the air. Feeling the constriction of his throat, the subordinate finally awoke from his stupor and stared panicking. "TELL ME, WHAT HAPPENED!?!", Keith screamed at his subordinate. He could vaguely guess what could have happened and had lost his calm over it. He could not even begin to imagine the consequences of his actions. After all he had lied in the face of Reyna Snowden. He already knew she looked down upon such practices and abhorred people who steal and fake their research just to get close to her. If she was truly infuriated by his actions. Keith could see all his connections and everything he had worked hard to build in the academy rapidly fall apart. Who in their right minds would want to offend the Snowden family, over a mere heir of the Cline family. Hell, even his own family might abandoned him. "The-the young lady went over and bowed to Lucius in apology. She then requested for his assistance before eventually taking him back with her. She was even clutching his hands and led him towards her car." ''I am finished.'' Keith felt his body rapidly losing power. He could already piece together the remaining information from this and speculated that Reyna already knew the true perpetrator. His knees lost their strength and he fell down on his butt. His subordinate who was choked also fell down with him. Keith spent a few minutes on the ground with his eyes closed. He was taking in long breaths and giving out short exhales. Eventually he opened his eyes. A cruel light shone out of his eyes as he spoke with gritted teeth. "LU-CI-US! I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER FOR THIS!" ------------------------------- Meanwhile, Lucius and Reyna had made it to the Snowden Corporation Building. He had ridden here with Reyna in her car and during the entire journey she hadn''t let go of his arm nor stopped asking more about his researches. She couldn''t hold her excitement and had already hold him of everything that was in her lab. "Ah! We are already here. Quick let''s go!", saying so she pulled Lucius and continued forward. On their way to the elevator she also explained the various features and items that were in the building. "That over there is an intelligent, automatic guard bot. Oh, that is a floating water fountain. The state of the molecules have been altered to make it float." Speaking and pointing at the various objects, further increased Reyna''s excitement. While she had walked through the same lobby hundreds of times, explaining the various objects around, to another person was an entirely new experience for her. it was similar to how a little girl would try to show off her toys to another person. Lucius who was being led around the entire time, seemed unfazed by her behaviour. He only answered minimally and was mostly quiet and reclusive. Eventually they made to the elevator and she input the floor that they were going to take. "Even this elevator works with the latest propulsion technology. It allows us to completely shield the effects of gravity on the outside, so that no G-force is experienced on the inside. Using this on the space elevators will cut down the waiting times by almost 40%!" They quickly arrived to the floor Reyna had been in yesterday. "The room to the left is my lab, while the one to the right is my room." They then approached the lab and entered it. "Welcome back, Lady Reyna.", a female voice sounded from within. "It''s good to be back Iris." she replied then turned to face Lucius. "That is my personal AI system. She is called Iris. She helps me all my research and experiments and also to keep the lab clean.", saying so she turned back towards her lab and spoke, "Iris, this is my friend, Lucius. That research I was reading yesterday was written by him. He really is a genius right! "It''s good to meet you, Mr.Lucius", Iris replied. "Likewise and just Lucius is fine.", Lucius replied in a curt tone. "Now that all of us are introduced to each other, Let''s begin." Reyna immediately spoke up. She just couldn''t wait to get started. "Before that Lady Reyna. It''s almost time for lunch and you father would be waiting for you.", Iris spoke. "Ah, please inform father that I will eat in the lab today. Oh get a set of lunch for Lucius too.", she turned towards Lucius and asked," Do you want anything specific. We have every cuisine available here." "Just the standard is fine.", he replied. "Instruction noted. I shall inform the staff and the President." "Now, let''s begin. You can start now." Lucius nodded and stepped towards one of the indents in the ground. The floor of the lab was smooth and glossy, save for the area that Lucius stepped into. This area was slightly lower than the rest and was tiled with a special glass- like material. Lucius then spoke up, "Iris, connect to my Mindscape and open FreeFlow mode." ''It''s time to make some changes to my research.'' Lucius thought to himself as he began. Chapter 20: Working on the Research. Standing in that lowered floor, Lucius suddenly felt a new kind of energy enter his mind. A cool and refreshing feeling started spreading through his mind. He could feel his thoughts getting clearer and more focused. Lucius closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Outside, a sudden flash of blue light rose up around and encased the area around Lucius. Various numbers and diagrams started appearing and eventually sorted itself into its respective places. Seeing this Reyna was shocked and thought to herself, ''This must be his first time using FreeFlow and yet he''s already adjusted his mind and ordered all the information being transmitted real time. It didn''t even take him a few seconds.'' FreeFlow was a special type of machine that allowed a user to be one with the machine. The logical thinking and the computation of person''s brain would be multiplied making their thoughts clearer and minds less stressed. Usually the first time, it would take a person''s brain a couple of minutes to almost an hour to get used to this miraculous state. Even Reyna, who uses this often takes a few minutes to adjust all the chaotic data and categorize it. Eventually Lucius opened his eyes and started waving his hands. His hands rapidly started writing sentences and formulas. The system received his input and started computing on it. Sentence after sentence, formula after formula filled the screen. In just a few minutes the computer was having trouble keeping up with the sheer amount of calculation need and started falling behind. Lucius clicked his tongue at this and thought, ''Such a slow machine.'' One had to know, this computer was the latest and fastest machine available in the alliance. It was a light-speed quantum machine, that was specifically known for its computing prowess. This same machine right now was struggling under Lucius'' use. It wasn''t because the data was huge, but because the variables Lucius had quoted and used were something that didn''t exist prior to now. The values used by Lucius had to be individually referenced by the computer and it had to make sure all of them were correct. Lucius was building a rudimentary mathematical model for the system of souls from scratch! Of course he did not include various integral aspects of the soul or even mention it. If anymore data was carelessly provided, he might start affecting the causality and ruin his plans. At that point the results would be disastrous. Eventually seeing it really couldn''t keep up, Lucius decided to stop and started helping it out in it''s calculation. His speed was even faster than that of the machine. Outside, Reyna was having a mental breakdown. At first, seeing the research she had read before being categorized more thoroughly she was incomparably excited. Then when the mathematical model was being built she started becoming confused. Then when she saw the machine struggling to keep up, she was simply amazed. Now, seeing him help the machine with it''s calculations and being even faster than it, Reyna began doubting reality. She even pinched herself to check whether it hurt. "Ow that hurts.", she winced at the sharp pain on her cheek. Then she stared at Lucius with her eyes wide open. "This monster!" -------------------------------- Lucius being able to calculate faster than a machine must not be attributed to him, rather to someone else. Although he had his 300 years worth of memories and experience, in the end he was still human. The human brain could only compute so much information and could not be faster than a machine. The reason for this, came in the form a crystal sitting in his pocket. One had to know that, Ka''lor''ah was someone who caused ''The Rule was Causality'' to stop working and successfully send back Lucius to this year. The sheer amount of planning and computation required for such a feat was simply incalculable. For her to be computing something like a mere, mathematical model like this one could be considered as child''s play. She calculated from inside Lucius'' pocket and transmitted the results for her calculation into Lucius'' mind. Lucius receiving these thoughts immediately wrote it into the FreeFlow space. With the assistance of Lucius, the computer finally caught up with the data. Seeing this, Lucius continued with his work and paced himself in a manner in which the computer could keep up. This action went on for a few hours before he finally came to a stop. The light screen around Lucius disappeared and he stepped up from the platform. He flexed his wrists a bit as they had become sore from all that writing. Looking up, he saw Reyna look at him in a weird manner. Lucius furrowed his brows and then asked her, "Everything all right?" Reyna just dumbly stared at him and spoke a few words, "You are simply inhuman." Lucius just shrugged at her comment and walked towards one of the tables. The table was filled with a few flat aluminium boxes. Sitting down in one of the chairs, Lucius pulled a box towards him and opened it''s seal. A dense layer of smoke and a mouth-watering aroma spread out. Lucius then immediately started shoving all the food into his mouth. Although Ka''lor''ah did most of the calculation, he was still the one who built the model. Lucius was actually nervous the entire time, lest he mess up and accidentally alter the causality and end up bringing ''Their'' attention to him. He and Ka''lor''ah would be finished at that point. After finishing his box of food, Lucius still felt hungry. He then looked over at the other box and saw that it was untouched. Looking over at Reyna, he noticed that she was still staring at him dumbly. He then proceeded to open the other box and start eating it''s contents. "Wah, that''s mine. Give it back.", Reyna let out a sharp scream and ran over towards Lucius. ----------------------------- While this was happening in the lab, on the floor just above it was the president''s office. Coming into this floor it could be described with two words, ''spectacularly luxurious'' A large red carpet inled the entire floor. The material of the carpet felt so soft that one could feel their calves sinking into it. Wood panelling decorated the walls and various inscriptions were carved onto them. The carvings were of trees, floors, brids, etc. In the middle of the room, sat a large mahogany desk. The original trees of Earth were almost now almost non-existent. With the the constant expansion and growth of mankind 300 years ago, trees were cut down in majority. Fortunately, with the breakthroughs in science and terraforming, deforestation was largely solved and such issues no longer plagued humanity. From this it can be estimated that the value of this wood is simply astronomical. Two men could were present in this floor. One man sat behind the desk and another stood before him. The man sitting was Reyna''s father, while the one standing was wearing a black suit and had his face covered. "Tell me the results of your investigation.", Reyna''s father spoke up. "The young heir of the Keith family was behind all of this. In order to catch the attention of the Young Miss, he plotted to steal the research from that boy.", Uncle Black replied. Hearing this Reyna''s father nodded and said," I see. That''s okay, as long as my daughter is unhurt and is happy, it''s all that matters." "Sire, If I may.", Uncle Black suddenly spoke up. "That''s interesting, To think Black would speak up on his own initiative. Tell me.", Reyna''s father said with a light smile. Uncle Black hesitated for a second and spoke, "This boy Lucius, he''s not as simple as he looks.". He then paused for a second and continued, "When I was trailing behind the young miss, he instantly noticed me when I placed my gaze on him. At the moment he saw me, I felt an intense feeling wash over me." "Oh? What kind of feeling?", Reyna''s father asked with a serious expression on his face. "The feeling that my life was no longer in my own hands." "It was the feeling,.... of Death!" Chapter 21: The Bodies are Found! "It was the feeling,.... of Death!", Uncle Black spoke in a grave voice. Looking closely one would notice, that sweat beads had started forming on his face. His entire back was also drenched in sweat and his suit was clinging closely. Just thinking back to the events that took place yesterday had led to his reaction right now. One could simply imagine how he felt, in the real situation. Reyna''s father noticed this peculiarity but did not ask about it, he instead asked,"So, you are saying that he''s dangerous?" Uncle Black immediately shook his head and said,"No, it''s not danger. There was no hostility in that gaze. It was more of an indifference. It''s just that the sheer intent behind that gaze his not something a boy of his age must posses." "Sire, you know I have been through multiple life and death scenarios. If not for your kindness, I would currently be a corpse floating across the vast expanse of space. But what I felt under that boy''s gaze, cannot compare to the sum total of my fear in those scenarios." "This humble servant believes that the Young Miss musn''t be in contact with such a person.", saying so Uncle Black retreated and stood silently. Reyna''s father had his eyebrows furrowed the entire time. He had his head resting on his head, while wearing a ponderous look on his face. After a few minutes he called out. "Iris." "Yes, Mr. President.", a calm female voice replied. "Show me today''s video log of my daughter''s lab." "Accessing files." After a few seconds the computer on the desk lit up. A video started playing on it. It relayed the events form the moment Lucius and Reyna set their foot inside the lab. He watched the events on the footage with a calm expression. Once it was done, he softly spoke up, "He really is a genius." This sentence came from the admiration fhe felt in his heart. "But what you are saying is right. This boy is not as simple as he looks. Black, immediately start investigating on him. I want to know everything about him." "As you wish, Sire.", the man is the suit replied while bowing. He then immediately turned around and left. Reyna''s father sat there watching the current ongoing events in the lab, ''He does not seem to hold any evil intentions and is rather sincere.'' He then crossed his hands while thinking, ''What is his goal then?'' ------------------------------- In the lab. Lucius and Reyna were working side by side. Each of them were heavily concentrating and seemed to be in there own worlds. After witnessing Lucius'' actions, Reyna who had been in the verge of mental breakdown had now completely calmed down. Her passion for science overridden her common sense and she just accepted it. ''Who cares, if he is a human or monster. All I care is whether the research is correct or not.'', this was the thought going through Reyna''s mind. After quite an amount of time, both of them stopped at the same time. "Now, we have to wait for the computer to run some test.", Reyna spoke up. "Indeed.", Lucius shortly replied. "What are you going to do now. If you are tired, you could sleep in one of the guest rooms here." she suggested. "Does this place have a gym?", he asked "Of course it does. It''s one of the most advanced gyms, anywhere.", she boasted. Lucius then turned to look at her and said seriously, "Please take me there. I want to use it." Reyna who had been walking in front of him, but her hands behind her back and turned around. She looked at Lucius and smiled, "Sure. Follow me, I''ll take you there." ----------------------------------- In the dense woods that surrounded the academy, a large group of people were present. They were all busily moving about seemingly trying to find something. Some were standing and taking notes , while others were using some excavating robots to dig at various patches of ground. One of the groups of men, suddenly shouted loudly, "Found it!" Hearing this the rest stopped, their work and rushed towards this group. Some reached in to help them dig the ground, while the men with the recording tools stood around carefully recording the scene. "And pull... Careful don''t pull to tight. The body has started decomposing.", one of the diggers spoke. Two humanoid bodies were pulled out from the ground. The others gathered around the bodies, while one of the men holding a special screen kneeled before the body and scanned it with the device. "DNA identification confirms. The bodies belong to the two missing students.", the man who just confirmed this spoke with a grave tone. A collective gasp was heard from the rest. "Who would dare kill another student inside the campus.", one of them asked, his voice laced with obvious shock. Hearing this the rest simply shook their heads. "Mr. Escker, I believe it''s your department''s turn to take over.", the man who had identified the bodies turned to look at one of them. The man he was looking at was around 1.8m tall. He had a long face with a sharp chin. A small moustache decorated his face. He had black hair and brown sunken eyes. Looking at his face, one would get the feeling that he was overworked or had insomnia. "Ha! You sure know how to dump such cases with no leads onto me James. Do you have no conscience?", Escker replied. "So, you are not taking up the case?", James asked in a low voice. Coming from his mouth it almost seemed like a threat. Hearing this Escker just grumbled in response, "Fine! It''s not like I have much of a choice." Nodding James spoke up, "This case takes priority. I expect some leads to be found and reported to me in 2 days. You can start now." He then turned around to address the rest of the people here, "Someone come up here and bag the bodies. Remember to inform the families of the two students and make sure they don''t blow this up." he then looked at the two bodies again and said, "Although something like that might not happen. The rest can leave." The other complied and started heading back towards the academy. James then walked towards Escker and spoke, "I want you to put your full effort into this Sean. This concerns the safety and reputation of the academy. We cannot have multiple cases like this." Understanding his words Escker nodded his head. "I''ll get to it right away." ----------------------------------- "What? They are dead." Keith asked again. "Yes, Boss.", one of his assistants replied in a grave tone. After thinking for a few hours, Keith eventually accepted his current situation. He was no longer the nervous mess he previously was and had gone back to his previous state. Keith thought about it and realized his situation might not be as bad as he thought. Yes, Reyna might hate him now, but since he had not done anything excessive to her, he felt that he might be left off. This thought calmed Keith considerably and he returned to his usual young master demeanour. Just when he thought the day couldn''t get any worse, one of his assistants relayed him the news of 2 of his men''s death. He digested the new and thought to himself, "The two men I sent after Lucius have now suddenly turned up dead, while that Lucius is fine." Then suddenly his two eyes brightened up and he suddenly laughed, "Haha, The heavens haven''t forsaken me. I can use this." A cruel glint flashed through his eyes, "Let''s see how you deal with this, Lucius." Saying so, he immediately got up and started heading somewhere. Chapter 22: Ambush! Lucius spent the next two days, shuttling back and forth between the gym and the lab. He spent less than 4 hours in-between catching up on his sleep. Actually ever since Lucius merged a part of his soul with his body, he strictly does not require sleep however to not expose himself before Reyna, he had no choice but to put on an act. This girl''s understanding on the term ''normal'' went an earth-shattering reform in these two days. When she led him towards the gym on the first day, she was inwardly thinking that with Lucius'' physique he might do some light exercises at most. However watching him do a Hell like training regime and drink the Nutrient Fluids as if they were water, well the poor girl''s reaction can be imagined. After these two days of intense training, Lucius'' body had reached a state that he was satisfied with. Of course compared to his peak, his current strength was comparable to the dirt beneath his fingernails considering he hadn''t even harnessed the full extent of his soul this was quite good from a human standpoint. Outwardly Lucius'' body did not seem any different. But under the shirt was a vastly different world. Solid muscles had fully compacted and his physique seemed godly. For some reason, Lucius'' muscles did not seem to expand outward but kept compressing itself. Hence while his muscle mass hadn''t increased his muscle density was simply monstrous. Still this saved Lucius the effort of explaining to others on how he bulked up. HIs soul cultivation had also progressed along quite smoothly, except it seemed to be slowing along as of late. When he asked Ka''lor''ah of the reason, she blandly replied that his life was being too easy and hence his soul was receiving no stimulation. After two days of input, Lucius had finally perfect the model and passed it onto to Reyna to work on. While the model he had created was nowhere close to the actual model of a soul, it was still vastly better than his previous research. It can be described similar to how one improved repeated addition to multiplication, while more complex and better tools where available further along. While this might be a crude example, it aptly describes what Lucius had built. When Lucius informed Reyna that be was about to leave, her bright expression instantly soured, "Already, but it''s only been two days." Lucius calmly replied, "My work here is done. I improved the research I had and now it''s up to you." "But, we can work on my project together. You can be the co-inventor." Reyna tried to appeal to him to have him stay back. Truth was she had thoroughly enjoyed Lucius'' company these 2 days. He always understood her line of thought and they worked really well together. She almost felt that they had a sort of connection going on between them, which allowed them to interact without words. Yes, he was mostly silent and always wore that expressionless face, but it didn''t really matter to her. "Mechanics is not really my speciality.", Lucius replied curtly. Seeing the bitter look on the girl''s face, Lucius felt a weird feeling in his heart. He then suddenly spoke up, "Well, you can call me if you need my help in something.Plus I really like the gym here, so I will be coming often." Hearing this Reyna''s face immediately brightened and quickly spoke, "That''s right! This place isn''t that far from the academy. Show me your watch, I''ll add you." Saying so, she stretched her hand towards Lucius. Lucius suddenly felt awkward and spoke, "Actually, I don''t have a watch. Luther and his gang broke it last time." "Ah! That''s not an issue. Wait a second." She then quickly ran back into her lab and rummaged around for some time. After a few minutes, she exclaimed, "Found it!". Holding a unique looking watch in her hand she returned to Lucius. "Use this one. It''s something I made myself and is more advanced than any other found in the market. Look I am also wearing the same one in my hand." she then showed her wrist to Lucius. Indeed she was wearing a similar looking watch in her hand of a different color. The one she was wearing was pink in color , while the one she offered Lucius was black. Lucius nodded his head and received the watch. He then linked his ID to the watch, to connect his profile. He then proceeded to share his ID with Reyna. After they had added each other, Lucius bid her goodbye and left. Seeing his receding back, Reyna suddenly felt an inexplicable feeling well up in her heart. It left like she had seen this seen before. ''Why does this feel like deja-vu?'' She then shook her head and turned back into her lab. ''I must finish my current research quickly so that I can invite him to work on something new.'' ----------------------------- After Lucius left the building he then proceeded to walk towards the academy. He had missed classes for almost a week and needed to file a reason for his disappearance. He was also looking through his newly acquired watch to check on all the calls and messages that he had missed these past days. [Olivia- 300 Missed Calls] "Oh my. Somebody sure does misses you." Ka''lor''ah spoke up. Lucius ignored her and cleared his logs. While he knew she might have been worried about him, he currently wasn''t in the mood to entertain her. ''She isn''t part of the plan. I can''t waste my time on her.'' This was Lucius'' thought process. Currently it was evening. The sky had darkened quite a bit and the lights from the establishments around him started brightening up. Clouds had gathered on mass and it seemed ad if it was going to rain. Step,Step. Lucius steps echoed with loneliness as he walked. He wasn''t taking the normal roads but had moved into an alleyway immediately upon leaving the building. Walking deeper the dark alleyway, Lucius'' steps suddenly came to a halt. He stood silently with his head arched downwards, he was quietly looking at the ground. His body was unmoving and his breathing calm. Lucius then suddenly spoke up, "Isn''t it time you come out?" No reply was heard. Only the ever looming darkness surrounded him. "What''s wrong?", a voice was heard from his pocket. "Ambush", Lucius calmly replied. Lucius was still standing without any movement. There was a palpable tension in the air as the darkness around him seemed to enclose. Yet, Lucius who stood there seemed unaffected by it. He was simply staring into the ground. Swoosh! A sharp blow of air sounded from behind him. Lucius body which was inactive suddenly burst into action. He calmly tilted his body in a 60 degree angle sidewards and extended his hands outwards. Swiping his hands downwards, similar to a hawk swooping down for its prey, Lucius hand grabbed onto the incoming projectile. His hands came into contact with a cold metallic dart. A viscous liquid was flowing at the tip of the dart. ''Tranquilizer'', Lucius immediately understood. Whoever came here, wanted to capture him alive. No longer staying stationary Lucius'' legs kicked off in the direction of the shooter. His speed rivalled that of the dart which came after him. "What?!" a surprised sound voiced out. Lucius immediately used his hands to pierce in the direction of this man''s heart. Although Lucius could not see his attacker. His experience allowed him to accurately judge the distance and the position of the man''s vital points. His hands came in contact with the man''s firm chest. Lucius immediately mobilized his soul power and his hands easily went through the man''s chest. It was similar to a hot knife cutting through butter. As soon as Lucius felt the presence of a muscular pumping object, he clenched his hands and directly crushed it. Immediately Lucius jumped behind the man and started scaling the walls to reach the roof of the building. From the moment of the dart''s firing and Lucius subsequent escape less than 2 seconds had passed. A sharp scream tore through the quiet night, "Oh my god, He killed No.2!! After him." Multiple footsteps were heard chasing in Lucius'' direction. No change could be seen in Lucius face and his gaze was the same as always. Red blood quietly dripped from the hand in which he had crushed that man''s heart. ''1,2,3...5 men are chasing after me.'' Lucius calmly concluded. Having his soul power slowly enhance his body, a red glow appeared in the depths of his eyes. A small smile formed in his face. ''Perfect time to test my body..'' Chapter 23: Caught! Lucius kept running at his top speed, while he wanted to test his body, his number one priority was to make it out of here alive. Indeed, while the men had come here to capture him alive, that might change due to Lucius'' subsequent killing of their companion. According to Lucius estimation, 5 people followed after him. "Quick, TURN!", a voice anxiously reminded. Lucius heard the voice and without questioning it immediately jumped sideways to the nearby roof. Swoosh! A sharp object tore through the air. It was significantly faster than the dart that was used to shoot Lucius at the beginning. "They are starting to use live ammo. You must escape from here as soon as possible." the voice, which was coming from his pocket instructed him. Lucius'' brows furrowed. While he did consider that they might try to kill him, the resoluteness in their actions was unexpected. It seemed that the order to capture him ''alive'' was not important. Dropping the idea of playing with these men and testing his body, Lucius immediately started running towards the public areas. He kept jumping from rooftop to rooftop and never ran straight. Swoosh! Swish! Swoosh! Multiple projectiles kept missing Lucius in a very narrow fashion. If it was not for his recently improved body and the soul power that was assisting him, Lucius would have already fallen. He kept evading and made feints to confuse his enemy. Alas, they seemed to be experienced in the art of chase. Just as Lucius jumped over a slightly taller building a fast object reflecting the bright moonlight came from the front. ''Fast!!?'', the thought crossed Lucius'' mind as he saw the object. It was perfectly placed in front of him and aimed directly at his head. If he remained unmoving he would surely die. While this bullet would not have been a problem for him, if he was on the ground, currently he was mid-air. Making maneuvers in the air was very difficult, one had to factor the air resistance, centre of balance, gravity and many other such factors. Lucius mobilized his soul power and moved his head in a very strange manner. Crunch! His neck twisted horizontally and his head suddenly fell. The sound of bones cracking in his neck was heard. As his head was no longer vertical, the bullet narrowly missed it and grazed the adam''s apple on his throat. Once Lucius'' body fell to the ground, he immediately used his hands to twist his neck back in place. Cold sweat lined the top of his forehead and this face was unnaturally red. After he landed, Lucius immediately rolled from his position just to see a sharp bullet hit the stone flooring. Back there, Lucius had used his soul power to wrap the nerves and blood vessels lining his throat to protect it from breaking. Lucius had then proceeded to break his own neck to dangerously dodge that bullet. If he had not done he would have surely lost his life back there. Still this minor delay had caused Lucius'' pace to completely break down as his enemies had caught up to him. Still there was no panic or even the slightest stirring in his eyes. It still carried it''s look of indifference. Seeing that he no longer held the advantage on the rooftop, Lucius rolled down and fell to the ground. By now, he had entered the slum areas of the city. While Lucius'' did want to head to the more populus locations his pursuers did not give him much of a choice. His current objective was to remain alive. Using the building on the sides as the cover , Lucius continued his run. Dropping to the ground had placed him in an even more unfavorable position. His enemies had the high ground and he did not have a clear visual on their positions. Lucius hence closed his eyes and relied completely on his ears. Since the beginning of the chase, rain had already started falling. Due to the presence of the rain, Lucius had a constant stream of sounds entering his ears. While most would consider the rain as a nuisance, it was currently a gift from God to Lucius. Using his ears and the feedback of the sound from the raindrops, Lucius could roughly estimate the positions of his enemies. Turning around the corner, Lucius broke through the nearby window and entered the building. The interior was devoid of light and was absent of people. Lucius backtracked a little. he then suddenly paused at a certain spot and waited quietly. Waiting for a few seconds, Lucius suddenly exerted strength into his legs and jumped up. He mobilized the entirety of his soul power and broke through the shoddily built structure. "What the?!", a surprised voice was heard and the speaker felt a iron like grip catch his foot. Noticing the grip the man tried to pull away, but alas he was pulled into the building. "HEL...!", before he could finish his words he felt a great force being delivered onto his neck. Kacha! A sharp noise was heard and the man''s head dropped lifelessly. His body which was standing erect and full of power, lifelessly collapsed. It looked similar to a puppet whose strings had been cut. "4 remaining.", Lucius concluded to himself as he immediately left the location. The structure be had broken through, although weak was still much stronger than wood or it''s kind. It was a kind of concrete which was not exactly known for its strength. Breaking through it to kill that man had drained Lucius'' soul power by quite a bit. He had also sustained some pretty heavy internal injury. While continuing to run wasn''t a problem, escaping had become much harder. The other pursuers had been alerted by the noise and had immediately changed directions. Seeing the absence of one more of their brethren seemed to further induce their anger as their shots had become much more frequent. Although Lucius tried his best to dodge the majority of the bullets, he no longer had the soul power required nor the uninjured state of his body. They only reason he continued to move could be attributed to his exceptional mental resilience. A bullet had hit him in his thigh and one had hit him in the abdomen. If not for mobilizing his soul power in a timely manner and making minimal movements to his inner organs, he might have already punctured a lung. ''Lucius this cannot go on for longer. You barely have any more energy left.'' , Ka''lor''ah analyzed his body''s state and told him. Right now, she hated the fact that she was in the form of a crystal. ''If only I had my divine sense activated earlier. We might not have landed in this situation.'' she blamed herself. One of the functions she had unlocked was called, ''Divine Sense''. It was similar to a detection field in which she would be able to detect all the objects within a certain area. Although such an ability sounded miraculous, it had a sharp drain on the energy consumed. Right now, she could barely have it activated for 15 minutes before running out of power and going into her sleep state. Although she had reminded him, Lucius knew better than anyone else the state of his own body. ''I can no longer escape.'', he calmly concluded. ''I cannot die either.'' ''Therefore my only option is to get captured right now.'' he reaffirmed his thoughts and slightly moved his right leg''s direction. "Ahh!! My leg!", he cried out with an exaggerated tone. Lucius body immediately crumpled and he curled himself into a fetal position while holding his legs. The men after him heard this and stopped near him. They had their firearms armed at him and were about to shoot. "Stop!" , a voice loudly resounded. "But Leader, he killed two of our brothers. Let''s kill him!", a man retorted with an angry voice. "I know that, but we are paid to take him alive." the leader replied. He then took a deep breath and slowly replied, "Plus, do you want him to have such an easy death." Hearing this the other man shook his head. "That''s why we spare him right now.", the leader stated. One of the 4 remaining men asked, "But why? If he is to suffer shouldn''t we torture him?" Upon hearing this, the leader flashed a cruel smile, "Oh, he is going to tortured alright. Just not by us." "Who then?", another curiously asked. "Our orders are to send him to ''The Pit''." he then paused for a second before continuing, "And all of you know, what kind of a place The Pit is." Hearing this the rest of them shuddered. The leader smiled at their reactions and spoke, "He should have heard enough. Knock him out and bag him." Chapter 24: A Strange Sight. Far away from the slums where Lucius was finally captured, in a completely filled cafe, sat a hooded man. He had been waiting at the same table for the past 3 hours and hadn''t touched the drink he had ordered. Many people had passed his table and even the robot waiter had visited his table multiple times. Yet the man sat there unbothered. Chime. The door of the cafe chimed and in entered a man covered in dark garbs. The rain outside the cafe had been going strong for the past 3 hours. Although the weather control system could regulate the weather, natural rain like this occurring in Earth was fairly rare these days. Standing in the entrance the man shook his clothes to have the water sticking to it drop on the ground. He then raised his head to survey the cafe. It wasn''t a particularly large cafe. It had humble interiors which was quite rare to be seen in these parts, mainly because they were positioned to close to the slums. Area in the city was very expensive and being able to secure this plot meant that the owner was fairly wealthy. After the looking around the man seemed to have found his target as he started heading towards the table with the hooded man. He promptly approached without stopping and sat down upon reaching the table. Taking off the hat that covered his face, the man''s face was revealed. He was in his late 30''s. He possessed a long face with partially sunken eyes. A thin moustache lined the top of his mouth and moved as he spoke. "It''s done, young master. I must say, you can rest assured now.", the man spoke. Hearing this the hooded man seemed to heave a sigh of relief. Leaning closer he cautiously spoke, "Are you sure. Did you catch the right person?" The man simply smiled in response and said, "He had his ID on him. It''s confirmed. Although the men we sent after him were unusually silent, when asked how it went. But there should be no problem, after all the men we sent after him were the best in the business." Seeing that the hooded man had no reply, the moustached man continued to speak, "He''s only a student. I believe that the young master was too rash in hiring these men." "No!", the hooded man immediately exploded. The sound of teeth gritting could be heard, "I can''t take any chances with him. HE MUST BE CAUGHT!" The man was evidently surprised at this hooded man''s reaction. Something intense must have occurred for him to have such a reaction. He then tactfully chose not to ask anything further and said. "Well, what''s done is done. He will be sent to the pit as you ordered. Well, it''s time I get going. Please do not forget to hold up your end of the bargain.", saying so the man put on his hat and left the cafe. The hooded man, then suddenly started laughing. He did not try to control himself in the public area and let out a crazed laughter. "HAHAHA! LUCIUS! This is what you get for getting in my way!" He then slowly calmed down and returned to his previous state. Calling the robot and paying his bill, the man left the cafe. His body slowly faded into the dark night as the rain continued to drop. ------------------------------ Darkness. Perpetual darkness surrounded a small caged room. Inside said caged room, was a sack of sorts. Blood patches were found in many locations of the sack. A small puddle of dark dried blood had also formed underneath the sack. Step. Step. The sound of approaching footsteps was heard and along with it came a ray of light. A 6ft tall hunky man, help the source of the light and was slowly approaching the cage. Nearing it, he grabbed a baton from his waist and started tapping the metal bars of the cage. BANG! BANG! "Oi! Wake up?" Hearing his voice coupled with the loud rattling of the cage bars, the sack in the middle of the room stirred. Seemingly finding the exit of the sack, a pale hand exited. Following that the other hand and the rest of the upper body followed along with it. A young boy of 17 years came out. His clothes were torn is various spots and had patched of dried blood on them. His right leg had a massive injury and his abdomen also showed a bullet wound. Various scrapes and other minor and major wounds were also found all over his body. Yet, despite all of these wounds the boy stood with a blank expression. His eyes uncaring and indifferent. He then proceeded to check his body to search for something. "A young one,huh. I don''t know who you offended kid, but we have to get going now.", the man said with a pitying voice. "They took it.", a new voice was heard. "What?", the man did not seem to hear properly and leaned into the bars to hear properly. "They took her and my watch.", the emotionless voice continued. This time the man heard the voice properly and looked up to answer him. As he was about to reply, his eyes caught sight of the other party''s eyes. The hunk''s body immediately stiffened. Staring into those completely red eyes of the boy, he felt his heart stop. His eyes were shining with a bright crimson light. It was the same color as freshly spilt blood. The boy stood there with a blank face and locked his eyes with the man. He then said in a voice that was cold and utterly devoid of any emotion. It was mechanical. "Speak, ant. What is this place?" The hunky man''s face was also blank and his eyes were unmoving, he replied in a strange robotic voice a far-cry from his previous deep voice. "You are currently at the processing zone of ''The Pit''." "Why are you here?", the boy asked. "I was instructed to bring the boy to the preparing zone, in time for the next round." "Tell me, what is this ''Pit''." "It''s a slaughter house for the condemned. Many people who have offended the the big families are sent here to fight amongst themselves in a battle royale type style. It''s a form of entertainment for the higher ups, to see other people killing each other." The boy stood there quietly thinking for a while, he then asked ,"Where are the people who brought me here?" "I am not sure, but they must be in the viewing platform or VIP area. I heard them say, they wanted to watch you get torn up." The boy nodded at this answer and walked towards the man. He then reached his hands to slowly caress the man''s face. "You have served your purpose well, ant. Now kill yourself." The man immediately reached into break his own neck. Watching the body slowly slide down the iron bars, Lucius stood there unmoving. He then reach the keys and the flashlight and opened the cage to make his way out. Then he made his way towards the dead body of the man. Lucius himself wasn''t aware on why he did this. Ever since he woke up inside the cage, there was a kind of hunger coming from the depths of his body. It similar to the hunger he had when he was training, but this time it was even more intense and different. Lucius crouched down near the man''s body and reached his hands towards his head. At this point Lucius was instinctively moving , he wasn''t sure why he was doing this. He then clenched his fist save for his index and middle finger. His soul power moved by itself and his fingers pierced the man''s skull! His soul power started manifesting outside his body and with his fingers as the pathway started rushing into the man''s head. A reddish black haze surrounded the man''s body and his head was rapidly losing its structure. It then suddenly collapsed and the man''s body spasmed. A small white haze was drawn from within his head and was surrounded by the reddish-black haze. A reddish-black haze, started suppressing the white haze and started consuming it . Once the white haze was completely consumed, the reddish black haze promptly retreated back into Lucius'' body. The man''s body could now be clearly seen. It was missing a head! There was a neat cut at the end of his neck and nothing after that. Lucius saw the entire process happen with his own eyes and was inwardly shocked. ''This! What just happened?'' Chapter 25: The Monster Within- Part 1 Delving into this mind space, Lucius noticed the newly acquired white haze in the centre of the reddish-black soul. It was being rapidly dissolved into a stream of pure energy and being sent into his body. Lucius tracked the flow of the energy and noticed it was heading towards the injury in his abdomen. Compared to the injury on his leg which was the result of Lucius'' ploy, his injury in his abdomen was far more serious. Coming back outside his mind space, Lucius noticed his abdomen itching a lot. Lifting his shirt, he noticed that the blood flow had already stopped and new muscles were growing in its place. Lucius was completely shocked. Even in his 300 years of existence he had never seen or heard of such a thing happening. ''That white haze must be that man''s soul.'', concluding this much, he drew in a sharp breath of air. A soul of another organism was simply indestructible. This was an immutable law. Much like how fire is hot, this was a fundamental law of this universe. The ''Rule'' of the cosmos. Rules were indisputable and inviolable. Everything in the cosmos obeyed the fundamentals called the Rules. Even Lucius or Ka''lor''ah at their peaks were no exceptions.The ''Rule of Souls'' was one of the highest Rules in existence. Yet, seemingly Lucius had just broken this fundamental rule. The soul represented the proof of existence of a person and can never be destroyed. Not even ''they'' can destroy the soul and can only tinker with it. If he could destroy a soul, it meant that..... Lucius took a deep breath to calm his thoughts. He was not an expert on this topic like Ka''lor''ah. ''i must ask her about this when I get out.'' Lucius thought to himself. He then proceeded to look at the body on the ground. The headless body lay there unmoving. ''I mustn''t have killed him'', Lucius thought to himself. He himself was quite confused. SInce the time Lucius woke up, he did not feel like he was in control of his body. The usage of charm to gather information from him, calling the human an ''ant'' and subsequently killing him all of this was done subconsciously by him. His mind automatically moved his body and executed this set of actions. Lucius felt unnerved at this thought. Not having control over one''s body was unacceptable , it usually meant being under the control of someone else. The deep hunger he felt, returned promptly after the healing was done. His abdomen was completely healed and not even the scar could be seen. Yet the hunger he felt now was even greater, the brightness of Lucius eyes slowly increased. The hunger was slowly growing. ''Need more souls.'' this thought popped into his mind. Strangely Lucius did not reject it and continued to head down the path that the man was taken. According to the man. ''The Pit'' lay on the other side. The hunger Lucius felt urged him to move towards that path. Whatever was there could satisfy his hunger. --------------------------- Lucius walked through the long tunnels, the tunnels were shrouded in darkness, save for a few flickering lights placed at even distances. Usually, Lucius would have proceeded with caution, as the chances of ambush were quite high in such places. However none of those thoughts were present on his mind. With every step that he took, Lucius felt the hunger in him grow stronger and stronger. ''What''s happening to me?'', Lucius felt really confused. Such a thing had never happened to him before. ''Is it because I consumed that soul. But ''Killer'' isn''t supposed to have such abilities.'' His steps continued to grow quicker and quicker and his thoughts were being forced out. ''Eat! I need to eat!'', this was the only thought that was clouding his mind. What started as a calm walk at the beginning, had almost devolved into a crazed dash. The hunger he felt inside him was urging him to go faster. A different sense of pain assaulted his mind. His eyes were now radiating light. The bright crimson light leaking out of his eyes, would unnerve anyone who could see it. He kept moving faster and faster till he came across a iron gate. On the other side of the gate, was a dense jungle. Tall trees and large bushes filled the entire area and painted it green. Lucius madly leapt onto the the iron gates and tried to break it apart. He even mobilized his soul power, yet the iron gates did not budge. In the first place, it wasn''t iron at all. "Looks like all participants are here. Wonderful!", a excited male voice was suddenly heard. The voice then cleared it''s throat and said, "Welcome to all my wonderful patrons for joining us today. Oh what is this I see, a full house. Excellent!", the voice exclaimed. "For all people who love to see blood. The ones who crave for gore. The men and women whose bloods boil for battle, I am very happy to announce another round of ''The Pit''." "100 men will enter but only 1 shall prevail! As always, exciting battles and gruesome deaths are promised. The bets are now open and can be freely placed. Choose your warriors wisely and you may end up winning a lot." Waiting for a few minutes for all the bets to be placed, the man then continued. "Ooh so many rich patrons today. Looks like this rounds going to extra fun. Well then, without further ado, I proclaim this round of ''The Pit'' to BEGIN!!" On his cue, the iron gate stopping Lucius immediately opened up. Lucius jumped forth and hid into the bushes.By now all semblance of rationality had seemingly left Lucius. He was no longer resembling a human youth and was completely following his instincts. Hunger had literally driven him mad. Lucius looked up into the air and sniffed. A small amount of reddish-black haze escaped his nostrils and moved towards a certain direction. Noticing that, Lucius immediately begin running after it. ''Eat! EAt! Eat! EAT! EAT!'', all the thoughts that filled his mind were of satisfying his own hunger. He jumped from tree to tree with astounding grace and agility. Every time he moved, small bursts of his soul energy radiated of his feet and hands. The speed Lucius was moving with was simply inhuman. His body stretched to its limits and his limbs moved with uncharacteristic ease. It resembled a predator in hunt of it''s prey. The injuries on his body felt non-existent at this moment. Running in speeds which could rival the likes a vehicle, Lucius quickly arrived at a certain spot and stopped. It had taken him less than a minute to reach this place, making a testament to his speed. His body immediately hid itself among the the available foliage and carefully positioned itself. Although Lucius'' body was now moving with it''s instincts it still understood the dangerous situation it was in. He felt felt the eyes of someone or something constantly watching him. Although he ran in a strange manner, it was done so in order to avoid this gaze. Lying in wait, Lucius'' body scouted it''s surroundings. It was now sure that nobody was watching it and checked to confirm this. The small bit of soul power that was pointing the direction all along, still pointed towards a certain spot. Lucius was lying in a underbush, beside a large tree. Seemingly in wait for something. A characteristic fact of any successful hunt was patience. Though, Lucius mind was clouded and his ability to think was non-existent, this hunting behaviour that had surprisingly awoken inside him, knew the fact. -------------------- Although this place resembled a jungle, it was in fact situated underneath the city. This fact was further proved by the stone ceiling that could be seen directly above. The jungle like scene was created to improve the viewers excitement as they saw prey(other humans) hunt each other. To the people watching ''The Pit'' is was no more than a form of entertainment. A mere method to pass time. Many rich tycoons and people from influential families often came here to view these battles. The jungle setting was not the only setting available and many other such settings existed. The settings were swapped out and new ones were used for every round. The humans placed inside The Pit consisted of many varieties. There existed the criminal ones, the adventurous ones, the ones seeking money, the ones threatened, or in Lucius case, ones placed for death. One thing that was common among all participants was that they were all heartless. They strived to take lives in the most brutal way possible. Rather than calling them humans, beasts were a more appropriate term But, little did they know, they had unknowingly placed a ''real beast'' among them, this round. Chapter 26: The Monster Within- Part 2 Movement could be seen in the bushes, directly in front of Lucius'' body. A tall man with a slender body exited the coverage. He was carefully surveying his surroundings and was careful in his movements. The man carried a pair of glaives, one in each hand. Droplets of red blood slowly dripped from the edges of the weapon. It was evident that this man, had just killed another participant. Lucius watched this man head in his direction but did not move. He carefully lying in wait, waiting for his prey to enter the right position. As the man continued to walk towards him, Lucius slightly turned and faced another direction. Observing his line of sight one would notice that there was nothing there. Yet, Lucius crimson eyes were seemingly tracking an object. Waiting for a few more seconds, the man with the glaives just passed the bush which Lucius was hiding under. Immediately upon his passing Lucius leapt directly into the sky. He infused his hands with soul power and swiped it towards the empty air. Swissh! Clang! The sound of air being cut followed a metallic sound was heard. It was a very faint and unless one stood very close to the source of the one, the would not be able to hear it In the empty air, a small disk like object suddenly appeared. It was bright silver, with a liner and smooth body. There were miniature holes lining all around its body. Receiving Lucius'' attack it was knocked off its invisible state and was thrown off balance. Seeing that it wasn''t destroyed yet, Lucius used his other arm to grab onto it and fell in the direction of the other side of the tree. Upon landing, he used soul power to coat both of his hands, before ripping it apart. From the time of Lucius movement till now, less than 2 seconds had passed. The fluid movement of Lucius'' body and the tracking of the invisible object showed just how frightening his instincts were. Lucius body relaxed a bit upon identifying that the gaze on him was gone forever. Although, Lucius movement was smooth with no excess, the slight ruffling of the leaves still managed to alert the man holding the glaives. He immediately went onto a defensive stance and carefully surveyed the surroundings. Being able the pit and remain alive after an encounter with another participant, no to mention successfully killing them with visibly no damage, spoke volumes of his skill. He checked the bushes and the trees but found nothing. This further reminded him that his opponent was a very skilled hunter. Lucius who was cause of the disturbance could no longer sit still. Small amounts of drool was leaking from the edges of his mouth. Seeing the man turn in the opposite direction, he immediately moved. Jumping down from the tree , he pounced in the direction of the armed man. his hands immediately reached for his throat. Lucius did not spare any pretenses and immediately went for the kill. The man who noticed this attack, immediately tried to turn around, alas it was too late. The difference between a human who used soul power and one who did not was vastly different. Landing his hands upon the man''s throat. Lucius immediately tore his head off his neck. The man did not have any time to react before he died. ''Is that even human?'', was the last thought that passed through his mind. Lucius immediately put his fingers into the man''s skull and a repeat of the previous events followed. A white haze came out of the body and was swiftly absorbed by Lucius. It then proceeded to heal the injury on his leg, which had worsened a lot due to his exertions. The crimson in his eyes reduced by a little amount, but clarity did not return to his eyes. The soul pointer, promptly began pointing in another direction before moving. Lucius quickly followed behind it. -------------------------- In another area, the scene was entirely different. It was not filled with trees and other green foliage, but with broken buildings and concrete structure. If the previous setting was called ''Jungle'' , then this would be named as ''City Battle''. The Pit consisted of a vast area with multiple settings present in the same round. Participants would be released in different areas to increase coverage and spread. Small silver disk like objects, invisible to the eyes flew around in the skies and broadcasted the battles to the viewers who sat in a distant location. Currently in this city 5 men were travelling together. While the rules did not forbid teaming up, people generally did not tend to do so. As stated, only 1 person would be allowed to live at the end of each round, therefore backstabbing and betrayals were common occurrences. Seeing such a sight was a very rare thing. "Say how many do you think died?", asked one of the them. "Beats me.", another shrugged his shoulders. The third person who was walking in the front, replied to the man''s question. "Seeing that 20 minutes have passed, almost 40 must have died." "Ah looks like Boss Roland really understands this game well.", one of them praised. "I used to work here after all. If not for that bastard framing me, I would be on the other side, watching this round.", Roland shouted in indignance. This man Roland, was one of the supervisors who worked in The Pit. He had been an orphan since birth and had never received proper education. From a young age, Roland''s survival sense was very strong. He knew who to join with, who to work under, etc. He had joined the criminal gang which hosted the Pit and used to lure people into joining it. Roland was not a good person. He was far from it. He just did what it took to survive and did it without hesitation. Such a person, if he was from an influential family would surely be outstanding. Alas, he was here as a participant of the Pit. Upon entering the Pit he once again used his intelligence to group together a bunch of other participants and formed a team. He tempted them with his knowledge of the rounds and promised a way to clear this place alive. The others not being learned accepted his offer without much hesitation. In Roland''s these men were nothing more than meat shields. Cannon Fodder, one could say. "Yeah, You never told us what he framed you for boss. " one of his ''shields'' asked him. Roland let out an exaggerated sigh and slowly spoke," Well it''s obviously because of my superior intellect. That guy above me felt threatened and moved to deal with me. If only I was a little cautious, I would not have ended up in here." His face was the picture of grievance. "Don''t tell it like that boss, if not for you we would have surely died to those traps. We are grateful to you." the other ''shield'' spoke up. Roland nodded and continued walking forward in silence. The buildings around them were closely packed and the chances of ambush was quite high. Therefore, he had everyone remain alert and observe everything. A sense of unease filled Roland''s heart. He felt his surrounding were too calm and quiet. ''It''s too quiet which is supposed to be good. But why am I feeling uneasy.'' he thought to himself. Suddenly from the front, he heard a voice call him, "Boss I found something." Roland made his way towards the duy and saw what he was pointing at. It was a silver disk like object which was ripped into two halves. "This! Isn''t this the camera used to broadcast the battles.", the unease he was feeling in his heart heightened and the doubts he was feeling in his mind came together to provide an answer. ''That''s right! It is too quiet because I can''t hear that whizzing sound from these machines. Not good! Somebody is destroying the cameras.'' thinking up to here Roland moved to alert the other. "Everyone, quickly take co.." before he could finish his words, Roland saw a human being jump onto their group. No rather than call it human, monster suited it better. It crawled in 4 limbs and had shining red eyes. It''s clothes were torn into rags and dirt and dried blood clung to it''s body. It''s hands were not holding onto any weapon, yet overflowed with blood. Upon landing it directly tore the heads of two of his ''shields'' and pounced onto another. Before Roland could process what was happening, that monster was on top of him. In the blink of an eye. 5 more people died to this monster. -------------------------------- Chapter 27: The Audience In a certain safe room, filled with many screens, a loud bustle and hurried movement could be seen. People were shuttling back and forth with great urgency. "Damn it! Another 3 cameras are down.", one man looking into a monitor spoke up. "Wait no! We just lost the entire east sector. We no longer have visual on targets" another hurriedly spoke up. On the large monitor that was in front of the room, 1/4th of the screen was blank. A screen saying ''Unresponsive'' was seen. One man was standing on a higher platform. He was quite short and had a round body, clearly overweight. His face was looking pale and his forehead was lined with innumerable sweat drops. He was holding the metal railings tightly. His grip was so tight that one could see his bluish green nerves popping. He looked down onto the people who were running around like headless chickens and bellowed,"Does anyone know what''s happening?!!" This man was the Floor Manager for The Pit. It was high position whose duty was to ensure, that each round was interesting and fun to watch. He controlled the flow of events in each round to a certain extent to cater to the audience. Today was supposed to be another normal day, alas this happened. A man wearing glasses, standing in the the bottom floor looked up and replied. "We aren''t sure Leader. We think it might be a contestant doing this.", he spoke hesitantly. "How can a human move that fast?!". the leader asked in rage. This was the most absurd explanation he had heard. "Another 4 cameras went down." a nervous voice shouted. Hearing this Leader''s face paled even further. "All of you, work faster to know what''s happening.", he screamed, his voice was shaking slightly. He wasn''t afraid of the participants inside nor of the losses caused by the destroyed cameras. What scared him was the reaction of the viewers. ''If I handle this poorly, my life is finished.'' , he thought to himself. Running a business like The Pit wasn''t an easy task. Without sufficient strength and backing, one wouldn''t be able to run such a business in any of the alliance territories, let alone in it''s HQ city. After all he was basically having people kill each other. Thankfully there were many people who had sick tastes and weird fetishes among the influential families. This allowed him to run such a business without any troubles. As long as he kept them satisfied, he could continuously rake money in. Yet, this delicate balance was smashed apart by an unknown entity. As he was nervously pondering on how to deal with the ''audience''. A nervous looking man neared the leader. "Le-leader.", he spoke, his voice tinged with fear. "WHAT?!", the leader bellowed out. "Th-the guests want you to meet them.", he quickly spoke. The leader staggered for a second and thought to himself, ''I''m finished''. ----------------------- Walking up a staircase the leader, stood in front of a massive double door. Reaching his hand to open it he hesitated and pulled back his hands. This happened for 5 more times before he finally took a deep breath. Gathering his courage, he pushed open the massive doors and strode inside. An opulent hall filled with many floating platforms filled his view. A faint fragrance spread through the area. Anyone taking a whiff would feel their body involuntarily relaxing. Bright red carpets made of fur, covered the entire ground. The hall was shaped like a hemispherical dome and a bright blue skyline decorated the ceiling. If not for the fact that they were led underground, one would think they were still in the surface. The realism-imitator did a fantastic imitation job at perfectly replicating the skyline. The second the leader stepped into the room, dozens of gazes were focused on him. Trying not to sound afraid, he asked the ''audience'' in a hoarse voice,"May I know, why I was called here?" One voice chuckled and replied,"Why? I believe looking at the screen could tell you why.", saying so he pointed at the screen that was at the centre of the room. The holographic floating screen showed various participants struggling and fighting for their lives. This would have been fine except, a whole 1/4th of the screen was dark. "May I know what happened to the participants there?". continued the man. "Thi-this.." the leader paused and continued," Some contestant is going around and destroying all the cameras. We don''t know who or why he is doing this." Another voice interjected, "Why not just go in there and kill him?" "I have already sent a armed team to go and investigate the issue. If there is any problem they should resolve it.", the leader calmly replied. Just as he finished speaking a set of hurried footsteps was heard behind him. Turning back he saw an assistant to his running over to him with a pale face. Seeing this the leader got a very bad feeling. "Leader!!, The-the team we sent. A-al-all o-of the-m died!", the assistant gasping for air hurriedly explained. "WHAT?!" the leader was completely shocked. "Bu-but I sent 20 people!! All of them were armed with plasma weapons!", he couldn''t believe this was happening. The assistant who had stabilized his breaths to a certain extent explained in a nervous voice," From what we know it''s a contestant in the form of a young boy. They made contact with him and tried to eliminate him. Next thing we know all of our men started dying in his hands one by one." "Wait a young boy, you said!", a voice exclaimed from the audience. "Yes! Black hair, red eyes. He had a crazed look on his face. This is the image we received.", saying so the assistant projected an image from his watch. The scene of the young boy slaughtering the armed members was played out. He made simple moves every time and was overwhelmingly fast. So fast that even the people watching him in 2x slowed could not properly see him moving. He only made two attacks each time. One hand pierced the skull and the other cut the head. He was only using his hands! One has to remember that the human skull was quite strong by itself, not to mention all these men were wearing protective gear for their heads. The man who had asked this question immediately stood up. Next to him 3 more people similarly stood up with a shocked expression. "Impossible!" they blurted out together. Seeing this odd reaction from one of his patrons, the leader asked him, "Do you know who this person is, Sir?" The man nodded his head and then shook it, not quite sure how to explain, he slowly spoke up, "I was contracted to capture him and put him in The Pit. Although that boy was skilled and killed 2 of my men during capture, he shouldn''t be this skilled! Who can go against a group of men armee with plasma rifles and blades and kill all of them without getting a scratch." The leader was shocked at this response and asked."May I ask Sir, who this boy is?" The man thought for a second and immediately said, "He''s a student from the Academy." "His name should be....", he thought for a second before blurting it out. "Lucius!" Chapter 28: Heartless Killer The person in question, Lucius was now standing with furrowed eyebrows, he was staring at his bloodstained hands, with an odd expression. This bright crimson red eyes had already receded, save for the tiny bit of red in the depths of his eyes. No injuries were present in his body both inside and out. The hunger he felt back then had also vanished. ''What is happening to me?'', he thought to himself. Taking his eyes off his hands, he stared underneath his feet. Lucius was standing in an elevated position, in comparison to the ground. Directly underneath his feet was a pile of headless bodies. Most of them were armored and were carrying various weapons. These weapons included plasma rifles, laser knives and stun grenades. Looking around, the ground was filled with scorch marks and knife slashes. Even the buildings in the setting, which already was broken was further smashed due to their battle. Seeing all of this Lucius shook his head and sighed. "Whatever happened was caused by me. Although I''m not sure what that hunger was or why I acted so irrationally, it can''t be helped now.", he spoke to himself. "Seems like I have to kill everyone present in order to cover my secrets." saying so in a nonchalant voice. He stepped down from that pile of corpses and picked certain items from the bodies. He first picked up two rifles and checked for their ammunitions. He then grabbed a couple of sun grenades and a device which looked like the GPS. The device showed an outline of all the settings and the remaining participants were in the form of red dots. "Well, I guess I''ll start with these guys. I must be quick, lest the ones outside start running." Saying so he mobilized his soul power to the fullest extent. Since his body was the one that caused this mess, it was up to him to clean it up. ''Nothing can affect the events that will be taking place next February.", he thought to himself and continued towards the red dots with a calm expression. ------------------------------- Outside, the rains had already stopped, It was still quite dark due to the overcast sky and the fact that it was quite early in the morning. In the corner of a nearby alley facing an ordinary shop, a dark shadow stood. It was looking at the watch device in it''s hand and looked up towards the shop. Noting that the location in the watch and the store were the same thing, it carefully surveyed the surroundings. No one was present in the vicinity of the shop and the shop itself was closed. It was to be expected as it was still very early in the morning. Though, this shop looked normal, it was in fact a facade. This shop was one of the entries into The Pit. Upon hearing the name most people would just run away and never mention this fact, if they looked favourably upon life that is. Yet, this person seemed unaware of the fearsome reputation of this institution and continued towards the shopfront. Closing in near the door, the shadow checked the locks and noticed that they were locked. Seeing no other way, the shadow moved towards the side of the building in hopes of finding another entrance. Circling around the building, it came across a small vent in the side.Checking the watch and confirming the location once again the shadow moved. The vent was just enough for a person to fit inside, the shadow crouched down and entered the vent. ''I must find him!'', the shadow thought to itself as it moved further into the darkness. ------------------------------- inside the Pit all of hell had broken loose. The participants who had gather together in a certain area were getting slaughter one after another. Screams and blood flew around. Bright flashes of light flew around and hit people. Upon coming into contact with flesh of the people, it simply tore them apart. Around 40-ish people were remaining in the area and they died one after another. "AhH HE_HELP!" "PLEASE HAVE MERCY!!" "I HAVE A FAMILY WAITING OUTSIDE, PLEASE LET ME LIVE?" Many such voices screamed and begged, but alas the originator of this slaughter did not reply. In fact upon hearing the voices, he proceeded to kill them first. Their screams exposed their locations and allowed for quick deaths. In a few minutes all screams died down. Rather than say that the slaughterer had stopped his killing, it was safe to say that all the others had died. Lucius stood holding the rifles and looked at the hellish landscape before him with a calm expression. There was no change nor emotional fluctuation when he was killing the others. Some people watching this scene might say he was used to such scenes. But this was a gross underestimation. Lucius possessed the soul of a ''Killer'', something that he had cultivated to the 7th stage which was also the final stage. Killing was something natural for Lucius at this point. It was the same way one would feel about breathing. There is no why? or how?, it was just natural. All organisms are born, knowing how to breathe, how to move, etc. These natural actions need not be thought to a newborn, as it was just natural. Lucius felt similar for killing. He did not think why, how or if? He did not ask himself if what he was doing was right or whether he was evil. He did not kill because he felt like killing nor because he enjoy it. He simply killed. One does not question the act of breathing, it was similar for Lucius. He simply killed because he needed to kill. He did not question it. Of course this did not mean that he would partake in mindless slaughter. ''Something like that was just to bothersome'', this is how he would reply if one asked him. Although if needed he would not hesitate. Kin? Same species? Distantly related? Lucius did not care about such trivialities. He had already killed an innumerable amount of people. A number so large and inestimable, even if one considered the almost infinite cosmos. A number so humongous that many wondered how he had done it in a mere 300 years. He was cruel. He was heartless. His ability to feel happiness or sadness had mostly left him. Over the 300 years, his heart had mostly turned into an empty shell, one which pumps blood. Yet, he did not care about such minor issues. This was his strength and the price he had to pay. ''The Killer'' soul. ----------------------------- "Looks like that the last ones remaining in this area.", Lucius checked the GPS to confirm. Seeing that no more red dots were present, he then walked in a different direction. "I guess it''s time for me to meet the ''audience''." saying so he continued to walk towards the exit. Chapter 29: Growth! Upon exiting the setting, Lucius came to a long, winding tunnel. The normal white lights had gone off for a while, and the red emergency lights had taken their place. Sirens were also blaring in the background, alerting everyone of the situation. Ever since Lucius had decided to kill everyone to protect his secret, he hadn''t bothered to destroy the cameras. Of course, he did not use his soul power in an obvious manner either. While the people outside will be on guard against him, he believed none of them would actually run away. Chasing them down once they ran away, would be a real hassle. Lucius calmly walked down the corridor, occasionally check the corners and other minor rooms that were on his way to check for stranglers. Checking the map on his hand he made a small detour and was heading towards a lone room that was situated directly above the area of the pit. Instead of directly going to the viewing area, Lucius first wanted to make his way to the control room. The control room would have the records of everyone who was present here and their numbers. Since this would make his work easier, Lucius decided to hit this place before heading anywhere else. Walking for a while, he stood in front of a huge metal door. Lucius clicked his tongue and thought to himself." Seems like they enabled the blast doors. This is going to take a while to break through." Brute force wasn''t going to be an option, since it would take a long time to break the doors. Looking up to check it any cameras are present in the area=, Lucius casually shot them down before standing still. Delving into his mindspace, Lucius checked upon his soul. His soul which used to be a vague, hazy cloud like shape, had now solidified to a great extent. In the place of the hazy cloud, a vague human like silhouette had formed. It was a deep shade of red and black and clearly solid. Looking at this Lucius was shocked. ''This! This is already in the realm of Stage 1." ''Looks like killing and absorbing the souls of the other participants had the effect of strengthening my soul power.'' But what made him confused was, ''Isn''t it impossible to cultivate one''s soul before ''that event?'' The event that would change the fate of humanity in the cosmos, had not occurred yet. There was still around 5 months before, he or anybody for that matter could cultivate their soul power. Although Lucius was using his soul power all this while, it was in fact only a fraction of his true power. Comparing the amount of soul power he had in the ''No Realm'' to that of ''Stage 1'', is like comparing a small bucket and a huge tank of water. The quantity, quality and even the vessel would change at every ''Stage''. But, cultivating the stages was no easy task. Each person''s soul was unique and therefore different conditions have to be met for them to advance. It was by no means easy! Seeing that this was no time or place to be lost in his thought Lucius drew his consciousness out. He had been wondering how to break past these doors and now had the perfect solution. Drawing his soul power out, he compressed it into his hands. A small pebble sized ball of murky black energy was slowly forming. Lucius kept drawing and compressing his power to expand the ball. Eventually from it''s pebble like size, it expanded into a basket ball size. Unlike his normal reddish-black soul power, this one was completely black. It wasn''t the smooth kind either and was murky and pulsing, seemingly alive. He had used 1/4th of his entire energy on this. Though 1/4 did not seem like a lot, one must remember that his capacity had just greatly expanded. 1/4th of the current capacity was greater than the full strength of his previous ''No Realm'' state. This was the attribute of the ''Killer'' soul in Stage 1 - [Decay] Compressing it to the maximum extent possible, Lucius gently pressed the hand holding the ball of energy onto the blast doors. The ball left Lucius hand and gently moved to stick onto the blast doors. It pulsed and expanded slowly and started to spread across the entire length of the door. A door started to give off a dark mist. Sharp sizzling sounds were also heard en masse. SIzzle! The sound went on for 15 seconds and suddenly, the sound of metal grating could be heard. The sounds increased in volume, before eventually the door in front of him fell apart. The black energy had mostly been used up and the rest had dissipated. Without anything to cover the door, one could see that a whole 60% of the door was missing. It had simply evaporated! This wasn''t a normal door either. The metal used in it''s construction could withstand compressed plasma. One must remember plasma is a superheated matter. One so hot, that it could rip apart electrons from an atom. Since the door had fallen apart, no other obstacle was was present in his way. Lucius lifted his calm eyes and expressionless face and stared at the wide eyed, jaw dropped inhabitants of the room. Everyone inside the room, had their brains coming to an halt. Previously they had been very confident that no one could break through the doors and relaxed. That crazy slaughter machine would not be able to reach them and they would get to live. Others outside might not know how scary Lucius was, but these people in the control room, who had seen the later part of his killings completely understood. This guy was a monster who could kill without flinching. Seeing the same monster break through that, seemingly invincible door, they were so shocked and no longer had the mental capacity to feel scared. Looking at all of them, Lucius simply raised the rifle on his hands and shot down the remaining inhabitants. He then started walking towards the control console, but slowed down on the way there. There was something he wanted to test. Lucius bent down and used two fingers to pierce the head of a nearby body, he then mobilized his soul power and waited. Nothing happened. Lucius furrowed his brows. Before, when he was controlled by that hungry state, his body did the same set of actions and the soul of the body was absorbed. But recreating the same scene now, Lucius noticed that nothing happened. The blood and brain matter simply flowed out of the hole in the head. Seeing that nothing happened, Lucius simply got up, and shook his hands. ''It seems I am missing a certain condition for it to work. Could it be that I have to feel hungry?'', he then shook his head to get rid of this ridiculous thoughts. Focusing on the current situation was important. Carelessness leads to death. Lucius then walked towards the command console and brought up the various camera. He then checked the locations of the various people present in the facility and the logs of the people in attendance. Seeing one of the logs, a small smile formed on Lucius face. ''Who would''ve thought we would meet so soon.'', Noting down the names and locations in his head. Lucius left the control room and proceeded towards the viewing hall. It was about time to finish this. Chapter 30: Confused Heart. "Dammit! Why are the doors not opening!" "Stop pushing around." "Do you know who I am?! Help me get out of here!" "OVERSEER! What is the meaning of this?!" Multiple voice screamed in unison. Their words were different, but the meaning behind it was the same. The people behind the voices were terrified. These people whose eyes had gone red and were behaving without any of their usual grace were naturally the so called ''audience''. Most of them were people of high statuses and were quite remarkable in society, yet right now all of them were scared sh*tless. All of them were crowding towards the exits only to realize that the doors were closed tightly. The blast doors had been deployed and none of them cold get out. Naturally, the reason behind this chaos was that monster in the skin of a young man. Seeing him kill the participants in such a brutal manner, terrified these onlookers. They believed that they were safe and protected at first. But then when he left the setting area and proceeded to hunt down the rest of the facility''s staff, they realized the precarious situation they were in. But by the time they had come to this conclusion, it was already too late. The blast doors had shut, and the protective mechanisms had been enabled, the doors which were supposed to protect now trapped them. The fear they had towards him had now turned into hatred against the overseer of The Pit. This leader who was also stuck in here with these big shots started to receive a dense flood of questions and threats. Alas, he was as clueless as the rest. ''Aren''t you people who wanted me to run this. Why would I shoot myself in the foot by inviting such a monster?" the leader felt like crying. As this cycle of testing and threats continued to happen, a sudden stench was smelt. It was the smell of burning metal. Tracing it''s source they realized that it was coming from the blast doors in front of them. "Are we being rescued?!" one of them felt overjoyed. Seeing this, the leader/overseer felt an ominous feeling set in. he thought to himself, ''Did somebody deal with him? But who could do it. The majority of the troops were sent to deal with him in the setting. We must be low on man power, then who is this?'' Thinking up to here, the leader noticed the door turn black and then fall down with a loud sound. BANG! From the other side of the door, a foot casually stepped in. Everyone''s heart which was filled with elation suddenly dropped. A young man with ragged clothes stood before them. He had an expressionless face and indifferent eyes. His hands held two laser knives and a couple of grenades lined his waist. On his way here, Lucius had completely emptied the rifles and hence chucked them aside before coming here. Lines of cark crimson liquid decorated the edges of the knife. Looking at the crowd in front of him. he casually spoke, "Oh, looks like this is the last batch." Hearing his words the rest of them were confused, What did that mean? The leader picked up some courage and asked, his voice quivering, tinged with obvious fear. "Wha-what does th-that mea-mean?" "Oh, I killed everyone else in the facility. You guys are the last ones alive. Chasing down rats is really annoying." Lucius casually spoke. He could have chosen not to reply, but felt like humoring this plump man. He then looked around and his eyes settled on a group of four men. His eyes narrowed and he spoke to them. "We meet again." Audible gulps could be heard coming from the four of them. Lucius then continued, "Well, let me finish with these other guys, then we shall have a good chat." ------------------------ In the narrow, dark vents of the facility, a dark shadow was rapidly moving. The vents did not have enough space for a person to stand nor run, it was barely enough to move in a crouched position. The vents had long corridors and many turns. The dark shadow used the watch in it''s hand to light the way ahead. "How long is this vent?! I have been moving for 10 minutes!" the shadow complained. It''s voice was surprisingly that of a young woman''s. Grumbling about her current circumstances, she then continued talking. "How did that guy even, end up here?! This is not a simple place. No store has such long ventilation shafts." She then suddenly felt angry then shouted, "Lucius! You better have a good explanation for making me suffer this much! ignoring my calls and not showing up for classes in days!" The person speaking was Lucius'' foster sister and best friend, Olivia Mayer. She was a student in the academy and was part of the Interstellar Command Course. Like Lucius she was a once-in-a-decade genius in this field. Her revolutionary structure for re-organization of galactic class ships, for better efficiency in scouting and protecting, won her many laurels in the Alliance and eventually a scholarship in the academy. Though she did not have any friends other than Lucius due to her ordinary background, she wasn''t bullied or ostracized like him either. Her relationships with her teachers were quite good and none of the other student bothered much with her either. The one person she cared for the most, her foster brother had gotten into trouble the other day and was beaten up. After that day she had visited his residence multiple times and even called him a ton, unfortunately she couldn''t find him. Naturally. having heard no news about him she panicked and one thing after another, tracked him down to this creepy place. Although Lucius was the same age as her, in Olivia''s mind, this younger brother of hers who was shorter and weaker than her needed her protection. That''s why even though she was complaining here, she never meant any of it and was actually distracting her mind from worrying about him. Lucius who never really went outside the academy and ended up in such a place, had naturally given rise to fear in her heart. ''Did someone force him to do something? Did they kidnap him?'', such facts constantly floating in her mind, further increased her worries. ''Huh? I hear something?!'', suddenly she heard some vague sounds come from a certain distance. Paying close attention to the sound she started heading in that direction. Nearing closer to the sources of the voices, she could make out that these were human voices. It was coming from underneath her and was only a little distance away. ''Underground?!'', her mind concluded and her unease increased. Turning a corner, she stopped after walking a few steps ahead and pressed her ears on the bottom of the shaft. Straining her ears, she tried to make out the contents of the conversation. Maybe she could gather some clues on the whereabouts of her little brother. "Wait! Please spare me, I can give you whatever you want. Money? Influence? Power? Tell me and it shall be yours!!" a panicked voice shouted. ''What the hell is happening here?'', Olivia was confused. She could hear the panic and fear in that man''s voice. It was not faked. In response to that man''s pleas a calm, almost mechanical voice sounded out, "Your life." As soon as this voice spoke the sound of something sharp cutting across a heavy, fleshy object was hear. The man who died could not even muster a single noise and died just like that. Olivia quickly retreated back and held her hands over her small mouth. Her eyes were widened and fear filled them. She was simply shocked. ''Did someone just die? NO! I MUST INFORM SOMEONE.'', just as she was about to call the police a voice from below interrupted. "Wait! Wait! Lucius spare us! We were just paid to capture you!" a voice hurriedly stated. ''LUCIUS?!!'' Olivia''s mind suddenly blanked. She paused her actions and paid close attention tot the dialogue happening below. Her concern for her little brother had over-ridden her fear. Straining her ears to the greatest extent, she heard a mechanical voice reply, "Oh looks like you have something to tell me. But first where is the crystal?" Hearing that voice, Olivia suddenly stared blankly, her actions froze and her mind was in chaos. ''That was Lucius voice!'' She was absolutely sure about this fact. Lucius was someone that was dear to her heart. Both of them had grown up together and stayed in each other''s presence for more than 10 years! She would never mistaken that voice of his, no matter how much it had changed. ''Why was Lucius here? Why is that man begging Lucius? Did Lucius kil...." Olivia mind was in disarray. She could imply not believe that her weak brother could commit an act like murder in cold blood. He simply wasn''t such a person! He was sunny, bright, never complained and was very compassionate. He was very smart and always understood other people, he had great empathy! Giving no regard for Olivia, the voices underneath them continued, "Crystal?" "W-we sold the crystals to a exchange shop. Yo-you can enquire there. Please spare me and my brothers. If we had known earlier we would have never bothered you.", this voice pleaded. The apathetic voice responded, "Weakness is a sin. Knowing that you can die.". four more slashes were heard and quietness returned to the underground facility. "Why does reality have to be so complicated? I have to search for the crystal now.", saying so the voice underneath sighed to itself. Olivia having confirmed that this voice did indeed belong to Lucius, panicked and tried to stand up in shock. She immediately hit her head on the top of the shaft and a dull sound was heard. Klunck! The sound reverberated in the quiet underground facility. Olivia crouched down and held her head. The pain she felt on her head was nothing compared to the pain she felt in her heart. ''There is no way, that is not Lucius!'', she was trying to subconsciously trying to reject this fact, yet her rational mind told her otherwise. Her mind was in great agony. She immediately wanted to go back to her room and sleep. "This is just a dream. This is just a dream. This is..." she tried to convince herself over and over again, yet that dull pain on her head said otherwise. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. ''No! My Lucius could never kill someone. He is a kind boy!'' just as Olivia was telling herself this a powerful yet emotionless voice interrupted her thoughts. "Who''s there?!!" Chapter 31: The Truth Behind the Incident. "Who''s there?!" Lucius bellowed. He was sure hat he had already killed everyone in the facility. Before coming to this room, he had scoured the entire facility to kill of the remaining people. Now just as he was about to investigate the bodies of the 4 men who had kidnapped him, he heard a dull sound from afar. Lucius immediately went on the defensive and started looking around carefully. His soul power was almost empty due to suing it to open multiple doors on his way here. Currently he was in his weakest state. ''Did they hide somebody?'' Lucius thought to himself. Then he shook his head and erased that thought, ''No, that can''t be right. They would not have been watching me kill all the remaining people here.'' He kept moving his location and carefully searched the vast hall. He found nothing. ''Was that my imagination?'', Lucius wondered. Lucius really regretted not having Ka''lor''ah right now. Using her divine sense, he could have easily found the source of the noise. Waiting for another 10 minutes and seeing that there was no movement, Lucius finally relaxed. ''I guess that was just my imagination.'', He let out a small sigh and moved towards the body he was previously searching. Searching the body he did not find Ka''lor''ah , but found a paper receipt of selling a precious crystal. Paper had long since become a thing of the past. Due to convenience of modern technology, people no longer used paper and the likes. But some people who don''t want to leave any digital footprints prefer to use paper. It was easy to destroy and hard to track. Looking at the paper in his hand, Lucius thought to himself, ''Looks like, he was telling the truth after all.'' This statement was unnecessary since Lucius was using his soul power to gather information. His ''Charm'' ability had also undergone an upgrade after his soul advanced to Stage-1. Checking the other bodies, he noticed one of them wearing his watch. The watch that Reyna had given him, just before he was kidnapped. He removed the watch from the man and wore it on his hands. Checking the other bodies and finding nothing worthwhile, Lucius decided to leave this place. He had to immediately go to that exchange place in order to recover K''lor''ah. Any delay might lead to someone else buying the crystal. ''And that would be even more bothersome.'' concluding such he walked towards the door and suddenly stopped. Lucius then looked down on himself and saw his body caked in dirt and bloodstains. His clothes were torn in many places. They could barely be called ''clothes'' anymore. ''I need to take a bath. I recall seeing a bathroom on the way to this room.'' Thinking such Lucius first went back and stripped another body of similar body structure as him. Lucius always killed in the most minimal, cost-effective way possible. This saved him the effort of finding another set of non-stained clothes. Carrying the clothes in his hands, he walked towards the region he had seen the showers in. ------------------------------- Hearing the footsteps finally recede, Olivia let out a sigh of relief. She had been holding her breath and not moving her body, ever since she had heard his voice. After he finally left, Olivia''s body finally relaxed. Her mind was still in chaos and her heart was confused, but she had mostly recovered her rational thinking at this point. Olivia closed her eyes and took a deep breath, Slowing exhaling she opened her eyes, ''That was Lucius. There is no mistake in that.'' she thought conclusively. Denying or refusing to accept this fact will not allow her to comprehend the entire situation The sooner she faces reality, the sooner she can overcome this fact. ''The question is why? Did someone force? It must be! Lucius would never commit such a deed if he wasn''t forced'', she continued her analysis. Olivia''s thoughts here wasn''t completely wrong. While it was true that Lucius was forced to kill, the fact that he decided to kill everyone in the facility, just to be safe, could have been avoided. After all not everyone was involved in his kidnapping. Alas, Olivia did not know this, she believed he must have killed only 3-4 people in total. ''I need to go back to the academy. Nobody must find the truth here. I need to make excuses to cover up his disappearance from the academy.'' Olivia confirmed her thoughts. She then turned around and started heading back. A determined expression flashed through her eyes. ''No matter what happens, I will protect you Lucius!'' ---------------------------------- In a certain medical facility, a young man who had been sleeping peacefully all this while, suddenly started shivering. His peaceful expression twisted into that of absolute fear. His hands and legs started wildly trashing about and low groans started escaping his throat. Another boy who was standing next to this young man''s bed, immediately noticed this reaction and called for help. "Boss! Boss! What''s happening to you?! Medics! HELP HERE!" The face that was twisted in fear with eyelids trembling, slowly opened his eyes and mouth. Struggling to speak, his hoarse voice sounded out, "DEVIL! HE IS A DEVIL !" Finally with great effort and with the help of the medical bot, they finally managed to calm him down. Luther who lay there in the bed, struggled to breathe calmly. He took short breaths and then slowly spoke out. His voice was still shaky and tinged in obvious trauma, "Call Keith over here." He instructed the boy near him. "Will do, Boss!", saying so he immediately rushed to inform Keith. ---------------------------------------- After a few minutes Keith walked over. He was alone and did not bring anyone with him. Ever since he knew Lucius'' fate was sealed in ''The Pit'', his tension had mostly eased and his demeanor had mostly returned to his usual calm. He slowly sat down next to Luther and asked him in a gentle voice, "How do you feel?" "Yo-you mu-must deal with hi-him." "Who?", Keith asked. "LUCIUS!!", Luther bellowed out. His face was twisted when he spoke that name. "Calm down and explain what happened properly." Keith instructed. He simply could not understand what Luther was speaking. Luther proceeded to take a few minutes to stabilize his breath. He then look at Keith, who was the only one in the room and started to explain the events that occurred on that day. Keith''s expression which was calm slowly started falling apart. Listening to Luther explain the events in great detail, Keith understood just how much Luther had suffered that day. Waiting for Luther to complete, Keith then spoke out, "He won''t be a problem anymore. I have dealt with him." Hearing Keith''s answer, Luther''s expression turned into one of shock. He then screamed loudly in exclamation. Hearing that Lucius had been dealt with. seemed to have a positive effect on Luther''s mind. He continued to scream and laugh for a while. Slowly he started to regain his young master demeanor. He took a few more deep breaths and then spoke to Keith. "There is something more." Keith was confused and asked again, "Something more?" Luther nodded his head and spoke, "Before he was about to kill me, someone else was shouting his name. another person was approaching in the distance. That''s why he did not proceed to kill me." "So you are saying, someone else might know of this incident." Keith asked cautiously. "Yes, and if this person speaks of that event, Lucius'' disappearance could to connect to you and I.", Luther spoke. "We need to kind this person immediately! If his disappearance is traced back to us, we are finished!" Keith exclaimed loudly. Luther did not quite understand Keith exaggerated reaction and asked," Finished? It can''t be that serious right. After all he isn''t from one of the great families." Keith was wildly huffing and puffing right now, just when he thought all problems pertaining to Lucius was finally solved. another major one popped up. In a sense Keith was quite pitiful. A seemingly normal person had suddenly turned into such a giant dragon, who was breathing down on his neck, even in death! "That guy has the backing of Reyna Snowden!", Keith hurriedly screamed. Both Luther and Keith''s face had turned pale at this point. One thought resonated in both of their minds, ''If he don''t handle this well, we really are finished. Even our families cannot help us.'' Chapter 32: Face of an Angel. Heart of a Devil. "Say Ina, can we exchange tables?", a female voice questioned "Nope!~ Absolutely not." a voice happily chimed. "Come on, aren''t you going to help your fellow sisters find happiness in their lives" another person spoke. "What can you say, it''s my lucky day!" Ina replied while humming a tune. In the corner of a certain caf¨¦, 3 young woman wearing waitress uniforms were bickering. One had happiness radiating of her face while the other two were looking at her with an envious expression. The target of their conversation was a young man sitting by the windows of their caf¨¦. He was wearing a dark blue t-shirt with black pants. He had black hair and similarly dark eyes. To describe in few words he was, elegant, refined and very handsome. This young man had entered their caf¨¦ 20 minutes ago and the three girls were blown away by his conduct. He seemed to be from a influential family, yet possessed none of their arrogance. He had been very polite to the waitresses and had a light smile on his face, that gave off a comforting feeling. Upon entering he had politely requested to be seated by the window, leading to the current situation among the waitresses. "What were you guys even talking on about?", one of the waitresses asked curiously. Ina who heard the question, turned around and spoke, "He was asking me about the city and good places close-by to buy gifts from." "What did you reply?" "I explained him some tourist spots and the shop opposite to our caf¨¦." Ina replied. "You think he is a tourist?" one of them asked. Another waitress replied, "He should be, right. Ah! I wonder who that gift is for." "Maybe his girlfriend?", the other waitress chimed in. Hearing this Ina''s face fell a bit and immediately replied, "Maybe it''s for someone else. It doesn''t necessarily be for his girlfriend right?" One of the waitress having a dreamy expression spoke quietly, "I wish I had a boyfriend like that." "Me too!", "Me three!" the reaming two spoke. Ina hurriedly snapped out of her daze and lightly tapped her cheeks. "I must go ask if he wants something." saying so she made her way towards the young man''s table. The other two watched her with light envy and spoke, "We must have her treat us to some food later.", "Agreed!" ----------------------------- Lucius who was currently sitting at the table all alone, was in deep thought. ''According to the waitress working here that exchange shop has a pretty good fa?ade.'' ''I can''t simply barge in and use charm on the person. One the security footage would be an issue. Two the memories of events would remain, I cannot dispose of the body in such a populas location.'' The handsome young man that the girls had been discussing was naturally Lucius. After cleansing himself and changing into new set of clothes, he immediately made his was towards the location of the exchange shop. The recovery of the crystal was very important not only because it Ka''lor''ah''s Existence Crystal, but because it had a far more important use. It''s could hide the ''Causality'' of a person(the carrier) from ''Them''. Strictly speaking Lucius'' was not supposed to be here. Lucius'' soul contained the memories and experiences of his life 300 years into the future. This meant that he knew the major events that would be taking place for the next 300 years. While knowing wasn''t exactly scary, the power to change the events was. The cosmos follow a set ''direction'' placed upon it by ''Them'', and any changes made to it was not acceptable. To understand the situation better, consider a video game. Lucius'' situation was similar to a person who has completed all the levels, knowing all secret location, boss strategies, etc and then proceeding to leak all this information before the game launch. Naturally from the developer''s perspective, such an action simply cannot be tolerated. This is why Lucius always needs to have the crystal on his body. While minor events such as him killing a few hundred insignificant people would not cause any change to the ''causality'', making any changes to the important events will. Without the crystal he would be promptly detected and utterly crushed without any chance to defend himself. This was a risk he simply could not take! ''I need to keep any interactions with Reyna minimum, before I get back the crystal.'' He suddenly heard the sound of footsteps coming in his direction. Snapping out of his thoughts, he looked up and saw a young waitress heading towards him. Seeing her come, Lucius put on a light smile. ''Great I hate this.'' he mentally sighed. To have Lucius smile willingly was almost impossible. Ka''lor''ah who had remained with him longest in his previous life, knew this fact in great detail. in fact she had taken this as a personal challenge to overcome. This smile of his right now was an act. Although he could remain in his usual expressionless demeanour, collecting information like that was impossible. People just felt too scared to approach him. As he was lost in his thoughts again, he heard a pretty voice sound, "Is there anything else you require?" Looking at this waitress, Lucius thought to himself, ''I need a cover for myself to enter that place. This girl should work fine.'' He then spoke in a gentle and apologetic tone, " Haha, there is in fact something I require your help in." He then put on a pleading expression and said, "I am trying to pick a present for my sister''s birthday and I am not quite sure what girls her age like. Could you please help me pick something?", he put his hands together and bowed. "Huh? AH!", Ina was shocked. In her shock he accidently raised her voice and screamed in a loud tone. Hearing her the rest of the customers and waiters turned to look at her with a queer expression. Lucius ''panicked'' and hurriedly saidm "Ah! It''s fine if you don''t want to. Please forgive me for saying something weird. It''s just that I was studying abroad for the last 5 years and am quite out of touch with my siblings." He then repeatedly bowed and apologized to her. "Ah! I''m so sorry? It wasn''t like that! I was shocked by your suggestion and accidently raised my voice." Ina''s face had completely turned red in embarrassment. Like she said, she was simply too shocked by his suggestion, leading to their embarrassing situation. ''So it''s for his sister. Not his girlfriend.'' for some reason this was the first thought in Ina''s mind. Realizing this, her face reddened even further and she apologized while bowing again. The rest of the people looking at this scene of two people apologizing and bowing to each other, were quite confused to say the least. Ina ignored the looks she was getting and thought, ''This is my chance! I can use this to opportunity to leave a good impression on him!'' Like most people her age, Ina wanted to experience the feeling of love. Coming from a small family, Ina had two little sisters and a younger brother. Her father had died when she was quite young and her mother had to support the family be herself. They weren''t rich by any measure and lived a humble life. Ina grew up with the heavy responsibility of being the eldest and had matured earlier than other kids her age. She had to work very hard to help her mother as much as possible and to take care for her younger siblings. Her daily life centered around her studies and her jobs. Ina gathered her courage and spoke, "I''ll be glad to help you!" Lucius heard this and put on a relieved expression, he then bowed again and said, "Then I''ll be in your care." Looking at this polite young man, she felt a little glad in her heart and returned the same expression, "Likewise." She then paused for a second and spoke with a slightly guilty tone "Ah! Could you wait for an hour. I''m currently on my shift and will be leaving in an hour." Lucius looked at her and gave a small smile, "Gladly. I will be sitting right here. Could you please get me another cup of coffee?" "Sure!" she immediately exclaimed and walked off with visible joy. Looking at her receding back Lucius thought to himself, ''Now that I have a cover. I won''t get exposed easily" His face was the picture of grace and gentleness, while his heart was cold as ice calculative like a devil. Chapter 33: What He Is! After a while two people exited the cafe together. A young man with black hair and black eyes walked ahead and following him was a pretty young woman with shoulder length black hair and brown eyes. While she wasn''t an outstanding beauty like, Olivia or Reyna, she still possessed her own charms. She had a friendly welcoming aura surrounding her and was easy to get along with. "Well then, Miss Waitress, I believe I haven''t introduced myself yet. My name is Lucius.", Lucius spoke up. "My name in Ina.", the young woman replied. Currently Ina was feeling on-top-of-the-world. Speaking with this customer, wait Lucius, she felt her heart being filled with joy and beating very hard. ''Why is my heart being like this?'', she screamed in her mind. "I will be relying on your expertise then, Miss Ina.", Lucius spoke while simultaneously making a bow. "Ah! Sure, alright!" Ina replied while being flustered. The atmosphere between them was awkward, yet not to bad. They started with making small talk and eventually settled into a comfortable pace. Walking for a few minutes they finally neared the store that Lucius knew as the ''exchange shop''. It was a large storefront with an old fashioned sign board. These days most stores used either holograhic displays or digital displays. Having an old fashioned paper sign board was very rare. The board read, "Tim''s Antique Spot." "Speaking of which Miss Ina. Why would you recommend this store?", Lucius asked in a curious tone. Generally speaking, when a stranger asks a local about gift shops nearby, they would usually point towards of the larger more famous establishments. Pointing to one''s local speciality was a rarity. ''Either this was the only shop in the locality or it''s famous for some reason.'', Lucius concluded in his mind. "Oh that''s because I have been here multiple times and they have a good collection of items. Even though the name reads ''antique'' their collection of items are quite vast. Plus most of them are quite unique." Ina happily replied. "Is that so. Then I will have to thank you in advance. If I had accidently bought some common item to present to my sister, I would have surely gotten a beating." Lucius said while laughing. "Haha. How old is your younger sister, Mr. Lucius.", asked Ina. "Ah she should be about 14 years old I believe. I haven''t seen my family in a while, so I am not exactly sure." Lucius replied while his face turned a little melancholic. But then he raised his head and smiled, "But I am glad, I''ll be meeting them today. Oh and just Lucius is fine. Adding the Mr. sounds quite distant don''t you think." "Then I would request for you to also call me just Ina." Ina spoke. After hearing him she also felt a little sad in her heart and wanted to comfort him. She thought to herself, ''He really cares about his family. Such people are rare these days.'' "Of course, Ina." Lucius replied. They had already made it to the doors of the establishment, Lucius put his hands on the door and pushed it in. The sound of the door lightly scraping the floor and the sound of bell chimes was heard. The door was an old fashioned wood kind, surprisingly heavy. ''The wood must just be the outer covering. A good amount of reinforced metal is filled inside. Stronger than those blast doors in the facility.'' Lucius thought to himself. His mind was fully awake and alert.He carefully paid attention to the spacing between him and Ina The distance and angles of the cameras. And also peaked into the shop to evaluate it''s workers. "After you, Ina." Luciu held the door open and spoke in a gentlemanly voice. In his mind though he was thinking, ''Worst comes, I can use her as a shield for my escape.'' Truthfully speaking, all the actions and conversations before was merely an act by Lucius. A planned act. All the nonsense about his family and younger sister was a lie from the beginning. Lucius was an orphan. The kind that had been abandoned at birth. If this was Lucius of before, the word ''family'' might have still held some meaning to him. Yet 300 years of cruel reality hnd taught Lucius one fact that he would never forget. ''Power that comes from oneself is the only thing that can be relied upon. Family? Friends? Relationships? None of them are worthy of trust.'' This was Lucius'' worldview. It is true, that his worldview is twisted and an extreme and many people will not agree with it. Yet, that was just the kind of person Lucius is. An uncaring, apathetic, indifferent person. Perhaps that is why, he was able to reach the 7th Stage of ''Killer''. Even the existence of Ka''lor''ah meant nothing to him. In his eyes she was a excellent strategist, whose worth as a crystal meant more to him, than as a person. A means to an end. An item that he can use to accomplish his goals. Even now, he was using Ina to achieve his goal. While doing so was inherently wrong and against the moral code and ethics, it was just the type of person Lucius was. Someone who is alone and broken. Perhaps he too wanted to feel comfort, care, the love of others. Alas, the universe constantly willed against it. Losing something this precious again and again, had made him grow into this. A being of indifference. As for why someone like this, would come back in time to change the events of the future. That is something for later. ------------------------------ Seeing Ina enter, Lucius followed after her. Upon entrance he saw rows after rows of wooden shelving. The shelves were built out of dark brown colored wood. A faint aroma of antiquity spread throughout the entire space. On the shelves were various items ranging from books to accessories. There were items both big and small. Tall and wide. Ranging from the smallest hand carved glass sculpture to a large grandfather clock. Lucius quickly scanned through the entire room and noted any possible ambush locations and hidden spots. While he was being very paranoid and alert, it doesn''t hurt to be careful. After all he was, technically in enemy territory. Lucius was strong. Very strong from human standards. Ig he used his soul power while fighting, even a group of 50 armed people cannot defeat him. Still in the end, he was made out of flesh. Against human weaponry like Pulse cannons and Arc cannons, he would stand no chance. Not unless he cultivates to a higher ''Stage''. Just as he concluded that he was currently safe, an female attendant walked toward them. Approaching them with a smile she spoke politely, "Welcome to our store! Is there anything you are looking for in particular?" ''Human. Unarmed.'', Lucius thought to himself and looked towards Ina. He then put on an expression as if saying, ''please help me out here.'' Ina got his sign and spoke, "Ah, we were just about to browse through the items." "Got it! Please follow me." saying so the attendant began leading them towards the shelves. Ina and Lucius spent the next 20 minutes picking out a suitable gift for Lucius'' little sister. The attendant explained the origin and history of the various items and helped them in their choice. For Ina these 20 minutes, was the best 20 minutes in her life. Seeing Lucius'' helpless expression as he was making a choice, made her feel happy in her heart. ''Why do I enjoy this so much?'' she wondered to herself. Ina was no amaeteur, she was quite experienced with people and found it easy to read their expressions and thought. This was a kind of natural talent that she had. Before coming here, her fellow workers had warned her against trusting a stranger too much. Since they had meant it out of the goodness of their heart, Ina had taken their advice. But the more time she spent with Lucius, the more she realized that he wasn''t pretending or lying. Of course this goes to show how effective Lucius'' acting was. Being experienced in the way of life for 300 years, it wasn''t so difficult for him to deceive a young woman of only 17 years of age. While they were going around, Lucius made investigations of his own. Using a bit of his soul power, he had covertly been digging for information from the attendant. This was another usage for charm, which was concealed and not blatant as taking over full control of the target''s mind. The attendant had unconsciously let slip of the information that a dark gold crystal did come to the store yesterday, but was moved to another location. As for the location, Lucius used other means and finally got the information he required. ''That proceeded quite well.'' he was quite satisfied with the outcome. During these 20 minutes Lucius had also noticed a load of hidden cameras and traps, as well as 2 concealed guards. ''Not using force was the right choice after all.'' They then finally settled on a small locket that could be worn around one''s neck. It was exquisite and well crafted. Lucius then proceeded to pay for it and left the shop along with Ina. As for the money, it was naturally provided by the ''fans'' of his who were lying cold beneath the ground, in the underground facility. Outside, the sun had already begun to set. The last bits of sunlight, scattered through the atmosphere and landed in the ground. Lights from the various establishments had already started lighting up and brightening the city. Ina was currently feeling very bitter in her heart. The time she spent with Lucius was very short. Knowing that it was already time to part ways, she felt like crying. She quickly walked ahead of Lucius, lest he sees her crying. ''Is it over already? But I only spent an hour in his company!'', she repeatedly thought in her mind. An awkward silence had settled among them. ''No way, why do I feel like this? Do I already like him or something?'' What do I do know? I don''t want this to end!'', Ina hurriedly thought to herself. She really enjoyed the being in the company of Lucius and did not want this experience to end here. She wanted to continue feeling this amazing feeling she had in her heart. The very thought of separating here made a stabbing pain ripple across her heart. Just as she was lot in her thoughts, a voice sounded out from beside her, "Ina." It was a solemn voice. Looking back she saw Lucius staring at her with a firm conviction in his eyes. He took a deep breath and spoke, "I just want to say, Thank you. You have really helped me a lot today." Hearing his words which started to feel like a farewell, tears slowly started to spill from her eyes. ''Why am I acting like this over someone I just met today?'' Ina herself did not understand this. Lucius saw that she was crying and panicked, he then stammered ,"Ah why are you crying suddenly?" He then reached forward his had to wipe her eyes. Currently they were standing near an alleyway, someway away form the main road. Whether by coincidence or pure chance they were away from all the people and cameras. The spot they were standing in could be considered to be the perfect blind spot. Lucius neared her and wiped the tears of her eyes. Right now, they were standing quite close to each other. They could feel the breaths of each other on their respective faces. They stared at each other in their eyes, their thoughts unknown. Lucius then suddenly moved his face closer to hers. ''No way! Is-is h-he going to kiss me?!!'', Ina''s mind was thrown into state of confusion. Till date she had not been kissed by anyone else other than her mother and three siblings. While her mind was chaotic, her heart was feeling happy for some reason. ''Does he feel the same way about me?'', this thought echoed endlessly in her mind. She closed her eyes tight and waited for the eventual to happen. Alas, what she did not see was the faint red glowing in the depths of Lucius'' eyes and the seemingly sharp air condensing near his palms. Chapter 34: Her Resolve! Ina''s heart was beating as loud as drums. Feeling Lucius'' breath approaching her face, her eyelids quivered and her mouth moved. Just as she felt the movement of something approach her very closely a sudden sound was heard. "Haha! Looks like someone beat us to this place first." A male voice was heard. "Shut up! Do you want to interrupt their moment?!", a female voice harshly admonished. Ina''s heart panicked and she quickly opened her eyes. Similarly Lucius pulled away, while pulling his hands back. Her face was completely red with equal parts of shame and embarrassment. "See! Look at what you have done! I am really sorry." the female voice was heard again. Ina turned to look at her and saw a young woman bowing towards her. "I-it''s fine.", Ina stammered. She then partly hid her face with her hands and turned to look towards Lucius. Lucius also turned towards her at the same time. Both of their eyes met at the moment, embarrassment was seen in both their eyes. Ina broke away first and covered her face fully. It felt hot in her hands. "AHHHH!!! THAT WAS SOO EMBARRASSING!" she screamed within her heart. The speed at which her heart was beating hadn''t slowed down in the least. Calming down for a second she thought, ''How am I going to face him after this? I want to dig a hole and hide into it!'' As her thoughts began leading in this direction, Ina lost her calm and started running away from this place. Her small hands were still covering her red face. "WAIT!", she heard Lucius'' voice. Still, Ina wasn''t sure how to face him and continued to run. Her speed increasing until she left the vision of both Lucius and the other couple. ''I want to hide under a blanket!'', Ina thought to herself as she ran towards her home. --------------------------- Watching the young woman run away in another direction, Lucius mentally clicked his tongue. ''That was a perfect opportunity to tie up loose ends.'' He then retracted his soul power and waved his hands to disperse the remnant energy. He then turned to look at the couple who were sincerely apologising to him with their heads bowed. ''It''s because of the both of them.'' Lucius thought to himself. Still he did not move to attack or kill them. Lucius felt t simply was not worth the effort to kill them and hide the bodies. Plus the fact that Ina had seen the both of them, she was a potential witness if their deaths were announced. Lucius resumed his act and hurriedly asked them to stop apologising. He acted very flustered and eventually made an excuse to the both of them and took off. He ran some distance till he was out of their sight and entered another alleyway. The embarrassed and flustered expression which was on his face, had completely disappeared. What replaced it was an expressionless mask. Well, this was his base state and the other expressions were the masks. He stood still in silence for a few seconds before giving out a sigh. ''It''s not worth it for me to track her down and find her. It''s best I leave it here.'' Lucius was considering whether to track Ina down and kill her. He was contemplating the various merits and demerits to the action. He finally concluded that it simply wasn''t worth the effort. Although he felt a little uncomfortable leaving a loose end, tracking down and recovering the crystal was top priority. He could not tarry nor delay any longer. Recalling the location, given by the attendant back at the store, Lucius activated his soul power and concentrated it at his legs. Bending his knees, he jumped up nearly 4 metres into the air. Catching onto the a handhold he quickly scaled the wall and started moving in a certain direction. In the dark of the night, he perfectly blended into the shadows. ------------------------- In a certain room within the academy, a person sat within the shadows of her room. She had a blank look on her face and her eyes seemed hollow. Ever since Olivia returned from her pursuit of Lucius. She sat down in this corner of her room and thought about the issue. The rational part of her mind told her :"You have to report him to the police. If he''s innocent he will be in no trouble." While the emotional part told her :"Have you no trust in you own brother! He was forced to commit the deed, you don''t have to involve the police in this. Plus that place was very shady, it obvious they aren''t good people." Rational side; "Even so, it isn''t up to us to decide. The Citizenship Code mandates any and all information pertaining to any crime must be reported to the law authorities." Emotional side :"But..." "STOP!!" Olivia could not take it anymore and finally burst out. Olivia originally was a very righteous person. She strove to be a diligent citizen and wanted to serve the other citizens of the alliance. That is why she chose to serve in Interstellar Command in the first place. Her morals and ethics enabled her to be a excellent commander. One that made excellent decisions considering the alliance as a whole. Even is she was to sacrifice the people under her or even herself, she would not hesitate if it meant that the situation of the alliance would improve. Yet when it came to the matters of Lucius, she could not remain calm or rational. She was always biased towards him. While this was illogical from the perspective of a spectator, Olivia simply would not change. ''I am the only family that Lucius has.'' this was her conviction. There had been no problems or trouble so far, as Lucius was a very kind and closed person. She believed with all her heart that he would never cause any kind of trouble. Yet, when she witnessed him kill another person yesterday, this belief of hers shattered! The act of taking another person''s life. Although the idea of it sounds simple and many people would say they could do it, none can really do so wholeheartedly. Killing another person signifies serious repercussions. One would be burned with worries, guilt and many other psychological factors. It was also morally wrong to kill another person. This was Olivia''s ideology. It was very naive and someone like Lucius would laugh at the face of it, yet this was an idea that she stood by. And today this ideology of her was being questioned. After and unknown amount of time she finally took deep breaths, Olivia''s chaotic mind calmed down. The struggles and agony that she was feeling in her heart and mind also disappeared. Her eyes slowly opened and a determined light shone through them. She slowly stood up and raised her head. "Lucius can never do wrong. Therefore, the others in question must be wrong." she slowly spoke out aloud. She then proceeded to walk towards the main door and slowly opened it. Fresh air and sunlight filtered into her room. A full day and night had passed in Olivia''s thoughts. ''I will protect him. No matter the sins I have to bear.'' she resolved Chapter 35: First Meeting ''I need to make an excuse for his disappearance.'' After confirming her thoughts Olivia immediately moved to resolve this issue. While she did not exactly know, the circumstances behind that event, she still decided to help him from inside the academy. ''I can just ask him when he gets back. Then I''ll get a clear picture.'' Right now, Olivia was walking through one of the paths leading to the staff building. The material that she was walking on resembled stone, but was clearly something different. Trees and bushes lined the sides and right sunlight filtered through the leaves. They were well maintained by the careful presence of multiple gardening robots. In fact, since it was quite early in the morning she managed to spot some of the robots. The amount of students walking in the path or heading in the same direction were quite low. Classes usually start at around 9 AM and that''s when the maximum amount of students are seen. Walking through the path for a while, Olivia eventually stood before a building. It wasn''t much different in it''s exterior compared to the other buildings in the academy. It possessed the standard glass panels on it''s exterior and was multi-storeyed. Olivia paused before the building for a second and took a deep breath. She then proceeded to adjust her hair, as it was quite messy. Her eyes still carried a faint trace of exhaustion, a remnant of her lack of sleep. She then stepped into the building. Paying no attention to the lobby or furnitures, Olivia started moving in the direction of the ''Interstellar Mechanics'' department, Lucius speciality. Walking down the multiple corridors, it could be seen that Olivia was very familiar with the layout of the building. She often used to come to this building to run errands for her teachers. After a number of twists and turns, and climbing a few staircases, she came in front of the required room. Olivia gently pushed open the door and entered the room. Looking around the room was still quite empty, spare for a scant amount of teachers arriving early or staying overnight. Like the students, the teachers were also provided boarding facilities. Since most teachers here were actually renowned scientists and thinkers of the human Alliance, they were also provided various facilities, such a private labs, research grants, etc. Looking around Olivia finally noticed the room belonging to Lucius'' teacher. He was also the department head of this course and a renowned scientist in the Alliance. Many developments pertaining to wary travel and teleportation gates were put forward by this man. Teleportation gates existed, but could only transport items. Humans or other living being could not yet enter these gates. Upon entering, they just go ''missing'' and are never found again. Lucius'' research aimed precisely at this question. She walked towards the door and gently knocked on it. "Come in." a voice was heard from the inside. "Please excuse me! " said Olivia and entered the room. Seeing the sight inside the room confused Olivia for a second. The teacher whom she had come to meet was sitting in the had chair. This was common and was not worth any thought. But directly opposite to him, in the guest chair, sat a young lady. Looking at the young woman''s profile, Olivia''s mind paused for a second. The lady in front of her was simply, too beautiful. Olivia herself was not inferior in looks compared to this lady. Any random passerby if asked this question would reply in the same. Yet, this young lady before her possessed a kind of noble charm. It was a kind of royal aura that just came naturally from their actions and demeanor. She had hair that was as golden as the sun, smooth and fair skin that possessed the right amount of color and green emerald eyes. The clear glasses she wore did not diminish any of her appeal, but further accentuated her ''scholarly'' aura. Olivia quickly calmed down her thoughts and gazed back at the professor with a confused expression. Yet, the man in question had a reverent gaze in his eyes as he looked at the young lady before him. There was no malicious or stunned looks in his eyes. It possessed care and reverence. "Then, I''ll leave it with you Uncle." a crisp, clear female voice was heard. Olivia turned in that direction and realized that it came from the young lady. "No problem, Young Miss. I''ll note it down. Lucius, is it?" the professor nodded his head and asked in confirmation. "Yes, just Lucius. I don''t think he posses a last name." the young woman spoke. "Well, since I am done here I''ll leave. It seems you have another student waiting for you." saying so she got up from her seat and started to move towards the door. "WAIT!", Olivia suddenly intervened. While her voice wasn''t too loud, the room was very quiet at that instant hence her voice came off a little to loud. Both of the other occupants in the room paused and looked at Olivia in confusion. Olivia could not care about the looks that they were giving her and hurriedly asked, "What happened to Lucius?" Hearing the question, the young lady''s eyes brightened and spoke, "Oh, it''s just that I had come here to inform the professor that Lucius would not be coming to the academy for a few days." The professor also nodded his head in response. "Ah, how do you know this?", Olivia continued asking. "Lucius sent me a message this morning, asking me to inform the professor. That''s why I came here first thing in the morning. Is there something wrong?", the young woman asked, slightly tilting her head. If not for Olivia''s panicked state of mind right now, she would have looked at this action and thought ''cute''. "How are the both of you acquainted?" Olivia asked another question "Could you please tell me, why you are asking me this question? I believe I don''t have to tell everyone who my friends are." the lady asked in response, her tone showed that she was a little displeased. Olivia stopped for a second and realized that her actions right now were considered rude. The lady in front of her clearly meant no harm, yet Olivia was repeatedly asking her questions and investigating her. Olivia felt a little embarrassed and lowered her head. Sensing the slightly hostile atmosphere, the professor who was silent all along, gave out a little cough and explained. "Cough! Miss Snowden, that lady there is Miss Mayer. She is a close friend of Lucius, i believe." Hearing that the displeased look on Reyna''s face immediately disappeared and she spoke up, "Ah! Is that so. You should have told me that first." Olivia mentally thanked the professor for and properly apologized to the both of them. "I''m sorry for coming off a bit rude. It''s just that Lucius has been missing for almost a week and it worried me." "No offence taken, Miss Mayer. I can''t have two of the brightest minds in the alliance to squabble in front of me." the professor accepted her apology and spoke in a gentle voice. Olivia then turned towards Reyna and bowed again, "I''m sorry for asking you this again, Miss Snowden. But could you tell me how you are acquainted with Lucius? He usually never speaks with anyone else on his own accord." Seeing the overly polite actions of the lady in front of her, Reyna was immediately flustered and spoke hurriedly, "Ah please don''t apologize. Also do call me Reyna." She then paused for a second to calm down and continued, "We are co-partners on a research that we are currently working on." Her tone was a little smug. It felt almost like ''I snagged this treasure that everybody seemed to ignore.'' Hearing her tone Olivia was even more confused and spoke up, "Miss Reyna, I''m quite confused. Could you please tell me in detail. What research?" Hearing her favourite topic come up, Reyna''s countenance changed. She rushed towards Olivia and grabbed her by her arms. Locking the two of their hands together, she then began leading her out of the room. "Of course, let''s head to a more comfortable location. Tell me more about yourself too." Reyna spoke excitedly and started to lead Olivia. "Wait a second!", Olivia exclaimed, but Reyna paid no head and just grumbled, "Just call me Reyna. I don''t prefer to be addressed to as Miss". Olivia quickly turned her head to apologize to the teacher before being pulled by Reyna. Looking at this scene before him, the professor gave out a light smile. He then sighed lightly and said, "Ah youth! Must feel good to be young." ------------------------ In another another location, inside a warehouse. The interiors were mostly dark and eerily silent. In the distant depths of the warehouse the sounds of something cracking and tearing were faintly heard. Heading deeper in the muffled cries of a grown man could also he heard. In a room deep within the warehouse. A young man stood on top of an bald, muscular guy. The muscular guy was in an extremely pathetic state. All of his limbs were twisted in bizarre directions. His eyelids were skinned and blood poured onto the ground from his eyes. His entire face was disfigured beyond recognition. His body was no longer straight, but was bizarrely flexible. It almost seemed as if he had no bones in his body. This was precisely the case. The two people were surrounded by a scene that could be described as a place, straight out of hell. Limbs, blood and other body parts were scattered all around them. The pungent smell of blood and other bodily wastes decorated the room and a thin blood mist hung around. The young man reached down to remove the gag from the bald man''s mouth. Cries of pain leaked out of his mouth. The young man spoke, "So are you going to tell me now? Or do you want to go for another round." He then continued to speak in absolute indifference, "Although, I don''t think your body will last long enough to survive another round." Chapter 36: Finding a Lead. Lucius stared at the bald man beneath his feet. After learning about the location the crystal was sent to, Lucius immediately made his way there. Coming to the location, a large warehouse was found. Looking around and finding no public security bots and seeing that it was far away enough from the public eye, Lucius did not bother with the soft approach and raised hell. He walked right in and killed anyone who stood in his way or tried to stop him. Knowing that mere guards would not be able to answer his questions, Lucius did not bother wasting time , asking questions and killed his way to meet the boss of this place. Having noticed the ruckus caused by Lucius, the boss had called for reinforcements and had holed up in his office. Still the presence of a few more men armed with weapons could not delay Lucius in any manner or form Simply drawing his soul power outside his body, a reddish-black haze manifested around Lucius. This was one of the passive abilities of [Killer]. Killing Intent! Killing Intent took the form of a reddish-black cloud surrounding Lucius body. It had the ability to induce Fear into the people who looked at Lucius. The more Lucius kills, the more Killing Intent manifests around Lucius. While this requires cultivation and a large amount of death to be caused by the user before manifesting, Lucius having his soul transported over, could simply skip this step. In the entire universe, no one could have possibly killed more than Lucius. Of course that being said, he did not release the full extent of his killing intent. His soul was currently, only in Stage 1 and releasing more than what it could bear, will dissipate his soul. Still, the released amount was already more than enough to deal with these few people. Upon placing their eyes upon him, they simply froze. Lucius the proceeded to clean up all of them, reinforcements included. This due to their final struggle, things got a little messy. Finally getting his hands on the bald man, who happened to be the boss Lucius began his investigation. The man happened to be unusually tight-lipped and refused to talk. Lucius thus had to resort to crueler means. He first cut apart the the man''s skin and slowly sunk into his dermis. Cutting him apart one place at at time, Lucius also used his soul power to enhance the man''s sense of pain while preserving his consciousness. He also took careful care to avoid major blood loss and other such complications which could possibly threaten the bald man''s life. Without stopping to hear his pleas or noticing his struggles, Lucius continued to break every bone in his body starting from his toes to all the way up to his head. He also stuffed a piece of rag into his mouth, as his screams were getting a little annoying. His work was practiced and smooth. One could even call it an artform. Lucius skill with the blade and his careful understanding of the human body, surpassed even machines. The sight of a young man performing such a gruesome task with a nonchalant look on his face was simply unnerving! Finally after being done with his careful task, Lucius removed the rag from his mouth and asked him. "So are you going to tell me now? Or do you want to go for another round." He then continued to speak in absolute indifference, "Although, I don''t think your body will last long enough to survive another round." The bald man''s mouth leaked some incoherent noises. Lucius leaned closer to his mouth, to try to hear it in greater detail. Still, what he heard was a random mumble of noises. Lucius furrowed his brows for a second and then suddenly realized. ''Oops I guess I cut too deeply into his vocal organs.'' Lucius put his hand on top of the bald man''s throat and infused his soul power into his body. The man who had long come to the conclusion that this young man in front of him was a devil. rejoiced at the thought to dying. Yet suddenly he felt shocked. A cool sensation started flowing in his throat areas and inside his mouth. The immense sense of pain that he had been feeling, was completely suppressed and his vocal faculties were slowly restored. This was simply to shocking and unscientific! "Wha-wha? What did you...!" the man finally spoke in an audible tongue. "Shut up, unless you wanna go another round," Lucius interrupted him. Seeing the man''s face pale and immediately stop talking, Lucius continued, "Yesterday, did you receive a dark gold crystal. Answer ''Yes'' or ''No''." "Yes." the bald man immediately spoke. "Where is it?" Lucius continued inquiring. The man hesitated for a second, he then took a deep breath, that sent a sharp influx of pain into his body. Resigning himself to his fate, he spoke "A dark-gold crystal that gave off light pulses of light came in yesterday. Upon seeing it, one of my contact immediately bought it. It''s with that customer now." While the man was talking, Lucius carefully watched his tone and mental fluctuations with an emotionless face. Although the man was mentally broken after undergoing Lucius torture, the possibility that he may lie, still existed within Lucius'' mind. ''He''s not lying.'' Lucius concluded. He then proceeded to question him, "Who was this customer?" "Alex Hellwig." the man replied. Hearing his answer Lucius did not say anything and simply cut the man''s head, ending his prolonged suffering. He then let out a sigh and spoke, "See it wasn''t that hard was it. You could have simply told this at the very beginning and saved both of us the time and effort." Saying so to himself Lucius shook his head. He slowly got up from his crouched position and dusted the dust of his body. He then silently walked towards the corner of the room and came in front of a mirror and washbasin. Lucius slowly washed his hands and cleaned the blood of it. Staring at his reflection in the mirror Lucius thought to himself, ''Alex Hellwig. huh?'' Wiping his hands on the towel that was nearby Lucius turned around and walked towards the main desk inside the room. Lucius then checked the records and verified the bald man''s words. Proceeding to wipe out all the video recordings from the time of his arrival here. Lucius walked out of the warehouse. Making turns to check for any pursuers, Lucius started to make his way towards the academy. ''Things just got a little complicated.'' Chapter 37: Keiths Discovery. Inside a private room in one of the academy''s cafes, two young woman sat discussing something. The lady on the left, had black waist length hair, tied in the form of a ponytail. She had bright blue eyes and a very white complexion. Her clothes consisted of the standard academy uniform with a little badge reading ''Command'' pinned to her shoulder. She was tall and was very beautiful. Sitting right across her was another similarly beautiful young lady. In contrast to the previously mentioned lady, she had smooth golden hair and bright green eyes that shone similar to emeralds. She was dressed in a white frock. A pair of white-gold glasses adorned her face. She possessed a cheery countenance, with her face sporting a bright smile. Holding her belly she gave off a loud hearty laugh "Seriously! He is scared of cats!" Reyna found it hard to sit and act like a proper lady. Olivia sitting across her also sported a similar expression and spoke, "Yes! His expression when that cat scratched him when we were young was simply priceless." She paused for a second and used her finger to wipe a teardrop that escaped her eyes. "He cried the entire way back home. My father had to spend the night consoling him. Lucius still hates cats to this day." Reyna continued her laughter for a while and struggled to control it. After taking a few minutes and breathing deep, she eventually controlled herself, "Looking at his face you wouldn''t know. He always wears this ''don''t care'' and indifferent expression." Hearing Reyna say this, Olivia''s mood sunk, she then spoke. "He wasn''t like that previously. He always had a bright expression and a kind character. Just that after being injured quite seriously by Luther''s gang that day, he seems to have changed." Inwardly Olivia thought. ''To the point of his actions that day.'' Her mind wandered to that day when she witnessed Lucius kill another person. Olivia still couldn''t accept his drastic change in her heart. Suppressing her negative thoughts, Olivia shook her head and continued. "It''s almost as if he turned into another person." Reyna saw the dark mood that her new best friend was in and spoke slowly, "I don''t exactly know how he was before, but he did not seem to bad." Seeing that Olivia was listening to her intently, Reyna continued. "At least, when I apologized to him and requested for his help, he forgave me and helped me instantly." "Still, what Luther and his gang did to Lucius is unacceptable! Even that guy Keith is involved in this." Reyna continued in an aggrieved manner and immediately hung her head. "Although it is my fault." her voice was low and filled with guilt. Seeing Reyna feel guilt over this matter, Olivia inwardly thought ''She''s a really nice girl.'' She then moved to console Reyna. "What happened, has already passed. Plus, didn''t Lucius already forgive you that day. He won''t hold it in his heart." Olivia paused for a second and giggled, "Also he can''t possibly hold a grudge against someone as beautiful as you. Didn''t you guys spend 2 days together in your lab, he must have already forgotten about everything. How can a boy''s heart not be moved in such situation." Hearing this Reyna''s face reddened, she then hurriedly explained while waving her hands. "We-we did nothing! We were only focused on the research!" Olivia quickly capitalized on this reaction, and let out a small laugh. "Hehe! I did not mean anything. Why are you panicking so much,.. unless~~." "Nothing really happened!" Reyna exclaimed in a loud voice. Seeing Olivia hold her belly and snicker loudly, Reyna understood that she was being make fun of. Taking a few breaths to calm herself, she eventually tired to rebuke her. Her voice still carried a slight undertone of embarrassment. "Well considering that he has a beautiful girl such as yourself right next to him. I don''t think he''d be moved by anyone else." Reyna spoke with a smirk. Knowing this was question meant to get back at her, Olivia did not move to reply immediately. She continued her laughter for some time and slowly replied. "Well, I''m more like his older sister. Hehe, isn''t it the responsibility of an older sibling to look after the younger one." saying so Olivia put on a ''matter of fact'' face. Seeing this friend of her acting like this Reyna found no way to counter her argument. Feeling grumpy she sat down with a huff. The mood being harmonious, they continued to chat about different topics. Reyna, coming from the great ''Snowden'' family found it hard to make friends with others in her age group. Everyone either sought to curry favors with her or please her. None of the other children from the various influential families, tried to get to know her as a person and treated her as an ''unreachable'' princess. This gradually led to Reyna being excluded out of friend circles and groups, thus making her feel left out and lonely. Olivia could be considered to be her first ''true'' friend, one that was not after the benefits of her name, but someone who saw her for what she was. After meeting her at the professor''s office, they made their way to this private room, where they eventually hit it off. Reyna needed a female friend and Olivia possessed the ''big-sister'' vibe. Olivia on the other hand, also required a ''real friend''. Coming to the academy she was ostracized because of her status and found it difficult to interact with others. Meeting Reyna could be considered as the best thing that happened to her, after coming to the academy. With all the mental confusion she was experiencing at the moment in regards with Lucius, she needed a person to talk to. Reyna was her salvation. Plus. talking to this innocent and na?ve girl(Reyna), who was in fact older than herself, she found it really refreshing. The girls continued talking until sundown and Olivia gradually felt her mental burdens dissolve. She realized that she was overthinking the situation and everything would eventually be solved, if she asked Lucius about the truth. As for what that ''truth'' would be, she would face it later. Even if Lucius was in the wrong, she was willing to forego her moral code to help him. After all, he wasn''t alone. ''I''m here for you!'', Olivia remembered her promise to him when they were kids. Maybe Lucius had forgotten all about it, but she would forever remember. "OLIVIA!", Reyna''s face closed into her own as she heard her shout. "Are you daydreaming?" Reyna asked. Olivia shook her head and gave a light smile, "Say, don''t you think it''s getting late." Reyna checked her watch and realized it was already evening. Like a little child who did not want to leave her first friend, Reyna proceeded to throw a tantrum. Seeing her supposed ''senior'' act like this, Olivia felt her head ache a little. Eventually, she managed to calm her down and they agreed to spend the night in Olivia''s room. "My first sleepover! I will inform Father about this, then we will go together." saying so Reyna rushed outside the room to contact her Father. Seeing this Olivia let out a small laugh, '' I guess I have a little sister now.'' she thought to herself. ------------------------ In another location within the academy, Luther and Keith were sitting together in a room. There was a serious expression on their faces and a tense atmosphere was present. Keith took a deep breath and asked in a serious voice. "Did you find who that person that came to save Lucius was?" Luther nodded his head and replied. "I had the members investigate and eventually found the person. Lucius only ever interacted with one person ever since coming to the academy. Here it is." saying so Luther projected a holographic screen from his watch. The information of a student was projected. Reading the name, Keith spoke. "Olivia Mayer." Chapter 38: Stirring Undercurrents! "She is a commoner student like Lucius. Doesn''t have any backing or significant support. It''s just that the teachers have a good impression of her." Luther continued his report, while Keith read through her details. He then paused for a second and continued, "Dealing with her will be harder. We must be really careful. After the unknown death of those 2 students, everyone is on high alert." Speaking up to here Luther stopped. He understood that Keith would have gotten an understanding of the situation and it was best leave everything after this to him. Luther behaviour was shockingly unlike how a superior would interact with his subordinate. At least, he was the one who looked like the subordinate. And indeed he was. Luther was just the ''leader'' in name. His family was on the decline in recent days and was depending upon the Cline Family for support. Being one of the younger generations, Luther was sent to help Keith and strike up some connections with him. Keith was simply using Luther as a ''meat-shield'', a type of ''fall guy'' in a better sense. Placing Luther in the position of leader or this gang, and Keith himself being in Vice-leader position, if any significant problem crops up, Keith could effectively sacrifice Luther, thus saving himself. Luther being a smart guy himself, understood this, yet there was nothing he could do. Resigning himself to his fate, Luther decided to take up this mantle, and try to keep everything working to the best of his abilities. Silence prevailed in the room for a few minutes. Only the sound of their breathing was heard. Eventually Keith stirred from his thoughts and spoke, "We have to take care of this as soon as possible. We also cannot afford to make any mistakes. If our actions are traced back to us, even our families cannot intervene and help us." He let out a sigh and slowly stood up, "I have to leave the academy to make some preparations for this." he then walked towards the doors. Pausing for a second, Keith spoke without turning back, "You will also head back to your family. Remain there still I contact you with further instructions." Keith said so and left. Luther stood there with his head hung low, he did not give any form of affirmation to Keith''s instruction nor was Keith expecting some. He knew Luther would have no choice, but to listen to his words and accurately grabbed this weakness of his. Luther had his eyes closed and his fists clenched. His burrows were furrowed and his heart seemed to be in some great turmoil. After battling with his thoughts for a few seconds, he eventually let out a sound, similar to a deflated balloon. Wearing a wry smile, he thought to himself, ''Do I even have an opinion in this matter? So this is what it means to be powerless, huh." Following the same door Keith had taken, Luther also walked out behind him. Weakness truly was a sin! ------------------------------ Meanwhile, at the same time as the conversation between Keith and Luther, most of the major influential families were having some trouble. A few hours ago, almost simultaneously, they received a report of some of their major warehouses being attacked. A request for reinforcements had been sent and the various families complied by sending a few people each. Still hearing no further new for a few hours, they sent another batch only to receive shocking information. Every single person who had been sent was killed! Not a single soul was alive throughout the entire warehouse. The assailant or group of assailants had been thorough in erasing their tracks and their actions. As they began investigating further, they realized that whoever killed these men were not in the right head. Various body parts lay scattered throughout the warehouse. Blood formed a pool, which flowed through the stairs and gaps of the entire warehouse. There was also a hint of unease hanging in the air. All the men sent here had their hearts gripped with fear. It felt like death was hanging right around them. The investigation group upon making it into the office were even more horrified by that, vicious sight. SOme of them, even though they were experienced in this field, directly threw up upon seeing the body of the man-in-charge of this place. Well calling it a ''man'' would not suffice to describe the scene before them. A lump of clay that was in the process of being sculpted into a human statue would describe it better. Only, it wasn''t clay but human flesh! His bones were completely crushed and powdered. His skin was non-existent and his muscles were carved into numerous pieces. Some of the lesser experienced people here, felt their minds crumbling upon witnessing this scene and even the experienced ones felt very uneasy. One thought that collectively rang through all their minds was, ''What kind of a monster could have done something like this?'' Even the cruelest of people would feel something upon witnessing a member of their own kind, being in such a state. But what did this mean, of the person who did this. Did he not feel anything, not even unease while doing this? Concerning Lucius, this was exactly the case. Eventually coming back to their senses, the team started investigating the possible causes and items lost. This place served as the collective warehouse and transporting dock for items, that did not have a ''proper'' origin. Trade between the various influential families took place with this warehouse, serving as the middle-man. It wasn''t that the place wasn''t protected. In fact it was quite the opposite. The warehouse was very well guarded, with almost 50 armed men on site, with another 30 men who were the immediate back up. Automatic turrents that served to defend against group attacks were placed in proper locations and other such defenses were present. Still, in regards to Lucius, all this protection taken against ''humans'' were completely ineffective. With the infusion of his soul power, his body standards crossed the human range, by a very wide margin. Granted he could not take apart armies or large scale weaponry. Handling the likes of turrents and plasma rifles was an easy task. Targeted locks? He just had to move faster than the auto lock. Group Attacks? He just had to split them apart and take them one on one. Terrain advantage? With his body jumping 4 meters into the air was easy. Hence from the very beginning, the defenders and the defences stood no chance against Lucius. Him releasing his Killing Intent, only made his work that much easier. In fact the fear and unease that the investigation team felt upon their arrival was not something psychological. It was actually the remnant energies of his Killing Intent that was yet to diffuse. Although it has already been a few hours since Lucius'' departure, the remnant energy had yet to properly disperse into the surrounding. Lucius'' Killing Intent was simply too potent! The retainers of the various families were now reporting the the result of the investigation to their respective family heads. "Nothing was taken?!" this was a common question that all of them asked. If the people who attacked the warehouse and took nothing, then why attack. Information! They immediately realized. But if this hidden group already possessed such power and means to identify their warehouse. What information could they possibly be lacking? After all the warehouse was just a location to store items and a hub to trade. This was something that none of them could figure out. Just when all the families were having a headache over this, another piece of bad news was received. Multiple people from their families had gone missing and hadn''t been seen for the past 4 days. While most of them were lower ranking members and would not affect the operation of the family on the whole, some higher ranking members were also missing! "Send out teams and gather as much information as possible. We need to know what exactly happened! A attack on our trade house and nw missing members, this surely has to be connected!" Hence, each family went into a highly alert state and a heavy tension was brewing all across the city. Faint undercurrents could be felt stirring underneath them. Whoever this is and whatever their motive is, it surely isn''t something simple! Chapter 39: 30 Years. Spending the night outside, Lucius returned back to the academy. Walking through the massive gates, Lucius let out a little sigh. It has already been a month since Lucius came back and various things had happened. ''If this was my previous self, I would have been blissfully unaware of what is to come.'' Looking at those massive mechs standing guard, the turrents and the space ports that were directly above the academy, Lucius let out a small laugh. Reminiscing in his thoughts, he spoke. "All this advancement, to what extent does it really help us?" "We thought that under the protection of all these weaponry, these ships, these scientific breakthroughs.... we would be absolutely safe. No other power in the universe would be able to contest against us." he slowly spoke to himself. And indeed, that was the case. Ever since mankind stepped out into the galaxy, it never feared a challenge. It continuously expanded and conquered, The only real problem it ever faced was itself. Wars raging between it''s own countries, almost led to the collapse of the civilisation. Pausing for a second he continued, "But....how much do we really understand about ourselves? About our surroundings? About our place in the vast cosmos....". "Why are we alone?" "Where are the others? We did find some signs pertaining to other possible civilizations,, but what happened to them?" "Did they die? Did they go extinct because they weren''t strong enough? Or was the cause something else. Something far-far greater than anything that humanity could ever foresee." Walking through the paths within the academy, Lucius saw many students and teachers going about their daily lives. They seemed happy, safe, content. Bright sunlight spilled into his eyes. Lucius used his hands to cover a part of his face to block the sunlight. This sunlight was a carefully controlled product of the atmosphere machine. Due to the degeneration of Earth''s atmosphere, the sunlight that always provided humanity with it''s warmth, had slowly turned deadly. Of course, this was another problem that was solved by science. Suddenly a spaceship that was entering the space port, flew directly above the path Lucius walked, casting a fast moving shadow. "Where does true strength lie?" " Is it within ourselves or in our tools." Looking at the various scientific advancements surrounding him he sighed once again and continued, "Then again, do our tools really count as part of our strength." He continued to walk towards a hill like elevation on the ground. No one was currently present on top of the hill and it was quite empty. Shaking his head, he slowly spoke out, "February 7th 2321, humanity learned the answer to all these questions." Indeed. Just 5 months later, humanity would realize. It would learn about the various things that were always hidden in the dark. Science which prided itself in being able to solve anything, would suddenly falter on that day. People who were ever confident on their victory would find themselves at a loss. Weapons of such power, capable of destroying planets at a time, would suddenly become powerless. February 7th. The day, ''that event'' takes place. Humanity will remember once again. Something that it had forgotten throughout its long course of victories. Something that had always been a part of us, but discarded along the way. Something that stems from deep within us. .....The true meaning of ''fear''. "30 years." Lucius continued once again. "It only took 30 years for humanity''s unstoppable rise, to fall." " Just 30 years for it to remember, what it meant to be afraid, once again." "To suffer for 30 years. To hide without the power to change it''s fate. To fight a war that, it stood no chance of winning." They called it the Great War. It truly was a great war. A war that concerned the future of humanity. All of mankind participated in this war. Innumerable people including soldiers, the elderly, women and even children participated without hesitation. In these 30 years, humanity came together as a whole. There was no discrimination, no ostracization. Influential families willingly fought together with the commoners that they hated. Of course this did not happen at the beginning of the war. Betrayals were common. People sold each other out. Backstabbing was a daily occurence. But as the war progressed on, humanity understood. That it stood no chance if they did not come together. Coming to the top of the hill, Lucius stopped. From this elevated spot, factoring Lucius'' eyesight combined with soul power, he could see almost the entire academy. Looking at all these geniuses, these marvels of engineering, these advancements of science, Lucius felt an emotion in his usually ice like heart. It was Pity! Lucius pitied these unfortunate, ignorant and weak lambs. He did not even refer to them as people any more, because lambs were what they were. In the face of what was to come, humans truly were lambs waiting to get slaughtered. He spoke in a nonchalant tone, "Alas, they never stood a chance." He did not speak this last part out loud. Instead he thought to himself. ''Humanity survived for 30 years before ending up being annihilated.'' Annihilated. They did not just simply die. No, every single trace of their existence was completely erased off the face of the universe. They left nothing behind. None of their knowledge. None of their technology. None of their culture. They were annihilated in the truest of sense. Humanity was utterly destroyed. And Lucius who currently stood on top of this hill, overlooking everything, was the only one who lived. How did he survive? Frankly, Lucius himself did not remember no matter how hard he thought about it. ''Why me? Why not others? People more capable. people willing to give their all to the restoration of humanity. Someone who was much stronger than I am.'' These were the thoughts Lucius had, when he first learnt the truth. The truth that humanity lost in the ''Great War''. Thinking back, Lucius laughed at his previous naive self. These questions which seemed quite important, actually meant nothing. Surviving within the vast cosmos was far more important. The 270 years that Lucius lived after that day, taught him this very fact. Coming out from his own thoughts, Lucius took a deep breath. ''This time, it must be different.'' he told himself. Slowly opening his eyes, what filled it was not a firm determination nor the fiery passion that ought to fill one''s eyes when they speak such lines. Instead, what was present in his eyes was..... absolute indifference. ''Humanity must survive, only then can I continue with the later plans.'' giving one last look at the crowd of students, Lucius turned around and started descending the mountain. ''As for how many of these weaklings survive or who amongst it?.'' ''Why do I care?'' he finished with a soundless laugh. Chapter 40: Dead Man Walking. Lucius continued to walk down the academy paths, heading towards the teacher''s building. He had to report in and provide a suitable reason for his continued absence. This was his original goal, upon entering the academy gates, when he strangely felt reminiscent. Seeing those sturdy academy gates, stirred some old memories within Lucius. He himself wasn''t quite sure on why he spoke those words. ''That was dangerous.'' Lucius furrowed his brows while thinking within his heart. ''If I carelessly speak too much about the future path, the causality will start shifting. I might even end up bearing most of it and ending up discovered by ''Them''.'' While he had spoken those words to vent out some emotions within his heart, Lucius still felt strange at his own behaviour. ''Is this also related to that strange hunger changes on mine.'' Looking down at his own body Lucius wondered, ''What is happening to me? None of these issues were present in my previous life.'' He even sunk his consciousness into his mindspace to check his soul, but detected no changes. His soul was still in the shape of a hazy humanoid outline whose figure could not exactly be seen. It was currently slumbering and no obvious change was detected. Shaking his head, Lucius expelled all unnecessary thoughts. Worrying about this would not help him currently. What was important right now was to get Ka''lor''ah back. Everything else was of secondary importance. Lucius eventually made it to the teacher''s building and reported his reason of absence. He had to explain the reason of absence and had to take some supplementary lessons in his free time. To Lucius none of this was problematic. Nodding his head and agreeing to his teacher''s words, Lucius turned to leave. Exiting the building, Lucius decided to visit his room first to take a shower. While he was already using his soul power to mask the scent of blood from his body, he currently felt a little uncomfortable wearing a stranger''s clothes. ''I also need to get rid of this dress, lest someone connects me to the murder of those guys.'', thinking back about those people he had killed, Lucius had intentionally not destroyed their bodies using the power of [Decay]. He had decided to use this opportunity to get the various influential families moving. Their actions were integral to the next major part of his plan, involving Reyna. He was intentionally having the ''Rule of Cause'' gather among the families. This was also the reason he had killed everyone in the warehouse in such a high profile manner. Considering Lucius'' abilities and experience killing all the guards and the bald man could have easily been completed with no evidence. His power of [Deacy] even makes the job of disposing bodies that much easier, granted he restores his soul energy between uses. Hiding his identity, hence resulted in the various families not being able to find the identity of the perpetrator. Without finding the cause(Lucius), they were thus not able to link the effects (the deaths and missing people) to him. This led to a scenario with the gathering of the ''Rule of Causality'' and it being unassigned. As he was walking, while quietly pondering about his future actions, Lucius crossed a teacher. This teacher had a long face and a sharp thin. Nothing was worth nothing about his face except his thin moustache and sunken eyes. Lucius naturally ignored this man and walked past him , when he noticed a intense fluctuation with his soul power. Ever since Lucius'' soul was upgraded to Stage 1, he unconsciously released a small amount of soul energy into his surroundings. Soul power due to its unknown nature, cannot be detected by any means. The constant release of soul power into his surroundings meant that Lucius had a very acute understanding of his surroundings. So acute that, no changes within a 5 metre radius, around his body would go unnoticed by him. These changes also included emotional fluctuations. Now, feeling such an intense emotional fluctuation being released by a man, that he had never met put Lucius on his guard. He instantly became alert and slowed his footsteps. Without turning around, Lucius focused on monitoring every single action performed by the man using his soul power. ''Increased heart rate and blood pressure. His muscles have tensed up and his breathing has also increased. Pupil dilation also detected.'' ''Currently he''s feeling intense shock and fear, coupled with tiny amounts of doubt and curiosity.'' Lucius instantly concluded from the feedback he was receiving from his soul power. Whoever this teacher was, clearly knew Lucius. Although he wasn''t sure why this man felt fear and shock upon seeing Lucius, he still came up with some hypothesis. Lucius'' brain rapidly worked as he drew up some possible scenarios,'' This man had seen me before. When and Where is the question. Judging from his reactions, it had to be quite recent.'' ''Could he have seen me kill the other?'' ''But where? It shouldn''t be those to students or at the warehouse.'' About this Lucius was absolutely confident. During both the scenarios Lucius had checked the surroundings using his soul power. Under the inspection of his soul power, absolutely nothing, both tangible and intangible in nature can escape. ''This means he witnessed me kill those guys in ''The Pit''.'' Lucius concluded. ''Seems like that noise I heard towards the end wasn''t my imagination, it should have been this guy!'' This was the most probable scenario that Lucius'' mind came up with. Cross- checking with the facts that he knew, this was most likely. ''Seems like I have to deal with this guy.'' Lucius calmly thought. Still he did not move immediately, as they were currently in the middle of the academy. The entire process of analysis and conclusion lasted for less than 3 seconds. Lucius had walked past that man and had crossed no less than 5 steps. Lucius'' thinking speed can be considered to be simply monstrous. Not reacting in any way, Lucius continued to head towards his room. Regarding this man, since Lucius had already noticed the abnormality, he was as good as dead. ''I''ll deal with this guy, later today.'' Lucius thought with absolute indifference. ---------------------- Sean Escker was currently in a very joyous mood. The case of investigating the 2 dead students handed to him by the department head had been finally resolved. The sheer speed at which Escker had returned with conclusive evidence, shocked his superior James and had even received his appreciation. Of course, Escker cannot be considered to ''truly'' have solved the case. In fact it was quite the opposite, he had no clue on who the real murderer was and how he had killed the 2 students. After the case was handed over to Escker, he was contacted by the young master Keith, to whom he had many dealings with. Keith offered him a simple job, to get capture a student names Lucius alive and send him to the pit. In return, Keith would offer him a scapegoat, whom Escker to frame as the murderer. Keith had even told him that he was willing to pay, whomever Escker was going to employ to capture Lucius. Hearing this Escker was stunned first and then overjoyed. Still being the cautious man that he is, he thoroughly investigated the student called Lucius. Realizing that he was a commoner with no significant background, Escker immediately moved to complete the task, going as far as employing the best capture team available in the city. The kid was caught and everything went well after that. Escker even received a bonus and a week of holiday from the department. He was in the mood to celebrate As he was going in the direction of the academy''s gate to exit, he suddenly met a ghost in daylight. The student Lucius who was supposed to be ''dead'' walked right past him. Escker was so shocked that he almost felt his soul fly away from his mortal body. ''GOOD GOD!'' this was the first thought in Escker''s mind. Checking the kid, a few times Escker was absolutely sure. The person who just crossed him and did not seem to notice him was 100% the kid called Lucius. ''How is he here? Did he escape or something? Impossible!'' thinking so Escker no longer was in the mood to celebrate and rushed in the direction of his office. He immediately had to confirm this fact. Chapter 41: Charm. After cleaning himself in the bath and Lucius went on to his classes. He majored in the subject of ''Interstellar Mechanics'' and was an honor student. Every since he was young, Lucius could easily understand the matters pertaining to space. Complicated topics like Quantum Mechanics or Interstellar Study, could be easily grasped and understood by his brain. It almost felt like his body was born to do this. Coming into his class, Lucius noticed that the professor had not come yet. He surveyed the classroom to find a seat for himself. ''Interstellar Mechanics'' was one of the most complicated courses in the academy. Most of the research into this field was theoretical, with physical evidence being very low. Therefore not many students wished to choose this subject, with his class only containing 50 students. The classroom was in the shape of an hemispherical dome, with the center area containing an elevated floor. This area was the teaching platform. Many seats were available and, holographic screens projected out of them. The classroom could seat around 120 students and with less than half the number being present, a lot of empty seats were available. Lucius looked around was randomly picked an empty seat. As he walked towards the seat, his soul power picked up a series of emotions directed at him. The emotions consisted of disgust, loathe, scorn, condescend and many other unkind emotions. Lucius simply ignored all of these looks placed upon him and gradually sat down on his seat. He did not cover from their gazes nor did he evade. Lucius simply did not care. After all, why does the opinion of a dead person matter to him. Hell, even the opinion of people who were living did not matter to him. Lucius was calmly staring ahead while inwardly thinking of a completely different matter. ''Alex Hellwig'' '' Son of the Hellwig military family, one of the top 5 influential families. He is the eldest son of the Family Head and it''s only successor.'' This much was common knowledge that everyone in the Alliance knew about. ''A born commander and soldier, with exceptional skill in strategy. A genius second to none in the field. He is also an excellent fighter and mech user. Joined the academy 2 years ago, he will be graduating this year.'' This was commonly known among the students and teachers among the academy. ''He is one of the most popular male students, with a somewhat indifferent temperament. He usually does not like to hang around with other students and is not closely associated with anyone either. He cares a lot about his close family and works really hard to assist it''s growth. If he succeeded the position of the Family Head, the family would rapidly flourish, being at its peak.'' Leaning back into his seat, Lucius gradually sunk into his mindspace. He was looking through his memories, to try and remember more about this person. Since Lucius knew the name, it meant that he was fairly important to Humanity''s Causality. ''Alex? Alex? Hellwig? Hell..... '' as he pondered upon the name, it suddenly struck him. ''Alex Hellwig, commander of mankind''s allied forces to fight in the Great War.'' ''He stabilized the internal chaos post ''that event'' and using his family''s influence took the mantle of ''Great Commander.'' He personally led and fought in hundreds of battles, systematically prolonging humanity''s chances at survival, thus living up to that title.'' ''If Reyna Snowden had given humanity a chance at survival with her invention, Alex had fought to realize that chance.'' ''Alex... first human to break through into Stage 3 of his soul cultivation. Admirable, even from my standards.'' This was one of the exceptionally rare moments, where Lucius did not condescend the other person .If Ka''lor''ah was here, she would have made a fuss about this, going as far as to say, books had to be written recording this moment. Then he suddenly shook his head, ''Shame, that he died 27 years into the Great War. Humanity rapidly lost after that before eventually going extinct in mere 3 years time.'' ''So such a person has gotten his hands on my crystal, huh? Was it by accident or another ploy by Ka''lor''ah?'' Lucius deeply thought. As he was thinking further, his brows suddenly furrowed. His soul power noticed, multiple people coming in his direction. Opening his eyes, he saw that 3 students were walking up to him with a unkind expression in their eyes. Their backs stood straight and their eyes filled with arrogance. Walking up to Lucius, one of them used his hands to hit hard on the table before Lucius. BAAM! The loud noise reverberated and all the eyes turned in this direction. Upon seeing what was happening all of their eyes brightened up, eagerly waiting for something to happen. They clearly knew Lucius was being picked on and bullied by another student, yet none of them had the intent to standing up to help him. Clearly in their eyes, this ''commoner'' did not deserve to sit in this academy with them. That fact that Lucius was clearly the best student among them, further intensified their unlike towards him. Skipping classes was heavily punishable in the academy. No student was an exception to this rule and generally the families also let this pass. After all they believed that this would teach their children the meaning to responsibility and discipline. Now looking at Lucius who was seating here after not showing up for weeks in a row, all of the others were clearly dissatisfied. ''So what if he is a genius. His he greater than the families. What allows him to avoid punishment?'' this was the common thought amongst all the students here. Going back. the teacher did give Lucius a warning and some light punishment. He looked highly upon Lucius'' intellect. With ''Interstellar Mechanics'' being a mostly theoretical study with no scientific evidence available, he believed that someone with Lucius'' skills might possibly change that in the future. So while he clearly meant good, it was currently having a negative effect. "So, Classmate Lucius, how did you enjoy your vacation?" one of the boys sitting upon the table before Lucius asked. His tone was clearly sarcastic. While his sentence had nothing wrong with it, everyone here clearly understood what he meant. Lucius calmly looked up and into the boy''s eye. He infused his soul power into his gaze and used ''Charm''. A tiny hint of red, appeared in the depths of Lucius eyes. Charm was an ability that was not derived from Lucius'' [Killer] soul. In fact, this ability was unique to Lucius. Calling it ''Charm'' wasn''t exactly appropriate. This ability allowed Lucius to influence a person''s mind to a certain extent such as asking for information or giving them a simple task. Complex actions and commands like ''kill yourself'' did not work since it triggered the brain''s emergency response system. It also did not have the effect of erasing their memories or rewriting it. Therefore, people under its influence remembered their actions, albeit a little late. Still while he did not understand why he could use this ability, it was quite useful. Though it was completely useless on people who surpassed Stage 1 of their soul cultivation. Clearly the boy in front of Lucius was not a character of such great value. He was just a common thug, who had come up to create trouble for Lucius. Upon meeting Lucius'' gaze, he realized he could not pull his eyes away and quickly fell into the ''Charmed'' state. Lucius then calmly gave out a command, "Firstly, Stand up." Whoosh! The boy who was sitting arrogantly on the table, stood up without any hesitation. "Raise both hands and turn around." Lucius spoke in a low tone, such that only the boy in front of him could hear it. "Slap the both of them in front of you and howl loudly." he continued. The boy who had turned around with his hands raised immediately complied. Before the ones who came with him could even understand what was going on, they were immediately slapped hard on their face. SLAP! SLAP! "AWOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Two extremely loud sound sounds echoed ,followed by a loud howling noise The rest of the students were shocked. Their brains could not process what was going on and simply froze. "Undress yourself and start dancing." Lucius continued. He had a rarely seen smile on his face. ''This useless ability does have its moments.'' he thought to himself. When he first looked at those 3 ''monkeys'' come towards him, Lucius wasn''t angered or annoyed. He suddenly felt like humouring them and made one of the them carry out such ridiculous tasks. While Lucius was thinking to himself, the boy in front of him had already started to carry out his commands. His healthy, white body was exposed for everyone to see and he boldly started dancing while howling loudly. Just as Lucius was about to continue with his commands, faint footsteps were heard heading in this direction. "Kill yourself." Lucius quickly spoke. With that command the brain''s emergency response kicked in and the boy hurriedly snapped out of the control. He suddenly shook his head and saw a scene of shocked students gazing at him. ''What happened?'' his brain was currently feeling quite sluggish. Just as his brain slowly replayed the scenes of his earlier actions, he suddenly understood. His face turned very red and he was greatly angered. He turned around and screamed at the top of his lungs, "LUUUUUUCCCCIUSSSSSS!!" "WHAT''S HAPPENING HERE?!" an equally loud sounding noise intervened. Chapter 42: Eyes - The Windows of Ones Soul Upon hearing that loud authoritative voice, laced with long years of experience and solemness, all the students turned around to look at the doorway leading into the classroom. Standing there was a man of large stature, with broad shoulders and head full of black hair.His eyes looked serious and his face was solemn. While he did not speak after his earlier outburst and just stood there quietly, all the students present in the room could sense that stifling atmosphere. This man was their professor and currently he was greatly angered. The students immediately quietened up and dared not to breathe too loudly. This man was one of the leading figures in humanity''s progress in science. He was one of the most important scientists in the Alliance, wielding great power and influence. Even the families of most of the students here could not take this man lightly. The professor looked around the room, taking a deep breath he spoke in a deep voice, "Can anyone tell me what''s going on in here?", his voice paused for a second as he turned around to face the naked boy, "And Student Bill, please dress yourself." "Ye-yes!", Bill''s voice shuddered. He knew that, this usually easy going professor of his was greatly angered today. Not daring to waste anymore time, he pushed down the anger he was feeling and hurriedly dressed himself. "Lucius, please stand up and tell me what happened." the professor instructed,. Lucius unhurriedly stood up. Wearing a calm expression, he explained the events in an even tone. He objectively presented the events, only hiding the fact that he influenced BIll''s mind. None of the other students dared to interrupt including BIll. They all understood that they were in the wrong! One Lucius was done speaking, he remained standing, but had also quietened. THe professor who had heard the entire thing nodded his eyes and slowly looked across the faces of each and every student. His gaze paused upon thiers for a few seconds, only for them to evade his piercing gaze. He could clearly feel the guilt that was emanating from each and every one of them. Looking through everyone, his gaze finally rested on Lucius. Lucius who had been quietly observing the professor noticed his gaze. He then moved his eyes to stare directly into the professors eyes. Lucius'' gaze was immeasurably deep and calm. It was like an unmoving dark lake. At the very depths of the lake, was a tiny hint of indifference. ''So this is the boy, that my little niece Reyna has taken an interest in.'' The professor thought to himself. His brows suddenly tightened as he felt Lucius gaze meet his. Upon meeting that calm gaze, a sudden feeling of unease and terror sprouted in his heart. ''Wha..?'' before he could make complete sense of the situation Lucius broke away from his line of sight and started to stare at the ground. ''What was that feeling? I felt afraid?'', the professor could not make sense of the emotions he felt a short second ago. Being well into his 40''s, his experience was vast. Due his innate genius and world shaking contributions, the professor had met all kind of people. People with intentions both good and bad. Yet, he had never felt such an intention ever before in his life. It was a feeling of being insignificant! The feeling that a prey would have upon meeting it''s natural predator. Still, he could not quite grasp that feeling and pushed it to the back of his mind. ''I have to inform elder brother, to protect Reyna from this boy. This kid is not so simple!'', taking a deep breath he slowly spoke. "So Student Bill, tell me why did you approach Student Lucius?" Bill being questioned, stammered, "I-I just wanted to ask him, why he was absent for weeks!" he quickly made an excuse. The professor then continued, "Then why were you dancing naked when I came in. Was that also a part of your inquiry?" Bills face reddened to the extreme when he heard the question. Both his hands were clenched so tightly that veins could be seen on the surface of his skin. The feeling of shame that he was currently feeling was to the extreme. His anger having returned he furiously grit his teeth and spoke, :"It was this Lucius fault! He did something to me and my body obeyed his commands without me knowing." The professor truly being curious asked, "Your body obeyed his commands without you knowing? Student Bill can you hear what nonsense you are currently speaking? Are you implying that, Student Lucius used magic to control you?", his tone was amusing towards the end. Bill, huffed loudly. Gritting his teeth even harder, he spoke, "....No." "Good, because if that was what you were thinking, then something seriously is wrong with your head. Meet me after class to receive your punishment. Go back to your seat." giving out his commands, the professor walked into the elevated teaching platform in order to start the lesson. Bill''s face which had turned pale with that instruction, flushed red with his blood. Turning around he stared at Lucius with flames of intense hatred shining in his eyes. ''Lucius! I will never forgive you for today''s humiliation!'' he venomously spat within his mind. Lucius who obviously noticed this reaction from Bill, did not react to it in any form. Yet inwardly he smiled, ''Useless ants can also become surprisingly useful. With this, I have started my preparations for my later plans. '' Being done with Bill, Lucius threw this matter to the back of his head and started to listen to the class. Or atleast put on the impression of doing so. ''Now, I only have to deal with that teacher.'' ------------------------------- The day slowly passed with no other major incident happening. Lucius also passed the uneventful day in solitude not bothering to interact with anyone else. Plus nobody dared to approach him after the events this morning. Still, Lucius quite liked it when he was unbothered. Not having the always talkaive Ka''lor''ah on him, was also refreshing. ''I must do this from time to time.'' Lucius thought to himself. Lucius and Ka''lor''ah had their sould conjoined to each other. This allowed them to know what each other was thinking and feeling to a certain extent. Of course, the thoughts that they don''t want the other to be heard could also be hidden. While this connection was convenient to a certain extent, there also existed some restrictions. The chief one being that, they could not remain too far away from each other. Of course with the improvement in Lucius'' soul cultivation, this restriction would slowly loosen. The sky was currently darkening with the onset on evening. Classes had mostly concluded and most of the students were either retreating back to their rooms. or heading towards their nightly activities. Being done with his tasks and extra classes for today, Lucius walked out of the lecture hall in which he had been sitting in. A wind blew across him, leaving behind a pleasant cool feeling. Bright lights were present in various locations illuminating this dark scene. He could hear distant voices, with the atmosphere being joyous and enjoyable. Youths could be seen moving about, each enjoying their life in the academy, to their best extents. Who knows whether they would be able to meet these friends of theirs in the future, once each of them moved on about their lives. Academy life was one of the most exciting and enjoyable experience in a person''s life. Each person undergoes a large plethora of events, which leave behind various experiences on their minds. These experiences gradually shape their minds and eventually build their characters for the rest of their lives. Lucius who stood within the darkness of the building, stood there with an unmoved face. He felt neither jealousy, envy nor sadness at his predicament. Only the everlasting emptiness was present in his heart. Lucius was all alone. He knew this fact very well. Over the 300 years, he was constantly faced with situations of losing someone he loved or someone close to him. No matter how hard he tried to save them, he simply couldn''t. Friends? Family? Lovers? Lucius could never remain with anyone of them for too long. It was like, people who meant something to him, or had a place in his heart were destined to die. These experiences gradually shaped him and led to his current personality. One that was of an empty was of an unfeeling mind and an empty husk containing a icy heart, one so frigid that it would never move once more. Staring at this scene with an indifferent gaze, Lucius closed his eyes just to open them a few seconds later. His previously black irises had a ring of red present in them. The scene before Lucius eyes was completely different. There was no longer any bright lights, no longer any of the darkness of the night. no silhouettes of the young students. Only a crimson world was present in his eyes. The ground, the sky, the trees all of them were colored in a deep blood like color. Even the grass on the ground and the leaves on the trees were shaded in crimson color. Lucius could see everything in this world! Spots of lights were present here and there representing the souls of the various life forms present in his view. All life forms had souls in them and Lucius could see it''s truest essence. Of course this was because his soul cultivation was vastly greater than them. If there was another lifeform in a higher stage than Lucius, he cannot see them. The only other color in this blood-stained world was a line of bright gold. This golden line was present, quite a distance away and was heading in a certain direction. William Shakespeare once said: The eyes are the windows of the soul. This was the world that Lucius saw. The world that he was allowed to see. The sight that was gifted to him by the [Killer] soul. And in this world, Lucius was all alone. Well, him and one more person currently. ''I can see his traces. Time to move.'' Lucius thought as he immediately started to follow that golden line. It was about time to find out what that teacher knew about him! Chapter 43: Taking Care of Escker. Driving his soul power to its maximum, Lucius weaved through this blood red world. Keeping in mind to avoid the cameras and other students, Lucius kept to the shadows. Having reached Stage 1 in his soul cultivation, Lucius soul energy underwent a qualitative change. It was much more effective and the boosts provided to his body were much greater than the previous boost. If he undertook the Full-Body tests right now, Lucius'' score would easily surpass 500+ in all fields. That is to say, Lucius current body strength was equal to five times the strength of the strongest human recorded! In his vision the other organisms were highlighted with pale white colored spots of light. These lights represented the souls of various living organisms ranging from a tiny ant to a human. Lucius followed the golden trail through various paths. When he had met Escker and suspected him, he placed a [Mark] on his body. [Mark] is another ability of the [Killer], which allows a mark to be placed on a target. Lucius can then track the mark, which is represented by the golden trail in his vision. Of course there are limitations placed upon this ability rendering it ineffective when the target''s soul cultivation is greater than that of the user or if the mark was placed for long time or if the target moved away by sufficient distance. The closer the target is, the denser the golden trail. Judging by the density of the golden trail, Lucius had concluded that his target was still within the Academy. As he continued to follow the trail, Lucius gaze, suddenly sharpened. "He''s moving." Saying so, he once again picked up his speed. Lucius who had already been running at the speed of 60 km/hr picked up his speed once more. This fact spoke volumes of his body''s strength and standards. Running at his top speed, Lucius noticed that the golden trail was getting denser and denser. The surrounding buildings had also lessened, with this area clearly being further from the academy''s usual sphere of influence. ''Seems like he has realized something and is trying to run. But why is he running to a secluded area, is this a trap?'' he unconsciously started to become alert. Just as he was reconsidering his approach, Lucius noticed a figure running at a distance. The figure was quite tall and lean. Seeing that silhouette he confirmed that was the teacher he had met earlier. He quickly used his vision to scan around the immediate vicinity. Lucius could not neglect the possibility of an ambush. No matter how strong he currently was his body could not withstand plasma being shot directly at it. He was still made of flesh and blood after all. Scanning the area, his eyes picked up many spots of light but none belonging to humans. Most of the souls in his vision belonged to birds and other smaller insects. Without proper knowledge regarding the workings of the soul and a high enough cultivation Stage, it was impossible to mimic the wavelength of other souls or to completely hide the energy released by one''s soul. This was in the domain of the ''Rule of Souls'' and without having a ''Rule'' higher than that of souls or a deep enough understanding of the ''Rule of Souls'', it was impossible to make any changes to one''s soul. The ''Rule of Souls'' was one of the highest Rules in existence just below the likes of ''Rule of Cause'' or ''Rule of Time'', etc. It even surpassed the ''Rule of Space''! It was such a high Rule, that even Lucius at his peak had to obey, even though he had reached Stage 7 in [Killer] and had already grasped its essence and concept. Perhaps Ka''lor''ah might have the strength to mess with it at her peak. After confirming that there were no ambushes in the vicinity, Lucius once again sped up. The only reason he had let his prey live this long was because he was on guard against a third party intervening. Now with confirmation that there was no one else other than the two of them here, Lucius moved not wanting to drag this along any longer. Perhaps he had felt the approach of his death, the man in front of him suddenly turned to look back. Seeing Lucius chase after him with those, terrifying looking eyes the man panicked and tripped, falling head first into the ground. He was running at quite the speed, resulting in him breaking is nose upon his fall. His face looked bloodied and his eyes were rapidly moving. A sense of intense horror and panic had already grasped his heart, making his brain unable to react rationally. Seeing the man like this, Lucius slowed down his speed and maintained a walking speed. "Y-yo-you get away from ME!!", Escker screamed at the top of his lungs. HIs voice was trembling, while he hurriedly tried to crawl away. His ankle bent in an unnatural angle, rendering him unable to stand up the run. The pain and fear had completely overtaken his mind, rendering him unable to react rationally. Upon meeting Lucius in the morning, Escker ran back to his office to try and contact the capture team whom he had contracted to catch Lucius. Trying the various contact methods they had left him, Escker realized that none were working. They simply did not answer! Panic had already started setting in. He realized that if the boy reported him to the academy, Escker could very possibly lose everything that he had built here. All his contacts, connections, ties with the various families. His entire dark history might end up being exposed, with death being his final outcome. Escker''s reaction was over the top, to say the least. He had obviously not been thinking in the right state of mind and overreacting to the extreme. But he could not be blamed. How would a normal person react upon seeing a ''dead'' person suddenly walk across them in broad daylight? The fact that he did not immediately scream and pass out on scene, spoke lengths of Escker''s mental fortitude. Seeing that he could not get in touch with Lucius'' kidnapers, Escker started gathering all his wealth and the bribes (gifts, gems, etc.) he had received and started on his escape. No matter what, he had to immediately escape from this academy. If a teacher or student wanted to leave the academy they first had to register their ID at the gates, only then would they be allowed exit. Escker carrying his ill-gotten wealth could naturally not do that. Therefore, he decided to chose another exit, known only to a very few people. Alas, the very ghost he wanted to escape from, now stood across him with a smile on its face. The ghost seemed amused by his reactions. Looking at those black irises with crimson rings surrounding them confirmed the fact that the boy in front on him, was no human. Seeing at this man obviously no longer sane, Lucius had a gentle smile on his face. The red rings in his eyes slowly receded into little slits. Starting deep into the eyes of the man in front of him, Lucius unhurriedly spoke, "First, tell me your name." Escker''s eyes which were filled with panic and fear slowly settled until they resembled that of a puppets. His eyes were staring into Lucius'' ,lifelessly and his face was entirely blank. Upon hearing Lucius'' question, he immediately replied, sounding mechanical. "Sean Escker." "Tell me then Sean. What do you do and why are you afraid of me?" Lucius continued his questioning. As Sean began to explain, Lucius'' originally amused expression stiffened. Listening intently he, finally understood who was behind his kidnapping. ''Keith.'' the image of that young man appeared in his mind. ''Who would have thought that the pawn I used to get acquainted with Reyna, would be behind this entire mess. Seems like I underestimated him a little.'' Lucius thought calmly. He then seriously began analysing his actions till date, to make sure he did not leave any more of such loose ends. ''Oh, there is still that Luther. Almost forgot about him. Seems like Keith and Luther are in the same team.'' Looking at Escker whose face was blank, Lucius thought to himself, ''Well, this guy was an unexpected find.'' He then questioned him, "Tell me about Alex Hellwig." Escker promptly complied, "Alex Hellwig, eldest son of the Hellwig Family. He joined the academy 2 years ago and is graduating this year. He''s part of the Army Course and is currently in a field mission outside the academy." Lucius expression once again tightened as he asked again, "He''s not in the academy?" "Correct. He left a few weeks ago to collect some practical experience aboard a spaceship. He should be returning soon." Escker explained. Hearing this Lucius nodded his head. ''Looks like Alex is already back in the city having not reported back to the academy.'' What he could not figure out was how and why he had attained Ka''lor''ah. Thinking about it for a while, he eventually gave up and threw it to the back of his mind. He then looked at Escker and spoke, "You have been unexpectedly useful. Knowing that, you can rest in peace." saying so, Lucius condensed his soul power at his palm and used it to chop Escker''s head. Lucius'' palm moved smoothly through his neck, beheading him with a clean, singular cut. Lucius channeled his soul power and activated [Decay], hence cleanly taking care of his body. No trace of Escker''s presence existed. Lucius quietly stared at the place where Escker had died, his thoughts unknown. He then tilted his head to look up in the sky. Having already returned his vision back to normal, Lucius quietly gazed at the white moon, hanging in the sky. A few other foreign bodies were also present near it, which were the numerous space ports and transfer hubs. He then let out a sigh and spoke out loud, "Seems like I can only wait.". Shaking his head Lucius continued, "It would be a shame if someone like Alex died prematurely. I look forward for how much he can grow this time." Saying so, Lucius turned around and retreated back into the darkness. The moonlight shining upon him lost it''s target as his body vanished. Chapter 44: A Pair of Sisters. Quietly making it back to the academy, Lucius continued with his daily student life. With Alex not being here in the academy and Ka''lor''ah also missing, he decided to lie in wait till some news eventually pops up. Plus, with ''that event'' drawing ever closer, Lucius had to continue getting stronger, if he wanted to have any chance at succeeding in his plans Making it to Stage 2 in a short time wasn''t possible. It required accumulation to a certain extent. -------------------- The [Killer] soul like the innumerable other soul types, had 7 Stages. Starting from Stage 0, one had to first link their souls to their physical bodies and condense them. Once the soul takes the form of a vague human body, it can be considered to have reached Stage 1. Only upon reaching Stage 1 can one be considered to actually started on their soul cultivation. From Stage 1 to Stage 7, certain conditions have to be met in order to progress. The process of slowly completing the condition is usually termed as ''accumulation''. For the [Killer] soul, to progress from Stage 1 to Stage 2, the owner of the soul had to kill 10,000 lives. The lives of insects, bugs, animals, and other such organisms do not count. A lifeform had to be of a sufficient level for this condition to be satisfied. This complies with the ''Rule of Life''. Everything in the universe followed the set Rules. These rules cannot be changed nor ignored. Consciously or unconsciously all living things followed these Rules. If every being followed the Rules without fault and lived the entirety of their lives doing that, the universe would progress in the ''perfect'' path. A bug would forever be a bug waiting to be eaten, a fish forever remaining a fish waiting to be caught, a dog forever remaining a dog only to obey its master, and humans forever living their dull lives. No progress would be seen in the universe. Without progress, death is the only outcome. Naturally, this was not the case. All life forms had thoughts, desires, the urge to become stronger, greater than their previous selves. They felt the need to improve. How then to improve, in a world where Rules are above everything and are absolute? Simple, it is just to be greater than the Rule itself. The soul being the focal point common among all living things. Living things might not be equal in their body or minds. Some are born with a stronger body, some weak, some are born geniuses, while others are unremarkable. Man cannot compare to a tiger in strength and the tiger cannot compare with a man in intelligence. Yet their souls, which are eternal, never to be destroyed are all equal. Cultivating to improve one''s soul hence became the goal among all living things. The higher the Stage of one''s soul, the greater the number of rules they can surpass. And with the surpassing of Rules, one becomes stronger and stronger. The case of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly was such an example. In shedding its previous form it can improve. In Lucius'' case, currently, he was being restricted by the fact that he was human. In other words, by the ''Rule of Life''. In the vast universe, humanity was hardly remarkable. In the order of lifeforms, it was just above average. 10 grades separated the order of life forms. Grade 1 being the lowest, such as bacteria, micro-organisms, etc, and Grade 10 being the strongest. Humans being as great as they are, were only Grade 3. Therefore, in order to surpass the Rule of Life, Lucius had to cultivate his [Killer] soul to a higher level. To have his Rule of Killer to surpass the Rule of Life, granting him the strength to improve. ----------------------- ''Stage 2 in [Killer] requires me to kill 10,000 lives of at least the Grade 3. Humans being the closest I can find.'' Lucius thought to himself. He then sighed once before continuing, ''I can''t go on a murder spree in the middle of the Alliance. Looks like I can only wait for the other Grade 3 lifeforms to show up.'' Being done with the classes for the day, Lucius started heading towards the gym. While he may not be able to improve the level of his soul cultivation, combat effectiveness was completely different. ''My strength rose too quickly that I haven''t had the time to properly get used to it. Might as well use this time to work on it.'' Lucius'' case right now was similar to a baby wielding a giant hammer. He had the strength to swing it, but not to use it effectively. Refining his control over his body was the only method he could utilize currently. ''Well, every bit of strength helps.'' saying so he entered the gym. The Hell training had begun once again. -------------------------------- The Alliance City-State was the name of the city in which the academy was situated in. It was largely separated into 5 different sections. In the very center of this city, occupying a major tract of the area, laid the ''Earth Alliance Academy''. It formed the core of this region with the Alliance Headquarters residing within the campus. Having the academy as the center, the rest of the city was divided into different quadrants, each occupying the four cardinal directions namely North, South, West, and East. The North region is widely classified as the ''business'' or ''official'' district, with many headquarters of the major families and companies of the alliance being situated here. The Snowden Corporation building, which Lucius had visited with Reyna was situated here. Bordering to the left of the official district, was the Slums occupying the Western Region. This area was originally meant to be a storage and trading hub due to its proximity to the official district. But with the passage of time and the gradual influx of people looking for opportunities in the City-State, this region became the slums. Innumerable smaller buildings of a cheaper construct were built here, with each house usually residing 5-7 people, being very clustered and cramped. No proper roads were present, with many dark alleyways being the only form path. This was also the very region were Lucius was captured The expansion of humanity was not only territorial but also in its population. Sadly much of the territory in its colonized planets were inhabitable, resulting in overpopulation in the other territories. With the City-State being the center of the Alliance, it was no different. Diametrically opposite to the Western Slums, lay the Eastern region housing the Residential areas for the influential families. In direct contrast to the Slums, here wide roads and ample lands were present. Large mansions, furnished with flourishing yards were present. The entire area screamed of the concept: Affluent and Privileged. In the Alliance City-Sate, lands were extremely expensive. Therefore the size of the mansions and properties owned by the various families was a direct show of which families were the most powerful and influential. The larger the property, the more powerful the family was. Many of the students studying in the academy had their bases here. Some examples being the Cline Family and Hellwig family. In the South lay the commerce district housing the warehouses, commercial streets, and other utilities that could generate income. The business owned the various families and corporations were also situated in this region.'' The Pit and the warehouse that Lucius attacked were situated in this region. The entire city did not occupy a lot of lands. With the academy occupying a few thousand acres of space, the rest of the regions were more or less occupying the same amount of regional space. Still, every bit of land was worth more than a thousand times its weight in gold. Currently, in the ''Commerce'' district, a pair of young women were walking through the streets. One short and the other tall, one with blonde hair as radiant as the sun and the other with hair as dark as the night sky. Two pairs of intelligent eyes shone brightly, one like emeralds and the other like sapphire. Their beauty could be simply described as -otherworldly! As they strolled down the street, all of the passersby turned around to look at them a second time. Their eyes shining with various intentions. Of course, seeing the two pairs of men in combat suits following these young women, those having immoral intentions quickly shook their heads and squashed their thoughts. The shorter girl had a bright smile adorning her face, while the taller had a tired look on her face. Reyna held one of Olivia''s arms and quickly pulled her towards another shop. "Livia, look! Doesn''t that dress look gorgeous! It should look amazing on you. Shall I buy it?!" she said in a sweet tone, reminiscent of an adorable little sister. Hearing this Olivia let out an exaggerated sigh, "Rey, this is the fourth time in the last 5 minutes that you spoke those exact same words. And for the fourth time, my reply is no!" letting out her breath, Olivia once again continued, "You have already bought me too many clothes!" she said pointing at the multiple bags being carried by the men behind her. Recalling the events that took place today, Olivia felt a headache setting in. During lunch, this ''little sister'' (although she''s older in age) had the amazing idea of ditching their classes and going out shopping. Without even giving time for Olivia to consider this idea, Reyna pulled on her arm and started heading in the direction of the gates. "Will it be fine?" Olivia had asked worriedly. "Of course! With me personally here, who would dare stop us?" had replied Reyna, thumping her fist on her chest. After a few hours of walking around, Olivia was pushed to the state of collapsing out of physical exhaustion. Seeing Reyna still excited, Olivia did not understand where her energy was coming from. Looking back at the guards following them, Olivia could confidently say that, even they were exhausted! Because of their status, they obviously could not stop their young miss, hence they had been sending pleading gazes towards Olivia, in hopes that she would be able to convince Reyna. Olivia being experienced in worldly affairs understood their plights. Catching Reyna, who was bouncing around, she put on a serious expression and spoke in a deep voice. "Rey, it''s getting quite late. You have already bought me a lot of stuff and I am very thankful for your care. Let''s head back to the academy." Reyna sensing that Olivia was serious calmed down and obediently nodded her head. Giving a smile, she replied, "Okay, Livia! Still, you mustn''t thank me for those, do you not consider me your little sister! There are no superficial thanks between sisters" she said pouting. Looking at her cute expression, Olivia nodded her head, "Sure, sure." As they were walking back to the car, Olivia suddenly asked curiously, "Still, aren''t you technically older than me, how are you the younger sister between us?" Without turning her head, Reyna replied, "That''s not important. What matters is the bond!" her voice sounded like a ''matter of fact''. Turning towards a stall that was near the car, Reyna let out a cute sound, "Waaah! What''s that?", she ran towards the stall. Seeing this black lined formed on Olivia''s forehead as she sighed again. Rolling up her sleeves, Olivia thought, ''Then I guess, it''s my responsibility as the older sister to educate you.'' Chapter 45: The Announcement. Part 1 The next day. Lucius was sitting in his room, cross-legged with his eyes closed. He had spent most of the night at the academy''s gym inside a private room. The intensity of his training far surpassed his previous limits, pushing across the boundaries of human body by a large margin. Spending most of time in an intense body control training, Lucius gains had been naturally great. The control over his body and his soul power had increased by a large margin, with him being able to draw more of his power with less effect. For example, if Lucius had 100 units of strength before and could only draw 90 units of it due to his untrained control, he could now draw as much as 120-130 units of power. The base still remained as 100, it was Lucius control which allowed him to use the extra 20 units of strength. Noticing it was already morning, Lucius slowly opened his eyes. His gaze remaining calm and indifferent, with a tiny bit of red rapidly retreating into the depths of his eyes, until it returned to its usual black. Black that was as dark as the abyss. Being done with his daily meditation session to refine his soul power, Lucius got dressed preparing to go to his classes. Just as he was about to exit his room, the watch on his hand beeped, notifying him of a message.A holograhic panel opened and the message read. [New Message] [All clases withstanding today have been cancelled. Students belonging to Year-1 and Year-2, are requested to Main Hall to receive further instructions. Attendance is mandatory. Any absences will not be tolerated.] Reading the message, Lucius stood there with his eyes being vacant. He was deep in thought. ''This should be it, right? It''s about time.'' Gathering his thoughts, Lucius started to move towards the Main Hall. The wheels of Cause had officially begun turning at this point. ---------------------------- The Main Hall was located near the central island of the academy. All students respective of their status were barred from setting foot into the central island. It housed the labs and other military installations of the Earth Alliance. It was a restricted area, with only authorized personnel allowed to set foot in the island.'' The Main Hall, however was situated on the banks of the lake surrounding the island. Students and teachers alike were allowed entry, not requiring any special ID. The Main Hall was used in order to facilitate important events such as graduation, or other such important ceremonies. The Main Hall was also called as the ''Mission Hall'', due to it providing students of Year 2 and above, opportunities to undertake missions outside the academy, to earn extra credits. Lucius being a Year-1 student had never entered the Main Hall, save on the first day, during the introduction ceremony. Looking at the large building in the distance, a myriad of thoughts appeared in Lucius'' mind. ''Just a year later, this building fell.'' Lucius mentally sighed. Still, there was no expression in his face, nor any fluctuations in his heart. He was simply too calm. A large flood of students, were currently all around him heading towards the same building. Various chatters and discussions here heard around him. "Why do you think we were called?" "I dunno, something major is happening I guess." "Still, it''d understandable why Year-2 students are being called, but why us too?" This was the general line of thought as concluded by Lucius. Still he wasn''t going to interrupt them to explain what he knew, simply choosing to remain silent. Walking in a unhurried manner, Lucius gradually neared the great doors of the Main Hall. The doors were surprisingly made of a rare kind of wood, not native to Earth. It was from a tree called ''Purple Fern'' easily distinguishable due to its unique fragrance, which has the effect of soothing one''s mind and allowing their bodies to relax. It was quite rare, owing to the distance of the planet in which it was produced and the low rate of production. Still considering the Alliance''s budget, this kind of expense was simply a drop in the bucket. Just as Lucius was about to set foot into the hall, a loud voice carrying his name was heard from behind. "Luuuciussss!!", the sound was high-pitched, making it easy to guess. Lucius paused his steps and turned around. In the distance a few feet away, were two girls making their way in his direction. One being tall and the other a little shorter. ''Reyna and, Olivia?'' Lucius mentally furrowed his brows. Looking at the two girls coming towards him, Lucius closely observed their body languages. His brows furrowed even deeper upon noticing the obvious closeness displayed by them. ''These two were not supposed to meet. Yet, here they are.'' He then continued to think, ''Causality is changing prematurely.'' This was not a good sign. If Reyna''s causality, being humanity''s focal point was starting to change, it meant that Lucius future plans were at the risk of being affected. Going along this line of thought, if the changes were too great, Lucius was at the risk of being found out by ''Them''. ''They must not be allowed to observe humanity, yet! Everything that we had planned is at the risk of falling apart.'' Lucius breathing was unconsciously quickening. This was an unacceptable outcome. Before Lucius could continue thinking of the various effects and possible changes to alleviate this situation, the two girls had already made it before him. "Luciu! I''m finally meeting you. You haven''t been responding to my calls and messages all this while!", upon making it up to him, Reyna immediately started talking. "Oh! The project you had helped me with, right. I had some major breakthroughs in it. You have to come with me today to the lab to view the results. It''s simple revolutionary!" Reyna eyes were brightly shining at this point. She couldn''t wait to drag him to her lab and show him what she had accomplished. ''Maybe he would feel proud and praise me, like Father did. Huh? Why do I feel happy at this thought?'' as Reyna''s thoughts were starting to head in a weird direction, she was interrupted by a cough. "Cough, cough. Having met your lab partner, you have forgotten about your sister here? Seems like I am only a temporary replacement." Olivia spoke. Her tone ''saddened'' "Of course not! You can also join us at my lab. Although I am not sure how much of it you will understand." Hearing Olivia words, Reyna quickly moved to explain herself. Ignoring Reyna''s banter, Olivia turned to look at Lucius. Looking at his familiar yet unfamiliar face, she was suddenly remembered about the events at the Pit. ''Right I have to ask him!'' Olivia suddenly remembered. These casual days of hanging put with Reyna had made her forget about that incident. Looking at him, Olivia slowly spoke, "I haven''t seen you in a long time Lucius. Are you well? Did you run into any trouble?". Her voice was filled with care and concern. "I''m fine Olivia. Thank you for your concern." Lucius casually spoke. Having already crossed over for almost 2 months, Lucius had already changed his way of speaking. It no longer, sounded cold and mechanical, gradually sounding like he used to. Still, Olivia being someone who basically grew up with, recognized the changes in his tone. Lucius might still be able to get by with people who did not know him, but in front of Olivia his acting was of no use. In just that one statement, she understood. ''He''s changed.'' Olivia felt her heart break. Her eyes grew unfocused and confused. Sinking into her thoughts, she tried her best to rationalize his changes. ''That''s right, he has gone through something so traumatic. It''s only natural that there are changes in his psyche.'' "Livia! Livia! Are you daydreaming again?" Reyna stood in front of Olivia, waving her hands. Seeing her best friend suddenly fall into a daze, she was naturally worried. "I''m alright!" Olivia spoke, her voice sounding a little hoarse. "It''s about time that we go in. They are going to close the doors." Lucius spoke while pointing at the Main Hall. "Hmmm." Reyna hummed, nodding her head. Together, they entered into the hall. Most of the other students had already made their way inside and taken their seats. Upon reaching a large lobby like area, they moved ahead , following a path which lead them into a large open space. Inside the said space, was a humongous semi-circular stands with seating. Facing directly opposite the seats was a large stage, currently unoccupied. The roof was drawn back, allowing the sunlight and fresh air enter the hall. Looking around, Lucius and the other too girls, eyed an empty row and made their way towards it. All three of them sat down and stared ahead at the stage. Lucius was sitting to the left, Reyna was in the middle and Olivia was on the right. The teachers had not yet arrived, with the huge stage being completely empty. A silent and awkward atmosphere was present between them, with none taking the initiative to start a conversation. Olivia was still startled and confused at Lucius''s changes, Reyna was worried about Olivia''s daze and was wondering how to invite Lucius to her lab again, and Lucius was trying to figure out how the two girls had met. Eventually gathering her courage, Reyna slowly spoke, "So Lucius, what were you doing in the City all these weeks?" "Nothing much. I was just meeting with a friend of mine." Lucius replied. Silence prevailed again. "Cough, Cough. So, what else did you do with your friend?" finding their silence suffocating Reyna tried to strike up conversation again. "Nothing much. Just the usual stuff." he replied curtly once again. Hearing him, Reyna felt like tearing her hair. ''What do you mean nothing much. Can''t you see that I am trying to alleviate this awkward atmosphere. What''s up with these one-liners!''. Alas Reyna was alone in her thoughts. Thankfully, the stage in front of them lit up and a teacher walked up. All the chatter around them died down as they started to place their attention on the middle-aged man in the platform. Looking at the middle-aged man, all of the students were astonished. While Lucius'' eyes lit up. Reyna unconsciously blurted out, "Father?" Chapter 46: The Announcement. Part 2 The middle-aged man who walked up to the stage wearing the teacher''s garbs was precisely Reyna''s Father. His name was Erik Snowden. If someone was asked who was the most influential man in the entire Earth Alliance, the answer would unanimously be this man. Although the position of Alliance Head existed, which was the highest seat in the Alliance, his influence still could not be compared to this man. The Snowden Corporation was founded in the year 2055. Since its inception, its rise to the peak had been nigh unstoppable. 90% of mankind''s advancement could be credited to this entity. From colonizing Mars, Earth''s closest planet to today''s interstellar warping and teleportation all were accredited to them. Their position was unshakable and their importance to mankind was simply too great. The position of ''Head'' of the Corporation had always been passed down, within its own family''s successors. Each successor was a heavenly-genius with a ''world-shaking'' contribution or invention under its belt. Erik, this generation''s successor, and Reyna being the next were no exceptions. In fact, Reyna''s contribution had already surpassed a vast majority of their previous successors, while she was not even above 20 years of age! Watching such a great figure, a living legend, in fact, walk upon the stage all the audience quietened down. This was a show of respect. "What''s Father doing here?" Reyna questioned, unsure herself. Lucius and Olivia did not reply for various reasons. Olivia because she too did not know and Lucius because he found it bothersome to explain. "Good morning everyone. Quite the fine weather we are having today isn''t it." the voice of a middle-aged male sounded out. His tone was friendly and quite jovial. The students upon seeing his demeanor at first had unconsciously stiffened up and were seriously listening. Hearing the great man open his announcement with such friendly words, everyone more or less relaxed. Noticing the atmosphere easing up, Erik put on a gentle smile. "That''s much better. Having everyone intently looking at me like that gives me quite the pressure. I mean look at my hands." saying so he rolled up his sleeves to expose his hands. Goosebumps being present. All present let out a peal of laughter at this. "Anyway, I''m going to skip all the pleasantries and tiring introductory lines, since none of you want to listen to it and I also don''t want to bother myself with it. Getting right to the point.", he paused at this point, and intently looked at the seated students. Seeing that all of them were following his words, he continued. "The Academy will be sending all students of Year 1 and Year 2 to other colonies or planets colonized by the Earth Alliance. During this period, all students will be delegated work pertaining to their studies and area of expertise. This period of training will last anywhere from 3-8 months." Giving some time for the students to digest this information, Holding up a wristband like an object in his hands, Erik then continued. "Your work and contribution will be recorded with this wristband and would be sent real-time to the academy''s AI system to be processed and managed. And before you guys start considering, no you can not cheat. I personally designed this." his last words were said with confidence. Indeed, everyone here nodded their head. While they had been considering how to exploit this system, upon hearing Erik''s personal guarantee, they immediately abandoned their plans. Who was this man? He was the number one, thinker and possibly the best scientist in the Alliance, currently known. If he was speaking with such confidence, it meant he had already had all possible loopholes covered. Seeing their expressions, Erik chuckled and gave a challenge, "Of course, if you can find a way to cheat the system, I shall listen and fulfill anyone request, you may have." Hearing this, the eyes of all the students immediately shined. A bright light could almost be seen spilling out the eyes of all the young men seated here. Most of them immediately turned their heads in the direction where Lucius and the other two girls were sitting. ''Any request? Doesn''t that mean we can possibly ask for Reyna''s hand in matrimony?''. This was a bold thought, yet was the most common among all the young men. Erik seeing this understood what they were thinking. yet simply smiled without offering any further explanations. Olivia seated next to Reyna, frowned at this. She then cautiously asked, "Is it alright for your father to make such a promise?" she then proceeded to gesture at the young men looking in their direction. Noticing her friend''s concern for her Reyna felt touched, she then chuckled before explaining, "Father never makes any empty promises. If he said such words it means he''s naturally confident of being guarded against such attempts. You can rest assured." Olivia nodded her head in understanding and even Lucius made a mental nod. He then continued to look towards the stage. ''Everything is going according to the script. No major deviations have occurred.'', he mentally noted and let out a sigh of relief. "Getting back to the main topic. As this will be a training exercise, you may also not involve your families to make your life easier. Any such attempts found, will entail serious consequences. This will also be guaranteed by me." he resumed. "As to which planets or colonies you will be sent to, it will be chosen at random by the academy''s AI and will only be informed once you get there to the said planet. So you can forget about transporting items or making prior connections at the bases. But you don''t have to worry too much. All basic necessities will be provided and some of your classmates may also be coming to the same planet." "Your mission is to use your knowledge and skills to improve the rankings of the colonies. This will require cooperation between yourselves and the inhabitants of the base, with credits being shared depending on the final ranking." All human colonies were ranked. This was done to encourage competition between the various other colonies and to spur development. The ranking was calculated with many factors such as rate of resource production, improvement of the base in various areas, drawing more people to inhabit the bases, improving the reach of the base on the planet, etc. The ranking is usually compiled once every 10 years. This ranking is very important for the various families and corporations who had invested and are in charge of the colonies. It directly affects their influence and their seats in the World Council. The more influence they have, the greater the right to speak in the World Council. The students upon hearing his words, mentally calculated, and realized this was the final year before the rankings were calculated. All of them immediately became serious as this directly involved the interests of their respective families. They started looking at the other students with wary gazes and hostility. Seeing this reaction, Erik calmly moved to explained, "In order to avoid the conflict of interests between your various families. All students will only be sent to an Alliance-controlled colony. Of course, to encourage you,r fellow students, your final rankings will determine the amount of influence given to your families. All families of the students involved will get an equal share, so you don''t have to be so guarded against each other." "Therefore work hard! You, youngsters, are the future of the Alliance. Thank you for listening." saying so Erik started to walk off the stage. Just as he was about to step down, he suddenly stopped and hurriedly turned back. "Oops almost forgot, start packing your bags as all of you will be leaving in 2 weeks. Since the colonies chosen are near the frontier, it will take at least a month and a half to reach there. You are dismissed." he then finally stepped off the stage. The students sat there in incomprehension for a few seconds, before hurriedly exiting. They had to collect information, inform their families, brush up on their studies. There was a ton of preparation to do and only 2 weeks. It was a battle to reach the exit. Students were pushing and tripping over each other. Thankfully the teachers expected this reaction and moved to quell the crowds. Finally, all students exited the Main Hall without any major incidents occurring. Well, all students save for 3. Lucius and Olivia who were also getting up to leave were hurriedly stopped by Reyna. When they asked her why she just smiled and said-''wait''. Once all the students were gone, Reyna stood up and led the two of them towards the small room, which was situated near the stage. As the three of them entered the room, they saw a middle-aged man calmly sitting in one of the chairs available. Seeing the 3 of them enter, he looked up and smiled, his gaze looking at each of them. He then finally stopped his gaze on Reyna and spoke with a bright smile. "Silly girl, you made new friends and have forgotten all about your father." he gently chided, shrugging his hands in ''exaggeration''. Reyna rolled her eyes at her father''s antics and moved to introduce Lucius and Olivia to her father. They replied in turn with polite greetings. Rubbing his beard with his hands, Erik sized up the two young adults. His face then turned gentle and spoke with a polite smile, "I''m glad that both of you have taken time to make friends with my daughter. If she has done anything unsightly to accidentally upset you, I apologize in her steed." He then bowed down towards both of them. Olivia and Lucius immediately moved to stop him from apologizing and hurriedly reassured him. The 3 of them sat together with Erik as they discussed. Erik learned more about Olivia and Lucius'' pasts, and they in turn learned about Reyna''s embarrassing childhood moments. At the end of the conversation, Erik, Lucius, and Olivia had a smile on their face, whereas Reyna was red-faced and fuming. Hearing her father unhesitantly sell out her secrets, she refused to talk to him anymore and threw a tantrum. She was similarly angry at her friends for laughing at her expense. "I don''t want to occupy any more of your precious time. Please do take care of Reyna and visit this uncle once in a while." Erik requested. "No worries uncle, your daughter is in good company," Olivia stated. Just as the three of them were about to turn around and leave, Erik''s voice was once again heard. "Lucius, if I could have a chat with you for a moment." Lucius who had been acting this entire time had finally released a sigh of relief, immediately went on alert when he heard this. ''What does this old man want from me? I haven''t had anything to do with him, until today. He shouldn''t have been able to see through my guise. Did he notice something?'' Lucius raced his mind to come to an analysis and even the reddish-black soul in his mindspace was stirring. Outwardly he showed no change in his demeanor as he turned around and replied. "Of course, Uncle." his handsome face carrying a warm smile. Chapter 47: Real Intentions Hearing her father''s words, Reyna wanted to interrupt him but was held back by Olivia. Tuning back she saw Olivia shaking her head and looking at her with a gentle smile. The words that Reyna was about to speak were pushed back down her throat. Lucius caught this interaction in the corner of his eyes but ignored it. He followed behind Erik, till they both disappeared from the girls views. Seeing that they were gone, Reyna turned around and asked Olivia, "Why did you stop me, Livia?" Olivia just gave a gentle smile and explained, "Your father seemed to have something important to talk with Lucius. Therefore, you should let them go and have a chat." Saying so Olivia turned around and started to walk towards the exit of the Main Hall. Reyna stood there thinking for a few seconds before she followed behind Olivia. She couldn''t help but ask curiously, "What''s so important, that my father wants to talk with Lucius all alone. This is the first time that they met after all." "Who knows?", Olivia shrugged and lightly giggled, "Maybe it has something to do with you." Reyna couldn''t help but think of a possibility. Her face reddened as a result and she hurriedly spoke, "It can''t be!" However internally she felt a little happy. ''Why am I feeling so expectant? What''s wrong with me!'' Reyna shook her head and tapped her cheeks. Olivia caught this action of hers and gave out a bitter smile. While she did feel happy for Reyna, she could not help but feel a little despondent. ''Lucius....'' -------------------------- Lucius who was following behind Erik was currently feeling a little annoyed. After asking Lucius to follow him, Erik did not speak about anything else and continued to walk silently. Lucius'' mind kept thinking about the various possibilities on why he was singled out. As far as he recalled, he did not do anything that would draw the attention of the Head of the Snowden Corporation. ''I checked the identity of all the people I killed at the Pit. The warehouse that I attacked also has nothing to do with the Snowden Corporation. I visited the Snowden building once, with Reyna. Even if he had been watching us in the lab, he should not have noticed any abnormalities. Is it because I acted too brilliantly? That doesn''t warrant this action.'' Lucius calmly analyzed. As they continued to walk, they had already exited the Main Hall, from one of it''s other exits. They walked atop a solitary path that was devoid of any students and teachers alike. The sides were lined with tall trees that blocked the excessive sunlight, only letting the perfect amount of light to fall. Although, it was currently winter, the academy artificially controlled the weather, bringing it to the peak of spring. The sound of their leaves rustling, birds chirping and their footsteps endlessly echoed. Neither of them spoke, each dwelling in their own thoughts. Just as this silence seemed to continue on forever, Erik broke the atmosphere with his words, "What do you think about the event I announced today?" "Sounds interesting. It''s a wonderful opportunity for the students to cultivate their talents." Lucius replied. "Indeed. Diamonds are made under pressure, this event will either produce diamonds or just ordinary stones." Erik nodded his head. He did not face Lucius as he spoke, but continued to glance straight. Although his question seemed relevant, both of them knew that this wasn''t the main point. "What about your family Lucius? I never heard you talk about them in our discussion earlier." Erik carefully asked. Lucius plainly stated, "Don''t have any. I was abandoned at birth. Olivia and her father took me in and raised me." "Oh, I am sorry if that question was unpleasant." Erik immediately replied apologetically. "It''s fine, think nothing of it." Lucius spoke blandly as he waved his hands. Erik who had been walking, suddenly stopped. Seeing him stop, Lucius gave out a light smile and also stopped. Hesitating for a while, Erik suddenly let out a sigh and spoke, "Family. It''s a special word isn''t it. A bond that is closer than any other among all creatures. Something that nobody really explains or teaches you about. You just naturally feel it upon birth. That closeness and that warmth, it can never be replaced." Erik continued to stare into the distance his eyes were blank as he was immersed into his thoughts. Lucius stood next to him quietly with a vague smile on his face, he did not intervene Erik''s thoughts nor did he continue thinking about his motives. "Reyna. Ever since her mother died upon giving birth, she was the closest person to me. My most precious treasure." Erik had a smile on his face as he continued, "I remember every moment from the second she was born. Her first words, the first time she walked, her interest in the field of science. That innocent smile and that adorable face. When my wife died, I thought my world was over. " "But on laying my eyes on that little infant, crying with all it''s might, wriggling her tiny little fingers, I realized maybe this wasn''t the end. Maybe God had decided to take pity upon me and leave me with something." He then slowly turned back to look at Lucius. Seeing that face which carried a light smile with no show of being confused, Erik stated, "I taught her, protected her, treasured her and spoilt her." "One day, somebody might capture her heart and take her away from me, yet I am willing to give her up. I''d do anything just to see her happy." He paused and took a deep breath, staring into Lucius'' eyes he spoke, "But! Nobody shall use my little girl as a means to advance their schemes. No matter his status, his influence or his position, I will destroy anyone who holds such intentions,." "So tell me Lucius. What are your intentions?" he growled. "Ha." Lucius gave a short laugh. The smile in his face disappeared as he gazed back at Erik with an emotionless look, "Finally dropping the act are we? Although I have to confess, keeping that always smiling look on my face is honestly too annoying." His tone was no longer the gentle one used previously. It had reverted back to his cold, cynical, mechanical voice. "What are my intentions with your daughter you ask? Since you seem sincere about it, I might as well explain." Lucius calmly spoke. Erik had also dropped his friendly demeanor as a wave of hostility and authority aimed at Lucius. Lucius simply shrugged off his gaze and continued, "Your daughter is required for an important plan. As for what the plan is, I cannot explain to you. Rest assured, I don''t mean any harm to your daughter" Hearing this Erik took a deep breath and spoke. His voice was like a volcano that was about to erupt, "Indeed, you do have a purpose after all. You are not simple" Feeling the anger in his voice, Lucius paid it no mind as he curiously asked, "What gave me away? I remained as careful as possible in hiding my nature, taking care to carefully act in front of everybody." "One of the men protecting my daughter, mentioned an overwhelming sense of danger when he saw you for the first time. My younger brother also told me that you were not as simple as you looked." Erik carefully explained. "Ah, I see. So that gaze I noticed the first time was one of your men. Seems like I scared him a little by exposing my killing intent. My bad." Lucius suddenly felt everything connecting together and making sense. "Anyway, I think our farce has gone on long enough. Since you have had this ''chat'' that you wanted, I''ll be taking my leave." Lucius said as he turned around to walk. "You will not be leaving here alive!" Erik hoarsely screamed. His rage had already reached the tipping point. "Oh really. Won''t your daughter feel sad. I do seem to notice that she looks upon me a bit favorably. If I were to disappear, shortly after meeting with you, considering her intelligence, she would be able to make sense of the truth. Do you want your precious daughter to hate you, for killing her first friend?" Lucius looked at Erik, as he spoke lightly with an interested smile on his face. "If killing you here means I can guarantee her safety. Even if I am hated by her forever, it is a sacrifice I am willing to make." Erik savagely spoke. His eyes were filled with the intention to kill. Hearing him, Lucius clicked his tongue and shook his head, "All that talk about wanting to keep her happy, yet doing something hypocritical the next instant." He then looked into Erik''s eyes and spoke. His manner of speaking was unhurried and light. The fear of death did not seem to exist in his eyes, as if it was guaranteed that he would walk out of here alive. "Unfortunately, I can''t allow you to make her unhappy. I can''t risk the possibility of the plan failing due to her unbalanced mental state." Lucius shook his head and turned back to continue walking Seeing his demeanor Erik suddenly felt interested as he questioned Lucius, " It seems you are very confident of making it out of here alive. Do tell me, where is this confidence coming from." Lucius did not stop as he continued speaking, "Do you honestly think you can kill me? I have to disappoint you, but these 12 pathetic lizards who have surrounded me can''t do it." Erik suddenly lost his composure. He stared at Lucius in shock. His mind was in chaos as he tried to understand the situation. ''HOW?! How did he notice them? They are wearing the latest complete-stealth gear manufactured for the Alliance super soldier program. No trace of their existence must be leaked!!'' Erik''s mind simply could not comprehend. Lucius who walked in a calm and unhurried manner, did not seem to be afraid of the invisible assassins surrounding him. "So do you want to pull your men back or want me to send them on their way back. Although, my method is a one-way trip from which they will not be returning. It would be a shame for such talented lizards to die so young." Erik suddenly felt his mind, assaulted with a strong sense of fear. He forcibly calmed his mind. Gritting his teeth he bellowed, "All of you stand down!" Although he could have ignored Lucius words and ordered them to kill him, some inexplicable feeling told him not to do so. That if he chose to continue with his original course of action, something disastrous would happen. "Smart choice. It would have been a shame if Reyna had suddenly been orphaned." he heard Lucius''s voice tinged with appreciation. Lucius had walked quite the distance away before his stopped. Standing unresponsive for a while, he then promised. "You don''t have to be worried about your daughter. As long as I am around, no harm will befall her." He then resumed walking. Erik who had heard his words and felt a little better as he oddly felt reassured by his promise. Just as he was about to look up at Lucius, his heart dropped again. The wind carried the next part of Lucius'' sentence, "Although, I can''t guarantee her life after her role is complete." Erik looked up and stared at Lucius'' back until it slowly disappeared into the distance. Ever since Lucius had dropped his act, Erik had felt a sense of oppression and suffocation surrounding him. It felt like he was surrounded by hungry hyenas, waiting to pounce upon him. His fate unknown. He opened and closed his hands repeatedly ,only to find them sweaty and stiff. His clothes suddenly felt heavier, as they were completely drenched in cold sweat. He stood quietly and repeatedly took large gulps of air to calm his mind and alleviate his fear. ''That is no boy. That is a monster wearing human skin. How terrifying!'' ''I can only hope that he remembers and honors his promise. As for what happens after that, I can only prepare for all cases.'' ''My love, please protect our daughter, from up there. Don''t let this monster succeed in his scheme!'' Chapter 48: Confronting Lucius. Part 1 ''How unexpected.'' Lucius thought to himself as he was making his way back. That conversation with Erik was truly something which Lucius had not expected. When he had been called to have a chat, Lucius; mind had rapidly drawn up all the worst case scenarios. He feared that his actions in the Pit, or his identity as the one behind that attack on warehouse in the Commercial district had been revealed. After all, no matter how careful Lucius was in hiding his tracks, some evidence might have accidentally been overlooked by him. In fact, it was already quite commendable on how much he had been able to hide his tracks under the scrutiny of modern technology. If not for Lucius'' thorough understanding of mankind''s technology and it''s appropriate weaknesses, he would not have been able to hide for so long. Thinking back to his conversation with Erik, the smile on his face completely disappeared. ''Should I have killed him to get rid of the unstable factor?'', Lucius pondered seriously. Although this course of action guarantees the stability of his plans, it had its fair share of demerits as well. The most obvious one being, Reyna''s state of mind. If, because of her Father''s death, her mental state is affected and therefore leading to delays or even complete lack of her involvement in humanity''s struggle, mankind has zero chance at making through it''s tribulations. She was simply that important. Even the ''Great Commander'' Alex can be allowed to die. While his death might affect humanity''s struggles to a certain extent, in the grand scheme of things he wasn''t someone of crucial importance. Without Reyna''s efforts however, humanity simply stood no chance. Due to his future plans, Lucius himself can also not get himself too deeply involved in mankind''s causality. And even if he did, he himself was not confident of his chances at humanity''s survival without Reyna''s existence. Shaking his head, Lucius took a deep breath. What was done was already done, it could no longer be changed. As for what was about to come, Lucius could only prepare himself and face it in the future. ''If he is smart as I remember, he should understand my intentions and won''t proactively try to mess with my plans.'' "Luuucciuss!!" he heard a loud cry. Lifting his head, he could see Reyna and Olivia standing in front of them. It was obvious that they had been waiting for him to come back. Seeing that he had to go back to resuming his act, Lucius face slightly twitched. ''Sigh, it''s too tiring to put on act to deceive everyone. If only I can drop the act sooner.'' Still pushing down the dissatisfaction he was feeling, he obediently put on a smile and walked towards them. Reyna bounced towards him, her face slightly red and her demeanor shy. Arriving in front of Lucius, she opened her mouth to talk, yet hesitated. Drooping her face and joining her index fingers together, she mumbled under her breath. "So, what did my father talk to you about." Her voice was so soft that if not for Lucius'' hearing being bolstered by his soul power, he would not have caught her words. "He was just asking for my opinion on his announcement today." Lucius cooly replied. Hearing him, Reyna abruptly stopped her actions and carefully looked at his face, she then quickly asked, "That''s it?". Apparently confused by her words, Lucius asked, "Yeah. What else would he talk about?" "Oh." Reyna''s reply was short. Her voice dripped with dissatisfaction and disappointment. Her head dropped once again as she walked towards Olivia. Watching her act like this, Lucius was genuinely confused. He wasn''t sure why this girl was acting this way. If she was curious or embarrassed, he could understand that. But the sheer disappointment he felt in her voice, utterly confused him. He looked up at Olivia quizzically, but was met with a light smile and shrug. Olivia patted Reyna on her shoulder and the three of them resumed their journey. Lucius who was quiet for sometime suddenly called out, "Reyna, I need your help with something." Reyna''s low spirits instantly rose up, as she immediately bounced up with greater energy. Her eyes were shining as she looked at him with an intense gaze. Lucius was inwardly shocked at her comeback, '' Such intensity. Is that fighting intent in her gaze. Why?'' Shaking off his unnecessary thoughts, he spoke, "In preparation for this expedition, I need your help in making me a weapon." "A weapon?" Both Olivia and Reyna asked at the same time. Seeing their confusion, Lucius explained, "Since the planet were are heading to, was said to be in the frontier, there will be no lack of dangerous species. It is always advised to remain cautious and prepared. Therefore, The Alliance allows us to carry tools or devices suited for protection. In fact, the army students will also be provided firearms." "How do you know this?", Reyna curiously asked. While her father was announcing the event, he did not mention such things. Unflustered by her question, Lucius immediately replied, "Your father told me. The academy will be sending this information to the students in a few hours." Looks of comprehension could be seen in the faces of both the girls. "So, what''s the weapon you need?" Reyna questioned. Lucius stopped his walk and opened the holographic screen in his watch. Opening a drawing screen, he used his fingers to trace the outline of the weapon he required. Reyna and Olivia looked on with a confused expression, before being dumbfounded. Reyna''s eyes bulged as she looked at the screen and then Lucius. Repeating this process three more times, she stuttered, "This..? Are you sure this is the weapon you want?" Lucius directly nodded at her question. Confused, she asked again, "Can you even use this weapon?" Lucius nodded at her question again. He then instructed, "Also please use the compacting technology so that entire weapon can be shrunk down to fit in my bag. The material used for its construction must contain, Starsteel- Prefect Iron- Graphene in a 3-4-3 ratio. Make sure it''s edge is sharpened to the extreme." Although she was still confused, Reyna mentally made note of his instruction. She then confidently declared, "No problem! I shall personally oversee the process of it''s forging." After they were done settling a few minor questions, the three of them parted to get back to their own classes. ------------------------------- After a day of classes, Lucius was heading back to his room. It was already night-time. Due the announcement earlier in the day, the classes for the morning had been postponed, with Lucius having to attend the extra classes in the evening to make up for his earlier disappearance. Having nothing else to do for the time being, Lucius simply decided to head back to his room to continue with his soul cultivation. Although he cannot increase its Stage, he can refine his soul energy and condense it. In cultivating the soul at each Stage, there were three subdivisions. The lower, mid and peak levels. At the lower level, one''s soul energy would still be hazy, taking on a cloud like appearance. The energy would not flow without wastage, with a large amount of efficacy lost in transfer. This level was called the Gaseous state. At the mid level, the soul energy would condense from it''s hazy cloud like appearance to one that is more solid. It would resemble flowing water, with the level being named Liquid state. At the peak stage, the soul energy would completely condense and form a solid figure. The efficacy at this level would be maximum with no excess wastage. It was aptly named, Solid state. While the levels, were crudely named as Gaseous, Liquid and Solid, it precisely informed one of their progress. Lucius having mysteriously broken through into Stage 1, was still in lower level. almost 30% of the reddish-black cloud had been condensed and refined. In regards to advancing into Stage 1, even though ''that event'' had not occurred, he himself was still clueless. ''After being in that weird ''hunger'' state the other day, I have not being able to absorb the souls of the people I kill. Nor has that mysterious hunger revealed itself once again.'' Lucius thought to himself.. Lucius had tried to injure himself once more, to try to force it, but nothing had happened. His wounds had continued to heal quickly at the expense of his soul energy. As he approached his room, he could vaguely make out a shadow standing near his entrance. Approaching closer, Lucius identified the shadow to be Olivia. She had already changed from her academy uniform, into one more casual. Seeing Lucius approach, she gently smiled and called out, "You are very late." Lucius simply shrugged his shoulder and replied, "Extra classes.". He then used his ID to open his door. While he seemed normal on the outside, inwardly he was thinking ''Why is this girl here?'' Chasing her off was not an option, since Lucius had already noticed Olivia''s confusion earlier today. She seemed to detect something off about Lucius behaviour. Knowing that he somehow made a mistake in his act with her, Lucius mentally sighed and invited her in. ''This is the second person today, who has seen through my act. Might as well resolve this one at one shot.'' Chapter 49: Confronting Lucius. Part 2 Opening the door and moving to the sides, Lucius gestured his hands to invite Olivia in. "Come in." Lucius said in a mild tone. Olivia did not stand on ceremony and directly let herself in. She walked right in and took a seat on Lucius'' bed which was situated to the left of the entrance, directly against the wall. The room provided my the academy wasn''t anything special. It was very basic with one hall/bedroom, a study, a laundry room and a bathroom. The furniture provided included a bed, a wardrobe. a desk, a washing/drying machine and the basic bathing facilities. Upon entering through the door, one would directly enter the hall /bedroom. Apart from the bed that was against the wall in the left and the wardrobe directly across the door, nothing else was present in the room. Making your way further in, two doors led to the right and the left respectively. To the right lay the study and on the left lay the laundry and the bathroom. Lucius, originally and also currently was a neat freak. He did not like having his items disordered and was keen about their arrangement. His room was so clean and ordered, that one could take a picture of it and refer to it as the ''model'' room. After Olivia took her seat, she sat there silently with her head looking down. Her abyssal black hair, was loose with the majority of it falling forwards, hiding her face. Her feet were unconsciously shifting about, producing a dull sound against the room''s floor. Her thoughts seemed to be in conflict, as she repeatedly tried to voice her thoughts but couldn''t find the right words. Looking at her act like this, Lucius confirmed his earlier conjecture. He was sure that his act was seen through. Letting out a mental sigh, he started the conversation. "Tell me Olivia, why are you here?", Lucius spoke in a cold tone. He no longer bothered to act or conceal his change. The sooner he could get this over with the better. ''There is no point trying to lie to her either. I don''t remember such a person in my memories, yet she is very familiar with me.'' Lucius analyzed. Hearing him talk like that, Olivia''s body involuntarily stiffened. Slowly looking up, she looked at Lucius face. That ice cold voice and that emotionless face. Looking at his pitch black eyes, silently staring at her, Olivia felt suffocated. Her worst thoughts had come true. ''He really has changed.'' Meeting Lucius earlier today, Olivia knew something was different about him. She could see him fake his expressions and tone, hiding his change. If Lucius was interacting with a stranger, or a new acquaintance such as Reyna, they would not be able to see through his facade. Lucius'' acting was almost perfect, save for some tiny discrepancies. Though these discrepancies were ignorable, Olivia who had basically grown up with Lucius could clearly identify them. She was intimately familiar with his behaviour and therefore immediately identified it. Still, being silent and hesitant was not going to clear her doubts. Although Olivia felt a vague premonition, she wanted to know the truth. Suppressing that ominous feeling, she voiced out her question. "Lucius did you kill someone?" she directly got to the point, without beating around the bush. Immediately upon asking this question, she closed her eyes and clenched her fists. She did not want to look directly at Lucius, when he answered this question. "Yes, I did." Lucius directly answered. He did not bother hiding the matter and spoke of it in a casually His tone was so casual, similar to when talks about the weather or asks for the time. "And before you ask. I wasn''t forced or threatened. I killed them simply because I did not like the sight of them. Pathetic bugs like that are better of dead." he continued speaking, his tone filled with disdain. Olivia body quivered. ''Nooo!!'', she screamed within her mind. ''My Lucius would never do something like that. He is a kind and honest boy.'' Olivia was in denial. Her ears clearly heard Lucius'' words, yet her heart refused to accept the contents. Ignoring her reactions, Lucius continued to speak. His voice was no longer emotionless but was filled with contempt and scorn. "Not just one. I killed the whole colony of those bugs. It''s better to get rid of such filthy things, en masse." "Stop." Olivia said in a faint voice. It was so faint, that nobody except her could hear it. "Ha! You should have seen that pathetic face they made. Tears and snot covering their filthy faces, they begged at my feet. Begged me to spare their lives." "Stop." "As if their lives were worth anything in the first place. Like I even cared about their ''inferior life'' in the first place. Bugs are meant to be crushed." "STOP!!" Olivia screamed. She leapt off her seat and raised her hands to slap Lucius on his face. Her face was livid and anger had long since exceeded her tolerance levels. Hearing Lucius, continue to refer to those people as bugs and inferior life, finally snapped the last bit of thread holding her. Due to her sudden action, most people would have been caught unaware and her slap would have landed on their face. Olivia was also not a frail and dainty maiden. Her reflexes and strength were top-tier, with her body also being high-spec. That combined with the training provided in the academy, gave her a reasonable amount of strength. Alas, Lucius was unlike most people. This top-tier strength was nothing but a joke in his eyes. Without evading her slap or even shifting his position, Lucius directly raised his left hand caught Olivia''s hand. Upon her initial attack being thwarted, Olivia clenched her right hand and punched in Lucius'' direction. As it neared his body, Lucius directly slapped her hand away. "Are you done?" Lucius asked, reverting back to his cold, emotionless voice. Ignoring his words, Olivia repeatedly clenched her fist and continued to attack in Lucius'' direction. Her eyes were tightly shut and tears fell from them. Lucius continued to slap away her hands mercilessly. "Why?", Olivia asked, her body no longer had the energy to continue attacking. With her voice being too faint, Lucius was unable to hear it, "What?" he questioned. "WHY DID YOU HAVE TO KILL THEM?!" No longer able to restrain her emotions, Olivia bellowed in a loud tone. Her voice contained rage, guilt, indignation and various other emotions. Her tears started falling ceaselessly and her body was uncontrollably quivering. Olivia was feeling a multitude of different emotions. Her mental state was no longer calm. Olivia''s dream was to protect the citizens of the Alliance. She strived to serve them and if needed die for them. Ever since a young age, Olivia understood that the world was endlessly large. Her world wasn''t simply contained to her town, or her city. It expanded to encompass the entire Earth Alliance. She knew that in the grand scheme of things, she was but an insignificant existence, yet she wanted to change that. She wanted to be more than just an insignificant figure, to protect the Alliance, the people and her family. This was Olivia''s dream. And the cause of that dream was a single young boy. That lonely figure that was abandoned by his family, the people and ultimately the world itself. Olivia still remembered the day, she first met Lucius. She was 8 years old. She and her father were out in the town, to purchase some provisions for dinner. Olivia''s mother had died when she was still a toddler and her father had been the one taking care of her since. It was a normal evening and the atmosphere was happy. They had just passed through the various stalls, when Olivia noticed a shadowy figure lying in the shadow of the one the buildings. The figure wasn''t moving. Olivia told her father and the both of them made their way to that figure. In the shadow lay a thin, young boy. His body was pale and yellow-ish. His skin was wrinkled with black scorch marks being present all over the body. His arms and legs were as thin as twigs, holding little to no muscles. All his bones peaked from his skin, each seemingly trying to escape. Cuts and bruises filled that young boy''s body and his face showed traces of physical abuse. His eyes were limped, as he struggled to open them. Using his broken mouth, he articulated a few sounds. "P-pl-le-,,-se, sp-aar-,,, m....e" his throat made a voice had could not be considered human. Looking at his condition, Olivia''s father took pity and eventually adopted the boy, in hopes that his family would try to find him. This was the first time, that Olivia met Lucius. The image of that hopeless figure, lying at the doors of death had burned itself into Olivia''s memory. She did not want to see him like that again. Lucius'' importance to Olivia was greater than her very life. That''s why she established that dream of hers, and strived day and night, sacrificing many things to work towards it. To serve the Alliance, protect the people, all of this to ultimately protect that young innocent boy. Yet, that very same boy currently stood before her, looking at her with his scary,emotionless gaze. He wasn''t gazing at her like a normal person would gaze at another. His gaze was filled with indifference. He gazed at her in a way similar to how one would gaze at a fly, bothering a person. Olivia''s heart was tearing into pieces as she felt that gaze directed at her. SHe felt her very existence being invalidated. "Why, you ask?", she heard him speak with that cold tone. Hearing his voice, did not fill her with warmth as it originally did. Instead, his voice made her feel a chill at the depths of her bones. "Because they tried to kill me and failed, paying the price with their lives. I killed them because I was able to, no other reason." Lucius flatly told her. "But that did not warrant their deaths! They must be tried under official law. Only then, can their verdicts be decided! No single person has the right to judge another person''s crimes." Olivia bellowed, trying her best to have her beliefs, heard by him. "Stop." Lucius unhesitantly cut her off. "So you''re telling me, that when someone tries to kill me, I have to simply die and wait for them to be convicted in the court of law? Hahaha, what a joke." His laughter directly shattered Olivia''s belief. "They tried to kill me, but did not have the ability to do it. Since I had the ability, I killed them. There is no other reason to this situation. They were weak, hence they died." "Similarly, if one day I met someone stronger than me, one that has the ability to kill me. Then I would die in return. It''s simple." "But! The Alliance would protect you! I WILL PROTECT YOU!" Olivia screamed loudly, her true thoughts finally out loud. She understood the logic in Lucius'' words, but could not accept that. Wasn''t the system of law, birthed to protect weaker people against the strong. Yet, Lucius upon hearing her words simply laughed and said a single line. "You? With that pathetic strength of yours? Don''t make me laugh." his tone was filled with mockery. Olivia was stunned. She did not expect Lucius to reply like that. Her tears and body froze at that one sentence. Lucius walked towards Olivia who was sitting upon the ground. He kneeled close to her and used his hands to hold her face. Locking her eyes into his, Lucius spoke. "Listen closely, little girl. Fairness and justice are nothing but a fairytale. If you hold on too the hopes of someone strong standing up for the weak, then I have to say, ''Stop deluding yourself and wake up''. Do you honestly think, those who stand up high, care about the lives of those beneath them?" "Dreams are the object of perusal only for those who are truly free." "Only strength can guarantee one''s life. This so called peace and freedom is nothing but a joke. Human weapons? Warships? They are nothing in front of true, absolute power." "Humans are nothing but insignificant bugs. Weakinglings who delude themselves, thinking they are the strongest." "You want to protect me? But how are you going to protect yourself?" Saying this, Lucius unhesitantly stood up and walked towards the door. Opening the door, Lucius paused for a second and spoke, "Weakness is a sin. In the face of ''Them'', no amount of strength is enough. Your pathetic ''Alliance'' or your insignificant ''laws'', are lower than dust in their eyes.'' Leaving behind these words, he walked out into the night sky. Olivia sat there on the floor in silence for a few seconds, before her tears resumed to pour out in greater amounts. Her whole body was shaking and her sobs were clearly heard. Olivia who was upright and determined, had finally broken down. Her beautiful figure, almost heavenly in comparison and her ignorance , had been marred by the truth of the world. Chapter 50: Searching for the Crystal. ''Why did I say those things to her?'' Currently Lucius'' mind was in a dilemma. After the conversation with Olivia, Lucius had left her in his room and made his way outside. Judging from her behaviour, Lucius felt that it wouldn''t be alright to send her back to her room immediately. The fact that a female student of the Academy had gone back to her room crying after visiting a male student at night, would raise many red flags. Although Lucius did not care about any rumours directed at him, getting suspended at this point would mean Lucius might miss ''that event.'' This was a risk that he could not take. Lucius'' words to Olivia weren''t gentle in the least. He had directly told her the truth and utterly crushed her ideals. This very fact made Lucius feel weird. Considering his personality, Lucius would not actually care about a random human, let alone Olivia. If this was the usual him, he would have either directly chased her off or perhaps even killed her on the spot. But the actions he had taken were out of character. When he had first heard the question from Olivia, Lucius felt a weird feeling in his heart. The possibility of lying to her did not occur to him and even the intent to kill her was missing. Having not felt any type of emotion for a long time, Lucius was unfamiliar with that feeling in his heart. That mysterious feeling had disappeared as soon as it had occurred, not even allowing him to properly analyze his own condition. This very change in his heart, was what made him speak those words. Olivia''s conviction and her dedication towards Lucius did not move him in any way. He was simply used to relying on himself, hence the concept of accepting the help of others was a foreign concept for him. Therefore, seeing herself believe in the Academy and on mankind made Lucius feel anger. Anger. An emotion he hadn''t felt for almost 100 years. This anger he had felt led him to his outburst, heartlessly crushing Olivia''s heart. ''Upon hearing my words she either reaffirms her goals and works to becoming stronger. Or perishes along with the rest of mankind.'' Lucius coldly thought. As for what path Olivia chooses, Lucius did not care in the least. To him she was just another human. An insignificant figure in the grand scheme of things. ------------------------------ The night passed by quietly and the sun had spread its first light into Earth''s atmosphere. With the announcement for the expedition, the Academy had decided to cancel all classes for the rest of the two weeks, in consideration of the students. Going to another planet, wasn''t as simple as packing a bag and taking a spaceship. Well that would be the case, if people were going on a holiday to sightsee. But since, this expedition directly affected the standings of the various families and their positions in the overall rankings in the World Council, the students representing their families could not take it easy. Since the Academy had explicitly stated that students could not receive the aid for their respective families during their period of training and assessment, prior preparations had to made before they left Earth. Olivia who had spent the night on the floor in Lucius'' room , finally stood up. The moment she stood up, she immediately stumbled owing to her legs being paralysed due to sitting down for too long. She fell down once again. Olivia gathered her strength and slowly stood up for a second time, this time holding on the bed near her for support. Her shoulders were slumped and her hair was in a mess. Her eyes were listless and her skin pale. Her face was filled with tear-stains, reminding her of last nights happenings. The conviction and vigour she had in her eyes previously were non-existent. She resembled a beautiful, but abandoned puppet. ''That''s right. What right do I have to speak about protecting him, when I myself am weak.'' Olivia thought deprecatingly. ''It''s actually laughable. When Lucius was being bullied, I stood there in the sidelines helpless. When he was beat up and threatened, I simply watched it happen, being unable to help him.'' a smile filled with mockery filled Olivia''s face.'' After regaining some strength in her legs, Olivia started to walk. She left Lucius'' room and headed in a random direction. Her movement was mechanical, with no fixed direction or motive in her step. Olivia had lost her direction. Both in thought and in life. She no longer cared about living and thought it would be better off is she died. ''Afterall, I couldn''t even protect my goal in life. What is the use of living anymore?'' she let out a soundless laughter in her mind. ---------------------------- Lucius had no preparations to make as to speak. He did not have any family nor organisation behind him, to support in the rankings. His actual plans, as to speak, would only begin after he went to the frontier planet. ''Not like the rankings are going to matter anyway. The Alliance is going to have much more serious problems.'' Seeing that he had nothing to do, Lucius decided to leave the academy and head into the city. He had already asked Reyna to make him the weapon he needed. Other basic provisions would be provided by the Alliance, thus Lucius did not have to prepare anything in advance. The only thing he was missing, which was also very important for his plans was the dark-gold crystal. If Lucius wanted to act according to his plans in the frontier planet, Ka''lor''ah''s existence was crucial. With the beginning to ''that event'', the wheels of fate and cause would start turning, exposing humanity to a greater stage. It was vital, that Lucius had Ka''lor''ah on his person in order to hide his Causality and avoid disrupting the causality of the others. Wearing a dark robe to hide his features, Lucius took to the alleyways and the shadows to hide from the eyes of the people present in the street. With the increase in the Stage of his soul Lucius ability to detect had improved considerably. This coupled with his connection with Ka''lor''ah would allow him to detect her presence, if he was closeby. While this was a brutish method, which wasn''t efficient in the least, Lucius had no other choice. He could not rely on anyone to conduct searches, lest they become curious of his goals. Lucius had not used this method in the beginning because he had no clue where the crystal had gone. After his subsequent gathering of information, he was at least 80% that Alex must have the crystal. After confirming Alex''s general location form Escker before his death, Lucius had a faint lead to follow. While he couldn''t search the entire city, he could start from the Residential district, more precisely, from the Hellwig family manor. Having a set plan in his mind, Lucius immediately moved without any hesitation. He only had two weeks to find the crystal, with no possibility for failure. ------------------------------ The sun had set and the moon had taken its place among the skies. The day had passed so quickly, with much of the city being her busy with the various preparations. Inside the academy, students and their aides were moving rapidly, each to their own direction. A bustling and chaotic atmosphere was present inside the academy. Yet one person, walked through this chaotic crowds, seemingly not being a part of this scene. Her existence was at odds with the space around her. Olivia''s figure stood solitarily among the ocean of people surrounding her. She navigated with no sense of hurry in her steps. Perhaps she had already forgotten all about the expedition, nor did she care about it. The only thought that filled her mind was, the line spoken by Lucius at the end. ''You want to protect me? But how are you going to protect yourself'' This declaration kept repeating itself in her mind. It aimed precisely at core of the issue and directly at her weakness. Her eyes were dazed, with her steps being uncertain. Before Olivia knew it, she had already walked quite far from the crowds, towards a more desolate space. The old academy buildings, which were no longer in use, surrounded her. Olivia herself did not know how she made it here. Upon leaving Lucius'' room in the morning, she had been walking without pause. Without her knowledge an entire day had passed. Still this fact hadn''t registered itself in her mind. Noticing a wall in front of her, Olivia finally paused her steps which hadn''t rested since morning. She had been continuously walking for more than 12 hours without break, with her legs on the verge of falling apart. Pain kept shooting through her whole body. With the lower half of her body, faintly shaking due to overtaxed muscles. Yet, none of these things made their way into Olivia''s conscious mind. Her face carried that lost look and her eyes were still lifeless. Just as she turned around to continue walking in another direction, Olivia saw that feet of another person in front of her, blocking her path. She lifted her head up and gazed at the person standing in front of her with her lifeless eyes. A handsome young man with fair skin and slender body stood in front of her. His shoulders were broad and his back straight. His eyes carried the look of authority, making it obvious that he was a person of power. He was around 1.75m tall. Taller than the average person, yet shorter than Olivia. His face carried a faint smile, yet his eyes weren''t smiling. "Classmate Olivia. I finally found you." he spoke in a mild tone. Olivia did not reply and continued to stare at him. Her gaze did not show surprise, panic, vigilance or any emotion for that matter. It was empty, similar to a puppet. Feeling the obvious lack of a response, the young man''s smile vanished. He venomously spat out his tongue and spoke out, "Che! I don''t understand why I bother talking to commoners like you." "Standing in front of a noble being such as myself, you dare look down on me!" he continued. Olivia being taller than the young man, meant he had to look up to see her face. This fact had already put him in a bad mood. Olivia ignoring him only served to worsen his mood. "It''s a shame a person as beautiful as you is going to be killed. If it wasn''t for that bastard Keith''s order to bring you back untouched, I would have taught you a lesson for looking down on me!" Luther continued in rage. Olivia''s lifeless eyes, suddenly regained their vigour upon hearing the name Keith. "Wait, Keith?!" she exclaimed. "You guys handle her. Make sure you don''t hurt her too much." ignoring Olivia''s surprise Luther coldly ordered. Upon listening to his commands, 4 figures garbed in black robes, with their faces covered dashed out from the shadows and caught Olivia in her arms. "Wait! Let me GO! Explain to me pro..." Olivia tried to struggle, but it was a futile attempt. Perhaps if her body had not already been weak owing to her earlier events, she might have been able to put up quite the resistance. Perhaps she might have even escaped capture. Alas, there wasn''t an ''what if '' in the real world. Her struggles were smoothly subdued and her hands and mouth were bound. With her head being covered, the shadows swiftly retreated into the darkness with Olivia in tow. No trace of their existence was present in the scene. Luther clicked his tongue once again and slowly turned around to continue walking. ''I will not remain your slave forever Keith! One day, I shall show you what it feels like, when a man''s dignity is trampled upon.'' Luther cursed in his mind, his body slowly disappearing among the sea of people. Chapter 51: Coincidence? Or Manipulation? It was currently high noon. Two days had passed, since Lucius had been tracking the whereabouts of the the crystal. Upon leaving the academy Lucius had first made his way to the Residential District to find the Hellwig house. Since he knew Alex had just returned to Earth from a mission and had not reported to the academy yet, he figured Alex must have returned back to his family estate. Students in the Army course were not allowed to exit the campus, unless specifically told so. In fact the Army area was cordoned off from the rest of the Academy. This was done to isolate the military students and to prevent distractions. Alex being a very filial son, was very responsible towards his family. Therefore, Lucius deduced that he must have gone to the ''exchange shop'' to buy gifts, before visiting, when he somehow noticed Ka''lor''ah and purchased her. With a solid plan in mind, Lucius had immediately started his search. He reached the Residential Area in less than 3 hours, even though he had taken detours and remained in the shadows the majority of the time. His speed had increased yet again, owing to the refinement and consolidation of his soul power. At this point, Lucius movement could no longer be tracked with a person''s eyes. Unless his opponent''s visual acuity was absurdly high, he wouldn''t even understand how he had died, when Lucius moved for the kill. Even from a spectators point of view, Lucius movement was akin to teleportation. He disappears from one spot and appears in another instantaneously. After making it to the Area, Lucius then began searching for the Hellwig manor. With the distinction between each manor, according to their family''s influence, finding the manor was quite easy. All manor''s varied in their sizes and their security. The manor''s of the smaller families were quite small, yet equally extravagant with a smaller perimeter and lower security. This trend generally increased as one head deeper into the district. The houses progressed linearly, with streets branching every 1KM, turning to the right. Looking from a birds eye view, the entire district was arranged in the form was a large square. The deeper one went, the larger and more extravagant the houses were. The Hellwig family was one of the Top 3 influential families present in the Alliance. They stood beside the White family and the Roseberg Family. Of course, the Snowden family was not included in this ranking. The combined strength and influence of these 3 families combined could not match the status of the Snowden family. The Hellwig family was in charge of the majority of the Alliance''s military. Their position was unshakable, with the family producing a genius commander and soldier every single generation. The White family was another major, family which surprisingly did not have it''s Main branch in the Alliance City-State. They owned the largest bank in the Alliance and was responsible for the invention and management of the currency called ''credit''. Credits were the currency used for all transactions, exchange, trade. The Roseberg family held the most sway in the political sphere. They were another major family, with its Main Branch in the neighboring street of the Hellwig manor. The current Head of the Alliance, was also from the Roseberg family. Together, the three families controlled the majority of the higher-order decision making of the Alliance. They also had the largest say in the World Council. None of the family showed signs of declining, with a outstanding batch of your heirs, who are said to be even better than their predecessors and ancestors. They are said to have the highest potential every seen in their respective families. Just looking at Alex''s future exploits, verifies this statement. The fact that the heirs of the other two families area also at this level, speaks volumes about their abilities. Eventually, Lucius arrived at the location of the Hellwig family manor. It was surrounded by a large perimeter, lined with tall compound walls. The walls were lined with plasma fences all around, with guard posts and robotic sentries present in equal distances. Only a single entry and exit was present, to enter into the manor grounds. It was safe to say that getting in was almost impossible. The almost being added due to the existence of Lucius. An inhuman monster, who could not be measure by human standards nor common sense. He quietly hid in the shadows close to the manor, evading the detection of both man and machine alike. He was waiting for an opportunity to enter the compound. Remaining patient, Lucius watched the guards rotations and the detection laid by the machine. He quietly calculated the distances and the detection range of the sentries, factoring every single variable. Just as 2 and a half hours had passed, Lucius who had been hiding all along suddenly moved in lightning speeds. He precisely aimed for the narrow range, just outside the detection of the sentries just as the guards had changed. That tiny millisecond when their attention had been distracted, owing to their view field being hidden by their partner''s body, was precisely the moment he had aimed for. With a tall, vertical jump, Lucius covered 6m in the 10 m wall. He kicked off the wall two more times, with both his legs in quick succession to cover the remaining distance. Quickly jumping over the plasma fence present, Lucius entered the other side of the wall and dived into the nearest blind spot. None of the guards present outside had noticed his actions. Upon entrance, Lucius laid his eyes on the grand, majestic mansion, laying in the distance. A large lawn, laid with green grass and various flower fields filled the rest of the space. A large stone walkway, leading from the gates, to the mansion, neatly lined with trimmed trees on either sides was present. The manor gave off a regal and solemn vibe, owing to the block volcanic stone from which it was built from. This black volcanic stone was not native to Earth, It was a kind of luxury material, which precisely maintained the temperature and humidity inside the manor, without any artificial assistance. It also had the function of purifying the air and trapping the pollutants. The manor was designed to replicate the 18th century, Victorian-era architecture. It looked very posh, yet paradoxically classical. Most people upon laying their eyes on this building would be awestruck. Alas, Lucius did not care about such trifling matter. In his eyes, as long as there were 4 walls and a roof, a building was a building. Such fancy constructs held no significance in Lucius'' heart. Without pausing, Lucius immediately moved upon entering the perimeter. Taking care to carefully hide himself, Lucius moved towards the manor. If his target Alex was inside the manor, it would prove to be too troublesome. Entering the compound was not difficult. Navigating through an unknown building while remaining hidden was entirely different. Since he did not have a blueprint of the manor, nor did he have x-ray vision to look into the interiors. [Killer] gave him many abilities. Looking into solid matter was regrettably not one of them. ''Hopefully, he isn''t inside the manor. Taking down outside would be naturally better. Although, the odds of him carrying the crystal on his person would be low.'' Lucius grimly thought. Moving from shadow to shadow, Lucius eventually neared the manor. He then circled around the the manor to find points of entry, but alas found none. Getting into the mansion was no longer an option. Still, he could not just leave without any gains. Therefore, Lucius hanged around the mansion, constantly switching his locations, to try and gather information on Alex''s whereabouts. If he was inside, he naturally had to come out. If he wasn''t here then he must have informed the household staff about his location. Lucius spent the next few hours in wait. His face showed no expression and was completely calm. Patience was something which Lucius did not lack. As a Stage 7 [Killer] in his previous life, Lucius had been in plenty of situations were he had been trailing an target or being trailed by a hunter. The importance of patience had been drilled into his very bones. A few hours later, just as the sun was about to completely set and the moon was rising on the distant horizon , Lucius'' patience finally paid off. A car entered the gates and a middle-aged man exited. Nearing as far as he could, Lucius used his soul power to overhear the conversation he had with the middle-aged lady, who had come out of the house to welcome him. Hearing their conversation Lucius finally understood Alex''s whereabouts. ''Looks like Alex is currently going to the Commercial district. There had been no mention of any crystal in their conversation. Did he not give it to his family?'' Lucius pondered. Lucius learnt from the conversation that the middle-aged man and woman were Alex''s father and mother respectively.. Alex''s father had just come back from the academy, after getting some work done there. In his conversation he mentioned to the lady, that Alex had wanted to go to the Commercial district, to complete a specific task. He would return directly to the academy upon the task completion to report and prepare for the expedition. Getting what he came here for, Lucius left the premises without any hesitation. Under the cover of the night Lucius made his way towards the Commercial district. ------------------------ The events described above occurred two days ago. it was currently night time and Lucius had finally caught the trail of Alex. ''Finally found it. He was here a few hours ago.'' checking the signs present Lucius concluded. ''Looks like he is travelling on foot.'' Lucius who had been crouching on the ground stood up and looked in the direction of the trail. In the distance, stood many large buildings with tall walls and flat roofs. Warehouses. ''Looks like it''s going to end, where it all began.'' Lucius found it a little funny. He had been in the same location a few weeks ago to investigate the location of the crystal. Now that he had found clues of it''s owner, he was back in the same place. Lucius'' casual mood, suddenly turned serious. His eyebrows furrowed tightly as he thought to himself. ''Is this all a coincidence or a careful manipulation of someone.'' Chapter 52: Alex Hellwig. Part 1 Long rows of dark-grey walls extended into the depths of the night. The walls were 30m tall, with little to no windows to enter them. Unlike the cheap constructs in the Slums or the equistive materials of the Residential areas, the warehouse district emphasized practicality over look. Industrial grade concrete and metals were used in it''s construction. Breaking through from the outside was nigh impossible for a single person to achieve. Using his hands to probe the walls, Lucius estimated, even if he used [Decay] to bore through the walls, he would have to sacrifice almost 60% of his soul power. Such an action was rash and dangerous, especially when he did not know what was on the other side of the wall. After the ''incident'' in the warehouse district, were many people were killed brutally, the various families and corporations increased the defences and manpower in their warehouses to protect their goods. Although they had learnt that the assailant(s) had not taken any goods, one can never be too careful. Swiftly entering the warehouse district, Lucius immediately felt an ominous feeling. The lights that were supposed to lined up every 50m were all turned off, save for some scattered sporadically. He also found the entire area too quiet for his liking. ''Something is wrong.'' Lucius concluded. He once again checked the tracks, to ensure that Alex had entered this area. Though his tracks had suddenly disappeared upon entering. ''It almost feels like he''s leading me somewhere.'' Lucius felt a chill in his heart. The entire string of events, from when he learned about Alex being in the commercial district, to him finding Alex''s tracks strangely felt too convenient to Lucius. It as similar to a chase orchestrated by a third party, who had knowledge about the entire course of events. Lucius did not move immediately and carefully hid his tracks. He then found a dark corner to think about the course of events which led him to here. ''Thinking about it, something was indeed wrong when I lost the crystal. Although they had me drugged and knocked out, there was still the connection between Ka''lor''ah''s soul and mine. If they had forcibly snatched the crystal from me, the pain from having our soul link cut would have immediately woken me up. Alas, this did not happen.'' ''This either means that, those men had enough knowledge on the topic of souls and had a deep understanding of its nature and profundities. They were able to sever the link without warning me and Ka''lor''ah.'' Lucius'' black eyes shone. ''Or Ka''lor''ah cut the connection herself and bore the pain that came along with it.'' ''This course of action seems more probable. With her understanding of the ''Rules'' and of myself, she could carefully manipulate the events along the way to lead me all the way, to this place and at this time.'' His eyes that that contained black of the darkest kind, had reddish tints invading it. His [Killing Intent] which had been hidden all along was slowly being released in its entirety. Lucius body was unmoving but winds had started stirring around him. A dark reddish-black haze was being released into the air from his body. Wind blades had started forming in the air around him. The ground beneath his feet which stood paved and unmarked, were now filled with deep creases and cuts extending from a couple of centimeters to almost a meter in depth. The air around him started to spontaneously heat up due to the enormous amounts of friction generated by the wind. Yet the position where Lucius was standing was freezing cold. So cold that icicles had started forming in the ground Eerily though, no sound was produced. Not of the wind, nor of the ground. At the center of it stood Lucius. His face, still maintain its expressionless status. His eyes however were entirely different. The calm and cold, black eyes were now completely tainted with red. Unlike earlier when he was in his hunger state, his eyes were dyed red and were filled with madness. No trace of sanity was found, with only the desire to consume being present. Now however, his eyes were filled with calmness and rage. Lucius was currently, extremely angry. The wind blades being formed and the damage to the ground were caused simply by releasing his [Killing Intent] in its entirety. His extreme anger directed towards Ka''lor''ah, caused him to forget about controlling and regulating his [Killing Intent] allowing it to be shown for the first time in this world since his rebirth. The column of wind blades extended upwards all the way to the clouds in the sky. The clouds present overhead were immediately torn apart, causing the moonlight to fall in this location. Alas, as soon as the moonlight came in contact with the reddish-back haze surrounding Lucius'' body, they immediately darkened. Light which was supposed to brightened the surroundings, instead spread darkness! A kind of darkness which chilled the hearts of people looking at it. If one looked from the distance, at the position Lucius was standing, they would not be able to see his body. A dark apparition like figure was seen with red eyes shining, staring into the depths of one''s soul. The entire phenomena described above lasted for less than half a second, before disappearing. The entire scene seemed to have never happened. The deep scratches, the burnt soil and the frozen rocks however, proved otherwise. Lucius had his eyes closed and was taking deep breaths to calm down. The red in his eyes had mostly receded. ''That was very dangerous.'' Lucius thought to himself. ''My soul cannot yet handle the full brunt of my [Killing Intent]. It''s easy for it to shatter and dissipate. My very existence could be erased.'' Lucius thought to himself in nonchalance. It seemed as if he was talking about the annihilation of another person. Slowly opening his eyes, Lucius stared ahead into the darkness. He looked in the direction of the warehouses. "Ka''lor''ah. You better have a good explanation of your actions. Lest you want me to crush your ''Existence Crystal.'' ", he gently spoke these words out loud and started moving. ----------------------------- "He knows!", a certain female voice exclaimed hurriedly. "Who knows?", a young but deep voice questioned her. The young man, who spoke of the question, had fiery red hair and red eyes. He wore the standard military uniform, distributed to the soldiers of the Army. Seeing the badge on his left shoulder, one would understand that he as of ''Private'' rank. He was tall and had a well proportioned body, without any bulky muscles. His face was handsome and his eyes carried a trace of defiance and rough-ish charm. He carried a long, straight object wrapped in cloth on his back, with one of his hands holding on this object. This man, who was walking in the darkness of the night, was Alex Hellwig. The future ''Great Commander.'' "What do you mean, ''who''? Of course I mean Lucius!" the voice replied in great exasperation. Her panic was evident. One curious fact that spectators would notice, is that there was no other person in the vicinity of this young man. The voice seemed to come from one of his pockets. Hearing her answer, a sharp glint shone in his eyes. Alex''s mouth curved to form a slight grin. "Oh, Lucius huh. The man I''ve heard so much about." He then tightened his grip over the hand holding the long, straight object. "I''m looking forward to fight him. "a desire to battle was emanating from his entire body as his red eyes shone with battle intent Ka''lor''ah upon hearing his statement, paused in absolute shock for a few seconds. For the first time in her life, she was actually speechless. "Say is there something wrong?" Alex asked her. The sound of deep breaths came from his pocket. Ka''lor''ah being in the form of a crystal did not actually need to breathe, nor was she able to. It was just a psychological response, which she had automatically given. "Come on me. You need to calm yourself." she repeated these words to herself in a low voice. After a few minutes, a earth-shattering roar was heard. "ARE YOU CRAZY??!! YOU WANT TO FIGHT HIM?!!" she bellowed. Hearing her furious tone, Alex''s fearless demeanor immediately collapsed. One has to remember, although Ka''lorah was in her soul form, she was one a Stage 7 being. An absolute pinnacle existence! Her voice carried a sort of ''power'' in and of itself. "Calm down! Do you want to blow our cover?", Alex hurriedly tried to placate her. Recovering her calm, Ka''lor''ah spoke out, "You absolutely cannot fight him. Your only goal is to lead him to this place and place me in a certain place. After that, you have to immediately run!" "But why? Am I not already Half a Step into Stage 1. Didn''t you already say, I might be the strongest human, currently." Alex grumbled. He did not understand why Ka''lor''ah was being so pessismistic. Originally, Alex was a genius, one of a kind. Due to his extraordinary performance, he was promoted to the rank of Private and drafted into the army, before he had even officially graduated. His absence from the Academy, this past month had to do with this. A bright future awaited him, upon his graduation. Little did he know, how much his life would change upon coming back to this City. -------------------- At a ''certain'' warehouse. When he was looking for a certain gift to present to his parents upon his successful advancement and return, his eyes were involuntarily drawn to a certain dark-gold crystal. Upon asking the bald-manager of the warehouse of its origins, he learnt that it was a new item that was recovered just yesterday. Normally Alex would not have bothered to take another look at the crystal, yet some inexplicable feeling surged in his mind. Something urged him to take possession of that crystal no matter the cost. Disregarding his confusion, Alex purchased that crystal. What happened next was a mind-blowing experience to say the least. "Alex Hellwig. Would you like to save humanity?" he heard a certain voice speaking directly in his mind. Shocked, Alex had dropped the crystal and had hurried back in fear. No matter his mental resilience, having a foreign voice suddenly assault his mind was simply too frightening. Slowly, the voice explained him about itself and about the danger faced by humanity. Alex slowly understood it and asked a question in response. "Why me?" The voice gently laughed and answered, "Because you are special. Plus you are not the only one. There is another." "Who?" "Lucius." Alex tilted his head in question. Although he hated to be in the company of others, he was fairly acquainted with most well known people. Yet, the name spoken by this mysterious lady was one that he had never heard. The voice chuckled and explained, "He''s also a student like you in the academy. Like you he was someone chosen by me to help humanity. Before I met you, I was separated from him due to a dangerous event." "Did he survive? Wouldn''t it be a loss if he died? Why didn''t you just foresee the future and warn him of the danger, like you did in the case of humanity?" Alex was doubting her statement. Ka''lor''ah tried to roll her eyes hearing his naive question. Alas she had no eyes. ''Die? Him? You should be worrying about the people who attacked him and the ones behind them!'' she had the urge to tell this, but chose to remain silent. "Look the only future I can see is that of Humanity in its entirety. Even then, I can''t see a lot. All I know is that something major will happen this February. The only way you can make some changes is if you become stronger." Alex was a little confused as he asked her, "Stronger? Am I not already quite strong? I can control the heavy armored mechs with ease." he was a bit proud when he spoke that. Heavy armored mechs were big, bulky and slow. They were very hard to control, even for professional mech user. It had nothing to do with ability, but was heavily dependent upon a user''s body strength and control. "Glad you asked. But the strength I am talking about is entirely different." saying so she infused some information into Alex''s mind. Receiving the information in his head. Alex''s jaw dropped to the floor. This marked the beginning of his soul cultivation, 4 years prior to when he started in his previous life. -------To be continued!!------ Chapter 53: Alex Hellwig. Part 2 "But why? Am I not already Half a Step into Stage 1. Didn''t you already say, I might be the strongest human, currently." Alex grumbled. Hearing his words, Ka''lor''ah hesitated. She could not exactly tell him that Lucius had 300 years of experience with his combat capability being at a monsterous level. Not to mention, he had reached Stage 7 once already. Picking her words carefully, Ka''lor''ah spoke, "He is very talented in combat. Someone who cannot be judged by common standards." Hearing her, Alex got all the more excited, "That just makes me want to fight him, even more!" If Ka''lor''ah had a head, she would be shaking it. Inwardly she wondered, ''How did such a rash guy become the Great Commander? Did I seek out the wrong person?'' Dispersing her thoughts, she spoke in a serious tone, "You can fight him later. Remember what we came here to accomplish. If we meet him before our work is done, all our preparation will be for naught." "Fine.", Alex admitted and started to head towards a specific direction. Although he wasn''t sure, why Ka''lor''ah asked him to head this way, he knew better than to question this mysterious person. Her instructions always seemed random, with each step not being related to the other or in some cases, even making sense. Still, he understood she wasn''t telling him the entire truth nor did Alex particularly care about it. in fact, upon hearing of her request for the first time, Alex had unhesitantly refused her. After all who would accept when a crystal suddenly started talking and asked that person to save mankind. Actually, if someone did immediately accept. Alex firmly believed that something was wrong in their head. Still once sentence spoke by her changed his stance, "Well it''s a shame I guess. After all your family is also at risk." Just this one statement was enough for Alex to dive into action. As they continued to head in the direction which Ka''lor''ah was pointing, Alex suddenly became curious and asked. "I have to ask, why did you panic when you realised he knew?" Ka''lor''ah inwardly let out a bitter smile. Thinking about Lucius'' character and the threat he had given her on their first night in this world, she honestly spoke out her thoughts, " He does not like being lied to. Now that I have deceived him to such an extent, I wouldn''t be surprised if he directly crushed me on the spot." her voice carried a faint trace of sorrow. ''Afterall, i am but a mere tool, in his mind. Nothing more and nothing less.'' she did not speak this part out loud. Although Ka''lor''ah did not show it, she was deeply hurt every time Lucius, simply referred to her as a means to accomplish his goals. Although she had taught him and lived with him for 30 years before crossing over to progress with their plan, Lucius did not place any importance in her. Truth is, her womanly pride had been greatly hurt at his complete lack of interest towards her. ''Am I that lacking in charm?'' she had wondered countless times. Giving put a demeaning laughter directed at herself, she continued ''Then again he never really cared about anything or anyone.'' Just as she was about to sink into her memories Alex''s loud but deep voice woke her up, "Doesn''t that mean you will die?!'' His voice was filled with obvious surprise. "Yeah, so?" "Then I absolutely cannot hand over you to him! " Alex declared. Pushing back her depressing thoughts, Ka''lor''ah humoured him. Looking at this naive kid, her teasing personality had resurfaced once again, "Oh, then are you going to protect this lowly one, from the clutches of that villain. To think I would have my own white knight in shining armor standing up for me. Ah, I truly am blessed." Hearing her remarks spoken to him in a coy voice, Alex''s face reddened to a certain extent. His contact with women had been abysmally low with his only focus being the military and his family. "You! What nonsense are you speaking? I''m no knight in shining armor." A awkward silence filled the space between them, before Ka''lor''ah broke into a thunderous laughter. "Hahahaha! Were you actually moved by those words? You really are more naive than I thought. Do you have no experience with women?" she was huffing and puffing, struggling to talk. Alex turned his face in shame. She had accurately hit him in his weak point. As of late, even his own parents were urging him to look for a wife. Alas, Alex had no idea on how to proceed in the matter between a man and a woman. He had continuously been dodging their questions with vague and evasive answers. Seeing his reaction, Ka''lor''ah continued to push on, "Oh, so it indeed is so. Don''t worry, big sister here will teach you everything." Just as Alex was about to rebuke her, he suddenly slowed his footsteps and dived into the nearest hiding spot. Hiding his body behind a large crate, Alex cautiously watched the surrounding. ''Someone''s here.'' he spoke within his mind. ''it''s not Lucius, I cannot feel our soul link.'' Ka''lor''ah immediately replied. Alex nodded his head and watched towards the direction where he heard the footsteps coming from. Closing his eyes, he focused his soul power to flow towards his ears to enhance his hearing. ''One, two,...., five people. Four of them seem to be walking normally, while one of them is being dragged?'' Alex questioned within his mind. He could clearly make out the footsteps of four people, whereas the last one did not have firm steps. A dragging sound combined with struggles could be faintly heard. Alex opened his eyes and slowly peaked from his hiding place. Using his soul power to enhance his vision, he stared ahead. In the distance, 4 men covered in black robes were dragging another person with his head covered. Focusing his senses, Alex recognised the person being dragged to be female. Her mouth had been stuffed, preventing her from screaming for help. The four men with the woman in tow, were heading towards one of the warehouses. Seeing this sight, Alex was infuriated. ''These beasts!'' he cursed in his head. Ka''lor''ah however was not moved. Instead she was quite worried. ''That warehouse that they are heading to is where ''Causality'' is being gathered. I have to lead Lucius in there!'' Taking note of Alex''s mental state, Ka''lor''ah spoke. "Carefully follow them. We have to head to the same warehouse, where they are headed." she instructed. Alex nodded his head and waited for the group to pass. Taking care to not be exposed, he slowly made his way in that direction. Alex noticed the group heading into one of the warehouses. There was nothing special about this specific building, as it was the same as the rest of the buildings in this place. The group entered the warehouse, with one of the men staying back to carefully inspect the surrounding. Alex had expected this and had hidden himself in advance. Seeing that no one was present in the surrounding and no traces of them being followed, the man retreated into the warehouse and a loud of a metal bar being used to block the door was heard. "This is bad!" Alex spoke grimly. "Not necessarily." Ka''lor''ah spoke. "Them being this cautious means something important is going in there. Since they have just entered into the premises their wariness would be lowest at this point. This is our chance to infiltrate!" Agreeing with her statement, Alex then started looking around for possible entries. Going through the front door was not an option. He carefully circled around the warehouse, before he finally spotted a part of the wall broken a few meters in the air, revealing a small gap, just enough for him to fit in. If this was Alex of before, entering through this gap would be impossible considering it''s height. Fortunately, he could now use his soul power. Covering this distance was too easy. Getting a running start, Alex dashed off at his top speed and powerfully kicked off the ground. His body rose, 5 metres off the ground in the single jump, allowing him to cover just enough distance to reach for the gap. Holding onto the ledge with his powerful arms, Alex dragged his body up in one swoop and entered into the warehouse through the gap. Entering in, Alex landed onto a metal platform, usually used for the maintenance of the roof. No lights were present in the immediate surrounding, providing a perfect vantage point for him. He crouched near the edge of the platform and focused his eyes and ears to get a clear picture on what was happening. He was not bot-blooded enough to rashly rush into his enemies without getting a clear idea about their numbers and positions. Though he was vastly stronger than an average human, his body was still made of flesh and blood after all. Ka''lor''ah also joined her senses into that of Alex''s and the both of them stared at the centre of the warehouse, where a group of people had gathered. Looking at the hostage, who had her head cover taken off, Both Alex and Ka''lor''ah gasped. Kneeling in the centre was the most beautiful lady, Alex had ever seen. He was literally rendered speechless and his brain failed to keep up with his emotions. Ka''lor''ah however was surprised for an entirely different reason. '' ''Causality'' is gathering towards her? Another focal point is forming for humanity! How is this possible!!?'' Chapter 54: Saving A Damsel in Distress. Alex quickly shook himself off his stupor and warily watched the the events unfolding below. He scanned around and was surprised at the number of people present in this place. ''20...30...50 people!!'', Alex was shocked. Closely looking at the way they were standing and the arms carried by them, Alex also understood that these were no normal kidnappers. Each and every single one of them was a professional in his own right. ''Who is this young lady?'', he inwardly asked himself, knowing that Ka''lor''ah could hear him. He waited a few seconds, but noticed that she was silent. Furrowing his brows, he nervously asked, "Something wrong?" His hands slowly moved to remove the object he was carrying around in his back. Hearing his voice, spoken out loud Ka''lor''ah was awoken from her reverie. With her rarely serious voice, she instructed, "No harm can befall her! We must absolutely protect her!" "What? How am I supposed to do that?! There are 50 armed guards, maybe more in hiding." Alex asked her in a confounded and shocked manner. "She is a Chosen just like you! And you just need to buy enough time until he gets here." she replied in a cool manner. Alex was dumbfounded. Just a few minutes ago, she had instructed him to place her in one of the warehouses and quickly escape to evade Lucius. Yet, right now she was contradicting her earlier statement by making him stay here. Faintly amused, Alex asked her, "Didn''t you say that Chosen ones were very rare, with not even 5 existing throughout the Alliance. I suddenly don''t feel all that special.." Although he sounded like he was complaining, Alex was looking forward for this. He loosened his grip over the object and undressed the cloth covering it. Pulling out the long object carried within, a sharp metallic light shone off it''s surface. It was a long elegantly carved spear, standing proudly 2.4m in length. It gave off a solemn and bloody vibe, a testament to how it wasn''t simply a weapon to be hanged., but one that had tasted blood. His had gripped it in a familiar manner, as he gently stroked the tip of the spear. "How are we to proceed?" he asked the crystal. "Let''s not be hasty. We have to first learn, what their motives are. When the opportune moment comes you move in to rescue her." "Oi, Oi, Oi! You''re not telling me to jump in right?" Alex gulped. "Precisely! Weren''t you talking about saving a damsel in distress. Here is an opportunity readily available." Ka''lor''ah spoke in an amused voice. She had reverted back to be non-serious personality. "Saving a damsel..! This is suicide!" Alex bemoaned "Relax, you don''t have to face all of them. Just buy enough time for Lucius to get here. Together with the two of your working, you can clean these guys up in no time. Now shush, listen to what''s going on down there." Alex was rendered speechless. Giving out a small chuckle he abided by her commands. ''This is more like it." his eyes shone with the intent to battle. -------------------------- Olivia, who had been kidnapped by a group of mysterious black robed men, had completely shaken off her previously gloomy state. Upon identifying Luther and hearing Keith''s name a new type of zeal had invaded her body. ''You want to protect me? But how are you going to protect yourself?'', Lucius'' earlier question once again reverberated within her mind. ''Indeed, if I cannot even protect myself, how am I expected to protect him.'' Olivia thought to herself. During the course of her being brought to the warehouse, Olivia had been reflecting on herself. She once again played the entire series of events, which had taken place in Lucius'' room. Every word, he spoke, every action of his, every expression, played within Olivia''s mind in great detail. Thinking with a clear head, she suddenly realized. ''Although his words were harsh, he wasn''t admonishing me. Rather it was sincere advice.'', Thinking back to that emotionless look in his eyes, Olivia''s heart pained once again. ''He''s lonely.'' she understood. ''He''s acting cold to me in order to protect me.'' Olivia''s eyes shone in her understanding. Everything suddenly made sense in her head. ''Instead of being helpful to him, I''m being a burden.'' ''No! This cannot continue.'' her fists clenched in determination. ''I need to be stronger.'' ''To protect the Alliance, my family and Lucius. I will become stronger, so that he no longer has to wear that cold expression on his face. To bring back that sunny and cheery young man!'' Olivia had solidified her goal once again. This time, she would no longer be dependent on others. "But first, I must survive." Olivia spoke out on a gentle voice that was not heard by anyone. She noticed that the people who had kidnapped her had finally come to a stop. ------------------------ The group of 4 men included Luther and 3 black robbed men, who had their faces covered with a mask. Apart from their unfeeling eyes, nothing else could be seen. Directly walking to the center of the warehouse, with Olivia in tow, they came to a halt before another young man with black eyes and brown hair. He had a scholarly but dangerous aura surrounding him. Luther directly walked towards this young man and spoke in a subservient voice. "The plan proceeded without any troubles. We successfully brought her here." The young man simply nodded and asked, "Are you sure no one followed you." "We took many detours and were cautious along the way. No one knows, nor has anyone followed us." Luther explained in a respectful tone. Inwardly Luther was grumbling, ''To kidnap this one woman, you hired more than 50 professional hitmen. Yet you have the audacity to ask me, whether I was care full or not! Who are you even in guarded against.'' Alas, Luther did not know the trauma left in Keith''s mind by Lucius. In order to get rid of Olivia once and for all, he was not taking any chances. The handsome young man nodded once again and proceeded towards Olivia. Extending one of his hands, he removed the bag covering her head. Seeing the person in front of her, Olivia glared with hateful eyes. "Keeehhttth" she fumed. Alas wasn''t able to voice the name of this young man standing in front of her, due to her mouth being blocked. Keith gave a gentle smile and replied, "Nice to meet you too, Miss Mayer. It seems you have heard about me." He then looked up towards one of the men and spoke, "Remove the mouth gag." Nodding, one of the dark robbed men, stepped up and complied. "KEITH! You are the one who hurt Lucius!" Olivia thundered, her eyes were filled with simmering rage. Keith''s graceful and gentle face collapsed upon hearing that name. That name was cause of all this complications. That person, who foiled his smooth-sailing plans resulting in him being blacklisted by the Snowden Corporation. Even his own family dumped all the accusations on his head, after receiving information, not hesitating in the least to make him a scapegoat. Keith''s expression was twisted in hatred. A rarely seen madness filled his eyes. ''Fortunately, I got rid of him.'' he placated his thoughts. He then stared at Olivia and replied in a equally thunderous voice, "I did so what? Commoners like you are meant to stepped on by people like us." Olivia''s rage was quelled for a moment. She was indirectly reminded of Lucius'' words once again. ''I''m at a disadvantage right now. If I am to survive, I have to act with prudence.'' Olivia rationally analyzed. Taking deep breaths to calm herself, Olivia spoke to Keith. "Why have you brought me here?" "In order to kill you, of course." he spoke in a cool voice, his mouth carrying a cruel smile. Olivia''s face paled, ''This is bad!'' She then hurriedly asked, "Why?" Seeing the accomplice of his most hated enemy struggle like this, Keith''s smile widened. "And why should I tell you that?" Inwardly, Keith was thinking, ''That''s right, despair! The more you despair, the greater my satisfaction.'' Although, Lucius'' death had placated Keith''s madness to a certain extent, the great emotional upheavals he had felt resulted in some changes taking place in his psyche. This resulted in his personality being more cruel and vicious. A sadistic nature had been birthed in his mind. Olivia, seeing Keith''s expression understood this fact, ''If I''m to have a chance at survival, I have to play to his sadistic side.'' Putting on an aggrieved but helpless expression, Olivia spoke bitterly. "Since I''m fated to die here today, please tell me the cause of all of this." there was a felling of certain defeat in her voice. The smile on Keith''s face grew all the more brighter, until it encompassed his entire face. The madness in his eyes also grew. "HAHAHAHAHAHA", he bellowed out a maniacal laughter. "Sure! I''ll tell you. It''s because you are related to that bastard Lucius!" Suddenly, his madness retreated and a calm look resurfaced in his face. It seemed as though his earlier outbreak was all a lie. "Knowing that, you can die." he said in a calm voice. He gestured to the men standing behind her and turned around to walk away. "Not if I have something to say about it!" a new voice sounded out. One that was filled with defiance and arrogance. Chapter 55: A Knight in Shining Armor. "Who?" Luther who was standing behind Keith was the first to notice to this sudden intrusion, reacted involuntarily. Looking at the tall, red haired, crimson eyed youth, standing before them, with a spear in his hands, Luther suddenly realized. "Alex Hellwig!" By now the rest of the guards standing by had also reacted, by drawing out their respective weapon. Some carried knives while other carried guns. Most of them carried an electromagnetic rifle, known for it''s quick rate of fire and for it''s minimal knockback. It was the preferred weapon among people for their nature, due to it''s unseen bullets and remarkable silence. Keith''s eyes shrunk as he hastily ordered, "Silence him!" Alas, upon hearing his words, it was Alex who moved first. Circulating his soul power to the maximum, he moved towards the four men standing near Olivia, first. Before he fights, these other 50 men, he had to ensure her safety. From the position where Alex had landed, after he jumped from the platform up above, there was a distance of 160m between him and Olivia. For an average person, assuming he was running at full speed, it would take nearly 15 seconds to cover this distance. Alex crossed the same distance in 5 seconds. Arriving before Olivia, he swiped his spear horizontally to knock out the 3 men standing behind her. Retracting his spear, he stabbed his spear into the chest of the man, holding her down. "Quickly! Hide behind me." he instructed. Although Olivia did not understand who this person was or why he wanted to save her, she obeyed his instructions. Shaking of the hands that had previously held her, she moved to stand directly behind Alex. Upon reaching that position, Olivia involuntarily turned back to look at the man who had held her. A body with a huge hole in his chest, greeted her sight. His eyes, the only observable part of his face were filled with unwillingness. Seeing the blood and flesh flow out of him, Olivia felt her stomach churn. She wanted to vomit. At this moment she heard the voice of that unfamiliar youth. "I understand that you are feeling scared, but please focus on your survival first. Tune out your emotions until we get out of here alive." he spoke in a gentle voice. A direct contraction to his arrogant voice earlier. Pushing down that uncomfortable feeling she felt in her stomach, Olivia answered in a meek voice, "Understood. Thank you." A smile blossomed on Alex''s face as he replied, "You can thank me, once we get out of here alive." He then stared at the men in front of him and let out a loud roar. ROAR! Without waiting for them to move, he immediately jumped into their fray. His spear moved like and serpent and struck his foes like lightening. The sheer speed at which he thrust and retreated his spear was simply nonsensical. It was as if the concept of resistance did not apply to his spear. It moved through the bodies of the various men, just as easily as it moved through the air. Alex took care to continuously move, in order to avoid the bullets being shot at him. He also took care to protect the young lady taking shelter behind his back. This was the first time Alex had fought amongst such a great amount of people. Previously, he had always fought one-on-one duels to train his spearsmanship. His opponents were also greatly skilled compared to him, making a victory really difficult to obtain. Still, this had laid a very firm foundation for his strength, allowing him to utilize his soul power to the greatest extent, not being lesser than Lucius in the least. ''This feeling of protecting someone, doesn''t feel to bad.'' Alex thought to himself, as he easily cut down another person. Less than 30 seconds had passed and Alex had already killed 12 people. Although this was relatively less compared to the large amount of people present, one has to remember that he was fighting in close combat, whilst protecting another person. The difficulty of his situation was difficult to explain. ''Projectile Incoming!!'', just as he cut down the last person within his reach, he heard Ka''lor''ah warning sound within his mind. Driving most of his soul power into his eyes, the world in Alex''s eyes suddenly slowed down. This was not a product of time actually slowing down, but because of Alex''s visual acuity suddenly increasing by a great margin. In his eyes, he could now see the bullet heading towards his position in great detail. It was aimed precisely towards the center of his head. Seeing that it was too late to dodge, Alex mobilized the remainder of his soul power into his arms. He then moved his arms holding the spear to deflect the bullet coming towards him. Just as the bullet enter within the 30cm field of his head, his spear tip barely hit the surface of the bullet, successfully deflecting it. ''Haha! I did it!'' before he could fully express his happiness, Alex felt a great deal of weakness invade his body. His entire body suddenly felt a sense of emptiness ''Wha? What happened?'' Alex questioned within his mind. If Lucius was in his situation, he would have immediately identified this feeling of weakness and emptiness. It was soul energy exhaustion. Alex had not taken care to carefully conserve and effectively manage his soul power. The feeling of power overflowing in his body and the ease at which he was cutting down these villain, had led him to forget an important fact. Soul energy wasn''t inexhaustible. ''You fool!'' Ka''lor''ah admonished him within his mind. Although she knew he could hardly be blamed for it, she still felt a feeling of powerlessness in this situation. Alex''s body could no longer stand with it''s two legs. Any and all semblance of strength had left him in it''s entirety. Olivia standing closest to Alex was the first to notice his abnormality. She immediately reacted by pulling him by his shoulder and diving behind the nearest cover. The warehouse wasn''t empty in the least. Multiple crates both big and small were neatly stacked across the entire floor. Maybe owing to coincidence or perhaps their great luck, Alex and Olivia were relatively closed to metal crate, which was just more than a meter in height. It served as a perfect cover, which could be easily defended against. Jumping in with Alex in tow, Olivia also grabbed a electromagnetic rifle that had fallen to the floor near her. Staying in cover, she raised the gun overhead and sprayed the bullets. The guards who were approaching them in haste, were caught unaware by this sudden action. When they saw that young man suddenly collapse, they were greatly relieved. Seeing him kill over a dozen of them in quick succession was unnerving to say the least. With only the young lady left, they had quickly rushed towards them, in order to attain the merit for getting rid of them. This very action, led to them being hit by the blindly fired bullets, with two more of their men losing their lives. 15 of their men had already dies. One must remember that all of these men were professionals, with a fair bit of experience under their belt. Yet seeing that young man who was almost half their age move with nonsensical speed and strength, had overturned all of their conceptions. With him bring still alive while also being in such a perfect firing location, all of them quickly retreated. Dying in the cross-fire like those two men previously would be one of the saddest ways to die. Meanwhile, while firing in fixed amounts of time, Olivia hurriedly asked the young man near her, "Are you alright?" Hearing the concern in her voice, the young man blushed slightly, "I-I am fine." Of course, Olivia who was busy did not notice this reaction of his. She was visibly relieved for a second, yet panicked again. A loud voice thundered through the empty warehouse. "WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING?! KILL THEM" Keith screamed in rage. Seeing his carefully made plans, being thwarted once again, brought back some unpleasant memories. One of the guards close to him, hesitantly spoke out, "Boss, it''s risky to approach them while they are under cover. It is easy to get shot while moving towards them." he slowly tried to explain the situation. Hearing him, Keith wasn''t pleased in the least. He bellowed out, "YOU THINK I CARE ABOUT YOUR WORTHLESS LIVES. I DON''T PAY YOU TO HIDE LIKE RATS, DO I!!" Hearing his words, all the remaining guards frowned. ''Yes! Please fight amongst yourselves!'' Olivia prayed within her heart. Alas, reality was a cruel mistress. "Please don''t mind his words, Sirs. This man has lost his mind." Luther who had been quiet all this while suddenly spoke up. "You-" before Keith could complete his words, Luther''s fist arrived in front of his face. Luther directly punched Keith in his face. Keith''s body staggered back a few steps, before collapsing to the ground. It was a one-hit KO. Waving his hands to get rid of the pain, Luther spoke out, "Please take your time, but ensure that neither of them live. I''ll pay what he promised to pay you, Sirs." All the guards nodded. As long as they got paid, they did not mind whose orders they were listening to. They re-organized themselves and slowly advanced towards the position where Olivia and Alex were present. Seeing the situation take a turn in the worst possible way, Olivia was greatly distressed. The young man who was moving with such great vigor previously couldn''t move a single inch right now. At this moment, Olivia was suddenly reminded of Lucius'' words. ''Weakness is a Sin.'' ''If only I was stronger.'' Olivia thought in regret. Alas, thinking about such stuff was too late. Just as she was about to give up, she heard a strange voice. "Do you seek, Power?" Chapter 56: Power That Comes From Within. A mysterious female voice was heard within Olivia''s mind. Olivia was about to scream in shock when she suddenly felt her mind being pulled into a different space. The feeling was similar to when one feels dizzy. Her body suddenly felt weightless, and she was assaulted by a floating feeling. Olivia found her view point suddenly switching to float above her own body. From here she could, see her unmoving body which wasn''t breathing, that unknown young man who laid paralyzed next to her. All the various guards slowly approaching their position. One thing to take note, was that all this movement was extremely slowed in her eyes. It was similar to watching a video which was played in slow motion. The trajectory of the bullets, the nervous beating of their hearts, movement of their bodies, the scattering of the dust, all of these details, that one would not usually notice were clearly reflected in Olivia''s eyes. Focusing her eyes, she could vaguely see the presence of some vague, ''white'' gaseous clouds within the bodies of all the men present here. Shocked by the scenes reflecting in her eyes, Olivia subconsciously moved her hands to pinch her cheek. She wanted to see if it hurt, to validate the reality of her experience. Moving her hands towards her cheek, her fingers simply phased through her body. Her mind was hit by a bolt from the blue. Olivia stared at her own hands in absolute shock. Rather than calling them ''hands'', gaseous clouds were a better explanation. Her ''body'' was entirely composed of the very gaseous clouds she had noticed in the others, with only one thing different. Unlike the ''white'' color she noticed in the others, Olivia''s was a dark violet. Olivia simply stared at her body speechlessly. ''What the...'' before she could properly express her astonishment, she felt her body being pulled towards Alex. To be more precise, she was being pulled into his pocket. ----------------------- ''It''s too dark.'' These were the first words Olivia thought, when she became conscious. She was not able to see anything other than pure darkness. A kind of darkness that did not induce fear, but rather provided warmth. The kind of darkness, similar to being inside a mother''s womb. A calm, all encompassing darkness. And then. There was Light! A ray of white light, cut through this darkness before rapidly expanding to completely encompass this domain. Olivia found herself being blinded by this radiance for a second. She closed in eyes in reflex only to find the white light still filling her vision. Her view point was completely painted white, with no object in sight. ''Where am I?'' Olivia somehow managed to form this question within her mind. {You are within my mindspace.} An ethereal voice sounded out. The voice reminded Olivia for her dead mother. It was filled with warmth, care and a motherly sense. Still, Olivia knew for a fact, that this wasn''t her mother''s voice. The voice she heard was simply too pleasing. ''Who are you?'' Olivia tried to speak the words, but was unable. Remembering that her body was made up of gaseous clouds, therefore having no mouth to speak with she ''thought'' about her question. That ethereal voice chuckled once, {You are the first one I''ve met, to immediately figure out how to talk. You possess quite the sharpness.} {To answer your question. My name is Ka''lor''ah, The Myriad Species Queen!} Her voice strongly assaulted Olivia''s mind, completely shaking her thoughts. The voice still carried that motherly feeling but also contained a regal presence. Olivia felt as if she was in the presence of a Monarch. Taking a few seconds to gather her thoughts, she spoke out once again. ''Are you the one who offered me power?'' {If not I then who else.} ''What do you want in return?'' Olivia asked cautiously. {Why do you think I want something?} the voice asked, clearly amused by Olivia''s cautiousness. ''Isn''t there no such thing as a free lunch?'' Olivia asked in an innocent manner. {Indeed. You are correct. But before I grant you power, tell me. Why do you seek power? Not mentioning, getting out of here alive, I sense a deeper motive to your need for power.} The voice asked her. Olivia sensed that she absolutely needed to answer this question. It felt as if, her entire fate depended upon her answer. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she slowly but solemnly voiced out her belief. ''Weakness is a Sin. I am very weak, therefore I seek to acquire strength. Strength that would allow me to guard my beliefs and pursue my dreams.'' These words came from the depths of her soul. {Weakness is a Sin.} the voice mirrored Olivia''s words. Strangely Olivia felt the ethereal voice to be dismal and bitter. It felt as if, she was recalling a sad, distant memory. After a few minutes of painful silence, the voice spoke once again. [Very well. I shall offer you power.} ''And in return?'' Olivia doubtfully asked. {What I want, You cannot give me. Therefore, let''s not speak about it.} the voice gently explained. Then, in a deep regal tone, it declared. {Olivia Mayer. Receive your power.} {The power that comes from within!} --------------------- Outside, Alex stared at Olivia''s unmoving and un-breathing body. Olivia who was full of life, just until a few seconds ago, suddenly resembled a statue. ''What is happening to her?'' Alex was worried. This heavenly beauty had saved his life a few moments ago. Alex had originally come to save her, only to completely exhaust his soul energy after killing a dozen men. Before this, whenever he cultivated with Ka''lo''ah''s guidance, his soul power had always increased and had never decreased. This fact, coupled with him not having any practical experience using his soul power, led to this embarrassing scenario, where he rushed to save a beauty, only to be saved by her in return. Alex greatly admired her mental fortitude and her bravery. Seeing him, suddenly become paralyzed she did not freeze up in fear, but immediately took the best course of action. Alex felt mysterious feeling sprout in his heart. Something, he hadn''t felt before in his life. Now, seeing her unmoving like this, his heart suddenly tensed in worry. ''Why am I feeling like this?'' before he could make sense of his own feelings, Olivia''s body suddenly started spasming. "Are you ok...!!" he hurriedly moved to ask when he felt the crystal in his pocket suddenly heating up. ''Don''t tell me.'' his mind suddenly thought of a possibility. Olivia who had her eyes closed for a past few seconds suddenly opened them, her blue eyes had tiny specks of dark violet in their depths. Her body which was previously spasming also suddenly stopped. A faint layer of black-ish filth was was expelled from the pores of her body. Olivia currently felt her body filled with a mysterious energy. An energy that made her very cells feel excited. "So this! This is power!" Olivia spoke in an excited voice. Holding the rifle in her hands, Olivia suddenly jumped over the cover, beneath which she and Alex were hiding. "Wait! That''s dange....." Alex tried to voice out his concerns, before he was interrupted. "Let her go." Ka''lor''ah spoke out in a tired voice. "Did you just connect her Body and Soul?" he questioned her. "Indeed." "Still, she has never circulated her soul power before! It''s still to dangerous." he tried to convince her. "Haha." Ka''lor''ah gave out a light laughter. "What''s so funny?!" Alex was infuriated. His emotions were currently in a turmoil and seeing Ka''lor''ah laugh at Olivia''s precarious situation served to inflame his anger. "You worry too much. And about the wrong thing." Ka''lor''ah spoke in a cryptic manner. "Explain properly!" Alex roared. "He is here. What you should be worried about is, how you are going to protect me. Don''t tell me you forgot your promise immediately upon meeting a beauty. I am hurt you know." Ka''lor''ah found the mood to tease him once again. "Him....?" his mind was confused, when his pupils suddenly expanded. Right on cue, the heavy metallic front doors of the warehouse suddenly dropped. A figure dressed in black robes stood behind it with an expressionless face. ------------------------- Olivia whose Body and Soul had just connected, came into contact with soul energy. A mysterious type of energy which seemed to come from within the depths of her body and empowered her every action. Like Alex had pointed out, she did not know how to use her soul power effectively and was simply having it rush to every limb in her body. While this was wasteful, Olivia simply did not care. The feeling of tangible power flowing through her body made her feel ecstatic. So ecstatic that, she no longer felt revolted on killing the guards. ''They tried to kill me but did not have the ability to. Since I have the ability, I must kill them.'' Lucius'' teachings religiously flowed through her mind. Catching the approaching guards unawares, Olivia was quickly able to inflict terrible damage. Her accuracy with the rifle had increased by a tremendous amount, owing to her enhanced physique. Before the incoming guards were able to mount a proper defense against her, Olivia quickly claimed the lives of 5 more people. Similar to Alex, she did not stay in a single spot and kept moving to avoid the bullets. Unlike him, she had no reason to get closer to kill the guards. Still, she now possessed power, but not the experience to effectively use it. In less than a minutes, she had completely used up her soul energy and was scraped in her arms and legs by the stray bullets. And she had to retire into cover. ''Damn it! I was too rash?!'' she cursed within her mind. Just as she was about to think on how to proceed with the situation, a loud noise was heard. SHIRRINK! BANG! The sound of metal being twisted and them falling down was heard. Everyone, including Olivia turned around to look at the source of the noise. The heavy metal door barring the entrance had fallen. The edges of the door connecting the hinges were giving off a thick black vapor. They were visibly shrinking and falling apart, similar to metal corrosion. Behind the door stood a young man, wearing a black robe. His face was expressionless and his eyes were cold. In contrast to his white skin, his hair was pitch black. His eyes were half black and half red, with the red forming a crescent ring inside his pupils. He looked at the people inside and spoke two words. "Found. You." Chapter 57: Death, Himself. "AHHHHH!!!" "RUN! ITS A MONSTER!!" "PLEASE SPAR..AHHH!!" A plethora of screams, overlapped with disordered running. Blood, flesh and screams were flying through the air, with chaotic curses following them. In the very center of this chaos, moved a dark specter. It''s movement was so fast, that one would not be able to catch it in their eyes. The only trace of it''s movements were the dismembered body parts and fountains of blood that laid in its passing. ''Moving like lightning'' this phrase was enacted in its truest essence. ''Che! Annoying.'' Lucius clicked is tongue in annoyance. Entering the warehouse district, Lucius carefully analyzed his situation and came to the conclusion that he was being manipulated by Ka''lor''ah. Understanding who his enemy was, he was no longer passive and set out to actively seek them out. Dashing through the long paths, Lucius'' path wasn''t exactly free of trouble. He came across many squads of guards, patrolling the warehouses. Ever since, the ''incident'' at the warehouse district, the various families had increased the security measure by a large margin. Being in a irritated state, Lucius did not bother hiding himself anymore. He simply dashed towards them, without stopping or bothering to explain. If they let him pass, as was well otherwise he would simply remove them out of his way. Alas, all the six squads he had come across chose the other option and Lucius was more than happy to comply. Still, facing 10 men in each squad, all with the resolve to die, 6 times in a row was honestly getting annoying for Lucius. It took him less than 30 seconds to wipe them out each time. But the way they clung to his body, even in death was proving to be bothersome. Cutting of the arm connected to a body of one of the nameless guards, Lucius freed his body from it''s grasp. ''Tch! Insects are always annoying.'' Lucius cursed within his mind. Wiping the blood of his robes and dusting his hands, Lucius was about to continue moving when his senses warned him about incoming danger. He immediately mobilized his soul power and hurriedly moved his upper body, till it leaned perpendicular to the ground backwards. Lucius position resembled the ''c'' letter. Swissh! A sharp object tore through the empty air, where his head was positioned in just a second ago. Activating his [Killer Vision] instantly, Lucius jerked his head in the direction where the bullet had originated from. He could see a white cloud, moving from the location. ''A Sniper.'' Lucius concluded. The sniper used the split second when Lucius was stationary to take a shot. A shot coming from an electromagnetic sniper, meant it''s speed surpassed anything the likes of what an ordinary sniper rifle could. A normal sniper bullet could travel at 760m/s, with this particular rifle achieving almost thrice that speed. ''With this, that monster will finally die!'' The sniper was confident in his shot and was rightfully so. After all how many people can dodge a projectile incoming at such speeds when they were caught off-guard. Still he was cautious enough to immediately move from his position, to prevent hostile forces from discovering him. Alas, Lucius was already something that was far from human. His instinct was so sharp that it bordered on precognition. From the second, the rifle was aimed at his head, Lucius instinct had already warned him of the impending danger and his body had taken the appropriate response. With the assistance of his soul power, he had dodged that shot successfully, albeit coming a little close to comfort. Gripping the severed arm in his hands, Lucius immediately threw it towards the running sniper. He infused his soul power into the severed arm, to reinforce it. At a speed which was similar to teleportation, the severed arm disappeared from Lucius'' hands the pierced through the sniper''s chest. The sniper who had been running away, suddenly felt a force hit him in his chest and the power in his body being slowly drained away. Cranking neck downwards to observe his chest, he noticed an arm sticking out from inside his chest, holding a muscular red object seemingly pumping something. ''What just happened?'' This was the last thought that went through that man''s mind before he helplessly collapsed into the ground. Seeing that white cloud being snuffed out in his vision. Lucius finally straightened his body. He did not deactivate his [Killer Vision] just to be guarded against similar foes. ''Now to continue tracki....'' before Lucius could finish his thoughts, he suddenly felt a disturbance coming from this distance. Faint traces of energy rippled into the air from one of the solitary warehouses that stood in the distance. Lucius brows immediately furrowed, as he focused his senses in that direction. Picking up those patterns of energy being emitted, he realized it''s familiar nature. ''Soul power?'' he questioned within his mind. Without hesitating, Lucius immediately began moving in that direction. ----------------------- Approaching the warehouse, Lucius'' eyes picked up the presence of multiple life forms on the other side of the tall, concrete walls. Stepping into range, he suddenly felt a prickly sensation in the depths of his soul. Stopping for a second and peering into his mindspace, he could see a thin line of energy searching to reconnect with the reddish-black human silhouette. This line was the soul link that connected Ka''lor''ah and Lucius. Seeing that the line of energy required his permission to link with his soul, Lucius unhesitantly denied it. He was no longer going to entrain Ka''lor''ah''s whims, unless and until she provided him with a solid reason. If she could not explain her set of actions, Lucius had decided to crush the crystal on the spot. ''I can''t allow anyone to jeopardize my plans. Even if it means I lose it''s function to hide my causality.'' As he approached the warehouse, Lucius could feel some of the lifeforms having their presences snuffed out. He could not see through the other side of the wall, nor scan for the souls present. His vision had it''s limitations too. Seeing through thick solid objects was not possible and peering at distances far outside of his range was also not possible. Still, he could use it to vaguely identify the presence of life on the other side. Having cultivated the [Killer] soul to its highest level, Lucius was very sensitive to the presence of life. To him, detecting life forms was a bona-fide sixth sense. Lucius tried to force open the door, only to find it locked. Not wanting to waste time nor strength, he simply gathered a ball of soul energy in his hands and converted it''s property into [Decay]. Slamming it at the points were the hinges were located, he patiently waited. Now that he had confirmed the crystal''s location, he was in no hurry. As for the ongoing battle on the other side, judging from the sounds he could hear. He simply did not care. ''People are fighting among themselves. What has that got to do with me?'' he thought to himself. In less than 5 seconds, the metal had completely corroded and the door fell through. Having his [Killer Vision] still activated, Lucius confirmed Ka''lor''ah''s presence, thanks to the dark golden soul color. "Found. You." he spoke in his usual voice. After saying so, he stepped in while releasing his [Killing Intent] to the maximum extent of what his soul could handle. Just as he stepped in, Lucius suddenly furrowed his brows, ''Wait, why are there two other colors?'' he was puzzled. Looking up, he indeed saw two other colors other than Ka''lor''ah''s dark gold. There was a red, which resembled a burning fire. And then there was a deep violet, which resembled a calm ocean. Due to having his vision triggered, Lucius could not properly make out the faces of these two people. In his eyes, they were simply dark bodies containing a colored soul. ''One is half-step Stage 1, while the other is relatively new.'' he referred to the red and the violet respectively. Having entered the warehouse, Lucius switched off his vision. He wanted to have a good look at the two people, who had unlocked their soul power. Seeing their profiles reflected in his eyes, Lucius was astounded. His body freezing in surprise ------------------------ Seeing this new entrant, the fighting suddenly paused. All who were present inside the warehouse, turned their heads to look towards this newcomer. He had black hair and a slender build. His face was very handsome and the expressionless mask that he was wearing gave it an additional charm. Unlike how, having a expressionless face would give people a feeling of dissonance watching the other person, when it came to this young man there was a sense of harmony to it. It just felt natural on his face. Moving their gaze off his handsome face, their eyes were drawn to his eyes. Two crescent moons, crimson in color surrounded those abyssal black eyes. They involuntarily felt their eyes sinking into those irresistible eyes. Forcing themselves awake, they quickly broke their line of sight, returning to stare at him in his entirety. Whoever this person was, they had to ascertain his intentions first. Either way, he was going to die. But little did they know, this was just the start of their last and worst nightmare. They quietly watched the young man step on the metal door and into the warehouse. He stood there for a second quietly scanning around the room, as if he was searching for something. Just as one of the guards were about to call out to him, his body suddenly stiffened. To be precise the body of every single person in this place simultaneously stiffened. Cold sweat started to pour out of their backs. Their minds tempered through multiple life and death scenarios, immediately sent them warning singles. Alas, their bodies were unresponsive and their wills helpless. At this second, staring at his stiff unmoving body,they understood. That person was a true killer. A reaper of lives. The Personification of Death, Himself. Chapter 58: Getting Rid of the Pests. Lucius stood stiffly while staring directly at Olivia. ''Why is she here?'' This was the first question which formed in his head. This was still within his mental tolerance levels. What made him truly astounded was the soul she possessed. ''A Violet Soul? Deep and calm. Unfathomable and encompassing. It''s like the ocean.'' Throughout his life, Lucius had seen many types of souls. Yet, this was the first time he had seen a violet soul resembling a vast ocean. Upon reaching Stage 1, the soul materializes to form a more tangible entity from it''s gaseous state. It then starts to manifest the properties of a particular soul type. Soul types usually are of three cases. Common, Uncommon and Rare. This process was commonly called as ''Branding'' and the Soul Brand, refers to the type of soul a living organism possess. Each type of soul belongs to it''s own set of ''Rules. Their powers and properties derived from their soul was also in accordance to this set of ''Rules''. [Killer] is such a Soul Brand. It was a common soul type, with a majority of other life forms also possessing the same Brand. It was easy to find but hard to advance to the next stages. It belongs to the ''Rules of Destruction'' In fact, Lucius was the only person since the beginning of the cosmos to actually cultivate the [Killer] soul to it''s highest stage. An exceptional case. To explain further, let''s take Alex''s soul. It is also red with properties similar to fire. His Soul Brand is called [Ruler of Flames], a Rare soul type. But if we look at the set of ''Rules'' to which it belongs, it also belongs to the ''Rule of Destruction.'' similar to [Killer]. Hence, both their souls are red in color, although the degree of red is quite different. Not to mention, [Killer] has a bit of black mixed into it to, belonging to ''Rules of Chaos''. Looking at the color and properties is a common way to classify soul types and to recognize them. Looking through his vast knowledge, Lucius could not recognize a violet colored soul type. There were soul types with properties being similar to a calm ocean, but none of them were violet in color. ''A completely new Soul Brand? How is this possible?!'' Lucius was dumbfounded. ''I need to investigate this in length, but first let''s get rid of these annoying pests.'' Lucius pushed away the the matters of Olivia''s soul for later. His previous thoughts of non-interference had been completely thrown out if his mind. Heck, he had even forgotten his anger towards Ka''lor''ah. A case such as this with no precedent ever seen before in the infinite cosmos, meant that Olivia was someone very special. At least, her causality would be equal to if not more important than Reyna, who was humanity''s focal point. The shock in his eyes, immediately receded and his stiffened body relaxed. Lucius shifted his gaze from Olivia and moved to stare at the people near her. ''Let''s start with them I guess.'' thinking so, he suddenly disappeared. ---------------------- Seeing the young man, standing in front of her, Olivia''s first leapt in joy but then immediately cooled in worry. ''Lucius?!'' seeing that familiar face, Olivia''s first action was to warn him of the danger present in the warehouse. Just as she moved her mouth to speak, an unimaginable amount of pressure descended upon her body, immediately freezing it. Her instinct wasn''t trained like the guards present, therefore she was not able to feel the danger. Yet, her newly connected soul, warned her of something. She had a vague feeling that something bad was going to happen. With her body unable to move, she noticed the red crescents in his eyes, disappear and his gaze set on her. Looking into his eyes, Olivia could see the shock in his gaze. ''Is he shocked to see me here?'' Olivia wondered. Her worried heart felt a little elation upon this thought. ''I guessed right after all. He intentionally acted cold against me, to protect me from these dangers. If only I was stronger. Strong enough to protect myself and him.'' Olivia inwardly clenched her fists. ''However this time it will be different, for I have found my strength.'' She continued to look into his eyes, when she noticed the shock receding. It was replaced by calmness and indifference. Suddenly she felt the pressure on her body, dissipate allowing her to regain control of her body. "Lucius, look ou..." she was about to complete her warning when Lucius body suddenly vanished from it''s earlier spot. In the time she took to blink her eyes, a scream that resembled a dying pig sounded out from near her. It was Olivia''s turn to be shocked as she notices, Lucius'' palm pierce through the the guard''s armor, directly entering his body and crushing his heart. He then immediately turned around and performed the exact same action on the partner standing next to him. Before, Olivia''s mind to process this unbelievable set of actions, Lucius'' body disappeared once again, before reappearing in front of another guard, followed by the sound of a scream and something being crushed. Olivia shifted her sight to look at the body which laid in the ground. She could clearly peer into the man''s chest cavity and see the insides. Due to the quickness of his actions, the blood which was previously being pumped into the heart flowed into the now empty area. Olivia''s mind could not bear this brutal sight anymore, and she immediately began hurling her guts out. To this day, that was the most disgusting sight, she had ever seen. A mass of flesh and blood pumping and churning, flowing outside the body. --------------------- Alex, who was paralyzed due to overdrafting his soul power looked at the hell-ish scene before him with a pale scene. Seeing the man called Lucius, often mentioned by Ka''lor''ah, literally teleporting from one person to another, Alex felt as if he was dreaming. "This is a dream right? Maybe we already died to those guards and everything that happened afterwards was just my imagination." his voice quivered with noticeable fear. Hearing his question, Ka''lor''ah let out a bitter chuckle before answering him, "Nope, everything''s real." "A person cannot exert such tangible pressure, to the point of 40 people not being able to think nor move their body. And look at his movement, he''s practically teleporting." Sensing the despair in his voice, Ka''lor''ah gently explained, "That''s the difference between Half Step Stage 1 and a true Stage 1. In fact, he''s progressed half a lower level in Stage 1." Alex removed the crystal from his pocket and spoke with a voice that sounded unbelievable, "Didn''t you tell me it was impossible to advance to Stage 1 before February?" Ka''lor''ah did not deny him and said, "That''s right." "Then how?" "I don''t know." she coolly replied. Indeed, as she said, she did not know how Lucius had done it. ''Without ''that event'' taking place, it impossible to advance into Stage 1. How did he do it?'' There were not many things that Ka''lor''ah did not now of. From the unimaginable amounts of knowledge which stemmed from the beginning of the universe, inherited from her kin and her almost immortal lifespan, Ka''lor''ah had learnt many things. Looking at Lucius'' case right now, although she couldn''t exactly pinpoint the case, she did have a few guesses. Chief of them being. ''He somehow broke the ''Rule of Souls''.'' Nobody would understand how nonsensical this notion was better than herself. In the understanding of Rules, none other than ''Them'' were better than her. Lucius had somehow broken a Rule, which had a similar standing as the Rule of Time in the pyramid. Instead of feeling depressed, Ka''lor''ah was overjoyed. She laughed out loud in her mind and thought, ''As expected of the man I chose. My champion is more incredible than I knew.'' -------------------- Less than 5 minutes passed, since Lucius bagan to slaughter all the guards present. The scene inside the warehouse resembled that of a storm having passed through. The upper bodies of almost all the guards present had been torn open, save for the ones killed by Alex and Ka''lor''ah. Unlike the both of them who had struggled to kill their opponents and had run out of soul power, Lucius had barely tapped into his. He repeatedly recycled the soul power present in his arms, into a perpetual cycle, thereby conserving the maximum amount of soul power, using it in the most effective manner. Currently Lucius was standing before Luther and the unconscious Keith. Luther upon seeing Lucius'' entry had been shocked out of his wits. Seeing a ''supposed'' dead man, walking was quite the scary sight. He also remembered their last meeting and the mental trauma Lucius had left in his mind. Still he had forced himself to remain calm and believed that the 40 guards to effortlessly kill him, along with Alex and Olivia. Yet, witnessing Lucius storm his way through the 40 guards had completely broken Luther''s mind. Looking at Lucius standing before him, he let out a maddened laughter and some unintelligible sounds. Looking at the young man who used to bully him in the past, Lucius shook his head in disappointment. He channeled his soul power to create a sharp blade of wind in his hands. In an effortless move, he swiftly cut off Luther''s head. Lucius then proceeded to do the same on Keith''s unconscious body. He did not bother waking him up, to allow him to explain himself. ''All troublesome things, must simply be removed.'' Lucius thought to himself. ''Speaking of troublesome things.'' he turned his head over and stared at Alex. Seeing that pale faced, red haired boy crawling in the floor whilst holding onto his spear tightly, Lucius suddenly felt amused. ''This is the man who led humanity?'' he wondered "Pathetic." voicing out the latter half of his sentence. Hearing his voice both Olivia and Alex flinched. Chapter 59: Conflicting Emotions "Pathetic" Olivia immediately jerked her head upon hearing his voice. She wondered if those words were being directed at her, despite her gaining greater power. ''Am I that much of a disappointment.'' she was despondent within her heart. Looking at Lucius'' face, she noticed it was directed at her. Rather he was looking at the direction of that mysterious young man, who had rescued her. Although, Olivia did not know who that young man as, she was grateful for his help. In a certain way, that young man was her saviour. If not for his sudden arrival and subsequent rescue, Olivia knew she would already be a cold corpse on the ground. Seeing Lucius demean her saviour, her despondence was quickly replaced by anger. She could simply not forgive someone humiliate her savior, even if that person was Lucius. "Those are not kind words Lucius. This person saved my life. I owe it to him." she fumeed, readying her next words, in case Lucius opposed it. "So?", but hearing his indifferent reply, Olivia was caught speechless. Ignoring her, Lucius continued to walk towards Alex, who continued to crawl away from him. He had already confirmed that Ka''lor''ah was present in his pocket and felt a little irritated at his actions. Olivia immediately recovered and gazed at the both of them. Lucius was approaching and Alex was crawling away from him with a pale face. She noticed that the atmosphere between the two of them, was very hostile. ''Don''t tell me Lucius is going to kill this person.'' her mind thought of a reason. Before she could calmly rationalize her thoughts, Olivia''s body moved to block Lucius''s path. Olivia''s body moved almost subconsciously, when that thought occurred in her head. Seeing her block his path, Lucius'' brows furrowed. In a low voice, he questioned her. "What are you doing?" "I will not let you kill him." Olivia spoke in a determined voice. Although that young man was a stranger to her, she understood the concept of repaying good deeds with similar good deeds. Considering Lucius'' current behaviour Olivia simploy couldn''t gamble with her saviour''s life. She could only count on the off-chance that Lucius would take her into consideration and let him live. Stretching her arms to show her to block his path, Olivia then closed her eyes. No matter the outcome, she was prepared. -------------------------- ''Tch'' Looking at the young woman in front of him, Lucius mentally clicked his tongue. Normally, Lucius would have simply ignored her actions and continued on forward. If he wanted to kill, he would simply kill. Nobody could dictate his actions nor tell him what to do. Any and all obstacles on his path would be unhesitantly removed by him. However, the situation was currently different. Olivia possessed an unheard of soul type. Her importance in his mind had increased from an inconsequential human, to someone he had to protect, similar to Reyna. In Lucius plans to fight against ''Them'', he required any and all manners of chips in his hands. The greater his cards, the greater will be his odds facing against them. Seeing such a special trump card, right before him Lucius could not simply dispose of her. ''It would be better if I don''t antagonize her. She might prove to be surprisingly useful.'' Lucius weighed the merits and demerits in his head. Considering her relationship with his previous self, he did not actually want to kill her. Although their current relationship was a bit strained, it was still something that could be worked out. ''Still, what is this feeling of jealousy in my heart?'' Lucius felt strange. Seeing Olivia unhesitantly move to protect Alex, even at the possible cost of her own life made Lucius heart feel a little uneasy. Coming back to the past, Lucius had no recollection of a person called Olivia. Granted he might have forgotten about her in his long life, it still did not warrant this sudden feeling birthed in his heart. ''Why am I even feeling this emotion?'' Lucius wondered, while trying to analyze his own self. Just as he was about to peer into this mind, the normally idle clouds of reddish-black soul in the depths of his mindspace suddenly stirred. Just like that time when he reminisced about Reyna upon meeting her in the cafeteria for the first time, a wave of reddish-black soul energy suddenly swept through his mind. All of Lucius thoughts and the emotions he was currently feeling were suddenly extinguished. His mind was returned to a state of extreme calmness and indifference. The bitterness, the jealousy, that vague feeling of closeness, were utterly destroyed resulting in an extreme coldness reflecting in his eyes. The intent to kill all those who blocked his path, welled up within Lucius'' mind. ''Kill her.'' told a thought in his mind. ----------------------- Outside, Olivia sneaked some peeks from her closed eyelids. Seeing Lucius stop and consider in silence, already relieved her to a great extent. She could see some conflict and confusion in his eyes and was feeling as if a great burden had been freed from her shoulders. Just as everything was heading in a favourable direction, she noticed that his eyes suddenly becoming extremely cold. He was looking at her, the same away one would look at and insignificant bug. A scary aura was being emitted from his body. Olivia felt something break within her heart. Tears threatened to spill out from her eyes. Seeing Lucius gather his soul power in his hands, she recalled how he had killed Luther and Keith. Biting her lips and tightly shutting her eyes, Olivia resolved herself. ''If my death is what stays his hand. Then I don''t mind dying to protect my belief.'' Olivia willed within her mind. ''I''m sorry I couldn''t live upto your expectations mysterious lady.'' She could feel Lucius'' hands coming close to her. Strangely, she did not feel scared nor resentful at Lucius, a state of extraordinary peace spread throughout her body. Olivia could even hear the young man who saved her life, scream something in the background, but heard none of his words. Time seemed to crawl down to a stop, with each second seeming to last years. Olivia was feeling extremely peaceful and satisfied in her heart and mind. Death did not seem all that scary. A peculiar contrast to her earlier fears, when facing Keith and his guards. In a moment which seemed to be forever, yet instantaneous. Olivia felt a warm hand being placed on her shoulder. Feeling a breath on her face, she slowly opened her eyes and found a set of pitch black eyes staring into hers. The eyes were still filled with indifference and nonchalance, yet that previous coldness was missing. She quietly stared into those eyes, before Olivia suddenly snapped out of here reverie. Seeing the distance between their respective faces, with their noses almost touching each other, Oliva panicked and a red blush spread across her face. Her heart rate quickened in response to his actions. "Admirable resolve." she heard that mechanical yet familiar voice speak to her. "Maybe you still have some hope left." she continued to hear that voice. The eyes that were so close to her, suddenly pulled away. She could see Lucius'' entire face up close. His right hand was placed in her shoulder, with a mysterious energy being channeled into her body through his hands. The various cuts and bullet abrasions she had on her body, suddenly started to itch. Then, in front of her incredulous gaze the wounds she had sustained started closing up and scabbing, before the scabs also falling off to reveal her smooth, unblemished white skin. Lucius removed the black robe he had been wearing over his body and threw it to Olivia. "Wear this." he instructed. He then ignored her and walked towards Alex. Olivia caught the robe absentmindedly before waking up from her stupor. Noticing the various tears in her clothes and her exposed skin, Olivia felt a wave of embarrassment flood her mind, before she hurriedly covered herself in the black robes. The red shade on her face, turned a shade deeper. ''It''s surprisingly warm.'' she thought as she felt the warmness of the black robe. Subconsciously she moved to sniff the scent on the robes, before hurriedly shaking her mind. ''What am I doing?'' she thought in disbelief, before moving to stare at Lucius'' back profile. ''Was he always that tall?'' Olivia suddenly wondered within her mind. Although she saw him head towards Alex, she did not move to stop him. Lucius was no longer giving off that scary aura. Well his expressionless face was still ''scary'', but she did not feel like he was going to kill her saviour. ------------------------- Giving his black overcoat to Olivia, Lucius continued to head towards Alex. Earlier, his thoughts and feelings were suddenly wiped by his soul power, before his [Killer] soul urged him to kill Olivia. Just as he was about to rise his hand, that mysterious sense of hunger returned from within his body. His soul power started to rapidly be pulled into the depths of his body, disappearing into an unknown space. Lucius himself was not sure what was happening in his body. His soul instructed to kill, while his body refused to obey. Two different opposing forces seemed to clash within his body, with his mindspace being the battlefield. His soul energy was drained, until the reddish-black soul returned to its previous state of inactivity and that mysterious state of hunger also disappeared. He quickly exited his mindspace and opened his eyes. He watched the young woman in front of him, biting her lips, with her eyes tightly closed. Her arms were shaking from fear, but she still did not move from that location. A sense of admiration rose in Lucius heart. A emotion that he very rarely felt. ''A strong personality and an unyielding character.'' he thought within his mind. He even spoke out a word of praise. Seeing the various wounds bleeding from her body, Lucius then proceeded to heal her and passed her his robe before continuing towards Alex. ''She is possibly worthy of being trained.'' he was wondering to himself. This idea had to be carefully pondered upon in length later, therefore he pushed it to the back of his head. He stood in front of Alex, who had been crawling in the ground previously. He had stopped crawling away, when Lucius emitted the intent to kill Olivia. He had screamed at the top of his lungs, telling him to stop. Now he quietly stared at Lucius from the ground. His eyes flaming with a strong sense of defiance. Lucius stopped near him and ordered in a cold tone. "Hand me the crystal." Chapter 60: The Cause. Hearing Lucius'' cold command, Alex''s first instinct was to roar in defiance. Just as he was about to open his mouth, he heard another voice interrupt him. "Hand me over." he heard Ka''lor''ah speak to him in his mind. ''Are you sure? What if he crushes you?'' Alex asked in doubt. When Ka''lor''ah told him about Lucius'' cruelty, Alex did not think too much about it. Being cruel to your enemies was something of the norm. In the battlefield, a moment''s hesitation might cost the life of oneself or their comrades. Being in the military, Alex understood this fact very well. Whereas being cruel to one''s allies was something Alex could not accept. Sensing the doubts in his mind, Ka''lor''ah simply chuckled. "I can guess what you are worried about, but don''t worry. While he is cruel, he is also not rash. If me being alive is more valuable to him than my death, then he wouldn''t kill me." ''So he suddenly sees the value in you?'' Alex asked sarcastically. "Well, he must have questions about the young lady standing over there. Questions, that need my help to answer." Ka''lor''ah answered with confidence. "Are you done discussing?" Lucius'' cold voice sounded out once again. Alex lifted his head and stared at Lucius for a few seconds. Under Lucius'' intimidating gaze, Alex could simply not maintain his calm and reluctantly handed over the crystal. He also glared at Lucius, in hopes of trying to intimidate him. Lucius simply ignored his gaze and received the crystal. Holding it in his hand. he quietly stared at it. A few seconds of palpable tension passed before he spoke. "What do you have to say for yourself?" Olivia seeing this scene was confused. She stared at Lucius, then at the crystal in his hands. She was utterly confused on what Lucius was trying to do. ''Is he trying to talk to a crystal?'' she doubted her own thoughts. Just when she was about to voice her confusion, a familiar voice sounded. "Well. If I tell you all of this was simply coincidence. Would you believe me?" Ka''lor''ah''s voice sounded sheepishly. Olivia was astounded once again. While the voice sounded lacking in seriousness, she could still accurately identify that voice. Olivia would never forget that voice, even in death. That was the voice, which granted her power. The power to accomplish her dreams. Hearing Ka''lor''ah reply, Lucius tightened his grip over the crystal, slowing exerting his force. Feeling herself being squeezed, Ka''lor''ah immediately ceased her her actions. "Yield! I yield. Don''t crush me!" "I thought I told you, I hate being manipulated and lied to." Lucius spoke. The degree of coldness in his voice, had gone down a few notches. "But it really was a coincidence. I didn''t expect you to be suddenly kidnapped. Since those guys were searching your pockets for wealth, I thought might as well use this opportunity." Ka''lor''ah huurriedly explained. "In detail." Lucius demanded. "Then link your soul! Certain things cannot be spoken out loud." she hissed. Sensing a deeper plot in her words, Lucius was no longer obstinate. He complied and connected that line of energy with his souls, successfully re-establishing their connection. ''Ah! Feels so good to be back home. I almost ran out of my accumulated energy in the process of connecting both of kids, Body and Soul.'' a voice sounded out in his mind. ''Explain in detail.'' Lucius demanded once again. ''Jeez! ''Nice to have our connection back, Ka''lor''ah. I missed you'' would it kill you to say that.'' she grumbled and immediately began talking before he could get angry again. ''Anyway, when you got kidnapped the other day, I noticed that the ''Cause'' which had started gathering had some changes in it. Some kind of disturbance preventing it from accumulating on Reyna.'' ''As you know, that little girl is very important for our plans, therefore when I noticed that the people who kidnapped you had some connections to this ''disturbance'', I decided to take matters into my own hands.'' ''Who would have thought I would meet, the future ''Great Commander'' in the process. Seeing that this was a good opportunity to advance some of our later plans, I decided to intervene in his ''Causality'' a little bit, by awakening his soul in advance.'' ''The using him as an agent, I started following the disturbance whilst also leaving behind some tracks for you to follow. One thing led to another and we ended up here.'' ''So you found the reason behind this disturbance?'' Lucius questioned. ''Of course I did, what do you take me for.'' Ka''lor''ah tried to sneak in a complaint, only to be met with Lucius'' tightening grip. ''It was those humans called Keith and Luther.'' she replied in exasperation. Noticing Lucius'' confusion she explained. ''Remember how they tired to get your research and use it to get close to Reyna. Due to your interference, or to say, counter-plot. The scale of their actions vastly exceeded the threshold, thereby affecting ''Causality''. It was gathering today, in this place, hence me leading you here. Originally, I planned to use this accumulated ''Cause'' to do other stuff, but who would have thought.'' Speaking up to here Ka''lor''ah suddenly let out a chuckle. ''What?'' Lucius who did not get her meaning asked. ''Well, your precious childhood friend assimilated all of the ''Cause'', becoming another focal point for mankind. In fact the level of her importance, vastly exceeds that of Reyna.'' she explained. Lucius snapped out of the discussion and turned to look at Olivia standing in the distance. She had a confused and dazed expression on her face, seemingly in deep thought. Taking a deep breath, he turned around to ask the crystal once again, ''Another focal point? Are you sure?'' ''Absolutely. I witnessed the entire process myself.'' she replied with confidence. Taking a few moments to digest this information, Lucius then proceeded to ask her another question. ''While I looked at her through [Killer Vision] her soul was ''Violet'' in color, calm and unperturbed like the ocean. What''s her Soul Brand?'' If Ka''lor''ah had a human face, she would be blinking in confusion at this moment. ''What? Violet?'' she questioned. Lucius simply nodded in reply. A few seconds of silence followed, before Ka''lor''ah let out a earth-shattering roar within Lucius'' mind. ''A UNKNOWN SOUL BRAND?!!'' she herself could barely believe what she was saying. A soul brand that had never existed or recorded since the beginning of the universe was simply too shocking. How many trillions, quadrillions, quintillions of life forms had lived and perished? The number was simply incalculable. And for a Soul Brand to have never occurred in these vast number of life forms, was impossible. Yet. right now such a thing was happening. ''Souls never perish upon death, they are simply recycled,... for such a Soul Brand to exist, it only means..?!!'' Ka''lor''ah began to mentally ramble. ''Means what?'' Lucius asked in impatience. ''It means that her Soul is brand new. This is the first life, birthed by this soul. That''s the only possible answer for this inexplicable scenario.'' Ka''lor''ah answered, unsure of her own guess. Lucius upon hearing this was once again stunned. He stared blankly into space ,with a myriad of thoughts filling his mind. No one knew what Lucius or Ka''lor''ah were thinking. Well, nobody other than them truly understood the value of a brand new Soul. After a few minutes, Ka''lor''ah spoke up in her rarely serious voice, ''Lucius, this girl must not die under any circumstance. Her value is greater than Reyna.'' Lucius nodded his head in understanding, ''Got it. I guess I have to train her, if she is to be useful for our plans.'' Taking a deep breath, he continued, ''Still, I can only show her her the path, whether she chooses to walk in it depends upon her. I will not be wasting my time on a random side quest.'' ''While she is an unexpected gain, she is not crucial for our plans.'' Lucius stated in a cold voice. Seeing him like this, Ka''lor''ah mentally sighed. ''I thought he had changed, seeing how he treated that girl, but it seems like I was overthinking.'' she did not let Lucius hear this part. ''I''m going to sleep for sometime. My energy is completely exhausted after this month.'' saying so, Ka''lor''ah''s consciousness sunk into deep slumber "Hmm are you guys done?" both of them heard another voice suddenly sound out. Lucius turned in the direction of the sound and noticed it was Alex who had spoken. He continued to stare at Alex with an indifferent gaze, not replying in the least. Lucius carefully scanned Alex, to get an idea of his combat capability. Alex, strangely felt naked under Lucius eyes. He could see Lucius scan his entire body with his eyes, seemingly evaluating something. Using his hands to hide what he could, Alex spoke out in a angered voice, "What are you looking at?" He did not hear any reply from Lucius, but simply saw the other shaking his head in disappointment. Lucius directly disregarded Alex and turned towards Olivia before speaking up. "We need to head back to the academy. The authorities might be coming here at any moment." Hearing his voice, Olivia snapped out of her daze and nodded. Taking a step forward, she suddenly felt all the energy leave her body. Unbalanced she was about to fall, when she noticed a pair of arms suddenly hold her. Lucius had intervened and caught her, before she fell. With his brows furrowed, he asked in his mechanical voice, which was absence of any concern or care. "What''s wrong?" Feeling Lucius he in such close proximity, Olivia suddenly felt flustered. "M-my body feels paralyzed. I can''t move it." "Did you overdraft your soul power?" he asked. "Overdraft?" she questioned not quite understanding his words. "Did you completely use up your soul energy?" Lucius asked in a stern tone. "Hmm." Olivia simply nodded in response, feeling a little ashamed at her weakness. Once again, she was reminded of his earlier words. Weakness is a Sin. "Seriously.." she suddenly heard Lucius sigh, before her body suddenly felt weightless. She could see Lucius lift her up and carry her in a princess carry position. "W-WAI-WAIT! What are you doing?!" Olivia let out a panicked scream. She was embarrassed at the sudden turn of events and her face completely reddened. Her heart beat with such force, that she felt like it would leap out of her chest. "We can not waste anymore time here. I will carry you back to the academy." Lucius stated. His cold tone devoid of any emotions did not give her any room for rejection. Inwardly he was thinking, ''Already a bother.'' Olivia nodded her head in a shy manner. Her mind however was in complete chaos. ''AHHHH! Why is my heart beating like this? Aren''t we foster siblings? This is normal.'' She tried to calm herself down and rationalize. Alas it was to no avail, ''Why am I feeling like this?'' Olivia could not understand her own emotions. Securing his grip over her body, Lucius concentrated his soul power at his legs, and dashed of at his full speed. Like a lightening, he disappeared from his previous spot and already made it outside the warehouse. "WHAT ABOUT ME?!!" they could hear a scream in the background. Alas Lucius ignored him. "Will he be fine?" Olivia asked in a worried voice. Surprisingly, she was not disoriented or uncomfortable at Lucius'' speed. Seeing her like this, Lucius commended her in his mind, ''Admirable mental toughness.'' As for her question he simply replied, "He''s from the Hellwig family. Plus he has already recovered his energy to a certain extent. He will be fine." Saying so he once again picked up his speed, disappearing into the nightline. Chapter 61: Weapon Reveal. Part 1 Making it back to the academy, Lucius first dropped Olivia at her room. He took care to not expose their tracks and evaded the main path. The route shown by Escker proved to be useful, as Lucius evaded most of the cameras and sentries on his way here. During the entire journey neither of them spoke, each due to their various reason. Lucius, because he simply found it to bothersome to talk and Olivia, because she could not understand her own feelings. Olivia''s heart kept beating unnaturally fast and her face was completely flushed. While, Lucius did notice these things, he simply chalked it to overdrafting her soul power and completely ignored it''s actual implications. Dropping off Olivia at her room, Lucius gave her certain instruction. "Follow these instructions to cultivate your soul power, do not slack. Apart from that also prepare carefully for the expedition, by the academy. Great changes are expected to take place. Your life will depend on these preparations you make." instructing so, Lucius wrote down a certain method to cultivate her soul. Olivia obediently nodded and accepted his instructions. Immediately upon this, Lucius departed turning into a dark flash of light and disappearing into the night. Watching him go, Olivia had finally calmed down to a certain extent. Her face was still flushed, but her heart had calmed down to a certain extent. ''Is this love?'' she inwardly thought to herself, before hurriedly shaking her head and banishing this thought. ''Nonsense. Lucius is my little brother. How can I have such embarrassing thoughts.'' slapping her cheeks. she continued, ''It must be because of all the events today.'' She then retreated into the room, carefully reading the paper Lucius had left behind. She had learnt the meaning of weakness, and never wanted to feel that way ever again. ''I must become stronger and protect everyone!'' she punched the air to show her resolve and sat down to cultivate. Sniff, sniff ''Before that.'' she immediately got up and rushed into the bathroom. ''I STINK SO BAD'' Olivia screamed within her mind. After finally loosening her nerves, she finally had the time to inspect her own body, only to see it caked with black filth covering her body. ''Ahhh! Why did he not tell me about this!'' Olivia felt like digging a hole and hiding underneath it. The red blush, which had receded, came back to show her embarrassment. How she was going to show her face to Lucius, was another battle for Olivia tonight. ---------------------- Two weeks passed, with nothing significant happening. The incident at the warehouse district had been publicized in the news, two days after the actual incident. The press had described the scene as a terrorist attempt to harm the Alliance and also tied in the deaths at ''The Pit'' to be part of a greater purpose. No mention of Keith, Luther or even Alex had been made. ''Seems like he made it out, before the authorities arrived.'' Lucius calmly thought to himself while watching the news on the hologram. Currently it was 7 AM in the morning. Lucius was sitting in the cafeteria, eating the academy issued breakfast. He was sitting inside the cafeteria itself, with no other person sharing his table. A cacophony of excited voices sounded all around him. Each student were eagerly waiting for the expedition, that was about to happen. They were already forming their own groups in hopes of being deployed in the same planet. Alas Lucius knew, such actions were meaningless. While Erik had said that the distribution was going to be random, he knew it was not so. ''In order to keep the race for points as competitive as possible, the AI will distribute the students of families which are in a competitive relation with each other, in the same planet.'' Lucius being a commoner and no one of importance was naturally excluded from such talks, leaving him to have breakfast all alone. Still, Lucius was in no manner dissatisfied by this arrangement and eagerly welcomed such an outcome. Being left alone, meant conserving his precious energy on other important stuff. They would be boarding their respective spaceships and leaving for their training today. According to the schedule sent to the students by the Academy, they students were to assemble at the Transportation dock at 9 AM. ''I wonder if I''ll be sent to the same planet this time.'' Lucius inwardly wondered. Him being sent to the same planet, where he had survived last time would be a pleasant surprise for Lucius. Even if he was sent to another planet, it really did not matter to Lucius. ''Do you think Olivia would survive?'' Ka''lor''ah worriedly asked within Lucius'' mind. ''Who knows?'' he blandly replied. ''Can you at least act a little worried.'' she spoke in an exasperated tone. ''If she somehow ends up dying even after having access to soul power, then she''s better off dead. I can''t keep protecting her every single second. Same goes for Reyna too, at least in her case she''s bound to have some people protecting her from the shadows, courtesy of her father.'' Lucius coldly spoke the truth. With the passage of two weeks, the initial astonishment upon seeing Olivia''s brand new soul, had all but died out. Lucius had reverted back to his original state, not really caring about the life and death of other beings. Lucius did not mind training Olivia, but only if she showed some talent in the field. If she did not have the talent to fight, then no matter her innate gifts and endowments then there was no use training at all. He might as well use that time on something else, which has a guaranteed chance of being useful. ''So this is a test? To see if she''s worthy?'' Ka''lor''ah asked him curiously ''Test, challenge, call it whatever you want. It''s just a way of seeing if she''s worth my time, that''s all.'' Lucius flatly answered. Just as Lucius was about to place a piece of bread into his mouth, he suddenly heard a voice call out to him. "LUCIUSSSS!" ''Not again.'' he inwardly sighed before turning around. A few feet away stood a bespectacled young woman. She had golden hair, which swayed like silk and emerald eyes. Wearing a beige colored shirt and white pants, with brown boots covering her feet, she fit the picture of a perfect stereotypical explorer to a tee. Lucius did not bother to put on act of a normal student and stared at her with his expressionless face. Reyna of course did not mind this, and rushed towards his table hold a briefcase in one hand and the arm of another person in another. Dragging the said other person, she sat down at Lucius'' table. That other person was obviously Olivia. Ignoring Reyna for a second, he scanned Olivia for a second, just to notice that she was avoiding his gaze. ''Her soul energy has improved by a ton! She is just as monstrous as you.'' an astonished Ka''lor''ah sounded in his mind. Lucius heard her analysis, while ignoring all the envious gazes directed at him. Considering Reyna''s loud and clear voice, it was no wonder every other student heard her call out to him. The male gazes were filled with envy and jealousy, whilst the female gazes were filled with loathe and disappointment. "Lucius! Stop ignoring me!" Reyna leaned into the table and stared right into Lucius'' face. "What do you want?", Lucius blankly said. "I completed that thing you asked me!" she said proudly while opening the briefcase in her hand. Putting her hands into the briefcase, Reyna retrieved a slim metallic rod that was 50 cm in length and 5 cm in diameter. It looked unassuming and plain. "I had it made exactly as you requested, according to your design. In fact, I went the extra mile and improved it a bit!" she spoke in a excited voice, while bobbing her head. Her image resembled a cute little puppy waiting to be petted by its owner or that of a child wanting to be praised by her parent. Of course, none of this entered Lucius'' eyes. His usually cold and indifferent eyes were shining with a rarely seen excitement and somberness. His eyes seemed to say -Nice to meet you again, old friend. That long cylindrical rod. was Lucius most trusted partner in his entire 300 years of living. Sure the design, material and looks had changed with the passage of time. This rod, wasn''t the same as the other ones he had held in his hands. But in their core and purpose they were all the same. A weapon that he could trust his life on. A weapon that could kill. Chapter 62: Weapon Reveal. Part 2 Reaching in Lucius received the metallic rod from Reyna''s hand. It''s body was pure silver, with a few streaks of black running through it. The silver color was the alloy between, Star Steel and Perfect Iron, with the black being Graphene. Lucius casually swung the rod around to get a feel for it''s weight and center of balance. ''It''s perfectly balanced.'' He nodded his head, a small smile blooming in his expressionless face. Using his fingers, he traced through the black patterns, which consisted of the electronic components of the weapon. Lucius'' fingers quivered under that feeling. He almost felt a certain type of pleasure, off the body of the weapon. In it''s base state, it resembled an unassuming metallic rod. Apart from the fact that it''s durability was greatly higher and it being a little heavy, no other difference could be noticed. But all of that could change, when the small indent present in it''s body was pressed. The indent was perfectly sized to fit his thumb finger. He noticed that his finger had to be scanned in order to unlock the weapon. ''Did that girl scan my finger?'' he raised his head and looked at Reyna with a confused expression. Seeing the young woman fidget unnaturally and evade his gaze, Lucius knew that he had nailed his guess. He continued to stare at Reyna with a cold face, awaiting an explanation. Reyna held on for five seconds before her composure collapsed. She bowed and hurriedly explained herself. "I''m sorry! I had to input a certain password so that anyone would not be able to wield the weapon. When you had visited my lab, Iris had scanned for your fingerprint of the plates of food we ate. I apologize for doing that without your permission!" Seeing her earnest answer, Lucius was not angry. In fact, he did not even care, if someone scanned his finger print. What are they going to do with it? Steal his credits? He did not even have any in the first place. "It''s fine. Tell me how to unlock this weapon first." Lucius spoke to her. Immediately upon hearing that, Reyna almost jumped towards Lucius. She then began her explanation. "First in order to bind the weapon to yourself a DNA verification is required. Drop a single drop of your blood into that indent, then place your thumb finger on top of it to complete scanning." Listening to her instructions, Lucius followed the steps. He used his teeth to cut the surface of his thumb and dropped a single drop of his blood into the indent. Then he pressed his thumb into the surface. Immediately upon receiving his blood, the unassuming metallic rod, stirred into action. The black patterns of the surface, turned crimson in color. It then began moving and pulsing. It almost seemed as is the rod was alive. "Oh I also added a bit of our recent research into it. The results of that research was far greater than what I expected. It allows us to create such Pseudo-Living objects. You should have seen the face of the various uncles and aunties who work in the building. They were all shocked. Your name is basically a legend in the Snowden building." Reyna immediately began gloating. While he did not show it, Lucius was inwardly shocked. ''She''s already had success with Pseudo-Living technology? This is too soon!'' Before Lucius could continue his thoughts, the weapon in his hands started pulsing faster and faster. The crimson color also started turning brighter and brighter, until it resembled a beacon. By now all the eyes on the cafeteria were on Lucius'' table. All students and teachers alike were looking at this spectacle with an interested expression. While they did not hear Reyna''s explanation, they still understood that something extraordinary was happening. Just as the brightness and pulsing reached the peak, Lucius heard Reyna sound out. "Now press down on the indent with your finger." Lucius immediately complied. The rod in his hands vibrated for a second, before rapidly enlarging itself. Extending in both the directions, the metal rod reached a total height of 3m tall. Seeing the height, Lucius got up from his seat and moved back to create a little space. The patterns on the surface continued to pulse, with the crimson color alternating between bright and dark. It color and the pulsing resembled the movement of blood vessels in the human body. Needless to say, the weapon really did look, Alive. Expanding its diameter until it perfectly fit into Lucius'' hands, the rod then began to vibrate at the top. The crimson color also started to head towards the top of the weapon. In front of the incredulous gaze of the people present in the room, the metal started to extend outwards to create a single edged blade. The metal continued to pulse and expand until it reached its optimal length and breath. The crimson then began to seep into the concave side of the blade to create sharp cutting edges onto both the sides. Finally forming the cutting edge, the color then retreated from the edge and continued to form vein like patterns across the entire length of the weapon, slightly pulsing to show that it was alive. "The crimson veins are the energy pathways, that you asked for. Although, I''m not sure how you intend to use them without a power source." Reyna casually commented. While looking at Lucius'' design, this was the one part that kept confusing her. When Lucius had asked for energy pathways to transfer any type of energy across the weapon, he did not mention any power source to be attached. If he wanted the weapon to radiate plasma, then a miniature plasma generator had to be attached. While she had asked this question to Lucius, back when he showed her the design, he shrugged it off saying to create it as it is. The energy generator would be taken care by him. Hearing her question, Lucius did not reply. He simply stared at the weapon in admiration. Lifting it off the ground, Lucius casually swung the weapon in multiple directions to get a feel for it. The edges of the blade were so sharp that, he could hear the air being cut at every swing. This further increased his admiration for the weapon, as he continued to swing it faster and faster. All the people present, were staring at this scene with their jaws dropping. Looking at a metal rod turning into a large weapon was nothing new. But seeing how it looked, almost as if it was alive, was nerve-wracking. One of the boys, watching Lucius swing the weapon, asked in an excited voice. "Is.... is that a Scythe?", rather than a question, it was more of asking for a confirmation. The other students around the boy nodded their heads in response. It was a Scythe, that looked way to cool! Seeing the amazed looks on the faces of the people present, Reyna raised her chin and used her hand to thumb her nose. She was proud and rightfully so. Lucius on the other hand was lost in a world of his own. He slowly started heading outside the cafeteria, into the open lawns while gradually increasing his speed of swinging. By the time he reached outside, he was already generating wind blades with just his swings! This was done without using his soul power! ''My combat effectiveness has gone up by at least 300%. With this I can face those monsters with ease.'' Lucius analyzed. He then slowly began to reduce the speed of his swings, before coming to a complete stop. Clicking on the indent again, the scythe began closing in on itself and started to shrink, before assuming it''s ordinary metal rod form. The crimson color had also receded to show the previous black. Turning around, Lucius spotted Reyna and immediately bowed. "Thank you." he brusquely said. At this moment Lucius was neither acting nor being sarcastic. He was sincerely thanking Reyna for her work and the effort she had put into this. Throughout his previous life, the scythe was the only thing which had always accompanied Lucius. It had shared all of his hardships and his losses. Whenever Lucius lost his friend or a loved one, the scythe was always present. The foes he had cut down with the scythe were innumerable. To say that it was the closest thing to his heart, was an understatement. The scythe had accompanied him all the way until that final, fateful battle. That very battle where he had lost everything that was near and dear to him. His scythe, his wife and his.... infant child. Lucius had been completely broken after that battle. He was broken in mind, body and will. He no longer had the desire to live nor to fight back against ''Them''. He had become a walking puppet, with no sense of purpose. Now feeling this familiar weapon back in his hands, his heart flooded with a myriad of emotions, chief of them being guilt, helplessness and a sense of loss. ''Aurora...'' he recalled a certain woman. His one and only wife. The only person he had truste with his entire life. She was the one who had taught him the scythe, fought alongside him and had died in that fateful battle. Lucius'' hand unconsciously tightened around the metal rod in his hand. His eyes felt heavy, as an unfamiliar moisture gathered at it''s ends. Just as he was about to spill his tears, the reddish-black clouds forming his soul, sent another wave of energy, completely eliminating his emotions and thoughts. Lucius heart returned to its previous state of tranquility and his mind was cold once again. The tears which he was about to shed, completely disappeared. Straightening himself Lucius, then proceed to the table he was sitting in to resume his breakfast. His face, utterly calm. His eyes once again cold and indifferent. Reyna who was caught unaware by his gratitude stood there astonished. Seeing him eat his breakfast like nothing had happened, she snapped out of her daze and spoke, "So you can thank people too. That''s surprising." "Doesn''t happen often. Don''t expect to see it again." Lucius replied in a cool manner. Just was Reyna was about to rebuke it, the watches of all the students vibrated a the same time. Olivia who was sitting at the table, watching the entire spectacle spoke up with a serious expression on her face, as she stared at her watch. "They are telling us to gather. Our ships and destinations have been assigned." Chapter 63: Getting Onboard. After receiving the message from the Academy, all the students hastily made their way back to their rooms to take their bags, before heading towards the Transport Dock. Lucius was no different. Holding his new weapon in his hands, he also quickly ran back to his room. While running he spoke to Ka''lor''ah, "Something is wrong in my body..., precisely my soul." he said with an indifferent voice. "What''s wrong?", she asked in a tense manner. Matters related with the soul were not simple matters. Any problems in one''s soul, meant their very existence was at risk. Hearing Lucius'' casual statement, Ka''lor''ah knew he was serious. Lucius then began describing the weird hunger state he had felt that day, his mysterious advancement into Stage 1, the emotion to kill Olivia and it''s rapid disappearance and the latest wipe of the guilt and other emotions he felt. ''Whenever I feel a sort of strong emotion, my soul proceeds to forcibly erase it and return my mind to a state of absolute calmness. That mysterious sense of hunger too, I haven''t felt it since the time in ''The Pit'', except the brief reappearance two weeks ago.'' Lucius finished his recollection. After re-establishing their soul link, Ka''lor''ah had gone into a state of deep slumber to recover he spent energy. Hence, Lucius had not gotten the opportunity to ask her these questions. After two weeks or recovery, she had finally woken up this morning, when he was having breakfast. Ka''lor''ah digested the information she was given and carefully analyzed it. After a while, when Lucius had almost reached his residence she finally spoke up. "About your emotional suppression, I think it''s the result of your [Killer] soul. Although, you are currently at Stage 1, your understanding and experience of it, is already at Stage 7. As you know, one has to shed any and all types of desires and emotions to reach Stage 7 in [Killer]. This might be the cause." Taking a pause, she then continued. "As for that mysterious sense of hunger and that foreign energy that clashed with your soul, I have no idea." Ka''lor''ah honestly admitted her ignorance. Even after digging through all the knowledge she possessed, she had no idea about Lucius'' hunger state. Listening to his recounts, she did not understand why Lucius had turned into a beast, which had gone mad with hunger. Also, what exactly was this hunger? It surely wasn''t physical hunger which could be sated by consuming food. And that ability to devour souls. Something that was supposed to be impossible. Souls weren''t just bundles of energy. They were the direct confirmation and proof of a person''s existence. To be precise, souls were the reason, the ''I'' could exist. Hearing her answer, Lucius who partly held some hope, was disappointed. He knew the odds of, Ka''lor''ah answering the question were quite low, still held a modicum of hope. Alas, she did not know. Still, Lucius was not too bothered by it. Whatever the actual cause was, he could only prepare and lie in wait for it. Having made his way back to his room, Lucius threw his newly acquired scythe into his bag. His luggage was very small, consisting only of a backpack, with compacting technology applied to it. Compacting technology redefined the way suitcases and luggages worked. The technology could forcibly shrink a large object and make it occupy less space. While the density and mass of the object increased due to this, for travellers and shipping companies, this technology was a godsend. Of course, humanity tried to apply this concept into making weaponry. Alas, compacting energy was still not possible. Explosions and implosions were common, if plasma bombs or other such energy weapons were compacted. Still, for cold weapons like Lucius'' scythe for example this technology worked just fine. Having already packed the previous day, Lucius carried his backpack and made his way towards the Transportation Hub. ---------------------------- The Transportation Hub consisted of three large sections. The Spaceship Section, The Teleportation Section and the Cargo Section. The Spaceship Section, as the name suggests, is where all manners of spaceship used for transport of personnel landed and parked. It was the section with the largest amount of foot traffic everyday. It was also the place where the students were asked to gather, to board their respective ships. The Teleportation Section was the section were non-living and smaller goods which required immediate transportation were teleported. Fixed Teleportation points, leading to a few important locations were stationed here. This was also the section with the most amount of security and checkings, as hostile items such as bombs and other objects could also theoretically be transported. The final section was the cargo section, used to import and export large amount of goods and cargo. The Academy usually leased the ports to the various families for their usage, in exchange for credits and other items. Currently, Lucius and the rest of the students had already arrived at the Spaceship section. Although a large number of students were present , due to the large areas and the fact that this section was specially reserved for the Academy''s use today, it was not overly crowded. Upon entering, the students were asked to deposit their luggage at a counter for it to be loaded into their spaceships. After that the students were also personally searched to check for possible dangerous items they might be carrying. The idea of a bomb going off within a spaceship whilst in space, was a scary thing to imagine. Not to mention, it had already happened before. Lucius easily cleared the checking as he had already registered his weapon and deposited it separately. As for Ka''lor''ah, a quick usage of [Charm] solved that problem. Making his way towards a large holographic screen, Lucius noticed that the board recorded the student name, spaceship assigned and the destination planet. Searching for his name on the board, Lucius finally found it. [Name-Lucius.] [Spaceship Assigned- Voyager 16] [Destination- Deatov] ''The destination has changed.'' Lucius sighed within his mind. While it would not affect his plans, the fact that he was going to an unknown planet was slightly worrying. No matter, Lucius was confident of succeeding. After all which planet he was in did not matter. What mattered was whether. ''I can survive the initial onslaught or not.'' he internally mused. Now that he knew the name of his spaceship, he started to make his way towards the port where it was stationed. Walking for a few minutes, Lucius finally made it to the specified location. He checked the time and noticed that it as already 8:45 AM, just 15 minutes from the time of departure. Voyager 16, was a large distance, luxury class, interstellar carrier. It''s pristine white body, had the it''s name written in gold, on both sides of it''s hull. It was 500 feet in length, 300 feet in width and stood 70 feet tall. It had a streamlined design and looked quite classy. Looking at its body, the first thing that would occur in any spectators mind was- Whoever is travelling in that thing, sure is rich. Seeing the luxury class spaceship, Lucius was initially confused. He checked his watch to confirm whether he had come to the right ship. Seeing someone standing at the entrance of the ship, Lucius thought. ''Might as well ask that person to confirm.'' A teacher stood near the entrance of the spaceship directing the students to their assigned rooms in the ship. Lucius made his way towards this teacher. "Your name and ID please." the female teacher asked with a gentle smile on her face. "Lucius." he replied, while handing over his ID. "Surname?" the teacher continued. "I do not have a surname." "That''s rare." the teacher directly replied. She then scanned his ID, to search the database. "Ah, here you are. Lucius, Interstellar Mechanics, right." Lucius directly nodded his head. "Your assigned room is- O29. Please follow instructions sent to your watch and get to your room. Scan your ID to open the door. In roughly 30 minutes, the teachers onboard will be performing a roll-call. Here is your ID." the teacher kindly instructed him and handed back his ID. Lucius nodded his head once again and directly stepped into the craft. Following the directions, presented to him he directly made his way to his room. Scanning his ID on the interface present to the right of the door, the magnetic locks released opening the doors. Once he headed inside, the magnetic doors sealed themselves once again, creating a perfect pressure seal and an isolated room. The entire room was sound-proofed with zero noise leaking from within, to the corridors outside. The room provided to him was actually quite large. It was 50 sq. meters in size, consisting of a single bed, a bathroom and a single desk and chair. Inside the bathroom was a sink, a shower and a toilet. "Sure is fancy." Ka''lor''ah remarked. On top of the bed was a black colored one-piece overalls, which was to be worn inside the spaceship. On top of it was a small note. Making his way to the bed, Lucius picked up the notes and read it''s contents. -Please wear the suit provided and head to the cafeteria on board the spaceship. Follow the signs on the walls for directions.- ''This is completely different. It wasn''t like this last time.'' Lucius thought to himself. In his previous life, he had boarded an ordinary spaceship, consisting of an area for seats, a dining area and a common shower area. To the Lucius of that time, those two months he spent travelling were hell. Alas, the true hell had arrived after he stepped into the planet. Changing his set of clothes into the newly provided overalls, Lucius then left his room once again, to head towards the cafeteria. It was time to see who else was aboard this ship. Chapter 64: Meeting Alex. Walking through the long narrow corridors default in all spaceships, Lucius noticed other rooms, equally spaced on either sides. Looking at the scanner on the doors, he noticed that some of them were occupied, with many being empty. "This is quite the large ship." Ka''lor''ah admired. ''Looks like I''m quite late.'' Lucius thought to himself. Although the room''s were occupied, the a green light was flashing in the scanner, signifying that the owner was out. Checking the time, he noticed that it was almost 9AM, which was the scheduled time to launch. The corridors were brightly lit with white light. It wasn''t glaring in the eyes and were of perfect brightness which soothed the eyes. The air ducts and temperature panels lined the roof of the ship in equal distances. Lucius also noticed the gravity-controller machine placed at each segment of the corridor. Following the direction for a few minutes, Lucius finally came across another pressure seal door with the words -Cafeteria- printed on them. As he neared it, the door automatically detected his presence and opened itself. Swoosh! Lucius walked into the place, only to see some 50 other students already in wait, looking at his direction. ''It seems we are the last to arrive.'' Ka''lor''ah remarked. The various students gathered here were wearing similar one-piece overalls like him, expect that the colors on some of them were different. Scanning the room with his eyes, Lucius concluded that there were four different groups each wearing a single color. These colors consisted of black, blue, white and red. The total number of students present roughly equalled to 50, with equal number of students in each group. As Lucius studied them, they also studied Lucius in return. "Hey, ever seen him before?" a boy in the blue suit asked "Nope. Don''t recall seeing anybody like him." his friend wearing white replied. The boys were curious about this new arrival. One of the ladies wearing a black suit, similar to Lucius remarked to her friends. "He is very good looking, isn''t he?" "Yep. Usually people having such a cold face are all actors, or people trying to get attention. But somehow it just looks natural on his face." her friend wearing blue, spoke with her eyes evaluating Lucius'' body. "His body doesn''t seem bad either....", she absent-mindedly remarked. Hearing this, the first woman rolled her eyes and replied, "How can you even see through his dress?" "My sixth sense." the young lady cooly replied. The girls were interested in his looks and demeanor. Just as the discussions about this mysterious newcomer were about to continue, a loud voice tore through the atmosphere. "YOU BASTARD, I FINALLY FOUND YOU!", an arrogant male voice sounded. Hearing that voice, everyone was surprised and turned to look in the direction of that voice. Seeing the person who just spoke, everyone was shocked. A young man, with flamboyant red hair and crimson eyes rapidly walked towards Lucius. His face was filled with righteous anger and annoyance. "Is that Alex, who just spoke?" an absent minded voice spoke. Hearing this, the rest of the students around him blankly nodded. Alex who never interacted with anyone, had voluntarily addressed this newcomer. Granted, he sound very angry, it was a type of anger directed between friends. With his nostrils flaring, Alex walked with quick steps towards Lucius. Approaching him, he directly caught Lucius by his collar and spoke in an angry voice. "Do you have any idea, how much trouble you left me in!" he spoke in a furious voice. Seeing Lucius'' face, Alex recalled that time in the warehouse. He had risked his life and jumped into that fight to save Olivia, partly because of Ka''lor''ah''s instruction and partly because he was charmed by the beauty. Due to his hot-blooded nature, he had quickly used up the entirety of his soul power, leading to him being paralyzed due to the overdraft. Just as he was cursing over his own rashness, he was almost hit by a bullet, only to be saved by Olivia. He was already embarrassed by the turn of events. Still, he was somewhat glad on being able to leave a good impression on a beautiful lady like her. Of course, all such feelings went down the drain when he watched Lucius arrived, save the both of them, scare him into giving up the crystal, before finally leaving with Olivia in his arms. ''I was supposed to be the hero saving the damsel. Not you!'' Alex yelled within his mind, while conveniently ignoring the fact that most of the problems were caused by him and Ka''lor''ah. Alex had then barely escaped before the authorities had arrived, limping all the way back home. Recalling the anger, humiliation and shame he had felt, Alex''s face reddened with various emotions before he tightened his grip over Lucius'' dress. Just as he was about to continue cursing at him, a cold voice interrupted him. "Do you want to lose your arm?" that devilish emotionless voice sounded once again. Hearing that voice, Alex felt like a bucket of cold water being dumped onto his head. His red face, rapidly paled in fear as he felt his instincts warning him that this was no mere threat. If he did not immediately comply, he might actually lose his arms! Alex''s rebellious side almost wanted to scream- Try it if you dare!. Alas, he quickly swallowed that thought in. Retreating his hands, Alex gently used his hands to wipe the creases formed over Lucius'' black suit. He even wore a fawning smile over his face trying to maintain his image. "Ha, ha. No need to be so serious. It was just a harmless joke. Look all is fine now." Alex spoke, his voice tinged with panic and fear. Cold sweat covered his face and completely drenched his back. He looked up to see if Lucius was appeased, only to find his emotionless face staring at him with cold eyes. Alex stood there quietly for a few seconds, awaiting some form of answer, yet there was none. Lucius simply continued to stare at him. Inwardly Alex was screaming, ''Bastard, at least tell me if you are still angry. Give me some sort of reaction! Stop staring at me with those scary eyes.'' "Haha. You are Lucius, right? Nice to meet you." Alex tried to move the conversation. That nervous laughter at the beginning spoke volumes on how scared he was. Silence. "She told me a lot about you. You are very strong and skilled." he continued. Silence. "Which department do you belong too? I just graduated from the Army, with Deatov being my first placement." Silence. "Nice weather today, huh. Blue skies, calm winds, perfect weather, for leaving." Silence. "Can you please, speak something? Anything?" Alex gave up and directly asked. Lucius continued to stare at him for a few seconds before speaking. "Your fight with the guards the other day....." he spoke in a low tone. Hearing his words, Alex''s eyes shone with interest. Watching Lucius fight the other, Alex understood that this person standing before him, was an absolute powerhouse. An expert without an equal. The way Lucius chose his targets, his speed, his footwork, dodging efficacy, etc. Each and every single action of his was polished to the peak. In fact, Alex was very curious on how Lucius honed himself to such an extreme. He himself was a genius in combat and had started training from a very young age. He was so skilled that very few people in the entire alliance, could defeat him in a fight. He had always believed that his fighting skills had been polished to the extreme. A thirst to learn and defeat Lucius was born within his heart. Partly to prove himself. And partly because of his selfish motivations. ''Women like stronger men right? Maybe that lady would prefer me, if I can beat him in fair combat.'' A honorable idea, that was ''extremely'' outdated. Alex''s heart was simply too pure and his experience with such matter being non-existent. "...was terrible." Lucius said blandly. He had watched Alex''s fight from Ka''lor''ah''s memories. Knowing this young man was the future ''Great Commander'' Lucius had some expectations. Alas, he was disappointed by what he saw. "Your planning is lacking, actions are wasteful and unrefined, instinct is a joke and overall combat capability is lower than what it could be by 120%" Lucius pointed out all his errors. Normally Lucius would not have bothered with such stuff, but for some reason he was looking forward for Alex''s growth. Alex was the first human to reach Stage 3 in his previous life. This time, however he had awoken his soul 4 years in advance. His potential was greater, not to mention he had a Rare Soul Type. Alex becoming stronger quicker, meant Humanity''s chance at survival increased. This in turn meant that Lucius did not have to waste more of his time, protecting humanity and could move forward with his other plans. On hearing Lucius bland answer, Alex was was stunned and stood stiffly. To say he was not expecting some praise, would be a lie. "....So, I''m basically trash." he asked in a low voice. "Not exactly. Trash has some value, seeing how it can be recycled. You however have none. Therefore ????????????????????????????????????, you are lower than trash." Lucius objectively replied. Alex took and deep breath. His fists were clenching and his face was rapidly reddening. He repeatedly took large intakes of air, before he.... .....exploded. "WHY, YOU!! AHHHHH!!" Alex bellowed, before swinging his fists, enhanced by soul power. ''So what if I die! I will not stand this insult!'' Alex had thoroughly lost his mind to rage, completely intent on bringing this infuriating man down! Chapter 65: Alexs Resolve Hearing Lucius'' words, those who did not understand his personality would misinterpret it as an insult. However, Ka''lor''ah knew, his words were in fact a form of encouragement. ''He actually has such a high evaluation of Alex. Not considering him a insignificant bug, or calling him a measly worm.'' Ka''lor;ah inwardly thought to herself. Outside, the students who were watching these two young men interact were already dumbfounded. Looking at the usually stoic and arrogant Alex grabbing the collar of an other student in anger, they weren''t surprised. Such a sight was common. Alex was the type of guy who would talk with his fists, rather than with his mouth. His arrogant nature only served to intensify his conflicts. The real shock came when, Alex suddenly retreated his hands and used it to smoothen out the creases on that unknown student''s uniform, all while wearing a fawning smile on his face. They then saw his trying to say something to mend the tense atmosphere, only for the stranger to complete ignore him. While they could not hear the contents of their conversation, the fact that Alex had somehow curbed his arrogance was shocking enough. Looking at Lucius as if he was a strange new specimen. All of their heads contained the same thought. ''What is happening? Who is this guy?'' ------------------------ Looking at Alex''s punch coming at him, Lucius did not panic. Rather he was calmly evaluating the strength behind it, the flow of soul power, the intent behind it, etc. Needless to say, Lucius was disappointed. ''His swing is too wide, leaving too much space for dodging. The wastage of soul power is too great and there is no substantial intent behind it.'' ''His rage has completely blinded his combat sense.'' Lucius concluded. A Stage 0 trying to bring down a Stage 1, was similar to a single ant trying to defeat an elephant. It was simply nonsensical. The difference between both of them, excluding physique and experience, was as vast as the distance between the Heavens and the earth. This was purely comparing their respective amounts and quality of soul energy, flowing in their bodies. Alex''s soul power had not consolidated and simply resembled clouds. Lucius however was simply a step away from Stage 1 Mid level. The Liquid Phase. His soul power had already been accumulated and compacted to certain level. Taking a glance into his mindspace, one can notice that the previously vague reddish-black clouds now looked similar to flowing water. It was tangible and formless, similar to water. Lucius'' control and flow had also reached Mid level, with him simply requiring some time to breakthrough. With the most minimalistic movements, Lucius evaded Alex''s punch by a hair''s margin. Using his index finger, he channeled a tiny bit of his soul power, before tapping at a certain point in his arm. Alex''s power filled arm suddenly dropped lifelessly. Lucius then proceeded to land an ordinary punch in Alex''s abdomen. A low Bam was heard. Alex''s eyes widened in disbelief. He sincerely believed that he might catch Lucius'' off-guard and successfully land that hit. Reality however was different. Alex used his other hand to support the lifelessly hanging one and dropped to the ground powerlessly. Hanging his head, he spoke with a weak voice. "How did you do that?" Lucius, who was standing perfectly upright, replied blandly. "I blocked the pathway of your soul power with mine, resulting in this situation. If you had paid attention to your pathway and changed it effectively when you noticed my finger approaching, then you could have easily prevented this." "I see." a powerless voice replied. Suddenly, Lucius crouched down and held Alex''s face with his hands. He stared into his dim, defeat filled eyes and asked. "Why do you want to become stronger?" Alex was mildly surprised. He then replied in a faint tone. "Because I want to save mankind." "And why do you want to save mankind?" Lucius inquired. "Because..... Ka''lor''ah told me too?" Alex replied unsure of his own answer. The idea of becoming stronger, was to save humanity. This was what he had heard from Ka''lor''ah. She had told him that, this was his future. His destiny. "So you want to save mankind because someone told you that this was your destiny?" Lucius asked understanding the crux of the point. Without giving Alex a chance to reply, he continued. "How pathetic. A weakling like you, wants to protect other weaklings. For what?" "Simply because you''re one of them?" "I..-" Alex tried to intervene but Lucius did not give him an opportunity. "The powerful prevail, while the weak die. This is the law of survival. Why bother wasting your power on protecting these trash?" Lucius spoke with contempt while lifting his head to stare at the other students in the room. "Look at them. Seeing one of their own kind in trouble, they do not move in to assist. Simply being content on watching you get beat up." Forcing Alex''s head to look at the others, he continued. "Is this what you want to protect? If so, then I laugh at your ideals." He then released his hold on Alex''s face and stood up. Looking down upon Alex, he shook his head and spoke. "I believed you to be different. Someone better than these worms around us." "Alas, I am disappointed. Seems like you are also an insignificant bug, holding on to your useless pride and arrogance. A bully who fears the strong and bullies the weak. A bug like them, meant to be stepped upon by powerful beings like me." the disappointment in his words were plain to see. Leaving behind these words, Lucius turned to leave. He no longer wanted to stay in this place, surrounded by such invertebrate worms. Just as Lucius had taken his first step, a strong voice was heard from behind. "You are wrong!" Alex spoke. His voiced laced with strength and determination. "Oh. How was I wrong?" Lucius asked, faking curiosity. "I am not a insignificant bug!" Alex slowly rose his head to stare at Lucius'' back. His voice also rose by a few notches. "And Humanity is not a weak insect to be stepped upon by the likes of you!", his voice thundered. "Mere words cannot change reality." Lucius calmly spoke, still not turning back to look at Alex. "THEN I WILL PROVE IT WITH MY FISTS!" he bellowed. "The same fists that were beaten a few moments ago?" Lucius questioned and Alex flinched. Still he immediately recovered and spoke with resolve. "Indeed, my fists are weaker than yours, but that is only for now! I will become stronger and personally beat you!" Pausing for a second, he then spoke out. "Plus unlike you, I''m not alone! Mankind will stand on my side!" "The very same mankind, you look down upon!" "Heh." Lucius gave a light chuckle but did not speak. He simply turned around to face Alex and spoke a single line. "Then let me see, if that resolve of your''s hold true after you experience hell." Taking a deep breath he spoke. "What true power looks like." Saying so, Lucius did not clarify any further and simply walked to the corner of the carfeteria. Finding a spot away from the lights, he lightly leaned into the wall and closed his eyes. Nobody could see his face nor that small smile that had formed upon it. Ka''lor''ah who had silently watched the proceeding, finally spoke. "You think he''s motivated enough?" "His weakness and strength, is his pride and love for humanity. This was also the reason he died so early in his previous life." "By exploiting this point and painting myself as the enemy, I planted enough resolve in him to work harder. At least this time, he will not be caught unaware." not specifying what he meant. Looking at Alex, who stood in the distance, staring at his fists with a determined expression, Lucius thought to himself. ''I really look forward for his growth.'' Comprehending his plans, Ka''lor''ah finally understood. But then , she hesitated for a moment before speaking once again. "Aren''t you isolating yourself then. By becoming the enemy of the ''Great Commander'', you are setting yourself to be ostracized and condemned." Hearing her concern Lucius simply laughed. "What do I care about a bunch of worms thinking badly about me? As for loneliness, I am far too used to that." His voice did not contain any of the joy in that laughter. It was cold and mechanical. Ka''lor''ah simply sighed to herself at his response. ''His thinking is too pragmatic. He no longer seeks the company of others and rejects them. He isolating himself to avoid being hurt once again.'' ''Oh, Lucius. Why do you not get it?'' ----------------------- The other students who watched this entire sequence of events were very confused. They did not understand what Alex and Lucius were talking about, but grasped something else. That unknown student, referred to them as insects and worms. He thoroughly looked down upon all of them and did not place him in their eyes. This fact had irked their pride and earned him their ire. Each and everyone of them were from a influential family and a genius is their own right. Having a student similar to their age look down upon them, was too infuriating. In fact, some of them had already began making plans to get back at him later. ''You dare look down upon us? Alright, no matter who you are, we shall make your life a living hell.'' ''Plus you provoked someone like Alex Hellwig. Do you really think you can get away without any consequence?'' They snickered at Lucius, while staring at him with dark gazes. One gaze among them however was far too dark. --------------------- Alex had recovered the strength in his hands and also stared at Lucius with a dark expression. However, his thoughts weren''t as hostile as the other students. ''So what if you are Stage 1? You think I can''t overtake you and become even stronger?'' he thought to himself. Suddenly a loud voice interrupted this hostile atmosphere. "SORRY FOR BEING LATE! WE GOT SIDETRACKED AND FORGOT ABOUT THE TIME!", a clear and pleasant voice sounded. Immediately upon hearing this voice, creases formed upon Lucius'' forehead. "You gotta be kidding me." he growled. Chapter 66: Gathering Together. Hearing that voice, Lucius'' begrudgingly raised his head and stared at the newly arrived students. One was a bespectacled, blonde young woman with green eyes. She was holding her knees and panting while intaking large gulps of air. A testament of her exertions. The other was a tall, black haired girl with blue eyes. Unlike the previous one, she showed no signs of being exhausted and was breathing evenly. "Haa, haa, Livia how did you suddenly get so athletic?" Reyna asked while taking deep mouthfuls of air. "You just stay in your lab too much. If you exercised regularly you will not be having this problem." Olivia replied in a gently voice. "No time for that. Science cannot wait!" Reyna spoke in a righteous manner before lifting her head to scan the room. Both the girls noticed the awkward atmosphere in the cafeteria and were confused. Reyna eyes paused on the red-haired young man standing in the center of the room with his fists clenched. His clothes were dusty and his arms were slightly bruised." "Alex?" identifying the person, Reyna called out in a questioning tone. Alex, who had been a world of his own all this time, recovered from his daze. Hearing his name being called out, he raised his head to look at the speaker. "Reyna?" he too voiced out a question. "What happened to you? Did you get in a fight?" Reyna''s voice was filled with concern. She then approached Alex, to get a closer look on his injuries. "Who roughed you up?" Reyna spoke while studying the bruises on his arms. A slight swelling had occurred and his skin had turned purple at the point where Lucius had attacked. Remembering his loss against Lucius, Alex was suddenly embarrassed by the concern showed by her. Moving his gaze away from Reyna to hide his shame, his gaze landed on Olivia standing next to her. "It''s you!" he sounded shocked. Seeing his surprise, Olivia was also similarly surprised. Upon asking Lucius the other day she learnt that the name of her savior was Alex Hellwig, a student of the academy. Till date, she had not gotten the opportunity to properly thank him for his actions. Seeing him here was a pleasant surprise. Olivia then quickly approached Alex and performed a ninety degree bow. "Thank you very much, for your help the other day!" she thanked him in a sincere and polite manner. Hearing her Alex was both pleased and depressed. Both the meetings with this girl, had ended up with Alex being embarrassed. The first time he tried to save her, only to be saved by her in return. The second time he had lost humiliatingly in a fight and looked like a loser. ''Can I not have a moment to show my coolness?'' Alex inwardly thought. He then realized the person behind both his humiliating moments was Lucius! Realizing this fact, Alex''s will to defeat Lucius burned even more intensely. Meanwhile, Reyna who had watched this exchange, was overcome by curiosity. One was her best friend/ older sister and the other was a person she knew for a long time. Reyna''s relationship with Alex was quite good. Unlike those ''suitors'' of hers, who only wanted to cozy up to her, Alex genuinely treated her like a younger sibling. He was a older brother like figure to her. Seeing her ''older sister'', thank her ''older brother'', Reyna''s gossipy sense was invoked. "Hoho! What do we have here? Since when do the both of you know each other?" Reyna asked while giggling. Hearing Reyna talk like this, Alex face reddened a bit. He wasn''t sure how to explain to her. ''What do I say? Me and Olivia are ''chosen'', destined to protect humanity from an unknown threat?'', for the first time in his life, Alex found himself lacking with words. Due to arrogant and flamboyant nature, Alex never really minced his words while talking to others. He wasn''t very tolerant of others company, hence did not find himself in situations were he had to lie. To sum it up, Alex sucked at lying and making excuses. Just as he was deliberating on how to explain this to Reyna, he heard Olivia speak up in his stead. "Two weeks back, I met with a group of random boys bullying me. Mr. Alex, helped me resolve the situation. Due to various circumstances, I wasn''t able to properly thank him." Olivia spoke fluently while gesturing to Alex. Hearing her Reyna was shocked. "WHAT! You never told me this! Were you alright? Did they do something inappropriate to you?" Reyna immediately made her way towards Olivia. "I''m fine. Like I said, Mr. Alex really saved me." Olivia politely said. Meanwhile Alex was awed by her excuse. ''Not only is she very beautiful, she is also very smart. Being able to make excuses on the spot and hide the truth. As expected of a ''chosen''. '' He nodded his head. "Why did you never tell me this?!" Reyna sounded a little resentful. She was obviously very concerned about the well being of her closest friend. Hearing Reyna throw a tantrum, Olivia rolled her eyes and said, "Well, you would have known if you weren''t so busy making that thing for Lucius." "That''s not an excuse!" Reyna replied hatefully Suddenly hearing that familiar, not to mention hateful name, it was Alex''s turn to be stunned. He immediately interrupted the banter between both the girls. "Wait a second! You know Lucius, too?" Alex questioned towards Reyna. "Duh! Of course I know him." she then paused for a second before announcing proudly, "We are research partners!" "Why do you ask?" she then continued. Alex suddenly turned serious and spoke, "You should stay away from that guy. He''s dangerous." Olivia was Reyna were both confused by his words, before Reyna questioned. "Why do you say that?" Pointing at the injuries on his arms, Alex spoke, "These were caused by him." Hearing that Reyna''s eyes suddenly shone with bright light. "He''s here?! Where?!" she completely ignored his warning and excitedly started looking around to find him. Finally spotting him one of the darker corners of the cafeteria, Reyna excitedly called his name. "LUUUUCIUSSS!!" She then ran towards him. ------------------------- Seeing this overly excited girl spotting him and running towards him, Lucius stopped his earlier chant. ''I am one with the shadows. I am one with th-- Oh great. She found me.'' he thought impassively. There was neither disappointment nor annoyance in his face. It was simply expressionless. Ka''lor''ah however was laughing in his mind, in a unrestrained manner. "HAHAHAHA! To think you, who used to be the nightmare of multiple races in the universe, would be scared to meet a little girl. If those terrifying guys who were killed by you knew this, they''d probably be even more unresigned in death.'' "Shut up." Lucius coldly spoke, only to be completely ignored by her. By now, Reyna had already made it up to him. "You are also here!" she sounded really excited. Lucius simply nodded his head in reply, inwardly he was cursing. ''That damn Erik. He surely manipulated our placements to send us to the same planet.'' "It''s too dark here. Come, let me introduce you to Alex. I''m not sure why you guys got into a fight, but let me help you make up." Reyna continued speaking while pulling Lucius by his hands. Lucius mentally sighed, but did not resist. ''This is my life for the next 2 months.'' he thought to himself. This entire series of events unfolded in front of the astonished gaze of the fifty or so students present. ''What is happening now?'' All of them wondered the same thing. ------------------------ The group of four then spent the next 10 minutes trying to chat. Needless to say, the atmosphere between the four of them was very awkward. Reyna continuously tried to mend the relation between Lucius and Alex, but no progress was made. Alex was arrogant and proud. He would not bow down to anyone, especially this hateful guy who had called everyone a ''weakling'' or a ''worm'', and had a twisted world view. Even if it''s Reyna who was persuading him, he had no intention of forgiving this guy. Lucius for his part, was already regretting not going back to his room. He simply stood there either nodding or shaking his head. As for apologizing? Why would he so against the plan he had just put into action. Olivia also stood there awkwardly. She was still confused about her feeling concerning Lucius and kept evading his gaze. She also did not participate in the talks and quietly stood there, lost in her own thoughts. Reyna was the only person, who was working hard to repair this crack in their relationship. These three people standing with her, were three of the most important people in her life. One was her only female friend and an ''elder'' sister like figure, one was her ''older'' brother like figure and the other was her best friend and someone she had a crush on. Seeing the people closest to her be like this, Reyna almost wanted to cry, when suddenly a loud voice interrupted their discussions. "Ah! Good Morning Everyone. This is your captain speaking." A hologram too form in front of all the students. A middle-aged man with an average build and looks, wearing a Alliance issued commander uniform, addressed the students. "It seems all of you have gathered here. Welcome aboard the Voyager 16. I will be your captain for the next two months as we make our way towards the frontier planet of Deatov." "I greet all of you exceptional men and women of notable families. It is my humble request that while you are aboard my spaceship, all of you follow my rules and instructions." "Travelling in space is a dangerous affair, not to mention very taxing on one''s mind. Please do not get into trouble or conflicts with your fellow passengers and try to get along as much as possible." "If you have any complaints, please inform either myself, or one of the four teachers onboard." "You are free to use all the luxury facilities onboard at any time. Please take care to maintain your health." "We have 54 students on board, each separated into four groups. Red signifying the military students, blue signifying the command students, black signifying the intelligence and mech related students and finally white signifying the maintenance and other courses, students." "Please get along with each other. That''s it. You can go back to your rooms for now. We will be taking off shortly and jumping into warp drive." the captain made a final bow. After relaying his instructions, the hologram turned off, resulting in the cafeteria filled with chatter of students. "I''ll be heading off now." Lucius said and walked off. "Me too." Alex also immediately replied. This left behind Olivia who was in a daze and Reyna who was sullen. "I''ll be going to." Olivia said absent-mindedly and walked away. Reyna was now left alone. Tears started welling up in her eyes, as she thought to herself. ''Why can''t we all just be friends. Why do we have to fight amongst ourselves.'' Reyna also started running to her room, while covering her face with her hands. Tears continued to drop down from them. Chapter 67: Breakthrough to Mid Level. Directly making his way back to his room, Lucius did not care to stop and make friends with the other students present in the ship. Talking with Reyna was exhausting enough. Entering his room by swiping his ID, Lucius made his way to the bed and sat down upon it cross-legged. His soul cultivation was almost at Mid level, Liquid Phase of Stage 1. Lucius been postponing his breakthrough due to not being able to find a suitable place to do it. Seeing how he was alone in a pressure locked room, he decided to take his chance. Adjusting his seating, Lucius started to apply his unique breathing technique and began adjusting his body to its optimal condition. Breaking through was a dangerous ordeal. Even someone with his level of experience had to be extremely cautious, especially now. Since Lucius had not achieved Stage 1 the traditional way, with his advancement being a mystery. He was not entirely sure whether he might successfully make it into Liquid Phase. ''Worst-case scenario, due to the barrier not being broken yet. My soul might not be able to gather enough energy and might simply dissipate.'' he thought to himself. The reason why Alex and Olivia were unable to break through into Stage 1, had to do with this ''barrier'' that surrounded our universe. The barrier served, both as a form of protection and as concealment from ''certain'' things. As long as the barrier existed, humanity would not be able to cultivate their soul energy, past Half -Step Stage 1. The ''event'' which was about to occur on February 9th, served the purpose of breaking this barrier, allowing humanity to achieve greater heights. Along with thrusting the entire race, into a very dangerous predicament. Even so, Lucius decided to take the risk. Having more power would pay off in his endeavours. If this was before he had boarded this ship, Lucius'' current level of strength was more than enough to deal with what was about to come. But now, since he also had to ensure Reyna''s survival, Lucius found his current level of strength to be lacking. Protecting someone demanded greater strength, than simply being in the offense. This was especially true for someone like Lucius who was not used to protecting someone. ''This matter just became too bothersome.'' he inwardly mused. Continuously adjusting his breathing, Lucius waited for the spaceship to enter hyperspace. ''My chances of breaking through will increase while I am in hyperspace.'' Hyperspace is a form of sub-dimension that existed within our space. It greatly reduced the distances travelled, becoming one of the most important breakthroughs in human scientific technology. What made it different from normal space was it''s Rule. The Rule which dictated hyperspace, were ranked higher than that of normal space. It also exceeded the classification of three-dimensional space, therefore being ranked higher in the ''Rules of Dimensions'' as well. If Lucius tried to breakthrough in hyperspace, the effectiveness of the ''barrier'' would be lower due to the interference of these Rules. This will in turn greatly increase the chances of success. Achieving a state of resonance with his mind, body and soul, Lucius instructed Ka''lor''ah. ''Carefully watch for a region, where the Rules are greatly concentrated. Inform me immediately and I will begin my breakthrough.'' ''You can count on me.'' Ka''lor''ah also adopted a serious expression. She was not in the mood to play around since this matter directly corresponded to the life and death of her host. If Lucius died at this stage, all their planning and preparation would go down the drain. Lucius'' body was absolutely still as he slowly melded into the his surroundings. His presence disappeared into the room. Even if someone stood directly in front of him, having their eyes closed they would not be able to feel his presence at all! This state of complete resonance meant that Lucius was on the verge of a breakthrough. He had successfully established a connection with the universe, only waiting to draw upon its energy to advance his soul. Time seemed to pass on endlessly asn Lucius continued to be unaware of the happening outside. He had completely sunk into his subconsciousness returning to that area, where he found and drawn his soul of the very first time. The previously reddish-black cloud had solidified to resemble flowing water. A vague human silhouette that seemed to comprised of water, stood in the middle of this flowing water. This was his soul. The soul of a [Killer]. To breakthrough into the Liquid Phase, all Lucius had to do was connect his mind with his soul, establishing another link. At Stage 0, one would link their soul and body. At Stage 1, one would link their soul and mind. Due to him absorbing the souls of the people he killed, Lucius had unknowingly reached Stage 1 with the assistance of that hunger state. He had never really connected his mind and his soul. Calling Lucius a Stage 1 cultivator was not exactly correct. It was similar to having very good hardware, but outdated software. Him wanting to break through meant that he had to ''update'' this software to comply with the better ''hardware'' he was getting. This process was absolutely necessary. After an unknown amount of time, Lucius suddenly felt prick in his consciousness. Knowing that this was Ka''lor''ah way of informing him, he did not hesitate and directly led his consciousness into that vague human silhouette. Lucius'' mind immediately blanked. Darkness covering his vision. ----------------------------- On the outside, Ka''lor''ah felt great pain surge through her crystal body. In order to inform Lucius to go ahead with his advancement, she had voluntarily cut the soul link between the both of them, while shouldering the majority of the pain. The pain of having one''s soul cut was hard to describe. It kind of felt like stabbing a thin, sharp needle, right in the middle of one''s nerve junction. It was simply unimaginable. This was especially so for a being like Ka''lor''ah, whose body consisted of her soul, in a crystallized form. Every time she cut the link, a very small part of her soul was lost forever, returning to wherever souls go. The crystal shrunk by a imperceptible amount, with its brightness rapidly fading. Trying her best on to scream, Ka''lor''ah forcibly suppressed the pain she felt. After what seemed like an eternity, the pain receded and she was capable of rational thought once again. Staring at Lucius'' youthful face, she suddenly felt a little melancholic. She recalled Lucius telling her about his life, after she had taken him in as her disciple. He never explained about his past, that is, his life on Earth in great detail. Lucius always gave the excuse of not remembering most of his early days. Now looking at his youthful gaze, Ka''lor''ah suddenly realized. ''He was barely 18, when mankind had entered its struggle for survival. With no one to reply upon, he somehow made it past the 30 years, eventually becoming it''s only survivor.'' Although he never spoke of it, how had he felt losing his entire kin back then? Lucius had an uncaring and indifferent attitude currently, but he was the same as the other kids his age back then. Lucius did not possess the life experience he had now, so then how did he accept it back then? How did he have the strength to move on? To continue striving towards a goal, without ever giving up. Even with all the knowledge she possessed, Ka''lor''ah simple could not imagine. Ever since Ka''lor''ah had met him for the first time, Lucius had the same expressionless face he had right now. ''Before I knew it 30 years have passed in his company. We lived together, worked together, learned together. Not to mention plotted against the entire universe itself.'' Ka''lor''ah suddenly laughed. ''What would my life would have been like if I hadn''t met him? Would I have continued being ''Their'' slave? Always working under their command for tens of thousands of years, only to eventually die like my ancestors?'' Ka''lor''ah had wondered about this for a long time. ''To think that an old freak like me, would fall for a guy like him. How embarrassing.'' Alas there was not a shred of embarrassment in her voice. Looking at Lucius, her voice became determined as she spoke in a low voice. "Even if we were to fall here. Even if we eventually fail in our fight." "I will never regret meeting you that day." If her face could be seen, Ka''lor''ah''s face would sport a bright smile. The most dazzling smile, she had ever presented in her entire life. ------------------------ In one of the rooms aboard the spaceship. A figure dressed in complete black robes, paced back and forth in restlessness. It''s fists were clenching and unclenching repeatedly, as if to show the mental struggle it was undergoing. It''s mouth seemed to be constantly uttering some incomprehensible words, that did not make any sense. Continuing this routine for a few minutes, the figure suddenly came to a halt. With its head bowed down staring at the floor, a faint sound leaked from its mouth. "I have decided. I shall take away everything that you hold dear. To bring you down into this Hell that you sent me to." An extremely resentful voice spat out. "LU! CI! US!" Chapter 68: A Witness. Room J28. Faint sobs could be heard coming from within the room. A beige colored shirt was carelessly thrown aside, right next to a pair of hard brown boots covering the floor of the room. In the middle of the bed, a figure could be seen curled up in the fetal position with a blanket covering her body. Approaching closer, one could hear the sobs gradually increasing in volume. The figure did not move from this position, except for the sporadic shivers of her body. After a few minutes, the figure suddenly stirred from her position and slowly sat up. Removing the blanket covering her head, Reyna blinked her eyes to get rid of the stiffness. Her eyes were red and puffy and her pretty golden hair was disheveled. Tear marks covered her face, running down to form a small wet pool in the bed. Getting rid of the stiffness in her eyes, Reyna then used her hands to pat her surroundings. She was searching for her glasses, before eventually stumbling upon them. Rubbing her eyes once to get rid of the tears pooled in her eyes, Reyna then wore her glasses. Her face carried an awful expression, with her beautiful emerald eyes looking dim and sad. The tears lines marking her face, only served to accentuate this dejectful figure. ''Why do they have to fight?'' Reyna thought to herself while still feeling melancholic. Lucius and Alex not getting along with each other was a very hard blow for Reyna. To her, these group of friends represented the people closest to her heart and the one''s she cared about the most. Reyna had tried her hardest to help them make up with each other, but somehow it did not seem to work. Lucius had his uncaring attitude and Alex did not want to apologize. What''s more was that Alex had informed her to stay away from Lucius. ''I know seems scary, but he is actually a good person.'' she had told this fact to Alex, only for him to be even further angered against Lucius. After the announcement was made, each of them had immediately left for their own room and had separated from each other, giving Reyna no further opportunity to mediate. Growl! Just as tears began to well up once again in her eyes, Reyna heard her stomach rumble. Due to directly coming to the academy from her lab, to meeting Lucius in the cafeteria and then directly boarding the spaceship. Reyna had no opportunity to have breakfast. Her body was feeling weak and her stomach, hungry. Using on of her hands to rub her smooth, flat tummy, Reyna slowly got up and walked towards the bathroom. ''I need eat something.'' she thought to herself and got dressed. Once she had gotten completely dressed, washed her face, corrected her hair, etc. Reyna used her hands to tap her cheeks. ''Being depressed will not change anything. Like Father said, thinking with an empty stomach results in an empty mind.'' ''Let''s eat something first, then come up with an idea to reconcile them.'' Reyna cheered herself up. If she wanted to stop her best friends from fighting, then she had to put effort to stop them. Thinking in this manner, her mood recovered a fair bit. Checking the time, Renya noticed that almost 6 hours had passed since the ship had gone into hyperspace. ''No wonder I am feeling so hungry. Not having breakfast, coupled with the stress from going into hyperspace, resulted in a lack of nourishment in my body.'' Wearing her brown boots, Reyna check her black one-piece suit to ensure that her ID was within it, before leaving her room. ''To the Kitchen!'' ------------------------ The bright white lights, which had previously been turned on were now switched off. In their place were dimly glowing yellow lights, which provided just enough light to navigate through the ship. Interstellar Travel consumed a lot of energy. Although mankind had many breakthroughs in the field of energy sources, reducing such unnecessary consumptions was still helpful. ''It''s so quiet.'' Reyna thought to herself while slowing making her way towards the kitchen. While the announcement had asked the students to remain in their room for sometime, the majority of the students remained within their room. Some sleeping, some playing a game on their watches, some studying, anything that helped them pass their time. Messaging or making calls, was not possible whilst the ship was in hyperspace, therefore the students would not be able to contact their families or friends for a while. Following the directions pointed by the colored lights in the walls of the corridor, Reyna nervously made her way towards the Kitchen. Being alone in a long, dimly lit corridor, with only the sound of her footsteps and heartbeat to accompany her, Reyna was unnerved. This was the first time for this young woman to leave planet Earth. If not for her stubborn insistence, he Father might not have allowed her to go on this planetary expedition. Turning around the corner, Reyna suddenly saw a dark shadow slit across her vision. "EEEKKK!" Reyna let out a sharp shriek. She stumbled backwards, before hitting the opposite wall and falling on her butt. Due to her sudden movement, she had accidently hit her head on the metal corridor. A sharp pain was felt in the back of her head. "Hiss!" Reyna took a sharp intake of air. Using her hands to rub the area where she felt the pain coming from, Reyna scanned the corridors to identify that dark shadow. Looking around she was nothing. ''But I clearly saw something!'' Reyna yelled within her mind. She was currently feeling very scared, as her face turned pale. ''I should have brought Olivia along with me.'' Reyna regretted her hasty choice to move alone. Olivia''s room was just a few feet past hers. While Reyna did think of this action before she left, she did not want to bother Olivia for such pointless things. ''I can do this! I''m an adult!'' Reyna cheered herself. While it may not be obvious, due to her pure and childish nature, Reyna was actually 18 years old. In fact she was older than Olivia and Lucius, being in the same age group as Alex. Sitting on the floor for a few minutes, Reyna gathered her courage and warily stood up. She did not stand completely upright but undertook a crouched stance. Her self defense instructor had taught her this stance, if she was to ever come in contact with a hidden opponent. Reyna did not really understand why she had to do this, but recalled it had something to do with the opponent''s centre of mass. Moving forward with slow and cautious steps, Reyna suddenly realized something. ''I''m such an idiot!'' She hit her forehead with her palm, before fully standing up. Walking back and forth a few steps to test her deduction, Reyna finally solved the case of this mysterious dark shadow. It was her own. Due the peculiar arrangement of the lights in that turning, Reyna''s shadow was cast in front of her, instead of behind her. Her earlier fear had completely faded, leaning behind embarrassment and shame. Shaking her head, she then began moving towards the Kitchen with wider, more faster steps. Reyna just wanted to be done with this and go back to her room before she was caught up in any more embarrassing events like this. ''You can do it Reyna! Ghosts don''t exist!'' ------------------------ "Hmm.... Ketchup....aaanndd done!" Reyna placed the bottle of ketchup, back on the counter and looked at her plate with satisfaction. In front of her was the product of her efforts in the last half an hour. A plate of eggs, toast and bacon. It was a simple meal, which Reyna had decided to cook by herself. While she could have used the machines present in the kitchen to do so, Reyna decided to do it herself as a means to take her mind off some problems. Staring at the plate of food before her, Reyna nodded her head in satisfaction. Grumble! "Ah!" Reyna''s face reddened as her stomach grumbled loudly once again. She quickly turned her face to scout around in order to check if anybody else was present in the room. Fortunately, she was alone. Grabbing the plate of food in her hands, Reyna decided to walk to the viewing deck to have her meal. The Kitchen aboard the spaceship was right next to the cafeteria. The viewing deck however, was perpendicular to the area of the cafeteria and required a 10 minute walk to get there. As she wanted to distract her mind for some time, Reyna decided to take this walk. Stuffing her mouth with a piece of bread, she walked out of the kitchen and towards the viewing deck. Munching the piece of toast with her mouth, Reyna stood in front of another pressure sealed door with the words, -Viewing Deck-, written on them. Swoosh! Using her ID to open it, she directly entered inside. The viewing deck, consisted of a large area, filled with multiple benches and seats. The roof and the wall which was towards the right of the door, were completely transparent giving a view of the vast open space outside. Small gazebos and resting areas were also built providing the occupants complete luxury to view the outsides with comfort. Since the transparent wall was actually the hull of the ship, one would have a unimpeded view of the outside. Just as Reyna was about to find herself a seat to sit down and continue her meal in peace, she suddenly heard some hushed whispers sound from inside the room. Due to the white lights not being on, the visibility was not ideal. Unless the one was within 10m of another, they would not be able to see each other clearly. ''Other students?'' Reyna was curious. She wondered who it could be as she slowly made her way towards the hushed whispers. Taking care not to expose herself, she tiptoed towards the source of the sounds. "You! Are you insane?! Do you even hear yourself?!!" a hushed but extremely furious voice sounded out. The voice was quite young, resulting in Reyna concluding it to be a male student. ''What are they talking about?'' Reyna''s curious nature was stoked. As she neared the location of the voices she carefully hid herself. Chapter 69: Murder on the Voyager 16. Eavesdropping into the conversation, Reyna heard a different voice reply. The second voice sounded gruff and hoarse, obviously belonging to a male. "No! I am completely sane! You know what he did to me! I lost everything after that day! If I don''t take revenge, how can I even be considered a human?! How can I be a MAN!" another voice which sounded equally resentful sounded. The first voice then spoke, "But still! You want to kill people, onboard the ship! Let''s not even consider the possibility of that action yet, you want to kill the princess of the Snowden Corporation and her female friend! If you''re not insane, then what are you?!" "Hahaha! Indeed, but so what?! They don''t have people protecting them aboard the ship. If I can kill these two first, I can directly crush that bastard''s heart!" the second voice sounded maniacal. "Dude, you''ve lost your mind! I''m out! I will not be helping you in such a suicidal mission!" the first voice sounded once again. The second voice which was laughing derangedly a few moments ago suddenly quietened down. Then in an extremely calm and cold voice it spoke. "Is that so? Well then, it''s a shame." "What do you...AHUUCKK" the first voice suddenly let out a scream only to choke on something. "Since I told you about the plan, I can''t have you live any longer. Let''s meet down in Hell." the second voice sounded out. A voice filled with struggle and grief sounded out for a few seconds before suddenly quietening down. The sound of something heavy dropping on the cold metal floor sounded out. Crash! The sound of a plate dropping to the floor, followed by a hasty footsteps suddenly sounded. "WHO''S THERE!" the second voice yelled furiously. ''OH MY GOD! THERE IS A MURDERER ON THE SHIP!'' Reyna was completely panicking. Although she couldn''t see the two people in conversation, she could clearly hear it''s content. Reyna was initially confused when her name was mentioned, before that confusion turned into shock. What followed was even more unbelievable for her. For the first time in her life, she had witnessed someone killing another student. Not to mention, a student. Being scared out of her mind, Reyna had lost grip over the plate she had been holding and dropped it to the ground. The sound of the plate smashing on the floor woke her up and she immediately bolted towards the door. ''I NEED TO RUN AND INFORM SOMEONE!'' That maddened and crazy voice, sounded out from behind her. "STOP RUNNING!" an extremely maddened voice sounded out behind Reyna. She did not pay it any heed and continued to run, like her life depended on it. To speak the truth, it really did. ''SOMEONE SAVE ME!!'' while wanted to scream out loud,she found her throat dry and her voice lacking. Fear had taken over her voice. She had no time to consider the rationale behind this and completely focused on getting out of this room alive. Her ears picked up the sounds of the man behind her screaming something in a infuriated voice and heading in her direction. One could say, Reyna inability to scream right now was a blessing in disguise. Due to the poor visibility in the viewing room, Reyna could not see the people behind the conversation. Conversely, this also meant that the killer was unable to identify the her. If Reyna had screamed at this moment, the killer already having a preliminary understanding of her, could easily see through her identity and have the upper hand. Alas, since this did not happen the murderer had no choice but to chase after her. Inwardly he was feeling extremely vexed and angered. Reyna had no time nor the interest to consider the murderer''s point of view. Running with all her might, she ran in the direction in which she had entered. The Viewing room had a single entry and exit, unlike the Kitchen or the Cafeteria. Having run at her full speed, Reyna crashed into the pressure-lock entrance doors. ''COME ON! WHY IS THIS NOT OPENING!!'' she screamed within her mind. Reyna kept hitting the door with both her hands. She could hear the footsteps of the murderer, chasing her getting closer and closer. ''WHY? WHY IS THIS HAPPENING! PLEASE OPEN UP!'' Reyna tears had already started falling. A powerless feeling invaded her body as she felt the threat of death near her. The very same door, through which she had entered mere minutes ago refused to open. Mere minutes ago.... Suddenly it struck Reyna! Hurriedly feeling her pockets, Reyna brought out her ID card. Immediately she placed the card on the scanner present on the door. Swoosh! The door opened and Reyna stumbled through into the other side. Immediately after she left, the door behind her closed. Still Reyna understood that she wasn''t entirely safe. The door merely bought her a few seconds of escape. Not caring to check her injuries in the least, Reyna continued to run at breakneck speeds. ''I HAVE TO MAKE IT TO MY ROOM!'' All her previous curiosity had completely left her, leaving her mind filled with fear. Adrenaline continued to pump through her body to sustain her efforts. Her heart continued to beat like a war drum. Fast paced and intense! She no longer paid any attention to the person chasing behind her and was solely focused on making it back to her room. Passing the Kitchen once again, she did not dare to slow down in the least and eventually made it to her room. At a record speed. Entering her room, Reyna immediately set the electromagnetic lock to it''s [Locked] state. Upon finally entering the safety of her room and confirming that the door was locked, Reyna finally collapsed. Her legs no longer had any strength left in them to stand. Lying in the floor, Reyna was intaking large mouthfuls of air. Her fairly large chest continued to heave up and down. After a few minutes the adrenaline in her body finally receded and the reality of the situation sunk into her mind. Her face had turned ashen and pallid. Sweat covered the entirety of her back and her arms. The muscles throughout her body stiffened and ached. Tears began to slow from her eyes, as she began to uncontrollably whimper. Reyna felt a dizzy feeling assault her mind. She wanted to wail out loud, but her body did not allow her too. Her entire body was currently shivering from fear. "Killed! He killed him! Someone died!" Reyna whispered in a shrill voice. Most of her life had been spent in the care and protection of her Father. The people she had met have always been kind and caring towards her. Some people might have had bad intentions in their heart, yet they never showed it towards her. To simply put, she had lived a sheltered life. Witnessing a person die, although she did not exactly see it, was too much of a shock for her to bear. This followed by the threat of death, Reyna''s mind had been unable to process the enormous significance of this matter under the suppression of adrenaline. Now that she had finally relaxed, it sunk into her. "I-I... want to go home! Father!!" Unable to hold back any longer, Reyna finally broke down. The stress that her mind was under was too much for her to bear. Chapter 70: The Sudden Murder. Room O29. Lucius'' body which was sitting in it''s meditative cross-legged position was shaking uncontrollably. Under his body, a small pool of blood at already formed. The mattress on the bed was soaked with sweat and blood. His body looked extremely scary, with blood flowing from seven orifices drawing lines of blood across his body. BANG! A sudden muffled sound of an explosion sounded, from Lucius'' body. The shivering suddenly stopped and Lucius'' upright and straight body suddenly collapsed into the bed. His tense body and muscles suddenly slackened, similar to a puppet whose strings had been cut. "LUCIUS!" Ka''lor''ah''s panicked scream sounded out. "I''m alright." an impassive reply sounded out within her mind. "What happened?!" she asked with concern. "Nothing serious. The barrier did not allow the required energy for my advancement to pass. Therefore I had to improvise." he blandly replied. "NOTHING MUCH?! LOOK AT THE AMOUNT OF BLOOD YOU HAVE LOST!" Ka''lor''ah seriously admonished him. Looking at his body shiver from the extreme pain of the advancement coupled with the streams of blood that continued to flow from his body, she felt her heart wrench painfully. "As I said. It''s nothing serious. This is the result of my improvisation." Lucius did not pay heed to her concern and indifferently replied. "You...!! Sigh." looking at him, Ka''lor''ah simply decided to give up. ''At least he''s alive.'' she decided to leave it at that. After a few minutes of lying down, Lucius gathered the remaining energy in his body and slowly raised his body up. Recovering his original position, Lucius examined his body to analyze the results of his advancement. Gathering soul power in his hands, the originally cloud like energy now resembled flowing water. It was much more condensed and fluid. The speed of the flow at also increased by a great amount. "Stage 1 Mid Level Liquid Phase reached." Lucius indifferently replied. To him, who was an ex-Stage 7, a mere Stage 1 mid level was nothing much to celebrate. It was simply a small milestone in his journey to power. Circulating the soul energy in his body, Lucius healed the internal injuries his body had received during the course of his advancement. "What did you even do to receive such serious injuries?" Ka''lor''ah questioned him curiously. As he was healing his injuries while having his eyes closed, Lucius explained. "The barrier was restricting the amount of energy entering this universe. At the critical stage of the advancement, I noticed that I was severely lacking in the required amount of energy. In order to avoid my soul from dissipating, I had to force that ''mysterious energy'' inside my body to assist me." Pausing here for a second, he then continued. "Of course since we don''t understand what that energy is, or how it''s activated, I decided to injure my vital essence to force it out. Since it worked the previous time in ''The Pit'', I took a gamble on it working this time. And it paid off." he concluded. "Therefore, we now have another clue about it. It''s something that exists within me and comes out when I face a life or death crises. Of course, it only works if I am in actual danger of dying. Not merely trying to cheat it." Ka''lor''ah who was patiently listening to his explanation took a deep breath. "So.....what you are telling me is. you just tried to kill yourself." a suppressed wrath was felt in her voice. Lucius, being focused in treating his injuries did not notice this peculiarity in her voice. He simply affirmed her statement. "To summarize. Yes." "YOU--" just as Ka''lor''ah was about to blow up, a loud sound of sirens blaring was heard. The sound was so loud that, Ka''lor''ah''s furious voice was completely drowned out by this sound. Lucius who had is eyes closed, immediately snapped them open and spoke. His brows were furrowed. "Something is wrong. It''s the ship''s warning alarm. We have to gather at the common area." saying so, he got up from his meditative position and wiped the blood of his face using his hands. Gathering a small amount of his newly condensed soul power, he activated [Decay] and destroyed the pool of blood and the stains that had formed on his bed. The soul energy slowly passed through the pores of the mattress only destroying the blood, turning it into nothingness. The amount of control required to do this was simply unbelievable! Confirming that no more traces were left behind. Lucius casually dressed himself and left his room. ''Time to see what happened.'' ------------------------- In the cafeteria. A large crowd of disquieted students were present. Their voices were filled with panic and a look of worry was present in their faces. The loud sound of the blaring alarm was still present in the air. The sounds of the alarms and the students blended to produce a scene of pandemonium. Lucius walked into the the cafeteria to be met with this scene. ''Too loud.'' he thought with a annoyed expression. ''Should I quieten them.'' a tint of red bloomed with his eyes and rapidly started to expand. To say Lucius was itching to test his new combat effectiveness was an understand. Slaughtering the students present here would make a perfect testing opportunity. ''NO!'' alas with a furious voice, Ka''lor''ah shot down his proposal. She was already feeling very angry at Lucius'' earlier actions. Mentally clicking his tongue, he then proceeded to one of the corners of the cafeteria. He had no interest in conversing with the other students. The only reason for him coming here was to know why the alarms had been triggered. The alert alarms in the spaceship would never be casually triggered. Therefore, he concluded that something major must have happened. ''Are we getting raided by pirates?'' Lucius thought to himself. ''Using pirates as testing material will also work well.'' he carefully pondered over this thought. Seeing him like this, Ka''lor''ah once again sighed mentally and gave up on lecturing him. Leaning against the wall and closing his eyes, Lucius decided to properly get used to his new upgrade. Circulating his soul energy throughout his body, he waited for the Captain to make his announcement. Few minutes later, Lucius felt a familiar aura approach him. "Hey." an arrogant voice sounded. Lucius directly ignored him. "Hey! I''m talking to you." the voice spoke once again, only to met with silence. The person who was talking raised his hands and neared Lucius. "Do you want to lose your hands permanently this time?" Lucius coldly spoke. He opened his eyes to stare at the young man in front of him. A red light slightly glowed in the background of his eyes. Feeling a threatening aura wash over him, Alex''s body involuntarily shivered. He remembered that the person before him, wasn''t the 17 years old youth which he looked at, but a monster with twisted world view. "Humph! I''ll only say this once so listen carefully. Our actions earlier today, let''s forget about it." Alex spoke arrogantly. His words did not seem natural, but was extremely forced. Lucius looked up at the future ''Great Commander'', with a light surprise in his eyes. He then looked towards the side and noticed Olivia standing there with a helpless smile on her face. "Are you apologizing to me?" Lucius asked in an indifferent voice. "Who''s apologizing to you,bas....!" Alex was immediately angered once again only to be held back by Olivia. She then whispered to him in a low voice, "Mr. Alex please, do this for Reyna." "I''m not in the wrong though. It was this bastard''s fault." Alex yelled with a grieved expression on his face. "I''m am requesting you Mr. Alex." Olivia continued to speak and followed with a bow. "Reyna looked very sad earlier today. To the point of her crying. I was a really bad friend, only to realize this later." She then turned around and addressed Lucius. "You too Lucius. I hope you can make up with Alex. For Reyna''s sake." Hearing her sincere words, Lucius casually shrugged in response. "He started it. I finished it. I do not care about such matters regarding weaklings." he blandly spoke. "SEE! This is what I''m dealing with. Normal conversation with this guy is simply impossible!" Alex screamed. Olivia let out a helpless smile at their actions. She then spoke. "Can we just put this matter behind us. For Reyna''s sake" "It''s fine with me. I don''t really care." Lucius gave his opinion. Seeing these two people arbitrarily decide this matter without considering his input, Alex felt strangely suffocated. Letting out a heavy sigh, he spoke. "Fine! But don''t expect me to make friends with this monster." he grunted. After hearing Alex''s reply, Olivia gave a bright smile. Looking around she then spoke. "Where is Reyna? Why is she not here? Actually why are we here?" "Dunno." Alex straightly replied. Lucius simply remained silent. Just as Olivia was about to voice out her concern, the chatters around her suddenly died down and a holographic projection manifested in the center. The image of a middle-aged man was reflected. With heavy eyes he surveyed around the room before letting out a heavy sigh. Seeing him like this, a ominous premonition invaded the hearts of every student present. With deep and heavy voice, he spoke. " Most of you must be wondering why the alarms were sounded. Some of you might have some guesses. While some of you might have noticed it already, that one of your friend is missing." "With a heavy heart I say this, but....." "There has been a murder aboard this vessel!" The captain gave out a shocking news. Hearing this everyone''s body stiffened and Olivia let out a cry. "NO!!" her voice cut through the atmosphere. Alex was shocked and Lucius'' relaxed body, stiffened. The three of them had the same doubt. ''Reyna was currently not here. Could it be?'' a dreadful feeling set in their hearts. Of course the Captain did not notice this and continued. "The student who has been killed is named, Max Patterson. The murderer had been very clever in hiding his tracks and disabling the cameras and security systems. Currently we have no clues regarding this case." He paused, giving the students some time to digest this information. The hearts of all the three immediately relaxed upon hearing the Captain''s words. Tears which were threatening to fall out of Olivia eyes immediately retreated. ''If it''s not Reyna, then it''s fine.'' she comforted herself. Unknowingly, maybe due to the awaken of her soul or perhaps due to Lucius'' influence, Olivia''s character had begun to change. If this was her previously, she would have felt concerned and worried about the death of a fellow student. Now however, since it wasn''t the death of a person related to her. Olivia''s heart did not seem to care. She herself had not noticed this fact. Alex and Lucius too had visibly relaxed. Alex did not care because he was already used to the sight of people dying in the army, since he confirmed that it wasn''t Reyna, he was not worried. As for Lucius it did not have to be said. The only reason he ever showed any reaction in the first place, was because of the possibility that his target(Reyna) might have died. The three of them, then began wondering. ''Who could be the murderer?'' Unconsciously, both Olivia''s and Alex''s eyes drifted to look at Lucius. They saw his indifferent and impassive expression and could help doubt him a little. Noticing their reactions, Lucius casually said. "Do you think I require to hide after killing someone? I can kill every single person in this room, by the time it takes you to think of an answer." Hearing him, both of them squashed the thoughts in their heads. ''That''s right. If he wanted to, who can possibly stop him from carrying out a slaughter.'' Remembering the scene of bodies being ripped apart at the warehouse, both of them shivered. The Captain noted the expressions of the various people present and spoke. "While it may sound cruel, please pause your grievings. Our foremost priority is to apprehend the murderer. Therefore, I implore you, if anyone suspects the person behind this murder please inform either myself or one of the teachers beehind me." "In order to maintain your anonymity, you can send a message with your suspect to this ID. Thanks in advance for your cooperation. All of you may disperse now. Please try to stay inside your room''s until the killer is apprehended." Saying so the hologram disappeared. The students also did not stay behind and left one after another. Lucius'' group of three, however were still worried. Olivia spoke up, "I''m worried about Reyna. She hasn''t showed up here. I''m going to check on her." "I''ll follow you." Alex replied and Lucius nodded his head. Thus, the three of them began heading in the direction of Reyna''s room. Chapter 71: Breaking and Entering. "Do you know Reyna''s room?" Alex implored to Olivia. The rooms of the various students had not been shared with the others, therefore unless the student themselves revealed it, one would not be able to know. Hearing his question Olivia nodded. "Reyna and I entered at the same time. In fact our rooms are quite close to each other. She is in Room J28, whilst I''m in J22." Alex nodded in understanding, For some reason, Olivia turned around to look towards Lucius, when she revealed her room number, before hurriedly turning back. ''What am I thinking!'' Olivia admonished herself, while her face reddened a bit. Lucius did not catch this reaction, however someone else did. ''Hoho! Someone''s got a serious crush.'' Ka''lor''ah smirked to herself, taking care to not reveal her thoughts to Lucius. "Ah. A childhood friend/foster sister, the odds surely are against her, isn''t it?'' she inwardly mused. Outside, the trio had already made their way to Reyna''s room. Alex immediately used his hands to bang on the door. BANG!BANG!BANG! "Reyna! You in there? It''s me Alex. Open the door." he spoke into the small mic which was placed with the scanner. Due to the doors being pressured locked and sound-proofed, the person on the inside would not be able to hear, the sounds on the outside. One had to speak into the mic, in order for there voice to be projected inside. Waiting a few seconds, no reply was heard. Alex furrowed his brows and continued. "Reyna! Are you in there? Open the door immediately!" he yelled into the mic once more. Silence. Getting worried, Olivia asked, "What do we do know? The scanner says that the room is occupied, so she must me in there." Alex was helpless facing her question, when he heard Lucius'' cold voice. "Step back." "What are you going to do?" Alex sounded confused, but obediently stepped back. He then suddenly thought to himself, ''Wait, why did I naturally obey his words?'' Of course, Lucius did not pay heed to Alex''s internal struggles. Stepping forward towards the door, Lucius raised his palm and started gathering his soul power in his hands. A ball of dark black soul energy, which gave of a feeling of withering started to rapidly condense in his palms. Looking at the ball of energy, Alex''s and Olivia''s eyes shrunk as a feeling of death and decay formed within their hearts. Gathering his power until the ball was formed and compressed into the size of a pebble, Lucius gently blew it inside the scanner panel. He then patiently waited. "Hey, what was that ball of energy?" Alex spoke Lucius did not bother replying, but another voice explained in his place. "That''s Lucius'' special ability at Stage 1. The both of you will also develop such special abilities, when you step into Stage 1." Ka''lor''ah gently explained. Hearing that voice, the both of them were shocked for a second before being delighted. "Ka''lor''ah!" "Savior!". Alex and Olivia replied respectively. "Hi!" Ka''lor''ah excitedly spoke. "The door had opened." Lucius cut into their conversation. "We''ll catch up later. First let''s find out what''s wrong with this girl." Ka''lor''ah spoke befitting of her seniority. Placing his hands on the surface of the door, Lucius exerted a little of his strength and pushed it upwards. The door which was usually unmovable, slid upwards without any resistance. In the place where the electromagnetic locks were usually, black smoke wafted. The smell of metal corrosion and decay was present. Directly stepping into the room, Lucius furrowed his brows. Olivia and Alex who were behind him also looked at the room in a serious expression. The furniture inside the room were moved haphazardly. Clothes, blankets and towels were carelessly thrown on the floor. A revolting stench filled the air and a yellowish fluid was pooled in the ground. Recognizing the stench Alex spoke out in a worried manner, "That''s.... gastric acid. She was vomiting?" The door into the bathroom was open and the sounds of running water was heard. Unable to hold herself back, Olivia rushed into the bathroom. Alex similarly wanted to follow, only to find himself being held back by Lucius. Unable to contain his anger he exploded at Lucius. "WHAT NOW, BASTARD?! That''s my little sis in there. Are you going to stop me from entering?!" Lucius did not reply, but slowly continued to stare at Alex with his cold and indifferent eyes. Seeing that uncaring look on his face, Alex felt a great surge of anger welling up inside him once again. Just as he was about to attack Lucius, Olivia''s clear voice sounded out. "Both of you, do not come in here!" "What?" Alex sounded confused to which Lucius casually replied. "She''s undressed." his voice sounded mechanical with no intent or feeling behind it. Hearing him Alex stood dumbfounded, staring blankly into space. Lucius simply turned around and left the room, before leaning against the wall outside. Olivia''s voice sounded out once again. "What are you standing there for?! Get out!" she yelled in anger. Alex immediately dashed outside. Nearing Lucius, he hesitated for a second before slowly asking. "How did you know?" he whispered. Lucius quietly turned to face Alex and replied with two words. "Soul power." --------------------------- ''Where am I?'' Reyna thought to herself. Her thoughts were dulled and her surroundings clouded in darkness. "I....I remember that we were leaving to a frontier planet aboard a spaceship. Talking about our clothes and taking pictures, Olivia and I made almost missed the scheduled time and barely made it onboard.'' ''After that, I met Alex who seemed to be injured. Ah, yes. Alex got into a fight with Lucius over some matter. I tried to mediate between the both of them, but they continued fighting.'' ''Then I ran back to my room crying and continued to cry for sometime under the blanket.'' She struggled to recall the events after that. Her thoughts growing more and more sluggish. ''Then I think I felt hungry? Yes, I was feeling hungry due to skipping my breakfast that morning. I decided to head to the kitchen and make myself a sandwich. What happened after that?'' ''I seem to recall going to the Viewing platform?'' Suddenly her thoughts became extremely clear. ''MURDER! SOMEONE WAS MURDERED ABOARD THE SHIP! The murder found my presence and began to chase me!" Her thoughts became more and more chaotic from this point onwards. Reyna''s emotions once again began to grow confused. Her fear which had been missing all this time, slowly began returning. Reyna felt herself, sinking deeper and deeper into a cold swamp. ''SOMEONE HELP ME! I''M SCARED! FATHER?! UNCLE BLACK?! ANYONE!!'' Reyna screamed with all her might, only to not receive any response. A tangible fear crept upon her, immobilizing her thoughts. Reyna felt a hand reach out towards her. ''I BEG YOU! PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE! I DID NOT MEAN TO WITNESS THAT!!'' she cried out. Alas no response was heard. She felt a dark, cold hand be placed on her face. Reyna was too scared to open her eyes. Her body stiffened and her thoughts stopped flowing. She could no longer feel her body, with only a cold heavy presence surrounding her. She felt the fear of death, for the first time in her life. ''I....'' Suddenly the darkness covering her vision shattered, with bright light replacing it. A feeling of warmth and comfort enveloped her entire body. The fear she felt retreated immediately, with the feeling of safety replacing it. Reyna was currently feeling a very strange feeling. It seemed distant, yet vaguely familiar. ''It''s like.... Mom''s warmth.'' she suddenly realized this feeling. "Child." A deep and ethereal voice sounded out beside her. Opening her eye''s Reyna could see something in the distance. A silhouette shrouded in layers, hidden behind this warm, white light. The only reason she was able to recognize this figure in the first place, was due to the dark gold robes, she was wearing. The feeling of motherly warmth was radiating off this person. Observing it closer, Reyna realized that this feeling was not the same as her mother''s warmth. It felt distant and profound. "You are?" Reyna questioned. "You are finally awake." the ethereal voice spoke in a gentle tone. Reyna could feel on smile on that silhouette''s face, when she spoke. "Witnessing that murder had a profound impact on your psyche. You were almost lost in your own fear." sensing Reyna''s questions the voice answered. Reyna bit her lips and spoke, "So that was real?" "I''m afraid so." the voice replied. "Why? Why would a someone do such a thing to their own kind." Reyna did not understand this fact. She simply could not understand the rationale behind such an actions. Aren''t we all of the same kind? Fellow brothers and sisters of the Alliance? Why would they kill each other. "Your question treads on the emotions and feelings of humans. Unlike your sciences. It does not have a ''right'' answer." the voice continued in it''s gentle tone. "All you can do is protect yourself and trust in your kind." Taking a few minutes, Reyna then spoke. "I do not ever want to feel that emotion ever again." "Then all you can do is to become stronger. So strong that, nothing ever scares you." "But how?" Reyna cried out. Hearing her, the voice chuckled once before speaking in a regal voice. "Tell me child. Do you seek power?" ----------------------- "REYNA. YOU FINALLY WOKE UP!" just as Reyna finished the conversation with that mysterious and ethereal voice, she heard a loud voice from in front of her. Opening her eyes for real this time, Reyna was greeted with the sight of a worried looking Olivia. She was sitting next to Reyna''s bed, seated in chair. A warm, but damp cloth was held in her hands. Seeing her best friend show such concern towards her, Reyna felt warmth in her heart. "Ah! I was worried that you wouldn''t wake up. Uncle would have killed me, if something happened to you." she heard another arrogant, yet kind voice speak to her. Turning her neck, she noticed Alex leaning against the wall while looking at her. "Alex?" Reyna questioned. "Glad to see your eyes are working fine. You know, you gave the three of us quite the scare, back at your room." he spoke in reply. "The three of us?" Olivia kindly explained, " Me, Alex and Lucius. When you did not show up for the emergency meeting, the three of us got worried and broke into your room. We found you unconscious in the shower, before bringing you to my room to be treated. Are you feeling fine?" "Ah, yes. I feel alright." Reyna assured her. "By the way, where is Lucius?" she asked while looking around. She noticed the Olivia and Alex being present in the room, but no signs of Lucius. Olivia''s face suddenly turned serious. With a cold voice she spoke. "To catch a rabid dog!" Chapter 72: Investigation The person in question, was currently running through the corridors of the spaceship. Technically speaking, it could not be considered ''running'', since he was not displaying his actual speed. After undergoing his advancement into Mid level or Stage 1, Lucius'' body had undergone another round of improvement. Naturally, this meant that Lucius'' forte-speed, had also improved once again. If he started running casually, his speed would match that of a 40 km/hr vehicle. Since it wasn''t time yet, Lucius could not expose his abilities to the normal, ''unawakened'' humans. (those who hadn''t connected their Body-Soul). While running Lucius asked Ka''lor''ah, who was consuming his soul energy to recover from her earlier exertion. "Why did you awaken her soul?" "That little girl''s mind is too naive and her mental resilience is non-existent. If not for me awaken her soul and pulling her conscious mind into the surface, her mind would have definitely collapsed. We can''t have our focal point becoming a vegetable, can we?" Ka''lor''ah blandly explained. As she said, Ka''lor''ah did not want to awaken Reyna''s soul prematurely. It was something that was supposed to naturally happen during ''that event''. However, in order to save Reyna''s life earlier, she had no choice but to connect her Body and Soul. Truth is, awakening the soul prematurely, that is, before ''that event'' did have it''s benefits. With the accumulated experience one would have with the discovery of their soul, a possibility existed that one would awaken a Soul Type of a higher rarity. The soul type they would awaken, would also be more suitable for the individual. This is the reason, Ka''lor''ah awakened Alex''s and Olivia''s souls prematurely. However, in Reyna''s case, it was different. "Now, we can only pray that the girl awakens the [Machinery Life] soul type. If it doesn''t happen, then all our plans will be rendered useless." Ka''lor''ah spoke with a hint of worry in her voice. "Do you really think her soul type would change? There is only two more months before ''that'' happens." Lucius asked in confusion. "Well, normally there would not be any change. But as I mentioned, it is entirely dependent on one''s experiences. Due to that earlier dance with death, her psyche was badly affected. That''s why I''m worried about changes occurring." Hearing this, Lucius'' did not show any type of reaction. "I see." he simply spoke. His movement speed accelerated, as he headed towards the Viewing Room. ''Time to seek out the one behind this mess.'' --------------------- The corridors were mostly deserted, save for the few of students who were walking together in groups of five. Their faces were filled with fear and worry, as they nervously proceeded along their activities. The absence of their private guards only served to increase their worry. After all, who was expecting a student to suddenly go on a murder rampage. Watching Lucius travel alone, most of them sneered and called him an idiot seeking death. Of course, he couldn''t care less about the opinions of mere ''worms''. Making his way towards the viewing platform without pause, Lucius noticed that the area had been blocked with a teacher being there. A group of 5 students were standing next to the teacher requesting permission to enter the crime scene. The group of 5 consisted of three men and two woman, all the men wearing red and the two woman wearing white and black respectively. Unlike the groups from before, none of their faces were filled with fear, but were instead filled with excitement. Upon hearing of a murder taking place on the ship, these friends grouped up together and headed to the various locations to investigate, before finally ending up here. "Professor, please let us enter the area. We might be able to help with the investigation." the black wearing young woman asked. The professor directly shook his head and told them off sternly. "This will be the last time I''m telling you. No students are allowed to enter. Go back to your rooms!" Listening to his stern threat, the group simply clicked their tongues and walked off to the side. They seemed to temporarily give up. "What do we do now? This old fogey isn''t allowing us in!" the woman wearing white spoke. "Do we just knock him out?" one of the men spoke. "Then what? Get expelled. Use your brain a little." the woman wearing black rolled his eyes. Just then they noticed another student approach this area. It was young man with a very handsome face. His face was cold as ice and his black eyes were filled with indifference. "Isn''t that the boy who got into a fight with Alex?" one of the girls questioned. "Ha! He''s a fool. He provoked every single student in this ship. He will not be living a good life once he steps off the ship." the men mocked him. Perhaps due to Lucius'' handsome face or maybe because she was simply trying to help him, the girl in black raised her voice and addressed Lucius. "The teacher isn''t allowing anyone to enter that place. You are simply wasting your time here." she spoke, her cheeks slightly turning red. The men watched with envy and jealousy as they saw the girl behave like this. Meanwhile Lucius, who heard this warning simply ignored it. "What a fool." one of the boys spoke and the girl''s expression also turned sour. Walking up to the teacher, Lucius looked him right in the eyes and activated his [Charm]. A hint of red spread into his eyes, as he spoke. "Let me in." "Of course." the teacher nodded as he moved to allow Lucius to pass. Watching this scene the group standing nearby were completely dumbfounded. Their jaws hung wide as they saw Lucius casually speak a line and then be allowed entry. Hell, he wasn''t even polite to the teacher! "Wha-what just happened?" the girl wearing white asked in shock, to which she received no reply. Ignoring this commotion outside, Lucius entered the Viewing room. Stepping inside, he could immediately smell the scent of blood in the air. Rather than feel unbearable due to that horrible smell, Lucius took in a deep breath. This was a scent which was very familiar to him. A scent that said to be homely. "Victim was killed 6-8 hours ago." just from the smell Lucius deduced the time of death. Over the passage of time, the blood exposed to air would begin to decay. Due to this, the smell of the blood would be different at different frames of time. Unless one was very familiar with such matters, they would not be able to identify the time of death, just based of the scent. Lucius could be considered an abnormality. He then walked towards the area where the smell was coming from. Making his way there, Lucius finally stumbled upon the body laying on the ground. Leaning on the ground, he studied wound on the body. "Stabbed with a sharp object. Not a knife, but something that is longer and wider. Possibly a pipe." "Victim died due to excessive blood loss. Killer did not aim for the heart or any other vital organ, rather aiming to the chest. A crude attempt. Suggests inexperience. Possibly a student." "Judging from the skin and position of the body, there was no struggle. Suggests that the victim was caught unaware. Victim knew the murderer. Possibly a friend." "Contraction of muscles in the throat. Victim''s mouth was stuffed with something to prevent screaming. Suggests that the killer was cautious and cunning. He was prepared for all eventualities." Studying all that there was on the body, Lucius then stood up. Controlling his soul power to his eyes, he activated his [Killer Vision]. The colorful world that had previously filled his vision, completely turned red. Looking down at the body Lucius noticed a small amount of black miasma floating around the body. ''Looks like I''m not late.'' Lucius thought to himself. ''Is that curse energy?'' Ka''lor''ah sounded unsure. ''Indeed. The Victim died with extreme hatred, therefore turning a part of his soul into curse energy, sticking it into the killer. Follow the curse energy and we find the killer.'' Lucius explained to her. Curse energy. It was special type of energy which might manifest upon a person''s death. It cannot be seen normally and can only be noticed under special visions like Lucius'' [Killer Vision]. When a person dyes with extreme hatred or grievances, a part of their soul is directly converted into curse energy which does not leave the body, like the soul. It usually sticks on the dead body of the person and infects the area around it. In cases such as this, a part of the energy also sticks onto the killer providing vague discomfort to them. At small amounts, curse energy is harmless. But if large amounts of this energy gather in a small place, it leads to strange phenomena. Wraiths, Ghouls and other such undead creatures are usually produced to this energy. This is one of the reasons why a body is burned upon death. Burning a body usually dispels the curse energy gathered. The [Killer] Soul Type upon reaching Stage 3 could be able to freely manipulate curse energy. Moving his gaze away from the dead body, Lucius stared into the empty air in the direction of the door. A small thin black line vaguely appeared in his sight. ''Found the tracks.'' he immediately followed it. Making it outside the room, Lucius once again used charm and ordered the teacher. "You can close the room now." saying so he immediately took off in that direction. Staring at this young man, suddenly exit the room and start running in the opposite direction. The girl wearing the black overalls, bit her lips before instructing her group. "Seems like he''s got some kind of a clue. Follow him!" Chapter 73: Murderer. Following the black line in his vision, Lucius'' face became more and more serious as he continued to go after it. The black line in his vision was growing dimmer and dimmer, already having gone from a black line to a whitish grey. Since the murder a few hours had already passed. Due to the passage of time, the curse energy in the air had grown fainter and fainter. If Lucius had delayed by another hour, the energy would have already dissipated. Passing the Kitchen, which was to the left, Lucius eventually came to a junction in the corridor. Here the black lines interweaved with each other to form a complex black mass of energy. The corridor split three ways and the lines of energy did not seem to proceed any farther along. He had hit a dead-end. Closing his eyes and focusing his soul power in his senses, Lucius stood in the junction and carefully analyzed the chaotic mass of lines. During the time Lucius was standing in the junction and analyzing the traces, the group of five students chasing behind him had already caught up. The five of them were rapidly panting and were almost on their knees. "God dammit... how can.....a person be so fast." one of the boys somehow managed to speak. "....Student, please wait for us!" the girl wearing the black overalls begged. Inwardly she was grumbling, ''Is he running so fast just to spite us? And how is he unaffected after running so fast?!'' Lucius who was completely focused, naturally ignored their pleas. Although, even if he did hear it, he would have still ignored them. Under his rapid analysis, Lucius'' shut eyes suddenly flew open. With his enhanced hearing, he heard a jumbled and distraught screams coming from directly ahead of him. Sensing that something important was happening, Lucius immediately took off. The group of students who had just had a moment of respite, noticed his departure. Gritting her teeth, the girl in black spoke. "Continue following him!" The other girl in white, who had a pretty little face which was pale due to her exertions, spoke in hesitance, "Leader, why are we even following him?" "I have a feeling that something major is going to happen. It would be the perfect report for the Academy newspaper." the girl in black replied. Opening her watch, he quickly wrote down something before continuing to chase after Lucius. She did not bother to look back to check if her friends were following her. With an excited glow in her eyes she thought to herself, ''Who are you, mysterious student? What will you show me this time?'' --------------------------- As he neared the location, Lucius could hear the chaotic sounds grow louder and louder. Making a turn, he came in front of an open door with the words ''Gym'', written on top of it.Lucius directly entered inside. Inside the gym, there was a group of 20 students standing around. Some were shouting loudly, apparently accusing each other, some stood in the sidelines watching the entire scene with amusement in their eyes, some had even broken out into a scuffle. In the middle of the room, was a boy wearing a blue overall lying on the floor. His body was unmoving, with obvious rise and fall of his chest. He wasn''t breathing. Ignoring the commotion going around him, Lucius directly closed in near the boy. "Stop! You can''t approach him." a boy wearing red tried to stop Lucius, using his arms to block his way. Without wasting any words, Lucius directly caught hold of one of his hands and in one smooth motion, broke it. Crunch! "AHHHHHH!!" The crisp sound of the bone breaking and the pitiful screams of the boy in red, clearly rebounded of the walls of the room. The commotion taking place around him immediately quietened down, with each of their attention gathered at Lucius and the boy in red. They watched this scene in shock. In the front of so many witnesses, Lucius had attacked a student. The girl in black who had been chasing after Lucius, entered the room at this precise moment to witness this scene. Like the rest she was also dumbfounded, but quickly gathered her wits and took a picture of this scene with her watch. After breaking the boy''s arm, Lucius casually threw him aside and walked near the boy in the ground. Placing his hands on top of the unmoving body, Lucius checked for signs of life. "He''s not breathing. No pulse either." Lucius softly spoke. Due to the quiet atmosphere present in the room, every single student present could clearly hear him. Using his hands to check around the body, Lucius noticed signs of abrasion in the body''s throat. The skin around the throat was pale, with deep purple lines marked across the center of his throat. "Death by suffocation. The killer used a rope or a string to restrict his breathing. The victim tried to fight back, but lost his consciousness in seconds before dying due to anoxia." Checking the entire body and gathering the clues, Lucius concluded. With his experience, he had accurately recreated the scene in his head. With a low voice Lucius added, "Such an inefficient and crude method." None of the students present around him heard his statement, save for Ka''lor''ah who was sitting in his pocket. She rolled her eyes and said, "You don''t say." Lucius who had been kneeling in the ground, next to the body slowly stood up. With his head lowered, he slowly turned around to face the students, who had huddled up into a group. Seeing Lucius like this, the students who were being watched strangely felt exposed. Although Lucius had his head lowered and hence was not directly gazing at them, they still felt a strange feeling. A feeling that told them- Nothing can be hidden in front of this gaze. An ominous foreboding rapidly rose in their hearts. Lucius who had his head lowered, suddenly lifted his head up. A strange smile filled his face, as he spoke, "Found you.". His eyes however were not smiling. Without giving his audience any chance to react, Lucius immediately dashed into the crowd of students and directly used his hands to grip the throat of one of them. Holding him by his throat, Lucius casually lifted him up into the air, until his feet left the ground. "..STOP! Whhaat... ar yah.. doin...?" the student who was lifted in the air, struggled to speak up. Fear filled his eyes, as he felt Lucius'' grip slowly constricting around his neck. The others around him were once again shocked out of their wits, before recovering. "You! What are you doing?" they screamed in unison as they stepped ahead. Lucius simply released a tiny sliver of his [Killing Intent], which immediately froze their movements. Their faces rapidly paled and their bodies stiffened. Even the boy who was held in the air by him, stiffened from that dangerous aura which was leaking out of Lucius'' body. He stopped his earlier struggles and grew stiff like a puppet. Suddenly hurried footsteps could be heard near the entrance of the door. A middle-aged man with a large muscular body rapidly rushed near this scene. His entire body was bronze in color, with large, firm muscles adorning his body. A kind of savage and bloody aura radiated off him, which warned people of his danger. Looking at this scene inside the Gym, he was shocked for a second before letting out a savage roar. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! LET HIM DOWN!!" the man screamed and walked near Lucius. From the way he walked, one could see that he was a trained soldier. The bloody aura on his body only served to confirm the fact that he had been in multiple battlefields and had seen many deaths. Frowning a bit, Lucius proceeded to release an another portion of his [Killing Intent], this time focusing it towards the middle-aged teacher. The teacher, who had been approaching also stiffened. His trained instincts screamed at him to not continue on further. It told him that if he took another step, only death would await him. Being shocked once again, the teacher carefully looked at Lucius. Apart from his handsome face and slender body, nothing seemed to be unusual about him. Calming himself for a second, the teacher then spoke. "Young man, please let down that boy whom you are holding in your hands. Whatever be your quarrel, I will help you settle it." Hearing this statement, Lucius indifferently spoke, "This is the murderer." Hearing his statement, the entire room was shocked before the agitated voice of a male student was heard. "Bullshit! He''s a friend of mine. I have been with him this entire time. There was no way he could have killed someone!" The situation immediately became confused. From the way the boy had spoken, it did not seem like he was lying. However, Lucius'' indifferent, yet confident tone did not seem like lies wither. "Oh. What a shame." Lucius casually spoke. "Looks like we have another victim now." he then continued. The looks on everyone''s faces in the room grew confused , before it turned pale. Even the middle-aged soldier was no exception. Taking a deep breath he spoke. "You mean, there is another death." Lucius simply nodded at his question, before turning back to face the young man who had shouted earlier, "Check your friend''s room. There should be another body." He then turned around to look at the boy in his hands. The boy''s face had already turned very pale, and his body was uncontrollably twitching. Lucius then spoke. "Isn''t that right.....Bill." Chapter 74: Kill Bill. "Isn''t that right.....Bill." Lucius coldly stated. "Bill?" the rest of the spectators in the room were confused. Seeing the looks of incomprehension on the faces of the people present in the rom, Lucius simply shrugged his shoulders. With a flick of his hand, he threw the young man in his hands, directly into the floor. Heavily crashing into the floor, the young man started violently coughing. "Cough, cough! You must be mistaken. I do not know any person by the name Bill." he hurriedly explained himself. Turning to look at the people present in the room, he put on a pitiful expression and cried out. "Look at how he''s treating me! Teacher, aren''t students forbid from fighting each other? Why are you simply standing there?!" he grievously tried to appeal to the teacher. "This...." the middle-aged teacher tried to intervene, only to be shot a look by Lucius. Seeing those indifferent and cold eyes staring directly at him, the middle-aged teacher, found himself unable to breathe. A formidable pressure was being exerted on his body. At this moment he clearly understood that if he tried to intervene, only a single outcome would follow. His Death. There was no fighting it. No struggling against it. If he went against this mysterious black eyed youth, he would undoubtedly, irrefutably, without question would die. Understanding this fact, he immediately stood down. No matter what, he still had his life to look out for. A family that he had to provide for. Seeing the teacher silently standby without trying to stop Lucius, the heart of the young man on the floor, dropped. He faced Lucius, grit his teeth and spoke. "How dare a lowly commoner like you accuse me?! Do you think my family would standby and do nothing!?" he venomously spat out, trying to threaten him. Alas, Lucius simply did not care about this young man or his family behind him. All he wanted to do was to get rid of this pest, that might have possibly ruined his plans. It was suffice to say, Lucius was in a bad mood. A very bad mood. He simply stared at the youth on the ground with his unfathomably deep, indifferent eyes. "Do you really think you can maintain this farce any longer? I''m starting to get quite annoyed by it." saying so Lucius moved towards him. "Wait! Stay back! What are you doing?!" the young man began screaming. Ignoring his screams, Lucius pinned the young man to the floor using his legs. Then, reaching his arm towards the man''s face, Lucius held him by his chin and forcefully pulled. Riip! Along with the sound of something tearing, Lucius hand was pulled away from the young man''s face. In his hand, was shockingly a face mask. The the mask suddenly let out a light buzz, before slowly turning transparent, until it resembled a plastic cover. The teacher and the students watched these series of events in shock. Jerking their heads towards the young man in the floor, they saw an unrecognizable face. "You- Who are you?" pointing a shaky finger at the man in the ground, the boy who had earlier screamed in defense cried. ''Bill'' who sat in the ground with a depressed expression, upon hearing this turned to face him, "Well, did you not hear him? I''m Bill." The teacher who was also in shock, took a few deep breaths to calm himself and spoke. "There was no student with the name Bill, who boarded this ship. Who are you and why are you here?", he threateningly asked. Sitting on the ground, Bill simply laughed at this question. It first started as a chuckle, which then turned into a light sarcastic laugh, before turning into a full blown maniacal laughter. Using his nails to dig into his facial skin, Bill simply continued to crazily laugh. He nails broke through the skin on his face and blood started dripping from his face. His average face from before, now looked bloody and demonic. Looking at this sight, the weak-hearted students, directly passed out. "HAHAHAHA! YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY I''M HERE?! IT''S FOR REVENGE!!" screaming in a crazed manner, he abruptly swung his neck to face Lucius. "DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT YOU DID TO ME THAT DAY LUCIUS?! I DISGRACED MYSELF BEFORE THE ENTIRE CLASSROOM! EVERYONE LAUGHED AT ME, MOCKED ME!" his voice started to turn hoarse. His laughter and screams were starting to resemble that of a beast. "HEARING THE EVENTS OF THAT DAY, MY FAMILY DISOWNED ME!! I LOST EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING!" At this point he had already ripped out all the skin and surface level muscles in his face. Pieces of skin and flesh barely hung onto his muscles and blood continued to flow from his face. His fleshy appearance coupled with that big smile showcasing his teeth, resembled that of a demon from hell. Even the teacher was feeling uncomfortable that this point, with many of the students directly vomiting or passing out. Lucius, however continued to stare at him with an impassive expression. "NOW YOU WILL LOSE EVERYTHING TO!! LET ME DRAG YOU DOWN TO HELL, ALONG WITH ME!" screaming so, he pounced at Lucius. Looking at the ''demonic'' young man, getting closer to him, Lucius simply stated. "Pathetic." His words were flat with zero emotions present in them. Turing his body sideways, Lucius doged Bill''s lunge with minimal movements. Raising one of his legs high into the sky, Lucius smashed it down upon Bill''s back. A large amount of force was transferred into his body and Bill felt his mind momentarily blacking out. Multiple bones broke throughout his back, with a part of his spine also being crippled. His strong body, immediately collapsed into the ground. "Hiss...." he took a sharp intake of cold air. Pain continued to flood his mind, suppressing his rationality. His entire body was painfully writhing in the ground. Lucius simply stared at this scene with indifference. Approaching his body, Lucius crouched near him and asked. "How did you get into this ship?" "I''LL NEVER TELL YOU!" Bill furiously shouted back. Unable to move his body, he tried to use his mouth to bite Lucius. His eyes had already lost all traces of sanity and were filled with madness and hatred. No matter the cost, he was hellbent on bringing Lucius down to death along with him. Seeing him being so uncooperative, Ka''lor''ah suggested. ''Why not try using [Charm]?'' "It will not work. He has already lost his sanity, becoming nothing but a wild beast." Lucius shook his head in response. ''Then, the old way?'' Ka''lor''ah inquired curiously. Reaching his hands to grab Bill by his head, Lucius started to infuse his soul power into his body. Then in a voice that only Bill could hear, he spoke. "You want to take me to Hell? I''ll show you what real hell feels like." saying so blandly, Lucius converted the soul energy inside Bill''s body into [Decay]. "AHHHHHHHH!!!!" Bill suddenly let out a inhuman scream. It was so loud that his vocal cords tore in response, leading to further pain. Bill could currently feel, every single cell in his body decaying and dying. It felt like millions of ants entering one''s body and eating it from within. "So? Feel like telling me?" Lucius asked once again, staring into his eyes. Bill stared into Lucius'' eyes and suddenly let out a maniacal laughter. Blood and chunks of flesh, fell out from within his mouth, as he hoarsely said. "She was right! You are indeed different from the others! Already having awaken your soul!" Bill''s eyes suddenly turned calm as a his pupils suddenly turned gold. His voice suddenly turned gentle and soft, resembling that of a woman. "You are an anomaly in mankind''s fate, Lucius. I''m looking forward for the game we are going to play later. Please do survive the upcoming ordeal." Bill''s face suddenly smiled. Then without any warning, he suddenly banged his head into the steel floor using his full force. His head broke apart under the force, turning it into a mess of blood and flesh. The room suddenly became silent for a second, before earth-shattering screams rung out. The teacher also immediately rushed towards the body. Lucius who was kneeling right next to the body, was staring blankly into the air. His mind had completely blacked out from the shock. Ka''lor''ah voice from inside the pocket trembeled before she spoke, "That- That was Stage 1, soul energy!?." she said in disbelief. Lucius just blankly nodded. He continued to stare blankly into the air for a few seconds, before a powerful wave of energy swept across his mind, wiping away all his emotions and thoughts. Lucius'' gaze once again returned to its previous state of indifference and his face was expressionless. Wordlessy standing up, he spoke to Ka''lor''ah. "There is another person at Stage 1. Judging from her words and tone, she also knows about upcoming trial." His gaze firmed and his voice chilled once again. "There exists someone like us. Possibly having come from the future. Question is, what are their goals?" Chapter 75: Arriving at Modus Rim. Part 1 "Say, do you think they will let us meet Lucius today?" a bright yet subdued voice, asked to the companions walking next to her. A young man with flaming red hair, shrugged his shoulders in response. "Well, we are arriving at the Frontier Planet today, so they would have to let him go." his tone was arrogant with a faint trace of dislike behind it. "Although..." he continued, "I never thought, ''that guy'' would apprehend the murderer so soon. Even going so far as to angering him to death." his tone while mentioning the person in question was filled with reluctance and defiance. "It seems that the person called ''Bill'' had a very strong hatred against Lucius for some reason. The students who were in the room, that day told me that he had lost his mind and killed himself, when he was unable to kill Lucius.", a new voice explained. This voice had a pleasant, cool and mature aura behind it. A type of ''older-sister'' vibe was felt of this person. The mouth of the red haired youth quivered a little as he spoke, "I can''t imagine anyone defeating ''that guy'', let alone try and successfully kill him." He then clenched his fists and roared with determination, "And he better not lose to anyone either. I''m the one who will defeat him!!" These three people were obviously Reyna, Alex and Olivia. After Reyna had woken up that day, she questioned about the matter of souls and that mysterious voice in her dream. Alex and Olivia then patiently explained to her about what they knew. Reyna''s face had been the picture of disbelief when she heard about the matters of being ''Chosen'' and about saving mankind. Alas, after trying out the power awakened inside her, she had completely tossed out these matters out of her mind, only focusing on the mysterious energy insider her. To a genius scientist like Reyna, the existence of a mysterious energy like the soul, held far more importance than being a ''Chosen One''. He passion had been lit and her thirst for knowledge was once again returned. Of course this did not mean that she would stand by and do nothing as mankind was facing great trouble. As they continued their discussion, they received a sudden call for assembly and learnt that the murderer had been found and taken care of. In addition they had also learnt that, it was a student named Bill, who was the culprit. Not thinking much at the time, they each returned to their own rooms. Of course, Reyna had to bunk with Olivia on the account of her door being broken. Waiting for Lucius, they realized that there was not a shadow of him the next day. Being worried each of them began searching the ship before being finally informed by a teacher about his situation. Lucius had been detained on account of the being closely related to the case, being the cause behind the murders. The group had been informed that, Lucius had been taken in for questioning and was to be handed over to the related authorities upon landing in Deatov for further questioning. Of course, Reyna would not stand for this and directly informed her father of the happenings, immediately upon the ship leaving hyperspace. She had even pestered Alex, whose family was involved in such matters, to use their influence to help Lucius. Finally under their relentless efforts, it was proven that Lucius was not guilty. The only catch was that, Lucius could not be allowed to interact with the other students in the ship, until they reached their destination. This had something to do with pacifying the families which had lost their excellent heirs to the murderer and also for his own safety. As they continued to walk, Reyna suddenly grew curious asked, "Is Lucius really that strong? How come he doesn''t look like it?" Alex stared at her in disbelief as he spoke, "Doesn''t look like it? Have you even looked him in the face! He looks like he might randomly kill you off, if you even try to approach him. Plus that scary aura that he gives off makes you question, whether he really is human or a beast in human skin!" Hearing Alex''s words both Reyna and Olivia rolled their eyes. "That''s just you. He''s a really kind person. Very strong but also caring. " Olivia confidently spoke, while nodding her head. A slight blush rose to her face, when she recalled the events at the warehouse. "Indeed and a genius too. That project he helped me with..., just thinking back gives me the shivers" Reyna''s eyes started sparkling as she recalled. Looking at these two girls completely disregarding his opinion and praising his ''mortal enemy'' whom he had sweared to defeat, Alex stood in disbelief. His eyes wide and mouth open, Alex was speechless. ''Are we even talking about the same person?! How is he kind and caring?! He threatened me with death, when I ''slightly'' angered him.'' Seeing the girls not stop for him, Alex shook his head as he chased after them. "Wait for me!!" ------------------- "So, you will allow us to go and meet him, right?" Reyna asked the teacher standing in front of her with a serious face. Hearing this young girl ask him a question, which was not really a question but rather a statement, he mentally sighed before nodding. Having received the teacher''s permission, Reyna was delighted as her face softened and a smile was brought to her lips. The two people behind her were also relieved, with the young woman breaking out into a smile and the young man simply clicking his tongue. Walking past the teacher, they entered the pressure sealed door beyond which Lucius was held. The mood of the group, save for one, was greatly lifted. Not knowing about his condition for a few weeks, had greatly weighed on the minds of Olivia and Reyna. While Alex did not outwardly show it, he too was worried about his ''enemy''. Making their way into the large room, they noticed that it was empty. The facilities in the room seemed to be untouched. Their brows furrowed as they looked around to find him. Looking around they noticed a door which was the only other path in this room. Making their way inside, a large room fitted with white reflective panels was present. The reflective panels seemed to be electronic as they gave out a low buzzing sound, while softly glowing with a white light. This was the simulation room. It could be used to simulate a variety of different things including duels, mech battles, spaceship control, fleet command, etc. In the very middle of the room, stood a handsome young man, sporting an indifferent expression. The black overalls were covering the bottom half of his body, whilst leaving his upper body naked. His slender body was packed with muscles, which seemed to carry an explosive amount of power. His muscles were perfectly structured and shaped, with neither excess nor lack of it in any area. It was extremely compact and firm, yet being soft and elastic at the same time. An unfathomable amount of power radiated of his entire being. His skin was extremely smooth and perfect, with no scars nor creases in them. It was white and looked to be very pale would invoke jealousy even in the hearts of young maidens. His unmoving body resembled a sculpture. It looked perfect in every way possible, seemingly crafted with great precision and care by the Creator himself. Looking at Lucius, the faces of both Reyna and Olivia turned a deep shade of red and their hearts also started to beat quicker. Even Alex who was standing next to him, had his eyes fixed on Lucius. All of them felt an inexplicable feeling of attraction from him. Lucius'' entire figure radiated a sense of mysterious charm, that was desirable to both men and women. His indifferent and expressionless look, gave him a feeling of being inviolable and superior to them. He looked like an angel, whilst giving off a devilish charm. Just when they felt like he would stand there forever, Lucius suddenly took a step forward. His eyes were still closed and his empty hands seemed to be gripping something. With light footsteps that seemed to follow a mysterious pattern, he moved while gently swinging the non-existent weapon in his hands. Moving around with no fixed rhythm, Lucius seemed to move, sometimes fast and sometimes slow. His hands also never stopped moving, swinging this invisible weapon in fixed pathways. He slashed upwards with a gentle force and cut sideward with apparent ease. There seemed to be a continuous flow in his actions, with each movement chaining together with his previous ones. To sum his actions in a single word, Lucius movement seemed to be a- dance. A dance, that radiated an intense feeling of danger and death. ----------------------- To call it a dance wasn''t entirely incorrect. Lucius was practicing image training for the scythe technique he had learned. The technique was named, [Dance of the Death God.] This technique was one of the very few inheritances for the scythe left behind in the vast cosmos. The scythe was not a common weapon favored by the various races, which inhabited the vast universe. It was a heavy, dual handed weapon with a very long reach and wide movements. Just these very few facts, made it a slow weapon with an excess of unnecessary movements and very long moment periods. It was hard to recall and use in close range. If an enemy closed in within the reach of the scythe, the user was as good as dead. In short it was a very cumbersome weapon to use making it unusable for actual, practical combat. Of course, exceptions always existed. Some people had used this weapon and invented techniques, making it usable in combat. They were few and far between, but nevertheless still existed. The [Dance of the Death God] was a complete inheritance, taught to Lucius by his wife Aroura in his previous life. It was a technique designed to effectively wield the scythe in actual battle bringing out the complete prowess of the weapon. It was suffice to say with this technique, anyone using the scythe could become a true reaper of lives. The technique consisted of only 7 forms, with Lucius currently only able to use two of them. First Movement - Slash Second Movement - Shred What Lucius was performing was these two movements. After completing one full set of these movements, Lucius came to a pause. Steam radiated of his body and sweat poured down to for a small pool under his feet. His face was unnaturally pale and his muscles were quivering under stress. ''I can use Slash continuously without any limit. Shred however, can only be used once. Anymore and my soul energy will go berserk and my body would breakdown from the load, placed upon it.'' Lucius calmly evaluated the results of his practice. ''As for the effectiveness of the technique....'' he opened his eyes and looked at the group of three staring at him from a distance. Knowing that they were already about to arrive at their destination, he inwardly mused. ''Looks like mankind is finally going to Ascend.'' Chapter 76: Arriving at Modus Rim. Part 2 January 30th, 2321. "Please collect your luggage and follow the instructor ahead." a male teacher in his mid-twenties, instructed Lucius. Nodding his head, Lucius turned his head to look back. Long lines of students were gathered in an orderly fashion. Behind them stood the spaceship in which Lucius and the gang had arrived. a lot of events had happened aboard the spaceship, with most of the students being glad that it was finally over. "Lucius! Hurry up!", Reyna characteristic bright voice sounded out. Looking forward he noticed Reyna waving her hand, Olivia standing next to her with a smile and Alex looking depressed and grumpy. Nodding to them, he thanked the teacher and collected his bag before going towards them. ''Looks like the mental state of that girl is back to normal.'' Ka''lor''ah sent a message to Lucius. ''Indeed. She seems to have shed a bit of her naivety too. This is good.'' Lucius replied. After the events in the spaceship, Reyna had seemed to have grown up, no longer being childish and immature. One could say, she was finally acting her age. For some reason though, she seemed to act spoiled and childish in front of Lucius. He could not understand the reason, why. ''This is honestly getting a little annoying.'' Lucius inwardly sighed once again, to which Ka''lor''ah giggled. Reaching the group, Lucius first asked Reyna. "How far has your soul cultivation progressed?" getting straight to the point. "Hmmm. I''m also at Half-Step Stage 1." Reyna thought for a second before stating proudly, slightly bowing her head in expectation. Hearing her answer, Lucius simply nodded in a somewhat satisfied manner. ''At least she''s serious about her training.'' "Let''s go then. We have to follow that instructor." Lucius said as he pointed at the middle-aged man wearing a standard Academy outfit in the distance. He then immediately began walking in that direction. Behind him, Reyna clicked her tongue and grumbled something in a low voice while Olivia simply chuckled. Alex also seemed to be letting out a mocking laugh. All of this only served to confuse Lucius even further. Not paying attention to them, he closed in near the large group of students standing next to the instructor. "Students wearing the Red, Blue and Green overalls provided, please follow the white lights pointing towards the left, to reach the space elevator. These students will directly be sent to the base in Deatov." "Students wearing the Black and White overall provided please stand beside me. Once the required amount of students have arrived, I will lead you into the space station." The teacher using his deep and loud masculine voice, repeated the instruction in periodic time frames. "Ah. We already have to seperate?" Reyna cried out once she heard the instruction. She immediately turned around and faced Olivia and Alex with her watery and pitiful looking eyes. "Silly girl, we are not here on vacation. Plus..." Olivia neared Reyna and gave her a big hug. Leaning close to her ears, Olivia whispered something in them. Reyna face turned red and she repeatedly kept nodding. "Okay." she replied in a low voice. Meanwhile Alex and Lucius in the sides simply stood quietly. Alex''s gaze filled with burning passion to fight, shined upon Lucius'' face. Lucius however kept staring at him in a indifferent manner. Hesitating for a second, Alex spoke in an arrogant voice, "Protect Reyna. Don''t let anything happen to her." Lucius simply nodded. "And you too.....don''t die to soon." Alex spat this line out from his gritted teeth. "All right, Group Hug." Olivia clapped her hand and called everyone in. Lucius tried to escape from it, only to have either of his hands held by Reyna and Olivia respectively. "Come one Lucius. You are not going to make a scene here, are you?" Olivia spoke with a smile in her face. Resigning himself, he eventually let himself be pulled into a group hug. Just as they were about to seperate, a new voice sounded amidst them. "I hate to be the one pouring a bucket of cold water at this moment, but.... all of you are being far too relaxed." Ka''lor''ah spoke in a serious voice. "I divined once again. The event threatening mankind''s survival will begin around the 8th or 9th of February, that is in approximately 10 days." "I''m advising you, but DO NOT try to be heroes and try and save people. Focus first on protecting yourself. Even if it means, sacrificing a few people." Ka''lor''ah continued, her voice turning colder and colder at each statement. "Remember, this planet can be allowed to fall, but none of you can die! The survival of the entire human race depends upon the information you guys gather here for their survival. Your safety should be your number 1 priority." Ka''lor''ah finished her speech. The happy atmosphere between them immediately turned tense and serious. None of them spoke for a while, each standing in quiet contemplation. The concept of sacrificing others, was something that none of others, except Lucius, could unhesitantly do. After all, the people dying would be their fellow kind. Taking a deep breath, Alex was the first to break the silence, "I can''t simply standby watching my fellow brothers and sisters in the army die." Olivia also answered in kind, "Me too. I can''t simple give an instruction telling people to die for my survival. As a commander, the lives of the people under my command are my responsibility. Sacrificing them, is not something I can do." Reyna also nodded in affirmation. Looking at the three of them, Ka''lor''ah simply sighed. Lucius broke away from them and turned around. Flinging his bag onto his back, he spoke in his emotionless, mechanical voice. "Foolish. Don''t expect me to come and save you. Weaklings who try to act heroic, without understanding the extent of their strengths are worth nothing in my eyes. It''s better off if such bugs are dead." Leaving behind these words, he simply walked away from the group. Alex who was greatly angered by his words seethed, "What has he even got against us?! What did we even do to make him hate us to such an extent?! Can''t he simply motivate us or something!" "He''s like that to everyone these days. The looks that he gives us and everyone else, is the same indifferent one." Olivia gave a bitter smile and explained. She then lowered her voice and said, "He wasn''t always like this." Sensing the depressed atmosphere, Reyna clapped her hands and spoke up in a cheery voice. "Come on guys, I''m sure Lucius did not mean it that way. I mean, he did not stop us from trying to save others, did he? It''s just his way of saying, ''Do what you can''. " Reyna gave an impression of Lucius'' voice. Understanding this, the moods of both of them also lifted. ''I see'' looks of contemplation were seen in their faces. Seeing that they were no longer depressed, Reyna gave out a smile. Noticing this, Olivia suddenly wore a knowing smile on her face and spoke to Reyna. "Hehe, you seem to understand him quite a bit, don''t you? I wonder." Reyna immediately became flustered and waved her hands in denial. "It isn''t like that!" "Like what? I haven''t said anything. Or could it be that there ???????? something?" Olivia insinuated. Knowing that speaking anymore would cause her to fall further in this trap, Reyna harrumphed in a cute anger and turned around to chase after Lucius. Looking at this, Olivia felt a faint sense of envy. Shaking her head to get rid of this feeling, she turned around and followed the directions for the space elevator. Alex who had been caught amidst this awkward atmosphere, also hurried in that directions. All of them tacitly understood that the next time they met, great changes would have occured. Changes that will affect the fate of mankind. -------------------------- February 8th, 2321. After the group of four separated each heading towards their respective destinations, Lucius and Reyna grouped up together with the rest of the students wearing White and Black overalls. They were then led further into the space station and given new watches-to track their activities and collect points. They were also informed of some basic rules and provided tasks which they had to complete, during their stay in the space station. Lucius and Reyna had separated at this point. The space station on which Lucius was aboard was called the Modus Rim. It was one of the latest frontier space stations, which was stationed above the planet of Deatov. It was extremely large, covering almost one-eight of the planet''s surface. It was shaped like a ring, surrounding the planet like a belt. For comparison, one can imagine it to be similar to the rings around Saturn. The only difference being that instead of rocks and small particles constituting the ring, it was one large, solid, manmade structure. Looking from space, it shined with a metallic hue, with a large blue energy shield enveloping the planet of Deatov, with the ring at its center. Long, straight, rods of metal were also seen exiting this ring structure. These were the plasma cannons and ionic beams, used for attack, as well as defense of the planet. This was an energy shield, covering the entire planet. It was used to ward off rocks, asteroids, space pirate attacks, basically anything that would be a threat to the planet. Deatov was a Class 1 resource planet, meaning that it contained a important resource, which mankind was in dire need. Usually rare metals or energy sources. The large space station was one single entity with the students from the academy being allocated to different sections, which required their assistance. Lucius, with his level of skill, was directly assigned to the to the Main Command Center, netting him a position there. The new mathematical model he had introduced for a more efficient pathway of energy distribution, had made him famous overnight and netted him a large amount of points. The Technical Engineers aboard the ship were all filled with praises towards this young man, making him the center of attention and target of jealousy of the countless other students aboard the space station. Being the assistant to the person, directly-in-charge of the Energy Management of the Modus Rim, it was another day filled with difficult mathematical problems which required his efforts to resolve. Sitting in one of the seats in the Main Command Center., Lucius lifted his head and stretched his hands to get rid of the fatigue built upon them. The rest of the stationed workers were initially dissatisfied with a greenhorn like Lucius, directly being led into the Command Center. Alas, after watching him work for a single day, even the pickiest among them were filled with praises. Looking out into space towards the vast and infinite darkness, through the large transparent glass hull, the outside was filled with the twinkling lights of the stars and the all-encompassing darkness of space. Billions of points of vaguely shimmering lights, coupled with strange distortions could be seen in space. This was the view, seen by Lucius during his stay here in the space station. Just as he was about to get back into his work, Lucius'' extraordinary senses picked up something anomalous in his sight. Lifting his head once again, he focused his sight into that anomaly using his soul power to boost his eyesight. A strange meteor, glowing with a faint golden color was speeding towards the space station. {Large object, detected to be heading towards Modus Rim. Proceeding to fire the cannons.} A mechanical voice spoke out and two blasts of bright lights were sent towards this glowing meteor. {Threat neutralized.} Just as the lights wore off and this strange rock seemed to be destroyed, more glows of faint golden light could be clearly seen in the distance. Each light seemed to be speeding up and heading towards the space station and Deatov behind it. {Multiple objects detected. Calculating.... Could not be calculated. Threat Cannot be neutralized. Issuing Warnings!} {WARNING: ALL CREW MEMBERS ABOARD THE MODUS RIM. IMMEDIATELY EVACUATE THE VESSEL. IMMINENT DESTRUCTION IN T-MINUS: 13 MINUTES!!} {WARNING: ALL CREW MEMBERS ABOARD THE MODUS RIM. IMMEDIATELY EVACUATE THE VESSEL. IMMINENT DESTRUCTION IN T-MINUS: 12 MINUTES 59 SECONDS!!} The mechanical robotic voice repeated the announcement. Looking at this beautiful sight in front of them, every member in the Main Command Centre were shocked and stood stiffly. This was the most beautiful sight, that they had ever seen in their lives. Hearing the mechanical warning, immediately roused them as they each rushed to give proper orders and contain the panic caused by the announcement. Lucius who was the first to see this sight, was nowhere to be seen! Chapter 77: Escape from the Space Station. Part 1 "Stop pushing! Please proceed in an orderly fashion!" Alarms sounded all around and the sounds of people''s hurried steps were heard, reverberating around the cold metallic walls of the Modus Rim. Panicked shouts and worried faces were a common sight as people rushed to evacuate. {WARNING: IMMINENT DESTRUCTION IN T-MINUS 11 MINUTES AND 47 SECONDS!} The loud mechanical tone of the AI of the space station was also heard in the background. Most of the people fleeing to the escape pods, weren''t exactly sure what the imminent destruction meant. Even the long time veterans who were aboard the space station since the beginning had never heard such a warning. One thing was for sure though, "Everyone! Evacuate immediately. This is not a drill!" the solemn and stern voice of the vessel commander was heard announcing through the ship''s speakers. A large wave of people were rushing towards the areas where the escape pods were placed. One person however, was going against the flow. This was naturally Lucius. Part of the reason why Lucius had worked so hard, was to be placed in the space station''s command center. Being in there meant that Lucius would be able to get first-hand information about the incoming danger, ensuring that he can immediately respond in face of the danger. The asteroids glowing with the golden light, aimed at the direction of the space station and the planet, was simply the beginning of the nightmare. The true danger, was what came after this. As soon as he had spotted the asteroids, Lucius had immediately left the command center, heading towards his room. He had to pick his bags and his scythe, which were left behind in the room provided to him. Dashing through the crowds, Lucius did not bother hiding the reddish-black lines of energy was glowing under his skin. Not using soul power to rush right now, would be absolutely foolish. Following the routes in his memories, Lucius finally came to area of his room. Using his ID, he entered the room provided to him and immediately picked up his bag and the metal rod which was placed near the door. Knowing that this time would come sooner or later, Lucius had already packed his bags, only carrying the minimum of necessities required for the battle to come. Fastening the bag to his back using a rope, Lucius placed the metal rod on his belt, within arms length. Taking a deep breath he activated his [Killer Vision]. The world in his eyes, lost all of it''s colors before turning crimson. The only other colors in it being, the whitish-grey fogs, which represented the un-awakened souls and three golden lines connecting something. Two of the lines in his vision were very dim and led directly downwards, one of them was faintly glowing and pointed him to another region in the ship. Noting the location, Lucius immediately took of in the direction of the last line. ''Time to get that girl and leave this vessel.'' ---------------------- {WARNING: IMMINENT DESTRUCTION IN T-MINUS 6 MINUTES AND 15 SECONDS!} The warning continued to sound periodically, every 15 seconds. Lucius who was running with his full speed was identical to a black shadow. His speed made it seem like he was disappearing and appearing into the world, almost akin to teleportation. None of the people running, could properly track his movements with their eyes. However, this exact same speed made Lucius feel....inadequate. "Lucius, at this speed you cannot make it to Reyna in time," Ka''lor''ah voice sounded out within his mind. Indeed. Although his speed was incredibly fast, the size of the spaceship was simply too big. There was no way Lucius could make it to Reyna in time if he kept following the corridors. "Ka''lor''ah use your senses to chart the shortest route through the walls. Don''t hesitate on the energy consumption." Lucius ordered. "Understood. Stay still for a second." saying so, the crystal floated out of Lucius'' pocket and started releasing a bright dark-golden glow. Faint ripple of energy passed through the air, bypassing the metal floors and corridor walls. This was Ka''lor''ah ability [Area Detection]. It was an ability which allowed her to see and detect everything that was within a certain area. A few months ago, when Lucius was ambushed by the kidnappers, Ka''lor''ah had lamented at her inability to use this very skill. She could not be blamed though, because Lucius was still very fresh into Stage 0. He could not provide the energy required for it''s long term sustainment. Now however, it was different. With his Mid level Stage 1 soul energy, Ka''lor''ah had no problems keeping it activated for hours. "Continue 500m forward and break through on the left." she instructed. Lucius did not waste anytime and immediately moved. Almost blinking 500m forward, he immediately turned left and came face to face with a solid metallic wall. Gathering his soul power in his arms, Lucius punched at the wall with his full strength. BANG! With a loud sound, the seemingly impenetrable wall immediately gave way and opened up a huge hole. Jumping into the hole, Lucius continued forward, according to Ka''lor''ah''s directions. "Jump 15m into that platform, destroy that wall and continue on for the next 700m. After that..." ------------------------ In one of the mech laboratories, a group of young students were cursing at the door in front of them. Two young men, who were slender and weak tried to use their strengths to try and pry open the door. "Come on! Why the fuck, does this not open up!" one of them men cursed. "Goddammit! It seems to be stuck!" the other kicked his feet at the door. Hearing this the other students in the lab, had their faces pale and starting mumbling. "We are going to die!" "Someone save us!" Alas, the door did not budge, nor did anyone come to save them. {WARNING: IMMINENT DESTRUCTION IN T-MINUS 5 MINUTES AND 55 SECONDS!} The cold mechanical voice of the AI, served to further insinuate the hopelessness of their situation. Just as they were about to give in to their dread, a bright female voice suddenly sounded out. "Please step aside." The two boys who had heard this turned to look at the speaker. Their desperate eyes, suddenly turned into awe and reverence as they looked at this figure. Blonder hair, emerald eyes, a beautiful face that would have all men lose their thoughts as they stared at her, a well-developed but tender body. Reyna Snowden. She had a serious look in her face as she approached the door. "Miss Snowden, please don''t lose hope. I''m sure someone will come and save us." one of the boys tried to confidently declare, yet his voice betrayed his uncertainness an fear. Ignoring his words, Reyna simply walked up to the door and balled her soft and tiny hands into a fist. In front of the confused gazes of the students present, she gave a loud shout and punched into the door. "Haah!" And in the dumbfounded sights of all the people present, the unmovable door was dented inwards. Not stopping to rest, Reyna continued to punch at the same spot in the door, "Haah!" "Haah!" "Haah!" After almost a dozen punches, the door bulged under pressure until it could no longer hold onto the frames. With a loud creaking sound, it fell into the ground with a heavy thud. Reyna held her paining hands and rapidly panted. That usage of soul power had rapidly depleted her reserves. Currently Reyna had less than 10% of her soul power remaining. The students around there stood stiffly like wooden chickens. Staring at Reyna, as if she was a monsters, their thought process had grinded to a halt. {WARNING: IMMINENT DESTRUCTION IN T-MINUS 5 MINUTES AND 20 SECONDS!} "What are you staring at? Do you not want to live? Get moving!" gathering her breath, Reyna shouted at the top of the her lungs. Waking up from their stupor, the students hurriedly ran out. They did not care to thank her or inquire about her, as they pushed each other aside, trying their best to escape from this place. It was Reyna''s turn to be shocked at their behavior. Although, she was not expecting a hand to help her, not even getting a word of thanks, was out of her expectations. Bitterly smiling at their reactions, Reyna did not bother to criticize them for their actions. After the events on the spaceship, Reyna had matured by a large extent. She understood that she could not rely on any single person in times of danger. Only having power, can she overcome danger. That moment of powerlessness she felt in the spaceship, she never wanted to feel it ever again. Just as Reyna was about to start moving once again, she heard a loud sound of something being smashed and falling to the ground. A large smoke cloud was created behind her and Reyna had reflexively closed her eyes in response. Just then, a familiar voice was heard in her ears. It was mechanical and cold, giving it''s listeners a cold shiver down their spine. "Stop wasting time. Let''s go." Opening her eyes, she saw a handsome but expressionless face staring at her with his indifferent, crimson eyes. He was offering his hands to Reyna, for her to grab onto them. A warm feeling sprouted in Reyna''s heart and her face broke out involuntarily into a bright smile. ''However, some people can be relied upon.'' this thought echoed in her mind Chapter 78: Escape from the Space Station. Part 2 Grabbing onto the hands of the dazed looking girl in front of him, Lucius pulled her near him and held her in his arms. Infusing soul power into his legs, Lucius directly jumped up into the shaft above him. Just a few seconds ago, he had broken through this shaft to reach Reyna''s location. While running through the shafts above, Lucius whispered into Reyna''s ears. "How much soul energy. do you have remaining?" "About 10%." Reyna replied in an embarrassed manner. Lucius'' bold actions had caused her brain to temporarily overload. She did not have to look in a mirror to see how red her face was right now. Reyna''s heart was beating irregularly. This was the first time she had come in such intimate contact with a male, other than her father. ''He smells so nice. I wonder what body foam he uses.'' questions unrelated to the current events were popping in her mind. Having heard her answer, Lucius clicked his tongue. ''Just breaking a door required her to use 90% of her soul power. Such wastage.'' he inwardly thought. "Hold on tight. I''m going to move faster.'' Lucius spoke these words and immediately accelerated. They had to immediately get aboard a escape pod. Staying on the space station, when the asteroids were about to hit would be suicidal. "Ka''lor''ah, point us towards the nearest emergency escape stations." Lucius instructed the crystal floating in front of him. Ka''lor''ah had been using Lucius'' soul power to sustain her actions currently. Increasing the range of her detection, she scanned the surrounding areas before finding a possible location. "Lot of people are gathering here, this must be it! Immediately turn right and drop down into the corridor below." Complying to her commands, Lucius did just so. Gathering his soul power in his free arm, he directly smashed on the floor breaking it in a single smooth manner. Reyna who had watched his actions was in complete awe. "So powerful!" she involuntarily mumbled. {WARNING: IMMINENT DESTRUCTION IN T-MINUS 4 MINUTES AND 30 SECONDS!} Lucius continued to rush in the instructed direction. Smashing through the walls, breaking the floors, jumping over the panicked people, he performed all these actions in a continuous manner without a single pause. Looking from afar, Lucius'' actions contained a strange fluidity. It was as if the concept of wind resistance did not apply to him. And indeed, this was the case. Using some of his extra soul power, Lucius had wrapped it around himself and Reyna, effectively creating a windshield. With the soul power cancelling the wind resistance, Lucius'' movements attained fluidity. Rushing for almost a full minute in his top speed, Lucius finally exited the narrow corridors and came to a large clearing filled with a large number of people. There was no clear order of lines present here, with each person pushing one-another. Some people were even fighting with each other. Screams and cries flew around in the air. Looking at this sight, Lucius furrowed his brows. Extending his hands and grabbing Ka''lor''ah, he placed her inside his pocket before making his way through the chaotic crowd. "Stop pushing! Where do you think you are going, kid.." just as a bald muscular man was about to blow up at Lucius, his body suddenly stiffened before falling to the ground. His pupils rolled up to show the whites and his mouth started to froth. He seemed be unconscious. Fortunately or perhaps unfortunately this man wasn''t the only one to end up like this. Many other men and women who were blocking Lucius'' path ended up in such a manner. If one looked at Lucius right now, his eyes would be completely crimson and a strange reddish-black aura was radiating of his body. Whenever someone looked into his eyes, they would find themselves unable to pull it back, before their minds would blank and their hearts would stop. Lucius was currently releasing his [Killing Intent]. Although he wasn''t releasing it in its entirety and was only only allowing a tiny bit of it to leak out, it had a significant effect on the surroundings. The people present in the room were already filled with fear and dread due to the unknown danger and the warnings of imminent crisis. By releasing his [Killing Intent], Lucius turned out to be the catalyst which exploded these feelings in their minds. Those who had a strong mental strength simply passed out, while those who were faint hearted directly had their hearts stop, never to beat again. By using this method, Lucius effectively made it to the front of the crowd were the escape pods were located. A couple dozen bodies lay behind him. Looking at the escape pods available, Lucius finally understood why this area was crowded with no movement in the front of the crowds. The escape pods had already been used! The stations were currently empty. "Dammit!" Lucius let out a curse. His efforts making it here were wasted. They were running out of time! "Lucius, there should another emergency escape station on the other side of this region." seeing the situation in front of them, she gave a helpful input. Just as Lucius was about to turn around and head to the location Reyna had just pointed, Lucius'' instincts suddenly started flaring. Feeling an overwhelming sense of danger, he immediately jumped up with Reyna in his hands. Using one the men under him as a foothold, Lucius began to run in the direction of the corridor. "Hey, what are you.." Reyna was just about to speak up before she heard a loud sound. BANG! The sound of something heavy smashing into the metallic hull of the spaceship was heard. The entire room shook. The people standing on the floor, suddenly lost their footing due to the sudden impact and shaking. Stepping on the head of another person, Lucius immediately corrected his balance mid-air, before continuing to dash in the direction of the corridor. The sound of metal tearing apart was heard, before it suddenly quietened down. There was absolute silence and stillness in the air. Not even the sounds of their hearts beating or their breathing was heard. "What''s happ...." one of the men in the room were about to voice out, before he felt a terrifying suction. A force so great that it could tear apart a mountain rushed in from the direction of the impact. Winds started to howl as the pressure in the room rapidly started dropping. "AHHHH!!!" "SOMEONE SAV...!!" "MOMMY!!!" Screams filled the air for just a second, before they were rapidly pulled by the suction. From her position, Reyna could see the events unfolding behind her. A large tear had been formed on the hull of the spaceship, exposing the interiors of the room to the space outside. Due to the large difference of pressure between the two sides, the people inside were rapidly being pulled out into the vast empty space. Reyna herself felt her body, becoming heavier and heavier. She tightly held on to Lucius'' body with both her arms and closed her eyes. Feeling the terrifying force of suction behind him, Lucius grit his teeth. Forcing all the soul energy from within his body, Lucius channeled this terrifying energy to the back of his body, to neutralize the suction. Losing his footing here, meant death! Lucius, absolutely could not afford to be careless! Resisting that force of suction which seemed like the hands of Death pulling them to their demise, Lucius exploded the soul energy gathered at his feet. His body rose to the air. Gripping tightly onto Reyna, he used the last bits of his energy and channeled it to his feet. Pushing of the body of one of the passengers being pulled into space, Lucius body moved forward. With that final push,his body soared through the air, before falling inside the corridor. Using his remaining hand, Lucius fiercely hit on the red button placed in the side wall near the door. Swissh! The sound of the door falling and the pressure being restored was heard. Lying on the ground with Reyna on top of him, Lucius rapidly panted for air. The amount G force, placed upon Lucius'' body in those five seconds of his escape, had almost crossed 20! One had to remember that the average human cannot sustain more than 9 G''s for more than a second. Lucius withstanding almost 20 G''s for more than 5 seconds, can be attributed to his training, the refinement his body had undergone and the soul power he possessed. Lying on the ground for a few seconds, Lucius was woken up by the announcement by the AI. {WARNING: IMMINENT DESTRUCTION IN T-MINUS 2 MINUTES AND 45 SECONDS!} "Arghh..." he let out a groan as he pulled his body together. Pain flooded every inch of his body and his blood seemed to flow in reverse. During that earlier disaster, Lucius had not used his soul power to protect his body. Using his soul power to alleviate his conditions by a bit, Lucius stood up and adjusted the bag placed on his back. "Are you alright?" he asked Reyna who was sitting on the floor. This question was a bit rudimentary as he had used a fair share of his soul power to envelop and protect her body. This was one of the reasons for the lack of soul power to protect himself. Biting her lips, Reyna nodded her head. "Good. Let''s continue." Lucius indifferently spoke as he reached out his hands to pull Reyna up. Hesitating to take his hands, Reyna spoke out. "Why are you trying so hard to protect me? Going as far as to harm yourself!" Reyna cried out. Being so close to Lucius, she understood the amount of pain he had underwent earlier. She had seen his nerved trembling and his skin breaking apart. Looking at him being obviously hurt, yet getting up and forcing himself to move as if he was fine. Reyna felt extremely bitter in her hurt. By voicing out her bitterness, she wasn''t actually expecting an answer. She was just venting out her feelings of powerlessness. "Because you are important to me." he said in a serious tone. "Now let''s get moving." Lucius nonchalantly spoke out, before pulling and placing her into his arms once again. ''Because you are important to me.'' this statement caused a strange feeling to rise in Reyna''s heart. A strange and foreign emotion was birthed in her heart. Something that gave her a feeling of security and warmth. Her face flushed and her heart started to quicken. She could not gather her thoughts and her mind was racing with thousands of different thoughts and emotions. Of course, Lucius did not pay attention to any of this. He was busy, regulating the soul power in his body to heal it. All while running at his full speed towards the other emergency escape area. Ka''lor''ah who had witnessed their conversation was completely speechless. ''Lucius was obviously referring to his plans, while this girl took it in another way. This misunderstanding...." Suddenly her ''face'' broke out into a grin as she mused, ''I can exploit it!'' Chapter 79: Mysterious Hunger. {WARNING: IMMINENT DESTRUCTION IN T-MINUS 2 MINUTES AND 30 SECONDS!} .... {WARNING: IMMINENT DESTRUCTION IN T-MINUS 2 MINUTES AND 15 SECONDS!} ... {WARNING: IMMINENT DESTRUCTION IN T-MINUS 2 MINUTES!} ... The sounds of the wind blowing and the mechanical tone of the AI, as it issued the warnings was heard by Lucius. The corridor was long and narrow with no one else, other than Reyna and himself. Floating in front of Lucius who was running at his top speed, was a dark-golden crystal which pulsed with light and energy. A mysterious voice seemed to be heard from the crystal as it provided instructions to Lucius. "Turn right here! Go through that wall!" Ka''lor''ah hurriedly shouted. Listening to her instructions, Lucius immediately complied. Using his bloodied fist, he circulated the soul power in his body and smashed at the wall. BANG! A loud sound was heard and the wall crumbled like paper. Lucius'' strength was simply too much for the wall to endure. Just as Lucius was about to enter, Ka''lor''ah''s panicked voice sounded out. "Wait! DON''T GO IN THERE!!" she bellowed at the top of her lungs. Unfortunately her warning came too late. An enormous force of suction, contained on the other side the metal wall of the corridor broke free. It immediately started to pull Lucius and Reyna who was being carried by Lucius towards it, catching him unaware. Lucius'' pupils abruptly shrunk as he caught a glimpse at the massive crack present in the room, revealing the dark and cold space present outside. A feeling of chillness immediately assaulted their bodies. Not wasting a single second, Lucius immediately reacted. Using his soul power, he wrapped it around the heads of himself and Reyna creating a small air bubble ,allowing them to temporarily breathe. Then using his free hand, he grabbed the crystal in front of him which was being rapidly pulled outside. Lucius immediately felt a sense of weightlessness which was to be expected in space. The gravity regulators within the room seemed to have broken down, resulting the presence of zero gravity. Wrapping both his arms around Reyna, Lucius immediately turned his body to have his back face the crack outside. He then curled both their body into small balls, to reduce the surface area being exposed towards the force of suction. This action in turn reduced the speed of suction, buying them a precious few seconds. As his body floated towards the crack , Lucius started gathering all of the soul power remaining within his body. Controlling the lines of energy, he directed it towards his back and started compressing them. Lucius'' control over his soul energy could be described in a single word- perfection. Without even having to look at the soul power and only relying on his senses, Lucius could control the flow and compression of soul power outside his own body. This was a realm that only people, who had achieved Stage 3 in their soul cultivation would be confident in achieving. Even then, they would not dare call it perfect. The difficulty to control soul power outside the body in the lower stages was caused due to the fact that it was too sparse and thin. The quantity and density was simply too little in the lower stages, thus rendering most people incapable of achieving perfect control over it, wasting a fair bit of the energy in the process. Reyna using almost 90% of her soul power to break a single door was due to this reason. It wasn''t because her energy was too weak but because her control over it was too shallow. If it had been Lucius however, under those same conditions, he could have broke the door using just 20% of his soul power. As he rapidly floated towards that huge opening in the wall, Lucius had rapidly compressed his soul energy until it reached the size of a basketball. It looked small but the amount of energy it contained distorted the air around the ball. Lucius did not hold back and used every bit of soul energy which was usable in his body, pouring it into this ball. His face rapidly paled and drops of cold sweat lined his face and back. His forehead was deeply furrowed. The amount of concentration required to perform this feat was no small matter, especially in these conditions. ''Wait for it.'' Just as the ball reached its saturation point and was in the danger of exploding, Lucius forcibly contained the forces it held. Detonating it right now would be a foolish choice. His body approached dangerously close to the crack on the wall, yet Lucius showed no releasing the ball of energy. Positioning his body in a diagonally to the crack, he simply stared at the other side of the room with an expressionless face. Just when one-half of his body passed through the crack, Lucius screamed within his mind. ''NOW!'' He immediately denoted that frightening ball of energy. BOOM! A bright explosion of light, followed by waves of energy spread spread like ripples in a pond with the region just behind Lucius being the epicenter. Frightening waves of heat seared his back, as the ball exploded outside the ship in space. Due to the vacuum, present in air there was no sound released in the explosion. Using the force generated by this explosion, Lucius body was flung right back into the ship. Just as he was about to hit the wall, Lucius turned once again mid air. Turning his back against the wall shielded the impact from hitting Reyna. With a loud bang, Lucius'' body ferociously slammed against the wall. Due to the great moment at which he was hurled at, Lucius'' body tore through the weakened metallic wall. Along with the young woman in his arms, he once again fell on the cold metallic floor of another corridor. This was the direction, Ka''lor''ah had originally directed him to follow. Although he had to take a slight detour, Lucius still ended up getting where he needed to go. Hitting the floor with his back, Lucius performed a smooth roll, to mitigate the remaining force. Landing onto his feet he immediately got up and started running once again. "Continue leading the way." he emotionlessly spoke to Ka''lor''ah while throwing the crystal back into the air. Reyna who had her eyes closed this entire time, slowly opened them. Holding onto Lucius'' back, she suddenly noticed a strange sticky and wet sensation in her palms. Curiously lifting one of her palms, she was suddenly stunned. Her entire hand was dyed crimson. Lowering her shocked eyes, she stared at Lucius'' back only to find a glaring wound, dripping with frightening amounts of blood. His flesh had been charred black and a large gaping wound was present, covering his entire back. A long trail of blood was left behind in the floor as he continued to run. He had escaped narrowly from the clutches of death, paying an appropriate sum in exchange. "LUCIUS! LET ME DOWN!!" she screamed as she began to struggle. No person can continue staying conscious after receiving such a serious injury, not to mention running at full speed like Lucius. "Stop struggling. We don''t have time." Lucius cold voice sounded near her ears. "YOU ARE SERIOUSLY INJURED! LET ME DOWN!!" Reyna cried out once again, intensifying her struggles. "Stop." an extremely threatening voice sounded next to her ears. The sheer amount of bloodthirst and hostility in that voice froze Reyna''s body. Halting her struggles she slowly turned to look at Lucius'' face. A savage and crazy expression was present of his face. His eyes no longer seemed indifferent as they radiated a strong sense of bloodthirstiness and madness. The powerful desire to consume was seen in those eyes. "Lucius?" Reyna hesitantly asked. Currently, her body was faintly quivering from fear. Her instincts screamed within her mind. This young man, was extremely dangerous. "AHHHH!!!" Lucius suddenly let out a powerful growl. His voice did not resemble a human, rather resembling that of a hungry beast! "NOO!" he screamed once again, as he tried to suppress the instinct that was trying to escape from within his body. Inside his mindspace, a mysterious energy was locked in an intense battle with his [Killer] soul. Waves of colorless and reddish-black energy clashed with each other trying to destroy one-another. Lucius'' consciousness stood by the side watching this battle happen. He was helpless to do anything! On one side was his soul, the very proof of his existence. On the other, was a mysterious energy which seemed to originate from within him. The origin of both these energies, was Lucius himself. Outside Lucius'' body had not stopped running. Groans and growls periodically leaked from within his mouth, as his face changed his expression numerous time. He was unwittingly released his [Killing Intent] and a crazed beastly aura from his body. Reyna, who was the closest person to him could feel the full brunt of this aura on her body. Her entire face was pale, with her body uncontrollably shaking. She did not dare breathe, lest her breathing break this unstable equilibrium. {WARNING: IMMINENT DESTRUCTION IN T-MINUS 1 MINUTE!} Just as this warning sounded, Lucius suddenly closed his eyes. The aura being released, also swiftly receded. Opening his eyes, it was no longer black but entirely crimson. The original look of indifference was gone replacing it with madness and the desire to eat. The mysterious energy within Lucius'' body had won. Once again, the ''hunger'' state within Lucius had returned! Chapter 80: Narrow Escape. Looking at his eyes, a sense of danger welled up within Reyna''s heart. Lucius'' legs never stopped moving as he slowly turned his face to stare at her. Looking at Reyna with a pair of crazed eyes, Lucius'' mouth strangely began to drool. His nose began sniffing her scent, as his head started to near her in a strange manner. Saliva started to drip from the corners of his mouth as he slowly opened his mouth to expose his sharp, white teeth. Extending his tongue, his face neared Reyna''s as he licked her pale, beautiful skin. The aura he was emitting once again returned with greater intensity. It gave off the feeling of an apex predator, looking at the prey it was about to consume. "No! Stop! Lucius!" seeing his reaction, Reyna instinctively struggled. Unfortunately, her strength was simply too low to resist him. "Growl...." a beastly sound escaped from his mouth. He tightened his grip over her body and neared her forehead with his mouth. Soul energy began coating his teeth as he intended to bite down on her head. "STOP!!" Reyna cried. Just as Lucius was about to bite down with his teeth, a golden light exploded from the crystal in front of him. Lucius'' body was suddenly blown back, as he fell into the cold metallic floor. He lost his grip over Reyna''s body as he slid away from her. Sliding back a few meters, Lucius'' body immediately corrected itself. Crouching on the floor with his four limbs, he cautiously looked up and growled at the golden crystal. Ka''lor''ah floated in the air, between Lucius and Reyna. She had noticed Lucius'' change earlier and immediately reacted with her energy to save Reyna. "Wake up!" an extremely cold voice spoke. "GROWL!!" Lucius growled loudly once again, before jumping towards Ka''lor''ah. "Humph! A mere beast dares to attack me." she grunted before sending another wave to energy towards Lucius. A golden ray cut through the air, heading in the direction of Lucius'' body. Its speed was incomparably quick as it was aimed at Lucius'' body which was mid-air. A sense of danger and panic flashed through his eyes, as he immediately curled his body to avoid the attack. Circulating the soul power in his body, Lucius tried to form a barrier to neutralize this attack. Regrettably, the amount of soul power he had in his body was in serious deficient. With the pitiful amount that remained, he could not do anything and had to withstand the attack with his body. Bang! Lucius'' body was thrown back by the attack. Another wound was added in his body, exposing the muscles in his chest. Blood dripped from the wound, slowly forming a pool under his body. "Roar...." he let out a small cry, similar to that of wounded animals. Lucius'' body once again returned on his limbs as he slowly circled around Ka''lor''ah. His body was slightly limping as he cautiously observed the crystal in the air. After receiving that injury, the beastly instincts warned him not to get closer. Lucius was no longer conscious and in control of his body. The state of hunger had once again overtaken his body, returning his beastly self. "Reyna, slowly approach that bag which was fallen in the sides. Reach in and grab the bottles present inside." Ka''lor''ah instructed with a serious voice. After being abruptly thrown by Lucius, Reyna''s body had fallen quite heavily on the ground. Her face was still pale, with her eyes still containing a trace of fear. Her hands rubbed the spot where his tongue had licked her in the cheek. She understood that something was currently wrong with Lucius, leading to him to attack her. Looking at Lucius who was behaving similar to a wild beast, Reyna''s heart clenched in worry. ''This is all my fault!'' she blamed herself within her mind. Having heard the sudden instruction, she immediately nodded her head and acted. Foring the negative thoughts in her mind, she moved. Approaching the bag, which was lying in the side, Reyna reached her hand into it. Her hands immediately came into contact with cold glass bottles. The bottles contained a blue liquid which sparkled against the light. Picking up some of the bottles in her hands, Reyna spoke. "Got them, what do I do next?" "Break them and throw it in his direction. Quick, we don''t have much time left." Ka''lor''ah continued. Holding on either sides of the bottles, Reyna exerted some force with her small hands. Crick! With a crisp breaking sound, the bottles broke leaking with a blue liquid. Immediately she threw it towards Lucius and continued to do so with the other bottles. Looking at the bottles flying towards him, Lucius used his hands to swipe at them. The bottles upon meeting his hands, completely broke spilling the contents onto his hands and the floor below. Sniff. Sniff. Smelling a somewhat attractive scent of the liquid, Lucius neared his hands to his nose. Smelling it a couple more times, he cautiously licked it. Immediately his eyes widened as Lucius ferociously began consuming the liquid from his hands and the floor. As Reyna continued throwing the bottles, Lucius continued to lick them off the floor, ingesting them into his body. The glaring wounds, present in his body, rapidly started closing up. The skin scabbed in a few seconds and the scabs immediately fell of within the next couple of seconds. Shiny, smooth white skin replaced the previous wounds present in his chest and back. As he finished consuming the 6th bottle of fluid, the madness within his eyes promptly receded. A light of reason, once again shone within his eyes as the crimson color retreated to allow the black to come forth. Lucius'' crouched body immediately stiffened it''s actions as he slowly stood up. Standing on his two feet, Lucius stared at his body. the wounds on his front and back were completely healed and his previously empty soul power had been restored by 10%. Lifting his head back up, Lucius indifferently asked. "Did I attack?" "Yes.", Ka''lor''ah nonchalantly said. Looking at Reyna who was sitting on the ground with a few bruises present in her hands and legs, watching him with a confused expression, he turned his gaze away from her and said. "I see. We''ll talk about this later." Walking forward, he once again reached out his hands towards the girl sitting on the floor. Reyna looked at Lucius'' face for a second before looking at his hands. A hesitant expression flashed across her face, before she eventually bit her lips and took his hands. Lifting her up and carrying her, Lucius grabbed his bag and continued to run towards the emergency escape station. He acted like nothing had happened. Reyna''s face still carried a confused and hesitant expression, as she avoided to look at Lucius'' face. The beast like manner, he had acted before confused Reyna. Somehow, she had a feeling that it was partly her fault. Seeing Lucius lose his sanity and turn into a beast made her greatly worry. Suddenly, she heard Lucius'' indifferent voice sound out near her ears once again. "It''s not your fault, don''t blame yourself. This isn''t the first time this has happened. Something happens inside my body, turning me like that." Biting her lips, she worriedly asked, "Why does it happen?" Letting out a small sigh, Lucius replied, "I don''t know." A silence spread between them. Each musing about their own thoughts. The only sounds heard were that of Lucius running and the occasional sound of something hitting the ship. {WARNING: IMMINENT DESTRUCTION IN T-MINUS 40 SECONDS!} And that of the AI. ---------------------------- Lucius made it towards the other emergency escape station along with Reyna. Looking at the large room, there were no crowds present. Due to the presence of this emergency station being quite remote with it being present in the other corner of the mechanical lab section, not a lot of people seemed to have made it here. {WARNING: IMMINENT DESTRUCTION IN T-MINUS 20 SECONDS!} "We don''t have a lot of time." saying so, Lucius immediately dashed towards the emergency escape pods present. Some of them seemed to have been damaged, due the earlier impact. A large amount of debris had fallen of some of the machines, blocking their access. {WARNING: IMMINENT DESTRUCTION IN T-MINUS 10 SECONDS!} Running around, Lucius found one pod which was in a relatively good condition. Not bothering to search anymore, he immediately entered the pod. Reyna jumped down from Lucius'' arms and immediately rushed towards the control panel. She did not require any instruction from him to know what to do. Mechanical devices were speciality after all. "It''s seems to be in good condition. We can immediately set off. Fasten yourself." scanning the control panel, Reyna pressed the screen a few times and input a set of commands. She then instructed Lucius. Nodding his head, he looked around and sat down on the only seat available inside the pod. Unfortunately, the type they had chosen was a single-seater. After Reyna finished her input of instructions. She hit one of the buttons present in the panel and the door to the pod immediately closed. Turning around, she was also stunned to realize that only a single seat was present. Lucius, did not say anything but simply spread his hands and motioned her to sit atop his lap. The adrenaline from earlier had worn off Reyna at this moment. Staring at his actions, a hot flush rose to her face. An odd feeling of expectation rose within her heart. Shyly looking up at Lucius'' face, she realized it was completely emotionless. That feeling within her heart immediately died. ''Can''t you at least react a little! Am I that unattractive?!'' she grumbled within her mind, yet proceeded to sit atop Lucius. Immediately Lucius used the belt present to tie himself and Reyna to the seat. Securing their position. they calmly waited. {Ejecting in 5....4....3...2....1...Ejection successful.} The mechanical voice of the onboard AI sounded. With a sudden movement, which jerked both of their bodies, the pod immediately started falling down. The sound of heavy objects, hitting the space station sounded out behind them. Reyna closed her eyes and prayed for the people inside it reaching safety. Unlike Lucius she could not bring herself to be unfeeling towards her fellow humans. They quietly continued to fall downwards. Their destination.. the planet of Deatov. Chapter 81: Reynas Feelings. The escape pod continued to shake uncontrollably as it fell down towards large, rocky, brown planet. It''s descent continued to become faster and faster under the influence of the planet''s gravity. The sounds of the air tearing and the mechanical beeping of the machines were heard inside the pod. Reyna who was sitting atop Lucius had her eyes closed in fear. The feeling of falling from a height of 400KM from space while sitting inside a metal box, was exhilarating to say the least. Grabbing onto Lucius, her lips were trembling and her forehead was covered in cold sweat. The shaking continue to intensify with the passage of time. ''I wonder if he''s scared too.'' to distract herself, Reyna opened her eyes by a tiny slit and glanced at Lucius'' face which was behind her. Looking at him, she noticed his entire face to be still and impassive. His eyes were closed and his breaths were long and still. His body almost seemed peaceful for the moment. Of course, this ''almost'' was added in Reyna''s mind because Lucius was still releasing a scary aura. ''Is he sleeping?'' Reyna wondered to herself. Considering the events that occurred during their escape, Lucius being dead-tired was completely understandable. Taking care not to wake him, Reyna adjusted her herself atop his lap. ''He pushed himself so hard.'' she thought to herself bitterly. Recalling the life-threatening injury Lucius had sustained and his subsequent loss of sanity, Reyna''s heart twisted in worry. Clenching her small fists, she thought to herself. ''I need to become stronger! So that I will not be a burden to Lucius!''. ''Thinking about it...'' Reyna''s mind suddenly wandered. ''I don''t know much about him.'' All of Reyna''s knowledge about Lucius came from what Olivia had told her. She had spoken to Reyna about how Lucius used to be in his childhood, their adventures together, getting into trouble, etc. However, words were just words in the end. Interacting with him personally and what Olivia had told her in the past, Reyna noticed that he was entirely different. ''Livia told me, he used to be cheery and used to smile a lot. But for the entire time that I''ve known him, he had never smiled.'' Reyna wondered to herself. ''He always seems so serious. And his face too! Why is it always so cold and expressionless?!'' she grumbled to herself. She never seemed to understand what was going through his mind. She had noticed that Lucius'' never spoke much to other people and even when he did, it was never about himself. ''It''s almost like he doesn''t want people to get close to him and understand him.'' The only time that she had ever seen Lucius show his emotions was when she gave him the weapon. Looking at the metal rod, which was placed in his waist, she recalled the happenings of that day. When Lucius was testing the weapon, Reyna had been intently watching him the entire time. When he had thanked her towards the end, she could faintly feel a lonely and bitter feeling radiating off him. That feeling grief he was radiating at that moment filled her heart with sadness and bitterness. Reyna''s tears had threatened to fall, when that feeling of grief radiating of his body suddenly disappeared. ''What''s he even hiding?'' for the first time in her life, Reyna had an intense feeling of curiosity towards another person. All along, the only thing she had ever been interested in was machines and technology. Due to her personality and position, she had been isolated for most of her childhood. Perhaps meeting him that day could be said to be the best moment in Reyna''s life. He had broken her isolation, shared her interests, introduced her to interesting friends, and much more. Even aboard the space station. He had not hesitated to receive injury with his own body, all just to protect her. He had never abandoned her for a single second, even though she was slowing him down. Reyna strongly believed that if Lucius had not come for her and had tried to escape by himself. He would have not been injured to such an extent. ''Because you are important to me.'' She once again recalled the words he had told her in a serious manner. Reyna could feel the determination and resolve in his voice, when he spoke to her. Blood started rushing towards her face, as Reyna''s beautiful, tender face reddened in embarrassment once again. Her heart started to rapidly race and a sense of intense happiness filled her. Taking peaks at his indifferent, handsome face, Reyna''s face turned into a deeper shade of red. ''Is this love?'' she wondered in her heart. A beaming expression surfaced in her face, as her cheeks began glowing. With silly grin was present in her face, as she thought to herself, ''I like this feeling a lot!'' Half twisting her body, Reyna turned around to quietly gaze at Lucius'' sleeping face. Her shining emerald eyes, continued to trace each and every line on his handsome face, burning that visage into her memories. A sort of irresistible charm seemed to be radiating off of his face. As her eyes finally moved to land at his lips. Her mind recalled how his firm tongue had licked her in the cheek. Though it was not a kiss, in fact being very far from a romantic kiss. Reyna''s maiden heart which had never experienced such stuff, considered it to be one. ''Was I taken advantage of?'' somehow, this thought popped into her mind. Immediately, Reyna felt the embarrassment on her face rising. Puffing out her cheeks in a cute, but displeased manner, she thought to herself. '' How dare he take advantage of me like that. Nobody other than my Father has kissed me before. This action.... I need to take revenge!'' Reyna slowly neared her face towards Lucius. Her eyes stared unblinkingly, and her lips unconsciously parted. Her breath started to rapidly increase both in interval and in heat. That handsome face in her eyes slowly grew larger and larger. As her small, pink lips neared Lucius'', her eyes shut themselves tightly. Reyna''s mind was completely blank at this instant. Only the desire to take this ''revenge'' on Lucius, filling her mind. ''Yes, this is only payback for his earlier actions. Nothing more!'' Reyna justified her actions in her mind. She could feel the hot breath exhaled by Lucius touch her skin Just when her lips were a hair''s width away from Lucius, a cold voice interrupted her. "What are you doing?" Lucius'' signature emotionless voice sounded out. "UWAHH!!!" Reyna let out a cute but terrified scream. Her face instantly retreated in panic and her body was similarly pulled back. Due to the suddenness of her actions, the belt which held Lucius and Reyna together suddenly snapped. The sudden jerking of the escape pod as it met some turbulence, further caused Reyna to lose her balance. With nothing to stop her movement and the added weight on her body due to the descent, she continued to wall backwards Just as her head was about to hit the control panel directly behind her, a strong but slender arm caught her by her waist. Lucius'' indifferent face, neared her as he blandly said. "Careful." a single word was heard. Before Reyna''s head could process the actions that had just occurred, she felt her body being moved once again. Using his hand, Lucius straightened her body once again before reaching to grab the belt. Taking hold of the belt in his hands, he adjusted Reyna''s position atop his lap and once again tied the both of them together with the seat. Only this time, Reyna''s front was directly facing Lucius. Her large chest rapidly rose and fell, her neck, ears and her entire face was completely crimson. Reyna hurriedly raised her arms and buried her face into them. Staring at this girl who was covering her face with her hands, Lucius once again asked. "What were you doing?" his tone showed no emotion and was completely bland. Reyna''s response was immediate and her voice was filled with panic, "NOTHING!" She refused to remove her hands off of her face, further burying her face into her hands. She could clearly feel her front directly facing Lucius'' gaze. Recalling her embarrassing actions from just moments ago, Reyna felt like burying herself into a hole of the ground. ''AHH!!! He''s going to think that I am a pervert!! God save me!!'' she screamed within her mind. Tears started to well up in her eyes as Reyna was faced with a strong urge to cry. Looking at the reaction of the girl before him, Lucius was utterly confused. Furrowing his brows, he was just about to question her once more when a voice suddenly interrupted him. "Jeez! Leave the poor girl alone!!" Ka''lor''ah''s exasperated voice sounded out within his mind. "What happened?" Truth was, Lucius wasn''t sleeping but cultivating deep within his mindspace in order to recover the soul power he had previously spent. His conscious mind had completely sunk within, causing him to not notice Reyna''s actions on the outside. Just as he recovered about 70% of his soul power, his instinct suddenly warned him about a presence in extreme proximity of his body. Immediately rousing from his cultivation and circulating his soul power to guard against possible ambushes, Lucius prepared. However when he opened his eyes, he noticed Reyna''s face approaching him. She had her eyes closed and seemed to be in a daze. Worried about the well being of the focal-point of humanity/his target of protection, Lucius had spoken up to her, only to be met with her flustered actions. Factoring his apathy and sheer disinterest in the thoughts and opinion of other people, he could not understand the rather obvious meaning behind her actions. Ka''lor''ah''s voice sounded out within his head once more, ''Just so you know." "This is all your fault." she said so and refused to explain further. Just as Lucius was about to demand an explanation, a warning alarm sounded out within the escape pod. {WARNING! LARGE OBJECT APPROACHING THE POD! TIME OF IMPACT..... 10 SECONDS!} {WARNING! LARGE OBJECT APPROACHING THE POD! TIME OF IMPACT..... 9 SECONDS!} Chapter 82: The Fall. {WARNING! LARGE OBJECT APPROACHING THE POD! TIME OF IMPACT..... 8 SECONDS!} The voice of the pod''s AI sounded out in alarm. The noises of alarms and rapid blinking of red lights resounded throughout this small pod. {WARNING! LARGE OBJECT APPROACHING THE POD! TIME OF IMPACT..... 7 SECONDS!} "Dammit!" Lucius cursed out loud. Infusing his soul power into his palm, he immediately cut the belt holding him and Reyna together. Both of them immediately bounced to their feets, each running in opposite direction. {WARNING! LARGE OBJECT APPROACHING THE POD! TIME OF IMPACT..... 6 SECONDS!} Accessing the console, Reyna tried to get an understanding of the situation. The rapidly blinking red of the panel illuminated her beautiful face which rapidly turned pale. "Lucius! Something''s about to hit the pod! We cannot stay aboard any longer!" she immediately turned around and warned. {WARNING! LARGE OBJECT APPROACHING THE POD! TIME OF IMPACT..... 5 SECONDS!} Lucius who was standing in front of the pod''s entry hatch, opened it. A gust of hot air immediately hit his face blowing his hair back. The ferocious wind streams sought to tear his face. The outer surface of the pod was glowing red-hot, due to the friction between it''s surface and the air. Using his soul power to create a temporary shield to block the winds, he narrowed his eyes and looked at the scene in front of him. Grey skies stretched as far as the eyes could see with black clouds lining the bottom of his vision. A single sun was present in the background shining crimson in color. The entire scene looked still, just like a paining. Just when everything seemed normal, the ocean of greyness in front of him was suddenly intruded by golden strips of lights. The large asteroid rocks, which had previously destroyed the space station were falling into the planet! ''Too soon!'' Lucius took a sharp intake of cold air. He was alarmed at the ridiculous speeds at which the rocks were falling. Their golden glow left behind a trails of golden light as they entered the planet''s atmosphere, heading towards the ground. Oddly enough, a layer of golden energy seemed to cover the surface of these rocks, effectively cancelling the effect of air resistance. Lucius had a very serious expression on his face. The speed at which the asteroids had entered the planets surface was completely out of his expectations. {WARNING! LARGE OBJECT APPROACHING THE POD! TIME OF IMPACT..... 4 SECONDS!} Turning his head inside, he shouted towards Reyna. "What''s our altitude?" {WARNING! LARGE OBJECT APPROACHING THE POD! TIME OF IMPACT..... 3 SECONDS!} "65,000ft!" she shouted back. {WARNING! LARGE OBJECT APPROACHING THE POD! TIME OF IMPACT..... 2 SECONDS!} "DAMMIT!" Lucius bellowed out once again. His acute senses had already picked up the presence of the massive rock above their head. If they remained within the pod, that massive rock above them whose length spanned a whopping 700m would utterly crush them. Immediately grabbing the bag that was placed near the seat, Lucius used his other hand to pull Reyna towards his body. "Grab onto me! We are going to jump!" without waiting for her reply, Lucius immediately jumped. -------------------- {WARNING! LARGE OBJECT APPROACHING THE POD! TIME OF IMPACT..... 1 SECONDS!} Just as the final vestiges of the AI''s voice had sounded out, the loud sound of an impact was heard. BANG!! An explosion sounded out behind Reyna''s body. Without opening her eyes, she knew that the pod in which they had escaped in had been completely, utterly destroyed. "WAI--------AHHHHHH!!!" her screams were heard as she felt her body rapidly descending towards the ground. One must know that the maximum altitude from which a normal person skydives was approximately 18.000 feet. The height from which they were currently jumping was roughly four times that. Reyna felt the surface of the clothes on her body rapidly heating up. Her body was also burning up, as her skin started to turn red and boil. The sheer amount of friction one would feel at this height was enormous. Reyna''s mind had long since descended into a state of panic and terror. She was unsure of what to do. ''WE ARE GOING TO DIE! WE ARE GOING TO DIE!'', she screamed within her mind Just when Reyna was about to completely give up, an extremely calm and indifferent voice sounded out from behind her. "Control your soul power and let it circulate around your body, following it''s paths. Don''t stop." he instructed. Without wasting a single second, Reyna''s body unconsciously followed his commands. Drawing the soul power from within her body, she instinctively let it circulate along the paths, which Ka''lor''ah had taught her. The burning feeling experienced by her body immediately receded. Just as Reyna was about to ask for further instructions, she suddenly felt the furious gusts of air hitting her face suddenly disappear. ''Did we land? Are we safe?'' this thought was immediately denied as she still felt her body rapidly falling. It was just that, she no longer felt the air pushing against her body. Opening her eye''s by a tiny slit, Reyna noticed a reddish-black barrier formed of soul energy, blocking the incoming winds. Lucius had used his soul power to effectively create a windshield! "Can you hear me?" Renya suddenly heard a voice sound out within her mind. Her body suddenly jerked in fear, when she felt two slender but strong arms tighten its grip around her body. Feeling the warmth of the body behind her, Reyna''s mind immediately calmed down. "Lucius!? Is that you?" she questioned within her mind. "Yes. Stay calm and keeping circulating your soul power inside your body. Try to breathe as little as possible, the oxygen up here is too little." Lucius'' voice calmly tried to placate her. "Are we going to die?" her voice suddenly turned low as she asked the obvious question. Taking a pause, think about it for a second. Two people are currently falling out of the sky, from an altitude of 65,000ft. They had no parachutes nor any other device, which could be used to reduce their falling speed or land safely. The air resistance and the ferocious streams of winds were temporarily being held back due to the existence of the barrier. Alas, his soul power was being rapidly consumed and could not last forever. With the prowess of her mind, Reyna naturally drew up a conclusion. The answer was naturally a.... no. No matter how magical soul power was. It could not save them from their current situation. Their bodies were still made with flesh and blood after all. The fact that they had not already been reduced to ashes was already a testament to the extraordinary nature of this energy. ''Just when I have found my love. I''m already going to die?'' depressing thoughts started filling up her mind. The tiny ember of hope which remained within her heart was rapidly being extinguished. Her mind was filled with melancholy and tears had begun to spill out of her eyes, when she heard an bland voice sound within her mind. "I have no plans on dying. Just hold tight." that voice was a ray of sunshine cutting across the darkness within her heart. His words which were completely nonsensical, provided Reyna with that tiny bit of hope that she needed. Hugging his body extremely tight, she decided to rely upon him once more. ------------------ Feeling Reyna hands tighten around his body, Lucius let go of her waist. His face was the mask of seriousness. Both his pupils contained rings of crimson light within them as he activated [Killer Vision]. Lucius focused all of his senses and gazed intently at the large asteroid which had destroyed their pod just a few moments ago. It was shining with a bright golden light. ''That rock contains massive amounts of natural energy.'' he concluded. While their current situation was extremely hopeless, it wasn''t without a solution. A solution which was extremely risky and so as to speak, plainly crazy. "If you can make it atop that giant piece of rock, that natural barrier surrounding it would protect both of your bodies from the fall. Using other such rocks as footholds, you can safely descend onto the ground." "Of course that is under the precondition that, more of such rocks exist in lower altitudes and you being able to safely make it atop them. Miss a single foothold and all of us will die." ''So I just jump from rock to rock, without missing a single one, until we make it to the ground?'' "Exactly." Taking in a deep breath, Lucius'' hand reached on to his waist. His hand rested upon a long, narrow metallic rod present there. Pulling it out and into his hands, his thumb pressed on top of that small indent on its body. The rod rapidly expanded, lengthening both in height and width. A long scythe, rapidly formed within his hands. Gripping onto this familiar weapon, Lucius closed his eyes before opening them once more. The indifference in his gaze was currently absent and a look of determination filled its place. ''This time...'' he told himself. ''I will not fail!'' Saying so, soul power suddenly exploded at the soles of his feet as his body which had been in freefall all along abruptly moved forward. It headed directly towards that giant piece of rock. Chapter 83: Crash Landing Driving the soul power within his body, Lucius started to use the [Dance of the Death God] scythe technique. ''First Movement: Slash!'' he shouted internally. Red vein like patterns started to pulse rapidly in crimson color. The energy then started to coalesce to form black mists near the concave edges of the scythe. The scythe was radiating an eerie and dark feeling. Just as he entered the range of the rock, Lucius gently flicked his wrist. The scythe shot out in a diagonal arc, slashing onto the large golden rock falling from the sky. DING! A sharp sound of a metal cutting into rock was heard. Gritting his teeth, Lucius continued to pour his soul power into the weapon and pushed the execution of his technique to the maximum. The red energy veins started to pulse even more rapidly, as the scythe slowly sunk into the large rock. With a final push from his side, half of the scythe''s edge was already embedded into the rock. Having secured his hold, Lucius readjusted his grip over the weapon and fiercely pulled himself towards it. Cutting across the air, he finally entered the region of the golden light, surrounding the rock along with Reyna in tow. Just as their bodies entered this golden field of light surrounding the asteroid, the sensation of falling, the heat due to friction, the wind streams blowing upon their bodies, suddenly disappeared. Replacing them was a feeling of weightlessness. Their bodies started to....float. "....What?" Reyna''s dumbfounded voice was heard. Ignoring her, Lucius gently pulled back his scythe from within the rock and floated up towards the top. Landing upon a relatively flat area, he set Reyna down and immediately sat cross-legged and started to recover his soul energy. An invisible, refreshing energy was surrounding them and entered their bodies. All the piled up exhaustion, both physical and mental, rapidly started to disappear. Reyna''s mind was overtaken by a comfortable feeling. The urge to sleep rapidly grew as her eyelids started to get heavy. She started to yawn and laid upon the ground near Lucius. Escaping from the space station, falling from the sky, avoid death multiple times, all these factors had led to considerable exhaustion, building up within her mind. Reyna was tired in both mind and spirit. This refreshing energy, which was similar to a warm blanket in cold winter, melted the exhaustion within her mind. Just as she was about to doze off, Lucius'' voice suddenly sounded. "Get up. Let''s go," he spoke while rising up to his feet. Inspecting the scythe for any damages and ensuring that there were none, he nodded his head in satisfaction. Directing his indifferent gaze towards Reyna, he started at her to get moving. "But....isn''t it safe upon his rock. Can''t we just stay here until we land in the ground?" Reyna questioned her. To understand Reyna''s thought, let''s take an example. Consider the rock to be like an elevator. Just like how an elevator travels from the top floor to the ground floor at fast speeds while the passengers within feel nothing, the rock and the golden energy field surrounding it played a similar role to the elevators, with Lucius and Reyna being the passengers. Being told that they had to jump off this ''elevator'' once again, did not seem correct in Reyna''s opinion. Hearing her question, Lucius replied with a question of his own. "Tell me, what will happen when the rock hits the ground with its current speed?" he blandly asked. Faced with this question, Reyna''s tiredness immediately disappeared and her face immediately paled. An elevator without it''s brakes was not an elevator but a death cage. Continuing to fall in their current speeds, without slowing down meant one thing. Their deaths. "Stop wasting time and get up. We have to jump to another rock." without waiting for her reply, Lucius simply used his arms and pulled her up. Placing her atop his back, Lucius spoke a two words. "Hold tight." He then immediately started running towards the edge of the rock. "wait!wait!wait!wait!wait!WAIT! AHHHHH!!!" Reyna was given no time to prepare herself mentally, before Lucius jumped. As their bodies left the golden energy field, all the natural factors which had been absent atop the rock assaulted their bodies once again. Reyna wanted to cry, alas found no tears falling. Their bodies continued to fall downwards, passing through the layers of black cloud heading towards another golden asteroid. ----------------------------- Lucius spent the next 10 minutes, performing the same action dozens of times. Finding a rock falling at a lower elevation, jumping towards it, piercing into it with his scythe to secure his position, landing upon it and recovering his soul power, before repeating the above action once again. Just as he landed onto the fourteenth rock, Lucius could see the ground growing progressively larger in his vision. There were less than 500ft between the rock and the ground. ''Almost there.'' Lucius told himself. ''Jump from the rock when you enter the 50ft range with the ground. You will have a very small timeframe to complete this action. Stay alert!'' Ka''lor''ah cautioned him. Lucius did not sit down to recover his soul power, instead of walking near the edge of the rock and intently observing the ground. Unlike the brown soil, green trees, blue waters present on the Earth, Deatov''s surface was completely different. The sky was ash-grey with black clouds present in them. A single sun, which shone crimson in color provided daylight for 16 hours of the 28-hour cycle. The days were long and the nights were short. On the ground, one would find the absence of trees or any kind of foliage for that matter. A barren, cracked land which was also grey in color, covered the entire surface of this planet. Water was a scarcity, only present deep within the planet. Deatov was a mineral planet. Mankind did not come here for water or for scenery, it was here to completely mine the energy resources within the planet''s surface. The entire surface was cracked and shriveled, with grey rocks being the only thing present. Looking into the horizon, one could see the existence of humongous mountains present in the far background, with only their vague silhouette seen. Watching the ground draw rapidly closer in his vision, Lucius tensed his muscles and bent his knees. Waiting for the exact moment, he slowly counted the seconds. ''NOW!'' with a sudden roar in his mind, Lucius unhesitantly jumped off the golden rock. Zooming across the sky, Lucius'' body headed towards the ground. Creating a barrier out of what little soul power he had remaining, Lucius embraced Reyna and braced for impact. BANG! With a loud sound, their bodies smashed into the barren grey ground. The force of impact directly destroyed the barrier in front of him and entered Lucius'' body. His bones shook and his muscles screamed. Large amounts of pain flooded his mind. Gritting his teeth, he absorbed the impact in its entirety, taking care to protect Reyna. Her importance was far too great. Having come this far, he could not risk the failure of his plans. After the initial impact, Lucius'' body did not stop but continued to roll through the ground. Although he had negated the impact to the largest extent, the residual force was simply too great. BAAAANNGGGG!! An even greater sound was heard from the distance. The large golden rock from which Lucius had jumped, had finally struck the surface. Rolling through the ground, Lucius could feel the large amounts of forces traveling through it. The seemingly solid ground shook like the waves on the surface of the sea. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! More sounds continued to be heard in the distance as the other rocks also started to crash into the ground one after another. ''Lucius! You have to get off the surface immediately!'' Ka''lor''ah''s panicked voice screamed. This was something that he obviously knew. Staying on the surface, meant the possibility of being crushed to death by the falling rocks. Continuing to roll forward, Lucius noticed a large crack on the ground towards his left. The crack seemingly formed a narrow gorge in the land, making a small opening that led into the ground. ''That should be fine.'' Lucius told himself. Forcibly twisting his body, Lucius rolled towards the gorge before finally falling into it. Just as his body was dropping from a height of 30ft, his senses suddenly warned him of mortal danger. Immediately tossing Reyna aside, he bent his body in an impossible manner. Just as his body was about to hit the ground, a sharp, spear-like rock fiercely stabbed into his right shoulder, completely impaling it. If not for his last-minute movement, that rock would have successfully pierced his heart! "argh....!" a low groan exited his mouth, as he threw up a mouthful of blood. The sheer pain from having his flesh pierced and his bone shattered, flooded his mind. His consciousness started to fade, replacing his vision with darkness. "LUCIUS!" Reyna''s panicked scream was heard, followed by the sounds of shuffling feet. That was the last thing Lucius heard before his mind blacked out. Chapter 84: Title in the End. Large swathes of open green lands were ravaged by furious waves of fire. Battered by the flames and drenched in the blood of the people, the entire scene had a deathly aura. A dense grey fog hung in the sky, blotching out the two suns. Beyond it lay the infinite expanse of the deep blue skies, which were tainted red. The acrid smell of smoke and death was present in the sky, reminding the inhabitants of this land that this place was no longer a sanctuary. But a land of death. Distant howls belonging to both man and beast were heard. Some begging to their silent gods, others roaring in retaliation and rage. Standing amidst this hellish scene was a solitary figure. A figure donning a black robe, covering every single part of its body, save for its eyes. A pair of eyes, which were completely black. Black, which was darker than the abyss. The pair of eyes that seemed to hold no emotions apart from absolute indifference. The figure surveyed the lands with its indifferent eyes, watching the scenes of violence in complete silence. Under the black robe, the mouth of this being made slight movements before a low, bland voice leaked out. "Where am I?" Lucius questioned himself. Closing his eyes, he tried to recall the last scenes in his memories. Slowly, the last moments of remembrance flashed through his mind. ''I successfully escaped with the ''target'' and we landed onto the planet of Deatov.'' ''I seem to recall being impaled by a sharp rock in the shoulder, before passing out.'' ''Wait.... my shoulder?'', he immediately raised his other hand to inspect his right shoulder. Even with his standards, the injury that he had sustained was quite serious. If it wasn''t treated immediately, he risked the possibility of permanently losing his right arm. However, the serious injury which he was expecting was surprisingly not present on his shoulder. In fact, instead of feeling pain and numbness, Lucius felt an unfathomable amount of energy fill his entire body. Energy that could allow him to effortlessly destroy a planet, with just a flick of his fingers. His indifferent eyes jumped in astonishment as Lucius felt the strength and quality of his soul power. "Stage 7?!!! My strength had returned to its peak?!!", he unconsciously blurted it out. Upon this discovery, Lucius did not rejoice. Instead, his wariness increased by a few folds until it reached the same level as when one is facing mortal danger. ''Where is this place?'' Lucius immediately crouched into the ground and scanned the surrounding area with his vision. He did not dare to use his soul power or the abilities provided by them, lest this be a trap. He could vaguely see the presence of some existences in the distant forests, a few hundred kilometers away from where the fire hadn''t spread yet. ''Let''s take a look.'' deciding so, Lucius'' still body swayed a little and suddenly stiffened, before slowly dissipating. The image which dissipated wasn''t his actual body, but merely the afterimage left by his speed. --------------------- The world around Lucius seemed to turn into streaks of light. It was in fact eerily similar to how the surroundings would look when a spaceship was in hyperspace. The truth was, this was exactly what happened. Lucius'' body had reached such speeds that his physical body had broken through the space within this planet and entered the hyperspace, present within the dimensions. And this was without the usage of his soul power! Instantaneously or perhaps even faster, Lucius arrived in the middle of the distant forest. His body immediately came to a standstill, as a serious expression was present on his face. ''My speed and resilience of my body are exactly the same as when I was in Stage 7. Even my senses are the same. Without the usage of soul power, I can sense everything in a few hundred-kilometer radii.'' he carefully analyzed. ''Should I test my soul power?'' Lucius pondered. Just in time, there was a movement in the green foliage that surrounded him. The trees which were standing towards his left suddenly trembled before falling. Coming out of it was a huge armored being, that was vaguely resembling a rhinoceros. It had six thick, stubby legs filled with dominant strength. A single horn on its face glowed red. Two pairs of eyes looked at Lucius with a predatory gaze, seemingly sizing him up. Lucius'' currently resembled a normal human. His soul power was hidden and his murderous aura was also being contained. In short, he looked weak. Extremely weak. This ''rhino'' also came to a similar conclusion and charged towards his body. It was intent of feasting on this ''weak'', skinny body. Looking at this beast charging up at him, Lucius simply thought. ''A mere Grade 3 beast. Its soul cultivation is only at Stage 1. Well, I guess this would suffice for a test subject. An ant seem does seem to have its uses after all.'' Driving his soul power, Lucius'' mouth softly uttered these words. "[Rule of Death- Perish]" Mysterious words of an unknown language seemed to flicker in and out of existence. They came from an unknown dimension and surrounded this ''rhino''. The second these words came into existence, the charging rhino in front of his gaze immediately collapsed into the ground. It''s four eyes, stared at Lucius with absolute terror. A terror that surpassed the concept of fear. A fear which seemed to birth from its very soul. It did not understand what these words were but knew that its life was over. However, it did understand one thing. This person in front of it was a GOD! Understanding that it had tried to go against a ''God'', the rhino was filled with no hesitation or grievances. It calmly accepted its death. Staring at the dead rhino, Lucius did not feel anything. To him, it was merely another life. One among the countless he had claimed. ''I can manipulate the ''Rules''. My strength is at Stage 7.'' he calmly concluded. ''Where is this place? And why am I here?'' Lucius looked around but found no clues. Just as he was about to continue on forwards to search another location, he suddenly a strange soul wavelength in the soul. One that seemed to be..... ''This!!... My soul is resonating?!! IMPOSSIBLE!!'' Lucius'' brain halted from the astonishment he was feeling. Because what he felt was the existence of another soul.... that was exactly the same as his. Not bothering to contain his soul power any longer, he immediately used it and tore through the space around him. Wherever he was or whoever was behind this, no longer mattered to Lucius. He had to immediately find the source of that soul. ---------------------- Floating high up in the sky, Lucius'' gaze peered through the dense forest cover to gaze at the scene below him. He was currently using his soul power to hide within a scattered dimension. A man and a beast were facing each other. The beast looked like an oversized ape, with 6 arms and blue fur. It had bulging muscles and red eyes with a blue shine covering its fur. It was another Upper Grade 3 beast with a Mid Level Stage 1 cultivation. Opposing this monster was a haggard-looking youth. His skin was pale and his body consisted of a weak skeletal frame, with little to no muscles on them. Injuries of varying degrees filled his body, with a large cut running across his entire back that leaked blood. He had black hair and black eyes, which were filled with anger and grief. Tears covered his face, as he faced the ape monster recklessly. Clearly, he had completely lost his mind to rage. From the way he moved, he seemed to be protecting something behind him. Behind this youth was a dead body of a beautiful young woman. She seemed to be older than the youth who was fighting and had such a beautiful face that could only be considered-heavenly. She had black hair, and her bright sapphire eyes were wide open filled with reluctance and unwillingness to die. A large hole was present in her abdomen with blood flowing into the ground without pause. Her heart did not breathe affirming her death. Seeing this scene Lucius who was in the sky shook his head before sighing. ''I remember. This place is the frontier planet of Virdis. One of the planets where humanity faced their ''Ascension.'' If I remember correctly, this planet almost fell to those guys. '' he calmly thought. ''Not to mention...'' he continued. ''This was also the planet where I was sent to, in my previous life.'' Gazing at the black-haired youth fighting with reckless abandon, protecting that dead body from the six-armed ape, Lucius spat out a single word. "Pathetic." His voice contained extreme coldness and disappointment. Seeing that youth, Lucius somewhat understood. That young man fighting down there seemed to be himself of the past. At this moment, he seemed to have mysteriously arrived at this time, as his Stage 7 self. ''Does the person behind this want me to witness my failure once again? Is he trying to make me remember?'' Lucius questioned himself, pondering about his current situation. Meanwhile, the situation down below continued to worsen for the youth. Looking at this Lucius furrowed his brows. ''If this continues, he will die.'' Yet, Lucius clearly survived the event. Although he had forgotten how he had survived this event in the past, he knew that he had lived. His life later and his Stage 7 self was irrefutable proof of this fact. The youth down below lost the weapon he was using and the ape swung its fists towards his head. Time seemed to have slowed down, as Lucius simply continued to watch. He had no intentions of helping or rescuing the youth down below. ''Without having an understanding of what''s happening to me, I must not carelessly intervene. For all I know, that boy down there might not even be me. All of this might just be a large illusion.'' Just when the fist of the ape was about to make contact with the youth''s head, it suddenly paused. To be precise, everything had paused. The ape, Lucius, the wind, the sky, in fact, space and time itself seemed to have paused. "Sigh." An unworldly sigh that seemed to originate from an unknown dimension was heard. Lucius who had been hiding in a random scattered dimension immediately felt a surge of panic and fear in his heart. He immediately used his entire efforts to hide and did not dare to expose even the slightest traces of his presence. "This child cannot die." the voice sounded out once again. An invisible stream of energy suddenly appeared and mysterious words started to appear and disappear around the youth and the ape. The ape suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a weaker beast. The wounds on the youth had also been healed to a certain extent. The traces of the battle around them were also altered. "Such an excellent pawn. I anticipate your growth.'' saying so the voice disappeared and the pause was removed. The youth who had been previously losing, now held the advantage in the battle. He swiftly killed the beast before heading towards the female body and kneeled before it. Holding her in his hands, he cried out loudly and screamed towards the skies. Meanwhile, Lucius who was the only person to witness these changes had a face filled with incredulity. His body was on the ground and was faintly shivering with fear. Hearing that voice and seeing how it had casually altered all the ''Rules'', he understood. ''A Lord..!!! Why is ''He'' here?!'' Lucius'' very soul trembled at his discovery. He forcibly suppressed his thoughts and did not dare to think any further. Even the slightest mention of ''Their'' name would lead to him being discovered. Just as Lucius was considering how to escape this place, he suddenly heard a loud voice near his ears. The scene around him shattered as he once again returned into darkness. "LUCIUS!!" Chapter 85: The Beginning of the Nightmare. Part 1 Lucius'' consciousness was jolted out of the darkness. His eyes showed movement under his eyelids and he felt his sensations returning to his body, one by one. Slowly opening his eyes, Lucius could finally see light dispelling the darkness. "You''re finally awake!" seeing him open his eyes, Reyna let out a sigh of relief. Adjusting his eyes to the bright light, Lucius could finally see the scene before him. His body was currently lying atop a rock floor. Looking around he could see multiple stalagmites and stalactite, extending from the floor and the roof of this cave respectively. The inside of this cave was surprisingly warm and comfortable. Looking down, Lucius could see his injury tended to and a relieved looking young girl sitting next to him. His entire body devoid of any power, is at its weakest state. A sharp contrast to the nigh-invincible feeling, that he had felt before. Recalling the previous events, Lucius could feel cold sweat forming his back. That feeling of meeting a Lord was simply too terrifying. Granted Lucius did not directly meet ''Him'', just being in the very presence of such an almighty being made him feel utterly powerless. ''And to think I am plotting against such a being. "Hey, are you alright?" the sound of a concerned young woman sounded beside him. Turning his head, Lucius stared at the beautiful looking girl. She was looking at him with care and concern filling her bright emerald eyes. Multiple patches of her dress was torn, revealing her snow white, soft and supple skin. The fresh cloth for tying his injuries had come from her, since Lucius'' clothes were completely drenched in blood. A strange feeling filled Lucius heart as he continued to intently stare at her. A feeling that was familiar yet foreign. Feeling Lucius'' intense stare on her, Reyna suddenly felt embarrassed. A red blush rose to her face, completely covering her ears and her neck. Her eyes gazed down towards the ground, not daring to meet his gaze. Due to her cute reactions, her otherworldly beauty further increased by a notch. Seeing her reaction, Lucius snapped out of his thoughts and spoke with a hoarse voice, "I''m fine. Thank you for your care." After that, silence. The atmosphere between them turned a little awkward as both of them weren''t sure how to continue the conversation. As that feeling got stronger and stronger within his heart, something happened. His soul shone with a reddish-black light as it sent a wave of energy. Immediately the emotions and feelings in his heart were completely wiped out, leaving behind cold indifference. Looking at her indifferently, Lucius spoke first, "How long was I asleep for?" "Ah! Well you were sleeping for around 8 hrs, I guess." checking her watch Reyna unsurely said. Facing his cold stare, Reyna felt uncomfortable in her heart. Lucius simply nodded his head. He looked around and asked another question, "What happened to Ka''lor''ah?" Hearing this question, Reyna''s face grew serious for a second, " When you were unconscious, your body was suddenly shrouded by some kind of invisible energy. Your body seemed to be real, yet illusory at the same time." "Ka''lor''ah said something about ''Rules'' and did something with her flashing gold lights on your body. After that, she told me you were fine and was going into a deep slumber to recover her energy." Furrowing his brows he asked her, "When was this?" "Three hours before you woke up." she immediately replied. Lucius did not reply but quietly stood there. After a few minutes, he opened his mouth and instructed her, "We shall leave this cave at daylight. Rest till then." Hesitating for a few seconds, Reyna cautiously tried to ask. "Lucius, what did she mean by the Rules?" "You don''t have to know." he directly replied. "Oh...okay." facing his direct rejection, she found herself at a loss. A sour expression climbed onto her pretty face, adding a hint of melancholy. ''Again with this. Trying to hide and shoulder it all yourself. Why don''t you allow me to help you?'' Reyna bitterly complained within her heart. She looked towards Lucius with accusatory eyes. Feeling her gaze upon him, Lucius simply ignored it. He then turned around and sat in a cross-legged position. Closing his eyes, he started to cultivate to recover his soul energy. Seeing the sudden change in his reaction, a tinge of disappointment filled Reyna''s heart. Lucius'' 300 years of experience were not in vain. Observing her reactions from the time he woke up, he had vaguely formed an understanding in his mind. ''This girl seems to be in love with me.'' his mind blandly said. There was no sense of happiness, expectation, elation, only a feeling of...disappointment. ''Foolish. With the beginning of the Ascension, we have no time to waste on such paltry feelings.'' his mind indifferently thought. The way she reacted, her concerns, all these factors went beyond simple concern for a friend. It was much deeper and purer. Unfortunately, love was something that Lucius could not feel. A feeling which he had forsaken within his heart. The number of times he had loved someone, only to lose them later was too numerous for him to count. Along with the passage of the years and his rising cultivation in the [Killer] soul, Lucius had slowly formed an unfeeling heart. His expressionless demeanor and his indifferent gaze were the result of his success. He wasn''t expressionless because he wanted to, but simply because he felt nothing within his heart. His eyes carried such indifference because he truly felt the other party to be insignificant, a worm or an ant which he could effortlessly crush beneath his feet. He had seen and felt what true power was. Underneath Stage 7, every existence was but a mere ant. Underneath ''Them'', the universe itself was an insignificant existence. This unfeeling and cold heart was the cost for his power. A power that set him on a path of endless loneliness and eternal damnation. Feelings were something which he could not have. Although he had felt Reyna''s feelings, Lucius did not place any importance on them. He simply considered them to be a fleeting crush of an inexperienced young girl. ''Given time her feelings will pass.'' Thinking so, Lucius wholeheartedly focused on his cultivation. Alas, what Lucius did not know was how much he had underestimated her feelings. The misunderstanding which he had unknowingly created during their escape had left a profound impression, deep within her heart. An impression that would bring much trouble for Lucius in the future. ------------------ A few hours passed and the ray of the first light shone into the dimly lit dave. Lucius who had his eyes closed promptly opened them. Getting up on his feet, he looked behind only to find Reyna asleep. Her body was curled up like a shrimp, with her hands hugging onto her legs. Her face seemed peaceful with a small smile being present on them. Obviously, she seemed to be having a good dream. Infusing a tiny bit of soul power into his fingers, Lucius flicked it on her forehead. A wave of energy passed into her mind, immediately waking her up. All traces of drowsiness had disappeared. "Ah! I''m up!" she was startled. "Let''s go." Lucius indifferently said as he reached to carry the backpack, which she had been using as a pillow. Seeing at Reyna had gotten up on her feet, he extended his left arm and held her by her waist. On his right, he gripped the weapon which was in its scythe form. "What are you doing?!" she was asked when Lucius suddenly jumped. His body immediately jumped 10 feet into the air, before it started to drop. Calmly swinging his scythe, he pierced it into the wall next to him and used it as a handhold to jump once more. His body rose another 5 feet into the air. Repeating this action four more times, Lucius and Reyna''s bodies left the narrow gorge. Landing on the surface, Lucius scanned his surroundings. Massive golden rocks, which looked like miniature mountains were scattered at various distances. Some close and others very far. Each rock was still radiating its golden light which seemed to fuse into the atmosphere, no longer being limited to the area around the rock. In this grey colorless world, this seemed to be the only other shade. A dusty plain, filled with rocks. Seeing the golden energy suffusing into the atmosphere, Lucius frowned. "It''s starting." Switching on his [Killer Vision], Lucius saw two trails of golden light, leading towards the east. They seemed to be in the same location. Taking a deep breath, his legs tensed up before he shot forth like an arrow leaving a bow. A dark shadow flashed through the empty plains of Deatov. The date: 9th February 2321. Chapter 86: The Beginning of the Nightmare. Part 2 "We are here." Lucius'' indifferent voice sounded out. In front of him were tall, metallic, reinforced compound walls bordering the base on Deatov. A large gate sufficient for a cavalry to pass through was tightly shut. Watch towers lined the perimeter walls, upon which Lucius could sense the presence of humans. After he had woken up, Lucius had directly started heading towards this base by following the golden trail in his vision. The golden trails were the lines connecting him and his ''targets'', Alex and Olivia whom he had marked before their separation. During the entire journey of getting to this base, Lucius had not taken a single break. He had maintained running at his top speed for a period of two hours. If this had been before the fall of the golden rocks then it would naturally been impossible. However, everything had changed with their arrival. The energy which was being released by them and was being suffused into the atmosphere was something called as a ''Spirit'' or more commonly called ''Spiritual Energy''. Different from soul energy, which was the power of a living organism. Spiritual energy was the power of nature, or more precisely the fundamental energy of the Universe. It was omnipresent and is the purest form of energy. Due to the existence of the barrier, spiritual energy was inexistent within our universe. Mankind relied on the physical fundamentals for its expansion and advancement. Evolution and growth was naturally slow as a result. However with the arrival of the '' Trials of Ascension'', this barrier was rapidly weakening and was soon to be broken allowing this inexistent spiritual energy to flood into our universe. While no major changes were being noticed currently. With the passage of a few weeks, mankind will eventually notice the existence of spiritual energy. Exhausted resources will begin to recover, aging will be slowed down, bacteria will mutate, an all-round improvement in the health and physique of all livings things will occur. In short every single object, be it living or non-living will be benefited in a way that suits them most. Spiritual energy could be considered as the ultimate form of energy, equal to that of the soul in terms of their Rules. Naturally Lucius, being Lucius, sought to maximize the benefits that came with the introduction of spiritual energy. Borrowing this energy, he used it to reduce his muscle fatigue and boost his natural recovery. Maintaining his loss of energy with that of his recovery, Lucius was basically a perpetual motion machine. Of course he could not run forever, since physical exhaustion was still a factor. Without proper intake of nutrition and proper rest, even he would start to feel exhausted. Ceasing his running, Lucius demounted Reyna from his back. Then they slowly started to walk towards the Alliance base. "Stop right there! Identify yourselves." a voice thundered through the speakers. A large, grim looking man stood atop the watchtower as he gazed down on these two unknowns. Lucius could see various wary gazes fixated upon himself and Reyna. He could faintly feel a couple of rifles being aimed at his direction. Silently he started to circulate his soul power, preparing to confront the group in the way he knew best-killing. Thankfully Reyna was a step ahead and addressed the group first. "My name is Reyna Snowden. This is my friend Lucius. We are students of the Academy who had escaped from the space station, before it was attacked. We request your permission to enter the base." She walked forward and spoke in a loud voice. Perhaps due to recent events which she had experienced or maybe because of associating with Lucius, Reyna was no longer the shy and timid young girl from before. A sense of confidence and courage filled her, as she confronted these scary men and their weapons without any hesitation. "Sn-sno- Snowden?" the panicked voice of the large man sounded. "Indeed. I''m the youngest heir of the Snowden Corporation." she nonchalantly replied. "....What are you men standing around for?!! Open the gates and let the Young Miss and her friend in!!" after a moment of silence, the man hurriedly admonished his subordinates. The large gate, promptly opened and the large man, who seemed to be the leader of this squad hurriedly ran towards the duo. Seeing that all was well, Lucius quietly dispersed the gathered soul power. The duo were carefully led inside and a few necessary checks were performed to confirm their identities. Upon confirmation, the leader grew even more respectful and quietly thanked the stars. They were then led to the Commander of the base, who asked the both of them a few questions as on what happened to the space station. Apparently, ever since the arrival of those golden rocks, all forms of communications were no longer possible. As such the inhabitant of this base had no idea about what had happened to the space station. ''Seems like no survivor from the space station made it to the base.'' he inferred this much from their behavior. Lucius and Reyna then explained to the Base Commander, the series of events that had taken place since the arrival of the golden rocks. From the destruction of the space station to how they had landed in Deatov. They did not try to consciously hide any information, except on how they had jumped from the escape pod. There was no point in hiding it either. After what felt like a eternity, the duo were finally cleared questions and had their identities checked. They were given permission to enter the base. Walking through the wide streets, lined with cuboidal, metallic buildings and tents on either sides, they did not speak. Soldiers were training in groups, some maintaining public order, others maintaining their weapons. A few groups of students wearing the Academy issued uniforms were also present, each busy in their own tasks. With his eyes Lucius was carefully scanned the walls, the weapons, the level of vigilance and skill of the soldiers and other such factors which was important for the upcoming battle. He had no intention of informing the Base Commander of the upcoming events, since no one would believe his words. After all, how would you react if someone walks up to you and says that there are aliens to fight. ''Let''s wait for the hordes to attack the base first. Then they will be more susceptive of my help.'' he cynically thought. As for the loss of lives at the beginning of the attack. When has Lucius ever actually cared about the life of another person. The only reason he went so far to ensure Reyna''s life was because of her importance to his plans. As he walked around the base, Reyna quietly followed him. She did not question him on what he was doing or where they were heading. An awkward silence filled the space between them. Just when they turned a corner, they spotted two silhouettes in the distance. One was a tall young man, with a well built profile and flamboyant red hair. The other was a beautiful young woman with long black hair and blue eyes. Spotting them, Reyna''s eyes immediately shone as she shouted towards them "LIVIA! ALEX!" she ran towards them. Olivia who was busy discussing something with Alex was caught off-guard. Just as she turned towards the source of the voice, she felt a soft body suddenly crash into her body and tightly hug her. "You-! Reyna?" Olivia was dumbfounded. "Yep!" Reyna gave her a cheery reply before returning to tightly hug Olivia. Alex who was standing next to the duo was also similarly stunned. Stunned for a second, he then voiced out. "How did you get here?" Sticking to Olivia''s body for a few seconds, she then separated and patiently described the events that had occurred. This time she did not bother to hide anything and recalled it in detail. Hearing her words, the expressions of Olivia''s and Alex''s faces grew more and more grave, Their jaws also started to drop lower and lower, as Reyna progressed with her story. Of course, she was embarrassed to speak about her interactions with Lucius and glossed over them. After she was finally done with her story, it took a couple of minutes for the both of them to digest the information. Rubbing her forehead which had began to hurt, Olivia spoke. "Tell me if I''m wrong here. While the two of you were onboard the ship it was suddenly struck by space rocks." "Asteroids which were giving off golden light." Reyna intervened. "Not my point. Then during your escape, both of you were almost pulled into space and almost turned into frozen, floating space junk." Reyna directly nodded her head. "Then due to his injuries, Lucius lost his rationality and turned into a beast attacking you and Ka''lor''ah in the process." Finding nothing wrong with this, Reyna nodded once again. "After that, the both of you finally got into an escape pod, only to jump off of it 65,000 feet from the air." "Yes." Reyna smugly replied. Not able to hold back any longer Oliva finally blew up. "ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!! DO YOUR KNOW HOW CRAZY AND DANGEROUS BOTH OF YOUR ACTIONS WERE!!?" Olivia''s face was completely livid. Her gentle, peaceful expression was no where to be found. Only pure, unadulterated rage was present. Seeing Reyna''s confused expression only served to further incite her rage. Directly reaching in and twisting Reyna''s ears, Olivia began to brutally admonish the young woman. Olivia''s rage was so great that even the usually proud and unbending Alex had shrunk back. He had previously wanted to ask Reyna how her skydiving experience was. Alas, seeing Olivia expression he wisely swallowed his question. Admonishing Reyna till the other party had started to cry, Olivia''s rage was still not sated. Looking at Reyna with eyes which seemed to spew fire, she asked. "Where is Lucius?" Not daring to further antagonize this ''scary'' sister of hers. Reyna pointed at a certain direction only to find nothing. Lucius had quietly disappeared. Just as Olivia was about to blow up once again, the ground upon which they were standing suddenly shook. The shaking was so intense that metallic buildings around them could no longer hold their bases and directly collapsed. A few people and some students were buried underneath the rubble. Panic started to breakout, with screams flying in the air. Many people could no longer maintain their footing and directly fell to the ground. Perhaps due to soul power, the trio of Reyna, Oliva and Alex were safe. The shaking did not stop, but seemed to intensify further. "What''s happening?" Alex voiced out the question that was on everyone''s mind. That was when everything suddenly became silent. Not the wind, not the land, not the screams of the injured. Nothing was heard. Sound itself seemed to have disappeared at this moment. Just as this moment of absolute silence seemed to reach the peak, the crisp sound of glass shattering was heard. The sound was not heard through their ears, but directly resonated within their minds, shaking their very souls! ------------------- In another location, atop one of the watch tower. A handsome youth with black hair and indifferent eyes suddenly spoke. "So it finally begins." Chapter 87: The Beginning of the Nightmare. Part 3 "So it finally begins." Lucius spoke as he stared up at the sky. The black clouds which were hiding the grey skies had completely disappeared at this moment. In the distant sky, a strange golden film of light was seen. Much like the sun, it seemed to be exist in an untold distance yet seemed to have a direct effect on all living things. Numerous words of an unknown language and origin, began to flicker in and out of existence as it entirely covered this golden film of light. The words started to increase in their speed, as they began to rapidly fluctuate with light. Just as their speeds reached the peak, these words flashed one more time with the brightest radiance they could muster before disappearing. with a flash. Looking closely at the sky, one would notice a thin crack forming on the golden film. The crack started to rapidly expand with multiple other cracks forming. Covering the entire surface of this light much like a spider web. It was at this moment, that the sound of glass being shattered was heard, tearing through the silence which seemed to extend into the Universe. Pieces of golden light both small and large started to fall from the sky. They seemed to be made of an unknown energy as they rapidly began to suffuse into their surroundings before completely disappearing. The golden rocks which had previously fallen from the sky suddenly began to stir. These rocks which had been quietly lying on the ground started to wildly vibrate. With the golden energy rapidly circulating around them, the rocks began to float up into the sky one after the other. They continued to rise into the sky only coming to a stop when they were exactly 100m into the sky. Floating at this altitude, they rocks began to slowly rotate, gradually increasing their speed until wind started to gather around them. These spheres of wind rapidly formed around the body of the rock, seemingly protecting them. Looking at this scene before his eyes, Lucius suddenly felt amused. He remembered the first time he had seen a similar scene in his previous life. Just like the people in the base, he started up at the sky in reverence and shock. He had believed these strange phenomena to be an act of God. Remembering a small poem composed by the philosophers of his previous life, Lucius gently recited. "???????????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????? ????????????????, ???????????????????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????? ???? ???????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????? ????????????????????????''???? ????????????????????. ???????????????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????? ????????????????????????????????????, ???????????????????????????????????? ????????, ???????????? ???????????????????? ????????????????????????????????. ???????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ????????????????????????????, ???????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????, ???????? ???????????????? ??????????????????????????????????? ???????????? ????????????????????." Just as Lucius sang the last line, the spheres of wind surrounding the spinning rocks, suddenly shot out a large pillar of golden light into the sky. A loud ringing noise resounded within the minds of every person present in the base. Hearing that painful sound inside his mind, Lucius merely frowned a bit. "Annoying." he spoke indifferently before circulating his soul power to block the sound. The others however were not this fortunate. The ringing sound rapidly increased in volume, until their minds could not tolerate it any longer. They began to bleed from the orifices, as their brains began to feel a tremendous amount of pain. Alex, Olivia and Reyna were no exceptions. The engineers and scientists who had a lower tolerance to pain, could not stand any longer and collapsed, painfully writhing in the ground. With the younger students and most of the woman directly losing their consciousness, unable to withstand this pain. Only the battle hardened soldiers continued to grit their teeth and remained steadfast in their duty. The beam of light originating from each and every single, golden rock expanded. The golden beam continued to expand until it reached a diameter of 100m, before it stopped. They seemed to mimic lighthouses, guiding an unknown presence into this planet with their beacons of light. DUM! DUM! DUM! The ringing sound suddenly switched into the sounds of war drums, seemingly signifying the arrival of an unknown army. And arrive they did. Just as soldiers atop the compound walls, stared into the distance unable to make sense of the situation, a change occurred in plains. Thousands motes of light, fell from beyond the sky seemingly coming from the Universe. Gentling landing on the ground, thousands of these motes stilled for a moment. Suddenly a change occurred. These points of light started to rapidly devour a strange energy and began to expand. Most of them grew to a height between 1 to 4 meters in height. A few however grew even further beyond, to a maximum height of 8 meters. These motes had already turned into spheres of golden light, when they suddenly began to wriggle and form shapes. A large body, multiple limbs, a head, the spheres of light strangely began to shape themselves into various structures of the body. Under the dumbfounded gaze of the soldiers, these ''beings'' of light finally lost their resplendence, as their true forms were slowly revealed. Thousands of bug-like beings, with their small heads and thin limbs stared at the group of humans atop the walls, with their compound eyes. Their carapaces shone with a metallic glint, as the silver-black armor shined under the golden light. Connecting their bodies to their heads was a armored thorax. Their small heads, protected with chitin forming a helmet like cover, contained only their compound eyes which shone with ruthlessness and naked killing intent. Some of these creatures had two legs while others had four. All of them however had a minimum of two forelimbs which contained a sharp sickle like object. It''s only purpose to cut and kill it''s opponents. Some were large and others were small. All of their eyes however contained the same intent. The desire to slaughter these two legged beings hiding behind those tall walls. This desire which manifested into a visible red cloud, was directed towards the base. At this moment, fear enveloped all the inhabitants of the base. The soldiers who could directly see these bugs, lost the power in their legs as their bodies collapsed. With pale faces and trembling bodies, they could not muster their power to scream. The others inside the walls, could not see the bugs but felt cold needles pricking every inch of their skin. Their primal instincts, which had mostly regressed screamed at this moment, advising them to flee. It was unknown who this person was, but a single scream tore through this silent atmosphere, followed by the sounds of panicked running. Like a fuse igniting a wick, a cluster of screams and curses followed by a panicked running followed. The sounds of people pushing each other, some stepping on the others blended to form a crazed cacophony. To describe the scene inside the base in a single word. It was a- Pandemonium. Reyna, Olivia and Alex were the only people, who had a semblance of rationality remaining in their heads. After their initial confusion, they finally remembered the warning given to them by Ka''lor''ah. The killing intent which was directed at them, did not have a significant effect on their minds and bodies. After all, their souls had already awakened an their mental fortitudes were solidified. Alex who was the most experienced among them, noticed the direction of this intent and led the three towards the compound walls on the south side. They directly trespassed the restricted area and ignored the frozen guards. Climbing atop the walls, they finally saw the sight of an army of neatly lined bugs. Bugs which were capable of intelligent thoughts, as seen from the way they were rearranging their formations. It was at this moment they understood the hopelessness of the situation. On one side were thousands of bugs which seemed to be killing machines. On the other were hundreds of frozen soldiers and thousands of panicked citizens. While the humans had the advantage in the numbers, looking from the way they fled. It only postponed the inevitable. "It''s over." Reyna mumbled these words with a pale face. Even Alex, who usually had an unwavering amount of confidence had a grim expression on his face. Even with his genius mind, he could not see a solution to this scenario. Meanwhile the bug-like aliens on the fields outside the base had already finished their arrangement. The bugs which were 8m tall and heavily armored acted as the tanks and were positioned at the front of the army, with the smaller more nimble bugs positioned directly behind them. Their entire arrangement were shaped like the jaws of an ant. Flanks on either sides and a killing zone in between protected by these tanks. The entire formation was flexible and could be detached and moved very easily. Clearly these bug-like aliens were taking this battle very seriously. The hunger for blood and intent to kill flared from those compound eyes. At the very back of this formation, a two legged armored being which was 6m in height walked forward. Unlike the other bugs which had forelimbs, this one had a pair of arms covered in it''s carapace. Its steps were steady and filed with an inestimable amount of power. A large black object was present on it''s back. Its face was completely covered with the chitin helmet, exposing on it''s compound eyes. Unlike it''s brethren however, these eyes were filled with calmness and intelligence. With a voice that could be described as a shrill scream, it addressed the other bugs, in a unknown language. ¡ºTheir defenses are down. Kill them all.¡» Chapter 88: Facing the Monsters. "ROAR!!!!!" With a collective roar that shook the very earth, the army of alien bugs started to rush towards the compound walls. The charge of thousands of bugs preceded by their killing intent which intensified once more, served to further demoralize the human soldiers atop the wall. If not for the fear for the lives of their family members, most of whom were living inside the base. There was no doubt that every soldier would have abandoned their posts to flee for their lives. After all, who would want to face an army of unknown beings which looked like machines of slaughter. "Hold your positions, men. Raise the energy barriers! Pulse Cannons, charge and fire at the enemy!!" the Base Commander had finally made it to the top of the compound walls. Using his loud, authoritative voice he commanded the soldiers. Though he tried to be confident, the slight tremble in his tone, showed how afraid he really was. Finally regaining a semblance of their rationality, the soldiers got to their positions. No matter who their enemy was, be it man or monster, it was their duty to guard their base. Even if it cost their lives. The energy barriers stirred into action. With the infuse of energy, a bluish-white transparent dome surrounding the entire base. Seeing this energy barrier, the hearts of the soldiers slightly relaxed. The pulse cannons mounted atop the walls, finally stirred into action. Pointing their barrels at the areas were the enemy had the greatest concentration, the weapon slowly charged into action. An enormous amount of energy gathered at the barrel, before slowly being converted into plasma which was then compressed. The alien army felt the dense energy gathering at the walls. Their fearless charge slowed down greatly before coming to a stop. The 8m tall ''Tanker Bugs'', formed a wall at the very front wanting to stop this shot with their body. At this moment, the fully armored, 6m tall ''Leader Bug'' gave out a shrill command. It then curiously watched the dense energy gathering at the top of the walls. Feeling the nature of the energy, it shook it''s head in mockery. It suddenly raised one of its arms and pointed towards the sky. The exoskeleton on it''s arms retracted to reveal a sickly, slender limb holding a transparent crystal. It gave another shrill scream, before throwing it into the sky. ¡ºBless us! O'' Great Mother!¡» Seeing this scene, a ominous feeling grew within the heart of the Base Commander. He hurriedly shouted another command. "HURRY UP WITH THAT SHOT!" "But Sir, the cannons are still charging." one of the men in charge of the pulse cannon shouted in response. "I DON''T CARE! SHOOT IMMEDIATELY!!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. Unfortunately, it was too late. The transparent crystal which was thrown into the sky, floated for a single second before abruptly shattering. A large pulse of transparent energy was emitted with the crystal as the center. The pulse cannons which were in the process of charging suddenly had their energy sources being cut off. The bluish-white barrier which surrounded the walls also abruptly flickered a few times, before suddenly disappearing. The heart of the Base Commander dropped in fear. "What?! WHAT''S HAPPENING?!!" the Base Commander screamed in fear. With a face filled with incredulity, the cannoneer spoke in a trembling tone, "Th-that!..... The energy suddenly disappeared! None of our machines work!!" his voice containing the disbelief he felt. The First Law of Thermodynamics states that, energy can neither be created nor destroyed. However, at this very moment, the Universe failed to follow this fundamental law. The energy which had been gathered inside the pulse cannon, abruptly disappeared. "Finished! We are all finished!" no longer able to maintain his calm, the Base Commander''s mentality collapsed. He immediately fled, not caring about the life and death of his soldiers. The army of alien bugs which had hunkered down in response to that frightening energy, once again rose up and started to move towards the base. This time however, a small portion of the alien bugs stopped a their positions and started to scream. A few hundred of these 2m tall, bony and slender bugs started to coordinate with it''s brethren. Their throats started to expand and contract and a whitish-black energy started to gather. Some of the relatively calm soldiers attentively watched the actions of these bugs. They had already resolved to fight to their deaths. Watching the enemy act queerly they observed intently for a possible weakness. Seeing a mysterious energy gather, they were confused. Alex, Olivia and Reyna who were also atop the compound walls were also among the people observing. Seeing the whitish-black energy gathering in the throats of the bugs, they immediately identified it. "That''s....! It''s soul power!!" Olivia shouted in realization. "EVERYONE GET DOWN!!" Alex had also recognized that fearsome power and immediately warned the other soldiers. Watching the Base Commander flee his post and abandon his men had filled Alex with righteous anger. For a lack of a better leader, this 19 year old young man decided to take the role of the commander. ''Only if these men survive, will we have a chance at fighting back!'' "DO NOT EXPOSE YOUR BODIES TOWARDS THE ENEMY! FIND COVER IMMEDIATELY!" he continued to command the soldiers. After doing so, he pulled Reyna and Olivia into cover. All the soldiers atop the wall heard his command. Although they were unsure of who this voice belonged to or what his position in the army was, they complied without fail. Hearing that righteous voice filled with confidence, their hearts instinctively hoped. Their minds thought, ''Maybe the situation isn''t that bad after all.'' That tiny light of possibility, that they might be able to survive this ordeal, shone through the darkness they felt. Immediately complying, all the soldiers dived towards the nearest cover. Most of them found it, but some weren''t so lucky. The stationary group of bugs, suddenly spit a long stream of whitish-black light, which immediately reached the compound. Some of the soldiers who were accidently hit by it or weren''t able to find shelter in time, felt their bodies burning. "AHHHHHHHHHH!!!" the screams of the injured soldiers rose sky high. Their bodies, were dissolving into a blood puddle. Their muscles, organs, bones, every single part of their body dissolved into a puddle of blood. Their screams slowly died down and silence was restored atop the walls. The others who had seen these men die paled in fear. Despair started to overcome their hearts. "DO NOT BE AFRAID!! AS LONG AS WE AVOID THOSE SHOTS WE WILL BE FINE!" Alex''s voice sounded out once more. Having gained a moment of respite, the soldiers finally laid their eyes on the person who had warned them in advance. Seeing the red-haired youth, all of them without question were stunned. Standing in the center of this group of soldiers, Alex waited till all eyes were placed upon him. Not bothering about the incredulous gazes directed at him, Alex spoke with a bold voice. "I know most of you are scared! Scared of facing an army of unknown aliens. Aliens which mysteriously appeared and are intent on killing all of us!" "I also understand that you are feeling confused! Confused about the situation you are currently in. Some of you perhaps think it''s a dream." "But let me tell you, this isn''t a dream! "Those alien bugs are very real. That fear you are feeling is very real. Those questions on your mind are very real." "But this feeling, I must ask you to push it down. Set aside the questions you feel. Bury it deep within your heart!" "Because right now, our very survival is at stake! The survival of our families and friends behind us are in question!" "So I ask you, to push aside that fear and face the enemy! Fight like your lives depended on it, because it does!" "The enemy is at our doorstep, expecting an easy slaughter. Tell me are we going to give it to them!" he questioned "No!" the people around him replied. Seeing the light of battle returning to the eyes of the soldiers, Alex shouted loudly once again. "SO TELL ME MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS! ARE YOU READY TO DIE? AT THE HANDS OF THESE VERMIN!" "NO!" the soldiers collectively resounded. "READY TO SACRIFICE THE LIVES OF OUR FAMILIES BEHIND US?" "NOO!" "READY TO SACIRIFICE THE LIVES OF THE CITIZENS OF THE ALLIANCE?" "NOOO!" "THEN LISTEN TO MY COMMANS AND FOLLOW ME INTO BATTLE!" Saying so Alex retrieved the spear which was on his back and ran towards the front of the wall. The front runners of the army charging towards them had almost reached the base of the walls. Taking a deep breath and circulating his soul power, Alex felt an incredible amount of energy fill his body. Roaring at the top of his lungs once more, he instructed. "Grab your knives and blades and come help me hold the enemy!" "YES SIR!!" the soldiers replied with great gusto and immediately acted upon his orders. Since their plasma cannons and pulse rifles did not seem to work, they were going the old fashioned way. Blades and bodies, facing the enemy at close range. For the first time in human history, they had come across the existence of another intelligent race. Unfortunately, it began with a war. Chapter 89: Defeat. BANG! The large bodies of the ''Tanker Bugs'' crashed into the tall compound walls. The Tanker Bugs had 6 legs which were thin but long. It''s body was wide with a large carapace completely covering the surface of it''s body. A long thorax connected a small head which contained it''s multiple eyes. The height of the walls were approximately 14m tall, therefore allowing the soldiers on the top to attack the enemies below. Alex led the attack. Using his soul power, he strengthened his spear and sharpened the air at the tip of the blade. He was mindful of the amount of soul power being used, not staking it all at once like the time at the warehouse. Ever since he had seen Lucius fight at the warehouse using his soul power, Alex had practiced to efficiently manage the usage of his soul energy. He had learnt how to use less to do more. As for the results of his practice, it was apparent in the current battle. "Diee!" Alex roared as he fiercely stabbed into the head of the giant ''Tanker Bug'' below him. His spear was directed towards the large compound eyes, which he had guessed to be it''s weakness. The spear stabbed forth and dug into the creature''s eye effortlessly. Although a layer of protective covering was present atop it''s eyes, Alex''s spear which was boosted by his soul power tore through it. "Screech!" the Tanker Bug let out a loud, grating sound. It''s shrill voice followed by its fierce slamming on the wall, served to worsen their current scenario. Seeing that it had not died, Alex immediately readjusted his grip on the spear. Holding the spear sideways, he leveraged his body against the wall and turned the stab into a slash. Alex aimed to tear head of the creatures. In a struggle involving all his strength, the spear began to move sideways and fiercely severed the Tanker Bug''s head. The body of the creature suddenly stiffened before collapsing into the ground, crushing the bodies of the smaller bugs down below in the process. "Yes!" seeing the creature finally dying, Alex rejoiced. Turning around he headed towards another position before doing the same. He also shouted the method to deal with these creatures to the other soldiers atop the wall. Just as they had dealt with the initial assault of thirteen Tanker Bugs, the soldiers who had been rejoicing at their victory suddenly felt a change in the battlefield. Alex''s instincts also warned him of incoming danger. The bodies of the ''dead'' Tanker Bugs, suddenly started to twitch. Starting from small twitches, the bodies then trembled, before soon they started to rapidly shake. "Something''s wrong!" one of the soldiers voiced out. Before they could comprehend this unnatural phenomena, the supposedly ''dead'' Tanker Bugs suddenly let out another screech. Using their large forelimbs, they gathered the surrounding smaller bugs and abruptly threw them to the top of the wall. One soldier who was leaning from the wall, spitting at the corpses on the ground suddenly felt the hairs on his back, stand straight. ''What''s happening?'' his mind instinctively questioned, when he felt a sudden gust of wind in his neck. Reaching down to touch his neck, he pulled his hands back to check them, only to see it stained with crimson blood. ''What the hell?'' he thought to himself. Touching the same spot once again with both his hands, he felt the warm blood touch his fingers, seemingly flowing out of his neck. Strangely though, he did not feel any pain. Under the astounded and fearful gazes of the people around him, he turned back to see a 2-3m tall bug staring at him with it''s compound eyes. It''s body was covered with a slender carapace which shined black, under the reflection of the sunlight. In the place of it''s arms were two forelimbs, which contained a sickle like attachment. On the whole, it was strangely similar to the mantises. Seeing his enemy in such proximity to him, the soldier wanted to scream, only to find himself unable to open his mouth. Actually, he wasn''t able to feel any part of his body. With his confused gaze, he saw the world suddenly tilt before falling down and facing the sky. He was beheaded in one single move. The ''Sickle Bug'' in front of the man, had used the thin sickles present on it''s forelimbs to swipe across the man''s neck in a single move. The attack was so fast that most of the trained soldiers failed to notice it. Removing their gaze from the body of the dead man, they raised their heads to stare at the killer. The mantis like Sickle Bug was quietly staring at them, it eyes containing mockery and glee. It seemed to rejoice at the look of despair present on their faces. Alex who had also seen this scene had a pale face. With his outstanding vision and the assistance provided by his soul power, he was able to see the movement of the Sickle Bug. ''It would take at least 5 men to bring down one of these bugs, losing at least two in the process.'' his mind analyzed. Looking around, Alex saw a few hundred men atop the wall with him, with a maximum of 500 soldiers serving as reinforcement from the other areas of the base. With the help and sacrifice of all these men, Alex calculated that he could bring down 160 Bugs at most. However, there was a slight catch. Looking at the scene before him, he saw no less than three thousand sickle bugs heading towards the base. Apart from the ones heading towards the walls and the ones down below, there were already three hundred Sickle Bugs, atop the wall. Not to mention, there were at least a hundred of the Tanker Bugs, including the the thirteen, ''recently returned from death.'' ''It''s over.'' the rational part of his mind told him. There was no way to change this situation, The morale which he had worked so hard to restore was completely destroyed. The soldiers were frozen in fear, as they saw the Sickle Bugs slaughtering their fellow companions. Their will to fight had been lost. At this point the odds were completely against them. Even a miracle could not save them. ''No!'' alas, Alex would not give up. "I can''t die under the hands of these vermin! I''m a Hellwig! I descended from a family of great generals. A chosen one!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. Gripping the spear in his hand with such force that the whites in his hand started to show, Alex stated. "I WILL KILL EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE BUGS!!" Driving his soul power to it''s maximum, Alex directly jumped into the heat of the battle. Executing his spear arts, while infusing soul power into each and everyone of his moves, Alex bravely fought. The Sickle Bug which had taken the first kill, saw itself facing a red-haired human. ¡ºSo. Weak¡»it thought to itself. Just as it was about to slash at this red-haired human who seemed to not know the meaning of death, the Sickle Bug suddenly felt it''s world darkening. It body lost it''s power and slumped to the ground. Alex had pierced it''s head in a single move. Continuing to fight in such a reckless fashion, Alex kept moving to places where the soldiers were being attacked. In a single yet spectacular move of offence, he quickly killed the bugs in record time. ''I can do this!'' he thought to himself, as the felt infinite power filling his body. ------------------ It took Alex less than five minutes for the feeling of infinite power fade away. His body had lost all it''s energy and his soul power was completely empty. To his defense, he had killed nearly 50 Sickle Bugs, creating a region filled with corpses around him. None of the other bugs dared to approach this crazy man as they moved around his body, heading towards the others behind him. Alex wanted to help the others. Alas, he could not move his body, solely with his willpower. ''Am I going to die?'' he thought to himself, before suddenly bursting out into laughter. ''I haven''t even kissed a girl, yet. How embarrassing.'' he thought deprecatingly. Turning his head around, he saw the scenes of hell around him. The Sickle Bugs, no longer being stopped flooded into the other soldiers behind him in groups, much like locusts. Some people still staked their lives to fight, however it was futile. Not a single person lasted for more than 5 seconds against the bugs while fighting alone. The number of soldiers had already dropped by a frightening number, with less than fifty remaining in the battlefield. In the distance, he could see two young women, fighting with the Sickle Bugs with all their might. One with golden hair like the sun, the other with black hair similar to the night. Their beauty was without compare, even though they were smeared with blood and dirt. Similar to his own battlefield, a dozens of corpses similarly surrounded their bodies. ''Olivia and Reyna are also fighting huh? They seem to be doing good.'' he thought to himself. Exactly at this moment, he saw both the girls suddenly drop to the ground with their bodies stiffening. It seems that they had run out of soul power too. A look of despair was present on both their faces, as another group of Sickle Bugs headed towards them, hoping to finally get rid of these annoying humans. ''It''s finally over.'' Alex thought as he close his eyes. Chapter 90: Slaughter. The sharp sickle attached to the forelimbs of the Sickle Bug cut through the air, heading towards the necks of Reyna and Olivia. Both of their soul powers had been exhausted in the previous battle, resulting in the current situation where their bodies were paralyzed. Dozens of corpses belonging to both man and monster laid beneath their feet. Kneeling atop this pile of corpses, they could only watch as their death impended. Completely surrounded by twenty or so Sickle Bugs, they could not even escape. Around them human soldiers dropped life flies, without the slightest bit of resistance. Morale was completely shattered and the soldiers were being slaughtered en masse. Time seemed to slow down at this moment, as Olivia and Reyna felt their respective lives flash before their eyes. Streams of tears began to fall from her eyes, as Olivia recalled her hometown, her childhood, and her father. Olivia''s mother had passed away when Olivia was still a little child. Having no memories of her mother, Olivia''s life centered around two people her Father and Lucius. One had brought her up, cared for her and had taught her. The other, was her joy. ''Why did he suddenly change so much? What happened to that cheery and bright boy, who was fascinated by everything and always smiled?'' she wondered within herself. Alas, Lucius was not here. Still, Olivia did not blame him. Although he was strong. Much more powerful than what she could imagine, she believed that even his strength could not change this situation. ''I wonder if he has escaped form here. As long as he''s safe, then my sacrifice is not without meaning.'' Olivia thought to herself. Closing her eyes, she resolved herself for death. Reyna on the other hand also cried. Her eyes were filled with unwillingness and fear. ''I don''t want to die! I want to live my life, with Father, Olivia, Alex and.... Lucius. I don''t want this to end here!'' Unlike Olivia who had resolved herself, Reyna was no willing to accept it. She still held on to that tiny bit of hope. Wishing for a miracle that would save everyone and defeat these monsters. Unfortunately wishes were called such for a reason. They never came true. The sickle of that repulsive bug continued to head closer and closer to her neck. Nothing seemed to change. She closed her eyes tightly, praying within her heart. ''PLEASE GOD! HELP ME TIDE OVER THIS, JUST THIS ONCE! I SWEAR THIS WILL BE THE FIRST AND LAST TIME I EVER ASK FOR SOMETHING! I PROMISE TO NO LONGER BE WILFUL. I PROMISE TO TRY HARDER AND BECOME STRONGER." ''PLEASE HELP ME THIS ONCE!'' Reyna prayed. She felt the cold blade touch her slender neck. The blade slowly moved forward, before coming to a stop. Call it divine providence or fate. Maybe there really existed a God, who had heard her prayer. For when Reyna opened her eyes, she could see the back of a person. A strong back, wearing a black Academy issued uniform. Looking at this scene, Reyna felt her fears disappearing for she knew that she was saved. ''Lucius!'' the name resounded within her mind. A voice was then carried over to her ears. "Disappointing. Absolutely disappointing." Lucius spoke twice, before shaking his head. And disappointed he was. Over the entire course of the battle, Lucius had never run away or hid in fear. Standing atop a watchtower he was silently observing the soldiers down below. Initially, when he had seen Alex deliver a speech and recover the lost morale, he had nodded his head in satisfaction. But that was it. Every single action of the trio, after this point had been disappointing. ''A general must lead, not rush to the front lines and fight. He helped the soldiers recover their morale, but never gave them instructions to fight. He was too rash and hotheaded, eager to save the people before him, yet disregarding the situation on the whole.'' ''This is the person called the ''Great General''? How pathetic.'' Lucius clicked his tongue in disappointment. Moving his gaze over to Reyna and Olivia, he was further displeased. ''Reyna is not a front-line fighter. Her strengths lay in the field of machinery and technology. Instead of working on restoring the pulse cannons, she chose to fight with her hands. A foolish choice.'' ''Olivia. Her performance is even more disappointing. Not trained in any fighting techniques, improper usage of her soul power, lacking strength. She is being more a hindrance than of help in the battlefield. Apart from her admirable resolve and iron will, she is completely useless.'' he concluded. Looking at the girl calmly accepting her death, Lucius shook his head and stated "A disposable pawn." There was no point in trying to train a disposable pawn. It would only result in Lucius wasting his time. So what if her soul was different and new? There was no point in a training a useless person, even if said person had the greatest talent. This entire battle had made Lucius to be much displeased. He could not watch quietly any longer and had to save this base from complete annihilation. His future plans hinged on the survival of this base. Casually gripping his scythe in one hand, Lucius swung it towards the Sickle Bugs surrounding the two girls. Instantly, the Sickle Bugs were dissected into two parts, split exactly at their centers. The entire battlefield paused at this moment. Alex, Oliva, Reyna, the remaining soldiers, the alien bugs, all of them looked at this young man who stood at the center of the field. Apart from being very good-looking, he looked no different from the other human beings. Yet, when he spoke and the way he stood before them the bugs understood something. All their minds had the exact same thought at this moment. ¡ºThis ''being'' is very dangerous!¡» Looking around with his indifferent eyes, Lucius blandly spoke. "Playtime''s over. Just die." Immediately upon uttering that last word, an earth-shattering aura was released from Lucius'' body. Reddish-black mist surrounded him, creating numerous wind blades. The ground underneath his feet started to freeze and burn at places. [Killing Intent] was released at the entirety of what his soul could handle. While it''s effects were weaker than when he had accidently released it in the warehouse district, it was still much greater than what he usually reveals. His dark black pupils had two crimson rings on them. The alien bugs strangely felt exposed when being stared at, by those eyes. His gaze was still indifferent, but an unmistakable look of slaughter was present in its depths. Lucius eyes flashed crimson for a moment before disappearing. He had used used [Charm] on the Sickle Bugs. "Come over here." he instructed in his monotonous voice. The aliens then saw this young man take a deep breath and grip the scythe with both his hands. Their bodies and minds were already paralyzed by his killing intent, as they felt their lives fleeing from within their hands. It was at this moment, this ''being'' suddenly vanished from their sights. "[Dance of the Death God]: First Movement-Slash." an indifferent voice sounded across the battlefield as they felt their vision rapidly turning dark. For the first time since his return, Lucius was truly going all-out. ---------------------- The soldiers atop the walls watched the scene before their eyes in shock. The bugs which had been attacking them, strangely stopped moving and started to head towards the youth. It was then that their fears completely disappeared, being overwritten by shock. That''s not it, they felt fear too. Except it wasn''t towards the alien bugs, but towards this newly arrived youngster. With a scythe in his hand, this youngster strangely kept disappearing and appearing in their visions. Every time that he appeared in their vision, he was always in front of a group of Sickle Bugs and casually swung his large weapon. After doing so, he would disappear once again before repeating this process all over again. The Sickle Bug groups whom he had passed, would have their bodies frozen for a few moments. Just as the soldiers wondered what was happening, the bodies of all the bugs started to vertically split and the two halves fell on either side of the ground. The blood and guts of the Sickle Bugs spilled into the ground, as a blood mist started to form in the air. Many of the battle hardened soldiers could no longer hold their guts watching this scene. Many of them started to throw up. Strangely however, not a single drop of blood touched that youngster''s body. The reddish-black aura which was being released by him, froze or burned the blood falling in his direction. His clothes were spotless and his face was still. No emotions could be seen present on his face. There was neither madness, joy, dullness, etc. It was simply blank. His eyes were calm and indifferent as he slaughtered the Sickle Bugs. From the look of it, one could infer that he simply seemed to used to this. Before long, Lucius had completely eliminated every single Sickle Bug present atop the wall. However a queer sight greeted him. Both the sides, the soldiers atop the wall and the aliens underneath the wall. All without fail, stood in absolute silence. Their bodies quivered with fear, as they they watched this young man silently stare at them with his indifferent eyes. At this moment, man and monster had a feeling. A feeling which originated from the very depths of their souls! A feeling of primal fear which told them..... Upon that wall stood Death, The Ender of Lives. Chapter 91: Facing an Army. Taking no notice of the frightened gazed which were directed at him, Lucius turned around and walked up to Alex. "Wa-wait. wha-what are you doing?" seeing this ''lunatic'' heading towards him, Alex immediately tried to raise his hands in defense. His arrogance was completely absent, fear taking root in his heart. He was truly afraid of this ''monster'', whose strength seemed to have no limits. Not bothering to reply, Lucius simply reached his hand out. Grabbing Alex by his shoulder, he circulated his soul power and started to replenish Alex''s empty reserves. Feeling the recovery of his soul power, Alex was astonished. He felt a much purer and denser energy fill his body, restoring his body and removing his paralysis. The wounds on his body also began to recover. "Gather the remaining soldiers and prepare for battle. Separate them into proper teams and direct the battle. Do not have them engage in close-combat. Have them support me from long range." cutting straight to the point, Lucius relayed his orders. Seeing Alex have a lost look in his face, Lucius added. "If you fail to obey my commands or your men execute it incorrectly, I will kill you." he stated. Rather than call it a threat, he made it sound as if it was obvious. Unruffled by Alex''s rapidly paling face, Lucius then continued towards the direction of the girls. Arriving in front of them, he repeated the same actions, reaching out to heal and recover their soul power. Reyna continued to stare directly at him, her eyes filled with uneasiness and nervousness. Olivia on the other hand, had her head hung low. She did not dare face his gaze, for she had clearly heard his comment when he appeared to rescue them. ''Disappointing. Absolutely disappointing.'' Although Lucius did not direct it towards any single person and seemed to be remarking on the soldiers as a whole. Olivia clearly felt his displeasure towards her. She knew that she had let down his expectations. Lucius could not be bothered with her mood and indifferently ordered. Turning towards Reyna he said, "Gather the engineers and technicians. Find a way to restore power and activate the energy weapons and barrier. You have 15 minutes to complete your task." Reyna directly nodded her head. Lucius then turned to Olivia and continued in the same indifferent tone. "And you. Borrow a squad of soldiers and work on restoring order within the base. Something big will happen later and we cannot afford to have internal chaos." Saying so, he directly stood up and walked towards the edge of the wall. All the above mentioned actions took Lucius a few minutes to complete. Even so not a single enemy standing down below had moved. Their bodies were still frozen for they dared not to displease this frightening being. Lucius ignored these small fries. His gaze peered across the battlefield to look at the black armored being who stood at the very back. This one, unlike it''s alien brethren was not frozen in shock. It was pleasantly surprised to find the existence of a strong being like Lucius but was not overly worried. It seemed to be confident or maybe had a backup plan. Perhaps both. Either way, the confrontation between the two parties could not be avoided. It directly met Lucius'' gaze and nodded it''s head, seemingly recognizing his strength. "Tch, how annoying. A slightly bigger ''ant'' dares to challenge me." he clicked his tongue in annoyance. Still this was a fight meant to happen. A test that he had to face. No matter how much Lucius demeaned his opponent, he still understood two thing. He wasn''t the Stage 7 [Killer] he previously was. And that black armored bug was stronger than him. ''[Killer Vision] tells me that, that bug is at Stage 1 Peak Level. Much stronger than the current me. This will not be an easy fight.'' he inwardly thought. Stretching his muscles, Lucius prepped himself for the battle. There was no doubt that it was going to be a long battle. He would be surrounded on all the sides, he would inadvertently get injured, his soul power would be exhausted. Perhaps even the soldiers atop the walls might not help him, not that he was counting on them anyway. Lucius would have to face this battle all alone, depending on only himself and his strength. Still this was exactly how he liked it. Him and his scythe surrounded by thousands of enemies, whose lives were waiting to be cut down. Just the thought of it was euphoric. ''Plus, this is a good chance to complete my [Killer] soul''s advancement condition by a fair margin.'' To recall, the advancement condition for the [Killer] soul type into Stage 2 was, taking the lives of 10,000 Grade 3 species. The alien bugs beneath the walls, perfectly fit this condition. Their numbers were also in the few thousands. Just as Lucius was preparing to jump down, a weak voice was transmitted into his mind. "...are those, my children I sense?" the dark-gold crystal in his pocket shone with a dim light, as Ka''lor''ah exhausted voice sounded out. Lucius was not surprised. Rather than surprised, he was waiting for this very moment. "Yes. The Ordeals for the Ascension have already begun while you were asleep." he replied. "I see. Allow me to absorb their life force, once you kill them. Remember to leave the Life Crystals of the bigger ones for me." Ka''lor''ah indifferently stated, to which Lucius simply nodded in response. Gripping his scythe with both his hands, Lucius directly jumped down. The shrill scream of the ''Leader Bug'' sounded as it ordered the others. ¡ºKill this human!¡». Immediately upon hearing that command, the previously immobile Sickle Bugs and Tanker Bugs, immediately rushed towards Lucius. Hundreds of enemies in his immediate vicinity raised their forelimbs and close in upon him with their blades. Stepping forward, Lucius closed his eyes. He manipulated his soul power to create a field surrounding him. Any creature that entered this field would be immediately sensed by him. In a 1vGroup scenario, especially in fights were one is surrounded by an army of beings. it was absolutely foolish to only rely on one''s eyes or ears. No matter how sensitive or trained one''s six senses are, it was bound to fail against enemies of such numbers. Sensing through his soul power, however was entirely different. It allowed him to ''feel'' every single thing within it''s radius. Mistakes were still bound to happen, at least they would be lesser in numbers. Feeling dozens of Sickle Bugs directly entering his field, Lucius immediately moved. Holding his scythe horizontally with his hands, he directly slashed at the oncoming enemies. "First Movement- Slash." he gently said. The bugs which had entered his range were immediately sliced in half, not a single one surviving. While this was an astonishing feet in the eyes of the people above, to Lucius who was facing thousands of such numbers, it was just an ordinary attack. Not stopping his attack in the slightest, Lucius stepped forward once again and moved his scythe diagonally, cutting another few Sickle Bugs in the process. His steps were firm and his movements were light. The scythe continued to rip and tear in Lucius '' hands as batch after batch of Sickle Bugs were dispatched en masse. Lucius'' movements continued to become increasingly fluid, as he started to chain every attack. A strike from the top, a quick flick at the bottom, a diagonal slash aimed at their thorax, his feet continuously moved as his soul power continued to pour into the weapon. From afar, he seemed to be dancing. And it truly was a graceful dance. The scene of a handsome young man, who seemed to be less than 18 years of age holding onto to a beautiful scythe which pulsed with crimson veins leaking baleful energy, was something that none of the people present would ever forget. His slaughter was unimpeded as the bugs continued to die. Some tried to sneak onto him from behind while others tried to play dead and assassinate. Alas, both these types were destined to fail. Under the effect of his soul power''s sensing, he could immediately find such attempts and effectively block them. The other thing that was unimpeded was the the transparent stream of energy which seemed to endlessly flow into his pocket. Inside his pocket was a small dark-gold crystal which devoured all this energy without pause. It''s size slowly started to grow and the its brightness also seemed to increase. "Ah! Such pure life energy. As expected of me who created them. Good job me!" Ka''lor''ah weakness had disappeared and her usual jovial personality had returned once again. "MORE! Give me MORE! FILL ME UP!!" her tone went an octave lower. A stranger listening to this scene was bound to have a ''misunderstanding''. "Shut---!" Just as Lucius was about to shout at her to shut up, he was interrupted by a loud roar. "ROOOAAAAAR!" "ROOOOOAAAAAR!" Well, two loud roars to be exact. Two large ''Tanker Bugs'', one headless and the other normal, rushed towards Lucius. They did not seem to care about the smaller Sickle Bugs present underneath their feet, as they continued to stomp over them as they rushed. "Great, it''s these guys! Quick! Get me their life crystals!" Ka''lor''ah screamed in delight. Much like a small child who had laid her eyes on candy. Lucius who was getting a headache over her behavior, directed his anger towards the two ''Tanker Bugs.'' Their end was not going to be pretty. Chapter 92: Interlude Two long shadows were cast upon Lucius body. Looking up, the two Tanker Bugs had already closed into his soul power''s detection field. Their forelimbs which were shaped like battering rams, headed with ferocious power to where Lucius was standing. Unlike the common misconception where, larger bodies=slower movement speeds. These Tanker Bugs were just as fast as their smaller brethren, the Sickle Bugs. ''Tch'' with a small click of his tongue, Lucius raised his head to look at the large cylindrical forelimbs, head towards him with a ferocious power. Due the speed and strength behind the attack, coupled with the effects of soul power, the air around it''s limbs distorted. Just as the two parties were about to make contact, Lucius who was standing below suddenly disappeared. The attack landed on the empty ground, creating a large crater in place. "Too slow." just as the two Tanker Bugs were wondering, where their target had disappeared an indifferent voice sounded atop them. Shocked, they immediately turned around. Unfortunately it was all too late. At the every moment Lucius had noticed the powerful attack directed towards him, he had immediately exploded the soul power at his feet. This initial thrust along with a powerful jump, boosted Lucius into the air at blistering speeds. So much so, that he seemed to have directly teleported into the air. From mid-air he aimed his scythe towards the Tanker Bug which still had it''s head attached to it''s thorax. As it turned, Lucius immediately threw the scythe towards it''s head. The scythe left his hands and swirled through the air, carrying a powerful amount of soul energy and the baleful aura of ''Slash''. Before the Tanker Bug could fully turn it''s head and notice the attack, the scythe perfectly struck its joint and forced the Tanker Bug down towards the ground pinning it in the process. Lucius on the other hand, gathered his soul power into his palms creating a sharp blade of wind. Falling atop of the other Tanker Bug, he aimed his palm at the empty spot where it''s head had been previously. His slender, white palm met the hard exoskeleton of the Tanker Bug and sunk into it! Using his body''s weight as leverage, Lucius directed his hand to cut through the full length of it body. His palm sliced through its carapace, tearing a horizontal line across the length of its body. Just as he reached the mid-section of it''s body, his left arm which was currently free, abruptly moved and reached into it''s body. With an eagle-claw like grip, his arm entered the body of the Tanker Bug and suddenly felt the existence of a small, hard, pulsating object. Having found what he was looking for, Lucius closed his palm around the object and pulled his arm out. Hanging mid-air with his right hand holding onto the carapace of it''s body, Lucius opened his fingers to inspect the object. Atop his left hand was a transparent circular orb. It was the size of a tennis ball and was pulsating with energy and blood. "That''s it! Give it here!" Ka''lor''ah jumped out of Lucius'' pocket and rapidly began to consume the Life Crystal of the bug. The transparent orb continued to shrink in size, as Ka''lor''ah absorbed the energy within it. Without the presence of its Life Crystal, the upright standing Tanker Bug collapsed, truly dying this time. Lucius casually jumped of and smoothly landed onto the ground. Looking at the other Tanker Bug which was pinned onto the ground he could clearly see despair in it''s large compound eyes. "Quick! Catch that other fellow, before he detonates his crystal and suicides!" Ka''lor''ah ordered Lucius excitedly. Not bothering to get into an argument with her, Lucius silently walked over to the other bug, killing of the other smaller fries around him in the process. "Onwards!" she shouted once again, while stuffing herself with the other life crystal. ''This is going to be a long day.'' Lucius sighed within his mind. -------------------- The black armored ''Leader Bug'' had it''s large compound eyes narrowed in frustration as it looked at the scene before it. A single human, was slaughtering its army. Roughly fifteen minutes had passed since the start of the battle and it''s army had shrunk by 500 units. This single human had caused more damage than the entire colony of humans inside the large wall. Even worse was the fact that this human seemed to not tire and continued to kill it''s units with greater efficiency with each passing second. ¡ºAlthough this human is very strong, he seems to be weaker than me. Should I intervene?¡»the Leader Bug wondered. The purpose for this Leader Bug and the army of alien bugs for arriving at this planet was to test this new species of humans, prior to their ascension. This Leader bug was simply one from an uncountable number of other Leader Bugs who was sent to various corner of the Universe to facilitate the Ordeal. Directing the Ordeal was sacred mission entrusted to the it by the Great Mother, the progenitor and ruler of all the alien bugs. A being who was at the apex of the Universe, under the rule of the Lords. One could say, the very purpose for the Leader Bugs life was to conduct the Ordeals. This was it''s worth. Normally, the mission of the Leader Bug was to simply direct the battle and command the army while not directly participating. Once the army was successfully killed, the Leader Bug would disappear and the newly victorious species would then ascend. After all, the Ordeal was meant to be a test. Having a Stage 1 Peak Level life form such as itself, directly participate in combat would be overkill. By participating in battle, the Ascending species would have to prove it prowess to be worthy of the infinite cosmos. The strong survived while the weak perished. This time however, was clearly a special case. ¡ºThis human had clearly entered Stage 1. How is this possible?¡» As stated earlier, without undergoing Ascension, it was impossible for a life form to transcend it''s natural limits and enter Stage 1. This was due restrictions set by the Rules, which governed the functioning of the Universe. Just as the Leader Bug was having an internal struggle on whether to participate in this battle or not, it''s large compound eyes abruptly shrunk. A frightening amount of power was once again gathering atop those large walls. This time however, there was no transparent crystal to stop it. ¡ºMust kill this human!¡» Immediately, it dashed towards the Alliance base. ------------------- "It''s done. All energy systems are back online." Reyna spoke as she wiped the sweat and grime off her face. Standing upon a watchtower inside a temporary office, Alex who had heard her reply immediately instructed the men around them. These soldiers looked fresh and were bursting with energy and battle intent. The fifty scarred and wounded soldiers were no longer present atop the wall and were recovering somewhere inside the base. "It''s about time we show those filthy vermin the power of our weapons. Man you battle stations!" Alex commanded out loud. The soldiers and cannoneers immediately complied and started to prime the plasma cannons. Lining up the crosshair on the areas where the bug were greatly concentrated, they waited for the energy weapons to gather power. Reyna made her way towards Alex and climbed atop the watchtower. Her chest rose and fell with great regularity, as she struggled to breathe. Finding the source of the problem, deducing a solution, fixing all the energy weapons had taken a large amount of her mental and physical energy. Not to mention, she had to complete this in 15 minutes. ''Ah! I did just as Lucius instructed.'' she thought to herself, when she heard Alex''s solemn tone. "Reyna." "Um?" she raised her head to look at Alex whose face seemed to be extremely serious. "Something seems to be wrong with Olivia. Did something happen?" he asked her. Reyna immediately recalled the scene of Lucius arriving to save them. Hesitating for a moment, she finally relented under Alex''s intense gaze and explained the prior events to him. Hearing Reyna, an incredible amount of anger filled Alex''s face. Slamming his fist into the table before him, he cursed. "That bastard! How can he be so inconsiderate!" Regarding Alex''s outburst, Reyna did not intervene. Although she loved Lucius, even she felt that he had been way too cruel in demeaning Olivia. Being present during the scene, she could clearly feel Lucius'' words directed towards Olivia. "Does he know how hard Olivia had been working on her soul power and fighting techniques. She kept pestering me to teach her and duel with her, so much so that she forewent her breaks and sleep!" he continued to lash out. "Every free minute available to her, she spent on practicing and improving her strength. Just to meet that bastard''s expectation and to be recognized by him!" Being in the same base as Olivia, Alex understood how hard she had worked. The amount of blood and sweat she had invested in this period was something that even Alex was not confident of replicating with his mental state. Her resolve was too terrifying. No matter how tired she was or how much her injuries had hurt her, Olivia continued to practice and duel with Alex. Her skills and techniques had improved so much that even he was in awe at her talent. From being a complete newbie to having a 50% win rate against Alex, her frightening talent could clearly be seen. Even at the moment Reyna had met the both of them in the case, Olivia had been discussing fighting techniques with Alex. She was very eager to show her improvement to Lucius and earn his praise. Alas, her expectations were completely shattered. Just a single statement from him, had invalidated all her hard work. Taking multiple breaths to calm his rising anger, Alex spoke, "Please find her and talk to her. When she came to me to borrow troops for placating the inhabitants of the base, she looked completely lifeless." Reyna also wore a serious expression on her face as she nodded her head. "I understand." saying so, she left the temporary office to find Olivia. Turning his head around, Alex stared into the battlefield where Lucius was singlehandedly fighting against the army of bugs. ''What do you even want from us? When will we ever be good enough for you?'' he mused. "Men! Fire at my command! Let''s show these ants the power of mankind!" he bellowed. ----------------- Meanwhile in the battlefield. Feeling the energy gathering behind him, Lucius slightly nodded his head. The energy cannons had been repaired and their barrels were pointed towards the large hordes of enemies around him. ''Seems like trash does have it''s value after all.'' he thought to himself. He then turned his head to look at the rapidly speeding dot. "Looks like it can''t wait any longer." he softly spoke as the Leader Bug speedily approached him. Chapter 93: Duel on the Plains. Part 1 Tightening the grip on his scythe, Lucius immediately grew serious. He swung his scythe horizontally to clear the Sickle Bugs in his vicinity, gaining a few seconds of respite. Inhaling a deep breath of cold air, he retracted his [Killing Intent]. Battling against thousands of weaker bugs was not an issue for Lucius. As long as he remained careful and cautious he could continue to kill them, albeit taking a longer time. His only limitations in such a case was his stamina and his soul power. Of course, this could be easily solved by retreating and taking a short break to recover his energy. However, the black armored bug which was approaching him was completely different. "Indeed, my senses weren''t wrong. It''s at Stage 1 Peak Level." Lucius spoke once he analyzed his rapidly approaching opponent. "Of course, that''s the base standard at which I created them. Under normal situations, the Leaders would not participate in battle. You however are an anomaly, prompting it to participate in battle. " Ka''lor''ah remarked from inside his pocket. Her voice then turned serious as she continued. "It''s Soul Type is [Battle Bug Commander], a common rarity unique to it''s species. That is to say, its combat power would multiply by a coefficient of 1, for every 1000 Bugs that are still alive under it''s command." Releasing a large amount of the energy which she had just absorbed Ka''lor''ah''s senses swept across the battlefield. Her [Area Detection} ability was released at its full force. "4318 other life forms are currently present atop the battlefield." she informed Lucius of the exact number of enemies present. Cutting down another batch of the Sickle Bugs around him, Lucius released a sharp exhale. "That is to say, it''s combat prowess would be boosted by a multiplier of 4." he spoke emotionlessly. "Exactly. It will be similar to facing four, Stage 1 Peak Level beings." Ka''lor''ah sounded worried. No matter who or how strong Lucius had been in his previous life, right now he was only at Stage 1 Mid Level. His combat techniques, battle experience, control over soul power, none of it mattered in the face of true, absolute power. Facing such a being Lucius stood no chance of winning in a direct confrontation. Naturally this was something he knew and he obviously wasn''t foolish enough to challenge the stronger Leader Bug with his weaker strength. "That''s why we will be kiting it and wait for the humans atop the walls to fire the energy weapons." he directly spoke. Ka''lor''ah was also in agreement to this tactic, "That''s the best way. Have it chase after us, buy time for the humans at the base to cut down the numbers of its army." "Question is, how? Once it realizes what we are doing, its going to directly ignore you and head towards the base. Do not underestimate it''s intelligence." she warned him. "I never underestimate my opponents. As for drawing its attention, I have a solution." he blandly replied. He then reached into the pocket, where Ka''lor''ah resided. Grabbing onto the dark-gold crystal, lazily residing in his pocket, Lucius bought her out. "What are you d..?" just as she was about to complete her sentence, Lucius immediately threw the crystal into the air "With such an excellent bait in my hands, why would I be worried about how to draw its attention?" Lucius'' mouth curled into a cruel smile. "LET ME DOWN!" a voice screamed from within the crystal. Naturally Lucius did not pay any attention to her and continued to bounce the crystal into the air. During the throw he infused small amounts of his soul power and converted the energy into Ka''lor''ah''s aura. Wave after wave of an ancient, monarchical aura swept across the battlefield. "You beast! Is this how you treat your teacher!" Ka''lor''ah continued to scream. At the moment the dark-gold crystal had been brought out and the ancient aura leaked out, all the bugs in the battlefield paused for a moment. Their compound eyes carried a vacant look, with even the Leader Bug being included. Slowly the vacant look in their eyes, turned into on that of great desire and greed. That dark-gold crystal which was being bounced in Lucius hand, possessed an irresistible attraction towards them. ¡º Great Mother''s Blessing....!!¡»the Leader Bug absentmindedly mumbled. Seeing their reactions, Lucius gave out a small smile before speaking. "Want her blessing? Come and get it." he then immediately turned around and ran. ¡ºSTOP THAT HUMAN!!¡»the Leader Bug commanded before dashing off towards Lucius in greater speeds. Naturally, the other bugs did not need his instruction. The intense desire was clearly reflected in their eyes. Their natural instincts told them that no matter the cost, they had to consume that crystal. This army of alien bugs were not a naturally birthed species. Rather, they had been specifically created for the purpose of conducting ordeals. Every day, billions of such bugs fight in an unknown battlefield across the infinite Universe, killing or getting killed. Their strengths were limited to what they were born with and could never improve. They could neither transcend their mortal coils nor could they cultivate their soul powers. In short, they were created to be disposable pieces, whose only purpose was to fight for their creator. Still, none of the bugs ever thought their lives to be unfair. They felt ultimate joy in being able to serve her wishes. She was their Mother, their Queen and their God. Transcending their limits and becoming stronger, meant being able to serve her better. To shoulder more responsibilities and dedicate their lives to a greater degree. The Great Mother, who was also called The Myriad Species Queen. She was the one who had created these bugs and the one whom they dedicated their lives and existences too. A Stage 7 Peak Level existence, who stood at the very apex of the Universe. Being directly under the command of the ''Lords'', she was the one who managed the miscellaneous work in the Universe. The Myriad Species Queen, who''s known and feared for her knowledge, strength and her control over the ''Rules of Creation and ''Rules of Causality''. The very same being who was currently cursing Lucius at the top of her lungs. "How dare you treat me as a bait! Do you have no respect for your elders! I-I will not forget this humiliation!" she hissed in anger. The thing that Ka''lor''ah hated the most was being used by others. Well to be precise, ???????????????????????????? her. The one from the future who followed Lucius to execute their ''plans''. Lucius completely ignored her complaints and focused on kiting the army of bugs and the Leader Bug. The Leader Bug was rapidly closing in on him with it''s superior soul cultivation and physique. However, he wasn''t worried. While he may not be able to compete with the Leader Bug in terms of strength and soul power, competing in speed was entirely different. After all Lucius'' true strength lay, not in his skill or his experience, but in his overwhelming speed. Speed was his true forte. Detonating the soul power gathered at his legs, he increased his speed by almost two-hold. The running silhouette of Lucius transformed into a black line, cutting across the grey lands of Deatov. And thus began a long chase. A long ''train'' formed with Lucius being at the head, the black armored bug being 50m behind him, but not able to cross the remaining distance, the Sickle bugs behind them followed by the Tanker Bugs and the ''Spitter Bugs''(the ones who shot that stream of energy at the walls). --------------------- From atop of the compound walls of the base, all the soldiers were looking at this comical scene with a stupefied expression. Mere moments ago, the bugs and that youth in black were fighting to death with each other, not resting until the other party was dead. Now however, the bugs collectively stopped their attacks and were chasing after the youth with naked desire in their eyes. One of the cannoneers looked awkward as he turned to ask the red-haired youth standing atop a watch tower. "Commander, do we fire?" Alex who was looking at the distant chase with a pair of binoculars heard the question. Taking a deep breath he replied in a serious voice. "The enemy has been gathered up together and neatly lined. What more do you want them to do?" he spoke with obvious sarcasm. Without giving time for the soldier to reply, he bellowed. "Of course we fire! Let them know the price for underestimating us!" Receiving the command the officers below Alex relayed his commands. "Fire! Send those bugs back to the gutter!" "Fire!" BOOOM! BOOM! The plasma shots, containing an enormous amount of energy were finally released onto the enemy. Spheres of bluish-white light, tore through the surrounding air with their blistering speeds and frightening temperatures. Before the bugs could even react, two spheres of plasma landed right in the center of the long train. BOOM! With a thunderous explosion of light and sound, the world fell quiet. Wave after wave of heat spread across the desolate plains, with a mushroom cloud as it''s center. The surroundings were painted white before the visions of bugs turned black. The initial explosion of light had blinded the bugs. Instantly, hundreds of surrounding bugs caught amidst the explosion directly vaporized, not even leaving behind the ashes of their existence. The wave of energy and heat, continued to pass spread through the battlefield, injuring the other bugs to various extents. These two explosions marked the beginning of mankind''s endless struggle in the cosmos. A struggle which was destined to be vastly different from the one Lucius remembered. Chapter 94: Duel on the Plains. Part 2 How hot is plasma? If one isn''t getting into the specific science behind the technology, a common answer would be- very hot. About ten times hotter than the temperature at the center of the sun to be precise. So hot that one would not be able to feel the heat on their skin, before their very bodies vaporize. And this is precisely what happened to the Bugs. At the instant the two balls of compressed plasma landed in the middle of the long chain of bugs, approximately 2000 Sickle Bugs and 300 Tanker Bugs immediately died. Not a single scream was heard. Just complete silence. Just as the large mushroom cloud formed and subsequent waves of radiation and heat were about to spread, the Stage 1 Peak Level ''Leader Bug'' immediately reacted. Stopping its chase after Lucius, it immediately turned around placed both of it''s palms together. Wave after wave of ferocious soul power, which had condensed into the Solid Phase, started to flow out of it''s body and gather at its palm. Gathering almost forty percent of its entire soul power, the Leader Bug immediately channeled it and formed a mighty yellowish barrier, encompassing the large mushroom cloud. Caught within the barrier constructed with an enormous amount of soul power, the waves of destructive energy were unable to wreck further havoc. Destructive energy crashed time and time against the barrier of soul power which stood unshakable. ¡ºAll units, scatter!¡»it command with a shrill voice. All the above mentioned actions were performed in less than three seconds by the Leader Bug. Its feet staggered as it felt a extreme sense of weakness spreading throughout its body. Releasing forty percent of its soul power in a single move, not to mention the sudden loss of 2000+ units under it''s command, led to a serious decline of its powers. As it was about to readjust it''s body to compensate for this weakness, the Leader Bug suddenly felt sharp blades of wind heading towards it''s head. An ominous premonition rose within its heart. ¡ºDanger!¡»its mind screamed as it instinctively moved it''s body forward. A sharp blade cut through the air, where it''s head had been just a second ago. The Leader Bug rolled on the ground and regained its balance. It immediately turned around to face this new enemy. "Tch. It''s battle sense is too high." Lucius clicked his tongue. At the very moment that the balls of plasma were launched, Lucius had immediately turned around to engage the Leader bug in a close combat fight. He had expected a large amount of bugs to die in the initial explosion, when they are caught unaware and therefore prepared immediately launched his attack, the instant the Leader Bug''s back was turned. Unfortunately, he had failed. Although the battle prowess of the Leader Bug was cut down by half, it was still a frightening existence. Gripping his scythe with both his hands, Lucius lowered his body. His indifferent eyes were completely focused as he intensely stared at his opponent. The chest of the Leader Bug rose and fell as it raised both its hands to reach its back. A large, 2m tall hunk of flat metal, made of an unknown material hung in it''s back. Not giving it any time to equip it''s weapon, Lucius immediately kicked off the ground and dashed towards it. Red veins pulsed along the length of the scythe, as he raised his weapon. [Dance of the Death God: First Movement- Slash!] The scythe swung down diagonally, carrying with it a frightening momentum and strength. The air between the blade and the Leader Bug was torn apart as the weapon neared it thorax. TING! With a movement that could be described as instantaneous, the Leader Bug abruptly turned its body and blocked Lucius'' attack with the large, metal object on it''s back. Seeing that his attack had failed, Lucius immediately retreated. ¡ºToo late human!¡»the Leader Bug shrieked as it grasped the handle of the large metal sword on it''s back. Holding the large metal broadsword with its humongous hands, it leapt towards Lucius. ''So fast!'' Lucius'' mind screamed. A large gust of wind, coupled with a an overwhelming amount of pressure descended onto Lucius. An incredible amount of soul power was infused into the broadsword. The movements of the broadsword were swift and precise. Lucius who was mid-air in the process of retreating, could not evade this strike. "?!!" his pupils abruptly shrunk as he felt the massive amount of power head towards his body. If he was to get hit, he would immediately die. ''Meet power with greater power!'' deciding so, Lucius no longer tried to retreat. He immediately changed his grip over the scythe. His left hand held the center of the shaft, while his right hand gripped the curve of it''s concave blade. Pulling the scythe closer and positioning it at the center of his chest, he started to crazily circulate his soul power. Soul power started to flow from within his mindspace and into his body. Starting at his head, it flowed along his neck following the spine, before gathering at his two hands. Some amounts of soul power also gathered at the center of his chest. Lucius closed his eyes as the reddish-black soul power started to furiously gather and rotate within the pathways of his hands and his chest. An overwhelming amount of power, multiple times greater than his peak strength, leaked from his body. Sensing the scary amount of power radiating off the body of the human present before it, the Leader Bug wanted to retreat. Alas, it''s broadsword was centimeters away from Lucius and it could no longer pull back. Just as the broadsword was about to make contact with his body, Lucius'' eyes snapped open. A bright crimson light leaked from his eyes as his hands holding the large scythe suddenly blurred. ''[Dance of the Death God: Second Movement- Shred!]'' he bellowed within his mind. The soul power gathered along his hands and his chest, gushed out into the scythe and exploded. Coupled with the movement of his hands, which could no longer he tracked with one''s eyes, the two forces met. BANG! With the thunderous sound of a great impact, a crater formed at the center of the two forces. The ground under their feet was pulverized. A huge amount of dust immediately scattered and the silhouettes of both the parties were hidden behind this smoke-screen. Just as there seemed to be no further movement, two bodies clothed in black flew in opposite directions. A large amount of blood spilled into the air and two large, fleshy objects fell from the sky. One was a portion of the upper-body covered in hard, black carapace. The other was a pale, slender arm. --------------------- Alex who stood upon the compound walls, was watching the entire battle through a pair of binoculars. Looking at the two parties separate after the initial exchange, he unconsciously swallowed a lump of saliva stuck in his throat. After the initial volley, he hadn''t given the command for the next shot. It wasn''t because he had taken sudden pity on the bugs, but because of their subsequent scattering. While plasma cannons were very powerful and destructive, they had one great flaw. It was slow! The time taken to reload after a single shot was almost a minute. While this might not sound like a lot, considering the speed at which those Bugs moved, this minute was equal to an eternity. After the bugs scattered, they did not seem to want to rush towards the base and attack it. Rather they scattered and formed an enormous circle around the two figures who were fighting in the middle. They greatly desired the crystal which Lucius had, but weren''t stupid enough to rush between the battle of two Stage 1 Mid and Peak level beings. The dust settled and the scene was slowly revealed in Alex''s vision. Focusing his eyes, he intently stared at the two figures. On one end, stood the black armored Leader Bug. It was crouching on the ground while holding onto its stomach. The broadsword continued to remain in it''s hands as it stared at Lucius with hateful eyes. It''s gaze however also contained a faint sense of victory. Focusing his gaze, Alex could see a large part of its stomach missing! Weird green colored substance and unknown organs continued to pour out of its body. It struggled to get onto its feet and remained kneeling on the ground. Shifting his gaze towards the other party, Alex involuntarily inhaled a breath of cold air. On the other side stood Lucius. His body straight and his feet firm. His pale face had transformed from a healthy pale to a deathly one. His left hand continued to hold onto the large scythe which no longer pulsed with the crimson veins, while his right hand was.... missing! During their previous exchange, Lucius analyzed that he could not evade the strike from the Leader Bug. Therefore he decided to take a path of mutual destruction. Using the second technique of [Dance of the Death God], which could only be used once he met the attack head on. In exchange for his survival, Lucius lost his right arm. His body was feeling extremely weak and his soul power was completely emptied out. Blood had pooled under his feet and continued to flow from his wounds. Just a random touch from any of the bugs present in the field would be sufficient to kill him. Facing the gaze of the Leader Bug which was filled with hate and victory, Lucius continued to wear an expressionless face. His eyes continued to remain indifferent. There was no sense of loss or pain in his gaze. Seeing that it''s enemy was not despairing, the Leader Bug frowned for a moment, before letting out another shrill voice. ¡ºSpitters! Kill this human!¡», it commanded. Another volley of acidic spit started to gather at the mouths of the various Spitter Bugs. This time however, their target was the lonely figure standing at the center of the field. Chapter 95: The Beginning of the Ascension. Part 1 Having heard the command, the dozens of Spitter Bug which were present in the immediate vicinity, immediately started to gather their soul power into their throats. The soul type which was cultivated by these Spitters was called [Acid Dart]. It a common rarity soul, which was unique to insect type life forms. [Acid Dart] gathers the soul power in one''s throat and converted it into poisonous toxins. The level of toxicity depends upon the species, bloodlines and other various specialties inherent to the insect. These Spitter Bugs for example, had enough toxicity in their spits to directly corrode an alloy of Steel and Graphene which has 5 inches thick. Frightening to the say the least. Sensing the energy gathering around him, Lucius did not panic. In fact he was so relaxed that he looked like a spectator rather than the target of numerous potential attacks. Tapping his thumb on the small indent present on the surface of the scythe, Lucius compacted it into it''s metal rod state. Then inserting it into his belt, Lucius casually used his left hand to close the large, gaping wound present on his right shoulder. Due to over drafting his soul power, Lucius body was in an extremely weak state. His muscles were too tired for him to exercise his control over them. Stemming the bleeding with his left hand, Lucius casually lifted his head and stared at the Leader Bug in front of him. "Don''t you feel it yet?" he quizzically asked. The black armored Leader Bug couldn''t understand the language of the humans. As a result, while it couldn''t understand Lucius'' exact words, it instinctively felt something to be wrong. It released it''s grasp on the broadsword and immediately stood up with the intent to retreat. The indifferent look on Lucius'' face coupled with his casual actions, gave birth to a inauspicious feeling within its heart. Unfortunately it was too late. The Leader Bug suddenly felt its four limbs stiffening. A dull ache rose from its chest and paralyzed it from it''s neck all the way to its toes. Inside its chest cavity was a fist-sized, dark-gold rapidly engulfing the transparent Life Crystal. "Making me do such underhanded stuff. My dignity is being destroyed!" from within Ka''lor''ah grumbled to herself. The large compound eyes of the Leader Bug, expanded in horror. It could slowly feel itself losing control over its body, with each passing seconds. ¡ºROAR!!¡»it screamed within its mind, unable to use its mouth. ''Silence!'' a loud, monarchical tone, bellowed within its mind. Inside the mindspace of the Leader Bug, a dark-gold figure completely covered within robes, gazed menacingly at the vague silhouette of the Leader Bug. The Leader Bug could feel its will breaking down and dissipating with each passing second, unable to resist the invasion of this dark-golden figure, within its mind ¡º...Queen?¡»awash in horror, the Leader Bug suddenly seemed to realize the identity of the other party. It immediately gave up resisting and willingly embraced its death. ¡º.....Long live..... Queen.¡»with the last dregs of it''s consciousness the Leader Bug declared before dissipating into nothingness. Looking at this fanatic ''creation'' of hers willingly surrendering itself, Ka''lor''ah let out a gentle sigh. ''Poor child.'' she spoke before taking full control over the Leader Bug''s body. On the outside, the body of the Leader Bug which had stiffened for a few seconds suddenly loosened up. Shrugging its shoulders a few times, the Leader Bug raised its head and stared at the army of Bugs. ¡ºStand down. Do not attack the human.¡»it spoke with a shrill voice. The army of bugs raised their heads and stared at their leader. Confusion and incomprehension filled their large compound eyes. ¡ºI said stand down! That''s an order!¡»the Leader Bug(Ka''lor''ah) bellowed once more. Immediately the Spitters withdrew the soul power which they were channeling and backed-off. The other Bugs forming a giant circle around the two figures also retreated. ¡ºAll units attack the human base. I''ll settle this human.¡»upon giving this instruction, Ka''lor;ah glared at the other bugs. They begrudgingly obeyed before heading towards the human base. Letting out a small sigh, Ka''lor''ah walked towards Lucius. Nearing him, the body of the Leader Bug stiffened once more before falling to the ground. A dark-gold crystal floated out of the body and levitated near Lucius. "My acting is still quite good, isn''t it?" she smugly stated. "....." Lucius replied with silence. His legs, which were standing upright purely out of his will power, collapsed onto the ground. Kneeling on the ground, Lucius started to gather his soul power. "Share some of the accumulated life energy with me. My arm needs to be regrown. " he instructed Ka''lor''ah. "Fine fine!" she grumbled before heading towards Lucius. Placing herself at the at the dismembered shoulder, she spoke in a low voice. "I guess, I''ll give you a ????????????????." she spoke while emphasizing on the last word, before breaking into a fit of laughter. Ka''lor''ah felt quite satisfied with her pun and comedic timing. Lucius, however was not amused. He continued to ignore her and slowly recovered his energy. ''The rest of the army can be deal with, by the others. It''s a shame, I was only able to gather 2500 lives.'' he spoke about his advancement condition. The condition to take 10,000 Grade 3 lives, did not mean to directly kill the others, but to be within a certain area of influence at a precise moment of death thus allowing him to ''reap'' their lives. The earlier explosion, satisfied this condition and allowed Lucius to gather the 2000 lives. ''I still have a long way to go.'' he mused, while ignoring the laughing Ka''lor''ah. -------------------- Atop the compound walls, Alex gazed at the 2000 or so alien bugs heading towards him. The remnants of the alien army were completely disorganized. None of their previous discipline or formations could be seen. In sharp contrast to this scene was the neatly arranged human soldiers lined atop the compound walls. Each seemed to be bursting with vitality and their eyes shone with an intense desire to battle. Each soldier was armed with a pulse rifle, with snipers being present in various strategic positions, holding onto an electromagnetic rifle. Alex had organized the army with great proficiency. The glow of the future ''Great Commander'' seemed to shine from within him. "Fire at will! Remember to not spare a single one of these bastards!" he bellowed. Immediately upon hearing his command, the soldiers atop the wall began shooting at the incoming bugs. The plasma cannons also aimed at the areas of large density, wiping out 500+ bugs in a single shot. "Snipers, aim for those spitting bugs at the back!" Alex remembered the death and destruction caused by this hateful creature. He couldn''t risk this long-range soul type unit to cause any more deaths among his men. In just under 10 minutes the final remnants of the bugs were completely wiped out. The grey plains of Deatov were dyed with bodies and blood. Numerous pits, scorch marks, fire pits dotted the scene. "WE WON!" "YAAY!" "THAT''LL SHOW THEM!!" A cacophony of cheers rose from among the soldiers. Truly, it had been a brutal struggle against an enemy of unknown origin and abilities. Seeing the joy radiate of the various soldiers present around him, Alex felt his heart settle. A brilliant smile rose to his lips, as he surveyed the scene below him. "Wait, wait! Aren''t we forgetting something?" one of the younger soldier''s voice cut across the atmosphere. The eyes of all the soldiers including Alex was placed upon this young man, "We haven''t thanked that person in the field! If he hadn''t killed their leader, our fight would have been much tougher!" feeling the various gazes directed at him. the young soldier did not panic and fluently spoke out. Hearing his words, looks of comprehension was seen on faces of the various soldiers. Although they did not quite understand, how that young man was able to undergo such an earth-shaking battle against the black-armored bug. All of them understood that they owed their lives to him. "What are we waiting for? Let''s go and meet that hero!" a senior soldier said before climbing down the wall. The others also naturally followed him. After hearing the words of the young soldier, Alex was in a daze. His mind recalled the earlier battle and a bitter smile formed upon his face. ''How will I ever beat that monster?'' he thought to himself deprecatingly. And yet, a satisfied smile formed upon his face. No matter the reason behind his actions, at the end of the day it was a fact that Lucius had saved their lives. If he had not shown up, Alex understood that he would have died at the hands of those hateful bugs. No matter how much Alex hated Lucius for his awful personality, his hurtful words and his twisted worldview he wasn''t ungrateful. Towards the savior of his life, Alex would still thank him. ''I should go, before the other soldiers meet ''that guy''. Considering his personality, he would call them ''worms'' and utterly crush their morale.'' thinking such, he directly jumped of the watch tower. Using his hands to grip the various cracks and crevices on the surface of the wall, Alex used it to safely land onto the ground. Just as he was about to dash towards Lucius, a loud bang was heard in the sky and a large pillar of light, fell atop him. The golden rocks which were previously floating in the sky, serving as a beacon exploded at this moment. Upon their explosion, beams of light fell atop the bodies of every soldier encompassing them within a pillar of light. Alex, who was also surrounded by a pillar of light, suddenly felt his body become weightless and unbounded. Precisely, his soul started to leave his body. ''What''s happenin...?'' before he could complete his question, he suddenly felt his soul, transported elsewhere. All the other soldiers also felt the same thing happening to them. Their bodies were first encompassed with white light, after which their unawakened souls left their bodies heading towards an unknown dimension. Chapter 96: The Beginning of the Ascension. Part 2 While Lucius was having earth-shaking battle against the black armored being on the battlefield, inside the Alliance Base. A black haired, young woman with sapphire eyes, walked through the streets. She was walking alone, with a number students and citizens of the Alliance being placated by the soldiers around her. While the people within the base had neither seen the army of alien bugs nor the human soldiers being effortlessly slaughtered, they still understood that the current situation was bad. Neither the electronic machines were working, nor were the communication systems. Unable to contact the Alliance, they felt alone and lost. It was similar to being stranded atop an island in the middle of the sea. Looking at the sky, they could see massive golden rocks rotating at fast speeds while sending out a beam of light into outer space. This scene which seemed to come out of a fantasy novel or a blockbuster movie, went against everything that they had known and believed. Fortunately, none of the people within the base were ordinary people. Each of them were experienced in their lives and were exceptional. After the initial panic, they had immediately calmed down and had followed the emergency evacuation plans which they had been taught and waited for the soldiers to resolve the situation. While some people had dissenting views, the overall situation was relatively calm. The soldiers then led here by Olivia, served to improve their morale and reassure the citizens. A cacophony of voices and discussions surrounded Olivia, yet none of these words registered within her mind. Her face was expressionless and her countenance was dull. "Disappointing. Absolutely disappointing." just these words, spoken with an cold, indifferent tone echoed within her mind. ''No matter how hard I try. I can never catch up to him.'' depressing thoughts continued to pass through her mind. During her stay in the Alliance base here, Olivia had not taken a single second of rest. Upon her arrival and the subsequent allotment of her tasks, Olivia had spent her every free period practicing her soul power and her combat skills. During the course of these 10 days, she had slept for less than 2 hours everyday and constantly pushed herself to her limits. While sleeping for such short lengths would usually have a negative impact on one''s health, Olivia had found that she could circulate her soul power to remove the hidden fatigue. Day after day, hour after hour, second after second. She spent her time polishing herself. It wasn''t easy. It was much, much harder than anything Olivia had ever done in her life. Still, she never once entertained the possibility of giving up. Each time the thought of quitting rose within her mind, she would remember Lucius'' words. ''Admirable resolve. Maybe you still have some hope left.'' At that moment, Olivia had seen something within Lucius'' indifferent eyes. It was hope. To others Lucius seemed to be indifferent, unperturbed and cold. Someone who wouldn''t care about anything other than himself. A person who treats others as lesser than ants and constantly demeans them. Olivia however, saw something different. Although his eyes seemed indifferent and unconcerned, she understood that he really cared about something. If not, then why save her and Alex? Why protect Reyna during the escape from the space station? He could have easily escaped by himself whilst sustaining no injury, if he had chosen to abandon her. Why show up to save the soldiers atop the wall, if he did not care about their lives? After his change, although Lucius seemed to be unperturbed, Olivia could sense great urgency in his actions. His actions seemed to have a sense of great haste behind them, almost as if he was being chased by something. Something seemed to constantly push him on the path to acquire greater strength. Having grown up with Lucius, she clearly noticed this. Next was his words. While they seemed to be inconsiderate and cruel, Olivia understood that each and every word was the utmost truth. He directly spoke the crux of the matter, never wasting more words than necessary. Having witnessed these aspects, she understood something. All along, Lucius had never told them how he had gained his strength. How he had found Ka''lor''ah. How he had known about the changes which were happening. And neither did Olivia want to ask. Whatever his goal was, she wanted to help him achieve it. Whether directly or indirectly, she wanted to be someone whom he relied upon. She wanted to be that hope, she saw within his eyes. This was her motivation to struggle against her weakness and achieve strength. Lucius'' importance within her heart was simply this great. He was her friend, brother, family, her everything. And seeing his disappointment, her world shattered. Her struggles, hard work seemed to be meaningless. The depression she felt within her heart was simply overwhelming. Do not underestimate this feeling of invalidation. When one works hard to attain something, striving for and dedicating their entire lives towards it, only to be denied at the very end. It is equal to their entire lives being meaningless. Their willingness to live would rapidly decline. They would being to view themselves negatively and lose their self-confidence. This was the feeling currently being experienced by Oliva. ''Perhaps its better for me to simply disappear. At least then, he wouldn''t be disappointed with me.'' Unknowingly, she had walked towards the relief tents were the soldiers who fought against the bugs earlier were being treated. Only 50 people or so had survived the initial onslaught and all of them had injuries of varying degrees. As Olivia was deeply lost within her own thoughts, multiple soldiers walked up to her. "Young Miss." one of the soldiers voiced out. Olivia was too lost within her thoughts to notice them. "Cough, cough! Miss." another person broke into a coughing fit, but still managed to voice out his words. Finally awakening from within her own thoughts, Olivia stared at the people in front of her with a confused expression. A group of injured people stood before her. One was missing an arm, another had his head and shoulders bandaged. One was carrying an artificial respirator hooked to his lungs. Another was sitting atop a wheelchair, with his entire lower body missing underneath him. Almost 30 soldiers each injured in one manner or another stood before her. All of their gazes were focused on Olivia. "Ca-can I do something, Sirs?" her voice was hoarse. Just then, all the soldiers standing before her suddenly bowed down. Even the ones on the wheelchair whom struggled to move their bodies, did so unhesistantly. "We wanted to thank Miss for saving our lives atop the wall! If not for you and the other Miss fight in the front lines, we would have lost our lives to those creatures." they spoke in chorus. Olivia froze, unsure of what to do. One of the soldiers, who seemed to be a middle-aged man then rose from his bow and looked at Olivia. Bowing once more he spoke with a solemn voice. "If not your Miss, saving my life. I wouldn''t have had the chance to go back and see my newborn son. For giving me this chance, I''m eternally grateful!" his voice quivered towards the end, seemingly holding back his tears. Another soldier, younger in his years spoke through the bandages wrapping his head. "Although I have been blinded by those creatures, I am eternally grateful to Miss, for saving my life. If not for you, my parents would have lost another son of theirs. Their old hearts would not be able to withstand such an impact. Thank you!" he cried. Similarly one after another, each soldier individually thanked Olivia. Their contents were mostly similar, but the emotions behind their words, was something Olivia had never felt. "Oh, I almost forgot! The other soldiers also wanted to thank the Miss. It''s just that some of them are rooted to their beds, unable to leave. They wanted to convey their thanks to the Miss." a soldier who had lost on of his legs and was sitting atop a wheelchair spoke. Receiving the plethora of emotions and thanks, Olivia could not longer restrain her tears. Teardrops fell from her eyes, as she broke down crying. ''My efforts weren''t meaningless. My hard work wasn''t wasted.'' looking at the soldiers before her, Olivia understood. Her efforts hadn''t been in vain. Her actions had received validation. Looking at their savior suddenly break down crying, the soldiers found themselves at a loss. Immediately they started to placate her and encourage her, asking her what was wrong. All these actions and words, served to bring warmth to Olivia''s heart. Her ideals hadn''t been meaningless. She had managed to affect the lives of a small amount of people to a certain degree. Call it naivety or perhaps inexperience. Olivia wasn''t the 300 year old monster Lucius was. She had not seen or experienced the things that he had. This action of saving the lives of 50 soldiers, might be insignificant in Lucius'' eyes and even in the great cosmos. However to Olivia, it was proof of her efforts and the validation of her struggles. ''I''m not strong enough to assist Lucius. But I''m not useless either.'' she declared within her heart. ''If I am to give up, just because I''m currently disappointing. Then I truly have no hope.'' ''I want to become stronger. Not for Lucius, not for the Alliance, not for the people. But for myself. To do what I want to do and for validation of my efforts!'' ''Someday, I''ll definitely catch up to him and make him look at me as an equal. To become the hope, that he sees me to be!'' Olivia had finally found her true self. And with this her soul had finally completed its growth. Precisely at this moment, a pillar of light fell from the sky and encompassed all the people within the base. Reyna who had been watching Olivia, hiding around the corner was also included. With a smile Reyna thought to herself, ''In the end, what she needed wasn''t my comfort, but the simple proof of her efforts.'' ''I''m glad you found it, Livia.'' With this, all the people on the planet of Deatov were enveloped by pillars of light. Well, all expect one. Chapter 97: Ascension. Part 1 Sitting cross-legged in the middle of the plains, Lucius watched the various pillars of light encompassing the soldiers. In the distance, he could even see the inhabitants of the base, being enveloped by the pillars of light. Breathing in a rhythmic manner, Lucius split his consciousness in half. One half was deep within his mindspace recovering his soul power and the other half was circulating the excess Life energy to regrow his arm. Ka''lor''ah was floating next to him while providing him with the energy. Both of them watched the scene before them in silence. The crystal shone with a golden brilliance and an ethereal voice leaked form within the light. "Mankind''s cause has already started to diverge from its previous path. It''s current future is unknown." "The causality will now start to gather and merge with the rest of the Universe. Considering our involvements with the ''focal point of mankind'', we now hold a stake in the greater part." Ka''lor''ah spoke with a rarely seen seriousness. Taking a pause, she then continued. "Due to my existence the Lords will not be able to view your causality. Therefore our existence will successfully remain hidden. The first phase of the plan can be considered to be successful." Staying quiet for a few minutes, Lucius then spoke. "With this, one aspect of the plan is complete. All we have to do is wait for the ''causality'' to mature. So we move to the next part?" he questioned. "Yes. We have to build our strengths and gather our forces. Perhaps even gather a few races under our command. The more the better. One can never have too many trump cards." "We should also try to acquiesce more ''cause'' to increase our stake. With higher stake, the chances of the plan succeeding will increase." Ka''lor''ah stated their goals for the immediate future. Hearing this, Lucius did not reply but simply nodded his head. "So we are heading towards that pla... ARGH!" just as Lucius was about to ask a question, a tremendous wave of pain struck his consciousness. His body which had been sitting cross-legged collapsed, as he clutched his head with his hands. Streams of pain, continued to batter his consciousness. "LUCIUS!" Ka''lor''ah panicked. She tried to infuse greater amounts of life energy into his body. Just as the golden streams of energy were about to reach his body, a greyish-black energy started to leak from within Lucius'' body. Just as the golden streams came into contact with this new energy, they were directly destroyed! ''What?!'' Ka''lor''ah non-existent pupils abruptly shrunk. Before her surprise could continue, Ka''lor''ah felt a tremendous amount of energy gather above her head. The next instant, a pillar of light three times the size of the others fell from the sky and encompassed Lucius within it. This scene further increased Ka''lor''ah''s shock. ''How is this possible?! Hasn''t his soul already awakened? Why is the Ascension targeting him?'' She was utterly flabbergasted by the course of illogical events happening before her. The ''Lights of Ascension'' served to awaken a life form''s soul and raise to Stage 1. Logically speaking, for people who have already awakened their soul the light would simply ignore them. And this was the case for Lucius, until a few seconds ago. When the pillars of light fell, it had ignored Lucius and had struck the other people present in the base. The both of them had been expecting this and weren''t surprised. Alas, the complete opposite was currently happening. A pillar with three times the energy density of the others was encompassing Lucius. ''There are only two possibilities. One, he hasn''t awakened his soul completely. Or two.....'' His soul is. undergoing..... evolution?!'' Ka''lor''ah countenance turned grim at the face of the second possibility. ''You must hold on, Lucius! Don''t lose yourself!'' ------------------------------ Inside the giant pillar of light, Lucius let out an earth-shattering roar. The amount of pain he was currently feeling, surpassed the sum total of all the pain he had experienced in his previous life. Lucius'' body began to horribly twist. His muscles started to painfully writhe and his bones crack, breaking into numerous, tiny pieces. These bone pieces sunk into his flesh and organs damaging them and increasing the pain he felt. "AHHHH!!!!" his vocal chords were unable to handle the stress placed upon them and finally snapped. Blood started to seep out from within every pore in his body. His eyes had turned bloodshot, as he used his hands to claw at his body. Chunks of flesh and skin were torn being torn apart by his fingers. "ROAR!" a guttural roar sounded out. Within his body, a stream of greyish-black energy was rapidly circulating. Every inch of his body which the mysterious energy passed would immediately start to warp and degenerate. Looking closer at a cellular level, the cells in his body started to twist and break down. Inside the nucleus of the cell, two chains of polynucleotide coiled around each other to form the DNA of the body. The DNA stores all the information about the body and is the mainstay of the body''s construction and growth. A blueprint to be precise. Currently, surrounding the DNA of Lucius'' body were multiple chains. The surface of the chains were wrapped with mysterious words of an unknown language, which seemed to flicker in and out of existence. These chains seemed to restrain the helix shaped structures, when a wave of greyish-black energy originating from nowhere, forcibly shattered these words. Along with the shattering of these words, the chains restraining the DNA also fell apart. With this change, the DNA, the cell, every single particle which seemed to make up his existence started to rapidly disintegrate. Inside his mindpace was a completely different scene. His [Killer] soul was being attacked by streams of transparent energy. The reddish-black silhouette which comprised of his soul, started to horribly twist and warp. The clouds of soul power were utterly helpless in the face of this transparent stream of energy. They were completely crushed into dissipation unable to resist in the least. Breaking through their obstruction, the transparent stream of energy finally touched the reddish-black silhouette. Upon contact, it immediately began to destroy the reddish-black silhouette. In it''s place the transparent stream of energy started to condense into the shape of a human silhouette. The areas occupied by the reddish-black energy was rapidly encroached and replaced by this transparent energy. At the very center of his [Killer] soul, a small but vague crystal entirely crimson in color was present. Rather than say it was present inside his mindspace, it seemed to exist in another dimension. This was Lucius'' Existence Crystal. The proof of his existence within the Universe. Such crystals were present within the souls of every single organism, each one being entirely unique. Upon the birth of a new life, the Existence Crystal would form, never to change until their death. However, at this moment within Lucius'' soul, his existence crystal was starting to change. The transparent stream of energy invaded the crystal and forcibly started to absorb its color. The crystal resisted with all its might, sending wave after wave of energy, only to be completely crushed by the ferocious charge of this transparent energy. Lucius'' could feel his soul and very existence changing at this moment. In the face of this change, he was utterly helpless. His consciousness started to waver as the transparent energy continued to wipe out his soul. Not able to hold on any longer, his consciousness finally fell into oblivion. Just as the crystal at the very center, seemed to be invaded by this stream of transparent energy, a thunderous roar seemingly originating from the void was heard. The actions of the transparent energy paused, as it felt a threatening presence heading towards it. Suddenly within this other dimension a greyish-black energy started to gather. It appeared out of nowhere and gathered next to the crimson crystal. At this moment that the transparent stream of energy, finally seemed to pause. A faint hint of fear seemed to radiate off of it, as it sensed the greyish-black energy. Immediately, it began to withdraw no longer wanting to continue its invasion. Unfortunately it was too late. The greyish black energy immediately shot out and encompassed the transparent energy. It then started to rapidly engulf and devour the transparent energy, following it all the way outside, into the mindspace. After devour the entire stream of energy, the greyish-black energy stared to change. The grey color receded leaving behind absolute darkness Seemingly unsatisfied with it''s change, the new stream of energy looked back and stared at the crimson crystal. Suddenly turning excited it rapidly moved towards the crimson crystal before encompassing it. The existence crystal started to change as the crimson color mixed with the absolute black. After an incalculable amount of time, which felt infinitely long yet instantaneous, a new crystal was formed in this space. It''s shape remained the same, but its color went through a complete change. The crimson which was previously predominant had now completely receded. The crystal was now entirely black, resembling a black hole. Threads of crimson and transparent energy, coiled around this black hole, restraining it. The color of his soul power had also changed. Instead of it being reddish-black, it was now a black stream intertwined with threads of crimson and transparent white. At this moment, Lucius'' soul had completely changed. The [Killer] soul seemed to have successfully evolved into something that was far-far more terrifying. Outside the mindspace, Lucius'' body no longer existed. His cells had dissipated and his body had broken down. Only a mist of blood hung within the still air. Chapter 98: Ascension. Part 2 Inside a mysterious dimension filled with endless seas of hellish fire, Alex found himself lost. Flames of a myriad colors filled his vision creating a beautiful sight. Plains, valleys, mountains, grasslands, all such natural formations were present in this dimension. Only that, they seemed to be constructed out of pure flames. After being hit by that mysterious pillar of light, his soul was transported into this mysterious dimension of fire. No instructions were given and with him only being present here in his soul state. Alex had waited for a while, expecting changes to occur. Alas even after waiting for what seemed to be an eternity, not changes occurred. It was a scene of fire, fire and more fire. Deciding to look around, he finally moved. Roaming aimlessly for a while, Alex finally gave up after completely losing his sense of direction. There was no change in the scenery with seas of various colorful flames filling his vision "What do I do here?! Don''t just pull me into this space and leave me alone! Tell me how to proceed!" Alex screamed, only for his voice to be drowned out in the sea of flames. His current situation was similar to playing a open-world game, except that no objectives or quests were given. Hell, he did not even want to be here anymore. "Bastard! Come out! I swear I won''t hit you!" after another hour of walking around aimlessly, Alex started to threaten the empty air. He received no reply. Having lost all his patience, he furiously threw a punch towards the empty air. Unconsciously he seemed to have circulated his soul power. It was then, that a change occurred. The various flames which were present before him, suddenly shook before flying up into the air. Flames that were green, white, red, yellow, and many others of different colors, gathered to form a frightening hurricane. In face of Alex''s astonished gaze, this hurricane of flames compressed into a small sphere before flying towards him and entering into his head. The painful feeling of being burnt never occurred. Rather, he felt that a mysterious lock which seemed to have chained him, finally shatter. Alex felt himself leaving this space and returning back to his body. Opening his eyes, he instinctively knew how to control fire and various knowledge regarding flames. He had achieved Stage 1. And his soul was called.... [Ruler of Flames] ------------------------ In another dimension, Reyna found herself surrounded by various machines and mechanical lives. Tall buildings, trains, cars, flying drones, all sorts of wacky and fantastical construction were present. The scene seemed to be a mixture of Sci-Fi and Steampunk worlds, mixing with each other. Various creations which were both known and unknown to her were present. Steam powered machines, robots, AI life forms, spaceships, computers. She found herself in a world that was made and belonged to various machines. Seeing this strange yet wonderful world, Reyna did not feel scared. Rather, she felt herself returning home. Her curious and inquisitive nature was fully stoked. Completely immersing herself into this world, Reyna started to converse with the various netizens of this world. Their language wasn''t something that Reyna had ever learnt or heard, but somehow she found herself capable of conversation. Her speech and selection of words were awkward at first. Her tone was unsure and her language was broken at the beginning. However, after a few hours she found herself improving rapidly. Before she knew it, she had already mastered the language and could freely speak with the machines around her. Just like how Reyna was curious about these machines, the machines in turn were curious about Reyna. Their conversation started from basic introduction, before delving into complicated mechanical and scientific theories. Many doubts and questions which troubled Reyna for a long time were easily and casually solved by these machines. More and more machines started to gather around her and were involved in a fierce debate that was ongoing. After a few more hours, just as the debate finally concluded, Reyna felt something shatter within her. Immediately, she found herself returning to the Alliance Base and a newfound power filled her. Various knowledge and mechanical theories started to fill her mind, as she felt her brain becoming more nimble and her calculating prowess increasing. Her soul had also ascended into Stage 1, with her soul type being... [Machinery Life] --------------------------- Olivia found herself kneeling before an altar inside a dilapidated temple. Her forehead was completely touching the moss-covered stone floor. Words belonging to an unknown language flowed out her mouth, as she seemed to slowly repeat an incantation. Much like Alex and Reyna. Olivia found herself arriving in a mysterious dimension. The sky inside this dimension was broken and a mysterious violet light, endlessly leaked from the endless abyss outside. Faint howls and screams were heard in the distance. When Olivia tried to focus her senses to hear these screams, the sounds mysteriously disappeared. She stood atop a tall mountain, which consisted of a single path leading to a broken shrine. This shrine or rather temple, was built from a black colored stone and had golden light leaking from within. Underneath the mountain, was an endless abyss which seemed to devour everything. Having no other choice, she walked towards the broken temple. After approaching the temple, she noticed an enormous archway carved with beautiful murals. Although broken, the temple radiated a feeling of ancientness and majesty. On either sides of this archway, upon the walls of the temple were carving illustrating a magnificent scene. On the left were the most beautiful people Olivia had ever scene. The figures of the men and woman carved upon the wall were perfect and breathtaking. Mighty wings spread out from their back as each figure held onto a different weapon. Their faces were solemn as they seemed to rush towards battle. They looked valiant and heroic, dominant and inviolable. Looking at these pictures the first thought that came in Olivia mind was- Angels. On the other side of the arch, was a scene which was the exact opposite. Devils. Hideous figures with twisted bodies which seemed to originate from within the Abyss were seen. Their faces were hideous, with cruel smiles present upon them. Their humanoid figures held various extremities which seemed to serve the function of their weapons. Much like the Angels, these Devils, seemed to rush towards the other side for battle. They looked vicious, depraved and wicked. Looking at these images which were so beautifully carved that they seemed to be alive, Olivia seemed to be in a daze. Forcibly shaking her head and awaking from her stupor she headed inside. Unlike the magnificent exterior of the temple, the interior were completely plain. There were no murals or carving present. At the very end of the temple, a simple stone altar was present. Through a hole in the rooftop, a ray of violet light entered the temple lighting up its interiors. The floor was covered with stone similar to the walls and violet moss grew within it''s cracks. Carefully scanning every inch of this space, Olivia finally made it towards the altar. Standing exactly five meters away from the alter, she carefully scrutinized every inch of the altar. It was a simple stone altar, made from the same materials as the walls and the floor. The surface of the altar was smooth and flat, with cracks present all over it. Behind the altar, upon the broken stone wall, Olivia finally noticed some carving. The carving consisted of words written in an unknown language. The words gave off a feeling of suppression. Each stroke was deep and beautiful. "Hymn of Souls." Olivia unconsciously mumbled the words. Mysterious knowledge flowed into her brain at this moment, giving her the ability to read these words. Olivia''s mind entered an unconscious, dazed state before mechanically speaking the words written and following the procedures written. Completing the full set of rituals, she stiffly stood up before walking towards the stone altar. Using her nails, she slashed her wrists and let her blood fall upon the altar. At the moment the blood made contact with the altar, it suddenly disappeared before a violet sphere of light appeared atop the altar. Upon appearance, it immediately flew into Olivia''s mind. Olivia woke up at this moment and found herself back at the Alliance Base. Various knowledge regarding her newfound abilities flowed through her mind. Her soul broke into the Stage 1 realm, with it''s type being. [Soul Suppressor] --------------------- Such scene continued to occur to all the enveloped by the pillar of. Some found themselves in jungles, in battlefields, within laboratories. As their souls began to awaken one after another, the pillars of white light also started to disappear. People looked at themselves in disbelief as knowledge about their respective powers and souls started to appear in their mind. Some continued to remain dazed, while others tried their new strengths. Super strength, increased speeds, higher processing speeds, x-ray vision, such abilities were tested one after another by each person. Alex, Reyna and Oliva were no exceptions. Snapping his finger, an ember of flame appeared within Alex''s hand. Reyna could instinctively feel the machines around her, which seemed to be alive. Oliva''s mind was filled with new found incantations and spells related to her new soul. It was then, that the sky suddenly pulsed with white light. All of them raised their heads and stared at the distance. A massive pillar of light, which seemed to be 10 meters in diameter was pulsing with energy. The pillar of light which was white in color was turning black. Alex, Olivia, Reyna, all the inhabitants of the base, witnessed this new change and started to head towards this pillar of light. Chapter 99: Ascension. Part 3 (End of Volume 1) Darkness. Boundless stretches of infinite darkness shrouded the greater parts of the Universe. Darkness darker than the abyss. More encompassing the light. Longer than the flow of time. Beyond the reaches of space. It was a darkness which held nothing. No rocks. No planets. No stars. A darkness which devoured everything. Consuming energy, particles, space and ultimately time. It was most certainly dead, yet transcended life. A will which knew everything and existed everywhere. It was present everywhere, yet nowhere. Held everything yet nothing. It existed since before the beginning of the Universe and will continue to exist even after its end. It is something that lasts forever and is truly eternal. And within this infinite darkness was an infinitesimal dot. Considering the sheer size of this darkness, this dot was insignificant. So small that one would never notice it, even if they looked directly at it. Yet, in this darkness which contained nothing and devoured everything, it nonetheless still existed. "Ah-ah!" within this darkness where sound wasn''t supposed to exist, the delicate coos of a baby was heard. Floating across this infinite darkness was an infant child. From the way it looked, one could infer that it was humanoid in nature. It had tender white skin, a rosy glow in it''s cheeks. Small limbs and a full body. It''s face contained an innocent smile and it''s delicate hands began to dance and wave. A normal human child. It''s eyes however, were completely different. The left eye of the infant shone with a brilliant gold. A glow which pierced through the infinite darkness. The right eye shone with a deep crimson. Crimson that was as dark as blood. The infant continued to float in this boundless stretch of darkness, with it being the only other object present. The darkness seemed to be unable to devour this infant and the infant was unaware of it''s surroundings. It laughed, cried, cooed, and made every sound that came from within its small throat. There was no reply, yet the infant did not seem to mind it. This darkness consisted of its first memories upon being birthed. To the infant, this darkness was its parent, its family and its home. The infant relied on the darkness and the darkness contained the baby. A mysterious connection formed between these two parties. A bond that was deeper than any relation and unlike no other. In the darkness where time did not exist and space stretched forever, the infant continued to float. Without the passage of time it was unable to grow. And without the existence of a medium, the darkness was unable to teach. The two wills continued to float in endless limbo. It was then that a change occurred. A large cracked formed within this darkness and chaotic streams of energy started to flow into this darkness. A endless amount of mysterious energy originated from this darkness. A greyish-black will, enveloped this infant before taking it towards this crack. The moment this greyish-black energy came into contact with the chaotic streams of energy, the latter was immediately destroyed. Noticing that it would now be leaving this darkness, the infant began to cry. It''s cries resounded within this darkness, twisting and cracking the space. It did not want to leave. It wanted to stay with the darkness forever. The bond between the two parties clearly transmitted their intent. Alas the darkness did not bend. It continued to ignore the inconsolable cries of the infant and sent it into the crack. After its safe passage the crack slowly started to mend, and a state of perfect nihility returned. Just before a final bit of the crack closed, the darkness sent a message into the infant''s brain. ''Rurian. Henceforth, you shall be called Rurian.'' ------------------------ In Deatov. A large group of people gathered around the massive pillar of light. The white pillar continued to be turn black, seemingly being tainted with darkness. The trio of Alex, Oliva and Reyna also made it near this pillar of light. They looked at this pillar in confusion and scanned the area around it. Alex''s sharp eyes found the small dark-gold crystal floating next to the light pillar. "Ka''lor''ah!" he voiced out before heading towards the crystal. Reyna and Olivia also noticed the crystal and followed behind Alex. Making it near her, Alex voiced his question. "What are you doing here? Where is Lucius?" Seeing the trio around her Ka''lor''ah finally snapped out of her stupor. With a hoarse voice she replied. "In there." The trio were astonished as they stared at the pillar of light, which was now completely black. Rather than radiate light, this black pillar seemed to devour all the light. Just as Olivia was about to voice out another question, an intense wave of energy pulsed from within this pillar of light. A sense of danger and horror immediately rose within everyone''s hearts. Their instincts screamed and their souls trembled. This feeling was especially intense for Ka''lor''ah. She felt the fierce feeling of death grip her heart. ''This feeling!..... the ender of all life!.....My mortal enemy?!'' she thought in horror. ''A Void Eater!!'' the name of the terrifying species appeared within her mind. The species which was the enemy of all life! A devourer of all matter! At this moment a change occurred within the pillar of light. ------------------------ Within the black pillar of light, at the very center formed an organ. It was in the shape on an inverted triangle ''?'' and started to pulse like the heart. Baddump! Baddump! Baddump! Baddump! Baddump! The ''heart'' started to pulse faster and faster, until the rate of its beating crossed the two hundred marl. A greyish-black energy started to flow from within the heart and slowly started to turn into a dark, viscous, blood like liquid. Unlike blood however, it was entirely black. The blood started to flow and follow certain pathways in the air. With the blood as the suppliant, cells started to be birthed from the greyish-black energy and started to form tissues. Tissues started to form the organs, before finally a body was formed. The body was 1.9m in height. The bones were completely black in color and formed the perfect skeletal structure. Muscles which was compressed to the extreme, yet flexible covered the bones. Atop all of this was the pale white skin, similar to a newborn. The eyes of the body were closed as they rested upon a devilishly handsome face. Sharp eyes, perfect nose, a chiseled chin. The body which slender yet filled with overwhelming strength represented the perfect evolution a humanoid could achieve. The body continued to float in the air for a while, before movement could be seen under the eyelids. Slowly, the eye lids opened to reveal a pair of beautiful, heterochromatic eyes. The left eye was gold and the right eye was crimson. One radiated a sense of arrogance and majesty, while the other radiated a sense of bloodthirst and slaughter. Lucius'' will finally woke up. ''I''m alive?'' he thought to himself before looking down at his body. His entire body was currently naked as his clothes were destroyed under the furious onslaught on the greyish-black energy. He felt taller than before and his body felt a lot stronger. ''My body changed?'' just as he was about to inspect the various changes in his body, Lucius mind was attacked by a ferocious wave of hunger. The intense feeling to consume was birthed. His body which had just been formed, suddenly started to shrivel and shrink. The muscle shrunk, and the skin started to crease. His bones rapidly weakened as all the energy within his body disappeared. His eyes once again turned black. His body currently looked extremely weak and malnourished. His bones were visible as they seemingly tried to escape from within his skin. ''Eat....'' an intense feeling of dizziness attacked his mind, before Lucius passed out once again. Just in time for pillar to shatter. -------------------- ''Ahrgh.. My head hurts!'' an intense headache tore through his mind. Struggling for a few minutes, Lucius forcibly suppressed his headache. Gathering his strength Lucius slowly opened his eyes. A ray of bright white light pierced through his eyes. Blinking a few times to adjust himself to the brightness, he could finally look around. Lying atop a bed wearing a hospital gown, he noticed a few needles and tubes inserted into his body. Bottles of saline solutions and glucose were connected to his body, and slowly stared to flow into his bloodstream. ''....So hungry.'' just as the thought rose within his mind, Lucius could feeling his blood rapidly flowing. With an incredible speed visible to the naked eye, the bottles of glucose and saline solution started to be drawn and absorbed by his body. A force of suction radiating from his blood started to consume the solutions and immediately broke them down and processed them into the required nutrients. ''Need more nutrients!'' the feeling of hunger did not fade away, but got increasingly stronger. Pulling the needles off his body, Lucius struggled out of the bed. He tried to stand on his feet, but his legs did not contain the energy required to hold his body up. He staggered forward, before supporting himself by holding to the bed. The sound of a door opening was heard, followed by the sharp noise of a young woman. "Lucius!" Olivia screamed before rushing towards him and supporting his body. "You shouldn''t be out of your bed. Your body is currently too weak." she spoke with concern as she supported his body. "..where..." Lucius mumbled out in a soft voice. With the recent improvements in her physique, Olivia managed to catch his words. "Where? What do you mean?" she asked. "...where are..... bodies... bugs stor..?" his voice trembled and broke at various intervals resulting in an incomprehensible statement. "Lucius, I don''t understand your words. Please lie down in the bed before speaking. You body is extremely weak right now." Olivia gently advised him. A flash of madness passed within Lucius'' eyes, as he suddenly turned to grab Olivia by her throat. Squeezing his hands around her throat, he voiced out once again. "Where... dead bugs... .stored?" he managed to convey his intention. The usual indifference in his eyes were absent, replaced with madness due to hunger. Olivia could feel the fearsome power behind his grip. Her breathing grew increasingly rugged as she struggled to inhale. "Lu...ci...us! ...let.. go!" she managed to speak. His eyes quivered for a moment before a hint of rationality gathered. He immediately removed his grip and voiced once more. Olivia could finally breathe and she broke into a coughing fit. "immediately... take me... to.. storage. Before.....lose...control" he said with a painful voice, Understanding that something was wrong. She immediately held Lucius and supported his weight with her body. Gripping him tight, she rushed towards the storage. -------------------- Inside the storage where the bodies of the dead bugs were present, Reyna and Alex were presented. They were currently here to chose a couple of alien remains before sending it to one of the experienced biologists within the base for study. The aliens represented a new intelligent life form which was entirely different from that of humans. It had already been three days since the attack by the aliens bugs. Under the lead of Alex and Reyna they had managed to placate the crowd of people with their new found powers. Establishing communications with the Alliance was the top priority, but for some reason they were unable to. There seemed to be a new form of energy blocking the signals which were being sent out. Just as they were discussing, the door to the storage suddenly opened. Reyna who managed to catch a glimpse of the figure, spoke. "Olivia why are you here? ....Lucius!" she belatedly recognized Lucius. However, Lucius did not seem to hear her question. Immediately after entering the storage room, he jumped towards the large pile of corpses. His black eyes one again changed colors. One gold and the other black, he fell in the middle of the pit of corpses. Reyna and Alex were astounded by his actions and were about to intercept, when they were stopped by Olivia. "Don''t! He asked me to bring him here! Something is wrong with him!" Olivia warned them. It was at this moment that Lucius suddenly started to laugh. "HAHAHAH!" a laughter which was of pure joy and ecstasy. His face was no longer indifferent and his eyes which always seemed to know no sorrow or joy, contained an expression this instant. It was Pure Joy! With a crystal clear voice he spoke. "Devour." Immediately upon these words, the shadow beneath his feet rapidly expanded and enveloped the dead bodies in darkness. They were then slowly pulled into the darkness, disappearing into the void! ------------------END OF VOLUME 1- The First Taste-------------- Chapter 100: Vol 2 Prologue. Birth of the Annihilator. Beyond the boundaries of the immeasurable and boundless Universe, there existed a dimension. In this dimension time did not flow and space did not exist. For a moment it was limitlessly large, yet at another it was infinitesimal. It seemed to be illusory, yet was also real. Inside this dimension which was beyond human imagination, sat two cosmic entities. Placed before them was a dimensional board, which encompassed the entire Universe. An infinite number of lines colored in a multitude of lights flashed endlessly in within this board. Words belonging to an unknown language meaning a myriad unknown things flickered in an out of existence. Their appearances were extremely brief, counting less than 0.001 zeptoseconds, but then again time did not apply to this place. On one end of the board, seated upon a massive throne made from an unknown material was an androgynous looking entity. Half of it''s body was covered in black flames revealing the figure of a young teen. The other half of it''s body was an old woman covered in transparent ice. The two eyes of this entity were staring intently at the dimensional board in front of it. Suddenly it let out a sigh of regret as the myriad lights within the board exploded, allowing darkness to swallow the remains. ¡ºSigh! It is my loss.¡»a strange voice which was a mixture of youthful tender and deathly shrill sounded out. Hearing its words the entity on the other end of the board did not reply. It simply nodded its head. At least, it nodded what seemed to be its head. Rather than head, a ball of blackish-brown flesh would be precise. An uncountable number of fleshy tentacles originated from this ball of flesh and stretched out into an unknown space. The ball of flesh contained no eyes, mouth, ears or any facial feature for that matter. Yet, it seemed to see and feel everything that was in existence. ¡ºIts common courtesy to reply when spoken too.¡»the androgynous looking entity spoke with dissatisfaction. ¡ºPay. Up.¡»with a voice that originated from nowhere, yet was heard everywhere the ball of flesh spoke. Just as the androgynous looking entity seemed to reply, a flash of light appeared next to them before immediately disappearing. In it''s place stood a genial looking old man. The new entity was mostly humanoid in figure, save for the multiple eyes which covered every inch of his skin. The eyes shone with a golden lustre and were constantly blinking. Reflected within their depths were scenes that were occurring, had occurred or were about to occur in various locations of the Universe. He looked at his two colleagues, seated in front of him and smiled. He then asked. ¡ºAgain. Do the both of you have nothing else to do? Who lost and how much was at stake?¡» Hearing his question the ball of flesh replied. ¡º1% share in the Universe''s Cause. I won.¡» The old man seemed to be surprised as he spoke. ¡ºOh, Lord of Energy actually lost. That''s surprising¡» ¡ºHe must have done something to alter the cause. There is no way I could''ve lost.¡»the Lord of Energy spoke in a dissatisfied tone.. Immediately a tremendous amount of energy descended shaking the very dimension. ¡ºI. Dare. You. To. Say. It. Again.¡»the voice which seemed to sound from the void was heard once again. ¡ºEnough. Stop bickering the both of you. Lord of Life, retract your strength.¡»seeing that a fight was about to breakout the old man immediately intervened. The ball of flesh, who was addressed as the Lord of Life retracted the aura it released. It then continued to calmly float atop the throne, seemingly unaffected. The Lord of Energy, upon seeing this let out a mocking laugh. Still he dared not to disobey the command of this old man. Transferring a stream of light towards the Lord of Life, he then spoke. ¡ºYou seem to be in a good mood. What happened, Lord of Fate?¡» Hearing this question, the mouth of the old man called the Lord of Fate, curved to form a smile. With a tone which held a hint of gloat, he boasted. ???I came across an interesting child. It''s from a new race which is about to undergo ''ascension''.¡» ¡ºOh? Interesting how? Which race?¡»Lord of Energy asked in an interested tone. Such matters which were able to catch the attention of the Lords were truly rare. ¡ºA technology based-human race. The child was almost about to die when I noticed it. It has a wonderful Fate.¡»he deliberately spoke in a mysterious tone. ¡ºChe, keeping the good stuff to yourself. Why don''t you let me....¡»just as the Lord of Energy was about to continue, a wave of transparent energy spread through the dimensional board, placed on the space between them. Wherever it passed space trembled. The transparent wave of energy swept across the entire Universe and ultimately escaped the boundaries of the board. A tiny tint of it leaked into the dimension where the three Lords were currently present. As the transparent wave of energy came into contact with the bodies of the three Lords, a change occurred. The countless eyes atop the old man shrunk. The two conflicting energies covering the androgynous man were extinguished. The infinite tentacles connecting the ball of flesh disintegrated. Similar to how it had appeared, the wave of transparent energy immediately disappeared. However, even after it''s disappearance the bodies of the three Lords could not stop their shaking. The Lord of Life who was injured to the greatest extent was the first to speak up. ¡ºTh-that.... energy....¡»his voice trembled as he was unable to complete his sentence. The humanoid looking old man, closed his countless eyes. He seemed to be in deep thought. After an inestimable amount of time passing, he spoke in a deep, serious voice. ¡ºThere''s no mistake. That was ''Will of the Annihilation''!¡» Hearing this the Lord of Energy rose from his stupor. Looking towards the old man, he then hesitantly asked. ¡º..''Will of the Annihilation''? It can''t be?!.....¡»his eyes suddenly expanded in horror. ¡ºAn Annihilator was born....!!¡»the Lord of Life spoke in an absentminded tone. ¡ºImpossible!¡»the Lord of Energy exclaimed. His body abruptly stood up as he continued, ¡ºHow can an Annihilator already be birthed?! There were no prior signs!! No life form, has achieved Stage 7 in [Killer].¡»his voice was filled with agitation. ¡ºThere is no mistaking that feeling. That was clearly ''Will of Annihilation'' released by the Universe upon the birth of an Annihilator.¡»the old man shook his head. His myriad eyes opened to shine with resplendent golden light. The light filled the entire dimension until the entire space was completely drowned in golden light. ¡ºWith the birth of the Lord of Annihilation, a grand slaughter will commence. The Universe will reset and the ''Order of Lords will fall, paving the path for a new Overlord. This is path of every Annihilator.¡» He then paused for a moment before letting out a sigh. ¡ºOr at least, that''s what the records left behind by the previous Lords say.¡» ¡ºTo think our end is already near.¡»the ball of flesh spoke in despondence. ¡ºNo!¡»the Lord of Energy smashed his fists on the dimensional board. The race which was situated in that area of the Universe were instantly drowned in limitless amounts of energy. In a matter of seconds, the entire race was wiped out. ¡ºI will not stand here waiting for my death! Wasn''t he born just now? He should also be starting at Stage 1. Why don''t we kill him before he completes his growth?¡»the Lord of Energy''s eyes were filled with murderous intent. Judging from the wave of energy, it was clear that the Annihilator was born just a few seconds ago. He should currently ascended into Stage 1. If they could kill him before he achieves Stage 7 and transcends into the Lord realm, there was still a chance at survival. No one wanted to wait for their death. As long as there existed a chance, the Lord of Energy was intent of grasping it. Hearing his idea, the old man shook his head. ¡º The Lord of Chaos, wouldn''t allow it. After all, that old monster''s duty is to protect the Annihilator. If we make sudden movements he will be alerted.¡» Instantly, the Lord of Energy lost the strength within his body. He helplessly collapsed onto his seat and lay there lifelessly. A grim feeling suppressed the atmosphere of the room. The Lord of Life who was quiet during this time, then slowly spoke up. ¡ºWhat if we gather the other Lords? If all of us unite and pool of strengths to kill the Annihilator, even that old monster will not be able to stop us.¡» A hint of life returned to his gaze and the Lord of Energy immediately stood up. ¡ºYes, yes. This will work. That old monster should not have felt the birth of the Annihilator yet. If we were to move fast enough, we can still kill him!¡» The other two Lords nodded their heads in response to his words. This way seemed to have a possibility of success. ¡ºI trust you know the importance of this matter. Do not approach the other Lords in haste. We still don''t know who belongs to the faction of that old monster. Be cautious and prudent.¡» The Lord of Life then asked, ¡ºWhere was the Annihilator born? In which region of the Universe?¡» The Lord of Fate closed his eyes trying to use his senses to scan for the origin of that will. An inestimable amount of time passed before he opened his eyes. Shaking his head he mumbled. ¡ºI can''t feel it anymore. Not the will, not the Cause, not the Fate. He is completely hidden.¡» A grim expression returned to the three faces. The Lord of Fate then let out a sigh and spoke. ¡ºForget it. Its not like our deaths are already here. Transcending into Lordship is not that easy and before he becomes a Lord, he''s of no danger to us.¡» ¡ºInteract with the other Lords and get to know their standing. I shall go and inform ''Him'' about this matter. Again, be careful and prudent. This matter cannot be known easily!¡» The Lord of Energy and Life solemnly nodded their heads. They then disappeared, each with their own plans. The old man continued to stand there and stare at the dimensional board. He inwardly thought to himself. ¡ºHow can you evade my sight? How can you evade the reach of Cause and Fate?¡» Shaking his head once again, he disappeared. Chapter 101: Madness. Inside the cold storage room at the Earth Alliance Base in Deatov. Three figures stood upon a raised platform. The platform was large enough to occupy five people at a time. Guard rails bounded its edges and a fixed pedestal stood at the very front of the platform. The pedestal held a control panel which could be used to control the giant mechanical hand that was hanging from the ceiling. Underneath this platform was a large pit filled with a multitude of alien corpses. The corpses included those of the Sickle Bugs, Tank Bugs, and Spitter Bugs. The body of the Leader Bug could not be retrieved due to its unfortunate destruction during Lucius'' ''ascension''. Some of the corpses were relatively complete while others were smashed into meat patties. Burns and cuts littered many of the corpses reminding those who looked at them of the arduous and dangerous battle. The gazes of the three figures atop the platform weren''t directed at these corpses. Alex, Reyna and Oliva stared in shock, at the handsome young man who was standing in the middle of this pit filled with alien corpses. He was letting out a peal of maniacal laughter as a black shadow expanded from under his feet and started to engulf these corpses. "Devour! Devour!" the voice from the center of the pit continued to increase in volume. Upon being engulfed by this strange shadow, the corpses started to mysteriously sink into the darkness. Similar to a small pebble thrown into a lake. Lucius'' eyes continued to shine brighter and a sense of madness was rapidly filling them. His pristine-white skin slowly started to turn into a stone-grey color. It was at this moment that a black mist started to exude from within his shadow. Upon its appearance, a strange force of attraction was released from Lucius'' body. The pores on his newly grey skin opened and started to suck the black mist into them. Wave after wave of malevolent energy gathered towards Lucius, only to be immediately sucked within his body. "MORE! DEVOUR MORE!" the hints of rationality within his eyes started to quickly disappear. Replacing it was a bestial desire to devour everything. The shadow underneath his feet started to increasingly become wider in range and more corpses started to sink within it. These corpses then turned into black energy which was then released from the shadow and sucked into Lucius'' body. "AHAHAHA!!" Lucius'' high-pitched laughter continued to increase in volume. His bony-looking body was starting to recover its strength as energy started to fill him. The withered muscles immediately returned and his slouching back straightened up once more. The greyness of his skin started to turn darker and darker as waves of black mist continued to be absorbed by his body. An oppressive pressure was released from his body and descended onto the trio atop the platform. They found to harder to breathe. Their breathing was labored, akin to their lungs being filled with water. As they continued to watch Lucius absorb that strange mist, fear was beginning to be birthed in their hearts. The same fear, that prey would feel when it was trapped in a place with an apex predator. "I-is it fine to let him continue like that?" Alex''s voice trembled as he pointed his index finger towards Lucius. His mind was flooded with fear and his instincts warned him to stop Lucius from continuing. Hearing his question, the two girls did not reply. Or rather they could not reply. Their minds and bodies were frozen stiff in fear. Seeing the two girls frozen, Alex decided. He forcibly pushed down his fear and started to move. ''Screw it!'' he decided to trust his instincts. Leaping down from the platform, Alex brought his hands together and clasped his palms. Pouring his soul power into his palms, he closed his eyes and willed the energy to change. After doing so he then separated his hands and opened his eyes. Two red spheres of raging red flames floated atop each of his hands. His eyes shined with bright crimson as he continued to pour his soul energy into these spheres of flames. "Fireball!" he bellowed loudly and threw the two-spheres towards the grey-skinned Lucius. In less than a second, the two fireballs had reached Lucius'' body. Upon contact, they exploded. Heat and light enshrouded Lucius'' figure in the middle. Searing heat spilled in every direction and incinerated some of the corpses in the ground. The fireballs contained an incredible amount of heat, enough to melt solid iron. The piercing light was especially intense in this dark, enclosed room as it moved to clear the dark mists in the air. This was the first showcase of the soul, [Ruler of Flames]. Reyna and Olivia''s eyes stung as they finally awakened from their stupor. After the attack, Alex felt a sense of weakness spread throughout his body. Although the quantity and quality of his soul power had increased by a large amount after the ''Ascension'', his control over his newfound power was quite lacking. Alex had wasted almost 40% of his soul power into that one attack! While he wasn''t weakened to the extent of being paralyzed, he was still rapidly panting. ''Did I succeed?'' Alex questioned within his mind. He held no intention of killing Lucius, only wanting to wake him up. He had considered the toughness of Lucius'' body and held back from seriously injuring him. He reckoned that a few minor wounds would be enough to awaken Lucius and make him stop whatever he was currently doing. And to be fair, he somewhat succeeded. Lifting his head, he looked towards the center of the earlier explosion. The heat and light were starting to dissipate and the contents of what lay beyond were slowly being revealed. A grey-skinned figure continued to stand in the middle with his eyes closed. The surrounding area in a 5m radius was completely empty, save for the burnt ashes. The figure standing in the middle however was shockingly unhurt. Not a single burn or scorch mark was present on Lucius'' skin and neither was his patient''s garb burnt! The shadow underneath Lucius'' feet had retreated and the black mists were no longer being produced or absorbed. Seeing that he had succeeded, Alex let out a quiet sigh of relief. Just as he was about to talk, he heard the grey-skinned figure open its mouth. "Are you done playing with your fire?" his tone was filled with mockery. Alex watched as Lucius opened his eyes. A beautiful pair of heterochromatic eyes. One gold and the other crimson. However, the eyes did not contain indifference like it usually did. Only a gaze of mockery and desire was present. Lucius'' mouth opened fully to showcase the rows of teeth within. Unlike the 32 individual tooth present in the human mouth, Lucius'' mouth contained a staggering 120! Each tooth was silver in color and was as sharp as daggers. Their purpose- to bite and tear anything they encounter. "For interrupting my meal...." he spoke. Alex had not heard the sentence being completed when he suddenly saw Lucius'' figure disappear. Alex immediately pulled his hands together to form a guard and leaned forward to protect himself. His actions were completed in less than 0.1 seconds. His brain was quick to think and his body was even quicker to comply. A remarkable reaction time. One worthy of a trained warrior. Unfortunately, Lucius was even faster. The figure which stood about 15m away, now stood directly in front of Alex seemingly having teleported. A slender, grey hand punched Alex''s body and his guard was immediately broken. A large amount of force was delivered onto his chest as Alex felt a couple of ribs break under the impact. He threw up a mouthful of red blood and his eyes shrunk from the pain. "...you shall pay with your flesh!" he finally heard the sentence complete near his ears. Lucius'' right hand shot towards Alex''s neck and held him with an iron-like grip. He lifted the 1.82m tall, 90kg young man, effortlessly into the air. His mouth opened once again and Alex got to witness the horror of those saw-like teeth up close. "Such a tasty looking soul! This will do!" Madness was the only emotion present in his eyes. One bite and his life would end just like that. Lucius however did not immediately bite. With the hand that was holding Alex, Lucius used his long, black nails and pierced into Alex''s throat. Alex''s body which had been struggling earlier suddenly stiffened. He felt his body rapidly weakening as his soul power was being drawn towards Lucius. To his horror, Alex could see his soul power being absorbed by Lucius! His blazing red soul power seemed powerless as it was pulled into Lucius'' body. "Wonderful! Such exquisite taste!" Lucius exclaimed. The madness in his eyes started to shine even brighter. Not being able to hold back his instincts anymore, Lucius neared his mouth towards Alex''s throat. "A tasty soul. I wonder how your flesh tastes!" his teeth slowly pierced into Alex''s skin. Just as Lucius was about to bite down, a loud bellow was heard in the background. "Let him go!" Followed by the shout was a bright flash of violet light which hit Lucius directly in his face. Chapter 102: Annihilator and Void Eater. Part 1 "Let him go!" Olivia bellowed from the top of the platform. Using the new-gained knowledge from her [Soul Suppressor] soul, she attacked Lucius with a powerful mental attack. "Suppress" followed by her shout, a beam of violet light left her hands and struck Lucius, directly in his face. Having ignored his surroundings earlier, Lucius was unable to dodge the attack. The beam of violet light struck Lucius'' body and held him in place. They then changed form and turned into chains which firmly wrapped around his body. With the chains holding him securely, Lucius was unable to move his body. "ROAR!!" he let out an enraged shout. Greyish-black energy furiously fell out of his body and tried to devour the violet chains. Unfortunately, Olivia''s spell wasn''t that weak nor simple. More light exploded from the chains and firmly suppressed the greyish-black energy from moving. The stream of energy suddenly slowed down and became sluggish. "Reyna! Quickly save Alex and leave this room! Bring Ka''lor''ah over here!" although she was afraid, Olivia hadn''t completely lost her calm. She still managed to relay proper instructions and had a proper grasp of the situation. Having heard her instructions, Reyna did not move. Instead, she continued to stand there with a dazed expression on her face. "HURRY UP! I cannot hold him for long!" Oliva screamed. "Ah! y-yes I''m going!" forcibly suppressing her fears, Reyna moved. She jumped down from the platform and landed on the empty clearing below her. Dashing towards, Alex''s body she found him unconscious. Quickly removing a metal orb from her pocket, Reyna infused her soul power into it. This metal orb was one of Reyna''s new creations after awakening her soul [Machinery Life]. Using the newly gained knowledge and combining it with her ''Pseudo-Life'' research, she was able to complete this new robot. It was called the [Mover]. It couldn''t attack. It couldn''t protect. Its only purpose was to transport heavy bodies and objects, carefully arranging and segregating them in the process. In short, it was WALL-E. It was with this invention of hers which made it possible to move thousands of dead bodies and properly separate them in three days. Not only that, but this machine also assisted the people of the base in the reconstruction of the wall and other facilities that were damaged due to the earthquake and the attack. But wait? Shouldn''t there already exist robots capable of such tasks? How was this robot different from the other ones? Yes, there did exist other robots powered by intelligent AI, capable of doing such tasks. But in the end, all of them were still ''robots''. They weren''t alive and most importantly, they could not utilize soul power! Reyna''s ''Pseudo-Life'' wasn''t perfect. It could not imbue machined with life and make them capable of human feelings. However, with the infusion of her soul power, she was able to give life to her machines! [Machinery Life]. While the name was quite simple, it did exactly what the name said, To imbue life into machines. This was the very reason, Reyna was dubbed as ''Humanity''s focal point''. With this soul, which could imbue life into machines, coupled with mankind''s monstrous rate of production. Humanity was able to fight till the bitter end in the previous timeline and was able to survive for 30 years! Of course, combat machines and intelligent AI''s existed however, all of them had the same problem. They could not use soul power! Reyna''s machines, on the other hand, could! Having gained ''life'', they were imbued with both intelligence and a soul. Thus making it possible for her creations to use soul power. As for the variety of what they could use, Reyna hadn''t tested her abilities that far yet. In a world where every living organism was capable of using soul power and was able to grow in strength, machines with fixed strength were simply too weak! Just a single Stage 1 Peak level, Leader Bug could single-handedly neutralize a full-powered plasma blast. Remember, Stage 1 was just the beginning! In a certain sense, Reyna was similar to Ka''lor''ah. Both their souls had something to do with the creation of life. One could create biological life and the other could create mechanical life. As for which one was superior, only time would tell. Having received her soul power, the metal orb quickly started whirring into action. It expanded in size and started to float off the ground. It had two arms'' used for lifting. A large head which held its soul and two large eyes which blinked cutely at Reyna. Seeing the [Mover] robot coming to life, literally. Reyna quickly instructed. "Quick! Carefully move that body and take it to the medical facility" she hurriedly spoke. The floating robot blinked its eyes twice, before nodding its head. It floated towards Alex''s body, directly positioning itself above his body. Then reaching down with both its hands it grabbed Alex. Comparing the size of the [Mover] and that of Alex, it would have been an impossible task for it to lift Alex. But this was where the power of the soul came into play. A faint stream of silver light glowed underneath its metal plating and the soul [Super Strength] came into action. The [Mover] effortlessly lifted Alex''s body off the ground and quickly started moving in the direction of the medical facility. Reyna on the other hand had already left the cold storage room and headed towards Ka''lor''ah. Seeing two of her best friends finally leave, Olivia let out a sigh of relief. She turned her head and looked towards the roaring Lucius. His eyes continued to shine in their heterochromatic glows and his face was filled with madness. He tried to bite the chains using his dagger-like teeth, but it was to no avail. "Wake up, Lucius! This isn''t you!" Olivia stressed. "SHUT UP!" Lucius roared. That roar seemed to have snapped something as wave upon wave of greyish-black energy gushed from within his body. His entire figure, wrapped in violet chains was soon drowned in this greyish energy. Not being able to suppress the tremendous amount of energy, the violet chains started to creak. Tiny cracks started to form on the surface of the chains, as they were no longer able to withstand the furious onslaught of the greyish-black energy. "AHHH!!!" Lucius let out an earth-shattering scream. His voice contained a mixture of madness, wrath, and annoyance. ''Not good!'' warning bells immediately went off within Olivia''s mind. Circulating her soul power into her raised hands she started to chant her next incantation. The [Soul Suppressor] gave Olivia a plethora of magic spells, which were mostly supportive or mind-based attacks in general. The violet chains she had used earlier was one such support spell called [Suppress]. [Suppress] had the effect of binding the opponent''s body and decelerating the flow of one''s soul power. Its effects were quite extraordinary, allowing the caster to bind opponents of a higher level. "Suppress!" Olivia finally completed her chants and released her soul power. Another flash of bright violet light left her hands and headed towards Lucius'' body. Just as the violet light seemed to reach Lucius'' body, a current of greyish-black energy suddenly burst from within his body and negated the effects of her spell. ''Dammit!'' Olivia cursed. With her new spell intercepted and her old spell rapidly being devoured by the greyish-black energy, Olivia was in a dicey situation. If things were to head in this direction, she might actually lose her life here. ''Should I run?'' the thought of escaping from this place occurred to her. However, the thought of the people outside the room becoming food for Lucius was something Olivia could not accept. Human lives were not that cheap! ''I cannot run!'' she reaffirmed her will. ''I must stand here and buy time for Reyna to bring Ka''lor''ah here. If I run, the people behind me will die!'' And at this moment. the sound of metallic chains shattering was heard. The greyish-black energy enshrouding the figure of Lucius, finally lifted. Behind the veil stood a 1.9m tall being looking at her with hateful eyes. With the pair of golden and crimson eyes shining, a deep voice filled with suppressed fury spoke. "I don''t like being chained." He then lifted his hands and pointed towards Olivia. "And your body is filled with that hateful energy which chained me." The Void Eater''s signature racial skill activated at this moment. "Devour!" With an enraged shout, the shadows beneath his feet exploded out towards Olivia. Chapter 103: Annihilator and Void Eater. Part 2 Upon activating [Devour], the pitch-black shadows unexpectedly leaped out from the ground and materialized into thin air. Shadows which were originally scattered in the ground gathered in the air, joined together to form tentacle-like appendages. These tentacles shot towards Olivia''s body in a bid to pull her into the void. Once her body was pulled into the shadow, there would be no more chances to escape. Olivia''s fate would be to become food for the Void Eater. Fortunately, Olivia wasn''t the weak, lacking young woman she previously was. Her soul immediately sensed the danger in the approaching tentacles and promptly warned her. Infusing soul power into her legs, Olivia jumped backward in a bid to create distance between the shadowy tentacles and her body. Her goal wasn''t to defeat Lucius, but rather stall for time. Thanks to her quick reactions and newly improved soul cultivation. Olivia was barely able to dodge the clutches of the tentacles. Having hit nothing but thin air, the tentacle begrudgingly withdrew into the void once again. Just as Olivia was about to let out a sigh of relief her heart feezed. "Did you forget about me?" a voice that sounded like the grating of metal was heard from behind her. Instinctively, Oliva ducked her head. She could feel a gust of cold air blow past her head. A few strands of black hair fell from her head. Immediately after that, Olivia detonated a part of her soul aimed towards her back to cancel her momentum. Using the rebound from this blast. she rolled towards the sides. Rolling up onto her feet, Oliva placed her hands to her front and started to cast another spell. Knowing that [Suppress] was no longer effective on her foe, she decided to try her other spells. In any fight, the foremost priority is to have a proper visual of your opponent. Without knowing where your opponent was and where he was going to attack, defeat would only be a matter of time. This was also the case in Olivia''s current fight. Lucius'' speed was much superior to hers. If she was to only rely on her sight, Olivia''s chances of staying alive would be quite grim. Knowing such, Olivia''s first spell wasn''t offensive in nature but was rather a buff. [Strenghten Soul] The casting was complete and violet light covered Olivia''s figure. Her sapphire blue eyes turned deep violet in color. Oliva felt a sense of unbounded freedom envelop her body. Her senses seemed to have broken some sort of restriction as she was able to feel everything! Her sight was clearer and faster. Her nose could pick up the tiniest of scents. Her ears were sharp as a rabbit. Her skin could feel the vibrations in the air. But most importantly, ''I can feel Lucius'' presence! And right now he''s....'' as soon her thought was completed, Olivia twisted her head at a 45-degree angle. A stone-grey-skinned, slender hand tore through the air, where her head had been just a moment ago. Her ears picked up the sound of the air twisting and her nose smelled a faint burning smell. Just as Olivia was about to roll forward once more a large impact was delivered onto her sides. Pain assaulted her mind and her body was thrown forward. "Bugs which keep running around are the most annoying." she faintly heard a dissatisfied voice. Traveling almost 10 feet through the air in that impact, Olivia''s body landed on the ground with a heavy thud. She threw up a large amount of red blood. The pain threatened to take her consciousness. ''No!'' Olivia''s monstrous will forcibly held onto her consciousness. She knew. If she were to lose consciousness here, she would unmistakenly, irrevocably die. ''..Whe-where is L-Lucius?'' her addled brain tried to sense Lucius'' location. Step, Step. Step, Step. The sounds of footsteps approaching were heard. Squinting with her painful eyes, Olivia saw a blurry image. A grey-skinned humanoid figure, 1,9m in height was slowly approaching her body. The ground beneath his feet was completely dark and black tentacle-like appendages, peeked through his darkness. With each step, the darkness beneath his feet moved along with his body. Racial skill of the Void Eaters: [Void Steps] Present everywhere yet nowhere. Encompassing everything, yet nothing. The void surrounded the Universe and held everything within. It represents everything that ever was and everything that ever will be. And the Void Eaters were the children of the Void. Their ability to freely traverse through the void with each step was proof of their parentage and their authority as one belonging to the void. And as the children of the void, it was their duty to return everything to it. To devour all matter and return to become a part of the void. At this moment, Lucius had already reached Olivia''s body which was groaning in pain. He stopped a few inches away from her body and spoke. "Such a delicious soul. Yet, when I think about eating it my instincts warn me of instant peril." his tone contained hints of desire and confusion. "Such being the case, you must be destroyed." saying so, Lucius shot a black tentacle towards Olivia''s head. He intended to crush her head, thus ending her life. Just as the black tentacle rose and was about to crush her head, Olivia''s body exploded with a violet-colored light. Standing in such close range, the violet light struck Lucius'' body. His entire body was dyed in bright violet light. "ARGH!!" a loud scream escaped from his mouth, The tentacles surrounding his body disappeared and his connection to the void was forcibly cut off. The violet-colored energy spread throughout his body and enveloped the greyish-black energy within it. An inordinate amount of pain was felt throughout his body as the violet light forcibly suppressed and destroyed the greyish-black energy. Grey smoke rose from Lucius'' body and the scent of burning flesh spread through the air. "AHHH!!!" his body was being purified! The momentum of the violet light energy was too fierce and an unimaginable amount of pain flooded his body. He felt an overwhelming threat to his life. It was then, that the slumbering soul within his mindspace finally awoke. A soul which was the product of the mutation of his [Killer] soul. Due to the intense amounts of energy consumed during the ascension process, followed by the unlocking of his bloodline and the reconstruction of his body. Lucius'' energy reserves were at an all-time low. Apart from being awake for a brief period of time after the completion of the ascension. Lucius''s consciousness was in a state of slumber. The period when he had woken up in the medical facility and had threatened Oliva into bringing him here was the result of his subconscious mind. Lucius belonged to the race of the Void Eaters. A species that had the ability to travel through the void and evolve endlessly through consuming matter. With his body being in excess lack of energy earlier, his body had subconsciously relied on this trait and had devoured all the bodies. That followed by the attack on Alex and Olivia was the result of his subconscious trying to instinctively hunt for better food. After all, freshly ascended souls not to mention such rare ones were a true delicacy. What was unexpected was the first attack from Olivia. Seemingly having triggered some kind of taboo of the Void Eaters he had finally lost his mind to the madness and attacked her with all his might. Just as he was about to succeed Olivia''s soul landed a successful attack on his body, which finally awakened his slumbering soul. Lucius'' body which had been releasing painful roars gradually started to calm down. The stone-grey color on his skin started to fade, restoring its previous state of pristine whiteness. The colors in his eyes also faded, restoring its previous state of inky blackness. Lucius'' maddened expression also disappeared. The previous look of absolute indifference returned. "Livia! I brought Ka''lor''ah!" an enlivened voice was heard preceded by the sound of the door opening. Reyna had a worried expression on her face and her hand was holding onto a dark-gold crystal. Her eyes swept across the scene on the inside. She was shocked. "Olivia!" "Lucius!" Two voices each belonging to a different person was heard. Reyna dropped the crystal in her hand and rushed towards the injured Olivia. Ka''lor''ah who was released from Reyna''s grasp flew towards Lucius. "Olivia! What happened?!" Reyna screamed. She tightly held onto Olivia''s body and scanned through her injuries. Tears brimmed within her eyes and her heart was filled with worry. She scanned Olivia''s body with a machine on her wrist. After seeing that none were life-threatening, she finally let out a sigh of relief. Ka''lor''ah on the other side also scanned Lucius with her senses. Her scans were even more through, due to the bond between their souls. Seeing the results of her scan, Ka''lor''ah let out a deep sigh. ''My senses weren''t wrong. Lucius is indeed a Void Eater. My natural enemy.'' she calmly concluded. Her mind was filled with complex feelings and thoughts. ''How should I proceed?'' this was the chief question within her heart. Should she kill him right now, when he is currently weak? Or should she continue with her plans and risk the possibility of Lucius killing her? Ka''lor''ah was in a dilemma. Letting out another sigh, she finally made up her mind. ''There is no point in thinking alone. I must discuss this with him after he wakes up. If he wants to kill me and consume my soul, then so be it.'' she let out a bitter laugh. It was then that Lucius'' body finally moved. His abyssal black pupils opened and his devilishly handsome face radiated indifference. His mouth moved as he spoke in a bland voice. "My soul has mutated to what is called the [Annihilator]. An evolution in the [Killer] path? Or is it something entirely different?" He paused for a second before saying. "Interesting. Very Interesting." Chapter 104: True Face. Diving into his mindspace with his consciousness, Lucius inspected his newly mutated soul. At the center of his mindspace stood a vague, humanoid figure. The features of the figure weren''t clearly visible and its face was enshrouded behind blurry lines. Only the shape and outline of the body could be seen due to the intersecting lines of crimson red and transparent white. Black clouds lined with threads of red and white surrounded this vague figure and filled the entirety of his mindspace. Unlike previously when the figure and the clouds were flowing like water, they currently had a solid presence. The new stream of energy felt as fluid as silk, while being as solid as iron. Inspecting this change, Lucius was astonished. ''Stage 1 Peak Level! I have reached Solid Phase!'' he exclaimed. Thanks to the tremendous amounts of energy poured into his soul during his ascension, Lucius'' soul had not only mutated but unexpectedly had also advanced by a small level. ''This is great. Now that I have better strength certain plans can be brought forward.'' ''Now then... what exactly is my soul?'' he wondered. Nearing the vague silhouette with his consciousness, Lucius slowly reached into his soul and tried to connect with his soul. Back when he was unconscious, Lucius had involuntarily connected with his soul for a short moment. It was then that he had learned the name of his soul. [Annihilator] A simple name meaning a simple thing. Searching through the memories of his previous life, he tried to remember if he had read any records of this particular soul. ''Hmm... [Arbitrator],.... [Adjucator].... I don''t remember any soul type recorded as [Annihilator].'' Lucius found it very odd. The records that he had read belonged to the person, who was considered to be number one in matters regarding the souls. In other words, Ka''lor''ah. Lucius once again searched through his memories carefully but still ended up with no particular information. ''Nevermind. Let''s see what abilities I received.'' not wanting to waste his time, Lucius decided to check his new abilities. Every soul granted its owner a set of special abilities. These abilities belong to a wide variety and are mostly dependent on the group of ''Rules'', to which the soul might belong. With the awakening of one''s soul, they might receive greater strength, newer knowledge, the ability to cast magic, maybe increased learning speed and others of such variety. The possibilities were endless as the number of soul types was simply too great. Of course, one can more or less guess the type of abilities one might get by identifying the group of ''Rules'' to which their soul might belong. For example, Lucius'' [Killer] and Alex''s [Ruler of Flames] belonged to the ''Rule of Destruction'' and ''Rule of Chaos''. Therefore, one can roughly infer that their abilities were violent in nature and were suitable for direct combat. Frontline damage dealers in other words. After connecting with his soul, Lucius solely started to understand the nature of his soul and it''s abilities. ''My abilities are... [Annihilation Intent], [Flaw Detection] and.... [Annihilation Energy]? What''s that?'' Reading the names of the first two abilities, Lucius more or less understood the purpose of those skills. They were practical and were suited for direct combat. -- [Annihilation Intent]- It was the improved version of [Killing Intent]. When released it directly affects the soul of the other party, eroding it with the passage of time. Other effects such as Fear and Paralysis are also inflicted, depending upon the difference in their soul cultivations. Higher the soul cultivation, the greater the effects. -- [Flaw Detection]- An ability that allowed the wielder to detect the flaws on all objects. Allows the wielder to look past the surface and gaze at the true nature of an object. Effects improve upon higher soul cultivation. -- ''Shame. [Killer Vision] was better.'' he clicked his tongue. Although [Killer Vision] did not grant him the ability to view flaws, it allowed him to set marks and track his targets. Being able to view flaws seemed a bit redundant to Lucius, considering the amount of combat experience he has. Still, there was no point in complaining about his new ability. He had to test its effects in the field to understand its uses. After all, being able to make the best use of what one has is the mark of a true powerhouse. However, what stumped Lucius was the last ability. [Annihilation Energy] That''s it. There were no explanations. No descriptions. Nothing. Just two words. Feeling a bit annoyed, he thought to himself. ''Looks like I have to figure this out myself.'' With the evolution of his soul, Lucius had to walk a new path. One which he was not familiar with. While others might be excited at the possibility of a newer path especially one which might be stronger than his previous soul type, Lucius was quite straightforward. ''What a bother.'' It was simply too bothersome. After his rebirth, Lucius desperately lacked two things. One was strength and the other was time. While strength was something he could find replacements for. Time, on the other hand, was something which could not be replaced. Gaining a new soul type, especially one that might have no precedence, meant that Lucius had to waste a lot of his time figuring out the right path and correct advancement conditions. More than that, his understanding of the ''Rules'' must also undergo a change to better suit his new path. In other words, he would have to waste a lot of his time experimenting. ''No point in worrying too much.'' instead of letting it bother him, Lucius decided to push it to the back of his head for now. After all, he wasn''t in a rush to advance in his cultivation nor was he in the position to do so. ''Time to head back.'' seeing that his soul had successfully mutated and had also evolved to boot. Lucius decided to leave his mindspace. ---------------------- Focus returned to his eyes as his consciousness returned to the surface. He blinked his eyes twice and stared at the floating dark-gold crystal in front of him. "Are you okay?" a voice filled with complex emotions was heard from the crystal. Hearing her question, Lucius nodded his head. He then asked. "My soul has undergone an evolution. Do you know of a soul type called the [Annihilator]?" "...[Annihilator]? Never heard of it." Ka''lor''ah thought for a few seconds before replying. ''As expected.'' Lucius sighed and stood up. Just as he was in the process of getting up, a white, slender palm headed towards his face in order to smack him. Reacting instinctively, Lucius caught the wrist and look towards its owner. "What are you doing?" he asked in a cold voice. "Let me go!" Reyna screamed with a face filled with anger. She tried to use her other hand to claw out of Lucius'' grip but was unsuccessful. Tightening his hold over her slender, dainty wrist. Lucius asked once again. "What. Are. You. Doing?" his tone lowered by a few degrees. "What am ''????'' doing?" her voice was suppressed like a volcano on the verge of eruption. In the next moment, it erupted. "What are ''YOU'' doing!!" she thundered. "WHY? Why do you repeatedly hurt us?! Are we not your friends?!" her face was livid. "Do you even know how seriously injured Alex is currently?! His entire chest was caved in!! Look! Look at Olivia, right there?!" She used her other hand to point towards Olivia. Olivia continued to cough out mouthfuls of blood. Her entire face was pallid and her forehead winced in pain. She was trying to remain conscious, but the pain from Lucius'' last attack had injured her internal organs. Due to that last attack, Olivia''s soul power was also running low. While she wanted to stop Reyna from speaking, she, unfortunately, did not have the strength to move her body. Ka''lor''ah on the other hand did not want to intervene. She stood quietly by the side, absorbed into her own thoughts. Reyna''s entire body shook as she continued with her outburst. "Even that previous time with Alex. Why would you attack and injure him?! All he wanted was to apologize to you! Why don''t you get it?" Her feet stomped angrily into the ground and her soul power started to overflow due to her agitation. "Why would you attack your friends? What is wrong with you?!" "Tell us, so we can help you! Tell me!" her large chest heaved up and down as she rapidly panted. Reyna had gone all out and poured her grievances on Lucius. She did not want power, wealth, authority, or strength. All she ever wanted was a group of closely knit friends, who could rely on each other. Friends that would unhesitantly help the other no matter the situation. This was her greatest wish and dream. Lucius, Olivia, Alex, and herself were precisely this group. Just as Reyna was about to continue with her outburst, a cold voice interrupted her. Reyna''s body immediately stiffened when she heard that voice. "Friends? You actually thought you and the others were my friends?" Lucius sneered before saying. "Foolish" Chapter 105: Void Eaters Abilities. Part 1 "Listen well, Reyna. My relation with Alex, Olivia, and you is one of cooperation. I never considered you people as my friends nor will I ever will." He stared directly into Reyna''s shocked eyes, as he continued. "I merely required you to play a part in my plan and you have already done so. In other words, our cooperation is over." "As of today we no longer have any ties between us." He then released his grip over her wrist and walked past her. The dark-gold crystal quietly floated alongside him. "I will no longer stay around to protect you and your group. Nor will I ensure the continuity of your survival. Your life and death are in your own hands." His indifferent voice continued to sound out as he walked without pause. "My suggestion is, stop whining and complaining about such irrelevant matters. Stop being so dependent on others and gather your own strength." "For the sake of yourself, your family, and for mankind." Reaching the door, Lucius stopped for a second. Without looking back, he spoke in a serious tone. "That army of alien bugs is just the beginning." having said so he exited the room. The door closed behind him leaving the stupefied girls. Tears started to gather in Reyna''s eyes, while Olivia''s turned blank. What shocked them wasn''t the fact that Lucius did not consider them his friends nor the fact that mankind''s struggles had just begun. ''I will no longer stay around to protect you and your group.'' His meaning was quite clear in that one sentence. Lucius was going to leave them. ------------------- Walking through the passages, Lucius continued to sport his blank face. There was no unhappiness, despondence, or reluctance in his face. His eyes remained indifferent and his heart remained unfeeling. "That was harsh." Ka''lor''ah quietly remarked. "It''s about time they stop relying on me, on coming to save them. I have no time to waste on such meaningless matters. They are simply too weak to be of any use." pausing for a moment he continued. "Also, this was always the plan. Protect Reyna until the completion of the ''Ascension''." "Once she becomes the ''focal point of mankind'' and her cause synchronizes with the Universe, she will no longer be in danger of losing her life. With her assistance mankind is no longer in danger of being annihilated." he concluded. Following the signs labeled on the walls, Lucius started to walk towards his living quarters. "More importantly.." he spoke. "Isn''t it about time you tell me what''s wrong with my body?" Hearing his question, Ka''lor''ah sighed. She understood Lucius'' personality very thoroughly, having lived with him and taught him for 30 years. From the moment she confirmed the nature of Lucius'' race having changed, she had been expecting this question of his. ''What do I tell you? That you and I are mortal enemies, destined to not rest until our counter-parts death.'' Ka''lor''ah soundlessly laughed. The idea of hiding the truth had also occurred to her. But knowing that he would learn of the truth sooner or later, made her hesitant to continue. ''Perhaps this question itself is a test? Perhaps he already knows the nature of his existence and is sounding out to know my stand.'' Whatever the case, Ka''lor''ah felt that she could not lie. Rather, she did not want to lie. Arranging her words, she started. "Lucius, what do you know about the Void?" Hearing her question, Lucius was suddenly confused. ''Why is she asking about the Void?'' although he did not understand, he recognized Ka''lor''ah''s serious tone. Thinking about it for a moment, he then replied. "Void- It''s a type of sub-dimension that surrounds and envelops the entire Universe. It exists everywhere and connects everything, yet none of us can actually see it or feel it." "Rather than say it exists, it''s more of a theoretical possibility. Something that exists in words but cannot be actually proven." Hearing his answer, Ka''lor''ah smiled. "Ding! Ding! A textbook answer. Seems like I did a good job as your teacher. Anyways, what you don''t know is that..." "The void really does exist! It is a Rule of the highest order, belonging to the same category as the ''Rule of Creation'' and the ''Rule of Fate''. Actually, some consider it to be even higher on the hierarchy. Placing it on the same level as ''Rule of Beginnings''." Seeing that Lucius was fully focused on her words, Ka''lor''ah gently said. "And you are the child of the Void." BOOM! Lucius felt an explosion go off in his head. His race belonged to a Rule which was in the same category as the ''Rule of Beginnings.'' A Rule of the highest order! What did this mean? If this Universe was a game and the Rules represented the various levels of permissions required to access the system. Lucius'' existence was like the GM. He basically had ''admin rights'' of the Universe. Of course, the above case was simply an example, as the real world was much more complex. The basic meaning was more or less the same. As long as Lucius continued to become stronger, the number of restrictions that he would face in the Universe would become lower and lower. He would be able to ignore the lower rules such as ''Rules of Space'' or the ''Rules of Time'', simply because his ''Rule of Void'' was higher in the hierarchy. Ka''lor''ah paused for a few minutes to give Lucius some time to digest this information. If she herself, a person with tens of thousands of years of experience was shocked by the revelation, nothing was to be said about Lucius. "Ah...Uh.'' weird groans escaped from within Lucius'' mouth. Noticing that he had regained his senses, Ka''lor''ah continued. "The Ancients named your race as, Virudero Degulos.¡ºVoid Eater.¡» in simpler words." "Other than the fact that Void Eater''s could freely travel through the Void and their ability to consume anything and everything. Not much is known about them." She hesitated for a second, wondering if she had to inform Lucius of the next part. Pondering for a moment she decided to reveal it. "More importantly, Void Eaters are known as The Ender of the Universe. The Enemy of All Life. In other words..." "..My mortal enemy." Speaking that final sentence, Ka''lorah felt a huge burden fall of her heart. The worry and tension that had filled her mind, melted like the morning dew. ''I have told him everything that I know. Now, the choice is in his hands. Whatever his choice, I don''t regret my actions." a sense of freedom filled her. Silence filled the atmosphere between the two parties. Lucius had stopped moving and quietly stared at the floor beneath his feet. Ka''lor''ah for her part shut off her vision and awaited her verdict. Her life''s duty was to kill the Void Eater. Similarly, the Void Eater''s goal was to devour all life. Since she was the Great Mother, The Myriad Species Queen. She was the Void Eater''s end goal. While the crystal in Lucius'' hands was merely a remnant will, a piece of her original soul. If he was to devour her right now, Lucius would gain the advantage when facing the real ''Ka''lor''ah'' of this timeline. Minutes continued to painfully pass when Lucius'' voice was finally heard. "That''s it?" "...I think? At least that''s all the information that I have." she honestly replied. "I see." Lucius simply nodded his head. Ka''lor''ah waited for a few minutes. Seeing that Lucius showed no intent to act against her she was astonished. "Aren''t you going to devour me?" her tone was both quizzical and astonished. "Why would I do that?" Lucius replied with a question of his own. Both of them stared at each other before Ka''lor''ah spoke. "Isn''t the end goal of every Void Eater to devour all life. Therefore, shouldn''t you also deal with me? You do know that I have the ability to create life, right?" she questioned. "I do know about your ability. But I have no interest in devouring all life. Nor is that the plan. No changes will be made to the plan. If anything, this just improves our odds of success." he nonchalantly replied. Ka''lor''ah was speechless. ''This guy! I had prepared my final wishes and last words. Now he says, ''I have no interest''. Where is the justification for all the mental dilemma I had to go through?'' While she complained within her mind, Ka''lor''ah''s heart was filled with a profound sense of happiness and joy. All of her earlier gloom had melted away and her jovial personality once again returned. Of course, Lucius did not pay attention to any of these changes. He stood silently while inspecting his body. He noticed that many of his organs had changed and his skeletal and muscular structure had been significantly improved. Inspecting his body, he also noticed greyish-black energy quietly flowing alongside his completely black blood. This greyish-black energy was not his soul power. It was a separate type of energy that was inherent to the Void Eaters. ''Void Energy.'' he gave it a simple name. ''So this is how I activate my racial abilities.'' "I have a question. Why did I attack the two weaklings earlier? Also, is that ''mysterious hunger'' related to my race? " Hearing his question, Ka''lor''ah pondered for a moment. "I''m not exactly sure. After all, you are the first Void Eater I have seen in my entire life. All my knowledge comes from the records left behind by my predecessors." "Your mysterious hunger is definitely related to your racial instincts. As for your loss of control and the attack... I guess it''s because your body instinctively hunted for food?" "We should test your abilities to confirm my hypothesis," she concluded. Hearing her answer, Lucius nodded his head. This answer had the highest probability of being correct. Real reasons can only be established upon tested facts. Knowing so, Lucius continued towards the living quarters. Before he headed out into the Universe, he wanted to learn his newly received abilities. Chapter 106: Void Eaters Abilities. Part 2 Earth Alliance Frontier Base, Deatov. Inside one of the free combat training rooms. A very handsome looking young man with black hair and black eyes, wearing a white combat training suit, stood in front of a holographic screen. On the screen, a certain scene was being played. {"For interrupting my meal....you shall pay with your flesh!"} "Pause there." the handsome young man, indifferently instructed Immediately upon his instruction, a burst of golden energy struck the control panel and the scene on the holographic screen immediately paused. Looking at the frozen image, one would find an astonishing fact. The grey-skinned figure, which had spoken the above lines was missing! No trace of its body could be found anywhere in the frame. "As I thought." a hint of realization filled Lucius'' eyes. "Rollback and increase the number of frames to the maximum. I want to see it in slow motion." Lucius instructed Ka''lor''ah who was operating the holographic screen. The paused image rolled back and the scene from a few seconds ago was once again repeated. This time the grey-skinned figure on the screen moved very slowly. His actions were drawn out and long intervals were present in between his moves. Lucius and Ka''lor''ah observed the actions of the grey-skinned figure with complete seriousness. The scene resumed and the dialogue played once again. Precisely when the grey-skinned figure completed his first sentence, the dark shadow beneath his feet started to expand upwards. It climbed up the legs of the grey-skinned figure and unexpectedly started to pull him down into the ground! His entire body quickly sunk into the dark shadow beneath his feet and completely disappeared from the scene. This time Lucius did not instruct Ka''lor''ah to pause the video. The frames continued to move before a change occurred in the scene. A tiny dot of black shadow suddenly appeared 15m away from where the grey-skinned figure had disappeared. This spot was directly in front of Alex''s position. Upon its appearance, the tiny dot quickly expanded in size, and a grey-skinned figure rose from within. Starting from its head, it rose all the way up until its feet were once again standing atop the black shadow. "You can stop now" Lucius instructed Ka''lor''ah. The holographic screen disappeared and silence returned to the room. Apart from the sounds of Lucius'' breathing, no other sound was heard. His body stood unmoving and his eyes were closed. After a few seconds, the sounds of his heartbeat suddenly accelerated. Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Lucius'' heartbeat continued to climb higher and higher. In heart rate which was originally at around 80 BPM, explosively increased reaching almost 600 BPM!! At this moment a black shadow mysteriously appeared beath Lucius'' feet. The shadow then started to climb upwards and started to encompass his legs. In under a second, Lucius'' body started to sink into the shadow before all traces of his existence disappeared! Looking at this scene Ka''lor''as was shocked. Seeing something in a video could not compare to actually experiencing it in real life. Although she had seen this exact scene happen to the grey-skinned Lucius inside the video, it was quite something to personally see it happen. Shaking her body to be rid of her shock, Ka''lor''ah hurriedly expanded her senses. She used her [Area Detection] ability and scanned the entire room to find traces of Lucius. She could find nothing! Not a single bit of Lucius'' presence was found inside the room. Question: Was it impossible for people to completely disappear and hide the traces of their presence? Answer: Of course not. There existed myriad different ways to disappear and hide one''s presence, known to the inhabitants of the Universe. In fact, it was basic knowledge to learn one or two presence hiding techniques if one wanted to survive in the Universe. But the fact that a mere Stage 1 living being, managed to do this exact thing, right in front of her very eyes, shocked Ka''lor''ah. One has to remember that Ka''lor''ah was originally a Stage 7 existence. Her ability to detect other life forms is amongst the best in the entire Universe. Just as Ka''lor''ah stood dazed in shock, a slender arm extended from behind her and caught her. She hurriedly directed her senses towards this hand. For the third time within a short period, Ka''lor''ah was astonished. Lucius grasped the dark-gold crystal in his hand. The black shadow beneath his feet had once again disappeared. "Teleportation..." Ka''lor''ah dazed voice mumbled in a soft voice. "Were you able to detect me with your sense?" Lucius questioned. "....No. From the moment you disappeared from my vision, all traces of your existence vanished. It was as if you were never here in the first place." suppressing her shock, she then replied. Lucius directly nodded his head. A few seconds passed and Ka''lor''ah''s astonishment faded, only to be replaced by excitement. "How did you do it?!" she exclaimed. --- After Lucius had learned the truth about his origin, he had immediately sealed himself up in this combat training room. Over the past two days, he had untiringly practiced to freely utilize his racial abilities. During his practice, Lucius found out that the key to using his racial abilities as a Void Eater laid in the greyish-black energy within his body. This ''Void Energy'' existed alongside the pitch black-colored blood in his body. Unlike soul power which could be controlled with a thought. Lucius had to manually move the void energy by controlling the flow of his blood. While difficult, it was certainly not impossible to control the flow of one''s blood. Especially so for someone with Lucius'' levels of experience. With the method of control figured out, Lucius started on his abilities. Starting with the simplest racial ability which was also the signature skill of the Void Eater-[Devour] This ability allows Lucius to turn into an all-consuming black hole. He could literally consume anything and turn it into void energy, which could then be absorbed back into his body. He started with objects such as mud, rocks, metal plates, and other man-made objects. Although he was able to consume these materials, the amount of void energy he received was so minuscule that it wasn''t worth using the skill in the first place. After repeated trials, he finally figured out that he could generate the maximum amount of void energy when consuming objects which were rich in Spiritual Energy or Soul Power. Such as the bodies of the alien bugs or that of the ascended humans. This was also when Lucius found out that he could also devour the souls of other living organisms. After the death of a living organism, there existed a five-second delay after which the soul of the living organism would disappear. If he uses his ability in close proximity within these five-seconds, Lucius was able to convert the soul into pure Soul Power and Void Energy. This revelation had effectively solved his earlier question on how he had managed to devour the soul of the people, back in the Pit. [Devour] could be activated by either enveloping the food with his black shadow or by directly consuming it through his mouth. It used the least amount of energy to activate and was the only skill that could allow him to recover his void energy. The second ability which Lucius had learned was, [Void Hands] This ability referred to the mass of black tentacles which extended from within his shadow. These tentacles acted as extra limbs, which he could control. The maximum amount of black tentacles that he could currently create were 30. The tentacles could extend up to a maximum range of 15m, with his body being the center. Unlike [Devour] which could be instinctively used and easily grasped, Lucius had quite the challenge at learning this new ability. Using [Void Hands] was similar to gaining 30 additional limbs. After a day and half of practice, Lucius could barely control the tentacles, limited to trashing them around. His combat efficiency would explode if Lucius was able to precisely control every single one of the tentacles. It cost 5% of his Void energy for one minute of activation. The third and final ability of the Void Eater was the skill that Lucius had just grasped. It was called [Void Steps]. Using this ability, Lucius was able to enter the Void. Upon entering the Void, Lucius was surrounded by an empty space filled with absolute darkness. Nothing was present within this space, apart from his own body. Closing his eyes, he was able to clearly sense his surroundings in the real world and could appear at any point which was within a 15m radius of his initial point of entry. This was also the skill that consumed the maximum amount of void energy. Almost 25% for every activation. In simpler words, [Void Steps] was a short-range Blink ability. Apart from these racial abilities, all of which were very useful for combat, Lucius also felt his physical body strengthening by a large extent. His musculature and skeletal structure were perfect, allowing him to efficiently transfer and receive force. He had also discovered that his sense of taste had significantly improved. Eating food that tasted good uplifted his mood and made him feel oddly ''happy''. An emotion Lucius hadn''t felt in a long time. -- Chapter 107: Interlude. "How did you do it?!" Ka''lor''ah shrieked in a high-pitched tone. As the Myriad Species Queen and as one who had touched upon the ''Rules of Creation'', Ka''lor''ah had an unhealthy amount of passion for creating and collecting various living organisms. As a matter of fact, her home contained the largest and most complete collection of living organisms, which existed within the Universe. Be they Primordial beasts, extinct creatures, rare species, if it existed within the Universe it was within her collection. Currently. Lucius who stood before her eyes was comparable to a ''Super-Deluxe-Ultra-Rare'' lifeform which only existed in the legends. Witnessing his almost cheat-like racial abilities, she had the urge to immediately lock him up and study him. Of course, considering her current strength it was impossible, to say the least. To answer her question Lucius calmly spoke. "By circulating the void energy within my body at fast speeds, I was able to vaguely feel a connection to the Void. By simply pouring my energy in the direction of that connection, I was able to open a path and head inside the Void." "To return was even simpler. I can accurately sense every detail within a 15m radius. All I have to do is choose a certain point and direct my energy towards that point. Following that, my body would exit from that point." Lucius briefly explained it to her. His indifferent face, then slightly scrunched in displeasure as he continued. "The energy used for the activation of [Void Steps] is simply too large. I can only use it as a trump card." "That''s only natural. Actually, the fact that you can travel through space at stage 1 is already against the ''Rules''." Ka''lor''ah said. A thought suddenly struck her as she questioned. "Are you able to take objects or perhaps another person to travel through the Void?" Hearing her question, Lucius pondered for a second. "I should be able to. Let''s test it out.", immediately without awaiting her reply, Lucius activated [Void Steps] once again. After getting familiar with his ability, the time taken for him to enter the Void was even shorter. Although it wasn''t instantaneous like the grey-skinned version, it only took him 2 seconds to enter the Void. The presence of both Ka''lor''ah and Lucius disappeared from the room. After five seconds, a small point appeared a few meters away and a figure covered with a dark shadow exited. "That. Was... AWESOME!!" Ka''lor''ah yelled in excitement. Lucius however sported a serious expression. "The energy consumption increased by 2%. Plus, I felt some kind of energy resisting your presence within the Void." his voice was serious. Ka''lor''ah bottled her excitement and quietly mused. "Well, I guess that it''s the innate rejection of the Void. After all, nothing is supposed to exist within the Void. Only Void Eaters being the children of the Void are permitted to freely enter and exit it at will." Seeing that her explanation made sense, Lucius nodded his head. Due to his continuous usage of [Void Steps], Lucius felt a sense of hunger originate from within his body. He noticed that the void energy within his body had been depleted by almost 60%. While it wasn''t serious, he still headed towards the corner of the room where a large amount of dead alien bodies were stacked. Before entering his close door training, Lucius had instructed the staff of the Frontier Base to continuously send him the bodies of the alien bugs. With an inexhaustible supply of food to devour, there were no issues with the depletion of void energy. "Did you figure out, why you lost control over your body earlier?" Ka''lor''ah questioned. Lucius nodded his head and replied, "It was due to having insufficient void energy. Actually, as the void energy within my body decreases, I can feel myself losing control over my body. If the energy within my body reaches 5% or lower, I will probably lose control and turn into that grey-skinned monster." Hearing his words, Ka''lor''ah''s tone turned serious. "This won''t do Lucius. If you were to lose control in the middle of combat, death is highly likely." her voice was concerned. To which he replied, "I won''t. The only reason I lost control in the first place was due to me being unconscious. It won''t happen again." his tone was bland and unconcerned. "That''s just stupid! You can never predict what might happen during battle!" she advised. "I said it won''t happen again." he firmly replied. Silence returned to the room. After a few moment''s Ka''lor''ah simply sighed. She understood that there was no point in arguing with Lucius on this topic, while he was being so obstinate. ''Seems like I have to use solid reason to convince him. Leaving such a serious matter to chance is very dangerous.'' she thought to herself. While the possibility of death might already sound serious enough for others, it held no sway over Lucius. Perhaps, Lucius was subconsciously considering himself to be invincible. Although he frequently reminded himself that he was currently weak, words are but words in the end. Such a mindset was very dangerous. Especially when one was weak within the vast Universe. -------------- Following this Lucius and Ka''lor''ah continued with their tests on his abilities. Lucius also made use of this opportunity to refine his control over [Void Hands] and also incorporated [Void Steps] into his scythe technique. He did not spend a single moment resting as his body seemed to be incapable of fatigue. With an untiring body and a spirited mind, Lucius was like a machine. Not to mention, there was also the Spiritual Energy within the air, which served to further increase his recovery. Just like that, another 3 days passed. A week had already passed after the attack by the army of alien bugs. The air was fresh with copious amounts of Spiritual Energy within it. People within the base in Deatov continued to experiment with their newly awakened souls and abilities. Excited shouts and superhuman scenes were prevalent everywhere across the base. Just by taking a stroll through the streets, one would come across a variety of scenes, seemingly having come right out of a fantasy novel. A certain middle-aged uncle was excitedly bouncing around the streets after receiving the power to jump higher. Another scientist was furiously chalking at the board after receiving increased calculative prowess. A certain soldier was shooting targets with shining eyes after receiving supervision. And much more of the kind was common in the base. It was at this moment that the door of a certain combat training room finally opened. A young man with devilishly handsome features stepped out into the sun after not having seen it for a week. His head gazed around the various supernatural scenes, not reacting to them in the least. A look of indifference filled his eyes as he headed out into the street. Perhaps due to the mutation of his soul or maybe due to the change in his race, Lucius'' eyes were as indifferent as they previously were. A slight sense of contempt and derision were also present deep within his gaze. If previously, he was treating others like ants, something that could be stepped on. Lucius was currently treating the others akin to feed, something that was meant to be consumed. While this feeling was very-very faint, it was nonetheless present. Continuing to walk through the streets, Lucius could see many gazes falling upon his body. These gazes were filled with admiration, pride, awe, and many other positive emotions. After the battle with the alien bugs, in an effort to placate the crowd and raise morale, Alex had publicized Lucius'' contribution to the battle. While many people were unwilling to believe in the existence of such a superhuman, the eyewitness accounts of multiple soldiers coupled with video proof quickly put an end to the naysayers. In the eyes of the inhabitants of the base, Lucius was their savior and hero. His handsome image and reserved personality only served to glorify him further. Many young soldiers and students who wanted to meet him and personally thank him were turned away at the gates, thanks to the efforts of Alex and Reyna. After all, if Lucius was to actually meet them, just a single line from him would collapse the morale and positive mindset which they had worked hard to build. Walking through the streets, Lucius did not understand the impassionate gazes falling atop his body. Ka''lor''ah on the other hand who perfectly understood the situation was having the greatest laugh of her life. Having mastered his abilities to an extent where it was possible to use them in practical combat, Lucius decided that it was time for him to leave. It was time to head towards a certain planet to continue with the next stage of his plan. The previous night, Lucius had learned that communications between Deatov and the Alliance Headquarters had been successfully established, all thanks to Reyna''s efforts. It was decided that the important personal and those in a position of power would head towards the Alliance Headquarters, with the intention of bringing firsthand information on the events taken place during the Ascension. Of course, being one of these ''important'' people, Lucius was also ordered to head to the Alliance HQ. And well, Lucius being Lucius, naturally did not care. He was currently heading towards the spaceports with the intention of ''forcibly borrowing'' a long-distance spaceship to head towards his next location. Just as he entered the spaceport, a tall figure blocked his path. ''What does she want now?'' Lucius thought impatiently. Chapter 108: Olivias Request. "What do you want?" Lucius directly asked. Blocking his path stood a tall, coll-looking beauty with a pair of sapphire-blue eyes. It was obviously Olivia. Clenching her teeth, Oliva nervously replied. "Are you going to leave?" Her question was redundant for she already knew the answer within her heart. From the serious tone Lucius had used back then in the cold storage room, he did not seem to be joking. Alas, Olivia did not know another way to ease the tense atmosphere and start a conversation. Hearing her question, Lucius nodded his head. "Move out of the way." he indifferently spoke. For some strange reason, Lucius felt a sense of revulsion arise from the depths of his body, whenever he looked at Olivia. The very essence of the Void Eater bloodline within him seemed to loathe the energy radiating off Olivia''s body. Such being the case, he started to feel impatient and temperamental in her presence. Olivia had no way of knowing this. Gritting her teeth, she stood unmoving. "Where are you going?" she asked. "None of your business." he curtly replied. Perhaps feeling Lucius'' dissatisfaction, Olivia quickly arranged the words within her head. Kneeling on the ground she sincerely asked. "Please take me with you." her voice was faint, but her tone was firm. "Not interested." saying so, Lucius moved past her. His legs moved directly past her body and continued onwards. Seemingly having expected his reply, Olivia quickly moved to grab onto his leg. Her hands clutched his legs tightly, not intending to let go. "I''ll say this once. Let. Go." Lucius'' tone was completely serious and a trace of his [Annihilation Intent] started to leak. He was starting to get impatient and the revulsion within his body was slowly starting to grow. "I won''t let go. If you want me to remove my hold, you will have to kill me!" Olivia firmly said. Her tone was entirely serious and the will to resist till her death could be felt within her voice. "Then die!" Lucius bellowed and swung his palm towards Olivia''s neck. His soul power was concentrated at his palms and the air surrounding it had hardened to form a sharp blade. A single slash and Olivia''s head would be chopped off without any resistance. ''Wait!'' just as his hands were about to make contact with her neck, Ka''lor''ah''s hurried shout was heard within his mind. Lucius'' palm came to a stop, an inch away from Olivia''s throat. In fact, the compressed air surrounding his palm had already made contact with her skin and made a small cut that leaked blood. ''Are you going to get in my way?'' Lucius'' asked within his mind. ''You should bring her with us.'' sensing the impatience in his tone, Ka''lor''ah directly got to the point. ''I neither have the time nor effort to waste on such deadweights. She is completely useless to me with her current strength. It''s better to kill her here.'' Lucius'' tone was starting to get more and more impatient. ''Don''t you think that you are being oddly temperamental right now? Why do you seem so intent on killing her?'' Ka''lor''ah pointed out. ''I-..'' Lucius found himself at a loss. What she said was making sense. Ever since, Lucius sensed Olivia''s presence or to be precise the aura released by her soul power, an odd feeling of wanting to kill her started to rise within his mind. His originally unbothered and indifferent mind also started to get agitated. Pausing his thoughts for a second, Lucius could vaguely feel himself being...rash. ''You noticed it, didn''t you? Emotions that you haven''t felt in a long time are starting to affect you.'' Ka''lor''ah stated. Staying quiet for a few moments Lucius continued. ''That does not change the fact that she is nothing but a deadweight. For what reason should I bring a useless person with me?'' he countered. As if she had been awaiting this question, Ka''lor''ah immediately began to elaborate. ''Well, for one, I can use this opportunity to study her soul carefully. It''s a new type that I have never seen after all. Maybe it might even help us in understanding the origin of your [Annihilator] soul.'' ''Two, she is carrying a great amount of ''Cause'' within her. Killing her right now would be a terrible waste. With the ''Cause'' that she is carrying, we will have a little leeway in carrying out our plans. If unexpectedly something fails, we will still have a way out.'' ''Three, you saw the recording of the storage room yourself. Whatever her soul is, it can directly counter your ''Berserk'' Void Eater state. Having her around will reduce the chances of you losing control over your body.'' ''Four, her talent isn''t half bad either. She might even be comparable to you. This little girl is a born warrior. You know that certain plans cannot be accomplished with just the two of us.'' ''Rather than relying on the others, we might as well train and use her. At least, she will be more reliable and trustworthy compared to hiring others. After all, some of our plans are rather ''unsavoury'' in nature.'' Saying so much, Ka''lor''ah turned silent. She had already spoken her opinions and gave the final choice to Lucius. ''Knowing his personality, as long as the benefits outweigh the cost, Lucius wouldn''t hesitate.'' she inwardly thought to herself. While she understood that Lucius was a lone wolf, he couldn''t do everything by himself. Having a helper would, in fact, free up more of his time. And time was something that the both of the desperately needed. And indeed such was the case. Hearing her compelling arguments, Lucius found himself unable to counter. He stood quietly and pondered. Olivia who was holding onto Lucius was quite surprised. In having come here to request Lucius, she had already prepared herself to face death. She wasn''t stupid. She understood that the possibility of Lucius accepting her request was non-existent. Even so, Olivia wanted to try. ''But I have no other choice.'' Olivia bitterly thought to herself. ''This is the only way that I can get stronger, quickly! If I miss this chance, I will forever lose the opportunity to catch up to Lucius'' Olivia had a vague feeling that if she were to miss this opportunity to ask Lucius today, she might never meet him again. Therefore, she had steeled herself and headed towards the spaceport to find him. Even if she were to die, she wouldn''t regret it. Lucius suddenly passing in his actions and becoming still, was already out of her expectations. She was first surprised but then turned anxious. Time continued to painfully pass, as Olivia awaited her verdict. After what seemed like an eternity, Lucius'' indifferent voice was heard once again. Unlike before, when there was a trace of impatience in his voice, his tone had once again regained his calm. "Let go." Lucius had controlled his soul power and had to circulate through his body. His soul power quickly calmed his agitated void energy, thus restoring his calmness. Feeling the change in his voice, Olivia obediently let go. She lifted her beautiful face and stared at Lucius. "If you slow me down, you will be abandoned. If you continue to be weak, you will be killed. If you are ever in danger, I will not save you." "Your life and death are entirely within my hands. If you being alive isn''t useful to me, then I still have my uses for you after your death." "Want to remain alive? Try and be as useful as possible." Saying these three sentences, Lucius continued to walk towards a spaceship. He had already wasted enough time on this planet. ----------------- Hearing Lucius'' verdict, Olivia was dumbfounded. She continued to stare upwards blankly and her body continued to kneel on the ground. ''I''m still alive?'' Olivia touched the small cut on her neck. Blood dripped through her fingers, yet she still felt the warmth carried by the liquid. Unexpectedly she had managed to keep her head and life. She then quickly exited her daze and looked towards the receding back of Lucius. ''Did he just accept my request?'' she thought to herself. His words continued to repeat within her mind. Suddenly coming to a realization, Olivia quickly got off the ground and rushed towards Lucius. She walked behind him while remaining quiet. Her face looked still, but the excitement within her eyes betrayed the emotions she currently felt. She tightly held onto the compressed luggage, containing the various necessities in her hand. She once again looked at Lucius'' back and made an oath to herself. ''I swear that one day I will make you look at me as an equal!'' This moment marked the beginning of Olivia''s journey. A journey which would lead her along the path of becoming... The Soulless Witch. Chapter 109: Heading on a Journey. Lucius noticed Olivia quickly follow behind him from the corner of his eyes. ''At least she isn''t dumb.'' he thought to himself. Her quick thinking and her lack of unnecessary questions had won his appreciation. Even the displeasure that he was feeling lessened by a tiny amount. Answering questions was one of the things which Lucius hated the most. Seeing her remain silent, Lucius quietly dispersed the soul power which he had gathered in his hands. Lucius was obstinate but in no way was he stupid. He wouldn''t blindly stick to his beliefs if it brought him no benefits. ''Her combat talent is indeed not too bad.'' he recalled her fighting his grey-skinned beserk self. The ability to remain rational and react quickly in times of certain death was a unique trait that couldn''t be trained. Olivia having this trait made it easier to train her, while also showcasing her talent as an innate warrior. Since allowing her to follow him increased the odds of his plan succeeding and also gave me direct benefits, there was no point in obstinately denying it. Walking towards the spaceport, Lucius noticed that two long-distance spaceships were already fueled and the lost minute checks were being conducted. These spaceships had been prepared for the transport of important personal and materials, which were to be carried to the Alliance HQ. All three spaceships were of the same kind and were capable of interplanetary travel. They even had a small warp core installed in their body, which allowed the ships to enter hyperspace. ''Perfect Timing.'' saying so, Lucius directly walked towards one of the space ships. Directly boarding the ship, Lucius inspected the interiors. Seeing that everything was in perfect order and the ship was prepped for immediate travel, Lucius nodded his head in satisfaction. Just as he was about to sit down at the pilot seat, he heard a voice from outside the ship. "Hey! What are you doing in there? Students aren''t allowed to be here. Quickly get off of the ship!" a middle-aged man who seemed to be in charge of the maintenance of this ship bellowed. ''Damn! I hope these kids haven''t messed with the controls.'' thinking so, the man quickly boarded the ship to inspect it once again. Having heard him, Lucius cooly turned his head and stared at the middle-aged man. His left eye suddenly turned bright golden and his voice changed to become more dominant and oppressive. "You aren''t required here. Leave the ship and clear the port for launch." The eyes of the middle-aged man turned confused before becoming blank. His voice lost all its emotions as it blandly replied. "Yes.", saying so the middle-aged engineer headed towards the control room to clear the port. Lucius took the main pilot seat and started operating the various controls with ease. Olivia who had just witnessed this interaction was dumbfounded. ''Just now, that middle-aged man was furious at us for boarding this ship. Lucius simply looked at him and spoke a few lines..... and the man complied? How did he do it?'' She quickly recalled the scene within her mind and thought of a possibility. ''Was it his eyes?'' she recalled how Lucius'' left eye had shined with a bright golden color for a second. ''Is it like the ''Power of Kings'' Geass'', is Lucius able to give commands to others....'' just as Olivia''s imagination was running wild, a cold voice interrupted her thoughts. "Strap in. We are leaving." Olivia quickly exited her thoughts and hurriedly occupied one of the passenger seats. She placed her bag in the storage compartment below the seat and quickly wore the seat belt. Lucius on the other hand had already seated and strapped himself. He then moved to turn on all the required switches and started the spaceship. He then placed his hands on the yoke. Moving with familiarity, he then proceeded to control the spaceship. Sounds of mechanical parts coming to life and rotating at high speeds were heard along with the obvious shaking of the spaceship. The unmoving body of the spaceship, gave out a faint whizzing sound as it started to slowly lift off the ground. The tremors inside the cabin started to intensify. Before long, the tremors started to weaken in intensity as Lucius gradually gained control over the spaceship. The tense body of Olivia, who had been nervously holding onto the seat also relaxed. "It''s easier than I thought." Lucius suddenly commented. To tell the truth, it has been a long time since the last time he had controlled a spaceship. After gaining proper control over the spaceship, Lucius no longer wasted any time. With the spaceport cleared, thanks to the efforts of the middle-aged engineer, Lucius directly took to space. Pressing down onto the yoke, the speed of the vessel increased as it began a steady climb towards the grey skies. The space ship continued to ascend and before long, it had already exited the boundaries of the planet of Deatov. Bringing them into the vast darkness dotted with distant twinkling stars. No matter how many times one views the boundless vastness of the infinite space, it always inspires a sense of awe and insignificance in the heart of the observers. Lucius himself was no exception. ''Sigh.'' he involuntarily released a sigh filled with heavy feelings. Ever since the awakening of his bloodline, the suppression that was placed upon his emotions were weakening. Lucius was beginning to feel many things that he had not felt in a long time. Various desires which were previously inexistent within his heart were slowly birthed and his psyche was ever so slowly starting to change. Within the infinite indifference of his unfeeling heart, a hint of madness was rapidly growing. Lucius himself was currently unaware of these changes. Hearing his sigh filled with heavy emotions, Ka''lor''ah who was connected to Lucius through her soul, also started to share some of his emotions. A kind of oppressive mood descended onto her heart. Just as she was about to send him a message, the radio aboard the spaceship started to crackle. "...crackle...Hello? This is EA-D-4004. Does the pilot aboard Expedition-1, copy?" a static voice leaked from the radio. With the disappearance of the boundary surrounding our universe and the infusion of Spiritual Energy into the surrounding space, the properties of electromagnetic waves changed. The method of communication, previously used by mankind no longer worked under these conditions, resulting in a loss of contact between the various bases and the Alliance HQ. Similarly, the communication between the spaceships and the bases were also not possible It was only thanks to Reyna''s tireless efforts, that she was finally able to create a basic medium of contact with which the people in Deatov were finally able to establish a mode of contact. As for how she had managed to do this or the intricate science behind it, nobody other than Reyna herself exactly knew. Expedition-1, which was the ship that Lucius had hijacked, was also fitted with the latest communication device which was capable of function in this new Universe. Although not as instantaneous or advanced as the previous one, communication between two distant places was still possible. "...crackle..I repeat. Can the pilot aboard Expedition-1 hear me... crackle.." the radio continued to sound out. "...Sir..whoever you are, I request you to kindly return to the surface... That vessel is to be used for transport to the Alliance HQ...." "...If you.... fail to comply..... Serious actions will be taken.." Lucius who was seriously piloting the spaceship, couldn''t be bothered to reply. He simply ignored the warnings and threats. "Sir...I repeat..." after a few seconds, the voice on the radio continued to speak. "Annoying." Lucius used his physical strength and punched the communication device. With the crackling of electricity, the device then died. Silence returned to the cabin once again. ''Much better.'' Lucius thought to himself. After controlling the space ship until it had left the region of influence of the planet, Lucius enabled the auto-pilot mode. He then removed Ka''lor''ah from his pocket and held her within his hand. "What are the coordinates to the first Catacombs?" he asked her a question. "Are we not heading towards a ''Neutral Zone'', first? Do you not want to register?" Ka''lor''ah inquired. "We can do that later, let''s first head towards the Catacombs and gather those fellows," Lucius answered. Ka''lor''ah did not immediately reply and quietly pondered. Lucius for his part also remained silent. Olivia who was also sitting within the same cabin heard the conversation between the two parties. While she understood the words spoken by both of them, she failed to understand the meaning behind them. ''Catacombs? Neutral Zone? Those fellows..?" many questions started to appear within her mind. Although she wanted to ask, Lucius what he meant by those words, she understood her current situation was still quite awkward. While Lucius had acquiesced to her following him on his journey, he still hadn''t truly accepted her. As such she decided to keep quiet. Wherever he goes, she had decided to follow. After a few minutes of silence, the crystal within Lucius'' hands let out a soft glow. The light was projected into the air and formed a combination of letters and numbers. Seeing those alphanumeric characters, Lucius opened the auto-pilot program of the spaceship and entered it into the destination tab. {Calculating Distance... done! ETA..... 46 days.} After the input was done and the time of arrival was calculated, Lucius closed the panel and stood up from the seat. He then exited the control cabin and headed towards the living quarters below. As for Olivia who was sitting with a confused expression, he completely ignored her existence. ----------------- Meanwhile. Within the command center overlooking the spaceport. Multiple officials stood looking at a holographic map with worried expressions. "This is bad." one of the senior officials grimly spoke. Chapter 110: Alexs POV. Part 1 Inside the command center overlooking the spaceport, a group of men stood surrounding a large table. A screen of light was projected from the holographic screen, depicting a map. In the map was a large spherical grey planet, which represented the planet of Deatov. Currently, a tall middle-aged man wearing the Earth Alliance issued military overalls was staring at the map with a stern expression. His eyes followed a white blinking light which was moving farther and farther away from the grey, spherical ball. Seeing that the white light, had no intention of slowing its speed, he lifted his head and asked one of the men around him. "Did the pilot respond?" Hearing his question, a young soldier holding onto a receiver, shook his head. "There''s no reply, Major. We just lost the signal too. It seems that the other party has destroyed the receiver onboard." "Dammit!" the stern-looking Major, smashed his fist into the table. He then raised his head and asked another question. "Did that engineer say why he allowed them to leave?" his question was directed at a muscular looking man wearing an all-black suit. "No, Sir. The man swears that he has no idea what has happened." The black-wearing man then took a pocket-sized screen out of his pocket. Scrolling through the various information written on it, he read. "According to the engineer''s testimony, the last thing he remembers is seeing two students board the ship. After instructing them to leave this area, he got aboard the ship to run the pre-launch checks once again. It was after this point that he no longer remembers about the following events." "He remembers falling unconscious and waking up only after our men entered the room. As for the events in between, he had no clue about them." Hearing his subordinate''s words, the Major did not immediately reply. After musing for a short while, he slowly spoke. "Have you identified the two students?" "Yes, sir." saying so, the man in black extended the pocket-sized device in his hand and projected a holographic screen into the air. The faces of Lucius and Olivia were seen followed by the information recorded in their Student ID. "Isn''t that....the guy who fought against those damned aliens?" the major questioned. "Precisely, Sir. It''s the same student who is addressed as the Hero of Deatov." the man in black immediately replied. "Lucius, huh....." a dark glint passed through the Major''s eyes as he spoke with gritted teeth. "Bastards! All of them...Not only is that brat Alex, obediently handing over command of the base to me, now his friends dare to disobey military orders! Just because they received some lousy powers, do they think themselves to be invincible?!" Just at this moment, the door to the command room opened, and a handsome looking youth with fiery red hair and crimson eyes walked in. His hands were bandaged and the faint smell of medicine wafted from his body. Following behind him was a bespectacled young woman with blond hair. Looking at the scene inside the command room, he flashed an arrogant smile and spoke. "Oh, Major Eyler! Fancy meeting you here. Here I was thinking that you had already taken off, seeing that your spaceship left a few minutes ago." Alex spoke in a ''surprised'' voice. Maintaining the fake look of surprise on his face, Alex continued. "What''s wrong, Major? Did someone perhaps...steal your space ship?!" Alex put on an expression of ''realization'' and ''shock''. Hearing his words, Major Eyler was absolutely furious. His tightened fists quivered in response to his mood. ''That annoying voice and irritating face! Ah! I want to punch this brat!'' Eyler fervently wished within his mind. Alas, it was something that he couldn''t, or rather mustn''t do. Thankfully he was able to maintain his composure. Taking a few breaths to calm himself, he coldly spoke. "Enough with your provocation. The person who took my spaceship was that friend of yours. He has shown no deference to authority and has directly disobeyed the commands from a superior officer. I shall be reporting this matter to the High Command for their perusal." Saying so, he directly moved to leave the command center. Just as his body was about to step outside the room Major Eyler paused for a second. "Given that my spaceship was ''stolen'', I will be taking a few seats from yours. After all the High Command is expecting my presence in the HQ." he spoke while flashing a cold smile. Following behind him, the other subordinates within the room also left. A few moments later, the smile on Alex''s face evaporated. He hit the table in the middle of the room with his fists and cursed. "Dammit! That bastard only knows how to make trouble for us!! Not only does he injure me and not apologize for his actions, but also decides to leave the planet with a spaceship that was specifically allotted to the other bastard." Reyna who was the only other person in the room quickly moved to access the main console of the command center. She was trying to use the system to contact Lucius and Olivia who had just left. Alex neared Reyna and asked. "Were you able to connect to the ship?" he asked not expecting an affirmative answer. Taking her hands off the console, Reyna spoke while wearing a dejected expression. "No. The receiver aboard the spaceship seems to have been destroyed. I can''t contact them." Although he had expected this, Alex still cursed in anger. Taking a second to calm himself he asked Reyna. "Can you at least track that ship or maybe see where they are headed?" he questioned. Returning to the console, Reyna used her soul power to bypass the security locks. She used her power and tried to access the ship logs in a bid to find out their destination. ".....I can''t. The ship had already left the base''s range. Due to that weird energy in the air, I am recovering too much interference and cannot connect to the ship." Reyna shook her head. Tears started to well up with her eyes. Hearing her answer Alex simply sighed. He looked at Reyna''s dejected expression and felt his heart wince in pain. Reyna, the bright and cheery girl who always wore a smile on her face was currently looking awful. Her face looked pale and her body seemed to be weak. Her cheeks had, hollowed exposing her cheekbones, which resulted in her having a decrepit looking appearance. The light in her eyes, shone with lesser and lesser vigor, slowly being replaced by a desolate look. Lucius'' words, drawing a line on their friendship, had a tremendous and harsh impact on her psyche. Her countenance had plummeted and her youthful naivety was gone. Having been seriously injured by Lucius, Alex had to stay inside the infirmary for three days. Thanks to his recently advanced soul power, his body''s healing factor had undergone a vast improvement. After coming out and learning about Reyna''s situation and Lucius'' harsh words, Alex was overcome with anger. He had stormed off towards the combat training room, inside which Lucius had been in seclusion to talks some sense into him. Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately, he was stopped at the last moment by Reyna and Olivia While Reyna herself had said that she was feeling fine, Alex having interacted with her for a long time understood Reyna''s simple personality. She was definitely not okay! Looking at her currently, anger started to rise within Alex''s heart once again. He moved closer to Reyna in a bid to comfort her. ''Olivia too! Why did she also leave without informing, both of us?! Did she not consider Reyna''s feelings! Some friend she is!" he cursed with his heart. Just as he was about to pat her head and speak a few lines of comfort, the door to the command center once again opened. A young soldier who was acting as Alex''s temporary assistant walked in and saluted Alex. "Base Commander! The time for departure has arrived. Major Eyler has already boarded the spaceship and is urging you and Miss Reyna to make haste in your actions. Please follow me, Sir!" the soldier saluted once again and turned to leave the room. Alex looked at Reyna with a bitter smile and retracted his hands. Reyna having understood his actions gave a light smile before saying. "I really am fine, Alex. You don''t have to comfort me," she spoke softly while secretly wiping her tears. Without giving Alex a chance to rebut, she quickly walked ahead and followed behind the young soldier. Letting out a heavy sigh, Alex quickly followed her. ------------------ Following behind the young soldier, the duo of Alex and Reyna quickly arrived at the base of the spaceport. Two other spaceships which were similar to the one stolen by Lucius stood, with various baggage and sealed boxes being loaded into them. These boxes contained important research materials and various bodies of the alien bugs. Although they were unable to transport all the bodies, the ones which were preserved in the best conditions were chosen to be taken to the HQ. As for the people who were being taken, they included Alex, Reyna, Major Eyler who was the Overseer in charge of the base, various scientists whose presence was necessary for the HQ, and finally a group of soldiers in charge of protection and as witnesses of the battle. Alex and Reyna quickly boarded their assigned spaceship and occupied their seats. Due to the distance between the Alliance HQ and Deatov, it would take them nearly 14 days to arrive at their destination. A few minutes after Alex''s boarding, the spaceship finally whirred into action and gently lifted off the ground. ''I''m finally leaving this planet.'' Alex thought to himself. Chapter 111: Alexs POV. Part 2 Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye. The journey to the Alliance HQ was rather uneventful, with Alex finding himself be bored out of his mind. His days consisted of sleeping, eating, playing card games with the crew aboard the spaceship, staring outside into the deep, dark space, and sleeping once again. After leaving Deatov''s atmosphere, Reyna had left her seat and shut herself inside her assigned room. Other than leaving her room for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, she was never seen inside the spaceship. Alex had also noticed that her interactions with others had been in a steady decline with her showing signs of becoming reclusive and silent. Whenever he tried to talk to her, she always replied with the same words-I''m fine. Thanks for your concern''. ''Then stop shutting yourself! Come out and properly talk with other people!'' Alex felt depressed. Throughout his life, Alex had always been a straightforward person. He always spoke what was in his mind, not caring about the political sensitivity or nuances in the other person''s speech. Most of all, he hated interacting with other kids his age, especially ones that belonged to influential families. Their words always contained a hidden meaning which was concealed below layers upon layers of lies and deceit. Some meaning, which Alex always failed to understand. Orders on the other hand were something that Alex loved. Instructions which were clear cut and direct, he loved to follow but also loved to lead. This was one of the key reasons for him joining the military. Seeing Reyna, who was a precious friend and little sister of his, currently, be dejected. He was unsure of how to comfort her. Especially when the other party was adamant that she was fine. The only thing which relieved his boredom and made his journey slightly exciting was the practice of his newly awakened soul. While Alex had been a firm believer of science, like any teenager who has gone through the process of childhood, he had once dreamt about awakening special powers and becoming a superhero. While this excitement had waned with his increase in age, a small part within his heart had always secretly wished for his dreams to come true. With the ascension of mankind and the realization of his dreams, Alex''s excitement was off-the-charts. ''With the powers of The Dark Flame Dragon, sealed within my... NO! STOP IT! STOP IT!'' Of course, with the rise in his excitement, also came a wave of black history, which Alex had thought to have sealed within the depths of his mind. ''Although I have to say. With my soul being the [Ruler Of Flames], maybe there is some hope in this direction?'' There is freedom in dreaming. A man can dream, can''t he? Anyways, getting back to the topic. The spaceship finally arrived at the Alliance HQ after 14 days of warp travel. Alex pressed his face against the circular window and gazed at the large natural satellite with awe. That''s right. A natural satellite. Not a huge Star-Level ship that floats through the galaxy. Not a huge manmade planet, that houses the latest Planetary-Level Cannon. A simple natural planet, which is not that different from our very own moon. As for the reason why the Alliance HQ was located on this natural satellite. It was because this was the first piece of land which mankind colonized, upon leaving its original solar system. Man is often a reminiscent creature. One that loves to look back at its achievements and take pride in its milestones. Such being the case, the Earth Alliance had also decided to construct its HQ on this very piece of space rock, after its establishment. Of course, while the sentiment behind its establishment is old, its technology on the other hand was anything but old. This being his first time visiting the Alliance HQ, Alex was feeling very excited. He was a person who loved the Alliance and everything that led up to its existence. Looking at the large wheel-shaped structure, surrounding this satellite, Alex couldn''t wait to get off the spaceship and feel the ground underneath his legs. ------------------- The spaceship took almost an hour to finish its docking. The door finally opened and Alex who stood at the head of the line, exited the spaceship first. Directly jumping off the ship and landing onto the firm ground with his feet, Alex inhaled a large amount of air. The fresh air of the highest quality rushed into his nostrils and filled his lungs. Although its effects could nowhere compare to the effects of Spiritual Energy present in planets that had undergone ascension, something was inherently different about this air. A large smile appeared on his roguishly handsome face. Alex''s excitement had increased by a factor of ''n'' and he couldn''t wait to run around the entire base. Mankind''s glorious achievement filled every inch of this space and Alex wanted to experience all of it. Just as his rashness was about to take control of his body, Alex saw the arrival of a group of sharply dressed men and women. All of them wore military overalls and the badges on their chest revealed their dignified ranks. Recognizing their aura of authority, Alex managed to reel himself in and contain his excitement. Similar to the other soldiers around him, he immediately assumed a stance of perfect attention and saluted. With a senior soldier leading, all of the military personnel standing in the docking station immediately bellowed. "We greet the High Commanders!" A chorus of voices repeated the above statement. "We greet the High Commanders!" "At ease." one of the older commanders who seemed to be the leader of this group, instructed. His eyes scanned around the people who had exited the spaceship and silently evaluated them. Looking through the crowd, his gaze landed on a beautiful, blonde-haired young woman. "Reyna Snowden" he called in a deep and majestic voice. "Yes, High Commander!" Reyna stiffly spoke. Hearing her voice, the old general''s expression softened by a large margin as he softly spoke. "Your Father is anxiously waiting for your return. Quickly run into the base and meet him. If I hold you here any longer, that guy is going to hold a grudge against me till death." Reyna''s eyes dazed for a moment before she hurriedly bowed. "Thank you, High Commander." she thanked the old commander before rushing into the base. Unlike Alex, Reyna had already been to the Alliance HQ multiple times. She was very familiar with the layout and the various people who inhabited the base. Most of them treated her kindly, just like the old commander. After she left, the gaze on the old commander''s eyes sharpened once again. His intense gaze peered into the bodies of every single person present on the scene. Some of the weaker willed scientists felt their knees grow weak. An intangible pressure descended onto their bodies, as they felt their every thought being laid bare in front of his gaze. After a few moments of intense silence, the voice of the old general sounded out once again. "Who is Lucius? Step Forward!" his voice resounded like the gong of a bell, resounding throughout the entire scene. There was no movement in the crowd before him. The brows of the old commander furrowed as he gravely sounded out once again. "I said step forward! Are you disobey my order, student!" the old commander intensified the mental pressure he was exerting on the crowd. Once again, there was no movement. An awkward silence descended into the already suffocating atmosphere. The gazes of the old commander and his colleagues turned confused at this lack of reply. ''Is he too shy? Or perhaps he''s scared?'' the thought echoed within their minds. Just as they were about to speak once more, an awkward-sounding cough interrupted their attempt. "Cough, cough! Requesting permission to speak, High Commander!" Alex finally stepped out. "Permission granted." the old man cooly replied. "Student Lucius isn''t present here, Sir," Alex stated. The old commander was confused at his answer. "Isn''t present here? Where is he then? Did he not receive the order to report at the Alliance HQ?" he questioned. Alex was unsure of how to reply to this question. Hesitating with his words for a moment, he decided to directly speak the truth. "He did receive the order, Sir. But he decided to ignore it and headed elsewhere. As for his current location or destination, I''m unsure." The old commander, his colleagues, and every single person present on the scene who heard Alex''s voice were equally stunned. Well, dumbfounded is a better word. Every single person was dumbfounded without question. "...such audacity." one of the younger soldiers involuntarily mumbled in a low voice. Alex completely understood their reaction. For he had reacted the same way when he first heard the news. ''That guy holds no regard for the Alliance. What else was I supposed to say here?'' he inwardly thought to himself. The old commander stood blankly for a second, before recovering. "What''s your name soldier!" he questioned Alex. "Alex Hellwig, Sir." Alex performed a salute in response and replied. Hearing the name Hellwig, the expression on the old commander''s face turned bitter. In fact, the expressions on the faces of all the High Commander''s turned bitter. "Young man, are you Grant''s son?" the old general hesitated for a moment, before sighing. Hearing the question, Alex felt an ominous premonition birth in his heart. "...yes, Sir?" Receiving his confirmation, the old general sighed with a heavy heart before saying. "...young man, it''s about your father..." "The Supreme General..... has gone missing." Chapter 112: World Council. Part 1 "The Supreme General..... has gone missing." Hearing the old commander utter those words, Alex felt his heart drop. ''Fa-Father...has gone missing?'' his eyes opened wide and his face turned pale. Alex felt his throat drying up. His thoughts and emotions were in complete shambles, as he tried to digest the information he received. ''Impossible.'' his first response was to subconsciously deny the fact. Taking a few seconds to calm himself, he tried to be rational. ''Father should be staying at the mansion on Earth with Mother. He has no reason to leave, unless....'' just as the thought formed within his mind, Alex immediately shot off towards the old commander. His body shot off the ground like a bullet. Before the old commander managed to blink his eyes, Alex had already arrived in front of him. Grasping the old commander by the collar of his clothes, he asked. "Did father receive an order to mobilize?!" he shook the old commander a few times and screamed at his face. The face of the old commander was awash with shock. Feeling the strength of the youngster''s grip he hurriedly spoke. "..Wa-wait! Calm.. down!" "Answer me! Was Father asked to mobilize personally?!" due to his agitated state of mind, the soul power within Alex''s body started to run amock. His hands started to turn red and the old commander felt the area near his throat become increasingly hot. The higher-ups within the Alliance only had a limited understanding of the nature of the Awakened humans. Their abilities, level of destructibility, threat possessed, such factors had yet to be properly calculated. Since Alex''s movement, less than 5 seconds had passed. It was only now that the guards surrounding the old commander and his colleagues finally reacted. Rather than say they were slow in their reaction, they were more shocked at the abilities displayed by Alex. Immediately pointing their rifles at Alex, they shouted in unison. "Student! Put down the High Commander and retreat. Otherwise, we will shoot." they threatened. Alex however wasn''t in the calmest of states. Hearing their words only served to add fuel to the fire. Literally. "Shut up!" he roared when a wave of fire suddenly exploded. With Alex and the old commander at the center, the waves of red-hot fire spread in all directions. Wave after wave of blistering heat rushed in all directions. The guards who were pointing their rifles towards Alex immediately screamed and dodged the incoming waves of heat. Some standing a little further away were able to escape unscathed while the others who were standing in closer proximity suffered burns to a certain degree. Perhaps, knowing that he was currently in the Alliance HQ, Alex had subconsciously held back on his attack. This resulted in a small number of people being injured, but none losing their lives. The guards immediately rose in unison and aimed their rifles at the figure in the middle once more. Catching a glimpse of the figure, they were instantly shocked. Holding onto the old commander''s collar was a man on fire. Alex''s entire body was wreathed in red flames. His red hair now contained a tinge of yellow and was also in the form of fire, fiercely burning. His crimson eyes burned with a multitude of emotions, chief of which was anger and worry. A being composed with the purest of fire. This was the true form of the [Ruler of Flames] soul type. With a voice that was just as raging as a fiercely burning flame sounded out. "What! Happened! To! My! Father!" Alex bellowed. Having completely lost his calmness, the old commander quickly started to speak. "..Leader.. suddenly received an order from the HQ. He was tasked with leading the Alliance forces towards the Eastern Front, to respond to a sudden terrorist raid. He left shortly after you kids, left to your frontier planets." "Three days before the sudden ''blackout'' that occurred 3 weeks back, we got the news that an entire battalion personally led by the Supreme General disappeared!" "That is the latest information. Ever since the blackout, we have not been able to contact any of our forces scattered across the various star systems. You kids from Deatov were the first to establish contact with us!" "You have to calm down, young man. Being rash isn''t going to help you or your father. Please calm down first." the old commander repeatedly urged in a soft voice. Hearing his explanation, a hint of rationality had returned to Alex. While he did not understand the entire situation, this initial bit of info allowed him to forcibly push down on his worries. He released the grip on the old commander and stepped back. The fire covering his body was slowly absorbed back into his skin. The figure of Alex was finally revealed to the eyes of all the onlookers. Shockingly not a single inch of fabric which he had worn was burnt nor showed signs of burning. Similarly, the old commander''s body was also unharmed. Seeing the fire retract from his body, the old commander finally let out a sigh of relief. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed his guards aim the rifle at Alex. Immediately he fiercely roared. "Stand down! Do not attack the boy! He''s the Supreme General''s son!" upon his warning the guards finally lowered their rifles. The old commander then slowly neared Alex. He saw the boy''s face turn completely pale and his chest repeatedly rising up and down in exhaustion. And exhausted he was. That little move of Alex, which lasted for less than 20 seconds had consumed a whopping 80% of his soul power. Alex''s mind was hit with an intense wave of dizziness and his body was aching in pain. His mind screamed at him to take a rest and allow his body to recover. Alas, he couldn''t do so. Raising his head, he stared into the eyes of the old commander. With a serious tone, he asked. "Does Mother know?" Hearing his question, the old commander shook his head. "No one other than us High Commander and some of the higher-ups knows. We placed a tight seal on this matter to avoid needless panic within the military. Your father''s prestige and reputation are simply too great. If this matter was to be leaked, god knows how the common soldiers would react." "With the sudden blackout that has happened right now, panic within the military is one thing that we cannot afford to occur." Listening to the old commander''s explanation Alex nodded his head. "Don''t inform the family. Allow me to assume temporary command as Head of the Family." "That should be possible. You are of age and are also the eldest son of your father. With that being said, follow me." saying so the old commander directly turned around. He went up to the other High Commanders and explained the situation. All of them replied in affirmation to Alex''s request. Rising to his feet, Alex started to follow behind the old commander. They started to head towards the interior of the base. Just as Alex was about to enter the Alliance HQ, he heard a loud shout originating behind him. "SIR!" a loud, deafening voice was heard. Turning his head back, Alex saw a line of soldiers who had followed him to the Alliance HQ from Deatov. These were the same men and women with whom he had fought the alien bugs and more recently played cards on the spaceship. Seeing that Alex had heard their call and had turned to face them, the line of soldiers immediately performed an orderly bow. With resounding voices, they spoke. "We thank you for your command against those damned bugs. Thank you, Sir, for leading us to victory and helping us preserve the lives of our comrades and families. We shall forever be in your service!" saying so, they formed a military salute. Alex also responded in kind. A sense of accomplishment and pride filled his heart. Seeing this scene, the old commander who had paused to wait for Alex to catch up to him, faintly smiled. ''This scene.... Both father and son are really too similar.'' he faintly remembered the same exact scene occurring to Alex''s father. Dozens of men and women profusely thanked that ''great man'' for his leadership. The old commander himself had been one amongst those soldiers. Having said his goodbyes, Alex resolutely turned around and headed towards the old commander. He did not waste the time of words and silently followed behind the man. Walking for a few minutes the old commander slowly asked. "Are you not going to ask where we are going?" "Where are we going?" Alex asked. His mind had been preoccupied with thoughts about his father and therefore he had failed to ask this basic question. "That''s more like it. Young people must be curious. Anyways, to answer your question we are heading towards the Central Hall of the Alliance HQ." "Why?" Alex asked curiously. The old commander flashed a bitter smile and spoke. "The World Council will gather to discuss the current supernatural events that are taking place across the galaxy. Prepare yourself, you will have a lot of talking to do." Just as he completed his dialogue, the group of Head Commanders followed by Alex entered a large circular hall. Chapter 113: World Council. Part 2 Following behind the group of Head Commanders, Alex walked through a pair of large, double doors which shone with a cold, metallic glint. Passing through into the other side, he finally laid his eyes on the World Council Hall, about which he had previously heard from his Father. It was in this very room that the Earth Alliance was officially established bringing peace to mankind in an era plagued with wars. Humanity had joined its hands together and worked towards the improvement of the species as a whole, pooling together its resources and technology. The major decisions and policies which have a direct effect on the future of the Alliance are passed from this very room. And today, for the first time in his life, Alex was going to step into it. The Hall was a large, circular room, having a diameter of 120m. At the very centre of the room stood a white-marble stage upon which was a podium. With the stage being the centre, the seats of various representatives and dignitaries of various influential families were arranged in a pattern of multiple concentric circles. The closer a seat was to the centre of the room, the higher its authority and weight of its words in the Council. Key families such as the Hellwig Family, Roseberg Family and the White Family, held the seats which were the nearest from the centre. Families such as the Cline Family or the Wellsworth Family(Luther''s family) were closer to the back rows. The further back one goes, the lesser was the importance of that family or dignitary. "Follow me." the old commander softly said to Alex. At the moment of his arrival, Alex had noticed that the current session of the World Council was already in full motion. A representative of the Earth Alliance stood upon the stage at the centre and was informing the various families of the recent blackout that had occurred. The blackout of communication had been too sudden and unexpected. So much so, that none of the families currently knew what was happening. They had no idea about the ''Ascension'' or of the process of awakening the soul. The room was dead silent, save for the solemn voice of the Alliance representative who was speaking at the podium. Alex followed behind the old commander while paying careful attention to the contents of the speech. "....on the 9th of February, a sudden influx of mysterious energy originated from the Universe. The nature of this energy currently remains unknown and so are its properties and composition. Due to the influx of this energy, there has been a great change in the properties of many pre-established scientific models." "The properties and composition of electromagnetic waves and atomic particles have also undergone an imperceptible change, resulting in the current ''blackout'' of all communications and information. As for the exact changes and the extent of change, we are currently unsure. The holographic screen projected on your tables show our current understanding of this topic. " "Furthermore, these changes are not final! According to the words of the ''Head Scientists'' currently in charge of researching this issue, these changes are but the beginning. If things were to progress in this direction, all existing physical and mathematical models have to be tweaked, or in the worst case changed." "In simpler words, the Universe as we know it has begun to change." Gasps of shock and confusion could be heard from the audience. Although the various representatives and dignitaries present here weren''t experts on the topic, they more or less understood the seriousness of the situation. Education has come a long way in the current era, and everyone citizen of the Alliance more or less had a basic understanding of the Universe. These people, who have undergone special education and grooming were naturally superior. "We are here." just as Alex was immersed deep within his thoughts, the voice of the old commander interrupted him. Raising his head, Alex noticed that he had arrived at the very front of the seats. Almost two dozen empty seats were present before his eyes, all of which were marked with the symbol of the Hellwig Family. "Go sit at the Head seat." the old commander gently instructed. Nodding his head, Alex walked towards the seat which was at the very front. It was taller and more ornamental, compared to the other seats. Placing a hand on the arm-rest and feeling its warmth, Alex directly seated himself. ''Until my father comes back, I have to bear the responsibility of ''Family Head''. I will not let the family down!'' he thought to himself. After Alex seated himself, the various High Commanders also seated themselves behind him. The Hellwig family controlled the majority of the military and was one of the strongest families in the Alliance. This group of men and women who held the position of High Commanders were the direct subordinates of his father and as such are completely loyal to the Hellwig family. With Alex''s father currently MIA and Alex undertaking the responsibility of Family Head as its direct head, they decided to support him. With their support, Alex''s words would carry significant weight in the upcoming discussion. Having taken his seat, Alex once again placed his full attention on the words of the speaker. He wanted to have a complete understanding of the state of the Alliance. "....the state of various frontlines and frontier bases currently remains unknown, due to our inability to establish communications. As such, we have confirmed that the influx of this ''mysterious energy'' is not the product of a terrorist attack. The exact cause behind it remains unknown." "One piece of good news is that a preliminary model on the nature of the mysterious energy has already been established, increasing our understanding towards it. As you know, a basic method for communication has already been established, thanks to the efforts of the Snowden Corporation." "This technology is currently being perfected, with the Alliance investing all available resources on re-establishing communications. Upon completion, the Snowden Corporation has agreed to share this technology with the various families, free of charge." After saying this, the speaker on the stage paused for a moment. He raised his head and looked directly into the eyes of every person seated in this hall. His eyes were serious and his tone was cold. "The next part of our discussion is of the highest importance. The contents of what you are about to hear are not to be shared outside this room under any circumstances." Hearing the cold tone of the speaker, the family heads and dignitaries in attendance unconsciously straightened their back. One thing that has to be mentioned is that all the seats in the Hall were currently occupied. In fact, the seats were occupied either by the Heads of the various families themselves or by direct representatives of the Family Head. After Reyna had established a basic method of communication, the preliminary data on the events in Deatov were shared with the Alliance. The Alliance immediately locked down this information and spared no efforts in inviting the Heads of all the influential families to the HQ. The matter to be discussed was simply too important. Seeing that all attention was placed upon him, the representative standing upon the stage resumed. "The first base that established contact with the HQ, was the frontier base of Deatov. Upon establishing contact, this was the preliminary information which they had sent back." Saying so, the representative pressed a button on the podium. A large holographic screen was projected into the air and a video began to play. On the screen- The rapid panting and hurried movement of the person taking the video could be seen. "*Huff*, *Huff*... I-is this thing on?.... Thank god, I had a spare battery with me!" The video spun around the face of a young woman was projected. Her face was devoid was pale and was caked in dirt and dried blood. Multiple injuries and cuts would be seen on her body, with blood flowing out of her wounds. If Lucius had been here, he would have recognized this young lady to be the one who had followed behind him, when he was tracking the murder aboard the Voyager-16. Unexpectedly this young lady had sneaked up the compound wall in Deatov and had recorded the scene of the alien army''s invasion. "This is..*crackle*.... reporting from Deatov... *crackle*....an alien species....." the video cut off at multiple points and the voice of the lady was incoherent. "....our soldiers are being slaughtered!!!. *crackle* blade-like arms...large eyes...*crackle*..." The video cut off at this point and the screen turned dark at this point. After a few seconds, the screen lit up once again. The camera now pointed towards the top of the wall where a large number of Sickle Bugs were tearing apart the human soldiers. Blood and guts flew across the air and the dying screams of the soldiers on the video could be heard. Seeing this scene, some of the faint-hearted amongst the audience immediately turned pale. ".....*Huff*...they have yet to find me. I-I don''t think *Huff*, *Huff*... surviving this. I-if someone were to find this recording... this is completely real!....enemy arrived..." Just as the young reporter was in the process of relaying information, a large severed blade suddenly cut through the air. In a smooth motion, the head of the young lady was cleanly cut. Her body lifelessly fell and the video camera in her hands dropped onto the ground. Its lens pointing towards the ongoing battle. Chapter 114: World Council. Part 3 The scene on the hologram blinked a few times before it went dark. The video had unexpectedly come to an end. An intense silence prevailed inside the World Council Hall. Alex who had also been watching the video play was in a similar state. A human being''s perspective is quite limited. One was only able to view what one is able to observe. What the eyes see, the mind might not necessarily approve. Although Alex had personally taken part in the battle of Deatov, his mind had still unconsciously ignored most of the events that happened in the background. His mind had instinctively rejected this information, acting as a defense mechanism for his psyche. Seeing the complete unedited footage, his heart was in turmoil and his fists unconsciously tightened in anger. In fact, the hearts of all the people, present in the hall were filled with similar emotions. "..Dear God!..what are those things?!" the old commander seated next to Alex, unconsciously mumbled. Faint fear could be detected in his voice. After a few seconds, the solemn voice of the Alliance representative echoed through the silent hall. "As you can see.... we have made contact with an intelligent extraterrestrial race. One that has hostile intentions." saying such, he paused for a moment to allow time for the people present in the room to digest this information. "...Did we lose the frontier base of Deatov?" a fickle sounding voice was heard. The Alliance representative turned his head in the direction of the voice. Noticing the owner of the voice, he shook his head. "No. In fact, we managed to win," he replied briefly, his tone becoming polite. Due to his enhanced senses, Alex was also able to immediately detect the owner of that voice. His eyes immediately fell upon the speaker. The speaker was a fat, middle-aged man with a handsome face. He was clothed in extravagant attire, which screamed ''expensive''. The man''s face wore a golden monocle, which shone with a faint brilliance. Seeing this person towards whom even the Alliance Representative was being respectful, Alex''s curiosity was stoked. Being single-mindedly devoted to the art of war and combat, Alex wasn''t educated in the matters of politics. Therefore he was unable to recognize this man. Seeing the interested look in Alex''s eyes, the old commander next to him gently spoke. "That fat guy is the Head of the White Family. A fickle guy who would sell his own mather, if it guaranteed him profits. Tch!" the old commander spitefully explained. Hearing that explanation, a flood of realization descended on Alex''s face. The White family was a powerhouse that was on the same level as the Hellwig Family. They controlled the majority of the banks in the Alliance and were also the ones who issued the united currency of ''credits''. The White family was widely known for two reasons. One was for their unimaginable riches and extravagance. The other was because of their current heir. ''A detestable prick!'' just thinking about the heir of the White Family, made Alex''s mood instantly sour. Just as Alex was lost within his thoughts, the White Family''s Head spoke once more. "Oh? How did they manage to win? Seeing how badly those people were losing, I don''t think that our weapons were that effective against these aliens." Hearing the question, the Alliance Representative nodded his head. Just as he was about to reply, his movements suddenly paused. "Understood, Sir." he softly replied before getting off the stage. Just as the audience was growing confused, a middle-aged man with silver hair suddenly climbed onto the stage. He had an amicable smile plastered on his face and his disposition was very soothing. As he walked towards the stage, he radiated a feeling of trust and gentleness. Seeing this person climb onto the stage, the audience immediately rose and performed a bow. "We greet the Alliance Head!" a resounding chorus was heard. The High Commanders, White Family''s Head, and Alex were no exception. This silver-haired middle-aged man was the current leader of the Earth Alliance. Edward Roseberg. Looking at the audience, he performed a perfunctory nod, before starting to speak. "I''ll get right to the point. To answer your question on how we managed to win the battle in Deatov, please take a look at the screen above me." Having said so, Edward spoke an instruction to his subordinate through his mic and the holographic screen on the stage lit up once again. On the screen, the distant battle on the plains of Deatov could be seen. A youth with jet-black hair and glowing crimson eyes could be seen swinging a large scythe. Wave upon waves of Sickle Bugs fell underneath his blade, as the youth continued to dance with the army of alien bugs. Due to the distance between the youth and the camera, his facial features couldn''t be seen properly. Just as the audience was watching the scene with amazement, the holographic screen turned black, before cutting to the scene where Lucius was battling with the Leader Bug. The earth-shaking fight continued to play out on the screen as the audience watched with rapt attention. Lucius'' battle with the Leader Bug concluded. Following that was the scene of the rest of the alien army being slaughtered by the plasma cannons. The video continued to play without a pause, as the scene of the various soldiers rushing towards the black-haired youth standing in the middle of the plains. It was then, that a beam of light fell on top of the camera, and an endless amount of white light shrouded the screen. "And that''s it." Edward softly spoke before switching off the holographic screen. He turned around and looked at the faces of every person present in the hall. Giving them a few minutes to properly process this information. "My god...." "Superpowers?!!" "How can a single person do that..?" "Is he even human?" Hushed murmurs and mumbles filled the room as the various representatives and dignitaries started to discuss the contents of the video. Most of them wanted to instinctively reject this information, with one part of their minds saying that this was simply impossible. If this was not real, then what could it be? A joke? Special effects? However, the rational parts of their mind quickly denied this possibility. After all, they weren''t dumb enough to think that the Alliance Head himself, would stand before them and present the video if he wasn''t sure of the veracity of the information. Still, the looks of incomprehension, astonishment, and fear were seen on the faces of most of the people. "I understand that most of you are doubting the contents of that video. But, I can assure you in my capacity as the Alliance Head, that the entire content of that video is most definitely true." Edward spoke with utmost seriousness. "Not only has mankind made initial contact with an intelligent extraterrestrial race, according to the words of the survivors of Deatov, these survivors have also seemed to undergone something called an ''Ascension." "After undergoing this ''Ascension'', the survivors have awakened various abilities. Abilities which grant its user with varying degrees of supernatural powers." "Some have received increased strength, which would allow them to lift hundreds of kilograms with ease. Some have received the ability to affect soundwaves. Some have had their brains upgraded to allow increased activity. A variety of abilities, which seem to have no correlation with each other." "Actually rather than me trying to explain it, it would be better if you were to see it for yourselves. Especially since one such person is sitting right here with us in this hall.", saying so, Edward turned to look at Alex. "Alex Hellwig, come onto the stage," he requested. Alex, sat in his seat dumbly while having a blank look on his face. Seeing the events of Deatov play out once again, his mind was preoccupied with various thoughts. ''What could I have done differently? Could I have rescued more soldiers?'' such thoughts plagued his mind and a feeling of regret started to grow within his heart. "Cough, cough!" a sudden sound interrupted Alex from his thoughts. Snapping out of his daze, he raised his head and looked towards the old commander who was the source of the noise. "Young man, the Alliance Head has been calling your name all this while. Quickly, run to the stage before things become awkward," he advised in a low tone. "Ah? Oh yeah, right. Sorry." Alex quickly shook off his daze and rushed towards the stage. His movement speed was very quick, thanks to the advancement in his physique and soul power. The audience who had their eyes fixed on Alex, were astonished by his speed. Without wearing any enhancements or exoskeletons to boost his strength, Alex was able to cover a distance of 30m in a split-second. This had in fact been an intentional display of strength by Alex. Having listened to the speech given by the Alliance Representative, Alex realized that the matter regarding soul power was not known to the higherups within the Alliance. By displaying his abilities, he wanted to add veracity to his upcoming words and also wanted to use this opportunity to warn the higherups, of the true power of the soul. The words he was about to speak here today, would have a direct effect on mankind''s future. Chapter 115: World Council. Part 4 Seeing a showcase of power by the youngster, the Alliance Head''s opinion of Alex went up by a few tiers. ''A smart kid who understands the seriousness of the situation and his role in the upcoming dialogue. ''That person''s'' intuition was correct after all.'' Edward thought to himself. At this moment, Alex had already arrived before Edward. He performed a salute and spoke. "Private Alex Hellwig salutes the Alliance Head," he spoke in a serious voice. Although Alex was usually rash and hot-blooded, when it involved matters regarding the military, he was unusually serious. He possessed the heart of a soldier. Seeing the serious manner in which the youngster had greeted him, Edward showed a small smile. "You can do away with the greetings, young man. If I''m not wrong you are here in your capacity as the temporary leader of the ''Hellwig'' Family and not as a soldier." having said so, Edward casually threw a glance at the High Commanders sitting within the Hellwig Family''s zone. He even intentionally raised his voice at the last part, to make his voice audible to the rest of the audience. He was hinting that he had tacitly approved of this matter. Having vaguely understood this hint, Alex lowered his hands. "That is correct, Sir. My father, the Supreme General had me undertake the position of ''temporary'' Family Head to help me accumulate experience. He is busy with other matters and expresses his sincere apologies for not being able to personally come here. " he unhesitantly replied. Alex knew that he could not reveal the matter of his father''s disappearance to the rest of the families, lest they use this opportunity to weaken the Hellwig family''s position. Apart from the High Commanders and a few of the Alliance higher-ups, none of the others knew the truth behind the matter. Alex wanted to keep it that way. Hearing his words, Edward revealed a bigger smile. ''Truly a smart lad.'' he thought to himself. "No problems, young Alex. In fact, it is all the better that you are personally here. Please explain the events you have experienced in Deatov in detail." he instructed. Alex nodded his head. Standing on the podium, he slowly started to explain all the events that had occurred starting from the gainst golden rocks falling from the sky. He did not bother adding unnecessary details and paid attention to emphasize the strength and methods of the enemy. He also briefly explained the matter of souls and soul power, emphasizing its ability to grow in strength and lethality. "...I''m afraid that the matter of Ascension is not strictly exclusive to Deatov. If my guesses are correct, the other frontier planets must also be facing a similar scenario." "In fact, I have reasons to believe that the rest of mankind will also undergo the process of Ascension and the Ordeals in the upcoming months. It is imperative that we establish a proper channel of communication and properly prepare for the attack by those strange alien race." Having said his piece, Alex stopped talking. The various representative and dignitaries present in the room remained quiet for a few moments, as they digested this information. ''Perfectly spoken.'' Edward also nodded his head in appreciation. His evaluation of young Alex was undergoing a steady increase. Just as Alex was about to get off the stage, one of the Family Heads from the audience directed a question at him. "Young lad, I have a question. During your speech, I noticed that you placed a lot of importance on the threat possessed by those alien species. But from what I understand from that video, just a single youngster was able to easily handle hundreds of those bugs. Therefore, isn''t your worries exaggerated and unfounded?" a tall man with a cultured appearance, questioned. Hearing this question, Alex paused in his movements. His eyes narrowed, as he gazed towards the audience who were nodding their heads at this question. Looking at this scene, Alex remembered a certain memory. ''Humans consider themselves to be invincible within the Universe. They do not understand the meaning of ''absolute power''." ''Then again, mankind is but a pathetic worm that is meant to be crushed.'' That emotionless tone coupled with that indifferent face made the anger within Alex''s surge. ''He was right.'' although he did not want to admit it, Alex realized that Lucius'' words had been entirely correct. He then raised his head and looked at the tall, cultured man who had a smug expression on his face. A mocking smile decorated Alex''s face. He turned around to face Edward and asked. "Alliance Head, can I borrow two of those unmanned mechs which are guarding the hall?" he requested. Hearing his request, Edward was a little confused. Still, he nodded his head and the unmanned mechs were brought near the stage. Noticing the confused expression on the faces of the audience, Alex did not bother to explain his actions. He simply spoke one word. "Watch." The moment his voice fell, Alex mobilized his soul power and compressed two spheres of flames atop his palms. The moment those flames manifested, Alex immediately threw them towards the fully armored mechs. "Fireball." Alex softly spoke the name of the spell. The two fireballs whizzed through the air and instantly reached the bodies of the two mechs. Noticing the attack, a blue shield formed over the bodies of the two mechs. It was an energy barrier. Seeing the energy barriers, Alex wasn''t worried in the least. The fireballs came into contact with the energy barrier and at the next moment... It easily tore apart the energy barrier! With no signs of stopping its momentum, the two fireballs destroyed the energy barriers and directly attacked the bodies of the two mechs. The result naturally followed. BANG! BANG! Two thunderous explosions sounded out, as the powerful mechs turned into two pieces of flaming metal junk. The waves of fires immediately started to spread in the direction of the audience. Noticing the threat to their lives, the faces of the audience turned pale and they screamed in terror. Their bodies stumbled as they tried to escape from the approaching death. Just as the wave of fire was about to make contact with their bodies, it suddenly stopped. Alex casually waved his hands and the blanket of fire immediately rushed towards him and was absorbed into his body. ''That''s rather convenient.'' he thought to himself. Then looking at the mess that he had caused, Alex nervously thought to himself. ''I wasn''t expecting a casual [Fireball] to be that deadly.'' Thinking back on how Lucius had tanked this attack with his bare body, cold sweat flowed from his back. Suppressing such unnecessary thoughts, Alex spoke. "That was a casual attack from a Low-Level Stage 1 soul. The enemy that attacked the base in Deatov was composed of thousands of such beings. Tell me, did I exaggerate their lethality?" Hearing his question, the tall man hurriedly shook his head and apologized. The rest of the audience also calmed themselves and a serious expression was present on their faces. ''A casual attack? How deadly!!'' Edward inwardly thought to himself. Alex however, did not merely stop here and continued to talk. "As for that young man who fought against thousands of those Bugs and was able to effortlessly kill hundreds of them. Please do not use him for comparison." "That guy is a monster! A monster that does not follow common sense." Alex fiercely warned them. "Any other questions?" he then asked. "I have one!" the Head of the White Family raised his hands. Standing up with his short, stubby legs he asked. "May I ask, where did you get your information on this... ''soul power'' and the matters of the ''Ascension''? I recall no such information being provided by the others who had undergone Ascension among the survivors of Deatov" A sharp question, which questioned the basis of his claims. Alex was caught off-guard. He was unsure of how to answer this question. His knowledge of souls and the grim future that awaited mankind stemmed from the information provided to him by Ka''lor''ah. ''What should I say?'' Alex started to panic. Edward who was standing right next to Alex noticed his abnormality. Just as he was about to intervene, Alex started to speak once again. "I''m afraid I cannot fully explain the basis of my information. To put it simply, I was ''chosen'' by a certain entity and had my soul awakened prior to the ''Ascension''. This entity shared with me this information, at the price of having to bear the responsibility of mankind''s continued survival. I cannot divulge any more information pertaining to this matter." "I understand that words might sound fantastical, but this is the truth. I can swear my life on this." Hearing his answer, the audience voiced their dissatisfaction. The brows of the head of the White family also furrowed. Still, he decided not to push forth with his question. Especially when the other party was of equal standing. ''Still, my scheme was somewhat successful.'' the Head of the White family thought to himself. "Understood. Apologies for my sensitive question." he faintly smiled and sat down. Not noticing the implications behind that smile, Alex simply nodded his head. Edward who was standing behind him faintly shook his head. With a bitter smile on his face, he thought to himself. ''It is to be expected. After all, he is still young and isn''t familiar with the schemes of these old foxes.'' Chapter 116: World Council. Part 5 "Any other questions?" Alex asked the audience once more. "I do. But this question is mostly directed towards the Alliance Head." a female representative rose from her seat and faced Edward. "Which family does that black-haired youngster shown in the video belong to? I''ve looked around the hall but cannot seem to find him. Has he not come to this meeting?" Hearing this question, an awkward expression surfaced on the faces of both the Alliance Head and Alex. Letting out a fake cough to relieve his awkwardness, the Alliance Head spoke. "Regarding that youth, he does not belong to any Family. Here is his information." saying so, the holographic panel above the stage once again lit up. A picture of Lucius was projected and his basic information was displayed. Reading his information, the various people in the hall were astonished further. "Heavens! That boy is only 17 years old?!" "A commoner?" "Wait, he majors in Interstellar Mechanics, yet possess such exquisite fighting skills?" The old commander himself was astonished. Having seen Lucius'' fight on the holographic screen he was definitely sure that the youngster belonged to a large family with significant backing. In fact, he even wondered whether the boy was a secret soldier cultivated by the Hellwig family. Seeing his actual information, he found himself at a loss for words. The various heads began their hushed discussions once again. Seeing the reactions of the people around him, he shook his head. ''With such talent and strength, I''m afraid that every family in this room would fight to bring that boy into their forces.'' The female representative, who had asked the question stood there with a blank expression. Recovering her senses after a few seconds she asked. "Where is the boy then?" "About that...." this time it was Alex who answered her question. Seeing the expectant looks on the faces of all the people present in the room, he unconsciously blurted out. "He took another ship and left the planet of Deatov before us. His current whereabouts and destination are unknown." "What?!" a cumulative response was heard. "Are you sure of your information, young Alex?" Edward who was also learning about this information for the first time asked. Alex wore a bitter smile on his face and nodded. Inwardly he was thinking to himself. ''That bastard ran away without giving any explanation. Worst yet, he stole the spaceship which was assigned to Eyler! If I get my hands on him....'' Alex fantasized about the various methods he would employ to beat up Lucius. Unfortunately for him, his fantasies would remain fantasies. Trying to beat up Lucius with his current strength was simply giving him a reason to kill Alex. "Where did he go then? Did he not receive an order from the Alliance to report to the HQ?" Edward continued with his question. Perhaps because he was too astonished, he had unconsciously raised his voice. This resulted in his mic picking up his words and broadcasting them throughout the entire hall. "I am unsure of his whereabouts and his destination. Uh... he did receive the orders but.... decided to ignore them." Alex could only speak the truth. Rather than say that Lucius had chosen to ignore the orders, he straight up did not care about them. Having heard Alex''s reply the people in the room were immediately infuriated. "Preposterous!" "Such audacity!" "Simply too arrogant!" Various curses echoed through the hall. Hearing their words, Alex was suddenly curious about how Lucius would react, had he been here. ''Would he simply not care? Or will he beat them up? He will not go as far as to kill them right...?'' "That is enough!" Edward suddenly intervened. The various noises and chatters immediately died down, returning the hall to its previous state of silence. "Since the youngster is currently not here, we shall leave the matter regarding him as it is. As for his punishment for ignoring capital orders, we shall discuss it after the arrival of the concerned party." The gaze in his eyes suddenly sharpened and his voice turned serious. "And let me warn you. If any Family here decides to secretly harbor or protect him, they will be effectively dealt with capital punishment, regardless of status." "As of now, that boy belongs to the Earth Alliance. If you are to find him or establish contact with him, you are to immediately hand him over to the Alliance." "With that, this meeting is adjourned. All information discussed here today, have been sent to your respective families. I suggest the various representative and dignitaries stay at the HQ until we manage to re-establish communications. The matter regarding the aliens and ''Awakened'' humans will be discussed in length at a later date." "You may lea..." just as Edward was about to complete his sentence, a loud bellow suddenly interrupted him. "Just a second, Alliance Head!" a middle-aged man, wearing golden spectacles and golden hair spoke. "I just received some interesting information. Hehe, it seems that the Supreme General''s inability to attend this meeting is because of him missing! With a high probability on him being dead." the man rose from his seat and spoke with a sly smile. An interesting fact to be noticed here was that this particular man''s seating within the hall was on the same level as that of the Hellwig family and the White family. However, the symbol on his seats wasn''t that of the Roseberg Family. The symbol that was etched on his seat was that of- two hands joining together, circled by a wreath made with olive branches. It was the symbol of the Alliance People''s Front. A political faction within the Alliance. Although it was called a political faction, it was, in fact, the coalition between a great number of smaller families which by themselves did not have the power to possess seats in the World Council. By forming this union and pooling their resources together, they were able to possess an influence and strength which was equal to that of the Three Great Families. The middle-aged man who had just spoken was one of the three leaders of the APF. (Alliance People''s Front) Hearing his words, the High Commanders were immediately angered. "Lies!" "You dare speak such lies, bastard!" "You think, we wouldn''t dare to wat against you!" While the external appearance of the High Commanders was fierce, internally their minds were in complete chaos. ''How did they find out!! Was there a leak in our information?!'' Alex on the other hand was extremely furious. The moment that middle-aged man has said the words, ''Supreme General'' and ''dead'' in the same line, his death was all but confirmed. His soul power started to rampage within his body. The red-hot fire started to coat his body, as Alex once again resembled a flaming man. This time, however, Alex was no longer controlling the output of his soul power, resulting in the temperature around him rising by almost a thousand degrees celsius. "Hehe. don''t trust my words? But I have the information right here!" saying so, the middle-aged man projected a holographic screen from his watch. The last known location and records of the final message sent and received by the Supreme General were clearly shown. The representative and dignitaries were shocked by this sudden revelation. The consequences of his information were simply too great! Especially now, since they were facing an unknown enemy. ''There has been a leak in our information!'' the old general cursed within his mind. Although he was unwilling, he could no longer do anything to change this outcome. Turning his head towards the stage, the eyes of the old commander immediately shrunk. ''Not good!'' he could see that the young Head of the Hellwig family had completely lost himself to rage. ''I must stop him before he does something stupid!'' without caring about himself, the old commander immediately dashed towards Alex. Just as Alex was about to make his move, the calm voice of the Alliance Head suddenly sounded out. "I know. And for your information, the Supreme General isn''t dead. I have my sources to confirm this information." Hearing these words, Alex was slightly calmed. A hint of rationality returned as he withdrew his soul power. ''If I move to kill that guy in front of all these people, it would result in terrible consequences for the family.'' looking at that hateful man, Alex made an oath to himself. ''I will surely remember these words of yours!'' "Hehe. As expected of the Alliance Head. Seeing the dire situation that we find ourselves to be in, I was simply concerned about the matter of the current ''Head of Military''. With the absence of the Supreme General, who will fill his position?" "Your concerns are but unfounded, don''t we have a perfect candidate right here." the Alliance Head showed a brilliant smile as he smoothly replied. "Who?" finding himself at a loss, the middle-aged man questioned. "Its precisely young Alex, standing right next to me!" Edward replied. "Huh?!" Hearing that answer everyone in the hall was shocked. The most shocked one was of course, Alex himself. The brows of the middle-aged man furrowed as he spoke. "Alliance Head, this is no joking matter. With the serious position that we find ourselves to be in, we must have a more experienced person fill this role." "Oh, but I''m completely serious! Who else has more experience fighting against the armies of alien invaders, other than young Alex here?" A sound reason, which the middle-aged man found himself unable to refute. Using this opportunity, Edward continued. "Alex Hellwig, in my capacity as the Leader of the Earth Alliance, I hereby bestow upon you the position of ''Head of Military''. Mankind will be depending upon your efforts to face this upcoming ordeal!" Alex stood dumbfounded for a few seconds before he managed to hurriedly kneel and accept this proclamation. ''How did I end up becoming the ''Head of Military''?'' this was a situation that was completely out of his expectations. Chapter 117: A Glimpse of the Past. Inside the Combat Room of Expedition-1. "*Huff*, *Huff*. Again?" a charming voice asked as it rapidly panted for breath. "Again!" following the loud response, a bright flash of golden light flew through the air. Noticing the golden light which was shaped to form a golden arrow, heading towards her at blistering speeds Olivia immediately reacted. With a sharp intake of air, she widened her stance and lowered her center of gravity. "Hah!" with a short shout, her body immediately rolled sideways, narrowly dodging the golden arrow. Just as she was about to regain her footing, Olivia''s senses which were currently boosted due to the effects of [Strength Soul], detected another arrow precisely aimed at her target location. Having detected the attack in advance, she immediately mobilized her soul power and started a chant within her mind. Being a magic-caster, all of Olivia''s spells required her to chant their incantations. These incantations were a mandatory part of her casting and could not be avoided. Mysterious words belonging to an unknown language started to flash within her mind. Although Olivia had not come in contact with this language or even heard about such a language ever before in her life, she was able to instinctively use it and understand it after her ascension. "[Barrier]!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. Immediately following her shout, a large violet shield materialized in the empty air. It covered the entirety of her back and effectively blocked the onslaught of the golden arrow. Having bought enough time, Olivia regained her footing. Standing up, she raised both her hands and started to channel another spell. This time, Olivia''s lips started to move and a low voice leaked from her mouth. The very air trembled around her as waves of violet-colored soul power started to gather at her hands. Whatever her spell was, it was a big one. ''It''s time to end this!'' she yelled within her mind as she prepared to unless her spell. "Hehe, too late!" a gloating voice was heard near her ears, followed by a bright flash of golden light. the flash of light condensed into a golden arrow which then struck Olivia in the middle of her back. Olivia suddenly felt her entire body be electrocuted, with her entire body twitching in pain. Losing control over her body, Olivia also lost control over her soul power. The gathered energies immediately dispersed as Olivia''s body collapsed into the ground. "Haah! Haha!" lying on her back with her four limbs stretched out, Olivia''s chest rose and fell in an erratic pattern. The joints of her limbs and the tips of her finger quivered, as the residual effects of the electric shock remained within her body. "Little girl, you''re 1000 years too early if you think you can defeat me!" a certain floating crystal heroically stated, after winning the duel. Hearin her words, Olivia''s eyelids twitched. Ignoring Ka''lor''ah''s taunts, Olivia closed her eyes and started to replenish her soul power. She also played the previous battle in her mind and looked for possible errors, correcting them in the process. "Ah! Rather than roll towards the side to dodge that arrow, I should have jumped up. This would have allowed me to follow your next set of actions with my eyes!" Olivia exclaimed in realization. This time, it was Ka''lor''ah''s turn to become vexed. She shook her crystal body twice in the air before speaking. "I swear, the more I get to know you. The more you are starting to resemble Lucius. Tell me, does anything other than thoughts of ''battle'' and ''fighting'', flow across your mind?" Hearing her words, Olivia suddenly turned silent. With a low voice, she then spoke. "Only by constantly improving my strength, will I be useful to him. I don''t want to be a burden anymore!" her voice was faint but filled with conviction. Having heard her answer, Ka''lor''ah sighed. She ultimately chose to remain silent. Over the past month and a half, Olivia had sought guidance and training from Ka''lor''ah every single day. She wanted to make the most use of her time aboard this spaceship and wanted to improve her strength before reaching their destination. While her first choice was to ask Lucius for his guidance, she had to settle for Ka''lor''ah due to the absence of the former. After inputting their destination on the ship''s autopilot, Lucius had locked himself within his room and went into seclusion. Such being the case, Olivia could only rely on Ka''lor''ah. The results were..... pretty fantastic. Having been a Peak Stage 7 being in the past, Ka''lor''ah''s combat experience was naturally great. With her tailored courses, coupled with her personal guidance, Olivia''s battle sense and abilities underwent an earth-shattering change. Not stopping at that, Ka''lor''ah also regularly dueled with Olivia to hone her combat instincts and reactions. All of which ended with Olivia''s loss. In fact, if she were to fight Lucius'' ''Berserk'' state, with her current skills. Olivia''s chances of winning were at a shocking 60%. Seeing the young girl diligently cultivate even while resting, Ka''lor''ah suddenly spoke. "Not only is your talent for combat very high, your talent for soul cultivation is also monstrously high. What a freak," she mumbled. During the times when Ka''lor''ah was not instructing Olivia in her combat techniques, she helped Olivia in her soul cultivation. Due to Olivia''s unceasing efforts and talent, she had already stabilized her newly ascended soul and was already in Stage 1 Mid-Level Liquid Phase. Her rate was advancement was comparable to Lucius after his rebirth. Hearing Ka''lor''ah''s remark, Olivia simply smiled in response. A few moments passed before Olivia hesitantly opened her mouth to speak. Gathering her courage she asked. "Teacher....how did you meet Lucius?" This is one of the questions which plagued Olivia''s mind for the longest time. Before Lucius'' change, Olivia''s relationship with him had been very good. There was no secret that they wouldn''t share and no topic that would remain hidden. Going with this flow of thought, Olivia should have learned about Ka''lor''ah much earlier. "Well, you''re curious about this, huh?" Ka''lor''ah questioned, her voice slightly sharp. "If... its something that cannot be shared. Then you can choose not to reply. I just asked this question in passing." hearing the words, all of Olivia''s gathered courage disappeared. "You mustn''t be like this, little girl. Why does your courage vanish, when talking about Lucius? If you want something, you must unhesitantly take action to get it. Never hesitate, else it will lead to regret." Ka''lor''ah advised. "Well, to answer your question. Unfortunately, I can''t tell you the exact answer." Hearing this, Olivia was disappointed. "...But, it''s not like I can''t tell you anything either." suddenly Ka''lor''ah continued. Olivia''s head rose and her bright, blue eyes stared at the floating crystal in anticipation. "Let''s see..... I''ve known about Lucius for a very long time. He was a very special and unique being who was able to garner my interest." "When I met him for the first time, it was in a very special place...." Ka''lor''ah slowly spoke while carefully choosing her words. She could not speak about the truth, lest it was heard by the Lords. Matters concerning the future or the other timelines must be spoken with absolute caution, fo it had the power to affect ''Cause''. Within her mind, however, Ka''lor''ah recalled the scene in its entirety. -------- In a planet that was in the process of collapsing, after having its surface destroyed and its core ripped apart. An innumerable number of dead corpses, belonging to myriad different creatures littered the ground, dying the earth and the sky in crimson. Blood and flesh gathered around to form an ocean, mixing with the lava that flowed without pause from within the ground. The sky turned into pieces of shattered glass, which continued to fall apart and dissipate into the endless space. The eyes of the corpses remained open with, fear, hate, resentment, unwillingness, and a multitude of other emotions present with them. Their unwillingness to part with their lives was obvious! In the middle of this broken planet, was a single living being. A humanoid, judging by shape. His hands were clutching onto a clump of flesh and blood. His face was expressionless and his eyes were blank. His armor was completely tattered and his shattered weapon laid by his side. His mouth mechanically moved and incomprehensible words leaked from his throat. "...dead...all...dead....I kill..." his words were broken and incoherent. His body radiated a fearsome amount of energy which continued to grow in power. Streams of reddish-black energy surrounded him, as they condescend and compounded in strength. The space within the area, hundreds of kilometers surrounding his body started to twist in various shapes before being torn apart. With space tearing apart, streams of chaotic energy leaked from within the cracks. The energy then proceeded to destroy the hellish landscape surrounding his body. No longer able to sustain itself, the planet also started to collapse. The humanoid shaped figure who was kneeling in the middle seemed to be unaffected by the change. The blankness in his eyes was uncaring towards his surroundings. It was at this moment, that a slender white hand, clothed in an ornate, golden robe reached out from within a spatial crack and extended towards the humanoid. ¡ºStage 6 [Killer]? Completely broken in both mind and soul.¡» ¡ºI have decided! You will serve as my weapon. Come to me, O'' Pitiful One.¡» Saying so, the hand captured the humanoid and vanished into the spatial crack. Following their departure, the energy within the planet finally imploded, creating a black hole as a result. ------- "Teacher!" Olivia''s loud voice woke Ka''lor''ah from her thoughts. "Sorry, I was distracted. In short, I met Lucius some years ago and have stayed with him ever since." Ka''lor''ah summarized. Olivia nodded her head in comprehension. Although she did not understand the entire matter, her curiosity was sated for now. "Then.... I have another question." "Lucius.... is not human, is he?" Chapter 118: A Planet of Ice. "Lucius....is not human, is he?" Olivia cautiously asked. Hearing her question, Ka''lor''ah chuckled in response. "Well, isn''t that quite obvious?" "What is he then?" Olivia continued. "He belongs to a primordial race called the Void Eaters. The scourge of all living things. A race which before Lucius, existed only in words!" Ka''lor''ah spoke impassioned. "Just think about it. It''s like the dinosaurs! Reading and watching movies about them cannot equal the experience of actually seeing one alive. If only I was here with my ''main body''. I would have wrapped him up and added him to my collection! Such a rare collectible." she shook her imaginary head in pity. "Then... how does one become a Void Eater?" Olivia questioned. "I don''t know." Ka''lorah casually shrugged her body. "Actually nobody knows. In fact, there are no records of their existence either. The only reason I know about them is thanks to the records that I inherited from my ancestors." Ka''lor''ah patiently explained. She then paused for a moment before continuing. "My guess is, someone must have intentionally destroyed all records of the race. After all, you don''t want a couple of Void Eaters, casually walking down the street, do you? They are called the ''Enemy of All Life'' for a reason." Hearing her answer, Olivia bit her lips in distress. "Then.. is Lucius also fated to become.....the ''Enemy of All Life''?" she inquired. "Honestly, I have no idea. Then again, you cannot get him to do, what he doesn''t want to do. Therefore, whether he chooses to go down that path entirely depends on himself." she concluded. Her gaze sharpened as she looked at Olivia and asked. "Why? Are you scared?" she interrogated. Olivia immediately shook her head. Such thoughts had never crossed her mind. The moment Olivia had decided to beg Lucius to take her with him and staked her life on his answer, she had pledged her life to him. Whatever Lucius wanted to do, she would help him with all her abilities. Sensing Olivia''s conviction, Ka''lor''ah''s gaze softened "Any other questions?" she asked softly. Hesitating for a bit, Olivia then asked. "Since Lucius isn''t human, does that mean his parents...." just as Olivia was in the process of completing her question, a powerful [Silence] spell fell upon her. "Shush! Stop talking!" Ka''lor''ah hurriedly spoke. She immediately turned her crystal body and stared in the direction of Lucius'' room. Her panicked gaze remained on the door for a few minutes. Seeing that there was no movement, she let out a sigh of relief. She turned to face Olivia and removed the [Silence] spell cast upon her. "That was close. Remember! Never mention the matter of his parents, ever in his presence." she warned in a grave tone. With a voice that resembled a mouse squeak. Olivia asked. "Why?" "*Sigh*. I don''t exactly know, but for some reason whenever this matter is mentioned, Lucius becomes.....irrational. His mind is overwhelmed with rage and he lashes out." She paused for a second and continued. "It''s one of the things that can invoke emotion in him. He never talks about it and doesn''t like people talking about it either. Anyway, don''t forget my warning. If you were to carelessly mention this matter again, and he hears it, I won''t be able to save you." Olivia nodded her head. "Let''s move on. Seeing that you have recovered your energy, let''s duel another time." Ka''lor''sh spoke as she distanced herself from Olivia. --------------- Training concluded for the day and a few hours passed. After taking a bath to wash off her sweat, Olivia headed towards the kitchen aboard the spaceship and made herself a meal. With the advancement in their physiques and strength, the requirement for energy also increased. A Stage 1 lifeform would consume almost five times the amount of their normal nutrition. This amount would only continue to grow, as their Stage increased, until one cultivated up to Stage 4. From this Stage, physical nutrition would no longer be required. Such being the case, Olivia also consumed a lot of food. The spaceship''s pantry held enough food for 30 people for a period of 30 days, this included breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Lucius did not leave his room and Ka''lor''ah had no requirement for physical supplements. Olivia was the only person, who had consumed the food, and today, the pantry was finally emptied. After having her meal, Oliva stood up to head towards her room. Her physical training was done for the day and it was time for her soul cultivation. Just as she headed towards the exit, the door of the kitchen suddenly opened. Wearing an expressionless face, Lucius entered the kitchen. His indifferent eyes stared at Olivia. Having been caught off-guard, Olivia had instinctively jumped back like a frightened rabbit. She raised her hands and mobilized her soul power, ready to face any attack that might come towards her. Her movements were smooth and her reaction was instantaneous. Seeing that it was Lucius, her nervous heart quickly calmed. Lucius continued to stand at the door and stare at Olivia. His eyes felt like that of a predator sizing up its prey. A few seconds passed in silence, after which he opened his mouth. "We have arrived at our destination. Get ready to descend." Completing his statement, he turned around and walked towards the control room. Olivia who had originally been nervous and uncomfortable under Lucius'' gaze quickly sobered up. Not daring to waste any time, she headed towards her room, to change her clothes into something more suitable and packed her essentials. Having done so, she headed towards the control room and silently waited for Lucius'' next command. ----------------- Meanwhile, inside the control room, Lucius silently sat as he looked outside the window. Occupying the entire window was a large, white planet. If one looked at the blue-colored Earth and thought- ''this planet is mostly made up of water. Then looking at his planet, one would think-'' this planet is completely made up of ice.'' And so it was. It was a planet of Ice. A planet which resembled a frigid haven, Its entire surface was covered in ice and chill. The upper layer of the troposphere which held the clouds have completely solidified to form a landmass. Due to the frighteningly low temperature of the planet, water could not exist in its vapor or liquid form. Such being the case, the clouds formed an independent landmass, far-far above the actual ground that laid underneath its cover. Lucius then turned his gaze away from the window and stared at the holographic map, projected in front of him. A green dot symbolized his current location and a large blue sphere represented the planet. When he clicked on the planet to view its information, a row of question marks was presented to him. {????????- No records found. Adding to the ship''s database..... Added.} The screen refreshed and new information was presented to him. {Unnamed Planet.} {Living Conditions: Inhospitable to living organisms.} {Surface Temperature: -40¡ãC} {Core Temperature: Cannot be measured.} {Atmosphereic Gases: Cannot be measured.} {Note: Multiple parameters are unknown, Advised to not land on this planet} ''This is the place, right?'' Lucius asked the crystal lying in his pocket. Ka''lor''ah remained silent for a few seconds before speaking. ''It should be. I can feel ''its'' presence inside the planet.'' she replied. Nodding his head, Lucius then turned off the autopilot. Regaining manual control, he then proceeded to steer the vessel towards the white planet. ----------------- Entering the atmosphere was harder than Lucius had initially thought. Due to the low temperature of the planet''s surface, the water vapor and other gases present in the atmosphere were very dense. Entering the atmosphere under such conditions, proved to be quite a challenge. Lucius also had to be careful in his control of the spaceship and not excessively damage it. After all, it was their only ticket, in and out of this planet. The abrasion of the air and the outer hull of the vessel produced a few sparks. Alas, a few sparks were all that were generated. The usual scene of fire covering the entire outer shell, as one entered the atmosphere was nowhere to be seen. Whatever heat was generated from the friction was immediately cooled. As Lucius continued to descend lower into the atmosphere, he could feel the temperature around him rapidly dropping. ''Is it getting colder?'' Lucius thought to himself. {Miscalculation. Surface Temperature..... cannot be calculated. Insufficient parameters.} At the next instant, the ships'' AI sounded out, proving his thoughts. ''It''s colder than I expected.'' his breaths started to turn misty as icy air invaded the interiors of the ship. Seated behind him, Olivia''s body started to shiver from the cold. As the cold increased and started to become more and more unbearable, Olivia could faintly feel hypothermia setting in. ''What do I do?'' she started to panic. Turning her gaze towards Lucius, she saw that he was completely fine. ''How did he...'' just as she wondered, she suddenly caught sight of a faint stream of black energy circulating underneath his skin. Immediately coming to a realization, she mobilized her soul power, having it circulate through her body. The effects were immediately evident. ''It unexpectedly has such a use!'' she exclaimed within her mind. It was at this moment that she suddenly heard Lucius talk. "Brace yourself." At the next moment, the sound of impact followed. The spaceship crashed into a tall, white glacier. Chapter 119: Discovery. BANG! The control room inside the Expedition-1 intensely shook, due to the heavy impact of the vessel on a crystalized ice wall. Large chunks of ice fell atop the vessel with the speed of the spaceship decreasing. "Engage the reverse thrusters. Output at 30%. Fire.....now." Lucius calmly instructed the ship''s AI while manoeuvering the spaceship. "Adjust the Anti-Gravity thruster''s angle to 32¡ã. Cut off the excess power at...." instructions continued to flow from his mouth, as the trembling of the vessel slowly subsided. Through the window, Lucius could only view a vast expanse of white. The mountains, the skies, the lands, all of his surroundings had merged to form a single entity. Minutes passed in trepidation before the shaking of the spaceship finally came to a stop. Under Lucius'' meticulous control, he stabilized the moment of the spaceship and made it hover in its current place. Dull thuds sounded out every few seconds, as large chunks of nice feel atop the spaceship''s exterior. "Scan for damages." Lucius indifferently commanded. {Scannig... Damages found.} {Exterior Hull: 33% damages detected.} {Main Thruster(Left): 16% damages detected.} {Main thruster(Right): 23% damages detected.} {Note: No serious damages found. Light maintenance required.} Reading the result of the scan, Lucius'' tense heart relaxed. ''That was dangerous.'' he thought inwardly. While Lucius had been very careful during the descent, his vision of the surrounding environment was very limited. The scans of the ship''s AI kept getting interfered with due to some unknown reason. Only being able to view through the front window of the spaceship, it was only a matter of time before he hit something. And hit something, he did. "Let''s descend" Lucius spoke as he inputted a few commands into the ship''s AI. After ensuring that everything was in proper order, he rose from his seat and walked towards the main exit hatch. Olivia who had been waiting for him to speak followed. Making it to the main exit hatch, Lucius spoke another command to the ship''s AI. "Maintain altitude. Open the exit hatch." {Maintaining Altitude...Opening Exit Hatch..} As soon as the AI''s voice fell, the enclosed metal in front of his eyes, slowing opened. A blast of icy air immediately invaded the interiors of the spaceship. Icicles started to grow on the various metal components at a visible rate and whiteness started to spread within the spaceship. Feeling the temperature drop around him by a great degree, Lucius started to circulate his soul power faster. With the movement of the stream of black energy within his body, the chillness receded. Walking to the edge of the spaceship, Lucius looked out and observed his surroundings. Visibility was a little better, as Lucius scanned his surroundings for signs of danger. Measuring the distance to the ground with his eyes, Lucius estimated that they were currently floating 15m off the ground. The crash into the large ice glacier had unexpectedly brought them into an ice cave, the walls of which Lucius could now see. The walls of this ice cave radiated with a faint icy-light blue. It was the only source of illumination in this otherwise dark room. Although not as bright as sunlight, it still performed its task of shedding light. On the roof, a large hole was present with the cold blizzard leaking into the cave. The sounds of wind whooshing and snow falling were symphonious in the background. Apart from the ice and cold, nothing was present After intensely observing for a few more moments, he finally concluded that no danger was present. As such, Lucius instructed once again. "Enable Power-saver mode. Continue current altitude and hover. Sync GPS with my watch." ` {Power-save mode enabled. Syncing with your watch... done!} Having done that, Lucius directly jumped out of the spaceship. A height of 15m is approximately equal to the height of a 5 storied building. While a jump from such a height could seriously injure or maybe even kill a normal person. For a Stage 1 organism, it wasn''t worth mention. As such, Lucius smoothly landed on the ground. During his descent, he had even controlled his soul power and had it gather at the bottom of his feet. Detonating the gathered energy at the last moment, he effectively canceled his force. Not a single flake of snow was disturbed during the entire process. ''Show off.'' Ka''lor''ah spoke within Lucius'' mind. Lucius did not bother replying. While it may seem like he was showing off, Lucius was actually testing the result of his training for the past month. With the advancement in his soul cultivation, not to mention the fact that his soul had changed in the process, Lucius had to relearn the process of controlling it from scratch. After receiving the [Annihilator] soul, the quality and properties of his soul power had undergone a complete change. Such being the case, Lucius had to forget his previous method of controlling and retrain. To give an analogy, imagine two cars with Lucius being the driver. His [Killer] soul can be represented with a normal car and the [Annihilator] soul is equal to a sports car. Although the concept behind the control of both the cars remained the same, the actual process itself was completely different. They had different reaction times, different peak speeds, different rates of flows, etc. Getting back to the story, just as Lucius was musing his next set of actions, the sound of the sudden impact was heard behind him. A dull thud reminiscent of a heavy object falling on soft ground was heard. Turning his head, he saw a human-shaped hole on the snow and a red-faced Olivia climbing out of it. "Pathetic." he curtly said before removing the crystal from his pocket. "Which direction does ''it'' lay in?" he questioned Ka''lor''ah. Ka''lor''ah gave a slight hum in affirmation. The dark-gold crystal atop Lucius'' palms, gently flew into the air and began to hover. Intermittent flashes of dim and bright, golden light flickered from the crystal. Minutes passed within the icy cave. with only the sounds of the blizzard and the breaths of two humanoids being present. The temperature within the cave continued to drop, with more snow falling in through the roof of that cave. Having nothing to do, Olivia silently distanced herself from Lucius and started to explore the interiors of the cave. Such a fantasy-like adventure was a first for her and her innate curiosity made her explore. After what seemed like an eternity, Ka''lor''ah''s voice finally sounded out. "Found it. It''s.....underneath us?" she sounded unsure of her answer. "Underneath us?" Lucius furrowed his brows. "Do we have to dig?" he continued. "Yes.... but this doesn''t seem right?!" she exclaimed. "What?" "I can vaguely feel the presence of the Catacombs, but... it''s a few thousand feet beneath us. We can''t dig through that!" Hearing her answer, Lucius remained silent, seemingly in deep thought. "Are you sure about your detection? Is there no interference?" after a few moments, Lucius questioned. "I''m using ''its'' Causality to sense it. There is no way to interfere with my detection." Her body shook itself, as she denied his doubts. ''Was it a mistake in coming here?'' Lucius pondered. Well, there was no point in regretting his decision now. He had chosen to come to this planet and had even found the object of his seeking. Regrettably, he could not get to it. Just as Lucius had decided to get on the spaceship and go to another planet, Olivia''s voice resounded. "Lucius! I found weird writings here!" her voice echoed inside this icy cave. ''Writings?'' Lucius'' interest was invoked. Kicking off the ground, he instantly neared Olivia''s location. On the wall in front of her was a small crack, with a passage that led into this glacier. From the way it was positioned, Lucius was not able to detect it from his previous location due to a rock-face that stood adjacent to this crack. Towards the left of this crack, were characters carved into the ice wall. Fluid and smooth curves, decorated with lines and dots combined to form beautiful writing. It was written in an unknown tongue, which radiated a sense of ancientness. Ka''lor''ah who hovered next to Lucius immediately identified this language. "It''s Primeval Tongue!" she exclaimed. Primeval Tongue was a language that was common during the time of the previous ''Order of Lords'', commonly called an ''era''. To reiterate, ''Primeval Tongue'' was the universal language of the previous era. With the fall of the previous ''Order of Lords'' and the eventual reset of all Cause and Effect in the Universe, this language was also lost in history. Records of it belonged only to the most primordial of races or to the survivors of the previous era. Due to the nature of Ka''lor''ah''s race being very special, she was one of the holders of a complete record of ''Primeval Tongue.'' As such the next part was easy. -Warriors of yore, slumber within these sacred lands. Disturb and perish!- "Wow, people still talk like that? It sounds very lame. It isn''t even a decent warning." Ka''lor''ah remarked. "Well, from those words, we can confirm that this is indeed the place of the ''Catacombs''. Looks like we don''t need to dig the ground anymore. Nicely spotted, Olivia." She appreciated. "Onward," Lucius ordered before entering into the crack on the icy wall. As for the danger that lay within, he was willing to take a risk. After all, risk coexisted with opportunity. Chapter 120: At the Base of the Mountain. Walking through the icy corridor, Lucius noticed that the surrounding temperature had stopped decreasing. It was still cold, not was no longer becoming colder. The corridor was manmade and was carved into the heart of the glacial mountain. Its walls were light-blue in color, which radiated to provide a dim amount of light. Lucius slowly proceeded through these corridors while keeping an eye out for traps or sneak attacks. Although the possibility of life existing within this planet was relatively low, it was good to remain cautious. Walking through the silent corridor for dozens of minutes, a small open space finally came into view. Calling it an open space wasn''t quite right, since it was actually an enclosed room. Point is, it was larger than this narrow corridor. The room was another manmade structure which was 10 sq.m in size. The roof of the room was barely taller than Lucius, who himself was almost 1.9m in height. The walls were plain, with only the faint blue-light sending its color into the room. Upon entry, his senses immediately detected the abnormality present in the room. On the floor were strange carvings that radiated energy. ''Runes!'' the name popped into his mind. The carvings on the floor which radiated a faint trace of energy were unexpectedly runes! What are runes, you ask? Well, runes are unique characters and letters which had the power to resonate with the ''Rules'' of the Universe. Using the runes, one could harness, manipulate, and even destroy Rules, provided one had sufficient power. They could also be used to combine different rules, which lead to interesting results. Runes formed a large system of study, which a majority of races in the Universe studied. Being able to manipulate runes was equal to gaining a shortcut to strength. Of course, such a grand matter was continuously studied, with new discoveries made each day. Lucius and Ka''lor''ah returning to the past was also the work of runes. Using the runes to manipulate the ''Rules of Time, Space, Fate,'' etc. They were able to successfully return to the past. However! Runes were not an all-powerful art. In order to manipulate or harness something inviolable and infallible as the ''Rules'', an equal price has to be paid. Simple Rules like ''Heat'' and ''Light'' were easy to manipulate. But complex Rules such as ''Fate'' and ''Time'', naturally demanded a far stricter sacrifice. "Runes!" following behind Lucius, Ka''lor''ah belatedly realized the existence of the writing on the floor. Upon its discovery, she immediately headed towards it and started to study it. Ka''lor''ah''s knowledge of runes was also first class. After studying it for a few minutes, Ka''lor''ah suddenly spoke. "Interesting...Very interesting. So these characters can be used in such a way!" she exclaimed. Studying these runes had increased her attainment in the subject. "Are you done?" Lucius impatiently asked. "Yep!" Ka''lor''ah cheerfully replied. "It''s actually a ''teleportation'' rune! It utilizes the Rule of Space in a unique way, which I have never studied before." "Step into the circle and infuse your soul energy in the point where I mark. Make sure that all your limbs are present within the circle at all times. We don''t want a missing arm or leg after teleportation." she instructed. Nodding his head, Lucius entered the rune formation and infused his soul power into the location pointed out by Ka''lor''ah. Olivia who was also present hurriedly stepped into the circle. "Hopefully, it leads us to our destination," Ka''lor''ah remarked. "Activate!" with a loud bellow, the runes formation on the floor brightly lit up. A blanket of light encompassed the party of three, before finally disappearing. The trio were no longer inside the small room. ---------------- ROAR! Large swathes of land covered with blankets of ice covered the vast majority of the surface of this Unnamed Planet. Looking at the distant horizon, tall insurmountable figures of mountains could be seen in the background providing one with a sense of direction in these foreign lands. Looking up at the sky, one would be hard-pressed to find the sun or any other celestial body for that matter. In their place were patches of ice-covered lands, which mysteriously floated in the sky. With these floating islands blocking much of the sunlight entering the planet, darkness reigned mighty in the lands below. Dotting the vast plains, were several moving mountains of hair, moving in herds. Two mighty, ice-blue horns poked from their hair-enshrouded body, informing a spectator, that these mountains of hair were in fact living beasts. These beasts could be seen digging the frigid grounds, seemingly in search of food. Their eyes were shaped like crystals of ice, which shone with dark blue radiance. Although the temperature was cold and the lands were dark, these beasts did not seem to be affected. Their figures were reminiscent of the ancient mammoths, that once roamed the world. Ocassionly they bellowed with a mighty roar, either to scare off an unworthy challenger or to look for newer mates. Just as another day of perpetual cycle seemed to pass in this planet of ice, a sudden change occurred. On the top of a small ice hill, a blinding luminance appeared. This pillar of light materialized into this dark world, giving off a radiance that was equal to the sun in a dark universe. From within this pillar of light, two humanoids, one male and the other female were thrown into the snow-covered lands. A dark-gold crystal glowing with faint radiance was also thrown out in a similar fashion, but it managed to hover in the air. "That was close!" Ka''lor''ah spoke with faint fear in her voice. "We almost ran out of energy in the runes at the last moment." The two human figures laid on the ground for a few moments before they managed to stand up. Their breaths were weak and their faces were pale. A sign that they had overdrafted their soul powers. Lucius slowly opened his eyes and gazed at his surroundings. Although the surroundings were covered in darkness, his racial characteristics as a Void Eater allowed to him view in the dark without much trouble. Being born of the Void where nothing existed, not even light, had its perks. Seeing that no immediate danger was present in his surroundings, Lucius slowly sat down upon the ground and assumed a cross-legged posture. Being transported into an unknown land, one must first have the proper strength to survive. As such, his first action was to recover his soul power. Olivia who was in a similar position followed his actions. ------------- Almost an hour had passed before Lucius opened his eyes and stood up. He had already recovered most of his soul power, recovering the ability to battle. As such, he decided to move. The sooner he accomplished his tasks, the sooner he could leave this planet. Looking towards, Ka''lor''ah who was calmly floating in the air digesting her gains from studying the runes, he asked. "Which direction?" The crystal flashed with golden light and a calm voice replied. "North." Lucius turned to face the north and saw the tall mountains in the very distance. Nodding his head, he then looked towards Olivia and asked. "Status. Soul Power." his words were minimal, but their meaning was clear. Having understood his question, Olivia replied. "No injuries, apart from slight bruises. Soul power is at 70%." her words were likewise precise. Nodding his head once more, Lucius spoke. "Keep up. Don''t slow me down." immediately after speaking, he kicked off the ground and dashed in the direction of the snowy mountains. In the blink of an eye, Lucius'' figure had turned into a dot on the distant horizon. One has to remember that speed was Lucius'' greatest strength. And right now, Lucius was using his speed to the greatest extent. Seeing the rapidly distancing figure, Olivia was astonished. Gritting her teeth, she gathered her soul power and cast [Strengthen Soul] on herself, to boost her physique. After her body had been buffed by magic, she immediately chased after him. ------------------ "You are going too fast. That girl will never be able to catch up to your speed." Ka''lor''ah gently spoke. "Then she will be left behind. I will not be wasting my time on useless pursuits." Lucius curtly replied. He did not decrease his speed and continued to head towards the mountains. A few minutes of silence later, Ka''lor''ah spoke up once again. "Why are you being so harsh on her?" she questioned. "You asked me to train her, right? This is it. A useful tool can only be forged under harsh conditions." "....and if she breaks under the pressure?" "Then that is the extent of her usefulness. A tool which has no use." Lucius firmly said, while continuing to run. Just as Ka''lor''ah was about to retort to his heartless statement, she suddenly noticed a presence behind them. Confirming the owner of that presence, she remained silent. "Seems like you underestimate too much. Her obsession for strength isn''t any weaker than yours," she said with a faint smile. Lucius did not bother to reply and simply increased his speed once more. ------------------- A few hours of running later, they finally arrived at the base of the mountains. To be precise, Lucius arrived at the base of the mountain. Olivia''s figure was nowhere to be seen. Unbothered by the absence of his companion, Lucius calmly looked at the sight that lay before him and spoke. "...Is it in there?" "Uh-huh!" Ka''lor''ah affirmed, her tone grave. "How the hell are we going to get past all of....''that'' ?" he asked in annoyance. Chapter 121: Fjord Beasts. In the direction of Lucius'' pointing, was the huge mountain wall. The mountain wall shone with an eerie dark-blue radiance, with blue icy veins running through the entire structure. Similar to the veins in the human body, these icy blue veins pulsed with energy. As he traced the path of the veins with his eyes, he noticed a small crevice in the center of the mountain wall, dozens of meters up in the air. Infusing his soul power into his eyes, his gaze sharpened as Lucius observed the crevice. Inside the crevice was a large ornate door, carved out of pure-white ice. With the dark blue mountain acting as the backstop, Lucius was easily able to spot the door, which was a few feet inside the crevice. "That''s our destination," Ka''lor''ah spoke while pointing towards the white door. "That''s obvious. The problem is, how are going to get there?" Lucius replied sharply. Indeed there was a problem. Two problems to be precise. The first problem was that the crevice on the mountain wall was approximately 60m in the air. With the face of the mountain being perpendicular to the ground. Scaling it would be very hard. And to increase the difficulty, the mountain was clean and unnaturally smooth. In other words, there were no ledges for him to grip it. Now the second problem. At the bottom of the mountain wall, were hundreds of yak-like creatures. They were 5ft in length and 4ft in height. Two ice-white horns decorated their head, and a pair of crimson eyes shone with malevolence. Looking at the way they were grazing at the bottom of this mountain, this place seemed to be their home. "Are those..." Lucius questioned and Ka''lor''ah instantly replied. "Fjord Beasts. All at Mid Level Stage. Oh wait, I can spot a few dozen Peak Level Stage 1 in the back of the herd." Indeed. Blocking his way to the white door where hundreds of Mid Level Stage 1 beasts with dozens of Peak Level Stage 1 beasts in the mix. ''Fjord Beasts'' Lucius searched through his memories and recalled the information pertaining to them. Fjord Beasts: Grade 3 Lifeform. A Lifespan of 120-160 years. Reaches adulthood at the age of 40. Feeds on Ice-type energy. Lives in groups large groups numbering 300 at least. Possess basic intelligence. Adept at group attacks. Direct Combat is not advised. [Piercing Lance] and [Ice Shell] are the two soul types available to this species. Born with minimum soul cultivation of Low-Level Stage 1, they have the potential to reach Peak-Level Stage 1. ''This is going to be difficult.'' Lucius complained. "Let''s explore the surrounding area. Maybe there is another way up there." Ka''lor''ah encouraged. Nodding his head, Lucius immediately took off towards the mountains. The Fjord Beasts were extremely territorial creatures. As long as one does not invade their territory they do not attack the other party and are quite gentle. But once their territory is invaded... they attack the intruder with their superior numbers, crushing the other party with brute strength. Although Lucius was a Peak Level Stage 1 being, even he would die if attacked by dozens of other similar level beings. Such being the case, fighting the horde head-on was the most foolish choice. As he neared the group, Lucius intentionally lowered his pace. Getting within a hundred meters of the other party, he noticed the gazes of the Fjord Beasts falling on his body. Ignoring them he continued to close in. 80m...70m...60m...50m. Just as he entered the 50m range, those gazes suddenly turned hostile. From the corner of his eye, Lucius noticed the closest Fjord Beasts moving their soul power and getting ready to attack him. Immediately stopping at this spot, Lucius activated his [Annihilation Intent] without hesitation. At the next instant, a terrifying aura was unleashed from his body and an intangible pressure descended onto the surrounding area. Although the Fjord beasts weren''t within the 15m radius upon which Lucius [Annihilation Intent] would start attacking their souls, they immediately felt the immense threat radiating off, of his person. The beasts who were preparing to attack him unconsciously backed away. ''Not bad. Much more effective compared to [Killing Intent].'' Lucius remarked. [Killing Intent] was only useful in paralyzing the opponents at a lower level. Against an opponent of a similar level, it only provided a source of discomfort, being a waste of his soul power. This was why Lucius had turned off his [Killing Intent] when fighting against the Leader Bug. Seeing the Fjord Beasts back away, Lucius continued to test their bottom lines. He continued to press forward while preparing himself to retreat when needed. 40m.....30m....20m....15m.....10m. Just as he entered the 10m range of the group, the closest beasts let out a loud bellow and charged towards him. Having prepared himself to retreat, Lucius immediately jumped back. The beats continued to charge at him until he reached the 50m range, upon which they stopped their charge and back away. Absolute silence returned to these snowy lands. On one side stood a lone human figure and on another stood hundreds of yak-like beasts. A gap of 50m between the two parties was the illusory ''no-mans land''. A gap that either of the parties hesitated to cross. Looking past the beasts, Lucius estimated the distance between himself and the mountain wall. From the point he stood, there was a distance of 300m. ''[Void Steps] would allow me to travel 15m at maximum range. As such I would have to use it 20 times. Unfortunately, it consumes 25% of my soul power and is therefore not feasible.'' ''[Annihilation Intent] can only intimidate the other party to a maximum range of 10m. Upon which they disregard their safety and attack.'' ''[Void Hands] and [Flaw Detection] are useless in this scenario. As for [Annihilation Energy] I have no idea how to use it.'' ''Maybe if I cycle [Void Steps and [Devour]? No, once I make it to the center of the group, I will face attacks from dozens of those Peak Level beasts. Death is the only outcome.'' Lucius'' mind rapidly analyzed all the possible battle strategies that he could employ here. His feet then tapped on the ground to check its strength. ''Ground is too hard. I cannot tunnel my way under it.'' Looking at the beasts who were staring at him with a hostile look on their eyes, Lucius sighed. ''Looks like I can only fight the long battle. Draw them out in small groups and effectively kill them. The small mound behind me will act as a check, blocking the view of the two sides.'' Having come to a decision, Lucius extended the metal rod in his hands. With his command, it rapidly grew in size before turning into a pitch-black scythe with crimson veins running across his surface. ''Let''s begin.'' saying so, he dashed towards the large herd. It was time for slaughter. ----------------- An unknown distance away, Olivia ran towards the incredibly tall mountains with all her might. Her face was completely pale and bloodless and the violet light covering her body was rapidly dimming. Her large chests continued to heave up and down, as she struggled with all her might. Olivia was completely tired. Tired in body, mind, and soul. Her mind was dizzy. She couldn''t feel her limbs anymore and her soul power was overdrafted for the fourth time in her run. Her body was solely running with her will power. ''Hungry.....want...sleep.....small...break.'' her mind screamed at her to take a small break, to relieve her exhaustion. Just a few hours of sleep and she would be fine, it told her. Yet, Olivia did not give in. One, she knows that if she slept right now, she might never wake up. And two... ''I don''t want to give up. I will catch up to him!'' she thought to herself. She ran after Lucius with all her might and barely caught up with him. Alas, when her soul power was exhausted for the first time, her body collapsed onto the ground. Lucius never paused and she lost sight of his figure. An unknown amount of time had passed since she had lost sight of Lucius and the thoughts of giving up plagued her mind. However, her will wasn''t easily broken. ''Just over this mound. Come on... you can do it!'' she encouraged herself and pushed her body past its limits, once more. Climbing over the mounds, she saw the plain view of the spotless white lands, finally being broken. Underneath this mound lay dozens of bodies of yak-like creatures. Blue blood and white flesh were strewn all over the ground, as their bodies lay lifeless and unmoving. At the very center of this scene was a handsome young man. Pure darkness enveloped the 5m radius around him and multiple pitch-black tentacles, extended from within the Void and pulled these lifeless creatures into them. Seeing the figure whom she had been chasing all this time, standing here and devouring his opponents with an indifferent face, Olivia felt a sense of accomplishment filled her heart. ''I....caught...up.'' she thought to herself as her knees buckled under the immense exhaustion. Just as the thought of going to sleep tempted her mind, she heard the young man speak. "Oh. You finally made it. You have 15mins. Prepare yourself for combat." he heartlessly ordered. Chapter 122: An Effective Method. Over the last few hours, Lucius had methodically kited groups of Fjord Beasts and led them to the small mound a few hundred meters behind them. Once he and the beasts were out of sight of the larger group, Lucius proceeded to systemically kill this group containing 5-6 beasts. The battle was very mechanical with the beasts activating their abilities and Lucius indifferently slashing them with his scythe. The beasts which had the [Ice Shell] soul were the easiest to handle since it only provided the user with an armor of solid ice. This armor provided a great deal of protection but decreased the movement speed of the beast, due to the added weight. The beast then sought to use its innate strength and weight to crush its opponent while coming out unscathed. At least this was how the battle was supposed to proceed. Alas with Lucius being a Peak Level Stage 1 existence, not mentioning the high-quality soul power at his disposal, a little extra defense made no difference to him. The ones which were annoying to deal with were the Fjord Beasts with the [Peircing Lance] soul type. This soul type provided the beasts with the ability to form pure-ice lances and throw them towards the enemy. While this sounded easy to dodge, it, unfortunately, had the ''heat-seeking'' property. That being the case, Lucius had to destroy the ice lance before proceeding to deal with the beast. Still, it was simply a minor issue, which only cost him a few minutes and extra effort. This being the battle tactic, Lucius began his tasteless grinding. Slash after slash, kill after kill. It was a long and tedious process that virtually served no benefit. Thankfully, Lucius was long since used to such tedious grinds, having previously held the [Killer] soul. [Killer] soul''s advancement conditions were usually- killing a Grade X being, ''Y'' amount of times. While interesting at first, it quickly becomes boring. But at least, in that case, he had his advancement to look forward to. Now, however, he had no idea about his advancement conditions. As such the process right now was a pure waste of time. Unfortunately, with no better method at his disposal, he had to grit his teeth and continue. A few hours in, Lucius felt the Void Energy within his body starting to become restless. It was a sign of his hunger. Killing the remanents of the latest herd, he then activated [Devour]. A pitch-black shadow, extended from underneath his feet and enveloped the bodies closest to him. Lucius also used his [Void Hands] and grabbed the larger pieces and tore them into smaller pieces, to increase the efficiency of his absorption. The souls of his most recent victim were also absorbed, converting into the purest form of Void Energy which was then absorbed back into his body. Just as he was in the middle of this process, he felt Olivia''s presence arriving at the scene. Looking at this pale-faced beauty, whose entire countenance screamed with exhaustion, Lucius felt nothing within his heart. He did not care about her exhaustion and proceeded to give her the command to prepare for battle. With another person joining him to help with the killings, the efficiency of the process would increase. What about Ka''lor''ah you ask? Well, her abilities weren''t offensive in kind and wouldn''t kill the opponent. As such, Ka''lor''ah was pretty useless in combat. Having heard his command, he saw Olivia bite her lips and fight the exhaustion with her willpower. Sitting on the ground cross-legged, he watched her recover her soul power. Minutes ticked by and her soul power was gradually restored. Within 15 mins she recovered approximately 20% of her soul power, regaining the ability to move. Clenching her pretty, white fists, she stood up and looked towards Lucius for his next order. ''Decent willpower and no annoying complaints.'' Lucius nodded his head towards her conduct. His order was definitely heartless and Lucius himself knew it. However, he also had his own intentions behind that order. Simply put, it was a test. A test that had begun the moment he had stepped foot on this planet. A test to determine her usefulness as a tool. Good tools are meant to be used and shouldn''t complain under any situation. Its purpose was to perfectly serve the intentions of its master. After having heard his question, if Olivia had spoken against it or had complained, Lucius would have unhesitantly killed her. If her will had been weak and if she had succumbed to exhaustion, he would have devoured her. But now that she had proved her resolve and worth, Lucius could not find any fault with her. Still, Lucius hadn''t entirely convinced of her worth. While the tool had shown its resolve and obedience, it was time to test its intelligence. Lucius did not require mindless husks, which only knew how to follow commands. He had his ways to gather such forces. What he required was a Leader. A Leader that is capable of intelligent thought and precise decision-making. A tool that could truly help him with his plans. "Recovered?" he questioned. Olivia nodded her head. It wasn''t that she didn''t want to reply, but her face felt too stiff to move. Lucius then grabbed a piece of Fjord Beast meat from the ground and threw it towards her. "Eat up." Olivia caught the meat from the air and held it in her hand. The meat radiated chillness and was hard as ice. Using her fingers to poke it, she felt the meat to be strangely elastic. Dark-blue blood dripped from within it, but no bloody smell was radiating off of it. Hesitation flashed across her face, as she stared at the meat with uncertainty. It belonged to a strange creature, one which she had never seen before, and secondly, the meat hadn''t been cooked either. ''But..I''m hungry.'' she thought to herself. She had to eat this meat to recover her physical exhaustion. Fighting against your opponents while having an empty stomach was a stupid way to die. Resolving herself, she brought the meat near her mouth and took a large bite. It tasted horrible. Stopping herself from throwing up, she chewed the meat with all her strength. Continuing to eat the large chunk of meat, she finally consumed the entire thing. Energy finally filled her body and she felt some of her exhaustion leaving. Stage 1 beings had a terrifying metabolism and recovery. Having done with her meal, she walked towards, Lucius who stood above the mound. Standing quietly behind him, she waited for his command. With her eyes, she surveyed the surroundings and was astonished by what she saw. "The goal is to reach that white door on the mountain wall up there. Tell me, what is the most effective way to complete the task." Lucius asked her. Olivia was stunned by the fact that he had talked to her. Quickly waking from her daze, she seriously started to ponder. Unfortunately, she did not understand the properties of the beasts or of their nature. Hesitantly she asked. "Ca-can I have some information on the beasts?" Hearing her question, Lucius nodded his head. He then had Ka''lor''ah send the information on the Fjord Beasts, directly into Olivia''s mind. Receiving the information, Olivia pondered in silence. Her mind rapidly drew up various methods to effectively conquer this stage. "...I have a method." a few minutes later, Olivia finally arrived at a method. "Speak." he curtly replied. "S-since the beasts operate within a fixed boundary and respond to any threat with full hostility, we can exploit this fact." arranging her words, Olivia spoke. "Oh? Continue." intrigued by her answer, his brows faintly rose. "With your speed, you can reach the mountain wall within a few seconds. The only issue currently, is the large number of Fjord Beasts blocking the path and those dozens of Peak Level Stage 1 beasts in the background. As such, what we need to do, is to buy you enough time to reach your destination." "Therefore, the most effective method would be to draw the beasts and distract them for a few seconds, giving you enough time to reach the foot of the mountain wall," she pointed to the crux of the situation. "For this....." she resolved herself and spoke the final lines. "...I can act as bait." "Drawing all the beasts for a few seconds and buying you enough time. Once you make it to the foot of the mountain wall, I can retreat past the fixed boundary. If we position ourselves properly, this method will save time from killing." Listening to her method, Lucius was stunned. Of all the answers which he had expected, the one where she offered to act as the bait never crossed his mind. Reality wasn''t a game where one can simply respawn after death. Such being the case, who in the right mind would choose to offer themselves as bait. It was a suicidal method. But one which would perfectly solve their current scenario. Lucius'' indifferent face finally broke into a handsome smile. "This method.....will perfectly do. Prepare yourself, we shall start immediately." Chapter 123: Catacombs. Part 1 "Understood. I''m ready." Olivia replied. Acting as bait was her own idea. As such, she had already prepared her mind and was ready to face the dangers. Lucius nodded his head and grabbed Olivia by her waist. Jumping from atop the mound, he dashed in the direction of the Fjord Beast horde. "When we get within range, attack one of those bigger beasts in the background. Immediately after your attack, turn back and run. Your survival depends on the quickness of your actions." Lucius advised her. Without bothering to hear her reply, Lucius continued to run. With his speed, he rapidly closed in on the distance. 100m....80m....60m.....50m... In an instant, he had already crossed into the ''no man''s land''. This time however instead of slowing down his speed, Lucius detonated a portion of his soul power beneath his legs and increased his speed. Just as the beasts stood stunned at the suddenness of his actions, he released his hold on Olivia and instructed. "Attack now." Immediately after receiving his instruction. a flash of violet light left Olivia''s hand and headed towards a Fjord Beast in the background. This beast was almost thrice the size of its brethren with visible aura leaking out of its body. It was one of the Peak Level Stage 1 beings in the horde. The attack crossed the distance instantly and squarely struck the face of the Fjord Beast. The spell that she had just cast was called [Distress]. [Distress] had the effect of attacking a person''s psyche and deal serious damage to their consciousness. Against a beast that only possessed basic intelligence and was reliant on its instincts, this was this most effective attack. Not bothering to stay and look at the effectiveness of her attack, Olivia immediately turned around and ran with all her might. A loud bellow sounded out behind her and the sound of a stampede followed. ''It worked! Lucius should have gained an opportunity, right?'' she thought to herself and looked around. Lucius'' body had disappeared. Olivia was slightly shocked, but then immediately calmed herself. ''He must have spotted an opportunity. Looks like the plan succeeded.'' she sighed with relief. ''Alright. I just have to cross this remaining distance and I''ll be safe." Just then, a change occurred in the beast horde behind her. A Fjord Beast, which was dark-blue in color suddenly appeared from within the ice. Its size was smaller than its brethren but the aura surrounding it was far more terrifying than the Peak Level Stage 1 Beasts. However, this aura was concealed within the snow and could only be felt nearby. Its eyes shone with intelligence as it looked at Olivia''s retreating figure. With a voice that was slightly different from the mindless roars of its kind, it shouted. ¡ºDo not let that creature escape!¡» Hearing its command, the other Fjord Beasts immediately regained their rationality. Recognizing its command, they moved in obedience. A Stage 2 Being was leading the horde. ------------------ Lucius who had used his [Void Steps] and had entered the Void was naturally unaware of the change outside. Crossing a distance of 15m inside the Void, he then reappeared in the outside world. Noticing the beasts frantically chasing after Olivia''s retreating figure, Lucius understood that her plan had been a resounding success. ''Very efficient.'' he mentally thought to himself. Not paying any more attention to the beasts or Olivia, he started to dash towards the mountain wall. Taking care to remain within the blindspots of the beasts, Lucius quickly crossed the rest of the distance. At the very foot of the mountain wall, were ice caves which seemed to be the dwelling of these Beasts. The caves were numerous in number and occupied much of the mountain''s foot. ''Is there a path to the door at the top through these caves?'' he asked Ka''lor''ah. If a path existed did exist within these caves, Lucius would be saved from the trouble of climbing the smooth mountain wall from the outside. Having expected this question in advance, she quickly replied. ''No. Most of these caves are very shallow and do not contain paths to the top of the mountain. Looks like we have to do it the hard way.'' she bitterly laughed. Lucius clicked his tongue in annoyance. There was no other choice but to scale the wall from the outside. Extending the scythe in his hands, Lucius mobilized his soul power. He then controlled his void energy and activated his racial ability. [Void Hands] Over the past month which he had spent in secluded training, Lucius had spent most of his time on [Void Hands]. He wanted to achieve complete control over most of the tentacles, which would increase his combat efficiency. Although he did not succeed in grasping total control over all the tentacles, his control over a majority of them had gotten much smoother. Drawing out only four pitch-black tentacles from the Void, Lucius then controlled two of them to tightly grasp the scythe. He then extended the tentacles to their maximum range of 15m. Having done his preliminary preparations, Lucius then inhaled a large mouthful of air and bent his legs. Gathering strength and soul power, he jumped. Thanks to the improvement in his physique after transforming into a Void Eater, Lucius'' raw-body strength was nothing to scoff at. Even without the enhancement from his soul power, his body contained similar strength as a Half-Step Stage 1 fighting at full strength. As such, with that jump which utilized most of his strength, Lucius directly ascended 10m into the air. 1/6th of the required distance. Feeling his momentum starting to decrease, Lucius immediately detonated his soul power, gaining another powerful thrust upwards. This force carried him another 10m, reaching one-third of the total distance. As his body lost the initial momentum and was starting to slowly fall under the influence of gravity, he calmly controlled the tentacle. Extending them 15m into the air, he then executed the First Movement of his Scythe Technique. "Slash." Lucius softly spoke. The scythe now controlled by the tentacles smoothly completed the set of actions and tore across the air. With powerful momentum, it then smashed against the mountain wall and... Cut into it! Having gained a foothold, Lucius controlled the remaining two tentacles and used them to hold his body, lifting himself upwards. Reaching the location of the scythe, Lucius stepped onto it and jumped once more. Removing the scythe from within the wall, he repeated his previous set of actions. In this manner he smoothly ascended the wall, reaching the crevice which held the white doors. ---------------- Stepping into the crevice, Lucius canceled his [Void Hands] ability and rapidly panted for air. While the set of actions he performed earlier might sound simple in theory, it had exhausted all of his physical strength. As such, Lucius needed to sit down and take a break. Not willing to wait, Ka''lor''ah exited his pocket and floated towards the white door. This place had been their original intention and the reason for them coming to this icy-planet. Beyond these doors laid the ''Catacombs''. A ruin belonging to the previous era. Ruins belonging to the previous ''era'' were extremely hard to find within the Universe. Almost 99% of all such ruins would be destroyed when the Universe resets its ''Cause'', with only a very few managing to survive due to special reasons. Such being the case, this was also Ka''lor''ah''s first time seeing a ruin of the previous era. Needless to say, she was very excited. A dozen minutes passed inside the small crevice before Lucius finally stood up. His breath had been restored to normal and the weakness within his body had already disappeared. In fact, he had already recovered from his exhaustion in 5 mins after entering this place. But seeing Ka''lor''ah deeply engrossed in studying the white door, Lucius decided to use the remainder of the time to recover his soul power. Now that he was done, he proceeded towards the white door. "Manage to discover the path forward?" he questioned the floating crystal. "Yep, already done. I was just studying the runes on this door. Whoever constructed this place, was a genius. The method he used for hiding this place from the Lords and the Universe is outstanding." she praised. Towards her excitement, Lucius simply nodded his head. While he did not understand the rune patterns engraved onto the doors, he would spend some time at a later date to learn it from Ka''lor''ah. Knowledge equaled power. Runes were used to manipulate Rules. As such, understanding the Runes would deepen his understanding of the Rules. Having a deep comprehension of the Rules had a profound impact on one''s Soul Cultivation. Although the results of this improvement wouldn''t be visible at his current Stage, it would have a direct role during his breakthrough into Stage 5. Having completed her study on the white doors, Ka''lor''ah instructed Lucius to infuse his soul power into certain locations, while she herself chanted some words in an unknown language. With the soul power infusion coupled with the mysterious chant, a change occurred to the white doors. The blue veins which extended from within the door started to tremble, before gradually shrinking in size. The veins continued to become smaller and smaller and were pulled into the large, white doors. Before long, the veins disappeared and the mysterious chant also stopped. Seeing that there was no change in the doors, Lucius furrowed his brows. "Something wrong?" he asked Ka''lor''ah. "Patience. Old things require some time to boot up." she calmly replied. Just as the sound of her voice fells, the doors finally reacted. With a short but intense tremble, they eventually opened, revealing the magnificent corridor that laid behind. Chapter 124: Catacombs. Part 2 A long, magnificent corridor laid behind the pair of white doors. Torches glowing with a dim, icy-blue color hung on the walls, providing light within the corridor. The floor was covered with dark-blue stone slabs that shined under the reflection of the light. "After you." Ka''lor''ah softly said. Stepping into the corridor with his right foot, Lucius immediately noticed a gust of extremely chilly air hit his body. Followed by the gust of cold air was a low hum. The sound was extremely soft while being increasingly shrill, similar to the cries of banshees. The blue-flamed torches which decorated the walls were radiating with chillness, cold enough to be felt within one''s bones. Clearly, these were no ordinary flames. Alas, a scene that seemed straight out of horror fantasy, held on effect over Lucius. His heart was too steady and his mind was eerily calm. He looked at the polished ground beneath him with his indifferent eyes and noticed a reflection of himself staring back. He then raised his head and bravely marched into this corridor. Darkness sought to encompass his body, as Lucius walked deeper into the abyss. Unknown danger waiting for him on the other end. ------------------ Walking deeper into the corridor, neither Lucius nor Ka''lor''ah spoke with each other. A vague sense of pressure, which was growing increasingly terrifying hung in the air. As they continued to walk through the corridor, they finally understood why this ruin was called the catacombs. The stone walls on both sides of the passageway held the faces of countless creatures. Some were humanoid in shape and others were heteromorphic beings. These faces were embedded into the walls and progressively increased in numbers as they walked deeper within. Although the faces in the wall belonged to different creatures, one thing was common among them. The faces were filled with anguish and the eyes were filled with hatred. Whatever or Whoever built these catacombs, clearly forced death upon these creatures. A normal person or perhaps even an experienced veteran, who has seen cruelties of the world would start to feel uncomfortable inside this passageway. A seed of fear would sprout in their hearts. However, such a horrific thing did not affect Lucius. His face continued to remain expressionless and his eyes gazed at the faces with indifference. Having walked the path of a Killer in his previous life, such scenes were all too familiar. He had seen these looks of hatred, anguish, pain, unwillingness, and many more, in the faces of his opponents. In the end, all of them fell under his blade and served to pave his path to the peak of the Universe. The strong live while the weak perish. It was that simple. After what seemed like an eternity later, the long corridor finally came to an end. Exiting the passage, what lay before them was a large mausoleum. "We have reached the heart of the mountain," Ka''lor''ah spoke after scanning the surrounding. The mausoleum stretched a few hundred meters in length and had a height of 30m. Large stone pillars uncarved and unadorned extended from the base of the floor all the way to the roof of the mausoleum. The roof of the mausoleum was unembellished and made of dark-blue stone, similar to the pillars which held them up. Apart from the floors which were polished to the point of reflection and the blue-flame torches illuminating the space, the entire mausoleum was plain. Most of the space was empty, apart from the elevated platform which stood at the center of the mausoleum. Walking up to the elevated platform, he saw 23 coffins placed in a circle. At the very center of the circle was a single large stone slab. Unlike the rest of the stone inside the mausoleum, this stone slab was pitch-black in color. The coffins were made of plain stone, bearing no inscriptions or decoration. "23?!" Lucius asked while feeling astonished. "Yep. Who would have thought? Such an unexpected harvest!" she enthusiastically replied. "Shall we begin?" she then continued. "Let''s get this over with soon. This trip has taken us longer than expected." Lucius replied. Having said so, Lucius stepped onto the platform. Ka''lor''ah who was next to him began with her preparations. Moving to the top of the first coffin, golden light started to leak from the crystal and started to condense atop the first coffin. Controlling her golden energy, she started to draw runic patterns atop the coffin. Completing the first pattern, she then moved to the second coffin in a clockwise direction. In such a manner, she spent the next 10 minutes drawing the remainder of the runic patterns. After doing so, she then moved out of the circle of coffins and spoke. "My part is done. You can begin now." Nodding his head in response, Lucius stepped to the center of the circle, standing directly before the stone slab. He then raised his left arm and held it directly above the stone slab. Using the nails on his other hands, Lucius cut across his left wrist. A thick, viscous, black blood poured out from his injury. Not a hint of pain flashed through his eyes as Lucius continued to stare at the pouring blood with an indifferent expression. Blood continued to pour for a few seconds before the injury on his wrist healed. The healing factor of the Void Eater was very terrifying. Although Lucius was suppressing his body from healing itself, it still healed after a few seconds. As such, Lucius cut across his wrist restarting the process once more. In such a manner, blood continued to drop atop the stone slab. Before long it was completely bathed in his blood and a small puddle had formed underneath his legs. Lucius'' face looked pale and hunger began to grow within his body. Suppressing his desire, Lucius then began to infuse his soul power into the stone slab. Streams of black energy surrounded by threads of crimson and white energy were poured into the core of the runic formation. HUM! It was at this moment that a change finally occurred within the mausoleum. A low ringing noise sounded out in the air. The black blood which was poured atop the stone slab started to boil before eventually turning into a black mist. Suddenly, the runic patterns drawn atop the stone coffins started to shine with a bright golden color. With the radiation of light, a strong force of suction was emitted from those patterns. Instantly, the black mist split into 23 even portions and headed towards the respective coffins. At the next moment, the black mist was absorbed into the runic pattern and the golden glow continued to weaken in power. The ringing noise in the air slowly started to quieten down as the last bits of the black mist were completely absorbed into the coffins. The runic patterns then disappeared along with the golden radiance. Silence returned within the mausoleum. Seeing this scene, Lucius and Ka''lor''ah did not panic. Ka''lor''ah on the outside and Lucius on the inside. Both of them continued to stare at the coffins with an unmoving gaze. THUD! A low thud was suddenly heard. The sound was similar to a fist knocking on a heavy object. THUD! THUD! THUD! Following the first appearance, many followed. The 23 coffins surrounding Lucius, started to fiercely shake as the frequency and sound of the dull thuds started to increase. Small cracks started to form on the cover of the stone coffin and black mist started to leak from within. ROAR! Suddenly, a beastly roar blared from within one of the coffins. Accompanying the roar was the sound of an explosion, as one of the stone coffins exploded. Having expected this, Lucius quickly dodged the flying projectiles and extended the scythe in his hands. Lucius crouched onto the floor and assumed an attacking posture. His cold eyes intently stared at the black mist and dust-covered coffin. ???Haa...¡» a sharp exhale sounded from within the black mist. The dust slowly settled and the black mist parted, revealing the scene behind it. The stone coffin had completely shattered, with deep scratch marks on the reflective floor. A pair of black-armored legs stood at the center of the explosion. ¡ºWhom dares disturb the slumber of my brothers and mine.¡» A deep, solemn voice rang out. A voice was overbearing and filled with deep-seated arrogance. Standing at the location of the exploded coffin was an 8ft tall entity. Its size could only be described as humongous. Pitch-black armor covered every-inch of its bear-like build, save for its eyes. Noticing Lucius'' presence, the entity directed its icy-blue eyes towards him. Its armor was covered with many exquisite lines, forming a mini-runic pattern. ¡ºA human?....No. You aren''t human.¡» The black entity raised its foot and stepped forward. Extending its hands into the air, black mist started to leak from its body and gathered within its hands. The black mist condensed together and formed a huge, double-handed battle axe. An overbearing pressure suddenly exploded off of it as the runic patterns on its armor suddenly started to glow with blue light. ¡ºWell, whatever you are, it does not matter. For the sin of disturbing our slumber, you must now die.¡» It immediately swung its enormous battle-axe towards Lucius. Chapter 125: Forgotten Ones. Looking at the enormous battle-axe cleaving towards his body, Lucius immediately moved. Exerting force onto his legs, he exploded forwards with terrifying momentum. Judging from the figure and the momentum of attack of the other party, it was clear that the large black shadow-like entity was superior in strength. As such the smarter way of battle would be to evade the attack and wait for an opportune moment to counter-attack. Alas, Lucius had his own considerations. ''I need to finish this battle before the others wake up.'' he thought to himself. Indeed, just the like coffin of this large entity which exploded after rapidly shaking, the other coffins surrounding Lucius were also in the process of breaking apart. As such, Lucius needed to quickly finish this battle, before he gets surrounded by the other entities. Swingin his scythe diagonally, Lucius used the entire of his strength behind the attack. He could not afford to be careless at this moment. CLANG! The sound of two metal rods hitting each other echoed throughout the quiet mausoleum. Feeling the force behind the impact, traveling through his weapon, Lucius decisively abandoned his grip over his scythe. ¡ºOh? Abandoning your weapon in the middle of the fight? Foolish!¡» the shadow entity snorted. Judging from its condescending tone, it was clear that the other party hadn''t used much of his strength. Therefore, he resorted to using this opportunity to taunt his opponent. Unfortunately for him, Lucius did not understand his language. Even if he did understand, such tactics did not affect him. Having abandoned his weapon, Lucius then closed into the range of his opponent. Balling his hands and making a small fist, he infused 20% of his total soul power and punched underneath the shadow entity''s armpits. Lucius'' fists tore through the air and made contact with the body of his opponent. However, the soft, weak flesh that he was expecting to hit did not occur. THUD! Crack! With a dull sound, Lucius felt the bones in his fist break. The shadow entity was wearing inner armor. ''Hiss!'' with a sharp intake of air, Lucius used his superior speed to jump back. The black-gauntlet covered hands of the entity struck the air where Lucius was previously standing. Retreating to a distance of 5m, Lucius shook his hands to relieve the excess force. The region below the forearm of his right hand now lay limply. His fingers and wrists were broken and his muscles had torn. However, Lucius'' face continued to remain expressionless. ¡ºQuite strong aren''t you? A natural warrior with good instincts.¡» the entity praised. It then shook his head and said. ¡ºA pity that I have to kill you.¡» immediately after, it stomped its mighty feet on the ground and dashed towards Lucius. The shadow entity was taking the first move. It casually swung its battle-axe towards the ''unknown'' creature standing in front of it. However, this causal seeming attack was anything but casual. The angle of the swing, the timing of the attack, the range of its reach, every single factor about that attack was simply...perfect! It was a perfect attack, that couldn''t be dodged. Looking at the shadow entity come towards him, Lucius did not move. He calmly gazed at his incoming foe and gently operated the soul power in his body. The soul power moved towards his eyes and activated one of his newer abilities. [Flaw Detection] Immediately upon activation,. Lucius felt the world around him change. The shadow entity, the coffins, all the colors, and shapes in the field of his vision disappeared. Replacing them were white and red lines. The entirety of Lucius'' vision was filled with threads of white lines and a few red lines. A sudden realization followed by a sense of unboundedness filled Lucius. At this moment, he felt like he could truly....see! That''s right. Having activated [Flaw Detection] for the first time, Lucius felt like a blind man gaining his vision for the first time. There were no resplendent colors or unprecedented shapes. His vision was filled with simple horizontal and vertical lines. However, it was exactly after seeing these lines that Lucius realized, how blind he had been his entire life. ''This is it!... This is the real world.'' he wondered. At this moment, in his vision, Lucius could see threads of red lines heading closer towards his neck. The white lines moved and the red lines headed nearer and nearer to his body. Observing this event, Lucius calmly pulled his head back by a few centimeters. Immediately after he had done so, the red lines disappeared and white lines filled his vision. ''I see... so these red lines are the ''flaws''.'' he instantly realized. A smile formed on Lucius'' face as a sense of excitement filled his body. A long-forgotten desire to battle an opponent filled his body. ''Let''s see the extent of his ability.'' he moved. ----------------- Meanwhile, Ka''lor''ah who was standing outside the circle was filled with apprehension. Watching the bear-like black armored entity fight against Lucius, she naturally felt worried for him. It wasn''t that she was unconfident in Lucius'' abilities, but because she knew the identity of the other party. The shadow-like entity which had awakened from its slumber was called a ''Forgotten''. The Forgotten were warriors belonging to the previous era, who fought against the ''Order of Lords'' and witness the reset of the Universe. They were Peak Level Stage 7, being who had directly fought against the ''Lords'' themselves. So then, how and why are they here? Buried in an unnamed coffin, inside an unmarked grave, in the middle of an undiscovered planet. Logically speaking, since they had such mighty strength and had even lived after the fall of the ''Order of Lords'', shouldn''t they be holding positions of power and authority in the Universe. Unfortunately, this was not the case. After the fall of the ''Order of Lords'', the Universe undergoes a reset. A reset, which clears all existing ''Cause'' and restarts with a few beginning. During the process of this reset, all living creatures, which do not belong to the Primordial races would perish. These warriors were also included. Then again, how are they here? Well, that is because they aren''t living anymore. But they aren''t dead either. They still had a part of their souls. They are beings whose ''Causes'' were reset by the Universe but ended up without facing death. After having their ''Cause'' reset, their Peak Level Stage 7, strength had also left them. Dropping all the way to Stage 1, they could not regain it either. After all without ''Cause'', how can there be an ''Effect''? Without having a complete soul, how can they cultivate their strengths? Unable to die. Unable to regain their strength. Living in an era in which they held no place. Simply put, they were specters of the past, living in eternal limbo. A ''Forgotten'' being. Without being able to kill themselves, nor being abler to cultivate their strengths, they decided to seclude themselves in unknown planets and sink into slumber for an eternity. Coming back to the story, Ka''lor''ah and Lucius'' goal of coming to this planet was naturally to seek these ''Forgotten'' ones. To recruit them and increased their forces. As for the Forgotten not being able to increase their strengths. They naturally had a method to solve that too. Therefore, after waking these entities from their slumber the duo''s first task was to convince them to join their forces. Having been a Peak Level Stage 7 existence herself, Ka''lor''ah understood the mentality of these beings. They would never come under the command of another person, especially when said person was simply too weak(in their eyes). During the process of their planning, Ka''lor''ah had been pondering for a long time over this issue. The ''Forgotten'' played an important role in their future plans and were absolutely essential. When she had asked Lucius for his advice on this matter, he had replied. ''Beat them up until they accept. If they don''t, beat them up even more.'' A simple and effective solution. As expected of a Stage 7 Killer. And hence, we arrive at our current situation. A battle between two ex-Stage 7 beings, each with a varying amount of battle experience. Looking at that perfect attack head towards Lucius, the anxiousness within Ka''lor''ah multiplied by several folds. The Forgotten couldn''t die, but Lucius was not the same! If that strike hit him, he would most definitely die. Just as she was about to dissuade Lucius from continuing, a change occurred in the battle. With an extremely smooth and natural movement, Lucius had evaded that perfect attack! ¡ºWhat?!¡» the astonishment was evident in the tone of the Forgotten. He had fought in the battle against the Lords. His battle experience could not be described with mere words. As such, seeing this unknown, ''weak'' opponent of his dodge his attack, he was stunned. His movements paused for a second, as his mind was unable to process this surprise. However, a second was all that Lucius needed. Activating [Void Hands], he controlled his tentacles to retrieve his scythe. Holding the scythe with his hands and controlling the tentacles as extra limbs, his combat efficiency exploded by a few margins. "My turn." Lucius confidently declared as he moved to face his opponent. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! At this moment, the remainder of the coffins within the platform exploded. Black mist and dust gathered together and vague black-armored figures of varying sizes formed. The rest of the Forgotten had awakened at this moment, surrounding Lucius on all sides. Chapter 126: The Radiance Before Death. "..*Huff*....*Huff*...Dammit! Why...are they....still chasing after me!" Olivia cursed through her panting breath. Turning her head back slightly, she noticed the large horde of Fjord Beasts intently chasing her. The eyes of the beasts glowed with an ominous glow, as they looked at her retreating body. While still being inexperienced, Olivia could clearly feel the murderous intent emanating from them. Their message was clear- To not rest until they had killed this human. BANG! A large ice lance, carrying the strength of a Peak Level Stage 1 suddenly landed next to Olivia''s body. Having caught the shadow of the attack from the corner of her eyes, she had prepared in advance to dodge the attack. Unfortunately, while the mind willed it, the body could not obey. Olivia''s body barely moved when the attack fell near her. The indirect force released by the ice lance landed on her body, injuring her internally. A tremendous amount of force was transferred onto her chest, as she felt her ribs crack. Her lungs were squeezed as Olivia spit a mouthful of blood. Her already deathly pale face turned a shade whiter. Her eyes had already blurred and her body had no strength left within. Running and evading the attacks for the last 15 minutes, Olivia could no longer feel her legs. Only the pain of the most recent attack was keeping her awake and the fear of death kept her moving forward. Indeed. It had been 15 minutes since the beast horde had been chasing her. An outcome that none among the trio had foreseen. Going back a few minutes. After Olivia had attacked the large Fjord Beast, she had immediately withdrawn and succeeded in drawing away from the attention of the majority of the beasts. Attacks flew towards her, but she managed to dodge them, before retreating past the 100m distance. Just to be on the safer side, Olivia had continued to run all the way past the small mound, after which she relaxed her tired body having reached safety. But little did she know, the so-called safety lasted for a mere 30 seconds. The large horde of beasts unexpectedly left their territory and had continued in their chase against Olivia. Against a large number of Mid Level and Peak Level Stage 1 beings, whom even Lucius would have no chance to survive against if he was to face them directly. Olivia had no choice but to run. Pulling together her tired body and exhausted soul, she persevered and ran. And ran. And ran. And continued running. The large mountain was already distant, as the large stretches of ice-covered plains extended in front of her eyes. With Olivia running at the very front, the beast horde followed behind her. The Peak Level Stage 1 beasts with the [Peircing Lance] were at the very forefront of the group, followed by the beasts with the [Ice Shell] soul. Their eyes overflowed with thick, murderous intent and single-minded zeal. Her current soul power was at 5% and could not be used anymore. With each step she took and every second that passed without rest, her body''s condition was rapidly falling apart. Olivia''s leg muscles had been pushed beyond their limits and had already torn. She no longer felt the cold surrounding her, or the throbbing ache in her lungs, as it expanded and contracted. Only the needle-like piercing pain of her exhausted muscles, coupled with the small shards of ice that had penetrated her flesh was felt within her mind. Olivia could feel it. She could no longer continue. ''Am...I...going to die?'' while she did not want to accept it, reality was quite harsh. Her iron-like will, which had allowed her to persevere fall falling apart. In the end, her will cannot provide her the strength to keep moving, it was something intangible after all. A burst of soundless laughter sounded within her mind. She wanted to shout, to scream, to curse at the hopelessness of her situation. Alas, she had no strength remaining. Opening her mouth meant she would throw up more blood. ''Ah...this is the end for me?'' As for screaming for help and hoping that Lucius would hear it. Hoping for him to come and save her. The thought never crossed her mind. The moment she had decided to follow Lucius on his journey, she had promised herself that she would never fall behind. To continue advancing until she would stand next to him and become someone he could rely upon. Becoming a burden once more. Olivia would rather die than let that happen. ''To die at the hands of some insignificant beasts. I''m pathetic.'' They say that before a star''s death, it would burst with infinite radiance. It would shine at its highest brightness, before crossing into oblivion. This radiance came to Olivia at this moment. The pain, the stress, the tiredness, all of them disappeared from her mind, leaving behind absolute clarity. ''pathetic...I''m so pathetic!.....ARGH!!!'' she let out a crazed scream within her mind. At this instant of clarity, the accumulated feelings of pressure, stress, exhaustion, the fear of death, gathered together and exploded. At this moment, something broke inside Oliva. A stream of dark violet energy burst forth from the center of her soul and moved through her body. Olivia''s sapphire blue irises disappeared and were replaced by dark-violet color. ''pathetic! pathetic! pathetic! SO PATHETIC!'' ''IF I AM TO DIE! I SHALL DRAG THESE WRETCHED BEASTS DOWN WITH ME!'' she bellowed. Unfortunately, she was still a Mid Level Stage 1 being. One that was in the final moments of her death. Taking advantage of this moment of clarity, she started to rationally think. ''I don''t have any strength. Even If I did, I cannot win against these beasts in direct combat.'' ''Thinking back, this entire situation seems wrong.'' ''According to Lucius'' words, these beasts weren''t supposed to leave their territory, and having come to know his personality, he wouldn''t lie about such things.'' ''No matter how strong they are, they are but living beasts in the end. Considering their weight and build, they should have grown exhausted by the chase. But looking back, the ones chasing at the forefront seem to be filled with strength.'' Olivia''s mind rapidly analyzed and her violet eyes glowed with realization. ''The ones chasing me at the forefront are being cycled with the ones in the back! Replacing the tired beasts with the ones rested in the back, they are able to constantly catch up to me!'' She let out a low, long breath as she came to a conclusion. ''They are being led by a leader. One with enough intelligence to come up with this tactic.'' ''How do I defeat them?....'' just as she was thinking of a method to defeat the horde of beasts, Olivia''s eyes involuntarily darted to the sides. A long narrow, valley, could be seen, some distance away on her left side. Her eyes brightened, as a brilliant plan formed within her mind. A beautiful smile rose to her face as she thought to herself. ''Hahaha! Excellent! Truly excellent!'' Without wasting a single second, she immediately turned and started to head towards the dark, ice valley. ------------------- Inside the mausoleum. With his left eye being black and his right eye shining in crimson, Lucius calmly watched as the 23 Forgotten surround him. Multiple pitch-black tentacles rose from within his shadow, as he readied himself to fight against multiple opponents. ¡ºA child?¡»¡ºHuman?¡» ¡ºNo this one feels different.¡»¡ºWhat are those pitch-black tentacles?¡» Multiple sounds originating from black armored beings were heard around him. Their tones were filled with curiosity and their eyes were filled with interest. Lucius understood that he couldn''t afford to lose the initiative in this fight. As such, he immediately moved to attack. He used the ability that he was the most confident in. His speed. With a fierce stomp on the ground, Lucius'' figure suddenly flicked in their vision and disappeared from his spot. In an instant, his body appeared behind one of the Forgotten with a wide build and punched out with all his strength. Due to the wide build of this Forgotten coupled with the suddenness of Lucius'' actions, his punch landed onto the body of the Forgotten. BANG! With the loud sound of impact, the floor beneath their feet cracked, as the black mist constituting the entity''s legs disappeared. A single punch had destroyed its lower body! However, seeing this result Lucius did not dare relax. He knew this was simply a temporary effect and immediately moved onto his next target. The white lines in his vision, suddenly turned red as multiple attacks headed towards his body. Swords, Spears, Cudgels, Hammers, multiple weapons were launched towards his body, with each attack being ''perfect''. However, this did not matter to Lucius. Moving the different parts of his body minimally and taking a single step back, the redlines in his vision instantly disappeared and were replaced with white. His opponents were astonished and Lucius made full use of this opportunity, Controlling his tentacles, he executed a scythe technique. [Dance of the Death God: Second Moevemt- Shred] His soul power exploded as his scythe headed towards the Forgotten. Chapter 127: A Plot? Blades of black energy and compressed wind blades formed at the edge of the scythe and headed towards the Forgotten. Sensing the danger in this attack, they immediately took a step back and calmly evaded the attack. While they could not die, their bodies could be destroyed and a moment of weakness would appear during its reformation. With the goal of their opponent unknown, they could not risk having this moment of weakness. After evading the attack, they simultaneously directed their gaze towards Lucius'' location. However, Lucius'' figure was nowhere to be seen. ¡ºWhat?¡» ¡ºWhere did he go?¡» ¡ºThis creature is weird.¡» ¡ºHis attacks are actually so powerful!¡» ¡ºHow did he dodge our attacks?¡» Multiple voices filled with confusion and apprehension were heard. ¡ºStay alert my brothers! This creature is extremely strange.¡» the 8ft tall Forgotten wielding the double-handed axe warned his companions. Unfortunately, his warning came a little late. Lucius'' body suddenly appeared from within the Void. Tens of tentacles headed towards the body of a short-statured, sword-wielding Forgotten. The tentacles wrapped around the limbs and pulled him towards Lucius. ¡ºWha-?¡» the Forgotten was barely able to react when Lucius caught it by its neck and tore its head apart. The head and body of the Forgotten separated as the condensed black mist suddenly started to dissipate. The armor turned into a black fog and retreated towards the location of its coffin, slowly starting to reform its body. ¡ºBrother, NO!¡» one of the Forgotten let out a mournful cry. Alas, Lucius had already moved onto his next target. He controlled the scythe to repeatedly execute the First and Second Movement of his scythe technique. Then as the Forgotten retreated, he used the remainder of his tentacles and restricted their limb, before pulling them towards his body. Separating their head and body, their bodies dissipated and were forced to reform. With [Flaw Detection] enabled, Lucius was almost guaranteed to not get hit by their attacks. Still, he was sometimes cornered and was faced with attacks that he could not evade. In such moments. Lucius used [Void Steps] to evade or directly tanked the attacks with his body. In such a manner, the battle continued and the Forgotten continued to fall. Lucius was fighting like a machine, unperturbed and unhurried. Executing each attack at the most opportune time. Along with [Flaw Detection] to guide his attacks, the battle headed in his favor. However, all of this came at a cost. Lucius was starting to get hungry and his soul power was starting to deplete. While he seemed to hold the advantage, it was only temporary. His opponents could revive infinitely whilst Lucius'' energy was limited. The moment he slipped up and failed, he would be finished. Fortunately, such a thing did not happen. With a final use of [Slash], he beheaded the bear-like Forgotten, who was the last one standing. Now surrounding Lucius were clouds of black mist, inside which the bodies of the Forgotten were being formed. While their bodies were formless, their wills were very much awake. ¡ºDamned being! Stop using those filthy things and fight us fairly!¡» ¡ºLet''s have a duel. One-on-one. Stop disappearing in the middle of the battle.¡» ¡ºSuch and requisite scythe technique. Let''s battle once more!¡» ¡ºHow do you dodge our attacks?¡» "Shut up!" Lucius coldly snorted. A wave of soul power burst from within Lucius'' body as he activated [Annihilation Intent]. The Forgotten immediately shut up. Just as Lucius used this moment of respite to quietly gather his strength. One of the Forgotten spoke up. Hearing his voice, he recognized this Forgotten to be a long sword user. Lucius had to use [Void Steps] twice when he faced his attack. ¡º...that energy. Are you perhaps, the Annihilator?¡» ¡ºWhat?!¡» ¡ºIt cant be!¡» ¡ºWait a second...look closely.¡» ¡ºIndeed! It''s that familiar energy!¡» Hearing that question, Lucius was stunned for a second. He found that he was able to understand the words of these entities. ''I see... He''s using the Rules to communicate with me.'' with his experience Lucius immediately understood. Having been a Stage 7 being in the past, he also understood this method of using the Rules to communicate. "Indeed. My soul type is called [Annihilator]. You know about it?" he did not bother hiding this information. It was a handy and much-needed ability at the later stages of one''s cultivation. Judging from the tone of the Forgotten, he seemed to be familiar with the [Annihilator] soul type. Currently, Lucius needed all available information on this soul type, in order to figure out his advancement conditions. Without completing the advancement conditions, Lucius had no hope to reach Stage 2 and higher. ¡ºAs expected!¡» ¡ºIts only natural that we lost.¡» ¡ºThe Annihilator, I see..!¡» ¡ºIndeed, young...'' human''. I once fought alongside the Annihilator during the war against the Lords.¡» "What do you know about it?" Lucius asked. He was inwardly hoping for more information. ¡ºNot much... It''s only that I found your soul energy familiar, that I was able to recognize you. Other than seeing the Annihilator from afar, I had no other interaction with him.¡» it shook its newly reformed head. "Oh..." Lucius was instantly disappointed. The Forgotten immediately felt embarrassed as it asked. ¡ºYou seem disappointed. Were you perhaps expecting something?¡» "I was hoping for some information on the advancement conditions. Or any general information about the soul." Lucius bitterly said. ¡ºI see. I''m sorry to disappoint you, but I do not know of his matter. All I know is that the Annihilator''s Energy could destroy everything in the Universe. The Rules and the Lords themselves were no exceptions.¡» Its voice turned serious for a moment as it warned. ¡ºRemember, young child! Never disclose the matter of being the Annihilator to anyone! Especially to those Primordial Races. For the moment, the truth about your nature is known, the Lords will seek to immediately kill you. You must carefully hide this fact until you have enough power to face the Lords. This is my sincere advice. ¡» the voice solemnly stated. Feeling the sincerity behind its words, Lucius remained quiet. He was inwardly pondering on the words of the Forgotten. ''Energy that could destroy anything? Even the Rules and the Lords? Is he talking about the [Annihilation Energy] ability? Is that where the key to my advancement lies?'' Lucius'' mind quickly analyzed. ''The ability to kill the Lords.....something feels wrong here. My original plan was to indeed go against the Lords, but no-one other than me and Ka''lor''ah knows of this matter. Listening to his warning, he speaks of this matter as if it''s only natural..'' A sharp glint appeared in his eyes as Lucius continued with his thoughts. ''Stage 7 Killer... Annihilator... My rebirth... Is this all connected? Was this all planned? Am I being manipulated?....that damned thing!'' rage started to fill Lucius'' mind. Immediately, however, the rage cooled and calmness returned. A hint of madness flashed through his calm eyes as he thought. ''Hehehe... forcing me down a path that I do not want to follow. Do you think it will work a second time?'' Lucius shook his head. ''Very well, since I am weak I will continue to remain your pawn for the time being. When the time comes...'' he left the second part unsaid. Raising his head, Lucius finally opened his eyes. He looked straight into the Forgotten ones as he calmly spoke. "Have you had enough time to recover?" he indifferently spoke. By this time, the Forgotten had already reformed almost 70% of their bodies. A few more minutes and they would be ready for combat. Without giving a chance for them to reply, he continued. "Well, not that it matters. Anyways, thanks for that information. I shall take good care of your bodies." ¡ºWhat?¡» ¡ºBodies?¡» ¡ºWhat is he talking about?¡» Lucius ignored their words and turned to face Ka''lor''ah. "You may begin now. Let''s finish this before they completely reform their bodies." after speaking, Lucius calmly back away. "Understood." Ka''lor''ah gently said. The moment her voice fell, golden radiance burst from within her body. The runes which had previously disappeared atop the coffins had reappeared once more. The golden runes floated at the center of the bodies of the Forgotten. ¡ºThis? What''s this?¡» ¡ºWait? This power.....¡» ¡ºIs it....!¡» ¡ºNOT GOOD! EVERYONE RESIST THAT RUNE''S POWER!¡» The panicked voice of the long-sword wielding Forgotten sounded out. Unfortunately, his warning came a bit too late. "Have you not always wanted...death. Let me grant it to you." Ka''lor''ah calmly said. With a loud shout, she activated her spell. ¡ºAeternus Requiem!¡» BOOM! With the sound of an explosion, the golden runes floating within the bodies of the Forgotten exploded. It rapidly moved within their bodies and seemingly searched for something. A small shard of greyish-white light rested in the depths of their body. Upon its discovery, the golden light immediacy engulfed it and started to assimilate it. ¡ºNo! This is not the death we seek!¡» ¡ºDamned Annihilator! How dare you refine our bodies!¡» ¡ºI curse you! I curse your every existence!¡» ¡ºHenious Plot!¡» ¡ºYou hateful creature!¡» Cries sounded out from the various Forgotten as the golden light continued to assimilate the greyish-white shard. Seconds passed, as the short got smaller and smaller in size. The cries of the various Forgotten also got quieter and quieter. A few moments later, silence returned to the mausoleum. The intense golden radiance also disappeared. In the place of the greyish-white shard, was a small golden crystal. It looked similar to Ka''lor''ah Existence Crystal but was brighter and much smaller in size. Letting out a sigh of relief, Ka''lor''ah spoke. "It''s done. The connection to your soul has been established and their wills have been wiped out. Currently, they are blank slates." Indeed, looking into his mindspace, Lucius could see 23 new strings of light connecting to his soul. The bodies of the Forgotten had been completely formed. They stood straight as they stared towards Lucius with icy-blue eyes. Unlike previously, however, their eyes were currently blank. With a deep voice, Lucius commanded. "Kneel." Chapter 128: Gaining Forces. Clunk! Clunk! Clunk! The sound of metal hitting the ground rang out in unison. Having heard Lucius'' command the black-armored Fogrgotten kneeled unhesitatingly. Seeing them so obedient Luicus inwardly released a sigh of relief. He relaxed his tense muscles and withdrew his soul power. Although Ka''lor''ah had given her confirmation on the states of these beings, Lucius could not help but be cautious. ''We finally succeeded.'' he thought to himself. ''With this, I now have a permanent, undying force under my command. It''s a shame I had to kill the previous wills residing in the body.'' he shook his head. At this moment, Ka''lor''ah floated towards Lucius and entered his pocket. The drawing of the runes and the execution of the spell had consumed a large amount of her energy, Shining with dim light, she spoke from within Lucius'' pocket. "They are now connected to your soul and are under your absolute command. Sustaining them will require a constant consumption of your soul power, we have to find a way to solve this," she advised. Hearing her words Lucius nodded in response. The price for erasing the wills and assimilating the souls of the Forgotten meant that they would no longer be able to replenish their soul power. As such, in order to sustain their activities, they drew upon Lucius'' soul power. Standing quietly for a few minutes, Lucius calculated the amount of soul power being consumed. Having calculated the result, his brows furrowed. ''5% of my soul power is being consumed every 5 minutes. My natural recovery is at 3% every 5 minutes. At this rate, I will not be able to sustain them. Who would have thought that there would be 23 Forgotten at the same place?'' Looking at the kneeling warriors once more, Lucius felt a faint heartache. ''Do I have to abandon some of them?'' It has to be mentioned at the strength of each one of these entities was only 1 Level lower than Lucius''. Basically, he now had 23 Mid Level Stage 1 beings who were under his absolute control. Not only that but as Lucius'' soul cultivation increases in its levels, the strength of these entities will also increase. Having such a force under him will only play to Lucius'' advantage. However... ''There is no point in keeping them if I cannot support their expenditure. The purpose of these entities is to assist me in my plans. I would rather take a loss than have them tie me down.'' he shook his head. Just as he was about to cut the soul link with 10 of the other parties, Ka''lor''ah''s voice interrupted him. "Hold on a second...I think there might be a way to keep all of them." Lucius immediately stopped his actions. Looking into his pocket, he asked. "What?" "If we look at this problem in theory...the Forgotten Ones do not exist in a material state. Going further, they do not hold any ''Cause'' nor have any place in the Universe. Strictly speaking, they do not exist." "Not only that, after having their previous will wiped and their souls assimilated into your own, in a way they are considered to be a part of you. An extra part belonging to the same whole." "So...?" Lucius asked in confusion. He could only vaguely understand the rationale behind her words, but could not figure out how this would solve their current predicament. "Hehe. Activate [Void Step] and command them to step into the Void," she instructed. Lucius followed her instruction. Activating [Void Steps] a pitch-black shadow spread out from underneath Lucius. Using his connection to the Forgotten, he ordered them to step into this shadow. At the next moment, something astonishing happened. The black-armored beings started to sink into the Void and disappeared. "Deactivate your ability," Ka''lor''ah ordered. The pitch-black shadow then retreated towards Lucuisu and finally disappeared. At this moment, a look of astonishment appeared on Lucius'' face. The constant drain on his soul power had disappeared! Using his connection to the Forgotten, Lucius discovered that they still remained close to him. "How?!" unable to hide his astonishment Lucius exclaimed. "Just as I thought. Well, I am a genius after all." Ka''lor''ah stated with a smug tone. Hearing her smug tone, the excitement within Lucius immediately died. With a cold voice, he spoke. "Explain." "For you see! The Void instinctively rejects all material things, right? However, you being the ''Child of the Void'', have the authority to subvert this. By expending a small amount of Void Energy, you are able to bring material things into the Void." Ka''lor''ah explained while reminding Lucius of the test that they had conducted on his abilities. "Rember that every time you enter the Void, using [Void Steps]. Apart from the cost required for entry and exit, there is no cost for your body to remain within the Void!" "Now combining the fact that the bodies of the Forgotten are originally in an immaterial state, with their existence being a part of you, you can store them within the Void without any additional cost!" "The reason your soul power is being constantly expended is because, the black-mist has to assume a material state when it is in the physical world. Inside the Void, however, this is not required!" "I see.." Lucius involuntarily mumbled. "But isn''t this against the Rules?" he asked in a doubtful tone. "Of course not! It''s just a clever loophole around it. This is the reason why I said that your race is basically a ''cheat existence''." she replied. "Well, I''m going to sleep now. That spell really drained me." after saying so, Ka''lor''ah''s voice eventually faded into silence. Lucius stood alone in the mausoleum deeply engrossed in his thoughts. After a few minutes, he raised his head. ''With this method, I will be able to collect even more the Forgotten Ones. Only having to expend my soul power when I call upon them in battle.'' Straightening his thoughts, Lucius then looked around to check whether he had missed anything within the mausoleum. Having found nothing, he then dashed towards the exit. It was time to head to their next destination. The Neutral Zone. ----------------- Making it outside the corridor and into the small crack, Lucius belatedly noticed a small matter. ''Strange. When I arrived on this planet, the surrounding temperature was very cold. Having to circulate my soul power just to ward off its effects.'' Lucius then extended his hand to tough the surrounding ice-wall. With the amount of soul power being very low, after the battle with the Forgotten, he was currently not circulating it around his body to conserve it. Strangely, however, Lucius found himself to be quite comfortable in the cold. The icy-winds hitting his skin only felt like a cool summer breeze. ''How did this happen?'' he immediately used sunk his consciousness into his body and inspected it. Inspecting the various parts, Lucius was suddenly shocked. ''My body has changed!!'' he exclaimed within his mind. Underneath the layer of his smooth, white skin, Lucius discovered the existence of a light-blue gel-like substance. This substance was evenly present across his entire body and seemed to be providing protection against the cold. ''Wait a second... isn''t this the same thing that was present inside the Fjord Beasts? Why do I have it?!'' ''Is it because of....[Devour]?'' Lucius started to vaguely realize something. Wanting to confirm his thoughts, he started to carefully inspect the other parts of his body. ''Other than the bodies of the Fjord Beasts, I also consumed the bodies of the Sickle Bug and the Spitter Bug.'' After a few rounds of careful inspection, Lucius found that there were no other changes in his body. ''Was my line of thought incorrect? Could the reason be something else?'' he wondered. ''I have to investigate this matter in detail. If using [Devour] is causing problems within my body, I must find a solution for this.'' he concluded. ''Speaking of [Devour], my Void Energy is really low. I am starting to feel hungry. I must get to the Neutral Zone sooner.'' Just as Lucius was about to take a step forward, the ground beneath his feet intensely shook. To be precise, the entire mountain upon which he was standing fiercely trembled. From the tiny crevice which served as the entrance, Lucius could see a vague an entire valley moving in the distance. With his enhanced hearing, he could hear the faint cries of the Fjord Beasts coming from this location. Lucius'' pupils shrunk in size, as he immediately kicked off the ground. ''Something went wrong with the Fjord Beasts!'' ----------------- Watching the sides of the ice-valley collapse and an avalanche of snow heading towards her, a bright smile formed upon Olivia''s face. She watched in delight as the numerous Fjord Beasts cried in panic and trying to dig through the now collapsed entrance of the valley. She had succeeded in drawing the beast horde and trapping them within this valley. With the successful triggering of the avalanche, millions of tons of snow were about to bury herself and the beast horde, in an internal coffin of ice. ''Haha, I succeeded. All of you pathetic beasts can now die alongside me!'' Her body could no longer move as her physical, mental, and soul energies were completely exhausted. Rasing her pretty face and gazing towards the dark skies, she thought to herself. ''This is the extent of my usefulness, Lucius.'' ''I guess I am pretty after all.'' Chapter 129: Risks and Gains. Exiting the mountain crevice, Lucius descended the mountain in a smooth manner. Making it to the bottom he gazed at the empty scene in front of him. ''Almost all of the Fjord Beasts are gone! How is this possible?!'' Seeing the hoof-prints of the Fjord Beasts leaving their marked territory, he immediately understood that the plan to draw the beasts had gone horribly wrong. ''The beasts would never leave their territory, unless....!'' with his experience, Lucius immediately understood what had happened. Due to the unhindered growth of the Fjord Beasts, coupled with the favorable environment present on this planet, a rare case of evolution had occurred. An evolution that might have possibly resulted in the birth of a Stage 2 Beast. ''Stage 2...Even I would have a difficult time fighting against such a being.'' He then recalled Olivia''s condition at the time of his leaving. ''That girl has no chance of survival against a Stage 2 Being. But then where have the beasts been running too? And what was that sound earlier?'' Lucius'' brows furrowed. Looking at the direction of the valley, he considered for a moment, before choosing to head towards it. He wanted to check the location of the noise and also... ''I have to see if [Devour] really made a difference to my body. If I can get my hands on the body of a Stage 2 Fjord Beast, it would be for the better.'' Inhaling the cold air into his lungs, he regulated his pace and dashed off, following the large hoof-prints on the snowy ground. --------------- As he ran farther and farther away from the mountain, confusion started to grow within his mind. He was confused about why the Fjord Beasts had traveled this far. However, his confusion was soon resolved. With his sharp sight, Lucius spotted a faint trace of blood on the ground. Most of the blood had frozen and had been trampled upon, hiding underneath a layer of snow. However, the crimson stain could still be vaguely seen in this pure white ground. Stopping near the bloodstain, Lucius lowered his hands and picked up with frozen crystal in his hands. First, he smelled the blood, before using his tongue to lick a small portion of it. This was a habit that Lucius had formed during his time as a [Killer]. He would often track his prey using their smell and taste. With the improvements to his taste and smell as a Void Eater, his skill in tracking had also improved. The frozen crystal of blood, melted within his tongue and gradually entered his body. A stream of void energy then came up and began to assimilate the blood. However, at the very next second, Lucius'' face scrunched in displeasure and he spat out the blood. ''Revolting!.... but this confirms that the blood is indeed from Olivia. It''s still quite fresh.'' he thought to himself. For reasons unknown to him, Lucius'' instincts as a Void Eater found Olivia''s soul power to be revolting. It was revulsion that one would feel when they see something unpleasant or abhorrent. However, right now, this allowed him to confirm the reason behind the Fjord Beasts moving this far. ''Seems like they were chasing after her.'' He once again stood up and started to follow the hoof-prints. --------------- Running for another 15 minutes, Lucius could vaguely see the outline of the valley. Seeing that he was getting closer to his destination, the speed of his movement also rose. At this moment, Lucius had regained a sufficient amount of soul power. Although it wouldn''t allow him to battle against a Stage 2 being, he would have no problems in outrunning it. Closing in on the ice valley, Lucius could finally see the cause behind the loud sounds and fierce tremors, he had previously felt. The entire valley, starting from the mouth had collapsed in on itself. What was originally a flat surface, now that millions of tons of ice piled atop it to form a small mountain. Seeing this scene, most of the questions within his heart were resolved. The events that had occurred started to take form within his mind. ''The plan of drawing the herd with bait had been successful. In fact, it had been too successful.'' ''An evolved Stage 2 Fjord Beast, must have gained intelligence and led the horde to capture Olivia. Seeing that there are no bodies along the way, they seemed to have failed in the capture.'' ''However, this brings us to a question. How did a Stage 2 beast fail in capturing a Mid Level Stage 1 human? Even if the Stage 2 beast had sacrificed its strength for intelligence, it is still a ''higher grade lifeform''. Its attributes as a beast must surpass that of a normal human.'' ''That girl also had little to no strength remaining in her body. There was no way that she managed to continuously outrun the beast horde. There has to be something else that I''m missing here.'' Indeed, Lucius'' assumption was very correct. As for why the Stage 2 beast had not attacked Olivia directly, even though it possessed sufficient strength to do so, we have to look at the scene of the chase. While Olivia was running away from the beast horde with all her strength, there was a certain change in her body which she herself did not notice. From her back, a faint image of a broken temple and an altar was projected into the air. The Stage 2 beast which was preparing to directly capture this impudent human, was startled from seeing this projection. A sense of great danger filled its heart and it subconsciously slowed down in its chase. It also commanded the other beasts to not kill the other party. Climbing the newly-formed snow mountain, Lucius continued with his analysis. ''Now this leads us to the next question. How did that girl have enough strength to run all the way over to his valley? Even if she had the will to run, her body was in no state to do so.'' ''Not only did she possess enough strength to maintain her running speed, but was also able to coincidentally arrive at his valley at the time of its collapse? There are too many suspicious points here.'' Arriving at the center of the collapsed valley, Lucius looked around. The top of this mountain was filled with a fresh layer of snow. There were no signs of the Fjord Beasts or of Olivia whom they were chasing. After carefully observing the traces around the mountain, Lucius then shook his head. ''No one could have survived that avalanche. It''s a pity that the body of the Stage 2 Fjord Beast was buried underneath layers of snow. Seems like I can only temporarily pause my research on the changes to my body.'' He then turned around and started to head in the direction of the teleportation runes. It was time to head towards the spaceship. What about Olivia you might ask? Looking at the scene of the valley''s collapse, it was quite clear that she was buried underneath it along with the beast horde. Even if she somehow had managed to run all this way, it was simply impossible for her body to withstand the pressure of millions of tons of ice. As such, other than feeling disappointment at the loss of a potential tool, Lucius did not feel anything else. His heart was unmoved and his eyes were indifferent. He had never once carried any significant emotion towards her. To him, Olivia was simply another existence, just like the innumerable other existences within the Universe. ''It''s a pity though. I was considering training her to become a valuable asset. Some of my future plans would have become simpler with her addition.'' Letting out a small sigh, he thought. ''Seems like I can only look for other alternatives.'' Just as Lucius was about to descend the mountain, the entire structure underneath his feet suddenly started to tremble. Starting from faint trembles, it then proceeded to become a full-fledged earthquake. Lucius quickly found himself losing his balance and hurriedly adjusted his footing. The earthquake continued to increase in intensity and he soon found himself unable to maintain his balance. RUMBLE! CRACK! With a thunderous sound, a sudden crack formed in the center of the small mountain. As the trembling continued, the crack started to expand in size. Before long, the entire mountain was split exactly into two parts and a deep gorge formed in between, revealing the base of the valley. At the very bottom, laid the body of a young girl surrounded by a layer of deep, violet light. A projection of an altar and a broken temple flickered above her body. Looking at this scene from his position, Lucius'' eyes shrunk into tiny slits. "Impossible..." his mouth involuntarily mumbled. The shock he was feeling was so great that Lucius, jaw unconsciously widened. ''That is...that is...how the hell is she related to ''that place''?!'' he cursed. Although Lucius recognized the temple that was being projected, he did not speak out its name. A formless force gathered around his body and suppressed him from speaking or even thinking its name. Feeling this formless suppression, Lucius did not panic. Rather, it had verified his thoughts. The projection continued to flicker, before vanishing into the air. The violet barrier surrounding Olivia was also shattered and the formless force disappeared from his body. Lucius felt the suppression disappearing from his body. Shaking of the astonishment that he was feeling, he quickly headed down into the gorge, towards the body of the young woman. Nearing her body, Lucius could hear the sounds of her heartbeat. It was faint but firm. Olivia''s clothes were torn in multiple places revealing her snow-white skin. Numerous wounds, both big and small in size littered her entire body. Her body was also quivering from the cold and the eye-lids on her beautiful face were covered in frost. At this moment, Olivia resembled a beautiful ice fairy. Hurriedly extending his hands, Lucius first infused his soul power into her and helped her body in healing its wounds. He then circulated his soul power inside her body and warded off the cold. After her wounds had stopped bleeding and her injuries had mostly healed, Olivia still did not wake up. Lucius'' brows furrowed as he scanned the state of her body. ''...there are no visible injuries and her soul is also fine. It should only be the effects of overexhaustion.'' confirming this he let out a sigh of relief. He then suddenly turned his head towards the sky and started to laugh. He started from a faint chuckle, which turned into a small snigger, which then became full-blown laughter. Lucius started to laugh so hard that his entire body started to tremble. The laugh no longer carried happiness but was filled with crazed madness. His indifferent eyes glowed with dangerous conviction. "HAHAHA! Perfect! This is simply perfect! I now have one of the ''keys'', required for the final step!" Lucius boisterously laughed. His laughter then abruptly stopped and absolute indifference returned to his face. The maddened laughter from earlier seemed like an illusion. He looked down and gazed at the unconscious Olivia with his cold eyes. ''I must bring her under my absolute control. Her value to the plan is extremely great!'' ''However, this also comes with great risks. If I make even the smallest of mistakes, it would result in my utter annihilation. Not even with the power of all the Lords combined, will I be able to escape my death.'' Thinking this much, a crazed smile formed upon his face. ''But how can such a thing stop me from walking this path? The moment I decided to return to the past, I had already resolved myself to face death. Such a risk, isn''t it precisely what I expected?'' ''Nothing can stop me from walking this path. And anything that impedes my path to success will be utterly destroyed.'' Carrying her in his arms, Lucius started to retrace his path to the spaceship. He had gained plenty of valuable tools which was of great importance to his plans. His gains had exceeded his greatest expectations. So great that he had saved almost 50 years of his preparation time. And now, it was time to digest his gains and grow his strength. Only with absolute strength, will he be able to continue walking this path. Only with strength will he achieve true success. Chapter 130: Life of the Weak. Part 1 In the planet of Fortun. Green forests and dense jungles occupied almost 70% of the planet''s surface, with the remaining filled by fresh-water bodies. The skies were bluish-green in color with abundant sunlight entering the planet''s atmosphere. The planet''s ecosystem had evolved in such a way that, plants were the dominant species. There were little to no predatory animals, with the majority of other lifeforms being insects and bugs. Ever since the planet was discovered in the year 2270 IE and has been an important resource hub for mankind. It is a peaceful planet with great visual scenery and abundant resources. Today, on the 24th of July 2321 IE. The scenic views and quiet peace were nowhere to be found. Fires burned in various parts of the forest. The noises of gunshots, screams of the people, the roars of the chainsaws as the trees were felled, echoed throughout the air. Bang! Bang! Bang! "AH! Quick, Shoot those slimy bastards." "These damn vines! There''s no end to them!!" "Reinforcements! Where are the goddamn reinforcements?!" Inside a certain room in the backlines. "Oi, Mark! Stop slouching around and help us! It''s your turn to cover the front!" a tall, dark-skinned soldier roared towards a weak-looking youth. Hearing the command, the body of the youth quivered and he hurriedly spoke. "...ye-yes.. leader!" his voice was quiet and devoid of any energy. Immediately getting up to his feet, Mark started to head towards the frontline. He hugged the rifle in his hands close to his chest, as he staggered through the sky-bridges that were constructed dozens of meters up in the air. His body was covered with numerous wounds, which oozed with a pale-green liquid. His skin had yellowed and his muscle mass had shrunk. This weak youth was named Mark. And he was currently dying. The toxins from the plant poison had already entered deep into his system. The vitality in his body would slowly be consumed by the poison, which would eventually turn him into a dry-husk. And the worst thing was, there was nothing that he could do. No cure had been invented and many soldiers just like him continued to die every day. Oh, it had to be mentioned. Mark was a soldier. He was nineteen years old when he had joined the Earth Alliance Military and was posted to the beautiful planet of Fortun. Six years had passed in the company of his soldier friends and these plants. Mark loved everything about this planet, especially the quiet and peaceful surroundings. He almost felt a spiritual connection with the plants and had never lost his direction within the jungles. In fact, he was the Champion Navigator and had held that title for three years in a row, much to the envy of the other soldiers. It was the perfect life for a freshly-graduated soldier. But that all changed, when the golden rocks fell from the sky. Since then, for the last 2 months, living had been a struggle for Mark. Every day was a battle for survival between the humans and the plants. The previously immobile and docile plants had gained sentience and started to attack the humans with a vengeance. The very plants, which he felt a special connection with had turned into his worst enemies. The soldiers and the people stationed at Fortun fought with everything that they had. Alas, with the dwindling ammunition and their inability to contact the Alliance HQ, coupled with the fact the environment around them favored their enemies, mankind started to quickly lose ground and people. They were pushed into retreat time and time again. Losing base after base and hundreds of people in the process. Morale was at an all-time low and survivors were beginning to lose hope. ''At this rate, there is no chance for our survival.'' Mark grimly thought to himself, as he continued to walk. "Mark! You are here. Quick head to the ''Epsilon region, 2nd Tower'' and relieve the solider there!" a loud shout, quickly woke Mark from his thoughts. Giving a sound in affirmation, he quickly started to head towards his assigned region. The paths were built into the sky since the plants were able to attack the bases on the grounds using their roots. A painful lesson had taught the survivors of Foturn to never step onto the ground. Navigating his way through the endless sky-bridges, Mark quickly arrived at his assigned location. "I''m here to relieve you of duty!" he spoke with a hoarse voice. The middle-aged man who had been lying on his stomach while scouting the endlessly green forests with his scope heard his words and turned his head. Seeing the sickly appearance of Mark, he spoke in concern. "Are you up for it? You look like you can die any second now." Mark showed a bitter smile on his face. "I will be fine for the...*cough*" he suddenly coughed out a mouthful of green-blood. Seeing this scene the middle-aged man felt pity for the young youth. However, he quickly stood up and started to head to the backlines. "Don''t die on duty, kid. Scream through this pipe, if you spot any of those monsters approaching." he patted Mark on his shoulder and sincerely warned. Mark nodded his head before taking the position of the middle-aged soldier. Lying flat on his stomach, he placed the rifle on the ground and quietly observed the jungle through his scope. Time continued to pass, as the sounds of gunfires and explosions sounded out in the distance. ''Seems like they are attacking the other side today.'' Mark thought to himself. ''Phew, that''s good. Hopefully, the rest of my shift remains peaceful.'' his eyelids were starting to feel heavy, as an intense desire to sleep overcame him. Losing his vitality made him feel unenergetic and sleepy all the time. Biting down hard on his lips, Mark forced himself to stay awake. ''Mustn''t sleep. If there is an attack, many lives will be lost due to my carelessness.'' he reminded himself. Just as he was combating the allure of sleep within his mind, Mark''s sharp eyes noticed a slight movement in the under bushes of the jungle floor. ''What''s that?'' instantly alerting himself, Mark keenly observed. Minutes passed in trepidation as Mark scanned every inch of the jungle floor. Nothing was seen. ''Did I see it wrong? Was it a hallucination?'' Mark wondered. His eyes might have seen wrong, but an ominous feeling was felt in his heart. This feeling was unmistakably real. It was his instincts warning him that something was definitely wrong. BANG! BANG! BANG! At the next instant, Mark saw the culprit. Sounds of heavy footsteps were heard along with the crashing of trees. From the center of the jungle, a large being was forcibly creating a part by destroying the trees blocking its path A thick leg covered in the brown bark of a tree stepped out. Following its four-foot-tall legs was an equally massive body. Its body was brown in color and had a woody texture. Tiny branches spilled out from within its body and green leaves sprouted on them. A massive claw-like hand swung down from the air, as it casually uprooted a gigantic tree and threw it to the side. Its head was covered with a lush canopy of leaves, and its facial features were hidden underneath it. Seeing this moving ''tree'', Mark laid stiffly in shock. His mind was unable to process the contents of his eyes, as he laid there blankly. Behind the body of this ''tree'', were dozens of other ''trees'' with similar builds. Their massive bodies finally came into view, as they stood in a straight line, observing their surroundings. The platform of the humans was cleverly camouflaged within the trees using the surrounding and also some optical technology. As such, these humanoid trees weren''t able to immediately spot Mark''s location. Waking from his stupor, Mark quickly reached out his hand to grab the metallic pipe that lay next to him. Due to the interference in the air, the soldiers were not able to use proper walkie-talkies or other communication devices. Such being the case, they resorted to the old fashioned, tin can telephone methods. (with some modifications) "Cen-central Co-command! Epsilon Region Second Tower, Private Mark here!" he stammered while speaking. "Hostiles detected! There is a batch of.... humanoid-like alien trees here! Requesting reinforcement!" Mark wasn''t quite sure how to describe these beings "*broken noises* ...uest for reinforcements received. Could yo.....escribe the hostiles?" a broken female voice replied from the other end. Suppressing the panic within his heart, Mark screamed. "They are humanoid-like trees with the ability to move! They have already arrived at the frontline. Please send someone immediately!" Mark cried. It was at this moment, one of the trees'' suddenly lifted its hand and pointed precisely at Mark''s location. Its ''mouth'' opened and closed a few times, as unrecognizable sounds flowed from within. Suddenly all the other ''trees'' also stopped and looked towards Mark''s position. Their bright green eyes vaguely shone from behind the canopy of leaves hiding their face. Looking at this scene, Mark felt his heart drop. ''Shit! They found me. I''m finished!'' Chapter 131: Life of the Weak. Part 2 ''Shit! They found me. I''m finished!'' Having realized that his position had been exposed, Mark immediately moved. Standing up from his position, he quickly turned around and started to run in the direction of the backlines. ''Staying here is plain suicide! There is no way to win against such a monster!'' thinking so, he ran. The tree-like monsters in the background suddenly let out a loud collective roar, which shook the entire forest. With heavy steps, they started to run towards Mark''s previous location. If Lucius had been here, he would have immediately recognized these tree monsters. They were called ''Treants'', a wood-type life-from native to planets predominant in plant life. A naturally formed organism that had evolved just like mankind. An adult treant could grow up to a height of 15m and would weigh up to 10 tons. Their massive bodies could move unhindered in jungles and their intelligence equaled that of humans. Adult treants had the ability to manipulate the surrounding forests and were considered to be unbeatable within a forest terrain. Seeing the sizes of the ones chasing Mark, it was clear that these treants were still in their growth phase and hadn''t attained adulthood yet. As such, they do not have the ability to control the forests and were only dependent on strength of their massive bodies. Taking large steps, one of the treants arrived at the bottom of the sky-bridge. With a wide slash, it directly used its claw-shaped hands and tore through the camouflage and optical illusion screens, revealing the metal shaped bridge inside. ROAR! With an inhuman roar, the other treants joined with the first treant in its assault. The metallic structures which previously seemed infallible were torn apart like paper under their hands. In just a few seconds, they had broken through and had started to chase behind Mark. "Dammit! Dammit! DAMMIT!" Mark cursed with all his might. He could feel the intense vibration on the metal bridge underneath him and knew that those tree-monsters were getting closer. ''Why me?! Couldn''t you have arrived sometime earlier?!'' he blamed his bad luck. Well, blaming and cursing wasn''t going to change the situation. Right now, escaping from the frontlines and retreating to the back was the only way to ensure his survival. Knowing this, Mark ran. He never stopped for a second. Never turned back to look. Never entertained the thought of fighting to his death. His duty was to inform the backlines and he had done so. Not a shred of guilt was present within his heart, for abandoning his soldierly responsibilities. In record time, Mark made it all the way to the place where he had received the order from his Captain about his placement. The soldiers present in this section had already readied their rifles and stared ahead with a nervous gaze. Seeing movement in the front, they raised their rifles and were prepared to shoot. "WAIT! WAIT! Don''t shoot!!" Mark hurriedly raised his hands and waved them. After confirming that it was a friendly soldier, they lowered the guns. "Mark! What the hell is happening back there?! What are those roars and this shaking?!" the Captain hurriedly asked. Making it near the captain, Mark almost collapsed onto the ground. The constant loss of his vitality had weakened his physique by a great amount. "*Huff*, *Huff*, Ca-captain.....there....tree monsters...chasing...run!" Mark mumbled while inhaling a large amount of air. The Captain quickly held his stumbling body and spoke. "Calm down for a second and speak properly!" he bellowed. Gathering his breath Mark screamed. "Dozens of tree-like monsters are chasing behind me! Run!" Having understood his words, the Captain stood blankly. He immediately recovered from his stupor and spoke with a bitter smile. "Run? Where do we run to? This is the last base that we have on this cursed planet. If I and my men retreat, hundreds of people in the backlines will die." Determination flashed across his eyes as the Captian spoke. "I''m tired of retreating. Listen up, men! We shall make a last stand here! The lives of our comrades and friends lays behind us! Let''s fight to the death!" he roared. "YES CAPTAIN!" the dozens of soldiers replied in unison. "Then take your positions! Let''s show those monsters what we got!" he ordered. The soldiers quickly readied themselves and took their respective positions. The determination to sacrifice their lives to save the people behind them shone within their eyes. Looking at this scene, Mark''s face paled. "You idiot! You don''t understand! It''s impossible to win against those monsters! You have to retreat!" he roared. Although the Captain heard himself addressed as an ''idiot'' by a mere Private, he did not get angry. With a low and serious voice, he spoke. "Mark. I understand that. In fact, everyone present here understands this fact. We never stood a chance against those weak-bodied plant monsters, nevermind the new one that you just described. There is no possible path to victory." "Then why.." Mark tried to speak up but was interrupted by the Captain. "Let me finish! Even if there is no chance at victory, I...no we have to try! We have to try for that infinitesimal chance of a miracle happening. We owe it to the lives of our fellow soldiers, the lives of the people behind us, and to those who have sacrificed themselves since the beginning of this nightmare." He turned around and looked deeply into Mark''s eyes. "You are relieved of your duty, Private. Retreat and inform the people in the back to prepare themselves." Mark stood stunned at this order. He wanted to retort but was interrupted by the Captain. "I said LEAVE!" the Captain bellowed. Swallowing his question, Mark turned around and started to run. His legs felt heavy as if they were filled with lead. His mind felt dizzy and his ears buzzed. BANG! BANG! CRASH! The sounds of trees falling, metallic structures being twisted. The blasts of the gunfire and the cries of the dying men. The roars of the treants. All sorts of noises were heard behind him and stabbed into his heart. ''Stupid guy! Why doesn''t he understand?! He''s ordering those men to their deaths!'' Mark bemoaned. Tears flowed from his eyes and wet the ground beneath him. ''Those men are my friends! If you wanted to die, you should have done it alone, old man!'' although his words were filled with hate, Mark did not mean any of it. In fact, sadness and loss welled up within his heart as he thought about the Captain and the other soldiers. These were the people he had spent 6 years of his life with. These were the people he had fought side-by-side against those plant monsters for 2 months. Right now, he wanted to say and continue fighting with them. To face those tree monsters until his last breath. Alas, he couldn''t. Fear had taken root in his heart and robbed him of his will to fight. ''I''m a goddamned coward.'' Mark thought to himself in shame. Still, no matter how shameful he felt, he never stopped running. He wanted to live. Even if it was for only a second longer, Mark wanted to live. ''I must make it to the backline! I must warn them!'' he thought to himself. Dashing with his weary body, Mark eventually made it to the back. At this moment, not a single ounce of energy was present in his body, with his body feeling as heavy as a boulder. Seeing the disorganized groups of people running in front of him, Mark opened his mouth to shout the words of warning. "Everyone--" It was at this moment, that Mark felt an enormous amount of force slam into his defenseless back. The soldier''s uniform immediately tore and a grievous wound, so deep that his bones could be seen, appeared. Mark spat a mouthful of blood and was sent flying through the air. With a dull thud, his body hit one of the metal pillars and fell onto the ground. Multiple bones were broken from the impact and he was unable to move his body. Mark felt his life slowly slipping away from him. Cries of the weak civilians as their bodies were ripped apart and consumed by the treants were heard by him. The treants were faced with no resistance and the metal structures and bunkers were unable to withstand their might. In but a few seconds, almost a hundred humans died. It wasn''t a battle. For a battle, there was resistance between two equally-strong forces. This was a slaughter. ''Haha. We are doomed.'' Mark soundlessly laughed as his thoughts flowed for the final time. His head slumped and his breathing stopped. Mark had died. ------------------ In the middle of a completely burnt forest, atop a pile of charred trees and burnt corpses of the treants, stood a youth. His entire body was covered with reddish-yellow flames that burned with incomparable might. His red hair and crimson eyes burned with flames of anger, as he continued to beat the burnt corpses of the dead treants. Letting out his anger and frustration, the youth finally stopped his actions. Gazing at the bodies of the dead treants he found his heart to be empty. With a grim-looking face, Alex hoarsely spoke. "I''ve arrived too late." Chapter 132: Orders. Looking at the hundreds of corpses surrounding him, some belonging to humans and others belonging to the treants, Alex sighed in dismay. His heart was filled with anger, regret, and mostly helplessness. He had arrived too late and the people inhabiting this planet had died, there was nothing he could do to change that. Knowing this, Alex did not spend any more time mourning. Withdrawing the fire covering his body, he slowly controlled it to form a floating sphere of flames. "[Heat Wave]" reciting the name of the spell, Alex burnt the corpses of all the humans. The flames burned silently in the mid-day sun. After a couple of minutes, the bodies had turned into ashes and dispersed along with the wind. "Rest in peace." Alex gently spoke. Turning around he started to head back to the area with the densely packed spaceships, floating in the sky. It was the Alliance forces, with which Alex had arrived at this planet. ---------------- After being appointed as the new ''Head of Military'' of the Earth Alliance, a position which no one had expected to be given to a nineteen-year-old youth, Alex was faced with a lot of challenges. Firstly, he had faced overwhelming opposition and dissatisfaction of the various Family Heads and dignitaries, mainly from the Alliance People''s Front. They requested the Alliance Head to reconsider his decision and appoint a different, more experienced person. While Alex stood dazed on the stage unable to comprehend the ongoing events, the High Commanders and the families belonging to the Hellwig faction, rose to suppress the dissidents. However, they themselves were also unconfident and hesitant about the Alliance Head''s choice. After all, Head of Military was a very important position, especially during such a time when the authority of this role was significantly greater since mankind was facing an unknown enemy. It wouldn''t be wrong to say that currently, ''Head of Military'' was a position that was equal in standing with the ''Alliance Head'', with power to move and control the entirety of Earth Alliance''s resources at will, during this period of war. What came as a great surprise to all the parties, including Alex himself, was that the Alliance Head was incredibly firm in his decision. He was unmoved by the opposition and refused to relent, going as far as using the Roseberg family''s power to threaten the opposition. Facing such a response, the others had no choice but to withdraw and agree with his decision. Inwardly, however, they were cursing Alex to make a large blunder, which would then provide them with sufficient reason to forcibly evict him from this position. With the Alliance Head''s support, Alex had somehow managed to tide past these calamities and managed to keep his new position. However, he was inwardly wary and confused about why the Alliance Head was so supportive of him and was helping him to such an extent. One had to know that the relationships between the Three Great Families (Hellwig, White, and Roseberg), wasn''t that close. Each of them cooperated minimally with the other and never joined together to publicly support the other party. From a certain view, they were in fact opponents competing for maximum benefits. The fact that the Alliance Head was willing to support Alex, to the point of involving the influence of both families, made Alex uneasy and suspicious. He simply could not comprehend the Alliance Head''s actions. What, he was the current strongest person amongst the humans? Well, excluding the fact that a monster like Lucius existed, Alex was still a mere human in the end. A single plasma shot would be sufficient to utterly annihilate him. What, he was the only one amongst the World Council who had personally experienced the Ascension and truly understood the might of the Ordeal? Alex did not hide any information while sharing his experiences on Deatov. He had provided sufficient information on ''soul power'' coupled with the bodies of the alien species for research. Alex was sure that there were hundreds of people much more experienced than him, who would suit the position better. What, because he was the only son of the Supreme General and belonged to the Hellwig family? While it was true that the Hellwig family controlled the majority of the military and held the most influence on the military, this was no grounds for the Alliance Head''s involvement. In fact, a smart person would use this opportunity to weaken the strong influence of the Hellwig family and secure some benefits for himself. However, the Alliance Head had not done so. Therefore, Alex was sure that the Alliance Heads'' goals weren''t so simple and that a deeper ploy was hidden underneath his actions. Alas, Alex was still inexperienced and could not count on the opinions of others. He helpless in the face of this situation and had to simply go along with the flow. After securing his position, Alex then proceeded to assume authority over the soldiers and the military forces. Simply having the position of a leader, did not mean that your people would necessarily follow your words. One needed influence and sufficient charisma to win the hearts of the people. This step which seemed to be the toughest obstacle on Alex''s path and would prove to be his most difficult challenge actually ended up being very easy. By simply using the fact that he was the Supreme General''s son, coupled with the testimony and heroic story of the surviving soldiers of Deatov, Alex managed to establish his authority over the soldiers. Clearly, he had underestimated his father''s and his family''s influence within the military. Having successfully gained authority and having united the troops, Alex then proceeded to head towards the various frontier planets to assess the situation and provide support. Just as he had feared, the various frontier planets on multiple fronts were also undergoing their Ascension. The common theme between all Ordeals was a fight to the death with a foreign species. Survival meant awakening their soul power while failure meant total death. Some managed to achieve a pyrrhic victory. Some managed to hold on until Alex''s reinforcement arrived And some were regrettably defeated in the struggle. Fortun was such a case. The people of Fortun managed to hold on for two months against the alien plant species. However, the evolution of the plant into ''treants'' had proved to be the deciding factor and had resulted in mankind''s loss. Alex having arrived only a single day late was naturally filled with remorse. --------------- Having entered the mothership of the human fleet, Alex entered the office room provided to him. Walking up to the beige-colored leather sofa, that was placed on the right side of the large room, Alex fell into its soft cushions and sprawled there silently. His mind recalled the scene of him slaughtering the treants and the anger he had felt within him when he first arrived on this planet. The torn bodies of humans, the stench of dried blood, all these scenes replayed countless times within his head. ''Ah...if only I had arrived sooner. I could have saved the survivors.'' It was then that the door to the office opened up and a tall, sharply dressed young woman walked in. She had short, black hair and a pair of sharp, black eyes. A pair of thick eyebrows, adorned her beautiful face, giving her an awe-inspiring heroic aura. Her slender arms and long, toned legs showed her martial prowess and the fact that she wasn''t simply a beautiful but frail flower. With tanned skin and a cold-looking face, coupled with the military uniform that she was wearing, this young woman completed the image of a model-soldier. Having entered the office room of the ''Head of Military'', she gazed around before her eyes landed on the leather sofa, with Alex lying on top of it. Her brows furrowed in dissatisfaction and she spoke in a serious tone. "Stop lazing around and get up. We have received our next orders." she spoke in a ''no-nonsense'' tone. This was Anya Balliol, age 24, and heir of the Balliol family. She is the youngest High Commander in the history of the Earth Alliance military and the Captain of the Longinus battalion, one of the four ace forces of the military. She had also awakened her soul [Wind Rider], after undergoing Ascension in one of the frontier planets and was a Mid-Level Stage 1 being. Unlike Alex who was given the position of Head of Military, she had earned her current position, having climbed from the very bottom. She was a person with fearsome martial prowess and an incredibly sharp mind. In order to assist Alex in his position as the Head of Military, Anya was chosen to be his personal secretary and as a mentor of sorts. Having heard her voice, Alex awoke from his thoughts and cursed within his mind. ''Ah, this devil is back!'' If Alex had to make a list of people he disliked the most, Lucius would occupy the first position and Anya would come a close second. As for the reason behind this assessment, simply put Anya was a very cruel mentor. She repeatedly cursed and beat Alex up, in the name of ''training''. She refused to address him as her superior and blatantly looked down upon him. Of course, Alex being a naturally arrogant person, could not tolerate such behavior and repeatedly challenged her to a duel. As a result of which... he ended up getting beat up more often. Due to his prideful nature, he refused to complain to the Alliance Head about her actions and swore to himself that he would defeat her one day. Unfortunately, such a day hadn''t arrived yet. Needless to say, other than bullying her superior (him), Anya was an excellent secretary and a capable subordinate. She was serious in training him and tolerated him due to the respect she held for his father. Grumbling within his mind, Alex got up from the sofa and walked towards the large wooden desk. "What are the orders?" he asked. Chapter 133: Returning to Earth. Anya used her watch to project a holographic screen into the air and spoke. "The Alliance has re-established comms between the majority of its forces. With Foturn being the last, all frontier colonies have undergone their Ascensions." "The planet''s belonging to the Outer-Rim sector of the four regions are beginning to show preliminary signs of undergoing Ascension. According to Alliance''s predictions, the Ordeals may start anytime within the next few weeks." "Our orders are to finish our duties here and head back to the HQ to report." she finished. Hearing that, Alex''s brows involuntarily furrowed as he asked. "Wasn''t our duty to support all the planets undergoing Ascension? Why are they asking me to head back to the HQ already?" he asked. "I''m not sure. This is the order that I received." Anya briefly replied. After a few minutes of silence, she continued. "However, if I had to guess the reason, it might them wanting to temporarily relieve you of your duty." "What?!" Alex slammed his fists on the wooden table. He was furious. Not paying any attention to Alex''s rage, Anya nonchalantly continued. "You should understand that your role as the ''Head of Military'' was forcibly decided by the Alliance Head without considering the opinions of the others in the World Council. As a result, there have been many people who were discontent with this choice and have been finding ways to remove you from this position." "While you have performed a great deed by saving 38 colonies over these past six months, it was not without any losses." "The vast majority of these colonies have barely any survivors left and their key resources are badly damaged. 13 colonies were abandoned after rescuing the survivors, due to facing fierce retaliation from the newly appeared aboriginal alien species." "Not to mention, we have also failed in rescuing seven colonies including this one. Three of which were important resource hubs, essential to the Alliance. Those of the opposing factions in the Council are using these points to attack your position by suggesting incompetence." "According to their reasoning, if an experienced general had been holding this position, the losses might have been less severe. Their voices are too great to be ignored and their cause is righteous. Not even the Alliance Leader can forcibly suppress them anymore." "Actually, the situation is already quite good since they have not used these reasons to publically defame the Hellwig family. This is a veiled threat and also a warning." Anya coldly analyzed the scheme set up by the Council. Realization dawned upon Alex, as he understood the intent behind this sudden order. However, this also caused his anger to flare. "They would dare?!" "Yes, they would." Anya expressionlessly replied, snuffing out Alex''s impassioned roar. This was how harsh reality was. While Alex managed to ascend to the position of Head of Military, he had done so suddenly and without any prior standing. This had resulted in him involuntarily offending the interests of many parties within the Council. After all, the position held benefits that were simply too great to ignore. Even if Alex had no intentions of capitalizing these benefits and wanted to save the people, purely out of the goodness of his heart, the others would not view it this way. To use an analogy, Alex''s current situation was that of a young boy holding a great amount of treasure but had no strength to protect it from the bandits. With the bandits banding together, he had no choice but to give up his treasure. While the Alliance Head was willing to support him, there was a limit to the influence of a single person. In face of the masses and public opinion, even he was helpless. After all, the concept of a single person''s strength being greater than that of an entire group was yet to be realized. If Alex failed to acknowledge their orders, he would be framed as a traitor of the Alliance. The Hellwig family would be publicly defamed and their influence and foundation would receive massive damage. This was the worst-case scenario. He wasn''t like Lucius either, unfettered and shackle-less. He was bounded by his responsibilities as a leader and that of a Family Head. He could not simply ignore the consequences of his betrayal like Lucius. Alex keenly understood this fact, as a result of which he felt even more helpless. Turning to face the serious-looking young woman in front of him, Alex sighed and weakly spoke. "Seems like I have no choice but to head back to the HQ. Once we are done here, let''s go." Without waiting for a reply, he walked past her and paused near the door. "I will be staying in my room for the rest of the journey. I don''t want to be bothered. Inform me once we reach our destination." saying so he left without turning back. Anya who stood within the office silently sighed and shook her head. ''Poor kid.'' she thought to herself, before leaving the room. ------------------ Two weeks passed and Alex finally arrived at the Alliance HQ once more. During these two weeks, Alex had spent most of his time, locked within his room while cultivating his soul and practicing his spells. [Ruler of Flames] was a battle-oriented soul type, proficient in offense and overwhelming power. It granted its owner the power to control all types of flames and freely manipulate them according to his wishes. Thanks to unrelenting efforts and prodigious talent, Alex was a Mid-Level Stage 1 being. He was able to control his emotions to a certain extent and curbed his rashness. His control over his soul power had also improved, as he is able to bring out greater results with lesser costs. He had 50% confidence in winning against Lucius if the latter used the same strength he had during his fight against the Leader Bug. The recent events had allowed Alex to rapidly mature, making him less rash and hot-blooded. As the saying goes, tough times make tough people, Alex had risen to the occasion and had grown, both as a person and as a leader. While he was initially angry at the decision of the Council to remove him from his current position, after great consideration, Alex realized that currently this the best decision. He was inexperienced, immature, and most importantly, he was weak. Lacking in these aspects, he realized that handing over his power to a more experienced person was more ideal when considering the safety and survival of mankind as a whole. ''Perhaps, if father was in my position, he might have saved those seven planets.'' Alex thought to himself. He could no longer be selfish in his consideration and had to account for the greater picture. As such, he was no longer averse to the idea of giving up his position. He did not care about petty profits and benefits, what was important to him was the safety of the people. Landing on the piece of space rock, which constituted the Alliance''s HQ, Alex accompanied by Anya headed directly towards the meeting hall. Entering the large hall once more, Alex noticed that the seats were sparsely populated, with the majority of the family heads being absent. All of them had returned to their respective bases and were planning to use the Ascension to promote their own strengths. The existence of souls and soul power represented a new trend. One that was sure to completely change the direction of mankind''s growth. As seen from the examples of Lucius and Alex, the strength of one man had the power to go against a small army. Realizing the strength of such superhumans, all the families moved to develop their own forces in this aspect. Any astute person would immediately capitalize on this situation and aim to secure maximum benefits. The weaker families could use this opportunity to surpass the stronger families and the strong families could use this to become even stronger. In the end, one''s power would decide the benefits that one could attain. If Alex had greater power, he would not have been forced from his position. Alex walked towards the center with a heavy heart. He was soon called upon the stage and was given his verdict. The result was as he had expected. "Alex Hellwig, you are temporarily relieved of your duty as the Head of Military. You are requested to head back to Earth. where your assistance is required in your next position." the sound of the gavel striking the table was heard. Alex stiffly nodded his head and walked out of the room. Anya silently followed behind him. "Why are you following me?" he asked the young lady. "My orders were to continue training you. Therefore, I''m coming with you." she briefly spoke. Hearing her answer, Alex gave a wry smile and spoke. "Let me guess. In other words, you will be my monitor and make sure I don''t cause any trouble. Isn''t that right?" Anya''s steps froze for a second before she nodded in reply. "That''s right. Good, you''re learning the nuances of such words." Alex soundlessly laughed. Without stopping, the two of them quickly headed towards the spaceport and boarded their assigned ship. Seating themselves in their respective seats, they waited for the spaceship to begin its journey. "Do you have any idea on who''s the next Head of Military?" Alex asked. Anya nodded her head and replied. "From what I''ve heard, it''s Major Peter Eyler." her tone turned sour while mentioning his name. It was obvious that Anya disliked this person. Hearing that name, Alex froze. The face of a middle-aged man with a cold smile appeared in his mind. ''Oh, it''s that petty bastard.'' His thoughts immediately grew complicated, as Alex grew concerned about the fate of the planets undergoing Ascension. He naturally held no good-will towards the other party and knew of his cowardly nature. He could only trust the judgment of the Council and hope that the Major would perform competently. Chapter 134: Going Around the City. 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. ---------------- "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." ---------------- 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. Chapter 135: Interlude After receiving concrete information and proof about the Ascension, the Alliance followed Alex''s advice to systematically release the news to the general public. The event was explained logically to reduce fear and panic amongst the general populace. Of course, the magical nature of the event could not be hidden, nor did the Alliance try to hide it. After all, this was something that everyone was bound to learn about in due course of time. Rather than have the populace panic then, it was better to release the information right now and educate the public. Man fears what he cannot understand. If one is learned he no longer fears the unknown. The alien species were told to be the invaders and it was mankind''s test to survive their invasion. Humanity needed to unite against a common foe. A classic tale of good versus evil. While it might sound cliche or even out-dated, it was nonetheless an excellent method to explain propagate the news. The simpler and less complicated it was, the lesser people would panic. Mankind''s current goal was to survive and ascend with minimal losses. To do this the general populace was also required to participate in the battle. After all, the number of soldiers was limited and they couldn''t be at all the planets at the same time either. Courage was required to face the enemy and hope was required to sustain this courage. In order to gain hope, mankind needed to know that these magical invaders could be defeated. They needed an image, a hero to say. The battle of Deatov was precisely this hope. And the handsome youth who single-handedly faced the enemy was the hero. Having come to understand Lucius'' personality, one would know that he wasn''t the showy type. He was indifferent to fame and fortune and cared even less about the opinion of others about himself. This leads us to a question. Why did Lucius heroically fight against the army of alien bugs in Deatov? It was precisely to become this hope. This was the chance he gave mankind. A chance for survival. During the battle of Deatov, Lucius did not appear at the very beginning of the battle and waited for the perfect moment to take action. He had always known about the existence of the young woman who was recording the battle and had intentionally fought within the range of the camera. He had then proceeded to extravagantly face the army and single-handedly fight against them. The showdown against the Leader Bug was also a part of this elaborate play. Of course, to say that he had everything perfectly planned would be a total lie. Often times plans cannot keep up with changes. That deadly battle against the Leader Bug had almost gone wrong and the subsequent events were out of his calculations. In Lucius'' previous life, almost none of the Frontier planets survived the Ascension. Reyna''s awakening had been too late and the re-establishment of communications was severely delayed. At this point, mankind had already begun to horribly lose and the rest of humanity was in the dark about these events. By the time the Alliance had received and verified the information about the Ascension, it had already been too late. What was worse, was that the higher-ups greatly underestimated the severity of the situation and chose to suppress this information from the general public. The result was... horrific. Mankind faced tremendous losses after the first battle, with nearly 70% of the entire population dying in the Ascension. Facing such disastrous losses, mankind''s annihilation was a foregone conclusion. The fact that they had lasted for 30 years was something worthy of praise. Therefore, Lucius'' actions in Deatov were extremely crucial and important. Reyna''s early awakening, Alex''s warning, the survival of the soldiers in Deatov, the recording of the battle, all these seemingly insignificant factors had combined to form the decisive detail which changed mankind''s history and cause. As such, the actions taken by the Alliance was undoubtedly a step in the right direction and had managed to grasp onto the chance that Lucius had provided. This was the importance of information. Seeing the news broadcast by the Alliance, Alex nodded his head in approval. ''With this, the general populace and the army will have sufficient time to prepare. No other planet will be lost!'' his fists involuntarily clutched together. "Such an astounding person!" just as he was lost in thoughts, he was woken up by the sound of Anya''s praise. "What?" Alex mumbled. Anya pointed at the screen which showcased the zoomed-in video of Lucius'' fight against the bug army. "I''m talking about that person. Such an astounding person. So heroic and selfless." words of praise flowed from within Anya''s mouth. Her eyes shined brilliantly and her mouth involuntarily parted. ''Heroic? Selfless? That guy?!'' Alex absent-mindedly thought. "What the f*ck?" he couldn''t help but curse. He then looked at Anya, as if he was looking at a crazy person and spoke. "That guy is the farthest you can get from being selfless and heroic. He''s an evil, selfish, petty, small-minded, uncaring bastard!" he thundered. Seeing the raging Alex, Anya''s brows rose in interest. "You know him?" she asked curiously. "Of course I know him! I was there in that battle with him!" Alex responded. Without waiting for a reply he continued. "He thinks himself to be invincible, doesn''t have any consideration for his friends, selfish and petty, calls the rest of us ''trash'' or ''worms'', doesn''t give a damn about orders! Always act so sagely and mysterious, like what does he even want us to do?! Why not simply tell us to do so, instead of calling us a disappointment and such?!" Alex poured out his grievances. Truth be told, he did not hate Lucius, in fact, he greatly admired the other party. However, that did not mean that Alex was void of any complaints. Looking at Alex''s passionate fervor, Anya smiled and spoke. "Seems like you do have a friend after all." "Who''s friends with that bastard?!" Alex snorted furiously. Getting up from his table he spoke, "Anyways it''s almost time for our reporting. Let''s get going." Anya nodded her head and the duo started to head towards the Academy. --------------- Just as the duo was about the enter the Academy gates, a young child suddenly walked up to Alex. It was a frail-looking boy, with white-pasty skin. His eyes were golden and shone with obvious zeal. "Mister, could you wait for a second!" she shouted towards Alex and ran towards him. Seeing that the young boy had called out to him, Alex paused. Looking around Alex noticed that other than the three of them, there were no other people on the streets. The surroundings were eerily quiet and abandoned. This wasn''t unusual as the people roaming about in the streets had a sharp decline, after the Alliance''s news broadcast. There wasn''t any mass panic, but the grimness of the situation could still be vaguely felt. As such, he did not think much and watched as the young boy ran up to him. "Ah, *Huff* *Huff*...thank you for waiting mister." the young boy roughly panted. The boy then reached into the satchel that was hung on his shoulder and brought out a rough-looking paper. Handing it towards Alex, he explained. "Mister must have seen the news. This Ascension, the Ordeals, the battle for survival, all of this is nothing but a test by the Lord! It''s His reckoning!" the boy''s eyes shone brilliantly as he explained. "He controls the fate of all living things and it is only by His mercy that mankind was allowed to survive for so long! What He has giveth He can taketh it away!" "Rather than struggling against this fate, all of us must unite to pray for our salvation. He knows what''s best, as He is Everything, the Ruler of Destiny! It is the sole duty of us, His pious followers to worship and preach his Holiness!" "Mister and Miss must consider joining us in our daily sermons. For it''s not too late to seek forgiveness and correct your path." He then performed a deep bow. "Thank you for listening!" saying so, the young boy ran off once again. Alex and Anya stood at their spots stiffly. A variety of complicated emotions crossed their mind, chief of which was confusion. After a few moments, Alex hesitantly spoke. "...did we just get a religious lecture from a young child?" Anya blankly nodded her head. Alex looked down into his hand and read the paper pamphlet that he was holding. "...Sors Fides." he absentmindedly read the title. Alex was deep in his thoughts when Anya called out. "We need to get going. It''s already time." saying so she started walking towards the Academy gates. Alex nodded his head and followed behind her. Dropping the paper on the ground, he shook his head and threw this matter to the back of his head. '' Just some crazy cult.'' Chapter 136: Meeting Illya. Entering the Academy through the main gate, the first thing that Alex noticed was how desolate the surroundings were. The paths and fields which were usually occupied by a large number of students were now empty. As far as the eye could see, Alex could not spot a single student. Of course, this was to be expected. Not mentioning the first-year and second-year students who were sent to the Frontier planets, the third-year and fourth-year students, most of whom were direct heirs of the various families were recalled back to their families. The Ascension was both a blessing and a curse for the families in the Alliance. It was a blessing because the families could use this opportunity to nurture a group of superhuman forces, which will directly help them in contesting for greater benefits. After all, with strength came authority. Inversely, it was a curse because the Ascension carried massive risks. There was the risk of losing their people, their resources, and chief of all, their heirs. The direct heirs of some of the lesser families had already lost their lives in the frontier planets. While such cases were low, they nonetheless existed. Losing an heir was equivalent to losing their future. It was a foundational loss that would be very hard to recover from. As the old adage goes, with opportunities comes risks. Losing something in the process of gaining benefits was only natural. Knowing this many families still decided to focus their interests on the Ascension. This was the future. No matter how great one''s family was currently, refusing to follow the trend would only result in its downfall The Hellwig family was no different Alex, being one of the very first people to awaken his soul, naturally realized the importance of this power. He had an advantage in this field and not taking advantage of this to improve the foundation of the family would be utter foolishness. As such, he had already drawn up plans and passed orders to the Hellwig family, in his capacity as the Temporary Head. Under his orders, the elites of the Hellwig family, both brains and brawn would be heading to the Outer-Rim planets to undergo their Ascension. Success could not be guaranteed, but with the help of Alex''s knowledge and insight, the rate of failure can be drastically reduced. ''In the end, everything boils down to having power. Only with power can one remain unhindered during this change.'' Alex thought to himself. It was then that a pleasant-looking man with a bald head walked up to the duo. Wearing a professional smile on his face, he spoke. "The two of you must be Sir Alex and Miss Anya respectively. It is my honor to welcome both of you to the Academy." he performed a bow. "My name is Edmonds. I''m here to guide the two of you to the central island, where my superiors are waiting for your arrival. Please follow me." Saying so, he turned around and started to walk towards the central island. Alex and Anya looked at each other and proceeded to follow behind Edmonds. The journey was quite short as they quickly arrived at the central island. During the journey Alex repeatedly tried to ask about why he was called here, only to be met with the same answer. "I''m sorry, but I cannot speak about this matter. Do not worry for you will be briefed by my superiors." Edmonds smiled. Faced with such a response, Alex was helpless. He could only patiently wait. The bridge leading to the central island was guarded by a group of soldiers. Edmonds showed his ID and spoke a few words to the Captain in charge. After which Alex and Anya had to undergo some identity checks. After multiple checks which consumed nearly an hour''s worth of time and had Alex inwardly raging, the trio finally entered the central island. The central island was constructed in the same manner as the Alliance HQ. Flat metallic buildings, with a few high-rise glass buildings, occupied much of the island. Students of the Academy weren''t allowed entry into the central island and as such, this was Alex''s first time entering this place. Looking around, the key difference that Alex noticed here when compared to the Alliance HQ was that there were a lot of scientists walking around, unlike the administrative personnel found in the HQ. ''Seems like this place emphasizes on the R&D aspect of the Alliance.'' Alex inferred There were also multiple groups of fully-armed soldiers patrolling around the streets. With his keen eyesight, Alex noticed some oddly-dressed men, wearing some sort of mechanical contraption walking amongst the soldiers. Rather than say, walking amongst the soldiers, it would be more accurate to say that the soldiers were surrounding these oddly-dressed men. Each of these men was performing a different set of actions. Some seemed to be jogging, some seemed to move peculiarly, and so on. ''They are?... Awakened humans?!'' Alex immediately noticed the difference. With his increasing control over his soul power, he also became more sensitive towards the soul power of other beings. As such, Alex was able to notice the peculiarity of these oddly-dressed soldiers. ''Are they conducting some kind of test?'' he pondered. Just as he was wondering, he heard Anya speak. "Are those, people who have undergone Ascension? What are they doing?" she questioned Edmonds. ''Nice timing, Anya!'' Alex cheered within his mind. Hearing this question, Edmonds smiled once more and replied. "I''m sorry, but I cannot speak about this matter. Do not worry for you will be briefed by my superiors." he politely replied. ''Dammit! Are you some kind of robot?! Why do you keep repeating the same answer?'' Alex cursed. Thankfully, Alex did not have to wait long, the group of three quickly arrived at their destination. It was a high-rise building that was surrounded by dozens of squads of armed soldiers. Almost 60% of the soldiers present on the central island seemed to be focused around this building. Looking around, Alex noticed some of the soldiers holding a strange weapon in their hand. This weapon was shaped like a large-barrel, with multiple pipes and electrical circuits covering the majority of its surface. Faint electrical sparks jumped from within the weapon and a faint glow surrounded it. Just as Alex was wondering about this weapon, they entered the building. "We have arrived, Young Miss." Edmonds nodded towards the young lady waiting in the front. Seeing the person in front of him, Alex''s eyes shrunk in surprise. "You are..!!" he involuntarily voiced out. "Nice to meet you too, Alex." a young voice spoke softly. In front of him was a beautiful-looking young girl, wearing a sweet smile on her face. She had long, silver hair and a pair of bright silver eyes. Her skin was smooth and pale, which shone with youthful tenderness. Judging from her body, she seemed to be around 16 years of age. The only thing that was different about the young girl was that... she was seated in a wheelchair. This was Illya Roseberg. The sole child of the Alliance Head and the heir of the Roseberg family. "Thank you for guiding them here Edmonds. You can return to the lab now." Illya spoke while facing Edmonds. Edmonds nodded his head and walked off in another direction. At this point, Alex had awakened from his surprise. Hesitantly, he spoke. "..Good to see you too, Illya...What happened to your legs?" he asked. Hearing that question, the look in Illyas''s eyes turned bitter. Still, she did not stop smiling and softly spoke. "I met with an accident while traveling on a spaceship. One of the golden rocks from the Ascension struck our spaceship causing it to crash into the nearby planet." Her voice turned faint, as she continued "I was unconscious for most of the time. When I woke up, I had mysteriously gained some superpower and had lost mobility in my legs. Everyone else, aboard the spaceship, had died." her voice became melancholic towards the end and her eyes turned misty. Having asked such an incentive question, Alex immediately apologized. "I''m sorry, that was mindless of me to ask such a question." Alex bowed in apology. Wiping the newly-formed tear in her eyes, Illya smiled sweetly once more and said. "It''s fine. Rather, I would have felt uncomfortable if you hadn''t asked me that question. You don''t have to apologize." Alex raised his body and nodded his head. The atmosphere had turned awkward between them. ''I''m such an idiot!'' Alex admonished himself. "Cough, cough. May I ask about our duties, Miss Roseberg?" at this crucial moment, Anya spoke up to divert the topic. "Oh, right!" Illya clapped her hands and exclaimed cheerfully. "Firstly, I welcome both of you to the Central Research Facility of the Earth Alliance. Thank you for coming here on such short notice. I understand that the two of you have a lot of questions. Why don''t we discuss as we move along." she spoke with excitement. Saying so, she controlled her wheelchair to turn around and started to head into the building. "Please follow me." Chapter 137: To Save Mankind. Alex and Anya nodded their heads and started to follow behind her. Walking through the wide hallways, Illya started to speak. "As you know, recently our universe has seemed to have undergone some significant changes. I won''t be getting into detail, for you already know what I''m talking about." Illya''s tone started to turn serious. "Chief among these changes is the matter of the soul''s awakening and the Ascension." "What are souls? How are they awakening? Why are these changes taking place and why now? These are some of the most basic questions that we face right now." "We have little to no understanding about souls or their nature. As for the matter of the Ascension, it is even more so. Going further we face, other questions." "What led to these changes? What are the mechanics behind the Ascension? Is it possible to evade it?" "How are our powers related to our souls? Why are they so different? Is it possible to have more than a single type of power?" "Are humans the only one''s possessing and awakening their souls? What are those alien species that we are coming in contact with? Are we even in the same Universe? If yes, then why have we not met these alien species before?" At this point, the trio had reached the end of the hallways. Blocking their path was a large, mechanical door. Illya neared the door and input a password. She then placed her eye on the scanner, which confirmed her identity. "Welcome back, Miss Illya." a mechanical voice spoke. Had Lucius been here, he would have immediately identified the sound of that voice. It was Iris. The Snowden Corporation''s Main AI. The one which had assisted him in Reyna''s lab. Just as Alex was still wondering about these questions, Illya turned around and faced him. Wearing a confident smile on her face, she continued. "And I''m aiming to change that! Your duty in coming here is to help me, as we comprehend the answers to these questions!" her eyes shone with excitement. Hearing her words, Alex became stunned. An awkward smile formed on his face, as he spoke. "You are familiar with me Illya. I have no proficiency in these matters. My strength lies in combat and with the military? Why was I sent to a research division?" Seemingly having expected this question, Illya answered with a bitter smile. "To be honest, we had no choice. Although you performed an exemplary deed, in saving multiple bases, it wasn''t without any losses. The opposition attacked you using this point and demanded your position be revoked. Not only that they also tried to frame you for incompetence and requested for you to be punished. Even my father was helpless against it." "After some negotiation, the opposition came to a compromise. In exchange for revoking your position, they would no longer pursue this matter. In addition, you will have to be sidelined and prevented from participating in any military activity. Miss Anya is here to ensure that." Anya did not deny it and nodded her head. "However, what they did not expect was how much influence you managed to gain amongst the soldiers. The influence of the Hellwig family is simply frightening." Illya spoke in awe. "This resulted in the opposition, mainly that APF becoming displeased. They are worried that you might refuse to obey your commands and would stubbornly hold your position. In fact, they might not hesitate to permanently remove you. Of course, this action carries enormous risks." "We cannot risk the situation of the soldiers losing their morale due to your death. As such to protect you, father had you sent to assist me here in my research while placing you under supervision." Hearing the truth from Illya, Alex stood stiffly for a few minutes. Shock, rage, indignation, and other complex emotions passed within his mind. ''We should be focused on facing the enemy, not be fighting amongst ourselves! Why can they not understand this basic fact?!'' Alex simply could not understand. Although Alex had rapidly matured during these past few months, he still failed to understand the motives of these politicians. The concept of competition for benefits was still foreign to the young Alex. Seeing the various expressions flash through Alex''s face, Illya and Anya chose not to interrupt him. After a few minutes, Alex''s mind finally calmed. He closed his eyes and reopened them after a few seconds. At this moment, something seemed to have changed within his gaze. "These people are vastly underestimating the danger of this situation. Fighting for benefits even before our safety is assured. How can they be so foolish?" he spoke in a deep voice. "To speak the truth, Deatov was the only planet where a Peak Level Stage 1 being had personally moved to attack. The other planets had faced a much lower threat. The only reason we even faced such losses was due to being caught unprepared." Illya replied. "While you have given such serious warnings about the ordeals, the Alliance is very confident in facing it with its current strength. They are completely assured of their victory." she seriously continued. Hearing her, Alex felt angered and exclaimed. "But this is only the beginning! The Ordeals will become much harsher!" Lucius'' parting words flashed through his mind. "According to you, that is. But there is no concrete evidence to support your claims." Illya rebuked. Facing her response, Alex was tongue-tied. He could not refute her statement. Alex''s information came from Ka''lor''ah and Lucius. With both of them absent, he really did have no evidence to support his claims. While he was confident of his claims, according to the Alliance it was simply being pessimistic. Hell, his opponents within the Alliance might even use his warnings to further attack him! "But I believe your words! With the powers I have awakened, I have this feeling that mankind will face great danger!" "That is why I''m trying to complete my research. With a better understanding of the Ascension, we will have sufficient proof to convince the others! And with your help, the research will progress even faster!" Illya reached out her hand towards Alex. Staring into his eyes, she spoke. "Help me, Alex. Let''s save mankind together!" her eyes brimmed with confidence and excitement. Facing such fervor, Alex was also convinced. A smile formed on his face, as he reached out and grabbed her hand. "Together." ----------------- Meanwhile in an undisclosed location. A large group consisting of hundreds of people, joined their hands together as they formed multiple concentric circles around a stone altar. Their bodies swayed in a strange rhythmic pattern, as their mouths chanted incomprehensible hymns. All of these people wore golden robes, that covered the entirety of their bodies. Hoods covered their heads and their faces were hidden within the dark shadows. However, one could still guess their genders, seeing their body outlines. An equal amount of men and women were present on the scene, with a few children also mixed with the ground. Candles were lit and evenly placed upon the ground forming lines and patterns. A faint white mist hung within the air, forming greyish-white clouds covering the entire room. Time continued to pass as the movements of the people dancing, became faster and faster. Their voices also became louder and smoother. The mist also became thicker, as the people seemed to grow increasingly entranced. It was at this moment, that the person group dancing at the very center of this large group suddenly stopped his movement. He immediately kneeled down and started to kowtow facing the altar in the center. The stone altar at the center suddenly underwent a change. The sound of a small explosion was heard and bright golden light flashed from atop the altar. In an instant, golden light filled the entirety of the room. Seeing this light, the others within the room immediately stopped their dance and fell to their knees. They continuously slammed their heads on the stone floor as they sang praises in revelation. "O'' Great One! The Ruler of Destiny! The Controller of Fate! The Forevermore!" "You are the Great Emperor of All! The Immortal One!" "Grace us with Your presence and guide us to our true fate!" The voices grew louder and more synchronized with the passage of time. The golden light shone like the sun and grew brighter. The scene lasted for a few moments, after which the golden light suddenly retreated into the altar and disappeared. Darkness returned, with faint illumination being provided by the candles present on the ground. The worshippers did not move and continued to kneel while facing the ground. None dared to move. It was then that the person closest to the altar suddenly stood up and laughed while facing the sky. "AHAHA! Your servant understands your wishes!" He then turned to face the kneeling worshippers and spoke in a resounding voice. "Hear my words, fellow brothers and sisters! For the Ruler of Destiny has spoken!" "His Eminence has provided his believers with a mission!" His eyes shone with crazed fervor as he continued. "Mankind has strayed from its true fate and escaped the hands of destiny!" "It is following a path that leads it further away from His Lordship!" "But do not worry! For He is the kindest and most benevolent ruler!" " ''Guide them to me, my children. Save them from suffering. Show them the path to my sanctuary, for salvation lies within!'' " "This is the mission provided to us, his children to complete! And we shall not fail Him!" "Sors Fides!" the man roared. "Sors Fides!" "Sors Fides!" "Sors Fides!" The crowd of believers chanted in unison. Chapter 138: Conflicting Opinions. Inside one of the waiting rooms in the Central Research Facility. "Thank you so much for the tea, Edmonds." Illya kindly said. The bald, pleasant-looking young man smiled lightly and nodded his head. He then turned towards Alex and offered him a cup. Receiving the cup, Alex politely replied. "Thank you very much." Edmonds repeated his actions to Anya. After which he performed a salutatory bow and left the room. Upon his leaving, Illya casually asked. "What do you think about Edmonds?" her tone seemed to hide a hint of mystery within. Hearing this question, Alex directly replied. "Very weird." Thinking for a bit, he then continued. "Something seems to be ''off'' about him. I''m not sure how to describe this feeling. It''s like he''s not... alive?" Alex''s tone grew confused as he tried to explain his feeling. Anya nodded her head in affirmation of his words. She had also felt a similar feeling. When Alex had met Edmonds for the first time, he did not notice the peculiarity of the other party. Other than seeming a bit stiff and awkward, Edmonds was just like any other person. However, as Alex continued to interact with him, he started to discover some abnormal points. Firstly, each of Edmonds'' movements was exactly the same! The measure of his steps, the swing of his arms, and so on. Secondly, his words had an unnatural feel to them. There seemed to be no variety in his emotions, whenever he spoke. This was the reason, Alex had inwardly thought Edmonds to be a robot. A computer-programmed life. However, his mind instantly shot down his thought because he could feel the faint soul-power flowing within Edmonds'' body. A robot having a soul? That just makes no sense! Or so was Alex''s thoughts a few seconds ago. "Indeed. Both of you are very sharp as expected. Edmonds is not human." "He''s an artificial lifeform. In other words a living robot." Illya smugly said. "What?!" Alex and Anya were shocked. They almost dropped the teacup in their hands. Seeing their reactions, Illya felt a tremendous sense of satisfaction. The smile on her face grew, as she continued. "Edmonds is the product of our research team. To be precise, he is Reyna''s personal creation. He is a completely mechanical being who possesses a soul, thanks to Reyna''s soul power." "While he can control and use his soul power, he is not able to cultivate it at present. His power level is stuck at Low-Level Stage 1, with no hope for improvement. Still, it''s an amazing breakthrough in technology. It goes to show that we are making rapid progress." she sighed in admiration. "Reyna is also here?! Why haven''t I seen her?" Alex asked. "Oh, yes. She is also part of our research team. However, she isn''t here." Illya honestly replied. Her eyebrows furrowed in worry as she continued. "Ever since she returned to Earth after the Ascension, she locked herself in her lab, over at the Snowden Building. She doesn''t meet with anyone and is continuously pumping out one technology after another." Hearing her words, Alex also grew worried. Other than worry, he also felt anger and helplessness. ''It''s that bastard''s fault! Sigh, but I can''t do anything either. Reyna is also being too stubborn.'' Alex rubbed his forehead in worry. Seeing his reaction, Illya softly spoke up in comfort. "You don''t have to worry too much. She isn''t being forced or anything, but rather willingly doing this. Even her father is helpless against her behavior." Seeing her concern, Alex smiled and nodded his head. "She can be very obstinate at times. She just requires time to accept somethings," he replied. Illya did not fully understand his words but nodded her head in response. "Wait a second. We are going off-topic here. We are able to create beings like Edmonds? What is their combat capability and what is their rate production?" Anya asked as her eyes shone in curiosity. Looking at this reaction, Illya laughed lightly before replying. "I understand the military''s interest in this aspect. Unfortunately, however, we can only make a single Edmond, every 4 months. Most importantly, Miss Reyna''s personal involvement and soul power are required during the process." "As for their combat capability, they are only better than an average citizen. They are born with the intelligence of a newborn and have to be taught from scratch. However, their learning speed is quite high. It only took Edmonds 2 months to reach where he is currently." "Oh. That''s a pity." Anya said in disappointment. If artificial beings like Edmonds could be mass-produced, then the number of human soldiers losing their lives could be greatly reduced. However, Illya''s words put an end to that fantasy. Facing Anya''s disappointment, Illya calmly spoke. "However, I have to mention Miss Anya. While Edmonds might have been artificially created, he is still a legitimate living being. A being with thoughts and emotions. Raising him only for the act of war is unethical." her tone was very serious and harsh. Anya''s eyes shrunk, as she calmly retorted. "I understand your view, Miss Illya. But if I had to choose between sacrificing a human soldier and an artificial being. I would sacrifice the latter with no hesitation. If such beings could be mass-produced, then many lives can be saved. How can a hunk of metal be compared to human life?" "I will have to disagree with that. What makes humans live superior to the rest? Do they not have the same intelligence and emotions, as humans? Aren''t humans capable of being mass-produced too? We certainly have the technology to do that." "We simply chose not to, because it''s highly unethical and against our moral standards. What made you think, it''s okay for the artificial beings to be raised for slaughter? Aren''t you being a little hypocritical?" Illya sharply replied. As a scientist and as one of the people involved with the creation of Edmonds, she found Anya''s words to be very offensive. Think about it. If someones were to say, that a certain of humans, or perhaps someone''s children, could be raised for the sole purpose of war and sacrifice, would the others agree? Clearly. Edmonds wasn''t a non-living machine or a mindless beast. He was just as human as the other humans. He possessed a soul, had emotions, empathy, and other essential factors that made humans, human. Artificial beings weren''t like pigs which were raised for slaughter, but individual, intelligent beings, perhaps even better than humans. "Oh?" Anya''s brows furrowed, as she heard Illya''s retort which was offensive in nature. A sense of anger rose within her. However, just as quickly as the anger had appeared, it also disappeared. Anya wasn''t foolish enough to directly antagonize the Alliance Head''s daughter. She was brave, not stupid. Getting up from her seat, Anya performed a bow and apologized. "I apologize, Miss Illya, that was very rude of me." however, it was clear from her tone that she had not meant it. "It''s good if you can understand that," Illya replied, not hiding her dissatisfaction. Seeing the atmosphere within the room rapidly turn sour, Alex immediately got up and clapped his hands. "Illya, why don''t you show us around and introduce me to the other research members" he spoke quickly, obviously trying to change the topic. Of course, Illya was smart enough to understand this and nodded her head. "Please follow me." ---------------- As Alex followed behind Illya, he intentionally slowed down his steps and neared Anya. Illya who noticed this said nothing and continued to lead in the front. Coming close to Anya, he softly spoke. "That wasn''t very smart of you." Hearing his words, Anya merely snorted in response and did not reply. Seeing her like this, Alex sighed. ''Why am I surrounded by such troublesome people?'' just as Alex was seriously wondering, Illya''s voice woke him from his thoughts. "To the left, you can see the Ability Testing Room. This is where your abilities are tested and measured." her voice had once again turned polite, as she pointed towards the room on the side. A glass door revealed the contents of the room. Gaint metal machines, affixed with hundreds of tables lay silently, giving off a cold, mechanical aura. There were some metallic testing dummies, a punching unit, a treadmill-like-object, a glass pod filled with a green-liquid, and much more. "We will be testing and recording your abilities tomorrow." Illya casually revealed, while looking towards Alex with a smile. Facing her ''saint-like'' smile, Alex involuntarily felt scared. Looking towards the numerous metallic needles lying on the floor connected to multiple cables, Alex realized something. ''Maybe saving mankind, isn''t what I thought it would be.'' he inwardly felt worried about his near-future as a lab rat. Just as Illya was about to tease him further, an assistant wearing a lab coat arrived towards the group. Facing Illya, he spoke. "Leader, the Ascension is about to start in the Outer-Rim planets. The data-feed has been established." "Understood", Illya replied and turned around to face Alex. "Let''s go and see how the ''new'' Head of Military, is going to handle the situation." Chapter 139: Shock. Following Illya''s assistant, the trio quickly arrived at a large room. The insides of the room were occupied by multiple screens and monitors, each seemingly recording certain information. Assistants similar to the ones who had guided the group previously stood before the monitors and were performing their duties. At the very center of the room, was a long table with a holographic projector built into it. Currently, it was projecting the figure of a stoic, middle-aged man. Seeing the middle-aged man, Illya spoke. "Greetings, General Eyler. I trust you had no problems while preparing our arrangements." her tone was serious and filled with anticipation. Hearing her words, the general quickly replied. "Greetings, Miss Roseberg. The process was quite smooth. There was no loss or damage to equipment during transport and no problems during set up either. You can rest assured." his eyes involuntarily darted to the person standing behind Illya. Seeing that person, the corner of Eyler''s mouth faintly twitched and slightly rose upwards in mockery. One could feel a sense of gloating in that smile. Alex, who was the recipient of this humiliation did not reply but merely snorted in response. He understood that there was no point in getting into a verbal battle with Eyler, especially since the other party had the advantage. "Then I''m glad. Thank you for your effort, General." Illya replied. "For the people!" Eyler responded with the APF''s trademark line. After he said so, his projection disappeared on the table. The call was ended. Illya then turned to her assistant and spoke. "Show me the input from the cameras set up in the field. Construct the 3D field." The assistant nodded his head and quickly got to it. Within a few minutes, the table in the center of the room once again lit up. This time, however, the scene projected was different. In outer space, small dots of light surrounded a large crescent-shaped body of light. This crescent-shaped light figure floated in front of a large blue-sphere, which represented the planet that was undergoing Ascension. "Zoom in," Illya ordered The scene rapidly moved, as the dots of light rapidly grew in size. Looking closer, each dot was actually an individual combat spacecraft. Counting the numbers there were hundreds of such ships, each part of a larger formation. The large crescent-shaped, body of light which was being surrounded by the smaller spacecraft was the Alliance mothership, in-charge of this operation. It was from inside this ship, that Eyler had spoken from earlier. Illya intently observed the scene to ensure that each camera was properly function and that the data values being recorded were correct. Right now, thousands of miniature cameras, floated in space while surrounding this battle-field. Images and data were being sent in real-time, which was then processed to create this virtual scene. In other, the scene that Alex was currently seeing that the live projection of the battlefield. Although he had heard of this method before, this was the first time Alex was personally seeing it being used. As such, he was full of astonishment. ''Every single object present in the camera''s FOV is being recorded and replicated here in this projection. It''s simply amazing!'' After making sure that there was no significant problem, Illya nodded her head and instructed. "This is fine, show me the images on the ground.", upon her instruction the scene changed once more. This time, light projected to form the flat ground, with small mounds equipped with anti-aerial turrents. Temporary watch towers, metallic walls, and other defensive constructs were also seen, which were occupied by light figures of humans. These were the Alliance soldiers, who were protecting the planet from the ground. Behind the walls, was an encampment which was filled with the original inhabitants of the planet. The cities and human bases were evacuated and the people were relocated to this encampment, where they could be protected by the soldiers. The Alliance had decided not to evacuate these people from this planet and had them temporarily relocated to such encampments, the reason being...there was no point in doing so. Every planet which was occupied by humans was inevitably about to undergo the Ascension. As for planets that did not have humans, the Ascension did not occur. This fact was confirmed by the Alliance scientist, Illya''s team to be exact. As such, rather than wasting their precious time and resources moving the people, the Alliance decided to gather the people together and have the soldiers protect them on the same planet. This would ensure that every human would undergo Ascension, with the loss in life being low. Similar to the previously projected time, Illya once again carefully observed the images. This time, however, Alex found something interesting. Pointing to one of the light figures, he curiously asked."What are those metallic barrels carried by these soldiers?" Illya faintly chuckled and replied with a question of her own. "Did you observe the soldiers who were stationed outside this building when you entered it?" "Yes...right! I saw some of them carrying something similar!" Alex slapped his forehead in realization. "It''s precisely those things. As for what they are called Neutralizers." she chuckled for a second before continuing. "They are one of the latest products of our research on soul energy. They have the ability to neutralize soul power." Hearing her words, Alex was shocked. An object which can neutralize soul power. What did this mean? It meant that the abilities of awakened beings could be nullified! Without the assistance of soul power, what was the difference between a Stage 1 being and a normal person? Nothing! "This?! How is this possible?" Alex asked in disbelief. "Now do you understand why the Alliance is so confident in dealing with the Ascension. With such a tool in play, the advantage of the opponents is nullified." "Why wasn''t I provided with one of these, when I was sent for reinforcement?" Alex turned towards Illya and questioned. "Well... the official reason is that they weren''t ready. But I believe that you are smart enough to understand the real reason." Illya answered with a bitter smile. Indeed, Alex could understand. This was a ploy by the opposition to intentionally suppress him. Clenching his fists in anger, Alex thought to himself. ''If I had these back then, I could have arrived sooner!'' he felt deep remorse and guilt. Alas, the past could not be changed. It was at this moment, that Illya''s words interrupted Alex from his thoughts. "It''s starting." Lifting his head, Alex intently stared at the live images being projected on the table. The golden rocks had arrived and the Ascension was starting. It was then... "WHAT?!" "HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!" "IMPOS--!!" Screams of astonishment and disbelief were heard within the room. Everyone''s eyes had fully expanded and their jaws dropped in bewilderment. A multitude of emotions rapidly crossed their minds, chief of which was... Fear and Shock. ''What is happening?!'' Alex simply couldn''t believe what he was seeing. The Ascension had arrived. However, it was completely different from what he had faced earlier. ------------------ Aboard a lone spaceship floating across the dark, infinite expanse of space. "Haah!" with a fierce scream, Olivia kicked towards Lucius'' stationary body. Her long, slender leg cut across the air with a sharp sound and headed towards Lucius'' body. Judging from the sound produced by the wind, one could estimate the amount of power launched behind that attack. Seeing this attack come towards him, Lucius'' face remained calm and expressionless. There wasn''t a single ripple in his deep black eyes, as he calmly watched her movement and analyzed it. Without moving his body, Lucius gave a mental command. Darkness exploded beneath his feet and multiple pitch-black tentacles exited from the Void. Under Lucius'' meticulous control, they rapidly headed towards Olivia''s body. Two of the tentacles slithered onto her leg and immediately grabbed them. The force behind the kick was absorbed by the tentacles and her movements were forcibly negated. The other two tentacles headed towards her body and struck her. ''Crap.'' Lucius suddenly cursed. He had suddenly lost control over the last two tentacles. Being free from his control, the tentacles struck Olivia with their full might. The full force of the attack was transferred onto Olivia''s unguarded body. The sound of bones breaking was heard, as Olivia''s body flew back. She spat a mouthful of blood and an intense amount of pain and dizziness struck her mind. Gritting her teeth, she forcibly held her consciousness from passing out. BANG! Olivia''s body slammed into the wall and slowly slid down. Another mouthful of blood was spat out, as she felt her right arm is immobilized. Lucius on the other hand canceled his skill and fell to the ground while tightly clutching onto his head. That earlier loss of control wasn''t intentional. At the final moment, Lucius'' mind was attacked by an intense desire for hunger, as a result of which he had lost control over his [Void Hands]. Raising his head, Lucius let out a soundless scream. His eyes faintly changed in color and his skin showed signs of turning grey. A look of madness appeared on his face. However, Lucius forcibly held back his desire and suppressed his instincts. A few minutes passed and the madness in his eyes disappeared. His face regained its expressionless state and his eyes were once again indifferent. Getting back up, he walked towards Olivia and spoke. "Your movements are too wide and unnecessary. Your attacks lack sharpness and the intent to kill." he approached her body and placed his hands on her chest. Feeling the broken bones and torn muscles, he infused his soul power and healed her. The pain slowly receded from Olivia''s mind. Her eyes which were tightly closed eased up and finally opened up to reveal of pair of enchanting violet. Her pale face held a serious expression as she pondered about Lucius'' advice. Having finished his healing, Lucius stood up and walked to the center of the room. With an expressionless face, he ordered. "Again." Chapter 140: To Kill. Hearing his instruction, Olivia silently stood up. Moving her body, sharp bursts of pain were felt from the side of her chest, which made her clench her teeth. Ignoring the pain, she moved her body making a combat stance. Extending her hand, Olivia could feel her right arm to be a little stiff. That earlier attack had contained the entirety of Lucius'' physical strength minus his soul power. If not for Olivia''s newly advanced Peak-Level Stage 1 soul power, buffing her physique, she might have lost her entire arm and quite possibly her life in that clash! Seeing her approach, Lucius nodded his head and started to speak. "Your mind is restricting your attacks, holding back your strength. Remember, each attack must carry the intent to kill. If not for the purpose of killing, why bother attacking in the first place?" his tone was absent of any emotions. Olivia nodded her head and sucked in a mouthful of air. The gaze in her eyes sharpened as she stabbed her palm towards Lucius'' eyes. A faint layer of violet light coated her palm as it effortlessly cut through the air. "Better. But is too wasteful in movement." Lucius indicated. He took a single step forward and slanted his head at a 30¡ã angle. Olivia''s attack barely grazed across his throat. Having missed her first attack, she was not disheartened. She immediately swung her hand diagonally and attacked him at this new position. This time, Olivia also took a step forward and entered into Lucius'' maai, and closed the distance between their bodies. Immediately, she started her next set of attacks. A furious flurry of punches and kicks containing the majority of her power was sent towards Lucius. Olivia held nothing back and was going all-out! Left punch, right hook, stepping forwards, a roundhouse kick, immediately dropping on the floor and a sweeping out with her legs, a series of attacks each chained together with the previous one was sent out towards Lucius. She kept this distance between them short, while not providing a chance for Lucius to counter-attack. However, not a single on connected. Using the most minimal amount of effort and movement possible, Lucius evaded every single attack. His face remained impassive and his eyes resembled deep, dark wells. ''Dammit! This is not working.'' Olivia cursed in her mind. ''I need to do something different and catch him off guard.'' In just a few dozen seconds, Olivia had exchanged almost a hundred attacks. A hundred attacks! It was an enormous amount of actions to be performed in such a short instance of time. A feat that would have been previously considered impossible to perform, by the human body. One''s bones and muscles simply weren''t strong and flexible enough. This was an act that had defied physical limitations. However, such a thing was now possible! With the enhancement and protection provided by soul power, such inhuman acts were now entirely possible. Even a Mid-Level Stage 1 being could perform such a feat, provided one has sufficient training. Not to mention, Olivia was now a Peak-Level Stage 1 being. ''A chance!'' just as Olivia had dished out an upper-cut, she noticed a flaw in Lucius'' actions. With zero hesitation, she immediately moved. Exploding the soul power near her feet, her body instantly dashed forward and neared Lucius. The distance between her body and Lucius'', was now at less than 30cm. Drawing out and condensing the entirety of her soul power into her fists, she punched out towards Lucius'' throat. At this distance, Olivia''s body had already broken through Lucius'' maai. Without taking a step backward, it was impossible for him to move his hands to block this attack. If he stepped back another flaw would form in his actions. Dodging this attack at such a close range was also nearly impossible. This was precisely the situation that Olivia was aiming for. By having rapidly closed the distance between them, she made an attack that contained her entire strength, while denying Lucius the opportunity to counter-attack. In other words, this was a sure-hit attack. However, Lucius was someone who did not adhere to common sense. Watching the slender white fist, surrounded with condensed violet soul power rapidly approaching his throat, a sense of danger and death filled Lucius'' mind. However, facing this attack, Lucius smiled. "Good...." he gave a rare praise, his left eye suddenly turned crimson at this instant. Instantly, Lucius'' vision was replaced with a multitude of white and a few red lines. [Flaw Detection] was activated. With an action that could simply be described as '' a movement that would resemble flowing water'', he evaded Olivia''s attack at point-blank range. With a minor flick of his arms, he used his right elbow and slammed into Olivia''s stomach. The soul power in her hand immediately dispersed and her body collapsed onto the ground. This was his first attack in this battle. An attack that carried none of his soul power or void energy. It was a purely physical attack. However, just this single attack was enough to decide the victor. "However, your opponent is me." he finished his earlier sentence. He impassively watched, as Olivia painfully writhed on the ground. turning backward, he walked towards the bench at the corner of the room and sat on it. Closing his eyes, he spoke. "Your attacks are too rigid and lacking in creativity. You have to remember that one''s entire body is a weapon." "Closing that distance between our bodies in that final attack had prevented me from using my hands and my legs. However, I don''t need my hands to attack. Using my elbow, head, chest, any of these parts can serve to attack." "Going further, I can use my teeth to tear apart your throat. Or perhaps, slam my head into your face. The only limit is your creativity. If you want to kill, there are numerous ways to do so." He then opened his eyes and looked towards Olivia. Seeing her eyes looking towards him and her face having a ponderous expression, Lucius asked. "Why do you think, a person or a living being fights?" it was a question that seemed random, yet profound. Olivia pondered for a few seconds and hesitantly answered. "To achieve victory?" Lucius shook his head and replied. "Wrong. It is to survive." His expressionless face turned serious at this moment, as he continued. "Combat is the most direct form of ''conflict'' between two living things. Conflict in its essence is the basis for progression. Without conflict, there can be no progress. And to win this conflict means survival." "To survive means to kill." when Lucius spoke this sentence, his body leaked an enormous amount of killing intent. For a second, Olivia felt her surroundings freeze, as she herself felt her body intensely tremble in fear. This feeling lasted for less than a second before it vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. "Only by having the intent to ''kill'' will you be able to progress. Understand?" he raised his head and looked directly into Olivia''s eyes. Olivia''s deep violet eyes trembled for a moment before a look of resolve appeared within them. Her gaze was now steadfast and resolute. "Understood! To fight is to survive. And to survive means to kill." her tone was deep and the intent behind it was serious. In fact, the moment she had said those words, Lucius could faintly detect some killing intent. A smile appeared on his handsome face. Nodding his head he said. "Our training shall end here today." Saying so, Lucius directly stood up and left. ----------------- Almost six months had passed since Lucius had left the ice planet. After gaining a troop of undying soldiers and unexpectedly discovering Olivia''s connection with one of the ''keys'' required for his plan, he had left towards the ''Neutral Zone''. During this time, he had also finally recognized Olivia''s worth and had started to wholeheartedly train her. Fighting techniques, Soul power manipulation techniques, battle experience, combat insight, piece by piece he built a warrior. During this time he had also trained her soul power to Peak-Level and had begun to impart his [Killer] ideology to Olivia. To fight is to survive. And to survive means to kill. This was Lucius'' understanding of the [Killer]. Seeing Olivia grasp and accept this concept, naturally made him satisfied. Lucius had also used this time to further train his racial skills and abilities. He also started to experiment on [Annihilation Energy] which seemed to hold the clue to his advancement. However, with Ka''lor''ah being in a deep slumber, he did not make significant progress just yet. What had to mentioned was that Lucius had started to feel increasingly hungry with the passage of time. Before he had left the ice planet, he had made sure to kill some of the ''mammoth-like'' beings and bring their meat to the spaceship. While this had solved the need for food for both of them, Lucius had noticed that his body seemed to increasingly feel hungry, the more he ate. This seemed to be the flaw of the Void Eater. With his increased consumption, they had run out of food three days ago. Without any sustenance, Lucius had started to slowly lose control, like during his battle with Olivia. ''If I don''t eat, I will lose myself to hunger and die. However, the more I eat, the more hungry I feel.'' this was his conclusion on his current state. However. the shortage of food wasn''t their worst problem currently. Chapter 141: Neutral Zone. The biggest problem that Lucius was facing right now wasn''t the lack of food, but the lack of fuel. That''s right. The spaceship, which Lucius was currently aboard had no fuel remaining. In fact, the last of the fuel cells were depleted 8 days ago. Since then, the spaceship had been freely floating through space, with no possible way to control its movement or direction. ''Thankfully, we are almost at the Neutral Zone. If the ship is to maintain its current course, we will reach there in a month.'' Lucius thought about it, as he stared at the navigation system in the control room. The panel which was showing their current amount of fuel was blinking with a red light, reminding him of the depleted fuel cells. Thankfully, the system that maintained the oxygen and pressure inside the vessel was still functioning optimally. Thinking about it, it wasn''t surprising for the spaceship to run out of fuel. Apart from the time, it was fueled at Deatov, he had never refueled it again. As such, the fact that the fuel had lasted for almost a year''s worth of time spoke volumes about the energy technology of mankind. Seeing that there was no problem with the ship''s current course, Lucius returned to his room. Inside his room were a single bed, a desk, a bookshelf above the desk a door that leads to the bathroom on the right, and a mini wardrobe that held his items, such as his clothes, the scythe, etc. Atop his bed was a faintly glowing golden crystal that floated in the air. It pulsed with alternating shades of brightness and darkness, periodically. Looking at this, Lucius sighed. ''Ka''lor''ah had yet to wake up. Seems like the price paid for setting up the formation to capture 23 of the Forgotten, depleted her essence by a large amount.'' ''Shame. I was hoping to have some help in deducing my advancement condition.'' He shook his head. Walking up to the bed, he atop the mattress cross-legged. Closing his eyes, Lucius sunk his consciousness into his mindspace. The scene inside his mindspace was completely different when compared to when he was in Deatov. At the center of the all-encompassing darkness, stood a vague, humanoid figure. It was pitch black in color, with threads of red and white highlighting its figure. Clouds of soul power surrounded the figure, making it indiscernible and hazy. Controlling his consciousness, Lucius flew through the clouds of soul energy and approached the figure. Unlike how it had resembled flowing water previously, Lucius'' soul had now completely solidified. The soul and clouds of soul power, resembled polished marble, as they ripped with energy and solidarity. During this period of time aboard the spaceship, Lucius had not slacked in his cultivation. His unceasing efforts had led to a steady accumulation that had resulted in the soul''s current form. His soul had completely condensed and was at the very top of Peak Level Stage 1. It was impossible for the soul to accumulate or condense any further. What this meant was that, unless Lucius completed his advancement condition and elevated his soul to Stage 2, it was impossible for him to grow in strength. ''To protect myself in the Neutral Zone, a minimum of Stage 2 cultivation is required.'' Lucius recalled his memories of the Neutral Zone, that he had experienced in his previous life. The Neutral Zone was exactly as the name implied. It was a neutral territory where members belonging to a variety of races lived and mingled. Members of races that belong to both the [Good] and [Evil] faction of the Universe, were present here. The [Good] and [Evil] factions presented the division of order in the Universe. Each faction was led by a Primordial Race. The [Good] faction was led by the {Heavenly Sovereigns}. While the [Evil] faction was led by the [Abyssal Rulers]. These two races represented the absolute peak of the Universe and ruled over 70% of its territory. For some unknown reason, both the races abhorred the existence of the other. They were constantly at war with each other and wouldn''t rest until the other was completely wiped from existence. This unresolvable hatred led to the [Good] and [Evil] factions also being at odds with each other. In planets controlled by the [Good] faction, members of the [Evil] faction were hunted and killed without mercy. And in planets controlled by the [Evil] faction, it was vice-versa. However, this rule was not absolute. With the Universe being almost infinitely large, not all territories were under the control of the [Good] and [Evil] faction. Some territories were controlled by powerful individuals or races, who disliked to participate in this mindless war or were simply too far away to be controlled by either of these factions. These territories were commonly called Neutral Zones. The planet that Lucius was currently heading towards was one such planet. It was situated on the fringes of the Western Territory which was controlled by the [Good] faction. As such, there were no significant conflicts between the members of the opposing factions and remained was therefore Neural. The next phase of Lucius'' plan was to increase his strength to Stage 3. Only after reaching this stage would Luicus possess enough strength to move with sufficient freedom through the Universe. Stage 3 was the threshold that separated the weak from the strong. Reaching this level meant one possessed sufficient strength to protect oneself and roam the Universe. ''When I arrived at the Neutral Zone in my previous life, mankind had failed in its Ascension and was thoroughly annihilated. I was the only survivor.'' ''Being alone and without any support or guidance, I was like a lone traveller, lost within a desert '' My strength was also similar to now, being only at Peak Level Stage 1.'' ''I was almost 50 years old and had already lost much of my youth. The next decade was filled with an inestimable amount of hardship and suffering. Being weak I was unable to protect myself and was repeatedly bullied and trashed by the Stage 2 beings.'' ''Fortunately, [Killer] is a relatively common soul type. After a tremendous amount of effort and sacrifice, I was able to advance to Stage 2, finally possessing enough strength to fight back.'' Lucius''s indifferent eyes stared at his fists, Clenching and unclenching his fists, he thought. ''Alas, this time I do not have the time I passed in my previous life. I have less than 3 years before the next phase of the plan must begin.'' ''Three years to reach Stage 3, in a soul without any precedence. Once again, I do not have any guidance and have to tread a path that I have never walked before.'' there wasn''t a single flicker of emotion within his eyes. ''What a bother.'' he sighed and shook his head. Closing his eyes, he started to silently refine his soul power. ----------------- Next day, Combat Training room. Lucius stared at the black-haired violet-eyed beauty standing in front of him. With a bland voice, he asked. "Have you decided which style you want to follow?" Hearing his question, Olivia nodded her head. With a resolute voice, she replied. "Spellblade." her bright eyes shone with anticipation and excitement. Lucius simply nodded his head at her reply. He wasn''t surprised for he had expected this answer. "Spellblade refers to the style, which infuses their magic spells into their fighting style. People who usually possess the [War Priest] or [Light Paladin], [Chaos Fiends] or [Spectral Warrior] soul type follow this style." "You, however, possess the [Soul Supperssor]. A soul type that has no precedence." "Your spells comprise mostly of mental-type attacks, while your soul power has the property of buffing your physique. Being a back-liner or a pure spellcaster is a waste of your power." "Being a Spellblade can allow you to maximize the abilities of your soul. Walk towards that bench and pick up your weapon," he instructed her. Olivia immediately complied and walked towards the bench. Wrapped within a black cloth was a long metallic longsword. Staring at the sword in admiration, she traced her fingers across its body before holding it by its hilt. Raising the weapon up into the air, Oliva gazed at it with an excited expression. ''He made this? For me? Pretty....'' she involuntarily thought to herself. ''Ah! Wake up, Olivia. This isn''t the time to be dreaming'' she shook her head. Walking back to her previous position, she awaited Lucius'' instruction. "Over the past few months, I have trained you in your close combat and soul power usage. Starting today, I will teach you the way of the sword." His expressionless face turned serious at this moment as Lucius continued. "Also remember, I will be teaching you the way to kill. Therefore do not hold back. Fight, like your life depended on it. Be hesitant in your actions and you will die!" he grimly reminded her. "A month remains before we reach our destination. And within this month, you will learn to kill." "Let us begin." the moment he said those words, Lucius disappeared from her vision. Chapter 142: An Explosive Arrival. Part 1 Seeing Lucius'' figure suddenly vanish, Olivia''s gaze sharpened and wary. This was the first time that Olivia had seen him use this move during their duels. ''Where is he?'' she thought to herself. "Your eyes can only see so much, never always rely on it." Lucius'' bland voice, sounded out from all around her. Hearing his advice, Olivia inhaled sharply. Closing her eyes, she spread out her soul power into the surroundings. She was trying to use her soul power to feel, Lucius'' presence. ''He is....Above me!!'' the very next second, Olivia felt a ripple in the air above her. Immediately moving her body, she rolled forwards. Slash! A white palm, infused with an overwhelming amount of soul power cut through the air, where she was previously standing. It cut through the empty air and disappeared once more. Olivia had escaped definite death, by a hairs-breadth. ''That was close.'' she thought in trepidation, her body faintly shaking from fear. Lucius was holding nothing back. "Is your weapon simply for show? Use it!" an indifferent voice bellowed. Olivia snapped out of her thoughts and quickly stood up. Slowing moving backward, she intently observed her surroundings. Holding the sword in her hand with a tense grip, she waited for Lucius'' attack. ''Lucius is using his [Void Step] skill. During the time of its activation, he is not present in this world but enters a special dimension. I cannot attack him during this time.'' she quickly analyzed. Over the past few months, Olivia''s combat experience had undergone a huge change. Under Lucius'' personal guidance and adding onto her personal talent, she had rapidly matured as a fighter. ''However, there is some issue with him over these past few days. He doesn''t seem to be able to control his abilities perfectly. Therefore, to win, I must simply draw out the time and exhaust him.'' A brilliant light shone within her eyes. With a proper battle strategy in her mind, she started to move. Her mind was completely focused on her surroundings for she dared not to miss any signs of his attack. If she was to be distracted, she would definitely die. Olivia also did not dare to remain in a single space. Taking short steps, she continued to move around the battlefield. Time kept ticking by and there was no movement from Lucius. A layer of sweat had formed atop Olivia''s brows and her clothes were entirely drenched, sticking to her body. Her hands finally shook in nervousness, as the pressure continued to build within her mind. ''Why isn''t he attacking?'' she wondered. In their battles before this, Lucius either continuously attacked forcing her to defend, or let her attack and continuously defended. This time, was obviously different. ''Come on! Where are you?!'' Panic started to appear within her heart. An enemy whom you can see wasn''t very scary. However, an enemy who doesn''t appear is one of the scariest. Just when the pressure within her mind reached a tipping point, Olivia suddenly felt the threat of death behind her. Her mind blanked in fear, but her body moved with instinct. Instantly making a clockwise turn, Olivia instinctively raised her hands holding the sword. At the very next instant, she felt an enormous amount of force hit her sword. CLANG! The sharp sound of metal clashing against metal was heard. By now, Olivia had already regained her senses and recognized the attack. Feeling the enormous weight pushing against her, she grit her teeth and held onto her sword. ''I cannot drop this!'' she constantly reminded herself. The sword was the only thing between her body and Lucius'' attack. Large amounts of violet-colored soul power were continuously pumped into her hands. However, the pressure from the other side did not seem to decrease. In fact, she started to feel the weight on her hands faintly increasing gradually. "AHHHH!" along with a fierce shout, Olivia''s eyes exploded with a bright violet radiance. Visible soul power started to manifest around her hands and slowly crept onto the sword. Inch by inch, a violet light covered the body of the sword, approaching all the way to the tip. A beam of sharp violet light shot off from the sword, towards her opponent. The very next second, Olivia felt the pressure and weight disappear. "Very good. You have learned to use blade energy." along with the disappearance of the force pressuring her, she heard an indifferent voice. Opening her clenched eyes, she stared at the figure standing before her. Just as she was about to ask him what was blade energy, Olivia felt her body rapidly lose power. Collapsing onto the ground, she was shocked to find that her soul power was completely exhausted. Lucius simply watched as Olivia fell to the ground. Looking at the expression of shock on her face, he continued. "Your control over your blade energy is very weak. That is why your soul power was completely exhausted," he explained. Slowly moving her mouth, Olivia questioned in a hoarse voice: "What is blade energy?" Hearing her question, Lucius did not reply. He walked towards her and picked up the metal sword from the ground. Holding it in his hand, he casually waved it. A curved, black blade of energy suddenly flew from the edge of the sword and hit the adjacent wall. Immediately, a deep scar formed atop the metallic wall. The blade of energy was so sharp that, it had almost cut all the way to the other side of the wall. Seeing this move, Olivia''s eyes widened in shock. She immediately turned silent. Lucius for his part also remained silent. Actually, this wasn''t the first time Lucius was using blade energy. He had used this move tens of dozens of times against the army of alien bugs. The sharp reddish-black blades of energy that shot from his scythe were a type of blade energy. "This is one of the basic moves of a Spellblade. By the end of this month, you will learn to use it with the same proficiency." Lucius instructed. "We shall end our session here. Once you recover your soul power, start practicing." saying so, Lucius immediately turned around and left. He obviously did not forget to leave behind the sword. Olivia laid on the floor with her arms spread out. Her mind kept replaying the scene of Lucius casually ''throwing'' that blade energy. ''That was....so cool! He was so cool! Ahh!!'' Olivia exclaimed in her mind. ''I need to learn this move quickly so that I can impress him!'' her eyes burned with the fires of motivation. ------------------- Meanwhile, Lucius was walking unsteadily back to his room. ''Dammit! The hunger within me is increasingly becoming severe!'' he clenched his fists, so tightly that his nails pierced into his skin and blood started to leak. ''I must stop using my racial skill. At this rate....'' ''NO!'' Lucius shook his head. ''How can I lose control over such a trivial desire?'' he raised his head and stared into the empty space before him. Biting his tongue, Lucius used the sharp pain to alert his mind: ''I control my power. Power does not control me. Mere hunger cannot stop me.'' Forcing himself to stand up straight, Lucius suppressed his hunger. With firm steady steps, he started to slowly walk forward. ---------------- Three more weeks passed similarly. Olivia''s control over her blade energy had improved by a large degree. Using it right now, she could continuously send out a dozen slashes. Her control over these blades of energy was also passable. Apart from this, she also started to practice sword swinging and slashing. Lucius had taught her the basics of the sword and guided her during her training. All sorts of basic sword movements and footwork were drilled into her body until it became an instinct. Though. their duels with each other had gradually begun to decrease, as Lucius found it harder and harder to control his desires. If it had been anyone else in his position, they would have long since lost themselves to their desires and turned into a mindless beast. However, Lucius'' will was not that easy to break. Still, the color of his eyes had started to change and his skin had also begun to slowly turn grey. His control over his void energy had also started becoming chaotic. He could faintly feel the ''Beserk'' state of the Void Eater taking over. During these past weeks, he had randomly attacked Olivia dozens of times. Fortunately, Olivia''s combat ability had improved by a large extent and she was able to fight back until Lucius regained control. Nevertheless, Lucius had to devour something. Suppressing his desire was only delaying the inevitable. He had to eat! Looking at the pale, shivering body of Lucius as he fiercely bit into his lips, Olivia felt a heart-wrenching pain. "Are you feeling better now?" she hesitantly asked. Other than being able to provide some verbal support, Olivia found herself helpless to act. She couldn''t ask Ka''lor''ah either, for the latter was still in slumber. She truly did not know what to do. ''No matter how hard I train. When it matters, I''m still useless!'' Olivia admonished herself. An indescribable feeling of guilt and loathe towards herself, filled her heart. Just as she was about to ask Lucius another question, a mechanical voice was heard through the ship''s speaker. {Target planet detected. Fuel cells insufficient for landing. Please brace yourself for impact} Chapter 143: An Explosive Arrival. Part 2 Inside the Greystone Valley in the planet of Pectorn. Two humanoid beings, one male and the other female walked through the stone-covered path, between the valley. Their facial features resembled that of humans, with a pair of sharp brows, a tall nose bridge, and a shaped chin. In fact, they could be considered to be very good-looking considering human aesthetic standards. However, what made them different from humans, was their scaly, golden-colored skin, and snake-like eyes. If one looked closely at the top of their head, now would notice a small white halo, floating above their golden hair. These two belonged to the race of {Bertar}. One of the most prosperous and widely spread races in the Universe and a branch of the {Heavenly Sovereings}. The Bertarians were born with a natural affinity to Light and Astral Element. They were one of the higher races(Grade 5) among the [Good] faction with a widely-renowned reputation. Walking through the stony path, the female Bertarian suddenly crouched down and picked a white petalled flower. "Brother, look! Won''t this be a nice present for Lord Father?", she turned around to face the male Bertarian and asked excitedly. Seeing the flower in her hand, the male Bertarian shook his head and sighed. "That won''t do Kara. We need to find something that''s more valuable and would be worthy of our Lord Father''s status. How could a random flower do as a present?" he explained with a light smile. "But-! Isn''t a present supposed to an object that is given to showcase the giver''s love? Look at this flower, it looks so pretty. I''m sure Lord Father would love it!" Kara retorted innocently. Seeing his younger sister behave like this, the male Bertarian gave a bitter smile. He then nodded his head: "Alright. We make this flower a part of your gift. It''s time to find mine!" He clenched his fist in resolution and started to walk forward. The younger girl carefully placed the flower inside her satchel and hopped behind her brother. "Say, brother. Why are we looking for a present in the wilderness, instead of getting one from a shop in the city?" she asked while blinking her large, beautiful eyes. The male Bertarian replied without looking back: "It''s because I want to be this present a surprise for Lord Father. If I buy something from the city, it would be all too easy for him to learn about it, as the Governor of the City." He then quickly turned around and continued with an impassionate voice. "Also! Isn''t it the spirit of a great man to be adventurous! Lord Father, always tells me to become an excellent man. How can I miss such an ideal opportunity to show him that?" He then pointed his finger at his sister and said with utmost seriousness. "Remember Kara. You must not mention the gift to anyone! Not even Mother. I want this to be a surprise for Lord Father. Promise?" he stretched his pinky. Kara similarly stretched her finger and hooked it with her brothers. With a cheery voice, she promised: "I promise!" "Haha! That''s good." the male Bertarian laughed in satisfaction. "Now, if we continue through his valley, we will reach..." just as he was about to continue, he was interrupted by the sound of an object tearing through the air. The duo immediately looked up and traced the sound in the air. With their superior vision, they were immediately able to spot a black metallic object falling in the air. "This--!" Kara''s eyes widened in shock. The boy was also surprised, but immediately laughed in excitement. "HAHA! It''s an object from the Beyond! My luck is too good!" he exclaimed. Although the Bertarian occupied a vast majority of the Universe, their race was simply too spread out and scattered. Most Bertarians who are not part of their colonized worlds, often lack support and technology. To compare in Earth standards, some Bertarian civilizations are like metropolitan cities, while others are like small undeveloped villages. The undeveloped races refer to outer space as the Beyond. Travel to other planets, especially from ones such as Pectorn which lied on the very fringe of the Universe, was usually impossible. This was because of the lack of advanced technology. Unless one possessed a strength of Stage 4 which allowed one to move through space, travel between planets was usually impossible. Of course, there also existed special methods such as mankind''s Spaceships or teleportation runes, and many more. Each developed race have their unique methods for interstellar travel. "According to my calculation, that object will crash approximately 20km to the West. Let''s go!" the male Bertarian rapidly deduced. Once he got the approximate destination, he ran at his full-speed. "Ah! Kiren, wait for me!" Kara exclaimed, before chasing behind him. In less than a second, the figures of both the siblings disappeared from the valley. Silence returned. ----------------- Kiren, the male Bertarian continued to run without pause. While running, he observed the rapidly approaching figure of his younger sister from the corner of his eyes. Seeing her speed, he was slightly astonished. ''Such speed! Looks like Kara is not far from completing her advancement into Stage 2. At this rate, she will only require another 6 months to catch up to my progress.'' Determination flashed through his eyes as he clenched his fists: ''I need to work harder!'' ''But first...'' he raised his head and looked at the newly formed crater. Just a few minutes earlier, the immensely large metallic object from the Beyond had crashed onto the planet. The degree of intensity with which the ground shook, had almost put Kiren who was a Low-Level Stage 2, off his balance. ''My luck is simply excellent. All objects from the beyond have immense value. In fact, I might even earn the praise of Lord Father!'' thinking about the honor and praise he would receive from his father, Kiren''s eyebrows curved in expectation. Approaching the edge of the crater, he slowed down his speed and stopped. Being the son of the City''s Governor, Kiren was trained from a young age. As such, when approaching the unknown he was not rash and was quite cautious. ''This is?...a metallic box?'' he thought as his eyes analyzed the metallic ''box'' lying in the center of the crater. "*Huff*, *Huff*. I...finally..caught up to you. You are too fast brother!" Kara complained as she panted. Regaining her breath, she then raised her head and looked at the crater. "Wow. What is that? It has created such a large crater." she exclaimed in surprise. "I don''t know. But we shall find out." Kiren said as he jumped into the crater. He had already spread his soul power into the surroundings to create a detection field. Maintaining vigilance, he carefully approached the body of the metallic object. ''Bright Vision'' he spoke within his mind. Instantly, soul power moved to his eyes and his golden eyes shone with a bright white light. The scene in front of his eyes became much more clearer and detailed. To put it into perspective, it was similar to a 144p video, enhanced into a 1080p video. The colors were brighter and the smaller details were much more clearer. "Woah! This is really big... and hot." Kara expressed. "Quiet!" Kiren suddenly instructed. His tone was serious. His gaze sharpened, as he felt movement in his detection field. At the side of the red-hot metallic object, he detected movement. An indent on its surface traced the edges of what seemed to be a door. Under his careful observation, Kiren noticed the metallic door opening. "Quick! Get behind me!" Kiren instructed his younger sister. The little girl''s face turned pale as she too noticed the movement and quickly obeyed her brother''s instruction. ''What could it be?'' countless questions sprung up in the sibling''s minds. Under their watchful gaze, the surface of the metallic object suddenly cracked and a door burst open. A humanoid figure stumbled out and fell into a coughing fit. ''This?!'' the eyes of both the siblings widened in shock. --------------- Olivia, who had just made her way out of the ship coughed out some blood. During the crash, she had sustained some amount of internal injury. ''That was close! We almost died!'' her heart palpitated with fear. Wiping the blood off her mouth, she continued. ''So this is what Reyna felt like, huh?'' she suddenly remembered her conversation with Renya, when the latter described her experience of falling from the sky. ''Looks like Lucius has an affinity to falling out of the sky.'' a small smile formed on her face, before freezing: ''Wait... Lucius?! Is he alright!'' she immediately summoned her strength and stumbled her way towards the ship. "Lucius!!" Olivia screamed with her loudest voice. Her voice was hoarse and her lungs hurt, however, she didn''t care.''Is he safe?'' this was the only thought within her mind. There was no response. ''Dammit!'' she cursed. Olivia then tried to recall the details of the crash. After the warning from the ship''s AI, Olivia immediately understood the situation and acted. She carried Lucius, who was only partly-conscious due to his hunger state, along with her to the control room. After placing him in one of the seats in the control room and securing him to his seat, Olivia was about to sit in her own seat, when the spaceship intently tremored and Olivia lost her footing. Tumbling through the body of this ship, she was sent quite the distance away from the control room, before she managed to regain her balance. However, by this time the ship had already started its freefall and hence prevented Olivia from being able to move about and return to the control room. She had to grip on the metal pipes around her and brace for impact. Right now, Olivia anxiously rummaged through the remains of the ship to find Lucius. ''Please be safe! Please be safe!'' she continuously prayed within her heart. Although Olivia understood that Lucius was stronger than her, the worry never left her heart. It was at this moment that she heard a foreign voice, in a language she did not recognize. ¡ºSpeak! Who are you?¡» "Who''s that?!" Olivia was shocked. Chapter 144: Facing Threat both Inside and Outside. ''Who''s that?!'' Olivia immediately spun around and saw the Bertarian siblings standing at a distance, cautiously watching her. Seeing a pair of unfamiliar beings, Olivia was first surprised but then immediately became wary. She slowly backed away, while silently gathering soul power at her limbs. Olivia also started to soundlessly chant a spell within her mind. ''What are these beings? What are they saying?'' while chanting, she also split a part of her concentration is analyzing her current situation. While she couldn''t understand their words, their actions provided a sufficient amount of clues, for her to deduce. ''Two beings. From their figures, they seem to be a male and a female? I can''t be too sure.'' Olivia''s understanding of the Universe and its races was almost nonexistent. Lucius'' training of Olivia had only encompassed combat and cultivation. As for the other aspects such as information of knowledge about the Universe, Lucius didn''t bother to explain to her and Olivia didn''t dare to ask him. ''Judging from their actions, the two seem to have a lot of trust in each other. The male seems to have higher strength as compared to the female, who''s seeking his protection. Question is, how strong are they?'' her thoughts were concise and meticulous. ''I haven''t found Lucius yet and am unsure of his situation. As such, I cannot recklessly engage them in combat.'' a bright light flashed across her eyes, as Olivia thought of a plan: ''I must stall for time and quickly find Lucius!'' This was the only thing that she could do right now. Carelessly jumping into combat, without having any understanding of your opponent was one of the fastest and dumbest ways to die. Moreover, Olivia had yet to confirm the opposite party''s strength and motive. If the opponent had no intention to fight, Olivia wouldn''t start a fight either. There was no benefit to such a course of action. ''Maybe we can just resolve the situation peacefully?'' Olivia tried to think optimistically. Just as she was about to open her mouth to speak, a beastly growl was heard from within the spaceship. Following the roar, a black shadow suddenly exited the ship and jumped towards the two beings. Olivia''s eyes widened in shock, and a bitter smile formed on her face. ''Seems like there is no avoiding a fight.'' she then turned around and rushed to find her sword. This would be her first time fighting alongside Lucius. Anticipation and excitement grew within her heart, replacing her earlier worry. --------------- Kiren who was looking at the black-haired female standing at the center of the crater, amongst the pile of metallic debris, was similarly in shock. ''Who''s this person? Why is she within the crater?'' he tried to make sense of the situation when a possibility formed within his mind. Kara who was standing behind him voiced out his thoughts: "Brother, could it be...?!" her mind was similarly in shock. A solemn expression appeared on Kiren''s face as he nodded: "Indeed. She must be Travelers from the Beyond." His eyes however shone with excitement. ''To think I would come across a Traveler. This is simply too great, if I can convince them to visit our city, Lord Father is sure to praise me greatly!'' Although Pectorn lied in the fringes of the Universe, it did not mean that the people were ignorant of the existence of the vast cosmos. As stated previously, travel between planets in the Universe was very difficult, but still possible. Travelers referred to those people who liked to travel between planets. They were usually explorers with great strength and no fixed habitation. Kiren himself had never personally seen a traveler but had heard stories about them. After all, his own family had originated from a Bertarian traveler couple who decided to settle on this planet. As such, the wariness he had been feeling after seeing Olivia had reduced by a large extent. Removing the Stage 2 soul power surrounding his body, Kiren wore a smile on his face and stepped forward to communicate. And it was precisely at this moment, that a black shadow jumped towards him. Caught off guard, a great amount of force slammed onto his chest and caused Kiren to crash onto the ground. "BROTHER!" Kara shouted in shock and ran forward. Taking a few steps forward, her body suddenly froze in fear. The expression on her face froze and her blood chilled. Her eyes were fixed onto the body of the grey-skinned figure who was stepping on top of her brother''s chest. Its eyes were heterochromatic, one crimson, and the other gold. Its mouth was wide open to expose the rows of sharp teeth, dripping with thick saliva. Madness and ruthlessness were present on its face, as it licked its lips with its abnormally large tongue. ''This?!'' Kara felt an unprecedented amount of fear assault her mind, blanking out her thoughts. Standing still and she watched as the grey-skinned figure, slowly extend its hands towards her brother''s neck. She wanted to scream but found herself unable to do so. At this moment, Kara felt powerless and hopeless. Fear had overtaken her mind. "What are you doing?!" Kiren screamed anxiously as his eyes nervously stared at the black claws nearing his throat. He wanted to use all his strength to push this ''monster'' of his body and run away. Far, far away from this place and back into the safety of his father. But found himself, unable to control his body. He was similarly overwhelmed by fear. ¡ºSuch a delectable meal. You are worthy of being consumed by me.¡» he heard the ''monster'' speak. While he was unable to comprehend its words, Kiren instinctively understood that he was in grave danger. ''Am I going to die?'' the thought crossed his mind, as Kiren resigned himself to fate: ''Haha, I''m so pathetic. I''m sorry, Kara. I was unable to fulfill my duty as your brother.'' ''I''m sorry mother. I had lied to you about my outing and brought such intense danger upon Kara.'' ''I''m sorry father. I was unable to meet your expectations. Dying without even fighting back, I''m a coward.'' Tears streamed out of his eyes, as Kiren soundlessly cried. Just as he felt the ''monsters'' nail pierce into his throat, he suddenly heard a shout. "Step away from our Young Lord, beast!" Kiren opened his eyes, only to see a flash of bright light hit the ''monsters'' chest. It was immediately thrown off his body and flew far into the debris. Three golden-skinned figure wearing a long robe and battle armor suddenly appeared around Kiren. Their hands shone with intense white light and a solemn look covered their face. ''Father''s guards?!'' Kiren instantly recognized these figures. -------------- Lucius, whose body was struck by a ball of light, landed amongst the remains of the spaceship. a large wound had formed on his chest with black blood dripping all over the place. ''It hurts!'' with the arrival of an intense amount of pain, Lucius also felt his rationality returning. Firmly grasping onto this rationality, he immediately regained control over his body. the injuries on his chest slowly started to heal. Standing up unsteadily, Lucius gathered his thoughts: ''Where am I? Where is Olivia?'' his eyes darted around, before landing on the five figures in the distance. ''Bertarians? Did we arrive at Pectorn?'' just as the thought formed within his mind, Lucius felt a wave of hunger assault his mind. ''Eat! Devour!'' the desire to consume those Bertarians took root within his mind and Lucius'' body automatically moved towards them. Lucius'' immediately mobilized his will to suppress his thoughts. However, he found his desire to be too strong and stubborn. Only after spending a great deal of effort was he able to regain control over his body. ''This situation is very bad. I have to eat something to satisfy my hunger. At this rate, I will lose control and go berserk once again!'' Lucius'' heart chilled at this thought. Having no control over one''s body, especially during battle led to a single outcome. Death! Just as Lucius successfully dealt with his internal problem, the hairs on his body suddenly stood up. An intense feeling of danger resonated within his mind. Following his instinct, Lucius immediately rolled his body. [Light Spear] a Stage 2 spell landed in Lucius'' previous location, missing his body by a hair''s breadth. Lucius immediately became serious, as he traced the path of the attack to the Bertarians standing at the distance. He could feel their hostile gazes trained upon his body and the murderous intent that they were radiating. ¡ºEvil beast! Die!¡» one of the Bertarians who looked like an old man, bellowed before rushing towards Lucius. His body instantly closed in on Lucius''s position, following which he swung his hand covered in a white-light. ''[Warrior of Light]''s [Light Slam]!'' with his experience Lucius immediately identified the attack. Unable to dodge in time, Lucius crossed his hands in front of his chest. BANG! Instantly, Lucius'' arms were broken and his chest caved further in. He spat out a mouthful of black blood, as his body flew back once again. His body crashed through the body of the spaceship and landed with a heavy thud. An intense feeling of dizziness attacked his mind. Just as Lucius tried to stabilize his mind, another wave of hunger assaulted his mind, intent on taking control of his body. ''Oh no!'' Lucius once again lost control over his body, as he engaged in another battle within his mind. At this moment, seemingly recognizing his weakened state, the old Bertarian rushed towards Lucius once again. ¡ºFor daring to attack the son of the Governor! Pay with your life!¡» he roared and swung his light-covered arm with all his strength. This time, he was aiming at Lucius'' head. Chapter 145: Close Call. The light-covered arm carrying the full-strength of a Stage 2 being, neared Lucius'' defenseless head. With his mind conflicting with his body, Lucius was unable to move his body and evade the attack. ''If I could just have a single second!'' Lucius inwardly thought. Alas, there was nothing to block the old Bertarian''s punch from landing on his face. Just as Lucius felt the compressed air striking his face, a sharp sound of metal striking out was heard. SHICK! A violet-colored blade of energy struck the light-covered hand at the very last second. Precisely striking at the weak point of the punch, the violet-colored blade managed to offset the direction of the punch. ¡ºWhat?!¡» the old Bertarian screamed in shock. His punch missed Lucius'' head by a hair''s breadth and landed on the metal debris next to him. "How dare you?!" a low, threatening growl filled with an overwhelming amount of murderous intent sounded out. The old Bertarian raised his head in shock and looked towards the source of that voice. A black-haired, violet-eyed female was staring at him with an expressionless face. Her hands were clutching onto a longsword that was devoid of any decorations, looking quite plain. It was long and slender, clearly made for a female user. Currently, streams of violet-spirals surrounded the blade, giving off a threatening feeling. That earlier attack had originated from this weapon. Seeing her face, the old Bertarian was caught off-guard for a second. ''Such a beautiful girl...'' he found himself distracted by the other party''s beauty. His battle intent fell and the old Bertarian found himself hesitating to fight. Just as he was about to open his mouth to speak, his eyes widened in shock: ''Oh no! I was struck by a mental spell.'' he instantly tried to retreat. However, it was already too late. "Just what I needed." Lucius'' voice softly spoke. Before the old Bertarian managed to move away, Lucius shot out his hands and grabbed onto the other party''s wrist. With a simple movement, that contained all of the Void Eater''s strength, he pulled. ¡ºAHHHH!!!!¡» the old Bertarian screamed with pain. His entire right arm was ripped off of his body by Lucius. Blood poured out of his wound unceasingly like a waterfall. Gritting his teeth and suppressing his pain, he managed to roll away from Lucius. After gaining some distance, he then raised his head and look towards Lucius. His eyes contained fear and shock. Lucius slowly stood up and raised the torn, bloody hand to his mouth. Opening his mouth, he swallowed the arm in its entirety. "*Glup*...Ah, that was barely enough." Lucius spoke while shaking his head. His skin was still grey and his eyes were faintly colored. Within his gaze was a combination of madness and eerie calmness. ''This hunger. This desire to devour. It''s all a part of me. Rather than try and fight it, I must accept it into me.'' ''Ah! I can feel my strength returning to me. This feeling is quite nice.'' ''To devour....what does it really mean? I feel like there is something that I am missing here.'' Lucius seemed to have vaguely grasped something. He then shook his head and thought: ''Pity, I can sit down and think at this moment.'' Looking towards the party of Bertarians he continued: ''Let me first satisfy my hunger.'' "Lucius?! Are you okay?" just as he was about to move, he heard a worry-filled voice from behind him. Turning back, he saw pale-faced Olivia heavily panting. Her eyes however looked towards him with concern, a direct opposite to her previous look. Opening his mouth, he faintly said: "Decent attack. Good work." almost no emotions were present in his voice. It felt like he was giving a random remark. However, for Olivia, it was the greatest praise she had ever received from Lucius. A feeling of validation and intense joy rose within her heart. ''H-He praised me!!'' Olivia was almost delirious from hearing his praise. However, she managed to quickly calm herself down and become serious. After all, she realized the seriousness of their current situation. ''Just a single attack to offset that punch consumed 45% of my soul energy. Not to mention...'' Olivia quickly calculated. She then looked towards the party of Bertians and thought: ''I''m afraid, their strength is greater than Stage 1, with four others.'' Just as she felt their current situation to be quite grim, she heard Lucius speak. "Wait for me to attack and take care of the two younger ones in the back. Prevent them from running away. I will handle the others." without waiting for her confirmation, Lucius disappeared from their sight. [Void Steps] was activated. ------------------ The thoughts of the old Bertarian was in utter chaos. ''Wha-what is that thing?!'' he was simply unable to comprehend his current situation. Earlier today, he was summoned by his master, the City Governor, and was instructed with a duty. "My naughty children seem to be up to some mischief. Please follow them with a squad and silently protect them." his face wore a contend smile as the Governor explained. "Your servant obeys, My Lord!" the old Bertarian gave a salute and walked off. After gathering two of his fellow companions, the old Bertarian silently followed the pair of young lords, watching over them from a distance. Everything seemed to be going fine when suddenly an object from the Beyond was spotted by the young lords. The old Bertarian was hesitant on whether to inform his master but then decided not to do so. Stumbling across an object from the Beyond, counted as a sort of fortuitous encounter. As such, the old Bertarian decided to take a ''wait and see'' approach and quietly followed behind the young lords. And now, he regretted his choice. ''To think that would lead me to such a situation!'' the old Bertarian felt a chill passing down his spine. Staring at this grey-skinned ''beast'' whose eyes stared at him with a voracious gaze, caused this old servant who has experienced decades of life, to feel afraid. He did not feel any shame in admitting it. He was feeling very afraid. When he had seen the beast jump towards the young lords he had immediately moved to save them. With a powerful attack, he saw the beast fly away with heavy injuries. Noticing that the beast seemed to be in a weakened state, he immediately followed with another attack to kill it. However, he did not expect the beast to have a partner. What was worse? This partner seemed to be a mental-attack type. A powerful one in that! The old Bertarian was unknowingly caught up in her attack and had paid the price with his arm! eh then watched as the humanoid beast calmly swallow his arm. And this was when the old Bertarian started to become afraid. The beast which was previously in a weakened state suddenly started to recover. And the worst thing was that the moment the beast swallowed his arm, the old Bertarian suddenly felt an inexplicable feeling of losing something. And he did! He had suddenly lost 10% is his soul power cultivation permanently! One has to remember, soul power was the foundation of one''s strength and advancement. Losing his cultivation permanently, meant that he would never be able to progress anymore! ''What kind of monster can eat one''s strength?!'' he felt alarmed and afraid. Any thoughts of resisting or fighting back had already been drowned by his fear. However, this feeling of weakness only existed for a very short time. The old Bertarian quickly suppressed his fear and thought. ''I must quickly inform about this matter to master!''. His pupils then fiercely expanded as he realized: ''Oh no! The people outside do not know about this monster! I must quickly warn them!'' He struggled onto his feet and turned around. Holding his gaping wound with his left hand, he bit his lips and tried to make it outside. However... ¡ºWhere do you think you''re going?¡» he suddenly heard the voice of the monster. Just as he was about to turn around and attack, he suddenly felt his body becoming weightless. ''What''s happening?'' the old Bertarian could see his vision tilting and spinning. Before he was able to comprehend his situation, his vision went black. His head was separated from his body. A Stage 2 being had died without putting up a fight. Chapter 146: Weakness is a Sin. After killing the old Bertarian guard, Lucius quickly activated [Devour]. He had no time to waste and had to quickly recover his strength. ''Mid-Level Stage 2 strength and there are more of them outside. They seem to be people of importance too. The situation is extremely bad." Lucius''s expression was grim. His strength was nowhere near enough to handle his current situation. ''The reason I managed to kill this one, was only because of Olivia''s surprise attack and me releasing [Annihilation Intent], catching the other party off-guard.'' he then looked towards the figures of the others standing outside with his [Flaw Detection]. ''I''m afraid, this won''t happen again. I will have to face the others directly.'' Lucius concluded. He had already devoured most of the corpse and was in the process of digesting the void energy: ''They might have already called for reinforcement. I need to kill everyone here and must also be quick in doing so.'' If there was a choice, Lucius would have preferred not to engage in combat against the Bertarians. Unlike Olivia who was new to this planet, Lucius had already been here in his previous life. He was very clear on the various cities and forces that were present on the planet. And this Bertarian force was one of the largest [Good] factions on the planet. ''Fighting it out with the Bertarians is detrimental to my plans. Alas, I have no choice.'' he sighed. He could blame no one other than himself for this situation. His was luck was very bad to have run into a party of Bertarians, the moment he had arrived on this planet. Heck, it would have been fine if he had been sane during the meeting, however, Lucius had gone ''Berserk'' and directly attacked them! There was simply no grounds for reconciliation between both the parties now. The other party was definitely antagonized and wouldn''t let this matter simply pass. ''Considering the xenophobic personality of the Bertarians, they are sure to hunt me, no matter the choice I make.'' He had no choice but to kill this batch of witnesses and quickly leave this place. He had no time to hesitate. Rubbing his forehead, Lucius thought to himself: ''How troublesome.'' By now, he had already finished with his [Devour] and had regained all of his strength. Inspecting his body, Lucius nodded his head in satisfaction: ''Not all is bad. The fresh corpse of a Stage 2 being, provided me with a large amount of energy. After consuming one, I''m already full.'' He no longer felt hungry and could easily dispel his ''Berserk'' state. However, Lucius chose not to do so. ''Being in this state makes my body faster and stronger. My instincts are also stronger and less susceptible to pain.'' Repeatedly clenching and unclenching his fists, Lucius tested his strength: ''Very good. The strength of my body is infinitely-close to Stage 2, that is in terms of physique I match them.'' ''My soul power is only at Peak-Level Stage 1. Quantity-wise I''m far from them. However, the quality of [Annihilator] isn''t any lesser than them.'' Lucius'' eyes shone with a brilliant light: ''Racial skills and my soul abilities, if I combine both of them... perhaps victory isn''t impossible.'' ''As for the lacking quantity, I can just use [Devour] to consume the dead bodies and their souls during battle. This way, I will not run out of void energy or soul power.'' a proper battle-plan formed within his mind. Just then, he suddenly heard Olivia speak. "Lucius..." turning around he saw her holding onto his scythe: "I found your weapon amongst the ship''s debris.'' saying so she offered it to him. Lucius did not say anything in reply and simply took it off of her hand. Seeing his lack of response, Olivia felt a little awkward and embarrassed but managed to hold it in. She soundlessly stood beside him, ready for battle. "From my initial analysis, the opponents we are facing are at the very least, Stage 2 in strength. Their souls should be either of the Light-type or Astral-type." he started to inform Olivia. "The old guy who attacked us was wearing a uniform. This tells us that he belongs to a force, probably works as a protector or a guard. Taking that into consideration with our current situation, we can infer that he was sent here to protect someone." "The two youngsters," Olivia mumbled in realization. "Precisely." Lucius nodded his head. He then continued: "Now, surrounding the two youngsters are two more guards. Seeing that the old man did not come out after going in, they must be alerted and ready for combat. They might have also sent a request for reinforcements." "They do not know of our strength and numbers, while we are clear of theirs. This is our advantage, we have to eliminate them before their reinforcements arrive and leave this place." "While they have a higher strength, they will not be able to completely utilize it as they have to protect those two. This is also our advantage. One that we have to fully make use of." Hearing up to here, Olivia had a hesitant expression on her face: "Must we kill the younger ones?" inwardly hoping for the answer to be no. However, Lucius immediately dashed her hopes: "Yes. No witnesses must be allowed to escape this place." "But-!" just as Olivia tried to speak up, Lucius immediately turned towards her and spoke with a serious expression. "Always remember! The Universe isn''t a place where words can be used to solve problems. Unless you have sufficient strength, the others wouldn''t even bother to look at you, much less give you the option to choose!" "If you are to let minor things like morality or a sense of justice restrict you. You will have no future. You will have no freedom. They will forever become a chain binding you!" "Weakness is a sin." Hearing his serious tone, Olivia absent-mindedly mumbled: "...Weakness is a sin." "We shall begin now. Restrict the two youngsters in the back and if possible kill them." "I will deal with the other two guards myself." "Remember, do not hold back. Use everything you have!" Having finished his words, Lucius disappeared into the Void. ---------------- "Are you feeling okay, Young Lord?" one of the guards asked Kiren, as she healed his injuries. Her hands shined with bright, white-light which then gently fell atop Kiren''s body. This was one of the basic light-type healing spells, [Cure Minor Wound] Hearing the words of concern, the pale-faced Kiren nodded his head. Summoning his courage, he then asked: "What was that thing, that attacked me?" The expression of the guard turned a little strange as she replied, "I''m unsure, Young Lord. Perhaps it''s a beast from the Beyond. Regardless, of what it is, we must kill it for daring to attack the children of the Governor!" Kara who was standing a little distance back spoke at this moment: "Did father send you to follow us?" The guard''s face froze, as she was unsure of how to answer that question. After all, the Governor''s instruction was to protect his children in secret, which the guards had failed to perform. Kiren noticed the awkwardness of the other party and stepped in to help the female guard out. "Come on Kara, have you still not figured out Lord Father''s arrangements? If not for sister guard, we would have lost our lives to that monster." he gently admonished. Kara hurriedly apologized, while the female guard frantically waved her hands, telling her it was fine. It was then, that the other guard, shouted towards the female guard: "Come over here!" The female guard excused herself and headed towards the place where the other guard was squatting. He then pointed at a certain place with his fingers and spoke. "Look at this place while using [Bright Vision]" he instructed. The female guard immediately followed. Her brows immediately furrowed, as a look of worry appeared on her face. At the location pointed by the male guard, was a sphere of blackish-grey energy. It was very faint and appeared illusory, invisible by normal vision. In fact, if it wasn''t for the male guard, who was the scout always maintaining [Bright Vision], they might have failed to notice this sphere of energy. "What is this thing?" the female guard muttered lightly. Having heard her, the male guard shook his head: "I don''t know. This is the first time I''ve seen something like this. However..." he hesitated before continuing: "It gives off a very dangerous feeling. It feels as if I''m in the presence of an apex predator." "What do you mean?" the female guard was unable to understand. "It''s like that time I faced against a Canis, during my training. That feeling of being looked at, like prey. This mist gives me that same feeling." the male explained. "The feeling of being prey?" the female guard asked while being unsure, to which the male guard nodded his head. At this moment, Kiren suddenly spoke out loud. "Protectors! Don''t you feel like the uncle who went inside to kill that beast, is taking a long time to return?" The two guards suddenly realized. Indeed, it was too strange that their captain was taking too long to kill a mere beast. The two of them stared into each other eyes. An ominous feeling surfaced in both their hearts. ''Could it be?'' ''Do you think?'' Both nodded their head in unison and immediately acted. "Let''s back off. Contact the city and request reinforcements!" the male guard hurriedly instructed. ¡ºToo late.¡» a voice suddenly spoke, as a shadow appeared behind the female guard. Chapter 147: Restrained Madness. Part 1 ''Danger!'' the second she heard that unfamiliar voice, the female guard was instantly alerted. Instinctively, she rolled forward, while turning her body sideways. BANG! The sound of a hammer striking a metallic surface resounded throughout the silent battlefield. The eyes of the female guard fiercely expanded, as she spat a mouthful of blood. Her body flew through the air. ''Tch! She evaded.'' the person behind that attack, Lucius, clicked his tongue. To be fair, that attack was executed to absolute perfection. He had waited for an opportunity to catch his opponents off-guard, soundlessly arrived behind the caster, and had delivered a blow containing all of his strength. Unfortunately, the gap between Stage 1 and Stage 2 wasn''t that easy to close. Lucius had managed to injure her, but the attack wasn''t anything threatening or decisive. At best, it would buy him a minute''s worth of time. By this period, the male guard had already reacted. He had immediately retreated back towards his two masters and had raised both his hands to form a guard. In his hands, were a pair of white-bone daggers radiating with golden light. "Despicable monster! You dare attack the children of our master!" the male guard howled. Of course, Lucius couldn''t understand his language. And even if he had, he wouldn''t have bothered to reply. With his eyes focused on the male guard, Lucius casually waved his hands into the empty air. ¡ºCome forth.¡» When the sound of his voice fell, the shadow underneath his feet rapidly expanded. An eerie wind blew through the battlefield, as the trio of Bertarians watched with the grey-skinned monster with dumbfounded eyes. To be precise, they saw behind him. Twenty-three black armored heads slowly rose from within the shadow. As the figures appeared into the world, soul power gathered around them to form their bodies. Lustreless black steel that seemed to devour the light wrapped around the entirety of their bodies, save for their cold, blue eyes. Lumps of black mist continued to float out of the Void and into their hands, as they formed a variety of weapons of their choice. Hammers, axes, swords, spears, cudgels, and many other forms of weapons were required onto their head. Their bodies too were of different sizes. There was one whose body was as big as a small house, holding a double-handed battle-axe. The moment these, Forgotten appeared, Lucius spoke a single word. "Attack." ------------------ Not daring to waste any time, Lucius led the attack personally. Stepping into the void once more, he instantly arrived in front of the male guard wielding the pair of daggers. Having already extended his scythe, prior to his attack, Lucius now swung it with all his might. [Dance of the Death God- Second Movement: Shred!] A miniature whirlpool of soul power formed at the edge of the large blade, as Lucius swung it towards the male guard. ''I cannot block it!'' the male guard realized the strength behind this attack. However...: ''I can''t evade it either.'' a bitter smile formed on his face. Evading the attack meant, exposing his two masters to this fearsome attack. Taking their strengths and experience into consideration, they had no way to block it. This was precisely Lucius'' intention. ''What a fearsome mind!'' the male guard''s heart chilled as he clearly understood Lucius'' intention. Alas, he had no choice but to comply. CLANG! BOOM! The attack landed and the male guard blocked it with his daggers. The force behind the attack was transferred in its entirety onto the male guard''s body. Instantly, the bones in his arms cracked and his body sunk into the ground. "AHHH!!!!" the male guard bellowed and pushed back with all his strength. In the end, he was still a Stage 2 being and Lucius couldn''t match his strength. Not wishing to engage in a scuffle, Lucius decisively backed-off. However, just before the male guard could rejoice, six Forgotten warriors flooded that empty space. ''Dammit! What are these things?!'' the male guard cursed within his mind. He felt helpless, but could only fight back. Retreating a few steps, Lucius paused for a second. Inwardly he was estimating the opponent''s strength: ''Low-Level Stage 2 strength, at the border of Mid-Level. That female Bertarian should also be of a similar level.'' ''This fight isn''t impossible to win.'' he concluded. Looking at the Forgotten warriors fighting the male guard, Lucius was satisfied. Although their strengths were nowhere near that of the other party''s, their skills were at a completely different level. This was naturally due to Lucius'' efforts. Other than training Olivia in combat, he also spent some time training the Forgotten warriors. After he had enslaved the 23 warriors, their previous combat accumulations were erased, as such, Lucius had to spend some effort training them. The entire process could be described as..... a breeze. Rather than call it training, re-training would be an appropriate word. He had to show them once, and they learned. After spending some time polishing their movements, the Forgotten were already at a level, that Lucius considered being ''passable''. Looking at them right now, Lucius thought to himself: ''Although their skill is better than the opponent, they lack actually combat experience and....strength.'' The moment he had finished thinking this, the six Forgotten warriors were destroyed by the Bertarian. They turned into blobs of black mists and retreated back into Lucius'' shadow, entering the Void. "Is that all you have!!" the male guard screamed as his body shone with intense golden light. Looking at him, Lucius recognized the skill he used. [Golden Body], also called as the [Indestructible Golden Body] A Stage 2 skill that was rather uncommon among the [Light]-type souls. It covered the user with an armor of golden light and was effective in blocking a majority of attacks under Mid-Level Stage 2. It could even reduce the damage dealt by a Peak-Level Stage 2 being. Its drawbacks were, it slowed the cognitive speed of the user, that is, it made them think slower and it also consumed a large amount of soul power. Seeing him use this skill, Lucius inwardly thought: ''I can begin to draw him away from those two'' referring to the two youngsters. Mentally commanding the five more Forgotten to join the fight, he slowly started to draw the male guard away from the two youngsters, who were currently fighting against Olivia. Lucius also sent a few Forgotten warriors to assist Olivia. "Stop running away, coward!" at this point, the male guard had already realized that the other party was an intelligent being similar to him and not a mindless monster. However, this fact only made him more depressed. He thought to himself: ''The strength of those black warriors and this ''grey-skinned'' being isn''t that high. However, they keep evading my attacks and counter-attack during crucial moments! This is so frustrating!'' he fumed. At this point, it had only been a few dozen seconds since the beginning of the battle. Lucius had already gotten a solid grasp on the other party''s skill and was firmly controlling the tempo of the battle. He carefully controlled the maai between himself and the opponent, while cycling the Forgotten warriors to exhaust the male guard''s soul power. ''A Flaw!'' Lucius'' right eye shoe with crimson light, as he detected an opening on his opponent''s defense. Instantly he shrunk their maai and closed into his opponent. Gathering soul power into his arms and channeling it into the scythe, Lucius swung it diagonally across the male guard''s underarm. [Dance of the Death God- First Movement: Slash!] ''Oh no!'' the male guard immediately noticed the danger behind that attack. If the attack hit him, he would lose his arm! Clenching his teeth, the male guard suddenly turned around. exposing his back to the Forgotten he was fighting with. Crossing his hands, he firmly blocked Lucius'' attack. CRACK! THUD! A crisp noise, followed by the sound of the dagger breaking. The golden light on his body also flickered, before suddenly breaking apart. A streak of blood flew into the air, as an attack from the Forgotten landed on his body. "Blergh~!" the male guard also spat out a mouthful of blood, as he faced the backlash of his skill being forcibly broken. ''One more attack.'' Lucius calmly thought to himself, as he infused his soul power into another attack. This was an excellent opportunity to kill this guard. Just as he raised his scythe to swing it down towards his neck, Lucius was suddenly hit by a spell on his back. "[Light Bullet]!" a female voice roared. ''Hiss!!'' he hissed in pain. Feeling his instincts ring once more, Lucius forcibly withdrew his soul power before lowering his body to the ground. "Are you okay!" the voice of the female guard was heard. She had finally recovered from Lucius'' earlier attack and joined the battle. "...yeah. I''m...fine." the male guard slowly replied. The female guard quickly approached him and placed both her palms atop his body. A gentle, light shined within her plans and the injuries on the male guard rapidly began to heal. "[Intermediate Cure Wound]" she chanted. The male guard quickly recovered from his injuries and gradually stood up. The faces of both the guards were livid with anger, as they hatefully stared towards Lucius. They then immediately turned back and looked at the other battle that was happening, some distance away. "Not good! The two young lords are losing!" the female guard panicked. With the help of the Forgotten, Olivia managed to gain an upper-hand and was gradually suppressing the inexperienced Bertarian siblings. The two guards wanted to head over there and help. However, one look at the grey-skinned ''monster'' firmly dismissed these thoughts. Lucius slowly stood up. A gaping wound was present on his back, almost exposing his bones. A cruel smile formed on his face, with a thin line of blood dripping from the corners of his mouth. The previously present indifference disappeared from his face, only to be replaced by a look of insanity. ¡ºGood attack. But now....it''s my turn!¡» he growled in a low voice, as his eyes shone menacingly. The shadows underneath his feet exploded and an innumerable number of pitch-black appendages rose into the air from behind his body. Chapter 148: Restrained Madness. Part 2 BADUMP! BADUMP! BADUMP! BADUMP! Lucius'' heart started to beat increasingly faster. The stone-grey color of his skin turned a shade darker, resembling the color of wet rock. An almost tangible aura leaked from within his body. His left eye shone with a bloodthirsty crimson, while his right eye shone with a holy gold. Common between both the eyes, was the unrestrained anger and madness. However, within the depths of his eyes, also lay....absolute calmness. ''I see. So this is what it means to be a Void Eater.'' Lucius calmly thought. The attack from the female guard had caught him off guard and had almost made him lose control. Fortunately, during the very last moment, Lucius managed to control his emotions and remain lucid. It was then, that a strange balance of calmness and madness was achieved. Right now, Lucius felt his body overflowing with energy. This energy flowed into his body from everywhere and seemed infinite. He no longer felt restricted. No longer felt unfamiliar with his own body. He felt strangely free, yet connected to something greater. Looking at the hundreds of tentacles surrounding his body, he could precisely feel every single one of them. He no longer felt uncomfortable controlling the tentacles, and could instantly control all of them at will, meticulously. The shadows underneath his feet provided him with the sensory information of everything that was within a 15m range. He felt that he could move anywhere in this area instantly, at his will. At this moment, Lucius could feel a multitude of sensations around him providing constant information on everything! This feeling was simply... ''Euphoric!'' Lucius excitedly screamed within his mind, starting to feel addicted to this feeling. ''This state, I shall name it...[State of Devour].'' he suppressed his desires and looked elsewhere. Looking towards the two Stage 2 Bertarians, he spoke. "Good attack. But now....it''s my turn!", the pitch-black tentacles exploded forth fiercely at his command. He held nothing back. They dashed forth like a wave of darkness, engulfing everything that lay within their part. The Bertarian guards watched this scene with a pale face. Identifying the danger of this situation, they instantly acted. The male guard moved forward, as his body shone with golden light. He madly poured all of his soul energy into his body and activated [Golden Body], with all his power. ¡ºCome at me, beast!¡» he roared, seemingly unafraid of death ¡º[Warrior''s Courage!]¡» the female guard similarly roared out loud, as she cast a buff-type spell on the male guard. [Warrior''s Courage] was a common Stage 2 light-type spell. It protected mental-type and soul-type passive attacks and also boosted one''s soul power, elevating the strength of one skill. Against Lucius who was releasing [Annihilation Intent], this protection was essential to protect their souls from being overly damaged. ¡º[Reinforced Light Shield]¡» with extraordinary efficiency, the female guard casted another spell. [Reinforced Light Shield] created a shield in front of the user. While it was nothing extraordinary, it was extremely practical in usage, requiring low soul power and effort from the caster. With the extraordinary defense provided by [Golden Body] that was further buffed with [Warrior''s Courage] and [Reinfornced Light Shield], the male guard seemed to form an infallible wall. ''I can block this attack!'' the male guard felt confident. He was in the strongest state, he had ever been in. Unfortunately, simple confidence wasn''t enough. CRASH! The black wave crashed into the body of the male guard and instantly broke all of his defenses. It was like a sharp knife tearing through a piece of paper. Smooth and effortless. The male guard immediately died from the backlash of his skills being broken. The wave continued past him and ripped every single part of him, body and soul, asunder. The female guard also stumbled backward, while throwing up a mouthful of blood. Blood flowed from all of her seven orifices, as her body collapsed onto the ground. Using all her strength, she turned her head towards the two Bertarian siblings fighting Oliva. Her mouth moved slowly, yet no words were uttered. ''I''m sorry, young lords. I was unable to protect the both of you.'' she then turned her head to face the mass of tentacles. Looking at the wave of darkness head towards her, she bitterly thought to herself. ''I''m sorry, master. I was unable to complete my duty.'' closing her eyes, she was consumed by the darkness. --------------- ¡ºNOOOOO!!!¡» Kiren screamed at the top of his lungs. His body powerlessly collapsed onto the ground, as a look of despair was present on his face. Blankly staring at the spot where the two guards had died, he unconsciously clawed at the soil underneath his hands. His little sister had also collapsed onto her knees while crying, next to him. Seeing this scene, Olivia also had a heavy feeling in her heart and stopped attacking. She sighed soundlessly, but said nothing and walked away from the two siblings. She wasn''t afraid of them running away, since there were still three Forgotten warriors guarding the surroundings. The wave of tentacles had already disappeared back into Lucius'' shadows, and Lucius himself had also dropped to his knees while clutching his head. His burst strength during [State of Devour] was absolutely fearsome. Unless one was at least at Peak-Level Stage 2 or Low-Level Stage 3, it was impossible to block that wave of black tentacles. However, all things came at a cost. With incredible power, came an equally incredible backlash. HIs stone-grey colored skin had already disappeared, revealing a deathly pale white. His muscles had atrophied to an extreme, revealing a set of fragile skeletons. Currently, Lucius looked like a malnourished corpse. He was experiencing a tremendous headache, due to the overflow of sensory information into his brain during that earlier state. It wouldn''t be wrong to say, that right now. the slightest touch could kill Lucius. He was currently in his weakest state. ''I-I-must-aveng...'' Kiren also realized this but had no courage to move his body. Seconds passed by, yet there was no movement on the battlefield. At this point, Olivia had already arrived next to Lucius and was carefully guarding him. While she felt pity towards the siblings, she was not stupid. Carelessness would lead to death, this point was firmly ingrained into her mind. Looking at his current state, Olivia felt her heart, ache: ''I''m still not strong enough!'' she inwardly thought to herself. "Ah...That was terrible." Lucius spoke with a hoarse voice. His voice sounded like two pieces of rock grinding atop one-another, simply put, it was dry and unpleasant. "Are you okay?" Olivia worriedly asked. Opening his eyes which had reverted to black, Lucius slowly nodded "It''s...under control. I exhausted all of my soul power and energy during that move, overstraining my body. I might not be able to use my racial abilities for some time." he briefly explained and spoke no further. Hearing that there was no significant danger to his life, Olivia''s heart eased a little. She then bent down and placed her hands underneath his arms. Holding him firmly, she gently lifted him off the ground, helping him up to his feet. Lucius'' feet were still unsteady, but Olivia had already considered that. She made him lean on her body and slowly began to move. She also handed his scythe back to Lucius, which he silently accepted. During this entire series of actions, Olivia had a calm expression on her face and did not speak. In fact, she did not even look towards Lucius. He did not speak, but she understood. Regarding her actions, Lucius did not say anything. While he had briefly explained his current state to her, he had also not mentioned the fact that he couldn''t move his body currently. As for the reason, it was because the thought of asking for help had never crossed his mind. Having spent most of his previous life alone, Lucius had gradually lost the feeling of reliance. It had always been himself, fighting alone against the world. A Killer, fighting against the entire Universe, alone. Being helped by Olivia right now, Lucius'' eyes shone with a strange light. He could vaguely see the face of another figure overlap on top of Olivia''s face. ''Aroura...'' a name appeared in the depths of his mind. However, Lucius immediately suppressed this thought and the figure disappeared from his mind. His heart was still, and his eyes were indifferent. With absolute clarity, he thought to himself: ''No distractions can be allowed to exist within my heart. My second chance exists only for the execution of the plan.'' A glint suddenly appeared in the depths of his eyes as he continued: ''To think such distractions could appear within my mind. Seems like recent events have indirectly affected me. This cannot continue.'' he made up his mind. With Olivia''s assistance, Lucius had already made it to Bertarian siblings. Kiren had a blank look and a defeated expression on his face. Kara, however, raised her head and looked towards Lucius. An incomparable fury was present within her eyes. With a strained voice, she bellowed while crying. ¡ºWhy?! What did we do to deserve such a fate?! How did we offend you!?¡» her voice was a mixture of grief and helplessness. While Olivia could not understand the girl''s words, she could still understand the general meaning behind them. She silently looked towards Lucius but chose not to say anything. His decision would be hers. His sins would also be hers. ''No matter your choice, I shall never judge you. No matter your choice, I will always follow you.'' Olivia had resolved this, the day she had decided to accompany Lucius. Lucius indifferently looked towards the crying girl and spoke. "It''s because you are too weak. Too weak to decide your own fate." "And if one day, I end up in a situation similar to yours, this would also be my fate." Saying so, he gently slashed at the throats of both the siblings, ending their lives in a single motion. His heart did not waver, and his eyes did not flicker. He was utterly indifferent. Raising his head to look at the distant, dark sky, Lucius remembered a certain poem he had read in his youth. ''How fragile are the bones of the dying, Eroding like stone that turns to sand. How fragile are the eyes, A weak glimpse into surrounding darkness. How fragile is life, Once prosperous as spring, now fading like the autumn wind. '' This was the fragility of life. Chapter 149: Explooosion! After killing the Bertarian siblings, Lucius turned his head towards Olivia. She had her head turned away and eyes closed tightly. Her dainty fists were firmly clenched, as her eyes refused to see the scene of Lucius killing those two. Olivia''s face looked very pale, with a pained expression present on it. She could understand the logic behind Lucius'' actions, but couldn''t come to accept such cruelty yet. ''Was it the right thing to do? Could there be a different outcome?'' she questioned herself. With his experience, Lucius could easily sense the internal conflict that was undergoing inside Olivia''s mind. All along, the people Olivia had killed or seen killed, were either enemies or monsters. However, the Bertarian siblings were obviously neither of these. They had been innocent. It was just the case of being present in the wrong place at the wrong time. Although Lucius understood this, he did not move to comfort her. ''This is something she will eventually learn. The sooner she learns this, the better.'' he expressionlessly stood and watched from the sidelines. People died every day. Whether it be due to natural or unnatural causes, the end result was the same...death. Death was inevitable. This was an indisputable matter. ''If one wants to survive in the Universe, things like morality or sense of honor must be abandoned. Those who mindlessly stick to their principles like, ''justice'' or ''chivalry'' will have no future.'' this was the lesson Lucius had learnt during the 300 years of his life. Kindness? Tolerance? The strong must protect the weak? Such concepts might have worked on Earth but did not hold any value in the Universe. Here, the only law was the law of the jungle. The strong prey upon the weak, while the weak perishes. If one wanted to survive in the Universe, they had to learn this concept by their heart. There was simply no other choice. Dozens of seconds passed and the expression on Olivia''s face softened. Her fists also gradually loosened. Opening her eyes, a streak of brilliant violet light suddenly flashed. ''...I see. So this is the path of a [Soul Supressor].'' she had a moment of sudden realization. "Did you have some gains?" Lucius asked. Olivia nodded her head and replied: "I had some sudden realization about my soul. I have a vague idea about my advancement." "Good." Lucius praised. He then turned and kneeled next to the two corpses. "You might not want to watch this next part." saying so he dug his hands into his ''meal''. Unable to use his racial abilities, Lucius had to do this manually. What was done was done. Recovering his strength was his current priority. Olivia''s face turned as white as a sheet. She held in her urge to vomit and ran towards the spaceship. ------------------ Olivia spent the next dozen minutes, scavenging through the debris of the spaceship. She was naturally looking for any items, that would be of use to their journey. ''That last attack from Lucius was really powerful.'' while scavenging, she naturally ran the scenes of the previous battle and was analyzing it, in short, she was revising. It was very important to revise. Only with constant revision would one be able to identify one''s flaws and improve upon them. This was a necessary process, that was the key to becoming successful. ''If an attack of such power was directed at me, could I survive it?'' Olivia pondered. Her hands moved absent-mindedly, as her mind was focused elsewhere. Lifting a heavy beam out of the way, Olivia''s eyes caught sight of a small object pulsating with dim golden light. ''Ka''lor''ah!'' She naturally recognized the crystal and reached in and grabbed it. Just then, she heard a voice: "Found the crystal?" Turning her head back, Olivia saw Lucius standing above the mound. His handsome face was no longer sunken, and his sickly-looking body had also returned to its previous, peak state. Seeing him like this, Olivia was partly glad and also partly remorseful. She knew that Lucius'' recovery, meant the bodies of the Bertarians had been consumed. Shaking her head to get rid of these depressing thoughts, she replied: "I just found her." "Throw it towards me." the crystal was thrown and Lucius quickly caught it. Seeing that the crystal was undamaged, Lucius then instructed: "Find the fuel-cell core of the spaceship and destabilize it." Realizing the meaning of his words, Olivia was shocked. "We are going to blow up the spaceship?" she asked. Destabilizing the core, meant that the fuel cells would begin to overheat, resulting in a meltdown. The result would be a fantastical explosion. Nodding his head, Lucius continued: " This group had already sent a request for reinforcements, which should be arriving soon. We do not have any time to clean up our traces from the battlefield." "Having the spaceship explode, would be the quickest and most efficient way to destroy all traces of the battle," he explained. Olivia nodded her head and quickly started to look for the fuel cells. Lucius stayed on the mound and played with the golden crystal in his hand. His eyes were vacant as he seriously pondered. ''Those two kids have some serious backing. What were those guards saying back then....'' ''G..Geh..Gho..'' he analyzed their words and tried to translate their words. It has been a long time since Lucius had learnt the language of the Bertarians. He remembered that he tried to learn this language, when he had arrived on this planet for the first time, in his previous life. However, he had quickly stopped doing so, after finding a ''better solution'' to solve this problem. Right now, however, he was yet to gain that ''better solution''. As such, Lucius dived into his memories and tried hard to remember the mnemonics of the language. ''Go...Goveh...'' Lucius eyes suddenly shrunk. He realized the meaning of the word: ''Governor. Those kids are actually the children of the governor.'' Lucius bros furrowed in worry. Massaging his temple with one of his hands, Lucius thought to himself: ''The situation just got a whole lot more complicated.'' he sighed. ''All Bertarians are complete nutjobs...Killing his children, he will never let this matter go. I have to rework some of my plans.'' closing his eyes, Lucius started to reconsider his future plans. His original plan was to head to an [Neutral-Good] established city and quickly grow his strength in a safe environment, that had a lot of resources. With sufficient resources, Lucius could quickly grow in strength and would have a chance at reaching Stage 3 in three years. However, now that he had ''involuntarily'' offended the Bertarian Governor, this plan was no longer possible. ''Stellar Light city, the city that the Bertarian Governor is in-charge of is one of three biggest cities on this planet. One that wields sufficient influence over the forces in this planet.'' ''He also has a lot of connections with the other cities and wields an enormous amount of power.'' ''If we are to enter a [Neutral-Good] city, we have to register ourselves. Having no prior connections or records, we are sure to turn-up suspicious when he begins to investigate.'' ''After that, it will only take a little effort to find out the truth behind the incident.'' ''Once he finds the truth, that nutjob will surely lose his mind. We will end up with a fate worse than death.'' This would be the most likely outcome. Of course, there also existed the possibility of their identities not being exposed, due to some oversight or luck. However, this was very unlikely. Lucius wasn''t willing to let his fate to chance either. ''Looking at the terrain, we are near the Greystone Valley. If I recall correctly, there are 6 cities nearby. Excluding all the cities which have a connection with Stellar Light city... and also factoring the range of his investigation, I only have a single choice.'' ''..Looks like I have to go to that hellish city once again.'' Lucius sighed to himself. A plan formed within his mind. It was the city, where Lucius had struggled for almost 15 years, after the destruction of mankind. It was the city, where Lucius had experienced the dark side of the world and the cruelty of the Universe. It was the city, where Lucius had begun his journey as a...[Killer] -------------- "Found it!" a pleasant female voice, woke Lucius'' from his daze. He quickly recovered his thoughts and spoke in his signature emotionless voice. "Destabilize the containment field and begin the meltdown process." Olivia quickly got to work and before long, the detonation countdown had started. {CORE MELTDOWN IN T-MINUS: 1 MINUTE} {CORE MELTDOWN IN T-MINUS: 59 SECONDS} {CORE MELTDOWN IN T-MINUS: 58 SECONDS} Olivia figure quickly left the crater and arrived next to Lucius: "It''s done. Let''s leave quickly!" Lucius nodded his head and started to run at this full speed. Olivia didn''t tarry and quickly chased after him. Only the sound of the AI''s countdown was left behind. --------------- {CORE MELTDOWN IN T-MINUS: 45 SECONDS.} --------------- {CORE MELTDOWN IN T-MINUS: 30 SECONDS.} --------------- {CORE MELTDOWN IN T-MINUS: 15 SECONDS.} --------------- {CORE MELTDOWN IN T-MINUS: 3 SECONDS.} {CORE MELTDOWN IN T-MINUS: 2 SECONDS.} {CORE MELTDOWN IN T-MINUS: 1 SECONDS.} BOOOOOM! Chapter 150: Pandemonium. A few days later. In the periphery of the Greystone valley, the once brown-colored lands were completely scorched black. A large hemispherical bowl-shaped crater occupied much of the once flat plains. The crater was almost 30m in depth and 500m in diameter. The insides of the crater were completely smooth, with the rocks having a mirror-like shine. The surface was completely smooth, with nary a crack or imperfection. Inside this desolate crater, stood a lone figure. His body was covered in ornate white armor, with lines of blue and golden energy streaking across its surface. Holding the helm of the armor with his arms, his head looked down upon the mirror-like ground. His scaly, gold face was expressionless and his eyes were closed. A large, white halo of light shining with intense brightness, slowly revolved above his head. Time passed in silence when two lines of tears fell from his eyes. Opening his eyes slowly, it was filled with anguish and hatred. His facial expression warped into one of extreme wrath! "Whoever did this to my children, I swear upon my very soul!" "I will not rest until I make you suffer a fate, thousands of times worse than your death!" he spat viciously. A beam of light was suddenly shot from the halo above his head, heading towards the sky. Reaching the clouds, the beam of white light suddenly exploded. The air around the area of the explosion suddenly started to violently distort! Folds of space twisted until it was unable to distort anymore, before suddenly vanishing from sight. In its place, was a minute crack, unseen to the naked eye. However, with the arrival of this crack, the natural spiritual energy of the world began started to turn chaotic. The ground began to rot and the plants started to wither. Fierce winds and thick, black clouds soundlessly appeared in the originally cloudless sky. Rain started to fall endlessly along with the flashing of thick bolts of lighting, creating an intense storm. The plains which were originally habitable, turned into an absolute death zone, after these changes. The power to alter the very world. This was the power possessed by a Stage 3 being. ------------- "We are here." in another place, far, far away from the Greystone valley, a pair of travelers appeared. The faces of the two travelers were covered in grime and soot. Their hairs, both pitch-black in color, were haggard and disheveled. Their clothes were torn in various places, making their appearance resemble that of the derelict. However, their washed-out appearance could not hide the beauty of their faces and the brilliance in their eyes. One pair curious and the other indifferent. "This is the place?" blinking her exquisite violet eyes, Olivia asked while pointing towards the large black-iron gate that lay before them. Hearing her question, Lucius nodded his head. Opening his mouth, he replied with a hoarse voice: "This place is called Pandemonium." Pandemonium, one of the three largest cities on the planet of Pectron. However, the locals knew it by a better name. ''The Hellhole.'' Lucius recalled. After three or so days of constant running, Lucius and Olivia finally arrived at this place. Truth be told, Lucius did not want to come here. He had no fond memories to recall of this place. It was a chaotic place, filled with death and slaughter! Unfortunately, Lucius had no other choice but to come here. ''Uh...There is no helping it now. Plans cannot keep up with changes.'' Lucius sighed within his mind. Taking the lead, he walked towards the black-iron gates blocking his path into this hellhole. ¡ºStop right there!¡» just as Lucius'' hand was about to touch the gate, a rough sounding voice suddenly sounded out. Lucius immediately raised his head and looked towards the source of the voice. His indifferent eyes landed on a brawny figure. A tall, muscular figure with a lizard-head, covered in leather armor stepped forward. The armor, couldn''t hide his extremely muscular body and the green scales that covered his body. At the side of his hip, he wore a weapon sheath. This was a Lacer. They were a Grade 4 species that were commonly found within the Universe. Lacers were considered to be the lesser evolved among the Dracons, a descendent of the Dragons. "Ah!" Olivia let out a small scream. This was her first time seeing a non-human creature that could talk. Seeing a Lacer, she was naturally surprised. ¡ºI haven''t seen both of you here before. Speak, where do you come from!¡» the Lacerman''s long tongue uncoiled as he spoke. Of course, Lucius understood none of that. Neither did he care. Flashing a light smile towards the Lacerman, Lucius snapped his fingers. At his signal, five shadowy figures suddenly appeared at the top of the metal gates. They drew their weapons in unison and jumped down onto the Lacerman, stabbing forth with their weapons. ¡ºAH?! You dare!!¡» The Lacerman was caught off-guard, but let out a loud bellow. He quickly rolled forward, narrowly dodging the sneak attack from the five shadowy figures. ¡ºPrepare to face the fury of the Great Ba..¡» just as he was about to draw his weapon, a pair of slender arms suddenly stretched forth and grabbed him by his throat. "Shut up." Lucius blandly spoke. He quickly stabbed his hands into its chest and tore out its heart. The Lacerman''s pupils fiercely expanded in shock. He tried to scream for help. His throat moved, but no sound leaked out his mouth. He had already died. Lucius removed his hands, and the Lacerman''s body dropped to the ground. It was like a puppet whose strings had been cut. "Open the gates." Lucius ordered the Forgotten, who acted as the distraction. They soundlessly moved and opened the gates, letting in Lucius, followed by Olivia. Olivia stared at the corpse of the lizard-head creature and asked with worry. "Is it alright to simply kill him? Wouldn''t we get into trouble for acting so lawless and killing the gatekeeper?" "It''ll be fine. Pandemonium is such a place." Lucius spoke unconcernedly. He then stared ahead and continued: "Here, as long as you possess sufficient strength, you can do anything. Murder, pillage, r**e, nothing is off-limits." Olivia''s face paled and her body stiffened. Her mouth opened and closed unconsciously a few times. However, after seeing Lucius walk forward seemingly without any worries, she gradually calmed down and followed behind him. ''I''m sure Lucius had his reasons for choosing such a place. As long as I follow his plans, there won''t be much trouble.'' she decided to put her trust in him. Of course, Lucius was unaware of her thoughts. After shooting a glance at the cold corpse on the ground, he decided to leave it alone. Having eaten those Bertarians he was feeling very full. ''Anymore and I wouldn''t be able to digest it.'' Lucius thought. Indigestion wasn''t his only problem, Lucius could also not devour the corpse in public. ''If my identity as a Void Eater is found out, I will be hunted by everyone. [Good], [Evil], [Neutral], none of these factions would tolerate my existence.'' Void Eaters are considered to be the enemy of all life. Although not a lot of people knew about the Void Eaters and their existence was only known to a select few, Lucius wasn''t willing to take that risk. ''To increase my strength is my current priority. I cannot waste my running around, playing hide-and-seek with the various factions.'' Throwing this matter to the back of his head, Lucius stepped past the corpse and walked into the city. He was followed by Olivia and the five Forgotten, who had survived after the battle with the Bertarians. Lucius could currently not use his racial abilities, due to the backlash of using [State of Devour]. This resulted in him not being able to store these Forgotten warriors into the Void. As such, he had no choice but to let them tag behind him. Having entered the city, one would find it to be very quiet and desolate. The surroundings were filled with tall, empty stone and wooden shacks, with not a single person in sight. It seemed to be an abandoned town, rather than one of the three largest cities on this planet. Only the sound of their footsteps striking the stone-covered path could be heard, resounding through the air. Of course, this emptiness was but a misconception. ''12....16....21. There are 21 pairs of eyes, watching us right now.'' with his experience Lucius could accurately sense the gazes directed towards him. Some of the gazes were filled with hostility, while others were filled with desire. However, common among all the gazes were....wariness and curiosity. ''Hyenas. How pathetic.'' Lucius coldly snorted. Hyenas. These were the lowest of the low, amongst the inhabitants in the Pandemonium. They preyed on the weak while fearing the strong. True to their name, these people wouldn''t actively go for the kill. Rather, they would patiently lay in wait and evaluate their preys, mostly the newcomers to the city. If the newcomer showed any weakness, they would swoop in like vultures. However, if the newcomer was strong, they would stalk him until a weakness appeared, before moving to act. Being intensely stared upon by dozens of pairs of eyes, Olivia was feeling very uncomfortable. This was a new and unfamiliar experience for her and unlike Lucius, she wasn''t used to this. ''There is no one here, but why do I feel like I''m being watched?'' she thought to herself. unknowing of the hyenas watching her. At this point, Lucius was also starting to feel annoyed. He suddenly stopped walking and looked in the direction of those gazes. And then... [Annihilation Intent] He released his aura, complete with his unrestrained killing intent. A tangible, black mist materialized around him, giving him a diabolical look. He then met those gazes directly in their eyes and seemingly asked. ''Wanna die?'' Chapter 151: A City of Sin. Peering through the cracks of a broken window, a pair of triangular eyes stared towards two figures walking some distance away. ''Fresh fish. High quality too.'' Rat remarked as his sleazy eyes evaluated the faces of the two newcomers. Licking the corners of his lips in a depraved manner, he silently thought to himself: ''One''s got quite the size, whilst the other is flat. Nonetheless, their faces are top-notch, especially the flat ones. If I can get my hands on them and successfully sell them, I''ll be swimming in coins!'' Tearing his eyes away from the crack, he silently observed his surroundings. His triangular eyes shortened and his eyes furrowed. ''Of course, none of this matters to me. Quite the crowd had been gathered here. There will be quite the show to watch.'' Rat lamented. This sickly looking man with a pair of triangular eyes, a broken nose, and sharp ears was named Rat. Of course, this wasn''t the name given to him by his parents, but one that he had earned during his time as a Hyena. Much like the others inhabiting the Pandemonium, Rat had been abandoned at a very young age. Managing to escape the fate of being a slave, he had turned to crime at a very young age, surviving at the very dredges of the world like a rat. He wasn''t exceptional in any way, as he lacked both strength and courage. However, his cowardly nature had enabled him to survive for almost 50years in this hellhole. Owing to a fortunate encounter in the sewers, he managed to raise his soul by a great degree, barely managing to cross into Stage 2. Thinking that he had made it big in the world, Rat had proudly entered the big leagues of the Pandemonium, only to be shown how cruel reality was. Since that day, he had reverted back to his life as a rat and hung around the outer-district of the Pandemonium while preying on the newcomers. His days were usually meaningless and mundane. However, today was an exception. Word from certain sources was that a pair of cocky, arrogant newcomers had entered the city. In fact, they had gone as far as directly killing the gate-keeper. While their numbers were large for a single group, their strengths were nothing exceptional, only being at the Peak-Level Stage 1. ''Bunch o'' fools.'' Rat had spat disdainfully when he had heard the news. While Peak-Level Stage 1 might be exceptional in the wilds, to survive in the Pandemonium where Stage 2 lurked in abundance, they were just waiting to get jumped on and sold. Deciding to try his luck on these newcomers, Rat had arrived and been trailing them for quite some time. While he had heard the rumors, laying his eyes on them really showed how high-quality these newcomers were. ''I can''t see the five on the back, but these two females walking in the front are simply spectacular! If only I could get my hands on them, I''m sure they would taste exquisite.'' However, judging from the crowd gathered around here, Rat''s chances were simply too low. ''Maybe I should try grouping with some of the others. Nah, I can''t say when one of these bastards might stab me in the back.'' He quickly denied his thoughts. ''Anyway, let me move to a better spot, to watch this show.'' Just as Rat was about to stand up from his position, he could see through the crack that one of the ladies had stopped. She then proceeded to turn around and¡­ Rat''s entire body just froze. In fact, the bodies of every single person watching the newcomers froze. Fear and dread seized their hearts. ''Thi-this! A [Killer]?!'' Rat''s eyes shrunk in shock, as he noticed the potent killing intent leaking from the body of the expressionless beauty. A [Killer]. This was an opponent that one must avoid at all costs and if one accidentally meets them pray that they leave you alone. [Killer] it is a common soul type with nothing exceptional about it. However, what one often fails to mention, is that it''s a common soul type amongst Wild Beasts! Intelligent beings possessing this soul type were very rare. Though, one thing was common amongst all these beings. They were all psychopaths. Individuals with twisted minds, whose only sense of the world is to kill others. They didn''t bother about the how or the why, they simply killed. What was even worse was that [Killer]s simply did not know when to give up. Even when facing an opponent that was overwhelmingly stronger than them, they still went for the kill and died trying. An enemy who never knew when to quit was the worst enemy to fight. ''Shit! Who would face these nut jobs!'' seeing that tangible killing intent leaking out of Lucius'' body, Rat promptly gave up and retreated. All conflict existed in order to secure benefits. If a conflict did not result in benefits, but actually resulted in losses, then it was foolish to fight. And fighting against a [Killer] was very foolish, especially when the other party is not afraid to sacrifice himself to attack you. Having come to this conclusion, Rat mobilized his soul power and purged the effects of [Annihilation Intent] which he had mistaken for [Killing Intent]. Ridding himself of its effects, he regained control over his body and immediately retreated. The other Hyenas present on the scene also came to a similar conclusion to Rat and retreated. ----------------- Within a few short moments, all the Hyenas disappeared into the darkness. ''Tch. They ran away.'' Lucius clicked his tongue in disappointment. While he had expected them to react like this, he had vaguely hoped for a fight to occur. ''If someone still came to attack me, it would mean that he was new to being a Hyena. Killing and plundering him would have been easier.'' This was why Lucius was disappointed. Currently, Lucius possessed no assets to his name. Apart from the cloth covering his body and the scythe sheathed on his waist, he was completely broke. ''Spirit Coins. I need to earn some Spirit Coins.'' Lucius pondered while retracting his [Annihilation Intent]. He then turned around and started walking once more. Olivia, who was clueless on these happenings, wore a confused expression on her face. Seeing Lucius, who seemed to be in deep thought she did not voice out her question and quietly followed him. Silence returned once more, only this time the uncomfortable feeling that they had felt had completely disappeared. ''First order of business is to get some proper gear. These torn clothes will not provide much protection during battle.'' Wearing an expressionless face, Lucius quietly mused: ''Actually, before that, I need to buy some Babel fish.'' The Babel fish is small, yellow, leech-like and one of the oddest things in the Universe. Placing it in one''s ear, it has the ability to translate any foreign speech allowing one to communicate without actually learning the language. It''s a Grade 2 life form and is commonly regarded as one of the most useful creatures in existence. Its only drawback being, it does not allow one to read or write the language (only speech). However, for an anti-social person like Lucius, this drawback was hardly of any inconvenience. Heaving a light sigh, he thought to himself: ''Seems like I have to visit that old man''s shop.'' Having no money, Lucius had no other choice but to meet an old acquaintance. One of the only people in his previous life who was good to him. ----------------- Making their way through this empty ghetto-like place, Lucius followed by Olivia and the five Forgotten finally entered the city of Pandemonium. The difference between both the places could be immediately seen. ¡ºMove! Move! Move!¡» a tall dark-skinned Cyclops ordered as he whipped a procession of child slaves. BANG! ¡ºHehe, I win. Tonight she''s mine.¡» A vulgar-looking man, his face covered by a helmet spoke as he stepped atop his defeated opponent. ¡ºWh...at are ye..h lookin at?¡» a drunk-sounding patron of a bar waved his halberd threateningly. Stopping for a second, Lucius took a sharp inhale. The smell of blood, sh*t, death, and debauchery flooded into his lungs. ''Just like I remember it.'' This was a scent that Lucius would never forget. The scent of the City of Sin. Chapter 152: Memories. Brothels, bars, betting stations, gambling dens, slave shops, and many other buildings filled the streets The buildings were tall and decrepit, with various types of people present in them. One could see a variety of humanoids, belonging to both the [Good] and [Evil] faction walking through the streets. Some looked monstrous, with two heads and four arms, while some resembled humans to a tee. However, common amongst all of them was their sharp gazes, a weapon within arm''s reach, and a bloodthirsty aura surrounding their bodies. These were people tempered by blood and combat. Veterans in killing and demons with no moral limits. In an orderly city, they would be considered to be the scum of society. In Pandemonium, however, these people were the norm. They were the survivors. People who possess sufficient strength or influence to bravely walk down the streets without fearing an assault or assassination. Not all of them were Stage 2 in strength, but the ones who were Stage 1 were sure to an influential gang or have a strong backer. With an indifferent gaze, Lucius calmly observed them, evaluating each one within his mind. He continued walking while releasing [Annihilation Intent] at full-force. Similar to how Lucius was evaluating the people on the streets, they also evaluated this party of newcomers. Entranced by the beauty of Olivia and Lucius (who was mistaken for a woman), blood rushed to their heads and their eyes shone with a lustful gaze. However, seeing the tangible black mist surrounding the expressionless lady, their excitement instantly cooled down and the faces of some of the veterans turning pale. Some eyes, however, shone with excitement and the desire to conquer. While Olivia felt uncomfortable facing such stares, Lucius was completely indifferent. In fact, he hoped for some hot-blooded idiot to attack them, in order to establish dominance. None came forward. Walking past these crowds Lucius suddenly turned and entered a narrow alleyway, leaving the main street. Walking through the spider thread-like corridors with familiarity, he arrived in front of a small, broken shop. Stone steps led to a cracked wooden door reinforced with metal edges. A large bronze knocker was present on the door. The stone walls surrounding the shop flawlessly merged into the buildings by the side, making this shop resemble a single room, rather than an individual building. There was nothing extraordinary about this shop for it resembled the rest of the surrounding building. In fact, its entrance was merged into the alleyway causing one unfamiliar with this city to easily miss it. Lucius, however, could not be more familiar with this shop. Certain memories appeared within his mind. A man caked in dirt and filth. His bones broken and his face torn by various cuts. His body laid face-first on the stone floor unmoving, revealing the horrific whip-marks on his back. He was on the verge of death, as he gasped for air. Behind him followed a trail of blood exiting the shop and leading into the street. It made one question, how did this man make it all the way to this shop with such serious injuries. The sounds of rapid footsteps approached the crippled man, a pair of bony, wrinkled hands reached down to hold him: "KID! What happened to you?!" Exerting strength into his arms, the owner of this pair of wrinkled arms, an old man judging from his appearance screamed towards his daughter. "Tara! Clear the bed and prepare some clean water!" lifting the dying man from the floor, he carried him to the second floor. ------------ An unknown amount of time passed, when the man finally opened his eyes. His eyes which were previously filled with anger and hatred was now colored with...emptiness. "I¡ªI..." he tried to speak but only hoarse sounds exited his throat. A young woman, human in appearance and seemingly in her late teenage years, ran towards this man and hurriedly offered a glass of green liquid. "Please don''t try to talk Brother Lucius. Your injuries were too severe and haven''t healed yet." She pleaded. The sound of heavy footsteps was heard followed by the anger-filled voice of an old man. "How many times have I told you?! Don''t go against the orders of your master!" "You are a slave! Your life belongs to your master! When are you going to accept that?!" "Your struggles against his orders are meaningless. If he orders you to fight you must fight! If he orders you to die, you must die! Why does this fact not sink into that thick skull of yours?!" "Father, you''re being too harsh on Brother Lucius." The young girl tried to intervene, only to be fiercely scolded but the old man. "Shut up and don''t you dare try to intervene!" he stared at his daughter with bloodshot eyes before turning to face the man lying on the bed once again. "Do you even know how serious your wounds were this time? Not a single bone was unbroken in your body! The only reason you managed to survive was because the slave collar on your neck preserved final bits of vitality in your body!" "Why are you incapable of obedience? Why do you keep seeking death against that man?!" "Freedom is the privilege of the strong. Weaker beings like us are meant to be slaves!" he screamed. Tara watched her father furiously reprimand Lucius. She tried to remain quiet while stifling her tears and cries. She couldn''t intervene, for her father spoke the truth. The Strong prevailed and the Weak perished. This was the system in the Universe. Lucius refusing to obey the commands of his master, struggling against his fate as a slave, was simply foolish and meaningless. The only reason that he already wasn''t killed for his disobedience was due to his master favoring him for his handsome looks and his value as a rare collectible ([Killer] soul). "Give up! Just give up your struggles and accept your fate! I promise you life will become much simpler and painless!" Having screamed at all his strength, the old man rapidly gasped for air. In his heart, he could understand Lucius'' struggle, who would want to spend their life as a slave. But what was the point of struggling, if one did not possess the strength to struggle. Wearing an expressionless look and blank eyes, Lucius stared at the ceiling of the room. "Do you know?" he suddenly spoke: "Do you know what that monster does to me? Lucius turned his head around and faced the pair of father and daughter. His terrifying scar-filled face spoke with a calm tone. "Every single day during the nights he calls me to his room and does unspeakable, deplorable, sickening actions with my body." "And each time I resist, he uses a small, pin-like dagger and carves my flesh, before healing and repeating once again." "Unable to withstand it anymore, I disfigured my own face." "I was tortured for a week, but at least I no longer have to live as his toy." "During the days, the other slaves and guards spit on me and treat me in the most deplorable manner. No matter how perfectly I perform my tasks, they always make an excuse, before breaking my bones and whipping me 15 times." "Unable to continue, I tried to kill myself. Haha." He suddenly burst into a faint laugh, as he continued: "As you can see, that did not work." Raising his head, he stared at the old man. "I''m tired." "I''m tired of resisting, of struggling¡­ of living." "I watched my only family die in front of my eyes. I watched the girl I loved torn apart by beasts. I watched my kind fail in the Ascension, watched as they were annihilated." "And I couldn''t do anything to prevent it. Every single time, I was there, watching these events unfold with my very own eyes. Each time, I was helpless to act." Pausing for a moment, Lucius looked at his reflection on the cup of water, that he held in his hands. "Or maybe I was scared. Too scared to face death." "I could have stepped in and fought till my last breath. To die alongside my kin. But I didn''t. I was a coward. An irredeemable coward, too afraid to face death." "But not anymore." A smile formed on Lucius'' face as he continued. "Having lived this hellish life, I''m no longer scared. Death does not frighten me." Peering into the murky eyes of the old man, Lucius finished with a calm tone. "So please, kill me." -------------- "Lucius!" Olivia''s voice woke Lucius from his daze. His eyes regained clarity and settled on the source of the voice. Olivia''s face had a look of concern, as she asked: "Are you okay? You seemed to have spaced out for a moment." Her face closed in onto his own. "I''m fine." He brushed off her concern nonchalantly. His face was expressionless and his eyes resembled deep wells, calm and without a single ripple. Although the memories of his previous life had appeared within his mind, Lucius'' heart was void of any emotions. It almost seemed as if the person in those memories weren''t him, but someone else. Lucius simply watched with indifference. "O-Okay." Olivia unsurely answered and stepped back. Her face reverted back to her normal expression; however, her eyes still contained some worry. She wasn''t convinced by his answer. Ignoring Olivia'' Lucius stepped forth and knocked on the door twice. Without waiting for an answer he pushed the door open and stepped into the shop. It was then that suddenly, a large, cylindrical object emitting an eerie red-aura ferociously swung towards Lucius. ¡ºDie you beast!¡» Chapter 153: Grades of Lifeforms. ''?!!'' Sensing the danger coming towards him, Lucius'' instincts instantly kicked in. Raising his left arm, he managed to form a guard while angling his head to avoid contact. Deftly managing to evade certain danger, he then instinctively extended his right arm towards the assailant. Lucius'' hands formed a claw and his black-colored nails extended at its tip. His hands which could effortlessly pierce into the thick skin of a Stage 2 being, were intending to tear his assailant''s heart out. The mind, the body, and the soul, were the three most important parts of every living organism. The soul nourishes the body. And the body contains the soul. One''s mind acted as the bridge that connected these two parts and forms the ''self''. This was a common expression used by the people of the Universe to explain the relationship between these three parts. ''The soul nourishes the body''. To understand this sentence was quite easy. One''s power was derived from their soul, the higher the Stage of their soul, the more powerful a person is. The path to the peak lies in the cultivation and advancement of one''s soul. However, the soul by itself isn''t sufficient. ''And the body contains the soul'' To explain briefly, it meant that a weak body cannot house a strong soul. Incidentally, this is where the system of Grades of various life forms came into play. The higher the Stage of one''s soul, the greater the strength possessed by them. In other words, to contain this enormous amount of power an equally strong body was required. As the composition of one''s body was decided at birth, a Grade was given to that specific life form to classify the talent of that race. Grade 1 represented the lowest of the low. These beings could never awaken their souls and therefore never grow in strength. Bacteria and various micro-organisms belonged to this grade. Grade 2 beings were marginally better and could at least awaken their souls. However, the limit of most Grade 2 beings was Mid-Level Stage 1, with a selected few (mutation and/or other factors) reaching Peak-Level Stage 1. Many unintelligent wild beasts belonged to this category. Grade 3 and Grade 4 consisted of the majority of the Universe''s races. Most Grade 3 races were humanoid in figure and possessed the talent to rise to Peak-Level Stage 2, after awakening. A few exceptionally talented beings possess the ability to reach Low-Level Stage 3. Examples were Lacers and Humans (Mankind). Grade 4 is a bit different from the three preceding grades. Life forms belonging to this grade are born with Stage 1 soul cultivation and usually possess an inherent trait or affinity. They possess the talent to easily reach Stage 3, with a select few reaching Peak-Level Stage 3. Achieving Stage 4 is simply impossible. An example was the Bertarians, with their inherent Light and Astral affinity. Grade 5 and above are special races that will be explained later. The highest known grade is Grade 7 with the Heavenly Sovereigns and Abyssal Rulers. These were Primordial races that have survived across many eras and also one of the only races with the Potential to reach Stage 7. Grade 8 to Grade 10 are the stuff of legends. No records documenting the existence of these races exist. As for why the Grades existed, nobody really knew. Incidentally, the reason Lucius was able to reach Stage 7 in his previous life was because of a certain fortuitous that had allowed him to change his race (not to Void Eater). As for the Grade of the Void Eater, it is currently unknown. Returning to the story. The reason why Lucius always aimed to destroy the heart of his opponent was to simply destroy a core-component of the body. Due to the healing effects of soul power, aiming for any other part is simply a waste of effort, as they would rapidly heal with sufficient soul power. Destroying the heart, usually meant an instakill. The heart was ubiquitous amongst all races and was a universal weakness. Of course, there also existed the mind which housed the consciousness that was equally important. However, the ''mind'' of various races differed in their location. The heart however was more-or-less in the same position. Less than a second had passed since Lucius had entered the door and his subsequent reaction. His instincts as a [Killer] have honed with battle ability to a degree where he is able to unconsciously react to sneak attacks. However, this also meant that Lucius would always retaliate with the intent to kill. Just as his elongated black nails pierced into the chest of his assailant, Lucius finally laid his eyes on his assailant. It was a slim, old man with bluish-grey hair. A look of shock appeared within Lucius'' eyes, following which he barely managed to restrain his attack. His fingers had already pierced into the old man''s chest by a few centimeters, barely touching the old man''s pumping heart. Fortunately, Lucius managed to stop his attack. ''That was close.'' letting go of the metal bat-like thing that the old man had tried to attack him with, Lucius then calmly retracted his right hand. The old man''s body was frozen stiffly and his eyes stared at Lucius dumbfounded. The five newly formed holes on his chest leaked fresh blood which slowly started to form a puddle on the floor. Olivia, who had entered the shop behind Lucius, also paused her steps stiffly and looked at the scene with astonishment and incomprehension. "Lucius! Are you alright?!" snapping out of her daze, she immediately looked towards Lucius, searching for any injuries. "I''m fine. Rather this old man''s in danger." Lucius waved her off. He then laid his hand on the old man''s wound and pumped his soul power into his body, healing it. ¡ºYou..you! ¡» the old man tried to scream, but his mouth was forcibly clasped by Lucius. Lucius then used his hand and pointed towards his ears and Olivia. Opening his mouth he vocalized some broken words: ¡ºBa..bel F..ish ¡» The old man''s eyes widened in realization. He then nodded his head showing that he had understood Lucius'' words. Lucius then removed his hands, following which the old man rapidly gasped for air. He raised his head and stared towards Lucius with wariness and fear, before walking towards the counter and entering a doorway. Meanwhile, Lucius stood quietly with a nonchalant demeanor. While he did not understand why the old man had suddenly attacked him, he had decided to directly ask the old man. Olivia on the other hand had a curious expression on her face, as she surveyed the interior of the shop. The entry door led into a moderately-sized room with little-to-no decorations present in it. Wooden shelves adorned the walls, which held a variety of items ranging from books, provisions, weapons, armors, etc. A half-glass, half-wooden counter separated the shop space and the counter space. Behind the counter was a small ebony-colored door which the old man had entered, seemingly leading to the inner-areas of the shop. A few minutes pass before the old man appeared once again. His arms held onto two glass-jars filled with a translucent yellowish liquid. Swimming inside this liquid was the Babel Fish. The old man placed the jars atop the counter and gestured towards Lucius. Stepping forward, Lucius opened one of the jars and fished out the struggling creature. Bringing it near his head, he then pushed it into his right ear. A sharp burst of pain flooded his brain, followed by an intense sense of dizziness. However, he quickly suppressed these feelings and adjusted himself. He then turned around and gestured towards Olivia. The violet-eyed beauty stepped forward with hesitation written on her face. Looking at the struggling worm-like creature, a deep sense of disgust and repulsion filled her heart. Pushing down these feelings, she then mimicked Lucius'' actions. "AH!!!!" However, the pain caught her unprepared. Olivia''s body convulsed and her knees weakened causing her to collapse onto the floor. Lucius, who expected his to happen, simply ignored her. "Will your friend be alright?" the old man hesitantly asked. Olivia''s body trembled as if she was electrocuted. Of course, the old man knew that this was an effect o using the Babel fish for the first time. Looking at the ''expressionless beauty'' standing in front of him with indifferent eyes, the old man thought: ''What kind of mental resilience is required to forcibly withstand that pain? This is a frightening person!'' "She''ll be fine." Lucius shrugged at his question. ''Finally! I can communicate without any problems.'' Lucius inwardly thought. "May I ask what business the lady might have with this old man?" the old man asked with a bow. At his question, Lucius'' brows faintly furrowed. With a flat tone, he replied: "I''m not a lady." This misunderstanding couldn''t be helped. Lucius'' face was handsome to the point of being considered beautiful. This coupled with his recently overgrown hair, made him look like a cold, elegant beauty. "Ah! I apologize for mistaking sir!" the old man realized his mistake and apologized. Looking towards Lucius, he once again asked: "Can I ask, what business sir might have with this humble old man?" "Indeed. Firstly, why did you attack me?" Lucius blandly asked. An unmistakable murderous intent leaked from his body. ------------ AN: I''m slightly disappointed that no one pointed out the [Babel Fish] reference. *smh* Anyways... So long, and thanks for all the fish! Chapter 154: Final Solution. Part 1 The old man''s face instantly paled. He could feel the dark, tangible killing intent prickle every single inch of his skin. "I-it wasn''t intentional, I swear!" the old man stammered. Waving his hands in a panic he continued: "I wasn''t expecting sir to suddenly walk in!" "Oh? Then who were you expecting to walk in?" Lucius asked, intrigued. "That¡­" the old man''s eyes dogged about, as hesitation filled his face. He seemed to be having a mental debate on whether to reveal this info or not. Seeing his hesitation, Lucius further intensified his killing intent. ''Ah, screw it! If I don''t this psychopath might kill me!'' eventually the old man gave up. He realized that the person in front of him was a bona fide [Killer]. While Lucius'' aura was only at Peak-Level Stage 1, the sheer density and intensity of his killing intent, made up for the lack of the rest. "I''ll tell you!" the old man screamed. His broad shoulders slumped powerlessly and a look of hopelessness appeared within his eyes. He then began to explain his current situation. Lucius patiently heard the old man''s explanation. While he was indifferent towards the majority of others and even looked down upon them, treating them as ants or worms or whatnot, there were some exceptions to this behavior. There were a very small number of individuals for whom Lucius held a trace amount of respect. These included the Lords, some Peak-Level Stage 7 monsters, and certain people who had a definite impact on his previous life. This list included this blue-haired old man. Baltmer. Leon Baltmer was the name of this old man. Baltmer had no meager cultivation of Low-Level Stage 1, an inconsequential amount of power to survive within the Pandemonium. He was a single father with a daughter, who was a little older than Lucius when he had come here in his previous life. (50 or so years). He ran a small shop in this grey, rundown district of the Pandemonium for reasons unknown. In fact, Lucius did not recall anyone other than himself ever visiting this shop in his previous life. In his previous life, when Lucius had arrived at the Pandemonium, as a grieving and lost youth who had witnessed the destruction of his race, he was forced into slavery by one of the gangs operating this city. Due to his status being that of a Traveler, he was treated as expendable human trash. Possessing no strength to fight for his freedom, Lucius had no choice but to accept his fate. However, things soon turned for the worst as one of the leaders of the gang took a liking for Lucius'' looks. He had then forced Lucius into becoming his s*x slave. During all of this time, the only person who viewed and treated Lucius as a person was Baltmer. Even during the end when Lucius had forsaken his will to live, it was Baltmer who had performed an untold amount of sacrifices to give Lucius the opportunity to escape and advance in his cultivation. Almost a year later, Lucius had advanced from Mid-Level Stage 1 to Mid-Level Stage 2 and returned to the city¡­ Only to find that the old man was brutally killed by the gang and his daughter was sold into slavery, who then killed herself from shame. Lucius had completely lost his mind to rage on that day and had slaughtered every single gang member. He did not even leave the others who had simply stood by and watched. Lucius had truly become an [Killer] after this incident. ----------- Returning to today. Although Baltmer had no idea who Lucius was and was meeting him for the first time in his current life, Lucius felt that he owed him a favor. ''Seeing that he currently seems to be in trouble, I might as well pay this favor back.'' Lucius concluded. In exchange for saving his life once, Lucius would save Baltmer''s life for a single time. After that, all debts would be resolved. It was not a fair trade? The favor he owed was greater? Well, Lucius did not care about that. The only reason he had even decided to help Baltmer was to make the other feel indebted to him. While Baltmer had no strength, he was nonetheless a very resourceful man. Having the assistance of someone like him would make Lucius'' life in Pandemonium much easier. After all, advancing in Stage sometimes required the assistance of certain resources. It would be too inefficient for Lucius and Olivia to search for them on their own. ''Also, I''m on a time limit. With that Bertarian tracking me down, I can only remain hidden for so long. Saving his daughter should count as repaying the favor.'' Lucius finally finished hearing what Baltmer was saying. Taking a moment to organize the information, Lucius took a breath and spoke. "In short, the Minaccia Gang has kidnapped your daughter in exchange for ransom. If you fail to make the payment, they will sell your daughter to slavery." "Yes." Baltmer nodded his head bitterly. "How much?" Lucius questioned. "15,000 Spirit Coins," Baltmer replied. Spirit Coins were the Universal currency of the Universe. They were mined and shaped from naturally occurring Spirit Veins, which are a physical manifestation of Spiritual Energy. Since spiritual Energy was an attribute less unit of energy of the Universe it had a multitude of uses, runes, enchanted weapons, crafting, etc. Spiritual energy was also required for the cultivation and advancement of soul power. In the absence of sufficient spiritual energy, the soul might collapse during advancement. (Remember when Lucius advanced to Mid-Level Stage 1 on the spaceship before the ''Ascension''. His soul had almost collapsed due to insufficient presence of spiritual energy). ''15,000 coins for that weakling. What a joke.'' Lucius inwardly thought. "I''m not sure how sir had found this old man''s shop, but if you''re unrelated to the Minaccia Gang, I advice sir to leave the premises right now. I wouldn''t want to drag sir into my troubles." Baltmer honestly spoke. He had never expected Lucius to help him out of the graciousness of his heart, nor did he expect any help. In the Pandemonium, where its ''kill or be killed'' environment no one in their right mind would needlessly offend an establish gang. In fact, if Lucius had offered to help him, Baltmer would be absolutely convinced that something was fishy or that a deeper ploy was in place. "What''s the strength of the Minaccia Gang?" Lucius suddenly asked. Baltmer was caught off-guard. He cautiously observed Lucius'' face only to find the other completely expressionless. Not wanting to piss him off, he replied honestly. "The total number of people associated with that Gang is 30. Their Leader is a Low-Level Stage 2, who is in the cusp to breaking through into Mid-Level. The Vice-Leaders must be Peak-Level Stage 1 with the rest being lower than that." "Affiliations?" Lucius continued to ask. "They are one of the numerous lackeys of the ''Five Big Ones''. As for which one among the five, I don''t know." Baltmer replied. "Location?" Lucius asked. Baltmer smoothly replied once again. As for how he knew such specific facts, it was his secret. Hearing his reply, Lucius quieted down. Except for the pained screams of Olivia in the background, who was still struggling with the Babel Fish, the rest of the shop was silent. Minutes passed and Baltmer managed to summon the courage to ask a question: "Ma-may I ask why sir wishes to know these things?" "Obviously to save your daughter." Lucius absent-mindedly replied. "Wha-what?! Why?!" Baltmer shrieked. His wariness instantly rose by a thousand-fold. Having awakened from his thoughts by that scream, Lucius looked into Baltmer''s eyes and casually spoke. "She and I are Travelers who have just recently arrived on this planet. As such, I need you to discretely register our identities. As you can see, I have no coins to pay for your services." "Tra-travelers!" Baltmer was shocked. As stated before, Travelers are extremely rare, especially on planets like Pectron. "Also, I have offended the Governor of the Stellar Light City by killing his children and destroying their bodies." Lucius nonchalantly dropped another bomb. This time Baltmer was no longer able to handle his shock. His knees weakened and his old body collapsed onto the ground. ''Hea-heavens! Of all the people, he had to offend the Bertarians!'' Baltmer thought. No sane person would do such a thing, however, considering that Lucius seemed to be a [Killer] Baltmer suddenly found this disturbing matter to be¡­''normal?'' ''As expected of a [Killer]'' he unsteadily climbed to his feet and wiped the sweat of his forehead. His frizzled blue hair had already become damp from nervousness. "Okay. This is doable." He suddenly saw the ''psycho'' nod his head and speak. "Look after her until I come back." Lucius blandly stated before turning and walking towards the exit. "Wa-wait! Where are you going?" Baltmer scream. "To get you, your daughter back," Lucius replied without turning around. "How?!" Lucius paused at the door for a moment and replied. His calm and mechanical words resounded within the shop. "Simple. Kill them all and find your daughter." Chapter 155: Final Solution. Part 2 Watching Lucius nonchalantly walk out of the shop, the old man stood stiffly in shock. His face sported a comical expression in a daze. "W-wa-wait! I-I''ll c-ome t-oo!" Olivia''s pained whimpers in the background managed to wake Baltmer from his daze. He quickly approached Olivia and kneeled beside her. "Don''t move your body! Don''t try to fight against the Babel Fish and accept its presence." He quickly advised seeing the violet-eyed girl in pain. Olivia obeyed his advice and immediately acted. The pain quickly subsided followed by a numb feeling in her brain. "There, there, easy now. Take it slowly and get used to the changes." Baltmer helped Olivia sit up and fed her a blue-colored vial of liquid. With his assistance, Olivia found herself quickly recovering from the pain. She then tried to stand up, only to immediately collapse. Her legs lacked strength and felt wobbly. "Jeez, calm down for a second! It will take some time for your brain to get used to the Babel Fish. Until then, your faculties will be uncoordinated and weak." He scolded. ''But Lucius¡­" Olivia tried to retort only to be interrupted by Baltmer. "Your friend''s actions cannot be judged by common sense. He''s simply a monster for adapting so fast." His mind recalled how Lucius had not even frowned when adapting to the Babel Fish. Hearing his response, Olivia quietened down. Clenching her fists she thought to herself: ''I''m still so weak. Such a frail fish can immobilize me.'' Her eyes blazed with determination. "Say..." Baltmer suddenly opened his mouth and asked: "Will your friend be alright?" "He will. Such pathetic weaklings could never hinder him." Olivia confidently replied. The sheer confidence in her voice astonished Baltmer. While he wanted to retort, he found himself unable to. Sighing to himself, he inwardly thought: ''Both of these youngsters aren''t normal. I pray that he comes back alright.'' -------------- Navigating through the narrow alleyways, Lucius was followed by the five Forgotten warriors. While walking in silence, Lucius seriously pondered about the upcoming battle. ''Thirty opponents, with a single Stage 2 leader and Twenty-nine Stage 1 combatants. Being in the Pandemonium means their combat abilities are not to be underestimated.'' Surviving in the city was extremely hard. Without sufficient strength, it would be hard to survive, no matter how great one''s backing is. ''Winning against them in direct combat isn''t impossible but very inefficient. I can''t waste too much of my time in this matter.'' Lucius continued to ponder. His mind constantly ran simulations of the fight, while seeking the most effective path to victory. ''My racial abilities cannot be used currently. That means [Void Steps] cannot be used to traverse and [Void Hands] cannot be used for variety. My combat effectiveness is down by almost 40%'' his brows furrowed as he evaluated his battle strength. While [State of Devour] was a very power killer move with near Stage 3 strength, its drawbacks were similarly enormous. Lucius'' Void Energy had gone into a state of over exhaustion and had yet to recover. ''The Forgotten warriors can keep them occupied, but will quickly die once my soul power bottoms out. Once I lose them, it will be game over.'' His squad of undying warriors can last as long as Lucius supplied them with soul power. However, without the convenient combo of [Void Hands] and [Devour], Lucius had to manually eat to recover his soul power. In a tense battle situation, it was impossible to do such a thing. Having almost arrived at the main road, Lucius stopped for a second. ''The most viable solution is to sneak in, catch the leader off-guard and kill him, then wipe out the guards. The key to this battle will be the element of surprise and my effectiveness in dealing with him.'' ''Question is, how do I sneak in?'' Lucius'' eyes darted around. His eyes involuntarily fell on a piece of clothing, hanging from a nearby balcony. A small smile formed on his face as he concluded. ''This will work.'' The Pandemonium was a large city, that was divided into separate territories each protected and managed by one of the Gangs inhabiting the city. Each territory was marked and carefully guarded by their respective gangs. Fights for territory are extremely common among rival gangs, with wars also being very frequent. The importance of the territories lied in the businesses that were present in them. As seen before, when Lucius had entered the city, the majority of the businesses included brothels, bars, taverns, weaponsmiths, armor shops, gambling dens, and other places of luxury. These businesses formed the economy of the city. Resources were often scarce, with too many mouths to feed but too little to go around. Hence, having a richer territory means that gangs had better resources for growth. Apart from the resources, the revenue generated was also equally important for trade with other cities. Revenue was gathered in the form of taxes, which were also reliant on these businesses. The taxation slightly differed amongst each of the territories but was more or less equal. However, compared to the other cities in Pectron, it was still too much. This couldn''t be helped since the nature of these businesses were often ''less-stellar'' and was more reminiscent of black markets. Items that were usually banned in the other cities were usually found here. Pandemonium also hosted the largest hub for the exchange of ill-gotten goods. Wanderers or convicts on the run would usually head towards this city to dispose of their goods. On the whole, it was quite an affluent city. Due to the rich amount of benefits involved, the order of powers was equally convoluted. On the whole, however, the division of territories was between five gangs, locally called the ''Five Big Ones''. These ''Five Big Ones'' equally distributed the biggest share of the pie. Collectively, they held control over more than 80% of the businesses within the city and were the local hegemony. Fights between the Five Big Ones were quite rare, for the cost exceeded the benefits gained in a venture. The real mess was the remaining 20% of businesses which was the goal of competition between the small and mid-sized gangs. These gangs were more often than not, agents of the Five Big Ones. In other words, these conflicts were more of an above-board scheme for dominance amongst the Five Big Ones. And the Minaccia Gang was one such agent. Minaccia Gang''s HQ. Two burly guards, one a Lacerman and the other a Terran with bronze-colored skin stood in front of a large iron-gate, that lead to a mid-sized mansion. "Ahh, this goddamned heat is making me shed my scales off!" the Lacerman loudly complained. "It''s summer. What else would it be, if not hot?" the bronze-skinned Terran with brown eyes scoffed. "Come on, do we have to stand here all freaking day? We are the Minaccia Gang, our Boss has connections with one of the Five Big Ones. Who in their right mind would dare to attack us?" The Lacerman retorted. He then randomly pointed towards a scrawny-looking pedestrian and said: "Him?" At his question, the Terran glared towards the Lacerman and said. "Don''t even think about ditching your post! You know how mad Boss gets when you disobey his orders." "Yea, yea, whatever." The Lacerman just waved his hand: "I just want the day to get over, so I can visit my darling!" "Oh? You mean that sl*t? I just heard today, that the brothel got their hands on a Bertarian slave." The Terran maliciously licked his lips: "I wonder how she would taste." The Lacerman rolled his eyes at his partner''s behavior and replied: "Can you even afford that?" "Am I not even allowed to dream now?" The Terran complained: "Plus, I want to see what all the fuss about a Bertarian is. What the heck makes them so expensive?" "It''s all about the quality and demand. I''m telling ya man, all these prices are a lie. These brothels have their hands joined together behind our backs. They restrict the goods to increase the demand and inflate the prices, it''s called the Scarcity Principle. Actually¡­" The Lacerman adopted a serious demeanor and started to explain. "Hold up! What the hell are you even talking about? Those are just made-up words." The Terran retorted. "No, those are actual terms. You see the economy of our city¡­" just as the Lacerman was about to start on another lecture, the Terran quickly shut him up. "Just shut up!" he waved his partner off. Turning his head, his gaze settled on a pedestrian. --------------- {Terrans} A carbon-based life form that is NOT to be confused with humans (Mankind). They are a Grade 3 species, with predominantly bronze-colored skin and brown eyes (sometimes black). Terrans contain both male and female members, with similar genetic makeup as humans. Their average height ranges from 1.6m to 2.1m. A species that discovered the existence of soul power, before science and therefore cultivated a different path form humans. Their technology is quite underdeveloped and is reminiscent of the Middle Ages. However, their combat capability is nothing to scoff at. Similar to the Bertarians, they are one of the most populous races in the Universe. Unlike the Bertarians however, they have members belonging to both the [Good] and [Evil] faction. (AN: You''ll see them quite often from here on out.) Chapter 156: Final Solution. Part 3 A slim, dainty-looking lady walked on the opposite side of the street. Her body and face were hidden beneath a thick, dusty robe, exposing only a fair amount of her shoulder-length black hair and her pale-white arms. Her slender hands tightly clutched onto a wooden basket and her footsteps were quick and panicked. Just a second ago, she had accidentally gazed towards the two guards, only to be spotted by the Terran. The Terran guard, being a Peak-Level Stage 1 had eyesight that was superior to the regular people. In that short moment, he had caught a glimpse of her face. ''So beautiful!'' he was completely enchanted. ''Those sl*ts at the brothel come nowhere close to her beauty. If I can get my hands on her¡­'' his face formed a lecherous smile. "You! Stop right there!" he bellowed and immediately ran towards this lady. The lady quickened her footsteps and almost broke into a run, however, her pursuer was a Mid-Level Stage 1. Someone a regular person like her could not compare with. "Caught you!" The Terran quickly caught up to the lady and forcibly held her by her arm. "Hey, what are you doing?!" the Lacerman belatedly followed. The Terran guard did not reply. He used his hand to remove the hood covering the lady''s face, revealing her grime and dust covered-face. Laying their eyes on her exquisite face, the two guards found themselves speechless. ''Such a¡­'' they wanted to describe her beauty, but couldn''t find the appropriate words. "Gulp." They loudly gulped. The more they looked, the more they felt their eyes being drawn into her. "..pl¡­ease let me go¡­" the lady spoke in a soft voice, reminiscent of a rat''s squeak. The fear and panic in her eyes were evident. Hearing that request, the Terran exploded into loud laughter: "Hahaha! To think I would have such good luck!" His eyes grew menacing as he continued: "You want to leave? Of course you can, after properly serving me!" he growled and neared the lady''s face. His breath grew increasingly heated and his eyes lustful. "Hey, wait a second." The Lacerman interrupted his partner''s action. "What do you want?!" the Terran bellowed in rage. Blood had already started rushing to his lower facilities. He quickly turned around and glared at his partner''s face. However, he found something to be wrong, the eyes of his partner were completely blank. Just as the Terran guard was about to voice his confusion, he heard an emotionless voice sound next to his ears: "Quite the mental fortification you''ve got. My [Charm] almost didn''t work." The Terran felt a chill pass through his spine and quickly turned around. His vision was drawn into a single golden eye which shone brilliantly. And with that, the Terran found his sight blackout. His consciousness was forcibly destroyed. ''Phase one is over.'' Lucius concluded as he stared at the two guards. With clever use of [Annihilation Intent] and his unique ability [Charm], Lucius managed to forcibly wipe out their consciousness and converted them into mindless zombies. His plan was nothing ingenious, but rather a simple play on emotion. By using his appearance and appealing towards the guards, he managed to create a flaw in their minds and ruthlessly exploited it. In fact, it was only recently that Lucius had learnt that his [Charm] had undergone an upgrade, an increase in its usage to be precise. As long as the soul cultivation of the target was lower than that of Lucius, he could now forcibly hijack their minds. Commands which were harmful to the target, such as ''kill yourself'' which did not work previously, now worked on a fixed probability. As for what that probability was, further tests were required. ''With the two guards under my control, I can enter the compound. I just have to be careful not to reveal any flaws while approaching their leader.'' Lucius concluded. Clapping his hands twice, five shadows quickly appeared next to him. "On my order, start sweeping up from the outer perimeter. Be quick and do not make any noise. Cut their vocal cords, before going in for the kill." Lucius instructed. The five Forgotten warriors nodded their heads before disappearing into the darkness. He then ordered the two guards to bind his hands, before letting them lead him into the compound. ''Starting Phase two.'' ----------------- With the two guards leading the way, Lucius had no problems entering the compound. ''That was easy. Now all I have to do Is avoid the others and make it to their boss.'' Lucius quietly whispered his orders to the two guards. Unlike the Forgotten with whom he was connected, Lucius could not mentally command these two guards. His orders had to be manually spoken and could not be overly complex. Entering the gates, led the group across a large lawn. The lawn was mostly barren, with a cactus-like, brown-colored plant growing sporadically. Pectron did not have an abundance of green-colored flora. Silently calculating the size, Lucius found that the dimension of this front lawn was almost equal to a large spacecraft hangar. In other words, it was enormous. Under the hood, his brows slightly furrowed: ''There is little to no cover here. The Forgotten will be spotted easily if they try to enter.'' ''A distraction is required.'' Lucius quickly drew up a plan. He leaned in and whispered a few words to the two guards. Crossing the lawn, Lucius came up to what seemed to be a checkpoint. It was manned by five guards, each Mid-Level Stage 1 judging from their aura. "Halt! What are the both of you doing here?" the leader of this checkpoint asked. Wearing a neutral expression, the Terran loudly proclaimed: "A delivery for the boss." He pointed towards the hooded Lucius. Hearing the soft whimpers coming from within the hooded person, the leader-guard quickly understood: "A slave?" he asked. "Aye. We are bringing her to the boss." The Lacerman explained. "I need to verify her." The leader-guard spoke. Having lived with the Terran, he knew about the latter''s lecherous personality. ''This lustful guy is actually bringing a female slave for the boss? Something''s fishy.'' He slightly raised his guard. To the leader-guard''s surprise, he actually complied. The Terran lifted the hood of Lucius'' face and exposed his face to the other soldiers. Instantly, sharp intakes of air could be heard. "So pretty¡­" "Someone like this exists?" "If only I was the one who caught her¡­" "Such a shame, she''s flat" Many involuntarily mumbled, while looking at Lucius with a heated gaze. Lucius for his part played his role quite well. His face wore the expression of shame and hopelessness and tears continuously dripped from his closed eyes. Inside his mind, however, he was completely calm. ''This is a chance!'' He suddenly threw his body sideward, breaking off the Terran guard''s hold. With a flustered scream, he started to run in the opposite direction. Along with his scream, the dazed guards awoke from their fantasies. "After her! Make sure not to hurt her!" the leader-guard screamed in panic. The others immediately complied. Their breaths were ragged and resembled that of rabid dogs. "Stop running!" "Little girl, I have candies. Come to uncle!" "Don''t be scared beauty! I''ll protect you!" Myriad types of screams and shouts filled the scene as the guards employed their soul power to close in on Lucius. Since he was in disguise, Lucius had completely suppressed his soul power with not a trace of it leaking out. Outwardly, he resembled an ordinary person without any soul power. In a competition of speed, a normal person who is not using their soul power could not compete with these guards who could. Lucius however, was not a normal person. ''Left.'' His honed instincts instantly traced the movement of the closest guard. With a movement akin to stumbling, Lucius tilted his body towards the right. "Shit!" the guard who had leapt towards Lucius, barely grazed his body and landed face-first onto the ground. Lucius gave a surprised yelp and continued to run. Right. One from above. A pincer. He methodically observed their movements and aptly responded. Lucius disguised his evasions as lucky trips, stumbles, pauses, turns, etc. He kept circling and moving erratically like a headless fly. All the guards including the wary leader-guard joined in the capture. After approximately 30 seconds of running around, Lucius received a signal from the Forgotten warriors noting their successful infiltration. ''That was solved.'' He promptly stopped running and ''weakly'' collapsed next to the Lacerman guard. "..Plea..se let..me go." Of course, he remembered to act. The Lacerman did not reply and simply lifted him off the ground and carried him on his shoulder. Lucius stopped his struggle and laid limply, seemingly having lost hope. A series of ''nooo''s were heard coming from the check-point guards. The leader-guard also felt regretful, but quickly recovered his demeanor. He was old and with his abundant life experience he quickly figured out the two guards'' scheme. "Eager for a promotion from the boss, eh?" he snickered. The Lacerman guard ignored him and the Terran guard replied with a faint smile. The two with Lucius on tow continued walking towards the main building. The check-point guards had their backs turned and watched the beauty be carried away. "Tch, tch. Such a high-quality product. The boss is surely going to ecstatic and will heavily reward those two." the leader-guard remarked. Hearing his words, realization dawned upon the other guards. Their mouths silently cursed at the unfairness of the world and the incredible luck of those two guards. Of course, they also lamented at the fate slave, knowing that she would become the exclusive property of their boss. Unbeknownst to these guards, five shadows quietly sneaked up behind them. They collectively reached their hands in and¡­ Snuffed them out. Chapter 157: Final Solution. Part 4 Crossing the checkpoint, Lucius'' group did not meet with any further obstacles and smoothly arrived in front of the magnificent mansion. This mansion served as the HQ of the Minaccia Gang, with its Leader residing within it. On their way here, Lucius saw a few scattered groups of gang members, some lazing about and others serving as patrols. After sharing their numbers and position with the Forgotten through their link, he quickly forgot about them. Lucius trusted the Forgotten warriors to complete their job. Carried by the Lacerman, Lucius'' group entered the mansion. Entering through the door, the group arrived at a large foyer. Stone slabs tiled the floor of the foyer and a crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling. ''How wasteful.'' Lucius snorted, noticing the spiritual energy fluctuations emitted by the crystal chandelier. The Crystal chandelier acted as both a source of light and a humidifier. Pectron was inherently a dry planet, with not a lot of moisture in the air. Having such an expensive chandelier was a sign of opulence and superiority. Step. Step. The even sound of footstep hitting against the stone floor woke Lucius from his thoughts. Carefully raising his head, he saw a scholarly-looking man approach them. With combed black hair and bronze-colored skin, this Terran radiated with an intense aura. ''Peak-Level Stage 1.'' Lucius inwardly estimated. According to the info provided by Baltmer, this Terran must be one of the Vice-Leaders of the gang. "What are the two of you doing here?" The Vice-Leader who seemed to be here by coincidence coldly asked. Under the intense suppression of his aura, the Lacerman guard holding Lucius stuttered: "A¡ªA present for the Leader." Nonetheless, he managed to complete Lucius'' instruction. Lucius never held high hopes for directly meeting the Leader. His best-case scenario was getting close enough to deliver a sneaky blow, while his worst-case scenario was getting caught and engaging in frontal combat. Naturally, he had also made some contingency plans in case of any unexpected mishaps, one of which was meeting a Vice-Leader. "A present?" the Vice-Leader suspiciously asked. The Lacerman didn''t immediately reply. Lucius carefully whispered some orders into his ears, which he then faithfully completed. Lifting Lucius off the ground, he placed him on the floor and removed the hood covering his face. A face of incomparable beauty, marred with tearstains was exposed to the Vice-Leader. "This?!" he found himself dumbstruck. "We picked her off the streets and were about to present her to Leader." The Lacerman quickly explained. The Terran Vice-Leader was naturally no amateur. He quickly figured out the ''intention'' of the two guards, by presenting this top-tier present to their boss. A cold smile formed on his face, as he quickly spoke. "Good, good. I''m sure that the Boss will be very happy with your contribution." He appreciated. "That being said, I''ll take it from here." He revealed his ambition. "But we foun¡­" the Lacerman looked aggrieved as he spoke with injustice. "Silence! Are you revolting?!" the Vice-Leader quickly shut them down. He then exerted pressure on the two guards using his aura: "Or do you wish to say something to me? Hmmm?" The Lacerman and Terran guards wore an indignant expression but ultimately said nothing. With a forceful snort, they turned and walked outside. Seeing them act like this, the Vice-Leader smiled coldly. He then looked towards Lucius with a lustful expression and reached out his hands to grab ''her''. "Hehe, now you''re mine." Forcefully grabbing ''her'' by her chin, he raised her head and looked with appreciation. The face of the beauty was expressionless, bar the tearstains. ''Her'' eyes were still, resembling two deep, dark pools. Looking into those eyes, the Vice-Leader felt his gaze sinking deeper and deeper into it. Just as he was about to lose himself, his battle-honed instincts slightly tingled. He instantly regained control. His heated blood cooled as he felt a slight chill pervade his back. ''What just happened?'' he inwardly questioned, while warily scanning his surroundings. There was no one except the two of them in the foyer. ''Was it her?'' he asked while checking for soul power fluctuations from the beauty. There was no response. ''Was it my imagination?'' just as he thought about this possibility, he heard a loud roar. "Estes! Why haven''t you arrived?!" hearing that roar, the Terran-Vice Leader trembled in fear and hurriedly answered back. "I''m coming Boss!" he then lifted the beauty off the ground and ran while carrying her. ''Boss seems angry. I''ll offer this slave to appease him.'' As he was being carried away, Lucius inwardly clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction. ''It didn''t work'' Earlier, he had tried to overpower the Vice-Leader''s consciousness with [Charm]. However, just as Lucius was about to deliver the fatal attack with his concealed annihilation intent, Estes seemed to notice the danger and quickly shook himself of its effects. ''Such a shame. My concealment was perfect too.'' Lucius'' control over his soul power was outstanding. His immaculate control, coupled with his greater soul type, ensured that no one under Stage 3 could detect his soul power fluctuations. ''Anyways, putting that aside. I''ve almost arrived.'' He pushed down his dissatisfaction and focused on the incoming battle. From what Lucius put together from the Leader and Estes'' actions, there seemed to be some sort of meeting happening right now. As such, Lucius'' initial plans of meeting the Leader alone were no longer viable. ''This just got troublesome.'' He mentally sighed. At this moment, Estes along with Lucius entered the ''meeting room''. ----------------- The meeting room was a large hall with a long wooden table occupying the majority of the room. A single golden chair was present at the head of the table with a tall, bulky man occupying it. Occupying the two sides of the tale were two other men, whom judging from their auras were the two other Vice-Leaders. Both of them were Terrans with Peak-Level Stage 1 aura leaking from their bodies. "Someone is very leisurely." Seeing Estes enter the room, one of the Vice-Leaders snarled. "Humph." Estes snorted and reply and ignored his words. Placing the hooded Lucius on the floor, he kneeled and looked towards the man seated at the head of the table and apologized. "I apologize for arriving late, Boss. I was delayed while bringing this excellent present for you." "Heh! Delayed over a mere slave, Estes? Is the worth of the slave more valuable than the time of our Boss?" one of the Vice-Leaders'' used this opportunity to bootlick. The Boss. He was a large, bulky man with long, sharp teeth protruding out from his pig head. No, he wasn''t pigheaded, but literally possessed the head of an adult pig. He was a Scrofanian. The Scrofanians were a Grade 4 species, with large, 2.8m to 3.2m tall bodies, green skin, and heads that looked like a pig. Similar to humans, they possessed a single head, a pair of arms and legs, and other facilities. They had superior troll-like regeneration and were born with a monstrously strong physique, capable of directly facing a human mech in battle. Their talent in soul cultivation was also rather decent and were a warmongering species. They were the lesser cousins of the mighty Orcs, who were superior races in the [Evil] faction. "Answer the question, Estes!" The Boss of the Minaccia Gang thundered. "I did not mean it like that Boss! Please take a look at the slave." Hurriedly saying so, Estes pulled back the hood hiding Lucius'' face. The room instantly fell silent. Gulp! A few seconds later, the sounds of loud gulps echoed across the silent room. "When I saw this slave, I immediately knew that only a person, like Boss, would be worthy of possessing her. Please accept my humble gift!" Estes bootlicked. Hearing his words, the heated gaze of the two other Vice-Leaders cooled. They silently grit their teeth and cursed at Estes'' luck within their minds. At this moment, they understood that Estes would be heavily rewarded for his ''present''. "Haa! Haa! You, come over here!" The Boss ordered Lucius while panting with an open mouth. The Scrofanians had inherited their Orc- ancestors'' excessive ''sexual stamina''. As such, they were overly ''active''. Lowering his head and facing the floor, Lucius silently walked towards the Scrofanian. His still eyes were indifferent, as he silently measured the distance between the Boss and the Vice-Leaders. Seeing that the beauty had neared him, the Boss reached his thick arms and held ''her'' face. "Look at me, sl*t!" he thundered while exerting force on the other. He directly met the ''beauty''s'' eyes, the left of which was glowing with an eerie crimson light. ''Now!'' Lucius yelled within his mind and suddenly acted. His hands pierced into the Scrofanian''s chest, where his heart was present and his eyes indifferently stared into the other''s shocked gaze. ----------------- AN Note: If you''re wondering why my upload schedule is a mess, well¡­ school''s begun. Which means, there is a TON of ''overdue'' assignment. (sighs). Please bear with me for a while. I promise it will get better by February. (hopefully!) PS: Seeing as how a lot of new stuff and info is being added to the novel, I was wondering. Should I make a discord server? We can have character profiles, race details, plot tracking, and just general author-reader interaction. Let me know¡­ Chapter 158: Final Solution. Part 5 "You--?! " The Boss was caught completely unguarded. His voice thundered with rage, as he felt Lucius grab his heart. "Quietly, die." Giving him a bland response, Lucius clenched his fists. The satisfying feeling of something elastic and hard, being crushed transmitted into his hands. The Boss'' face rapidly lost its color and his body started losing its strength. "I-I''ll never for¡­" his body slumped and fell to the floor. Lucius shot an indifferent look towards the dead Scrofanian before turning around. The Terran Vice-Leader''s looked at him with stupefaction, especially Estes'' expression which was filled with horror. Gazing at them, in the same manner, one would stare at a bug, Lucius spoke. "So, would the three of you like to follow in his footsteps or die¡­" Lucius'' pupils suddenly constricted. His instincts blared, warning him of the oncoming danger. Dropping his body to the ground, Lucius sought to roll away. Alas, it was too late. BANG! "Guh--!" An extremely large, muscular fist slammed Lucius squarely on his back. A tremendous amount of force was transferred, throwing Lucius into the air! Crack! Crack! The ominous sound of bones cracking and muscle tearing was heard. Unable to bear his injuries, Lucius threw up a mouthful of black blood. His consciousness flickered, threatening to blackout. ''NO!'' Biting his tongue, Lucius forcibly held on. Revolving his soul power, he forcibly twisted his body mid-air, falling onto the wooden table on his sides. He had avoided falling unprepared. "AHHH!! DIE SL*T!!!" The ''Boss'' suddenly roared, rushing towards Lucius. His body which was supposed to have its heart crushed was moving with apparent force and rage. A gaping hole could still be seen in the middle of his chest, pouring blood. However, this hole was rapidly recovering with the input of white-colored energy. The wooden table before him barely did anything to halt his charge. The inherent strength of the Scrofanians was enough to crush iron with their bare hands! ''I have to move!'' Perceiving the danger brought by that charge, Lucius immediately forced his body to move. While the Void Eater''s body might be stronger than an average Peak-Level Stage 1 being, it was no match for a pseudo-Mid-Level Stage 2 Scrofanian. Lucius would be utterly crushed into a meat paste under the latter''s charge. "I WILL KILL YOU!!" The Boss had evidently lost his mind to his rage. The very reason that he was currently alive could be attributed to a certain ''life-preserving artifact'' on his possession. Lucius'' sudden sneak attack had truly caught him unprepared. Before the latter''s mind had processed the events, the former had directly crushed his heart, almost killing him. Thankfully, he had received a one-time use, life-preserving artifact'' from his superior in the Black Sabbath Gang, one of the ''Five Big Ones'', to complete a certain mission. Owing to its miraculous property of preserving its owner''s life from near-death, he had barely managed to survive. Having narrowly escaped from death, his mind was filled with anger and shame. Anger on being betrayed by Estes and shame for almost losing his life to a woman! "TAKE THIS!!" he screamed before slamming his two arms atop Lucius. The pseudo-Mid-Level Stage 2 soul power moved with unmatched ferocity. ''Move!'' Forcing most of his soul power to his legs, Lucius exploded the gathered energy. SLAM! The wooden table was smashed and the ground beneath it was cratered. The walls of the room shook and cracked as an effect of the escaping energies. "Such power!" "That sl*t is surely dead, right?" "Boss is completely serious." "She should have. No one could have survived that attack." The shocked murmurs of the three Vice-Leaders sounded out. The room was covered in a curtain of dust and falling debris limiting everyone''s vision. Everyone was caught unprepared by the female slave''s sudden attack. Their shock was then further amplified when their ''dead'' boss suddenly rose up and attacked. "Dammit Estes! Are you revolting?!" having finally recovered from their shock the other Vice-Leaders accused Estes. "I¡ªI''m innocent!" Estes pleaded in response. ''Heck, I''m just as confused as the rest of you!'' he screamed within his mind. However, looking at his ''colleagues'' hostile gaze and rapidly gathering soul power, Estes knew that he couldn''t prove his innocence. ''I''m dead.'' He resigned himself. "AHHH! GET OFF ME!!" the three Vice-Leaders were startled by their Boss'' scream. The dust settled and the scene at the center of the room was revealed. "GET OFF ME!! GET OFF ME!!" The Boss of the Minaccia Gang stomped around the room, screaming and trying to grab onto his back. At the very center of his back, hanging onto his dear life was Lucius. His hands were fully inserted into the Scrofanians back and his mouth was biting onto his thick, bulbous flesh. No one knew how, but Lucius had not only managed to evade that fatal attack but had also managed to grab onto his opponent and hung from a place where the Scrofanian couldn''t reach. The scene looked comical to the onlookers. A thin person precipitously hung at the back of a stomping, fuming giant that waved its thick arms to no avail. Not only that, the stick-like person was also biting into the latter and eating him. ''What the fu*k?'' the Vice-Leaders cursed collectively. However, being the ''victim'' in this situation, the Boss knew that the situation was far from being comical. With every bit that Lucius took, the Scrofanian could feel his regeneration slowing and his body losing strength. ''Why am I losing strength? Who is this woman? What is she doing to me?'' The Boss'' rage cooled to the point, he was capable of rational thought. He tried to rationalize his current situation. However, the more he thought the more he began to fear. ''I can feel it! The woman...No, that thing on my back is absorbing my strength!'' a ludicrous reason formed within his mind. Alas, this was the truth. Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable the reason, must be the truth. "You useless things! Stop dawdling about and get that thing off my back!" he screamed towards his dumbstruck subordinates. ''A chance! I can use this to prove my loyalty!'' Estes who was the least surprised among the three reacted first. Gathering his soul power into his arms, the bronze-skinned Terran bellowed and shot a black-colored projectile. "Take this! [Black Bullet]!" Pouring the majority of his soul power into that attack, he shot towards Lucius. The attack was fairly fast, with a mutation curse imbued into it. If struck, one would find their bodies seizing and warping into a horrible monster. ''You''re dead.'' Estes confidently smirked. However, his smirk soon turned into an expression of horror. Having sensed the attack approaching him, Lucius who was having the most delicious meal of his life was rudely interrupted. "You dare!" he bellowed. Removing one of his arms, from within the Scrofanian''s body, he simply waved towards the incoming attack. An invisible stream of energy shot out and intercepted the Estes'' attack. And in the next moment, the [Black Bullet]¡­.faded away. The attack which Estes had poured more than 80% of his soul power into. A Peak-Level Stage 1 attack, which was imbued with the soul power of the [Gastrea], a rare-type soul¡­simply faded away. Everyone, including Estes, the two Terran Vice-Leaders, The Boss, and even Lucius'' himself watched in shock. Soul power was a product of the Soul and the ''Rule of Souls'' states that the soul is almost indestructible. Of course, this almost was added because a Rule higher than the ''Rule of Souls'' could negate its effects. (Lucius'' [Devour] for example). During the clash between two soul powers, a soul power that is of a higher quality (or Stage) will destroy the soul power of lower quality (or Stage). A tremendous amount of energy is generated in this process; hence loud sounds, bright lights, heat, etc have resulted from their clash. A soul power that is able to erase the other during a clash? This was unheard of and was fairly ridiculous! ''This!'' being the perpetrator of this unnatural event and an ex-Stage 7 being, Lucius was more surprised than anyone. A sudden flash of inspiration struck his mind, as Lucius thought: ''Could this be¡­ [Annihilation Energy]?'' The mysterious ability to which, his soul provided no explanation. Lucius might have possibly stumbled upon its nature. Thoughts clashed within his mind and excitement grew within Lucius'' heart: ''This might be the key to my advancement!'' Lucius was struck by an inexplicable feeling. He had an almost tacit understanding that his [Annihilation Energy] was the door leading to his advancement. ''Calm yourself, Lucius. You must first survive this ordeal.'' He pushed down the rapidly building excitement and calmed himself. He was currently in a precarious situation and could not afford to distract himself. Making use of this opportunity when everyone seemed shocked, Lucius fiercely chomped down on the Scrofanian. Unleashing [Devour] to its greatest extent, he greedily absorbed his opponent''s energy and strength and converted it into his own. Lucius'' injuries had healed and his soul power was replenished. In fact, an excess of energy was overflowing within his body and his cells were shimmering from excitement. Something had once again changed within his body. Dismounting the Scrofanian, Lucius gently placed his foot on the floor. A smile had could not hide his excitement formed on his face, and his eyes shone with restrained madness. Looking at the half-eaten Scrofanian, an unmoving Estes, and two Terran Vice-Leaders who looked on with shock, Lucius stated. "It''s my turn." Chapter 159: Final Solution. Conclusion. Extending both his arms to the sides, Lucius started walking towards the gang members, step after step. His movements were unhurried and his demeanor was nonchalant. An odd smile was present on his face, as Lucius tried to recall the feeling he had when he instinctively used [Annihilation Energy] earlier. ''A formless energy that stems from inside my soul. An unstoppable stream that annihilates everything that blocks its path. Is this the path of the [Annihilator]?'' ''A [Killer] isn''t one who simply kills, but one who ends a Cause.'' ''With the [Annihilator] I get a similar feeling, but deeper and profound.'' ''Annihilation¡­it is not to end a Cause, but to utterly erase it?'' Thoughts collided within his mind, as Lucius'' mind recalled that earlier feeling. A formless, invisible energy started to gather around his arms and slowly started to take shape. At this moment, Lucius'' aura no longer resembled that of a [Killer]. His aura grew sharper and more incisive, giving others the impression of being cut repeatedly till nihility. They could feel their souls rapidly shaking and crumbling into nothingness, piece by piece. ''Rule of Annihilation''. A rule that was on the same level as the ''Rule of Beginnings''. If the beginning meant creation and the start of everything, then annihilation represented nihility and the end. "KI-KILL IT!" the Boss'' mind had completed collapsed from his earlier incidents. Much of his strength had already been absorbed by Lucius. His originally bulky body and bulbous muscles had already shrunk and disappeared. His body now resembled a shriveled corpse, with the majority of his back missing. To his horror, he discovered that his originally potent regeneration was no longer working! "SOMEONE KILL THAT MONSTER!!" he screamed, before collapsing onto the ground. The three Terran Vice-Leaders had mostly recovered their senses. They looked at their boss, looked at each other, and looked towards the approaching Lucius. Coming to a tacit understanding, they immediately turned around and ran towards the exit door. "We cannot face him alone! Gather the rest of the gang!" "There is no way that he can fight against the thirty of us!" "Let''s show this monster the strength of the Minaccia Gang!" They sought to shout such emboldening words to muster some courage and justify their cowardly actions. Gripping the handle of the door, they used their full strength to heave it open. "EVERYONE! GATHER HERE---" just as one of the Terran Vice-Leaders sought to gather their forces, his voice stuck to his throat and refused to sound out. Right in front of him, was a group of five black, shadowy warriors. Each of them wielded a different weapon; a giant double-handed ax, a long sword, a pair of daggers, a whip-like weapon, and a cudgel. However, common between all of them was the fresh blood dripping from their seemingly immaterial weapons. The five pairs of cold, ice-blue, soulless eyes stared directly into the eyes of the Terran Vice-Leaders. Just as they were about to lose all hope, a cold voice resounded throughout the meeting room. "Stand down. Do not kill these men." Lucius ordered his warriors. The Forgotten nodded their head in acquiesce, albeit reluctantly. Sheathing their weapons, they stood blocking the door. "If you want to survive¡­struggle." "Struggle while staking the entirety of your lives." "Show me the most glorious struggle and I promise I will you live." Lucius slowly spoke out. His voice was solemn and serious. The Terran Vice-Leaders looked into each other''s eyes. Their eyes were mostly colored with uncertainty and despair. However, after hearing Lucius'' promise, a tiny spark of hope was born. "Alright! We accept your promise!!" frankly, they had no other choice. But perhaps such valiant words were required to muster their courage. Lucius'' presented the most dazzling smile and spoke. "Let us begin." ---------------- The result was no surprise. Lucius won, overwhelmingly. In fact, it wasn''t a fight between two equal parties at all. Lucius was simply using the two Terran Vice-Leaders to test his new-found ability. The result to which ¡­was stellar. [Annihilation Energy] was the main skill of the [Annihilator]. It took the form of an immaterial, invisible, stream of energy. It possessed the properties of nullification and erasure. All types of energies; be they physical, mental, or even soul power, were simply broken down and erased. There were no sounds, flashy effects, explosions, or anything in fact. Just absolute silence. Silence so sickening, that it made a person despair. Lucius had also discovered, that [Annihilation Intent] was a derivative of [Annihilation Energy], that is to say, he had been unconsciously using it to a certain extent all along. It was just that, in the fight earlier, he had learnt to consciously use it. ''With this, I have found the path forward. I need to deepen my understanding of the [Annihilator] and look for a chance to advance. I''m getting sick of the limitations of Stage 1.'' Lucius grumbled. Advancing to the next Stage was not as simple as it sounded. One needed to meet a certain requirement in their accumulation, complete certain a criteria, or condition, and even after this, one can only advance during an opportune moment. These opportunities came in many forms. Some advance in sleep, some advanced during a heated battle, some advanced during a life or death situation, hell, some even advanced while being engaged in ''nightly activities''. Of course, this still depended on the previous two criteria. Lucius'' accumulation was solid and his understanding of the required criteria was becoming clearer and clearer. As for the opportunity, Lucius had to look for it. ''Three months. I must advance within three months.'' ''However, staying within this city will not give me the opportunity to advance.'' ''I need to leave and travel. Alone.'' He concluded. One''s path can only be walked by one''s self. Advancing in Stages wasn''t simply a boost in power, but also an understanding of the Universe and its Rules. Those who treat their advancements as only a means to greater power can never walk far in their paths. As the only Stage 7 [Killer] to ever come into existence (according to him), Lucius understood this better than anyone. ''Anyways, I had another unexpected gain.'' Lucius suddenly thought. Extending his nail, he made a long tear across the length of his right arm. A long, bloody wound, leaking with black-colored blood quickly formed. Lucius'' face did not flinch from the pain and calmly watched. He did not contract his muscles to close the wound nor did he use his soul power to heal it. Lucius quietly watched like a spectator. It was then, that a shocking thing occurred. Without the input of his soul power, his muscles and skin around the wound started to wriggle and move! Closing in on the place of the wound, they quickly stemmed the blood flow and covered the tear. In a matter of seconds, new flesh and skin sprouted on his wound, restoring it to it''s previously, undamaged state. It was an extraordinary, troll-like regeneration of the Scrofanian! ''Not only that.'' Lucius walked towards the walls of the room and punched with all his strength. His fists slammed against the stone walls and shattered the rock. Feeling a stinging pain in his fists, Lucius lightly shook them before the pain rapidly melted away. ''My physical strength is well into the realm of Stage 2.'' He concluded. Taking a deep breath, he summarized within his mind. ''The physical strength and the troll-like regeneration of the Scrofanians. The increased resistance to cold temperatures of the Fjord Beasts. The compact and resilient muscle structure of the Sickle Bugs.'' ''Not only that, but I also noticed a slight improvement in my Light and Astral affinity. Although minor, it nonetheless is the unique ability of the Bertarians.'' ''Void Eater¡­'' Taking a deep breath, part in excitement and part in disbelief, he spoke. "Seems like I can steal the unique strengths of people I eat." All of their strengths and none of their weaknesses. A race that was on a path to become the most perfect life form in existence. This was the ability of the Void Eater, the Ender of All Life. -------------- "Father! Father! Where are you, father!" a youthful, blue-haired girl shouted at the top of her lungs. Her almond-like eyes hastily scanned the interiors of the shop. "MIA!!" Baltmer''s disbelieving scream replied. A blue-haired old man rapidly descended the stairs of the shop and arrived at the shop floor. "FATHER!" the girl cried joyful tears and leapt into her father''s arms. The duo of father and daughter hugged each other quietly and cried in happiness. After what seemed like an ocean of tears, Mia slowly explained. "What?! That boy eliminated the entire Minaccia Gang?!" "He took over that entire compound with little to no damage was done and even freed all the prisoners and slaves?" "All three of the Vice-Leaders have surrendered to him and have become his loyal subordinates?!" Baltmer couldn''t believe his own voice. He stared stiffly into empty space for a while and doubted his understanding of the language. Only after repeatedly confirming with his daughter, did he finally accept it. ''That boy¡­no, That Lord is simply too great.'' Baltmer concluded. (AN: Lord as in the title, not those ''Lords'') Olivia who was standing next to the father-daughter pair simply nodded her head, as if it was only natural. In her mind, these pathetic bugs never stood a chance against Lucius. Clenching her fists, he inwardly thought: ''I missed this opportunity to fight alongside Lucius. This can''t do! I must train harder and become stronger, quicker!'' At this moment, Lucius walked into the shop. Following behind him were the five Forgotten, two ''zombie'' Mid-Level Stage 1 guards, and the newly added ''zombie'' Peak Level Stage 1 Terran Vice-Leaders. Watching Lucius enter, Baltmer immediately kneeled on the floor and spoke. "Lord Lucius! I cannot thank you enough for your kindness! I swear, from this day forth I will use my entire being to repay this debt!" he swore allegiance. Lucius was a little stunned, as he had not expected the old man to go so far. Still, he quickly recovered and lightly nodded his head. ''It will be less troublesome this way.'' He concluded. Seeing that everyone was gathered here, he blandly announced his decision. "WHAT?! You are leaving?! But we just got here!" Olivia screamed. Her body faintly shook, having not completely recovered from the effects of the Babel Fish. "Indeed." Lucius indifferently replied. "Let me come with you." She pleaded, to which Lucius replied: "No." "You will stay here in this city and grow. There is a battle arena to improve your sorely-lacking combat skill. Plus, this is also a test for you." "A test?" Olivia questioned. Nodding his head, Lucius explained. "I just single-handedly wiped out an established gang. News of it must have already been widely disseminated. The Five Big Ones are will surely come knocking." "The Leader of the Gang I just killed seemed to have an important backer in the Black Sabbath Gang. It is safe to assume that, we are now at odds with them. Apart from that, the businesses and territory previously owned by the Minaccia Gang are also ours." "The whole city has been stirred and every single force will come to rob and steal our gains. We will be facing an endless amount of trouble." "Well, by ''we'', I actually mean you. The information that was leaked, spoke of a young, black-haired beautiful female. In other words, a description that precisely matches you." "Survive and grow in these three months and I shall formally acknowledge you as my student. Fail, well, you will end up in a fate worse than death." "I will be leaving now. These five men will be absolutely loyal to you. Use them, however, you wish. I will be leaving behind the Five Forgotten too." "Do not disappoint me." Saying so, Lucius turned around and walked out of the shop. Olivia who had heard his instructions stood stiffly. After Lucius had left, her body started to uncontrollably quiver. Blood rushed to her head and her entire face, from the top of her forehead to the bottom of her neck, turned crimson. ''H-H-He-He called me BEAUTIFUL! KYAAA! I''m so happy. I-I-I¡­.'' Olivia was ecstatic¡­for the wrong reason. Chapter 160: Strange Things. Strewn across the floor of a dim-lighted laboratory were a large number of mechanical parts, electrical circuits, and wires. The sheer amount of wasted parts that lay on the floor, made the already cramped room even more inaccessible. Implanted on the left wall of the laboratory were large glass capsules filled with a blue-colored liquid. The capsules were empty with pipes and cables attached to their bottoms, with many screens flashing with light. On the opposite side of the room was a large table with harnesses and high-density cabled attached to it. Many mechanical hands hung from the roof of the room with a variety of instruments attached to them. These instruments included solders, cutters, compact 3D printers, scanners, etc. In the center of this cramped room, veiled in a curtain of electrical light and streams of data, stood a human figure. Her golden hair was disheveled and dry, covering her haggard-looking bespectacled face. Her voluptuous body seemed to be particularly thin and haggard. "Try the next simulation, Iris," Reyna instructed her personal AI. "Alright. Running simulations." Iris replied. Seconds passed, as Reyna''s eyes fixed onto the streams of data and calculations flowing on the screen of light before her. Her emerald green eyes that shone with brilliance slowly dimmed at the result. "Simulation 781 has failed." Iris slowly spoke. The AI''s voice which had previously sounded stiff and mechanical currently had a human touch to it. "You need to take a break, Reyna. You have been continuously working for the last 2 weeks!" Iris advised with a gentle tone. "NO!" Reyna instantly replied. The disappointment in her eyes was quickly replaced by resolve and pain: "I cannot waste a single moment. With the passage of every second, dozens of lives are lost in the front lines!" her voice was unable to hide the grief in her heart.'' Reyna''s mind wandered, as she recalled the events that occurred eight months ago. --------------- With their rapidly growing understanding of soul power and its nature, the research into the bodies of the alien bugs, testing, and training of awakened Stage 1 humans, and the newly developed technology which was the bane of soul power, mankind was confident on winning against the Ordeals. As such. A large number of forces and newly-developed technology was sent to the front-line planets in the Outer-Rim which were about to undergo its Ascension. The happenings of which was being broadcasted to the entire Alliance. The whole of Mankind watched with bated breath, as General Peter Eyler, the newly appointed Head of Military was expected to bring home humanity''s first victory against the foreign alien-forces. It should have been an easy and effortless victory. Those backward aliens that knew only to use their bodies and claws stood no chance against mankind''s superior technology. At least, this was what Reyna had thought. Until this happened... {My, my, a mere Grade 3 species possess such extraordinary strength comparable to Grade 5. Truly shocking.} A mysterious voice had suddenly sounded in the minds of every single person simultaneously. The voice sounded like the gentle whispers of a mother. {At this rate, there would no ''test''. No ''Ordeal'' for those undergoing Ascension.} The voice did not seem to care about the shock everyone was feeling, as it continued to speak. No one understood who this person was, and where this voice was coming from. {Hmm¡­Seems like some manual intervention is required.} Hearing those words, Reyna who was watching the live broadcast and was similarly shocked had a feeling of unease. To speak the truth, Reyna had a nagging feeling within her mind. This mysterious voice that she was hearing for the first time today was strangely familiar. Alas, she was not able to pinpoint the root of this familiarity. {¡­there. The difficulty has been increased. You must feel honored, for you''re facing the third Tier-5 Ordeal that I have ever sent in this Era. } {It''s an honor that only a handful amongst the thousands of races in the Universe gets to experience.} {Well, I seem to have gone too long there. Good luck and¡­.don''t die too soon. It would be a pity to have my entertainment end early.} In the space outside of all Outer-Rim planets, a burst of intense golden light suddenly flashed. This abrupt flash of light blinded all methods of observation used by humanity. Following the flash of light was a period of absolute silence. A small crack suddenly formed in the skies of all the Outer-Rim planets. Starting from an inconspicuously small dot, it rapidly expanded to dozens of kilometers long in a matter of seconds. {Go forth my children. Make me proud.} With that final sentence, thousands of armor-wearing, weapon-wielding, disciplined, monstrous-looking creatures descended onto mankind. And each and every single one of them¡­ ¡­.was a Grade 4, Stage 2 being! ----------------- In an impossibly large planet surrounded by 81 celestial bodies, an immensely large castle built with an unknown material stood solemnly. This castle which has stood here since times immemorial was home to one of the strongest existences in the Universe. Peak-Level Stage 7 being, Great Mother, The Myriad Species Queen! Inside the throne-room of the castle, twelve Guardians kneeled in deference to their master who sat upon an opulent crystal throne. The Guardians were each of a different race and size. Underneath their deferential behavior, was an unmistakable Stage 7 aura, writhing and boiling with unmatchable ferocity. So much so, that the Lesser Rules surrounding their bodies were being continuously twisted and changed. Sigh. Suddenly, they heard a sigh originating from their master. A Guardian that looked similar to an earth jellyfish reverentially asked. "Is there a problem, Master?" The Myriad Species Queen, garbed in thick dark-gold robes embroidered with mysterious patterns and runes, shook her head and replied. "There''s no problem. I was just surprised." her voice was calm and gentle. Indeed, she was very surprised. ''A Grade 3 species with strength comparable to a Grade 5 race? How interesting.'' she thought in interest. For a being that has lived for tens of thousands of years, a race like ''Mankind'' was the first for her. A Grade 3 species that had strength comparable to Grade 5, even if this strength was external and material. It was a purely intellectual species whose strength relied on the technology it possessed ''If they can advance unhindered, this race has the potential to match the primordial races in strength.'' These were the Great Mother''s true thoughts. ''It''s a shame though. Although I do not want to do this, orders are orders.'' ''Just when I found something worthy of my interest, I am required to destroy it with my own hands.'' She shook her head. Her eyes contained dissatisfaction as she gazed at the screen of light project scenes of Mankind''s desperate struggle. An order from the Lords was an order that she could not disobey. No matter how strong she was, underneath the level of the ''Lords'', all are but ants. ''Now that I''ve personally adjusted the difficulty this race has no chance at survival.'' she sighed. Being done with that, she suddenly grew curious. Just some time ago, she had received an urgent summons by the Lord of Fate. Meeting him, she was informed that a newly ascending race had somehow managed to stray from the path set by Fate. A fate of annihilation. He then instructed her to increase the difficulty level of the Ordeal, which would then restore their original fate. ''What is so special about this race? Why is it able to escape the path set by Fate?'' It is to be known that Fate influences Cause. If a Fate has already been set, then all Cause would move according to the set pattern, resulting in the required Effect. Conversely, this also means that Cause can affect Fate since the latter is closely dependent on the former. The Great Mother closely studied Mankind once more but found nothing worthy of her interest. Gently waving her hands, she was just about to close the screen of light when her eyes suddenly expanded. "IMPOSSIBLE!" she screeched while standing up in shock. Her small hands, crushed the armrests of the throne, turning the fragments of the crystal into dust. "MASTER! WHAT''S WRONG?!" The Guardians screamed, noticing their master''s fluster. Their minds reeled in shock as they noticed their master''s body faintly quivering. ''What happened?! What matter has made master grow so shocked?!'' "I''m fine. That was rather unsightly of me." The Myriad Species Queen suddenly waved her hand and sat upon her throne, once again. "Master, if there is anything you wish to..." the jelly-like Guardian, who was the leader of twelve Guardians tried to speak. "Silence! I said I''m fine." she harshly reprimanded. "Leave now. Leave me alone" "As you wish, master!" not daring to face their master''s wrath, the Guardians bowed in reply and quickly left. Sitting alone inside the throne room, the Myriad Species Queen, or rather Ka''lor''ah silently whispered with a trembling voice. "A fixed Cause was manipulated and the unchanging Fate was altered." "And this remanent presence..." "...it''s the same as mine?" A trace of a soul aura, that was the exact same as her own. How could two souls be the same? Not to mention, it involved her. This was the matter, that shocked Ka''lor''ah. Chapter 161: Hate. A Tier-5 Ordeal was different from the rest. Rather than ''test'' a single group of people at a time for the Ordeal, it would target the entirety of the race. It would no longer be a short, contained battle but a long arduous war between two ''sentient'' species. To put it simply, if the Ordeals from Tier-1 to 5 were similar to short, single subject pop-quizzes, then the Tier-5 Ordeal was similar to the final exams with all subjects being tested on the same day! Humans being the only dominant species within their system for a long time, led to the entire race having a sense of arrogance and superiority. This arrogance resulted in them grossly underestimating the difficulty of the upcoming Ascension. --------------- And so it began. Mankind''s Ascension on an elevated difficulty level began with a¡­ ¡­horrendous defeat! An entire race of invaders personally created by the Myriad Species Queen arrived in the skies of the Outer-Rim planets. They possessed vessels that were similar to the human spaceships and various weapons and artifacts that operated on soul power. Some of the better vessels of the invaders had runic formations engraved onto them allowing them to harness the power of the Rules! With overwhelming strength and unmatched wit, they fought and defeated the humans in just 5 days! The entire fleet of warships, spaceships, droids, and battlecruisers, not to mention the land troops in the form of soldiers, tanks, mechs, soldiers, defenseless citizens. Everyone and everything that was related to the humans was utterly annihilated. The invaders then established their bases on the newly conquered planets and started to gather the remnants of human technology. Using the Outer-Rim planets as a foothold their war against humanity had begun. Unable to accept such a result the Alliance sent over another batch of the army. They wanted to wipe out the invaders and reclaim those planets. It was extremely important for a war to have a good start. This is why, more often than not, grand ceremonies, rallies, military parades are organized before the start of each campaign. Though such ceremonies are bothersome, it has a noticeable effect on the mindsets and morale of the soldiers and the citizens. The Alliance decided to broadcast the battle in the Outer-Rim planets was also due to such a reason. Unfortunately, the result was rather terrible. Mankind could not afford to lose the first battle, for it would have a profound effect on the morale of the soldiers and the support of the citizens, during the remainder of the war. And hence began Round 2 against the invaders. General Peter Eyler, who has somehow managed to escape the first assault, was sent to lead the army once again. This time, the Alliance poured even more resources into the battle, gathering a greater number of warships, weapons, and soldiers. Arriving near the Outer-Rim planets, people stared at the monster-like invaders with hatred and confidence. This time, humans planned to crush the enemy with absolute strength. Battles were fought on the land, over in the skies, and even in space. All sorts of advanced weaponry, spaceships, and mechs were drafted into battle. Ace pilots and famous strategists were sent to the frontlines to bring home the nasty heads of the invaders. Initially, humans did hold the upper-hand. Their technology and weapons were unmatched, with the Alliance not hesitating to use Planetary-level weapons of destruction. As the name suggested, Planetary-level weapons possessed the strength to wipe out entire planets. These were the strongest weapons possessed by Mankind, ones which were never used since their making. However, 2 weeks in and the scales of war started to shift. Not even these strategic weapons could help them. The invaders started to study and understand the science behind humanity''s weapons of war and built their own variations. Starting from crude guns, they developed bombs, and eventually a variation of humanity''s energy weapons. Combining technology with their Stage 2 strength, the invaders started winning the defensive battles. And in the fourth month since the start of the war, humans lost once more. The development and growth of the invaders far exceeded their wildest imagination. And against a foe that could use both scientific and mystical means of combat, humanity stood no chance at victory. Multiple Planetary-level weapons were lost, many soldiers, pilots, and officers were killed, and General Eyler deserted the army, everything that could have gone wrong went horribly wrong. With no other choice, the Alliance ordered a retreat leaving behind a minimum amount of forces required to maintain a front-line circling the Outer-Rim planets which were protected by the invaders'' own forces. Mankind had lost once more. And this time, it was a loss that could not be ignored. The people''s faith in the Alliance was shaken and various influential families had their foundations weaken immensely. The future of the Alliance looked very grim. Curiously enough, the invaders did not immediately leave the Outer-Rim planets immediately and attack the soldiers manning the front-lines. They huddled up in the Outer-Rim planets with unknown motives. Sending any form of probes or scouts had disastrous results. The invaders fiercely retaliated each time, and routinely sent groups to attack and harass the front-lines. As such, more human lives were steadily being lost. -------------------- Thinking about recent events, Reyna felt her mood worsening. ''At this rate, our destruction is only but a matter of time.'' She could not help but worry about Mankind''s future. ''Ah¡­I need to get back to work.'' She sighed and forced her tired body and exhausted mind to work. "Iris, prepare the next round of simulations." She ordered. Woosh! The sound of a pressure-locked door opening resounded inside the lab. It was followed by the sound of wide but steady steps. "Reyna." A deep, masculine voice spoke. His tone was gentle and filled with tenderness. Engrossed within her test, Reyna did not hear her name being called. Her brilliant, emerald-green eyes stared at the screen of data, unblinking. Iris, the AI assisting Reyna in her tests noticed the man''s arrival. The streams of data on the screen froze, as she replied. "Welcome, Mr. President." Iris greeted. "Hey! Why did you stop?!" Reyna complained. She turned her head around and noticed the man''s arrival. "Father..?" she involuntarily blurted out. Erik Snowden, father of Reyna saw his daughter''s weary-looking appearance and felt his heart writhe in pain: "Reyna¡­" "You must stop now, Reyna. You have done enough." His voice suddenly turned solemn as he continued. "What?! Why?!" Reyna exclaimed. Her shocked expression then turned cold as she continued: "Are you here to dissuade me again? If so, then don''t bother and leave." She turned around and ordered her AI: "Iris, continue with the simulations." Erik felt a surge of anger. He walked towards the screen of light and fiercely slammed his hand on the light screen. "Enough! I''ve had enough of your follies! You will listen to my words and leave with me right now!" he demanded. Reaching in with his hands, he grabbed onto Reyna''s thin wrists. "NO!" Alas, against her Peak-Level Stage 1 strength, Erik stood no chance. Shaking his grip off of her hands, Reyna stared into his eyes and screamed. "Don''t you understand, Father?! There is no point in running away!" "How long do you think we can hide? 10 years? 20 years? But then what?" "Do you really think that there will be an Alliance, a human settlement, to return to?" "Those damned things have come to kill ALL OF US!! By running away, you are simply prolonging the inevitable!" "No one will come to save us! Life and death are in our own hands!" Reyna poured her heart out. Indeed, what future was there in running away? One might be able to postpone their death, but then what? Would there be a planet to return to? A kind to call your own? A home to stay? "I¡ª" Erik tried to retort, but found himself unable to. He could not lie to himself anymore: "Do whatever you want." Saying so he turned around and walked away. ''I have failed you, my dear wife. I failed to protect our daughter from harm.'' His face seemed to age by dozens of years, as his body slumped with helplessness. Despair was written on his face. Reyna''s eyes blurred with tears as she saw her father like this. Many people were dying to the Invaders and there was nothing she could do to change that. Her mind couldn''t help but recall a certain scene. ''Did you actually think you and the others were my friends?'' A handsome youth with an indifferent face and a pair of dark eyes, unfathomable as the ocean spoke. ''I will no longer stay around and protect you, nor will I ensure the continuity of your species.'' ''Want to survive? Then do it yourself. For the sake of yourself, your family, and your race.'' His voice was bland and contained no emotions, but the words spoken were the reality of things. ''Mankind is but a bunch of pathetic bugs who think they are better than the rest.'' ''Absolute power? You have no idea what absolute power is.'' Reyna clearly remembered the scene of him leaving. His final parting words shattered her illusions and woke her up. She felt sadness, anger, disappointment, bitterness, and a variety of other emotions. Reyna even blamed Lucius, for what had happened to mankind. ''That army of bugs is only the beginning.'' "If you knew, then why didn''t you say anything?! If only you had said something, millions of people could have been saved!!" "You could have prevented this!!" "You-you- you are the reason we lost. The reason so many people had died!" On the day, Mankind lost against the invaders. Reyna screamed and cried loudly. She cried and cried until she no longer had any tears to shed. Her emerald-colored eyes looked blank as thought to herself. ''I hate you. I hate you so very much! I will never forgive you!'' Pressing her hands against the ground, Reyna forced herself to stand up. Her body swayed with weakness, as she made a promise to herself. ''I swear that as long as I live, mankind will not fall.'' ''I swear to dedicate every ounce of myself to ensure its victory.'' ''I swear that one day, I will find you and make you speak the truth.'' "LU-CI-US!!" she hatefully spat out. Blood streamed from her eyes, staining her beautiful, pale face. Chapter 162: Change. "Say, do you think those bastards will raid us today?" Zaine asked his partner, who was walking alongside him. Sporting a weary expression with dark circles underlining his eyes, Felix gave an exaggerated sigh and replied: "I sure wish they don''t. I''ve been on duty for most of the last week and really need some sleep right now." "It''s been tough." Zaine encouragingly patted his partner''s back. He then turned his head and looked into the deep, dark space that had been haunting them for the last month. Zaine and Felix were fresh graduates, who had received orders to report to BC-Lawson, one of the flagship battle-cruisers that were in charge of securing and protecting the frontline against the invaders. They were also part of the batch of recently awakened humans. Due to the horrendous defeat against the invaders, the Alliance had fully realized the importance of the awakened humans. Individually, they might not be strong. But the soul power possessed by them was indispensable. Only soul power could contest with soul power. No other known form of energy was capable of destroying it. As such in a frantic attempt to gather awakened humans and draft them as soldiers, Zaine and Felix made the cut. Having arrived aboard the battleship over a month ago, their lives were nothing short of being hellish! ''Ah¡­I''m so tired. I just want to go home.'' Zaine quietly wished. He was very exhausted. Every day was filled with a series of duties and responsibilities that were taxing to both his mind and body. Furthermore, the uncertainty of the attacks and the mental pressure exerted by the invaders further taxed his spirit. Grumble! Felix''s face slightly reddened in shame. "That was my stomach begging me to eat." He spoke while holding onto his stomach. Zaine laughed at his partner''s comical actions and replied. "Then let''s go the mess." Felix flashed an awkward smile and nodded his head. -------------- Holding onto a metal plate filled with steaming rations, Zaine slightly nudged Felix on his arms and spoke "Let''s sit at that table." He pointed towards a long table at the corner of the Mess Hall. The Mess Hall aboard the BC-Lawson was quite large. It had the capacity to accommodate almost 500 people at any given time. It was operated by robotic helpers which were controlled by the ship''s AI and was pretty much open 24/7. The food consisted of the standard military ration; porridge, meat, vegetables, and soup. Its taste was lackluster, but was hot and filled the stomach. Not that anyone complained. Sitting at their desired table, Felix looked around and commented. "Not a lot of people here today." "What did you expect? It''s around 3 AM Earth Time, right now." Zaine blandly replied, his mouth stuffed with a spoon. Seeing his partner''s lack of table manners, Felix frowned and said. "Don''t talk while eating. You''re spitting food everywhere." "Who cares? I''m too hungry." Zaine shrugged. Not willing to argue with his partner, Felix shook his head and quietly started to dig into his food. "Goddammit, this tastes terrible," Zaine grumbled. "Heh, be glad that you have something to eat. With the severe shortage of manpower that the Alliance is facing right now, I doubt that we will receive our next supply." Zaine''s body stiffened. With a worried expression on his face, he asked: "You serious?" Felix grimly nodded his head. Leaning closer to his partner, he lowered his voice and spoke. "I overheard our unit''s Captain speak with the Commander of this ship, earlier today. They were discussing abandoning this frontline and moving it back." "What?! What about us?!" Zaine yelled. "Shh! Be quiet." Felix hurriedly spoke. His face turned grimmer and grimmer as he continued: "With the distance, this frontline is from the Alliance HQ, they find it a waste to continuing holding this line. I mean, there is nothing but light-years of uninhabited space between here and the Middle-Rim sector. There is no point in holding this line." With a despondent voice, he continued: "My guess is that they will order us to watch their backs while the more important assets of war are transported out. As you know, it''s the perfect time to strike while the enemy is retreating. With the intelligence the invaders have shown, I doubt they will miss this opportunity." "Bu-But! That means we will have to face a crazed assault of the invaders!"!" Zaine slammed his fist against the table and yelled: "There''s no way we can survive that!" "Quiet down! Do you want to be charged with mutiny?!" Felix hurriedly tried to calm his partner. Due to the matter of General Eyler abandoning his post and fleeing in the middle of the war, the Alliance had then enforced strict codes against desertion and disobedience of the order. Soldiers who showed any signs of mutiny were dealt with swiftly and harshly. With a bullet to the head. "And even if you don''t like the order, what can we common folks do? It''s either obey now and die sooner, or disobey now and die later." Felix chuckled despondently Hearing his partner''s words, Zaine who had stood up with much anger and gusto, sat back down with a defeated expression. "What''s the point in even fighting, if the Alliance can abandon us whenever they like? If they can do it now, what''s the guarantee that they wouldn''t do it in the future?" Zaine mumbled, to which Felix did not reply. A grim atmosphere was present at their table. Neither of them had the appetite to continue eating and absent-mindedly watched as their food grew cold. {Attention to all soldiers, immediately report to the Main Hanger!} {I repeat! Attention to all soldiers, immediately report to the Main Hanger!} The loud announcement of the ship''s AI woke the both of them from their daze. Hearing that order, they quickly shoved the rest of the food down their throats and rushed towards the Main Hanger. "Just when I thought I could get some sleep," Felix muttered. ------------- The duo arrived at the Main Hanger in record time. Looking at the holographic screens displayed in the air, they quickly identified their unit''s location and rushed over. "Zaine! Felix! Where the hell did the both of you go?!" Captain Hartman, the one in charge of their unit hollered. He was a middle-aged man with graying hair. Sporting a thin mustache on his short face, he looked every bit intimidating as a leader. "We¡ª" Felix was about to reply when he was interrupted by the Captain. "Don''t care! Fall in line!" ''Crazy bastard.'' Zaine and Felix mumbled within their heads and obediently fell in line. They belonged to a twelve-man unit in charge of guarding Sector-12 of the frontline. Zaine and Felix operated their respective mech which was of the Space-Warrior Class. As the name suggests, the mechs were of the space-type and were frequently employed in zero-gravity battles. Being fresh graduates, the duo did not have any practical fighting experience and were limited to virtual battles. "Catch some sleep?" Hawk, one of his squadmates asked Felix. Hawk was on the senior soldiers of the team. Felix rolled his eyes in response and replied with another question: "Any idea, why everyone was summoned?" "Nope, we got no clue! However, looking around us, it seems like we are finally going to kick some alien ass!" Rosa, another squadmate who was also a fresh graduate excitedly spoke. "What?" Zaine absent-mindedly mumbled. "Oh, grow a spine Zaine! Aren''t you excited?!" she smacked Zaine on his back and asked. Zaine recalled his discussion with Felix from a few moments ago and his face rapidly turned pale. He hurriedly looked at the latter and saw him sport a similar expression. Just as he was about to speak, Captain Hartman bellowed. "ATTEN-HUT! " "Listen up ya'' worthless maggots! Pay attention!" Captain Hartman yelled and displayed a holographic screen. "Orders have arrived from the peeps above! You maggots are finally going to see some real action!" "At 0400 hours, we will be deployed to face those damned things in frontal combat! We will be taking the fight to them! Are you clear?!" "Sir, yes, sir!" the squad bellowed. "Now, if I catch any one of you trying to sneaky, or see any signs of showing desertion. I will not hesitate to pull the trigger and shoot your worthless, maggot-ass to oblivion!" "You will fight! And continue fighting until I tell you to stop!" "DO YOU UNDERTAND?!" Hartman thundered. "Sir, yes, sir!" "Speak up and show some balls, MAGGOTS!" "SIR, YES, SIR!" "That''s better." Hartman nodded his head. He then looked around and continued with his instructions: "Now then, get to your mechs and start¡­" BANG! A sudden explosion shook the entirety of the hanger. Many of the soldiers lost their footing and the belts holding the heavy military armaments snapped. "Ah!!" "Help me¡­" before some of the soldiers managed to scream, their bodies were crushed by the weight of the armaments. BANG! BANG! BANG! Continuous explosions shook the entirety of the battleship. Sirens and red lights started blaring, with the mechanical voice of the AI reading the damage reports. "Wh-what''s happening?" Zaine staggered onto his feet while grabbing onto a metal pole. Fortunately, Zaine''s squad was relatively close to the walls of the ship, thus saving them of the unfortunate fate of being crushed underneath the hanging mechs and spaceships. "Lo-look over there!" Rosa screamed shrilly, pointing her finger towards the large doors of the hanger. Zaine''s and Felix''s pupils shrunk with shock. Chapter 163: Duty. Inside the command center of the BS-Lawson. "Pardon me, sir? We''re retreating?" High Commander Lockhart replied feeling stupefied. "That''s right, Commander. The Alliance has decided to pull back the front lines. We will abandon these borders and set up a new defensive around the Middle-Rim." The light-silhouette of a man wearing a suit answered. "I object, sir! We will be giving up dozens of resource-heavy planets to those bastards! Who knows how much they will improve once they get their hands of it?" Lockhart objected. Retreat? They simply can''t do so! The reason Mankind had heavily invested in the Outer-Rim planets and was currently defending the majority of the territory was due to the exotic resources present in these planets. Much of their technology including warp drive, the advanced mechs, and droids, the Planetary-Class weaponry were dependent on these resources for their manufacture and maintenance. If the invaders were the get their hands on these exotic minerals and metals, their rate of progress would explode. At that point, Mankind will have no chance at winning! "Indeed. We cannot give those resources up." The holographic projection of the man nodded his head. "That''s why we are going to blow them up." He concluded. "Blow them up?" Lockhart absentmindedly mumbled. "That''s right, Commander. If we humans cannot have those resources, we shall not allow anyone else to possess them either." The man nonchalantly said. "As we speak, the ''Little Doctor'' is headed towards the Outer-Rim planets rich in exotic resources." Boom! High Commander Lockhart felt an explosion occur inside his head. He was shocked. ''Little Doctor? THE Little Doctor?! That Molecule Disruptor Device that was unanimously banned from ever being used!'' Little Doctor was the nickname for the Planetary-Class weapon, the Molecule Disruptor. It was capable of creating a special field, inside which all electrons will lose the ability to bond or share. All forms of interactive forces will be rendered nullified. Furthermore, this field would spread farther and farther, with more physical objects that it came in contact with. In short, it had the effect of breaking down all types of physical objects at an atomic level! Upon its inception, The Alliance unanimously came to a decision of sealing it and had decided to never use it. The level of destruction caused by this weapon was simply too great, so much so, that it was feared that its disruption field would expand infinitely, destroying every physical matter in existence. "Bu-But sir! That''s too dangerous! What if--"Lockhart hurriedly tried to convince the man otherwise. "We know, Commander. We understand the risks much better than you do. But fret not, for Miss Reyna has personally made some changes to improve its controllability." The man assured. It seemed that Reyna''s unrelenting efforts had finally paid off. She had succeeded in simulating a workable solution to contain the effective range of the Molecule Disruptor. Lockhart took his word for assurance and sighed in relief. Wiping the cold sweat that had involuntarily formed atop his forehead, he asked. "Then when do we start our retreat, sir?" "Your orders are effective immediately. The remaining Planetary-Class weaponry will be evacuated first. You and your men shall hold the frontline until they enter warp." "Understood, sir! I shall begin now." Lockhart saluted and the projection of the man in suit disappeared. Turning around, Lockhart slumped on his chair. He could still feel his heartbeat with nervousness. ''To think, the Alliance has decided to unseal that abomination. It seems humanity''s situation is very desperate.'' He thought in worry. Calling his personal assistant, he passed her his orders. The AI broadcasted the order and the soldiers started to effectively move. Minutes passed with Lockhart being in deep thought. ''No matter what happens, I need to get out of here alive. I will use the opportunity when the Space-type mechs are facing the enemy, to retreat.'' ''Yes, this is not running away, but a tactical retreat. Those men are simple cannon-fodders compared to me. My importance to the Alliance is very important.'' His mind started to wander, as greed rose within his heart. ''In fact, they might even make me the Head of Military. With that bastard Eyler gone, there is no one to compete with me for the position.'' A sly smile formed on his face. His tense and nervous mood lifted and was replaced by ambition. Getting up from his seat, he started to speak to the officers within the command center. "This upcoming battle is crucial for humanity. Our strategy is simple!" "We are going to hit them and we are going to hit them hard! Those things will never know what''s coming!" "After this battle, the names of you men and woman will forever be remembered, as the ones who dealt the first blow against those creatures!" "You shall become the light that shone through humanity''s darkest times! You people shall be the light that pierces the heavens!" "Are you with me?!" Lockhart yelled. "SIR, YES, SIR!" Hearing their impassionate response, Lockhart showed a brilliant smile on his handsome face, but snickered inwardly: ''Hehe, you shall become the stepping stones on my path to success!'' Outwardly, however, he continued. "Now then, let''s show squash those bastards like the ants they truly are¡­" BANG! Just as his words fell, a tremendous explosion rocked the entire vessel. All systems started to blare with warnings, as the people inside the command center suffered varying levels of injuries. Lockhart, however, started at the scene before him with a shocked gaze. The screen in front of him showed a scene that was happening outside the spaceship. Battering the hull of the BC-Lawson were hundreds of golden-colored ''mechs''. Each mech was almost 20m tall, with shining golden armor. They possessed an armored head, set within which were a pair of diamond-like black eyes. Two arms held onto what seemed like a sword and a shield, and two legs fitted with small-wing like protrusions allowed them to maneuver. On their back were two pairs of wide wings. However, the thing that shocked Lockhart wasn''t its looks, but the reading he was seeing on the screen. Each of these ''mechs'' was showing signs of life. They were alive. -------------- Hiding behind a half-collapsed wall, Zaine and his three other squadmates stared at the large holographic screen showing the other side of the Hanger door with panic. "Those fu*king bastards got the jump on us!" Captain Hartman growled. "Oh my god¡­ Within just a few minutes, they have decreased the shield integrity by 43%!!" Felix muttered. "At this rate, we will die within the next five minutes!" Hawk exclaimed. "We''re going to die. We''re going to die. We''re going to die." Clutching onto her head, Rosa started muttering to herself. "Shut up! We are not going to die!" Captain Hartman bellowed. "What should we do Captain?" Felix who was a calm and rational person by nature asked. "After those bastards are done with the shields, they will punch a hole through those large doors. The insides will de-pressurize and all of us will be sucked out." He spoke grimly. "We just need to get inside our mechs! We can then survive!" Zaine suddenly echoed. "That obvious, dimwit! Question is, how are you going to find you mech within this clusterfu*k of a situation?" the Captain retorted. Zaine immediately shut his mouth. He hadn''t thought that far yet. The battleship was currently being battered on all sides by the invaders. At the intensity that the ship was shaking, the mechs, spaceships, ammunitions, all types of objects stored within were being thrown about. Furthermore, the walls and rook had caved in certain locations, blocking much of the originally spacious hanger. Even the dying screams of the soldiers that were originally hard periodically was no longer heard. Most of them were crushed under the weight of the armaments that were being thrown around. In fact, if it wasn''t for Zaine''s squad being in a relatively isolated position and them hiding behind a half-collapsed wall, they might have also lost their heads in the chaos. "Still, the dimwit was half-right. We cannot stay here forever and must make it towards our mechs." Hartman spoke. Turning his head around, he gazed at the 12 members of his squad and asked. "Any ya'' maggots got any brilliant ideas?" Silence. "What''chya sitting around like rocks for? Come on, speak up!" Hartman yelled. "Si-sir, I think I have an idea." Zaine raised his hand and said shakily. He then proceeded to explain his plans. Captain Hartman''s face grew darker and darker. "That is by far the most terrible idea I''ve ever heard!" he bellowed. Zaine lowered his head and prepared himself for the row of insults that would follow. "But at the same time, it''s brilliant! We shall do as the dimwit said!" "Now move those maggot asses! Let''s make those ant-bastards choke on our corpses!" Chapter 164: Comrades. "Keep your heads close to the ground. You don''t want your worthless heads to be blown off do ya?" Hartman bellowed. The squad replied in affirmation and crouched their bodies lower. After hearing Zaine''s idea and receiving the Captain''s approval, the squad immediately moved into action. Leaving their safe haven behind the half-collapsed wall, they started to move towards the interiors of the Main Hanger. Zaine''s idea was simple- It was to blow the airlock of the Main Hanger. "Look around, do you see anybody alive other than us?" "By blowing the airlock prematurely, we can catch those bastards off-guard and deal a serious blow. It''s going to be breached sooner or later, so we might as well take initiative to fu*k things up." This was Hartman''s explanation. Blowing the airlock would depressurize the Main Hanger, sucking everything that was on the inside and flinging it into outer space. With the invaders standing on the other side of the door, these heavy armaments would serve as the perfect ammunition to deal a significant blow. To blow the airlock there existed two different ways. One was to manually pull a lever that was positioned next to the large hangar doors, while the other was the push a button in the control room. Considering their current situation, the first option of unviable without the use of spacesuits. As such, their current object was to get to the control room. Normally, this would take them less than a minute to achieve, even less if soul power was used. However, with the mess that they were currently in, all direct paths were blocked. "Move, move, move. My dead grandmother could move quicker than you maggots in her coffin! God bless her soul!" Hartman kept insisting. Zaine, who was on his fours crawling across the floor was positioned just behind Hartman at the front. His eyes scanned their surroundings and nervousness kept building within his heart. ''So many pools of blood!'' Zaine felt vomit rise up within his throat, as he looked at the smashed pieces of flesh and organs floating within the pools of blood. "Get a hold of yourself, soldier!" Hartman echoed. He had caught sight of Zaine''s unnaturally pale face and understood what was happening. "Remember your current feelings and suppress them within your heart. When you face those bastards, let it all out! The wrath of your dead comrades will flow through you!" "Dying isn''t scary! But dying in vain is!" "Do you understand?!" "Sir, yes, sir!" Zaine yelled. He felt a little better after Hartman''s speech. "Then keep moving!" Silence returned and the squad continued to crawl towards their destination. The situation was still perilous with broken pieces of metal and glass flying through the air, the roof of the hanger collapsing in places, and the continued rolling and sliding of the unbelted machines of war. The continuous shaking of the vessel only served to make the situation all the worse. Just as they were about to pass through a collapsed spaceship, a sudden explosion ensued. BOOM! "Halt!" Hartman immediately ordered. Seeing the structure around him shaking and being on the verge of collapse, he quickly instructed: "Quick! Roll and evade, get your asses to the nearest cover!" None of the other squadmates disobeyed and immediately complied. Each of them fell onto their stomachs and quickly rolled towards the nearest cover. Barely a second had passed, when another series of explosions ensued. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Similar to a row of fireworks being lit up, the spaceship and the surrounding machines blew up, spreading carnage and heat. Zaine who was hiding behind a broken mech unit could feel the top of his hair singe. His ears had also started to ring from the loudness of the explosion. After what seemed like an eternity, he could feel the heat dissipate and the ringing within his ears stop. Peeking his head out, he checked to see if the other members of the unit were okay. "Report!" Hartman''s gruffly voice sounded. "Felix, here!" "Hawk, here!" "Ro-rose, here!" "Four-eyes, here!" One by one, the voices of his squadmates began to sound. Zaine swallowed a mouthful of saliva and replied with a dry tone. "Zaine, here!" "Diaz! Snowball?!" Hartman echoed. There was no reply. "I-I-I had seen them move over there!" Rosa stuttered while pointing towards a certain spot. The Captain and the rest looked over, only to find flaming debris and some charred remains. Zaine''s eyes became blurry, as he turned his head towards the side and refused to look at that location. The other squad members'' reactions were also similar. The atmosphere became grim, as everyone grew silent. "¡­no-no. This can''t be happening." Rosa started to mumble beneath her breath.. In a low voice, Hartman spoke: "Open your eyes and look. There is no point in evading this sight. Look closely!" "This is the cruelty of war." He did not speak further. Zaine''s heart grew heavy. His mind recalled the faces of his two recently demised comrades. Diaz. He was a soft-spoken guy, who always wore a foolish-looking grin on his face. He was a senior-soldier and the person who showed Zaine around when he had first arrived here. ''See this picture here, that''s my daughter. She just turned 6 years old this week. She looks like an angel doesn''t she?'' Diaz bragged while wearing a foolish-looking grin. ''No!'' Zaine''s fist tightened and his fingernails sunk into his skin. A trail of tears fell from his eyes, as he recalled his interactions with this reclusive but honest senior. Felix on the other hand also felt an unspeakable amount of grief. His mind recalled the scenes of his bunkmate, Snowball. The fat, adorable-looking guy who loved to eat and procrastinate. ''If Captain catches you sneaking food into the quarter, he''ll kick your ass.'' Felix smirked ''Well, then he''d have a lot of ass to kick. I''m sure Captain enjoys doing it too.'' Snowball blinked his large, black eyes and turned around to shake his butt. Both of them then fell into a fit of laughter. "AH!!!" Felix opened his mouth and howled. His soul power started to run amok due to his fluctuating emotional state. "Control yourself!" Hartman immediately screamed. He neared Felix and furiously shouted: "Are ya'' going to lose control, over a single death?!" "But sir! He was my friend!" Felix retorted. "You think you''re the only person to lose a friend! Look around, maggot! All of the people here were once our comrades! Open your eyes and look closely!" Hartman thundered while pointing to the pools of blood surrounding them. "Stop being a sissy! You''re angry, yes. And you have every right to be!" "But instead of crying and complaining channel that anger to kill the ones that caused this!" "Now wake up and start moving!" "SIR, YES, SIR!" Felix screamed through his cries. Zaine, Rosa, Hawk, and the other survivors also wiped their tears and yelled: "SIR, YES, SIR!" "Better! Hawk, get over here!" Hartman instructed. "Use that ability of yours and find us an alternate path through this mess. We don''t have much time!" "Yes, sir!" Hawk did not waste time and immediately started his work. Closing his eyes, he channeled his soul power and activated the ability of his soul. [Sharpshooter] ''[Eagle Eyes]!'' Hawk suddenly saw the scene before his eyes change. The originally dark scene quickly moved to show a panoramic scene of the ground from the sky. From his vision, Hawk could see himself, his squadmates, the various objects obstructing their path, and the control room that was some distance towards the east. He had done this exact same thing, a few minutes ago before the squad started their trek through his crumbling battlefield. He quickly started to note down the various paths in his head and plotted the most optimal route to the control room. Having finished, he canceled [Eagle Eyes] and felt his vision be restored to normal. Opening his tightly shut eyes, Hawk felt dizzy as he could feel his soul power rapidly drop by almost half. Due to his control over soul power being largely unpolished, Hawk wasted a lot of it while activating his ability. He would sometimes fail to properly activate his soul power which would then result in a terrible backlash, the worst of which was losing his consciousness. Actually, this was the case with most of the awakened humans. While they had received a great amount of power, they were still unable to properly use it. This made the use of soul power and their abilities, something of a trump card between the humans and not something that was commonly used. Most of them were even unaware of the physical boost that soul power gave, by simply having it revolve around their bodies. This resulted in awakened humans be not much different from the regular humans, greatly underestimating their potential. "Did ya'' draw up a path?" Hartman asked. Nodding his head, Hawk then crouched on the ground and drew a simple map, on the soot-covered floor. "There is a slight problem over here in the form of a tumbling mech. If we can move it out of the way, the rest of the path will be unobstructed." He concluded. Hartman thought for a few seconds before nodding his head, "This will do. Let''s get moving, we don''t have a lot of time left before those bastards break-in!" Chapter 165: Nasty Surprise. With much of their surroundings cleared due to the explosion earlier, Zaine and his squadmates no longer had to crawl on the floor with their four limbs. Enough space had been cleared to the point where they could walk upright. Still, just to be safe they lowered their upper-bodies to evade the possible flying projectiles. Having your eyes blown off due to carelessness would be a sad way to die. Nervously observing his surroundings Zaine continued to walk in a steady, unhurried manner. Passing through the pile of flaming debris, the group quickly made it to the segment where a large heavy-mech was hunkering down and blocking their path of advancement. "This is the one. If we get past this, it will be smooth sailing from here." Hawk pointed out, behind Zaine. Looking at this large heavy-mech sparking with dangerous bolts of electricity, Zaine frowned: ''With its weight, it''s impossible to push it out of the way. Getting into the cockpit will be dangerous too.'' {WARNING: SHIELD INTEGRITY IS AT 20%. BREACH IN T-MINUS 2 MINUTES!} Hearing that announcement, the faces of all the squadmates turned pale. "Ah, shit! We gotta get to the control room sooner!" Hartman grumbled. Hartman then approached the mech and cautiously observed it. With the bolts of electricity jumping around, touching it was impossible to directly touch it. "Anyone got any bright ideas?" he asked. "Why not blow it up?" ''Four-Eyes'' quipped. "Someone sure is impatient to meet the maker." Hartman''s face darkened as he continued: " Use your brain, dumbass! That''s a Heavy Artillery Mech. It contains enough power to punch a hole through a mountain!" "If that thing blows up, we are all dead! Blow it up, he says. What an idiot." Hartman muttered. "Maybe, I can try, sir." It was then, that Felix intervened. "You? What are you going to do?" Hartman questioned. Felix did not immediately reply. Closing his eyes, he willed the soul power inside his body to move and gather near his hands. "[Lightning Fist]!" he suddenly yelled and opened his eyes. With his eyes shining with blue-light, streams of soul power covered both of his arms. Zhisst! Zhisst! The air surrounding his fist buzzed with electricity as the soul power covering his arms condensed and turned bluish-white in color. It then sparked with current, resembling the jumping currents of Tesla coils! "Wow¡­" Zaine absent-mindedly muttered, seeing this cool scene. "Whoo.." Felix heavily breathed out and approached the heavy-mech. Nearing its body, Felix felt a prickling sensation on his skin, which then turned into a hot, burning sensation. ''Shit, the electrical density here is too high. My soul power is being sapped at a very high rate!'' he quickened his pace. Having approached the body, he gritted his teeth and placed both his hands on the mech. The moment his fingers came in contact with the current-sparking mech, Felix''s [Lightning Hands] started to furiously absorb the fleeing currents. His color on his hands increased in brightness. "AHH!!!" Halfway in, Felix suddenly let out a bloodcurdling scream. His body could not handle the sheer amount of current flowing inside his body. He started to furiously convulse and slowly disintegrate. "FELIX!!" Zaine screamed and tried to run towards his partner. However, Hartman was even quicker. Having seemingly expected something like this to happen, he used a rod, picked up from somewhere, and swung it at Felix. The rod struck Felix on his abdomen and swung him outward. His hands lost contact with the mech''s body and the remaining electricity on its surface dispersed. "Felix!" Zaine rushed towards his fallen friend and checked his condition. Felix''s originally white skin had been charred at various places. Much of his military uniform was burnt and his hair had almost completely singed. Other than his breathing being a little weak, no other external injury was seen. "Cough, cough!" Felix''s eyes flew open and he suddenly started coughing. His body randomly convulsed, making him jerk within Zaine''s arms. "Are you okay?!" Zaine worriedly asked. "Of course he''s not, dimwit. Be careful with him." Hartman scolded. He then looked at Felix and praised: "You did well, son." Hearing that compliment, Felix weakly nodded his head. Hartman then turned towards Zaine and instructed: "Carry him with you. Be careful and DON''T drop him!" he emphasized the ''don''t''. Zaine nodded his head and gently picked Felix up. "Let''s get this thing out of the way," Hartman announced and personally walked up to the mech. Grabbing onto a foothold, he raised himself up and entered the cockpit. "Wonderful! Just enough juice to move this fatass!" remarked, turning on its power. The mech slowly woke from its slumber. Controlling its arms, Hartman had its upper body move out of the way, creating a small passage inside which they could walk. Having done that, he alighted the mech and announced. "What''rya waiting for? An invitation? Get moving!!" he yelled and led the way again. The rest of the journey was uneventful and safe, similar to what Hawk has said. The group quickly made it to the control room, only to find its door locked. "Step back," Hartman warned and initiated his own soul power. The dormant energy and seethed into his muscles. Clenching his fists, Hartman yelled and punched out. "Haa!" BANG! The metal door caved into itself, breaking its lock in the process. Hartman employed his muscles once more and tore the metal door out of its hinges, clearing the path. "Get in," he ordered and walked inside. The control room looked quite simple. A large console occupied much of the room, with two chairs behind it. A small coffee-maker machine sat on the side, with a dustbin right under it. Towards the front of the room, a large screen showed the scene both inside and outside the hanger area. "Tch! They''ve almost depleted the shields. They could get inside any moment now." Hartman observed the screen and remarked. He then walked towards the console and operated it, until the option to forcibly open the Hangar Doors popped up. Turning his head around, he instructed Four-Eyes: "Get working on that door behind us. You''ve got 30 seconds to open it." Four-Eyes nodded his head and quickly approached the door inside the control room. Breaking open the control panel next to the door, he then started to tinker with it. Due to the damage sustained by the vessel, the entire battleship had gone into ''Lockdown Mode'' effectively sealing up all the doors. Right now, not even the ID''s of Officer Level soldiers will open the doors. This was a safety measure that was inputted in the case of pirate boarding or hijacks. That being said, there was no such thing as an ''infallible defense''. "Uh¡­Done!" the moment Four-Eyes'' words landed the sealed door opened with a ''whoosh''. "Everyone get inside!" Hartman instructed. The squad members hurriedly complied. Zaine who was carrying the immobile Felix was the last person to get in. He turned around and stared at their Captain. Wearing a blank expression on his face, Hartman hovered his hands over the metaphorical red button. He did not immediately press it. {WARNING: SHIELD INTEGRITY IS AT 10%. BREACH IN T-MINUS 1 MINUTE!} {WARNING: SHIELD INTEGRITY IS AT 5%. BREACH IN T-MINUS 30 SECONDS!} {WARNING: SHIELD INTEGRITY IS AT 4%. BREACH IN T-MINUS 24 SECONDS!} {WARNING: SHIELD INTEGRITY IS AT 3%. BREACH IN T-MINUS 18 SECONDS!} {WARNING: SHIELD INTEGRITY IS AT 2%. BREACH IN T-MINUS 12 SECONDS!} "¡­This is for my dead daughter. Die fu*kers!" Hartman''s eyes turned bloodshot as he pressed the button. Without bothering to look at the result, he turned around and ran into the door where Zaine and the rest were waiting. The moment he entered, Four-Eye who had his eyes on the console closed the door. Hartman had his head lowered and his back turned. He was silent. Zaine, who stood the closest to him, noticed a trail of tears exit his eyes. ''Captain¡­'' Zaine''s heart was filled with despondence and pride. Hartman quietly wiped his tears and turned around. He looked at Zaine staring at him and immediately yelled. "What''chya looking at, maggot?! My face got something?" A faint smile formed on Zaine''s face as he replied with vigor: "Sir, no, sir!" "Then turn yer ugly face somewhere else. Just having it stare at me, makes me feel like a virgin!" Hartman snapped. He then turned to look at the other squad members looking at him. Black lines formed on his forehead, as he prepared to yell once again. However, seeing them giggle he bottled his anger and inwardly thought: ''Once we make it outta here alive. I''m ma make all yer lives a living hell!'' "Start moving, maggots! We gotta check who''s still alive on this damned ship and kick some alien ass!" "SIR, YES, SIR!" the others collectively replied. ------------- {WARNING: SHIELD INTEGRITY COMPROMISED!} {NOTICE: OPENING HANGAR DOORS. PLEASE CLEAR MAIN BAY TO AVOID CASUALTIES} The voices of two AI''s overlapped at the same time. And following that¡­ Whoosh! ¡­was a nasty surprise for the invaders. Chapter 166: The Invaders. Outside the Hanger doors. A group of golden-colored ''mechs'' slashed at a half-transparent barrier of energy with a 6m tall long sword shinning with golden radiance. Their actions were perfectly synchronous with each other. Each slash of the sword brought about wave-like ripples on the barrier, which grew increasingly smaller with repeated attacks. ¡ºStop! ¡» a domineering voice suddenly echoed within the heads of all the mechs. The golden swords halted in union and the almost transparent barrier gained a moment of respite. The ''mechs'' then turned their heads and looked towards the source of the voice. Standing on the deck of a floating vessel, which looked like a hybrid between a traditional boat and a modern spaceship, was a 2.3m tall being with an ant shaped head. ¡ºGroup 25, retreat. Group 44 takes their place. ¡»he instructed, his gruff, cold voice resounded in the head of the ''mechs'' floating in space. He was humanoid in figure, possessing two arms, a pair of legs, an upper body, and an ant-like head. A pair of mandibles protruded from his mouth and on the top of his head was a pair of antennae. He wore a close-fitting black colored armor that protected the majority of his body, except for his head. Golden lines covered the entirety of the armor drawing complicated patterns and mystical words. This alien-like person, instructing the ''mechs'' was one of the invaders that were currently haunting Mankind. The invaders belonged to a race called Formicians. The Formicians were a Grade 4 species and the personal creation of the Myriad Species Queen. Possessing superior intelligence and physique, the Formician had an ant-shaped head, with a pair of mandibles, antennae, and a humanoid body. Their compound eyes were smaller and more compact, compared to their lesser cousins, the Alien Bugs. Like all Grade 4 beings, they were born with a minimum of Stage 1 cultivation and also possessed a unique ability. Their unique ability was called [Telepathy] and came in the form of their Antennae. This ability allowed them to freely and limitlessly communicate with their brethren and sync their minds with each other, enabling the transfer of memories and data. Not only that [Telepathy] could also be used to communicate with others who were not Formicians. However, there remained certain limitations to this usage, such as one-sided communication and the like. As a Species built for the sole purpose of warring, they had a strict hierarchy from their birth. A Greater Queen whose purpose was to lead the entire race. Lesser Queens whose purpose was to birth new members of their race. They could also create new variations of their species. Thinkers who were the brains and strategists of the race. Warriors whose sole purpose was to fight for the race. And finally, Workers who were the logistics and basically everything else for the race. Further classification exists within the Warrior and Worker subtypes. The golden-colored mech was a newly birthed subtype of the Warrior. It was a fusion between Mankind''s mech technology and the Formician Warriors. In other words, it was a biological entity that was made from the remains of the mechs. As a race personally created by the Myriad Species Queen, they were an incredible race with the frightening potential to adapt and evolve. Back to the story. On the Formician Leader''s command, the previous group of warrior-mechs retreated and a new group came up to replace them. Finding their positions they raised their swords in unison and waited for the leader''s command. ¡ºAttack¡» the moment his orders fell through [Telepathy], the swords of the warrior-mechs swung down. The flickering, nearly transparent barrier instantly shattered exposing the smooth, bare body of the BS-Lawson. ¡ºOn my mark, attac--¡»just as the Formician was about to voice his order, the doors of the hanger suddenly opened. Swoorm! The intense difference in pressure between the two spaces gave birth to a terrifying force of suction. Unable to withstand the force, the doors of the hanger, which were in the process of opening, tore apart and flew in the direction of the warrior-mech group. BANG! The pieces of the metallic door struck the bodies of the warrior-mech and ripped through them, instantly killing it in the process. A mixture of cables and intestines soaked in bluish-gold liquid spilled from the wound, which then floated in zero gravity. It was a nightmarish scene. Realizing the danger of the flying projectiles, the Formician Leader instinctively activated the power of his armor. Invisible streams of energy exited the armor, creating a force field around him. ¡ºEveryone retreat!¡» he warned. Unfortunately, he was too late. Following behind the first assault were loads of other debris, exiting the hanger at frightening speeds. It sufficed to say, their nightmare had only begun ---------------- Inside the BS-Lawson. Zaine and his squad walked through the long corridors, looking to regroup with the others. Due to the severe shortage of manpower, the battlecruiser operated with the minimum amount of crew. As such, they had yet to meet a single person. With the vessel shaking increasingly frequently, the group found it harder to maintain their balance while walking. "This fu*king shaking! Who''s the as*hat driving this thing?!" Hartman cursed, reverting to his grumpy personality. "¡­Put me down. I can¡­walk" from behind Zaine, Felix weakly voiced out. "Shut up and stay put!" Zaine instantly replied. "But¡ª" "There are no ''buts''. It''s a partner''s duty to support the other in times of need. When you need me, I will always be there." Zaine finalized. Felix was extremely moved and his eyes started to tear up. "Want me to read the rites? Do ya'' swear to protect each other in sickness and in health, in life and in death? " Hartman sarcastically remarked. Hearing his words the other squad members snickered, with some of them starting to catcall. Zaine and Felix felt their face burn in embarrassment. With their successful escape from the Main Hanger, the moods of all the members had greatly improved. Their attack on the invaders'' only served to further improve their morale. (although unsure of how effective it had been). Turning around another corridor, the group suddenly heard some faint voices coming from a distance. "We are close!" Zaine''s eyes glowed and the group increased their pace. They gradually approached closer and the voices, in turn, turned louder. The group came in front of a closed door. "Wait!" Hartman raised his hands and suddenly stopped. As an experienced soldier he never let his guard down and always stayed wary. Moving his soul power, he poured it into his ears to enhance his hearing. Placing one of his ears on the door, he tried to make sense of the noises. "..plea¡­let¡­me go¡­" faint pleas of a woman accompanied by sobs. "..ahahah! We''re all going to die anyway. Why not enjoy your last moments with me?" the licentious snickers of a man followed by the sounds of fabric tears were heard. Captain Hartman''s face handed. His eyes turned frighteningly cold, as he grabbed onto the handle pushed forth with his complete strength. The handle was horribly twisted and the door was forced from its hinges. Throwing the door to one side, the squad saw the scene of the other side of the door. A 1.7m tall young man wearing a half-undressed Officer''s uniform, was forcibly grabbing onto the hands of a woman and tearing her uniform open. Minor cuts were seen all over the woman''s body and her face contained deep handprints, on both sides of her cheek. Her voice choked with tears and her eyes contained despair, as she futilely tried to struggle. Seeing the new entrants, the two of them were shocked and their mouths were agape. The woman''s eyes now contained a trace of hope, while the man''s gaze turned to that of fear. With a voice that was as cold as the frigid tundra''s Hartman asked. "What the fu*k do you think you''re doing, maggot." Facing Hartman''s abnormally calm question, the man panicked further. Releasing the woman''s hands he stumbled back towards the corner of the room. "Yo-you wh-who are you guys?!" he shouted in panic. "I said. WHAT THE FU*K DO YOU THINK YOU''RE DOING, MAGGOT?!" Hartman thundered. The man felt the remainder of his courage dissipate, as his knees buckled under the tension. His entire body shook with fear as he incomprehensibly muttered. "L-l-l-leave me¡­ Y-yo-you can''t k-ki-kill an Officer." Hartman inhaled a sharp breath of air, as he tried to control his rising anger. Taking a few deep breaths, he approached the man and grabbed him by his head. "S-st-stop! Ple-pl-lease spare m¡­" not giving any regard to his pleas, Hartman ruthlessly crushed his head. Blood and brain matter splashed onto his uniform. The bloody scene contrasted with his absolutely emotionless face. He wordlessly turned around and tried to approach the woman. Seeing a man come close, the woman retreated in a panic with her eyes showing her trauma. Hartman immediately stopped. "Rosa, come and tend to this woman." He removed the outer-coat of his soldiers'' garment and threw it towards the female soldiers. Having done so, he walked out of the room. "What''arya numbnuts standing there for?! Give the lady some space!" he bellowed and the men immediately exited the room. Silently staring into the empty corridor, Hartman quietly said. "Pathetic scum of a human." He spat on the floor. Chapter 167: Revenge. Nearly 30 minutes passed before Rosa followed by the clothed woman left the room. Her face contained some traces of panic, as she warily gazed at the group of soldiers. Hartman shot her a look and turned to face Rosa. "What did she say?" "The Commander wants to abandon this ship and retreat. She was on her way to the escape station when that bastard jumped her." An obvious unlike was felt in Rosa''s voice. "What a detestable scum!" she spat loudly. The other squad members nodded their heads in response to her words. "Seems like they have chosen to retreat. Makes sense." Hartman thought for a second before nodding his head. He then turned to the group and spoke: "We''ll get to the escape station and abandon this ship. Stayin any loner is just suicide." He then faced the woman and asked: "Can ya walk?" The woman faintly nodded her head. "Follow us and keep up." He concluded. Turning around he started to follow the signs to the nearest escape station. The trip to the escape station was uneventful. Apart from the obvious rocking of the ship that slowed them down, they did not encounter any troubles." The escape station was a hemispherical room, with a dozen escape capsules embedded into the walls. Upon setting a target destination on the monitor that was adjacent to the capsule, one could enter the capsule and launch off the vessel. The escape capsules mainly acted as cryogenic pods, which would freeze a person and place them in cryogenic suspension. Using an escape capsule in space, meant one would float about in infinite darkness in the absence of a planet nearby. By placing a person in cryogenic suspension, it was akin to placing one in deep sleep. This would minimize the energy required to maintain their bodies and prolong their period of rescue. Unfortunately, more often than not, being stranded in deep space inside a cryogenic pod was akin to never being saved. It was very tedious and expensive to fund a rescue operation. If you aren''t a VIP or were part of a crew that occupied a VIP, then your chances of being saved were close to null. "Thank God, we have enough pods!" Zaine voiced out his happiness. "Set the destination to the nearest battlecruiser and get in. We have no time to waste." Hartman instructed. The other followed his commands and performed the required actions before getting into their respective pods. Zaine helped Felix get into his pod and inputted his target destination. One by one, the capsules shot out of the room. Hartman waited till everyone else was done before walking towards the remaining capsule. "thank you." A quiet voice whispered as he was about to get into his capsule. Just as he turned his head, the capsule of the woman shot out into space. Sighing to himself, Hartman got into his capsule and lied down. Lying inside the capsule, Hartman felt his muscles involuntarily relax. ''What a fu*kin day!'' he thought to himself, as the capsule shot into space. -------------- Zaine could see the scene of the battlecruiser be bombarded by attacks from the Formicians through the small window that was present in front of him. ''Phew. Captain safely got out!'' he sighed in relief, as he noticed a final capsule shoot out of the vessel. His face then turned grim as he spotted the Formicians tear apart the hull of the ship and enter it. The golden mechs entered first followed by the boats. Having gained a moment of respite, Zaine started to consider some things that he hadn''t thought of earlier. ''Why did the invaders attack us so suddenly? And how did they suddenly get so strong?'' ''What are those gold mechs? How did they develop it without the relevant technology?'' ''The last time we fought against them, the invaders were not able to effectively fight in space. They sustained most of their losses while fighting us in space. The only reason we were able to maintain the frontline was due to their deficiency in this aspect.'' ''Actually, now that I think about it. Why did they suddenly bunker down for the last two months? Was it because of these mechs? How long were they developing it for?'' ''Is the mechs the only thing they developed during this period? Or did they make something else?'' Zaine''s mind was flooded with questions. Most of which he found no answer for. ''Can we even win against these guys?'' His thoughts turned pessimistic. ''No! That person is still there!'' he shook his head and recalled a certain youth. With deep black hair, abyss-like eyes, an indifferent face, that figure continuously swung his scythe amidst a group of terrifying alien bugs. Surrounded on all sides, he never showed a trace of fear and indifferently faced his opponents without backing down. Zaine could not estimate the number of times he had re-watched that video circulated by the Alliance. As a youth of similar age, Zaine would feel his blood boil when watching that fight. He was called the Hero of Deatov. The Strongest Awakened. The Black Death, Lucius! ''As long as that person is alive, humanity will never lose!'' Zaine''s eyes glowed with revere. After mankind''s horrible loss against the Formicians, in a bid to elevate the morale of the soldiers and the citizens, the Alliance circulated the videos of the Battle at Deatov and the battles of the other Frontier Planets. Videos of interviews with the survivor and participants of these battles were also made and released, encouraging the citizens to never lose hope or give up. These battles of the Frontier were decent enough, they did not have quite the impact as the Battle of Deatov. Other battles consisted of soldiers hunkering down in bunkers and shouting against the enemies, while large, heavy mechs fought in the front. The Battle of Deatov, however, was different. It showcased a single man fighting against an endless horde of enemies. Surrounded on all sides, he never lost hope and continued to persevere. That finale against the Peak-Level Stage 1 Leader Bug, with its flashy visuals and their inhuman speeds, served as the ''cherry on top''. No matter the age of the viewer, watching it made one''s blood boil with excitement. It made them burn with excitement and fighting spirit! Making use of this opportunity, the Alliance spread rumors and the like, to exaggerate Lucius'' strength and deeds, further increasing his prestige and reputation with the common people. Lucius was one of the main reasons, why youths like Zaine, fresh from military school joined the frontlines. Of course, some doubted the veracity of his deeds. They questioned on why he did not participate in the battle against the invaders. Or why he never appeared on broadcast. There was also no shortage of haters and naysayers discrediting the videos and calling them fake or calling out on the ridiculousness of the rumors. However, with the personal intervention of the Alliance, these matters were quickly quelled. With reasons such as ''secret missions'' and ''closed training'', they glided over the matter of his absence. Of course, it would only work so far. With time, the matter of Lucius forsaking Mankind would sooner or later be revealed. Currently, the Alliance was pouring all its resources to nurture another person like Lucius. A person with absolute strength that could turn around a hopeless situation. Of course, whether this matter stands to succeed still remains unknown. ''I hope I can meet him one day.'' Zaine sincerely wished to meet his hero. Shaking his head to rid himself of such fantasies, he then observed the invaders seriously. ''The way those mechs move, it''s so smooth and fluid! It''s almost as if they are sentient.'' Zaine analyzed. Usually, when a person controlled a mech, there existed a certain degree of unnaturalness and delay between their thoughts and the movements of the mech. This would be seen in the movements of their machines during a battle and is often used as a flaw by their opponents. Of course, there existed an exception for all things. Some pilots with an unnatural amount of talent could control the mechs like their own bodies. ''Either those things, really are alive or the invaders have hundreds of Ace-Tier pilots.'' Zaine did not know how close to the truth he was. ''Anyways, I''ve almost arrived at the destination. Looks like the others made it without incident to..'' just as Zaine was about to sigh in relief. BOOM! A bolt of energy struck the capsule of ''Four-Eyes'', whose pod was moving just in front of Zaine. Without any suspense, the capsule exploded. "NOOO!!!" Zaine screamed. Through the small glass window, multiple flashes of condensed energy could be seen flying about. At the corner of the window, a group of golden-colored mechs could be seen approaching. Most of the mechs carried varying levels of injuries, and the boat leading them was largely damaged. ¡ºFound you, bastards! You shall pay for killing my brethren!¡» a voice directly resounded within Zaine''s mind. A certain Formician wearing black-colored armor with golden patterns had arrived. Chapter 168: Cruel Wars. ''What?!'' The moment he heard a voice resound within his mind. Zaine recovered from his daze: ''Where did that come from?!'' He turned his head around and looked inside the capsule. He found nothing. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Three more capsules belonging to Zaine''s squadmates soundlessly exploded. The scene of the a lonely capsule exploding into a mess of colorful light, deeply contrasted with the dark background of space. "NO! YOU BASTARDS!!" Zaine screamed to no avail. BANG! A stray shot seemed to hit Zaine''s capsule as it started to intensely rock. Zaine hit his head on the roof of the capsule and lost his consciousness. With his vision rapidly blackening Zaine swore to himself. ''I will never forgive you, bastards!'' -------------- "¡­wa¡­ke¡­..up!" a whisper that seemed to originate from an inestimable distance, woke Zaine up. ''Wh-where am I?'' Zaine''s head throbbed with pain and dizziness. His vision was filled with whiteness and his body felt weightless. "..wa..ke..up¡­Zai..ne." that illusory voice vaguely sounded near Zaine again. ''Who is that? Who is calling me?'' Zaine wondered. The voice seemed familiar yet strange. So distant, yet near. "ZAINE! WAKE THE FU*K UP!!" Hartman mercilessly bellowed into Zaine''s ears. The sheer loudness and intensity of his voice shocked Zaine into consciousness. His eyes flew wide open, as he started at the Captain with whom had a love-hate relationship. ''Oh, it''s Captain.'' Zaine''s mind concluded. His conclusion was simple, yet boundless excitement ran through Zaine''s body at this moment. ''Why am I feeling excited?'' Zaine could not quite understand it yet. The only thing that went through his mind was the pain he was feeling in his head and the intense ringing in his ears. "I''m telling you, sir. You cannot yell inside the med bay!" a doctor scolded Hartman. "It worked, didn''t it?" Hartman half-heartedly replied. He then ignored the doctor''s retorts and addressed Zaine once more. "Oi, kid! Stop lazing around and get up! We need soldiers in the frontline!'' ''Captain?'' Zaine''s mind suddenly blanked and the last scenes in his memories flashed through his mind. Realization struck Zaine and he hurriedly asked. "Captain! Is everyone fine?! I saw¡ª" Zaine grabbed the Captain by his clothes and hurriedly questioned. Seeing Zaine like this, the Captain mentally sighed and replied with a serious expression. "I''m afraid, we are the only survivors." his tone was solemn, bereft of its usual grumpiness. ''We are the only survivors.'' Zaine felt his vision darken. He suddenly found it harder to breathe, as an intense sense of suffocation and claustrophobia attacked him. Zaine felt himself falling deeper and deeper and felt his body turn heavier. ''Everyone is dead? Rosa? Felix? Hawk?'' he found it hard to accept. "A squad of invaders intercepted our capsules and shot at it. Frankly, it''s a miracle for us to be alive." Hartman solemnly explained. His words served to hammer the reality of the situation into Zaine. He suddenly felt his throat become devoid of any moisture. Zaine tried to speak but found no words exiting his mouth. Unknowingly, his face was drenched in tears. Zaine could not remember when he had started to cry. No, all he understood was that his closest friend and colleagues had died. Hartman for his part stood silently and said nothing. There was nothing to say. This was war. It was cruel. One minute you''re with your team playing around and having a good time, the next minute, you find the people closest to you, go home in a casket. ''You''ve two choices, son. One, you find the strength within yourself to avenge your teammates. Or two, you give and drink yourself to death, to numb the pain.'' ''No matter what you choose, I won''t judge you.'' Hartman silently thought to himself. Sniffle. "Captain¡­" Zaine suddenly spoke up. His voice was hoarse and choked with emotions. "Yes¡­boi?" Hartman asked. This was the moment of truth. "Please get me a mech." Zaine raised his head and looked into the Captain''s eyes. His eyes were bloodshot with soul power leaking from within: "I''m want to kill those bastards." A smile bloomed on Hartman''s wrinkled face as he replied. "A mech you shall get. Get off your ass, maggot! We got ourselves some killin'' to do!" Following Hartman, Zaine quickly made it to the Mech Hanger. On their way, Hartman had already briefed Zaine on their current situation. An unknown amount of invaders were currently attacking the human ships. The majority of the attackers consisted of those new golden-colored mechs which were grouped into units of 50, each unit led by a boat-like vessel. The invaders were being careful to not damage the battleships too much and seemed to show interest in taking over it. The BS-Lawson had already been lost in such a manner. The invaders were being methodical in their actions and were taking one ship at a time. However, there was that a single, strange group did not seem to follow this pattern. This group consisted of around 30 mechs and a largely damaged vessel. They were the ones who shot at Zaine and his group and were being very violent on the battlefield. "I want to fight them!" Zaine unhesitantly replied. "You will. But not alone. I''m sending you with a squad." Hartman nodded his head and replied. The duo had already made it towards a certain group. "Hartman! You''re still alive!" A female voice exclaimed in surprise. Looking at the source of the voice, it was a 1.7m tall, muscular, dark-skinned woman. Hartman nodded towards this woman and replied. "As ya'' can see, Melinda." The dark-skinned woman approached Hartman and gave him a hug. "The last time I saw you, you were a lot younger." The woman snickered. "The last time I saw you, you had a full face." Hartman mercilessly replied. Indeed, a large scar ran across the entirety of the woman''s face, starting from the tip of her right eyebrow to the bottom of her lip. It was a scar that made her look scary, yet heroic. Ignoring Hartman''s snarky comment, the woman turned to face Zaine and curiously asked. "Who''s this, your son? The ''Shit-for-a-mouth'' Hartman actually got married?" "This maggot? Of course, not! And for your knowledge! I did get married." Hartman replied. The dark-skinned woman was evidently shocked. She stared into Hartman''s face for a full five seconds before moving on. "Anyways, what brings you here?" she asked. "We are the reinforcements to your squad." Hartman pointed at Zaine and himself and replied. "You still use the Heavy-Type Assaulter?" she questioned Hartman. "Never changed." The dark-skinned woman nodded her head and turned to face Zaine. "What type of mech-user are you?" "A Scout-Type Light Class mech." Zaine honestly replied. "Well, we only got a Rifleman. You better get used to it." "Also you can address me as Zara or Captain. Follow me" Zara motioned before leading the way. As they walked towards their mechs, Zara briefed them on their missions. "Our mission is to intercept and eliminate that rouge team of invaders. It''s simple but bloody." Hearing that Zaine clenched his fists tightly. Lowering his head, he muttered to himself: ''I will avenge you guys!'' "When are we leaving?" Hartman asked. "Well, we were just waiting for the reinforcements to arrive." Zara nonchalantly replied, to which Hartman nodded his head. "Well, here we are. One Rifleman and one Assaulter. Get in and get comfortable. We leave in 10 minutes." Zara clapped her hands and turned around to face the duo. Zaine wordlessly stared at the tall, medium-class, space-type Rifleman mech. It was nearly 25ft tall, with a rather powerful engine that could reach 120-160km/hr in zero gravity. Its armor plating was rather decent and gave it the ability to tank a fair amount of damage. However, going directly against a heavy was plain suicide. This Rifleman came with a medium/long-ranged laser rifle. Zaine wasn''t particularly used to this type of weapon, but he wasn''t clueless either. ''I can manage.'' That was his thought. Approaching the mech, Zaine grabbed onto the hand and foothold and pulled himself into the cockpit. Closing the hatch, he initiated the neural connection. {Recognizing new pilot. Scanning brainwaves¡­.approved.} {Initiating Neural Link. Please stand-by and do not press the power off button} {Connecting¡­20%...40%...70%...96%. Required threshold achieved. Connection stable at 96%.} At this moment, Zaine felt his senses expand to envelop the machine underneath his feet. His vision exploded to envelop an almost 180'' view. He could intuitively feel the various parts of the machine and felt like he could move them like his body. Taking a deep breath, Zaine pushed out with his hands. Whirr! The mech roared in action, as both of its hands pushed out to mimic Zaine''s actions. Zaine then lifted his left hand, which the mech immediately copied. Feeling the connection between the mech and himself, Zaine started to move the mech according to the [Basic Movements Outline]. The duo of Zara and Hartman looked at Zaine''s actions and nodded in satisfaction. "Not bad. He''s got talent." Zara remarked. "Kid''s not half-bad. He''s just a virgin." Hartman replied. Seeing the ''Shit-for-a mouth'' Hartman back in action, Zara helplessly shook her head. "Get in your mech, you got 10 minutes!" she instructed Hartman and walked away. Chapter 169: Battle in Space. Minutes fell like the scattered sand and the time for deployment had arrived. Zaine who had completed the [Basic Movements Outline] with his mech had mostly grasped the intricacies and nuances of the Rifleman mech. His eyes unfalteringly stared forward and his grip over the joystick-like controls tightened. The faces of his squadmantes flashed through his head causing Zaine to slightly tear up. Biting down on his lips, he swore: ''Watch me as I kill those bastards and avenge you guys!'' "You ready to go, kid?" Zaine heard Zara''s voice inside the mech. "Yes." Zaine curtly replied. He then moved his mech towards the launch zone. The launch zone was a long, horizontal corridor with a slingshot-like machine fixed at one end of the passage and the other exiting into outer space. Once a mech enters into this machine, it grabs the mech and shoots it into space, much like a sling shot. "In you go then. Remember to coordinate with the team and try not to get killed. I can tell that Hartman has taken a liking for you." Zara advised. Zaine did not reply and entered into the machine. With his front facing the exit, a large mechanical claw extended from the back wall and grabbed onto his mech. Ding! Whirr!! The Rifleman lightly shook and was slowly pulled backwards. Sweat started to gather on Zaine''s forehead as a mixture of nervousness and excitement flooded his mind. BANG! With a thunderous sound similar to a gunshot, the Rifleman was flung forward! In a matter of seconds, it exited the 400m long tunnel at near supersonic speeds! --------------- ''Ugh, I feel like throwing up.'' Zaine felt his stomach churn. Being flung at high speeds wasn''t a pleasant experience, to say the least. Sing his right hands, Zaine pressed some buttons of the mech''s control console. A cooling sensation pervaded inside the mech as Zaine felt his nausea settling. {Pressure and Atmosphere Controls- Optimal} "Engage main thrusters!" Zaine commanded. The mech whirred into action, as jetpack like contraption unfolded on his back. He then meticulously controlled the throttle, moving the mech towards the left. ''I must move out of the way first.'' He firmly remembered the first rule of Outer Space Battle. After the initial ''slingshot'', immediately move your mech out of the path. The moment Zaine finished moving his mech he saw another mech appear in his initial position. Similar to Zaine, the mech immediately moved towards the right, clearing the path for the next arrival. "You okay, kid?" Hartman''s voice resounded inside the Rifleman''s cockpit. "Yeah, I''m fine," Zaine replied. He then waited for the other members of the squad to arrive, while keeping a lookout for potential ambushes. The Rifleman was equipped with powerful sensors that can detect heat, light, vibrations, and many other types of fluctuations. However, due to the interference of spiritual energy after the Ascension, the range and potency of the sensors had taken a large dive. One''s intuition was still the best sensor against any ambush! Mech after mech arrived and before long all 30 mechs had arrived without any incident. "Alright, ladies! Get into standard formation 12 and follow me. Scouts take the front and keep your eyes wide open." Zara''s instructed through their shared comms. "The enemy was last spotted 43 klicks North-West. We will take an oblique path and gradually approach them. Now, start moving!" she thundered. The mechs soon got into formation with Zaine''s Rifleman occupying the middle of the left-wing. Looking from atop, their current formation would resemble a bird with its wings outstretched. With the scouts taking the front, the group proceeded to move cautiously. Zaine controlled his Rifleman and had its laser rifle pointing forward, ready to shoot. Through the Rifleman''s eyes, Zaine could see a large group of invaders plundering the BS-Lawson in the far distance, seemingly having no care in the world. Anger rose within his chest, as Zaine gritted his teeth. He wanted nothing more than to rush towards the group of bastards and slaughter them. ''But I can''t. The invaders are seemingly focused on dismantling and plundering that vessel, transporting the remains to their bases on the planet.'' Similar to a colony of ants plundering a cake, the group of Formicians was carefully dismantling the ship and transporting it to their bases for further study. Although the humans sent spaceships and mechs to fight it out with the Forimicians, the latter was simply too powerful. Against a tightly packed and well-coordinated pack of invaders, mankind''s forces were destroyed too fast. The main battleships'' efforts to kill the invaders using their main cannons and turrents were also met with no result. A seemingly invisible force covered the entirety of the Formician formation rendering any long-range attack useless. With a large number of enemies present on the other side, the human battleships dared not to get too close, in fear that the Formicians change their targets. At this juncture, the humans had two choices. One was to continue their original plan and retreat towards the Middle-Rims. However, with the proactive attack by the Formicians, the preparations to retreat were still not fully complete. Also, there was no telling when the Formicians would shift their target towards the other ships. Being caught with your back turned would result in disastrous losses, that would defeat the purpose of a retreat. The second option was to await reinforcements from the Alliance and prepare an offensive against the Formicians. This option had an even lower probability of success as the Alliance was unsure of the invader''s current strength. With the golden mechs and this strange invisible barrier coming into play, Mankind had no idea on strength and trump cards of the invaders. Recklessly fighting against an opponent of unknown strength was suicide. As such, Mankind''s current decision was to take a ''wait and see'' approach. Being a fellow human and a soldier on the frontlines, Zaine also understood the Alliance''s decision. However, understanding did not equal to accepting. ''Arghh! If only I was stronger! If only the Alliance was stronger! We wouldn''t have ended up in such a situation in the first place!'' Zaine felt frustration, anger, and helplessness. "Stop! I detect something!" just as he was lamenting in his thoughts, the scout''s voice resounded in the group channel. Zaine immediately became alert and nervously raised his rifle while scanning his surroundings. "What''s happening? What did you see?" Zara questioned. "My mech is picking up some strange signals. It''s as if¡­" the scout''s voice suddenly quietened towards the end. ''As if¡­ what?'' just as Zaine was about to voice out his doubts, the voice of the scout thundered through the comms. "ENEMY ATTACK! THEY ARE INVISB¡ª ugh!!" a sudden cry of pain, followed by silence marked the last words of the brave scout. ''What?!'' Zaine was shocked. It was then that the space before Zaine''s mech strangely twisted and a golden colored mech appeared before his sight. Raising its sword, high up into the air, it wordlessly slashed towards Zaine, aiming to bisect him in half. "?!" Zaine''s mind went into overdrive, as his instincts took control over his body. With a sudden activation of the thrusters, he forced the mech to twist its upper body. Shiiing!! The golden mechs sword ground against the Rifleman''s armor, producing a shrill noise. The tip sunk into the armor, drawing a long cut across the right shoulder of the Rifleman. Wasting no time, Zaine immediately engaged the thrusters once again and flew backward. Sweat drenched the entirety of this back and his body slightly trembled from fear. ''I-I could''ve died!'' the horror of that attack instilled itself in Zaine''s mind. His pupils suddenly widened as he realized something: ''What about the others?!'' Alas, the golden mech did not give Zaine any time to inquire about the situation of his teammates. Its body flickered once again before disappearing from Zaine''s vision. Zaine felt the hairs in his body stand up. Without giving much thought to his actions, he moved the mech sideways, hoping to avoid the attack. Alas, it was to no avail. The golden mech appeared in the direction of Zaine''s movement and slashed with its swords once again. Its attack was continuous and smooth, similar to an experienced swordsman. This time, its sword precisely aimed at the location of the Rifleman''s cockpit. Chapter 170: Ominous Omen Watching the sword''s tip sink into the armor of the Rifleman, Zaine felt his surroundings slow down. What was originally a high-intensity scene, suddenly turned into a frame by frame slide. The movements of the golden mech, the sinking of the sword, the reaction of the Rifleman, all of it seemed unbearably slow in Zaine''s eyes. ''Wh-what''s happening?'' Zaine was astonished. His thoughts were still agile but his body felt unbearably heavy. Just as Zaine was feeling baffled, his pupils shrunk in shock. The tip of the sword, which had sunken into the armor of the Rifleman, was slowly rising out of the mech. The actions of the golden mech also seemed to rewind, as the actions of his arms which were previously stabbing forward were being drawn back. The time surrounding Zaine was being rewound! ''I-is this real?!'' Zaine found his current situation incomprehensible. His mind was suddenly attacked by a deluge of sharp pain, as he felt the soul power in his body being rapidly consumed. ''This is an effect caused by my soul power?!'' Zaine was shocked. The power to rewind time! It was no longer in the realm of extraordinary or special, but was at the level of being considered mythical! At this point, the scene before Zaine''s eyes had already changed. The golden mech had once again disappeared and Zaine''s Rifleman had also returned to its previous spot, before his evasion! His body was growing weaker by the second and his mind was slowly losing consciousness. Zaine bit down hard on his lips and forcibly halted the flow of his soul power. With the consumption of his soul power stopped, Zaine felt a mystical sensation enveloping his surroundings suddenly disappeared. The scene before his eyes regained its original speed. A special intuition appeared within his mind following which Zaine instinctively moved his body. ''Forward! To the right!'' Zaine did not panic. He calmly raised the laser rifle and shot towards an empty spot. The bolt of blue light flashed, sparking with electricity flew from the end of the rifle, towards an empty point in space. Screech! An inhuman roar suddenly sounded out. In the direction where the rifle had shot out, appeared a golden-colored mech. However, in the center of its head was a large hole. Zaine''s full-powered blast with his laser rifle had fatally struck his opponent with uncanny precision. The golden mech''s large, black eyes were filled with incomprehension and shock, as it stared towards Zaine. If it had the ability to speak, perhaps its parting words would have been. ''How did you do that?'' Alas, Zaine himself wasn''t sure of the answer! -------- Having successfully killed its opponent, The Rifleman stood unmoving. Seated inside its cockpit, was a heavily sweating, pale-faced Zaine whose face held the same amount of surprise as his dead opponent. ''I-what was that?! What did I just do?'' Zaine asked himself. His current body felt unbearably heavy, seemingly filled with lead. He found it hard to maintain his consciousness, as a feeling of emptiness and weakness spread from inside his body. Zaine was no stranger to this situation. He knew that this was an aftereffect of over-drafting his soul power. However, the current weakness and pain he felt was a hundred-no- a few hundred times greater than usual. Underneath his pilot''s uniform, Zaine''s skin and muscles had torn apart at various places. Blood continuously fell from his body, resulting in an abnormally pale face. Just when Zaine thought that his situation couldn''t become anymore dismal, a sudden explosion of information occurred within his mind. [Rewind]- Ability to rewind time within a 5m radius of the user. Consumption of soul power will depend on the strength, the number of target parties, and duration of activation. At Stage 1, [Rewind] can only be activated during a near-death situation (provided that the user has sufficient soul power). ''[Rewind]¡­ so that''s what happened.'' Zaine understood. For a minute, he was at a loss for words: ''Such a powerful skill.'' That was the only thing that he could think of at this moment. Zaine''s soul was called the [Chronometry]. It wasn''t anything exceptional and only granted him the ability to speed up or slow down his actions. Apart from that, Zaine was also unusually perceptive of the passage of time. Since it had no flashy effects and wasn''t as effective as Felix''s [Lightning Fist] or as pronounced as Hartman''s [Superhuman Strength]. In fact, it wasn''t even as useful as Hawk''s [Eagle Eye]. As such, Zaine had kept the usage of his abilities minimal and only used his pure soul power when the situation called for it. ''To think that my abilities are directly related to time! My use of them has been too shallow!'' Zaine took multiple intakes of air to stabilize his body. The pilot''s suit that he had been wearing had already released specialized fluids to stop his bleeding and the pain inside his head had also decreased to a certain extent. ''But this condition for activation is a little¡ª'' "OI, KID! STOP SPACING OUT AND HELP KILL THESE BASTARDS!!" Hartman''s roar awoke Zaine from his musing. He instantly snapped out of his daze and realized the situation he was currently in "s-sorry!" Zaine felt his slapping himself in his face: ''I''m such an idiot! I''m spacing out while we are in the midst of a battle!'' He instantly turned the Rifleman and aimed with his rifle. After the initial panic, the humans had already reorganized themselves, after grasping the crux of the enemy''s ability/ They adopted a circle formation, with the heavy-mech forming an impenetrable wall and the spear-wielding mechs positioned right behind them. Artillery mechs were protected inside this wall, dishing out the majority of the damage. Activating the comms, Zaine hurriedly shared his experience with the rest of the team. "Everyone, those golden mechs can go invisible!" "WE SEE THAT GENIUS!" Hartman bellowed with frustration. Go invisible? Of course, they could see that! But that wasn''t the issue. The actual issue was... "Dammit! The armors of these things are too strong!" a member cursed. "They''re moving so fast too!" another member screamed. "AHH!! DIE! DIE! DIE!" Zaine realized his stupid mistake and hurriedly cursed inwardly. He then recalled the scene of his battle and tried to recall a weakness. ''Weakness¡­weakness¡­Right, their head!" Realization struck Zaine. ''They died after a single shot to their heads!'' Zaine immediately raised his voice and screamed into the group comms. "Everyone, aim for their heads! At their foreheads to be exact!" after saying so, Zaine shot with his rifle towards the exposed mechs. Most of his shots went wide, but a few lucky ones landed on the heads of the golden mechs. A single shot even struck the center of the forehead of a mech, instantly killing it. "Holy shit! The kid''s right!" a member piloting a sharpshooter voiced his happiness. "Engage Aim Assists! Show these fu*kers what you''ve got!" Zara immediately instructed the squad. With a path to victory in their sights, the squad of human soldiers did not hesitate. They immediately focused their fire and aimed to shoot and stab at the head of the golden mechs. The golden mechs seemed to be just as eager as the human soldiers to engage in battle. As such, they suddenly abandoned their use of invisibility and attacked the humans with increased fervor increasing the burden on the heavy mechs acting as the walls. A few mechs also headed towards Zaine, hoping to finish off this lone mech. However, with his increased understanding of his soul and its abilities, Zaine gained renewed confidence to face multiple enemies. He had less than 30% soul power remaining, but with intelligent use of his ability to speed up and slow down his body and his mech, Zaine managed to evade fatal attacks while kiting his enemies. After a few minutes of intense struggles and some tragic losses, the humans finally managed to clinch victory over their inhuman opponents. "We-We won!!" "HELL YEAH! WE WON!!" "TAKE THOSE MOTHERFU*KERS! THAT''S WHAT YOU GET FOR ATTACKING US!" The soldiers roared in joy as they rejoiced! It was a short but unquestionably intense battle. With the amount of mental pressure faced by these frontline soldiers due to the Alliance''s constant losses, a victory, no matter how minor, was something worthy of celebration. "Good work people! All enemies are accounted for. We got them all!" Zara praised. The tiredness in her voice was evident for Zaine to sense. "May the souls of our comrades, forever rest in peace." She then solemnly followed. Having participated in his first ''actual'' battle, Zaine was also feeling quite happy. Although he had approached death''s door multiple times, he was ultimately the victor. ''Still, what is this odd feeling that I''m having right now.'' He, however, found himself unable to smile. Zaine felt his heart weighed by an ominous sense of foreboding. "Good work, maggot. You were better than I expected." Hartman approached the Rifleman mech with his own Heavy-Artillery mech. "Thanks." Zaine gave a perfunctory reply. "What''s wrong?" Hartman asked sensing the odd state that Zaine was in. "Its¡­.how do I explain it?" Zaine struggled for a few seconds, unable to find the right words to express his feeling: "It feels like this isn''t over yet. That something was missing from that battle." ''It seemed too easy'' were the words that popped into Zaine''s mind. However, considering how rude he would sound, he ultimately chose not to say it. "Cheer up. Everyone feels like that after their first battle. You will feel fine after the adrenaline settles." Zara, who had heard their conversation, spoke with a light smile. "I hope so." Zaine politely replied. It was then that his pupils suddenly shrunk! The ominous feeling in his heart suddenly exploded. A familiar feeling suddenly enveloped his mind, reminding him of his close encounter with death! ¡ºAll of you can now die for your sins!¡» Chapter 171: Title in the End. ¡ºAll of you can now die for your sins!¡» a guttural roar resounded within the minds of all human soldiers. The humans were not able to understand the meaning of the words, but the savageness ingrained within that voice greatly unnerved them. The feeling was akin to facing a wild beast in the middle of the wilderness. Hearing that voice, Zaine finally understood the feeling within his heart. ''I''ve heard this voice before!'' he immediately the final moment in the escape capsule before he lost consciousness. "Who''s there?!" The humans immediately became alert and looked around for the source of the voice. The sensors within their mechs instantly fired up scanning every single inch of their surroundings. "I''ve got nothing!" "Me too." "There are no readings of any kind." One after the other the scouts voiced out the results of their scans. Compared to the sensors of the other mechs, the Scout-Type mechs contained the most sensitive and potent sensors. Gulp. The sudden sound of a loud gulp resounded within the group''s comms. "O-over there. Tha-that''s an¡­" an Assault-Type mech pilot stammered and pointed in a certain direction. The rest of the group instantly turned and looked in the direction of his pointing. Carelessly floating in space a few meters away was a solitary figure. The figure was 2.3m tall and was completely clad in black armor decorated with golden lines forming complicated and mystical patterns. Its head was oddly shaped; being wide and flat and its two exquisite compound eyes stared emotionlessly at the group of soldiers. Its arms and legs were similar to humans, but the tight-fitting armor revealed the abundant muscles possed by the other. Two antennae-like appendages rose from its head and faintly shone with a mysterious light. What was unnerving was that none of the sensors of the human''s mechs seemed to be able to detect this figure. They could only see this figure with their eyes. "Sh-shoot! Shoot that thing!!" Zaine thundered within the group''s comms. Every second he stared at that figure, the sense of foreboding multiplied within Zaine''s heart. Without waiting for the others to follow, Zaine raised his laser rifle and unhesitantly shot towards the black-figure. A burst of colorful lights left the tip of his rifle, traveled through the empty void of space, and landed on the black armored figure. And then¡­. ¡­the lights sunk in! The space surrounding the armored figure strangely rippled and like droplets of water sinking into a pond, the shots of compressed, high-density energy sunk in and disappeared. Zaine pupils shrunk to form tiny slits. Seeing this strange sigh, panic-filled his mind, and the unease within his heart increased. The other soldiers followed Zaine''s example and unreservedly shot towards the black armored figure. "Kill! Kill! Kill those invaders!" "Death to the invaders!" "For my dead comrades! I will kill you!!" A cacophony of cries mixed to form a strange symphony. Cries filled with anger, despondence, hatred, grief, and myriad other emotions poured forth from the soldiers and headed towards the armored figure along with their bursts of colorful shots. Alas, nothing happened. The space surrounding the figure continued to strangely ripple and dispersing the plethora of attacks shot towards it. Not a single attack reached the black armored figure! The invader continued to stand still and coldly watched the human soldiers. Seeing its opponents slow their rate of fire, it indifferently transmitted its voice to their minds. ¡ºGiving up?¡» ¡ºWell, it was foolish of you pathetic worms to even think that your weapons could pierce through my Runic Armor.¡» a tinge of arrogance tainted its words. Runic Armor. It was a high-level artifact that condensed the power of the Runes into wearable pieces of equipment. It was the crystallization of the Universe''s research into Runes and was considered a strategic asset amongst various species. The quality and quantity of Runic Armors possessed by a race were proportional to their strength and wealth within the Universe. A group of soldiers wearing Runic Armor could single-handedly change the outcome of a losing war. Runic Armor and other artifacts similar to it were made by Sigilers. [Sigilers] referred to both the name of a soul type and an occupation of people. This was a very rare and prestigious occupation that only those with both excellent talent and luck, could hope to become. The number of Sigilers was extremely low with less than a thousand of them currently living within the vast Universe. In short, they were as rare as a grain of white rice amidst a vast desert of sand. ¡ºWell, what do you know anyway? For the sin of disrupting the Great Ba''lorks assault, you humans must all die!¡» saying so, the black-colored figure flashed before instantly appearing before a heavy mech. Drawing a golden sword from nowhere, it raised its hands high and slashed downwards. RIP!!! The heavy mech was effortlessly bisected into two halves. Seated within the cockpit that was located in the chest of the mech, the pilot gruesomely died without managing to even utter a scream. The Formician withdrew his swords and slowly wiped the crimson blood stained upon the golden blade. His actions were smooth and artistic. He then raised his head and stared towards the other mechs which were frozen within fear. ¡ºThe hunt had begun. Do scream before you die.¡» ------------ ''Dammit! How did this happen?!'' Zaine screamed within his mind while controlling his mech to run away. His body was soaked in blood and sweat, and his mind was burning up from pushing himself to the limits. ''How?! How?! HOW?!'' ''How can such a monster exist?!'' A formidable Formician Warrior wearing a Runic Armor. No matter what type of attack the human mechs used, the strange ripple surroundings its body, instantly absorbed and nullified their attacks. Laser shots. No effect. Plasma Bombs. No effect. Short-charge Nuclear Missiles. No effect. Even physical attacks had no effect against that monster. Starting from the heavy mechs, the invader picked off the human soldiers one by one. Every time he moved, he effortlessly killed the opponent in one slash. The humans on the other hand were not able to deal a single attack on their opponent. After losing 6 mechs, Zara the Captain of the squad sounded for a retreat. The invader neither intervene nor stopped them. In fact, it gave them a two-minute head start. After two minutes, its incomprehensible cold voice, laced with a tinge of amusement sounded out within their minds once more. ¡ºScurrying like rats. How pathetic.¡» Starting from the ones falling behind at the very back, the invaders picked them up one by one. And before long, Zaine was the only mech left. ''Captain Hartman! Captain Zara!'' Thinking about these two people, Zaine''s eyes blurred with tears and his heart writhed with pain. Knowing that they would not be able to make it to the battlecruiser in time, they decided to stop their retreat and buy time for Zaine to retreat. "Get to the base, kid! Tell them about this abnormal bastard!" Hartman''s harsh but warm voice "Don''t look back and don''t worry about us!" Zara''s calm and relaxing words. ''All of them died and I did not possess the strength to save them!'' Zaine soundlessly laughed. Seeing the increasingly shortening distance between the invader and the Rifleman, Zaine had fallen into despair. He did not look back. He ran and ran and continued to run. Yet, the distance between both the hunter and the prey never increased. Rather, the Formician with the name Ba''lorks had already entered the 30m range of Zaine. ''What''s the point in even running anymore.'' ''To think I wanted to get revenge from such a being. How laughable.'' Zaine laughed at the ignorance of his thoughts. Seeing that the invader had almost reached his mech, Zaine stopped running. He turned around to face the black-armored invader and widened both his arms, exposing the chest of the Rifleman containing the cockpit to the enemy. "Just kill me." He lightly spoke, his voice devoid of all hope. Although the Formician was unable to understand the human language and therefore Zaine''s words, it nonetheless recognized the hopeless voice of the other and his action of surrender. ¡ºHow disappointing.¡» it shook its head in disappointment. It bothered not to waste any more time playing with prey that had already given up. Rasing its sword it slashed down, one final time. ''It''s finally over.'' Zaine closed his eyes and waited for the warm darkness to engulf him. Seconds passed, yet neither the pain nor the darkness arrived. ''Huh?'' confused, Zaine opened his eyes and saw something that he would then forever remember for the remainder of his life. A man burning with blue-colored flame floated in front of the Rifleman''s chest. His right hand was slightly raised and was grasping onto the Formician''s golden sword. With his inferno-like red hair waving in the absence of air, his blunt and widely arrogant voice sounded. "Pick someone your own size, bastard!" Chapter 172: Power of a Stage 2. Floating in the void of space with his right hand clutching onto the golden sword of the Formician was Alex Hellwig. His body covered in whitish-blue flames radiated with incomparable heat and brutality. The sheer aura radiating off of his body faintly twisted the space surrounding his body. Wearing an expressionless face, he spoke in a dominant tone. "A single ant dares to act so arrogantly." His voice could actually be ''heard'' by the others. Being able to talk in the vacuum of space! If someone had said such a thing before the advent of the Ascension, he would''ve been considered mad or written him off as a lunatic. However! With the proliferation of spiritual energy and the existence of soul power, such inconceivable things have actually become possible! To explain this situation consider this example; An average human can only lift a weight of 75-100Kg, while a professional bodybuilder can lift anywhere from 300-700kg. Any more than this is generally considered to be out of human ability. However, if one were to bring soul power into this equation, then this seemingly impossible task becomes entirely possible! As long as one possesses sufficient soul power and, a body that can withstand and effectively use the said soul power, then theoretically one can lift ''any'' amount of weight! Why is that? Well, all limitations exist in this Universe due to the presence of the Rules. ''The Rules of Causality'' states that all Effects must have a respective Cause. And spiritual energy is the medium by which these Rules are enacted. But then, why do Awakened Beings able to perform such wondrous and mystical things? This is because Soul Power is a mystical energy that has the ability to circumvent the Rules. It allows the user to manipulate and even rise above the very Rules limiting them. As one''s cultivation increased in Stages, the number of Rules they can circumvent and manipulate also increase in rank. This allows them to possess strength and skills that are wondrous in nature. Stage 1 beings can easily perform superhuman feats and have absolute control over their own body. Laser rifles or Plasma-charge bombs have no effect against their strengths. Stage 2 beings possess sufficient strength to fight against an armada. They are also able to control a small portion of the area surrounding them. Their bodies are strong enough to face mechs head-on and their soul powers are potent enough to nullify the energy produced by nukes! Stage 3 beings have the strength to affect a planet, being able to manipulate and control their surroundings Tasks such as breaking mountains or splitting seas can be effortlessly completed. In fact, if they go all out, they have the strength to destroy a planet! While this may sound incredibly powerful and fearsome, it is only theoretically possible. Doing so in the real world depends on a lot of factors. Soul Power and Spiritual Energy are inherently two different types of energy; as such there exists a certain amount of conflict and ''wastage'' between these two energies. In short words, the denser the spiritual energy, the weaker the effects of soul power, and the harder it is to circumvent the Rules (spiritual energy is the medium of Rules.) Mankind and its territories, having only recently added to the greater part of the Universe are considered to be ''young/new territory''. As such, the total amount of spiritual energy present is still very, very less when compared to the other areas of the Universe. This is why Stage 1 and Stage 2 beings are able to use a greater part of their power while facing lesser limitations. Stage 3 beings would be considered to be godly with the power to single-handedly eradicate Mankind. In fact, with the scarcity of spiritual energy a Stage 4 and higher beings would not be able to enter this newly added territory. If they do so, not only will they instantly die but that specific portion of the Universe will also collapse! This is also a type of Rule. That being said, there are no absolutes. With the vastness of the Universe, there might exist some incomprehensible being that is able to circumvent such limitations. Reverting back to the story. During the past year, Alex had undergone intensive nurturing and training and has already broken through into Stage 2. He was currently at Mid-Level Stage 2 and had gained preliminary control over his surroundings. With this, not only was he able to survive in the vacuum of space, and was also able to transmit his voice. ¡ºArrogant human, let go!¡» the Formician Warrior was incensed by Alex''s interruption and was thoroughly enraged. Exerting the entirety of its strength, it tried to pry away its sword from Alex''s grip. However, no matter how much strength or effort is put into the task, the sword did not move. Caught within Alex''s grip, the sword seemed to be immovable. "This is the limits of your strength?" Alex taunted. He raised his chin and arrogantly scoffed: "What a joke." Although the Formician was unable to understand his words, it could understand his taunt. Releasing its grasp over the sword, it clenched its hands and threw a punch towards Alex. Grayish-black energy leaked from its body and condensed around its fists. Invisible winds formed around its fist, as it instantly neared Alex''s face, seemingly having teleported. BANG! With a resounding sound, the punch landed¡­ on the golden sword. At the very moment his opponent had moved, Alex had calculated the trajectory of its strike and intercepted its attack with the sword. A sneering smile formed on his face as Alex spoke: "Low-Level Stage 2?" "How pathetic." He laughed and responded with a punch of his own. Whitish-blue flames condensed around his left hands and the punch landed on the Formician''s armored body. It was completely unable to react to Alex''s movement and stood blankly. A tremendous amount of heat and force struck the unresponsive Formician. However, the smile on Alex''s face disappeared and was replaced by a serious look. The golden patterns on its armor suddenly brightened and a strange ripple spread outwards, covering it. The force and heat behind Alex''s attack were completely absorbed and dispersed by the armor. The Formician finally managed to react, and instantly backed away. Its face and back were drenched by the ''metaphorical'' cold sweat as it finally came to realize that this human before it was different from the rest. ''Wha-what was the attack? I couldn''t even see it!'' it thought in panic. Calming itself down, it rationally responded. ''I must warn the others.'' Its large, black eyes shined with intelligence as its antennae buzzed with an invisible current. Alex''s hawk-like gaze bored into the Formician. Without turning back, he instructed the rifleman behind him. "Immediately retreat and warn the people on the ship to prepare for battle. These bastards are already done with the other ship and are heading towards this one." Zaine raised his head and looked towards the distance. He could see the dense swarm of invaders transporting the last remains of the BS-Lawson and turning their ships in his direction. He silently gulped and soundlessly nodded his head. Turning around, he continued to rush towards his original destination. ''I must warn the others!'' --------------- Alex who had part of his attention focused on Zaine finally retreated his focus on seeing him leave. He then raised both of his hands and moved his soul power. "[Fireball]" Calmly uttering the name of the spell, he threw a dozen fireballs towards the Formician. Burning with a calm blue flame, the fireballs rapidly closed in on the Formician. ''Such power! I must evade that!'' The Formician instantly realized the lethality of the attack and responded. Strengthening its body with soul power, its body flashed and moved sideways by a few dozen meters, completely evading the barrage of fireballs. Seeing its response, Alex did not frown. In fact, an arrogant and provocative smile formed on his face. Opening his mouth he spoke "Oh, did I mention? My [Fireballs] are not normal." He snapped his finger and continued: "They have a homing function." The calm blue fireballs suddenly shifted their direction and turned towards the Formician. Not only that, but they also sped up. ''What?!'' The Formician''s eyes shrunk in shock, as it retreated once again. Not daring to expose its back to this fearsome enemy, it hurriedly sidestepped and tried to evade once more. Unfortunately, the speed and power of the fireballs had become too great. They converged on the body of the Formician and simultaneously exploded into a mass of colorful lights. Heat waves that were sufficient to melt iron spread out from the center of the explosion. Seeing this, Alex let out a sigh of relief. ''Thankfully, the fireballs had sufficient time to gather strength. If they were destroyed earlier, they would not be this potent.'' Dispersing the gathered soul power in his hands, Alex thought: ''This should be enough to penetrate its armor and kill it, right?'' However, the very next instant a scowl formed on his face. ''You''ve got to be kidding me!'' The effects of the explosion finally disappeared and exposed the other party. The Formician stood still with its arms covering its head in a guard stance. Its body stood uninjured and its black-colored armor was completely undamaged. Chapter 173: Interlude. Seeing the Formician uninjured after such a lethal attack, the corner of Alex''s mouth faintly twitched. ''I poured 20% of my power into that attack¡­and it''s still alright?'' Squinting his eyes, he closely observed the other party. With his enhanced vision, Alex could see the golden patterns on the armor dimly glowing and radiating with energy. Surrounding the golden patterns was an invisible whirlpool of energy that faintly distorted the surrounding space. ''This¡­!'' Alex was astonished. The distortion surrounding the armor looked very familiar. Pondering for a bit, Alex suddenly realized. ''That''s it! I knew that the distortion looked familiar¡­ it''s actually compacting space!'' Compacting or folding space was a concept that every human belonging to the modern era knew about. It was an effect that occurred during the initial stages of warping. Before the invention of hyperdrive, warping or warp travel was the commonly used method of transit in space. It had the effect of folding large distances of space, allowing the ship to travel a relatively short distance and save large amounts of time. Warp travel required the use of warp cores, which were large, costly, cumbersome to maintain, and difficult to fuel. Not only that, but warp travel also had a fixed probability of failing, making it risky and unsafe. The invention of hyperdrive enables ships to enter a sub-dimension and then travel through there, making the journey shorter, cheaper, and safer allowing it to replace warping. However, this did not mean that the technology of warping was forgotten. Warp travel marked a very important milestone in Mankind''s conquest of space. It occupied a special place in the hearts of every human, much like that of the ''internal combustion engine'' or the ''internet''. ''The armor is folding the space surrounding this guy. I see¡­ this makes the attacks waste energy, traveling through all these troublesome folds. By the time it reaches his ''actual'' body, there is little to no power left from the initial attack. Understanding the rationale behind the Runic Armor, Alex''s eyes glowed with interest. ''How fascinating. How can such a compact suit of armor utilize technology like warping?'' Interest and greed started to grow within Alex''s eyes. In fact, from the moment Alex had seen the other party he had been faintly feeling jealous. Not only did the opponent have a super cool-looking armor¡­now it also possessed such miraculous properties. Clapping his hands, Alex decided: ''I want it. A little paint job and it will look even cooler!'' ''As for breaking through its defense and killing him¡­'' joining his hands together, Alex slowly separated them. Whitish-blue soul power gathered and condensed to form a straight pole-like shape. The pole then gradually increased in its size and girth. One end of the pole gathered an extra amount of soul power and formed a sharp tip. Holding this spear-of-fire with both his hands, Alex gently chanted. "Stage 2 spell [Flame Lance]!" drawing back his hands, Alex leaned in and threw the spear with all his might. Containing a tyrannical amount of heat and energy, the spear shone with unmatchable brightness as it pierced through the darkness of space. It shone as bright as the sun, as it gradually grew in size and might. The Formician Warrior who had tanked Alex''s wave of fireballs had barely managed to recover from his stupor. While the Runic Armor had chipped away most of the fireballs might, the remnant energy contained in the attack of a Mid-Level Stage 2 being at peak strength, was not something a Low-Level Stage 2 like him could face head-on. The Formician''s internals was in a tragic state with his soul power being tainted and burned by Alex''s soul power. Having stood still, it had used the last 3-second pause to disperse the remains of Alex''s soul power. ''This human! For injuring the Great Ba''lorks to such an extent, you will pay for this!!'' It cursed within its mind and was planning to retreat. Fight him head-on? Ba''lorks was brave, not suicidal. Facing a Mid-Level Stage 2 head-on with his strength was nothing short of offering his life for sacrifice. While his armor was strong, it depended on the strength of its use for maximum effectiveness. ''I have to escape and gather with my kin.'' Opening his eyes, he was about to retreat when a chill passed through his spine. Seeing that bright, shining spear fly towards him while containing awe-inspiring might his body froze in place. The thoughts that were being produced in his mind were constantly being incinerated by the spear''s aura! Shilck! With its target fixed in place, unable to move, the [Fire Lance] easily clashed against the Runic Armor, breaking its defense and piercing into the Formician''s head and exploding! Waves of ferocious heat ran amok the Formician''s body and burned through his body, turning it into ash. A low-level Stage 2 being, one that had slaughtered a squad of human mechs, was effortlessly killed by Alex''s attack. This was the difference between technology and soul power. ''Finally, he''s dead.'' Seeing the suit of black armor float in space, a smile formed on Alex''s face. Channeling soul power to his feet, he propelled himself forward and approached the armor. Grasping it in his hands, Alex slowly inspected it. ''It looks even cooler up close! A bit of red undertone and it will look fantastic!'' Alex nodded his head satisfied. He noticed some cracks on the body of the armor but decided to pass it onto Reyna for repair and study. To be able to fold space effortlessly, it was sure to be something amazing and of great importance. ''With that in the bag. All that''s left is to prepare for the coming battle.'' Alex looked up at the horizon. A dense, multi-colored swarm of invaders were heading towards him, currently. At the rate of their approach, they would reach the battle-cruiser behind Alex in approximately 23 minutes. Alex turned around and started to fly towards the battlecruiser. The coming battle was going too long and difficult. ''Mankind will not lose this time, for they have me!'' Alex tightly clenched his fists and heroically concluded. ---------------- "What took you so long?!" the moment Alex entered the hanger, a furious voice reprimanded him. His pupils immediately shrunk, before he mechanically turned his head towards the source of the voice. Wearing a smile to hide his anxiety he greeted. "Haha, you''ve arrived too. I was just¡­" inwardly however, Alex was screaming: ''Why is she here! Isn''t she supposed to be at the Middle-Rim!'' "You were just¡­ what?" the voice continued to berate. Firm footsteps accompanied by a pair of long, straight legs entered Alex''s vision. The pair of toned legs were attached to a slim, shapely body that was wearing the military Officer''s uniform. Sporting a cold expression, Anya finally neared Alex. "You were specifically instructed to ''report and REMAIN'' inside the ship!" her tone was cold and incisive. However, hidden within her beautiful brown eyes, was an undisguised worry. "Look Anya, I''m fine, aren''t I? Those creatures could never hope to¡­" Alex opened his hands wide and explained. However, he was interrupted by Anya, who hugged him tightly. Placing her head on Alex''s chest, she softly spoke. "Please adhere to your given instructions. You are strong, yes. But I don''t want to see you injured." Being hugged by Anya, Alex''s mind was focused on a completely different matter. ''As soft as always. I can never get enough of this sensation.'' Closing his eyes, he ''savored'' this sensation. Seeing Alex being unresponsive, Anya grew confused. Raising her head, she looked at the ''lewd'' expression on the other''s face. "You''re having lewd thoughts, aren''t you?" taking a deep breath, she ''gently'' asked. "My thoughts are a hundred times lewder than anything you can imagine." Alex ''honestly'' replied. Facing his answer, Anya simply sighed. Alex laughed at her response and leaned in, giving her a kiss. "I haven''t seen you in a month. Why are you here?" finishing the kiss, Alex asked. "The frontline in the Middle-Rim was successfully constructed without any incident three days back. I was about to return to the HQ when I received news of the attack here and of you being sent." Relishing the feeling, Anya replied with her eyes closed. A smile hung on her face. "Of course, I can''t leave my ''rash'', ''dumb'' boyfriend to fight all alone, so I requested to come here, arriving just a few minutes ago, when you were in patrol. Do you have any complaints, sir?" she teased him with an official tone. "Not at all, Miss Mentor," Alex replied in kind, leaning his head in for another kiss. "Cough, cough." It was then that he was interrupted by an awkward cough. Alex and Anya immediately separated and saluted towards the source of the interruption. "Greeting the High Commander!" both of them simultaneously spoke. Facing their greeting was a white-haired old man, who was the very same person that had guided Alex during his visit to the World Council. The aged High Commander who was a supporter of the Hellwig family: "It''s good to see the youngsters be unafraid and vibrant. However, please mind the place and time of such thing soldier." He chided the duo while having a bright smile on his face. As a close friend and war comrade of the ''Supreme General'' (Alex''s father), the old Commander was more than happy to see Alex being in a relationship. However, feeling the hostile and jealous gazes sent towards the loving couple, by the dozens of soldiers present in the hanger, the old commander had to speak up to ease the tension. Anya wore a serious face, while inwardly laughing. Alex on the other hand wore a scowl on his face and inwardly muttered: ''You''re all just jealous at my luck and charisma.'' Just as the old commander was about to continue speaking, the light inside the hanger turned into a flashing red and loud blares started to sound off. {WARNING! THREAT DETECTED IN VICINTY! PLEASE PREPARE FOR BATTLE!!} Chapter 174: Interlude. Part 2 {WARNING! THREAT DETECTED IN VICINITY! PLEASE PREPARE FOR BATTLE!!} The AI repeated once more. The faces of all of the soldiers inside the hanger immediately turned serious and grim. Their opponents had come earlier than expected, catching them off guard. "Alex, Anya report to your team at Area-Z. You awakened ones will be leading the charge in the coming battle." The old commander instantly gave instructions. Alex and Anya nodded their heads and started to rush towards the reporting area. "The rest of you, MAN YOUR BATTLESTATIONS!" the old commander thundered. "Let''s make these bastards pay for what they''ve done!" he roared and started to head towards the command center. The grim expressions on the soldier''s faces immediately eased. With their morale raised, they roared in response. "SIR, YES, SIR!" ------------- On their way to their reporting area, Anya neared Alex and held his hand. "Don''t be rash and come back safely." Her tone was serious and allowed no room to retort. Alex, who was originally going to tease her in response, noticed the worry in her eyes. He then wore a confident expression and replied. "Don''t worry; I''m not going to lose to some random nobody. I''m very strong aren''t I? There is no one who can match me right now." He gently squeezed her hand, reassuring her. Seeing his confidence, Anya furrowed brows gradually eased. She nodded her head, before releasing her grip on his hand. Sporting a beautiful smile, she replied: "I''m relieved." Alex on the other-hand added another sentence inside his head: ''No one, expect that ''monster''. I wonder how strong he is right now, and how he''s doing.'' The face of a certain person appeared within his mind. Running across the hectic hanger, Anya suddenly pointed at the object on Alex''s hand and asked: "What''s that armor on your hand?" "Oh this," Alex pointed to the black-colored Runic Armor and replied: "No idea. This was the reason I was delayed a bit. It contains some very interesting technology, so I brought it back for study." He then proceeded to explain the events of his battle against the Formician. Although Alex had only attacked three times during the course of the battle, he had exhausted more than 50% of his entire soul power capacity. One has to remember that Alex was a Mid-Level Stage 2 being with a Rare soul type. The quality and quantity of his soul power are far-far greater than the Formician Warrior. Against a Formician Warrior without the Runic Armor, Alex could effortlessly crush them, expending less than 5% of his soul power in the process. In other words, he had used ten times the effort to kill the black-armored invader! Hearing his recount, astonishment grew on Anya''s face. "Wow, warp-like tech performed by such a small suit of armor! Illya and Reyna are going to love it!" They then continued to chat and catch up on other things, that they hadn''t talked about during their separation. An Interstellar Class Battlecruiser, like the one Alex was currently on was very, very, large, with the total length extending to almost 1500 meters and its breadth ranging at 9000 meters! It was separated into multiple compartments each of which was specialized for a specific task, such as command, medical, living, dining, etc. It was used for the purpose of large-scale wars and acted as a small floating fortress. It could sustain almost 10,000 people at a time and could further accommodate an extra 50,000 people. However, since most of the ship was automated, a minimum crew of 300 people could also operate the ship. The ship contained a full, self-sustaining life cycle system and had the ability to run completely independent of outside support. It was capable of generating air, water, and even various plants for sustenance. However, the last function wasn''t usually used since it would drain a lot of energy, rendering the battle ability of the ship useless. The ship was also capable of hyperdrive. Outside of hyperdrive, the travel speed of the ship was rather slow, comparable to a regular aircraft. This was the reason why the battlecruiser was caught off guard by the invader''s attacks and was unable to immediately retreat. Entering hyperdrive would also require an enormous amount of time due to the sheer size of the ship. Due to the large size of the ship, travel between any two points was usually facilitated by an AI-controlled flying vehicle, which had the ability to carry multiple people. Vehicles traveled both within the compartments and also to the other, with different models and routes existing for the purpose of the latter. The old commander had previously used such a vehicle to return to the Command Center from the Hanger. Speaking of compartments, the Hanger section was the largest compartment on the battlecruiser. It occupied a whopping 60% of the available area and contained everything, from daily provisions, extra fuel cells, arms and ammunitions, single-unit spaceships, mechs, and many other items. The Hanger section was also the place used for common military drills and the place for a sortie. In other words, it was the section that contained the most amount of people at any given time and the second most important section, just after Command. With the AI''s warning continuously sounding off, the Hanger was currently in a state of ''organized chaos''. Soldiers and engineers were running back and forth, arming themselves and making sure that everything was in working order. It was then that Alex and Anya who had been running for a good three minutes arrived at Area-Z. They had not used their soul power while running, in order to save it for the oncoming battle. Standing upon a large square platform right next to an exit was a group of 30 people wearing a specialized silver battle-suit buzzing with soul power. They were also wearing multiple strange contraptions, each of which was unique to an individual member. The sense of fashion of these people was also bizarre, with some wearing piercings, tattoos, strange hairstyles, accessories, etc. Unlike a group of soldiers who were orderly and disciplined, this group of people resembled thugs and bullies. Some members gathered in groups and, were chatting and giggling, while some behaved like lone wolves. Common among all of them was the deep-seated arrogance and indifference present in their eyes, as they watched the group of freshly awakened or ordinary soldiers, go about their tasks. Faint disdain could be felt from their expressions. However, the astonishing thing was that each member was radiating with a Stage 2 aura! Seeing this ''team'' of awakened, whom he was supposed to be leading in today''s battle, imperceptible black lines formed atop Alex''s forehead. Nearing them, he thundered: "ATTEN-HUT!" while releasing his Mid-Level Stage 2 aura in its entirety. Similar to a sledgehammer smashing against a rock, Alex''s dense aura smashed against the minds of these people. Their expressions immediately turned grim and sweat dripped from their pale faces. ''Ugh¡­why am I stuck with these people.'' Alex sighed within his mind. He wore an expressionless face and roared: "Gather and form into lines!" The group of awakened people immediately obeyed and formed five straight lines. Facing Alex''s aura that was reminiscent of a blazing inferno, they dared not to disobey. Alex expressionlessly stared right into their eyes and spoke. "Just because you were selected by the Alliance and are stronger than the other soldiers, doesn''t make you any better or gives you the right to be arrogant. In my eyes, all you are equally worthless." Hearing Alex''s words, anger rose within the hearts of all the awakened. Their eyes also flashed with defiance. "Oh? You don''t accept that uh?" Alex sneered before sending another wave of his dense aura. This time, the knees of the awakened weakened, dropping almost all of them to the floor. "I don''t care whether you accept it or not. All of us are here for a mission, and I''m going to be the leader of said mission." Alex''s eyes flashed with ruthlessness. "Any complaints?" Facing his threatening demeanor, none of the awakened dared to reply. Nodding his head, having seemingly satisfied, Alex continued. "Good. All of you have already been briefed on the mission, so I will only give the summary." "We will go out there, kill as many as many invaders as possible, and buy the ships enough time to warm the hyperdrive cores. After the lead ships enter hyperdrive, we shall retreat to this ship and leave this place." "This lady standing next to me will be your Vice-Leader. You will always obey my orders and in my absence hers. Any disobedience and you will be immediately killed." Murderous intent accompanied his voice. "That''s the end of the summary. Let''s get moving!" Taking the lead, Alex immediately jumped through the exit that was positioned right next to the platform. He converged the soul power on his body, covering himself with bluish-white blazing flames. ''I pray this will be enough to take command of them. Hopefully, everything works out and nothing goes wrong.'' he sighed inwardly With his back facing the group, a strange thought formed within Alex''s mind: ''So this is how that ''monster'' feels like when he talks to us, uh?'' Shaking his head to remove all unnecessary thoughts, Alex sharpened his mind. The coming battle was going to be one of attrition. One he could not afford to lose his concentration on. --------------- Good news! I''ve finally finished all my pending work and freed up my schedule, which means starting tomorrow...We are reverting back to our 2chaps/day release! (hooray!) Also!!! For every 500 powerstones, I will be releasing 2 BONUS CHAPTERS on the weekends!! So if you wanna read more, get voting! Chapter 175: Standoff. Part 1 The Universe. It is a boundless expanse that contains everything within its vast sea of stars. To travel and tame this expanse has always been one of Mankind''s greatest wishes. ''To be its one and only ruler.'' is a dream that had been inherited from times immemorial. While the wish seemed to be ostentatious and lacking in reality, it was something that was deemed quite possible when they entered the IE- Interstellar Exploration era. A wish that their predecessors had deemed to be impossible was met with great success in this era. Glory belonged to all of humankind. Mankind explored the uncharted. Tamed the untamed. Discovered treasures beyond its wildest imaginations. And recorded sights that are too incredible to describe with words. It is truly the era of Man. If one was born in the Earth Alliance anytime within the past hundred years, the above lines were part of every citizen''s basic education. The Earth Alliance spared no effort on propaganda; spreading words about Mankind''s greatness and the glory of humans. However, if these lines were to be spoken to any of the other species within the ''Universe'', they would simply scoff at the speaker and ignore him. The ''real'' Universe was impossibly large and was filled with an innumerable number of species. It was so large and chaotic that even the Primordial Races such as the Heavenly Sovereigns and the Abyssal Rulers; races that have existed since times immemorial, wouldn''t dare to boast of such ambitions. There are sayings that go: ''Ignorance is Bliss'' or ''A frog in a well, wouldn''t understand the vastness of the skies''. Mankind''s situation could be summarized with these. The total area explored by Mankind, constituted for less than 0.01% of total area covered by the Universe. The so-called Frontier Planets, which Mankind had deemed to be the situated at the ''end'' of the known universe, in actuality wasn''t even within the real Universe''s realm of influence. This area was considered to be too poor in resources and as a result of which ignored. Pectron, which Lucius and Olivia were currently at, was itself considered a ''backward'' planet situated at the edges of the Universe. However, compared to Mankind''s ''known universe'', Pectron was at the very least recognized by the others. To explain Mankind''s division of the known universe, imagine a target board with concentric circles. (The kind used for archery, with a yellow centre, followed by rings of red, blue, black and white.) The ''white ring'' constituted of what Mankind calls the Frontier. This area was still in the process of exploration and contained many exotic and valuable resources. It was lost by Mankind, right after the Ascension. The Frontier was also the region that lied closest to the ''real'' Universe. Using hyperdrive, it would take a ship 8 months to reach Pectron. Deatov and Fortun lied in the Frontier. Followed by the ''white ring'', was the ''black ring'' which constituted of the Outer-Rim. Mankind had already expanded into this region and possessed moderate amounts of development. It was also the region where Alex was currently battling in. The Outer-Rim was the region where the invaders had arrived into. The Formicians had already occupied a majority of the Outer-Rim, effectively encircling Mankind. Going further inward was the Middle-Rim or the ''blue ring'' on the target board. The Middle Rim was where the majority of Mankind''s ''working class'' resided in and contained the majority of the human population. It was in the Middle-Rim, where Lucius and Olivia lived and were raised from childhood. They had left the Middle-Rim to travel inward to attend the Earth Alliance Academy, in Mankind''s homeworld Earth. The ''red ring'' was the Inner-Rim, also called the business and upper-class sector of the Alliance. An approximate 30% of humanity lives here, most of who are the ''white-collared'' workers. The Alliance HQ and many of the Alliance''s families homeground, lies in the Inner-Rim. The Inner-Rim was also the capital of the Alliance. At the very centre of the target board is the ''yellow centre'', or in Mankind''s case, the Core Region, also called the Galactic Centre! It was In the Galactic Center constituted of only Earth and the original solar system. Its area was tiny in comparison to the other regions, but was one of incomparable importance. It was a place of heritage and the region, where the ''rich'' lived their noble lives in. The Earth Alliance Academy established here is the first and oldest branch to exist, the place where our main characters studied in. This was the classification of Mankind''s occupied regions and the general makeup of the Alliance''s territories. Seeing how the Alliance''s territories have been distributed, it could be assumed that the invaders have already boxed Mankind in. Losing the Outer-Rim has turn Mankind into a prey that has been cornered. The Formicians would have to aggressively push inwards to concur and destroy, whereas Mankind would have no choice but to passively defend the invasion. The moment Mankind lost the first and second battle with the Formicians, their outcome had already been decided. Defend in the hopes of destroying the enemy. Mankind had lost the initiative. Thinking along such lines, it was natural why the Alliance had decided to forsake the Outer-Rim and shift the frontlines. Rather than dump resources into a territory that was dominated by the enemy, they would rather invest it into their own creating an infallible defense. Rather than going to the enemy, they would wait for the enemy to come to them. Was it too passive? Lacking in aggression? Yes! But for a race that had remained uncontested for a long period of time and considered themselves to be the most intelligent, such was their instinctive choice. Mankind had already lost its edge. Its previously hot, warring blood had turned cold. Their arrogance had blinded them from seeing the truth. And this was why, Mankind was fated to fail. -------------- With the inky darkness of space serving as the backdrop, two sides were having a standoff. On one side, we had Mankind. Three Battlecruisers formed the majority of their remaining forces in the frontline, behind which stood one Planetary-Class Weapon, a few dozen support ships. A few hundred single-man space shuttles along with a thousand space-type mechs were all that remained of the common soldier. Their formation was shaped like a bucket, with the ''bottom'' and ''sides'' consisting of the three battlecruisers that served both as the base and shield. Protected inside this bucket were the singular Planetary-Class and the dozens of supply and support ships. The space shuttles and mechs filled the remaining gaps and adopted a classic, 45-men squadron formation. The entire formation constantly moved, rather than remaining stationary. However, instead of progressing forward, humanity''s forces constantly retreated. Orders had arrived from the Alliance to retreat as soon as possible. The Outer-Rim was already lost. Facing this retreating, low-morale army was¡­what could be considered a golden ''mist''. Unlike the solidarity that the human battlecruisers possessed, the golden mist seemed weak and illusory, but was omnipresent and firmly surrounded the human forces. Innumerable golden dots formed a dense swarm. They mainly consisted of the Golden-Mech Warrior, Formician Space Warriors, the sparsely spread golden boat-like vessels which held the commander, and a large, spherical ship whose purpose in the enemy lines was unknown. If one had to talk about their numbers, it would easily surpass one million. In other words, Mankind was facing more than a million Stage 2 beings! A mind-numbing amount of power. Of course, each and every invader could not be compared to a traditional Stage 2 being. While they could use soul power, their function in battle was usually determined. They did not possess the adaptability of intelligent beings. For example, the Golden-Mech Warrior was a pure close-combat fighter. They possessed no long-range attacks, with their main attack patterns being fixed and unchanging. The Formicians sitting in the golden boats were Command-Type Thinkers. They were suited only for leading the Warriors and possessed very little combat ability Bo''larks, who had fought Alex, was also of this type. Apart from the Thinker and the Warriors, the majority of this golden swarm consisted of the Worker Type Formicians. Their numbers were the greatest at almost 500,000 present in the battlefield. Although, Workers were also Stage 2 beings, they possessed little to no combat ability. In fact, they were so weak that a normal, unawakened human soldier could face a dozen of them singlehandedly with the support of a mech. The tension on both sides was at an all-time high, with one side planning to run away and the other planning to destroy and scavenge their resources. With a little push, the third battle between Mankind and the Formicians would start. And this push came in the form of a small, human group. "This is the range of our communicators. Any more and the enemies disruptors will affect us." Alex explained to the group of awakened humans. The team was approximately 1000m away from the lead battlecruiser. The Formician had used a strange interference device that restricted human comms. This was the reason, Zaine was unable to request backup when his team was ambushed. As for the team of awakened humans, the confidence and disdain that they previously showed had disappeared. Facing the swarm-like Formicians, their faces were pale and their eyes were filled with panic With a serious expression filling his face, Alex raised both his hands and quietly chanted. His blood-red eyes stared at the Formician swarm with absolute calmness. "To start us off." He slowly spoke. "[Flame Sweep]!" Chapter 176: Standoff. Part 2 "[Flame Sweep]!" Alex''s chilling voice slowly sounded out. Following his declaration, a tiny spark existed from Alex''s hand. This spark seemed so insignificant and feeble, that a gentle wind could blow it out. Leaving Alex''s hand, it slowly floated along towards the Formician swarm. However, Alex who had cast this spell was profusely sweating with a pale face. His body seemed so drained of energy that his hands faintly shook and his body quivered. "What the fu*k?" one of the awakened, floating behind Alex muttered while feeling appalled. ''Even my fart would be stronger than that. Is this all he''s got?'' the man thought with disdain. Alex''s dominant image had utterly collapsed. Anya ignored the man''s remark and neared Alex. Using her hands to support his wobbling body, she asked. "You''re starting off with ''that''?" Flashing a smile, Alex replied while feeling relaxed: "Exactly. I''m using ''that''." His tone sounded like victory was already in the bag. Seeing such a situation, the other awakened humans felt very confused. "What do you mean by ''that''? What type of attack is that?" a female awakened with a skull-shaped tattoo on her face asked. Waving his hand, Alex blandly replied: "You''ll see in a moment." Incomprehension flashed on the faces of all the humans. To tell the truth, facing the terrifying number of opponents, the courage of all the awakened humans had already shrunk. In fact, if it were not for the numerous benefits and concessions promised by the Alliance, the fame they would receive if they were to win this battle, and the threats posed by Alex, they would have already run away. Seeing the lackadaisical and relaxed attitude of their supposed ''Leader'', their courage and confidence plunged. The spark which had traveled quite some distance away still showed no signs of changing. If anything, it seemed to be getting weaker. The Formicians swarm seemed to take Alex''s ''weak'' attack as a declaration for the start of the battle. With a loud roar that also resounded only within the minds of the Formicians, the swarm led by the Golden-Mech Warriors charged towards humanity. As for the spark, they had completely ignored it, throwing it to the back of their mind. Some had even considered that attack to be some kind of starting ritual of the humans. Like a large group of locusts swarming towards a green-field of rice, the Formician army swarmed towards the battlecruiser. Conversely, seeing the Formicians charge, human soldiers behind Alex also roared and started to move. Due to the distance between Alex''s group and the common soldiers, most of them did not see Alex''s initial attack. They had taken the Formician charge as the first act of aggression. Not willing to be outdone by the enemy, they also charged forward. However, compared to the Formician swarm, the human side lacked the ''visual effect''. This had resulted in the lead group of awakened warriors, not feeling any more confident of their victory. "Ah, screw this! There''s no way we can win! I''m leaving!!" A scrawny-looking guy, with shifty eyes, finally lost his courage and turned around to flee. He exploded the soul power at his feet, darting his body towards the army of rushing soldiers, deciding to hide between them and use the normal humans as his shield. Just then¡­ Shuah! Shuah! The sound of wind being cleaved was heard. Weirdly enough, wind did not exist in outer-space. "You---" the scrawny-looking awakened who had fled, not five steps suddenly felt his head spinning and his head blacking. His body wobbled for a second before his head soundlessly fell off. He was beheaded. "To flee during a battle. According to the Military Penal Code, you deserve death." Anya coldly stated. She lowered her raised hand and expressionlessly turned towards the Formician swarm. Huff! Seeing one of their own die soundlessly, they gasped in shock. Their widened eyes stared towards the couple, who were expressionlessly watching the invaders charge towards them. ''Ju-just like that! He was killed in just a second!'' any and all thought of desertion had left their mind, in that second. Alex seemed to pay no mind to Anya''s actions and acted as if nothing had occurred. His mind, however, was seething with rage. ''That bastard deserved a crueler death! To think he dared to use his own kin as a shield! Hateful!!'' Alex was in a very bad mood but did not express it in his face. At this moment, the Formicians had almost neared their group. They were less than 3000m away from them and would face them in approximately 10 seconds. The human soldiers behind them would take around 20 more seconds to meet the Formician charge. Alex however, showed no signs of acting. He had his hands folded and eyes closed while focusing on recovering his spent soul power. "Le-leader, are we not going to act?" a tall, bulky-looking awakened nervously asked, voicing the thoughts of all the others. "Just wait." Alex blandly replied. ''Wait?! Wait for what?! How are you so relaxed while facing millions of enemies who want to tear you apart!?'' he cursed within his mind, daring not to voice it out. It was then, that the spark sent out by Alex finally met the lead Formician. The Formician Warrior had focused all his senses on Alex, the person who his senses told was the most dangerous. As such, he had ignored the spark, phasing through his body and golden armor. Just as he was a 1000m away from Alex, the lead Formician suddenly thought: ''Why do I feel hot?'' As he felt the heat increasing, the Formician slowed down his charge. He then subconsciously circulated his soul power, in order to ward off the heat. However, circulating his soul power had the opposite effect. If the precious heat could be considered as an uncomfortable midday sun during the summer, then the heat he felt right now was similar to being placed inside an oven. No, he wasn''t feeling hot. Rather, he was burning. ''SO HOT?!'' His charge suddenly stopped as he felt pain from every region of his body flood into his mind. He opened his mouth to scream, only to have nothing come out. His mouth had already turned into ash! ¡ºHot! Hot!¡» ¡ºO'' Great Mother! What''s happening?!¡» ¡ºMY-my body is BURNING! AH!!!¡» The last thing that this Formician saw was hundreds of his brethren surrounding him, have their bodies burnt by a strange orange flame and turned into ashes. The last thought that passed through his mind was one of puzzlement. ''Doesn''t fire require oxygen to sustain itself?'' Alas, his vision darkened before he managed to figure out the answer to his question. ---------- The human soldiers, who had been bravely rushing forward, while seated inside their mechs and space shuttles, unconsciously slowed their charge at the same time. Their charge slowed and slowed, before finally coming to a stop just behind Alex''s group. Silence resounded within their comms with a mixture of static due to the interference. This silence was then finally broken by the sound of collective gulping. The scene before their eyes was simply too fantastical. Hundreds upon hundreds of the golden armored invaders were burning inside an orange-colored flame before disappearing into ashes. The flame did not discriminate and burned all the invaders, irrespective of their types. The Space Warriors were the first and quickest to burn, followed by the much slower Golden-Mech Warriors. Although the orange flame landed upon the boat-like ships and burned, they did not manage to do anything. However, the orange flame had succeeded in stopping the charge of the Formicians. Silence resounded on their end too. "For that. That is what we were waiting for." Alex finally broke the silence, explaining to his team members. "Ho-how are they burning without any air?" one of the awakened warriors asked while gulping. "Oh, that''s nothing. The fire is fueled by their soul power. The more they try to use their soul power to suppress it, the faster it will burn and the quicker they will die." Alex shrugged causally. "It''s a pity though. It can only kill around two thousand, before dying out." "Also if the opponent were smart enough, they would have realized the trick behind the flame and put it out without much trouble." He shook his head. Alex then tapped the side of his battlesuit, when a strange metal rod popped out. Holding it in his hand, he pressed on an obvious indent on its surface. The metal rod expanded outwards forming a red-colored spear, decorated with a flaming pattern surrounding its body. Holding it in his hands, Alex roared. "FOR MANKIND!" He then charged towards the dumbstruck Formicians. His roar awakened the other soldiers, who similarly roared before charging out "FOR MANKIND!!" Chapter 178: Priority: Extremely High. In the center of the Formician swarm floated a large, spherical, golden-colored ship. The exterior of the ship was precisely cut from an unknown material and was covered in runic arrays. The runic arrays pulsed with power, faintly distorting the space around them. Of the most noticeable runes were that of; deflection, strengthening, telepathic booster, and dimensional travel. This vessel titled the ''Hive Mind'' by the Formicians was one of the twenty-four motherships possessed by the species. Its defense of this vessel was so great that it could block an all-out attack from a Peak-Level Stage 3 being. Compared to it extravagant outside, the inside of the Hive Mind was relatively simple. At its very core, floated a hexagonal crystal which rippled with unfathomable power. This was its source of power. The power crystal was protected by a gold-tinted glass sphere, in front of which floated a feet-less chair. Apart from this crystal and chair, the insides were filled with flashing light screens. Seated within the chair was the only inhabitant of this vessel. An exquisitely-shaped female figure dressed in light gold robes. The robes emphasized the curves of her body, which in a word could be described as, heavenly. The skin exposed under the robes was a dark tan, that was both smooth and flawless. The robes traced her figure up to her neck, beyond which a large, cylindrical contraption was fixed onto her head, hiding her face. Connected to this cylindrical contraption, were multiple cables that extended to touch the light screens inside the vessel. Whenever a light screen flashed with light, the cable attached to that screen would glow and information would be transferred into this figure. This figure possessing an almost-human-like body, was one of the three Greater Mothers of the Formicians. After the initial battles with the humans, the Formicians had come to realize the ingeniousness of human technology and were thoroughly amazed by its ability. To defeat an enemy, one must first understand them completely. Under this logic, the Formicians spent day and night studying Mankind''s technology. And the result of this study was¡­ amazement and respect. In their history, the Formicians had only ever come in contact with two other species, each one stronger than the other. Although they had eventually won, it was a phyrric victory. As such the Formicans never underestimated their opponents and willingly learned from them. They never stopped learning and as a result, grew tremendously from each battle. Starting from a point of wielding sticks, they had come to the point of crafting runes, even possessing a Sigiler amongst their ranks. Through war, they had grown at a pace that was simply¡­terrifying. Meeting Mankind''s technology that was not based on soul power, seemed to flip their understanding of the Universe onto its head. However, almost immediately they were filled with an unquenchable thirst to learn, create and eventually surpass this race. Having already deciphered the bombs, guns, mechs, and spaceships, having created their own variations, the Formicians had moved onto the large, metallic behemoths floating in space. Dismantling the BS-Lawson and studying its components, the Formicans were struck with an itch that could not be scratched, unless they could fully understand it and create their own. Just imagining their race possessing these large, mobile behemoths that acted as bases of war, the entire race was extremely exciting. As such, the Greater Queens came together and decided to prematurely attack the humans. The benefits they would obtain far surpassed the losses they would sustain in this unprepared battle. In order to ensure the success of this mission, a Greater Queen had personally arrived to participate in the battle. As for how the battle went¡­ It had proceeded all according to the Greater Queen''s plans. Although the start had caught her slightly surprised, it did not fundamentally affect the predicted outcome of the battle. The Greater Queens plan was simple, she wanted to use the superior numbers of the Formicians to draw out and slaughter the strength of the humans. She had also sealed off the uses of any trump cards, and only used the weakest, most basic troops to fight. She did not want to use their superior strength to scare off the opponent, or force them into suicide and destroying the large ships. After all, the battlecruisers were the reason for her coming here today. The lesser damaged they were, the more valuable it was for the Formician''s study. As a result, she had deliberately hidden her strength and used only a portion of the troops to fight. She wanted the opponents to have a hope of winning and did not want to push them into desperation. After all, ''A cornered prey was the most fierce.'' There was no shortage of insane people in the Universe, who wouldn''t hesitate to drag everyone down with them in death. Currently, the Greater Queen was in a very joyous mood. ''Everything is on schedule. The prey has taken the bait and is slowly moving away from the ships.'' ''Hmmm. Reinforce Sector 119. Perfect, balance has been achieved.'' ''Oh, this side is being a little too fierce. Stand down Sector 241, do not kill those remaining humans.'' ''Ah, this one female is too fierce. Wind-type? Assassins head to Sector 081 and kill that female awakened.'' Using [Telepathy] the Formicians were able to connect their minds and share their senses. In order to view and command the battle, The Greater Queen connected her mind with the Formician Observers, present in select places, and instructed the Formician Thinkers to command the battle. ''At this rate, the humans will fall in 3 or so hours. We can burst forth at the last hour with the entirety of our strength and catch them off guard.'' ''Counting the time, the ships will enter ''hyperdrive'' in approximately 5 hours. Plenty of time is available for errors.'' Just as the Greater Queen was feeling greatly satisfied with their performance, one of the light screens flashed with red light, following which a stream of data entered her mind. Suddenly, the Greater Queens body froze. A mixture of fear and shock occupied her mind. ''Impossible!'' seeing this information, her first instinct was to vehemently reject it. The rational side of her mind said that such an action was impossible for this inferior species. However, there existed the ''what if''. ''Th-this is [Time Reversal] or [Cause Rewrite]!! How is this possible?!'' she soundlessly screamed. The Rule of Time or the Rule of Cause was something that was in the realm of Gods, something that mortals like them could never come into contact with. Her mind continuously replayed the scene of the Formician assassin killing Alex and the latter recovering mysteriously. The more she watched, the more she believed the ''what if''. ''There is no mistake. It is indeed [Time Reversal] or a spell of that type. But how can this be possible? How can mortals wield the power of the Gods?'' having calmed down a little, she thought. ''For now...All units immediately retreat.'' She was very decisive in her commands. Losing was fine. But losing without understanding how they lost, was unacceptable. After ordering the Formician''s to retreat, the Greater Queen devoted all her processing power to analyze the situation. She even connected her mind with the two other Greater Queens and asked for their counsel. The runic arrays on the surface of the ships glimmered with radiance. The hexagonal crystal brightened limitlessly, flooding the interiors with overwhelming light. ''Dimension was stable. No breaches were detected.'' ''No cosmic activity either. There was no interference from a higher realm.'' ''It wasn''t a superior entity. This region cannot handle any Stage 4 and greater existences!'' ''All observers expand your senses to the greatest extent possible. Cover Sector 115 through Sector 310. Do not miss a single detail!'' A barrage of new information assaulted the Greater Queen''s mind. She then quickly transmitted the new information to the other Queens for analysis. The analytical prowess of all the three Greater Queens combined coupled with the runic arrays far surpassed the calculation capability of the fastest human quantum supercomputer. In but a few dozen seconds they immediately discovered the source of this incident. ''Located it''s human in Sector 211. All units resume battle. Squad 12, capture this human. Target Priority: Extremely High!'' instructions were immediately sent to their respective places. Flashing within the minds of this ''Squad 12'' was an image of Zaine. ''Let me see what secret you behold!'' ------------- Within the human side, Alex approached a pale-faced, coughing young man seated within a Rifleman Mech and hesitantly asked. "Are you the one who saved me?" Alex politely asked Zaine. Chapter 179: The Light at the End of a Tunnel. (Long Chapter) With the Formician swarm suddenly retreating after the Greater Queen''s orders, the humans were finally able to catch a clear glimpse of the battlefield. Due to the interference caused by the Formicians, the comms used by the human soldiers only worked within a 1000m range of the battlecruiser. Not only that, due to the Greater Queens control, she had split up the human forces and created separate sectors within the battlefield. Not only did this allow the Greater Queen to exercise greater control over the battlefield but also ensured that the humans were not overwhelmed by the Formician troops, thus making them believe that they had a chance at victory. If not for the sudden retreat, the Formicians would have steadily whittled down the number of human soldiers, with the human commanders having no clue of what was happening. Alas, Zaine''s interference in Alex''s death had interrupted the Greater Queen''s schemes. She, on the other hand, had immediately sounded a temporary retreat, until she could grasp the situation. "Th-this!" looking around, the soldiers were shocked beyond their minds. The originally few-thousand-strong human army had unknowingly reduced by nearly half. Clumps of debris bounded by metallic plates and wires, containing the cold bodies of their dead comrades soundlessly floated in the darkness of space. Space shuttles whose bodies had been battered beyond recognition, trapped their human controllers forcing them to a fiery death. The initial explosion had charred their bodies, which had then turned into frozen popsicles under the effects of space. "Ho-how di-did we lose so many people on our side?! Weren''t we killing dozens of those bastards? Weren''t we WINNING?!!" a soldier grieved as he spotted the mech of one of his close comrades, lifelessly floating in the void of space. Such scenarios were seen in multiple parts of the battlefield. These warriors, hardened by blood and metal, cried as they spotted many of their dead comrades amongst the floating rubble. Dying wasn''t a scary thing for these men and women. But dying without even knowing how was scary. To be given a false hope at victory, only to see the reality of the situation, dealt a serious blow to the minds of these soldiers. It was then that multiple orb-like devices flew from out of the battlecruiser and arrived at various locations of the battlefield. They then buzzed with electricity, acting as repeaters of the comm systems. "*Zhisst* All.. hum..an so..ldeirs¡­! Imm.edi..ately retr..eat..!!" with this orb boosting the signal of the battlecruiser, an call for retreat resounded within the comms of all the mechs and space shuttles. Having received the order to retreat, the human soldiers made their way back to their respective battlecruisers with their heads hung low. It was clear that these people had lost their intent to fight. The thoughts of the sinister Formicians were unknown. Forcing these disheartened men to continue fighting, would be equivalent to waiting for them to be slaughtered. Inside the Command Center of the leading battlecruiser, the old High Commander who had sounded the order for retreat surveyed the room. He observed the looks of shock and despair present on the faces of the various Officers and Generals and understood that they had lost all their motivation to fight. He did not blame them and even empathized with them, for even he found no hope in continuing to fight. The Formcians were utterly sinister and ruthless, employing such schemes to crush the enemy. The saying, ''A lion must use its full strength, even while hunting a rabbit'', was executed to perfection by the Formicians. When while facing the rabbit-like humans, they did not grow lax and used their advantage to the utmost. As a species whose sole purpose was war, such conduct was only to be expected. Shaking his head, the old commander sighed. ''There''s no point in continuing. We have completely, utterly, irredeemably lost.'' ''Although the battle hadn''t lasted for more than 30 minutes, they have cut down our forward forces by almost 50%. Worst of all, if not for them suddenly retreating, this matter wouldn''t be known till the end of the battle.'' It was then, that the old commander saw the Formician swarm regroup themselves before flooding in their direction once more. Their charge this time was even more ferocious than before. Fortunately, the human soldiers in the field had already retreated into the battlecruisers and thus did not directly face this charge. Unfortunately, however, the Formicians would only require 5 or so minutes to reach the battlecruiser. With their cannons and plasma weaponry unusable, due to the charging of the hyperdrive core, they were simple but sitting ducks. ''The hyperdrive core will take around 5 hours to finish its prep. During this time, none of the weapons can be used. To stop it from charging, we would require another 20 minutes.'' ''In other words, this is the checkmate.'' He closed his eyes and clenched his fists. ''We have been dancing in their palms this entire time.'' His fists trembled and his face scrunched with unwillingness. The colors on his aged face alternated with varying shades of red, before finally turning pale. Tears streamed from his eyes. ''Supreme General, I have failed you.'' He cried in grief. The other Officers seeing their commander''s reaction finally lost their composure. Dozens of men and women cried out loud. Seeing the innumerable number of invaders charge towards them, they no longer had the will to resist. A Commander was the spiritual pillar of the people during a battle. It was imperative that a Commander never lost his composure during a battle, for it would have adverse effects on his men. Alas, the pillar was broken and so was the people''s will. It was then, that the air inside the Command Center suddenly stirred. Multiple bolts of energy suddenly started to flash in thin-air, sparking with great amounts of light and energy. Miniature whirlpools drawing in the spiritual energy in the air started to form, surrounding these bots of energy. A small sphere of white-light formed at the center of this disturbance. Drawing more and more energy, the bolts of energy grew even more chaotic as the spherical ball expanded in size. From the size of a grain of sand, it grew to form a large doorway, continuing to expand in size. The insides of the room were immediately thrown into disarray, as the Officers were thrown out of their chairs and lost their balance facing this torrent of energy. Thinking that this to be an attack by the Formicians all of them screamed in terror. The old commander also lost his balance, falling on his butt as his head hit the steel railing that was near him, drawing blood from his head. ''NO! I will not accept this!'' he bit into his tongue, using the pain to offset the dizziness caused by the impact. "ALL MEN DRAW YOUR WEAPONS AND SHOW THESE BASTARDS WHAT WE GOT!!" He bellowed while reaching for his own weapon. Alas, under the disturbance caused by these sudden changes his voice was barely heard by anyone. Those who did hear his words did not possess the courage to act. ''If I''m going down, I will take at least a few of you with me!'' his eyes were bloodshot, as his hands shakily clenched onto a pistol. The disturbance finally calmed as the bolts of and whirlpools of energy finally disappeared. Appearing in their pace was a large, 2-dimensional pure-white door. This door seemed to be both illusory and real. Curtains of flowing white light shrouded the other end of the door, teasing the observers of its secrets. The old commander had resolved himself to face death when a tall, dark figure exited this door. This figure was 1.7m in height, with a human-shaped body. The flashing of the door blinded the commander for a second, making him unable to immediately recognize this figure. In his distress and confusion, he pulled the trigger of the pistol. A bolt of plasma exited one end of the pistol and traveled towards this dark humanoid-figure. The bolt neared the unguarded chest of this figure when the sound of metal meeting metal was heard. Clank! In an instant, the bolt of plasma was cut into two. "Whoa, old geezer! I understand you hate me but trying to kill your savior is just wrong." A young, fickle voice, seemingly in his twenties teased the old commander. In that instant, hearing that voice, the old commander''s eyes flew open. ------------ Inside the Hanger Bay. The atmosphere surrounding the soldiers was quiet and solemn. It was a quietness that was uncomfortable to remain in. A silence that none of the men in it dared to break. A silence within which were unspeakable amounts of grief, hopelessness, and defeat. Looking around, one could see that both man and machine were broken. And within this crowd of depressed soldiers, was a young pale-faced man. Seated inside his Rifleman mech, the youth repeatedly gagged only to have nothing to vomit. His forehead was red-hot with fever and his body trembled with over-exhaustion. ''To think, the side effects of using [Rewind] on someone else would be this severe.'' Zaine thought to himself. His body and soul quivered with pain, like no other. Zaine felt an intense emptiness in the depths of his mind, and every single cell in his body screamed with pain. Zaine felt as if he was being juiced inside a juicer, churning and crushing every single inch of his body. Just as Zaine felt his consciousness slipping, a voice sounded out from the outside. "Are you the one who saved me?" Alex''s voice quietly resounded next to Zaine. Peering his eye open, Zaine looked at this visitor. Red eyes, red hair, a handsome face, he recognized the person whom he had saved from death. When Zaine had seen Alex fighting against the swarm of Formicians, he felt that this person was similar to the Hero of Deatov. Both unafraid and willing to give their all in the face of death. A star that shone the brightest when the world was at its bleakest. ''I want to see him shine.'' This was Zaine''s feelings. Following his feelings, Zaine trailed behind Alex as the latter headed deeper and deeper into the enemy line. He had seen the latter fight with unparalleled dominance and ferocity, mowing down swathes of enemies. Seeing Alex in action, Zaine knew at that instant. This is the person who would save Mankind. This was the hero whom they could rely on. As such, when Alex had died, Zaine unhesitantly drove the entirety of his soul to use [Rewind]. He did now know if it would work or the after-effects of this action, but Zaine did not care. ''He cannot die.'' As such Zaine poured every last bit of his soul power and succeeded in saving Alex. He then somehow managed to hold onto his consciousness and returned back to the ship. Seeing that his hero was safe, Zaine flashed a light smile, before falling back. He was utterly exhausted, had no remaining strength to sustain his consciousness. Seeing Zaine suddenly lose consciousness, Alex was dumbfounded. Hurriedly, checking the vital of the other and making sure he was alright, he released and a sigh of relief and picked him up, intending to take him to the medbay. Neither Alex nor the other soldiers inside the ship know that the Formicians had attacked once more. This time, they were holding nothing back. Chapter 180: Traitors. Part 1 Carrying Zaine, Alex left the grieving hanger to head towards the Medbay. ''This guy is only a Mid-Level Stage 1. How did he save me back then?'' Using his soul power to probe Zaine''s body, Alex judged the depth of Zaine''s cultivation. Identifying Zaine''s pitiful, Mid-Level Stage 1 cultivation, Alex was astonished. ''He wields such ability at only Stage 1. What would he be able to do at higher cultivations?'' just thinking about the possibilities made Alex shiver. Alex''s gaze while looking at Zaine intensified, as the latter''s importance and future prospects greatly increased inside Alex''s heart. ''This guy must join the Saviors! His power will be very useful in our missions!'' ''Saviors'' is the name of a new organization established by the Earth Alliance. It was headed by Illya Roseberg and was directly supervised by the Alliance Head. Its mission was the spearhead research and development pertaining to the Ascension and Soul Power, while also cultivating a force solely made up of Awakened Humans, loyal to the Alliance. In a way, Saviors was similar to the ''Hero''s Guild'', in which it represented the pinnacle organization that would lead Mankind in these new times. Only the top of the line elites or people with unique talents would be admitted into this organization. Alex, Anya, Reyna, the other awakened who had participated in the battle against the Formicians, belonged to the Saviors. Just the fact that all of them were able to reach Stage 2, already spoke volumes of the Savior''s importance. ''Seeing how he managed to reach Mid-Level with almost no support, his talent must be decent. With the support provided by Saviors, it''s only a matter of time before he enters Stage 2.'' Alex concluded. Staring at the deeply, asleep face of Zaine a smile flashed across Alex''s face. ''I''m looking forward to seeing how far you can go.'' Raising his head, Alex noticed that he had already arrived at the Medbay area. Inside this area, which was suffused with white light and the scent of medicine were tens of doctors and nurses frantically moving about. The MedBay area was almost completely occupied by wounded soldiers of the Formician battle and the survivors of the BS-Lawson. "Quick, quick! We are losing this one!" "Nurse! We need a transfusion here! Prep the machine!" "4th degree burns on this patient. Prepare a MedPod!!" Due to the shortage of human resources, the number of medical staff could not keep up with the number of patients incoming, leading to this chaotic scene. If not for the robotic assistants available, it would have been impossible to assist every single person. Alex quickly approached a man garbed in the doctor''s uniform and called out. "Hey, doc! Emergency here!" The doctor who was rudely called was about to lose this temper when he saw Alex''s face. Instantly recognizing the other, the doctor''s temper was quickly calmed. "Oh, it''s sir. How can I help you?" the doctor amicably spoke and approached him. Seeing that he was recognized, Alex felt a little surprised. He could not help but curiously gaze towards the doctor. Facing Alex''s gaze the doctor wore a smile and replied. "I served under Sir General''s ship when sir was going around rescuing the Frontier bases." Hearing his explanation, Alex''s immediately understood. He nodded and then explained Zaine''s situation to the doctor. A frown appeared on the doctor''s face, as he inspected Zaine''s condition. "Apart from a few minor wounds here and there, it''s only a case of over-exhaustion. This person has lost too much energy in too little time. I''m afraid if he isn''t immediately treated, he might slip into coma." Explaining so, the doctor immediately called for a nurse and a robot, reliving Zaine from Alex''s hands. He then had the robot carry Zaine on a stretcher while giving some instructions to the nurse. After excusing himself, the doctor quickly left moving on to his next patient. Seeing that there were no significant problems with Zaine, Alex released a sigh of relief. He stayed in the MedBay for a few seconds, before turning back to leave to the hanger. He had received a message from Anya, informing him of the Formician''s movements. ''Those bastards are moving once again.'' Gritting his teeth, Alex thought about how he could organize a response against their attack. ----------- Outside in space. The Formicians had already reorganized their lines, adopting new formations for their second offensive. With the Greater Queen''s original plan being foiled due to Zaine''s interference, she has decided to redouble her efforts and go for a direct attack. Moreover, the priorities of the Greater Queens had changed from getting intact battlecruisers, to get their hands on Zaine. The ability of the [Chronometry] soul was simply too heaven-defying. The Formicians had to get their hands on that human and study him, no matter the cost. After ensuring that the formations of her brethren were properly arranged, the Greater Queen unhesitantly ordered the swarm to attack. She could not afford to delay and needed to immediately acquire that human before the other humans realized his importance. ''Attack with everything you have. Break the ships and force an opening. Squad 12, ensure that this human lives at all costs.'' ''Everyone attack!'' she telepathically instructed her subordinates to begin. Just as the Greater Queen was about to move to directly participate in the attack, a weird buzzing noise resounded within the Hive-Mind. The Greater Queen immediately noticed his anomaly landing her gaze on a grey-colored, rectangular box of metal. This rather unassuming metal box, that was carelessly thrown aside was surprisingly filled with electric circuits and nano-processors both of which were a product of human technology. It strangely looked similar to an antique transceiver, making it an unmistakable product of human technology. Seeing this grey transceiver, disdain flashed across the Greater Queens hidden eyes. Although she was of the mind to ignore it, she knew that the transceiver was important. After all, it was the means of communications that the human ''traitors'' had given to the Formicians to communicate with the latter. Controlling one of the cables to detach from the Hive Mind, she manipulated it and attached it to the transceiver. She then controlled her soul power to flow into the device, following a specific pattern. This pattern acted as the ''key'' which would then answer the call. Buzzing to life, the device shook a few times before a voice was transmitted into the Greater Queens mind. "Good day to you, Greater Queen Shea." A gentle, female voice resounded in the mind of the Greater Queen. What was astonishing was that this voice actually spoke in Formician! "Humph! Speak, scum!" Shea, the Greater Queen grunted in annoyance. The Formicians as a species that was birthed for the sole purpose of warring hated and heavily discriminated traitors. Especially one that was selling out its very own race! Hearing the annoyance, the voice did not take any offense but lightly laughed in response. "I have a proposal for your Your Highness if you''re willing to listen." "Stop testing my patience, worm!" Shea growled. "Would Your Highness, like to receive of a gift of three undamaged battlecruisers?" the voice teased. Hearing that, Shea''s thoughts froze. She doubted her hearing, for she couldn''t believe the words of the other party. She immediately checked her memories and confirmed the latter''s words. ''What is this person planning?'' suspicion and denial were the first emotions that rose within her mind. ''No, she wouldn''t dare speak any nonsense, knowing of the fragile relationship between the two parties. Then why? Why would she offer such a deal?" Shea frowned, her thoughts moving at light speed. The mysterious female voice chuckled before continuing. "Seems like Your Highness is intrigued. Rest assured, this one''s words are completely serious." Not waiting for Shea to intervene, the voice continued with her offer. "In exchange for Your Highness letting the humans leave safely, this one will assure you that all the vessels currently present at your location will be given to you undamaged. Not only that, but I can also guarantee that no human will trouble the Formicians for the next six months." The voice offered. Shea was moved. She wanted to instinctively reject, as this offered seemed too good to be true. However¡­ ''It would be of incomparable value if we can get our hands on all the vessels present here for study. Coupled with some time, we can develop our own methods of space travel, progressing this war further into human territory.'' Taking a deep breath, Shea asked: "This deal seemed too good to be true. What are your benefits?" Hearing the Greater Queens response, the voice chuckled once again. The mysterious female understood that the other party was hooked. "It''s of no great concern for Your Highness. It''s just that some of this one''s plans would proceed quicker." "How do I know you are not brewing some sinister scheme or trap for us? Why this very deal might be detrimental causing us Formicians to lose the war." Shea questioned. "You worry too much, Your Highness. Both of our goals align making us natural allies. This one simply wishes to lead Mankind to its correct path, leading to the kingdom of our God, The Controller of Fate and Ruler of Destiny!" the voice was filled with heavy zealotry and maddened passion. Hearing that reply, Shea simply scoffed and said nothing. Inside her mind, she thought with derision: ''What do you understand of God?'' While she thought this, she did not dare to voice it out. Whether God exists or not, she did not dare blaspheme Him. ''Lord''s name must not be taken lightly.'' This was a commandment that was personally penned by the Great Mother, The Myriad Species Queen. Thinking about the latter''s words, Shea hesitated for a moment before agreeing. "Fine, I shall provide 10 minutes of time. In order to not arouse suspicion, I will command my kin to make some superficial attacks, without harming the humans." "However! I have some demands of my own!" Shea thundered. The voice from the transceiver seemed to be caught off-guard by this change. Instantly recovering her mind, she asked. "What might Your Highness require of this one?" Shea transmitted Zaine''s image through the transceiver and demanded. "This human must be handed over to us alive, immediately! If you fail to comply, I will not hesitate to attack!" The mysterious female voice grew quiet. A few seconds passed in quiet tension before she relented. "Fine. How do I hand him to you?" "Preserve that human''s vitals and send him outside the ship. I will have someone collect him." Shea immediately replied. "That will do. I will instruct my men." The voice agreed. "It has been a pleasure cooperating with Your Highness once again. I hope¡ª" the voice was suddenly cut off, as Shea stopped supplying the transceiver with her soul power. Quietness returned to the vessel as Shea pondered in silence. ''There must be a deeper scheme to this. I just can''t figure out what that is." She frowned. Seeing that her deduction was heading nowhere, she shared the happenings with the other Greater Queens before sending new instructions to the Formician Army. ''It matters not. For in the face of true power, schemes are no importance.'' Chapter 181: Traitor. Part 2 "Whoa! Careful old geezer, I know you hate me but trying to harm your savior is just plain wrong." A pompous sounding voice teased the old commander. "You¡­!" Hearing that voice, the old commander''s face was filled with astonishment. He tried to speak, but his throat only managed to eke out a single word. "Hahaha, seeing that look on your face never gets old. Ahh, I remember that day, when you caught me with your daughter in bed, that shock and anger on your face, it was the same as today. Simply priceless." The youthful voice adopted a reminiscent tone. "YOU!!" this time the old commander''s eyes flew wide open and became bloodshot. His body radiated with wrath and savageness, seemingly intent of wanting to tear this person to pieces. "Oh yeah, speaking of your daughter. How is she doing these days? I haven''t had time to visit her after this whole ''Ascension'' and whatnot." "Has she decided to follow this young master and join my harem? I won''t mistreat her, ya''know." The voice continued to speak, but the old commander heard nothing of it. His eyes looked towards the fallacious-looking door composed entirely of pure white light without blinking. It was then, that the voice behind the old commander''s hatred finally stepped out. He was a youth with blue eyes, blond hair, an aquiline nose, and a faintly upturned smile, that teased. Looking at his face, one would find themselves at a loss for words at his handsomeness. Wearing a close-fitting white-colored armor, that highlighted his slender body, he carried a thin, sheathed rapier, exquisitely carved on his waist. An aura of purity and holiness overflowed from his body, making him look like a celestial. His entire person seemed to radiate the ''harmless'' and ''heroic'' aura, making him seem like the ''Handsome White Knight'' that is the object of dreams of many maidens. However, the old commander''s believed nothing of what he saw. His eyes spewed fire, wanting nothing but to take this youth down with him to the underworld! In fact, the old commander wasn''t alone in his wish. Numerous fathers, husbands, and brothers of the Great Families in the Alliance wanted to do the same thing. For he is, ''The Debauchee of the Alliance'', ''The Wastrel of Mankind'', ''The Wife Hunter'', ''The Maiden Stealer'', the human-shaped Incubus whose dreams were to seduce all of the beautiful women in the world. "Heir of the White Family, Jack White. Here to save you wonderful gentlemen and beautiful ladies." The youth declared with a smile. ------------------ "I''m here! How bad is the situation?" Alex arrived next to Anya and asked in a grim tone. Anya sporting a bleak expression shook her head and replied: "Not good. The Formicians have reorganized their lines and are mounting a full-fledged attack." "Of the thirty, Stage 2 Awakened who entered the battle, only twelve returned. This is after including you and me." Hearing that Alex''s expression turned sour. While he might have some disagreements with the personality and behavior of those awakened humans, they were still a very precious resource on which the Alliance had spent a lot of time and money to develop. Losing them at the first battle, was very disheartening to hear making Alex worry about the future of Mankind. ''No! We can still win!'' He immediately shook his head and banished such pessimistic thoughts. Turning his head to face Anya, he then asked: "So what''s the plan? How are we going to attack?" Anya gave a dry chuckle and pointed around. "Look around. Are these men in any condition to mount an attack? Making them fight would simply be sending them to their deaths." "But-" Alex tried to retort but had no words to reply. He raised his head and scanned around the hanger. Indeed, as Anya said, all the soldiers had their heads hung low, some crying in despair. Their hearts and minds had already been broken. Seeing Alex grow silent, Anya reached out her hand and grabbed onto it. Feeling the warmth flow from his hands, Anya looked into Alex''s eyes and spoke with determination. "Whatever your choice is, I will follow you." Her face then slightly blushed, but her eyes remained unwavering. In a solemn voice, she continued: "In sickness and in health. In life and in death!" Hearing her confession, Alex''s eyes grew warm. Tightly gripping onto her hand, he said. "We will not die today. I will not allow any of these men here to die today!" he declared. Anya simply smiled in response but did not save anything. She knew that getting out of here alive, would be impossible. ''At least, I get to die on the battlefield with my lover. I haven''t let down the Balliol family name.'' she steeled herself. It was then that an announcement resounded within the Hanger. {ATTENTION ALL PERSONEL. PLEASE FORM AN ORDERLY QUEUE AND HEAD TOWARDS THE COMMAND CENTER.} { ATTENTION ALL PERSONEL. PLEASE FORM AN ORDERLY QUEUE AND HEAD TOWARDS THE COMMAND CENTER.} Although the AI''s announcement was sharp and resounding, many of the soldiers failed to take note of it amidst their wallowing. Their minds had already numbed from despair. "DID YOU NOT HEAT THAT, IDIOTS?!! GET YOUR ASSES IN LINE AND START MOVING! YOU ARE GETTING RESCUED!!" Jack''s soul power enhanced scream tore through the desolate atmosphere. A white figure suddenly flashed and appeared atop a spaceship hung from the ceiling inside the Hanger. "MOVE MOVE MOVE! WE DON''T HAVE A LOT OF TIME! WE HAVE TO LEAVE BEFORE THE FORMICIANS GET HERE!!" he screamed once more. Jack joined both of his palms together and closed his eyes, a gentle look appearing on his face. Looking at him, he resembled a pious believer. "[Blessing: Courage]!" he softly spoke, when a white light exploded forth from his body, shining upon all the people inside the hanger. The white light was gentle and holy, falling upon these men and suffusing into them. It was a gentle rain of white light. It was then¡­ "That''s right!" "We can still live!" "Quick, quick, start moving. We have to go before the invaders reach us!" ¡­that an astonishing thing happened. The previously gloomy and pale-faced soldiers immediately gained a shade of color on their faces. Their hopeless looking eyes, shone with life as they quickly started to move towards the Command Center. Seeing that they had begun to move, Jack smiled before turning into a white flash once again and disappearing from their sights. Alex with his enhanced physique naturally recognized the white-armored figure. Rather than becoming happy, his eyes were filled with confusion and caution. ''How is he here? And when did he advance into Stage 2?'' Jack White wasn''t a member of the Saviors and apart from the Saviors, no other organization should have the correct method and knowledge of the advancement. Not only that, from the spell that Jack had cast, Alex could faintly feel the depth of his soul power. ''He''s a Mid-Level just like me.'' As he was thinking this, Anya had already pulled Alex along and moved along with the crowd. With a few minutes, they had already appeared within the Command Center, devoid of any Officers. Upon the Commander''s platform was a large, flickering door. Actually, rather than call it a door, it would be better to call it a gateway. A gateway, that led from inside the battlecruiser, into another world! The soldiers entering this gateway phased from inside the Command Center and appeared on the other side. Alex and Anya followed behind the soldiers and entered the gateway. Walking through the gateway, the sensation was akin to walking through a gelatinous wall. A formless resistance met their body, which was resisted with pure force. Passing through this ''barrier of sorts'', Alex felt a cool wind brush against his cheek. Absentmindedly he wiped his cheek, only to suddenly smell the scent of fresh air and green grass. Appearing inside a temple of sorts, they looked around only to see verdant green fields, a blue sky, and hundreds of human soldiers exiting similar gates, kneeling to the ground while kissing the dirt and crying. Seeing this scene, Alex and Anya had their minds blanked from shock. They had quite literally, walked through a Teleportation Gate. ------------ Inside the MedBay. After hearing the AI''s announcement followed by Jack''s manual command, the doctors and nurses were first dazed and then joyous beyond words. They immediately started moving and along with the help of some robots and started to transport the patients. Those whose conditions were a little serious were placed into temporary stasis before being transported. At one of the corner of the MedBay, lay an unconscious Zaine. "Be careful with this one. He''s an acquaintance of the General." The doctor solemnly instructed the robot helpers before moving elsewhere. The robots firmly abided by the command and started to carefully transport the floating stretcher, upon which Zaine lied. Moving through the long corridors of the battlecruiser, the robots suddenly paused for a moment reaching an intersection. Their bodies shook for a moment, before suddenly disjoining from the line and turning to the left. On the wall, before them, a holographic arrow mark pointed towards the right with the words ''Command Center'' written above it. Passing through the long, dim-lit empty corridors, the robots moved further and further away from the human crowd arriving at an empty landing. Their bodies then shook once more, this time the intensity of shaking being very high. With the sounds of metal scrapping and circuits sparking, they collapsed onto the ground with a trail of black smoke exiting their bodies. Step, step, step. Along with the sound of heavy footsteps, a large, thinly-built man shrouded in dark robes arrived before the unconscious Zaine from within the darkness. He used a hand-held device and scanned at Zaine''s face. After ensuring that there were no problems, he lifted Zaine''s body and walked into the darkness once more. After walking for a couple of minutes, he entered an empty room filled with escape capsules. Approaching a random capsule, he gently placed Zaine into the capsule, before inputting the instructions into the console. Whoosh! The mouth of the capsule closed, firmly securing Zaine inside. The robed man gazed once more, at the unconscious Zaine before pressing the button titled ''Eject''. Fwoop! The lonely capsule was sent into Outer Space. The man then hurriedly turned around, rushing towards human crowds. While running he removed the robe shrouding his body and carelessly threw it on the ground. Underneath the robe was a surprising revelation. The man was wearing an Officer''s Uniform with a badge of a Commander pinned onto his chest. His face shockingly belonged to¡­ Commander Lockhart. The Commanding Officer of BS-Lawon. Joining with the crowds, he calmed his panting breath and softly recited. "Sors Fides. May you lead us to paradise." Chapter 182: Dark Shade Forest. The Dark Shade Forest was home to the largest Wild Beasts population on the planet of Pectron. It occupied almost one-third of the planetary surface and contained a plethora of resources and natural treasures. Containing ores, herbs, wild beast materials, the Dark Shade forest was the source of revenue for many cities and individual awakened who hoped to make a living. Its name Dark Shade originates from the year-round darkness that plagues the forest. Trees that are tall as 400-500m in height, densely populate the entirety of this forest, blocking sunlight and creating an eternally darkened domain, Although the Dark Shade Forest promises a lot of opportunities to become rich, its level of danger is also naturally high. Myriad types of Wild Beats, ranging from millions of Stage 1, tens of thousands of Stage 2, and almost a dozen Stage 3 beings, also call this forest their home. Any person that does not understand the limitations of their ability would know their limits upon entering this forest. The deeper one goes, the higher the level of difficulty and danger increases, so much so, that even the Stage 3 residents of Pectron do not venture into the inner depths of this forest. And today, at an unknown depth inside this forest, a fight between a single youth and a group of Stage 2 Canis was occurring. "Roar!!" a wounded Canis let out an enraged roar before lunging towards Lucius. Its eyes were bloodshot and its pristine, silver-colored fur had a long cut leaking with blood and exposing its entrails. It had to be known, that the fur coat of a Canis was strong enough to block attacks from a Low-Level Stage 2 being. Lucius, holding onto his fully extended scythe was occupied with facing against three other uninjured Canis. His face remained impassive and his eyes gazed indifferently. Feeling the wounded Canis lunge towards his exposed back, Lucius let out a sigh, before stomping at the ground. Soul power exploded beneath his feet, pushing him into the air. Due to sudden movement, the wounded Canis which had already jumped into the air barely missed his body and fell atop the three uninjured ones. Making use of this opportunity, Lucius drew an elegant arc in the air with his scythe, sending a wave of dense blade energy towards the entangled beasts. Slash! The dense dark-colored blade energy that was further boosted with his scythe technique, [Dance of the Death God- Second Movement: Shred], tore into the skulls of two Canises and shred their brains apart. Dropping onto the ground, Lucius immediately controlled his void energy activating [Void Hands]. The shadow underneath his feet grew a shade darker and extended to a distance of 30m. Double of what he could do previously! Eerie energy radiated off of this shadow carrying along with it, 50 tentacle-like appendages. Being supple yet firm, these tentacles instantly shot towards the two remaining Canises and firmly wrapped around their limbs. Once secured, the appendages then pulled taut, spreading the four limbs of the Stage 2 Wild Beasts in four different directions. Canises resembled the wild wolves present on Earth. The only difference was, a Canis was 4-6m in length, possessed tougher fur and harder teeth, were innately intelligent and cunning, and also had their souls awakened at Stage 1. Not stopping at immobilizing them, the [Void Hands] continued to pull, intending of tearing apart its limbs. The Canises tried to struggle to the best of their abilities. However, with the long battle against Lucius draining their energy, his constantly active [Annihilation Intent] hurting their soul, and the injuries accumulated on their bodies, their remnant strength was insufficient to break free. Meanwhile, Lucius who was the one controlling these [Void Hands], rose up and calmly walked towards the struggling beasts. Seeing this person walk towards them expressionlessly, these Stage 2 Canis, which possessed intelligence on par with an average person, gazed at him with terror. They let out ghastly howls and cries, seemingly begging Lucius to let them go. Naturally, Lucius ignored their cries. Approaching their bodies, he raised his scythe into the air, gathering his soul power to deal the final blow. However¡­ Zhisst! A bolt of lightning suddenly flew from within the dark forest behind him, aiming towards the back of Lucius'' head. This dark-blue lightening was the ability possessed by the Canis'' soul, [Lightning Wolf]. Seeing their ''hidden'' member finally attack, the look of fear vanished from the eyes of the bounded beasts, replaced by derision and savageness. After sacrificing three of their members, they had finally gotten a chance to deal a fatal injury to this person. The large, beastly maw slightly opened revealing what seemed to be a ''smile''. Lucius who had noticed this attack as it entered the 5m radius of him, suddenly smiled, before disappearing. His body was suddenly overcome with darkness and disappeared from the line of the lightning attack. The Canises open maws froze in shock. Before they managed to comprehend what had happened, the lightning ball landed on their bodies shocking and burning them. The bodies of the struggling Canis grew stiff for a second, before turning limp. With them no longer struggling, the [Void Hands] effortlessly tore them apart, separating their heads, limbs, and bodies. Plop. Plop. Two lifeless bodies fell onto the ground with their blood and organs pouring out. The tentacles retreating into the Void, dragging the remains of the beast along with them. Once entered, [Devour] was automatically activated turning the remains into pure, void energy. A hazy, flickering shadow was also pulled into the Void, which was then converted into pure soul power. Lucius who had evaded that attack using [Void Steps], currently stood atop a branch of a tree. His indifferent eyes calmly stared at the ''hidden'' attacker, who stood stiffly with confusion. Not bothering to waste any more time, he jumped down, curled his hands to form a fist, and punched towards the Canis'' head. His strength, enhanced by both soul power and the Scrofanians'' stolen traits, brutally smashed its head apart. Blood and brain matter spilled out, tainting Lucius'' hands and his clothes. Silence returned to the forest. Closing his eyes and reviewing the process of the battle, Lucius made mental notes of possible improvements. Having entered the Dark Shade forest almost a year ago, he made it a habit to review after an intense battle. Each time, he used a different method, corrected existing methods, and improved the efficiency of his hunt. ''Instead of using [Void Steps] during the last attack, I could have used [Flaw Detection] to evade it. The cost of energy would have been lesser, while the duration of the battle would have increased by 13 seconds.'' ''Also my blade energy slash was off target by 1.3¡ã, reducing the effectiveness of that attack by 0.2%'' he analyzed. During this time of analysis, the shadow underneath his feet continued to pull in the remains of the Canis, digesting them, converting them into void energy, before suffusing it into Lucius'' body. In just a few minutes, all of Lucius spent energy, both void and soul was completely replenished. ''[Devour] is very useful. I do not have to waste any time resting to recover my energy.'' Lucius thought to himself. His eyes shone with brightness, as a thought occurred to him: ''During a fight, as long as I have materials around me to devour, I will never run out of energy.'' Fight. Kill. Devour. Fight. Kill. Devour. And so on¡­ Void Eaters were bona fide perpetual machines. Not only will they never run out of energy, but they would also actively absorb the strengths of their prey to continuously grow in power! No wonder they are the most abhorrent species in the Universe. Being done with his analysis, Lucius was about to crouch down and personally eat the Canis in front of him, when his inner pocket suddenly shook. Deactivating the scythe and placing it on his waist, Lucius reached into his robes and brought out the source of the disturbance. A dark-gold crystal increasingly grew in brightness while rapidly quivering. Lucius then controlled his soul power pouring it into the crystal. Similar to a ravenous beast dying from hunger, the crystal greedily devoured Lucius'' soul power. The more it ate, the more the golden radiance increased, and the faster it shook. Wrooong! With a sharp humming sound, the crystal suddenly started to revolve around its axis, while floating up into the air. It resembled a miniatures sun, providing intense brightness to this dark, dreary forest. Feeling his eyes sting from the brightness, Lucius hurriedly closed his eyes, spreading his soul power to observe the changes. The revolution of the crystal grew faster and faster, releasing waves of condensed, soul power. The golden crystal was evolving! Swooom! Swooom! Swooom! The crystal had already stopped devouring Lucius'' soul power, instead, forming miniature tornados, drawing the world''s spiritual energy. Forming a cocoon of light surrounding the crystal, it continued to evolve. Crack! With the sound of glass shattering, the brightness disappeared, the tornados dissipated into thin air, and the cocoon of light cracked. Releasing a wave of pure, materialized soul power, a beautiful voice sounded from within the cocoon. "Ya''hallo! The super, amazing, shining star, beautiful, Ka''lor''ah is finally awake! Did ya'' miss me?" Chapter 183: Secrets of the Lords. "Did ya'' miss me?" a jubilant Ka''lor''ah questioned. Facing her excited person, Lucius continued to remain as cold as ice. His eyes calmly stared into the crystal, evaluating Ka''lor''ah''s current level. ''The energy inside the crystal has increased enormously, equaling a Stage 2 being. Good.'' After his evaluation, Lucius nodded his head. Seeing him simply nod his head, Ka''lor''ah grew unsatisfied and aggrieved. ''How you doing, Ka''lor''ah'' or perhaps an ''I missed you teacher.'' You could have literally said anything, other than nodding your head! Where is my respect as your teacher?! Ka''lor''ah grumbled within her mind. Descending from the air, she landed onto Lucius'' outstretched palm, while softly cursing. "...such a boring, stupid, disciple. I wonder why I even accepted you back then." "What did you say?" Lucius indifferent asked, failing to catch Ka''lor''ah''s quiet mumbles. "Nothing," Ka''lor''ah waved it off, "Where are we right now? What happened during my sleep? How much time has passed?" Instead of replying, Lucius mentally shared the information with her. With their souls connected, both their minds were connected to each other, allowing them to share their memories and communicate mentally. Of course, this will only work when the parties willingly share. Any attempts at reading each other''s minds will be met with failure. Rapidly devouring the shared information, Ka''lor''ah started to understand the events that had transpired after her slumber, starting from leaving the Icy Planet. Receiving Lucius'' memories, Ka''lor''ah was almost instantly filled with shock. "WHAT?! Th-this temple! I-it'' can''t be ''that place'', right?!" Ka''lor''ah couldn''t hide the astonishment in her voice. "It should be ''that place'', or something related to the ''key''. I personally witnessed the mirage of the temple." Lucius nonchalantly replied, against all odds however, his tone contained a faint bit of excitement. "This is wonderful!" Ka''lor''ah screamed with exhilaration. He then began to jump in Lucius'' palms, glowing with alternating brightness. Calming herself down, Ka''lor''ah started to communicate with Lucius within his mind. Fortunately, due to her newly increased strength, she was able to barely isolate the two of them from the influence of ''Rule of Cause'', allowing them to communicate some secret matters which would otherwise be detected by the Lords. Any mention of information directly related to them will be detected by the Lords. Thankfully, my abilities have grown after my evolution. Ka''lor''ah sighed to herself in relief and cast a new spell. [Isolation Barrier] ''To think that little Olivia is connected to the Temple of Fairness! Her Cause is even more amazing than I thought? As expected of my second disciple.'' Ignoring how Ka''lor''ah casually admitted Olivia as her second disciple, Lucius continued. ''You are better versed in ancient history than me? What do you think? Is she related to the Arbiters?'' Lucius questioned. The Temple of Fairness was a very ancient organization that was established in the ''First Era'' by the Overlord. Being the leader of all Lords, the Overlord had created the Temple of Fairness during his reign, as a medium to ensure order and balance in the otherwise chaotic Universe. Being under his direct leadership and command, it was the strongest organization in the Universe. The Arbiters, also called the Executors of Order, were the warriors of the Temple of Fairness. These beings were personally created by the Overlord and acted to maintain the order of the Universe. With the Universe having only recently born, conflicts between various species was common over living space and resources. Each day was filled with countless deaths and births, as various species grew increasingly bloody and savage. Being the ones chosen by the Overlord, the Arbiters played the role of a referee, making sure that no species went overboard. Their strengths were at the highest having personally received the Overlord''s teachings. With their participation, the chaos in the Universe gradually calmed and peace was built for the first time. The Primordial Species cooperated with each other, sharing technology, resources, and knowledge, resulting in the Universe at its most prosperous. However, the tides of time were unfeeling and disaster soon struck. The Overlord suddenly disappeared, resulting in the Temple of Fairness lost their leader and biggest supporter. Having lost its pillar of support, the organization rapidly weakened. Conflict arose with the various species, which was then further instigated by the selfish Lords. With the Overlord having gone missing, the possibility of a Lord ascending to the seat of the Overlord and replacing him as the strongest individual in the Universe took root within the minds of the Lords. However, due to the limitations placed upon them by the Rules resulting in their inability to directly act upon the Universe, the Lords were stuck in an impasse. Thinking that the key to ascension lay within the Temple of Fairness and the Arbiters who had received the Overlord''s teachings, the Lords started to indirectly influence and manipulate the Primordial Races, setting them up against the Temple. However, even the weakened Temple of Fairness was still much stronger than the other races. With the instruction of the Overlord being their purpose for existence, they fought till the last man executing their sacred duty. An innumerable number of Arbiters fell, dragging with them thousands of Primordial Races and an uncountable number of lifeforms. The First Era ended with the extinction of the Arbiters and the fall of the Temple of Fairness. Since then, all knowledge about the Arbiters and the Temple of Fairness disappeared from the Universe. Only the surviving races in the war against the Temple still remember their existence. Ka''lor''ah race was one of them. ''I know as much as you know. However, seeing the scenes in your memories, the possibility of it being something else is very less. It has to be the Temple of Fairness!'' Ka''lor''ah declared. ''We cannot let her go! If we can get something, anything related to the Overlord or the Arbiters, the success of our plan will increase by a large margin! Little Olivia is officially a very, very, very important asset!'' Seeing that her strength was rapidly being exhausted by the isolation barrier, the two of them stopped their mental conversation and returned to verbally talking "Where is she, right now? I don''t see her anywhere. Use that good-for-nothing face of yours to seduce her and bind her to our camp!" Ka''lor''ah exclaimed. Lucius did not reply but continued to transmit memories into her. "What?! You taught her the ideology of a Killer?! What the hell is wrong with you?!" "Wait, why this is stupid girl listening wholeheartedly and even accepting it?! No, this can''t do! I have to immediately stop her before she turns into another you!" "Ah? You lost control again? And you...." Ka''lor''ah non-existent pupils shrunk. "You actually killed a group of Bertarians?! That too the children of the Governor of the largest city in Pectron?!" "Why did you provoke those bunch of crazies?! You know how petty they are, exacting revenge for the smallest of things! YOu just made our plans in Pectron so much more difficult!!" "Wait, no.... YOU THEN ATE THEM?!" Ka''lor''ah could feel her imaginary heart collapse. "Finished! Those crazies are never going to give up chasing us. It''s going to impossible to reach Stage 3 in three years." "Wait, wait, wait... chotto matte! You went to Pandemonium and immediately started a fight with one of the big gangs! Why?! What possible benefit did you see results in this action!!" "What...?! You can absorb the strengths of the other races and [Annihilation Energy] can nullify soul power?! That''s too OP! I demand the GM, this is simply cheating!" Then, Ka''lor''ah suddenly grew quiet. "Lucius...." "...yeah." Lucius nonchalantly spoke. "Did you seriously dump all your mess into the hands of that little girl and run away?" "It was a test." Lucius solemnly replied. "Test my ass! "Tell me the truth! Did you or did you not, get excited by the changes to your body and the clues to advancement that you rushed to leave the city and test it?!" Unbothered by her accusations, Lucius calmly replied: "Advancing my strength is my first priority. Besides, only under immense pressure will her potential be brought out to its fullest." "Sophistry! Your lies might deceive that inexperienced girl, but cannot deceive me! We have to immediately return before she gets killed or ends up even worse!" Ka''lor''ah urged him. Staring at the crystal held within his palm, Lucius firmly replied. "No." His tone was absolute, leaving no room for debate. "Arbiter or not, she was never part of our original plans. As such, while her inclusion would increase the success of our plans, she is not necessary for its success." "This test will determine her usefulness as a tool." His eyes flashed with disdain and indifference, mixed with a bit of loftiness. Looking at his gaze, Ka''lor''ah immediately understood that Lucius was currently being influenced by his previous Stage 7 [Killer] personality. Under its influence, Lucius'' emotions and feelings would be forcibly erased, turning him into an emotionless killer. He would instinctively feel disdain and unlike towards all others, becoming untrusting and uncooperative. For a Stage 7 [Killer] turning into an emotionless, unfeeling, murder was both a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing because this is his strongest state, making him truly invulnerable, devoid of any and all mental influence(s). A curse because, he would no longer feel anything; happiness, sadness, love, hate, joy, pleasure, nothing¡­ he would in the truest sense become indifferent. Having no emotions and feeling nothing, also meant, having no self awareness or purpose. And without self awareness or purpose, can a person even be considered to be living? They would simply become a mindless puppet, whose only sense of the world is to kill. To kill and nothing else. This was the cost for unparalleled strength. This was the price for becoming a [Killer]. And Lucius having once reached Stage 7 in this soul had once paid this price. ''I hoped that with his soul changing into a different type, he wouldn''t have to walk the same path for a second time. However, it seems I have been too hopeful.'' Ka''lor''ah thought in melancholy. ''However¡­I won''t give up! Your feelings, your emotions, your purpose for living, everything that you sacrificed in your previous life, I will help you regain them!'' ''This is my promise to you!'' Ka''lor''ah declared. -------------- Chapter 184: A Hidden Injury. Having firmly replied to Ka''lor''ah, Lucius was about to resume eating the Canis when his body suddenly froze. The expression on his face fiercely twisted with pain, letting out a beastly roar from his mouth. "AHHHH!!" Lucius dropped the crystal and tightly clutched his head. In the depths of his mindspace, an enormous black tidal wave of energy assaulted the blurry, silhouette in the middle. The crystalline clouds of soul power, which stood in between, had no chance in resisting this wave of foul energy. In but an instant, Lucius'' Stage 1 soul was flooded with a massive amount of emotion and desire, chief of which were madness and hunger. Just a moment ago while talking with Ka''lor''ah, transparent sword-like energy had suddenly attacked, erasing his thoughts and feelings, reverting him to his aloof, uncaring state. Having cultivated the [Killer] soul in his previous life, whenever Lucius'' emotions cross a certain threshold, his soul would release a wave of energy, erasing all of his feelings and thus, emptying his mind. The [Annihilator] being a mutated version of the [Killer] also had this side-effect. With his mind now devoid of any feelings, this black wave of emotions originating from his Void Eater''s bloodline caught Lucius him at his weakest moment. Right now, Lucius'' consciousness was being consumed by his body''s primal instincts! The color of his face alternated between paleness and redness, as his muscles contracted and his veins bulged. Pain, like none he had ever felt before, attacked his mind dragging him into an abyss of suffering. Lucius felt his consciousness tearing under the intensity of his emotions. Crack! Crack! The sound of bones cracking sounded out, as Lucius continued to squeeze his head with his hands. He seemed to be unconsciously using the entirety of his strength, trying to crush his head to relieve the pain. "AHHHHHH!!" Letting out another beastly roar, Lucius collapsed onto the ground. His entire body started to painfully writhe, as his facial expression grew increasingly twisted. Muscles began to twist and warp and his black-colored blood seemed to flow in reverse. His heart rate increased exponentially, surpassing 500 BPM. Blood started to leak from his five facial orifices, with the look in his eyes turning maddened and savage. His body slowly started to radiate a horrifying aura. An aura that wanted to devour everything in existence! Just as he was about to lose himself to his instincts, the [Annihilator] soul, at the center of his mindspace, finally countered. The air above his head started to twist, as a sudden outburst of dense [Annihilation Energy] shot off from within his body, instantly vaporizing his immediate surroundings. The loosened dirt, fallen leaves, a portion of the dead Canis, everything had immediately vanished! "LUCIUS!!" Ka''lor''ah screamed, startled by his sudden change. Having instinctively sensed danger, she had immediately reacted barely escaping from the destruction caused by Lucius'' [Annihilation Energy]. Floating in the air at a distance of 5m from him, she then started to gather her soul power. "[Paralyze!]!" Finishing her cast, Ka''lor''ah bellowed. A ball of golden energy formed in the air, which then moved towards Lucius. Arriving over his head, the ball of energy suddenly burst and a gentle rain of light started to fall. A silver-golden light fell atop Lucius'' body, sinking into his muscles and calming his boiling blood. The painful shivers of his muscles started to decrease as the gentle light continued to shine upon him. The frenzied blood and void energy also started to calm down, and his heart rate had also begun to stabilize. Within a few seconds, Lucius'' body finally calmed, stiffly kneeling on the ground. Seeing that her spell was effective, Ka''lor''ah slightly calmed. She then searched through her memories, trying to find a mental-type spell that could placate Lucius'' mind. With her increased level, the number of spells that she could cast had also greatly risen. ''This¡­no this won''t work! Maybe this one¡­? No! Oh, wait, here it is!'' Finding a spell that seemed suitable, she immediately began to chant. Golden-colored soul power gathered in the air in front of air, forming the structure of her spell. When the final words fell, a miniature lance of light formed in the air, and shot towards Lucius'' head. "[Restoring Order from Chaos: Pacify]!" Almost instantly crossing the distance, the miniature lance pierced into Lucius'' head and entered his mindspace. "AH!" The moment the lance hit his head, Lucius let out a sharp scream. The frightening pained expression on his face instantly disappeared, as Lucius'' eyes suddenly rolled back, exposing the white beneath. His kneeling body wobbled a few times, before falling onto the ground face-flat. The terrifying aura of slaughter, radiating off of his body also disappeared. Within his mindspace, the lance flew to the center of confrontation between the [Annihilators]''s transparent energy and the Void Eater''s mass of emotions. Arriving atop them, the lance exploded shedding light to all corners of the battlefield. The instant, this golden light came into contact with the battling energies, the latter seemed to become sluggish. The wave of black energy seemed to lose its ferocity, as the negative emotions started to quell under the golden light. The transparent [Annihilation Energy] seemed to lose its sharpness before finally stopping its assault. At this moment, a strange balance seemed to form between the three foreign energies. The Void Eater''s desires condensed on the floor of the mindspace forming a pitch-black sea that occasionally tried to stir. Above this sea of emotions, the hazy [Annihilator] soul calmly floated while being surrounded by winds of transparent, sharp, energy. These winds were connected to were floating soul power clouds floating within the sky. The sea was unable to form chaotic waves and the transparent wind was unable to annihilate its surroundings. A subtle balance was formed between these two conflicting parties. In the sky, multiple crystallized clouds of soul energy hid a fiercely burning, golden sun overlooking everything beneath and brightening the originally dark mindspace. [Restoring Order from Chaos: Pacify] was an ancient spell, which had a seemingly useless effect. In fact, after learning the spell from the ancient records felt by her predecessors, this was the first time Ka''lor''ah had used his spell. The explanation for its effects, as recorded in the ancient book is as follows; ''In a system embroiled in chaos, marred by conflict, iniquity reigns supreme. To birth order and quell the chaos, a beacon of light representing tranquility appears. Order breeds Chaos and Chaos births Order.'' This was one of the vaguest and confusing spells, which Ka''or''ah had ever learned. Nonetheless, as a part of her duty, she had no choice but to learn it. In fact, she still had no idea what the spell would actually do! The only reason she had used that spell was due to her instinct and experience as an ex-Stage 7 being. Unexpectedly, this niche spell proved to be of great importance to Lucius, saving him from madness and utter destruction of self. "Ugh¡­" a moan of relief escaped from Lucius'' mouth. "Lucius, are you okay?!" Ka''lor''ah immediately descended from the air and landed near Lucius. She hurriedly spread her senses scanning the state of his body. ''This!'' Seeing the wretched state his body was in, Ka''lor''ah found herself tongue-tied. As a result of the conflict between his bloodline and his soul, Lucius'' body had sustained massive injuries. The majority of his bones were mangled and his muscles were torn. Lucius was bleeding from almost everywhere, with his heart sustaining damage resulting in slow, weak beats. The Void energy that was previously stored within his blood, had unexpectedly moved into his mindspace, forming a vast but shallow ocean. "Ugh..that was¡­bad." Lucius weakly mumbled. Gathering his soul power, she slowly started to mend his heavily injured body. Ka''lor''ah also cast some basic spells to staunch the blood flow. Seeing that he was out of danger, she worriedly asked. "What the hell happened? Weren''t you fine just moments ago?" Lucius did not immediately reply. After fixing his arm bones, Lucius then exerted strength, pulling his body towards the remains of the dead Canis. Crawling his way through the dirt, he arrived near the body. Pulling himself up, Lucius sunk his face into the remains, started to consume them. The conflict had consumed the majority of his void energy. By devouring the remains of this beast, Lucius was slowly recovering his energy. Feasting ravenously on the flesh of the beast, his body immediately began to digest it before converting it into pure void energy. Unlike the previous times, this newly formed energy did not remain within his body but headed into his mindspace. The shallow black sea slowly started to rise in height, as more and more void energy entered the mindspace. His broken body also started to mend faster. Finishing the last bits of the Canis, Lucius let out a satisfied burp. With the majority of his bones and muscles fixed, Lucius no longer had problems moving. Jumping up to his feet, he started to analyze the changes inside his body. ''The capacity of my Void Energy has almost doubled in size, now residing within my mindspace along with my soul power. The conflict and disharmony between my body and soul seem to have finally resolved.'' He let out a sigh of relief. The hidden injury within his body, that had been plaguing him for a long time was finally resolved today. Opening his eyes, Lucius saw a dimly shining crystal floating before his face. "Are you okay? What was that?" Ka''lor''ah worriedly asked. Chapter 185: The Plan. Nodding his head calmly, Lucius replied. "I''m fine now." He shrugged, dusting off his clothes. "What the heck happened? Why did you soul and void energies suddenly go berserk?" asked with concern. She felt a little troubled by Lucius'' nonchalant attitude. "The conflict of energies was the result of a hidden injury that I had sustained some time back." Done dusting his clothes, Lucius calmly explained. "In the fight against the Bertarian squad, the usage of [State of Devour] had overdrawn the bloodline of the Void Eater. After the fight, I was unable to use my racial abilities for some time." "At that time, I hadn''t thought much of this and shook it off as a side-effect of drawing too much power and exhausting my body. However, when my abilities returned a few weeks back, I noticed that their powers had significantly increased." "Here is where the issue lied; some amounts of the Void Eater''s primal instincts had actually polluted my mindspace. A large mass of black-colored energy, containing pure savagery and madness was trying to alter my consciousness." "The mindspace being the domain of the soul, my soul instinctively counter-attacked. However, what was unexpected was that, instead of chasing the mass of foul energy away, the soul tried to completely destroy it." "The mass of energy was the essence of the Void Eater bloodline. If it is destroyed my body would wither, which would result in me dying." "Such a result is of course, intolerable. Without any method to stop this conflict, I could only watch on and wait until you woke up." "Here comes the second issue. Soul power will be automatically replenished with the passage of time. Void energy, however, requires me to devour things, in order to replenish it." "That is why, I came to the Dark Shade Forest to hunt and devour, in order to maintain the balance between the soul power and the void energy." "Any lack or excess of either of those energies would result in this delicate balance being broken and result in my death. Over these last 3 months, I have been hunting and devouring to replenish the deficit while taking away the excess." "What was unexpected was that your evolution stirred the natural energy around this area, which in turn agitated the two energies within me. This caused them to suddenly go berserk and go for a final attack." "That is what happened. Fortunately, your spell seemed to have solved the issue. Thank you." Lucius performed a perfunctory bow. He then sat down cross-legged and started to recover his soul power, being completely unbothered by his near-death experience. Hearing the lengthy-expression, the crystal lightly shook, while alternating with brightness and dimness. Ka''lor''ah found herself at a loss for words. Lucius'' tone and expression during his explanation were neutral. His explanation almost sounded as if he was describing someone else''s situation and not his own. ''This guy...'' looking at Lucius'' expressionless face, she sighed to herself and did not think further. To others, obtaining a second chance to live their lives meant making up for the regrets of their past life, or perhaps, achieving a goal that they had failed to in their previous life. They would strive to live their lives to the fullest while treasuring every single second. Many did it for the sake of seeking revenge. Some strived for fame, others tried to become the strongest existence in the world. A few, even strived for eternal life, seeking to become immortal. Lucius, however, was none of these people. He had no desires or wishes, was indifferent to fame and fortune, and sought to neither become the strongest nor become immortal. He simply wanted to execute his plan. And his plan was¡­ to make this Universe free from the control of the Lords. To escape from the bindings of ''Their'' wills and to truly become ''free''. Nothing is truly free in this Universe. Even in death, one''s soul returns to the Beyond, before being used to create a new life. Each and every single living being is bound by invisible constraints that dictate and manipulate their pasts, presents, and futures, influencing each of their actions. This restriction is called by many names; Destiny, Fate, Chance¡­In its essence, however, it is but a form of binding. The restriction of freedom. And to escape from this control was his objective. This was his sole purpose for living and growing in strength each day. This was the goal, for which he would not hesitate to sacrifice anything and everything. Even if the price was his own life. And being another who shared this goal with him, Ka''lor''ah knew that nothing she could say otherwise would stop his almost suicidal struggle. ''A little at a time. I can only try to convince him to care more for himself, a little at a time.'' ---------- Almost an hour passed before Lucius finally stopped his meditation. With the help of Ka''lor''ah''s spell, he had finally stabilized the disharmony and dissonance between his body and soul and resolved the hidden problems. "Are you finished recovering?" Ka''lor''ah softly asked, to which Lucius nodded his head. "Finally, I was starting to get creeped out by this forest. Let''s start moving!" exhaling a sigh of relief, Ka''lor''ah cheerfully stated. "So what''s our game plan? Now that you have resolved your problems, are we staying here or¡­?" Ka''lor''ah asked. Lucius had originally come to the Dark Shade Forest to devour the living things inside, replenish the energies in his body while waiting for Ka''lor''ah to wake up. Now that his main purpose was completed, Lucius started to ponder his subsequent actions. "We should continue staying here. I had some enlightenment on the conditions for my advancement, staying here to battle would perhaps provide me with the opportunity." Lucius stated. "Though so, you battle-freak. I can only hope that my second disciple isn''t like you," Ka''lor''ah shook her ''head'', "That poor little girl whose pure heart was tainted by your twisted world view." She jested. Ignoring her words, Lucius prepared to move in search of Wild Beasts to kill. However, Ka''lor''ah suddenly interrupted: "Wait a second!" "What?" Lucius turned around and asked the floating crystal. After her evolution, Ka''lor''ah was able to use the natural spiritual energy of the world to sustain herself. She was no longer strictly reliant on Lucius'' soul power, thus allowing her to move around more freely. "Oh oh oh, aren''t you interested in my ''newly'' unlocked abilities?" Ka''lor''ah spoke in a mysterious tone, containing a hint of gloating. "Not really." Lucius shook his head and curtly replied. He then started to move once more. "Hehe, of course, I''ll tell¡­.wait what?" Ka''lor''ah started off with a pleased tone, only to hear Lucius'' curt reply. Seeing his complete disinterest in her, Ka''lor''ah stiffened with shock. Seeing him heartlessly turn around and abandon her, Ka''lor''ah finally moved. "WAIT, DON''T GO!" she flew at full speed and arrived before Lucius'' body, blocking. "Jeez, wait for a second!" she complained, her tone filled with resentment. "Stop wasting time." Lucius cruelly replied. Ka''lor''ah seemed to grow angry at his response. With a grumpy voice, she heartlessly exposed him. "Do you know where you currently are inside the forest?" Silence. "Did you bring a map, detailing the location and terrain of this forest?" Silence. "Did you at least leave some sort of marking to find your way out of this forest?" Silence. "Hehe, you have no idea which portion of the forest you are in, right? In other words, you''re lost, aren''t ya?" Ka''lor''ah smugly concluded. Lucius quietly lowered his head and did not reply. Ka''lor''ah''s words were completely true. Currently, Lucius had no idea where he was, what the terrain of the forest was, the distribution of the beast groups, the forbidden areas, etc. Heck, he didn''t even know the way out! Upon entering the forest, Lucius simply moved in a fixed direction, until he came across a group of beasts. He then fought them, killing them and consuming their remains, and repeating the above actions once again. While this method had worked for a while, its effectiveness was slowly dropping with his continued hunt. So much so, that he was only able to hunt 1-2 beast groups every three days when at the beginning he managed to hunt 3-4 beast groups every hour. Having lived with Lucius for almost 30 years in their previous life, Ka''lor''ah was familiar with most of his habits. "Thought so," Ka''lor''ah stated. "What ability did you gain?" Seeing that he had no way to argue with her, Lucius simply gave in and asked her. "Hehehe, glad you asked," having her vanity satisfied, Ka''lor''ah giggled before continuing, "For you see! I have just the right thing, to solve your problem!" "Behold my latest skill, [Greater Area Detection]!" she exclaimed. Waves of invisible energy spread in all four directions, with Ka''lor''ah being the center. She then projected a screen of light on which, a ''mini-map'' was being compiled. Chapter 186: Stone Skin Tribe. Part 1 Wave after wave of invisible energy spread out with the brightly shining dark gold crystal as the center. On the rectangular screen of light projected by Ka''lor''ah, a detailed 3D map of the surrounding forest started to take shape. This map was incredibly detailed to the point that it recorded everything in great detail; the tall tree, swaying leaves, the traces on the ground where Lucius had fought with the Beast group, not a single detail was missed! Seeing this ability, even Lucius showed his astonishment on his face. A map was very important for traveling and during hunting as it would increase the efficiency of the trip. Although he had managed to make do for the last three months by relying on his experience and senses, he could not continue doing so anymore. The Stage 2 Wild Beasts also possessed a considerable amount of intelligence. When they perceive danger or feel that something is wrong, they would not hesitate to avoid it and move away. "Hahaha, that''s how awesome I am! Your hunting efficiency would increase by at least 10 times!!" seeing the surprise on Lucius'' face, Ka''lor''ah broke into spirited laughter and bragged. Facing her self-serving remarks, Lucius rolled his eyes not bothering to reply. With Ka''lor''ah''s deliberate attempt, the previously awkward and grim atmosphere was washed away. The matter of Lucius'' almost losing his life was quickly forgotten. "What''s the range of the ability?" Lucius questioned. "Just watch." Ka''lor''ah mysteriously replied while hastening the spread of her power. Soon, a large detailed picture of the surrounding formed within the map. "1km¡­5km¡­10km¡­" Ka''lor''ah quietly mumbled as the map continued to grow. "15km¡­20km¡­30km¡­Strange," Ka''lor''ah sounded confused, "how come I haven''t detected a single Wild Beast in a 30km radius?" She continued to infuse more and more of her power, continuingly increasing the range of detection. The map expanded by a dozen-fold and soon displayed the 50km radius surrounding them in detail. If Ka''lor''ah had possessed a physical body, right now, beads of sweat would be forming on her forehead. The greater the range of the map, the greater the consumption of her power. "¡­it can''t be. Is this broken?" A dejected voice exited the crystal body. "What happened?" Lucius plainly asked. "I scanned the 55km radius surrounding us, but couldn''t detect a single life from. Heck, there is not a single living organism present in a 55km radius surrounding us!" Ka''lor''ah''s tone sounded unsure. Her initial excitement had already dampened, as she started to wonder whether she had used the correct spell. Leave aside the large beasts, to not even detect small insects and bugs within such a large radius. Wasn''t it too strange and eerie? Ka''lor''ah then canceled the spell and started to recast it. This time along with [Greater Area Detection], she also used [Life Sense]. Usually [Greater Area Detection] also had the function of detecting life forms within its range. Casting [Life Sense] along with it, was redundant and a waste of soul power. However, Ka''lor''ah cast it anyway, to check whether her first spell worked correctly. The process was repeated and detailed map of the terrain was formed. Their current position seemed to be somewhere deep into the dense forest terrain. Other than humungous trees, grossly overgrown grass and shrubs, strewn leaves, there existed an innumerable number of mushrooms each one colored exotically and vibrantly. Some of the mushroom stalks were as large as a finger''s length, while some were almost as large as Lucius. They existed in almost every color imaginable and radiated a dark, poisonous aura. While Ka''lor''ah was busy trying to figure out what was wrong with her spell, Lucius was busy studying the map and comparing it with his memories, to check whether or not he had already explored these areas. "Come on, this can''t be real! Doesn''t a single life exist within such a large area?! Not even a worm, or a mosquito?!" Ka''lor''ah was on the verge of pulling her ''hairs'' out. After her second attempt, not even [Life Sense] detected any signs of any living beings whatsoever. ''It''s almost as if some kind of disaster has swept through these lands. Wait, a second¡­disaster?'' she immediately turned around to face the deeply pondering Lucius. Inhaling a breath of the natural spiritual energy, Ka''lor''ah questioned Lucius in the most neutral voice possible. "Say, you wouldn''t have anything to do with this extreme and utter lack of any and all living being, would you?" Awakened from his thoughts by her question, Lucius thought for a moment before replying. "I''m not sure. I wasn''t really paying attention to what I was devouring. I had my shadow fully expanded and [Devour] constantly activated during all times." "Oh and, I have already explored all these areas, clearing all the beast groups within. We can head in this direction." He calmly replied and started to run in the North-East direction. It was Ka''lor''ah''s turn to become speechless. ''Void Eaters¡­truly deserving of their title as the Ender of All Life.'' Ka''lor''ah thought to herself. With a low voice, she quietly said, "Freak...," before chasing behind Lucius. ----------- Sometime later in an unknown portion of the Dark Shade Forest. "Two Silver Fist Apes, directly above you!" "GWAARRHH!!" a pair of beastly roars echoed. Having their position exposed by the enemy, the two 3m tall ape-like beasts, having grey-colored fur and silver fists, leapt from their base atop the large, pillar-like tree, no longer caring about their ambush. With their fists drawn back and angled downward, they infused their silver-colored soul power into their arms to accumulate the strength of their punch. Their auras revealed their strengths as Stage 2 beings. Their eyes had already turned bloodshot, as hatred clouded their thoughts. Right now, the only thought that occupied their mind was to utterly crush this hateful creature that was swinging a large, stick-shaped weapon with a curved blade attached to its top. Underneath his feet were a mountain of corpses formed of the men, women, and children of Silver Fist Apes. Blood flowed from each of the corpses forming a lake underneath the mountain. Each body contained gruesome injuries; some having their heads cut off, some having their limbs chopped off, some had their chests pierced and their hearts crushed. A mixture of blood, flesh, and bones created a twisted scene that seemed to be straight out of hell. ¡ºKILL!!¡»they screeched in unison, punching forth with all their might. A condensed pillar of silver light exploded forth towards the scythe-swinging enemy, slaughtering their kin. To understand what''s going on, let''s go a few hours back. Silver Fist Apes was a Grade 3 life form that resided within the humongous trees inside the Dark Shade Forest. Their builds were large and muscular and their stature ranged from 2.8m in children and almost 4m in adults. They were an intelligent species that possessed both brains and brawn, living within properly constructed houses and having established the tribal system. Many tribes of Silver Fist Apes, lived across the Dark Shade Forest and were one of the dominant races within. Being a Grade 3 species, the Silver Fist Apes weren''t born with an awakened soul. Upon reaching adulthood, each member of the race would undergo a special ritual hosted by the ''Shamans'' of the tribes, after which their soul cultivation journey would officially begin. Being Wild Beasts, they were endowed with greater physical strength compared to the other humanoid races such as the Lacermen, Terran, and Humans to name a few. Rumor has it that, a tribe of Silver Fist Apes had established a city within the depths of the Dark Shade Forest with a Stage 3 Silver Fist Ape acting as its protector. This Stage 3 Beast was one of the few Stage 3 beings on Pectron. One such tribe was the Stone Skin Tribe. The Stone Skin tribe was a relatively new tribe, having been established only in the last 100 years or so. Its entire population consisted of almost a thousand Silver Fist Apes, with a few hundred Stage 1 being and almost a dozen Stage 2 beings. According to the records left by the previous Tribe Leaders, the Stone Skin tribe was established by a Peak-Level Stage 2 couple, when traveling through the Dark Shade Forest. This couple, having met by chance near a prosperous lake had fallen in love with each other and decided to copulate and settle down, thus having established the current Stone Skin Tribe. Located in the Outer-Middle Region of the Dark Shade Forest, the entire village was built on the wooden houses atop trees, surrounding this serene lake. The inhabitants did not bother to explore much, being self-sufficient and contained with their present area. However, all of this changed today, when a group of adventurous teenage Silver Fist Apes decided to leave the boundaries of their village and explore the unknown. Kroon was one of the adventurous teenagers, a young adult on the cusp of reaching adulthood. Reaching adulthood meant undergoing the ritual to become an ''Enlightened'' and harsh training for the next 10 years of his youthful life. For a vigorous teenage Silver Fist Ape, this period was hellish, albeit a necessary part of their life. A few days back, one of his close buddies had the idea of adventuring past the borders of their village. The idea of exploring the unknown, coupled with the looming fate of harsh training had instantly spurred these teens into moving. As fate would have it, they ran into a solitary Traveler and his talking crystal. The majority of their group was instantly killed, all except Kroon who luckily survived. With his mental state having collapsed under the death of his companions and fear, Kroon ran like the wind towards his village, hoping to have the warriors save his life. Little did he know, this exact action of his brought the greatest disaster faced by the Stone Skin Tribe ever since their founding, right to their doorstep. Chapter 187: Stone Skin Tribe. Part 2 ¡ºKILL!!¡» ¡ºDIE DEMON!!¡» The two Low-Level Stage 2 warriors of the Stone Skin tribe, jumped from their perches, towards Lucius who was standing atop the mountain of corpses. His face remained indifferent, as he leisurely swung about his scythe reaping the lives of the residents of the Stone Skin Tribe. The gaze of this pair of ambushing Silver Fists Apes was saturated with hatred and pain. Their faces were completely twisted and their eyes were bloodshot. Their silver-colored fists which were drawn back had finally accumulated their full power, as seen from the silver curtain of light covering their fists. Pouring the entirety of their strength and grievances into their fists, they punched out. Boom! The sharp sound of air breaking resounded, as the two pairs of fists broke the sound barrier. Pillars of silver light exploded forth, heading towards Lucius'' head. If the attack was to connect, his head would be crushed and Lucius would die. "Finally decided to come out, huh?" Lucius'' calm voice suddenly sounded out. Lifting his head, he gazed towards the pair of falling Silver Fist Apes. Lucius'' mouth curved into a smile, as he calmly watched the pillars of silver light head towards him. Seeing the smile on this slaughter''s face, a shiver ran down the spine of this pair of Wild Beats. An ominous feeling filled their mind and the confidence within their heart disappeared. Seeing a fatal attack come towards him, the enemy did not flinch or show fear. ''He''s looking at us with¡­disdain?" being a Wild Beast kind with considerable intelligence, they could recognize the emotion that Lucius'' smile portrayed. He was actually smiling with disdain. "I''ve wasted enough time. Time to finish this." Saying so, Lucius suddenly disappeared from their eyes. Their mighty punches which were just inches away from meeting his head had suddenly lost their target. BOOOM! BANG! Carrying the complete strength of two Stage 2 beings, the silver-colored pillars landed on the corpse mountain and exploded. Heat, light, and immense tyrannical pressure erupted, crushing and incinerating the mountain of corpses. The lake of crimson blood underneath the mountain spontaneously began to boil and instantly evaporated from the heat. In a single attack, more than 60% of this 50ft tall mountain of corpses was destroyed. BANG! Another loud explosion sounded, as the mighty bodies of the two warriors landed on the ground. Trying to stand up, their knees buckled. They had poured every ounce of energy that they possessed into that attack. Having used everything they had, they now possessed neither physical strength nor soul power. ¡ºWh-where did that demon go?¡» one of the warriors looked around in confusion and asked. Their attacks contained their peak strength and their time of ambush was also perfect. But the demon which should have fallen to their assassination had suddenly disappeared at the final moment! After arriving at the Stone Skin Tribe, Lucius did not waste any time and immediately started his indiscriminate slaughter. With Ka''lor''ah acting as the radar, Lucius sought out every Stage 2 warrior at the beginning and fought them first. The Stone Skin Tribe possessed a dozen Stage 2 warriors all of whom were at Low-Level. With Lucius'' combat experience and his cheat-like body, he had no problem killing 10 of them at the same time. After getting rid of the top-level combatants he then began to leisurely slaughter the Stage 1 and unawakened beings, devouring their bodies and soul whenever he felt either of his energy run low (void and soul). After his mindspace had undergone a change and his two energies started to co-exist within his body, Lucius discovered that his abilities, both his soul''s and body''s had vastly improved. [Annihilation Energy] which used to previously exist as separate energy within his mindspace, had now become a property/attribute of his soul power. Lucius could now freely switch between pure, unattributed soul power and [Annihilation Energy]. [Annihilation Intent] and [Flaw Detection] also saw their power and rage increasing, becoming more powerful and versatile. The changes to his racial abilities were even greater. [Devour] seemed to have its efficiency improved as Lucius was able to convert more void energy for lesser amounts of food. [Void Hands] had their range and number of appendages increase to 50m and 300 tentacles, respectively. His control over the ability had also become much smoother, seemingly having released from some invisible bindings. Its cost of activation had also decreased. [Void Steps] also had its range improve to a whopping 150 meters for a measly 10% of his void energy at a max distance! Its process for activation had also become much faster and discrete, as the annoying ''loading time'' (the black shadows rising to cover Lucius and drag him inside) had also disappeared. On the whole, Lucius found it easier and much smoother to control his body, as his soul finally stopped conflicting with his body. It would be fair to say, that Lucius'' comprehensive combat ability had doubled after these changes. Another good news was that Lucius could vaguely feel the invisible wall blocking his advancement into Stage 2. It was only a matter of time before he could advance.'' ¡ºH-how could he disappear?¡» his partner also sounded confused. ¡ºCould he be a ghost?¡» the first warrior hesitantly spoke his mind. After seeing Lucius easily kill ten of their kin of similar strength, these two warriors knew that they would stand no chance in a direct confrontation against the demon. Gritting their teeth and steeling their minds, they decided to hide within the thick canopy of trees, waiting for an opportunity to deal a fatal blow. While this plan sounded perfect on paper, the matter of executing it, in reality, was almost impossible. Lucius found it too troublesome to climb the tree and force them out/ wasteful to use [Void Steps] to teleport behind them. Thinking so, he completely ignored them and started to kill the other Silver Fist Apes. The two warriors, who were waiting for their enemy to drop his guard were enraged by his actions of genocide. More so, when one of the warriors saw Lucius behead his wife and child in a single attack. Unable to hold their rage, they moved to a position above Lucius and exploded forth with their attack. However, with Ka''lor''ah''s presence on the battlefield, their ambush was doomed to fail. She had been paying attention to his pair of despicable ambushers the whole time and ''kindly'' provided Lucius a heads-up when the act. Not that he needed her warning anyway. Just as the two warriors exchanged their thoughts about Lucius being a demonic ghost, growing increasingly fearful by the second, the sound of footsteps resounded. Step, step, step. Turning their heads back, they could see the demon garbed with a black-robe reeking with fresh blood, calmly walking towards them a scythe. The demon''s pair of eyes shone with alternate colors of blood-red and bright gold, as he gazed at them with menace and contempt. Apart from the slight smile present on its face, the demon looked aloof and uncaring. The contrast between Lucius''s pale, handsome face and his bloody, demonic appearance, made these two warriors lose control over their bowels. Any and all traces of anger, courage, and hatred had completely disappeared giving way to fear, panic, and mostly helplessness. Lucius arrived before their kneeling bodies and quietly stood there, gazing into their eyes. Knowing that their fates were sealed, the two warriors felt aggrieved. With teary eyes and a shaky voice, they asked. ¡ºWhy? What did our tribe do to offend you?¡» ¡ºWhy must you kill all of us? What hatred do you bear?¡» Slash! Slash! The sound of a blade cutting across the air was heard twice. Thud! Thud! The heads of both the warrior fell from their bodies and landed on the ground. Their bodies were unable to stabilize themselves also followed. "Those two should be the last ones!" a cheerful voice, resounded from the air. Ka''lor''ah floated down from her point of vantage and spoke to Lucius. Using [Greater Area Detection], she had concluded that this tribe of Silver Fist Apes had completely been cleared. "How about it? Do you feel any closer to advancing?" she curiously questioned. Lucius shook his head and plainly replied. "No. That battle was hardly of any worth. I can still feel the distance between myself and that wall." After saying so, he bent down and started to manually devour the two warriors Although he wasn''t feeling hungry, he still used [Devour] in order to absorb the special ability of the Silver Fist Tribes. Within a few moments, Lucius had completely devoured the two remains. His two hands suddenly started to glow with a silver light, as his arms underwent a mutation. "Finally." Lucius nodded with satisfaction. After consuming all the awakened and nearly 400 of the unawakened of the Silver Fist Apes, Lucius had gotten their unique characteristic of strengthened arm muscles and bones. ''The power of my fists must have increased by at least 50%'' Lucius analyzed. It was then... "Answer me seriously." Ka''lor''ah suddenly spoke with a serious tone. Chapter 188: Insignificance. AN: Little thing I forgot to mention in the last chapter. The void energy consumption for [Void Steps] is not constant and will depend on certain factors; distance traveled, people/items being carried along with the user, time spent on staying inside the Void, and most importantly, the density of the ''Rules'' present in that place. (or spiritual energy, remember spiritual energy is the carrier for the Rules.) To iterate, if Lucius was to use [Void Steps] in Mankind''s region of the Universe, at max range it will consume less than 1% of his void energy. Inversely, if he was to use his ability, say in the center of the Universe (oldest region), he might consume all of his void energy and still travel less than a meter. (at his current strength that is). The reason I''m explaining this right now, if in the future, you see Lucius abuse this cheat power, it will be because of the above-stated reason. While I will explain it once more, please don''t quote the previous chapter and say that I''m being illogical in the future. That being said enjoy the latest chapter. ----------------- "Answer me seriously," Ka''lor''ah asked seriously and her tone turned an octave deeper. Raising his head from inspecting his hands, Lucius stared at the floating crystal and flatly asked: "What?" "When you eat those remains, do you actually taste anything?" Ka''lor''ah asked curiously. Hearing that question, Lucius was caught off-guard for a second. Looking at the brightly shining crystal, he found himself at a loss for words. "You understand my question, right? When you use [Devour] are you actually able to taste the raw flavor of the meat or is it just tasteless?" "Oh and, if you do taste something, what is it comparable to? Is it similar to the stuff you''ve eaten before or is it different?" "And, and.., what about the texture? How does the texture of different meats feel? Is it true that most meats taste and feel similar to chicken or is it just an urban myth?" Not noticing Lucius'' dazed expression, Ka''lor''ah continued to rapidly fire her questions. The more she continued to talk, the greater the excitement and curiosity could be felt in her voice. If she had possessed body, one would''ve been able to see the passion glowing within her gaze and the drool that leaked from the edges of her mouth. Having been an avid collector of various species in her previous life, Ka''lor''ah found joy in learning about the various traits of different species. She possessed the most complete and detailed encyclopedia on the various races in the Universe, both extinct and living. This encyclopedia was her proudest creation, with one of her dreams being; completing this encyclopedia with the records of every single race, that has ever existed in the Universe! The Void Eater was an almost ''mythical race which Ka''lor''ah had only read about in the records of her predecessors. Seeing a live specimen in action right before in front of her, she was unable to restrain her collector/researcher habit, making her unable to hide her curiosity. "Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!" the crystal neared Lucius'' face and continued to shine brighter. Her voice also started to get more and more excited. "Back off." Lucius used his hands to shove away the intruding crystal. He then exhaled a breath of foul air and spoke. "I''ve never really thought about the taste of what I eat. It''s just natural." Lucius shrugged indifferently. After coming to the Dark Shade Forest, Lucius had [Devour] constantly activated. He had used the ability so many times that devouring had become a natural instinct to him. Like breathing. To eat was the natural instinct of a Void Eater. This was also the reason why Ka''lor''ah was unable to detect any life form within the area where Lucius had passed. He had unconsciously ''eaten'' all living beings, insects and bugs included, inside those areas. "Ah, come on! Are you really telling me you don''t know the taste of what you just ate?" Ka''lor''ah held the urge to ''roll her eyes''. She then floated into the air and continued. "You just ate like a thousand of the Silver Fist Apes, and you don''t know what they tasted like?" Lucius nodded his head. It was Ka''lor''ah''s turn to become speechless. A few seconds of awkward silence passed. "This can''t do! Science cannot wait, I need answers!!" Screaming so, Ka''lor''ah flew higher into the air and dashed off in a certain distance. Lucius did not immediately follow her. He looked around and searched for a flat-faced rock, suitable for sitting. After finding one, he walked towards the rock and sat atop it. Removing the ''rod version'' of the scythe from his waist, he pushed down on the indent and extended it. Growing to its usual length, the vein-like patterns on the scythe pulsed with eerie crimson light. Holding the scythe in his hands, Lucius could vaguely feel the bloodlust and joy radiating off of it. ''This Pseudo-Living weaponry really is great. An artificial soul is on the cusp of forming.'' Lucius thought to himself. Undergoing various events in the hands of Lucius, the Pseudo-Living Scythe had undergone strange mutations. The initial technology used in its creation by Reyna was much unpolished and base. Other than possessing some ''smart'' features such as the better transmission of energy, shaping itself to better suit its wielder, the weapon was similar to any other. However, with the constant bloodbath and slaughter, it was subject to in the hands of Lucius, combined with the regular infusion of his soul power, the scythe was on the cusp of evolving into a Living Weapon. Living Weapons were incredibly rare, as the method of its creation was a closely guarded secret by the Ancient and Primordial Races. This was because Living Weapons possessed some incredible abilities. No, talking to its wielder and turning into a humanoid female spirit wasn''t possible. Living Weapons possessed a special ''living soul'' that enabled them to cultivate. Much like their owners, they also possessed the ability to cultivate, growing in strength and Stages. Reaching the higher Stage allowed them to interact with the Rules. This was an ability that normal weapons no matter the material used during creation, were incapable of doing. For a higher Stage being, using a non-living weapon was a disadvantage; as such weapon could not damage beings of similar strength due to the protection and restriction of the Rules. To simply explain, it was similar to using a wooden toothpick to assault an armored tank. The strength of the wielder does not matter when the very nature and order of both items were incomparably different. ''While that girl might be a na?ve idiot, her ability is something to be envious of.'' Lucius thought of the girl, who had made this scythe. One part of the reason why Lucius gave Reyna advanced research on the nature of souls, was to receive such a weapon. After all, according to his memories, Mankind capitalized on this Pseudo-Living Weaponry technology to turn the tides of the war, 10 years in. With Lucius'' involvement, this matter had been brought forward. Stroking the weapon with his hands, Lucius infused his soul power into a weapon. Like a thirsty man who hasn''t had water for a long time finding an oasis, the scythe greedily absorbed Lucius'' pure soul power. ''It''s not perfect and lacks certain items to turn into a proper Living Weapon. After we leave Pectron and go to the next destination, I have to start seeking those items.'' ''The earlier I have a Living Weapon, the better it would be for my future plans.'' Having ''fed'' the weapon for today, Lucius deactivated it and placed it on his scythe again. "Lucius! Come to my location!" Ka''lor''ah''s voice sounded within his mind. It was filled with excitement and interest. Sighing to himself, Lucius got up and quickly dashed towards her location by following the string of energy that connected their souls. Arriving inside the village of the Stone Skin Tribe, Lucius found Ka''lor''ah floating outside a treehouse. "Come inside! Quick!" she hurriedly exclaimed before disappearing inside once more. Exploding the soul power near his feet, Lucius accelerated to his highest speed and jumped. Using [Void Hands] he called out a few pitch-black appendages to act as a ''grappler'' and climbed the 200m tall tree, arriving at the treehouse. Entering the house, Lucius noticed the dead remains of two Silver Fist Apes. Judging from their shapes, it was a male and a female Silver Fist Ape who seemed to be in their teens. Their positions revealed that the two Wild Beasts had ended their lives by cutting off their throats, rather than dying under Lucius scythe. In their final moments, they hugged together and died in each other''s embrace. Looking at this scene, Lucius felt nothing within his heart. A sentimental person might perhaps be moved by their love and resolve, choosing to bury them or offer prayers. They would respect the dead and chose not to desecrate their bodies, offering them this final peace. Lucius however, was not such a person. "Quick eat this and tell me how they taste. Oh wait, almost forgot. Let me use a spell to record this!" And neither was Ka''lor''ah. To these two ex-Stage 7 beings, all things under Stage 7, whether living or dead¡­ ¡­was something disposable and insignificant. Chapter 189: Scents. "[Scene Capture]!" finishing the chant with a yell, intense light shone upon the room. Upon the shining of the light, the colors within the room suddenly deepened. The reds became richer, the yellows became deeper and the greens became even more verdant. As of this moment, every scene that would occur inside this room would be recorded in full detail and be deeply ingrained inside Ka''lor''ah''s memories. The range of the spell was limited to inside this room and its duration depended on the amount of energy possessed by Ka''lor''ah. "You can begin now," Ka''lor''ah said cheerfully. Used to such eccentricities Lucius did not bother to protest. To be honest, Lucius was quite curious about this matter too. Reaching the dead remains, he tore off an arm and took a large bite. Under the assault of hundreds of sharp, pointy teeth inside Lucius'' mouth, the tough bones of the Silver Fist Ape quickly crumbled and headed into his body. Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! ''Mhmm, very crunchy¡­ the muscles inside the arm are also very tough and chewy.'' Idling thoughts occurred within his mind. "Say, say, say, how does it taste?" Ka''lor''ah eagerly asked. Taking a second to finish eating the arm, Lucius quietly stood for a moment to recall the feeling. With his eyes closed, he passed his judgment. "The flesh was tough and gamey, while the bones were hard and bland to taste. The blood itself had a rather unpleasant taste to it and was very coarse. The bone marrow was the only thing that tasted a little better than the others." "On the whole, it was barely any better than food found inside the garbage can." "Pity that the soul has already passed on. The taste of a soul is rather, exquisite." He concluded. Hearing his review, Ka''lor''ah stood dumbfounded for a moment. He was rather shocked by Lucius'' speech. ''He¡ªdid he just give me an actual, serious review?'' she doubted her ability to listen. ''Could this be a dream? Am I dreaming? No wait, I can''t dream.'' She quickly denied that possibility and fell into astonishment again. Knowing Lucius, Ka''lor''ah was expecting a short and curt reply, something like a; ''It''s bad'' or ''I don''t taste anything.'' It was beyond her wildest expectation to receive a proper food critique. "Lucius, are you okay?" Ka''lor''ah''s voice suddenly became one of concern, as she slowly approached him. "Are you feeling unwell? Is there something wrong?" she continued with her questions, going as far as to scan his body with her senses. Opening his eyes, Lucius indifferently stared at her and replied. "No." he then turned around and continued with his eating. ''Strange, tasting it gave birth to a weird sensation within my heart.'' The more he stuffed himself with the remains, the greater this sensation grew. The more this sensation grew, the greater was Lucius''s desire to continue eating and ''tasting''. ''The sinews of the joints are very chewy and have a slightly bitter taste to them. The livers and the heart have an intense odor and are very pungent to taste. These bones are starting to get annoying¡­ still, my desire to eat is becoming greater.'' ''Strange, the flow of blood and the beating of my heart is becoming relaxed and steadier. My mind is also feeling clear, with my mood improving for the better¡­'' ''very strange,¡­what is this sense of satisfaction and warmth that I''m feeling within my heart?'' The clearer his mood became, the more confusion Lucius was starting to feel. He did not quite know how to describe this feeling of warmth and contentment that he was currently felt. The more Lucius tried to grasp it, the easier it slipped and farther it moved. ''This feeling¡­no, this emotion¡­ why does it feel strange, yet familiar?'' Lucius'' brows furrowed as he seemed to recall something. Just as this question popped within his mind, the calmly floating [Annihilator] soul suddenly reacted. A strange power originating from the depths of the soul gathered and condensed, forming invisible streams of energy. The energy condensed into a miniature ball was on the verge of explosion, when the dormant black sea, forming the floor of his mindscape started to quake. Waves started to roll and pools of swirling currents started to form in various places, crazily drawing the invisible power. Sensing the danger from the black ocean, the sphere of mysterious energy hastily exploded. The turmoil in the black ocean also grew, as more and more energy was being pulled and digested. Just as the mysterious, invisible energy was about to erase Lucius'' thoughts and feelings, the swirling currents having formed a hurricane, sucked the majority of the invisible energy. The invisible energy roared and struggled, but was unable to escape from the hurricane''s force of suction. Helpless, it could only erase a small portion of Lucius'' current emotions and thoughts, before being completely sucked and digested. Outside, Lucius'' eyes flashed with momentary madness and indifference, before turning calm. His eyebrows were still furrowed, as he was unable to recall the familiarity of this strange feeling. That fleeting feeling suddenly vanished, making Lucius all the more confused. Taking a deep breath, he calmed his mind. ''That was very strange¡­appearing and disappearing like that.'' ''Well, whatever it was it''s now gone. There''s no point in brooding over such a strange thing.'' His eyebrows eased and his face returned to its calm aloofness. Rising from his position, he could see Ka''lor''ah, alternating with brightness and darkness. With his knowledge and experience, he realized that Ka''lor''ah was using her computational ability to the fullest. Growing curious, he asked. "What are you doing?" The radiance of the crystal suddenly paused, followed by Ka''lor''ah''s excited chatter. "Of course, I''m making saves of this moment right now! Hahaha, the ex-Stage 7 [Killer]''s whose always so distant and chilly, made his very first food review!" "How can only 1 save of such a precious thing be enough! I have to make backups and backups for my backups! Losing this would be my greatest sin!!" Ka''lor''ah''s voice continued to grow higher in pitch, giving voice to her current levels of exhilaration. "Dammit, I cannot save it to the cloud (main body), currently! Perhaps, I should dedicate some area in my core to save this recording¡­" she continued to chatter on. Lucius lost interest in her nonsense and made his way outside of the room. Standing on the edge of a thick branch, he inhaled the scent of the air. ''Even the air smells and ''tastes'' a lot richer and detailed right now. Is this an ability gained from [Devour] or an inherent ability of the Void Eater?'' he wondered. ''The smell of my surroundings and the places where I battled are very different. In those areas with a large number of deaths, I can smell a unique scent¡­ is this the scent of death?'' ''The trees and the leaves also have their unique scents, being vibrant and fresh, a direct contrast of the previous case.'' ''The areas where these annoying monkeys lived, the areas that are relatively isolated, the lake, the sky, everything has a unique and distinct smell.'' As he continued to smell, Lucius grew more and more enraptured. In fact, his sense of smell had become so sharp that Lucius could vaguely ''smell'' the natural energy of the world and the soul powers used during battle. ''Although it''s currently vague if I can master this ability, my ability to identify and distinguish my opponents would grow greater. At that point, I could simply ''smell'' their strength and soul type.'' ''Going further, perhaps at a certain point, I might be able to ''smell'' their thoughts and intents.'' His eyes flashed with brilliance. Lucius continued to smell and distinguish the various scents in the air. He also started to memorize their characteristics, exploring and refining each unique scent. Not remaining at this same place, Lucius started to move around, stopping at places with intense scents. The scent of death, the scent of food (dead remains), and the bloody scent in the areas where he had slaughtered a large number of people, under Lucius'' careful observation and distinguishing, these scents grew more defined and unique. For now, he ignored the vague, background scents and focused only on the ones which he could directly perceive. After increasing his strength and when his perception would increase, Lucius would then try to sense these vaguer scents. Traveling around, Lucius at the banks of the large, crescent-shaped lake. This lake was the main resource-point of the Stone Skin Tribe and was the entire reason for their self-sustaining lifestyle and current level of growth. On the surface, the lake did not seem very special. However, under Lucius'' sense of smell, he immediately noticed something different. ''The scents in here are very, very rich when compared to the surroundings. Somehow, it feels a bit odd.'' Just as Lucius felt the strangeness of the lake, his pupils suddenly shrunk. Hidden beneath layers of the lake''s rich scent, Lucius could perceive an intense odor. This scent was intensely concentrated and condensed, and most importantly, it was a scent that extremely intoxicating for Lucius. ''¡­the scent of life!'' Lucius exclaimed, his eyes faintly changing in color. Chapter 190: Underneath the Crescent Lake. Part 1 Controlling his rising ''excitement'', Lucius did not immediately rush towards the area, from which the scent was originating. Rushing head-first into the unknown was one of the stupidest things to do, and also the dumbest way to die. ''Come to my location. Immediately.'' He mentally sent an instruction to Ka''lor''ah. ''Got it.'' While waiting for Ka''lor''ah to come over, Lucius started to scout the surroundings of the lake. Exploding the soul power, underneath his feet, he instantly reached his top speed turning into a phantom. In order to increase the range of his search, he extended the shadow beneath his feet to the maximum range possible and also pushed his recently discovered ability of ''Smell'' to the utmost. Under the combined effort of both these factors, he quickly scouted the area and confirmed their safety. With his speed, it only took him a few minutes to scout the extremely wide area a couple of times. The location of the lake was fairly simple and plain. Shaped in the form of a crescent, it was almost 20km in length, from one end to the other. Humungous trees native to the Dark Shade Forest occupied the banks of the lake, covering the surrounding. Atop a few of the trees, shacks were constructed by the Stone Skin Tribe, acting as watchtowers and warehouses. Double-checking the surroundings, Lucius then stopped and waited for Ka''lor''ah. "I''m here, what''s up?" Ka''lor''ah arrived near Lucius and asked. "Use your detection ability on the lake and check if there is anything underneath it." He instructed. Sensing the seriousness in Lucius'' voice, Ka''lor''ah immediately grew serious. Using [Greater Area Detection], she spread her senses covering the entirety of the lake. She did not extend her detection to cover the 55km circular radius, restraining it and instead, using it to penetrate underneath the layers of water. Time passed, with Lucius reaming silently by her side, alert and cautious. "I don''t detect anything. My senses penetrated 30km deep into the lake and the ground beneath but found nothing." Ka''lor''ah stated. Her voice, however, lacked surety. "It might just be me, but something feels odd about this place." Lucius nodded in response to her words. His 300 years of battle experience, had crystallized and formed an inexplicable ''instinct to danger'' within him. The longer that Lucius stood by this lake, the more his instinct was warning him that something was wrong in here. "There seems to be some danger underneath this lake." Lucius honestly stated. "Indeed, you feel it too." "Try using [Life Sense] and try to sense the life force beneath the lake." Ka''lor''ah followed his instruction. This time the results were clearly different. "Oh my¡­ An extremely dense life force is present underneath this lake. How did you know?" Ka''lor''ah turned to look at Lucius. "Scent. New ability." He shortly replied. Unknown to himself, the color of Lucius'' eyes deepened and saliva started to drip from the edges of his mouth. His breaths were also starting to get increasingly restless as if he was trying to hold something back. "Interesting," Ka''lor''ah remarked. She then threw this matter to the back of her mind and continued, "the density of life force under there is no joke. It''s extremely close, if not, already equal to the amount possessed by a Stage 3 being." A Stage 3 being! Beings that were powerful enough to alter the very world, with their strength! No matter how incredible or experienced Lucius was, he simply stood no chance against these beings. Even escaping with his life intact would be a near-impossible feat! "Weird though¡­.something feels off about this life force. The spread of the energy is too wide and makes no sense. What life form could be so large?" Ka''lor''ah mumbled quietly. Nonetheless, the possibility of a Stage 3 being living underneath that lake still existed. With their strength trying to intrude into its territory would be suicidal. "We have to get moving. Whatever it is underneath the lake, it''s not worth the risk¡­Lucius?" Ka''lor''ah spoke her thoughts while turning around, only to find Lucius missing. Splash! The sound of something hitting the water sounded out. Ka''lor''ah hurriedly turned in horror towards the origin of that sound. She immediately spread her detection ability in that direction. ''Don''t tell me¡­'' Ka''lor''ah stiffened in shock. Her mind turned white in horror. Rapidly approaching that sun-like mass of energy was a small, black dot humanoid in shape and 1.9m in height. ------------ Inside the water, Lucius was moving towards the bottom of the lake with incredible speed. Soul power condensed to form a shield, acting as a barrier to protect him from the surrounding water, keeping him dry and decreasing resistance. Dashing at his top speed towards the bottom of the lake, a single thought resounded within Lucius'' mind. ''Such a wonderful scent! Eat¡­I need to eat it!'' his eyes had changed colors turning into a beautiful pair of golden-white and crimson red, dazzling with a gluttonous desire. Lucius'' skin had turned stone-grey in color, while his two enlarged arms had dull grey-colored fur growing atop them. His pitch-black nails had also extended in size reaching almost 20cm in length, becoming thicker and sharper. Lucius'' entire body was also larger and more muscular, stretching the fabrics of his clothes. His two arms even more so resembled the arms of the Silver Fist Apes. "Eat! Eat! EAT! EAAT!!" he let out a beastly roar. Lucius'' eyes turned savage and fearsome and his aura seemed to break past the limits of Stage 1. BANG! With a thunderous explosion, his body landed at the bottom of the lake. Pausing for a moment, the ''berserk'' Lucius raised his head and sniffed the air. Sniffing in multiple directions, his eyes suddenly brightened with fervor. Kicking off the ground, his body cut across the water moving towards another location under the water. The surrounding pressure which was around 16 tons per square inch, seemed to have no effect on his body or his speed! A few seconds later and Lucius arrived before a decrepit-looking boulder, covered in strangely shaped blue-colored moss. The brightness in his eyes increased and a visible joy radiated off of his face. Lucius unconsciously opened his mouth revealing the hundreds of dagger-like teeth, dripping with thick, viscous saliva. ''It''s here! That delicious scent is here!'' the aura radiating from Lucius'' body turned even more savage and threatening. Seemingly noticing the threat possessed by Lucius, the blue moss started to shine with radiance. A serene blue spread into the surrounding water gathering energy. Clink! Clink! Vooorrm! Crisp sounds of mechanical components moving and clicking together resounded within the water. Suddenly, the strangely shaped moss glowed with intense radiance, blinding Lucius for a moment. "Arrrggghhh!" Feeling his eyes burn, Lucius quickly broke sight with the moss and covered his eyes. Soul power immediately flowed into his eyes, repairing the burnt cells. "Hateful!" Lucius roared, the madness in his eyes however receded. He turned around once again, only to find a barrier enclosing the large boulder and the area surrounding it. The barrier shone with dim blue light and looked extremely solid. Lucius dumbly stood before the barrier, his body shivering uncontrollably. His mouth opened and closed multiple times, as soundless groans escaped his throat. If not for the barrier formed of pure soul power blocking the outside water, Lucius might have actually drowned to death. "..wha-..where am I?" intelligence returned to Lucius'' eyes, as the color within his eyes dimmed noticeably but did not disappear. Raising his head, he looked around in confusion and incomprehension. ''I..wasn''t I standing next to the lake? How did I end up underwater?'' he wondered for a moment, before hurriedly looking at his hands. Disproportionately large and covered with silver fur, with thick black claws growing from the ends of his finger. The fur covered his hands, reaching till his upper-arm, upon which dull stone-grey painted the remainder of his skin. ''I lost control again?'' Lucius quickly realized. He hurriedly sunk his consciousness into his mindscape, only to see the ocean of foul-looking darkness trying its best to stir and revolt, only to be restrained by the [Annihilator] soul and the golden sun. ''This¡­'' Lucius was dumbstruck. "Lucius!" A worried voice resounded within his mind. Lifting his gaze, Lucius saw a palm-sized dark-gold crystal rushing towards him. Upon confirming that Lucius had indeed jumped into the lake, Ka''lor''ah cursed at him for his reckless behavior before following him. ''You better have a damn good explanation!'' Grinding her inexistent teeth, she quickly found Lucius, absentmindedly staring at his hands. "You id--!" just as Ka''lor''ah was about to lecture him, she suddenly paused. She looked at the inhuman state Lucius was in and immediately understood. "You lost control, again?" Ka''lor''ah calmly asked. Exiting his mindspace, Lucius'' eyes quickly turned cold and calm. Hearing Ka''lor''ah''s question he nodded his head. "What happened?" she questioned with a serious tone. Randomly losing control was no joke! At this rate, it would only be a matter of time before he died. "Are we going to talk in here?" Lucius pointed at the barrier in front of him and asked. "Ah!" It was then, that Ka''lor''ah noticed the dimly pulsating blue barrier encapsulating the large boulder. Her crystal body flickered with light, as she unconsciously mumbled. "Such beauty~!" Chapter 191: Underneath the Crescent Lake. Part 2 AN: A bunch of info in this chapter. I''ve tried to the best of my ability to make it as clear and simple as possible. Do ask me in the comments if you don''t understand something. I will be sure to explain what I can. ----------------- "Such beauty~!" Ka''lor''ah praised. To the eyes of the ignorant, the barrier in front of the duo looked ordinary; hemispherical in shape, smooth with no errors, pulsing with serene blue light. However, in the eyes of the knowledgeable (like Ka''lor''ah), the barrier protecting the large boulder was simply artistic. Underneath its dull-looking exterior lay millions upon millions of colorful threads pulsating with wondrous energy. Threads of energy intersected to form the most beautiful patterns, forming a symphony of colors. "Holy¡­" a shocked voice came out of the crystal, "...this is a formation to hide from Cause and Fate?!!" "WHAT?!" Even the aloof Lucius, lost his composure upon hearing her words. ''Rule of Cause'' and the ''Rule of Fate'', were Rules that were second-highest Rules in the Universe, just below the ''Rule of Beginning''. In other words, these two Rules were one of the fundamental building blocks of the Universe and something that was absolutely necessary for its existence. "To think that a formation to hide Cause and Fate would exist in a backward planet like Pectron¡­but why? What are they trying to hide from the eyes of the Lords?" recovering from her previous shock, questions began to flood Ka''lor''ah''s mind. Not only were these two Rules fundamental to the Universe, but it was also the method used by the Lords to observe everything that happens within it. To create a formation to hide from Cause and Fate, meant that someone was doing something taboo. Something that mustn''t or shouldn''t be seen by the Lords. As for examples for these taboo things might be¡­Ka''lor''ah and Lucius'' act of going back in time, counted as one. By going back in time, they were trying to affect and alter Cause and disrupt the flow of Fate. These actions, if discovered by the Lords¡­ let''s just say, having them suffer a punishment that is a thousand times worse than death, would be considered as letting them off easy. The deeds and taboos committed by Lucius and Ka''lor''ah, in order to travel back in time, were something that could absolutely not go unpunished. They had, quite literally, committed the greatest crime that had ever been committed since the beginning of the Universe. "Say, does this count as meeting fellow colleagues in distant lands?" Ka''lor''ah joked. "Be serious." Lucius wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and solemnly replied. Ka''lor''ah intently observed the dimly glowing barrier, studying each and every detail about it. Minutes passed in silence, as the duo could feel an unfathomable pressure within their hearts and minds. This pressure was nothing something that was physical. Rather it was the type of pressure that came from accidentally stumbling across a great secret. An unknown amount of time passed before Ka''lor''ah tore her gaze from the barrier. She then cast the [Isolation] spell, temporarily isolating the both of them from the observation of the Rules. "Okay, I''ve analyzed everything that I could see. It''s a concealment formation, emphasized on hiding from Cause and Fate. There even seems to be an anti-detection and anti-observation array built into it, however, the latter two seems to be on the verge of failing." "It''s not purely runic and has a lot of other systems mixed into its construction. I can see traces of Machinery Craft, Arcane Craft, and some other niche systems." Machinery Craft and Arcane Craft were similar to Runic Craft, as in they were studied for the purpose of exploiting and manipulating the Rules. While Runic Craft depended on language and the power of words, Machinery Craft depended on machines and Arcane Craft depended on using the power of arcana. Reyna''s ability to give life to her mechanical creations comes under the system Machinery Craft. "I have to say, whoever made this formation is an absolute genius!" Ka''lor''ah praised. However, in her very next sentence, she started to deprecate. "Of course, it''s not as perfect as the one I built and has a lot of flaws that can be exploited. In fact, seeing this one more time, it''s filled with so many holes." "The person, who created this, had a very shallow understanding of the higher Rules. This tells us that whoever made this was not of a Higher Stage, only around Stage 4 or Stage 5, seeing from this work." "Also, the entire thing was made hurriedly not factoring in the surrounding environment and natural terrain. Going with that thought, it seems that this person was pressed for time, or was running from someone." "Honestly, I''m amazed that it even worked in the first place. Even with all the flaws that it possesses, it somehow managed to hold on for all these years. Such a blessed person." "Why is this thing here? What is it hiding? And most importantly, how did we stumble upon this?" Lucius questioned with a grim voice. There was no such thing as coincidence in this Universe. Every event was a combination of several factors and the product of many Rules. Even the most random of actions, actually were the result of Cause and Effect and were subject to the flow of Fate. Lucius managing to coincidentally meet the group of Silver Fist Ape teenager, him discovering a new ability, him finding the peculiarity of this lake, him losing control and coming to this spot, all these actions and events might seem individually random, but put together seemed to be following a pattern. As for why this was strange, one has to remember, Lucius was also a person hiding from the Rule of Cause and Rule of Fate. He always carried Ka''lor''ah with him, whose crystal body was a mobile concealment formation. As a person hiding from Cause and Fate, he should also not be affected by the flow of things and thus, must be immune to such coincidences. ''If us coming here was a product of coincidence, then it should mean that we are subject to the flow of history and causality.'' ''If this is true, then it is only a matter of time before the Lords are alerted of our existence and discover us!'' Thinking about those near-invincible beings, Lucius'' spine shivered with fear and his heart quaked with fear. "How we managed to stumble into this thing, I don''t know? It could be pure chance, or perhaps it could be a coincidence." Ka''lor''ah slowly spoke. "As for why it is here and what it is hiding, I might have a clue." "Recall how we discovered an enormous amount of life force underneath the lake? I just checked right now, and there seems to be a path underneath this boulder leading into that mass of life force." Upon discovering why her initial detection had failed, Ka''lor''ah exploited some of the flaws in the barrier and managed to scan inside and underneath the bottom of the lake. The result of her scanning revealed an enormously large labyrinth of passages and pathways, forming a complicated underground web leading to the mass of life force. In fact, Ka''lor''ah noticed that the mass of life force wasn''t stationary but rather, was moving towards another location, through this complicated underground structure. This boulder seemed to be an entrance into this underground labyrinth. "Putting together all the clues, I can vaguely guess what''s going on¡­" "There is a Stage 4 or Stage 5 being underneath this place, who is using some kind of forbidden life extension technique, to enrich his life force." "Whatever this method is, it must be heretical and blasphemous that goes against the Rules of Universe. Some method that mandates that the process to not be discovered by the Lords, requiring the concealment formation to hide it." Taking a deep breath to calm her emotions, Ka''lor''ah continued. "Worst of all, there is no way for us to run away quietly." "Having stumbled upon this barrier, our ''causality'' has tied in with the cause of this being. Unless we end that being''s ''Cause'', there is no way for us to extradite ourselves from this situation." "If we are to ignore this, we will no longer be able to hide from the Lords and it will only be a matter of time before we are discovered, and our plans foiled." "In short, we are currently totally fu*ked!" After explaining these matters, an odd silence descended between them. Lucius'' face wore an ugly expression, as his eyes flickered with hesitation, rage, and helplessness. A terrifying aura was being unleashed by his body. Ka''lor''ah silently gazed at him and did not dare disrupt his thoughts. In fact, she was feeling a similar feeling as Lucius. Right now, the duo was between a rock and a hard place. On one side, was a Stage 4 or Stage 5 being whose condition was unknown. They had to kill him and end his Cause if they wanted to continue hiding from the Lords. On the other hand, was to ignore this problem and run away. However, no matter how far they could go, as long as their causality was exposed, it was only a matter of time, before the Lords found them. Truly a difficult situation. Inhaling a breath of fresh air and exhaling his suppressed breath, Lucius looked ahead and solemnly said. "I''ve had enough of being subject to the whims of another. Enough of having my fate controlled." "So what if there''s a Stage 4 or Stage 5 being under there. The worst thing that could happen is me dying." "I would rather fight knowing my death than run away and wait for it."His eyes deepened in its colors. Madness and savagery flitted across his gaze. "Let''s kill this bastard!" Chapter 192: Lava Vein Rodents. Entering the [State of Devour], Lucius kicked off the floor of the lake and jumped towards the dimly shining barrier. Raising his humungous, disproportionate right arm which bulging with muscles and covered with silver-colored fur, he punched at the center of the barrier. BANG! BOOM! An ear-splitting roar resounded, as arcs of lightning struck Lucius and flung him back. Instantly, black shadows extended underneath his feet and hundreds of pitch-black tentacles exited the void. There wasn''t a single scratch on the barrier. Controlling the [Void Hands] to pierce themselves into the ground to form a grip, Lucius managed to stabilize his flung body and dissipate the rebounding force. "ROAR!!" A guttural roar exited his mouth, as he jumped towards the barrier once more. Using the [Void Hands] as a slingshot, he flew towards the barrier with even greater momentum. Learning from his preliminary attack, Lucius angled his attacks downwards to reduce the rebounding force and save time. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Punch after punch, explosion after explosion, Lucius attacked with all his efforts. The water in the area surrounding the barrier had been vaporized forming a dry zone of battle within the surrounding hundred meters. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! His bones cracked and his muscles tore. Viscous black blood leaked from Lucius'' two arms as he mindlessly punched at the barrier. Void energy and [Annihilation Energy] continuously poured into his hands and was shot off in his attacks. Crack! Under his relentless single-minded attacks, the barrier finally cracked. Seeing the crack form, Lucius roared with even greater ferocity and punched harder and faster. His two hands had turned into blurry shadows, unseen by the naked eye. Each attack seemed to be greater than the previous one, as the shaking of the barrier grew larger and larger. Looking at his scene from the sidelines, Ka''lor''ah''s shock was so great, that it couldn''t be described in words. ''Su-such power! That barrier must be able to ward off attacks from a Stage 3 being. Even though it''s been weakened to a certain extent, it''s not something that can be damaged by a mere Peak-Level Stage 1 being!'' Her eyes carefully scanned the aura emitted by Lucius, and finally came to a realization. ''His physical body is already comparable to Mid-Level Stage 2¡­no, his fists seem to be even stronger! And [Annihilation Energy] seems to be eating into the energy threads of the barrier, constantly weakening it!'' Seeing that berserk figure crazily attack the barrier, Ka''lor''ah thought to herself. ''In his [State of Devour] he can fight and kill the weaker Peak-Level Stage 2 beings, and this is with his soul only being at Stage 1. When he grows stronger in the future¡­how much more terrifying will he get? Ka''lor''ah''s body shivered at the thought. A tiny seed of worry and fear implanted itself in the depths of her mind. BANG! BANG! BANG! BOOOOOM! A thunderous explosion much larger than the previous ones quaked the entire lake body. Water in the surrounding few hundred meters was instantly vaporized, creating a strange scene of dry land at the bottom of the lake. Ka''lor''ah rocked out of her thoughts and looked towards the spot where the barrier had been present. Clouds of dust and debris, alongside rays of light, blocked her vision shrouding the scene beyond. Just as she was about to use a spell to observe the scene, a deep, mechanical voice sounded out. "The barrier''s broken. Let''s go." ''ALREADY?!'' Ka''lor''ah was shocked once more. Since Lucius had begun his attack, less than three minutes had passed. In other words, Lucius had managed to break a near-Stage 3 strength barrier in less than three minutes. As a mere Stage 1. ''Mo-monster.'' Making her way past the clouds of dust, she finally arrived at the scene behind the layers of dust clouds. A bowl-shaped crater, tens of meters in depth lay before a large boulder. Standing within that crater, was a tall, dark figure with bulging muscles and grossly oversized arms. The majority of his body, save for his arms were dull stone-grey in color. His two arms, or rather what remained of them, were a mixture of exposed pale-white bones, shredded silver muscles, dripping black blood, and strands of silver fur. Lucius'' face was malevolent in expression with barely suppressed madness and desire. His pupils had expanded to occupy the entirety of his eyeballs and were deeply colored in their respective shades. His entire body was charred and damaged beyond recognition, with blood and bone seen at every inch. However, his broken body did not in the slightest diminish the aura of savageness and desire to devour. Right now, Lucius looked the farthest thing away from a human, completely exposing the dreadfulness of a Void Eater, the Enemy of All Life. He looked and seemed like a¡­real monster. "Give me a moment." A grating voice, unpleasant to hear exited his throat¡­or what remained of it at least. Breaking such a powerful barrier obviously had its costs. Right now, Lucius was extremely hungry and on the verge of losing his mind. It was only due to his fearsome willpower, that he managed to hold onto his consciousness. Hurriedly starting a chant, Ka''lor''ah immediately started to cast healing-type spells. However, the moment these spells reached Lucius'' body they were instantly nullified. "Come forth," Lucius spoke once more. Eighteen Forgotten Warriors rose from his shadows and kneeled before his body. Their heads were bowed in reverence and their hands rested upon their weapons. "Enter the labyrinth and find me something to eat. Go." Lucius ordered. The Forgotten Warriors nodded their heads in unison and immediately rushed towards the boulder. What was previously a plain-dull rock face was now covered with various symbols, letters, and patterns, inscribed into the rock face. Various alchemical and mechanical devices also lay around it smashed and broken into pieces. Underneath his boulder, lay an opening into the earth below, radiating with gloomy miasma. Rather than an entrance into a labyrinth, it seemed more like the entrance into the abyss! Alas, the Forgotten Warriors feared nothing, unhesitatingly jumping into the dark opening, mixing into the darkness. Quietness descended and water rushed in to fill this empty gap underneath the lake. Ka''lor''ah hurriedly chanted a spell and created a barrier surrounding the entrance, Lucius and herself, to prevent the water from flooding in. After doing so, she quietly floated, a few meters away from Lucius. Knowing that her spells couldn''t heal his damaged body, she did not waste energy casting either. From the distance, she quietly gazed at the ''monster-like'' Lucius, not daring to approach. ''If you approach him right now, you will most certainly die!'' This is what her senses were telling her. Lucius was currently extremely deficient in energy, barely restraining himself. Ka''lor''ah on the other hand was extremely condensed and filled to the brim with delicious energy. If she were to stupidly approach him, she would most certainly be devoured by him! ''It''s not that I don''t trust Lucius, but he is not in his best state right now. I can feel the barely restrained desire to consume me, radiating off of his body.'' Suddenly, Lucius raised his head and looked towards the entrance. Thud! Thud! Thud! Noises of something heavy falling onto the ground, sounded out as large fleshy bodies were thrown out of the entrance. The bodies looked similar to oversized rats, with black-colored skin and veins of lava-like fire energy running across their body. They possessed three pairs of red, bloodshot eyes, and a large maw filled with saw-like teeth. Their limbs looked short but powerful, with a wart-like protrusion extending from their backs. These protrusions had burst apart and had gross, slimy red-colored disgusting liquid flowing from within them. An absolutely horrid smell spread instantly spread within the barrier. ''Low-Level Stage 2¡­ if I recall correctly, these are Lava Vein Rodents, 1.8m to 3m in length, they always live and travel in groups. They live in narrow, dark tunnels inside volcanic veins where temperatures are high (between 1200¡ãc and 2400¡ãc) '' ''They are extremely fast and cunning, making them very hard and annoying to hunt. How did those warriors kill these things?'' Ka''lor''ah thought in doubt. The bodies of these Lava Vein Rodents were filled with cuts and wounds, each at varying locations with varying depths. It was obvious that the wounds were caused by the unshapely weapons of the Forgotten Warriors. Uncaring towards Ka''lor''ah''s doubts Lucius slowly walked towards the dead bodies of the rats and cautiously sunk his mouth into them. In a careful, controlled manner he began to [Devour] them, unbothered by the disgusting puss and stench. It took him two minutes to consume the first Lava Vein Rodent, a minute and 13 seconds for the second, and 54 seconds for the third. Just as Lucius was done within these three, another round of dull thuds resounded as more bodies shot out of the entrance. This time it was five dead Lava Vein Rodents. Unhurried, Lucius continued to eat them and more food continued to arrive. His body started to repair itself and his eating speeds continuously increased. The skin on his body was also turning darker and deeper, approaching coal-black in color. Faint red-colored veins started to appear on his skin. Chapter 193: Rapid Growth. Part 1 Upon devouring the dozens of Lava Veins Rodents killed by the Forgotten Warriors, Lucius stood up. His broken body looked much better, as the majority of the wounds had closed up. His oversized arms were repaired with streaks of red lines running across the silver fur. Observing his body, Lucius noticed that his skin tone was starting to become increasingly darker, going from the dull stone-grey into charcoal black. Confirming the extent of his healing, Lucius then ordered the Forgotten Warriors, through their link. "Stop now. Wait for me." He then turned towards Ka''lor''ah, only to see the other party slightly shiver. Uncaring to her thoughts, he plainly stated. "We can begin." Upon saying so, Lucius jumped into the opening, entering the labyrinth. The hunt for a Stage 5 being had begun. ------------ Watching Lucius enter the labyrinth, Ka''lor''ah did not immediately follow. ''Dangerous,'' recalling the look in his eyes, Ka''lor''ah thought to herself. ''Lucius is currently very dangerous.'' Although he hadn''t lost his mind to his primal instincts, her own senses desperately warned her. If she neared him, she would unquestionably die. ''Should I enter or should I not enter?'' Ka''lor''ah hesitated. ''Lucius is not in the best state of mind right now. If I don''t follow him and remain here, would he blame me?'' Ka''lor''ah did not know. While Lucius would understand the rationality of her choice, a rift would undoubtedly form between them. If both parties were unable to trust each other during their worst, it would hinder their future plans and progress. ''That incident with Alex has already formed a crack in our relationship. If I don''t follow now, this crack would only grow larger. All my attempts at reconciliation until now would be for naught.'' She analyzed the pros and cons of her actions. Seconds continued to tick by, as the pressure upon Ka''lor''ah increasingly grew larger. Every second that she hesitated here, would lead to doubt forming within Lucius'' heart. While he might now show it outright, he will nonetheless remember it within his heart. ''Ah, fu*k it! I''ll just follow him. Push comes to shove, I''ll just die. The success of our plans is far greater than my life.'' Saying so Ka''lor''ah flew into the entrance, chasing behind Lucius. In this matter, Ka''lor''ah and Lucius were the same. In face of the greater interest, they would not hesitate to risk their lives. -------------- Within the labyrinth. Dark shadows flitted across the dark, stone-covered corridors. The corridors were 2m in width and 2.5m in height, being very narrow and congested. A 30cm long, device that looked like a torch occupied the walls of the corridor. However, these torches seemed to have run out of fuel/ damaged, for the corridors remained pitch-black. Long metallic conduits were fitted to the roof of the corridors, whose surfaces were covered with strange carving and letters. Devices that looked similar to flow regulators were placed at regular intervals, ensuring that the metal conduits worked optimally. "GWARHHH!" "EEERRRRKKK!!" Inhuman shrieks that were sharp and piercing echoed between the stone walls, followed by the sounds of metallic weapons being drawn. Ting! Shinng! Sparks abruptly lit up the dark corridors at irregular intervals, as shadowy dark warriors with cold blue eyes, met the claws of a single bat-like creature. This bat-like creature was 1.4m in length, with yellow-colored eyes and a pair of bony, dark wings. Its body was thin and hideous, yet radiated with a Mid-Level Stage 2 aura. The group of Forgotten Warriors had already gone a few hundred meters into this maze-like underground structure. While waiting for their master to rush over, they met with a surprise attack from the Bladed Bat. The Bladed Bat was a seldom seen, yet powerful Grade 4 Stage 2 beast. It wasn''t a natural born species but was an artificially created one, trademarked to the [Evil] Faction. Bladed Bats served at perfect sentries, being loyal and untiring. They were the preferred choice of cannon fodder for defending dungeons amongst the denizens of the [Evil] Faction. While the eighteen Forgotten Warriors had no trouble fighting a small group of Lava Vein Rats, they found it hard to resist a single Bladed Bat. Ting! Shring! Crack! Sounds of metal hitting metal continued to resound, as the Forgotten Warriors mindlessly charged towards the Bladed Wings. Under Lucius'' personal guidance their combat ability had already grown by a significant margin. While they were very skilled individually, this skill did not translate into group battles. Lucius, who has never fought alongside a group, naturally possessed no formations or arrangements to maximize their strengths. This flaw was currently being completely exploited to the fullest, by the intelligent Bladed Bat. It specifically targeted the gaps between their offense, creating opportunities to attack the physically weaker members. Less than a minute into battle and the first causality had occurred. Caught between two friendly weapons and the sharp wing of the Bladed Bat, the assassin Forgotten died under a single strike At the end of the day, their strengths were only at Mid-Level Stage 1. To be able to resist an entire minute while facing an opponent, an entire realm higher than them was a testament to their fearsome skill. The first causality occurring, soon followed. The Forgotten Warriors, were being pushed back unable to meet the ferocious charge of their opponents. Just as the Bladed Bat was feeling smug upon killing a total of five Forgotten Warriors, its instincts suddenly tingled, warning it of danger. Surprised, just as the Bladed Bat was about to make sense of the situation, a loud bang was heard¡­followed by a boom. BANG! BOOM! A fist covered with silver fur landed on the center of its back, crushing its spine. Unable to react to the surprise attack in time, the Bladed Bat was flung outwards, smashed against the sidewall of the corridor. Two unfortunate Forgotten were crushed alongside its body, returning back to the Void to revive. "EEEERKKHH??" a confused scream leaked from within the Bladed Bat''s throat. Using its soul power it tried to make sense of the sneak attacker''s whereabouts. Alas, it was too late. Pushing forth within his legs, Lucius instantly closed in the remaining gap between them. Drawing his hands back, he infused a generous amount of soul power into his fists and punched out towards its head. SPALT! And just like that, the head of the Bladed Bat was crushed. Blood and brain matter splattered onto Lucius'' hands, and its body lifelessly slid down to the ground. In less than three seconds, Lucius had killed a Mid-Level Stage 2 Wild Beast. Lifting his hands, Lucius brought it next to his mouth. A long, blood-red tongue extended from within his mouth and licked the dripping blood and brain matter from his hands. His colored eyes lit up, as Lucius felt minute changed happen within the depths of his body. Feeling impatient, he dived towards the dead remains of the Bladed Bat and started to [Devour]. Within seconds, the entire body was consumed, bone and all, turning into a stream of pure void energy. Its soul was also absorbed by his body, turning into a stream of soul energy which was then absorbed into his mindspace, increasing the total count of his soul power. That being said, the quantity of Lucius'' soul power has increased by an unfathomable amount, dozens of times greater than his previous life''s quantity. (during Stage 1) If not for the cheat existence, namely the Void Eater''s body, Lucius would have without doubt exploded into a spectacular mass of blood and gore. Done with the Bladed Bat, Lucius stood up once again and looked into the pitch-black corridor. His previously darkened vision had suddenly improved, with him being able to make out vague details. ''The unique ability of the Bladed Bat [Dark Vision] has been absorbed by me. Hmm¡­I need to eat more of those creatures to improve this ability.'' Lucius thought to himself. [Dark Vision] in its complete state, would allow the user to see as clear as day, in a completely natural dark environment, natural being the key-word here. Turning to face the kneeling warriors, Lucius instructed again. "Seek everything that lives within these tunnels. Kill what can be killed¡­the others leave them to me." His voice sounded unpleasant and hoarse. The warriors nodded and rushed forward once more. Their master''s wishes were their absolute commands. Raising his head, Lucius sniffed at the air. He was using his [Scent Detection] ability to track the stronger of the life forces inside the labyrinth. What lay at the end of this labyrinth was a Higher Stage life form. To face it and have at least a semblance of chance at winning, Lucius needed to become as strong as he could. ''I can feel it¡­ five other life forms within the proximity. This scent¡­Bladed Wings again.'' A horrifying smile formed on his face, as Lucius rushed forward once more. Inside an unknown, underground labyrinth hidden beneath the Crescent Lake on the distant planet of Pectron¡­ a terrifying monster was being nurtured. A Void Eater, that was like none other in history. Chapter 194: Rapid Growth. Part 2 An unknown amount of time has passed. Deep within the labyrinth, inside a natural cavern. The cavern was spacious stretching 2km in width and almost 500m in height. Numerous stalactites of varying sizes hung from the crystal ceiling, dripping with strange fluids. The surface of the cavern was covered with red-colored crystalline rocks that flushed with heat and steamed with strange gases. These gases predominantly white and green in color distorted the air inside the cavern whilst corroding the surface of the red rocks. Pits of boiling lava whose origins began at the core of the planet filled this large underground space providing light and heating it to an unimaginable amount (almost 5,000¡ãc). Situated in the center of this room was an unnaturally formed pit filled to the brim with hundreds grotesque looking corpses. The bodies of these corpses were filled with cuts and slashes, with some of the larger ones having their chests pierced or their heads crushed. Blood pooled from their body filling the pit, only to spontaneously boil and turn into vapor under these fearsome conditions. More strangely, the pit of corpses seemed to be alive, as these dead remains constantly shifted positions, tumbling or falling at random. Calmly floating above this eldritch horror was a pal-sized golden crystal shinning with dim radiance. Entering the labyrinth behind Lucius, she quickly met up with him, and the hunt to devour the creatures begun. With Ka''lor''ah''s [Life Detection] to detect the life forms and her [Greater Area Detection] creating the most comprehensive map, the groups hunting efficiency skyrocketed. The Forgotten Warriors were led by Ka''lor''ah to hunt the weaker, more numerous beasts, while Lucius in his [State of Devour] hunted the larger, stronger ones. Under Ka''lor''ah''s lead, the group of undying soldiers destroyed six Lava Vein Rodent Colonies, twelve Flaming Ant Hives, three groups of Burning Moths, and numerous groups of other species. With inexhaustible stamina and Lucius'' near-infinite supply of soul power, the worth of the Forgotten Warriors shone for the first time since their acquisition. The group of eighteen was a formidable force under Ka''lor''ah''s arrangements, as their cycle of killing, dying, reviving, and more killing, continued until the entirety of the labyrinth was cleared. The bodies were periodically delivered to Lucius who then devoured them to acquire their abilities, growing in strength at a fearsome rate. Lucius on the other hand went through series of battles without any rest. Starting from the Bladed Bats who served as mini-bosses within the labyrinth, Lucius seeped through all the Mid-Level Stage 2''s and the stronger of the Low-Level Stage 2. Some he managed to kill in a single blow others required serious efforts and long battles. However, the more Lucius fought and the more he ate, the stronger his body grew, reaching a point where his physical body equaled that of a Peak-Level Stage 2, even though his actual soul power strength was only at Peak-Level Stage 1. [State of Devour] was constantly on, as Lucius possessed an inexhaustible amount of bodies to devour and replenish his void energy and soul power. Alas, the good times did not last long. The deeper Lucius went inside the labyrinth, the closer he moved towards the planet''s core. This resulted in the heat and pressure of his surroundings increasing to an unimaginable degree. The Forgotten Warriors were no longer able to sustain themselves, as their bodies were instantly crushed under immense pressure. Lucius'' body was able to maintain itself under the constant remodeling and growth, after eating those creatures that lived underneath the earth. The evolutionary traits were absorbed by the Void Eater, pushing it closer and closer towards perfection. Unfortunately, this growth had a limit. While his body was able to sustain itself under the heat and pressure, it was far from being perfect. Currently, Lucius felt like he was inside an active volcano, whilst carrying an enormous mountain on his back. His clothes had disintegrated, whilst his scythe was thrown into the Void for safekeeping. It had to be mentioned, that Lucius unlocked a new racial skill called [Void Storage], which gave him a 3x3x3m of area to store items. It was a very useful and practical skill. "You''ve already eaten around thousand of the Flame-type creatures. Have you still not gained [Fire Immunity]?" Ka''lor''ah grumbled unhappily. She was starting to grow worried as too much time had passed and they had still not met the master of the labyrinth or figured its secrets. The pit of corpses suddenly shook and a dark figure slowly exited from its embrace. Standing at 2.5m in height, Lucius was completely unrecognizable. His originally stone-grey skin tone had turned a deep charcoal black with flame-like cracks running across the surface of his body, spewing reddish-orange liquid and heat. His grossly oversized arms had become more compressed and angular, as the silver fur was replaced with a shiny black carapace. Long, sword-like nails extended from his finger, reaching 50cm in length. His lower body was also covered with a spiked black carapace that shimmered under the flickers of light. Five eyes, one pair crimson and the other golden occupied either side of his nose, with a single large silver eye occupying the center of his forehead. There was no opening for his mouth, instead replaced by a swirling mass of teeth and darkness. In no shape or form did Lucius in his [State of Devour] form resemble any known species, giving birth to an entirely new appearance. "I can no longer absorb abilities from these beasts." A voice resounded within the cavern. The voice was extremely unpleasant to hear, similar to scratching your nails against a chalkboard. In fact, just listening to this voice would disorient your body and attack your mind. An effect that was similar to [Banshee''s Screech] or [Ghostly Wails]. "How''s your current state?" Ka''lor''ah questioned. Lucius flexed his back muscles, sprouting three pairs of enormous, fleshy bladed wings. Jumping off of the ground, he controlled the wings to flap. Flying next to the floating crystal, Lucius calmly replied in his vexing voice. "My void energy and soul power are at their peak state. The injuries on my body are fully healed and all available abilities have been absorbed." "These beasts are no longer useful to my evolution, only satisfying my hunger. Even the efficiency of void energy has reduced. I will need to consume higher Grade or higher Stage life forms to continue with evolution." Life forms under Stage 3 or Grade 3 are no longer useful for the Void Eater''s evolution. Only Grade 4 and higher life forms with unique abilities could further his growth. "I''ve grown to the greatest extent possible, for now. Any more and the precarious balance within my mindspace will collapse." The black sea within his mindspace had already started to suppress the [Annihilator] soul. Lucius'' found himself growing increasingly irascible and irritated, as the Void Eater''s primal instincts slowly started to pollute his consciousness. If not for the golden sun calming the sea of foul energy, Lucius might have already died. Pondering for a moment, Ka''lor''ah replied. "Do not use [Devour] unless necessary. You have to break through into Stage 2 and stabilize the powers within your body. Stay calm and do not give in to your emotions." "You also have to exit [State of Devour] as soon as possible. Using it only makes you increasingly susceptible to your primal instincts. We have to finish the fight as soon as possible and return you to your human state." Lucius nodded his head in understanding. While [State of Devour] made it possible for him to contest against Peak-Level Stage 2 beings, its cost was also equally fearsome. If not for the inexhaustible bodies replenishing his soul power, Lucius would have lost his mind a long time ago. "I can remain in [State of Devour] for 3 hours before my void energy would run out." "Let''s get moving then, we''ve got 3 hours to end the fight." Saying so, Ka''lor''ah flew towards a certain corner of the cavern and sunk into the boiling lava. Lucius also flapped his enormous wings and followed her. Entering the lava which was thousands of degrees hot, Lucius'' calmly followed the crystal through their soul link. After a dozen minutes of travel and he finally exited the lava. A large dark space, whose ends could not be seen, presented itself before his eyes. Lucius'' eyes flashed with radiance as [Dark Vision] was automatically activated. At the far end of this seemingly boundless dark space, lay a large door carved with numerous symbols and patterns. The moment he laid his eyes on that door, Lucius'' senses started to blare, warning him of immense danger. ''We are here. This is the door behind which that enormous amount of energy resides.'' Ka''lor''ah spoke within his mind. ''And there is the final mini-boss blocking our way.'' She concluded. Laying before that door, was a humongous creature. Possessing three dog-like heads and a mountain-sized body, [Cerberus] blocked the path into the final boss room. Chapter 195: Dog Fight. Status Screen: Name: Lucius (Rurian) Surname: None Age: 20 years Birthday: Unknown Race/Species: Void Eater Grade: Unknown (definitely higher than Grade 5). Family: Unknown. (Olivia Mayer''s Foster Brother) Soul/Stage: [Annihilator]/Peak-Level Stage 1 Soul Abilities: [Annihilation Intent], [Flaw Detection], [Annihilation Energy] - Attribute Type. Racial Abilities: [Devour], [Void Hands], [Void Steps], [Void Storage], [State of Devour], [Scent Detection] Techniques: [Dance of the Death God- First Movement (Slash)/ Second Movement (Shred)], Unspecified Movement Technique. ------- [State of Devour]: Enables the user to enter [Half-Berserk] state, unleashing the true form of the Void Eater. Form will defer depending on the corpses devoured and abilities gained. In this state, the strength and physique of the user will undergo massive improvements, with all absorbed abilities being displayed to their fullest. However, during [State of Devour] the user''s consciousness will be polluted by the primal instincts of the Void Eater bloodline, making the user irascible and bloodthirsty. One''s base desires will also be multiplied exponentially ([Annihilator] weakens this effect.) After deactivation, the user will return to Human State, severely weakened and drained. All racial abilities will be unable for 3 days. Can be evolved. (Requirements: Stage 3 corpses) Activation Period: 3 hours. Combat Strength: Pseudo - Stage 3. (can escape from Stage 3 beings) ---------------------------- Looking at the massive door, insatiable greed and desire were present in Lucius'' eyes. ''Such a delicious scent!'' drool started to leak from the corner of his mouth. ''Okay, our objective is behind that large door, guarded by that Cerberus. Judging from its aura, that is an adult at Low-Level Stage 3 soul cultivation, however, seeing how it''s been locked here for a long time, its effective combat strength will be much lower than that.'' Ka''lor''ah quickly started to analyze. ''For our plan of action, first, we draw¡­'' just as she was instructing Lucius on their battle plan, the latter had already flown towards the multi-dog-headed beast, utterly disregarding her. Noticing the approach of a foreign party, the [Cerberus] that had been sleeping for an unknown amount of time, finally stirred awake. ¡ºWhom''st dare disturbs this one''s slumber!¡» The massive sleeping mountain finally raised its three heads, each 4m in length. Each of the three heads possessed a distinctive pair of eyes, a flat nose, and a terrifyingly large mouth, all of which turned to face the impudent intruder. ¡ºA Mutant Beast¡ªno, what are you?¡» The three mouths moved in unison as a fierce growling sound asked in confusion. Never before in its long life had it seen or heard of a creature like Lucius existing. The Cerberus was a Grade 4 life form, with an average lifespan of 200 years and an intelligent mind. Born with Stage 1 cultivation, the Cerberus one of the main ''beast'' races in the [Evil] faction, oftentimes serving as steeds for Captain or higher-ranking members of the faction. With incredible natural defense and superior physical strength, they were often used as siege beasts earning the nickname- ''Little Behemoths'' Adult Cerberuses stood at a total height of 50-60m and possessed a cultivation of Low-Level Stage 3. Their bodies were ridiculously tough, with most standard or refined weapons unable to penetrate their hides. Facing this ''Little Behemoth'', Lucius uncaringly roared. "Get out of my way, dog!" he swooped in towards it. ¡ºSuch audacity!¡» the Cerberus thundered, enraged. Never before in its life, had it faced such an impudent beast. Not to mention, judging from the aura emitted by Lucius, he was the weaker party! The three dog heads snorted in unison, as the 50m tall beast, abruptly swung its scaled tail. Attached to the end of the tail was a spiked flail formed of the Cerberus''s ''tougher than iron'' bones. BANG! Lucius who had recklessly swooped towards the large beast was instantly hit by its flailed tail. Unable to withstand the force, he crashed into the ground. ¡ºThat will teach you respect!¡» the beast snorted. Its three heads then turned to look towards the floating crystal in the distance. ¡ºAs for you in the back. You will make a fine meal to celebrate the awakening of this one.¡» The middle-head of the Cerberus opened its large mouth. The muscles surrounding its cheek sunk inwards as a terrifying force of suction started to pull at Ka''lor''ah. Swooop!! The surrounding winds stirred as dust, rocks, and heat started to fly towards the Cerberus'' mouth. The natural spiritual energy formed whirlpools of energy, further increasing the power of the Cerberus'' suction. The seemingly boundless underground space which had known peace for hundreds of years shook and quaked under this horrible power! ''This is bad!!'' using all her power, Ka''lor''ah tried to fly in the direction of their entry, towards the river of lava on the ceiling of the space. Using all her strength she managed to overcome the suction force, inching towards the point of retreat. ¡ºTrying to run? How na?ve..¡» the Cerberus spoke condescendingly. The two stationary heads suddenly opened their mouths and started to suck the air. The force of suction increased by more than three-fold and the fragile equilibrium was broken. Unable to hold on, Ka''lor''ah flew towards the Cerberus''s massive mouth. ''NO!'' Just as the crystal was about to enter its mouth, the body of the Cerberus suddenly froze. The three mouths stopped their suction and Ka''lor''ah managed to get away from the jaws of death. ¡ºHOW DARE YOU?!!¡» the mountainous beast, howled with rage and pain. The three heads turned to look at the ground beneath. In the spot where the flailed tail of the beast had swatted the audacious intruder, was a crushed pile of flesh, blood, and encroaching darkness. A good quarter of its tail had disappeared! "Tough, very tough bones. Very unpleasant to taste." Lucius surrounded by hundreds of pitch-black appendages, shook his head in disappointment! Shadows darker than black extended all around him, slowly encroaching upon the Cerberus'' tail. Inch by inch, he was devouring its tail. ¡ºHow are you still alive?!¡» the beast growled in confusion. The attack on Lucius was no ordinary one. While the Cerberus was arrogant in its words, it was by no means careless. In fact, it was the opposite! After being awakened by Lucius'' intrusion, the Cerberus found its current strength to be too weak, due to hunger. Upon seeing Lucius'' reckless approach, the large monster grew increasingly wary and had attacked with its full power. Unfortunately, it had underestimated Lucius'' skill and abilities. At the very last moment, Lucius had used [Void Steps] to dodge the attack, then countering with [Devour]. Seeing this uninjured opponent, its eyes suddenly expanded in size as it howled once again. ¡ºIt''s this shadow!¡» Realizing the threat of the encroaching darkness, The Cerberus detonated its soul power, ridding the surrounding area of Lucius'' shadow. The Void underneath Lucius'' feet shattered, resulting in Lucius'' throwing up a mouthful of foul-looking blood and his ears ringing. The darkness vanished from the Cerberus'' tail and [Devour] had halted. This was the first time that the Void connected to Lucius had been forcibly broken. Enraged by its opponent''s actions, the mammoth-sized beast roared. ¡ºDIE!¡»Not daring to waste any more time to expose its weakness and give the opponent time to prepare, the Cerberus raised its hind leg and stomped towards Lucius. Its speed of approach and area of coverage made it impossible for Lucius to dodge in a short amount of time and with the Void being forcibly broken Lucius'' couldn''t use [Void Steps] to instantly leave the area of impact. If he was caught underneath this attack, Lucius would undoubtedly turn into a smashed paste of meat and blood Seeing this large ''pillar'' loom towards him, Lucius did not panic. While [State of Devour] made him irascible and rash, it also increased his instincts to survive. Biting his tongue to relieve his mind of the dizziness, his mind whirred into action At this moment of approaching death, Lucius appropriately reacted. Three of his crimson eyes shone with brightness, as the scene before him partially changed. Replacing the approaching hind leg were masses of red-colored lines, each intersecting and connecting with the others. The ground, the air, the surrounding natural energy were replaced by threads of white and black, allowing Lucius to ''truly'' see. [Flaw Detection] had activated. Watching the red-colored threads signifying certain death get closer and closer towards his body, Lucius'' mind instantly started to calculate escape routes and evasion paths. Time seemed to have slowed to a snail''s pace, as Lucius'' body suddenly moved into action. Stomping off the ground, Lucius detonated a part of his soul power beneath his wings, instantly gaining acceleration. Instead of dodging to the sides or flying backward, Lucius accelerated towards the incoming attack. Raising his two hands, Lucius let out a roar and stabbed forth at the intersecting red lines in his vision. Ten sharp pitch-black nails stabbed into the steel-like hide of the Cerberus. After the successful intrusion, Lucius started to pour [Annihilation Energy] into it. ¡ºAHHHHH!!!¡» a scream hundreds of times louder and more painful than the previous one resounded within the dark space. The body of the Cerberus painfully writhed, as its three other limbs softened and collapsed onto the ground. The unstoppable stomp of the Cerebrus suddenly lost its strength and shifted to the side by a few degrees. Using this chance, Lucius performed a beautiful maneuver dodging the attack with his wings. Not stopping his momentum, Lucius continued to fly upwards.... Towards the Cerebrus'' head! Chapter 196: Unusual Death. ¡ºINSOLENT BUG!!¡» Cerberus barked with anger. The strike from Lucius had been ingenious and fatal, for it had destroyed a ''node'' in the Cerberus'' body. A ''node'' is a point of junction within the body''s soul power pathway. These points act as a junction and regulators to control the speed and flow of soul power in the body. It is also connected to one''s soul and is the reason why one is able to control and manipulate one''s soul power. In short, nodes can be considered to be the most vital component to cultivation, second only to the soul! It had to be mentioned that the nodes in every singly living being are located in different places. It is also one of the most closely guarded secrets of any person since destroying a node was equal to crippling one''s strength. Of course, destroying a node isn''t that simple. With the increase in ones'' cultivation, the defensive strength will proportionately increase. Not to mention, the body of the living being would also increase in defensive prowess. Unexpectedly, Lucius had still managed to destroy it! All thanks to the profound [Annihilation Energy] which seemed to be capable of destroying everything. Using [Flaw Detection] he found the peculiarity in the Cerberus'' body when he saw threads of energy intersect at a certain point. With his vast battle experience, he immediately understood that this was the opponent''s node and infused [Annihilation Energy] to destroy it. Caught off-guard by the sudden destruction of its node, a backlash had occurred within the Cerberus'' body and all of its soul power rampaged with no fixed direction. This caused its previous stomp to lose its effectiveness and also caused the large behemoth to lose its balance. Having fallen under the opponent''s foul trick, it could only roar with indignance. Due to the backlash, its strength was at an all-time low. Knowing this, Lucius pushed forth and decided to make full use of this situation. After narrowly dodging its stomp attack, Lucius continued to flap his wings and flew towards the Cerberus'' head. With his ten, long nails dripping with dense crimson blood, he looked especially demonic. The distance was crossed and Lucius neared the middle head of the Cerberus. Extending his hands, he detonated a fair amount of soul power underneath his wings gaining instant acceleration. Boom! A small explosion occurred within the air, as Lucius broke through the sound barrier. His speed had exceeded Mach 1. ROAR!! The Cerberus helplessly roared. It tried to control its head to evade that attack but found its body to be unbearably weak and limp. Unsurprisingly, Lucius'' attack reached. His pitch-black nails that had evolved after countless uses of [Devour], cut into the crimson eyes of the Cerberus. Although he was met with some amount of resistance, [Annihilation Energy] weakened the resistance, allowing his nails to pierce through. With the entirety of his 45cm, long nail entered into its eyes, Lucius did not stop. He continued to flap his wings, further increasing his momentum! The nails, his finger, his arms¡­Lucius used his entire body to charge into the large beast''s head through its eyes! ROAAAAARRR! Pain, like none it had ever felt before assaulted the ''Little Behemoths'' minds. It could quite literally, feel a large ''nail'' piercing into its brain. Having entered its head, Lucius wrapped his body with his wings to protect it. [Flaw Detection] was active, looking for the shortest and least obstructive path to exit its head from the other side. Grind! Grind! Grind! Dull sounds of blood, flesh, and bones churning resounded outside and a small bulge appeared at the back of the middle head. The bulge continued to expand in size and before long, exploded into a rain of blood, chunks of meat, and a solitary dark figure encapsulated in fleshy wings. Falling from an elevation of 50m, Lucius hurriedly unraveled his wings and flapped them, maintaining his flight. Retreating a few dozen meters, he coolly turned around to witness the amount of damage that he had done. With two heads staring towards him with unconcealed hatred and the middle head hanging limply from its neck, it was safe to say¡­ ¡­That''s a lot of damage! ¡ºY-YO-YOU-YOU-YOOOUUU!!!¡» Never before in its life had the beast sustained such significant damage. Not to mention, the opponent was a ''measly'' Stage 2 being! Of course, this evaluation was a mistake by the Cerberus due to Lucius being in [State of Devour]. His actual cultivation was still at Peak-Level Stage 1. "Shut up, dog." Lucius unfeelingly declared. He couldn''t care less about the ramblings of a beast. Turning his head around, he stared at the floating crystal and blandly asked: "Are you okay?" With no words to articulate her current feelings of shock, Ka''lor''ah dumbly nodded in affirmation. ''I knew he would be strong, but to compete with an ''actual'' Stage 3 being in pure physical prowess¡­'' Ka''lor''ah chanted a tiny spell to shock herself. Feeling the pain shoot into her mind, she soundlessly exhaled: ''This is not a dream.'' Looking towards Lucius who was gathering his power for another attack, Ka''lor''ah''s mind was filled with complicated thoughts and emotions. She felt surprise, shock, joy, excitement, and¡­fear. ''With the Void Eater''s body and [Devour], Lucius can grow at a frightening rate. While this will be helpful to our plans¡­what would happen if he, one day loses control of himself.'' ''Will that gluttonous being whose only desire is to kill and devour, even be considered Lucius anymore?'' ''Can life even continue to flourish and thrive after that?'' ''What point is there in achieving freedom, if there is no one to appreciate it?'' ''Void Eaters¡­Children of the Void¡­Enemy of All Life.'' Sighing soundlessly, the hesitations within her mind disappeared, replaced by a resolution. ''I need to take some precautions against this eventuality.'' ''If one day, he loses control and gives in to the Void Eater''s desires....Lucius must be eliminated!'' ---------- With the slaying of one head, the result of the battle was already decided. Continuing forth with his offense, Lucius used the period of Cerberus''s weakness to deal with the other two heads in a similar manner. Accelerate. Pierce the head through the eyes. Exit from the back of the head, destroying the brain in the process. Repeat. With its battle sense already weakened due to the prolonged isolation and slumber, coupled with the disarray of its soul power, the Cerberus stood no chance. Of course, Lucius wasn''t uninjured either. That initial shattering of his shadow connecting to the Void had dealt serious damage to his internal organs and had depleted a large amount of his void energy. His suppression of the injury and the continued high-intensity battle had further increased its severity. Floating in the air and staring at the dead Cerberus, Lucius shook his head feeling unsatisfied. ''That battle was very inefficient. My actions were too rash.'' He admonished himself. Due to the severity of the injury and the constant floods of pain striking his consciousness, Lucius enjoyed a rare moment of clarity. He inspected his body and thought to himself. ''[State of Devour] mustn''t be used casually. While the benefits and increased battle strength that it provides is considerable, the damage shouldered is also equal.'' All seven of his eyes squinted in unison, as Lucius seriously considered. ''Also, I''m being unconsciously led around by my desires. This is not ideal and might lead to unfavorable outcomes.'' ''This ability must be sealed and mustn''t be used unless absolutely required. The use of [Devour] must also be moderated.'' Being done with his evaluation, Lucius descended from the air. He flew towards the corpse of the Cerberus and places his mouth on one of the large legs. ''That being said, I have to first recover my strength. [Devour]'' He activated his racial ability. Biting down, Lucius'' pupils suddenly shrunk in shock. He instantly retreated far away from the corpse and warily gazed at it. "What happened? Why are yo--?!!" Ka''lor''ah floated towards Lucius, in the process of questioning him, when she suddenly stopped. Both of their eyes were fixed on the mountain-like corpse of the Gatekeeper. The Cerberus'' body slowly turned into dust and dissipated into the air. The originally luscious body was now completely lifeless, resembling a dead rock. It was as if, the Cerberus never possessed by life force in the first place. While Lucius was shocked at the sudden disappearance of its life force and the subsequent disappearance of the Grade 4 body, Ka''lor''ah was shocked for a different reason. In her eyes, a struggling, screaming illusory ''figure'' of the Cerberus'' was being pulled into the large door, behind them! ''How is this possible?! How is its soul being forcibly pulled towards that door, instead of returning to the Limbo!!'' At this moment, Ka''lor''ah faintly understood why the ''Cause'' and ''Fate'' barrier was erected surrounding this place¡­ ¡­why the owner of the labyrinth was hiding on the edge of the Universe on some obscure planet¡­ ''This person¡­he''s befouling with the matters of the Soul!'' Ka''lor''ah internally exclaimed. Chapter 197: Guessing. "The vitality has been sucked away?" "The soul has been pulled away?" Lucius and Ka''lor''ah spoke at the same time. They hurriedly turned to face each other, noticing the shock in their voices. "This matter is far more complicated than we expected it to be." Taking a deep breath, Lucius spoke. "Indeed. Far more dangerous too." Ka''lor''ah continued. The light in Lucius'' eyes dimmed for a moment, before brightening once more. Ignoring the disappearing corpse of the Cerberus'' he quickly evaluated himself. "65% of my soul power is remaining, whereas my void energy is halved. I can maintain [State of Devour] for 1 hour and 30 minutes without losing control." "In other words, we have to kill the mastermind of this labyrinth, who could be a Stage 4 or Stage 5 existence, while being in a less than optimal state." Ka''lor''ah bitterly said. "Indeed." Lucius nodded his head. He started to mend only the essential parts of his body that had been injured while ignoring some of the less important ones. For the upcoming battle, Lucius had to scrimp and save on every single drop of energy. "What''s the plan?" Lucius asked while healing himself. He found himself to be more rational after the injuries sustained in the battle against the Cerberus. The waves of pain attacking his mind seemed to suppress the mad desire of the Void Eater bloodline, helping him maintain greater control. As if waiting for Lucius to ask this question, Ka''lor''ah immediately cast the isolation barrier spell hiding them from the eyes of the Lords. She then explained to Lucius her findings on the soul of the Cerberus being sucked into that closed large door behind them. "A Stage 3 soul was forcibly sucked into the space behind the door, instead of returning to Limbo¡­ could the opponent be stronger than Stage 5?" Lucius grimly asked. If killing a Stage 5 was already impossible and caused one to feel hopeless, then this was just beyond impossible. Even someone with an unwavering will like Lucius would feel hopeless if this was the case. "That''s impossible." Ka''lor''ah firmly replied. "The concentration of spiritual energy and the density of the Rules in this part of the Universe is simply too low. If a being higher than Stage 5 comes here, he/she would undoubtedly die." As mentioned before, the concentration of spiritual energy and the density of the surrounding Rules to the higher stages beings were akin to what water is to a fish. In order to sustain their existence, they were required to be in an environment that could provide them with the sufficient energy (spiritual energy and Rules) required for their sustainment. In places like Pectron, which lied in the very fringes of the Universe, the concentration of spiritual energy and the density of Rules were very low, compared to places that were closer to the center of the Universe. In fact, the very reason that Lucius and Ka''lor''ah even had decided to fight it out with the master of this labyrinth was because of this reason. Even though the master was a supposed Stage 4 or Stage 5 being, in such an environment where he could barely sustain himself, his strength would also be very low. The chance of success was very minuscule bordering on the verge of zero. However, there at least existed a chance at success. Whereas if they were to ignore this chance and run away, it would only be a matter of time before the Lords discover their peculiar ''Cause'' and find them. And against the Lords, even Stage 7 existences were lesser than ants. "There is no doubt that the master of this place is higher than Stage 3 but lesser than Stage 5. Not only that but from what I''ve seen from the arrangement and construction of this labyrinth, his life seems to be in its last embers." "The metal conduits arranged throughout the corridors, transporting life force and vital energy of the world into this place. As an ex-higher Stage, you should know how great of a life force is required to increase lifespan." Lucius nodded his head in understanding. At Stage 3, one is able to connect themselves with the world, thus wielding power and life force that is equal to the world. A Stage 4 would naturally have a higher life force. However, all living things have an end. Even stars that have burnt for billions of years will eventually die out. The life force of a living organism is finite, and therefore the existence of a ''lifespan''. Any living thing at its base state (non-awakened) will possess a fixed amount of lifespan. Mankind (Humans) for example without any external supplements can live for 80-100 years. Lacermen have a base lifespan of 120-150 years. Terrans have a base lifespan of 100-120 years. Bertarians have a lifespan of 250-300 years. The higher the Grade, the greater the average lifespan of a creature. Of course, this rule isn''t absolute and certain exceptions do exist. Ka''lor''ah''s race for example has a minimum lifespan (unawakened) of 10,000 years! After undergoing ''ascension'' and starting the journey of cultivation, each increase in Stage will increase one''s lifespan. However, this increase is often minimal and barely differs from the base lifespan. Humans at Stage 3 will have a maximum lifespan of 150 years. Since their cultivation cannot go past this point, their lifespan is also fixed. "From what I''ve seen, it''s obvious that the lifespan of the master of this labyrinth is coming to an end. In a bid to extend it, he''s using some sort of life-extension technique." "However, there still remained a question. Why would he go to such lengths to hide from Cause and Fate for using a life extension technique?" "No matter how vile or evil the methods are, it does not warrant such caution, requiring it to be hidden from the Lords." As the name suggests ''life extension'' techniques are methods that can be used to increase one''s diminishing lifespan. These methods are greatly varied, with each race possessing its own practices. Humanity''s use of modern technology to regenerate dead cells, replace dying organs, etc, can be considered life extension techniques. Again, with the increase in one''s cultivation, the methods of extending their lifespan will also decrease. One cannot hope to have both power and eternal life. Due to the large variety in the methods to extend lifespan, there exist some methods which are considered ''unethical'', ''demonic'' or ''evil'' in the eyes of the public. The act of stealing the lifespan of others to supplement one''s own is a classic technique of the [Evil] faction. These techniques are considered abhorrent and vile by the [Good] faction, with the users of such methods often being collectively hunted by the faction. The master of the labyrinth was using such an ''evil'' method. "I mean, it is understandable that he has to hide from the [Good] faction, but is such preparation necessary? It feels redundant to go to such extents just to hide from some fanatics of the [Good] faction." "This was the question that had been confusing me for a long time. However, after seeing the soul of the Cerberus being sucked into that door, I finally understood." Speaking until here Ka''lor''ah paused for a moment. "I do not know how he did it, but the master of this labyrinth has touched upon the secrets of the soul! He has reached a level of understanding that is superior to both the Lords and I." Ka''lor''ah declared. Since the beginning of the Universe, there never existed a Lord of Souls. While the Rule of Souls wasn''t the highest Rule in existence, it is nonetheless the most elusive and mysterious one. According to legend, only the Overlord is known to have control over the Rule of Souls. "It is common knowledge that souls are indestructible. However, this Rule isn''t absolute. Every Stage 7 existence more or less knows this fact. Your ability to devour souls is a good example proving this." "But!" she interjected. "The fact that all souls, five seconds after death, must return to Limbo is indisputable! Even your power of ''Void'' cannot stop it. Not even the Lords using their full strength can stop this!" It is known that souls cannot be created, but are rather repurposed and recycled after the death of a living thing. The memories and experiences of the living being are wiped before the soul is returned to the Universe with the birth of a new life. Limbo is a special plane of existence that lies outside the Universe. It is here that all souls return after death, to have their memories and strengths wiped, before being recycled. Not much is known about Limbo since its location and method to reach it is unknown. Due to the fact that it lies ''outside'' of the Universe, Limbo isn''t bounded by the Rules and is also outside the control and jurisdiction of the Lords. However, like always exceptions do exist. There is one person, who has reached Limbo and had made it back into the Universe. And that person was precisely Lucius. Chapter 198: His Story. Hearing Ka''lor''ah''s words, Lucius did not immediately reply but quietly regulated his breathing. He adjusted the soul power within his body, controlling it to bring it to its peak state. "You''re right." Lucius calmly replied. "After the passage for five seconds upon the death of a living being, its soul must return to Limbo. This is absolute and not even the Lords can stop this." "Regarding how the master of this labyrinth has managed to bend this rule, I do not know." He shook his head helplessly. Turning to face Ka''lor''ah, Lucius solemnly stated. "While I did serve as the ''Master of Limbo'' for a hundred years, I did it when I was in Stage 4 of [Killer]. You should know what Stage 4 of [Killer] signifies." His tone suddenly turned despondent and a painful, fearful expression appeared on Lucius'' face. His eyes unconsciously roamed about, seemingly hesitant to recall certain memories. Seeing his pained expression, Ka''lor''ah seemed to understand something. "Lucius¡­" she worriedly called out his name. Closing his eyes, Lucius forcibly calmed himself. His gaze steeled once again, as he unflinchingly and indifferently started at Ka''lor''ah. "Point is, Limbo lies outside the domain of the Universe and isn''t under the control of any Rules.'' ''Time, Space, Cause, Fate none of these things apply over there. It is not a place that can be manipulated or controlled. It is an independent domain, whose sole purpose is to recycle the souls.'' "Dead souls are the only thing that can enter into Limbo. To forcibly enter it with a physical body, certain conditions had to be met.'' ''If not for that chance encounter of mine in my previous life, I wouldn''t have been able to enter it either and would have ultimately died in some corner of the Universe, under the effect of someone''s ploys.'' "While Limbo did provide me with the chance to continue with my life and cultivation, the price I paid for that chance was too great." Turning to stare at the deep, distant darkness of this underground space, Lucius spoke with a quiet voice. "That person who entered that place died on the very first day. He who survived and returned was someone entirely different." He vaguely spoke, not explaining what he had meant. He then waved his hands and redirected the conversation. "Anyways, let''s get moving. Staying here and hesitating will not change anything. As it is, enough time has already been wasted.'' he declared, cautiously walking towards the large, patterned door. Ka''lor''ah''s mind which had still been in chaos after listening to Lucius'' words, absentmindedly turned towards him. She looked at this person, who had his back turned against her. A 2.5m tall being with fleshy wings attached to his wide back, walked straight. His body was filled with numerous wounds and injuries, some of which exposed his bone and scantly bled. Looking at him unhesitantly walk towards the unknown darkness filled with the aura of death, Ka''lor''ah''s emotions burst forth. While Lucius had lived with Ka''lor''ah in the latter parts of his previous life, he had never once spoken in detail about certain matters, only being vague to satisfy her curiosity. His experience regarding the encounter with Limbo was one of these. Under the influence of her emotions, her mind flashed with memories. ''A human only has the potential to reach Stage 3 in his life. After this point, any further progress is simply impossible. This is mandated by the Rules.'' ''Lucius awakened his soul at the age of 17. He reached Stage 2 at the age of 51. He then achieved Stage 3 at the age of 147, with only a year of his lifespan left at most.'' This much she knew, as Lucius did not hide anything from her. However, when asked about his encounter with Limbo, Lucius was extremely vague in his explanation. ''According to him, he managed to accidently acquire the chance to enter Limbo while being hunted by the Inspectors of the [Good] faction.'' With her curiosity getting the better of her, Ka''lor''ah then recalled the investigations that she had performed on this incident. ''During my investigation, I found that Lucius was framed for a crime that he did not commit, drawing the collective wrath of the entire [Good] faction.'' ''It was during his escape that he managed to stumble across the entrance of Limbo.'' As for what the crime was? Ka''lor''ah had scoured through the records of the Inspectors Guild, before finally finding it. Apparently, ''Lucius'' had kidnapped and defiled the Crown Princess of the Alcana Empire, a few days before her marriage to the heir of the Heavenly Sovereigns, the leader of the [Good] Faction! The Alcana Empire was the second-strongest power in the [Good] faction, second only to the Heavenly Sovereigns. It was the kingdom of the Neo-Humans and was home to all of the Mages of the Universe. (AN: Mages are a soul type that is exclusive to the Neo-Humans. Only they possess the methods to awaken the [Mage] soul and its sub-types) The Alcana Empires also possessed the greatest number of Sigilers in their ranks, making them the largest producers of Runic Armaments and other weapons of war. In fact, they were called the ''Golden Goose'' that periodically produced Sigilers. Their importance and influence in the [Good] faction can naturally be estimated from this information. They were an absolute power that no force or species, dared to mess with. This marriage was supposed to be the basis of an alliance between the two behemoths of the [Good] faction. Not to mention, it was rumored that the heir of the Heavenly Sovereigns had fallen in love with the beauty and character of the Crown Princess. Now just think about it for a second. The Crown Princess of the Alcana Empire was the only child of the then ruling Emperor. She was both a Stage 4 [Archmage], an incredibly powerful, not to mention ''Rare'' soul type, but was also a talented Sigiler, hailed as a ''once-in-a-thousand-years'' genius. In short, she was one of the most important people in the entire Empire. Just the people protecting her would be unimaginably strong! So then, how could a random Stage 3 [Killer] not only successfully kidnap her, but also perform such a vile deed? How could a ''nobody'' that had absolutely zero connections or influence, ever even be in the same area as such an esteemed figure? Anyone with a brain could see that something was obviously wrong with this case. Unfortunately, the person who had framed Lucius was extremely thorough in their work. All evidence pointed towards Lucius, and he was hunted by the entirety of the [Good] faction. Even the leader of the [Good] faction, the Heavenly Sovereigns participated in this hunt, with the heir being personally involved. ''Being chased for almost a year just when it seemed as if he was finally going to be caught, Lucius suddenly disappeared. Not a single trace of his existence appeared in any part of the Universe.'' ''The entire [Good] faction was absolutely furious at this, while the [Evil] faction rejoiced. They even hailed Lucius as a hero for some time.'' ''After a few years of fruitless searching, the hunt for Lucius was called off. In a dozen years, everyone completely forgot about this matter, but the tensions between the Heavenly Sovereigns and the Alcana Empire were at an all-time high.'' ''The situation of the Crown Princess also became unknown. Some say that she committed suicide out of shame, while others say that heir''s love knew no bounds, for he continued to love her despite her ''flaws''.'' ''A hundred years passed after this incident before Lucius finally reappeared.'' ''This time, however, he was at Peak-Level Stage 5 and veritably, was one of the strongest beings among the lower existences!'' (AN: Stage 6 and above are referred to as Higher/Greater Existences or Stages, while the remaining are called Lower/Lesser existences. It''s akin to the ''mortal'', ''immortal'' separation in Reverend Insanity.) ''No one knew where he had been and how he had managed to reach this level of strength quietly, and without any fanfare.'' ''However, it was precisely after his return that Lucius became one of the worst nightmares of the [Good] Factions.'' ''A single person, with his own strength exterminated the Alcana Empire, the people who had wronged him. Not just stopping there, he continued to kill dozens of other races affiliated to the Alcana Empire, including its vassals and the like.'' ''He went on the greatest killing spree ever recorded in history, showcasing how utterly terrifying a [Killer] could be. He killed and killed and continued killing.'' ''If Lucius, before entering Limbo could still be considered to be a normal person with some morals and bottom lines, then the person who returned a hundred years later was a complete devil.'' ''Even after completing his revenge, Lucius did not rest his blade and stop his slaughter, for he had learned, what it meant to be weak.'' To fight is to survive and to survive is to kill. The ideology and his path as a Killer were forged. ''With his path found, he set his sights on becoming a Stage 7 existence.'' Good? Evil? Innocent? Guilty? Morality? Laws? Everything and everyone had to be killed to fulfill his purpose. It was at this point, that Ka''lor''ah seemed to recall something. If she had possessed a body, a bitter smile would involuntarily appear on her face. ''If it had not been for that girl, Lucius would have continued with his reckless slaughter, angering the higher existences.'' ''If not for her love that had moved him to stop his killing, Lucius would have died a premature death.'' ''Alas¡­'' Sighing soundlessly, Ka''lor''ah thought of a name. ''Aroura Letum¡­'' GRIND! Sriiiichh!! The screeching noise of stone rubbing against stone finally woke Ka''lor''ah from her thoughts. Turning her head towards the source of that noise she discovered that Lucius had opened the large door leading to the heart of this labyrinth. What awaited them was unknown¡­ ----------- AN: Here we finally start to see some of the events leading up to why and how Lucius became Lucius. The events with the Alcana Empire, the time spent in Limbo, the rise to Stage 5 and beyond, all these events will be explained in detail in the future, this chapter here is laying the base. Oh, Aroura''s full name was finally revealed. Quite interesting if you think about it... PS: The chapter names for the last two chapters have been renamed. The next chapter will be called ''The Heretic. Part 1'' Chapter 199: The Heretic. Part 1 Swoosh! Streams of stale air and dust flew outside the moment Lucius pushed open the large door. Holding his breath, Lucius took care to inhale the incoming air and continued to exert strength into his muscles. His large frame creaked as delicate sounds of bones snapping and muscles stretching resounded in the quiet atmosphere. Lucius'' eyes appeared squinted, as he used all his strength to push the door open. ''So heavy.'' He inwardly thought to himself. THUD! Giving it one final push, he managed to nudge the door wide enough for him to fit. Turning back, he called out to Ka''lor''ah once more. "Can you read any signs in there?" Being one step ahead of him, Ka''lor''ah had already cast the required observation and detection spells to check the interior. The crystal body shook itself to signify denial. She flew over to him and replied. "Apart from that large, concentrated mass of life force I can''t detect anyone else. There are no threads of Cause either." Nodding his head, Lucius did not reply. Without any hesitation, he turned around and stepped into that narrow entrance, entering the other side of the door. With just two steps, Lucius'' body disappeared into the other side. "Wait for me!" Ka''lor''ah echoed flying into that crack. ----------- BANG! The moment Ka''lor''ah crossed over, the large, patterned door through which they had just entered slammed shut. The bodies of both Lucius and Ka''lor''ah stiffened, as grim darkness enveloped them. ''I-I can''t see anything¡­'' Ka''lor''ah''s nervous voice sounded within Lucius'' mind. The very instant, darkness veiled everything around them, Lucius'' 5 eyes shone with brightness. [Dark Vision] an ability which he had gained from devouring the creatures of the labyrinth activated. However, Lucius could still not see anything. ''This-! DODGE TO THE LEFT!!'' Ka''lor''ah suddenly screamed within his mind, her voice filled with panic and terror. Although Lucius could neither see nor feel the approaching danger, he did not hesitate to trust her words. Exerting strength onto his feet, Lucius immediately jumped to the left. He had also denoted the soul power near his feet to get some extra thrust. BANG! The moment Lucius was in the air, flying towards the left he could feel the very space around him twist and tear asunder! All five of Lucius'' eyes shrunk to form tiny slits. He immediately held his breath, not daring to breathe. ''My danger senses did not detect that at all!'' The passive ''sixth sense'' of Lucius, crystallized from all his battle experience of his previous life, did not warn him at all! Falling onto the ground with a hard thud, Lucius was just about to get onto his feet when Ka''lor''ah''s voice resounded within his mind once again. ''Roll backward for 50 meters!'' she instructed. Obeying once more, Lucius gave up on recovering his balance. Instantly bending his spine, Lucius forced his body to roll backward, continuing the momentum of the fall. BOOM!! The solid stone ground exploded into countless fragments, the very next instant that Lucius had moved. Pain trickled into his conscious mind, as some of the fragments of the stone, flying at speeds unseen by the naked eye, struck his body and pierced into his skin. While this sudden bout of pain might have distracted a normal person, Lucius was hardly moved by it. ''When I say, jump onto your feet and open your wings. Fly towards that direction and do not stop!'' a mark suddenly appeared within Lucius'' mind pointing the direction that he had to take. Waiting for Ka''lor''ah''s word, Lucius'' body continued to roll. The initial panic had already disappeared, replaced with utter calmness. The Void Eater''s beastly instincts tried and reared its head every now and then, for he could sense the extremely dense life force surrounding him. Greed, desire, gluttony, various emotions rose within his heart, only to be firmly squashed by Lucius. At this moment of life and death, Lucius could not afford to give in to his desires. Perhaps sensing the threat to his life, the maddened instincts also calmed. ''NOW!'' Ka''lor''ah thundered. Rolling on the ground, Lucius'' back had just been touching the ground when he heard Ka''lor''ah''s shout. Bending his spine to create an arch, Lucius pulled back his legs to tuck them under his body. With one hand on the ground and the other in the air, Lucius exerted all the physical force that he could muster and launched himself into the air. Swick! Swoosh! Swick! Bolts of invisible energy swept across the room, their directions and intentions, unknown. Lucius could hardly see anything, but could intuitively ''feel'' it. The feeling within his mind was something akin to a large web enclosing around him, constricting and trapping him. Flying upwards into the air, Lucius could feel himself become heavier by the second. Realizing that he was in much greater danger than he had thought, Lucius did not dare hold back. [Annihilation Intent] was unleashed to the fullest and [Annihilation Energy] was moved to coat his body. Three pairs of fleshy, dark wings extended from his back, as Lucius heaved a mighty flap. The muscles on his back pulled taut for a moment and relaxed. Swoosh! Winds swept across his face, as Lucius experienced the updraft of wind striking against his face. ''Move, move, move! It''s getting closer!'' Ka''lor''ah hastened him. Not asking, what ''it'' was, Lucius continued to flap his wings heading towards the location marked by the pointer. Spheres of soul power continuously appeared underneath his wings, only to explode the very next seconds. Each explosion pushed him forward and made him faster. ''Angle yourself at 40¡ã to the left and fold your wings. The instant you touch the ground, turn around and launch your strongest attack outwards!'' Angling himself¡­done. Folding his wings¡­done. Feeling his body drop, Lucius calmly waited. With most of his senses blinded, Lucius could not make heads of what was up or down, left or right. That entire set of actions done previously had been executed solely from the hints provided by Ka''lor''ah, and his own judgment. If even a single action had been executed incorrectly or had there been a millisecond of delay, Lucius would have wounded up dead. THUD! With his body hitting solid ground, Lucius immediately acted once again. Stomping his feet, the ground beneath his feet splintered, as Lucius forcibly canceled his momentum. Crossing both his hands before his chest, Lucius extended the dark claws on his hands and performed a move, for the first time in his current life. [Dance of the Death God: Third Movement- Eviscerate]! 80% of his soul power, having completely transformed into [Annihilation Energy] burst forth. Glimmers of white light appeared within the absolute darkness of this space, as millions of threads of shimmering white light flew through the air. This scene that reminded one of the starry skies contained a frightening amount of power. The sheer aura that was felt from the attack, was enough to stop a Low-Level Stage 2''s heart. Making their way through the silent air, the millions of threads of light suddenly stopped within the darkness. Seemingly having met something, the lines suddenly contracted into a single, infinitely thin line and¡­ ¡­exploded! "AHHHHH!!!!" A horrifying scream shook Lucius'' very body and soul. Intense dizziness and the urge to vomit assaulted his consciousness, as his knees buckled and Lucius fell to the ground. His skin began to rip apart and dense black blood dripped from his wounds. Lucius started to bleed from all of his orifices, with two of his eyeballs exploding into balls of flesh. "AHH!! YOU--!!" In the background, that horrifying voice continued with its scream. Every single syllable of its voice seemed to have some sort of profound effect, as Lucius felt a pain akin to a sledgehammer slamming into his head. Kneeling on the ground, Lucius hardly had any strength remaining. The combination of the mysterious voice''s scream, the continuous high-intensity movements, and that final all-out attack with his strongest move had drained him of everything. Shatter! It was then, that the sound of glass shattering, echoed quietly. With the point where Lucius'' attack had met as the center, visible white cracks formed in the air, and the darkness surrounding them finally disappeared. A large stone-walled room came into existence. Tall pillars made of a strange red-colored rock extended from the ground, holding the stone-covered roof. Eerily burning blue torches, were placed on the pillars, within whose flame, transparent faces could be seen. These faces appeared and disappeared at random, each time sporting a different expression. Some were laughing, some crying, some screaming with a pained expression, while some looked on with indifference. The pillars, the floor, the four walls, and the roof, were carved with intricate patterns and letters, forming asymmetrical, yet beautiful patterns. Various strange-looking devices also occupied fixed positions, as they pulsed with blue-colored energy while stirring the surrounding spiritual energy. These devices were all pointed towards a certain direction and seemed capable of turning themselves at will. At the center of their pointing was the star of the room. The master of the labyrinth, if you will. Floating in the air was a ghostly apparition with a face twisted in pain. Its 2m tall figure was entirely crimson in color, as its body rippled with bouts of solidarity and transparency. Staring at it, one would be able to see the scene behind its figure. Its two arms clutched onto its chest, where a long, visible white cut ran across the entirety of its upper body. A cut, from which whitish-red gases constantly escaped, dissipating into nothingness. "Piffling worm! I will kill you for this!" the ghostly figure hissed hatefully. Its two onyx-colored eyes drilled into Lucius'' figure. Rapidly gasping for air, as he kneeled within a small cave, formed of a crack on the wall, Lucius raised his head and looked towards this translucent figure. With the knowledge that he possessed, he immediately understood what he was looking at. "A Stage 5 soul existing in the absence of its body¡­" he mumbled, absentmindedly. Chapter 200: The Heretic. Part 2 "Leave the thinking to later! We have to finish this battle first!" Ka''lor''ah hurriedly reminded him. Snapping out of his thoughts, Lucius'' looked at the crimson spectre floating in the air, with a sharpened gaze. Its piercing shrieks felt incredibly painful to hear, rattling his entire body. "Your attack dealt a serious amount of damage to its soul. It will take at least a minute for it to recover." "There''s a source of life energy behind you. Quickly absorb it and recover your strength." Hearing Ka''lor''ah''s instruction, Lucius activated [Devour]. The shadow underneath his feet expanded in size, completely encompassing the interiors of their temporary hideout. The spot they were hiding in wasn''t very large in size. With his shadow covering every inch of space on the inside, Lucius quickly discovered the life energy source that Ka''lor''ah had mentioned. Without any hesitation, Lucius unleashed his power. "Devour." A low growl escaped his throat. The darkness beneath his feet bubbled, as a tremendous amount of life energy was devoured en masse, flowing into the Void. Before long, thick streams of void energy left his shadow, rushing into Lucius'' starved body. "Ah¡­" A quiet moan leaked from within Lucius'' lips. His skeleton-like body started to rapidly bulk up, before quickly returning to its previous glory. The tears on his muscles, the wounds on his skin, the two masses of exploded eyeballs, quickly healed upon receiving nourishment from the void energy. The source of replenishment also shrunk in size, before finally drying up. "You, you, you¡­ You will PAY FOR THIS!!" Just as the final wounds on his back were in the process of closing up, Lucius heard a furious declaration. Looking up, his three pairs of eyes met with that of the floating soul. One looking eternally indifferent and the other, absolutely livid. So much so, that Lucius could feel tangible hatred rubbing across his skin. "Your reckless intervention has thoroughly messed up all of my plans. Not only did you barge in here, but you also destroyed the barrier!!" the master of the labyrinth fumed. "No, you will not die an ordinary death. I will skin you an¡ª" "[Eviscerate]" an almost, a careless sounding voice softly declared. The eyes of the crimson spectre shrunk in shock as it witnessed millions of threads of soft, glowing light heard towards it once more. "AGAIN?!!" The anger had left its tone, replacing it with sheer shock. Hastily moving its arms about, the floating soul created the most basic of barriers, fueled by soul power and reinforced it. Alas¡­ ¡­it made no difference. Similar to a hot knife cutting through butter, or a heated wire cutting through foam, the threads of white light effortlessly cut through the barriers of soul power and landed on its body. BOOM!! Unable to hold its position in the air, the crimson spectre was thrown back with mighty force. The entirety of the underground room shook, as shockwaves of the attack, assaulted the walls and pillars within. Thud. Inside the small crack, Lucius'' body fell to its knees once again. The muscles in his body had deflated once again, and the bones in his arms were thoroughly crushed. Unable to hold onto it, his scythe fell on the ground in front of him. Lucius'' heavily panted, occasionally throwing up mouthfuls of blood. His face looked absolutely terrible, with pain reflecting in his eyes. For Lucius'' eyes to be able to reflect the emotion of pain¡­The state of his body could only be imagined. "Did you get him?" Ka''lor''ah worriedly asked. Due to the sheer intensity of the attack''s brightness blinding her, she was unable to see whether Lucius'' attack has struck the vengeful soul or not. Throwing another mouthful of dense, black blood, Lucius wiped his mouth on his shoulder and softly replied. "It hit." Relief and a tinge of satisfaction could be heard in his voice. Recalling the attack in one part of his mind, Lucius used the other to control his [Void Hands] to dig into the walls of the cave to find another source of life energy. He needed to use [Devour] to top up once again. [Dance of the Death God: Third Movement ¨C Eviscerate], was an attack that should only be used by those with at least Stage 3 soul cultivation. Not only will the soul power of those underneath that level of cultivation, unable to support the activation of the attack, also one''s body will also not be sufficiently strong enough to handle the backlash during its duration. As always, exceptions existed to everything and Lucius was a freak of nature. Not only was his soul power capacity dozens of times greater than normal, but he also had a tremendous amount of void energy to supplement the activation. This resulted in both his body and soul being near-completely drained of energy. As for the backlash during its duration? Lucius'' physical body during its [State of Devour] phase was infinitely close to stepping into Stage 3. However, since it wasn''t entirely in the Stage 3 level, large injuries and massive amounts of pain were the only sequelae. By now, a few minutes had passed and Lucius had recovered to a certain extent. He was only able to find a small pocket of energy and thus, was unable to recover to his peak. With his hands having regenerated, Lucius picked his scythe and rose to his feet. He first inspected his body, estimating the level of his combat effectiveness and results of his previous attacks. ''The majority of the wounds have closed up. Soul power is at 44% of full capacity and void energy is at 31%. Combat effectiveness is at¡­ 51%'' ''If I give it my all, I can throw another Eviscerate at him. However, the chances of my survival after that cannot be accurately estimated. The most likely outcome would be my death.'' ''The condition of the opponent is still unknown, however, it can''t be anything good. In the first place, Eviscerate was a move that was meant to attack the soul of the opponent, ignoring all physical hindrances. With the opponent, somehow existing as a soul entity, this attack must, without doubt, be very effective against him.'' Taking a deep breath to gather his thoughts. ''I still cannot let down my guard. This is the first time I''m facing such a unique opponent. His strengths and weaknesses are completely unknown. Worst case scenario, he was exaggerating his reaction earlier to make me underestimate him.'' ''That brings up the question, what is he exactly? How can the soul exist without the containment of the body? Most importantly, how did he escape the calling of Limbo?'' Lucius pondered while frowning inwardly. "Do you think he''s dead?" he suddenly heard Ka''lor''ah voice quip inside his head. Shaking his head, Lucius unhesitantly replied. "Unlikely. Stage 5''s cannot die just like that." "Well, technically speaking he is ''dead''. He currently exists as an individual soul entity." Ka''lor''ah replied. "Any idea how?" Lucius questioned. "Nope." Ka''lor''ah instantly answered. The crystal body shook itself and continued. "This is my first time seeing something like this. Heck, I''ve never read or even heard anything remotely similar to this." Lucius did not question any further. Having finished his evaluation, he flapped his wings and jumped off of the safe cave and flew towards the location of the crimson-coloured soul''s landing. Lucius'' mind held no thoughts of holding back. If the opponent was found in a condition better than his estimation, Lucius was willing to use Eviscerate once more and go down the path of mutual destruction. ''Careful. I''ve been scanning the area for him, since after your attack but came up with nothing. Either he''s dead or he''s hiding from my detection.'' ''Hmm.'' Lucius gave a terse affirmation. With his left hand extending forward and his right hand grasping onto the scythe, Lucius carefully lowered his body towards the ground. Dust clouds covered the entirety of the air, rendering his sight useless. Extending his soul power into the surrounding, resulted in no feedback either. ''He''s not dead.'' Lucius could feel his instincts warning him of the danger. His opponent was most definitely alive. Thud. Landing heavily on the ground, Lucius walked closer and closer to the crater. The clouds of dust were settling, slowly revealing the scene shrouded behind them. An empty crater. "What?" Ka''lor''ah confused voice, inadvertently leaked. Apart from a 30m wide and 15m deep crater, there was no one present. The crimson soul spectre, the master of the labyrinth, the unknown ex-Stage 5 existence had vanished! Lucius monster-like head revealed no creases or frowns, but confusion and astonishment could be seen in his eyes. Since before his attack, Lucius'' eyes had been constantly tracking the crimson spectre. He had seen his opponent receive his attack, fly backwards at great speeds and crash on the ground. Exactly in the spot where he was currently standing. ''Where is he?'' Just as Lucius was about to turn his head to look around, his body suddenly froze. Not because of the cold or fear. It simply froze. ''I can''t move my body!'' Lucius desperately tried, but it was to no avail. His body just refused to move. "Lucius, why are you standing still?" Just as Ka''lor''ah''s question was heard in his ear, Lucius heard a completely different voice inside his head. ''A mere worm dares to attack my laboratory. As payment for your crimes, I shall take over your body.'' And in the next instant, a crimson soul appeared within Lucius'' mindspace. Chapter 201: Soul Invasion. ''Hmm? What is this place?'' The Master of the labyrinth scoured his surroundings in confusion. Reflecting in his vision was a large space with sparsely scattered crystallized clouds of soul power. At the tallest point in this space was a resplendent golden ball of sun that was routinely sending waves of golden light outwards, into the surroundings. The ground of this space was covered by a layer of thick, viscous, tar-like black substance which ebbed and flowed like the ocean. On the Master''s crimson-colored face a noticeable frown appeared as he looked continued to fly through Lucius'' mindspace. ''No Stage 1 being can have such a large mindspace. This space has already reached the ''Mental World'' level, possessed by Stage 4 and above beings.'' Stopping next to a crystallized cloud, the mouth of the crimson soul moved and a strange light appeared, falling on the cloud of soul power. The frowns on the Master''s head deepened as the results of his test appeared within his mind. ''Strange, this soul power is clearly at Peak-Level Stage 1. How can he support such a large space with such minute soul power?'' The look on the Master''s eyes was colored with confusion, as he looked around this strange space. A queer feeling appeared within his heart along with unease. Squashing this feeling of unease, the Master shook his head to rid himself of his confusion. ''This isn''t the time to question such matters. I have to first find this guy''s soul and capture it. After that, there will be plenty of time to question him and perform some research into this place.'' A flash of madness dashed across his eyes, as the Master thought of something. ''Perhaps, the answer to ''that problem'' can be found within this guy''s soul¡­'' A horrific smile formed upon his crimson face. ---------- "LUCIUS!! LUCIUS!!" Ka''lor''ah''s screams echoed within the empty cavern. Her crystal body circled Lucius'' monstrous body and multiple spells fell atop him. "Lucius, you have to wake up!!" She continued to scream but to no avail. Lucius was completely unresponsive. All seven of his eyes stared forward blankly and his body stood perfectly still. His left hand was raised forward into the air, while his right hand was carefully gripping onto his scythe. ''What is happening? His body is completely fine and there are no traces of any ''puppetry'' or ''control'' spells on him. The heart rate, blood flow, nerve signals, everything is perfectly fine!'' By now, Ka''lor''ah had already broken the runic formation set by the Master of the labyrinth. Her detection spells were no longer blocked and were scanning the full extent of this underground space. However, she could not find the opponent! There was only herself and Lucius. ''It''s almost as if he''s---!'' With a flash of inspiration, a possibility appeared within Ka''lor''ah''s mind. Almost acting on instinct, she hurriedly withdrew all of the soul power into her body and cast [Isolation Barrier], surrounding herself and Lucius. Casting a spell to strengthen her mental power, Ka''lor''ah quickly moved her consciousness to dive into Lucius'' mindspace, following the line linking their souls. ''Don''t lose yourself, Lucius!!'' ---------- ''Found his soul.'' A vile smile spread across the Master''s face. With his expertise in the domain of souls, locating Lucius'' soul within this vast mindspace was hardly a challenge for the Master. In just a few minutes, he had already arrived at the location of the vague, translucent silhouette floating in the air. ''There is something very strange about this guy''s soul. These clouds of soul power have some sort of corrosive effect and keeping attacking my soul. Honestly, it''s getting very annoying. This expenditure is needless.'' Closing in on Lucius, while avoiding the clouds of soul power, the Master thought to himself. ''After I finish capturing him, I have to relocate my lab and move to another planet. The barrier in this place has been destroyed and my research cannot continue until I finish reconstructing the barrier.'' Just thinking about the time he would have to waste relocating, made the Master grit his teeth. ''If only this guy had not come!! I was so close!'' ''SO VERY CLOSE TO THE TRUTH!!'' Floating right in front of Lucius'' soul, the Master finally opened his mouth and spoke. "With the will slumbering, the soul remains bare to the truth. Show me. Show me everything." The moment his words fell, the translucent, [Annihilator]''s soul rapidly shivered, before starting to violently shake. Having detected the threat, the black ocean shook and roared, wanting to tear this intruder apart. Alas, it was helpless¡­for the intruder was far too strong. ''What secrets do you hide?'' The Master thought to himself, just as the world before him collapsed and started to change. Lucius'' memories were being revealed. ---------- In a bare open field, a queue of slaves wearing thick, metallic chains binding their hands and feet were pulling a large corpse of a monster. The monster''s corpse was humongous in size and could easily be mistaken for a mountain at first glance. Within this line of slaves, was a filth-covered human with pale skin and thin stick-like limbs. "Move it! If any of you dare to stop, I will skin you alive!" A rough-voiced alien grimly reminded the slaves. The thin-figured human continued to silently march forward while pulling at the rope. Walking a few steps forward, his legs suddenly shook, which resulted in his body collapsing onto the ground. Crack! The sharp sound of whipping resounded through the air. A long, metallic whip barbed with sharp fringes appeared for a moment, before disappearing into the air once more. Crack! Once again the sharp sound resounded only this time, a chunk of flesh and streams of blood followed. The figure of the human who had just been whipped groaned in pain, as he struggled to stand up. Crack! Another blow fell atop his back, tearing another chunk of flesh from his malnourished body. The figure shook twice before he managed to regain his footing. Without a word of complaint, he held onto the rope once again and continued to pull the large corpse. Meanwhile up in the air, a crimson figure watched this scene in silence. He stayed for a few more seconds before suddenly vanishing. ---------- "Quick! Continue chasing him. Don''t let him escape!!" A shrill voice bellowed in the dead silence of the night. "Stop running, you criminal scum! How dare you assault our noble princess! Your kind must be burnt at the stake!!" Another voice thundered, as it continued to chase after a distant figure. "If you surrender right now, you will be granted an easier death!!" A third insinuated, unable to hide the rage which he felt. The dark figure, running in the front did not respond to the provocation. The figure darted across buildings and structures, blending with the night. The screams and shouts from behind grew fainter and fainter until finally no more shouts could be heard. After confirming his safety, the figure came to a halt and hid beneath a rocky outgrowth. Lying on his back, the figure raised his hands to take a look, only to find them shivering violently. Turning them back, he could see a thin green line running across the length of his arm, leading all the way up to his shoulders. "Poison." The figure softly spoke. His eyes wavered and he turned to look at the three white moons, present in the distant sky. Complex emotions flashed across his eyes, before finally settling on a single one. "Why?" he asked in confusion. At a distance away from this figure, deep within the forest, a crimson figure disappeared into the darkness once more. ---------- "Hahaha, look over here! My pile is both larger and taller. I won the bet~!" A pearl-like laughter, followed by the excited voice of a woman, announced, pointing to a 300m tall mountain of corpses. The corpse mountain included figures of various shapes and sizes, some humanoid in the figure, while others were just plain monsters. "You cheated." A monotonous male voice refuted. "Cheated? How? Got any evidence?" The woman unhesitantly provoked, approaching the male figure closer. Her long, slender legs confidently stepped forward, while her two hands gripped onto a silver-colored scythe that was placed against her back. Hearing the woman''s provocation, the man remained silent. He had no evidence and therefore stood no chance at winning the argument against his companion. "Hehe, that settles it then. I win!" The woman declared. She then suddenly dashed forward and pounced atop the male figure. The man was unable to react any quicker and had hardly reacted before he was pinned to the ground. His hands were then quickly seized by the woman and held firmly in place. With the man lying flat on the ground and the woman mounting him, the scene was suddenly frozen in place. The woman''s long, straight silver hair fell atop the man''s face, covering his face and expression. The woman closed in with her head and used her small nose to part the hair from his face, exposing the man''s expression. He had none. "Tch. Stone cold as always," The woman unhappily clicked her tongue. Her pink-colored eyes stared into those of the man''s and asked. "Do you seriously feel nothing, even after being straddled like this by me?" Feeling her hot breath tickle against his skin, the man remained unmoved. He continued to silently stare into the woman''s eyes. Facing his silence, the woman''s mouth curved to form a bright, teasing smile. "Oho, so the ever stone-faced Killer does feel something. Might this lady ask what it could be?" The woman drew even closer while asking sensually. "You are being too close." The man impassively replied. "Am I now? But I don''t care." The woman shrugged it off. She continued to silently stare into the man''s eyes, only this time the look in her eyes turned nervous and expectant. The man''s mouth opened and closed multiple times and the look in the woman''s eyes grew more and more expectant. The man, then finally seemed to have decided something as his gaze turned serious. "Aurora, I¡ª" It was then that suddenly the scene shattered followed by a scream. "LUCIUS, YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP!!" "HE''S INVADING YOUR SOUL!!!" Chapter 202: Empty Space. In an empty space surrounded by perpetual, all-encompassing darkness, the figure of Lucius appeared with his eyes closed. ''A mere worm dares to attack my laboratory. As payment for your crimes, I shall take over your body.'' SNAP! Just as the words of the Master fell, Lucius'' eyes snapped open. His eyes blankly stared at the darkness for a few moments, before they regained their focus. ''Where am I?'' Lucius asked himself, as he looked around the blank space. The surrounding space was completely void of any objects or structures, being virtually empty. As void of anything this space was, Lucius was strangely able to ''see'' the darkness all around him. ''Strange, there is no source of light within his place. However, I''m somehow able to see my surroundings.'' Directing his vision downwards, Lucius was able to see his own body. He was wearing some sort of white clothing that covered his chest, lower body, and legs, all the way down to his knees. The lower portion of his legs and his two arms were uncovered and plain to see. Raising his hands to take a look at them, Lucius noticed that the charcoal-grey color of his skin had disappeared, returning his skin to its original pale-white color. ''I''m back to human form? When was [State of Devour] canceled?'' Feeling confused, Lucius tried to dive into his mindspace to inspect his condition. ''?!!'' His eyes flew wide open and clear shock could be seen reflecting in the depths of his eyes. Lucius could not access his mindspace. To be more precise, he couldn''t feel it at all. ''What''s happening?!'' Trying, again and again, Lucius still failed to access his mindspace. He then tried to move the soul power in his body, only to realize that he had none. Lucius'' breathing grew quicker and shorter and his heart rate increased. The emotion of panic appeared within his heart, which was then quickly suppressed by his mind. ''Calm down. Take a deep breath.'' Lucius reminded himself while following his own advice. Taking a few deep breaths, he first calmed his mind before beginning to rationally think. ''Okay¡­the last thing that occurred was the surprise attack by that ghost. He mentioned taking over my body¡­did he use some kind of sealing or banishing spell to suppress my consciousness?'' ''Likely. I remember hearing him inside my mind; therefore he must have forcibly invaded into my mindspace, and banished my consciousness using some sort of mental spell. With my consciousness absent, my mindspace is free territory and is unguarded against intruders, leaving my body and soul defenseless, leaving him to do whatever he wants to.'' ''While the [Annihilator] soul is quite strong and can automatically respond to any attacks, the opponent is a Stage 5 soul, not to mention a clear master in matters regarding the soul. If he decides to attack, I will stand no chance.'' ''This situation is quite bad.'' Lucius sharply inhaled. ''However, seeing that I haven''t died yet, it''s clear that my soul hasn''t been destroyed yet. Either he decided not to destroy my soul immediately or is delayed by something else.'' ''The first case is unlikely, while the second case is more objective. As for the reason of delay¡­'' Lucius'' eyes suddenly shone with the light of understanding as he arrived at the answer. ''Ka''lor''ah!'' ''She must''ve noticed something was wrong and intervened. With her intrusion, the opponent must have been delayed.'' However, in the next moment, the light in his eyes dimmed once more, as Lucius continued with his analysis. ''Still, the root issue is not solved. While the opponent was weakened by our battle, he is still strong. Much stronger than Ka''lor''ah in her current state. It is unlikely for her to win, and unknown how much longer she can delay him.'' Kneading his temple with his hands, Lucius concluded. ''The key issue lies in the fact that my mindspace is currently unmanned. To win, ''I'' simply have to return to my mindspace.'' ''This ''body'' that I''m seeing right now, must be my consciousness. Seeing how I''m in some unknown dark space, this must be the place of the sealing/banishment.'' Lucius then tried to take a step forward. His right leg lifted into the air and moved some distance forward, before being lowered back into the ground. It landed. ''There is a ground.'' Having confirmed that, Lucius started to walk. He incrementally increased his speed, going from a slow walk, a casual stroll, brisk walking, a light jog, and eventually settled into a full-on sprint. Running at his top speed, Lucius accurately noted that his current speed was very¡­slow. Not to the point that barely any distance was being covered and he was staying in the same place, the surroundings moved away at quite the rate. However, Lucius could feel himself running at a very ''normal'' speed. Speed had always been Lucius'' forte. He could run very fast, even without the augmentation from his soul power. However, right now within his dark space, Lucius could clearly feel a limiter placed on his speed. ''Movement speed has a limit within this space.'' Upon confirming this, Lucius maintained his current pace and ran aimlessly. Time continued to pass by and after an unknown period of time, Lucius'' figure came to a halt. ''3600 seconds or 1 hour has passed. I have been maintaining my top speed for the entire duration of the run and currently feel zero fatigue. This body does not feel tired.'' He concluded. "Test! Test! TEST!!" Lucius then howled into the air. After screaming at the top of his lungs for some time, he quietened down and silently thought. ''No echoes can be heard, however, sound does propagate, meaning that a medium for propagation does exist within this place. However, there is no presence of air.'' ''Breathing was mostly symbolical. I cannot feel the presence of any air within this place. Even while running, I felt zero air resistance. Some other medium exists which allows for the propagation of sound waves.'' ''My current location is unknown. Even after running for an hour, the surrounding scenery remained the same. A solid dark ground, and surrounding darkness within which nothing exists.'' Scanning around once more, Lucius asked the question once again. ''Where am I? How do I get out of here?'' He then moved his arms and legs to confirm the state of his body, After making sure that everything was alright, Lucius was about to continue performing some more tests, when he suddenly heard something. "¡­h¡­r¡­" The sound was extremely faint and distorted. However, to Lucius who lacked any idea of what and where this place was, this sound was salvation. It was the metaphorical oasis in the middle of a desert. Lucius immediately stopped all his activities and focused only on listening to the source of the sound. He focused entirely on hearing for any and all sounds. Minutes passed in trepidation with the darkness seemingly looming over everything present. Absolute silence filled the air and absolute stillness filled the space. Just as the previous sound seemed to be an illusion another extremely faint noise sounded once more. "¡­.r¡­..n¡­" Lucius'' head cracked 50¡ã to the right and immediately locked onto the direction of the source. Without wasting a single instance of time, Lucius immediately started to run in the target direction. "¡­.a¡­..c¡­." "ab¡­mi¡­es¡­" "¡­they¡­hav¡­..rrounde¡­s." "¡­.quick, ove¡­.that pla¡­.." The sounds eventually grew louder and closer, while becoming increasingly coherent. Lucius continued to run at the maximum allowed speed, while cautiously observing his surroundings. Just as the darkness seemed to stretch on forever, Lucius'' speed suddenly slowed tremendously. His body felt restricted as it seemed to have hit some sort of gelatinous barrier that slowed his actions. ''What''s happening?'' Just as the thought occurred within Lucius'' mind, an audible ''pop'' sound was heard and Lucius'' body was released. The darkness surrounding him rapidly retreated, with color and light filling the surrounding. Lucius found himself standing on a solid stone ground filled with a variety of scars, scratches, and holes. Fragments of rock and stone flew everywhere and a thick scent of blood filled Lucius'' nose. As Lucius looked around in confusion, trying to make sense of his surroundings, a heavy, foreign voice announced in a grim tone. "Over there! Archers, direct your attacks to that spot!!" The moment this voice landed, tens of thousands of colorful light immediately appeared within Lucius'' vision. All of them, heading towards Lucius. Lucius'' face paled and his eyes shrunk to form pinholes. A single word appeared within his mind, to sum up, the situation. ''Ambush!'' ------------ Meanwhile, within Lucius'' mindspace. The golden figure of a woman and the crimson figure of a man was locked in an intense battle. Multiple attacks both visible and invisible flew towards each other. As the intensity of the battle grew, the golden light shining off of the woman grew dimmer and dimmer, while multiple wounds both large and small in size appeared on the man. Their figures zoomed about in the air, as each occasionally closed in and retreated after their attacks and the intensity of their attacks grew in magnitude. BOOM! Just as the golden-robbed woman was about to deliver an attack on the crimson figure, a crimson fist suddenly surfaced to her left, accurately striking her from a blindspot. The woman''s body was thrown back by a large distance, with the light surrounding her figure dimming by a large extent. The battle came to a temporary standstill, with both opponents being out of each other''s range. Sizeable wounds suddenly appeared on the crimson figure''s body with his body shaking violently. Forcibly stabilizing himself the crimson figure raised his hand and pointed towards the golden figure. "You-! What in arcane''s name are you people?!!" the crimson figure screamed, feeling bewildered. Chapter 203: Birth of a Calamity. Part 1 "What in arcane''s name are you people?!" The master screamed feeling wildly bewildered. He hurriedly stabilized his spectral body and cast various recovery and reinforcement spells. Hearing his question, the golden figure of Ka''lor''ah, who had appeared within Lucius'' mindspace to reinforce him, wiped the golden blood of her mouth and answered passionately. "To protect the world from devastation! To unite the people within our nation! To denounce the evils of truth and love! To extend our reach to the sta¡ª" "What the hell are you saying?!" The Master bellowed. "Tch," Ka''lor''ah clicked her tongue and continued, "Such an uncultured swine. Do you not understand the basic etiquette of not interrupting your elders when they are saying something? Where did you learn your manners?" "You-!!" The Master was so extremely livid that his entire body had begun to violently shake. Pointing his finger at Ka''lor''ah once again, he thundered furiously. "I will ask you one more time! Who are you people?!!" "This boy''s body is clearly young; less than 30 years of age. Ergo, his soul must also similarly be young! However!" "When I tried to invade his soul, its depth was unfathomable! Like an ancient well, that has existed for hundreds of years! The memories that I managed to peer into have already stretched over a hundred years!" Hearing his words, Ka''lor''ah turned silent. "And it''s not just that! This brat''s strength is only at a pitiful Peak-Level Stage 1, but inside his memories, he has already achieved Stage 5!!" As he spoke, the Master''s facial expression continued to twist. Passion and insanity collectively appeared on his face, as he bellowed once more. "Tell me, how did he do it?!! How was he reborn into a new body?! How did you expand his lifespan?! How?! HOW?!!" Listening to his questions, Ka''lor''ah inwardly thought to herself. ''I''m so glad that I set up an isolation barrier in advance, before coming in here. With this nutjob announcing all these things casually, we would''ve been so caught by the Lords.'' Ka''lor''ah mentally pat herself on the back while praising herself. ''Good job me. As expected, no matter what Lucius says, you are the smartest.'' She smiled to herself. As for the fervent questions of the Master, those were completely ignored by Ka''lor''ah. "TELL ME!!" The Master cried. The smile on Ka''lor''ah''s face immediately disappeared and a frosty look appeared within her eyes. Staring into the Master''s eyes, he unhurriedly spoke. "Shut up, mongrel. A lowly being like you has no rights to question this Queen." No matter her current power level, the pride of a Stage 7 existence can never be sullied under any circumstances. She had earned this pride. The Master''s body froze for a moment, with a slight shiver going down his spine. Hearing Ka''lor''ah''s tone, he was suddenly reminded of the time when he had met an elder of his family as a young boy. He felt scared. Ka''lor''ah had the same regal bearing of an absolute powerhouse. A powerhouse before whom, he was absolutely powerless against. A moment passed and the Master was awoken from his daze. He then stared at Ka''lor''ah feeling profound shame and unlimited fury. ''I¡ªI felt afraid? I felt afraid of his weakling?!!'' "You-?!! Fine, if you won''t tell me yourself, then I shall beat the answer out of you!!" Having lost all restraints, the Master dashed towards Ka''lor''ah''s figure once more. Ka''lor''ah too did not hesitate, as she rushed forward while chanting her spells. ''Wake up, Lucius! I can''t hold on much longer.'' She nervously sighed within her mind. Both the figures clashed and another round of intense conflict had begun within Lucius'' mindspace. ---------- ''Ambush'' The very moment this word appeared within Lucius'' mind, his body had already reacted. Clenching all of his muscles, Lucius rapidly drew his hands and legs into his body, forming a ball, and dropped to the ground. While he may not be able to evade the attacks, he would try his best to reduce his surface area to reduce their damage. ''Here it comes.'' Lucius'' clenched his teeth and waited for the pain to assault him. It never came. "Huh?" an audible voice escaped from his mouth. Sneaking a glance past his arms, Lucius tried to make sense of what was happening. "The second row, fire again! Don''t let them escape!!" The cold, grim tone declared once more, following which another volley of colorful attacks shot towards Lucius. This time, Lucius stretched one of his arms placing them in the path of one of the attacks. They shot through him. ''What?'' Lucius was genuinely confused. Rising from the ground, Lucius noticed that all the attacks that came towards him, just passed through his body. It was as if, he wasn''t there at all! ''Wait a second.'' A thought formed within his mind and Lucius quickly looked at the place where he heard the instruction come from. Flying on the sky was a hideous, six-armed demonic-looking monster, flapping its wings. Its multiple pairs of eyes were coldly staring at a point, behind Lucius. Not at him. "Tch, they teleported once again. Attention all units, continue with the chase. That group must not leave this planet!" The flying demon declared. Lucius was currently standing at what looked like an enormous passageway. A massive iron gate, hundreds of meters in height stood directly in front of him, upon which were the archers. The ''leader'' of these archers, which seemed to be the gargoyle-like monster floating in the sky, was directly above them. A strange red-colored stone covered the ground beneath him, with most of them being shattered and broken. Looking around, Lucius belatedly noticed numerous corpses scattered across the ground around him. It seemed as if a massive battle was occurring within his place. ''Looking at the corpses, the wounds on some of them are still fresh. Most of the larger, more monster-like corpses have a thick stream of Demonic Energy surrounding them, while the smaller, less monster-like ones have Holy Energy.'' Lucius'' mind rapidly processed the information on the scene and arrived at an outcome. ''Is an army of the [Good] faction, attacking a stronghold of the [Evil] faction?'' The [Good] faction and the [Evil] faction, led by the Heavenly Sovereigns and the Abyssal Rulers, respectively were eternally locked in a war against each other. With both sides controlling various portions of the Universe, the act of attacking the stronghold was the most direct form of snatching territory. Usually, the soldiers guarding the strongholds were direct members of the [Evil] faction coming from the Abyss. Due to the corrosion of the Abyss, these members are densely tainted with Demonic Energy. A similar situation occurs for the members of the [Good] faction, except they from a place called the Sanctum and are tainted with Holy Energy. Seeing that the number of corpses from the [Evil] faction was higher and the fact that the corpses of the [Good] faction were leading away from the stronghold, Lucius naturally arrived at the conclusion of the [Good] faction invading a [Evil] faction stronghold. ''Question is, what am I doing here? And how am I invulnerable to all the attacks?'' Just as Lucius was thinking about this question, his vision rapidly spun before his figure suddenly disappeared. ------------- "*Huff* *Huff*¡­My Lady, we have to stop running. At this rate, your life is at risk!" a voice anxiously spoke. "Haa¡­Haa¡­ we cannot stop. Those dogs of the [Evil] faction are right on our tails... Ahh!!" a female voice suddenly screamed. """ MY LADY!!""" Multiple voices cried at the same time. ''What''s happening?'' It was at this moment that Lucius'' figure suddenly appeared in this scene. Hearing the multiple voices, his body involuntarily tensed for a second before loosening up after he realized that the other couldn''t see him. ''Seems like I''m invisible or something.'' "Quick! Mithras, carry the Lady." A voice ordered with distress. A tall, humanoid figure of a man, clad in bright golden armor stepped forth and lifted the figure of a woman from the ground. The face of the man was covered with a golden helmet, hiding his face. However, Lucius had no problem identifying them, as they had other defining traits. Six pairs of pristine wings that were as white as snow were present on his back. A visibly viscous stream of Holy Energy flowed through the entirety of his body, with golden-white halos floating above his head. ''A Heavenly Sovereign¡­!!'' Lucius was shocked as he recalled the Grade 7 race, which was commonly referred to as the Leader of the [Good] faction. And it wasn''t just Mithras, all of the twenty-three other people within his place was a Heavenly Sovereign. However, what shocked Lucius the most wasn''t Mithras or the other Heavenly Sovereigns in the room. It was the lady who was being carried by Mithras in his arms. She had eight pairs of golden wings, glowing golden hair, and a single pair of golden-colored eyes on her ''perfect'' face. A face so perfect and beautiful, that words could not describe the extent of her beauty. ''A Heavenly Sovereign Royalty!!!'' In layman''s terms, she was one of the most important people in the entire Universe! A person protected by the Lords and blessed by the Universe. And this woman was currently¡­ "At this current rate, the Lady will definitely die of blood loss before we escape from his place. We have to do it." A voice solemnly declared to the group. ¡­on the verge of giving birth. Chapter 204: Birth of a Calamity. Part 2 (Long Chapter) "Mithras set the Lady down and stand next to me. You shall provide assistance when required." The male Heavenly Sovereign solemnly ordered, he then turned around to the remaining guards and spoke. "Spellcasters, cast an isolation and protection barrier around this place. Also, have the anti-tracking and anti-divination spells constantly active. The future of our race depends on your efforts!" The four spellcasters furiously nodded their heads and immediately got to work. "Vice-Captain, pick a few men and lead a team to draw our enemies away from this place. As far away as possible! We need all the time we can get!" "You got it, Captain!" A female Heavenly Sovereign immediately responded with a salute and got to work. "Your sacrifices shall not be in vain. The Universe will forever be grateful to you." The male attendant, who was the Captain of the Royal Guards, returned her salute. He then turned to face the only two non-combat personnel here and spoke softly. "Miss Mia and Miss Kamila, the matter of delivering the child will be left in your hands. Please make sure that no harm befalls the Lady''s life. The very future of our race is now in your hands." "Sire, but the two of us are hardly sufficient for¡ª" the two ladies looked very hesitant and tried to convince the Captain otherwise. However, the latter was very firm in his stance. "We have no other choice," the Captain helplessly shook his head. He then gestured towards the breathtakingly beautiful lady, unconsciously lying on the ground, and softly spoke. "Our enemies are rapidly chasing after us and it''s only a matter of time before they find us deep within the enemy lines. With the army already failing to draw away all of the demons away from our tail, we are rapidly losing our chance to escape with each passing second." "With the Lady''s current physical condition, we cannot use the teleport beacon given to us, as the stress from the teleportation would kill her! Fighting our way through the enemy line is suicidal, considering our current numbers. The only way out of this situation is for the Lady''s physical condition to recover and then use teleportation." "However, with that thing inside her leeching off of her soul power, she cannot make a recovering. Please understand and get to work. We do not have much time." The two ladies looked at each other for a moment and saw the hesitation in each other''s eyes. Their gazes then sharpened, seemingly having come to resolve as they turned back to face the Captain and determinedly nodded. "We will do it, Sire!" "May the Lords bestow their divine grace upon you." The Captain replied with a blessing. He then channeled his soul power to cast a curtain of light, shrouding the three figures within. The Captain, alongside Mithras and 10 other guards grabbed onto their weapons and stood around the curtain of light, forming a protective circle. ''Oh Great Lords, please help the Lady tide over this calamity.'' Hiding his worry within his heart, the Captain inwardly prayed. Meanwhile, Lucius who had been standing right next to the Royal Captain looked at the curtain of light with a puzzled expression. ''Why¡­does this feel familiar? What is this strange sensation that I''m currently feeling?'' "ARGHH!!!!" Lucius was jolted out of his thoughts by an almost-bestial scream coming from within the curtain of light. "My Lady, you have to push!" "Please persevere! It will soon be over!" The frantic voice of the two maids, as they tried to comfort the woman followed. "Argh!!! It hurts! IT HURRRTSS!!!" The cries of the Heavenly Sovereign Royalty and the comforts of the two maids/nurses, continued to sound from within the curtain of light. The guards who were standing outside, grasped onto their weapons with increasing strength, as they bit their lips. Hearing their master, whom they were supposed to protect with their lives, scream with such pain, tore into their hearts and made them feel unbearably pathetic with themselves. The Royal Captain who stood with a stoic face, could no longer conceal the worry within his heart, showing it in his face. He waved his hands, and another layer of light encircled the curtain. And with that, the screams of pain no longer leaked out. BANG! At this moment, the sounds of explosion and conflict followed by bright flashes of light came from afar. Mithras, who was standing on the right of the Royal Captain, recognized the aura of the attacks and spoke with a low voice. "It''s Hilda''s aura. They have met with the enemy." "We are running out of time." The Captain sighed soundlessly. He then looked towards Mithras and spoke, "If it comes down to it. Take the Lady and run. The others and I will buy you time to escape." "But Captain--!" Mithras hurriedly tried to interject but was interrupted first by the Captain. "That''s an order!" he roared. Facing such a response, Mithras wisely shut his mouth. The Captain then loudly sighed before leaning near Mithras'' ear. "Listen well, kid. You''re the youngest, most talented recruit that has ever been admitted into the Royal Corps. Reaching Stage 5 at the tender age of 30? If I had heard something like that before meeting you, I would''ve laughed out loud and beaten up the man who told me that." "But here you are, standing right here alongside me in this hell hole." "You know, before you joined the Corps, all of us Royal Guards thought ourselves to be invincible. That we were all chosen by the Lords as the ''sons of the heavens'' or something like that. We were arrogant, conceited, and most importantly foolish." A glimmer of sadness appeared within the Captain''s eyes. "And it was this very same foolishness that resulted in the Lady being captured by those demons. We had failed in our one duty; to protect the Royal Family." His voice choked with the emotions of shame and guilt. Mithras'' looked around and realized that all of the other Royal Guards were also hanging their heads down in shame. "The Royal Corps and I have made a serious blunder, and just saving the Lady''s life is hard enough to repent for our mistakes. Only by death, will we be able to wash away our guilt. To repay the Royal Family for all they have provided for us." Staring in Mithras'' eyes, the Captain continued. "You, however, are different. Upon just joining the Royal Corps, you unhesitantly signed up for this suicide mission and came along with us. Never during the entire course of events did you doubt your decision. This is the type of loyalty that the Royal Family requires. Mithras'' eyes violently shook. He turned to face the Captain and opened his mouth. "No, I¡ª" "I know. All of us here know." The Captain waved off his response. A pained smile formed on his face, as he continued. "You and the Lady are in love with each other, aren''t you?" Mithras'' body trembled. For a moment, he felt naked and exposed. It was as if the deepest secret within his heart was seen through. The Captain lightly patted him on his shoulder as a sign of comfort and continued. "And that is precisely why I can''t allow you to die. After what the princess has gone through and after what that demon has done to her, she needs you now more than ever." The Captain spoke no more and turned to face the direction where the sounds of explosions were coming from. The noises became fainter and fainter, as the battle moved farther and farther away. The aura of the Heavenly Sovereigns was also becoming thinner, signaling their defeat. Mithras'' mouth opened and closed multiple times, but no words came out. He couldn''t say anything, or rather, he didn''t know what to say. The silence lasted for a few seconds when the curtain of light behind them suddenly shattered. The Royal Guards hastily turned around, only to be greeted by the cries of an infant. "Waahh!!" The Heavenly Sovereign maid called Mia held onto the slimy infant in her arms with complex emotions present in her eyes. The Royal Guards, especially Mithras, looked at the child with various emotions in their eyes. A child born to the Royal Family was a matter worthy of great celebration. Especially since the birth rate of Heavenly Sovereigns was abysmally low. However, the child within the maid''s arm was vastly different in looks, compared to a child born to a Heavenly Sovereign. Its skin was unusually pale, with tints of ash-grey mixed into it, resembling a corpse. Its hands and feet contained pitch-black claws, which leaked with ominous demonic energy. However, the most defining factor was its eyes. In the place of two bright golden pupils, were a set of two dissimilar eyes. One gold and the other crimson. It was a child born out of two bloods that were never met to mix. A bastard whose very existence was taboo. "Cough, Cough, Cough¡­" A fit of coughs interrupted the thoughts of everyone present on the scene. "My Lady, you mustn''t move. Please remain still for a moment." The other maid, Kamila, hurriedly advised. "I¡­com..mand you¡­to" Ignoring her attendant''s advice, the Royal Lady voiced out an order. "¡­kill that vile spawn." Her tone contained absolute, irresolvable hatred. The bodies of everyone present froze from shock and horror. Their eyes collectively stared at the lady, nay, the mother who had given birth to the child. "The spawn of that damnable man must never be allowed to exist! This ''thing'' must never be allowed to exist! Kill it, immediately!" the lady hatefully spat. None of them could react. "What? Are all of you disobeying me?!" The lady looked at each and every one of them and furiously bellowed. "Fine then," forcing herself up, she continued. "I will kill it myself." Saying so, she began to crawl towards Mia, who held the infant in her arms. "NO! Wait, my Lady!" It was then that the Captain intervened. "Please rest and do not exert yourself. This matter, I will take care of it." He spoke with a heavy tone. The Lady paused for a moment before agreeing. "Fine, but do it now and right here, in front of me." Hearing that the Royal Captain struggled for a moment, before replying through gritted teeth. "I¡­can''t do so, my Lady." "Oh?" with raised eyebrows, the lady asked with a cold voice. "Are you disobeying my order, Captain? Are you planning to take this ''thing'' away, before releasing it somewhere in the wild?" "Do you perhaps... have some problems with my command?" Hearing her accusation, the Captain immediately dropped to his knees and hurriedly spoke. "You are thinking incorrectly, my Lady! It is not my intention to protect this child, but rather to protect you." "Protect me?" the lady scoffed at his answer and replied sarcastically, "As you did a year ago? From those demons?" "You misunderstand me, my Lady! The matters of the past are solely this one''s responsibility. I have failed the Royal Family and I have failed you, by failing in my duties. However, right now, what I have spoken is the truth." "Oh? Then may you share with us, your great plan? How do you intend to protect me?" Pointing towards the crying infant, the Captain spoke aloud his plan. "That child, after being birthed by the lady¡ª" "Do not associate that thing with me!!" the lady snarled. "¡ªis densely covered by the lady''s aura. With the enemy''s rapidly closing in on us, we can use the child as bait to lead them away, managing to buy us much-needed time to escape." "That is why; I believe that the child might be of more use alive, than dead. I shall personally take the responsibility of leading the enemy away with the child and kill it after the job is done. Please trust me one more time, my Lady!!" The lady thought for a moment, before nodding her head. "Fine, then I will count on you one last time, Sire Captain." "I will not disappoint you, my Lady." The Captain then rose to his feet and walked towards the maid holding the child. Seeing the Captain approach her, Mia felt conflicted. While she understood that the child needed to be killed, she still felt conflicted for taking an innocent life that had done nothing wrong. The Captain forcibly took the child from her hands and dashed away without turning back. Time was running out and he needed to perform his duty, one final time. Seeing the Captain dash away, the Lady then looked at the others and ordered. "The Captain is buying us time. Let''s honor his final words and live through this hell¡­.Mithras come over here." The last line was spoken with much difficulty. Mithras absent-mindedly obeyed. He approached the lady and picked her up in his arms. "Let''s move from this place." The lady ordered and the group of Heavenly Sovereigns moved. The scene was rapidly cleared of people, except for one single person. Lucius, who had witnessed the entire affair, stood stiffly with an open jaw and widely expanded eyes. ''I¡­was that¡­.my¡­mother?'' The scene before Lucius immediately collapsed, returning him to the dark space once again. ------------- In a distant location, the Captain who had been flying with the newborn child in his hands finally came to a stop. He could feel thousands of demonic beings approaching him at a distance, and decided that sufficient distance had been created between him and the main party. Looking at the child before his eyes with a complex expression, the Captain''s eyes flashed with many expressions. His rationality conflicted with his morality for a long time¡­before the former won. ''I''m sorry, child. But you must be killed.'' Sighing out loud, the Captain raised his hands and gathered a ball of fiery Holy Energy. He wanted to give the infant a quick, painless sendoff. The child, who had long since stopped its cries, looked at the Captain''s face with a curious look in its eyes. "Waah?" Its eyes then turned to look at the burning mass of energy, when finally, a look of fear appeared within its eyes. It immediately started to cry out loud and began to struggle. ''Forgive me.'' The Captain closed his eyes, hardened his heart, and swung his hands. ¡­. ''Hmm?!!'' His eyes abruptly opened and stared at his hands with shock. The infant which had previously been within his hands had suddenly vanished! ''What''s happening?!!'' He turned around to look at his surroundings, only to be greeted in the face by thousands of Demonic Energy-infused arrows. "We finally caught them! Hmmm? Where did the aura of that bitch disappear to?" The question went unanswered and an intense conflict began. Chapter 205: Identity. (+Announcement) Finding himself returned to the familiar blank space -the one in which he had previously been- Lucius powerlessly dropped onto his knees. "¡­was that¡­me?" His pitch-black eyes, eternally stoic and emotionless, were now filled with confusion. As his mind processed the scenes from the memory which he had just witnessed, Lucius'' first reaction was to unequivocally deny it. "No¡­" "It can''t be." "That cannot be me." His tone was hurried and his voice was rather hoarse. However, the look within his very own eyes, now filled with hesitance and confusion, denied his declaration. Rather than say he denied the happenings entirely for it being false, Lucius wanted to deny it as he believed it to be the truth. Her voice¡­ Her scent¡­ Their touch¡­ The more times the memory replayed within his head, the more Lucius was unable to deny their veracity. Still, he had to deny it. The truth that he had been thrown away, just mere moments after his birth by his very own mother was a truth that he could not accept. And for what? For being born? For simply existing? What crime had a child, who had just come into this world, committed that it warranted an instantaneous death? If his birth was such a mistake. Such an irrevocable sin. Then why bothering having him at all? Why not kill the child, just as it had formed, within the womb itself? "WHY?!" Lucius screamed into the darkness, and the darkness returned in silence. "WHY WOULD YOU SHOW THIS TO ME?!!" Unable to contain himself, Lucius screamed into the void. Strange sensations. Foreign feelings. ''Emotions'' which he had given up for his power¡­all came rushing back, assaulting Lucius in this moment of weakness. These emotions which he could not name further filled him with confusion. Lucius himself did not understand these feelings. For him who had not relied on anyone in his quest for power. For him, who had been denied of friends, denied of a family, denied of respect, of dignity, of status, of love, of hope, of dreams. For him who had been denied almost everything for 300 years of his life, all that remained was his identity. Identity, or the proof of one''s existence, was the only thing that Lucius could call his own. All his life he had sought for power, almost mindlessly chased after it, discarding everything that would hinder his path, all for the sake of validating this identity. If he, who had lost everything, loses his identity too, then what would he have? What would he be? And now upon being shown that memory, he was being denied of his identity too. He, who had always believed himself to be a human born within Mankind, was now told otherwise. This he failed to understand. Lucius'' confusion led to incomprehension and incomprehension led to irritation. "WAS ALL OF MY THREE HUNDRED YEARS OF LIFE, ALSO A LIE?!!" Lucius cried out loud, as he repeatedly smashed his hands against the dark floor. Irritation, anger, resentment¡­ dozens of emotions that had been previously suppressed by his soul, exploded at this instant. A terrifying mixture of feelings, all of which were unfamiliar to the jaded Killer, constantly battered him. And his inability to properly identify them only served to increase his frustration, irritation, and anger. A long line of unfamiliar liquid originating from his eyes flowed across his cheeks and quietly fell to the ground. Feeling the stream of warmth on his face, Lucius raised his hands to touch it. ''Tears¡­'' Observing the unfamiliar liquid in his hands, Lucius belatedly realized. He was crying. But why? He himself couldn''t understand. Never in his previous life had he sought the truth behind his birth. In fact, he had never found the need to do so. All his life, he had believed himself to be a human. While the racial transformation in his current life had sparked some questions within him as to how Lucius had never once doubted the fact that he was human. Or at least, was. But now, he wasn''t so sure anymore. ---------- A long while passed within his unfamiliar ''void of a space''. Lucius'' emotions continued to pour out for a long time, before he managed to suppress them once again, this time albeit, manually. In his inability to understand these emotions, Lucius could not sort them, much less resolve them. All that he could do, for now, was to bottle them up once again. As for the questions regarding his birth, his origin, of that woman who regarded his existence as a stain to be ridden of, Lucius decided to push them aside for now. Perhaps one day, in the distant future, he might search for the answers. Right now, the ''Great Plan'' takes absolute priority. The quest to rid the Universe of its Lords cannot afford any delays or distractions. "In the grand scheme of things, matters of my identity and birth are hardly of any real importance. No distractions can be afforded during the execution of the plan." His eyes and face had lost all traces of the previous cluster of chaotic emotions and had returned to its signature ''emotionless'' state. Only this time, Lucius himself performed the restriction. He had willingly chosen to become this blank, emotionless monster. A monster with a singular purpose. Getting up onto his feet, Lucius looked around. "Now, how do I get out of here?" Just as his mouth finished wording the question, Lucius heard a faint cry from afar. "¡­Luc.ius.. wa..ke up." Lucius'' head locked in the direction of the voice, as he recognized it. Without wasting a single instant''s worth of time, he rushed in the direction of the voice. It was about time that he had returned. ----------- Within Lucius'' mindspace. What was previously a careful balance between the golden sun, an endlessly dark ocean, and boundless clouds of pure soul power was currently a scene of an utter apocalypse. The golden sun was split in half, the clouds of soul power were almost inexistent and the seemingly endless ocean of void energy was utterly empty. Two figures, one crimson and the other golden darted about within the mindspace. Their surroundings were completely filled with glassy fragments, each of which played a certain scene, or rather, a memory. The crimson spectre weaved within the space, something hiding behind a memory fragment, sometimes rushing into it, and sometimes absorbing the fragment within itself. The golden figure, in turn, chased after this spectral soul, trying her level best to stop the intruder from messing with her partner''s memories. "Secrets! So many secrets! Wonderful, TRULY WONDERFUL!!" The master of the labyrinth screamed with elation as he digested a certain memory fragment of Lucius''. The memory fragment held the data of a certain ruin, that Lucius had explored in the past (his past). "More! I need more!" The Master maniacally laughed, as he evaded another spell thrown by Ka''lor''ah. He then turned to look at her in disdain, before casually flicking a finger in her direction. Seeing a bolt of crimson lightning approach her figure, Ka''lor''ah hurriedly dodged the attack, by jumping into a nearby memory fragment and reappearing from within a different one. "Tch! So annoying. What happened to your previous displays of bravado?" The Master taunted, to which Ka''lor''ah replied with an annoyed grunt. How many eons had it been since she was last taunted by an inferior being like such! Alas, there was nothing she could do but reply with a grunt. The intruder was a Stage 5 soul, while she herself was the remnant conscious of a dead Stage 7 being. No matter how majestic she had once been, in her current form she was very weak! ''This infuriating worm! If only my real form had been here. I would have you to the hounds! No, for what you have done to my adorable student that is too easy of a death. I would trap your soul within a limbless motionless body and sentence it to eternal damnation!'' Ka''lor''ah venomously spat within her head. Currently, the situation is as follows. The Master of the Labyrinth, who was running around in the form of a crimson spectre, had already recovered from his previous wounds sustained from his battle with Lucius. Upon making a full recovery, he had easily turned the table on his battle against Ka''lor''ah. Ka''lor''ah on the other hand had barely been sustaining herself for the entire duration of the battle. If not for Lucius'' soul instinctively realizing that the intruder was after its memories and voluntarily releasing a majority of it, thus keeping the intruder occupied, both Ka''lor''ah and Lucius'' soul would have been wiped out by the other party. As such, the current battlefield was filled with millions upon millions of fragments of Lucius'' memories from when he was a Stage 1 all the way up to Stage 5. The Stage 6 and Stage 7 memories were not released into the battlefield, as their presence would create unknown effects. With Lucius'' soul using this hard-earned time to hide within a random memory fragment and Ka''lor''ah doing everything she could to delay the crimson spectre, the battle was in a dangerous phase. If and when the Master decided to focus his efforts on finding either of them, their fates would be sealed! ''Where are you, Lucius! You need to wake up!!'' Ka''lor''ah continued to direct a part of her efforts into searching for Lucius'' consciousness. Only after his return would they have extra cards to deal with this scenario. It was then, that a change occurred within the battlefield. "Impossible!!" The Master screamed shrilly. Standing in front of a particular memory fragment, that was way larger than the rest, his entire body trembled with exhilaration and shock. "YOU HAVE SEEN THE OTHER SIDE!!!" ---------- Author''s Note: I''m sure a lot of you have a lot of questions regarding the continuation of this novel and the reason behind my almost-two month absence. Well, here''s the answer... I have NO intentions of dropping or discontinuing this novel. It will be finished (within this year itself, if everything goes well) and that is a promise!! About the two-month-long absence, to put it briefly I was EXTREMELY BUSY. With my school term finally coming to an end (Hooray!), there was a ton of overdue assignments, not to mention the end of term exams themselves. Now that those are done, I''m finally free. Therefore, starting Monday (3.5.21), we will be back to 2 chapters/day. Apologies for those excruciating two months, and thank you for sticking with me. I hope the reader (both old and new) will continue to stick with me until the end of this novel. Over and out! Chapter 206: A Fitting End. Standing before a memory fragment that billowed with dense grey smoke the Master''s spectral body trembled with exhilaration and excitement. The object of his obsession. A place that even the mighty Lords had no domain over. A place where all things dead, rested. A place that lied on the ''other side'' of the Universe. A place that Lucius referred to as...Limbo. And now, before his very eyes laid the memory fragment detailing all of its secrets. The emotion that the Master currently felt was similar to that of a starving man being offered the finest of meat or of a dying man being offered the panacea for his illness. Pure, unbounded joy. "Mine, mine, mine! All its secrets are mine!" The Master hoarsely screamed before diving into the fragment with all his strength. BANG! An explosive sound similar to that of a mountain''s collapse rung within the battlefield. Ka''lor''ah who had been hiding within a different fragment, peeked her head out to observe the commotion. With his body lying flat against the dark grey fragment, the Master looked listless. Denied. He was actually denied entry into this fragment. He, an illustrious [Grand Mage] of the great Alcana Empire, a man whose name was regarded as legendary to this day, was denied entry into the memory fragment of a puny Stage 1 being. Rage, unbounded and unfiltered, coursed through his entire body. Raising both of his hands into the air, the Master furiously smashed against the fragment. "LET ME IN!! LET ME IN!!!!" More and more soul power gathered around his hands, as he repeatedly smashed against the surface of the fragment. The amount of energy surrounding him was so great, that invisible ripples and infinitesimal tears started to appear within the mindspace. Alas, it was to no avail. The fragment solemnly stood, firmly denying all attempts at his entry. They stood infallible and unbreachable. "ARGH!!! Why won''t you let me in?!!" The Master cried with frustration. Turning his body to face the battlefield, his eyes instantly swept through the surrounding space before landing on Ka''lor''ah''s figure. Sensing the danger, Ka''lor''ah immediately tried to dive into a memory fragment, when her body suddenly stiffened, refusing to heed the commands of her brain. "Come." With his hands outstretched, the Master ordered with impatience. Abiding his words, the mysterious force surrounding Ka''lor''ah''s figure jerked before pulling her towards the crimson specter. Refusing to go down quietly, Ka''lor''ah mounted a furious struggle. However, her energy had already bottomed out and the opponent had cast away all of his reservations. Grabbing the golden-robed figure by her throat, the Master spoke with a monotonous voice, which trembled with impatience. "You have a single chance. Tell me, how do I enter that fragment?" Just as Ka''lor''ah was about to respond with a spiteful quip, the Master interrupted her once again. "I will warn you. If you reply with anything but the method of entry, I will condemn you to a fate way, way worse than anything you can imagine. I will tear your soul apart and scatter it into the Abyss, to be violated by the devils within." Ka''lor''ah''s body stiffened at his words and her struggles came to a pause. Her head, which was still covered completely by the hood of her robe, hid her face and thoughts. Facing downwards, she remained in silent contemplation. "Tell me!!" The Master yelled while tightening his grip around her neck. While Ka''lor''ah''s current figure wasn''t her actual body and was only a physical manifestation of her consciousness, the Master was an expert with the matters regarding the mind and the soul. The methods that he could employ against such conscious bodies were too numerous to count. And each method was more devilish than the previous one. Right now, by coming into direct contact with Ka''lor''ah''s conscious manifestation, he was using one spell after another, each inflicting pain and torture directly onto her source. While Ka''lor''ah refused to scream, her body trembled uncontrollably. ''I guess¡­this is it¡­uh? Well, I''m not gonna lie, it does suck that we had to drop out of the game this soon.'' As his annoyance continued to increase against this silent figure, the Master started to slowly destroy parts of her conscious. This was a direct injury on her source, one which Ka''lor''ah could not ignore. ''No more do-overs. No more chances. Looks like the ''Great Plan'' comes to an end right here¡­'' As more and more of her source was continuously destroyed, Ka''lor''ah figure became fainter and fainter, and her vision was gradually darkening. ''¡­looks like my wish to see some ''mini-Lucius''s'' will not be fulfilled. Tch, life is truly without meaning.'' Just as the final light within her eyes was about to disappear, Ka''lor''ah''s head suddenly jerked up. Her golden eyes that contained boundless wisdom, stared right into the eyes of the crimson soul and a brilliant smile bloomed on her face. "Oh, you are so¡­ fu*ked." She softly whispered in relief. The Master''s spectral body paused for a moment before he detected another presence suddenly arriving within the battlefield. "You will die for that." A tone that sounded more mechanical and emotionless than machines, declared. In the next instant, the figure of the Master suddenly disappeared alongside that of the new arrival. Ka''lor''ah who was now released from the clutches of the obsessive madman breathed a sigh of relief in jubilation. ''Yeah, you tell him, partner! Show him who''s boss!'' She pumped her fists, as a final show of support before helplessly collapsing from exhaustion. With Lucius having returned, she could finally let go of her worries. ------------ "Waaahh!! Waaah!!" "It''s a boy! Quick, run and inform the Count that the child is a boy!" ¡­. "Sir Count, your son has incredible talent in the Arcane. At the mere age of three, he has already memorized the entire set of basic tier spells! The Empire hasn''t had a genius of such pedigree for nearly a thousand years!!" "Un. I will have him tutored by the best of the Tower Mages." ¡­. "Incredible! The boy has awakened the [Grand Mage] soul type at the age of five! His future is boundless!" "It seems that even the Emperor has heard of his achievements. Rumor has it that a Royal Mage is interested in tutoring the boy!" "Sir Count must be reveling in joy after this news. This boy is destined to become a hero of our Great Empire!" """Glory to the Alcana Empire!""" ¡­. "Young Acolyte, are you certain that you want to challenge the ''Tower of Truth''?" "Yes, Grandmaster!" "Sigh. You must understand that failure would result in your death. Are you sure that you don''t want to reconsider your decision?" "Yes, Grandmaster!" "Then in you may enter. May the Lord of Knowledge and Truth, grant you his blessings." ¡­. "Grand Mage Flauros, step forward and receive the Emperor''s decree." "Henceforth, Grand Mage Flauros will be awarded the title of Viscount, for his exceptional contributions to the Alcana Empire. He shall also be the youngest mage to be inducted into the Empire''s Royal Magic Corps. Do you obey?!" "I obey and receive the decree!" "Good. Glory to the Alcana Empire!" ¡­. "Finally, I have broken through the barrier of Stage 4. With this, I have become the youngest Stage 5 Grand Mage in the history of the Universe." "Still, that ascension was incredibly dangerous. It will take me a few years to recover from my injuries. I suppose I could use this time to continue with my research of ''that'' place." ¡­. "WHY?! WHY?! WHY?!" "Why can I not progress any further!! What am I missing?!!" "DAMN THIS EMPIRE! DAMN THAT GREEDY EMPEROR!! ALL OF YOU CAN BURN IN HELL!!" ¡­. "S-son, what are you do-doing to us?!" "W-we are yo-your parents! You can-cannot kill u-us! Please, snap out of your madness!!" "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!!" "HOW DARE YOU PATHETIC DOGS, TELL ME WHAT TO DO?!!" "THE ONLY WORTHY THING YOU HAVE DONE, IS GIVING BIRTH TO ME! WHAT OTHER VALUE DO YOU HOLD?!" ¡­. "¡­another failure. The path ahead¡­does it even exist?" "So many years have passed¡­I''m running out of time." "¡­death¡­" ¡­. "This is it!! Death is not the end! There exists a place farther than the Universe! A place where death isn''t the end!!" "FIND IT! I MUST FIND IT!!" ¡­. "This place lies in an unknown corner of the Universe. My seals will hide it from the eyes of the Lords. I can do it here." "A single attempt is all I have. If I succeed, death will not be able to claim me!" "However, a single error will result in my soul falling into the ''other side''." "Succeed! I must succeed!" "The Truth waits for me to find it!" ¡­. "DAMN IT ALL! DAMN THIS UNIVERSE! DAMN THE LORDS!!" "LIES ALL OF IT IS A LIE! FREEDOM, AND CHOICE ARE A LIE!!" "EVERYTHING IS BY THE GRACE OF THE ONES ABOVE!! KILL THEM! I WILL KILL ALL OF THEM!!" ¡­. ''Where am I?'' the Master, whose name was once Flauros, found himself in a foreign space. He first observed his body and felt relieved after finding it whole. His power level also seemed to be fine and had suffered no restriction. ''Where am I? Did that kid do something?'' He then took interest in the space around him, carefully looking around. Finding himself floating in the air, he noticed movement underneath him and looked down. Underneath him on the ground, was a crimson-colored sea. The sea stretched for as far as the eye could see, way past the observable horizon. Flauros furrowed his eyes, as a vague sense of discomfort rose within his heart. His nose twitched for a moment before a pungent smell assaulted his olfactory senses. It was the scent of blood. The rotten, horrible, pungent smell of blood. His eyes shrunk in disbelief, as he carefully observed the crimson sea beneath him. Looking closely, he came to a shocking discovery. ''Blood! All of it is blood!!'' Just then, his eyes automatically moved and landed on a specific portion of this sea. Here, the devilish, monochromatic color was absent with the sea of blood having parted to reveal the ground beneath. Walking atop this reddish-brown ground was a solitary figure. His body was covered in a dusty, torn robe and his hands held onto a broken scythe. With every step that this figure took, the sea of blood surrounding him automatically parted to the sides while the area behind him was automatically filled in. In a biblical sense, this solitary figure resembled the scene of Moses parting the red sea. Perhaps noticing someone observing him intently, the figure came to a stop and slowly turned to look at Flauros, who was floating in the sky. Its eyes locked with that of Flauros, the latter''s body froze with shock. A pale white face bereft of any feelings and a pair of cold, dark eyes that seemingly stared into one''s soul. This entity''s face was the same as the face of the one, whose memories Flauros was forcibly plundering. The entity continued to stare into Flauros'' eyes for a few moments, before moving its lips to speak something. The words that Flauros must have had no way of hearing due to the thousands of meters of distance between them, resounded softly, right next to his ears. "[Rule of Death- Perish]" And in the very next instant, Flauros simply perished. For a man who spent most of his life evading death, he was finally erased from existence by ''Death'', himself. The solitary entity moved its gaze away from the now empty spot in the sky and continued with its march. ---------- Chapter 207: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire. And with the destruction of the crimson soul, the curtains of the battle against the Stage 5 being finally closed. Lucius having escaped from that blank space and having turned the table on the Master finally heaved a sigh of relief after confirming the destruction of the latter. ''That wraps up our crisis. He''s finally dead.'' ''While this endeavor was mostly fruitless, I did receive some interesting compensation.'' Lucius'' referred to the entire set of memories that he had received from the Master. While this was not an intentional move by the other and was an unexpected side benefit from Lucius'' actions, it was nonetheless a freebie. Lucius continued to observe a certain memory fragment within his soul with taut attention. After waiting for a few minutes, he finally let go of his worries. Turning his attention away from that dangerous memory fragment -which was the cause of the Master''s death- and firmly locking it up within his soul, Lucius took a moment to survey the inside of his mindspace which served as the final battlefield. The entire space was on the verge of collapse, with his void and soul energy being entirely non-existent. The memory fragments of nearly 200 years of his life floated aimlessly within this space, filling it entirely. Some distance away, he could see the figure of Ka''lor''ah floating in the air after having collapsed from exhausting her energy. Her golden figure continuously flickered seemingly on the verge of being snuffed out. ''From the looks of it, she has exhausted almost all of her energy, even having drawn from her Existence Crystal. With her rate of recovery, it will take her at least a few dozen years to replenish her spent energy, before waking up.'' Calculating within his head, Lucius remarked. ''Very inefficient. I need to feed her energy to hasten her recovery. Her assistance is very crucial for the next stage of the plan.'' Just as the thought appeared within his mind, a large influx of energy appeared within his mindspace. Surprised, Lucius turned to look at the source of this influx and his eyes landed on his soul. Sitting cross-legged in the middle of his mindspace, the [Annihilator] soul continuously released massive amounts of energy, which quickly started to repair and replenish the mindspace. Observing closely, Lucius could feel some part of this energy enveloping his soul and slowly forming a cocoon around it. Immediately gaining an understanding of the situation Lucius moved his consciousness and dived into his soul, gaining control over it. Upon gaining manual control over the energy, Lucius immediately started to divide them into manageable portions and started to convert them into soul energy which was then channeled into his soul ''About time.'' And with that final thought, Lucius sunk into silence once again. ----------- An inordinate amount of time passed before the movement could be seen within Lucius'' mindspace. A transparent white cocoon made of densely packed strands of soul energy occupying the center of the space stirred. Small microscopic cracks filled its surface, followed by fractures and more obvious tears. BANG! Having reached a critical point, the cocoon exploded outward with irresistible force. Appearing from within its core was the silhouette of a man surrounded by misty white vapor. The silhouette slowly rose from its seated position. As the white vapor parted, the figure of the silhouette was finally revealed. A transparent white figure of a humanoid with intertwining strands of black and red forming a complex system of paths and nerves within its body. Its two eyes shone with blinding white brilliance as it looked down to observe its own body. The soul of the [Annihilator] had finally passed its initial phase and had taken shape in its entirety. The previously hazy features of the soul had vanished, forming clear and distinct lines and shapes. The soul looked most similar to Lucius'' own human form, except for its completely transparent skin and muscles, and its colder, more mechanical-looking face. ''Low-level Stage 2. I finally broke through.'' Lucius thought to himself. He felt around his body and quickly took note of the changes that had occurred. A couple of minutes later, Lucius'' initial excitement was quickly doused when he realized that he had gained no new abilities. Sure, his soul power had grown much more abundant and potent, and he could finally start showcasing the ''real'' method to battle, giving him a much-needed boost in strength. However, the feeling of disappointment was also real. ''As I thought, [Killer] is still a better soul. Well, it is what it is, I guess.'' He complained to himself and quickly removed his attention from this topic. Looking around within his mindspace, Lucius noticed that his soul''s ascension had barely made a dent in the tremendous amount of energy that had suddenly appeared within his mindspace. Nearly 90% of it still remained! Thinking for a moment, Lucius quickly made a guess as to where this energy had come from. ''That Stage 5 being''s destruction must have resulted in an extremely large amount of residual energy left after the deed.'' ''This is actually really good. With this, I don''t have to waste any time looking for sources of energy to awaken Ka''lor''ah. I can do it right now and still have some energy left over.'' Lucius nodded his head in satisfaction. ''But first¡­'' ''To clear this place up.'' Lucius waved his hands and a terrifying force of suction sprung from within his body. Like pieces of metal being attracted towards a powerful magnet, the fragments of memory that were floating around throughout the space were quickly absorbed into Lucius. During this process of absorption, Lucius also took care to look through each memory fragment. 300 years was a very long instance of time and Lucius had no doubt, forgotten a vast portion of his earlier years. Using this rare opportunity, he reviewed the fragments and refreshed his current memory. This process went on for a long time when a certain memory fragment caught his attention. Reviewing this fragment, Lucius suddenly stiffened from shock. This particular fragment of memory wasn''t old and was entirely new. In fact, it was the fragment of a memory that had occurred just some time ago, during his second life. ¡­. "NOW YOU WILL LOSE EVERYTHING TOO!! LET ME DRAG YOU DOWN TO HELL WITH ME!!" "She was right! You are indeed different from the others. Already having awakened your soul!" "You are an anomaly in mankind''s fate, Lucius. I''m looking forward to the game we are going to play later. Please do survive the upcoming ordeal." ¡­. The death of a certain student aboard the spaceship. A mysterious female voice that spoke about matters that no one other than Ka''lor''ah and Lucius themselves knew. The scent of a Stage 1 soul before Mankind''s ascension, other than his own! ''Right¡­how did I forget about this matter?!!'' Lucius was utterly and completely shocked. How could he forget such an important matter? For him to forget and leave behind an unknown element within Mankind, which was a crucial part of the ''Great Plan''. How was this possible?! This was completely unlike him! ''Not to mention...Ka''lor''ah was also present during that event.'' Lucius forgetting might be an exception, but for a control freak like Ka''lor''ah to forget? This was no longer a coincidence, but something larger in play. ''I must wake her up.'' Lucius immediately got to work, channeling the tremendous amount of free energy into Ka''lor''ah''s figure. ---------- ''I¡­did we win?'' The darkness before Ka''lor''ah eyes slowly cleared and hazy light started to pour into her mind. Feeling a stream of energy flow into her, Ka''lor''ah instinctively grabbed onto it and started to devour it at a furious rate. With Ka''lor''ah joining to help with the digestion of the energy, it was only a matter of time before her mind cleared. ''Oh, looks like I went into slumber after that battle. Seeing as to how I''m still alive, looks like we won.'' Ka''lor''ah smiled brightly. The darkness finally retreated from her vision and the figure of Lucius'' still occupying his soul form appeared within her sights. "Ohayo~~" Ka''lor''ah was in the process of greeting her partner when the latter rudely interrupted her. "We have a serious problem." Sensing the seriousness of this tone, Ka''lor''ah immediately became serious herself and asked. "How serious?" "Much greater than our freshly concluded battle." Lucius'' normally indifferent tone, held a deep sense of worry and impatience. Acutely picking up on that Ka''lor''ah thought to herself. ''Are we fu*ked? Wait, is this karma for my previous statement?'' Banishing her playful thoughts, Ka''lor''ah continued. "Tell me what happened?" Lucius did not bother with words and directly shared that memory fragment with her. The more Ka''lor''ah continued to watch, the greater was her shock. ----------- "It''s no coincidence that both of us forgot about this incident. There is clearly some higher power at play." Ka''lor''ah spent no effort beating around the bush and directly declared. "As high as I think?" Lucius questioned with a strange tone. "As high as you think. Although, I will have to perform a ritual to confirm our doubts." Ka''lor''ah nodded her head and replied with a grim voice. She then continued, "I guess this is what they refer to as, ''Out of the frying pan and into the fire.''" Chapter 208: A Returner? Upon having that conversation, the two of them quickly exited Lucius'' mindspace and entered their respective bodies. Opening his eyes after what veritably felt like a long time, Lucius could immediately feel the changes to his body. His [State of Devour] phase was canceled returning Lucius to his human form. His body currently resembled a shriveled corpse being completely devoid of any void energy. Taking note of his body''s state, Lucius noticed that the Void Eater''s bloodline within him had gone into a sort of inactive state, with most of his Void abilities being in a ''locked'' state. ''I guess staying in [State of Devour] for who knows how long of a time does have its drawbacks. Looks like I won''t be able to use my Void abilities for a while.'' Thankfully, [Devour] and [Void Storage] seemed to work fine. To confirm this, Lucius opened the storage and brought out some monster meat to eat. While the amount of meat was little and would have hardly been sufficient in his [State of Devour] state, in his current form, it would do just fine. Devouring the chunks of meat, a meager amount of void power was produced and Lucius'' shriveled body started to buff up. Eating everything he had, Lucius finally hit the minimum energy quota and the hunger pangs of this stomach lessened. He then turned to face the floating crystal and asked. "Are you going to start drawing the array?" Ka''lor''ah continued to float silently and stare at him. Feeling the weight of her gaze, Lucius grew a little annoyed and asked. "What are you staring at me for?" An exaggerated sigh escaped from Ka''lor''ah''s mouth'', followed by these words. "Daaaaamnnn, son! I never knew you were so ''packing'' down there. What''s up, hehe, with the nude show? HAHAHA!!" She tried to speak as straight as possible but ended up laughing out loud during the second half of her sentence Lucius'' brain lagged for a moment before he managed to process her sentence. Right. He was completely naked. The [State of Devour''s] transformation optimized his body for battle, removing all sorts of extraneous organs. Also, due to the variety of creatures that he had devoured, his body has also been covered in a thick fur of sorts. However, now that he had returned to his ''human'' state, certain unnecessary additions followed. To further worsen the situation, Lucius currently did not possess any material to clothe his body. A strange emotion, one that he could not name, filled Lucius'' mind. Staring at the crystal with a peculiar look in his eyes, Lucius growled. "Stop wasting time and get to work. This isn''t the time to folly." The look within his eyes calmed and returned to indifference Ka''lor''ah replied with an ''okay, okay'' and got to work. Inwardly, however, she was a little surprised. ''Was that embarrassment that I saw within his eyes? Did he just, show an emotion? Strange. Very strange.'' Throwing this matter to the back of her head, Ka''lor''ah focused on her current task. Her earlier quip was to relieve some of their tension after the recent battle. And if her doubts were right, their immediate future will be far more stressful. ''Let''s begin.'' And with that, Ka''lor''ah started to draw an enormous runic array within the cave in which they fought the spectral soul. Perhaps as a small measure of good luck, their current location was a laboratory, which meant¡­ ¡­there would be plenty of material for the formation''s construction. ----------- "Bring me that shiny-looking ore lying in that corner. Yeah, that dark blue one!" "Not there! It''s 5 units in the opposite direction!" "Infuse your soul power, here, here, and here." "Remember the array of concealment that I taught you? Draw 15 of those in the blank spaces between the array of observation and array of astral positioning." With Ka''lor''ah focused efforts along with Lucius'' occasional support, a massive runic formation, one that occupied almost the entirety of the underground chambers'' floor, quickly took shape. Before long the underground chamber was filled to the brim with hundreds of floating runic symbols and letter''s each radiating with energy and power. The lighting within the room also began to strangely distort, as the Power of Rules within the room started to congregate. Satisfied with her work, Ka''lor''ah declared. "Now to finish it all we need is a Superior Grade item to act as the catalyst to start the formation." Lucius scanned around the room and asked. "I don''t see any Superior Grade item in here. What do we do now?" The dark-gold crystal shook its body seemingly signifying a ''shake of her head''. Pointing at Lucius, she continued smugly. "And that is why, Lucius, I''ll forever be the master and you will forever be my student." "Now witness my miracle." Saying so, Ka''lor''ah used a small portion of her energy to perform a cut on Lucius'' upper arm. Along with a small prickling of pain, dense, black blood started to flow from the cut. Ka''lor''ah quickly gathered his blood and flicked it towards a specific spot in the massive runic array. The moment, Lucius'' blood came into contact with the array, it responded with a sizzling noise followed by dense black smoke. Ten seconds passed before the sizzling sound came to a stop, after which followed¡­ The formation of an enormous hurricane of spiritual energy. The ground, the walls, the roof, the very space itself started to rumble and shake under the dense gathering of natural spiritual energy. "Hahahaha!!" The sound of Ka''lor''ah''s laughter was drowned out by the furious gales of wind and energy. The shaking within the room increased in its intensity as the scale of the hurricane grew larger and larger. As the height of the hurricane reached the ceiling limit, the previously silent runes started to give off a faint, mysterious radiance. With the spiritual energy has reached a critical point, the runic formation finally started to function. The winds within the room continued to furiously blow and lash. Feeling annoyed by the sound of the wind, Lucius channeled his newly-produced Stage 2 soul power and formed a barrier surrounding himself and Ka''lor''ah. "The Void Eater is a Grade 7 species at the minimum. Ergo, you are equivalent to a walking Superior Grade material. You should learn to treasure yourself more." Ka''lor''ah ''kindly'' explained. "So what now?" Ignoring her explanation, Lucius questioned. "We wait. The results of that runic formation will tell us if our doubts are true." Lucius nodded his head and remained silent. Ka''lor''ah continued to look at him for a few seconds before asking. "Do you not have anything to cover yourself within that storage of yours?" "No." Lucius curtly replied. Ka''lor''ah simply nodded her head and turned silent. While others might consider being nude as shameful or as a stain on their reputation, this was only in the eyes of ''inferior beings''. As a pair of ex-Stage 7 beings, the matters of the flesh were hardly of any importance to them. While Lucius was initially ''embarrassed'', it was due to him being caught off-guard. Once he recovered, he simply threw the matter to one corner of his mind. Ka''lor''ah was also not interested in this matter and stopped making fun of Lucius. While the atmosphere between the two seemed calm, it was actually not so. The two of them were in fact very worried, so much so, that even the eternally indifferent Lucius and the ever jovial Ka''lor''ah, were waiting for the result in silence. Minutes continued to trickle by and Ka''lor''ah found the silence and invisible tension to be suffocating. While looking at the formation doing its thing, she asked calmly. "Anyway, how did you kill that bastard?" "He was very eager to look into my memories, that I simply allowed him to do so. The only difference being that, I showed him a Stage 7 memory fragment." Lucius'' tone held a bit of contempt and mockery as he continued. "Curiosity killed the cat. He was unable to handle the repercussions of viewing that memory and was destroyed by it in turn." Ka''lor''ah laughed lightly in scorn and spoke. "That was too light of a sentence, If only my main body were here. So, which memory was it, anyway?" "The day I added the [Thousand Seas of Blood] into my Domain." Ka''lor''ah nodded her head in acknowledgment and silence returned. Minutes continued to pass and the tension continued to rise. The scene outside the barrier continued to rise in intensity, as the formation worked at full power. The runes flashed, appearing at times and disappearing at others, following a mysterious pattern. With the Rules having been invoked, threads of multi-colored, multi-dimensional energy appeared within the underground chamber. It was a spectacular, yet terrifying sight. Time passes and this time, it was Lucius, who surprisingly broke the silence. "That voice. Do you think it might be someone like us? Someone from the ''future''?" He hesitantly asked. "Impossible." To which Ka''lor''ah almost surely replied and explained. "While I might not be the most knowledgeable one in the Universe, I am confident that I am at least in the top three. The method that we used to return is something that multiple generations of my race have worked on to complete. I doubt there is anyone else with enough time and resources to do such a thing." "Resetting ''Cause'' is not something that can be causally done. Just the sacrifices needed to do so are unimaginable. You personally should know so." Lucius nodded his head in understanding. As Ka''lor''ah had stated, he knew better than anyone about the sacrifices that had to be made. ''90% of all life in the Universe must be killed.'' Lucius absentmindedly thought about the condition. Or at least it was one of the conditions that were required. "Rest assured, I''m confident that it isn''t a ''returner'' like us. In fact, I have a basic understanding of who it might be." Ka''lor''ah concluded, to which Lucius sighed and replied, "Indeed." "Oh, looks like the formation''s done." Ka''lor''ah noticed the hurricane gradually disappearing. Lucius immediately removed the barrier and the duo walked towards the center of the formation. It was time to see, whether their guess had hit its mark. Chapter 209: Anger. Dud. Dud. Dud. Stepping on the stone-floored ground with his feet, Lucius walked towards the center of the massive runic formation. The sounds of his steps seemed heavier than usual. Dud. Dud. Dud. With a strange unease weighing on his heart, Lucius felt the time around him to be strangely slow. The feeling of nervousness, an emotion that was as foreign as it was old, crept into his mind. Dud. Dud. Dud. Nearing the intended position, Lucius inhaled a cold breath of air. He could feel beads of sweat rolling down his face and the clamminess of his hands felt strange and unfamiliar. In fact, everything around him felt strange and unfamiliar. The sound of his heartbeat, the scent in the air, the distance on the ground. Details that would insignificant on any other day, were all magnified in Lucius'' mind. "Step into that circle." Ka''lor''ah''s dignified voice quietly resounded near his ears. Nodding his head, Lucius stepped forward. Entering the runic circle, Lucius reflexively closed his eyes. Whirrr!!! The whirring sounds of ''something'' moving resounded within Lucius'' mind. He could feel the space around his grow thicker and heavier, as he felt tens of thousands of ''chains'' bind and restrict him. ''¡­I remember.'' Feeling that familiar weight on his body, Lucius recalled the name of these chains. ''The Bindings of Cause.'' Opening his eyes, Lucius looked down to see the innumerable number of rusty-looking dark iron chains coiling around his body. While the thickness of each chain was quite small, they were incomparably heavy. "Uh!!" Lucius let out a light cry, as he collapsed onto his knees. The weight of the chains was too heavy to bear. As the seconds continued to pass, the number of chains continued to increase in magnitude and size, alongside their weight. They also continued to wrap around him with increasing strength. "Just hang on for a second, Lucius! It''s almost over!!" Ka''lor''ah''s cries of encouragement fell on deaf ears. ''I can''t take this anymore. I¡­'' As the pressure surrounding him continued to increase, Lucius could feel his surroundings slowly grow darker. His vision has started to dim and his breaths started to become fainter. He could feel it. He could feel ''something'' pull him to the other side. ''Strange¡­even now¡­I still feel empty.'' Lucius'' head slumped downwards and darkness consumed him. ---------- Meanwhile, outside the runic circle. "You must hold on, Lucius! This will be over soon!" Seeing the endless amount of chains continuously appearing out of thin air and bind Lucius, Ka''lor''ah shouted her words of comfort. Even though she knew that he couldn''t hear her, she continued to shout without pause. Looking at those chains materializing without pause, fear gripped Ka''lor''ah''s heart. ''Although this is my second time seeing this scene, I still can''t believe it. So many ''Bindings of Cause'' just to restrain him¡­'' ''It almost as if, the Universe itself is restraining him!'' The ritual to summon the Bindings of Cause was nothing new and was well known among the people of power within the Universe. In fact, it was a necessary ritual to be performed, before one''s ascension into Stage 6. The Bindings of Cause will appear and restrain the person on whom it''s summoned. The weight of Cause will bear down upon the target, who then has to break free from its restrictions, thus birthing anew. Once one has washed away all of their previous Cause, their souls would be ready to ascend into the realm of Stage 6. However, the reason why Ka''lor''ah''s heart was gripped with fear was that, usually, there exited a limit on the number of Bindings that would appear for restriction. The longer one lived and the more one has experienced, the greater will be their involvement with Cause. Conversely, the shorter and fewer one''s life and experiences were the lesser the amount chains that would appear. This is why youngsters who ascend through quicker are greatly valued within the Universe. The younger one was, the greater would be his/her chances at entering Stage 6. This held true for all parties, except Lucius. In his case, the number of Bindings that appeared was literally uncountable. They simply continued to endlessly appear and restrain him. Returning back to the story. Ka''lor''ah who was anxiously waiting for something to happen, finally had her patience rewarded. In the space above Lucius, a golden cloud suddenly appeared. Upon appearance the cloud grew in size, roughly reaching 300m in length after which it stopped and continued to silently float in space. Ka''lor''ah who was waiting for this cloud to appear keenly started to study it. A few seconds later, she finally noticed a small abnormality. At one corner of the golden cloud, a part of it disengaged from the larger mass and silently disappeared. While the part that disappeared was very, very small, it was nonetheless noticeable. In other words, the overall volume of the golden cloud was shrinking. ''Just as we had guessed.'' Ka''lor''ah sighed to herself and immediately shut down the runic formation. Contrary to her normal self, where she would grow happy and proud upon her guesses being proved correct, Ka''lor''ah''s mood soured and turned heavy. With Ka''lor''ah''s actions, the runes stopped glowing and started to spontaneously collapse before disintegrating into thin air. Alongside the disappearance of the runes, the Bindings of Cause also started to disappear and Lucius'' unconscious body was finally revealed. ----------- "¡­wa¡­ke¡­up!" "¡­wak¡­up!" "Lucius, wake up!" Ka''lor''ah''s shouts finally brought Lucius'' consciousness to the surface. Waking up groggily, Lucius looked around with his unfocused eyes and noticed that the chains surrounding him had vanished. Shaking his head a few times, his mind finally regained sufficient clarity after which he turned to face Ka''lor''ah. "What''s the verdict?" he asked. "It is as we thought," Ka''lor''ah replied with a grim voice. Lucius sighed to himself and turned silent. "We have been noticed by a Lord. Our share of Cause in Mankind is slipping away." "In other words, something bad is happening to Mankind." Her final words hit home the reality of their situation. ------------ "Try to recall as much as possible, Lucius. Did you, perhaps by accident, mention any topic that could have drawn the attention of a Lord?" "I told you already, the answer is no." "Are you sure? It might have been an unintentional action or perhaps by accident." "No, I did not." "Then we got nothing." Ka''lor''ah unhappily said and slumped onto the ground. Lucius who was sitting on a rock fragment, next to her also turned his head away in dissatisfaction. "This wouldn''t have happened if you had obediently stayed with me, at all times. Your little self excursion has resulted in our current situation." Lucius voiced his dissatisfaction. "You''re telling me that it''s my fault, seriously? And who was it that got caught by a bunch of weaklings in the first place? If you hadn''t been caught, then we wouldn''t have gotten separated in the first place." Ka''lor''ah replied in kind. "If you had just stayed in one place¡­" "Hey look at me!! I''m a fricking crystal, for god''s sake! How can I decide whether I can move around or stay put? I couldn''t even move back then!!" "Do you know what the first thought of those bastards was after getting me? ''This stone looks expensive. Perhaps we can cut it into pieces and sell it for a good price''. Should I have just waited for those infidels to do so?" Unable to hold her anger, Ka''lor''ah burst out. "I did what I could at that instance, okay? We should already be thanking our lucky stars, that I managed to meet that Alex ''whatever his name'' and stayed within the city. Just imagine, what our situation would be like if I had been shipped off somewhere else?!" "And you! Back then you knew you were surrounded. Why did you not just break from one side and just run away? If you had simply decided to leave them alone, you wouldn''t have even gotten caught in the first place!" "ENOUGH!!" Lucius snapped. A wave of soul power exploded from within Lucius and utterly decimated his surroundings. He stared at the startled crystal with anger in his eyes, as his hands trembled. "Lucius, you¡­" Ka''lor''ah''s surprised tone exited the crystal when Lucius'' body suddenly stiffened. His eyes turned momentarily blank, before regaining focus. The anger within had completely disappeared and was replaced with a blank, empty look. He then restrained his overflowing soul power and spoke. "Apologies, I did not mean to do that." He realized that his anger was meaningless and promptly apologized. "Arguing will get us nowhere and time is running out. If it wasn''t a taboo topic or name that attracted the Lord''s attention, then could it be something or perhaps someone else? There was that mysterious female voice after all and that definitely wasn''t a Lord." "Let''s start by going through every single person that we interacted with, since the return." Ka''lor''ah, who had been startled away paused for a moment before nodding her head. He was right, arguing would be pointless. Perhaps, a newer angle would give them a lead into what caused a Lord to be interested in Mankind. Was it just a coincidence? Or did they see through the plan? ''But before that¡­.was that anger? Was Lucius angry?'' The fact that the ex-Stage 7 [Killer] was able to feel anger was the fact that surprised her the most. ''Was the suppression on his emotions...lifted?'' Chapter 210: Leaving the Underground Labyrinth. ''That was bad.'' Lucius divided a part of his attention and observed his soul within his mindspace. The clear transparent soul remained the same as ever, pristine and pure. However, something had evidently changed. ''The suppression.'' ''The soul is no longer actively suppressing my emotions.'' The [Killer] soul and it''s other, more recent derivative [Annihilator] had the active function to suppress and erase Lucius'' emotions and feelings, once a certain threshold was crossed. Whenever Lucius felt overly happy or angry, similar to a board being wiped, the soul would actively erase all feelings. This would result in Lucius remaining in a blank, indifferent state, removing his ability to empathize or sympathize. He could neither feel joy, sadness, achievement, excitement or any normal, ''humane'' feeling for that matter. The only thing that remained was ice-cold rationality and emptiness. He was a mere shell that felt nothing on the inside. While this sounded terrible and the prospect of being able to feel their emotions once again would be a matter worthy of celebration for others, this definitely was not the case with Lucius. Being able to feel things, the ability to empathize with others¡­these feelings were double-edged swords. Not only would one be able to feel things that they want to feel, but also things that they desperately do not want to. This fact, especially for a person whose life was as tragic as Lucius'', was especially bad. The memories of his life¡­the people he had lost¡­the things he had done¡­the things that had been done to him...and much more. The battle against Flauros ¨CMaster of the labyrinth- had forced Lucius to remember memories that had been buried within the depths of his mind. Memories which he had forced himself to forget. And now all these memories¡­all these foreign emotions that he hadn''t felt for many, many years, combined with the fact that his soul no longer restrained him¡­ ¡­made Lucius incredibly unstable. His emotions were like a dense congregation of steam that desperately sought for release, only that they had no way to do so. People who deal with emotions on a daily basis would have no problems when faced with such a situation. However, for Lucius, who had forgotten what it means to be a ''normal'', forgotten what it means to be ''human'', this was an impossible task. The only thing that he could do was suppress and restrain them. To forcibly bottle all his feelings up with the uncertainty on how to release them. ''I cannot be distracted. Especially not at this moment.'' One thing was for sure though. The day that his emotions reach a critical point and explode¡­ ¡­a lot of people will die. ------------ "Let''s go over everyone we met and interacted with since you woke up," Ka''lor''ah spoke first. Lucius nodded his head and started to talk. "First, there was that guy and three of his friends. Then, it was Olivia. Then there were two more weaklings, after which¡­" "Wait, wait, wait! Just a second." Ka''lor''ah interrupted him. "Who do you exactly mean by ''that guy? As in what''s his name?" "Uhm." Lucius paused for a moment and seriously ponder, "Liam? Luck? Lux?... I don''t remember." He shook his head. "However, it doesn''t matter he''s already dead," Lucius said with confidence. "How are you so sure?" Ka''lor''ah asked unconvinced. "I killed him. You were there too. It was in that warehouse or whatever." "Ah, so it was that guy! Hmm¡­what was his name though?" Ka''lor''ah also started to search her memories. For an important character to be reduced to a mere ''that guy''. Whoever this person was, he has lived a sad life. "Now that I think about it," Lucius suddenly spoke up. "I did kill most of the people that I interacted with. Most of the others were just on the sidelines that had no direct interaction with me." Cause could only form as a product of interaction. The fact that Lucius was losing his share of Causality in Mankind meant three things. 1. The object, upon which the Cause was being based, was itself being destroyed. In this case, it would be Mankind. In other words, the fate of Mankind was being changed once again and this time, its destruction was brought forward. 2. Since Lucius was actively losing his share of Cause, a little at a time, instead of losing it entirely after Mankind''s destruction meant that someone was directly stealing it from him. The only people capable of such feats were the Lords. 3. Since a Lord was directly stealing the Cause from him, it meant that the Lord had identified his existence. However, since Lucius had remained cautious since his return and had been with Ka''lor''ah who could actively hide them from the eyes of the Lords, it meant that he was indirectly identified. It was only due to these reasons that the duo came to such a conclusion. That mysterious voice must be related to a Lord (makes sense, because they managed to awaken their soul ahead of time) and it was through this person that the Lord noticed Lucius'' existence. "Actually, we can narrow down our search radius," Ka''lor''ah spoke up after a moment of contemplation. "The crystal can hide you and your Causality from the Universe. Which means, that any interactions that you had while I was with you would not be counted." "The only duration of time, where I wasn''t with you was during your capture and the subsequent few weeks." "However, you did not have any actual interactions during this period of time. The ones that you did interact with, were all killed. Try and remember carefully, was there someone with whom you interacted with and left them alive?" Lucius sunk into silence and carefully thought to himself. He reviewed his memories and carefully recalled every single person with whom he had any interactions. The tense silence continued for some time. Ka''lor''ah did not interrupt Lucius during this period and continued to silently float near him. Time passed and Lucius'' eyes suddenly flew open. "¡­I just remembered. There was a person. A woman." "Who?!" Ka''lor''ah questioned. Lucius grew uncertain for a moment, before hesitantly speaking. "I think her name was¡­En? Ena?" Lucius'' tone was filled with uncertainty when he suddenly remembered. "Ina! She was named Ina!" ---------- Having killed the Master of the labyrinth and having ascended to Stage 2, there was little point staying within this underground chamber. AS such, the duo immediately started their return. Making his way through the maze, Lucius was bombarded with multiple questions from Ka''lor''ah. "Anyways, what the story with this Ina girl?" "Seeing how she sent a crazy guy to murder you in that ship, I think it''s safe you assume that she doesn''t like you. What did you do to incur such hatred? Did you knock her up and abandon her or something?" "Oh, and how come you never mention any of this to me? Are you embarrassed? Is it some sort of dark history that you cannot mention?" "How do you think a Lord became involved in this? Do you think those guys noticed something? Do they perhaps know about what we did?" "With the rate at which the Cause is disappearing, Mankind mustn''t be in that bad of a situation, right? It''s only a few years, right? Even with the involvement of a Lord, with the knowledge that I gave to those two kids, they should be doing fine, right?" "Hmmm, if I recall correctly the Ordeal must be the ''Formician Invasion''. With Mankind''s collective strength, the advance soul cultivation knowledge that I had given, factoring your warnings, time passed and other factors¡­they should still be fighting over the Outer Rim." "Shut up." Unable to tolerate it any longer, Lucius finally told her off. They had been traveling for quite a while and the surface was almost in range. Taking a left, Lucius ran forward only to meet a dead end in his path. Unbothered by this, he gathered some soul power within his hands and punched at the wall. A strong punch powered by Stage 2 soul power, further enhanced by [Annihilation Energy], effectively crumbled the wall into nothingness. After what seemed to be forever inside cramped, dark underground spaces, a stream of sunlight gently struck his face. Followed by¡­ ¡­a furious bellow and a dense beam of concentrated energy. "I finally found you, murder!!" Chapter 211: Domain – {Starfall Plains} Seeing a beam of dense starlight energy rush towards him, Lucius instinctively took a step back and used [Void Step] to evade. The shadows underneath his feet tried to expand outwards but helplessly collapsed after a second. [Void Step] did not activate. ''Dammit! I forgot that the void abilities are inactive." Realizing this fact a bit too late, Lucius could only choose to tank the attack. He couldn''t dodge to the sides due to the odd position he was in ¨Cat the exit of a self-made hole with rock walls on both sides- and the perfect timing of the attack. BAANG!! Forming a cover with both his hands and shrinking his body to minimize the area of the attack, Lucius met the scalding, seething energy head-on. The instant the beam of starlight hit him, Lucius was blown away. The hole from which Lucius had exited was on the side of a mountainous rock face, which was surrounded by a dense canopy of the signature tall dark trees of the forest. Due to the presence of the mountain, there was an opening in the dense foliage of the trees, allowing sunlight and the sky to be seen. The moment that the attack stuck the mountain face, the surrounding ground and rocks were instantly vaporized, leading to structural instability to the sides of the mountain. A domino effect was triggered, leading to the collapse of the entire mountainside, burying Lucius and Ka''lor''ah, who was by his side, within. Floating in the air was a handsome middle-aged man with scaly, snake-like golden skin and a pair of thin slit eyes. Floating above his head was a miniature halo similar to the ones possessed by the Heavenly Sovereigns, seen in Lucius'' memory. However, the difference between the two was paramount, as the former possessed none of the dignity and grace of the latter. If the halo of the Heavenly Sovereigns was the sun, then the halo possessed by this middle-aged man was flickering candlelight. The pair of snake-like eyes stared towards the collapsed mountainside with obvious wrath. His chest repeatedly rose and fell in succession as he struggled to contain the ugly emotion of anger within him. Perhaps unsatisfied with his previous attack that had quite literally collapsed a mountain; the middle-aged man who obviously was a Bertarian formed a sphere of energy within his hands once again, before another beam of starlight of similar proportions to the previous one, headed towards collapsed rubble. The beam of destructive energy vaporized the rocks in an instant and was in fact so hot that it had even ionized the air around its path, resulting in a strong burnt smell wafting through the air. A wave of soul power swept across the area of charred air and molten rocks, confirming that no traces of life could be felt from within, he finally lowered his hands. Closing his eyes in prayer, the Bertarian thought to himself. ''Kiren, Kara¡­my children. With this one of the murderers responsible for your death has been killed. May your souls rest in peace.'' He then recalled the information about the other murderer and was overtaken by rage once more. ''Now, only that calculative bit*h remains! If not for her trickery and schemes, I would''ve popped the life out of her!'' Finding himself fuming with rage, the Bertarian repeatedly inhaled and exhaled, abating some of the tension. ''Soon. Soon, I will personally make you repent for your actions! Let''s see how long your tricks can last!'' A cruel smile appeared on his lips. Taking one last look at the solidifying pond of molten rock, the Bertarian turned around and was about to fly away¡­ ¡­when he felt movement coming from behind him. Turning his head around, the first thing that appeared in his vision were millions of stunning, interwoven threads of light. An image that reminded him of the brilliant starry sky, a view that he could only see in his home planet. Following this stunning display of light, was a voice. "[Third Movement] - Eviscerate." And in the next instant, the web-like threads of condensed energy, connected. BOOOOM!! With an explosive sound that was multiple times louder than one after the mountains'' collapse, the figure of the Bertarian was flung away. In a use of twisted irony, his figure was similar to a falling star that one would see in the night sky. For a person who used ''Astral'' energy as his main form of attack, this was indeed a form of irony. Dropping to the ground in an elegant fashion was the figure of Lucius, who was unharmed as he was nude. "Tch," clicking his tongue, Lucius complained. "It''s extremely annoying to fight Stage 3 beings, ones that can fly as a Stage 2." "For others, maybe. But for you, it''s hardly of any inconvenience." Ka''lor''ah rolled her eyes, at his statement. "It''s a waste of time and energy." Lucius disagreed. "Still, I quite surprised that Stage 3 attack barely scratched you. Did your body further improve after your ascension into Stage 2?" Indeed, the figure that had attacked him earlier and the magnitude of the attack were both in the Stage 3 realm. A living, breathing Stage 3! The first opponent of this Stage that Lucius was fighting against after his regression. What? He already fought against a Stage 3 Cerberus? Well, that battle wouldn''t count since; A) The Cerberus wasn''t at its peak stage and was barely living, and, B) Lucius had attacked it just moments after its awakening, thus fighting it at its weakest state. The two opponents were simply incomparable. In response to Ka''lor''ah''s question, Lucius gave a curt, cryptic answer. "Attributes." "Attributes?" Ka''lor''ah tilted her ''head'' in question, before coming to a sudden realization. "Ah! The attribute for his soul power was ''Astral''!" Lucius nodded his head, approving her answer. To explain this, one would have to refer to the workings of the Rules. As the precise explanation is too long, complicated, and convoluted to explain, here''s a more reader-friendly one. Everything within the Universe was based upon, managed, and regulated by the Rules. Such being the case, physical bodies and soul power were no exception. One''s physical body was a complex mixture of different Rules. Each species have a different mixture of Rules, thus resulting in their physical and racial differences. Continuing with this logic, the more complex and higher a Rule used in the composition of a physical being, the higher would be the Grade of the life form. This is also why one''s Grade is very important in the ascension of their soul power. For a lower Grade being to control higher ranking Rules was simply impossible. Now, the attribute of one''s soul power referred to which Rule their system of power and combat adhered to. For example, the attribute of Alex''s soul power was simply ''Fire'' or ''Heat''. This meant that his soul power was adhered to the Rule of Fire, the Rule of Destruction, and at higher levels, the ''Rule of Energy'' and ''Rule of Chaos''. The attribute of the middle-aged Bertarian was ''Astral'', in other words to adhered mainly to the ''Rule of Stars'' and the higher leveled ''Rule of Space''. So, why did Lucius hardly take any damage from his attack? Void Eaters also called the ''Children of the Void'' were beings that were composed of the Rule of Void, which was a Rule that was higher than the ''Rule of Space''. Similar Rules cancel out each other and higher leveled Rules overpower the lower leveled ones. Even after factoring in the difference of their respective soul Stages, Lucius'' physical body, which was mainly composed of the ''Rule of Void'' had a 95% damage reduction boost against Astral and similar types of Energy. A 95% reduction, even after factoring in their Stage difference! In other words, Lucius was the perfect counter for all Astral and Spatial energy opponents, unless of course, their Rule is at a level higher than the ''Rule of Void''. Another thing to be noted here is that dissimilar Rules, i.e, Rules of opposing nature, will be extremely volatile. That is to say, they would have their effectiveness amplified and their destructiveness multiplied exponentially. "Anyways, any idea on whom that attacker is and why he attacked you?" Ka''lor''ah asked to which Lucius simply shook his head. "We can find out later. He''s not dead yet." Upon saying so, Lucius held the scythe which he had taken out from his [Void Storage] and held it horizontally with both hands. He could acutely sense his enraged opponent approaching. "YOU INFIDEL! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!!" Although his shout was full of righteous anger, the middle-aged man had not lost his sanity. Upon realizing that his opponent was a Stage 2 being, and therefore couldn''t fly yet, he remained in the air while preparing his attack. Lucius'' [Eviscerate] combined with the Stage 2 [Annihilation Energy] had caused a lot of damage to the Bertarian. The automatic defensive barrier on his robes was totaled in that single attack, which further continued to tear into his face. Staring at Lucius with enraged eyes while sporting multiple, long, deep cuts in his face the Bertarian went all out! "Deploy Domain ¨C {Starfall Plains}!" The moment Lucius heard that shout, the look in his eyes changed. ''The difficulty level just went up.'' He thought to himself. Chapter 212: A Real Stage 2. Part 1 "Deploy Domain ¨C {Starfall Plains}!" The furious bellow of the Bertarian echoed throughout the quiet forest, following which the changes occurred. With the Stage 3 Bertarian as the center, a truly ''massive'' amount of soul power rapidly left his body and flooded the surroundings. With the arrival of the soul power, the natural spiritual energy of the surroundings was rapidly pushed out and the surrounding environment began to change. Stage 3. There was a reason behind why Stage 3 was the minimum requirement of power to safely traverse the Universe. A reason, why they were widely feared in weaker worlds. A reason, why they had the power to alter the very world itself! It was due to their ability to use Domains. Starting from Stage 3, the very nature of battle or combat between combatants changed. It no longer depended on how fast a person was, or how much harder they could hit. Victory and Defeat. Life and Death. Survival depended on one''s Domain. And right now, the middle-aged Bertarian finally deployed his Domain. With the soul power of the middle-aged Bertarian forcing out the natural spiritual energy of the world, the environment surrounding them changed and the Rules started to distort. Dense dark clouds started to spontaneously appear within the sky, blocking out the clear skies of Pectron. Bolts of purple lightning flashed frighteningly followed by thunderous rumbles of thunder. On the ground, the soil started to undergo changes turning denser and coarser. It lost its natural brown color, changing to an eerie dark, almost volcanic soil. The trees that occupied the vicinity instantly lost their luster and vitality, rotting into heaps of black waste in a mere instant of time. A burnt, toxic air filled the entire space making it deadly for weaker beings to breathe. With furious winds surrounding his figure and multiple bolts of violet lightning forming a protective sphere around him, the middle-aged Bertarian raised his finger and pointed towards Lucius. "Fall." The instant his words feel, Lucius felt his surroundings abruptly change. The gravity around him became heavier and the air around him turned denser. Bolts of lightning each almost dozens of meters in radius, fell from the dark clouds rushing towards his body at unimaginable speeds. Although his body was greatly resistant to astral energy attacks, Lucius was not a person to receive any (attacks) in the first place. Stomping the ground with such incredible force that the earth beneath him cracked, Lucius dashed away from his initial location at incredible speeds. The lightning was fast, yes. But Lucius was even faster. Lucius'' figure blurred from vision, as he moved at incredible speeds evading each of the lightning strikes. As the Domain continued to expand and receive nourishment from the Stage 3 soul power, the frequency and the magnitude of the attacks also grew. Not to mention, the increase in gravity and toxic air. ''Three bolts arriving at two steps to your left!'' Ka''lor''ah did not remain still and helped Lucius in computing the location of the lightning strikes. Lucius, of course, did not respond. He had entered a high concentration state, similar to when he had fought the Stage 5 crimson soul with his body. He could not afford any distraction. Not a single bolt of lightning can be allowed to hit him. While the damage caused to his body was low, the concentrated electricity within the lightning would still serve to momentarily paralyze his muscles. And within a Domain, this momentary paralysis was all it took for him to lose his life. Get hit once and it would be game over. Knowing this, Lucius moved with all he had because honestly, his life depended on it. "How much longer will you run, little ant?" Amidst frantic evasions, the condescending voice of the Bertarian resounded within the Domain. "When I said ''Fall'', do you think I mean the lightning?" He cruelly laughed. ''Lucius! Above!!!'' Ka''lor''ah''s desperate shouts resounded within Lucius'' mind. Turning his head to look at the sky, Lucius could finally understand what the Bertarian had meant. A massive meteor, spanning almost 500m in length was falling towards him! ''Must move!'' The second he saw the meteor fall towards him at mind-numbing speeds, Lucius immediately reacted. Jumping as high as he could into the air, Lucius repeated the same trick he had used to reach the flying Bertarian. He gathered his soul power near his feet, condensed it to the utmost, shaped it to form a small tile, and stepped on it. With each step that he took, a new tile was created within the air. The unique applications of Stage 2 Soul Power. Physical materialization of soul power outside one''s body. This allowed one to create small objects made of soul power that existed for a short amount of time in the real world. One of its uses in combat, to create steps to walk on air. The ability to use one''s soul power in such form was largely unknown to the general public. In fact, it was a secret that was only taught within combat schools and within the better, more advanced sectors of the Universe. Most people however were entirely clueless about this fact. As a fact, Lucius himself managed to discover this and other unique tricks of Stage 2, after numerous years and innumerable attempts. To discover this on their own without the assistance of a teacher, one would have to have both enormous talent and achieve absolute perfection in their ability to control their soul power. Utilizing this unique application of his Stage 2 soul power, Lucius quickly created such steps effectively turning his two-dimensional movement, into a three-dimensional one, making it harder for the lightning to hit him. Using the precious seconds he had bought as a result of this maneuver, Lucius managed to get outside the impact area of the meteor. BAAAAANNNGGGG!!! With a crash that quite literally rocked the earth (AN: Pun intended), the meteor came to stop. A large crater had formed on the ground as a result of the crash, with the land cracking under the assault. Some distance away, Lucius narrowly evaded another lightning bolt before landing on the ground. While he could create steps of soul power in the air, it also tired him out greatly while costing an enormous amount of soul power. After all, control was important in creating those steps and even Lucius'' overly inflated capacity had its limits. Any small mistake would result in the soul power exploding and Lucius losing his footing, while wonton use would deplete his soul power. Stamina and soul power. If he lost either of those, Lucius would undoubtedly die! "Tch! You truly are annoying!" The Bertarian scoffed in contempt. Immediately, however, a victorious smile formed on his face. "But that was only the beginning. How many more meteors can you dodge? How long will your soul power exist?" "Just give up and obediently die!!" He screamed. Following his scream, multiple shadows fell atop Lucius'' figure. Looking up once more, a dense congregation of meteors headed towards him, spanning a three-kilometer radius. Under the enhanced gravity which was almost 20 times that of Earth''s, they would reach him in a fraction of the time, robbing him of the time required to exit its impact area. ''Lucius, I scanned the surrounding area with my senses! The Domain extends up into ten kilometers of the surrounding area!!'' Caught within a ten-kilometer area with nowhere to run. It was checkmate. Evading a cluster of thick violet lightning, Lucius noticed that no new ones were heading in his direction. Stopping his movement and turning to look up, he saw that the congregation of meteors had almost reached him. Facing his impending doom, Lucius was strangely calm. His mind was completely cool and his emotions were thoroughly restrained. The warnings from Ka''lor''ah, the rumbling thunders, the howling winds, Lucius'' mind started to ignore all this information. The colors in his vision, the shapes of the surroundings, all such extraneous information devolved to the most basic of shapes and lines. At the peak of Combat Awareness lay simplicity. A realm that only those who had reached the peak of battle experience could reach. And Lucius who had reached this realm saw the world for what it was. He could see the world in its purest, most simple state. And in here, he found the answer to this hopeless situation. "Set Boundary." "Expand Field." Chapter 213: A Real Stage 2. Part 2 A ring of [Annihilation Energy] imbued soul power poured out of Lucius'' body and flooded the surrounding space. The ring continued to expand outwards before stopping at a thirty-meter radius. "Fill." A single syllable was spat out of Lucius'' mouth, the instant after which the clouds of soul power within his mindspace started to rapidly dissipate and disappear. Outside, the area encompassed by the ring was rapidly filled with the Low-Level Stage 2 soul power originating from within Lucius'' mindspace. This soul power which was imbued with [Annihilation Energy] clashed against the Stage 3 soul power of the Bertarian, imbued within the Domain, with each burning and destroying each other in the process. Sizzle!! Sizzle!! A sharp sound, similar to the one produced when fingernails are starched against boards, sounded out as the two different energies clashed. The [Annihilation Energy] was evidently superior at destroying other forms of energy as seen from the speed at which the Stage 3 soul energy was destroyed. However, its quality was too low when compared to the latter necessitating a greater quantity. This process continued until the soul power within Lucius'' mindspace was reduced by 83%, leaving a mere 17% to continue the battle. However, this wasn''t the time to think about that, for the cluster of meteors had arrived above his head. Lucius continued to look towards the meteors, unfazed. ''I did not want to use it at this stage. What a waste of energy.'' Sighing to himself, Lucius worded the final command. "Solidify." ------------ BAAANNNGGGG!!! The skies cried and the earth moaned. An explosive sound, one that was several magnitudes higher than the previous one resounded within the Domain followed by absolute silence. The middle-aged Bertarian, floating in the sky, had beads of sweat covering his forehead. His argent robes with patterned blue borders were also sticking to his body, as a result of intense sweating. Looking down at the massive cluster of rocks that had formed a fracture on the ground, the Bertarian thought to himself. ''That should have done it, right? There is no way he could have survived that. Even if it was me that was hit by that attack, it would''ve resulted in some serious injuries. His chest rose and fell as he tried to stabilize his breath. Evidentially, that attack consisting of the verge large cluster of rocks had trained quite a bit of stamina and soul power from him. Not only did each attack earlier, require soul power to manifest and materialize, but the Domain itself required a constant input of soul power to sustain it. This meant that although Domains were extremely powerful, they also had short durations. Of course, if one has a greater soul power capacity they could also prolong the duration of their Domains, and the increase in Stages would also improve and affect the effects of the Domain. Heaving heavy breaths for a few moments, the middle-aged Bertarian then looked into his mindspace to confirm the amount of soul power remaining. ''Less than 45% and its declining at a rapid rate too. I better leave this place before those other Stage 3 beasts from within the forest show up and use this opportunity to deal with me.'' ''But first¡­'' He looked at the large artificial crater on the ground and carefully probed it with his senses. Similar to the previous case, the middle-aged Bertarian couldn''t detect Lucius'' presence or even his body for that matter. However, different from the previous instance, he did not simply turn to leave but flew down towards the meteor rocks. ''I have to confirm that monster''s body with my own eyes. He seems to have some sort of cloaking device to hide from my senses.'' The middle-aged Bertarian could not help but refer to Lucius as a monster. After all, what kind of Low-Level Stage 2 could fight against an experienced Stage 3 such as himself and also injure him in the process. To be honest, if not for the Domain forming an inescapable cage and constantly attacking Lucius while hindering and suppressing him, the middle-aged Bertarian couldn''t honestly say how long the battle would''ve lasted. Of course, he was absolutely convinced of his victory. A mere Stage 2 couldn''t win against a Stage 3 after all. However, the time taken and the damage taken would''ve also been considerable, according to his guess. And as stated earlier, being inside the Dark Shade Forest, he couldn''t afford to use too much time or strength when there was a pack of Stage 3 Wild Beasts hungering for an opportunity to pounce on him. ''Let''s get this over with.'' Infusing some more of his soul power into the Domain, he started to manipulate the space within to lift the heavy rocks. Creating a Domain also meant that one would have complete control over the space within. This meant that one would be able to alter the various factors within the domain such as gravity, air density, elemental composition, and much more at a suitable energy cost (i.e., soul power). The purple lightning, the toxic air, the falling meteors, all of these things were a result of the above statement. Therefore by paying an insignificant amount of soul power, lifting these heavy rocks was hardly a challenge. ''Now to confirm your death¡­'' Just as the middle-aged Bertarian had moved the rock aside, he saw the faint shine of a metallic object. The shine was ever so faint and delicate, that it was obvious that the owner had angled the blade to not refract light. Where the middle-aged Bertarian has expected to see a smashed body, he was instead met with the blade of a scythe containing an immense amount of soul power. ''?!!'' Recognizing the danger of the blade, warning bells rang within the middle-aged Bertarian''s head. Alas, it was too late. With both of his hands firmly gripping onto the pitch-black scythe, Lucius'' aimed the tip of the blade to strike at his opponent''s eyes. He was acutely aware of the Stage difference between them and understood that he wouldn''t be able to penetrate the latter''s skin without using [Shred] or [Eviscerate]. However, his soul power reserves were already at a dangerous level and he could not afford to be extravagant in their use. As such, Lucius did what he did best. Strike the opponent in his weakest spot. To fight is to survive and to survive is to kill. As long as the final result was the same, the method of fighting did not matter. Fighting dirty was definitely not beneath him. With the middle-aged Bertarian caught off-guard, he was unable to react in time. The hardened scythe blade, reinforced by Stage 2 [Annihilation Energy], effortlessly tore into both the eyeballs. "ARRRGGHHH!!" A noisy cry similar to a pig''s squeal came out of the Bertarian''s throat. "My eyes!!!" The [Annihilation Energy] had effectively vaporized the eyeballs and their surrounding areas. In terms of effectiveness, it was even better than Lucius'' expectations. Out of pain, the middle-aged Bertarian instinctively flinched and stepped back, while using his hands both of his hands to cover his eyes. The sudden pain and blindness had been a bit too much for his mind to process. And this was exactly the result that Lucius'' had aimed for. ''Eyes are done, next is¡­'' Flicking his wrists, Lucius instantly pulled back his scythe and twisting it. Rotating the blade to face directly upwards, he reached down with his scythe and¡­ ¡­pulled it up from under the Bertarian''s legs. "AARRRGHHHH!!!" A scream that was forceful enough to tear apart one''s vocal cords resounded through the air. Perhaps, his vocal cord was indeed torn by the scream, as it was abruptly cut short replaced by the sounds of choking. The blade of the scythe was at least, three feet in length. Currently, near half of that size had entered the Bertarian''s body through his pelvis and the [Annihilation Energy], having entered through this juncture, started to rampage within. "¡ªGaRh!! I¡­ill KiLl yOu!!" Having lost his mind to the pain and shame, the middle-aged Bertarian screamed through blood and tears. Of course, Lucius never paid any attention to the threats of his opponent. Since a second attack had connected successfully, so will a third¡­and a fourth¡­and a fifth¡­ With his opponent in constant pain and agony that was intense enough for him to lose his sanity, Lucius continued with his combo. His right eye shined with eerie crimson light, proof that [Flaw Detection] had activated somewhere along the way, Lucius noted every single point of weakness and methodically attacked. His body was in perfect form and his actions were in perfect sync. His scythe flowed ever so effortlessly as it ripped and tore the Stage 3 opponent at various spots. Lucius'' wasn''t using any of his scythe techniques, but was exhibiting his purest skill with the weapon. Actually, calling it pure skill would be an understatement. The degree of his ability had surpassed the boundary of simple movement entering the realm of an art form. While the 300 years may have taken away a lot of things from Lucius, it did grant him unparalleled skill If this scene was to be recorded and the background was to be muted, it would undoubtedly be a cinematic masterpiece. And record, someone did. Ka''lor''ah who had flown some distance away was eagerly recording this battle with her crystal body. She knew better than to intervene with Lucius'' battle and quietly let him have his fun. Capturing the scene which would be added to her collection at a later date, she thought to herself. ''It''s a shame that it''s impossible to showcase such ability at higher Stages. With Domain''s being the main form of combat, and the sheer lack of Living Weapons, physical combat takes the backseat. Such a pity.'' While Ka''lor''ah lamented the lack of artful fights, Lucius was also approaching the end of his battle. His uninterrupted combo, one that had crossed the two hundred or three hundred mark, came to an end with a final blow to the middle-aged Bertarian''s heart. Having shaved and cut layer after layer of skin and muscles, Lucius unleashed a final stream of [Annihilation Energy] which vaporized the furiously beating heart. A Stage 3, an almost unconquerable existence for Stage 2 beings was finally cut down! With his heart having been destroyed, the Stage 3 body lost all signs of life and slumped into the ground. Lucius, being eternally calm as ever, had broken into quite a sweat from his exertion. His nose twitched a few times, leading him to consciously sniff at the air. An extremely mouthwatering aroma assaulted his senses, prompting Lucius to unconsciously activate [Devour]. The shadow beneath his feet exploded and a formless white silhouette was quickly absorbed. The soul of a Stage 3 being! ''Wow!'' Looking at the amount of energy entering his mindspace, Lucius was honestly surprised. Chapter 214: Quick Advancement. Absorbing the soul of a living being through [Devour] before it passes on into Limbo, will mostly be converted into soul power. With the capacity that Lucius possessed a single Stage 2 soul hardly replenished 30% of his soul power. However, Stage 3 was a completely different realm. As such, when [Devour] successfully digested the soul and converted it into soul power before infusing it back into [Annihilator] soul, his Low-Level Stage 2 soul directly broke through into Mid-Level Stage 2!! The vast clouds of soul power quickly condensed to resemble liquids, from their previous gaseous form! A transition that would have normally taken months of boring, repetitive hard work was easily gained after a single session of killing and devouring! ''With this as long as I consume enough souls and properly assimilate the soul power, the rate at which I advance will be phenomenal!'' Lucius estimated. ''Hmm, the foundation is a little unstable and some minor impurities are mixed into my soul power. However, this is hardly an issue and can be easily solved by manually refining it.'' There was no lack of opponents to fight or enemies to kill. The only thing that would hinder or delay his maximal growth rate would be the ''advancement conditions'' before ascending to the next Stage. Void Eaters were monsters in the truest sense. ''No wonder they''re extinct and little to no information exists about them. Any individual with such growth potential would become a guaranteed Stage 7 existence.'' ''Speaking of advancement conditions¡­the next one is a bit troublesome.'' Lucius continued to ponder. When he had advanced into Stage 2 after defeating Flauros, the advancement condition to ascend into Stage 3 had appeared within his mind. [Stage 3 Advancement Condition: Kill 5 Stage 3 existences.] [Completion ¨C 1/5] The moment he had killed the Bertarian, Lucius had felt an invisible lock being open within his soul. With this battle, he was already one-fifth of his way there. ''Finding Stage 3 opponents are not a problem. The troublesome part is killing them. Their bodies are too strong, the rate of regeneration is simply too high, and offensive abilities are simply monstrous. Not to mention, their Domains are troublesome.'' While Lucius'' battle against the Bertarian looked simple, in reality, it was not so. If Lucius had made a single mistake or had given the slightest of a chance to his opponent, he would''ve quite literally, been crushed. The Domain {Starfall Plains} did not have much of an effect on Lucius, due to their Rules being similar in nature. However, this would not be the case with the other Stage 3s. Domains could only be countered by other Domains. And that was a fact. ''While I''m not completely helpless against Domains and have my own Field, there''s no way I can outlast their Domains with my Field.'' Field. The technique Lucius had used towards the end of his fight with the Bertarian was a special technique, similar to Domains. In fact, it was called the precursor to Domains. A Field had a minimum range of 5m all the way up to 300m, whilst a Domain had a minimum range of 500m all the way up to 30km. A Field could not cause any changes to the environment or distort the natural Rules. However, it would enhance and boost the abilities of the user anywhere from 110% to 330%. The boost will depend on the quality of soul power, degree of control, and depth of understanding of one''s power. Unlike a Domain that could move, a Field was static and unmovable. However, this is not absolute. Individuals with absolute control over their soul power, perfect spatial perception, and a monstrous amount of battle experience could move a Field. In other words, Lucius could do so. However, this also had its own drawbacks such as; tiring the user too quickly or being extremely unstable, such that a minor error would cause the Field to explode. "Lucius, are you done?" Ka''lor''ah voice brought him out of his contemplation. ''There''s no point thinking about this right now. There are bigger problems to face before that.'' Lucius sighed to himself. With the threat of facing a Lord ever so close, there was doubt as to whether they would survive for long or not. "Are you okay?" Seeing focus return to his eyes, Ka''lor''ah perfunctorily asked. She had already scanned his body with her spells and had confirmed his current state. Hearing her question, Lucius shook his head. He then kneeled and started to perform the Void Eater''s duty. The soul was akin to dessert. There was still the main course lying underneath his feet. ---------- "Are you not going to eat the rest?" Ka''lor''ah asked, seeing as to how Lucius stood up before finishing his meal. "I''m full." Lucius curtly replied before opening Void Storage and tossing in the remaining, uneaten part of the body, which was the head and some portion of the upper body. He then took the torn robes, which were worn by the Bertarian, and used them to finally cover his naked body. Due to the intensity of the battle and how Lucius had attacked the opponent with no regard for his clothing, what was previously a multi-layered robe, now resembled a chlamys. "Anything good?" Ka''lor''ah asked referring to the robes. "All enchantments were destroyed in the battle. The small devices and artifacts were also destroyed during the course of the battle." Lucius replied unbothered. It wasn''t like he needed the defensive enhancements of the robe anyway. He simply needed a piece of cloth to cover his body with. After clothing himself, Lucius then checked the state of his body. Having consumed the flesh of a Stage 3 his void energy had been restored to its peak. However, Lucius quickly discovered that he still couldn''t use his racial abilities, apart from [Devour] and [Void Storage], as his Void Eater bloodline was seemingly in a cool-down of sorts. ''How long was I in [State of Devour] anyway?'' Lucius wondered to himself. Not finding an answer, he turned to face Ka''lor''ah and asked. "How long did we stay inside the labyrinth?" "I''m just as clueless as you. It couldn''t have been too long, right? I''m guessing 6-7 months." Ka''lor''ah ventured a guess. "Anyway, if you''re done let''s get moving. We have to meet with Olivia, before finding a way to return to Mankind." Her tone then turned to one of pity and concern as she continued. "I wonder how much my poor disciple has suffered during this time. It''s my fault for trusting someone as irresponsible as you to look after her." "It was a test." Lucius calmly replied. "Keep telling yourself that lie. I have to reunite with her quickly and reeducate her before that nonsense you filled her head with starts taking root." "There was nothing wrong with what I taught." Lucius firmly stood by his principles. Ka''lor''ah simply ''rolled'' her eyes at his response. "Let''s just go. Do you know which direction that city is in?" Lucius closed his eyes and spread his senses into the Void. He was trying to feel the general direction of the five Forgotten Warriors he had left beside Olivia. Searching for a few seconds, he could vaguely feel a response. However, he could only feel the presence of two Forgotten Warriors at a distance with the others were inside the Void. If they had returned into the Void, it meant they had been destroyed completed. And without Lucius'' soul power to reconstruct them, they would stay inside the Void. Pointing his finger in a certain direction Lucius spoke. "I can feel the presence of two warriors in that direction. They are together but don''t seem to be moving. However, three of the other warriors that I left with her have been destroyed and returned to the Void." Hearing that Ka''lor''ah immediately grew concerned and asked. "Their combat ability is at least 70% as good as yours, in other words, if the five of them worked together they can bring down a Mid-Level Stage 2 at least! That is to say¡­!" "They were either attacked by a group of Mid-Level Stage 2 or were ambushed by a Peak-Level Stage 2." Lucius finished her sentence in a nonchalant tone. "That''s really bad! What if she''s in trouble?! Let''s move!!" Ka''lor''ah immediately urged Lucius. While Olivia undoubtedly had her worth as a person having a connection with the ancient Temple of Fairness, Ka''lor''ah did not consider that factor at all. She had simply come to like the hardworking and talented girl, purely as a person. A girl who had stubbornly decided to follow Lucius even while knowing that she might die at any point. Just this fact alone required a lot of courage and dedication. Therefore, hearing that she might be in danger, prompted Ka''lor''ah to immediately move. Seeing the golden crystal fly in the direction which he had pointed out, Lucius did not say anything and simply followed. He wasn''t all that concerned with Olivia''s survival but would find it a pity if she had died. After all, she was quite talented, even while considering his standards. Chapter 215: A Different City. "She will be fine, right?" Ka''lor''ah asked worriedly. "As long as she''s not dead or has lost too many limbs, it''s a pass." Without a single change in his tone, Lucius replied unconcernedly. "You''re still going on about the test! Just admit that you completely messed up!" "I have no idea what you''re talking about." Silence descended between the two as they rushed back in the direction of the city of Pandemonium. With his ascension into Stage 2 and the recent meal of a Stage 3 body, Lucius'' physique had undergone another change. Currently, his physical body was comparable to a Stage 3 existence. That is to say, attacks from Stage 2 beings will no longer be fatal, and could easily be shrugged off in most cases. His natural gift of speed had also undergone an upgrade, finally allowing him to enter a supersonic state for extended periods of time. (Note: This will heavily depend on environmental factors. Heavier gravity or higher air density of the other planet will slow him down. Also, areas with greater spiritual energy concentration will restrain him. This will be explained in the future.) "Lucius, there''s something that I have to say." As they continued to move in silence, Ka''lor''ah suddenly started to talk. Her tone was serious, highlighting the importance of her words. "Our ''plan''¡­its magnitude and difficulty are beyond any logical estimation, border lining on the impossible. Whether you want to admit it or not, it''s not something that the two of us can complete on our own, even at our peaks. Our opponents are quite literally, beyond the bounds of the Universe." "To even have the most minimal chance of success, we will require¡­no, we will NEED the help of others. Others, who hopefully share our goal." "As much as you like to do everything alone and hate to seek help or depend on others, you will have to make exceptions. You will have to change." "What are you trying to say?" Cutting directly to the point, Lucius asked. "What I''m trying to say, is that this is no longer a solitary struggle. Our enemies are a group and we need a group of our own." "We can collect the Forgotten Warriors." Lucius retorted. "I admit that the Forgotten Warriors are very useful. However, they have their limits and do not have the creativity and ingenuity of living beings." Ka''lor''ah unhesitantly shot his proposal down. Continuing her speech, her tone turned passive as she spoke. "Look, I''m not telling you to make friends or forcing you to become a team player. I''m just saying to have an open mind and not be averse to the idea of relying on others." "Sometimes, people can be more reliable than you might think. You can count on others!" Saying this much, Ka''lor''ah stopped her speech and awaited Lucius'' response. The latter continued to run with an impassive expression on his face. Just from seeing the look in his eyes, it seemed as if he had not heard anything. The silence continued for a few minutes before Lucius finally worded a reply. "No." It was a straight refusal. "I agree that the execution of the plan will require outside support and participation, and I will not stop you from seeking that. Refusing to address such an obvious problem would be foolish." "However, relying on someone else is something that I will never do. Even if that someone was you." "Lucius¡­" Ka''lor''ah tried to speak up but fell silent. It was evident from her tone, that she was hurt by his statement. Lucius was unbothered by her reaction and continued to speak. "You will play your part, as I will mine." "I will simply do, as the cost requires me to do, all for the successful execution of the plan." ''Even if that cost is my death.'' This part was left untold by Lucius; however, both of them clearly understood this. Forgetting about the obvious crisis that they were currently facing and other mishaps that had happened along the way, even if everything had gone exactly according to their plan, there would be a time in the future where Lucius¡­had to die. Why? It was because the plan demanded it. While the exact reasons behind this requirement couldn''t be revealed yet, Lucius'' death will play an important role in the successful triggering and execution of the plan. One could even say, he was the lynchpin that held it all in place. While Lucius himself was unbothered by this requirement and had accepted it without any complaint, the same could not be said for Ka''lor''ah. She obviously loved Lucius. Lucius was special to her. Lucius was¡­family. And the fact that she had to kill her only family for the success of her plan was unacceptable, to say the least. But what else could she do but accept it? If this was the cost required, then they had to pay it. After all, everything that the two of them had done so far. All of their hard work, their sacrifices, everything was for the successful execution of the plan. Thinking about this, Ka''lor''ah strengthened her resolve once again. ''You may be able to accept this cost, but I cannot. I will do everything I can to help you evade that final fate.'' ''That future that we worked so hard for, we will view it together.'' ---------- "We are almost there. I sense movement up front." Slowing his speed, Lucius spoke up. The duo had been moving for a grand total of twenty-two hours without pause. The sheer distance that they had covered in total was equivalent to covering the entire width of Europe, twice! (AN: 6000km approx) Looking at the familiar tall iron gates at a distance, Lucius heard his companion voice her surprise. "Wow! This is the first time I''m seeing such a low-level settlement." Ka''lor''ah''s curiosity was sparked and her tone turned excited. Ka''lor''ah had spent most of her life, staying on her home planet. She had never once left it, for she had no reason to do so and also because she hadn''t the time. From the moment she was born, Ka''lor''ah was a slave to the Lords. She was constantly occupied with the task of managing all the lesser races within the Universe, while also doing random errands for the Lords. Her only activity of leisure or the only thing that she found comfort in was the endless collection of books and knowledge that her predecessors had left behind. (There was also her habit of collecting.) Having never left her planet, her knowledge of the Universe was only limited to the descriptions and pictures which she had read and seen in her books. This being the case, personally seeing the settlement and structures was an entirely new experience for Ka''lor''ah. "Wait, no! This is not the time for exploration! Let''s find my disciple first!" As usual, Lucius paid no attention to her soliloquy and approached the large iron gates. Approaching the settlement closer, Lucius noticed that the walls were taller, thicker, and more reinforced than he previously remembered. Rusty iron bars had been replaced with newer ones and the previously obvious holes had been filled in. Another thing that Lucius noticed was the attitude of the guards atop the walls and behind the gates. There were ''guards'', as in plural. Not only were there multiple guards, but also, their postures were straight and their eyes were sharp. Their equipment also looked better and more uniform. They also seemed to be performing their duties properly. Looking at the scene of careful gate checks and well-organized patrols, Lucius started to grow doubtful. He couldn''t help but recall the last time he was here. The stark contrast between the two scenes further confused him. ''Am I in the right place?'' "Hey, are we in the right place? This doesn''t place look like the Pandemonium that you''ve told me about." Lucius'' thoughts and Ka''lor''ah''s doubts were in sync. Lucius looked within the Void once more and confirmed that the two Forgotten Warriors were within this settlement. "I sense the both inside this settlement. This has to be the place." Saying so, Lucius joined the line of people trying to enter the city of Pandemonium. ---------- Some amount of time passed and it was finally Lucius'' turn to undergo checks. During the course of the wait, Lucius had carefully observed the behavior of the guards and had analyzed their patterns. These were the points that he had noticed. 1. The guards performed their duties seriously. There was no trace of half-heartedness. 2. Judging from the way they moved and carried themselves, Lucius confirmed that these guards were properly trained and possessed an admirable amount of skill. 3. Their pieces of equipment were better than Lucius'' initial estimation and had equaled the level of a common soldier''s garbs found in the official army of a higher tiered species. That is to say, the equipment was expensive and these guards were properly equipped. 4. None of the guards accepted any bribes. The people in line who offered a bribe in exchange for evading the checking were collectively beaten up before being thrown outside. 5. The checks performed were thorough. Those who cooperated were treated amiably while those two who resisted were thoroughly suppressed before being thrown out. Also, weapons were not confiscated. This allowed Lucius to retain his scythe on his body. "Next." The guard in charge of the checks called upon Lucius. Stepping into the specified area, which was in form of a tent, Lucius awaited the guard''s instructions. There was little point in resisting as it would only serve to delay his time. "Weapons and armaments to be placed on the table in the left, while other artifacts and devices are to be placed on the table in the right. They will be returned if no problems are found." Another guard instructed. Lucius complied and did as asked, placing his scythe on the left and the crystal on the right. He carried no other object on him. "Please remove your hood and step forward to be searched." The Terran guard continued. Lucius did so and removed the hood covering his head. The very instant his hood was removed and his devilishly handsome face was revealed, the sounds of gasps and sharp breaths resounded inside the tent. The guards'' in-charge of the checks found their eyes widened and their jaws slacked. Silence permeated within the air and nothing happened. Lucius started to grow annoyed as he spoke in his bland voice. "What next?" The guard in charge of performing the physical checks managed to shake off his daze. He then approached Lucius closer, still feeling a little absent-minded. It was then, that a voice interrupted. "Captain, wait a minute! Doesn''t this guy match that description?" Chapter 216: Olivias Test. Part 1 Author Update: Ever seen a laptop fizzle out black smoke and then proceed to spew out flames? I have now. Ever felt the intense desire to kill yourself, because all your reference notes and future arc plans went down with said laptop forever lost to the uncaring void because you were dumb/lazy enough to not make any backups? I have now. Reality sucks. RIP ''laptop-that-has-served-me-for-the-last-12-years-and-was-an-essential-part-of-my-life''. You will be deeply missed. --------- "Captain, wait a minute! Doesn''t this guy match that description?" one of the guards in charge of the checking stated, suddenly. "Right¡­ the primary weapon is a scythe, carries an isohedral dark-gold crystal, and that face¡­ could it be him?" The guard in charge of performing the physical checking, who was also the Captain among the trio, softly remarked. "Should we take him to the Governor?" The final guard present in the room nervously asked. Checking out Lucius, from head to bottom, the Guard Captain thought in silence for a few seconds. He then gathered around with the two other guards and silently discussed. "Should we take him?" "I mean, it can''t hurt right?" "The Governor was very particular about this information." "Hell, we might even be rewarded!" Meanwhile, Lucius who was the topic of their discussion stood in the same place, confused about the sudden change of events. ''Hey, what''s happening?'' Ka''lor''ah who had also been witness to the odd behavior of the guards asked mentally. ''I don''t know Lucius honestly replied. The three guards had also seemed to have finished their discussion at the same time as they turned around to face Lucius. Standing in the center of the three, the guard captain first stared at Lucius with a serious expression, then turned to nod at his two subordinates with a determined look in his eyes. Being as experienced as he was, Lucius immediately understood that this was a signal to attack. ''Looks like they''re going to attack and capture me before taking me to their Governor.'' ''Weird, Pandemonium has no Governor. It is controlled by those useless gangs. Did I really come to the right place?'' While thinking such idle thoughts, Lucius raised both of his arms to form a guard. Rousing his soul power, he was prepared to draw first blood when¡­ The three guards collectively bowed at a perfect ninety-degree angle. """We apologize for the inconvenience caused by our actions! Welcome to the City of Pandemonium.""" They announced with perfect synchrony. ""Huh?"" To which, Lucius and Ka''lor''ah replied with audible doubt. ------------ "The street that you see to your right was where the slave markets and illegal gambling dens were located. After Pandemonium was taken over by the Governor and the tyranny of the five great gangs was abolished, it has since been rebuilt to house the ''entertainment'' facilities of the city." "It has since become one of the biggest income sources of the city. Of course, if we are to consider the biggest sources, they are still mainly export, trade, and mercenary hire." Passionately explaining the changes that had occurred to the city was the guard in charge of inspecting the artifacts, as he led Lucius towards the Governor''s office. "Personally, the Governor taking over the city and uniting its forces was the best thing that could have ever happened to this city. I have lived here for a long time and let me tell you, it was a hell-hole previously." "With the ''Five Big Ones'' bossing around, life was hellish for us normal people who just wanted to make a living. All them low lives committing a crime in broad daylight and getting away with it, it was a nightmare." A look of pain flashed across his eyes as he recalled some terrible memories. "Ah! If you look towards your left here, you will notice that large, white building! That''s the Pandemonium Public Hospital." His tone turned cheery, as the guard started to ramble once again. "If you''ve ever been to Pandemonium before then you will know that the white building and its surrounding area served as the HQ for the ''Black Sabbath'' Gang. Oh, if you don''t know who that is, they were one of the ''Five Big Ones'', I was talking about earlier." "Anyway, after the gang was wiped out for all the terrible things that it had done, its properties were seized and repurposed to serve the city. In fact, all the properties and areas belonging to the other major gangs were also dealt with in such a manner. Such a thing was previously unimaginable for us lowly people." With eyes that shined with the awe and revere that he felt, the guard spoke his mind. These feelings of goodwill and revere that he felt towards the Governor weren''t false. The guard meant each and every word that he has spoken, from the very bottom of his heart. To tell the truth, he wasn''t the only one who felt so. Those who''ve lived a free life would not understand the feelings of the oppressed. No matter how empathetic or understanding he/she might be; to know wasn''t the same as to live. To these regular people of Pandemonium, simple survival was an incredibly difficult task in the past. The constant fear from living amongst a group of criminals, the continuous terror from walking through the streets while praying that they would be able to see the next day, the pressure that stems from their responsibility to themselves and their loved ones. The reason Pandemonium was called the ''hell-hole'', wasn''t due to murders, the criminals, the drug lords, the r*pists, the gangs, etc. It was called the ''hell-hole'' due to the sufferings of the people within and the hell-like environment in which they lived. And when such a hellish place finally experienced change. When the abyssal lives of these people finally had a light shined onto them. To have their prayers answered and their sufferings paid in full. To receive salvation in a world where weakness was a sin. It was Paradise. And these ''common'' people couldn''t help but feel goodwill from the bottom of their heart, towards this paradise and the one who brought it upon them. While the guard continued with his tour and explanation as he led his guest towards the Governor''s residence, Lucius and Ka''lor''ah were having a conversation of their own. ''I tried again. Once again, there was no response from any of the Forgotten Warriors.'' Lucius reported. ''Even the ones within the void?'' Ka''lor''ah asked. ''Even the ones within the void.'' He affirmed. ''Are you sure it''s not because of that ''cooldown'' or whatever your body is undergoing right now?'' ''My authority over the Void underwent an upgrade stepping into Stage 2. While I''m not able to use some of my abilities, my control over a portion of the Void remains. The Forgotten Warriors under my control are stored within this portion of the Void.'' ''Now, I can clearly feel the presence of the one''s within the Void and the two that are on the outside, our soul connection also remains. However, they seem to be in some form of ''stasis'' as they do not move nor respond to my commands.'' As for the reason why this was so, Lucius did not know. Since their psyches were destroyed during their capture, they were incapable of revolting. This, with the addition of Ka''lor''ah''s control spell, made them puppets that were under Lucius'' absolute control. However, the fact that none of them were responding was troubling, to say the least. If the plan with the Forgotten Warriors doesn''t pan out, then their ''Great Plan'' would experience a major spanner in its works. Recalling their current situation, nothing seemed to be going their way. They seemed to be constantly plagued by bad luck while being surrounding by sharp precipices on all sides. To speak metaphorically, they felt similar to a fly trapped within a spider''s web. ''However, the fact this holds. I can clearly feel the presence of the two Forgotten Warriors I left with Olivia, growing stronger. We are getting closer.'' ''This is a waste of time! Where is he even taking us? Should we just risk it and ask this guy about Olivia?'' Ka''lor''ah ventured, growing frustrated at their current situation. For someone like her who knew all the answers, being in the unknown like this was suffocating. Just as Lucius was about to respond to her question, he was interrupted by the guard who was in charge of leading them. "Oh, we are here! There''s the Governor, up there on the platform!" the guard spoke pointing in a direction. Looking at the large crowd of eager spectators surrounding the raised square platform on the center, the guard happily chirped. "Lucky us! Looks like a public trial is being held right now." Unfortunately for him, Lucius and Ka''lor''ah did not share his joy. Actually, they had stopped listening to him from the moment he had raised his finger to point at the stage. Because up there on the platform¡­ ¡­stood the person they had come to rescue. "I will never admit to anything, b*tch! Ptooh!" A grisly-looking Terran chained to the platform spat a mouthful of greenish saliva at his inquisitor. "Fine then." Blocking the spit with a barrier of violet soul power, a mature female voice blas¨¦ly continued, "We will do this the hard way." Violet soul power surged forth from the woman''s slender, white palm and into the Terran''s chained body. With a tone cold enough to freeze one''s bones, the mature voice declared. "Judgement." Chapter 217: Olivias Test. Part 2 "Judgement." At her declaration, the surging soul power within the chained Terran''s body started to furiously pulse and swell. His skin started to bloat and darken at various spots as the violet soul power violently rages. The Terran''s face alternated with various colors as it warped in mind-numbing pain. "ARGHHHH!!!" A scream reminiscent of a dying beast echoed from within his throat. "ARGHHHH!! IT HURTS!! STOP IT!! PLEASE STOP IT!!" Tears, snot, and blood dripped from his facial orifices as the prisoner begged for release. The courage and defiance which he had displayed earlier had entirely vanished from his face. "Tch. Stop squealing like a pig, my head''s starting to hurt." Rubbing her forehead with her left hand, the mature-sounding woman stated with annoyance. "So why don''t you shut up." Her right hand that was casually resting by her waist suddenly blurred into action. Grabbing onto the sheathed sword hanging at her waist, she thrust it into the Terran''s mouth and into his throat. With the foreign object jamming his throat, the Terran could no longer scream and found it harder to breathe. The previous screams were now replaced by choked coughs and painful sobs. "That''s better." The woman declared with satisfaction. The woman then turned to face the gathered crowd consisting of dozens of excited citizens. Raising both her hands into the air, she addressed the crowd with a smile on her face. "A fine afternoon for a trial, isn''t it?" Her tone was cheerful yet authoritative and was completely absent of the cruelness she had showcased mere moments ago. It possessed a magnetic charm, unique to those with power. Like a barrel of gunpowder being ignited, the crowd of excited onlookers exploded into cheers. "Indeed it is, Governor!!" "Well said! That bastard screams like a pig indeed!!" "We people might be weak but we are not to be taken lightly! Kill that pig!" "Lord Governor, please marry me!!" The shouts were impassioned. Some yelled with righteous anger, some cheered with a humorous tone, while some were utter nonsense. Collectively, the onlookers were lighthearted and joyous, a sight that contrasted the plights of the chained Terran on stage. The grim atmosphere of Pandemonium couldn''t be found anywhere. "Haha, I''m glad to see that everyone''s so excited!" The woman on the stage replied with a laugh. The guard in charge of escorting Lucius had also joined in on the cheers earlier. He then turned Lucius and said. "That''s our Governor, The Violet Witch." Possessing a pair of mesmerizing violet eyes, abyssal black hair that extended to her back, a breathtaking face, half of which was hidden behind a violet-colored butterfly-shaped mask was the person whom the duo of ex-Stage 7 had come to rescue. Olivia Mayer. Or as referred to by the people of Pandemonium, their Governor- the Violet Witch. "Huh?" Lucius blurted out, his tone showcasing his amazement. "What the fu*k?" Ka''lor''ah cursed out loud unable to restrain her bafflement. The two of them stood in a daze for a few seconds as their minds struggled to process the reality of the situation. ''Lifting'' her ''hands'' to pinch her ''cheeks'', Ka''lor''ah realized her lack of both these bodily features. She then mentally sent a message to Lucius. ''Lucius, can you pinch your check to check whether it hurts and confirm if this is a dream?'' ''¡­'' ''Or did we actually lose to that Stage 5 guy and fall into some elaborate mental trap?'' ''¡­Maybe.'' The fact that Lucius didn''t immediately deny this ludicrous possibility spoke volumes of how unbelievable they found their current situation to be. The two of them fell into a strange silence. This silence lasted for a few seconds which was then broken by Ka''lor''ah. ''That girl up there¡­its Olivia, isn''t it?'' ''¡­yes.'' ''That same Olivia who was innocent, timid, and extremely easy for me to bully?'' Ka''lor''ah hesitantly asked pointing to the mature woman wearing a deep-purple robe upon the platform addressing the crowd. ''¡­Mid-Level Stage 2¡­her soul power feels familiar. It should be her.'' Observing her soul power and comparing it to the one in his memory, Lucius confirmed. ''You sure we aren''t dead?'' Ka''lor''ah asked one more time. ''Affirmative.'' ''Then how the hell is she so different?! How can a person change so much in mere months?! What the hell did you teach her?!'' Ka''lor''ah had finally snapped. On the other hand, Lucius ignored her rants as usual and stared directly at the woman on the stage. To tell the truth, he had totally been expecting Olivia to either be near-dead or to be enslaved by one of the gangs in the Pandemonium. Not because he had no faith in her, but because he knew how hard it was to survive by oneself within Pandemonium. After all, he had personally been here once in his previous life and had experienced its cruel reality. The gangs were powerful and lawless, while their leaders were cunning and experienced. They were not the type that could be threatened nor reasoned with. They belonged to the [Neutral: Evil] faction and took pleasure in tormenting others. Only with absolute power could they be crushed, and this was what Lucius had done in his previous life. How Olivia had managed to destroy these gangs, take full control of their territories and resources, and also bring about such change to the city, was honestly beyond Lucius. He could honestly admit that it was something that even he, with his 300 years of experience couldn''t have accomplished. For him, doing such a thing was impossible. And the fact that Olivia had managed to accomplish this ''impossibility'', surprised Lucius. If the Olivia of before only possessed value as a tool with connections to the Temple of Fairness, then the Olivia whom he was seeing now, possessed value for her ability. ''The success of certain elements of the ''Great Plan'' would be higher with her addition. Ka''lor''ah was right, after all, she is a valuable piece for the plan.'' Lucius had to admit it. ''It should be worth to seriously teach her.'' While he and Ka''lor''ah quarreled frequently due to his stubbornness, Lucius was not inflexible. If he was proved wrong, then he would admit it. However, admittance did not equal acceptance. While he could admit to reason, he would not necessarily accept it. This could be seen in their previous conversation. The two of them would require help to accomplish their Great Plan, this Lucius could accept. However, the fact that Ka''lor''ah had implicitly stated that Lucius himself, would require assistance at a certain point was something he would never accept. He held absolute faith in his abilities. While his means wouldn''t be the same, he held no doubt that he would manage to reach the end. And as long as the end was reached, the means did not matter. "Whoa, the skills of an Arbiter are amazing!" Ka''lor''ah''s exclamation brought Lucius out of his thoughts. While Lucius was lost in his thoughts, Olivia had explained who the Terran undergoing the trial was and why he was being judged. In brief, this was the story. Due to a certain reason, Stellar Light City (the city of the Bertarian Governor) had declared war against Pandemonium and its current Governor. The war had been continuing for almost a year now, with battles both overt and covert fought on a near-daily basis. The Terran chained to the platform was one of the high rankings operatives of Stellar Light city with orders to disrupt the order with Pandemonium and also serve as a spy within its official ranks. And he was fairly successful in his tasks, or at least, that was the case until he was caught by the Governor''s forces, before being brought to this public trial. "While I hoped that you would admit to your crimes, looking at you now, it no longer seems possible," Olivia remarked, referring to the chained Terran. Having stabbed her sword into his throat to block the Terran''s screams, his subsequent struggles had resulted in his throat being ripped apart. As such, the Terran no longer had any vocal cords to speak of. (AN: Get it?! Did you get the pun?!) "Let''s finish this. [Judgement- Final Verdict]" Extending her finger to point at the guilty, Olivia cast her final spell. The violet soul power that was constantly surging and raging within the Terran''s body calmed for a second. It then collectively started to rush towards his head, gathering around his forehead. Streams of soul power started to materialize above the Terran''s head forming the silhouette of an object. This silhouette then turned darker and denser before finally forming an object. It was the ''Scale of Justice''. This weighing scale that had materialized for Olivia''s soul power was intricately patterned. One side of the scale was composed of a white-gold material, forming the symbol of an angel on its balance, representing [Good]. The other side was composed of a reddish-black material and had the symbol of a devil on its balance, alternatively representing [Evil]. The central supporting pillar of these two balances was composed of a sheathed sword representing the Arbiter in charge of the trial. Upon the scale''s formation, the two balances started to rapidly tilt and sway on their own. This went on for a few seconds before the balance representing [Evil] started to weigh heavier and heavier, reaching a point of complete imbalance. "The scale finds you guilty." Olivia impartially declared. Walking towards the struggling Terran she raised her right palm before chopping downward, swiftly granting death. Turning to face the crowd, she addressed. "The trial is complete, please disperse immediately." Chapter 218: Two Years. "The trial is complete, please disperse immediately." Saying so, she turned around and walked off the platform heading towards the building on the back. Upon her instruction, the city guards who were on standby earlier stirred into action. They calmly directed the crowds to disperse, while ensuring that none rushed towards the stone platform or past it into the Governor''s office. The crowd for their part did not resist and obediently dispersed. They were used to the proceedings of the trial and have had their quota of enjoyment, continued with their daily work. The guard who was in charge of leading Lucius to the Governor also reacted. "Follow me and we will meet¡ªwait? Where did he go?!" Only to find that the latter was no longer standing next to him. "Hey! Stop right there!!" "Hold it! You cannot enter this area without permission!" "Dammit! It''s an enemy attack!!" Seeing a figure rush in their direction, i.e. towards the Governor''s office, the guards immediately reacted. A dozen guards immediately lined together and raised their tower shields forming a defensive wall. Behind the defensive line, the other guards raised their spears and crossbows respectively, getting ready to attack this trespasser. Olivia, who was calmly walking towards her office some distance away heard the commotion and turned to take a look. She held complete trust in the guards'' ability to stop the intruder and was simply curious to see, who this brave soul mounting such a suicidal attack was. "Fire the bolts!" A voice sounded and multiple bolts were launched towards the intruding figure. The bolts were accurately placed even accounting for the possible evasion movements of the target, effectively guaranteeing a strike. Even if the first round of firings had missed, there was still sufficient distance to launch the second round of firing, not to mention the shield bearers who served to further stall the enemy. The trespasser''s capture was the obvious outcome. Folding her hands and placing them below her chest, Olivia waited for the eventuality to play out. ''Could it be someone related to that spy? Did they send another assassin to try and kill me?'' Suppressing her yawn, Olivia thought to herself. ''Have they still not learned their lesson? Who is it this time?'' Her eyes moved and landed on the figure of the intruder. Taking note of his face, Olivia''s mind suddenly came to a stop. Her pupils shrunk by an astounding degree and her mouth reflexively screamed. "Wait!! That''s--!!" Alas, the first bolts had already reached the intruder''s figure. ---------- Watching the five crossbow bolts arrive at his body, Lucius thought to himself in boredom. ''Too slow.'' Compared to those bolts of purple lightning which he had faced within that Bertarian''s domain, these bolts were coming at a snail''s pace. But then again, perhaps it was Lucius who was too fast. With a body that was comparable to Stage 3, not to mention one that was buffed with different features of the beings he had consumed it was only natural. Lucius was a monster, both in and out of [State of Devour]. Using simple footwork to sidestep the bolts, Lucius continued on forward. He did not bother wasting any soul power to achieve top speed and continued to entirely rely on his physical prowess. Having evaded their first round of attacks, he was met with the second round of fire. While the first round was mostly aimed at the position of his body, the second round was placed, accounting for the fact that the invader would dodge in a different direction. However, for Lucius who had barely moved away from his initial position, this round of attacks was even more harmless. The only thing that he had to do¡­ was do nothing. And that was exactly what he did. Completely ignoring the second round of attacks, Lucius kicked off the ground with greater force and increased the speed of his charge. His figure momentarily blurred before appearing before the wall of shields. With his keen eyes, Lucius noticed the slight jerk of the shields and concluded that the guards were unnerved. While this would be an excellent opportunity to strike, Lucius was not here to kill. As such, he pressed on the ground with his hands and vaulted over the line of shields. With his movements being too quick, the shield bearers were unable to react to this sudden change. Crossing the line of defense through the air, Lucius noticed more crossbow bolts heading in his direction and a few spears stabbing him. Instinctively calculating the trajectory of these attacks, Lucius methodically reacted. Turning his head here¡­moving his hands by a few centimeters over there¡­altering the position of his body¡­all attacks were effortlessly neutralized. Thud! Landing on the other side of the shield defense with a light thud, Lucius did not bother turning back and prepared to rush forward. However, just as he was to kick off of the ground, he noticed a tall, dark figure leap towards him. Understanding that he wouldn''t be able to evade this figure if he only relied on his physical prowess, Lucius instinctively moved his soul power into action. Similar to a can of gasoline being poured into a pit of fire, Lucius'' speed exploded by multiple magnitudes. Using the ball of his feet to rotate his body, he then exploded a small amount of soul power underneath his feet to gain instant acceleration. With this added acceleration, Lucius swiftly avoided the dark figure and moved to a safer spot. Bringing his body to a halt, time, at least in Lucius'' perspective, resumed at its normal rate. "Where did he go?!" "Catch that assassin!!" "He''s after the Governor''s life!!" The screams of the guards and the whistling of the bolts resounded within the air, alongside a certain cry. "LuuccciousssSS!" Olivia, who was the culprit behind the final scream and the dark figure who had leapt, fell on the ground with a heavy thud, after being avoided by Lucius. THUD! With that sound, the bustling atmosphere instantly chilled. Silence descended onto the field. "Ouch! I hit my head on the ground." A complaint came from the figure lying on the ground, breaking the silence. Getting up from the ground and dusting herself, Olivia turned to look at Lucius. Her masked face held visible happiness as she confirmed the presence of the latter. "Lucius! You''re finally back!" Extending both her hands, Olivia ran towards Lucius with the intent to hug him. For his part, Lucius extended his right hand to stop her by her head and replied with a cold tone. "Stop." Hearing his voice only served to increase her happiness as Olivia tried her hardest to hug him, only to be continuously stopped by the latter. From afar, this scene looked comical, resembling a scene from an old children''s cartoon. Realizing that her actions had no chance of success, Olivia lightly clicked her tongue as a show of dissatisfaction before wisely giving up. Looking at Lucius with her mesmerizing violet eyes, she happily chirped. "Where have you been for the last two years? Did you accomplish what you set out to do? Oh, I reached Mid-Level Stage 2 by the way, and also successfully completed your test! What do you think? Did I do well?" All of her previous display of authority and mature charisma had utterly vanished. Right now, Olivia resembled an over-excited kid, eager to show off her achievements. Her shining eyes, her excited face, her overall demeanor were all too cute. Looking at her behave like this, Lucius was once again reminded of why he hated all human interaction. It was too troublesome and tiring. ''Wait...'' As he processed her barrage of information, Lucius realized something. "Two years? What do you mean ''two years''?" Hearing his question, Olivia looked at him with a strange expression. Seeing how the latter being serious, Olivia replied with a tone that seemed to be stating the obvious. "It''s been two years since you left. Well, 2 years 3 months, and 9 days to be exact. I''ve been keeping count." "Holy..." Ka''lor''ah surprised voice leaked from somewhere within Lucius'' clothes. "Ah! You''re awake, Teacher! It''s good to meet you too!!" Reminded of Ka''lor''ah''s presence, Olivia immediately greeted the latter. The last time Olivia had heard her talk was when they were in that Icy Planet, after which Ka''lor''ah had gone into sleep. "It seems you haven''t forgotten me, little girl." Ka''lor''ah flew out from within Lucius'' clothes and replied to Olivia with a pompous tone. "Of course not!" Olivia instantly shook her head. "Well, I have a lot of questions to ask you, little girl! Let''s start from the beginning..." Just as Ka''lor''ah was about to go on an ''interrogation marathon'' of sorts, she was interrupted by an awkward voice. "Ahem...Lady Governor, these people..." one of the guards hesitantly questioned. Hearing his words, Olivia''s body froze for a moment. Upon seeing Lucius, she had been overly excited and had completely forgotten about the guards in the surroundings. ''Did they see my previous display?'' It was a rhetorical question that made Olivia question her intelligence. To have seen their awe-inspiring, mature superior act like a kid in an amusement park...the complexity of the thoughts and emotions going through the guards'' heads right now was too difficult to compute. Forcing down her embarrassment and the urge to dig a hole and hide within it, she faced the group of guards and addressed them. "They are friends from my homeworld. You can all leave now, take the day off." Seeing the hesitating guards, the look in Olivia''s eyes sharpened and her tone went an octave lower. "That was an order, Captain." "Also, I trust none of what happened here will be shared outside, right? It would be a shame if I have to silence such capable subordinates for a minor altercation." Rather than implying a threat, Olivia had straight-up voiced it. The Guard Captain and the other guards realized the seriousness of their superior''s tone and hurriedly nodded their heads. "Of course, Lady Governor. Our mouths are sealed." "Good. You may leave now." Lightly nodding her head, Olivia gave a final order before turning to face Lucius. "Let us go and continue our talk in my office." She then reached in to grab Lucius'' hand and guided him towards her office. Lucius who should have characteristically avoided her grab did not react. His eyes were out of focus as he seemed to be lost in his thoughts. A single statement was resounding within his head. ''Two years. I was in [State of Devour] for nearly two years!'' Chapter 219: An Outrageous Order. (Long Chapter) ''From my previous uses, it''s clear that [State of Devour] has a time limit. But then, how was I in that state for such a long period of time?'' ''Was it because of Ka''lor''ah''s spell to stabilize my body and soul?...No, that doesn''t make any sense. The void energy expenditure would still force me out of that state.'' ''If it was energy expenditure¡­was it because I was constantly devouring food?'' ''Does this mean that as long as I have sufficient replenishment, I can have [State of Devour] constantly active?'' One has to remember that during [State of Devour], Lucius'' Peak-Level Stage 1 strength was boosted to Quasi-Stage 3, not to mention he also had access to all of the devoured abilities (flying, night vision, etc). In other words, he could constantly face opponents who were way stronger than him. This was an invaluable trump card, almost equal to a second life! ''Hmm¡­there is still the matter of losing control.'' ''[State of Devour] agitates my consciousness making me prone to lose control of my desires. Such an outcome is not ideal.'' ''But then, why did I not lose control in the underground labyrinth? Of course, there were certain moments when I was rash and impulsive, however, for the most part, I was firmly in control.'' "..ci..s" ''Was it because my body understood that it was in danger and behaved? Or is there something else that I''m missing?'' "Lu..i..s!" ''If I can find a way to solve the ''losing control'' issue, does that mean a permanent boost in strength?'' Of course, there was the matter of permanently looking like a monster but then again, Lucius never really cared about how he looked. If sacrificing his looks could grant him greater power, there was no point in hesitating. ''This is worth looking into¡­'' "Lucius!!" Startled by the shout, Lucius snapped out of his daze. He could see Olivia''s partially masked face looking at him curiously. Seeing Lucius regain focus, Olivia asked. "Are you okay? You seemed to be spacing out for a bit there." Taking note of his surroundings, Lucius calmly replied. "I''m fine." Noticing that his hand was being held by Olivia, he shook his hand and removed it from her grip. Lifting his head to look into her eyes, he spoke. "Continue leading." Although Lucius had acted rudely, Olivia did not mind it. Wearing the same ''happy'' expression she continued to guide him "Right this way." The party of three continued through the large, maze-like Governor''s office. ''You okay?'' Ka''lor''ah''s voice echoed within Lucius'' mind. ''I''m fine. I was just thinking about something.'' ''How two years had passed and neither of us noticed it?'' Ka''lor''ah questioned before giving a reply of her own. ''I was thinking the same thing. Actually, it might''ve been some runic array slowing our perception of time. Who knows what and how many arrays that guy had hidden under there? However, it''s understandable when you think about what he was doing in there. The man was trying to cheat death after all. It''s admirable really.'' ''Right.'' Lucius perfunctorily replied. An awkward silence filled the atmosphere between them. A few seconds passed before Lucius broke the silence. ''I completed your bet.'' His tone held an uncharacteristic annoyance. ''Oh right! That bit completely slipped me!'' Ka''lor''ah''s tone went multiple octaves higher, as she started to giggle. ''Hehehe, excellently done. I recorded the entire thing.'' ''I still don''t understand why you asked me to do that.'' ''If ''you'' could have understood why then the bet would''ve had no meaning.'' Ka''lor''ah replied in a mystical tone. To understand what this ''bet'' was, let''s look at their conversation from a few minutes ago when the trial had just come to an end. ¡­. ''Lucius, you owe me recompense.'' ''Recompense? For what?'' ''About how I was right about bringing Olivia with us. You said she was dead weight and a liability, as you can see now, that is not the case. Ergo, I won that argument.'' ''I never agreed to a bet.'' ''Oh, come on, Lucius! I thought you knew me well. You have to do something for me whenever I win an argument. We agreed on it when I took you in as my disciple, remember?'' ''¡­I refuse.'' ''Oh just give up and listen. When the crowd starts to disperse, I want you to run towards little Olivia. You mustn''t stop, even for a moment, got it?'' Ka''lor''ah said playfully. ''Why?'' Not understanding the intent behind her request, Lucius questioned. ''Just because. Now do it.'' "Haah." Exhaling audibly, Lucius sighed heavily. This was the prime reason why Lucius never tended to argue with Ka''lor''ah. She had an annoying habit of requesting compensation for her victories and had him do odd errands. ''I hate this.'' Although he thought to himself as such, he still prepared himself to complete her request. Getting it over with as soon as possible was the optimal method of completion. Delaying it would only serve to increase its troublesome factor. ¡­. This was conversation was the reason why Lucius had performed that nonsensical action of antagonizing the guards when that entire series of events could''ve easily been avoided. Why bother doing that elaborate set of actions when he could''ve simply followed the guard escorting him or simply calling out to Olivia. ''I still don''t understand why you asked me to do it.'' Lucius voiced a complaint that was ignored by Ka''lor''ah. The dark-gold crystal on the other hand was keenly observing the reactions of the person leading their party. Olivia''s entire demeanor was radiating with visible happiness. She randomly broke into cute giggles and slightly blushed at others. ''To think Lucius dashed towards me when he saw me¡­he should''ve missed me a lot, right? It makes no sense otherwise! Although he''s still wearing that expressionless look, he secretly glad, right? That''s why he allowed me to hold his hands, even though he stopped me from hugging him. I¡­I have a chance!'' While the above thoughts took place within Olivia''s head, Ka''lor''ah''s keen observation managed to deduce as much, simply from looking at her actions. Forming a ''smile'' that was suggestively evil, Ka''lor''ah thought to herself. ''All according to the keikaku!'' (TL Note: Keikaku means plan.) -------- "Please have a seat." Leading the party into an ornately decorated office, Olivia gestured towards a seat positioned in front of a large table. The table was intricately carved from what seemed to be whitish-brown colored wood. The wood had the strange glossy look of marble, yet had a matte feeling to its touch. Many papers and documents decorated the top of the table, with drawers decorating its sides. Upon seeing Lucius take a seat, Olivia pulled herself a chair from the side of the room and sat next to him. "Did I pass your test?" Olivia asked with obvious excitement. Looking at the pair of violet eyes glowing with expectation, Lucius felt a sense of confusion. He simply could not understand why she was being so expectant. Hesitating for a moment, he then replied. "Erm...yes. You passed. Good work." Olivia''s balled fists slightly quivered from excitement, while she mentally pictured herself punching the air. All of her hard work over the last two years was for the sole purpose of hearing this statement of validation from Lucius. Having achieved that goal, Olivia was filled with boundless happiness. ''I-I did it!'' Olivia had always hated the fact that she relied on Lucius and could not offer him any direct assistance. She did not want to be a burden on Lucius but wanted to be someone whom he could count upon, someone who could be counted on to fight alongside with. Having made a small step on that front, Olivia found herself tearing up. "I-I''m sorry." She hurriedly hid her face away from him and started to wipe her tears. "I''m okay now." Watching her act like this only served to further fuel his confusion. ''Didn''t I say she did a good job? Why is she crying?'' Lucius could not understand. And his failure to understand this served to annoy him. Lucius'' inability to empathize and understand emotions were being shown here. He could see, but couldn''t feel. The atmosphere turned odd as Lucius'' growing annoyance started to taint the joyful atmosphere. Seeing the situation take an odd turn, Ka''lor''ah hurriedly inserted herself. "So! Tell me, Olivia. How did you take over Pandemonium and become its Governor?" "Oh, and what were those skills you used in that trial? Did you gain them after your Stage 2 ascension? Did you perhaps gain any special knowledge or memory fragments?" Extending the [Isolation Barrier], Ka''lor''ah asked in a tone that contained all her seriousness. "Does the name Temple of Fairness, ring a bell?" Being bombarded with so many questions, Olivia looked a little lost. Shaking her head to clear her mind, she started from the top. "No, I don''t recall hearing any such name. Is it important?" she replied nervously. "Oh," Ka''lor''ah expertly hid her disappointment and continued, "Don''t mind me, I was simply asking, it''s not very important." Convinced by her reply, Olivia nodded her head and continued to answer the questions. "Those spells just appeared in my mind after I ascended into Stage 2. Similar to the previous time, most of the spells are of the ''Mental/ Mind''-type. Oh, my body and soul power also became a lot more powerful after I ascended." Feeling a sense of pride, she continued. "I can fight a Peak-Level Stage 2 in equal grounds now. Winning is easy, but killing them in frontal combat is difficult. The rate of recovery of Stage 2 beings is simply insane. The same goes for me too, I guess." "When did you reach Mid-Level?" "Around a year ago." Olivia seriously replied, before explaining in detail. "A week after Lucius had left I managed to ascend into Stage 2. After that with constant battles, daily practice, and some inspiration I ascended into Mid-Level Stage 2. However, reaching this point, I seemed to have hit some kind of an invisible barrier. The process of gathering and condensing soul power is incredibly slow." "Release some of your soul power." Lucius who was silent all this while suddenly intervened. Hearing his words, Olivia obediently complied. Promptly releasing some of her violet soul power into the air, she controlled it to move towards Lucius. Seeing the violet energy head towards him, Lucius raised his hand and casually grabbed the incoming energy with his hands. "You can grab soul power?!" Olivia exclaimed. Soul power was naturally formless unless explicitly given a form. However, to give it a form required great mastery of the energy from its user. The difficulty level of this feat was already explained during Lucius'' fight with the Bertarian. Lucius ignored her surprise and carefully analyzed the violet soul power with his own. He prodded at it with tendrils of his soul power and studied it. Lucius'' expressionless face slowly started to crease and furrows began appearing on his forehead. Looking at Lucius'' expression made Olivia nervous. "Release some more," Lucius ordered in a serious tone. Complying once again, Olivia asked. "Is there a problem?" Carefully studying the second wave of soul power, Lucius turned to look at Olivia. His nose scrunched, as he automatically started sniffing. Sniff. Sniff Closing his eyes, Lucius leaned closer and closer into Olivia, and his sniffing became more pronounced. Seeing Lucius sniff her body at such close range made Olivia incredibly embarrassed. "Wha-what are you doing?" Olivia asked in a quiet voice. "Yeah, what are you doing, Lucius?" Ka''lor''ah also joined in, as she found Lucius'' behavior extremely odd. Lucius then stopped his sniffing and opened his eyes. The distance between his face and Olivia''s was less than a finger''s width in space. Staring into her eyes, Lucius spoke with utmost seriousness. "Olivia, why are you wearing a mask?" Hearing that question, Olivia''s body froze for a moment. Her face turned pale, as her mouth opened and closed multiple times. She wanted to reply but found herself hesitating. "Remove the mask." Continuing with his serious tone, Lucius ordered. In a voice that was indistinguishable from a formless whisper, Olivia replied. "¡­no." While one could have easily missed her reply, Lucius who was in extremely close proximity, clearly heard her reply. Ignoring her answer, he reached in and removed the mask of her face. "NO!" Olivia desperately moved her hands to cover her face but was stopped by Lucius. "Oh, my," Ka''lot''ah replied, audibly surprised. "Curse Energy," Lucius answered looking at her face. The left half of her dazzlingly beautiful, mature face was marred with veins of curse energy. The veins pulsed and throbbed with grayish-black energy, constantly attempting to destroy her face only to be unsuccessful. Currently, half of Olivia''s face looked like it had suffered an acid attack. It looked horrendous and scary, to say the least. "I-I didn''t want you to see this." Having been exposed, Olivia started to sob. Unconcerned with her cries, Lucius continued to stare at the veins of curse energy. The veins seemed to extend down her face and into her neck, which was hidden with a high collar. Releasing his grip over her hands, Lucius backed away from her. Olivia immediately hid her face behind her hands and started to quietly cry. "I-I look ugly. I di-didn''t want yo-you to see this." Lucius absent-mindedly stared into the air for a few seconds, before his eyes regained focus. He then stood up from his seat and gave an outrageous order. "Stop crying." His tone was mechanical and his face was indifferent. "Get up and strip." Chapter 220: Procedure. "Huh?" A gasp of incomprehension escaped from Olivia''s mouth. Fearing that she had misheard his words, Olivia raised her head and stared into the pair of cold, black eyes. Without missing a beat, Lucius replied seriously, "I said, stand up and strip your clothes." Hearing it for a second time, Olivia dropped her hands in shock, A deep red blush, first appearing in her cheeks continued to paint the entirety of her face and most of her neck. Even her ears, partially hidden behind her long black hair turned red. Feeling flustered to an absurd degree, Olivia hurriedly denied, "Wha-what? I-I ca-can''t do that!" Olivia thought that Lucius was simply joking and wasn''t being serious. However, reality was contrary to her thoughts. Growing impatient at her lack of action, Lucius ordered once more. This time his tone was colder and much more severe. "Enough! Stop wasting time and hurry up." This time, even Ka''lor''ah who was previously quiet joined in on the persuasion. "You have to listen to him, Lil'' Olivia. We have to move quickly." With Ka''lor''ah joining in on the persuasion, Olivia felt the pressure stack up against her. The redness of her face increased in intensity and her eyes nervously roamed about. "I-I am not prepared for this." Olivia quietly mumbled under her breath. With her head facing the ground, she replied, "F-fine." ''Thi-this isn''t h-how I imagined it to be! My heart isn''t ready yet!'' Olivia desperately screamed within her mind. However, for all her complaining, Olivia still complied. ''I-it''s fine! I already love Lucius! This was going to happen one day or another!'' Assuring herself as such, she started to undress Meanwhile, Lucius who was completely oblivious to the risqu¨¦ nature of his command had his eyes closed and was in a mental discussion with Ka''lor''ah. ''Her body is infected by Curse Energy. Looks like a desperate final attack from a [Soothsayer] or [Voodoo Curser].'' Having analyzed Olivia''s soul power, Lucius explained. ''The infection seems pretty deep too. She was attacked by it three-four months ago.'' Ka''lor''ah collaborated his analysis. She then paused for a moment before continuing, grimly. ''Injuries of this kind are best treated at their earliest. Delaying them would only complicate the injury¡­ To cure her now, will be very difficult, to say the least.'' ''Difficult and time-consuming, if we follow the proper method that is.'' ''You have another way?'' Ka''lor''ah questioned with interest. Cure Energy was a malignant form of energy that poisoned one''s body and soul. It was a very slow-acting, vicious, and sinister poison that destroyed a person''s body, soul, and mind, over time. Curse Energy was normally produced at the time of death if the victim carried an unusually great amount of resentment during their final moments. As stated previously it could also be an ''attribute'' of the [Soothsayer] or the [Voodoo Curser] soul type. Having been a [Killer] in his previous, Lucius was more than experienced with Curse Energy. In fact, he could be considered a master in this topic. To rid oneself of Curse Energy was actually quite simple. Upon identifying its point of intrusion, one simply had to flush it from their body before the poison took root. In other words, the sooner one deals with it the better. However, this was not the case with Olivia. She, being unfamiliar with Curse Energy, had failed to notice its intrusion and had allowed it to take root and fester. It had already started destroying her body and was in the process of tainting her soul. To get rid of such large amounts of infection would take a lot of effort and time. Two things that Lucius and Ka''lor''ah desperately lacked right now. Pushing this matter aside for a later date was not a viable course of action, as any delay would only serve to increase risk and endanger her life. Lucius, having acknowledged her value, felt a modicum of responsibility towards her. ''Normally, we would have to suppress the poison and flush out portions of the poisonous energy at a time, all while locating its point of inflection and root. This is would waste a lot of effort and time.'' ''And your method is?'' ''To destroy the energy itself.'' ''How will you destroy the en¡ªoh wait! I got it!'' Ka''lor''ah exclaimed in understanding. She then let out a small chuckle and spoke. ''She sure is one lucky girl. To have met the only person in the entire Universe who can pull off such a procedure, what are the odds?'' "I-I''m done." Just as the duo was wrapping up their discussion, a shy voice interrupted in a meek tone. Lucius opened his eyes and looked at the sight before him. "Do-don''t look!!" She hurriedly quipped before hiding her face within her palms. Currently, Olivia was standing before Lucius without a single piece of cloth covering her body. Her tall figure, almost equal to Lucius'' own, was perfectly proportioned into a beautiful face, a toned upper body, and long slender legs. Olivia''s pair of arms and legs were long, slender, and muscular, a result of her painstaking training and efforts over the last two years. Her abdomen was occupied with beautiful muscle lines backed by a smooth set of toned muscles that radiated power. Having removed her armor and chest wrappings, Olivia''s abundant bosom, a set that had noticeably grown larger than before, was desperately hidden by the flustered woman''s arms. Not that she succeeded in hiding anything. Her previously pristine white, smooth skin now possessed a light-brown tan due to the continuous exposure to Pectron''s celestial bodies. Looking at her overall, there was no question that Olivia was a beautiful woman. The last two years of struggle for survival had rid her of their naivety and inexperience, turning her into a mature beauty who wielded power and authority. Her mesmerizing violet eyes and cruel, regal behavior had earned her the moniker of ''Violet Witch'', commanding respect over the entirety of Pectron. Right now, however, this very same ''Violet Witch'' was a squirming mess of shame and embarrassment as she stood before the one she loved. "Hu-hurry up!" Olivia desperately urged Lucius. She had her eyes tightly shut as she did not possess the courage to look at Lucius. Her body nervously squirmed, positively fearful but also expectant. In light of such a scene, Ka''lor''ah would have usually joked and teased the parties involved. However, looking at Olivia''s body, Ka''lor''ah''s mood was quite grim. ''This is much worse than what I expected.'' She mentally messaged Lucius. While nothing could be seen on the surface, Ka''lor''ah''s vision which penetrated Olivia''s body painted a different picture. Almost 70% of her body was already poisoned by the veins of Curse Energy. ''It makes no difference.'' Replying as such, Lucius neared Olivia and spoke out loud, "Turn around." Complying with his words, Olivia turned around and felt the sensation of a hand pressing against her back. Feeling that foreign touch, she instantly shivered, feeling her muscles tighten. ''I-it''s happening.'' Just as the thought popped into Olivia''s mind, she heard Lucius'' cold voice ring next to her ears. "This might hurt." The next instant, Olivia felt her body being penetrated by a foreign force. ... .. . It was Lucius''s soul power. (AN: To all those who thought differently, I have nothing to say. I will not judge you.) Starting from the middle of her back, the area where Lucius had placed his palm, the pure Mid-Level Stage 2 soul power quickly started suffusing throughout her body, enveloping her skin, muscles, bones, and even her soul power. A feeling of comfort that couldn''t be described with words, assaulted Olivia''s sensory nerves. It felt similar to bathing in a hot spring during a cold winter day or lying in front of a cooler in peak summer. A feeling of absolute bliss was felt by Olivia, so much so, she involuntarily released a light moan. "Ahh~" Just as this feeling of comfort seemed to reach its peak, it suddenly disappeared. Replacing it was bouts of pain, the likes of which Olivia had never experienced. "AARRRGGGHHHH!!!" It sufficed to say, today would be an experience that Olivia would never forget for the remainder of her life. ------------ The method that Lucius had come up with was simple; he would first locate the poisonous Curse energy within Olivia''s body and then proceed to destroy it with [Annihilation Energy]. While this procedure looked simple in theory, it would require two conditions to be met. 1. Possess a method capable of destroying the Curse Energy. 2. Absolute control over one''s energy, so as to not accidently destroy anything other than the curse energy. Needless to say, Lucius was perhaps the only person capable of performing this feat. While there were other geniuses in the Universe fulfilling the second condition, [Annihilation Energy] was something unique to Lucius. With Lucius devoting his complete attention to the procedure, it took only a few minutes to completely rid Olivia of all the curse energy. The veins of malignant energy had disappeared, and even her face had started to heal restoring her former beauty. Unfortunately, however, Olivia was not in the mood to appreciate these things. The very moment the procedure had been completed and the pain had disappeared, Olivia''s mind shut down and she collapsed. Quickly catching her before she fully fell, Lucius carried her and laid her on a sofa that was present in her office. He then proceeded to pick up the purple robe that was on the ground and covered her body with it. Having done that, he walked away and sat on one of the seats, quietly meditating to recover the soul power which he had spent. Ka''lor''ah who had witnessed the procedure confirmed Olivia''s condition and finally heaved a sigh of relief. All they had to do now was to wait for her body to naturally sort itself out and for her to wake up. With Olivia''s issue solved, Ka''lor''ah who now had some time to kill, processed some empty thoughts. ''Now that I think about it, that entire situation was kinda risqu¨¦ and ambiguous. Looking from a different perspective, it looked like Lucius was about to do something.'' She then turned to look at the expressionless Lucius meditating, and the unconscious young woman, who slept with a frown. ''Actually, it''s better this way.'' A wolfish smile formed on Ka''lor''ah''s face as she continued, ''This gives me more room to work with!'' "Hehehe." A villainous chuckle echoed from within the crystal. Chapter 221: The Next Phase of the Plan. 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 blas¨¦ 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¡ª'' ''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!" Chapter 222: A War That Can Be Won Without Fighting. "Lady Governor! Stellar Light City is launching another attack! Please give us your orders!" A young, white-haired Terran burst into Olivia''s office and announced while heavily panting. "Their army is 8000-strong and has almost reached our city borders! We need your leadership, Lady Governor!" Another Terran, a young lady with blue hair, stumbled into the office and hurriedly informed in a similar fashion. Looking at the two aides who were gasping for air while holding onto their knees, Lucius recognized one of them. Pointing towards the young lady with the blue hair, Lucius recalled. "You are¡­that girl I rescued from that Scrofanian pig." Confused, the young lady raised her head to take a look towards the unfamiliar voice. "You are--?" she paused, feeling dazed after looking at Lucius'' pale, handsome face. Her pupils then suddenly shrunk in horror as she recalled. "You are that psychopathic killer who has been miss¡ªI mean! It''s good to meet you again, Lord Lucius!!" Quickly stopping herself from voicing her instinctive horror, Mia Baltmer, daughter of Leon Baltmer (Old Man), hurriedly corrected herself, all while cautiously stepping back. The tremor in her voice, however, betrayed the fear she was currently feeling. Mia distinctly remembered the day she was saved from the Minaccio Gang by this monst(er)¡ªthe young man in front of her. Mostly of how he had bare-handedly ripped apart her captors while looking bored. While she was extremely grateful for his help, she was also equally terrified of him. ''Wow, that''s some deep-rooted trauma seen in her eyes. What did you do to this poor little lamb?'' Noting the young lady''s reaction, Ka''lor''ah routinely teased Lucius. Ignoring Ka''lor''ah''s jab, Lucius carefully observed the two aides. His eyes scanned their bodies, noting their respective strengths. ''The girl is Mid-Level Stage 1, whilst that boy is at Low-Level Stage 2. Their bodies are weak and looking at their stance, neither have sufficient battle experience. Do not seem to possess any special ''Extremely weak.'' Having completed his observation, Lucius lost interest. However, the young man gazed at Lucius with suspicion and reached for the dagger on his waist. He had noticed the odd atmosphere within the office and acted on his intuition. Keeping his eyes on Lucius, he asked Olivia, "Lady Olivia, who is this person?" Just as the tips of his finger touched the handle of the dagger, the young aide''s body turned rigid. He felt his blood chill to a halt and his pupils freeze from fear. He could feel the presence of a cold wind caressing his back. The presence of death had never been felt closer in his life than in this moment. The oppressive shadow of death was upon him! And it was not just him. Both Mia and Olivia, who were both present in the room, felt suffocating pressure that threatened to swallow them into obscurity. They both felt their breaths cease and their hearts pause. The cause of this pressure, was the ice-cold [Annihilation Intent] released by Lucius. Reaching Mid-Level Stage 2 had boosted its effects making it more effective [Killing Intent] of the same level. "L-Lu-cius, pl-e-ase s-to-p¡­" Olivia barely managed to squeak out a sentence. Although Olivia was also in Mid-Level Stage 2, the difference between their Life Grades and the sheer intensity of their respective soul powers put Lucius on a completely different level. If it was not for her previous experience of being exposed to the much tamer version of [Annihilation Intent], Olivia would be no better than the two stiff dolls present in the room. Seeing that the two aides were on the verge of passing out, Lucius retracted his [Annihilation Intent]. The instant it was retracted the pressure immediately disappeared from the room and the two aides fell to the ground. Even Olivia felt her legs weaken and threaten to collapse, but managed to forcibly hold on. In a rather serious tone, Lucius coldly spat, "Remember your place, worm." For the weak to even dare and try to point their weapons towards him, was an unforgivable sin. While Lucius was usually forgiving and mostly unbothered by provocation, such blatant acts were still intolerable. This was why even Ka''lor''ah didn''t bother stopping Lucius but quietly watched. She even felt that Lucius was being too kind. The sense of absolute arrogance and superiority was not something unique to Lucius and Ka''lor''ah, but rather, was a common, deep-seated notion among all Stage 7 existences. In fact, if it had been some other Stage 7 in Lucius'' shoes, he/she would''ve ruthlessly killed the provoker and everything that was related to him. One such case was recorded in history where a Stage 5 existence had unintentionally slighted a Stage 7 existence. Not only did that Stage 7 existence destroy that person and his family, but he also proceeded to utterly eliminate his (Stage 5''s) entire race from the Universe! Not only did that Stage 7 existence succeed in his slaughter, but not a single person stepped up to stop him. The entire Universe watched in silence, as the Stage 7 existence decimated an entire race of beings! Stage 7 represented an entirely different realm and everyone beneath this realm was utter trash. They deserved unconditional respect and absolute authority. Under no circumstances can the honor of a Stage 7 be belittled. (Unless, of course, if it is done by another Stage 7.) "I-I''m sor-ry." Struggling to speak, the young Terran voiced an apology before passing out. Lucius simply nodded his head in response and turned around to take a seat. It was only a minor offense and Lucius quickly forgave him. The air within the room turned odd, as none dared to carelessly speak. A few minutes passed like this before Olivia finally broke the silence. "Cough, cough. Anyways, you were saying there is an attack?" Having regained her regal demeanor, the Violet Witch asked. Mia, whose face was entirely bloodless quickly nodded her head and replied. "Their army is approaching us as we speak. We need your leadership, Lady Governor." A serious expression surfaced on Olivia''s face as she carefully pondered. "¡­seems like that old man has resolved himself. This might as well be the final battle." "What''s the issue, Lil'' Olivia?" Ka''lor''ah curiously asked. "Ah?" Confused at that sudden voice, Mia jumped like a frightened kitten, before nervously looking around. Waving her hand to placate her aide, Olivia turned to face the floating crystal and explained. "Well, when Lucius and I landed in Pectron we ran into some unexpected trouble with two Bertarian youngsters. The meeting resulted in confrontation and we ended up killing the two of them alongside a few others." She then sighed to herself, before continuing. "It turns out that the two youngsters were the children of the Stellar Light City''s Governor, a Stage 3 Bertarian. By some means, he seems to have figured out that I was one of the murders'' and has since been keen on capturing me." "Thankfully, I managed to stave off his personal attempts with the help of the other Stage 3 Governors from some other cities and also led him on some wild goose chases." "He tried attacking the city but wasn''t able to, partly due to my meddling, and partly because you can''t attack another city or its Governor without a proper casus belli. It seems he has no proper evidence stating that I was the murderer." Gritting her teeth, she then finished. "But it seems he has resolved himself now." Turning to face her aides, she then gave out a command. "Quickly send out a request for aid to our allies. If that crazy, Stage 3 bastard joins the battle our troops will be crushed without any resistance." "But will the other Governor''s help? Their interest in this matter seems lackadaisical in recent times. Will they really assist against the Stage 3?" Mia worriedly asked. "They have no choice but to help! If they want to continue enjoying the current benefits, that is." A determined look flashed across Olivia''s violet eyes as she declared, "And even if they don''t send any help. We are not going down without a fight! I shall see what the difference is between a Stage 2 and a Stage 3. It can''t be that bad!" Lucius, who was quietly sitting by the sides, interrupted Olivia''s monologue. "You won''t survive a single second." The feeling of having a cold bucket of water poured over her head passed through Olivia. She quickly turned to face Lucius and asked, "Not even a single second? Is the difference of power that great?" Nodding his head, Lucius continued, "Even I would be greatly troubled to face a Stage 3 at my current realm. With your strength, you will absolutely die." Hearing his flat tone, Olivia felt another bout of cold water being dumped over her head. Her head hung low, as she felt disheartened. What disheartened her wasn''t the fact that she would die, but the fact that Lucius had implicitly stated that he had a chance. While she knew that Lucius was stronger than her, she had just realized the mind-numbing gap between their respective strengths. Ka''lor''ah floated over to Olivia and casually patted her head with her body. "There, there. Don''t be too disheartened, Olivia. With our guidance, you will also grow stronger." Comforting the girl, she then continued, "Plus, the situation is not as hopeless as it seems. I know for a fact that the Stage 3 guy will not join." "Huh? How do you know?" Raising her head to look at the crystal, Olivia asked, feeling confused. "Because Lucius over here already took care of him." Right on her cue, Lucius reached into his shadow and threw the unfinished remains of the Stage 3 Bertarian towards the center of the room. Although the Stage 3 existence had died, the body still contained the remnant aura and presence of the figure. It was evident that this body was the real deal. "Ack!" "Whoa!" Two screams, one of disgust and the other of surprise resounded within the room. Staring at the partially-eaten corpse, Olivia was first shocked but then overcome with surprise."This is excellent! With this, we will be able to win without fighting!" "Get it over with quickly. We need to figure out a way to leave as soon as possible." Lucius instructed, before reclining on his seat and closing his eyes. "Un!" Olivia nodded her head and quickly turned to her dumbstruck aide. "Forget about my previous orders! Just wake that guy up and follow me!" Upon completing her sentence, she quickly grabbed the corpse and rushed out of the room. Ka''lor''ah who was floating in the room gave a light yelp, before following her figure. "Let me come with you!" Soon, it was only Lucius who remained within the room. Silence returned, save only for the near-soundless rhythmic breaths of Lucius. Chapter 223: Rest and Review. Left alone in the office, Lucius used this rare moment of peace to rest his mind. The continuous bouts of high-intensity battles and the need to maintain a high tension state had resulted in a fair bit of fatigue building up within his mind and body. Due to the environment and circumstances in which he had lived in his previous life, Lucius was required to always remain in a ''battle ready'' state. He did not have the luxury of sleeping and was constantly embroiled in high-intensity battles. All living things require sleep at one point or another. It was nature''s most effective way to restoring fatigue. However, due to Lucius'' inability to do so, he had to get creative. The result of that creativity was using soul power to remove fatigue. Soul Power by nature had the ability to restore and regenerate. With some clever application, the need for sleep could be completely removed. While this method was not optimal as sleeping and was a rather wasteful use of soul power, it did allow the user to constantly remain in a ''high alert'' state, while removing fatigue and eliminating the need to sleep. This was the reason why Lucius never slept. Although his circumstances and environment had changed in his current life, some habits die hard. While circulating his soul power through his body, Lucius took out his scythe and fed it his soul power. It had been quite a while since he had done so; the previous instance was before entering the Underground Labyrinth. The scythe greedily absorbed the soul power radiating a sense of satisfaction with a soundless squeal of joy. With the improvement in the quality of his soul power, the effects of the meal were much more evident. A healthy cloud of blackish-crimson surrounded the length of the weapon with the creepy-looking scarlet veins pulsing with life. The pulsing increased in frequency and amplitude, visibly showing the scythe''s improvement. The feeding process continued for half an hour, after which Lucius retracted his soul power. The ominous-looking scythe emitted a feeling of unwillingness that its master consciously ignored. ''With the constant nourishment of soul power and blood, it was grown quite a bit. It''s about time that I upgrade its base materials.'' Similar to how a stronger body is required to reach higher Stages, a weapon is required to be forged from stronger, more ''spiritually rich'' materials in order to successfully become a Living Weapon. ''Once we are done with the issue with Mankind, I need to spend some time gathering the materials required for the upgrade. I also need to find a good ''Forger'' to perform the upgrade.'' Forging weapons, especially high-level ones, required one to be of a specific vocation called Forger. The vocation focused on the manufacture of weapons and other such devices, similar to other production vocations like Sigilers and Artificers. Forging, was in fact, the simplest and most common vocation in the production sphere. A person did not require a special soul type, a strange racial ability, or enormous talent to become a Forger, requiring only constant hard work and daily effort. Many people preferred to take on Forger, as a sub-occupation. However, having a lot of Forgers did not mean all Forgers were equally skilled. In fact, finding a Master Forger was similar in difficulty, if not harder, than a Sigiler (with the latter being the most difficult and exclusive vocation in the Universe). Throughout his lifetime, Lucius has met a fair share of Forgers. However, the number of Master Forgers he had met could be counted with a single hand. ''Hmm¡­If I recall correctly, that guy''s home planet should still be intact around this time. Perhaps I should make a stop over there before heading to the Grand Alcana Empire.'' The image of a certain individual flashed across Lucius'' mind. ''Of course, all of this depends on the successful resolution of the situation with Mankind. If a Lord really has figured out our plans, it''s effectively game over.'' Worrying about this matter wouldn''t get him anywhere; as such Lucius focused his attention on other matters. The recent battles with the Stage 3 Bertarian and Master of the Labyrinth had given him a deeper insight into this strength and powers, while also refreshing some of his older combat knowledge. The fighting methods of the Lower Stages (1-3) were vastly different from the fighting methods of the Higher Stages (6 and 7). The earlier Stages were solely focused on physical strength, personal skill, and soul power, while the latter Stages were entirely dependent on Domains and Rules. To compare, if combat between the Lower Stages was like a game of ''Tek*en'', then fighting between the Higher Stages was like a game of ''Starcra*t''. It was a difference of genre. Being as such, to review and reflect after a battle was very important, especially to someone like Lucius. It also served to accurately evaluate one''s strength, while simultaneously looking for methods to improve. ''The battle with the Bertarian was quite standard, there''s nothing much that I could''ve done differently. Perhaps, deploying the Field at an earlier time might''ve reduced the duration of the battle. Some of the wastage of soul power could''ve been avoided¡­'' ''The battle with that crimson soul was a first. To fight inside the Mindspace while utilizing my consciousness and soul body was a new experience¡­'' ''There was no way I could''ve won in a frontal battle with that crimson soul. If not for me ''cheating'' with the Stage 7 memory, I would''ve most definitely died.'' ''I was also caught off-guard multiple times and fell prey to his mental attacks. If not for Ka''lor''ah interruption, the outcome would''ve been different.'' ''Seems like I need to come up with some countermeasures against Mind-type opponents. They are my direct counters.'' The current balance between the [Annihilator] soul, the Void Eater bloodline, and his ''self'', was unstable. While Ka''lor''ah''s spell did alleviate some of the problems, it did not solve the root issue. If his opponents were to target this weakness of his, it would no doubt be a fatal blow. This wasn''t the only problem, as the battle with the Master of the Labyrinth, had reopened some of Lucius'' most terrible wounds, his past memories and the emotions that stemmed from them. Previously, this wasn''t an issue as Lucius'' soul took care to eliminate these dissident feelings. However, the recent change with the [Annihilator] soul resulted in the removal of this convenient feature. Lucius had to personally maintain a lid on these tempestuous emotions at all times, effectively bottling them up and putting a lid on them. This was hardly a solution but was the only one that Lucius could come up with. ''Olivia is a Mental-type. Perhaps, I can use her to come up with some countermeasures¡­hmmm, this is worth looking into.'' Lucius nodded his head while in thought. As he continued with his ponders, he suddenly remembered something. ''Right, I forgot to ask her about the two Forgotten Warriors.'' Using the connection between himself and the Forgotten Warriors, Lucius tracked the whereabouts of the two, tasked with protecting Olivia. A few seconds passed when Lucius'' eyes suddenly snapped open. "They are in this building.'' Lucius muttered. Rising from his seat, Lucius returned the scythe to its ''off'' state and placed it into [Void Storage]. He then left Olivia''s office and followed the thread of soul power that connected Forgotten Warriors and himself. ----------- Navigating through multiple corridors, evading dozens of anxious government workers, slipping past multiple guard details, and after multiple flights of stairs, Lucius finally arrived before a closed-door in the depths of the large Governor''s office. Lucius looked around a few times and noticed the distinct lack of any presence in the vicinity of this area. ''I can''t detect the presence of any living being in the vicinity. This place is completely isolated.'' He then focused his attention on the connecting thread between himself and the two puppets. ''The two Forgotten Warriors are behind this door, I can strongly feel their presence.'' Strangely enough, when Lucius sent tried to order the two puppets, he received no response. ''Are they disobeying me? That shouldn''t be possible. As long as the soul connection exists, they are under my absolute command.'' ''More importantly, what are they doing in such a remote location? How did they get here in the first place?'' It was safe to say that if not for the soul connection pointing the exact location of the two puppets to Lucius, the chances of finding such a remote location were extremely slim. ''No point in standing here and thinking about it. I''ll just enter and see for myself.'' Placing his hands on the handle, Lucius tried to open the door only to find it locked. ''Oh,'' The look in his eyes sharpened when Lucius realized that the lock on the door was far from normal. ''An Energy Pulse Sequencer Lock. Only with the input of a specific type of energy following a specific pulse sequence can open the lock. The door itself is made from a Semi-High Grade material, built to last against attacks from a Stage 3 being.'' The Energy Pulse Sequencer was like the ''fingerprint identification lock'' of the Universe. It was a High-Level artifact that was difficult to procure even in some relatively advanced worlds. For a backward planet like Pectron to possess such an advanced lock induced suspicion. ''Breaking the door would require a lot of effort and would draw needless attention. More importantly¡­'' ''Why are my puppets behind this door and who placed them there?'' ''Why are they not responding to my orders?'' ''Why is this room underneath the Governor''s office?'' With the appearance of each subsequent question, the look within Lucius'' eyes grew colder and colder. At this point, even the dumber ones would arrive at an obvious conclusion. There was only one factor that was common between all these questions. "Olivia¡­" Lucius muttered in his signature emotionless tone. It was at that moment when he received a mental message from Ka''lor''ah. ''Lucius, are you there? There is something important to inform you about.'' ''It''s Olivia¡­'' Ka''lor''ah''s tone lacked the usual playfulness and was rather serious. ---------- UPDATE: New laptop is arriving sometime tomorrow, so we''ll be going back to the previous release rate. (Finally, I can stop going to an internet caf¨¦ to write!) Anyways, this chapter and the two previous ones were mostly a recap. As you all know, it''s important to have a recap before any important scene. This is all the more important, seeing as how we are approaching the end of Vol 2. If I have failed to mention any major (or minor) detail, please do tell me in the comments. While I''m confident of having covered all details, I am human after all. Minor Spoiler: What do you think will happen when Lucius makes to Mankind and sees its current situation? My answer; Disappointed and extremely pissed, in that exact order. Chapter 224: Leaving Pectron. Part 1 NOTE: The thoughts of the Characters are italicized. The lines under single quotes ('' '') are mental dialogue. ----------- ''It''s Olivia¡­she wants to talk to you. Let me connect the two of you.'' Saying so, Ka''lor''ah fell silent. With Lucius ascending to Stage 2, the amount of soul power that Ka''lor''ah could utilize through their connection had also increased. This vastly increased their communication range, while also adding some other handy features. One such feature being group voice chatting. As Lucius silently waited, he noticed that the thread of soul power connecting Ka''lor''ah and himself suddenly enlarged in size becoming thicker. This change was then followed by the addition of foreign soul power, successfully completing the connection. ''This feels strange¡­'' Olivia''s mature voice resounded within Lucius'' head. ''Talk quick, I can only hold this connection for so long!'' Ka''lor''ah complained with a strained tone. Due to the large distance between the two parties, it took considerable effort on Ka''lor''ah''s part to maintain the connection, tiring her out rather quickly. ''Right! Lucius, can you hear me?'' Olivia asked. ''Of course, he can hear you! Will you just get to the point?!'' Ka''lor''ah admonished. Feeling rather wronged, Olivia mentally thought to herself. ''This is my first time doing such a thing. How am I supposed to know how it works? Still, it''s a rather convenient method of communication. With this, I can talk to Lucius whenever I want!'' Alas, under the mental connection, even surface-level thoughts were clearly transmitted. That is to say, the other two clearly heard her thoughts. ''You wicked, girl! How dare you think of turning your teacher into a mere telephone line to contact your lover?!'' Ka''lor''ah hissed with righteous anger. ''Wha-what?! Yo-you heard that?'' With a surge of embarrassment, Olivia stuttered with an obvious fluster. ''I heard ''ALL'' of that! And here I thought you were better than Lucius. The two of you are the same, always thinking of using other people as tools! That''s it, I''m done with you! Humph!'' Ka''lor''ah huffed, feeling cross. ''Wa-wait, Teacher! I-I didn''t mean it that way! I''m terribly sorry!'' Scared of offending her teacher, Olivia hurriedly apologized. ''Verbal apologies won''t do! I need compensation!'' Ka''lor''ah immediately replied. ''Comp-compensation?'' ''Of course! Thinking about it, what have you done for your teacher upon becoming my disciple? That''s right, nothing! Not only was I not thanked, but you''re even thinking of using me as a tool. What a terrible student, I take back what I previously said about you.'' Ka''lor''ah continued with her childish tantrum. ''No, I''m very sorry! I''ll compensate anything you wish for!'' Olivia hurriedly placated. ''Anything?'' Ka''lor''ah''s tone suddenly turned sharp. Her tone had similar vibes to a wolf staring down upon its prey. ''A-anything.'' Nervously gulping, Olivia nodded her head. ''That''s more like it. I forgive you now.'' ''Showing'' a victorious sign, Ka''lor''ah replied with satisfaction. Hearing that reply, Olivia felt a strange sense of dread within her heart. This time, taking care to properly hide her thoughts, she wondered. ''Why do I feel like I was scammed?'' Having been witness to this childish squabble, Lucius finally intervened. ''Are the two of you done?'' He then directed his thoughts towards Ka''lor''ah and asked. ''Weren''t you having a ''hard time'' connecting our thoughts? You seem lively enough.'' ''Oh, it IS hard, okay? However, I''m not that weak either.'' Ka''lor''ah shamelessly replied. Not in the mood to squabble with her, Lucius unceremoniously replied. ''I''m leaving.'' ''Wait! I haven''t said what I wanted to tell you yet!'' Olivia instantly replied. This time having learnt from her previous exchange, she quickly continued to talk before Lucius had the chance to leave. ''I forgot to mention this to you in my office; of the five Forgotten Warriors that you had left with me, three were destroyed during a sudden ambush and I was only able to protect the other two.'' ''I''m extremely sorry about that. It was my fault for being too weak to protect myself.'' Olivia''s tone was guilt-ridden as she sincerely apologized. Hearing her sudden apology, Lucius was taken aback for a moment. He thought for a moment, before coming to a realization. ''Right, she does not know about the ''immortal'' characteristic of the Forgotten Warriors.'' Thinking about it, no one other than Lucius and Ka''lor''ah was familiar with the immortal property of the Forgotten Warriors. Upon death, the Forgotten Warrior would return into Lucius'' shadow where it would undergo a cooldown period before it could be resummoned. As such, no one had seen the same Forgotten Warrior twice (or had lived to tell the tale). Therefore, it was understandable that Olivia considered the Forgotten Warriors to be a finite resource. Her guilt stemmed from her belief that she had ''wasted'' three of these precious troops given to her by Lucius. Although to be fair, they did die in the process of saving her life, hence completing their intended duty. As such, Lucius did not pay much attention. ''It''s fine.'' He replied. ''They are meant to be expendable in the first place.'' ''But¡ª''Olivia tried to intervene but was interrupted by Ka''lor''ah. ''It''s okay Lil'' Olivia. Those things cannot die for as long as Lucius is alive. In a word, they are immortal.'' ''I see¡­I''m glad then.'' Olivia replied followed by a sigh of relief. She felt a massive weight lift off her chest. Just as Olivia was about to continue with her narration, Lucius interrupted her. ''Why are the two remaining warriors locked behind a door and why are they unresponsive?'' He asked coldly. Surprised at the question, Olivia asked. ''Oh, you found that place?'' ''They are connected to me so I can track their locations. Answer my question, why are they locked behind an Energy Pulse Sequencer?'' ''I was about to tell you about that¡­but I think it''s better if you see it for yourself. I didn''t set a unique energy signature, so just input your soul power according to this pattern.'' Following which Olivia recited the energy pulse sequence. Lucius stood confused for a moment, before inputting the correct sequence into the lock with his soul power. With an audible click, the locks gave way, and doors were freed. Pushing the heavy doors aside, Lucius walked into the mysterious room. A few old-fashioned lamps hung on the walls dimly lighting the interiors of the room. Along the top of the two side walls, iron-gated vents could be seen spewing cold air into the room. Upon the plain stone floor were dozens of tightly packed crates, neatly arranged into proper rows. The crates seemed to be made of a special material, seeing as to how they eagerly sucked in the cold air. However, all these smaller details were overshadowed by the elephant in the room. At the center were two enormous black-colored cocoons that radiated with differing levels of energy. Feeling those familiar energy signatures, Lucius was fascinated. ''This is¡­'' ''Approximately a week ago, the two shadow warriors suddenly formed a cocoon surrounding their bodies. The process was spontaneous and I''m not sure what triggered it. In order to not draw too much attention to this strange phenomenon, I moved them into that refrigeration chamber.'' Olivia explained. While listening to her explanation, Lucius approached the two cocoons and laid his hands atop their smooth surface. Closing his eyes he felt analyzed their energy, trying to make sense of this phenomenon. Similar to the calm sea waves, the energy within the cocoon ebbed and flowed, while gradually growing stronger. This change was very slow but gradual. ''Lucius, what''s happening? Talk to me.'' Ka''lor''ah''s eager inquiries joined in. ''This is¡­ascension? They''re entering Stage 2?'' Lucius wondered. He then delved into his Void Space using his senses and analyzed the other Forgotten Warriors within. ''It''s the same with the others inside. They are all slowly ascending into Stage 2. I see¡­my ascent into Mid-Level Stage 2 must have triggered the process. So that''s why they are unresponsive to my commands, they are in a state akin to sleeping.'' ''Talk to me, Lucius! What is happening over there? I''m dying of curiosity over here.'' Ka''lor''ah exclaimed with impatience. Confirming the situation once more, Lucius then proceeded to explain his findings. Ka''lor''ah occasionally replied with an ''Oho'' and ''That makes sense'', while Olivia silently listened. ''So it is safe to assume that every time you reach an ''X-Stage Mid-Level'', the Forgotten Warriors will go through a metamorphosis of sorts.'' Ka''lor''ah summarized. ''That''s how it seems.'' Lucius affirmed her thoughts. ''How long is the duration of the process?'' Ka''lor''ah asked. ''Unknown. Judging from the amount of energy I can sense, they are approximately 40% of their way there.'' Lucius replied. ''This is new. I need to make notes of this.'' Ka''lor''ah replied before leaving the call, leaving only Lucius and Olivia. An awkward silence descended as Lucius continued to study the two eggs in silence, while Olivia was unsure of what to say. While she had been witness to the duo''s technical exchange, Olivia had understood none of it. It was a standard case of ''I know the meaning of the words individually, but together they make no sense.'' It was a situation of an illiterate person listening in on a scientific lecture. A few minutes passed tensely before Lucius broke the silence. ''Are you done with that issue with the war?'' he asked. ''Almost. Showing them the dead body of their commander was more effective than I thought. Upon confirmation, almost all of them immediately lost the will to fight and ran away. I''m just in the process of tying up some loose ends.'' Olivia enthusiastically explained. ''Do you have any questions pertaining to that discussion?'' Lucius continued. ''Well¡­I didn''t understand most of it. It almost seemed like the two of you were speaking a different language.'' Olivia awkwardly laughed. ''I see. Your basic knowledge is quite lacking. I''ll have to remind Ka''lor''ah to start teaching you from there.'' Lucius blandly replied. Hearing the words ''basic knowledge'' and ''lacking'' Olivia felt the corner of her lips twitch. It wasn''t that Olivia was lacking illiterate, but it was because all of Olivia''s knowledge pertained to topics and sciences conceived by Mankind. Her knowledge of the Universe, soul power, Rules, etc, were relatively new and very lacking. ''By the way, how can you understand all of this? Didn''t we go to the same schools and study together?'' Olivia jokingly asked. It had always been a big mystery to Olivia how Lucius was so knowledgeable about such alien concepts. What was even stranger to comprehend was how Lucius was so good at fighting, using a weapon to boot. It had to be known that in the time prior to these strange events (since Lucius was adopted into the Mayer family), she had never once seen Lucius get into a fight. Even during their early childhood squabbles, it was Olivia who used to mostly win due to her taller physique. Seeing how much he had changed now, it was almost as if Lucius had already lived for a long time. ''There is also that strange transformation where he eats others.'' This was a mystery that was even more foreign. The boy whom she had known for the longest time and most intimately had suddenly become a stranger. This pained Olivia''s heart the most. In response to Olivia''s question, Lucius indifferently replied. ''I learnt it recently too.'' That''s a lie. Olivia bitterly thought to herself but did not rebuke his reply. Lucius might have changed a lot, however, she could still immediately identify whenever he lied. It was a fact that made her feel closer to him. ''What are these crates?'' Lucius interrupted Olivia who was lost in her thoughts, referring to the neatly packed crates. ''Those are actually for you. I saw how you enjoyed eating those¡­'' things'', so I gathered as many bodies as I could. If you''re feeling hungry, you can eat them.'' Olivia explained with a smile. Growing interested, Lucius opened one of the crates and peered into it. Inside the crate were the neatly packaged corpses of Canis, the wolf-like Wild Beast. The corpses were properly dismembered and perfectly preserved under refrigeration. Looking at the dozens of crates within the room, Lucius asked with surprise. ''How many bodies did you gather?'' ''117. I tried to gather three bodies of every kind I could find. They range from rare Wild Beasts to Peak-Level Stage 2 corpses. However, some were harder to collect due to certain¡­well, ''supply'' issues.'' Olivia calmly replied. ''117! Devouring more bodies will decrease the cooldown period of [State of Dvour], rendering me to use my racial abilities sooner. This saves a lot of time and effort.'' Lucius thought to himself. ''Thank you very much, Olivia. You have saved me a lot of time. I owe you a favor.'' Lucius sincerely thanked her. Knowing that he might potentially face a Lord or at least someone related to a Lord, Lucius needed all the power he could get his hands on. The issue of his unavailable racial abilities was something that had been bothering him for some time. The only way to resolve this situation was by devouring. However, finding suitable opponents, killing them, and then proceeding to devour would consume a lot of time...something that Lucius desperately lacked right now. Olivia''s efforts had come in a clutch, offering some much-needed assistance. Hence, Lucius had meant every word he had said when he thanked her. With a method to respite in sight, Lucius promptly cut off the mental link and promptly dived into the buffet of corpses to feast. ------------ Somewhere near the tall walls of Pandemonium. A tall, masked woman with violet eyes and purple armor stared into empty space with a blank look on her face. A single line resounded within her mind. ''I owe you a favor.'' "What are you grinning like an idiot for?" Looking at the foolishly grinning Olivia, Ka''lor''ah asked with concern. Perhaps no one other than Olivia herself understood her thought process at this moment. Chapter 225: Leaving Pectron. Part 2 "[Void Hands}" Upon recitation, the shadow underneath Lucius'' feat started to slowly stir. Dense streams of dark void energy escaped from within the shadow and gathered together to form pitch-black tentacles. Just as the tentacles were on the verge of successfully forming, the gathered void energy started to erratically move before collapsing back into the shadow. Sighing to himself, Lucius muttered once more. "Another failure." This was his fifth time casting [Void Hands] and none of the attempts succeeded. After devouring all of the gathered bodies, Lucius had felt a minor stir within his bloodline. In an attempt to check if his abilities had recovered, he used them one after the other. Apart from [Void Hands] which showed some movement, none of the other abilities responded at the slightest. Not too disappointed at this result, Lucius performed one final check, resulting in another failure, before giving up. ''At least it''s recovering. Perhaps I''m being too impatient.'' Shaking his head, he left the cold room heading back towards Olivia''s office. He had done what he had come to do and there was no point staying here any longer. As for the two black eggs containing the evolving Forgotten Warriors, Lucius had already absorbed them into his shadow placing them with their other brethren. The period of their evolution was not entirely known, but according to Ka''lor''ah''s estimations, it would last for another 12-15 days. ''With that, there is nothing else to do on this planet. The only issue now is on how to leave this planet and return to Mankind.'' Making his way back, Lucius considered their current predicament. ''That Bertarian Governor of Stellar Light city possesses a device that can contact his kin residing on their home planet. The original plan was to ''coerce'' him into contacting them and having them send a ship. Now, however, with him being dead, it does present us with some problems.'' Mankind was not the only technology-based civilization in the Universe. There exist other Mechanical Races and Machinery Life forms that also use technology, albeit different from Mankind''s own. Mankind''s technology was borne from a time when the Rules, Soul Power, Spiritual Energy, and other facets of the Universe did not exist. In a way, it was based upon pure science and did not contain any metaphysical concepts. While Mankind''s technology had unique points of its own, when compared to the overall progress of mechanical technology within the Universe, it was quite inferior. Getting back to the story¡­ ''The key point in this plan isn''t the Bertarian but is rather the device. If we can get our hands on that, we might still have a way to leave this planet.'' ''If the device is not available, the worst case scenario would be to ascend into Stage 3 and make our way to the neighbor star system. If I recall correctly, an interstellar pirate organization should be operating off that system. Their strengths aren''t too high and we should be able to ''borrow'' a ship off of them.'' ''However, the demerits of this plan would be that it would take some time and effort. There is also no guarantee that the pirate organization is currently in that system. After all, my memories are a few dozen years into the future.'' The reason why Lucius remembers a random pirate organization is because he used to be a part of that organization in his previous life. Coincidently, this organization was also the reason why he was able to leave Pectron in his previous life and enter into the next stage of galactic travel. Lucius'' abilities as a [Killer] were also largely polished and honed during this period. He had done a lot of bad things during this period in the organization and had killed a staggering amount of people. His first moniker as the ''Red-Skinned Demon'' was also earned during this time. Red-Skinned being a reference to Lucius'' state after each battle. However, these events did not happen for at least another fifty years, so Lucius couldn''t fully rely on this data. As Lucius was deeply lost within his thoughts, the floor beneath his feet suddenly started to rapidly shake. Focus returned to Lucius'' eyes as he immediately crouched on the ground and retrieved his weapon. Any sudden disturbance to an environment might be a sign of a potential battle. As such, immediately getting into combat stance was a natural response on Lucius''s part. ''No life sings in the proximity.'' Extending his soul power into the immediate surroundings, Lucius confirmed his vicinity. BANG! The ground shook once more and this time the intensity of the shakes was greater. The sounds of desks falling, objects shattering and people panicking could be clearly heard. Luicus'' current location was not ideal for facing an opponent as such he kicked off the ground and headed towards a more open area. It was also ideal to engage the opponent first, rather than passively waiting. Ascending the staircase quickly, Lucius zipped past the chaotic crowds and followed the tremors to their source. While running he divided a part of his attention to contact Ka''lor''ah. ''Where are the two of you? Did you feel those tremors?'' Almost immediately, Ka''lor''ah replied. ''We did. It''s coming from outside the city walls on the west side. I couldn''t see the source of the attack properly. You need to come and join us.'' ''On my way.'' Saying as much, Lucius increased his speed once more and followed the thread of soul power connecting himself to Ka''lor''ah. In just a few seconds, Lucius found himself outside the entrance of the building. BANG! A third attack. One that was greater than the sum of the previous two intensely shook the ground. Having come outside, Lucius confirmed that the source of the tremors was an explosion. The shockwaves from the site of the explosion rattled the buildings and shook the ground. Some of the smaller shops just outside the Governor''s office collapsed onto the ground trapping its inhabitants within. "Someone, please save us!" "Argh! My leg''s crushed!" "Help! Please, someone!" Cries for help rung out from underneath the collapsed rubbles. Most of the civilians were weaklings with varying levels of Stage 1 strength. Against the might of stone and wood which weighed anywhere from hundreds of kilograms to a few tons, they were completely helpless. In response to these pleas for help, which he had surely heard, Lucius showed utter indifference. He was not compassionate nor was he a good Samaritan. The lives of these citizens held no real value in the first place. These people to Lucius were what ants were to a regular person. Common and insignificant. As he headed towards the source of the explosion, Lucius heard Olivia''s call. "Lucius! Over here." Seeing a streak of purple heading towards him, he slowed his own speed and waited for her to catch up. "Are you okay? Did you see who or what caused the explosion?" The moment Olivia was within the ear''s range, Lucius questioned. However, before Olivia could form an answer, Ka''lor''ah answered in her steed. "Yeah, we''re fine. I couldn''t exactly see what caused the explosion. However, I did see a flash of blue-colored energy hitting the ground from the sky. It was too fast though." "Stage 3?" "Do you know any Stage 2 strong enough to make such an attack?" Ka''lor''ah replied in a sarcastic tone before landing her eyes on Lucius and his scythe. "Actually, never mind. It''s most likely a Stage 3." Nodding his head, Lucius curtly spoke. "Try and keep up," before picking up speed once more. His figure instantly sped up turning into a vague streak at a distance. Olivia wasn''t any slower either. Promptly exploding the soul power underneath her feet, she instantly accelerated turning into a purple blur. ---------- A couple of seconds after Lucius had stopped atop the western rampart, Olivia arrived next to him. While regulating her breathing, she looked towards the large crater that had formed a few kilometers outside the wall. "You''ve improved." She heard the familiar voice give her a word of praise. Lightly smiling in response, Olivia nodded her head before turning to call upon the Captain in charge of this section of the wall. "Where''s the western section''s Captain?" her voice, assisted by her soul power, boomed. "Here, Lady Governor!" A heroic, dark feral-like humanoid raised his hand before making his way towards Olivia. Lucius shot a look towards this figure noting his figure and strength. Information immediately formed within his mind. ''Oncanian. Male. Low-Level Stage 2. Relatively well trained. Possess sufficient combat experience.'' ''Threat Level: Low.'' Deducing as much, Lucius lost interest. He looked towards the sky, gazing at the grey-colored clouds that filled them. "Did you see what happened here, Captain?" Olivia questioned the Oncanian Captain. "Yes, Lady Governor." Replying in a gruff tone, the Oncanian started his recount. "I was patrolling the walls with Squad Three when we suddenly heard the skies crack. Fearing an enemy attack, I instructed the squad to quickly take cover, when we saw it." "Saw what?" Olivia inquired with a serious tone. "A beam of blue light, Lady Governor. A long beam of blue light fell from the sky at the place where you can see that crater." The Oncanian replied, pointing towards the distant crater. "We couldn''t see who or what caused the attack, but so far the same attack has fallen thrice on the same spot. Each time with a higher intensity." The man grimly said. Hearing that Olivia''s face also sported a grim expression. Lowering her head she silently muttered. "An attack from Stellar Light City?...that can''t be. They don''t have the technology to rain blue beams from the sky. Not to mention, I just finished dealing with them." "Could it be a Stage 3 being? But Pandemonium has no beef with them. I''ve also signed a non-aggression treaty with the other Governors. Who could it be then?" "Don''t think too much. They''re coming." Lucius causally remarked while continually looking at the sky. Having heard his statement, the others at the site paused in confusion before looking up into the sky. The grey clouds which covered much of Pectron''s skies suddenly had a shadow cast upon them. The clouds then parted revealing a large metallic object descending from the sky. The object was circular and flat resembling a saucer. The dark metallic sheen on its surface spelled intimidation, as it majestically lowered itself towards the ground. Lucius'' eyes intently scanned the surface of the object, before his eyes landed on a certain symbol painted on its surface. "Oh, it''s them. What a coincidence." He lightly remarked. ----------- Race Info: Oncanians, also known as Oncas, are a tribe of Beast-Humans (Part beast, part humanoid), known for their black outer mane, leopard-shaped head, and cat-like eyes. They are exceptionally skilled warriors, primarily known for their speed and use of short, two-handed weapons. Due to their slightly sinister-looking appearance, they are often lumped in the [Evil] Faction and are discriminated against. This leads to a majority of the Oncanian warriors turn to criminal means to make a living. Their lifespan ranges from 100-120 years, with both male and female varieties making up their population. Chapter 226: Leaving Pectron. Part 3 "What is that?" "Is this an attack?" "What should we do?" Looking at this large foreign object enter the atmosphere of their planet, the crowd muttered to themselves in confusion. "All soldiers gather in your assigned squad formations and prepare for an attack." Olivia promptly provided instructions quelling the confusion. She herself roused her soul power, preparing for an attack. "Don''t bother too much. They aren''t here to attack." Lucius who stood next to her whispered into her ears. "Huh?" Confused at his declaration, she turned to look at Lucius'' face. Wearing the same blank expression, Lucius spoke while staring at the slowly descending space vessel. "They aren''t here to attack." He repeated. Feeling hesitant at his answer, Olivia asked. "Are you sure?" "Positive." Holding absolute trust in Lucius, Olivia retrieved the gathered soul power and promptly gave an order. "Stand down. Don''t attack until I give the order." Meanwhile, Ka''lor''ah who had returned to her spot atop Lucius'' shoulder curiously asked. ''How do you know that they aren''t here to attack?'' ''Because I know these guys. They are small-time pirates and Pectron is too much of a backwater planet to attract their attention.'' ''Know them¡­wait, is this that pirate organization that you joined back then?'' Ka''lor''ah asked referring to Lucius'' previous life. ''Yes. I recognized that symbol.'' Lucius casually answered. As he continued, his tone then turned serious, as he continued, ''However, I don''t understand what they are doing here. Their field of activity lies in the neighboring star system and the regions inward.'' ''Maybe they''re here to plunder Pectron?'' Ka''lor''ah guessed. ''I doubt it. They aren''t strong enough to plunder an entire planet.'' The large spacecraft finally came to a halt, hovering at a comfortable distance of a few meters of the ground. The whirring sounds of mechanical components resounded through the air, forming an opening on its smooth metallic hull. Following the appearance of the opening, a few floating floors exited the spacecraft forming a staircase to the ground. With the formation of the staircase, heavy footsteps followed. Thud, thud, thud, thud! The low clanking of metal against metal was followed by the appearance of three alien visitors. These aliens visitors clad in full metallic armor, descended the stairs and stepped foot on the newly-cleared plains of Pectron. Looking around, the alien visitors seemed to notice the distant walls of Pectron. Kicking off the ground, their figures quickly crossed the distance arriving just before the tall walls. Lucius, who had witnessed the fluctuations of their soul powers, narrowed his eyes. ''Three Peak-Level Stage 2.'' Stopping at a reasonable distance from the newly established rampart, the trio stood in the formation of an arrowhead (^ - like that) and collectively looked at the gathered crowd atop the walls. The alien visitor standing at the apex of the formation removed his metal helmet exposing his tanned, Terran face to the crowd of onlookers. "Well, well, what a nice welcoming group. I''m honored." Performing an exaggerated bow, the Terran visitor scanned the crowd atop the wall. ''Hmm¡­ just a bunch of Low-Level Stage 2s, except for the two upfront, I can''t get a read on them.'' He thought to himself, pausing at the figures of Lucius and Olivia. Staring at them with a piercing gaze, a lewd expression appeared within his eyes. ''Oho...two top-notch looking b*tches. The one of the left''s got a hot body, while the one on the right''s got a better face. This is going to be a fun day, hehe.'' Having confirmed the entire group''s strengths, an arrogant expression appeared on his face, along with a change of tone. "Now, if you bugs would be kind enough to go in and inform whoever''s in charge to come and meet me that would be great." He haughtily announced, before pointing at Lucius and Olivia, "I want those two to stay and ''entertain'' me." He spoke while salaciously licking his lips. Hearing his request, the faces of all the guards solidified with anger especially that of the Oncanian Captain whose eyes turned a shade darker and whose hands stealthily reached for his daggers. A collective bloodlust rose from the group of soldiers. To dare insult the honor of their Governor¡­if the fates of the trio were undecided at the beginning, it was finalized at this instant. Even if it cost them their lives, these soldiers would drag this trio to hell alongside them. Meanwhile, Olivia who was subject to mockery showed no change in her facial expression. Such words¡­she had heard far too many times during the last three years that she hardly reacted to them anymore. The three years of brutal battles, schemes, and fights for power and authority had removed all traces of naivety and hot-bloodedness that was once present in her. Olivia had not only grown as a warrior but had also grown as a person. ''Wow¡­'' Ka''lor''ah who had witnessed that declaration, silently muttered. ''That guy really wants to die, huh?'' Mentally performing a shrug, she continued. ''Well, this solves the question of transportation, I guess.'' Noticing the lack of movement from the crowd atop the wall, the Terran visitor grew irritated. And when he noticed the collective bloodlust directed towards him and his group, he finally snapped. "Pathetic dogs who don''t understand the difference between our powers. Let me teach you the price of offending---" His furious voice, accompanied by gales of soul power suddenly stopped when his eyes met with that of Lucius. A pair of eyes that glowed with differing shades of color. Lucius, who had activated [Charm], an ability of dubious origin, ensnared the gaze of the Terran visitor with his own. Once trapped, he simply sent a wave of invisible energy that destroyed the opponent''s psyche. The moment this invisible wave of energy struck the Terran, his pupils shook intensely for a second before breaking into numerous pieces. Much like a puppet whose strings had been cut, his body powerlessly dropped to the ground. Lucius, who had effortlessly destroyed his unprepared opponent, mentally nodded his head in satisfaction. ''This method derived from the attacks of the crimson soul is quite effective, allowing me to destroy the psyche of a higher-tiered being using my unique abilities. This can be further improved.'' ''Whoa! That looked so awesome, how did you do that?!'' Ka''lor''ah squeal resounded within his mind. It wasn''t only Ka''lor''ah who was surprised. The two companions of the recently-deceased Terran, Olivia, the Oncanian Captain, and even the guards atop the tower looked at the collapsed body with confusion and shock. "Wha-what just happened?" "Why did he suddenly fall?" "Is he dead? Who attacked him?" The guards quietly chattered amongst the crowd. Having an experienced eye, they quickly noticed the state of the Terran. "WHO DID THAT?!" Of course, being similarly experienced, the two companions of the Terran also confirmed the state of their friend. "Come out and show yourself, coward!" While their shouts were filled with righteous anger, their legs noticeably trembled. To kill a Peak-Level Stage 2 being in such an efficient and imperceptible manner¡­it had to be a Stage 3 existence. And against such a terrifying existence, they would stand no chance. "I''ll have you know, our Boss will seek revenge for this! You better prepare yourself!" Having already taken back numerous steps, the two alien visitors shouted one last time before rushing back towards their spaceship. They did not even dare recover the body of their companion and continued their pathetic retreat. A grand display turned into such a comical affair, the onlookers were stunned to silence. Lucius, who was silent all the while, softly called out his companion''s name. "Olivia." "Settle your affairs and bring everything that will be required for the journey; spirit coins, weapons, armor, etc. We shall leave this planet in six hours." His tone was of the utmost seriousness. Olivia nodded her head, before immediately turning to leave. She did not ask any further questions, for she already had a vague understanding of what had happened and what was going to happen. Lucius, for this part, fully extended his scythe and jumped off the rampart. He looked at the towering spaceship at the distance and started to head in its direction. Their ride had arrived. It was time to rid it of its pests. ----------- Four hours later. Inside a hemispherical room containing many screens of light, mechanical terminals, system controls, and other such devices, stood thirty humanoid figures with bloodless faces and trembling legs before another wielding a scythe. The figure with the scythe, his hands, and robes covered with blood, scanned the inhabitants of the room with his plain, black eyes before asking. "Who''s the Captain of this ship?" His words although normal in nature, were all but normal in the ears of its recipients. The bodies of the thirty figures visibly shook with greater intensity, yet not a single one stepped forth to answer. Hell, they did not even dare to breathe before this monster, wishing everything to be a nightmare. And what a nightmare it was. Only four hours had passed since they had landed on this planet. Four hours since this monster in front of them had boarded their ship. And within these mere four hours, this monster before them had killed no less than 400 of their crewmates, while systematically and thoroughly crushing any resistance faced. Well, perhaps ''killed'' was putting it too kindly. Nay, this monster did not simply kill. It tore their bodies, shattered their bones, grind their flesh, and seemingly as if this wasn''t demonic enough, this monster also ''ate'' some of them. To add to this nightmare, some of the victims suddenly froze upon meeting the monster''s eyes and suddenly feel, never to get up once more. It was scenes that even they, being pirates who plundered, killed, and performed horrible actions against living creatures, found horrific. It was the manifestation of their greatest of fears and the worst of their nightmares. A Killer, who killed for the sake of killing. Growing annoyed at the lack of response, Lucius furrowed his brows and asked once more. "I won''t ask again. Who is your Captain?" Chapter 227: Leaving Pectron. Part 4 Facing the same question for a second time, one among the thirty figures, heroically mustered courage and stepped forth. With an audible gulp, he spoke in the calmest voice that he could muster. "H-h-he''s n-not h-he-here, s-s-sir." Of course, upon meeting Lucius'' eyes all of his courage flew out of the window. "Where is he then?" "Y-y-you k-ki-killed h-hi-him, s-sir." Biting his lips to the point of bleeding, the surviving pirate answered. "Oh." Lucius curtly replied before falling silent. ''Haah! And that is why I keep telling you, ''Don''t kill everyone and keep some of the stronger ones alive.'' Of course, you never listen.'' Ka''lor''ah mentally sent a message. ''I needed to devour them to recover my abilities.'' Lucius calmly answered. ''All of them?! You only ate around a hundred and fifty. What about the rest?!'' Ka''lor''ah exasperatedly replied. ''¡­I was practicing a new technique.'' Pausing for a second, Lucius gave an excuse referring to the technique he used to kill the first Terran pirate. Hearing his ridiculous excuse, Ka''lor''ah found herself speechless. She simply stared at Lucius for a few seconds before shaking her head. ''Haah. This aspect of him hasn''t changed yet.'' She sighed to herself. A [Killer] did not require justification for the act of killing. He did not need a reason, motivation, or any prior cause¡­he killed for the simple sake of killing. This might be a little difficult to understand, so let me phrase it this way. Why do humans do anything? Why do they breathe, eat, sleep, and procreate? The fundamental answer to these questions was simple¡­to live and to continue life. For a [Killer], to kill was his definition of life. One could say, it was their very motive for existence. Therefore, the act required no justification or reason. This was the reason why [Killers] were feared and shunned. In these eyes of civilized beings, they were equal to a bunch of rabid dogs that needed to be put down. The only catch was, [Killers] were awfully strong and unafraid of death. Lucius, having been a Stage 7, 300-year-old [Killer], it was a habit that he could seldom control. Every single time he started to kill, it would result in a massacre. With the passage of every second, the pressure within the command center of this spaceship did not lessen but steeply increased. All of the thirty survivors within this room knew that the person before them was a [Killer] ([Annihilator] is a mutation of [Killer], therefore it''s easily mistaken for the latter.) And [Killer]s put it simply, were senseless psychopaths who were no different from Wild Beasts. Hell, even Wild Beasts were smarter than [Killer]s. With their lives in the hands of such a person, one who might suddenly start swinging his scythe, just because he felt like it, they were hardly at ease. "Who''s the second in command then?" While regretting(?) the loss of the leader, Lucius continued with his questions. Perhaps having crossed a critical point of sorts, the pirate who had stepped forth to answer Lucius'' questions, seemingly lost all traces of his fear. His expression turned dull and his demeanor became languid. ''What''s the point in fearing? In the end, he''s going to kill us anyway.'' Under such intense pressure, this pirate had surpassed his fear of death. "The second in command was the person leading the trio to negotiate with the leader of the city, sir." The pirate answered blankly. ''Oh, it''s the guy you killed at the very beginning. How did such a rash guy become the second in command?'' Ka''lor''ah pondered. "Who''s the highest-ranking person amongst yourselves?" Ignoring Ka''lor''ah''s rants, Lucius continued. "That would be him, sir." The pirate pointed towards a certain bulky, middle-aged Terran. Seeing the eyes of the monster turn towards him, the person in question, completely lost control of his legs and collapsed onto the ground, losing consciousness in the process. Underneath his collapsed figure, a small puddle of pungent-smelling liquid started to gather. The man had lost control both over his mind and body, out of pure fear. "Tch." Lucius clicked his tongue with annoyance. Seeing that questioning in such a manner would not get him any answers, he returned to questioning his reliable ''ally''. "Tell me, what is a division of your pirate group doing over here, in Pectron?" Lifting his head and looking at his questioner with blank eyes, the pirate started to confess. And the reason was¡­grave, to say the least. "4 months ago, our group, the ''Flying Dutchman'', received intel that a new, Grade 3, technology-based species was undergoing Ascension somewhere in the neighboring star system. The big boss decided that this was a good opportunity to strengthen and expand the pirate group." "We arrived at their territory two months ago but realized that someone had already beaten us to the punch. A bunch of alien bugs had already wrecked the majority of the territory and occupied its resources. The boss was super pissed and ordered all forces to attack those alien bugs." "The bugs weren''t that strong either and only seemed to be keen on attacking that native species. Thanks to that, we managed to occupy around 60% of their territories and wiped out a good portion of those nasty bugs too. We managed to obtain a good haul from them too." "However, it was at this point that things started to become more difficult. Finally taking notice of our aggression, the alien bugs started to earnestly attack us. Of course, noticing these changes the native species also joined in." "Both of these opponents, while individually weak, are seemingly limitless and extremely annoying. They keep attacking our forces in succession, seemingly without a care for their own. For every ship we lost, they lost five." "While we managed to dispose of a majority of them, our forces took a considerable hit too. That''s why we were sent here, the neutral planet of Pectron to purchase some war provisions and hire some mercenary forces to fill our ranks." "The boss also wanted us to rope in a Stage 3 being, to join the war efforts. With our newly gained riches, payment wasn''t an issue. We, however, had the misfortune of meeting you¡­" The pirate muttered the final line in a quiet voice. Having given up on his life, it did not matter whether he slighted the monster in front of him or not. Lucius, however, was in no mind to punish him. He stood rooted to the ground with his eyes blankly staring with shock. The minds of both Ka''lor''ah and Lucius whirred at astronomic speeds as they processed this huge influx of information. The more they processed, the more their questions multiplied. Not minding to hide, Ka''lor''ah appeared before the pirate''s face and stormed a series of questions. Her tone was of the utmost seriousness and her voice, deeply grave. "I have some questions for you¡­" The pirate was surprised for a moment at the appearance of a talking crystal. However, he did not pay it much mind and started to truthfully answer her. He was going to die either way, so there was no point in lying. Ka''lor''ah''s series of questions let the duo gain a comprehensive understanding of Mankind''s situation. The pirate, who worked as an ''Intelligence Officer'' for the Flying Dutchman, answered to the best of his abilities. In a nutshell, the situation was as follows; The pirate group, Flying Dutchman, helmed by three Stage 3 beings was the strongest party amongst the three forces. Their coffers were full, but their forces were lacking. In terms of weapons and ammunition, they were self-sufficient owing to the newly gained resources and constant foraging. Being an experienced pirate group, they did not lack stellar battle experience. The second strongest party was the alien bugs (Formicians), who due to their unique nature were effectively unending and highly adaptable. They held the advantage in weapons and technology but lacked experience with their troops and leadership. However, this weakness was quickly disappearing over the constant course of battles. Their attention, however, was split between the pirate group and mankind, with their high-level combatants having yet to make an appearance. The final party, the native species who originally owned the territories (Mankind), was on its last legs. Both their forces and technology were greatly dwarfed by the two other parties, and they held only a tiny portion of the overall territory (Only the Core Region.) Due to their recent exposure to Rules and Soul Power, their battle experience was also severely lacking. And as if these factors weren''t serious enough to exterminate the species, according to the pirate''s words, there also seemed to be some sort of internal conflict amongst the native species. There existed two groups of people, one who called themselves ''Sors Fides'', who assisted the Formicians with their activities, while the other called the ''Alliance of Mankind'' and were against the former. This internal conflict with both parties actively denouncing and warring with the other, only served to hasten the destruction of the species as a whole. There was no doubt that the currents events were extremely dire and were the worst outcome possible. Mankind''s extinction meant the failure of the ''Great Plan''. "He''s not lying." Having used a spell to confirm the validity of his statements, Ka''lor''ah grimly declared. She then turned to face Lucius, only to find the latter sporting an extremely malevolent expression. Scathing Peak-Level Stage 2 soul power surged forth from his body. "Three years¡­those pathetic wretches couldn''t hold on for three fu*king years!" His fists were so tightly clenched that his nails dug into his skin causing it to bleed. Looking at Ka''lor''ah with glowing, discolored eyes that leaked with tangible murderous intent, Lucius spoke. "Tell Olivia to get here this instant. We are leaving immediately." In all the time that Ka''lor''ah had known the guy, this was the most expressive she had ever seen him. Lucius was absolutely furious. And the lid suppressing his emotions was completely off. -------- NOTE: Lucius is currently at Peak-Level Stage 2, owing to devouring nearly 400 Stage 2 existences. All racial abilities, other than [State of Devour] were also unlocked during the process. {Stage 3 Advancement Condition: Kill 5 Stage 3 beings] [Completion - 1/5] Chapter 228: Leaving Pectron. Final Part Less than 20 minutes later, Olivia followed by an entourage of 300 armored guards entered the pirate spaceship and met with Ka''lor''ah in the hangar. Seeing the floating golden crystal, Olivia promptly announced. "I''m here, teacher." "Mhm. What''s with the group?" Nodding to her disciple''s announcement, Ka''lor''ah gestured to the large group of warriors curiously scouting the interiors of the spaceship. "I just thought that we might need some manpower for our journey. All of them are Stage 2 with the five directly behind me at Mid-Level." Olivia explained, while pointing to the five armored guards directly behind her. Noticing a foreign gaze land on their body, the five Mid-Level Stage 2 guards unconsciously stiffened up. They looked at the golden floating crystal and felt an indescribable pressure upon their soul. Terrified, they quickly lowered their eyes. Olivia''s thoughtfulness served to improve Ka''lor''ah sullen mood. "Good job. I suppose you can have them start by helping out around this spaceship." Sighing to herself, she continued. "We have a slight manpower issue," pointing to the 30 pirates lifelessly staring at the large group. Knowing that this wasn''t the right time for questions, Olivia quickly split the armored guards into multiple groups and appointed leaders for each group. The five Mid-Level Stage 2 guards served as her deputy and overlooked the groups. With the division of labor complete, the guards quickly got to work. First, they started to unload the various crates containing essentials, like food, water, clothes, armor, weapons¡­etc. A few boxes which contained Olivia''s items were left untouched and were carefully placed in a secure place within the hanger. These boxes contained Olivia''s personal belongings, including her enormous wealth. The above process were efficiently completed within 15 minutes, after which the guards started to get to work within the ship. Led by the original inhabitants of the ship- the pirates- they started to help out. Olivia then asked a few questions pertaining to the readiness of the ship and the time required for departure. "If everything goes to plan, the ship will be ready to depart in about an hour." The pirate in charge of Ship Operations, answered. Upon answering her questions, the man did not dare to waste any more time and quickly got to work. Just imagining the angered face of that monster made him tremble at his knees. With everyone leaving the hanger to get busy with their assigned jobs, the only ones left were Ka''lor''ah and Olivia. "What happened? Why the sudden urgency? Where''s Lucius?" Olivia beautiful violet eyes stared worriedly at her teacher. Sighing aloud, Ka''lor''ah repeated the explanation previously given by the pirate, filling Olivia in on the details. The more Olivia heard, the paler her face became. When she heard that Mankind was on its last legs with most of its territories and people lost to the war, tears started appearing within her eyes. But this wasn''t the time to cry. One mustn''t resign themselves to hopelessness without first fighting back. Olivia knew this and hence forcibly held in her emotions while taking deep breaths to calm her mind. Once calmed, she looked at Ka''lor''ah and asked. "How long will it take us to get there?" "According to the guy in charge of navigation- two weeks." Olivia nodded her head. The sooner they could get there the better would be their chance at turning around the situation. As for how they would do it, she had no idea. Olivia mind started coming up with plans based on her understanding on the situation. However, she found herself unable to properly focus and was frequently distracted. Looking at the cluster of emotions and complex feelings within her eyes, Ka''lor''ah came to an understanding. Flying closer to Olivia, she asked. "Follow my instructions and draw this formation on the ground using your blood." While saying so, she transmitted an image of a runic array into Olivia''s mind. "What''s this formati--?" "Stop asking questions and just do as I say!" Ka''lor''ah sharply rebutted. Obeying her teacher''s words, Olivia quickly began with the drawing. This being her first time drawing an array, Olivia made a lot of mistakes. Of course, Ka''lor''ah being as understanding as she is, responded in like. "Hey, hey, what the hell is this? You call this a straight line? This is as straight as a Bronchian''s sexuality!" (AN: Bronchian''s are a unique race known to reproduce with members of the same gender. Interestingly, all Bronchian''s are males¡­let that sink in.) "No! The circles have to be thicker! Use more of your blood, idiot!" "Tch, it''s incorrect once again! Erase and redraw this part." "No, no, no, the letters are all wrong! What are you trying to do? Summon a demon?" "Oh Lord, how can a person be so hopeless in drawing a simple array? Was I too hasty in choosing her as my disciple?" Ka''lor''ah mumbled in a hesitant voice. "Teacher!" Olivia was on the verge of crying. She was subject to more mental and verbal abuse in the last 30 minutes, than she had ever received in the entirety of her life. While Ka''lor''ah was usually easy-going with the people she took a liking too, she never held back when it came to the subject of teaching. To tell the truth, it wasn''t Olivia''s fault at being so bad at drawing runic arrays. One required a special talent to handle runes. A talent that appeared only in less than 1% of all living things, making one suitable to become a Sigiler. While Olivia was very talented in other things, she was simply too normal at handling runes. "If not for this array requiring the user to draw it for it to function, I would''ve never let you butcher this sacred art!" Ka''lor''ah coldly scolded. Another 30 minutes passed before the runic formation was finally complete. Olivia collapsed next to it, severely drained of energy and blood. Her soul power started to passively operate and slowly replenished her blood. "This will do¡­it''s barely passable." Ka''lor''ah''s voice sounded from somewhere above. "Now infuse your soul power into this array." Too tired to ask anything, Olivia dragged herself up and placed both her hands atop the runic formation. She then started to infuse her soul power into the complex array. Time ticked by and complex, mysterious letters started to glow and appear atop the array. Olivia''s eyes were drawn into these mystical patterns, growing enchanted at their sights. The mysterious letters continued to flash for a few minutes, before collapsing in on themselves and forming a new symbol at the center of the array. The symbol was composed of a regular-looking tree surrounded by a large number of strange mechanical ants. Atop the tree''s canopy was a small-sized sun fiercely burning, providing warmth and nourishment to the tree. Olivia looked at this symbol with a confused expression, before turning to face her teacher. Upon seeing Olivia''s confused look, Ka''lor''ah chuckled before asking. "You were worried about your father weren''t you?" Olivia''s pupils froze and her hands faintly trembled. Holding back her emotions she asked with a hoarse voice. "¡­is he alright?" "Well, you can see that symbol, can''t you? That array has the simple function of divining someone or something''s current situation. Since you drew it with your own blood, the divination points to your only blood relative." "In simpler terms, he''s doing absolutely fine! Actually, he seems to be more than fine. Thriving, in fact." Ka''or''ah gently explained. The moment Olivia heard that she felt an indescribable sense of freedom and relief wash over her. Tears slowly dripped from her eyes carrying away her guilt and worries. "Thank you," she spoke while wiping away her tears. Getting up from the ground, Olivia performed a complete bow signifying her gratitude to Ka''lor''ah. From this moment forth, Olivia respected Ka''lor''ah from the bottom of her heart, completely accepting the latter as her teacher. Of course, Ka''lor''ah recognized this change and wholeheartedly welcomed it. Albeit lacking a face, a smug aura radiated off of her crystal body. Tremble! Tremble! The whole ship suddenly trembled with mild intensity as it rose into the air. Just then, an armored guard could be seen running towards Olivia. "Lady Governor, all preparations are complete. We can start the journey with your command." The guard spoke with suppressed excitement. After all, it was his first time leaving this planet. Olivia turned to look at Ka''lor''ah who nodded her body as a show of affirmation. "Relay my instructions. We can begin." And with that, the group finally left Pectron heading towards the war between a pirate group, an invading species, and Mankind. ---------- "Now to address the bigger problem¡­" Walking through the ship''s long hallways constructed out of some strange metal, were the duo of Ka''lor''ah and Olivia. Coming to a junction, the duo turned left and walked further into the heart of the spaceship. Unlike the previous areas which were populated with the people whom Olivia had brought aboard, this area was completely secluded. Walking for a few minutes, the duo simultaneously came to a pause. It wasn''t that they couldn''t go further, but that their bodies refused to move past this point. An unimaginable amount of pressure forced their minds and bodies to freeze. Looking into the empty corridor, one could see bloodlust and murderous intent materialize into the air in the form of ominous crimson winds. Each time the wind blew within the corridor, deep scratched formed on the walls and floors of the corridor. This was not the result of a direct attack, nor did it contain any amount of soul power. These scratches and gullies were the results of uncontrolled murderous intent released by Lucius'' soul. Chapter 229: Love and Determination. Feeling that familiar presence at the end of the corridor, Olivia pushed down the feeling of suffocation and horror in her heart and tried to take a step forward. Forcing her body to move, Olivia barely managed to move her feet by a few inches when she suddenly felt a wind caress the side of her cheek. A cold shiver ran down her spine and a drop of blood flowed down her cheek. Unable to hold on any longer, Olivia''s knees buckled under the immense pressure causing her to stumble backward, returning just outside the corridor. "Yeah, I wouldn''t recommend going in if I were you." Ka''lor''ah hurriedly prompted. "Is Lucius alright?" Olivia worriedly asked, her eyes unceasingly looking into the depths of the corridor. Ka''lor''ah similarly looked into the corridor. While Olivia could only view the crimson winds blowing in an erratic manner, Ka''lor''ah could see more. A few feet into the corridor resided an invisible boundary. Anything that crossed said boundary would perish. "¡­he''s fine. At least, there''s no problem with him physically." Ka''lor''ah faintly spoke. "Mentally, however, I have no idea." Feeling the melancholy in Ka''lor''ah''s voice, Olivia turned to look at her and asked. "Did something happen to him?" Olivia''s question allowed Ka''lor''ah to suddenly recall something. Ever since the near-death battle with that Stage 5 crimson soul, Lucius felt a bit¡­different. His eyes which were usually perfect blank slates contained more feeling in them. ''How did I fail to notice that?'' Ka''lor''ah felt dejected. Being the person closest to Lucius, going as far as having a soul connection with him, Ka''lor''ah should''ve been the one to immediately notice the change. However, she hadn''t done so. Granted that they did not exactly have a ''rest period'' after that battle and their recent schedule had been anything but easy, she still felt responsible. Lucius was incredibly strong there was no doubt about that fact. But at the same time, he was also very fragile. ''It''s always been my goal to help Lucius recover his emotions. To help him break free from that vicious cycle of guilt, self-doubt, and agony.'' ''More than anything, I want him to regain his emotions and live a happy life. That child¡­ has suffered more than any one person should. But¡­am I doing the right thing? Does he really want his emotions back?'' ''[Killer] took away everything that makes a person¡­human. But undoubtedly it also saved him from a lot of pain.'' The more she thought, the more she questioned. ''In the end, am I doing this for him¡­or for myself?'' "Teacher!" Olivia yells brought Ka''lor''ah out of her thoughts. "Are you okay? I called your name multiple times but you didn''t respond." Olivia asked. "It''s nothing. I was simply lost within my thoughts." She then turned to face Olivia and spoke in a serious tone. "Tell me, Olivia, do you love Lucius?" Caught off-guard by the sudden question, Olivia was greatly surprised and paused. She lowered her head and stared at the ground for a few seconds before looking at Ka''lor''ah with a smile. Her eyes were exceptionally clear, containing no confusion and her voice was equally sure and firm. "I do. I have for a very long time." Olivia clearly replied. Hearing that answer, Ka''lor''ah did not let go and pressed further. "Even though he is like this? So unfeeling, uncaring, and indifferent?" "Yes." "Even though he doesn''t see you as a person and only sees value in you as a tool?" "Yes." "Even though he might never return your feelings and might even abandon you one day?" "Yes." Olivia''s voice crisply resounded within the empty corridor. Her tone was unfaltering and her eyes were unwavering. Although Ka''lor''ah''s questions were sharp, Olivia''s face never lost its smile. "Why?" This time, it was Ka''lor''ah who was confused. "Why go so far when you don''t even know him that well? When you haven''t seen him for he really is?" Although Ka''lor''ah tried to speak as calmly as possible, she wasn''t able to hide her tumultuous emotions. "It''s because I love him, isn''t it?" "Isn''t it natural to change oneself for the people they love? Even if that love ends up fruitless." Olivia calmly replied with a smile. "Yes, I understand that Lucius has significantly changed recently. That he is different from the boy that I once knew. But, isn''t it fine? Just because he has changed a lot, doesn''t mean that he once wasn''t the person I knew him to be." Pausing here for a moment, Olivia took a deep breath before continuing. "I understand that I don''t know Lucius the same way I knew him before. But that''s okay." "I''m willing to take my time to slowly know him once again. To always be there for him whenever he needs me and help him however I can." "I also understand that the two of you share many secrets that I have no knowledge of. Secrets that come with such massive burdens that it can''t be shared easily." "And this makes me sad. I realize that it''s my own incompetence and weakness that stops you from sharing it with me." While speaking, Olivia''s fists were clenched so hard that the bones underneath her skin could be seen. "But that''s okay. Knowing that I''m lacking only serves to motivate me to work harder. To become someone that Lucius and Teacher could count on and share your burdens with." Olivia''s eyes shone with such fierce determination that Ka''lor''ah involuntarily flinched. For a moment, Ka''lor''ah found herself speechless. "Also, I know that this isn''t my place to say it but¡­Lucius'' isn''t as unfeeling and uncaring that you make him be. Rather, I feel that it''s the opposite." "He simply cares too much that he prioritizes others over himself and forces his feelings down in the process. It''s not that he can''t feel, but chooses not to." Hearing that, something suddenly clicked within Ka''lor''ah''s mind. For a moment, she felt all her confusion disappear and her questions answered. ''Indeed. It''s isn''t that Lucius doesn''t care at all, but he simply cares too much. Otherwise, why did he even bother participating in this insane plan of ours? Why bother with such immense risks to return to the past, when he was already at the top?'' ''All this while, I thought that the only reason Lucius did this was for a reason to live. However, now I realize that it is simply an excuse that he uses to convince himself that a killer like him could be something more than simply that.'' ''To participate in the ''Great Plan'' is his method of atonement!'' Having come to realize this, Ka''lor''ah felt the clouds of doubt disappear. Her mind felt exceptionally clear causing her to laugh out loud. "Hahaha, I give up, kid! I completely lost! You indeed do understand him better than I do." "I''ve decided! From this moment forth, I ship the two of you together! I shall do all I can do to support so that this ship successfully arrives at port!" "One day, when all of this is over, I''m expecting to see lots and lots of chibis!" Hearing her teacher loudly announce that, Olivia''s face uncontrollably blushed. "Let''s go and do something else. Right now, as long as he is like this there is nothing that we can do to help him. We have to wait until he calms down." "Will it be fine to simply leave him as such?" Olivia asked. "There''s nothing to worry about. For right now, even a Stage 3 being will find it difficult to approach Lucius without getting seriously injured." Ka''lor''ah explained. "He''s that strong?" Olivia asked with surprise. "If I were to answer, whom the strongest being in this Universe is? Underneath ''Them'', there is only Lucius." "For all who try to fight him, only Death awaits." Chapter 230: Soundless Slaughter. Two weeks later. Entering the spaceship''s command center, Olivia dressed in light purple robes and close-fitting black body armor asked the Terran in charge. "You called?" Raising his head from the terminal, the Terran ex-pirate looked towards Olivia and nodded his head. "Yes, Captain. We have almost arrived." He answered with respect, pointing towards the distant silhouette of a spaceship. During the last two weeks, apart from being instructed by Ka''lor''ah on many topics, she had also spent some time successfully integrating the group of thirty (traumatized) pirates into her own. As a result of her efforts, some amount of life had returned into the eyes of these thirty pirates which greatly contrasted the lifeless, corpse-like expression they had at the beginning. During this time, Olivia also utilized her abilities to investigate some matters. The first, mainly being, how the pirates had received information about Mankind? After a few days of rigorous investigation and she finally arrived at the truth. A truth that was simple, yet shocking at the same time. It came in the form of a single person¡­Major Eyler. If one recalled carefully, Major Eyler was the second-in-command at the Frontier Base of Deatov, the first planet which faced the Ascension. After successfully surviving that tragedy, he safely returned to the Alliance HQ, where after a series of events and schemes, he managed to snag the position of ''Head of Military'' from Alex and was the General in charge of leading Mankind''s forces against the Ascension. Having expected easy victories, honor, and fame, he was met with the insurmountable assault of the Formicians. After facing them not once, but twice, ''Head of Military'' Eyler''s whereabouts went missing after the latter battle. Having disobeyed the Alliance''s orders to willfully retreat while sacrificing the soldiers under him, he was charged with high treason, desertion, and inhumane conduct. Alas, unable to find the man he was declared, MIA. Or so was the story, until now. Using the Arbiter''s investigation abilities, Olivia managed to piece together the rest of the truth. Apparently, having lost the second major battle against the Formicians, under the threat of death, Eyler, sacrificing the soldiers under him to buy some time, managed to escape the battlefield after manning a spaceship. Understanding the weight of his actions and the consequences he would face if he returned to Mankind''s territories, he left in the opposite direction planning to take his chances in the vast Universe. Two years later, having run out of food, water, and fuel, listlessly floating in the infinite void of space, just as Death''s touch reached in to reap his soul, he stumbled upon a scouting ship of the ''Flying Dutchman''. Captured by the pirate group, he was then tortured to the point of disclosing information on Mankind. The leader of the pirate group, knowing that a species would be at its weakest when facing its first Ascension, immediately gave the order for the ''Flying Dutchman'' to enter the fires of war. The phrase, ''the fall of Man will be caused by Man himself,'' had never been truer. This just goes to show, how much of an effect a seemingly insignificant, easily-forgotten character would have in the greater picture. No plans are perfect and even the smallest of factors will lead to the most unforeseen of changes. Beep, beep! Just then, one of the terminals within the command room started to buss with life. The atmosphere within the room immediately turned tense. "*bzzt*¡­You''re entering restricted territory. Immediately leave or you will be treated as hostile!" A voice grimly announced. "*hrzzt* this is Deadman One, we are returning from the ''Refill Mission''. Please report to Command." "Oh, it''s you guys. Didn''t expect to see you so soon. Please wait while I report to Command." Having recognized their men, the voice on the other side of the comms immediately turned friendly. While waiting for further instructions to follow, one of the Deputies, arrived next to Olivia and asked. "Lady Governor, when do we begin?" "No hurries, Captain. We will follow the plan previously discussed." Olivia coolly replied. Just as Olivia had finished talking, the alarms within the command room sprung to life. "Hull Breach in Compartment 13!" One of the technicians immediately reported. "Is it an attack?" Growing serious, Olivia asked. "No, ma''am. It''s¡­" Raising his head from the terminal, the technician was about to explain when he suddenly paused. His eyes had unwittingly passed by the large glass window in front of the room, overlooking the void of space, causing him to notice something. It wasn''t just the technician, but all of the people within the command room had their eyes affixed on the window. Their eyes bulged and their mouths, agape. For outside the window, in the empty void of space, a humanoid figure covered in reddish-black aura dashed towards that distant spaceship. ''Hmmm, Lil'' Olivia,'' A mental message from Ka''lor''ah resounded within Olivia''s mind. "Lucius just left from the ship." "Change of plans! We shall immediately start the battle. Full speed ahead!" Olivia''s voice thundered within the command room. ----------- Flying through the void of space using his soul power, Lucius, whose body was surrounded by material murderous intent, had a single thought in his mind. ''Kill.'' Anger had completely clouded his rationality, resulting in Lucius'' reverting to his base state. The state where he was incapable of reason, fueled only by his desire to slaughter. This state was simultaneously both Lucius'' strongest and weakest moment. Strongest in the sense, that Lucius would be at this peak performance state with his battle sense, and combat talent would be fully showcased. Weakest in the sense, Lucius was no longer capable of reasoning and would not stop until he or all of his opponents were dead. Approaching the first pirate ship with his full speed, Lucius felt the surface of his skin tingle as a sense of immense danger appeared within his mind. The moment he felt danger, Lucius instinctively activated [Void Steps], entering the void and appearing a few hundred meters away. It had to be noted that all of the Void Eater''s racial abilities had undergone another upgrade. [Void Steps] now had an increased range of 1km, with the cost of void energy remaining the same. This just goes to show that the ''Rule of Void'' inherent to the Void Eater''s body was growing stronger as Lucius increased in power. The very instant that Lucius had disappeared from his initial location, a ray of colored light exploded at that location, tinting the surrounding space with light and heat. Interestingly enough, the source of energy was soul energy, and not the ''Condensed Directed Energy'' which Mankind used. Having dodged that attack from the enemy spaceship, Lucius'' eyes narrowed and the murderous intent surrounding his body strengthened further. Once again, he utilized [Void Steps] to close the distance between himself and the enemy spaceship by a great margin, entering melee combat range. Through his olfactory organ, Lucius could smell the surprise and shock of the people inside the spaceship. However, he ignored these reactions and landed atop the vessel''s surface with a loud thud. (its space so there''s no actual noise) THUD! Raising his fist into the air, Lucius'' right hand shone with silver light as he heavily punched on the metal surface. Under the sheer weight of the punch, the metal surface instantly formed a depression, caving inwards. One had to know that these spaceships'' surface was quite resilient, made to withstand impact from rocks and other space debris. It was by no manner weak. It was Lucius, whose physical body had devoured the special property of the Silver Fist Apes, combined with Peak-Level Stage 2 soul power, who was simply too strong. BANG! BANG! BANG! The hull managed to withstand a few minutes of inane pounding, before giving in. A whooshing sound immediately appeared as the air started to rush out from within the spaceship due to the relative pressure difference. Grabbing onto the two sides of the manufactured entrance with his hands, Lucius effortlessly entered the spaceship. His soul sense immediately swept through the entire spaceship, followed by the sensitive sniffing of his nose. ''60 beings on board. 59 Low-Level Stage 2s and a single Mid-Level Stage2.'' Having confirmed the number on board, Lucius immediately moved to smash apart the metallic walls inside the vessel with pure brute force. Appearing on the other side, he was instantly met with the attacks of 3 Low-Level Stage 2 beings. [Metal Fists], [Animal Strength], and [Laser Palms] being their soul types. A fist formed of metal and another which was covered in fur landed on Lucius'' body in sequence. Simultaneously, a beam of energy originating from the two open palms of its aggressor headed towards Lucius'' face. ''Weak! Too weak!'' Lucius couldn''t even bother evading or blocking, as he allowed the attacks to land on him. Apart from that laser attack blinding him for an insignificant instant, Lucius was completely unscathed. While the three attackers were common foot-soldiers, they were by no means weak. To be able to survive in this profession (pirate), for more than three months, meaning that the person had some amount of ability. Seeing Lucius'' unharmed figure that didn''t so much as flinch under their attacks, the three figures slowed from shock. Just as quickly as the thought of retreating appeared within their minds, it disappeared. Lucius'' body flashed past them and the head of the three exploded and their bodies lifelessly dropped to the ground. There was no technique, there was no finesse. There was simply pure, mindless violence. After Lucius'' passage, a dark shadow immediately appeared underneath them, with a few pitch-black appendages appearing from within and dragging their dead bodies into the ground. With their bodies recycled into void energy and their soul recycled into soul energy, Lucius was a perpetual machine of slaughter that had just begun its massacre. ---------- "Gatekeeper Three to Command, please respond! I repeat, Gatekeeper Three to Command, please respond!" "A new hostile target has appeared. Danger Level: Catastrophe! Power Level: Suspected Stage 3!!" "Please inform the Boss and prepare¡ªacck!" with a scream of pain, the voice suddenly cut out marking the end for Gatekeeper Three. Chapter 231: Rowdy Group. Tak. Tak. Tak. Tak. The clanks of hurried footsteps echoed endlessly throughout a long, desolate metal corridor. His fingers desperately clutched onto a stack of translucent sheets, while his face was pallid from exhaustion and desperation. This person, a Terran pirate belonging to the Flying Dutchman was an Information Coordinator who worked in the main ship of the pirate group. In charge of handling information operations of the western sector, what started as a seemingly usual day quickly took a turn to the worst. A mysterious, unknown entity with Stage 3 strength had arrived and was destroying the group''s personnel in the Western Sector. Since its arrival approximately 14 hours ago, the entity had already wiped out all of their forces in the western sector accounting for 900+ personnel, 15 Light-Type Scouting vessels, nearly 30 Supply Transit Vessels, 115 Single-Pilot Spaceships, and one Armored Battleship in charge of the area. While the losses of the personnel and smaller vessels could be easily overlooked, the loss of a Large Armored Battleship was exceptionally heavy. It had to be known that not only was its sale restricted by the two ruling factions, making them exceptionally rare and expensive to buy in the black market, the ''Flying Dutchman'' only had 3 of them making each one extremely precious. Usually, each Armored Battleship would be protected by a Stage 3 member of the group, however, due to sudden increase in the intensity of the war against the Formicians, all three of the Stage 3 beings belonging to the Flying Dutchman were called back to the main ship for a meeting. And it was to this very meeting, that this Terran Intelligence Coordinator desperately running too. No one knew who this mysterious entity was, but one thing was for certain. Its bloodlust was not stated and it was heading towards them. Running for a solid five minutes, the Terran officer finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Lighted by a small luminous object was a single door. Arriving before the said door, the Terran officer stopped for a moment and hurriedly recovered his breath. When his panting eased slightly, he raised his hand and heavily knocked on the singular metallic door. Knock. Knock. Knock. The sharp noise of a metal sheet grating against another metal surface sounded out. A small slit appeared on the surface of the door with a pair of bloodthirsty crimson eyes staring at the Terran Officer. "What?" the voice from the other side of the door asked with irritation. "Emergency news! We are facing a crisis. Danger Level: Catastrophe." The Terran officer clearly answered. Having worked in the heart of a pirate group for many years had helped him gain considerable courage and mental resilience. Although tense and nervous, his delivery of the news was extremely clear. Hearing that answer, the eyes of the person behind the door shrunk. Without a word, he stepped back, opened the door, and led the Terran inside. Closing the door after the Terran officer stepped inside, that crimson-eyed person, whose body radiated Peak-Level Stage 2 aura and intense bloodlust, closed the door and sourly said. "Follow me." The Terran Intelligence Coordinator hastily nodded his head and followed behind this person. With his eyes lowered, his heart shook with fear and reverence as he recognized this person. This person covered with an intense bloody aura belonged to a rare Beast-Human tribe called Leos. Golden hair covered his face forming a beautiful mane behind which was a handsome lion-like face. His body was nearly 7 ft tall, weighing around 250 kilograms of pure muscle and violence. His two arms, which were enormous compared to a human, were adorned by sharp, retractable claws and contained enough strength to bare-handedly crush rock. The name of this exquisite hunk of a specimen was Leg''lor, known within the pirate circle as the ''Crazed Lion''. He was one of the nine generals of the Flying Dutchman, standing at the peak of the group. "When did the news come in?" While leading the Terran officer, Leg''lar steely asked. "Well¡­the first report come in approximately 14 hours ago, but the signal was corrupted and the message was unclear. It was only around eight hours later that we were able to make sense of the situation." Pushing up his glasses which shone with intellectual light, the Terran officer explained. Hearing that Leg''lar did not ask any further and simply nodded his head. The pair continued to walk briskly for a minute when they arrived in front of a partition. Behind this satin-like material partition, was where the leader and two of the vice-leaders of the Flying Dutchman, all Stage 3 existences were having a meeting. Parting the material out of the way, Leg''lar stepped in before gesturing the Terran to follow. Entering the room, the Terran officer''s eyes landed upon a sizeable round-table seated by three figures. Standing behind each of the three figures were two more people, bringing the total count of the room to 10 with the inclusion of the new arrivals. The moment the duo entered the room, all discussion immediately died down with their eyes focusing on the duo. Curiosity, irritation, anger, scorn, each pair contained a different emotion. Disregarding the looks thrust upon him, Leg''lar clearly spoke. "Boss, we got a problem." "What is it?" The only hooded figure within the room calmly spoke. Leg''lar gestured to the Terran Officer to speak up. Noting his actions, the eyes of everyone within the room landed upon the Terran officer. Feeling each of those gazes scanning his body, the Terran officer nervously gulped. His legs had already begun trembling as the pressure from 6 Peak-Level Stage 2s and 3 Stage 3s, were too much for a measly Low-Level Stage 2 like him to handle. "Don''t be afraid and speak up." Having felt the tumultuous emotions of the man, the Boss gently encouraged him. "Y-yes, boss!" The Terran officer quipped. Taking a deep breath he then started to explain. "A mysterious existence, suspected to be a Stage 3 being has attacked our forces stationed in the Western sector. As of the last fourteen hours, it has wiped out all of our forces within the sector and moving elsewhere. Here are the losses¡­" saying so, he passed on a few sheets from his hand to Leg''lar who then passed it to the table. "Having lost all our men within that sector, we are currently unable to track this entity''s whereabouts. However, according to our predictions, its course is direct and is heading towards us here." "Additionally, we believe that this entity isn''t working alone as we noticed the presence of another ship closely following this entity. We also managed to receive some images of them plundering our ships." "Oh.." "This is?" "Is that our ship?" "Are these images correct, pirate?" cutting across the chatter, the Boss raised a certain picture and questioned the Terran. "That is correct." Nodding his head, he continued. "After some investigation, we realized that the ship was ''Deadman One'' which was sent on a refill mission to Pectron. Clearly, it has been occupied by foreign forces with unkind intentions." "We still don''t know the strength or number of forces on the other side, as our information is currently lacking. The Information Department has already sent probes to the area, hoping to gain some info." "Is your department sure that this isn''t an attack from those filthy bugs, or from those weak, toy-users struggling on their last breaths?" The Boss questioned, referring to the Formicians and Mankind respectively. "Positive. This is another party. As for their relations with the former two, we have no information on that." "I see." The boss said as such and lowered his head in thought. "Here are the images we managed to capture of that unknown entity. Its speed seems to be quite high, as the only thing we managed to capture is a blurry shadow." The Terran elaborated, passing on a blurry picture of a shadowy figure. The Boss was in quiet contemplation for a few moments and none of the others dared to interrupt him. After the passage of a few minutes, he raised his hooded head and spoke. "This matter comes at a rather unfortunate time, but¡­oh well, Jaros." The Boss called upon a name. "Yes, boss!" One of the seated figures immediately stood up. His figure was immediately recognizable as a Lacerman. "Since the Western Sector was previously under your oversight, you will deal with this matter. Eliminate this hostile, alongside that rouge group. I trust I can count on you to complete this?" "Yes, boss!" The Stage 3 Lacerman immediately responded. Nodding his head, the Boss stood up from his seat and spoke. "That settles it then. We will go ahead with the plan discussed in this meeting. This farce has gone on for long enough. It''s time to end this war and return with our spoils." "Apart from Jaros, all other personnel will immediately head towards the final base of that pathetic race and finish them. After clearing that annoying rabble out of the way, we shall deal with those filthy bugs finishing this war." A chilling look emanated from the hood as he sharply spoke. "I''ve had enough of waiting around. If those Stage 3 bugs hiding behind the frontlines won''t show up for battle, then I shall take the battle to them!" "Meeting dismissed. Get moving immediately. "Yes, Boss!!" Chapter 232: Hunter and Hunted. In the distant, dark void of space. BANG! A human-shaped figure crashed atop a large, floating piece of space rock. The figure''s arrival caused the entire rock to destabilize causing a large crater and multiple fissures. "Grhh!!" The figure, whose entire body was ashen-grey in complexion, let out a deep, unearthly growl. Lifting its head, one could see a pair of mismatched, brightly shining eyes, look into the dark void of space with desire and murderous intent. The figure''s head looked around a few times before locking its eyes in a certain direction. Upon reaching some sort of confirmation, it let out a beastly grunt before kicking off of the space rock and dashing into the dark space at inhuman speeds. The sheer energy behind its kick completely pulverized the rock, exploding it into an uncountable number of fragments. This figure, who was now flying through space at speeds that could rival a spaceship, was naturally Lucius. As a result of losing control over his emotions, Lucius had entered the ''Berserk-state'' of the Void Eater, being solely controlled by his desire and hunger to kill. The scenery within his mindspace had also undergone a change due to this state, with the pitch-black sea boiling while releasing an inordinate amount of black smoke which served to blanket the sky and suppress the golden sun. The [Annihilator] soul which was silently floating at the center of his mindspace did not seem to be affected by this black smoke, as anything that entered within a 5m radius of itself was promptly destroyed. The [Annihilator] also did not do anything to suppress or stop the actions of the boiling pitch-black sea, allowing the latter to do as it pleased. With the Void Eater''s desires taking over and the [Annihilator] soul not taking anything actions to control it, Lucius'' consciousness was overpowered, rendering him incapable of any sense or reason. Over the last few hours, Lucius had killed and devoured a large number of living things with the exception of Stage 3 beings, allowing his soul power''s quantity to climb to an absurd degree. One would think that having killed and eaten so many beings, one would grow tired and stop. However, Lucius being under the Void Eater bloodline''s influence did not have a single thought of stopping. If anything, the more he killed and devoured, the greater was his desire to continue doing so. After all, for a Void Eater, devouring everything was their sole purpose of existence. ''Food! There!'' Some distance away, Lucius could see a small, spherical object floating around in space. The spherical object was around 2-meters in diameter with the corpse of a freshly deceased Stage 2 being fastened around it. His eyes brightened by another degree as his body accelerated towards this offering. Grabbing onto the spherical object with his two hands, Lucius immediately lowered his face into the chest of the corpse and started to devour it. His actions were practiced as this was the fifteenth such offering that he had come across in the past hour. Under his incessant devouring, the corpse was quickly consumed, inclusive of bones and all. Its soul, however, had long since returned to Limbo. Having finished consuming the snack, Lucius raised his bloodied face and scanned around some more. His eyes constantly searched around space, before finally locking on to another similar offering. Without giving it a second thought, he quickly kicked off the metallic object and rushed towards the next. Had Lucius been sane during these proceedings, he would have long since noticed the abnormality of his situation. To come across elaborately spaced probes containing what could only be considered as bait, was by no degree, normal. It was clear that someone was baiting Lucius and luring him to a certain location. Unfortunately, Lucius was in no proper mind to see this and fell into an obvious trap. After two more hours of following the bait, Lucius'' figure came into the vicinity of a barren moon. This moon, or at least resembled a moon, was primarily brown in color, orbiting the remains of a destroyed planet. The moment this moon came within Lucius'' sights, his eyes shone with glaring brightness and a look of ecstasy appeared on his face. With the Void Eater''s senses, he could identify an absurd amount of life force coming off of the surface of this moon, which only meant one thing. Living Beings! Or in the Void Eater''s language¡­food that was in its freshest and delicious state. Burning his void energy, Lucius used [Void Step] to close the remainder of the distance and crashed onto the surface of the barren moon. His figure, stepping out from the crater of his creation, looked more beastly than any of the Wild Beasts of the same quality. His face containing boundless ecstasy stared with drooling lips at the hundred or so Stage 2 beings that surround him with threatening weapons and menacing expressions. The badge containing the silhouette of a black ship sailing across the stars was worn on every person''s chest. It was the signature of the ''Flying Dutchman''! Looking at these hundred figures, each of whom was at least Mid-Level Stage 2 in strength with the two in the front radiating the aura of Peak-Level Stage 2, it was evident that this group of hundred was an elite group sent for the sole purpose of eliminating the fiend who destroyed their Western sector''s forces. The air was thick with tension as neither side moved first. The faces of the elite henchmen were taut as they stared at the grey-skinned ''beast'' of unknown strength in front of them. The faces of the two, Peak-Level Stage 2s, however, showed confusion. While they weren''t able to see through Lucius'' strength (owing to his superior quantity and quality of soul power), they also did not feel the overwhelming pressure that was released by a Stage 3 existence. For a moment, doubt surfaced in their minds as they thought to themselves. ''Is this that mysterious entity whose danger level is at ''Catastrophe''? Did we get the right person?'' However, they quickly shook their heads to rid themselves of their doubt. Their leader, Jaros, had instructed them to test the strength of this entity. Such being the instructions of a Stage 3 existence, they would unhesitantly carry it out. "START YOUR ATTACKS! KILL THAT FIEND!!" Screaming with courageous valor, the Peak-Level Stage 2 led the attack against the Void Eater. "WOOO!!!!" The elite henchmen replied with enthusiastic cries and dashed towards the figure at the center. Victory meant survival. Defeat meant death. Such being the odds, none of them dared to hold any of their strength back. If the figure in the center was any normal Peak-Level Stage 2 existence, then being attacked by such a group of one hundred elites, the outcome would obviously be defeat, followed by death. Heck, even if the figure in the center was a remarkable figure from an Upper or Superior Grade Race, under the exact same conditions, no matter the techniques learnt or the training they have undergone, they would still die. The only difference being, how long it would take them to do so. However, the figure currently in the center was neither of these two. It was an entity that was the only one of its kind in the entire Universe. It was an ex-Stage 7 battle maniac, with the body of a Void Eater. A race that took the crown for being the most overpowered and broken species that was in existence! Although the current Lucius'' wasn''t completely sane and rational, his battle experience and combat senses were hardly affected. If anything, they had undergone improvements under this state. Watching the group of elites rush towards him, Lucius lightly snorted and disdain flashed across his eyes. Lowering his body towards the ground, he tensed the muscles on his legs before exploding forth with pure physical strength. The ground beneath his legs fissured and Lucius'' figure disappeared into a blur. His movements were so fast, that the only thing that could be seen was the afterimages of his movements. Unlike his opponents who used their techniques, skills, abilities, and weapons, Lucius used none. Facing this crowd, just the physical attributes of his body were more than enough. The first ones to take notice of Lucius'' ungodly speeds and movements were the two Peak-Level Stage 2 beings. Even with their strengths and experience, they only managed to react after the former had already moved. "GROUP 3! MOVE OUT OF TH¡ª" The Peak-Level Stage 2 Terran yelled into the communication device mounted inside his helmet. Alas, the shouts of his warnings came too late. The group which he had referred to as Group 3 was where a dark streak had passed through. No one among the group seemed to have noticed the dark streak, as they continued to rush towards Lucius'' afterimage in the center, blissfully unaware of their impending doom. Hearing that shout of warning from their Vice-Captain, the members of the group simultaneously turned and shot towards him, looks of confusion. Just as they were about to ask; what the warning was about, their bodies suddenly froze and their eyes shrunk to form pinholes. Blood mists appeared behind the backs of the nine Group 3 members, along with the appearance of a fist-sized hole in the middle of their chests. Pieces of broken armor slowly fell to the ground and blood poured from within the wound. The light in their eyes disappeared, followed by the heavy thuds of their bodies dropping to the ground. The entire attacking group came to a sudden pause, as they watched this shocking event with dumbfounded eyes. They simply could not believe what was happening. One moment, they were all rushing towards the grey-skinned figure at the center. The next, nine of their men suddenly dropped to the ground with holes on their chests. "Ah¡­" The satisfied sigh mysteriously resounded within the heads of each remaining member. Their eyes simultaneously moved to land on the figure which had bizarrely appeared behind the fallen bodies. A grey-skinned humanoid, seemingly oblivious to their stares, threw in the final two masses of flesh into its mouth. Munching on the two hearts a few times, it swallowed for a final time before turning its gaze towards the remaining survivors. Licking its lips with deliberate movements, the beast smiled at the group before disappearing into a blur once again. The hunter and hunted had switched places. Right now, it wasn''t Lucius who fell to a trap set by the group of hundred elites, but the elites who were trapped in this place with Lucius. Chapter 233: Battle With the Crying Serpent. Part 1 "Quick, move to reinforce that hole on the left!" "It''s behind you! Duck immediately!" "Aah, aah! Go away! GO AWAY YOU MONSTER!!" "MY ARMS! IT GOT BOTH OF MY ARMS!!" "When''s the leader going to act?! We are dropping like flies here!" "I don''t want to die! Please! I don''t want to die!!" Screams and desperate cries filled the barren moon''s surface. All valor had disappeared from the faces of the elites, replaced entirely by hopelessness and primal fear. It was a strange contrast, especially when compared to the scene prior to Lucius'' arrival. However, what was even stranger than this contrast was the scene of the battlefield. What was previously an attacking formation surrounding a singular figure in its center had now changed to a circular formation, playing defense at the center. With thirty shield bearers forming an outer wall with their tower shields and the remaining twenty or so survivors gathering within and fending off the attacks from the enemy, it was no longer a hunt, but a desperate attempt to prolong their lives. Occasionally, a dark streak could be seen flashing across their circular formation, with two to three of the elites dropping dead on the ground. No matter what the group did to avoid this, the outcome was always the same. Morale had completely been broken and despair was prevalent. These men would have already lost their will to fight, if not for one of the Peak-Level Stage 2 Vice-Captains having a mental-type soul, allowing him to suppress the fear and enhance courage, these men would have already scattered. "Do not lose hope! Leader will be here anytime now!" "Ooh!! Delay that beast!!" "Your sacrifices will not be meaningless brothers!!" Since the start of the battle, around 20 minutes had passed with around fifty of the elite pirates dying. Why was the death count so low, you ask? It was obvious. Lucius was toying with them. It was in the nature of a superior predator to toy with its food before killing them. It was this dark, twisted desire that morphed this hunt into a cruel cat and mouse game. It had to be noted that if Lucius had retained his sanity during this trial, he would''ve never performed such meaningless acts. It was his nature to kill in the most efficient, time-saving way possible. Intentionally delaying a death would only result in unforeseen accidents. Such as now. Having brought down the number of survivors to forty-two with his consequent attacks, Lucius was preparing for another explosive rush when suddenly his pupils shrunk and fear appeared within his eyes. Instantly changing the orientation of his body, Lucius leaned back and kicked off the ground with all the power he could muster. It was a desperate attempt to dodge at the final moment. Not that it worked. A trident containing an enormous amount of energy suddenly appeared in the space before him. With speeds that surpassed Lucius'' own the trident stabbed towards his chest, following which the energy at its tip exploded. BANG!! A crater instantly formed underneath the point of explosion and Lucius'' body was flung back at an insane speed. His body over the horizon, dozens of kilometers from what the eye could see. With that one hit, Lucius was completely, utterly overpowered. "Humph! And here I was expecting something more from this ''mysterious entity.'' Nothing but a Stage 2 dog that has lost control." A heavy voice declared, his tone tinged with disappointment. Standing at the spot where Lucius previously stood was a tall, Lacerman holding an aquamarine-colored trident with crossed arms. Apart from the blue armor that covered his upper body and legs, he wore no helmet to hide his face. Two scars crisscrossed above his right eye, giving the Lacerman a savage, battle-hardened look that complemented the arrogant look on his face. His sizeable muscles rippled out of his armor, giving him the look of an experienced powerhouse. As stated previously, Stage 2 and above existences can survive in the void of space solely on their soul power. Stage 3 and above existences can even project their voices in space, using their soul power as the medium. (The Lacerman had just done so.) Seeing this man arrive, shouts of joy echoed from the survivors behind him. "Leader!" "Leader Jaros! You''re finally here!!" Some of the men dropped to the ground and cried tears of happiness. Relief filled their bodies as their minds finally relaxed at having survived this nightmare. That beast was no longer a threat. They were finally safe. For their leader had appeared. One of the three Stage 3 powerhouses of the Flying Dutchman. The Crying Serpent, Jaros! Hearing the cries of relief from his men, Jaros turned around and shot them a cold look. Seeing that look in his eyes, the elite pirates instantly forced themselves to become quiet. Truth be told, Jaros had been on this moon since the start of this battle. He had been watching each and every movement of Lucius and all of his men, since the start, having had the power and opportunity to intervene at any point. However! He never did so. While Jaros looked like a battle-crazy, hot-blooded person, his real nature was in fact the exact opposite. He was a very patient and cunning individual who would never make a move until he was sure of his victory. Just like a snake! He coldheartedly used his own men as bait in order to lure Lucius and make him reveal all of his strengths and techniques. However, the more he continued to watch, the more he was disappointed. Apart from being faster, stronger, and having more soul power than a normal Peak-Level Stage 2 individual, there was nothing special about Lucius! In fact, there were a lot of weaknesses, the lack of control over himself, being the most prevalent! While Lucius might''ve been an insurmountable mountain to these hundred men, to Jaros, he was nothing but a maddened Stage 2 dog! And against such a dog, there was no point to lie in wait or too elaborately plot. "What a waste of time." Jaros spat a mouthful of saliva. "That pig must be stealing all of my achievements by now." He hatefully said, referring to the third Stage 3 in their group. Walking towards his men, he ordered. "Move your asses and call for the ship. We need to leave and quickly join the main battle." It was then, that Jaros suddenly paused and slowly turned around. "Oh," he spoke while staring at a distance. "Still not dead, huh?" Surprise was evident within his eyes. Almost a hundred kilometers away, Lucius shakily rose from within a mountain wall. His limbs were twisted in horrific directions, with his right arm hanging by a thread of muscle from his shoulder. A cavity had formed at the center of Lucius'' chest, exposing his inverted, triangular heart pumping furiously. Burns covered the entirety of his frontal body exposing his bones and inner muscles. A good portion of Lucius'' face had also been destroyed with all of his hair been burnt off. Right now, Lucius looked like a deformed corpse that was subject to an explosion attack. His half-muscular, half-skeletal look was the stuff of nightmares. However, there was something very different about his demeanor. The complexion of his skin had lightened, going from ashen-grey to a more whitish-grey. His bright, discolored eyes had also dampened revealing a calmer, intelligent light within its depths. Looking down at his body, Lucius ignored the grievous amounts of pain that he felt within his mind and calmly evaluated. ''I lost control once again. And this time, I almost died.'' His thoughts were eerily calm, without a hint of panic, dissatisfaction, or even fear. ''If that attack contained even 5% more power, I would''ve most certainly died. In the end, I have no one to blame but myself for losing control. I have been taking this too lightly.'' Lucius quietly sighed to himself. Ever since his return, this was the greatest injury he had sustained. ''This can no longer be allowed to continue. As my racial abilities become stronger, I also become more prone to go berserk. At this rate, I would rather give up the Void Eater''s abilities than lose control like this.'' A serious look appeared within his eyes. ''But first, to deal with this...'' Grabbing onto his hanging right arm with his left, Lucius positioned it in its correct spot, before leading his soul power to the point of connection. A sharp pain shot out from his shoulder, as the grievous injury slowly started to heal. Bones started to grow, muscles started to mend and skin started to cover. Flexing his newly healed right arm, Lucius then placed both his hands on his chest and started to control the soul power and heal the major injuries. Having devoured the souls of hundreds upon hundreds of living things, he was in no way lacking soul power. Under his elaborate control, Lucius managed to heal 80% of his gruesome injuries in a matter of minutes. As for the rest, they would not hinder his combat ability. ''Alas, if I had been Stage 3, it would''ve only taken a few dozen seconds to completely heal.'' Confirming the state of his body once more, Lucius then looked at the distant horizon where he felt the overwhelming presence of the Stage 3 Lacerman. Stepping forth once, the black shadow underneath his feet expanded before enveloping him inside. Lucius'' figure disappeared as he entered the Void. "[Void Travel]." (AN: New ability. Will be explained in the next chapter.) Chapter 234: Battle With the Crying Serpent. Part 2 "[Void Travel]" Lucius'' soft murmur activated the newest ability of the Void Eater. Enveloped by his shadow and thus entering the Void, Lucius turned into a streak of dark light that traversed through the barren plain at inestimable speeds. [Void Travel] was a derivative of [Void Steps] with the latter being a short-range teleportation skill, while the former was a long distant movement skill. [Void Travel] allowed the Void Eater to traverse large distances of space using the Void as a medium. It was similar to the hyperdrive function of Mankind''s spaceships, where instead of using a subsidiary secondary dimension as the medium of traversal the Void Eaters used the Void. It could be said that as long as Lucius provided sufficient void energy to power the skill, [Void Travel] has no range to speak off. However, factors such as speed and ability to infiltrate areas with a high Rule-density (i.e, deeper towards the center of the Universe) will be dependent on the Stage of the Void Eater. During the previous battle, it was this ability that the berserk Lucius'' had used to toy with the elite pirate group. The dark streak that moved about in the battlefield was the marker signifying Lucius'' position. It had to be noted that during [Void Travel] it was impossible to hurt Lucius using normal means. Due to his body existing within the Void, it would be impossible for attacks to physically reach him. Back to the story. ''The opponent I''m facing this time is a genuine Low-Level Stage 3 at his peak form. He''s sufficiently alert, rendering null any possibilities of a sneak attack. Frontal combat is the only remaining option.'' ''Judging from that attack earlier, his main attribute leans towards ''Water'' and ''Corrosion''. He also seems to be sufficiently familiar with a weapon, not to mention he has an Upper Mid-Grade armor protecting his body.'' ''He''s a Stage 3 Lacerman¡­hmm, if my memories are correct, he must be the Crying Serpent of the Flying Dutchman. Abundant battle experience and a cautious personality were my observations. His Domain is also particularly annoying.'' Thoughts rolled within Lucius'' mind at breakneck speeds while his body moved ever closer to his opponent. Under no circumstances are Stage 3 opponents to be taken lightly. Being able to reach Stage 3 meant that not only did one possess sufficient talent, luck, and resolve to allow them to reach such a Stage, but also meant that one possessed sufficient experience. Lucius'' previous encounter with the Stage 3 Bertarian was a special case. If not for the Void Eater''s body being the perfect counter for ''Astral'' and ''Space'' type energy, Lucius would have most definitely lost his life that day. Due to these above reasons, that could not be considered an actual battle against a Stage 3 existence. However, this current one was most definitely so! Seeing the figure of his opponent at the distance, Lucius took a deep breath. ''I have to be quick and efficient, going all out from the start. That initial strike against me must have given him some confidence, making him subconsciously underestimate me.'' ''Dish out as much damage as possible as soon as possible. I shouldn''t give him an opportunity to deploy his Domain.'' ''Hmm, soul power and void power expenditure shouldn''t be a problem. There is a good stock of replenishments at the back.'' Reaching his hands into the darkness to grab his weapon, Lucius closed his eyes one final time before starting the battle. ''Let''s begin.'' Immediately existed [Void Travel], Lucius figure suddenly materialized in the space before Jaros. Their bodies were separated by only a few feet of distance, as each could see the look of the eyes on the other. Surprise in one and calmness in the other. Without wasting a single second, Lucius immediately started with his strongest attack. "Third Movement- Eviscerate." The [Annihilator]''s soul power flowed into the scythe through his hands, causing crimson blood-colored veins to instantly pulse on the body of the former. An enormous amount of energy gathered at the edge of the blade, which then turned into millions of flashes of white light shaped in the form of threads. In an instant, the net formed of millions of threads of light immediately closed the distance and landed on the body of the Stage 3 Lacerman. Unable to react to this sudden attack, the blow fully landed on Jaros. BANG!! The enormous explosion caused the weak atmosphere of the moon to crumble and the surface of the ground to fissure. Jaros''s body was unable to hold onto his position as the explosion flung his body away. Still, the strength of a Stage 3 is not to be underestimated. Although Lucius had used a considerable amount of energy on that attack whilst executing it to perfection, it had only caused Jaros to move a few hundred meters back. A far cry, considering Lucius was flung back hundreds of kilometers under a similar attack. "Little dog, you dare!!" Jaros'' enraged shout echoed as his body finally came to a stop. Multiple white scratches could be seen on his blue armor, as he crossed his arms to form a guard. Jaros'' was outwardly enraged but inwardly shocked. The dog, who was supposed to have died from his first attack, had not only survived but had returned to attack! How outrageous! How insulting! Still, Jaros wasn''t the kind to immediately lose his head to anger. Certainly not like that pig from his group. No, he was a calm and calculative snake that only fought after confirming his chances of victory. His eyes immediately narrowed and his mind sharpened. Thoughts started to fly within his mind, as he analyzed the current situation. In front of him, he could see the figure of that dog dashing towards him with a raised scythe, on his way to deliver another attack. ''No! Something is different about him! He''s not the same dog he was previously!'' Jaros'' intently scanned Lucius'' body when he suddenly arrived at a conclusion. ''That''s right! It''s his eyes! It no longer has that insuppressible greed and madness. It''s calm. Too calm and unfeeling!'' ''His movements too are different. Its precise, each step is considerate of the next. The movement of his weapon also shows that he''s a master at it!'' ''But still, the aura that he''s releasing is unmistakable! He''s only a Stage 2, nowhere close to the Stage 3 realm! I can defeat him!'' ''Yes, there''s no point in overthinking this. With the sheer difference in our Stages, I can easily defeat him!'' Having come to this conclusion, Jaros cast aside all hesitation as he moved to evade the blade that was heading towards his throat. No matter how fast Lucius was, an alert Stage 3 was even faster. The edge of the scythe barely missed the unarmored part of his throat. A smirk appeared on Jaros'' face as he raised his fists to punch at the aggressor. It was then that his pupils shrunk. There was no one holding the scythe! In other words, Lucius had suddenly disappeared from his previous location. ''Where his he?!'' Waves of Stage 3 soul power instantly swept across his immediate vicinity. It was then that a voice devoid of any humanity, rung near Jaros'' ears. "Second Movement- Shred." Lucius instantly crossed his two clawed hands extended with pitch-black nails in the form of an ''X'', from his location, directly behind Jaros. In actuality, all of Lucius'' prior movements were a ploy aimed at his opponent. Having recalled his memories of Jaros, Lucius had a good understanding of the latter''s personality. Facing such an opponent who did not take action unless he was completely sure of his victory. An opponent who used his brains more than his brawn. The most effective form of counterattack was¡­giving them time. The more time that you give them, the more that they tended to overcomplicate a simple situation. In their overt cautiousness lied a glaring weakness. A weakness that Lucius had exploited to deal his second blow. The Void Eater''s hands having undergone an evolution after devouring the Silver Fist Apes were far stronger than normal. His pitch-black claws having undergone an evolution after devouring the creatures within the underground labyrinth were also far stronger than normal. When using such excellent extremities, whose toughness and sharpness equaled his weapon, the result was naturally¡­great. Boosted under the technique of ''Shred'' Lucius'' two claws dug into the flesh of the Stage 3 Lacerman. The energy gathered at the tip of his fingertips exploded forth, wreaking havoc inside his body. "ARGH!" Javos let out a blood-curling scream while trying to desperately shake Lucius off. Having accomplished his goal, Lucius did not dare overstay his welcome and immediately used [Void Step] to retreat back into the Void. ''The real battle begins now.'' Lucius used the lull in the battlefield to quickly recover his scythe using his [Void Hands]. "I''LL KILL YOU, DOG!!!" Javos bellowed, his eyes completely bloodshot. "Deploy Domain- Swamps of Sezar!" Chapter 235: Battle With the Crying Serpent. Part 3 "Deploy Domain- Swamps of Sezar!" The instant his screams filled the barren moon, waves of soul power exited Jaros'' body and started to alter the environment surrounding him. With Jaros as the center, a circle 10km in radius was instantly locked within his Domain. Lucius, who was inside the Void instantly felt an overwhelming force assault him as his body was immediately forced out of the Void. The space within the Domain was shaped and owned by its owner. Unless one possessed strength that was superior to the Domain and thus allowing them to break free of its restrictions, they were under the mercy of the Domain''s owner. In short, Lucius would not be able to ender the Void due to the alterations performed to the Rules by Jaros'' Domain. Recognizing this fact, Lucius immediately acted. "Set boundary, expand Field!" Lucius shouted. A ring of soul power instantly surrounded Lucius and the overwhelming pressure experienced by him immediately disappeared. This ring expanded until it reached a 30m radius upon which it stopped. The Field of a Stage 2 was the precursor to the Domain of a Stage 3. While the latter was innumerable times superior to the former, the underlying concept of both these moves was the same. It was to claim a certain amount of space and turn it into the absolute territory of the user. While a Field was incredibly difficult to learn and even more painstaking to master, it allowed one to have a greater chance at entering Stage 3 and possess a stronger, more perfect Domain. ''He used his Domain sooner than I expected. He''s more cowardly than I thought him to be.'' Lucius thought while stabilizing his Field. Outside the 30m radius of Lucius, the environment of the barren moon started to greatly change. The dry, brown surface started to sink and turn muddy. Craters had begun to expand in size, with a sticky black liquid appearing within these bowls ad rapidly filled them up. Poisonous shrubs and marshes also appeared populating the surface. The sky also changed greatly, as the previously non-existent atmosphere suddenly thickened up, with great, big clouds appearing with crackling thunders. The dark clouds then started to gather together and heavy rain started to fall on what was now a swamp. The battlefield which was previously an empty, barren land was now a depressing, marshy swamp! This was the power of a Domain. Hidden somewhere within the clouds, Jaros released an enraged shout. "DIE!!" AT that instant, Lucius felt his senses tingle as danger, filled his mind. Trusting his intuition, he immediately jumped into the air assisted by soul power. "GROWL!!" The roar of a beast sounded from behind Lucius. Turning his head, he saw an enormous mouth of a beast lined with hundreds upon hundreds of razor-sharp teeth. It was a fearsome sight! CRUNCH! The beast closed its mouth creating an audible crackling in the air. The sound was similar to the clap of thunder, showing off the beast''s fearsome bite force. Having missed its prey, the beast, whose mouth was the only part that could be seen, unwilling retreated back into the swampy ground where it lied in wait for another opportunity. Having narrowly escaped the unpleasant fate of dying by the beast''s mouth, Lucius landed on the swampy ground some distance away. His feet immediately began to sink into the mud, hindering his footwork by a large margin. For a person like Lucius whose, greatest strength was his speed, this was an unfavorable terrain. ''This is why his Domain is so troublesome.'' Lucius sighed to himself, before jumping into the air once more. CRUNCH! Another mouth appeared in the spot he was previously in, missing its prey once again. Creating steps out of soul power, Lucius started to run across the Domain while evading the attacks from the unknown beast in the swamp. Once having entered a Domain, said person cannot leave the Domain until and unless the Domain was broken (or removed). Even if one reached the 10km border of the Domain, they would find an invisible wall blocking them from leaving the altered space. Next comes the question, how can a Domain be broken? Well, there were two ways. One is to have a contest of Domains, where the two parties each deploy their respective Domains and battle for control over the space. If one person''s strength is higher (i.e. higher Stage) then said person would naturally win. However, this was only the case when there was an absolute difference in strength. Such as one party being Stage 3 and the other being Stage 4. In this case, the difference of strength was absolute and the Stage 4 existence would definitely win. Now, what if the strength of both the parties was in the same Stage but had a difference in their levels? Well, here the contest would boil down to who had greater amounts of soul power (allowing their Domains to last longer) and who''s Domain had better (or higher) Rules. As stated previously, Domains were basically personal constructs of Rules. One used their understanding of the Rules to create an absolute territory over which they were the rulers. That being said, the better and higher the Rules are, the stronger and more complex the Domain would become. To give an example, let''s compare the Domains of the Stage 3 Bertarian and Jaros, both of whom were Low-Level Stage 3 in strength. The core Rules of {Starfall Plains} were ''Astral'', ''Corrosion'', and ''Gravity, while the core Rules of {Swamps of Sezar} were ''Water'', ''Earth'', and ''Corrosion''. Of course, there were plenty of other minor Rules which were necessary for the completion of the Domain. Now, objectively speaking, ''Astral'' and ''Water'' were Rules on a similar level, while ''Gravity'' was higher than ''Earth''. While ''Corrosion'' was similar to both these Domains, their understanding of ''Corrosion'' was vastly different, thus varying their powers. If these two were to fight, the eventual winner would be the Stage 3 Bertarian. This was due to his Domain being fundamentally better having been constructed on better Rules. And here lied another fact, Domains could be constantly altered and improved! As one''s understanding of Rules become better, they could apply these learnings to improve their Domain making it stronger. ''Water'' and ''Earth'' could turn into ''Matter'' which was a fundamentally higher Rule compared to the former two, vastly improving the strength of the Domain! Thus, to ascend past Stage 3, the conditions were no longer as simple as reaching a certain amount of soul power. In addition to meeting a certain requirement of soul power, one''s Domain must also reach a certain level before one can ascend. Having explained all of that, coming to the second method to break a Domain. It was naturally...to kill the owner of the Domain. This was the most inelegant, mindless way to break a Domain and also the method Lucius was currently seeking to employ. Using the steps made out of soul power, Lucius stayed in the air for the majority of the time, avoiding the swampy ground and the creature that lied within. With his abundant battle experience and Field to neutralize the pressure from a Domain, Lucius freely moved through the Domain searching for Jaros. And speaking of Jaros, he was not having a good time. ''Why are my wounds not healing?! What is this strange soul power?!'' Aggrieved cries resounded within his mind. The first attack that was seemingly blocked by his armor had in actuality wounded his insides by a great extent. His organs were in a great mess and his soul power circulation pathways were affected by a strange power. (AN: Remember, [Eviscerate] was a technique that ignored the exterior and attacked the interiors.) However, this wasn''t his greatest injury as the injury on his neck caused by Lucius'' second attack was even greater. If not for his quick response, he would''ve lost his head! Now, considering the healing effect of Stage 3 soul power, these injuries would normally take only a few seconds to completely heal. However, this was where the real problem lied. Lucius had taken care to infuse a good amount of [Annihilation Energy] into both of those attacks. And against [Annihilation Energy] which possessed the property to destroy anything and everything, soul power was not an exception. Each time Jaros tried to channel his soul power into the locations of his injuries, the [Annihilation Energy] which took residence in those locations immediately responded, destroying all attempts. This caused the entire process of healing to slow down by an incredible amount. Still, the difference in quality between Stage 2 and Stage 3 did exist. No matter how fierce [Annihilation Energy] was, under the constant grinding and attacks of Jaros'' soul power it was bound to be exhausted. ''Under the pressure of my Domain, that dog is surely trapped and rendered helpless, if not already dead.'' ''When I''m done healing and if he''s still alive, I''ll show him what hell is like!'' It was then, a chilling voice sounded underneath Jaros'' body. "Found you. You sure hide like a cowardly snake." What followed was the swing of a scythe alongside the appearance of net weaved out of millions of threads of light. Chapter 236: Eviscerate "[Eviscerate]" A voice that carried with it the will of Death resounded near Jaros'' ears. Lucius'' scythe containing an incredible amount of [Annihilation Energy] swung down. Hardly having had the time to react, Jaros had barely finished turning his head when a wave of energy-containing millions of threads of compressed light crashed down upon his body. "ARGH!!!" Similar to a hot flame meeting a pool of fuel, the [Annihilation Energy] met Jaros'' body and tore through it with similar intensity. Ignoring the exterior armor, it entered his physical body and started to, quite literally, eviscerate his body, energy, and even his soul! "ARGH! STOP THIS!! IT BURNS! IT BURNSS!!!!" Jaros uncontrollably howled, unable to bear this pain. ''That should do it.'' Having delivered the finishing fatal blow, Lucius'' body went slack and the Field surrounding him disappeared. Although he possessed a ridiculous amount of soul power within his mindspace, a full-fledged battle against a veritable Stage 3 had completely drained him. The very instant the Field surrounding him disappeared, the pressure of the Domain pressed upon him. Like a comet crashing onto Earth, Lucius'' body started to fall towards the ground at great speeds. Breaking past the cloud layer, Lucius'' body started to gain momentum as it approached the ground while constantly gaining speed. The force with which his body would slam against the ground was scarcely imaginable. However, not a single sign of tension could be seen on Lucius'' face. His bald, unclothed body clutching onto his scythe with his right hand was as calm as ever. ''With this guy dead, that brings the kill count to two. Three more and I will be able to ascend to Stage 3. With the current conditions, I should be able to achieve it before long.'' Leaving himself to the mercy of the wind, Lucius calmly thought to himself. ''First things first, I need to find out where I am. I cannot feel Ka''lor''ah''s presence anywhere near me and our soul link is extremely faint. Looks like she went ahead towards Mankind''s territory to check the situation there.'' ''I need to get over there soon.'' Having almost neared the ground, Lucius, lazily falling at gravity''s mercy, suddenly moved. Curling his body into a ball, he reoriented himself, facing his feet towards the ground while extending the scythe diagonally. At the very instant, he made this change the swampy ground beneath him suddenly bubbled and a large mouth jumped towards his body with visible excitement. The very moment Lucius'' body was within his range, it immediately chomped down, intending to rend his flesh with its teeth. Alas, Lucius did not allow that to happen. Just as the beast''s teeth were inches away from his body, Lucius rolled the horizontally placed scythe in his hands in such a way that its bladed end hooked onto the gap between the teeth of the beast. Having successfully hooked the weapon, he then exerted force to drive the blade in, impaling its soft flesh. GROWL!!! A beastly roar of pain that threatened to tear apart the atmosphere sounded out. An unimaginable amount of pain assaulted the beast''s mind, as it desperately floundered to rid itself of this foreign entity. However, the struggles of the beast only served to worsen the situation as the scythe''s edge started to dig deeper into its flesh. When most of the blade''s edge had impaled itself into the beast''s mouth, Lucius exerted his entire weight on the tail end of the scythe, while using the teeth of the beast as a lever. Lucius had effectively constructed a springboard, mid-air, with one end lodged deeply, a tooth acting as a lever point, and the counter-force exerted by his body''s weight! CRACK! Letting go of the scythe, Lucius jumped outward while being assisted by the counterforce and exited the beast''s deadly maw. Rotating once final time mid-air, Lucius firmly landed on the muddy ground with his feet. ''That worked well.'' Looking at the beast thrashing about, struggling to remove the source of its pain ¨Cthe scythe- from its mouth, Lucius thought to himself with satisfaction. His aerial maneuvers were a fantastic display of bodily control and gymnastics! As for the scythe that was still lodged into the beast''s mouth, Lucius wasn''t too worried. He would simply have to wait for the Domain to disperse and for the beast to disappear, before simply collecting the scythe of the ground. ''Although, I definitely did hear an audible crack in that final moment. It''s definitely damaged now.'' Lucius sighed. The pressure surrounding his body slackened and started to slowly disappear. The ground, the clouds, and the winds started to dissipate and dissolve into nothingness. The floundering beast beside Lucius also started to turn mechanical in its movements, as its body started to stiffen and break down. This marked the dissolution of the Domain and the death of Jaros. ----------- After waiting for the Domain to completely dissolve, Lucius then retrieved his scythe and inspected it for damages. A good number of chips and cracks had appeared on the blade''s edge, with the most noticeable damage being a long fracture running along the length of the body. ''Serious, but not as bad as I thought. It can still be used.'' Ignoring the silent cries originating from the weapon, Lucius swung it a few times before placing it within the [Void Storage]. He then extended his soul power, scanning the surroundings. ''A large crater has formed on the ground over there. That must be where his body must''ve fallen.'' Confirming the location, Lucius used [Void Travel] to instantly close the distance and collected the body. Due to missing the ''five-second window'', Jaros'' soul had already returned to Limbo and only his body remained. Lucius did not regret the loss and carefully inspected the body. A large amount of [Annihilation Energy] could still be felt rampaging within the body, destroying the muscles and cells within the body. Lucius calmly waved his hand to quell the energy, stopping it from causing any further damage. ''The battle drained a significant amount of energy. Eating this must allow me to replenish most of the spent energy.'' Just as Lucius was about to start his meal, he suddenly stopped and look towards a certain hill. The instant his eyes transfixed themselves towards the hill, he noticed a very quick movement beyond the hill''s mount. Ignoring the body, Lucius instantly used [Void Step] to appear near the hill. The very instant that he arrived, he was met with the cry of a singular Terran. "Please don''t kill me!!" Sprawled on the barren surface with tears on his face, the Terran Vice-Captain whose body noticeably shook from fear, begged Lucius. "I beg you! Please don''t kill me!! Please!!" ''Oh, I forgot about these guys.'' Lucius belatedly realized. Between losing control of his body, nearly dying due to his recklessness, and the life-or-death battle against Jaros, it was no wonder that Lucius had forgotten about these small fry pirates. "Weren''t there more of you?" Lucius curiously asked as he remembered seeing twenty or so alive before his battle against Jaros. "Th-they a-all di-died with-hin the Do-domain." The Terran nervously spat out. ''I see.'' Lucius nodded his head. He then asked. "How did you people get here." Seeing that he wasn''t going to instantly die in the hands of this monster, the Terran calmed down by a large extent and gathered his wits. He then started to explain. "We got here using one of the spaceships of the crew." Lucius'' eyes glowed at that answer and asked. "Is it still there? Did it get destroyed?" The Terran pirate gave a bitter smile, before answering. "It should still be safe and currently in unmanned orbit. We were just about to call it and leave, when¡­your battle happened." Absolute terror flashed across the Terran''s eyes when he referenced the battle. ''That solves the issue of transportation.'' Lucius felt relieved. "Call the ship down here. We will leave this planet in a moment." Lucius instructed before turning back. Hearing that instruction, the Terran pirate was greatly surprised and involuntarily asked. "You aren''t going to kill me?" He then immediately shut his mouth in horror. ''Ah, you idiot! Why wouldn''t you let bygones be bygones and instead ask such a question! You should''ve rejoiced when that monster didn''t immediately kill you!'' Despair appeared on the Terran''s face, as his thoughts continued. ''Well, this is the end of the line I guess. My luck was already pushed to the limit when I somehow survived that hellish battle.'' He closed his eyes in resignation. It was then¡­ "Why would I kill you?" Lucius turned around, before continuing. "That ship is not going to pilot itself." Staring at the dumbfounded face of the Terran, the look in Lucius'' eyes sharpened as he asked. "Unless you don''t know how to pilot? Then I suppose¡­" "NO! I CAN!! PLEASE SPARE ME!!" Immediately jumping to his feet, the Terran pirate started to run in the opposite direction while fiddling with a device mounted on his arm. ''I need to be productive, lest that monster kills me!'' With the singular thought of survival within his mind, the Terran pirate ran. "Wait!" That was until Lucius'' cold voice stopped him at his feet. "Undress and leave behind your clothes first." Horror appeared within the Terran''s eyes, albeit this time for a completely different reason. Chapter 237: Reunion. Part 1 Standing atop the command platform of Deadman One, a gallant female figure dressed in deep purple robes stared at the holographic space map with a serious expression. Lines, grids, and a dizzying amount of numbers combined with numerous flashing lights and dots formed the star map which showed the ongoing battle in space in real-time. The sheer complexity of the information which the map depicted compounded with the speed at which said information changed presented a hard challenge to even the most experienced of commanders. And commanding such a complex battle was Olivia. "Wilkes Team move to Grid 6 and engage in suppressive fire. Ro''an''s Team retreat into the backlines! To not let the hostiles enter Grid 14 through 19!" "Heavy Ammo support is now online!" An adjutant seated on one of the consoles before Olivia''s platform yelled. "Just on time!" Olivia said with relief, before proceeding to command. "Dre''ies Team, bomb everything within Grid 30 through 37! Do not let a single strangler escape!" "Understood, Commander! Proceeding with the bombing!" Following that confirmation, multiple lights flashed on the star map before her momentarily blinding Olivia followed by the disappearance of red-colored lights on the map (hostiles). With the disappearance of a large number of red lights as a result of the bombing, the map was now predominantly occupied by blue and green lights signifying friendly forces. "*hrzzt* This is Team Wilkes..*hrzzt* the enemies are now retreating! I repeat- the enemies are now retreating!" Hearing that answer through the comms, Olivia''s body visibly relaxed and a small smile surfaced on her face. Leaning her body onto the command console, she then replied. "Understood, Captain Wilkes. You and your team may retreat." "The other teams- perform a final sweep over the battlefield to identify any possible stranglers before returning. You have all worked hard!" """*hrzzt* Understood, Ma''am!! *hrzzt*""" Multiple exhausted voices filled with relief immediately replied. Standing upright once more, Olivia looked at the weary adjutants within the Command Center before her and spoke. "You guys in here can also take a break. Swap out with the other team and get some sleep." "You should be saying that to yourself, Lady Governor. You''ve been here much longer and we have." An older Terran who followed Olivia from Pectron joked. "Yeah, yeah. I''m going now." Lazily waving her hands, Olivia descended from the command platform and exited the room. Suddenly remembering something, she turned around and peeked her head into the room once more. "Oh, I forgot to mention! Table the damages and causalities sustained and send me the field report. I''ll be expecting it in my room." Without giving the people within the room to groan and complain, Olivia quickly ran away. Walking through the corridors of the ship, the sounds of her footsteps reverberated plentily across the empty walls. The ship that was previously bustling with the activities of three hundred or so inhabitants was now mostly empty save for the dozen officers than remained. Two more weeks had passed since Lucius'' departure from the ship. During the first three days, Olivia had followed behind his path of carnage with her troops hoping to render him some support. However, consecutive streams of empty ships and blood and gut-filled interiors proved that Lucius required no assistance. That being the case, under Ka''lor''ah''s instructions, Olivia changed her course to head towards Mankind''s territories. If the information gathered from the recovered pirate spaceships were anything to go about, they (Mankind) were the ones who desperately required assistance. With a new course set, the space voyage was relatively tame at the beginning with calm tidings and vast stretches of infinite nothing. However, all of that changes four days into their journey. Olivia and her crew of three hundred men met their first space battle ¨Cagainst a patrol squad of Formicians. With the combination of Olivia''s tactical brilliance and the presence of Ka''lor''ah, who could tap into the Formician''s mental network at any time (pros of being their Creator), allowing her to steal information, confuse them, give erroneous orders, and other such attacks which directly countered the core ability of the Formicians, the battle was easily won with no loss of life. Alas, that was simply the first encounter. While Ka''lor''ah''s abilities were godly against the Formicians, they did come with limitations. The most important one being range. While the disappearance of one or two squads going unnoticed in the overall picture, the subsequent encounters and frequent battles quickly served to draw attention. And due to the limitation in range, there was little for Ka''lor''ah to do to stop the spread of this information. The current war situation between Mankind, the Formicians, and the Flying Dutchman was such that, Mankind was in the center with the Formicians and the Dutchman forming two halves of the circle that boxed them in. Olivia and her crew had unknowingly entered the Formician''s half of the circle. (AN: Lucius is on the other half) Starting from multiple squads in a day, the battles quickly intensified becoming harder and more frequent, with the strength and numbers of the Formicians linearly increasing. Ka''lor''ah''s strength became irreplaceable during these battles, and Olivia''s talents in war strategy started to shine through. Battles that could be won were fought, and battles, where victory was impossible, were entirely avoided. Slowly but steadily, they started to head deeper into Formician territory, heading towards Mankind which lied beyond. Turning a corner, Olivia, having finally arrived at her quarters, stepped inside. Whoosh! Locking the metallic door behind her, Olivia promptly removed her sweat-riddled robes and outer armor and threw it to the sides. Extending both her arms into the air, she stretched until audible cracks could be heard. "Ah~!" Olivia moaned with satisfaction, "That is so much better!" Stretching a few more times to relax her stiffened muscles, Olivia then walked towards the double bed placed in the center of the room and dove in face first. Feeling the softness enveloped her tired body, Olivia lazily sunk into the mattress. Burying her face into the soft, feather pillow, Olivia sneakily complained. "I''m exhausted! Those battles were so intense!" "Imagine how much more intense they would''ve been, if not for my assistance." A voice retorted. Turning her body to lie on its back, Olivia stared face-up into the air, towards the glowing golden crystal, floating just above her. "Indeed. That''s why you''re my teacher, Teacher." Olivia jokingly replied. She then stretched her four limbs one more time and sunk further into the soft mattress. Looking at this lazy display of her student, Ka''lor''ah was part amused and part angry. "Look at you, a mere seventy-two hours of high-intensity battles has tired you to such an extent." Sighing exaggeratedly, she continued, "What am I going to do with such a lazy disciple." Making a pouty expression, Olivia rebutted. "The constant influx of information coupled with all those flashing lights, not to mention, the thought of the fact that the lives of hundreds of people depend upon my instructions are mentally and spiritually exhausting." "Oh, and also, the very notion of facing thousands of Formicians with a force of three hundred is just as ridiculous as it sounds." "Eh, you''ll get used to it. You''re steadily getting better after each battle." Ka''lor''ah off-handedly remarked. She then dove into Olivia''s body and remarked. "*Sniff* *Sniff*, you really should take a bath. Your body reeks of sweat. I suppose I should have Lucius teach you his odor-eliminating technique (Presence Concealment Technique)." Hearing Lucius'' name, Olivia''s face was overtaken with worry. "I wonder if he''s doing alright." Peeking through Olivia''s ''peaks'', Ka''lor''ah teased. "Oho, is the ''missus'' worried about her partner?" Ever since Olivia''s declaration the other day, she was subject to Ka''lor''ah''s constant and continuous creative teasing pertaining to this matter. As such, Olivia was at a point where she had become immune to said teasing. "Yes." She straight-forwardly replied. "Not even denying it, huh? You''re becoming less fun to tease. Anyways, if I''m right, Lucius'' situation should have played out one of two ways." "First scenario: His continuous acts of slaughter must''ve resulted in him losing control and going berserk once again. Seeing as how we''ve heard no news about him in the Formician territory, he should be on the other side. If the behaviors of pirates are anything to go about, they should''ve laid out a trap to capture or kill him. Of course, Lucius being in his ''berserk'' state will definitely fall into this trap." "Second scenario: He continued with his slaughter but somehow managed to retain his consciousness and rationality. Not daring to underestimate him, the pirate will still lay out a trap, albeit this time, the trap will be more elaborate. However, knowing Lucius'' personality, he would still walk into the trap. Trap or no trap, prey is one and the same." Hearing that, Olivia jerked from her previously languid position and sat erect. Ka''lor''ah, who was thrown off of her body due to the sudden movement, complained. "Hey, I''m trying to rest over here." Ignoring Ka''lor''ah''s childish complaints, Olivia hurriedly asked. "What if the traps are too strong? What if Lucius is not able to overcome them? What is a Stage 3 being comes in person?!" "Tch, tch, you know, Lil'' Ollie¡­" Ka''lor''ah clicked her tongue in disapproval, "You really underestimate Lucius. Putting aside his strength, rational or not, his innate instinct for danger is simply monstrous! It almost borders on precognition." A relaxed aura then flowed out of Ka''lor''ah''s crystal body as she continued. "And so what if a Stage 3 being comes in person? Even if he can''t win, there''s no way Lucius would die." At her statement, Olivia recalled the power and aura shown by Lucius. The worry within her face disappeared and her fists formed a tight clench. ''Indeed. If it''s Lucius, there''s no way he could lose!'' There was no factual evidence supporting her statement, but a feeling. A feeling of absolute confidence that originated from her very soul. Just as Olivia was about to lie down once again, the bracelet on her right hands suddenly buzzed. "*hrzzt* Lady Governor, this is Captain Wilkes¡­*hrzzt*--" "I can hear you, Captain Wilkes. Go ahead." "¡ªwe were on our way back when we caught a strange group of stranglers hiding near some asteroid debris¡­" "Strange? In what manner?" "Well, they aren''t the Formicians, Ma''am. They look similar to you. Should I bring them in?" Three years and seven months after her departure, Olivia would finally reunite with her kind¡­ Chapter 238: Reunion. Part 2 On the surface of an unnamed planet. "Hey, I told you to stay down!" Wilkes thundered while his face showed his frustration. The recipients of his ill-tempered bellow were a group of six humans, four males, and two females. Wearing a grayish-silver-colored uniform, their faces were colored with surprise and confusion. ¡ºWhat are you, creatures?! Let us go! We have something important to do!¡» One of the male humans who seemed to be the leader of the group tried to speak up. "Ah shit, does anyone here understand what he''s saying?" Wilkes asked his team, which replied by shaking their heads. Mankind, which resided in an unknown corner of the Universe, was not familiar with the common tongue of the Universe. Neither did they have tools or external gadgets that could help them. With both knowledge and tools lacking on both sides, communication was impossible. Turning his head to the group of captured humans, Wilkes, who had the body of a battle-tuned Oncanian, moved his canine head and spoke. "Hello? Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth?" While his words were purely harmless, Wilkes'' tone and generally predatory-looking face came off as threatening. Such being the case, the reaction of the humans were also understandable. ¡ºYou-! Do-don''t kill us! The Allied Liberation Army will not forgive you!!¡» the leader-human shakily threatened. With the two women hugging each other while crying, one of the younger males looking pallid and lifeless, and the two other middle-aged men, resolving themselves to bitter death, the scene was comical, to say the least. "Ah, this is going nowhere." Wilkes let out a frustrated cry. One of the Terran members of the team, who was also surrounding this group of humans, turned to Wilkes and asked. "They sure do look like a bunch of sissies, don''t they? Are you sure they are related to Lady Governor?" Wilkes shook his head and answered. "I''m not sure if they are related but they definitely are from the same race." Pointing to his canine nose, he continued, "My nose is never wrong." "Sometimes I forget how much of a dog you really are." The Terran joked. "Looks like someone just landed themselves the clean-up upon returning." Not amused, Wilkes replied back. "Ooh, serves him right." "You shouldn''t have said that." "Captain is as fearsome as always." The others within the group started to click their tongues and sneer at their groupmate''s unfortunate ending. "Oh come on! I was just joking!" Ignoring his cries, Wilkes turned towards the group of shivering humans. ''Still, he''s right. Lady Governor has this fearsome aura around her that makes you feel both afraid and awed. She is nothing like this bunch of cowards.'' Being an Arbiter, who were once the upholders of order within the Universe, Olivia possessed a unique aura that was unique to their kind. An aura that commanded authority and subservience from all others. "Captain, please forgive me! I was just joking." The offender from earlier pleaded. "Can ya shut your damn mouth?!" Wilkes snapped back. It was then, that everyone on the surface collectively looked up. Accompanied by sonic booms, a dark, metallic spaceship could be seen entering the atmosphere of the planet. The group watched on as the size of the spaceship became progressively larger as it headed towards their locations. "Lookup. The lady has arrived." Wilkes immediately commanded and everyone''s demeanor instantly became strict. Just from these actions, the extent of Pectron or more specifically the new Pandemonium''s military discipline could be seen. Whooosh! The spaceship eventually came to a stop a few hundred meters away from the group. Maintaining a steady hover over the ground, its roaring engines significantly calmed and the doors on the sides opened up. From within, a dark shadow alighted from the vessel and landed on the ground with graceful movements. The shadow then turned towards the Wilkes'' group in the distance and headed towards them. Within a few seconds, Olivia''s charming figure appeared near the group. Her long, black hair tied up into a ponytail danced behind her beautiful, unmasked face. Wearing full upper-body armor and dark-purple robes, a sword sheath hung by her waist alongside multiple smaller blades and pouches. Boots made from some sturdy unknown material covered her feet up to her knees, followed by thick leather-ish-looking pants covering her slender legs. "Lady Governor!" the instant Olivia arrived, Wilkes and the rest of his team saluted. "At ease." Olivia waved of their salute and her eyes landed on a group of humans sitting on the ground, looking towards her with shock. "This is them?" she asked, to which Wilkes nodded his head in affirmation. While walking towards the group of humans, Olivia asked Wilkes. "How did you discover them?" Expecting such a question, Wilkes immediately answered. "We were performing our routine checks around the battlefield when one of the detectors detected some soul power aura coming from the surface of this planet. Assuming them to be stragglers from the earlier battle, we came down here, only to find these guys." Nodding her head, Olivia replied. "Very well done, Captain Wilkes. This counts towards your merits." Now, standing before the group of dumbstruck humans, Olivia was just about to speak when the latter began talking first. ¡ºYo-you--! Who are you?¡» the supposed leader stuttered in his strange language, while slowly standing up. The others behind him also rose from the ground and stood up. Born and raised in Mankind''s territories, this was a language that Olivia could not be more familiar with. Putting on a light smile as a sign of reassurance, Olivia started to talk. ¡ºI apologize for the inconvenience caused and for any rude behavior on my subordinates'' part. We have just finished a large battle and couldn''t afford to be careless until your identities were confirmed.¡» Olivia kindly explained while continuing the smile. Perhaps calmed by the smile of a beautiful woman, the trembling of their bodies lessened and their minds became much more stable. ¡ºNo-no problems. We understand the caution.¡» the leader replied. ''I confirmed it, they are human. No signs of any control spell either.'' Ka''lor''ah''s voice suddenly sounded out within Olivia''s mind. Dropping her final bit of doubt from her mind, Olivia''s smile became even more genuine. ¡ºMy name is Olivia Mayer. I''m human, just like you guys, and hail from the Earth Alliance. These guys are my subordinates.¡» She continued speaking while gesturing towards the Wilkes squad behind her back. At her sign, the gauds took a step back and sheathed their weapons. Their eyes, however, continued to vigilantly stare towards the group of humans and a faint bloodlust continued to permeate the air. ¡ºEa-earth Alliance?¡»the leader looked confused for a moment, before mumbling. ¡ºYou mean the Allied Liberation Army, right? The Earth Alliance collapsed two years ago.¡» The relaxed guards of the humans tightened once more and their eyes showed wariness towards Olivia. It was clear that they had become suspicious of her. Olivia''s smile also stiffened at this unexpected revelation, rendering her unsure about how to continue. The atmosphere instantly became frigid with conversation coming to a halt. ¡ºA-are you Ol-Olivia from the Strategic Command class from the Academy?¡» the pallid-looking youth spoke out. ¡ºYes. Do you know me?¡» Pleasantly surprised, Olivia nodded her head. The leader and the other humans also looked surprised as they turned to face the youth and asked. ¡ºJohn, you know this lady?¡» The pallid-youth whose name was John nodded his head. Gathering courage, he then replied. ¡ºYeah, I was unsure at first because her eyes were a different color. But now, I''m quite sure. She was my classmate at the Academy. I remember her quite fondly because she was always at the top of the class and was also a teaching assistant.¡» He then turned to face Olivia and continued. ¡ºBut I thought you died three years ago at the Deatov attack since you never returned. How come you''re here with these scary-looking creatures.¡» The group of humans turned to face Olivia awaiting a proper explanation. Taking in a deep breath, Olivia then gave a detailed but heavily altered explanation of her circumstances. Her face, however, was the picture of seriousness, patriotism, and honesty. ¡ºThree years ago, after the Deatov battle, I was sent away to a far-off planet in order to research methods and gain help for surviving the ascension¡­¡» The veracity did not matter, for as long as she could gain the trust of these people. Hearing the blatant lies effortlessly spew out of Olivia''s mouth, Ka''lor''ah sniggered, clearly impressed. ''You''re becoming more and more of a bad girl with each passing day, Lil''Olivia.'' Chapter 239: Reunion. Part 3 "Having learned that my motherland is facing such a crisis, I gathered all my available subordinates and rushed back as soon as possible. Only after getting here, did I realize that the situation is much grimmer than I previously thought it to be." "Still, I have taken a vow to protect it till my final breath and will never give up! As long as limbs can move, I will fight for the Alliance!" And that marked the end of a passionate, long-winded explanation. For how much of it was true and how much was false, only Olivia knew. But for people such as this group of humans who were oblivious to the truth, Olivia''s tale was a noble story of self-sacrifice, undying loyalty, and devotion to Mankind. "To think that people of such noble character still exist during these times." "Miss Mayer is the model freedom fighter!" "Truly, this is an era that belongs to the young ones." The human group could be seen wiping tears and nodding with a moved expression. All of their distrust towards Olivia had completely vanished, with them even feeling ashamed in their hearts for doubting such a noble young woman. The group collectively looked towards Olivia and loudly apologized. "We apologize for doubting you, Miss Mayer. It was truly small-minded of us for acting like that!" They then proceeded to collectively bow. "Please don''t say such things, elders! I have only done what was expected of me to do! And do call me Olivia. I am your junior after all!" Olivia hurriedly gestured for the group to raise their heads. Seeing their earnest reactions, even Olivia felt slightly embarrassed for deceiving them. Alas, it was only embarrassment and not guilt. To fight is to survive and to survive is to kill. Lucius had told her that. While Olivia was originally hesitant to such extreme measures at the beginning, the time spent in Pandemonium had changed her views and ideals. While her ideals were not as extreme as Lucius'', Olivia had greatly grown from her previous naivety. To survive within the Universe, one had to fight. For Lucius, a fight meant to kill his opponent. To utterly eradicate their existence from the Universe. For Olivia, however, a fight meant to win the greatest of benefits for herself and her people, while expending minimally. As for the means of the fight? It did not matter, as long as the ends were met. Lying, deceiving, plotting, scheming, all these methods were on the table as long as they guaranteed victory. ''To think you even used some of your mental spells on the people. You are blacker than I thought.'' Ka''lor''ah joked with Olivia. ''It was nothing too serious, just some [Intimidation] and [Beguile]. We are in a hurry, aren''t we?'' Olivia shortly replied, before continuing her talks with humans. "So how did you guys get here and why? From what I understand, we are currently within enemy territory." Olivia asked, to which one of the human females replied. "This planet is actually, one of our forward scouting bases. My team and I were sent here because of the recent strange movements of the Formicians. Seeing you folks and hearing your story, it makes sense." "We have a Long-range Teleportation Array built inside that cave over there, which we use for transportation.." The woman pointed to one of the distant caves within the mountain. ''Teleportation Arrays?!'' Both Olivia and Ka''lor''ah were surprised, with the former voicing her surprise. "Ah, that''s right. You wouldn''t know about the Teleportation Arrays. It is one of the godly devices invented by the Genius Mechanist Reyna. These arrays are one of the main reasons why we are able to survive the two-pronged attacks of both the Formicians and the other alien invaders." "Genius Mechanist Reyna? You mean, Reyna Snowden?" Olivia involuntarily mumbled. "Oh, you know her?" Surprised, the woman asked her, to which Olivia simply nodded her head. "That''s excellent then! It would save us so much time and effort! Miss Reyna is one of the founders of the Allied Liberation Army. She, alongside ''Fire God'' Alex and ''Brilliant Strategist'' Illya were the ones who preserved and led the remaining parts of Mankind after the betrayal from those Sors Fides bastards!" She hatefully spat. Upon hearing that name, even the other humans showed hateful expressions. "Those conniving bastards are the reason we ended up in this situation!" "Traitors of Mankind! I hope they rot in hell!" "My family was brainwashed and then sacrificed to that fu*king deity of theirs!" Venomous murmurs and wrath-filled expressions went all around. Seeing that it was a sensitive topic, Olivia redirected the conversation and learnt more about the current state of Mankind. The others were more than ready to comply with this noble young lady and happily answered. Almost an hour passed in this fashion before Olivia prompted. "I suppose, we get going now. The sooner I can get back to the Main HQ, the sooner I can get my people approved and end this war sooner!" "Yes, yes, that''s right!" "Let''s go." Saying so, the humans started to lead Olivia towards the cave within which the Long-range Teleportation Array was located. Olivia also gave instructions to her subordinates, instructing some teams to employ delay and subversion tactics while they gather on this planet. "It will be done, Lady Governor!" Wilkes enthusiastically replied. "Actually, don''t call me Lady Governor. We are no longer in Pandemonium." "Boss? Commander? Milady? Your majesty?" Startled at the choice of words, Olivia quickly interrupted the over-enthusiastic Wilkes and answered. "Leader or Boss is fine! Don''t even go any further! Instruct the others too." Olivia had goosebumps on her arms, while Ka''lor''ah broke into a peal of laughter. "Got it, Boss!" Wilkes saluted once again, before heading off with the others. There was a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it. Olivia then headed towards the cave with the group of humans, eventually arriving before a complicated mess of metallic parts and devices. The ovally shaped device was built out of a material that greatly resembled silver. Many intricate lines of glowing circuitry ran throughout the body of the device. "Fire it up now." The leader instructed his companions. Upon his instruction, the two middle-aged men immediately got to work and started to work on the device. While they were working on the device, Olivia asked the group a question. "Doesn''t the machine make large fluctuations of energy? How have the Formicians not noticed this place or the people that pass through?" Hearing that question, John was the one who replied. "We have other machines scattered around the cave and throughout much of the mountain which hide the energy and radiation fluctuations of the device. Actually, this planet formerly housed a military plant, which is where we get the power source for this device from." "As for us being detected by the Formicians¡­" John''s face reddened for a moment, as he continued. "These suits that we are wearing mask our soul power fluctuations. However, today I had accidentally torn a piece of my uniform on a rock resulting in leaks, leading you guys to detect us." "I see¡­" Olivia nodded her head in understanding. Ka''lor''ah, however, had her own doubts. ''To have an accident on the exact same day as we were here¡­something is strange about this situation. This is too much of a coincidence to be normal.'' ''It''s almost as if something or someone wanted to find them right here, right now.'' However, Ka''lor''ah had performed checks to check for the involvement of the Lords or any other foreign power and the result was negative. That being the case, it really did seem like a coincidence. Still, Ka''lor''ah had an unsettling feeling wash over her. WHOOSH!!! A loud whirring sound originating from the standing oval device rung out within the cave. Large amounts of energy gathered at the center of the oval, gradually forming a whitish-blue gate. Approaching closer to Olivia, the leader shouted. "Mind your steps and watch out for the discomfort!" The two women were the first to step into the portal and disappeared on the other side. They were then followed by John, the two middle-aged men, the leader, and finally Olivia. ''Here I go.'' Motivating herself as such, Olivia stepped into the portal. The moment her figure disappeared, the whitish-blue energy destabilized and decreased. It then eventually disappeared, with the device powering down. Silence returned to the cave. -------- ''Whoa!'' Unsteadily stepping out on the other side of the portal, Olivia hurriedly stabilized herself and brought her right hand to her waist placing it above her sword sheath. Her eyes were blurry and her mind was particularly dizzy. Releasing a wave of soul power, she instinctively surveyed her surroundings looking for signs of potential danger. She also lowered her body and got into a combat stance. A few seconds passed before Olivia regained her bearings. Her eyes cleared and the sight of a large white room came into focus. She found herself standing on a white platform, with a Teleportation Array behind her, and the group of humans whom she had just met collapsed around her. Most of them were clutching onto their stomachs with obvious discomfort, with the two middle-aged men vomiting. Turning her eyes away from them, Olivia finally noticed the dozens of other humans, some scientists assuming from their attire and most soldiers. Dozens of computer terminals and other devices littered the room with holographic screens and service robots filling the rest. ''Hmm? Why are they all frozen like that?'' It was only then that Olivia noticed a peculiarity. All of the people within this room had their eyes locked onto her and were standing frozen. Their pupils were shrunk and their bodies were faintly trembling. ''Olivia, you need to retract your murderous intent.'' Ka''lor''ah quickly warned. ''Ah!'' Realizing what she had done, Olivia quickly straightened herself and retracted the enormous murderous intent that she had involuntarily released. Finding herself in a new environment suddenly, Olivia had instinctively gotten into combat mode, prompting the release of her murderous intent. While her murderous intent was nowhere as great or as refined as Lucius'', it was still quite sizeable. The moment the heavy, invisible pressure disappeared from the room, the bodies of all the people noticeably relaxed with the soldier pointing their guns towards her. ''Oh?'' Olivia''s nose faintly scrunched from dissatisfaction as her hands continued to rest upon her sword. While she understood her mistake had earned the soldier''s hostility, it nevertheless, did not feel good having weapons pointed towards you. "Wait! Don''t shoot! She''s with us!!" Then, the leader of the group accompanying Olivia quickly stepped before her and shouted towards the soldiers. "This young lady is here to meet the leaders!!" "Meet me?" A female voice suddenly sounded, followed by the ordered creaking of multiple boots. Coming from the tunnel that led into this teleportation room, where a group of heavily armed soldiers with a single person standing amidst them. A woman with flowing golden hair, a pair of bespectacled green eyes, and pale white skin was wearing a navy-blue colored laboratory coat that faintly shimmered with blue-colored mechanical-attribute soul power. Olivia''s eyes locked onto this person before a happy expression surfaced on her face. Smiling brilliantly, she waved her hands while happily shouting. "Reyna! Long time no see!!" Chapter 240: Friends and Foes. "Reyna! Long time no see." Olivia''s joyous shout was accompanied by the furious waving of her hands. A brilliant smile occupied her face and a bright, friendly aura replaced her previous ''cold'' demeanor. Seeing her best friend after a long period of time filled her with incomparable excitement. Ignoring the stupefied gazes of the others within the room, Olivia started making her way down the platform. Meanwhile, the other party in question -Reyna- had a dazed expression on her face. Under Illya''s orders, she had originally come to this room to compile information from the team that was sent into the Formician territory to investigate the strange movements. Now, however, having returned with that team was her long-lost friend who had disappeared three years ago, without a single word of goodbye. Faced with Olivia''s excited shouts, Reyna''s mood was¡­unpleasant, to say the least. A cold look appeared within her verdant green eyes, as she snidely remarked. "Oh, the coward that ran away has come back." Reyna''s tone held none of the warmth that Olivia''s had. Her expressionless face and clenched fists made it obvious how terrible her current mood was. Hearing Reyna''s words, Olivia''s smile and movements froze. Fearing that she had misheard, she raised her head and slowly asked. "Pardon?" At that response, Reyna loudly scoffed. Lifting her head to meet the gaze of her preciously dear friend, she repeated once more, this time her tone contained disdain. "Were my words not clear? No worries, I will repeat once more." "The coward that forsook her friends abandoned her family, and betrayed Mankind has finally come back, I see. Where''s that other coward, I don''t se¡ª" The remaining words paused at her throat as Reyna''s eyes and body froze in fear. She found herself directly staring into Olivia''s violet eyes separated by only a few inches. Olivia has seemingly teleported from her previous location and had appeared before Reyna. What was more was that Reyna felt a cold piece of metal resting on her throat. The sharpness exuding from Olivia''s weapon which the latter had placed on her throat made the former (Reyna) fear even the smallest of movements. The smallest of errors and Reyna would find herself without a head. With a voice that was reminiscent of the frigid winds of hell, Olivia whispered into Reyna''s ears with absolute seriousness. "Watch what you say, or you''ll find yourself missing a head." Olivia''s words were direct and her face was expressionless, however, the intensity of the murderous aura that she was currently radiating made it obvious that she was incomparably angry. The previously joyous atmosphere had completely vanished with thick, heavy tension filling the air. Seeing Reyna''s expression and hearing her words, it was clear as day, that the former held none of the favorable feelings that Olivia felt. Nay, it was clear that Reyna felt hatred towards Olivia and Lucius. Hate for leaving Mankind behind. Hate for not informing her about their plans or even their actions. Hate for having her pure feelings toyed by them. Every day Reyna lived and struggled with Mankind, when she watched cities fall and planets crumble, when she watched people die without being able to put up any resistance, she watched people important to her leave and never come back this irrational hate within her started to compound. When pressured by incredible events which were beyond one''s capacity to handle, humans always sought to blame others in a bid to escape responsibility. And the recipients of Reyna''s blame were her two closest friends who had heartlessly abandoned her. The more she suffered, the more she wished for them to suffer. The more people she lost, the more she wished for them to lose others. And today, when she met one of the objects of her blames. A person whom she loathed and hated every single day for abandoning her, Reyna found herself unable to hold her tongue. Admonishing and blaming Olivia, filled Reyna with a twisted sense of relief and righteousness. However, these feelings instantly vanished when she found a blade on her neck. Olivia''s deep, violet eyes and her frigid voice instilled the fear of death into Reyna''s mind. Looking into her ex-best friend''s eyes, Reyna knew that if she made a single wrong move, then her life wouldn''t be hers. Olivia continued to stare into Reyna''s eyes while radiating thick, viscous murderous intent. Although she found herself in what can now be considered enemy territory and threatened their leader, there was not an ounce of fear or uncertainty in her motions. Best friend or not, the Arbiter were being that had their pride and demanded respect. While she was originally calm and sympathetic, understanding Reyna''s thoughts to a certain degree, the moment she had brought Lucius into the conversation, Olivia''s emotions exploded. She directly drew her sword, detonated her soul power, and made her way through the dozens of guards to arrive before Reyna, before the latter could complete her sentence. After confirming that Reyna had understood the gravity of the situation, Olivia took a step back and spoke. "On the account of us previously being friends, I spare will spare your life. However--" Olivia''s voice increased by a few octaves, "If you or anyone here, dare to insult me or Lucius once more, I will cut your head, even if it costs me my life." Saying so, Olivia took a step back. However, she did not lower her sword nor retract her aura. The situation was incredibly tense right now and a battle might start at any moment. Being in a position as disadvantageous as hers, Olivia had to seize every possible advantage. Upon being released from Olivia''s stare, Reyna immediately fell to the ground, losing strength in her legs. Although she herself was a Low-Level Stage 2, with Olivia being in the Mid-Level of the same stage, the two simply could not be compared. The sheer difference in their mindsets and intensities, made the latter infinitely superior to the former, even while ignoring their respective abilities and powers. It had to be mentioned that the events described above occupied less than fifteen seconds of time. Being subject to Olivia''s incredible skill and immovable pressure it was only now that the guards and soldiers accompanying Reyna reacted. "Vice Leader! Are you alright?!!" Two guards closest to Reyna immediately tended to her, while the others pointed their guns and weapons at the female assailant. Their hands, however, weren''t as steady as before and faintly trembled. Their minds were overloaded with tension, incomprehension, and fear. After all, they could scarcely understand how this woman, who was dozens of feet away, had instantly made her way through tens of guards in a matter of seconds! "I-I-" At the questioning of her subordinates, Reyna''s pale face and trembling body failed to give a proper reply. Lifting her shaking finger, she pointed towards Olivia and ordered. "S-she ju-just threatened m-me! Sh-shoot her o-or something!" Hearing those words, Olivia''s final considerations for her friend disappeared and the intent to battle appeared within her eyes. She did not wait for the soldiers to react, as she instantly moved. ''I''m at a disadvantage concerning weapons. I must thin their numbers while constantly moving.'' A plan formed and Olivia''s moved. Her eyes then locked onto Reyna''s figure. ''I gave her a chance, yet she threw it away. It''s a pity, but I suppose I can start with her.'' Sighing to herself, Olivia strengthened her resolve. Just as she was about to move towards Reyna, Ka''lor''ah''s voice rung within her head. ''You mustn''t kill her.'' She instructed with her rarely serious tone. ''Why?'' Olivia questioned, surprised. ''She has an important use. This instruction is not just mine, but Lucius'' too.'' Hearing that, Olivia forced herself to abandon Reyna as a target. She then continued. ''What about the others?'' ''Oh, the others are fair game! Show them what you got.'' The lackadaisical attitude had returned, as Ka''lor''ah lightly replied. Having received confirmation, Olivia acted. The soldiers, having received Reyna''s orders immediately pulled the trigger on which their fingers were placed. Their guns flashed and bullets started to fly towards Olivia. Given the short distance between them and the assailant, and the fact that they were all humans, it should''ve been confirmed. After all, the assailant only had a sword and this was a gunfight. Alas, Olivia was someone personally trained by Lucius and someone who had tamed the hell-hole called Pandemonium. Even amongst battle-experienced Stage 2s, Olivia was an exceptional existence. Detonating the gathered soul power beneath her feet, Olivia used that energy to jump up into the air. Having left the area of impact, the bullets could not even see her, much less touch her. Olivia''s jump had propelled her quite high, almost reaching the ceiling of the room. Adjusting her body to gain a better position mid-air, her eyes then scanned the entirety of the room, memorizing the positions of all soldiers within the room. ''The reactions of those five are faster than the rest. I must get rid of them first.'' Holding her longsword with both her hands, Olivia started to infuse her violet soul power into its body. The blade started to shine with ominous light and a faint humming spread into the air. The technique taught by Lucius almost four years ago: a technique which she has since then tirelessly practiced and refined to perfection. ''Hah!'' Dexterously moving her hands, the sword moved with fluid, waste-less movements and five slashes of condensed blade energy exited her weapon. Cutting across the air while ringing with a dense humming noise, the five slashes effortlessly cut through the five designated targets, dissecting them in half. Blood, guts, and brain matter feel accompanied by the shrill screams of the scientist and non-military members within the room. ''Five down. Thirty-two to go.'' Touching down on the ground, Olivia kicked off with her toes and dashed towards her next targets. Chapter 241: A Challenge. "Quick! Shoot her, before she gets too close!" "Argh, she moves too quickly! We can barely track her movements!" "Hendrick!! She got Hendrick! I will kill you bitch!!!" Screams and cries filled the interiors of the white Teleportation Hall, as the soldiers struggled to fight the purple apparition which flitted across the room. Swish! Accompanied by a sharp sound, Olivia''s sword pierced the temple of another soldier, making him her fifteenth victim. ''Almost half down. Less than a minute has passed.'' She noticed movements of two soldiers from the corner of her eyes and immediately side-stepped. Bullets passed through the spot where she previously stood. ''Their aim is getting sloppier. I suppose it''s time to use, [Intimidation].'' Having come to that conclusion, Olivia gathered her soul power and fueled her spell. Soundlessly completing the chant, Olivia directed her left palm towards the area with the highest concentration of soldiers and cast her spell. "[Intimidate]." Waves of invisible energy instantaneously rushed towards the crowd and attacked their minds. Faced with an attack by a Mid-Level Stag 2 existence, these soldiers being in the Peak-Level of Stage 1 could hardly resist. Dropping their weapons, they clutched onto their heads and fell to the ground while screaming. "ARGH!!!" "MY HEAD!! IT''S GOING TO EXPLODE!!!" "GARHH!!!" [Intimidate] couldn''t directly kill the opponent but could incapacitate them for a period, depending upon their strength. Its effects are stronger when the opponents are demoralized or are in a state of fear. ''Another five are down. That takes care of the annoying ones with the guns.'' Turning her head, Olivia looked towards the group of ten heavily armed soldiers surrounding Reyna. Holding various weapons ranging from clubs to spears to some who seemed to be bare-handed pugilists, Olivia noted their strengths to be in Low-Level Stage 2. Since the start of the battle, this group hadn''t intervened with Olivia''s fight but rather had been watching her movements while waiting for a chance. Now, with the gunmen taken down, the chance had finally arrived. Olivia corrected her footing and stood in a proper stance. Legs straight and firmly placed into the ground, arms loose and extended at shoulder level, sword held straight with its tip pointing towards the group. ''Soul power capacity is at 68%, with 1% recovering every five seconds. I need to finish this quick and collapse the tunnel before reinforcements arrive.'' The look in Olivia''s eyes sharpened as she kicked off, intending to deliver the first blow. It had to be mentioned that soul power was quite limited for existence below Stage 4. Stage 1 existences could not fight at full power for more than ten minutes, and at regular power for thirty minutes Stage 2 existences are better off, as they can fight at regular intensity for three hours and at full power for thirty minutes. However, the spells and techniques used might shorten this. Stage 3 existences can fight almost endlessly if using only their spells and martial techniques. However, if they were to use their Domain, the fight would last only for ten to fifteen minutes before they run out of soul power. It could be said that beings under Stage 4 are weak at protracted battles. This is also the reason why opponents would rarely open with their full power at the beginning of a fight, intending to hide stronger abilities to the end. However, if you''ve noticed, Lucius was an anomaly to this rule. His soul power usage is virtually endless, with apparently no conceivable upper limit to his storage. This, in fact, had to do with his Void Eater body, which enlarged his soul power storage to absurd degrees while granting him a near-instantaneous recovery rate. Usually, expanding the amount of soul power would burden the soul, leading to its collapse. However, this problem did not exist for Lucius, since he was an ex-Stage 7 existence. This just further goes to show, why the Void Eater species was hated by the Universe and hunted to extinction. Theoretically speaking, if not for the [Annihilator] soul placing limits on his growth, Lucius'' growth to Stage 7 would be extremely quick and face no hindrance, granted that sufficient material is available to devour. (Remember, he went from Low-Level to Peak-Level of Stage 2 in a matter of weeks, while normally it takes years.) That being said, Olivia managing to take down twenty-plus Peak-Level Stage 1s while using only 32% of her soul power spoke volumes about her combat prowess. ''I should aim to finish this battle in less than a minute while having more than 30% soul power remaining. I must use my spells sparingly.'' Having closed the distance between her and the group in a matter of seconds, Olivia was met with the attacks of two opponents. The person to her left was wearing a silver gauntlet, while the person to the right was wielding a spear. Unlike the gunmen, these men seemed to have experience as they immediately reacted upon Olivia''s arrival. Having the longer reach, the spearman thrust forth with his spear, while the pugilist took a stance. Both their weapons glimmered with faint light, signifying the use of soul power. Faced with the spear attack first, Olivia channeled soul power into her eyes, vastly increasing her dynamic vision. In that instant, the world seemed to slow down and the movements of the spear became exceptionally clear. ''Right shoulder.'' Analyzing the position of the strike, Olivia planned her movements. Taking a step forward with her left leg, Olivia turned her body to the side, narrowly dodging the enemy''s spearman. Then, using her sword, she stabbed towards the palm holding the spear, maiming the spearman with her sword. "Argh!" Obviously pained by her attack, the spearman screamed. Unflinchingly taking another step, Olivia pulled back her sword and flicked it. Violet energy filled the ends of her blade, as a slash of blade energy flew from her sword towards the enemy''s neck. Swish! In a swift movement, the spearman was beheaded and blood splattered against Olivia''s cold, expressionless face and formed a screen blocking the sight of the bare-handed pugilist. Leaning back with her right leg, Olivia raised her left for a kick and hit the flying head towards the pugilist. Seeing the head of his partner heading towards him, the pugilist abandoned his stance, in an attempt to catch the head. The moment that the head landed within his grasp, Olivia''s sharp sword arrived and skewered the head with the pugilist''s chest, destroying his heart. In just four steps, Olivia had taken care of two Low-Level Stage 2 guards. ''64% remaining.'' Noting the remaining soul power, Olivia stepped forth once towards the others. The guards collectively took a step back and Reyna almost collapsed to the ground once more. Seeing this, Olivia mentally shook her head in disappointment. ''No wonder Mankind is in such a bad situation. They are simply too weak.'' It was then, that her pupils suddenly shrunk and she immediately took a defensive stance with her sword. Soul power was furiously channeled and a violet barrier was formed before Olivia''s chest. In the instant that Olivia had reacted, a ball of blue-colored flame shot from within the tunnel and headed towards Olivia. Instinctively, estimating the danger of that fireball, Olivia readied her defense. And not a second later, the blue-colored fireball landed on the shield. BOOOM!! Containing energy far greater than Olivia''s estimations, the fireball exploded and a torrent of heat attacked Olivia. Unable to maintain her footing, Olivia flew back. "What''s happening here?!!" An enraged shout, followed by the figure of a handsome young man appeared. Wearing a silver-colored military uniform with red-colored embroidery, a young man with a head full of flamboyant red hair, a sparse red beard, and crimson eyes appeared at the entrance of the tunnel. Hearing that voice, relief filled the bodies of Reyna and the guards, with the former turning back and shouting at the top of her lungs. "ALEX!!" She then jumped toward the young, buried her head in his chest, and tightly held him while crying. "I-I- al-most di-died!" Reyna could no longer restrain her emotions and cried. "Wai-wait Reyna, what happened?!" Feeling the wetness permeating through his clothes, Alex grew concerned. Patting the head of this girl, who was like his little sister, Alex raised his head and surveyed the room. Twenty or so bodies lied on the ground with no heat radiating off of it. Five lied on the side, seemingly unconscious with dozens of scientists and other non-military staff trembling by the corners of the room. The platform at the center of the room housing the Teleportation Array had collapsed, with a cloud of dust enveloping that area and various rampant energies clouding his [Heat Scan]. Alex then placed his eyes on the eight guards assigned to Reyna and asked in an incredibly serious voice which barely held his anger. "Who did this?" However, his question turned out to be redundant, as coughs rang from within the cloud of dust followed by the appearance of a silhouette. "*cough*, *cough*, that hurt," Olivia remarked while spitting out a mouthful of blood. Wiping her mouth, she raised her sword once again and got into a combat stance. This time, the aura surrounding her sharpened, as her face turned serious. ''This one will be hard.'' Chapter 242: Meeting. Alex''s gaze was fixed upon the blurry silhouette as he waited for the smoke to clear. His instincts, honed through three years of battle warned him of the assailant''s danger. ''Such dense murderous aura. This person is dangerous.'' Thinking as such, he moved the crying Reyna behind his back and started preparing for battle. ''Question is¡­who is this person? And how did they get in here?'' It was then, that the smoke finally cleared and the face of the assailant was revealed. Looking at that beautiful figure, Alex was first confused, before being overcome with shock. "Wait is tha¡ª!!" His shout was stopped mid-cry as Olivia attacked. "[Strengthen Self]. [Reveal Lies]." Having completed her dual chant, violet soul power moved to empower Olivia''s body. [Strengthen Self] was one of the earliest spells of the [Soul Suppressor], and had the effect of increasing all of the user''s physical abilities and senses by nearly 200%. [Reveal Lies] was a spell from the Arbiter inheritance and had the effect of exposing all that is false. To simply put, it could detect lies and render feints useless, as it allowed the user to very closely observe the target. The two spells dropped Olivia''s soul power reserves by a noticeable amount but had also elevated her combat prowess by one level. Carrying strength that equaled a Peak-Level Stage 2, Olivia dished out her first attack. She had noticed Alex''s flustered demeanor and exploited it to her advantage. "Wai- Ah, shit!" Seeing the sword unhesitantly head towards his throat, Alex was forced to react. Flames covered both of his arms, which he then raised to block the attacks. BANG! The sword''s edge landed on Alex''s arms and resulted in a loud explosion. Olivia stumbled back a few steps while Alex was sent flying. He then crashed onto the white walls of the room, resulting in a minor cave-in. ''Fuu...'' Taking in a deep breath, Olivia spread out her soul power and scanned the caved-in area to find Alex. She knew that he wasn''t dead and had managed to withstand the force of her attack. "ALEX!!" Reyna cried out loud, which earned her a cold stare from Olivia. "Shut up." Olivia curtly ordered. Staring into those glowing violet eyes, the fear from earlier returned, prompting Reyna to immediately shut up. She used her trembling hands to cover her mouth and tears started to flow down her eyes once again. Of course, Olivia couldn''t care less about her feelings since any relationship that the two previously had, had been rendered null the moment the latter (Reyna) had ordered to kill the former (Olivia). Anyways, Olivia''s glowing eyes sharpened once again as her soul power detected the rising temperature at the scene of the cave-in. Intense heat started to radiate within the room as a blue-colored light appeared within the dust. Rising to form the silhouette of a full adult figure, the blue light suddenly flashed as it moved with great speeds. Seeing Alex charge towards her, Olivia did not retreat but instead, met his charge. In the three years spent in Pandemonium, Olivia had always trained her body to improve her speeds to a point where it could match Lucius''. While she did not succeed in matching him, she did get very close. That is to say, while the human-shaped blue light was fast, Olivia was faster under the empowerment of her soul power. Raising her sword up high, energy started to flow in her weapon and crescent-shaped energy took shape. Upon reaching a suitable power, Olivia swung down her sword releasing three slashes of blade energy. The three slashed quickly closed the remaining distance between the two figures and was aimed at Alex''s head, chest, and legs respectively. However, the attacks weren''t effective as it was soon revealed that Alex''s combat experience was on a whole ''nother level compared to the guards. Effectively estimating the reach and distance of the three attacks, Alex moved his body in an ideal manner. Tilting his head solved the first attack, twisting his body solved the second, and jumping up with both his legs solved the third. However, just before he could celebrate, his pupils suddenly shrunk as Olivia''s sword appeared in front of him. With [Reveal Lies], Olivia had preemptively predicted Alex''s evasion pattern and simply waited for him to appear in a position, where he could not dodge. With his head turned, body sideways, and legs in the air, this was the most opportune moment. Watching himself rapidly approach the sharp tip of the sword aimed at his heart, Alex lost his composure and panicked. If he failed to react properly, his heart would be destroyed by Olivia''s attack. Sure, Alex had gained a lot of battle experience from the three years of war. However, his battles were always planned and he had never fought with an opponent stronger than him. That is to say, Alex lacked life-threatening encounters. Olivia on the other hand was the exact opposite. She had been placed in an environment where everyone was stronger than her and the slightest of mistakes would result in death. And having faced such an environment, she had come out victorious. ''Checkmate.'' Olivia mentally thought to herself, as she felt the tip of her sword cut through Alex''s barrier of fire. At this moment, faced with certain death, Alex''s potential seemed to explode. He instinctively detonated the barrier of Mid-Level Stage 2 flames surrounding him, trigger a large explosion. BOOOM!!! Caught off-guard, Olivia was not able to fully react. The force of the explosion broke her stance and disarmed her of her sword. Waves of heat assaulted her body, with her violet soul power furiously working to stave off as much as possible. She was sent flying back and multiple burn marks appeared throughout her body. Still, the damage was mitigated as much as possible, as her armor and robes lessened the impact of the explosion by a large amount. BANG! Alex was also flung back by the explosion and hadn''t managed to avoid the effects of the explosion. While one''s soul power shouldn''t be able to harm its user that is not the case when it is detonated. Detonating soul power results in the release of pure, destructive energy. If mishandled it would explode and that is why control over one''s soul power was important. The two figures slammed into walls on opposite sides of the room. Alex was slightly better off since his main attribute was Fire and therefore sustained lesser damage. However, the explosion had knocked him unconscious. Olivia, on the other hand, had more injuries compared to him but was the first to recover. ''Argh¡­shit this is bad!'' Cursing within her mind, Olivia suppressed the pain and forced herself to stand up. Her vision was blurry and her heady was dizzy, both aftereffects of the explosion. Still, with the effects of [Strengthen Self] in effect, he managed to recover faster. Observing the battlefield, she noticed that Alex hadn''t gotten up and slightly relaxed. ''42% of soul power remaining and more than a minute has passed.'' Circulating the remaining soul power, Olivia started to heal her injuries. Her armor had multiple burn marks and had mostly blackened on the front, while her robes had multiple tears and singes. ''I need to get out of here.'' Staying here meant facing the reinforcements with her tired and injured body while running away would buy her some time to recover. Still, the situation would still remain grim as she was amidst enemy territory and had no knowledge of the said territory. ''Enemy territory...heh, how ironic.'' Olivia mentally scoffed and began to move. It was then, that the sounds of dozens of footsteps echoed through the tunnel accompanied by shouts. "Reinforcements had arrived! We have this area locked down! What''s happening?" "Is this an attack by the Formicians?! Have they discovered our teleportation arrays?" "Alex?! Are you in there?" Less than four minutes had passed since Olivia had started fighting and reinforcements had already arrived. Seeing that the precariousness of her situation had gone through the roof, Olivia immediately moved. Grabbing her sword which laid on the ground, she instantly appeared next to the trembling Reyna and placed the sword on her throat. "Everyone stop! Move and I''ll kill her!!" Olivia bellowed. The reinforcements who had just arrived paused for a moment to understand what was happening. A broken teleportation array, multiple collapsed walls, dozens of dead bodies and dozens more unconscious ones, a purple figure holding on to their Vice-Leader at sword point, the scene was complex¡­to say the least. Olivia keenly observed the incoming reinforcements and her heart sank at their numbers. ''At least fifty Peak-Level Stage 1 gunmen with ten Low-Level Stage 2s leading them in the front. The black-haired woman and the blonde-haired man in the front are at Mid-Level Stage 2, much weaker than me but unfortunately in peak condition.'' ''I need to be smart about this to survive.'' Olivia''s mind furiously churned as she tried to come up with a solution to her predicament. She currently found herself alone in a weakened state, surrounded by multiple enemies. Save for the struggling Reyna whom she held as a hostage, Olivia had no advantage in this current scenario. ''I should''ve brought some of my men with me.'' She belatedly thought to herself. "Whoa, what happened here? Who''s the purple beauty?" a fickle voice, which Olivia recognized to be the blonde-haired man, spoke first. "Who are you? Identify yourself!" the following sentence was spoken in a stern tone by the black-haired woman. These two arrivals were Jack White and Anya Balliol, respectively. Chapter 243: Threaten. "Who are you? Identify yourself!" Following alongside the stern threat, Anya stepped forth while placing her hands on her weapon by her waist. Her entire demeanor overflowed with heroic majesty and authority. Of course, this ''majesty'' was nothing more than pretend in the Arbiter''s eyes, as Olivia unflinchingly replied. "Do not move, unless you want the headless corpse of your Vice-Leader." Olivia coldly replied, while pressing her sword harder against Reyna''s throat, making a light cut. Seeing the line of blood slide down Reyna''s neck, Anya immediately stopped. She understood that the woman in purple was not threatened by her words, and found her aura overshadowed by the latter. Stopping in place, she instead resorted to glaring at Olivia while waiting for her to make her demands. Seeing this reaction, Olivia was pleasantly surprised although she did not show it. ''Seems like Reyna is more important than I thought.'' She summarized. ''Told ya.'' A relaxed Ka''lor''ah replied to her thoughts. ''The value of my chips has increased. If I can correctly use it, I can turn this situation into a more favorable one.'' Realizing this, Olivia did not immediately speak but started to stall for time. She understood that her opponents were in a greater hurry and seized this opportunity to her advantage. Minutes continued to tick by as tension continued to mount. Both sides were completely silent, save for the quiet whimpers of Reyna. Seeing that their opponent was not willing to talk, Anya found herself unable to hold back her anger and opened her mouth to speak. Alas, just as the first words were about to leave her mouth, Olivia interrupted her. "Where am I right now? Specifically, which planet?" "The Main Base of the Allied Liberation Army situated in the Eastern Continent of Earth." Holding back her anger, Anya replied. "Date and day?" "2nd of February, 2325. It''s a Wednesday." "How many soldiers are on the base and what are their strengths?" "¡­I can''t tell you that." Hearing that response, Olivia gently smiled. Her eyes, however, were exceptionally cold and the hands holding the sword moved. Olivia pulled her sword horizontally at a slow pace creating a fairly deep, clean cut on Reyna''s smooth, pale neck. Crimson blood started to trickle down, staining the collars of her silver uniform Seeing this scene, Anya hurriedly screamed. "Wait, WAIT!!" Pausing her movements, Olivia looked up and prompted. "Well?" Visibly gritting her teeth, Anya spoke through her fuming nostrils. The redness of her face revealed the extent of her anger. "This base currently houses 30,000 Stage 1 soldiers and 100 Stage 2 officers." In response, Olivia showed a bigger, more brilliant smile and replied. "That''s a lie. Seems like her life doesn''t possess much value." [Reveal Lies] was still active allowing Olivia to thoroughly read Anya''s expressions and behavior. That being the case, Anya''s lie pertaining to the number of soldiers was easily revealed. Olivia tightened her grip and moved her sword with an extravagant movement. Ka''lor''ah''s instructions were still clear in her mind and Olivia did not plan to kill Reyna. She only wanted to use this opportunity to intimidate them and gain the greater initiative in the negotiation. Seeing a copious amount of blood fall from Reyna''s throat alongside her startled screams, Anya''s face finally lost its composure, resulting in her intervention. "Please stop that! It was my fault for lying! Please stop hurting her!!" Listening to her pleas, Olivia did not reply but patiently waited. "There are 30,000 gunmen of which 25,000 are Mid-Level Stage 1 and 5,000 are Peak-Level Stage 1. One hundred and twenty officers of Low-Level Stage 2 and four Mid-Level Stage 2s, inclusive of me, Alex, Jack, and Illya, make up our forces." "Apart from these, there are thousands of service and non-military staff, who are of Low-Level Stage 1 strength." This time, [Reveal Lies] did not show any response. ''Seems to be the truth. Their individual battle experience seems to be very weak and they are not aware of many of the soul power usages and abilities. If I can get my men to teleport here, I will have the strongest combat force on the base.'' ''I instructed Wilkes to gather all the forces near the cave in an hour''s time. There are still 40 minutes to go. I need to buy more time.'' Arriving at this conclusion, Olivia took a peek into her mindspace to see how much soul power had been refilled. ''90% after healing all of my injuries¡­ If I go all out, I can take out everyone gathered within this room.'' "Who''s your leader? I want to speak with them." Olivia demanded. "Our leader is Lady Illya from the Roseberg family. If you want to talk to her I can take you to her. If you could just fol¡ªNOW!!!" Amidst her recitation, Anya suddenly screamed before kicking off the ground. Being at the highest stage of alert, Olivia had been closely monitoring every single action of the people gathered before her. As such, the instant Anya acted, Olivia promptly reacted. First, she threw Reyna behind her, creating distance between the humans and her. Next, she exploded out with her aura coupled together with [Intimidate], forcing the assailants to instinctively slow down. ''Now, starting with the two Mid-Levels in the front¡­'' Just as Olivia was about to use their delay to dish out the first blow, her body suddenly stiffened as an invisible wave hit her. The soul power within Olivia''s body suddenly turned sluggish and started to rampage within her body. Intense pain, similar to her body being cut from the inside filled Olivia''s mind. "ARGH--!!" A scream involuntarily escaped Olivia''s mouth, only to be forcibly suppressed by her conscious will. Forcing her eyes open, Olivia bit down upon her lips with enough intensity to draw blood. She couldn''t afford to lose herself to the pain when faced with the furious assault of two Mid-Level Stage 2s. ''Must endure!!'' This single thought resounded within Olivia''s mind. ''Strange. Very strange. They seem to have some sort of attack aimed at making one lose control of the soul power within one''s body. Split a part of your focus and block the waves assaulting your body. You should regain control of your soul power then.'' Ka''lor''ah who hid within Olivia''s armor analyzed her current situation and responded. She had mostly been quiet previously, with no intention of inserting herself into Olivia''s predicament. Apart from instructing her not to kill Reyna, Ka''lor''ah silently watched. After all, in her eyes, everyone here apart from Reyna was completely worthless. They had no value in the Great Plan and hence, no interest in the eyes of this ex-Stage 7 entity. However, the strange attack on Olivia had aroused her interest, prompting her to help her disciple out. Having said that, Ka''lor''ah once again turned silent. Only through conflict and danger could a person grow. To bring out the full potential of a person, they had to constantly face death. Nodding her head to her teacher''s words, Olivia acted. Enduring the pain assaulting her mind, Olivia who was now unable to properly control her soul power, kicked off of the ground and jumped back. The attacks of Anya and Jack were already upon her and she needed to evade them, before buying a few moments of peace to sort the issue with her body. BANG! Anya''s heavy spear and Jack''s sharp sword light landed in the position where Olivia had previously been in. Their fruitless attack did not dampen their spirits as they continued to chase after Olivia with visible passion. "To dare threaten me with the life of a friend, you will pay for this!!" Anya bellowed. "Such a gorgeous looking face and fantastic body, coupled with fearless personality. If you''re willing to surrender and submit to me, I wouldn''t mind taking you in as my wife and protecting you. I allow no harm to befall my women." Jack''s shameless shout soon followed. Olivia, however, heard neither of them and was completely focused. She used part of her attention to dodge the attacks of the two Stage 2 beings by a hair''s breadth and the remainder of the attention on stopping the invisible waves from striking her body. The furious attacks continued and Olivia''s nerve-racking evasions put the onlookers at the edge of their seats. With her experience and foresight, Olivia was able to barely keep up with the soul power fueled attacks and movements of the two. This fight made clear the difference between the combat prowess of humans within Mankind''s territory and Olivia, who had left for the Universe. (Although, the comparison isn''t exactly fair, since Olivia was personally tutored by Lucius -albeit only on the basics- who was known as the ''Strongest below Them''.) Dozens of attacks and minutes of fruitless engagement started to wear down on the patience of the two Mid-Level attackers. Anya, who was the first to lose her patience, used her ability. "[Wind Cutter]" Soul power solidified outside of her body and formed five green, crescent-shaped blades of wind. Locking onto Olivia''s figure, they instantly disappeared and headed towards the target. Unable to use her soul power, Olivia was unable to immediately identify this attack. As such, when it arrived next to her body, it was too late to react. ''I can''t dodge this!'' Closing her eyes, Olivia curled her body to mitigate the maximum damage possible. It was then¡­. "ALL OF YOU!! STOP AT ONCE!!" A figure suddenly appeared next to her and blocked the blades of wind. Chapter 244: Compromise. "Stop it at once!!" With a roar that shook the very room, Alex thundered. His hair was greatly disheveled, blood and soot marks covered his face, and his silver-colored uniform was torn in multiple regions. Alex''s current appearance was no different from that of a beggar. Grabbing onto Olivia''s sword in one hand and Anya''s weapon with the other, Alex placed himself in-between the duo and stared into his partner''s face with his bloodshot eyes. "Stop it, Anya. She''s a friend." Alex sternly spoke. "But she tried to kill Reyna!" "It''s a misunderstanding! If she really wanted to kill her, she wouldn''t be alive right now." Alex replied while gesturing towards Reyna, who was being tended to by the Stage 2 soldiers. "Put your weapon down, you too," Alex ordered. Jack simply shrugged his shoulders and sheathed his weapon. He never liked fighting women in the first place, especially one with Olivia''s level of beauty. "I never wanted to fight her anyway. Woman of such caliber must be faced in a different battle, if you get what I mean, hehe." His face sported a lecherous expression. Anya, meanwhile, looked very hesitant and aggrieved. Having personally fought against Olivia, she had understood the exceptional strength and ability of the latter and did not feel comfortable letting her go unpunished. "Anya¡­" Alex softened his voice and gently called out her name. Giving in to her partner''s wishes, Anya stepped back and replied. "..Fuu, fine!" She did not, however, sheathe her weapon and continued to send threatening stares towards Olivia. Knowing that this was the best compromise that he could get from his wife, Alex sighed. He then looked towards the soldiers standing in the back and roared. "Turn off that machine. She''s not a threat!" Hearing that furious bellow of their Commander, the soldiers did not dare dally. The machine which was obstructing Olivia was called the ''Neutralizer''. It had the specific effect of messing with the workings of soul power, rendering it unstable within the target''s body. The Neutralizer could completely neutralize the soul power within Stage 1 beings, but could only destabilize its working in Stage 2. As for its effects on Stage 3 beings, it was unknown for lack of such targets. The machine was turned off and Olivia felt her soul power returning to her control. She quickly stabilized the rampaging energy within her body and immediately back away while abandoning her sword which was held by Alex. Assuming a fighting stance with her fists, Olivia looked at Alex with a questioning, untrusting gaze. Seeing such a hostile reaction from a friend of his, Alex mentally sighed to himself. He then turned to properly face her and bowed. "I''m very sorry for the trouble. I hope you don''t take it to heart." Shocked by such a reaction, Anya immediately screamed. "Alex?! She has killed almost thirty of our troops and almost killed Reyna!! She has to be jailed!" "They attacked first and I simply retaliated. What else did you expect me to do, when your ''Vice-Leader'' ordered the soldiers to shoot me? Quietly stand?" Olivia coldly replied. "You-!!" Anya raised her weapon once more, only to be forcibly held by Alex. "Calm down! Let''s hear what happened first!" Alex then turned to face Olivia and asked. "Could you tell us what happened? From the first if possible." Olivia silently stood for a few seconds before nodding her head. She desperately needed time to heal her body and recover her soul power, after being caught off-guard by the Neutralizer attack. Taking in a deep breath, Olivia then started to narrate the events since her meeting with the group of humans, prior to arriving here. Alex patiently heard her story, before proceeding to corroborate it with the people involved. He first had the soldiers wake up the people who brought Olivia here and then proceeded to wake up the people who were present inside the room when the events took place. After gaining a full understanding of the situation, Alex, Anya, and the rest of the troops who had arrived realized that the mistake lied with them. Olivia had originally come with peaceful and friendly intentions, however, she was then insulted by their Vice-Leader and then proceeded to be attacked by their troops. Out of self-defense, Olivia had retaliated. "But that doesn''t justify you killing them!! You''re clearly stronger. Why not knock them out or disarm them?" Anya accused. Hearing that accusation, Olivia looked towards Anya with a look of confusion, followed by disappointment and pity. "How na?ve could you be? No wonder Mankind is losing so badly with such people leading it." Olivia did not hide her derision and spoke audibly. Anya''s face reddened in shame and anger as she raised her weapon once more. However, she was immediately stopped by Alex who held her tightly. Alex then looked towards Reyna, who was behind the line of soldiers, being treated for her injuries. Their discussion was not secretive and Reyna had clearly witnessed the proceedings. Her head was lowered and her fists were clenched, as her body faintly shook. It was unknown whether the trembling was out of shame or anger. ''Oh, Reyna¡­you have to stop blaming others. It''s not Olivia and Lucius leaving, that led to our current situation but our own weakness.'' Experiences can change a person. Alex, who had experienced many things over the last three years, had changed as a person. He had grown and matured a lot as a human, a husband, and a leader. He still remembered the words Lucius had told him when they had first met: ''Weakness is a sin.'' At first, he had rejected this extreme saying and believed that as long as humans could work together, they would be able to overcome anything. Alas, the war against the Formicians, the betrayal by the Sors Fides cultists, and the struggle against the pirate organization had taught him the harsh truth. Without power, one could not dream. Without power, one could not be free. In this Universe governed by Rules and filled with beings of unthinkable strength, power was the only constant. It was harsh, but it was the truth. ''I wonder why he didn''t come. How strong is he now?'' Alex absent-mindedly thought. Shaking his head to rid himself of his daze, Alex turned to face Olivia and gently spoke. "I once again apologize for all the trouble caused. It was our ignorance that led to the misunderstanding. Reyna''s actions¡­I hope you don''t take it to heart. She''s lost a lot of people dear to her, making her a bit emotionally unstable." Not relaxing from her combat stance in the slightest, Olivia sarcastically replied. "Whatever, man. As long as she doesn''t try to kill me for simply trying to talk to her, I''ll be just fine." Alex sighed at her response having understood that the previous relationship between the three had been destroyed by this event. It was sad but understandable. "Why don''t we go somewhere more comfortable to have a chat? I understand that you came here with the intention to help us." Alex offered. "Oh, I''m not moving anywhere, until you guys fix this teleportation portal behind me and open a path to that planet. After my people transfer over we can talk all we want." Olivia instantly denied it. Like hell, she would move this place. Who knew what other trap they might''ve prepared for her? It was safe to say that Olivia''s trust in her fellow humans had reached an all-time low after this incident. Her cautious personality built from her time in Pandemonium refused to take action without an advantage. "There''s no way in hell, I''m going to allow your forces to come over!!" Anya immediately shot back. Alex, on the other hand, pondered for a few seconds before asking. "How many?" Shocked, Anya turned to face Alex and asked in a dumbfounded voice. "You''re not serious? We can''t simply give her what she wants!!" "Anya." Alex''s voice turned extremely serious as he spoke, "This is my base. I can do whatever I want." "You--!!" Anya was speechless. She then forcibly removed Alex''s arms holding onto her and walked out of the tunnel with a livid expression. Olivia obviously did not care for their little spat and answered. "A little less than three hundred." "Their levels?" Rubbing his forehead, Alex asked. "All in Stage 2." "These are the troops you brought to provide reinforcement for us, right? Aren''t their numbers too little?" Alex asked. It had to be noted that the enemies faced by Mankind were both numerous and exceptionally skilled. Even with the numbers that they currently had, they were losing quite badly. To answer Alex''s question, Olivia gave a slight smirk and replied. "I can guarantee that my three hundred will be at least twice as strong as your 30,000 stationed in this base. Don''t doubt the strength of my men." Her voice was filled with absolute confidence. AT that answer, Alex simply nodded his head and turned to face Reyna and the other service staff. "Fix this portal immediately and open a channel to that planet. We will be welcoming our reinforcements." ---------- Little under three hours had passed when the Teleportation Array was finally fixed and the channel was opened. Although Reyna had looked extremely unwilling, she nonetheless performed exceptionally. The strength of [Machinery life] a rare soul-type at Low-Level Stage 2 was not to be underestimated. Being the creator of this Teleportation Array, none was more familiar with its construct than Reyna. Empowered by her soul, she moved adeptly and dexterously fixing the machine in record time. ''So she does have her use after all.'' Olivia thought to herself. Ka''lor''ah who had heard her thoughts lazily replied. ''As spoiled as she may be, her skills are the real deal. You can say that she is the reason why Mankind is not already extinct. Without the devices and technology provided by her, they wouldn''t have held on for so long.'' ''I see.'' Olivia nodded her head in understanding. ''Is that the reason why she''s so important?'' Olivia sharply asked. Having spent time with Ka''lor''ah, Olivia had learnt a lot about the former''s personality. With her, Ka''lor''ah was extremely playful and childish. However, when faced with others she was extremely uncaring and aloof. It was almost as if Ka''lor''ah did not consider others, apart from a few select people, as worthy of her attention at all. She had an aura that reminded Olivia of the Monarchs and Emperors she had often heard or read about in stories. Faced with Olivia''s question, Ka''lor''ah was caught off-guard. However, she immediately recovered and replied. ''Sharp. As expected of my disciple.'' After giving Olivia, a word of praise, Ka''lor''ah continued. ''You could say it''s part of the reason why she is important. As for the rest of the reason, I can''t tell you.'' Olivia was a bit saddened at that answer but quickly shook her head to clear her thoughts. She then looked towards the large Teleportation Array that was humming and glowing with fantastical lights. Enormous amounts of energy were channeled into the portal resulting in the machine taking a few moments to stabilize. After achieving stability, the machine started to properly function as a group of figures passed over from the other side and landed on the platform. Olivia immediately recognized the figures as her subordinates. "Boss! You''re here!" Chapter 245: Hide. "Boss! You''re here!" Wilkes being amongst the first to exit the portal spotted Olivia at the forefront of the crowd. As an Oncanian, which was a Grade 4 species, the discomfort from having traveled through the portal was minimal. Another advantage of a higher Grade species was their higher resistance and recovery rates. On that note, the others who passed through the portal also recovered near-instantly, since nearly all of Olivia''s subordinates consisted of Grade 4 species. "I''ve completed your orders just as you instruct--"Wilkes excited chatter suddenly paused when he noticed the state Olivia was in. While her injuries were completely healed, courtesy of her soul power, Olivia''s armor and robes still contained traces of her previous battle. That, coupled with the wary gazes of the soldiers carrying weapons, only served to anger Wilkes further. "To dare attack our Boss! Men!" Wilkes thundered. Intense bloodlust and battle intent radiated off of his figure as he grabbed onto his two daggers. At his roar, the people arriving from the portal also notice the peculiar state of their boss and the room and reacted similarly. A collective murderous aura that could stop the heart of the weaker-willed wafted across the room. Some of the soldiers found themselves collapsing onto the ground from the sheer pressure, while the rest paled and shook. Even Alex and Jack, two of the strongest entities within the room felt danger assault their minds and fear grip their hearts. Simply judging from the aura, they understood that they couldn''t win against any of the men crossing over from the other side of the portal. These were people who were born within the hellish conditions of Pandemonium and survived. Each was an elite veteran and was not to be underestimated in the slightest. "Archers Fi¡ª" Just as he was about to complete his command, Olivia interrupted Wilkes. "That won''t be necessary, Captain Wilkes." She then turned to face the human soldiers behind her. Sporting a satisfactory smile on her face, she softly spoke. "I believe that they have understood the difference and will not hastily act. Am I right to believe that, Commander Alex?" Taking a nervous gulp, Alex hurriedly replied. "Of course, Miss Olivia." He politely replied. ''Even if all the men within the base fight, I don''t believe that we will be able to take them down. What monsters!'' Alex inwardly thought. He had originally scoffed at Olivia''s estimation of her forces, believing it to be grossly overestimated. However, looking at the forces in person, Alex believed it to be an underestimation. Being a man of vast experience, Wilkes immediately understood the queer atmosphere. He realized that their boss was intimidating the other group, and he was more than ready to comply. "Understood, Boss! Just give us the word and we will slaughter these puny weaklings!" Wilkes roared while sheathing his weapon but did not retract his bloodlust. The others behind him followed him in his actions: roaring, sheathing their weapon, and intensifying their bloodlust. They then started to methodically gather behind Olivia, forming neat rows and columns. Wilkes, who stood to the right of Olivia, gave his report. "All of the men have arrived, Boss. As per your request, I had Ro''an''s team lead a decoy group away from the planet while drawing away those insects. They then placed the ships on auto-pilot while discreetly escaping and joining up with us." "That is correct, Boss." Ro''an, a Lacerman enthusiastically replied. His reptilian face then smirked, as he playfully said. "We even left those insects a nice surprise," gesturing an explosion with his hands. Olivia nodded at their report and replied. "Nicely done. Great work, Captains." She then turned to face, Alex and spoke. "I suppose we can have that chat now, Commander Alex." --------- After giving Olivia''s troops a few barracks to stay in, Alex led Olivia towards the Command Building at the center of the base. Jack, whose lodgings were also in that direction followed the duo. They were slightly delayed when the Captains under Olivia refused to let their leader go into the middle of enemy territory alone and made a fuss, wanting to accompany her as guards. Alex could obviously not allow this, due to the sensitive nature of their identity (their races to be exact) and the fact that they were in a war against some of their kind (people of the pirate organization). An argument went back and forth before Olivia finally put an end to it. A sharp instruction from her suppressed the rowdy natures of the Captains. The three now walked towards the Command building under the curious stares of the other inhabitants of the base. None of them spoke making the atmosphere between them quite awkward. A few minutes passed and Jack could no longer hold his tongue. "You''re amazing. Beauty, authority, power, you have everything. Well, everything except for a man to share it with, I hope?" "Did you give some thought to my previous request? I was being very serious you know. I will treat you extremely well. If you want to, I will even give you the position of head-wife in my harem." "Speaking of them, they are all exceptional ladies very much like yourself, you know. They are strong, independent, determined and they will be more than welcoming to your arrival, treating you like their sister." "You''re human, right? Not that it matters to me. If you''re from the Alliance, then perhaps you might''ve heard about them. The first one is¡­" Jack was immersed in a world of his own as he started to describe his nine wives in detail. He also went on an elaborate explanation of their meeting, how he fell in love with them, how they got married, etc¡­ The conversation carried on one-sidedly for nearly ten minutes before Olivia could no longer bear with him. Unsheathing her sword, she stabbed at the kneecaps of this detestable man. "After that we¡ªARGH!" Jack''s excited face warped into one of pain as he collapsed onto the ground while clutching onto his knees. "One. More. Word. And I''ll dissect you from bottom-up while displaying the process to those wives of yours." Olivia''s tone was devoid of any feeling and her face was absolutely frigid. Fear suffused into Jack''s eyes, as Olivia motioned with her sword once more. He hurriedly nodded and lowered his head. "And if you call me ''wife'' or any other word of such nature. If you so much as look in my direction. I promise that I''ll personally see to it that your current wives, their sister, and mothers are sold as whor*s to the lowest of brothels in the Universe." "As for the brothers, and the fathers, I will have all of you castrated and thrown into pits to be the objects of relief of pigs and beasts of such nature." Hearing that Jack instantly raised his head and looked towards Olivia with pure, unadulterated anger. It was clear that Olivia''s words had touched the reverse scale of his being. "Oh, the beast dares to look at me?" Olivia''s eyes sharpened further, as she drew her sword once more. However, she was quickly stopped by Alex, who spoke. "Please forgive him, Olivia. He was simply joking around and did not mean it." Olivia looked at Alex, and then towards Jack one more time, Sheathing her weapon, she turned around and started to walk. "I really hope that you do try and do something. Then, I can stay true to my promise." She loudly announced and walked away. Alex sighed to himself and looked towards Jack who was staring at Olivia''s receding figure with anger. "Please be sensible and don''t try anything. Forget this incident and move on." "She dared to threaten my family!" Jack hissed. "And you kept pushing her buttons while knowing that she was being angered by it." Alex then paused for a moment, before continuing. "She wasn''t like this before, you know. She was kind, caring, and considerate. I even liked her at one point." "But after that battle in Deatov, something changed within her. She followed that monster into space and now¡­this is who returned." Alex''s eyes were filled with reminiscence as he spoke. He then patted Jack''s shoulder and advised in a serious tone. "Forget this and don''t meet her anymore. Don''t bother her and she''ll forget it soon." Having said that, Alex ran forward to catch up with Olivia. --------- ''Damn! That was cold. Even I was scared a little when you delivered that threat.'' Ka''lor''ah voice resounded within Olivia''s mind. ''He was incessant and annoying.'' Olivia replied. ''That one seems to have a lot of pride, you know. He won''t take it lying down.'' A cold, sadistic smile formed on Olivia''s face as she mentally replied. ''And I really look forward to it. I''m will thoroughly enjoy following up with my threat.'' Hearing that, Ka''lor''ah mentally shook her head. ''She''s crazy.'' She then paused for a minute, when she realized something. ''Wait a second¡­from what I learnt, Aurora was also a crazy woman. Does Lucius have a penchant for attracting crazy women who love him?'' Ka''or''ah thought to herself. It was then, that Alex caught up with Olivia and spoke. "We are here. This is the Command Center for this base. The army''s other leader is within." Alex first entered the spire-shaped building, followed by Olivia. Just as Olivia placed her first step inside the building, her mind was assaulted by Ka''lor''ah''s deafening scream. ''H-HE''S HERE!! I NEED TO HIDE!!'' Ka''lor''ah tumultuous scream was followed by hurried breathing. ''Don''t take me out of your clothes and never show or speak about me to anyone else! When Lucius arrives tell him these exact words without fail!!!" ''Our predictions were right! He''s here and He''s watching! Don''t expose your identity!!!'' ''Be careful, Olivia! And don''t forget to tell Lucius as soon as you meet him!'' Chapter 246: Reveal. (Long Chapter) ''Identity? He? What''s wrong, teacher?!!'' Subject to Ka''lor''ah''s warning which came out of the blue, Olivia was exceedingly confused. She immediately questioned back, but alas, received no answer. ''Hello? Teacher? Ka''lor''ah? Do you hear me?'' Without giving up, Olivia continued to call Ka''lor''ah with her thoughts. Alas, it was futile. Dozens of seconds passed and no reply was received. Ka''lor''ah''s comforting presence had seemingly vanished from within her mind. Panic appeared within Olivia''s eyes as she reached into her chest pocket with her hands to recover the golden crystal. However, just as her fingers were about to touch the crystal, Olivia''s movements paused. ''Don''t take me out of your clothes and never show or speak about me to anyone else!'' Ka''lor''ah''s warning echoed within her mind. Olivia quickly sobered up and carefully recalled Ka''lor''ah''s instructions. ''The scream was rather sudden, but there were clear signs of panic and fear within her tone. Strange, I''ve never heard Ka''lor''ah sound fearful of anything.'' ''He? Who''s he? Is it a person? A human? No wait, her tone was respectful when she referred to him? Could it be a He, as in a divine entity?'' With the arrival of something as miraculous and fantastical as soul power, Olivia no longer confuted the existence of a God or a divine level being. For all she knew, someone like that could surely exist. ''Why did she sound terrified then? And why warn Lucius?'' ''More importantly, what did she mean by ''hide your identity''?'' The more she thought, the more questions formed within Olivia''s mind. She had always known that Ka''lor''ah and Lucius were sharing a secret that was unknown to her. However, recent events had made her reconsider the importance of the secret. ''What is happening? Is Lucius in danger?'' Olivia instinctually worried. "Hey, are you okay? You kinda stopped moving and your face looks incredibly pale." Alex''s deep voice resounded near her ears. Focus returned to Olivia''s eyes and she found Alex looking at her with a worried expression. Realizing that she had stopped walking due to being immersed in her thoughts, Olivia hurriedly replied. "I''m fine. I just lost control of my soul power for a moment there. It''s fine now." Olivia hurriedly made an excuse to explain her strangeness. Ka''lor''ah''s warnings still echoed within her mind. The fear that she felt in her voice and the fact that Ka''lor''ah had explicitly warned her to be careful, made Olivia reconsider her current threat level. She did not know what was happening, but she nonetheless understood that it was extremely dangerous. ''I need to stay low-key until Lucius arrives.'' Reaching this conclusion, Olivia calmed her mind. "You know if you want to you can take a break. We can postpone the discussion to later." Alex considerately offered. Showing a polite smile, Olivia shook her head and replied. "I''m really fine. We can continue." Collecting information was a priority right now. Olivia could not afford to lose any time by taking a break. ''I need information. With information, I can make proper preparations for whatever this danger might be, making it safer for Lucius.'' "Okay, if you say so." Replying with a stiff smile, Alex started to lead Olivia once again. The two continued to silently walk till they reached an elevator. As seen on the outside, the Command Building was a spire-shaped structure with many floors. "My office is on the 72nd floor. We will meet with the other leader in there." Alex explained, before getting onto the elevator. Olivia nodded at his explanation and followed him. After the two boarded the elevator, the textured glass doors of the vessel encapsulated them and the machine started to ascend. Light elevator music played within the box, easing the atmosphere between the two. Noticing Alex''s uncomfortable demeanor, Olivia mentally sighed and spoke first. "Who''s the black-haired lady who fought me?" Hearing that question, Alex involuntarily showed a smile before replying. "That''s my wife, Anya Balliol." Olivia was genuinely surprised at his answer and asked. "You got married?" "Eight months ago," Alex replied. "Congratulations. I wish I could''ve been there." Olivia honestly replied. Although recent events had soured their relationship making it a bit cold, Alex was nevertheless, a good friend of hers in the past. Hearing this news made her feel happy for him. Sensing the honesty in Olivia''s voice, Alex felt relieved and happy. "It was a simple ceremony. The current situation doesn''t really allow for a grand event." Alex''s tone then turned melancholic as he continued, "I only wish that my father could''ve been there to see it." Feeling this to be a sensitive topic, Olivia did not tactlessly press forward with a question. Rather, it made her recall her father, causing her to worry about him. "Oh right, I almost forgot!" Alex slapped his head, as he quickly turned to face Olivia, "Your father is very safe. After the events in Deatov and Lucius'' spectacular performance, the Alliance looked into his family and found your father." "He was then evacuated to safety and is currently under the care and protection of the Roseberg family. I''ll take you to meet him after we are done with the discussions." Alex''s calm voice melted the worry within Olivia''s mind. An extremely happy expression appeared on Olivia''s face as she exclaimed. "Really?! That''s wonderful! Is he in good health?" "Yep, I meet with him whenever I can. After all, he''s the foster father of the Hero of Deatov and the father of a friend. He always asks about you and Lucius, you know." Olivia''s joy suddenly dampened and guilt appeared within her expression. Even with her strong mindset, she couldn''t help but recall Reyna''s words. ''A traitor who abandoned her family.'' Although Reyna''s words were unjustly sharp and accusative, there was a grain of truth in them. No matter the cause, Olivia had still left her only father in search of power. However pure her motives were, her actions were still wrong and considered unfilial. Alex keenly noted Olivia''s mood change and understood the reason behind it. Wearing a calm smile on his face, he started to speak. "If you''re worried about what he thinks about you guys leaving, don''t be. He already spoke to me about it." Alex''s eyes wandered as he recalled his conversation with Olivia''s father. ¡­ "My son and daughter, are they safe?" Bennet, Olivia''s father asked a younger, immature-looking Alex. Faced with the question, Alex''s eyes wandered as he looked unsure on how to reply. Noticing his behavior, Bennet showed him a warm smile and spoke. "It''s okay. I can handle it, you know. I''m not senile, yet." He joked. Gathering courage, Alex replied. "A few days after the battle at Deatov, Lucius and Olivia boarded a ship and left. We aren''t sure where they went, as their departure was quite sudden and the ship had its tracker turned off. Due to the current situation, we are unable to send forces after them." "I see." Bennet nodded his head. He then closed his eyes and leaned back on his chair. A few seconds passed, before a smile formed on Bennet''s face. "Tch, tch, to run away together and not even spare a thought for their father, how cruel. Seems like I''ve been too lax on them." Bennet quipped. His face carried a satisfied expression and his whole demeanor looked peaceful. The feeling of a man finally putting down a boulder and lying down on the ground in relief, radiated off of his figure. Alex however seemed confused at his reaction and asked. "I''m sorry?" "Don''t be. I couldn''t ask for a better partner for my daughter. They are perfect for each other. Knowing that she''s with Lucius, makes me content." "Olivia is a bit reckless and hot-headed. However, Lucius makes up for that by being calm and rational. As long as the two of them are together, no matter where they are, they will be fine." Bennet explained. "Wait a minute, aren''t they siblings?" Confused for a rather different reason, Alex questioned. "Not at all. Lucius was an orphan whom I found in the town during a festival on my planet. After having no luck with finding his parents, I adopted him. However, he is no different to my son." A serious expression then appeared on Bennet''s face as he suddenly sat upright. Clenching his fist, he spoke with a determined tone. "And so what if they were real siblings anyway? As long as they love and care for each other, there''s totally no issue there!" Nodding his head as if to say, ''yes, yes'', Bennet continued. "Love has no boundaries!" "Plus, this is the 23rd century! There are no issues with legalities either!" "But still, they should''ve visited this poor father at least once. I must remember to scold them when they return! Humph!" Bennet snorted. Meanwhile, Alex, the sole witness to this passion-filled speech, had a terrified expression. ''What the hell is this old man saying?'' Alex''s eyes landed on Bennet''s facial expression and his mind concluded. ''Yep, this is a crazy person! No wonder, Lucius was like that!'' And with the end of that strange conversation, Alex hurriedly made an excuse and quickly ran out of there. ¡­ Recalling that conversation, Alex still got goosebumps over his arms. He then looked at Olivia who had a rather lost expression on her face and remembered her latest threat from a few minutes ago. ''Yep, I was right. The entire family is crazy!'' Shaking his head to rid himself of such useless thoughts, he continued. "Trust me. You will know when you meet him." Alex consoled Olivia, who felt calmer after his assurance. Silence descended once more and this time, it was Alex who started the conversation. "How is Lucius by the way? Is he not coming?" "He''s fine. He will be arriving soon, I hope." Olivia replied. "What level is he in? Is he stronger than you?" A faint battle intent exuded from Alex''s body as a glimmer of excitement shone within his eyes. His mind still remembered the childish challenge that he had made back then. After all these years, Alex felt that he had improved enough, where Lucius was no longer that untouchable existence. ''He''s bound to be stronger, but I can at least fight him, right?'' he thought to himself. Olivia''s answer, however, squashed that na?ve thought of his. "Peak-Level Stage 2, in the verge of Stage 3. Even a dozen me''s will not be able to touch his shadow." Having personally fought against Peak-Level Stage 2s and having come in contact with Stage 3 existences, Olivia could more or less judge Lucius'' strength. More than that, she also had her teacher''s words as proof. "Oh, I see." Alex radiated tangible disappointment. "Anyways, how long is this elevator ride? I feel like we''ve been inside it forever." Olivia suddenly asked. Confused, Alex replied. "Hmm? It''s not that long. Only a minute has passed." Ding! As if on cue, the elevator chimed and the duo arrived on the 72nd floor. Stepping out into the long corridor, the duo, with Alex in the lead walked with echoing footsteps before arriving in front of a door. Pushing the door open, Alex walked in first before speaking with surprise. "Oh, you''re already here. Perfect, this saves us a lot of time." "I got here immediately after you sent me the message." A foreign voice replied to the question. The voice carried a calm disposition and was that of a woman. After Alex stepped in, Olivia followed his figure and entered the room, landing her eyes on the figure of the woman. A pale, frail body sitting atop a wheelchair with argent hair and eyes. Her beautiful face sported a mysterious smile as she stared at Olivia''s figure. "It''s wonderful to finally meet you, Miss Olivia Mayer. I''ve heard so much about you and have waited for a long time for this meeting." She pleasantly spoke. Looking at her, however, Olivia felt a familiar feeling assault her mind. A feeling that made her eyes sharpen, her muscles tense, and her palms sweaty. It was a feeling that came from the depths of her very soul. A feeling which her Arbiter side, especially screamed in warning against. ''Danger!'' ''This woman is exceptionally dangerous!!!'' "I''m Illya Rosebery. Pleasured to meet you." Illya smiled at Olivia and stretched her hand forward for a handshake. ---------- In a foreign planet, standing outside the tall walls of an encampment, Lucius looked at the hurrying humans atop the walls and calmly spoke. "These are the traitorous humans, huh? They seem to have built a temple?" He silently watched as the dozens of humans took aim with their weapons pointing towards him and mumbled. "No such thing happened in my previous life. What changed?" The aiming was complete and the humans fired their weapons. Looking at the flashes of multi-colored light approach him, Lucius finally concluded. "No point over thinking about it. I''ll know when I take them down." His figure then disappeared from his previous position, re-appearing tens of meters in the sky. Chapter 247: Limits. Having jumped well over the height of the encampment''s walls, Lucius pulled both his arms back winding up for a punch. Just as the initial momentum from the jump, started to disappear and the effects of gravity started pulling him down, small transparent steps made out of soul power appeared right beneath Lucius'' feet. Kicking off those steps, Lucius descended with great speeds as his figure dashed towards the group of humans standing atop the wall. BANG! BOOOOM! The walls cracked, the floors cratered, and the stone exploded as Lucius'' figure smashed onto the surface of the wall. The unfortunate humans who were caught underneath his crash were instantly reduced to patties of meat. The initial impact was only the start of the chaos as right after the landing, the soul power infused into his attack formed waves with Lucius in its center. With [Annihilation Energy] running amok, it was a scene of pure destruction. Rocks, dust, structures, humans, anything and everything that impeded the path of the wave were utterly pulverized under the destructive effects of the energy. Standing up from the crater that had formed atop the wall, Lucius looked around and observed the scene of destruction. ''All dead.'' Lucius'' body suddenly shook as the ground underneath his feet started to shake before falling over. Jumping immediately, Lucius landed at a spot with better footing and looked towards the cause of the shaking. Owing to his attack, large cracks and fissures had formed throughout the surface of one portion of the wall. With its durability having run out, the wall fell apart turning into a mountain of rubble and crushed rock. This sudden destruction announced the arrival of a calamity to the inhabitants of the encampment. From his vantage point, Lucius could hear the sounds of bells tolling, humans screaming, vehicles moving around, and a general cacophony of noises resulted by the chaos. ''I should finish this quick.'' Thinking as such, Lucius disappeared into the Void and reappeared beneath the wall, in the middle of a group of humans who were being sorted. His arrival was then followed by head explosions and chest punctures. ----------- The entire encampment was around 25km in length and 30km in breadth. Within the tall walls that surrounded the encampment were plenty of free areas and sparsely populated buildings. Block-shaped residential buildings, weapons storage warehouses, transport storage sheds, and other basic facilities were spread around, evenly spaced and neatly arranged. There were even proper roads built to connect the facilities. The only building that was of any real interest was built right at the very center of the encampment. It was an enormous temple built out of smooth, white stone native to this planet. A massive five-by-five-kilometer area was neatly laid with the marble stone, constructing a platform of sorts. White pillars engraved with lines demarcated the inner and outer areas of the temple, both of which were accessible by the tall, smooth steps which led to the center. Fountains, gardens, and statues depicting beautiful men and women adorned the rest of the structure. The main building housing the altar resided in the middle of the inner area and was built quite high into the air. A single set of staircase provided access to its inside, bringing the pious believer to an unadorned, pure white room where the worships and prayers occurred. And within his holy sanctum stood Lucius. His borrowed clothes were stained with blood and dust, with his two hands having the worst of it. His smooth, long black hair extended all the way to his back, covering it in its entirety. His entire figure radiated a sense of sharpness and coldness, alongside an intensely oppressive aura. Having finished clearing up almost everyone within this make-shift city, Lucius'' slaughter finally led him to the interiors of the temple. The conquest of the city was relatively effortless since Lucius'' attacks were sudden and merciless. He methodically cleared out the 30,000 or so residents of the city in less than three hours, before facing his first, proper resistance at the temple. The strongest five hundred or so humans within the city, ranging from Low-Level Stage 2s to five Peak-Level Stage 2s, gathered within the temple and fought the monster that had besieged them. Still, beings at Stage 2 could hardly trouble Lucius at this point. Apart from being annoying and time-consuming, Lucius faced no other trouble. Their abilities, weapons, and traps had no effect on the Void Eater who was dangerously close to the realm of Stage 3. Clearing these troops took another three hours, which finally led him to the current scene. His right hand was clutching onto the throat of a struggling, middle-aged human who was the leader of the resistance, and also the Head Priest, at least that''s who he was, assuming from the dying screams of the others. This middle-aged man, who had Peak-Level Stage 2 strength, was staring into Lucius'' indifferent eyes with anger and defiance. His limbs continuously trashed about, in a bid to escape Lucius'' clutches. "Unhand me sinner or you''ll face the wrath of His Holiness!!!" He hissed. Growing rather annoyed at the priest''s movements especially that of his legs continuously kicking his body, Lucius casually swung his left hand. "ARAGH!!!!" Beastly screams escaped from the priest''s throat. With movements that were swift and precise, Lucius separated the man''s lower body from his upper. Blood fell like a waterfall and copious amounts splashed onto Lucius'' body. Taking care not to kill the man before the questioning, Lucius infused a suitable amount of soul power into his body to stop the bleeding and preserve the priest''s vitality. The priest''s struggles had died down and his pale as paper face stared at Lucius in horror. "Are you ready to talk?" Lucius opened the dialogue. "y-y-yes¡­" the priest stuttered back. "What is this place?" "I-it''s on-one of the tem-temples bu-built for His Holiness!" "His Holiness?" "Y-yes. Th-the Ruler of Destiny, The Forevermore!" While chanting His name, the eyes of the priest strangely shone with golden light. Lucius, of course, immediately noticed it and infused more of his soul power into his body to study the change. However, the instant that his soul power was injected, a pained expression appeared on the priest''s face and his vitality started to disperse. Lucius hurriedly acted to retract his soul power, but alas it was to no avail. The light within the priest''s eyes disappeared and his head slackened. He had died. Lucius, however, did not instantly move but stood there with his eyes closed. His focus was inside his mindspace, inspecting his soul. Seconds before the priest had passed away, Lucius'' soul had trembled and a singular, oppressive emotion was radiated. The emotion was not a product of his mood, but an independent expression of his soul. It was a cry of hatred. Upon detecting that golden energy, the [Annihilator] soul roared with hatred seemingly having met its greatest enemy. Taking a few minutes to calm his soul, Lucius then opened his eyes. They were no longer indifferent but were filled with worry and hesitance. ''He was killed.'' ''It seems the worst outcome has occurred after all. A Lord has personally intervened.'' Sighing out loud, Lucius dropped the dead body of the priest and turned around. He did not care to collect it or eat it, as Grade 3 bodies no longer had any effect on his hunger. The more he ate, the more the Void Eater''s body grew. As a result of this growth, the intensity of his hunger also increased requiring greater energy to satiate it. Grade 3 beings were no longer cutting it and Grade 4 was quickly becoming ineffective. At this rate, Lucius would have to hunt Grade 5 and above species to satiate his hunger, if he continued to grow at this rate. This also meant that Lucius could no longer be free and wasteful in the usage of his racial abilities, requiring careful usage and rationing of his void energy. If he was not careful and depleted his void energy without being able to replenish it, Lucius would fall into madness fueled by his hunger and lose himself to the Void Eater''s instincts turning into an actual monster. The limits of the race were starting to show. Walking out of the inner sanctums with heavy steps, Lucius sighed once more. ''He died before I was able to question him more. Looks like I can only continue heading in the direction of Mankind, hoping to run into more of these people.'' ''I should also be careful while questioning them, taking care not to evoke His name. The moment His name is mentioned, he notices and kills these people.'' Exiting the building, Lucius found a spaceship piloted by a seemingly terrified Terran waiting for him. Leaping off the ground, Lucius boarded the ship and headed towards the pilot''s room. Seating himself in one of the available seats, he closed his eyes and ordered. "Continue onward. Stop if you notice more planets like this one." "Ye-yes, sir!" The Terran hurriedly answered, piloting the vessel to leave the planet''s atmosphere. Chapter 248: Ideal World. Part 1 Lucius'' journey continued for a week during which he came across three more or such encampments. The sizes of these three were much larger than the first, occupying hundreds of square kilometers of area and housing three, eight, and thirteen million human traitors respectively. The strength of the humans was under Stage 3 and their weapons could not touch Lucius, owing to his inane speeds. As a result, clean-up was more or less the same, with only the time taken differing with their numbers. The first base took over sixteen hours, while the second and third took 26 hours and 32 hours respectively. Lucius had to ration his void energy usage, impacting his efficiency. Over the course of the battles, Lucius learnt that all of these humans settling in these newly terraformed planets were followers and believers of the Sors Fides cult. With the help from the Formicians, they had terraformed these previously uninhabitable planets and set up cities. In exchange for the help rendered, they had sold out their other human companions, selling information, technology, and the likes. While Lucius could not be bothered with the disputes and betrayals of man, he still killed all of them owing to their connection to a Lord. At this point, it was clear that Sors Fides was a cult worshipping a Lord. The very moment Lucius confirmed this fact, he understood how his share of Cause invested in Mankind was disappearing. By expanding his cult and converting more humans into his believers, the Lord was able to effectively steal Mankind''s Cause whilst simultaneously reducing Lucius'' share of it. The more these people expanded and prospered, the greater will be the Cause generated. Obviously, such an action could not be allowed, resulting in Lucius performing large-scale genocide. Such cruel actions were nothing new to the old Stage 7 monster. After all, one of the requirements to ascend to Stage 7 of [Killer] was to erase the entirety of the Universe''s population by half. It could be said that no other being in existence was more familiar with the process than Lucius. Not even a certain big-jawed, purple-colored figure could match his expertise. Moving on¡­ Lucius had also come across lots of under information, informing him of the events that had occurred to Mankind in the three years of his absence. Of course, this knowledge was in regard to the Sors Fides side. Few months after the battle in Deatov, when the Ascension started to affect the other planets under Mankind, a mysterious person referring to themselves as the ''Pope'', established the cult of Sors Fides. This person then started to anonymously recruit believers, mostly humans whose lives had been impacted by the Ascension. In these times, when the supernatural and fantastical were becoming commonplace, faith in a higher power was starting to spread as more people started to believe in the existence of a God. The concept of religions, prayers, and vanished, which had vanished with the advancements of science had taken center stage once more as more people started to believe. The addition of a foreign invader had only served to strengthen the hopelessness of the humans, resulting in more converting their faiths and joining the religion. In but a matter of months, Sors Fides had expanded to a size where it couldn''t stay hidden anymore. Such being the case, the cult, under the leadership of people who referred to themselves as the Watchers, surfaced and started to assist the struggling humans with their war efforts. With their addition, Mankind''s continuous, disheartening losses finally saw a change as they started to win their battles. The popularity of Sors Fides exploded and they were being heralded as the saviors of Mankind. Their size and operation soon exceeded the size of the Alliance itself with more people and even influential families joining the cause. Of course, all of this changed a year ago when it was revealed that Sors Fides was colluding with the enemy, the Formicians. It was revealed that the battles were staged, with the victories actually being the result of negotiations with the Formicians. When the numbers were tallied up, a shocking truth surfaced. The supposed victories had actually cost more human lives and expended more losses, than the previous defeats. This fact, coupled with the Watchers revealing their true intention - which was to guide all the humans to the kingdom of their god and the only ways to achieve this was either joining the cult and dedicating your life to it or by dying in the hands of the Formicians- was the straw that broke the camel''s back. Mankind split into two, one side consisting of the cult and the other making up the Allied Liberation Army. This single, greatest act of betrayal largely reduced Mankind''s strength, and the addition of the pirate group into the war only served to worsen the situation. Of course, not all who joined Sors Fides went through with their betrayal. Many left the cult and joined the Allied Liberation Army, wanting to fight the invaders till their final breath in hopes to preserve Mankind. Jack White, previously a Watcher, was one of these people. Although his motivations were selfish and far from being considered noble. The Sors Fides had an ally in the Formicians and enemies with the Allied Liberation Army and the pirate group. Mankind had no allies and faced all three groups as its opponents. The Formicians had the singular purpose of extincting Mankind. The pirate group, Flying Dutchman, was only here for profits and was fishing in troubled waters. And the one watching these events as chaos unfolded was an unknown Lord. Having learnt all this, Lucius finally came to an understanding of the complex situation of Mankind. ''The side that I should be supporting is the Allied Liberation Army. The sides I must eradicate are the cultists, the Formicians, and the pirate group.'' ''The pirate group and the Formicians are quite straightforward. I only need to kill their Stage 3 leaders before wiping out the rest. The matter with Sors Fides, however, is more complex.'' ''The troublesome issue is not the people who had openly defected, but the ones who are hiding within the Allied Liberation Front while serving the Lord. It will be difficult to find them and much harder to prove their loyalty. Unlike the others, I can''t simply kill everyone.'' ''Leaving them alone is also not an option, since it would only lead to more issues in the future, impacting the Great Plan. It might also lead to the Lords getting an idea of what we are doing.'' ''Ah, this is exhausting. I must leave this matter to Ka''lor''ah or Olivia.'' Lucius was never the type to plot or scheme. When given a target, he would take the most direct approach by directly eliminating it. His answer, when faced with any problem, was to use violence. And when that wasn''t enough¡­use more violence. ''Also, the issue with the Lord still exists. How is He influencing Mankind?'' ''Due to the restrictions placed by the Rules, Lords cannot directly intervene with the affairs of the Universe. At most, they can only indirectly affect it by using other beings.'' ''Question is; who is bearing the Lord''s will? Is it the elusive Pope who has never appeared in public? Or is that group called the Watchers? Mayhaps, someone who is hidden in the shadows?'' "I hate this," Lucius muttered silently. Being the only other person in proximity to Lucius, the Terran who was piloting the ship clearly heard his words. In an instant, his body completely stiffened and his breathing stopped. His pupils shrunk to the greatest extent possible and despair flooded his heart. ''Haha, this is it. This is how far I''ll go. The monster has finally grown tired of me.'' Taking his hands off the ship''s controller, the Terran slowly stood up from his seat and turned to face Lucius. His face carried a determined, yet peaceful expression similar to a pilgrim having finished his pilgrimage. "I''m ready now. Do it quickly!" The Terran closed his eyes, widened his arms, and screamed after gathering the entirety of his courage. If he was to die, he wanted it to be quick and painless. "What are you doing?" Dumbfounded at the Terran''s sudden exclamation, Lucius asked with a neutral tone. Confused, the Terran opened his eyes and asked. "Aren''t you going to kill me? I''m ready." "¡­do you want to die?" Lucius asked back, confounded at the sudden confession. Unsure of what to say, the Terran replied. "No¡­?" His expression displayed the words ''what is happening?''. It was a rather comical sight to behold. "Then stop wasting time and get back to work." Lucius snapped back, releasing a hint of his aura in the process. The cold, sharp killing intent broke the Terran out of his confusion. He realized the stupidity of his actions. Stumbling on his feet, he hurriedly apologized while stammering. "Ye-yes, si-sir! Ri-right away!!" He immediately turned around and sat back on his seat, returning his hands to the controller. His back was extremely straight as he dared not to slack in the slightest. ''What just happened? I''m so confused.'' The Terran cried within his mind, as he survived another close shave with death after his misunderstanding. It was then that Lucius, who had closed his eyes while leaning back on his seat suddenly sat up straight while snapping his eyes open. His gaze sharpened as he stared out of the window of the spaceship. "Stop the craft. We have enemies in the front." The Terran did not dare delay and immediately stopped the vessel. He then stared with squinted eyes into the dark, void of space. ''Enemies? Where?'' he questioned himself, as there was nothing in view ahead. Only more of the same endless void. Lucius, however, had an incomparably serious expression on his face. His nose twitched as he recognized the scent of the enemies ahead. ''Formicians. Two of them.'' The feeling of danger assaulted his mind, as his sixth sense accurately gauged the strength of the enemy. ''Both at Stage 3.'' Getting up from his seat, Lucius walked towards the airlock. ''Perfect timing. I was just getting annoyed.'' He was intending to fight against two Stage 3 beings at the same time! Chapter 249: Ideal World. Part 2 Flying out of the spaceship, Lucius'' figure dashed through the dark void of space. Propelling himself using his soul power, Lucius did not stop moving until sufficient distance had been made between him and the spaceship. Feeling satisfied at the distance, his figure came to an abrupt stop and his eyes fixated themselves on a particular spot. "The two of you can stop hiding now," Lucius spoke. There was no reply to his taunt, yet Lucius unflinchingly stared at the same empty spot. A few dozen seconds passed when light passing through the area, where Lucius was gazing towards, suddenly started to twist and warp. "You have sharp senses, human." A foreign voice resounded in the area. Two golden spherical vessels appeared before Lucius. Had the humans being here, they would''ve instantly recognized the vessel to be one of the personal Hive Minds of the Stage 3 Greater Queens. Of course, Lucius who was not privy to this information did not know this. Nor did he seem to care, as his eyes instantly fixed themselves on the rune-covered surface of the golden vessel. ''Damage deflection, damage dampening, material recovery¡­ugh, what a troublesome ball.'' Lucius inwardly sighed. ''This is going to take a lot of effort to break.'' Having been through innumerable battles in his previous life, Lucius instantly recognized the runes and their properties. "Hmm, you''re aura feels strange. Different from all the other humans." One of the Stage 3 Greater Queens spoke with a strange voice. Her tone seemed to one of uncertainty and hesitance. "Indeed," the other Stage 3 continued her partner''s sentence. "This one doesn''t feel like the humans. Rather, it reminds me of the endless darkness." "You''re not human are you, creature." The previous speaker asked. Lucius did not reply to their questions but rather, sunk into thoughts of his own. ''I''ve just realized this, but my opponents always seem to feel something strange about me. Those other Stage 3 beings that I previously faced were also similar.'' ''Seems like I''m involuntarily exposing my Void Eater characteristics resulting in the strange feeling within my opponents. I have to hide this.'' Reaching that conclusion, Lucius immediately acted. Within his mindspace, he controlled the solid clouds of soul power to break up into smaller pieces and restructured them in a specific manner. He then moved his soul and placed it in the center of this formation, whilst simultaneously controlling the soul power within his body to revolve according to a specific pattern. A strange event occurred as invisible swirls seemed to appear around Lucius and his presence seemed to completely disappear for a moment. The swirls then disappeared as quickly as they appeared and Lucius'' presence also returned. This time, however, something felt different about his entire demeanor. Looking at Lucius, one felt a strange sense of dissonance. It felt as though he was there but at the same time not there. Of course, both the Stage 3 Greater Queens who had been intently observing him did not miss this change. "Hmm?!" Surprise colored their tone as they exclaimed. "That strange feeling just disappeared! Now he feels exactly the same as a human!" "What are you?" "Your final opponent." Lucius curtly replied and disappeared from his previous location. He hadn''t used [Void Step] but rather the innate speed of his body. Appearing before one of the golden spheres, Lucius kicked at the large golden ball with great force. A white mark appeared on its surface, followed by the giant sphere being flung back. "Fast!" the other Greater Queen had barely managed to voice her exclamation when Lucius appeared before her personal transport. A sphere of condensed soul power had formed before his fists as Lucius punched forth with all his might. Unable to move her vessel in time, the attack hit the surface of the golden sphere and exploded. BOOM!! A soundless echo traveled through the empty space. Stopping his assaults, Lucius looked towards the tumbling golden sphere before looking at his punching arm. His right hand was bleeding profusely, with the bones on his fingers being broken and his muscles torn open. A light stinging pain assaulted his mind, which was quickly suppressed by Lucius'' consciousness. ''Defensive shield. Durability is nearing Peak-Level of Stage 3.'' Lucius analyzed. Just instants before his punch landed on the surface of the golden sphere, a transparent defensive shield had appeared in between his attack and the vessel''s surface. Being sufficiently sturdy, the defensive light shield had managed to ward off the majority of the strength behind his attack while also returning some of the damage to the attacker. ''I have to break the shield first.'' Lucius concluded and used void energy to heal his hands. While he could have used soul power for the healing, it was nowhere near potent enough as void energy when it came to the matter of healing his body. Additionally, Lucius predicted this battle to be a long, time-consuming one, requiring him to ration his soul power. Cracking his neck, Lucius flew towards the first golden sphere once more. It was a battle of who could last longer: the defensive shield or Lucius'' soul power. ''Although, the flow of battle might change depending on when they decide to release their domains.'' A thought flew through his mind, as another punch landed on the golden sphere. ---------- Generally speaking, Stage 3 being tended to use their Domains as a last resort. A trump card or a final ace, if you will. There were two reasons for this behavior. One, Domains radically altered their areas of influence forever changing the terrain and natural composition of the environment. If the fight was to occur over a city or a resource point, casting a Domain would result in significant losses. Two, it was very expensive to cast a Domain. Deploying a Domain would drain the Stage 3 user of all of their soul power. Being in Mid-Level or Peak-Level did not change this fact, as only the operation time of the Domain would be affected. That is to say, if their opponent wasn''t killed before the duration of the Domain ended, then the user will be helpless to resist after the fact as they will be completely drained of their soul power. Only upon reaching Stage 4 could this weakness be removed. That being said, Lucius'' fight against the two Greater Queens continued for a long time. With Lucius not being able to inflict enough damage to instantly surpass their defense and his opponents not willing to deploy their Domains, it was a battle of endurance. Nevertheless, all things had a limit and even boundless energy was prone to eventually running out. In this battle, it was his opponent''s defenses that had run out first. With precise usage, unmatched recovery speed, and the body of a Stage 3 being available for a quick snack, it was safe to say that Lucius was sufficiently prepared for the long game. The inane flurry of punching and kicking lasted for an entire 38 hours before coming to an end! It had to be said that, Lucius had cleared millions of humans in a shorter timeframe than compared to breaking the shells of these golden spheres. The defensive power of a Peak-Level Stage 3 artifact was simply monstrous. And it was not that his opponents were simply receiving his endless attacks without dishing out a few of their own. Nay, they responded with numerous attacks of their own. The Greater Queens had a vast array of spells and techniques that attacked the target''s mind, ranging from simple illusions to confuse the opponent, to brutal [Mind Spears] which tore apart the opponent''s consciousness. This coupled with their Low-Level Stage 3 strength must''ve made this a simple, one-sided battle. Alas, reality was strange and their opponent was even stranger. Most of their spells simply missed their target, owing to his superior speed and evasion skills. As for the ones that did reach him, they simply had no effect on him! Well, it was incorrect to say that the attacks had no effect. Rather, the attacks did have an effect, but their effects were too weak to affect their target. [Annihilation Energy] was the bane of all other energies. The strength of the attacks launched towards Lucius were chipped away and eroded by the combined assault of [Annihilation Intent] and Lucius'' own soul power. By the time that the attacks actually reached him, they were too weak to cause any actual harm to the Void Eater. Had the battle taken place in an enclosed environment that limited movement, then the result would have been vastly different. Alas, fighting in the emptiness of space, gave Lucius all the space to move about. Watching their opponent dodging and evading their attacks, frustrated the two Stage 3 beings to no end. A few hours into the battle, they had even tried to retreat! Unfortunately, every time that his opponents tried to retreat, Lucius caught up to them using [Void Step] or [Void Travel]. As for the attempts which involved illusions to throw him off, [Flaw Detection] rendered all lies meaningless. "How are you still not tired?!" One of the Greater Queens screamed in irritation. The latest attack by this hateful creature in front of her had successfully cracked the hull of her vessel. The bodies of the Greater Queens were the weakest aspect of their power, being only slightly better than Peak-Level Stage 2. There was no doubt that if Lucius'' attacks reached their actual bodies, the damage caused fill be fatal. With the threat of death looming over her, she finally contacted her partner through their telepathy. {Let''s deploy our Domains. At this rate, this hateful creature might actually kill us!} {Understood, let''s do it!} At the confirmation, the two Greater Queens started to release their soul powers en masse. Instantly noticing the change, Lucius quickened his pace and hurriedly punched at the hull of the golden sphere, causing large cracks to spread throughout its surface. Pieces of the golden sphere started to fall off and a gap large enough for Lucius to enter had formed. Exploding the soul power beneath his feet, Lucius rush inside the vessel and stretched his hands to grab the head of the Stage 3 being. Alas, he was a moment too late. A smile formed on the face of the Greater Queen and a shared voice resounded within Lucius'' mind. "Deploy Shared Domain: Ideal World!" Chapter 250: Ideal World. Part 3 A Shared Domain was a special Domain-technique where two or more Domains with similar Rule structures combined to form a singular, stronger Domain. The effects of a Shared Domain are more pronounced and stronger owing to its greater Rule composition and shared control between multiple entities. It also, generally, has a longer duration. Just as Lucius'' hands were inches away from the head of the Greater Queen, the Domain titled [Ideal World} enveloped him. Instantly, he saw his surroundings disappear into the darkness and a sense of powerlessness encompass him. Lucius felt his eyelids turn heavy and his consciousness turn sluggish. An intense desire to sleep enveloped him and Lucius was unable to defend against its effects. ''¡­Bad¡­must¡­stay¡­awake¡­'' Darkness seized him and Lucius fell unconscious. --------- Laying atop a cozy single-bed, the eyes of a good-looking, seventeen years old teenager slowly opened. His dreamy-looking, black-colored eyes gradually became more awake as a big yawn escaped his throat. BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! The annoying beeps of the alarm sounded beside his head, fully awakening the teenager from his sleepy stupor. "I''m up¡­.I''m up¡­" he inaudibly muttered, reaching out to turn off the alarm. Beep! Having done so, he swung his feet from the bed and sat up. Sitting on the side of the bed for a few seconds, he mustered the strength to lift his body from the comforts of his bed. Walking past his desk riddled with numerous books, the teenager opened the door to the bathroom and entered it. Reaching the white, ceramic sink, he opened the tap and placed his hand underneath it, feeling the ice-cold water wash over his palms. Splashing the cold water over his face and feeling the cold water sink into his skin the remnants of his sleep left him, fully awakening him for a brand new day. Turning around to close the bathroom door, the teenager continued with his morning duties. ¡­ Thirty or so minutes later, the youth left his room fully dressed for school and walked through a corridor arriving at a staircase. Suppressing a yawn that managed to escape his mouth, he climbed down the staircase reaching the ground floor of his house. Walking past the expansive living room, just as the youth was about to enter the kitchen to make breakfast for the day, he felt a foul odor of alcohol assault his nose. Turning his head towards the beige-colored sofa, he noticed the sleeping figure of a woman lying haphazardly atop the sofa. Annoyance appeared on his face, as he rolled up his arm sleeves and walked towards the woman. "Sis, wake up! It''s almost 6:30 in the morning! Don''t you have a meeting at 8:00?!" he grabbed onto her shoulders and shook her. The sleeping woman, a beautiful lady in her mid-twenties with pale-white skin and radiant golden hair, muttered something under her breath and showed a look of unwillingness on her face. "¡­five more minutes, mom.." Hearing that, more annoyance appeared on the face of the youth as he increased the fierceness of the shaking. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" He also started to monotonously scream near her ears. The expression on the face of the beautiful woman, quickly warped into one of annoyance, as her eyes showed signs of opening. Seeing this, the youth increased his efforts once more, finally resulting in the awakening of the woman. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" "Argh, shut up!! I''m up. I''m up!!" The woman pushed her little bother''s arms aside and sat up on the sofa. Staring at the youth''s face with irritation and exasperation, she asked. "Do you really have to be this annoying in the morning, Lil'' Bro? I''ll have you know---" "Didn''t you say that you have an important meeting that you absolutely can''t be late to today?" The youth shot back, interrupting her mid-speech. The woman''s actions froze as realization dawned upon her. She quickly reached for her phone to check the date and time. "It''s 6:30. You still have time to get ready." The youth uncaringly announced and turned back, heading back to the kitchen. "You''re the best, Lucius!!" The golden-haired woman jumped at the youth''s figure and hugged him from the back. "Ah! Get off me you drunken hag! You''re getting that alcohol scent on my uniform!" Lucius struggled to escape from his older sister''s antics. Ridding himself of her bear-like hug, he quickly ran towards the kitchen and put on the apron hung up on the clothes hanger. Gathering the materials required he then started his daily routine of making breakfast. "Wash your face and brush your teeth properly!!" Lucius shouted. "Yeah, yeah. Okay, Mom!" Kalor sarcastically replied. That''s right. This was Lucius Halpen, a seventeen-year-old teenager in his second year of high school. He lived in a two-story house with his twenty-seven years old half-sister Kalor Halpen, who worked as a sales representative in a cosmetics company. She was Lucius'' legal guardian after his father moved to the States after divorcing his second wife (Lucius'' mother) and abandoned him. Kalor, who was borne out of Lucius'' father''s first marriage and eventual divorce, took custody of her younger brother when the latter was eleven years old. Since then, she was her caretaker and his only family. Another thirty minutes had passed and Lucius was almost done making breakfast. Having finished their morning duties, Kalor returned and took a seat on the breakfast counter. While setting the table, Lucius questioned his sister who was busy looking at her phone. "Did you go drinking again last night?" Without raising her head from her phone, Kalor replied. "Yep. It was for a client meeting." "When and how did you get home?" "11:30-ish, I think. I think Mira dropped me off. Or was it Kurt? I don''t know, my memory is kinda wonky." Sighing at his sister''s casual reply, Lucius advised in a serious tone. "How many times have I told you not to drink so much? I swear, one day someone is bound to take advantage of your drunken state." Raising her head to meet her brother''s serious expression, Kalor sniggered. She then punched at the air a few times and confidently replied. "No worries! I still remember those moves that your girlfriend thought me. If anyone dares to take advantage of me, I''ll show them what I''ve got!" "How about just, not drinking so much?" Lucius exasperatedly replied. "No can do. This body is fueled by beer and without my fuel, I cannot run." Kalor heroically replied, which earned her a hit on her head. "Ouch!" She yelped in pain, rubbing the top of her head. Lucius uncaringly sat down on his seat, after laying on the table. He then reached out for the toasted bread and started to eat. "Enough about me. What do you have planned for today?" Kalor asked, reaching in for the breakfast dishes. "I need to head to school a little early today. It''s my turn to set up the class for the morning. I''ll be coming late today since Aurora''s got her Kendo tournament today." Lucius replied while reaching in for the glass of water. "Oh yeah, speaking of your girlfriend. How far have you guys gone?" Kalor asked with a straight face. Hearing that question, Lucius reflexively spat out a mouthful of water. "*cough*, *cough*" Lucius started to wildly cough. Having successfully gotten her revenge for the earlier strike on her head, Kalor smiled victoriously. It was then, that Lucius'' phone which was placed on the table started to ring. "Oh, speak of the devil!" Noticing the caller''s name, Kalor immediately reached in for the phone, grabbed it, and ran from the table "Don''t *cough*yo- *cough* dare!!" Lucius fumed, moving to catch her. Ignoring his reactions, Kalor answered the call and the pleasant voice of a young lady replied from the other end. "Hello? Lucius?" the voice asked. "Oh hey, Aurora! What''s up, this is Kalor!" Kalor replied while circling the living room to thwart Lucius'' attempts to retrieve his phone. "Oh hello, Big Sis Kalor. Where''s Lucius?" the voice cheerfully responded. "Oh, he''s still getting ready. Want me to pass a message?" "Yes, please. I''ve left my house and am coming towards your house. Please ask him to wait for me." The voice politely requested. "Sure thing. Anyways, Aurora, I got a question for you." Kalor suddenly spoke. "DON''T YOU DARE!!" Lucius screamed. "What''s that noise? Is that¡ª" "A cat! It''s that darn neighbor''s cat! Anyways, my question, how far have you and my little bro gone?" The voice on the other end was silent for a second, before casually replying. "Only kissing, nothing farther. But even that, I had to force it on him. He''s too stiff and mindful." The voice complained. "Too uptight and no fun, right?" Barely holding in her laughter, Kalor asked. "Exactly. I might have to force myself on him one of these days." "Just remember to use protection. Early pregnancy is a serious affair. Anyways, I''ll pass the message. Cya in a while." "Bye." The voice replied and the call ended. Collapsing on the sofa, Kalor broke into a fit of unbridled laughter. Her eyes kept landing on the red-faced Lucius, who stared at her with a livid expression. "HAHA¡ªThi-this is n-no good, bro! HEHE-Yo-you''ll have to take t-the HAHA¡ªlead!!" "You''re just impossible!" Lucius hissed and returned to his seat to continue his breakfast. Stabbing his fork into his omelet with such intensity, he wished that the omelet was his rowdy sister. Kalor continued to laugh for a while, before eventually coming to a stop. Wiping the tears off of her face, she returned to the table to continue his breakfast. Handing over to Lucius his phone, she spoke. "Here," Lucius did not reply but angrily grabbed his phone. Remembering the conversation, his face reddened once again. Looking at his reaction, Kalor snickered once again before a serious expression appeared on her face. "I was serious about the protection part. You know pregnancy is a serious affair for bot¡ª" "God, could you stop it!" Lucius thundered. Kalor sniggered once more, satisfied with his reaction. Having successfully completed her revenge she silently ate her breakfast. Fifteen or so minutes later, the doorbell for the house rang. "You might want to get that." Kalor teased once more. Ignoring her words, Lucius walked towards the main door and gradually opened it. Sunlight filtered in, blinding him for a moment before a pearl-like female voice drew his attention. "Good Morning, Lucius. Are you ready to leave?" The figure of a beautiful young lady with silver hair and cherry-colored eyes appeared before his eyes. She was wearing their school''s dark-grey uniform, however, her blazer wasn''t fully buttoned and her collars weren''t set. A corner of her white shirt was left untucked and her skirt was worn unevenly. Casually wearing her bag over her shoulder and carrying her kendo sword in her other hand, she fit the picture of a delinquent to a tee. Looking at this smug-faced girl, a name involuntarily escaped from Lucius'' mouth. "Aurora¡­" It was then that an intense headache struck Lucius'' head. His mind felt such great pain, that it felt like someone had poured a box of razor into his head and was furiously shaking it. He suddenly forgot who he was and where he was at, as strange, foreign memories poured into his mind. These memories, innumerable and incredibly varied in nature, kept continuously filling his mind before stopping at a certain scene. A crimson-colored sky and dark brown earth. An innumerable number of tears and fissures covered the sky and earth respectively, as countless corpses surrounded the destroyed plains around him. Mountains had crumbled and oceans had dried. What remained was a dying planet, a result of a battle between Stage 6 existences. In the middle of all of this chaos and destruction, Lucius saw himself holding onto Aurora''s body. Her armor was broken and her weapon had shattered. Countless injuries and wounds filled her body and blood flowed uncontrollably. At the center of her chest, a gaping hole was seen with no heart residing within. With tears flowing out of her eyes, she turned to look at him with grief-stricken eyes. "..Wh-y?" As the words escaped her mouth, her head slumped and her soul passed on into Limbo "ARGH!!!!" An inhuman cry escaped from Lucius'' throat and an incredible amount of power exploded from within his body. At that moment, he had ascended into Stage 6 of [Killer]. Chapter 251: Happiness. "What do we do now? Kill it?" "Killing it would be a waste, I suppose. The Great Mother would be interested in studying it." Having gathered before the frozen figure of Lucius were the two Greater Queens in a discussion. Their bodies continuously circled Lucius, as they studied him with keen interest. Lucius'' body was frozen stiff in the middle of a lunge with his right arm reaching outwards. Tangible murderous intent surrounded his body, with [Annihilation Energy] forming a protective layer around him. Lucius'' eyes were wide open but seemed to contain no life within. Currently, Lucius'' state resembled that of an exquisitely constructed doll. He looked extremely life-like but seemed to contain no life within. One of the Greater Queens neared the body and tried to touch him with her finger. However, the [Annihilation Energy] surrounding him immediately recoiled, burning her finger. "Such violent energy. The murderous intent within it is truly massive." "Indeed, it seems that this creature has taken innumerable lives. Its techniques during the battle were also flawless." "Could it be a [Killer]?" "¡­It appears so. Although the aura isn''t the same as the one recorded in the archives, it is very close. The aura of [Killer] recorded within the archive belongs to a Wild Beast, therefore differences are permissible." The other Greater Queen then reached out to the console of her vessel and pressed a few buttons. Lights flickered within the vessel followed by a ray of light directly falling atop Lucius'' figure. A screen quickly appeared next to her and showed strange numbers and characters. "Incredible." The Greater Queen reading the recordings exclaimed. "What?" Intrigued by her partner''s exclamation, she asked. "Although the creature''s conscious was separated from its body and transported into the world made by our Domain, the soul power within its body is still flowing to a set pattern. It''s like the creature is executing a technique purely out of instinct without any conscious control!!" Hearing that the surprise on the other Greater Queen''s face was unmistakable. It had to be said that {Ideal World} was a very potent Domain. Unlike other Domains that affected the outside world, altering it to fit the Rules of the caster, {Ideal World} affected the conscious world of the target. It isolated the target''s consciousness and separated it from their body. It would then create an elaborate illusion, depending upon the target''s deepest heart desire. Since their connection with their body was cut off, the target would have no access to their soul power or their innate abilities, purely having to rely on the strength of their subconscious mind. The world that was built by the Domain was structured in a way that the deepest desire or the greatest wish of the target was fulfilled delivering them ultimate happiness. Some desired ultimate power. Some desired unlimited wealth. Some desired absolute authority, with their race reigning at the very top of the Universe. Some even desired love. Within the {Ideal World} any and all desires no matter how unrealistic they were, would be fulfilled. And while the target was immersing themselves in the ultimate happiness, their bodies were completely defenseless and under the mercy of the Greater Queens. It was safe to say that this Domain was one of the most sinister and troublesome Domains to exist. Once caught under its effects, it was near-impossible to escape. The only method to break the illusion was to subconsciously forsake their greatest desire. No matter how unfeeling, emotionless, or unmotivated a person was, all living beings have desires. Not having any desires at all was a desire in and of itself. In this regard, Lucius was no different. Although his life and its events had forced him to do many things and sacrifice much more, it was incorrect to say that he had no desires. Wanting to kill the Lords and rid the Universe of its detestable Rules was his greatest desire. However, buried deep within his heart was a greater desire. It was a desire which even Lucius was unaware of. Or perhaps, he was aware of this desire but did not dare to admit it. And it was this desire that trapped him. "It''s a strange desire, isn''t it? I''ve seen many creatures wish for power, wealth, life, and many other things. However, this is the first time I''ve seen such a desire." The Greater Queen remarked. "Indeed. This creature wishes to live in a world where the likes of soul power do not exist. An ordinary, boring life within an ordinary, boring world. There is no desire to be exceptional at all." The other replied. "Well, enough time has passed, I suppose. He should be deep enough into the illusion to the point where he can no longer wake up. Let''s take the body with us and sacrifice it to the Great Mother." "Indeed. The Great Mother is sure to reward us greatly." Speaking of that god-like existence, made the two Greater Queens feel extremely reverent. "Your vessel is greatly damaged. Let''s take mine." The other Greater Queen offered to which the first one nodded her head. She then reached out with her hands to grab onto Lucius'' body. While they had been conversing with each other, the two Greater Queens assaulted Lucius'' body with their slowly recovering soul power, exhausting the layer of [Annihilation Energy] surrounding him. Having lost all of its defenses, Lucius'' body was completely open and vulnerable. Grabbing the body with her arms, the Greater Queen was just in the process of dragging it alongside her, when Lucius'' outstretched arm suddenly moved and grabbed onto her throat. An expression of incredible shock appeared within her eyes. Just as she was about to vocalize her shock, Lucius abruptly crushed her throat and decapitated her. Thud! Feeling the connection of her partner suddenly disappear within her mind, the Greater Queen who was outside the vessel suddenly stopped and turned around to face the broken golden sphere. Barely having turned, her eyes caught the flashing silhouette of a dark figure. Moving purely with her instinct, she took a step back. SLASH!! Lucius'' claw-shaped hands had ripped a layer of skin atop her throat. Having narrowly escaped instant death, she looked at the figure with complete shock and exclaimed. "How are you awake?!!" Lucius'' forehead bulged with his nerves as an inordinate amount of pain assaulted his consciousness. The attack that would''ve normally struck his target in a single attempt had missed due to his incongruous state. Lucius'' thoughts were in absolute chaos and the lid suppressing his emotions was slowly coming loose. He used all his efforts to keep his mind under control as he could not afford to lose control of his body once again. Whilst sorting the chaos that was his mind, Lucius was also battling a Stage 3 being. With both entities being in weakened states, they were unable to instantly deal fatal damage. Lucius'' disordered, wild swings were able to barely scratch his enemy, while the Greater Queens attacks were imprecise due to the shock within her heart. "Tell me, how you escaped the Domain?! It should be impossible to subconsciously go against your heart''s desire!!" Lucius did not reply but continued with his furious assaults. He did not have the energy to spare for casual dialogue. Of course, the Grater Queen did not care for his state. All that mattered to her was to find the answer to her question and fix the flaw within her Domain. Formicians were creatures that endlessly grew from their battles and learning from their enemies. They had an inextinguishable greed to improve and become perfect. Being the leader of her species, the Greater Queen was no different. "Tell me!! Where is the flaw?! How did you escape my {Ideal World}?!" "Aahh! SHUT UP!!" Lucius roared. He then instinctively used [Void Step] and disappeared from before his opponent. Just as the Greater Queen''s movements slowed from the sudden change, Lucius appeared behind her and pierced her chest, crushing her heart in the process. With her heart crushed, and [Annihilation Energy] wrecking havoc within her body, vitality started to rapidly leave her body. Still, her eyes contained a furious thirst for knowledge, as her mouth muttered one final time. "..tell¡­me..h-ow¡­ple..ase." Looking into those eyes which contained the purest desire for knowledge, Lucius loudly sighed and explained. "There are no flaws within your Domain. Your trap was perfect and the illusion was faultless." "..th..en¡­how?" A serious light flashed within Lucius'' eyes. Without the slightest of hesitation, he replied. "The core of your illusion was trapping your targets within their own happiness. And I¡ª" "¡­deserve no happiness." A look of understanding flashed within the Greater Queen''s eyes. Her mouth moved to speak something, yet her voice never left her. The final bits of vitality had left her, marking her death. The moment she had died, Lucius felt two more locks release within his soul. An incredible amount of energy laid in wait for him to unlock that final lock. His soul cried in excitement as he was only a single step away from reaching Stage 3. However, faced with such a fantastic achievement, Lucius felt no joy. Even the tremendous pain assaulting his mind felt very distant. Overcoming that Domain resulted in Lucius remembering certain events from his previous life. Memories which he had forced himself to forget and sworn to never recall. ''Indeed, I deserve no happiness.'' His eyes became void of all emotions and feelings achieving true nihility. Lucius'' aura also changed, becoming extremely sharp and unapproachable, while carrying an inexplicable majesty within. Had Ka''lor''ah been here right now, she would''ve instantly recognized the feeling which Lucius was projecting right now. ''I, a monster who killed his own wife and child to reach Stage 6 deserve neither happiness nor redemption. Neither solace nor closure.'' ''A sinner like me only deserves death.'' ''But alas, it is not time to die yet. The Great Plan remains incomplete and my sacrifice is required for its completion.'' His entire being felt exactly the same as his Stage 7 counterpart! It felt like the emotionless killing machine of the past had returned to the present. Spreading his darkness, Lucius activated [Devour] and started to devour the two Stage 3 corpses. Just eating the first one made him feel full, yet Lucius forced himself to eat the second one. An incredible amount of void energy filled him. Even so, a good portion of the energy remained outside his body unable to enter it for the lack of space. Controlling the increasingly restless void energy, Lucius used it to activate [Void Travel]. Entering the void, Lucius'' figure vanished while traveling towards the Core Territory of Mankind at incredible speeds. There was no more hesitation. No more doubts. ''Let''s go and face this Lord.'' Only eerie calmness and determination filled his mind. ------- AN: This marks the end of Lucius'' character development (for now). An appropriate amount of his past was revealed, alongside his motivations, ideals, and final goal. Some might ask, what''s the point of all this development if he goes on a full circle and returns to how he was previously? Wasn''t everything pointless? And my answer is...that''s the entire point. Lucius'' character was never meant to grow or change in a short period of time. His three-hundred-year-old mentality makes it incredibly difficult for him to accept change, especially so when he isn''t trying to change. The removal of his emotional dampener, the desires of his Void Eater body, the truth about his past, his admittance of killing his family for power, while all of these events might shock him and introduce challenges, they are incapable of changing him. His guilt, helplessness towards his fate, and self-loathe make him unable to accept change and fuels his self-destructive behavior. Will this change in the future? I honestly do not know. Rather than shape the plot around the character, my approach with this novel is to shape the character around the plot. If the plot demands for a character to die, for the story to be more natural and progressive, then I would write it as such. If Lucius becoming more unfeeling and self-destructive improves the story, then that will be the case. Is this approach right? I''m not sure. I''m still learning while trying different things. Rest assured, I have a solid outline for the story. More so, then what I had in the beginning. Vol 2 will end in 7-8 chapters, following which there will be three more volumes before the end of the story. I hope for your continued support and apologies for the long AN. I just wanted to share my thoughts on the character, unsure of whether I have done a good job in properly representing him. Author out! Chapter 252: Unassailable Attacker. Within the conference room of the spire-shaped Command Center situated inside a certain base on Planet Earth, an important meeting was in session. Participating in said meeting was four of the most important people within Mankind. At the head of the long rectangular table, seated on her wheelchair was the ''Brilliant Strategist'' Illya Roseberg, the brain of the Allied Liberation Army. With flowing argent hair and shining silver eyes, she was the only remaining heir to the Roseberg family, after the passing of her father Edward, who was the previous and final Alliance Head. Towards her left, seated some distance away was a heroic-looking youth with blazing red hair and smoldering crimson eyes. His left hand caressed his neatly trimmed beard, as he leaned back on his chair while propping his foot on the table. Obviously, this was Alex Hellwig a.k.a ''Fire God'', the First General of the Allied Liberation Army and was also the person with the ''Strongest Human'' moniker attached to him. His entire being radiated fiery heat and incredible battle intent while his eyes glimmered with peculiar wisdom. Seated directly opposite to Alex, was the introverted figure of the ''Genius Mechanist'' Reyna Snowden. Her eyes were fixed to the holographic screen on her watch while her hands fiddled with its keyboard. Ever since the incident with Olivia, the already aloof and reclusive personality of Reyna became even more reclusive. She continuously locked herself within her lab refusing to come out or talk to anyone. The only reason for her presence in this meeting today was due to Illya demanding so. And finally, seated at the end of the table was the sole figure of the ''Violet Witch'' Olivia. Seated upright, her hands were neatly placed atop the table and her beautiful face wore a perfunctory smile. It had been just over a week since her arrival and Olivia had already familiarized herself with the base. She had an accurate grasp over Mankind''s current situation, their forces, base locations, army deployments, etc. Of course, all of this information wasn''t provided to her but was collected due to her own efforts. The abilities and skills of a Mid-Level Stage 2 with a Mental-type soul were terrifying when correctly used. Apart from the secret plans and some carefully hidden trump cards, Olivia was quite confident of the wholeness of her information. Still, when gazing at the politely smiling woman seated at the other end of the table, Olivia felt a tremor in her heart. An inexplicable feeling of danger arose within her mind. ''Why are you dangerous? What secret are you hiding?'' Olivia pondered. "Do your men have any problems with the recent batch of weapons? You can ask us without any hesitation if any modifications are required." Illya politely asked her newfound reinforcement. "Oh," Snapping out of her thoughts, Olivia replied without missing a beat, "The weapons were perfectly fine. As for modifications, there were only a few minor ones that were taken care of by the mechanics I brought along. Thank you for the offer though." Mankind''s technology was unique and priceless in this region of the Universe. Some of their weapons far outshone the likes of the ones which the troops under Olivia currently used (Guns>>>Bows). Also, thanks to the technology invented by Reyna, the weapons made by Mankind were compatible with soul power, being capable of powering and empowering them. Such being the case, Olivia, under the guise of strengthening the troops providing reinforcement for the war, borrowed a large number of armors and weapons from the Allied Liberation Army. Of course, she had her mechanics check the armaments for any foul play or traps. Thankfully, there was no such case. Although the thought of outfitting a strong group of outsiders with even stronger weapons was a dangerous one, especially to leave it unchecked, Mankind was in no place to negotiate. They were, quite literally, getting killed out there. Any and all help was appreciated. And the troops from Pandemonium weren''t slackers either. "No, I must be the one thanking you." Illya bowed from her seat and continued. "Your men are exceptional. Since their joining, the death tolls have come down by almost 60% and we are winning some battles too!" Her tone contained genuine relief and joy, having no ill intent at all. Even [False Reveal] proved this. Illya was genuinely grateful and thankful to Olivia. But of course, this did not lessen the latter''s skepticism and cautiousness at all. Olivia''s instincts had saved her multiple times in the past and she was keen on trusting her instincts. And right now, Olivia''s instincts collectively said the same thing. ''She''s dangerous and is hiding something.'' Of course, Olivia did not show her skepticism and humbly replied. "Such results were possible due to your fantastic strategies." "If only Mankind could produce such troops." From the side, Alex wishfully sighed. "Are you sure you can''t lend me some of your guys Olivia?" Alex jokingly asked. The past week of interaction had improved the duo''s relationship by a sizeable amount. Although they weren''t as friendly as they were in the past, they could now be considered as ''workplace friends''. "Your men are welcome to train in Pandemonium. Although I''ll have to warn you, the death toll will be high." Olivia casually replied. "¡­heartless witch." Reyna silently muttered. Still, her words had been loud enough, where the others in the room could hear it. Illya''s smile became awkward. Alex sighed while shaking his head. And Olivia directly ignored Reyna''s existence. At this point, Olivia treated Reyna''s words as the incessant hums of a mosquito. As long as the other did not take it too far, she would simply ignore the other. Just then, the door for the conference room swung open and a profusely sweating human officer barged in. The four simultaneously turned their heads and looked towards the new arrival. "Leader, General, we have received new reports regarding the traitors!!" the man announced. At his words, Illya''s face turned serious and frosty. Alex sat up and straightened his posture. And even Reyna looked towards the man, an unhidden anger in the depths of her eyes. Only Olivia''s expression remained casual, while her eyes were curious. Her information included much about these ''traitors'', allowing her to have a general idea about the cult and its followers. "What is it?" Illya asked. The man ran up to her and placed a digital tablet on the table in front of her. In response, the rectangular table lit up and information appeared on the holographic screen projected above it. Scanning the information displayed on the holographic screen, Alex immediately shot up and declared. "Impossible!!!" His two hands slammed onto the table, causing the entire construct to shake. Reyna''s reaction was similarly intense, only that she restricted it to herself. Her mouth opened and closed multiple times and disbelief was apparent on her face. Illya, on the other hand, was not overly emotional and pragmatically asked. "Is this true?" The officer hurriedly nodded his head and replied. "We checked multiple times, even activating the hidden assets near those planets to personally verify it. It''s completely true." "All dead?" Unable to hide her surprise, Illya continued. "Not a single living soul remains on those planets. We couldn''t get an accurate number on the deaths due to all the destruction, but it''s definitely in the tens of millions." "But how?" This time it was Alex who voiced his doubts. "How and who would do such a thing? These planets were on the other side of the Formician territories, with those damnable Queens protecting it. Which organization has enough power to eliminate them?" "Could it be the pirate group?" Reyna asked. The officer shook his head and replied. "Negative. Our forces have been keeping a close watch on the pirate group. It wasn''t them." "Is there another party joining the war? Do we have an estimate of their strength?" Illya asked. "That''s the strangest thing, Leader. We found no traces of any largescale movement at all. Plus, the destruction of those cities was too sudden. It was done in a matter of hours! Here are the results of our computer models. If you see here--" While the others were deeply engrossed in the discussion on whom or what caused the death and destruction of millions of traitor cultists, Olivia arrived at a conclusion of her own. ''It couldn''t have been him, right?'' She asked herself. Olivia mind compared Lucius'' last known direction with the location shown on the map. If Lucius were to take the shortest distance to Mankind, his path would intersect with the locations shown on the map. Just as Olivia''s mind ran possibilities of her own, the voice of the officer thundered once more. "That''s not all, Leader." The eyes of all those who were present inside the conference room gathered on him once more. "The Formicians on all fronts have suddenly retreated! Their movements were sudden and hurried, and they did not even bother to properly evacuate their territories." Disbelief and shock assaulted the room once more. Silence prevailed. The officer calmed his tumultuous mind, took a deep breath, and voiced a startling guess. "We believe, and the computers also confirm this guess, that their sudden, hurried retreat might be a result of death amongst their leaders." "Either one, or in the best case, all of their Greater Queens have been killed by this mysterious party!" This time, all of the people within the room rose from their seats and stared at the officer with incredulous expressions. Illya looked lost and confused. Alex had an ecstatic expression on his face. Reyna had tears falling from her eyes. On the other hand, Olivia had a ''holy sh*t!'' expression on her face. Hearing this piece of news cemented that possibility within her mind. ''Yep, it''s definitely him!'' Olivia felt both happy and sad. Happy, because she finally had actual news of Lucius'' safety and the fact that he managed to kill Stage 3 existences. Sad, because she felt him move farther and farther away from her, as he improved at a ridiculous speed. ''I''ll definitely catch up to him! One day, I''ll fight by your sides!'' Olivia clenched her fists and determination fiercely burned within her. It was then, that a deafening explosion and an incredible amount of force struck them. The full-length glass windows of the building immediately shattered, the floor beneath their feet cracked, and the tables and chairs were thrown about. The immense force struck the bodies of the five figures within the room, flinging them to the side and slamming them on the wall. The officer, who was the weakest amongst the five, instantly died, while the other four had varying levels of injuries. Illya fell to the ground unconscious and Reyna threw up mouthfuls of blood while feeling tremendous pain from her body. Alex had multiple dislocations and fractures, with his head dizzy and bleeding from the wall slam. Being the strongest one within the room and the one to react first, Olivia had the least amount of visible injuries. However, she felt piercing pain coming from her inner organs, and her head was dizzy from the explosion. Few seconds passed and Alex and Olivia were the first to recover. Forcibly biting her lips they pushed themselves to remain conscious and investigate the sudden attack. However, investigations were pointless as the entity behind the sudden attack loudly announced itself. ¡ºBWHAHAHA!!! Such weak-bodied insects. I only used a tiny amount of force and they exploded!!¡» His roar, which carried an inordinate amount of energy, was broadcasted hundreds of kilometers into the surrounding radius. The weaker Stage 1 beings closer to the entity had their heads explode from the sheer power while the ones farther away had their eardrums explode! Even Alex and Olivia had their eardrums explode, although they had soul power protecting their bodies. Recognizing the power behind the roar, Alex unconsciously mumbled. "Stage 3¡­" Olivia, however, had a look of dread on her face, as she continued his sentence. "¡­a Scrofanian." The almost 5m tall, pi-faced being that proudly stood dozens of kilometers away, suddenly raised its head and sniffed the air. ¡º¡­virgins! This is the scent of thousands of virgin maidens!!¡» Lust appeared within its eyes, as its bodily instincts took control of its brain. With thick, viscous drool leaking out of its massive maw, the creature announced. ¡ºI''m going to turn all of you creatures into my personal breeding wh*res!!¡» Chapter 253: Cries of the Dead. Subject to that roar, Alex and Olivia felt the metaphorical sledgehammer smash against their heads. Unable to hold the weight of their bodies, their knees buckled under the pressure. Intense dizziness pervaded their minds as blood started to steadily flow from their facial orifices. Still, holding onto their remaining bits of consciousness with all of the willpower they could muster, they locked their gazes on the 5m tall giant and tracked its movements. If the creature was to head towards them, they would be powerless to resist and indubitably die. Fortunately, the creature seemed to turn its head in the opposite direction. After sniffing at the air a few more times, it bent its humongous knees before leaping up with incredible might. Seeing this Olivia let out a huge sigh of relief. However, Alex saw his face pale further. "We have to chase him!!!" he yelled, spitting out a mouthful of blood during the process. Olivia, who had her eyes closed and was focused on treating her injuries, uncaringly replied. "And then what? Die? That''s an actual Stage 3 existence, Alex. If we approach it without a plan, we will definitely die." "But the residential camps are that way! If we let that thing go, hundreds of thousands of people will die!" Hearing his cries, Olivia did not reply. Having personally come in contact with them, she understood better than Alex about the real strength of Stage 3 beings. They were an existence that couldn''t be surpassed by the likes of Stage 2 beings. In this part of the Universe, they were god-like beings. Still, unlike Lucius, Olivia possessed a trace of a human heart. The thought of tens of thousands of innocent men dying, women violated and children eaten, at the hands of a vile creature like a Scrofanian, angered her to no small extent. "We cannot win against that creature. We simply cannot." Olivia slowly spoke. Disappointed at her answer, Alex was about to furiously retort when Olivia interrupted him first. "But we cannot let that thing roam freely either. We need to draw it away and try our best to kill it." Having sufficiently recovered from her injuries, Olivia stood up, albeit from shaky feet, and extended her hand towards Alex. "Get up. Every second that we waste, more people die." Looking at the figure of this beautiful woman whose countenance overflowed with heroic grace and majesty, Alex felt his emotions stir. Respect, awe, and a variety of other emotions filled his heart. For a moment, he could not help but think: would he have looked the same way had he followed Lucius on his journey? Would he have achieved power that was equal or greater than this? Shaking his head, Alex grabbed onto Olivia''s hand and rose to his feet. There was no regret in his eyes. Instead, clear determination filled his face. "You seem to understand that creature better. I''ll follow your instructions." Alex announced. Hearing that, a small smile appeared on Olivia''s face as she asked. "Glad to hear that. But first, I need to know about everything that this planet has. Secret weapons, hidden forces, and the likes. If we want to have any chance at all, we cannot hold back." Nodding his head in understanding, Alex started to tell her everything. The light within Olivia''s eyes continued to shine brighter and brighter as she heard his explanation. A plan formed within her mind, as a peculiar smile appeared on her face. "Get these two to safety and gather every officer you can. Send a team to the Orbital Control Station, a team to the Artificial Weather Control Station, a team to the¡ª" Olivia started to rapidly give him instructions. Alex earnestly nodded his head. Although he couldn''t understand Olivia''s plan in its entirety, he still chose to trust her words. "¡ªthe ambush will be here." Pointing to a map on her watch, Olivia continued. "As for leading it there, leave it to me and my men." "Did you understand everything?" Olivia asked to which Alex nodded his head. At this point, a few minutes had passed since the Stage 3 Scrofanian''s arrival. Time was ticking by rapidly, and they had to immediately act. Turning around and walking towards the now-windowless window, Olivia looked down to estimate the distance and gave Alex his final instruction. "Good. Keep your comms on and immediately report to me when the teams get in place." With that, she leapt out of the window. Alex blankly stood there for a few seconds, before shaking his head to recover from his stupor. He moved to wake Illya and Reyna, all whilst thinking to himself. ''You sure are one lucky guy, Lucius.'' His mind then flashed him an image of his wife, at which point, Alex''s smile grew brighter. ''But I guess I''m not that bad either.'' ------------ Making her way through the collapsed rubble and broken buildings, Olivia tried contacting her forces. "Hello? Captain Wilkes? Ro''an? Hughes? Can anyone hear me?" No reply came through, except for the white noise of static. A few dozen seconds, when a reply finally arrived after dozens of repetitions. "Boss? You''re fine! Thank the gods!" "Captain Ro''an? Are you guys good?" Olivia hurriedly asked. "Just a few tears and scratches here and there, nothing major. That roar was terrifying though, most of us had our eardrums explode." Ro''an light-heartedly replied. Soul power had the miraculous effect of even regenerating lost limbs. In comparison, broken eardrums were minor injuries. "That''s good. Listen up, gather everyone able and meet me at this place. " Olivia quickly sent him a location. "Are we fighting that thing, Boss?" Ro''an asked. "Why? Are you scared?" Olivia challenged. "Hahaha! Not at all, Boss! My hands have actually been itching to fight that thing. I wonder how killing a Stage 3 would feel like." Ro''an confidently announced. "You will find out soon. Get moving and meet me there soon!" Closing the comms, Olivia accelerated her pace. A fight with a Stage 3 being was looming on the horizon and this time there was no Lucius or Ka''lor''ah to help her. ''I must succeed!'' ----------- Ten or so minutes later, Olivia met up with Captain Ro''an, Captain Wilkes, and the remaining two hundred plus of her group. A few from the group had died due to being caught off-guard by the Stage 3''s attack, but alas, there was no time to mourn them now. While moving, Olivia explained her plan to the rest of the group. After confirming that all of them had a sufficient understanding of the plan, she split them into numbered groups and gave specific instructions to each group. Before long, the group had traversed nearly a hundred kilometers on foot, arriving before the residential encampment, where she had last seen the Scrofanian heading. Seeing the broken walls, raging fires, and eerie silence within, Olivia immediately knew that she had arrived too late. The group then proceeded to enter the encampment, after confirming that no traps lay on their path. It was a hellish sight. Broken buildings, half-eaten corpses, women whose bodies were twisted in horrible manners after having unspeakable acts forced upon them, men whose heads were crushed and bodies were stepped on upon. The asphalt roads lay broken with sewage water flooding the streets as a result of broken pipes. The dirty water was further tainted with crimson blood, as the recently deceased bodies of the human inhabitants continued to silently float. The group carefully traversed these lands, taking care to not accidently step on a corpse. BOOM!! A sudden explosion made all of them flinch and assume battle posture. However, the few seconds of silence following that explosion informed them of the true nature of that explosion. "Some gas or fuel-based explosion. It''s not an attack." Olivia announced. They released a unison sigh of relief, before continuing onward. However, the harrowing sights surrounding them still dampened their moods. "F*ck! What a beast!" one of the soldiers spat hatefully, as he saw the mangled corpse of a female child. While the people from Pectron may be of a different race or species it did not stop them from feeling for the dead humans. Mankind was remarkably similar to Terrans, albeit being smaller and leaner. Seeing a fellow intelligent race in such a distraught state, made them feel angered nonetheless. Although none of them possessed the soul type to hear or see the spirits of the dead, they could still sense the bemoaned cries of tens of thousands of wronged spirits. When the group had almost made their way out of the encampment, Olivia''s watch buzzed and Alex''s voice followed. "Olivia, I''m almost done gathering the survivors and organizing the teams. Have you caught up with that beast yet?" "No." Olivia replied disheartened, "It has already destroyed the nearest encampment. Not a single person survived." "Wha--?! But it''s only been thirty minutes since its arrival!!" Alex screamed. "Stage 3 are completely different existences. We are on our way towards the next encampment. Hopefully, we catch up to it." Olivia announced. Taking a few seconds to calm himself down, Alex replied with a heavy tone. "Roger that. I should be done on my side by then and will head towards the ambush site. Let''s kill this beast!!" The call was then cut. Turning to face the group following her, Olivia announced. "We are picking up our pace. Let''s catch that bastard at the next encampment!" At the fall of her words, the group accelerated once more. Chapter 254: Power in Numbers. Olivia''s group continued to chase after the trail of destruction left at the Stage 3 Scrofanian''s wake. Deep craters, flat fissures, uprooted trees, the group didn''t require any sort of tracking to know where their opponent had gone. The chase continued for another fifteen or so minutes when they reached a point where they could feel the ground underneath their feet tremble. Gesturing for the group to slow down, Olivia announced. "We are close. Our opponent must be in the next encampment." "Does everyone remember their roles?" At her question, voices of affirmation rung out. Seeing that no one had any question, Olivia heavily nodded her head and announced. "Remember, we are luring that monster to the specified location. Doing so in its current state should be quite easy. Be careful when you evacuate the humans and don''t get killed by accidently wandering too close. Understood?" "Yes, Boss!!" the troops announced. "Let''s move. Captain Ro''an, position your artillery group in an appropriate position. You guys will be opening the act." ---------- Inside Camp 13, one of the civilian human encampment cities on Planet Earth, a scene straight out of the depths of Hell was playing out. Fires burned everywhere enveloping the camp in a sea of flames. The ground fissured and quaked under furious impact. Humans could be seen aimlessly running about, as their frail bodies tried to evade the falling boulders and flying hazards. Aggrieved cries and vicious curses roared toward the sky, as those who were unable blamed the heavens for cursing them with such a fate. A fate where these humans were subject to the whims of a maddened Devil. "Too weak! These bodies are too weak! They snap at the slightest touch!!" The Scrofanian roared out loud. His hands reached to grab a group of petrified humans, only for the group to be crushed under the strength of his massive hands. Another failure only served to anger him further, resulting in his movements become harsher and hastier. "ROAR!!!" he furiously roared, which resulted in hundreds of humans within range, have their heads explode. For a being that had initially landed on Earth with specific instructions given to it by its Boss, the Stage 3 Scrofanian was currently ''out of its mind'', literally and figuratively. Managing to bypass all of humanity''s detectors and scanners due to the Boss'' ability, this Stage 3 Vice-Leader of the Flying Dutchman, managed to enter Earth with great success. However, its hopes of continuing this success were utterly squashed, when it found itself distracted by the scent of virgin females. At this point, overcome by its bodily instincts, it rushed over to the place where the scent originated from. Alas, a harsh reality awaited it over there. The Scrofanian was a massive 5m tall entity, with its greatest strength being its immense physical strength and body. It would be safe to assume that in the Grade 4 range, there was no other living organism in this Universe, who could boast a body superior to the Scrofanian. Alas, as the saying goes: ''With great power, comes great responsibility.'' Only in this case, it came with restrictions, rather than responsibilities. Those females whose scents it has so passionately chased were simply too weak to handle its strength. Their bodies too frail to bear their might. Unable to satisfy its rising urges, the Stage 3 Scrofanian completely lost its mind. It devolved into a series of mindless violence and caused endless destruction. Under the siege of a Stage 3 being, the first encampment could only hold on for so long. Before long, all the inhabitants had died. Still, felling such a puny encampment did little to placate the mighty being. More scents teased its nose, as its body found itself to the next encampment. And at the second encampment, it was more or less the same. Or at least, so was the case until Olivia''s group arrived. Just as the mighty beast was about to swallow a group of ''tiny'' humans, it felt a slight sting in its eyes, followed by the arrival of a missile to its face. BOOM!! The missile exploded right on its face with thunderous might inflicting damage on the Stage 3 creature''s body. Although the pain was slight and the injury was near-instantly healed thanks to its monstrous recovery rate, it was pain nonetheless. And having made to feel pain in such an insignificant planet was a mark of insult to the Stage 3 being! Flinging away the humans within its grasp, the Scrofanian roared with unparalleled might as it jumped, high into the air. Reaching a few hundred meters into the air, its furious eyes looked around before locking towards a certain direction. Although its mind wasn''t entirely rational, its instincts and battle experience were top-notch. That coupled with a vastly superior body, allowed it to accurately pinpoint the area from where the missile was launched. Leaning its body weight forward to land near that location, the Scrofanian raised the humongous hammer within its hands, intending to crush the puny creature that dared to attack it. Just as its body was about to land on the ground, another missile attack accurately found its place on the Scrofanian''s face. This time, the attack had been stronger and had come from a place farther away. The attack blinded the Stage 3 being and disrupted its balance, resulting in its massive body awkwardly crashing into the ground. A large crater formed at its place of impact, and nearly a quarter of the encampment city was flattened. ROAR!!!! The Scrofanian''s frenzied roars boomed. The final sense of rationality that held it together had finally snapped. Rising out of the crater, its eyes wandered the distraught surroundings before landing on a single figure. A female human with long, black hair and purple robes. Her body radiated the pure scent of a virgin, while her aura indicated her strength at the peak of Mid-Level Stage 2. The moment the Scrofanian''s eyes landed on her figure, it became transfixed. At this moment, both its mind and body cried out in unison. It wanted this female! Throwing away all sense of care and caution, it started to chase after this figure. ------------ Meanwhile, Olivia who was acting as bait for the Stage 3 Scrofanian sighed in nervousness and relief. With the complete attention of the Stage 3 being on her, the first phase of the plan was complete. Acting as bait, especially for a Stage 3 being, was a dangerous task. However, there was no one on the scene more familiar with the characteristics of a Scrofanian than Olivia and no one faster than her at running. After all, she had fought one of its hateful kind back in Pandemonium. Still, being familiar with its kind did not make this task any easier. ''The feeling of its eyes staring at my body is absolutely disgusting!'' Olivia almost retched in absolute revulsion. In Olivia''s mind, creatures such as this must be hunted to extinction and never allowed to propagate or even exist within this Universe. ''I want to kill it even more now.'' Forcibly pushing down the rising feeling of disgust within her, Olivia cast a prepared [Suppress] on the creature and started to run. Violet light flashed and landed on the head of the creature. However, there was no visible indication of whether the spell had worked. Running at speeds that turned her surroundings into a blur, Olivia confirmed the next phase, while running. ''We need to exhaust and weaken it as much as we can before leading it into the ambush site.'' She picked up her speed once more, with the Stage 3 Scrofanian closely following behind her. As if on cue with her thoughts, various attacks started to fall towards the Stage 3 being. Most of the attacks either missed or were blocked by the Scrofanian''s bulging muscles. A small minority however succeeded in landing at sensitive spots and caused damage. The damage was very minor and was almost immediately healed by the creature''s innate healing factor. Still, the attacking troops weren''t disheartened by this and continued to assail the mighty being. While unmatched in their physical strength and healing factor, the Scrofanians had little to write home about in terms of stamina. Even a being as mighty as this was bound to tire at some point. And it did. Slowly but surely, the healing of its wounds slowed and its speed of chasing also dropped. The minor attacks started to gradually add on, and before long, the first visible wound appeared on its body. Chapter 255: Triumph of the Weak. Mindlessly enthralled by the fleeing purple figure before it, the Stage 3 Scrofanian took no notice of its gradually increasing injuries mounting its massive body. The current appearance of the Scrofanian was a far cry from its initial look. It''s bulging tummy had mostly shrunk while its face radiated a sense of tiredness. Dozens of major injuries and hundreds of minor ones dotted every single part of its exposed skin. However, the creature barely noticed such serious injuries as its mind was overtaken by its lust and desire. The game of cat and mouse had been going on for nearly three hours now. Olivia continuously adjusted her speed to precisely bait the irrational being, while periodically casting [Suppress] to maintain its addled state. These actions combined with the precisely timed attacks of her group managed to wound the Stage 3 being to this instant. However, death was still far away. If the Scrofanian managed to regain his mental faculties, it would only need to revolve its soul power once throughout its body to completely heal. This was why the next step of their plan was very important. They needed to deal a fatal strike on this opponent to completely get rid of him once and for all. After continuing for five more minutes, Olivia decided that the time had come and instructed her subordinates to stop firing and assume their next positions. With the constant attacks finally coming to a stop, the wounds started to slowly wriggle and gradually recover. It was a far cry from its initial speed as what previously took seconds to heal, seemed to now take a few minutes. Olivia then contacted Alex on her comms. "Alex, I''m done on my side. I''m bringing the creature to the ambush site!" Olivia spoke while panting. The continuous chase and mental pressure exerted by the Stage 3 being had thoroughly exhausted her. "Copy that. We are already here!" Closing the comms, Olivia deliberately slowed down once more and changed her route. The destination site of their ambush¡­the Earth Alliance Academy! ----------- Within the grounds of the Earth Alliance Academy, Alex, Anya, and a few other experienced Stage 2 beings lied in hiding while waiting for their prey to show up. Tightly clutching onto his spear, Alex''s face wore an incomparably serious expression as he prepared himself for battle. "Are you sure we can trust that woman to lead that beast to this place?" Anya begrudgingly asked. "Anya, we already talked about this. You can trust her." Alex looked into his wife''s eyes and replied. "I find it hard to trust someone who tried to kill me once." Anya snorted in response. "That was just a misunderstanding and you know it." Alex sharply replied. To which Anya muttered under her breath. "I still don''t understand why you trust her so much." "Can we not have this conversation, right now?" Unable to control himself, Alex raised his voice. Hearing Alex raise his voice caused Anya to finally snap. Rising to her feet, Anya looked into Alex''s eyes and started to fiercely shout. "No! I want to have this discussion right now. Why do you trust her so much? She wasn''t there in the three years that we suffered. She wasn''t there when we continuously lose battle after battle, soldier after soldier!" "And then suddenly she just shows up announced, wanting to provide help? Why?! Does she think we people need charity?! Have you seen you seen how high and mighty her troops strut about while insulting all of our soldiers?!" "Even that day when we were fighting, you immediately took her side! Aren''t you supposed to be my husband? Shouldn''t you support me?" "Hell, even after that battle you took your sweet time showing her around the place, not taking a single moment to come to find me or ask if I was alright! I even heard that she attacked Jack for no reason, and you simply stood by watching it happen! Aren''t you the First General?! Shouldn''t you prioritize your own people before looking out for outsiders?!" Anya started to vent. Her voice was strained and forceful, and tears started to appear in her eyes. "Give me a proper explanation, Alex! Why do you always take her side? Is it because she was your first crush? What are you, a teenager?" "That has nothing to do with why¡ª" Alex tried to calm her down, alas Anya was not listening. "Then tell me why?! Do you not love me anymore?! Am I worthless compared to that slu¡ª" "ANYA! SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" Alex fiercely shouted. His eyes were furious as he stared at his wife. Throughout their relationship, Alex and Anya had many quarrels. Just like any normal couple. However, this was the first time that Alex had raised his voice to such an extent. Peering into his livid eyes, Anya suddenly felt like she had understood something. "I see¡­so that''s how it is." Her tone was blank and devoid of power. She turned around, refusing to meet his face. Realizing his mistake, Alex immediately turned apologetic and tried to console her. "I''m sorry, I didn''t mean that. I was jus¡ª" "It''s fine." Anya interrupted his explanation. "I understand." "I''ll move to Spot B. Staying here will affect me in the coming battle." Having said that, she started to walk away. Alex, however, noticed the faint trembling of her shoulders. Understanding what that meant, he immediately stood up and was about to walk to her, when¡­ "I hope you people are ready! It''s here!!" Olivia''s voice crackled from his comms, followed by the quivering of the ground. The quivering started to slowly intensify, moving to noticeable shaking before turning into a full-blown earthquake. Alex immediately reverted to ''Combat/General'' as he barked orders into his comms. "All squads listen up! The target is here! I repeat, the target is here!" "Weather Control Team, your time has come!!" The operation to deal the final blow finally begun. ------------ With the ambush spot in sight and the target in tow, Olivia activated her comms and screamed. "I hope you people are ready! It''s here!!" Accelerating a final time, Olivia leaped over a tall wall and entered the Academy territory. The massive behemoth following her did not pay any attention to the wall, as it crashed against the wall without the slightest impediment to its speed. Its muddled eyes continued to follow Olivia''s figure. Making her way towards the center of the ambush location, Olivia closed her eyes and chanted a prayer. ''Please work! Please work! Please work!'' desperate pleas rang within her mind. And then, it happened. Seemingly responding to her desperate prayers, a thick bolt of lightning fell from the sky, precisely striking at the spot in between Olivia and the Stage 3 Scrofanian. And with one, followed two, two followed by four, four followed by eight. In a matter of seconds, countless dense beams of lightning fell from the clear sky! With the arrival of the storm of lightning, the Scrofanian who was following Olivia immediately slowed. His line of sight was broken, rendering him unable to find Olivia within the storm of lightning. Stopping his chase, his eyes helplessly looked around and a confused cry was emitted from his throat. Seeing this, an unrestrained joy exploded within Olivia. Seizing her watch, she spoke. "It worked! Continue with the plan!" At the very next moment, a dense fragrant fog appeared within the area, rendering all forms of physical sight meaningless. The fragrant loaded within the fog blinded the Scrofanian''s nose! With his sight blocked, his sense of smell blinded, and his hearing deafened by the furious roars of thunders, the Scrofanian found himself helpless to find his target. Had he been conscious and rational, a simple sweep with his soul power would have solved this problem. However, it was exactly due to his addled state, that the plan managed to work. Using her soul sense, Olivia quickly made her way out of the misty ambush zone and arrived at the peripheries where the rest of the troops waited. Finally coming to a stop after a long, arduous run Olivia grabbed onto her knees, bent completely and heavily panted. "*huff*, *huff* I''m never doing that again.*huff*, *huff*" She announced. "You did well." Alex, who was waiting in the peripheries, commended her efforts. He then stared into the fog with utmost seriousness and loudly announced. "We have successfully trapped the beast inside the fog! Now, we entrap him for real. Stick your harpoons into that bastard and immobilize him!" "Let''s move!!" Raising his spear, Alex ran into the fog followed by his emboldened. His team was only one of the six teams surrounding the area of fog. The next step of the plan was to immobilize the large Scrofanian by harpooning him to the ground. This step was essential, as the next and final step heavily depended on it. Within the fog, the Scrofanian continued to tiredly roar. The injuries on its body were in the process of slowly healing due to the lack of energy. However, the continuous heals only served to deplete the remaining energy, weakening and tiring the giant monster further. Its body felt heavy and its eyes were half-lidded. An intense desire to eat and sleep appeared within the Scrofanian''s brain. Just as it was lost in this state, dozens of harpoons, cutting through the air, arrived and pierced its skin. Attached to the ends of the harpoons were long chains which were firmly bolted to the ground. Feeling restricted by chains, the Scrofanian instinctively struggled. Unfortunately, its body was too weak and it contained no energy whatsoever to struggle free from its bonds. Chained to the ground, the Stage 3 beast helplessly screamed. Meanwhile, having completed their task, the human soldiers and Alex arrived to the peripheries. Upon evacuating to a safe distance, he stopped and looked towards the area of fog and lightning, hearing the screams of the beast. "The Orbital Cannon is ready." Reyna''s tired voice resounded within his comms. This was the final step. A full-powered attack by the Orbital Plasma Cannon was stationed directly above the ambush spot. A fully charged shot contained power that equaled the might of a Stage 3 being. Once hit, there was little hope of surviving for the Stage 3 Scrofanian. Taking in a deep breath to relish this moment, Alex announced. "Fire." The moment his words fell, a second sun started to form within the sky. The light radiated by this newly formed sun continued to intensify gradually overtaking the real one. At this moment, the earth and sky shone with an ominous blue light. Just as the light seemed to reach its peak intensity, it fell! Inside the fog, the struggling Scrofanian seemed to have realized something, as it raised its head to look at the sky. Its vision was blocked by the fog and the storm of lightning, however, its sharp instincts immediately recognized the danger. Fear clouded its mind finally breaking the Stage 3 creature out of its confused, irrational state. Alas, it was too late. An extremely dense and thick pillar of starlight-blue energy fell directly atop the area of fog! The human instinctively closed their eyes, as the light was too bright to be directly looked at. Immense heat waves radiated off of the pillar of light but were thankfully stopped by the barriers deployed in advance. The full-powered attack continued for a whole fifteen seconds, before vanishing. Looking at the fog-covered area now, the fog, lightning, and the ground beneath were completely vaporized. In its place, a 50m perfectly shaped circular hole of unknown depth had formed on the ground. "Is it dead?" A soldier asked, unable to hide the joy and hope in his voice. Looking at the crater, Alex nodded his head. "Looks like it. Nothing could have survived that strike." "YEAH!!" "WHOO-HOOO!!" "HELL YEAH! DIE BEAST!!" Cheers and shouts of jubilation filled the troops. Alex''s face finally sported a smile as he felt a heavy boulder fall of his shoulders. Just as he was about to join the celebrations, the bodies of everyone within the area froze. "I gave you one job. To destroy. " "Instead, what do I come here and find? A Stage 3 being almost being killed by a bunch of pathetic Stage 2 weaklings. You disappoint me, Virim." A voice announced resounded from the heavens and a dark spot appeared in the sky. The dark spot which looked extremely tiny and insignificant, formed a humanoid silhouette when looked at carefully. "I will give you a final chance to redeem yourself. Deploy your Domain and wipe away this shame." In response to this mysterious entity''s monotonous words, a growl sounded from within the 50m wide crater. "Yes, Boss." Chapter 256: Five for Five. Five minutes before the Orbital Plasma Cannon was launched. Situated deep underground the Central Island of the Academy was a bomb shelter meant to protect important dignitaries and people of interest in the case of disaster. Currently, this shelter was repurposed into a temporary Operations Control Center and was inhabited by Reyna and other technical officers, in charge of coordinating the later steps of the plan. It was from here that the Artificial Weather Control satellites were accessed and used to engineer the lightning storm and mist that was used to trap the Stage 3 creature. Seated on the central console surrounded by multiple holographic screens and keyboards was Reyna, who was overlooking this side of the operation. "Target has entered the kill zone. Satellites have been calibrated and are standing by. Awaiting your command." Sitting a few seats below, an officer requested permission. Confirming the live feed with her own eyes, Reyna then replied. "Execute." At her command, the first bolt of lightning appeared on the screen followed by an entire storm. A minute or so later, the fragrant fog meant to confuse the creature''s olfactory functions flooded the area. With the arrival of the smoke, the image on the video was disrupted. Fortunately, with the adept working of a few officers, the plain image was changed into a thermal variant, restoring the view. Reyna carefully eyed the image with her heart in her mouth. Seeing the creature stop and roar in confusion, made her let out a massive sigh of relief. ''Thankfully, it worked.'' Her mind greatly relaxed and her body slackened from the tiredness. Seeing Alex and the other soldiers rush into the fog with their harpoons and chains, made her let go, the last of her worries. Turning to her left, Reyna narrowed out a female officer and asked about her progress on the task given to her. "Have you accessed the surveillance satellite servers yet?" The lady officer shook her head and replied. "Not yet, Lady Reyna. The sudden destruction of our last base activated the fail-safes of the system. It will take me a few more minutes to gain access." Finding the excuse reasonable, Reyna nodded her head and encouraged. "Do your best. We need to regain access to those satellites as fast as possible and learn the situation of the other bases while informing them of the attack. We also need to figure out how this creature managed to slip through the surveillance net." "Understood, Ma''am!" the officer offered a salute, before getting back to work. Reyna then turned to look at the large holographic screen, situated in the center of the room and confirmed the progression of the battle outside. Upon seeing that the harpooning of the creature was nearly complete, she questioned the officer''s in charge of the next step of the plan. "Is the Orbital Cannon in place?" "Yes, Ma''am! The pre-launch checks are also complete. It''s ready to fire at will!" the officer exclaimed. Nodding her head to his answer, Reyna placed her tired eyes on the screen once more. The last of the soldiers had almost retreated outside of the firing range of the cannon. "Defensive Shield Team, wait for the cannon to fire before deploying the energy shields." "Yes, Ma''am!" After confirming everyone was safely out of range, Reyna pressed a button on her terminal, calling Alex. "The Orbital Cannon is ready." She tiredly spoke. She then eagerly waited for the order that arrived a few seconds later. "Fire." "Fire!" Reyna echoed Alex''s order. Three keys were turned at the same time, and the button to fire the cannon was pushed. A second or so later, the thick beam of annihilation fell atop the accursed creature. "YEAH!!" "WE DID IT!!" Most of the officers rose up from within their seats and cried in jubilation. Some laughed, some hugged, and some even cried in relief and joy. It was not known of many of the people in here had lost a person dear to them at the hands of that accursed monster. However, it could be seen that everyone here shared the joy of Mankind''s victory. Even Reyna had a smile on her face. However, being too tired to get up from her seat and join the celebrations, she settled at leaning back on her chair and closing her eyes in ease. ''It''s finally done. I have to admit, although I hate that woman for her actions, her abilities unquestionable and fantastic.'' The image of a certain figure dressed in purple came to her mind. It was then followed by the image of a young man sporting an expressionless face. ''Would I have been like her if I had followed him?'' an idle thought appeared. However, the thought was quickly replaced by a surge of anger. Reyna instinctively gritted her teeth, as her eyebrows furrowed. ''That bastard! Even now, he still hasn''t shown up.'' Just as Reyna was about to break into a string of expletives, she was interrupted by the startled cry of a female officer. "La-lady Re-rey-na!! So-someth-ing ter-rible ha-has happe-ened!!" "Hmm?" Opening her eyes, Reyna pinpointed the source of the startling cry to be the lady officer in charge of re-establishing communications with the surveillance satellites. An ominous sensation appeared within Reyna''s heart and it quickly started to fester. "What happened?" While asking this question, Reyna felt her throat be oddly dry. "Th-the planet of Venus was destroyed! All of our bases, encampments, and settlement cities are gone!!" Jumping to her feet, Reyna asked in absolute shock. "What?!" She then immediately rushed to the lady''s seat, pushed her aside, and stared at the holographic monitor. Reyna''s fingers blurred and soul power rapidly drained from her body as she started using her abilities. An enormous amount of data entered her head and was near-instantaneously sorted into information. However, the more Reyna learned the more her face paled. Her eyes rolled back and her body collapsed onto the ground. Her face was entirely bloodless and her mouth was hypnotically moving. "All dead¡­tens of millions of humans are dead¡­" "..not just Venus but the other two Core planets inhabiting humans were also destroyed. Earth is the only one left¡­" "¡­finished. Mankind is effectively finished." While Reyna was lost in her senseless mutterings oblivious to the astonished and worried officers surrounding her, one of the officers seated at the very front of the room voiced his surprise. "Strange, something suddenly appeared within the atmosphere. How did our surveillance miss that?" "Hmm¡­another abnormality has shown up, a few hundred kilometers outside Earth''s atmosphere. It seems to be¡­rapidly accelerating towards here?! What the hell?!!" He shouted with amazement. Alas, none of the people within the room paid any attention to his words. All of their eyes, Reyna included, stared at the central holographic screen. The Stage 3 Scrofanian, thought to be surely dead had jumped up from within the large, deep hole. Its body was completely absent of injuries and its eyes carried a furious expression. ¡ºDeploy Domain: Rain of Hammers!!¡» The vexed voice of the Stage 3 Scrofanian speaking Universal Tongue resounded within the temporary Operations Center. ------------ ¡ºDeploy Domain: Rain of Hammers!!¡» In the scene of the ambush site, the voice of the Stage 3 Scrofanian thundered in the air. Floating a few meters above the newly formed hole was the massive, unharmed body of the Stage 3 being, radiating an enormous amount of soul power. ¡ºStupid! Stupid! Stupid! I''ll kill all of you runts for shaming me!!!¡» A ring of soul power expanded with the enraged Scrofanian as the center and enveloped a 10km area, trapping every single one of the attackers within. Stage 3 soul power flooded the entire area changing the Rules within. The grayish dusky sky instantly darkened as crimson clouds started to gather over the area. The soft, fertile ground started to harden becoming denser and rockier. Gravity within the area significantly increased. Alex, Olivia, Anya, and the rest of the soldiers who were now trapped within the Domain felt an intolerable pressure press down upon their bodies. This pressure combined with the increased gravity rendered them immobile. The sheer density and intensity of the Stage 3 soul power suffused within the air, suffocated the Stage 2 beings turning the simple act of breathing, laborious. Rendered incapable of even mounting the slightest of resistance, the eyes of all the humans darkened with hopelessness. There was no plan, scheme, or trick that would help them in this situation. In front of a fully-empowered Stage 3 being those lesser were mere ants to be crushed underneath one''s feet. ''So this is the power of a Stage 3 being¡­'' ''To think we wanted to kill such a being¡­'' ''How foolish.'' Despair prevailed and the humans lost all traces of resisting. Alex and Olivia were no different. Resistance was futile. Giving up and accepting death would grant them release sooner. ''Not only did Lucius fight such a being, he even won against it¡­and to think I was proud of my strength¡­'' Experiencing the Domain of a Stage 3 being for the first time, Olivia silently laughed at her own ignorance. Before this point, she had only known that Stage 3 being was stronger than Stage 2 being. The events with the Scrofanian had boosted her confidence, making her think that such beings were in fact killable and weren''t as invincible as Ka''lor''ah had made them out to be. Alas, how na?ve and stupid had she been. ''And now I pay the price for my foolishness.'' Closing her eyes, Olivia accepted her fate against such insurmountable odds. Tens of thousands of yellow, earth-colored stone hammers formed in the sky underneath the crimson clouds. The energy radiated by each hammer equaled that of a Mid-Level Stage 3 being, i.e. each hammer equaled a full-power attack by a Mid-Level Stage 2 being. The hammers floated statically, waiting for their master to swing them downwards. A casual wave of his hands would send them flying towards the petrified humans below. ¡ºNow, you can all die!!¡» Just as the Stage 3 Scrofanian was about to swing his right hand, his body suddenly paused. A streak of black light passed vertically through his 5m tall body, bifurcating his body. After flashing once, the dark light disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. The Stage 3 Scrofanian remained without movement. A second later, the right side of his head slid downwards by a few centimeters, with the change continuing with the rest of his body. Under the shocked and dumbfounded eyes of the frozen humans, the 5m tall body of the Scrofanian split into two halves, each falling to its respective sides. Copious amounts of blood, fat, and guts spilled from within its body and into the large pit of the ground. The hammers populating the sky started to vanish alongside the crimson clouds. The humans felt the pressure surrounding them vanish, as the earth and sky started to revert back to their previous state. "Wha-what just happened?" Alex, being the first to recover from his stupor, asked. His eyes looked towards the pit before turning to his fellow comrades. Apart from pale faces and befuddled expressions none of them seemed to be harmed. All of them seemed to be just as confused as he was. Or rather, almost all of them as his eyes quickly landed on Olivia who was showing a peculiar expression. Her cheeks were reddened and her breathing was hurried. Her eyes unflinchingly stared at a certain spot while filled with boundless joy and love. Tracing her line of sight, Alex finally saw what she saw. Well, it was more of ''who'' she saw. Standing some distance away from the pit was a long-haired youth holding a scythe. His clothes consisted of a worn leather armor, which worked more of a piece of clothing than as armor. His head was tilted towards the sky and his indifferent eyes were staring at the black spot in it. His entire body radiated with unfriendly coldness and scathing sharpness, hidden beneath which was a faint sense of majesty "Five for five. About time." The youth calmly spoke. At that moment, something seemed to explode within his body, as the aura of power surrounding his body started to rapidly increase. Solid clouds of transparent soul power were spat out of his body en masse filling out hundreds of cubic meters of space around him. These clouds then started to inflate and deflate rapidly, seemingly undergoing a metamorphosis. "Interesting. To be able to kill my subordinate even before I could react, you''re strength is incredible." The dark spot which was far up in the sky just moments ago suddenly appeared a few dozen meters above the transparent clouds. The dark spot, now recognizable as a humanoid figure wearing a black robe covering all of his features, spoke while shaking his head. The language he used was surprisingly Mankind''s! "However, I do not know if you''re brave or stupid. To dare undergo your ascendance into Stage 3 right before an enemy, you must be the first in this vast Universe." "It saddens me to no small extent to kill such a tal¡ª" The dark-robbed figure speech was suddenly cut, when a slash containing unstable, volatile [Annihilation Energy] appeared before him. "You talk too much." Lucius mechanically declared, before swinging his scythe once more. "[Eviscerate]" Chapter 257: A Monochromatic World. (Double Chapter) Seeing the stone-faced youth unhesitantly attack him another time, the black-robed figure felt incredible shock. ''Is he mad? Does he not know how sensitive and dangerous the ascension into Stage 3 is?'' Unlike the previous Stage, Stage 3 represented a divide between the weak and the strong. It was only at this Stage, can one traverse the Universe freely and safely. In the outer regions of the Universe, they would be revered as Gods, possessing unmatched strength. In the middle regions, which were also the largest and most populated section of the Universe, they would be considered normal with the true powerhouses being the Stage 4 and Stage 5 beings. As for the inner-regions? Let''s just say that unless one was at the top of Stage 4 or at least Stage 5 in strength, one shouldn''t even think about entering the inner regions. Just the sheer intensity and concentration of the Rules would absolutely tear anything and anyone who dared to enter without knowing any better. It was within this section that the ancient monsters of the Universe lived. Those legendary Stage 6 and Stage 7 existences, whose simple breaths could instantly kill multiple Peak-Level Stage 5 existences. Getting back to point. In a way, Stage 3 could be considered as the demarcating line between a child and an adult. It was at this point where each individual would become truly self-dependent, being able to face the larger world on their own. Such being the case, when undergoing the Stage 3 ascension, be they a being from the lowliest of planets or from the strongest of clans and races, it had to be done in complete safety, recommended with the assistance of another Stage 3 or stronger being. One could not afford to move or be distracted when their soul power was undergoing a metamorphosis, as it required one to manually and precisely control it during the period. During the process, their soul power had to be compressed to the maximum extent possible, before filtering and purifying it by using the surrounding spiritual energy. More precisely, using the Rules that filled the surrounding spiritual energy as the filter. The slightest mistake or mishandling during this process would trigger a backlash from the Rules, resulting in either an explosion or implosion. Either way, the result was the same¡­death! The black-robed figure clearly knew this, since he himself had undergone the process in the past. Seeing Lucius recklessly attack him compounded the shock within his mind. To give a metaphor, it was like seeing a pregnant woman undergoing childbirth fight a lion, a bear, and a walrus at the same time while bungee jumping blindfolded. (AN: I have no idea why I wrote this line¡­) It was pure madness and frankly, quite nonsensical. Still, the black-robed figure hardly had any time to complain, as Lucius attacks continuously assaulted him. Each swing of the scythe was cleverly and viciously placed, forcing the black-robed figure to continuously step back. Why did he not fight back, you ask? Why not use his soul power to disperse the slashes of energy? Well, the answer was quite simple. Doing so was no different from committing suicide. For you see, not only was the soul power of the being undergoing ascendance incredibly volatile and unstable but it was also filled with traces of Rules, due to the filtering process. And anything that contained Rules within them automatically entered Stage 4 above realms. For a Stage 3 being to go against a Stage 4 being, even if that said being was Lucius himself, the result would be¡­death! If Stage 3 beings were called ''normal adults'', then Stage 4 beings were called ''superhumans''. The divide was the same as between reality and fantasy. Even though the black-robed figure was a being with Peak-Level Stage 3 strength, he was nowhere near the realm of Stage 4. Daring to touch Lucius'' evolving soul power right now, would mean triggering a backlash from the Universe, effectively killing him and destroying this part of the Universe. (AN: Recall that the concentration of soul power within Mankind''s territories is relatively low. It was incapable of handlings powers above the Stage 3 realm. Any stronger, then the upper limit would be crossed triggering collapse and self-destruction) Due to these various factors and restrictions, the black-robed being could do nothing but pathetically dodge and retreat facing his opponent''s maddened attacks. ''Ah dammit! I''ll just keep evading and wait for this moron to mess up and explode. There''s no way he can survive the ascension!'' the black-robed figure decided. Alas, contrary to his thoughts, Lucius was doing just fine. His control over his soul power, in every meaning of the word, was absolutely ''perfect''. Although Lucius had to gather, compress, filter, and attack using his soul power at the same time, he was capable of doing so provided his vast experience and understanding of the nature of soul power and that of the Rules. While executing the three techniques from [Dance of the Death God], Lucius used the attacks to temper and purify his soul power, while passing it through the Rule filter. Slowly but surely, his solid Peak-Level Stage 2 soul power was being refined into gaseous Low-Level Stage 3 soul power. Lucius'' aura was also changing, growing stronger, sharper, and threateningly colder. The battle continued as the minutes ticked by. The duo had long left the Academy grounds appearing in some desolate location far away. None of the humans dared to trail them as each of their souls instinctively warned them of the dangers of approaching close. Even Olivia, as worried as she was for Lucius did not dare follow them, in thoughts of accidently harming him by getting too close. By this point, the black-robed figure long since went past the realm of shock and had entered stupefaction and disbelief. Every ounce of rationality within his mind told him that the actions of the youth in front of him were not possible. It was impossible and utter nonsense! Yet, such an event was happening right before him! Seeing Lucius'' aura approach the boundaries of Stage 3, the disbelief within the black-robed figures, heart exploded. ''What the fu*k is he?! How is such an event possible?!'' He cried within his mind. Alas, that cry involuntarily distracted the black-robed figure allowing a [Shred] to land on his face. Empowered by Stage 3 [Annihilation Energy], the attack dealt considerable damage to the figure. The hood of the black-robed figure was blown away and a deep cut appeared on his face. Shockingly, beneath the hood was a human face! Even more shockingly, the human face possessed flamboyant red hair and crimson eyes. His features were remarkably close to that of Alex''s, albeit much more mature! While some who were watching this battle through remote means were greatly disturbed by this reveal, Lucius couldn''t care less. The successful attack and surprise reveal, stirred no reaction within his heart, as he continued to precisely and mechanically attack his opponent. The black-robed figure, however, had finally had enough. That slash on his face was less of a direct attack and more of an insult on his pride. ''A ridiculous person such as you managed to land an attack on me!! Enough! I''ve had enough of this!'' ''So what if my counterattack greatly injures or kills me? I would rather die than live for a single second longer with this dishonor!!'' Arriving at that thought, the black-robed figure finally responded with an attack of his own. Soul power exploded from within his body, as he went all out with a Domain attack! "Deploy Domain: Thousand Shadows!!" Peak-Level Stage 3 soul power instantly flooded the surroundings, and the altering of the surroundings had begun. Everywhere within the Domain started to darken, as numerous eyes suddenly appeared and transfixed their eyes on Lucius. Lucius suddenly felt the difficulty of his ascension sky-rocket as the Rules in his surrounding started to twist and alter. His unhindered progress finally suffered an obstacle. Recognizing this fact, Lucius immediately retreated. He had to focus more of his attention on his ascension and could not spare any more energy to attack. "Oh, now you decide to run!! Let''s see if you can run from this!" the black-robed figure thundered. He waved his hands and three shadows appeared, surrounding Lucius. Those three pitch-black shadows squirmed before morphing into three figures. Those figures were none other than Jaros (Crying Serpent), Virim (Scrofanian), and Lucius himself! All three radiated Stage 3 aura and immediately started to attack Lucius. The real Lucius having his eyes closed, seemed to be absolutely oblivious to his surroundings. His face was eternally calm as usual, as he showed little to no reaction to the approaching attacks. The attacks of the fake Lucius and Jaros were the first to arrive. The scythe hacked diagonally towards the real Lucius'' body, while the trident appeared to pierce the head. Both the attacks neared dangerously close to Lucius, before¡­phasing through him. That''s right, the attacks phased through Lucius'' body! Unperturbed by this shocking result, the real Lucius continued to retreat with his eyes closed while refining his soul power. Each second brought him closer to the Stage 3 realm, as he put his entire effort into ascending. However, there was still a being that was not as calm and unperturbed as Lucius. Said being was the black-robed figure. ''HOW?! How many secrets does his guy have?!'' he screamed within his mind. The shock turned to further fuel his anger, as more and more shadows continued to appear around Lucius. There were two more fake Lucius, three more Jaros, and one more Virim. Apart from the Stage 3 existences, hundreds of Stage 2 existences appeared to surround and attack Lucius. However, the result was still the same. Whenever the attack closed in on Lucius, the latter seemed to show no reaction following which the attacks seemed to phase through him. ''I will not accept this!'' the black-robed figure declared and started to personally join the siege. He used spells and techniques of his own, which finally elicited a reaction from Lucius. Furrowing his brows, a serious expression appeared on his face as Lucius began to move more visibly and frequently. His eyes, however, remained closed. "I''ll see how long you are able to keep this up!" Declaring such, the black-robed figure started to intensify his attacks. Tears started to appear in the surrounding space, as the degree of attacks approached the upper limit of what this section of the Universe was able to handle. However, the black-robed figure did not seem to care about this change, as he kept up with his attacks. As a result of this behavior, the cracks and tears in space started to intensify. Lucius'' expression became incomparably serious and his eyes constantly trembled. Finally, wounds started to appear on his body. ''Finally! It''s time to end you once and for all!'' Rejoicing with unbounded joy, the black-robed man prepared to cast his strongest spell when a voice suddenly interrupted him. "FATHER!!" Alex''s figure appeared within the black space and leapt towards the black-robed figure. Now, a little explanation on how Alex was here. Domains had the restriction of not allowing their inhabitants to exit. However, those on the outside could still enter within. This allowed Alex to enter without any problems. As for the second reason regarding the insurmountable pressure, the black-robed figure had, in fact, gathered nearly all of the pressure and focused it solely on Lucius'' body. This greatly weakened the pressure in all other regions of the Domain, allowing Alex to move within, albeit with great difficulty. Back to the story. Seeing this unknown weakling leap towards him, the black-robed figure became annoyed. As a result of Alex''s intrusion, his spell had been delayed by a few seconds. "Tch, annoying bug. Just Die!" the black-robed figure casually slapped Alex''s body, sending him into a spatial tear! "NOO--!" Alex''s scream was abruptly cut short as the spatial rift swallowed his body whole. Along with his screams, he disappeared into endless perpetual darkness, his fate unknown. Having taken care of the interruption, the black-robed figure turned to face his actual opponent, only to find Lucius staring at this with open eyes. The chaotic soul power surrounding him had disappeared, as Lucius'' figure radiated the strength of a true Stage 3 being. Indifferently staring at the black-robed figure, Lucius ignored the attacks coming towards him and widened his arms. Extending them fully, he then abruptly brought them together completing a resounding clap. "Fragment of the World of Death." "Deploy Domain: Corpse Mountain Range." Soul power exploded forth from his body, and the Peak-Level Domain of the black-robed figure was instantly shattered. Lucius'' soul power was weaker than that of his opponent, but the Rules making up his Domain were on a completely different level. ---------- The darkness enveloping the 10km radius was soon dispelled, returning the view of the barren plain upon which the duo had battled. The black-robed being found himself standing on the ground a few meters away from Lucius, his surroundings were completely still and silence filled the air. His mind had yet to process the destruction of his Domain as he instinctively found himself moving to attack his enemy. Alas, he quickly realized a peculiar fact. He couldn''t move his body. No matter how hard he tried the black-robed being found his body to be absolutely still. ''What''s happening?! Where''s my Domain?!!'' he then tried to scream, only to realize the second peculiarity. There was no sound. He couldn''t hear the slightest of sounds. Not the sound of his heartbeat, that of the leaves rustling, nor even of the birds flying outside of the Domain. Absolute silence filled the Domain. This led the black-robed figure to discover the third peculiarity. There was no wind. Not even the slightest touch of the gentle breeze could be felt. Rather, the entire space seemed to be void of any air. An ominous aura rose within the black-robed figure''s heart and fear started to grip him. Just as he was about to start his struggle, he realized something wet near his feet. Casting his eyes downwards, he saw a crimson-colored substance ooze out of the ground. This crimson-colored liquid appeared throughout the entirety of the Domain, oozing out of the ground and rising till it reached a height of 5-6 inches from the ground. ''Is that¡­blood? Is the ground bleeding?'' A startling thought appeared within the black-robed figure''s mind, which was soon proven to be true when the scent of the substance hit his nose. It was the icky, pungent, unmistakable odor of blood. ''Wait, how can I smell this scent if there is no air within this space?'' The question appeared within his mind but was immediately forgotten when his eyes noticed the next change within the Domain. It started with the youth before him floating into the air. His body rose into the air by a few inches and a corpse of a human appeared beneath his feet. It appeared as though the youth in front of him was standing atop this corpse. However, the eyes of the black-robed figure soon shrunk from shock as his mind blanked from fear. The youth continued to rise into the air as hundreds upon hundreds of corpses appeared beneath his feet. This number continued to increase with each passing second, as a thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand bodies started to simultaneously appear, filling the space and forming a basis for a mountain range! Starting with the humans, the corpses then started to vary as Terrans, Lacerman, Scrofanians, Oncanians, Leos, and much more started to appear in the thousands. The black-robed figure could hardly react as he saw the corpses of humongous, behemoths of a creature, whose races were unknown appear and add to the rising pile of corpses. At this point, the pile of corpses had formed a mountain range extending through the entirety of the Domain. It seemed to want to grow wider but was restricted within the 10km walls of the Domain. With space available with regards to the height, the mountain of corpses started to grow taller. Hundreds of millions of corpses had already appeared, but the addition of new ones did not seem to stop. Soon, the appearance of legendary creatures such as the Dragon, Cerberus, and Titans appeared in the form of corpses. The mountain range quickly reached a height of 9km, nearing the 10km ceiling of the Domain, before slowing down. The final addition of hundreds of corpses belonging to some unknown race appeared before the mountain finished growing. The eyes of the black-robed figure were glued to the image of the youth seated at the peak of the tallest corpse mountain within the range. His bored-looking figure was seated on a throne of corpses, with his legs folded, one atop the other, his left hand on the throne, and his right hand resting below his chin. An immaterial crown adorned his head, as he gazed down upon the black-robed figure with boredom and indifference in his eyes. Feeling those eyes on him, the black figure felt the gaze of Death upon him. His body, his thoughts, and even his soul became absolutely silent and still, as he awaited judgment. Lucius lightly opened his mouth, before softly uttering. "Die." The very next instant, the black-robed figure dropped to the ground as a result of having his heart stopped. His unmoving body stayed still on the ground for a few moments, before rising into the air and adding itself into the mountain of corpses. Lucius then raised his head and looked towards the sky. His eyes were empty as he stared at the monochromatic sky. The final peculiarity which the black-robed figure had failed to notice was the absence of colors. As the mountain of corpses started to form, color had disappeared from this world. The entirety of Lucius'' Domain was in monochrome, black and grey being the only colors. The only being that possessed any color was Lucius, himself. Seated at the peak of this monochromatic world was its sole ruler and emperor. The being that had known death throughout its life, before finally becoming Death itself. Staring into the grey-colored sky, Lucius softly uttered. "This time I will not fail." His bored-looking eyes sharpened as a peculiar light shone within. Killing intent oozed from his body, as the second part of his sentence resounded within his mind. ''Not even the Lords can stop me from reaching you!'' Chapter 258: Rejection. Sitting upon his throne of corpses, Lucius'' pitch-black, abyss-like eyes continued to stare towards the distant grey sky with a cold, determined look. The killing intent oozing out of his body continued to climb in intensity, reaching a point where even the space surrounding his figure started to distort and twist. This stand-off continued for a few minutes longer, when suddenly Lucius'' expressionless face became pallid and twisted with tremendous pain. Veins bulged throughout his body as viscous black blood started to uncontrollably leak from all of his facial orifices. Closing his eyes, Lucius grabbed onto his head and let out an inaudible scream. The throne beneath him suddenly disappeared, followed by portions of the peak disappearing. As the footing beneath him disappeared, Lucius'' body started to fall towards the ground. Color slowly returned to the world, alongside the disappearance of large sections of the corpse mountain range. The pressure inside the Domain started to wane, as Lucius'' Domain started to collapse. Soon, the 10km boundary also disappeared with my tiny figure rushing in. Still, none of these changes were noticed by the rapidly falling Lucius, as his full attention was placed inside his mindspace. Within his mindspace, an identical copy of the Domain which had manifested outside existed. In fact, upon reaching Stage 3 the previous scenery of mindspace, filled only with clouds of soul power, will no longer exist. A Stage 3 existence built and improved their Domains within their mindspace. It was only after their Domains were fully built and cohesive with their Rules, would they be able to deploy it into the real world. Usually, this was a long process, taking anywhere from months to years, and was filled with many trials and errors. Most beings after reaching Stage 3 will undergo a period of closed cultivation to identify and experiment with their Rules, eventually building the basis for their Domains and hence shaping their mindspace. This process could absolutely not be rushed as Domains built out of Rules conflicting to the user''s nature would result in self-destruction and death. In a word, this process was absolutely¡­crucial. However, Lucius was not like most beings. Having already reached Stage 7 in his previous life, he possessed a perfected Stage 7 Domain called the [World of Death] which stood at the very apex of the [Killer] path. This Domain was also the reason for Lucius'' moniker as the ''Strongest under the Lords''. Such being the case, Lucius in his fight against the black-robed figure, decided to use a fragment of the [World of Death], namely the [Corpse Mountain Range] to construct his Stage 3 Domain. Being the original creator of the Domain, there was no one more familiar with its structure and Rule composition than Lucius. Hence, he was able to near-instantly create the Domain within his mindspace and deploy it against the black-robed figure. The deployment instantly crushed the [Thousand Shadows] Domain and effortlessly killed the Peak-Level Stage 3 existence. And it was precisely here where the problem occurred. Within Lucius'' mindspace, the [Annihilator] soul floated above the peak of the tallest point of the Corpse Mountain Range. Its transparent, ethereal body continuously spewed out [Annihilation Energy] seemingly rejecting the newly constructed Domain. As if this wasn''t problematic enough, the pitch-black ocean, which floored his mindspace, created large 5km tall waves of liquefied void energy and sent them crashing towards the island holding the Domain. (AN: If the picture isn''t clear enough, imagine an endless black ocean in the middle of which is an island. That island is the [Corpse Mountain Range] Domain. The dimensions of the island are a perfect, 10KMx10KMx10KM.) Even the Void Eater bloodline seemed to be at odds with the newly constructed Domain. With both the soul and body attacking, the newly-constructed Domain was slowly breaking apart and collapsing, causing immense mental and physical pain to Lucius. Diving into the center of this conflict with his consciousness, Lucius used his full focus to resolve it. This newly constructed Domain was the core of his current and future power, and Lucius could not hope to lose it. If it were to be destroyed, Lucius would effectively find himself crippled, never to grow further. He would forever be stuck at the bottom of Stage 3. Lucius'' plan to reuse the Domain optimized for the [Killer] path had effectively backfired. The Rules used in the Domain''s construction was conflicting with his soul and body, causing the rejection. Recognizing the problem, Lucius suppressed the pain he was currently feeling and desperately sought a solution. ''I thought that with the [Annihilator] being an evolution of the [Killer], I would be able to reuse my previous Domain. Clearly, that didn''t work.'' ''Actually, the feeling of rejections that stems from the [Annihilator] soul is not of intolerance, but seems to be¡­disdain? It''s like the [Annihilator] soul feels disgusted by the low-level of the Rules used in the Domain''s construction.'' ''This is simple to fix, I simply need to preserve the core Higher Rules, while cutting away the rest. The Domain would become unusable but my potential will be preserved.'' As stated previously, a Domain was an intricate and complex mix of Rules, ranging from higher-ranked ones such as ''Life'' or ''Death'' to lower-ranked ones such as ''Sound'' or ''Size''. A perfect Domain required a precise mixture of Rules to create the most stable, self-sustaining worlds capable of growth. The current problem with Lucius'' Domain and the [Annihilator] soul can be described as such; the [Annihilator] soul is like a rich, posh, high-class lady asked to dine at a middle-class restaurant. Eating dishes made from common, sub-par ingredients makes her feel insulted and disgusted. [Corpse Mountain Range] was this dish, made from low-level ingredients. No matter how delicious the final dish was, it was still made from low-class ingredients, resulting in the [Annihilator] soul instinctively rejecting it. Having understood the root of the problem, Lucius immediately acted upon it. He started to deconstruct his Domain while cutting away all of the lesser Rules. The Domain started to visibly change as the mountains became smaller, the ground became rockier and dry, various fissures and holes appeared throughout the island. By the time Lucius was done removing all of the conflicting Rules, a majority of the Domain had become hole-ridden and barren. In its current form, it was unusable. ''I will need to spend a lot of time experimenting and fixing it.'' Lucius sighed to himself, as he saw the [Annihilator] soul slowly settle in the center of the Domain. It did not seem satisfied, but at least the rejection no longer occurred. ''Now, for the next problem.'' Floating to the sky once again, Lucius looked at the unruly ocean causing trouble. ''The Rule that makes up the majority of my body and my bloodline is the Rule of Void, a top-tier Higher Rule. Currently, the rejection is occurring due to the complete absence of this Rule or any of the lesser Rules related to this path.'' ''As long as I can add a fitting Rule into my Domain, the problem of rejection should be solved.'' Arriving at this fact, Lucius started to hurriedly search his memories for a solution. With his long life and abundant battle experience, Lucius had faced many foes who used ''Space'', ''Dimensions'', ''Absence'' as the Core Rules within their Domains. These were some of the Rules directly or indirectly related to the Void. However, although Lucius knew that these Rules existed and how they generally worked, he had no personal experience using them or even studying them. Without proper study and experimentation, he could not reproduce those Rules and make them fit his current Domain. ''Time! If only I had time!!'' Lucius cursed within his mind. Every second that he delayed the more attacks that his Domain faced from the pitch-black ocean. If Lucius did not fix the issue soon, his Domain would collapse crippling, if not killing him forever! ''The Core Rule of my Domain is ''Death''. Death¡­death¡­death¡­'' ''Hold on, my current Domain works by evaluating the kill count (i.e. number of beings who have died by the actions of the user) of the people within the Domain and comparing them. The ones with the lower kill count will undergo judgment from those with the higher kill count.'' This was a Domain optimized for the [Killer] soul. Being a [Killer], it was nearly impossible to have a lower kill count than your opponent, as long as both parties were within the same stage. ''The more I kill, the more ''Death Energy'' is added to the Domain. The higher the ''Death Energy'', the harsher and more severe will be the penalty of the ones being judged.'' Death Energy was another type of energy. It was released the moment a being dies. The higher the Grade of a being, the more ''Death Energy'' was released. If one possessed complementing Rules, they would be able to harness and wield this energy, supplementing their power. ''Wait! The core strength of the Void Eater isn''t its ability to access the Void. Rather, it is the ability to devour another''s strength and add it to my own. So the Core Rule isn''t Void, but rather something like Devour!'' ''Death and Devour'' are concepts that go hand-in-hand. So if I simply, use the Death Energy in a way that compliments or supplements my Domain, this feeling of rejection will stop!'' The moment this thought appeared within Lucius'' mind, he felt something click deep within him. It felt similar to finding the missing piece of a puzzle or a key to an unknown lock. His instincts borne out of his experience and knowledge instinctively told him that this was the solution. Without wasting a single moment of time, Lucius immediately started altering his Domain. Larger cracks and fissures appeared on the island, as multiple river channels started to form. Rather than separate the Domain from the ocean outside, Lucius changed its Rule structure to include it, hence incorporating the island and the ocean. Five large river channels were formed, which were then immediately filled by the black waters of the ocean. A shapeless, odorless, black-colored mist started to rise from the barren ground of the Domain, moving towards the closest of the five large rivers. When arrived near the river, this black mist liquefied into droplets of water and fell into the river. The very moment these droplets fell into the river, the surface of the river intensely rippled and its waters started to suffuse into the lands of the Domain. The island seemed to be giving something to the river, which the latter upon receiving started to nourish the island. The desolate, ruined Domain now seemed to show slight signs of recovery. It wasn''t complete and was nowhere near perfection, but at least now, seemed to have become stable. The [Annihilator] soul also did not reject these new changes, further proving that he had done something correctly. Floating high up in the sky, Lucius surveyed the changed island. Everything seemed to work nicely and there was no sense of rejection. ''Crisis averted.'' Lucius finally put down his worries. His strength had dropped by a large margin and his Domain was incomplete. While Lucius had managed to successfully reach the realm of Stage 3, he would not be able to recreate his feat of killing a Peak-Level Stage 3 at Low-Level, unless he restored his Domain. ''At least, my path forward no longer faces the risk of being abruptly cut short. All in all, this happening wasn''t a bad thing.'' ''A Domain that not only kills but also nourishes and continuously grows from the act¡­If I can perfect it and reach Stage 7, I will be vastly stronger than my previous self. The Lords¡­may not be unkillable after all.'' Having solved his interior problems, Lucius surfaced his consciousness and opened his eyes. The first thing that he was a pair of mysterious violet eyes, followed relieved, caring voice of a woman. "Hey, you''re finally awake." Chapter 259: Pope. Staring evenly at the smiling face of Olivia, Lucius curtly replied. "Olivia." He could feel himself lying down, with his head resting upon a soft pillow of sorts. Immediately releasing a wave of soul power, Lucius surveyed his surroundings. Just as he had thought, he was lying on the ground with his head carefully nestled on Olivia''s lap. The soft sensation that he had felt originated from Olivia''s soft, yet firm thighs. Upon sensing no other party, apart from Olivia, within a 5-meter radius, Lucius continued with his next question. "Where is Ka''l¡ª" Just as Lucius was about to utter the golden crystal''s name, Olivia hurriedly used her hands to block his mouth. Staring into Lucius'' slightly furrowed eyes with utmost seriousness, Olivia recited. " ''Our predictions were right! He''s here and He''s watching! Don''t expose your identity!'' She told me to tell you that." Biting her lips, Olivia watched as Lucius'' pupil''s shrunk with shock and worry. Her keen senses did not miss the slight sense of fear, hidden within the depths of his eyes. ''As I thought, it is something serious.'' Olivia bitterly thought to herself. Lucius found himself frozen for a few seconds, before regaining his senses. Although he had been expecting this to happen, hearing that he was already being watched made him instinctively react with shock and fear. However, Lucius calmed himself soon and clarity returned to his eyes. His pupils turned into two bottomless pools of darkness that showed no emotions. Lifting his head from Olivia''s lap-pillow, Lucius raised his body and climbed onto his feet¡­only to lose his balance and stumble. ''Right. I forgot my body was weakened due to the battle and the changes in my mindspace.'' Lucius belatedly thought to himself. Fortunately, thanks to Olivia''s instantaneous reaction upon seeing his stumble, he was caught by the former and was balanced against her body. Seeing Olivia support his body, Lucius merely nodded his head as a gesture of thanks before looking around. Standing 10m away from the duo were the two-hundred plus warriors from Pectron, forming a tight defensive circle around the duo. Each of them had their weapons raised and pointed towards the army of humans, who were looking towards the group with anger and hatred in their eyes. "What happened?" Lucius questioned. Hearing his question, Olivia lightly sighed before explaining. "During your fight with the black-robed figure, their commander Alex Hellwig jumped into that large black sphere which was enveloping the area¡­" "The Domain." Lucius corrected and gestured for her to continue. "Right¡­the domain. He jumped into that black, lightless Domain surrounding a 10km area. These people who were much slower were unable to follow him, before that Domain changed into¡­a vast mountain range of corpses. Was that also a Domain?" Olivia curiously asked. "Yes. It is mine." Lucius calmly answered. "Are you at Stage 3 now?" Olivia excitedly asked. "Yes. Continue with the explanation." "Anyways, your Domain covered the area and we were unable to get close to it. A horrifying feeling froze our bodies whenever we came near. The closer we approached, the stronger that feeling became." Olivia''s body instinctively shivered when it recalled the feeling radiated by Lucius'' domain. It was a feeling that told them, the moment they entered it they would die. "Unable to enter it, we stood outside. A few minutes later, the Domain disappeared and you started to fall from the sky. Seeing that you weren''t moving, I jumped up and caught before you fell." Olivia unabashedly spoke. "However, there were no signs of Alex nor was there a body. Seeing that he was missing, the humans, more specifically Alex''s wife- Anya, grew very agitated and wanted to bring you in and question you." At this point, Olivia''s eyes became incredibly cold and cruel, surprising Lucius. A powerful murderous was radiated by her body, as she continued. "Of course, I could never let them do that." "I had my men hiding in the area in advance, in case things went unsavory with the Stage 3 ambush. When these guys tried to attack me, I called them out to protect you. Unfortunately, it seems they(humans) were still sensible enough as they immediately stopped resorting to only stare at us." "Since you seemed to be unconscious, they figured to just wait for you to wake up before asking you. Well, at least most of them did save for one person." Olivia''s eyes landed on the figure of a human female soldier who was being held back by the people around her. An expression of incomparable wrath and worry filled her face, as she continuously tried to escape from their grasps and attack the group of foreigners before her. Hearing Olivia''s explanation, coupled with the sight before him solved all of Lucius'' questions. Feeling that his body had recovered sufficiently, he freed himself from Olivia''s careful grasp. Turning to face her worried countenance, he simply raised his hand and pat her head. "You did well." Olivia''s body stiffened as her outstretched arms froze. ''Wh-wha-wah--?'' Feeling Lucius'' hands pat her head, completely halted her thought process, and crashed her brain. After commending her, Lucius turned around and started to walk towards the army of humans. He did not have time to embroil himself with the troublesome issues of these humans. If Ka''lor''ah''s words were right, he had a greater opponent, awaiting his arrival. Lucius'' circulated his soul power, radiating the pressure of a Stage 3 existence. That coupled with his cold, scathing aura as an experienced killing machine quickly drew the eyes of everyone on the battlefield. The warriors from Pandemonium looked at him with reverence as they moved aside to make way for him to pass. At first, they had felt disdain towards this feminine-looking youth with whom their illustrious boss was seemingly infatuated. Lucius'' slender frame and handsome face had previously earned names such as ''Pretty Boy'', ''Useless Flower'', etc from these warriors, with some of them even making plans to silently get rid of him and protect their boss from this ''scammer''. However, watching Lucius battle with that black-robed figure completely shattered their previous image of this youth. The dignity and majesty which he radiated when seated atop his throne at the peak of the mountain of corpses, coupled with a singular word that killed that invincible figure. They had been watching the events inside the Domain from their place outside it. Power was everything within the Universe and Lucius had it. This sole fact earned him their acknowledgment and reverence Walking past these warriors, Lucius arrived before the army of humans. These people, unlike the previous group, were gazing at Lucius with faces of horror and fear. Three years was a long time, especially for those at war. The memories of the Hero of Deatov were already forgotten by many, leaving only the image of what they had witnessed here today. What stood before them was a monster. A monster that was dozens, if not hundreds of times scarier and more dangerous than that pig-headed beast. However, there existed a solitary person who was not frightened by the unfriendly, monstrous aura that Lucius radiated. "What did you do to my husband?!" Anya screamed, her eyes locked onto Lucius'' figure. "I did nothing. He was foolish and he paid for it." Lucius blandly answered. No matter how much Lucius hated to converse with other people, he had to reconcile with these humans. Mankind was essential to the Great Plan. While Lucius did not care if they loved or hated him, at the very least, he had to ensure that they were in his side. Being hostile would complicate matters further down the line. "Bullsh*t! I saw him enter that dark sphere and only your return! Where is he?!!" Anya cried. "Why did he enter in the first place? Was he blind enough to not recognize the difference in powers?" Lucius questioned, this was one part that he could not understand. According to his memories, Alex Hellwig (of the past) was a sensible and smart man. A true leader by definition. He was surely not dumb enough to jump into a battle where even the slightest of misstep could kill them. Hearing Lucius ask that question, Anya felt inflamed. She leapt forwards once more, only to be held back by the struggling soldiers around her. "WHY?! YOU ASK WHY?!!" "It was because you were fighting against his Father!! Not only did you fight him, you even killed him!!" She thundered. At her words, all the other human soldiers also looked at Lucius with hatred. They still felt fear when looking towards him, yet their anger and hatred had suppressed some of that fear. Hearing her answer, Lucius finally understood. "I see." He curtly answered, before using his soul energy to manifest something. Soul power gathered before his figure, before fusing together and materializing something. It was a corpse. To be specific, it was the corpse of the black-robed figure. "Is this him?" Lucius asked, removing the hood from the figure''s head. A human face, possessing red hair and crimson eyes appeared before the audience. The face looked remarkably similar to Alex, albeit being a bit older and more mature. """Supreme Commander!!""" The soldiers echoed in unison. "You killed our Supreme Commander! Mankind will never forgive you for this!!" They pointed their fingers towards Lucius and blamed him. Lifting his head towards the crowd, Lucius spoke one word. "Silence." [Annihilation Intent] of the third stage burst forth from his body instantly silencing everyone within the crowd. An insurmountable pressure weighed upon their bodies and minds, rendering them incapable of any action. Lucius then kneeled next to the corpse and used his finger to slightly pierce it. He then channeled some of his soul power into the corpse, which made it tremble greatly. The corpse quivered fiercely before its skin started to stretch and twist horribly. The pale color of the skin vanished replaced by a deep black. The human face was replaced by a featureless blank mask. The corpse''s limbs greatly shrunk and its body shriveled. Pointing to the corpse which now showed on similarity to the Supreme Commander, Lucius spoke. "This is a Doppelganger. A Grade 4 creature with the ability to mimic the bodies of those it consumes." "This, Supreme Commander you speak of, must have been eaten by this creature allowing it to mimic his appearance. In other words, he is long dead." Upon stating that shocking truth, Lucius ignored the reactions of the human soldiers and walked past them. When he passed the figure of the pale-faced, collapsed Anya, he heard her ask. "¡­what about my husband? My Alex?" "I didn''t see him. His body was either vaporized by the attacks, or he fell into a spatial rift." Shaking his head, Lucius spoke a final sentence before walking past her. "Either way, he''s dead." Anya finally collapsed onto the ground and started to loudly cry. Her heart-rending cries triggered the suppressed sadness amongst the other human soldiers, as many started to grieve while shedding a tear. Hearing their cries made Lucius realize how utterly dispassionate he was. He could clearly sense and feel their accumulated reactions, yet he could not feel it. ''Through and through, I am an unfeeling monster.'' He shook his head once more and started to walk towards the Academy. His head looked straight and his eyes started unflinchingly at a distance. From beyond the walls of the Academy, he felt an entity summoning him. ''It is time.'' Resolving himself, Lucius walked to face his enemy. --------- Arriving at the central island of the Academy, Lucius walked into the hallowed Memorial Hall situated at the island''s center This building, constructed to resemble the ancient Acropolis of Athens, was where the names of the great people who have served Mankind to the greatest extent were etched into its white marble walls. Step. Step. Step. Step. Luicus'' footsteps echoed as his lonely figure, stiff from anticipation and fear approached the depths of this building. Crossing the corridor that leads him into the inner chambers of this construct, Lucius found a figure waiting for him. A woman possessing braided silver hair and argent eyes, seated upon her wheelchair. Her beautiful, yet pale face that sported a smile that made anyone feel at ease, stared at Lucius. "You have finally come¡­Lucius. I''ve been waiting for you, for a very long time." Illya politely announced, her bell-like voice echoing within the marble chambers. Lucius gave a single weary look at her figure and curtly replied. "Pope." Chapter 260: Purpose. (End of Volume 2) Seeing Lucius'' lackluster reaction, Illya couldn''t help but ask. "Are you not surprised?" "I am. My initial guess was wrong." Lucius admitted. Curious, Illya asked. "Oh? Who was your initial guess then?" "Some girl named Ina, though it''s good that I was wrong. Saves me the trouble of looking for her." "May I ask, why you guessed her?" Illya probed. "You may not." Lucius denied. Silence descended and the two looked at each other. Lucius had the same bored look, whilst Illya had trouble maintain her smile. The curves of her mouth had become stiff, while her eyes seemed to contain resentment. Unable to bear the silence pressing down upon her, Illya restarted the conversation. "Aren''t you curious why I did those things? Why I established the cult? Pit humans against humans causing war and bloodshed?" "Not at all. I already know the answer." Lucius gave a detached reply. Faced with such responses, Illya felt her patience dwindle. The resentment and fury within her eyes started to compound, as her breathing started to turn heavy. "You¡ªdo you not feel angry? Are you not angered by what I have done to the Mankind you fought so hard to protect?" "I established the cult. I created the Saviors Branch. I intentionally withheld the method to rise into Stage 2 from the common populace. I made deals with the Formicians to empower them while weakening Mankind. I killed families, children, anyone who was disobedient to the cause!!" "Say something! Be angry! Curse at me!!" Illya screamed, having lost her calm. The smile on her beautiful face was replaced by a malicious expression. Her eyes no longer tried to hide the unclean emotions within, as she stared at Lucius. The image of the mysterious Pope or that of the Brilliant Strategist was nowhere to be seen. All that was before him was a woman driven by hatred and vengeance. And the target of this hatred seemed to be Lucius. "How do you know me?" For the first time, Lucius took the initiative to talk. "I''m quite sure that before today we''ve never met before. Yet, that day aboard the spaceship when you used a proxy to try and kill me, you clearly knew my name." "I ask once again, how do you know me?" Lucius asked. Hearing that question, Illya seemed to look lost for a moment. Her body went slump and their eyes went blank. A low, derisive laugh leaked from her lips as she started to talk. "Hahaha, you don''t even know me¡­ no wonder your reactions were so lackluster." Lucius did not reply and instead waited for her to continue. "Lucius, O'' Lucius, how could you not know anything about me, when you''ve been my sole target for vengeance, all these years?!!" Illya''s eyes were painted with a shade of madness as her words started to become ugly. "You took my world away from me!! It''s only right that I take yours from you!!" Shaking his head, Lucius shortly replied. "I still don''t understand how this connects me with you." "Connection?! You dare talk about the connection!!" Illya howled. "You killed my brother, you monster!! You killed my selfless, loving, benevolent brother in cold blood!!" Hearing that, Lucius showed a different reaction for the first time during this conversation. It was a look of confusion. Seeing the look of confusion appear on his face, Illya felt her anger inflame further, as she continued her maddened howl. "Remember that day in the Pit! The day when you killed every single one of the people within in cold blood!! My brother was in the audience!!" Turning her face to look at the ceiling of the marble chamber, a look of infatuation and ecstasy appeared on Illya''s face, as her voice softened. "O'' brother, my sweet, kind brother. You sneaked out of the house without father''s knowledge to go and watch those pigs squabble in the Pit. However, I, your beloved sister, caught you sneaking off." "Confronted with my denials, you made a bargain with me; in exchange for letting you go to see that plebian sport and not tell father about it, you would make loads of love with your beloved sister when you return." "It would''ve been perfect! I simply had to keep my mouth shut and father distracted, and when he returned, we would''ve engaged in another session of intense lovemaking." It was here, that Illya''s face soon dropped. She furiously turned to face Lucius and bellowed. "BUT YOU-!! YOU RUINED IT ALL! YOU TOOK MY LOVING BROTHER AWAY FROM ME FOREVER!!" A bolt of silver light flashed from her side and appeared in front of Lucius. It was an attack from her Mid-Level Stage 2 soul. Lucius hardly moved in reaction for he saw no meaning in doing so. The silver bolt was instantaneously destroyed when it came in contact with the [Annihilation Intent] surrounding him. The gap between their respective levels of power wasn''t something that could be overcome with simple passion and determination. "I see¡­So that''s where the visibility in my Cause appeared, allowing Him to find me." Lucius muttered with a low voice. ''Killing her brother in the Pit entwined her Cause with mine. When He made contact with her, He must''ve noticed the stray Cause and found me. I finally understand.'' Raising his head, Lucius looked towards the deranged woman throwing attack after attack towards him, to no avail. Although his eyes seemed to be looking towards Illya, Lucius'' gaze was fixed on something that was ''beyond'' her. "We can talk now." He plainly spoke. A tinge of respect was unknowingly contained within his sentence. "WHAT ARE YOU TALKI---" Illya screech was suddenly interrupted. Her body stiffened and she found it paralyzed to move. A confused, which soon turned into a shocked expression appeared on her face. "His Grace?! Why is an oracle coming right¡ª" Illya''s face and voice froze, before turning blank. Her head suddenly slumped, as her body lost its stiffness and loosened. A few seconds of silence passed when Illya''s head suddenly snapped up and stared at Lucius with a smile. "Were your questions answered?" an old, sagely voice exited Illya''s mouth. The moment this sentence was uttered, Lucius felt an unimaginable pressure descend upon his body. His legs buckled under the pressure, and Lucius'' body was forced to assume a kneeling position. A fear which he had forgotten for some time appeared within his heart. It was a fear that was ingrained into every Stage 7 existence. A fear that constantly reminded each and every one of them, of the infallible beings that reigned above. A Lord had descended! "¡­yes," Lucius answered with difficulty. "Very good. Then allow me to introduce myself." Illya''s argent eyes turned golden. Countless eyeballs appeared writhing out of her skin filling every inch of her body, forming a grotesque figure. A malformed smile formed on her face, as He announced. "I am the Lord of Fate. It''s finally nice to meet you. O'' elusive Annihilator." The declaration shook the space within the marble construct. Spatial rifts and tears appeared within the room, as reality started to twist and crumble. Lucius'' body was completely petrified from fear as he found it impossible to move. The monumentous pressure radiated by the figure before him refused to allow the slightest movement from him. Right now, Lucius felt like an ant standing before a mighty dragon. The sheer difference in their levels of existence made them incomparable to each other. "Tch, this region is too fragile." The Lord of Fate clicked his tongue, before gently blowing towards the spot where the spatial tears were appearing and expanding. The instant His breath touched the tears, the latter immediately shrunk before disappearing. "That''s better." He nodded his head in satisfaction, before turning to address Lucius. "I cannot remain here for much time, so let''s get to it." "Let''s see¡­hmm, interesting. Very interesting. My eyes can''t see through you." "Although you kneel right before me, I still can''t perceive your Cause and Fate. It''s like you''re here and not here at the same time. You''re a complete enigma, aren''t you?" "How do you do it? Is it a skill? A technique? Perhaps some innate ability? Is that how you managed to quietly become a Stage 7 [Killer] while evading our eyes?" The moment this was mentioned, Lucius'' pupils immediately shrunk. For an instant, he felt like all of his secrets were exposed and laid bare for this figure to see. Looking at his reaction, the Lord of Fate gently asked. "Oho, seems like I hit the nail on something. Interesting, you are the most interesting Annihilator that I''ve faced yet." "¡­are you going to kill me?" Lucius gathered every single bit of his strength, before managing to utter that line. "Kill you? Oh, I wish." The Lord of Fate chuckled, before continuing. "Usually, I do not concern myself with the birth and growth of the Annihilator. I let them complete their routine cleansing and rid the Order of some of its weaker Lords. It helps in keeping things interesting, you see." "However, in all those cases I can still view the path and Fate of those Annihilators. I can view their past, present, and future. Everything is laid bare before my eyes." "But you¡­You seem to be different. Not only am I unable to see you, but I also cannot predict your path or your future." The Lord chuckled once more, before jesting. "It''s almost like you don''t belong to this Universe at all." "Getting back to the point, in short, you are an unpredictable variable whose actions cannot be predicted. Hence, I made some plans using this young creature and this newly ascending race to silently get rid of you." The Lord wistfully looked towards the ceiling. "Unfortunately, your growth was a bit too fast. Your ascendance to Stage 3 has drawn the attention of that old monster whose duty is to protect your kind. With him entering the playing field, I cannot act against you." "¡­old monster?" Lucius painfully asked. "Oh yes, the Lord of Chaos." The Lord of Fate truthfully answered. "It is his duty to protect the Annihilators from the interference of the other Lords, and see to it that the routine cleansing is carried out." "That is the purpose bestowed upon him by the first Overlord." The Lord of Fate''s tone had a tinge of reverence and worship when he mentioned the latter. He then looked at Lucius and remarked. "Much like how yours is to battle and kill all the Lords. An endless cycle imposed by ''He, Who Stands Above All'', before His disappearance." "Anyhow, I''m not quite ready to face the wrath of that old monster nor do I want to. For now, I will stop all my schemes and retreat from this region." The Lord of Fate then stared at his collapsing vessel and remarked. "Whoops, seems like my time here is coming to an end." Shaking His head, he complained. "Everything here is so fragile." Staring at Lucius one last time, he asked. "Do you have any questions?" Struggling with all of his power, Lucius released all of his [Annihilation Intent] and [Annihilation Energy] to counteract the pressure exerted by the Lord. Vast amounts of his soul power were expended before a tiny amount of the pressure was diminished. Rising from his kneeling position, Lucius stared towards the Lord of Fate with determined eyes and asked. "How do I kill you?" Hearing that question, a bright smile appeared on the face of the Lord of Fate''s crumbling vessel. "Just what I expected from an Annihilator. You didn''t disappoint me." The Lord of Fate''s pressure started to slowly wane as the destruction of his vessel (Illya''s body) started to accelerate. His countless eyes locked their gazes on Lucius'' figure as he spoke. "Keep growing young Annihilator. I look forward to meeting you on the battlefield one day." "Don''t make me wait too long." And with that final line, His presence vanished and Illya''s body turned into a pile of mush. The pressure within the chamber vanished, and Lucius'' body stumbled forth once again. However, he quickly moved and saved his body from falling. Staring at the pile of flesh, which once held the descent of a Lord, Lucius thought to himself. ''Indeed. Let''s meet on the battlefield one day.'' ----------END OF VOLUME 2- A PINCH OF FATE---------- Chapter 261: Interlude. Part 1 Inside a small dimly adorned room situated in the depths of a magnificent castle, a woman wearing dark-golden robes prostrated herself before a small, crystal orb. Her body lied in a perfect posture with her two arms lowered in worship and her forehead touching the stony ground in reverence. The crystal orb, placed upon an ornately adorned pedestal made from a strange, multi-colored stone, quivered a few times before floating into the air. "Slave." A sagely voice exited the crystal. The instant that the genuflecting woman heard that voice, her body imperceptibly quivered. Not daring to raise her head, she softly answered. "Your slave hears and obeys, Your Lordship." "Pull out your forces from that race which is undergoing the Ascension. They have passed." The old voice ordered. "¡­this slave does not understand, Your Lordship. Currently, thirteen different races are undergoing their first ascension. Which one is Your Lordship referring to?" The gold-robed woman hesitantly spoke. "Daring to talk back, huh? You sure have grown bold. Seems like a session of disciplining is due." The voice mocked, as the gold-robed woman''s body trembled. "I-I th-this slave wouldn''t dare, Your Lordship!!" she hastily screamed, alas, it was too late. Endless light flowed from out of the crystal orb forcing the gold-robed woman to lay paralyzed to the ground. Once she was immobilized, mysterious golden lines manifested within the dim room, turning into thread-like objects. These threads of Rules then started to bear down onto the paralyzed woman, cutting her body and polluting her Rules. "ARHG!!!" An unimaginable degree of pain filled her entire body, as the gold-robed woman felt her very existence being attacked. Her soul was helpless against the attack, as the person attacking her was a true Lord. Even she, an existence that was on the level of a Half-Lord, was helpless against this power. This torture of crippling her Rules went on for a few minutes, before coming to a stop. The gold-robed woman helplessly collapsed onto the ground unable to support herself. Shining golden blood trickled down from her wounds, as her body missed large patches of flesh and skin. "Remember that pain, Ka''lor''ah. The next time you talk back, it won''t just end with pain. Now get it done." With that, the voice disappeared and the floating crystal orb returned to the pedestal. Lying on the floor and breathing weakly, Ka''lor''ah softly replied. "¡­it will be done, Your Lordship." Dozens of minutes passed, as Ka''lor''ah remained in that position while tending to the wounds dealt to her soul. Her Rules were corrupted and fragmented, meaning that it would take her some time to completely fix them. For now, she resolved the most threatening injuries before climbing onto her feet with great difficulty. Bowing to the stationary orb one last time, she turned around and limped out of the room. Limping over the long empty corridors, Ka''lor''ah had to support her body against the stone walls to maintain her balance. Struggling for some time, she eventually exited the endless corridor and arrived at a majestic throne room. Hobbling over to her golden throne, Ka''lor''ah climbed the crystal stairs, before carefully seating herself on the grand crystal throne. The moment her body was placed on the throne, Ka''lor''ah felt the pain diminish by a great amount. The Rules causing the pollution also seemed to slacken, granting her more time and freedom to resolve them. ''Even with the crystal throne assisting my body, it will take me a full year to recover from these injuries. That old man was too vicious!'' Ka''lor''ah complained within her mind. "Guardians." Ka''lor''ah then called out to her servants. The grand doors guarding the entrance to the throne room opened and a half-transparent, floating jellyfish-like creature flew in. "You called, Your Majesty?" the creature asked in subservience. "What is the progress of ascension of the race called Mankind?" Ka''lor''ah asked. The half-transparent jellyfish lowered its head, seemingly in thought. A few seconds later, it raised its head and reported. "Currently, the race called Mankind seems to have around 10 million of its kind alive. That is less than 90% of its initial size. Their territories have also shrunk down by a large amount, currently occupying less than ten-thousandth of their original area." "They are facing a Rank 5 Ordeal; a race of survival against the Formicians. Currently, Mankind seems to be in the lead with two out of the three Greater Queens already killed." The creature spoke in surprise. Hearing this, Ka''lor''ah suddenly interrupted the creature and asked. "That quickly? Weren''t the three Greater Queens still alive last week?" "Indeed, Your Majesty. However, the latest report from the last Greater Queen informs us of their current situation." "Any idea how they died?" "No, Your Majesty. According to the report, the two Greater Queens had left to investigate some disturbance in the Formician territories. Following that, they did not return. No messages were sent to the remaining Greater Queen either." "Either the opponent found a method to block their telepathy, or they died too quick, Your Majesty." The creature humbly guessed. "Were their bodies recovered?" Ka''lor''ah asked. "No, Your Majesty. The Formicians were facing an assault by another force, forcing the last Greater Queen to remain behind and command the battle." "I see¡­" Ka''lor''ah nodded her head and sunk into her thoughts. A few minutes passed in her brooding when she raised her head and ordered the creature. "Pass the order, cease all attacks on Mankind. The Ordeal is effectively over. Inform all the Formicians to self-destruct." "Understood, Your Majesty." The jellyfish-like creature nodded its head, before immediately sending a message telepathically. A thought suddenly occurred to Ka''lor''ah, as she curiously asked. "Was the Race-Transformation procedure completed for the human we received from the Formicians?" "Yes, Your Majesty. The procedure was completed last night. The creature underwent the transformation, personally created by Your Majesty, with no problems. He is now a Grade 6 life form." "Bring him to me," Ka''lor''ah ordered. The jellyfish-like creature nodded its head and left the throne room. Ka''lor''ah closed her eyes and silently tended to her wounds, waiting for the creature with the [Chronometry] soul to arrive. Nearly ten minutes passed when the doors for the throne room opened once more and the jellyfish creature walked in with Zaine in tow. The two beings came before the crystal throne and kneeled before Ka''lor''ah. "Guardian, you may leave us." Ka''lor''ah stiffly instructed. "As you wish, Your Majesty." The jellyfish-like creature replied and left the room, closing the doors to the throne room in the process. "You can get up, you know." Ka''lor''ah''s voice softened chastised the creature in front of her. "Your Majesty, but¡ª" Zaine, whose entire figure now looked completely different, worriedly answered in response, before being interrupted by Ka''lor''ah. "Again with that ''Your Majesty'' crap. I told you to simply call me Ka''lor''ah!" Ka''lor''ah childishly uttered. "But the Guardians, refer to you as Your Majesty. It would be incorrect of me to simply call you by your name." Zaine hurriedly replied. His figure faintly shook when he recalled the pressure released by those Stage 7 beings. Although they restrained their auras and treated Zaine with complete respect, courtesy of Ka''lor''ah''s orders, the intrinsic difference in their levels of powers, made Zaine feel like he was thousands of meters underwater. "Ah, that''s where you''re wrong." Ka''lor''ah giggled before continuing, "The Guardians are my slaves. They have to refer to me as ''Your Majesty''. You, however, are the Champion that I have selected." "Champion?" Zaine asked curiously. Nodding her head, Ka''lor''ah replied. "Indeed. There is a certain plan that I want to accomplish. A plan that would change this Universe forever! To accomplish this plan, I would require you and your abilities." "Can you tell me what this plan is about?" Zaine asked. "Not yet. Reach Stage 6 and I will tell you all about it." Ka''lor''ah answered with a smile. "Moving on, how does your new body feel?" Ka''lor''ah asked. Zaine looked at his taller, muscular, and humanoid-like alien body, and spoke while clenching his fist. "Very different. Powerful too. I feel like I can shatter mountains with a single punch." He answered with awe. "Damn right, you can! This body is my most perfect work yet! It''s at the peak of Grade 6, almost reaching Grade 7." "With this new body, your path towards Stage 7 will face no obstacles. As long as you work hard at cultivating your soul, your future as a Peak-Level existence is guaranteed." Clenching her own fist, Ka''lor''ah passionately announced. "Listen well; starting today we will start your training to Stage 7. I will personally mentor you and will spare no expense or resource to aid your growth. All I ask is for you to work hard and assist me in my plan when the time comes." "Can you do it?!" Ka''lor''ah bellowed. "YES, I CAN!!" Zaine replied in kind. He had already decided to dedicate his life to this beautiful, mysterious woman when the latter had saved him from the fate of certain death. He owed her his life and would do anything to repay this debt. "That''s the spirit. Now get out of here! I will send a Guardian to start your training." Ka''lor''ah cheerfully announced. She looked on at Zaine with a smiling expression. The smile on her face continued to exist until the doors of her throne room closed once more. Instantly, a blank looked appeared on Ka''lor''ah''s face as he pondered to herself. ''What an innocent and na?ve little fool. He thanks me for saving his life from the Formicians, but little does he know that the Formicians are my children in the first place.'' ''Well, at least with a personality like that, I don''t have to fear him betraying me. If I praise him every now and then and treat him in a friendly manner, he will remain as an obedient dog. My obedient dog.'' Closing her eyes, Ka''lor''ah leaned back on her crystal throne and rested her head against it. ''With this, the puppet required for the Great Plan has been secured. Now I simply have to complete the ''Cause-Erasal, Time-Reversal'' ritual and wait for him to ascend into Stage 7.'' ''It''s a pity though. While the ''Time-Reversal part of the plan has greatly simplified, thanks to his unique soul, the ''Cause-Erasal'' part is facing issues. If not done properly, the plan will be detected by the Them even before it begins.'' ''If only I could get my hands on a talented [Killer]. My plan would become perfect.'' A cruel smile appeared on Ka''lor''ah appeared on Ka''lor''ah''s face as she silently muttered. "You old fogies will soon pay dearly for what you have done to me¡­" ------------- Chapter 262: Interlude. Part 2 Lifelessly floating through the dark void of space was a badly mutilated body. The body, seemingly humanoid in shape, was missing all of its limbs and a majority of its skin and muscles. Deep cuts adorned what remained of the upper body and head, with the abdomen missing an entire portion of its structure. Looking closely, one would recognize a large bite mark surrounding this missing portion. The closed eyelids were partially missing, revealing a pair of unconscious crimson eyes underneath. The disfigured head contained a few sparse strands of red hair. On the whole, this body seemed to have been blended, ingested, partially digested, and spit back out. Its appearance was quite pathetic, to say the least. Still, if compared to the surrounding space, this mutilated body was simply but a microcosm. An insignificant piece of space junk that littered this endless place. Amazingly enough, this piece of space garbage seemed to be alive, as its partially exposed heart continued to weakly beat, and soul power continued to preserve and support what remained. As such, with injuries too heavy to be cured by the insignificant amount of soul power possessed by the entity, its body continued to unconsciously float in blank space without an end. Hour after hour¡­day after day¡­week after week¡­ the body continued to float. Perhaps by the works of fate, or by an unbelievable stroke of luck, the body continued to narrowly miss its encounters with certain death. One time, it was almost struck by a large piece of meteoroid only to be narrowly pulled out of its path at the last second by a nearby planet''s gravitational force. Another time, it was almost pulled in by a black hole''s gravitational force, only to avoid certain death by being slingshotted, far into the distance thanks to the body''s initial trajectory. In such a manner, the unconscious body continued to float in space for months. Its latent soul power recovery rate barely managed to sustain its actions of preserving the body. However, this balance meant that there was no extra energy to spare to heal the body. Finally, after lifelessly floating in space for almost three years, a change occurred. A giant piece of floating meteoroid flying across the dark space seemed to notice the body and slowed its speed. It then changed its path and flew towards the floating body, curious to check its condition. Coming to a stop next to the unconscious body, the flaming rock unfurled, revealing a gigantic, almost 30m in height, flaming giant! Its blazing head, whose features were unnoticeable due to the blistering heat distorting the space around it, gently looked at the body. "Hmm? This soul power aura¡­" a low, heavy voice uttered. The flames consisting of the giant''s head suddenly intensified, signifying its shock. "Impossible!" The giant thundered. It then used its massive hands to carefully prod the mutilated body. Its movements were so utterly careful, bordering almost in the realm to respect, as it studied the body or more specifically the soul power surrounding the body. The process continued for a few minutes before coming to a stop. Retracting its hands, the giant of flames quietly muttered in disbelief. "¡­a king''s flame. This boy has the king''s flame!!" "HAHAHA! This is truly a blessing from the Lords! To think a person with the king''s flame will appear during this time!" The flame giant breathed heavily, as its voice grew more and more excited as it continued. It no longer looked towards the body with simple curiosity, but with intense yearning and desire. "Yes¡­with him, my clan will surely be able to overcome its difficulties and return to its previous strength!" "Nay, we might even surpass our previous strength and reach a whole new level! The time of prosperity foretold by the ancestors might be brought on by this boy! HAHAHA!!" The flame giant then carefully wrapped the body within its flames and held it near its chest. Its actions were ever so meticulous and respectful. "Break!" It then suddenly yelled as a tremendous amount of soul power poured out of its body. A gigantic crack appeared on the space in front of it, opening what could be effectively called the entrance to a wormhole! Its body then entered the wormhole, disappearing from its previous location and appearing somewhere far away. The ability to traverse great distance within space by forcefully tearing open a path with their soul power. It was an ability unique to Stage 5 and above existences. ------------- "Guh!!!" With a strange scream, Alex shot up from his head. His eyesight was blurry at first, before gradually gaining clarity over a few seconds. A confused expression appeared on his face, as he gazed around at the alien environment surrounding him. The simple black rock constructing the room, gave it a dim and bare look, reminding Alex of the insides of a cave. A pair of dimly burning candles were placed on both sides of the wall providing some amount of visibility within the room. A lonely wooden desk, chair, a few sheets of paper, and strange writing material adorned the rest of the room. His body sat atop a simple fur bedding, made from the hide of an unknown creature, laid on the smooth floor. The fur was oddly warm and comfortable, making him feel at ease. A single wooden door closed the entrance to this cave, atop of which was the framed writing of an alien letter. Or was it a symbol? ''Where am I?'' Alex asked himself. His mind was still confused, as he found his thoughts to be incredibly slow and jumbled. A dim persisting headache tormented his head, as Alex reflexively moved his hand to massage it. ''Hmm?'' It was only then, that Alex belatedly noticed his body''s state. White bandages covered the entirety of his body, wrapping him like an embalmed mummy. When he tried to move his limbs, Alex found them to be unusually stiff and heavy, not to mention the faint pain assaulting his mind. "I wouldn''t do that if I were you." A female voice sounded from his side. Alex''s body instinctively jerked up, as his head immediately turned to face the wooden door. He tried to mobilize his soul power but found himself unable to. Standing before the now opened wooden door, was a tall, beautiful lady possessing dark skin and short crimson hair. Her vermillion-colored irises looked at Alex with a sharp gaze. Alex''s eyes then instinctively moved down from her face, when his body suddenly stiffened. He averted his eyes in reflex when he realized how barely clothed this young lady was. Apart from a single piece of metal armor concealing her sensitive regions, the young woman was wholly naked! "You¡ªwho are you and where am I?" Alex asked. It was only after asking, did he realize how weak his voice was. "Why are you looking over there?" The young lady curiously asked, before approaching Alex. "Wai-wait! Don''t come near me!" Alex hurriedly screamed. Of course, the young, crimson-haired woman did not care for his struggles and approached closer. She walked next to Alex, leaned in, and held his head with her hand. Applying force she turned Alex''s head to face her. Alex tried to put up a valiant struggle but was unable to overcome the young lady''s strength. His eyes looked at a scene that no married man should look at. ''Too much! You''re exposing too much!'' Alex mentally screamed. Seeing her at this distance, not to mention sensual posture, Alex could basically see everything. "That''s better." Seeing Alex''s gaze on her, the young woman nodded with satisfaction. It was only then, did Alex notice a certain important fact. The movement of the young woman''s mouth did not match the words se was speaking. In other words, she seemed to be talking a foreign language, while what Alex heard was a translation. "Your skin is very pale. Your body is very weak too." The young woman then started to unrestrainedly touch every part of Alex''s body. It had to be mentioned that no matter how mature and responsible Alex was, he was still a young man in his mid-twenties. Having his body touched all over by the fairer sex, who was practically unclothed not to mention quite beautiful, evoked certain reactions from him. "WA-WAI-WAIT!!" Alex tried to put up a struggle, but with his arms weighing a hundred tons, he was powerless to resist. "Hmmm, not bad. You will be able to produce some healthy offspring." The young lady straightforwardly spoke. "Like hell, I will!" Alex finally exploded and used his entire body to slam against the young lady. Caught off-guard, the young woman lost her footing and crashed onto the ground. Alex, who was also unable to control his body properly, fell on top of her. A scene straight off of an ecchi manga appeared within this dimly lit cave. "Quite enthusiastic, aren''t you? Well, it''s not time for us to mate yet." The young woman dispassionately replied. ''Yet?!'' Alarm bells rang within Alex''s head, as his mind desperately looked for a solution. ''I need to get out of this place!!'' It was then, that the wooden door opened once more and a tall, middle-aged man, built like a bear walked in. "Cecilia, are you here? That annoying bastard from the Letum clan has come to¡ª" His speech came to a stop, as his eyes landed on this erotic scene. "Bastard? Come on! That is way too harsh to describe a friend!" a light-hearted, loquacious voice spoke from behind him before suddenly coming to a stop. Looking at the scene inside the room, he spoke with amusement. "Oh my, did I interrupt something?" Alex who looked at these two newcomers had a single thought in his mind. ''I''m finished!'' Chapter 263: Vol 3 Prologue. The Chained Monster. Walking with short and hurried steps was a portly man wearing resplendent kingly clothes. His pale white face was suffused with droplets of sweat and the sapphire-colored gem, in the shape of a rhombus, quickly alternated between brightness and darkness, exposing his rather nervous mental state. As he walked through the desolate corridor, his steps seemed to be getting faster and faster, before breaking out into a full-blown sprint. Alongside his hurry, his nervousness also seemed to increase as the gem on his forehead alternated with increasing tempo. Arriving at the end of the corridor, he stopped before the grand door and hurriedly calmed himself. Pulling out an elegant handkerchief, seemingly out of thin air, he proceeded to wipe his pallid face as much as possible. Deep breaths to calm his hurried breathing and pounding heart was executed, before raising his head to look at the grand door with a serious expression. The light on the sapphire-colored gem also stabilized, glowing with a soft radiance. Taking in a deep breath, he pushed the door open and entered it. In contrast to the dark passage of the previous corridor, the room or a grand hall that the portly man had now entered glittered with lavish ornaments and ostentatious riches. Golden light poured on his face, enlivening it, as his rotund figure was reflected on the thousands of precious gems decorating this hall. Gold, silver, and countless other precious metals made up the furniture that decorated this hall. The white floor underneath his feet, polished to the point of immaculateness, mirrored the intricate murals painted on the domes above. Yet, the portly man cared for none of these. His hurried steps continued to walk across the exquisite carpet flooring this room with poise and bearing. A kingly feeling radiated off of his body, giving him presence as the master of his space. The man walked for dozens of steps before arriving at the steps of a platform, atop which stood the golden throne. That golden throne was the seat of the ruler of the Grand Alcana Empire, and this hall that housed his seat was the country''s courtroom. The portly man stared at the golden throne for a few seconds, before ascending the step. He arrived at the top of the platform and stood before the empty throne, inhabiting the empty hall. His hands gently caressed the armrest of the throne as a look of great yearning and longing appeared within his eyes. "¡­time. It''s only a matter of time before I sit here." He quietly muttered to himself. The man then stared straight ahead, at the wall behind the throne. Decorating the wall was a humongous portrait of a person, whose facial features were remarkably similar to the portly man. A handsome faced similar to that of a human, a tall, well-built body, grand regal robes clothing his figure, and a golden scepter containing an orb. The gem on his forehead, however, shone with a ruby red color. A stark contrast to the sapphire color of this portly man. When the man''s eyes landed on the face of the figure, great hatred and loathing appeared within his eyes. His hand, resting atop the golden throne, unconsciously tightened while his breathing became slightly heavy. ''This throne was rightfully mine! Yet, you passed it on to that whr*es'' son before your death!!'' "Why Father?" The man asked the lifeless painting. It was then¡­ "Your highness." A voice called for the portly man. Turning his now expressionless face, his gaze landed on the armored, knight-like woman kneeling beneath the platform. Her lustrous golden hair fell to cover her face, as she bowed with decorum. Next to her bowing figure was a bloody sword and shield. Looking carefully, the blood seemed to still be warm as drops of it fell into the carpet, staining it. "Uriel¡­" the man called her name. "Is it over?" Without raising her head, the knightly woman, Uriel nodded her head and monotonously replied. "The traitorous forces were defeated and your brother was caught." "Don''t call that filth my brother!!" the portly man thundered. "I apologize, your highness," Uriel replied without a single change to her tone. Calming himself, the portly man looked at Uriel once again and asked. "Where is he?" "Captured and imprisoned in Tartarus." she concisely replied. Hearing that, joy appeared within the portly man''s eyes. However, he quickly suppressed his emotions and spoke. "I want to see him. I want to take back what was rightfully mine!" Uriel did not immediately reply but paused to consider the request. A few seconds passed and just as the portly man''s patience was running thin, she raised her head and replied. "You can meet him, your highness. However, he refuses to talk." She then climbed to her legs, picked up her armaments, turned around, and replied, "Please follow me." ------------- In an ordinate amount of time passed. Uriel and the portly man stood before a massive rock door that towered over 50m. The rock door was densely covered by an innumerable number of stone carvings of arrays, letters, and patterns, each of which shone with strange light and energy. Their current location seemed to be within a lightless cave, as save for the lanterns carried by Uriel and the portly man, not a single hint of light existed within this space. In fact, the light seemed to be actively eaten by the darkness as the light projected by the two lanterns barely managed to illuminate a 2m radius around them, before disappearing into the darkness. Of course, the radiance of the carvings upon the stone door was excluded from this effect. "He lies beyond this door." Uriel spoke with the same monotonous voice. "These carvings, he can''t break them, right?" the portly man nervously asked. "This prison was built to restrain a Stage 6 existence, your highness. Unless one is of that Stage on top of being a genius Sigiler, one cannot hope to break those carvings." The portly man nodded at her explanation but still could not put down his feeling of uneasiness within his heart. After all, the person inside that room met one of those conditions. "Can I see him?" he continued. "We cannot enter beyond this room, but conversation should be possible." Having said that Uriel walked forward and placed her hand on a certain carving on the rock door. Dazzling golden light poured from within her hand and entered the complex formation. It was soul power of the fifth Stage! The carving, into which the soul power was being channeled, shone with radiant bright. For a moment, the darkness within the lightless cave retreated and boundless luminance filled the void. Still, the moment vanished as soon as it appeared and darkness flooded once again. A half-transparent screen of light appeared in front of the duo, displaying a scene. Within that scene was a heavily injured man as pale and shriveled as a corpse, suspended into the air with multiple runic chains, flashing with brightness, binding his limbs. A thick and heavy shackle bounded his slumped head, with his long, unkempt hair covering his face. The man seemed completely immobile and would be mistaken for dead, if not for the dimly shining red light pulsing on his forehead. Seeing this figure, a rush was anger flooded the portly man''s lungs. "Wake up, bastard!!" he thundered. There was no reply. "Answer me, you son of a wh*re!!" No reply. "Filth stuck to the bottom of a urinal!" No reply. The more the hanged man ignored the portly man, the more enraged grew the latter. The portly man cursed until he was out of his breath, at which point he declared. "Let''s see how long you will be able to ignore me! I''ll have your body and soul rot in here until you give me the inheritance!!" Having said so, he stormed off. Uriel silently watched the proceedings from the side shut off the array and retreated behind the portly figure. The two figures disappeared from the cave, and absolute darkness returned. It was only then, did the man behind the rock door raise his head. A small smile appeared on his dry, cracked lips and a peculiar light shined within his right eye. He stared at the rock wall in front of him for a few minutes before lowering his head once more. "¡­only this much?" "¡­seems like it won''t even take me five years...how disappointing¡­" Chapter 264: Transformation. "Disappointing." Standing at the front of a crowded conference room, Lucius looked at the pale-faced humans in front of him and stated. "All of you humans are absolutely disappointing." Hearing his declaration, the people seated within the conference room hung their heads in shame. The crow mostly consisted of people in the ages of twenties and thirties, with a sparse count of the older generation. After all, the relentless war for survival had rid Mankind of its experienced, older populace. "Three years, you were pushed to the point of near annihilation in three years. How did that happen?" Lucius rhetorically asked "Jealousy, greed, avarice, in-fighting, betrayals, the more I learn of the happenings over the last three years, the more I realize¡­how pathetic this race truly is." Lucius'' face then turned towards a group of young soldiers centered around Anya. She was one of the only people who continued to look at Lucius'' face while the latter was demeaning the crowd. However, her face did not contain anger or embarrassment like the others who had lowered their head. Her face seemed to say ''I will accept all responsibilities''. Alex''s disappearance had caused an unfathomable change in Anya''s character. Her temperamental nature had disappeared, replaced by sternness and coldness. "You." Lucius'' gaze landed on Anya and asked. "You were one of the humans at the forefront of the war and high in authority, correct?" "Yes." Anya rose to her feet and curtly replied. "Tell me, why was the method to reach Stage 2 not publicized and instead protected and given only to a select few people?" "We believed that publicizing the method would create undue troubles within the population. We also judged that not all people will be able to reach Stage 2, thus having no point in publicizing the method." Anya stiffly replied. Lucius was currently releasing his Stage 3 aura and a trace of his murderous aura. This coupled with his unfriendly, cold, and majestic aura, greatly pressured the people within this room. For the people, it felt similar to standing in front of a scathing hurricane, blowing extremely cold wind at their bodies. A piercing feeling pricked at their bodies and even their souls, weakening them both physically and mentally. Hearing her reply, Lucius looked into her eyes with his. "You expect me to believe that?" he coldly asked. Staring into Lucius'' blank, bottomless eyes Anya felt unnerved. It felt like staring into the abyss and having the abyss stare back at you. "¡­no. Those were the reasons given by Illya. Due to our great trust in her, and the reason being somewhat reasonable, we went along with it." She honestly replied. Hearing that absurd explanation, Lucius shook his head. There was no word to describe the degree of disappointment he felt towards this pathetic race. The Void Eater bloodline wasn''t helping him in sympathizing either. Turning his head to face the trembling Reyna, Lucius asked. "You. You succeeded in making the Mind-Body-Soul synchronizers, didn''t you? Using that device will increase the chances of entering Stage 2 by almost 60%. Why did you not release it?" "I-I-I- S-Si¡ªIllya¡ªto-told m-me--" Reyna stuttered unable to form coherent sentences, faced with Lucius'' overwhelming pressure. "Speak properly." Lucius'' blas¨¦ voice rose by a few degrees. With fear overcoming her, Reyna managed to spit out her word in a great hurry. "Illya told me to shelve it since the device was risky and there was a certain death rate." "What''s the death rate?" "12%." "You''re even more useless than I remember." Lucius mercilessly replied. Reyna''s legs gave out from their trembling as her body collapsed back onto her seat. Lucius'' remark dealt a crushing blow to her mind and soul (figuratively). He then looked around the room once more and increased the intensity of his aura. "I allowed the fate of your race to be managed by your own hands. No more. Clearly, all of you are incapable and useless." "Three years ago, Mankind had a population count of 14 billion. Today, its population stands at just over 10 million. That''s less than 0.1% of the initial count." "Starting today, this race will be under her command." Lucius'' spoke, pointing to the dumbfounded Olivia standing behind him. "Her words carry absolute authority and demand complete obedience. Failure to do so¡­" Lucius intentionally slowed his speech. A mass of swirling darkness expanded beneath his feet, following which twenty-three ink-black figures appeared behind Lucius. The Forgotten Warriors having completed their advancement appeared while radiating Peak-Level Stage 2 aura. Under the gaze of their pitiless, ice-blue eyes the bodies of all humans within the room froze in pure fear. "¡­will result in death!" Lucius forcibly declared. "All of you may leave now." Following his words, the Forgotten Warriors retracted their pressure. The bodies of the humans within the room trembled and their bloodless faces hurriedly bowed, before running out of the room. Soon, only Lucius and Olivia, along with the twenty-three Forgotten Warriors remained within the room. Sighing to himself in exhaustion, Lucius took a seat. The previous meeting, which lasted for approximately twenty minutes, had exhausted him more than the three weeks of continuous battles. ''I hate doing this.'' He mentally complained to himself. Lucius was a solitary person. He always had been. Asking him to work together with a team, not to mention, manage them like in this case, was similar to asking for his death. Actually, if presented with these two choices, Lucius would most probably choose the latter. Getting back to the point. While he hated doing such things as leading a meeting, this was a special instance that required him to do so. As the strongest being within Mankind, he had to intervene and establish his power, before passing on authority to Olivia. Doing so would make the others obedient to her, in fear of his power. Thus, a temporary but immediate solution to their management appeared. Why was it temporary? Because holding authority through power, would never last long. Given time, people would start to forget the object of fear, and rebellions due to oppression would appear. Fear was effective, but it was only temporary. However, Lucius was not concerned with such issues. It was something for Olivia to solve with her own power. If she failed to garner trust and willingness from the people, this temporary solution would give way and many problems would arise in the future. But how was one to garner trust and willingness from the masses, if it was them who forced the masses to work under fear? How could a tyrant ask for his people to willingly follow him? Politics was a delicate art. Lucius being a brute, and unsympathetic towards others could never understand the art of politics. "Lucius¡­" Olivia softly called out his name. Opening his eyes, Lucius blankly looked towards Olivia who was looking at him with a serious expression. "Hmmm?" "I can''t do this." Olivia directly spoke. "What?" a cold answer exited Lucius'' mouth. "I mean I''m incapable of doing this. It''s impossible!" Olivia answered. Having stayed with Ka''lor''ah for a sizeable period of time, Olivia knew that Mankind, as a whole, was important to the plan (whatever it might be). Being talented in the art of politics, Olivia had made considerations of her own. Short-term management was possible. Long-term management, which the plan required, was impossible. Or at least, Olivia was not skilled enough to do so. Olivia was aware of her limits and her abilities. Had this been something risking her life and unrelated to Lucius, she would have zero hesitation in accepting the task, like Pandemonium for example. However, Mankind was clearly not the same. Not only was its scale on a completely different level, but it was also of incomparable importance. She did not want to mess up a critical part of the plan, out of her own ignorance. Hence, being unconfident of her skills she did not dare to shoulder this responsibility. "Why?" Lucius asked. "My abilities are not so great as to manage an entire civilization. I''m afraid that I might mess up something, or cause an irresolvable problem." As much as it pained her to disappoint Lucius, Olivia had to be honest at this juncture. She once again felt helpless at how unhelpful to Lucius she was. When he needed her help, she was unable to deliver. ''I''m useless.'' A depressing thought appeared within Olivia''s mind, as she tightly clenched her fists. "Didn''t you properly manage Pandemonium? Isn''t this the same thing?" Lucius questioned, his tone turning colder. To him, there was not much difference between Pandemonium and Mankind. Yes, their respective sizes and scales were different, but the sheer difference in their powers was different too. "It''s not the same." Olivia quickly shook her head and explained. "In Pandemonium, we were the oppressed party fighting against the oppressor." "Here, right now, it''s the exact opposite, we are the oppressing party. Asking the oppressed party to unconditionally trust us and work for us, it''s not¡­at least I don''t think it''s possible." Just as Lucius was about to reply, he felt an intense vibration from his pocket. Reaching in, he retrieved a dark-gold crystal that was causing the vibration. The moment Lucius took the crystal out of his pocket, it jumped out of his hands and started to float within the air. Blinding light started to flash from its body, blinding the two people within the room. The light continued to last for a few moments before slowly retreating, at which point a voice leaked out of the crystal. "To rid this Universe of its darkness, Magic Girl Ka''lor''ah has arrived!!" Following which a tiny, 30cm tall figure materialized within the air. Chapter 265: Grim Future. Ka''lor''ah''s newly materialized form had wavy, shoulder-length golden hair, bead-like golden eyes adorning her beautiful face, a set of long, slender limbs with skin that was pale as snow, and a dark-golden one-piece dress with white borders. She even had a pair of half-transparent wings on her back and a short golden staff, completing her faerie princess-like look. Her small head eagerly looked at the two figures within the room. Noticing the oddly tense atmosphere, she curiously asked. "What is this¡­a lover''s quarrel?" Ka''lor''ah smirked. Olivia''s jaw was wide open as she stared at Ka''lor''ah new form with stupefaction. Her mental image of her respected and well-mannered(?) teacher completely crashed as she looked at this new figure. Lucius, for his part, had an annoyed expression on his face. "What are you doing?" Looking at her, he asked. Turning to face him, Ka''lor''ah made an extremely cute expression while making a V-sign with her fingers. "How''dya like my new form?" she cheerfully asked. "A waste of soul power." Lucius curtly replied. "Tch, why do I even bother with you," She then turned to face the paralyzed Olivia and asked. "What about you, Olivia? How do I look?" Olivia''s mouth opened and closed a few times, but no words came out. She then closed her eyes, took a few deep breaths before asking. "Teacher, is this your real form?" Raising her small head proudly, Ka''lor''ah asked. "So what if it is?" A strange expression appeared on Olivia''s face, as she replied. "Then I don''t think I can respect you as much as I did in the past." A shocked expression appeared on Ka''lor''ah''s face followed by that of heartbreak. The two hands holding the staff drooped and puppy-like tears appeared within her eyes. "That was unnecessarily harsh, Lil'' Olivia. You have broken this old teacher''s heart. I don''t thi¡ª" Ka''lor''ah fake cries were interrupted when Lucius grabbed her with his hands. She immediately broke character and tried to escape from his grasp. "What are you doing, you brute!! Let me go! Let me go this instant!! I order you as your teacher!!" Unable to extradite herself using her own strength, Ka''lor''ah started to use words. Uncaring of her cries, Lucius spun her around in his hands, scanning her from every angle. "You¡ªlet me go! I''m not a girl''s doll that you can look up the skirt of. I''m a real living entity with feelings!" Ka''lor''ah started to chaotically scream. Lucius continued to spin her around for a few more seconds before letting her go. He then paused for a moment before mumbling with a low voice. "Incredible, you managed to hide your existence crystal by taking another form." Hearing his words with her sharp ears, Ka''lor''ah, whose back was faced towards Lucius as a show of dissatisfaction, could not control her mouth from curling up. ''That''s more like it. Praise me more.'' She started to narcissistically think to herself. However, the smile crumbled in the next instant as Lucius continued with his lines. "Looks like you can actually be of use when we go to the Grand Alcana Empire." "Are you implying that I was useless all along?!" Ka''lor''ah fumed. "Not implying. Stating." Lucius savagely replied. Having reverted to his old personality, Lucius'' old habit of quipping with Ka''lor''ah had also returned. The number of times that the two of them had quarreled and fought in their thirty years of cohabitation was simply incalculable. Lucius rarely won verbal arguments since Ka''lor''ah was smarter and more verbose. Ka''lor''ah never won the physical quarrels since¡­well, it was Lucius on the other side. Olivia, who looked at the two entities in front of her bicker like siblings, had a warm smile on her face. Her thoughts were unknown. "Let''s stop quarreling and speak about important matters." Having lost the argument, Ka''lor''ah diverted the topic. "Let''s." Lucius agreed in his usual tone. "Did you take care of him?" She quizzically asked. "Yes." "Who was it?" "The one you hate the most." "Bastard." Ka''lor''ah strongly bit her lips. A look of ruthlessness, hatred and deeply ingrained fear passed through her face. Lucius took note of her emotions, quietly stood, and did not interfere with her thoughts. After all, he knew better than anyone, how deep Ka''lor''ah''s hatred against the Lord of Fate was. If one asked, who Ka''lor''ah hated the most, then the answer would undoubtedly be the Lords. It was her hatred against this group of beings that pushed her to make her Great Plan and plot against the Universe. However, if one was to ask her why she hated the Lords so much, then the answer lied with the Lords of Fate. It was this damnable, insufferable being that had enslaved her race for Eons. It was this loathsome, abhorrent being that had worked her for millenniums as a slave, toying with her when it felt boring, punishing her for the slightest of mistakes¡­ The hate against the Lord of Fate ran through the generation of Ka''lor''ah''s kind. It was through the efforts of multiple generations that the basis for the Great Plan had been laid, bearing fruit in Ka''lor''ah''s generation. Ka''lor''ah continued her storm of curses for a good few minutes. The sheer extent of her vocabulary, including words from languages lost to the Universe for unknown eons of time, was simply too vast. Calming herself down, Ka''lor''ah cast [Isolation Barrier] to isolate the room and asked. "What does he know?" "That I''m the Annihilator. Nothing else. Your concealment technique is very good. It can hide from His eyes." Lucius praised. To fool a Lord was no easy feat. And for that Lord who was fooled to be the Lord of Fate with the [All-Seeing Eyes], was a feat that was worthy of being immortalized within the Universe. Hearing Lucius'' words, Ka''lor''ah felt her mood become better. Knowing that she had one-upped her most hated enemy, made her feel good. "How did he find you?" she then asked the most important question. Lucius glanced towards the figure of Olivia, who was intently listening to their conversation, before ignoring her and explaining the situation. Ka''lor''ah and Olivia listened with pin-drop silence. The former interrupted Lucius at certain important parts asking for a supplement to his explanation, while the latter listened with no interruptions. The very fact that the mysterious duo had allowed her to listen to their talk, made Olivia boundlessly happy. They no longer explicitly excluded her but considered her as a part of their team¡­partly that is. Olivia heard many unfamiliar words such as Cause, Lord of Fate, etc. Nonetheless, she memorized those terms with great zeal. "I see¡­in the end, it boils down to coincidence," Ka''lor''ah muttered with a strange expression on her face. "Indeed." Lucius nodded his head in reply. "Coincidence¡­coincidence¡­another one¡­?" A serious look appeared on her face, as her brows and eyes narrowed. ''Am I just overthinking this? Or is there something else at play?'' Ka''lor''ah pondered in suspicion. ''It can''t be. I''m just overthinking this.'' She quickly shook her head and rid her mind of such nonsensical suspicions. To be able to pull a Lord-level being into their plot, no such entity existed within this Universe. To even consider a possibility like that was pure nonsense. (AN: Tch, tch, tch, what a foolish conclusion. Of course, such a being exists. He is¡­I, the author!!) "Anyways, nice job on not exposing yourself to the Lord. Your special identity and your race being the fabled Void Eater will give us an advantage over his predictions. No matter how great he is at prediction, he will not be able to predict you''re monstrous growth rate." "A Lord''s words are absolute and binding. Since he said that he will not mess with Mankind anymore, we can put aside our worries on that front and focus on gathering Cause within Mankind." Being representatives of the Rules, any promises made by a Lord will also be enforced by a Rule. In short, their promises were absolute and could not be infringed by anyone, including themselves. "Once the second stage of our plan with the Grand Alcana Empire is completed, a little less than half of the overall Cause within the Universe will be in our hands." "At that point, even if he notices something strange it will be too late for him or for ''Them'' to interfere." Ka''lor''ah grinned evilly. "Having said that, what about our plan in the Grand Alcana Empire? Due to the problems here, we missed the ideal entry point." Ka''lor''ah asked. At her question, Lucius nodded his head and answered. "We missed the most optimal time slot due to the problems here. The next best time slot should be in around five years from now." "Five years from now, huh?" Ka''lor''ah rubbed her chin in thought. "You mean during that period when sh*t truly hits the fan?" Lucius nodded his head. Excited laughter flowed from Ka''lor''ah''s mouth, as she continued. "Hahaha, it will be more fun this way!! I always wanted to meet ''that guy'' too. He was the brightest star to be born in this Eon!" "Indeed. I hoped to have met him too." Lucius honestly answered. "Moving on..." Ka''lor''ah''s tiny figure turned to face Olivia, as she asked. "What''s the problem, Lil'' Ollie? Why refuse to manage a race?" Olivia was just about to open her mouth to speak when Ka''lor''ah appeared in front of her mouth and interrupted her. "Shh, I was not done." She placed her tiny finger on Olivia''s supple lips and continued. "Why refuse to manage a race¡ª" Floating back, Ka''lor''ah spread her arms wide, while smiling brightly with her teeth. "¡ªwhen you have the best Manager in the entire Universe, right here?" Soul power gushed from her tiny body, pooling at a point over her tiny head. The soul power gathered, before materializing a hard-bound, thick book in the air. The moment this nearly thousand pages book appeared Olivia''s eyes were transfixed to its cover. She found herself unable to move her eyes from its title. {How to Build Empires and Manage Civilization. Vol 1} {Written by: Ka''lor''ah} "And that''s just the first book out of a twenty-one book series." Ka''lor''ah happily announced, at which Olivia''s face paled. Lucius, who was watching in the background, shook his head in pity and walked out of the room. Even someone who was detached and unfeeling as him couldn''t help but feel pity towards Olivia, as he imagined her grim, near-future under Ka''lor''ah''s¡­passionate guidance. Chapter 266: Mankinds Situation. Seated behind a densely crowded desk was a pale-faced, ghostly figure. Its bloodshot pupils were narrowly seen within its sunken eyes surrounded by a thick layer of dark circles. Its hair was dry and tacky, and its previously smooth skin was rough and moistureless. Even the light tan, previously present on its skin due to the time spent in Pandemonium, had been replaced by a pallid, sickly color. The small windowless office room within which this ghostly figure resided was filled to the brim with books, papers, and holographic screams, so much so, that there was barely any room to breathe. Lightly mumbling to herself, like the witches in tales of old, was Olivia. "¡­if I divert resources into Sector 113, it creates a dearth in Sector 211¡­there is also personnel issues in Sectors 119 through 121...merit values must be recalculated¡­" Dropping the hologram reader held within her hands on the table, Olivia flopped her head on the table, knocking off a few books and sheets of paper that were on the table. "No more!" she yelled. "I don''t want to do this anymore! This is torture!!" Her second sentence had the undertone of a bitter cry. These last eight months for Olivia had been exactly that¡­torture. Sorting out the mess called Mankind had pushed Olivia to the ends of physical and mental limits. This, coupled with Ka''lor''ah incessant teaching and nonstop variety of curses, had broken this female warrior, turning her into a half-crazy, bumbling witch. To review the mess, let''s start with the first and foremost problem¡­Illya''s death. Illya being one of the leaders and Head Administrator of the Allied Liberation Army was one of the most important and respected people amongst Mankind. Her face was known by every single citizen, and her character was praised as being selfless and kind. Knowing this, the news about her betrayal and sudden death was¡­not in the slightest bit, well received. Turmoil had broken out on the upper levels of administration and riots had broken out in the lower levels of society. Rumors about how she was plotted against and killed by the visiting foreign reinforcements spread, causing a great divide between the resident people and Olivia''s people. Lucius being near Illya at the time of her death was also not helping quell the rumors. Being told to manage a force where nobody listened to her and viewed her with great distrust and hostility¡­Olivia was not in a great situation. Thankfully, she was not alone, for she had the newly powered-up Ka''lor''ah. With the assistance of her teacher''s teachings, Lucius'' Stage 3 strength, the twenty-one Forgotten Warriors, and the two-hundred plus forces from Pectron¡­the situation was rather easily resolved. The truth about Illya''s real identity was revealed alongside her actions as Mankind''s Number 1 traitor. While the people did not believe it at first, the overwhelming pile of evidence, coupled with testimonies by people like Anya and Reyna, who were also representatives of Mankind, hit home the fact. Still, not everything was smooth-sailing as some of the humans were¡­more zealous than the rest. Armed rebellions occurred within certain Sectors, with some humans declaring independence and war against Olivia''s forces. One particularly heart-pumping incident was when a rebel group managed to get their hands on a functional battlecruiser and almost fired at Earth. Fortunately, with Lucius and the Forgotten Warriors personally stepping in, these problems were solved in minutes. The issue left in Illya''s void took around a month to completely resolve. In the end, her image went from the most respected and ''saint-like'', to one of the most abhorred entities in human history. Just as Olivia was pumping her fists in celebration of this victory, more serious and real problems started coming in. Mankind was grossly understaffed and incredibly resource deficient. The war had sucked it out of territories, resource deposits, and personnel, lending it virtually crippled in the current peacetime. A quick calculation revealed a shocking truth. Had the war with the Formicians and pirate gang continued for just six more months, Mankind would have collapsed out of the lack of food, medicine, and ammunition. How was such a serious problem not noticed for so long, you ask? Once again, it was thanks to Illya''s ploys. She had, as quoted by Ka''lor''ah herself, masterfully managed and altered the reports, hiding such an enormous bomb from the eyes of the public. Resources that were thought to have been sent to the war efforts were instead siphoned by Illya and used for the growth and progress of her own cult in those terraformed planets. Revealing this information out to the public helped in further tarnishing Illya''s image and influence while consolidating Olivia''s authority. People were no longer averse to the new management and had instead become reliant on them. Their survival was now dependent on the actions of this new management. While this was good news for the new team, it simply meant that the pressure on Olivia increased monumentally. Still, it was not like the situation was irresolvable. The solution was quite straightforward and the same lied within two of the greatest books written about management. Ka''lor''ah''s ''How to Build Empires and Manage Civilization'', and Sun Tzu''s ''Art of War''. Steal from the enemy to supplement your own. Pretty self-explanatory answer. And so, a new round of expansion and foraging began. Just like their ancestors two thousand years ago, Mankind once again left its mother planet of Earth and into the vast universe in search of resources. Only this time, they had a map. There was no time to pull a ''Columbus'' at this important juncture. With Lucius wiping out the remnants of the Formicians, the Flying Dutchman, and the Sors Fides cultist, resources and territories were abound. Under proper planning and management, force after force, vessel after vessel, was sent to these now-empty territories to recover resources. These recovery teams, not only find plenty of resources but they also found new, undiscovered technology! Technology that was exclusive to the Universe! With the return of those recovery teams, Mankind''s technology sector led by the Genius Mechanist Reyna Snowden saw unprecedented growth! Old technology was continuously improved and new technology was pumped out almost daily. Soul power and spiritual energy which were considered as something exotic in the past were now common items. With the discoveries from studying the Formician and pirate gang''s devices and vessels, Mankind was also able to tap into and harness the boundless energy of the Universe. One could say, with these discoveries and advancements Mankind could be classified as a Grade 5 species in the Universe. Of course, they were at the very bottom of Grade 5 and were incomparable to species such as the Grand Alcana Empire. Nonetheless, they were a Grade 5 species capable of harnessing spiritual energy whilst only being Grade 3 organisms themselves. The next step would be to harness the power of the Rules, but Mankind was nowhere near that step. The only species capable of doing this, apart from those Grade 6 and Grade 7 species, was the Grand Alcana Empire, and even they took millenniums to achieve this feat. Now, with the problems from the previous administrations being solved, the problem of resources and territories being solved, and an unprecedented boom in the development of technology, one would think Mankind was doing quite well. Olivia''s answer to this question would be: ''Like hell it is!!'' Having overcome all of the above problems, a new, more pressing problem popped up. Population Scarcity. Mankind had too many things to do, but too few people to do it. More importantly, this was not a problem that could be solved by stealing or borrowing. Humans had to procreate to create more humans! Inadequacy of personnel and labor wasn''t even the scariest part of population scarcity. The scariest part was the hindered rate of development and¡­economy. With less than 0.1% of its previous population, Mankind''s current economy was non-existent. Credits no longer had any value in these new times, and even if they had value, people were of no mind to leisurely spend it. Not to mention, how would you assign value with the appearance of new and better resources? It was safe to say, that economy revolving around Mankind''s previous system was no longer effective. If Mankind did not want to isolate itself once more, and actively participate in the workings of the rest of the Universe, it needed to trade. And in order to trade, it needed currency. What was the universal currency of the Universe? It was Spirit Coins, of course! But Mankind had none of it! Or well, Olivia had a lot, but it was nowhere near the volume required for Mankind''s functioning. If one wanted to achieve stable, upward growth, economy, and currency were compulsory. Thankfully, Olivia had personal experience in dealing with collapsing economies. She introduced the system used in Pandemonium''s functioning, within Mankind. The Merit System. Explaining the merit system was extremely system. It was simply the ''quest and reward'' system widely employed in videogames and MMOs. Complete an assigned task and you will be given merits. These merits can then be used to trade for items and supplied. While basic, this was a system that worked mostly well. It wasn''t a final solution fit for long-time use, but a temporary fix until a better solution involving Spirit Coins arrived. All in all, Mankind was currently stable. The upward trend had vastly improved the mood of the people. The depressive effects of the war and betrayal were slowly being cast aside, as people started to look forward to the future. The new management wasn''t the greatest, but nonetheless, it gave them something to look forward to. People decided to give them a chance, moving to trust in them and gave them the benefit of the doubt. Overall, one could confidently say that Olivia had done a great job. Lucius was impressed by the great change brought to Mankind, and Ka''lor''ah was more than satisfied with finding a disciple onto whom she could pass on her management skills. Of course, the former did not know this, as she continued to bury her head into the table while mechanically mumbling. "..too much work¡­too much work¡­too much work¡­torture¡­torture¡­" "Burrowing your head into the table isn''t going to make you or your work, disappear." A pleasant, female voice sarcastically announced. Chapter 267: Request. Raising her head while groaning, Olivia looked at the woman in front of her with dead-fish eyes and tiredly asked. "What do you want, Reyna? I''m not giving your research team any more grants. We are barely making by, as it is." "I''m not here to ask for any new grants." Reyna shortly replied. Slumping her head back onto the table, Olivia sarcastically asked. "What then? Here to waste my valuable beak time?" Reyna frowned at her sarcastic reply but did not respond. She then looked around the room before finding a chair dumped in a corner with many books on top of it. Clearing the chair, Reyna sat down upon it while picking up one of the books. "Thirteen Tips to Improve Public Image¡­did you really read all of these books?" Reyna asked. Too tired to argue with her, Olivia lazily nodded her head. Surprised, Reyna gazed around the entire room and noted the few hundred books lying around. It had to be mentioned, that each book was at least a couple hundred pages long with some reaching well into the thousands. All of these books were given to Olivia by Ka''lor''ah and were part of the latter''s collection. The books widely ranged in topic, covering politics, history, culture, economics, strategy, etc. Being part of Ka''lor''ah''s collection meant that each book was the best of the best. In fact, some of the books lying haphazardly within the room were the only copies available in the Universe. (Apart from the one stored in the real Ka''lor''ah''s library) Glancing over towards the resting Olivia''s figure, Reyna cautiously asked. "¡­are you getting enough sleep?" Hearing her question, Olivia raised her head and stared towards Reyna with a queer expression. The latter on noticing it, visibly flinched and tried to avoid eye contact. "Why are you here, Reyna? It''s not like we''re friends and are barely coworkers. Just get to the point and leave me alone." Olivia bitterly asked. The events of that day in front of the Teleportation Array were still vividly remembered in Olivia''s mind. Her honest joy at meeting a friend after a long time was met with a response of hostility. This friend of hers, who was sitting with her head lowered within her office right now, a person whom she (Olivia) referred to as ''sister'' in the past had viciously ordered to have her killed. No matter how rationally Olivia tried to think about the matter, it still left a bitter taste within her mouth. "¡­I just wanted to say¡­" Reyna quietly spoke with a lowered head. "Say what?" "I''m sorry." Reyna''s voice was so soft and quiet that Olivia had difficulty hearing it. "Pardon? Speak up if you want to say something." Raising her head, Reyna stared at Olivia with a tear-filled face and cried. "I''m sorry! I just¡ªI was so bitter during that time, that I blamed you for my incompetence! I''m sorry for giving that order!!" Reyna''s tears were continuous, marking ugly, long tear marks on her beautiful face. She then raised her hands to wipe her eyes, hidden behind her glasses, but her tears continued to roll down her cheeks. "I-I know th-that you won''t for-forgive me. Bu-but I just wanted t-to say, th-that I''m sorry! I was wrong and it is only right of you to hate me." "I''m a horrible friend, no, I''m a horrible person." Reyna sobbed. Olivia, who was watching her cry did not intervene to console her. Reyna''s actions on that day were clearly wrong. It was not wrong to say that Olivia felt a bit of resentment and unlike towards the former since that day. Waiting for Reyna''s sobs to lower in intensity, Olivia spoke. "What you did that day, honestly, is unforgivable. I understand that you resented me for leaving, but coming to the conclusion that I had it any easier than you, is just plain wrong. Even more so, is when you tried to have me killed when we had barely even talked." Sitting upright, a serious expression appeared on Olivia''s face as she continued. "Your apology today barely counts for anything, nor do I care for it. Whatever friendship that existed between us was effectively destroyed on that day." "I-I- know. I ju-just wa-wanted to¡ª" Reyna sobbed loudly once more. "Wanted to what? Just come to terms with it Reyna, we can no longer be friends, like in the past. If it makes you feel any better, I don''t hate you for it anymore." Olivia''s head turned towards the ceiling, while her eyes gazed at something beyond. "Reading those books and working for these past eight months have taught me a lot of things. Rather than be fixated on some petty hatred, I want to use my efforts for something greater." A warm smile appeared on her weary face, as she thought to herself. ''Whatever their plan is, I want to help them and see it to the end. Not just for the sake of Teacher or Lucius¡­but also for myself. I want to see just how far I can go.'' Olivia''s eyes blurred as she lost herself within her thoughts. It was only after a sizeable amount of time, did she manage to recover herself. Fixing her attention on the sniffling woman in front of her, Olivia asked. "If you''ve only come to apologize, then you can leave now. I have to get back to work." Sniffling loudly, Reyna quickly shook her head and wiped her tear-trodden face. "*sniff* No, *sniff* I was here to tell you that, the thing Lucius asked for is complete. He told me to inform you once done." Reyna worked to regain her calm. Caught off-guard by her sentence, Olivia''s widened her eyes in surprise. She carefully combed through her memory, thinking of Lucius had specifically instructed her on something. Soon it hit her, apart from the time when Lucius instructed her to manage Mankind eight months ago he had not talked to her since. Olivia''s interactions were solely with Ka''lor''ah, and her own busy schedule did not give her time to think about any other matters. Olivia soon began to panic, as stray thoughts started to flood her mind. ''I-is he angry at me? Did I do something wrong? Was it because I refused him, that day? Does he think I''m useless??'' Olivia soon shook her head and regained her calm. Overthinking wouldn''t offer her any solutions and would only make her irrational. Still, whenever there was a matter involving Lucius, Olivia found herself, rarely rational. She would quickly become flustered and lose control of her thoughts. Even now, although she calmed herself, her mind was nowhere near its usual state of calmness. "Can you tell me what ''that thing'' is?" Olivia asked in the calmest voice possible. "He didn''t tell you?" Reyna asked, greatly surprised. Olivia simply shook her head. A sinking feeling appeared within her heart. "He asked me to make a few sets of armor, something that can be worn like regular clothes and wouldn''t hinder him in any way. Although, the specifications he gave us were a little hard to meet." "Cloth-like material that wouldn''t be easily damaged, capable of self-repair, has high resistance to all natural elements, and capable of conducting soul power. Honestly, if not for the recent results from our research, his request wouldn''t have been possible." Reyna methodically explained. Hearing her reply, the sinking feeling within Olivia''s heart quickly disappeared. She almost reflexively sighed with relief. She then placed her hand on a runic array that was hidden beneath the multiple sheets of paper on her table. Infusing her soul power into it, Olivia saw the array light up and felt a connection appear within her mind. "What''s up, young padawan? Did you finish memorizing the allotted books for today? I have to say, you are getting faster and faster. Not bad." Ka''lor''ah''s voice echoed within Olivia''s mind. "It''s not that. I have Reyna in my office and she told me to inform Lucius that his request is ready." Olivia quickly explained. "Request? Lucius requested something? That''s new." Ka''lor''ah mumbled for a moment, before continuing. "Anyways, I will inform him. Finish memorizing those books before the end of the day. I will quiz you on them." Saying so, Ka''lor''ah cut the connection. ---------- Somewhere on the surface of Planet Earth. It was nighttime and Ka''lor''ah was sitting atop a rock outside the entrance of a massive cave. Tall walls of rock surrounded her on both sides, towering for dozens of meters in height, marking her current location to be in the middle of a ravine. "Well, might as well inform him right now." Stretching her arms, Ka''lor''ah shook the wings on her back and flew into the air. Her slender, tiny body flew into the massive cave entrance and continued to fly within its darkness. Ka''lor''ah''s flight lasted for a few minutes before her body suddenly came to a stop. An indistinct boundary laid before her, carelessly entering which will result in her death. For beyond the boundary, laid Lucius'' Domain. "Although I check up on him every three days, the amount of progress he makes during every visit is simply monstrous. He''s almost done restructuring his Domain and laying its base." Ka''lor''ah muttered with awe. Lucius possessed the best combat talent in the entirety of the Universe. His talent was so great that he could battle an opponent who was using a completely new and unheard-of technique for a single time, before copying and even improving that very same technique in real-time. Sucking air into her lungs, Ka''lor''ah took a deep breath before loudly bellowing. "LUCIUS!! OLIVIA CALLED AND SHE SAID THAT YOUR REQUEST WITH REYNA WAS COMPLETED!!" (AN: Jesus, my eyes.) Following her shout, a few seconds of silence existed. Then, the imperceptible boundary before Ka''lor''ah suddenly disappeared and a shadowy figure appeared before her. "I see." Lucius shortly replied, before grabbing Ka''lor''ah with his hands and activating [Void Travel]. In just seconds, his body disappeared from within the cave and appeared within Olivia''s cramped office. The two women were shocked by his sudden disappearance, with Reyna falling to the ground out of fright. "I told you not to grab me like that! How barbaric." Ka''lor''ah complained before escaping out of Lucius'' hands. Lucius ignored her rants and turned towards Reyna before saying. "Let''s go." Chapter 268: Perilous Question. The duo of Lucius, led by Reyna walked towards the latter''s lab with brisk strides. Ka''lor''ah had stayed back in the office to review Olivia''s daily homework. Lucius'' gait was smooth and natural as he followed Reyna with his eyes closed. His attention was inside his mindspace as he continued to work on his Domain. In direct contrast to his casual demeanor was Reyna, who walked in front of him with stiff, heavy steps. Her head was lowered to face the ground and her breathing was noticeably labored. Even the people, who passed the duo during the walk, felt their chests tighten and their eyes constrict. Their faces noticeably paled, sweat formed in their backs, and hearts skipped a beat when Lucius passed them. The culprit behind this phenomenon was Lucius'' cold, murderous, and scathing aura. Unlike the previous time he was within Mankind, Lucius no longer had to lie low and hide his aura. His strength has reached a point where he could single-handedly wipe out the entire race in a matter of hours. Having also accepted himself for what he truly is, Lucius naturally radiating aura had a dense murderous background, filled with cold winds of cruelty, and sharp lines of indifference. Simply coming into contact with his aura made people incredibly uncomfortable while also creating a palpable sense of fear and tension in their hearts. The unlikely duo continued their walk for a dozen minutes. No conversation flowed during this time, as Reyna was too scared to open her mouth to speak and Lucius was too busy doing stuff within his mindspace. Finally, arriving inside a large, hemispherical laboratory with white walls and floor, Reyna quietly announced. "W-we are here." Lucius retracted his attention from within his mindspace and opened his eyes. His eyes scanned around the laboratory once, before landing upon a necklace formed out of multiple black orbs worn by a white-colored mannequin. Noticing his interested gaze on the device, Reyna gathered her courage and walked towards the mannequin. Extending her hands, she touched the chain and spoke, before infusing her soul power. "This is the product." With the infusion of her soul power, the black-orbs lightly hummed before furiously expanding. In less than a second, the entire mannequin whose body structure matched that of Lucius was dressed in its new suit of armor. A black-colored, full-sleeved vest covered the entirety of the upper body and arms. Multiple lines of white ran atop the length of the arm before gathering at the center of the vest, behind which would lay the heart. Plates of paper-thin armor covered parts of the front, the shoulder pad, and around the wrists, providing light defense and rigidity. The lower body''s design was simple with the same black-colored material wrapping tightly around the mannequin''s legs. Below the knees, a secondary layer of black orbs expanded forming slender, armored boots. A full-length black-colored trench coat covered the entire body, held on with buckle-like fasteners on the front. This trench coat which came with a thick hood formed the topmost layer of clothing and protection completing the entire set. (AN: That was a long explanation. If you want the exact image, it''s just Corvo''s costume from the game, Dishonored. One of my fav games.) Lucius'' focus was completely placed upon this suit of armor, with waves of his soul power scanning it in great detail. A tinge of interest appeared within his blank eyes as he unconsciously lowered the intensity of his aura. At that instant, Reyna felt like a drowning man resurfacing. She noticed Lucius'' interest in the armor and started to hurriedly explain. "It''s the amalgamation of our most recent breakthroughs and technological prowess. The entire armor consists of an inner shirt, a vest, full-length pants, boots, and a trench coat. Its defensive properties are not that great, being resistant to knife-wounds, basic energy shots, and small-caliber bullets. Then again, the defense was not the priority." "The entire suit is made up of self-assembling nano-machines and comes with the self-repair function. When required, just infuse your soul power into the generator placed in the center of the chest and the self-repair will begin." "As requested, it can undergo extreme amounts of friction, stress, and gravity. It can also resist temperatures as high as 800¡ã C to as low as -160¡ã C. Each part of the armor can be separately worn and is almost indistinguishable in feel and texture from the actual material. It also includes temperature regulation, electronic signal disruption, etc." Reyna then walked towards a table on the side and brought out an elaborately constructed mask. "I also made this mask. It comes with thermal vision, sona¡ª" "That won''t be needed." Lucius interrupted her. There was no better method than soul power to detect one''s surroundings. This, coupled with the Void-Eater''s sensory perception rendered the effects of the mask, useless. Ignoring Reyna''s dismayed face Lucius neared the armor and placed his hand on the generator on its chest. He then infused his soul power into the device and replaced Reyna''s own. The suit instantly hummed once more, before reverting to its necklace form. Removing it from the mannequin, Lucius wore the necklace and infused his soul power into its body. The device hummed once more, and in less than a second covered his entire body. Lucius was now fully clothed in that steampunk, leather-feeling armor. He then started to move around, getting a feel for the armor. The armor beautifully complemented his movements without hindering him in the slightest. A sense of harmony and synchrony radiated off of the armor and Lucius. They felt like two parts of a whole. Growing increasingly satisfied with the armor''s performance, Lucius started to increase the intensity of his movements. His figure soon formed after images as he moved around Reyna''s lab. ''Soul power flowed without the slightest impediment. Excellent.'' Lucius praised. While Reyna''s personality was greatly lacking, her skills were hardly the same. Her title as ''Genius Mechanist'' was well-earned. After moving around in his new armor for a few more minutes, Lucius came to a stop before the pale-faced Reyna. Her body was quaking with tension, as her eyes nervously looked around the wrecked lab, courtesy of Lucius'' action. She then stared at the culprit standing before her, before mentally letting out a sigh. ''I don''t want to be killed yet.'' Turning back, she reached into her table once more before taking out a long, rectangular box. Opening the box, Reyna revealed eight more similar necklaces and spoke. "I made a total of nine sets of equipment. All of them have been tested and should perform the same as the one you are currently wearing." "Thank you." Lucius nodded his head and received the box from her hands. After confirming the states of the other necklaces with his soul power, Lucius opened his [Void Storage] and placed it inside. He then turned to face the shocked Reyna, who was wondering how the box had mysteriously disappeared into Lucius'' shadow, and spoke. "I have two more requests." Waiting for Reyna to recover from her daze, Lucius then continued. "I want you to make nine more sets of the same armor, but to these measurements." Soul power exited from the top of his fingers and formed numbers in the air. Reyna carefully looked at the numbers and memorized them. A few seconds later, a strange expression appeared on her face. Gazing upwards, at Lucius'' expressionless face, she cautiously asked. "These measurements are they¡ª" "Olivia''s." Lucius completed her sentence. "Those nine sets are for Olivia." The next stage of the plan revolved around the political turmoil of the Grand Alcana Empire. To enter and participate in this battlefield involving Stage 5 existences, one required political wits, and strategic sense. Simple brute strength would not be enough during this phase. According to the original plan, the duo of Lucius and Ka''lor''ah would have entered the battlefield during the initial stages of the political turmoil. With Ka''lor''ah''s meticulous planning and Lucius acting as her executor, they would have resolved the situation and achieved the result required for the plan. However, due to the unexpected complication with Mankind, they had already missed the initial window. This rendered their original plan useless. The next chance would arrive five years later when the political environment of the Grand Alcana Empire flares once more. However, with the unexpected attention of a Lord placed upon them, the ''returner duo'' have to be extremely careful and mindful of their actions. In short, this meant that Ka''lor''ah could not overly involve herself with the plan. If they somehow messed up, and Ka''lor''ah actions with regards to Cause were noticed prematurely, their plan would immediately fail and the duo would be hunted by the entire Universe, under the orders of the Lords. The risks were too great and the chances of failure were too high. This was where Olivia came in. One could say that the task of managing and resolving Mankind''s problems was another test of sorts; a test to gauge Olivia''s talents in the field of politics and plotting. And to quote Ka''lor''ah''s words ¨C'' She had passed with flying colors.'' Not only did Olivia have talent in this regard, but she also possessed determination and drive. She was also hardworking, trustworthy, and loyal. Not to mention, her feelings towards Lucius were explicit and painfully obvious. Even someone as desensitized as Lucius had noticed this point. However, he was in no mind or capacity to answer her feelings. With the pressure of the Lords, breathing down upon his neck, Lucius neither had the time nor patience to go about such frolics and chase after such fancies. While Lucius had originally decided to confront Olivia regarding this matter and put an end to her feelings. Ka''lor''ah had intervened at the final moment and changed his mind, with her reason for doing so, as such. ''It''s not like her feelings are causing you any real trouble or distracting her from her work. If anything, it motivates her to work harder and keeps her loyal. Why would you go and destroy such a natural leash?'' ''A tool is only useful when its effects are guaranteed to its user. Not only is this tool extremely useful, but it also has direct connections with the later parts of the Great Plan. It would be a waste to let such a useful tool go to waste.'' ''So just let her remain, and maybe just throw in some fanservice from time to time as bait to keep her motivated. This much should be easy for you, right?'' Finding her words reasonable, Lucius had let the situation remain. He had nothing to lose, but a lot to gain. Therefore, the duo had decided to involve Olivia in the next part of their plan and actively use her talents. Still, a single problem remained. Olivia was too weak. There was no doubt that her prowess within Stage 2 was near the top, however, the battlefield in the Grand Alcana Empire would involve at a minimum, Stage 3 existences. In face of such beings, Olivia was lesser than an ant. That being said, Lucius now had five years to earnestly train her to the peak of what her human body would allow. He had to raise her soul''s Stage to the Low-Level of Stage 3 (Grade 3 race''s limit), but elevate her combat prowess to battle Peak-Level Stage 3 beings. Lucius'' two requests to Reyna were in regards to this. "Make nine more sets, following those measurements. Dye it in purple, if possible." Reyna gazed at the measurements with a complex expression. Her mind was addled, causing her to involuntarily speak out her thoughts. "How do you know her body''s exact measurements?" The instant she said that Reyna hurriedly closed her mouth with her dainty hands and looked towards Lucius in terror. Only after finishing speaking, did her brain realize the weight of her question. Chapter 269: Preparation. "I measured her." Lucius casually answered, slightly tilting his head in confusion. Back in Pectron, when Lucius was performing the procedure on Olivia, he had flooded her entire body with his soul power. Since he was looking for the root of the Curse Energy within her body, Lucius had scanned Olivia in her entirety, noting her bone structure and density, muscle distribution, organ placements, etc. The matter regarding her sizes was simply another result of this detailed scanning. Therefore, it was not wrong to say that Lucius had indeed ''measured'' Olivia. But of course, when heard without the above context, the listener''s mind would most often arrive at another conclusion. And such was the case with Reyna. ''Wa-wai-wait! He measured her?? Does that mean Olivia stripp--!! NO! No, stop thinking!! I don''t want to get into any more trouble!!!'' Reyna hurriedly shook her head to clear her mind. She was already mentally beating herself up for stupidly voicing her question. Reyna simply did not want to take any more risks, voyaging into this racy topic. She silently turned towards her table, pulled up a holographic screen, and recorded the measurements. Her job required her to only make the item. Reyna decided to stick to her job and not ask any further questions. "¡­hmm, since it''s the same design as yours, it will take me three days to complete nine more sets. You wanted them to be dyed in purple?" Reyna spoke in the calmest voice that she could muster. "Yes." Lucius nodded his head. "How do I inform you when it''s complete?" she asked. Lucius thought for a moment and replied. "I will come by in three days." His Domain had already reached initial completion as a result of his efforts over the last eight months. To improve and perfect it further, he had to use it in actual battles and pit it against other Domains. In short, Lucius had nothing to do but wait. Alas, Lucius'' answer had only served to confuse Reyna''s mind further. Although she tried her best to stop herself from thinking about it, her mind couldn''t help but wonder about Olivia and Lucius'' relationship. ''Although he looks cold and dead on the outside, could it be that he was a caring and passionate heart on the inside?'' Reyna absent-mindedly guessed. Unfortunately, her guesses could not be any farther from the truth. Lucius'' insides were even colder and dead-er than the outside. "¡­So, your second request?" calming herself once more, Reyna asked. "It''s this." Lucius pulled out his scythe from within his [Void Storage] and showed it to Reyna. Looking at the first weapon that she had made and presented to Lucius, back during their time in the Academy, complex emotions filled her heart. The time before the Ascension when all their lives were still carefree...when she had a crush on Lucius...when her father was still alive... when Mankind was still... Recalling those memories made a wave of sadness wash over Reyna''s heart. Tears started pooling near her eyes, threatening to burst out. However, she hurriedly stopped herself when she felt Lucius'' cold, uncomfortable aura flare around her. Now wasn''t the time for reminiscence as she could not make the person before her wait. Noticing the cracks and fissures spread throughout the body of the weapon, she asked. "¡­do you want me to repair it?" Lucius shook his head and denied. "No. I want you to make a longsword, the same way you made this scythe." "A Pseudo-Living Armament?" Reyna pondered for a few seconds before nodding her head. "It will take some time, but it can be done." "How long?" "At least a week. I haven''t made another one of these since yours. Some specialized machines which we don''t currently have, are required to make them." Lucius nodded his head in understanding. Putting the scythe back into his [Void Storage], Lucius took a step back and raised his right hand. Soul power exited his palm and started to take shape in the air once more. The materialized soul power started to gradually lengthen and widen, before taking the shape of a longsword. Holding the weapon in his hand, Lucius swung it a few times before shaking his head. He then changed his stance, brought together both of his hands to hold the weapon, and started to swing it again. With each swing, Lucius adjusted both his movements and the shape of the weapon. Slowly, the weapon started to decrease in width, become shaper, slender, and more elongated. He then made some adjustments to the pommel, the guard, and the handle of the weapon, before coming to a stop. The finished product resembled less of a traditional longsword and more of a thicker, heavier rapier. Satisfied at his creation, Lucius handed the weapon over to Reyna and spoke. "The shape, size, and weight of the finished product must be the same as this one. The sword in your hand has been imbued with enough soul power to last for a week before dissipating." "I''ll come back in a week to collect both items." Saying so, without waiting for her reply, Lucius turned around and left the laboratory. Exiting the large, white building he stopped for a moment to think. ''With that, the matter regarding mine and Olivia''s equipment has been solved.'' Gazing at his current clothing once more, Lucius thought to himself. ''As annoying and spineless as she is, her talent in creation is the real deal.'' Resuming his walk towards Olivia''s office, Lucius continued to ponder. ''My Domain has reached a point where I need feedback from actual battles to continue perfecting it. For now, it''s stable and there is nothing I can do to improve it.'' ''The battle for Alcana Empire''s throne will intensify once more in about five years. That would be the most chaotic and opportune time to intervene. Before that, I will have to raise Olivia''s combat prowess to its limits.'' ''Her talent is decent and her personality is quite diligent. The only factor hindering her growth and potential is her Grade 3 body. A Race Transformation would be suitable¡­but there''s just not enough time for that.'' All souls have the potential to reach Stage 7; however, they are often hindered in their journey due to their lesser bodies. A Grade 3 species can only cultivate up to Low-Level of Stage 3. A Grade 4 species can cultivate up to Low-Level of Stage 4. However, it is incredibly rare for them to reach this Stage as it was impossibly difficult to complete the Stage 4 ascension. A Grade 5 species can cultivate up to Low-Level of Stage 5. Entering Stage 4 is also much easier compared to Grade 4 races. Newborns of such races are born with Stage 2 cultivation and are almost guaranteed to reach Stage 3 by adulthood. So on and so forth¡­ Being a member of a higher race meant that no matter how untalented one was, strength was guaranteed. Conversely, no matter how talented one was if they were of a lesser species their journey is severely limited. This was the problem hindering Olivia, and once hindered Lucius of the past. Still, like always there is no such thing as an absolute. Solutions to overcome this hindrance do exist. The safest, guaranteed solution was the Race Transformation method. As the name suggests, one literally has their entire race/species transformed from a lower one to a higher one. During the procedure, one would have their body artificially evolve into a better vessel or in some cases change the entire vessel itself. The only problem with this method was that it was extremely rare for a lone person to find an opportunity to undergo Race Transformation. One would either have to be extremely lucky and find an inheritance/legacy of some higher being or some lost race and gain an opportunity there. Or one would have to sell their lives and freedom to a Higher Race with a Race Transformation method and live the rest of their lives in servitude. To Lucius, his opportunity came during his final days of life when he was being hunted by the Grand Alcana Empire for a crime he did not commit. He disappeared at Low-Level of Stage 3 and returned a hundred years later, with Stage 5 cultivation. Upon his return, his race had changed from Human (Mankind) to Undying, which later earned him the titles, ''The Undying One'' or ''The Deathless Killer'', to name a few. As for how or where he had undergone his Race Transformation, no one other than Lucius himself knows. Ka''lor''ah had some guesses on this topic and vaguely knew that it had something to do with the place called Limbo. However, Lucius was unnaturally quiet on this matter and refused to say anything related to that place. Returning back to the story¡­ ''With a Race Transformation not currently feasible, there is only one other method.'' Having arrived before Olivia''s office, Lucius paused for a moment before opening the door and walking in. ''Her Domain must be equal to mine.'' Chapter 270: Idea. The second Lucius stepped into the cramped office he was subjected to Ka''lor''ah''s tease. "Nice dress bro! I can see that you''re going for that whole, ''I''m cold, alone, and strong, so don''t mess with me or I will mess you up'' vibe. Classic. I like it." Her tiny, lithe body flew near Lucius'' figure and placed her hand on top of his clothes. Feeling the texture of the material, Ka''lor''ah remarked. "Wait, is this leather?! That too dyed black?!! Heavens, how are you wearing that thing and not instantly dying from heatstroke in this weather?" she exclaimed. Rubbing her skin all over his armor, Ka''lor''ah continued with her review. "Huh, but it''s got a really nice feel. I''ll give you that. Not too stiff at the joints, extra padding for safety¡­ooh, some built-in pockets as well. Not bad! Not bad at all. Handmade, I bet!" Diving into one of the pockets on the right side of his vest, Ka''lor''ah peaked her tiny head out and spoke. "I see why you''re not sweating. Temperature regulation, huh? This pocket is surprisingly comfortable too. Excellent stuff, I like it. You should buy more of these." "Get out." Lucius coldly replied and fished for Ka''lor''ah within his pocket. Not wanting to leave this comfortable place, Ka''lor''ah started to move around and evade his fingers. Still, Lucius'' combat experience was extremely abundant. He caught her struggling body within a few seconds and yanked her out. Holding her by her wings, Lucius spoke. "You have wings now. Stop being lazy and use them." "You cannot tell me what to do! I''m a free person too! I have rights!" Ka''lor''ah impassionedly rebutted to his words. However¡­ "Keep fussing around and I''ll crush your body." A scary line and a scary look from Lucius silenced her struggles. Freeing herself from his grasp, Ka''lor''ah stumbled towards Olivia, while causing a big fuss. "Boohoo! Is this how a student is supposed to treat his teacher? You ungrateful runt." Sobbing and crying in the most exaggerated way possible, Ka''lor''ah settled on Olivia''s big, soft chest and continued with her act. "You see this, Olivia. Look how mean he is to me. Don''t become like him and leave your poor teacher out to starve." Visible annoyance appeared on Lucius'' face, as he stepped forward to make true of his threats. However, being as cunning as she is, Ka''lor''ah quickly dove into Olivia''s chest the moment she sensed him make a move. Emerging her tiny head from within, she raised her tiny eyebrows twice seemingly saying, ''what will you do now?'' in taunt. Unfortunately for her, her safe haven was in cahoots with the opponent as Olivia pulled Ka''lor''ah and threw her towards Lucius. "You really should stop acting out, Teacher," Olivia spoke in the sweetest voice possible. Her face sported a brilliant smile, but her eyes gazed at Ka''lor''ah betrayed expression with sadistic pleasure. ''To seek help after giving me enough work and homework to the point where I haven''t slept in weeks, you really should have seen this coming, Teacher.'' Olivia mentally laughed to herself. Olivia loved her teacher and was grateful for everything that she had done. However, the bitter resentment stemming from weeks of homework and work was not something that could be easily forgiven either. "Et Tu, Olivia?" Ka''lor''ah bitterly asked, as her body was caught by Lucius. In reply, Olivia''s tired face showed an even brighter smile as her mouth calmly recited. "How to Build Empires and Manage Civilizations- Vol 17, page 1137, paragraph 3, line 4 reads; ''To not seize a weakness, with the purpose of exploitation, when given the opportunity is tantamount to your failure as a leader and/or manager. What purpose do others serve, if not for your exploitation?''" "I''m sorry, Teacher. I saw an advantage and I seized it." Olivia''s tone held not an ounce of apology. Hearing that answer, the betrayed expression disappeared from Ka''lor''ah''s face. Her eyes and mouth curved to form a proud smile, as she boastingly declared. "That a girl! I''m the greatest teacher aliv¡ª" Her boasts were cut short, as Lucius crushed her lithe body in his hands. Ka''lor''ah''s fairy-like figure dissipated, replaced by the appearance of the dark-gold isohedral crystal. "OH! COME ON DUDE!!" Ka''lor''ah fumed, actually feeling mad. "It''s going to take me two days to recover my appearance! Seriously, I''m done with both of you!" Saying so, Ka''lor''ah flew out of the door with her crystal body, leaving Olivia''s office. Peace finally returned to Lucius'' expression, as he walked towards the only available chair within the room and sat down. "Is she going to be okay? She seemed really mad." Olivia worriedly asked. Olivia had originally thought that Lucius was simply joking about crushing Ka''lor''ah. She did not expect him to actually do it. "It''s fine." Lucius shortly replied. "She''ll get over it in a few hours and return to annoy me again." He bitterly continued. Olivia chuckled at his reply. The more she viewed the interactions between Lucius and Ka''lor''ah, the more it reminded her of silly quarrels between siblings. "The two of you are very close." Sitting herself down, Olivia off-handedly remarked. The duo''s squabbles reminded Olivia of her own squabbles with Lucius in the past. This caused Olivia to become slightly jealous of Ka''lor''ah. Having heard that question, Lucius did not reply. He simply leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes in thought. Olivia''s words were indeed true. No matter how much he argued, quarreled, or disagreed with Ka''lor''ah, at the end of the day, he was indeed very close to her. Lucius and Ka''lor''ah had a special bond that allowed them to trust and rely on each other. ''During a time when the entire Universe deemed me as a monster and a plague that had to be rid of, she was the only one who reached in and held out her hand.'' ''When I roamed the blackness of space with no purpose or will, mindlessly immersing myself in death and slaughter, she was the one who showed me a purpose and gave me my will.'' To this day, Lucius still remembered Ka''lor''ah''s reply when he had asked her; why she was so fixated on him? "O'' Pitiful Killer, you have lived your entire life cowering from death and seeking greater power. Yet now that you''ve found it, you do not know what to do with this power." "Death is no longer scary for you since you''ve understood it. But in that understanding, you''ve found that death is not a release but an endless cycle of repetition and suffering. A cycle set by those beings up above, for their amusement." "You do not know how to live, yet you do not want to die meaninglessly either. Why don''t you follow me and do something worth dying for?" "If we succeed, people''s sufferings will have another meaning than that of ''Their'' amusement. If we fail, well¡­our fates will be worse than death." "So live." "Live, so that on the day that you die, you can drag ''Them'' down from their mighty thrones and show them the suffering that they oh, so enjoy." "Live, so that on that you can die on the final step of my glorious plan and usher this Universe into a new Era." A calm, cruel smile appeared on Lucius'' face. He did not live for glory, honor, or wealth. Not for love, family, or legacy. He lived so that he could die on the final step of the Great Plan, and drag down the one who caused him his suffering. "Lucius." Olivia''s voice brought him out of his musings. Opening his eyes, he gazed towards the pallid-faced, dark-eyed woman, wearing a serious expression. "Hmm?" he voiced his question. A strange sparkle appeared within Olivia''s eyes, as she replied. A tinge of excitement was hidden within her voice. "I have an idea. An idea that will resolve all of Mankind''s current problems with great efficiency while integrating it into the Universe." Pausing for a moment, she took a deep breath and explained in detail. Lucius gradually began correcting his posture as he continued to listen to her explanation. A contemplative expression appeared on his face, as he considered her idea. "How does it sound? Is it feasible?" Olivia asked with a parched throat. Lucius nodded his head and answered. "I don''t see any problems with it." He then immediately used his soul link with Ka''lor''ah to contact her. With his ascendance into Stage 3, its range had greatly increased once again. ''What?! If you''re apologizing, I''m not hearing it!'' Ka''lor''ah instantly replied with an irritated voice. Ignoring her grumbles, Lucius calmly answered. ''Olivia had an idea. You should hear it.'' He then shared with her his thoughts. Reviewing Lucius'' thoughts in silence for a few seconds, Ka''lor''ah slowly replied. ''Well, I don''t see any problems with this idea. As long as you step in and provide help, it should work.'' ''Thought so. Come back and make a proper plan with her.'' Lucius replied. ''I''m not coming back to you traitors! I''m still mad at both of you! Tell Olivia to make plans herself. If she can take advantage of her teacher, she should be more than capable of handling this.'' Grumpily replying so, Ka''lor''ah ended the conversation. Lucius raised his head and looked at Olivia''s expectant eyes. "What did Teacher say?" She asked. "No problems. It should work as long as you make proper plans for it." Lucius replied. Leaning back into his chair and closing his eyes once again, Lucius continued. "I''ll back you up with the Stage 3 existences." With his reply, Olivia quickly got to work and summoned a meeting with Mankind''s top personnel. The sooner she could finish this plan the sooner would escape from this cramped office and paperwork hell. Chapter 271: Taking Over Pectron. Part 1 A week later. "Something good happen to you, Boss? You seem to be in an awfully good mood today." Olivia''s second-in-command Wilkes gazed at his lady leader and surreptitiously asked. Unable to hide the beaming smile on her face, Olivia, wearing a brand new purple-colored armor, cheerfully shook her head, turned to face Wilkes, and replied. "Nothing in particular. Why?" Her words were unusually warm with joy apparent in her tone. "No-nothing, Boss." Seeing those mysterious violet eyes staring at him, Wilkes suddenly felt flustered. He hurriedly turned his head away and thought to himself. ''Yep, something is definitely different with the Boss today. She''s suddenly so¡­radiant!'' Wilkes remembered when he had met her yesterday to discuss their preparations. Olivia''s facial features had sunken further and the dark circles surrounding her eyes had become larger and darker. There was also a general irritable aura surrounding her, as Olivia was slightly short-tempered as a result of her weariness. Her dark gaze, coupled with her fluctuating murderous intent, kept Wilkes and the other Captains on the edge during yesterday''s meeting. Rather than feeling like they were in a meeting with their leader, the Captains felt like they had awakened a dangerous, sleeping Wild Beast. Recalling that feeling from yesterday, Wilkes'' body faintly quivered. However, it only served to confuse him further as he looked at Olivia''s behavior today. Simply put, she was a completely different person! Just as Wilkes further sunk into his musings, he felt his instincts tingle as the space near him suddenly twisted. Just as he was about to unsheathe his weapon, his body froze as an overwhelming pressure and dense murderous intent hit him. Appearing out of thin air, was a cold-faced young man with long, straight black hair. His handsome face, which could straight up be considered as beautiful, radiated a sense of indifference and majesty. For a moment, Wilkes thought that he was in the presence of a greater being that held his life and death in its hands. A sense of powerlessness and insignificance spread throughout his body, mind, and soul. This feeling lasted for a few seconds before disappearing. That mighty, young man had already walked ahead and stood just beside their Boss. ''Lord Lucius¡­'' As Wilkes'' mind relaxed, a wave of respect and awe appeared within his heart. This young man who stood beside their Boss was an invincible existence who had entered the realm of Stage 3. For someone who had lived his entire life on a backwater planet like Pectron, Stage 3 was the peak of power and the goal that Wilkes strived for. ''I could not feel him until he was right next to me. As expected of such a great existence.'' Wilkes'' thoughts had broken past the realm of respect, reaching the threshold of reverence. His eyes then looked at the closely standing figures of Olivia and Lucius, and his mind drifted once again. ''Indeed, only someone as superior as him deserves our great Boss as his mate.'' Being an Oncanian, which was one of the many Beast-Human tribes, Wilkes saw the world from the perspective of a pack. Within the Beast-Human tribes, only the stronger, more superior males were given the right to mate with the females. The rest of the weaker ones had to leave the tribe if they wanted to sire a pack of their own. Seeing his Boss, for whom he held nothing but respect and gratitude, be so close with that mighty Stage 3 being, immensely satisfied Wilkes'' heart and instincts. ''I could not ask for a better pairing. Ah, seeing them like this, they do make a fine coup¡­le?'' It was only then, did Wilkes'' gaze land upon their clothing/armor. Apart from the obvious color difference, the two armors were virtually the same. Wilkes'' eyes constantly moved between both the figures. His eyes then landed on his Boss'' radiant face, allowing him to finally realize the answer to his question. ''I see. So that''s how it is.'' A smile formed on Wilkes'' canine face, as his hands unconsciously rubbed the bottom of his jaw. His head then turned to look towards the other Captains, who were looking at the two figures in the front with a similar expression. Wilkes and the other Captain''s eyes met and they spontaneously nodded their heads in unison. ''We shall protect that smile till our final breath!'' An unspoken understanding/pact was formed between the soldiers at that moment. ---------- "How is the sword?" Lucius asked the dumbly smiling Olivia next to him. The moment the sword was mentioned, Olivia''s suppressed excitement burst out. She hurriedly nodded her head and spoke with an enthusiastic voice. "It''s so great! The length and weight distribution are just perfect and the handle fits so nicely in my hands!" Retrieving her sword from her sheath, Olivia swung it a few times to show Lucius and continued to speak with greater elation. "Oh, and I thought that the design of the sword was a bit weird since it was so different from my previous one, but this design is so much better! My movements and attacks feel much smoother and sharper than before." Lucius calmly nodded his head at her words and replied. "Good." He then gestured to her new armor and continued. "The new equipment is less of an actual armor and more of an all-weather clothing. Don''t count on it too much for protection." Lucius then turned his head and faced the massive Teleportation Array in front of him. "After we''re done with your plan in Pectron, we''ll leave and your training under me will officially start. It might take a few years depending on how fast you''re able to reach Stage 3. During this period you''ll not be able to contact anyone else. So if you have something to do, finish it before we leave." Olivia nodded her head with greater zeal. The very prospect of leaving this paperwork hell made her incomparably joyous. Not to mention, she would be starting her training under Lucius. ''Hehehe, it will only be me and Lucius¡­alone in the void of space, filled with many dangers¡­who knows what''ll happen? Maybe we will¡ªhehehe!'' Hiding her mouth beneath her hands, Olivia let out an excited giggle. She had automatically filtered out Ka''lor''ah from her pink-hued dreams. Lucius looked at her buoyant excitement and trembling shoulders and thought to himself. ''She seems excited. That''s good.'' He reviewed the plan he had made for her training in his mind and continued. ''Let''s hope that she keeps this excitement after we start.'' When Lucius had shown this training plan to Ka''lor''ah the day before, she had let out a scream in horror and had called him the ''Devil''. Lucius, as usual, had ignored her over-exaggerated reactions and finalized the training plan. Alas, for once, Ka''lor''ah''s reactions weren''t over-exaggerated at all. ---------- The 300m wide Teleportation Array in front of them hummed with massive fluctuations of energy. Stabilizers worked hard to keep the energy contained and prevent any explosions. Before long, the gate started to open and the familiar blue-colored swirls of light formed in the center of the Teleportation Array. Taking in a deep breath, Olivia stepped forwards first and yelled. "Remember to stand tall, people! Don''t falter! We have a show to put!" Saying so, she took the first step and entered the Teleportation Array. Lucius entered next, followed by the Captains, the near-three-hundred warriors from Pectron, thousands of human soldiers carrying various artilleries, squadrons of mechs piloted by Mankind''s best pilots, and a few dozen spacecraft. On this day, led by the Violet Witch and backed by the ''Black Death'', Mankind''s strongest expeditionary forces set foot on Pectron. Mankind''s proliferation into the Universe had begun, and the wheels of the Great Plan had begun to turn. ---------- Inside the Governor''s office of Pandemonium''s second-largest city, Fallen Rock. "Lord Governor, we followed your orders and forced the guards of Pandemonium into more skirmishes. At this point, it''s more or less confirmed that the Violet Witch is not within the city." A female assistant nervously reported to the Stage 3 Terran in front of her. "As I thought," The Governor nodded his head. "After causing such a big mess in Stellar Light city, that bitch was unusually silent. I knew something was fishy." A vicious smirk appeared on his face as he continued. "Nine months have passed. Either that bitch crawled back into the hole from which she came from, or died in some corner of this world." He then leaned back into his seat and casually spoke. "Either way, it does not matter. Pandemonium will soon be mine." Hearing his words, the female assistant kneeling before him, bit her lips. She cautiously raised her head and carefully spoke. "My lord, is this decision wise?" "Hmmm? Do you doubt my abilities?" The Governor slowly asked. The assistant quickly shook her head and replied. "Not at all, my lord! You''re strength and wisdom are unmatched in this Universe!!" she hurriedly praised. Her expression then turned prudent as she continued. "It''s just that¡­the Violet Witch is known for her cunning and schemes. Though she was in Stage 2, she delayed the assaults of a Stage 3 being for two years! Not to mention, later destroyed the Stellar Light City with her schemes." "Apart from being a sore sight to look at, she has never really gone against our city. Our monthly profit dividend from the city is also great." "There is also a rumor that the ''Faerie'' from Moonwater City, owes the Violet Witch a favor. If we provoke an attack, that ''Faerie'' might intervene and cause us trouble." "There is also that old guy living in ''Gravity Falls City''. While he did not intervene during the Stellar Light City''s chaos, his stance is still unclear and I''m afraid he might use this opportunity to---" "Dia''ne." The Governor interrupted the assistant. Noting the solemnity of his voice, the assistant lowered her head and answered. "Yes, lord Governor." "Have I ever feared a challenge?" "No, lord Governor." "Have I ever feared a scheme?" "No, lord Governor." "Have I ever settled for anything other than the best?" "No, lord Governor." Turning to gaze at the bustling city outside through his window, the Governor spoke with heavy gravitas. "All these years, this city...my city, has been under the shadow of that Bertarian bastard. Not that he''s dead and his city as fallen that place at the peak must be rightfully mine." "Moonwater City is too closed and selective. It will never reach its peak. That cripple within Gravity Falls City is a coward and will not strive for the top. That leaves only two more cities¡­that wench''s and mine." "If this was a year ago, I would''ve let that city go." The gaze in his eyes sharpened, as he continued. "But, not anymore." "Pandemonium is big of a piece of meat to be left under the hands of some Stage 2 junior. With it in my hand, my goal to rule over Pectron will near." Turning around to face his assistant, he loudly laughed and thundered. "So what if that Faerie intervenes?! I''ll just kill her!" "So what if that cripple makes trouble?! I''ll cripple him even further!!" "And so what if there are schemes?! Under my raw power, I will crush anything and everything in my path!!!" Mid-Level Stage 3 aura burst from his body, quaking the entire office as a result. "WE LEAVE FOR WA---" "LORD GOVERNOR!!" A hurried voice screamed in horror. The door to the Governor''s office burst open and a panicked Terran rushed in. "EMERGENCY!! Som-some strange vessels have arrived over this city!!" Just as the Governor was about to ask the panting Terran for further details, Olivia''s voice cheerfully resounded across the entire city of Fallen Rock. {Hey Xe''ar!~ I hear you''ve been harassing my people and looking for me. Well, don''t bother, ''cause I''m right here.} Her voice suddenly turned sharp, as she coldly declared. {And I''ve come to retrieve payment for the damages caused.} Chapter 272: Taking Over Pectron. Part 2 "Wench, you dare!!" The Governor of Fallen Rock City, Xe''ar thundered with tangible rage. His body crashed through the ceiling of the office and appeared in the sky above the city. Soul power wildly fluctuated around his body, as his enraged eyes stared at the fleet of spaceships before him. A tinge of surprise and caution appeared within Xe''ar''s heart as he had never seen such a large fleet of working spaceships before today. Usually, one or two spaceships would be found crashed into the planet''s surface each of which was incomparably precious for the planet''s residents. Each known crash would evoke large battles and wars between the major cities. As for the unknown ones¡­it was not known. Each city would carefully hide this news, keeping it as a form of a trump card. After all, more crashes meant more advanced technology falling into the hands of the inhabitants. [Oh, that was quick. I didn''t wake you up or anything, right? I honestly, just wanted to do this over as quietly as possible.} Olivia''s voice resounded throughout the city once more. Her speech was being repeated and amplified by the speakers equipped in each of the dozens of spaceships. {You can go back to sleep if you want to. I will just exact my payment and quickly leave. How does that sound?} The moment she had finished saying this, multiple beams of focused ionic beams were fired from the spaceships into the city below. The starlight blue-colored beams of annihilation vaporized the constructs and the people who were so unlucky as to get caught in the line of fire. In but a single exchange, a good 5% of the large city was wiped out. "YOU!!!" Seeing the efforts of his decades of hard work wiped out in mere instants right before him, Xe''ar raged with unmatched furiousness. His body flashed across the sky and appeared before the nearest spaceship. His right hand was winded back and was just about to deliver a punch when it suddenly stopped. Or rather, it was stopped. Through narrowed eyes, Xe''ar stared at the long-haired youth who had appeared before him. His expressionless, feminine-looking face radiated an absurd amount of bloodlust and his scathing aura visibly pricked Xe''ar''s skin. The youth casually held Xe''ar''s right hand with his own and started to slowly crush it. Feeling his actions, Xe''ar struggled to free his hands from his demonic youth, but alas, it was meaningless. The seemingly slender arms of the youth carried an incredible amount of strength. Xe''ar found no respite, despite his best struggles. Although the youth''s hold seemed to be casual, he had accurately held Xe''ar''s arm in a spot where the latter would find it the most difficult to apply his strength. Unable to escape, Xe''ar had to bear the pain of his right hand being crushed. "I''ll kill you!!" he yelled once more and swung his other hand while kicking with his feet. An insane amount of soul power was infused into both of those attacks, being struck by which would instantly destroy the body of a Low-Level Stage 3. ''Got you now.'' Ignoring his pain, Xe''ar triumphantly smiled. The youth''s aura was clearly marking him at the start of Stage 3. But the strength behind Xe''ar''s approaching attacks was even clearer. Xe''ar simply had to land the attack to utterly decimate his opponent. Feeling his attacks land on the enemy, the smile on Xe''ar''s face turned even brighter for a second, before suddenly vanishing. A look of horror quickly replaced his previous expression. ''How?! HOW?!'' Xe''ar panicked. Visually his attacks had landed on his opponent however Xe''ar never actually felt contact through his limbs. He had hit him, yet the opponent had not been hit. "Confusing, right?" The blank-faced young man suddenly spoke. His soulless black eyes stared into Xe''ar''s as the latter unconsciously nodded. "It''s my movement technique. My body is in a state of superposition which makes it invulnerable to all attacks that I can thoroughly observe." Lucius kindly explained. Hearing a string of unfamiliar words, Xe''ar blinked his two eyes and asked with fear. "Wh-what?" Seeing the confusion on his opponent''s face, Lucius simply shook his head and spoke. "There is no point in you attacking me, as they will never hit me. Give it up and deploy your Domain." Lucius squeezed his hands one final time, thoroughly crushing Xe''ar''s arms. Xe''ar let out a slight shriek, before hurriedly backing up. His entire attention was focused on this youth in front of him, completely ignoring the fact that the spaceships in the background were deploying troops into the ground and battling his city. It wasn''t Xe''ar''s fault for ignoring this either. His mind¡­or rather, his instincts honed through countless battles desperately screamed at him to pay attention to this youth. One small misstep and he would die without even knowing how he had died. ''Who is this guy?! Where did he pop up from? Why is he so strong for a Low-Level Stage 3?!!'' Xe''ar desperately cried within his mind, while using his soul power to repair his crushed arm. "Hey," Xe''ar flinched as he heard the youth call him out. "I know I''m supposed to stretch out this battle as much as possible. However, if you simply stare at me without doing anything, I might just get it over with." The cold voice sharpened as it demanded once more. "Deploy your Domain." Xe''ar body quivered in fear, as he hurriedly stuttered. "De-deploy Domain ¨C Cavern o-of Death." Soul power poured out of Xe''ar''s body and a sphere encompassing a 10km radius enveloped the two figures within. ---------- Inside a spacious room within one of the spaceships. Olivia comfortably sat atop a floating white chair while holding a teacup in her hands. She stared, through the large glass window in front of her, at the battle that was occurring in the city below. Hundreds of Pandemonium''s warriors, thousands of Mankind''s soldiers, drones, mechs, and even the spaceships were participating in the battle below. With complete superiority in both land and air, her forces were sweeping up the Fallen Rock City''s resident forces facing little to no challenge. Taking a sip out of her teacup, Olivia looked a little further into the distance where a large blacks sphere was occupying a large amount of space. Looking closely, one would be able to barely make out two figures battling it out within the sphere. "Is this course of action¡­wise, my lady?" an aged voice rang from her side. Lowering her teacup, Olivia turned to face the blue-haired, old man looking outside the glass window with a worried expression. Showing a smile, she asked. "Is there something troubling you, Sir Baltmer?" Hearing Olivia''s question, Baltmer tore his gaze away from the window and sighed. He then resolutely looked towards Olivia and voiced out his concern. "I meant this sudden attack on Fallen Rock City, my lady. Is such an unprovoked war really necessary? While we do have proper casus belli, I fear that going this far would strain our relations with the other cities." "I can see that these new troops which you have brought along are very strong, but Fallen Rock City has been the indisputable number two in Pectron for countless years. I fear that they may have some hidden trump card which we have unaccounted for." "There is also the issue with the other cities. They will not simply stand by and watch as Pandemonium destroys another major city. Our actions with Stellar Light City have already tipped the balance on this planet." "They might consider our actions as intent to conquer the other cities and might band together to suppress us. We must quickly act and make our intention clear before any misunderstandings are created, my lady." Baltmer respectfully stated while bowing his body. However, he mentally let out a sigh as he thought to himself. ''The young lady was too hasty in her actions this time. Our relations are already bound to suffer a setback once the word of our actions here reaches the remaining cities. We might even have to prepare for war.'' "Excellently put, Sir Baltmer. Your foresight is as keen as always." Olivia honestly praised this elderly gentleman. "However¡­your predictions are exactly my intentions." "Pardon, my lady?" Baltmer raised his head and looked at Olivia with confusion. "To conquer the other cities, that is my plan." Olivia took another sip of tea and cheerfully replied. Baltmer hurriedly rose to his feet and quickly dissuaded Olivia. "My lady, you must not! Conquering the other cities is no easy task. Many years of bitter war and countless innocent lives will be lost if we go through with this! I beg you to reconsider your plans." Baltmer was dumbfounded at Olivia''s words. ''Heavens! Whatever happened to the cautious young lady who left nine months ago! She was never this reckless!'' "You''re thinking that I''m reckless, am I right?" Olivia lightly smiled and spoke. Baltmer visibly flinched at having his inner thoughts read. He opened his mouth to disagree but was interrupted by Olivia first. "Don''t bother. I know that my actions look reckless. Why willingly disrupt the balance and peace formed over countless years, right?" "You see, I''ve spent countless amount of hours stuck inside an office and doing an ungodly amount of paperwork. There was so much work that at one point, I feared that I might go crazy." "To tell the truth, I want to desperately get out of that task, and to do that I must solve all the problems faced by my kind back home. Conquering Pectron is the answer to those problems." "My mother species is a newly ascended one and is in desperate need of personnel and wealth. Conquering Pectron would give it both, sufficient personnel and open a channel to trade with the Universe." "You don''t have to worry too much. I have no intention to drag this war on for more than a few days. Destroying Fallen Rock City is essential to showcase the difference in our strengths so that the other cities willingly surrender." Just as Olivia had finished explaining this with a smile, the device on her wrist vibrated with a message. "Boss, the people from Moonwater City and Gravity Falls City are here with their Governors. Should I send them to your office?" "Speak of the devil¡­"Olivia chuckled for a moment before replying. "Send them in. It''s time to have a nice and long talk." Chapter 273: Taking Over Pectron. Part 3 "Miss Violet Witch!! What is the meaning of this?!" The instant the door to her office was opened, a tender female voice yelled at the top of her lungs. Olivia narrowed her eyes on the figure that had stormed into the room. Possessing a small 30cm tall body, blue skin, two pairs of rainbow-colored wings, a beautiful face with aesthetically pealing features, and long iridescent hair, the tiny figure belonged to the Grade 5 ''Faerie'' race of the Universe. Rising to her feet, Olivia performed a courteous bow and politely announced. "It''s nice to meet you again, Lady Vay. Please take a seat and I''ll explain my actions." "Humph! The only reason why I''m not directly attacking you is because I owe you a favor! Consider it repaid!" "Humph! This explanation better be good!" Declaring as such in a temperamental tone, the little Faerie flew over to one of the available chairs and sat down. Unsuppressed Stage 3 aura radiated out of her body that greatly pressured Olivia. Entering the door next was a genial-looking old Terran. His face, full of wrinkles, carried a gentle smile as he politely nodded toward Olivia. "Miss Violet Witch." He perfunctorily spoke. His eyes, however, radiated a sense of superiority as she clearly looked down on Olivia. Like the one before him, his body also radiated his unsuppressed soul power, further pressuring Olivia. With both the new arrivals being at Mid-Level Stage 3, their combined pressures made Olivia feel as though a large, heavy rock was placed on her back. Her movements felt awkward and her mind screamed of danger. Still, Olivia forced herself to suppress these feelings and acted unbothered. "Sir Vimir." Since her counterpart wasn''t giving her the required respect, Olivia replied with minimal politeness. Once the two figures had taken their seats, Olivia then asked. "Would the two of you like anything to drink?" "Cut the crap and get to the point!" The Faerie bellowed while the old gentleman polity replied. "Water." Olivia''s flawless smile remained on her face as she gestured towards the stiff Baltmer. The latter quickly snapped out of his daze and moved to present the guests with a glass of water. Olivia then walked towards her own seat and sat down. Her back was facing towards the giant, glass window, while the seats of her guests were facing it. This was an elaborate setup by Olivia, as she wanted the two Governors to see the ongoing battle in the background. "Firstly, allow me to apologize for inviting the two of you on such short notice. I''m incredibly thankful that your esteemed selves have accepted my humble invitation." Hearing her words, Vay fumed until her tiny head turned red, while Vimir flashed a light smile in response. "Y-you-you¡ª" Incomprehensible sounds exited Vay''s mouth, making it impossible to understand her sentence. The reason for this was her rapidly rising anger. Vimir, on the other hand, stared at Olivia for a few seconds, before giving an unbothered reply. "There is nothing humble about a declaration of war, Miss Witch. To be frank, this old man nearly had a heart attack when he opened your letter." He joked. Olivia chuckled in response and replied. "You must be jesting, Sir Vimir. I wasn''t declaring any war, but merely inviting you to my meeting. Surely your heart is strong enough for a simple meeting." Baltmer, who was offering water to Vimir, stiffened when he heard those words. The Stage 3 being, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes and lightly chuckled. Olivia''s words were a perfect example of the saying ''To hide a dagger within one''s words''. While her words were ordinary by definition, it was actually confrontational in context. "You sure are brave, young lady. Perhaps I must teach you the meaning of humility. The dignity of a Stage 3 must not be¡ª" Vimir''s words suddenly paused as his eyes narrowed. "Must not be what?" A new voice sounded within the room. The moment she heard that voice, Olivia''s tense shoulders relaxed. Feeling the familiar presence and aura standing behind her, she gained greater confidence. Lucius, who had arrived within the room after finishing his battle with Xe''ar, looked towards the figures of Vay and Vimir. He fully released his aura and directed them towards the two Stage 3 figures, inducing a pressure that was greater than the sum total of their auras. It had to be said that Lucius'' current mood wasn''t that great. His battle with Xe''ar was a complete disappointment as his opponent lasted too short under the effects of his new Domain. This was after Lucius had weakened the Domain and wasn''t even actively attacking his opponent. ''I wasn''t even able to conduct all of my tests since he died too quick. Such a disappointment.'' As for what those ''tests'' entailed, perhaps only the dead Xe''ar would know. Spectators of the battle stated that at the moment of death, Xe''ar''s face had a look of relief. In their words, he looked like a man who was granted the sweet relief of death after a lifetime of torture. "You have yet to reply to me, worm. Must not be what?" Increasing his murderous aura, Lucius coldly asked once again. Vimir''s face severely paled at the pressure, while Vay''s face was a mixture of red and white. The former seemed to have realized something and given up, while the latter was desperately countering Lucius'' pressure. Their faces were complicated and their minds were even more so. Lucius, however, didn''t care for such trivialities. His mind held only one thought. ''Attack me. Attack me. Attack me. Attack me so that I can battle you.'' "You¡ªI-is this a-a decla-ration o-of wa-ar, Olivia?" Vay asked with labored effort. It could be seen on her face how hard she was working to counteract Lucius'' pressure. "A-are yo-you perhaps¡­" Vimir, on the other hand, had a face of helplessness as he asked. "A [Killer]?" Surprised at his question, Lucius turned his attention to the old man and stated. "You''re not from this planet, are you?" His voice wasn''t asking but irrefutably stating. Feeling the bulk of the pressure focused upon him, Vimir drudgingly nodded. "I-I''m fro-om the Messa Sys-stem." Vimir struggled to answer. Noticing his difficulty, Lucius relaxed his pressure by a tiny bit and gestured for him to continue. Feeling his body slightly relax, Vimir wore a bitter smile and explained. "I was originally from the Messa system but got into some trouble with a Stage 4 entity. I barely managed to escape from that mighty entity, but not without incurring serious injuries. Since then, I''ve been hiding away within this backwater planet and slowly recuperating." "What was the trouble about?" Lucius asked. An aggrieved expression appeared on Vimir''s face as he bitterly answered. "It was over a woman. My wife, to be specific." Disinterested, Lucius simply nodded his head before ignoring him. Lucius'' current aura radiated by his soul [Annihilator] was remarkably similar to [Killer]''s [Killing Intent], albeit purer and denser. Unless one was a [Killer] or someone who had interacted with [Killer] types for a long time, they would be unable to distinguish the difference between two souls. The reason why Lucius was able to speculate the old man''s identity was also because of this reason. While the [Killer] soul was common, it was mostly present amongst the Wild Beast populace. For an intelligent, humanoid being to possess a [Killer] soul was very rare. But that did not mean that they were not well known. In fact, Killers were incredibly notorious within the Universe for a singular reason. Not because of their superior strength¡­but because all Killers were legitimate psychos. The higher their Stage, the greater was their madness. A singular unspoken rule existed within the Universal society which was; ''Don''t mess with a Killer under any circumstances. They are a bunch of psychotic bastards who cannot be reasoned with. If he/she sets you as his/her target, he/she will continue to hunt you until either one of you end up dead.'' Clearly, this old man was also privy to this tit-bit of info as his reaction after recognizing Lucius was abundantly clear. However, the little Faerie was not aware of this information as she asked. "Killer? What''s that? I don''t care what you are, if you don''t allow me to leave right now, I will fight you to the death!" With Lucius'' having relaxed his pressure, the Faerie started to spout once again. Of course, Lucius was more than happy to comply, while Vimir ruefully shook his head at the Faerie''s ignorance. Just as Lucius was about to take a step forward, Olivia finally voiced her intention, causing him to shake his head and regretfully step back. "I do not want our cities to war. If anything, I want the opposite of war." Straightening her postures, Olivia faced the two Governors with confidence and continued with a smile. "How about forming an alliance?" Chapter 274: Taking Over Pectron. Final Chapter "What? An alliance?" Vay asked in surprise. Olivia lightly nodded her head in response and replied. "Indeed, an alliance. An alliance formed of the greatest powers within Pectron." Gesturing to the giant glass window behind her, Olivia continued. "As you can see behind me, the level of technology that stems from my species is far to advanced when compared to the likes of Pectron." "With spaceships similar to the one you''re standing on right now, even weaker Stage 1 and Stage 2 beings will be able to leave the confines of their home planet and venture into the vast expanse of space." "Why would we want to do that?" Vay snorted. "We are doing perfectly well, as it is." "Indeed." Olivia did not deny her rebut. "But the same cannot be said about the future, can it?" Pressing a button on her chair, Olivia brought up a holographic screen. It showed a planetary map of Pectron, outlining its oceans and continents. A large portion of the map was marked in red, while the remaining portions were marked with black, green, and blue respectively. Pointing to the map, Olivia continued. "This is the surface map of Pectron, complied a few minutes ago. If you look in this image, the red portions that you see are lands uninhabitable by living things below the Third Stage. Not due to environmental factors, but due to the natural dangers present in these parts." "The Dark Shade Forest occupies most of our surface landmass, almost one-third. While it contains a dizzying amount of resources, it is also under the control of its resident Wild Beast population. According to a scan done by our drones, there are at least 8-9 Stage 3 Wild Beasts roaming the forest floors right now. Not to mention, how many more are hidden." "While they cannot threaten Your Excellencies, the same cannot be said about your underlings. Expansion into these lands is not possible, unless this resident population is wiped out. However, doing so is even more impossible with our numbers." "Moving on, the black spots show regions that are uninhabitable due to natural causes. Their weather cycles, geological features, land patterns, etc, have been drastically altered from their base state. The cause must be familiar to Your Excellencies." "¡­Domain attacks." Vay silently muttered. Although she had been a resident of Pectron for many years, neither she nor anyone else had done such a thorough study of the planet''s surface and current situation. Seeing such detailed information displayed to her was shocking, to say the least. Olivia''s face suddenly turned serious as her smile disappeared. Her tone turned darker, as he continued. "The worrying thing about these black regions is that they are constantly expanding. Polluted lands in turn create more polluted lands, as the alterations caused by your Domains are spreading farther out." "At its current rate of expansion, another one-third of Pectron available surface will be enveloped by this black color in 90-110 years." Saying so, Olivia paused for a moment to let this fact sink in. The two Stage 3 existences clearly weren''t dumb and understood the implications of her words. Such changes cannot threaten them. If Pectron was ruined, they simply had to leave this planet and find another one. However, the same could not be said about their cities and their people. With the level of technology and knowledge that they currently possessed, something like a mass migration was simply impossible. Seeing the grave, pondering expressions on the two Stage 3 figures'' faces, Olivia inwardly let out a sigh of relief. ''Thanks goodness, they bought that. I''m glad that they aren''t asking a lot of questions either.'' She then stealthily turned to look at Lucius, who was silently pressuring the two figures. Now, the truth. Olivia''s words weren''t exactly honest. It wasn''t that she was lying either, but that her words had simply undergone a round of gross exaggeration and padding. The map of Pectron wasn''t fully accurate and some amount of liberty was taken in coloring the regions. The number of Wild Beasts estimated was also higher than the actual estimation, and the spreading of the black-colored regions weren''t as unstoppable as she made them out to be. If Pectron was to continue its current way of life, the planet or its inhabitants won''t face any serious problem for a good 500 years into the future. It was only after 500 or so years, will the problems outlines by Olivia be of any real threat. In other words, Olivia was using the current atmosphere and the ignorance of the two Stage 3 figures to deceive them. "Miss Violet Witch¡­" Vay''s tone had become a lot more polite, signifying that the little Faerie had fallen for Olivia''s words. "¡­what about the two other colors?" Brilliantly smiling, Olivia replied. "The green regions are places that are currently inhabited by people, while the blue regions are places that can be expanded into safely. In other words, they represent the current and future state of Pectron. "Still¡­" Olivia tone took a dive once more, as she grimly explained. "The resources of this world are finite. With the altered weather patterns, the competition from the Dark Shade Forest, and possible battles/wars between cities¡­the future on this planet is grim to say the least." "If I had to estimate a time, Pectron will start declining in 300 or less years alongside which your cities and people will also start declining. While the present is prosperous, let it not blind us from the instability of the future." Vay''s face severely paled upon hearing that. Faeries were creatures who innately took the concept of oaths, promises, and bonds very seriously. This made them extremely trustworthy and loyal beings, but also made them prone to scams. "Miss Viol¡ªNo, I suppose it''s Lady Violet Witch, now." Vay stood up from her seat and performed a bow towards Lucius and Olivia. "You have greatly enlightened me about the perils of the future. Moonwater City would be glad to join your alliance and assist you in every manner possible to secure our future." Olivia immediately got up from her seat and bowed in return. "It is my honor to have your esteemed city join us, Lady Vay. Please do not bow. I''m unworthy of such respect." Olivia politely spoke. Vay quickly straightened herself and nodded with a smile towards Olivia. In truth, her bow wasn''t towards Olivia but the person who stood behind her. No matter how ignorant and na?ve the little Faerie was, given sufficient time she was able to analyze the aura of the black-clothed youth. The result of her analysis was as such. Extreme danger! If she were to fight him, she had no confidence in her victory. All in all, power was the basis of respect within the Universe. And in the Faeries'' eyes, this youth possesses that power. Vay''s attention then moved onto Vimir''s face, which had a strange expression on his face. "What are you waiting for, geezer? Don''t you care about your descendants and your people?" she questioned. Vimir''s eyes showed that he wasn''t entirely convinced by Olivia''s speech. While he wasn''t exactly knowing about the situation of the planet, he vaguely knew that the future wasn''t as grim as Olivia had painted it to be. "Miss Violet Witch, I would like some time to¡ª" his speech was suddenly interrupted by a mental message from Lucius. {Join the alliance and I''ll kill that Stage 4 being for you.} Lucius'' words were short but filled with complete surety and indifference. Although he was speaking about killing a Stage 4 being, his words made it sound he was talking about something insignificant. And it was this fact that made Vimir instantly decide. "I apologize. Lady Violet Witch, Gravity Falls City and I will join the alliance. I do not want the seat of leader and will faithfully work under you, for as long as you treat my decedents fairly." Vimir bowed with deep respect. Caught off-guard by his sudden change, Olivia grew flustered. However, sensing the honest respect within his voice, she understood that Lucius might have had something to do with his change. Hurriedly returning the bow, Olivia replied. "Please do not lower yourself, Sir Vimir. I will surely treat all parties fairly and according to their contributions. Please do not worry about this." Vimir straightened his back and gave an honest smile to Olivia. He then faintly nodded at Lucius, hope contained within his eyes. "I will trust you then." Saying so, he sat down. Olivia also took her seat and the meeting moved to the next stage. "Now, the details of our alliance, i.e. what benefits can each party provide? I''ll start my side." "Mankind will share our advanced knowledge in sciences and our wealth of technology. Staring from the civilian level, we can invest within Pectron to bring¡ª" Knowing that Olivia''s plan was mostly complete, save for these boring explanations and negotiations, Lucius closed his eyes and zoned out the chatter. His attention sunk into his mindspace, as he started tinkering with his Domain once more. Chapter 275: Journey. A week later. A large crowd of people was standing around a small, slender spaceship. The crowd contained humans and aliens alike, with the latter attending with greater capacity. "A-are you su-sure *sobs* we-we can''t co-come wit*sobs*-with you, B-boss?" A teary voice choked with emotions, sobbed loudly. His alien body which was built like a bear and looked just as threatening, juxtaposed perfectly with his crying expression. His shoulders trembled as he used a small white handkerchief to wipe his nose, to no avail. "There, there, big guy. Let it all out." Wilkes, who was standing next to this bawling alien, gently patted his back. "The Boss will be fine. Lord Lucius is going with her." Wilkes consoled. "Ri-right." The big guy nodded his head, but his cries did not lessen. Looking at him go at it once again, Wilkes let out a sigh. He then turned towards the awkward-looking Olivia and spoke. "He''ll be fine, Boss. Big Chums over here gets easily emotional. He''s a sensitive kid." "I can clearly see that." Olivia stiffly replied. The alliance with Moonwater City, Gravity Falls City, and Mankind had been successfully established, and Olivia was finally done with her managerial duties. Although it was called an alliance in name, it was more of a company in actuality. Mankind occupied the ''employers'' position while the people of Pectron were the ''employees''. As for the product¡­it was clearly Mankind''s technology. Mechanical or Technological products were always welcome within the Universe. Coincidently, the region of the Universe within which Mankind resided, did not have a dominant Mechanical race and space-level technology was relatively rare (no fixed channel), as such it was a largely untapped market with incredible potential and spending power. With the establishment of a company, Mankind would be able to sell its technology into the Universe, thus establishing a universal, functioning economy and help with its assimilation with the greater whole of the Universe. Having set it on the right path, it was only a matter of time before the race recovered and surpassed its previous height. That being said, after months of hard work and many sleepless weeks of mind-numbing labor, Olivia was finally relieved of her managerial duties and leave on her training trip with Lucius. The large crowd who had gathered here today was the sendoff group. "Anyways¡­" shaking her head, Olivia looked at Wilkes with a serious expression and continued. "Starting today, you will be in charge of all of Pandemonium''s troops and also the ''Head Enforcer'' of the company. Do a great job, I wish you luck." A resolute look appeared on Wilkes'' face. He stood in the ''Attention'' position and sharply answered with a salute. "Yes, Boss! I swear to honor this role ''till my final breath!" "Stop being overdramatic. We already went over this change yesterday!" Olivia''s mouth twitched as she replied. Her people had recently discovered the existence of ''movies'' and ''dramas''. And much to Olivia''s dislike, they seemed to be getting¡­too into it. Ignoring the giggling troops, she then turned to face her human subordinates. Unlike the previous group, the humans seemed calmer and more proper since their level of attachment towards Olivia was relatively low. To them, Olivia was simply their leader. Reyna and Anya stood at the forefront of this group, with the former covered in mechanical oil and grime, while the latter coldly stood in strict military discipline. "I personally performed the maintenance and checks on the ship. There are no problems." Reyna tiredly replied. The ship she was referring to was the latest, flagship model borne out of Mankind''s latest advancements and the vessel Olivia, Lucius, and Ka''lor''ah were using for their journey. It contained a mixture of technology from Mankind''s, Formicians, and the Universe''s own (pirate ship). Skipping the technical jargon and putting it simply; the spaceship could go very far, very fast, for very long, and was very tough. (AN: God, I can feel my IQ decreasing as I write that sentence. Definitely putting it in the final edit.) It would serve as a reliable vessel for the training party''s travel. "Thank you." Olivia politely replied. The relationship between the duo was still frigid, but slightly better than before. Nodding her head, Reyna turned around and started to walk away. A few steps later, she suddenly stopped and gently spoke. "Be careful out there." After saying that, she ran away. Olivia looked at Reyna''s stiff, retreating back for a few seconds before turning to face Anya. "How long before you come back?" Anya coldly asked. After Alex''s ''disappearance'' her personality had become extremely detached and ice-cold. With each passing day, she resembled less of a person and more of a mindlessly working robot, toiling until death. "A few years. Definitely less than five, though." Olivia thought for a moment and answered. "Noted." Anya mechanically replied. "Just keep to yourselves and follow the general plan that I laid out. The company takes precedence so make sure everything goes smooth on that side." Olivia reminded her as Anya was replacing her in the managerial position. "Noted." "If you ever require force to solve anything, request the Stage 3 existences. They should assist you." "Noted." "You can leave now." Olivia replied with a sigh. Anya simply saluted her and walked away, followed by the rest of the humans. Well, almost all save for a single person. Looking at this calmly smiling person, Olivia''s face softened as she approached him and gently hugged him. "Dad¡­" "Whoa! Easy there, kiddo. Don''t accidently crush this old man." Bennet joked. Hearing that, Olivia tightened her hug and buried her face into his shoulder. Complicated thoughts filled her mind and her eyes were getting teary. Holding her tears back, Olivia whispered with a quiet voice. "¡­I''m a bad daughter. Leaving you again after barely spending time with you¡­" "Hey, don''t say that." Holding onto Olivia''s faintly trembling shoulders with his aged hands, Bennet pulled her back and met her eyes with his gaze. Wearing a rarely serious expression, he continued. "I didn''t raise you for all those years, just so you could sit back at home and spend time with me. No¡­I raised you so that you can leave the nest with confidence and spread your wings out there in the real world." "You''re just doing that. There''s nothing to feel bad about here." "Seeing and hearing about the things that you''ve done makes me more than just proud...I''m amazed, to tell you the truth." A reminiscent look appeared within Bennet''s eyes as he muttered. "Sometimes, I wonder whether or not you really are my daughter. Perhaps¡­there was a mistake at the hospital and the babies were switched?" His joke caused Olivia to chuckle and lightly hit him on his stomach. Bennet too laughed at his joke and continued. "Seriously though, I''m super proud of you and if your Mom had been here today, I''m sure that she would be too." Wiping her tears and patting Olivia on her head, Bennet cheerfully smiled. "So go out there and do more amazing stuff so that I can brag about it. Who knows, it might even help this old man get laid with some beautiful, mature ladies¡­that was a joke, don''t look at me like that." Seeing Olivia''s eyes narrow threateningly, Bennet immediately folded. He then looked towards the sky and grumbled. "Seriously, you''re too much like your mother that it''s scary." Feeling her mood to be much brighter, Olivia looked at this frivolous father of hers and curiously asked. "Did you talk with Lucius?" Hearing that question, Bennet looked at Olivia with a strange expression. "Well, there was a talk¡­to say the least. It was more of me talking and him nodding his head." Bennet then casually shrugged his shoulders and continued. "Well, it''s not like I don''t understand his thoughts. I also felt very awkward when I talked with my father-in-law alone for the first time. I''m sure Lucius must have felt even more awkward, considering that I even raised him." "Wha-what are you saying?!" Hearing her father''s causal words, Olivia became flustered. Smiling slyly at his daughter''s flustered reaction Bennet simply returned a thumbs-up and replied. "I''ve seen what is happening and I like it. You got my full support." He then mischievously smirked and continued to tease her. "Make sure to bring a lot of little ones when I see you two the next time. I''ll be waiting." With that, Bennet immediately turned around and made a break for it. He had zero interest in being subject to his daughter''s ''embarrassed beatings'', as his body was not as strong as it was in the past. Looking at her father unhesitantly run away, Olivia stood dumbfounded for a few seconds. She then let out a sigh, followed by a series of giggles which then broke into full-fledged laughter. After laughing till tears started to fall from her eyes, Olivia gradually calmed down, turned around, and walked up the metal staircase leading into the spaceship. Waving goodbye to the Captains gathered for one last time, she entered the spaceship and closed the hatch behind her. Staring into the dimly lit corridor, Olivia lightly slapped her cheeks and resolved herself. ''I need to become stronger. Much, much stronger than I currently am.'' Walking to the end of the corridor, Olivia arrived before a metal ladder leading into the main body of the ship. Climbing the ladder, she then made her way past the multiple closed doors and arrived at the center of the ship. To the Common Room. Entering the Common Room, Olivia looked at the black-clothed youth meditating at the center of the room. Feeling her presence, Lucius opened his eyes and asked. "Done?" Resolutely nodding her head, Olivia answered. "Yes!" Tapping into his soul link, Lucius informed Ka''lor''ah. ''She''s done. Take it away.'' ''You got it, chief!'' The ship began to gently tremble and quake, before slowly lifting off of the ground. Turning its nose to face the sky, the ship''s engine blazed with energy and the vessel started to ascend. The training arc had officially begun! Chapter 276: Lessons. "Lucius?" "Yes?" "Who''s controlling the ship?" Olivia nervously asked. Since take-off a few minutes ago, the shaking and trembling of the spaceship had increased in intensity, rather than gradually subsiding. In fact, the shaking had gotten so bad that Olivia, who was strapped into a seat, was starting to get dizzy. Hearing her words filled with nervousness, Lucius causally replied. "It''s Ka''lor''ah. It seems she''s been studying up these past two weeks, and wanted to pilot the ship." "Is that fine?" Shrugging his shoulders, Lucius replied. "As long as she doesn''t crash it into anything, it''ll be fine." "Moving on¡­" Lucius stared at Olivia with utmost seriousness. His unblinking black eyes gazed into Olivia''s violet eyes, causing the latter to unconsciously stiffen. She perked up her ears and carefully listened to what Lucius had to say. "Starting today, your training under my teaching begins. It will last until you reach a point where I''m satisfied with your strength." "I will unreservedly pass on everything that I know onto you, and you will untiringly learn. During this period, you will not question, complain, or concede defeat." Holding up his hands, Lucius stretched two of his fingers and counted. "I expect two things from you; Clarity and Perfection." "During my lessons, you will memorize my words, actions, and intents with absolute clarity. Failure to do so will only slow you down and hinder your progress." "In regards to perfection, it''s self-explanatory. Everything that you learn from me will be learned with perfection and nothing less. If a lesson isn''t perfectly learned, then you will practice it till perfection before moving onto the next lesson." "The topics you will learn from me range from; Combat Techniques, Battle Knowledge, Survival and Tracking, and Anatomy. Some minor lessons unrelated to these topics might be taught when and as required." "The lessons with Ka''lor''ah will also continue, although mine will take priority. Breaks, rests, and sleep will be a luxury starting today. So, learn to regulate your soul power and conserve your energy." "At the end of each lesson, you will take on a test. Pass the test, and we can move on to the next lesson. However, if you fail it¡­let''s just say that there would not be any point in the next lesson." "Do you have any questions?" Lucius stared at Olivia only to see that the latter had a troubled expression on her face. He tilted his head in confusion, then suddenly realized after a few seconds. "Questions related to the lessons can be asked. Anything else will be ignored." Heaving a sigh of relief, Olivia faced Lucius seriously and asked her first question. "Combat Technique and Battle Knowledge are fine, but why is Survival and Tracking a subject? Also, shouldn''t Anatomy be taught be Ka''lor''ah¡­it does seem technical in nature." Anatomy, defined as the study of bodily structures of living organisms, seemed like a technical subject to Olivia, hence her question. Apart from that¡­why were Survival and Tracking included in a major subject? Wasn''t it something like that, primarily for hunters? Hearing her question, Lucius nonchalantly replied. "Survival and Tracking is an essential field of knowledge. One that you''ll desperately require in the future. I suggest paying careful attention to those lessons, lest something¡­unfortunate happens." "As for anatomy--"Lucius'' speech was suddenly interrupted as the hatch to the Common Room was opened and Ka''lor''ah strutted in. "There should be none living in this Universe, who''s more knowledgeable in Anatomy than this guy here," Ka''lor''ah announced. "Sorry, couldn''t help but overhear your words." Ka''lor''ah flew over to Lucius'' head and sat atop it. "That sums it up."Lucius nodded in reply, confidence apparent in his words. Lucius was not all-knowing. He was nowhere near good at schemes, plots, or strategies. Thinking a lot before acting was just not his style. But that did not mean that Lucius was dumb. He was more than well-versed in certain fields such as combat or hunting, to the point where he could be referred to as a genius. And one of those fields was Anatomy. Having reached Stage 7 of [Killer] in his previous life, Lucius had killed ''at least'' one of every single species that existed within the Universe. A requirement for ascendance into Stage 7 of the [Killer] path was to have a thorough understanding of every living creature. Its structure, its habits, its weakness, etc. Ergo, Anatomy. "Done flying the ship?" Lucius asked the tiny-bodied being sitting on the top of his head. "Yeah, I had my fun for now. It''s on autopilot with the destination set. We will reach there in about three weeks." Ka''lor''ah replied. Nodding his head, Lucius then looked towards Olivia and began his first lesson as a teacher. A position that he had never thought to find himself in. "Question, what is the difference between a Stage 1 existence and a Stage 2 existence?" Realizing that her lessons had begun, Olivia immediately grew serious. She carefully listened to the questioned and pondered hard on it. A few dozen seconds later, she hesitantly answered. "¡­the amount of soul power?" Just as she had finished answering, Olivia felt a small object hit her on her forehead. "Ouch!" She yelped in pain and felt a small coin-sized black-colored pebble fall on the ground and vanish into the air. Looking up, she saw Lucius looking at her with narrowed eyes and heard him coldly speak. "I forgot to mention, incorrectly answering or failing during any of the lessons will result in punishments." Hearing that, Olivia quickly realized. Lucius had flicked that pebble onto her forehead as punishment. ''It really hurts. Where did he get that pebble from?'' Olivia rubbed her forehead and looked towards Lucius who was still awaiting an answer. ''No wait, actually, why did that pebble suddenly disappear? Something that solid cannot simply vanish unless it''s¡ª" her eyes suddenly narrowed, as a possibility flashed across her mind. ''Was that pebble made out of soul power? Did Lucius materialize that pebble? How? Wasn''t soul power supposed to be formless?'' Olivia raised her palm and focused her soul power into two strands atop her fingertips. She then focused her complete attention on her palm and tried to force the two strands of soul power to combine and assume a material shape. The two stands fiercely trembled, as Olivia found it increasingly hard to control its energy flow. Without giving up, she continued to focus her efforts, and slowly, the two strands started to inch closer together. When the two strands were about a centimeter away from each other, Olivia suddenly felt herself lose control of the two energies and the strands vanished. ''It''s impossible.'' Olivia shook her head. Towards the end, Olivia felt like pushing a thousand-ton proverbial boulder. The strands simply refused to move together. Just as she was about to guess Lucius again, her movements stopped. ''Wait a second, isn''t blade energy technically a form of materialized soul power? Same with the shield formed with soul power? The only difference here is that I use a specific channeling technique to use them.'' ''Going by that¡­'' Unknowingly Olivia entered a state of deliberation and started to try out her thoughts. Looking at the purple-clothe woman seriously experiment with her soul power, Lucius unconsciously nodded his head. ''Not bad. She quickly realized the hint.'' The main difference between a Stage 1 and a Stage 2 did not lie in the quantity of their soul power, but their ability to freely control and materialize their soul power outside of their own bodies. At Stage 1, one was limited to channel their soul power within fixed vessels (bodies, special artifacts, etc). However, upon reaching Stage 2 they would be able to bring out the raw soul power and flood the world surrounding them. To use your soul power and take control of your surroundings. This was the intricate difference and also the concept behind the Field and the core power of a Stage 2 being! Seeing that Olivia was working hard on figuring it out herself, Lucius did not intervene and let her continue. ''Hey, Lucius? How long do you think it will take her to figure it out?'' Ka''lor''ah''s question was heard within his mind. ''The answer...A few hours. The process...a few weeks, if I point her in the right direction.'' Lucius answered. While Lucius made the process look effortless, it was anything but that. In fact, actively controlling the amount of soul power required to create a Field, was even harder than ascending to Stage 3. However, having a Field would make the process of creating a Domain much easier, and even increase its strength. After all, having the strength and knowing how to properly wield it were two completely different things. ''How long did it take you to figure this out?'' Ka''lor''ah curiously asked. It was one of those things which she didn''t know about him. Thinking for a few seconds, Lucius recalled his earlier memories and answered. ''Almost 23 years, I think. I had no one to help me, so I had to figure it out from trial and error.'' ''The fact that you managed to figure it out all by yourself is already amazing.'' Ka''lor''ah praised. ''Enough about that. She''s already starting to go down the wrong path.'' Lucius replied, readying his hands to flick another pebble towards Olivia''s head. A slight snap of his fingers and... Thud! "Ouch!" The cycle restarted once again. Chapter 277: First Training Location: An Ominously Glowing Planet. "¡­Nine-hundred and ninety-six." "¡­*huff*Nine-hundred and ninety-seven." "*huff*¡­*huff*¡­Nine-hundred and ninety-eight." "*huff*¡­*huff*¡­Nine-hundred¡­*huff*¡­and ninety-nine¡­*huff*." Pulling up her tired body one last time, Olivia finished the final repetition for her aerial crunches. "Uuuggghh¡­one-thousand!! *huff*¡­*huff*" Thud! Releasing her leg-holds from the metal pull-up bar, Olivia fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Lying on the floor with her fours limbs outstretched, Olivia''s abundant chests heaved in breathlessness. The sweat covering her smooth, white skin shimmered against the dim lighting of the floor. Droplets of sweat pooled underneath her body, as the air conditioner within the room worked hard to decrease temperature. Lifting her hand, Olivia pulled on her damp sports bra, the only article of clothing on her upper body, to prevent it from sticking to her chest. This action allowed cool air to enter the crevice between her breasts, bringing her a pleasant relief. Olivia continued to lie on the ground and started to operate her soul power. The Mid-Level soul power smoothly flowed through her body and eased her tired and damaged muscles. After doing this for a few minutes, she stopped the flow and preserved the remaining soul power. Forcing herself to her feet, Olivia stretched her entire body once more. This time, greater attention was paid to her abdomen as a sore, dull pain was felt from that area, courtesy of the strenuous exercise. Using her long finger, Olivia gently eased the taut muscles. ''Jeez, my muscle lines on my stomach are getting more and more defined after these exercises. At this rate, I might start looking like a bulky bodybuilder.'' Imaging herself with large, weighty muscles, Olivia quickly shook her head in disgust. ''Never! Slender muscles are the best!'' (AN: Indeed.) BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Just then, an alarm suddenly started to sound from the watch on Olivia''s wrist. Raising her right hand, Olivia hurriedly looked at the alarm. {0300- Anatomy Lesson in Common Room.} {Current Time: 0255} "Already?!" after yelling so, Olivia started to quickly move. Rushing towards the single bed, situated in the corner of the room, Olivia quickly grabbed a towel and rushed towards the bathroom. After hurriedly undressing inside, she quickly got into the shower, rinsed her sweaty body under the cold water, got out, wiped herself, and clothes herself with an attire similar to the one that she had just removed. After grabbing the sweaty clothes and putting them into a hamper, she quickly exited the bathroom and ran towards a study table, opposite the bed. Grabbing onto the roughly strewn books on the table, Olivia then exited her room and ran towards the Common Room at breakneck speeds. Arriving before the closed door, she quickly looked at her reflection on the metallic surface and observed her appearance. ''My hair''s a bit messy.'' Gathering her long, partially wet hair, Olivia quickly fashioned a high ponytail, before entering the room. Seated at the center of the room with his eyes closed was Lucius. Sensing Olivia''s entrance, he opened his mouth and coldly uttered. "You are thirty seconds late. Thirty pebble shots as punishment." The instant he finished speaking, thirty small, round pebbles appeared in the air surrounding Lucius. Looking at those tiny black pebbles, despair appeared within Olivia''s eyes, as he quickly closed her eyes and braced herself. The number of times that she had been hit by these tiny pebbles over the past three weeks was inestimable. At this point, the sudden sharp pain was all too familiar to her. Swoosh! All the pebbles moved in unison and accurately struck Olivia at her weakest points. Lucius avoided her fatal points, emphasizing pain over fatality. "Urgh¡­" Biting hard on her lips, Olivia tolerated the pain. She did not resist or evade the punishment with her soul power, as doing so would result in more severe punishments. She had tried once and had immediately sworn to never do it ever again. "You can sit now." After what felt like an eternity of agony, Olivia heard Lucius speak again. Opening her eyes, she wordlessly walked forward and sat on the floor. Lucius got up from his chair and started to pace around the room. "Before we start with today''s lessons, show me your progress with your soul power materialization," Lucius announced. Hearing that, great excitement shone within Olivia''s eyes. She quickly raised her palm and started to gather her soul power over it. Violet-colored soul power started to appear over her palm, and Olivia meticulously controlled it to form strands. The strands started to quickly form and multiply soon reaching twenty in numbers. Twenty strands were the limit of Olivia''s control and the results of her tireless practice over the last three weeks. Controlling these twenty strands already required a great amount of her focus and creating anymore resulted in total collapse. Like an excited pet that had learnt a new trick, Olivia raised her head and stared at Lucius. "How''s that? Two more than yesterday." She smugly spoke with a smile. Lucius did not comment and quietly stared at the twenty strands. He then replied. "Fuse them and form a ball." Seemingly having expected that Olivia quickly moved the twenty strands and formed a spherical ball. Although the process looked effortless, sweat had started to appear on Olivia''s forehead. "Make a cube." Lucius continued. Olivia moved the strands once again and accomplished his request. "A cone." One after the other, Lucius started to name geometrical shapes and Olivia controlled the strands to meet his request. Lucius started to gradually increase the difficulty and complexity of the shapes, forcing Olivia to work harder. After a few minutes, the strands started to tremble and Olivia found herself out of breath. Just when Lucius had requested an icosahedron, Olivia finally lost control over her soul power, resulting in the strands dispersing. She lowered her head to hide the disappointment in her eyes and heavily panted. Controlling each strand was similar to controlling an extra limb. It was a completely foreign, not to mention, technically demanding task. ''I¡ªI failed again.'' Olivia was incredibly despondent. ''I still couldn''t do it.'' Failure was common and was not a feeling for Olivia. During these past three weeks, she had failed an innumerable amount of times at controlling her soul power. However, today was different. The many sleepless nights of practice and mind-numbing effort had paid off and her control over the number of strands reached twenty, the number Lucius had instructed her to reach, in order to move onto the next lesson, last night. Olivia was incredibly excited to show it to Lucius and was confident that she would pass. However¡­she had still ultimately failed. For a moment, she felt all of her hard work and effort become invalidated and the time spent, meaningless. Firmly shutting her eyes to stop her tears from flowing, Olivia braced herself to be punished once more. The pain from the thirty previous strikes continued to sting, and the new round of punishment would only add to this number. It was then¡­that Olivia felt a cold hand pat her on her head, twice. "Not bad. You reached the requirement a week prior to my prediction." She heard Lucius'' toneless voice, praise her. Raising her head in amazement and confusion, Olivia stared into Lucius'' expressionless face. It was blank as usual and there was not a single trace of feeling, like a cold stone wall. She then watched as his thin, pale lips moved once again. "Stop sitting dumbly and suit up. Today''s anatomy lesson will be postponed to later. Instead, we will be doing some practical lessons starting now." It wasn''t congratulation or praise and was rather plainly rude and insensitive. However, hearing those words swept away all of Olivia''s dismal emotions. Smiling brightly, she got up to her feet and replied. "Got it!" ----------- A few seconds ago. ''Hmm, this level of control¡­It''s not good, but it''s not bad either. It''s barely passable.'' Looking at Olivia complete the requested shape, Lucius thought to himself. ''She should fail in the next shape.'' Thinking so, Lucius continued his request. "An icosahedron." Just as he expected, the soul power strands dissipated and Olivia failed. ''Not ideal, but this should do. It''s not like we have time anyway.'' Just as Lucius was lost in his thoughts, he heard Ka''lor''ah''s displeased voice resound within his head. ''Good Heavens, how inconsiderate can you be? Can those eyes of yours even see properly? You''re making that poor girl cry! Again!'' Although Ka''lor''ah was not physically present inside the room, her detection and observation abilities underwent another upgrade, after her ascendance into Stage 3. Looking down, Lucius found Olivia with her head lowered and shoulder trembling. He then quietly clicked his tongue, as he put the two and two together. ''What should I do?'' Lucius asked. Personally, he couldn''t see what the problem was. It wasn''t like she had failed and was about to be punished. ''My god! You''re seriously hopeless. It''s like you''ve returned to being that hard-headed, insensitive jerk you were when you were in Stage 7.'' Ka''lor''ah fumed. ''What should I do?'' Lucius asked once again, unbothered by her accusation. Physically face-palming herself, Ka''lor''ah then heavily sighed before replying. ''Pat her head gently and give her a word of praise. Validate her efforts. It''s not like she didn''t pass your test. If anything, she surpassed your expectation by reaching twenty strands in three weeks.'' Taking her advice, Lucius did just so. ''I didn''t literally mean ''A WORD''!! You¡ªI can''t! I just can''t with you!'' Ka''lor''ah heaved in exasperation before giving up. ''Heads up, we have arrived at your destination. All I can see is a planet made up of a bunch of rocks and ominous blue-green light shining between it.'' ''Noted. Get the ship close to the planet and stop it there. We''ll be getting off.'' ----------- A few minutes later, the trio exited the spaceship and started to descend towards the planet. Lucius held Olivia in his hands as he descended as the latter was not strong enough to overcome the planet''s immense gravitational pull on her own. Ka''lor''ah, for her part, sat atop Lucius'' head and held onto his hair. A bubble of soul power encompassed the trio as they closed in on the ominously glowing planet. In size, the planet was a tiny bit smaller than Earth but was nowhere near as habitable. No oceans or landmass could be seen from afar, as a dense layer of fractured and fragments rocks encompassed the entire atmosphere. Even the ominous green glow could only be seen from between the gaps of the rocks. In short, it looked less like an actual planet and more like a large, spherical collection of space stones held together by the immense pull of gravity. "What is this place?" Seated comfortably within the bubble, Ka''lor''ah asked. Olivia, who was also curious, perked her ears. Unlike previously, she was no longer shy or embarrassed by skinship with Lucius. Rather, clothed in the purple-variant of Lucius'' armor, she comfortably sat within Lucius'' hold, cherishing this rare chance. Faced with that question, Lucius looked at the glowing planet with his endlessly blank eyes. His gaze was cold and his voice was even colder. "A well (the kind that holds water) within which I fell into after I escaped from Pectron." Hearing his answer, Olivia looked confused, while Ka''lor''ah understood it as a reference to his previous life. Nevertheless, curiosity appeared in both their eyes. "Brace yourselves." Saying that Lucius accelerated and the trio disappeared behind the layer of rocks. Chapter 278: Field Practice. Making their way past the first layer formed of microscopic rock dust and small stones, the trio fell for another few hundred meters before seeing ''land''. This ''land'' was formed of much larger rocks and was rather too close to the boundary separating the planet and space. In actuality, this ''land'' was a solid clouds layer formed of larger, fragmented rock and was held together by the special electromagnetic field emitted by the glowing planet. In fact, this entire ''planet'' was formed of hundreds of such rock layers, each progressively getting closer to the center. As for the specifics of each layer¡­it had to be explored. Having noticed the first later, Lucius slowed down his speed of descent and gently landed upon the ''ground''. The moment Lucius touched down, the rock underneath his feet sunk for a few centimeters before rising back up. "We are here." Lucius announced and destroyed the bubble of soul power surrounding the trio. The instant this bubble- a negation barrier of sorts- was removed, the external properties of the environment rushed in. Lack of oxygen, lowered gravity, a weird buzzing sound within one''s ears, were some of the more noticeable properties of the environment. However, having already undergone a few lessons of Survival and Tracking, Olivia was prepared. The instant Lucius removed the bubble barrier, she used her own soul power to surround her body and protect it from the extremities. Most of the issued directly threatening the body was solved, with only the lessened gravity and constant buzzing sound remaining. Ka''lor''ah, being the non-living entity she was, did not even require these measures. The instant Lucius removed the barrier she jumped off of his head and started to fly around in this new environment. The presence of the dust layer, a few hundred meters above, served to block the majority of light coming into this planet. However, the surroundings weren''t entirely dark as eerie green light pulsed from the cracks beneath their feet and dimly lit up the surroundings. "Wow, this place is beautiful." Olivia, who was still clinging onto Lucius, remarked. "Indeed. This is my first time seeing something like this!" Ka''lor''ah, who was a few dozen meters away, was the first to reply. Being a slave to the Lords, meant little in terms of freedom for Ka''lor''ah. While her knowledge was the most complete and abundant in the entire Universe, her actual experience was pitifully low. Seeing cosmic wonders, such as this planet, filled her with boundless excitement and ecstasy. "We seem to have arrived during the planet''s night cycle." Observing his surroundings, Lucius premised. "How can you tell that?" Ka''lor''ah questioned, her eyes burning with the intense desire to know. Pointing towards the cracks routinely pulsing with green light, Lucius explained. "The intensity and frequency of the green light are tamer and lower. If this was during the day cycle, the intensity of the green light would be blinding. Even for Stage 3 existences." "How do you know that?" This time, it was Olivia with the question. "I lived here for some time." Lucius vaguely replied, before turning his head and staring into Olivia''s mesmerizing violet eyes. Staring for a few seconds, he then spoke. "Get off." Understanding that she had held on for as long as possible, Olivia took one last, sneaky whiff of Lucius'' natural scent, before jumping off. Her feet gracefully landed on the ground when suddenly, Olivia''s pupils shrunk. The ''ground'' beneath her feet was nowhere as solid as she had thought it to be and immediately started to sink under Olivia''s weight. Her footing had destabilized and Olivia started to fall down. The lowered gravity also made it hard for her to accurately move her body, further affecting her attempts at recovery. ''Shit!!'' Realizing that she had messed up, Olivia instinctively closed her eyes. Just as Olivia was about to completely sink into the ground, she felt a pair of strong arms hold her on the waist and lift her up. Opening her eyes, she found Lucius'' cold eyes differentially staring at her. "What was the first lesson in Survival?" Lucius'' low tone had a tinge of reprimand within. Being held up in the air like a small, stuffed doll, Olivia felt embarrassment flood her entire being. Lowering her head, she quietly answered. "Always be aware of everything within a 5m radius." Clearly, she had forgotten to do that. Seeing Lucius safely stand on the ground had resulted in Olivia subconsciously lowering her sense of caution. Recognizing her fault, Olivia lowered her head further from shame and wordlessly spread her soul power to scan the surrounding. The result from the scan was soon apparent. The fragments of rock serving as their foothold were unusually thin and incredibly light. Almost weightless! What was even more astonishing was that there seemed to be no solid ground underneath this layer of rock! This rock fragment, or well, this entire layer seemed to be magically held in the air by a special force/energy. As a result of her soul power not being potent enough, Olivia was unable to understand or even detect this special force/energy. "Do you see it now?" Lucius asked, to which Olivia nodded her head. "Questions?" he continued. Suppressing her shame and embarrassment, Olivia raised her head, pointed at Lucius'' feet with her fingers, and asked. "How are you standing? The rocks seem to sink at the slightest addition of weight." Nodding his head at her question, Lucius lifted his left leg and showed the bottom of his boot to Olivia. At the bottom of his boot, a few strands of soul power gathered to form a complex pattern that glowed with soft white light. These strands seemed to be radiating a repulsive force, which served to greatly decrease Lucius'' weight, allowing him to stand atop these floating rocks. "Understood?" Lucius asked and Olivia nodded her head. "I''ll give you thirty seconds before dropping you. If you fall, I won''t be catching you." Lucius warned and started the count. "Thirty¡­twenty-nine¡­twenty-eight¡ª" The instant Lucius started counting, Olivia drew out her soul power and started to form that complex pattern. Having just shown the pattern, it wasn''t difficult for her to form the shape with her newfound control skills. However, the difficult part followed next. Forming the pattern on her palm was simple but moving it underneath her feet was¡­difficult. "¡­seventeen¡­sixteen..." Lucius did not care for her difficulties and continued with the merciless countdown. "You can do it, Lil'' Olli! If you''re worried, don''t be! Believe in the me that believes in you!!" Ka''lor''ah, who was watching the proceedings with the greatest of interest, cheered Olivia on. To say the truth, watching others suffer filled Ka''lor''ah with sadistic pleasure. "ten¡­what''s that supposed to mean?...eight¡­seven¡ª" Lucius interrupted his counting for a moment, to question her. "It from¡ª"Shaking her head, Ka''lor''ah replied.¡ªnever mind, you wouldn''t get it." "..three¡­two¡­one¡­Time''s up." Lucius instantly released his hold on Olivia. The latter, who was still in the process of moving the patterns to her feet, almost lost control over her strands, due to the sudden drop. Feeling her feet hit the ground and subsequently sink, Olivia''s heart panicked but her mind cooled. Her survival instinct kicked in, and the final portions of the pattern were instinctively transferred onto her feet. Kicking off the sinking rock and jumping up, Olivia moved towards another fragment and landed atop with maximum grace manageable. The pattern beneath her feet operated with full power, and the rock beneath her feet sunk for a few centimeters before rising back up. "Haha! I did it!!" Olivia shouted with joy, as the adrenaline from her survival trigger continued to rush through her body. Clap! Clap! Clap! Ka''lor''ah, in classic fashion, proudly clapped at her achievement and praised. "Nice going! It was my wise words that fueled your success." Lucius, for his part, simply shook his head at the antics of the female duo. Turning around, he casually spoke a sentence before setting off. "Keep up. We have a lot of ground to cover." Lucius'' speed was astonishing as ever as he quickly disappeared into the horizon. Ka''lor''ah and Olivia also started to chase after him, not wanting to be left behind. Of course, not before the former voiced a challenge in typical fashion. "The last one to reach the finish line will have their month''s ration of snacks eaten by the other!" Ka''lor''ah yelled and accelerated with her wings. "Not fair!!" Olivia yelled back and hurriedly chased after the cheater. The constant focus required to control the strands and keep the pattern functioning impacted Olivia''s speed. Still, the friendly completion proposed by Ka''lor''ah served as motivation for the latter, as her control over the strands became smoother and more natural. Unknowingly, Olivia''s control over her soul power started to improve. She was slowly but surely getting closer to creating a Field. Chapter 279: The Road Through the Fog. The race continued for a few hours as the duo, with Lucius leading the front, continued to follow after him. During this period, Olivia continuously met one challenge after another. Some rock fragments were thinner than the others. The gravity in certain areas greatly varied. Elevation was added to the barren terrain. And at one point mid-way, Olivia tripped and almost lost control over her soul power. Nevertheless, she managed to preserve and continue. The dangerous challenges and close shaves with death, allowed her to improve her skills at rapid speeds. For it is only under great pressure, that one''s full talent and abilities are brought out. Lucius, who was leading the charge, understood this statement and carefully chose the route. The main purpose of coming to this planet was to train Olivia. That being said, Lucius chose a route that provided, just the right degree of danger and challenge, stimulating her to improve at the quickest rate possible. Ka''lor''ah had already informed him of the challenge, and Lucius deliberately played along. This process lasted for a few hours before Lucius came to a stop. Ka''lor''ah, who was flying in second, lagged behind Lucius by a few dozen seconds, whereas Olivia, who was the final one to reach the finish line, lagged by a full minute. "Well, looks like I won." Ka''lor''ah happily gloated over her exhausted opponent. Olivia was bent over with her hands clutching onto her knees. Her entire body was trembling like a leaf, as a result of the intense workout. "Haa¡­haa¡­that''s not¡­haaa¡­fair¡­at all¡­" Olivia protested. "Life is not fair. Try being born with wings next time. That might help." Ka''lor''ah did not give in to her protests. Flying over to Olivia, she deliberately went next to the latter''s ears and whispered. "If you want to impress Lucius, you''ll have to try much harder than that. Just this much effort is nowhere near enough to overcome the hurdle of his heart." Hearing those words, Olivia''s eyes sharpened and the proverbial fire within her was alighted. Ka''lor''ah, satisfied by her actions backed off and loudly announced. "Those snacks are mine though. I''m not giving them back." Ka''lor''ah''s new body came equipped with all sorts of functions and features. The sense of taste was naturally one of them. As such, Ka''lor''ah had taken a liking for sweets and snacks although her body did not require them for sustenance. With limited stocks available on the ship, Olivia, being the only other person on the ship who also partook in their consumption, was in fierce competition with Ka''lor''ah. This race was simply one of many such competitions. "Are you two done?" Lucius intervened. Seeing the two look towards with attention, Lucius continued. "We are done for today. The day cycle is approaching and staying outside is dangerous." He specifically looked towards Olivia during the last part of his sentence. "Anyways, we shall rest for now and wait for the day cycle to end. After that, we will continue with the training." Lucius then looked towards Ka''lor''ah and said. "The race is not over yet. It''s on temporary hold. You haven''t won anything." "Boohoo! That''s unfair!!" Ka''lor''ah protested, but a dangerous look from Lucius quickly shut her up. Quieting her protests, she felt a gaze on her body, quickly tracing it back to the smug face of Olivia. Extending her small tongue in dissent, Ka''lor''ah soundlessly mouthed the words. ''This isn''t over yet. I will have my snacks!'' Understanding the words, Olivia replied by mouthing her own. ''You will try.'' The two then looked away from each other, turning their heads to the side. It was then¡­ "Deploy Domain: Corpse Mountain Range." ¡­Lucius deployed his Domain. ---------- The trio suddenly found themselves surrounded by darkness. "Light." Lucius'' monotonous voice suddenly rang out and a sphere of light appeared within the area, chasing out the darkness. Once her eyes had adjusted to the sudden changes in light, Olivia looked around and found herself inside a cave. The walls and floor of the cave were strangely sticky and damp, nothing in likeness with rocks. The entire space was colorlessly monochromatic, save for herself, Lucius and Ka''lor''ah. Opening her mouth, Olivia suddenly realized that no sound would exit her mouth. She then tried to blow but realized that no wind was present inside this space either. "We can rest inside my Domain. Do not exit this cave, especially you, Ka''lor''ah." Olivia heard Lucius speak and looked towards Ka''lor''ah. "The Domain isn''t complete and carelessly wandering will result in your death. I will not be able to save you." Olivia found the latter moving her tiny mouth, but no sounds exited. Confusion first appeared on Ka''lor''ah''s face, followed by an aggrieved look. Her mouth and body moved a lot, in what seemed to be in a fit of complaints and curses. Lucius as usual ignored her and walked towards a stump-like projection within the cave. On closer look, however, there was a trace of satisfaction on Lucius'' face. The same satisfaction one would have when the annoying kid is finally quietened by his parent in a movie or a supermarket. (AN: We''ve all been there, and more than once have I felt the urge to shut them up. FOREVER.) Sitting on that stump which seemed to be constructed from the coiling of intestines large and small in size, Lucius pointed his finger towards Olivia and spoke. "Speak." Instantly, Olivia felt a strange, imaginary weight disappear from her body. With the disappearance of that invisible restriction, the ability to hear sounds returned to Olivia. The sound of her heartbeat, the uncomfortable squelching of what was definitely flesh underneath her feet, the flutters of Ka''lor''ah''s wings, and the rustling of her clothes¡­all sorts of audio information filtered into Olivia''s brain. "Is this your Domain?" Olivia asked Lucius. Nodding his head, Lucius replied. "Indeed. A small area within it. Do not leave this cave or you will meet with death." He warned once more. Lucius was still in the process of perfecting his Domain. While it was mostly stable, there were still a few unstable areas and dangerous portions that would definitely kill third-party intruders. Taking a seat atop of another, similar stump, Olivia continued with her questions. "Shouldn''t Domains only be brought out for battle? Isn''t there a time limit for their duration?" Recalling the tidbits of information given by Ka''lor''ah and what she had observed and learnt herself, Olivia found Lucius'' actions puzzling. Yes, it provided them safety from whatever dangers were present during the day cycle on that strange planet. But what was the point, if the Domain could only last for a few minutes before disappearing. Hearing her question, Lucius slowly explained. "Yes and no." "Domains are ''primarily'' used for battle, but that isn''t their only purpose. Upon reaching Stage 4, soul power will no longer be the main factor driving your advancement. Instead, your advancement into the latter Stages will be dependent on your Domains." "The size and quality of your Domains, alongside their complexity and stability will be the basis for your advancement and the main center of your power." "Once your Domain reached a certain level, and if your body can handle the burden, you will naturally rise into the next Stage. Of course, given that all other conditions have been met." "As for the time limit¡­that only exists for incomplete Domains. Domains that are complete will be capable of self-sustainment. Therefore, it''s important to build a Domain with complimenting set of Rules and create a cycle with your soul power." "As long as the Domain isn''t actively being used in battle or is damaged, the soul power consumed with simple deployment must be net-zero." Looking back, almost all of the opponents fought by Lucius had a Domain that only focused on attacking. While this wasn''t the wrong approach, since the primary use of a Domain was to battle, it wasn''t correct either. Those Domains, due to their lack of completion lacked the self-sustainment quality. In fact, this was a problem plaguing a majority of Stage 3 beings within the Universe. Having an incomplete Domain not only meant the existence of a time limit, but it also meant that the owner of the Domain would never be able to ascend into Stage 4. After all, the primary requirement to ascend into Stage 4 was to have a complete Domain. There were also individual secondary requirements that varied from soul to soul. (E.g. [Killer] had the; take ten billion lives and overcome the [Trial of Madness], to enter Stage 4) Thus, the great dividing line between talented (with potential) and untalented (without potential) Stage 3 existences was the completion of their Domain. Those who could complete their Domains could ascend into Stage 4, while those who could not, were forever stuck at the Peak-Level. Now having being informed of this information, it makes sense why Lucius decided to focus on Olivia''s domain to improve her degree of power. Were Olivia to possess a completed Domain, she would not lose out to those old Peak-Level Stage 3 beings with longer cultivations and greater time-limits on their Domains. "How¡­long will it take me to form and complete my Domain?" Olivia hesitantly asked. Stage 3 was the next obvious step in power, and Olivia''s greatest want at this point. Her worry mostly stemmed from wanting to meet Lucius'' expectations and not disappoint him. Hearing her question, Lucius did not immediately answer and carefully pondered. Ka''lor''ah, who was also sitting in the side, also became serious upon hearing Olivia''s question. The lack of an immediate answer greatly worried Olivia. Each passing second only heightened her tension and pressure. After what seemingly felt like an eternity, she heard Lucius respond. "If you were to follow my training plan and complete each lesson and test on time...a single year. It will take you a single year to reach Stage 3 and form your initial Domain." "As for perfecting it, it will depend on chance and opportunities." Just as Olivia was growing despondent on hearing that her Domain''s completion was in the hands of fate, she heard Lucius'' voice thunder suddenly. Looking at him, his handsome face was incomparably solemn and resolve shone within his eyes. A monarchical majesty was contained within his dignified voice. "But I for one do not have any faith in luck, chance, or fate. So hear me when I say¡­I WILL have you complete your Domain in four years." "Neither Fate nor Order, or even the Universe can stop me from accomplishing this task." This declaration which was in defiance of the Rules, the Lords, and even the Universe itself, shook the entirety of Lucius'' Domain and thoroughly shocked Ka''lor''ah and Olivia. However, in response to his words, the [Annihilator] soul within his body rejoiced in pure exhilaration. A strange feeling assaulted Lucius'' body and a light of inspiration appeared within his eyes. A smile unconsciously formed on his face as he understood the meaning of the inspiration. ''I see. So that is how I reach Stage 4 in [Annihilator].'' Through the endlessly beguiling fog of advancement, Lucius had finally found the path to a higher power. The road to Stage 4 was in sight. Chapter 280: Tale. ''I see. So that is how I reach Stage 4 in [Annihilator].'' His unintentional declaration of his defiance against the path set by the Universe had triggered an inspiration from the [Annihilator] soul and showed Lucius, the road to Stage 4. ''The Annihilator is the antithesis of the Lords and their Order. By extension, that puts me in a path against the Universe.'' ''To go against the set path, to break the established Rules, to bring down order and to erase chaos, restoring nihility to all existence¡­this is my fate as the Annihilator. Killing the Lords is but a direct means to an end. And so is the execution of the Great Plan.'' Thoughts continued to form and die within Lucius'' mind and slowly, the sudden inspiration came to an end. The strange but wonderful sensation that had enveloped him disappeared, causing Lucius to return to reality. His eyes stared around and found Olivia and Ka''lor''ah staring intensely at him. The former''s face had a mixture of puzzlement and strange excitement, while the latter had an anxious and stressed expression. Lucius could sense the seriousness within Ka''lor''ah''s eyes, prompting him to un-silence her. The instant he removed the restraint of silence off her, Ka''lor''ah''s frenzied squeal assaulted his mind. ''What are you saying? Why would you directly mention that old fart''s name?! Do you want to show him where we are and what we are doing? Are you mad?!!'' Ka''lor''ah screamed, irked. To the unassuming, like Olivia, the words ''Fate'' and ''Order'' uttered by Lucius were simple and definitive. In fact, one would even consider his earlier declaration to be grand and heroic. However, those deeply educated and knowing like Ka''lor''ah, understood that Lucius had referred to the entities behind those concepts and not the simple words themselves. In other words, Lucius had directly referred to the Lord of Fate and Lord of Order in his speech. This action, given their current precarious situation, was a huge no-go. Without Ka''lor''ah''s [Isolation Barrier] to isolate them, any mention of such sensitive concepts would resonate with the surrounding world and send information to those existences high above. Lucius, of course, understood this fact and thus allowed Ka''lor''ah to vent her anger. The tiny, red-faced figure continued to harshly admonish Lucius for a few minutes before calming down. Once Lucius discovered that she had run out of breath and expletives, he slowly spoke. "I found the requirement to ascend into Stage 4." he calmly said. "Don''t talk back! I still haven''t done wi¡ªWhat?" Ka''lor''ah took a few seconds to process his statement. Staring at Lucius with wide-open eyes, she asked. "You''re serious?" Lucius simply nodded his head. He then gestured towards the confused-looking Olivia, who was nervously switching her gaze between Lucius and Ka''lor''ah and explained. "I have to get her into Stage 3 and help her Domain reach a specific level within four years. If I succeed, I will ascend into Stage 4." Hearing that, Ka''lor''ah sunk into thought. She quietly muttered to herself for a few seconds, before nodding her head. "This is good. The quicker you become stronger, the greater is our chances of completing the next phase. Still," a rare look of seriousness appeared on Ka''lor''ah''s face as she continued. "The next time you decide to deliver a grand and heroic speech, warn me so that I can lay down an [Isolation Barrier] in advance." "Although ''that guy'' has promised not to meddle in your affairs, sending him a status report from time to time contributes little in the way of surprise." "Understood, I''ll be careful." Lucius nodded his head. His eyes, however, showed no signs of understanding. Knowing that this was the best response that she could get out of him, Ka''lor''ah sighed. She then turned to face Olivia and spoke. "Looks like your future lessons are going to get even harsher from now on. I don''t know if I should call you lucky or unlucky." Ka''lor''ah chuckled. Olivia nervously gulped and alternated her gaze between Lucius'' face and Ka''lor''ah''s ominous chuckles. Observing closely, she could faintly feel that the way Lucius'' gazed at her, had changed. Previously, Lucius looked at her the same way a senior would look at an ignorant and clueless junior. While this wasn''t what she had hoped for, it was at least better than that look of indifference. Now, however, there was an added intensity and desire within his gaze. This made Olivia strangely uncomfortable and nervous. In a bid to extricate herself from this odd situation, Olivia asked a question. "Hmm¡­I still have some questions about Domains." she hurriedly continued. "A few months back, on Earth, I was caught within the Domain of a Stage 3 Scrofanian," A bitter look appeared on Olivia''s face as she continued. "When I was trapped inside that Domain, I found myself unable to do anything. I was immobilized, my thoughts were slow and sluggish, and even my soul power was suppressed." "It was the most helpless I ever felt since¡­" Memories from before the Ascension and events from Deatov flashed across Olivia''s mind. She quickly shook her mind and dispersed those images. "Anyways, my question is, why does that happen? Is there any way to overcome that intense suppression? How did Lucius single-handedly kill Stage 3 existences?" Olivia finished, staring towards Lucius with shining eyes. Hearing her words, it was Ka''lor''ah who replied first. "Excellent question! Before I answer, however, let me ask you this. What exactly IS a Domain?" Olivia pondered for a few seconds before replying, "An ability that all existences above Stage 3 get? Kind of like how Awakened ones gain access to soul power." "Good answer, but not quite." Ka''lor''ah gently shook her head. She then flew to the center of the cave and started to release her soul power to form a three-dimensional screen. Figures and shapes started to appear within this screen depicting Ka''lor''ah''s tale, as she started to recount, "A Domain is actually a manifestation of one''s authority. It is the truest expression of one''s power and an independent territory over which they have complete control of." "During the First Era, when all races warred against every other race for dominance over the Universe, a solitary entity, whose name has been lost to the erosion of time, at the peak of universal power showcased a special skill in a very important battle." "When this skill was used, every other entity present in the battlefield, equal or unequal, found themselves entirely powerless and immobilized. That familiar space and friendly Rules that always surrounded them suddenly felt foreign and hostile. Their soul power could no longer affect the Rules surrounding them, rendering all their techniques ineffective." "That powerful entity effortlessly wiped out everyone within the battlefield using this technique and easily won the war for dominance over the Universe. With absolute power, he ruled all that was in existence." Olivia''s attention was completely enraptured by the intense battle depicted within the screen. That mysterious figure, encased in blinding white light stood at the center, overflowing with majesty and grace. In front of him, the other figures within the scene looked like mere ants to be stepped on. Even Lucius, who had heard this tale multiple times, focused his attention on the screen. Respect filled his eyes, as he intently watched that incandescent figure. "However," Ka''lor''ah''s tone turned somber as she continued. "Nothing is ever absolute and no reign lasts forever." "A few hundred years later, the other races that had entities similar in power to this solitary figure, managed to recreate his technique. Another huge battle was fought and the invincible figure was brought down from his throne." Ka''lor''ah manipulated the screen to show a figure being dragged down from his mighty throne. His blinding radiance continued to diminish in brightness as his figure was dragged farther and farther down from his throne, before completely disappearing. "After his death, more wars were fought for the throne of the Universe. Eventually, the secret behind this technique was explored and more people started to use it. In Primeval Tongue, also called the Language of the Ancients, this technique was called ''Zettai Ryouiki''." Ka''lor''ah solemnly uttered its name, which was followed by Lucius providing its translation. "¡­Absolute Territory," he said in a low voice. "Indeed," Ka''lor''ah nodded her head. "Absolute Territory¡­an area/space over which its user has sole dominion. A space within which the user''s power and abilities can be brought out to the greatest extent without interference from opposing Rules. Sound familiar?" "¡­a Domain," Olivia whispered. "Exactly. What we now call a Domain and can be used by Stage 3 and higher existences, was back then called an Absolute Territory and could only be used by Stage 7 entities." "Not only did the appearance of this technique increase one''s power, but it also simplified the process of ascending to a higher Stage easier. If not for this technique, the amount of high-leveled existences within the current Universe would be incredibly scarce." "Only those incredible talents from High-Grade races will be able to touch upon the boundaries of a higher Stage. Even then, their progress would be entirely dependent on their experiences and encounters. After all, we currently lack the crucible called ''war'' that was present in the First Era." "Anyway," Dissipating the screen in front of her, Ka''lor''ah continued. "That''s the story behind Domains and how they came into existence." "Because they are dominions over which the user has complete control of, the others trapped within, will not be able to do anything at all and are completely powerless. Like you and that Stage 3 Scrofanian." "As for how Lucius managed to overcome this immobilization and fight back, he used a technique called a Field. A sort of precursor to the Domain." "The reason why you''re practicing control over your soul power is also to learn this Field technique. Only after you reach the realm of ''Perfect Control'' will you be able to learn it." "Indeed." Lucius nodded his head. He then looked towards Olivia and casually spoke. "That should be enough questions for now. Knowing too much will not help you if you lack the power to act upon it." "Use the remaining time to practice your control over soul power. Once the day cycle passes outside, we will leave and go further into this planet." "Into? As in underground?" Olivia asked in surprise. "Yes, and the terrain and environment will only get harsher and more difficult to traverse. Use every second to improve your control, you will desperately need it." "Why are we going further in? Is there something good within?" This time, it was Ka''lor''ah asking the question. Nodding his head, Lucius shortly replied. "One of the materials required to construct a Living Weapon." Chapter 281: Material: Heart of Flow. Two months later. Casually walking through the 97th layer of the ominously glowing planet was the solitary figure of Lucius. His handsome face was as bored-looking as usual, with his long black hair covering the majority of his back. The black trench coat worn over his pitch-black armor gently swayed alongside his movements, as Lucius strolled through this layer. His movements were graceful and minimal, were at complete odds with his surroundings. Why, you ask? That was because the 97th layer was currently experiencing a rainstorm, except the rain was replaced by weighty stones and piercing rocks. A flickering grey cloud enveloped the entire layer, mindlessly destroying everything that was within. Flying with speeds that were comparable to the movement speeds of Stage 3 existences, these hurtling rocks that were raining within this layer, whizzed with the singular intent to cause destruction. The eerie green light, which in the upper layers previously pulsed with dim gentleness, within this layer lit up the entire space. The radiance of the light was so intense, that it had undergone materialization within this layer. These winds of green light revealed to be unknown volatile energy unique to this planet, greatly altered the gravitational and magnetic constants within this layer and fueled that eternally destroying rainstorm of rocks. A gravitational force thirty times as heavy as the force felt on Earth weighed down within this layer, and the incredibly dense magnetic field affected all wavelengths of energy including light and even soul power. In simpler terms, the flow of one''s soul power would be severely impacted and interfered with, and the perception of surrounding space would be heavily distorted. Not to mention, the strong magnetic field also induced great burdens on one''s body. It was safe to say, the beings below the third Stage would find it near impossible to survive within this layer, while those belonging to the third Stage will be able to survive using a barrier of soul power. However, Lucius was currently not doing so. He strolled through this incredibly hazardous environment with his eyes closed and with apparent ease. His movements, resembling a peppy dance was in direct contrast to the elements of death surrounding him. Two steps forward, a light skip, a graceful turn, a slight lean to the sides,¡­as the intensity of the storm increased, so did the variety of Lucius'' movements. Still, the most astounding scene here wasn''t his dance-like movements, but the fact that not a single one of the thousands of stones flying about managed to hit him. Even those that directly appeared on his body simply passed through him like passing through a shadow. Lucius, at this instant, resembled an immaterial ghost! ''These attacks are too slow and easily perceivable. It''s quite disappointing to train in.'' Lucius inwardly complained. A black shadow expanded beneath his feet and Lucius'' body sunk into it. He then disappeared from his previous location and appeared a few hundred kilometers away after a few dozen seconds. Scanning his surroundings after appearance, Lucius estimated, ''This should be near the center of this layer.'' The intensity of rainstorms and the volatility of the green energy in this area were incomparable to the previous location. The level of danger had increased to a point where even Stage 3 beings would feel threatened. Lucius, however, was a monster. ''Slightly better, but still disappointing,'' He ruefully shook his head. Having lost interest in training his movement skill and as such used [Void Travel] once again. Disappearing into the Void, he reappeared after a few minutes when he was certain of having reached the center of this layer. Appearing within the 97th layer once again, Lucius looked around and noticed that the current space was incredibly still and calm. The rain of rocks was absent and the threatening pressure of gravity and magnetic field were also non-existent. In fact, Lucius found himself floating in the air due to the absence of gravity. The entire space was painted in pale-green color and was absent of all features of the previous layer. There was no ground, the rocky sky seemed incredibly far away, and most importantly of all, the previously unstable green energy was flowing with a set pattern. Looking down, Lucius could see a gigantic sphere of green-colored material slowly rotating around its own axis. Compared to the overall scale of the planet, calling this green sphere ''gigantic'' was a gross estimation. The radius of the planet nearly equaled Earth''s own, while the radius of this green glowing sphere was only a kilometer or two. However, compared to Lucius'' own size, it was clearly massive. ''Ah, it''s here,'' recognizing the material, Lucius flew towards it. Lucius used his hands, covered in [Annihilation Energy], to clutch the sphere and gradually broke it upon reaching its surface. With his strength, a fist-sized piece of the massive rock was easily broken. Using his soul power to scan the material, Lucius confirmed its veracity. ''Heart of Flow, one of the materials required for the construction of a Living Weapon. It''s quite rare to find, but thankfully I''ve been here before.'' The reason behind the existence of this strange planet was this sphere of glowing green material. Called the ''Heart of Flow'', it had the innate property of being able to regulate the flow of a majority of energies. Lucius did not know the true nature and value of this planet during his previous life and had missed the opportunity to gather this material. (Not that he would have been able to gather it, given his strength back then.) By the time he had realized its value in the future, it no longer held any worth to him given his strength. As such, this resource point was left undiscovered for many years. This time, however, Lucius had yet to gain a complete Living Weapon. One of the materials required for its construction was the ''Flow of Heart'', which Lucius was able to easily harvest given his knowledge. Putting the fist-sized piece into his [Void Storage], Lucius grabbed another similar-sized piece and placed it inside storage. He wasn''t the only one requiring a Living Weapon this time around. There was Olivia as well. ''With this, one of the materials required for completing our weapons has been found. There are four more to go.'' Having taken what he had come to take, Lucius disappeared into the Void once more. He then followed his connection to Ka''lor''ah, to find the duo accompanying him. ---------- In the outskirts of the 90th layer. Two figures were frantically running about in great haste as they desperately dodged the chaotically, whizzing projectiles. Their figures were completely different; one was small and the other was big, one was predominantly gold while the other was predominantly purple, one radiated the aura of Stage 3 while the other stably stood at the Peak-Level of Stage 2. While different in many manners and features, they were identical in one. "God fu*king dammit! When will it end?!" Olivia shrieked, having lost all semblance of her dignity. Her violet eyes were completely bloodshot, her skin was pale and sickly from the lack of sleep, and her long black hair was dry and scattered due to the lack of care. Olivia, in her current state vividly resembled the image of witches described in old folklore. It was simply the absence of a pointy nose and the signature laugh that separated her from traditional witches. Or at least, that was the case until now¡­when something finally snapped inside Olivia. A tremendous amount of soul power suddenly exploded from her body, vaporizing the hurtling stones in her immediate vicinity. Tens upon tens of violet-colored strands of soul power materialized around and flailed about in apparent madness. "AHAHAHAHA!!" Olivia started to maniacally cackle, taking another step towards the image of a folklore witch. Her violet eyes crazily wandered about, as her cackles increased in both amplitude and harshness. "ENOUGH!! I''M GONNA BURN THIS MOTHERFU*KING PLANET TO THE GROUND!!" She maniacally yelled. "I''m with you, girlfriend!! THIS WORLD SHALL KNOW PAIN!" The distraught figure of Ka''lor''ah also joined in with her cackles. A week they had spent in this chaotic environment, desperately fighting for their dear lives. The absence of a single instance of rest had finally caused their high-strung mentalities to snap. Following that declaration, the two clinically insane(?) figures started to crazily release their soul powers and destroy their surrounding environment. Ka''lor''ah, while stronger than Olivia lacked the destructiveness of a Stage 3 existence due to her unique existence. Still, with the two of them holding nothing back and intent on bringing this world down with them, the scene of carnage was spectacular to watch. "YOU FEEL THAT!! THIS IS HOW IT FEELS YOU DAMNED ROCK SHOWER!" "IF ONLY I HAD MY REAL STRENGTH!! I WOULD HAVE CRUSHED YOU IN AN INSTANT!!" Their impassioned curses and mindless destruction of the environment continued for a few more minutes before the two of them ran out of energy. Dropping to their knees, they looked around at the 300m of demolition that they had caused and smiled in satisfaction. "Finally, some peace," they spoke in unison. Of course, that speech was rhetorical as the next wave of attacks will bury this space of rest in only a few seconds. Their combined action was as useless as shooting a water pistol towards the sun. Just as their bodies were about to receive the senseless battering of the rock shower, a barrier formed of soul power enveloped their surroundings and a cold voice spoke. "Have the two of you lost your minds?" Olivia, being half-addled and gloriously tired, failed to recognize the voice and instinctively replied, "Shut up, dude. I''m gonna fu*k this planet up!" "Yeah! I''m gonna make these rocks regret their billion years of formation!" Ka''lor''ah followed. After saying that, their minds seemed to shut down in unison as they both passed out from fatigue. Lucius, who was subject to their declarations stood at a loss. For the first time in a long time, Lucius experienced the feeling of being rendered¡­speechless. Staring at these two unconscious ladies for a few seconds, Lucius heaved a sigh and wordlessly picked them up. Properly holding onto them, he leaped up and started to head towards the parked spaceship. Olivia was more than sufficiently trained, and the materials were harvested. It was time to leave and head to the next training location. -------------- Announcement/Desperate Cry FOR HELP! Remember how sometime back, I said I would make a Discord Server? Well, I finally decided to get around to doing that and opened that application for the first time in two years. The result... I have no idea how anything works. How do I create roles? How do I create channels? WHY ARE THERE SO MANY OPTIONS?! *meltdown intensifies* So yeah, anyway, as the title reads, I AM IN DESPERATE NEED OF HELP. So if any of ya''ll kind humans out there know how to operate this app, I beg thee to spare thy wisdom to this ignorant peasant. Leave a comment on this chapter if you have some time to spare and are willing to help this microcephalic addlepate. This is totally voluntary, but I will forever be grateful to you. Chapter 282: Movement Technique. Three days later. Inside the Training Room, one of the rooms aboard the spaceship were four figures embroiled in intense battle inside a 10m square ring. The four figures were Olivia, dressed in her purple armor, and three Peak-Level Stage 3 Forgotten Warriors wearing their pitch-black armors. Each of the four figures moved with blistering speeds as they threw one full-powered attack after another, filling the ring with a cacophonous mixture of dense, colorful energies. The energies collided with each other, radiating heat, light, and destruction within the ring. Intently watching this battle from outside the ring were two more figures; Lucius and Ka''lor''ah. As usual, Lucius stood with his back against the wall and watched the battle with half an eye open. Ka''lor''ah, for her part, sat atop of Lucius'' head of which she had recently taken residence. The duo watched the battle between the four figures while silently evaluating Olivia''s performance, as the latter was undergoing her ''Battle Knowledge'' test in advance. The contents of the test were as such; Olivia would face three Peak-Level Forgotten Warriors in direct combat and had to immobilize all three of her opponents in less than 10 minutes, without leaving the ring. Neglecting to meet any of these constraints would result in a fail. Currently over four minutes had passed and Olivia was at a complete disadvantage. On one side were the Forgotten Warriors. They were a group of untiring, unfeeling things that had received a direct impartation from the most unfeeling being of all. Their combat techniques were polished to perfection and matched nearly 70% of Lucius'' own strength (at that Stage). It was only their inability to use a Field that was withholding them. On the other side was the personal disciple of two (ex-) Stage 7 beings, Olivia. Having undergone rigorous training over the last two months, one of which was spent on a planet with the most convoluted physical laws, her strength had received an astronomic growth. Not only did she rise into Peak-Level of Stage 2 in this short period, her knowledge, skills, and techniques had also undergone a metamorphosis of sorts. Now able to simultaneously control nearly 80 strands of her soul power as a result of her recent near-death trails, Olivia was slowly inching closer to the absolute apex of the Stage 2 realm. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Explosive noises and violent tremors started to originate from within the ring as the battle suddenly intensified. Having sensed that time was running out, Olivia exploded forth with greater strength hoping to tilt the balance to her side. The sudden explosiveness of her strength caught the three Forgotten Warriors unaware, allowing her to dish out a few rounds of attacks. However, that seemed to be the limit as the Forgotten Warriors quickly gathered themselves and swiftly suppressed Olivia once again. Trapped to the middle of the ring, Olivia faced brutal assaults from three different directions. A heavy ax, a sharp sword, and a pair of sickles rushed to attack her at her fatal points with the intent to heavily injure. Unable to dodge them, Olivia could only twirl and twist her new rapier and desperately block those attacks. None was able to gain an advantage over the other and the stalemate was restored once again. Looking at this scene, Lucius quietly clicked his tongue in disapproval. "At this rate¡­she will definitely fail," he remarked. Ka''lor''ah, who was perched atop of his head, shook her tiny head and replied, "This battle is obviously disadvantageous to her. She is a Mental-Type Spell Blade but her opponents do not have a will of their own. Most of her spells and abilities are useless." She then looked at Olivia''s swordplay and evasive reactions for a few seconds before commenting, "Her swordplay is steadily improving and can already be considered as first-class. Her reactions are not that bad either, just a bit stiff and lacking in instinctive movement." "Had the opponents been actual living creatures, she would have won by now." Ka''lor''ah finished. Hearing her comments, Lucius did not approve or rebut her statements. Being more experienced in combat, he had a deeper analysis of his own. "That doesn''t excuse her from her current opponents. She must have sufficient strength to face any and all manner of opponents." "Her swordplay can be considered decent, but her techniques are very basic. It''s lacking a proper form and does not have an established system," he paused for a moment and continued, "She has the talent to learn, but not to create. She is lacking in imagination and freedom." "Well, of course not!" Ka''lor''ah replied in exasperation, "Not everyone is like you and can instantly create a brand new technique by watching birds fight or something." "You really need to stop using yourself as a scale for reference. Even in my very long life, you are a one-of-a-kind existence." Lucius'' talent in combat was something that was never before seen in the Universe and perhaps never will be seen in the future. He was an unmatched genius, seemingly born for the very purpose of combat. Ignoring her quips, Lucius continued with his analysis. "The lack of experience can be supplemented in the next location. There will be plenty of battle awaiting her there. But there is another, greater issue." "Her movement technique is lacking given her level of current strength. It''s barely aiding her attacks and is sometimes restricting her from performing more varied attacks." "It''s time to teach her a new movement technique." "Oh, which one?" Ka''lor''ah immediately grew excited and started to list some of the peerless techniques learned (or perhaps, stolen?) by Lucius, "Is it [Shadowless Step] from the Abyssal Walkers or perhaps, [Divine Convergence] from the Seven-Eyed Tribe?" "Wait, don''t tell me, [Heavenly Variation] from the Heavenly Sovereigns?! You''re thinking of teaching her that legendary technique?!" "Of course not," Lucius immediately denied, "Even I cannot use that technique as it is and can only vaguely mimic it." [Heavenly Variation] was a bonafide Superior-Grade technique at the peak of movement skills that was taught only to the most talented of Heavenly Sovereigns. Lucius himself had merely chanced upon it and managed to learn it when he was fighting a Stage 6 Heavenly Sovereign in his later years. Just from the above exchange, it can be seen how valuable having a teacher was. "I''m going to teach her my movement technique, [Absolute Evasion]." Lucius softly replied. Hearing that name, Ka''lor''ah became speechless from genuine shock. [Absolute Evasion] was a godly technique at the apex of all movement techniques. It was personally created by Lucius and was the crystallization of his genius. However, the reason Ka''lor''ah was shocked wasn''t due to the above-stated one. The real reason why she was shocked lied in the fact that Lucius was willing to teach this peerless technique to others. One had to know that during their previous life, Ka''lor''ah had excessively begged Lucius to record his technique. However, Lucius had vehemently refused her request and refused to teach or record his technique in any form. His opposition back then was so strong that Lucius had even threatened to leave their cooperation if Ka''lor''ah continued to ask for his technique. Faced with such strong refusal, Ka''lor''ah had to unwillingly give up. However, it had always confused her. Lucius was not the type to hoard wealth or hide knowledge. He never cared for honor or value and could be said to be absent of many basic desires. During their thirty years together, he had shared innumerable techniques, the values of some of which equaled or even exceeded that of [Absolute Evasion]. He had selflessly shared everything¡­except for this single technique. Taking a few seconds to recover from her shock, Ka''lor''ah asked. "Are you sure? Is it the same [Absolute Evasion] that I''m thinking of?" "I do not know any other movement technique with that name." Lucius shook his head. "You''re talking about the one that you created?" Ka''lor''ah asked once more. "Yes," Lucius replied with a nod. "Why?" she asked, confused. Unable to understand her question, Lucius asked, "What do you mean, why?" "I mean, why are you willing to teach her that? You sure seemed adamant on guarding it with your life when I asked for it back then? What''s with the change of mind?" Ka''lor''ah curiously asked. Lowering his head, Lucius'' eyes turned murky as he seemingly lost himself in thought. He remained like that for a few seconds, before answering with a soft voice. "I wonder why? Why did I guard it so stubbornly back then?" Lucius gently raised his head and looked towards the figure of Olivia desperately fighting against the Forgotten Warriors. His eyes seemed to be looking at her, but at the same time looking at something other than her. "Did I guard it out of obsession¡­?" The hazy image of a silver-haired woman overlapped Olivia''s figure for a moment. A series of static images and broken memories passed through his mind. "¡­or out of guilt?" "Lucius¡­" sensing the strangeness in his tone, Ka''lor''ah gently called out his name. Lucius suddenly raised his head and unblinkingly stared at the closing battle. The murkiness within his eyes had disappeared, alongside the static memories. "Anyways, it matters no more," Lucius'' tone had regained its usual calm and coldness. "Whatever that reason was, it no longer exists." He then took a step towards the fighting ring and coldly thundered. "Stop." The four figures desperately battling it out froze in their movements and simultaneously looked towards Lucius. Seeing him approach, the three Forgotten Warriors immediately retreated into his shadow, while Olivia'' straightened her body and sheathed her sword. She lowered her sweat-drenched face, unable to meet Lucius'' eyes. Stopping right before her, Lucius declared in an emotionless tone. "You failed." Chapter 283: Absolute Evasion "You failed," Lucius mercilessly declared. Hearing his admonishment, Olivia lowered her head further while biting hard on her lips. "¡­yes," Olivia quietly replied. Her face was completely pale and droplets of blood started to fall from her lips. Olivia had apparently bitten her lips with enough force to break the skin and draw blood. "What is your excuse?" Lucius continued with his questions. Clenching her fists to the point where her hands trembled and white knuckles could be seen through her pale skin, Olivia replied in defeat. "There is none." There was no excuse for her failure. Her defeat had been evident and clear. Her opponents were too strong, and she was weak. It was her own lack of power that resulted in her defeat. "I grew conceited of my own power and underestimated the difficulty of¡ª" Olivia was in the process of explaining when she was suddenly interrupted. SLAP! Olivia''s eyes widened in shock, as a burning pain spread from her left cheek. Her head had moved from her initial position and a clear red handprint appeared on her pale white skin. Olivia''s mind blanked for a moment and tears reflexively appeared within her eyes as the intensity of the pain spread through her body. Her entire figure quivered for a moment and soul power instinctively moved to ease the pain. However, Olivia immediately stopped that process and bore the pain. She forcibly stopped the tears and looked towards the ground with a despondent look, not daring to raise her head and meet Lucius'' eyes. Olivia, for the first time in her life, had been slapped on the face. The person who delivered that burning slap was none other than the person she deeply loved with all her heart; Lucius. "Can you feel the pain?" Lucius expressionlessly asked. "...yes." Olivia softly replied. "If that was a real fight for survival, you wouldn''t have gotten the chance to feel this pain," Lucius stared at her lowered head and continued, "No, you would''ve already died." Olivia''s throat hardened and a stifling sensation appeared within her chest and lungs. Her breaths lowered to the point of silence as the urge to cry intensified with each passing moment. However, Olivia firmly stopped herself from doing so and steeled her mind. The rational part of her mind wordlessly agreed with Lucius'' statement. "Isn''t that so?" "¡­yes." Lucius suddenly moved his hands and grabbed Olivia''s chin with his fingers. Applying strength, he raised her head to meet his eyes. When she felt Lucius'' touch, Olivia''s body instinctively quivered from fear. The burning pain on her cheek seemed to intensify for a second. "Look at me when I talk." She heard him mechanically declare. Olivia''s wandering eyes froze, as she stiffly moved them to stare into Lucius'' indifferent, black eyes. His eyes contained neither warmth nor contempt, neither reprimand nor admonishment. They were simply dark, empty, and cold. Like two wells with unfathomable depths during the night. For a moment, Olivia felt the person in front of her to be foreign and alien. It felt like she was meeting this person for the first time and was nowhere like the Lucius she usually knew. Lucius was cold, expressionless, and silent. But he was not a stranger. The person whose eyes into which Olivia was staring into right now gave her the feeling of meeting a stranger. "How long do you plan on lowering your head? When you fail next time? Maybe after that?" The words spoken by this stranger entered her ears. "Or perhaps is it the opposite? Do you feel strong and confident after your minor victories and visible rate of improvement?" "I must tell you, you''re minor victories or the seemingly fast rate of improvement is in actuality, nothing special. There are millions of other being within the Universe with faster growth rates and better talents." "Allowing yourself to be satisfied with such shabby improvements and growing conceited over that¡­I advise you to throw away such petty feelings of contentment." Each word that she heard from his mouth, hammered away at the self-confidence that Olivia had built. "In the path for greater power, there can be no feeling of contentment allowed. If you want to seek greater power, you must be prepared to sacrifice anything and everything to get that." "Not everyone is born with talent or luck or opportunity. Those who lack these must strive with everything they have to get them. Fairness be damned." "Tell me, do you want to continue on this road to power?" Lucius voiced his question. Silence descended and Olivia was to answer. A few seconds passed before she managed to eke out a reply. "Yes." Her voice was clear and without any hesitation. The trembling of her body had ceased and the emotions within her eyes had become clear. Olivia''s overall aura had also undergone a subtle change. Noticing this change, Lucius continued to stare into Olivia''s eyes. The latter no longer had any hesitance and stared back unflinchingly. The person in felt of her felt like a stranger, but he was Lucius nonetheless. It was an aspect of him that she had previously never seen. Or perhaps, she did see this side of his but desperately ignored it for she was not able to accept it. Lucius'' aura had always been cold, cruel, and scathing, but it was only today that, for the first time, Olivia clearly felt how cold, cruel, and scathing it was. ''I''ve been taking it too lightly.'' Olivia thought to herself, ''All this time, I thought I had the resolve to do what it takes, but I was clearly wrong. All this while, I''ve been relying on Lucius and Ka''lor''ah to make the difficult choices, while distancing myself from its responsibilities.'' ''This¡­must no longer continue. If I want to walk farther down this path, I need to be able to take matters into my own hands.'' A hint of coldness appeared within Olivia''s eyes, and the faint dignity of the Arbiter started to naturally shine through her aura. Previously, she had to use [Intimidate] to achieve this effect, but now it had become natural. Sensing the changes, Lucius mentally nodded his head. ''Finally,'' He looked at Olivia and thought, ''you might be hard working and have some decent talent, but without the resolve to forsake everything when required and the dignity to uphold that resolve, you will not be able to walk down this road.'' He then released his grip over her chin. This time Olivia did not lower her head and continued to stare at Lucius. Her aura continued to climb in intensity, before stabilizing after reaching a certain peak. The coldness and dignity of the Arbiter started to push back Lucius'' own aura. Seeing that she had understood his words, Lucius nodded his head in satisfaction. He then took a step back and asked. "Why do you think you failed?" Olivia did not avert her gaze and thought for few seconds before replying. "My power and swordplay were clearly sufficient. Their attacks were strong, but I managed to block them. What I lacked in instantaneous reactions, I managed to supplement with my speed." "The issue laid in my inability to move as fast and as free as I wanted. I was unable to break free from the stalemate, thus resulting in my loss." Olivia''s words were confident, but not overbearing. There was an additional sense of dignity within that she previously lacked. Hearing her reply, an imperceptible smile appeared on Lucius'' face. ''It is so much easier when they instantly realize it themselves. Perhaps, this teaching business will actually be interesting from now.'' "Correct," he replied. "It was your movement technique that is most lacking at this moment." "Therefore, starting now I will teach you a new one. A movement technique that, if you manage to completely master, will assist you for the rest of your journey upon this road." Surprise appeared on Olivia''s face, as she asked, "Even when I reach Stage 7?" Lucius'' eyes faintly narrowed, pleased at her response, as he replied, "Of course." His face then reverted to its previous state as he ordered. "Remove your sword and strip down to something that will allow you to move freely. I will then begin teaching my movement technique- [Absolute Evasion]." "The technique using which¡­you will never be hit ever again." -------------- ANNOUNCEMENT: New tiers have been added for Privilege while the prices of the previous ones have been lowered. Discounts on Chapter Costs have also been added. For the price of 1 Coin, you will be able to view 2 chapters in advance. Not too bad if you ask me (especially considering that you can earn a coin by completing a mission on the app.) Check it out and consider subscribing for Privilege. Chapter 284: Something Beyond. (Long Chapter) "The concept behind [Absolute Evasion] is quite simple; it is to observe an attack in its entirety, thoroughly understanding its nature and composition, and superposing a part of your body onto those properties." "This will allow you to temporarily reach a state where the nature of the attack and your body will be the same, thereby rendering the attack ineffective on your body." Lucius lectured in a calm voice. The recipients of his lecture were Olivia and Ka''lor''ah, both of whom were intently recording his teachings. Both seated on the floor, the former used a notebook and a video recorder, while the latter recorded everything with a spell. The content of the lesson was the greatest movement technique in the Universe and a prized technique of Lucius; [Absolute Evasion]. Although Lucius was primarily teaching Olivia, he allowed Ka''lor''ah to sit on their lessons and watch his teachings. He did not mind sharing the technique with her, as he no longer had any reason to guard the technique. Of course, Lucius remembered to imposed the ''No Talking'' policy on Ka''lor''ah, which barred from interrupting or asking any questions. "What exactly do you mean by superposing?" Olivia, being the actual student, asked. Stopping his pacing, Lucius pondered for a few seconds before replying. "You should know about Mankind''s Quantum Superposition Theory, right?" Nodding her head, Olivia replied, "The quality in which matter existing in specific states can be added together to form another valid and improved state." Quantum Superposition is one of the most fundamental theories of Mankind''s sciences. In fact, the field of Interstellar Mechanics out of which technology such as warp travel was born out, was based upon this theory. It sufficed to say, that it was a very important, not to mention well-known, theory. "Good," Lucius affirmed her reply, "The fundamentals of the technique are based upon that theory." At his reply, Olivia did not seem completely convinced as a look of doubt appeared on her face. She quizzically looked towards Lucius and voiced her question. "But how is that possible? Isn''t it impossible to thoroughly observe the properties of each state, since some of them are beyond the means of observation? If observation of the state is not possible, then how do we mimic them for the technique?" Olivia''s valid question earned a pebble-strike to her forehead. Letting out a small yelp in response, she raised her hand and rubbed her forehead. With his fingers still assuming a flicking posture, Lucius coldly replied. "Think it through before asking the question. Why would it be impossible to observe or understand all states, if you know their fundamental building blocks?" Feeling a little incensed, Olivia retorted, "Yeah, but the fundamen¡ª" her pupils suddenly narrowed as an answer appeared within her mind, "¡­the Rules." she unconsciously muttered. Nodding his head, Lucius explained, "That''s right, the Rules." He then released a sizeable amount of his soul power from his hands and controlled them to assume some complex patterns. The soul power turned into strands, which then formed beautiful arrays that glowed with complex lights and mysterious symbols. "Rules are the fundamental building block of this Universe. Everything and everyone in existence are constructs of the Rules. This ship, your clothes, our bodies¡­even souls are constructs of the Rules." The arrays then flew over to the intently listening duos'' heads and settled over them. Lucius then pumped his soul power into the arrays causing them to shine brighter and release a light hum. "Empty your minds and do not resist." He casually uttered and activated the arrays. Olivia and Ka''lor''ah suddenly felt their minds, or to be precise their consciousness, separate from their bodies and arrive at a lightless void. They subconsciously moved their heads to look around but found the surroundings completely absent of everything. There was just darkness, followed by more darkness. ''What is happening?'' The duo asked the same question in unison. They instinctively looked down to confirm their body''s condition, but realized to their horror, that they had no bodies. In fact, they did not have any sort of form at all. Not only did they not have any forms, but they did not have any size, weight, or any sort of sensations at all. They were a formless cluster of consciousnesses that had no sensations within a lightless void. If not for their ability to think and their intact memories which realized that the current situation was a product of Lucius'' technique, they might have questioned their very existence! After an inordinate amount of time, during which the duo felt the limits of their sanity be tested, a change occurred. "This is a space without any Rules." A voice, which could be recognized as Lucius'', sounded within their minds. "There is no space, no time, no forms¡­there is nothing. Just perfect nihility." "Now, if you were to add the Rule of Space and Dimensions," Lucius'' voice continued to sound and suddenly endless white lines started to appear within this blank space. The lines started to stretch and define the borders, giving this black void, a veritable shape, and form. The duo no longer found this blank space endless and could instinctively feel the limits of this space. It had a shape, and therefore it had an end. "Add the Rule of Time and you have movement. Basic three-dimensional space is constructed." The instant Lucius'' words fell, Olivia and Ka''lor''ah could feel their formless bodies move. They could not control their movement or measure how fast they were moving, but could nonetheless feel themselves progress. "Add the Rules of Creation and Matter, you will have objects." Space started to visibly twist as more lines started to appear. These lines were innumerable to count and were varied in color. The lines started to twist, turn, and take shapes forming visible matter. Still, the objects felt lifeless and unrealistic. The duo could see the objects, but could not feel them with their senses like with space and time. The objects seemed to lack sustenance and appeared illusory. "Keep adding Rules like Gravity, Energy, Motion, etc and you will have what is called ''perceivable and functional matter''," Lucius echoed. The blackness of the space had mostly disappeared as light and objects started filling the surroundings. Lines continued to appear and disappear endlessly as Olivia and Ka''lor''ah saw the world around them manifest and take form. Lucius continued to state Rules one after the other causing the space to continue filling and completing itself. Olivia and Ka''lor''ah had already exceeded the bounds of awe and speechlessness. They simply stared and observed the surroundings take shape, blankly. However, something still felt missing from this entire picture, as there was a noticeable feeling of dissonance between all manifested objects. The Rules appeared to be out of sync with each other, as each existed individually without any coherence. "Finally, add the Rules of Cause and Effect, and everything is complete." "A free unordered, chaotic universe with no set path and destination, and one with true Freedom. One that will exist for an infinitesimal instant." The moment Lucius added the final pair of Rules, that missing sense of unity appeared and all Rules started to interact with each other. However, in less than an infinith-of-a-second, everything collapsed in on itself and disappeared. Space was reset to its previous state of nihility with nothing in existence. "Without order, there can be no sustained existence. Chaos will last less than an instant before disappearing into nothingness." "Nothing is ever truly free and everything is bounded by the chains of destiny. Everyone is a slave of an ordered Universe." Lucius'' words echoed for a final time before Olivia and Ka''lor''ah found their consciousnesses blank and return to their bodies. Opening their eyes they found themselves in their bodies, staring at an expressionless Lucius. His face was unusually pallid and a stream of blood was leaking from his facial orifices. Lucius wobbled for a moment, before stabilizing himself by leaning against a wall. He opened [Void Storage] and recovered a snack, an arm, and started munching on it to recover his energy. Olivia and Ka''lor''ah dumbly sat as their minds struggled to process the contents of what had just transpired. After all, they had just witnessed the creation and end of a universe with their own eyes. Of the two, Ka''lor''ah was the first to recover given her greater mental faculties and wider knowledge. She looked towards Lucius in absolute shock and asked. "How?!" The things that she had witnessed were mindboggling, to be fair, and the experience was a first in her very long life. Hell, she had never even heard of anyone capable of the feat that Lucius had just pulled. To witness the creation and end of a universe¡­Ka''lor''ah was a hundred percent sure that even the Lords of this Universe hadn''t witnessed what she had just witnessed. Sure, the Lords were nigh-invincible beings that embodied a Rule, but in the end, they were just that; an embodiment of a concept that already existed! To make it simpler to understand, imagine different flavors of soda. The Lords were the equivalents of the cups used to hold and serve the soda. They had no relations with the composition or the making of the soda. What Lucius had just shown her was no longer in the realm of the Lords, but of something that was beyond it. It was like a character of a story, gaining sentience, realizing his fictional state, and being able to read the book. It was nonsensical, and beyond what should be technically possible. However, this only led her to more questions. How was Lucius knowledgeable of matters that even the Lords shouldn''t know about? He himself never reached the Lord realm and had a pitifully small life when compared to the other beings that have lived for hundreds or thousands of years. How could he, a mere [Killer], a being so broken that Ka''lor''ah had to pick the pieces and glue them back together, hold such knowledge? Hearing her question, Lucius simply turned to look at her and softly spoke. "I''m sorry. But I cannot answer your question." His voice was soft and weak, but the intent behind the refusal was firm. Lucius was absolutely unwilling to share this piece of knowledge with her. Closing his eyes and tuning out his senses to ignore Ka''lor''ah''s frenzied protests, Lucius zoned in on silence. His thoughts were ordered and without any hurry. Just now, the spell that he had used on the duo was a spell that he had experienced when he was in Stage 3. That spell was the reason Lucius was able to create the ludicrous technique called [Absolute Evasion] and was the reason behind much of his future strength. While hiding from the forces of the Universe and inching closer to death''s door with each passing moment, Lucius had entered a place that no living being should be able to enter. A place where he met with the single most important and greatest fortuitous encounter that allowed him to ascend into Stage 7 in the shortest time possible. One could say that it was that place and the encounter that Lucius had in there that made him what he was today. Remembering that grey, lifeless place which was independent of the Universe but strangely intimate to him, Lucius shuddered as he silently recalled the name. ''Limbo¡­'' Firmly forcing himself to stop thinking about that place, Lucius focused on recovering his depleted energy. He still had some leftovers from the Stage 3 beings he had killed, but his stock was quickly running low. After losing control of himself for the third time, Lucius strictly restricted the use of his racial abilities. Apart from [Void Storage] and [Void Travel] when necessary, he used the other abilities of the Void Eater as little as possible. The trouble with losing control outweighed the benefits of using the other abilities. ''It will take us a few months to reach the second place. I should amply stock up on my reserves after reaching that place.'' A few minutes later, Lucius opened his eyes and stared at the scene ahead. Ka''lor''ah seemed to have left the room and was sulking in some area of the ship after being met with Lucius'' vehement refusal. After confirming her location, Lucius left her alone. The memories of what happened to him within Limbo were his alone. Lucius absolutely refused to share the details with anyone, even if it was Ka''lor''ah who was the closest to him. Walking up to Olivia, who continued to sit dumbly while being lost in her thoughts, Lucius tapped her on her head and woke her up. "Did you understand something from what I showed you?" he asked. Hesitantly nodding her head, Olivia answered, "I think." "We shall see then. Get up. I will start imparting the first set of footwork for [Absolute Evasion]." "You will reach initial mastery in the technique before we reach the next location." Chapter 285: Improvements and Change. Eight months later. Sitting within the Common Room, Lucius was leaning against his chair while propping his legs up on the central table. His eyes were closed in quiet disregard, with one of his hands used to prop up his languid head while the other hanged lazily at the side. Wearing the same black-colored armor, Lucius'' breathing was unusually slow as he silently rested, seemingly in sleep. Seated upright on another chair directly opposite to him was Olivia. Holding a fork and knife within her hands, she quietly dug into the boxed meal in front of her and mechanically ate it. Wearing a pair of hot-pants and a sports bra, Olivia was exposing a great amount of her smooth, pale-white skin. Her long shapely legs, toned midriff, and slender arms, beautifully complemented her attire giving her a risqu¨¦, athlete-like look. However, the most obvious feature to notice when looking at Olivia wasn''t her racy choice of clothing, but the black blindfold around her head. Olivia''s sight was completely blinded, making her solely rely on her soul''s sensory perception. Hundreds of imperceptible stands of violet-colored soul power filled this entire room and accurately observed every single change. From the movement of a dust particle to the quiet breathing of Lucius, an extremely large amount of information and sensory data entered her mind with each passing second. This data was then efficiently sorted by her mind, keeping what was required while discarding the rest. With both parties lost in quiet considerations of their own, no conversation flowed within the room. The only noticeable sounds were the clinking of the cutlery against the box container. A few seconds later, Olivia finished consuming her tasteless meal and rose from her seat. Carrying the empty meal-set in her hands, she started to make her way to the kitchen, while being blindfolded. Walking up to the pressurized door, leading out of the Common Room, Olivia paused for a moment and waited for the door to open. Zwoop! Opening vertically, the door granted passage into the main corridor which circled around the Common Room and led towards the other rooms and facilities on the ship. Stepping into the corridor, Olivia walked with practiced ease while mentally controlling the numerous strands of soul power to sweep her surroundings. While her sense of sight was blinded, her soul power allowed her to ''see'' the world through another perspective. One that was more detailed than sight. This technique that she currently used was called [Perception Check]. It was an application of one''s soul power, allowing one to constantly perceive a fixed range around them. For Stage 2 beings, this range varied from 5m to 30m, depending on quantity and control over soul power. For Stage 3 beings, this range was fixed at 10km. Being able to use [Perception Check] meant that one was not far from mastering a Field, as [Perception Check] required one to cast Boundary around them and maintain it at all times. Tutored by Lucius for the last eight months, Olivia learned a lot of things and improved at a tremendous rate. Her mentality had also undergone a slight change after having the ''talk'' with Lucius. Right now, she was able to stably deploy a Stationary Field with a fixed range of 30m. This, however, stapled her to the area within the Field and did not provide much in terms of mobility. After all, she was still in the process of mastering the Moving Field technique. While being nailed to a certain area might be detrimental to other Stage 2 beings making them an easy target for attack, this was not of concern to Olivia, for she had been learning the greatest movement technique to ever grace this Universe. Learning [Absolute Evasion] had solved the single-most urgent problem plaguing Olivia; lack of varied movement. After starting practicing this peerless technique, Olivia was like a tiger that had been given wings. The complex footwork and movement pattern of [Absolute Evasion] opened a brand new door for her, raising her combat ability by almost two-fold! This meant that the current Olivia had no problem dueling against three¡­four¡­five¡­six Forgotten Warriors at the same time! Not only was she able to fight six of them at the same time, but Olivia also had a fixed chance at defeating them, granted that she went all out. Her progress had truly been phenomenal. It had to be mentioned, the [Absolute Evasion] which Olivia was currently in the process of learning was but the basic, rudimentary of the technique and not its actual essence. While it granted her phenomenal evasion and dodging ability, it did not yet allow her to superpose and ignore the enemy''s attacks. She would have to reach Stage 3 and construct her Domain, before being able to learn that. The key requirement of [Absolute Evasion] was ''total observation'', or the ability to perceive a lot of information from one''s surroundings. This was the reason behind her blindfold training. Shortly after Lucius'' had decided to teach Olivia [Absolute Evasion], he had her blind her senses one by one. Sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch, each of the five essential senses were blinded forcing her to rely on her soul power''s ability to perceive. During this period, Lucius did not lessen Olivia''s usual round of training and lessons but instead increased it further. Trapped in a body that could not perceive anything, the first two months of her training had been a nightmare for Olivia. The human mind required continuous stimulation in order to keep it healthy and in check. Artificially removing these sensory stimulations would cause many problems such as; mental instability, forced hallucinations, paranoia, etc. There were a few times when Olivia''s mind was pushed dangerously close to its limits and almost collapsed. Fortunately, the two ex-Stage 7 teachers of hers had known about this issue in advance and were in fact expecting it. With their quick intervention, coupled with the fact that Olivia''s soul primarily specialized in the Mental-type attribute, the issues were quickly resolved. As she improved, her senses were slowly restored, and currently, except for her sight, Olivia regained all of her other senses. The day she had regained her sense of touch, Olivia had latched herself onto Lucius for a good few hours, immersing herself in his scent and feel. The latter under Ka''lor''ah''s incessant persuasion was forced to comply. Moving on¡­ While this type of training was torturous and inhumane, it forcibly brought out Olivia''s potential causing her to quickly advance. Her control over her body and soul power was also steadily getting closer to reaching ''Perfection''. According to Lucius'' estimates, if Olivia kept improving at this same rate, it would take her two more years to reach the ''Perfect Control'' realm. But of course, time was running out, and waiting two more years was not an option. A year had almost already passed and there were only four more years left before they had to participate in Alcana Empire''s chaos. And as such, that brings the party to their next training location. Within the Kitchen, Olivia was neatly washing the utensils she had used for eating. Wiping the spoon, fork, and the box with a dry cloth, she deposited the items into a machine used for their storage and refilling. "Food reserves are low. Please refill as soon as possible." The moment she inserted the items, the machine warned them of their dwindling food reserves. Originally, the ship had more than enough food reserves to last the trio for five years. Given Lucius rarely ate and Ka''lor''ah only went for the snacks, it should''ve realistically lasted longer. But alas, Olivia''s increased training had also increased her dietary consumption. While abundant at first, the reserves were now reaching red-line levels. Hearing that warning, Olivia subconsciously touched her stomach. Upon feeling her extremely toned muscles, she sighed in relief and thought, ''Thank goodness. For a second, I thought I was becoming fat.'' She then continued to trail her fingers through her arms, legs, thighs, and other parts of her body and felt the muscles there. ''I''ve got quite a few muscles, huh?'' Olivia mused. Overall, Olivia''s figure still looked tall and slender. All of her muscles were compact and neatly contained within her lean, sylphlike frame. If she were wearing her armor, an ignorant spectator would find it hard to believe that this beautiful lady had such defined muscles underneath her attire. ''Soul power really is amazing. Not only does it allow one to exert strength greater than what one''s body can exert, but it also refines and purifies the body, making the whole thing better.'' ''If not for soul power compressing my muscle gain and improving their density instead of mass, I might instead have a large, hulking figure,'' Imagining it, made Olivia chuckle out loud. At this moment, a thought suddenly occurred within her mind causing her to wonder, ''I wonder what Lucius'' body looks like. It''s been so long since I''ve seen him bare.'' The last time Olivia remembered seeing Lucius in his ''birthday suit'' was when they were still children. There were a couple of times after that where she ''accidentally'' sneaked a peak, but nothing major. More recently, there were a few times when she had seen Lucius topless, but even those were before Lucius'' ascended into Stage 3. Wriggling her fingers indecently, Olivia continued, ''When I felt him up during my ''Reward Hug'' (that incident with the sensory restoration), I could vaguely feel his muscles lines. I wonder what it looks like beneath.'' Pausing her steps in serious contemplation, Olivia thought, ''Should I take a peek when he''s in the bath or something? Wait actually¡­does Lucius even take a bath? I''ve never seen him do it.'' ''Hmm, I''ve never seen him sweat or smell bad either. There''s always this sweet, dark, blood-like smell surrounding him. Is that also from his soul power?'' ''My interest has suddenly peaked on this matter. Maybe I should rope in Ka''lor''ah for help.'' ''Lucius'' bare body and assets,'' a perverted smile surfaced on Olivia''s face as she thought, ''I want to see it!'' The months of torturous training did not only have an impact on Olivia''s strength but also on her mind. Not only was her power significantly boosted, but her confidence had also taken a strange turn. Olivia had become more in-tune and honest with her inner desires. The dignity of the Arbiter only pushed her further down this route. Just as she was about to contact Ka''lor''ah to discuss a plan, Olivia heard Lucius'' voice resound within her head. "Olivia," hearing his blas¨¦ voice, Olivia suddenly stiffened. ''Crap, did I accidently speak out loud? Did he hear my thoughts?'' Panic, followed by regret set in as Olivia realized that her plans had failed even before they had taken shape. "Suit up, we have almost arrived at our second destination," Lucius announced. He then closed the connection with Olivia, leaving her free once again. Olivia stiffly stood for a few seconds, before relaxing her body. Releasing a visible sigh, she placed a hand on her chest and thought, ''Fuu, thankfully my thoughts are still safe. There is still a chance.'' She then processed his announcement, before quickly heading towards her room. Her face had a serious expression and the previous look of playfulness had disappeared. Chance or not, there was a separate time to act playful. First and foremost was her duty, which in this case was her training. ''I wonder what planet we''re going to arrive in this time.'' Entering her room, Olivia quickly started to ready herself. Chapter 286: Cloud Cover Continent. Arriving at the Common Room fully geared, Olivia, entered and spoke, "I''m here and ready." Inside the room, Lucius was standing before the central table with his arms folded before his chest. He started at the holographic image projected by the table, depicting a densely white planet. As usual, Lucius had a bored look on his face as he stared at the projection. Hearing Olivia''s voice, he turned his gaze towards her and nodded. "Keep the blindfold on. You will be fighting with it," he casually instructed. "Fighting?" Picking up on his words, Olivia asked. In response, Lucius pointed at the large holographic projection and replied, "Indeed. The name of the planet is ''Cloud Cover Continent'' and is around 11 times larger than standard measurement." (Standard Measurement refers to Earth''s size. This planet is around the size of Jupiter.) "The main intelligent race of this planet is called ''Sword-Winged Angels''. They are a Grade 4, female-only race famous for their exquisite skills and polished sword technique. Their forms are humanoid in shape with the addition of a pair of wings." "Their strength reflects on the number of wing pairs that they possess. One pair is Stage 1, two pairs are Stage 2, and three pairs are Stage 3 in strength. Their wings grant them better mobility and the ability for short-term flight." "Why short term?" Olivia asked. "Their wings have metallic properties and are their main weapon of attack. This also makes their wings incredibly heavy, making it difficult for them to sustain flight," Lucius answered. "Word of advice, they are an astonishingly violent species," Lucius spoke of his warning; "Most of them would rather die in battle, than surrender." "Kill them all, got it," Olivia nodded her head in understanding. Lucius then zoomed in on the holographic image of the planet and continued with his briefing. "Most of the species lives on the dense white clouds, with only the most important personnel living on the ground. Surface composition, gravity, air density, atmosphere, etc, are different on both surfaces, so mind that." "Got it," Olivia nodded her head. She then turned to Lucius and asked the all-important question, "What''s the testing brief?" Olivia was referring to the target she had to meet to pass this test. It was evident that Lucius was dropping her on this planet to test and polish her combat skills. As such, there should be a target to meet before Olivia could be considered to have ''passed''. "At least 5000 Peak-Level Stage 1 beings and 500 Mid/Peak-Level Stage 2 beings must be killed in under three months, for the test to be considered a pass. Of course, you can kill more in which case your evaluation will be raised." Lucius replied. A strange glow appeared within Olivia''s eyes, as she asked, "Will there be rewards for getting a better evaluation?" Hearing her question, Lucius'' forehead heavily furrowed. He looked at the ceiling of the ship for a few seconds, before replying with a sigh, "¡­yes." "Here it is," Lucius changed the holographic screen to show a list. The list contained many evaluation grades and their respective requirements. To the right of each requirement, there was a promised reward. Olivia''s scanned the list with her soul power and a smile bloomed on her face. As she progressively went higher on the list, the smile on her face got brighter and brighter. Finally arriving at the topmost criteria, her gaze finally paused. {Evaluation: S+} {Criteria: 10,000 Peak-Level Stage 1 beings, 5000 Mid/Peak-Level Stage 2 beings, and 1 Low-Level Stage 3 being.} {Reward for Completion: Three Wishes will be granted by Lucius. The wishes can comprise of anything that is deemed reasonable by Ka''lor''ah.} ''This is it!'' Olivia''s motivation went through the roof. Flames of determination blazed within her eyes underneath the blindfold as she resolved herself to complete this requirement. Noticing Olivia''s gaze, Lucius'' expression turned serious as he coldly warned, "Don''t be a fool and know your limits. It is impossible for you to kill a Stage 3 being with your current strength." "If you mess up, I won''t be there to save your life," he enunciated the final sentence with force. Instantly turning her head to face Lucius, Olivia asked, "You''re not coming?" Shaking his head, Lucius replied, "Not with you. I have something else to do in the meantime." Turning away from the table, Lucius walked towards the exit of the Common Room while speaking, "When you''re ready to leave, come to the Hanger. I will drop you off on the planet before going my way." "How will the points be recorded?" Olivia quickly asked. Zwoop! "I will put a [Record] spell on you." The pressurized door to the Common Room opened and the small figure of Ka''lor''ah flew in. Having heard Olivia''s question she cheerfully replied. "How do you feel?" Ka''lor''ah asked while smiling at her. Ignoring the two women, Lucius left the Common Room and headed towards the Hanger, located on the lower floor of the spaceship. His part in the briefing was over and he had no interest in hearing the rest of their conversation. To tell the truth, Olivia''s improvement in the recent months had managed to surprise Lucius. Her strength was steadily rising and her temperament¡­albeit a little strange, was heading in the right direction. She was starting to show the dignity and authority of a powerhouse, while not being cocky or overconfident. The months of Zero-Sensory training had strengthened her mind and resolve, shaping her character to one that would fit and thrive in Universal society. Arriving at the Hanger, Lucius closed his eyes, leaned against the exit hatch, and thought to himself. ''With her current mindset and progress, reaching Stage 3 is guaranteed. It would be excellent if she managed to master Moving Field within these three months, although the chances of that happening are quite low.'' ''She should be able to complete the minimum criteria for passing without any issue. Given that she puts in maximum effort, factoring in her current strength and estimated growth rate, the final evaluation should reach B/B+ tier.'' Clearing his mind, Lucius rested against the silver-colored metallic walls while waiting for the duo to arrive. Minutes ticked by in silence and Lucius'' continued to wait. His empty mind started to absent-mindedly recall his interactions with Olivia since his returning to this time. Lucius unconsciously thought to himself, remembering his first interactions with the previously sapphire-eyed, cheerful, and na?ve young woman. ''She has come a long way. Her current self is almost completely different to the person at the start.'' Except for that unshakable infatuation of hers, which Lucius could honestly not understand, everything about Olivia had changed. He remembered the first time he lectured her on the brutality and unfairness of the Universe. The Olivia of back then, could not accept the truth of reality and had broken down. Lucius even remembered his thoughts on her reaction. ''She was simply too idealistic and disappointing. Of all the people that I thought possessed potential, she was at the bottom of the barrel.'' Olivia'' neither had Alex''s leadership and charisma, nor Reyna''s talents and genius. She was simply too¡­soft and dependent. Memories started to cascade within his mind¡­Olivia''s first kill in that warehouse, her helplessness in Deatov, her resolve to follow him into the Universe even at the cost of death, that foolish action to act as bait in the icy planet¡­one after the other memories started to speed up and blur together. Very soon, the figure within his memories started to change; the black-haired, violet-eyed figure morphed into a silver-haired, pink-eyed woman. Along with the change, his memories also started to change as different scenes and images started to appear within his mind. A scene in which the silver-haired woman challenged him to a duel when he had lost himself to slaughter. A scene in which the silver-haired woman was teaching him the secret scythe art of her clan, even though it was forbidden to be shared with outsiders. A scene in which the silver-haired woman resolutely left her family when they opposed her decision to marry him. Images and scenes continued to blend together as Lucius found himself lost within these memories. As time continued to pass, Lucius found himself becoming more and more confused. Within his mindspace, inside the island, tendrils of black, evil-looking energy started to leech onto Lucius'' consciousness and pumped some unknown tar-like substance into it. This tar-like substance started to dissolve and disappear into his consciousness, darkening its shine and slowly polluting it. The more of this tar-like substance dissolved, the further Lucius found himself confused. This process continued for a few moments when finally the [Annihilator] soul floating stationarily in the center of the island moved. Beams of condensed [Annihilation Energy] attacked the tendrils and destroyed the tar-like substance. The black tendrils howled in anger, seeing that its ploys had been foiled. Still, giving one final look towards the sentient soul, the tendrils begrudgingly retreated. The moment the tendrils polluting his consciousness were attacked, Lucius felt immense pain cut through his confusion. He quickly gathered his wits and hurriedly checked within his mindspace. Seeing the black tendrils retreat, Lucius understood what had transpired. ''Looks like my body hasn''t given up on its attempts to steal control, instead, it was lying in wait for all this time and finally bursting out with an attack when I least expected it.'' ''If not for the [Annihilator] soul, I would''ve lost control again.'' Lucius'' face was deathly paled as he breathed laboriously. He then focused his attention within his mindspace, seeking out and destroying the remaining black tendrils. ''I have to alter my Domain composition. I have to increase the Rules related to [Annihilator] while decreasing the Void Rules.'' The sudden attack this time occurred because the Void Rules within his Domain had a greater advantage than the Annihilation Rules. The balance was thus skewed allowing his bloodline to attempt a hijack. ''Battles. I need more battles,'' Lucius thought to himself. "Lucius, are you okay? You seem a bit pale there," A voice interrupted him from his thoughts. Opening his eyes, Lucius saw a silver-haired, pink-eyed woman leaning towards him with a look of worry within her eyes. "Aurora?" Lucius unconsciously muttered, before shaking his head. He circulated his [Annihilation Energy] to rid his mind of the remnant effects of the attack, and the image of the person before him was restored. It was Olivia. "Aurora? Who''s that?" Olivia asked in a strange voice. The circulation of [Annihilation Energy] had restored the calmness and indifference within Lucius'' mind. With a clear gaze, which was bereft of confusion, he looked towards Olivia and coldly spoke, "Not important. If you''re ready, we will leave." Olivia was about to question him further, but sensing the hint of hostility within his aura, she wisely shut her mouth. "Yes, we can leave," she calmly replied and stiffly walked towards Lucius. "I''m here! We can go now," Ka''lor''ah, who was the last to enter, cheerfully announced, failing to notice the strange situation. She then took her place atop Lucius'' head and the trio soon jumped out of the ship. Olivia was going to complete her test and Lucius was going to collect his second material. Chapter 287: The Grind Begins. With Olivia and Ka''lor''ah in tow, Lucius exited the spaceship and descended towards the densely milky-white planet. The spaceship had been set to orbit the planet from a distance while awaiting the return of the group after three months. Encapsulated within a bubble of soul power, Olivia, who was being held by Lucius, had a crestfallen expression on her face. ''Who''s Aurora?'' Her eyes were unclear and her mind was thronged by confusion, as she continuously replayed the scene from moments ago. ---------- Having finished her banter with Ka''lor''ah'', Olivia headed down to the Hanger while the former headed to the Control Room to check the ship''s status for a final time. After climbing down the cold, metallic ladder, she noticed Lucius leaning near the exit doors of the Hanger. Heading towards his cheerfully, Olivia''s steps suddenly slowed down when she noticed that Lucius'' aura was a bit strange compared to usual. Lucius'' normal aura was cold, sharp, and scathing. It made one feel discomfort when approaching close and strangely weighed on them. But while others might feel uncomfortable, Olivia had already grown used to his aura. If anything, she found it reassuring and homely. However, the feeling she got at this moment was different. Lucius'' aura flickered with intermittent bouts of savageness and dispassion. His customarily bored-looking face had an expression of reminiscence and ache. "Lucius," Olivia tensely called out, gradually approaching closer. Lucius did not respond and the fluctuation in his aura started to become more frequent. The weighing savageness increased in frequency as it slowly seemed to morph into more evil and desirous. Suppressing the feeling of unease and danger that gradually bloomed within her heart, Olivia forced herself to move forward. She kept his senses locked on Lucius'' aura, carefully observing it to identify more changes. Her soul power methodically scanned Lucius'' aura, allowing her to recognize more aspects of this sudden change. Underneath the overwhelming savageness, was a deep-rooted instability, madness, and brutality; all fundamental aspects of a Void Eater. ''It''s like that time in Deatov!'' Olivia quickly linked Lucius'' current state to his loss of control in Deatov. ''I must act quickly!'' Bringing her hands together, Olivia started to chant a spell in a quiet voice. Soul power started to gather between her palms and the spell started to manifest. "[Suppress]!" she released the spell with a low shout. The bolt of violet energy darted out of her palms and struck Lucius'' in his forehead, before disappearing into it. Lucius'' body jolted for a moment and the rapidly fluctuating aura paused. The [Annihilator] soul within his mindspace was awakened with Olivia''s spell, causing it to recognize the threat and take action within his mindspace. Seeing that Lucius'' aura was slowly regaining its previous calm, Olivia sighed in relief and gently spoke, "Lucius are you okay? You seem a bit pale there." Olivia saw him slowly open his eyes. With half-lidded eyes, she felt him stare at her with confusion, shock, longing, and most of all¡­guilt. "Aurora?" Hearing Lucius call out a foreign name and that of a woman''s nonetheless, Olivia''s body stiffened and her mind froze. Counting all the time Olivia had spent with Lucius before and after the Ascension, this was the first time she had heard him call out someone''s name with so much emotion. A tone that was chockful of guilt and longing was in infinite contrast to his usual demeanor. But more importantly, Lucius had called out this name while looking directly at her! Gulping unconsciously, Olivia suppressed the complicated thoughts of her heart and asked, "Aurora? Who''s that?" While she tried to keep her voice as calm as possible, it had ended up sounding strange. Olivia kept her senses locked on Lucius, awaiting an answer. Alas, Lucius'' aura returned to its usual feeling, even becoming a notch colder and sharper. She also sensed the feeling of shock and emotions disappear from his face as she heard him reply coldly, "Not important. If you''re ready, we will leave." ''That''s a lie.'' With her intimate understanding of Lucius, Olivia immediately recognized the lie. She opened her mouth to question him further, but immediately closed it when she felt a feeling of hostility appear within his aura. It became clear that Lucius did not want her to talk about this or ask any other questions. "Yes, we can leave," stiffly replying as such, Olivia walked towards Lucius. Outwardly she appeared normal and calm. Inwardly, however, Olivia was filled with innumerable questions and complicated emotions. ''Why did he call me by that name?'' ''Who is ''Aurora''? How does Lucius know her?'' ''Why was his tone filled with longing and guilt? What is she to him?'' Olivia''s cheerful mood from viewing the rewards had all but disappeared. To her, who deeply loved Lucius and worked hard to assist him with all that she had in hopes of gaining recognition and reciprocation, the fact that Lucius'' heart seemed to be occupied by another woman, was dreadfully terrible news. What more? Lucius seemed to unconsciously see her (Aurora''s) image in Olivia. That is to say, something about Olivia reminded Lucius about Aurora. The already impossible task of winning Lucius'' heart had become even more impossible. ---------- ''Just when I thought everything was sailing smoothly, this happens,'' Olivia dispersedly thought to herself. ''Why can''t love be easy? Isn''t my quest to gain his heart already really, really, REALLY hard?'' ''But who is this ''Aurora'' and how does Lucius know her?'' Pushing aside her depressing thoughts, Olivia started to objectively analyze. ''It is pretty uncharacteristic of him to suddenly care so much about someone else. Not to mention, where could he have come in contact with her and for how long?'' ''Before the Academy? No way, I was always with him. During the Academy? I don''t remember Lucius'' being particularly close with anyone, nor do I know anyone with that name.'' ''Could it be after the Ascension? But then again, I was with Lucius for most of the time, except for the three-year gap in Pectron. Could they have met then?'' Olivia pondered for a moment, before denying that possibility. If something like that had happened, her Teacher (Ka''lor''ah) would have told her about it. After all, she seemed pretty set on helping Olivia with her quest. ''If it''s none of these, could it be¡­'' Olivia''s eyes glittered in thought. Just as she was about to ponder about this, rather ludicrous thought of hers, she felt Lucius hit her on the head. "Ouch!" Olivia yelped and hurriedly held her head. Focusing her soul senses on Lucius, she found him annoyed and looking coldly at her. "Are you sleeping? How many times do I have to call out to you?'' Lucius admonished her in his signature mechanical voice. Releasing Olivia from his grasp, he dropped her on the soft, cloudy ground and spoke, "I will repeat one final time." "We have arrived on the Cloud Cover Continent. I''ve currently dropped you in a rather inconspicuous area, with the nearest settlement 200km to the west. Stay alert, focused, and¡­," Lucius'' eyes sharpened as he clearly enunciated his final warning, "Don''t be an idiot." "Accomplish the targets that are within the realm of your ability. Don''t be foolish and get yourself killed. I will not be there to save you." Floating into the sky, Lucius cast an indifferent glance at Olivia one final time and spoke, "I will come and find you after the period of testing is over. Good Luck." Saying that he turned around and flew in the opposite direction without paying any more mind to Olivia. Ka''lor''ah too wished her luck, before being carried away by Lucius. Everything that was needed to be said had been said, and there wasn''t any point in wasting any more time. After all, Lucius himself was in as much of a tight schedule as Olivia. Feeling Lucius'' aura get farther and farther away from her souls'' senses, Olivia'' tightened her blindfold and turned her attention towards the west. A determined look appeared within her eyes under the blindfold, as she thought to herself. ''Whoever it may be within his heart, I will not give up. If Lucius only sees her whenever he looks at me, then I shall work ten, no¡­a hundred times harder to make him look only at me!'' ''And that work begins with this test.'' Exploding the soul power beneath her feet, Olivia''s figure disappeared from her initial location and turned into an illusory phantom. Her movement speed was no less than Lucius'' own as she dashed towards the west. "I''m getting that S+ reward," Olivia quietly muttered to herself. ---------- "Is everything okay?" Ka''lor''ah suddenly asked Lucius, as they continued to fly. "It is. Why?" Lucius casually asked; his tone calm and unbothered as usual. Hearing his reply, Ka''lor''ah was quiet for a few seconds before replying, "Nothing. I just noticed that Lil'' Ollie''s mood seemed a bit strange. Did you tell her something depressing again?" "Does calling her a fool for reaching beyond her grasp count?" Lucius blandly asked. Letting out a little chuckle, Ka''lor''ah shook her head and answered, "I suppose not. I guess I noticed wrong." Then, with a teasing smile, Ka''lor''ah asked, "What do you think about her completing the S+ evaluation requirement?" "Impossible," Lucius flatly replied. "I admit that she''s grown beyond what I initially estimated, but killing a Stage 3 is simply impossible for her with her current strength. She will die." "I don''t know," Ka''lor''ah casually shrugged her shoulder and replied, "I feel like she might give us another surprise." "Unlikely." Lucius refused her. Unwilling to argue with him, Ka''lor''ah changed the topic and asked, "So, what are we doing?" "Firstly, we have to find a material called ''Cloud Steel''," Lucius answered. He then suddenly changed his direction in the air and dived towards a hollow valley within the ground. Descending once more into darkness, Lucius continued, "But before that, I''m going to fight." "My Domain has remained incomplete for enough time. It''s about time that I perfect it." Accelerating once more, Lucius'' body seemed to break past an invisible barrier as the light appeared once more. An incredibly large, dimly lit space appeared before his eyes. Large mountains, flatlands, dense spiritual energy¡­the ''real'' Cloud Cover Continent was revealed before his eyes. "Land covered by clouds¡­now I get why they call this planet that," Ka''lor''ah muttered with understanding. Chapter 288: Weak Encounter. Gliding across the dimly lit sky of the Cloud Cover Continent, Lucius used his soul''s senses to sweep across the ground in search of opponents. He had also released his aura and murderous intent at maximum capacity in hopes of drawing out a Stage 3 Sword-Winged Angel. In essence, Lucius current actions were similar to carrying a large beacon and megaphone through a forest while taunting its inhabitants for a fight. "It''s rather cold in here, isn''t it?" Ka''lor''ah spoke, as her tiny body slightly trembled from the chill. Due to the existence of a dense cloud layer above, sunlight was quite scarce within the planet. This resulted in a dimly lit, cold, and damp environment. However, due to the existence of the cloud layer, the intensity of spiritual energy within was also quite high. With a higher Rule composition in the environment, the chances of entering Stage 3 and having a stronger Domain was also equally high. "It''s so quiet. Does no one live in thes¡ªnevermind, you have your first opponent. I''m just gonna hide in your pocket," Tucking her body into one of the pockets in his armor, Ka''lor''ah peeked only her head. Lucius'' face was ceremoniously indifferent as his eyes narrowed while looking into a distance. His soul senses picked up a life from heading in his direction. ''Low-Level Stage 3. This won''t do,'' evaluating his opponent''s strength from the hostile aura being released Lucius shook his head in disappointment. On paper, Lucius strength was also at Low-Level Stage 3. However, his actual combat ability was at high Mid-Level, due to his superior body and Domain. If he was to release his incomplete Domain at a Low-Level Stage 3 opponent, it would effortlessly destroy his opponent''s Domain, similar to a hot knife cutting through butter. This was not the kind of fighting that Lucius wanted to experience. ''Right, I need to refill my stash of snacks too,'' Lucius belatedly thought to himself. Seeing his opponent speedily rush towards him in the horizon, Lucius did not wait but rather rushed towards her. Sword-Winged Angels were a female-only race. They were predominantly humanoid in form, except for a few dissimilarities. Instead of human-like independent arms, they possessed a wing-like attachment, which extended from the sides of their bodies onto their long, narrow elbows which further elongated into an arm-like appendage. To picture, they were like human-shaped bats, with human-like body and bat like arm. Also, instead of possessing membranous wings, it was instead pairs of thick clusters of long, sharp, metallic swords. Another dissimilarity was their faces, where their eyes, nose, and ears were absent, with only their mouth occupying nearly half of a pale, blank face. This strange mouth could also expand to almost three times its size, turning them more into monsters than humanoids. "Intruder from the Blackness, stop right there and accept your death!" A foreign language, spoken with a nasally, grating voice exited from the mouth of this alien creature. Lucius, having heard her warning chose to ignore it. He exploded with great speed and instantly appeared before the Sword-Winged Angel. The body of the Sword-Winged Angel jerked back, seemingly from surprise, at the sudden arrival of Lucius. She had not expected this strange intruder, who was equal in level as her, to suddenly appear before her. ''Well, it matters not,'' shaking off her surprise, she instantly reacted by swinging both her arms forward. Under a strange combination of muscles and nerves, the cluster of sword-filled wings suddenly expanded and encompassed Lucius'' body in a storm of attacks. A visible, white-colored aura materialized around her sword wings and possessed incomparable sharpness. Lucius, with his abundant experience, recognized the aura to be pure Sword Energy. Sword Energy was another type of energy that was pretty common within the Universe. Usually, it was gained after one made sufficient progress into the Rules of Sharpness which was a sub-rule of the Rule of Destruction. Gained after reaching sufficient mastery over a sword-like weapon, it presented its user''s with an added attack bonus, similar to other energies like Curse Energy or Blade Energy. However, the unique aspect of the Sword-Winged Angels was that the creatures of their species were born with Sword Energy. This allows them to have an extra edge compared to the other similar Grade species, while also making them geniuses in the way of the sword. Back to the story¡­ Seeing the waves of glittering, white-colored sword energy rush towards him with incomparable ferocity, Lucius stopped his movements and raised his right hand. He did not try to evade, for the attack did not require evasion. An inordinate amount of [Annihilation Energy] was pumped into his right arm, causing the space around it to visibly twist. Just as the waves of sword energy was about to crash into him, Lucius casually swung his raised hand, downwards. Fwoop! The furious waves of sword energy slowed for a moment before completely freezing. In the center of the white wave, a transparent, imperceptible line cut across the entire length of the wave. Similar to how Moses had parted the Red Sea, Lucius swing of [Annihilation Energy] effortlessly cut through the multiple waves of sword energy, parting it from the center. The rest of the sword energy by the sides greatly weakened before slowly dissipating into the air. Having taken care of that annoyance, Lucius flew closer towards his opponent. The Sword-Winged Angel was completely frozen from shock, her mind unable to process the sequence of events. Just a second ago, she had the upper hand by delivering the first attack towards her enemy. While she wasn''t the strongest amongst her race, she wasn''t that weak either. Those waves of sword energy were more than sufficient to seriously injure an opponent of strength, similar to hers. But alas, that had not happened. Her opponent had, in the most casual manner, split apart her assault rendering it null in under a second. As she dumbly watched him fly closer, she realized, for the first time since the beginning, the sheer, vast difference between them. This strange-looking intruder from Blackness, a term that the Sword-Winged Angels use to refer to space, was on a different level compared to her. ''I cannot win, I must retreat!'' Her instincts kicked in and shook her off her daze. Swinging her heavy sword wings once more, she aimed to use another to slow down Lucius'' speed and use that time to successfully retreat. Alas, her method was not bound to work. Halfway through the swing of her wings, Lucius flashed once more before appearing within striking distance. He caught one pair of her massive wings with his bare hands and forcefully pulled outward. CRACK!! "AARRRGGGGHHHH!!!" Sword-Winged Angel screamed with incomparable pain, as Lucius casually tore her two of her wings. The wings were a part of her physical body. Tearing them away was no different to tearing away the limbs of a human. Holding a pair of clustered sword wings in both of his hands Lucius did not throw them away. Instead, he ignored the screams of his opponent and carefully scanned the wings with his gaze. ''Hmm, it''s too brittle. The quality of these swords are too terrible,'' shaking his head, Lucius dropped the pair of wings before gazing back at his screaming opponent. She had used the time of Lucius'' distraction to retreat a few hundred meters. While she was previously of the mind to run away, that thought had changed after Lucius'' savage action of tearing away her wings. For the beings of this species, their wings were their most prized possession. Tearing them away was similar to pissing at their dignity. It was intolerable. "YOU!! I WILL KILL YOU!!" She thundered with incomparable rage. A tremendous amount of soul power then poured out of her body, quickly starting to fill the surrounding space. Her mouth then expanded to encompass a majority of her face, as she spoke, "Deploy Dom--!!" Her scream was abruptly cut short as Lucius appeared once more before her and shoved his right arm into her open mouth. "I don''t have time to play around with you," he coldly announced, before forcing his arm further into her mouth. Lucius'' hand grotesquely dug into her body and pumped [Annihilation Intent] into her. This rowdy energy then started to happily grind and tear at her innards, fatally inuring the poor opponent. The Sword-Winged Angel''s body rapidly convulsed as cuts and tears started appearing throughout her feminine body. Blood poured out in large amounts out of these wounds, dying the ground in red. Staring into the featureless face of the Sword-Winged Angel, Lucius annoyedly clicked his tongue before pulling his arm out. Drenched in saliva, blood, and inner organs, Lucius'' palms were holding onto a weakly thumping organ. Brining it towards his mouth, Lucius threw in the rubbery heart before tearing another pair of her wings from her dead body. Having lost all traces of life, the body of the Sword-Winged Angel helplessly fell towards the ground, and the soul energy filling the surroundings also dissipated. A powerhouse of this planet, who had lived for who knows how long, had died within seconds of meeting Lucius. In fact, her encounter could be considered long as Lucius was not taking the fight seriously. Staring at the second pair of wings which he had torn from her body, Lucius scanned it thoroughly once more before nodding his head. ''Not the best, but this will do for now.'' He then discarded one of the wings, while snapping the other in two. Pulling out a single sword-like potion of the wing that shone in a faint argent color, Lucius held it with both hands and stared at it. ''This will do.'' "Why are you taking that sword?" Popping her head out, Ka''lor''ah curiously asked. The scythe was Lucius'' main choice of weapon and the one that he liked to use the most. Seeing him choose a sword was plainly weird in Ka''lor''ah''s eyes. Hearing her question, Lucius plainly answered, "My scythe is on the verge of breaking. It''s unusable right now." Swinging the procured sword in his hands a few times, Lucius used the nails on his fingers to scrape some parts of the sword while shaping others. Soon, the dimensions of the sword became similar to Olivia''s rapier. "Plus," he then continued, "I need to create a proper, ordered sword technique for Olivia. I need a weapon similar to hers to do it." As such, the wings of the Sword-Winged Angels provided the perfect material for his experimentation and creation. If the sword were to break, he could simply tear another one from a different entity. After all, materials were aplenty within this planet. "Seems like the others have noticed the commotion. This will be more interesting." Saying so, Lucius descended on the ground before assuming a strange posture with the sword. His eyes looked at the sky where dozens of Stage 3 Sword-Winged Angels were rushing towards him. ---------- ANNOUNCEMENT: New tiers have been added for Privilege while the prices of the previous ones have been lowered. Discounts on Chapter Costs have also been added. For the price of 1 Coin, you will be able to view 2 chapters in advance. Not too bad if you ask me (especially considering that you can earn a coin by completing a mission on the app.) Check it out and consider subscribing for Privilege. Chapter 289: Mid-Level Stage 3. ''We are finished¡­'', Elytra thought in despair, as she gazed at the scene around her. A bland, colorless sky filled with sparse grey clouds blocked the usual scene of the dense white clouds. Blackened and cracked lands that endlessly spewed black miasma which continuously robbed her of vitality and strength. A boundless array of mountains, unfathomably tall and wide, endlessly filled her surroundings and trapped her and her kin within this colorless world of hell. Worst of all, these weren''t regular mountains of rocks and stones, but humongous mountains made of innumerable corpses. Still, the worst part of it all wasn''t the monochromatic reality, the suffocating weight of Death Energy in the air, or even the fact that her Domain was crushed the very instant she tried to deploy it. The worst part of being trapped within this hell was the mind-numbing, soul-crushing silence of it all. Even now, Elytra gazed around with her head. Dozens of her kin surrounded and protected her in a circular formation, as they desperately fought with all of their strengths against the innumerable waves of pitch-black tentacles and winds of strange energy that destroyed all it touched. Their howls of anger, cries of pain, the sound of bones breaking, limbs tearing, and blood spilling, although Elytra could see all of it happening she was unable to hear it. Instead, all she could hear were the thoughts inside her head and the damning silence that filled everything outside. Her eyes then turned towards the being who was the cause of this hell. At the centermost mountain of this land of hell, at the furthermost point of its peak, stood a being. Its strength, judging from its aura, was nothing special; only at the peak of Low-Level Stage 3. Compared to her, who was at Peak-Level Stage 3, it was nothing but an ant that could be effortlessly crushed. However, she had failed to do that. Rather, it was her and her kin who were the ants at the mercy of that being. With her senses, she could clearly see the features of that being. Its face, which had many features that her kind lacked, had a bored expression. Its hands were clutching onto the shoulder blade of her birth sister, an existence whose strength was similar to her own and had died fighting that being. Raising the sword-shaped bone into the sky, it mechanically swung it down, slashing at the empty, windless air. After completing one repetition, it raised the sword once more and repeated the same movement again. Again and again and again¡­endlessly. While an inexperienced person watching this scene might find his actions meaningless and dull, Elytra, who was a genius in the way of the sword, found it anything but so. Each and every swing of his was different from the previous one. Each, more perfect and complete than the previous. Starting from a random, non-threatening swing, the move soon started to naturally gather sword energy around it, signifying its ascent into a whole new realm. ''The fifth move¡­'' Elytra thought to herself in disbelief. This was the fifth sword move that he had created from scratch since his arrival. This mighty being, who was an Intruder from Blackness, had arrived on the home planet four days ago. Shortly after, he had begun battling with her kind, killing one after another. After three days and three nights of constant, life-threatening battle, her side had been reduced to their current situation. A hundred and three, excluding her and the ones fighting around her, had died. And each one killed was a powerhouse of the planet, standing mightily in the realm of Stage 3. Watching as the number of people guarding her fall once more, Elytra had given in to her despair. ''Four days. In a matter of four days, he wiped out the entire Western Region of the continent.'' Elytra hollowly chuckled. This wasn''t the first intruder to intrude into their planet, but nevertheless, he was the strongest and most nightmarish intruder to date. At least, facing the others, she and her kind had a chance, a hope at survival, if you will. However, facing this being, who simply swung his sword while standing at the peak of a mountain of corpses, they had no hope of surviving. ''A monster¡­no, an entity of death,'' closing her eyes, Elytra felt her thoughts coming to an end as her head fell off her shoulders. Having killed everyone around her, the soundless winds of annihilation had come to claim her soul. ---------- "And that''s the fifth move done. Hmmm¡­let''s name it [Tear]," Lucius nodded his head and lowered the sword in his hands. "Wow, what great imagination you''ve got there," Ka''lor''ah''s voice sarcastically rung out within his head. "[Draw], [Swing], [Stab], [Cut], and [Tear], such rousing names for a wonderful technique." "Truly, a peerless technique without any match. Hearing those names, I can feel my blood turning cold and goosebumps appearing on my arms." Exposing her tiny, slender arms, Ka''lor''ah showed it to him. Of course, her arms were completely fine and absent of any goosebumps. It was a rhetorical action made to emphasize her sarcasm. "Oh geez, I wonder what the next move will be named," Ka''lor''ah continued with her mocking. Putting on an exaggerated shocked expression she spoke, "Could it be¡­[Kill]?!" "Shut up," Lucius finally spoke up and put an end to her antics. His voice, however, was more subdued than usual. It was evident that some of her mockings had hit Lucius a little too close to home. After all, naming things wasn''t his strongest point. "You really need to read a book or something, man. Your sense of naming is just horrendous. I worry for your future." Ka''lor''ah sincerely advised him. Ignoring her words, Lucius suddenly lowered his head and looked towards the ground. His eyes narrowed and the scene of Elytra''s head being separated from her head appeared within his eyes. Feeling her soul leaving her body, Lucius quickly controlled his Domain and caught the soul before it could vanish and return to Limbo. Dragging it towards the peak, Lucius opened his mouth and swallowed it whole. The soul was quickly digested by his body and converted into pure soul power, before being stuffed into his mindspace. Lucius'' entire body trembled for a moment, as the aura surrounding his body intensified and increased by a few degrees. An exclamation of joy rung from within his soul, and his Domain also grew stronger by a few levels. Noticing the changes happening to Lucius, Ka''lor''ah excitedly exited his pocket and flew before his face. "Congratulations! You''ve grown to Mid-Level Stage 3," she honestly congratulated him. The intense battle over the last four days had allowed Lucius to fix the flaws and improve his Domain to a large degree. The uneven balance between the Rules of Void and Rules of Annihilation was fixed, and the majority of the lacking Rules were also supplemented. Although it was quite a ways from perfection, Lucius had finally reached Mid-Level after months of being stuck in Low-Level. At this point, he was more or less unmatched within the realm of Stage 3, except against those who had one of their legs into the next Stage. As for fighting a Stage 4, Lucius did not even dare dream about it. The divide between a Stage 3 and a Stage 4 was an unbridgeable gulf similar to the difference between an Unawakened and an Awakened. There was simply no comparing the two. Even if it was Lucius, he would most certainly be crushed when facing a Stage 4 being. "It took a hundred or so opponents to reach this level. At this rate, I would need to kill almost a thousand Stage 3 beings to reach the next level," Lucius muttered. "It''s only natural. The Rules of your Domain are too complex after all. Finding that balance to reach perfection will require a lot of testing," Ka''lor''ah encouragingly said. "Still, you''re already way too fast. Usually, it takes people years to reach your level. And it''s not like you''re facing a wall or anything either. You clearly have a path chartered for Stage 4, you just need to follow it," Ka''lor''ah finished. "Indeed," Lucius agreed with her. His growth was already freakishly fast and unhindered. He had a path into Stage 4 and was already unmatched within his current Stage. All that he needed now was time to perfect his Domain and meet the requirements for ascension. Looking around his Domain, Lucius confirmed its current state. To quantify, it was almost 40% complete. When it reaches 70%, he would be able to rise to the next level and at 100% he would meet the requirements for ascension. Lucius then checked the balance and composition of the Rules constructing it once more. This time, he made sure to place some extra checks on the Rules pertaining to the Void to ensure that the previous case of the sudden loss of control did not occur again. ''If it hadn''t been for my soul identifying the problem, I would''ve lost control once again,'' Lucius thought to himself. He was unaware of Olivia''s contributions in resolving the issue, believing that it was his soul that had spontaneously reacted to the attack. Had it not been for Olivia''s quick thinking and involvement, Lucius would have most definitely lost control and went on another rampage. After confirming that everything was perfectly alright, Lucius retracted his Domain. The mountains of corpses, colorless skies, and endless waves of devouring miasma¡­everything that made up of his Domain quickly disappeared and returned the surroundings to their natural state. Of course, a certain degree of irreversible changes had occurred and the land had become mostly inhabitable, but hey, at least the land looked more colorful and less deadly. The corpses of the hundred-plus Stage 3 being that he had killed were already stored into his [Void Storage] for Lucius to snack on. The space within his storage had exponentially grown, thanks to his rise strength, and growth as a devourer. "So, what do we do now?" Ka''lor''ah asked. Casually walking through the battle-scarred grounds, Lucius continued to swing the bone sword in his hand and answered, "Well, I still have to polish the sword technique and integrate the five movements into a singular system. Right now, they lack cohesiveness and flexibility." "It''s freaky how you managed to create a brand-new Superior-Grade Sword Technique from scratch in just four days," Ka''lor''ah remarked in awe. Creating a technique, especially a personalized one, was by no means simple. It would take an individual or a group anywhere from a few years to dozens of years to polish and perfect a technique. The more complex a technique, the more time it would naturally take to create it. Lucius, however, was different. His battle experience was unmatched within the Universe and he possessed the epitome of combat talent. In short, he simply had to tap into his ocean of experience to create a simple Sword Technique. While it was vastly inferior to his Scythe Technique, which was a Unique-Grade technique polished over thousands of years by the Letum Clan, this Sword Technique was easily in the top 10% of all Sword Techniques within the Universe. Paying no mind to Ka''lor''ah''s remarks, Lucius continued. "Seeing as to how no one else had come to battle me, all the Stage 3 beings within this section of the continent must be dead. It will take a few days of flying for me to reach another section of the continent to find more opponents." "Are you going to fight them again? Haven''t you already killed enough to perfect your Domain? I can''t imagine killing more would help you in any way." "Every little bit of experience counts. Although it won''t improve my Domain any further, I can practice my other skills. Also, this would be the perfect time to seek out that material." Lucius'' forehead scrunched up a little as he finished his explanation, "It''s very tricky and annoying to find it." Chapter 290: Interlude. Within a certain region of the Cloud Cover Continent lay a vast field of multi-colored flowers. These flowers which added a much-needed touch of color to the dim environment of this planet slightly swayed to the passing breeze. Visible sunlight filtered into this field due to a massive hole, spanning a few dozen kilometers in size, was present vertically above this area providing the nutrition required for these fantastical plants to grow. Strolling through this field of flowers were two people. The person joyfully flying in the front had a tiny ''Faerie-like'' body, with lush golden hair and iridescent wings. Skipping from flower to flower, she took joy in sniffing the wonderful scent of the flowers and recording it within her mind. The person following behind her had a cold expression and a gloomy demeanor. Dressed entirely in black, he wore a white rapier on his waist, and possessed a face that could only be called, ''absolutely handsome''. The two, both of whom were dissimilar to the point of being called opposites, seemed to be having a conversation. "Whoa! Look, Lucius, I found another new one! I need to record this into my memory bank," Ka''lor''ah joyfully yelled and quickly stopped over a specific flower. Hearing her exclamation, Lucius clicked his tongue and replied, "You''ve already recorded this exact flower three-hundred and twenty-nine instances ago. It''s not a new flower." Ka''lor''ah paused her exciting actions and moved to verify his input. Upon finding the specific flower in her memory, she then compared it to the one before her and exclaimed, "You''re right!" "The shade of this one is a bit lighter but that''s due to over-exposure to the sunlight," turning to face Lucius, she continued, "You''re seriously good at this game, aren''t you? How is that?" Pointing to his nose, Lucius replied, "Smell." The Void Eater''s body came with powerful olfactory systems allowing it to conveniently and efficiently finding its prey. It gave Lucius the ability to smell everything, be it material or immaterial. Remembering the scent of a random flower was but mere child''s play. "Such a hack," Ka''lor''ah muttered, before returning to her stroll. Lucius causally trailed after her. The flowers behind him, however, shriveled and died after his passage. In fact, Lucius had left a long trail of dead flowers behind him. His aura was not something a mere flower could withstand. It had been a month since the initial battle with the aboriginals of this planet. After killing a hundred or so Sword-Winged Angels, Lucius did not immediately move to another section of the vast continent to restart his battles. Or rather, he was stopped by Ka''lor''ah before he was about to do just that. Having been a slave to the Lords since her birth, Ka''lor''ah did not, or rather, could not leave her home planet. She was confined to the massive castle within which she was born and could not leave it unless granted permission by the Lords. All her knowledge about races, planets, scenic spots, cosmic wonders, etc, had solely come from the descriptions and images which she had read and seen from her books. Ka''lor''ah''s bookish knowledge was beyond compare, but she had no experience in personally experiencing any of those wonders. It was like seeing the ocean in a picture or a movie, and actually going to the ocean. The experience was simply incomparable. Returning to the past alongside Lucius might have robbed her of all of her strength, but it granted her a unique chance to experience all of these wonderful places and satisfy one of her biggest regrets. Previously, the duo was incredibly busy running around, becoming strong, hiding from a Lord, etc. She had also lacked a feeling body that allowed her to feel her surroundings. Now, however, everything had changed. Ka''lor''ah had gained a body and the time to tour around and enjoy herself. Since Lucius had also accomplished his short time goals of improving his power, she had roped him in to accompany her on this sightseeing tour. One way or another they had to kill time until the deadline of Olivia''s test arrived. What better way to kill time than go on a short vacation. And so here they were, alone together amidst a field of beautiful flowers. While strolling across this field of flowers, Ka''lor''ah routinely snack glances at the one following behind her. She discreetly read Lucius'' aura and expression, approximating his mood and thoughts. Sighing to herself, she thought, ''Still blank as ever, huh? Well, at least he doesn''t seem to be bored or impatient.'' In actuality, other than seeing the sights, Ka''lor''ah had another objective which she hadn''t shared with Lucius. She wanted to use this rare moment of calmness and peace to evaluate Lucius'' mind and mood. No one knew Lucius better than her. She was the one who had found him in his most broken state and pieced together the remaining shards. Not only was she very familiar with his past life, but she was also the one who provided him with a purpose to continue living. Coming with him to the past, Ka''lor''ah not only wanted to free this Universe from the tyranny of the Lords, but she also wanted to free Lucius from the entrapment of his guilt. ''At the start of the return, it was a bit better. When his three-hundred-year-old consciousness and the innocent seventeen-year-old consciousness had combined, Lucius had unknowingly mellowed down by a large extent.'' ''He was still every bit the Killer he was, but at least there were other parts to him other than the killing. It made me happy to no extent when I saw that.'' Ka''lor''ah lightly smiled when she recalled Lucius'' thoughts and actions at the beginning of their return. He was rash, impulsive, and to a certain extent felt the emotions buried within him. Meeting the people from his past had made him forget about his guilt to a certain extent. Ka''lor''ah had been glad to see Lucius take a step out of his confinement. The changes brought by the Void Eater instincts also led him further away from this guilt. ''But now it''s returned to how it was back then,'' Ka''lor''ah bitterly smiled. ''He is back to being bound by his guilt. I can see it in his eyes. He''s being haunted by his actions from back then.'' At the start, Ka''lor''ah did not know what had caused this sudden change. Asking Lucius was pointless since he wouldn''t tell her. However, after thinking about it over the past few months, Ka''lor''ah finally arrived at the answer. ''Those Stage 3 Formicians. They must''ve used their Domain to show him the one thing he wanted to desperately avoid and forget,'' Ka''lor''ah sighed. Aurora Letum. The people of the Universe knew her as the once-in-a-thousand-year prodigy from the Letum Clan. The one who possessed the moniker of ''Silver Reaper'' and climbed the ''Universal Powerhouse Rankings'' from the bottom with record speed. One of the youngest people to ascend into Stage 5, equaling the speed of those geniuses from the two ''Leader Races''. However, the feat that she was most renowned for was stopping the rampage of the ''Undying Killer'' Lucius. She had singlehandedly succeeded when countless others had failed. Aurora Letum, whose strength equaled Lucius'' own back then, not only stopped his mindless slaughter of revenge but had also become the sole ray of light cutting across the grim darkness of his heart. She had accompanied him, married him, and bore him a child. The ''Black Death'' had been stopped and peace had returned to the Universe. But alas, it was not to last. On the very day, his child had been born, Lucius had killed both his wife and child, completing the damning requirement for ascendance, and had reached Stage 6 of [Killer]. He had then slaughtered the Letum Clan, clashed once again with the forces of the Universe, and had disappeared into the Abyss, home of the [Evil] faction. The rest was history. While the rest of the Universe viewed Lucius'' abhorrent actions of killing his own flesh and blood as a desperate attempt for greater strength, Ka''lor''ah knew better. Lucius did indeed kill them for greater power. But he did not do so readily nor willingly. He had been forced by his circumstances to continue walking the damned path of a [Killer]. One that forced him into a life of eternal loneliness and perdition. ''The return had seemed to have suppressed his guilt and sealed those dark memories. However, it seems that the Domain of the Formicians had ripped apart the seal,'' Ka''lor''ah concluded. No one wanted to forget those memories more than Lucius, however, the Formicians had forced him to remember. Lucius, how had finally taken a step into the light, had now returned back to square one. ''I can only hope that he finds that light once more. Maybe--'' "Heads up. I noticed the traces of that material near here," Lucius interrupted Ka''lor''ah''s thoughts. He sniffed around with his sensitive nose before turning in a specific direction. Locking his gaze in that direction, Lucius grabbed the flustered Ka''lor''ah, put her in his pocket, and started to fly. The hunt for the Cloud Steel was on. Chapter 291: Mighty Ones. Cutting across the air at breakneck speeds, Lucius'' nose continuously sniffed at the air around him. Moments ago, Lucius noticed an unfamiliar, foreign strength beyond the field of flowers. While unsure of the exact nature of the scent, he could instinctively feel that the scent belonged to the material he was currently seeking. Cloud Steel was a formless material that appeared in a dense smoke-like form. It gave off rays of multicolored light when stationary, but reverted to a colorless state when moving. It was a very rare and precious metal that exhibited life-like properties making it incredibly annoying to find and much harder to gather. Lucius'' head continuously sought about and his nose incessantly sniffed about, causing him to make periodic adjustments to his direction. Lucius had to rely completely on his Void Eater''s senses. Seeing the immaterial material was impossible and feeling it with his soul senses was equally hard, owing to its small size and quick movement speed. As he continued to fly, Lucius could feel the fleeing material grow increasingly faint. His unmatched speed was being bested by a mere material. ''This is why collecting Supreme-Grade materials is such a chore,'' Lucius inwardly complained. Quickly opening up his shadow, Lucius called forth all twenty of his puppets. "Come forth," he softly muttered. Darkness expanded on the ground beneath his figure and twenty figures, armored in pitch-black armors, possessing cold, ice-blue eyes appeared. Their frightening auras revealed their ascension into Low-Level Stage 3 following Lucius'' own improvement. The moment they appeared, they kicked off the ground in unison and followed alongside Lucius. Now, twenty-one figures darted across the plains of Cloud Cover Continent, seemingly chasing an apparition. Now, one might ask, wasn''t there twenty-three Forgotten Warriors? What happened to the rest? And indeed, you are right. Lucius had left behind three of the Forgotten Warriors within Mankind. One was to exclusively ensure Reyna''s survival and the other two were to keep the alien Stage 3 additions in check while also ensuring that everything else proceeded smoothly. Running out of time, Lucius could not afford another incident to take place in his absence. With the Forgotten Warriors in place, he would be able to monitor Mankind''s progress and ensure their safety. Back to the story. Upon the appearance of his twenty puppets, Lucius gave out an order, "Split up and encircle the area. We are creating a net to trap it." Lucius then shared his olfactory senses with the Forgotten Warriors. They were now able to vaguely smell that strange scent and nodded their heads in response to Lucius'' words. The increase in their Stage not only gave them an increase in power, but it also increased their intelligence. Like a growing AI, they were now able to execute slightly complex commands. Having acknowledged Lucius'' orders, the twenty shadows split apart and headed in different directions. With his soul''s connection, Lucius was able to accurately track their movements. There were no issues and the chase resumed. This time, Lucius carefully controlled his speed taking care not to overly startle the fleeing material. Similar to hunting a beast, he had to be careful in order to lead it into the trap. ''This might take a while¡­'' ---------- BOOM!!! A tremendous explosion, spanning a few hundred meters in width, rattled the Cloud City of Nubes above the continent. Roads were broken, buildings were shattered, and hundreds were killed. The waves of heat and energy continued to spread destruction onto the rest of the city, as fires spread all around. Chaos reigned supreme and Death reaped the lives of the unlucky Some ways of the site of the sudden explosion, a purple figure dashed away from the city while being chased by dozens of enraged Mid-Level Stage 2 Sword-Winged Angels. The purple figure with clothes and armor that were decrepit and ragged ran with all her might while throwing some blades of energy at the mob in pursuit. Olivia, whose body was in a pathetic condition filled with injuries both large and small, had a dissatisfied expression on her face as she narrowly dodged a wave of sword energy thrown at her. Inwardly clicking her tongue, she thought to herself, ''That explosion was a bit hasty. I should have waited for a few more minutes.'' Executing a duck and a roll, Olivia evaded another two slashes of sword energy aimed at her head while maintaining her speed. Her long legs moved with copious steps and unflustered movements, as she perfectly executed the introductory movements of [Absolute Evasion] that Lucius had drilled into her. Neither the surrounding chaos nor the furiously chasing danger of her current situation could cause her to make mistakes in her execution. Lucius had made sure of that. ''That explosion should''ve killed around a hundred-and-twenty Peak-Level Stage 1 beings and maybe a few weak Stage 2 beings who were caught unaware.'' As if confirming her thoughts, a counter that existed in her mind altered its numbers and showed Olivia the final result. {Peak-Level Stage 1 killed- 8982} {Mid/Peak-Level Stage 2 killed- 3914} {Low-Level Stage 3 killed- 0} {Current Evaluation- B+} ''A hundred-and-eighteen. That was surprisingly accurate,'' Olivia applauded herself. The above counter was the result of Olivia''s tireless efforts over the last month and a half. She had hunted day and night with minimal rest to achieve the displayed results. Olivia''s attention then moved to another part of her mind, landing upon another counter. {Time remaining: 1162 hours left} (AN: 1 month and 18 days) ''At my current rate of progress, I should have no problems completing the Stage 1 and Stage 2 requirements. However, finding a Stage 3 being will be hard in the allotted time,'' Olivia gritted her teeth. While Olivia was extremely confident and motivated of achieving the S+ evaluation, the rational part of her mind was doubtful at best. A tiny part of her doubted her ability to achieve the result, given her current strength and time constraints. In fact, Olivia judged that meeting the basic requirements would be barely achievable at her strength. However, the reality was a bit different. When Olivia came across the first aboriginal settlement and began her first battle on this planet, she immediately realized something. She was hella strong! Strong to a point where she felt no difference in slaughtering Stage 1 and Stage 2 beings, even the ones at Peak-Level! Everything was cut the same under her sword. Her soul power consumption was absolutely minimal with her recovery surpassing the consumption. Her movement speed was on another level when compared to her opponents. Her strength¡­there was no need to mention her strength. Olivia''s physique which was polished under Lucius'' training and was further reinforced by her soul power, allowed her to go toe-to-toe with the giant, ax-wielding Forgotten Warrior. Facing the slender and frail Sword-Winged Angels, Olivia felt like a barbarian of strength. However, her greatest advantage wasn''t her speed, strength, or even her technique. No, her greatest advantage was the fact that her spells finally saw an effect against living, feeling opponents! The [Soul Suppressor] soul, coupled with the abilities granted to her as the Arbiter, made her near invincible against opponents of similar strengths. Playing with their minds and crushing their wills were all too easy. The Zero-Senses training had strengthened her mind to an absurd degree. As such, she hunted with unmatched excitement and frightening efficiency. Starting from small settlements to towns, and eventually, to large cities, Olivia progressively increased the difficulty of her grinding. Hard but manageable, this was the level of difficulty that she was aiming for. Since this was a test and opportunity to polish her skills, Olivia relied as little as possible on tricks and schemes, opting for direct collision as much as possible. Had she resorted to her scheming, the death toll would''ve been much higher. ''My control has improved by an incredible amount. It''s at a point where maintaining the Boundary around me feels like second nature,'' Olivia noted, as she felt herself instinctively scanning and categorizing the information gained from her soul''s senses. Previously aboard the spaceship, Olivia had to spend some effort to maintain the Boundary and her perception of space. It was like jogging, where one had to command their body to complete the motion. However, the past month and a half of battles had polished this skill and turned it into something akin to breathing, a task that was automatically performed by the subconscious mind. ''There is no problem in deploying a Stationary Field, and I can deploy a Moving Field for short bursts of time. I have yet to reach the realm of ''Perfect Control'' and undergo that unique change which Lucius mentioned.'' ''Using [Absolute Evasion] also feels a lot smoother and more natural now. Each of my steps employs a part of that skill, allowing me to be in the state of ''Constant Readiness'' that he had mentioned.'' ''Control over my strength and speed has also improved a ton. The cases of exploding bodies have finally stopped.'' ''Overall¡­I think I can move to attack a major city now. Perhaps, I can fill the Stage 1 quota by clearing a few encampments and towns before going there,'' Olivia concluded. ''Speaking of clearing up,'' Olivia brought her attention to the dozens of people still chasing her. ''This should be far enough.'' Stopping her retreat, Olivia turned around and dashed towards the crowd of enraged Sword-Winged Angels. Violet-colored soul power exploded all around her as she mechanically and efficiently controlled her sword and soul power to kill with minimal waste. Lucius'' classes on Anatomy had taught her how to identify weak points and how to effectively exploit them. The past month and a half of hunting the same creatures over and over again had removed all excessive movements from her actions, allowing her to kill with minimum effort. In but a minute or so, Olivia''s bloodstained figure stood amidst a pool of blood, guts, and climbs. The fifty or so Sword-Winged Angels chasing her laid dead all around her. Wiping the crimson blood off her lips, Olivia'' scanned around once more to ensure that all of her opponents had really died. This was one of the lessons taught in Survival and Tracking. Always confirm the state of your opponent after a kill. Many strange races existed in this Universe, which didn''t immediately die upon killing. ''Wouldya'' look at that? Someone actually survived,'' Olivia chuckled. Strolling over to an unmoving body of a Sword-Winged Angel, Olivia observed her for a few seconds before cutting off her remaining limbs with her sword. "ARGH!!!" The Sword-Winged Angel who was pretending death screamed in pain. "YOU DAMNED INTRUDER FROM BLACKNESS!! YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR SINS AGAINST MY KIND!!" The creature howled with its grotesque mouth. "Yeah, yeah, whatever," Olivia waved off the threat. "You guys are really lacking in vocabulary, aren''t you. That is like the ten-thousandth or something time that I''m hearing the same threat." "Laugh all you want, Intruder! For you won''t be laughing soon!" The creature venomously spat. "Your barbaric actions have reached the ears of the mighty ones living below! Your time of reckoning approaches closer. Count your days!" The creature strangely laughed. Narrowing her eyes, Olivia questioned it with utmost seriousness, "Mighty Ones? How and who are they?" "I will tell you anything, demon!" It then quickly exploded the sword-energy near its heart and died. Olivia, who was a little late in gathering her spell, clicked her tongue at this scene and dissipated her soul power. ''It died before I could use [Interrogation] on it. A pity,'' shaking her head, Olivia then scanned the field one final time before moving once again. Mighty One or not, she would only know after facing the opponent. Until then, Olivia was not the type to recoil from mere threats. Chapter 292: David vs Goliath. Part 1 {Peak-Level Stage 1 killed- 10000} {Mid/Peak-Level Stage 2 killed- 4213} {Low-Level Stage 3 killed- 0} {Current Evaluation- A} ''Fuu, the first requirement was finally done. That took way longer than I thought it would,'' Olivia thought, as she pulled her sword from within a Sword-Winged Angel''s chest. Flicking the sword once to rid the blood, Olivia then sheathed it and looked around. [Perception Check] scanned her surrounding area, painting a clear picture in her mind. ''Another small group,'' confirming the count of bodies, she shook her head, ''Seems like word of my actions has spread around. Everyone''s retreating into big towns or cities.'' After her attack on the City of Nubes, news of Olivia''s existence and actions seemed to have spread throughout the surrounding region. Encampments were abandoned and small towns were deserted as people seemed to move towards bigger cities in hopes for better protection as they waited for this calamity to pass. Her infamy had surpassed the point of a mere ''audacious intruder'' and reached the point of ''calamity''. The aboriginals of the planet could no longer ignore her existence and had to actively retreat to avoid her. This resulted in Olivia''s hunt becoming more complicated and time-consuming. After all, prey alerted to the presence of a hunter was most difficult to catch. ''I don''t suppose I will be able to find suitably populated encampments in this region anymore. At least, not for a short period of time,'' Olivia rationalized. Leaning against a rock to rest her overworked body, Olivia waited for her soul power to replenish while thinking about her next move. ''I could attack a smaller city like Nubes again, but the number of Stage 2 angels that meet the requirement versus the time consumed for me to successfully attack them is not very feasible. I would run out of time before I meet the requirement.'' ''Not to mention, I have to find a suitable Stage 3 target too. Ah, this is giving me a headache,'' while rubbing her forehead, Olivia sighed. Of course, the option of giving up and finishing the test right now also existed. With her A-tier evaluation, she would no doubt be praised by Lucius and Ka''lor''ah. The rewards were not that bad either. However, this option was never even considered by Olivia. She had but one goal and that was to achieve the S+ tier reward. ''Any three wishes will be granted by Lucius? What was the point in even thinking about the other rewards? This is like winning the lottery!'' This was Olivia''s general thought process. The clause where the wishes have to be deemed reasonable by Ka''lor''ah was completely ignored. Olivia was absolutely confident that her teacher would back her up, no matter the wish. That clause simply existed in but words. It was just to convince Lucius to agree to this matter in the first place. ''I guess there''s only one other option left,'' Olivia continued. ''I should attack one of the three major cities.'' The Cloud Cover Continent had three major cities on the clouds: Cumulus, Stratus, and Cirrus. These three cities served as the capitals of the entire top layer and possessed the highest population densities. They also had the most complete schools of education, meaning that the level of each person was on another level compared to the previous sites. Every person was at the level of Stage 2 and possessed superior combat ability. The numbers of the higher leveled powers were also naturally high. If Olivia was to successfully mount an attack against any one of these cities, meeting her second requirement certain. She only needed to hunt 800 or so Mid/Peak-Level beings, and these cities should possess at least a thousand at minimum. However, there was an obvious problem here. There were too many people! No matter how strong or proficient Olivia was in combat, fighting against a thousand enraged Mid/Peak-Level Stage 2 angels was impossible. Fighting against a few dozen was doable, but when that number approached a hundred and over, Olivia would naturally struggle. Limits of stamina and soul power existed after all. No living creature could fight against a thousand other of similar strength and not run out of stamina or soul power. (AN: Except, of course, the Void Eaters. That entire race is a hack.) ''If I rush in there without a plan, I will get slaughtered in less than five minutes,'' tapping her forehead, Olivia continued to ponder, ''I need a plan.'' Soon, daylight started to fade as the planet entered its night cycle. Olivia, having moved to another location, settled for the night and continued to work on her plan. ''A bit laborious, but it should work,'' a sinister smile appeared on Olivia''s face. Nodding her head with satisfaction, she waited for the night to pass before starting the plan''s execution. ---------- Three weeks later. Inside a rather drably decorated office of sorts, three figures were in a heated argument. "But Leader!" Enise furiously rose to her feet and slammed her fist against the table, "We have already lost 600 of our sisters to that damned intruder! We need to do something before more are lost!" Massaging her forehead, Riaz, who was the Leader in charge of Cirrus City, replied with a sigh, "I understand. But there really is nothing we can do." "When we attack with a large force, the intruder simply vanished from her previous location and attacks another field. Her grasp over the distribution of our forces, their response times, supply and patrol routes, are surprisingly accurate." "Sending a small elite group has also not borne us any results. The intruder is unnaturally strong and effortlessly crushes any force under a hundred units before reinforcements can arrive." Dispiritedly sighing, Riaz slumped her head on the table and spoke, "At this point, we can only hope for that intruder to leave." "But-" Enise clenched her fists and tried to rebut her leader''s words. Alas, she also possessed no solution to the situation. Starting three weeks ago, the intruder from Blackness suddenly switched her method of attack. She no longer went after solitary encampments and small towns, instead choosing to attack farm fields and warehouses. At first, the Sword-Winged Angels had laughed at the intruder''s actions. They ridiculed the intruder''s ridiculous efforts of lashing out after being unable to continue her hunt. However, not even a week had passed when they stopped laughing. A new problem had arisen in the city of Cirrus. Refugees arrived en masse at the city, seeking protection from the intruder. Naturally, the officials of the city could not turn down their weaker cities and provided food, water, and accommodation. A week passed, and the number of refugees continued to rise while the food supply dwindled. Only then did those laughing at the intruder''s seemingly ''useless'' actions, stopped the realized the real meaning of her actions to their horror. By destroying the fields and burning the warehouses storing food, Olivia had effectively chosen to starve the city of Cirrus. Like any living creature, the Sword-Winged Angels also required food to sustain themselves. Soul power could temporarily alleviate hunger but eventually, they would need to eat. Not only did the city of Cirrus need to feed its already existing population, but they would also need to provide food for their refugee sisters. These refugees wouldn''t and couldn''t leave their original residences until the problem with the intruder had been dealt with. A week and a half had passed and food had completely run out. It wasn''t a problem at first, but after three days of being starved, the mood of the people started to sink. There was also the issue of children and the elderly who failed to properly utilize their soul power to stave off hunger. Another four days later, riots had suddenly arisen amongst the refugees. They started to believe that the denizens of the city were purposely withholding food supplies, prioritizing the stronger inhabitants over them weaker refugees. No matter how hard the city officials tried, they were unable to suppress these riots and soon clashes with the city guards started to occur. Of course, the presence of a purple figure playing with the minds of the refugees during a certain night before the riots went unnoticed. With their citizens revolting, the city officials could no longer sit still and had to act. They sent forces to recover food from the farther fields and warehouses that were not burnt. However, these forces never returned. The intruder continued with her previous actions and the situation within the city continued to escalate. Of course, anyone with a brain could solve the case of the missing troops. Enraged at the intruder''s immoral actions, the city sent a punitive force to get rid of the intruder. After all, the intruder was the heart of the current issue. If they could get rid of her, all issues will be solved and the refugees would return to their own cities and camps. Alas, the strength of the intruder was beyond imagination and the punitive force was also destroyed. The matter did not end there, as the intruder retaliated back by poisoning the river which served as the city''s only water supply. And now, three weeks had passed with the city lacking food, water, and unity. Riots started to also break out within the city, exacerbating the already spiraling issue. Children and the elderly started to die off from starvation which further enraged the families of the deceased. At this rate, even without Olivia stepping in, the city would destroy itself in less than a month. "There is hope," the third figure within the office room, suddenly broke her silence and spoke up. "What?! Speak, Attila," Riaz immediately rose to her feet and desperately asked. A mysterious smile appeared on Attila''s face as she answered, "A Might One has come from Below. She will personally deal with the intruder." Hearing that relief visibly appeared on the faces of Riaz and Enise. They fell onto their chairs and gleefully laughed. With a Mighty One stepping in, there was nothing the intruder could do. She was strong, yes. But against a Stage 3, Stage 2 were nothing but ants to be stepped on. Chapter 293: David vs Goliath. Part 2 {Peak-Level Stage 1 killed- 10000} {Mid/Peak-Level Stage 2 killed- 4903} {Low-Level Stage 3 killed- 0} {Current Evaluation- A+} While twirling the newly gained Sword Energy on her fingertips, Olivia thought to herself, ''Only 97 more to go. The plan worked way better than I expected it to work,'' "''You''re not you when you''re hungry'', huh?" Olivia broke into a chuckle. Tapping her cheeks and stretching them to get rid of the dumb smile on her face, Olivia muttered, "No one uses that joke anymore, stop laughing." It still took her a few minutes before finally calming down. Olivia then seriously controlled the sword energy in her hands, manipulating them to form shapes and patterns. Continuously fighting the Sword-Winged Angels and seeing their usage of sword energy allowed Olivia to finally comprehend the essence of the energy. After this last battle, something clicked within her mind and she was finally able to create and use sword energy herself. Once again, Olivia''s combat prowess underwent a sharp increase. At this point, she was only a few steps away from reaching the absolute peak of stage 2. ''It''s not that different from soul power in control. It''s just a lot slower and denser,'' Olivia analyzed. Moving all the gathered sword energy to her left hand, Olivia used her right hand to unsheathe her sword. She then controlled the sword energy to adhere to the sword surface. Similar to a fish meeting water, the sword energy instantly jumped onto the pathways built into the sword and moved without any hindrance. Almost immediately, Olivia felt her control over the energy increase by a few levels. ''Whoa, this is much better!'' she exclaimed, swinging the sword a few times. Then, she grasped the handle with both her hands and performed a standard slashing movement. A semi-material beam of whitish energy flew from the edge of the sword and disappeared into the rock wall, a few meters away. Watching the sword energy disappear without any apparent reaction, Olivia showed a confused reaction and thought, ''Is that it? That did nothing?'' Just as she was about to check the sword energy, Olivia''s soul senses picked up the scene before her. A portion of the rock wall suddenly slid down and crashed against the ground with a loud thud. The ground trembled for a few moments, as clouds of dust rose up and clouded the air. A perfect mirror-like surface was now present on the site of the attack. The sword energy had cut the face of the wall with such accuracy and perfection that it took a second for the rock wall to slide down from its cut portion. The lethality of the sword energy was simply incomparable! Having watched this scene, cold sweat appeared on Olivia''s face and back. She looked at her sword first, before looking up at the cut rock wall, and finally looking at her sword once more. "Oh my god," Olivia spoke with pure amazement, "was sword energy always this powerful?" Her practice of [Absolute Evasion] had ingrained within her the concept of never getting hit. As such, never once during this two-month period had Olivia directly tanked an attack. The most that would reach her body were the aftershocks of the attack, and even these aftershocks made cuts and lacerations on her clothes and body. Now, seeing the actual impact of a full-powered sword energy attack, Olivia instinctively shuddered. She vaguely imagined the consequence of receiving such an attack with her body. ''I would be dismembered into pieces,'' Olivia''s face paled at the result. It was pretty obvious. No matter how much stronger her body had become after the training and the buffs from her soul power, she was still human in the end. There was no way her body would remain complete after tanking such an attack. "Thank the hea¡ªwell, I guess I should be thanking Lucius for ingraining the habit of dodging in me," recovering from her pose, Olivia muttered to herself in relief. The innumerable pebble strikes and countless lashing suddenly made sense to Olivia. All the pain that she had experienced as punishment made perfect sense. Carefully sheathing the sword back into its scabbard, Olivia continued, "I should probably be careful when using that. Not only is it terribly lethal, but it also drains a lot of concentration and soul power." "Right now, I can only make 30 or so attacks continuously before losing consciousness. If I was to properly apportion it, I can use around 70-75 attacks before running out of soul power." Nodding her head in satisfaction at this new gain, Olivia then scoured her surroundings one final time before moving once again. She could not afford to stay at one location for too long, or else she would become prone to falling into the enemy''s trap. Olivia accurately understood just how much, her opponents currently hated her. Her actions of destroying their food supplies and poisoning their only source of water had, after all, crossed a certain line. Navigating through the maze-like gorge, within which she was currently present, a thought occurred to Olivia, ''Have I become a terrible person?'' The thought lingered for a few seconds before an answer followed. ''Yep, there''s no doubt about that. I have indeed become a terrible person,'' Olivia admitted to it. Surprisingly, however, there seemed to be no hesitation or disgust in her mind. In fact, Olivia''s face carried a small smile as she admitted to her change. ''But why does it matter for as long as I achieve the required result? Be it direct combat or indirect scheming, as long as the ends are met, the means and methods do not matter.'' ''Getting that S+ evaluation reward is my goal. And if anything stands between me and that goal, I should naturally get rid of it.'' Olivia''s thoughts while inhuman and immoral were exactly the type of mindset a person seeking greater power must possess. If she did not even possess this level of determination, there would be no point in her training. Was it wrong? Yes. But then again, why would someone climbing to the top worrying about the state and feelings of their stepping stones. There was no peaceful way to climb to the peak of this Universe. One must be determined to kill and to be killed on their quest for power. ''Speaking of the S+ evaluation, I''ve yet to meet a Stage 3 being. There''s less than a month left,'' Olivia thought worriedly. Of the two months she had spent building aggro on this planet, Olivia had yet to come across a Stage 3 being. At this point, she had begun to worry if a Stage 3 being would show up at all. ''How much farther do I push them before this ''Mighty One'', which I''m assuming to be a Stage 3 existence shows up? Isn''t what I''ve done already¡ª'' Olivia''s pupils suddenly shrunk. Immediately exerting strength onto her feet, she used all her might to stop her dash and kill the momentum. Olivia''s feet dug into the hard clouds underneath her, creating trenches of sorts. ''EVADE!'' A single thought exploded within her mind, as her instincts furiously warned her about the approaching calamity. Exploding the soul power underneath her feet, Olivia operated [Absolute Evasion] to its greatest extent and desperately performed an evasive maneuver. In the instant that she had moved, a long and dense sword constructed out of sword energy struck the ground underneath her feet. Trembling for an instant after contact, it then exploded with tremendous power. BOOOOM!!! Waves of sharp and scathing sword energy swept across the immediate surroundings. The rocks walls of both sides of the narrow gorge held on for a single second before shattering into thousands of shards whizzing at unseen speeds. Olivia''s mind worked at speeds that it had never reached before, as she desperately minimized the damage received mid-air. Turning and spinning at impossible angles, her actions bested that of the greatest gymnasts as she fought off the waves of energy. "FU*KING HE--!!" Spitting out an incomplete curse, Olivia felt a secondary wave of pure destructive energy slam into her body. On contact, the armor on her body instantly turned into shreds, revealing the flawless skin beneath. The wave of destructive energy had barely diminished as it continued to tear apart her skin and gorge into her muscles. The unpleasant sound of bones shattering was drowned by the furious whistles of the wind as Olivia''s ragged body flew backward for a few hundred meters before crashing onto a rock wall. Having sunk five or so meters into the rock face, Olivia''s body was battered to the point of turning into a bloody mess. Her hands and chest, which had tanked the majority of the damage, were broken and burnt. Her legs and abdomen were relatively fine, having lost only the skin and received cuts of the muscles. Her head, which was slumped on her burnt chest, was the least injured part of her body. Still, crimson blood drenched her hair and face, as her mouth continued to throw up mouthfuls of blood. It was evident that her interiors weren''t in great shape either. Raising her head, Olivia''s violet eyes, which were no longer being hidden beneath the blinds, released an unbounded murderous intent as she stared at her attacker through her burnt and blood-drenched hair. A 2m tall, winged angel dressed in spotless white robes. Her silver-colored wings glimmered against the bright sunlight creating an inviolable halo around her figure. Her feature-less face stared toward Olivia and her grotesquely large mouth opened and spoke. "So you''re the bug causing all this trouble up here, huh? How disappointing," she shook her head. Hearing her words, something snapped within Olivia''s head. A malevolent smile appeared on her face, creating a sinister image coupled with her bloody body. In a light-hearted, playful tone of sorts, she spoke. "I''m gonna rip apart that wh*re-mouth of yours for saying those words." Chapter 294: David vs Goliath. Part 3 "I''m gonna rip apart that who*re-mouth of yours for saying those words." Hearing those words, the Stage 3 Sword-Winged Angel showed an expression of confusion and displeasure. Confused at not being able to understand the sentence and displeased that an ant dared to talk back at her. Shaking her head, she inwardly thought to herself, ''This creature seems to be dumb. Unable to comprehend the difference between us and daring to talk back.'' She then gathered massive amounts of sword energy around her and started to shape multiple sword-like projectiles similar to the first attack. Pointing the forefinger of her right hand towards the bloodied figure of Olivia, the Stage 3 angel, voiced, "Die." Accompanied by furious gales, almost a dozen swords headed towards the indent within the rock wall. For a Stage 2 being hit by such an attack, death was inevitable. ''Understand the difference between us, Intruder.'' ------------- Watching the near-dozen sword-shaped projectiles fly towards her, Olivia distinctly understood one fact. ''Stage 3 beings are really strong, huh? Like crazy strong to the point of being incomparable to Stage 2,'' she distractedly wondered. Thinking back to Lucius'' stern warning, her thoughts continued, ''Just a single attack has reduced my body to such a state. I see why Lucius called it a foolish idea to challenge such a being.'' Calmly seated within that rock indent, she continued to absent-mindedly ponder, as soul power shrouded her broken body. Apart from the tremendous amount of murderous intent pouring out of her body, she showed no signs of moving or evading that attack. ''But still¡­'' Olivia''s bewitching violet eyes keenly tracked the trajectory of the attacks. There was neither panic nor fluster, only curiosity and calm indifference. ''These swords are so¡­slow,'' Olivia curiously thought. Those swords which were moving at speeds unseen to the naked eye on the outside seemed so slow to her. She could clearly see every aspect of those attacks; their shapes, energy composition, trajectory, wind resistance, etc. Actually, it wasn''t just the swords. The movement of her soul power, the mending of her cells, the tremors of the mountain, the weight of the air, and many more¡­Olivia was suddenly able to feel these sensations and view their information. A tremendous amount of previously unavailable and incalculable information by her brain had suddenly become obvious and instinctual. ''I see¡­ so this is what he meant by saying I would immediately know it,'' Olivia quickly realized. With these unique sensations and information that was suddenly being observed and filtered by her mind, she understood the change that had occurred to her. Flexing her healing hands, she thought, ''So this is [Perfect Control].'' Turning to face the swords that had almost reached the rock indent within which she was seated, Olivia moved her lips and spoke in a soft and quiet voice. "Set Boundary." "Expand Field." Soul power exploded violently from her figure and filled the space around her. ------------ BOOOM!!! An enormous explosion shook the ground, the walls, and even the sky within the narrow gorge. Countless pieces of shrapnel carried by the furious winds flew in all directions increasing the damage that was caused by the explosion. The Stage 3 angel calmly waved her hand and a barrier of soul power formed around her figure. The shrapnel, winds, and dust were immediately silenced upon meeting the barrier. Untouched by the winds and unsullied by the dust, the Stage 3 Sword-Winged Angel dressed in pure-white robes continued to maintain her inviolable status. GWHRRRR!!!! A sharp noise of rock grazing against rock deeply rung out within the surroundings, unbothered by the sounds of the wind. The grand rock wall then started to slide as car-sized chunks of hard, cloud-like rock started to fall off the face of the gorge, from tens of meters in the air. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Falling to the ground one after the other, the rocks fissured and cracked the ground causing tremors which in turn caused even more rocks to fall from the rock walls. Similar to an avalanche, a perpetual motion of large-scale destruction was slowly being created. Seeing this scene of destruction, the Sword-Winged Angel made a face of displeasure. ''At this rate, the entire gorge will collapse.'' Obviously, such an event could not be allowed to transpire. As such, she raised both of her hands and prepared her attacks once again. Wave upon wave of sword energy was created with the mighty being as the center and started to form hundreds of swords. The lethality of each attack was equal to a full-powered attack of a Peak-Level Stage 2 being. In other words, every single one of these swords could kill, or at the very least, seriously injure a Peak-Level Stage 2 existence if it was to directly strike them. "Move," she calmly spoke. The hundreds of swords exploded towards the falling rocks at her command, struck them, and ground them to inexistence. The car-sized chunks of rocks were turned into mere dust from the attacks of the sword. A few of the swords directly struck the rock walls themselves, pinning the fissuring rocks to its surface. This cause delays in their falls, which eventually broke the perpetual part of this destructive cycle. After a few minutes of violent grinding and the noises finally came to a stop. White dust blanketed the entire gorge turning the whole scene unperceivable to the naked eye. Feeling the tremors underneath her feet stop, the Stage 3 angel relaxed her hands. The cycle of destruction was stopped and the gorge was preserved. ''That intruder menace was also dealt with. Looks like I can return,'' nodding her head with satisfaction, the Stage 3 angel turned around, prepared to fly off in return. However¡­ "Where do you think you''re going?" A voice was heard from her left side, followed by a flash of violet light. The Stage 3 angel''s body instinctively paused as her mind recognized the danger. Exerting force into her legs, she hurriedly tried to leap away. But alas, she was a beat too slow. SLASH!! A ray of dense sword energy struck her unguarded face and drew a deep line across her lower jaw. The line perfectly cut her through the middle of her mouth, separating the upper and lower jaws from her face. Thud! The lower portion of her mouth fell to the ground, followed by a profuse amount of blood. Using her hands to cover the bleeding area, the Sword-Winged Angel quickly backed away and hurriedly threw a sword projectile towards the area of the sudden attack. The sword projectile cut through the dense white dust but ultimately hit nothing. "I told you," the voice sounded once again, taunting the Stage 3 being, "I would rip apart that mouth of yours." Another flash of violet light appeared within the clouds of dust. This time, the attack aimed at an area underneath the chest of the Sword-Winged Angel. The muscles in that area were very thin, making it a point of weakness in the Sword-Winged Angels. Olivia, having learned that fact from killing thousands of their kind, naturally struck at their weakness. SLASH! The attack instantly and accurately appeared at its target destination. This time, however, the Sword-Winged Angel was vigilant and destroyed the attack almost effortlessly. But¡­Olivia''s strike wasn''t that simple. Three other flashes of sword energy simultaneously appeared behind the Sword-Winged Angels and aimed at the back of her head respectively. The angel, being preoccupied with dealing with the first attack and searching for her opponent, was unable to respond to these new attacks. By the time she realized the appearance and trajectory of those attacks, it was already too late. SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!! Landing on the back of her head, the three attacks etched deep into her feature-less skull, almost reaching her brain. The sword energies were especially sharp and ruthless, as it effortlessly cut through the barrier of soul power surrounding the angel''s body. "You should pay more attention to your surroundings," Olivia''s voice mocked. Unable to suppress her anger anymore, the Sword-Winged Angel exploded, "ENOUGH!!" Slamming her feet on the ground with enough strength to cause cracks, she leapt up into the air, intending to leave this disadvantageous dust-filled area. Unlike Lucius and Olivia, the Sword-Winged Angel hadn''t reached the realm of [Perfect Control]. The dust clouds, being materials imbued with some amount of spiritual energy interfered with her soul senses and messed with her detection. As such, her control over her soul power was quite basic, rendering her unable to accurately track Olivia''s figure within the clouds of dust. Her figure quickly dashed past the layers of dust clouds and appeared at the top of the gorge. Just as she was about to use an attack to blow away the clouds of wind, she heard the voice once more. "And checkmate," Olivia''s voice was filled with cold confidence and murderous intent. To her horror, the Sword-Winged Angel saw dozens of large chunks of rocks crashing against her figure. The timing of her appearance above the clouds and the impact of the rocks on her figure, perfectly coincided, giving her not an iota of space for evasion. BANG! Although she managed to raise her hands and tuck in her legs to reduce the damage, the impact still managed to throw her backward. Her figure flew through the air, before slamming against the side of a nearby mountain. SLAM! Crashing against the wall, the Sword-Winged Angel fell to her knees and threw up a mouthful of blood. Multiple stab wounds were present around her body, making it clear that Olivia had hidden multiple attacks composed of sword energy in between those rocks. Her body was in disarray and her internals was in a mess. Even more, a strange violet-colored soul power messed with her soul power pathways, making her control over her soul power falter. Still, the combat experience of the Sword-Winged Angel was quite great. She quickly organized the situation within her mind and used her focus to first deal with the rampant foreign energy within her body. However, just as she was about to deal with the foreign energy, she felt a weight land on her back. A sword suddenly appeared beneath her throat, catching her in a head-lock position. Once again, that hateful voice was heard, "All conditions for a trial have been met. Beginning judgment." "[Judgment- Final Verdict]" The strongest spell in Olivia''s arsenal was released and violet soul power crazily exploded into the surroundings. Chains appeared to bind the struggling Sword-Winged Angel and forced her body immobile. The ''Scale of Judgment'' appeared in the air above her and tipped towards the side signifying [Evil]. "The scale finds you guilty," Olivia calmly declared and used her sword to behead the Stage 3 Sword-Winged Angel. "NOOO!!!" the Sword-Winged Angel desperately screamed and struggled. However, her body and soul power were immobilized by a strange foreign force, leaving her under the mercy of the Arbiter. Olivia''s sword moved and the Stage 3 angel''s head fell. ''Finally,'' Olivia''s mind relaxed, feeling the body underneath her lifelessly fall to the ground. ''I met the requirements.'' Drained of all blood and power, literally and figuratively, Olivia''s mind blacked and she too fell listlessly next to the Stage 3 being. Chapter 295: Power Unity. (Long Chapter) BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! "It''s trying to escape from the other side!!" "Don''t let it leave. Delay it." BOOOM! BOOOM!! "Lucius! I really need your help over here! This damned thing is on the verge of escaping!" BOOOOOM!!" "I''m a bit¡ª" BANG! BANG! SLASH!! "¡ªbusy here. Grab onto it." "AHH!! IT''S PULLING ME!! LUCIUS, IT''S PULLING ME AWAY!! HEEELLLLLPPPPP!!" SLASH! SLASH!! BANG!! "Hold on, I''m coming. All of you, gather and block this crowd for a moment." SWOOOOP!! "There, I caught you. You can stop screaming." "NEVER ASK ME TO DO THAT EVER AGAIN!! I almost died!!" "You''re exaggerating." "I AM NOT! It was so scary! *blergh*-I don''t think I can fly again-*blergh*!" Holding the desperately struggling piece of the Cloud Steel with his left hand, Lucius used his right hand to support Ka''lor''ah''s wobbling figure, which had begun to suddenly vomit while complaining. Tilting his hand to accommodate her better while also ensuring his hands were not sullied by her hurling. "You-*cough*-owe-*cough**cough*-me for this-*blergh*!" Even at the cost of choking on her own retching, Ka''lor''ah ensured that her complaints were heard. Lucius, being ''understanding'' of her sufferings, did not rebut and allowed her to vent. Of course, his attention was elsewhere. The portion of Cloud Steel within his grasp hadn''t given up its struggles and was still desperately looking for an exit. Lucius, however, did not care for its struggles and started the sealing process. Soul power forming complex patterns appeared above his left hand. These patterns then moved to form a cage-like structure that slowly started to lower itself onto his palm. Feeling this cage near it, the Cloud Steel seemed to instinctively recognize its danger; it knew that if it were to be caught by this cage, it would become trapped forever. As such, its struggles increased in intensity. But alas, being suppressed by Lucius'' strength, it was hardly able to move. The cage eventually lowered itself onto his palm and successfully trapped the Cloud Steel within. The moment the Cloud Steel entered the cage, its struggles lowered in intensity and gradually began to die down. Less than ten seconds later, the material became still and lied peacefully at the bottom of the cage. ''That''s the final portion,'' seeing the sealing process succeed, Lucius inwardly released a sigh. He then immediately threw it into his [Void Storage], removing this frustrating material from his sight. And oh, how frustrating it was! Since the start of their chase eight weeks ago, the fleeing Cloud Steel had taken the ex-Stage 7 duo and twenty of the Forgotten Warriors on a grand tour of the planet. From the west to the north and from the east to the south, the party of intruders had flown over nearly every portion of this planet in chase of this damned material. Did they no plan to trap it, you ask? Of course, they did! However, the deviousness and stubbornness of this material seemed to be limitless. Additionally, the material had the property to split itself into portions, which further increased the difficulty of the chase. Thirty times they had laid traps and thirty times the material had managed to escape. Every time that they managed to nearly grab onto it, the material intentionally dragged the party into the living areas of the Stage 3 beings, using the latter as obstacles to impede their attempts. The damned material had managed to anger Ka''lor''ah to the utmost, and even Lucius had instances where he nearly lost control. The entire goose chase was infuriating to the extreme. ''I''ve heard about how difficult it is to capture this material. Now, I finally know. Fortunately, it''s finally over,'' Lucius thought to himself. No matter, the material was secured in the end. The portion which he had trapped inside a cage and thrown into storage was the final bit of the required amount. "Say," wiping her stained mouth with the sleeves of her dress, Ka''lor''ah asked, "Are you not going to finish them?" She finished, pointing towards a crowd of enraged Stage 3 Sword-Winged Angels who were being held back by the twenty Forgotten Warriors. These Stage 3 angels were the ''obstacles'' gathered to stall the party by the Cloud Steel. The Forgotten Warriors had high combat strength and were un-killable to boot. However, due to lacking a complete soul, they were unfortunately not able to form a Domain or effectively fight within it. Their opponents were able to effortlessly crush these warriors with their Domains. Nonetheless, with their un-killable characteristic, they were fantastic meatshields/cannon fodders. Although not being able to kill, delaying a motley crowd was well within their abilities. "Right, I should," nodding his head, Lucius headed towards the crowd of Sword-Winged Angels and deployed his Domain. What followed next was a simple slaughter. ---------- "Hey, you got a new record! You managed to slay 35 of those Sword-Winged Angels in sub-three minutes. Well done," Ka''lor''ah encouragingly said to the blood-soaked Lucius walking towards her. Using [Annihilation Energy] to destroy the bloodstains on his armor, Lucius causally replied, "It was not much. They were too weak." "A record is a record nonetheless. I can''t imagine there being any other Stage 3 being capable of such a feat," Ka''lor''ah retorted. "A Grimgar would be able to do it," Lucius answered, referring to a Wild Beast species, known for its inane strength and ability to slaughter Stage 3 beings. In fact, it was nicknamed the ''Nightmare of Weak.'' "Right," Ka''lor''ah hit her fist against her palm and nodded her head, "A Grimgar would probably be able to do it faster." "But still," she encouragingly patted Lucius'' knee and continued, "You can definitely surpass it if you try harder. Work hard, young man." She then raised both of her hands and looked towards Lucius while blinking, "Now, lift me. I will not be able to fly for a while, thanks to my recent trauma." Sighing at her actions, Lucius bent forward and picked her tiny body up. Placing her within one of his pockets, he asked, "Was it that bad?" "Imagine being blitzed by a blender as you''re slowly being sucked into a black hole. Got the picture? Now multiply that by a hundred," Ka''lor''ah monotonously explained, "That''s how it felt hanging onto that damned thing." "I felt sensations in places that I didn''t even know existed. I felt things that shouldn''t even be felt," Ka''lor''ah''s eyes lifelessly stared at Lucius, as she continued, "I''ve been scarred forever, Lucius. Forever." Faced with such a reply, Lucius was honestly unsure of how to reply. Eventually, he chose to sigh and remain quiet. "A lot of time has passed on this chase. There should only be a wee¡ª" "Lucius," Ka''lor''ah''s grim voice suddenly interrupted Lucius'' words. "The spell I left on Olivia just went off. She''s in trouble." "Serious trouble," Ka''lor''ah emphasized her point once more. Realizing the implication of her words, Lucius had a change of expression. A trace of anger appeared on his otherwise cold face, as he angrily spat out, "That stupid girl!" Leaping off the ground with tremendous strength, Lucius raised his speed to the extreme while asking, "Where is she?" "You have to move in that direction for¡­," Ka''lor''ah was not in the mood to joke. She was too worried about her disciple''s situation to make a joke. For the spell that had gone off would only do so only in one of two situations: Olivia was either dying or already dead. Either way, the situation was extremely bad. ---------- BOOM!! Breaking past the cloud layer, Lucius appeared on the upper layer of the planet. He habitually scanned around to ensure that there were no traps or ambushes, before dashing in the direction of Ka''lor''ah''s pointing at full speed. His aura was noticeably frostier than usual making it evident that he was in a bad mood. A terrible mood even. ''That foolish little¡ª"Lucius thought to himself in irritation, ''Even after I specifically warned her not to fight a Stage 3 being, she still went and did it!'' While the duo continued to head towards Olivia, Ka''lor''ah used her spell to gain a better understanding of her disciple''s situation. After some effort, she learned more about the situation. Fortunately enough, Olivia wasn''t dead¡­yet. However, this discovery did not serve to lighten their tension as it meant that Olivia was in an extreme situation where she was currently dying. With the duo''s understanding of Olivia''s strength and character, they knew that this situation was not the result of her falling into a trap or fighting simultaneously against hundreds of similar-level opponents. Olivia''s character was cautious, making her immune to the first scenario and her strength ensured that she would be able to run away when faced with the second. Having removed these possible scenarios, only two remained; she was either caught off-guard by a Stage 3 opponent or had voluntarily challenged one. Of the two situations, Lucius estimated the first one to be impossible. With her level of strength, being ambushed by a Stage 3 opponent would''ve definitely resulted in her death. Even if she managed to avoid the initial attack of the ambush by pure luck, her weak body made it so that she would not be able to survive the following ones! Moving on to the second scenario; voluntarily challenging a Stage 3 opponent. The most likely scenario according to the duo''s estimations. This was peak foolishness since there was absolutely no way for Olivia to kill a Stage 3 being. This wasn''t Lucius underestimating her, but rather a fact that was born from analyzing her strength and specialties. He had even made sure to include her strange Arbiter abilities while compiling this evaluation. Put it this way, even if Olivia had managed to enter the realm of [Perfect Control], learned the usage of sword energy, mastered [Moving Field], and even put all her strength and skills on the line¡­she would still be unable to kill a Stage 3 being. This was because she lacked the final, most crucial piece that allowed a lower Stage opponent to kill a higher Stage one. It was a piece that Lucius had yet to teach her. [Power Unity] [Power Unity] was the ability to unite the strengths of all three of a user''s center''s of power; body, soul, and consciousness. This ability gave its user not only the required strength but also the ''authority'' to cross the threshold of Rules and killer a higher Stage being. Authority was incredibly important. Why was a Stage 7 being unable to kill a Lord, even though they possessed the strength to literally move and shake the Universe? It was because they lacked that crucial authority to transcend the Rules! [Power Unity] can either be a racial skill, a special ability, or even a technique. In Lucius'' case, his scythe technique [Dance of the Death God] was his [Power Unity]. The sword technique that Lucius had created for Olivia was supposed to be the [Power Unity] that would help her to cross the threshold. Without it, she (or anyone similar for that matter) would be unable to kill a Stage 3 being! ''According to Ka''lor''ah''s estimations, not much time must have passed since the start of her battle. Seeing as to how she''s not already dead, but slowly dying, the Stage 3 opponent must be toying with her,'' Lucius'' mind analyzed the situation. ''She cannot die! She holds too much value to suddenly die now!'' Not to mention the time and effort Lucius had spent in personally training her, Olivia was also a crucial component of his Stage 4 ascendance. If she were to die now, who knows how long it would take him to find an alternate path into Stage 4? ''Dammit, this speed is not enough!'' Lucius'' skin turned into a light shade of grey, as he continued, ''I need to use this damned ability.'' "Hold on tight," Lucius warned Ka''lor''ah and activated [Void Travel]. His body disappeared into the Void, replaced by a small, pitch-black line that moved at almost five times his previous speed. Using his Void Eater abilities was dangerous and increased the chances of him losing control. However, now was not the time to skimp on its use as Lucius desperately needed its speed. ''You better not have died when I get there!'' ---------- Materializing in the space above the collapsed gorge, Lucius instantly identified the target of his hurried arrival. Beside the foot of a tall, densely-white Mountain, upon a raised platform which resembled a stage or an altar, laid two unmoving bodies. One was the bloodied, almost unrecognizable figure of Olivia. Her body was nonexistent of soul power and her slow, shallow breaths were quickly diminishing as life force drained from her body. Lying closely beside her was the beheaded body of a Sword-Winged Angel. Judging from the remnant aura released by the corpse, it was evident that her strength was in the Low-Level of Stage 3. The sword, which was firmly grasped by Olivia''s unconscious hands, laid in the middle separating the head and the body. Simply looking at the scene, it was obvious what had happened. And it was this exact observation that shocked the two ex-Stage 7 beings. "Impossible!!" Lucius and Ka''lor''ah yelled in unison. Chapter 296: Foreign Energy. Looking at the scene underneath him, Lucius had one question, ''How did she do it?'' His characteristically blank face was colored with surprise as Lucius was unable to hide his astonishment. His eyes were widened to the extreme and his jaw was slightly agape. Lowering his flight, he approached the two unmoving bodies and observed them with his soul senses. Of course, the majority of his attention was placed on the dead Stage 3 corpse. "Impossible. This should be impossible," Lucius absent-mindedly muttered as his fingers ran across the cut on the corpse''s neck. He then inserted his soul power into the body to obtain a detailed scan of its insides. Lucius even employed a few of his self-developed autopsy spells to procure greater information. Stream after stream of data was transmitted through his soul power and filtered into Lucius'' brain. He then proceeded to study the information with utmost seriousness. Seriousness equal to the time when he was facing the Lord of Fate. ''The outer body shows a lot of bruising. Assuming from their distribution and height of the bruising, it was caused by tremendous blunt force.'' ''The inner organs are relatively okay, apart from a few ruptures and splits. A trace amount of sword energy seemed to have run rampant near the throat. Judging from its remnant scent, it''s Olivia''s.'' ''The damage suggests that the victim was assaulted by a singular party and was not sieged by a group. From the scene, this party should obviously be Olivia, but it makes no sense¡­'' ''It is evident that her attacks do not contain [Power Unity]. More so, she lacks the authority to slay a Stage 3 being by herself.'' This much was obvious and anyone could figure it out from observing the scene. However, what puzzled Lucius was the following statement. ''If this had been a group effort, then it would be understandable. The cumulative authorities of all participating parties would surpass that of the Stage 3 being''s, resulting in the killing being possible.'' Per se, killing a Stage 3 being by a Stage 2 party wasn''t entirely impossible. While a single person would not have the authority to kill if they were to lack [Power Unity], a group of people would be able to succeed as a result of their authorities cumulating with each other. This cumulative authority would suppress the higher Rules of the Stage 3 being, making it possible to kill them. Put it like this, during the final battle in Mankind against the Stage 3 Scrofanian, the group was not limited by authority and thus had a solid chance at killing the being. This was because they had a large number of Stage 2 beings pooling together their authorities. This had allowed them to suppress the higher Stage Scrofanian and provided them with the opportunity to kill him with the Orbital Cannon attack. Had that battle being lacking the dozens of Stage 2 soldiers present in the area, the Scrofanian wouldn''t have fallen for that trap, no matter how muddled of a state he was in. His instincts would have kicked in earlier and he would''ve avoided that trap in its entirety. In short, Mankind was extremely lucky for being able to fulfill all of these hidden conditions and deliver that blow. (Not that it worked in the end.) The reason Lucius checked the body and the surroundings for the participation of other Stage 2 forces, even though it was borderline impossible, was because that was the only way to rationalize the current situation. But there wasn''t! The body lacked any remnant aura apart from Olivia''s own and the surroundings also lacked traces of other beings participating in the battle. Olivia, who in every way shape, and form lacked the authority to suppress and slay a Stage 3 being had somehow magically succeeded in doing just that. It was illogical, impossible, and most importantly, against the order of the Rules! ''How on earth did she¡ªWait! What''s this?!'' Lucius, who was lost in this impossible conundrum, was startled awake as he identified something queer within the Stage 3 corpse. At a level even deeper than the corpse''s cells, Lucius'' soul power identified a minuscule trace of foreign energy. From his initials scans, Lucius verified that this foreign energy did not belong to Olivia. In fact, the more he continued to dig at this strange energy, the more it confused him as Lucius could not match the foreign energy to any of the Rules that he knew of. Imagine coming across an element that did not belong to the periodic table, while being familiar with all the other elements. Lucius'' current situation was like that. His soul senses managed to identify energy that did not contain any of the properties that Lucius knew of. And Lucius knew a lot. It wouldn''t be a stretch to say that he had come across and fought against almost every Rule that made up this Universe. While he may not be able to instantly recognize, it should at the very least invoke a familiar feeling within him. However, this foreign energy failed to do so! ''What are you?'' Lucius formed incredibly tiny threads with his soul power and moved to encircle this foreign energy. He wanted to trap and preserve this strange energy before it dissipated completely. The cellular-level threads moved meticulously and surrounded the foreign energy. Forming a cage-like structure around it, Lucius then willed his soul power to trap it Just as the threads were about to entrap that energy, a change occurred. The previously dormant energy suddenly became agitated, before turning volatile. ''What the¡ª'' Before Lucius could even finish his thoughts, the foreign energy exploded! "Argh!" Lucius cried out in pain, as he suddenly clutched onto his head and threw up a mouthful of blood. An incredible amount of pain was felt from within his mindspace, as his dormant soul, residing at the center of the Domain-island, furiously writhed from having received an attack. That minuscule, almost non-existent amount of foreign energy had managed to inflict damage onto his soul! ''Must catch it!'' Determination shone within Lucius'' eyes as he bit on his lips to suppress the pain. Ignoring the pain from his soul, Lucius hurriedly controlled his soul power to find another remnant portion of that foreign power. He did not know what it was, but whatever that energy was it had managed to ignore his 300-year consciousness, his cheat body, and managed to hurt the [Annihilator] soul. One had to recall, the [Annihilator] soul refused to submit even in the presence of a Lord! Lucius scored every inch of the Stage 3 corpse, scanning every single, individual cell. His soul power was abundant and his search skills were exquisite, allowing him to accomplish this task in mere minutes. However, he could no longer find that energy. Or to be precise, there was no more of that strange energy within the corpse. ''Did I lose it?'' Lucius thought despondently. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he then pondered, ''That energy is definitely not simple. Question is, why is it inside this corpse, and how? Was Olivia behind it? How? Was it the reason she was able to achieve this impossible feat?'' The more he thought, the more questions appeared within his mind. Just as Lucius was about to sink further into his musings, he was interrupted by a very alarmed Ka''lor''ah. "LUCIUS! Are you okay?!" she yelled. Recovering from his daze, Lucius calmly wiped the blood off of his mouth and replied, "I''m fine. There was something strange within this body." "Well, there''s no time for that! This girl is starting to lose vitality faster and faster! We need to get her to the ship before I can administer the treatment!!" Ka''lor''ah hurriedly spoke. Only then did Lucius remember Olivia''s precarious situation. ''Right, I can''t let her die.'' Immediately getting up to his feet, he first stored the corpse of the Stage 3 Sword-Winged Angel inside storage, before carefully picking up Olivia''s body. Ka''lor''ah''s emergency first aid had allowed the skin on her body to partially recover. The profuse bleeding and stopped with much of the blood had dried and stuck to the surface. Feeling her familiar body in his arms, Lucius could feel her slowly losing her warmth. With his keen sight, he could also see her skin faintly losing its color. It was clear that if Olivia wasn''t properly treated immediately, she would definitely lose her life. Seeing her like this, Lucius felt a strange feeling flash across his heart. It had flashed by too fast to properly discern what it was and Lucius had been preoccupied with other thoughts to accurately recognize it. But still, one thing about this feeling was understood by Lucius. It was a feeling of loss. Not as strong as the loss felt by losing a loved one, or even losing a pet. No, the feeling felt by Lucius was even smaller in magnitude. It was similar to how one would feel about losing a pencil. Just enough to notice it but not enough to care too much about it. "What are you standing and gawking at?! We have no time! Go, go, GO!!" Placing herself within Lucius'' pocket, Ka''lor''ah hurriedly urged. "[Void Travel]" Lucius spoke. Shadows appeared beneath his feet and enveloped the three figures into it. The party then disappeared from the surface of the Cloud Cover Continent, with only a small, black line heading towards outer space. After many surprises and twists, big and small, the trio''s journey had finally come to an end within this planet. ---------- Inside a dilapidated stone building that was foreign yet strangely familiar, Olivia felt herself sitting on the ground. Feeling the damp moss and cold stone underneath her butt, Olivia quickly rose to her feet and vigilantly looked around. ''Where am I?'' Chapter 297: Strange Town. Gazing around at the broken stone walls, partially faded murals, the random bits of sunlight peeking in through the gaps on the roof, and the damp and mossy tiles underneath her feet, Olivia felt a strange case of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. ''Strange¡­Wasn''t I in a fight against that Stage 3 b*tch just a moment ago? What is this place and how did I get here? Is it a dream?'' ''Unlikely, everything feels too real and I get a strange feeling that I''ve been here before. Better confirm it.'' Thinking as such, Olivia moved to release her soul power to create a Boundary. However, to her absolute shock, she realized that her body did not contain a single iota of soul power! It wasn''t that her soul power had been drained and was thus empty but rather, her body seemed to be absent of any amounts of soul power at all. Olivia''s current state seemed to have returned to the time she was an Unawakened. A mortal human with not a single trace of supernatural power. ''Where is my soul power?!'' feeling the greatly weakened state of her body, Olivia panicked. Power was the basis for confidence and the current lack of it made Olivia terrified. Any person would be if they were to wake up one day and find themselves limbless and paralyzed. Her breaths became shortened and hurried as Olivia lowered herself to the floor and vigilantly looked around. Her nervousness was palpable and the unfamiliar surroundings only served to heighten it. ''Calm down and gather yourself. Remember what you learned in Survival and Hunting. Having a calm mind and an alert perception is essential in a new environment,'' Olivia encouraged herself. Eventually, her breathing became normal and Olivia''s tension also seemed to reduce by a great extent. Lucius'' lessons continued to echo within her head, giving her confidence in this strange situation. ''Firstly, analyze the surrounding environment. Get an idea of where you are and what kind of place this is.'' Having a goal in her mind, Olivia started to act. With soul power being absent, she could only rely on her five basic senses to scout her surroundings. As such, Olivia pushed her senses to the extreme and collected all the information she could from the surroundings. The temperature within this dilapidated stone room was rather cool, being around 24-26¡ã C. The humidity, however, was rather high causing Olivia to start sweating despite the coolness. The clothes on her body consisted of the purple armor set gifted to her by Lucius. Strangely enough, the armor seemed to lose all of this tech capabilities and extra gimmicks, making it indistinguishable from actual leather gear. Her sword also seemed to be missing. Focusing on her ears, Olivia tried to make out any traces of sounds coming from her surroundings, outside this run-down stone room. However, everything was strangely quiet and there were no sounds other than the ones caused by Olivia herself. Remaining in the same ''crouched'' position until her legs grew numb and noticing that there were no other signs, Olivia finally relaxed her guard. There seemed to be no signs of life in the immediate surrounding causing the level of danger to drop by a lot. As such, judging it to be somewhat safe, Olivia rose to her feet. There was only so much she could hear and feel from inside a room. To truly make sense of her environment, Olivia would have to look outside the room. Fortunately, it was daytime, seeing how rays of sunlight fell into the room from the cracks in the ceiling and by the scene outside the door. When the initial sense of danger and fear had passed, a sense of curiosity rose within Olivia''s heart. Looking around the room, she searched for any items that would give her a clue of what this place was, or of how she had gotten here. Olivia was extremely careful with her actions, taking care to not carelessly disturb or trigger anything. As run down and broken as this room looked, it would pay to be extra safe with her actions. The room wasn''t very large, taking Olivia only a few minutes to scrutinize every inch of the room. A few minutes later, she stood at the center of the room, disappointment evident in her face. ''There is nothing but dirt, moss, and broken stones. The murals have faded too much to make sense of the images.'' Still, it wasn''t a complete waste of time as the existence of the murals suggested the existence of an intelligent civilization. Building houses was easy, but drawing colorful and intricate images was hard. With nothing worthy of attention inside the run-down house, Olivia naturally moved her focus to the door leading outside. Walking towards the door, Olivia observed the doorframe to check for any hinges or locks that would suggest the existence of a door. Unfortunately, there was no such evidence on the doorframe, making it evident that this room never had a door in the first place. ''They could paint murals but not put doors? Strange.'' Shaking her head, Olivia exited the room with utmost vigilance. The instant she took a step outside, Olivia could feel the hot morning sun bear down upon her. The surrounding temperature immediately rose by a few degrees, reminding her of the hot summer days on her home planet. The layers of leather armor served to intensify the heat, causing her to sweat even more intensely. ''Ah, this is unbearable.'' Olivia then removed the outer coat, rolled up the sleeves on her arms and legs, and even unfastened the buttons on the chest part of the armor. Protection was important, but even more so was conserving the fluid reserves of her body. In a situation where soul power was absent and her current state was no different from a powerless mortal, she had to consider these rather forgotten-about factors to stay in top condition. Feeling the air touch her skin and dry the sweat, Olivia felt a huge sense of relief, ''This is much better.'' She then tied the overcoat around her waist and started to venture out. The immediate surroundings around the stone room were filled with thick, green vegetation. Tall trees, dense thickets, and overgrown weeds were the first things to come into notice. Fortunately, there existed a clear path adjoining the entrance of the door. The path was dry, beaten, and most importantly, absent of the dense vegetation. Another sign pointing towards intelligent existence. ''It''s great that a path already exists. Trekking through that forest would''ve been a nightmare.'' Olivia thanked her lucky stars. While she was unable to hear and see any large movements from the surrounding vegetation, who knew how many poisonous plants and murderous insects lived within those thickets. Walking at the center of the path, as far away as possible from either side of the jungle, Olivia followed the route of the path. She warily observed both sides of the jungle and mentally prepared herself to face ambushes. That sudden attack by the Stage 3 Sword-Winged Angel had inflicted quite the trauma on her. ''I wonder if that b*tch died. I killed her, right?'' Olivia pondered. ''I recall the execution of [Final Verdict] being successful and I think I chopped her head off.'' ''But still, what is this place and how did I get here? Did Lucius and Ka''lor''ah leave me here when I was unconscious?'' Olivia despondently thought. She then immediately shook her head and denied it, ''That''s impossible. They wouldn''t put me in another test immediately, without any information¡­.right?'' Olivia''s conviction fell through halfway when she recalled the personalities of both her teachers. Ka''lor''ah was sadistic and Lucius was cruel. Dropping her into another test, one that seemed to rely heavily on Survival and Hunting seemed exactly like a thing that they would do. Hitting her cheeks, Olivia forced herself to think positively, ''Stop thinking about it. Stop thinking about it like that. Think positively!'' ''Right! Since I managed to kill that Stage 3 hussy, my evaluation should''ve been bumped up into S tier. It''s a shame that I was less than a hundred kills away from completing the second requirement'' Rubbing her chin, Olivia pondered, ''Actually, the riots within that city should''ve killed a good number of Stage 2 beings. Since I played a direct role in its causing, shouldn''t those kills be counted as mine?'' ''I must ask this to Ka''lor''ah when I meet her. If she agrees, that first place reward is definitely mine!'' Just thinking about that S+ reward, caused Olivia to fantasize. Although it only granted her three wishes to be fulfilled by Lucius, it would nonetheless cause the distance between them to be closed by a large amount. ''I need to be smart about those wishes. Small, temporary gains would be useless. I need to ask for something that''s more impactful and meaningful.'' ''Something that would make Lucius look at me and rely on me. Especially so, when there''s this sudden competitor called ''Aurora''?'' Olivia loved Lucius a lot and for a very long time. She wasn''t willing to give up just because a new competitor had shown up, and was even more unwilling of sharing him with some unknown woman. After all, she had known him and been with him for the longest time. The two grew up together since childhood and were inseparable for the longest time. Why should she be willing to share him with some unknown woman who had suddenly shown up and couldn''t have known him for more than a year? That wasn''t fair. It wasn''t fair at all. Fifteen or so minutes into her journey, Olivia had to put a pause on her thoughts. Slowing her speed, she eventually came to a stop and looked at the scene before her with amazement. ''What the¡­? Where is this place?'' In front of her was a large clearing with dozens of small, dilapidated stone houses. Each house was 3-4 four times larger than the first stone room she found herself in. Apart from that one difference, they seemed to be the same. Broken walls, run-down rooftops, and absent doors. Olivia could even vaguely see the faint murals inside the house closest to her. Finding herself at the entrance of this ''town'' of-sorts, Olivia''s foot hovered above the entrance feeling hesitant to take a step and enter. ''Should I enter?'' She vaguely felt that the moment she enters this strange town, something would forever change. Chapter 298: Murals. ''Should I enter?'' thought Olivia, hesitantly. Unease and vigilance wrestled with curiosity and a sense of adventure within her mind. No matter how much she tried to rationalize the current events it was clearly evident that her current situation was extremely strange. Waking up alone inside a stone room situated in the middle of nowhere with her soul power strangely missing. No signs of her teacher, Lucius, or any living thing in the vicinity for that matter. A solitary path that started from the stone room and led to a strange dilapidated stone town. Rather than say her current situation was a product of circumstances, it was more like someone or something was deliberately leading her somewhere. Remaining outside the entrance of the stone town for a few minutes, Olivia''s curiosity eventually won over her hesitance. The more time she stood outside this town, the more that feeling of familiarity grew within her heart. ''It''s not like there is anywhere else to from here. Might as well check out this town and find out why it feels so familiar.'' Throwing caution to the wind, Olivia stepped into the town. The moment she took that first step, a sense of relief washed over Olivia''s heart and the unease disappeared from her mind. With the unease and hesitance gone, Olivia grew bolder with her actions. Curious about the insides of these stone houses, she stepped house nearest to the entrance to take a look. The state of this house was better than that stone room she previously woke up in, but it was not by much. Broken walls, cracked floors, and decrepit ceilings were a common feature, alongside the green moss that grew everywhere. If one had to take a guess on the age of this building, one would estimate it to be a few hundred to almost a thousand years old. It was not accurate, but that was the feeling it gave Olivia. ''There''s no furniture or any items. Did people live in here?'' Olivia wondered. There were no tables, chairs, bedsteads, or any other furniture commonly found in homes. Apart from the broken fragments of rocks, and the overgrown patches of grass sparsely spread within, the interiors of the house were relatively empty. There was, however, proper sectioning within the house. It wasn''t just a singular, large open space, but a house with clearly defined rooms. Judging from their sizes, Olivia speculated the different rooms to respectively be: living room, dining room, kitchen, and bedroom. After looking through the entire house and finding nothing, Olivia eventually arrived before the only object of interest within the house. It was on a wall situated in the living room An entire wall was painted with colorful murals. ''Hmm, the murals are clearly drawn and a lot of colors were used. It''s faded a lot, but I think I still make out some of the images,'' Olivia thought to herself, as she carefully observed the murals. Although the paint had largely faded due to the passage of time, some of the images were still clear to a degree where she was able to make out the individual images, albeit with some difficulty. For example, one of the images depicted a scene where countless alien-shaped figures gathering around a large golden sphere and kneeling around it, seemingly in worship. Another scene depicted a large snake swallowing balls of fire with its mouth open. Looking at those balls of fire, the image of stars appeared within Olivia''s mind. Every scene, object, and individual on the mural was painted with a bright color. There was an utter lack of dark colors such as blacks or grays. However, there was one oddity to this pattern. ''How strange, all the figures and items on this wall are painted with a bright color. However, this partially faded image towards the corner has a black-colored humanoid figure in it.'' Leaning in closer, Olivia carefully studied this odd image. The scene was rather incomplete and hidden, due to a chunk of stone missing from the wall and the lack of proper light. The colors on this image were lighter and more weathered compared to the rest of the wall. However, the black-colored humanoid was rather prominent. In this scene, the black-colored humanoid was shackled and being dragged by a large beast. Surrounding him were many other humanoids and strangely-shaped figures in a similar situation, each one having a unique color. The large beast that was dragging them couldn''t be seen due to the missing wall chunk and neither was the destination. ''Why is this figure the only one colored in black and not a brighter color like the rest?'' Olivia wondered. However, with insufficient clues, she was not able to make out the reason. ''Also, none of the figures have any features on their face. Their shapes are well-defined but their faces are blank.'' This was another strange aspect of the murals. The scenes and the shapes of the various creature painted on the mural were well-defined. However, none of the creatures had any facial features apart from the shape of their heads. ''Very weird. Who drew these images?'' Having observed the wall in its entirety, Olivia took a few steps back, looked around the house one last time, and then stepped outside the house. The sun continued to brightly shine in the sky and hadn''t seemed to have moved from its initial position at all. Evidentially, not much time had passed since her awakening in this strange place. ''Looks like there is a lot of daytime left,'' Olivia concluded. She then looked around at the dozens of other similarly built stone houses and thought, ''I wonder if the other houses are similar to this one. Will there be more murals?'' The images depicting various scenes on the mural had evoked Olivia''s sense of adventure. Clearly, there seemed to be some story behind each image and Olivia was curious to find more of them. ''Let''s just go and check the houses,'' deciding so, Olivia marched towards the next house closest to her. ---------- Many hours passed during with Olivia looked through almost all the houses populating this strange town. The stone houses did not differ in properties and were all virtually the same. Four rooms were present in every house, albeit different in their order. There was no furniture or any traces of people having lived within. At least, not in the recent century. The ages of each of the stone houses were similar, but the level of damage to their structures differed. Some were on the verge of collapsing while others were relatively fine. At first, Olivia chalked it up to their location inside the town with regards to the jungle surrounding them. However, this theory was shortly debunked when she found a few houses at the center of the town, much more decrepit than the ones on the outskirts. Moving onto the only object of interest within the stones houses- the murals. Each stone house had a single wall dedicated to the colorful murals, but the location of this wall differed from house to house. Some were in the living room, some were in the kitchen, some were in the bedroom, so on, and so forth. In one case, Olivia found a mural painted on the ceiling of the house causing her to almost miss it! A point of interest about the murals, each one was completely different from the other. The scenes depicted were random and did not seem to follow any pattern. They did not have any obvious continuity, and there was not a single case of overlap between any of the images. Common characters were also a rare occurrence. Olivia had made sure of this point by going back and rechecking some of the other murals from other houses. Most of the images did not make any sense as they involved strange, convoluted shapes, confusing patterns, and grotesquely-shaped figures doing strange things or being in strange scenes. However, the pattern of using bright, radiant colors still continued. Humanoid-shaped figures were relatively rare, but were nonetheless present. However, the scenes employing these humanoid figures were also equally strange and impossible to understand without any context. Nonetheless, Olivia found each of them to be extremely interesting and intriguing and memorized as much as her mind allowed her to. Still, the most interesting and exciting discovery wasn''t the ones stated above, but the one that follows; the mural within each house had at least one image depicting a scene with the black-colored humanoid figure as its center. The color black was exclusively used to only depict this one human-shaped figure. He/she was the only recurring character within every single mural within every single house. One scene showed the black-colored figure, fighting against an endless horde of creatures. Another scene showed the black-colored figure walking across a sea of red. Olivia''s favorite scene was the one where the black-colored figure was sitting upon a grey throne at the top of a strangely shaped mountain. Underneath that mountain were an innumerable number of creatures prostrating themselves in reverence to that black-colored figure. There were hundreds of other images involving the black-colored figure, mostly depicting scenes of death and slaughter. In fact, Olivia was able to partially sequence these hundreds of images and created a timeline tracking his/her progression. Just from the fact that she was able to partially piece together the various images, it was evident that the imaged involving the black-colored figure had continuity. Still, her timeline was nowhere near complete and large holes were present in it. The hundreds of images were nowhere near enough to trace the life of the black-colored figure. ---------- Olivia found herself standing before the final stone house she had yet to enter in this town. This stone house, situated at the very center of the town, was noticeably larger and older than the other houses. There was as sense of discontinuity between this house and the rest of the town. It did not feel like this house belonged to the rest of the town and was rather detached from it If one were to say the other houses were a thousand-years-old, then this stone house before her was at least a ten-thousand-years-old. Olivia, having noticed this oddness, left the exploration of this house to the end. Now that she had finished going through all the other houses, she had come to explore this final one. Standing before the wide-open doorway, Olivia''s face did not contain her previous excitement and curiosity, but was rather lost in thought. A single question bounced within her mind, bothering her to no little extent. ''Why was every single mural damaged exactly on the same spot where the image of the black-colored figure was drawn, while every other image was completely fine?'' Every single image that she had seen depicting the black-colored figure was incomplete and was missing one, if not multiple, portions of the wall it was drawn on. Even stranger was the fact that no matter how much Olivia searched around for those missing chunks, she was unable to find it. ''It''s almost like someone has intentionally destroyed those portions of the wall, rather than the damage being done by natural causes.'' As she continued to ponder about this question while standing at the entrance of the last unexplored house, Olivia, for the first time since waking up in this place, heard a sound. To be exact, it was a voice calling out to her, by her name. "Olivia¡­" Chapter 299: Recordings Hearing an eerie voice call her by her name, Olivia''s thoughts chilled and her spine shivered. An intense feeling of unease and danger sprouted within her heart, and her instincts warned her to immediately leave this place, ''Run!'' Olivia willed her body but the latter did not comply. ''Run! Run! RUN! WHY ARE YOU NOT MOVING?!!'' Olivia screamed within her mind. Gathering the entirety of her willpower she desperately tried to move her body. Alas, control over her body seemed to have left Olivia. Her body continued to stand in place, as she found herself unable to control its movements. Her body seemed to have been overtaken by some foreign for its control, while her mind continued to remain free. Despair flooded her mind as Olivia found herself unable of any action. She was unable to even move her head and could only helplessly stare into the dark interiors of the unexplored stone house. Unable to do anything, Olivia could only silently think, ''It must be that voice! Some strange power must have taken control of my body.'' Whether it was the correct explanation or not, this was the only explanation that made the most sense. She was perfectly fine before and had looked around the town without any trouble. It was only after the encounter with that eerie voice that she ended up in her current predicament. ''It''s not going to make me enter the house, right?'' Olivia nervously wondered. Her instincts continued to intensely blare at her about the danger radiating from the house. Due to the odd positioning of the house, Olivia was unable to properly view its insides. All that her eyes could see were darkness followed by more darkness. Her initial curiosity had been completely washed away by her desire to run away from this house. Olivia prayed that the eerie voice controlling her body would not make her enter this house. Unfortunately, her prayers seemed to be futile, as Olivia felt her body walk towards the house. ''No, no, no, no, no!'' cried Olivia. Uncaring of her thoughts, Olivia''s body continued to walk towards the house and entered its doorway. Arriving inside, she was unable to view anything through her eyes, due to the interiors being too dark. The ceiling, although largely broken and decrepit, did not have any holes or cracks through which sunlight could enter. Without any sunlight to illuminate the interiors, it was impossible to view anything. ''What''s the point in bringing me inside, if I can''t see anything?'' she complained. As if hearing her complaint, a light suddenly appeared within the house and illuminated everything within. An orb of blue light appeared before her and dimly lit up the interiors. Seeing this change, Olivia was speechless. ''Why are you suddenly compliant?'' she asked but received no reply in response. Clearing her mind of such extraneous thoughts, Olivia focused her mind on the scene before her. Since the strange voice had brought her inside the stone house and had even provided a source of light to view the interiors, she figured that she might as well comply with its wishes. Through her ''eyes'', Olivia could see that the insides of this house were also as lacking as the rest. Debris, moss, and a blatant lack of furniture/items made up for the entirety of the house. However, Olivia''s mind wasn''t focused on this but was rather immediately pulled towards something else. Unlike the other houses, this stone house had one jarring difference. The entirety of its interior was painted with murals! The walls, the ceiling, and even the floor underneath her feet were densely packed with colorful images. Much of the paint had faded and the various debris and damaged blocked a majority of the murals. Nonetheless, the fact that every inch of the interior was painted with images already made this center-most stone house incomparably different from the rest. ''Wow, there are so many scenes,'' Olivia thought with awe. Since she was unable to freely control her body and therefore her head, Olivia had to wait for the strange power to move her body and turn her head. Thankfully, her eyesight and field of view were rather good, allowing her to barely peek at the images on the sides and at the floor. An image depicting a strangely-shaped fish floating through space. An image depicting a sanguine-colored, octopus-like creature feasting on a brown planet. There was even one image that depicted two grotesquely shaped races locked in a war against each other. The scale and intensity of the war as depicted on the mural were incomparable to anything that Olivia had previously seen. The images depicted on the murals inside this house were not only older than the ones seen in the previous houses, but they were also extremely detailed! In fact, Olivia keenly noticed that some of the characters in a few murals had their facial features drawn. ''Do these murals depict real events and people that had taken place and existed within the Universe?'' Olivia thought to herself. ''Does that mean that these murals are a sort of historical record?'' Any intelligent species have a habit of recording their history. The fact that this uninhabited stone town had thousands of pictures depicting various events in the Universe, led Olivia to assume that these murals were a sort of a recording of history maintained by the previous inhabitants of this town. Perhaps they were scholars or observers, who liked to watch various events in the Universe and record the most historic ones within these murals, as a sort of hobby or maybe even a duty of sorts. Of course, there existed the equally likely possibility that the people living within this town simply liked to draw random nonsense and she was just overthinking the meaning of the murals. Without concrete evidence of their motives, Olivia would never know. Minutes continued to pass as Olivia continued to view one image after the other. The strange power controlled her body bringing her to specific points in the house while forcing her to look at specific events. The first time, it forced her to look at an image depicting a scene of a large, flame-covered giant picking up a small, red-colored humanoid figure in outer space. Both parties were featureless and Olivia was unable to make sense of the image without any context. The second time, it brought her in front of another image depicting a scene of a tall, blue-colored humanoid chained against a wall. The head of this humanoid was lightly raised, allowing Olivia to notice the ruby-colored gem on his forehead and a leisurely smile on his face. The third time, the mysterious force, placed her in front of an image depicting a scene of a hooded, golden-colored figure sitting atop a crystal throne while looking down upon a brown-colored humanoid. The fourth time¡­ Like so, Olivia was forced by the strange and mysterious force to view seven different images. Each time, she was only allowed to move on to the next spot after she had finished committing those specific images to her memory. While Olivia found this odd and wasn''t able to make any sense of those depicted scenes without context, she had no choice but to oblige to the whims of the strange power. Also, it wasn''t entirely bad either. The seven images were rather far from each other, allowing Olivia to view and memorize many other scenes during the process. When she had finished memorizing the final image situated in the kitchen, the strange force, controlled Olivia''s body once again and brought her back to the living room. ''Is it over?'' Olivia wondered, seeing her body return to the first room within the house. ''Strange, I never saw the black-colored figure appear in any of the images within this house. Is it perhaps in one of those images that I missed?'' she thought. While she found it strange and was slightly disappointed, Olivia felt mostly relieved. Her body had already been brought near the entrance of the house. A few more steps and she would be able to exit and house and hopefully be rid of this strange control. ''I will move as far away as possible from his house and never return. The feeling of having something else control your body is terrifying!'' Just as her body was about to leave the house, it was suddenly brought to a pause. Olivia''s mind instantly turned nervous, as she regretted thinking her previous thoughts, ''Shit, I forgot that this thing can read my mind! I''m sorry strange power, I promise to return if you let me go now.'' She hurriedly promised. However, the strange power paid no attention to her promises and forced the body to fall on its back. Turning her head to look at the ceiling, the mysterious power forced Olivia to look at the mural painted on the ceiling. Unlike the other murals which consisted of dozens to hundreds of different scenes, haphazardly strewn together, the mural covering the entire roof of the living room depicted a single scene. An infinitely large, grey-colored land, upon which stood an uncountable number of creatures, painted with different colors. Every single creature had its weapons drawn and stared towards the sky with incomparable bloodlust and hatred. Covering the sky, encompassing it in its entirety, was an endlessly large black-colored cloud with a swirling center that resembled a mouth. Endless avarice and desire leaked from this mouth as it gazed towards the creatures on the ground, ravenously. ''It can''t be¡­!'' Olivia''s thoughts came to a stop as her eyes landed on a specific feature of this black-colored cloud. Just above the mouth was a single pair of eyes; one bright-golden, and the other crimson-red. ''L¡ª'' Before Olivia could complete her thoughts, grey-colored energy exploded out from the ceiling and flooded her body. Her body rose into the air and rapidly convulsed as endless grey energy continued to pour from the ceiling and forcibly flood her body. Eventually, Olivia lost consciousness and her body disappeared from the living room of the house. The grey-colored energy also disappeared following her departure, returning peace to the stone house. The queer stone town had once again become uninhabited and everything went back to the way it previously was, before Olivia''s arrival. ---------- Within the Medical Room of a certain spaceship. Olivia, who was motionlessly lying on top of a bed with her eyes closed and soft breathing, suddenly jerked once before snapping open her eyes. Bright white light assaulted her eyes, making her flinch and squint her eyes with difficulty. Taking a few seconds to gather her thoughts, Olivia thought back to the last scene before she lost her consciousness. ''Did I successfully kill that sword b*tch?'' Olivia wondered, before noticing the softness surrounding her body. Belatedly, she thought to herself, ''Where am I?'' Just then, she heard a cold voice question her in a monotonous tone, "How did you do it?" Chapter 300: Intervention and Change. Opening her eyes, the first thing that Olivia saw was Lucius'' ghostly, expressionless face leaning dangerously close to her own. His pitch-black eyes impatiently stared into her violet-eyes, as he impatiently asked once more. "How did you do it?" Feeling rather perplexed and flustered at his sudden actions, Olivia sunk into the soft bed and nervously voiced her confusion, "Huh?" "Good lord, dude," she then saw the lithe-bodied Ka''lor''ah appear behind Lucius and smack him on his head. Resting both her hands on her hips, Ka''lor''ah wore a reproachful expression and spoke, "The poor girl has just woken up from a three-month coma and that''s the first question you ask her? Seriously?" "Have some tact," she clicked her tongue. She then neared Olivia, wore a motherly expression, and softly asked, "How are you feeling, Lil'' Ollie? Any pain, discomfort, or nausea perhaps? Or is the bed too soft? Too hard, maybe? Anything at all, do not hesitate to tell me, your teacher. I''ll take care of it for you." Ka''lor''ah words of concern seemed overly polite and perfunctory in Olivia''s ears. Just as the latter was about to reply, Ka''lor''ah interrupted her and continued her earlier speech, "Oh, and also, how did you do it?" "Huh," Lucius scoffed, "So much for tact." He said, mockingly. Ka''lor''ah turned to face Lucius and aggrievedly replied, "I tried to keep it in, okay?! But I can''t suppress my curiosity either. I also want to know how on earth she managed to kill a Stage 3 being!! It should be impossible!" Ka''lor''ah''s small arms kept swinging around as she desperately tried to justify her actions. However, it was evident from the look of derision in Lucius'' eyes that he was buying none of that. Once Ka''lor''ah ran out of breath and stopped talking, it was Lucius'' turn to start talking and mock her. Holding nothing back, Lucius'' words were just as sharp as his blades. The two then went back and forth as they continued to verbally quarrel with each other. Looking at these two friends/teachers/loved ones of hers locked in such childish squabble, Olivia found herself speechless. In a bid to mock and demean each other, they continued to devolve and digress, eventually forgetting about the main topic of their conversation; herself. Unable to intervene amidst their hot debate, Olivia continued to silently lie in her bed while slowly recovering her power. Violet-colored soul power was produced from her mindspace and slowly flowed into her body. After a few minutes, when Olivia had recovered enough of her strength, she inserted soul power into her throat and asserted with gravitas, "Both of you, stop fighting!" Her sharp voice boosted by her soul power cut through the childish quarrel of the two ex-Stage 7 beings. Surprised, the duo turned their heads in unison and stared at Olivia. The instant their gazes landed upon her, Olivia felt a great pressure descend upon her. The duo''s auras contained portions of superiority and majesty, which made them unequal and unique when compared to other life forms at a similar Stage. Stage 7 is a completely different type of existence. Even if the duo had regressed, they still carried traces of this power. ''It really does feel suffocating when they release their aura in full. Is this a side-effect of ascending to Stage 3?'' Olivia wondered. Revolving her soul power at maximum speed within her body, Olivia forced out the Arbiter''s dignity in its entirety before managing to barely cancel out the suffocating pressure. Wearing a calm expression on her face, she spoke, "Please stop fighting with each other. I see that the two of you have some questions to ask me?" Olivia tried to voice her words as unflustered as she could. However, she noticed the gazes of the duo in front of her turn strange halfway through her sentence. As a result, the second sentence in her speech automatically turned polite. ''Argh, that was embarrassing!'' Olivia wanted nothing more than to hide her face within a pillow. Just as she was wallowing in her own embarrassment, Lucius spoke to Ka''lor''ah with utmost seriousness. "Did you see it?" Nodding her head with equal seriousness, Ka''lor''ah answered, "For a moment." Vaguely feeling that their conversation was about her, Olivia hesitantly asked, "Are you guys talking about me?" The duo, however, ignored her question and continued to converse. "It felt stronger, right?" asked Ka''lor''ah. "It is stronger. It seems to have grown since the last time I saw it," answered Lucius. "Last time?" Ka''lor''ah pondered for a second before continuing, "It was on the icy planet, right?" Nodding his head, Lucius affirmed, "Correct. That was the first time I saw it." Pausing for a moment, he then continued, "Compared to then, its intensity has grown much stronger. Perhaps, it is related to her progression as an Arbiter?" "Don''t ask me. I''m just as clueless as you are," Ka''lor''ah replied. Silence descended for a moment as the duo seemed to be lost in their thoughts. Ka''lor''ah recovered first and asked, "It should be a good thing, right? I mean, this possibly gives us another trump card to deal against ''Them''." "Maybe. Maybe not. I don''t know," Lucius replied. His forehead, however, was strangely tense. "Something just doesn''t feel right," he tensely spoke. "Feel right?" Puzzled, Ka''lor''ah asked. Walking away from Olivia, whose mood composition was equal parts of worry, anxiety, and perplexity, facing the cryptic talk of the duo, Lucius gestured Ka''lor''ah to follow him and spoke, "Come here and deploy [Isolation Barrier]." Ignoring Olivia''s questions, Ka''lor''ah flew near Lucius and deployed her spell. The moment the hemispherical dome finished encapsulating the area around them, Lucius started to speak. "If it is indeed as we think and the [Temple of Fairness] did intervene to help her in that battle, it would make sense on how she managed to kill a Stage 3 being with lacking authority. It might have even helped her with that final blow." "But would it do that?" Ka''lor''ah asked. "Well, it happened once on that icy planet. I don''t see why it wouldn''t happen again," Lucius casually answered. He then turned to look at Olivia and continued, "For whatever reason, that place seems to consider her important. It seems to intervene whenever her life is in danger and assists her." "That''s a good thing, right? If we were to involve her with the important bits of the ''Great Plan'' and were to hit a snag, the temple might help us, as an extension of helping her!" Ka''lor''ah spoke with excitement. Plans were often just that. No matter how many variables were accounted for in its creation, there was always bound to be some unexpected variable that would appear in the most crucial moment of execution. Hell, this had already happened and even a Lord had shown up as a result. As such, the prospect of having a trump card like the [Temple of Fairness], which was a bona fide relic of the Overlord, helping them during crucial moments was invaluable. For example, if Illya''s brother hadn''t gone to watch the Pit that day, he would''ve escaped the fate of being killed by Lucius. Ergo, the enmity between Lucius and Illya wouldn''t have existed, and the Lord of Fate wouldn''t have managed to stumble upon the Annihilator and casually messed with Mankind. Just one simple change and history would have flowed differently. The importance of a ''greater power'' and the role it played in the events of the Universe was extremely consequential! It was this very fact that greatly excited Ka''lor''ah. Lucius, however, seemed to be unmoved by this proposition. His face still wore the same serious expression as he spoke, "I don''t know. Something doesn''t feel right?" "Again, what do you mean by that?" Ka''lor''ah asked. "It seems too convenient. It almost feels like someone or something is deliberately showing us this, just to make us use it and rely upon it." "Yeah, right," Ka''lor''ah scoffed, "You''re saying that someone or something is deliberately baiting ''us'' using the [Temple of Fairness], a relic of the Overlord that even the Lords, the freaking rulers of the Universe, cannot find or use." "I''m just saying. It all feels oddly coincidental and scripted. You are free to choose what to believe," Lucius replied. Silence descended and neither of them talked. Lucius continued to stare at Olivia with a cautious gaze. The latter couldn''t see him as [Isolation Barrier] blocked all forms of observation. On the other hand, Ka''lor''ah''s face underwent many changes in its expression. It was evident that her thoughts were in conflict. One part of her wanted to employ Olivia and as an extension the [Temple of Fairness], with greater purpose. This would not only increase the chances of the Great Plan succeeding but also reduce the overall risk of their actions. The other part greatly trusted Lucius and his instincts. While Lucius left most of the planning to her and rarely intervened, each intervention would be crucial and had helped them overcome many pitfalls. After a few minutes of tug-of-war, Ka''lor''ah finally released a sigh and spoke, "All right, I trust your instincts. Let''s just continue according to our previous plan." Lucius did not reply and silently nodded. Ka''lor''ah then removed the [Isolation Barrier] and the duo walked towards the obviously panicking Olivia. Looking at her two teachers walk towards her, Olivia, who was on the verge of crying, anxiously asked, "Did I do something wrong? I''m sorry for rudely interrupting your discussion!" Chapter 301: Simulation and Training. "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.'' ---------- 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." Chapter 302: Love of His Life. SLASH! Completing the last rep of the second movement of her sword technique- [Swing], Olivia lowered her sword and turned to face Ka''lor''ah. Wiping the sweat gathered on her face, she then shortly replied to Ka''lor''ah''s question. "I am." Olivia then walked towards the bench on the side and sat atop it in a disgruntled manner. She then exaggeratedly puffed her cheeks and looked towards the ceiling. Ka''lor''ah chuckled at her childish tantrum and flew towards her. Seating herself upon Olivia''s shoulder, she then asked, "How angry are you?" "Very angry," Olivia replied with a huff. "Even though he made a superb sword technique, that''s exclusive to you and taught it to you?" Ka''lor''ah teasingly asked. "He took away my reward," Olivia replied, but this time her voice was a lot softer. Seeing this reaction, Ka''lor''ah smiled brighter and continued, "Even though he spent all that time developing that ''simulation'' spell, just to help you practice battles against Stage 3 opponents?" "¡­He did?" Olivia asked. "He spent a lo~oong time and a lo~ooot of effort. It wasn''t easy, you know," Ka''lor''ah lied as naturally as she breathed. She then leaned into Olivia''s ears and spoke, "Just. For. You." Hearing that, Olivia''s eyes swam and a smile threatened to appear on her face. However, she quickly shook her head to suppress it and continued to remain cross. "I don''t care! I''m still angry at him. Humph!" Olivia crossed her arms and harrumphed. "Reaaally~" Ka''lor''ah exaggeratedly emphasized and stared at Olivia. She stood up, shrugged her shoulders, and said, "Well then, seeing as to how you''re still mad at him, I''ll inform Lucius to not bother with the gift he was preparing for you." Flying into the air with theatrical nonchalance, Ka''lor''ah lightly continued, "I hear that the gift was a matching pair. Like the ones that young couples wear. But, oh well, forget it." "WAIT!!" Olivia shot up from her seat and grabbed onto Ka''lor''ah. Feeling the two hands tightly constrict her, Ka''lor''ah hurriedly exclaimed, "Oi, let go! You''re making it hard for me to breathe!!" Olivia carefully brought Ka''lor''ah to her eye level and asked with suppressed excitement, "Are you speaking the truth?" "Would I deliberately lie to you?" Ka''lor''ah smugly asked, to which Olivia unhesitantly replied. "Yes. You do it all the time." There wasn''t the slightest bit of doubt or hesitance in her answer. Ka''lor''ah seemed to be shocked at her answer. She stared into Olivia''s unperturbed eyes with amazement and said, "Wow! I''m shocked and appalled to know that, that is your opinion of me. This revelation is startling!" "Teacher, the starting line in your book is, ''To lie and hoodwink while not being caught for it is the mark of a great leader''," Olivia quoted while rolling her eyes. She then stared at Ka''lor''ah one more time and asked, "Is it true?" Ka''lor''ah, rendered speechless by her disciple''s retort, motionlessly stood for a few seconds before sighing. She then sated Olivia''s curiosity, "Yeah, it''s true. He''s been gathering materials for it since the start of the journey. He left the ship a few hours ago to gather the final material." Olivia''s eyes shone with realization as she asked, "Is it a weapon? Is that why I haven''t received my sword yet?" "Is shouldn''t be telling you this, but yes." Ka''lor''ah nodded her head. "In your last battle with the Stage 3 Sword-Winged Angel, four months ago, your sword was quite heavily damaged. It can''t be allowed to break yet as it is required as the base for the new one. It underwent some special manufacturing process." "Reyna''s [Life Blessing], right?" Olivia guessed. "Correct. It''s the first step towards making a Living Weapon. The reason Lucius asked you to nourish your blade every day using your soul power was also for this," Ka''lor''ah explained. "Our next destination is to someplace where Lucius thinks a Master Forger is living. Upon reaching, you and Lucius will get your weapons re-forged. So yeah, technically speaking, the two of you will have a matching pair of weapons." "Of course, he didn''t tell you about this, since it was supposed to be a surprise." This part was again, a lie. Lucius had simply forgotten to inform Olivia. "Anyways, seeing as to how you are right now, I guess getting a gift would make you feel awkward. I''ll go inform him to not go through with it," Ka''lor''ah prepared to fly away. "NO! Wait, Teacher!" Olivia hurriedly grabbed onto Ka''lor''ah, restraining her from flying away. Putting on a sweet smile, she then continued, "Hehe, come on, Teacher. Obviously, I would no longer be angry, if he were to give me a gift." She then removed the black-colored scrunchie which she used to tie her hair up and said, "This was the last present he gifted to me." "Lucius gifted this to me on my sixteenth birthday. It''s made out of real natural fabric and not the common synthetic ones, which are mass-produced. He worked part-time and saved money for an entire year before getting me this." Olivia then hugged it against her heart for a few seconds, before using it to tie up her scattered hair once more. Turning her head to show it to Ka''lor''ah, she then smiled brightly and continued, "I''ve been using it since then. It means a lot to me." Hearing the story, Ka''lor''ah felt guilty about her earlier lies. She had casually lied about the sword being a surprise gift from Lucius as a part of her usual teasing of Olivia. However, seeing Olivia''s actions, it was evident how much such a simple gift meant to her. Especially when it was from someone she loved whole-heartedly. ''Ah, shit. I''ve messed up, haven''t I?'' Ka''lor''ah cursed within her mind. ''What do I do now?'' ''Ask Lucius to play along? There''s no way he would agree to that,'' Ka''lor''ah quickly denied that thought. ''Should I just come clean?'' Ka''lor''ah then turned to look at Olivia, who was gently caressing the scrunchie on her head. Her face had a sweet, blissful smile and her eyes wandered with reminiscence. ''Nope, definitely can''t do that. It would crush her.'' Ka''lor''ah immediately shook her head. Her mind continued to desperately search for a solution to this problem. ''Well, maybe I''m overthinking this. How bad can it be? Olivia remains quiet, I say nothing, and the weapons are forged. Lucius then gives the sword of Olivia who accepts it, overjoyed.'' ''Then, conversation happens¡­she thanks him for the gift¡­mentions my name¡­Lucius is confused¡­denies it and tells the truth¡­Poor girl gets heartbroken¡­yep, this is really bad. I cannot let this happen.'' ''Who knew that lying frequently would result in such bad scenarios,'' Ka''lor''ah bemoaned. "Teacher!" Olivia yelled. "Yes?" Startled, Ka''lor''ah snapped out of her thoughts and stared at Olivia with confusion. Seeing that she had gotten her Teacher''s attention, Olivia took a deep breath, resolved herself, and asked the question that she had meaning to ask for a long time, "Teacher, who''s Aurora?" Ka''lor''ah visibly flinched upon hearing that name. An expression of shock appeared on her face as she hurriedly asked while feeling befuddled, "How do you know that name? Where did you hear about her?" Seeing Ka''lor''ah overt reactions of shock, Olivia''s mind grew complicated. It was apparent that her question was not as simple as she had thought it to be. ''Teacher definitely knows a lot,'' Olivia inferred. ''I need to hear this,'' gripping her fists and resolving herself, Olivia then began to explain the happenings before their descent into Cloud Cover Continent. "¡­when he woke up dazed, he looked at me and called me by that name. His tone was¡­I have never heard Lucius call another name, especially that of a woman''s, with that tone. Particularly after his¡­change," Olivia finished. She then looked up, met Ka''lor''ah''s eyes, and continued, "Now, I know that my question might be nosy and this is none of my business. But I want to know, who is this woman and what does she mean to Lucius?" "Most importantly, why did he call me by her name?" Olivia asked. Hearing those questions, Ka''lor''ah heavily sighed. She looked at Olivia''s determined eyes with a complex expression and found her emotions growing even more complex. Ka''lor''ah''s thoughts were a complete mess as she debated within herself about her subsequent actions and reply. On one hand, she wanted to speak no further on this topic and tell Olivia to forget about it. This matter was, after all, a sensitive topic related to Lucius and it would be wise of her to stay out of it. On the other hand, however, Ka''lor''ah wanted to answer Olivia''s questions. This would serve to greatly help Olivia''s attempts to gain Lucius'' heart and get closer. The walls which Lucius and put around himself and the guilt which constantly ate away at his being might get resolved, helping him break free from the binds that he had bounded himself with. Ka''lor''ah thoughts continued to appear and disappear in the thousands, as she furiously worked to reason this out. Ultimately, she arrived at a single question, ''What would be better for Lucius?'' Faced with this question, Ka''lor''ah made a choice. Ka''lor''ah looked around the room to confirm if it''s empty. She then released her power to scan the entire ship to confirm the same. After making sure that no one was aboard and her soul connection with Lucius placed him an unknown distance away, Ka''lor''ah neared Olivia and cast [Isolation Barrier]. Fixing her gaze upon Olivia, Ka''lor''ah sported an extremely serious expression and grimly spoke, "You should be aware that Lucius and I have a lot of secrets. There are a lot of things which we cannot tell you or share with you." Hearing that Olivia''s expression became despondent. "It is not that we don''t trust you. It is simply that, you, in your current state, are too weak to burden these secrets. Knowing them would destroy you." "Having said that, what I''m about to tell you is not the whole truth and is merely a portion. In fact, it might not even be the real truth. Knowing this may help in answering your questions, but it might also hurt and burden you." "However, it is the only truth that I know of. Of this, I swear," Ka''lor''ah made a complex set of gestures with her fingers, signifying the seriousness and solidity of her vow. Hearing that, Olivia realized the solemnity of Ka''lor''ah''s words. Perking her ears, she listened with incomparable seriousness." "Therefore, listen well, for I will only speak of this once," Ka''lor''ah began. "Aurora Letum, this name¡­no, this woman, is incomparably important and precious to Lucius. Simply put, she is the love of his life." Olivia''s heart immediately shattered upon hearing that. Chapter 303: Abyssal Spiked Fish. Floating amidst a variably charged gravitational field situated in the middle of a star cluster composed of three giant stars was Lucius. His figure, standing straight as a spear, was surrounded by a translucent barrier of soul power that vaporized all chunks of ice and rock that flew towards his body at speeds unseen by the naked eye. With his hands folded behind his back, Lucius looked around at the chaos surrounding him. An innumerable number of space-debris flew at alternating speeds, influenced by the varying levels of gravity exuded at specific spots by the three massive stars forming this cluster. Tumultuous waves of invisible energies constantly clashed, aiming to destroy anything and everything that was unfortunate enough to cross their paths. The stars radiated enormous heat and radiation while imposing a tremendous amount of pressure on the objects within the star cluster. Debris that flew too close was directly evaporated, while those far apart were torn by the stars'' gravitational field. Of course, Lucius who stood at the center of this ''death zone was obviously not exempt from these dangers. However, judging by the bored, unconcerned look on his face and the causal movements of his body, it was evident that this zone barely qualified as ''dangerous'' to him. Continuing to look around while uncaring of the chaos around him, Lucius opened his mouth and lightly spoke, "There is nowhere for you to run now. Stop hiding." His voice was soft and barely audible. However, it resounded everywhere within this star cluster with impeccable clarity, carried by waves of his soul power. HISS!!! A piercing snarl, sharp enough to make one''s ears bleed from the sound, suddenly resounded from somewhere within the star cluster, seemingly in response to Lucius'' words. However, unlike his casual statement, the response was filled with obvious malice and murderous intent. "Oh, there you are," Lucius'' head snapped towards a certain direction, as he calmly replied. Soul power crept into his eyes, enhancing his vision and allowing him to lock onto his target. A few dozen kilometers away, hidden beneath the shadows of a large rock and wildly clashing energies was a large, spiky fish. The fish''s body was almost a kilometer long in length and its entire body was covered by malevolent, hair-like spikes which replaced its usual scales. Its figure was shadowy and partially illusory, allowing it to slip into the gaps of space to travel through the cosmos. The name of this strange creature, whose aura placed it in the peak of Stage 3, was Abyssal Spiked Fish; A native of the upper layers of the Abyss and a frequent traveler of the cosmos. HISS!! Its piercing snarls rang once again, as it opened its enormous maw revealing hundreds upon hundreds of grey, nail-like teeth. Strands of viscous potion coated its teeth, whose toxicity was infamous for being able to instantly melt the body of any Stage 3 being. Suffice to say, the Abyssal Spiked Fish was not an opponent for the Stage 3 realm. Even those belonging to the Stage 4 realm would find it difficult to hunt this fish, thanks to its incredible danger instincts and cheat-like innate ability. Lucius, however, cared for neither. He had already spent the last dozen hours chasing after this fish and was more than eager to end this here. ''Ugh, I have to use my void abilities again,'' Lucius inwardly sighed. The reason Abyssal Spiked Fish was difficult to hunt was due to its partially immaterial state; physical attacks had no effect and mental attacks were difficult to administer owing to its highly elusive nature. This issue was more pronounced when one wanted to capture the damned beast, rather than to kill it. As Lucius was doing currently. "[Void Hands] go," Lucius softly muttered. In the next instant, multiple holes opened up in the area surrounding the Abyssal Spiked Fish, dozens of kilometers away. Following the appearance of the strange holes, were thousands of pitch-black tentacle-like appendages, composed of a very strange. The Abyssal Spikes Fish, which was entirely focused on the dangerous creature floating in front of it at a distance, failed to notice the tentacles at the instant of their arrival. By the time its instincts noticed them, it was already too late. Similar to a curtain of raging water falling atop of a boat, the thousands of [Void Hands] fell upon the Abyssal Spiked fish. In just a second, the tentacles had tightly clutched onto its illusory body and shrouded its figure behind a curtain of death. HISSS!! HISSSS! The Abyssal Spiked Fish hissed and snarled in rage and Indignance. For many hours it had been running from this dangerous and equally annoying creature, and it was not going to fall now. Struggling furiously, it put up a valiant effort in escaping from these disgusting, clawing organs. But alas, it was hopeless. For the curtain of [Void Hands] were never-ending. The Abyssal Fish continued to moan and cry, slowly its tone changed from that of Indignance to that of fear. Slowly but surely, it was losing, both its energy and its body. Looking at the successfully ongoing capture, Lucius nodded his head, opened [Void Storage], retrieved a few corpses, and started to feast on them. While the capture looked smooth in its execution, it was draining an enormous amount of void energy from him. As such, Lucius had to continuously eat through his stash of food to refuel his body. While munching on a slender arm of a Sword-Winged Angel, Lucius thought to himself, ''It''s working better than I expected. The Rule of Void effortlessly trumps over the Rules of Space and Darkness, composing that thing''s body.'' The Abyssal Spiked Fish was one of the incredibly rare creatures that possessed a ''Body of Rules'' while only being in the Stage 3 realm. This gave it a massive advantage and made it vastly superior to other creatures within the same realm. It had to be said that the ''Body of Rules'' was something that only those of the Stage 4 realm would usually possess. It was something that was gained after a living organism had undergone its first ''Transcendence''. Lucius, himself still possessed a mortal body even though his race was the cheat-key of the Universe. Even he had to ascend to Stage 4 before gaining this feature. Not having a ''Body of Rules'' meant that a living organism, Lucius included, was susceptible to aging, illnesses, and many other factors that made mortal bodies¡­well, mortal. Gaining a ''Body of Rules'' would make them immune to many things while improving their very existence by a vast degree. In other words, it was an excellent thing to have with almost no drawbacks at all, with the word almost being the keyword here. No matter how excellent and fantastical a ''Body of Rules'' was it also had its own drawbacks, one of them being highlighted in its very name; A body of Rules. Since gaining a ''Body of Rules'' meant that one''s physical body would be composed entirely of Rules, it came with the weaknesses that the Rules had, namely; being weak against conflicting Rules and strong against similar Rules. For example, suppose an individual ''A'', who was predominately composed of ''Rule of Water'', was to fight against an individual ''B'', who was predominantly composed of ''Rule of Fire''¡­, it was obvious what would happen. Due to the conflicting nature of their Rules, both their bodies will be extremely weak against the other and would be susceptible to more fatal hits and greater damages. On the other hand, if both individuals had Rules of similar natures, then the one with the superior Rules composing his/her body would be the victor. The number of fatal injuries would also be less. Returning back to the story. The capture of the Abyssal Spiked Fish lasted for almost an hour before it finally collapsed from exhaustion. Lucius then reeled in the creature towards his location, pushed aside the [Void Hands] covering its head, and laid his palm atop its nose. Lucius'' pitch-black eyes stared into those of the Abyssal Spiked Fish as he slowly spoke, "Give me two liters of your essence blood and I will let you go." Hearing his words, the two eyes of the Abyssal Black Fish shrunk from unwillingness as it trashed its body about as a sign of refusal. It was evident that the creature was no willing to trade. Essence Blood represented the lifespan, foundation, potential, and overall strength of a Wild Beast. It was incredibly precious and each and every drop counted. Asking for its essence blood was like asking it to part with its current strength and future growth. No one in their right minds would agree to this. Having expected this reaction, Lucius infused [Annihilation Energy] into the creature through his palm. The incredibly volatile and highly destructive energy entered its interiors and wreaked havoc. Through its bounded mouth, the Abyssal Spiked Fish cried with pain. The incredible amount of pain it was feeling currently felt worse than death! "Give it," Lucius said once more. If not for the fact that essence blood had to be willingly given by its owner and would immediately dissipate upon death, Lucius would not be willing to waste his time torturing a mere fish. "Give it to me," Infusing more soul power, Lucius asked one more time. Unable to handle the torture, the creature hurriedly moaned a reply of compliance, asking Lucius to stop the torture. Hearing its voice of obedience, Lucius dissipated the soul power within its body and waited for the creature to give its lifeblood. Looking at Lucius with eyes of unwillingness and pain, the creature released the required amount of essence blood through its eyes, which Lucius promptly collected and carefully stored. He then released the creature and gestured for it to run away. Flashing a great distance away, the creature turned around one final time, looked at Lucius with horror and pain, and quickly slipped into a gap in space to run away. It feared that staying any longer would prompt that terrifying individual to ask for more its blood. Having given away more than a fifth of it already, the Abyssal Spiked Fish was not willing to stay around and find out. Meanwhile, Lucius had already forgotten about the Abyssal Spiked Fish and looked at the two bottles within his hands. ''Finally, the final material has been gathered. We can directly head towards the Master Forger now.'' Storing it within his [Void Storage], Lucius casually turned around and started to fly in the direction of his spaceship, following the soul tether between him and Ka''lor''ah. Chapter 304: Experiencing Domains. Part 1 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." Chapter 305: Experiencing Domains. Part 2 "You can do that?" Olivia curiously asked. Nodding his head, Lucius replied, "So far, I''ve been letting you fight that Sword-Winged Angel without the latter deploying her Domain." "However, now that you''ve gained initial mastery in your [Power Unity] technique, continuing that previous pattern of training will not have any effect. With your current strength, you will be able to last for some time inside a Domain." "Hmm," Olivia lowered her head in thought. "Can you simulate any Domain?" "All that I''ve come in contact with." "How accurate will the simulation be?" "More than 90%," Lucius replied and continued. "While the simulation cannot replace actual, physical combat experience gained with fighting with your actual body and life on the line, it can more or less prepare you for when the real thing comes," Lucius explained. "Do you want to try?" Lucius asked. Olivia remained silent for a second, before nodding her head in reply, "Of course, I want to try. However, I have a request." Raising his eyebrows, Lucius asked, "What request?" "Can I experience your Domain first?" she asked, excitedly. Olivia had seen Lucius deploy his Domain on multiple occasions. She knew how it looked from the outside, but had yet to experience it by herself. Hearing that Lucius could simulate any Domain, she wanted to experience his Domain first. "You want to experience my Domain, [Corpse Mountain Range]?" Lucius asked, surprised. "Yes!" Olivia exclaimed and hurriedly nodded her head. Seeing her excited reply, Lucius shrugged his shoulder and replied, "Come over here and sit in front of me." "Yes!" Olivia replied and quickly made her way towards Lucius. Looking at her eager expression and excited face, Lucius thought to himself, ''I hope she knows what she''s getting herself into.'' Placing his hand over Olivia''s head after the latter had sat down in front of him, Lucius continued, ''Oh well, it''s only a simulation. Letting her experience death is also a valuable lesson.'' Soul power exploded from his palm and Olivia'' soon found herself entering a familiar place. ---------- Standing inside an endless white space was a projection of Olivia. The projection was a perfect replica of her real body, possessing the exact same strength and similar control. It was almost distinguishable from the real thing, except for one single difference; there was this sense of hollowness present within her inside this space. Although Olivia did not understand where this feeling of hollowness stemmed from and what exactly that she was lacking, it did not matter to her since it had no real impact on her power. If anything, this feeling of hollowness helped her realize that this space was simply a simulation and not the real world. "My armor, sword, soul power¡­yep, everything is here and in perfect condition," Olivia quickly examined herself and the items on her body. Since this was space was merely a simulation and Olivia''s figure was but a projection, the issue of her depleted soul power and the missing weapon was easily resolved. "Are you ready?" a voice asked, indifferently. Raising her head, Olivia noticed that a projection of Lucius had suddenly appeared in the space above her. The endless white space made it a little difficult to accurately judge distance, but Olivia estimated that he was around 50m away from her. Nodding her head, Olivia replied, "Ready." "Deploy Domain [Corpse Mountain Range]," Lucius solemnly stated and snapped his fingers. In the next instant, the white space around Olivia retreated and disappeared. A monochromatic grayness filled the space, as Olivia found the ground, the air, and even the sky change around her. Dense but scattered grey clouds appeared in the sky above her. The ground underneath her feet turned soft and squishy, as Olivia felt a sticky sensation underneath her boots. Lifting her leg, she realized that the bottom of her boots was covered with sticky, crimson blood; the only bright color within this grey world. ''Is this blood?'' Olivia asked herself. Just as she was about to lean down and touch her feet, Olivia felt a terrifying pressure descend upon her, freezing her body and locking its movements. Recalling the lessons taught to her about Domains and their abilities, Olivia quickly understood what this pressure was, ''Domain suppression¡­how terrifying!'' However, with those lessons, she had also been taught how to combat this pressure. As such, Olivia controlled the soul power inside her body with great difficulty and pushed it outside to establish a Field. Just as the strands of soul power were about to exit her body and spread into the space around her, Olivia felt the movement of her soul power suddenly come to a halt. It wasn''t just her soul power, but even her blood, heart, and even her thoughts came to an absolute pause. An indescribable and unmatched sensation of fear assaulted her mind, bringing her to the precipice of death. Never before, had Olivia felt the hand of death as clearly as she did right now. It surrounded her entire body, caressing her, and tempting her to fall into its clutches. It took her an immense amount of willpower to resist this temptation to die and recover her thoughts. However, that was the extent of her recovery, as Olivia found it impossible to communicate with her body or soul power. ''This! This was never mentioned in the lessons!'' Olivia thought, terrified. ''Didn''t Lucius say that I wouldn''t be completely helpless within a Domain and would be able to last for some time?'' Unable to control her body or her soul power, Olivia could only passively see what her eyes were looking towards. Seeing the scene, however, made Olivia mentally draw a sharp intake of air. Filling the entirety of her vision was a mountain of corpses. And seated at its peak, upon a throne of corpses, was Lucius. Although Olivia had seen this scene before, it was only from outside the Domain. Being outside and being within the Domain were two incomparably different experiences. Feeling the gaze of Lucius, who was sitting with his legs crossed and his arms resting, Olivia, for a moment, felt like she was being stared at by the God of Death! Under his gaze, all living things were quickly helpless and worthless. Olivia then saw Lucius open his mouth and softly utter a word. His voice, which should technically be inaudible judging from the distance, loudly resounded within her ears. "Die." The next instant, Olivia saw her surroundings darken and her body collapsed. ---------- "Poof!" Olivia threw up a mouthful of blood, as her body recoiled backward. Falling onto the ground, she stiffly laid as her mind continued to recall the indescribable sensation of terror and helplessness which she had felt during her time inside his Domain. Sweat poured out of her body wetting the ground underneath. Her heart beat at a hundred miles per hour, as her chest constantly heaved up and down, as it tried to desperately suck in air. "How as the experience?" she heard Lucius ask. Partly dazed by the experience, Olivia absent-mindedly replied, "Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying." Hearing that, Lucius let out a rare chuckle and replied, "That was the simulation of my Domain. Although the simulation is 90% real, it still can''t mimic the real thing." "If you were inside my real Domain, you wouldn''t have been able to move from the beginning much less think during the rest." Hearing that, Olivia grew even more shocked. Forcing herself up with her arms, Olivia sat up with difficulty. Wearing a discontent expression, she looked towards Lucius and asked, "Didn''t you say that I would have a fighting chance inside a Domain with my current strength? I couldn''t even see your Domain in its entirety, much less fight." "Indeed, I did say that," Lucius unexpectedly agreed to her words. "However, I never included my Domain into that consideration. Even if you were to ascend into Stage 3, you wouldn''t even be able to touch my shadow, much less fight me." "All which that enters my Domain, will die." Lucius solemnly stated. Hearing that sentence, Olivia found herself speechless. ''Oi, are you bragging? Are you saying that you''re invincible?'' Olivia thought to herself. A strange glint flashed across her eyes and a childish flame of competitiveness was lit alight within her heart. ''Defeating you might be impossible, but saying that I might not even be able to touch your shadow is just too much. Wait for me to ascend into Stage 3, I''ll prove you wrong!'' Olivia declared within her heart. Lucius was, of course, ignorant to this challenge. His sentence had been said, not with the intent to brag or demean Olivia''s strength, but as a simple fact. Lacking in his communication skill, Lucius'' sentence had sounded like an arrogant declaration, when in actuality he did not mean to do so. "Do you want to try again? Another Domain, perhaps?" Lucius asked, extending his hands. In response, Olivia simply stared into his eyes for a few seconds, before replying, "Not right now. I want to take a break." She then moved to the spot beside Lucius and leaned against the wall. Stretching her arms and legs, Olivia closed her eyes and seemingly sunk into mediation. Seeing that she was not interested in continuing and seemed to be taking a break, Lucius retrieved his hands and similarly closed his eyes in mediation. Since he never slept, Lucius quietly mediated to rest his mind, while circulating his soul power within his body. This was an ingrained habit and an automatic function of his body. Minutes passed when suddenly, Lucius felt a weight on his shoulder. ''Hmm?'' Opening his eyes, he lowered his eyes towards his shoulder and saw that Olivia''s head was resting against it. Her breathing was calm and ordered, and her eyes moved rapidly underneath her eyelids. Scanning her once with his soul power, Lucius confirmed that she had fallen asleep. ''Sleeping with no concern about her surroundings¡­seems like I need to provide her training in that aspect,'' Lucius thought with furrowed brows. Raising his right hand, he gathered soul power into his palm and shaped a tiny, black pebble. Aiming towards Olivia''s forehead, he was just about to flick it at her, when he suddenly heard her mutter. "Heh¡­Lucius¡­I¡­win¡­" A smile appeared on Olivia''s face, as she seemed to have sunken into a dream. Hearing those words, however, Lucius'' movements suddenly stopped and his body stiffened. He couldn''t help but recall a silver-haired figure being in this exact same position, uttering those exact same words in her sleep. For a moment, Lucius saw Olivia''s figure replaced by the silver-haired one in his memories. He was, however, quick to recover and hurriedly shook his head, ''No, that is her and this is Olivia. They are not the same.'' ''She¡­is no longer alive,'' guilt appeared within Lucius'' eyes, as he recalled a certain memory. A few minutes later, Lucius snapped out of his daze and looked at the sleeping figure of Olivia with a complicated gaze. Dispersing the pebble in his hands, he removed his gaze and closed his eyes once more. ''I''ll let you off, this one time.'' Chapter 306: Elvenheim. A few hours later, Olivia''s eyes stirred as she seemed to be waking up. Releasing a long yawn, she expelled the pent-up, stale air from within her lungs and slowly opened her eyes. Making out her surrounding with her blurry vision, it took her a few seconds to gather her thoughts, ''Hmm, did I fall asleep?'' Stretching out her arms in reflex, Olivia then corrected her posture and sat up straight. She then used her hands to massage her neck, which had grown a bit stiff from her odd sleeping posture. Partway through the massage, when Olivia had regained a sufficient amount of her mental facilities, a question appeared within her mind, ''Wait a second.'' ''My back was leaning against the wall which means that my head should''ve also been resting against the wall behind me. However, just now, I straightened myself from the side.'' She then absent-mindedly turned to the side, only to find Lucius with his eyes closed in mediation. Olivia''s eyes automatically moved downwards arriving at his left shoulder. A clear crumple and a small pooling of wetness. Olivia instinctively touched her mouth, finding a stream of saliva leaking from the corners of her mouth. The different clues connected, leading Olivia to one conclusion, ''Oh my go-'' "Slept enough?" A cold voice exited Lucius'' mouth. Turning his head to face the dumbstruck Olivia, he opened his eyes, and continued, "You have slept for 6 hours and 37 minutes, grossly exceeding your break time. As punishment, you will not be receiving any breaks for the next week. Understood?" Olivia dumbly nodded her head. "Good. Let''s continue with your training." Placing his hands over her head, Lucius started to pour his soul power into his palms, and activated the simulation spell. Olivia hardly had the time to deal with the explosion of complicated thoughts within her mind before her consciousness was pulled into the training simulation once more. ---------- "Wow! Is this our destination? I''ve never seen something like that before," said Olivia in awe. Her face was plastered onto the glass window of the spaceship as her eyes looked at the fantastical scene before her. "Lucius, that this is¡­" Ka''lor''ah, who was also present within the Control Room, turned towards Lucius, eyes twinkling with excitement and curiosity, and asked, "¡­a World Tree?" Nodding his head, Lucius affirmed her doubts, "Correct. That is indeed a World Tree." Lucius then faced the window and looked at the scene beyond it. An inordinately colossal tree with its massive roots wrapped around a green-colored planet, ten times the size of the Earth, grew into the dark, vast space. Its dark-green crown contained an uncountable number of leaves, each of which was the size of a small city, and covered almost the entirety of this planetary system containing 9 planets. Thick and sturdy branches, whose sizes were impossible to describe, extended from the main trunk of this colossal tree and connected to each of the nine remaining planets within the system. These main branches branched out into even smaller ones, which then served to connected different parts within the individual planets. If one were to look closely, one would see millions of tiny objects, which were in fact transport vessels, moving along these branches towards different locations. In short, the branches served as a universal highway of sorts, except that they not only connected different cities and continents within a planet but also connected different planets themselves. Moving on. At the heart of the main tree, one could see a massive green-colored orb pulsing with a tremendous amount of energy. This orb was both the ''sun'' of this planetary system and also the heart of the World Tree. It provided the energy required for this vast organism to function and was the source of its life. "If there is a World Tree that must mean¡­" Ka''lor''ah paused for a second before continuing, "This is a settlement of the Grade 5 races, Elves!" she exclaimed. Elves, singular Elf, were one of the top Grade 5 races amongst the Universe. They were widely known for their long ears, incredibly long lifespan, dedication to arts and crafts, unworldly and ambiguous beauty, and their overly peaceful nature. Unlike most other races that liked to congregate and occupy a singular stretch of territory within the Universe, the Elves lived in small pockets in various areas within the Universe. Dived into numerous tribes, each tribe would choose a preferable planetary system in some region of the Universe and plant the seed for the World Tree on a suitable planet. If all the right conditions are met, the seed would then germinate and rapidly expand into this behemoth that Lucius'' party had just seen. Within a few years, it would connect all the planets within the planetary system and enter into a symbiotic relationship with them. In exchange for using the planet''s resources to grow, the World Tree would provide mystical energy and increase the spiritual energy concentration of this region. With the greater amount of spiritual energy, the planets themselves would also be able to grow stronger and quicker, eventually becoming larger and more resource-rich. The chances of an intelligent race naturally forming within the planets would also increase. As such, each World Tree and the pocket of space enveloped by it was called ''Elvenheim'', or literally, ''Land of the Elves.'' Lucius and his party currently found themselves in the fringes of one such Elvenheim. "Your master forger is an Elf?!" Ka''lor''ah asked with great excitement. "Indeed." Lucius nodded his head in response. Hearing their conversation, Olivia quickly turned around and asked, "Wait, we are going to meet Elves? The very same ones that I learned about from your lessons?" The Anatomy Lessons not only introduced Olivia to the complex life machine called the body but also, many of the major races that lived within the Universe. Heavenly Sovereigns, Abyssal Lords, Ancient Dragons, Fiends, Titans, Giants, Draconians, Beast-Humans, Neo-Humans, Magi, the Mechanical Races, Sprites, Faeries, so on and so forth, numbering in the hundreds. Olivia keenly remembered studying about the Elves, who were one of the more important races within the Universe. In response to her question, Lucius replied, "Correct. Our weapons are going to be forged an Elf who is a Master Forger." ''Aren''t Elves supposed to be haughty and xenophobic? Didn''t you teach me that Elves very rarely agreed to requests made by outsiders who are not members of their race?" Olivia questioned, recalling her lessons. "You remember well," Lucius nodded his head in praise and then continued. "This one, however, owes me a great favor." Lucius did not elaborate further, causing Olivia to swallow her following questions. She wanted to know how an Elf owed Lucius a favor but understood that her question would be touching upon a secret. ''Well, not that it matters to me,'' Olivia shook her head and returned to admiring the scenery outside. Ka''lor''ah on the other hand, had no such qualms asking Lucius. Opening their soul connection, she mentally asked, ''What favor? Is it a female elf? Was the favor, perhaps, sexual in nature?'' ''Stop talking nonsense,'' Lucius grimly replied. ''Use your brain. During this time in my previous life, I was still in Mankind fighting against the Formicians. There was no way that I could''ve been here.'' ''Well, duh, you were obviously not here now. But you could''ve come here in the hundred years that followed,'' Ka''lor''ah rebutted. Shaking his head, Lucius replied, ''This particular Elvenheim was destroyed fifteen years from now. All the elves within died.'' ''Huh?'' Ka''lor''ah voiced her confusion. ''How do you know the Master Forger and how do they owe you a favor?'' If Lucius had never come to this place in his previous life and all the elves within this Elvenheim had died, how could he be owed a favor? It made no logical sense. Hearing her question, Lucius explained, ''To be exact, it''s not that this particular Elven Master Forger owes me a favor. Rather, their entire familial line owes me a favor.'' ''Some years into the future, I met an Elf during my travels within the Universe. He then requested me to help him complete a task that was passed down through many descendants within his family. Completing the task would make him or anyone of his family owe me a favor.'' ''The Master Forger whom we are about to meet is a cousin of his, belonging to the same family. Naturally, having ''completed'' the task, I''m going to request for my payment.'' ''What was the task? Did you already cash it in, in your previous life?'' Ka''lor''ah curiously asked. ''I finished the task but never bothered to find him or members of his family to request compensation. As for the task, I''ll explain it to the Master Forger later so wait till then.'' ''Oh, come on! Are you going to leave at a cliffhanger, just because you don''t want to explain it twice?'' Ka''lor''ah complained. ''Yes,'' Lucius curtly replied. "Hmm, guys. What are we going to do now?" Olivia turned around and asked, having had her fill of the ethereal scenery. Walking forward, Lucius pointed towards a certain aquamarine-colored planet shown on the hologram projected by the ship. It was the seventh planet in the planetary system and according to the scans performed by the ship, the least populated one. "The Master Forger should be living on this planet. We are going here." He then turned around to face Ka''lor''ah and spoke, "Control the spaceship to join one of the highways (branches). It is the only method to traverse through this planetary system." "Can''t we just circle around and enter from the outside? It seems shorter than the path traveled by the branch," Olivia asked. "That''s not possible," Lucius immediately shook his head and continued, "The World Tree projects a sort of barrier that protects this planetary system from all foreign objects and forces. Trying to enter from a direction, other than the paths outlined by the branches will result in the foreign object being destroyed by the barrier." "Enter the highway and follow the line of transportation vessels. That''s the only way to enter." "Okay," Ka''lor''ah did not question any further and complied. "Take your seats and fasten your seatbelts. This is going to be a bumpy ride!" The spaceship instantly shot out from its stationary position, heading closer and closer towards the enormous tree in the distance. Chapter 307: Entry. "Ahhh! How long is this going to take?! We''ve been in this line for four hours!!" Ka''lor''ah yelled, exasperatedly. Slamming her tiny hands on the table before her, Ka''lor''ah leaned forwards the looked at the scene outside the glass window. Their space was currently inside a tunnel of sorts, except that it was constructed out of the branch of the World Tree and its leaf foliage. The tunnel was quite large and wide, with eight lanes of traffic existing side-by-side. However, just because the tunnel was large did not mean it was empty. In fact, it was the exact opposite as the entire tunnel was filled to capacity by various vehicles and other space vessels. These vehicles belonged to other Travelers. As stated previously, Travelers were residents of the Universe who''ve left the home region/territory belonging to their species to ''travel'' the Universe. The reason for doing so varied widely and from individual to individual, but was mostly to seek better prospects and opportunities. As for the reason why this place was so crowded with Travelers, it was because Elvenheim was a universally popular commerce hub and a destination for trade. Distances in space were incredibly large and to travel from one place to another took an inordinately long amount of time. That being said, it would only make proper sense for trade and commerce to be grossly underdeveloped in the Universe. Alas, seeing as to how there exists a ''Universal Currency'' called Spirit Coins, it becomes evident that such is not the case. It was in fact the opposite with trade, commerce, and economy being developed to ridiculous extents. Thousands of races existed within the vast territories of the Universe meaning the existence of an innumerable number of unique resources and region-specific materials. For example, one species might be abundant in technology and mechanical devices but lacking in the resources to build them. Another species might exist which lack the former two but were abundantly rich in resources. As such, it becomes imperative for the ''Mechanical'' species to trade their devices and gadgets with the lesser-developed ''Mining'' species, in exchange for resources. Similarly, some races were incredibly efficient and better at growing food resources than others but might lack in other departments. Trade and commerce hence become vital in such cases. Now, returning to the first question. How is it possible for such a strong economy to exist when the majority of the populace cannot efficiently travel? Only Stage 4 and above creatures were capable of long-distance space travel. However, only 15% of the total Universal population is made up of such beings, making it impossible for the economy to be solely reliant on them. It was here that Commerce Hubs, such as Elvenheim, came into the picture. The World Tree, which makes up each Elvenheim, was a unique organism that had the innate ability to connect itself with its brethren, i.e. the other World Trees. This connection allowed for goods and personnel to be sent over, irrespective of distance, nearly instantaneously. To word it simply, the World Trees were mass teleportation hubs that could transport anything and anyone below the Stage 6 realm. With Elvenheim(s) being spread out in various areas within the Universe, it became a convenient and affordable method of transporting items and people. This very trade allowed the Elves to comfortably pursue their expensive artistic passions while not actively competing with the other races for resources and wealth. Back to the story. "Why is it so crowded?!" Ka''lor''ah complained. Lucius, who was leaning back on his seat with his legs propped up on the table, casually replied, "It''s a Commerce Hub. Obviously, it would be crowded with other Travelers." "I know that! But what''s taking them so long to clear the lines. We haven''t even entered the Elvenheim yet and it''s already starting to wear me down." Ka''lor''ah fumed. "That''s because the Elves have to manually search each vessel to ensure that no dangerous items or contraband are being transported. They are very particular and thorough about this." Lucius answered. Ka''lor''ah had her curiosity piqued with his answer leading her to ask, "Why? Has something happened before?" "There have been many cases of jealous people trying to blow up, curse, or poison the World Trees to disrupt the trade chain. Quite a few have succeeded in their attempts." "I see," Ka''lor''ah nodded her head in understanding. "I''ve never heard of such cases prior to today. So many important events happen throughout the Universe that is missed or deemed insignificant at my level," she quietly mumbled. The cries of the peasants do not reach the nobles, this saying stands true even for Ka''lor''ah, the grand Administrator of the Universe. "How do you know all of this?" Olivia curiously asked, turning to face Lucius. "It''s common knowledge within the Universe," Lucius casually shrugged his shoulders and refused to elaborate further. Understanding the hint, Olivia did not question him further on this topic and changed her direction. "Is there a minimum limit for trade?" she asked. Lucius searched his memories for a moment before replying, "No. As long as you can afford the transportation fee, there is no minimum limit. Still, the fee would change depending on the distance of the trade and the number of stuff being sent. "You might even have to pay additional taxes depending on the region you''re sending stuff to." (AN: Import/Export Taxes in other words) "I see," replied and sunk into serious contemplation. Hearing that such commerce hubs existed within the Universe, Olivia automatically thought about Mankind''s situation and her plans, which were already set in motion, to establish a company. Access to such trade hubs would greatly increase the efficiency of her plan, decrease the time taken for her plan to come to fruition, and improve the company''s reach. Raising her head, Olivia faced Lucius and asked, "Do you know if a business or company can negotiate a deal with the commerce hub for better rates, priority shipping, etc?" Lucius was confused by the question, and honestly replied, "I don''t know." Ka''lor''ah, however, instantly grasped Olivia''s thoughts and smiled, "Sharp thinking there. Seems like you''ve become a decent manager after all." She praised. "Hehe," Olivia lightly chuckled at the praise. "What do you think, Teacher? Would it be possible?" "Why don''t you tell me your plan and I''ll see whether it''s possible or not? As for negotiating a deal, I believe such options must exist," Ka''lor''ah advised. Olivia and Ka''lor''ah then sunk into a complex discussion while Lucius returned to his silent mediation state. The queue continued to move at a snail''s pace, as the party inched closer towards the check post. ----------- Hours later, the party''s spaceship finally reached the front of the line. "Please disable your shields and weapons, and grant entry for the officers to board your vessel. Any attempts of violence or failure to comply with the previous request will result in annihilation." A robotic, emotionless voice monotonously stated. Lucius had already informed his companions, prior to the announcement. The party now stood in front of the main hanger doors in the ship''s garage. "Open the door," Lucius calmly instructed. Ka''lor''ah flew towards the console, adjacent to the hanger doors, and operated it to open the doors. SWOOSH!! The pressurized seal was released and the large hangar doors opened. Outside a party of elves, two males and three females stood with proud expressions on their faces. The moment the hanger doors opened the part stepped in. Olivia looked at this party of alien humanoids in quiet admiration and mentally remarked, ''Wow, all of them are seriously pretty. The men are just as beautiful as the women.'' ''A dark-green militaristic uniform, neatly tied-up blond hairs, exquisite long ears, and even that arrogant expression. They look every bit like the elves that I studied about,'' Olivia thought in excitement. However, that excitement quickly faded as Olivia''s brows faintly wrinkled. The elves seemed to look at their party with disdain and contempt. The aura radiated by the party of elves was also plainly hostile. Being looked at as a lesser, stirred the Arbiter remnants within her. The moment the Elven party entered the vessel, one of the male elves stepped forward with an orb within his hand. Judging from the slight difference in his uniform, it could be assumed that he was the leader of his party. His looks were also the best amongst the group, and furthermore, Olivia could not sense the aura radiated by him. "Welcome to the Elvenheim- Rivendell. What is your purpose of visiting?" he asked. Chapter 308: First Encounter with a Stage 4. "Welcome to the Elvenheim- Rivendell. What is your purpose of visiting?" he asked. "Visiting an acquaintance," Lucius plainly answered. The elf leader calmly nodded his head and the orb within his hand lit up with green light. He then continued with his questions. "Are you harboring any known criminals or transporting any contraband? Coming clean right now would reduce your sentence if you''re found guilty later." "There is nothing of that sort aboard." "Do you or any of your companions belong to the [Evil] faction?" "No." "Where is your exact destination within Rivendell?" "The seventh planet within his system." "How long will the duration of your stay last?" "One or two weeks." "How many passengers are on board?" "Three. The ones you see here." A few other mandatory questions were asked and Lucius answered each one calmly and precisely. Olivia, who was reading the expressions of all the elves, keenly noticed their faces turning sour as the questions continued. Lucius'' detachment and nonchalance during the questioning seemed to irritate them. "Final question before we start the search, I''ll have to see your Traveler IDs." Hearing that question, Olivia slightly panicked. She was very aware that they did not possess such an item and was afraid that the absence of such would deny them entry. Lucius, however, seemed to be unbothered by that question as he casually replied, "We do not have a Traveler ID. We are first-time travelers." "Oh?" the leader elf slightly raised his eyebrow and looked at Lucius. He had not liked the nonchalant demeanor of this creature before him and had been quietly holding in his irritation. "You should know that Travelers without an ID will be denied entrance. You should take your ship and leave, or you will be attacked." "That is not true. Unrecorded, first-time Travelers must pay an extra toll before being granted entrance into an Elvenheim. I know the rules," Lucius answered, unmoved. Hearing his reply, one of the female elves in the back finally lost her calm and finally exploded, "Audacious! You dare talk ba¡ª" Low-Level Stage 3 aura exploded from her body and rushed towards Lucius. Olivia, who was standing next to him also felt the pressure, but quickly employed her Field to combat it. She then took a step backward and assumed a combat stance. Her hands hovered above the bone sword at her waist, waiting for Lucius'' order to attack. Facing the wave of hostile aura, Lucius simply gazed at the female elf. He then released a trace of his own aura that had been previously hidden. The instant his aura came into contact with the female elf''s aura, the latter was instantly destroyed. Lucius'' aura continued to grow and expand until it started to oppress the entire party of elves. Except for their leader, all the elves found their bodies immobilized and their hearts frozen with fear. The sheer intensity of the murderous intent released by Lucius reminded them of a particular breed of individuals who were not to be messed with. "Killer¡­" The leader elf absent-mindedly replied. He then adopted a serious expression and casually waved his hands. Instantly, Lucius'' aura was suppressed and completely dispersed from the scene. The elves regained control of their bodies and fell to the ground in unison. Sweat drenched the back of their uniforms and their pale faces reflected the horror within their minds. Although his aura was dispersed and his power was suppressed by the other party, Lucius did not react much and calmly replied, "I simply defended myself. I do not seek any trouble and simply want to enter." He then stared straight into the eyes of the leader elf and continued, "You might be at Stage 4, but I''m a Stage 3 [Killer]. I''m not afraid to fight you even if I have to trade my life for it." "While I might not be able to kill you, I can seriously wound you and cause a tremendous amount of damage to the surroundings. Many elves and Travelers abound will lose their lives in the process, which would then poorly reflect on you." Lucius then retrieved a box from near his feet and showed it to the elf leader. Opening the box, he spoke. "500 spirit coins for the entrance fee and an additional 3500 for undocumented IDs. This is the price mandated by your laws." The Stage 4 elf, who had been silent throughout Lucius''s speech, quietly extended his soul power and scanned the box. After confirming that its contents were true as Lucius had stated, he retrieved the box from Lucius'' hands and threw it to one of his subordinates on the floor. Extending the orb in his hands once more, he asked, "I will need to record the Names, Soul Power realm, and Races of you and your companions." Nodding his head, Lucius answered, "Olivia, Peak-Level Stage 2, Mankind." "Mankind?" the elf asked in confusion. "It''s a newly ascended race." Lucius truthfully answered. He then continued, "Kalor, Low-Level Stage 3, Animated Puppet." Lucius intentionally lied about Ka''lor''ah''s information, as he couldn''t explain her actual identity. "An Animated Puppet, huh?" "That''s me,'' Ka''lor''ah answered blandly. "Lucius, Mid-Level Stage 3, Nightmare." Surprise flashed through the elf leader''s eyes as he asked, "You''re a Nightmare?" "Indeed," Lucius lied. "A Stage 3 [Killer] who''s a Nightmare, huh? Very interesting combination," The elf leader muttered before entering the information into the orb. Once this was done, he turned to face his subordinates and strictly instructed, "Get up and quickly search this ship. Enough time has been wasted already." "Y-yes, Sir!!" The other elves hurriedly answered and got to work. They scanned the entire ship with devices specialized for searching contraband. Fifteen minutes passed before they returned to the garage. "The ship is clean," one of the elves announced. The leader elf simply nodded his head, before turning to face Lucius. "Get you and your friends registered in the Traveler Guild. We can avoid such incidents in the future." "Understood," Lucius replied. "Let''s go." The leader elf commanded before turning back and exiting the ship. The other elves followed behind and left, after which Ka''lor''ah closed the hangar doors. Removing her hands from the console, Ka''lor''ah released a sigh of relief and spoke, "Well, that was stressful." "Agreed," Olivia relaxed her stiff posture and straightened up. She then turned to face Lucius and asked, "Was that person a Stage 4 being?" "Correct," Lucius nodded his head in reply. "But why couldn''t I feel any aura radiating off his body? He seemed no different from an unawakened," Olivia continued. Lucius then explained, taking a deep breath, "Stage 4 beings will shed their mortal bodies and attain something called a ''Body of Rules''. Not only does this vastly improve their powers, but it also starts the ''Assimilation'' process with the Universe''s greater body of Rules." "Aura is nothing but the passive feeling radiated by a person''s Rule composition and density. It''s not that you couldn''t feel his aura, but that his Rules had already occupied everything in your surroundings." The ''space'' and surroundings that you felt around you was in fact composed of his Rules, that is to say, all of us were inside his Domain. Every inch of space within this ship and in the surroundings is currently inside his Domain." "Wait, Domain? He cast his Domain?! How come there is no change in the surroundings?" Olivia asked, shocked. "To cast a Domain in Stage 3, one has to flood the surroundings with one''s soul power and forcibly alter the Rules within that space. In Stage 4, however, this process is not that drastic and is more subtle." Seeing that Olivia had not completely understood his explanation, Lucius continued with an analog. "Imagine this, to taint a bowl of water with ink one has to continue pouring ink until the entire contents of the bowl change color. A single drop or two will do little to affect it. However, say instead of ink you were to use a powerful poison. Just a single drop would be enough to completely taint and affect that bowl of water, with seemingly little physical change." "The Stage 4 Domain is similar to that. That is why¡­" Lucius paused before continuing, "A Stage 3 Domain is called a [False Domain], while a Stage 4 Domain is called an [Imperceptible Domain] or [Half-True Domain]." "I see," Olivia nodded her head understanding. "You''ve gotten better at explaining things. You might even make a half-decent teacher now. Good job, Lucius," Ka''lor''ah praised. "Well, it seems as though we''ve been cleared. Let me get this ship moving." Saying so, Ka''lor''ah headed towards the control room and the spaceship finally started moving once more. Lucius and Olivia also headed to the control room and occupied their seats. "Well, it seems like it will take us a day to reach our destination," Ka''lor''ah checked the distance and stated. "Nothing else to do but wait now, I guess." "Oh right, I have another question," Olivia asked once more. "Why did you lie to that person about your race? I can understand that Ka''lor''ah''s existence is complicated to explain, but why yours? Also, can''t you just say you''re also from Mankind?" The moment Olivia had finished wording her question, a dark pebble struck her on the forehead. "Argh!" Olivia let out a yelp of pain. She then looked at Lucius and complained. "That was uncalled for." Lucius, however, was unfazed by her complaint and asked, "What Grade is Mankind?" "Grade 3, why¡ª"Olivia''s eyes suddenly flashed with realization, causing her to slap herself on her forehead. "Of course, it''s impossible to reach Mid-Level Stage 3. I get it." "But wait, it was evident that he didn''t know about the race? Couldn''t you''ve just lied?" "I can lie now, but what about when we actually register ourselves? The Traveler Guild will test your body to ascertain its Grade. When they then test mine, it will obviously be different," Lucius coldly spoke. Leaning back into his chair, he closed his eyes and continued, "Additionally, my teleportation ability is very similar to a Nightmare''s [Shadow Swap]. When we enter the mess in the Grand Alcana Empire, there might be a need to rely on it. Therefore, I''m currently laying the groundwork for that." "Why go through all this trouble?" Olivia was confused. "Why don''t you just name your actual race?" This time, it was Ka''lor''ah who answered first. "Lil'' Ollie, there are some creatures within this Universe whose very existence is greatly feared and hated by everyone else. They are viewed as a menace and scourge that must be eradicated with all effort," Ka''lor''ah spoke seriously. "Without the strength to protect themselves, these creatures must carefully hide and pray that they are not found or revealed." Dazed, Olivia asked, "And Lucius is one of them?" Ka''lor''ah lightly chuckled in response and replied, "Lucius is the biggest one amongst them. If he was to be revealed, even the [Good] and [Evil] faction would set aside their insatiable hatred for each other and join hands to eradicate him." "Anyways, don''t think about this too much and just forget it. Remember, if you''re asked what he is, just answer, ''Nightmare''. It''s a rare race, but a very well-known one." Olivia absent-mindedly nodded her head. She then faced the quietly meditating Lucius and silently stared at him. Unknown thoughts ran through her mind. Chapter 309: Train Conversation. Opening the hangar doors of the spaceship, Ka''lor''ah immediately shot out and kneeled against the dry, brown ground of the landing pad. Grabbing fistfuls of mud with her tiny hands, Ka''lor''ah yelled, "FINALLY! SOLID GROUND! The torture is finally over!!" Rubbing the mud against her cheeks, she continued, "How I dearly missed you." "Stop overreacting. You were in the Cloud Cover Continent a few months ago," said Lucius, as he stepped out of the vessel followed by Olivia. Ka''lor''ah, who was busy rolling on the ground and relishing herself, turned around and spoke, "Yeah, but that was before I spent three months locked inside a capsule floating in empty space with you, Lucius. Let''s face it, you''re not the most ''fun'' person to be alone with for extended periods of time." A snide expression appeared on her face, as she continued, "Had Ollie woken up any later, I would''ve already lost my mind." Hearing her reply, a suppressed laugh leaked out of Olivia''s lips. She hurriedly used her hands to hide her mouth but couldn''t stop laughing. Lucius couldn''t find a snarky reply for her comments and hence stood quietly. He did, however, look at Ka''lor''ah with narrowed eyes. Seeing that, Ka''lor''ah flew up towards him and gently patted his shoulder, "Alright, alright, don''t look at me like that. I was simply joking and did not mean it." Just then¡­ "Welcome to the seventh jewel of Rivendell, weary Travelers!" a Terran sporting an excited smile stepped forward and spoke. The party''s attention immediately fell atop him, as Lucius quickly scanned him with his soul power. He assessed the strength of the Terran, before performing a quick scan of the surroundings. ''Terran. Peak-Level Stage 2. No hostiles in the surrounding areas.'' Wearing a mechanic suit, the Terran, whose face and hands were covered with oil and grease, continued with his introduction, "My name is Dorian and I am the mechanic in charge of this landing bay. Firstly, let me thank you for choosing our service, the¡ª" "Yeah, yeah, let''s just skip over it, Dorian," Ka''lor''ah quickly interrupted his passionate introduction and continued, "Just get to the point and tell us how much we owe you." The Terran Mechanic Dorian seemed surprised by her sudden interruption and hesitantly asked, "Are you sure, Ma''am? I mean, I practiced really hard to memorize my speech." "Oh," an awkward expression appeared on Ka''lor''ah''s face as she spoke, "I''m sorry for interrupting you then. May I ask how long your introduction is?" "Only five pages long and five thousand words long, Ma''am," Dorian cheerfully replied. "Yeah, never mind," Ka''lor''ah instantly shook her head. "Are you new here, Dorian?" "Oh yes, Ma''am. I just started working here this week and you guys are my first clients," Dorian excitedly explained. "That explains your passion. Tell me, Dorian. Have you always wanted to become a Mechanic?" Ka''lor''ah curiously asked. Hearing that question, a metaphorical flame appeared inside Dorian''s eyes as he answered, "Ever since the day I was born, Ma''am!" "That seems exaggerated," Ka''lor''ah doubtfully replied. "Oh, not at all, Ma''am! In fact, I was found by a Mechanic inside the fuel compartment of an abandoned space vessel," clenching his fists, Dorian looked towards the blue sky with pleasant remembrance. "Ever since I heard the story of my birth, I knew. I knew that I was born to be a Mechanic. Destined even! I would not give up this sacred profession for the entire Universe!" "Got it. You''re the first guy that I''ve ever met like this, Dorian," Ka''lor''ah honestly praised. "Why, thank you, Ma''am. You are very pretty yourself. The two ladies in the back too, you''re all very pretty," Dorian slightly blushed, referring to Lucius and Olivia. Hearing those words, Olivia finally lost all control and burst out into laughter. "HAHAHA!" The whole back and forth between Ka''lor''ah had been too silly and funny for Olivia. This entire time, she had been trying her best to hold in her laughter. When Dorian had referred to Lucius as a woman, owing to his slender build, feminine face, and long, scattered black hair, Olivia finally lost control. In fact, she seemed to lose balance as she fell to the ground and continued to laugh. Looking at Olivia, who was literally rolling on the floor with laughter, a confused expression appeared on Dorian''s face, leading him to ask, "Did I say anything funny?" Ka''lor''ah, who was also heartily laughing, albeit not to Olivia''s extent, wiped the tears off her eyes and answered, "That stoic-looking person is not a woman, Dorian. He''s actually a guy." "Oh!" A shocked expression appeared on Dorian''s face. Hurriedly turning to face Lucius, he rapidly bowed and spoke, "I''m incredibly sorry, sir! I was only expressing my admiration and didn''t mean to offend you." "Humph," Lucius simply grunted and did not reply further. Looks or gender were not important to Lucius. It was a matter insignificant of his consideration. He couldn''t care less if someone called him a woman, and was completely unfazed by it. Although, Olivia''s laughter was getting a tiny bit annoying. Condensing multiple black-colored pebbles around him, Lucius delivered his classic punishment on Olivia. Quickly, the laughter stopped and was replaced by yelps of pain. "Hmm," Dorian was unsure of how to react to this scene. He couldn''t help but feel responsible for the lady being punished. Just as he was about to step in, to take the punishment in Olivia''s steed in order to apologize for his rudeness, Ka''lor''ah quickly intervened and spoke. "Ignore them. This happens quite frequently," Ka''lor''ah focused on Olivia''s yelps, which were turning stranger by the minute. Rather than a scream of pain, it seemed to be heading in the direction of pleasure. "In fact, I''m starting to worry that she''s starting to enjoy it," Ka''lor''ah continued while shaking her head. Dorian, who was too pure for this world, did not catch her innuendo and blankly tiled his head. "Anyways, we''re going off-tangent here," Ka''lor''ah quickly steered the conversation back on track. "Let''s talk about rent and maintenance charges. As you can see, our ship is a bit different from the usual ones. This one is a¡­" ---------- "It''s kind of weird that we are taking a train to get to our destination? Can''t we just fly there?" Olivia asked as the party stepped into a tram-like vehicle. "We could, but it''s not efficient or legal within this planet," Ka''lor''ah answered. She then pointed towards the large metropolis built around a branch of the World Tree seen at a distance from within the Window. "There are multiple Stage 4 existences within that city that maintain order in the surroundings. This planet, or any major planet within the middle regions of the Universe, has some general rules that have to be followed. No unauthorized flying is simply one of them." Ka''lor''ah then pointed to the various people sitting, standing, or sleeping within the train and continued, "Look at all these people in here with us. Different appearances, races, and souls, one thing in common is that they are all in Stage 3 realm." "What?!" Olivia exclaimed, shocked. Just an approximate counting of the people that she could see already put the number within the train at almost a hundred. That is to say, there were a hundred Stage 3 beings currently inside this small train. "She is correct," Lucius, who was quiet all this while, answered. "We have entered the middle regions of the Universe. Here, Stage 3 makes up the base of the pyramid." "In fact, finding a Stage 1 or Stage 2 being in this region is harder than finding a Stage 4 or Stage 5 being. The power distribution here is completely flipped." A bored expression occupied Lucius'' face as he continued, "You could be a God in the Exterior(Outer) regions with your Stage 3 strength. But in the middle regions, you are simply another commoner. An ant to be stepped on." "Indeed." "Correct" "Well said." "Seems like you''ve got common sense." Multiple head nods and affirmations rung out from their surroundings. Olivia quickly looked around and found many of the other passengers within the train agreeing to Lucius'' cynical statement. An older-looking gentleman, who judging from his unique appearance seemed to be a Beast-Human, genially smiled at Olivia and spoke. "You seem as curious as a Treasure-seeking rat. Is it your first time coming to the middle regions, lassie?" he asked. Sensing that he was actually being kind, Olivia nodded her head and replied, "Yes. I am from the Exterior regions." "Thought so," the old man kindly nodded his head. "Judging from your scent, you''re incredibly young but are only a step away from Stage 3. Quite talented, I see." "Haha, yes," Olivia awkwardly replied, unsure of how to reply to his question. Seeing her awkward look, the old man smiled kindly and spoke, "You''re quite nervous, aren''t you? Why?" "It''s just that¡­the Stage 3 people that I''m familiar with are quite arrogant and unreasonable. Learning that all the people within this train are at Stage 3, yet seeing everyone being so¡­normal, it''s quite odd." Olivia honesty replied. "Ah, I get what you mean," The old man replied. "Those unreasonable fellows that you''re familiar with are cowards who don''t dare to enter the middle regions. They are afraid of losing that God-like status and settle for bullying the weak." A hint of murderous aura appeared on the old man''s face, as he hatefully spat out, "A bunch of spineless fools, who are weak against the strong and strong against the weak." Being in close proximity to the old man, Olivia felt the murderous intent suffocating her. She found it harder to breathe, as each of her breaths turned shallow and short. Just as she was about to move her soul power to combat this suffocating pressure, she suddenly felt an invisible aura envelop her. The aura was cold, sharp, scathing, but most importantly, it was familiar. The old man quickly recovered from his daze and immediately retracted his murderous aura. He then apologized, "I''m sorry, lassie. I lost control for a moment there. I''m not used to regulating my power in the presence of a Stage 2." He then discreetly looked toward Lucius, who was sitting next to Olivia with his eyes closed. A hint of acknowledgment and interest flashed across his eyes, as he quickly removed his gaze. "I apologize once again." "Oh, no, please. It was not that serious," Olivia hurriedly stopped him. "Well anyway, my advice to you is; keep your head down and quietly go about your business. Even though most people within the middle regions are sensible, there are some who haven''t yet been kicked in the balls by reality," the old man sincerely advised. "Although, I think you''ll be fine. Seeing as to how you have someone protecting you." Olivia then stood up and performed a proper bow. "Thank you for your advice, elder," she sincerely thanked. "Oho, you''re quite the polite lassie, aren''t you? Well, what''s the hurry? There is still some time before my station arrives. Let''s continue talking." "Sit down and tell me, what''s your name? Oh and¡­" The conversation between Olivia and the random elder on a train continued. Soon, Ka''lor''ah and some of the other passengers also joined in on their conversation. Lucius, on the other hand, continued to remain silent. Although his eyes were closed and his body was relaxed, he still extended his soul power and monitored the surroundings. Some passengers, who were in the Peak-Level of Stage 3 as the old Beast-Human elder, noticed his monitoring but did not react. Since they were unable to accurately estimate Lucius'' strength, they preferred to avoid any acts of hostility. As for Lucius, he never bothered with their reactions in the first place. His attention was solely focused on the young woman who was the center of the conversation. ''Why are you so much like her?'' Chapter 310: Dignity. "We have arrived at Grenich Town Station! Passengers are to be careful when you alight the carriage," A mechanical voice announced on the train''s speakers. Thud! Thud! Thud! Lucius and his party promptly alighted from the train, gracefully landing on the muddy, unevenly paved station platform. According to Lucius'' memories, this was the town where the Master Forger had taken up residence in. Upon exiting it, Olivia turned around and performed a proper bow while facing the train. "Thank you for all the advice and stories, elders! I enjoyed them quite a lot!" she sincerely thanked. "Be careful, kid! Don''t die too soon!" "I''ll be expecting your name on the ranking board! Don''t disappoint me!" "It''s been fun talking to you, youngster! I wish you a smooth journey!" A barrage of replies rung out from the train''s window, as the passengers within gathered to send Olivia off. Suffice to say, the four-hour journey had netted Olivia a lot of friends. Olivia continued to bow and thank, all the way until the train left the station. Waving her final goodbyes, Olivia then stretched her body, which had grown sore from all the bowing. "Wow, you sure did become popular, didn''t you?" Ka''lor''ah teasingly spoke. "I was simply lucky enough to meet such good people," Olivia humbly replied. "Still, I can''t believe how very normal they were. It was almost as if they were just regular people and not a mighty Stage 3 being." "Well, not everybody seeks to improve their strengths and climb the Stages. For most people in the middle regions, to live is to get a job, work, get married, start a family, and hopefully die of old age." "Not everyone is born into a talented race with unlimited potential. Most aren''t geniuses like you or monsters like Lucius either." "What you saw today, is what the life of a Stage 3 being in the middle regions looks like: simple people who are trying to make a living and survive each passing day," Ka''lor''ah shrugged her shoulders and calmly explained. The Universe was a harsh place, but it was also mostly stable. Gigantic, Ruler-level civilizations existed, that maintained order and peace within most territories. Wars that embroiled civilizations into it were pretty much non-existence in this Era. Structure and society existed as a whole and people abided by a system. Even the never-ending war between the [Good] and [Evil] factions was specific to the frontlines which were unseen by ninety percent of the population. People were aware of the war and many even joined the war effort, but in the end, it wasn''t at a level of intensity where every win or loss drastically altered the universal society. Compared to the First Era where it was ''kill or be killed'' and every extra bit of strength counted for survival, times had changed by a lot now. "I can see that. But still, the disconnect from what I''ve heard so far to what I''m seeing is simply shocking," Olivia replied. "Yeah, but don''t get too used to it. As long as you stick with us, all you''ll be seeing will be the cruel and chaotic side of it. People killing other people for strength, power, authority¡­In a way, the people that we met on the train can be considered lucky." Ka''lor''ah ruefully said. "How so?" Olivia asked, curiously. "They recognize reality and adhere to society. They do not dare to dream, and whatever dreams they did have in their youths were ground to dust by reality." "After all, ascending the Stages is not an easy task. Every time you rise up, you have to sacrifice something precious in return." A bitter smile appeared on Ka''lor''ah''s face as she finished, "In the end, not everyone is willing to sacrifice what they have, for what could be." Hearing those words of wisdom, Olivia quietly pondered. While she was able to understand the words themselves, she wasn''t able to grasp their entire meaning. Olivia was, after all, lacking in life experience. "Wait, where''s Lucius?" Ka''lor''ah suddenly yelled, causing Olivia to break out of her contemplation. Raising her head, Olivia looked around, only to realize that Lucius was missing. The station was completely void of people, except for the duo. "Did he leave us behind and go somewhere?" Olivia asked. Nodding her head, Ka''lor''ah replied, "It seems so. Did you notice him leave?" "Nope," Olivia unhesitantly answered. "Let''s find him and group up together quickly. I have no idea where we are and who we are meeting." Ka''lor''ah focused on the soul tether between her and Lucius and quickly started to follow it. Olivia followed behind. ---------- Meanwhile. Lucius, who had left at some point of the goodbye ceremony after having grown tired of it, had exited the station and entered the town of Grenich. According to his memories, the Master Forger Riker lived somewhere within this town. After entering the town, there was an immediate difference in the scene before his eyes. Unlike the station, which was desolate and abandoned, the town was lively and filled with people. And by people, I mean elves. Only elves. The instant Lucius entered the gates of the town and stepped onto the main paved road, he was immediately shot with dozens of disapproving and hostile glares. The elves, who were highly haughty and xenophobic, were not happy with his presence at all. If anything, they were overtly unhappy about it. "What is that creature doing in this town?" "Tch! Just seeing it walkabout fills me with disgust." "Mother, what is that thing? Why does it look different from us?" "Don''t look, child! It''s a filthy thing that doesn''t know that it''s unwelcome here." Derisive mocking and whispers filled the air around Lucius, as he walked through the street. They did not try to hide their dislike in the least and openly spoke out. Some of the elves, who were walked in front of him automatically moved to the sides with great haste, seemingly afraid that something from Lucius would come in contact with them. The extent of their xenophobia had crossed the traditional boundaries and had reached a realm of its own. At this moment, Lucius wasn''t a mere outsider, but an ''untouchable''. At first, Lucius wasn''t bothered by those whispers. However, as the content continued to grow more and more disrespectful and scornful, Lucius started reaching the limits of his patience. Just half a street later, Lucius heard something that finally struck his nerve. "Hah, a weakling bastard that can''t even project aura is walking through our city. Should I catch him and turn him into a pet?" Lucius immediately turned his head towards the person who said that sentence. An ungodly amount of murderous intent exited his body and froze everyone in the street with horror and fear. Slamming his feet against the stone path, Lucius instantly shot out and caught the audacious elf who had spoken that sentence. Grabbing him by his throat, Lucius raised him into the air and stared into his eyes. "I stayed quiet because I couldn''t be bothered with you, insects. But here you are, asking for it," Lucius coldly spoke while tightening his grip around the elf''s throat. The elf, who was a Low-Level Stage 3 being, was unable to struggle in the slightest as a majority of Lucius'' aura drilled into his body and froze it with fear. However, as the grip around his neck tightened and death approached closer, he managed to move his lips to painfully utter a sentence. "St¡­op, you can¡­not kil-l m-me. Yo¡­u will b-be hun¡­ted by t-the officers o-of my ra¡­ce." "Correct. That would become bothersome, I suppose," Lucius paused for a moment and loosened his grip over the elf. Joy flashed across the elf''s eyes immediately followed by shame and anger. Opening his mouth, he chanted, "Deploy Do¡ª" "I guess, I''ll just turn you into an idiot," Lucius calmly interrupted him and acted first. His left eye shined in bright golden and [Annihilation Intent] shot out of it. Rushing into the forehead of the elf, it forcibly barged into his mindspace and destroyed a majority of his consciousness. The light of intelligence disappeared from within the elf''s eyes and was replaced by ignorant blankness. Lucius released his grip, dropping the newly ''mentally crippled'' idiot onto the ground. "Wah? WAH!" The elf cried as he rolled on the ground. Turning his gaze away from this idiot, Lucius looked around at the other elves and asked, "Anybody else have something to say?" With their very hearts and soul pressured into submission by his furious, unadulterated murderous intent, the elves lowered their gazes in unison. No matter how unhappy they were within Lucius'' presence, they were forced to realize the difference in their strengths. If he wanted to, Lucius could slaughter everyone within this street in mere seconds. The elves, even the Stage 3 ones, could only hopelessly watch. Seeing that no more complaints were being voiced, Lucius retracted his aura and turned towards the elf closest to him. "Where does Riker live?" he asked. The female elf, quick-witted and sharp, hurriedly replied to this terrifying figure, "At the edge of the town over there." She pointed towards a certain direction. Nodding his head in response, Lucius turned around and started walking away. Seeing him walk away, the female elf relaxed her body and quietly let out a sigh. She then looked at Lucius'' retreating figure with a complex expression. ''Should I do something? Maybe I should contact the¡ª'' her thoughts suddenly came to a pause and her eyes shrunk to form slits. While looking at Lucius, she suddenly felt strange energy explode out of his body. The strange energy pulsed in the form of waves and quickly enveloped everyone within the street, except for her. In the next instant, the light of intelligence disappeared from within their eyes, as they all fell onto the ground and cried in a manner similar to the male elf. Losing power in her knees, the female elf dropped to the ground as her spine chilled at the realization that the outsider in front of her had retarded the intelligence of every single person in the surroundings. ''Mo-monster!'' She hurriedly scrambled to her knees and ran in the direction opposite to which Lucius was moving in. All she wanted right now was to escape as far away as possible from this town. Lucius, on the other hand, continued to nonchalantly walk in the specified direction. He did not bother hiding anymore and released his aura in its entirety, turning it into a warning for the people past this street. As for his action of mentally retarding dozens of people¡­well, they had it coming. After all, the dignity of a Stage 7 existence was not to be tarnished. Chapter 311: Dying Wish. "Hey, Lucius! Wait for us!!" Accompanied by the yell was Ka''lor''ah, followed by Olivia. On spotting Lucius'' figure, the two women quickly rushed forth and caught up to him. Taking her place upon Lucius'' shoulder, Ka''lor''ah exasperatedly spoke, "Less than three minutes have passed since disappeared from our sights, yet you''ve already crippled fifty-plus people. Tell me quickly, what did I miss?" Her second sentence was spoken with excitement. "They had it coming," Lucius curtly replied and did not elaborate. Ka''lor''ah pouted and lightly struck Lucius'' shoulder. She then looked around with great excitement and noticed the looks within the eyes of the residents of the town. Most of the elves hid within their houses and looked towards the party with expressions of fear, anger, and disgust. Some, who were unfortunate enough to wander the streets during the party''s appearance, stood by the sides with lowered heads. Lucius'' expressionless face and murderous intent had scared them stiff. All they could do was to stand stiffly like statues, waiting for this monster to pass them by. "I see. So that''s what happened," Ka''lor''ah muttered with a blank expression. After surveying the crowd, Olivia, who had also made the connection, spoke with a cold tone, "You should''ve killed them." Casually shrugging his shoulders in response, Lucius replied, "It will get too troublesome. We still have to get our weapons forged and the guy who''s doing it is also an elf." Hearing that, Olivia nodded her head and did not speak further. However, the look in her eyes as she viewed the elves had changed from interest and curiosity to unlike and loathe. Noticing the change in her look, Ka''lor''ah advised, "Don''t think too much about this. These people were brought up believing that they are superior to every other race out there. It''s only natural for them to look down at us, outsiders, with disgust." "But the elves we met at the checkpoint were different. Although I could feel them looking down upon us, it wasn''t to this extent," countered Olivia. Ka''lor''ah simply chuckled and answered, "That''s because they have seen the outside world and aren''t as ignorant as these townspeople." Having said that, Ka''lor''ah turned silent and let Olivia ponder about the rest. The latter also did not question further and pondered in silence. Lucius, being himself, remained silent from the start and did not insert himself in their conversation. In such a manner, the party strolled through the town of Grenich. ---------- Arriving at the side of a tall, green mountain, a few kilometers outside of the town of Grenich, the party came to a halt. In front of them, some distance away was a beautiful, yet quaint-looking manor. Built entirely out of white wood, the manor stood beside a small, blue lake that was as transparent as it was still. Decorating the front of the manor was an exquisite garden, within which grew many beautiful and extremely rare plants and herbs. Multi-colored lights appeared above these plants, as spiritual energy gathered en masse. A quiet, stone path ran across the fantastical garden, leading to the main door of the manor. All in all, this picturesque scene drew gasps of admiration and awe from both the women members of the party. They were genuinely impressed by this fairytale-like structure before them. As for Lucius, he simply scanned the area in front of him for traps before stepping onto the stone path. He continued to remain as bored-looking as always, as he approached the tall, white door. Thud! Thud! Thud! While continuing to emit his powerful aura, Lucius knocked on the door thrice and waited for the owner of the manor to answer. While his scans couldn''t detect anyone within the house, Lucius was certain that someone resided within. After all, he noticed the Rules subtly changing the moment she stepped on that stone path. ''Definitely a Stage 4 existence,'' Lucius thought to himself, as he patiently waited. Just under a minute had passed, when the handle on the door before him showed movement, and the door opened. Appearing behind it was a handsome-looking elf with short green hair, perfectly shaped eyes, and a frown on his mouth. Looking at Lucius, he impatiently asked, "What does a Killer want in my house?" "Are you Riker?" asked Lucius, calmly "Depends on what you want?" said the elf, curtly. "I want you to forge me two Living Weapons," replied Lucius. A tinge of surprise flashed across the elf''s eyes for a brief moment. However, it was quickly replaced by wariness as he replied, "Then you''ve found the wrong person. I''m a doctor, not a forger. Please leave." He then took a step back and started closing the door. Lucius, however, did not leave but instead, took a step forward. Nudging his right foot in-between the doorframe and the door, he stopped the elf from closing the door. "Hey! What are you¡ª" The angered yell of the handsome elf was interrupted by Lucius'' chant, "What lies beside the pale blue lake beneath the full-white moon?" The movements of the elf suddenly came to a pause and his yell was forced back into his throat. A dazed expression appeared within his eyes, as he unconsciously replied, "It''s a full pink tree." "What lies beneath the full pink tree on the thirteenth night of Luxuria?" Lucius continued. "The headstone of the sinner," replied the elf, shocked. "And who rests beneath the headstone carrying the title of the sinner?" Lucius finished. The elf forcefully opened the door, causing it to break free from its hinges and slamming against the wall. He then grabbed Lucius by his collars, looked him in his eyes, and asked, "Do you know the answer?!" Lucius did not reply but simply nodded his head. He then leaned into the elf''s ears and muttered a name. "Sophia¡­the seventh daughter of the Elven King." Hearing that name caused the eyes of the elf to expand greatly. His mouth opened and closed, speechless and his hands released their grasp on Lucius. Taking a few moments to recover, he looked at Lucius and asked in a slightly fearful tone, "Are you sure?" Nodding his head, Lucius replied, "I dug it up and saw it myself. I am certain." Hearing that reply, the handsome, male elf became dazed once more. Slowly, a delighted expression formed on his face which gradually turned deranged. Then suddenly, grabbing onto his head, he started to laugh in a crazed manner. "HAHAHA! I knew it! I KNEW IT!!" His knees collapsed and his body fell to the ground. His laughter, however, did not stop and continued to climb in intensity. "My family was correct all along!! That fu*king bastard framed us for the sins of his daughter!! Hahaha!!" Tears fell from his eyes as he continued to revel in his laughter. Eventually, the crazed laughter turned into sorrowful sobs. "For 871 years, my family suffered punishment. Mother¡­Father¡­can you hear this¡­your deaths weren''t meaningless. We¡­our family were in the right, after all." He eventually devolved into a full-blown cry. Meanwhile, noticing this commotion, Olivia and Ka''lor''ah, who were touring the scenic garden, arrived beside Lucius and watched the handsome elf cry. "What happened? What did I miss? TELL ME!!" exclaimed Ka''lor''ah. "Is he going to be okay?" asked Olivia, pointing to the elf. "He''s fine," Lucius casually replied. "He should be calming down soon." As if in response to his words, the handsome elf''s cries calmed down before eventually coming to a stop. He then wiped his eyes, stood up, dusted his dress, and calmly spoke. "I apologize for showing such an unsightly figure. Please forgive me," he performed a polite bow. He then straightened his body and continued, "Let me reintroduce myself. My name is Riker Tumenril, one of the few remaining descendants of the great Tumenril tribe." "I''m a Stage 4 [Spirit Walker], who''s also a Master Forger and a doctor." He then looked towards Lucius with a grateful expression and spoke, "Thank you, traveler, for completing my family''s¡­no, my tribe''s final wish. We rest in peace after knowing the truth." "According to the agreement, I, now owe you a single favor as compensation for your efforts. Please, request anything of me," he bowed once again. Lucius quietly retrieved both his and Olivia''s respective weapons and held them in his hands. Presenting the broken weapons to Riker, he spoke, "I request you to reforge these two weapons into Living Weapons." Raising his head, Riker carefully received the two weapons and studied them. At first, an expression of pure surprise appeared within his eyes. However, it soon turned into an expression of difficulty. He then looked up at Lucius and grimly spoke, "As you might know, forging a Living Weapon is no simple task. A weapon has to meet many requirements and must be of sufficient quality before it can be forged by an experienced Master Forger." "While these two weapons meet most of those requirements, their quality is still greatly lacking. I''m afraid I lack the materials to reforge them," He explained. "Can you do it?" Lucius simply asked. "Reforge them? Yes. But as I said, I lack the necessary materials to successfully do so. Not only are these materials incredibly rare to find, but they are also something that cannot be bought at will, no matter how much money you possess." "No need," Lucius interrupted him and started taking out the required materials from within his [Void Storage]. Riker''s expression as he viewed those materials, as they appeared one after the other, underwent another change¡­this time, it was that of shock. "You¡ª" He looked at the materials, before looking at Lucius once more. He then shook his head and released a sigh of relief. "You have come prepared." "Indeed. I was only lacking a Master Forger," Lucius casually replied. "Are you sure that you want to use your favor to reforge these weapons? I''m a Peak-Level Stage 4 being, you know. Perhaps, I can help you in some other¡ª" "Don''t need it. I only want the weapons," Lucius instantly declined his proposal. Sighing to himself, Riker replied, "Suit yourself." He then carefully picked up the materials that were dumped on the ground and continued, "I''m not at my best form today and it seems like you''ve traveled from a long way afar. Please come inside and rest your bodies. I shall start the forging tomorrow." He then looked at the two women beside Lucius and added, "You ladies too. This manor has excellent baths if you so wish to cleanse yourselves." "It''s fine. We can simply rest outs¡ª"Lucius'' reply was instantly interrupted by Olivia. "Really? Then we shall gladly accept your hospitality." She then grabbed Lucius'' hands, pulled him forward, and continued to speak with Riker with a smile, "Please show us the way." Riker pleasantly smiled in response and moved, "Do follow me." Chapter 312: Ancient Bath Recipe. Knitting his brows, Lucius quickly pulled back his hands and coldly asked, "What are you doing?" His tone made it extremely clear that he was not pleased with Olivia''s actions. The atmosphere inside the house immediately turned heavy. Riker looked at the group with confusion, Ka''lor''ah was immensely worried, and Lucius was annoyed. He focused an intense gaze on her, awaiting an answer. Being subject to the pressure emitted by Lucius, Olivia was strangely calm. There was no trace of panic within her eyes, but an only quiet confidence. Staring into Lucius'' eyes, she spoke with utmost clarity, "Correct me if I''m wrong. The only reason that we came to this place was to get our weapons forged, correct?" Not expecting to be asked a question, Lucius was caught off-guard. "¡­yes," he replied, unconsciously reducing the emitted pressure. Continuing the offensive, Olivia asked, "And this good sir, is the only one who can do it, right?" "¡­correct," answered Lucius. Then, turning to face Riker, Olivia politely asked, "Is there no way to start the forging process right away, Mr. Riker? We are in quite a bit hurry, you see." Hearing that, Riker flashed a bitter smile and replied, "It is not that I can''t start the forging process right away. Just that, the chances of a successful forging will be really low." "Forging a Living Weapon requires more than simple skill. It also requires a certain degree of luck and fate. While such things cannot be controlled by us mortals, we can only try our best at the forging itself." "With such limited materials, I''m afraid that there will be no room for mistakes. The forging has to be done perfectly to ensure that the chances of success are as high as they can be," explained Riker. "In order to do that, I would require time. Starting tomorrow would be the best course of action. Haste would only make waste." "I do request for your understanding," asked Riker, politely. "Oh, we understand, Sir Riker. While we are certainly in a hurry, we do want the forging to be successful. Please do your best," Olivia bowed. She then turned to face Lucius one more time and spoke, "Well, looks like we got no choice but to wait, Lucius. Now that we have all this time, perhaps we could go somewhere for training?" "Oh, but wait," Olivia slapped her forehead in realization. "I almost forgot." "All the elves outside hate us!" She exclaimed in ''surprise''. "No offense." She quickly added while facing Riker. "None taken," replied Riker, amused. "And after what happened in the town, I''m sure that the remaining residents have contacted the authorities and informed them. Right now, there could be Stage 4 officers outside looking for us!" "But of course, if we still really have to go outside, I guess we could..." Olivia continued to explain her series of complicated and convoluted plans and their resulting scenarios to Lucius. Her explanations were overly detailed and complex, that Lucius soon became lost in the sea of scenarios. Currently, he had already stopped pressuring Olivia and his previous annoyance had all but evaporated. Lucius was trapped within Olivia''s explanations and found himself growing more confused and lost with each passing second. Facing someone as lively and sociable as Olivia, there was only little that someone of Lucius'' levels of EQ could do. Unable to find an opening to interrupt her, Lucius could only helplessly fall into Olivia''s pace. Meanwhile, Ka''lor''ah was watching the duo before her with great interest and amusement. Her initial worry had disappeared the moment Olivia took charge of the atmosphere and was replaced with amusement and honest respect for her. Looking at Olivia slowly convince him with her speech. Ka''lor''ah thought to herself, ''Wow, she just effortlessly talked him into changing his answer. Even I find it difficult to do that.'' It was then, did Ka''lor''ah noticed Riker nearing her. He stood near Ka''lor''ah''s tiny, floating figure and asked, "I couldn''t help but hear something about the elven town. What happened?" Ka''lor''ah flashed a bitter smile and explained the events to him. Hearing her explanation, Riker let out a sigh and replied. "I don''t blame you for doing what you guys did. Those brethren of mine were brought up in a very protected environment. I promise to assist you with the authorities." "We will be counting on you," Ka''lor''ah hurriedly refused him. The duo continued to watch the amusing scene before them, before Riker asked, "What''s the deal with them?" "Well, you see, the girl, who''s quite a bit of a pervert, is trying to convince the guy, why staying in this manor and taking a bath together is essential for their journey. As you can see, she''s slowly getting there," Ka''lor''ah explained while chuckling. "I see," Riker nodded his head in understanding. He then continued, "This is the first time I''m meeting a Killer in the flesh. He is very different from what I''ve heard about them." "Most things often are. Although, this one might be a special case," Ka''lor''ah vaguely replied. She then turned to face Riker and asked, "Well, it looks like the girl will be failing to reach her intended target. Mind helping a bit?" Riker responded with a smile, "Of course. It''s the least I could do to compensate for the delay." "Fine, I understand! We can stay within this house for the time being," Lucius eventually gave in. He couldn''t bear Olivia''s assault of words anymore and wanted it to stop as soon as possible. Something about her vibrant demeanor and energy caused him to change his mind. In addition, all of her words and reasoning were true. His actions in the town of Grenich might draw attention from the authorities. At least, staying inside this manor would ensure that they would be protected by Riker in case any elven officers came knocking. "However," Lucius was not finished with his reply, "I have no need for a bath. I already have soul power to perform those activities." He finished. Hearing this reply, Olivia turned downcast. While her words seemed righteous and intentions pure, it was exactly as Ka''lor''ah had said earlier. All that effort that was put into convincing Lucius, was with the sole intent to get him to enter the bath with her. ''Tch. So close, yet so far. How hard is that damn stone making up your heart?'' Olivia inwardly complained. All of her excitement on wanting to experience an elven bath had already died. What was even the point, if she couldn''t see Lucius disrobed. ''Why are we still here? Just to suffer¡­'' thought Olivia, depressed. It was then, that a ray of shining light came to help her with her struggle. An act of divine intervention which would help her realize her dreams. "Actually, this is no normal bath," Riker suddenly intervened. Facing Lucius while wearing a serious expression, he continued, "I assume you seek to reach Stage 4, right?" "That is correct," Lucius honestly replied. "Then I would highly suggest you take this bath," Riker sincerely advised. "You see, I have this special bath recipe which I managed to find in an ancient ruin during my travels. Soaking for a few hours in it will remove your current body of all extraneous Rules and impurities." "Not only will it help shorten your first ''Transcendence'', but it will also improve the quality of the result afterward. I have all the necessary ingredients and materials for exactly one bath." "The lady should take it too. It will also be of immense help to her, vastly improving her power when she reaches Stage 3," Riker finished. "Say what now?" Olivia''s dispirited head instantly snapped up. Her two eyes shined with unparalleled brilliance, and a bright smile appeared on her face. However, the ones who showed the greatest reaction to Riker''s words were actually, Lucius and Ka''lor''ah. "Are you serious?" asked Lucius, his tone incomparably serious. Surprised at his odd reaction, Riker answered with a nod, "I have no reason to lie. You are the benefactor of my family after all." Hearing his reply, Lucius heavily nodded his head and closed his eyes. ''Lucius, you have to take it!'' Ka''lor''ah hurriedly inserted mentally, ''Even if it decreases your first ''Transcendence'' by a single second, you must still take it! It is extremely important! You cannot miss this god-given chance!!'' Why was it so important, you ask? That is because, during his first Transcendence, Lucius will face a test from the Universe. A test that involved the ''Bindings of Cause''. And if you try and recall, the ''Bindings of Cause'' were unusually harsh on Lucius, making it impossible for him to overcome it and ascend. Of course, the first Transcendence test will not involve the real thing, but will simply create a much, much weaker imitation of them. The real thing only appeared on the second Transcendence, when one tried to ascend into Stage 6. Nonetheless, an imitation or not, it was still a terribly difficult challenge for Lucius to overcome, him more so than others. It would be a real do-or-die challenge for Lucius, and spending even a single second less taking that test would increase his odds of success exponentially. ''I know,'' Lucius heavily replied. He knew better than Ka''lor''ah, better than anyone in fact, how harsh the ''Bindings of Cause'' would be on him. In fact, Lucius himself was not very confident on coming out unscathed from that test, and this was given his skill set and hack-like abilities. Were it not for the fact that he managed to ascend inside Limbo where the ''Bindings of Cause'' were unable to manifest, Lucius would have definitely died prematurely in his previous life. ''Trying to find an entrance to Limbo is hopeless. It will appear randomly and can only be found by pure chance. I have no choice but to ascend here, within the Universe.'' ''A few hours of bathing to reduce the time required for the first Transcendence, this is simply a god-sent opportunity.'' Opening his eyes and meeting Riker''s gaze, Lucius replied, "I''ll take it." "I''ll draw the bath," Riker gracefully replied and walked into the depths of the manor. He then turned to face Olivia and continued, "You can also take it with me. It will help you reach Stage 3 easier and quicker." He then turned around and followed Riker. Hearing that, Olivia nearly squealed in pure delight. If it was not for Ka''lor''ah firmly shutting her mouth at the correct moment, she might have leaked her indecent thoughts for Lucius to see. While keeping her hands firmly on Olivia''s mouth and after ensuring that Lucius had left the scene, Ka''lor''ah softly spoke, "Enjoy." Never before in her life had Olivia nodded her head faster than she did at this moment. Chapter 313: Bathhouse. Part 1 Burbleblebleble¡­ The soft sound of water falling to fill a large pool resounded within the pure-white anteroom, outside of the bathhouse. Accompanied by the vague whispers of the birds and the quiet chittering of the insects, the entire scene had an added mystical feel to it. The anteroom was simply furnished with two wooden benches, a towel rack, few potted plants to add some color to the otherwise spotlessly white room, and two large windows on either side. Views of the still, transparent lake and the verdant green fields were the first sights seen through the windows. Silhouettes of distant mountains could be seen in the distance, and the recently familiar branch of the World Tree could be seen branching in the sky. Two doors, one leading into the anteroom and the other leading into the bathhouse existed, both of which were closed at this instance. Obviously, the sound of the falling water echoed from the latter. Moving on¡­ Seated on either wooden bench were respectively Lucius and Olivia. In preparation for the special bath that they were to undergo, they had shed their regular attire and settled to only have a towel, wrapped around their private areas. With only a towel concealing his lower body, the rest of Lucius'' muscular body was in full view. His skin, which was as pale as a corpse, was both rigidly taut and strangely elastic. From a broad and hard chest to a perfectly ratioed abdomen, muscle lines traced his entire body with a harmonic symphony. His long and silky black hair crowned his handsome face and covered his back. All in all, he looked less of an actual person and more of an exquisitely sculpted statue, crafted by the best sculptor in the Universe as his final masterpiece. As usual, Lucius sat with his eyes closed and his legs atop each other. He was blank and bored-looking as usual and was completely dismissive of the woman sitting opposite to him. Being that woman sitting opposite to him, Olivia was nowhere as bored-looking or dismissive as her partner. Rather, she was his complete opposite. Her mesmerizing violet eyes scanned Lucius with such an intense gaze that it almost turned tangible. Her beautiful face carried equal parts of nervousness and excitement as she eagerly waited for the moment when they entered the bath. Similar to Lucius, Olivia also sat on the bench naked with only the large, white towel covering her private parts. Her angelic figure was perfectly outlined by the towel, showcasing all of her womanly charms while concealing the actual features underneath. The towel hung on for dear life at Olivia''s voluptuous chest and had to occasionally be adjusted by her. Her slender arms and bare shapely legs revealed a fair bit of muscles, adding extra points in charm while showing that they could pack quite a punch (or a kick). (AN: I''m never doing a physical description thing again. That was exhausting!) Gazing towards Lucius with a predatory gaze, a sliver of drool accidently leaked from Olivia''s mouth and fell upon her chest. ''Whoa, Mama! That''s one fine piece of meat¡­'' Olivia hungrily thought to herself while smacking her lips. Letting her mind wander, Olivia mentally bathed in the vulgar scenes that it conjured. If one were to use a single word to describe her facial expressions right now, that word would be ''perverted''. Her gaze increasingly grew hotter and more intense, quickly crossing the margins of passion and entering a realm way beyond. If the laws of Earth were to exist and this current scene was studied, Olivia''s current behavior and demeanor would earn her a ''sexual assault'' charge, even though she never moved to do anything physically. Did she want to get physical? Obviously, the answer was a unanimous yes! Thankfully, Olivia still managed to maintain a shred of rationality, allowing her to keep her primal instincts in check. Dazedly moving her hand to wipe her drooling mouth, Olivia thought, ''Patience. Must have patience. Sooner or later, I shall lay my hands on that fine creation of God over there, and then I shall¡ª''[Content has been redacted for being overly explicit] Meanwhile, Lucius who was being subjected to such a gaze was feeling increasingly uncomfortable with each passing second. Furrowing his brows, he thought to himself, ''What is she even thinking?'' He found it harder to maintain his indifference, as he felt the gaze grow increasingly vulgar and perverted. Opening his eyes, Lucius looked at the woman before him. Olivia''s eyes were unfocused making it quite obvious that she had completely sunken into her fantasies. Lucius then looked at her hands, which continued to move, and watched her fingers dance in a strange motion. ''What is she doing with her hands?'' Lucius thought to himself, confused. To say that a hundred years of solitude had left him ignorant of modern innuendos would be an understatement. Where a regular person would be able to immediately identify Olivia''s unconscious hand gestures, Lucius, being as insensitive as he was, failed to understand it. As seconds continued to tick by, Olivia grew more and more drastic while Lucius grew equally uncomfortable. Just as he was about to release his aura and force Olivia to stop her motions, the door leading to the bathhouse opened and Riker stepped out. Olivia snapped out of her daze and stiffly sat straight while turning to face Riker with a nonchalant expression. Lucius did the same, albeit casually. "The bath is ready. The two of you may enter," said Riker, politely with a smile. "Remember, you have to stay in the bath for at least six hours in order to receive its benefits. Good luck." Saying so, he left the duo alone in the anteroom and left using the other door. Lucius then turned to look at Olivia, who spoke first with a serious voice, "You should go in first." She then stood behind Lucius. Not paying much mind to her sentence, Lucius shrugged his shoulder and walked into the bathhouse. Much like the rest of the manor, the bathhouse was also predominantly white in the color scheme. The four walls encapsulating the bathhouse housed richly crafted murals, depicting scenes of beautiful elves engaged in elegant activities. The roof of the bathhouse was covered with one-way transparent glass, allowing the people bathing on the inside to view the sky. It was currently late afternoon, making it likely that the duo will be able to experience the night sky. Various enchanting flowers dotted the bathhouse, further accentuating the beauty of the entire construct. Walking to the edge of the white marble bath, which was shaped like an inverted dome and was the size of half an Olympic swimming pool, Lucius paused for a moment and stared into the water. His olfactory senses had already picked up the extremely pleasing aroma radiated by the shimmering golden water, greatly improving his mood. It was evident; whatever was within that water considerably excited his body''s senses. As he continuously inhaled that smell while standing on the edge of the bath, a faint blush appeared on his face followed by a look of intoxication. Unable to contain his instincts, he quickly reached down, removed his towel, and stepped into the bath. "Ah~" a pleasurable moan escaped Lucius'' mouth. Comforting warmth surrounded his naked body while his skin tingled with electricity. Lucius'' felt his pores open up and his muscles relax. Submerging himself further until his entire body was underwater, Lucius quietly enjoyed the sensory assault of comfort. Concealed under its golden sheen, Lucius quickly disappeared from sight. Meanwhile, Olivia, who still stood outside the bath fully enjoying the sights before her, suddenly screamed upon seeing Lucius disappear underwater, "NO! Not my fanservice!" Throwing aside her towel, she hurriedly jumped into the water. SPLASH! ---------- As soon as she entered the water, the first thought that appeared on Olivia''s mind was. ''Huh? It''s strangely dense. Almost like mercury.'' She had no trouble entering the water but immediately felt the difference after entry. She felt the surrounding water stick to the surface of her skin and coat every inch of her nude body. ''Well, whatever, I must find Lucius! I must make use of every second of this rare, god-given opportunity!!'' Of course, the strangeness was almost immediately ignored as Olivia focused on her individual priorities. Just as she was about to swim forward, Olivia suddenly paused. And in the next instant, she let out an earth-shattering scream of pain, "ARRRGGGHHHH!!!" Exploding with all her might, Olivia instantly leaped out of the water and hurriedly landed on the wooden floor outside. Rolling on the cool floor with her unclothed body, she continued to yell. "IT BURNS! IT BURNS! GOD, IT BURNS!! WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME IT WOULD BURN?!!" Her screams caused the mystical plants to sway and the surface of the water to ripple. Even Ka''lor''ah and Riker, who were having a tea party quite some distance away in another part of the manor, vaguely heard her screams. Chapter 314: Bathhouse. Part 2 "OH, FU*KING-! DAMN, THIS DAMNED SHI*TY PIECE OF CRAP--!!" Incomprehensible curses exited Olivia''s mouth. While it did nothing to relieve her physical pain, the curses did help her calm down mentally. A few seconds later, Olivia''s rolling action significantly slowed before gradually coming to a halt. The golden liquid coating her body had disappeared, having been fully absorbed into her body. With the disappearance of the substance, the pain and sensations of burning had also disappeared. Lying on the floor with her arms and legs sprawled, Olivia panted heavily. Sweat poured out of every pore, as the phantom pain continued to resound within her mind. She then suddenly heard Lucius ask, "Are you okay?" Weakly lifting her head, she saw Lucius popping his head from the surface of the water. His cold, black eyes stared at her with their usual coldness and detachment. Even while seeing Olivia, a woman with ridiculous levels of beauty and charm, sprawling stark naked in front of him, Lucius did not show the slightest bit of interest or arousal. For an entity like him that had reached the apex of the Universe, in the [Killer] path no less, physical beauty meant nothing. Additionally, the [Void Eater] was at minimum a Grade 6 race, with the potential to rise higher. Against a member of a Grade 3 race like Mankind, it showed zero sexual desire. "Look at me. Do I look okay to you, man?" Olivia sarcastically protested, weakly. The lack of interest in his eyes as he viewed her did not bother Olivia in the least. She had already performed many tests in the recent three years to ascertain that Lucius showed no physical attraction to her. If she was able to seduce him with her body, why would her conquest of his heart be so difficult? She would''ve succeeded a long time ago. Not recognizing the sarcasm in her reply, Lucius answered seriously, "No." He then returned to leisurely swimming on the surface of the water. Hearing that, Olivia simply sighed. She then continued to lie sprawling on the floor for a few seconds, before gathering strength in her limbs. Forcing herself to sit upwards, she then looked towards Lucius and asked, "Why does the water hurt so much? It felt like my body was being dissolved alive." She then pointed towards him casually swimming on the water and continued, "And how come you''re so unaffected by it?" Continuing to swim in the comfort of the water, Lucius replied, "Simple. My body is a lot stronger than yours and therefore has the capacity for change. Since yours is a lot weaker, the change is a lot more forceful and painful." Unlike Olivia''s body, the Void Eater''s body was a lot stronger and more accepting of the changes bestowed by the golden water. While Olivia experienced bone-wrenching pain, Lucius experienced soul-filling comfort. "Can it be less painful?" asked Olivia. Just thinking about the pain mere moments ago, made her visibly flinch and shudder. "It will get less painful with time. Just stay in the water until your body gets accustomed to the changes," answered Lucius, casually. Hearing that answer, Olivia hesitated. It wasn''t that the pain was absolutely unbearable, but it was quite close to it. If she wanted to stay in the water for any period of time, she would have to provide her undivided focus to managing and suppressing that pain. It was hard and exhausting, but well within possible for her. The only issue was it would simply become another form of training. All her thoughts of enjoying this random encounter and peeping on her lover would have to be thrown out of her mind. Frustrated, Olivia complained within her heart, ''Argh, dammit! Why can''t I have a simple, normal bathhouse scene?! Why must you test me in such a way?!!'' It was then¡­ "Waiting there hesitating isn''t going to do anything to lessen the pain. The sooner you enter, the sooner you''ll get used to it," Lucius advised. And then, to Olivia''s absolute surprise, he swam to the edge of the bath, offered her his hand, and spoke, "Hold my hand and enter. I''ll teach you a little trick to make the pain more manageable." Olivia dazedly stared at Lucius'' handsome face and his outstretched pale, muscular hand. It took her a second to process his words, after doing which her eyes widened to the extremes. ''OPPORTUNITY!!'' Her own voice yelled within her mind. Rising up from the wooden floor at a speed double to her exit from the water, Olivia immediately walked forward and grabbed his outstretched hand. Feeling his smooth, muscular hand clasp over her own, Olivia felt strangely excited. ''This isn''t my first time holding his hand. We do it all the time during training. But why does it feel so different now?'' Olivia wondered. ''Is it the atmosphere?'' Atmosphere or not, now was not the time to think on such unrelated matters. Firmly clasping her hand, Lucius started calmly instructing, "Focus on the soul power pulses within my palm and memorize it." Adhering to his instructions, Olivia focused on the soul power pulses within his palm. She could feel the pulses being transmitted into her own palm, allowing her to quickly learn its flow and pattern. Seeing the expression of pure focus appear on her face as she began learning, Lucius slowly pulled on her hand, gradually leading her into the bath. Steps had been built on the edge of the bath, allowing one to easily enter into the water. Lucius was now using those steps to slowly guide Olivia into the water. The moment she placed her foot on the uppermost step, Olivia''s feet came into contact with the golden water. Almost immediately, Olivia felt a burning sensation from that area. An expression of pain appeared on Olivia''s face and her focus started to waver. Seeing the look on immersion gradually starting to disappear from her face, Lucius started to talk once more, "Keep focusing on my palm. The pattern is a bit complex so carefully memorize it. Once you finish memorizing it, circulate your soul power according to that pattern and surround your brain with it." Subconsciously hearing his words, Olivia dazedly stabilized her focus and started to move her soul power according to that pulsing pattern. Just as Lucius said, the pattern got increasingly complex as she continued to learn. Pitting her undivided attention on the task at hand (AN: get it?), allowed Olivia to forget the pain from the water. Unknowingly, she had taken two more steps and had immersed more than half her shapely legs into the water. "That''s it. Keep going. Focus on the patterns," Lucius continued to instruct. He continued to methodically lead her into the water while imparting the pain suppression technique. Time continued to pass as Olivia struggled to learn under the assault of immense pain. Just when she had gone down seven steps, and a little over half her body was submerged within the shimmering golden water, Olivia finished grasping the entire technique. "Now apply that technique with your soul power and surround your brain with it." The instant he finished talking, Lucius exerted force on his hands and pulled the remainder of Olivia''s body into the water. Breaking out of her concentration, Olivia let out a small yell as she fell into the water. SPLASH!! Being submerged completely inside the golden water, Olivia once again felt that odd sensation of the mercury-like water adhering to the surface of her skin. Just an instant later, the horrible full-body burning sensation reappeared. Olivia bit into her lips with such force that blood was instantly drawn from it. She struggled against the pain for a few seconds, before it quickly turned unbearable. ''Nope! I can''t do this! I need to escape the water!!'' Olivia''s flight-or-fight response was triggered, and her body instinctively chose the former option. Her rationality started being suppressed by the sheer, absolute pain. Just as she struggled to leave this horrible place, she realized that she was unable to. Looking at her arms, she noticed that they were being firmly held onto by Lucius. Olivia started to fiercely struggle within Lucius'' grasp and her body started to painfully writhe from pain. The burning pain only continued to climb in intensity and showed no signs of lessening at all. "LET ME GO!!" Olivia screamed underwater. "Calm down! Apply that technique and surround your brain with it!" Lucius'' clear voice rang within her mind. He used his soul power to mentally talk with her. Upon hearing his clear yell, a trace of rationality returned within her mind. Using it, she desperately controlled her soul power, applied it according to the technique, and followed his instruction to surround her brain with it. The instant her soul power, circulating according to Lucius'' technique, surrounded her brain; Olivia felt the pain instantly reduce by 5%. When compared to the complete magnitude of her pain, 5% was hardly anything. Nonetheless, it was a change in the positive direction. Noticing the change, Lucius encouraged, "Good. Now continue doing that." With a trace amount of pain disappearing, Olivia had more of her rationality freed. This allowed her to dedicate more resources to control her soul power, increasing its volume and hence the efficacy of the technique. Soon, the technique was operated to full capacity and a little over fifty percent of that god-awful pain disappeared. Still, fifty percent of a god-awful pain was pretty awful. At least, the pain had finally become manageable and Olivia was no longer trying to escape out of the water. Gritting her teeth, she held on. Seeing that she had regained control, Lucius released his grasp over her arms and thought to himself, ''Not bad, she managed to learn [Pain Suppression] to initial mastery. Not bad at all.'' Nodding his head, he continued, ''Now, I can return to my swim.'' Just as he was about to turn around and return to his leisurely swim, Olivia suddenly lunged forward and clutched onto Lucius with her entire body. Her slender arms tightly clasped his neck and her long, shapely legs wrapped around his waist. Her large, soft breasts squished onto Lucius'' chest, and her head lowered itself on his shoulder. Opening her mouth, Olivia then proceeded to bite into Lucius'' shoulder. Caught off-guard by this sudden twist in events, Lucius audibly yelled with surprise, "Hey! What are you¡ª" He suddenly paused as he looked down towards Olivia''s face. Her face continued to remain twisted from pain, and he also noticed tendrils of blood flowing out of her facial orifices. He also noticed Olivia''s seriously injured and torn lips, which he quickly placed as a result of her own biting. Feeling the soft, naked body occasionally shudder with pain, Lucius awkwardly stood with his arms outstretched by the sides, unsure of how to proceed. It was evident from her hazy, watery eyes that she wasn''t fully conscious. She had lunged onto him by instinct and was tightly latching onto him to withstand the pain. Fifty percent or not, the pain was still awfully intense, especially with its continued exposure and assault. ''Ugh, dammit.'' Unable to blame her, Lucius sighed in resignation. He then continued to stand awkwardly, allowing Olivia to clutch onto him tightly. Chapter 315: Bathhouse. Part 3 (Long Chapter) A little over three hours had passed when Olivia finally felt herself regain her consciousness and her bodily senses. Her body had finally gotten used to the golden waters and the pain had greatly diminished. No longer did it feel like her entire body was being dissolved in acid, but rather, the pain had diminished to the point where it felt like a constant stinging sensation on her skin. Feeling her taut muscles and stiff bones loosen, she finally felt a feeling of relaxation wash over her. ''Ah, it''s so warm and comforting,'' thought Olivia, as she sunk deeper into this feeling of comfort. ''This is how a bath should be.'' ''Hmmm, wait, what am I hugging onto? Why can I feel a secondary heartbeat?'' Opening her eyes in confusion, a blurry scene filtered into her mind. Using her soul power to protect her eyes from the water, Olivia finally saw the clear scene before her. Her hands wrapped a slender, muscular neck. Her legs bound around a strong, chiseled waist. And finally, her mouth was biting onto something hard, yet strangely elastic. Just as her brain processed this information, she suddenly heard a monotonous voice resound within her mind, "Finally awake?" "AH!" Involuntarily letting out a scream, Olivia instantly released her grasp over Lucius and leaped backward. Moving a few feet from her previous location, she then started to suddenly choke, as the previous scream from pure shock had forced water into her throat. Flailing her arms rapidly, she hurriedly headed for the surface of the water, quickly breaking out of the watery surroundings a few instants later. Arriving at the surface of the water, Olivia wheezed, "Cough! Cough!! Uh- GOD! Cough!" After a few seconds of continuous coughing and still, the golden water did not seem to leave her system. Her violent convulsions only got worse, as she found it increasingly harder to breathe. Just as the situation seemed to be taking a difficult turn, Olivia felt a palm touch her on her back. Before she could make complete sense of the new sensation, Olivia felt an immense energy slam into her body. The energy smashed against her insides, shook her organs, and caused her to throw up. In the next instant, Olivia threw up mouthfuls of the swallowed golden water, greatly relieving the tense situation. The palm then continued to gently pat her on the back while sending out small pulses of energy. These pulses continued to clear out the smaller areas inside her lung, where the water was still trapped. "Better?" asked Lucius, calmly. Spitting out another mouthful of water, Olivia answered, "Cough! Yes¡­thank you." She then took a few seconds to calm down, regulate her internal flow of energy, and then slowly turned around. Facing Lucius, she wore an apologetic expression and hurriedly apologized, "I''m very sorry. I didn''t mean to jump off you like that. It''s just that, I was startled." Her eyes then landed on a spot on Lucius'' shoulder. Noticing the deep, bite marks, Olivia''s expression became even more awkward. Timidly pointing her finger at that spot, she spoke, "I''m sorry for that too. I was out of it and didn''t notice what I was doing." Lucius looked at the spot she was pointing at and noticed the bite marks. Shrugging his shoulders, he sent a trace of void energy to that location, immediately repairing the damage. Looking at Olivia, he then asked, "Are you feeling better now? How is the pain?" Meekly nodding her head, Olivia awkwardly replied, "There''s only a continuous stinging feeling. Kinda like when you get an electric shock." "I see," Lucius curtly replied, before swimming away. He swam away to the other end of the bathe and quietly rested there with his eyes closed and his back leaned against the bath''s marble walls. Floating in the middle, Olivia saw him quietly swim away without any further response. She then continued to awkwardly swim there for a couple of minutes, before gritting her teeth and swimming in Lucius'' direction. Arriving at a distance from him, Olivia similarly headed to the edge of the bath and quietly sat there, leaning against the wall. She then looked around, unsure of what to do. The quiet atmosphere, the gentle rippling of the water, and the absolute lack of any mentions, whatsoever of what had happened in the last couple of hours by Lucius, made Olivia feel stifled and restless. Well, of course, she knew what happened; her bear-hugging Lucius with her bare body, that''s what happened. What tensed Olivia and made her feel nervous and restless was the complete lack of consequence for her actions. Lucius had neither reprimanded her nor thrown pebbles at her forehead. Did she want to be reprimanded and punished? Of course not. However, the apparent lack of any consequence whatsoever was even more terrifying. A dozen or so minutes passed, when Olivia opened her mouth, "Well, this is awkward, huh?" "Uh-huh," voiced Lucius, uninterested to continue. Silence descended once again causing Olivia to feel even more uneasy. She sneaked glances at Lucius'' face and thought to herself, ''Is he feeling mad? He''s totally feeling mad, right?'' ''Ugh, what am I thinking? Of course, he''s feeling mad! He''s probably livid! Why wouldn''t he be? I''ve been holding onto him and biting him for hours underwater!!'' Olivia sunk into the water and tore at her hair. ''He''s totally pondering about some horrific punishment. Something terribly sinister and brutal, that would make me shudder from just thinking about it!'' ''Argh! Why can''t I have more self-control?! Why did I have to give in to my desires at that moment and latch onto Lucius?!! Dammit, stupid body and idiotic brain! You''ve just reset all of our progress with your perverted blunder!'' Being alone with your thoughts was a scary thing. Especially when you''ve done something bad and have to remain alone in silence with your guilt, waiting for the verdict to be passed. ''Should I apologize again? He simply shrugged off my first one. Should I beg for mercy? Will that even be effective?'' ''Ahh, I just want to disappear! I want to dig a hole, enter it, and never come out!!'' Submerging the majority of her body underwater, except for her eyes and the parts above, Olivia stared holes into Lucius. Her mind continued to wander aimlessly, churning out one scenario after another. Feeling her intense gaze on him, Lucius furrowed his brows and opened his eyes. Turning to face the ''hidden'' Olivia, he asked, "Do you want something?" Gathering resolve, she peeked out her head and nervously asked, "Lucius are mad at me?" Tilting his head, he asked confused, "For what?" "Y-you know, for what happened before¡­underwater¡­" stuttered Olivia. "Oh," realization struck Lucius, as he answered. "Not really. I was annoyed at first, but then simply stopped caring after a while." Peeking more of her head out of the water, Olivia continued, "So you''re not angry at all? I''m not going to be punished?" "I¡­don''t think so," replied Lucius, unsure of why she was asking him this question. If he was going to punish her, wouldn''t he have already done so? Plus, wasn''t the pain from the golden bathwater enough? ''I don''t get it.'' Lucius found himself unable to understand Olivia''s mind and promptly gave up. "Phew." Rising out of the water, Olivia relaxedly leaned against the marble walls of the bath. Continuing her sigh, she spoke, "I really thought I was in trouble there for a moment." The nervousness and anxiety melted away and Olivia regained her usual demeanor. Extending both her hands and resting them against the wooden floor behind her back, she visibly relaxed her tense body and finally started to enjoy the bath. Her beautiful face sported an expression of bliss as her head rested against the soft wooden flooring. Her wet hair laid scattered against her back, with a few strands falling on her front. The majority of her exquisite body continued to soak in the water, except for her hands, head, neck, and a partial portion of her soft, white breasts. Minutes continued to pass in silence, as neither Lucius nor her conversed. Lucius had already gone back to keeping his eyes closed while submerging all of his body except his head underwater and Olivia occasionally snuck glances at him. Each time, a beautiful, honest smile would appear on her face. To take a break from the constant stress of training and fighting and killing was honestly relieving on both the body and the mind. Olivia even felt her soul settle down and fall into a state of relaxation. After spending an hour in pure silence, Olivia spoke up, "It''s been a long time since we took a bath like this, huh? Do you remember the last time we did it?" "No," Lucius shortly replied. Staring towards the glass roof and into the slowly darkening sky, Olivia replied with a smile, "If I remember correctly, it was just before we entered adolescence. I was twelve, you were eleven, and we had just returned home covered in mud after getting into that silly fight with Betty Walton." She chuckled. Not remembering this memory, Lucius asked, "Betty Walton? Who''s that?" "You don''t remember Betty Walton, that short-tempered, twin-tailed girl who used to always pick on you because you kept refusing to get along and play with her? Now that I think about it, she probably had a thing for you," said Olivia, giggling. Lucius simply shook his head in response. Three hundred years was a long period of time, which had caused him to forget a lot of the smaller events throughout his life. Warm, memorable memories such as this were one of the first to be forgotten, due to the [Killer] soul''s suppression and erasure. Shrugging her shoulder, Olivia continued, "Well anyway, that particular day was her birthday and she invited you, I think. However, since the weather getting a bit terrible, you refused her invite. Oh boy, she was not pleased." "Then there was this big fight between the two of you and the class also started getting involved. Somehow, I also got involved in the fight and by the end of it everyone was caked in mud and rain." "We then managed to slip out and eventually returned home. Hehe, Dad was furious when he saw us return like that. He directly grabbed us and threw us into an ice-cold bath. Hahaha¡­" Olivia started to laugh. It took her a few seconds to stop laughing. Wiping the tears off her eyes, she faced Lucius and concluded, "So yeah, if I''m recalling correctly, that was the last time we had a bath together. Then we started growing up and couldn''t take it together like before." Lucius stared into her slightly sad, violet eyes and felt a strange feeling within this heart. Hearing her passionate recalling of the memory made it evident how important and treasured this memory was to Olivia. However, Lucius simply couldn''t remember it. No matter how hard he tried or how deep he searched, he simply couldn''t find any memory remotely close to this within his mind. This just made Lucius question, ''How many such memories have I forgotten? How much of my three hundred years of life do I actually remember?'' Silence descended inside the bathhouse and the sky eventually darkened. The insides of the bathhouse quickly turned dark, with only the moonlight to light up the interiors. Of course, there existed torches and lamps on the walls of the bathhouse, but neither Lucius nor Olivia were of the mind to get up and alight them. Both their bodies continued to change and improve under the effects of the golden water. They were being rid of impurities, hidden injuries, and extraneous Rules. The main Rules which composed of their respective bodies were, in turn, strengthened, as their bodies continued to become paler and more translucent. Looking closer, their bodies, in fact, seemed to be faintly glowing. With the dim lighting within the bathhouse, the pale moonlight shining into the shimmering golden water vaguely illuminating the insides, and the faint mist of spiritual energy covering the bath and enshrouding the two figures within, the entire scene looked enchanted and mystical. An aura of melancholy, coldness and grace surrounded Lucius, while Olivia''s aura of dominance, impartiality, and majesty. Another hour or so passed, when Olivia spoke up once again. This time her eyes were unflinchingly staring into Lucius, as she spoke with a clear voice, "Lucius." Opening his eyes, Lucius voiced, "Hmm?" "Can I wash your hair?" Surprised at the sudden, not to mention, random request, Lucius asked, "What?" "I want to wash your hair," Olivia maintained her eye contact and continued in the same, clear voice. "Can I?" Remaining silent for a minute or so, Lucius softly replied, "¡­okay." Not talking further, Olivia simply sported an honest, brilliant smile, and moved. Climbing onto the wooden floor, she first walked towards the wooden shelf on the side, filled with various bathing products. Taking the ones required alongside a towel, she carried them towards Lucius and sat on the floor behind him. Gently lifting his sleek, wet, waist-length, black hair and taking it into her hands, she soundlessly got to work. Neither of them spoke any words and each turned to their own silence. ---------- BANG! BANG! BANG! "Whoever lives inside, open the door! This is the police! We are here to ask some questions regarding an investigation," A deep, somber voice coldly stated. Riker, who was amidst an interesting conversation with Ka''lor''ah, heard the shout and frowned. "They came after all," sighed Ka''lor''ah. Chapter 316: Interlude. "Please continue with your tea and don''t mind this. I''ll take care of it," answered Riker, politely. He then put down his teacup onto the short wooden table beside him and rose from the soft leather armchair. Walking towards the doors of the study, he exited the room before closing them behind his back. He then turned around and walked towards the main door of the manor. His current facial expression, to describe in a word, was chilling. Dense murderous intent lied hidden within his amorous green eyes and his entire body emitted an unfriendly aura. BANG! BANG! BANG! The banging on the door resumed once again, followed by an impatient shout, "Open up! This is the police! We know you''re in there!!" ''Hah, so they are keen on ruining the moods of my most esteemed guests,'' Riker thought with his lips forming a cruel smile. Stepping towards the door, Riker clutched the handle and gently bent it, thus opening the door. He then looked at the authorities in question and saw two uniformed elf officers. One of them was a young male elf, wearing an impatient expression. His gloved right hand remained raised in the air, as it seemed to knock on the doors of the manor once more only to be interrupted by its opening. ''Mid-Level Stage 3,'' Riker immediately read his aura. He then turned his eyes to the middle-aged elf, standing with his hands behind his back and sporting an indifferent expression. Riker managed to instantly read his strength, and scoffed within his mind, ''A mere Low-Level Stage 4.'' Wearing a mocking smile on his lips, Riker spoke, "What would two officers want with a humble doctor in such late hours?" His tone was polite, but the look in his eyes was definitely not so. Perhaps, hearing the mockery and haughtiness in Riker''s voice, the young elf quickly flared up and thundered, "How dare a citizen look down upon us! Do you want to be cour¡ª" "Shut up!" The middle-aged elf immediately stepped in and interrupted the ramblings of the young officer. He then placed himself in-between the young officer and Riker and spoke to the latter with a polite expression. "We''re sorry for disturbing you at such late hours, good doctor. It is just that we were called to the nearby town a few hours ago, regarding an unprompted attack on elven citizens by a Traveler. We are simply here to ask if you know anything about it." "I don''t," Riker curtly replied. "If that is it, then I shall be getting back to bed." He then moved to close the door. "Hold it," the middle-aged elf immediately stopped Riker from doing so. He then looked at Riker with an expression that seemed both friendly and hostile, and spoke, "I don''t appreciate how you''re treating us, good doctor. You might be stronger than us, yes. Yet, as a citizen, you are required to display certain respect to us, the authorities." "I have to respect you? Hah!" Riker coldly laughed. "I don''t know where you were brought up, ''Sir''. But where I come from, one is required to display a minimum amount of respect to gain it." "You, however, have been nothing but rude to me since the start," Riker monotonously stated. He then stopped suppressing his murderous intent and released it in its entirety alongside his Peak-Level Stage 4 aura. Instantly, the middle-aged officer and his younger subordinate felt the world surrounding them, collapse into them. Their control over the surrounding Rules was immediately cut off, trapping them within a provisionary Domain. The two officers felt entrapped within a solidified block of space. An immense pressure bored down upon their bodies, as their minds and souls screamed of the obvious danger. Seeing the struggling expression appear on their faces, Riker causally continued, "Additionally, I''m not a citizen." He extended his left hand forward and caused a strange symbol to appear in the air. On the symbol, written in Elven characters, read. "I was the Vice-Commander of the 1st Special Operations Division of His Majesty''s Army. Honorably discharged." Looking at the colors on the faces of the two officers rapidly change, Riker continued, "Do you have anything further to ask?" "N-n-no, w-we apo-apologize f-for the trouble. W-we h-hop¡ª" "Good, then you may leave," Riker interrupted their stuttering replies and waved his hand. A tremendous amount of energy rushed forth and abruptly hit the bodies of the two officers, flinging them out of his manor''s ground and far into the distance. To him, who was half a step away from entering the Stage 5 realm, dealing with these two officers was hardly any effort. Closing the door, he then turned around before returning to the study. Seating himself on the comfortable armchair, Riker crossed his legs, lifted the teacup from the nearby table, and resumed drinking. "I''m sorry. Where were we?" he nonchalantly asked, turning to his guest. Ka''lor''ah, who had been listening in on the events at the entrance, immediately asked, "Sooo~, you were in the king''s army, huh? Why did you leave?" Releasing a tired sigh, Riker replied, "I grew tired of it." "That''s not a reason," Ka''lor''ah immediately rebutted. Emptily chuckling at her retort, Riker lowered his head and replied with a colder, hatred-filled voice, "I couldn''t stand serving under that despicable man for one more second, after knowing what he did to my family." Flashing a smile of her own, Ka''lor''ah replied, "There it is." "Well then, tell me more of it. Why did you join in the first place? Why retire to this random, low-level planet at the fringes of the middle regions? Obviously, you should''ve had the dough to settle in any one of the premier, more high-level cities." Seeing Ka''lor''ah excited expression and honest tone, Riker chuckled with amusement and answered. "Well, at first I did not know anything about the truth surrounding my family. For the longest time, I believed myself to be an ordinary guy coming from a regular family. My parents were normal people, working regular desk jobs. There was nothing extraordinary about my life, theirs, or our surroundings." A reminiscent look appeared within Riker''s eyes as he continued. "To serve the elven race has been my dream for as long as I can recall. My parents did that through administration, and I wanted it to do by joining the army." "Of course, it was only after joining did I realize I was nowhere near ordinary and was far different from the rest. I had talent. Talent that was far, far superior to the rest of my peers." "What it took others months of practice and hard work to achieve, I managed to learn in weeks. By the time my fellow enlistees were doing entry-level missions, I was already being deployed for solo advanced-level missions." "Being the talented and ''loyal'' young man, I was, they moved me from the regular camps and enlisted me into the special operations division. It was there, that my talent started to truly grow and I was finally able to meet my match," a tender look appeared within his eyes when he spoke the final line. Ka''lor''ah instantly noticed this and immediately pushed on. Flying closer to Riker, she teasingly asked, "Oooh, I''m picking up a love story here. Give me the deets!" "Well, there''s not much," Riker simply waved his hand in denial while looking away. He then suddenly turned towards Ka''lor''ah while wearing a big grin on his face. "Except that we had a small bet between us where if I manage to outrank her, she would agree to marry me!" "Did you succeed?" asked Ka''lor''ah, with great excitement. "Well, I wouldn''t be called ''Vice''-Commander if I had succeeded, would I?" Riker helplessly laughed. "Nope. She always stayed a rank above me. I had to spend most of my time in the special operations divisions taking orders from her." "Not that I''m complaining. I never liked to lead or manage, so I was quite happy taking orders from her and having her boss me. It was the happiest and most fulfilling time of my life." It was then that Riker''s expression took a sharp turn, turning cold, detached, and full of hatred. "When I ascended into Stage 4, the ''main branch'' of my family contacted me and told me the truth about our situation. Obviously, I didn''t buy it at first, but with some investigations of my own, I came to see the ugly truth." "You see, the truth is that originally, my family (tribe) used to be a line of Holy Shamans, who communicated directly with the World Tree. It was thanks to my family''s efforts that the Elven species managed to flourish and reach the height it is today." "We served no one and were equal to the line that called themselves the ''Rulers'' of the entire race." A frightening aura radiated off Riker''s body as he exposed his murderous intent to its fullest. The intent was directed at no particular person and was loosely released into the air. "However, that filthy, backstabbing, two-faced ''ruler tribe'' lead by that despicable, insecure bastard plotted against us and stole our claims to the World Tree. He placed his daughter, that bi*ch Sophia, into our tribe, who corrupted our Holy Son and made him commit an unforgivable sin against the World Tree." "Not only did we lose our authority over the World Tree, but we were also looked down on and ostracized by the entire elven species. All of the hard work, achievements, and sacrifice that generations of my family''s ancestors had offered were rendered null." "Not only do we descendants have to live our entire lives hiding our real identity and lineage, but even our children and their children will have to continue doing so. Just thinking about this, makes my blood boil!" Throughout the entire course of his monologue, Ka''lor''ah stayed silent. She simply listened to him pour out his emotions, but did not comment on it. As for the rouge murderous in the air? She hardly noticed it and was nowhere near affected by it. Compared to the one released by Lucius when he was pissed, the one released by Riker was like a firefly before the sun. Riker took a few moments to recover from his tumultuous emotions and calm down. He then stood up, bowed, and apologized to Ka''lor''ah. "I apologize for that behavior. I, once again, lost myself within my emotions." "Please don''t be sorry. It was my bad for asking you such sensitive questions," Ka''lor''ah bowed and apologized in response. Riker simply nodded his head and continued, "I hope you''ll excuse me, as I''m going to retire for the night. Please feel free to use any of the rooms within my manor for the night. The same goes for the two other guests too." "Will do. Thank you for your hospitality," Ka''lor''ah politely replied. Riker then left the study to return to his room, while Ka''lor''ah silently waited in the lounge for Lucius and Olivia to return from their bath. ''I wonder how it''s going in there,'' she vacantly pondered to herself. ''Well, as long as they''re having fun, it shouldn''t matter too much. I only hope that Lucius opens up a bit.'' Chapter 317: Pieces in Motion. Standing before an anvil situated inside a well-equipped forge, Riker, holding a slim, silver hammer in his hands, gazed at the cluster of extremely rare materials before him with a serious gaze while quietly mumbling some calculations. He then moved his gaze to the two weapons requiring the reforging. Taking the sword in his hand, he carefully studied it in close detail and noted some points on a sheet of paper spread atop the anvil. After sufficiently studying the sword, he then repeated the same process with the scythe. "Okay, so," Lifting his head from the paper, he looked at the party of three individuals: Lucius, Olivia, and Ka''lor''ah, before him and spoke, "There are just enough materials for four attempts. Dividing it into two attempts for each weapon, this will be quite the challenging task." "Have you forged a Living Weapon before?" Olivia asked. "Attempted, yes. Succeeded, no," replied Riker, honestly with a plain face. "Oh Lord," muttered Ka''lor''ah, quietly. She then sneakily looked towards Lucius and sent him a mental message, ''Are you sure he''s the guy you want doing this? He''s a good guy, don''t get me wrong. But his personality is a bit¡­volatile and iffy.'' Without turning his head, Lucius replied, ''Do you know anyone better?'' ''Well, no,'' Ka''lor''ah shook her head. ''Then he''s our only choice. I will need a Living Weapon if I want to make it through my first transcendence and he''s our only chance at getting one.'' ''Oh well, here''s to hoping he succeeds.'' Ka''lor''ah crossed her fingers and prayed. Forging a Living Weapon was a daunting task for even the most experienced of Master Forgers. Even if they were to perfectly execute the forging itself, there is always a chance that the weapon simply fails to form. Life itself was unpredictable. To imbue it into something non-living, even more so. Sensing the uneasy moods of his guests, Riker wore a smile and spoke, "Please do relax. You have done a great deed for my family and I will do my hardest to succeed in the forging." Lucius and Ka''lor''ah nodded their heads while Olivia softly thanked him. "Thank you." Deeply exhaling, Riker then closed his eyes and focused on himself. Staying in that state for a few minutes, he then opened his eyes and solemnly spoke, "I will start with the sword since I have a better experience with forging swords. Please retreat to outside the forge and protect yourselves." Taking Olivia''s damaged sword in his hands, Riker finished, "I shall begin now." The moment he finished speaking, Lucius immediately grabbed Olivia and Ka''lor''ah with his hands and dashed out. He continued to create distance between themselves and the forge, finally coming to a stop at around 200m away. Stopping near a tree atop a small mound, Lucius released the two ladies and looked down at the forge in the distance. His face was serious and his eyes were focused. "Hey! Why did you bring us so far away? I wanted to watch the forging!" suppressing her dizziness from the sudden acceleration, Ka''lor''ah complained. Lucius, however, paid no attention to her. He watched the forge for a few seconds, before abruptly clapping his hands together and thrusting them forward. With that one motion, almost all of his soul power was released out of his body and into the air. He then meticulously controlled all that soul power to form an extremely thick barrier around himself, his two companions, and some space around the tree. The barrier continued to flash with complex shapes and patterns, before forming a cage-like structure composed of hundreds of individual hexagon and pentagon-shaped shields. From the outside, it looked as if the party was encompassed in a translucent football (soccer ball) shaped protective structure. Lucius did not stop at this but instead controlled the remaining soul power to form layers of similar structures within the primary cage. In the end, he managed to form twenty layers, before running out of soul power. With sweat dripping from his pale face, Lucius spoke to Ka''lor''ah while heavily panting, "Draw some *huff* *huff* protective arrays.*huff*" "Give me your blood," Ka''lor''ah did not question him but immediately got to work. After waiting for Lucius to make a slit in his wrist and for the black-colored blood to pour put, she immediately dipped both her hands into the pool of blood and hurriedly drew some defensive arrays. Taking a dozen seconds or so to complete, she then turned to Olivia and said, "Insert your soul power into this circular array." Olivia nodded her head and got to work. Putting her hands on the circular array described by Ka''lor''ah she hurriedly inserted her soul power. Streams of violet-colored soul power gushed forth from her hands and entered the array. Olivia''s glowing face started to rapidly pale as she neared depletion. Just as she approached overdraft, the array suddenly stopped sucking her soul power and started to function. Mysterious letters and symbols started to shine and float, before disappearing into the layered cage shield, constructed by Lucius. The two women then collapsed onto the ground, exhausted, while Lucius continued to stand and look at the distant forge. "Mind telling us why we just did that?" Ka''lor''ah asked. Just as Lucius was about to open his mouth to answer, the soft sound of metal clanking against metal, rang out from within the forge. Followed by that soft, sonorous ringing was an overwhelming wave of chaotic energy. BANG! BANG! BANG! The rampant waves crashed against Lucius'' barrier and produced a deafening sound. Almost instantly upon making contact, the outermost layer was instantly torn apart, followed by the layer behind it greatly cracking. Ka''lor''ah and Olivia immediately sat up in shock, while Lucius softly muttered. "That happens¡­" ---------- Inside an opulently furnished room, situated within a certain planet millions of light-years away from Rivendell, was a young elven woman drowning within the sea of paperwork atop her desk. Having lowered her head to an extreme degree, her long, scattered hair which was part golden and the other part emerald green hid the majority of her face and its breathtaking facial features. Her clothes consisted of a dark-green uniform gilded with thin, golden borders. The numerous stripes and symbols on her shoulder pads, coupled with the golden badge signifying the World Tree that she wore on her chest hinted at her illustrious position within the Elven Army. Thump! Thump! Thump! Rhythmically and monotonously stamping the papers in front of her with her assigned insignia, she was just about to finish her duties for the day, when the door to her office suddenly slammed open. An exhausted-looking elf frantically ran inside and stopped a few feet away from her desk. Holding onto his knees, he heavily panted as sweat dropped from his face into the red-velvet carpet on the floor. "Captain! Captain, you''ve got to look at this!!" he hurriedly exclaimed, waving the black-colored orb within his hands. Lifting her head to look at this exclaiming newcomer, she narrowed her eyes with seriousness and asked, "What happened, Vice-Captain Tidor? Is it another attack by the Dwergi?" "Not at all!" Tidor hurriedly replied. Raising the orb within his hands, he projected a holographic screen into the air, before exclaiming. "We might''ve found traces of Vice-Commander Riker!!" Hearing that name, the female elf''s body froze and the stamp within her hand dropped onto the table. A look of loss flashed across her eyes for a second before refocusing once again. Rising from her seat, she slammed both her hands on the table causing the mountain of papers to collapse. With an incomparably serious tone, she asked. "Are you sure?" Hearing that tone, Tidor calmed his overflowing excitement and neutrally spoke, "We are not completely sure but from the information that we managed to receive, there''s a solid chance that it is indeed him." "What was the information?" "A man matching his description was seen flashing the Vice-Commander''s old insignia. The officer who saw it sent a message to the HQ asking for validation," Tidor continued, his voice betraying his suppressed excitement. "Riker''s insignia¡­" the female elf absent-mindedly mumbled. Her eyes contained emotions of relief, joy, love, and most evidently, seething hatred. Tightly clenching her fists in anger, she thought to herself, ''Son of a b*tch, why did you suddenly quit the army? And why did you not say anything to me?'' ''Even though you were inches away from winning our bet¡­'' "Captain!!" "Huh!" recovering from her daze, the female elf voiced. "Your orb is ringing, Captain!" Tidor quickly urged. Releasing that the dark orb atop her table was softly vibrating, the female elf hurriedly grabbed it with her hands and answered. A solemn voice exited the device. "Royal Captain Valentine, His Majesty has something to say to you." Hearing those words, both Valentine and Tidor immediately dropped to the ground and assumed a respectful stance; head bowed, hands lowered, one leg against the ground, and the other kneeling. The dark orb quietly floated in the air and a holographic image exited the device, projecting the image of a richly clad, overly handsome elven man. "Captain of my Royal Knights, I, the 51st Elven King, command you to lead my Royal Knights, to the capital of the Grand Alcana Empire to assist my dear friend with his royal succession." "You shall take your men and leave immediately. I wish you success." ""As you command, Your Majesty."" The projection cut off and the orb dropped to the ground. Valentine and Tidor remained in their posture for a few minutes before getting up in unison. Gazing at Tidor with a serious gaze, Valentine spoke, "Gather the Royal Knights immediately. We shall leave in six hours." Tidor wordlessly nodded his head. He did not immediately leave but waited for the captain to continue. Releasing a small sigh, Valentine continued, "As for the matter with Vice-Commander Riker, we shall leave it as it is for now. His Majesty''s orders take priority." "Understood, Captain!" Tidor saluted and left the room. Valentine stiffly stood for a few seconds before thinking to herself. ''Why would you leave, Riker? Wasn''t your dream to serve Elvenkind until death?'' ''What changed?'' Chapter 318: Thorn and a Stage 4 Living Weapon. "THIS. IS. AWESOME!!" A resounding cheer rang in the air above Riker and Ka''lor''ah as they raised their heads to look at the flashing streak of dark purple. Cupping her mouth, Ka''lor''ah warned, "Be careful. Don''t fall off!" "GOT IT!!" replied the purple figure flying in the air. "I have to say," Riker spoke with a small smile on his face, "I did not expect for such a young girl to have already mastered [Perfect Control]. It only took her half an hour to start riding the sword." "What can I say except that she''s talented," Ka''lor''ah smugly replied, feeling proud of her disciple. "In fact, she also¡ª" BANG!! The sound of an object crashing onto the ground interrupted Ka''lor''ah''s speech. Riker and Ka''lor''ah immediately turned their heads towards the direction of the crash and quickly headed there. Some distance away, a small crater had formed on the flat, grass-covered ground. A faint smoke rose from within the crater, followed by the sounds of coughing. Ka''lor''ah and Riker neared the crater and the former worriedly asked. "You okay in there?" "Cough, cough, I''m fine. I just messed up trying to land," A messy head covered in dust and dirt, popped out of the crater and replied. Extending his arm, Riker helped the figure out of the crater and sighed, "You''ll have to be more careful." "I know. I know," the figure in purple perfunctorily replied and proceeded to dust off her clothes. However, judging from the smile on her lips and the obvious excitement within her eyes, it was obvious that Riker''s words of caution went unheard. Olivia, who had just fallen off during her practice flight, turned around and called out to her new companion, "Come on out. Don''t be shy." At her words, a pitch-black object flashed out of the small crater and flew towards Olivia. Circling her body a few times, the object finally came to a halt and stationarily hovered next to her. This pitch-black object, which was shaped like an oddly-sized rapier, was Olivia''s newly reforged sword. Or to be more precise¡­ The Living Weapon, Thorn. Rubbing her chin, Ka''lor''ah said, "Thorn, huh? It does kinda look like one. Nicely named." "Thank you," Olivia cheerfully answered, while using her left hand to gently caress the hovering sword. Receiving its owner''s gentle caresses, the sword, Thorn, trembled with ecstasy while releasing a low-pitched hum. It couldn''t talk, but it sure did voice its satisfaction. "The personality of your Living Weapon is very similar to yours. You should not have any problem maintaining your bond," Riker casually stated, looking at the scene before him. Just as their names suggested, Living Weapons possessed life. They possessed a minor soul that allowed them to become independent existences capable of limitless growth. They also possessed their own personalities and thoughts, albeit not as complex as other intelligent beings. All in all, they were similar to the Forgotten Warriors, only being more independent and possessing their own authority and uniqueness. "So then, how did it feel to fly on your own for the first time?" Ka''lor''ah asked with a smile. "Surprisingly," an excited glow appeared within Olivia''s eyes as she recalled her experience over the last half an hour, "Not as scary as I thought it would be. If anything, it was more freeing and exciting!" She then mentally sent an instruction to Thorn, prompting it to fly near her feet and hover a few inches off the ground. She then stepped onto its slender main body while extending both her hands to maintain balance. Balancing her body like a surfer, Olivia continued, "It''s still a bit hard to maintain my balance, but I''m getting better. It would help if the sword was a bit broader." Right now, Olivia had to stand on her toes to successfully stand on the sword. Thorn''s body was simply that slender. In response to Olivia''s words, Riker shrugged his shoulders and said, "I just did as instructed and kept everything exact to its original structure." "I know, I know. I was simply joking," Olivia dismounted the sword, returning it to its previous hover. "It''s perfect the way it is right now. I couldn''t ask for anything better." She said while touching Thorn with her forehead. "How many attempts did it take?" Ka''lor''ah curiously asked. Hearing that question, a weary, slightly fearful look appeared on Riker''s face as he replied, "The sword was simply enough. It only took me a single attempt to complete it. That scythe, however, was a different story." "The first attempt failed because I mismanaged the energy channeling during the forging. That wasted one part of the materials. On the second attempt, I was almost done with the forging when, out of nowhere, the weapons started to suck in a tremendous amount of energy. I was caught off guard and that resulted in the failure." Shaking his head, Riker continued, "Honestly, it was shocking and a bit ludicrous how much energy a Living Weapon of the third Stage was eating. Mind you, the energy that was being supplied was at Stage 4!" Due to the foundational difference caused at Stage, the energy densities between Stage 3 and Stage 4 soul powers were on a completely different level. To compare, one was a focused spotlight while the other was the freaking sun! "Accounting for all of these hiccups, I started the third and final attempt with incomparable focus and seriousness. For the most part, everything went smoothly and I could almost see the light at the end of the tunnel." Riker dramatically recounted. "I''m sensing a ''But!'' here," Ka''lor''ah intervened. "But!" Riker paused for a moment, and continued, "Just when the weapon''s individuality was starting to form, everything went to hell! The weapon started to suddenly grow unstable and the cluster of energy started to boil. The Rules started becoming chaotic and the entire thing was on the verge of blowing apart." Just recalling that terrifying moment was enough for Riker''s back to sweat and his face to turn pale. Not to mention the obvious loss of materials and the danger to his life, there was enough energy inside that weapon to match a Low-Level Stage 4 being! What would happen if such a powerful being with such tremendous amounts of energy was to blow up? It would easily destroy a portion of the planet. A portion of the PLANET! "Just when the incomplete weapon was on the verge of blowing apart a good chunk of this planet," Riker pointed towards Olivia''s hovering sword and continued, "This sword here intervened." "It started to release a gentle violet light and with it, a mass of Rules that I was unable to recognize. The moment that violet light came in contact with the unstable weapon, the latter started to calm down and gradually reach completion." Wiping the sweat formed on his forehead, Riker jokingly said, "Apart from the time I faced my transcendence, this forging was the most terrifying experience in my life. I honestly believed that I was gone for a second there." Hearing his recounting, Ka''lor''ah audibly chuckled while Olivia simply smiled. She then turned to face her hovering sword and continued to pat its body. ''Looks like we are similar in that aspect too,'' Olivia mentally thought to herself. "Well, congratulations to you, I guess. Not only did you forge two Living Weapons, but one was a Stage 3 weapon while the other was a Stage 4 weapon," Ka''lor''ah started clapping her hands. Olivia also started to clap while voicing her own thanks. To receive a Stage 3 Living Weapon that was personalized to her, while being in Stage 2 was an incomparable blessing and honor. "Anyway, wanna see if Lucius is done bonding with his weapon?" Ka''lor''ah asked the crowd. "Let''s!" Olivia was all up for it and seeing the trembling Thorn it was apparent that it was excited too. Riker, on the other hand, had a hesitant look on his face. "He shouldn''t be done this soon right? It''s only been less than an hour and the weapon is in the Stage 4 realm. I can''t imagine the bonding being any smooth given the weapon''s¡­frightening personality." ""Frightening personality?"" Olivia and Ka''lor''ah asked in unison. The two ladies hadn''t seen the scythe after its reforging, as the weapon had suddenly disappeared from within the forge, upon completion. Lucius, who was maintaining the shield barrier, had seemed to have felt something as he too shot out, flying into the distance, the moment the scythe had reached completion. Riker, who then exited the forge in confusion, met with the ladies and gave Olivia her completed sword. All of this had happened less than an hour ago and Ka''lor''ah had been tracking his position since then. The reason she suggested meeting up with Lucius now, was because she had felt him stop a dozen minutes ago and hadn''t felt him move since then. Nodding his head at their collective question, Riker spoke with a serious tone. "It was a strange experience. Although I was one to forge that weapon, I, myself, was unable to understand it after its creation. I had created something, but was unable to exactly understand what I had created." "The Rules composing and surrounding that weapon are a mystery. Its power and abilities are a mystery. The only thing that I know is its unconscious personality¡­its base state that it revealed at the moment of its completion." "That scythe¡­it''s vicious, insatiable, and domineering. It is extremely individualistic and its greed for power knows no bounds. To tell the truth, I don''t think it''s possible to form a bond with such a weapon. If a bond is to be forcibly formed, it would, without a doubt, harm the user." Hearing his thoughts, Ka''lor''ah showed no reaction and her face maintained a blank expression. Olivia, on the other hand, had an expression of confidence. Sporting a confident smile on her face, she spoke, "I don''t know about others, but Lucius, I''m sure that he would be able to do it." There were no grounds for Olivia''s claim; however, she had a feeling that it was the truth. "Staying here and guessing will not do us any good. Let''s just go to his location and see for ourselves," Ka''lor''ah declared and started to lead the others towards Lucius'' location. ---------- At a mountain peak, a few hundred kilometers away, stood two entities. One was a humanoid youth, with long, black hair and a cold, handsome face. The other was a pitch-black scythe radiating a fearsome amount of dense, red-colored killing intent to the point where it started to affect and forcibly twist the fabric of space around it. The two entities faced each other in a silent battle, as they stood unmoving 50m away from each other. Staring at the scythe with an expressionless face, Lucius suddenly moved his lips and spoke. "You can''t win. Give up and submit yourself to me." Hearing his words, the scythe let out an enraged roar and radiated an even greater amount of killing intent. The blood-colored veins covering its body started to pulse and throb, giving off a terrifying aura. Facing this change, Lucius'' face turned bloodless and signs of weariness started to appear on it. The scale, which had previously been tipping to his advantage, suddenly reversed to the scythe''s favor as the odds started to mount against Lucius. Chapter 319: Submission. Arriving at the base of the mountain, a few dozen minutes later, was the party of Ka''lor''ah, Riker, and Olivia. Halting their movement, the trio looked up towards the peak of the mountain in unison. "Such pure and dense killing intent¡­" Riker muttered, his face reflecting the shock within his heart. Having served as a Vice-Commander for many years, Riker had met his fair share of powerful opponents, strange races, and rare soul types. Of course, Killers were no exceptions. While the [Killer] soul type was listed as ''Common'' in the [Souls Compendium], which was a record detailing the information about every soul type ever to exist, this was only in reference to its total number. [Killer] souls were commonly found within the Wild Beasts populace, however, to find an intelligent being possessing the [Killer] soul was quite rare, especially one in the Stage 3 realm and beyond. While the [Killer] soul granted its owner unparalleled strength it also had equally significant and concerning drawbacks. All Killers were irascible, reckless, and unable to be reasoned with. They possessed little to no self-control and had no sense of value towards their own lives or to the lives of others. To kill and slaughter was their sole motivation and the only meaning to their existence. Of course, the points stated above were common knowledge within the Universe and also the case with the Killers that Riker had met. This was also the reason that Riker found Lucius to be odd. The aura that he released was similar to the Killers that Riker had met albeit being more condensed and pure. The odd factor was that Lucius also showed significant clarity and self-control. He was cool, calm, and collected and showed no signs of being irascible. A [Killer] with proper self-control and who was not a psycho? Had it not been for Riker meeting such a person himself, he would''ve laughed at its mere mention and dismissed it as a joke. Analyzing the intent in proper detail, Riker suddenly furrowed his brows and mumbled, "No wait¡­this intent doesn''t belong to him. It''s coming from another source." Scanning the mountain peak with his Peak-Level Stage 4 soul power revealed further information to Riker. Due to the battle between the weapon and Lucius, the Rules at the peak were incredibly chaotic. This resulted in Riker gaining an incomplete picture of the mountain detail and some faint details that managed to survive the conflict of Rules. "There seems to be some trouble at the peak," Riker heavily spoke. "We need to go up there and see if we can help him," Ka''lor''ah immediately answered. She had also used her own methods to gain an understanding of the ongoing conflict at the peak and had arrived at the same conclusion as Riker. "L-l-let''s g-go!" Olivia stuttered with great difficulty. Her body was fiercely trembling and her face was deathly pale. She was struggling to stand on her own two feet and was currently leaning on Thorn for support. However, while her mind and heart were willing to ascend the mountain and assist Lucius, her body, unfortunately, was unable to comply. In the end, she was still a Stage 2 existence, and being in such close proximity to where a battle of Rules was ongoing was dangerously deadly for her. Just the remnant auras and shockwaves of the battle at the peak were enough to kill her. It was only after she had spoken did Riker notice her situation. He immediately waved his hand and enveloped both Olivia and Ka''lor''ah with his power. The Imperceptible Domain of a Stage 4 existence expanded and protected the weaker duo. Feeling the life-threatening pressure forcing upon her body disappear, Olivia managed to finally spare a breath and thanked Riker. "Thank you¡­" "Please don''t mention it. It was my fault for ignoring the state of my guests and placing them in such danger," Riker politely replied. He then waved his hands once more and almost immediately, Olivia felt pure life energy enter her body and heal her injuries. In just seconds, he was restored to her perfect state. "Whoa!" Olivia exclaimed, to which Riker simply smiled and explained. "My [Untainted Nature] Domain has the ability to heal any injuries and restore the perfect state of the target under stage 5. Of course, this is simply one of its numerous abilities." He then turned his attention to the peak once again and warned the duo, "Please mind your balance. Let''s go and take a look at what''s happening up there." Upon finishing his sentence, Riker jumped. Ka''lor''ah and Olivia, who were also with him inside his Domain, were carried alongside him. ---------- "What are they doing?" asked Olivia, looking at the scene before her. Arriving at the peak of the mountain only took a few seconds and an additional two jumps from Riker. Upon coming here the party managed to immediately discover Lucius and the scythe, seeing as to how everything in the vicinity, other than these two entities, had been virtually destroyed. Right now, the party was staring at the ''stare-off'' that was going on between Lucius and the scythe, from a good distance. Unable to understand what exactly was happening led Olivia to voice her earlier question. However, neither Ka''lor''ah nor Riker immediately answered her question. The duo stared at the two entities in the distance with a serious expression. After a few minutes, Ka''lor''ah removed her gaze from the ''stare-off'' and turned to answer Olivia. "They are fighting. Lucius wants the weapon to submit itself to him, while the weapon wants to escape and grow independently." "Fighting? But I don''t see them moving at all." "That''s because they aren''t," Ka''lor''ah chuckled and explained. "They are using their understanding of the Rules to fight. Although Lucius is losing in quantity, due to his lacking power level, he''s making up for it in sheer quality. It will be over in a few minutes." "I see," Olivia let out a sigh of relief. Even Thorn, which was hovering by her side, seemed to visibly relax. Ka''lor''ah regained her normal expression and watched the invisible battle with interest. Riker, on the other hand, continued to stare with increasing seriousness. A few moments later, his taut face suddenly loosened and a lost look appeared within his eyes. He seemed to have lost himself within his thoughts. As the trio continued to wait for the battle at the distance to come to an end, Olivia suddenly chuckled. "What''s so funny?" Ka''lor''ah curiously asked. Shaking her head, Olivia explained while giggling, "It''s just that I was reminded of an old show from Mankind, seeing this scene before me. The battles in that show consisted of two grown men standing at a distance and staring at each other menacingly." Olivia then took a moment to suppress her laughter and continued. "I always imagined that it would be funny, being a spectator within the show and seeing one of the main characters suddenly throw up blood after an intense stare-off." "That does sound funny and similar to what''s going on right now," Ka''lor''ah nodded her head. "What''s the show called?" "It''s JoJ---" Olivia was in the process of naming the show when suddenly, an explosion sounded out and a shockwave hit their bodies. The power of the shockwave was tremendous, having leveled the entire mountain peak by a few dozen meters. Thankfully, Olivia and Ka''lor''ah were still inside the Domain extended by Riker, allowing them to survive the sudden attack with minimal injuries. "What happened?!" Recovering her unstable footing and immediately assuming a combat stance, Olivia asked while extending her soul senses. Ka''lor''ah, who was blown back a few meters, flapped her wings a few times and regained her balance. She then immediately extended her detection, trying to make sense of what just happened. It took a few moments for the duo to navigate past the dust and smog shrouding the surroundings before gaining a proper vision. At the location of the invisible battle, Lucius had finally moved from his previous location and had arrived next to the floating scythe. Extending his hands, he grabbed onto the weapon and tightly held it. The weapon released a few low-pitched hums signifying its unwillingness to submit. However, it was too late as it had already lost to its new owner. "Shut up and be obedient," Lucius coldly uttered. The muscles on his body had greatly shrunken, his cheeks had hollowed and his eyes had sunken. Coupled with the dark circles underneath his eyes and his general tired-looking demeanor Lucius now looked like a malnourished youth who hadn''t eaten or slept in a week. However, his tiredness couldn''t hide the light of excitement within his eyes. Holding the newly forged scythe with both of his hands, Lucius started to move. Taking a step forward with his left leg, Lucius moved his right leg to the side. Lowering his knees by a few inches, he then twisted his body to the side, while lifting his hands holding the weapon. Raising the weapon into the air, Lucius stepped forwards with his right foot and gently swung down with the scythe. A crescent-shaped flash of energy shot out of the edge with absolute silence and unseen speeds. Instantly appearing before the mountain peak of the neighboring mountain, the streak of energy cut through the layers of solid rock before appearing on the other side and then slowly dissipating. Time itself seemed to have been frozen as everything stood still for a few seconds. After that moment of calm¡­came the storm. RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!!! An avalanche of mud and rock started to fall from the neighboring mountain, as its entire peak, a few kilometers in diameter started to slide after being cut by the blade of energy. Boulders fell and crashed increasing the damage caused by the carnage as the mountain started to gradually collapse. The rumbling sound was so loud that the noise traveled for a few hundred kilometers, being heard at dozens of towns and multiple cities! Meanwhile, Lucius, who was the cause of this mountain collapse, paused in his motions and softly uttered. "[Dance of the Death God- First Movement: Slash]" Chapter 320: A Crack Across Heaven and the Earth. Looking at the sight of the collapsing mountain before him, Lucius spoke, "Finally, a decent attack." "[Dance of the Death God] is finally starting to show its actual prowess." A single slash with enough power to obliterate mountains and split the seas, and Lucius was calling it a ''decent'' attack. However, he wasn''t being arrogant or boastful but was instead telling the truth. This attack could only be called decent and was nowhere near its complete, actual potential. Hell, it wasn''t even at 10% of its full power! [Dance of the Death God] an extreme, purely offensive set of attacks, designed solely for the scythe. It was developed and perfected over thousands of years and hundreds of generations of the Letum Clan and was considered their trademark. If one were to compile all of the attacking techniques to ever exist in the Universe since its very beginning, the [Dance of the Death God] would be amongst the top three, if one were to look at its pure attacking power and offensive ability. There was no other technique, currently in existence that would match its offensive prowess. Naturally, being as strong as it was, the technique came with its unique set of restrictions. Only upon meeting all of those requirements, will its true prowess be showcased. First and foremost, was for the weapon executing the technique to be a scythe. If the weapon used was not a scythe, the technique would fail to manifest. Second, was for the weapon to be a Living Weapon. This condition was not a necessity but was required if one wanted to unleash its true potential. Extending on this restriction, the Living Weapon must be of the Fifth Stage for the technique to be fully unleashed. Third, and the most important restriction, was that the user has to have a soul type belonging to the [Reaper] path or one of its similar branches like [Killer]. To be more technical about it, the user must have a soul belonging to the set of Rules; Destruction, Death, Chaos, End, etc. Fourth, the learner/practitioner of the technique must receive permission, in the form of a Soul Promise, from a member belonging to the main branch of the Letum Clan. The absence of said permission will result in the technique failing to manifest. Of course, the fifth and final requirement was talent. No amount of hard work can overcome sheer God-given talent. This was especially true with this technique as if one does not have sufficient natural talent, they would not be able to comprehend, much less practice this technique. As rigorous and selective as these restrictions were, Lucius managed to meet all of them during his previous life. Using a scythe wasn''t a problem since he had a talent for any and all weapons. He had the [Killer] soul which belonged to the same set of Rules as [Reaper]. As for permission, he received it from the main inheritor of the Letum Clan, Aurora. For the final requirement, Lucius'' natural talent was second to none in the entire Universe. Naturally, he managed to learn the technique with little to no difficulty and gained the most powerful offensive technique to match his peerless movement technique. As for defense, there was naturally no need for it as long as he did not get hit. Additionally, Lucius'' Racial Transformation in his previous life also covered this inadequacy. He was an [Undying One]. That is to say, even if his head was to be cut off and his body was to be shattered, Lucius would not die. Destroying his soul was the only method to rid him forever, but unless one was an [Annihilator] or [Void Eater] this was an impossible task. Now, carrying on to this life, Lucius naturally had all the experience and countless hours of practice sunk into using the [Dance of the Death God]. Using a scythe from the start and tapping into this technique was the most obvious course of action. The Soul Promise that he had made was also carried over to this life. There was no issue with soul type either, as [Annihilator] was a more advanced and perfect form of [Killer] or [Reaper]. In fact, he felt the technique was smoother and flowed more naturally when using it with [Annihilation Energy]. And now, having finally obtained a Living Weapon, Lucius was finally able to use this godly skill to its truest potential. The only thing limiting him now was his Stage and soul power. Returning to the story¡­ Having executed the First Movement, Lucius did not stop. His body started to gracefully move once again as he started to execute the Second Movement. The scythe which was brought down was abruptly twisted to face the sky. Leaning his body forward and turning it, he then danced his legs to the appropriate sequence, raised the sword diagonally, and performed a twirl while slashing sideways. This time, a cloud of silent, baleful energy exited the blade and headed towards the sky. It kept climbing higher and higher, eventually reaching the bounds of the atmosphere before dissipating. Visually, there was not much difference to the sky. However, if one were to look at the space crossed by the baleful energy closely, one would find millions of microscopic tears in space! If the surrounding space was a piece of paper, Lucius'' skill had just shredded it! Of course, the shredding was minute and hardly noticeable due to his lacking soul power. "[Dance of the Death God- Second Movement: Shred]" Completing this, Lucius did not pause to appreciate the damage caused but continued. The sequence for the Third Movement was completed, and a net consisting of millions upon millions of crisscrossing, interconnected web of energy was flung out. The attack was aimed towards the vast plains, beside the mountain. Reaching the ground, the attack soundlessly sunk into the ground and once again there was no visual difference. Alas, this was only the case from the top. If one were to slightly dig the ground facing the attack, one would find that everything beneath the top layer of soil was missing. Eviscerate had the effect of ignoring the outside and clearing the insides. Had this been a living creature, the attack would have disemboweled the creature, while leaving everything on the surface without any harm. "[Dance of the Death God- Third Movement: Eviscerate]" These were the first three movements of the [Dance of the Death God] and the ones which Lucius had used thus far. However, it was certainly not the end, as currently, Lucius continued his dance. Starting the Fourth Movement, the graceful feeling surrounding his movement disappeared. His steps turned heavy and his entire body slumped forward. The scythe within his hands dropped until the blade portion of the weapon was touching the ground. A part of the weapon sunk into the ground, seemingly carrying an immense weight. From there, Lucius, with his head lowered and his long hair covering his face walked forward. With each step that he took, the weight upon his body increased and his feet sunk into the ground. Yet, Lucius seemed to pay no mind to this weight and continued to walk forward. When he had walked three steps, the space surrounding Lucius suddenly wavered and started to become blurry. The spiritual energy within the space surrounding him, started to twist and gather, altering the Rules in that area. When he took the fifth step, illusory white energy started to appear out of thin air, forming many silhouettes. The silhouettes were varied and no two silhouettes were the same. Some were small and lithe, others were large and monstrous. Some resembled humanoid shapes while others were heteromorphic in nature. Their bodies were cloudy and no defining features could be seen. Yet, the strangest thing to happen wasn''t the sudden appearance of dozens of these silhouettes, but the fact that each of the silhouettes seemed to be dancing! Large or small, human or monster, no matter one''s station in life, Death unties all. Taking the seventh step, Lucius started to move his hands. His muscles became extremely taut and his bones started to creak. Every single vein within his body throbbed as they became enlarged and threatened to pop out of his body. Lucius was trying to lift his scythe. As he was doing this, the dancing of the cloudy silhouettes increased in intensity, and their features started becoming more defines. Their mouth was the first facial feature to appear, the instant after which, they turned to form smiles. Dozens of odd-looking, cloudy silhouettes each depicting a random life form within the Universe, gathered around Lucius as they danced and laughed with joy. It was a Danse Macabre. Taking the tenth step, Lucius had finally raised the scythe to his shoulder level at which point, he strained to speak its name. "[Da-ance of the De-ath G-god- Fourth M-move-ment: Ob--]" He was unable to continue speaking its name, as Lucius could no longer bear the weight upon him. Letting go of the scythe, Lucius dropped to his knees, and began to heavily pant. Sweat and blood started to pour out of every single one of his pores. Right now, Lucius looked similar to a skeleton. His muscles had deflated and atrophied, currently becoming non-existent. His pale white skin had dried and shriveled, as every single ounce of energy was pulled from within his body. For the first time in a long time, Lucius was completely out of soul power and void power. His Void Eater instincts did not even try to take over his body, as even, it was too tired to currently do so. ''Still too early, huh¡­'' Lucius thought to himself. Too early was an understatement. The Fourth Movement was supposed to be executed after reaching the Stage 4 realm. Lucius trying to use it now was like using a single battery to power an entire city. Waiting for his soul power to naturally replenish, Lucius shot a look towards the party gathered some distance away, and thought to himself. ''Why are they all looking like that?'' ---------- At the location of the party. Ka''lor''ah, Olivia, and Riker, collectively had their eyes enlarged to the extreme and their mouths agape. The feeling of pure incredulity and shock that they felt within their hearts at this moment could be described as¡­well, indescribable. "Oh¡­" "¡­my¡­" "¡­Lord." Reflected within their eyes was a scene that they would never forget throughout the remainder of their lives. A crack¡­ A crack, or rather, a tear of inestimable proportions ran across the earth and sky, directly behind Lucius, and came to an abrupt stop just above him. Within the crack in the sky, one could see the boundless darkness and infinite space belonging to the Universe. Within the crack on the ground, one could see the seething magma and the sputtering lava. Splitting the heavens and faulting the earth, the Fourth Movement of the [Dance of the Death God] had quite literally torn apart the ground and the sky, permanently creating an unfixable scar on the planet. "We should run. Immediately," said Riker, heavily. Chapter 321: Running Away. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. "Aaaa-nd done-zo! Phew, this really took a lot of effort." Wiping the sweat gathered at his forehead, Dorian stood up and pocketed the wrench in his hands. He then stared at the result of his labor with a proud, satisfied smile. "That good customer lady did not lie. This thing is waa~ay more complicated than anything I''ve seen before. Still, performing maintenance on this ship was an invaluable experience." Dorian then stared at the watch in his hand. Reading the time, a startled expression appeared on his face. "Crap, I missed lunch again!" he voiced in panic. Quickly moving, he first removed the tool belt on his waist and carefully put it down on the nearby counter. He then grabbed a rag, wiped his dirty, oil-stained hands on it, and then proceeded to remove the earphones from his ears. The loud metal music blasting into his ears was immediately quelled but was soon drowned by the sound of the generators and the various other machines running. Hearing the familiar sound of his workshop once again, a smile appeared on Dorian''s face. Closing his eyes, he appreciated the noise, "No matter how many times I hear this same noise, it never gets old." After a few seconds, Dorian snapped out of his daze and slapped his forehead, "Oh, crap! Lunch!" He then began rushing once again. Just as his figure was halfway out of the doors of his workshop, Dorian suddenly came to a stop and hurriedly turned around. "Crap, I forgot to close the maintenance hatch!" Rushing towards the sleek, black spaceship, Dorian grabbed the metal maintenance cover shield that was open and pushed it down. Pressing some weight onto the cover, Dorian kept exerting force on it until he heard the satisfying ''click'' sound. Grabbing the clean cloth by the side, he quickly wiped the dirt and grime off the cover, returning it to its previous, spotless look. Stepping back, Dorian appreciated this piece of mechanical marvel before him and remarked, "What an amazing piece of technology." He then noticed some dents and deep scratches on its hull and thought out loud, "Should I perform some buffing and polishing? They didn''t specifically request for it, but¡ª" "DORIAN!!" A sudden yell distracted Dorian from his thoughts. Turning his head to look outside the half-open main hangar doors of the workshop, he noticed three figures rushing towards him from a great distance away. Well, four¡­Dorian corrected himself after looking carefully. After the initial look of confusion, Dorian''s eyes started to shine as he recognized the party of individuals heading towards him. Cupping his mouth, Dorian started to yell, "MISS CUSTOMER! SPEAK OF THE DEVIL; I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT YOU!" "DORIAN! PREP THE SHIP!!" Ka''lor''ah yelled at the top of her lungs. "PRESS THE WHAT?" Dorian yelled back, confused. The noise of the rampant generators and machines affected Dorian''s hearing. Seeing Dorian''s unmoving figure, Ka''lor''ah yelled once more, "PREP THE SHIP!!!" "BREAK THEY SHI¡ª" "PREP THE SHIP!!" Dorian''s yell was interrupted by Ka''lor''ah intervention, as the party landed at the entrance of his workshop and quickly rushed in. "Oh, got it!" Dorian quickly nodded his head. His eyes then turned to greet the other members of the group, when he suddenly jumped back in fright and exclaimed. "By the grace of Mekhos!" He then hurriedly calmed himself and concernedly asked, "Are you alright, sir! Should I go and call the medical¡ª" "For goodness sake Dorian! Please just prepare the ship!" Ka''lor''ah yelled impatiently. Swallowing his questions and concerns, Dorian unsurely nodded his head, "O-okay, okay." He then moved towards the mechanical console, connected with many wires. Meanwhile, the party of four individuals who had appeared with great haste towards Dorian''s workshop talked between themselves. "We need to leave this planet before they close it down and restrict the exit. I''m afraid our actions have been too high profile," said Riker, seriously. He then looked towards the blood-covered, unconscious Lucius, who was being carried by Olivia, and softly muttered, "Your friend is illogically strong." Even now, that final attack by Lucius was fresh within Riker''s eyes. A single, incomplete slash and more than five kilometers of the earth and sky were forcibly torn apart. Riker''s combat instincts honed over countless years and battles warned him that if that attack was to land on him, his injuries wouldn''t be light. To remind you, Riker was a Peak-Level Stage 4 existence, on the verge of stepping into Stage 5. He was a genius of incomparable pedigree. Shaking his head to recover his thoughts, a confused look appeared on Riker''s face as he asked, "That attack was clearly beyond his abilities? Why did he try to forcibly execute it?" At that question, Ka''lor''ah let out a tired sigh and replied, "He grew too excited after getting his hands on a Living Weapon." Excited? Him? Was a Killer even capable of becoming excited? Riker found it beyond his comprehension and became silent. Ka''lor''ah, however, had no intention of growing silent as she quickly turned towards Olivia and asked. "Still, I can''t believe that he willingly entrusted himself to you in that state," she said, pointing to Lucius'' current unmoving, unconscious state as he rested in Olivia''s hands. "What exactly happened inside the bath yesterday?" she continued with a strange voice. Faced with that question, Olivia''s heart skipped a beat and a faint pink blush appeared on her cheeks. However, she almost immediately calmed herself down and calmly replied, "Nothing." While Olivia''s reply was quick and unflustered, the observation ability of the two people before her was even quicker. Her faint blush hardly went unnoticed. Riker simply rubbed his chin and spoke in a dreamy voice while staring far away, "Ah~, youth." Whereas, Ka''lor''ah instantly pounced on the opportunity and questioned. "Like hell, nothing happened! Something definitely happened! What was it?!" Her voice was filled with great excitement and burning curiosity. Facing Ka''lor''ah ''forceful'' advances, Olivia tripped, "I-I''m telling you! Nothing happened!" "Did you two kiss?!" questioned Ka''lor''ah, shocked. "WHAT?! NO! Of course, not!" Olivia immediately denied it. She then silently mumbled under her breath, "I wish." She then hurriedly shook her head. "What else then? There''s no way you can make so much progress in just one day, if not for something significant happening," Ka''lor''ah grumbled, unsatisfied. She then looked at Olivia with a ''fierce'' expression and heavily said, "Miss Olivia Mayer, if you don''t answer honestly to my question right now, then you can forget about me supporting you in this matter in the future!" "You''re kidding?" Olivia half-seriously asked. "I am not," Ka''lor''ah seriously answered. "Haah," Olivia wore an aggrieved expression and let out a sigh. She then looked down at Lucius, who seemed to be sleeping in her arms. Forcibly executing the Fourth Movement in a moment of excitement greatly depleted not just his soul power and void power, but also his mental energy. After completing the attack, Lucius barely had the energy to stuff his weapon into [Void Storage], call out to the dumbfounded group, and collapse onto Olivia, unconscious. "Tell me!" Ka''lor''ah yelled once more. "Alright, fine!" Olivia yelled back, before letting out another sigh. She then briefly explained. "It was nothing serious. At least, there was nothing physical¡­except the part where I hugged him and tightly latched onto him¡­for a few hours." the last part was said in the quietest voice possible. "WHAT?!" Ka''lor''ah literally backpedaled and gazed at Olivia with shock. "I didn''t mean to do it, okay! No one told me that the bath would be so painful to enter!" Olivia quickly explained herself and glared towards Riker. "No need to thank me," Riker generously waved his hands. There was, however, a sly smile on his face. "Then what happened?!" Ka''lor''ah pushed on. "Then we just talked about some childhood memories¡­I washed his hair, Lucius then taught me some interesting tricks with manipulating soul power, we then talked some more¡­just general, standard stuff." "General, standard stuff, my a--!" Ka''lor''ah hurriedly contained herself. She then couldn''t suppress her excitement anymore and continued, "You are going to describe to me everything that happened! And by everything, I mean every single detail that¡ª" "Uhm, excuse me. Miss Customer," Dorian''s nervous voice interrupted Ka''lor''ah. The party immediately turned to face the young mechanic in unison. Feeling their intense, pressuring gazes on him, Dorian stuttered and spoke with great struggle. "U-uhm, y-your ship is re-ready," he softly declared. "We''ll continue this conversation later. Let''s go now," said Ka''lor''ah, firmly to Olivia before turning to face Dorian. "Thank you for all your effort, Dorian. You have been of excellent service." Said Ka''lor''ah with honest appreciation. The moment she had entered the hanger, Ka''lor''ah had already scanned the entirety of the spaceship with her senses. Seeing it in a state better than which she had left it in, spoke to her volumes of Dorian''s skill and service. "Th-thank you, ma''am!" Dorian blushed at the straightforward compliment and scratched the back of his head. Ka''lor''ah, then faced Riker and asked, "Are you coming with us?" Wearing a polite smile, Riker replied, "I would be grateful if you could drop me at any one of the other planets within this Elvenheim." "We are heading towards the head planet. Is that alright?" "Of course. That''s more than alright," Riker answered with a nod. "Get on, then," Ka''lor''ah prompted before asking Olivia to do the same. Carrying Lucius carefully within her arms, Olivia entered the spaceship first, followed by Thorn, followed by Riker. "Thanks again, Dorian. I hope to see you in the future," Ka''lor''ah thanked the young mechanic once again, before entering the ship and closing the entrance. She then headed towards the control room and took control of the flight. Controlling the ship to exit the hangar from the now, fully-opened hangar doors, she pitched the nose of the ship and blasted off towards the nearest planetary highway. Dorian also exited the hangar and waved off the departing group. With his hands on his hip, Dorian inhaled a fresh lungful of air and looked around with satisfaction. "That''s a job well done." He then randomly looked towards the sky behind him and noticed a streak of blackness in the far distance. "Was that always there? What was that?" he thought aloud when the watch in his hand suddenly started to vibrate. Seeing the title of the timer that just went off, Dorian''s face paled, causing him to break into a run. "Crap! The canteen is about to close!" Chapter 322: Goods Shipping and Traveler Services Office. Standing amidst a busy street filled with Travelers of varied races, Riker turned to face the party of three and politely spoke "I''ll get going then. Thank you for the ride." In response, Lucius, who was now awake and healthy, simply nodded his head, while Olivia and her new partner, Thorn, who was sheathed in her waist, vocalized their thanks. Ka''lor''ah, being the curious person she was, asked a question, "Is it fine for you to simply abandon that house of ours? There were some pretty valuable plants and other expensive stuff in there. Also, don''t you need money, clothes, weapons, and other stuff? What''s your plan after this?" Sighing ruefully, Riker sported a light smile and patiently answered her question. "I''ll be fine. I have a lot of money stashed up in some anonymous accounts. As for that house, there''s nothing of real value in there. I simply grew those plants out of amusement." Spending the last two days with the group made Riker seriously wonder how one person could have so much energy and so many questions. He had spent nearly every waking second in Ka''lor''ah''s company, answering numerous questions and discussing various topics. One odd thing that he had come to notice in these past two days was that Ka''lor''ah seemed to possess a very wide and rich base of knowledge. However, this base of knowledge was purely theoretical and lacked actual, practical knowledge. For example, yesterday, when the duo was discussing fauna and common medicine born from it, Ka''lor''ah was completely clueless about this topic. However, when the conversation later switched to a higher, rarer variety, Ka''lor''ah''s knowledge was far greater than his own. To recall, Riker was a bonafide Doctor, with professional training! As such, as enjoyable as he found talking to a knowledgeable person, Riker also found it to be equally tiring. While it would be considered incredibly rude to say this out loud, a small part of him did feel glad to get away from this party. "As for my plans¡­" Riker looked towards Lucius when he spoke of this matter and continued, "I''ll first seek an opportunity to ascend into the next Stage. Watching the Rule battle between Lucius and the Living Weapon, cleared up some of my doubts and showed me a path forward." He then straightened up and performed a proper bow facing Lucius. "Thank you for your guidance. You have given me more than I could ever hope for in these last two days." He then remained bowing, waiting for Lucius'' answer. A few seconds passed and the atmosphere turned awkward. Riker did not straighten from his bow as he felt it was necessary for Lucius to give his acknowledgment. Having inadvertently learned from him, Riker felt the necessity to pay his respects. Lucius on the other hand, stood silent and simply watched Riker with a detached expression. He did not really care for Riker''s thanks, and thus felt this entire ordeal to be pointless. Just as the thirty-second mark approached and neither of them seemed to show any movement, Olivia, who was standing beside Lucius, gently nudged him with her elbow. When she saw Lucius turn towards her, she quietly mouthed a sentence, ''You''ll have to say something for him to leave.'' ''Why?'' Lucius asked. ''Just do it,'' Olivia concluded with a smile. Still unsure of why, Lucius decided to take Olivia''s advice and replied to Riker, "No problem." Hearing those words, Riker straightened up and flashed a brilliant smile. He then nodded towards the two ladies one last time. "May the shade of the World Tree always fall upon you," giving his closing lines, Riker turned around and disappeared into the crowd. "Until we meet again," A final line faintly resounded within the party''s ears. Staying in the same position for a few seconds, Ka''lor''ah then turned to face the remaining duo and cheerfully spoke, "Well, I''m going to miss him. We really had some very interesting chats." Olivia, having a pondering expression on her face, asked, "Will he be able to successfully ascend into the next Stage?" Shrugging his shoulders, Lucius answered, "Probably. He is close and does have the required talent. It will all come down to how good he is at seizing opportunities." "So, what''s our plan? Where are we going next?" Ka''lor''ah asked. "While the chances of us being caught are low, we still have to leave this Elvenheim as soon as possible, given what he did back there," she looked at Lucius, insinuatingly. Blatantly ignoring her gaze, Lucius calmly answered, "We will head further inland into the middle regions, into the Land of the Giants. That will be the final training destination before we head towards the Alcana Empire." He then looked at Olivia with a gaze carrying great expectations and continued, "You will undergo your ascension into the next Stage there." Feeling his expectant gaze on her, Olivia audibly gulped before nodding her head. "I will not let you down," she solemnly promised. "Of course you won''t. You''ve got this!" Ka''lor''ah flew before Olivia and intervened with a light-hearted tone. She then balled up her fists and continued, "Don''t worry too much. You''ve already got half a foot inside the next Stage. Now you just got to get the other half in." "Now then, enough of this serious and heavy talk. Didn''t you want to talk to the shipping companies and mercenary groups about some stuff?" "Yes! I almost forgot about that!" Olivia exclaimed, having forgotten about that. Sporting a smile, Ka''lor''ah then flew near Olivia and paired her tiny arm with hers. Tugging on her arm, she then exclaimed, "What are we waiting for then? Let''s go!" "I''m going to go back to the ship," Lucius casually replied and turned around. "Nonsense! Go to the ship and do what? You''ve already slept enough. Now come with us!" Ka''lor''ah leaned towards Lucius and paired her remaining arms with his. Holding both Lucius and Olivia in either of her hands, Ka''lor''ah then flew forward with the excitement of a child. ---------- After walking the wide, well-constructed streets for a few dozen minutes, the party arrived in front of a large, decently-furnished, light-brown wood-patterned building, sporting the sign; Goods Shipping and Traveler Services Office. Looking at the large crowd entering and exiting each of the eight, wide doors of this office, Ka''lor''ah remarked, "Wow, it sure is busy, huh?" "Well, let''s head in!" Joining the crowd, the party ascended the short set of stairs and walked into the building. A few moments after they stepped into the door, a small, black orb arrived before them and projected a holographic screen. The image of a beautiful female elf wearing neat service attire appeared on the screen. The image then started to move and greeted them. "Welcome to Rivendell, travelers from afar. I see this is your first time entering this establishment. What are you looking for and how may I assist you?" the elf politely spoke. "Whoa! This is amazing," Ka''lor''ah spoke with shining eyes. Flying closer to the screen, she carefully inspected it and remarked, "This is my first time seeing such a thing. Is this a recorded image?" A strained smile appeared on the elf within the screen as she answered, "Not at all, Traveler. This is a live image." "Whoa! A live image!" Ka''lor''ah exclaimed once more. She then folded her hands and absent-mindedly muttered while nodding her head. "I suppose that makes sense. The Elves are, after all, not that advanced on the mechanical tech side. They have to depend on artifacts and arrays to maintain a basic level of functioning." While Ka''lor''ah''s speech was directed towards herself, it was more than audible for the elf within the screen. Her smile became even stiffer and a trace of annoyance appeared on her face. In a passively aggressive tone, she asked once again, "Could you please tell me, how you would require my assistance?" Detecting her tone, Ka''lor''ah narrowed her eyes and dispersedly replied, "Wow, the customer service here is really sucky, huh?" Dropping the smile, a cold expression appeared on the elf''s face, as she monotonously spoke, "Dear customer, if you are here to cause trouble, then I suggest you leave the premises. Offenders will be forcibly removed." A threatening aura curst out from within the orb. The crowd moving around the party suddenly stopped, as the various other customers looked at this scene with piqued interest and curiosity. "Wow, they sure have the balls to cause trouble in the capital city, huh? You don''t get to see such a scene very often." "Tch, tch, they must be new here. Do they not know about the basic code of conduct within an elvish city?" "Three fine beauties. I would like to step in and help, but doing so will only draw trouble onto myself." "Beauties? Hah, you should go and get your eyes checked out. Look at how boney and furless they look. True beauty lies in one''s meat and fur!" "Found the furry!" Hushed discussions sounded out from around them. Currently, a circle had formed around the trio''s party and the floating orb. None of the onlookers seemed to have any intention to step in and help them resolve the conflict but rather settled to take to the sidelines and watch the show. Lucius'' eyes had turned cold and his signature murderous aura was faintly being released. The shadow underneath his feet was larger than usual, and a faint cry rang from within. Just as the situation seemed on the verge of exploding, Olivia stepped in and calmly spoke. "I''m terribly sorry for the words of my puppet there. She was only animated recently and therefore is very curious about her surroundings." Taking a few more steps forward, Olivia continued her speech with a smile. "We do, in fact, require your help. You see, I am the representative sent from a newly ascended race. We have some ingenious products that we would quite like to trade and are looking for some proper shipping channels and markets. How do you say you help us?" The moment Olivia finished talking, silence descended within the surroundings. Her words were unflustered, confident, and oddly resounding that the surrounding people found themselves unconsciously paying attention to her. After the initial moment of silence, the crowd exploded. "Miss! Over here! We are from the Universal Shipping Company! We would like to¡ª" "We are from the Delta Group! A newly ascended race should partner with us for¡ª" "You, the furless lady! Please forget my previous words! Now that I see, you are indeed beautiful! Heh, heh, our Beastly Instincts group provide unparalleled service for¡ª" One after the other, the people belonging to the various shipping groups and companies rushed towards Olivia. Their eyes collectively contained the light of greed and opportunity. Olivia, however, ignored their cries and continued to stare at the screen. The beautiful elf on the screen seemed to be shocked for a moment before quickly recovering her calm. Sporting a polite smile once again, she spoke, "Well then, please allow me to guide you." Chapter 323: Fast Tracking. "Well then, let''s end our meeting here. It''s been a pleasure doing business with all of you." "The pleasure is all ours, Miss Olivia. Thank you for giving our company the opportunity to work with you. We assure you that you will not be disappointed with our speeds and efficiency." "Indeed, thank you for choosing our mercenary group. Although we, Dark Stars, are a newly established group, we shall do our utmost best to meet your demands." "I shall look forward to it then," Olivia politely replied with a smile and shook hands with all the people at the meeting table. The motley crowd of people belonging to the mercenary and shipping companies, with whom Olivia had signed a contract, rose from their seats, thanked the host, and quickly rushed out of the room to report to their respective companies. The joy on their faces and the sharp glint of opportunism in their eyes were plain to see. A newly ascended race was akin to a freshly arrived golden goose. Not only would they become new consumers and thereby expanding the economic field of the Universe, but it also means the arrival of new technology and unique products. Depending on the race or species, this unique product would differ. Some races were blessed with superior strength, turning them into natural laborers. Others were blessed with great reserves of valued resources. Mankind, of course, had the gift of intelligence and creativity. Their advances in science were matched by almost no other race, including the Mechanical ones. They offered a wide variety of products, most of which would fundamentally uplift the level of one''s civilization. Having said all that, it became evident that anyone with a functioning mind would see the potential of such a race. And indeed, such was the case. Olivia, with the assistance of Ka''lor''ah, spent the last few hours sorting to numerous shipping companies, trading hubs, mercenary organizations to set up a proper system of logistics. It was a lot of effort, but the benefits were even greater. This would also remove the need to set up their own channels of trade and instead relying on already prominent ones. Having a proper system of logistics and a variety of established channels to trade would increase the proliferation of Mankind''s goods, increasing their wealth and generating value. This would also help Mankind properly assimilate with the greater Universe, rising from a newcomer to a properly established race. In fact, Olivia had already made plans to do this, before she had left on her training journey. What she had done now was simply an extension of that, fast-tracking the rate of development and widening the area of influence. All in all, the time required for Mankind to assimilate into the Universe and exercise some extent of influence over it had reduced from the previous dozens of years to simply three or four years. Of course, this was provided that supply was able to meet the demand. (But then again, automated factories are a thing.) Why was it important in the big picture? Well, the total ''Cause'' of Mankind would grow much larger at a much faster pace. Also, the more Mankind''s products (let''s call it ''influence'') affect and alters the lives of the other races, the ''Causality'' of those races also gets added to Mankind''s total. This would have a direct effect on the Great Plan and would not only increase the chances of success but also reduce the risks and time required for execution. Right now, Lucius and Ka''lor''ah were akin to ants. If their secret was to be prematurely discovered by the Lords, they would be crushed with little to no hopes of resisting. However, if they manage to steal enough of the Universe''s Cause and link it to their own, then even the Lords will not be able to act as wantonly as they want to and will have to exercise caution. The first phase of saving Mankind, the second phase of interfering with the Grand Alcana Empire''s royal succession, were all aimed at achieving this exact goal. Of course, the sooner they manage to do it, the better. Returning to the story¡­ After properly dealing with all of the representatives within the meeting room, Olivia let out a long sigh of relief and collapsed onto her chair. ''That was so exhausting...'' she thought to herself, relaxing her body. Closing her eyes, Olivia was in the process of sinking into the comfort of her chair, when she suddenly felt a hand touching her forehead. Opening her eyes, she found Ka''lor''ah looked at her. "You did exceedingly well, Lil'' Ollie! This teacher of yours is very proud of you," said Ka''lor''ah in praise. A beautiful but tired smile broke out on Olivia''s face, as she replied, "It was all thanks to my wonderful teacher''s instructions." Nodding her head, Ka''lor''ah appreciatively replied, "Good. That''s the correct answer." She then raised her chin and narcissistically declared. "I''m the bestest and most amazing teacher in existence! Hahaha!" Olivia exaggeratedly clapped her hands in response. She then wore a sheepish smile on her face and slyly asked, "So¡­" "So?" questioned Ka''lor''ah. "When will I get my reward, Teacher?" asked Olivia. "Reward? What do you want a reward for?" "Well," a confident smile appeared on Olivia''s face as she continued, "I did do something pretty awesome. Shouldn''t I receive a reward?" "Hohoho, get a load of this greedy, little vixen. Isn''t that brand new sword of yours enough?" asked Ka''lor''ah, chuckling. "That is that and this is this. My sword has nothing to do with what I just did. I believe I deserve a different reward for my efforts," Olivia ''righteously'' declared. Similarly, Ka''lor''ah ''solemnly'' nodded her head, and answered, "There is some truth in what you''ve said. Very well, what do you want?" "You''re the best, Teacher!" Olivia shamelessly answered and then proceeded to voice her request. Ka''lor''ah patiently heard her request, as a result of which, a strange expression appeared on her face. Looking curiously at Olivia, she said, "Honestly, I did not expect that. I thought it would have something related to Lucius like usual. This request¡­" "Is it not possible?" Olivia immediately asked in worry. "It''s not a matter of possibility. It''s just that¡­" A serious expression suddenly appeared on Ka''lor''ah''s face as she continued. "Are you sure that this is what you want? I can assure you that it will not be easy." Straightening her body, Olivia looked her teacher in the eye and unhesitatingly replied, "I''m sure." "Well, whatever," Ka''lor''ah shrugged her shoulders and casually replied. "You''ll be the one suffering, not me." "Fine, I''ll help you with this request. But let me warn you once again, it will not be easy." A brilliant smile appeared on Olivia''s face, as she extended her hands to hug the small-bodied, Faerie-like creature. "You''re the best, Teacher!" she said while hugging Ka''lor''ah close to her chest. "Oi, oi, oi! Let me go! You''re making it hard for me to breathe! Unhand me this instant!" Of course, her cries fell on deaf ears as Olivia did not let her go so soon. ---------- "Are you finished?" Keeping his eyes closed, Lucius asked Olivia while keeping his eyes closed. He was currently city on a chair outside of the meeting room, waiting for the people on the inside to finish. Lucius neither had the interest nor the patience to sit in and listen to an economic discussion. As such, after confirming that none of the representatives were a threat, he simply waited outside the room. "Yep!" Olivia cheerfully replied. Her mood seemed fantastic. "Was the matter resolved to your satisfaction?" continued Lucius. "Uh-huh, it went way better than my initial expectation. Turns out, these companies would literally kill for the chance at working together with a newly ascended race. Some of their offers were so good that I had trouble believing my eyes," explained Olivia. "There is often more to one than what meets the eye," warned Lucius. Nodding her head, Olivia replied, "I know. That''s why I turned down those ridiculously good offers and went with more proper ones. There shouldn''t be much to worry, since the companies I signed the contracts with, will take care of those troublemakers." "Did you inform your people in Mankind?" "Just finished doing so," Olivia pointed at the watch on her wrist and continued. "They were a bit shocked at the sudden proposal, but greatly welcomed it. I also sent over some maps, contacts, and other basic information. Rest assured, I have ensured that no problems will occur in the near future." Lucius simply nodded his head at her reply. "Oh, and also," Olivia suddenly lowered her voice and said, "I sent over some of my subordinates to make some preparations at the Grand Alcana Empire. That way, we will have somewhat have a base to stand on when we get there in two years." She then looked at Lucius with a guilty expression and continued, "I hope I haven''t overstepped my boundaries." She then lowered her head. Hearing her declaration, Lucius was initially shocked. He then looked towards Ka''lor''ah, who was sitting on Olivia''s shoulder. Ka''lor''ah, understanding his questions even before he asked them, shook her head and mentally replied, ''Before you ask, I didn''t get her to do it. She did the preparations on her own, using her own resources.'' ''Setting up a proper base of operations right now will go a long way when we get eventually get there. If we are to wait until we get there, entering the bigger scene will be very difficult, especially given the chaos during that time.'' ''You should, in fact, praise her for taking initiative.'' Getting up from his seat, Lucius neared Olivia and raised his hand. He then brought it near her head, and awkwardly patted it. "You''ve done well," Lucius stiffly said, before turning around and walking away. Olivia, who was the recipient of the sudden pat, immediately raised her head and looked at Lucius'' retreating figure with shock. A red blush completely covered her face, ears, and neck. ''C-come on. Sudden attacks like that are unfair!'' Olivia internally complained, feeling the thumpings of her racing heart. Chapter 324: Land of the Giants. Three months later. Lucius sat in the lotus position inside his room within the spaceship. His eyes were closed, seemingly in a trance, while before his figure floated the newly forged scythe. The weapon constantly released an oppressive reddish-black miasma that then gathered together and flew towards its owner''s body. The moment it came in contact with his skin, the miasma sunk into his body and started to circulate alongside his soul power. The crimson veins on the body of the weapon continued to pulse with vitality while the blade''s edge gleamed with sharpness. Overall, the scythe looked mostly similar to its previous appearance. However, if one were to observe the weapon closely and compare it to how it was immediately after the reforging, one would be able to immediately spot a difference. The weapon felt less¡­alive. The feeling of individuality and greed that the scythe previously exhibited was completely absent and replaced with the cold indifference of a tool. It was living, but wasn''t alive. The former was a state of being, while the latter was a way of life. The miasma emitted by the scythe continued to decrease in volume with the passage of time. After a few hours, no new miasma was being released while the amount, previously released, were assimilated into Lucius'' body. The body of the scythe lightly trembled following which it let out a low hum. The eyes of the owner floating before it opened, and Lucius'' cold, black eyes stared at the weapon. Reaching out with his right hand, Lucius caught the weapon and felt the weapon as it reformed its body to perfectly meet his grip. The original coldness of the metal was replaced by gentle warmth. Lucius then looked towards his left hand as he released his soul power into the air. The soul power had a new feeling of solidarity, being vastly different from its previous feeling of ''flow''. "Peak-Level Stage 3¡­" Lucius softly muttered. Various shapes formed in the air above his hand radiating great weight and density. Lucius continued to manifest hundreds and thousands of shapes and figures, as he sunk into the newfound feeling of power. After testing his newly improved soul power for a few dozen minutes, Lucius then looked towards the weapon in his hands once again. ''Wiping out the annoying individuality and enslaving its consciousness worked out much better than I expected. I managed to gain inspiration to increase the completion of my Domain,'' he thought to himself. A tool that served its purpose without asking any questions was the best kind of tool. Lucius needed his scythe to be such a tool. As such, after the party boarded the spaceship and safely exited the Rivendell Elvenheim, Lucius locked himself within his room, spending the next two months wiping out all traces of the Living Weapon''s individuality while suppressing and enslaving its consciousness. Right now, its state was similar to that of the Forgotten Warriors. While its Stage 4 strength did create some hurdles, Lucius cleared them with little trouble. Defeating a person who had great strength but did not know how to use that strength was quite simple for an able challenger. Just when he had finished wiping out the last remnants of individuality, Lucius suddenly gained a stroke of inspiration, which allowed him to smoothly improve the completion of his Domain. Currently, Lucius'' Stage 3 Domain [Corpse Mountain Range] had reached 90% completion, elevating Lucius'' strength into Peak-Level Stage 3. A few new battles would further increase this percentage allowing him to reach the absolute apex of Stage 3 at 99% completion. After that, Lucius had to simply meet the requirements for ascension, gain an opportunity, and undergo the test. Were he to be successful, Lucius would officially enter Stage 4 for the second time in his life. His power would shoot up to a ridiculous degree, giving him the strength to participate in the next step of the plan. ''Stage 4¡­'' Lucius'' eyes glowed with desire. He then blinked once, restoring the previous calm once again. Lucius then unfolded his legs and landed on the ground. He then released his grip over the weapon, following which the shadow underneath his feet expanded slightly. Lucius shot a glance at the hovering weapon, which then obediently flew into the shadow with zero hesitation. Nodding his head with satisfaction, Lucius closed [Void Storage] and exited the room. Stepping into the ship''s corridor for the first time in three months, he felt a breeze of fresh air hit his face. Taking in a deep breath and exhaling a stale one, he then looked around the corridor and found it empty. Stepping forward, he then walked towards Olivia''s room, which was the closest one from him, and found it unoccupied. Walking over to Ka''lor''ah''s room, he found it similarly unoccupied. Thinking that the duo must be in the Training Room or the Control Room, Lucius expanded his soul sense from its usual five-meter radius to envelop the ship. His eyes suddenly narrowed and his brows tensed. ''Strange¡­no one is within the ship.'' Scanning and confirming one more time that no one was present within the ship, other than himself, he then focused his attention into his mindspace, trying to sense the soul link between himself and Ka''lor''ah. ''Found it. They are¡­'' A strange look appeared on Lucius'' face as he increased the range of his soul sense to confirm his findings. ''What are they doing over there?'' Confirming their locations, Lucius opened his eyes and dashed towards the nearest exit airlock. ---------- Exiting the spaceship, Lucius surrounded himself with a barrier of soul power before leaping out of the ship. Floating into the void of space, brightly illuminated by a fantastical array of colorful stars, he controlled his body to fly towards the nose of the spaceship. Arriving at his destination, he found the two figures that he was searching for. Olivia was sitting in a meditative posture on the hull of the ship, just above the transparent window of the Control Room of the spaceship. Her eyes were tightly closed and her face was red with effort. Even her two fists were clenched with enough strength to the point where her nerves could be seen wriggling. Lucius also noticed that her entire body was extremely stiff and taut, as she seemed to be greatly focused on something. Floating right above her was Ka''lor''ah. She was in a state similar to Olivia, with the only difference being the movement of her mouth. Ka''lor''ah seemed to be speaking or chanting something, which was being lost in the void of space. Briefly scanning the duo with his soul power and ensuring that they were alright, Lucius then vacantly stood from a distance and watched them. Seeing as how they seemed to be focused on something, he did not carelessly intervene, lest it leads to drastic consequences. As he continued to watch this strange routine, Lucius found his gaze lingering near Olivia with increasing frequency. He did not know exactly why this was happening but felt oddly okay with it. ''She smells nice,'' the thought randomly appeared within his mind. Of course, the smell that he referred to wasn''t her actual smell, but the scent smelt by his Void Eater senses. Olivia''s figure emanated a pleasant scent which was greatly liked by the Void Eater instincts within him. The scent did not increase his appetite or stimulate his desire to devour but brought him a strange sense of satiety and tranquility. ''Somehow this scent is oddly familiar. I just can''t seem to remember it,'' he absent-mindedly thought to himself. Just as Lucius was about to sink into his ponderings, he suddenly raised his head and looked into the dark distance with narrowed eyes. Putting a barrier around Olivia and Ka''lor''ah, he then extended his soul senses in the direction of his looking and released his aura. Removing the scythe from [Void Storage], Lucius flew into the air and assumed a relaxed combat stance. "I can sense you. Don''t bother hiding," he coldly spoke. Lucius'' monotonous voice containing his Peak-Level Stage 3 soul power resounded within the empty, black space. A few seconds passed in silence when the space before the ship suddenly shuddered and two massive individuals came into existence. "Looks like he really can see us, brother," said one of the giants, a being over 30m in height. "I heard it too, brother. He seems quite strong too," replied the other giant of similar stature. His tyrannous muscles, which were sparsely hidden behind his light-brown skin-tight battle suit, bulged as he continued in excitement, "My hands are itching to fight him, brother." "Me too, brother! But we have to first ask him what''s he''s doing here," said the first. "Ah, I almost forgot about that! Thank you for reminding me, brother," the other replied, as he used his massive hand to slap his bald head. "Don''t mention it, brother," the first replied with a grin. "Brother¡­" "Brother¡­" The two giants faced each other, as their eyes locked with the other with fondness and brotherhood. Just as they were inches away from performing a brotherly hug, they were interrupted by Lucius'' cold voice. "My companions and I are here to visit the Land of Giants and undergo the ''Twelve Labors'', to increase our strengths. Lead us into your lands." Hearing his words, the two giants suddenly paused in their actions and immediately looked towards Lucius with great interest. Their eyes scanned over his body multiple times, before asking in surprise. "The ''Twelve Labors''? With that scrawny little body of yours?" asked the first. "Yes," Lucius curtly replied and nodded his head. "Looks like we have come across new challengers, brother!" said the second giant with great excitement. "Yes, yes, in great timing too, brother! If I remember correctly, the First Son will be starting his'' in a few days," replied the first, meeting his excitement. The duo then looked towards Lucius in unison. Gesturing with their hands, they loudly resounded, "Come, come, quickly follow us, brother! We will have to be quick if we want to reach the Land of Giants in time for the start of the Labors!" Then without waiting for Lucius to reply, the two giants grabbed onto the nose of the spaceship and started to pull it along with their flight. The languidly floating spaceship immediately jerked forward with the sudden acceleration. Using one hand to stabilize his footing on the hull of the ship, Lucius released great amounts of his soul power with the other to secure the balance of the duo, who were lost in their routine and oblivious to the changes around them. Whatever they seemed to be doing looked quite important. Lucius did not want to disturb them just yet and thus settled for protecting the two. "Hahaha, this toy feels so light to pull, brother!" "I know! We should ask this brother where to get one and what purpose it serves!" "Hahaha!" The two giants lost themselves in simple-minded, honest laughter. Chapter 325: Starting the Labors. "Alright, let''s stop here," a woman, completely clad in dark-golden robes, raised her head and spoke. Her head was covered by a hood hiding away all of her facial features and shrouding them in absolute darkness, save for her glowing, golden eyes. Floating in a lotus posture before her was another woman. She was dressed in a dark-violet armor that closely hugged her mature figure. The two women were naturally; Ka''lor''ah and Olivia. Currently, the consciousness of the duo was inside Olivia''s mindspace. Opening her eyes, Olivia relaxed her posture and curiously asked, "Why are we stopping now? I can still continue." Hearing her words, Ka''lor''ah lightly scoffed and answered, "Yeah, no." "This session has already gone on for much longer than usual. Any more and you will face the risk of your soul collapsing," she warned. A scared expression appeared on Olivia''s face as she quickly checked on her soul. Other than being more transparent than usual, the violet-colored soul looked no different and seemed to be safe. Confirming this, she let out a sigh of relief. "Don''t be too hasty, kid," Ka''lor''ah casually spoke while reaching out with her hands to pat Olivia''s head. "You''re already making progress way faster than I expected. Just exercise caution and you''ll be alright." Ka''lor''ah then proceeded to ruffle Olivia''s hair playfully before being interrupted by the latter. Using her hands to slap away her teacher''s rowdy hand, Olivia replied, "I know. It''s just that¡­I feel so close to entering that next stage that I can''t wait." Clenching her fists tightly, she continued, "The sooner I can grow stronger, the sooner I''ll be able to fight beside Lucius and better help him." She then quickly shook her head and thanked Ka''lor''ah, "Thank you for spending your time to help me with this, teacher." Waving her hands, Ka''lor''ah replied, "Don''t mention it. It''s only my job as a teacher to help her student. Plus¡­" A playful grin appeared on her mouth hidden beneath the hood as she continued, "I''m also curious about the Domain you want to form. Wanting to use not one, but two High-Level Rules, I don''t know if you''re brave or suicidal." "I don''t know myself," Olivia replied with a smile. She then looked at her hands and continued, "But I have a feeling that this is my path forward." "An interesting feeling," Ka''lor''ah muttered while rubbing her chin. "You are an interesting one, Lil'' Ollie." "Well, anyway," clapping her hands, Ka''lor''ah continued, "Let''s leave and see if Lucius has left his cave." "Do you know how much time has passed?" Olivia asked. "I have no idea." Ka''lor''ah shrugged her shoulders and snapped her fingers. The dark blankness surrounding the duo instantly started to dissipate, as Olivia felt herself waking from the induced slumber. She momentarily felt like she was floating through empty space, as all of her senses were being inhibited. A few seconds passed before Olivia regained her senses, immediately after which she spread out her soul senses and established a Field of 5m around her. This process had already become second nature to her and was similar to breathing. Instantly, a frown appeared on Olivia''s beautiful features as she looked at the unfamiliar surroundings through her soul senses. Her mind immediately went into combat mode as her body stiffened. ''Wasn''t I supposed to be on the hull, outside of the spaceship? Where am I?'' she thought to herself, as she felt an immense weight bear down upon her. Opening her eyes, she immediately stood up and assumed a combat posture. Thorn, which was napping inside her sword sheath, hurriedly flew into her hands after detecting its owner''s mental state. "Whoa, where are we?" Ka''lor''ah voice sounded from behind her. The two found themselves upon a vast, white plain. Strangely, the ground was a little coarse and soft and was nowhere similar to the solid land that the duo was used to. Looking up, they found the sky above them to be far yet strangely close. It seemed to only be a few hundred meters above them, instead of the usual distance of hundreds of kilometers. The walls or rather, boundaries at their sides were also similar, being far yet strangely within reach. The first question that appeared within both their minds was this; ''Is this a trap? Did we get stuck in a cage?'' Followed by, ''What happened to Lucius?'' Just as Ka''lor''ah was about to check the soul link between them, they saw the wall in front of them, which seemed to be few dozen kilometers away in distance, open up. Bright light filleted in through the opening, causing the two ladies to flinch. Just as they prepared themselves to face a threat, they heard a cold, familiar voice speak. "Just in time. Jump down and follow me. The Twelve Labors are going to start in two hours." With his jet-black hair scattered behind his back and an eerie-crimson scythe floating beside him, Lucius, who had arrived just in time of Olivia''s awakening, instructed. ---------- "Whoa! Everything around us is so big!" Olivia exclaimed as she surveyed her surroundings with excitement. "I''ve read so much about the Land of the Giants, yet seeing it in person is a completely different experience," Ka''lor''ah remarked, sharing similar excitement. Lucius, who was leading them from the front, did not speak nor stop them. He simply continued to walk in nonchalance while leading the duo to the trial grounds. --- The Land of the Giants was a massive, artificially constructed planet that was the homeland of two races; the aggressive, battle-loving Giants and the reclusive, heaven-blessed builders, the Titans. The Land of the Giants was an artificial construct of the great Titans and was a relic of the First Era. It was built after the original homeland of the Titans was destroyed during the Great War. Since its initial construction, the Land of the Giants has been constantly upgraded and expanded, and now accounts for nearly 5% of the entire Universe! Simply put, it was massive to an unimaginable degree. They occupied the most area out of any other race in the middle-regions and are one of its strongest, most ancient races to still exist. Now, 5% of the entire space in the Middle Regions might sound like an unimaginable number. One might even wonder, what was the point of having such a massive space? Wouldn''t it take its inhabitants decades or even centuries to travel from one end to the other? While this was a faultless and sensible question, that was only the case from the perspective of the ''smaller races''. For you see, what was considered ''massive'' for the majority of the other races in the Universe, was normal for the Giants and the Titans. To emphasize, a regular, adult Giant would range from anywhere between 100 to 150 meters tall in height, while a regular, adolescent Giant would range from 30 to 90 meters in height. Of course, their lifespans greatly differed from the humans, since being an adult in Giant life, meant being 350 years old at minimum. The two Giants whom Lucius met could only be called children, with respect to their ages. In short, a fully grown Giant was roughly eighty times the size of an average human. It only made sense for their living environment to be of similar proportions. But hold on¡­that still doesn''t warrant for 5% of the known Universe! We are literally talking about trillions upon trillions of kilometers of land here! Even the Giants would not be able to cover that! Well, that''s where the Titans, the Progenitors and the Greatest Builders/Architects in the entire Universe and a Grade 6 life form, came in. After all, Land of the Giants was originally built as their residence. An infant Titan was roughly 600-800 kilometers in size. A teen Titan was measured in the thousands of kilometers, while an adult¡­well, you get the idea. They are simply humongous! But still, you might ask, even if there are thousands, even millions of Titans in existence, it would still not warrant this much space! Do you even understand how much 5% of the Universe is? Well, I do and there is a reason why the Land of the Giants was so pointlessly large. And to answer in brief, it was because of an ancient tradition of the Titans. This tradition stated that all Titans, upon reaching adulthood (2000 years of age. Total lifespan is 10,000-15,000 depending on lifestyle choices), must leave the land of their parents and create their own. Their lands could be as vast and massive as they so desired but must be completely independent of already existing lands. Once their independent lands were constructed and added to the Land of the Giants, the Titans spent most of their lives within these lands. What if they get bored of staying in one place? Well, you could always build more. In fact, it was seen as a symbol of superiority between the Titans to have larger areas than their peers. Their lands were a direct representation of their wealth, status, and power. Having said that, with the passage of countless years and the addition of hundreds of Titans every now and then, one can see how such a large landmass came into existence. --- The above information was explained to the curious Olivia by the wise Ka''lor''ah, just in time for the party to reach the grounds of the trials. Walking past a massive archway, the group arrived before a large gathering of dozens of the giants, who immediately turned their heads to look towards the party. "Hahaha, you''ve arrived just in time, brother! Quickly, come over here with that sister who is participating alongside you. The Labors are about to begin," A massive Giant, 150m in height, boomed when he recognized the party. Lucius simply nodded his head before turning to face the two confused women and spoke, "Ka''lor''ah, stay here with the group. Olivia, let''s go." Hearing his words, Olivia absent-mindedly pointed to herself and voiced, "Huh? HUH?!" "What Labors?!" Chapter 326: First Labor. Blatantly ignoring Olivia''s question, Lucius walked forward the joined the crowd of participants. Olivia, still in the unknown about what was happening, quickly followed behind him. Looking around there seemed to be fifty participants waiting to start the trails. Around thirty of them were Giants of varying size while the remaining twenty were a motley crowd comprising of Beast-Humans, Grayis, a Grade 4 humanoid race possessing gray-colored skin and featureless faces, and finally a duo of Bertarians. The moment Lucius and Olivia joined the crowd, the thirty-or-so Giants looked at the duo with friendly and competitive gazes, while the remaining looked at them with hostility. Lucius, as usual, did not pay the slightest attention to their gazes and waited for the Labors to start. Olivia, on the other hand, looked around and tried to gather as much information as she could. ''Giants, Leg''lors, Oncanians¡­even those haughty Bertarians are here. But why?! What are we going to do?'' Olivia cried internally, shooting a helpless gaze towards Lucius. The result¡­she was ignored. "Hahaha! Now that everyone is here, I suppose it is time to start the trails!" The Giant who had previously addressed Lucius, jovially laughed. Olivia focused the complete attention of her eyes and ears on this Giant. She noticed that this particular giant was the largest one present in the surroundings, towering at a massive 150m in height. Recalling her classes on Anatomy, Olivia quickly made some observations. ''150m is reaching the peak of what''s possible in terms of size for the Giants. He is surely an adult, and seeing the faint wrinkles on his face, an older one at that.'' She then scanned the other Giants with her gaze and noticed another peculiarity. ''The dozen Giants around him are standing in positions similar to a battle formation. Hmmm, their armors and aura, look and feels similar to a senior soldier or professional guards. They seem to be protecting him?'' ''Another thing, that tall Giant is also wearing a weird, antler-like headgear. Is that a symbol of his authority? Could he be something like a king? That makes sense,'' Olivia drew her own conclusions from the information around her. Olivia''s knowledge about various species came from her lessons with Lucius. While Lucius did introduce and explain a multitude of races within the Universe, he did so with their unique traits, abilities, strengths, weaknesses, basically, everything pertaining to combat. As for information such as their history or culture, nothing was taught or explained. Olivia found herself in a situation where she was able to draw a perfect anatomical picture of a Giant complete with fatal points and labeled parts. However, if she were to be asked what a Giant did in their free time, she would have no idea. Meanwhile, the Giant King with the unique headgear looked at the participants with a proud and excited gaze and started to speak. "I''m sure that all of you know why you''ve come here!" ''I don''t!'' replied Olivia, mentally. "And I''m even more sure that all of you are aware of the risks you will bear while undertaking the trials!" ''What risks?!'' cried Olivia, internally. The Giant King gazed at the participants, whose eyes shined with competitiveness and bodies shuddered with hot-bloodedness, and smiled. The Giant participants were, in particular, unable to hide their zeal and excitement. "Well, then! We have waited enough! I, Klytius, the current King of the Giants, declare the trial of the ''Twelve Labors'' open!" "Go forth, young heroes! Face the trails that the First Giant Ancestor, Heracles faced and overcome its insurmountable odds to break free from your current chains!" "Go forth and return stronger than ever!" His declaration boomed across the entire field and filled each participant with glorious purpose and limitless passion. Even Olivia herself, felt her blood boiling with excitement. The space before the crowd of participants suddenly cracked open and boundless golden light leaked out from the crack, blinding everyone. The golden light flashed across the entire field once before disappearing as quickly as it appeared. The crack in space also fixed itself and disappeared and silence returned to the field. One obvious change, however, was that every single of the fifty participants had vanished. The Twelve Labors of the First Giant Ancestor, Heracles, had begun! ---------- Olivia found herself surrounded by infinite brightness when a sudden bout of dizziness hit her. At this change, she instinctually reacted by closing her eyes, circulating her soul power, and expanding her Field. Waiting for the feeling of dizziness to disappear, she then made sense of the situation through her soul senses. ''I''m in a different location?'' Opening her eyes, Olivia found herself at the edge of a mountain rock, overlooking a valley. The depth of the valley seemed to extend for at least a few kilometers, as she found its bottom covered in darkness. ''Seems like I was teleported into the trial location.'' She then immediately looked around her, trying to find Lucius. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be found. ''We got separated?'' Olivia frowned. In fact, she found no one else other than herself within the visible vicinity. ''Does the trial separate the participants?'' she thought to herself. This was obviously not a good outcome since Olivia had no idea where she was or what she was doing. She neither had any idea about what the trails were. ''I''m so screwed, aren''t I?'' she bitterly laughed to herself. Just then¡­ Cough! Cough! Cough! Olivia heard a series of coughs. Instantly, fixing her sense in the direction of that sound, Olivia started to head towards it. With a cold expression on her face and Thorn within her hands, she was ready for battle. ---------- "Cough, cough! Dammit! Could it really not transport me to a better place?" Lu''uf, a middle-aged man and one of the only two Bertarians to participate in this trial, coughed out in disgust. Black slurry-like substance was constantly spat out of his mouth as he continued to cough out and curse at his terrible luck. He forced himself from vomiting, as he smelled the disgusting substance that was spat out. "Argh, I''m never going to forget this disgusting taste. Why, oh why, is my luck so terrible that I was teleported into his disgusting sludge pit?!" Similar to Olivia and the rest of the participants, Lu''uf was teleported into the trial grounds. However, he seemed to have drawn the short straw when it came to location. Unluckily for him, Lu''uf was teleported into a cesspit of sorts, filled with smelly and dusting slurry. As he was caught off guard, he had accidently swallowed large amounts of it. Cough! Cough! As he coughed out the last bits of the disgusting substance, Lu''uf immediately reached for the pouch by his waist as he wanted to remove his water flask and wash out the revolting taste. Just as his hands had recovered the water flask from his storage flask, Lu''uf''s hands suddenly froze as he felt the cold edge of a blade upon his neck. "Who''s there?!" He yelled in anger and looked out from the corner of his eyes. Holding the sword against his neck was an absolute beauty with a cold face, a ravishing figure, and mesmerizing violet eyes. Lu''uf immediately recognized this woman to be one of the last participants to join the group. However, his mind was soon overtaken by anger as he read the Peak-Level Stage 2 aura released by her body. For a Low-Level Stage 3 being like him, it was insulting to be held at sword-point by a weaker junior. "A Stage 2 brat dare¡­" Lu''uf was in the process of drawing his soul power when he felt the sword''s edge slightly sink into his vulnerable throat. "Keep speaking nonsense and I will kill you." Olivia coldly spat. The overflowing murderous intent within her eyes showed that she was being serious. Immediately realizing the precariousness of his situation, Lu''uf immediately felt his anger disappear and his mind cool down. He was a smart man who could read his surroundings and hence, acutely reacted. "Okay, okay, calm down!" Lu''uf immediately replied in the calmest voice he could muster. Wearing a haughty expression, he continued, "What do you want?" "What is this place?" questioned Olivia. "No, I will NOT hand over my¡­wait, what?" Lu''uf reply, which started out as a standard reply to a bandit situation, quickly morphed into a question. He then looked towards Olivia with an expression of pure confusion, and asked, "Did you just ask me what this place is?" His tone was strange. Squashing the emotions of shame and embarrassment within her heart, Olivia quickly nodded. Lu''uf looked at Olivia using the same gaze that one would look at an idiot with. Even the haughty expression on his face had collapsed, as he looked at her with complete incomprehension. "Why are you asking me such an obvious question? You are here for the trial, right?" "Yes¡­"Olivia gave out a drawn-out reply. "But can you tell me what ''you'' are going here?" she asked, emphasizing the ''you''. "Of course, I''m also here to complete the First Labor. Again, why are you asking me such obvious questions?" "The First Labor? What is that?" Olivia asked while blinking her eyes. Lu''uf also blinked his eyes before asking in a strange voice, "Are you an idiot?" "No." "Do you have dementia or any other memory disorder?" "No¡­" "Are you messing with me?" "Not at all," "Then why are you asking me such obvious questions?! You, do you even know that you''re challenging the ''Twelve Labors'' trial?!!" Lu''uf exploded. Truth be told, Lu''uf was a soft-hearted, middle-aged Bertarian who was nothing like his normal peers. While he often sported a cold exterior and haughty demeanor, he possessed a very kind heart on the inside. He was the kind of guy who, when given an advertisement pamphlet on the streets, wouldn''t immediately throw it but would rather take it home and then dispose of it in secret. Even now, when Olivia had put her sword against his throat, he did not take too much offense from her actions and had planned to let her go after giving her a light punishment. Since she seemed to be a junior, an arm or a leg would suffice as a warning. As for taking her life, he deemed it too cruel and wasteful. Pushing away the sword on his throat, Lu''uf jumped to his feet and started to berate Olivia, "Do you think this is a joke?! Do you find it funny to mock you''re elder?! Young lady, you should feel very disappointed in yourself for lying¡­" Caught off-guard by this sudden lecture and sensing no hostile intent coming from his body, Olivia was honestly at a loss. She then waited for the overly zealous, middle-aged man before her to calm down a bit before interrupting. "Wait, wait, wait! I''m not lying or mocking you. I honestly do not know where I am or what trail I''m facing." She then proceeded to give him a brief explanation, while altering and hiding the majority of the truth. Lu''uf listened to her explanation in length and gazed at Olivia with an incredulous expression. He then let out a sigh and said, "For such a reckless brat to enter the trail with no knowledge about the labors. You should thank your lucky stars that you managed to come across such a magnanimous elder like me." Olivia sheepishly smiled but did not reply. Coughing twice, Lu''uf then started to explain, "We are currently inside the Training Land called the ''Twelve Labors''. It is one of the most popular training lands for people below the Stage 4 realm and is also widely known as the most difficult." "Every two months or so, the Giants open this training land and allow the people who gained their recognition to undertake this trial. It is a widely sought and incredibly fortuitous opportunity." Taking a breath, Lu''uf continued. "Now for the trail, as the name suggests, the full trial consists of Twelve Labors that are inspired from the story of Heracles, the First Giant. I''ll not be explaining the story as it can be read almost anywhere." "Currently, we are inside the area of the First Labor which is to ''Slay the Nemean Lion''. Completing each labor will teleport you to the subsequent ones until all Twelve Labors are deemed complete. Giving up is also possible if you find yourself in danger." Lu''uf took the time to patiently explain and Olivia listened with part attention. Soon, she understood the task and the subsequent test provided by Lucius. ''He wants me to use this opportunity to break into the next stage!'' Olivia''s gaze shined as she understood his intent. ---------- Meanwhile, in a different area within the First Labor. Lucius sat atop the beheaded corpse of a hill-sized lion with spotless, golden fur. His scythe rested on his shoulders with its edge dripping with thick, viscous blood. Lucius looked at the result of his attack underneath him and shook his head. ''Too easy,'' he thought to himself. The First Labor; Slay the Nemean Lion. A mountain-sized Wild Beast with Low-Level Stage 3 strength, known for its ferocious strength and impenetrable hide, was slain with a single attack from Lucius. Time passed since the start of the trail¡­seven minutes. Most of which was spent finding the beast. Lucius then shook his head once more and allowed the power descending upon him to envelop him. Soon, Lucius'' figure vanished as he was teleported to the site of the next labor. Chapter 327: Second Labor. Waiting for the curtain of light surrounding him to dissipate, Lucius opened his eyes and calmly surveyed his new location. Currently, he was standing atop a rock pillar that was barely five meters in diameter. Underneath the pillar was an endlessly vast swampland filled with bubbling, acid-green waters. Filth and mud floated on the surface of the water releasing a scent that was absolutely revolting. Turning to look at the sky, Lucius found it covered with dense, dark clouds which greatly limited light. Thus, the swamp had the added effect of eerie darkness which coupled with the omnipresent grey fog that surrounded the swamp greatly limited visibility. Releasing his soul power, Lucius extended his soul senses to cover a thirty-kilometer radius around. This was the limit of the Boundary extensible at the Stage 3 realm. ''Life-Stealing Crabs, Low-Level Stage 3. No threats.'' The feedback from his soul senses informed him of the hundreds of Life-Stealing Crabs swimming in the swamp. At his current level of strength, these creatures were hardly of any danger to him. ''The Second Labor is to slay the Nine-Headed Hydra at the Peak-Level Stage 3 realm,'' Recalling information about the Second Labor, Lucius started to move. Invoking the power of flight, Lucius calmly flew over the swamplands while scanning the thirty-kilometer radius for signs of the Hydra. The Nine-Headed Hydra was a Grade 5 Wild Beast and was a descendent of the Immortal Hydra which in turn was a Grade 6 Wild Beast. Nine-Headed Hydra''s were born with Low-Level Stage 3 strength and had the potential to reach Low-Level Stage 5. However, this was an extremely rare case as most Nine-Headed Hydra''s only managed to reach the Stage 4 realm during their lives. As the name suggests, a Nine-Headed Hydra had nine individual reptilian heads capable of spewing Water-based and Poison-based attacks, and sometimes even the combination of the two. Each head shared a single will and could act in tandem with the others. Destroying a head would not affect the overall intelligence of the monster. Like all Hydra variants, the Nine-Headed Hydra also possessed racial traits like extremely potent regeneration bordering on immortality and impenetrable scales. Their bodies were also extremely large, ranging from seven-hundred-meters in scale to almost three kilometers. Naturally, the larger the creature, the higher was its Stage. Born in poisons swamps, the Nine-Headed Hydra was extremely nimble within the water and could be said to possess near-perfect levels of understanding of its dominion. Fighting Hydras underwater is inadvisable unless one is of a higher Stage. The above series of information flashed through Lucius'' head as he recalled his knowledge about the Hydras. Normally, facing a Peak-Level Stage 3 beast was a challenge even if one was in the same realm themselves. This was especially the case while facing a beast like the Nine-Headed Hydra which had multiple traits. This difficulty was further compounded by the fact that one had to battle it in its natural terrain. Generally, to face any Wild Beast of similar power levels was a challenging task for individuals. This was because an individual''s stamina and soul power were greatly limited when compared to a Wild Beast. The latter also often had unique, annoying racial traits which only made the hunt all the more difficult. Naturally, Lucius did not belong to his classification. He was an abnormal hack that did not conform to common sense. ''With all the creatures that I''ve eaten so far, my Poison Resistance should be high enough to ignore the Hydra''s corrosive poison. Of course, this is assuming that I get hit.'' ''Its regeneration should also pose no trouble since [Annihilation Energy] would simply keep eating away at it. As long as I hit it enough times, killing it will be simple.'' ''The only challenge is to keep it from running away. While I could use my Domain and instantly kill it, that would be too boring,'' Lucius sighed. To tell the truth, most of the Twelve Labors were too simple for Lucius and hardly possessed any challenge to him. The only reason why he was even here was to provide Olivia with the opportunity to ascend. Originally, he intended for Olivia to be the only person to undertake the trails while he and Ka''lor''ah would remain outside with the other spectators. However, when he had met with the Giant King Klytius to register Olivia''s name, the latter had requested for him to join the trails. While Lucius had initially wanted to deny, he then reluctantly agreed as he did not want to lose the Giant''s recognition and lose the opportunity. Gaining their recognition was both easy and incredibly difficult as it largely depended on the whim of the Giants. Most would gain their recognition after completing a difficult task for the Giants. This was how many non-Giant participants, like Lu''uf, managed to enter the trails. Rarely, the Giants themselves would offer the opportunity to eager participants simply because the former found them interesting. This was the case with Lucius. In fact, King Klytius had found Lucius so interesting that he offered him two slots for his participation. All in all, Lucius was participating for the sake of it and did not expect to gain much from the Trails. After a few dozen minutes of searching, Lucius faintly felt an immense life force radiating from a distance. What was interesting was that his instincts warned him of a faint sense of danger from that direction. ''Danger?'' Lucius immediately grew interested and rushed in that direction. After about a minute of flying, his soul senses picked up the enormous amount of life force lying dormant in the bottom of the swamp. Judging from the shape of the life force, Lucius recognized it to be a Nine-Headed Hydra. Flying at an altitude of a thousand meters above the swamp, Lucius'' indifferent eyes shone with a bright glint. A trace of excitement could be felt within his cold aura, as he looked at the still waters beneath him. As he read the aura of the creature below him, Lucius remarked, ''Low-Level Stage 4, a recently ascended one in that.'' Retrieving the scythe which was mounted to his back, Lucius assumed his combat stance and started to move. ''[Dance of the Death God: Second Movement]'' Swinging his scythe downwards with all of his strength, he watched as an enormous blade of [Annihilation Energy] split the swampy waters in two and headed towards the slumbering beast. ''Slash.'' GROOOOWL!!! An earth-shattering growl exploded from the enraged beast as the attack cut of two of its Nine-Heads. The remaining seven instantly locked their eyes on the puny creature floating in the sky and radiated a fearsome murderous intent. Energy exploded from within the Hydra, instantly dispersing the majority of Lucius'' [Annihilation Energy] and regenerating one of the fallen heads in a matter of seconds. ROOOAAARRRR!!! Throwing a sonic attack towards the damnable attacker, the Hydra jumped out of the swamps and reached towards Lucius with its enormous maws. Looking at the beast coming towards him, an unconscious smile formed on Lucius'' face. ''Now this is interesting.'' ---------- "Only seven minutes to complete the First Labor?! He cut through the impenetrable hide of the Lion like butter!!" "Look, he''s already in the Second Labor and has found the Hydra!!" "Whoa!! That''s a Low-Level Stage 4 beast! What is it still doing inside the trail grounds?! Wait--!!" "He''s challenging a Stage 4 beast?!! Is he mad?!" Exclamations clamored within an elaborately decorated viewing room as hundreds of individuals, Giants and non-Giants alike, viewed the scene on the main screen before them. In the large screen floating at the center of the viewing hall, the scene of Lucius battling the Stage 4 Nine-Headed Hydra was being broadcasted. Meanwhile, inside a private room reversed for the Giant Royalty, Ka''lor''ah who was accompanied by Klytius and his family, watched as this massive ''behemoth'' sitting beside her broke into a burst of excited laughter. "Hahaha!! He''s much stronger than I initially expected! Look at him fight that Stage 4 beast to a standstill!" King Klytius hit the armrest of his seat and continued with excitement, "I knew he was special from the moment I laid my eyes on him. Looks like my decision to teleport him to the area of the Stage 4 beast was the right choice! I haven''t seen such an exciting match in ages!" Ka''lor''ah, whose ears threatened to explode from his boisterous laughs, wryly smiled looking at this scene. From the moment Lucius and Olivia entered the trial grounds, she had been following this Giant at his behest. For some odd reason, this Giant beside her has seemed to have taken an interest in Lucius and was actively involving himself in the trail. "Giant King Klytius, may I ask why you''re interested in my friend?" Ka''lor''ah asked in a polite tone. Hearing her question, King Klytius turned to look at the minuscule Faerie-like creature sitting next to him and boisterously replied. "Why? Because I find him unique and interesting! There is something about your friend that draws my eyes towards him." Hearing his reply, Ka''lor''ah mentally sighed and thought to herself, ''Giants, a bunch of unpredictable creatures that act in accordance to their whims.'' She then turned her gaze towards one of the smaller screens at the side and looked at Olivia fighting the Nemean Lion. A smile appeared on her face as she thought, ''Well, Lil'' Ollie seems to be progressing well. She might have a chance at ascending by the end of this.'' "HAHAHA! What a strong attack! He beheaded six of its heads in a single motion!!" Klytius broke into another fit of laughter. Chapter 328: Nearing Completion. Inside the Swamplands of the Second Labor. ROOOAAARRR!!! The nine heads of the Nine-Headed Hydra roared with such intensity and vigor that it shook the space within the swamp. Extreme rage and hatred reflected within its eyes as seven of its heads turned and locked their gazes in a certain direction. Opening their humongous, threatening maws in unison they collectively spat out a pressurized stream of black-green-colored condensed poison. The stream of poison cut across the air and instantly closed the distance between its target. Lucius, who was the target of their collective wrath, watched the stream of death and corrosion close in on him and calmly moved. Condensing tiles of soul power underneath his legs, he shot out with his body at speeds unseen by the naked eye. Turning into a blurry phantom, his figure instantly appeared behind the enraged behemoth and the scythe within his hands was swung down once again. ''[Slash]'' A long blade of condensed energy hundreds of meters in length instantly bisected the middle head and half of the body of this two-thousand-meter beast. Copious amounts of viscous, colored blood burst out of its wounds and poured onto the swamp water like a furious deluge. Lucius calmly watched this scene while calming the boiling energy within him. ''Its regeneration is slowing down. A few more minutes of continued assault and its stamina should disappear,'' Lucius inwardly analyzed. He then peeked into his mindspace and estimated the amount of soul power remaining. ''Soul power is just under fifty percent. Void energy is over ninety percent.'' Nodding his head with satisfaction he then turned his gaze over towards the island within his mindspace. Inspecting hid Domain which was currently undergoing some minor changes, Lucius inwardly thought, ''93% completion. By the end of this battle, it should reach 94%.'' To sum up Lucius'' current mood in a single word, it would be; greatly pleased. Not only did the battle with the Stage 4 Hydra greatly him of his boredom for entering this trial, but it also helped him understand and integrate his power better and increase the completion of his Domain. To increase one''s completion of their Domain, one had to have a proper understanding of their power and the Rules that govern their power. As their understanding increases, so would their rate of completion of their Domain. Lucius'' current Domain [Corpse Mountain Range] centered around three Higher Rules; Death, Judgment, and the more recently added Devour. The challenge not only lied in finding the perfect balance and mixture of these three Core Rules but to also weave them in a way that cooperated and supported both his Void Eater body and his [Annihilator] soul. The latter task was especially difficult for Lucius since both his body and soul were incredibly prideful and refused to mingle within any Rule that they considered to be at a lower level. Nonetheless, after nearly four years of study, experimentation, and testing, coupled with his ungodly amount of talent, Lucius managed to find the perfect balance and neared the realm of perfection for his Domain; a task that would''ve taken any other genius, dozens or even hundreds of years. Due to a multitude of factors, Lucius was vastly stronger than other being at the same Stage. He completely outclassed them in battle experience, soul power quantity and quality, and even Domain level. This, unfortunately, meant that Lucius found it difficult to challenge his limits and push past his boundaries. Challenging being belonging to the next Stage was the only avenue for improvement. However, the impossible divide between Stage 3 and Stage 4, rendered it impossible for him to recklessly challenge such a being. Even factoring in all of his strengths, Lucius would find it hard-pressed to survive the assault of a Stage 4 being''s Domain. However, there was a small exception to this rule. Well, one can''t exactly call it an exception since anyone else other than Lucius would find it impossible to do such a thing. This exception was challenging Stage 4 Wild Beasts. Unlike their intelligent counterparts, Wild Beasts lacked the ability to deploy a Domain. Their strength purely comes from their superior physical prowess, their unique racial abilities, and their enormous quantity of soul power. They completely outclassed people in all these different avenues and hence reigned superior to their counterparts, even though they lacked a Domain. However, imagine this¡­ An intelligent living being that possessed the ability to deploy a Domain and matched a Wild Beast in both physical ability and soul power quantity. Not only that, but he also possessed racial abilities that were borderline cheating. Would such a being still be disadvantaged when fighting a Wild Beast of a Higher Stage? No, of course not! If anything, the Wild Beast would be the one disadvantaged since the opponent had the ability to deploy and Domain and suppress it! This was the case with the current battle with Lucius and the Nine-Headed Hydra. He might not have the ability to kill a Stage 4 intelligent being, but he was more than capable of destroying a Stage 4 Wild Beast. GROWL!! Watching the beast let out a growl filled with irreconcilable hatred that was laced with tiredness and fear, Lucius judged that he had milked everything that he could out of this battle. ''I won''t be able to improve my rate of completion anymore. Let''s finish this.'' He then looked at the roaring beast with indifference and boredom whilst softly uttering. "Deploy Domain." Colorlessness descended upon the beast and the Nine-Headed Hydra lost its life. There were no cries. There was no struggle. Death had soundlessly reaped the life of this magnificent beast. ---------- Shwick! "Old man Lu''uf, quickly move out of the way!" A woman''s clear and mature voice resounded through the air. The instant that her voice had sounded out, a black-colored flash of light pierced through the golden hide of the Nemean Lion, blowing apart a large wound underneath its soft belly. Chunks of meat and flesh fell onto the ground, followed by a river of blood. The Nemean Lion let out a disgruntled roar, before collapsing lifelessly onto the ground. THUD! The moment the mountain-like beast weighing a few thousand tons collapsed onto the ground, the earth and the surrounding valley walls shook and trembled. A few seconds passed and silence returned to the valley. Step. Step. Step. Using the [Sky Steps] technique taught to her, Olivia created tiles made of soul power and elegantly descended from the sky. With her inability to truly fly at her stage, this was the closest she could get to true flight. Whooo! Landing onto the ground, Olivia pursed her lips and let out a sharp whistle. A low hum sounded from within the dead beast''s corpse, followed by the appearance of the black flash. The black flash, which was obviously Olivia''s Living Weapon Thorn, created a new hole on the surface of the beast and excitedly returned to its owner. Appearing next to Olivia, it gently hovered next to her hands and tilted its body to the front. Another low hum resounded from the weapon seemingly asking its owner for something. Olivia displayed a kind smile and caressed the body of the weapon. She understood that it was asking her for a reward, to which she happily complied. Shivering with pleasure and excitement, Thorn released another bout of low-pitched hums. "Whoa! Someone''s every excited after their first battle," Olivia teased, turning her caresses into tickles. Tickling the body of her weapon, she laughed as she watched Thorn quiver and struggle. Just as she was to increase the intensity of her tickling, an unhappy voice resounded. "Dammit, brat! Could you not have warned me in advance!!" One of the severely wounded paws of the large beast slightly moved and a dust/blood-covered Lu''uf appeared. His robe was dirtied with the blood of the mighty beast, while his face was covered in dust and soot. Coming out from underneath the dead beast''s corpse and looking at the scene of the brat before him playing with her sword, Lu''uf was incensed. "It''s on you for being so slow, old man," Olivia rolled her eyes at his claim. "Stop calling me an old man! I''m only 257 years old! That''s only middle-aged in Bertarian years!" Lu''uf yelled. Unfazed, Olivia replied, "And I''m only 27. So you do the math and tell me if I''m wrong." Hearing her reply, Lu''uf speechlessly stared at her. His face then went through a series of emotions before settling into one of tiredness. Sighing out loud, he rubbed his forehead with his hands and thought to himself, ''Arguing with this lass is pointless. Only my blood pressure is being affected.'' He then used his soul power to rid his body and robes of dust and walked towards Olivia. Watching the weapon hovering before her with envy and desire, he spoke, "You know, before today I''ve only heard legends and stories about Living Weapons. Who knew that coming to the Twelve Labors would allow me to meet a disrespectful, little brat wielding such a legendary weapon." "What? You feeling jealous? Olivia asked. "Of course, I am!'' Lu''uf honestly replied. He then shook his head and continued, "However, I know my own limits and potential. I''m not worthy of wielding such a weapon." Seeing the look of undisguised pride on Olivia''s face, he continued feeling annoyed, "Still, it''s a shame that such a weapon ended up with someone like you. While your talents are unquestionable, your personality leaves a lot to be desired." "I can only imagine how that sword would cry if it had a mouth." Olivia rolled her eyes at his poor attempt to get back at her and turned to face Thorn. Gently caressing the sword she asked it. "Is that true, Thorn?" Olivia made her tone to be unusually soft and pitiful. Hearing its mistress'' pitiful voice, Thorn vehemently shook its body signifying its rejection. Seeing that gesture, Olivia smiled and looked at Lu''uf with an expression that seemed to say, ''how about that?'' Lu''uf simply let out a sigh before chuckling. He then watched as white light surrounded both him and Olivia and spoke. "Well, looks like we are being transported to the next labor, brat. It''s been nice getting to know you." "Likewise, old man," Olivia replied. White light fully enveloped their two figures and teleported them to separate locations within the second labor. In the final moment, Olivia could hear Lu''uf say. "Be safe and don''t die, kid." Disappearing into the light, Olivia softly muttered, "You too, old man." Chapter 329: True Strength. Feeling the familiar dizziness of teleportation gradually recede and the blinding curtain of whiteness surrounding her disappear; the first sensation that was picked up by her senses was the sound of the wind howling. Snapping her eyes open, Olivia immediately made sense of her situation. ''I''m¡­falling!'' Looking at the boiling bog of foulness quickly approaching her as she fell, Olivia hurriedly retrieved Thorn from her sheathe and instructed, "Thorn! Fly!" Answering with a tremble and a low hum, Thorn immediately released its energy according to its mistress'' instruction. Rotating once on its axis and stabilizing itself, it used its energy to arrest the momentum of the fall before eventually coming to a stop. Olivia, now hanging off her sword while gripping its body with both her hands, pulled herself up and climbed onto its body. Having practiced flying and balancing on her sword over the last two weeks, she stood upon its narrow-body with no trouble. "Phew, that was close," Olivia sighed in relief and wiped the sweat gathered on her forehead. She then looked at Thorn and thanked, "Nice one, Thorn!" The sword replied happily with a low hum. "Now then, let''s take a look at where we are," voicing to herself, Olivia controlled Thorn to fly forward slowly. Currently, she was flying a few hundred meters above a foggy, dark swamp. Her soul senses did nothing to help her as its range was restricted to within 30m of her body. As such, Olivia had to mostly rely on her eyes and ears. Having listened to the explanation from Lu''uf, Olivia possessed a basic understanding of the trial, ''The Twelve Labors'', and the various challenges within. As such, she knew that her current challenge was to ''Slay the Nine-Headed Hydra.'' Recollecting the information she had learned from Lucius about the Hydra race, and the information received from Lu''uf, Olivia''s face changed to sport an expression of solemnity and suppressed excitement. ''The Nemean Lion was only a Low-Level Stage 3 Wild Beast with no Domain or any troublesome abilities. Slaying it with Thorn was not very challenging. This second Labor, however¡­will be a bit difficult.'' ''According to the information gained from the old man, the Nine-Headed Hydra is a Peak-Level Stage 3 beast. Although it doesn''t possess a Domain, it does have a couple of annoying abilities¡­'' ''Instantaneous regeneration, tremendous vitality, nine separate heads capable of spewing pressurized water or poison, or even both¡­my, my, this should be the toughest one I''ve fought yet, huh?'' For a Peak-Level Stage 2 being to fight against a Peak-Level Stage 3 Wild Beast. Even merely saying those words together in the same sentence makes it sound fake and nonsensical. Yet, here she was, living it. ''Okay now, serious time.'' Wiping away the smile from her face, Olivia started to seriously consider her chances. ''Since Wild Beasts do not possess Domains, I wouldn''t face that soul-crushing suppression. Of course, its higher quality soul power will still be able to partially restrain and immobilize me, but it shouldn''t be an issue for as long as I have my Field active.'' ''Now, if I were to have my Field expanded up to its complete 30m boundary, I will have enough soul power to fight at full strength for 5-8 minutes. Of course, after this period of time, I will fall into a state of weakness and frailty. Worst case scenario, I will faint from over-drafting my soul power.'' ''The optimal way to fight this monster is to have my Field expanded up to the 10m mark. This will provide me with enough soul power to fight at full strength for thirty minutes. This period can be further extended depending on how efficient I am with my attacks.'' ''Still, with my current level of strength, I have no shot at cutting down its tremendous vitality in just thirty minutes. I will run out of energy before that monster''s HP hits the 80% mark.'' Folding her arms underneath her ample chest, Olivia continued with her ponders. Her forehead was increasingly occupied with creases before her expression turned into a full-blown frown. ''Of course, all of my previous speculations relies on the fact that I''ll be able to get close enough to deal damage to that monster. Not only is there a humongous size difference, but I''m also outnumbered nine-to-one by its heads.'' ''Not to mention, there is also its corrosive poison.'' Closing her eyes, Olivia scoured her memories of Lucius'' lessons while simulating a mock battle within her mind. All of this was done while a part of her attention was dedicated to controlling Thorn and searching the surroundings for the Nine-Headed Hydra. Olivia''s recent ''training'' with Ka''lor''ah had taught her how to split her mind and independently parallel think. This further boosted her prowess to a whole new level, allowing her to consider more variables in the same amount of time. ''Lucius wouldn''t bring me to this trail if he wasn''t confident of my abilities. As such, I should have what it takes to defeat this monster.'' Olivia''s confidence in her abilities stemmed from the absolute confidence that she held in Lucius. Knowing him, he wouldn''t bring her here to waste time if he wasn''t sure of her ability. ''Hydras¡­Hydras¡­what am I missing here?'' ''Its three hearts are the weakest parts of its body. Destroying those hearts would effectively cripple the monster and save me a lot of trouble by seriously reducing its rate of regeneration. However¡­'' ''My body is nowhere near strong enough to withstand the prolonged corrosion of its poisonous blood. Anything over a few accidental drops sticking for more than fifteen seconds would start destroying my body.'' The strengthening bath in Riker''s house had not only loosened her bottleneck to ascend to the next Stage, but had also passively refined her physique and improved her body. Not only had Olivia grown more shapely and beautiful, but her body had also been toughened making her vastly superior to any average human. She had denser muscles, stronger bones, smoother skin, and was impervious to 99% of humanity''s illnesses and afflictions. While the smallest drop of the Hydra''s corrosive and poisonous blood would have killed her originally, Olivia now possessed the leisure to tank a few drops before being subjected to harm. ''Not to mention, there are those metal-like scales that I have to go past. Thorn would be able to easily cut through them, but I will only be able to remotely control him. Destroying more than a single heart in one shot is impossible.'' ''However, if I don''t do it in one shot, the destroyed heart will regenerate. Ugh, what a headache,'' Olivia sighed and massaged her forehead. ''What do I do? How am I supposed to overpower this mon¡ª!!'' Olivia''s eyes suddenly shot open and her moving body came to a stop. A flash of inspiration suddenly struck her mind, parting the dense fog of confusion and showing her the path to victory. With her deep, violet eyes glowing with piercing brightness, Olivia''s slim lips curved to form an enchanting yet confident smile. "I''m such an idiot¡­" she quietly muttered to herself. ''My approach was completely wrong. The correct answer lies in not overpowering the beast but rather¡­'' "Hehehe, I almost forgot where my true strength lies," Olivia cackled, evilly. ---------- In the area of the Third Labor. A pillar of white light manifested somewhere in the middle of a large, grassy plain. A figure dressed in black wearing a scythe on his back appeared in the middle of the light pillar. Waiting for the pillar to disappear, Lucius then opened his eyes and looked around. ''A flat grass plain that endlessly stretches. This is the location of the Third Labor, huh,'' he mused. He then looked at his right hand while clenching his fists. Feeling the renewed sense of power hidden within, Lucius took a look inside his mindspace. Scanning the clouds of soul power, he thought to himself, ''My soul power has been replenished. How convenient.'' The pillar of white light which transported the participants to their subsequent labors not only had the power of random teleportation but also had the additional effect of topping of one''s soul power and stamina. This enabled the participant to return to their peak states in every Labor and granted them a better chance at completing the trials. ''It''s been an hour since I entered this trial. Olivia should have reached the Second Labor, right?'' Lucius pondered. The First Labor only took him seven minutes to complete. The Second Labor, however, engaged Lucius for around fifty minutes. This was because Lucius had intentionally suppressed his full strength in a bid to improve his abilities and Domain completion. Thanks to his efforts, Lucius'' Domain was now at 94% completion. When he realized that he could no longer rapidly improve or gain tangible experience from the Nine-Headed Hydra, Lucius had deployed his Domain and instantly slew it. Now having moved to the site of the next Labor, Lucius pondered about his student. ''With her current ability and that Living Weapon, penetrating the golden hide and slaying the Nemean Lion should be fairly easy for her, albeit being a little time-consuming.'' ''The Second Labor, however, will not be so easy,'' Lucius'' eyes glowed with sharpness. Having personally trained her for four years, no one had a better understanding of Olivia''s strength than Lucius. He knew her exact combat ability and the exact limits of her strength. That being said, Lucius also knew this. ''There is no possible way for her to win in a direct confrontation against the Nine-Headed Hydra. Even if she manages to perfectly fight; evading every single attack, grasping every single opportunity, and exploiting every single weakness, she does not possess the stamina or the soul power to outlast that beast.'' ''But then again, fighting it head-on is a foolish and inefficient decision.'' The way of the Killer stated that one had to be efficient when killing an opponent. No wastage of any kind was tolerated. Over the four years of their training, Lucius had made sure to hammer this concept into Olivia. He molded her attacks, her movements, her energy control, and even her thoughts during combat to be as efficient and effective as possible. For as long as the ends are met, the means do not matter. What matters is for the means to be the most efficient means possible. This was the reason why Lucius did not discourage Olivia from using her intelligence to scheme and plot against her opponents to their demise. He even asked Ka''lor''ah to impart her teachings and experience to her, raising Olivia''s skill in this sphere. Pure combat strength was important but wasn''t absolutely necessary. Beings like Ka''lor''ah, who stood at the apex of Stage 7, did not possess much in terms of individual combat prowess. However, they possessed endless armies and other methods to supplement this weakness. The path of every powerhouse was unique and no two powerhouses were the same. Lucius, who managed to ascend to the top of the Universe with only his strength, was an anomaly. A unique existence with no precedents and probably no subsequent. Shrugging his shoulder, Lucius concluded, ''Well, I can only hope that she remembers where her true strength lies.'' ''Now then, for my Third Labor¡­'' Locking his eyes on a certain brown-colored dot that stayed an unfathomable distance away, Lucius confirmed his target and prepared. ''¡­let''s catch this annoying thing.'' Chapter 330: Record Holder. Underneath the bubbling, filth-filled swamps of the Third Labor slept a mighty creature of great renown. His dark, majestic body rivaled a mountain in weight. His nine necks connecting nine of his fearsome reptilian heads were as wide as five tree trunks placed side-by-side. His heads, covered in the shiniest of his boney scales hid within them great intellect and even greater power. This fearsome creature, who was the youngest of his brethren to carve out his own territory within the Third Labor, was called Kraal. ''Haap. Hungry. Eat food.'' Waking from his restful slumber, Kraal raised his fearsome heads and looked around dreamily at the polluted waters of the swamp. Pairs of crimson eyes lazily scanned the immediate vicinity as they sought food. Finding none of his favorite meals readily available around him, Kraal let out a ferocious growl and begrudgingly moved. He first used three of his leftmost heads to lick his humongous body clean, before moving on to using two of his rightmost to scour the area. Owning a territory was not as easy as to simply claim it and live within, but properly protecting it from land grabbers and tyrants. Kraal, being the youngest of his brethren, had to be extra careful of any sudden challenges for territory seizure. After properly cleaning himself up and ensuring that there were no attempts or challenges, Kraal moved his mountainous body to seek food. His massive stomach had been rumbling for quite some time and it was his instinct to satisfy it. Gliding through the filthy swamp waters that he called home, Kraal was a surprisingly agile beast. His movements underwater defied every known notion of physics as his massive body moved with incredible agility and surprising finesse. Quickly arriving at his favorite hunting spot, Kraal spotted a school of his favorite meal. A beastly grin appeared on his reptilian faces as he inwardly rejoiced. ''Haap. Hunt good food.'' Suppressing the immediate desire to jump towards his prey, Kraal sank to the bottom of the swamp and camouflaged himself against its dark bottoms. As mighty and great as he might be, Kraal still needed to properly execute his hunt if he wanted to eat today and not scare away his prey. Using six of his heads to watch his prey while using the remaining three to observe the surroundings, Kraal left himself to his instincts and carefully moved. His mighty body moved inch-by-inch taking care not to cause unnecessary turbulence in the water. His prey was as tasty as it was careful. A sudden jerk might startle the prey, denying Kraal his immediate meal. Minutes ticked by in this manner as Kraal moved closer and closer. His crimson eyes were as alert as ever and intently watched the movements of his prey. Nearly thirty minutes had passed when Kraal finally made to the spot directly beneath the largest congregation of his prey. Today seemed to be a good day as thousands of his favorite prey swam together in unison. Usually, his prey only grouped in the hundreds and rarely reached a thousand. With drool-leaking from the edges of his nine mouths, Kraal surprised his rapidly rising excitement and patiently waited. The fact that this hunt was going to be his biggest catch ever wasn''t going to distract him and cause him to mess up. Kraal was careful like that. Slowly and with as little disturbance to the surrounding water as possible, Kraal moved his nine heads and positioned them at specific spots. He was executing the standard hunting tactic in which he had trained for most of his life and boasted great proficiency. After encircling the school of fish and blocking off all of their possible escape routes, Kraal''s crimson eyes locked onto his prey with visible desire and greed. Holding in his breath, Kraal waited for the best possible movement before¡­ ¡­lunging forth. Nine large mouths completely expanded to reveal the spine-chilling horror of teeth and flesh. Unordinary darkness existed in the depths of its mouths, out of which came an incredibly strong force of suction. Hundreds of monstrous fish each extending five meters in length were pulled into the darkness with little to no resistance. Against a Mid-Level Stage 3 beast like Kraal, these little fishes stood no chance from the start. Like a vacuum sucking in a patch of dust, Kraal''s nine heads sucked in the thousands of fish stiffly swimming around in circles. The eyes of these fish were strangely lifeless and their bodies routinely oozed an unusual violet mist. Their plump bodies were strangely cold and possessed a befuddling charm that existed to draw the Nine-Headed Hydra towards them. However, in his excitement, Kraal failed to pay attention to these peculiar factors and lost himself to satisfying the cries of his stomach. Cleaning up the final remnants, Kraal grinned with satisfaction and happily watched as the other creatures in the surroundings escaped with terror evident in their eyes. He did not bother chasing them like he usually did as he relished himself in the satisfaction of a hearty meal. ''Haap. Tasty meal.'' thought Kraal. His powerful stomach started its work by releasing powerful, poisonous acids to secrete the meal. Blood, flesh, and bones of thousands of fishes were broken down in a matter of minutes, leaving behind almost nothing. Or so was the case usually. This time, however, there was a strange violet-colored energy that remained behind. This energy that previously filled the bodies of those thousands of fish now filled the stomach of Kraal in its entirety. Not accustomed to scanning the interiors of his body, Kraal failed to notice this peculiarity as he returned to his lair for an after-meal nap. His nine mouths curved with a smile of satisfaction. ''Haap. Kraal mightiest Hydra. Better than family. Better than father.'' ''Haap. Sleepy now.'' Resting his heads on the floor of the swamp, Kraal sank into a deep slumber. Meanwhile, the remnant violet energy that filled his stomach finally started to move. Permeating past the thick membrane of his stomach, the energy gathered into streams and headed towards each of his nine heads separately. Not an ounce of malice was felt from this energy. Nonetheless, they seemed threateningly inauspicious. ---------- GWAAARRR!!! An earth-shaking roar startled Kraal from his after-meal nap and quickly awoke him. His nine heads rose in unison and his crimson eyes warily stared into the dark waters. "Gwrrr!~" A menacing hiss exited his mouths and great hatred filled his eyes. Ferocious killing intent gushed out from his body as Kraal recognized that roar of challenge. It was a voice that Kraal would never fail to recognize, even in his death. ''Haap! Father!'' ROOAAARRR! ROOAAARRRRR!! Simultaneous roars followed Kraal''s hiss as two new voices joined in. These roars were filled with derisive mocking and scoffing. ''First brother! Second brother! Haap!! Challenge the mighty Kraal. How dare you!!'' Kraal could not contain his anger and hatred anymore. Snapping the rear part of his body, Kraal shot towards the source of the roars with blinding speeds. His mountain-like body moved like a bullet as it cut through the dense, murky water with little resistance. Arriving at the border of his territory, Kraal quickly swamp to the surface of the water and broke out. The sky was grey and a thick curtain of rain covered the surroundings. But Kraal did not care for them. In fact, he did not care about anything around him at all. The only thing that filled his mind was the repulsive figure of his tyrant father and his two brothers. These three figures, who possessed bodies much larger than his own, were the object of his greatest fear and hatred. ROAAAR! ROAAARRR!! ROAARRRR!! And now, all three of them seemed to be challenging him for his territory. "GRAAWWWRRR!!~" Kraal let out a thunderous roar of his own and lunged forward to face his greatest foes. Bodies slammed against bodies and heads crashed against heads. Poisons streams cut through the rain and air, polluting the surrounding waters. ''Haap! Kill you Kraal will!!'' And so, Kraal began to battle with his life on the line. A battle in which he was able to match the Peak-Level Stage 3 prowess of his brothers and the Low-Level Stage 4 prowess of his father with his own strength, at the same time. A battle that made no sense in both reality and otherwise. ---------- Floating in the air some distance away from a crazily flailing Nine-Headed Hydra which seemed to be fighting with the air was Olivia. Her face was unusually pallid while her eyes were sunken and tired. Her skin and hair looked dry and moistureless while her ample bosoms heaved with obvious breathlessness. Cuts, tears, dirt, and grime-covered much of her purple-colored uniform and even more of her own body. Still, if one were to look past the sordid exterior and gaze underneath her blackened face, one would find a brilliant smile that oozed with confidence and a sense of victory. Tightly clenching her fists, Olivia muttered in a proud tone, "I did it." "Two full weeks of effort and soul power and I finally managed to do it." Facing the sky and thrusting both her hands into the air, Olivia screamed at the top of her lungs. "I DID IT!" "I FRICKING DID IT!! YAHOOOO!~" Yelling and screaming with elation to the point of growing breathless once again, Olivia finally calmed herself down and addressed the floating sword underneath her feet. "Head over to that rock pillar and drop me there, buddy. It''s time for you to end that poor bastard''s suffering." Thorn gently trembled as a show of understanding and obeyed her words. Dropping off Olivia at the rock pillar, it turned to look at its mistress one more time before shooting towards the still crazily flailing beast. Thorn increased its speed to the extreme, turning into a streak of black light that blended into the dark surroundings. Nearing the mountainous body of the Nine-Headed Hydra in seconds, it effortlessly pierced through its scales and headed towards the nearest heart. The moment Thorn neared the Hydra''s heart it released its boundless, compressed Sword Energy and ripped everything in the surroundings into uncountable pieces and innumerable shreds. RWAAARRGGHH!!! The Nine-Headed Hydra let out a sky-splitting roar in response to this attack. However, the crazy failings and its random attacks into empty space did not seem to lessen but rather increased in response to this attack. The hatred within the Nine-Headed Hydra''s eyes as it murkily stared into the empty air was both visible and tangible. Meanwhile, Thorn had already returned to the side of its mistress, who was refilling the sword energy within its body. With a smile on her face, Olivia spoke, "Good job, Thorn. Just two more times and we will finally exit this foul-smelling place." Thorn faintly shook its body as a show of acquiesce. As a result of sharing a soul link with its mistress, Thorn too had come to greatly dislike this dirty swamp. After a few minutes, Thorn released a low-pitched cry and headed towards the mindless Nine-Headed Hydra a second time. Ten minutes later, Olivia succeeded in slaying the Nine-Headed Hydra and completed the Second Labor. In the process, she also became the record holder for the ''Longest Time Taken to Complete a Single Labor'', taking a total of two full weeks! Chapter 331: Request and Exchange. "Bwahahaha!~ She really succeeded in slaying that beast. What a tenacious little girl!" Klytius jovially laughed. The Giant King, who had been watching the screens before him with great excitement, turned to face the person sitting next to him and asked, "What do you say?" Lucius sat next to the king with his legs crossed and head resting on his hand. Keeping his eyes closed he replied to the king casually. "She could''ve killed it sooner. The method that she used was very inefficient." Lucius'' tone remained staid and did not possess the hint of respect that one''s tone would possess when addressing a king. Usually, this would be a blatant breach of etiquette and would come off as being disrespectful. Klytius, however, did not seem to mind Lucius'' disrespectful behavior and brushed it off. Hearing Lucius'' answer, the glimmer of excitement within his eyes increased in brightness as he continued, "Oh? Tell me about it!" Feeling the tangible aura of excitement that was being let out by the king''s body, Lucius lightly sighed and opened his eyes. Turning to face the king, he explained. "The method that she used to kill the Nine-Headed Hydra was quite creative and was an admirable application of her soul''s ability and inherent property. Her method has an almost definite chance of success but consumes a lot of time in its execution." "Now, the method itself is very simple as you''ve seen. Using her soul power, she poisoned the mind of the Nine-Headed Hydra and cast [Beguilement] and [Mental Suppression]. Trapping the Nine-Headed Hydra into a trance-like state, she designed a dream that would be fueled by the beast''s own hatred and wrath making the entire process self-sustaining." "This not only reduced the burden on her own soul power greatly but also had the additional effect of curbing the innate survival instincts of the creature. All injuries that would be inflicted on its body would be interpreted as wounds from its dream by its mind. This effectively allowed her to kill it." Speaking this much, Lucius paused for a second before continuing. "But as I said, she could''ve slain it sooner. All she had to do was poison some of the heads with her ability and then take control over them. Then, she could''ve controlled these poisoned heads to turn on the other ones, letting the beast fight with its own body while sneaking in some fatal attacks." Shrugging his shoulders Lucius shook his head and concluded, "It would only take three days to conclude the battle." Hearing his explanation, Giant King Klytius nodded his head in agreement. Just as he was about to speak his own thoughts, a sharp voice intervened. "Excepting the fact that forcibly controlling a sentient creature of greater strength with your mind and battling it at the same time is near impossible for most people. Not to mention, even the slightest of mistakes would cause your method to backfire and will kill you." "She did what she could to the best of her abilities. Do give her some credit, Lucius." Ka''lor''ah politely reminded from the side. She had also been alongside the duo during the entirety of the conversation and couldn''t help but intervene at Lucius'' heartless evaluation. "I''m just saying that she could''ve done better," replied Lucius. "There is still much room for her to polish her abilities." "With more time and guidance, of course," scoffed Ka''lor''ah. Rolling her eyes, she continued, "Not everyone has the same monster-level talent like you, Lucius." "That is correct." Lucius agreed. At his response, Ka''lor''ah released a sigh and did not quarrel further. She understood that arguing further would be fruitless since neither party was in the wrong. CLAP! The loud clap brought the attention back to Klytius. The Giant King looked around at his two guests before facing the screen once more. "Hahaha, this round has been one of the most excellent ones that I''ve ever seen. Not only did my youngest son successfully complete his trial but I also had two record-setters participate at the same time." "Well, only 24 hours are left before the round ends and the trail ground teleports out all of the remaining 27 participants." He then suddenly paused and shook his head, "It''s a shame though. I wanted to watch more of your mate. She''s got some fantastic talent." Looking at the giant screen which reflected Olivia desperately chasing after the objective of the Third Labor, Klytius continued. "With her current level of progress, she should be able to reach the Stage 3 realm in less than three years. Please tell her to come back at that time." Klytius'' eyes glimmered with an interesting light as he finished. "I want to personally see how far she''s able to go then." "I''m sorry but that''s not possible," replied a voice, calmly. "Hmm?" Feeling confused, Giant King Klytius turned his head to face the owner of that voice. Looking at Lucius who got up from his seat with an indifferent expression on his face, he asked. "What did you say?" Lucius quietly looked at the screen mirroring Olivia for a few seconds before turning to face the Giant King. Looking directly into those massive brown eyes, he declared. "I said that it''s not possible. She will undergo her ascension into the Third Stage by the end of those twenty-four hours." Lucius'' tone was firm and his voice was without the slightest turbidity. Hearing his answer, Giant King Klytius seemed to be caught off-guard for a moment as a look of bewilderment appeared within his eyes. However, that look was almost immediately replaced by the fires of curiosity and excitement. "BWHAHAHA!! Now, I really want to hear what you have in store for me!" His roar thundered with excitement. Taking in a deep breath, Lucius spoke his thoughts and requested a certain something. Hearing his request, Giant King Klytius thought for a few seconds before unexpectedly agreeing. He, however, had a request of his own. "I will grant you your request. In exchange, I want to fight you at full strength." "Agreed," Lucius unhesitantly agreed and nodded his head. Meanwhile, Ka''lor''ah, who had heard the terms of their exchange, sat blankly and thought to herself, ''Did he just agree to fight the King, a Stage 5 existence, at full strength?'' ''Oh wait, never mind. I almost forgot that he always was crazy.'' ---------- "Stop running you, damned pig! Just stay still for a single second and let me catch you!!" Olivia, who was desperately chasing after the Fleet-Footed Hind, the objective of the Third Labor, yelled in exasperation. The feelings of pride, joy, and satisfaction from completing that impossible task of slaying the Hydra were nowhere to be found on her current figure. Instead, only pain and exasperation filled her entirety. "Damned little piggy! Just wait! The moment I catch you, I''m going to chop off those disgustingly quick legs of yours and roast them before your own eyes!" Olivia yelled in a very unladylike manner. Her beautiful face was twisted with wrath and scathing murderous intent filled the air around her. Thorn, which flew alongside its mistress, was filled with similar rage. Thirty minutes had passed since her entry into this specific trail. Thirty minutes ago, she had found the objective of her trail grazing the grass right in front of her. Thirty minutes had passed since the start of their high-speed chase. In short, Olivia had been chasing after this damned pig-looking creature at full speed for a full thirty minutes. Well, that doesn''t seem to justify her anger. Doesn''t she know that her objective was to catch the Fleet-Footed Hind? What''s the point in being angry? Excellent question. And the answer to that question is¡­ BOOM!! Olivia''s figure suddenly accelerated greatly and the sound of a compressed, miniature explosion followed shortly after. BOOOOM!! An even greater explosion sounded right after and the figure of the Fleet-Footed Hind blurred into the distance. "WHY DOES IT INCREASE ITS SPEED AT THE EXACT MOMENT THAT I INCREASE MY SPEED!!? WHY NOT RUN AT FULL SPEED FROM THE START!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!?" There was your answer. With the increased speed of both the parties, the futile chase continued. The distance between both the parties neither increased nor decreased and remained at a constant 50m. Just enough to stay within sight of each other but not enough to catch up. Olivia maintained her new top speed for five minutes before slowing down once again. Both her stamina and soul power were starting to run low prompting her to exercise caution. Interestingly, the moment Olivia reduced her speed, the Fleet-Footed Hind also similarly reduced its speed. As a result, the distance between both the parties remained at a perfect 50m, even though their speeds had obviously lessened. "*huff* *huff*Dammit! To be mocked by a mere pig*huff* *huff*I swear *huff* I will catch that damned thing and¡ª" "Are you an idiot?" A cold voice suddenly interrupted her declaration of war. Chapter 332: Speedrunning the Twelve Labors. Part 1 "Hieeeee!!" Letting out a sharp yelp of surprise Olivia''s body stiffened from the sudden jump scare causing her to mess up her running pace. This slight delay in pace caused her to miss her next step resulting in a major stumble. Just as her body leaned over and was about to hit the ground with tremendous speed and force, Olivia felt a warm arm tighten its hold around her waist and catch her. Feeling her momentum come to a stop, Olivia blinked a few times before turning her head to look at her savior. A pale, handsome, almost-feminine looking face sporting a bored look came into view. "H-Hey Lucius. What brings you here?" she awkwardly greeted. Almost immediately, a look of puzzlement appeared on her face as she continued, "Wait, how are you even here? Isn''t this supposed to be an individual trial?" Lucius did not reply but rather helped her regain her balance and footing. After letting go of his hold over her waist, he backed off and unenthusiastically stared at Olivia. After a few seconds of silence, he asked once again. "Are you an idiot?" Tilting her head quizzically, Olivia asked, "What do you mean?" In response, Lucius simply pointed towards a certain direction with his finger. Looking over towards the direction of his pointing, Olivia''s eyes suddenly widened with surprise. In the direction at which Lucius was pointing towards was a small-bodied, brown-colored, pig-like creature quietly grazing the grass. The Fleet-Footed Hind that strung on Olivia in a high-speed chase for the last thirty minutes was calmly and elegantly strutting around without any inclination of running away or escaping. "This little basta--!!" Olivia suddenly shut her mouth. A bolt of realization flashed across her eyes as she intently observed the distance between herself and the hind. It was exactly fifty meters. "Do you get it now?" Lucius'' calm voice broke the silence. "Uh-uhn!" Olivia nodded her head and tutted. Pointing towards the calmly strutting Fleet-Footed Hind, she answered, "That bundle of evil over there must have some sort of unique ability or skill that allows it to maintain a constant distance from me. When I increase my speed, it is also able to increase its speed. When I slow down, it also similarly slows down." Hearing her answer, Lucius nodded his head and explained. "The Fleet-Footed Hind is a being that is mainly composed of the Lesser Rule of Space and Dimensions. It represents the concept of ''Impassability'' and cannot be directly caught by existences below Stage 5." "Huh? Isn''t this trial just impossible then?" Olivia had barely made out a reply when she felt a familiar pain on her forehead. "Ouch!" Keeping his fingers in the ''flicking'' stance, Lucius spoke with narrowed eyes, "Has two weeks in the acidic swamp rotted your brain? Think carefully!" "How do you catch something that cannot be directly caught?" Lucius repeated. "You can''t!" Olivia defiantly replied while rubbing her forehead. She was feeling a little angry after listening to Lucius'' harsh remarks. Just as she was about to follow up on her retort, her face suddenly froze and her body stopped. A sudden stroke of inspiration flashed across her mind as her mouth repeatedly uttered. "youcan''tyoucan''tyoucan''tyoucan''t¡­" Thirty seconds later, an ''aha'' expression appeared on Olivia''s face. She then immediately muttered some instructions to her sword and then began to move. Ten minutes later, the Fleet-Footed Hind was made to successfully fall into a large pit of Olivia''s creation within which it was skewered by Thorn. Olivia stood outside the pit wearing a victorious expression on her face while wiping the sweat off of her face. She stood holding onto her knees as her chest constantly heaved from breathlessness. "Told you I would skewer you, little piggy bastard." She then collapsed onto the ground and lied on the flat grasslands with her limbs outstretched. Though she had successfully caught the hind, the effort it took to achieve this result was significant. Turning her face to face the figure of Lucius, who was calmly standing at her side with his eyes closed, she asked, "You still haven''t answered my question. How are you inside my trial?" Turning his palm, Lucius showed a beautifully shaped transparent crystal quietly floating over it. The crystal possessed twelve edges of which three had turned white. "I asked the Giant King to give me an ''Admin Token''. I''m here to oversee and assist you when required to ensure your quick completion of the ''Twelve Labors''." "Why? Didn''t you say ''no assistance will be given?''" Olivia asked while mimicking Lucius'' tone during the second sentence. "The trail will close in 23 hours and 36 minutes. I need you to get as close as possible to the end before that happens." "Huh." Olivia casually nodded her head. She then suddenly paused and hurriedly sat up, "Wait! There''s a time limit to this thing?!" "Yes. Did you not know?" "You never told me anything!! You forced me into this without explaining anything! Did you know how scared I wa¡ª" Olivia''s complaints were abruptly cut short as Lucius grabbed her by the nape. Lifting her up like how one would lift up their cat, Lucius coldly declared. "Looks like you''ve regained sufficient energy. Let''s continue with the trials then." Infusing soul power into the transparent crystal in his palm, Lucius used the crystal''s power and teleported both of them into the next Labor. "Hey! Don''t grab me like that! At least grab me from the front so that I can--!" Olivia''s complaints(?) were drowned out by the curtain of white light covering them. --------- With Lucius'' by her side constantly giving her small hints and tips, Olivia''s efficiency in breaking through the trials increased exponentially. As this was supposed to be a training experience for Olivia, Lucius never stepped in directly to help or gave her the correct answer from the start. He only threw out random one-liners from time to time which allowed Olivia to gain the inspiration to complete the trial. The Fourth Labor, which was to capture the large-bodied Erymanthian Boar ''alive'', was of little challenge to Olivia. It only took her a grand total of ninety minutes to complete the trial. After the battle with the Nine-Headed Hydra, her soul abilities seemed to have undergone a major breakthrough. Taking control of the dull-minded boar was of little challenge and controlling it to reach the required destination was even lower. However, the trial was definitely not a waste of time as manually controlling the Peak-Level Stage 3 beast allowed Olivia to get used to her new prowess and greatly refine her control. The two tips given by Lucius during this time also served to hasten her growth. The Fifth Labor, which was to clean King Augeas'' Stables, was directly skipped over. Since it was time-consuming and was only meant to help the participants temper their minds and build their characters, it was deemed unnecessary for Olivia by Lucius. Olivia was also not of any particular mind to clean a stable filled to the brim with filth and even inwardly rejoiced at Lucius'' decision. The Sixth Labor, which was to battle and kill a swarm of Metal Vultures, was the toughest battle that Olivia had fought in her life, even surpassing that life-threatening encounter from the Stage 3 Sword-Winged Angel. Like the name suggested, Olivia had to face a swarm of bloodthirsty vultures whose entire bodies were composed completely of metal. Each feather was as long and sharp as a dagger while their beaks and talons were sharp and strong enough to easily pierce and crush the strongest alloys known to man. Their bodies were also a lot tougher than usual but were quite weak when compared to the hide of the Nemean Lion or the scales of the Nine-Headed Hydra. Nonetheless, with Thorn in her hands, Olivia did not find it very difficult to cut them apart. However, the real challenge was not their avian prowess or their sharp beaks, but their numbers! The entire swarm consisted of three hundred Low-Level Stage 3 beasts. The Metal vultures possessed incredible cooperation with other members of their kin which in turn greatly increased their overall prowess and danger. Nevertheless, with a dozen near-death encounters, a staggering amount of blood loss, and three hours of high-intensity battle, the trial came to an end with Olivia on top. She did lose one of her hands, a part of her right leg, and a good chunk of her abdomen. However, the final result was in her victory. It was also during this battle that Lucius came to acknowledge Olivia''s ability and prowess, and felt some genuine respect for her. Her status within his mind had also increased from being ''that useful tool'' to a ''worthy ally''. While this change might not seem significant, one had to know that only a small handful of people had managed to attain this honor in the entirety of Lucius'' past life. Their numbers were so small that one would be able to count them with only their fingers. And now, Olivia had managed to attain this honor and recognition. Chapter 333: A Short Rest. Currently, the duo was inside a specialized place within the trials. It was a place where one could rest their mind and heal their body. This was a benefit for challengers who managed to complete half of the ''Twelve Labors''. "How much time do we have left?" Olivia softly asked while being bathed in soft, milky-white light. She was completely naked and her ravishing, transcendent figure was on full display for the world to see. Of course, since it was only Lucius who was in this space with her and with him being completely immune to any and all attempts at physical seduction, her overflowing mature female charm was completely wasted. The ''Observer Array'' that allowed people outside to watch the participants was also unavailable within this space. "19 hours and 54 minutes," Lucius answered while looking directly at her with dull, unenthusiastic eyes. Slightly dissatisfied at Lucius'' continuous lack of interest towards her bodily charms, Olivia sported a pout and asked. "My clothes armor was completely destroyed during that fight. What do I wear now?" At her words, Lucius bent down and reached his hands into his shadow. Searching around for a few seconds, he suddenly grabbed a certain object with his hands and removed it from his [Void Storage]. In his hand was a necklace made by stringing together multiple purple-colored orbs. Throwing it over to Olivia, he spoke, "Dress up if you''re done healing. We should get going." Catching the orb necklace, Olivia replied in exasperation, "Jeez. Let me take a short break. That last fight was soooo~ stressful!" Lucius did not deny her words and tacitly agreed. They did have a few minutes to spare since Olivia managed to complete the Sixth Labor sooner than Lucius'' initial estimation. Walking over to one of the tall, white pillars adorning this space, Lucius leaned against it and closed his eyes. His breathing turned peaceful and his body became relaxed. The rejuvenating properties of this space even seemed to have an effect on Lucius. He felt his mental strength being restored and the tiredness hidden deep within his body, disappear. Looking at this scene of Lucius relaxing, Olivia wore a knowing smirk on her face and teased, "Oho, what is this? Even the eternally uptight Lucius knows to relax, huh?" "How long did it take you to complete the full trial?" Knowing him, Olivia did not even doubt for a single moment that Lucius had failed to clear the ''Twelve Labors''. Instead, she was excited to learn about how soon Lucius had cleared the labors and how she compared to him. ''Even with his strength, it should''ve taken him a week, right? Going the extra mile, at the very minimum it should''ve taken him at least three days.'' Olivia mused. Unfortunately, her estimation was nowhere near the actual truth. "Nineteen hours and thirty-one minutes," Lucius calmly replied. Hearing his answer, Olivia blankly blinked twice before reaching into her ears with her fingers. Cleaning the imaginary debris that blocked her ear canal, she asked once again. "I''m sorry. I didn''t properly catch what you said. Could you please repeat it?" "Nineteen hours and thirty-one minutes." "Huh," Olivia gave a short reply before turning her head to face the ceiling. Gazing at the blank white space that was void of all colors and shapes, Olivia thought to herself. ''Ha, look at this. This ceiling is accurately representing the state of my heart right now; empty and unsatisfactory.'' Letting out a loud, long sigh, Olivia dispiritedly continued, ''Why did I even think that I could compare with this guy whose entire existence makes zero sense?'' "They said that I set a new record in the clear times," continued Lucius. "Why am I not surprised," replied Olivia, dispassionately. "You seem to have set a record too. ''Longest Time Taken to clear a Single Labor''.'' "Hey!~ Stop rubbing salt into my wounds!" Olivia jumped up and angrily rebuked. Being reminded of the impassable distance between their respective strengths was brutal enough for Olivia. Telling her that she set a record for being slow was obviously bullying her. Shrugging his shoulders, Lucius decided to not comment further. Silence descended between the two interrupted only by the soft sound of blowing breeze. After a few seconds of silence, Olivia spoke up in an unusually serious voice. "Do you think that I''ll ever be able to match you in strength?" "Not in this life." Lucius composedly replied. Hearing his answer, Olivia giggled and spoke, "What is that even supposed to mean?" "It is what it is." Olivia continued to giggle before turning silent. A few seconds of silence later, she spoke once again. "Do you think stuff like ''a next life'' or the ''reincarnation cycle'' exists? That we are not new, unique existences but simply a rebirth of a past soul that follows the Rules of Cause and Effect?" A frown appeared on Lucius'' face in response to Olivia''s odd words. Opening his eyes, he started towards the naked beauty who was staring at him with an impassive expression. Quietly staring into her eyes for a few seconds, Lucius quickly came to realize that Olivia was being completely serious. Surprised by this, he remained silent for a few more seconds before replying in a somber tone. "Death is not an eternal end. It is only a temporary state of being while the soul crosses into the Beyond." "Beyond?" Olivia questioned. Nodding his head, Lucius continued, "It''s called by many names; Beyond, the Great Expanse, Paradise, the Other Side, etc. Alas, none of these names are correct." Lucius shook his head. "What is its real name then? What is it called?" Narrowing his eyes at Olivia''s question, Lucius let out a sigh and replied, "That''s not important. It''s not a good place, either." An expression of confusion and surprise appeared on Olivia''s face. Just as she was about to open her mouth to speak, Lucius coldly interrupted her. "Don''t ask anything further. You are too weak to know the answers." Making sure that the threat in his voice was heard by her, Lucius then continued. "To continue answering your previous question, no life is new or unique. We are simply different renditions of an old soul that had everything about it erased." "Cause and Effect only affect a being during the course of its life. At the moment of its death, all existing karmic dues of that life are wiped clean. The soul then passes on before being recycled into a new life." "Death is an end, but it is not an eternal end." Saying as much, Lucius continued his empty, hollow stare for a few seconds before regaining light and shaking his head. He then focused on Olivia who had a quizzical expression on her face, and spoke, "Don''t think too hard on this. After all, these are topics that can''t really be explained with words." "Just wait for when you ascend and you will be able to ''feel'' the answers to such questions." "I will feel when I ascend?" Nodding his head, Lucius explained, "Every time you undergo ascension, your soul will be able to resonate with the Universe. This will help you understand such abstract concepts." "Every time I undergo ascension? Why have I not felt it the two times before?" "Oh, you did. Try and recall the experience you had when you ascended for the first time in Deatov." Taking his advice, Olivia tried to remember the events of her first ascension. She remembered the brutal battle with the Formicians. The scenes of her friends and comrades dying around her. Lucius'' entry into the battle and his resultant slaughter. The eventual victory and the pillar of light that descended from the sky. That mystical place where she¡­ "Uh? Why can I not recall what happened after that pillar of light descended on me? I remember going somewhere but cannot remember where or what happened!" "That''s normal," Lucius staidly answered. "The experience after undergoing the first ascension is similar to waking up from a dream. You vaguely remember something but cannot recall its exact contents." "No matter. The experience itself is a result of your soul resonating with the Universe. The higher you climb, the more definite and clear those experiences become." As he was saying this, Lucius walked up to Olivia and soon arrived before her. Putting his hand on top of her head, Lucius softly ruffled her hair and continued to speak. "By the end of this trial, you will be undergoing your ascension into the next Stage. Do not rush it and properly soak in the feedback that you gain from your soul''s resonance." "The completeness and future potential of your Domain will be decided at that moment." "Uh-uhn~" Olivia vocalized. ''Hmmm? What am I doing?'' Lucius, who was patting Olivia''s head and ruffling her hair, suddenly paused his actions. His body stiffened as he looked down at his hand and at Olivia''s expression of pure bliss. ''Why did I just do that?'' "Why did you stop? Keep going," Olivia''s voice broke Lucius out of his puzzling thoughts. Instantly retracting his hands, Lucius immediately turned around and walked away. "Break time is over. Let''s continue," he spoke, doing his best to hide the slight tremble in his tone. "Oh, come on! Just five more minutes!" Olivia grumbled. Fortunately, Olivia seemed to have missed the strangeness in his tone as a result of being lost in the warm feeling of Lucius'' touch. Regaining his usual calmness, Lucius coldly ordered, "Move. Now." Chapter 334: Speedrunning the Twelve Labors. Part 2 With Olivia fully healed and rested, the duo moved on to the Seventh Labor with nineteen hours and thirty-nine minutes on the clock. The challenge of the Seventh Labor was to capture and tame the Cretan Bull, a creature known for its incredible brute strength and irascible temper that made it immune to mental-type and illusion-type abilities under Stage 4. Standing at a massive ten meters in height and almost thirty meters in length, the figure of Olivia standing before this hill-like beast was quite a sight to see. Traditionally, the Seventh Labor was completed using brute strength. The participant would step down into the volcanic crater within which the bull resided. Upon meeting its sight, the participant would scream at the top of their lungs, challenging the Cretan Bull to a contest of strength. If the participant was to win the contest of strength, the bull would acknowledge their strength and would be willing to be tamed. On the contrary, if the participant were to lose, then the Labor was deemed unclearable. Reasoning with the Cretan Bull was not possible as the creature was known to be one of the most stubborn and irascible beings in existence. Killing it, was obviously out of the question as that would be considered as failing the Labor. When faced with this disadvantageous trail, Olivia took a single look at the large hill-like creature, turned to look at Lucius, and asked, "Are you kidding me?" In reply, Lucius gave his characteristic answer; a blank face. Calming down, Olivia took a dozen or so minutes to recall her anatomy classes with Lucius. She vaguely remembered learning about the Cretan Bull, or at the very least, about its gene pool. She needed to find another way to clear this trial as her greatest strength, which she recently discovered (or rediscovered) to be her soul''s innate skills, was ineffective against this creature. Physical strength? Let''s not even go there. After wasting a few dozen minutes of precious time in searching her memories and scouting the areas of the Seventh Labor, Olivia finally stumbled upon a method that would allow her to tame this creature. It was a simple method that only required a single object. This object wasn''t something exotic or unobtainable. Olivia already had the object that would allow her to complete the Labor with an almost definite success rate. However, just thinking about this method caused Olivia to be filled with significant repulsion and disgust. This was because the object required to utilize this method was herself. Or to be precise, it was her body. The Cretan Bull was a Grade 4 creature with many strengths and few weaknesses. One glaring weakness was its abnormal fetish for humanoid-like women. The Cretan Bull species had an abnormal desire to mate with humanoid-like females. This sexual desire was so strong that sometimes the creature would lose all of its sense of rationality and go into heat, losing its aforementioned immunity to mental and illusion-type skills. Lacking both the physical strength to challenge the bull and the soul power stage to overcome the bull''s immunity, Olivia saw no other hope in completing this trial other than employing this method. Even so, as mentioned before, just the notion of exposing her bare body to someone other than Lucius, not to mention to a mere beast, filled her with incomparable fury, disgust, and repulsion. Simply put, Olivia absolutely loathed the idea of employing this method, so much so that she would rather kill herself than complete this trial. However, one look at Lucius'' indifferent but stern look completely silenced all her conflicts. She did not want to shatter the expectations that he had for her, and more importantly, did not want to disappoint him. Olivia, never ever wanted Lucius to show her that strong sense of disappointment that he displayed in Deatov. During that hopeless war, when Lucius arrived at the ninth hour and called them disappointing for their lacking ability, Olivia had felt a strong sense of alienation and abandonment. It was a feeling that she never wanted to experience ever again. As such, swallowing her revulsion, Olivia walked down the slope and into the crater. Her pace was unusually slow and her face was pallid. Her entire body faintly quivered and a variety of unwilling expressions flashed across her face. Thorn, who shared its mistress'' feelings understood her plight and let out low-pitched cries as it turned back and faced Lucius, who was silently following behind them. The latter, however, remained expressionless and unmoved. The party gradually approached the Cretan Bull, whose mountain-like body stood frozen as its eyes locked onto Olivia''s figure. Its pit-like nostrils flared as its rate of breathing visibly increased since the party''s descent. Walking until they were only five or so meters away from the creature, Olivia''s footsteps came to a pause and the others followed. Standing before the Cretan Bull, Olivia, with her pale face staring at the ground, bit hard on her lips to the point of bleeding. Raising her trembling hands, she placed them on the buckles tying down her outer armor. Just as she had removed two of the buckles, she heard the sound of a tongue clicking. "Tch." The next thing she saw was the dark figure of Lucius'' flying past her and crashing against the head of that mountainous beast. His slender, almost dainty right hand smashed against its head with such furious force that its skull deformed and half of its face was obliterated beyond recognition. The power of a Peak-Level Stage 3 Being with 99% completion on his Domain and one step into the Fourth Stage was not something that could be trifled with! Landing coolly before that mountainous beast could crash on the ground Lucius turned back to face the dumbstruck Olivia and Thorn and spoke. "No matter how strong or impossible to defeat your opponent is, never put down your pride before him. The dignity of a powerhouse is never to be sullied." "This stands doubly true for a student taught by Ka''lor''ah and I." Narrowing his eyes, Lucius sharply questioned, "Understood?" Olivia, and even Thorn, dumbly nodded their heads. Satisfied, Lucius removed the twelve-edged crystal and teleported the three of them into the next Labor. The body of the Cretan Bull lied coldly still with half of its head destroyed, in the middle of the volcanic crater. ---------- The Labors Eight through Eleven weren''t a measure of raw power but trails that focused on the participants'' intelligence, wisdom, creativity, and ability to change and adapt. Of course, some degree of battle prowess was still required but it wasn''t anything that a participant who has overcome both the Nine-Headed Hydra and a swarm of Metal Vultures couldn''t overcome. Olivia breezed through these stages relying solely on her skills and with no input from Lucius. She was also uncharacteristically silent and evasive of Lucius, even to the point of consciously avoiding him. Lucius noticed her strange behavior but did not pay much mind to it. Outwardly he appeared as expressionless and aloof as always, but hidden deep within his eyes were an odd mixture of confusion and agitation. Lucius, himself, did not understand why this was the case but did not like this feeling. He wanted to be rid of it but couldn''t figure out how. As such, he did what he did best in such cases and forcibly suppressed it before burying it deep within his subconscious. Having suppressed these strange feelings, he silently watched as Olivia underwent the trials and swiftly grew by overcoming difficult challenges and soaking in the new experiences. He silently watched as Olivia continued to refine her skills and abilities at a pace that rivaled his own, and closed in on that final step which was infinitely close to the next stage. He silently watched and admired her brilliance, wit, creativity, and innovation; as she stole the horses from a bloodthirsty tyrant, cheated the Queen Hippolyte of her precious belt, negotiated the exchange of cattle from the Three-Bodied Giant Geryon, and exchanged the three golden apples from the Nymphs for their freedom. While he did not show it, Lucius was utterly fascinated by her unique and creative methods of completing these trials, while he, like most others, resorted to brute power and violence. One could say that Olivia''s real charm lay not in her appearance or behavior, but in her intelligence and dedication to a certain task. Lucius, who was intently watching her all by himself for the first time, finally noticed this part of hers. ---------- Within the Rest Space in between the Twelve Labors. Olivia lied resting on the ground with one of her hands serving as a pillow while the other covered the upper half of her face. Her pitch-black hair lay long and scattered, directly contrasting with the spotlessly white floors of this area. Looking from afar, Olivia increasingly resembled a heavenly angel that remained untainted by the mortal world. "How much time do we have left?" she asked. "One hour and one minute," Lucius mechanically answered. He sat some distance away from her with his eyes closed and his body leaned against a white pillar. "One hour and one more Labor left, huh?" She then raised her voice and asked. "Say, why do I feel strangely heavy? It''s like my body is being chained by something and I''m being weighed down by it." Chapter 335: Twelfth Labor. Part 1 Lifting his head, Lucius turned to look towards Olivia and asked, "Heavy?" "Yep. My entire body feels like it''s carrying something really heavy on its back," replied Olivia. Hearing her answer, Lucius nodded his head and said, "That''s good." "Good?" "It means you''ve got one foot into the next Stage." Abruptly sitting up, Olivia turned to look at Lucius with widened eyes and asked. "I''m already there!?" "Why wouldn''t you be?" Lucius nonchalantly asked, returning to his resting pose. "Well! I mean¡­I thought...," Olivia scratched her head in confusion and awkwardly asked, "Isn''t this a bit too sudden?" "Opportunities for ascension are sudden. Don''t tell me you don''t want to ascend?" Lucius asked with narrowed eyes. "Of course, I want to ascend now," Olivia immediately shook her head. "I want to ascend as soon as possible." "What''s the issue then?" asked Lucius. He then looked at the faintly glowing twelve-edged crystal in his hand and got up from his sitting position. Turning to face Olivia, he continued, "The sooner you ascend, the sooner I can undergo my ascension. Time is running out and we need to get to the Grand Alcana Empire as soon as possible." "Oh yeah, almost forgot about that. There''s only about a year left, right?" asked Olivia. "Correct." Lucius nodded his head and continued. "Undergoing the final trial should give you the required impetus to start the breakthrough into the next stage. From there, it will take you anywhere between a month to three months to consolidate your level and form your Domain. This period will consist of your ''ascension''." "I trust you have a basic idea of what will happen during this period?" Nodding her head, Olivia replied, "Yep. Ka''lor''ah had already explained it to me multiple times. I have it memorized." "Good," Lucius muttered. "Do you have a basic idea of what and how you want your Domain to be? Have you decided the Core Rules that you are going to build it around?" "I have," affirmed Olivia. "What are they?" questioned Lucius. Hearing his question, Olivia suddenly adopted a serious expression and shook her head. "I can''t tell you that. It''s a secret." An unnoticeable frown appeared on Lucius'' face from hearing her response. Narrowing his eyes, he asked with a cold voice, "This isn''t the time to be playing around. Tell me seriously." With eyes firm as steel, Olivia slowly shook her head and answered, "I''m not playing around and I can''t tell you either." Denying him once more, she then firmly continued without giving Lucius an opportunity to respond. "You don''t have to worry too much. I''ve already discussed with Ka''lor''ah and together we did some preparation to ensure the success of my Domain''s formation. Rest assured, I''m taking this very seriously." Saying as much, Olivia shut her mouth and quietly stared at Lucius'' face. She unwaveringly stared into his bottomless, pitch-black eyes, showing not the slightest hint of hesitation or weakness. For whatever reason, Olivia was dead set on not revealing any information about the Domain she was planning to form to Lucius. Seeing her unyielding demeanor and serious countenance, Lucius sighed and took a step back. "¡­fine. It is your life after all." Standing up, Olivia performed a proper bow towards Lucius and apologized, "I''m sorry for keeping this a secret from you for now. I will reveal it when the time comes." Looking at Olivia''s bowing figure as she stayed in that position for a few seconds, Lucius shook his head and softly muttered, "I hope you understand what you''re getting yourself into." "I do," she replied without a moment''s hesitation. Not speaking any further, Lucius simply infused his soul power into the twelve-edged crystal and displayed a projection of the timer into the air. [00:00:58:47] "Are you ready?" Performing one final check on her armor, Olivia rested her hand on the sword sheathed by her waist. Lifting her head, she looked at Lucius'' handsome face and confidently replied. "I''m ready." ---------- Before a massive cave entrance spanning a hundred meters in height and three-hundred meters in width situated on the face of an enormous mountain, a curtain of white light appeared. The curtain of light lasted for a few seconds before disappearing into the air and revealing two humanoid figures. In the front stood a tall, angelic-looking woman dressed in a beautiful purple-colored armor. Her tall figure, bountiful assets, and confident bearing combined with her divine-level mature beauty gave her the demeanor of a regal empress. Her left hand, pale as a sheet of paper, rested on the hilt of her sheathed sword while the right remained lowered. Her mesmerizing violet eyes scanned the surroundings with equal parts of caution and curiosity. Standing directly behind her was a taller man whose looks equaled, nay, surpassed the woman''s own beauty. His physique lacked the wide build commonly seen amongst most humanoid men and looked quite skinny and slender. Dressed in similar attire to the woman, albeit in black, the man sported an expressionless look and did not seem to carry any weapon. Although no overt aura was felt from his body, those looking towards him felt an inexplicable sense of danger and a cold chill running down their back. "This is the area of the Twelfth Labor?" Olivia, who had finished scanning the immediate surrounding for signs of danger, turned back and asked Lucius. Pointing his finger to the cave entrance before them, Lucius replied, "It''s in there." "The final trial is very straightforward. Challenge the Peak-Level Stage 4 Mutated Cerberus sleeping inside the cave and gain its acknowledgment." Hearing that sentence, Olivia remained silent for a few seconds. Dumbly blinking a few times, she spoke, "I think I misheard your sentence. Challenge what and gain its acknowledgment?" "A Peak-Level Stage 4 Mutated Cerberus," Lucius serenely replied. "Is this a joke? Are you joking?" "Not at all." "Ah, I see," Olivia nodded her head at his answer. She then looked towards the cave entrance and spoke, "So where''s the exit? How do I leave this place?" Unamused by her display, Lucius placed his palm on her back and pushed her towards the cave. "Stop wasting time and get in there. There are only fifty or so minutes before the trial closes and kicks us out." Forced ahead by his push, Olivia stumbled nearer to the cave entrance. "Hey, hey, hey, wait a second! How am I supposed to challenge a Peak-Level Stage 4 beast and gain its acknowledgment with my meager strength!? What if it mistakes my honest challenge for disrespect? Aren''t I just asking to die!!?" "You''ll be fine. The creature within is very tame. It won''t kill any participant," Lucius calmly replied. He then added with an almost soundless mutter, "¡­i think." Fortunately, or perhaps, unfortunately, Olivia possessed a very sharp set of ears that managed to catch his noiseless mutter. "You think!!? What if I become the first!?" "You may not retreat. This final trial will be the spark that lights the fuel of your ascension." "Then we can just find another spark!! Plus, this trail isn''t any spark! It''s a freaking incineration chamber! Lucius, I might actually die before¡ª" GROOOWL! Olivia''s frantic cries were abruptly cut off by a thunderous low growl and a gust of warm breath originating from inside the cave entrance. The sheer presence contained within that sound froze Olivia in her tracks similar to a deer caught in front of headlights. Her thoughts whirred to a halt and her heart threatened to stop beating. "You out there, final participant. Step into the cave and come into the presence of my magnificent self to receive your final trail." Gulp. Olivia audibly gulped as soon as she heard that majestic, beastly voice. Her body continued to stand unmoved as her mind desperately tried to regain control over the former. "You heard it. Step into the cave and receive your trail," Lucius'' casual tone flowed into her ears. Judging solely from the indifference and nonchalance contained within his voice, Lucius seemed to remain completely unaffected by the presence and aura of the monster living inside the cave. Thankfully, it was this very same nonchalance was allowed Olivia to calm down and regain her bearings. Taking a few deep breaths and tapping her cheeks twice, she turned around to take one final look at Lucius before stepping into the cave. As her mentor, Lucius followed after her, remaining as casual and bored as always. The duo continued to walk along the wide cave tunnel for a few minutes before arriving at a massive clearing. Humongous brightly lit torches decorated the massive walls of this clearing, illuminating the beast''s dwellings. Crystallized volcanic rock made up the floors and walls of this clearing. Their surface was immaculately smooth and absent of the slightest scratch or blemish. The ceiling of this mountainous clearing stood at a height of almost half a kilometer in the air. Thousands of stalactites hung from the ceiling, glowing with various eerie colors. Not only did they look threatening but they also screamed of danger. And finally, at the middle of this elaborate stage was the owner of this dwelling. The Master of the Twelfth Labor. The Peak-Level Stage 4 Cerberus! "Cutting dangerously close to the trial''s closing, aren''t you? Final participant." The voice of the Stage 4 beast viciously howled within the confines of the cave. "No matter. Fifty minutes is more than enough time to deal with a challenge from a weakling like you. So then, let us be¡ª" The majestic voice that induced fear into the bones of all those who heard it abruptly cut off. Olivia, who was avoiding looking directly towards the Peak-Level Stage 4 beast as a show of respect, felt confused and cautiously lifted her head to sneak a peek. It was then that she found herself dumbfounded by the stupid look of shock present on all three heads of the Cerberus. "Y-you! Wh-why did you come here again!?" The awe-inspiring beast screamed in a voice that contained the feelings of surprise, anxiety, and finally...fear. Chapter 336: Twelfth Labor. Part 2 "Ha-haven''t you already completed your trails!? Why are you here again!!?" The Guardian of the Twelfth Labor, the Peak-Level Stage 4 Mutated Cerberus named Ovid, who was known for conducting the strictest and fairest trails amongst all the Labors, whimpered as his pairs of eyes caught sight of the newcomer This newcomer was obviously Lucius, who followed behind Olivia and entered the mountain clearing after her. Hearing the mighty beast''s whimpers, Lucius causally pointed towards the figure of Olivia and answered, "I''m her teacher. I''m following along to guide her through the trials." "But that''s¡ªwait, you''re not here to fight me again?" Ovid cautiously asked. In response, Lucius shook his head and replied, "I already gained all I could from fighting you. There''s no point in repeating." "So you''re here to assist her in her trials?" "Guide her. I won''t step in to help her." "Haaa!~" Hearing his answer, Ovid let out a mighty sigh of relief. Two of his heads hung down in visible relaxation while the remaining head, the middle one, had its eyes upturned in joy and its mouth curving in a reposed smile. "Kukuku!~" The Stage 4 Beast then broke out into a weird laughter of sorts with boulder-sized tears dropping from its eyes. "Kakakaka! Awoooo!~" Soon, maddened laughter and crazy howls resounded within the confines of the mountainous clearing. Olivia, who was watching this confusing exchange and the subsequent spectacle, found the respect and image that she had for the Peak-Level Stage 4 beast come crashing down. She turned to look at Lucius, then at the Mutated Cerberus who seemed to be laughing and crying at the same time, and then back to Lucius. "Hmm, Lucius. What''s happening?" Shrugging his shoulders, Lucius replied, "I do not know." Hearing such a response, Olivia turned back to face the Mutated Beast and decided to wait for the creature to calm down. Looking at its three faces whose expressions were alternating between sadness and joy, Olivia could vaguely feel the traces of a mental trauma within its psyche. Relating this with the earlier exchange between the beast and Lucius, she started thinking. ''What the hell happened between this poor creature and Lucius for it to be so strongly affected?'' Sneaking a peek at Lucius, her thoughts continued, ''What did he do?'' Olivia''s impression of Ovid had gone down from ''that fearsome, insurmountable monster'' to ''that pitiful dog''. ---------- After nearly five minutes of laughing and crying its heart out, Ovid finally calmed down and looked towards the small challenger. "Ahem, ahem, please forget that unsightly behavior of mine. I was simply a little relieved," Ovid spoke with ''dignity'' in its voice. ''A little relived? You were crying ''Mommy'' three minutes in! How am I supposed to forget such a thing?!'' Of course, this internal monologue of hers did not see the light of day as Olivia adopted the perfect picturesque smile on her face and replied, "I have no idea what you''re talking about, Sir Guardian." Olivia even showed a ''look of confusion'' to sell her act. Seeing this response from the little challenger, Ovid felt greatly pleased. It understood that the little challenger was lying to please it but nonetheless felt glad about her active cooperation. "Ahem, exactly," Ovid nodded his head. He then turned to look at the devil dressed in black. He had his eyes closed and was standing a good distance away from the little challenger, seemingly asleep. Ovid''s large mouths moved quite a few times but its voice refused to come out. Trying a few more times to no avail, Ovid shook its heads and gave up. "Hmm, Sir Guardian," Olivia hesitantly piqued. Hearing the little challenger call its mighty name, Ovid turned to look at her and warmly asked, "Yes, little one?" "May I receive my trial?" "Yes? Oh, yes!" Ovid fiercely nodded its heads. "I forgot that you don''t have a lot of time before the trial ground closes." "Before we start, are you really his student?" Ovid asked, pointing towards Lucius with its humongous toe. Following the direction of its pointing, Olivia quickly replied, "Hmm? Yes!" "I see." Ovid nodded its heads with utmost seriousness. "So uhm¡­Forgive me for asking but did he pass down his techniques to you?" Hearing this strange, somewhat personal question, Olivia thought for a moment before deciding to be honest. "Not all of them since I use a sword, you see," Olivia pointed to the weapons sheathed in her waist. "Just his Movement Technique and battle knowledge." "I see." Ovid calmly replied. For a moment, Olivia could swear that she saw the demonic-looking beast sneakily let out a sigh of relief. This type of behavior only served to make her even more curious about the events of Lucius'' trial. ''Just what happened between the two of them!?'' Alas, Olivia did not have much time to ponder on this question as Ovid continued to speak. "Good. Very good¡­" "You seem to be at the very peak of the Stage 2 realm with one leg inside the next Stage. However, knowing that you''re the student of that nonsensical mons¡ªremarkable youngster over there, you should possess the strength to fight above your Stage." "As such, your trial is simple. I will limit my strength to the Peak-Level of Stage 3. All you have to do is touch this star-shaped symbol on the top of the middle head within twenty minutes." Lowering his middle-head, Ovid showed Olivia the small star-shaped birthmark near the center of his head. The birthmark was barely the size of Olivia''s palm and was extremely small in respect to the size of its head. "Seems simple enough, right?" "¡­yes." A bad feeling appeared in Olivia''s heart as she felt that the mighty creature had more to say. "Good. Now let me tell you about your handicaps." "I see that your sword is a Stage 3 Living Weapon? Let''s start with that. You will not be allowed to use your sword during this trial." The moment it finished speaking, an oppressive pressure descended down on Olivia. More precisely, it descended on Thorn that was hanging quietly by her waist. The oppressive pressure completely suppressed the Living Weapon, before forcefully carrying it away from Olivia. Thorn was made to shoot up into the air and disappeared somewhere amongst the thousands of rock protrusions in the ceiling. "Secondly, you will slowly lose each of your six senses starting from ''Sight'' in this order; Sight, Sound, Smell, Taste, Touch, and Proprioception, which is your ability to sense using soul power." "Each of the senses following ''Sight'' will be taken in intervals of three minutes from the start of the battle. If you still haven''t succeeded at the fifteen-minute mark, then your final sense ''proprioception'' will be taken away." Saying as much, Ovid paused for a few seconds to let his instructions sink in. After waiting for Olivia to exit her daze, he continued. "Since you lack a Domain, I will not be placing the Domain Restrictions on you. Also for this very same reason, I will not actively attack you and will only passively defend." "You are welcome to use any and all methods to try and succeeded. Do you have any questions before we start?" Ovid asked. Chapter 337: Twelfth Labor. Part 3 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¡ª" "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. Chapter 338: Twelfth Labor. Part 4 ''Argh!! This damned dog¡­why won''t you just get hit!?'' Olivia let out a frustrated cry within her mind. The lack of any real progress coupled with the impartial decrease in time frustrated her to no end. With tense nerves and a high-strung mind, Olivia continued with her furious assaults¡­only to fall short. Swooop!~ The familiar feeling of wind sweeping against her skin was felt by Olivia. Only this time it was a bit different. ''My sense of touch! Twelve minutes have already passed!?'' The feeling on her skin, or rather, the lack thereof informed Olivia that she had reached the twelve-minute mark. Reminded of the rapidly decreasing time, panic started to set in. Having lost all of her five basic human senses, Olivia now had to continue the challenge while relying exclusively on her soul sense. This feeling would, of course, leave her after another three minutes. Forcibly stopping her assault, Olivia disengaged from the behemoth''s body and landed on the ground. Panting with an open mouth to regain her breath, Olivia''s mind whirred in search of a plan. ''This stupid dog! While it said that it wouldn''t actively attack me, it never said anything about restraining its own power! How am I supposed to beat an opponent, who is two full Stages above me, in terms of speed?'' ''Time is running out and I HAVE to finish this before the fifteen-minute mark. Think Olivia, think!'' But alas, no matter how far and wide her mind searched, it failed to come up with an answer. All of her conclusions led to the same result¡­ ¡­this challenge was impossible. ''But it can''t be impossible! Lucius completed it, didn''t he? Not to mention the hundred or something other challengers, according to the big dog. There has to be a way. Some method that I''m missing!'' Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Olivia stood still and replayed every scene since entering the ''Twelve Labors'' trail. A series of frozen images depicting every sight, every word, and every clue flashed across her mind. Seconds continued to tick by as Olivia pushed her mind beyond its limits. She was fully employing her ''Parallel Thought Processing'' technique and pushing it to its limits. If one were to view Olivia now, one would see her face flushed with blood and heat up to an incredible degree, so much so that the sweat glistening on her face instantly evaporated and turned into visible white steam. The thirteen-minute mark arrived and Olivia yet again found herself without any solution. She now only had less than two minutes before losing her final sensory function and along with it, any chance of succeeding in this trial. ''No, no, no, no, NO! There are no clues!'' Olivia internally yelled with despair. ''I cannot fail now! Not when I''ve come this far!'' "ARGH! DAMMIT!" Letting out a roar, Olivia leaped off the stone floor with incredible power and neared to where she thought the Guardian was. ''Proprioception'', or soul sense in simpler words, allowed Olivia to ''see'' and ''sense'' every inch of space within her Boundary. However, Olivia''s Boundary extended only up to thirty meters of space around her. This meant that she would be unable to view the Guardian unless it entered within this distance. But alas, Ovid was a fair examiner and a heartless beast. The moment it ''saw'' Olivia rush towards its general position, it immediately moved its monstrous body to stay just out of her Boundary. It went without saying that Ovid had a Boundary that was vastly larger than Olivia. ''It''s supposed to be here¡­Don''t tell me it moved!? Oh, fu*king come on!!'' Normally, had Olivia retained her senses of sight, she would''ve seen the creature move. If she had even retained her sense of sound or touch, she would''ve heard it move or felt the roaring drafts rub against her skin as a result of the sudden, rapid displacement. Alas, there were no ifs. This was her current situation and Olivia had to deal with it. BOOOM! BOOOOM!! Steeping off the floor, jumping off the protruding stalagmites, even dashing off the summoned ''Sky Steps'' ¨Ctiles that could be made in the air using soul power- Olivia employed every known maneuver to increase her speed and abruptly change her direction. She focused her entire mind on feeling the changes with her soul power and inched closer and closer towards the damned creature. Just as she was centimeters away from entering its range¡ª ¡ªOvid pulled away once more. ---------- It was evident at this point that the giant behemoth of a Wild Beast was toying with her, similar to how a cat would toy with a mouse. Lucius'' prowess had scared the giant beast out of its mind and had deeply wounded its pride as a powerhouse. And now, Ovid was taking out its frustrations on his student. It was petty and unfair, but hey, life was unfair. Lucius too, knowing this, did not interfere. No matter how deeply unfair and one-sided this trial would be, he had decided not to interfere unless Olivia was on the brink of death. What he sought wasn''t a companion who was simply good or better than the rest. He wanted the best. Only the best would be worthy of joining their cause. Only the best would have a chance of going against the Lords, the Rulers of the Universe, and possibly come out on top. Keeping his eyes closed, Lucius muttered under his breath. "¡­so struggle. Struggle with everything that you have and you might have a chance at coming out successful." ---------- Thirty seconds to go. By this point, Olivia''s assaults consisting of thrusts and slashes no longer possessed their original structure. It was but the incoherent swings of an amateur who had allowed panic to overtake their mind. Ovid, who was looking at this scene using his soul power clicked its tongue and shook its head. The initial sense of expectation that it possessed had all gone away and was replaced by plain disappointment. ''Being that monster''s student, I expected her to be something special. Looks like I was mistaken,'' thought Ovid. The little girl before it was strong, way stronger than someone from her realm ought to be. However, she seemed to lack that heaven-bestowed talent that would set her apart from the ordinary and truly make her peerless. ''The moment she allowed the doubt of failure to enter her mind, her chances at success were already gone. Doubts grew and fear festered. She lost not to me, but to herself.'' Ovid exhaled deeply once more and dodged another frantic attack from Olivia. He then noted the passage of time and realized that the final moment was here. ''I guess this is the end.'' The moment he thought this, a ray of black light descended simultaneously on Ovid and Olivia, robbing them of their final sense. Ovid''s mountainous body rigidly stood and Olivia fell from the sky, crashing into the stone-laden floor. Blood trickled from her orifices but there was no expression of pain on her face. In fact, there was no response from her at all. Both Ovid and Olivia currently resembled elaborately constructed mannequins. If not for their hearts beating and their lungs breathing automatically, one would mistake them for actual mannequins. The fifteen-minute mark had been crossed and the duo lost all means of observation. Now trapped in endless, senseless darkness they entered the final portion of the trial. Chapter 339: Twelfth Labor. Part 5 Olivia, or rather, a string of thoughts that believed itself to be her floated across boundless darkness. This darkness had no ups, no downs, no lefts, no rights, it had no direction, structure, or order. It was simply nothingness. A true representation of nihility. The only thing present within this place was the string of thoughts that called itself Olivia. However, even itself was unsure of its existence as it possessed no definite shape or structure, nor any proof of its existence. It was completely possible that this string of thoughts called Olivia did not even exist. Still, this string of thoughts did not ask itself this question and firmly, single-mindedly believed that it existed. Where did it exist? It did not wonder about this question. Why did it exist? It did not wonder about this question either. What was it? This was one question that the string of thoughts knew the answer to. It was Olivia. What was Olivia? Was it a place? A moment? A shape or known order? The answers to none of these questions were known by the string of thoughts. All it knew was that it was Olivia and that it existed, and that was all that mattered. Holding onto this singular truth, the string of thoughts continued to float through the endless darkness of nihility. The concept of space and time was absent as there were no means available for observation. Was it even floating then? Mayhaps, it remained unmoving in absolute stillness. I mean, how could you measure space or count time in a place where nothing could be seen or felt? Thinking about this question raises another one. Does something, which could not be observed by any means, exist in the first place? What makes something exist anyway? Was it its shape, size, or weight? Was it the fact that this ''something'' could be interacted with and was thus granted the label of existence? Perhaps, something required a goal to ''exist''. A purpose, if you will. The questions were endless and the answers were unknown. Maybe there existed a single, unequivocal answer. Or maybe, there existed multiple answers. It could even be that there existed no answer at all to this question. Still, none of this mattered to this string of thoughts called Olivia. All it knew was that it existed and that was enough. In this space of nihility, this string of thoughts called Olivia continued to either float endless or stay in absolute stillness. Nothing happened and there was no progress, but the string of thoughts called Olivia was content. It knew that it existed and that was enough. After an inordinate amount of nothing happening, one day, if a day even existed within this place, something happened! For the first ''time'' since the ''start'', there was a change within this space of nihility. And this change came in the form of a glimmer of pulsating grey-colored light. What was this light? No actually, what was light even in the first place? And what was this ''grey color''? The string of thoughts called Olivia did not know the answer to any of these questions, but strangely, it did not seek these answers either. Much like itself, it just knew that this grey-colored light existed and that was enough. But that wasn''t the end. Unlike the previous times, it was satisfied with simply existed. It wanted to ''move'' towards this grey-colored light. Why? The string of thoughts called Olivia did not know and neither did it question this. All it knew was that it wanted to move towards this glimmering grey-colored light. And knowing this was enough, as the string of thoughts called Olivia started to move! And with this, change started to appear within the space of nihility. Progress appeared and purpose was given. And the string of thoughts called Olivia ''acted''. ---------- Outside. Lucius, who was leaning against a pillar of rock with his eyes closed, suddenly shot up and snapped his eyes open. His black irises, which were as still and dark as a bottomless well, displayed immense surprise. "¡­incredible," a rare remark of admiration leaked from his lips. Less than a minute had passed since Olivia''s final trial had entered the final five-minute period where all senses and means of observation were sealed for the examiner and the examinee. Ovid sat dignified with his heads raised high and his eyes closed, while Olivia lied sprawling with her face against the ground and blood pooling underneath her body. The bodies of both Ovid and Olivia stood absolutely still with no movement or reaction similar to puppets. And now, with his eyes, Lucius saw one of these puppets ''move''. It was a very small movement. One of Olivia''s back muscles faintly twitched and Lucius, who had set his Boundary to encompass the bodies of both Ovid and Olivia, immediately noticed this twitch with his soul power which he was using to observe the changes in their bodies. Normally, such a small change was of no importance. A muscle twitch happened to almost everyone and could be shrugged off as something instinctual and automatic. However, Lucius understood how the sense sealing worked and knew that such instinctual, automatic responses were not possible during the course of this challenge. This was because the challenge isolated the three centers of power; the body, the consciousness, and the soul, and made it impossible for one to communicate with the other. Without any communication possible, such changes would be impossible. In essence, the challenge was to find a method for the consciousness to communicate with the body and the soul past the Rules isolating them. This only meant one thing, Olivia had figured out a way to ''navigate'' through the space of nihility. And once she found the way, success was only a matter of course. ''Incredible. Absolutely incredible. She found a method in just fifty-three seconds. Her talent and potential seem to be far greater than what I initially estimated to be.'' A smile had unknowingly appeared on Lucius'' lips. To be honest, Lucius wasn''t really expecting Olivia to actually succeed in this trial. While he hoped for her to succeed, the three-hundred-years of wisdom within him calculated her chances of success to be abysmally low. Originally, Lucius had planned to use her in the second and third phases of the ''Great Plan'' before abandoning her. Her use as an ally would run out after the third phase and from a purely rational perspective, there was no point in investing in her and keeping her on their side. This though, however, had begun to change little by little as Lucius spent more time with her during their course of training. During the course of these four years, Olivia''s identity in his eyes had gone up from being a ''somewhat useful tool'' to a ''person worthy of admiration''. While her usefulness would still run out after the completion of the third phase of the ''Great Plan'', Lucius was no longer of the thought of ruthlessly abandoning her and instead thought it would be alright to let her be free and leave her to her own devices. Now, however, this thought had changed once again. Why was this so? To answer this question, we must first answer another question; why would Olivia outlive her usefulness after the third phase? The answer to this question boiled down to a single word: power. The fourth phase of the ''Great Plan'' which was also the penultimate phase would mark the start of Lucius'' and Ka''lor''ah''s direct confrontation against the Lords. And to participate in this confrontation, one had to possess at least Stage 6 strength. Chapter 340: Potential and Trust. Stage 6. The Stage where a being would undergo its second ''transcendence''. It was a realm that separated the mortal from the immortal, the weak from the strong. To reach this realm many things were needed. Many requirements had to be met and many sacrifices had to be offered. For now, let us look past all minor requirements and focus only on the most important ones. Firstly, the entity must possess a body that was at least of Grade 6 quality. Being born into a Grade 6 or above race was the easiest, most direct way to meet this requirement. Nonetheless, not all hope was lost as ''Inheritances'' with Race Transformation existed which allowed a few, very lucky ones to meet this requirement. Secondly, one must possess a Domain with at least one of its Core Rules belonging to the Higher Rules. These Higher Rules consisted of the likes of; Space, Time, Life, Death, Cause and Effect, Judgement, Order, etc. One had to remember that each person had only one opportunity to from their Core Rules and that was during their Stage 3 ascendance. While upgrading to a Higher Rule from a lower-tier one was possible, such cases were rare and required one to possess tremendous talent. Discarding a previously set Core Rule for a new one was impossible and would directly result in their Domains collapsing, leading to death. Thirdly, a Domain must be of at least of the ''Superior'' rank. Reaching the Stage 5 realm, a Domain could be of five ranks. The better the rank, the more powerful the Domain, and hence, the user would be. (AN: ranks will be explained in the future.) Fourthly, the entity''s consciousness must reach the realm of ''Ascetic Oneness''. In other words, they must abstain and give up all forms of mortal indulgences and passions, focusing only on their path to power. Finally, and perhaps the harshest requirement of them all was for the entity to sever all of their karmic connections with the denizens of the Universe. This requirement is broad and vague, but in short, it requires the entity undergoing the second transcendence to be an ''Independent/Unique Existence''. (AN: will be explained in detail later.) This step was incredibly important as it was required to reduce the difficulty of the ''Bindings of Cause'' trial that the entity will inevitably undergo. Only by meeting the fifth requirement will the entity have the slightest chance of succeeding and successfully ascending into Stage 6. Having expounded all that let''s return to the original topic. Just looking at the five major requirements required to ascend into the Sixth Stage, it can be seen how incredibly difficult it was for an entity to do so. Not only does one require peerless talent and heaven-defying luck, one must have an unbreakable will, a ruthless mind, and unshakable determination. Anyone wanting to ascend into the Sixth Stage and beyond must readily be willing to sacrifice everything that they have worked hard to possess. They must be ready to sacrifice their wealth, abandon their family and loved ones, betray their organization, and much more, only to have a minuscule chance at success. If they were to fail, they would unquestionably die. In a way, it could be said that one would have to be fated to reach this realm. It was simply impossible for just anyone and everyone to reach this level. And hence, this was also the reason why Lucius thought it would be impossible for Olivia to reach this level. There was no doubt that she was talented, but she just lacked that special ''something'' that would allow her to enter this stage. This, however, had now changed. With bated breath, Lucius looked with his eyes wide-open as Olivia''s body stiffly rose from the floor. Her movements were uneven and her motion was rather dull. Nonetheless, she was moving. Standing upright on her two feet, Olivia''s head and shoulders slumped forward seemingly with no strength. Her long, dark hair covered her pale face hiding underneath it her bleeding nose and murky eyes. Her posture was incorrect and her gait was unsteady, teetering back and forth. Mechanically raising her left foot and moving it, she took her step and almost fell head-first once again. However, just as her upper body was on the verge of hitting the floor, her back muscles suddenly tightened and arrested her momentum. With her left leg forward and her right leg in its original position and her upper body at a ninety-degree angle with the floor, Olivia''s subsequent movements resembled less of a person and more of a puppet. Rather than call it ''a person walking'', it would be more apt to word it ''as controlled in the puppeteer''s hands''. Puppet-like or not, it mattered little. What was important was the fact that Olivia was slowly but surely making her way towards the large-bodied Guardian. The distance between the two was a mere thirty meters. Normally, it was a distance that could be covered in a mere fraction of a second. Now, however, with her senses sealed and her centers of power isolated, it took Olivia a full minute and a half to reach the base of Ovid''s body. Lucius watched this scene in utter awe with a strange sense of satisfaction in his heart. His eyes which equally looked at everyone with the same quiet indifference finally saw her as someone more. Olivia''s actions or rather, her talent had finally proven itself of being someone worthy of being his comrade. A person whom he could trust and count on carrying out the ''Great Plan''. A person, like Ka''lor''ah. (Not to be taken literally. It means more on the lines of being of equal status/importance) ---------- "Your friend is quite the odd one, isn''t he? I''ve never seen a Killer make deals, much less actively travel with companions by his side," Klytius boisterously said, sitting on his fur-clad throne and facing the minuscule-sized Faerie before him. "Well, he''s a unique person. That''s for sure," Ka''lor''ah politely replied, reclining herself on a luxurious cushion that was hundreds of times larger than her. The duo was currently in one of the common leisure rooms within the Giant King''s Palace. Having left the trial grounds some time ago, the duo had stopped watching Olivia''s clearing broadcast as they did not want to be spoiled by the result. In fact, Klytius and Ka''lor''ah currently had a bet going on whether Olivia would successfully complete the Twelve Labors. Surprisingly, Klytius was in favor of her chances while Ka''lor''ah opposed. As for the prize of the bet, the duo had kept it simple; a single question. Ka''lor''ah had originally wanted something more, something like a favor, or perhaps some rare items from the Giant King''s treasury. She was quite confident of her stance as much like Lucius she found Olivia''s chances of completing the Twelfth Labor to be abysmally low. ''As long as she doesn''t obtain any outside help, there''s no way for her to succeed. That being said, gaining any form of outside help was also impossible since the Twelfth Labor has Rules specifically guarding against that.'' This was Ka''lor''ah''s thoughts. Bringing any secret artifacts, devices, or runes that would allow one to circumvent the isolation spell was useless as the Rules of the Twelfth Labor specifically warded against such attempts. This warding was strong enough to stop any attempts under the Sixth Stage. ''It''s not like Olivia has some secret supporters in the Stage 6 or beyond realm looking after her, right? Haha, what am I even thinking?'' Klytius, however, did not agree to his proposition but instead proposed another. In exchange for a single question, he would allow Ka''lor''ah to have the first pick at choosing sides. Ka''lor''ah did not hesitate for a single second and agreed to his proposal. Not to mention the fact that she was a simple guest from dubious origins, arguing with a powerhouse, who was at the Mid-Level of Stage 5, was simply asking for her death. As such, the harmless bet was placed and the duo chatted on some other topics while waiting for the result to come out. DING! DING! DING! Turning his giant head to look at the large clock on the wall chiming, Klytius spoke, "Time''s up." "The result should be out now." "Are you prepared to answer a question from me?" Sitting up straight, Ka''lor''ah jokingly asked while wearing a smug smile on her face. "Bwhahaha, quite confident, aren''t you?" Klytius roared with laughter. "Don''t you have any confidence in your companion?" "Oh, don''t get me wrong. I have all the confidence in that little girl. Still, the odds are what they are and I''m just following along," Ka''lor''ah answered. "HAHAHA, well said!" Klytius laughed once more. "However¡­" Abruptly stopping his laughter, Klytius wore a mysterious smile on his face and looked deeply at Ka''lor''ah. His brown eyes that seemed as large as the moon, relative to Ka''lor''ah, held profound wisdom and strange confidence. "The odds aren''t always what they seem to be." Saying so, he pointed towards the open glass windows which overlooked the Giant City and the trail grounds. Ka''lor''ah, who had heard his mysterious answer, felt her heart tighten and her confidence waver. ''Impossible,'' she immediately denied the possibility that arose within her mind and deemed that there was no way it could be possible. However¡­ "BWHAHAHA seems like I''ve won!!" Klytius roared with honest laughter. At the site of the trial grounds, a column of light shot up into the air brightening the entire city to the point of whiteness. Such a phenomenon would only occur in one case. The Twelve Labors have been successfully cleared. "Oh? There seems to be more!" Klytius continued, as he felt the movement of energy at that site. Vast amounts of spiritual energy rushed towards the trail grounds seemingly being drawn in by a vortex of some kind. Klytius and all other powerhouses, at the Fourth Stage and above, sensed the Rules concentrate around that region and rearrange themselves. This only meant one thing. Someone was undergoing their Ascension! Chapter 341: Fame and Mistake. In the periphery of the large coliseum, within which the ''Twelve Labors'' trial grounds were situated, a large mass of curious Giants gathered. Hulking bodies, strapping muscles, tanned, scarred skin, and mane-like hair were common features between the Giants. Their clothes which were made out of expensive Wild Beast leather looked Spartan in style, covering only their privates. "Did you feel that energy wave, brother?" "Of course! Seems like someone is undergoing their ascension brother." "Brothers, isn''t the trial ground supposed to be closed today? I thought all the challengers had already left the trial grounds a few days ago." "Oh, I know the answer for this one, brothers!" a brash voice quipped. The Giants hurriedly identified the source of that voice and gathered around him. "Hurry and tell us, brother!" "Quick brother, give us the answer!" The speaker, a handsome-looking Giant in his mid-teenage years, cleared his throat, looked to the sky, and gloatingly replied. "Hahaha! Before I start telling my answer, perhaps I should give a small explanation as to why I know this answer. You see, brothers! It all started when I was born. I was a¡ª" The valiant speech of the young lad was abruptly cut off as a large palm smacked him on the back of this head. "Stop dawdling and quickly get to the answer, lad!" "Fa-father!" Hearing this short exchange between the Giant father and son, the other Giants in the vicinity began to laugh. A few seconds later, the teenage lad hurriedly organized his sentences and answered while being subjected to his father''s glare. "I-if I recall correctly, there should still be one challenger inside the trial grounds." "Oh? On the final day? Who is this person?" "Quickly tell us who this person is, brother!" Listening to their impatient quips as they passionately asked him for an answer, the young Giant felt his smugness rising. The desire to pose once again rose within his heart. Cough. Cough. However, a light, menacing cough from his father quickly dissipated whatever need for show-off he felt. "This last challenger is none other than the disciple of the ''Black Blade''!!" A collective gasp escaped from the mouths of the crowd. "H-heavens, the ''Black Blade'' has a disciple!? Why didn''t I know about this, brothers!?" "I remember! On the day of trials'' starting, I recall seeing a little sister next to the Black Blade! She looked just like him! Tiny and weak-looking!" "Weak-looking!!? Why don''t you try and duel him? Your face would hit the ground before you understand what''s happening!" "Brothers! I''m just saying what I thought at that time! I wouldn''t dare duel someone whom our mighty king has recognized and given a challenge to!" The clamors of the crowd only continued to increase with this realization. The ''Black Blade''. This was the nickname that Lucius gained in the two weeks that he spent in the Land of the Giants. Typically, the ''Twelve Labors'' trail was a frequent occurrence and not many Giants took interest in its monthly renditions. A person or two would generally pop in every now and then just sate their boredom. This rendition, however, was very different. Giant King Klytius'' son, Crown Prince Echion, the bearer of the title of ''First Son'' which was representative of being the strongest Giant under a hundred years of age, was participating in the ''Twelve Labors''. As such, the most recent rendition had become the hottest topic within the Land of Giants, with people old and young, far and wide, taking interest in its proceedings. Many were keen to watch the First Son''s performance and hoped for him to rise up to the challenge and stand up to his name. And boy, rise up and stand tall he did. Smashing through each Labor, the First Son made it all the way up to the Twelfth Labor and even completed it, in only his first attempt! This was an unthinkable feat for a Giant of his age, unmatched by any of his predecessors. Even his own father Klytius, who was publicly known to be the strongest Giant since the ancestor Heracles, did not manage such results in his youth. There was no doubt that this young Giant was immensely talented and had a boundless future ahead of him. Some even dared to hope for his achievements to pass that of the First Ancestor, Heracles. Returning to the topic... With the First Son managing such prestigious results, none believed that another would manage to supersede his result. Not in the near future at least. One had to know that usually, the challengers, both Giants and outsiders alike, barely made it past the Seventh of Eight Labor. Or at least, that would''ve been the case had it not been for a monster taking part in the trial. A monster, who not only fought the Guardian of the Twelfth Labor head-on but also blazed through the Twelve Labors in an incredible time, setting a record that could hardly ever be broken. This monster, who roamed with a blade that was as black as the night sky, was recognized by their mighty king with the latter even issuing a public challenge for a duel. For context, a duel with their king was the ultimate act of honor for any Giant. For the king to personally issue a challenge and to an outsider nonetheless, this honor was even greater. And thus, the name ''Black Blade'' was known and his fame spread throughout the Land of Giants and more. In the royal city surrounding the trial ground, this name resounded at least hourly within every household. Going further, if Lucius were to reveal his actual age alongside his achievement, there was no doubt that his name would enter the ''Universal Power Rankings'' with the suffix ''Most Talented Killer of the Current Era'' attached to it. Fortunately, this did not happen as Giant King Klytius used his influence to hide this secret at Lucius'' behest. Hiding from the eyesight of the Lords was exhausting enough. Lucius did not want to add the multitude of troublesome organizations scouting him, to this list. Back to the story¡­ "Wait, then that means...the pillar of light a few minutes ago¡­it couldn''t be!! Bro-brothers!!" "Could that little sister have ''also'' completed the trials!? It can''t be, right? It might''ve been someone else." Hearing that, the teenage Giant from earlier quipped. "Hey, brother! Are you calling me a liar? She was the last and only participant inside the trial grounds. So unless the ''Black Blade'' managed to clear the trail twice, I doubt it was anyone else!" "Ah, calm down brother! No one doubted your words! It''s just shocking, that''s all." "Anyway, brothers. Can we go in and take a look at what this fearsome little sister looks like?" "You''re thinking about issuing her a challenge, aren''t you brother?" "Hahaha. I was indeed thinking about that, brother." "Well get in line! I''m going first!" "No me!" "Wait, I''ve got to be the one!" The crowd of Giants, being the challenge-crazy, battle-seeking, honest brutes they were, pushed aside each other and tried to be the quickest one to enter. For a second, they seemed to have collectively forgotten that the person inside was undergoing their ascension and not even the slightest disturbance could be allowed. Just as the first person was about to take the first step into the coliseum, a line of black light flashed before his body and appeared on the doorstep. "Step back if you don''t want to lose a leg," a voice coldly stated while emitting bone-chilling murderous intent. Chapter 342: Solemn Pledge. Lucius'' cold voice cut across the boiling atmosphere of the Giants and immediately cooled their hot-blooded minds. Realizing that the person inside was undergoing their ascension and should not be disturbed in the slightest the crowd collectively and immediately took a few steps back. Creating a distance of thirty meters from the door, the crowd of Giants instantly bowed their bodies and apologized, "We are extremely sorry brother Black Blade. In the heat of the moment, we forgot about our surroundings. You are free to ask us whatever you want." The voice of the crowd was unified and solemn. Having each undergone an ascension or two, the people within the crowd immediately realized how threatening their thoughtless actions had been. To this race of powerful warriors who adored power and deeply respected every powerful person, disturbing another person''s ascension was the highest form of transgression. It was a sin that could never be washed away, even if paid with death. As such, the moment their minds cooled and the crowd realized the situation, they hurriedly apologized. Even if Lucius were to ask them for their heads, they would not hesitate to pay him. That was how honest the Giants were and that was how highly they viewed power. And the ''ascension'' was the most sacred act of gaining power. "I too, apologize for the actions of my kin, honored warrior," a voice boomed from the sky. The crowd of Giants and Lucius raised their heads to identify the speaker, only to realize that it was their own king. Giant King Klytius, alongside the tiny, tiny Ka''lor''ah, had arrived at the scene. Gently touching down onto the ground, Klytius walked up to Lucius and continued with his speech. "I request that you spare their lives in honor of our friendship. They might be foolish, but they are my men after all." Hearing his words, the crowd of Giants felt their hearts warm. With tears in their eyes, they looked up at their mighty king and spoke. "¡­my king, but we¡ª" Giant King Klytius instantly cut off their answer and interrupted. "I know. Your thoughtless actions were unforgivable, even though they were unintentional. Fortunately, you were all stopped before anything concrete happened and no harm was ultimately done. This lightens your sentence." "What if I want their lives?" a chilling voice calmly asked. Lucius continued to stand at the doorstep of the coliseum with his scythe unsheathed. His entire body radiated such dense murderous intent that the air around him seemed to be twisting with pain. Being the source of that earlier question, Lucius defiantly looked at Klytius while standing in a leisurely stance. His demeanor contained none of the respect that one would usually possess while facing a king. Hearing that question, the bodies of the Giants in the crowd froze while Klytius'' eyes slightly narrowed. Ka''lor''ah, who floated somewhere above Klytius, silently clicked her tongue but did not intervene. It was evident that no matter what happened, she would always stand by Lucius'' side. ''Still, could you not take it a little easy, man? We aren''t exactly strong enough to take on the Giants, you know,'' she thought to herself. "Is that so," Klytius spoke in an unusually low voice. Lowering his head, he hid his eyes underneath his hair before suddenly looking up while roaring with laughter. "BWHAHAHA! This is exactly why I like you kid! You possess the confidence of a Giant! Hahaha! How I wish that I could adopt you as one of my sons!" Klytius continued to roar with laughter to the point of having tears form in his eyes. Using his humungous, calloused fingers to wipe his eyes, Klytius continued. "But still, I can''t budge on this. What kind of king would I be if I can''t protect the men behind me?" Saying so, he looked at Lucius with bright eyes and a smiling face. His aura was peaceful and placid with no intention of battling anytime soon. The sight that the crowd of Giants saw was that of their easy-going king peacefully looking at the fearsome Black Blade while spreading out his arms as if showing how defenseless he was. They saw that familiar armored back that had protected them many a time during battles and wars. It was warming, comforting, and filled them with confidence from knowing that they were protected. However, the sight that Lucius saw was different. He saw a terrifying wolf that was acting harmless all while instigating its prey to jump towards it. Lucius'' instincts, born from three hundred years of battle experience, severely warned him of the danger of rushing in unguarded. It was simple. If he were to take a single step forward, he would instantly be injured to a degree where his combat capability would reach zero. Lucius was strong. He knew this. But fighting against a Mid-Level Stage 5 who was being serious was the same as committing suicide with his current level of strength. Recognizing this, Lucius backed off. "I''m not your match," he spoke while retracting his murderous aura. "¡­yet." "Bwahahaha! Then I eagerly await our battle! You still owe me a fight, remember" Lucius simply nodded his head, turned around, and headed inside the coliseum. Klytius did not speak any further and followed behind him, behind whom Ka''lor''ah followed after letting out a sigh of relief. Seeing the Black Blade leave peacefully and their mighty king follow him inside the coliseum, the crowd of Giants who were following the events with their hearts in their mouths, hurriedly yelled. "Brother Black Blade! I sincerely apologize and acknowledge the fact that I owe you this life! If you are to ever need me, I, Morom, will follow you into battle and will lay down this life for you!" "Me too! I, Karu, also owe my life to you and will repay it on the battlefield!" "I, Rapol, also promise to repay you!" One by one, the large crowd of Giants solemnly spoke out their promise while performing their unique military salute. Were these words spoken by members of some other race, it could be written off as something said in the heat of the moment and was them simply being perfunctory. However, if these words were to be spoken by the Giants, they held a completely different weight. Knowing their honest, straight-forward character they could be counted on to follow through with their promise For that is how Giants were. A race of simple-minded, innocent creatures that lived to fight and fought to death. ---------- Walking into the coliseum hardly hindered the group from listening to the pledges of the Giants. Klytius, who also heard the pledges, wore a smile on his face and softly spoke. "You know have a few dozen, battle-hardened warriors ready to heed your call for war. I only ask that you grant them an honorable death." "I don''t need them," came the response, curtly and coldly. "Well, nothing changes and I get to keep them, I guess," Klytius replied with a smile. Lucius simply scoffed at his reply and continued to follow the corridors of the coliseum. By this time, Ka''lor''ah had made her way towards Lucius and slowly sat on his shoulder. Leaning into his ears, she asked, "What the hell happened in there? How did she succeed?" "She has surpassed all our expectations. Her talent and potential are way beyond our initial predictions. She will be a fine ally," Lucius calmly replied. Hearing his answer, Ka''lor''ah''s eyes widened with shock and her mouth went ajar. Taking a few seconds to exit her disbelief, she continued with absolute shock in her tone. "Lucius are you suggesting¡ª" "Yes," he immediately interrupted her. Continuing to stare straight into the long, dull corridor, he continued, "She may very well accompany us till the end." Hearing that, Ka''lor''ah''s shock exploded. Chapter 343: Promised Duel. ''Did I hear that correctly? Did he just call her an ally?'' Looking up at Lucius'' cold, handsome face with wide-open eyes, Ka''lor''ah continued with her delirious thoughts, ''Am I dreaming, or did he finally acknowledge her with his heart?'' Lifting her hands, Ka''lor''ah used both her hands to grab Lucius'' cheek and pulled. "What are you doing?" Lucius asked, using his hand to thwart her attempts. "Just checking to see if this is real," Ka''lor''ah replied, having confirmed it. The shock in her heart had sufficiently decreased by this point allowing her to regain her usual mental faculties. Organizing the thoughts within her head, Ka''lor''ah spoke, "Still, I never thought I would hear those words coming from your mouth." A teasing smile appeared on her face as she continued, "Seems like she swept you off your feet, huh?" Lucius couldn''t be bothered to reply to her childish provocations and chose to remain silent. This act, however, only served to encourage Ka''lor''ah as she soon fell into a series of silent mutterings and low-pitched giggles. Once again, Lucius chose to completely ignore her and continued to walk forward. Klytius, who had been following the duo from behind, suddenly intervened. "How long did the little one dawdle before coming to her senses?" Ka''lor''ah, also feeling curious at the same thing, perked her ears. "Fifty-three seconds." Nodding his head, Klytius spoke, "Fifty-three seconds, I see. Quite normal for a¡ªwait, what?" His eyes widened and his footsteps came to a stop. Ka''lor''ah, who stayed perching on Lucius'' shoulder, felt her shock explode once again. Her eyes widened to the utmost and her hands unconsciously caught her mouth from falling. Also stopping his footsteps, Lucius turned back to face the Giant King and calmly repeated, "Fifty-three seconds. You heard it correctly." The scene froze for a few seconds at his revelation. Klytius seemed to have stiffened from the realization while Ka''lor''ah looked like she was on the verge of passing out from sheer shock. Fifty-three seconds. One had to know, that it had taken even Lucius thirty-nine seconds to break out of the isolation spell. And this was a person who possessed the boundless experience and was the epitome of talent in the whole Universe. Klytius'' shock stemmed from the fact that two geniuses- of the likes that he had only heard about in stories and legends- had visited his city during his lifetime. He felt incredibly lucky and honored to have made their acquaintance. Ka''lor''ah''s shock, on the other hand, stemmed from her gross underestimation of the young woman''s potential. Hearing Lucius'' seal of approval was one thing, but having the facts thrown at her face was completely different. ''Breaking out of the isolation spell in under a minute¡­this is a level of talent that is hardly seen even amongst the top-level organizations within the Universe. Hell, I don''t think even the Heavenly Sovereigns or the Abyssal Rulers have a talent at this level.'' ''First Lucius and now Olivia, how does a newly ascended race like Mankind keep spitting out such powerhouses? Is this pure chance or¡­something else?'' (AN: The above statement is relative to Lucius'' first life where he was a human for ''almost'' half his life.) "Stop here." Lucius'' statement forced Ka''lor''ah out of her thoughts. Gathering her senses, she realized that the group had made it to the interior hall of the coliseum where the participants of the trial would be teleported out to. At the center of this large, drably decorated stone hall floated a violet-colored, crystallized cocoon. The crystal cocoon which was as tall as a man pulsed with obscure mystical energy while floating amidst the air. Transparent lines which were half real and half illusory appeared in the space above the crystallized cocoon and extended in the latter. These lines, which could be instantly recognized to the ''Rule Lines'', seemed to stretch from infinity. In the space underneath the crystallized cocoon, a large pool of chaotic energy roared and crashed, wanting to destroy everything in its proximity. However, a gentle violet-colored light routinely shined upon this pool of energy, calming it and extracting it into the crystal. Looking at this marvelous sight, anyone who had an ounce of soul power within them would be instantly filled with awe. A profound feeling would appear within their heart and inspiration would endlessly pour into their minds, tempting them to cultivate. However, acting upon this temptation and cultivating near this place was a heresy of the highest order. Not only would such an act interrupt the ascension of the original entity but it might also cause the whole ordeal to go askew, seriously endangering the lives of both the ascending entity and the despicable thief. This was also one of the reasons why the ''Ascension'' must be done in a place that is completely private and isolated from any kind of presence. Having someone stronger to guard you were also advised as the temptation felt by stronger beings is less and in some cases, almost non-existent. "Everything is proceeding smoothly. Seems like there are no issues," Klytius spoke out first. Hearing his evaluation, Lucius also nodded his head. While his perception was extremely lacking to the Mid-Level Stage 5 powerhouse, his experience of the situation was unmatched. After all, he did undergo the ascension for a total of ten times. (7 in previous life, 3 in current life) "May I ask what concept your mate is planning to build her Domain around?" Klytius curiously asked. Facing that question, Lucius did not answer but instead turned to face Ka''lor''ah who sat upon his shoulder. The latter, feeling his gaze upon her turned her head to face him and shot him a curious look. "Well?" Lucius prompted, also wanting to know what exactly Olivia''s plans for her Domain were. His mood soured slightly when he recalled how the young woman had audaciously refused to answer him earlier. Listening to his tone filled with inquisitive curiosity, Ka''lor''ah flashed a toothy grin filled with playful mystery. "Well, wouldn''t you like to know? I''m gonna have to disappoint you, however, as I made that little girl a promise to not tell you." "Don''t sweat it though. You''ll be the first to know once that little girl finishes her ascension and stabilizes her Domain. You will be in for a huge surprise, I can promise you that." Saying as much, Ka''lor''ah immediately shut her mouth and turned to watch the crystallized cocoon once more. Lucius naturally found himself in a bad mood from being refused and quietly glared at her. Klytius, on the other hand¡­ "BWHAHAHAHA! Your mate is just as interesting as you! Now even I''m looking forward to what her Domain is going to be! Hahahaha!" This Giant King seemed to be really enjoying his time as he continued to roaringly laugh for a good five minutes. In fact, ever since the arrival of Lucius and his group, Giant King Klytius found himself laughing more often than usual. "Haa. Haa. Anyway, there is nothing to do but wait for the little one to complete her ascension. Say," Klytius cracked his neck and loosened his arms, "wanna go and have our promised duel?" His voice oozed with battle-intent and hot-bloodedness. Chapter 344: Metamorphosis. "Wanna go and have our promised duel? I promise to go easy on you," Klytius taunted his tiny opponent with a smile on his face. In response, Lucius remained as staid as usual and calmly replied. "Not now. I''m going to remain here until she completes her ascension." Hearing that reply, Klytius narrowed his eyes and spoke with a low tone, "That might take anywhere from weeks to even months. You are not going to make a king wait, are you?" A tense, oppressive pressure erupted from his body. Unaffected by the pressure exerted by the other party and seemingly having expected this question, Lucius nonchalantly asked. "Didn''t you say that you wanted to fight me at my strongest? Wait until she''s done with her ascension and you can do so." "What do you mean? Are you injured? No, your body and energy are both at their peak," scanning Lucius quickly with his soul power, Klytius immediately replied. Taking his eyes off the giant crystal cocoon in the center of the hall, Lucius turned to face the Giant King and continued with his question. "Wouldn''t fighting with me, after I''ve undergone my first transcendence, be more interesting than right now? At my current level of strength, I''ll barely be able to exchange five blows with you before being defeated." Hearing his reply, Klytius dumbly stared at the former for a few seconds, before realization struck his mind. "You mean¡ª" "Yes," Lucius nodded his head. "I will undergo my ascension into the next Stage after she finishes hers. In other words, I will be reaching Stage 4 quite soon." Lucius'' reply was full of confidence and could be considered borderline arrogant. However, the way he said it seemed to be full of ease and almost as if he was telling a matter of fact. Ascending into Stage 4 was an ordeal fraught with infinite uncertainty and danger. Even the best-prepared person might eventually fail during their ascension for the littlest of mistakes. To Lucius, however, this was simply a walk in the park. Having undergone the ordeal before, he was entirely confident of redoing the entire thing with his eyes closed, hands-tied, and legs crippled. (AN: Oh boy, aren''t you confident.) Hearing his confident declaration, Klytius roared with whole-hearted laughter once more. "HAHAHAHA! You-You actually¡ªHAHAHAHA! You sure have a lot of confidence boy! Hahahaha, I like it! That''s how a true warrior should be!" "You''re right. I do want to fight you at your strongest!" Klytius waved his hands in affirmation and continued his laugh while clutching his belly. "I''ll wait then. Don''t disappoint me, boy!" Leaving them with that powerful declaration, Klytius turned around to leave the hall. Just as he had taken a few steps, he suddenly stopped, "Oh right!" Turning around to look at Ka''lor''ah, he spoke, "I believe you owe me an answer, tiny one." "¡­yes." Ka''lor''ah begrudgingly nodded her head. Being reminded of the bet which she had lost did not bring about any pleasant feelings. "Hmm, let''s see." Klytius paused in thought for a few seconds, before shaking his head. "I forgot what I was about to ask back then. No matter, I''ll simply come to find you when I remember it." "Now then, I''ll get going. I''ll inform my men to block this place and set up a perimeter. The ''Twelve Labors'' trial will also be put on hold for some time. Do you need anything else?" Ka''lor''ah shook her head while Lucius stopped to ponder. After a few seconds, he spoke, "Corpses in the Fourth Stage. As many as possible." "Hmm? Corpses? What an odd requirement? What do you want that for?" Klytius questioned. While it wasn''t a huge request for the King of the Giants to satisfy, it sure was the strangest one he had ever heard. Facing this question, Lucius answered, "It''s for my ascension. I need them to perfect my power." Learning that it was for his ascension, Klytius immediately complied and nodded his head. "Oh, sure then. I''ll have some men deliver a few hundred Stage 4 corpses for you." "A few hundred¡­" Ka''lor''ah felt appalled at that huge quantity. "That''ll do." Lucius nodded in reply. "If there''s anything that we Giants don''t lack, it corpses. Do you want a specific type or something?" "Any corpse is fine," Lucius replied, before adding, "If possible, fresh/recently deceased would be better." "That''s fine. I''ll have my men pick it out from the nearby training grounds. Those kids burn through dozens of them each day," Klytius answered, referring to the army training grounds where hundreds of young Giants were learned the art of combat while battling Stage 4 Wild Beasts. "I can wait." ''Well then, I''ll be eagerly waiting. Remember your promises!" Saying so, Klytius waved his hand and left the coliseum. "What was this ''answer'' he was talking about?" Lucius asked Ka''lor''ah, remembering Klytius mention it. Shrugging her shoulders, Ka''lor''ah replied, "Oh, it''s nothing. That big brute and I had a simple bet going on which I lost. Now I owe him a question." "I see," Lucius nodded his head and did not ask further. As such, the two of them sunk into silence and continued to calmly monitor the ascension of their joint student. Time continued to slowly tick by and the crystal cocoon gradually turned finer and more radiant. The whole scene was reminiscent of a caterpillar undergoing metamorphosis to turn into a butterfly. Just that it was far more visual and breathtaking than any normal metamorphosis. ---------- Inside the crystal cocoon. A naked Olivia sat crouching with her eyes closed and her arms hugging her knees. A viscous, sticky, violet-colored liquid occupied the remainder of the space within the crystal cocoon surrounding the young woman and slowly tempering her body. Ascension into Stage 3 was unlike the previous two ascensions, where only one''s soul would undergo a huge change. Upon reaching Stage 3, not only would one''s soul prowess improve by a large margin, but their physical body would also improve to an equal extent to contain this power. Powerhouses in the Third Stage possessed an incredible amount of stamina and near-miraculous life functions. Not only would their body possess enough physical strength to crush rocks with their bare hands, but they could also recover lost limbs or life-threatening injuries in mere minutes! Currently, Olivia was in a state of half-consciousness, where a part of her mind was subconsciously controlling the swirling, rampant energies to harmonize with her body, while the other part was immersing itself within the ocean of Rules and deciphering their meaning. For the first time, Olivia saw the world around her for what it actually was. A highly sophisticated construct, intricately and expertly designed and built using the foundations of existence; the Rules. Billions and trillions of colorful lines filled the entirety of her vision within her mindspace, exposing its true, barren nature while answering all of her abstruse questions. Whatever conscious part of her remained, willingly dived into this ocean of profound knowledge, searching and seeking for the Rules that would construct her path. The concept for her Domain, which she ever so painstakingly devised and perfected with the help of Ka''lor''ah, resounded even in the deepest of her unconscious recess and faithfully guided her to the path. In this manner, time seemed to come to a standstill and the ocean of space within her mindspace seemingly stretched indefinitely. Olivia''s mind blissfully multi-tasked; one perfecting her body and the other perfecting her Domain. She carefully sought her path and refined her Rules, gradually building her Domain from scratch. Everything was going perfectly and there was almost no hindrance to her progress. Except¡­ A ball of grey, gaseous energy seemingly having appeared out of nowhere, split into two. One part plunged into the ocean within her mindspace and imperceptibly changed it, while the other left her mindspace before mixing with the viscous, violet-colored energy refining her body. With the ''Rules of Ascension'' blocking Lucius and Ka''lor''ah on the outside from probing too deep, and Olivia herself lost amidst the infinite ocean of truth, no one recognized the actions of this mysterious grey energy. This ball of mysterious grey energy disappeared once again, with none being the wiser about its motives or about the imperceptible changes it had caused. Chapter 345: This is bad... Chomp! Chomp! Chomp! "Seeing you eat all that meat really makes me wonder how your body works. Like, where does all that meat go?" Sitting crouched atop a mound of Wild Beast Corpses with her chin resting on her knees, Ka''lor''ah asked while shooting strange glances at Lucius. The person, or at least what looked like a person, before her was enthusiastically digging into a mountain-pile of Wild Beast corpses, chomping on their meat and munching on their bones. "Could you at least eat like a person? Honestly, the way your digging into those bodies would make even the filthiest of Wild Beasts feel embarrassed," Ka''lor''ah continued, not hiding the snarky tone. In reality, this wasn''t her first time watching Lucius eat. However, with each subsequent meal, Lucius'' eating habits and table manners seemed to be getting more and more worse. As such, she wasn''t exaggerating the slightest with her earlier insult. In fact, some might even say that she was being kind in her words. As usual, however, Lucius ignored Ka''lor''ah''s words in their entirety and resume what he was doing. Feasting on the corpses of a Stage 4 entities brought him satisfaction like none other. Not to mention, the taste that he felt on his taste buds when he bit into those springy, succulent, near-impenetrable meat with his teeth was simply¡­divine. Faced with such divine temptation, few could likely resist. And it wasn''t like Lucius was trying to resist it anyway. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Gulp! Munching down on the last few pieces of femur stuck between his teeth, Lucius gulped down the remnants of the latest Wild Beast that he had eaten. Lifting himself out of the pit that he had created, he slowly walked down the mountain of corpses towards a clearing in the side. Sitting down with his legs crossed, he closed his eyes and entered a meditative state to aid his body with processing the contents of his stomach faster. Lucius'' shadow formed a three-meter wide pool underneath his body. When he entered his meditative state, the pool-like shadow started to rapidly bubble and sputter, making sizzling acid-like noises. Soon, black smoke rose from the bubbling shadow, twisting the air which they passed through in the process. This black smoke, which could be recognized as the Void Eater''s Void Energy, hung in the air for a few seconds before entering Lucius'' body and suffusing with it. This process continued for a whole fifteen minutes after which it suddenly came to a halt. The bubbling shadow underneath Lucius'' body also came to a still before being suddenly retracted into his body. For a moment, Lucius'' body and the space surrounding it came to an absolute still. Just as this moment seemed to last forever, a change occurred. An ancient beastly aura erupted from within Lucius'' body, startling the spectating Ka''lor''ah and sending her into hiding. The aura, reminiscent of a starving, apex predator seeking food, continued to intensify without pause going from intangible and illusory into tangible and physical. The space within a five-meter radius of Lucius'' body suddenly froze and slowly crystallized under the effects of the ancient aura. Similar to vaporous gas suddenly turning into a solid chunk of ice, the space around Lucius solidified into a spherical ball and encapsulated Lucius within it. The transparent surface of this spherical crystal gradually darkened and before long, reached a state where even light was unable to pierce into it. Silence returned and not a trace of energy leaked from the black sphere. Ka''lor''ah, who was watching this from her place of hiding afar, absent-mindedly muttered. "A black body sphere¡­this crazy guy actually succeeded. He forcibly evolved his physical body into the next Stage without relying on the ascension to do it." "Void Eaters¡­what a terrifying species!!" Fear was apparent in the depths of Ka''lor''ah''s golden eyes as she recalled the feeling of the beastly aura surrounding his body. It wasn''t the starving hunger that scared her but something more profound and far more ancient. When Lucius first awakened to be a Void Eater, Ka''lor''ah hadn''t attached much importance to it, only remembering some vague texts written by her predecessors from many Eras ago describing his kind as the ''Bane of their Species''. However, at this moment, when she felt that primordial aura radiate from his body something deep within her was startled awake. This ''something'', better called as an instinct, gravely warned her. This person, nay, this monster before her would be the source of her demise. ''What am I thinking?'' Ka''lor''ah shook her head and suppressed the horror within her heart. ''I''ve known Lucius longer and closer than anyone. Sure, he''s a bit unstable and almost trusts no one but he is not the kind to renege on his promises.'' Calmness returned to Ka''lor''ah shaken eyes and her thoughts continued. ''For as long as our plan remains incomplete he would never kill me.'' Yet as she comforted herself with such thoughts, the seed of fear and doubt that had long been planted in her heart, sprouted a little. ---------- With Olivia encapsulated inside a crystal violet egg and Lucius encased inside a black body sphere, the interior hall of the coliseum turned silent as each underwent their respective breakthrough. Ka''lor''ah did not remain idle either as she focused her attention on maintaining the [Isolation Barrier] that she had cast around Lucius to hide the terrifying fluctuations of Rules that he occasionally emitted as his physical body evolved into an ''Incomplete-Body of Rules''. While his Body of Rules might be incomplete due to the fact that he had yet to undergo his fourth ascendence or the first transcendence, it was still exponentially better than his Stage 3 physical body. More than anything, having an ''Incomplete-Body of Rules'' would increase his chances of successfully completing the transcendence. In this manner, time continued to pass and before long two months had passed. The violet-colored crystallized egg which contained Olivia had nearly turned transparent, exposing the naked, divine-looking young woman inside. Outwardly, the young lady''s appearance hadn''t seemed to have undergone any distinct changes. Apart from her skin turning a lot smoother and paler, her hair growing longer and more violet, and her mature assets becoming fuller, she looked virtually unchanged. The pool of chaotic energy underneath the crystallized egg had disappeared two weeks ago and the lines of Rules above it had also disappeared three days ago. What this meant was that not only had Olivia successfully completed her ascension into Stage 3, but had also successfully constructed her Domain, whatever it may be. As such, it was only a matter of time before she woke up and exited the crystallized egg, finally becoming a full-fledged Low-Level Stage 3 being. On the other side, Lucius'' evolution also seemed to be coming to an end as currently, cracks started to appear on the surface of the black body sphere. Crack. Crack. Crack. The tiny cracks rapidly expanded on the surface of the sphere, fracturing it into millions of individual portions. Through these fracturing cracks, wisps of smoke-like, black-colored void energy exited and tainted the fabric of space on the outside. An evil, repulsive, oppressive aura radiated from this smoke-like void energy as it continued to rapidly fester and expand into the space surrounding the sphere. In mere seconds since the appearance of that energy, fifty cubic meters of space had already been tainted. Intently observing this phenomenon from a safe distance, Ka''lor''ah internally yelled. ''This is bad!'' ''This is REALLY bad¡­!'' Chapter 346: Deploy Domain. From the outside, the phenomenon of void energy corrupting patches of space did not look that bad. At least, to the naked eye, it seemed as if a dark veil was expanding and enshrouding the area behind it. However, in the eyes of a learned person like Ka''lor''ah, this phenomenon was hardly simple. ''Shit! That''s the motherfu*king VOID that is eating up space and expanding!! Shit! Shit! Shit! SHIT!'' Looking at the dark veil become larger and larger, the panic within her heart also proportionally increased. ''Why the fu*k did the void appear in here!? And why now!? Dammit! If it expands outside the range of my [Isolation Barrier] then I will not be able to hide the evil and dangerous nature of the void energy. The moment the Giants outside detect it, we''ll all be neck-deep in shit!'' The Giants were one of the long-standing, core members of the [Good] faction whose abhorrence and intolerance for the [Evil] faction was no less than that of the Heavenly Sovereigns. This hatred originally stems from the higher authority of the Giants, which were the Titans, whose hatred for the Dragon Race extended across many Eras. (The Dragon Race is another Grade 6 race similar to the Titans and one of the core members of the [Evil] faction.) Lucius'' Void Energy as miraculous and broken as it was, emanated an aura that felt viler and more dangerous than even the purest form of Demonic Energy. This being the case, there was little thought required to what would happen if the Giants outside were to catch a whiff of his energy''s scent. ''A CRUSADE! They''ll mount our heads in a fu*ing pike, that''s what''ll happen!'' Repressing her tumultuous emotions, Ka''lor''ah slammed her hands against the ground and imbued more of her soul power into the large-scale formation extending the [Isolation Barrier]. Her mind whirred at incredible speeds as she rapidly performed calculations within her head. ''My spell can extend up to a maximum distance of 500m. Factoring my soul power, I can maintain the spell at the maximum range for exactly one-hundred and ninety-two seconds!'' ''The rate of expansion of the void is¡­volatile. Dammit! It''s expanding at a random as opposed to a constant rate! I can''t calculate it like this!'' The situation with the void''s expansion was unpredictable. Since the appearance of the cracks, less than thirty seconds have passed and the void has already expanded to cover sixty-nine cubic meters of space. The matter that incensed Ka''lor''ah the most was the random rate of its expansion. At times it expanded at a measly 0.1 cubic meter per second while at others, it jumped to a whole five cubic meters per second. In short, it was hella stress-inducing! ''What do I do!? I can''t simply stay here and watch it expand right before my eyes. But I can''t get too close to it either!'' ''Not only do I lack methods to protect myself against the void''s corruption, but I don''t have any specialized ''Space Locking'' or ''Dimensional Anchoring'' spells within my arsenal to slow it down either!'' With sweat trailing down her face, Ka''lor''ah looked at the dark veil before her with unwillingness and thought. ''Is this it? Is this the end?'' Just as the feeling of hopelessness appeared within her heart, a feeling of irascible anger rose appeared within her eyes. Opening her mouth, Ka''lor''ah let out an indiscriminate yell. "Lucius, you son of a bit*h!! Wake up and rein in this mess!" Silence. "LUCIUS! I SWEAR! If you ruin this attempt and all of OUR combined THIRTY YEARS of hard work and planning! I won''t let you go!! I will haunt you forever in Heaven, Hell, Limbo, or whatever place that we end up in!" "WAKE UP RIGHT NOW!!!" There was no response once again. "ARGGH!!" Ka''lor''ah groaned in frustration. Misty, void energy continued to incessantly pour from the cracks on the surface of the sphere and the void continued to indiscriminately corrupt space and expand. A little over a minute had passed and the void''s boundary now stood at one-hundred and nine cubic meters. Ka''lor''ah''s soul power was also depleting at an equal pace and would last for a little over two minutes. ''Soul power, soul power, soul power, dammit! With the black body sphere blocking my soul connection with him, I can''t even borrow more soul power!'' Another ten seconds passed and the void extended by another twenty cubic meters. This time, however, it wasn''t as simple as simple corruption of space as the boundary reached the remaining few dozen Stage 4 Wild Beasts corpses that Lucius hadn''t consumed. The instant the dark veil touched the edges of these corpses they simply¡­ceased to exist. The void devoured these materials things, broke them down into the simplest particles and energy, and used that energy to further fuel the expansion of the void! The reason Void Eaters were so feared and hunted to the point of extinction in the past, wasn''t due to their cheat-like growth rate, inexhaustible power, or even due to their ability to steal other abilities. No, the foremost reason for their extinction was due to the simple fact that these creatures were the spawn of the Void and its extension. The ultimate goal of existence for all Void Eaters wasn''t absolute power or eternal domination. Their very reason for existence was to consume all material and immaterial things in existence and return them to the void! Having said that, that''s exactly what happened here the moment the rapidly encroaching void touched the corpses of the Stage 4 Wild Beasts. The corpses were near-instantaneously devoured and broken down into simple particles of energy which was then used to accelerate the void''s expansion. As for how much it accelerated¡­ ¡­by an entire hundred and twenty-four cubic meters! In but an instant, half of Ka''lor''ah''s [Isolation Barrier] was encroached by the void. Space started to shudder and Ka''lor''ah''s spell grew increasingly unstable. ''Argh! For fu*k''s sake! Dammit! At this rate, the worst-case scenario might actually occur!!'' "LUCIUS, I BEG YOU! PLEASE WAKE UP! I CAN''T HOLD THIS TOGETHER ANY LONGER!" Ka''lor''ah cried, the helplessness within her voice becoming apparent. She collapsed her material body and reverted back into her original form; the dark-golden Existence Crystal. This change saved her a few units of soul power buying her a whole two seconds. But alas, her cries seemed to fall on deaf ears. There was no response from the black-colored sphere and the void continued its wanton corruption. In fact, it started to eat into the stone floor beneath their feet seemingly having realized something from consuming those Stage 4 corpses. Being present in a materials Universe, there was material all around them; the stone floor beneath their feet was no different. Devouring the stone floors and the dirt underneath them, the rate of expansion of the void continued to increase. Even though the energy contained within such abiotic objects was incredibly scarce and couldn''t be compared to something like the Stage 4 corpses, the void did not discriminate. It simply devoured all. Another thirty seconds passed and the void''s expansion had already closed four-hundred cubic meters and was rapidly approaching the borders of Ka''lor''ah''s spell. The moment it crossed these borders, it would spell doom for the party and would be the end of their quest. They would have failed. Failure. "Hahaha, so this is how it ends," Ka''lor''ah let out a listless laugh. Her emotions couldn''t be discerned in her crystal form for her obvious lack of features. Her voice, however, was expressive enough. "A shame. I really wanted to see what a Universe without the Rules would look like," seeing the void meters away from her, Ka''lor''ah softly sighed in resignation. Just as the void was about to consume her and the spell was about to break, a voice confidently spoke up from behind her. "So that''s the ultimate plan, huh? A Universe without the Rules. I like it." Ka''lor''ah shut ''eyes'' snapped open and looked behind her. "I would like to see it too." Draped in magnificent purple robes and floating in the air while radiating a power that shouldn''t belong to a newly ascended Stage 3 being was a goddess. Or at least, the closest human equivalent to a real goddess. With her mesmerizing eyes glowing with bright violet light and her waist-length hair flailing under pure soul power, Olivia opened her mouth and smilingly declared. "Deploy Domain¡­" -To be continued- Chapter 347: Perfect Prediction. Part 1 ---Flashback--- "Tell me then, what is this reward that you want from me? Do you need my help in setting up a date with Lucius?" Ka''lor''ah teasingly asked. "Well, I would like that very much¡­" Olivia''s voice trailed off for a moment before she forcibly shook her head and continued, "But that''s not what I want." Taking in a deep breath, Olivia asked in a serious tone, "Teacher, are you familiar with the term ''Laplace''s Demon''?" "Laplace''s Demon? Hmm?" Ka''lor''ah sunk into thought and searched her memories. "Oh yeah, I remember reading about it when I was studying Mankind''s history." "It''s that ancient, disproven theory which states that it''s possible to formulaically calculate the past or the future of any object at any given time, given that everything about the said object is known, right?" "Why are you asking me this?" Sighing in relief at Ka''lor''ah knowledge on the topic, Olivia quickly replied. "It''s just that I had an idea or rather an inspiration if you can call it that. I was thinking, is it possible to apply the idea of ''Laplace''s Demon'' in a Domain?" Seeing a puzzled expression appear on Ka''lor''ah''s face after hearing her question, Olivia hurriedly continued without giving the former a chance to protest. "Now, before you say that it''s impossible and call my idea stupid, just hear me out." "Now, the concept of Laplace''s Demon is based upon the study of Causal Determinism, which until recently was thought to be impossible. With the Universe actually being a sophisticated construct made out of Rules and whatnot, the indeterministic and irreversible nature of objects that oppose the validity of this concept gets thrown out of the window." "The Universe which was previously thought to be indeterminable and chaotic is now known to be operating on higher Rules such as ''Fate'' and ''Cause and Effect''." Taking a second to gather her breath, Olivia continued her passionate recital. "What this means, in short, is that there are no unknown variables and each variable can be evaluated and calculated. As such, it is possible to calculate anything at any time given that all values about that thing are known in advance." "What this means is that it is possible for an entity like ''Laplace''s Demon'' to exist and simultaneously function. Of course, functioning of a large-scale like the entire Universe is impossible, but to function within a set, controlled area¡ª" "Like a Domain should, in theory, be possible." Ka''lor''ah interrupted her and completed her sentence. Seeing her teacher close her eyes and sink into thought, Olivia smiled and answered, "Exactly." "Hmm, Cause and Effect¡­a small controlled area¡­calculation and prediction¡­hmm¡­" An unnatural glint filled with experience and wisdom flashed across Ka''lor''ah''s eyes as she opened them. Opening her mouth, she spoke. "Honestly, I did not expect this. I originally thought that your request would have something to do with Lucius as usual. This request¡­" "Is it not possible?" With her heart in her mouth, Olivia nervously asked. "It''s not like it''s impossible, actually, it might be very possible. However¡­" a serious expression appeared on Ka''lor''ah''s face as she continued. "Are you sure that this is what you want? I can assure you that it will not be an easy thing to do." Straightening her body, Olivia looked her in the eye and solemnly replied. "I''m sure." "Well, whatever. It''s you who will be suffering not me," Ka''lor''ah shrugged her shoulders and replied. "Let''s continue this conversation after we get back to the ship. I think I have some idea on how to start approaching this concept." "You''re the best, Teacher!" Olivia yelled and leaped forward to hug Ka''lor''ah. "Oi, oi, oi! Let me go! You''re making it hard for me to breathe!" ---------- ---Present Day--- "Deploy Domain¡­{Perfect Prediction}" With a charming, confident smile on her face, Olivia deployed her Domain for the first time. At the end of her words, boundless soul power poured out of her body like a raging river and instantly expanded into the distance led by the Boundary. Olivia''s Boundary continued to expand past the 30m mark¡­the 100m mark¡­500m¡­1000m¡­2500m¡­5000m¡­and stopped at exactly 10,000m! Her Boundary which was previously limited to the 30m mark had finally reached 10km with her entry into Stage 3. The feeling was¡­liberating, to say the least. With the Boundary set, Olivia''s soul power started to occupy the area within and forcibly alter the Rules within to suit her Domain! The stone floors, walls, ceiling of the coliseum, and a portion of the street outside, all of which was within the area of her Domain, started to stretch and twist before silently disappearing. Purple mist completely flooded the area and the space within the Domain, obscuring the scene within and making it impossible for outsiders to catch a glimpse of the sight within the Domain. The purple-colored mist did not only have the characteristic of hiding one''s vision but also of beguiling their mind. As such, Ka''lor''ah who found herself inside the Domain slowly started to fall into a dazed state. Just as her eyelids seemed to be on the verge of closing entirely, she suddenly heard a voice telepathically resound inside her head, snapping her awake. "Teacher, leave my Domain and stop the people outside from forcibly breaking it. I''ll take care of the matter inside." Before Ka''lor''ah could even form a reply, she felt a great force suddenly jerk her body and in the next second, found herself outside Olivia''s Domain. Just as her mind was in the process of processing the shocking turn of events, she heard a brusque, valiant voice from behind her. "This is¡­.tiny faerie? What''s with your appearance? What''s happening inside?" Turning around, Ka''lor''ah traced the source of that question to Klytius. The Giant King, dressed in the same attire that she previously saw him in, stood at the head of a company of Giants that was previously protecting the coliseum. His finger was pointing at the tall purple wall in front of them, which could immediately be recognized as a Domain Boundary, and herself. "Oh, that¡­" Ka''lor''ah mind quickly spun in search of an answer. "The little girl succeeded in her ascension and was a bit too eager to show off her Domain. She and Lucius are about to battle on the inside." "As for me, I''m a little low on soul power leading to my current form," Ka''lor''ah staidly replied and quickly resumed her previous Faerie form. Her face remained as calm as ever and her tone was even. She couldn''t tell the actual truth of the matter to Klytius and hence settled on the most probable lie. Hearing her lie which was spoken with an even tone, Klytius thought for a second before exploding into a bellow of laughter. "BWHAHAHA! I see. I see. Quite the feisty little girl, isn''t she?" "Haha, that she is," Ka''lor''ah awkwardly replied. "The day of my promised duel isn''t that far then! I''m looking forward to it!" Klytius bellowed while flexing the bulging muscles all over his body. Turning his head around, he shouted towards his men. "Listen up, everyone! Don''t attempt to break the Domain Boundary. My guests are having a duel inside!" Hearing his words, Ka''lor''ah sighed in relief and quietly wiped the droplets of sweat that had formed on her forehead. ''That was close. Lucius'' real identity was almost revealed,'' Ka''lor''ah fearfully thought to herself. Just as she was about to contact Olivia and explain the situation to her, Ka''lor''ah''s face suddenly froze from shock. In fact, it wasn''t just her as Klytius, the Stage 4 Royal Guard Giants, and some of the more talented Stage 3 soldiers also reacted in a similar manner. "This is¡­a Higher Rule!" Klytius sharply inhaled, astonishment appeared on his face. Chapter 349: Perfect Prediction. Part 3 "Destroy all of them." At the very instant that Olivia''s emotionless voice fell, all of the cloud doppelgangers attacked. Closing in on the indiscriminately attacking tentacles, they raised their arms in unison and slashed at the trashing appendages with force. Not having a conscious entity to control them, the tentacles did not possess the ability to evade the attack. As such, there was little suspense in the result of the attack. The explosive might of the cloud doppelgangers ruthlessly cut apart the hundreds of bundles of tentacles at the cost of losing their cloud bodies. These cloud bodies upon succeeding in their assault burst into a purple-colored explosion creating a mesmerizing, fireworks-like scene. In an instant, the tentacles were destroyed, the cloud doppelgangers exploded and the fractures in space were sewn together. Olivia, who had disappeared prior to the attack, also appeared once again. However, she did not seem to be in a good state as her face looked unnaturally pale with blood trickling down from her facial orifices. Her forehead was also scrunched together as she seemed to be suffering from a massive headache. Massaging her forehead with her hands, Olivia looked around her Domain with satisfaction and spoke to herself. "That seems to have done the trick, although¡­it hurts like a bi*ch and is a bit wasteful. My brain feels like a bucket load of molten hot lead was poured into it," she jokingly complained. [False Replication] was one of the Domain skills that Olivia had created for her Domain, much like the [Total Observation] which she had used earlier. Unlike [Total Observation] which was a purely-detection type skill, [False Replication] was an all-rounded skill that could help Olivia in attacking, defending, or even in processing data. As the name suggested, this Domain skill allowed Olivia to create false replicas of herself. These replicas each possessing strengths at the very peak of Stage 2, could be assigned tasks and controlled to do almost anything that she could do. Find yourself lacking numbers against your enemies? No problem. You could summon an army of replicas to fight for you. Facing a powerful attack that you need to weaken? No problem. The replicas can work as perfect human shields. Have an enormous problem with an egregious amount of data that you can''t work out yourself in a short time? No problem. The replicas were built to be processors whose main function was to crunch numbers and divide her workload. In essence, [False Replication] allowed Olivia to create weaker clones of herself in numerous numbers. Of course, these couldn''t be really called ''clones'' since they lack the one thing that every intelligent being possesses; intelligence. They were simply machine-like entities that can be used to perform grunt work or act as cannon fodder when needed. While this might be seen as a useless or even a redundant skill for others, it was the perfect skill for Olivia. Why was it so? To answer this question, we have to go a bit further back. Olivia''s combat prowess was top-tier. One could even say that with her talent and training she belongs within the elite tier of her Stage. However, if her combat prowess was to be compared with Lucius, whom she wanted to fight side-by-side with and assist, it was nothing exceptional. Lucius was a literal one-man army and Olivia could never hope to equal him in this aspect. This got her thinking. Obviously, Lucius did not need her help to help him fight his battles and it wasn''t like she would be much help even if she wanted to intervene. How then could she help him? The answer dawned on her the day she was meeting with the various merchant and mercenary companies in the Goods and Services Office in that Elvenheim. Olivia was a born leader. Her management skills were excellent enough to even earn praise from Ka''lor''ah, who was unquestionably the greatest manager in the Universe. As such, she decided to further develop her abilities in this aspect. [Perfect Prediction] was not a pure-combat Domain like Lucius'' [World of Death] It was a support-type Domain that was meant to supplement Lucius in areas that he lacked. She was willing to shoulder all the miscellaneous and boring responsibilities which were not as flashy as fighting but were nevertheless important to their quest. Stories and myths often spoke about how the Hero defeated the Great Evil in a legendary battle but never expounded on how the Hero went about funding his journey, afforded his replenishment, or even about managing those numerous villages and kingdoms that he saved from famine to ensuring that such a thing never happened again. The background work done by countless people was a thankless job but one that was just as important as the hero''s quest. Olivia knew that she could not help her Hero in slaying the Great Evil but she was confident in making sure that he suffered no setbacks or hindrances in his journey. [Perfect Prediction] was a Domain that would allow her to do this. Back to the story¡­ Wiping the blood off of her face, Olivia then scanned the black blob- Lucius'' body- in front of her to get another reading. ''Hmm, destroying those tentacles seems to have done the trick. At least, there is no immediate threat of my Domain being shattered by his violent Stage 4 pressure.'' Checking her own reserves, Olivia made a pained expression. ''Yikes, that single attack cost me 45% of my total soul power. Using my processors to attack or defend really is a wasteful use of resources. At least, the random tentacles attacks have seemed to have stopped now, so it''s not entirely a waste.'' Shaking her head to clear her mind, Olivia looked at the shapeshifting blob before her and narrowed her eyes, ''Now then, time to help Lucius wake up.'' Gathering her hands before her chest, Olivia poured her soul power and compressed it into a sphere-shaped ball. Her eyes, which had gone completely violet, stared at the black blob blankly while her mouth mumbled the abstruse chant of a spell. "[Forced Clarity]!" With a yell of the spell''s name in the final line of the chant, Olivia threw the violet-colored ball towards the black blob. This was a new spell that she had awakened with her ascension and belonged to her [Soul Suppressor] soul. Cutting across the air within the Domain, the ball entered the dark veil coloring the void. Instantly, the speed of the spell seemed to have taken a hit as it rapidly slowed down. Olivia''s face, however, did not show any expression of shock or worry as she wordlessly stared at the slowly moving spell. Fortunately, she seemed to have already predicted that this sort of thing would happen and that is why she had wrapped the real spell within the ball of superfluous energy. And according to her calculations, that ball of violet energy surrounding the real spell should last just long enough for it to reach the black blob. And indeed, her predictions were right on the count. The final layers surroundings the spell disappeared under the void''s devouring, just as the real spell hit the black blob. The instant the spell hit the black blob, the continuously shape-shifting ball of black matter stiffened and suddenly paused. Two seconds passed in silence and bated breath before the blob started moving once again. This time, however, there was a sense of order in its movement. The black blob slowly expanded to form a humanoid shape with two arms, two legs, a torso, and a head. The body was constructed entirely out of the darkness with not a single defining feature. Calling it a ''human'' body was rather incorrect as it looked more like a shadow. This shadow body floated in the air with its head slumped down. The shaping of its body had also seemed to have come to a stop as there were no visible changes to its shape. Time ticked by and nothing happened. Olivia, however, had a brilliant smile on her face; one that shone with confidence and joy. Opening her mouth, she spoke with a cheerful tone, "Seems like I was the first to wake up, huh?" The instant her words fell, the purely black entity who seemed to be the very personification of the ''Void'' itself, raised its head and opened its eyes. One which glowed entirely with crimson red and another in brilliant gold. Chapter 350: Void Body. Part 1 Looking up and seeing the floating Olivia, who was radiating Stage 3 aura, Lucius'' eyes blinked twice in surprise before returning to its usual staid state. Ignoring her and his surroundings, he looked down and stared at his pitch-black, featureless hand. Opening and clenching his fists, Lucius alternated between the two actions a few dozen times before looking down to stare at his Void body. Standing at a height of approximately 1.9m, Lucius'' body was entirely pitch-black and featureless. Similar to a black body or a black hole, Lucius noticed that his body seemed to be absorbing all wavelengths of light. This resulted in an absolute darkness that was only separated from its surroundings through its humanoid shape. Were Lucius to stand in a dark area without any light, it would be near impossible to identify him. After analyzing his exterior body for a few dozen seconds, Lucius then used his soul sense to look at the interiors of his body. The result of which made him unconsciously widen his eyes in shock. There was nothing inside him. No bones, no blood, no organs, nothing. Just the absolute darkness of the Void. Void Eaters were the physical manifestation of the void. Their purpose was to intrude the material Universe to devour everything and return it to the void. As such, it would only make sense for their bodies to be made of the void. What does this mean? It meant that no matter how much force was used to crush his body Lucius'' physical body could not be truly destroyed. He was the void, the opposite of material matter. Blinking his eyes a few more times, Lucius then moved his gaze towards a small pile of uneaten corpses which had somehow managed to evade being consumed by the void. Extending his right hand in that direction, he then subconsciously willed his hand to grab them. In the very next instant, something freaky happened! Out of the surface of Lucius'' palm, thousands of squirming, fleshy tentacles exploded out and instantly reached the location of those corpses. Instantaneously reaching the location of those corpses, the tentacles hurriedly latched onto the bodies and immediately began to consume them. The corpse bodies quickly began to erode under the chomping and munching of the horrid teeth present on the surface of the tentacles and turned into a cloud of black smoke. This black smoke was then absorbed by the pitch-black tentacles and was immediately delivered to Lucius'' body. Feeling his satiety increase, Lucius realized that he had just managed to eat those corpses that were a few dozen meters away from them. And the process had taken him less than three seconds to complete. "That''s just freaky!" Olivia commented from the air, her eyes shining with profound interest and curiosity. Ignoring her, Lucius then looked at the dark veil occupying the surrounding 500m area. Feeling a direct, intimate connection with that dark veil, he softly spoke. "Retract." Although the words were spoken and the sound was heard, there was no movement on Lucius'' featureless face. There was no mouth, not to mention the movement of lips. Only the indifferent gaze of his discolored eyes. Instantly, the dark veil started to retract and reduce in size, seemingly sinking into Lucius'' body. The space which was now absent of the dark veil''s influence shuddered for a moment before being occupied once more; this time by Olivia''s Domain. Instinctively sensing that he could control the rate of retraction, Lucius immediately forced it to retract at the highest speed. The instant he sent that command, the dark veil completely disappeared and fully retracted into Lucius'' body. This wasn''t the end as a change immediately occurred to Lucius. His upright, tall-standing figure immediately fell to the ground and his body started to lose its shape, slowly reverting to the blob-like state. An unbelievable amount of pain assaulted Lucius'' mind, involuntarily forcing him to let out a high-pitch scream. Olivia, who had immediately moved towards Lucius at the first instant of his change, was hit by the shrill scream and immediately collapsed to the ground. Her facial orifices started to bleed once again with her eyes alternating between lucidity and blankness. Forcibly biting her tongue, Olivia immediately willed her soul power to protect her consciousness. Rising up to her legs with difficulty, she marched towards Lucius'' writhing figure. The latter continued to shrilly scream as he found himself being assaulted by unimaginable torture. Lucius literally felt his entire physical body being ripped apart by the Universe. It was as if space was rending and breaking him down into atomic-sized chunks and then further blending those chunks into insignificant-sized pieces. If he failed to immediately act, he would undoubtedly die! ''Must¡­hold¡­on¡­'' Grasping onto his final remaining bits of consciousness, Lucius sought his instincts to find an answer to this fatal problem. Searching under the furious torrents of pain, his mind quickly sought the answer. ''Void¡­cannot¡­exist¡­in¡­material¡­space...Must¡­revert¡­to¡­physical¡­state¡­'' To exist as a Void body in the absence of the Void was similar to standing in a pool of fire without a fire-resistant suit. It was impossible and suicidal. Unfortunately, Lucius wasn''t informed of this little piece of information prior to it actually happening. Without a predecessor to rely on, he could only experiment like this to figure out the abilities and strengths of his new form. Having found the answer, Lucius knew what to do. Unfortunately, however, the pain which he was experiencing had breached the final bastion of his consciousness. With the passage of every moment of time, Lucius found himself losing control and falling into darkness. A darkness that was cold and unfeeling. Just as the final remnants of his consciousness were about to fall into that unfeeling darkness, Lucius saw a ray of warm, violet light. The violet light instantly suppressed a good portion of the unimaginable pain and gave him the chance he sought for. Immediately grasping his opportunity, Lucius furiously willed his body to revert back to its physical state. Meanwhile, on the outside, Olivia, lying prone on the ground atop the writhing mass of blackness. Her palms shone with violet-colored light and her bloody mouth mumbled the chant for one of her spells. [Suppress]! Pouring in every single ounce of her soul power, Olivia tried her best to maintain her own consciousness while helping Lucius. The continuous shrill screams kept battering her mind and destroying her consciousness. Were it not for her soul to be of the [Mental]-type, she would have definitely died under the sonic assaults. Fortunately, Olivia''s stubbornness seemed to have held on as she felt the battering inside her mindspace lessen. The shrill screams eventually came to a stop and the mass of blackness writhing underneath her also came to a stop. Soon, Olivia found herself resting on an elastically hard surface that possessed a comfortable warmth to it. Her face which was flat against this surface felt the periodic thumps of a familiar organ. Opening her eyes, Olivia found herself atop the pale, slender body that she often dreamt of. And to her penchant, the slender yet oddly muscular body was naked. Lightly raising her head, Olivia stared at that overly handsome and equally cold face and shot him a weak smile. "Could you perhaps stop trying to voluntarily kill yourself for five seconds?" "This was unintentional," retorted the person underneath her in his usual tone. Chapter 351: Void Body Part 2. Start of Transcendence. "This was unintentional." "Still," Olivia lightly replied and went back to resting her head on Lucius'' chest. The weak smile on her face turned into one of pure bliss. "I can''t believe how comfortable it is to lie like this. I should do this more often." "Get up." Lucius coldly replied. "Grrr¡­" Grumbling with dissatisfaction, Olivia reluctantly raised her head and got up. Walking away from Lucius, she stopped after a few steps and turned around to stare back at him. Running her violet-colored eyes up and down Lucius'' unclothed body she loudly whistled and clicked her tongue, "Tch, tch, such blatant fanservice," putting up her thumbs, she continued. "I very much like it." It seemed that with the increase in her soul''s Stage, Olivia''s personality had gone further down the path of no return. Her mind was filled with even greater perverseness than usual. Completely cutting off his perception of her, Lucius opened [Void Storage] and pulled out a new necklace armor. His previous one seemed to have been destroyed during his physical body''s evolution. Speaking of his physical body, Lucius looked no different. His face was as devilishly handsome as always with hints of feminine softness in it. His body was as slender as it was muscular, with every inch being in perfect ratio with every other inch. His skin, much to Olivia''s chagrin, looked paler and softer than a woman''s while being perfectly unblemished. There was not the slightest scratch or scar. His long, dark hair extended past his shoulder and covered nearly half his back. Silky and smooth while having a tensile strength greater than any known material to man, it was perfect to both accentuate his beauty and increase his deadliness. (AN: Garroting wire.) Perfect face, perfect skin, perfect body, Lucius'' seemed to emanate an irresistible charm that seemed to equally affect all genders, be they the same or opposite. Infusing his soul power into the necklace, Lucius quickly clothed himself before turning to look at the lecherously gazing Olivia. "Thank you for your help," he monotonously stated. Waving her hand, she replied, "I hardly did anything." She then wiped the dripping saliva off her mouth and continued, "Did you ascend to the next Stage?" Shaking his head, Lucius replied, "Not really. Only my physical body evolved to the next stage." The Stage 4 Body of Rules of the Void Eater: Void Body. In its normal state, it would assume Lucius'' regular appearance. However, in its [State of Devour] state, it would assume the previously described appearance; a humanoid-shaped figure of absolute darkness. Lucius'' evolution not only came with massive improvements to his physique and lifespan but also with two new void abilities to add to his arsenal. [Void Summon]: This was the ability that allowed Lucius to summon the dark veil, the void. The void was an absolute area within which no material object can exist and everything within can be devoured to increase Lucius'' strength. The void can directly break down and consume the Rules on the same Stage as Lucius'' body. In other words, currently, Lucius can use the void to instantly kill and devour a Stage 4 entity. While Stage 5 entities couldn''t be killed and devoured instantly, they would still face harsh restrictions and massive corrosion while facing Lucius inside the void space. [Void Summon] was also essential for Lucius to display his [State of Devour]. Activating the [State of Devour] in the absence of the void would result in the previous, deadly situation. The second ability that Lucius had obtained was called [Void Fracture]. Information about this one was still vague and unknown as Lucius was yet to test it. He was about to do so, however¡­ "Your Domain is on the verge of collapsing," said Lucius, dropping his intentions to immediately test his second ability. His face was then colored with surprise as he continued, "Higher Rules? This is¡­" Lucius'' right eye suddenly turned crimson as he activated Flaw Detection. "Common Rule: Mental Control, Higher Rule: Judgment, and¡­Higher Rule: Cause and Effect!" Looking at Olivia with astonishment in his eyes, he asked, "You used three Rules to form your Core Rules?" An expression of joy and pride appeared on Olivia''s face as she nodded her head and replied, "Yep! Just like you." "I''m surprised," Lucius spoke honestly. "Good job." Hearing his words of appreciation, the satisfaction and validation that Olivia felt within her heart were boundless. An immeasurable amount of joy flooded her heart and copious amounts of serotonin filled her brain. Just as she was about to flaunt her achievements and ask him for a reward, an expression of guilt appeared on Olivia''s face. "I-uh, I¡ª"Olivia searched for the proper words to explain but was unable to find any. As such, she simply voiced her thoughts with an apologetic tone. "I''m sorry for destroying those black tentacles of yours. It''s just that you were on the verge of breaking my Domain and exposing yourself to the world outside. Ka''lor''ah told me to¡ª" "It''s fine," Lucius interrupted her. "They are just constructs of the void built using my void energy. Your actions actually helped me in controlling the rampant extra energy and in consolidating my body." Shaking his head, he concluded, "You did nothing wrong." Hearing his words, Olivia let out a sigh of relief. It felt as if a massive rock burdening her heart had disappeared. Back then, she knew that her action of destroying those tentacles wasn''t wrong and had calculated that it was the most appropriate action to head towards a desirable future. However, the fact that she still hurt Lucius, even if indirectly, pricked her. A part of her even feared that her actions might result in something going wrong and Lucius'' failing his evolution. Fortunately, she stuck to her gut instincts and that had resulted in a desirable outcome. Inhaling a breath of fresh air, Olivia took a look around at her battered Domain and spoke with a bitter smile, "Well, this wasn''t exactly how I was planning to introduce my Domain to you, but here we are." Spreading her arms apart, she continued in an excited voice. "This is my Domain: {Perfect Prediction}." "¡­[Total Observation]¡­" "¡­[False Replication]¡­" "¡­[Quantum Computing]¡­" Like that, Olivia spent the next few minutes explaining the various features of her Domain to Lucius until her soul power ran out. And as usual, Lucius continued to silently listen to her recital while giving her tips to improve the various features of her Domain. There was, however, an imperceptible smile on Lucius'' face. An expression that was unknown to the owner himself. --------- Outside the Domain. Just as Ka''lor''ah, Klytius, and a few other Giant experts were deep in a discussion, the tall 10km high purple-colored wall standing before them, shattered. Turning their heads in unison, their eyes caught a pair of stunningly beautiful humanoids walking out. Ka''lor''ah''s eyes immediately landed upon Lucius. Seeing that he looked fine, she let out a sigh of relief and quietly cursed at him within her heart for making her needlessly anxious. Klytius'' eyes, on the other hand, were immediately drawn to Olivia who was radiating an irresistible charm and majestic presence. It wasn''t only Klytius as nearly every other Giant in the scene found their eyes being drawn to Olivia. Upon ascending to Stage 3, Olivia''s beguiling characteristic and the Arbiter''s sovereignal presence had been greatly boosted. She now had an inexplicable passive charm that would make almost anyone of a weaker strength consider her as their monarch. Staring at the charming little woman for a second, Klytius then immediately broke out of her beguilement. A bright smile appeared on his face as he roared. "Not bad, little one! Not bad at all!" His roar served to awaken the other Giants as they too broke out of Olivia''s beguilement within the next few seconds and gazed at her with newfound respect within their eyes. Recalling that she was the Black Blade''s student only served to heighten their admiration. Hearing their praise, Olivia flashed a toothy grin and deeply bowed in thanks. After praising the former''s advancement, Klytius immediately turned to stare at the person next to her. His eyes immediately noticed how lacking Lucius'' presence was. Lacking as not in being lesser but as in being absent. Klytius, a Mid-Level Stage 5 powerhouse, widened his eyes in astonishment as he could not feel Lucius'' presence at all. He was right there, but at the same time, wasn''t. "You¡ª"showing the surprise in his tone, Klytius absentmindedly asked. "Have you already ascended to Stage 4?" "No," Lucius immediately replied while shaking his head. "Not yet, at least," he then continued, pointing his finger at the sky above. Just as Klytius and the other Giant experts followed his fingers pointing towards the sky, they felt a tremendous, infallible pressure descend upon them. An aurora of colors appeared within the vast sky of the Land of Giants as spiritual energy started to gather in millions of vortexes and Rules started to change. A boundless array of clouds started to simultaneously appear alongside the cacophonous roars of thunders and the blinding flashes of lightning. Seeing a golden step materialize in the distant sky, Klytius spoke with both astonishment and irrepressible excitement in his voice. "The 108 Steps to Heaven. Your First Transcendence is here!! BWAHAHA!!"