Lord of Annihilation

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.