Lord of Annihilation

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."