Lord of Annihilation

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° 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. 

maai is a term in martial arts, that refers to the space between two opponents in combat; formally called, the "engagement distance".