Lord of Annihilation

"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—wait? 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!'