Lord of Annihilation

"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.'