Lord of Annihilation

"What? An alliance?" Vay asked in surprise.

Olivia lightly nodded her head in response and replied.

"Indeed, an alliance. An alliance formed of the greatest powers within Pectron."

Gesturing to the giant glass window behind her, Olivia continued.

"As you can see behind me, the level of technology that stems from my species is far to advanced when compared to the likes of Pectron." 

"With spaceships similar to the one you're standing on right now, even weaker Stage 1 and Stage 2 beings will be able to leave the confines of their home planet and venture into the vast expanse of space."

"Why would we want to do that?" Vay snorted. "We are doing perfectly well, as it is."

"Indeed." Olivia did not deny her rebut. "But the same cannot be said about the future, can it?"

Pressing a button on her chair, Olivia brought up a holographic screen. It showed a planetary map of Pectron, outlining its oceans and continents. A large portion of the map was marked in red, while the remaining portions were marked with black, green, and blue respectively.

Pointing to the map, Olivia continued.

"This is the surface map of Pectron, complied a few minutes ago. If you look in this image, the red portions that you see are lands uninhabitable by living things below the Third Stage. Not due to environmental factors, but due to the natural dangers present in these parts."

"The Dark Shade Forest occupies most of our surface landmass, almost one-third. While it contains a dizzying amount of resources, it is also under the control of its resident Wild Beast population. According to a scan done by our drones, there are at least 8-9 Stage 3 Wild Beasts roaming the forest floors right now. Not to mention, how many more are hidden."

"While they cannot threaten Your Excellencies, the same cannot be said about your underlings. Expansion into these lands is not possible, unless this resident population is wiped out. However, doing so is even more impossible with our numbers."

"Moving on, the black spots show regions that are uninhabitable due to natural causes. Their weather cycles, geological features, land patterns, etc, have been drastically altered from their base state. The cause must be familiar to Your Excellencies."

"…Domain attacks." Vay silently muttered. 

Although she had been a resident of Pectron for many years, neither she nor anyone else had done such a thorough study of the planet's surface and current situation. 

Seeing such detailed information displayed to her was shocking, to say the least.

Olivia's face suddenly turned serious as her smile disappeared. Her tone turned darker, as he continued.

"The worrying thing about these black regions is that they are constantly expanding. Polluted lands in turn create more polluted lands, as the alterations caused by your Domains are spreading farther out."

"At its current rate of expansion, another one-third of Pectron available surface will be enveloped by this black color in 90-110 years."

Saying so, Olivia paused for a moment to let this fact sink in. The two Stage 3 existences clearly weren't dumb and understood the implications of her words.

Such changes cannot threaten them. If Pectron was ruined, they simply had to leave this planet and find another one. However, the same could not be said about their cities and their people. 

With the level of technology and knowledge that they currently possessed, something like a mass migration was simply impossible.

Seeing the grave, pondering expressions on the two Stage 3 figures' faces, Olivia inwardly let out a sigh of relief.

'Thanks goodness, they bought that. I'm glad that they aren't asking a lot of questions either.' She then stealthily turned to look at Lucius, who was silently pressuring the two figures.

Now, the truth. 

Olivia's words weren't exactly honest. 

It wasn't that she was lying either, but that her words had simply undergone a round of gross exaggeration and padding. 

The map of Pectron wasn't fully accurate and some amount of liberty was taken in coloring the regions. The number of Wild Beasts estimated was also higher than the actual estimation, and the spreading of the black-colored regions weren't as unstoppable as she made them out to be.

If Pectron was to continue its current way of life, the planet or its inhabitants won't face any serious problem for a good 500 years into the future. It was only after 500 or so years, will the problems outlines by Olivia be of any real threat.

In other words, Olivia was using the current atmosphere and the ignorance of the two Stage 3 figures to deceive them.

"Miss Violet Witch…" Vay's tone had become a lot more polite, signifying that the little Faerie had fallen for Olivia's words. 

"…what about the two other colors?"

Brilliantly smiling, Olivia replied.

"The green regions are places that are currently inhabited by people, while the blue regions are places that can be expanded into safely. In other words, they represent the current and future state of Pectron.

"Still…" Olivia tone took a dive once more, as she grimly explained. "The resources of this world are finite. With the altered weather patterns, the competition from the Dark Shade Forest, and possible battles/wars between cities…the future on this planet is grim to say the least."

"If I had to estimate a time, Pectron will start declining in 300 or less years alongside which your cities and people will also start declining. While the present is prosperous, let it not blind us from the instability of the future."

Vay's face severely paled upon hearing that. 

Faeries were creatures who innately took the concept of oaths, promises, and bonds very seriously. This made them extremely trustworthy and loyal beings, but also made them prone to scams.

"Miss Viol—No, I suppose it's Lady Violet Witch, now." Vay stood up from her seat and performed a bow towards Lucius and Olivia. 

"You have greatly enlightened me about the perils of the future. Moonwater City would be glad to join your alliance and assist you in every manner possible to secure our future."

Olivia immediately got up from her seat and bowed in return. 

"It is my honor to have your esteemed city join us, Lady Vay. Please do not bow. I'm unworthy of such respect." Olivia politely spoke.

Vay quickly straightened herself and nodded with a smile towards Olivia. In truth, her bow wasn't towards Olivia but the person who stood behind her. 

No matter how ignorant and naïve the little Faerie was, given sufficient time she was able to analyze the aura of the black-clothed youth. The result of her analysis was as such.

Extreme danger! If she were to fight him, she had no confidence in her victory. 

All in all, power was the basis of respect within the Universe. And in the Faeries' eyes, this youth possesses that power.

Vay's attention then moved onto Vimir's face, which had a strange expression on his face.

"What are you waiting for, geezer? Don't you care about your descendants and your people?" she questioned.

Vimir's eyes showed that he wasn't entirely convinced by Olivia's speech. While he wasn't exactly knowing about the situation of the planet, he vaguely knew that the future wasn't as grim as Olivia had painted it to be.

"Miss Violet Witch, I would like some time to—" his speech was suddenly interrupted by a mental message from Lucius.

{Join the alliance and I'll kill that Stage 4 being for you.}

Lucius' words were short but filled with complete surety and indifference. Although he was speaking about killing a Stage 4 being, his words made it sound he was talking about something insignificant. 

And it was this fact that made Vimir instantly decide.

"I apologize. Lady Violet Witch, Gravity Falls City and I will join the alliance. I do not want the seat of leader and will faithfully work under you, for as long as you treat my decedents fairly." Vimir bowed with deep respect.

Caught off-guard by his sudden change, Olivia grew flustered. However, sensing the honest respect within his voice, she understood that Lucius might have had something to do with his change.

Hurriedly returning the bow, Olivia replied.

"Please do not lower yourself, Sir Vimir. I will surely treat all parties fairly and according to their contributions. Please do not worry about this." 

Vimir straightened his back and gave an honest smile to Olivia. He then faintly nodded at Lucius, hope contained within his eyes.

"I will trust you then." Saying so, he sat down.

Olivia also took her seat and the meeting moved to the next stage.

"Now, the details of our alliance, i.e. what benefits can each party provide? I'll start my side."

"Mankind will share our advanced knowledge in sciences and our wealth of technology. Staring from the civilian level, we can invest within Pectron to bring—" 

Knowing that Olivia's plan was mostly complete, save for these boring explanations and negotiations, Lucius closed his eyes and zoned out the chatter.

His attention sunk into his mindspace, as he started tinkering with his Domain once more.