Lord of Annihilation

"You failed," Lucius mercilessly declared. 

Hearing his admonishment, Olivia lowered her head further while biting hard on her lips. 

"…yes," Olivia quietly replied.

Her face was completely pale and droplets of blood started to fall from her lips. Olivia had apparently bitten her lips with enough force to break the skin and draw blood.

"What is your excuse?" Lucius continued with his questions.

Clenching her fists to the point where her hands trembled and white knuckles could be seen through her pale skin, Olivia replied in defeat.

"There is none."

There was no excuse for her failure. Her defeat had been evident and clear. Her opponents were too strong, and she was weak. It was her own lack of power that resulted in her defeat.

"I grew conceited of my own power and underestimated the difficulty of—" Olivia was in the process of explaining when she was suddenly interrupted.

SLAP!

Olivia's eyes widened in shock, as a burning pain spread from her left cheek. Her head had moved from her initial position and a clear red handprint appeared on her pale white skin.

Olivia's mind blanked for a moment and tears reflexively appeared within her eyes as the intensity of the pain spread through her body. Her entire figure quivered for a moment and soul power instinctively moved to ease the pain.

However, Olivia immediately stopped that process and bore the pain. She forcibly stopped the tears and looked towards the ground with a despondent look, not daring to raise her head and meet Lucius' eyes.

Olivia, for the first time in her life, had been slapped on the face. 

The person who delivered that burning slap was none other than the person she deeply loved with all her heart; Lucius.

"Can you feel the pain?" Lucius expressionlessly asked.

"...yes." Olivia softly replied.

"If that was a real fight for survival, you wouldn't have gotten the chance to feel this pain," Lucius stared at her lowered head and continued, "No, you would've already died."

Olivia's throat hardened and a stifling sensation appeared within her chest and lungs. Her breaths lowered to the point of silence as the urge to cry intensified with each passing moment.

However, Olivia firmly stopped herself from doing so and steeled her mind. The rational part of her mind wordlessly agreed with Lucius' statement.

"Isn't that so?"

"…yes." 

Lucius suddenly moved his hands and grabbed Olivia's chin with his fingers. Applying strength, he raised her head to meet his eyes.

When she felt Lucius' touch, Olivia's body instinctively quivered from fear. The burning pain on her cheek seemed to intensify for a second.

"Look at me when I talk." 

She heard him mechanically declare. Olivia's wandering eyes froze, as she stiffly moved them to stare into Lucius' indifferent, black eyes. His eyes contained neither warmth nor contempt, neither reprimand nor admonishment.

They were simply dark, empty, and cold. Like two wells with unfathomable depths during the night.

For a moment, Olivia felt the person in front of her to be foreign and alien. It felt like she was meeting this person for the first time and was nowhere like the Lucius she usually knew.

Lucius was cold, expressionless, and silent. But he was not a stranger.

The person whose eyes into which Olivia was staring into right now gave her the feeling of meeting a stranger.

"How long do you plan on lowering your head? When you fail next time? Maybe after that?" The words spoken by this stranger entered her ears. "Or perhaps is it the opposite? Do you feel strong and confident after your minor victories and visible rate of improvement?"

"I must tell you, you're minor victories or the seemingly fast rate of improvement is in actuality, nothing special. There are millions of other being within the Universe with faster growth rates and better talents."

"Allowing yourself to be satisfied with such shabby improvements and growing conceited over that…I advise you to throw away such petty feelings of contentment."

Each word that she heard from his mouth, hammered away at the self-confidence that Olivia had built. 

"In the path for greater power, there can be no feeling of contentment allowed. If you want to seek greater power, you must be prepared to sacrifice anything and everything to get that."

"Not everyone is born with talent or luck or opportunity. Those who lack these must strive with everything they have to get them. Fairness be damned."

"Tell me, do you want to continue on this road to power?" Lucius voiced his question.

Silence descended and Olivia was to answer. 

A few seconds passed before she managed to eke out a reply.

"Yes." 

Her voice was clear and without any hesitation. The trembling of her body had ceased and the emotions within her eyes had become clear. Olivia's overall aura had also undergone a subtle change.

Noticing this change, Lucius continued to stare into Olivia's eyes. The latter no longer had any hesitance and stared back unflinchingly. 

The person in felt of her felt like a stranger, but he was Lucius nonetheless. It was an aspect of him that she had previously never seen.

Or perhaps, she did see this side of his but desperately ignored it for she was not able to accept it.

Lucius' aura had always been cold, cruel, and scathing, but it was only today that, for the first time, Olivia clearly felt how cold, cruel, and scathing it was.

'I've been taking it too lightly.' Olivia thought to herself, 'All this time, I thought I had the resolve to do what it takes, but I was clearly wrong. All this while, I've been relying on Lucius and Ka'lor'ah to make the difficult choices, while distancing myself from its responsibilities.'

'This…must no longer continue. If I want to walk farther down this path, I need to be able to take matters into my own hands.'

A hint of coldness appeared within Olivia's eyes, and the faint dignity of the Arbiter started to naturally shine through her aura. Previously, she had to use [Intimidate] to achieve this effect, but now it had become natural.

Sensing the changes, Lucius mentally nodded his head.

'Finally,' He looked at Olivia and thought, 'you might be hard working and have some decent talent, but without the resolve to forsake everything when required and the dignity to uphold that resolve, you will not be able to walk down this road.'

He then released his grip over her chin. This time Olivia did not lower her head and continued to stare at Lucius.

Her aura continued to climb in intensity, before stabilizing after reaching a certain peak. The coldness and dignity of the Arbiter started to push back Lucius' own aura.

Seeing that she had understood his words, Lucius nodded his head in satisfaction. He then took a step back and asked.

"Why do you think you failed?"

Olivia did not avert her gaze and thought for few seconds before replying.

"My power and swordplay were clearly sufficient. Their attacks were strong, but I managed to block them. What I lacked in instantaneous reactions, I managed to supplement with my speed."

"The issue laid in my inability to move as fast and as free as I wanted. I was unable to break free from the stalemate, thus resulting in my loss."

Olivia's words were confident, but not overbearing. There was an additional sense of dignity within that she previously lacked.

Hearing her reply, an imperceptible smile appeared on Lucius' face.

'It is so much easier when they instantly realize it themselves. Perhaps, this teaching business will actually be interesting from now.'

"Correct," he replied. "It was your movement technique that is most lacking at this moment."

"Therefore, starting now I will teach you a new one. A movement technique that, if you manage to completely master, will assist you for the rest of your journey upon this road."

Surprise appeared on Olivia's face, as she asked, "Even when I reach Stage 7?"

Lucius' eyes faintly narrowed, pleased at her response, as he replied, "Of course."

His face then reverted to its previous state as he ordered.

"Remove your sword and strip down to something that will allow you to move freely. I will then begin teaching my movement technique- [Absolute Evasion]."

"The technique using which…you will never be hit ever again."

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