Lord of Annihilation

Arriving at the Common Room fully geared, Olivia, entered and spoke, "I'm here and ready." 

Inside the room, Lucius was standing before the central table with his arms folded before his chest. He started at the holographic image projected by the table, depicting a densely white planet. 

As usual, Lucius had a bored look on his face as he stared at the projection. Hearing Olivia's voice, he turned his gaze towards her and nodded.

"Keep the blindfold on. You will be fighting with it," he casually instructed.

"Fighting?" Picking up on his words, Olivia asked.

In response, Lucius pointed at the large holographic projection and replied, "Indeed. The name of the planet is 'Cloud Cover Continent' and is around 11 times larger than standard measurement." 

(Standard Measurement refers to Earth's size. This planet is around the size of Jupiter.)

"The main intelligent race of this planet is called 'Sword-Winged Angels'. They are a Grade 4, female-only race famous for their exquisite skills and polished sword technique. Their forms are humanoid in shape with the addition of a pair of wings."

"Their strength reflects on the number of wing pairs that they possess. One pair is Stage 1, two pairs are Stage 2, and three pairs are Stage 3 in strength. Their wings grant them better mobility and the ability for short-term flight."

"Why short term?" Olivia asked.

"Their wings have metallic properties and are their main weapon of attack. This also makes their wings incredibly heavy, making it difficult for them to sustain flight," Lucius answered.

"Word of advice, they are an astonishingly violent species," Lucius spoke of his warning; "Most of them would rather die in battle, than surrender."

"Kill them all, got it," Olivia nodded her head in understanding.

Lucius then zoomed in on the holographic image of the planet and continued with his briefing.

"Most of the species lives on the dense white clouds, with only the most important personnel living on the ground. Surface composition, gravity, air density, atmosphere, etc, are different on both surfaces, so mind that."

"Got it," Olivia nodded her head. She then turned to Lucius and asked the all-important question, "What's the testing brief?"

Olivia was referring to the target she had to meet to pass this test. It was evident that Lucius was dropping her on this planet to test and polish her combat skills. As such, there should be a target to meet before Olivia could be considered to have 'passed'.

"At least 5000 Peak-Level Stage 1 beings and 500 Mid/Peak-Level Stage 2 beings must be killed in under three months, for the test to be considered a pass. Of course, you can kill more in which case your evaluation will be raised." Lucius replied.

A strange glow appeared within Olivia's eyes, as she asked, "Will there be rewards for getting a better evaluation?"

Hearing her question, Lucius' forehead heavily furrowed. He looked at the ceiling of the ship for a few seconds, before replying with a sigh, "…yes."

"Here it is," Lucius changed the holographic screen to show a list. 

The list contained many evaluation grades and their respective requirements. To the right of each requirement, there was a promised reward.

Olivia's scanned the list with her soul power and a smile bloomed on her face. As she progressively went higher on the list, the smile on her face got brighter and brighter.

Finally arriving at the topmost criteria, her gaze finally paused.

{Evaluation: S+}

{Criteria: 10,000 Peak-Level Stage 1 beings, 5000 Mid/Peak-Level Stage 2 beings, and 1 Low-Level Stage 3 being.}

{Reward for Completion: Three Wishes will be granted by Lucius. The wishes can comprise of anything that is deemed reasonable by Ka'lor'ah.}

'This is it!' Olivia's motivation went through the roof. 

Flames of determination blazed within her eyes underneath the blindfold as she resolved herself to complete this requirement. 

Noticing Olivia's gaze, Lucius' expression turned serious as he coldly warned, "Don't be a fool and know your limits. It is impossible for you to kill a Stage 3 being with your current strength."

"If you mess up, I won't be there to save your life," he enunciated the final sentence with force.

Instantly turning her head to face Lucius, Olivia asked, "You're not coming?"

Shaking his head, Lucius replied, "Not with you. I have something else to do in the meantime."

Turning away from the table, Lucius walked towards the exit of the Common Room while speaking, "When you're ready to leave, come to the Hanger. I will drop you off on the planet before going my way."

"How will the points be recorded?" Olivia quickly asked.

Zwoop!

"I will put a [Record] spell on you."

The pressurized door to the Common Room opened and the small figure of Ka'lor'ah flew in. Having heard Olivia's question she cheerfully replied.

"How do you feel?" Ka'lor'ah asked while smiling at her.

Ignoring the two women, Lucius left the Common Room and headed towards the Hanger, located on the lower floor of the spaceship. His part in the briefing was over and he had no interest in hearing the rest of their conversation.

To tell the truth, Olivia's improvement in the recent months had managed to surprise Lucius. Her strength was steadily rising and her temperament…albeit a little strange, was heading in the right direction.

She was starting to show the dignity and authority of a powerhouse, while not being cocky or overconfident. The months of Zero-Sensory training had strengthened her mind and resolve, shaping her character to one that would fit and thrive in Universal society.

Arriving at the Hanger, Lucius closed his eyes, leaned against the exit hatch, and thought to himself.

'With her current mindset and progress, reaching Stage 3 is guaranteed. It would be excellent if she managed to master Moving Field within these three months, although the chances of that happening are quite low.'

'She should be able to complete the minimum criteria for passing without any issue. Given that she puts in maximum effort, factoring in her current strength and estimated growth rate, the final evaluation should reach B/B+ tier.'

Clearing his mind, Lucius rested against the silver-colored metallic walls while waiting for the duo to arrive. 

Minutes ticked by in silence and Lucius' continued to wait. His empty mind started to absent-mindedly recall his interactions with Olivia since his returning to this time.

Lucius unconsciously thought to himself, remembering his first interactions with the previously sapphire-eyed, cheerful, and naïve young woman.

'She has come a long way. Her current self is almost completely different to the person at the start.'

Except for that unshakable infatuation of hers, which Lucius could honestly not understand, everything about Olivia had changed.

He remembered the first time he lectured her on the brutality and unfairness of the Universe. 

The Olivia of back then, could not accept the truth of reality and had broken down. Lucius even remembered his thoughts on her reaction.

'She was simply too idealistic and disappointing. Of all the people that I thought possessed potential, she was at the bottom of the barrel.'

Olivia' neither had Alex's leadership and charisma, nor Reyna's talents and genius. She was simply too…soft and dependent.

Memories started to cascade within his mind…Olivia's first kill in that warehouse, her helplessness in Deatov, her resolve to follow him into the Universe even at the cost of death, that foolish action to act as bait in the icy planet…one after the other memories started to speed up and blur together.

Very soon, the figure within his memories started to change; the black-haired, violet-eyed figure morphed into a silver-haired, pink-eyed woman.

Along with the change, his memories also started to change as different scenes and images started to appear within his mind.

A scene in which the silver-haired woman challenged him to a duel when he had lost himself to slaughter.

A scene in which the silver-haired woman was teaching him the secret scythe art of her clan, even though it was forbidden to be shared with outsiders.

A scene in which the silver-haired woman resolutely left her family when they opposed her decision to marry him.

Images and scenes continued to blend together as Lucius found himself lost within these memories. As time continued to pass, Lucius found himself becoming more and more confused.

Within his mindspace, inside the island, tendrils of black, evil-looking energy started to leech onto Lucius' consciousness and pumped some unknown tar-like substance into it.

This tar-like substance started to dissolve and disappear into his consciousness, darkening its shine and slowly polluting it. The more of this tar-like substance dissolved, the further Lucius found himself confused.

This process continued for a few moments when finally the [Annihilator] soul floating stationarily in the center of the island moved.

Beams of condensed [Annihilation Energy] attacked the tendrils and destroyed the tar-like substance. The black tendrils howled in anger, seeing that its ploys had been foiled. Still, giving one final look towards the sentient soul, the tendrils begrudgingly retreated.

The moment the tendrils polluting his consciousness were attacked, Lucius felt immense pain cut through his confusion. He quickly gathered his wits and hurriedly checked within his mindspace.

Seeing the black tendrils retreat, Lucius understood what had transpired.

'Looks like my body hasn't given up on its attempts to steal control, instead, it was lying in wait for all this time and finally bursting out with an attack when I least expected it.'

'If not for the [Annihilator] soul, I would've lost control again.'

Lucius' face was deathly paled as he breathed laboriously. He then focused his attention within his mindspace, seeking out and destroying the remaining black tendrils.

'I have to alter my Domain composition. I have to increase the Rules related to [Annihilator] while decreasing the Void Rules.'

The sudden attack this time occurred because the Void Rules within his Domain had a greater advantage than the Annihilation Rules. The balance was thus skewed allowing his bloodline to attempt a hijack.

'Battles. I need more battles,' Lucius thought to himself.

"Lucius, are you okay? You seem a bit pale there," A voice interrupted him from his thoughts.

Opening his eyes, Lucius saw a silver-haired, pink-eyed woman leaning towards him with a look of worry within her eyes.

"Aurora?" Lucius unconsciously muttered, before shaking his head. 

He circulated his [Annihilation Energy] to rid his mind of the remnant effects of the attack, and the image of the person before him was restored.

It was Olivia.

"Aurora? Who's that?" Olivia asked in a strange voice.

The circulation of [Annihilation Energy] had restored the calmness and indifference within Lucius' mind. 

With a clear gaze, which was bereft of confusion, he looked towards Olivia and coldly spoke, "Not important. If you're ready, we will leave."

Olivia was about to question him further, but sensing the hint of hostility within his aura, she wisely shut her mouth. 

"Yes, we can leave," she calmly replied and stiffly walked towards Lucius.

"I'm here! We can go now," Ka'lor'ah, who was the last to enter, cheerfully announced, failing to notice the strange situation.

She then took her place atop Lucius' head and the trio soon jumped out of the ship.

Olivia was going to complete her test and Lucius was going to collect his second material.