Lord of Annihilation

With Olivia and Ka'lor'ah in tow, Lucius exited the spaceship and descended towards the densely milky-white planet. The spaceship had been set to orbit the planet from a distance while awaiting the return of the group after three months.

Encapsulated within a bubble of soul power, Olivia, who was being held by Lucius, had a crestfallen expression on her face. 

'Who's Aurora?'

Her eyes were unclear and her mind was thronged by confusion, as she continuously replayed the scene from moments ago.

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Having finished her banter with Ka'lor'ah', Olivia headed down to the Hanger while the former headed to the Control Room to check the ship's status for a final time. 

After climbing down the cold, metallic ladder, she noticed Lucius leaning near the exit doors of the Hanger. 

Heading towards his cheerfully, Olivia's steps suddenly slowed down when she noticed that Lucius' aura was a bit strange compared to usual.

Lucius' normal aura was cold, sharp, and scathing. It made one feel discomfort when approaching close and strangely weighed on them. But while others might feel uncomfortable, Olivia had already grown used to his aura. 

If anything, she found it reassuring and homely.

However, the feeling she got at this moment was different. Lucius' aura flickered with intermittent bouts of savageness and dispassion. His customarily bored-looking face had an expression of reminiscence and ache.

"Lucius," Olivia tensely called out, gradually approaching closer.

Lucius did not respond and the fluctuation in his aura started to become more frequent. The weighing savageness increased in frequency as it slowly seemed to morph into more evil and desirous.

Suppressing the feeling of unease and danger that gradually bloomed within her heart, Olivia forced herself to move forward. She kept his senses locked on Lucius' aura, carefully observing it to identify more changes.

Her soul power methodically scanned Lucius' aura, allowing her to recognize more aspects of this sudden change. 

Underneath the overwhelming savageness, was a deep-rooted instability, madness, and brutality; all fundamental aspects of a Void Eater.

'It's like that time in Deatov!' Olivia quickly linked Lucius' current state to his loss of control in Deatov. 'I must act quickly!'

Bringing her hands together, Olivia started to chant a spell in a quiet voice. Soul power started to gather between her palms and the spell started to manifest.

"[Suppress]!" she released the spell with a low shout.

The bolt of violet energy darted out of her palms and struck Lucius' in his forehead, before disappearing into it. Lucius' body jolted for a moment and the rapidly fluctuating aura paused. 

The [Annihilator] soul within his mindspace was awakened with Olivia's spell, causing it to recognize the threat and take action within his mindspace.

Seeing that Lucius' aura was slowly regaining its previous calm, Olivia sighed in relief and gently spoke, "Lucius are you okay? You seem a bit pale there."

Olivia saw him slowly open his eyes. With half-lidded eyes, she felt him stare at her with confusion, shock, longing, and most of all…guilt.

"Aurora?" 

Hearing Lucius call out a foreign name and that of a woman's nonetheless, Olivia's body stiffened and her mind froze. 

Counting all the time Olivia had spent with Lucius before and after the Ascension, this was the first time she had heard him call out someone's name with so much emotion.

A tone that was chockful of guilt and longing was in infinite contrast to his usual demeanor. But more importantly, Lucius had called out this name while looking directly at her!

Gulping unconsciously, Olivia suppressed the complicated thoughts of her heart and asked, "Aurora? Who's that?"

While she tried to keep her voice as calm as possible, it had ended up sounding strange. Olivia kept her senses locked on Lucius, awaiting an answer. 

Alas, Lucius' aura returned to its usual feeling, even becoming a notch colder and sharper. She also sensed the feeling of shock and emotions disappear from his face as she heard him reply coldly, "Not important. If you're ready, we will leave."

'That's a lie.' With her intimate understanding of Lucius, Olivia immediately recognized the lie. 

She opened her mouth to question him further, but immediately closed it when she felt a feeling of hostility appear within his aura. It became clear that Lucius did not want her to talk about this or ask any other questions. 

"Yes, we can leave," stiffly replying as such, Olivia walked towards Lucius.

Outwardly she appeared normal and calm. Inwardly, however, Olivia was filled with innumerable questions and complicated emotions.

'Why did he call me by that name?'

'Who is 'Aurora'? How does Lucius know her?'

'Why was his tone filled with longing and guilt? What is she to him?'

Olivia's cheerful mood from viewing the rewards had all but disappeared. 

To her, who deeply loved Lucius and worked hard to assist him with all that she had in hopes of gaining recognition and reciprocation, the fact that Lucius' heart seemed to be occupied by another woman, was dreadfully terrible news.

What more? Lucius seemed to unconsciously see her (Aurora's) image in Olivia. That is to say, something about Olivia reminded Lucius about Aurora.

The already impossible task of winning Lucius' heart had become even more impossible.

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'Just when I thought everything was sailing smoothly, this happens,' Olivia dispersedly thought to herself. 'Why can't love be easy? Isn't my quest to gain his heart already really, really, REALLY hard?'

'But who is this 'Aurora' and how does Lucius know her?' Pushing aside her depressing thoughts, Olivia started to objectively analyze. 

'It is pretty uncharacteristic of him to suddenly care so much about someone else. Not to mention, where could he have come in contact with her and for how long?'

'Before the Academy? No way, I was always with him. During the Academy? I don't remember Lucius' being particularly close with anyone, nor do I know anyone with that name.'

'Could it be after the Ascension? But then again, I was with Lucius for most of the time, except for the three-year gap in Pectron. Could they have met then?' Olivia pondered for a moment, before denying that possibility.

If something like that had happened, her Teacher (Ka'lor'ah) would have told her about it. After all, she seemed pretty set on helping Olivia with her quest.

'If it's none of these, could it be…' Olivia's eyes glittered in thought. 

Just as she was about to ponder about this, rather ludicrous thought of hers, she felt Lucius hit her on the head.

"Ouch!" Olivia yelped and hurriedly held her head.

Focusing her soul senses on Lucius, she found him annoyed and looking coldly at her.

"Are you sleeping? How many times do I have to call out to you?' Lucius admonished her in his signature mechanical voice.

Releasing Olivia from his grasp, he dropped her on the soft, cloudy ground and spoke, "I will repeat one final time."

"We have arrived on the Cloud Cover Continent. I've currently dropped you in a rather inconspicuous area, with the nearest settlement 200km to the west. Stay alert, focused, and…," Lucius' eyes sharpened as he clearly enunciated his final warning, "Don't be an idiot."

"Accomplish the targets that are within the realm of your ability. Don't be foolish and get yourself killed. I will not be there to save you."

Floating into the sky, Lucius cast an indifferent glance at Olivia one final time and spoke, "I will come and find you after the period of testing is over. Good Luck."

Saying that he turned around and flew in the opposite direction without paying any more mind to Olivia. Ka'lor'ah too wished her luck, before being carried away by Lucius.

Everything that was needed to be said had been said, and there wasn't any point in wasting any more time.

After all, Lucius himself was in as much of a tight schedule as Olivia. 

Feeling Lucius' aura get farther and farther away from her souls' senses, Olivia' tightened her blindfold and turned her attention towards the west.

A determined look appeared within her eyes under the blindfold, as she thought to herself.

'Whoever it may be within his heart, I will not give up. If Lucius only sees her whenever he looks at me, then I shall work ten, no…a hundred times harder to make him look only at me!'

'And that work begins with this test.' 

Exploding the soul power beneath her feet, Olivia's figure disappeared from her initial location and turned into an illusory phantom. Her movement speed was no less than Lucius' own as she dashed towards the west.

"I'm getting that S+ reward," Olivia quietly muttered to herself.

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"Is everything okay?" Ka'lor'ah suddenly asked Lucius, as they continued to fly.

"It is. Why?" Lucius casually asked; his tone calm and unbothered as usual.

Hearing his reply, Ka'lor'ah was quiet for a few seconds before replying, "Nothing. I just noticed that Lil' Ollie's mood seemed a bit strange. Did you tell her something depressing again?"

"Does calling her a fool for reaching beyond her grasp count?" Lucius blandly asked.

Letting out a little chuckle, Ka'lor'ah shook her head and answered, "I suppose not. I guess I noticed wrong."

Then, with a teasing smile, Ka'lor'ah asked, "What do you think about her completing the S+ evaluation requirement?"

"Impossible," Lucius flatly replied. "I admit that she's grown beyond what I initially estimated, but killing a Stage 3 is simply impossible for her with her current strength. She will die."

"I don't know," Ka'lor'ah casually shrugged her shoulder and replied, "I feel like she might give us another surprise."

"Unlikely." Lucius refused her.

Unwilling to argue with him, Ka'lor'ah changed the topic and asked, "So, what are we doing?"

"Firstly, we have to find a material called 'Cloud Steel'," Lucius answered. 

He then suddenly changed his direction in the air and dived towards a hollow valley within the ground. Descending once more into darkness, Lucius continued, "But before that, I'm going to fight."

"My Domain has remained incomplete for enough time. It's about time that I perfect it."

Accelerating once more, Lucius' body seemed to break past an invisible barrier as the light appeared once more. An incredibly large, dimly lit space appeared before his eyes.

Large mountains, flatlands, dense spiritual energy…the 'real' Cloud Cover Continent was revealed before his eyes.

"Land covered by clouds…now I get why they call this planet that," Ka'lor'ah muttered with understanding.