Lord of Annihilation

Cutting across the air at breakneck speeds, Lucius' nose continuously sniffed at the air around him. 

Moments ago, Lucius noticed an unfamiliar, foreign strength beyond the field of flowers. While unsure of the exact nature of the scent, he could instinctively feel that the scent belonged to the material he was currently seeking.

Cloud Steel was a formless material that appeared in a dense smoke-like form. It gave off rays of multicolored light when stationary, but reverted to a colorless state when moving.

It was a very rare and precious metal that exhibited life-like properties making it incredibly annoying to find and much harder to gather. 

Lucius' head continuously sought about and his nose incessantly sniffed about, causing him to make periodic adjustments to his direction. 

Lucius had to rely completely on his Void Eater's senses. Seeing the immaterial material was impossible and feeling it with his soul senses was equally hard, owing to its small size and quick movement speed.

As he continued to fly, Lucius could feel the fleeing material grow increasingly faint. His unmatched speed was being bested by a mere material.

'This is why collecting Supreme-Grade materials is such a chore,' Lucius inwardly complained.

Quickly opening up his shadow, Lucius called forth all twenty of his puppets.

"Come forth," he softly muttered.

Darkness expanded on the ground beneath his figure and twenty figures, armored in pitch-black armors, possessing cold, ice-blue eyes appeared. Their frightening auras revealed their ascension into Low-Level Stage 3 following Lucius' own improvement.

The moment they appeared, they kicked off the ground in unison and followed alongside Lucius. Now, twenty-one figures darted across the plains of Cloud Cover Continent, seemingly chasing an apparition.

Now, one might ask, wasn't there twenty-three Forgotten Warriors? What happened to the rest?

And indeed, you are right. 

Lucius had left behind three of the Forgotten Warriors within Mankind. One was to exclusively ensure Reyna's survival and the other two were to keep the alien Stage 3 additions in check while also ensuring that everything else proceeded smoothly.

Running out of time, Lucius could not afford another incident to take place in his absence. With the Forgotten Warriors in place, he would be able to monitor Mankind's progress and ensure their safety.

Back to the story.

Upon the appearance of his twenty puppets, Lucius gave out an order, "Split up and encircle the area. We are creating a net to trap it."

Lucius then shared his olfactory senses with the Forgotten Warriors. They were now able to vaguely smell that strange scent and nodded their heads in response to Lucius' words.

The increase in their Stage not only gave them an increase in power, but it also increased their intelligence. Like a growing AI, they were now able to execute slightly complex commands.

Having acknowledged Lucius' orders, the twenty shadows split apart and headed in different directions. With his soul's connection, Lucius was able to accurately track their movements. There were no issues and the chase resumed.

This time, Lucius carefully controlled his speed taking care not to overly startle the fleeing material. Similar to hunting a beast, he had to be careful in order to lead it into the trap.

'This might take a while…'

----------

BOOM!!!

A tremendous explosion, spanning a few hundred meters in width, rattled the Cloud City of Nubes above the continent. 

Roads were broken, buildings were shattered, and hundreds were killed. The waves of heat and energy continued to spread destruction onto the rest of the city, as fires spread all around.

Chaos reigned supreme and Death reaped the lives of the unlucky

Some ways of the site of the sudden explosion, a purple figure dashed away from the city while being chased by dozens of enraged Mid-Level Stage 2 Sword-Winged Angels.

The purple figure with clothes and armor that were decrepit and ragged ran with all her might while throwing some blades of energy at the mob in pursuit.

Olivia, whose body was in a pathetic condition filled with injuries both large and small, had a dissatisfied expression on her face as she narrowly dodged a wave of sword energy thrown at her.

Inwardly clicking her tongue, she thought to herself, 'That explosion was a bit hasty. I should have waited for a few more minutes.'

Executing a duck and a roll, Olivia evaded another two slashes of sword energy aimed at her head while maintaining her speed. 

Her long legs moved with copious steps and unflustered movements, as she perfectly executed the introductory movements of [Absolute Evasion] that Lucius had drilled into her. 

Neither the surrounding chaos nor the furiously chasing danger of her current situation could cause her to make mistakes in her execution. Lucius had made sure of that.

'That explosion should've killed around a hundred-and-twenty Peak-Level Stage 1 beings and maybe a few weak Stage 2 beings who were caught unaware.'

As if confirming her thoughts, a counter that existed in her mind altered its numbers and showed Olivia the final result.

{Peak-Level Stage 1 killed- 8982}

{Mid/Peak-Level Stage 2 killed- 3914}

{Low-Level Stage 3 killed- 0}

{Current Evaluation- B+}

'A hundred-and-eighteen. That was surprisingly accurate,' Olivia applauded herself.

The above counter was the result of Olivia's tireless efforts over the last month and a half. She had hunted day and night with minimal rest to achieve the displayed results.

Olivia's attention then moved to another part of her mind, landing upon another counter.

{Time remaining: 1162 hours left} (AN: 1 month and 18 days)

'At my current rate of progress, I should have no problems completing the Stage 1 and Stage 2 requirements. However, finding a Stage 3 being will be hard in the allotted time,' Olivia gritted her teeth.

While Olivia was extremely confident and motivated of achieving the S+ evaluation, the rational part of her mind was doubtful at best. A tiny part of her doubted her ability to achieve the result, given her current strength and time constraints. 

In fact, Olivia judged that meeting the basic requirements would be barely achievable at her strength.

However, the reality was a bit different.

When Olivia came across the first aboriginal settlement and began her first battle on this planet, she immediately realized something.

She was hella strong!

Strong to a point where she felt no difference in slaughtering Stage 1 and Stage 2 beings, even the ones at Peak-Level! Everything was cut the same under her sword.

Her soul power consumption was absolutely minimal with her recovery surpassing the consumption. Her movement speed was on another level when compared to her opponents. Her strength…there was no need to mention her strength.

Olivia's physique which was polished under Lucius' training and was further reinforced by her soul power, allowed her to go toe-to-toe with the giant, ax-wielding Forgotten Warrior.

Facing the slender and frail Sword-Winged Angels, Olivia felt like a barbarian of strength. 

However, her greatest advantage wasn't her speed, strength, or even her technique. 

No, her greatest advantage was the fact that her spells finally saw an effect against living, feeling opponents!

The [Soul Suppressor] soul, coupled with the abilities granted to her as the Arbiter, made her near invincible against opponents of similar strengths.

Playing with their minds and crushing their wills were all too easy. The Zero-Senses training had strengthened her mind to an absurd degree.

As such, she hunted with unmatched excitement and frightening efficiency. Starting from small settlements to towns, and eventually, to large cities, Olivia progressively increased the difficulty of her grinding.

Hard but manageable, this was the level of difficulty that she was aiming for.

Since this was a test and opportunity to polish her skills, Olivia relied as little as possible on tricks and schemes, opting for direct collision as much as possible. 

Had she resorted to her scheming, the death toll would've been much higher.

'My control has improved by an incredible amount. It's at a point where maintaining the Boundary around me feels like second nature,' Olivia noted, as she felt herself instinctively scanning and categorizing the information gained from her soul's senses.

Previously aboard the spaceship, Olivia had to spend some effort to maintain the Boundary and her perception of space. It was like jogging, where one had to command their body to complete the motion.

However, the past month and a half of battles had polished this skill and turned it into something akin to breathing, a task that was automatically performed by the subconscious mind.

'There is no problem in deploying a Stationary Field, and I can deploy a Moving Field for short bursts of time. I have yet to reach the realm of 'Perfect Control' and undergo that unique change which Lucius mentioned.'

'Using [Absolute Evasion] also feels a lot smoother and more natural now. Each of my steps employs a part of that skill, allowing me to be in the state of 'Constant Readiness' that he had mentioned.'

'Control over my strength and speed has also improved a ton. The cases of exploding bodies have finally stopped.'

'Overall…I think I can move to attack a major city now. Perhaps, I can fill the Stage 1 quota by clearing a few encampments and towns before going there,' Olivia concluded.

'Speaking of clearing up,' Olivia brought her attention to the dozens of people still chasing her. 'This should be far enough.'

Stopping her retreat, Olivia turned around and dashed towards the crowd of enraged Sword-Winged Angels. 

Violet-colored soul power exploded all around her as she mechanically and efficiently controlled her sword and soul power to kill with minimal waste.

Lucius' classes on Anatomy had taught her how to identify weak points and how to effectively exploit them. The past month and a half of hunting the same creatures over and over again had removed all excessive movements from her actions, allowing her to kill with minimum effort.

In but a minute or so, Olivia's bloodstained figure stood amidst a pool of blood, guts, and climbs. The fifty or so Sword-Winged Angels chasing her laid dead all around her.

Wiping the crimson blood off her lips, Olivia' scanned around once more to ensure that all of her opponents had really died. This was one of the lessons taught in Survival and Tracking.

Always confirm the state of your opponent after a kill.

Many strange races existed in this Universe, which didn't immediately die upon killing.

'Wouldya' look at that? Someone actually survived,' Olivia chuckled.

Strolling over to an unmoving body of a Sword-Winged Angel, Olivia observed her for a few seconds before cutting off her remaining limbs with her sword.

"ARGH!!!" The Sword-Winged Angel who was pretending death screamed in pain.

"YOU DAMNED INTRUDER FROM BLACKNESS!! YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR SINS AGAINST MY KIND!!" The creature howled with its grotesque mouth.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Olivia waved off the threat. "You guys are really lacking in vocabulary, aren't you. That is like the ten-thousandth or something time that I'm hearing the same threat." 

"Laugh all you want, Intruder! For you won't be laughing soon!" The creature venomously spat.

"Your barbaric actions have reached the ears of the mighty ones living below! Your time of reckoning approaches closer. Count your days!" The creature strangely laughed.

Narrowing her eyes, Olivia questioned it with utmost seriousness, "Mighty Ones? How and who are they?"

"I will tell you anything, demon!" It then quickly exploded the sword-energy near its heart and died.

Olivia, who was a little late in gathering her spell, clicked her tongue at this scene and dissipated her soul power.

'It died before I could use [Interrogation] on it. A pity,' shaking her head, Olivia then scanned the field one final time before moving once again.

Mighty One or not, she would only know after facing the opponent. 

Until then, Olivia was not the type to recoil from mere threats.