Lord of Annihilation

Opening the hangar doors of the spaceship, Ka'lor'ah immediately shot out and kneeled against the dry, brown ground of the landing pad. 

Grabbing fistfuls of mud with her tiny hands, Ka'lor'ah yelled, "FINALLY! SOLID GROUND! The torture is finally over!!" Rubbing the mud against her cheeks, she continued, "How I dearly missed you."

"Stop overreacting. You were in the Cloud Cover Continent a few months ago," said Lucius, as he stepped out of the vessel followed by Olivia.

Ka'lor'ah, who was busy rolling on the ground and relishing herself, turned around and spoke, "Yeah, but that was before I spent three months locked inside a capsule floating in empty space with you, Lucius. Let's face it, you're not the most 'fun' person to be alone with for extended periods of time."

A snide expression appeared on her face, as she continued, "Had Ollie woken up any later, I would've already lost my mind."

Hearing her reply, a suppressed laugh leaked out of Olivia's lips. She hurriedly used her hands to hide her mouth but couldn't stop laughing. Lucius couldn't find a snarky reply for her comments and hence stood quietly.

He did, however, look at Ka'lor'ah with narrowed eyes.

Seeing that, Ka'lor'ah flew up towards him and gently patted his shoulder, "Alright, alright, don't look at me like that. I was simply joking and did not mean it."

Just then…

"Welcome to the seventh jewel of Rivendell, weary Travelers!" a Terran sporting an excited smile stepped forward and spoke. 

The party's attention immediately fell atop him, as Lucius quickly scanned him with his soul power. He assessed the strength of the Terran, before performing a quick scan of the surroundings.

'Terran. Peak-Level Stage 2. No hostiles in the surrounding areas.'

Wearing a mechanic suit, the Terran, whose face and hands were covered with oil and grease, continued with his introduction, "My name is Dorian and I am the mechanic in charge of this landing bay. Firstly, let me thank you for choosing our service, the—"

"Yeah, yeah, let's just skip over it, Dorian," Ka'lor'ah quickly interrupted his passionate introduction and continued, "Just get to the point and tell us how much we owe you."

The Terran Mechanic Dorian seemed surprised by her sudden interruption and hesitantly asked, "Are you sure, Ma'am? I mean, I practiced really hard to memorize my speech."

"Oh," an awkward expression appeared on Ka'lor'ah's face as she spoke, "I'm sorry for interrupting you then. May I ask how long your introduction is?"

"Only five pages long and five thousand words long, Ma'am," Dorian cheerfully replied.

"Yeah, never mind," Ka'lor'ah instantly shook her head. "Are you new here, Dorian?"

"Oh yes, Ma'am. I just started working here this week and you guys are my first clients," Dorian excitedly explained.

"That explains your passion. Tell me, Dorian. Have you always wanted to become a Mechanic?" Ka'lor'ah curiously asked.

Hearing that question, a metaphorical flame appeared inside Dorian's eyes as he answered, "Ever since the day I was born, Ma'am!"

"That seems exaggerated," Ka'lor'ah doubtfully replied.

"Oh, not at all, Ma'am! In fact, I was found by a Mechanic inside the fuel compartment of an abandoned space vessel," clenching his fists, Dorian looked towards the blue sky with pleasant remembrance. 

"Ever since I heard the story of my birth, I knew. I knew that I was born to be a Mechanic. Destined even! I would not give up this sacred profession for the entire Universe!"

"Got it. You're the first guy that I've ever met like this, Dorian," Ka'lor'ah honestly praised.

"Why, thank you, Ma'am. You are very pretty yourself. The two ladies in the back too, you're all very pretty," Dorian slightly blushed, referring to Lucius and Olivia. 

Hearing those words, Olivia finally lost all control and burst out into laughter. 

"HAHAHA!"

The whole back and forth between Ka'lor'ah had been too silly and funny for Olivia. This entire time, she had been trying her best to hold in her laughter. 

When Dorian had referred to Lucius as a woman, owing to his slender build, feminine face, and long, scattered black hair, Olivia finally lost control. In fact, she seemed to lose balance as she fell to the ground and continued to laugh.

Looking at Olivia, who was literally rolling on the floor with laughter, a confused expression appeared on Dorian's face, leading him to ask, "Did I say anything funny?"

Ka'lor'ah, who was also heartily laughing, albeit not to Olivia's extent, wiped the tears off her eyes and answered, "That stoic-looking person is not a woman, Dorian. He's actually a guy."

"Oh!" A shocked expression appeared on Dorian's face. Hurriedly turning to face Lucius, he rapidly bowed and spoke, "I'm incredibly sorry, sir! I was only expressing my admiration and didn't mean to offend you."

"Humph," Lucius simply grunted and did not reply further. 

Looks or gender were not important to Lucius. It was a matter insignificant of his consideration. He couldn't care less if someone called him a woman, and was completely unfazed by it.

Although, Olivia's laughter was getting a tiny bit annoying.

Condensing multiple black-colored pebbles around him, Lucius delivered his classic punishment on Olivia. Quickly, the laughter stopped and was replaced by yelps of pain.

"Hmm," Dorian was unsure of how to react to this scene. He couldn't help but feel responsible for the lady being punished. 

Just as he was about to step in, to take the punishment in Olivia's steed in order to apologize for his rudeness, Ka'lor'ah quickly intervened and spoke.

"Ignore them. This happens quite frequently," Ka'lor'ah focused on Olivia's yelps, which were turning stranger by the minute. Rather than a scream of pain, it seemed to be heading in the direction of pleasure.

"In fact, I'm starting to worry that she's starting to enjoy it," Ka'lor'ah continued while shaking her head. 

Dorian, who was too pure for this world, did not catch her innuendo and blankly tiled his head.

"Anyways, we're going off-tangent here," Ka'lor'ah quickly steered the conversation back on track. "Let's talk about rent and maintenance charges. As you can see, our ship is a bit different from the usual ones. This one is a…"

----------

"It's kind of weird that we are taking a train to get to our destination? Can't we just fly there?" Olivia asked as the party stepped into a tram-like vehicle.

"We could, but it's not efficient or legal within this planet," Ka'lor'ah answered.

She then pointed towards the large metropolis built around a branch of the World Tree seen at a distance from within the Window. 

"There are multiple Stage 4 existences within that city that maintain order in the surroundings. This planet, or any major planet within the middle regions of the Universe, has some general rules that have to be followed. No unauthorized flying is simply one of them."

Ka'lor'ah then pointed to the various people sitting, standing, or sleeping within the train and continued, "Look at all these people in here with us. Different appearances, races, and souls, one thing in common is that they are all in Stage 3 realm."

"What?!" Olivia exclaimed, shocked. 

Just an approximate counting of the people that she could see already put the number within the train at almost a hundred. That is to say, there were a hundred Stage 3 beings currently inside this small train.

"She is correct," Lucius, who was quiet all this while, answered. "We have entered the middle regions of the Universe. Here, Stage 3 makes up the base of the pyramid."

"In fact, finding a Stage 1 or Stage 2 being in this region is harder than finding a Stage 4 or Stage 5 being. The power distribution here is completely flipped."

A bored expression occupied Lucius' face as he continued, "You could be a God in the Exterior(Outer) regions with your Stage 3 strength. But in the middle regions, you are simply another commoner. An ant to be stepped on."

"Indeed." "Correct" "Well said." "Seems like you've got common sense."

Multiple head nods and affirmations rung out from their surroundings. Olivia quickly looked around and found many of the other passengers within the train agreeing to Lucius' cynical statement.

An older-looking gentleman, who judging from his unique appearance seemed to be a Beast-Human, genially smiled at Olivia and spoke. 

"You seem as curious as a Treasure-seeking rat. Is it your first time coming to the middle regions, lassie?" he asked.

Sensing that he was actually being kind, Olivia nodded her head and replied, "Yes. I am from the Exterior regions."

"Thought so," the old man kindly nodded his head. "Judging from your scent, you're incredibly young but are only a step away from Stage 3. Quite talented, I see."

"Haha, yes," Olivia awkwardly replied, unsure of how to reply to his question.

Seeing her awkward look, the old man smiled kindly and spoke, "You're quite nervous, aren't you? Why?"

"It's just that…the Stage 3 people that I'm familiar with are quite arrogant and unreasonable. Learning that all the people within this train are at Stage 3, yet seeing everyone being so…normal, it's quite odd." Olivia honesty replied.

"Ah, I get what you mean," The old man replied. "Those unreasonable fellows that you're familiar with are cowards who don't dare to enter the middle regions. They are afraid of losing that God-like status and settle for bullying the weak."

A hint of murderous aura appeared on the old man's face, as he hatefully spat out, "A bunch of spineless fools, who are weak against the strong and strong against the weak."

Being in close proximity to the old man, Olivia felt the murderous intent suffocating her. She found it harder to breathe, as each of her breaths turned shallow and short.

Just as she was about to move her soul power to combat this suffocating pressure, she suddenly felt an invisible aura envelop her. The aura was cold, sharp, scathing, but most importantly, it was familiar.

The old man quickly recovered from his daze and immediately retracted his murderous aura. He then apologized, "I'm sorry, lassie. I lost control for a moment there. I'm not used to regulating my power in the presence of a Stage 2."

He then discreetly looked toward Lucius, who was sitting next to Olivia with his eyes closed. A hint of acknowledgment and interest flashed across his eyes, as he quickly removed his gaze.

"I apologize once again." 

"Oh, no, please. It was not that serious," Olivia hurriedly stopped him.

"Well anyway, my advice to you is; keep your head down and quietly go about your business. Even though most people within the middle regions are sensible, there are some who haven't yet been kicked in the balls by reality," the old man sincerely advised.

"Although, I think you'll be fine. Seeing as to how you have someone protecting you."

Olivia then stood up and performed a proper bow. 

"Thank you for your advice, elder," she sincerely thanked.

"Oho, you're quite the polite lassie, aren't you? Well, what's the hurry? There is still some time before my station arrives. Let's continue talking."

"Sit down and tell me, what's your name? Oh and…"

The conversation between Olivia and the random elder on a train continued. 

Soon, Ka'lor'ah and some of the other passengers also joined in on their conversation.

Lucius, on the other hand, continued to remain silent. Although his eyes were closed and his body was relaxed, he still extended his soul power and monitored the surroundings. 

Some passengers, who were in the Peak-Level of Stage 3 as the old Beast-Human elder, noticed his monitoring but did not react. Since they were unable to accurately estimate Lucius' strength, they preferred to avoid any acts of hostility.

As for Lucius, he never bothered with their reactions in the first place.

His attention was solely focused on the young woman who was the center of the conversation.

'Why are you so much like her?'