Lord of Annihilation

"OH, FU*KING-! DAMN, THIS DAMNED SHI*TY PIECE OF CRAP--!!" Incomprehensible curses exited Olivia's mouth. 

While it did nothing to relieve her physical pain, the curses did help her calm down mentally. A few seconds later, Olivia's rolling action significantly slowed before gradually coming to a halt.

The golden liquid coating her body had disappeared, having been fully absorbed into her body. With the disappearance of the substance, the pain and sensations of burning had also disappeared.

Lying on the floor with her arms and legs sprawled, Olivia panted heavily. Sweat poured out of every pore, as the phantom pain continued to resound within her mind.

She then suddenly heard Lucius ask, "Are you okay?"

Weakly lifting her head, she saw Lucius popping his head from the surface of the water. His cold, black eyes stared at her with their usual coldness and detachment.

Even while seeing Olivia, a woman with ridiculous levels of beauty and charm, sprawling stark naked in front of him, Lucius did not show the slightest bit of interest or arousal. 

For an entity like him that had reached the apex of the Universe, in the [Killer] path no less, physical beauty meant nothing. 

Additionally, the [Void Eater] was at minimum a Grade 6 race, with the potential to rise higher. Against a member of a Grade 3 race like Mankind, it showed zero sexual desire.

"Look at me. Do I look okay to you, man?" Olivia sarcastically protested, weakly.

The lack of interest in his eyes as he viewed her did not bother Olivia in the least. She had already performed many tests in the recent three years to ascertain that Lucius showed no physical attraction to her.

If she was able to seduce him with her body, why would her conquest of his heart be so difficult? She would've succeeded a long time ago.

Not recognizing the sarcasm in her reply, Lucius answered seriously, "No." He then returned to leisurely swimming on the surface of the water.

Hearing that, Olivia simply sighed. She then continued to lie sprawling on the floor for a few seconds, before gathering strength in her limbs. 

Forcing herself to sit upwards, she then looked towards Lucius and asked, "Why does the water hurt so much? It felt like my body was being dissolved alive."

She then pointed towards him casually swimming on the water and continued, "And how come you're so unaffected by it?"

Continuing to swim in the comfort of the water, Lucius replied, "Simple. My body is a lot stronger than yours and therefore has the capacity for change. Since yours is a lot weaker, the change is a lot more forceful and painful."

Unlike Olivia's body, the Void Eater's body was a lot stronger and more accepting of the changes bestowed by the golden water. While Olivia experienced bone-wrenching pain, Lucius experienced soul-filling comfort.

"Can it be less painful?" asked Olivia. 

Just thinking about the pain mere moments ago, made her visibly flinch and shudder. 

"It will get less painful with time. Just stay in the water until your body gets accustomed to the changes," answered Lucius, casually.

Hearing that answer, Olivia hesitated. It wasn't that the pain was absolutely unbearable, but it was quite close to it. 

If she wanted to stay in the water for any period of time, she would have to provide her undivided focus to managing and suppressing that pain. It was hard and exhausting, but well within possible for her. 

The only issue was it would simply become another form of training. 

All her thoughts of enjoying this random encounter and peeping on her lover would have to be thrown out of her mind.

Frustrated, Olivia complained within her heart, 'Argh, dammit! Why can't I have a simple, normal bathhouse scene?! Why must you test me in such a way?!!' 

It was then…

"Waiting there hesitating isn't going to do anything to lessen the pain. The sooner you enter, the sooner you'll get used to it," Lucius advised.

And then, to Olivia's absolute surprise, he swam to the edge of the bath, offered her his hand, and spoke, "Hold my hand and enter. I'll teach you a little trick to make the pain more manageable."

Olivia dazedly stared at Lucius' handsome face and his outstretched pale, muscular hand. It took her a second to process his words, after doing which her eyes widened to the extremes.

'OPPORTUNITY!!' Her own voice yelled within her mind.

Rising up from the wooden floor at a speed double to her exit from the water, Olivia immediately walked forward and grabbed his outstretched hand. 

Feeling his smooth, muscular hand clasp over her own, Olivia felt strangely excited.

'This isn't my first time holding his hand. We do it all the time during training. But why does it feel so different now?' Olivia wondered. 'Is it the atmosphere?'

Atmosphere or not, now was not the time to think on such unrelated matters. 

Firmly clasping her hand, Lucius started calmly instructing, "Focus on the soul power pulses within my palm and memorize it."

Adhering to his instructions, Olivia focused on the soul power pulses within his palm. She could feel the pulses being transmitted into her own palm, allowing her to quickly learn its flow and pattern.

Seeing the expression of pure focus appear on her face as she began learning, Lucius slowly pulled on her hand, gradually leading her into the bath.

Steps had been built on the edge of the bath, allowing one to easily enter into the water. Lucius was now using those steps to slowly guide Olivia into the water.

The moment she placed her foot on the uppermost step, Olivia's feet came into contact with the golden water. 

Almost immediately, Olivia felt a burning sensation from that area. An expression of pain appeared on Olivia's face and her focus started to waver. 

Seeing the look on immersion gradually starting to disappear from her face, Lucius started to talk once more, "Keep focusing on my palm. The pattern is a bit complex so carefully memorize it. Once you finish memorizing it, circulate your soul power according to that pattern and surround your brain with it." 

Subconsciously hearing his words, Olivia dazedly stabilized her focus and started to move her soul power according to that pulsing pattern. Just as Lucius said, the pattern got increasingly complex as she continued to learn.

Pitting her undivided attention on the task at hand (AN: get it?), allowed Olivia to forget the pain from the water. Unknowingly, she had taken two more steps and had immersed more than half her shapely legs into the water. 

"That's it. Keep going. Focus on the patterns," Lucius continued to instruct.

He continued to methodically lead her into the water while imparting the pain suppression technique. Time continued to pass as Olivia struggled to learn under the assault of immense pain.

Just when she had gone down seven steps, and a little over half her body was submerged within the shimmering golden water, Olivia finished grasping the entire technique.

"Now apply that technique with your soul power and surround your brain with it."

The instant he finished talking, Lucius exerted force on his hands and pulled the remainder of Olivia's body into the water. 

Breaking out of her concentration, Olivia let out a small yell as she fell into the water. 

SPLASH!!

Being submerged completely inside the golden water, Olivia once again felt that odd sensation of the mercury-like water adhering to the surface of her skin. Just an instant later, the horrible full-body burning sensation reappeared.

Olivia bit into her lips with such force that blood was instantly drawn from it. She struggled against the pain for a few seconds, before it quickly turned unbearable.

'Nope! I can't do this! I need to escape the water!!' 

Olivia's flight-or-fight response was triggered, and her body instinctively chose the former option. Her rationality started being suppressed by the sheer, absolute pain.

Just as she struggled to leave this horrible place, she realized that she was unable to. Looking at her arms, she noticed that they were being firmly held onto by Lucius.

Olivia started to fiercely struggle within Lucius' grasp and her body started to painfully writhe from pain. The burning pain only continued to climb in intensity and showed no signs of lessening at all.

"LET ME GO!!" Olivia screamed underwater.

"Calm down! Apply that technique and surround your brain with it!" Lucius' clear voice rang within her mind. He used his soul power to mentally talk with her.

Upon hearing his clear yell, a trace of rationality returned within her mind. Using it, she desperately controlled her soul power, applied it according to the technique, and followed his instruction to surround her brain with it.

The instant her soul power, circulating according to Lucius' technique, surrounded her brain; Olivia felt the pain instantly reduce by 5%.

When compared to the complete magnitude of her pain, 5% was hardly anything. Nonetheless, it was a change in the positive direction.

Noticing the change, Lucius encouraged, "Good. Now continue doing that."

With a trace amount of pain disappearing, Olivia had more of her rationality freed. This allowed her to dedicate more resources to control her soul power, increasing its volume and hence the efficacy of the technique.

Soon, the technique was operated to full capacity and a little over fifty percent of that god-awful pain disappeared. Still, fifty percent of a god-awful pain was pretty awful. 

At least, the pain had finally become manageable and Olivia was no longer trying to escape out of the water. Gritting her teeth, she held on.

Seeing that she had regained control, Lucius released his grasp over her arms and thought to himself, 'Not bad, she managed to learn [Pain Suppression] to initial mastery. Not bad at all.'

Nodding his head, he continued, 'Now, I can return to my swim.' 

Just as he was about to turn around and return to his leisurely swim, Olivia suddenly lunged forward and clutched onto Lucius with her entire body.

Her slender arms tightly clasped his neck and her long, shapely legs wrapped around his waist. Her large, soft breasts squished onto Lucius' chest, and her head lowered itself on his shoulder.

Opening her mouth, Olivia then proceeded to bite into Lucius' shoulder.

Caught off-guard by this sudden twist in events, Lucius audibly yelled with surprise, "Hey! What are you—"

He suddenly paused as he looked down towards Olivia's face. 

Her face continued to remain twisted from pain, and he also noticed tendrils of blood flowing out of her facial orifices. He also noticed Olivia's seriously injured and torn lips, which he quickly placed as a result of her own biting. 

Feeling the soft, naked body occasionally shudder with pain, Lucius awkwardly stood with his arms outstretched by the sides, unsure of how to proceed.

It was evident from her hazy, watery eyes that she wasn't fully conscious. She had lunged onto him by instinct and was tightly latching onto him to withstand the pain.

Fifty percent or not, the pain was still awfully intense, especially with its continued exposure and assault.

'Ugh, dammit.'

Unable to blame her, Lucius sighed in resignation. He then continued to stand awkwardly, allowing Olivia to clutch onto him tightly.