Lord of Annihilation

"Ha-haven't you already completed your trails!? Why are you here again!!?"

The Guardian of the Twelfth Labor, the Peak-Level Stage 4 Mutated Cerberus named Ovid, who was known for conducting the strictest and fairest trails amongst all the Labors, whimpered as his pairs of eyes caught sight of the newcomer

This newcomer was obviously Lucius, who followed behind Olivia and entered the mountain clearing after her.

Hearing the mighty beast's whimpers, Lucius causally pointed towards the figure of Olivia and answered, "I'm her teacher. I'm following along to guide her through the trials."

"But that's—wait, you're not here to fight me again?" Ovid cautiously asked.

In response, Lucius shook his head and replied, "I already gained all I could from fighting you. There's no point in repeating."

"So you're here to assist her in her trials?"

"Guide her. I won't step in to help her."

"Haaa!~" 

Hearing his answer, Ovid let out a mighty sigh of relief. 

Two of his heads hung down in visible relaxation while the remaining head, the middle one, had its eyes upturned in joy and its mouth curving in a reposed smile.

"Kukuku!~" 

The Stage 4 Beast then broke out into a weird laughter of sorts with boulder-sized tears dropping from its eyes. 

"Kakakaka! Awoooo!~" 

Soon, maddened laughter and crazy howls resounded within the confines of the mountainous clearing.

Olivia, who was watching this confusing exchange and the subsequent spectacle, found the respect and image that she had for the Peak-Level Stage 4 beast come crashing down.

She turned to look at Lucius, then at the Mutated Cerberus who seemed to be laughing and crying at the same time, and then back to Lucius.

"Hmm, Lucius. What's happening?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Lucius replied, "I do not know."

Hearing such a response, Olivia turned back to face the Mutated Beast and decided to wait for the creature to calm down. 

Looking at its three faces whose expressions were alternating between sadness and joy, Olivia could vaguely feel the traces of a mental trauma within its psyche. Relating this with the earlier exchange between the beast and Lucius, she started thinking.

'What the hell happened between this poor creature and Lucius for it to be so strongly affected?' Sneaking a peek at Lucius, her thoughts continued, 'What did he do?'

Olivia's impression of Ovid had gone down from 'that fearsome, insurmountable monster' to 'that pitiful dog'. 

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After nearly five minutes of laughing and crying its heart out, Ovid finally calmed down and looked towards the small challenger.

"Ahem, ahem, please forget that unsightly behavior of mine. I was simply a little relieved," Ovid spoke with 'dignity' in its voice.

'A little relived? You were crying 'Mommy' three minutes in! How am I supposed to forget such a thing?!' 

Of course, this internal monologue of hers did not see the light of day as Olivia adopted the perfect picturesque smile on her face and replied, "I have no idea what you're talking about, Sir Guardian." 

Olivia even showed a 'look of confusion' to sell her act.

Seeing this response from the little challenger, Ovid felt greatly pleased. 

It understood that the little challenger was lying to please it but nonetheless felt glad about her active cooperation.

"Ahem, exactly," Ovid nodded his head.

He then turned to look at the devil dressed in black. He had his eyes closed and was standing a good distance away from the little challenger, seemingly asleep.

Ovid's large mouths moved quite a few times but its voice refused to come out. Trying a few more times to no avail, Ovid shook its heads and gave up.

"Hmm, Sir Guardian," Olivia hesitantly piqued.

Hearing the little challenger call its mighty name, Ovid turned to look at her and warmly asked, "Yes, little one?"

"May I receive my trial?"

"Yes? Oh, yes!" Ovid fiercely nodded its heads. "I forgot that you don't have a lot of time before the trial ground closes."

"Before we start, are you really his student?" Ovid asked, pointing towards Lucius with its humongous toe.

Following the direction of its pointing, Olivia quickly replied, "Hmm? Yes!"

"I see." Ovid nodded its heads with utmost seriousness. "So uhm…Forgive me for asking but did he pass down his techniques to you?"

Hearing this strange, somewhat personal question, Olivia thought for a moment before deciding to be honest.

"Not all of them since I use a sword, you see," Olivia pointed to the weapons sheathed in her waist. "Just his Movement Technique and battle knowledge."

"I see." Ovid calmly replied.

For a moment, Olivia could swear that she saw the demonic-looking beast sneakily let out a sigh of relief. This type of behavior only served to make her even more curious about the events of Lucius' trial.

'Just what happened between the two of them!?'

Alas, Olivia did not have much time to ponder on this question as Ovid continued to speak.

"Good. Very good…"

"You seem to be at the very peak of the Stage 2 realm with one leg inside the next Stage. However, knowing that you're the student of that nonsensical mons—remarkable youngster over there, you should possess the strength to fight above your Stage."

"As such, your trial is simple. I will limit my strength to the Peak-Level of Stage 3. All you have to do is touch this star-shaped symbol on the top of the middle head within twenty minutes."

Lowering his middle-head, Ovid showed Olivia the small star-shaped birthmark near the center of his head. The birthmark was barely the size of Olivia's palm and was extremely small in respect to the size of its head.

"Seems simple enough, right?"

"…yes."

A bad feeling appeared in Olivia's heart as she felt that the mighty creature had more to say.

"Good. Now let me tell you about your handicaps."

"I see that your sword is a Stage 3 Living Weapon? Let's start with that. You will not be allowed to use your sword during this trial."

The moment it finished speaking, an oppressive pressure descended down on Olivia. More precisely, it descended on Thorn that was hanging quietly by her waist.

The oppressive pressure completely suppressed the Living Weapon, before forcefully carrying it away from Olivia. Thorn was made to shoot up into the air and disappeared somewhere amongst the thousands of rock protrusions in the ceiling.

"Secondly, you will slowly lose each of your six senses starting from 'Sight' in this order; Sight, Sound, Smell, Taste, Touch, and Proprioception, which is your ability to sense using soul power."

"Each of the senses following 'Sight' will be taken in intervals of three minutes from the start of the battle. If you still haven't succeeded at the fifteen-minute mark, then your final sense 'proprioception' will be taken away."

Saying as much, Ovid paused for a few seconds to let his instructions sink in. After waiting for Olivia to exit her daze, he continued.

"Since you lack a Domain, I will not be placing the Domain Restrictions on you. Also for this very same reason, I will not actively attack you and will only passively defend."

"You are welcome to use any and all methods to try and succeeded. Do you have any questions before we start?" Ovid asked.