Lord of Annihilation

'Argh!! This damned dog…why won't you just get hit!?' Olivia let out a frustrated cry within her mind.

The lack of any real progress coupled with the impartial decrease in time frustrated her to no end. With tense nerves and a high-strung mind, Olivia continued with her furious assaults…only to fall short.

Swooop!~

The familiar feeling of wind sweeping against her skin was felt by Olivia. Only this time it was a bit different.

'My sense of touch! Twelve minutes have already passed!?' 

The feeling on her skin, or rather, the lack thereof informed Olivia that she had reached the twelve-minute mark. Reminded of the rapidly decreasing time, panic started to set in.

Having lost all of her five basic human senses, Olivia now had to continue the challenge while relying exclusively on her soul sense. This feeling would, of course, leave her after another three minutes.

Forcibly stopping her assault, Olivia disengaged from the behemoth's body and landed on the ground. Panting with an open mouth to regain her breath, Olivia's mind whirred in search of a plan.

'This stupid dog! While it said that it wouldn't actively attack me, it never said anything about restraining its own power! How am I supposed to beat an opponent, who is two full Stages above me, in terms of speed?'

'Time is running out and I HAVE to finish this before the fifteen-minute mark. Think Olivia, think!'

But alas, no matter how far and wide her mind searched, it failed to come up with an answer. All of her conclusions led to the same result…

…this challenge was impossible.

'But it can't be impossible! Lucius completed it, didn't he? Not to mention the hundred or something other challengers, according to the big dog. There has to be a way. Some method that I'm missing!'

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Olivia stood still and replayed every scene since entering the 'Twelve Labors' trail. A series of frozen images depicting every sight, every word, and every clue flashed across her mind.

Seconds continued to tick by as Olivia pushed her mind beyond its limits. She was fully employing her 'Parallel Thought Processing' technique and pushing it to its limits.

If one were to view Olivia now, one would see her face flushed with blood and heat up to an incredible degree, so much so that the sweat glistening on her face instantly evaporated and turned into visible white steam.

The thirteen-minute mark arrived and Olivia yet again found herself without any solution. She now only had less than two minutes before losing her final sensory function and along with it, any chance of succeeding in this trial.

'No, no, no, no, NO! There are no clues!' Olivia internally yelled with despair. 'I cannot fail now! Not when I've come this far!'

"ARGH! DAMMIT!" Letting out a roar, Olivia leaped off the stone floor with incredible power and neared to where she thought the Guardian was.

'Proprioception', or soul sense in simpler words, allowed Olivia to 'see' and 'sense' every inch of space within her Boundary. However, Olivia's Boundary extended only up to thirty meters of space around her. This meant that she would be unable to view the Guardian unless it entered within this distance.

But alas, Ovid was a fair examiner and a heartless beast. The moment it 'saw' Olivia rush towards its general position, it immediately moved its monstrous body to stay just out of her Boundary. It went without saying that Ovid had a Boundary that was vastly larger than Olivia. 

'It's supposed to be here…Don't tell me it moved!? Oh, fu*king come on!!'

Normally, had Olivia retained her senses of sight, she would've seen the creature move. If she had even retained her sense of sound or touch, she would've heard it move or felt the roaring drafts rub against her skin as a result of the sudden, rapid displacement.

Alas, there were no ifs. This was her current situation and Olivia had to deal with it.

BOOOM! BOOOOM!!

Steeping off the floor, jumping off the protruding stalagmites, even dashing off the summoned 'Sky Steps' –tiles that could be made in the air using soul power- Olivia employed every known maneuver to increase her speed and abruptly change her direction.

She focused her entire mind on feeling the changes with her soul power and inched closer and closer towards the damned creature. Just as she was centimeters away from entering its range—

—Ovid pulled away once more.

----------

It was evident at this point that the giant behemoth of a Wild Beast was toying with her, similar to how a cat would toy with a mouse.

Lucius' prowess had scared the giant beast out of its mind and had deeply wounded its pride as a powerhouse. And now, Ovid was taking out its frustrations on his student.

It was petty and unfair, but hey, life was unfair. 

Lucius too, knowing this, did not interfere. 

No matter how deeply unfair and one-sided this trial would be, he had decided not to interfere unless Olivia was on the brink of death.

What he sought wasn't a companion who was simply good or better than the rest. He wanted the best. 

Only the best would be worthy of joining their cause. Only the best would have a chance of going against the Lords, the Rulers of the Universe, and possibly come out on top.

Keeping his eyes closed, Lucius muttered under his breath.

"…so struggle. Struggle with everything that you have and you might have a chance at coming out successful."

----------

Thirty seconds to go.

By this point, Olivia's assaults consisting of thrusts and slashes no longer possessed their original structure. It was but the incoherent swings of an amateur who had allowed panic to overtake their mind.

Ovid, who was looking at this scene using his soul power clicked its tongue and shook its head. The initial sense of expectation that it possessed had all gone away and was replaced by plain disappointment.

'Being that monster's student, I expected her to be something special. Looks like I was mistaken,' thought Ovid.

The little girl before it was strong, way stronger than someone from her realm ought to be. However, she seemed to lack that heaven-bestowed talent that would set her apart from the ordinary and truly make her peerless.

'The moment she allowed the doubt of failure to enter her mind, her chances at success were already gone. Doubts grew and fear festered. She lost not to me, but to herself.'

Ovid exhaled deeply once more and dodged another frantic attack from Olivia. He then noted the passage of time and realized that the final moment was here.

'I guess this is the end.' 

The moment he thought this, a ray of black light descended simultaneously on Ovid and Olivia, robbing them of their final sense.

Ovid's mountainous body rigidly stood and Olivia fell from the sky, crashing into the stone-laden floor. Blood trickled from her orifices but there was no expression of pain on her face. 

In fact, there was no response from her at all. 

Both Ovid and Olivia currently resembled elaborately constructed mannequins. If not for their hearts beating and their lungs breathing automatically, one would mistake them for actual mannequins.

The fifteen-minute mark had been crossed and the duo lost all means of observation. Now trapped in endless, senseless darkness they entered the final portion of the trial.