Lord of Annihilation

Quietly making it back to the academy, Lucius continued with his daily student life. With Alex not being here in the academy and Ka'lor'ah also missing, he decided to lie in wait till some news eventually pops up.

Plus, with 'that event' drawing ever closer, Lucius had to continue getting stronger, if he wanted to have any chance at succeeding in his plans Making it to Stage 2 in a short time wasn't possible. It required accumulation to a certain extent.

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The [Killer] soul like the innumerable other soul types, had 7 Stages. Starting from Stage 0, one had to first link their souls to their physical bodies and condense them.

Once the soul takes the form of a vague human body, it can be considered to have reached Stage 1. Only upon reaching Stage 1 can one be considered to actually started on their soul cultivation.

From Stage 1 to Stage 7, certain conditions have to be met in order to progress. The process of slowly completing the condition is usually termed as 'accumulation'.

For the [Killer] soul, to progress from Stage 1 to Stage 2, the owner of the soul had to kill 10,000 lives. The lives of insects, bugs, animals, and other such organisms do not count. A lifeform had to be of a sufficient level for this condition to be satisfied.

This complies with the 'Rule of Life'.

Everything in the universe followed the set Rules. These rules cannot be changed nor ignored. Consciously or unconsciously all living things followed these Rules. If every being followed the Rules without fault and lived the entirety of their lives doing that, the universe would progress in the 'perfect' path.

A bug would forever be a bug waiting to be eaten, a fish forever remaining a fish waiting to be caught, a dog forever remaining a dog only to obey its master, and humans forever living their dull lives.

No progress would be seen in the universe. Without progress, death is the only outcome.

Naturally, this was not the case. All life forms had thoughts, desires, the urge to become stronger, greater than their previous selves. They felt the need to improve.

How then to improve, in a world where Rules are above everything and are absolute?

Simple, it is just to be greater than the Rule itself. The soul being the focal point common among all living things. Living things might not be equal in their body or minds. Some are born with a stronger body, some weak, some are born geniuses, while others are unremarkable. Man cannot compare to a tiger in strength and the tiger cannot compare with a man in intelligence.

Yet their souls, which are eternal, never to be destroyed are all equal.

Cultivating to improve one's soul hence became the goal among all living things. The higher the Stage of one's soul, the greater the number of rules they can surpass. And with the surpassing of Rules, one becomes stronger and stronger. The case of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly was such an example. In shedding its previous form it can improve.

In Lucius' case, currently, he was being restricted by the fact that he was human. In other words, by the 'Rule of Life'. In the vast universe, humanity was hardly remarkable. In the order of lifeforms, it was just above average. 10 grades separated the order of life forms. Grade 1 being the lowest, such as bacteria, micro-organisms, etc, and Grade 10 being the strongest. Humans being as great as they are, were only Grade 3.

Therefore, in order to surpass the Rule of Life, Lucius had to cultivate his [Killer] soul to a higher level. To have his Rule of Killer to surpass the Rule of Life, granting him the strength to improve.

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'Stage 2 in [Killer] requires me to kill 10,000 lives of at least the Grade 3. Humans being the closest I can find.' Lucius thought to himself.

He then sighed once before continuing, 'I can't go on a murder spree in the middle of the Alliance. Looks like I can only wait for the other Grade 3 lifeforms to show up.'

Being done with the classes for the day, Lucius started heading towards the gym. While he may not be able to improve the level of his soul cultivation, combat effectiveness was completely different.

'My strength rose too quickly that I haven't had the time to properly get used to it. Might as well use this time to work on it.'

Lucius' case right now was similar to a baby wielding a giant hammer. He had the strength to swing it, but not to use it effectively. Refining his control over his body was the only method he could utilize currently.

'Well, every bit of strength helps.' saying so he entered the gym. The Hell training had begun once again.

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The Alliance City-State was the name of the city in which the academy was situated in. It was largely separated into 5 different sections.

In the very center of this city, occupying a major tract of the area, laid the 'Earth Alliance Academy'. It formed the core of this region with the Alliance Headquarters residing within the campus.

Having the academy as the center, the rest of the city was divided into different quadrants, each occupying the four cardinal directions namely North, South, West, and East.

The North region is widely classified as the 'business' or 'official' district, with many headquarters of the major families and companies of the alliance being situated here. The Snowden Corporation building, which Lucius had visited with Reyna was situated here.

Bordering to the left of the official district, was the Slums occupying the Western Region. This area was originally meant to be a storage and trading hub due to its proximity to the official district. But with the passage of time and the gradual influx of people looking for opportunities in the City-State, this region became the slums. Innumerable smaller buildings of a cheaper construct were built here, with each house usually residing 5-7 people, being very clustered and cramped. No proper roads were present, with many dark alleyways being the only form path.

This was also the very region were Lucius was captured

The expansion of humanity was not only territorial but also in its population. Sadly much of the territory in its colonized planets were inhabitable, resulting in overpopulation in the other territories. With the City-State being the center of the Alliance, it was no different.

Diametrically opposite to the Western Slums, lay the Eastern region housing the Residential areas for the influential families. In direct contrast to the Slums, here wide roads and ample lands were present. Large mansions, furnished with flourishing yards were present.

The entire area screamed of the concept: Affluent and Privileged.

In the Alliance City-Sate, lands were extremely expensive. Therefore the size of the mansions and properties owned by the various families was a direct show of which families were the most powerful and influential.

The larger the property, the more powerful the family was. Many of the students studying in the academy had their bases here. Some examples being the Cline Family and Hellwig family.

In the South lay the commerce district housing the warehouses, commercial streets, and other utilities that could generate income. The business owned the various families and corporations were also situated in this region.' The Pit and the warehouse that Lucius attacked were situated in this region.

The entire city did not occupy a lot of lands. With the academy occupying a few thousand acres of space, the rest of the regions were more or less occupying the same amount of regional space. Still, every bit of land was worth more than a thousand times its weight in gold.

Currently, in the 'Commerce' district, a pair of young women were walking through the streets. One short and the other tall, one with blonde hair as radiant as the sun and the other with hair as dark as the night sky.

Two pairs of intelligent eyes shone brightly, one like emeralds and the other like sapphire. Their beauty could be simply described as -otherworldly!

As they strolled down the street, all of the passersby turned around to look at them a second time. Their eyes shining with various intentions. Of course, seeing the two pairs of men in combat suits following these young women, those having immoral intentions quickly shook their heads and squashed their thoughts.

The shorter girl had a bright smile adorning her face, while the taller had a tired look on her face.

Reyna held one of Olivia's arms and quickly pulled her towards another shop.

"Livia, look! Doesn't that dress look gorgeous! It should look amazing on you. Shall I buy it?!" she said in a sweet tone, reminiscent of an adorable little sister.

Hearing this Olivia let out an exaggerated sigh, "Rey, this is the fourth time in the last 5 minutes that you spoke those exact same words. And for the fourth time, my reply is no!" letting out her breath, Olivia once again continued, "You have already bought me too many clothes!" she said pointing at the multiple bags being carried by the men behind her.

Recalling the events that took place today, Olivia felt a headache setting in. During lunch, this 'little sister' (although she's older in age) had the amazing idea of ditching their classes and going out shopping. Without even giving time for Olivia to consider this idea, Reyna pulled on her arm and started heading in the direction of the gates.

"Will it be fine?" Olivia had asked worriedly.

"Of course! With me personally here, who would dare stop us?" had replied Reyna, thumping her fist on her chest.

After a few hours of walking around, Olivia was pushed to the state of collapsing out of physical exhaustion. Seeing Reyna still excited, Olivia did not understand where her energy was coming from. Looking back at the guards following them, Olivia could confidently say that, even they were exhausted!

Because of their status, they obviously could not stop their young miss, hence they had been sending pleading gazes towards Olivia, in hopes that she would be able to convince Reyna.

Olivia being experienced in worldly affairs understood their plights. Catching Reyna, who was bouncing around, she put on a serious expression and spoke in a deep voice.

"Rey, it's getting quite late. You have already bought me a lot of stuff and I am very thankful for your care. Let's head back to the academy."

Reyna sensing that Olivia was serious calmed down and obediently nodded her head. Giving a smile, she replied, "Okay, Livia! Still, you mustn't thank me for those, do you not consider me your little sister! There are no superficial thanks between sisters" she said pouting.

Looking at her cute expression, Olivia nodded her head, "Sure, sure."

As they were walking back to the car, Olivia suddenly asked curiously, "Still, aren't you technically older than me, how are you the younger sister between us?"

Without turning her head, Reyna replied, "That's not important. What matters is the bond!" her voice sounded like a 'matter of fact'. Turning towards a stall that was near the car, Reyna let out a cute sound, "Waaah! What's that?", she ran towards the stall.

Seeing this black lined formed on Olivia's forehead as she sighed again. Rolling up her sleeves, Olivia thought, 'Then I guess, it's my responsibility as the older sister to educate you.'