Lord of Annihilation

'Why did I say those things to her?'

Currently Lucius' mind was in a dilemma. After the conversation with Olivia, Lucius had left her in his room and made his way outside. Judging from her behaviour, Lucius felt that it wouldn't be alright to send her back to her room immediately. The fact that a female student of the Academy had gone back to her room crying after visiting a male student at night, would raise many red flags.

Although Lucius did not care about any rumours directed at him, getting suspended at this point would mean Lucius might miss 'that event.' This was a risk that he could not take.

Lucius' words to Olivia weren't gentle in the least. He had directly told her the truth and utterly crushed her ideals.

This very fact made Lucius feel weird. Considering his personality, Lucius would not actually care about a random human, let alone Olivia. If this was the usual him, he would have either directly chased her off or perhaps even killed her on the spot.

But the actions he had taken were out of character. When he had first heard the question from Olivia, Lucius felt a weird feeling in his heart. The possibility of lying to her did not occur to him and even the intent to kill her was missing.

Having not felt any type of emotion for a long time, Lucius was unfamiliar with that feeling in his heart. That mysterious feeling had disappeared as soon as it had occurred, not even allowing him to properly analyze his own condition.

This very change in his heart, was what made him speak those words.

Olivia's conviction and her dedication towards Lucius did not move him in any way. He was simply used to relying on himself, hence the concept of accepting the help of others was a foreign concept for him. Therefore, seeing herself believe in the Academy and on mankind made Lucius feel anger.

Anger. An emotion he hadn't felt for almost 100 years. This anger he had felt led him to his outburst, heartlessly crushing Olivia's heart.

'Upon hearing my words she either reaffirms her goals and works to becoming stronger. Or perishes along with the rest of mankind.' Lucius coldly thought.

As for what path Olivia chooses, Lucius did not care in the least. To him she was just another human. An insignificant figure in the grand scheme of things.

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The night passed by quietly and the sun had spread its first light into Earth's atmosphere.

With the announcement for the expedition, the Academy had decided to cancel all classes for the rest of the two weeks, in consideration of the students. Going to another planet, wasn't as simple as packing a bag and taking a spaceship.

Well that would be the case, if people were going on a holiday to sightsee. But since, this expedition directly affected the standings of the various families and their positions in the overall rankings in the World Council, the students representing their families could not take it easy.

Since the Academy had explicitly stated that students could not receive the aid for their respective families during their period of training and assessment, prior preparations had to made before they left Earth.

Olivia who had spent the night on the floor in Lucius' room , finally stood up. The moment she stood up, she immediately stumbled owing to her legs being paralysed due to sitting down for too long. She fell down once again.

Olivia gathered her strength and slowly stood up for a second time, this time holding on the bed near her for support. Her shoulders were slumped and her hair was in a mess. Her eyes were listless and her skin pale. Her face was filled with tear-stains, reminding her of last nights happenings.

The conviction and vigour she had in her eyes previously were non-existent. She resembled a beautiful, but abandoned puppet.

'That's right. What right do I have to speak about protecting him, when I myself am weak.' Olivia thought deprecatingly.

'It's actually laughable. When Lucius was being bullied, I stood there in the sidelines helpless. When he was beat up and threatened, I simply watched it happen, being unable to help him.' a smile filled with mockery filled Olivia's face.'

After regaining some strength in her legs, Olivia started to walk. She left Lucius' room and headed in a random direction. Her movement was mechanical, with no fixed direction or motive in her step.

Olivia had lost her direction. Both in thought and in life. She no longer cared about living and thought it would be better off is she died.

'Afterall, I couldn't even protect my goal in life. What is the use of living anymore?' she let out a soundless laughter in her mind.

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Lucius had no preparations to make as to speak. He did not have any family nor organisation behind him, to support in the rankings. His actual plans, as to speak, would only begin after he went to the frontier planet.

'Not like the rankings are going to matter anyway. The Alliance is going to have much more serious problems.'

Seeing that he had nothing to do, Lucius decided to leave the academy and head into the city. He had already asked Reyna to make him the weapon he needed. Other basic provisions would be provided by the Alliance, thus Lucius did not have to prepare anything in advance.

The only thing he was missing, which was also very important for his plans was the dark-gold crystal.

If Lucius wanted to act according to his plans in the frontier planet, Ka'lor'ah's existence was crucial. With the beginning to 'that event', the wheels of fate and cause would start turning, exposing humanity to a greater stage.

It was vital, that Lucius had Ka'lor'ah on his person in order to hide his Causality and avoid disrupting the causality of the others.

Wearing a dark robe to hide his features, Lucius took to the alleyways and the shadows to hide from the eyes of the people present in the street. With the increase in the Stage of his soul Lucius ability to detect had improved considerably. This coupled with his connection with Ka'lor'ah would allow him to detect her presence, if he was closeby.

While this was a brutish method, which wasn't efficient in the least, Lucius had no other choice. He could not rely on anyone to conduct searches, lest they become curious of his goals. Lucius had not used this method in the beginning because he had no clue where the crystal had gone.

After his subsequent gathering of information, he was at least 80% that Alex must have the crystal. After confirming Alex's general location form Escker before his death, Lucius had a faint lead to follow.

While he couldn't search the entire city, he could start from the Residential district, more precisely, from the Hellwig family manor.

Having a set plan in his mind, Lucius immediately moved without any hesitation. He only had two weeks to find the crystal, with no possibility for failure.

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The sun had set and the moon had taken its place among the skies. The day had passed so quickly, with much of the city being her busy with the various preparations.

Inside the academy, students and their aides were moving rapidly, each to their own direction. A bustling and chaotic atmosphere was present inside the academy.

Yet one person, walked through this chaotic crowds, seemingly not being a part of this scene. Her existence was at odds with the space around her. Olivia's figure stood solitarily among the ocean of people surrounding her.

She navigated with no sense of hurry in her steps. Perhaps she had already forgotten all about the expedition, nor did she care about it.

The only thought that filled her mind was, the line spoken by Lucius at the end.

'You want to protect me? But how are you going to protect yourself'

This declaration kept repeating itself in her mind. It aimed precisely at core of the issue and directly at her weakness.

Her eyes were dazed, with her steps being uncertain. Before Olivia knew it, she had already walked quite far from the crowds, towards a more desolate space. The old academy buildings, which were no longer in use, surrounded her.

Olivia herself did not know how she made it here. Upon leaving Lucius' room in the morning, she had been walking without pause. Without her knowledge an entire day had passed. Still this fact hadn't registered itself in her mind.

Noticing a wall in front of her, Olivia finally paused her steps which hadn't rested since morning. She had been continuously walking for more than 12 hours without break, with her legs on the verge of falling apart. Pain kept shooting through her whole body. With the lower half of her body, faintly shaking due to overtaxed muscles.

Yet, none of these things made their way into Olivia's conscious mind. Her face carried that lost look and her eyes were still lifeless.

Just as she turned around to continue walking in another direction, Olivia saw that feet of another person in front of her, blocking her path. She lifted her head up and gazed at the person standing in front of her with her lifeless eyes.

A handsome young man with fair skin and slender body stood in front of her. His shoulders were broad and his back straight. His eyes carried the look of authority, making it obvious that he was a person of power.

He was around 1.75m tall. Taller than the average person, yet shorter than Olivia.

His face carried a faint smile, yet his eyes weren't smiling.

"Classmate Olivia. I finally found you." he spoke in a mild tone.

Olivia did not reply and continued to stare at him. Her gaze did not show surprise, panic, vigilance or any emotion for that matter. It was empty, similar to a puppet.

Feeling the obvious lack of a response, the young man's smile vanished.

He venomously spat out his tongue and spoke out, "Che! I don't understand why I bother talking to commoners like you."

"Standing in front of a noble being such as myself, you dare look down on me!" he continued.

Olivia being taller than the young man, meant he had to look up to see her face. This fact had already put him in a bad mood. Olivia ignoring him only served to worsen his mood.

"It's a shame a person as beautiful as you is going to be killed. If it wasn't for that bastard Keith's order to bring you back untouched, I would have taught you a lesson for looking down on me!" Luther continued in rage.

Olivia's lifeless eyes, suddenly regained their vigour upon hearing the name Keith.

"Wait, Keith?!" she exclaimed.

"You guys handle her. Make sure you don't hurt her too much." ignoring Olivia's surprise Luther coldly ordered.

Upon listening to his commands, 4 figures garbed in black robes, with their faces covered dashed out from the shadows and caught Olivia in her arms.

"Wait! Let me GO! Explain to me pro..." Olivia tried to struggle, but it was a futile attempt.

Perhaps if her body had not already been weak owing to her earlier events, she might have been able to put up quite the resistance. Perhaps she might have even escaped capture.

Alas, there wasn't an 'what if ' in the real world.

Her struggles were smoothly subdued and her hands and mouth were bound. With her head being covered, the shadows swiftly retreated into the darkness with Olivia in tow.

No trace of their existence was present in the scene. Luther clicked his tongue once again and slowly turned around to continue walking.

'I will not remain your slave forever Keith! One day, I shall show you what it feels like, when a man's dignity is trampled upon.' Luther cursed in his mind, his body slowly disappearing among the sea of people.