Lord of Annihilation

"Stop acting and wake up.", Lucius said coldly as he stared at the crystal on the floor.

"The gig's up, huh", a voice was heard from somewhere. The crystal that was lying silently in the floor suddenly quivered and started floating up. Surprisingly the voice was heard from the crystal.

"Now do you understand how it feels to be ignored, when you are talking. Humph!", the voice spoke as it snorted.

Lucius sighed and spoke up, "Can we skip the banter Ka'lor'ah. I have got something important to ask you."

"Stop acting like you haven't heard me.", the voice shouted in grievance.

"Why did you send me 300 years back. You know this wasn't the original plan that we discussed.", Lucius questioned her in a serious voice.

Seeing that he was serious, Ka'lor'ah was no longer rebellious and answered. "Since we were going to affect the 'Rule of Causality', I figured, might as well send you to a time, when the Rule was at it's peak." Her voice was nonchalant, no longer sounding like she previously did. She sounded like a Monarch, one who controlled the life and death of billions of living beings. Her voice was filled with regal authority and indifference.

Lucius did not seem surprised at this change and continued, "But this wasn't what we discus-."

"Would you have agreed if I told you in advance.", she abruptly cut him off. Her voice was sharp and incisive.

Hearing her reply, Lucius suddenly became tongue-tied, he truly couldn't answer her question.

"This had to be done. There is no room for discussion on this matter. You know, what is going to happen in February next year.", her voice became firm and cold.

Lucius stood there silently. There was an oppressive feeling brewing in the air. After a while, Lucius took a deep breath and replied in his emotionless voice, "This is the last time, you will be doing something like this behind my back. The next time this happens, I will kill you without fail. Even if that means I have to carry out the plan all alone. I'm quite used to being alone.". Lucius stared at the crystal with cold eyes. A boundless killing intent lurking in his eyes.

The space between the both of them suddenly turned cold as a reddish-black haze leaked out of Lucius' body. It was manifestation of his soul power outside his body. After 5 seconds it abruptly stopped flowing and retreated back into his body. Lucius' withdrew his soul power. If someone else had been in the room during this period, they would've had their hearts stop beating out of terror.

Hearing this Ka'lor'ah sighed. She then calmly spoke up, "Give me a situation report. How long as it been since you came back and what happened during this period."

Lucius then started giving her a detailed report. After hearing everything the crystal remained quiet for a while. Then she spoke up.

"So let me get this straight. You have been here for less than 24 hours and already caused so much trouble.", she asked her voice quivering.

"Indeed.", Lucius calmly replied.

"You! Why didn't you wake me earlier. I missed out on so much fun. You unfilial disciple, how could you make your master miss out on so much excitement. Ahhh!!", the voice cried out.

For people who haven't figured it out. This crystal is the "Existence Crystal", of the woman in the dark golden robes. A 'Existence Crystal', is the core of a soul. Once a soul is sufficiently powerful, it produces a single crystal. As long as the crystal is not destroyed, that person can live indefinitely, although in the form of the crystal.

As soon as Lucius heard her say this, he figured out that she was starting to play around again. He then coldly stated, "Stop joking around and be serious. We need to plan our course of action."

"How am I joking! I am completely serious. If only I could have seen the scene of you being beat up, I would've recorded it and used it against you forever. Such a precious opportunity has been wasted.", the voice sounded, almost sobbing.

Lucius ignored her rants and spoke out, "So who's the focal point in this round. We need to start from that person."

"Hmm. oh the focal point, right. It should be Reyna Snowden for this round. You must remember her. She was your first girlfriend after all.", Ka'lor'ah said teasing Lucius in the process.

Lucius was completely unfazed by this and said, "So we need to ensure her survival. We must also have her speed up her achievements."

"That's easy, we just need to get close to her and influence her 'Causality'. ", she replied.

"How do I get close to her. At this point there has been no point of interaction between me and her.", Lucius asked as he furrowed his brows.

"That's even simpler, you just need to seduce her. After all you have already done it once.", she replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

Lucius immediately glared at the crystal and spoke, "Are you that keen on dying?"

"Che! What a killjoy. I guess we have to take the longer less fun path.", she grumbled.

"You already have a method?", Lucius asked in a questioning tone.

"Why of course, my dear Watson. I, your master, after all am the greatest being in the universe.", she replied. Her tone oozing with narcissism.

"Get to the point!", at this point Lucius was already starting to lose his calm.

Normally, Lucius is a very patient and calm person. Even in the most desperate of scenarios he never loses control of his emotions easily and always remains level-headed. But the only person who infuriate him, is this teacher of his.

"Do you still remember, why this girl becomes the focal point of Humanity's Causality?", he asked Lucius in the demeanor of a teacher.

Lucius thought for a while and replied, "Because of her Body-Soul Resonance device."

"Exactly. You know how difficult it is to uncover the soul of an individual. This revolutionary gadget of hers, single-handedly prolonged the time of humanity's demise by 30 years and gave it a fighting chance!", she said.

"But she hasn't figured out the mechanics behind it yet. And we can't just hand it to her because of the 'Rules'. Also how is this going to help us get close to her?", Lucius asked her, not quite understanding her plan.

"What was the device that first made her famous?", Ka'lor'ah asked in an amusing voice.

"It was the Mind-Body Synchronizer", Lucius replied unhesitantly.

"And what were you researching on during this period?", she continued asking him.

"Fluctuations caused by difference in the state of mind during traversal...Ah!", Lucius suddenly realized.

"Exactly! She somehow got her hands on your research and that paved the way for her eventual success. This is also the reason why you later met her in your life, although you never understood how your previous research got into her hands. Now assuming by the information you got from interrogating that guy, we can assume that this Keith guy gifted it to her.", she chuckled towards the end.

"He tried so desperately to get into her good books, not knowing that he played the matchmaker between the both of you. Talk about a twist, ahahaha!", she started laughing.

Lucius was ignored her antics and thought to himself, 'Reyna.'

The memories of the blonde haired girl started surging in his memories. Their time together, her laughter, his first kiss. All sorts of forgotten memories surged forth from the depths of Lucius' mind. Yet, Despite all of this Lucius' heart remained unmoved and his mind, utterly cold. He did not seem to care, and forcefully suppressed his thoughts. He then sat down to cultivate his soul power.

Ka'lor'ah could see what was going through his minds, as their souls had linked upon the activation of her crystal. After she saw, what he did she mentally sighed.

'This guy....', she thought then remained quiet as she watched Lucius cultivate quietly.