Lord of Annihilation

Lucius noticed Olivia quickly follow behind him from the corner of his eyes.

'At least she isn't dumb.' he thought to himself.

Her quick thinking and her lack of unnecessary questions had won his appreciation. Even the displeasure that he was feeling lessened by a tiny amount.

Answering questions was one of the things which Lucius hated the most. Seeing her remain silent, Lucius quietly dispersed the soul power which he had gathered in his hands.

Lucius was obstinate but in no way was he stupid. He wouldn't blindly stick to his beliefs if it brought him no benefits.

'Her combat talent is indeed not too bad.' he recalled her fighting his grey-skinned beserk self. The ability to remain rational and react quickly in times of certain death was a unique trait that couldn't be trained.

Olivia having this trait made it easier to train her, while also showcasing her talent as an innate warrior.

Since allowing her to follow him increased the odds of his plan succeeding and also gave me direct benefits, there was no point in obstinately denying it.

Walking towards the spaceport, Lucius noticed that two long-distance spaceships were already fueled and the lost minute checks were being conducted.

These spaceships had been prepared for the transport of important personal and materials, which were to be carried to the Alliance HQ.

All three spaceships were of the same kind and were capable of interplanetary travel. They even had a small warp core installed in their body, which allowed the ships to enter hyperspace.

'Perfect Timing.' saying so, Lucius directly walked towards one of the space ships.

Directly boarding the ship, Lucius inspected the interiors. Seeing that everything was in perfect order and the ship was prepped for immediate travel, Lucius nodded his head in satisfaction.

Just as he was about to sit down at the pilot seat, he heard a voice from outside the ship.

"Hey! What are you doing in there? Students aren't allowed to be here. Quickly get off of the ship!" a middle-aged man who seemed to be in charge of the maintenance of this ship bellowed.

'Damn! I hope these kids haven't messed with the controls.' thinking so, the man quickly boarded the ship to inspect it once again.

Having heard him, Lucius cooly turned his head and stared at the middle-aged man. His left eye suddenly turned bright golden and his voice changed to become more dominant and oppressive.

"You aren't required here. Leave the ship and clear the port for launch."

The eyes of the middle-aged man turned confused before becoming blank. His voice lost all its emotions as it blandly replied.

"Yes.", saying so the middle-aged engineer headed towards the control room to clear the port.

Lucius took the main pilot seat and started operating the various controls with ease.

Olivia who had just witnessed this interaction was dumbfounded.

'Just now, that middle-aged man was furious at us for boarding this ship. Lucius simply looked at him and spoke a few lines..... and the man complied? How did he do it?'

She quickly recalled the scene within her mind and thought of a possibility.

'Was it his eyes?' she recalled how Lucius' left eye had shined with a bright golden color for a second.

'Is it like the 'Power of Kings' Geass', is Lucius able to give commands to others....' just as Olivia's imagination was running wild, a cold voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Strap in. We are leaving."

Olivia quickly exited her thoughts and hurriedly occupied one of the passenger seats. She placed her bag in the storage compartment below the seat and quickly wore the seat belt.

Lucius on the other hand had already seated and strapped himself. He then moved to turn on all the required switches and started the spaceship. He then placed his hands on the yoke. Moving with familiarity, he then proceeded to control the spaceship.

Sounds of mechanical parts coming to life and rotating at high speeds were heard along with the obvious shaking of the spaceship. The unmoving body of the spaceship, gave out a faint whizzing sound as it started to slowly lift off the ground.

The tremors inside the cabin started to intensify. Before long, the tremors started to weaken in intensity as Lucius gradually gained control over the spaceship. The tense body of Olivia, who had been nervously holding onto the seat also relaxed.

"It's easier than I thought." Lucius suddenly commented. To tell the truth, it has been a long time since the last time he had controlled a spaceship.

After gaining proper control over the spaceship, Lucius no longer wasted any time. With the spaceport cleared, thanks to the efforts of the middle-aged engineer, Lucius directly took to space.

Pressing down onto the yoke, the speed of the vessel increased as it began a steady climb towards the grey skies.

The space ship continued to ascend and before long, it had already exited the boundaries of the planet of Deatov. Bringing them into the vast darkness dotted with distant twinkling stars.

No matter how many times one views the boundless vastness of the infinite space, it always inspires a sense of awe and insignificance in the heart of the observers. Lucius himself was no exception.

'Sigh.' he involuntarily released a sigh filled with heavy feelings.

Ever since the awakening of his bloodline, the suppression that was placed upon his emotions were weakening. Lucius was beginning to feel many things that he had not felt in a long time.

Various desires which were previously inexistent within his heart were slowly birthed and his psyche was ever so slowly starting to change. Within the infinite indifference of his unfeeling heart, a hint of madness was rapidly growing. Lucius himself was currently unaware of these changes.

Hearing his sigh filled with heavy emotions, Ka'lor'ah who was connected to Lucius through her soul, also started to share some of his emotions. A kind of oppressive mood descended onto her heart. Just as she was about to send him a message, the radio aboard the spaceship started to crackle.

"...crackle...Hello? This is EA-D-4004. Does the pilot aboard Expedition-1, copy?" a static voice leaked from the radio.

With the disappearance of the boundary surrounding our universe and the infusion of Spiritual Energy into the surrounding space, the properties of electromagnetic waves changed.

The method of communication, previously used by mankind no longer worked under these conditions, resulting in a loss of contact between the various bases and the Alliance HQ. Similarly, the communication between the spaceships and the bases were also not possible

It was only thanks to Reyna's tireless efforts, that she was finally able to create a basic medium of contact with which the people in Deatov were finally able to establish a mode of contact. As for how she had managed to do this or the intricate science behind it, nobody other than Reyna herself exactly knew.

Expedition-1, which was the ship that Lucius had hijacked, was also fitted with the latest communication device which was capable of function in this new Universe. Although not as instantaneous or advanced as the previous one, communication between two distant places was still possible.

"...crackle..I repeat. Can the pilot aboard Expedition-1 hear me... crackle.." the radio continued to sound out.

"...Sir..whoever you are, I request you to kindly return to the surface... That vessel is to be used for transport to the Alliance HQ...."

"...If you.... fail to comply..... Serious actions will be taken.."

Lucius who was seriously piloting the spaceship, couldn't be bothered to reply. He simply ignored the warnings and threats.

"Sir...I repeat..." after a few seconds, the voice on the radio continued to speak.

"Annoying." Lucius used his physical strength and punched the communication device. With the crackling of electricity, the device then died. Silence returned to the cabin once again.

'Much better.' Lucius thought to himself.

After controlling the space ship until it had left the region of influence of the planet, Lucius enabled the auto-pilot mode. He then removed Ka'lor'ah from his pocket and held her within his hand.

"What are the coordinates to the first Catacombs?" he asked her a question.

"Are we not heading towards a 'Neutral Zone', first? Do you not want to register?" Ka'lor'ah inquired.

"We can do that later, let's first head towards the Catacombs and gather those fellows," Lucius answered.

Ka'lor'ah did not immediately reply and quietly pondered. Lucius for his part also remained silent.

Olivia who was also sitting within the same cabin heard the conversation between the two parties. While she understood the words spoken by both of them, she failed to understand the meaning behind them.

'Catacombs? Neutral Zone? Those fellows..?" many questions started to appear within her mind.

Although she wanted to ask, Lucius what he meant by those words, she understood her current situation was still quite awkward. While Lucius had acquiesced to her following him on his journey, he still hadn't truly accepted her.

As such she decided to keep quiet. Wherever he goes, she had decided to follow.

After a few minutes of silence, the crystal within Lucius' hands let out a soft glow. The light was projected into the air and formed a combination of letters and numbers.

Seeing those alphanumeric characters, Lucius opened the auto-pilot program of the spaceship and entered it into the destination tab.

{Calculating Distance... done! ETA..... 46 days.}

After the input was done and the time of arrival was calculated, Lucius closed the panel and stood up from the seat. He then exited the control cabin and headed towards the living quarters below.

As for Olivia who was sitting with a confused expression, he completely ignored her existence.

-----------------

Meanwhile. Within the command center overlooking the spaceport.

Multiple officials stood looking at a holographic map with worried expressions.

"This is bad." one of the senior officials grimly spoke.