Lord of Annihilation

After a while two people exited the cafe together. A young man with black hair and black eyes walked ahead and following him was a pretty young woman with shoulder length black hair and brown eyes. While she wasn't an outstanding beauty like, Olivia or Reyna, she still possessed her own charms. She had a friendly welcoming aura surrounding her and was easy to get along with.

"Well then, Miss Waitress, I believe I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Lucius.", Lucius spoke up.

"My name in Ina.", the young woman replied.

Currently Ina was feeling on-top-of-the-world. Speaking with this customer, wait Lucius, she felt her heart being filled with joy and beating very hard.

'Why is my heart being like this?', she screamed in her mind.

"I will be relying on your expertise then, Miss Ina.", Lucius spoke while simultaneously making a bow.

"Ah! Sure, alright!" Ina replied while being flustered.

The atmosphere between them was awkward, yet not to bad. They started with making small talk and eventually settled into a comfortable pace.

Walking for a few minutes they finally neared the store that Lucius knew as the 'exchange shop'. It was a large storefront with an old fashioned sign board. These days most stores used either holograhic displays or digital displays. Having an old fashioned paper sign board was very rare.

The board read, "Tim's Antique Spot."

"Speaking of which Miss Ina. Why would you recommend this store?", Lucius asked in a curious tone.

Generally speaking, when a stranger asks a local about gift shops nearby, they would usually point towards of the larger more famous establishments. Pointing to one's local speciality was a rarity.

'Either this was the only shop in the locality or it's famous for some reason.', Lucius concluded in his mind.

"Oh that's because I have been here multiple times and they have a good collection of items. Even though the name reads 'antique' their collection of items are quite vast. Plus most of them are quite unique." Ina happily replied.

"Is that so. Then I will have to thank you in advance. If I had accidently bought some common item to present to my sister, I would have surely gotten a beating." Lucius said while laughing.

"Haha. How old is your younger sister, Mr. Lucius.", asked Ina.

"Ah she should be about 14 years old I believe. I haven't seen my family in a while, so I am not exactly sure." Lucius replied while his face turned a little melancholic.

But then he raised his head and smiled, "But I am glad, I'll be meeting them today. Oh and just Lucius is fine. Adding the Mr. sounds quite distant don't you think."

"Then I would request for you to also call me just Ina." Ina spoke. After hearing him she also felt a little sad in her heart and wanted to comfort him.

She thought to herself, 'He really cares about his family. Such people are rare these days.'

"Of course, Ina." Lucius replied.

They had already made it to the doors of the establishment, Lucius put his hands on the door and pushed it in.

The sound of the door lightly scraping the floor and the sound of bell chimes was heard. The door was an old fashioned wood kind, surprisingly heavy. 'The wood must just be the outer covering. A good amount of reinforced metal is filled inside. Stronger than those blast doors in the facility.' Lucius thought to himself.

His mind was fully awake and alert.He carefully paid attention to the spacing between him and Ina The distance and angles of the cameras. And also peaked into the shop to evaluate it's workers.

"After you, Ina." Luciu held the door open and spoke in a gentlemanly voice.

In his mind though he was thinking, 'Worst comes, I can use her as a shield for my escape.'

Truthfully speaking, all the actions and conversations before was merely an act by Lucius. A planned act. All the nonsense about his family and younger sister was a lie from the beginning.

Lucius was an orphan. The kind that had been abandoned at birth. If this was Lucius of before, the word 'family' might have still held some meaning to him. Yet 300 years of cruel reality hnd taught Lucius one fact that he would never forget.

'Power that comes from oneself is the only thing that can be relied upon. Family? Friends? Relationships? None of them are worthy of trust.'

This was Lucius' worldview. It is true, that his worldview is twisted and an extreme and many people will not agree with it. Yet, that was just the kind of person Lucius is. An uncaring, apathetic, indifferent person. Perhaps that is why, he was able to reach the 7th Stage of 'Killer'.

Even the existence of Ka'lor'ah meant nothing to him. In his eyes she was a excellent strategist, whose worth as a crystal meant more to him, than as a person. A means to an end. An item that he can use to accomplish his goals.

Even now, he was using Ina to achieve his goal. While doing so was inherently wrong and against the moral code and ethics, it was just the type of person Lucius was.

Someone who is alone and broken.

Perhaps he too wanted to feel comfort, care, the love of others. Alas, the universe constantly willed against it. Losing something this precious again and again, had made him grow into this.

A being of indifference.

As for why someone like this, would come back in time to change the events of the future. That is something for later.

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Seeing Ina enter, Lucius followed after her. Upon entrance he saw rows after rows of wooden shelving. The shelves were built out of dark brown colored wood. A faint aroma of antiquity spread throughout the entire space.

On the shelves were various items ranging from books to accessories. There were items both big and small. Tall and wide. Ranging from the smallest hand carved glass sculpture to a large grandfather clock.

Lucius quickly scanned through the entire room and noted any possible ambush locations and hidden spots. While he was being very paranoid and alert, it doesn't hurt to be careful. After all he was, technically in enemy territory.

Lucius was strong. Very strong from human standards. Ig he used his soul power while fighting, even a group of 50 armed people cannot defeat him. Still in the end, he was made out of flesh. Against human weaponry like Pulse cannons and Arc cannons, he would stand no chance. Not unless he cultivates to a higher 'Stage'.

Just as he concluded that he was currently safe, an female attendant walked toward them. Approaching them with a smile she spoke politely, "Welcome to our store! Is there anything you are looking for in particular?"

'Human. Unarmed.', Lucius thought to himself and looked towards Ina. He then put on an expression as if saying, 'please help me out here.'

Ina got his sign and spoke, "Ah, we were just about to browse through the items."

"Got it! Please follow me." saying so the attendant began leading them towards the shelves.

Ina and Lucius spent the next 20 minutes picking out a suitable gift for Lucius' little sister. The attendant explained the origin and history of the various items and helped them in their choice.

For Ina these 20 minutes, was the best 20 minutes in her life. Seeing Lucius' helpless expression as he was making a choice, made her feel happy in her heart.

'Why do I enjoy this so much?' she wondered to herself. Ina was no amaeteur, she was quite experienced with people and found it easy to read their expressions and thought. This was a kind of natural talent that she had.

Before coming here, her fellow workers had warned her against trusting a stranger too much. Since they had meant it out of the goodness of their heart, Ina had taken their advice. But the more time she spent with Lucius, the more she realized that he wasn't pretending or lying.

Of course this goes to show how effective Lucius' acting was. Being experienced in the way of life for 300 years, it wasn't so difficult for him to deceive a young woman of only 17 years of age.

While they were going around, Lucius made investigations of his own. Using a bit of his soul power, he had covertly been digging for information from the attendant. This was another usage for charm, which was concealed and not blatant as taking over full control of the target's mind.

The attendant had unconsciously let slip of the information that a dark gold crystal did come to the store yesterday, but was moved to another location. As for the location, Lucius used other means and finally got the information he required.

'That proceeded quite well.' he was quite satisfied with the outcome. During these 20 minutes Lucius had also noticed a load of hidden cameras and traps, as well as 2 concealed guards.

'Not using force was the right choice after all.'

They then finally settled on a small locket that could be worn around one's neck. It was exquisite and well crafted. Lucius then proceeded to pay for it and left the shop along with Ina.

As for the money, it was naturally provided by the 'fans' of his who were lying cold beneath the ground, in the underground facility.

Outside, the sun had already begun to set. The last bits of sunlight, scattered through the atmosphere and landed in the ground. Lights from the various establishments had already started lighting up and brightening the city.

Ina was currently feeling very bitter in her heart. The time she spent with Lucius was very short. Knowing that it was already time to part ways, she felt like crying. She quickly walked ahead of Lucius, lest he sees her crying.

'Is it over already? But I only spent an hour in his company!', she repeatedly thought in her mind.

An awkward silence had settled among them.

'No way, why do I feel like this? Do I already like him or something?' What do I do know? I don't want this to end!', Ina hurriedly thought to herself.

She really enjoyed the being in the company of Lucius and did not want this experience to end here. She wanted to continue feeling this amazing feeling she had in her heart. The very thought of separating here made a stabbing pain ripple across her heart.

Just as she was lot in her thoughts, a voice sounded out from beside her, "Ina."

It was a solemn voice. Looking back she saw Lucius staring at her with a firm conviction in his eyes. He took a deep breath and spoke, "I just want to say, Thank you. You have really helped me a lot today."

Hearing his words which started to feel like a farewell, tears slowly started to spill from her eyes.

'Why am I acting like this over someone I just met today?' Ina herself did not understand this.

Lucius saw that she was crying and panicked, he then stammered ,"Ah why are you crying suddenly?"

He then reached forward his had to wipe her eyes.

Currently they were standing near an alleyway, someway away form the main road. Whether by coincidence or pure chance they were away from all the people and cameras. The spot they were standing in could be considered to be the perfect blind spot.

Lucius neared her and wiped the tears of her eyes. Right now, they were standing quite close to each other. They could feel the breaths of each other on their respective faces.

They stared at each other in their eyes, their thoughts unknown. Lucius then suddenly moved his face closer to hers.

'No way! Is-is h-he going to kiss me?!!', Ina's mind was thrown into state of confusion. Till date she had not been kissed by anyone else other than her mother and three siblings. While her mind was chaotic, her heart was feeling happy for some reason.

'Does he feel the same way about me?', this thought echoed endlessly in her mind.

She closed her eyes tight and waited for the eventual to happen.

Alas, what she did not see was the faint red glowing in the depths of Lucius' eyes and the seemingly sharp air condensing near his palms.