Lord of Annihilation

The next day.

Lucius was sitting in his room, cross-legged with his eyes closed. He had spent most of the night at the academy's gym inside a private room. The intensity of his training far surpassed his previous limits, pushing across the boundaries of human body by a large margin.

Spending most of time in an intense body control training, Lucius gains had been naturally great. The control over his body and his soul power had increased by a large margin, with him being able to draw more of his power with less effect.

For example, if Lucius had 100 units of strength before and could only draw 90 units of it due to his untrained control, he could now draw as much as 120-130 units of power. The base still remained as 100, it was Lucius control which allowed him to use the extra 20 units of strength.

Noticing it was already morning, Lucius slowly opened his eyes. His gaze remaining calm and indifferent, with a tiny bit of red rapidly retreating into the depths of his eyes, until it returned to its usual black. Black that was as dark as the abyss.

Being done with his daily meditation session to refine his soul power, Lucius got dressed preparing to go to his classes.

Just as he was about to exit his room, the watch on his hand beeped, notifying him of a message.A holograhic panel opened and the message read.

[New Message]

[All clases withstanding today have been cancelled. Students belonging to Year-1 and Year-2, are requested to Main Hall to receive further instructions. Attendance is mandatory. Any absences will not be tolerated.]

Reading the message, Lucius stood there with his eyes being vacant. He was deep in thought.

'This should be it, right? It's about time.'

Gathering his thoughts, Lucius started to move towards the Main Hall.

The wheels of Cause had officially begun turning at this point.

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The Main Hall was located near the central island of the academy. All students respective of their status were barred from setting foot into the central island. It housed the labs and other military installations of the Earth Alliance. It was a restricted area, with only authorized personnel allowed to set foot in the island.'

The Main Hall, however was situated on the banks of the lake surrounding the island. Students and teachers alike were allowed entry, not requiring any special ID.

The Main Hall was used in order to facilitate important events such as graduation, or other such important ceremonies. The Main Hall was also called as the 'Mission Hall', due to it providing students of Year 2 and above, opportunities to undertake missions outside the academy, to earn extra credits.

Lucius being a Year-1 student had never entered the Main Hall, save on the first day, during the introduction ceremony.

Looking at the large building in the distance, a myriad of thoughts appeared in Lucius' mind.

'Just a year later, this building fell.' Lucius mentally sighed.

Still, there was no expression in his face, nor any fluctuations in his heart. He was simply too calm.

A large flood of students, were currently all around him heading towards the same building. Various chatters and discussions here heard around him.

"Why do you think we were called?"

"I dunno, something major is happening I guess."

"Still, it'd understandable why Year-2 students are being called, but why us too?"

This was the general line of thought as concluded by Lucius. Still he wasn't going to interrupt them to explain what he knew, simply choosing to remain silent.

Walking in a unhurried manner, Lucius gradually neared the great doors of the Main Hall. The doors were surprisingly made of a rare kind of wood, not native to Earth. It was from a tree called 'Purple Fern' easily distinguishable due to its unique fragrance, which has the effect of soothing one's mind and allowing their bodies to relax. It was quite rare, owing to the distance of the planet in which it was produced and the low rate of production.

Still considering the Alliance's budget, this kind of expense was simply a drop in the bucket.

Just as Lucius was about to set foot into the hall, a loud voice carrying his name was heard from behind.

"Luuuciussss!!", the sound was high-pitched, making it easy to guess.

Lucius paused his steps and turned around. In the distance a few feet away, were two girls making their way in his direction. One being tall and the other a little shorter.

'Reyna and, Olivia?' Lucius mentally furrowed his brows.

Looking at the two girls coming towards him, Lucius closely observed their body languages. His brows furrowed even deeper upon noticing the obvious closeness displayed by them.

'These two were not supposed to meet. Yet, here they are.' He then continued to think, 'Causality is changing prematurely.'

This was not a good sign. If Reyna's causality, being humanity's focal point was starting to change, it meant that Lucius future plans were at the risk of being affected. Going along this line of thought, if the changes were too great, Lucius was at the risk of being found out by 'Them'.

'They must not be allowed to observe humanity, yet! Everything that we had planned is at the risk of falling apart.' Lucius breathing was unconsciously quickening.

This was an unacceptable outcome.

Before Lucius could continue thinking of the various effects and possible changes to alleviate this situation, the two girls had already made it before him.

"Luciu! I'm finally meeting you. You haven't been responding to my calls and messages all this while!", upon making it up to him, Reyna immediately started talking.

"Oh! The project you had helped me with, right. I had some major breakthroughs in it. You have to come with me today to the lab to view the results. It's simple revolutionary!" Reyna eyes were brightly shining at this point. She couldn't wait to drag him to her lab and show him what she had accomplished.

'Maybe he would feel proud and praise me, like Father did. Huh? Why do I feel happy at this thought?' as Reyna's thoughts were starting to head in a weird direction, she was interrupted by a cough.

"Cough, cough. Having met your lab partner, you have forgotten about your sister here? Seems like I am only a temporary replacement." Olivia spoke. Her tone 'saddened'

"Of course not! You can also join us at my lab. Although I am not sure how much of it you will understand." Hearing Olivia words, Reyna quickly moved to explain herself.

Ignoring Reyna's banter, Olivia turned to look at Lucius. Looking at his familiar yet unfamiliar face, she was suddenly remembered about the events at the Pit.

'Right I have to ask him!' Olivia suddenly remembered. These casual days of hanging put with Reyna had made her forget about that incident.

Looking at him, Olivia slowly spoke, "I haven't seen you in a long time Lucius. Are you well? Did you run into any trouble?". Her voice was filled with care and concern.

"I'm fine Olivia. Thank you for your concern." Lucius casually spoke. Having already crossed over for almost 2 months, Lucius had already changed his way of speaking. It no longer, sounded cold and mechanical, gradually sounding like he used to.

Still, Olivia being someone who basically grew up with, recognized the changes in his tone. Lucius might still be able to get by with people who did not know him, but in front of Olivia his acting was of no use. In just that one statement, she understood.

'He's changed.' Olivia felt her heart break. Her eyes grew unfocused and confused. Sinking into her thoughts, she tried her best to rationalize his changes.

'That's right, he has gone through something so traumatic. It's only natural that there are changes in his psyche.'

"Livia! Livia! Are you daydreaming again?" Reyna stood in front of Olivia, waving her hands. Seeing her best friend suddenly fall into a daze, she was naturally worried.

"I'm alright!" Olivia spoke, her voice sounding a little hoarse.

"It's about time that we go in. They are going to close the doors." Lucius spoke while pointing at the Main Hall.

"Hmmm." Reyna hummed, nodding her head.

Together, they entered into the hall. Most of the other students had already made their way inside and taken their seats.

Upon reaching a large lobby like area, they moved ahead , following a path which lead them into a large open space. Inside the said space, was a humongous semi-circular stands with seating. Facing directly opposite the seats was a large stage, currently unoccupied.

The roof was drawn back, allowing the sunlight and fresh air enter the hall. Looking around, Lucius and the other too girls, eyed an empty row and made their way towards it.

All three of them sat down and stared ahead at the stage. Lucius was sitting to the left, Reyna was in the middle and Olivia was on the right. The teachers had not yet arrived, with the huge stage being completely empty.

A silent and awkward atmosphere was present between them, with none taking the initiative to start a conversation. Olivia was still startled and confused at Lucius's changes, Reyna was worried about Olivia's daze and was wondering how to invite Lucius to her lab again, and Lucius was trying to figure out how the two girls had met.

Eventually gathering her courage, Reyna slowly spoke, "So Lucius, what were you doing in the City all these weeks?"

"Nothing much. I was just meeting with a friend of mine." Lucius replied.

Silence prevailed again.

"Cough, Cough. So, what else did you do with your friend?" finding their silence suffocating Reyna tried to strike up conversation again.

"Nothing much. Just the usual stuff." he replied curtly once again.

Hearing him, Reyna felt like tearing her hair. 'What do you mean nothing much. Can't you see that I am trying to alleviate this awkward atmosphere. What's up with these one-liners!'. Alas Reyna was alone in her thoughts.

Thankfully, the stage in front of them lit up and a teacher walked up. All the chatter around them died down as they started to place their attention on the middle-aged man in the platform.

Looking at the middle-aged man, all of the students were astonished. While Lucius' eyes lit up.

Reyna unconsciously blurted out, "Father?"