Lord of Annihilation

For the next two weeks, Lucius went from planet to planet, coordinate to coordinate, destroying the numerous bases and supply lines of the organization, Chimera. 

In order to increase his efficiency, he had the Forgotten Warriors work separately from him, sending them to the remote bases with weakened forces. Not only did this save him a lot of time and effort, but had also saved him from the monotonous boredom of traveling.

Traveling using the Void not only saved him a lot of time by greatly shortening the distance between two spaces, but it also protected him from various cosmic dangers that would otherwise trouble him while traveling normally. 

Of course, the Void also had its share of disadvantages the primary one being…it was very empty and very boring.

Destroying the bases and killing his opponents also did not serve to enliven Lucius' mood as he found the whole process to be monotonous.

Appear in their planet, draw out all forces, wait for forces to appear, wave your hand instantly killing forces in the process, wipe out their bases, leave the planet.

This was his log of actions which Lucius unchangingly repeated.

Just the process reminded Lucius of his days at the peak of the Universe. He remembered doing similar deeds, albeit on a greater scale, as preparation for the 'Great Plan.'

Sure, the destruction of Chimera's bases did not go unnoticed as they started to bring in support and gather reinforcements. Still, none of this was of any use as the max strength of their support/reinforcement was still in the Third Stage.

The amount of independent Stage 4 beings was vastly lower than the amount of independent Stage 3 beings. The ratio was, in fact, one to one million. 

Not to mention, hiring an independent Stage 4 fighter was incredibly expensive and not something a small organization like Chimera could afford.

As such, neither Lucius nor his Forgotten Warriors faced any roadblock in their quest for targeted genocide. The whole process was utterly smooth taking much less time than that given to him in the mission.

One thing which was worthy of note was that when Lucius reached the main HQ of Chimera, he found the place already destroyed and their leaders killed. 

Although he had rushed there in the fastest time possible immediately after the first planet, he had still been a little late.

Informing Ka'lor'ah about it netted him a, 'I called it,' look from the former, with her cautioning him to be careful and keep an eye out. While Lucius had indeed 'kept an eye out', it was unfortunate as nobody showed up to bother him. (Even though he secretly hoped for it.)

With the mission with Chimera being wrapped up well ahead of time, Lucius was currently inside a noodle shop in some random Neutral Planet, talking to Olivia on his holographic screen.

Well, it was mostly Olivia talking and Lucius listening to her while eating bowl after bowl of meaty noodles.

"Is it really that good?" Olivia asked while drooling, noticing the towers of empty bowls beside Lucius.

Stuffing his face with another mouthful of food, Lucius nodded his head.

Giggling to herself at Lucius' uncharacteristic actions, she then continued.  "It's good that you're enjoying yourself. I haven't had anything to eat yet, so I think I'll go and get something for myself after this."

"Teacher is really enjoying herself these days. Gaining a full-sized physical body seems to have elevated her mood to an entirely new realm. I sometimes see her going about doing the most random of things; like stopping under a doorway to measure the difference in height between her head and the doorframe. She's also…"

"Reyna seems to have gotten some inspiration and had locked herself in a lab doing…"

"Remember Wilkes? The Oncanian Guard Captain from Pectron. Well, he successfully underwent the ascension and is now in Stage 3! We had a friendly duel the other day and…"

"Anya has been acting a little strange around me. Not in a bad way, but in a…how do I say this? She's being a little too enthusiastic towards me. I have no idea what triggered it, but hey, her work is excellent so I'm ignoring it for now…"

"I met with Dad again. He seems to have found a new girlfriend and is enjoying himself. Seriously, that man, is this really necessary at his age? But I suppose, he is being the happiest I've ever seen him so I guess I can let this one slide. I did, however, run a background check on the 'girlfriend'…"

"The plans in the Grand Alcana Empire are proceeding smoothly. I've got something in the works that is sure to surprise you and Teacher! I'm not going to tell you what it is, but it's going to be awesome…"

"Oh, recently there's this cat that I've been occasionally running into. I saw him waltz around the corridor outside my office yesterday. Like how did he even get there? I'm not sure what to do with him yet…"

Olivia continued to excitedly prattle on while Lucius continued to patiently listen while eating his noodles. 

At this point, the tower of noodles around him had already grown to the point of occupying the two tables around him.

There was a point when the owner of the noodle shop appeared to confront Lucius, however, when the latter had thrown a pouch-full of coins towards him, the former sported a wide smile on his greasy round face and proceeded to serve Lucius without any complaints. 

Unexpectedly, Lucius did not find it annoying or bothersome to listen to Olivia speaking. To tell the truth, he found it soothing and calming. There was even a part of him that felt glad doing this.

Similarly, Olivia also found it incredibly relaxing and fulfilling to talk to Lucius like this. She didn't even mind the fact that he was predominantly silent and only responded to her with a nod or a single vocal. 

She was finally feeling content that their relationship seemed to be progressing in the direction that she wanted it to and that Lucius was no longer actively walling her. Every moment that she spent like this was a moment that she treasured.

With both parties enjoying each other's company, time continued to slip by, and unknowingly, four hours had passed. 

This was, in fact, the longest single conversation that Lucius had been a part of in the previous 200 years of his life! And there wasn't a single second where he felt bored or wanted it to end!

"Ah? Would you look at that? It's already been four hours!" Olivia checked the watch in her hand and exclaimed. She then looked back at the screen and replied with an apologetic face, "I'm sorry for talking for so long. I didn't realize the time and—"

"It's fine," Lucius interrupted her. "I didn't realize the passage of time either." Pausing for a second, a confused expression appeared on his face as he continued, "I think…I liked that."

Lucius' words were filled with uncertainty and confusion. He obviously understood what those words were and what they meant, however, it oddly felt strange for him to say them.

It wasn't the kind of 'like' that he felt towards delicious food or fresh souls, but a different kind of 'like'. A kind that felt both familiar and foreign to him.

'What did I mean by that?' he wondered to himself, unable to come up with an exact answer. 'Why did I use that word?'

Olivia, however, showed a brilliant smile after hearing his words. 

"I see. Then let's do this often, shall we?" 

Hearing her suggestion, Lucius had no feelings of aversion towards it. In fact, it seemed that a part of him wanted this. 

'I wonder why I feel this way,' pushing aside this thought, for now, Lucius nodded his head and replied, "I agree."

Just then, Lucius suddenly lagged as a pulse of soul power reached him through one of the threads connected to a Forgotten Warrior. An image appeared within Lucius' mind, which immediately turned his face solemn.

"I've got to go," saying so, he immediately cut the call and rose from his seat. 

Throwing another pouch of coins towards the greasy-faced owner, Lucius immediately left the shop and disappeared into the crowd of pedestrians walking on the street.