Lord of Annihilation

Chapter 59: Conflicting Emotions

"Pathetic"

Olivia immediately jerked her head upon hearing his voice. She wondered if those words were being directed at her, despite her gaining greater power.

'Am I that much of a disappointment.' she was despondent within her heart.

Looking at Lucius' face, she noticed it was directed at her. Rather he was looking at the direction of that mysterious young man, who had rescued her. Although, Olivia did not know who that young man as, she was grateful for his help.

In a certain way, that young man was her saviour. If not for his sudden arrival and subsequent rescue, Olivia knew she would already be a cold corpse on the ground.

Seeing Lucius demean her saviour, her despondence was quickly replaced by anger. She could simply not forgive someone humiliate her savior, even if that person was Lucius.

"Those are not kind words Lucius. This person saved my life. I owe it to him." she fumeed, readying her next words, in case Lucius opposed it.

"So?", but hearing his indifferent reply, Olivia was caught speechless.

Ignoring her, Lucius continued to walk towards Alex, who continued to crawl away from him. He had already confirmed that Ka'lor'ah was present in his pocket and felt a little irritated at his actions.

Olivia immediately recovered and gazed at the both of them. Lucius was approaching and Alex was crawling away from him with a pale face. She noticed that the atmosphere between the two of them, was very hostile.

'Don't tell me Lucius is going to kill this person.' her mind thought of a reason.

Before she could calmly rationalize her thoughts, Olivia's body moved to block Lucius's path. Olivia's body moved almost subconsciously, when that thought occurred in her head.

Seeing her block his path, Lucius' brows furrowed. In a low voice, he questioned her.

"What are you doing?"

"I will not let you kill him." Olivia spoke in a determined voice. Although that young man was a stranger to her, she understood the concept of repaying good deeds with similar good deeds.

Considering Lucius' current behaviour Olivia simploy couldn't gamble with her saviour's life. She could only count on the off-chance that Lucius would take her into consideration and let him live.

Stretching her arms to show her to block his path, Olivia then closed her eyes. No matter the outcome, she was prepared.

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'Tch' Looking at the young woman in front of him, Lucius mentally clicked his tongue.

Normally, Lucius would have simply ignored her actions and continued on forward. If he wanted to kill, he would simply kill. Nobody could dictate his actions nor tell him what to do.

Any and all obstacles on his path would be unhesitantly removed by him.

However, the situation was currently different. Olivia possessed an unheard of soul type. Her importance in his mind had increased from an inconsequential human, to someone he had to protect, similar to Reyna.

In Lucius plans to fight against 'Them', he required any and all manners of chips in his hands. The greater his cards, the greater will be his odds facing against them. Seeing such a special trump card, right before him Lucius could not simply dispose of her.

'It would be better if I don't antagonize her. She might prove to be surprisingly useful.' Lucius weighed the merits and demerits in his head. Considering her relationship with his previous self, he did not actually want to kill her. Although their current relationship was a bit strained, it was still something that could be worked out.

'Still, what is this feeling of jealousy in my heart?' Lucius felt strange.

Seeing Olivia unhesitantly move to protect Alex, even at the possible cost of her own life made Lucius heart feel a little uneasy. Coming back to the past, Lucius had no recollection of a person called Olivia. Granted he might have forgotten about her in his long life, it still did not warrant this sudden feeling birthed in his heart.

'Why am I even feeling this emotion?' Lucius wondered, while trying to analyze his own self.

Just as he was about to peer into this mind, the normally idle clouds of reddish-black soul in the depths of his mindspace suddenly stirred.

Just like that time when he reminisced about Reyna upon meeting her in the cafeteria for the first time, a wave of reddish-black soul energy suddenly swept through his mind. All of Lucius thoughts and the emotions he was currently feeling were suddenly extinguished.

His mind was returned to a state of extreme calmness and indifference.

The bitterness, the jealousy, that vague feeling of closeness, were utterly destroyed resulting in an extreme coldness reflecting in his eyes.

The intent to kill all those who blocked his path, welled up within Lucius' mind.

'Kill her.' told a thought in his mind.

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Outside, Olivia sneaked some peeks from her closed eyelids. Seeing Lucius stop and consider in silence, already relieved her to a great extent. She could see some conflict and confusion in his eyes and was feeling as if a great burden had been freed from her shoulders.

Just as everything was heading in a favourable direction, she noticed that his eyes suddenly becoming extremely cold. He was looking at her, the same away one would look at and insignificant bug. A scary aura was being emitted from his body.

Olivia felt something break within her heart. Tears threatened to spill out from her eyes. Seeing Lucius gather his soul power in his hands, she recalled how he had killed Luther and Keith. Biting her lips and tightly shutting her eyes, Olivia resolved herself.

'If my death is what stays his hand. Then I don't mind dying to protect my belief.' Olivia willed within her mind.

'I'm sorry I couldn't live upto your expectations mysterious lady.'

She could feel Lucius' hands coming close to her. Strangely, she did not feel scared nor resentful at Lucius, a state of extraordinary peace spread throughout her body.

Olivia could even hear the young man who saved her life, scream something in the background, but heard none of his words.

Time seemed to crawl down to a stop, with each second seeming to last years. Olivia was feeling extremely peaceful and satisfied in her heart and mind.

Death did not seem all that scary. A peculiar contrast to her earlier fears, when facing Keith and his guards.

In a moment which seemed to be forever, yet instantaneous. Olivia felt a warm hand being placed on her shoulder. Feeling a breath on her face, she slowly opened her eyes and found a set of pitch black eyes staring into hers.

The eyes were still filled with indifference and nonchalance, yet that previous coldness was missing. She quietly stared into those eyes, before Olivia suddenly snapped out of here reverie.

Seeing the distance between their respective faces, with their noses almost touching each other, Oliva panicked and a red blush spread across her face. Her heart rate quickened in response to his actions.

"Admirable resolve." she heard that mechanical yet familiar voice speak to her.

"Maybe you still have some hope left." she continued to hear that voice.

The eyes that were so close to her, suddenly pulled away. She could see Lucius' entire face up close. His right hand was placed in her shoulder, with a mysterious energy being channeled into her body through his hands.

The various cuts and bullet abrasions she had on her body, suddenly started to itch. Then, in front of her incredulous gaze the wounds she had sustained started closing up and scabbing, before the scabs also falling off to reveal her smooth, unblemished white skin.

Lucius removed the black robe he had been wearing over his body and threw it to Olivia.

"Wear this." he instructed. He then ignored her and walked towards Alex.

Olivia caught the robe absentmindedly before waking up from her stupor. Noticing the various tears in her clothes and her exposed skin, Olivia felt a wave of embarrassment flood her mind, before she hurriedly covered herself in the black robes. The red shade on her face, turned a shade deeper.

'It's surprisingly warm.' she thought as she felt the warmness of the black robe. Subconsciously she moved to sniff the scent on the robes, before hurriedly shaking her mind.

'What am I doing?' she thought in disbelief, before moving to stare at Lucius' back profile.

'Was he always that tall?' Olivia suddenly wondered within her mind.

Although she saw him head towards Alex, she did not move to stop him. Lucius was no longer giving off that scary aura. Well his expressionless face was still 'scary', but she did not feel like he was going to kill her saviour.

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Giving his black overcoat to Olivia, Lucius continued to head towards Alex.

Earlier, his thoughts and feelings were suddenly wiped by his soul power, before his [Killer] soul urged him to kill Olivia. Just as he was about to rise his hand, that mysterious sense of hunger returned from within his body. His soul power started to rapidly be pulled into the depths of his body, disappearing into an unknown space.

Lucius himself was not sure what was happening in his body. His soul instructed to kill, while his body refused to obey. Two different opposing forces seemed to clash within his body, with his mindspace being the battlefield. His soul energy was drained, until the reddish-black soul returned to its previous state of inactivity and that mysterious state of hunger also disappeared.

He quickly exited his mindspace and opened his eyes. He watched the young woman in front of him, biting her lips, with her eyes tightly closed. Her arms were shaking from fear, but she still did not move from that location.

A sense of admiration rose in Lucius heart. A emotion that he very rarely felt.

'A strong personality and an unyielding character.' he thought within his mind. He even spoke out a word of praise.

Seeing the various wounds bleeding from her body, Lucius then proceeded to heal her and passed her his robe before continuing towards Alex.

'She is possibly worthy of being trained.' he was wondering to himself. This idea had to be carefully pondered upon in length later, therefore he pushed it to the back of his head.

He stood in front of Alex, who had been crawling in the ground previously. He had stopped crawling away, when Lucius emitted the intent to kill Olivia. He had screamed at the top of his lungs, telling him to stop.

Now he quietly stared at Lucius from the ground. His eyes flaming with a strong sense of defiance.

Lucius stopped near him and ordered in a cold tone.

"Hand me the crystal."