Lord of Annihilation

Chapter 60: The Cause.

Hearing Lucius' cold command, Alex's first instinct was to roar in defiance. Just as he was about to open his mouth, he heard another voice interrupt him.

"Hand me over." he heard Ka'lor'ah speak to him in his mind.

'Are you sure? What if he crushes you?' Alex asked in doubt.

When Ka'lor'ah told him about Lucius' cruelty, Alex did not think too much about it. Being cruel to your enemies was something of the norm. In the battlefield, a moment's hesitation might cost the life of oneself or their comrades. Being in the military, Alex understood this fact very well.

Whereas being cruel to one's allies was something Alex could not accept.

Sensing the doubts in his mind, Ka'lor'ah simply chuckled.

"I can guess what you are worried about, but don't worry. While he is cruel, he is also not rash. If me being alive is more valuable to him than my death, then he wouldn't kill me."

'So he suddenly sees the value in you?' Alex asked sarcastically.

"Well, he must have questions about the young lady standing over there. Questions, that need my help to answer." Ka'lor'ah answered with confidence.

"Are you done discussing?" Lucius' cold voice sounded out once again.

Alex lifted his head and stared at Lucius for a few seconds. Under Lucius' intimidating gaze, Alex could simply not maintain his calm and reluctantly handed over the crystal. He also glared at Lucius, in hopes of trying to intimidate him.

Lucius simply ignored his gaze and received the crystal. Holding it in his hand. he quietly stared at it. A few seconds of palpable tension passed before he spoke.

"What do you have to say for yourself?"

Olivia seeing this scene was confused. She stared at Lucius, then at the crystal in his hands. She was utterly confused on what Lucius was trying to do.

'Is he trying to talk to a crystal?' she doubted her own thoughts.

Just when she was about to voice her confusion, a familiar voice sounded.

"Well. If I tell you all of this was simply coincidence. Would you believe me?" Ka'lor'ah's voice sounded sheepishly.

Olivia was astounded once again. While the voice sounded lacking in seriousness, she could still accurately identify that voice. Olivia would never forget that voice, even in death. That was the voice, which granted her power. The power to accomplish her dreams.

Hearing Ka'lor'ah reply, Lucius tightened his grip over the crystal, slowing exerting his force.

Feeling herself being squeezed, Ka'lor'ah immediately ceased her her actions. "Yield! I yield. Don't crush me!"

"I thought I told you, I hate being manipulated and lied to." Lucius spoke. The degree of coldness in his voice, had gone down a few notches.

"But it really was a coincidence. I didn't expect you to be suddenly kidnapped. Since those guys were searching your pockets for wealth, I thought might as well use this opportunity." Ka'lor'ah huurriedly explained.

"In detail." Lucius demanded.

"Then link your soul! Certain things cannot be spoken out loud." she hissed.

Sensing a deeper plot in her words, Lucius was no longer obstinate. He complied and connected that line of energy with his souls, successfully re-establishing their connection.

'Ah! Feels so good to be back home. I almost ran out of my accumulated energy in the process of connecting both of kids, Body and Soul.' a voice sounded out in his mind.

'Explain in detail.' Lucius demanded once again.

'Jeez! 'Nice to have our connection back, Ka'lor'ah. I missed you' would it kill you to say that.' she grumbled and immediately began talking before he could get angry again.

'Anyway, when you got kidnapped the other day, I noticed that the 'Cause' which had started gathering had some changes in it. Some kind of disturbance preventing it from accumulating on Reyna.'

'As you know, that little girl is very important for our plans, therefore when I noticed that the people who kidnapped you had some connections to this 'disturbance', I decided to take matters into my own hands.'

'Who would have thought I would meet, the future 'Great Commander' in the process. Seeing that this was a good opportunity to advance some of our later plans, I decided to intervene in his 'Causality' a little bit, by awakening his soul in advance.'

'The using him as an agent, I started following the disturbance whilst also leaving behind some tracks for you to follow. One thing led to another and we ended up here.'

'So you found the reason behind this disturbance?' Lucius questioned.

'Of course I did, what do you take me for.' Ka'lor'ah tried to sneak in a complaint, only to be met with Lucius' tightening grip.

'It was those humans called Keith and Luther.' she replied in exasperation.

Noticing Lucius' confusion she explained.

'Remember how they tired to get your research and use it to get close to Reyna. Due to your interference, or to say, counter-plot. The scale of their actions vastly exceeded the threshold, thereby affecting 'Causality'. It was gathering today, in this place, hence me leading you here. Originally, I planned to use this accumulated 'Cause' to do other stuff, but who would have thought.'

Speaking up to here Ka'lor'ah suddenly let out a chuckle.

'What?' Lucius who did not get her meaning asked.

'Well, your precious childhood friend assimilated all of the 'Cause', becoming another focal point for mankind. In fact the level of her importance, vastly exceeds that of Reyna.' she explained.

Lucius snapped out of the discussion and turned to look at Olivia standing in the distance. She had a confused and dazed expression on her face, seemingly in deep thought.

Taking a deep breath, he turned around to ask the crystal once again, 'Another focal point? Are you sure?'

'Absolutely. I witnessed the entire process myself.' she replied with confidence.

Taking a few moments to digest this information, Lucius then proceeded to ask her another question.

'While I looked at her through [Killer Vision] her soul was 'Violet' in color, calm and unperturbed like the ocean. What's her Soul Brand?'

If Ka'lor'ah had a human face, she would be blinking in confusion at this moment.

'What? Violet?' she questioned.

Lucius simply nodded in reply.

A few seconds of silence followed, before Ka'lor'ah let out a earth-shattering roar within Lucius' mind.

'A UNKNOWN SOUL BRAND?!!' she herself could barely believe what she was saying. A soul brand that had never existed or recorded since the beginning of the universe was simply too shocking.

How many trillions, quadrillions, quintillions of life forms had lived and perished? The number was simply incalculable. And for a Soul Brand to have never occurred in these vast number of life forms, was impossible.

Yet. right now such a thing was happening.

'Souls never perish upon death, they are simply recycled,... for such a Soul Brand to exist, it only means..?!!' Ka'lor'ah began to mentally ramble.

'Means what?' Lucius asked in impatience.

'It means that her Soul is brand new. This is the first life, birthed by this soul. That's the only possible answer for this inexplicable scenario.' Ka'lor'ah answered, unsure of her own guess.

Lucius upon hearing this was once again stunned. He stared blankly into space ,with a myriad of thoughts filling his mind. No one knew what Lucius or Ka'lor'ah were thinking. Well, nobody other than them truly understood the value of a brand new Soul.

After a few minutes, Ka'lor'ah spoke up in her rarely serious voice, 'Lucius, this girl must not die under any circumstance. Her value is greater than Reyna.'

Lucius nodded his head in understanding, 'Got it. I guess I have to train her, if she is to be useful for our plans.'

Taking a deep breath, he continued, 'Still, I can only show her her the path, whether she chooses to walk in it depends upon her. I will not be wasting my time on a random side quest.'

'While she is an unexpected gain, she is not crucial for our plans.' Lucius stated in a cold voice.

Seeing him like this, Ka'lor'ah mentally sighed. 'I thought he had changed, seeing how he treated that girl, but it seems like I was overthinking.' she did not let Lucius hear this part.

'I'm going to sleep for sometime. My energy is completely exhausted after this month.' saying so, Ka'lor'ah's consciousness sunk into deep slumber

"Hmm are you guys done?" both of them heard another voice suddenly sound out.

Lucius turned in the direction of the sound and noticed it was Alex who had spoken. He continued to stare at Alex with an indifferent gaze, not replying in the least. Lucius carefully scanned Alex, to get an idea of his combat capability.

Alex, strangely felt naked under Lucius eyes. He could see Lucius scan his entire body with his eyes, seemingly evaluating something.

Using his hands to hide what he could, Alex spoke out in a angered voice, "What are you looking at?"

He did not hear any reply from Lucius, but simply saw the other shaking his head in disappointment.

Lucius directly disregarded Alex and turned towards Olivia before speaking up.

"We need to head back to the academy. The authorities might be coming here at any moment."

Hearing his voice, Olivia snapped out of her daze and nodded. Taking a step forward, she suddenly felt all the energy leave her body. Unbalanced she was about to fall, when she noticed a pair of arms suddenly hold her.

Lucius had intervened and caught her, before she fell. With his brows furrowed, he asked in his mechanical voice, which was absence of any concern or care.

"What's wrong?"

Feeling Lucius he in such close proximity, Olivia suddenly felt flustered.

"M-my body feels paralyzed. I can't move it."

"Did you overdraft your soul power?" he asked.

"Overdraft?" she questioned not quite understanding his words.

"Did you completely use up your soul energy?" Lucius asked in a stern tone.

"Hmm." Olivia simply nodded in response, feeling a little ashamed at her weakness.

Once again, she was reminded of his earlier words. Weakness is a Sin.

"Seriously.." she suddenly heard Lucius sigh, before her body suddenly felt weightless. She could see Lucius lift her up and carry her in a princess carry position.

"W-WAI-WAIT! What are you doing?!" Olivia let out a panicked scream. She was embarrassed at the sudden turn of events and her face completely reddened. Her heart beat with such force, that she felt like it would leap out of her chest.

"We can not waste anymore time here. I will carry you back to the academy." Lucius stated. His cold tone devoid of any emotions did not give her any room for rejection.

Inwardly he was thinking, 'Already a bother.'

Olivia nodded her head in a shy manner. Her mind however was in complete chaos.

'AHHHH! Why is my heart beating like this? Aren't we foster siblings? This is normal.'

She tried to calm herself down and rationalize. Alas it was to no avail, 'Why am I feeling like this?' Olivia could not understand her own emotions.

Securing his grip over her body, Lucius concentrated his soul power at his legs, and dashed of at his full speed. Like a lightening, he disappeared from his previous spot and already made it outside the warehouse.

"WHAT ABOUT ME?!!" they could hear a scream in the background. Alas Lucius ignored him.

"Will he be fine?" Olivia asked in a worried voice. Surprisingly, she was not disoriented or uncomfortable at Lucius' speed.

Seeing her like this, Lucius commended her in his mind, 'Admirable mental toughness.' As for her question he simply replied, "He's from the Hellwig family. Plus he has already recovered his energy to a certain extent. He will be fine."

Saying so he once again picked up his speed, disappearing into the nightline.