Lord of Annihilation

Chapter 34: Her Resolve!

Ina's heart was beating as loud as drums. Feeling Lucius' breath approaching her face, her eyelids quivered and her mouth moved. Just as she felt the movement of something approach her very closely a sudden sound was heard.

"Haha! Looks like someone beat us to this place first." A male voice was heard.

"Shut up! Do you want to interrupt their moment?!", a female voice harshly admonished.

Ina's heart panicked and she quickly opened her eyes. Similarly Lucius pulled away, while pulling his hands back.

Her face was completely red with equal parts of shame and embarrassment.

"See! Look at what you have done! I am really sorry." the female voice was heard again. Ina turned to look at her and saw a young woman bowing towards her.

"I-it's fine.", Ina stammered.

She then partly hid her face with her hands and turned to look towards Lucius. Lucius also turned towards her at the same time. Both of their eyes met at the moment, embarrassment was seen in both their eyes. Ina broke away first and covered her face fully. It felt hot in her hands.

"AHHHH!!! THAT WAS SOO EMBARRASSING!" she screamed within her heart. The speed at which her heart was beating hadn't slowed down in the least.

Calming down for a second she thought, 'How am I going to face him after this? I want to dig a hole and hide into it!'

As her thoughts began leading in this direction, Ina lost her calm and started running away from this place. Her small hands were still covering her red face.

"WAIT!", she heard Lucius' voice. Still, Ina wasn't sure how to face him and continued to run. Her speed increasing until she left the vision of both Lucius and the other couple.

'I want to hide under a blanket!', Ina thought to herself as she ran towards her home.

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Watching the young woman run away in another direction, Lucius mentally clicked his tongue. 'That was a perfect opportunity to tie up loose ends.' He then retracted his soul power and waved his hands to disperse the remnant energy.

He then turned to look at the couple who were sincerely apologising to him with their heads bowed.

'It's because of the both of them.' Lucius thought to himself.

Still he did not move to attack or kill them. Lucius felt t simply was not worth the effort to kill them and hide the bodies. Plus the fact that Ina had seen the both of them, she was a potential witness if their deaths were announced.

Lucius resumed his act and hurriedly asked them to stop apologising. He acted very flustered and eventually made an excuse to the both of them and took off.

He ran some distance till he was out of their sight and entered another alleyway. The embarrassed and flustered expression which was on his face, had completely disappeared. What replaced it was an expressionless mask. Well, this was his base state and the other expressions were the masks.

He stood still in silence for a few seconds before giving out a sigh. 'It's not worth it for me to track her down and find her. It's best I leave it here.'

Lucius was considering whether to track Ina down and kill her. He was contemplating the various merits and demerits to the action. He finally concluded that it simply wasn't worth the effort.

Although he felt a little uncomfortable leaving a loose end, tracking down and recovering the crystal was top priority. He could not tarry nor delay any longer.

Recalling the location, given by the attendant back at the store, Lucius activated his soul power and concentrated it at his legs. Bending his knees, he jumped up nearly 4 metres into the air. Catching onto the a handhold he quickly scaled the wall and started moving in a certain direction.

In the dark of the night, he perfectly blended into the shadows.

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In a certain room within the academy, a person sat within the shadows of her room. She had a blank look on her face and her eyes seemed hollow.

Ever since Olivia returned from her pursuit of Lucius. She sat down in this corner of her room and thought about the issue.

The rational part of her mind told her :"You have to report him to the police. If he's innocent he will be in no trouble."

While the emotional part told her :"Have you no trust in you own brother! He was forced to commit the deed, you don't have to involve the police in this. Plus that place was very shady, it obvious they aren't good people."

Rational side; "Even so, it isn't up to us to decide. The Citizenship Code mandates any and all information pertaining to any crime must be reported to the law authorities."

Emotional side :"But..."

"STOP!!" Olivia could not take it anymore and finally burst out.

Olivia originally was a very righteous person. She strove to be a diligent citizen and wanted to serve the other citizens of the alliance. That is why she chose to serve in Interstellar Command in the first place. Her morals and ethics enabled her to be a excellent commander. One that made excellent decisions considering the alliance as a whole.

Even is she was to sacrifice the people under her or even herself, she would not hesitate if it meant that the situation of the alliance would improve.

Yet when it came to the matters of Lucius, she could not remain calm or rational. She was always biased towards him. While this was illogical from the perspective of a spectator, Olivia simply would not change.

'I am the only family that Lucius has.' this was her conviction.

There had been no problems or trouble so far, as Lucius was a very kind and closed person. She believed with all her heart that he would never cause any kind of trouble. Yet, when she witnessed him kill another person yesterday, this belief of hers shattered!

The act of taking another person's life. Although the idea of it sounds simple and many people would say they could do it, none can really do so wholeheartedly. Killing another person signifies serious repercussions. One would be burned with worries, guilt and many other psychological factors.

It was also morally wrong to kill another person.

This was Olivia's ideology. It was very naive and someone like Lucius would laugh at the face of it, yet this was an idea that she stood by.

And today this ideology of her was being questioned.

After and unknown amount of time she finally took deep breaths, Olivia's chaotic mind calmed down. The struggles and agony that she was feeling in her heart and mind also disappeared.

Her eyes slowly opened and a determined light shone through them. She slowly stood up and raised her head.

"Lucius can never do wrong. Therefore, the others in question must be wrong." she slowly spoke out aloud.

She then proceeded to walk towards the main door and slowly opened it. Fresh air and sunlight filtered into her room. A full day and night had passed in Olivia's thoughts.

'I will protect him. No matter the sins I have to bear.' she resolved