Lord of Annihilation

It was currently high noon. Two days had passed, since Lucius had been tracking the whereabouts of the the crystal.

Upon leaving the academy Lucius had first made his way to the Residential District to find the Hellwig house. Since he knew Alex had just returned to Earth from a mission and had not reported to the academy yet, he figured Alex must have returned back to his family estate.

Students in the Army course were not allowed to exit the campus, unless specifically told so. In fact the Army area was cordoned off from the rest of the Academy. This was done to isolate the military students and to prevent distractions.

Alex being a very filial son, was very responsible towards his family. Therefore, Lucius deduced that he must have gone to the 'exchange shop' to buy gifts, before visiting, when he somehow noticed Ka'lor'ah and purchased her.

With a solid plan in mind, Lucius had immediately started his search.

He reached the Residential Area in less than 3 hours, even though he had taken detours and remained in the shadows the majority of the time. His speed had increased yet again, owing to the refinement and consolidation of his soul power.

At this point, Lucius movement could no longer be tracked with a person's eyes. Unless his opponent's visual acuity was absurdly high, he wouldn't even understand how he had died, when Lucius moved for the kill.

Even from a spectators point of view, Lucius movement was akin to teleportation. He disappears from one spot and appears in another instantaneously.

After making it to the Area, Lucius then began searching for the Hellwig manor. With the distinction between each manor, according to their family's influence, finding the manor was quite easy.

All manor's varied in their sizes and their security. The manor's of the smaller families were quite small, yet equally extravagant with a smaller perimeter and lower security.

This trend generally increased as one head deeper into the district. The houses progressed linearly, with streets branching every 1KM, turning to the right. Looking from a birds eye view, the entire district was arranged in the form was a large square. The deeper one went, the larger and more extravagant the houses were.

The Hellwig family was one of the Top 3 influential families present in the Alliance. They stood beside the White family and the Roseberg Family. Of course, the Snowden family was not included in this ranking. The combined strength and influence of these 3 families combined could not match the status of the Snowden family.

The Hellwig family was in charge of the majority of the Alliance's military. Their position was unshakable, with the family producing a genius commander and soldier every single generation.

The White family was another major, family which surprisingly did not have it's Main branch in the Alliance City-State. They owned the largest bank in the Alliance and was responsible for the invention and management of the currency called 'credit'. Credits were the currency used for all transactions, exchange, trade.

The Roseberg family held the most sway in the political sphere. They were another major family, with its Main Branch in the neighboring street of the Hellwig manor. The current Head of the Alliance, was also from the Roseberg family.

Together, the three families controlled the majority of the higher-order decision making of the Alliance. They also had the largest say in the World Council. None of the family showed signs of declining, with a outstanding batch of your heirs, who are said to be even better than their predecessors and ancestors. They are said to have the highest potential every seen in their respective families.

Just looking at Alex's future exploits, verifies this statement. The fact that the heirs of the other two families area also at this level, speaks volumes about their abilities.

Eventually, Lucius arrived at the location of the Hellwig family manor. It was surrounded by a large perimeter, lined with tall compound walls. The walls were lined with plasma fences all around, with guard posts and robotic sentries present in equal distances.

Only a single entry and exit was present, to enter into the manor grounds.

It was safe to say that getting in was almost impossible.

The almost being added due to the existence of Lucius. An inhuman monster, who could not be measure by human standards nor common sense.

He quietly hid in the shadows close to the manor, evading the detection of both man and machine alike. He was waiting for an opportunity to enter the compound. Remaining patient, Lucius watched the guards rotations and the detection laid by the machine. He quietly calculated the distances and the detection range of the sentries, factoring every single variable.

Just as 2 and a half hours had passed, Lucius who had been hiding all along suddenly moved in lightning speeds.

He precisely aimed for the narrow range, just outside the detection of the sentries just as the guards had changed. That tiny millisecond when their attention had been distracted, owing to their view field being hidden by their partner's body, was precisely the moment he had aimed for.

With a tall, vertical jump, Lucius covered 6m in the 10 m wall. He kicked off the wall two more times, with both his legs in quick succession to cover the remaining distance. Quickly jumping over the plasma fence present, Lucius entered the other side of the wall and dived into the nearest blind spot. None of the guards present outside had noticed his actions.

Upon entrance, Lucius laid his eyes on the grand, majestic mansion, laying in the distance. A large lawn, laid with green grass and various flower fields filled the rest of the space. A large stone walkway, leading from the gates, to the mansion, neatly lined with trimmed trees on either sides was present.

The manor gave off a regal and solemn vibe, owing to the block volcanic stone from which it was built from. This black volcanic stone was not native to Earth, It was a kind of luxury material, which precisely maintained the temperature and humidity inside the manor, without any artificial assistance. It also had the function of purifying the air and trapping the pollutants.

The manor was designed to replicate the 18th century, Victorian-era architecture. It looked very posh, yet paradoxically classical. Most people upon laying their eyes on this building would be awestruck.

Alas, Lucius did not care about such trifling matter. In his eyes, as long as there were 4 walls and a roof, a building was a building. Such fancy constructs held no significance in Lucius' heart.

Without pausing, Lucius immediately moved upon entering the perimeter. Taking care to carefully hide himself, Lucius moved towards the manor. If his target Alex was inside the manor, it would prove to be too troublesome.

Entering the compound was not difficult. Navigating through an unknown building while remaining hidden was entirely different. Since he did not have a blueprint of the manor, nor did he have x-ray vision to look into the interiors.

[Killer] gave him many abilities. Looking into solid matter was regrettably not one of them.

'Hopefully, he isn't inside the manor. Taking down outside would be naturally better. Although, the odds of him carrying the crystal on his person would be low.' Lucius grimly thought.

Moving from shadow to shadow, Lucius eventually neared the manor. He then circled around the the manor to find points of entry, but alas found none. Getting into the mansion was no longer an option.

Still, he could not just leave without any gains. Therefore, Lucius hanged around the mansion, constantly switching his locations, to try and gather information on Alex's whereabouts. If he was inside, he naturally had to come out. If he wasn't here then he must have informed the household staff about his location.

Lucius spent the next few hours in wait. His face showed no expression and was completely calm. Patience was something which Lucius did not lack. As a Stage 7 [Killer] in his previous life, Lucius had been in plenty of situations were he had been trailing an target or being trailed by a hunter. The importance of patience had been drilled into his very bones.

A few hours later, just as the sun was about to completely set and the moon was rising on the distant horizon , Lucius' patience finally paid off.

A car entered the gates and a middle-aged man exited. Nearing as far as he could, Lucius used his soul power to overhear the conversation he had with the middle-aged lady, who had come out of the house to welcome him.

Hearing their conversation Lucius finally understood Alex's whereabouts.

'Looks like Alex is currently going to the Commercial district. There had been no mention of any crystal in their conversation. Did he not give it to his family?' Lucius pondered.

Lucius learnt from the conversation that the middle-aged man and woman were Alex's father and mother respectively.. Alex's father had just come back from the academy, after getting some work done there. In his conversation he mentioned to the lady, that Alex had wanted to go to the Commercial district, to complete a specific task. He would return directly to the academy upon the task completion to report and prepare for the expedition.

Getting what he came here for, Lucius left the premises without any hesitation. Under the cover of the night Lucius made his way towards the Commercial district.

------------------------

The events described above occurred two days ago. it was currently night time and Lucius had finally caught the trail of Alex.

'Finally found it. He was here a few hours ago.' checking the signs present Lucius concluded.

'Looks like he is travelling on foot.' Lucius who had been crouching on the ground stood up and looked in the direction of the trail.

In the distance, stood many large buildings with tall walls and flat roofs. Warehouses.

'Looks like it's going to end, where it all began.' Lucius found it a little funny. He had been in the same location a few weeks ago to investigate the location of the crystal. Now that he had found clues of it's owner, he was back in the same place.

Lucius' casual mood, suddenly turned serious. His eyebrows furrowed tightly as he thought to himself.

'Is this all a coincidence or a careful manipulation of someone.'