Lord of Annihilation

Chapter 339: Twelfth Labor. Part 5

Olivia, or rather, a string of thoughts that believed itself to be her floated across boundless darkness.

This darkness had no ups, no downs, no lefts, no rights, it had no direction, structure, or order. It was simply nothingness.

A true representation of nihility.

The only thing present within this place was the string of thoughts that called itself Olivia. However, even itself was unsure of its existence as it possessed no definite shape or structure, nor any proof of its existence.

It was completely possible that this string of thoughts called Olivia did not even exist. Still, this string of thoughts did not ask itself this question and firmly, single-mindedly believed that it existed.

Where did it exist? It did not wonder about this question.

Why did it exist? It did not wonder about this question either.

What was it? This was one question that the string of thoughts knew the answer to.

It was Olivia. 

What was Olivia? Was it a place? A moment? A shape or known order? 

The answers to none of these questions were known by the string of thoughts. All it knew was that it was Olivia and that it existed, and that was all that mattered.

Holding onto this singular truth, the string of thoughts continued to float through the endless darkness of nihility. The concept of space and time was absent as there were no means available for observation.

Was it even floating then? Mayhaps, it remained unmoving in absolute stillness.

I mean, how could you measure space or count time in a place where nothing could be seen or felt? 

Thinking about this question raises another one. 

Does something, which could not be observed by any means, exist in the first place? 

What makes something exist anyway? Was it its shape, size, or weight? Was it the fact that this 'something' could be interacted with and was thus granted the label of existence?

Perhaps, something required a goal to 'exist'. A purpose, if you will. 

The questions were endless and the answers were unknown. Maybe there existed a single, unequivocal answer. Or maybe, there existed multiple answers. 

It could even be that there existed no answer at all to this question.

Still, none of this mattered to this string of thoughts called Olivia. All it knew was that it existed and that was enough.

In this space of nihility, this string of thoughts called Olivia continued to either float endless or stay in absolute stillness. Nothing happened and there was no progress, but the string of thoughts called Olivia was content.

It knew that it existed and that was enough.

After an inordinate amount of nothing happening, one day, if a day even existed within this place, something happened!

For the first 'time' since the 'start', there was a change within this space of nihility. And this change came in the form of a glimmer of pulsating grey-colored light.

What was this light? No actually, what was light even in the first place? And what was this 'grey color'? 

The string of thoughts called Olivia did not know the answer to any of these questions, but strangely, it did not seek these answers either. 

Much like itself, it just knew that this grey-colored light existed and that was enough. But that wasn't the end. Unlike the previous times, it was satisfied with simply existed.

It wanted to 'move' towards this grey-colored light.

Why? The string of thoughts called Olivia did not know and neither did it question this. 

All it knew was that it wanted to move towards this glimmering grey-colored light. And knowing this was enough, as the string of thoughts called Olivia started to move!

And with this, change started to appear within the space of nihility. Progress appeared and purpose was given. And the string of thoughts called Olivia 'acted'.

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Outside.

Lucius, who was leaning against a pillar of rock with his eyes closed, suddenly shot up and snapped his eyes open. His black irises, which were as still and dark as a bottomless well, displayed immense surprise.

"incredible," a rare remark of admiration leaked from his lips. 

Less than a minute had passed since Olivia's final trial had entered the final five-minute period where all senses and means of observation were sealed for the examiner and the examinee. 

Ovid sat dignified with his heads raised high and his eyes closed, while Olivia lied sprawling with her face against the ground and blood pooling underneath her body. The bodies of both Ovid and Olivia stood absolutely still with no movement or reaction similar to puppets.

And now, with his eyes, Lucius saw one of these puppets 'move'.

It was a very small movement. 

One of Olivia's back muscles faintly twitched and Lucius, who had set his Boundary to encompass the bodies of both Ovid and Olivia, immediately noticed this twitch with his soul power which he was using to observe the changes in their bodies.

Normally, such a small change was of no importance. A muscle twitch happened to almost everyone and could be shrugged off as something instinctual and automatic.

However, Lucius understood how the sense sealing worked and knew that such instinctual, automatic responses were not possible during the course of this challenge.

This was because the challenge isolated the three centers of power; the body, the consciousness, and the soul, and made it impossible for one to communicate with the other. Without any communication possible, such changes would be impossible.

In essence, the challenge was to find a method for the consciousness to communicate with the body and the soul past the Rules isolating them.

This only meant one thing, Olivia had figured out a way to 'navigate' through the space of nihility. 

And once she found the way, success was only a matter of course. 

'Incredible. Absolutely incredible. She found a method in just fifty-three seconds. Her talent and potential seem to be far greater than what I initially estimated to be.' A smile had unknowingly appeared on Lucius' lips.

To be honest, Lucius wasn't really expecting Olivia to actually succeed in this trial. While he hoped for her to succeed, the three-hundred-years of wisdom within him calculated her chances of success to be abysmally low.

Originally, Lucius had planned to use her in the second and third phases of the 'Great Plan' before abandoning her. Her use as an ally would run out after the third phase and from a purely rational perspective, there was no point in investing in her and keeping her on their side.

This though, however, had begun to change little by little as Lucius spent more time with her during their course of training. During the course of these four years, Olivia's identity in his eyes had gone up from being a 'somewhat useful tool' to a 'person worthy of admiration'. 

While her usefulness would still run out after the completion of the third phase of the 'Great Plan', Lucius was no longer of the thought of ruthlessly abandoning her and instead thought it would be alright to let her be free and leave her to her own devices.

Now, however, this thought had changed once again. Why was this so?

To answer this question, we must first answer another question; why would Olivia outlive her usefulness after the third phase?

The answer to this question boiled down to a single word: power.

The fourth phase of the 'Great Plan' which was also the penultimate phase would mark the start of Lucius' and Ka'lor'ah's direct confrontation against the Lords. 

And to participate in this confrontation, one had to possess at least Stage 6 strength.