Lilith stood before me and grinned.
"You're looking good for what you survived."
She stepped forward, her muscular frame moving with the practiced ease of an apex predator. "But I guess you aren't interested in explaining how."
I tightened my fists. "Just know I did it to spite you."
She laughed as she spread her arms. "Is that right? Come on then, don't keep me waiting in suspense. Show me what you got."
Within the snap of a moment, I quickly fired a waterball charge with chaos.
The ball screeched forward, brimmed with orange electricity, and slammed into a shield of water.
The water structures collapsed before exploding out in an explosion of steam.
FUOOOOM!
Lilith raised a curious brow. "A new trick?" She asked herself quietly.
I launched myself forward and coated my skin in a thin film of water.
Lilith raised her hand and summoned two water clones. Each one launched at me with bladed hands.
I summoned my own clones to meet hers as I jumped past them and slammed a fist into her ribs.
It felt like I had just punched a steel wall.
"You're definitely faster," she mused. "But you're not fast enough!"
She grabbed my face with a laugh and threw me towards her mansion. I spun in the air, my body twisted to find direction.
I slammed through the building and crashed through several floors.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Wood and rubble collapsed on me.
I recovered quickly and rolled from the pile of rubble just as Lilith fired a beam of water through her mansion.
It was massive and had more force than a bomb.
I covered my side and ran as her beam of water sliced through the building to chase after me.
The beam of water sliced through everything and everyone. Maids and the vases they cleaned, all sliced in half and drowned.
I pushed my way back outside and fired another waterball at Lilith.
Her head snapped in my direction. She raised another shield and it was followed by another explosion.
Damn it!
She rushed through the explosion to close the distance. I raised my forearms and crossed them over my face.
Her fist slammed into my gut and caused me to vomit as I keeled over. It felt as if my entire insides had been rearranged.
She grabbed me by the neck and raised me before I fell. "You should just give up, you won't win."
I wheezed in her grasp. It's only been a minute and I'm already on the verge of losing.
I knew she was strong but damnit!
Lilith observed my struggles with a detached expression. "Earlier you attacked with some kind of orange lighting, what was that about?"
"Fuck… you!"
She tightened her grip and shook me a bit. "Now, now, don't ask for what you can't handle." She laughed softly and brought my face up to hers. "Though I did miss you, Lafayette."
Her eyes softened a bit, she had an unsettling expression of gentleness.
"There wasn't a moment I didn't regret dragging you out to that continent. But see, look at you."
She brought her other hand to my chest.
"You're so much better now. A lot less naive about this world, and you're more focused. I like that. Because now, I can make you a true leader."
I gritted my teeth and tried to spit, but only blood ran down my lip. Lilith noticed and brought me closer.
And licked it.
The sensation sent a cold shiver down my spine as I twisted harder in her grip.
"You worthless, heartless, bastard," I wheezed. "I hope you rot in hell where all demons like you belong!"
She smiled. "Maybe one day, but for now I've got a little ambition. Darya has plans to replace the head of House Tide with my help."
Lilith paused for a moment as she turned her attention to her destroyed mansion.
"She thinks I'm going to help her become the new head. But I'm going to make sure YOU get that title. Do you understand?"
I summoned a water blade and tried to jam it in her side. It clashed against a small water shield and popped.
Lilith smirked and shook her head.
"Oh, Lafayette. I guess I'll beat you until you're drained; hopefully, you'll listen after that."
With a quick draw back of her arm, Lilith slung me into the forest adjacent to her mansion.
My body snapped, cracked, and popped against tree trunks and their branches.
It hurts.
She darted after me with a flood of water and grabbed me by the leg.
I aim a hand at her.
She pulled me into her fist and forced me into the ground hard enough to break my jaw.
"The more you resist the worse this gets."
My vision blurred with red as I struggled to breathe. Lilith picked me up by the collar and summoned two water clones.
The clones held me up by my arms as Lilith lined up her fist.
I tried to pull away from the clones. "You ruined… my life…"
"I didn't destroy your life, Lafayette. I made it better, I made you stronger. Listen to reason, go back to being mine and this ends."
I took a long breath and healed my jaw.
Then I tightened my fists and snatched myself away from the clones.
"I was never yours, YOU BITCH!!!!"
Lilith sighed and hurled her fist forward. The impact was so brutal that it shattered bones in my face again.
My ears rang as I crumbled to the ground and coughed up blood.
She squatted beside me and pulled my head up by my hair.
"You can't win, it's hopeless." She leaned close and dropped her tone. "Don't force me to kill you, it would be such a waste."
I tried to meet her gaze but my vision swam.
"How many times do you have to learn this lesson? You know the truth already, that's why you came here, to me, TO ME."
She helped me up and gripped my shoulders. "You want this as much as I do, you just need to let go of everything and let me guide you."
In that moment, as she stared at me with that soft gaze…
I felt something ignite inside me. It wasn't the adrenaline. It wasn't my heart.
It was something deeper.
I came here to die and now that I'm on the verge of death, something has emerged that has given me a reason to live.
It was anger. Anger at this woman and all the pain she caused me. I didn't just want to die anymore, I wanted to erase her from the face of this earth!
And I had just the tool to do it
Dragon!
The dragon hummed with a sound that was all too smug. "Yes?"
Can I give you the wheel? Can I trust you to make Lilith regret her existence?!
If you do this for me…
This vessel, this very being, it's yours. Please just grant me this one wish!
The dragon was silent for only a second.
"Are you sure? Once you do this there is no going back. This vessel will no longer be shared between us."
I met his moment of silence with one of my own.
Yes, I'm sure.
"You know what to do then, boy."
I smiled internally and healed myself once more. My body was flooded with chaos. Orange and white electricity radiated off my skin.
Lilith stepped back with narrowed eyes. Her expression shifted to something more calculated as her body moved into a combat stance.
A real one.
The kind used to kill other nobles.
I laughed and raised both hands over my chest. "Lilith, you're right about one thing. Strength is the only measure that matters."
I charged the tips of my fingers with water blades and shoved them into my chest.
Then I dug further into my chest and pulled.
I laughed as I ripped through my flesh. "So, let's have a real conversation, with an opponent that's actually on your level."
Soon I had reached deep enough into my chest that more core was exposed.
And my consciousness faded within a snap.
But my body didn't keel over, it began to heal as my laugh continued. A mix between mine and something ancient.
"Well, well… it's been a minute, Lilith."
Lilith gritted her teeth as she stepped back, she coated her skin in a thin water film.
"I don't know how, I don't care why, but if you don't give me back my son, I'll kill you again."
"Now that's certainly a greeting."