The shop went completely silent.
Lilith's cold stare that had been looking at Orla slowly moved back to me. She didn't smile. She… just watched me. Everyone in the room except Lilith seemed to hold their breath.
After a long tense moment, a small and slow smile appeared on Lilith's face.
"Hooo…?" she finally said. "A neutral ground of power?"
Her gaze glanced over to Orla. "Tis a neutral ground she sorely needs, is not?"
I glanced towards Orla. "Well, not just her… I think any creatures will need this neutral ground to have a discussion with you…"
She glanced back towards me. "However, thou dost not need that… How about that?" She leaned forward with a face that I didn't want to see, sparkling eyes full of curiosity inside of it. "Remember! Our magic experiment, where I released all my mana in this shop . Thou didst seem unaffected by it. What's the deal about that, Darya?"
"Well…" I was trying to find the answer…
She leaned her hand towards Varania. "Even Varania was struggling as she tried to control herself around my mana , but thou wert completely unaffected…"
She wasn't struggling… She was dying…
She leaned forward with her chin resting on her hand. "Thou knowest… In that time, my mana was not just contained in this shop only…. But the entire realm, including the creatures in it…" Suddenly, her face was like being struck by lightning. "Ah! Haply 'tis because of that the human realm sent their battalion and her, as they felt my presence and my mana in here."
"So it's because of you, my shop got besieged by human…"
"Sort of..." she repeated, as if it was a daily occurrence. "However… Because of thee… I could not think of aught beside thee."
"Huh?" Is it like you are falling in love with me? "In what way?"
"Uh? What dost thou mean, 'in what way'?"
"Well… In the human perspective, if I couldn't think of anything beside someone, it indicated some feeling towards that individual…"
"Feeling?" Lilith repeated the word as if it were a foreign word in her mouth. She let out a small laugh. "Dost thou not think such a thing appearing in my mind?"
"Well… Maybe, as all creatures must have feelings, right? Remember the tale I had told you when you came here for the first time… A tale about Lilith."
"Yeah, I remember that…"
"In that tale, even Lilith, who had become a demon, still had a feeling towards humans, her former partner. Jealousy, hatred, and love were all feelings…"
She showed a small laugh and amused smile. "Tis true; the Lilith's tale thou hadst told me was driven by feelings . By jealousy. By love lost… However, thou art wrong. What I feel for thee is not such a… mortal affliction."
"So what is it?"
"Thou art like a void for me. Blank spot. My power and my presence should crush any creatures…yet for thee…naught happens." She leaned forward. "ITis like I cannot read thee…because thou dost already know everything about me… Not just me… But this entire world, thou didst seem already to know… Thy tale, thy theory, and thy presence…" She leaned back and looked up. "So ay, I cannot think of aught beside thee… 'Tis like I truly wish to know thee… What dost thou see, and what dost thou think…?"
She wasn't in love with me… She was obsessed with me or maybe an anomaly that she couldn't understand.
Her sparkling curious eyes were still locked on me, waiting for me to answer. "What do I see? What do I think, huh?" I said quietly.
I met her gaze. "I think… you already know the answer… Or at least, we both have seen the biggest clue, right?"
His head tilted. "What is that?"
"My status screen," I said. "Remember our first meeting? After I saw your status, I showed you my status. And you said it was 'impossible', as you had lived for thousands of years and never saw anything like mine."
I saw a sudden realisation in her eyes. She did remember.
"As your manner and your presence…it should crush me. Even Orla felt it just from you approaching; it showed how your presence is overwhelming. Varania was dying from your overwhelming mana. But I felt nothing. Even when you unleashed your full mana in this room, I was completely unaffected."
I leaned forward. "Your presence and your mana… It may be overwhelming for a creature with attributes, doesn't it? But what happens if you try to crush something that doesn't have it? I have no attributes. Your power has nothing to push against."
"Nothing to push against…" she repeated softly. Her gaze glanced to Orla then back to me. "But…"
I know there is a 'but'.
"But.. Methinks there is something more than that. Thou art linking thy immunity to my presence to a lack of magical attributes. Very well. But what about physical, not magical?"
"What do you mean?"
"Strength. Agility. E'en intelligence," she said while tapping the counter. "They are not just for magic in creatures. They are the very essence of a creature's function. Like a brain, a heart, or muscles. Without magic, thou mayst still possess physical attributes that could be of use in other ways… If not, thou mayst not be alive. Like, how dost thou stand? How dost thou lift that cup? How dost thou think and form speech? If thou didst truly have no attributes, thou couldst not do all those things."
"Well…for that, I don't have anything to say about… You are actually right; if these attributes are the essence of life, then how am I still alive? Hmmmmm?"
…
..
.
What if this world has the same life essence as my world, but it expands into magic things? Like matter and anti-matter, they both exist in the same world and universe, but what if this anti-matter is mana in this world? I am still alive, as there are matters in this world, like oxygen, like my discussion with Dryad. If these matters were not present in here, I would die immediately. So how do I tell her about this?
I met her gaze. "Do you remember the invisible things I had told you?"
"Eyeless' things? Thou dost mean 'eyeless' waves?"
"Sort of… So in these invisible things, there is something that we couldn't see, but it's affecting us to live."
"Elaborate…"
"So…In these invisible things, there is a life essence that I need to have. If I don't get these things, I will surely die in a few minutes."
"So what is this thing?"
I met her gaze. "I call it oxygen."
"Oksigen?" she repeated, tasting the foreign word.
"It's an invisible and physical essence in the air," I explained. "Without it, I will die in a few minutes, or maybe you too…"
"...Me? Dost thou truly think I am bound by the same thing called 'oksigen' as a mortal?"
"Well, sort of… You are living creatures; surely you need it too… No matter if you are long-lived creatures or short-lived creatures, they should have the same things that make them alive..."
Wait a second… Not all creatures in this world will follow the same rules… For example, Dryad, back then, I had the view that maybe Dryad needs carbon dioxide more than oxygen to live, as maybe their body system is like a plant. How about other creatures? Does oxygen truly implement into other creatures?
However, if Lilith was alive, surely there was something in the air that sustained her… So what would be the thing in the air that sustains her? She was a demon. What would a demon need in the air to sustain them?
I asked Lilith. "Do you breathe like humans do, or is there something else you require to survive?"