The night air felt like a frozen shroud. I sat on the stone steps of the Manor, staring at a moon that felt too bright for a world so dark.
My mind was a hollow shell. I had walked away from Alisa. I had let go of her hand, even as she clung to me with the last of her strength.
I could not stay in that room. I could not watch the morning light take her. I was a failure, a man who had played God and lost every single bet. I tried to find a spark of hope, but there was only a vast, echoing silence.
Suddenly, the temperature dropped. It was not just the winter chill. A thick, suffocating weight pressed against my left side. It felt like a physical hand made of cold oil.
The moonlight touched the gravel, the trees, and the stone walls. But on my left, there was only a void. The light simply died before it could reach whatever was standing there.
"Wow, you really look like you want to jump into a hole and stay there forever!"
The voice was high and light. It sounded like a young girl, playful and full of energy.
I jolted, my hand flying to the hilt of my blade. I spun around, my heart hammering against my ribs.
"Who are you?!"
I shouted.
"What do you want?"
Out of the obsidian shade, a small figure stepped forward. Or rather, the shadow moved with her. She was tiny, perhaps the height of a child, but her presence was massive. I could feel a mana signature so dense it made my skin crawl.
"Greetings, little Shadow!"
She chirped. She gave a clumsy, exaggerated bow.
"I am Lilithia van Astrea! A Noble born of the Abyssal Reach! Sovereign of the Silent Maw! And... well, I am currently the nineteenth strongest person in the Great Demon List. But you can just call me Lili!"
"I don't ask that much information but sure" I said
The names sounded familiar from the game lore. She was a top-tier entity. A monster. I looked at her, then looked at the clear sky. I realized why she was here. The Sun-blade was gone. I had manipulated the Hero into self-destruction. The divine barrier was failing.
"You are a demon?,"
I whispered. My voice was a dry rasp.
Lilithia gasped, her hands flying to her cheeks.
"Indeed I am! You figured it out! You are so smart, Leo! Most humans just scream and run until I have to trip them."
"What do you want?"
"How did you know my name?"
I asked. I did not move. I was too tired to be truly afraid.
"Oh, I have been watching you!"
She said, beginning to yap and skip in a circle around me.
"I heard everything! I heard that old man Elian talking about the flowers and the end. I heard your little temper tantrum in the library. It was so dramatic! I loved it!"
She leaned in close, though her face remained hidden in the supernatural gloom.
"I can read your past, you know? I can see all your little conversations. I saw you trying so hard to get that prototype of the Soul Exception potion! You fought so hard! And then... poof! The house burned down! The potion was gone... It was like a tragic play!"
She giggled, a sound that was both sweet and terrifying.
"And now you think you can go to the East? To Oakhaven? You think you can find the Whispering Woods and slay a Behemoth all by yourself? Oh, Leo, you are such a funny human! That is such a long walk for a boy with a broken heart. But that plains was sadly abandoned."
I stared at the ground. My face remained dark, devoid of emotion. I did not have the energy to argue with that demon child of the Abyss.
"You even killed the Sun-blade owner for her,"
Lilithia said, her voice turning into a dreamy sigh.
"You erased the world's greatest protector just to keep your little lady safe. That is so romantic! I hope someone does that to me one day... ughh~ I would just melt!"
I let out a long, shaky breath.
"What I did or did not do... it was all for nothing. There is no worth in mentioning it."
I looked at my trembling hands. The guilt was a physical weight in my chest.
"I thought I was being clever all along. I thought I could use my knowledge to cheat the world itself, i told myself I was a 'special' who could do the dirty work. But look at me, i am just an idiot who gave people hope when I had no right to do so."
I felt the tears stinging my eyes, but I did not let them fall.
"Giving someone hope is the cruelest thing you can do in the worse situation. For example, look at the mess I have made of this world. I played the part of a clever shadow, convinced that I could fix the story by removing the pieces I disliked. I manipulated the very protector of this realm into a pile of grey dust just to keep my own to save the person I dream to protect. I told myself it was for the best, but now the sky is clearly open, and the things that belong in the dark are walking the earth. I promised Alisa a future while her life force is literally being overwritten by a curse I can barely understand. I am a liar who builds castles out of smoke and expects people to live in them. It is not kindness; it is just a way to make the fall feel longer and more painful.
I am a loser who refuses to accept that some doors are locked for a reason. Every time I tell someone it will be okay, I am just sharpening the blade that will eventually cut them. It was not a victory back then, and it is not a victory now. It was just me being too arrogant to admit that I was out of my league."
I stood up and wiped the dust from my trousers, looking down at the patch of darkness where the girl was hiding. My voice was no longer heavy with grief; it was sharp and dry, I stepped closer, leaning into the cold aura of the Abyss without flinching.
"I told you all of that because I wanted you to understand one thing: I know exactly what kind of person I am. I don't need a demon brat to narrate my life or tell me how 'deliciously messy' it is. You talk about the Abyss and the Great Demon List like they make you special, but you're just a lonely kid who climbed out of a hole the moment the Sun-blade stopped glowing. You're not as interesting you though you were. You're a stray looking for a show."
Lilithia stopped her swaying. The shadows around her flickered, becoming erratic and thin.
"I... I am a Sovereign!"
She stammered, her high-pitched voice suddenly losing its playful edge.
"I am the nineteenth strongest! I have destroyed entire—"
"You have destroyed nothing but my silence,"
I interrupted, crossing my arms.
"You're so desperate for entertainment that you're begging a 'pathetic human' to let you tag along. If you were actually as terrifying as the lore says, you wouldn't be yapping; you'd be eating the Manor. But you're not, are you? You're just embarrassed that someone actually called you out on your act."
The darkness around her suddenly turned a strange, deep shade of violet—the demonic equivalent of a bright red blush. She let out a tiny, stifled squeak, her shadow-wrapped hands flying to her face to hide her glowing eyes.
"I am not... I am not begging!"
She hissed, though she was practically vibrating with humiliation.
"I just... I thought... ugh! You are the meanest person I have ever met! I hope the Behemoth eats your shoes!"
She looked like she wanted to melt into the gravel. The fearsome "noble child " was currently curling into a ball of pure, concentrated embarrassment because a level-one nobody had seen through her "scary" persona.
The darkness around her suddenly turned a strange, deep shade of violet—the demonic equivalent of a bright red blush. She let out a tiny, stifled squeak, her shadow-wrapped hands flying to her face.
"I am not a stray!" she huffed, her voice trembling as she tried to regain her dignity through the sheer embarrassment. She stomped a small, shadowy foot.
"And I am definitely not 'begging' you! If you want my help, you... you should be the one begging me! Yeah! Get on your knees and ask nicely, and maybe I'll consider it!"
She peered through her fingers, her glowing eyes darting around nervously.
"I mean, it's not like you're special or anything! You're just a mean, bossy human who smells like soot! But since it's so boring under the earth and you're... you're slightly interesting, I might help. If you ask! Just say 'Please, Lady Lilithia, help me because I'm a big dummy,' and I'll think about it! Dummy!"
I froze, completely stunned. This was not the reaction of a world-ending demon. She acted so innocent, so genuinely flustered, that for a second I forgot she was a creature from the Abyss.
I looked at her small, vibrating form. What is she? An angle? Am I hallucinating? I wondered. No demon this powerful acts this way without a reason. She wanted something—something more than just a "show."