A few hours ago — 2:27 PM— Penthouse.

"Dhampy, that thing, I heard earlier from Mirsha that the beast that transformed her husband called you with an unfamiliar name… Black Blood, it said. Is this true?" Lilith asked while looking at empty air, her eyes moving without reason, nothing unusual.

"Yes… I… um… was in the same position as him before I met you Boss." Dhampy looked down on the ground, her hands behind her back, fidgeting. Unsure how she should talk about the matter, "I… didn't mean to lie, to you Boss… you may already have suspected it, but yes, I was a—"

"Were you another kind of creature before transforming into a Dhampir? Just like Will?" Lilith cut Dhampy off before she finished her sentence.

"Huh? Ye-yes, Boss, I was a—"

"Then, you must know how to revert others like Mirsha's husband, right?" Lilith didn't let her finish.

"I… don't know how exactly. But I can try the methods I used on myself."

"I see, then it was only by accident… only a small chance exists. Welp, good enough for me. I'll ask those above us for help if things get worse. We’ll be able to manage somehow, so do your best, okay?" Lilith stood up from the sofa and yawned, walking to the bedroom.

Dhampy watched the little creature and called out to her. Lilith no longer had a question to ask, but Dhampy had something that bothered her,  "Boss, do you not want to know what I was before I became a Dhampir?"

It was clear that Lilith knew that she was not just a normal daemon. But, she wasn’t pursuing the matter. No, she even stopped her when she was ready to confess.

"Do it when you're prepared, not when you're being put into a corner. I do not want to force you, and that would be a far better confession." Lilith answered, entering a room where the human child resided.

Dhampy was frozen for a good while. But she smiled as she walked away, content at what she had heard from the little daemon she called her Boss. 

***

"Will!!" Black flames swallowed the forest as giant balls of black flames appeared to destroy the undead that punched a hole through her husband's chest. Mirsha's fire raged with her wrath, and right at that instant, her firepower and the temperature spiked.

"Mirsha, calm down!" Lilith called out to her, but Mirsha had already been overwhelmed by her anger. Clouding her judgement.

Explanations were thrown into the wind.

Logic became irrelevant.

All that Mirsha saw was the unmistakable sign of her husband's murder. The purple blood belonging to Will's body tainted the earth, and a still-beating black heart held by a daemon..

But despite her state where she could not hear Lilith or those around her. A voice reached her. A whisper from an ethereal world.

<<They are killing your husband... weren't you going to protect them? Come on, Mirsha... save him. Call upon my power and I will grant you the power to save your beloved.>>

"Aaaa... aaaahhh... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Mirsha could hear the voices clearly, its whispers echoing.

Reverberating to no end, until it was deafening and she could no longer hear anything but its call.  Demanding destruction and to save Will, Mirsha happily obliged.

"MIRSHA STOP IT—" Lilith once again tried to get to her, but Mirsha never answered back, "Dammit."

"Priestess, get out there. We're going to take care of everything." From Lilith's shadow, a figure came out to stand in front of her. It was Eve who held a sword in front of her, "Older Brother Killa, please get her out of here!"

Eve reeked of wanting to kill. Her eyes became sharp and her body loosened, she was ready to end a life—Mirsha's to be precise. All so she could protect her Priestess.

"I'll leave the rest to you, Eve." Killa moved in towards Lilith. He swooped her up her feet, but she slipped off his grasp, "Priestess? We need to get out of here."

Lilith thought otherwise.

"No, everyone but Dhampy and I will leave." Lilith argued as she refused to even think of escaping, “I’ll stay here with her, we’re going to save Will.”

"But Priestess, you are our first priority! We can't handle losing you! The Village cannot handle losing our Leader!" Killa protested. It was his first time raising his voice and showing signs of disobeying Lilith’s orders.

Killa's hulking body had always been a mismatch to his softness when it came to the others. He was a warrior, but he was more along the line of a Protector. Like a brother or father. Before he was picked to be Lilith's demonstration, he was the Leader of the Lower-Warriors and led the others to missions and hunts.

He took care of everyone and knew how things went around the Village. He was well-aware of what their Village's state was before and after Lilith's arrival. 

Everyone knows, and they own up to that sense of gratitude. Whatsmore, Lilith had sacrificed her life for them more times than they could count. 

Killa had grown to appreciate Lilith. 

She was their Leader. But more than that, Lilith was a beloved member. The core of their beliefs and lives. 

Even if it went against his integrity, Killa fought Lilith to make her understand that she needed to leave. Killa did not mind if she came to hate him. All that mattered was Lilith’s safety,  "Priestess, we need to get you out of here! It's too dangerous!"

However, Lilith was adamant.

"No, I'm staying. If Luck was here, I would allow it. Dhampy is preoccupied, and Eve does not have enough experience. None of you can face Mirsha. The entity within her is too strong and she’s far too crafty. She's consumed by her own rage, making her more dangerous. The Shadow Troops and everyone here is still too weak to face her." Priestess adamantly insisted she must remain.

"But Priestess, you don't even know how to fight!" Eve argued, “You are a non-combatant, Priestess. Please, just leave this to us!”

"Huh!? What do you mean non-combatant!? I’m amongst the Top 10 strongest warrior in the Village! No, Top 3! I even defeated a group of Werewolves!" Lilith felt indignant, ‘Non-combatant? Hmph! I’m strong!’

But Eve and Killa only looked at each other’s conflicted expressions.

“What?” A feisty Lilith raised the question, “Spit it out!”

“I mean….” Even with her deep faith towards Lilith. Eve could not bring herself to agree, "With all due respect, Priestess, you only won because you caught them off guard and with your wits which they rarely have—no offense, Fang."

"None is taken, Leader." Fang was one of those Lilith managed to beat. 

“See? Priestess, you are good at strategizing. But this is going to be a head on fight, Priestess.” added Eve.

“Priestess, we’re not saying this to make fun of you… it is simply the truth. It is our task to protect you. We do not want to see you get hurt.” and Killa interjected. 

Lilith could see the severity in their eyes, the commitment, and the truth. Unlike humans, their eyes were clear, without ulterior motives.

'They really wear their hearts on their sleeves. But I cannot leave. I can't have any of them dying here, and Mirsha's death will not be optimal for my end either.' Lilith's mind wandered, and seeing the black flames rage, she clicked her tongue, "I'm not leaving, and none of you plan on backing down—New plan. You are all going to help me suppress her. Got it!?"

Everyone’s faces lit up, “Yes!” 

Her words alone were needed. 

Lilith was indeed weak. But, if she was to command them. It would not matter if it was someone double their levels. Hunting it down was possible.

"Good! Now listen! I need 4 Shadow Ogres, 4 Shadow Pixies and 2 Werewolves! Starting from now on, if you cannot follow my orders, you and I, with everyone else, will die!"

Lilith decided to become their helm, 'Alpha prepare for combat….'

She called out, but no one answered, 'Fuck, she's still not back? I'll do it myself. System—open access to names… Mental Link Luna... Luna, can you hear me?’

~Ye-yes!? Priestess!~ 

‘No time to explain; I need you to connect me to every daemon in this place for twenty-five seconds.' It was time to hunt.

Ice-covered the heart, as what used to be her husband bled out. The screams, shouts, despair, and cries for the destruction of the Spirit within echoed, telling Mirsha to end everything! To leave behind nothing but devastations.

"DIE!" Mirsha shouted out of grief, rage, and the most disgusting of it all—Joy. Mirsha was unknowingly all smiles.

A searing death ball of black flames composed of an unknown substance from all corners appeared. 

It was a hellscape to whoever saw it, and Dhampy was the target of its ire. 

As Dhampy tended to the creature that had lost his humanity. Her eyes shifted to Mirsha… but it did not last long. For her attention returned to the heart —like Mirsha, she was also smiling.'

She was not afraid, not even worried, because when the flames approached, and her mind was in the middle of making a decision to fight back, a small figure appeared before her.

[Dhampy: Loyalty +5]

How could she be afraid, when the one she served was the one protecting her?

"Geater Earth Wall x4."

BOOM!

The earth shifted, and towering walls shot up from the ground to protect Dhampy and the dying Wechuge. The flames spread upon contact with the land, causing the fire to scatter. It touched the shrubs and leaves, setting it all ablaze, transforming a tundra into hell.

Lilith could feel the temperature rising. It was not only hot, but it was also something else. It felt like it was crawling, sticking to the flesh. It was painful, more so than it should.

Lilith blocked the black flames with the earth, "Dhampy, answer me. Are you fixing him or killing him?"

“Yes, Boss.”

Dhampy  heard their conversation, especially Lilith's words. How she refused to escape on her own. 

"I'm doing what I know… recreating what happened to me… just like I told Boss before," answered Dhampy.

"I see, welp, I signed up for this. How long are you going to take to fix this?" Lilith laughed.

"It will take a minute until I flush out the Darkness in this heart, don't worry, Boss, I'm making sure his brain and organs have blood circulating in them." Dhampy said as she purified the transaction of the entire circulatory system, "But, I may need something to finish the operation—"

"Yeah? Tell me later, I have to focus for a second. Just make sure our patient does not die from the treatment." Lilith had no time to spare. Losing focus in the slights meant an excruciating death.

Planting her feet on the ground, gathering flames from god knows where Mirsha was already making her next move.

Mirsha didn't mind that the mana pool was quickly being drained. She didn't manage expenditures. Usually, this would be stupid, but Lilith could very well see her reserves were not going down in the slightest.

[Mirsha LVL 246]

HP: 3,247/5,200

MP: 20,000/20,000

ERROR: 32%]

'She's not losing any mana… and I don't like that new ERROR thing. Her life is going down, it was 3,400 before she sent that attack, and I don't think that's a good sign either.'

Lilith and her childlike stature were standing against what currently seemed to be Devil incarnate. She took a deep breath to calm herself.

She had a meager 50% mana pool, an unclear mind, and no Alpha to help regulate mana usage; yet Lilith remained smiling. She didn't need mana to fight. She didn’t even need to lift a finger to act; she didn't need to do anything. What Lilith needed was only her voice.

"All right, everyone! We only have one shot at this! Fang, White Claws, go before she could recover her flames! Make sure not to touch it; something is weird about them!"

"Yes, Priestess!"

Two Werewolves with their claws protruding darted forth.

The young werewolves weaved through the flames and reached Mirsha in no time; their movement was fast, unbelievably so.

[Werewolf Passive Skill — Night Hunters: Increase Speed, Strength, and Ferocity at Night.]

Mirsha crossed her arms; she summoned the black flames! From her elbows, it billowed!

"Aim for her wrists!"

The Werewolves struck just before the flames could reach their target.

HP: 3,117/5,200

It distracted her.

"Dra! Goon!"

BOOM!

HP: 2,391/5,200

From above, two Shadow Pixies descended like thunder. Their heel meeting Mirsha's shoulders, breaking them upon contact. 

Bones stuck out Mirsha's skin.

“GYAAAAAAAAAA!!” She let out an inhuman screech.

The flames climbed higher, to Mirsha's shoulders, to Dra and Goon.

"THROW THEM!"

FWU!

Two other Pixies, thrown by the Shadow Ogres, zoomed past Mirsha's ears, taking the attacking Shadow Pixies with them.

"Killa, throw the tree!!"

"Yes, Priestess!"

Two trees flew across the skies, and Mirsha swung her arms at empty air, but the flames surrounding them suddenly moved according to her will.

The flames gathered, and from beneath Mirsha's feet, a crescent was left behind as the black flames tore through the trees.

Its force was so strong that it blasted through everything and came racing towards Lilith.

It tore through the ground. Eating away at everything it came across. It was an unstoppable force, and it was headed for her diminutive stature. She could dodge and avoid the coming attack, but that would leave Dhampy unprotected.

'Should I leave? No! I need to keep it together. This is the key part of the plan. I have to survive and finish this… this form's mana is too low already. The cat is too tired to help—'

Lilith changed her form.

A Little Dragon hovered with its tiny hands.

"Darkness Chains!"

From the ground, chains appeared and wrapped themselves around the flames. Its form was corrupted, the chains were destroyed, like rust eating away at it, and then Lilith came face to face with Crescent Blades of Flames, 'Oh shit!'

CRASH!

–734

However, when it touched Lilith's scales, the Flames' force did send Lilith back into the walls she conjured to protect Dhampy. 

“Priestess!” her followers shouted. 

Lilith was in pain, yes, but she was alive.

In fact, Lilith's eyes were wide open, 'A measly 734?'

It was then that she remembered the form’s skill.

[Unbreakable Dragon Scales (Passive): Increased protection towards any kind of damage. Increases resistances.]

It was at that moment that Lilith experienced enlightenment.

Unbreakable Dragon Scales (Passive) + Lilith + A lot of Stress = Stress Relief.

“Gehe-GEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!” The Priestess' childish giggles swallowed the tense situation, "I can play!"

It was at that moment that Mirsha should’ve realized.