He loves me.
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
All five individuals on the training field stood expectantly, waiting to see what type of shinsu quality the woman would have.
But nothing was manifested. Lilith clicked it again.
"..."
"..."
"Is it broken?" Khun asked as Eduan's brow furrowed in shock.
The woman sighed. "No, Aguero... it's not."
"Apparently it seems as if you have no shinsu quality," Eduan muttered, but loud enough for everyone to hear. Lilith clicked her tongue as she put the device away, not that surprised about the result.
She knows the Tower is cruel, but not to this degree.
Everyone else was in shock. Is it possible for someone to not have a shinsu quality?
"Well, it's unfortunate, really," Lilith sadly smiled as she began to excuse herself. "I'll call the others over when they finished getting some rest. But you guys get a head start, okay?"
"But-" Bam was cut off by Lilith looking him directly in the eyes. He could tell she was trying to suppress her anger with a calm smile. Anger directed at herself, rather than him.
"You know Bam... I appreciate your altruism. But I don't really think this is the right training for me. I'm way behind all of you."
The boy knew he couldn't push her to continue training like he did with Khun. After all, it was so blatantly obvious that the woman needed to be alone at the moment.
"Then if you want I could offer you some one-on-one training-" Eduan perked up but was immediately shot down.
"I appreciated the offer Lord Eduan, but I prefer to get some rest. Unlike them, I don't have the endurance. Bam, maybe you should ask Endorsi when she wakes up."
"Alright... then make sure you get some rest, okay?"
Lilith smiled. "I will."
***
"Lilia."
The woman kept walking, ignoring the name that had always been so heavily regarded in her heart calling from behind her.
"Lilia." The footsteps behind her quickened. The woman clenched her fist as she held her gaze to the ground at the inevitable confrontation.
Her own footsteps never faltered as she kept her walking pace. She struggled to remain calm as she felt Eduan's looming frame getting closer and closer.
Thousands of scenarios ran in her head all at once. It is the night of the first day. Everyone was already asleep, no one can help her.
Is he going to yell at her? Force answers out of her? She mentally prepared herself for what is yet to come.
At that moment, she felt two muscular arms wrap around her shoulders, bringing her back against the perpetrator's chest. The scent of old wine and grape engulfed her as he felt Eduan burying his face into her neck.
This sensation brought a feeling of familiarity to both of them.
But it was a sensation that couldn't last.
"Lord Eduan..."
"Don't. Why are you referring to me in such way?"
"Because it is the only appropriate way to do so." She felt Eduan flinch against her, but didn't let go.
"Why..."
"Why what?"
"I..."
Lilith felt herself smiling as she gently pried his arms off of her. "You don't even know what to ask."
And she's right. Throughout the entire day while training Bam, Eduan ran scenarios in his head as to what to say to her. But in the end, he still finds himself at a loss for words.
"What happened?"
Such a simple question that only contains two words. Yet those two word could even demand an answer that would fill the entirety of a novel.
"I thought you already knew? Bam needs to fight Jahad-"
Eduan gritted his teeth as he held her by her shoulders, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "No. What happened to you?"
"What do you mean what happened to me?"
"I..." the man clicked his tongue, irritated at his own hesitation. "Goddamnit Lilia! You know what I mean!"
The man felt his irritation grow as the woman looked on the ground, refusing to meet his eyes.
"You're right. Your Lilia would know what you mean." Eduan felt chills crawl up his spine as he was met with those violet jeweled eyes. Those eyes that used to look at him with such fondness are now looked cold and distant.
"But I'm not Lilia, am I?"
"What do you mean-"
"You know what they call me now, and you saw what I've become. It was just the price I had to pay for my foolishness."
Eduan tried to hide his trembling hands as he put everything together. Ever since his data companions have disappeared, he would try to get information from the regulars who visits. But none of them heard of Lilia Belle, which the man found strange. Tired of only getting bits and pieces of information regarding the whereabouts of his love had made him weary, so weary to the point where he no longer cared about what is going on outside the data world.
But now it was clear as day as to why the regulars never heard of Lilia Belle.
"The foolishness... that ended up costing you your life..."
Lilia raised a delicate brow at the observation. "So you heard. Then why bother to ask?"
After hundreds, or was it thousands of years? Here she stands before him.
The once strong and dignified Lilia Belle now stood with anger burning in her eyes and feigned confidence in her posture.
But even after all these years Eduan still remember how she is. The anger in her eyes were directed at herself and her confident posture was to hide her insecurity.
Her insecurity of becoming nothing more than a wilted lily stripped of her prime.
"Because I refuse to believe it," he replied.
"You refuse to? Or are you too scared to? I never knew Khun Eduan to be a coward."
She felt a slight tug on her sleeve, something Eduan would always do when he wants her attention as she was always such a prick about him touching her as an unmarried couple.
"Call me a coward if it pleases you. But no matter what I still refuse to accept that my Lilia is truly gone."
When she tugged her sleeve away from his grasp, it felt like she was tugging at her own heart. "She was gone the moment you-" she stopped herself at the memory.
"I...? What did I do Lilia? Please tell me. I'll fix it."
But how can one 'fix' taking another's life. Lilia regretted looking into his hopeful eyes at that very moment, as she couldn't bring herself to continue her sentence.
And after all, he wasn't to blame for what happened to her.
It was her own foolishness that led her to this point.
"Nothing. Nothing at all."
"What do you mean nothing?" Eduan's voice began to grow irritated at how evasive her responses are.
"Goodnight, Lord Eduan."
There it is.
The respected title he demanded so often from others.
Yet it hurt so much coming from her lips.
***
"All right. It should be enough if you maintain that much tension. Should we try attacking with the orb now?" Eduan instructed as he observed Bam's rapid improvement, trying not to let the encounter last night hinder his main objective.
Meanwhile, Lilith was sitting on the side with Endorsi watching Khun and Rak train. Endorsi already mastered her shinsu attribute in two days time, and Lilith praised her like a proud mother would.
"Pathetic... why can't they do something so easy?" Endorsi complained as she easily formed the shinsu in the palm of her hand. Lilith smiled from the seat next to her.
"Now now, they'll get it really soon. Just you wait alright?"
Endorsi looked at the older woman from the corner of her eye. She nodded at the woman's statement but chose not voice a witty response like she usually would. She already felt guilty for what she just said after learning what happened at the training field yesterday.
"... What about you? Are you okay?" Endorsi timidly muttered. She's usually not very sentimental, so she didn't know how to act.
Lilith only gave her the same comforting smile she uses to reassure everyone. "Yes, of course. Don't worry about me alright?"
Before Endorsi can say anything else, they were distracted by an incoming attack that nearly missed where they were sitting.
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" The brunette exclaimed as Lilith only laughed before looking up at their attacker. Bam was still too enthralled by his success to realize that he nearly killed his friends.
"See? I told you they'll catch up sooner than you think."
At that moment, the woman felt a foreboding presence within their vicinity. Eduan felt it too as his should noticeably tensed.
The two figured out immediately who were coming.
Their sworn enemies.
The blue haired male smiled as he turned towards the boy before him. "Hey Son of V. I think your sworn enemies are here."
"What?!"
"Since they're your sworn enemies, go ahead and deal with them and get back here. But you can only use the skills that your just learned."
Bam was shocked at the request but nodded.
Endorsi shivered from her seat, an annoyed frown on her face. "Looks like there's going to be another nuisance..." she muttered. But Lilith was in her own little world as she didn't hear the girl. She knew the other had already met their sworn enemies, she had yet to meet hers.
"In order to prevent power from having excessive influence on this place, one enemy equal to you is generated. Most of the time, it's a powerful enemy you have encountered, or a rival you want to defeat." The minstrel's words echoed in her head.
'A power enemy. A rival I want to defeat...' Lilith thought to herself as she tried to recall all the enemies she encountered on their climb up the tower. But no one seemed to have crossed her mind.
Lilith was weak compared to the others.
She couldn't see anyone viewing her as an arch nemesis or rival, and neither could she.
"Well, whoever it is, I'm sure it won't be a big deal..." she muttered. At that moment she could hear Eduan challenging the sworn enemies before Endorsi who was sitting besides her disappeared. Apparently he decided to switch up the enemies in order to give the others more of advantage.
She observed everyone who were teleported into their own designated area, brushing off Khun's complaint about how awkward the situation is. 'Four enemies... no, five...'
'Two are missing!' Lilith's eyes widened as she looked around. She noticed earlier how Endorsi looked awfully calm when the sworn enemies appeared, so she theorized she must have somehow gotten it under control. And she either doesn't recognize the rest of the sworn enemies or identified them as the enemies of her companions.
"Mine's not here-" she cut herself off as a foreboding feeling consumed her entire body.
A foreboding feeling of death lurking right behind her.
Quickling turning around, she caught a glimpse of violet jeweled eyes staring right back at her before she was shielded by a blue spear coming between them.
Powerful energy resonated throughout the field as all eyes are on her.
Well, not exactly her.
"I never expected to find you here..." Eduan's voice cut her out of her trance.
The figure's blood red hanfu fluttered in the wind created by the collision of their attacks as their long black hair strewn about their delicate figure. An unamused line pulled on her cherry red lips as she stared blankly at Lilith and Eduan before her.
"... Lilia Belle."
Why can't humans transcend to gods?
Because in the end, no matter how long we live; how much wisdom and knowledge we obtain; we are still irrational human beings.
A/n: I am alive! And my sincerest apologies for taking such a long hiatus without notice. I had a lot going on for the past year but here if the first overdue update of 2022! I hope you all had a great year so far and an even better year going on! I plan to finally finish the story soon as we are getting closer and closer to the finale!
Once again, thank you for reading this story and stay safe!