"Looks like you can use you brain." Lilith bemoans. In front of her is the frightened Akira bouldering on the back of a giant hermit crab. In the hallowed halls of a forgotten seaside ruin, the loud grunts from the human echo as he muscles himself against the barnacle covered shell. Cuts in his hands bleeding, Akira hangs on for dear life as he hides in the crab's blind spot. Lilith clicks her tongue in annoyance. The giant hermit is aware of Akira, but it can only direct its attention to her.

In Akira's mind, his instinct to survive overrides everything else. And that was the normal for him since entering this new world. The demoness that summoned him had taken him on a tour of the land new to him, meeting the locals along the way. Lovely neighbors such as hostiles dryads that attack with pollen and their heavy weight, a bargaining vampire who ran a gauntlet for Akira for his amusement, and a harpies nest where the denizens were eager to pluck out eyeballs. Akira's warm welcome was highlighted by the sadistic laugh coming from Lilith, adding salt to the wounds. His ability to survive as long as he did was due to his resourcefulness. A quality Lilith finds amusing and problematic.

With the crab focusing on Lilith, she could not take a position on the sideline anymore. With her pitchfork in her hands, she struggles as her reach with the weapon puts her in the sweet spot to be snapped in half by the crab's claws. Playing keep away, she backs away from the monster and waits for it to try for an attack. Seeing as she is backing into a wall, Lilith makes a jump to the side to get around the beast. With the crab accelerates to the side, Lilith uses the gap to escape at the other side.

In the shell, Akira grips the barnacles as he hugs the side of the crab. He looks at the stalk that is the crab's eye and pulls his sword from its sheath. With one hand on the hilt and the other on the shell, Akira makes attempts to sever the optical organ. The first few slashes miss but go unnoticed. When he make contact with the sword, the blade tears into the flesh but fails cleanly cut it off. Still, the sharp pain the crab monster feels is noticeable as it curls with its pincers down. Lilith sees that its guard is down and takes the opportunity to thrust her pitchfork forward and hits the second eye stalk.

Lilith looks at Akira with fury, "Now hit the joints so that it can't move!"

Akira continues to cling to the shell, "Why me?!"

With a flash of the pitchfork, Lilith yells, "Your entire weapon is sharp! Use it to cleave!"

With intense pain in his hands, Akira lets go and spots the waxy point in the crab's legs where the segments pivot. Akira grunts as he wields his sword and brings it into the air, bringing his weight down. Blood spurts from the leg as it is cut in half.

With both eyes damaged and missing a leg, the hermit crab monster seems to call it quits and claws into its shell for protection. Lilith pants as the monster is no position to launch an attack, and Akira is crying in agony of having the recoil affect his bloodied hands. With cold eyes, the demoness scowls at her pet for getting her involved. The crying is getting annoying though, and Akira is still in one piece so he would be useful later. Tapping into her magic inventory, she brings out a small vial with a red liquid inside. The lifeline for many travelers rests in her hands as she scoffs. Collecting herself, she looks towards Akira with a mocking smile. "Ahhh! Does someone have a little boo-boo again? What was it again? 'I need healing'?" She chuckles darkly in a perverted twist of having seen something adorable.

As Akira is pushing his hands to his sides to apply pressure and ease the pain, Lilith nearly yanks him over to apply the potion. With measured drops delivered right on top of the cuts, Akira bucks as the potion stings before it takes effect. The cuts start to close and Lilith pries away his other hand to apply more. The red of the potion mixes with the red medicine and both drip onto the ground. The pain slowly leaves the human's palms and his cries seize.

Recorking the bottle, Lilith stashes it away into her inventory before grabbing her pitchfork. With a healed Akira slowly coming to, Lilith places the prongs slightly into his side. The mocking tone Lilith had used is replaced with her dominant one, "Search deeper."

Akira complies as he hastily steps into further into the ruins. His resistance to Lilith can only go so far before he is punished for it. When Lilith thinks he is moving too slowly, she jabs him again with the prongs. If there is a time Akira thought that it is hell to be alive, it was at this point. He had tried to wait for his mistress to fall asleep and end his suffering. However, he was always more exhausted and would collapse and would wake up to find that Lilith slept inbetween the hours he was out. He tried to run away, and Lilith answer for it after she caught him was to stab him in the stomach to the point she was close to puncturing his internal organs. But he is still not broken.

As the two continue down the hall, they enter another chamber with an sunken floor in the center. Lilith grins widely as the chamber has no exits other than the one they entered. "Looks significant. Leave no stone unturned," She commands as her voice echos in the chamber.

Akira rolls his eyes outside of Lilith's view. With Lilith plants herself at the only escape route, he fills imprisoned in this spot that is very likely a trap. He looks down the floor below and the stairs allowing him to go down. There is no pedestal with a treasure on top, nor a chest tucked in a corner. The ground and walls are caked in sea moss that likely came from tsunamis in the past, but it is mostly dried out by now. At the bottom of the stairs, the water goes up to Akira's shins. The chills shiver his spine as he scours for something that can get Lilith off his back. It looks devoid of loot. It likely is a place that was picked clean long ago.

He tries a different approach and peels the growth that lively more vibrantly close to the water. He wonders how it can grow without direct sunlight, then questions if this world applies to Earth logic. Regardless, he scrapes the moss back and discards it in the water at his feet. He does this around the bottom floor, hoping for a passageway or secret room. All he was getting was a crude mosaic weathered by past floods. There was an interesting thing he saw in the topography: straight lines. He finds holes in the curved out lines, though they are smaller than his hand and have even less depth. Curious, he wades his way to the other side of platform and scratches away the moss there. When these same lines appear and Akira finds more of these holes, he comes to the conclusion that the lines span around the entire perimeter.

He hollers up at Lilith, "I think I find something!"

Footsteps sound through the chamber until Lilith's head peaks over the top, "You think? You don't know?"

Akira grits his teeth to suppress his anger. "I'm not sure, but I need to clear the algae down here and can use a helping hand."

Lilith looks from the top of the staircase and sees the plant life Akira already discarded. She rolls her eyes with further annoyance and makes her way down the steps. With her feet soon in the water, she looks at the lines that have caught Akira's interest. The small holes litter directly on the lines with several in between. She lightly caresses a indent to find with intrigue. She looks over to Akira who has been watching her cautiously. "Keep peeling."

After much time, the lower engravings were revealed and the lines connected around the lower chamber. Akira rubs the fatigue away from his hands and Lilith examines a point where the horizontal lines are intersected by a thick vertical one. She narrows her eyes at this line, "There is only one line like this. It's a point of focus." She looks at the dots that follow along the sides. There is purpose in them, but she can not figure it out. She comes across one observation, "These holes mirror each other starting from the focus. It does not matter which side you start with first."

Akira has his own thoughts about these lines. When he was in the middle of getting rid of the moss, he found the layout to be a little familiar. When he looks at them from one angle, it seem eerily similar to sheet music. Looking up, he reasons that this room is effective at providing echoes. It seems to be a place where a song would be played; some kind of ritual this room was designed for. Looking at the vertical line focus, he figures that it might be the beginning of this song. If what Lilith said is true, then one can keep track by turning in any direction.

Curious to see if he is right, he starts to whistle. Lilith is caught a little off guard when she hears the low pitch noise. Her patience wears a little thin as Akira's whistling increases in pitch over time. Then to her and Akira's shock, the dots immediately on both sides of the focus start to glow a sea foam green color. Akira catches his breath and the color fades away after. Lilith smiles wickedly and points her pitchfork at Akira, "Again! Light up every single one!"

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Akira takes a step away from the weapon and whistles the first note again. When the first dots glow, he moves on to the second note. However, he whistles the wrong note and the light dies out. Seeing Lilith's icy stare, he starts again. And again. And again. Many of Akira attempts ended in failure because of the progression of the song. He gasps for breath and he feels Lilith's weapon dig into his side. Though as he continues to memorize more notes, he realizes that Lilith has been less intense in her prodding. Even the mixed sadistic and annoyed look in her eyes has faded somewhat. "Was the song pacifying her?" he wonders.

At the ends of a pitchfork, Akira continues to whistle the tone until he gets to the middle where the pattern now proceeds backwards. As he whistles the tone, the glowing green little slightly intensifies with each note. Lilith was keeping up with Akira until she feels a little faded. Something is happening and she is aware of it, but she feels separated. The song that is being played makes her numb to everything around her. The sensation of the water up to her shins evaporates as she is drawn to this song. Her grip on her weapon remains tight, but her muscles are locked and she can not move them nor have the mind to. A thought was going through her head that this song that Akira is playing is dangerous, but it grows quieter and is drowned out completely.

Managing to whistle the entire melody, Akira watches as the green light on the wall shines steadily for a few seconds before dimming completely. He waits for there to be a chain reaction of any sort, but none came. The water did not drain, there was no secret door that opened, and no treasure manifested out of thin air. Then Akira looks at the demoness standing there blankly. She is still like a statue and her eyes are clouded in a haze of the same sea foam green as the light. Akira is looking at her to see her reaction, but nothing is coming out of her. He wades a few steps towards her and pokes his finger into her face. No response from Lilith at the invasion of personal space.

Akira is stunned before he busts out laughing. "I'm free!" Akira looks at his hand and sees the seal still present. His mood dampens but he quickly recovers. "It does not matter. She can't do anything about it if she is frozen like that. I can run away like this!" He makes the most out of the opportunity and makes his way to the staircase leading out. All the while he is still talking to himself. "That will teach her. I'm tired of her and her sadistic attitude. Forcing me to fight and reaping everything I fought for. She must thank me for that!"

"Thank you," a low monotonic voice escapes Lilith's mouth and Akira freezes in his tracks. He is worried that Lilith had already broke out of her trance and he was preparing himself for the repercussions. However, he sees that Lilith did not move from her spot.

Staying where he was, Akira worryingly asks, "R-Repeat that?"

"Thank you," Lilith says again.

Akira looks at the demoness and carefully inches closer. He runs through what happened, "I said that she should thank me, and she did..." He looks at the frozen Lilith and the green haze covering her eyes. Akira looks for a while and grows a wicked grin of his own. He points to Lilith and commands, "Kneel!" With no hesitation, Lilith kneels before Akira, her waist dipping into the water. The human is surprised and feels powerful. The tables have turned and Lilith, the one who summoned him for her selfish needs, is now the one under his control. The ideas and fantasies flood Akira's head. He can exact his revenge against the one who tortured him. Lilith, at least for the time being was his.

He looks at the kneeling Lilith to study her once more. Her slightly cute appearance is stained with her true nature: a rose that was more thorn than petal. He is going to punish her for the torment she had put him through. He opens his mouth to give his next command, but he stops himself. He thinks about the broader picture about how he is stuck in another world. "Lilith, send me back to Earth."

"I can't," Lilith offers blankly to the ground. "I can summon, but I can not banish."

Akira raises his eyebrow at the terrible news. It was something he was afraid she would say. Still, it changes the calculus. He did not have much of a positive prospect of normalcy in this fantasy world. If there was a way for him to return to Earth, he did not know what it is. And as far as he has seen, the people are centuries behind in terms of technology. Even if he was to flee, the chances of him getting into a worse state were very likely.

Akira looks at the kneeling Lilith. He grits his teeth. As much as he hates to admit it, he is screwed without a guide. He needs Lilith, as least for right now. Their trek together would have to continue. Akira sizes Lilith up again and grins. This leg of his journey, it seems, would at least be more enjoyable.

"Lilith" Akira starts, "I need you to make some changes. Your sadistic nature has to go." Akira kneels to lift Lilith's chin so he can look in her hazily eyes. "And forget that you summoned me or that you bossed me around. Replace it with the idea that we are meeting for the first time right here. You are a demoness that is tasked with being a guide to the 'hero from another world'. That hero is me, Akira. It is a great honor for you to assist me, and you are dependent me. You have to make sure I am safe, so there is no way you can leave me alone for too long."

Akira's words enter Lilith's head like water to a sponge. There is no question in her mind; everything he is saying makes sense. The image of a hero in her mind is supposed to be a figure with a grand destiny ahead of them. This human from another planet, Earth, is going to change her own world. But when she looks at Akira, she sees that he is in need of help. To help the hero in there journey makes her privileged. She has a job to do, and the very world is depending on her to guide the hero.

Akira snickers. If Lilith believes that she is helping the hero, she would have no reason to refuse. He thinks some more for a moment, "Also, you do not hate it when I try to correct you with logic that applies to Earth." He stops himself for a moment and shakes his head, "...Scratch that. You don't like Earth the planet, but the sciences you find interesting, even if you do not immediately understand it. As far as you know, I am a treasure trove of information that is just put into a place that is not suited for me."

Lilith associates Akira to a different reality. He has a lifetime of experience she knows nothing about. She dislikes the planet Akira came from on a gut instinct, but his knowledge speaks to her in a way that piques her interest. He is smart in a way that her planet does not understand, but in turn, he does not know much about her world. Thus, this explains why he is the 'hero'. He is a hero of brains, not brawn. He is certain to bring a different kind of revolution that can shake the very understanding of the world. And yet, his inexperience in her world necessitates the need for a guide.

Akira looks at Lilith, "So, summarize what I told you."

Lilith speaks in a monotonic voice, "I am not sadistic nor are you my pet. You are a hero from another world, and I am your faithful guide. You are smart in science and natural law, but only from Earth's perspective. I take you at your word and listen intently when you speak of the natural world. While I give you support as your guide, your safety is my primary concern."

Akira nods, "Good. That is a good basic..." He thinks about how to wrap things up. "Now," he starts again, "I am going to bring you out of the trance. When I do, you will still operate under these suggestions. You will not even think about what we were doing beforehand. And the idea that you were even in a trance does not even come to you." He pauses for a moment to allow the words to sink in. "Now, when I snap my fingers, you will drop out of the trance. Three... Two... One..."

At the snapping of Akira's fingers, subtle movement returns to Lilith. She shakes her head, feeling something bouncing around in her brain. The haze that was present before dissipates and the whites of her eyes is present once more. Her crimson irises now dyed a sea foam green, a mark of the song's effect on her. She looks Akira up and down as she lifts her body up from the kneeling position. She averts her eyes and scans the area around her. The room surrounding them and the water underneath them surprises her slightly, but it is a poetic setting for finding the hero after he has entered the world. She returns to Akira and gently states, "Hero...? I'm... sorry, but I feel lightheaded..."

Akira cheers silently as everything goes as expected. Lilith raises an eyebrow at Akira's reaction, so Akira composes himself. "Sorry," he waves her down, "I'm just glad to see that you are okay." He keeps up the image and looks at the stairs leading the way out. "Anyway, we should get out of here. I'm done with all this adventuring."

Lilith raises an eyebrow in suspicion, "Wait? What adventuring? You just got here, didn't you?"

Akira bites his tongue at the oversight and quickly goes to correct it. "Y-You see, I was traveling before I got here, and I want to go rest in a town somewhere."

The lie hits Lilith and while she senses something is amiss, she has to help the one she sees as a hero. "Then we should leave. I don't want to spend any more time out here defending you." She firmly grasps Akira's hand and leads him up the stairs. Akira finds himself a little confused as he pictured Lilith would be less stern than she is now. He hoped that she would pathetically worship the ground he walks on. Still, this is by far an upgrade from her usual sadistic self.

Ascending from the chamber and crossing paths with the hiding hermit crab, Lilith stops to examine the beast. There was blood on the barnacles on the outside of the shell, and different colored blood on the floor. Even a leg she presumes to be the crab's is on the floor. "Curious," Lilith says in reflection. "This blood is rather fresh." She has no memory of the fight and looks at Akira and the sword he has on his waist. With strained concern, she grabs him by the collar, "Did you fight this?!"

Caught in a bind, Akira goes behind Lilith to push her away, "Now now. We should not argue next to the monster crab."

Lilith speaks up as Akira is dismissing her, "You know something! You just don't want to tell me!"

Regardless of Lilith's objections, Akira pushes her ahead to the very entrance of the ruins. With the abuse from Lilith coming to end, Akira heads forward, hoping for a less dangerous and more stable life in this world. He thinks back to the song that he had to drill into his head and the effect it had on Lilith. A song that hypnotizes people in a ruin by the seashore. His mind goes to the mythical creature the westerners on Earth called sirens. The concept seems to work the same as the song he whistled, having an affect on the listener's mind. Then he wonders what would happen if he hears the song without playing it himself. The idea scares him, but he reasons that sense he can make the listener forget the song in the first place, no one can learn it. In this new world, Akira has an advantage, "Finally," he thinks internally, "I got some magic of my own!"