While Deis and Seong were in the living room, Lilith and I were in her room where she dropped her axe and began removing her dark armour revealing the bruises she had gotten during her battle with Isern.

She had asked me to follow her inside and while I wondered why at first, my attention was instead on her bruises.

“A deep well takes longer to empty and longer to fill.” She said after seemingly sensing my curiosity and slight concern.

“Noted.” I nodded before leaning against the wall by the door as she changed.

I had stopped wondering why she was so comfortable around me or why she followed me everywhere-

“We all cling to something after bad things happen to us, it seems. Men, Demons and dragons alike. Isern to his forge, I have chosen to cling to you and you… I wonder what you cling to.” Lilith asked as she slipped into her trusty grey tracksuit but at this point I was half sure that she was reading my mind.

“First off, are you a telepath? And second, I can’t say. Maybe I’m clinging to this old place although I must wonder what your point is?” I crossed my arms as Lilith walked up to me. Her veil had disappeared meaning I had to look directly into her fiery eyes.

“My point, Spearman, is that you are a weirdo. You are in the presence of a goddess and yet you choose an old house.” She smiled and while I initially wanted to argue, I simply rolled my eyes.

“Cut the crap already. What did you want to tell me?”

Lilith’s face suddenly stiffened.

“Great Mage Lumen is one of my children. I felt it when she healed me. She fed me some of her own Dark Life Energy and I immediately recognized her.”

My brows furrowed.

“Eins and the others definitely know but… why? I mean, she has helped mankind before but still… do you think she might be the one behind the wave of demons?”

Lilith shook her head while walking up to the door.

“No, she’s not strong enough to be a Queen but she definitely knows something. They all do.”

“Yeah, Bæl said something about using us as bait. I have a feeling things are gonna get complicated soon.” I sighed while following Lilith out of her room.

“Yes but, if they stay true to their service towards the greater good, we may have to play along.”

I nodded before entering the living room where a weary Deis sat next to Seong.

Lilith and I sat on the opposite theirs.

“Alright, Lilith has her axe and I have a financier-“

“What did you just call me?” Deis hissed while comically narrowing his eyes.

“You agreed to support us, right?”

“Not quite, Mr. Chuma. I meant more so as a friends not as a piggy bank. I just wanted to come along on this adventure although I’m having second thoughts right now.” Deis quivered prompting Seong to softly rub his back.

“And besides, I don’t have any spare cash lying around.”

“What about all the money your business makes or the money you spend on my artefacts?” I asked while desperately looking for a way to make him change his mind.

“Any money the business makes is already tied up elsewhere and everything I bought from you was an investment. If need be, I can auction any of those pieces and make up to triple the money I spent.” Deis nodded to himself but this just made me clench my jaws.

“Alright. I understand.”

“Good. And besides, you said you had your eye on a case. If you can get the demon’s body before the cops do, then you can sell it.”

“I guess that’ll have to do. Speaking of which, I think we should check out the scene of the crime.” I turned to Lilith who nodded in response.

“You guys can have this one. Seong and will cheer you on from the safety of my home!” Deis grinned and all I could do was roll my eyes again.

.

..

The police had already removed the blood and bodies from the scene leaving apartment behind a single line of police tape.

Lilith and I stood over the still-open manhole the Demon had crawled into. It too was behind some police tape but that wouldn’t be too much of an issue if we wanted to investigate further.

“Eww.” Lilith commented after seeing that I had been staring at the hole for a solid minute.

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“Mmm… hygiene aside, the sewers are a complex web of tunnels. Who knows which direction it went or how fast it’s traveling or even where it’s ultimate destination is so I wasn’t going to suggest that we enter in the first place.” I pondered aloud as we stood beneath the setting sun.

“Before we start tracking the damn thing, don’t you think we should check out the apartment for clues?” Lilith raised a brow.

“Yeah.“ I said while turning to the apartment which we snuck into.

It was a cosy, open plan space which now held a grim air, even if there weren’t any corpses.

“Chances are that the cops took all the obvious stuff so look for something they may have missed.” I said while squinting over the upheaved furniture and scattered clothing.

“Who was the tenant again?” Lilith asked as she stood in the centre of of the living area.

“He was a professor who taught history- also, why does this place smell so salty?” I could even taste it as I spoke.

“No idea.” Lilith turned her narrowed gaze down and let out a low drone.

“Help me move the carpet.”

I complied with her request and, after setting aside some pieces of furniture, dragged the carpet to the side, revealing a wooden floor although something was off.

Even as the sun sunk into the horizon and as darkness washed into the apartment, I could clearly see a strange circle on the floor made from discoloured parts of the floor’s surface. As if the circle had been made and erased several times, washing away the wood’s colour each time.

It was lined with glyphs and symbols, some of which I recognized and others I didn’t.

“Huh… looks like a summoning circle. The type you’d find in occult literature and the like but I’m pretty sure you demons don’t use summoning circles.”

“You’re right. All magic is telekinesis so there’s no need to draw all this silly stuff. That said, I think this might be related to the cult that Deis mentioned.” Lilith recalled.

“Did you look into them?”

“Yeah. Surface level stuff. While they are commonly dismissed as a bunch of deranged fanatics, the fact that the Komodo Demon was after this particular victim is enough to raise a brow.”

“What do they call themselves?” I asked.

“The Moonsent.”

“Mmm… I might have read an article or to on those people but, like you said, I never really paid them any serious attention since none of their crimes were heinous. Let’s look into both them and this professor guy. Maybe we’ve stumbled onto something.”

“I’m guessing we’re just gonna go to the campus he worked at and asked random people if they knew he was a Cultist?” Lilith asked mockingly as I stepped back outside.

“Maybe but it’s getting pretty late so we’ll have to go there tomorrow. Let’s head back and see if we can dig up any new info on the cult.”

Lilith joined me outside and lightly stretched her arms as I led her towards the exit.

We then entered my car and made or way back to my place.

“You know, I’m surprised that the Hero of the Fallen has such a tiny car. Although, given your attitude, it might be fitting.”

“I don’t need a bigger car and you don’t have one at all so reserve your snide remarks until you do!” I snapped but this just made Lilith laugh as we made our way across the silent city of Coliseum.

“That’s a weird way to say that you’re a broke bum.” She snickered but I knew replying would only egg her on so I kept quiet and focused on driving.

“Aww… is someone mad that their pockets are dryer than week old muffins?” Lilith continued to tease and all I could think of was how I shouldn’t have spared her all those hears ago.

“Hey.” She called but my gaze remained forward and my lips sealed.

“Oi. You can’t ignore me forever, ya know.” Lilith said while moving her head to where I couldn’t avoid looking at her.

“What do you gain from being so… annoying?” I bit my teeth.

“The look on your face is reward enough. I can’t tell you how mind numbingly boring it was for to interact with Alexter's pets for nearly a thousand years. Speaking of which, how do you feel now that your time is almost up?”

“It’s a mixed bag. I’m usually very accepting of things but, for some reason, I am compelled to act in my final moments.” I glanced out of the window and saw the city passing me by.

I barely had any attachments to this world anymore.

So, setting aside the greater good, why was I still even trying?

“I wish you were always this thoughtful.” Lilith sighed.

“And I wish you’d shut up for a bit.”

“The only way you’ll ever escape my voice is when you die, hehe.” She cackled making me roll my eyes.

.

..

We eventually returned to my place and we settled in the library after grabbing as many history books or articles on the occult that we could.

I had made it a habit in the nine hundred years that had passed to get as many books as I could for collecting purposes.

And so we spent most of the night reading and I was surprised by the fact that Lilith was finally quiet.

I relished in the silence and focused on learning as much as I could.

According to several historic accounts, the Moonsent first appeared after I came forward to the Great Mages at the time about the Jester and the Dark Prophecy which was about a hundred years into my allotted time.

The Cult believed that they were the envoys of the Soaring Egg which they believed to be the Moon.

They believed that another wave of demons would come from it the day the great hero died.

And while history may have greatly ignored their activities, the Komodo Demon attack changed things.

Why did it attack that professor specifically?

Had any other Cultists been killed by demons and why?

We weren’t going to find any answers in my books but I knew just who to ask for more clues.

“Find anything?” I finally turned to Lilith to find her wearing a pair of small round glasses.

“Found their history, found their MO but I can’t figure out why they might be targets for the Demons.” Her eyes narrowed.

“Same. Looks like we’re gonna have to pay our friend Shauku another visit.” I said as we both stood up.

“Try not to piss him off this time. Also, what are you gonna ask him?” Lilith cautioned as we left the library and made our way into the kitchen where I began preparing dinner.

“I want all the case files for the people who were killed by demons and were suspected cult members.”

“You’re gonna search for patterns across possibly thousands of cases? You know you only have ten years in the tank, right?” Lilith raised a brow.

“Yep. Also, I’m not so daft as to go over file. There’s just something I want to verify before switching gears.” I explained while slaving away over the hot stove.

“Care to enlighten me on this grand plan of yours?”

“It’s simple. We just need to see if the primary victims across all cases were suspected cult members and separate them from anyone who may have died simply because they were in the vicinity of the attack. That’ll confirm whether or not these attacks are targeted.”

“But surely the cops thought of this, no?” Lilith asked as I served our dinner and sat next to her.

“They did but I want to take it a step further and monitor possible future targets.”

“Oh… so you’re also gonna use the case files to narrow your search.”

“Exactly.” I nodded proudly as Lilith had her first spoonful.

Her expression then visibly soured.

She turned her fiery but visibly disappointed gaze to me and sighed.

“You forgot to add salt, didn’t you.”

Yes.

“Of course not!”