So here we are. Lilith and I are standing in what appears to be a private gym. Glancing around, I spot various types of weights, dumbbells, and typical stuff like that. Obviously, nothing modern like I’d be used to seeing in my world, but it looks sturdy and made to last. It doesn’t come as a surprise this is where she’d go first thing in the morning. How else is she supposed to keep all those gains?

She doesn’t even acknowledge me, immediately falling into her routine of stretches. Though after a few minutes, she stops and locks eyes with me.

“If you intend to stand there all day watching, I’d rather you leave.” She gives a cocky laugh. “Scrawny as you are, it would do you some good to follow my lead.”

Well, she’s right. I didn’t come here just to stare at her all day. If I’m going to get close to these generals, I need to immerse myself in their hobbies. I step beside her, about to do some stretching, but she rests a hand on my shoulder.

“Armor, off. It’ll slow you down and get in the way.”

“I think it goes without saying why I’m highly against that idea.” I shrug her hand off. “Especially after showing you the truth with our fight.”

Her muzzle pulls back in a snarl, not of anger but clear frustration.

“So long as you are in this room, we are not enemies.” She waves to the equipment. “This is a place for improvement, not killing. So I expect the same courtesy from you here as well. If you wish to improve on your weaknesses, then take off your armor. Otherwise, leave.”

My instincts are telling me to leave. However, doing so will go against everything I’m trying to accomplish. For my plan to work, I will have to be the one to lower my guard. I’ve killed thousands of generals before these ones arrived. The fact they’re even letting me get within arm's length of them is only due to the demon queen. To bring the change I want, I will need to risk my life by putting it into the hands of my enemies.

Accepting the role, I walk over to an empty bench and dress down to my street clothes. Even going so far as to set my sword aside before turning back to face Lilith. Her hardened gaze examining me.

“Fighting you is one thing, but actually seeing your natural frame is pitiful, to say the least.”

“Not everyone is born as strong as you,” I remark.

“Yet my strength does little when compared to your magic.” She shoots back before resuming her stretching. “Enough talk.”

Sensing her patience growing thin, I remain silent as I mimic her stretching style. This honestly takes me back to when I was a kid in school. We’d all line up and copy the teacher. Back then, everyone was scrawny, but now there’s a huge jacked yeen beside me. Putting that aside, we continue our stretching for a few minutes before Lilith makes her way over to a bench press.

“Weak as you are, I’m sure you can spot me.”

“Sure.” I walk over and stand beside Lilith as she lays down on the bench and gets ready to press what appears to be five hundred pounds. “Shouldn’t you start with weaker weights as a warm-up?”

She leans back, wrapping her hands around the bar. 

“This is my warm-up weight.”

Watching her lift that much weight with absolute ease just puts into perspective how powerful she is. She’s not trying to show off either and my being here as a spotter is pointless. I find myself mesmerized while watching her. The way her muscles flex under her fur. Her completely focused gaze. I can’t help but admire her physique.

Lilith earned all of her strength, while my magic was simply given. Perhaps I envy that the most about the generals? All of them are practiced in their crafts, but what do I have? The grace of gods? What will that mean if I were to return to Earth? Nothing, they giveth, and they taketh away. 

“Never seen a proper female, Hero?” Lilith laughs, returning her gaze to the bar. “Enjoy because I’m just getting started.”

Shaking my thoughts away, I give her a shrug.

“It’s just sinking in how you so easily cracked all my ribs with one hit,” I admit. “But you were holding back then, weren’t you?”

“As I stated before the fight, I wasn’t going to strike a fatal blow on you.” She sets the bar on the rack before sitting up. “I almost broke that promise due to overestimating your resilience.”

“Well, I could’ve mitigated a lot of it, but that would’ve defeated the point of the fight.”

Lilith turns to face me with a totally serious expression. As if a sudden thought popped into her mind but was too important to ignore.

“Why are you here, Hero?”

“Azure said-”

“That’s not what I meant.” She cuts me off, glancing down at her hand. “You gain nothing by showing your weakness to me. I’m not like Lacey, I don’t think far enough, so I am always left wondering.” Her fists clench. “You’ve killed so many demons, yet you stayed your blade during our battle.” She returns her gaze. “Why? Why, while effortless on your part, did it feel as if your blade had the weight of the world behind it?” She gets up. “Why leave me there when the stories passed down have been of your merciless slaughter?” Once she’s only inches away, does she look down at me. “Why did you let us live?”

Blunt and straightforward. As expected of Lilith. Unfortunately, I cannot tell her the truth, not yet.

“Why indeed.” Is all I answer as she keeps her eyes locked on mine for a moment before grunting and walking over to a punching bag.

She’s taking swings at it, clearly putting her frustration into each strike. Once again, I’m left to gaze at her while she does her thing. It’s funny that she brought up our fight because even back then, I could see how much mana flowed through her muscles, despite never using it. It’s terrifying in a way. If she stopped being stubborn, she could learn to use Ki and become almost as powerful as Azure. Physically, at least.

I step behind the bag and hold it in place to give it more weight as she punches.

“Any reason why you never learned magic before?” I ask.

Even with the bag taking the brunt of the force, her punches are still coming through. If I didn’t have healing magic, I’d definitely be bruising already.

“Mana depletes.” She answers, never breaking her rhythm. “Spells can be canceled. My body does none of those things. I can always rely on it when all else fails.”

“Doesn’t stamina deplete?” I question. “Muscles tear, bones break. Everything has a weakness to it.”

She stops swinging, letting out a low growl.

“What would magic truly give me? A sense of superiority? An easy way through life? What honor is there in something given to you?”

“What honor is there when you’re dead?” I step from behind the bag to face her.

She leans low to meet me eye to eye.

“I do not fear death and live my life as I wish to never die with regret. What about you, Hero?”

“I live to suffer and regret.” I shrug. “But you have one thing wrong here.”

“What is that?”

“Magic isn’t given. It’s earned. Not in my case, mind you; mine is divine. However, what about Lacey? Of course, she’s talented but denying how much she studies would be unfair. Do you believe she has no honor just because she uses magic?”

Lilith only looks into my eyes for a moment before letting out a grunt of frustration, moving back to the weight bench and increasing the weights before lying down again. Wordlessly doing her reps, clearly annoyed. This is going to be harder than I thought. Lilith doesn’t listen to logic; she only cares about actions. Maybe bringing out her potential would prove far more fruitful than just my words. Nodding to myself, I cast a spell to increase my strength and lifted the bar from her hands and set it down.

Jumping from the bench, she looks down at me, ready for a fight.

“You’re a lot stronger than you know,” I state matter-of-factly, looking her body over. “The amount of mana coursing through you is enough to tell me that.”

“So what?” She snarls. “Every creature has mana. If all you intend to do is talk, leave me be.”

“How about a bet?”

“Like?”

“You and I will spar. If I win, you’ll listen to what I have to say. If you win, then I’ll leave you to your workout.”

She grins. “Very well, Hero.”

Walking over to the mat, she looks confident until she notices me casting various high-level enhancements on myself.

“Tch... What sparring is to be had if all you’ll do is rely on magic?”

“Humor me.” She looks reluctant but puts up her fists. “Hit me.”

There’s no hesitation as she punches my face but clearly makes contact with a shield. She pulls back her hand with a hiss of pain.

“What was the point of this?” She states, shaking the pain from her hand.

“The point is that I win. Now you’ll have to listen.”

She’s pissed but grits her teeth and merely stands in wait for whatever I have to say. Perfect.

“There are a lot of different types of magic. As I said before, mine is divine. Lacey’s is arcana. What type do you have?”

“I have no type.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” 

I walk up to her and place my hand between her breasts so my palm rests on her chest. She snatches my forearm, squeezing it hard enough to snap the bone if it wasn’t for my enhancements. 

“Do you have a death wish?”

“Humor me,” I repeat. “Close your eyes.”

She lets go of my hand and snorts at me before closing her eyes.

“Where my hand is. That’s your heart. Think about something you care about. Why you’re fighting. Maybe it’s your honor, or maybe it’s something else. The more powerful it is, the better.” I can see it slowly but surely. A flow of mana, almost like a small flame, began to build in her chest. “Now, as if starting a fire, I want you to build this flame in your heart with what you’ve chosen. Do you feel it? The flow of the flickering flame, moving like water, but the heat radiates out, reminding you of its power if you dared to touch it.”

The anger on her face slowly started to relax as we went through this process. It is a type of meditation and exactly what she needs to reach her true potential.

“Yes,” she answers.

“Just like water, have it flow through your entire body. From the top of your head to the tips of your fingers and toes. The flame warming you as it goes.” It’s amazing to see how fast she’s picking this up. Her mana is spreading throughout her body as the flame in her chest continues to grow, pumping more mana out. “This next part is difficult. Leaving the flame in your chest, move all that’s around your body into your fist.” I remove my hand from her and take a step back, casting a few more spells. “Stoke the fire until you can feel the flame starting to burn; only then should you open your eyes and punch me again.”

It’s like the calm before the storm as I watch an almost explosive amount of mana flow from her chest and condense into her fist. When her eyes open, I can see it. An overwhelming flame behind them as she steps forward and punches me in the face. Her fist sailed past my magical barrier with ease and into my jaw. The only reason I didn’t die on contact is due to the translocate damage spell. Nonetheless, I felt it, and it hurt a lot. I skid a few feet back before stopping.

The warmth of my blood leaking from my nose wakes me up as I look at Lilith, who’s surprised by what happened. She looks at her fist, then me a few times, trying to comprehend what she did.

“How?” She asks.

I heal the minor wounds caused by the blowback of my spell as I stand before her.

“You’re a Ki user,” I state.

“Key?” 

She looks genuinely confused, which shouldn’t be a surprise. Ki doesn’t exist as a concept in this world.

“It’s magic of the body.” I walk over to the bench and put my things back on before grabbing my sword and looking her way. “A deal’s a deal. Enjoy your workout, Lilith.”

I leave her to do some much-needed reflection on her own. Before, I was the monster who stood above her. Now? Maybe now bridging that gap will allow us to grow closer. For the time being, I will speak with Azure while the generals are busy.

“I thought I left you with Lilith?” Azure asks while holding some paperwork in her hands.

“I wanted to ask you something, but I see you’re busy.” 

I’m honestly surprised she’s doing something as mundane as paperwork, but I supposed those who hold political power are required to. She sets the paper down before casting a privacy spell. 

“You’re already wasting my time. So, what else requires my limited time and patience?”

“I wanted to confirm the status of our cease fire.”

“I doubt there will be any problems for the time being. Though I do not promise anything past that. If that’s all you wish to inquire about, then I’d like to be left alone.” 

She picks up her paperwork, but I note how her spell doesn’t drop. Clearly, she’s trying to annoy me.

“I suppose a few things can wait for later.” I glance over at how large of a stack she has. It may be a small gesture, but anything is better than nothing. “Would you like some assistance?”

She laughs. “The Hero helping a demon with political work? Sorry but killing isn’t an option right now. I’ll be sure to call you should I require a massacre or two.”

“You certainly didn’t seem to mind killing one of your high demons. What’s the worst I could do?” I shoot back.

Her brows furrow. “Perhaps I misspoke. I do not want your help, and the more you test me, the more interest I lose in playing along with your little scheme.”

This isn’t going how I hoped it would. She hates me through and through. If trying to curry favor isn’t going to help, maybe a more drastic approach is required.

“It’s actually funny, in a way, how cute you look when you’re mad.”

That definitely wasn’t what she expected me to say. Azure’s eyes widen as, oddly enough, the scales around her face appear to turn a darker shade of red.

“E-excuse me?”

“Though if I’m being honest, you look far more beautiful in your natural form.”

She doesn’t say anything, but after a moment, it seems she comes back to her senses.

“Right, the stupid marriage thing...” She sighs. “If you’re just going to waste my time, I have plenty of work to do.”

Well, I guess changing her mood from hostile to defeated is good in a way. I’ll just call this a small victory and see if I can find Shadow.

“I’ll be on my way then.” I walk to the door but pause briefly as I look at her. “I wasn’t lying though. I know it’s not practical, but I prefer your dragon form better.”

I don’t give her time to say anything as I close the door and stand alone in the hallway. This has gone better than I could’ve ever ho-... I’m blown forward and out the window as a large explosion hits me from behind. I land with a thud on my back and can see a smoke pile spewing out of the window I flew from. If I had to guess, I think Azure tried to kill me.

I pick myself up and dust myself off. As I was thinking, it’s been going better than I could’ve ever hoped. The fact she tried to kill me is proof enough that this new strategy might work. 

“Are you alright?”

I find the cervine maid standing there looking at me.

“I’m fine, no worries. Do you happen to know where Shadow is?”

“He’s tending to the undead.” As if knowing what I wanted next, she points in a direction.

“Thank you.”

So much to do and so little time. I make my way over to where Shadow is and all the while thinking over my entire plan.