Soul Bound

Lilith made her way through the gang's territory. The air hung thick and humid, smelling of blood wherever she went; not diminishing. She made her way through the streets and alleyways, burned and destroyed with the occasional sights of hunters attacking others and looting buildings. Few buildings have survived whatever battle happened here.

When she reached the backside of the mansion, where the air burned her throat and lungs, and the smell of blood was the most pungent, she found the field of grass, scorched to black, and impacted by craters, shaping into a massive circle, which the towers of flames erupted from. On the barren ground, she found a mangled corpse, scorched the color of the ground. A hole where his heart should've been.

It was clear this person didn't have a painless death; he suffered excruciating pain before his last breath after his head was severed in two. Lilith's expression didn't change at this sight, and she felt no disgust towards the inhumane death of the person before her.

She raised the dagger in her hand, using it to cut a small piece of flesh off his body and tossing it into her mouth. She frowned at the taste.

From the first sight, she understood the body wasn't able to provide sustenance for her, and she wouldn't be taking it with her. The body was too damaged and scorched, but she could use it for something else.

That's why she consumed a small piece of flesh when she felt no reason to at first. There weren't any traces of who fought here besides this body, which no longer had identifying features.

[Kesean, Human (Lv. 34)—Devoured!]

[+12 exp]

'So it was Durham's leader…' She wasn't surprised by this outcome. For him to die with this much destruction meant he fought someone of equal strength or more. She didn't dwell on his death any longer.

She called out the lightning spear, intending to let it feast. Hearing the bloodthirsty hymn of the spear, she stabbed the spear into the ground. The spear didn't hesitate and devoured all the blood across the battlefield.

Cracks spread across the ground as the blood floated up into the air, leaving the ground barren. The blood circled around the spear, forming a vortex and slowly being sucked into the spear, where Lilith stood, the spear still in her hand.

A large amount of blood hit her body, making her immobile as she felt the powerful suction force from the spear. The two forces hitting her body were too strong, as she felt an extreme pain course through her entire body, as if the spear wasn't greedy enough. It wanted to devour her blood as well.

She clenched her teeth, bearing the pain and trying to move. However, she couldn't take off her hand! She couldn't, since the force created by the spear was too strong. She knew that if she tried, it would likely cause a backlash, and she would be weakened and defenseless.

In that state, she would be unable to resist the spear devouring her.

Lilith's breathing became faster and faster as her temperature rose, and she struggled to resist. The more time passed, the greater the burden on her body became.

She was in so much pain that she could hardly keep herself from yelling at the top of her lungs in pain, but since she didn't desire to alert anyone of her presence, she clenched her teeth tightly, stopping herself. She hadn't seen anyone when she came here, but that didn't mean there wasn't anyone.

[Cease your resistance and let it take some of your blood. There's a reason why it wants your blood, and if this is what I think it is, it'll be very useful to you in the future.] Ayin commented, realizing something she hadn't noticed before. She simply expressed her thoughts without giving any explanation.

Lilith listened without any thought, using her left hand, which held her dagger, to cut her finger. The blood flooded out rapidly, entering the raging spear. Her blood didn't calm it down but instead seemed to do the opposite, causing it to tremble violently.

The wound she had made on her finger grew in size as more and more blood was absorbed into the spear. Her eyes became bloodshot, and her face became paler with each passing second.

She slightly regretted following Ayin's advice, but it was too late for that. It was clear that this was beneficial to her. She knew Ayin wouldn't lie when her life was tied to hers. All she had to do was endure, but doing that wasn't an easy task.

"Argh!" She clenched her teeth tighter, feeling the blood form inside her mouth from clenching her teeth too hard.

Lilith's body was losing blood fast—a little too much for her own comfort. She felt her strength weaken as exhaustion took over. Staying on her feet was starting to become difficult.

Her mind was slowly getting cloudy. The feelings of pain and blood loss were overwhelming. Her vision quickly became blurry as her eyes became bloodshot. She knew she was about to reach her limit.

While Lilith struggled to keep her body standing as she came closer to her limit, more blood kept leaving her body.

[It's done…] Ayin's pained voice fell directly into her mind. Just as Ayin had said, the maelstrom of blood surrounding the spear was about to disappear. She also felt the blood flowing out of her finger decrease drastically.

Only when the last of the blood floating in the air was devoured did the spear stop absorbing her blood, finally calming down.

"Finally…" Lilith panted heavily as she fell to her knees, feeling no strength in her legs.

A dark aura enveloped her body, shielding and safeguarding her. In seconds, the dark aura began to heal her wounds, filling her body with the blood it had lost and returning the color to her face.

She took her hand off the shaft of the spear, finally sighing in relief. She had once again survived a life-threatening situation! Under the immense pain, she was unable to realize this before, but now she felt a connection to the spear.

Through the connection, she could feel that the spear had a consciousness of its own. It wasn't fully developed, but after binding herself to it, she could understand its intent. As soon as it devoured the last of the blood, it buzzed lightly as if it were happy to have received its fill.

"This spear isn't an ordinary one; it isn't like the ones I've seen; it has its own consciousness and a massive appetite. To my knowledge, this thing shouldn't exist, but here I am, witnessing it before me."

[Earth doesn't have many, but all divine artifacts have their own consciousness and personalities. Of course, their temperament aligns with their element. This spear appears to have recently formed its own consciousness. As long as you feed it enough for it to be filled, it'll develop into a genuine demonic artifact.]

Lilith nodded. "I've bound it, but as for now, it's not useful to me as a spear. It'll likely become useful over time, the more its consciousness develops."

A screen appeared before her, displaying the changes to the spear.

[Scarlet (Sealed)]

[Rank: D- -> D]

[Rank Tier: Basic]

[Type: Spear]

[Description: A spear stained in eldritch energy, corrupting its once-held ability of Divine Lightning. It devours the blood of all its victims, gaining strength as its thirst grows. The closer it gets to its former self, the stronger its thirst will have an effect on the user.]

[+25 Damage]

[Soul Bound: Lilith]

"Sealed? If it's this strong when it's sealed, how strong will it be when the seal is broken?" Lilith thought. Unfortunately, it was at this time that she noticed something eerie in the atmosphere as dark clouds appeared in the sky, covering the beautiful blue morning sky and returning the city to darkness.

As a demon, her vision wasn't hindered by the darkness; she saw hundreds of pitch-black portals suddenly appear in the sky. The portals were similar to the powerhouses before, but this time, they gave off an awry and uncomfortable feeling.

From the portal, a young-looking man stepped out, donning a simple black shirt and pants, his long green hair flowing in the wind. This man was the contractor of the God of Sloth, Azen.