Lilith woke up the next morning, alone on the bed. Serephius was nowhere to be seen.

The door to her left clicked open right after she sat up on her bed droopy eyed. "You're up?" Serephius came in.

Well speak of the devil.

"Where were you?" Lilith asked, rubbing her eyes with her hands and blinking a few times to shake off the blurriness away.

Those actions alone made Serephius's heart soften on its own. How could she be so adorable in any kind of situation he wondered.

"I went to search for it. The location of the stone fragment."

"Did you get it?"

"I know the location but I haven't gotten the fragment yet. We need to go now. Get ready."

Serephius would have already gotten the stone fragment if he hadn't come back for Lilith. But he didn't want to leave her all alone in the inn for too long. He wanted her right next to him if he were to go anywhere in that place, he wanted to protect her. She was like an annoying pet that followed him everywhere he went but there was also this air of possessiveness he exuded whenever she was there by his side and he knew, without a doubt that she was special to him even though he would never admit that out loud.

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Lilith and Serephius stood in front of a brothel.

"What exactly is this place?" Lilith asked him. Apparently, she had no idea what a brothel was or what kind of people loitered around within those places.

"This was a bad idea. I shouldn't be bringing you here." Serephius pinched his nose, he didn't like where he took her. He was regretting it already. He wanted her to stay by his side, to be under his watchful eyes but there was no way he would bring her inside this disgusting place. Never. But he had to find the fragment and that fragment was inside this place.

"Why? What about it?" Lilith wanted to know more.

"This is no place for a kid like you."

"What?! I will make you sure that I am no kid. I am already 300 years old!" Lilith crossed her arms and pouted.

"Exactly. A kid." Serephius scanned his eyes around the place, completely ignoring her. There he found a spot, an open house tea shop of some sort.

"Dangos! Meat buns! Green tea! You can find it all here. Come and try it all." The shop owner yelled in the busy street.

"See that shop over there, sit there and wait for me. Buy some food if you like." Serephius handed her some coins. He then suddenly grabbed her hand and transferred some of his powers to her when nobody was looking. "I gave you a shield. It will protect you when you're in danger," he whispered, leaning towards her.

His breath on her ears sent shivers down her spine. If she looked into a mirror right at that moment, she would have known that her face was as red as a tomato. She just stood there dumbfounded and only a minute later did she realise that he had left her there, all alone. He did not even wait for her to respond. He had already entered the brothel leaving her standing there by herself.

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"Hmph! Me a kid??" Lilith was burning with anger. "What does he take me for?!" She slammed her hands down forcefully on the counter table, scaring the other customers. She was in the tea shop. To think that he would piss her off this much but she still obeyed him anyway and found herself ordering dangos in the shop he told her to go to. She really was an idiot.

"You know what I don't care anymore!" She slammed her hands on the counter table again for the upteenth time that day, and finally stood up.

"I'm going in!" Lilith yelled in the air and biting the last peice of her dango, she turned to leave. And the people inside the tea shop cheered her for no reason, probably because they were relieved that this crazy girl who was always talking to herself, was finally going to leave. They were all harassed by her loud outbursts and violent manners anyway.

"Owner! The bill please," she called out.

"No no. Miss. It's on the house. Please do leave." He sweatdropped. "a-s..soo-n...as...poss-ible." He gritted the last words under his teeth, but low enough for her not to hear him. The owner didn't want any money, he just wanted her out of his shop immediately. She was scaring away all his customers, he would never be able to make any money this way.

"Oh that's great. Thanks!"

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Lilith put her right hand on the door handle, her fingers twiched nervously. It was now or never. She twisted the door open with her hand and entered inside the brothel.

The first thing that filled her senses was the scent of cheap perfume lingering in the air as soon as she entered inside. The place was dim and foggy from all the smoke coming out from the many darklit open rooms that were shielded by nothing but dark coloured curtains and who knows what ludricious things people were doing behind those closed spaces.

Women dressed in provocative clothing loitered around here and there, smiling widely, trying to entertain their customers with fake laughs and giggles. Some danced seductively on a stage, drawing in more audiences and viewers. Lilith could see men, both young and old, especially the old ones that seemed to be rich and shameless, throwing in huge chunks of money on the spot and grabbing every available women there. They ran their hands up and down their bodies, groping them intimately in weird, private places. But what shocked her senseless was the fact that none of those women seemed to mind. They let them do as they pleased with their body as long as they got money.

Lilith was utterly disgusted by this place. The strong burning scent of incense and smoke in the air made her sick. Judging from the environment she was in, fragrances and aroma were added to produce some sort of an enticing atmosphere in the place but she couldn't handle it. It was extremely revolting.

Lilith didn't notice the lingering eyes of the men that trailed her body from within the room, watching her from head to toe, their eyes filled with a craving desire to possess her.

Out of nowhere, a middle aged man grabbed her shoulders from behind and turned her around.

"Beautiful! You are not like any women I have ever seen. Such a beauty. You must be new and fresh." He eyed her body up and down. "Spend a night with me in my bed. I'll show you a good time. What do you say?" He winked at her.

A drunk, awful looking smelly man was hitting on her. Lilith was apalled at the sight of him. She tried to push him away but his grip on her wrist only tightened, refusing to let her go.

"Let me go!" Lilith shouted, very angry and frustrated. She did not want to deal with this right now. In a desperate attempt to set herself free, she tried to land a hit on his face.

"Ah. You missed. Haha."

The man laughed at her. She was so distracted by the awful scent of the air in the horrible place, it only made her feel weak.

Nobody interefered and tried to save her. They were all busy doing their own stuff to be concerned about a woman screaming in a brothel. Because it was all natural in this kind of place. This was what this place was for. Women came here to offer their bodies to earn money. They have no right to refuse any men making passes at them. In their eyes, Lilith was no different from all the women or prostitutes that were offering them their services.

The man grabbed both her wrists forcefully with one hand, trapping her. His head then lowered down to kiss her, his other hand grabbed her back and pushed her forwards. She tried to resist with all her might. She squinted her eyes shut and tried to push him away with her confined hands while still wriggling her body from side to side, trying to get out from his tight hold. Then something happened. Before his head could even reach four inches away from her face, something interesting happened.

There was a spark, then a yellow flash appeared from her wrist and within a second, the man was thrown several feet away from her. His body crashed with force on the ground loudly after shattering some tables and knocking down objects before he fell. Pieces of glass and broken jars scattered around the area and the whole people in the room focussed their attention at the messy scene.

Serephius appeared as fast as lightning and stood above the man, grabbing him tightly by his neck, almost squishing the life out of him. He was thoroughly pissed now.

How dare he touch her with those filthy hands of his.

It was the shield that had saved Lilith, the one Serephius had planted on her. If the shield hadn't activated and got destroyed when trying to save her, Serephius never would have known what Lilith's condition would turn out to be given those circumstances. He wanted to kill the man on the very spot.

Serephius glared at him, his eyes pure menacing and laced with killing intent. Pulling him up by his neck from the ground, Serephius raised the man's body high up into the air until his feet could no longer touch the floor. He was going to kill him, he didn't care if he was doing it in front of all those people who were watching. This man had hurt his wife, an immortal goddess. A mere mortal like him had just commited the most sinful and unforgivable act and that was disrespecting an immortal goddess. And that one sin alone was enough to kick him through the gates of hell, to the darkest place in the Underworld.

"Khk-kh-..I..ca-kh-...bre.." The man managed to squeak out, his hands frantically waved on Serephius's arms, willing him to let go. A minute more and he would have passed if Lilith hadn't stopped Serephius.

"Stop. It's not worth it. Don't kill him." Lilith begged, teary eyed. She didn't want Serephius to kill a weak mortal. Whoever or whatever it was, she never really liked the idea of killing. She was born a healer and she could never ever bear to watch people die or get hurt.

"You're still saying that after what he did to you." Serephius glared at her. She was a stupid fool indeed.

Everyone's eyes were on them now. No one tried to stop Serephius, all of them were scared of this strong, demonic man that suddenly came out of nowhere. They didn't want to incur his wrath. They could tell he was a domineering, powerful man at just a glance. He must be some high official in the state, someone that shouldn't be trifled with was what they all thought.

"But killing him is not worth it."

Lilith finally cried, not because she was scared of what the man did to her but because Serephius was going to kill him ruthlessly, she felt guilty because she was going to be the reason behind this man's death and also because Serephius looked at her with so much hate and anger in his eyes, so intense that it really frightened her.

The aura radiating from his form screamed utter madness she could feel the whole atmosphere darkening in a tragic way. She had to stop him now, she did not know what else he might do later if she didn't. He had already scared the living daylights out of all the people that were inside the place.

Serephius looked up at the man again, gritting his teeth as his hands coiled tighter around the man's neck. Two little hands touched his arms, it was Lilith's. "Stop. Please." She reached out to him in a low voice, tears spilling from her eyes.

That was it. That was enough of a reason for him to soften and fully listen to her words. He did not want to make her cry like this. He slowly released his vicing grip from the man's neck, and the man plopped down on the floor coughing and holding his neck that was now red, covered with Serephius's finger marks.

"Be thankful I spared you today. My wife saved your life." Serephius told him coldly, emphasising the word 'wife'. The man shivered in fear once again, all hairs on his skin stood up at the realisation. He couldn't dare speak out a word.

"But I..," Serephius continued. He was not leaving without punishing him. "however..am not forgiving."

With that said, Serephius grabbed the man's right arm. "This hand that touched her, I'll make sure you never get to use it again." Saying that, he forcefully twisted his bones without even giving him a second to react. A bloodcurdling scream echoed throughout the whole place.

"Aarhgghh!" The man cried out, holding onto his limping right arm with his other hand.

Serephius took away a shocked Lilith who was covering her mouth with her hands and still crying. She was at a loss for words after watching the scene that had just unfolded right before her eyes. She never thought Serephius would do that to the man.

Serephius escorted Lilith towards the exit, neither looked back, not even once at the disgusting man behind them nor did they took notice of the various people inside the room who were watching their retreating back in utter horror and disbelief. It was only when they went out of the door of the brothel that the people inside the place were finally able to breathe again.

...

Both Serephius and Lilith did not utter a word on their way back. An extremely uncomfortable and tense atmosphere followed them as they walked together silently. But thankfully, Lilith stopped crying.

"I..uh..I'm sorry." She was apologising to him again.

He ignored her, he did not answer back. He was angry. Angry at her. He was angry that she was so stupid. He was angry that she was so naive and even pitied someone who had tried to harm her. On top of that, he was annoyed. Annoyed that she always disturbed the peace in his life, that she always managed to put more work for him, always making it difficult for him. And that soft nature of hers. How was she going to survive in this harsh world if she was always going to be like this? The thought frustated him to no end.

"Hey...I.." Lilith tugged on his shirt gently, trying to get his attention.

Serephius finally stopped in his tracks and looked at her, holding in the desire to burst and scold her right then and there. She put her hands down to her sides and fidgetted uncomfortably under his gaze, looking like an innocent little rabbit lost in the woods. How could he ever blame her for being the way she was. He knew that kindness was in her nature, she was born that way and there was nothing he could do to change that.

"What? I heard you the first time." He growled out, clearly showing his annoyance at her.

"Oh...uh..." Lilith fidgetted nervously under his gaze.

Lilith was scared of how he would react. His cold glance only intensified that fear. She thought he was going to abandon her saying he couldn't keep babysitting her anymore. Maybe he was right. She couldn't do anything right. She was just like a kid and she always seemed to be hindering his path somehow in one way or the other.

"Lilith." Serephius called her snapping her out of her wandering thoughts. He could clearly see how much she was blaming herself inside her head. He really could not hate her even if he desperately wanted to. She was always attached to his side like glue and strangely, he got used to it. He actually liked having her by his side.

He raised his hand above her head and she squinted her eyes in alarm, wondering if he was going to hit or slap her but instead he placed his right hand on top of her hair and ruffled it, making it look like a bird's nest in the middle of her head. "It's not your fault. So don't think too much." He softly said to her and continued walking ahead leaving her behind.

A small smile creeped up her lips and she abandoned all negative thoughts she was thinking up just a moment ago. For the first time in her life, Lilith was sure that she had a place in his heart. Even though he never took her as his wife, he actually admitted that she was indeed his wife when he saved her from that man earlier. She didn't know if he fully accepted her as his wife or if he was just admitting she was his wife at the moment just to protect her. But she didn't care about that. She was like his companion now and it was all that mattered. She was stepping closer and closer into his world and he was letting her. Their bond was already forming, slowly but surely.

Lilith fixed her ruffled hair with a smile and ran after Serephius excitedly, linking her arms on his without saying a word. And surprisingly he actually let her touch him that way.

"Ahh I forgot!" She exclaimed suddenly. "Were you able to get the stone fragment?" she asked him in panic. She was back to normal again.

"I got it. Don't worry." He assured her. He was actually liking the fact that she was back to her usual self again. If she had not gotten better, he was even ready to think up plans to make her feel better; maybe take her out to have some food or travel places or maybe even apologise for scaring her in the first place but she didn't seem to be bothered by those things at the moment so he didn't have to worry anymore.

"So...where are we going now?" Lilith looked up at Serephius, waiting to hear his words and quickly looked back down on the ground with a blush when his eyes met hers. And he secretly smirked to himself watching her adorable antics. But of course, she will never know about that.

"Back to Jin's place..." He answered at long last.

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"Let me guess. You failed to bring it to me." The sound of a voice could be heard. A figure was sitting lazily on one tree, a tree that was growing above a huge cliff.

"My king. Kill us! We weren't able to get the stone fragment. Someone got it before we could get a hold of it." Some demon guards kneeled on the ground, right under the tree, as if awaiting their deaths.

"This is why I hate letting others do my work. I should've personally gone to get it."

Serephius was not the only one searching for the stone fragments. The Demon King was interested in it too.

"Kill us! My king." His demon guards bowed down in shame.

"Rise up. It's not too late to have it in my possession. Coming here was not a waste. After all, I even got to meet with a cute little lady. Quite a beauty she was. It was definitely worth it." He jumped down from the tree and walked up to the edge of the cliff to watch the sunset that was beginning to make it's way down the horizon.

"But I want to know one thing. Who was the one that took it? The stone fragment?" He asked, staring far into the distance.

"I-It was..," stuttered the guard, unable to form the words in his mouth.

"Say it." The Demon King raised his voice slightly.

"We don't know." Another guard said from the back. "All we know is he was an immortal and he was a...powerful one." The guard finished.

"Ahh...could he be...Serephius?" The Demon King thought out loud, more like to himself. His eyes widened when he put in the pieces together. "The stone fragments belonged to his mother after all," he said with a devilish smile, his hand tightly clutching two stone fragments in his pocket.

Things were going to be quite interesting from now on.

To be continued...

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This is it for chapter 4 guys. Feel free to point out any mistakes in the writing coz I'm too lazy to read it from the top and correct it.

Anyways, tell me your thoughts and views on this chapter guys. Your comments and reviews really motivate me and keep me going. So together, let's make this story come to life.

Were you guys finally able to guess the guy Lilith met the other day was actually the Demon King??

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Until next update! Love you guys. (✿ ♥‿♥)

Bye✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*