Lilith woke up, basking in the familiar pull on her soul and opening her eyes.
Exactly like she had been anticipating.
She was on her knees, her back straight and her hands resting firmly on her thighs. Her black kimono almost disappeared into the darkness that devoured the silent room, only the faint moonlight glow through the sliding paper screens made her discernible from the void.
Her katana was resting beside her, unsheathed for several days now. Its sharp silver blade contrasted against the black hilt. It was eager to draw more blood and was almost offended by how cleanly it glowed and reflected the faint lighting.
She heard footsteps approaching her room, their wooden clogs tapping on the floor. Though she made no reaction, staring at nothing in particular.
Tap. Tap. Tap...
The steps stopped behind her, and an old voice came.
"I apologize for coming late... Will you please allow me to enter?"
The voice said, yet Lilith made no move to turn around. After a few moments of silence, she finally responded with a cold tone.
"Come in."
The fusuma door slid, and an old woman entered wearing a gray kimono that mirrored her hair. She held a tray of food—rice, grilled fish, and miso soup. She put the tray on the floor.
She kneeled and bowed her head, her aged wrinkles like those of a tree trunk. They shook lightly as she spoke nervously:
"Please forgive me... I was held up by urgent matters and couldn't prepare your dinner... I won't charge you for staying here as an–"
"Did they pay you, or did you do it for free?"
Lilith cut her off with a sharp tone, her back still to the old woman.
The target of her words flinched and raised her head, fear and panic overriding her expression.
"W-what? I a-apologize to the guest, but I don't know wha–"
Shing!
Thud!
Lilith turned sharply, her sword in her hand. She effortlessly beheaded the woman in one clean strike, her head rolling on the floor. Her blood gushed, staining her gray kimono, the walls, and the tray of food that she had prepared. Lilith's pale face met the same fate as her blade as drops of blood tainted it.
She stood above the corpse of the old woman for a few moments, then turned around and began walking to the paper screens with her sword clutched. Instead of sliding it, she simply gave it a powerful kick with her bare feet.
Bam!
It broke and fell outside, the loud sound a sour thumb in the calm night. It revealed a simple garden, green grass, and tall bamboo that bordered the house.
Lilith walked out and made a small jump from the wooden floor. Her feet touched the grass and dirt, and she continued with a few more steps under the watching moon, then halted.
"How can you dream of becoming the next Patriarch while you're still afraid of facing your younger sister? Do you think that any man would follow the lead of a coward? How delusional..."
Lilith seemingly spoke to the bamboo, and her voice held a chilling coldness. Everything was silent for a while, until the shadows around her started moving.
They closed in on her and finally revealed themselves from behind the cover. They were men who dressed in black clothes, their faces masked, leaving only their cautious eyes. They held spears, bows, katanas, knives, sickles... And they didn't appear to be here for a tea party.
The men—twenty or so—surrounded her in a semi-circle. And then, in front of Lilith, the men stepped aside, letting the only one of them that didn't wear a mask move forward.
The man appeared in his early thirties, resembling Lilith somewhat. He had jet-black hair, ghostly-blue eyes, pale skin, and a masculine, charming face. He was tall, his broad frame intimidating.
Well, if not for the bondage that covered a bloody stump that was in place of his right hand...
His eyes carried hatred that would've killed Lilith if looks could kill. He spat at her with a deep voice:
"Tamayo! You stupid whore! You think that I can't get back at you?! I'll have you humiliated and executed in front of the whole clan!"
Their hatred was unsalvageable. He had murdered their younger brother to eliminate any competition to become the Patriarch, and he had done the same to their elder sister when she had found out about it.
And Lilith? Her response was just as brutal. She tried to assassinate him, and failed. But not before turning him into a criple and killing his wife.
Her cold face remained indifferent. It would've made the men skip a beat in smittness if not for the fact that it was covered by blood and had its usual predatory eyes.
The beauty, instead of a fairy of their dreams, was a demon wearing the skin of a human.
Lilith's mind was rattled. Too confused by the memories and emotions she had of her lives. Anger, fear, sorrow, pain...
But that didn't matter.
All that mattered was that she was Lilith.
Shew!
Lilith tightened her grip on her katana with both hands and lunged toward her brother, taking the initiative.
One of the masked men who held a sickle blocked her path. He raised his weapon, expecting her to slow her charge and engage with him.
She didn't.
Slash!
She closed in like a beast in frenzy. Taking his surprise to her advantage, she allowed her side to get slashed in exchange for reaching him and cutting his guts open.
The man screamed in horror, but his voice soon died out when an arrow was shot at his skull. She had used his body as a meat shield to block the ranged attack that was coming at her.
"Kill her!"
"Don't hold back!"
"Let's attack together!"
After shaking off the initial shock, the other men began charging at her as well.
She threw the body of the man that she had killed at those in front, momentarily blocking their path. She turned her back, a man with a spear and another with a katana already aiming their weapons at her.
She used her blade to deflect the spear into the trajectory of the katana, effectively blocking both.
The man with the spear tried to retreat, but Lilith grabbed his weapon and pulled him towards her.
Thud!
She decapitated him cleanly, his head flying over his comrades and falling on the grass, painting it red.
"Ugh!"
Due to her reckless approach, she left an opening for the man with the katana. She twisted her torso just in time to avoid a fatal blow and instead received a wound to her back.
She suddenly lifted the spear of the man she had just killed and threw it at the one who slashed her. He couldn't react before his head was impaled by the sharp tip.
Thud!
The men who were now free to attack her hesitated. Who would be the next to jump and fight the demon?
Lilith wasn't too cruel to make them choose by themselves.
She lunged at the man who held the bow, aiming to criple their ranged attacks. He quickly prepared an arrow, then shot at her.
Lilith gritted her teeth as she felt the arrow sink into her shoulder, nearly making her stumble and fall. But that didn't matter, she had achieved her goal.
The man panicked as she closed in on him; he hesitated over whether to switch to his knife or to shoot another arrow, and that was enough time for her to split his head in two. The upper part of his skull fell alongside his brain.
Thud!
The other men were horrified. Yes, they had the advantage in numbers, but it seemed useless against an enemy that didn't care about their safety.
Without any other choice, they all attacked her again.
The slaughter continued, and Lilith fought without showing any instinct of self-preservation, receiving wound after wound. While her enemies thought about their wealth, families, and future... She just aimed for their lives, without caring for anything else.
None of them wanted to die, they didn't give their all, afraid that they would be the next sacrifice if they wanted to kill the cornered demon.
Their numerical advantage was barely utilized. Whenever they seemed to surround her, she kicked the corpses of their comrades and used them as a human shield, blocked one side with them, and then broke through the other side with the same brutality she never abandoned.
Her brother watched from the side with a terrified face.
Limbs and heads flew with each bloody exchange. Screams were carried by the soft breeze of the night, echoing under the silent moon.
Soon, Lilith stood alone amid the massacre that she had just orchestrated. Her chest heaved, desperate for air. She was drenched in her blood and theirs, and her black kimono was left in tatters.
Her vision blurred, she had lost an arm, and there was a deep wound that revealed her bones on her shoulder blade.
Her unnerving eyes met her brother's, clearly hinting at her next actions.
He recoiled in fear, and with trembling legs, he turned back and fled.
"Don't come near me! Get away!"
He stumbled in his steps, falling and getting up multiple times. He soon disappeared into the bamboo.
Lilith didn't chase after him—she couldn't. With a silent groan, she fell forward, her face on the bloody grass. Then, her mouth curved slightly as she took her last breath.
Lilith died.
***
Lilith felt the familiar pull on her soul, and the endless cycle continued.
She had been a beggar since she was born, in her desperate struggle, she joined a small gang in the capital. After decades, she became the new leader and her gang became the strongest organized criminal group in the country. Eventually, she died when one of her closest subordinates backstabbed her.
She had been the daughter of a power-hungry duke, who did whatever it took to have influence over the royal blood. He forced her to marry the prince against her will. And, as stubborn as she was, she planned to murder him on their wedding night, his corpse was left unrecognizable. She was executed the day after.
She had been a kind doctor who would treat the patients no matter if they had the money or not. One day, a person she had treated came back and falsely accused her of paralyzing them. Pressured by losing her job and the endless court cases, she had a heart attack and died alone.
Lilith lived countless lives. She saved millions, and she killed millions of others. No matter what life she type of life she had, she treated it like her very own. Her families, friends, enemies... They all were hers.
Sometimes she died shortly after integrating into a new cycle, sometimes it took years.
Her mind shattered over and over from the pain and sorrow that she had experienced, yet that didn't matter how much she wanted to kill herself. When her mind broke, she built it again. The corner in it remained untouched, reviving her into the person she always had been.
No matter what names they gave her, Ms. Dvane, Layla, Tamayo...
She was always Lilith. And that's what matters. That would never be erased.
What matters is that she exists in one form or another. No matter how much she suffered.
And like that...
An eternity passed.
***
Charred corpses were littered around the battlefield, their families would never see their faces again.
The stone ground was a silent witness to the pointless conflict that had cursed the people of this nation.
Under the gray clouds, Lilith was on top of the Grand General. Her black gauntlets repeatedly smashed his head.
Crack! Shruck! Shuk!
Even when his skull caved in, and his brain matter was splashed everywhere, Lilith didn't stop.
Her face was indifferent, hiding the ocean of emotions in her chest.
She felt helpless, she felt unimaginable pain, she felt like giving up and killing herself, she felt, she felt...
But that didn't matter.
In a corner of her mind, who she was always remained. She was Lilith, and whatever befalls her, she always will be.
...Then, suddenly, in a single blink, everything disappeared.
There was no flashy transformation, all went dark.
...Though it wasn't the familiar darkness that accompanied her deaths... No, it was something else.
What the...
Lilith felt her mind clear in the first time since ever. The crushing weight on her chest was suddenly lifted. In the blink of an eye, she was restored to the state that she was in before the cycles started.
She was currently in an endless void, yet she was still able to see her hand when she lifted it up.
What happened?
Wasn't she supposed to live a new life?
She had forgotten almost all of her previous cycles, what was left was the knowledge of her struggle and a few broken memories here and there.
Lilith frowned. What was she supposed to do now? Stay here forever? Well, it wouldn't be much different than the cycles...
As if responding to her thoughts, a shift happened.
"What the hell?!"
Lilith yelped as she saw her hand turn transparent, it was replaced by countless navy blue lines that had taken its shape. She didn't feel any pain from it, and the rest of her body followed through as it transformed completely.
And then, the void moved. An infinite number of similar navy blue lines materialized, weaving themselves into reality. They stretched endlessly, connected with incalculable planets, stars, galaxies... And far more than her mind could fathom.
And finally, the lines connected themselves to her. She almost panicked, but the unimaginable euphoria that flooded her soul calmed her. This is...
Lilith felt her soul grow stronger, far stronger than it was. The power in her surged more and more, reaching new heights.
She clenched her fist, and the infinite lines reacted. Some moved easily, some were harder to shake, while others almost didn't register her movement.
She took a deep breath, even though she didn't have any lungs.
And then, she looked up with her indifferent expression, not eyeing anything in particular.
Soon, a wicked grin painted itself on her face.
And at that moment...
The Soul Calamity was born.