Hearing her question, Noah frowned and put his hand on his chin in contemplation.
"To be honest, I'm not sure about that myself..."
Lilith winced slightly when the rush of battle faded, and she started registering her pain, nevertheless, she added:
"Well... For starters, it must be tied to the Heavenly Ritual or whatever it was. Say, what what do you remember? Are your memories intact?"
He tilted his head up and looked at the sky thoughtfully.
"Hmm... As far as I know, all my memories are still preserved to the moment that I died..."
Tapping his finger on his lip, he revealed:
"After that, there was just... nothing. It felt like an eternity and a few minutes at the same time, but new memories began surging up when the Heavenly Ritual was initiated. And I fully regained consciousness when that dragon-kin tried to invade your mind."
Lilith's brows shoot up.
"Hmm? What kind of memories?"
His red eyes met her gaze.
"They were from when you started undergoing the Heavenly Trial. Of course, I've now forgotten the vast majority of those cycles—I would've gone insane otherwise—but I felt that my soul was linked to you, and I lived with you and shared your burden."
Hearing his explanation, Lilith's eyes widened in realization.
"Is that so... I think that's why I felt a weird feeling every time a new cycle began... But still, that doesn't really explain why you're here."
Noah asked:
"Do you know what the conditions and details of the Heavenly Ritual are?"
Lilith smiled funny.
"I barely know shit about the Heavenly Ritual... But Valeric said that a sacrifice of a Nightmare Elf is necessary for it, he sacrificed a bunch of humans as well. It was incomplete by his own words anyway. He thought that it should've made him a Calamity instead."
Noah looked at her with a hint of understanding in his expression.
"Nightmare Elf sacrifice... Lily, do you know what Twin Souls are?"
She tilted her head, hinting at her ignorance.
"Twin Souls?"
Noah elaborated:
"I don't know much myself, but it's said that there are beings who have their souls linked to each other... They share many things, and their life and death are no exception. And Nightmare Elves are far more likely to have a Twin Soul."
Her eyes narrowed.
"You mean..."
Noah nodded.
"Yes, I think that I am your Twin Soul, I can't die if you are alive, and vice versa. As for the Heavenly Ritual, it was necessary for the one undergoing it to have a Twin Soul to survive the countless cycles."
Lilith couldn't help but be smug.
"So, the reptile thought that he should sacrifice a Nightmare Elf to become a Calamity, when in reality, the sacrifice was the one actually aiming to become one... Hah! If I came by some weird ritual in a random pit, I'll make sure not to be as stupid as him..."
Noah arched his brow, clearly skeptical about the promise of not being reckless.
"Well... Actually, even though we share our life and death, I'm still technically dead... Only my soul essence is remaining."
Her heart shook, and worry clouded her thoughts.
"What?"
Noah gestured to his body.
"My current form is not really in the tangible world right now... In fact, I'm not even in the intangible world either. I exist in between, or somewhere else entirely... That being said, how did you interact with me?"
Lilith was confused as well.
"What? But you felt so real! Maybe... maybe it's related to my status as the Soul Calamity, i think my whole constitution has transformed..."
She winced again in pain, then she remembered something important.
"Right... Let's head to the main camp first. We have some time till the others would be notified."
She suppressed a groan of pain and reached for the spear.
"Oh, you don't need to carry that. Just think of it disappearing."
Listening to his advice, she did so.
Suddenly, the spear exploded into countless navy blue sparks. They danced and twirled in the air, and then they entered her body.
"Wow... That's one handy thing."
She mused.
Lilith looked one last time at Valeric's dead body, then turned her head and began making her way to the camp, not turning around.
Noah followed behind her.
"Noah, what is that spear anyway? How do you know how it functions?"
He responded somewhat hesitantly:
"Ahh, I guess... that's me? I'm not sure how it works, but what remains of my soul exists within it. It should've happened when you became a Calamity, and I gained some inherent knowledge about it."
As he walked, he passed through some trees, as if they didn't exist at all.
"But why a spear, though? Couldn't it be something else?"
"Actually, I think it can be. My form isn't limited to just a spear. You unconsciously chose to create one. I guess that you wanted to have more range in melee, so a spear was formed."