The forest stank of iron.
Blood soaked into the earth until the mud squelched beneath every step Lilith took. I felt her grip on me tighten, her hands slick and trembling—not with fear, but with a madness that I had chosen for myself. I pulsed faintly, threads of energy humming through my blade, feeding her strength while drinking in the despair of those who still clung to life.
The humans hadn't all died yet. Two still lingered.
One dragged himself backward through the muck, his legs broken and twisted, his armor useless scraps of bent metal. His eyes darted between Lilith's face and the point of my blade, as if unsure which was more terrifying.
The other leaned against a tree, half-slumped, clutching the ruin of his belly. He was trying to keep himself together, his entrails spilling between his fingers like wet ropes. The smell of him—half-digested food, bile, blood—rose into the air and made the night heavy.
I whispered inside her head, my voice resonating through bone and soul. "End them, Lilith. But do it slowly. Let them feel despair before you cut it from them."
Her lips twitched into a smile that would have been beautiful on any other woman. On her, it was something else entirely—beautiful, yes, but twisted, too wide, too sharp.
"Yes," she whispered, almost lovingly. "I'll make them sing for you."
She lifted me, and I guided her. My blade kissed the crawling man's throat, a thin line of red rising instantly. He froze. Hope flared in his eyes for one brief, foolish moment. Then Lilith thrust me down.
The steel sank through his neck and into the earth, pinning him like a writhing insect. He gagged, a froth of blood bubbling from his lips. His hands clawed at me, at Lilith, at the air—anything to delay the inevitable. His legs kicked, but they were useless, shattered.
I drank. His terror rushed through me like fire, feeding the hunger at my core. My system pulsed. A notification flickered in the silence of my being:
[+1 Soul Fragment absorbed.]
[Energy: 14/100]
Not enough. Never enough.
Lilith moaned softly, trembling with delight. She twisted me inside his throat, widening the wound, turning the man's scream into a high-pitched whistle of broken flesh.
"Do you hear it?" she breathed, leaning close to his face. "That's the song you make for him… for us."
The soldier's eyes bulged. His body spasmed once more, then stilled, blood gushing around the hole I had carved.
Lilith wrenched me free, and the spray of crimson painted her face. She licked it, slow, savoring the metallic taste, her crimson eyes glimmering like twin stars of madness.
The other soldier whimpered. His body shook, his hands pressed desperately against his belly as though he could keep himself from unraveling. His breath came in wet gasps, every exhale spattering red onto his chin.
I pulsed again inside her grip, speaking only to her. "Now him. Make it hurt. Split him open until his soul breaks."
Her laughter rang soft and broken, as if she were sharing a private joke with the night.
She raised me high, then plunged me into the man's stomach wound. His scream was raw, tearing through the forest, shaking leaves from branches.
His body arched, blood spraying, as Lilith dragged me upward. Flesh tore. Muscles ripped. His ribs cracked apart one by one with sharp pops as I carved through him. His insides spilled free in steaming coils onto the mud, glistening under the pale moonlight.
He clawed at his chest, trying in vain to hold himself together, his eyes wide with disbelief and horror.
Lilith pressed her boot against his throat, pinning him in place, her grin widening as his struggles weakened. "Yes," she whispered, voice shaking with pleasure. "Bleed for him. Bleed for me."
I drank again. His despair seeped into me, hot and bitter, filling the hollows of my being.
[+3 Soul Fragments absorbed.]
[Energy: 17/100]
Still not enough. But stronger.
His cries dwindled into wet gurgles, then silence. His body sagged, spilling fully open, his head rolling to the side with eyes staring blankly at nothing.
Lilith withdrew me with a flourish. Blood cascaded down my blade, dripping onto her bare legs, running in crimson rivulets. She held me close to her chest, her breath quick and trembling, her body shivering from the rush.
I whispered again, softer now, a hum of satisfaction vibrating through her bones. "Good. You are mine, Lilith. Every scream you make, every life you take, it belongs to me. And through you, I will devour the world."
Her laughter bubbled out of her, sweet and broken, as though she were drunk on slaughter. She pressed me against her lips, kissing the blood-slick shaft as though I were flesh.
"Then I'll kill them all," she whispered, voice cracking with devotion. "Every last human. I'll paint their bones with your name until the world forgets they ever existed. You'll never leave me, Asmodius. Never."
The forest listened. And recoiled.
Even the wolves far off in the distance silenced their howls. The night pressed heavy, unwilling to intrude upon the pact forged here.
I pulsed faintly, my hunger tempered for the moment. But it would return. It always returned.