Dance with the Devil

"We still need to find you something proper to wear," he said. "What you have is just part of my current form and I'll need to use my abilities sooner or later."

They came across a small camp of heavily armed demons that blocked the only bridge to cross a lava lake. "Toll bridge," a bandit told them "Pay the toll or get lost!"

"how much is the toll?" Prima asked. Lillith looked ready for another battle but she waited.

"Twenty five, but you guys are wanted sooo..." the bandit reconsidered. "Twenty five, plus an additional twenty five if you don't want us to notify the rest of the boys."

"You sure you can't be persuaded to just charge us twenty five or just let us through for free and not say anything to the rest of you clowns?" he said. "One of my friends is hungry, can you guess which one?" The bandit took a few steps back when he saw Lillith.

"You're bluffing. Demons don't kill demons." Not a bad candidate for famous last words.

Not a bad candidate at all as Lillith immediately started clawing at the parts with light armour and eating the soul of the guard with not regret. She gave a crazed look at the others. "Anyone else wo-would like to test that out?"

The shapeshifter sighed. "Somewhere deep down, I was hoping we could just push him a bit and he'd cave in, psychologically-speaking."

The guard put up a fight, but Lillith reigned victorious again, consuming his soul, even with bullets embedded in her. Of course, the rest of the boys in the bandit camp were now alerted to their presence.

"I..read a book about breaking people... everyone fears death....so I will show them death!!!" She hissed louder before getting ready to kill on sight.

The bandits made the questionably smarter decision of leaving behind their equipment and just making a run for it the moment they left their tents and saw Lillith.

"They're still gonna die, the fools," the shapeshifter noted as he crossed the bridge. "Maybe someday we'll go here without killing the locals."

Lillith caused them all down. She didn't want any survivors. She wasnted to make a statement. Interfere and die. Prima had to look away. The way Lillith would just killed was quite grotesque at times and certainly sends chills. "Maybe one day but not today..."

Some of the bandits even begged for mercy, knowing they were at the hands of a monster, but their pleas fell on deaf ears.

Lillith killed them all.

The shapeshifter regretted not looking away, as it made him sick. Him, who shouldn't have a problem with seeing blood.

He leaned over the side of the bridge and hurled. "How long can she keep this up"

"what do you mean keep this up? This is the real Lillith. That whole other Lillith you are use to is just and act. Her first master was cruel to only her for a reason. "

The shapeshifter froze in place, stunned by what Prima told him.

Lillith was effectively ruining their chances at diplomacy and what should have been just a more thorough investigation.

"How can she be stopped?"

"Well her master would always tell us the chessy of things. He'd always says that the only way to make her change is to make her fall in love. But to not tell her she is able to do that so she doesn't avoid doing it. I swear it was dumb. He say that the lover could make her snap out of it but I haven't seen anyone fall in love with her. So the only other way would be to ma-" then Lillith came licking the blood of her. "Hello there...let us keep going!"

"Contrary to that, she does have a boyfriend now," the shapeshifter explained. "Thing is, he's not around enough to keep her under control."

He turned to Lillith.

"You need to stop. Like, right now. Go back to being small, purple and adorable."

Lillith looked at him. "But I like...this power it's amazing....I can feel them....wiggling inside....I need more..souls..I want to see my true potential..." She was giving a creepy smile. "I was Soo close last time....you saw how powerful I was last time prima.." Prima jumped. "I know...I know..."

The shapeshifter pulled out the same misshapen, black knife he used to separate Volt from Ren and Prima from Kia. "I don't like issuing threats, but I'll use it if I have to. Don't make me. Be a nice little girl and follow orders." For the first time, he sounded vile and evil.

Lillith looked purely scared for a moment and so did prima. Prima saw it and actually kicked it from his hand which was probably the worst thing she could of done. Lillith saw an opportunity and quickly grabbed the knife before it hit the floor. "Mine!!! It's mine.....now.."

The knife forcibly escaped her grip by cutting through her hand and returned back to the Shapeshifter, its rightful owner. 

Turned out he was using telekinesis and Lillith's hand just so happened to be in its way.

Whoops.

"My creators didn't die mysteriously, they died to create me." Technically, each of them just gave a part of their soul and died from unexpected side effects, but he liked his version more. Lillith didn't need to know that.

"What's more powerful, souls of regular, common demons or the souls of three archmages?"

Lillith formed another fresh hand and looked mad with a hint of fear. Prima nervously went closer to the Shapeshifter. She whispered to him. "I was there when she was created....she may not have three archmages but...there are some messed up and powerful things. "

He leaned in to Prima and whispered. "She's endangering our mission. I can't stop her, regulating what she does is the second best thing I can do," his voice was nervous and afraid. "Maybe not even the second thing. And I don't want to hurt her."

The shapeshifter leaned back and put on his determinated look again, coughing to clear his throat. "You've grown too dangerous. Either stop killing the undeserving or have your very being cut to pieces. Last warning. Abide orders."

"BUT YOU'RE NOT MY MASTER!!! " Lillith looked like she wasn't backing down at first but as time went on...she looked more scared. Until finally she started shaking. "I...I'm sorry....fo-forgive....I'll do as you say......please don't kill me...." Prima looked sad. She didn't like seeing Lillith like this but she knew there wasn't really another way.

"This knife this doesn't actually work outside of the book," he confessed, putting himself at Lillith's mercy and threw the knife away. "Sure, it's really sharp, but the Core does all the calculation for the soul-cutting."

"that wasn't a very smart thing to say...." Prima said. Lillith pointed at him "YOU LIED!!! HOW DARE YOU!!!"

"I'm not going to hit a friend." He said with a bit more confidence. "Come and get me."

Lillith looked like she was thinking before calming down a little. "I haven't killed a friend....yet.." Lillith then walked over to the bridge. "Don't be my first!" Prima gave a sigh of relief. "Good...she still has some morals.."

So, nothing changed. All he did was to discard his only way of keeping her under control.

They were going through a forest clearing. There was movement behind the trees.

"Oh, for crying out louf, is hell is just full of bandits now?!"