Chapter 566

The Old Testament Bible records that many trees grew in the Garden of Eden, but two were special: the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Forbidden Fruit that Adam and Eve ate came from the latter.

I will not show any mercy.

Novia spoke calmly.

This is the truth. Although he will not let Lilith escape again, he will not allow her to attack without fighting back.

After all,

Since she challenged him in such a manner, carrying immense Wrath, demanding that he give it his all.

Therefore, it is only natural that Novia should act with the purest respect—with the resolve to completely annihilate it, eliminating it without leaving a trace.

This time, all we need to do is knock it down.

Result,

Naturally, the situation began to change with Novia at its center.

A gentle breeze danced with his will, and hundreds of billions, or even more, White Stairs appeared out of thin air, layer upon layer, extending upwards in an incredible geometric sequence, instantly filling the entire sky above Novia's head.

However, this is not a move intended to attack, but rather a form of movement.

Novia did not step onto any of the steps.

In a mere instant of will, those billions of White Stairs completed their mission—not to bear, but to propel.

As if lifted up by an invisible giant hand, or as if space itself folded and extended beneath his feet, Novia's figure vanished from the spot, and in the next instant, the vast distance between him and Lilith was completely erased.

Without warning, without any unnecessary movements.

His strike landed precisely on Lilith's abdomen, which was heaving slightly with Wrath.

The impact was not explosive, but rather like Mercury spilling onto the ground.

Lilith's tightly closed eyes suddenly clenched even tighter, and a suppressed groan escaped from between her teeth.

Her body was thrown backward like a kite with a broken string, shattering the layers of Red Storm Veils. As the shockwave spread, she fell once again into the pure white world where conceptual matter continuously fell and accumulated, which was the same space where Lilith had Sloth Metatron when she attacked him.

However, even though she was severely injured, Lilith's Wrath did not diminish in the slightest.

The falling red rain resembled endless, Wrath flames, stubbornly burning—perhaps symbolizing Lilith's current state of mind.

"What's wrong, Lilith? Why have you kept your eyes closed all this time?"

Lilith reached out and gently pressed her hand against her abdomen, which had been struck hard. A tearing pain shot through her, but her expression remained unchanged. She took a deep breath.

"Shoot you down, and let the night last forever."

Novia tilted her head slightly, not speaking immediately.

Lilith, as if trying to speak before he could, said in an almost provocative tone, "You don't believe me? You think I'm just being stubborn?"

"No, I believe it." Novia's answer surprised her, yet it made perfect sense. "Your soul, in its extreme Wrath, is telling me that you want to defeat me, at any cost."

Lilith's body trembled almost imperceptibly, and she bit her lower lip, the taste of blood spreading in her mouth.

"Maybe I want to run away like I used to?"

"Absolutely impossible."

The decisive words were as crisp and clean as a blade, leaving Lilith somewhat bewildered; to her, the words seemed like a threat.

What do you mean? Have you decided to kill me completely? It's alright, it's something I can accept.

"I will fight, and I will be your enemy. Whether I win or die, that will be up to me."

Novia seemed somewhat indifferent, but she smiled gently.

He took off his shirt and suddenly threw it aside, letting it drift onto the ground formed by concepts, turning into specks of light and dissipating. Then he said loudly and decisively.

"It's alright, let me see it, Lilith."

The roaring sound was completely different from anything before.

This place had already become a realm of Wrath, and logically, nothing else should have appeared there.

Nevertheless, the sound still rang out.

The sound of the sky being torn apart—no, shattered, the world instantly breaking apart, seemed to shatter the laws of the world.

Undoubtedly powerful.

But this was entirely within Lilith's expectations. Faced with the world's collapse, she kept her eyes tightly shut, only slowly raising her right hand, fingers spread, pointing straight to the sky, weaving words of Wrath—

"I hate you, I hate you, I hate you."

Lilith didn't say the other sentence, "I love you, just love you."

"But Delusion is the Daughter of Darkness, so embrace Wrath and fall; so hide in the darkness and vanish into the cracks."

Delusion is the Daughter of Darkness —capable of distorting Causality, causing targets to fall into darkness, turning good into evil, and Order into Chaos. It also possesses attacks with special effects against both "Order" and "goodness."

However, this is for Novia...

No, it can't even be described as "responding".

Faced with this attack that was enough to Overturning ordinary Deity and distort good and evil, Novia did not devote even the slightest bit of extra energy. He simply let the power containing extreme malice sweep over him quietly. Even so, he still dealt with Lilith's Wrath attack with utmost seriousness.

Like Chaos Tide, the 'mud' followed Lilith's figure swiftly to within ten meters of Novia before silently dissolving without causing any ripples, as if it had never existed.

Thus, Lilith herself, like a pebble carelessly tossed about, tumbled and flew awkwardly across the pristine white ground before finally crashing heavily a short distance away.

This disgraceful spectacle, this overwhelming disparity in strength, makes one feel as if this is a poorly staged, low-quality comedy.

But Lilith wasn't joking.

Even as the embodiment of Wrath, and even having Perfection inherited all the power of the Conceptual Dress "Great God Samael / Kamael," she still appeared powerless before Novia.

In truth, Lilith also hoped that the other party would once again use unimaginable new power to shatter her into pieces, so that she could be completely freed from this endless entanglement of love and hate.

Just as He had done in every victory, He mercilessly tore apart all enemies who stood in His way.

However, although this unequal confrontation might seem like a disgraceful drama to outsiders, the most crucial point— Lilith's "Wrath," the core emotion that supports and drives her—remains unchanged and unwavering.

The nature of Wrath does not change because the Wrath person is strong or weak.

Wrath is Wrath; it is one of the most primal and basic human emotions.

Often, Wrath is not the true emotion; sadness is.

So, almost without question, Lilith once again desperately got up from the ground.

Ignoring the excruciating pain in his body, ignoring his broken wings that had lost consciousness and were drooping helplessly, he marched straight ahead.

The action involved no skill whatsoever, nor any roundabout plans; it was driven solely by the purest, most primal obsession.

When will she stop? And when will she choose to turn back? -- She seems to have abandoned these choices, but one thing can be said with certainty.

Wrath will never stray from its target.

Moreover, Lilith herself is by no means a weak girl in need of pity.

She was once the "Mistress of Heaven," who ravaged the entire Ancient Canaan Pantheon with pure Violence, causing the gods to tremble.

This has not changed in the slightest, whether in the distant past or in the present, which is now the embodiment of Wrath.

Even though she relinquished her divine status and became human, she is still Anat, and if she desires to fight, that earth-shattering Violence will reappear.

Even now, as a human being, rather than the god he once was.

Therefore, after one futile charge after another, and being easily defeated time and time again, Lilith, with her almost obsessive will, did indeed reach Novia once more.

"... Oh."

It was only one meter away.

Lilith stood straight in front of Novia, her eyes still tightly closed. Her pale face was devoid of color, and beads of sweat gathered on her forehead, sliding down her thin cheeks and condensing into strings of crystal-clear "beads" on her chin before dripping silently.

Behind her were the red marks left by the destructive air that had exhausted its power, like the straight, uncurved path left by Moses when he parted the Red Sea in the Ten Commandments.

So, take a look at what she looks like now.

One of the wings, once a vibrant blend of white and crimson, had been completely evaporated, leaving not a trace. The remaining wing was now tattered, its charred feathers scattered like withered leaves, drooping helplessly. The marks left on the Flesh were even more horrifying; large patches of the outer skin had vanished, replaced by wounds that oozed dark red liquid, exposing the pale pink new flesh and stark white bones beneath. In some places, the wounds had even begun to carbonize and rot, emitting a faint, nauseating stench of burnt flesh mixed with the stench of blood.

"This is terrible, if this continues..." Novia's voice was devoid of emotion, as if stating an objective fact, "You really will die."

"Victory or defeat, I will face the end." Lilith's voice was weak yet exceptionally clear. "It's incredibly tactless of you to tell me something like this."

As Lilith murmured softly, before she could finish speaking, her left wrist was suddenly gripped tightly by Novia's large hand.

Subsequently,

An incredibly powerful force surged forth, and before Lilith could even react, she felt her body slip out of her control. Novia, in a simple, brutal, and almost unreasonable manner, slammed her entire body against the pristine earth.

Boom!

The ground, formed by the concept, trembled violently, and countless cracks spread outwards from the point of Lilith's landing. The blood that spurted from her mouth was decomposed and purified by an invisible force the moment it came into contact with the air, disappearing without a trace.

But Novia's attack did not stop there.

Heavy blows, flying throws, precise counterattacks—every movement of his was clean and swift, without the slightest hesitation or pity, as if he were merely handling an insignificant object. Lilith occasionally retaliated based on her fighting instincts and the will of Wrath, but her strength was insignificant and powerless before Novia, having no real effect whatsoever.

"Open your eyes, Lilith."

"Is this forcing me to make a choice? How interesting."

Lilith's lips curled into an almost ferocious grin, emitting her signature, now melancholic and self-deprecating "yahoo yahoo" laugh. Supporting herself with her last remaining functional wing, she shakily stood up, blood gushing from her countless wounds, leaving glaring red streaks on the pristine ground.

"As I said before, victory or defeat is not important, and death is also acceptable."

Is this alright?

"Ah, very satisfied." Lilith tilted her head back, her eyes tightly closed, but her face stubbornly turned towards Novia. "Kill me."

To be honest, Lilith had no idea what Novia was planning at the moment, and she didn't care what he would do next.

But a thought arose very clearly in her mind—she was being pitied.

... Absolutely disgusting!

Who wants to admit defeat?

Lilith has never uttered the word "defeat"!

No matter what she becomes, no matter what pain she suffers, she only wants this man, the man she loves and hates to the extreme, to clearly know her Wrath and feel her Wrath.

"I'm watching you right now."

Don't look at me. Did I ask you to come see me?

Lilith thought to herself:

It's impossible for me to open my eyes to see you, because you've never seen me from the beginning.

Even though I loathe my own insignificance, tears will still flow uncontrollably when I see you.

I'm more infatuated with you than anyone else, and I've spent more time with you than anyone else, but I've never received a perfunctory word.

"Lilith, you're such a hassle. You want me to watch, then you want me not to watch," Novia sighed, her tone tinged with helplessness. "She doesn't want to miss out anymore. She hates one-sided communication and feels empty, isn't that right?"

"Hey, wait a minute, what are you saying out of the blue?"

Novia did not answer the question.

He seemed completely oblivious to Lilith's current predicament and pain, and continued talking to himself.

But the words revealed Lilith's thoughts, as if she had witnessed it herself, and told her secret.

"It was Lilim and the others who said it."

As soon as Novia finished speaking, Lilith clearly heard those familiar, childlike voices echoing in the chaotic space around her, a space interwoven with crimson and white. Those were the voices of the children she had created with her Od, the Lilim.

"Yes, that's what Mom always thinks."

"That's right, that's right, Dad, you have no idea how hard Mom works."

"Ouch, I fell down... Mommy, Daddy, hug me..."

"Ugh, damn it, why, why did it turn out like this..." Lilith clenched her fists, gritted her teeth, and showed obvious signs of wavering and inner struggle. "Shut up, just kill me."

"Understood," Novia seemed completely oblivious to Lilith's desperate screams. Instead, she spoke gently to the Lilim, whom Lilith couldn't see with her eyes closed, as if they were ordinary children. "Anyway, I am indeed in front of Lilith now. Whatever you want to say, I will convey it for you."

"... What's the meaning?"

He still did not answer Lilith.