New Power

Lilith's residence in the Imperial Capital.

Lilith had been in the Imperial Capital for several days already.

During those days, she had remained indoors, developing her Teigu.

Water Dragon Possession: Black Marlin was now worn on the middle finger of Lilith's left hand.

Black Marlin was shaped like a tiny biological head, about the size of a knuckle.

It was unclear whether it had originally looked like this, or whether it had been fashioned into the shape of its source material's head during its creation.

Lilith had chosen Water Dragon Possession: Black Marlin because, among all Teigu, it was one of the rare few capable of controlling natural elements.

Of all the Teigu, these were the ones that interested Lilith the most.

Lilith knew of four such Teigu in total.

There was Demon's Extract, already wielded by Esdeath; Water Dragon Possession: Black Marlin, now in her own hands; Purgatory Summon: Rubicante, wielded by Bols of the Imperial Incineration Corps; and Thunder God's Wrath: Adramelech, held by General Budou.

These Teigu respectively controlled ice, water, fire, and lightning.

Each of these natural powers was immensely powerful.

Lilith had only obtained the power to control ice and water so far. Fire and lightning were still beyond her reach.

Still, Lilith did not place too much hope on it. At most, they would give her two more methods of attack.

Next came Maniac Soldier: Demon's Possession, which had shone brilliantly in the original story.

In Lilith's mind, Incursio ranked even above One Cut Killer: Murasame.

Murasame's ability was nothing more than its unbeatable cursed poison, which was not particularly important to Lilith.

The material used to create Incursio was a dragon-type Dangerous Species known as Tyrant.

As a Super Dangerous Species, Tyrant retained astonishing vitality even after death. A thousand years ago, craftsmen had made use of this trait to create the first armor-type Teigu.

Maniac Soldier: Demon's Possession!

Tyrant possessed the ability to evolve continuously. After being made into a Teigu, Incursio inherited that trait and could even evolve different abilities against different enemies.

That was precisely what Lilith valued about Incursio.

No matter the world or the thing, anything possessing the ability to "evolve" was far from simple.

Lilith had her eye on that point. As a weapon, Incursio could undoubtedly remain by her side for a long time.

After all, as time passed, some weapons would fail to keep up as Lilith grew stronger, forcing her to devote effort to finding new ones.

After that came a whole series of Biological Imperial Arms.

Though each of those Teigu had its own distinct functions, they shared one common trait: until their cores were destroyed, they would keep fighting until either their cores were ruined or their Teigu users died.

Beyond those, there were many others with different abilities. Though they might not seem suited for combat, they possessed unimaginable uses in other fields.

Those Teigu ranked roughly alongside the Biological Imperial Arms.

Although Lilith wanted all of those Teigu, she was in no hurry.

Or rather, as a vampire with an exceptionally long lifespan, she should not have been in a hurry.

"As long as I keep living, I'll eventually encounter all kinds of opportunities and collect every one of those Teigu."

Time is on my side.

Lilith manipulated a ball of water before her that shifted through various shapes, forming a vague plan for her future life.

In short, as long as she remained in this Empire, where war had already begun and the rebellion was only growing more intense, she would have no shortage of opportunities.

With a thought, Lilith split the half-meter-wide ball of water before her into hundreds of tiny droplets, then sent them shooting toward the ground.

Pfft, pfft, pfft—

After the sound of the ground being pierced, the weeds severed by the droplets and the dirt buried beneath the ground slowly drifted upward.

Clap, clap, clap—

The sound of applause rang out.

"Beautiful. With the power in those droplets, even soldiers clad in heavy armor probably wouldn't be able to defend against them."

Esdeath had appeared at some point and witnessed the scene just now.

"Unfortunately, even so, before those droplets can reach you, you'll freeze them."

"Well, ice freezing water is only obvious, isn't it?"

"You've been developing your Teigu at home these past few days. Why did you come looking for me?"

Esdeath spread her hands. "I've been developing my Teigu for several days too, but I kept feeling that something was missing. I came to chat with you, and after seeing that just now, I understand."

"What was it?"

Esdeath revealed a bloodthirsty expression. "Blood."

Despite being such a vicious expression, it did not diminish Esdeath's beauty.

It made Lilith sigh. The same expression really gave people an entirely different feeling when worn by a beautiful face.

"There should be death-row prisoners in the prison. You can use them for practice."

Esdeath frowned. "What's interesting about death-row prisoners who have already been tortured half to death?"

Hearing that, Lilith understood. Esdeath definitely wanted to leave the city to look for prey.

Lilith knew Esdeath would want to take her along, so she refused in advance. "Then go early and return early. I won't be coming with you."

"Fine. I was going to ask you to come with me." Esdeath raised a brow at her words.

Esdeath knew that pushing someone too hard would have the opposite effect, so she left the city alone without bringing any guards.

With Esdeath's strength, she did not need any guards.

After Esdeath left, Lilith continued developing her Teigu.

Although that move had been extremely effective against ordinary people, it could easily be avoided by warriors at a distance or those agile enough.

"Speed and concealment. I think both can still be improved."

As for speed, she only needed to launch them with greater force. As for concealment...

Water was naturally translucent.

As long as she made the droplets smaller, their concealment would improve greatly.

However, that brought new trouble. This was merely ordinary water without any magical elements. If the distance was too great, it could easily evaporate before reaching the enemy.

Just imagine it: you spot an enemy two hundred meters away, aim at them, and fire a droplet of water—only for it to evaporate before it can hit them!