Perception

"That was... Lilith's Imperial Arm!?"

Let us turn back time a little.

After several consecutive days of assassinating civil officials, Lilith learned that a large number of civil officials were holding a gathering aboard a great ship on a river outside the Imperial Capital.

Lilith knew the time had come.

"What? Lady Lilith is coming too?"

Upon learning that Lilith would also be boarding that great ship, Nyau was greatly startled.

He had thought Lilith had no interest in such things.

"Judging by the timing, Night Raid should be making their move soon. Although Night Raid will definitely split their forces to protect those civil officials, still..."

The corners of Lilith's lips curled up in a captivating smile. "I have a feeling something interesting will happen this time."

Nyau and Daidas exchanged glances.

They did not dare refuse and could only agree.

They secretly groaned. They had originally thought they would be able to relax this time as well, but it had only been a few days before it came to an end.

Before long, Lilith appeared at the civil officials' gathering in a black formal gown.

It was Lilith's first time wearing a formal gown, and it truly was a novel experience.

Lilith was also quite satisfied with how she looked in one for the first time.

The fact that everyone, regardless of gender, turned to look at her was the best answer.

The black Gothic dress, the hat tilted atop her head, a flawless face that seemed too perfect to exist in this world, and her petite figure—all of it drew people's eyes.

Compared to Lilith, the Three Beasts following behind her were easily overlooked.

Even if someone noticed the three of them, they would assume they were this young lady's guards.

What happened next only further confirmed that they were guards.

"Such a charming young lady, might I perhaps join you—"

A young man who was obviously a noble tried to approach Lilith, but before he could finish speaking, Daidas's eyes—filled entirely with white—left him unable to say another word.

This young man had once believed that murderous intent was nothing but a lie, but now, he believed.

Not everyone knew the little girl who followed beside the Empire's youngest general, Esdeath.

Esdeath's radiance was simply too dazzling. Aside from a few special individuals, people always easily overlooked those around her.

At this moment, few people aboard this great ship recognized Lilith and the others.

Watching the men in formal attire who looked like gentlemen, as well as the beautifully dressed women mingling through the gathering, Lilith felt that this ship and the slums not far beyond the canal were practically two different worlds.

No, it would be more accurate to say that noble society and commoners were two different societies.

The faction with a conscience?

They were no different, either.

Lilith did not like this sort of scene. She felt utterly out of place among them, so she went out onto the deck.

Standing on the deck, she gazed toward the Imperial Capital. From where she stood, she could see the palace rising like a mountain.

A thousand years ago, just how much manpower and material had been expended to build a palace of such scale?

As for the enormous "statue" standing at the highest point of the palace, she could only make out a tiny dot.

Lilith knew that it was the original Imperial Arm, Guardian God of the High Throne!

The first—and strongest—Imperial Arm!

Lilith then looked down at the great ship beneath her feet. It seemed to be called... the Dragon Ship.

At the bow of the great ship was a massive dragon head. Combined with its fortress-like size, calling it the "Dragon Ship" was not inaccurate.

"With this manpower and these resources, they might as well build an invincible floating fortress."

Lilith sighed.

Perhaps because she had spent most of her time in this world in the military, whenever Lilith saw something, she instinctively considered whether it was useful.

After her sigh, Lilith looked at a young man who was also standing on the deck.

The youth's face was still quite immature, yet his expression carried a certain steadfastness. He seemed to have gone through quite a lot.

More than the youth himself, what drew Lilith's attention was the individual beside him, whose immense life force was incredibly conspicuous in her eyes.

Was that Incursio?

As expected of Tyrant, who remained "alive" even after death.

As a vampire, Lilith naturally developed the powers that belonged to vampires.

Over the years, Lilith had developed many abilities.

One of the abilities Lilith had developed allowed her to see living beings with her own eyes.

An extremely practical ability.

Under this ability, as long as an individual was alive, there was no escaping her gaze.

Moreover, she had developed this ability to the point where, within a certain range, she could even directly sense the presence of living beings!

Both her eyes and her senses told her just how enormous the life force of the living being before her was.

With such immense life force, its Flesh and Blood should have instinctively multiplied and revived! Yet it had been firmly bound into a suit of armor.

She truly wondered what kind of secret art had been used to create this armor.

When Lilith noticed the two members of Night Raid, Tatsumi and Brat—who wore Incursio and had turned invisible with a secret art—also looked toward Lilith.

After one look, they could not help but look again, then a few more times... until they could not look away.

Brat was the first to avert his gaze. Hidden from view, he pinched Tatsumi, who was still absorbed in staring at the girl.

"In front of a beautiful lady, show some restraint. Also, I need to leave for a while."

After all, continuously wearing Incursio while using its secret art placed too great a burden on his body. He needed to find an empty corner, remove the armor, and rest for a while.

But Tatsumi could not stay calm. He could not handle being left alone with such a beautiful noble lady!

Perhaps the noble family he had encountered when he first arrived in the Imperial Capital had left too deep a psychological scar on him. Whenever he saw a noble lady, he instinctively recoiled—the more beautiful she was, the worse it became.

But after seeing Lilith, he realized that what he rejected was not noble young ladies, but those evil noble young ladies.

And a beautiful young lady like Lilith definitely could not be a bad person.

But... Tatsumi had never met someone so beautiful before. Shy as he was, he wanted to escape from here.

But... if he simply left like this, would the young lady find him rude? Would she hate him?

Lost in his thoughts, Tatsumi lowered his head and measured the length of the gaps between the deck planks.

At this moment, many people on the deck had their eyes on Lilith.

But Daidas's imposing figure made quite a few people who wanted to approach and strike up a conversation abandon the thought.