Speculation

The solid ice Lilith created was exceptionally sturdy. Its offensive power might not necessarily surpass simply firing water droplets, but its defensive strength was certainly greater than water's.

Even so, in such haste, Lilith could not create much solid ice.

Thus, that thin layer of solid ice failed to stop the powerful Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi.

Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi cleaved through the solid ice and struck Lilith in the chest, smashing her heavily into the ground.

Boom—

Susanoo's strike with Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi drove half of Lilith's body into the ground.

The recoil made Lilith cough up a mouthful of blood.

A wound deep enough to expose bone also appeared across Lilith's chest.

"Great!"

Tatsumi could not help cheering.

Though the dust kicked up when Lilith was struck into the ground obscured his vision somewhat, he had still seen blood spray from her body.

That meant Lilith had been injured. If they kept pressing their advantage, they would surely be able to kill her!

Susanoo did not foolishly stand there waiting for the dust to settle. Instead, he charged into the cloud of dust to press his advantage!

Half of Lilith's body was embedded in the crater she had made. Her chest and her shaken internal organs healed in the blink of an eye, and beneath the torn clothes on her chest, her fair, delicate skin could be seen.

"This really was... unexpected."

Just now, she had sensed that she suddenly had another Vassal.

This greatly surprised Lilith, and it was why she had exposed an opening and been struck by Susanoo.

Had she not reacted quickly, she would have nearly been split in two by Susanoo.

By now, Lilith already knew what this new Vassal was about.

"This really is..." For a moment, even Lilith did not know how to describe her feelings after learning the reason.

"...unexpected!"

This surprising development brought Lilith an unexpected delight.

"Perhaps..."

Ever since the battle began, Lilith had been worrying over how to place pressure on Tatsumi, or make him crave power as he never had before, so that Tyrant's revival could advance further!

But the problem was that she had not yet thought of a good method.

Yet now, heaven had given her a perfect opportunity.

At that moment, Susanoo burst through the haze. The Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi in his hand seemed to require no expenditure at all as it once again slashed down at Lilith, whose lower half still lay in the crater.

Since she had exposed her ability to control ice, Lilith would no longer keep it hidden.

Dozens of thornlike ice spikes erupted from the ground and stabbed toward Susanoo as he charged at her.

Susanoo came to an abrupt stop and used the Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, which he had originally intended to use against Lilith, to strike the thornlike ice spikes.

After slicing through the ice spikes, Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi vanished.

Susanoo did not continue attacking Lilith, because he discovered that her injuries had actually disappeared.

He was absolutely certain that he had struck Lilith. She had definitely been injured.

But now...

Susanoo felt as if the part of his brain that analyzed information was about to short-circuit.

The fair, delicate skin exposed beneath Lilith's torn clothing drew Susanoo's gaze.

Do not misunderstand. Susanoo was not human and did not possess human feelings of love and desire.

He merely wanted to see exactly how Lilith's wound had healed.

Yet even by the time Lilith covered the exposed area on her chest, he had failed to figure out what had happened.

"Teigu? No! You aren't human? Or rather, are you also a Teigu?"

Susanoo asked.

This was the first time Susanoo, a man of few words and swift action, had asked Lilith a question since the battle began.

With only his own speculation and insufficient information, he obviously could not uncover the truth. He could only try to draw information from Lilith's words.

If he learned even a little about Lilith's abnormal healing speed, he could target that weakness and gain a considerable advantage in battle.

"Who knows? Take a guess." Lilith smiled faintly.

Susanoo: "..."

"That strike definitely cut through your breastbone, yet you are now completely unharmed. Even the blood that splattered out has vanished. That is not something a Biological Imperial Arms can do."

"But with such powerful regenerative abilities... you definitely aren't human. Even if you maintain a human form, there must be a nonhuman part within you!"

"!!!"

Susanoo's words shocked the members of Night Raid on the other side.

They had originally wondered why Susanoo had stopped, but his words left them deeply shaken.

Only then did they notice that there was not the slightest trace of blood on Lilith's clothes, and that no wound could be seen beneath the torn fabric on her chest.

They had been too far away to notice these details immediately.

When Susanoo deliberately questioned her loudly, he was also trying to alert them.

"Nonhuman? Hehe~"

Lilith chuckled softly, neither confirming nor denying Susanoo's speculation.

This left Susanoo unable to determine whether his guess was correct.

As a Biological Imperial Arms, Susanoo knew their own regenerative abilities exceedingly well.

Put simply, they relied on their cores to repair damaged tissue through the proliferation of flesh and blood.

They did not retrieve the flesh and blood that had been scattered and then repair themselves with it.

After all, having to divide one's attention to gather lost flesh and blood during battle was clearly impossible, and whether it could even be recovered was another problem.

After all, there were far too many ways for flesh and blood to disappear.

"This is somewhat like some kind of secret technique."

Using a secret technique to retrieve scattered flesh and blood and then speed up wound recovery was not something he had never seen before.

But healing this quickly was something only Biological Imperial Arms could do.

Not even some Super Dangerous Species possessed such rapid regenerative abilities.

"What? Not going to keep fighting?"

Susanoo hesitated for a moment. Before understanding the limits of Lilith's regenerative ability, attacking rashly would be exceedingly unwise.

Now, not only Susanoo, but also Nacita, Akame, and Tatsumi on the other side,

began to speculate over whether Lilith was truly human.

They all believed that Lilith must possess some human bloodline within her. Otherwise, she could not have gained a Teigu's recognition and become a Teigu user.