Chris just shook his head and laughed.

"Oh, please." he said.

"THOSE kinds of entities are fiction." he told her.

"It's never been proven that anything even CLOSE to that exists." he went on.

"....wait, also, what?" he then asked.

".................oh. I said that out loud." he realised.

"None of your concern about her. Or her relation to me." he went on, though he did give more info than he intended with that.

Chris froze for a moment.

"What?" he asked.

"I..." he stammered.

"I mean, well, I..." he stammered further, before thinking about it.

"Well, no. I don't." he admitted.

"But I don't have that clearance." he then reasoned.

"I'm not allowed to do so."

He flinched when she said the last part.

And she saw it.

It might have been subtle to anyone else... but it was clear as day to Lilim.

She'd hit some sort of nerve with that statement.

"Ngh." he grunted.

".....hmph." he muttered.

"Just... shut up..." he told her.

Chris just growled.

"I swear, I WILL gag you." he threatened her.

"And yeah, yeah, unfathomable forces and all that malarkey." he dismissed, though there WAS some weight to his tone.

"Also, I know you want me to scram." he said.

"Every time I show up here, it means torture, as ineffectual as it is." he went on.

"I'm sure you tired of it and blah blah blah."

Chris just growled again, opening the case.

"More pure-aligned mana torture." he told her.

"Various elements." he continued.

"Something is bound to stick, or be effective." he went on.

"Least, that's the theory, anyway." he added.

Chris just sighed, some resignation in his tone.

"......I know." he said.

"I know this does nothing to you." he muttered.

"If Mistress ever found out, I'd surely be thrown to the curb, or worse." he lamented.

"At least this is good for you." he said further.

"And I can't even say this isn't working." he went on.

"....damn it." he mumbled, taking a special jar out of the case.

Chris just laughed.

"I am nothing." he said.

"It is nothing more than a fool's pipe dream to think of escaping Mistress." he told her.

"...not... that... I want to..." he suddenly stammered.

"Which is to say... no, that... I mean with..." he continued, before shaking his head.

"Shut up!" he yelled, opening the jar and allowing a blade of wind to escape and nick at Lilim's side.

Levi, immobile and weak, looked at her.

"...why?" he asked.

"Why?" he repeated.

"I thought... we were friends..." he said.

"Why, Brie?" he asked her.

"...but it got better." Levi said.

"I realised life could be so much better." he told her.

"I was shown just how good things CAN be." he continued.

"...are you saying that our friendship meant nothing?" he then asked her.

"Nothing at all?"

If her goal was emotional damage, it worked.

The forced nature of it, the info that had come before it, and how this could be considered cheating... it was too much for him.

Which was what she expected.

-

When she 'came to', she saw that she was just inside the doorway of what seemed to be a mansion, looking around. It looked like an old manor, abandoned and slightly decrepit, like something out of a book.

It was quiet as well... until she heard faint noises coming from somewhere in the house.