Lilim nodded.

"Back once I can be." She said simply before turning and walking away from him... only to be swallowed by what looked to be another tear in reality, leaving him a lone.

She walked out of a wall and looked around, realising she was in an alleyway.

"Well... let's see what happens next." She said quietly, not entirely sure what it was that she was going to have happen, or what was going to happen when it was outside of her control.

She stepped out of the alley and started to just wander, hoping that maybe it would go well.

---

Lilim... knew she should just take off from there. She knew damn well that she should.

But she didn't. Instead she turned to face him, crossing her arms beneath her breasts because she was too proud to run without any issues.

"Really?" She asked.

"I'm surprised you're still here, to be honest." She added.

"Don't you have a limit for how long you can be on the surface?"

---

Lilim just shrugged.

"So be it." She then said.

"I'm totally cool with playinga game of cat and mouse." She added.

"Let's see if you can follow me forever." Was the last thing she said before there was a tear behind him. She ran forward and shoved him in, not even considering that he may have been ready to let his mana sink in at the first contact.

Once he was through, the tear closed, and she was alone.

---

Lilim didn't even notice the mana that had transferred. When he returned, she just laughed lightly and turned to face him.

"Oh totally." She said before there was another split behind her. She stepped back into another split, seeming to leave him. Before he knew what was going on, she pulled him down by his ankles into a split she'd caused beneath his feet, before crawling out herself and closing it.

This was going to be fun. For some reason that she couldn't explain.

---

Lilim was silent as that thought occurred to her.

What's the point in fighting? She briefly wondered before she shook her head, scowling at the elf that was ahead of her.

"Nice try." She stated.

"a not gonna work this time." She paused a moment before smirking. She knew that there was only going to be bad things if she stuck around, so she vanished and appeared back in the room with Lex.

As she did so though, he was able to see faint tendrils of the Crimson mana, before they faded from view. It was quick enough he questioned whether or not he honestly saw it.

---

Lilim paused before looking to her hands.

"Uhh... yeah. I'm all right." She said before shaking her head.

"Ran into Francis." She then said, looking to Lex again.

"We'll see if he can follow me here."

---

Lilim just sighed as she sat where she was.

"He knows exactly where I am... But can't reach me." She commented.

"Looks like the barriers are working for the moment."

---

"I don't know if he will give up, to be honest." Lilim admitted.

"But at least he shouldn't be constantly trying, like al;l day every day iwothout a break." She added.

"Anyway. What is there to do around here, anyway?" She then asked after a few seconds, her tone curious.

---

Lilim just shrugged slightly.

"Honestly, I don't even know what would be a good choice for me." She admitted.

"That's somethihng I'm going to have to figure out... eventually." She added.

---

It was almost a month later and Lex had taking Lilim out to see some sights. She was still not entirely sure what she was doing or anything, so he thought maybe seeing the city could help.

They were walking through one of the art museums, and she had pleny of questions. More than he honestly expected.

There was something about paintings that seemed to spark an interest, which was definitely not something he expected.

"It's... kind of surprising what one can do with Acrylics." She commented as she paused to look at one of the paintings that were there. They were walking through the local section, where it was a bunch of high quality paintings done by local patrons of the museum.

". . . just... wow." She added with a sigh. "Didn't you say they dry really fast? How can one get that level of detail with something that dries so fast? I just... kinda don't get it."

---

Lilim just sighed lightly.

"Some of them almost look like black magic was used, that there's a soul literally trapped within the brush strokes." She commented quietly.

"It's rather... stunning, actually."

"Regardless, it's fascinating what can be ach---" She started before pausing suddenly and looking around. He'd heard something, something she really didn't want to hear.

A quiet laugh that she knew quite well by this point.

---