"I see…" Ace stood motionless amid the white void as he absorbed the revelations he had just been given. "Then I guess there's just one thing left for me, huh?"
Ace then took a deep breath before releasing a long exhale, his complexion composed and his eyes calm and clear.
{Is that your choice?}
"Yes, it is," Ace's eyes drifted towards the fox mask in his hands, flipping it as he slowly brought it to his face. "With this, there will be no turning back for me."
"From now on…"
At that moment, the blackness of the crescent above started to tinge and cover the blank space of the white void. And while that happened, the moon went from a black crescent to a white full one, the void slowly becoming darkness until it consumed everything.
"There's only just Ace."
---
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—Back in the present—
"You came to kill me? Now I'm just hurt, Ace," the woman said, wearing a fake sobbing expression.
"Stop it with your theatrics," Ace's expression didn't shift from its cold, casual calmness. "Lilith, right?"
"My~" Lilith's expression immediately shifted to a manic, minimalist smile filled with amusement. "How did you find out my name I wonder?"
"I also know that Frank is alive. Never expected it to be honest," Ace continued with an almost dismissive tone. "And additionally…"
Ace took another few steps towards Lilith who remained completely amused and still on her seat.
"I know that's not your original body and neither was the previous one. Isn't that right, Vadus Light?"
"Congratulations~!" Lilith immediately clapped her hands with celebratory enthusiasm.
"You are absolutely right," her red eyes gleamed with an almost entrancing glint as she locked her gaze on Ace's. "In my previous vessel, I used the name of Vadus Light to identify myself to others, but in this feminine body, I'd much rather be referred to as Lilith."
"In truth, the true original name of that vessel was Philip Wellberg. Frank's paternal uncle whom I took hold of and hostage to bend dear Frank to my orders. Isn't that what you wanted to know?"
Ace's brows slightly furrowed at the mention.
"I never asked," Ace replied, keeping his composure.
"But you were curious, no? As for how is he still alive, he had a very useful ability to consume magic, and from what I know, he was struck down by magic."
Lilith then took a biscuit and bit into it.
"Reports say that he was cremated after that day, but truthfully, it's not so difficult to find people with similar easy traits as his to take his place in the inferno."
"And then? What did you do to him?" though not showing it, Ace's curiosity was piqued.
Though he would never admit it out loud, as he was now, he could acknowledge a simple fact that he had never noticed until now.
'Looking back now, when all's said and done, he was quite fun to be around, huh?' A tinge of nostalgia flickered in Ace's unfocused gaze in an instant as his mind replayed his time at the academy.
"Careful, my boy~" Lilith's voice immediately pulled Ace out of his thoughts. "A poker face is only useful if you can hold it."
"But~" Lilith brought the tip of her index to her chin as she then tilted her head to the side. "As for what happened to him…"
She simply smiled as she rested her chin in her palm, leaning on the table with her elbow as anchor.
"I heard the Sentinels managed to find his dear uncle and him covered in their own blood. For Frank, he's probably still alive, but for the other one, he's most certainly deceased."
"…" a long silence settled as Ace took in Lilith's words, lips parting slightly before pressing back into a thin line.
"Haa… How troublesome," Ace's hands dropped to his sides as he tilted his head up, his gaze fixed on the night sky with a contemplating expression. "They're really heavy… These things called emotions."
Lilith's eyes slightly widened in surprise.
"How curious. I didn't expect such a reaction from you."
"Sorry for not being predictable," Ace's head shifted downwards as he faced Lilith, gaze locked onto hers. "Tell me. How are you related to Frank? What are you? And also… what were you trying to accomplish with Emi? I'll kill you afterwards."
"…"
Silence lingered as Lilith considered Ace's request, a pleased smile spreading on her lips.
"As you wish," she rose from her seat, approaching Ace as she then palmed his face with her hand, brushing his cheek with her thumb with unsettling gentleness. "I shall tell you everything."
She then pulled back, clasping her hands behind her back.
"How about a walk then?"
"Alright."
They started walking, the table and seat Lilith was seated on fading into dust as the cookies fell to the dirty ground, crumbling on impact.
"Tell me Ace. Do you believe the devil has horns?" Lilith asked as she walked in front of Ace, a smile continuously etched on her lips.
"Hm? Why does it matter?"
"How boring you can be~" Lilith glanced back at him over her shoulder, eyes glinting with amusement. "The answer is no."
"He has well-combed hair and wears a suit and tie," she then turned her face forward as they continued their walk through the ruined academy grounds.
"That is why the devil is nothing more than a construct created by humans. For instance, within the depths of Akasha, what one considers as hell is also but a construct created by humans.
When humans commit evil, they are quick to fault an absurdity such as the devil to justify their actions in vain try. The hell that such evildoers are so quick to bring up is nothing more than an endless torturous prison created by their own unconscious guilt while the devil is nothing than the punisher they bring forth to alleviate that guilt.
Akasha truly has such wondrous ways of bringing to life humans' most unconscious desire within its confines."
"…" Ace didn't interrupt nor did he respond, even if he saw no correlation between his questions and what he was being told.
"Tell me, Ace. You who has now peered into the truest essence of Akasha, what do you believe it truly is?"
"…?"
"I shall tell you. If it is considered a realm representing humanity's collective subconscious, then it would be accurate to encompass what that collective truly is."
"And what is it?" Ace interjected with a question.
"To put it simply, its true nature is akin to a giant bubble outside of reality in which an endless stream of information exists and flows from humanity's collective subconscious whether existing, deceased or pre-existing."
"…" Ace's lips slightly as Lilith's turned on her heel to face him with that same unsettlingly amused smile of hers.
"That is Akasha's true nature. A conceptual whole connected with yet existentially separated from all manners of realities."