[i]So it was not knowing who I was, after all.[/i] She should have been able to make the connection, but between the few hours she had spent with Mary and the time she had been wandering the citadel, the body and clothes she wore had started to feel natural. When one could change appearance at will, it was sometimes easy to forget that not everyone she knew would be able to recognise her. As it turned out, such was the case with Souta. 

It was, however, interesting to see the change in demeanor that came with his realisation of who she was. Where before he had been resentful, and had only thinly veiled his contempt, he now sounded much more respectful. A tad too much, actually. Was it because he had witnessed her strength during the mission, worst defensive out of fear? Or at least acknowledgement that she was more powerful than he was? Some men disliked the idea of a woman being the stronger one, was he one of them? No, it didn't seem likely. For all his faults, Lily couldn't picture his pride being wounded by a woman proving the superior, no matter how great the gab. 

She shook head briefly, forcefully dislodging the thoughts and musings from her mind. Souta had agreed to answer her questions, and letting him wait for too long was rude. 

The click of her heels as she stepped closer, was the first thing to break the silence between them. Otherworldly green eyes met ordinary green, Lily's face both curious and earnest. Her lips parted as if she were to speak, but paused, seeming contemplative for a second, then finally asked, "Why are you here?" Short, simple, and straight to the point. Souta was a human, however gifted, and this was a conflict between titans such as the Demoness herself. 

She knew, likely better than any other demon, that humanity was a force to be reckoned with, but their strengths came from ingenuity and numbers, not individual strength. Souta was but one man, and even with the dozens of men she had witnessed rise to the challenge, this was beyond anything previously witnessed. She could turn him to ashes, tear his body apart, or visit upon him any number of gruesome death. She outclassed him an order of magnitude, and so, when even she felt threatened by some of their adversaries, why would someone like him be in the fray of [i]this[/i] conflict?