Her eyes glowed golden and her irises became sharp slits in the instant before she would die at his hands. Something told her to punch her hardest down into the ground at a specific spot. She followed her gut instinct and did so. The ground cracked and broke then flew upwards towards all his apparitions while she fell into the resulting crater. All of his apparitions got pierced or hit, except one. The remaining one dodged everything and easily made use of the debris to make his way towards her. 

She gritted her teeth hard and growled. Acting purely on instinct, she prepared to meet his attack head on. She habitually brought forth the spiritual energy in her body not knowing if the bodies of this world had it or not. Indigo flames suddenly covered her body but she felt no pain. Without a pause in her actions, she manipulated the flames to flare out and jump out around her randomly then build their way towards him.

His eyes slightly widened in surprise but he soon broke into an evil grin. 

Just before the flames could touch him, Vanora's flames extinguished completely without a trace. A split second later, flames of the same colour build up and grew stronger around his right hand. By now, he less than a metre  away from Vanora. 

Vanora tried as she might but could not longer sense any way out nor summon any flame. Her guts were telling her that it would be a death for a death exchange at best. However, that was not Vanora wanted. She needed to survive. A look of hopelessness flashed across her face as she stumbled back while he swung his fiery fist towards her torso. The moment before his fist would make contact with her body, she tripped over a rock. 

She closed her eyes shut and anticipated pain.

To her surprise, a pair of warm arms curled around her waist from behind to catch her from falling and she bumped into something firm. Her eyes flew open again and were glued to the hand that was now hovering a centimetre away from her torso where her heart is.

The demon guy now looks like some harmless frozen still image. It gradually faded away like smoke. Only after the body was completely gone, did she notice how she was still being held intimately. 

The mysterious person behind her helped her stand properly but continued to hold onto her waist with his hands. She then felt a head resting on her shoulder and a familiar voice was heard. "Please don't leave me like that again."

Vanora was so shocked that it took her awhile before she responded. "What?" What happened?

I saw him appear behind you from the moment you were surrounded. His real body was not among the apparitions you were fighting earlier. If he truly wanted to finish you off, he could have done it easily. That's why I didn't intervene.

At the same time BaoBao spoke, the guy spoke too. "Don't turn your back on me. Don't walk away like that."

"... So you really were angry. I apologise for my ignorance but is there some rule or custom where I have to be dismissed first before I can take my leave? Or that you have to be the first one to leave?"

"... It's not that." He frowned then continued in a small voice. "Just... Don't leave my side."

She frowned in surprise and confusion then turned her head to look at him. Her movement caused him to look back at her. "What are you saying? Why would I stay by your side?"

"Why can't you?"

"Didn't you tell me that you'd only come by every half a year to assess my progress till the final assessment?"

He was speechless and looked stumped.

"... Did you actually forget?"

He truly did. He could only remember feeling misery and loss upon seeing that back of hers and the sight of her walking away simply triggered him and sent him into a frenzy attempt to keep her by his side. Why?

His expression changed to one of puzzlement. She unknowingly copied his expression looking at him. What's he thinking about now?

He shook his head. It doesn't matter. I'll just do whatever I want. "I changed my mind, I shall be with you to train you until the two years are up."

She tried to move out of his hold before addressing his sudden declaration but he firmly held onto her. "How's that possible? Don't you have a job to do? Won't you get in trouble with your Lord?"

"It's fine. I'll let him know."

"You don't have to contribute to the war?"

"Watching over a new demon with so much potential can be considered as a contribution too, don't you think so?"

"... Do whatever you want. Can you let go of me now?"

"Sure."

While he slid his hands off, he kissed her neck where it was exposed. Vanora gasped and placed her hand on the side of her neck near her ear. She looked at him with bewildered eyes. 

"What did you do to me?"

He blinked and shrugged innocently. "I used my individualised powers of lust, greed, gluttony, and wrath. I began with wrath which was enhanced body statistics and teleportation. Gluttony was the decay the tree went through. Lust was the illusion of seeing a dozen of me. Greed was the final moment when I stole the use of your flames. In that situation, you would be unable to use your skills temporarily."

Now that I can think about it... BaoBao, isn't that...

They're the same skills that Vlad used in his fight with Michael.

Is this a pure coincidence or...?

"So you aren't a demon of a specific sin?"

"Nope."

"You sound really strong for a mere demon serving Lord Vlad. How strong is Lord Vlad exactly?"

He grinned with pride clearly reflected on his face and he puffed up his chest slightly. "Lord Vlad's extremely strong. The strongest demon lord in existence."

"Is that so... Where do you stand in comparison with him?"

"Ah?" The question caught him off guard. "I- I'm really strong too. Definitely strong enough to watch over you and be your mentor. And for Lord Vlad to trust my judgement. So don't worry, it'll all work out."

"Who'll be the one assessing me at the end of the two years?"

"Me." He said confidently.

It's him. BaoBao and Vanora concluded at the same time.

So this is the disguise he used. Since Michael could recognise him immediately when he was with the original soul, he must be using his real appearance, not the disguise he would appear in during the three times he comes to check on new demons. This means I have around two years before I will meet with them and confront the greatest challenge to the fulfilment of this wish...

"Earlier, what did you mean by individualised powers?"

"Every demon of a sin will share a certain characteristic in their power specific to their sin. As long as you work hard and gain experience, your powers will naturally shape into your style. The harder one to obtain is awakening your specific power. And you actually did it."

He looked at her with pride and joy while ruffling her hair.

"Are you referring to the flames?"

"Yes. Do you remember how you created it?"

Vanora nodded. She sensed the spiritual energy existing within her then focused the flow of it into her right hand and leaving her body. The same indigo flames from before appeared again. It surrounded her entire hand and the flame flickered steadily above her palm. 

Vlad supported her hand with both of his hands and looked at her flame tenderly. "This is hell fire." He then looked at her in her eyes with the same tender gaze. "You really achieved quite a feat."

Vanora did not understand what about hellfire made it a feat to achieve. Suddenly she noticed a soft sound of sizzling and the distinct smell of flesh burning. She looked at his hand still below hers so she pulled away in haste. "You're being burnt!"

However, the fire did not get extinguished from his hands. This time even though his hands were aflame, he was obviously getting injured by it.

"What's going on?" She put out the hellfire on her hand and tried to pat out the flames to no avail. 

His skin was already completely burnt away and his flesh continued to disintegrate in the hellfire but he kept on relaxed smile and explained how it works. "Hellfire is the hottest fire there is and is often used for torture. It has intense crippling heat but kills a person very slowly. Like what's happening now. Oh, but it won't harm you. It recognises its creator." 

She looked at his hands where bones were starting to get exposed and noticed that the fire seemed to move up to his wrists. "You can explain those later. Don't you want to extinguish this first?"

"Oh. Looks like it won't go out even if I'm completely eaten. It will just move on to uneaten parts of me. What a cute persistent flame." He smiled adoringly at the flame and rotated his hands around like he was admiring it burning.

Vanora started worrying a little upon seeing his overly relaxed state. She was not about to lose a valuable mentor this meaninglessly. "Let's look for water to put it out."

"We can try but it probably won't work." While he said this, he curled his arms around her waist and pulled her flushed against his body. When she was about to pull away from him, the environment faded away like it was obscured by a thick fog. The fog cleared up a moment later and the place looked completely different. The colours all around them were restored and they were now right by a sparkling clear river. Vanora quickly realised that he just teleported them to another location. 

She grabbed his injured arms and decisively dunked it in the river. However, the fire continued to burn even underwater. 

"It doesn't subside the pain too." He proactively reported to her.

She let go of his arms then faced him and sternly asked him, "How does it get extinguished then?"

He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "I don't know how to explain the mechanics but only the one who created it can will it away. It's likely specific to how it was created so you got to explore it by yourself." He stuck his arms out towards her. 

Vanora looked down at the flames that were now halfway up to his elbows. His fingers were already reduced to the bones. Her breathing quickened a little. 

What does he expect me to do? This is something completely new to me! How can I figure something out this fast? I'm not some genius! What if I can't make it in the end? What am I supposed to do now? I must first be calm. Be calm! Be calm. Be calm. 

She continued to chant to herself to be calm like she was chanting a mantra. 

Okay. I created it with spiritual energy. How do I put it out with spiritual energy?

Vlad noticed how Vanora looked incredibly focused but stressed out. Her aura was becoming an intense murky red too. He brushed the back of his four fingers against her cheek with a gentle smile on his face. "Hey, take your time. It's a long time before it would eat all of me. I know you can do it."

Vanora still did not feel confident in her ability but she did feel somewhat reassured. Vlad raised his arms between the both of them such that they could both admire the hellfire.

"Besides, I feel kind of reluctant to be apart from it. It's something you created after all so it would reflect your character. Look at it still burning bright and strong. Persistent and persevering. What a beauty." Vlad said the last sentence while looking directly at Vanora. 

Vanora felt uncomfortable heat rising up her face so she broke the eye contact and stared at the ground to rub her nose with the back of her index finger. The second male lead of this world is crazy.