BaoBao has been quietly enjoying their interaction. It was interesting and amusing for BaoBao to see how Vlad's quirkiness kept throwing Vanora off her game and distract her. She accepted his help faster and easier than she normally would, she has completely forgotten about his kiss on her neck, and now he very successfully made her forget about her insecurities. However, he felt that Vanora would not like Vlad's next move so he quickly alerted her. Uhmm... You might want to look up now.

Vanora sensed the urgency in BaoBao's voice so she immediately did as he suggested. The moment she looked up, she was met with Vlad's face right in front of hers. Her heart jumped. Before her mind registered what was happening, her hand instinctively flew up and roughly pushed his face upwards by his chin to face the sky.

Vlad looked down at her from the corner of his eye. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? What are you doing?"

"You looked so inviting and kissable when you're blushing. Is there something wrong with that?"

Vanora sighed. "Please stop doing such things."

Vlad retreated and sat back down properly with his head hanging low. Just as she thought that he was sulking, he suddenly looked up at her with puppy-dog eyes. "I really can't?"

Vanora pursed her lips tightly together. Making such an expression with that charming face he has, she was sure that if it was anyone else besides her, male or female, they would give in to any of his demand. I wonder if this skill is related to the sin of lust. "You can't."

"Ah!" He winced in pain.

Vanora took in a sharp breath. "The hellfire!"

"My heart." He clarified before she could take his arm to focus on the task at hand again.

Her hand froze in motion and it slowly clenched into a fist. She was beginning to feel exasperated and ticked off. She stood up sharply and intended to walk off without a care about him any longer. 

Before she could completely turn away from him, he held onto her wrist firmly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I won't fool around anymore. I won't make any moves on you too. Please don't leave me."

She looked back at him and saw a strange panic in his eyes. It made her anger and irate melt away. What's his problem with me leaving his side?

She sat back down curtly and held onto his hands to examine them. By now, everything lower than his elbows were reduced to bones only and the fire has reached halfway up to his shoulders. 

She continued her line of thought that she started with before he distracted her. Extinguishing... Reversing the process... Would doing the opposite extinguish it? 

She looked at the movement of the hellfire and imagined it as the spiritual energy of this world that was to be absorbed into her body. Using the same way she cultivated in the previous worlds, she called the hellfire back into her body. Gradually, the hellfire calmed down and retreated back into her hands that were holding onto his.

She heard an almost imperceptible sigh of relief leave his lips. Now that she paid attention to his face, there were beads of sweat all over his forehead and his lips were a little pale. He caught her staring and immediately broke into a mischievous grin. "Oh? Did you fall for-" He stopped mid sentence when he saw her raise an eyebrow. He coughed lightly. "What do you want to do now? I can bring you to a place of lesser demons and fight there till you're stronger. Or do you want to go into the thick of it and experience the war? I know where the weaker angels are at. Oh, or perhaps you want to experience the spreading of sins? Personally, I find that the most fun and satisfying."

Vanora stared at him silently for a short period of time. Her unblinking stare even made Vlad's smile falter and made him fidget uncomfortably. He laughed awkwardly. Is this how it felt like for her? "Erm... So...?" He tried to probe for an answer.

"I want to rest. After the surprise fight you sprang on me then throwing me unprepared into a test with grave consequences for getting it wrong, I'm tired."

She found a nice big sturdy tree to rest against then closed her eyes. Not long later, she felt Vlad sitting down beside her against the tree as well. She decided to let him be since he was not up to anything funny. 

It took a while before she heard him start to breathe slow and steady. She opened her eyes and turned her head to check if he was truly asleep. She decided to wait awhile more before she did anything. 

She witnessed how the flesh on his hand gradually regenerated and the colour slowly return to his face. I really don't get him. I thought that he was so overpowered as a character that he felt no pain even though it was supposedly the hottest fire in existence, but he was obviously feeling pain. Why was he still so calm? 

She quietly studied his gentle yet masculine features. Before she knew it, she very gently and lightly poked his cheek. He's so soundly asleep. Why did he mention doing everything but rest which was what he seemed to need the most?  Come to think of it, before he came to find me, he was likely engaged in the front lines of the war... 

She studied his black suit even more closely and noticed splotches of dried up blood here and there. She then looked at his face again with a complicated expression.

"Why? Why do you treat me so well?" Vanora whispered her question aloud, as if expecting an answer. Do I really deserve this kind treatment? I didn't manage to give anything back to LongFei for all that he has done for me. I can't be in debt to yet another person.

Her gaze trailed from his face down his neck to his exposed collarbone, across his broad chest that was rising up and down slowly, down his now exposed nicely muscled arm, to the bones of his hand. 

What a foolish man. So strong but dying so easily for an unrequited love...

Her hand that she used to poke his cheek was now resting near his right hand. She lifted it again and inched it closer to his hand.

BaoBao held his breath as he watched Vanora's hand go closer to Vlad's hand inch by inch. He dared not respond to her silent musing in case it would make her self-conscious. Instead, he had thought to himself. Is she finally letting down her guard? Perhaps it's soon time to let her know. 

Just as she made contact with the bone of his thumb, Vlad frowned and groaned a little. She retracted her hand immediately and saw his flesh going through a growth spurt. Blood vessels and tendons grew and extended to his hand and fingers. Muscles and flesh were regenerating at a much faster pace than it was earlier. The parts that were restored looked pristine new as if it had never been injured before. 

Vanora  then looked down at her own hand. What was I doing?

She took her hand back and held it to her chest with her brows locked tight in a frown. 

I'm highly unstable in this world. I keep going in and out of character. I can't focus. My control over my emotions is poor too. I need to re-focus. 

Vanora made as little noise as possible and walked along the river bank further and further away from Vlad. She intended to get away from him so that she could clear her mind without the influence of his presence. BaoBao, let me know when he wakes up.

Unbeknownst to them, the further away Vanora walked away, the more Vlad's eyes darted around under his eyelids as his sleep became more disturbed and restless.

It had been some time since Vlad had a good sleep.

Vlad did not know exactly when it had started but some time after being ranked as the strongest demon, he felt like there was something he was missing in his life. It was not power nor time nor women. He has plenty of those as long as he wanted it. Heck, he could even want a man and he would be able to find one without difficulty.

It just felt as if his heart and existence were empty. People liked the him that he presented to them, the him in their mind. They worshiped that side of him and would always brush off instances of mischief and childishness as "acting weirdly because he is unwell". He eventually no longer cared and fully used this persona they loved so much to rule them completely and easily, while becoming totally free when he went to earth under disguise. 

Being in the middle of all the drama and happenings that he caused with the people remaining ignorant filled him with excitement and fun that temporarily filled the emptiness he felt. Gradually, it was no longer enough. He began to suffer from insomnia because the feeling that he had to find someone bugged him badly. During the times when he was able to sleep, he would see a blurry image of a woman in he dreams. He felt that it may be the person he was supposed to look for. 

Not long later, he ran into an angel secretly throwing a tantrum in the forest. He had found her funny and interesting. He had never seen an angel like that before. She had more character than all the other simple-minded devout angels. Another fact made her appeal to him even more. He witnessed how she always played the perfect angel to the others and it reminded him of himself. He had thought that she was the one he was supposed to be looking for, so he continued to look out for her and kept finding her even if she clearly did not like him. 

He did manage to sleep more often then but it was still very restless ones. He finally understood why when he met the new demon. 

It had been another normal day of diverting his army towards where he had manipulated for the angels to gather at while keeping Angela away from everything. It was a long and hard battle that lasted through a day and night. Both sides suffered grave losses and it was mostly thanks to Vlad that the demons won that battle. 

It was halfway through the night when he sensed that a new demon has been created in his territory. He knew that it was a demon converted from a human because born ones would not alert him that way. It was a rare occurrence and he did not put much hope into the new demon. All the previous ones were either unable to take the demon's blood so died during the transformation or lost their minds to a demon's instinct. When he sensed that the new demon was still alive after the battle, he decided to pay her a visit.

When he first teleported to where she was, it did take him a little by surprise that she was calmly eating by a fire. The demons before her would always be on a rampage making a mess of human villages or massacring animals in the forest. That was why he started by asking her if she was the new demon. He then felt that it was a weird question for him to ask because he trusted his judgement, so he did not bother to wait for her response before he went through the motion of briefing her about the assessments he imposed on new demons. 

He would assess new demons during every half a year by himself because he wanted to personally see how these new demons were. In the nonexistent chance that the new demon would pass his assessments, he did not want them thinking he showed favoritism by being with them more often than he has with other lesser demons. 

Never would he expect the shock he would receive upon making eye contact with the new demon this time round.