When Vlad saw her flames explode out earlier, he immediately checked in with her emotions and realised that her aura was almost as brilliant as the day when he first met her. Except that she was feeling a lot more anger and frustration than hate now. Although happy for her since such an aura would mean a growth in strength, he worried about the cause of it. He had thought that she was somehow injured without him knowing or in a desperate situation hence the sudden spike in her emotions but it didn't seem like it now. 

"Tell me what's making you so upset and angry. I'll help you settle any grievances you have."

Her brows twitched in anger. Help me? 

She could feel the anger that she had been trying to hold down bubbling up within her again.

An idea popped into Vanora's head. 

Instead of trying to calm her emotions, she allowed it to build up within her. At the back of her mind, she knew that it was risky for her to suddenly allow herself to feel such intense emotions after years of suppression and numbing herself to it, but the feeling that she needed to recover lost time overwhelmed her and took precedence. 

The frown on her face grew increasingly deep. Her tone was ice cold when she spoke. "Help me?"

She laughed sarcastically for a short while then scoffed, "You were supposed to be mentoring me the whole time. But was that what you've been doing for me this past two weeks? Or were you trying to hold me back and be an obstacle?"

"What are you saying? I-"

"Do you think I'd remain oblivious to what you've been doing behind my back?"

A slither of doubt appeared on his face. Could it be that she knows? Normally he had no qualms with lying through his teeth but somehow he found it hard to do so to her. He gulped and tried his hardest to not avert his eyes while he replied, "I don't know what you're talking about. I did everything as you said. Was it not satisfactory?"

Her smile dropped. "Yes, you did. But only on the surface, isn't it?"

His expression of slight surprise answered her question. 

"You've really had your fun with me, didn't you? Treating me like a brainless doll. On the contrary, I'm well aware of how weak I am! How is it possible for me to win against so many hell beings just like that? Without a single scratch or bruise?! At least make it more believable!"

She walked past him while Vlad stood still in shock. 

How long has she known? Wait, more importantly... He quickly turned to grab hold of her wrist. "I may have dishonest but I don't see you as brainless or a doll! Where did that come from?"

"You certainly treated me like one!"

"I didn't mean to! I only wanted to protect you from needlessly harming yourself which you seem to like doing?"

She replied through gritted teeth, "I already said that I didn't need your protection! Do you think protecting me would help me? You're sending me to my grave! Or perhaps it's because you're really looking down on me?" 

Tears uncontrollably welled up in her eyes while she continued speaking, giving him no chance to speak up. "Exactly. I'm just a weak meaningless character who's bound for failure after failure. But this doesn't mean I'd subject myself to being toyed when I'm trying my darn hardest. I should have known better than to trust you as a mentor. I should have been smarter than to think you'd really help me. After all, if I get too strong, I'd only be a threat to your love."

He could not take his eyes off of her. Her aura was a stunning red with black streaks mixed in. Could it be... She hates... herself? Or is it her fate? Or the world? Huh? Love? Who's she talking about? But before he could voice out his thoughts, her next sentence made him forget everything that he wanted to say.

"Do me a real favour and let me go."

His face revealed his increasing anxiety and panic. "No. I can't. I don't want to." 

While trying to pull her hand out of his iron grip, she lit up her hand in her hellfire.

"Please! I'll do anything, just not leaving you. Tell me how I can make it up to you!"

She stopped trying to break his grip and looked at him straight in the eye. "Then fight me!"

His eyes grew wide in bewilderment. "What?"

"Fight me and make up for all the time you've made me lose!"

He gritted his teeth. He very much rather spoil her with a good life than to put her through hardship. But if this is what it means to be with you... To make you happy...

He replied her with a pained look, "Fine."

She immediately lit her whole body up in her hellfire but as quickly as it raged to new heights, it was snuffed out. Almost immediately after, she swung a fist at Vlad which was blocked, so she followed with a kick. They exchanged blows at a speed to fast for an untrained eye to see. She used her experience from the previous worlds to target spots Vlad would find it tricky to defend. Just after a short exchange of blows, it forced him to try and create some space between them but she stuck closely to him which forced him to grab her by the ankle and throw her away from him. 

She took this chance to get as far away from him as she could. The moment she landed on the ground, she used the momentum and sprang off in the opposite direction from him. She understood that he was still going easy on her because she would have lost instantly if he went all out against her. However, she wanted him to fight her more harshly. 

As she caught him off guard, it took him awhile to realise that she was indeed running away from him and it was some cover for an attack. He took even longer to recover from the shock. I'm already fighting her as she had requested but she had been aiming to be rid of me from the start? 

He felt hurt and betrayed.

In the short instant that he was stunned, Vanora managed to run quite a distance away from him and her flames suddenly returned to her. Oh?

Before she could process and understand the meaning of the flames returning to her, Vlad appeared in front of her with a displeased face. He created copies of himself to surround her. One swung a chop to her neck, two went for her arms, and two went for her legs. 

As she was in the midst of running at full speed, her mind could not react as fast as she needed to, thus she resorted to moving on instinct. Her pupils constricted into slits and she retracted her limbs to wrap herself into a ball, kicked out both of her legs at the abdomen of the one that appeared in front of her to propel herself into the ground. She used the flames to burn a path through the ground. Her odd behaviour stumped and surprised Vlad. Suddenly, the entire area of the ground trembled and exploded. Rocks, stones, and pieces of the ground flew everywhere. It was a chaotic mess. Vlad decayed every piece that flew towards his real body while he immediately tried to find her. Just as he turned his head, he saw a fist behind a piece that just decayed into dust and it managed to land a hard punch on his face. When he turned his head back to face her, she was already gone. 

He grinned as he wiped the trickle of blood off the corner of his lips. Even if she didn't grow in raw strength, she did learn something from her fights. 

When she appeared from behind him this time, he turned around in time to strike out a fist to meet hers. It caught her by surprise and she defended by curling herself into a ball. Fist met flesh and she got thrown into the ground. She made use of this force to bury herself underground again and repeat what she did earlier. However, it did not work as well on her second and third try. He seemed more prepared and could react faster than she could land a hit. On her fourth try, instead of letting herself be hit, she suddenly swung her leg up to kick the side of his head. He quickly used his attacking arm to block her kick then grabbed her ankle to pull her towards him. He held her body flushed to his and grinned charmingly with his mouth an inch away from her neck. "Had enough yet?" 

She frowned. Something within her told her that she has lost. If he bit down into her neck, she would be done for. Nonetheless, she raised her foot and kicked him in his shin with all she had however it did not make him let go of her. So she set herself on fire together with him. "Let go of me."

He raised his head to look down at her properly while saying sulkily, "But you'd just run away from me. I already fought you as you asked, but you ran off, leaving me behind."

"... You weren't serious enough till I did that." She pushed the blame back to him. 

"But I can't bear to fight with you..." 

"Is that my problem?" She said with a deadpan expression. 

He sighed. "You're right. It isn't." He let go of her and she called back her flames. 

"Do you want to fight for another round?"

"I've had enough for today." She felt weary both inside and out. Now that she has vented everything out, including the fact that she gained some insight in how to master her enhanced instinct and grow her powers, she found no reason to keep fighting Vlad.

Vanora went straight to the bath, drank the tea that Vlad still made for her, then headed straight for bed. Just as Vlad thought that she would retire for the day without saying a single word or sparing him a single glance after they returned to the room, she suddenly spoke in a soft but resolute tone. "Don't bother scouting for more demons. From now on, we go to the surface to fight angels."

Vlad felt depressed as he watched her get into bed. However he knew that he brought it upon himself. He could only comfort himself that she was still with him even if she was clearly ignoring him and hope that this was only a temporary state of affairs. He decided to patiently wait for her to forgive him and calm her emotions down. 

He touched the corner of his lip where it was cut. When he was punched, he found that it was possible to feel proud of someone else besides himself. He had enjoyed it from that moment on. He realised it could actually be enjoyable to witness her growth first hand like this. Perhaps fighting her is not as bad as I thought. To make her happy... I probably should just give her what she wants instead.

He sighed deeply again as he remembered how he screwed up. I hope I didn't make an irrevocable mistake...

He stood up from where he was sitting at the table to join her in bed. He very carefully crawled towards her across the bed as if afraid to approach her, afraid that she would reject him. But she did not even budge. In fact, she seemed to have fallen fast asleep. He held onto the hem of her shirt as usual and fell asleep too.

When Vanora woke up the next morning, BaoBao immediately informed her that she slept for 8 hours again. She has not slept for this long again besides the first night after she met Vlad. However, she still felt a little sluggish. She gritted her teeth and forcibly pushed herself up from the bed. She took a few deep breaths to compose herself and get back the determination to continue with her routine.