**Disclaimer: Some violence/gore in this chapter.**

The moment they picked up any sounds of battle, they followed it. In this manner, they encountered a few stray fights but it only involved one or two angels each time, which was well within what Vanora could manage. She had her rage and self-hatred to pump up her power, and the angels were slower in both reflexes and attacks purely due to their nature. They also had far less fighting experience as compared to the demons who would constantly butt heads with each other. Vlad would always command the ogres, trolls, or ghouls who were originally fighting the angels to back some other fight up while Vanora took their place.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, they finally encountered their first warrior angels. Vanora did not notice that the sight of warrior angels made Vlad frown slightly. What are warrior angels doing so far out here?

There were five angels hovering in the sky, of which two were warrior angels that bore weapons. The group fighting them were a mix of the orange ogres, trolls, and ghouls that they have seen along the way earlier. They were all glowing white and a chaotic mess. There was no coordination nor teamwork. Some tried to run away, some tried to attack, and some cowered as if they have given up. They ended up easily killed off one by one by the angel with a lance. There were already a large number of dead bodies littered on the ground. Another angel provided perfect support by shooting down anyone that tried to sneak an attack on the other angels. He had a metal bow but his arrows were created out of nothing. It glowed white and disappeared after impact.

"Vanora, be care-" Before Vlad could finish his sentence, Vanora already made her move. He sighed inwardly. She's really not listening to me today. She's also more hasty than usual. Is she still upset with me? The colours of her aura naturally revealed itself to him after that thought. What the... Why're the colours are so complicated? Hate? Anger? Is that... despair too? What's going on?

Vanora quickly realised that the warrior angels were markedly tougher opponents than the normal angels. She had burst into the scene using her flames since she knew that she was outnumbered. As the angels were caught by surprise, all of them were successfully caught in her hellfire and they dropped to the ground in pain. Although they were lying there vulnerable for anyone to attack, the ogres, trolls, and ghouls were still in shock and did not react fast enough.

All the angels she had fought so far would be paralysed by the pain. This time was no different so she made quick work with taking the life of three angels. The next closest one was the angel with the lance. However, in the midst of her leap, several things happened simultaneously. An arrow shot into her back, a lance drew a beautiful arc across the air in front of her, and she saw an arm detached at the elbow flying off. The next thing she knew was that the lance was going straight for her heart. Her pupils constricted and she reacted by reflex. Her left arm shot out to grab the lance then redirected it and pulled it past her head to bring herself closer to the angel. She brought her knee towards the angel's chest and it would have dealt a fatal blow if the angel had not decisively abandoned his weapon to roll away. He stood up and staggered a few steps while doing so. Vanora wanted to go follow up with another attack but the hair on her body rose and she jumped to the side instead. A few arrows struck the ground and disappeared.

Vanora kept the two of them in her field of vision and took stock of the damage done to her body while the other two angels also stared back. They were obviously in pain but they had a determination to fight back that the other angels did not have. This did not mean they could move freely though. Vanora believed that if she did not have the hellfire, she would not have stood a chance against them. It managed to handicap them and brought them down and closer to her level. The large open wound at her elbow was still dripping blood, but it was not as bad as earlier. The small wound on her back was already gradually healing.

Taunt that one. Vanora leaned against the tree behind her and smirked. "I'll just stay here and enjoy the show of you slowly burning to death. Do you think that fire only causes pain?"

"What a vicious and cruel person you are to have such a power." The angel who had the lance said through gritted teeth.

"Perhaps. Just like you angels, isn't it?"

"What?! How dare you compare yourself to u-"

"Brandon, don't lose your cool. She's obviously taunting you."

"That... what's that called? Oh, ya, purification of our souls. How's it any different?"

"That's mercy and your's just torture! How dare you liken the two!" He charged at her recklessly, picking up the lance along the way.

"Brandon!" The other angel shouted out angrily.

"I won't lose to someone like her!" Brandon assured the other.

Vanora allowed him to charge and moved when she simply felt it was time. While she ran forward, yellow lightning shot out of the lance. She stopped, ducked down then kicked upwards to break his spear, followed by another successive kick to his head. His head spun around like it was being unscrewed and ended with his face towards the other angel.

"Brandon!!"

She used her left hand to grab onto the body and used it as a meat shield while she ran towards the other angel. The other angel flew up, prepared to shoot a dozen arrows downwards behind Brandon's body. "You underestimate me!"

However, to his surprise, he found out that there was no one behind Brandon's body anymore. Brandon's body was simply flying froward.

"Did I?"

The angel looked up to see Vanora suspended in the air with her legs tucked in as if she had just jumped up as well. Before he could react, she kicked down and smashed his face in. He fell to the ground and she dealt another blow to his heart to make sure that he was dead.

By now, the bleeding from the injury at her elbow was barely a trickle as her blood vessels and muscles began repairing itself. There was no longer a wound on her back.

 

From the moment Vlad saw her get injured, gory scenes that he did not recognise instantly flashed through his mind and all he could eventually think about was her dead body lying in front of him. It overwhelmed his senses so much that he instinctively took a step forward, wanting to intervene. But a pair of familiar grey eyes with golden specks suddenly surfaced at the forefront of his mind. It dominated all the other images that he did not recognise. It was a cold angry glare.

I can't lose her. This is my last chance. I have to keep my promise.

He knew that it was not a life threatening situation for Vanora yet, so he held himself back with much difficulty. The tension within him from holding himself back transformed his power of pride from obedience to his voice to his aura as well. The ogres, trolls, and ghouls who had recovered their senses and wanted to help Vanora got affected by his intimidating aura and found themselves frozen in place, unable to move.

Now that Vanora was finally done fighting, he immediately ran to her and hugged her from behind to calm his anxious heart. He leaned his head against hers while Vanora become as stiff as a board.

"Please tell me this is your last fight for the day." He whispered by her ear.

"... Of course. I should recover before my next fight. Even I know that much." She replied flatly.

"Mm. That's good." She thought that he would be appeased with that but his arms tightened around her instead.

Vlad intended to immediately teleport themselves back to the inn, but Vanora heavily stomped on his foot. He raised his head to look down at her and noticed that she was looking pointedly at something else. He followed her gaze and finally realised that they were surrounded by smiling ogres, trolls, and ghouls. They looked as if they were barely able to suppress their excitement.

"Are you sent by Lord Vlad?" One asked.

"Does this mean that he's fine?" Another asked.

Very soon, a lot of voices started talking one over the other.

"I thought that he was defeated!"

"Yeah! He suddenly went missing like that!"

"How can Lord Vlad be defeated?! He probably had something else to attend to!"

"What could be more important than the war?"

"Maybe its something related to the war?"

"Yeah, are you doubting Lord Vlad?"

"No, I -"

"Anyway, does this mean that he's coming back now?"

"That'd be awesome! We really can't win this war without him."

While the demons started discussing about Lord Vlad's prowess, Vanora got lost in her thoughts.

What? The demons were already losing since the time he went missing? Isn't it since the day he met me then. It's... because of... me... I can't believe I almost screwed the plot up with a careless request.

But you did it because he was the only one available for you to learn from. How can it be your fault? You made the best decision you could at that time.

Yes, but at the risk of ruining everything? Can you imagine what would have happened if I continued to listen to him and fought the demons he found for me instead? What's the point of getting stronger if I can't achieve what I was supposed to achieve with that strength?

BaoBao could not argue the point she made. It was a valid concern.

My decision to return to the surface to fight the angels... Was it a conscious decision then? Was it really made by me? Or am I simply acting according to the world's consciousness? I probably haven't changed a single thing in the past two weeks... This may have been the original soul's strength after she transformed! After all, wasn't she full of hate and vengeance?! That was probably why at the end of the book, when Vlad was found by Michael and Angela, he was assisting her. He had probably seen the potential in the original soul that was still present in me before I reined in my emotions. I'm... I'm only just starting back at square one after all this time.

Vanora concluded with horror. At the same time, the crowd's attention returned to the pair in the center.

"When is Lord Vlad coming back?" They asked in unison.

Vlad noticed the look of horror on Vanora's face and became concerned. He walked in front of her to face her properly. "What's wrong?" He asked in a soft and gentle voice.

The crowd looked at each other in confusion. Did the two of them not hear them? Should they ask again? They shared the same thoughts.

Vanora replied in a small strained voice. "We won't return to the room. Let's camp out here from today onwards."

"Are you sure? It won't be comfortable."

"You can't sleep?"

"I can but you-"

"I'm fine." She turned her head to the side to show that it was the end of the conversation.

"When is Lord Vlad coming back?" A ghoul decided to try asking again.

Vlad was finally irritated with the lack of privacy he wanted to have with Vanora and their incessant chattering. He glared at the ghoul that asked the question and replied in a threatening voice, "I don't know. Maybe never. But we're here now so things will be fine. If all of you continue staying here, you'll lose your puny lives that you had the luck of keeping earlier."

Cold shivers ran down their spines. They scrambled away far enough to give the couple their privacy but stayed in the vicinity so that they would know when the pair decides to move off.

Vlad watched with worry as Vanora walked off to a nearby tree. She sat down, leaned her side against the tree, used her left arm to hug her legs, then rested her forehead on her arm. He felt that she looked so small and vulnerable now that it fanned his desire to keep her caged and protected. Why do you put yourself through this? 

Since he could not shelter her, he decisively dedicated himself to supporting her and providing her relief whenever she is outside of a fight.