**Disclaimer: There is violence/gore in this chapter.**

The angel knew that his attack would work and it would have if Vanora had dodged like he expected her to. On the contrary, Vanora fearlessly continued in her path towards him. His attack may have covered every path she could take but since it was done with the assumption that she would have dodged, the weaker strikes were the path she chose to continue on. Her flesh was split apart or cut off at various places but she lost no limbs, much less her life. Her right hand was like a claw going straight for his heart. In a desperate attempt to at least take her down with him, he jammed his swords straight towards her.

Vanora let herself be stabbed, one in her chest, one in her right arm, but she tore his arms off in exchange. He yelled out in pain and tried to fly away but Vanora used her left hand to grab him by his armour and threw him down to the ground.

The angel watched Vanora land in front of him. He laid there paralysed by the initial pain of having his bones broken. Now that he could look at her more closely, he noticed blood stains all over her tattered clothes. "How many of us have you killed already...?" He asked with much difficulty.

Vanora closed her eyes, tilted her face upwards, and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, her pupils were now slits and the golden specks in her eyes began to glow. She looked down at the angel lying pathetically on the floor then licked her lips where a little blood had splattered onto her face. It tasted deliciously familiar to her. "I wonder."

Seeing her profile against the orange red sky, she totally looked demonic to the angel. After pulling the swords out of her body in an agonisingly slow speed, she reached down for the angel. Fear gripped his heart as if he was a small prey about to be gobbled up. Suddenly, her nose twitched and she looked towards the South.

She stood back up straight and looked in that direction. The angel realised that she was looking in the same direction as the main battlefield. No. No no no.

He first tried to intimidate her into staying. "You're insane. You'll only die if you go there."

Unexpectedly, she started smiling very gleefully like she had lost her mind. "Well, wouldn't you love that. Actually, that isn't such a bad idea. Someone like me deserves to die, right? I should just die, right?" Then she suddenly started pouting. "But I can't. I'm supposed to get stronger. Hey, tell me, if I can't get stronger, does it matter if I'm killed now or later? It doesn't, right? So if I go there and become stronger, my chances of survival increases." Vanora looked like a child who had just solved a really difficult question. "Looks like it all worked out in the end, huh?" 

The angel knew at this moment that he could no longer hold her back with reason and could only try to defeat her before she brought chaos to his comrades. He flapped his wings and tried to use his legs to fight or restrain Vanora. Anything would do. However, his move only annoyed her. She frowned and grabbed him by his ankle to pull him towards her. The nails of her other hand dug into his thigh of his leg that had been free of her grasp, then she tore him into half. 

More blood splattered onto Vanora and she licked the blood that was on her lips once again. It instantly improved her ruined mood and further increased her desire for more. Just as she turned to take off further South, Vlad appeared in front of her, blocking her from advancing forward.

Her mood turned sour again.

Vlad was thoroughly upset for various reasons. Vanora fought without a care for herself and what had looked demonic to the angel only looked like seduction and flirtation to Vlad. Despite those, he faithfully stood by the side, keeping to his word to not intervene with her fights unless her life was threatened. Yet here she was, making another reckless decision to throw herself into the main battlefield.

"You're injured. Rest for the day." Vlad said in a stern voice.

However, Vanora was also not backing off. "What injuries? I can still move." Indeed, her wounds were already slowly closing up. Earlier, she was bleeding uncontrollably because the angel's attacks had powers that nullified a demon's healing and regeneration.

Vlad frowned a little. He knew that it was a good thing that her recovery speed seemed to have been improving over the days, along with her fighting prowess and judgement, but he suspected that it was at the cost of something else.

"You're not ready for the main battlefield. If you go there now, it's a death wish. Not out of a bid to get stronger."

Vanora stared at him in defiance without saying a word back. He studied her eyes and could tell from her gaze that something was not right with her. God damn it, I'm done listening to you like a faithful dog only to watch you do self-destructive things to yourself.

Without warning, Vanora ran past him and took off towards the South. He sighed and turned around to glare at her. Her body froze. He walked to her slowly then placed himself in front of her again. The look in her eyes revealed her rage and frustration with being restricted from what she wanted to do. It was now clear for him to identify that she was in the initial stages of losing her rationality and becoming more feral.

"I didn't expect that I'd have to use this against you." He said apologetically. "I'm sorry." He stroked her cheek with the back of his four fingers as he teleported them back to the room in the inn.

"Go take a nice hot bath now. After you're done, you will eat the food that's on the table." Vlad instructed in a commanding tone.

Vanora felt her body comply even though her mind was unwilling to. 

 

As soon as Vanora completely washed off all the blood that was on her body, her mind calmed down and she zoned out.

Va... Vanora? BaoBao's voice sounded a little shaky.

... Hm?

Vanora!! You're baaaack!! She could hear from BaoBao's voice that he was crying uncontrollably.

What's wrong BaoBao?

I don't know why but over the days you seemed to respond to me increasingly slowly. Today, was the worst, I tell you! The worst! I wanted to remind you that it was truly too early to enter the battlefield since I have been charting your growth and comparing it with your opponents, but you did not respond to me at all! I was so scared! I didn't know what to do!

You did?

Vanora recollected whatever happened earlier and realised to her horror how she had almost went out of control. She also remembered hearing a small voice but had treated it like an annoying bug buzzing around her since it was also persuading her to go against her wishes. Her mood spiraled downwards once more and she felt mighty embarrassed. 

She sighed deeply. I'm so sorry BaoBao. I'll be more careful from now on.

Mm! BaoBao gave a tearful reply.

Since she was under the influence of Vlad's orders, she could not stay in the bath for too long even if she wanted to. There was no way for her to hide from Vlad. 

When she went back into the room, she was greeted with a table covered in plates that were filled to the brim with top quality venison dishes. The smell of the dishes caused her hunger to kick in again and she mindlessly stuffed her mouth with food without even bothering to sit down. Vlad had to move physically prompt and move her to take a seat while she continued to eat. 

It was only after she was almost done consuming all of the food on the table was her hunger finally satisfied. She returned to her senses once more and stared at the giant half eaten thigh of an elk in her hand. Her earlier behaviour made her mood plunge back down again. This is really my punishment... I'm behaving so unsightly and eating without restraint like some wild animal...

Well... You didn't look that unsightly... You just ate so fast that anyone could tell you've been starving for days.

I've really made a big mistake this time huh... I lost the battle against myself and let my emotions get the better of me, allowing it to cloud my judgement too... I really deserve this humiliation.

"Feeling better now?" Vlad asked in a soft and gentle tone from across her. He had intended to berate her for her carelessness but those feelings immediately vanished upon seeing her look of humiliation and embarrassment. 

Vanora nodded.

"Looks like you're back to normal." Vlad teased her lightly.

Seeing her still looking down and out while eating the rest of her food listlessly made him feel sorry for her now. She likely did not have an easy time and he felt that he was to blame for her current state as well. If he had not pissed her off at the start, perhaps things would have progressed differently. 

He rested his chin on his palm. "You may have lost a little bit of control but it's not all that bad, is it? I hope this brief period of insanity has helped you learn something?"

Vanora nodded but her mood did not improve. Vlad frowned as he felt that she misunderstood his question as berating her for her carelessness.

"What I'm asking is, are you now familiar with the potential of your powers?"

She looked into his eyes in surprise. The potential of my powers? 

"Don't be afraid to think back to how you were for the past week and re-experience it."

She looked back down at her food to consider what Vlad said. After awhile, she closed her eyes as she attempted to re-experience the previous few days. Now that she recalled her memories in a calmer state, she realised that there was some truth behind his words. She was now familiar with how it felt to use her enhanced instinct. It was quite contrary to the way she was used to fighting where she would calculate every move she made. She simply acted on what she felt was right, there was almost no thinking involved. 

She opened her eyes and went deep into thought while her mouth and hand continued to move by themselves, putting food into her mouth each time it was empty. I may be getting the hang of  controlling and mastering my enhanced instinct but... my control over my emotions is still a problem. I still can't feel and not feel whenever I want. It strongly reminded her of why she had chose to suppress everything she felt from the beginning.

Vlad studied her face and felt that there was still something troubling her. "Would you like to share what's troubling you right now? Maybe I could give you some advice."

"Nothing's troubling me." Vanora lied through her teeth. 

"... I see. Then let me just put this out there. I'll be making sure that you have the basic care for yourself whether you like it or not. This includes you eating, bathing, and sleeping properly. Humph. I can't have you seducing and flirting with every man out there in front of me." He looked genuinely disgruntled. 

His ending comment caught her off guard, causing her to reveal an uninhibited look of surprise then confusion. "Wh-"

"Don't you dare say that you don't know what I'm talking about. Licking your lips that way, smiling so unreservedly, and talking so freely with some angel you just met. You've never done any of those with me before." He pouted. 

She did not know how to defend herself other than clarifying her intentions. "You know that I wasn't being my-"

"Ah! Or could it be that he's your kind of guy?" He cried out in distress while Vanora's face fell flat again. 

What in the world runs through this guy's mind? He's so...

Eccentric. BaoBao completed her sentence while trying to stifle his laughter. The second male lead of this world was really very entertaining. Moreover, BaoBao noticed by now that whenever Vlad acted this way, it never failed to distract Vanora from her worries, helping her pay attention to the present moment instead. 

He started debating with himself if he should change his looks to make it more similar to that angel in front of himself. Just as she was done with the last plate on the table, Vlad ended his debate with himself. "Ah! Forget it. I'll never stoop to look like some angel. You'll give me a chance, won't you?" He asked with a grin. 

Vanora looked at him weirdly. He can really entertain himself.

He continued without waiting for her reply. "Anyway, I'll take care of everything else so don't you worry, just do what you have to. Go ahead and immerse yourself in your journey to getting stronger." He suddenly turned serious and gazed directly into her eyes. "Don't worry about getting lost or stuck. I'll always be here to pull you back and support you." It was an unspoken promise. 

Vanora blushed and looked away. "How absurd." She said under her breath.

Vlad smiled warmly then ushered her off to bed. "Okay, off to bed you go now."

Thanks to Vlad being a distraction from her negative feelings, Vanora did not take too long to fall sound asleep. Vlad finally relaxed after seeing her retire for the day, so he went about the room doing what needed to be done before joining Vanora in bed.