"Nnn~.."

A soft moan came from below as Xia's body twitched. A black pattern started spreading along her skin, starting from her back. As the pattern spread, her face twisted more and more, reflecting the pain she was experiencing.

Asura's eyes filled with worry as his brows furrowed and his face turned serious.

"Xia? You okay?"

"Mn. Ng..."

Despite her trying to say something but being unable to, the pain reflected on her face and the condition of her body were enough to show what she wanted to say.

"Don't worry, Xia. I'm with you. With me here it will be easier to handle the pain. Stay strong, okay?"

Facing the situation like this for the first time in his life, Asura didn't even know what to say but he knew he had to keep talking to distract his little cutie from pain. That's why half of the things he said made no sense, but he couldn't bother to think about that.

"Gh... hu-hurts!"

Asura's eyes filled with pain and helplessness.

"It's okay, I'm here with you. Hug me, the pain will feel less intense that way."

"Mnn... hug...Asura!"

Asura tightly hugged Xia but only now noticed something odd. The cloth that was previously covering Xia's bare body was missing. Only now that he felt her smooth yet scorching-hot skin pressed against his body did he realize this.

In that moment, he noticed something regarding his current self.

"If it was the old me, that would be the first thing I would notice... So this body truly influences the soul to some extent. I don't feel even a shred of lust toward her... for now, at least."

Asura slowly succumbed to his thoughts, gradually combing through his past and current memories, trying to merge the two entirely. Fragments of his old personality merged with the new body and soul and while doing all that, he kept calling out to Xia, letting her know that he was there. That was all he could do in this situation - bear the pain from her nails digging into his back and comfort her as much as possible.

He watched as her entire body became consumed by black patterns, marking the places where scales will manifest in the future. The pattern on Xia's skin expanded to every single part of her body and only then started slowly returning to the black dragon mark on her back.

With each of Xia's moans, Asura's heart would twitch. It seemed like her voice had a strange component to it that caused this mellow and blissful feeling to appear. Even though he shouldn't be feeling like this while she was in pain, he couldn't help it.

Her scorching hot skin.

The sweat evaporating in the air.

The movement of individual strands of her hair.

Her shallow breaths, faint yet thundering to his ears.

All of that was reflected in Asura's perception crystal-clear, only he failed to notice that everything had become sharper.

He felt overwhelmed, as if the world opened itself up to him. Yet he thought this was all because he was together with Xia. Although that wasn't entirely wrong, the things that were currently happening to him were not the consequence of his curiosity towards the little cutie - they were the consequence of his Fated Souls having awakened.

After a certain amount of time had passed,  Xia's condition suddenly became better. In a span of one second, all the changes caused by her awakening suddenly vanished, giving the two about ten seconds of 'peace'.

".... NGHHAAAA!!!"

Just as they were about to relax, Xia's condition then rapidly reversed once more, becoming even more extreme than before. And all of that followed by a pained grunt that made Asura's heart twist in pain.

"!"

Asura was about to succumb to desperate measures. He showed intention of using his Fated Souls to ease her suffering, when an overpowering yet gentle voice appeared form the entrance to the room.

"Don't bother. That won't help her."

"Who?!"

"Relax. I have no bad intentions. Let me help her first."

A shadow flickered, appearing right next to the two. Before Asura could ask anything, two cloths appeared, wrapping about him and Xia respectively. After that, the girl's slender hand pressed on Xia's back as white glow shone from the tips of her fingers. Ten thin streams of sparkling milky-white liquid penetrated into Xia's skin on the back, which almost instantly caused her worsening condition to stabilize.

"Mm. That should do it."

The girl murmured with a nod while carefully picking up unconscious Xia. When she secured Xia on her shoulder, her index finger pointed towards Asura.

"And you... you're coming with me as well!"

With those words, Asura felt as if the air around him condensed and he found himself suspended in the air. After a moment, a white light condensed in the form of a see-through cocoon. With all this said and done, the silver-haired girl wearing black robes lifted off the ground and flew out of the massive room through a series of tunnels, only stopping when she arrived at a small hill a thousand meters away from the cave entrance.

Her long sleeves fell over her hands as she lowered the two children on the ground.

"Wait for me here, don't move. I will be back in a bit."

By the time Asura processed those words, the girl's figure had already disappeared back into the cave.

"Hey, wai—Sigh. Why can't she at least introduce herself first..."

Asura sat down and carefully leaned unconscious Xia onto himself, all the while intently looking in the direction of the cave. He kept wondering why did that girl return to the cave, but considering that she placed them on a high hill in a shape resembling a finger pointing towards the sky, he couldn't even run away if he wanted to. However, he failed to notice strange things happening in the sky above them currently.

"Who was she even? And more importantly, why was she there and why did she help us... She doesn't seem like a bad person. Moreover, she seems to be in a hurry for some reason.", Asura thought to himself while nibbling on his finger subconsciously. This was not his habit in the past life, which showed that his personality changed more or less in this world.

"!"

Just as he was about to let out a sigh, Asura's pupils instantly contracted as he witnessed a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life. The events which then took place before him were something that engraved deeply into his soul for eternity. Even as the girl from before flew out of the cave, shrouded them with the milky-white energy and brought them away, his eyes were glued to the direction of the cave, showing how much of an impact the scene had on him.

He could never forget what he saw then and there. Never ever.

Asura had previously failed to notice a dark gray vortex of clouds in the sky above them and that is why the scene had an even greater visual impact.

While he was waiting for the girl to return, occasionally checking Xia's condition and staring at the cave, the vortex of clouds began condensing a massive amount of energy in its center. The energy initially took the shape of a white sphere. Although that white sphere seemed ordinary, what proved otherwise was a twisted air around it. After absorbing enough energy, the sphere had become so condensed that it turned into a liquid ball of energy, and then...

*RUMBLE!*

A giant white claw descended from the sky, shrouded in a rampaging energy that even turned into streaks of lightning as it fell. At the moment the claw started descending, the girl's figure appeared at the exit of the cave and for the duration of one second it took her to reach the two kids, the claw had already pierced through the mountain and fell into the massive room where the two were before.

*Ka—BOOM*

Even light seemed to be pulled back towards the direction of the cave, making the world darker, at the moment when the rampaging energy contained in the white claw exploded.

What Asura could see was a scene much more striking than a thousand fireworks exploding at once. The space above the cave was filled with myriads of stars, each of them exploding and producing even more stars which then exploded again, continuing like that until all the initial energy was exhausted.

Bits and pieces flew everywhere, ejected by the power of the explosion. Some even reached the trio in the air.

"Ah... how beautiful."

Even he didn't notice when he said this - it was totally subconscious.

Asura's face illuminated by continuous explosions of stars held a blank expression with his mouth hanging. His eyes greedily absorbed everything they could see, without blinking or moving, as long as they could. By the time the intense light made his eyes hurt, they were already several kilometers away from the place of explosion.

The rumbling sounds had long been silenced by the milky-white energy around the two, but the vibrations of the air couldn't be isolated even with that energy. That was the intensity of the explosion which took place.

Exhaustion washed over Asura, as the light in his eyes gradually dimmed and he fell unconscious. The last thing engraved in his very soul was the scene he had just witnessed.

When he finally fell unconscious, the girl's golden eyes looking at him and Xia turned to the front as a rare smile appeared on her face. She couldn't resist whispering, "What a strange kid."

Just like that, the silhouette of the three people gradually turned smaller until they disappeared beyond the horizon.