Not long after they disappeared, five angels came from the direction Vlad had stared at.
Once they flew above the area where Vlad and Vanora had been at, the black mark from before appeared and all the angels lost the ability to fly. Their wings folded in and refused to open as if they lost control over their bodies. Spikes made of earth sprouted out from the ground. The angels panicked and flailed helplessly as they descended from the sky.
An angel with long honey blonde hair and kind brown eyes remained calm. His lips moved rapidly but not a sound left his mouth. He had been chanting a prayer from the moment the mark appeared. The more he chanted, the more the black rose on the ground withered. Eventually, the black mark dissipated as black smoke. The spikes returned to being flat earth. The angels regained the control of their wings, but only the angel who chanted reacted fast enough to prevent a crash landing.
Magnificent white wings unraveled themselves and flapped gently but strongly to keep him hovered above the area. /A black rose.../
He took stock of the damage done in the area. Not a single life could be found. His eyes filled with sadness over the lives of fauna and flora that were lost. He gently landed then placed his palm flat on the barren land. He closed his eyes, said a silent prayer, and the entire land began glowing in a bright white light. When the light dissipated, the area was covered in greenery once again. However, there was still a forlorn look on the angel's face. /What a pity that the animals could not return to their state. May their souls live on freely and peacefully for eternity./
He stood and flew off. The others quickly dusted themselves off then awkwardly followed the angel. The angel frowned in calm determination. /So it really was you. I will find you and end this war./
Vanora felt like it took longer for the fog to dissipate this time. She started feeling uncomfortable about being held in his arms. His hands on her shoulders. His arms against her back. Her front and cheek pressed firmly against his front. Just as she thought of asking him about the mechanics of his power, the fog lifted. An inaudible sigh of relief escaped her.
Vanora slowly spun in a circle to look around her. They stood in the middle of a very large room. The entire place was made of wood. Most of the furniture and the beams were mahogany in colour. The floor was light brown and felt cold against the soles of her feet. The empty view beyond the open window piqued her curiosity. So, she headed towards it. A treacherous and menacing looking canyon extended as far out as the eye could see. The sky was pitch black with no stars nor moon. She began to have an inkling of where they got teleported to.
"Where exactly have you brought me to? Your home?"
He frowned slightly as if it was an insult to call this place his home. "My home's much better than this place. But the bath here is supposed to be great. It's an inn I frequent to try and get better sleep. It sometimes gets stifling and lonely back at home."
"Better sleep? You have trouble sleeping?"
Vlad nodded then walked to the right side of the room to slide open a door that revealed a small section of the room leading into the bath. "There's a shower here and a hot spring deeper in. Feel free to use it until you're satisfied." He said with a smile.
"What're you going to do in the meantime?" She was not about to trust this lustful demon here to behave himself.
"I'll handle the administrative matters. Oh! Come to think of it, we do not know each other's names yet! You can call me Derek. What's yours?"
"Call me Vanora." She replied while walking to the bath.
"Vanora..." He smiled to himself with satisfaction.
"I'll leave now and... come... back..." His voice trailed off as he followed her line of sight. She turned out to be staring at the clean set of clothes on the shelf. It was a pair of male and female robes nicely folded and presented. Too nicely. The male robes were black and nothing too out of the ordinary. The female robes looked more like bright red strips of cloth meant for seduction.
/BaoBao, do you think he would have a history of women?/
[Considering that he's well-loved and respected and a demon... I'd say that it'd be perfectly normal if he had some history, at least before he met Angela?]
/Nice deduction./
Suddenly, she felt her hands taken in a firm grasp. She looked at Vlad in surprise.
"It's never been used before! I don't know why they never give up putting a female's robe in here."
Vanora blinked and gave a noncommittal nonchalant reply, "Mm."
"Please trust me. I have never felt any sexual desire for anyone before I met you."
With his declaration, Vanora's face now went full-blown red. "Okaaay, but seriously, what has that got to do with me? Just go do what you have to do."
Vlad blinked innocently. He had not intentionally teased her but she still gave such a cute response that made him feel like teasing her more. A mischievous grin appeared on his face. Vanora recognised his expressions by now and resolutely pushed him out of the bath area and closed the door on him. He stared at the closed door for a while with the grin still on his face. /She's so shy about such things. How cute./
Her red face resurfaced in his mind. /Ahhh... I really want to kiss her.../
He groaned as he walked away from the door and left the room to do what he has to.
Just as he closed the door to the room and turned to walk down the dark and empty aisle, someone appeared around the corner at the end of the aisle with cleaning equipment in his hands. The person had all the demonic features and his skin still had the rough and tough texture of a demon, but he has achieved maintaining a humanoid form. This told Vlad that he was a young demon.
The young demon dropped his equipment onto the ground in shock. /Who's that? Father told me that no one should be here but Lord Vlad./ He rubbed his eyes to check if he was seeing an illusion. When he took a proper look again, he saw a person approaching with a frosty expression. His heart pounded in fear and excitement at the same time. He dropped to one knee and lowered his head. "Lord Vlad! When did you arrive? I apologise for not receiving you properly."
He did not dare to look up for he felt an intimidating pressure coming from Vlad.
"Your father has passed down the inn to you?"
"Not yet, my Lord. I'm still learning the ropes."
"Did you see anything strange earlier?"
The man looked up in surprise. "As expected from Lord Vlad!" He recalled what he saw with a puzzled expression. "For a moment earlier, I thought I saw a different person with black hair and red eyes at the end of the aisle before you appeared. Is there something wrong?"
"There was?"
"Just now... ... ..." The demon's voice trailed off as his eyes glazed over like he was spacing out in the middle of a conversation. After a short while, clarity returned to his eyes. "May I know how long will you be staying this time?"
"An indefinite amount of time. Make sure no one enters this side of the establishment. I'll call if I need anything."
"Complete privacy! Understood!"
Vlad disappeared into thin air in front of the young demon and the young demon breathed a sigh of relief. He would have recklessly bragged to others about being up close and personal with the demon lord but his father has warned him against it several times. Not only would they not be able to deal with the crowd that would result in a lack of privacy that Lord Vlad had came here for, Lord Vlad would probably take their lives for his loose mouth.
The demon picked up his cleaning equipment from the floor and scurried off to inform his father who was at the front desk.
When his father heard the news, he reminded his son of the standard protocols for housing Lord Vlad once more. Once he was done, his father wondered to himself. /This is the first time he has asked for this much privacy. Could it be... a girl? Will we finally have a Lady?/
The older demon cackled which baffled the young demon. /How lucky that I never gave up placing the female's robes in his room. I'm sure that would be to Lord Vlad's taste./
On the other side of the door, Vanora was taking a few deep breaths while lightly patting her chest to help herself calm down. /He's really so hard to handle./
When her heart finally settled, she asked BaoBao to check if he had left.
[He left the room since awhile ago, ran into someone in the corridor, exchanged a few words, then disappeared into thin air. Now, I don't know where he is.]
/It doesn't matter. Seeing how he is, he'll likely be back soon./
Vanora spared no time in stripping down then went to take a proper shower.
She entered the shower and found the most scenic bathroom she has ever been in. It was open air with high walls made of bamboo. The floor was covered with black pebbles everywhere. Large flat stones formed a path to the shower which base is a smooth dark grey stone platform. Vanora stopped herself from further ogling at the beauty of the place and immediately showered.
After showering, she decided to soak in the hot spring to plan her next course of action instead of returning back into the room where Vlad would be at. She felt that she could not get much thinking done whenever he was around to mess with her.
She stepped out of the shower on the other side from where she entered and walked towards the bamboo door. Upon swinging the bamboo door open, a simple and spacious room that consisted only of a hot spring and the open sky above it greeted her. It was truly ideal for pure relaxation.
Just as she settled inside the hot spring, BaoBao exclaimed loudly in her mind. [Ah! Vlad appeared in the section before the bathroom!]
/Just keep watching him./ Vanora calmly instructed BaoBao.
[Oh. He left. ... He just replaced the red strips of cloth with some black garments and accessories.]
/Alright, let's get to work. The "spiritual energy" of the previous worlds seems to appear as hellfire in this world. Also, it doesn't seem like I'm able to cultivate. When I was absorbing the flames back into me, my control is not perfect. I simply imagined as if I was cultivating. Even so, I only felt the hellfire return to me, nothing else was being absorbed./
[Seems like everything is innate in this world?]
BaoBao speculated./That's right. My normal training by cultivation would be ineffective in a world without spiritual energy in it. I wonder how I should train to increase my power then.../
[Since you feed on wrath-related emotions to grow stronger...]
/I will have to start with learning to see people's aura. Only then can I learn to absorb it./
[Who would you target? Humans? Demons?]
/Whichever is available. As long as I do it when the situation's right, they won't lose their lives just because I feed off their emotions./
[Won't lose their lives? Why would you care if they do? Isn't it harder and less efficient when you need to account for the situation? How does this benefit you?]
/From where you come from, would you sacrifice another just to get stronger?/
[If it makes perfect sense to do so, I'm pretty sure we would. As long as it's effective and efficient, we don't see why not. It's all for the sake of faster progress as a whole.]
/Well... I have to say that some humans probably would have no qualms about it too. But it's a different case for me. It feels... less cannibalistic for me./
BaoBao added this discussion to his now growing database on emotions before continuing to assess if there was another way for Vanora to get stronger.
BaoBao recalled Vlad's first tip to Vanora. [There IS one other efficient way. Vlad mentioned the wrath-related emotions within you.] /Indeed. I want to leverage on this. It would make it less dependent on external sources which means a more reliable source of power./ [Wouldn't this call for a precise control over your emotions?] /It seems so./ [But what sort of emotions fall under wrath? I wish I could be of more help but...] /BaoBao, isn't that why you're learning now? This way, at least you'll be of help one day./ BaoBao felt a warm and fuzzy feeling in him. [Yes! I'll do my best!] /Now... I think emotions like vengeance, anger, hate, and hostility should be wrath-related.../ BaoBao imagined Vanora as some angry evil women but just could not form the image in his head. [Uhhm... I can't picture you that way.
"When's the soonest we can leave?" Vanora got straight back to the topic at hand. "Tomorrow morning. Have a proper rest now. It's getting late and you probably had it rough for a long time, didn't you?" Vanora held his gaze that was one of sincere concern. /One moment he's all playful and the next he can be so serious. It's kind of amazing how his emotions can swing from one to the next so quickly./ She looked down at her tea and took another sip before talking. "... You probably had it rough till now too, didn't you?" Vlad caught on that she subtly confirmed his question. He smiled bitterly when answering her question. "Yeah, it wasn't easy but I don't matter. What happened to you? How and why did you change into a demon?" He sounded so soft and gentle like he was trying to coax a wild animal out of its home. His fingers lightly touched her hand that was still holding onto her cup. She very calmly withdrew her hand and placed
[Ah! Should I have warned you? I just assumed that it'd be alright since he was just getting close to you and not touching you or do you mind that as well?] BaoBao rattled on in his fear that he made the wrong judgement. /He didn't do anything to me, did he?/ [Nope!] /Then it's fine./ She reassured BaoBao while she tried to pry her shirt out of his hand. [Erm... But he DID do something to himself... I think.] /What did he do?/ Vanora absentmindedly questioned while she struggled to get her shirt out of his hand. Having done the same thing with Erica for so many times before, she felt odd for experiencing so much difficulty with it this time round. [The mark of a black rose appeared at the back of his hand.] Vanora turned his hand over and saw nothing but flawless skin. /Don't tell me.../ She gradually used greater force to y
"Hope you like this." He said while placing the plate of blue rare meat drizzled in some kind of red sauce in front of her. Although the red made the dish look terribly raw, it smelt and looked appetizing. Her stomach finally growled with hunger she did not know she was suffering from. The desire to hunt for much more arose within her. /I see... I would only know when I'm craving for meat when I'm around prey. ... That'd be too late./ She stared at the generous serving on her plate then looked at him. "Do you not need to eat?" "I'll eat whenever I feel like it. I do not suffer the same dependency on food like other demons." "I see." Vanora returned her attention to her meal then cut off a chunk of meat. The moment the flavour and taste hit her, her eyes lit up a little and a sound of pleasant surprise escaped her. "Mm!" She could tell that he gave her something of premium quality yet again. It tasted so good that she worried if she would no l
The next space was a lot smaller. The air smelt so rancid that it was slightly nauseating. Vanora frowned slightly. The area seemed empty. She could not sense anything hiding in the dark above or in the corners. /In that case, I can only trigger something to happen./ She carefully placed her foot on the ground beyond the tunnel. Her foot sunk in a little, like she was stepping on mud. /Is this like quicksand, a place filled with booby traps, or is something underground?/ She continued to exert pressure on the ground, eventually placing her full weight on that one foot. It stopped sinking in after her foot was half submerged in the soft ground. Slowly, she took another step forward. Then, another. With calculated movement, she gradually made her way to the other side. Suddenly, blood spurted out of legs. Several fresh scratches appeared before she knew it. She could not see what happened, much less react to it. She immediately stopped moving,
Vlad returned to find Vanora already in bed. He could tell that she was still awake. He sat on the edge of the bed on the other side and dried his hair. "You know... Seeing you train and practice so diligently today is really refreshing." He spoke in a soft voice, trying to strike up a conversation. Although she did not reply, he continued unfazed. "Do you plan to do the same tomorrow?" He heard a soft sigh then the rustle of her hair against the pillow. "Exactly the same?" Vanora nodded again. His eyes rounded in surprise and he turned to look at her back. "Have you always followed such a strict routine?" Vanora recalled the original soul's past and realised that they were about the same in this aspect. So, she nodded again. "But you're a demon now. Your lifespan's much longer than a human's. You have many many years to grow stronger. Why do you still work so hard?" Vanora understood where he was coming from. It was pr
Two weeks passed by in a blink of an eye. She fought with several kinds of hell beings. Some resembled demonified or zombified animals. Some looked completely out of the world. The ones that challenged her the most were the ones that had a humanoid form. Its intelligence tended to be higher, so it was trickier to deal with. She could not win with a straightforward attack. While she did eventually get used to triggering her enhanced instinct to escape unscathed each time, there was something telling her that this difficulty was not enough. Asking Vlad for more difficult opponents did not change a thing. She was never put in a dire situation where she could really lose her life. Would real battles be this easy? Somehow, she doubted it. She began to look at Vlad with a growing suspicion. However, Vlad remained obtuse. He was used to Vanora being grumpy, so he did not realise that he had become the object of scrutiny. His aura was currently a light and clea
With Vlad consistently stepping in her path, she knew that it was impossible to walk on, so she stopped. However, she continued to avoid his eye contact by turning her head to the side and keeping her eyes on the ground. "Tell me what're you upset with. I'll help." /Help?/ [Uh oh.] Vanora was already barely keeping it together. Her anxiety, frustration, anger, and other negative emotions that she had kept bottled up until earlier, burst forth again. Her lips and eyes twitched in her effort to stomp it back down, otherwise she would explod at Vlad. However, a sudden random thought flashed in her mind. /Let it go. Fight him./ Her mind became a blank after that. It was as if she had arrived at the answer to all her problems. She suddenly turned to face Vlad properly, surprising him as the golden specks in her eyes burned brightly. "You'll help?" She laughed sarcastically for a short while, then scoffed,