Legacy World 4.5

BaoBao quietly enjoyed the pair's interaction. He found it interesting and amusing. Vlad's quirkiness kept throwing Vanora off and distracting her from her objective. She accepted his help faster and easier than she normally would, she has completely forgotten about his kiss on her neck, and he made her forget about her insecurities. Just as he got comfortable with being the spectator, Vlad's next move alerted BaoBao. Based on his understanding of Vanora, she would not like what he was about to do.

[Uhmm... You might want to look up. Now.]

Vanora sensed the urgency in BaoBao's voice, so she immediately did as he suggested. Vlad's face filled her entire vision. Her heart jumped. Before her mind registered what was happening, her hand instinctively flew up and roughly pushed his chin up.

Vlad looked down at her from the corner of his eye. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? What are you doing?"

"You blushed. Do you know how inviting and kissable you looked?"

Vanora sighed exasperatedly. "Please stop doing such things."

Vlad retreated and sat back down properly with his head hanging low. Just as she thought that he was sulking, he looked up at her with large puppy-dog eyes. "I really can't?"

Vanora pursed her lips tightly together. Making such an expression with that charming face he has, she was sure that if it was anyone else besides her, male or female, they would give in to any of his demand. /Is this his skill of lust or something?/

"You can't."

"Ah!" He winced in pain.

Vanora took in a sharp breath. "The hellfire!"

"My heart." He clarified before she could take his arm to focus on the task at hand again.

Her hand froze in motion then it slowly clenched into a fist. She was beginning to feel ticked off. There she was, fretting all over. Yet all he did was fool and joke around. She stood up sharply and intended to walk off without caring about him any longer.

Before she could completely turn away from him, he held onto her wrist firmly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'll stop playing. I won't make any moves on you too. Please don't leave me." Words flew out of his mouth.

She looked back at him and saw a strange panic in his eyes. It made her anger and irate melt away. /What's his problem with me leaving his side?/

She plopped back down then took his hands into hers to examine them. By now, everything lower than his elbows were reduced to bones. The fire has reached halfway up to his shoulders.

She resumed her train of thought from before he distracted her. /Extinguishing... Reversing the process... Reversing... Reverse... Should I try doing the opposite of what I did?/

She looked at the movement of the hellfire and imagined it as the spiritual energy of this world that was to be absorbed into her body. Using the same way she cultivated in the previous worlds, she called the hellfire back into her body. Gradually, the hellfire calmed down and retreated back into her hands that were holding onto his.

She heard an almost imperceptible sigh of relief leave Vlad's lips. Now that she paid close attention to his face, there were beads of sweat all over his forehead and his lips were a little pale. Vlad caught her staring and immediately broke into a mischievous grin. "Oh? Did you fall for-" He stopped mid sentence when she raised an eyebrow. He coughed lightly. "What do you want to do now? I can bring you to a place of lesser demons and fight there till you're stronger. Or do you want to go into the thick of it and experience the war? I know where the weaker angels are at. Oh, or perhaps you want to experience the spreading of sins? Personally, I find that the most fun and satisfying."

Vanora stared at him silently for a short period of time. Her unblinking stare even made Vlad's smile falter and made him fidget uncomfortably. He laughed awkwardly. /Is this how it felt like for her?/ Vlad cleared his throat. "So...?" He tried to probe for an answer.

"I want to rest. I just came out of a surprise duel, then got thrown unprepared into a test that could have grave consequences. I'm tired."

She went to a nice big sturdy tree and leaned her back against it before closing her eyes. Not long later, she heard Vlad settling down beside her. Since he was not up to anything funny, she let him be.

It took a while before she heard his breaths turn slow and steady. She opened her eyes and turned her head to check if he was truly asleep. Something moved in her peripheral vision and drew her gaze to his arms. Flesh gradually regenerated like magical threads weaving itself together. Colour slowly returned to his face, giving him a charming blush.

/I really don't get him. I thought he was just so overpowered as a character that he felt no pain even though it was supposedly the hottest fire in existence, but he was obviously feeling pain. Why did he act so calm?/

While deep in thought, she studied his gentle yet masculine features. Before she knew it, she very gently and lightly poked his cheek. /He's sound asleep. Why did he mention doing everything but rest? He clearly needed it. Come to think of it, he was likely at the front lines of the war before he came to me.../

With that thought, she studied his black suit even more closely. She barely made out the splotches of dried up blood. She then looked at his face again with a complicated expression.

"Why? Why do you treat me so well?" Vanora whispered her question aloud, as if expecting an answer.

/I shouldn't be treated this kindly... I didn't manage to give anything back to LongFei for all that he has done for me. I can't be in debt to yet another person.../

Her gaze slowly trailed from his face down his neck to his exposed collarbone, across his broad chest that was rising up and down slowly, down his exposed arm with well-defined muscles, to the bones of his hand.

/What a foolish man. So strong but dying so easily for an unrequited love.../

Her hand that she used to poke his cheek was now resting near his right hand. She lifted it again and inched it closer to his hand.

BaoBao held his breath as he watched Vanora's hand go closer to Vlad's hand inch by inch. He dared not respond to her silent musing in case it would make her self-conscious. Instead, he had thought to himself. /Is she finally letting down her guard? Perhaps I can let her know about it soon./

Just as she made contact with the bone of his thumb, Vlad frowned and groaned a little. She retracted her hand immediately and saw his flesh going through a growth spurt. Blood vessels and tendons shot out and extended to his hand and fingers. The magical threads interweaved each other faster and faster. The parts that were restored looked pristine new as if it had never been injured before.

Vanora looked down at her own hand. /What was I doing?/

She took her hand back and held it to her chest with her brows locked tight in a frown.

/I'm highly unstable in this world. I keep going in and out of character. I can't focus. My control over my emotions is poor too. I need to re-focus./

Vanora walked along the river bank further and further away from Vlad while making sure to stay as silent as possible. She intended to clear her mind without the influence of his presence. /BaoBao, let me know when he wakes up./

[Okay!]

Unbeknownst to them, the further away Vanora went, the more Vlad's eyes darted around under his eyelids. His sleep became increasingly disturbed and restless.

It had been some time since Vlad had a good sleep.

Vlad did not know exactly when it started but some time after being ranked as the strongest demon, he felt like there was something missing in his life. It was not power nor time nor women. He has plenty of those as long as he wanted it. Heck, he could even want a man and he would be able to find one without difficulty.

His heart simply felt empty. People liked the him that he presented to them, the him in their mind. They worshiped that side of him and would always brush off instances of mischief and childishness as "acting weirdly because he is unwell". He eventually stopped caring and fully used this persona they loved so much to rule their hearts. He let himself go whenever he visited earth under disguise.

Being in the middle of all the drama and happenings that he caused among ignorant humans filled him with excitement and fun that temporarily filled the emptiness he felt. Even so, as time passed, it was no longer enough. The feeling that he had to find someone bugged him so much that it resulted in insomnia. Whenever he managed to fall asleep, he would see a blurry image of a woman in his dreams. This gave him the idea that she was what he was missing.

Not long later, he ran into an angel secretly throwing a tantrum in the forest. Having never seen an angel like that before, she appealed to him. There was more character in her than all the other simple-minded devout angels. The more he observed her, the more he empathised with her. The way she tried to maintain the image of a "proper angel" reminded him of himself. Thinking that she was the one in his dreams, he persistently approached her even if she clearly disliked him to the point of wanting to kill him. Her antics entertained him at best.

Nonetheless, his sleep remained restless. He finally understood why when he met the new demon.

It had been another normal day of diversion and manipulation of the war. All this effort was to keep Angela safe. Through the long and hard battle that lasted a day and night, Vlad sensed the creation of a new demon. Demons born naturally never alerted him this way. However, converted ones were rarely successful. They either died during the transformation or lost their minds to a demon's instincts. So, he did not have much hope. Sensing that the new demon was still alive after his intense battle, he decided to pay it a little visit to gauge its value.

After his teleportation, the picture of a small girl calmly eating by a fire took him by surprise. Demons that survived the transformation would always be on a rampage somewhere. Feeling somewhat doubtful, he clarified if she was the new demon. However, he quickly felt odd for doubting himself, so he went through the motion of briefing her without waiting for her response.

What he never expected was the shock he would receive upon making eye contact with the new demon. When their eyes met, a hair-raising shock wave surged through his body and heart. It was hard to miss the golden sparkles in her grey eyes. Something inside him told him that she was the one. The one he had been looking for. The one his heart had been yearning for. The missing piece in his life.