A full month had passed since Sovereign Ignis issued her decree and the Aegis of Flame had settled into a grueling, relentless rhythm.

  The initial frenzied tidal wave of hopeful healers and arrogant opportunists had broken against the unforgiving shores of Ignis’s strict standards. The dark ironstone floors of the outer courtyards had been swept clean of the ash left behind by the executed failures.

  This served as a grim and silent warning to anyone who dared to step through the towering gates without true mastery. The line of physicians had thinned from a chaotic mob of thousands to a slow and heavily vetted trickle of the realm's most ancient and reclusive experts.

  Yet, despite a month of constant examinations, esoteric treatments and the consumption of spiritual herbs that were so rare they were considered myths, no one had found a cure. The ash core remained. The congenital defect woven into the very fabric of Asha had stubbornly resisted every attempt to ignite, extract or bypass it.

  However, despite the complete lack of a medical breakthrough, the atmosphere within the young woman's private chambers was lighter than it had ever been. Asha was not cured but she was getting better.

  Li Yu sat in his usual spot near the massive bed with a thick scroll resting casually on his lap. He was currently reading a rather dry historical account of the region's volcanic cycles and was occasionally turning a page while maintaining a comfortable and quiet presence.

  Within this last month, he himself had advanced to the second level of Divine Transformation. He had nearly endless resources within his inner world to draw from and was growing stronger everyday. While he tended to the real world, his second mind was continuing to dive deeper into the laws. He would also make progress during the night.

  He was being treated like an honored guest now as well. Cultivation resources were given to him so he could cultivate and want to stay put. Li Yu wasn’t one to turn down a free gift so he accepted since he was indeed staying here longer than he wanted to.

  On the other side of the room, Demon Lord Malos was reclining in a lavish chair and expertly tossing grapes into his own mouth. Because Malos had absolutely insisted on having a front row seat to the medical spectacle, Li Yu was effectively stuck here as well.

  He didn’t mind it so much anymore because he was now given access to Ignis’s library. Not the secret techniques but access to techniques and more importantly for Li Yu, knowledge. He found out that the next big stage after Divine Transformation was Soul Transformation. It was for the soul, what Divine Transformation was for the body.

  Upon reaching Soul Transformation, the soul of a being could leave the body behind if needed. This greatly weakened the soul but it allowed the being to escape in a bad situation. However, they couldn’t just take over another body. The body had to have compatibility with their soul, which was a rare thing. Most people that escaped with their soul rarely ever found a second body. They were stuck in soul form for the rest of their days until their soul faded away or were stored in some treasure that kept the soul alive.

  Another reason he didn’t really mind was that he and Asha had become friends. He was the first person that wasn’t her mother that she could talk to and play with. That didn’t treat her like a patient and the daughter of Ignis. Since her condition was more or less stable around him, she was able to have real interactions with someone.

  "You know…" Asha said softly and broke the comfortable silence.

  Li Yu looked up from his scroll. Asha was sitting upright against her plush pillows. The deathly gray pallor that had constantly haunted her features was entirely gone. It was replaced by a soft healthy warmth. She was breathing evenly and without the rattling wheeze that used to accompany every inhalation.

  "I know many things," Li Yu smiled as he closed the scroll. "Which specific thing are we talking about?"

  "It isn't just Muddy," Asha stated as her smoldering orange eyes locked onto his. Li Yu raised an eyebrow and was mildly confused.

  "When you first summoned him in the courtyard a month ago, the pain stopped. We all thought it was his aura. But he isn’t always out. And yet... the friction in my chest hasn't returned when he is gone."

  She leaned forward slightly and her gaze was sharp and observant. "The cold only starts to creep back in when you leave the room to eat or rest. It’s you, Li Yu. There is something about you that is making me okay. It’s not curing it, but... it’s keeping it from getting worse. That’s why mother has allowed you to stay here all the time."

  Li Yu remained silent for a moment. He had noticed it too. Everyone close to the situation has actually. He was acting as a living and breathing warding totem of sorts. Just by sitting in the room, his presence was somehow passively suppressing her condition.

  Before Li Yu could formulate a deflective response, a shadow fell over the entryway.

  Sovereign Ignis stood in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest. She had been standing there long enough to hear her daughter’s deduction and judging by the calculating look in her eyes, she had already come to the exact same conclusion long ago.

  "A mother notices when her child stops suffering," Ignis said as her voice echoed softly off the heavy fire silk tapestries. She stepped into the room and her gaze fixed entirely on the human wanderer. "Your very existence in this palace is keeping my daughter from pain, Li Yu."

  It was a heavy admission and one that terrified Li Yu internally. If there was anything more dangerous than drawing a Demon Lord's anger, it was becoming absolutely vital to a Demon Lord's happiness. To Ignis, Li Yu was no longer a curious tourist; he was life support.

  "It is merely a temporary reprieve, Sovereign," Li Yu said carefully. He was choosing his words. "I am glad my presence offers her comfort but it is not a cure. The root of the problem remains."

  "A reprieve is more than the greatest minds in the realm have managed to give her," Ignis replied flatly. Ignis turned her gaze away from Li Yu and looked directly at Malos, who had paused his grape tossing and was watching the exchange with keen interest.

  "Lord Malos," Ignis addressed her peer. Her voice dropped into the heavy and formal cadence of a ruler preparing to negotiate. "A word in the corridor. Please."

  Malos dusted his hands off on his robes and offered Li Yu a subtle and highly amused wink before standing up. "Duty calls, my friend. Do not lose my page in that scroll."

  The two Sovereigns exited the chambers with the heavy wooden doors clicking shut behind them to ensure privacy. Out in the dark ironstone corridor, Ignis didn't waste time with pleasantries. The heat radiating from her spiked, carrying the desperate and unyielding will of a mother.

  "I want the human," Ignis demanded flatly. "Name your price, Malos. I will open the inner rings of the Aegis vault to you. I will grant you uncontested dominion over the entire eastern volcanic ridge. I will fill a dozen flying ships with supreme metal and deliver them wherever you wish. Leave him here in The Eternal Crucible."

  Malos looked at the Sovereign of Flame. The cheerful and eccentric traveler persona vanished in the blink of an eye. The unfathomable weight of the Lord of Foresight settled over his shoulders and his eyes darken to the color of a starless void.

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  "He is not a pet, Ignis. Definitely not my pet." Malos said. His voice was quiet but echoed with an authority that made the very air feel heavy. "He is not a vassal, a slave or a trinket to be bartered away. He is Li Yu. He is my friend and he is my companion on the open road."

  Ignis’s jaw tightened and her flames were flaring defensively. "He is the only thing keeping my daughter from fading into ash! He is a human, Malos. A mortal wanderer. You cannot possibly value his company over the staggering wealth I am offering you."

  "You fundamentally misunderstand the nature of our journey," Malos corrected her while stepping closer. He didn't project killing intent but the immovable certainty of his aura pushed back against Ignis's heat. "I do not own him. I cannot give him to you because he is not mine to give."

  "Then I will simply command him to stay," Ignis countered with her eyes narrowing. "He is in my territory. I am the Sovereign. I will build him a palace of his own, shower him with resources and elevate his status above my own generals. But he will not leave her side."

  "No, you will not," Malos said while shaking his head slowly. "If you attempt to force him, Ignis, you will find that the open road extends much further than your walls and I will ensure he walks it safely. You will not trap him here."

  The tension in the corridor was thick enough to forge weapons from. Two of the apex powers of the realm stood inches apart with their wills clashing silently over the fate of a Core Formation cultivator reading a book in the next room.

  Finally, Malos’s features softened slightly. The intense and ancient pressure receding away.

  "If you want him to stay, Ignis, you must ask him. Nicely." Malos said as his voice returned to a more conversational tone. "Not command. Ask. And only if he agrees of his own free will shall I permit him to remain. But do not try to cage him. A forced animal breeds resentment and resentment will taint the very stabilization you seek to preserve."

  Ignis stared at Malos for a long, calculating moment. She was a being of absolute conquest; she took what she needed. But Malos was defending him. She did not feel confident to fight against Malos and even less confident to be able to trap him in any location. If he wanted to take Li Yu away, he would be able to.

  Slowly, Ignis let out a long breath of superheated air.

  "I will not rush it," Ignis conceded reluctantly. "Seeing her stabilize... seeing color in her cheeks... it is enough for now. Perhaps one of these physicians will still find a true cure. Until then, he remains your guest."

  Malos smiled with the cheerful merchant returning. "A wise decision, my fiery friend. Patience is a virtue rarely practiced by our kind."

  Their tense agreement was suddenly interrupted by the echoing toll of the Sentinel Chime ringing out across the capital.

  BONG. BONG. BONG.

  Ignis frowned and her gaze snapped toward the ceiling. "Three tolls. Again?"

  "It seems your suitor has returned," Malos chuckled as he recognized the specific rhythm of a border approach.

  High above The Eternal Crucible. A oceanic blue hue gently pushed back the emberlit ash and was announcing the arrival of Sovereign Morven with significantly more respect than his previous grandstanding.

  He brought a fleet of sleek transport vessels. Morven had spent the entire month scouring the hidden depths of his own domain and leveraging every favor he possessed across the realm. He returned not with monstrous trophies but with an army of healers.

  Hundreds of aquatic doctors, abyssal alchemists and deep tide physicians marched off the transport ships. Behind them, heavy crates filled with the most potent and guarded resources of the Violet Deep were unloaded. Glowing kelp that took millennia to mature, pearls filled with concentrated life force and vials of restorative sap harvested from sunken forests to name a few.

  Morven himself strode through the gates of The Eternal Crucible with his heavy seasilk cape flowing behind him. He wasn't booming declarations of love today; his pale blue face was set in a mask of grim determination.

  The Lord of the Violet Deep bowed deeply, offering the vast contents of his vaults to her without condition. Li Yu noted the interaction carefully. Morven was loud, boastful and incredibly dramatic but his concern for the girl was absolutely genuine. He truly loved Ignis and by extension, he was willing to bankrupt his own empire to save her child.

  Ignis looked at the staggering amount of resources Morven had brought. Her expression was tired, carrying the weight of a month of failures but as she looked at the towering aquatic Sovereign, her eyes softened. She didn't dislike him.

  The grand, foolish romanticism that had annoyed her for centuries was suddenly the greatest beacon of support she had. Her heart, however, was currently entirely occupied by her daughter's survival; there was no room for romance yet.

  Morven’s aquatic experts joined the grueling rotation and was bringing new philosophies of water and life attribute healing to the medical crusade.

  It was during this renewed influx of activity that Morven heard the whispers circulating among the elite Ash Guards. The rumors of the human wanderer who sat by the girl’s side. The strange human whose mere presence was holding the shadow of death at bay.

  The very next afternoon, Li Yu stepped out into the private, magma lit garden to stretch his legs. He was surprised that waiting for him was a towering Demon Lord waiting for him. Morven stood near a blooming Ash Rose and looked entirely out of place in the blistering heat. His supreme cultivation kept him perfectly comfortable.

  "You must be Li Yu," Morven boomed at him. His voice was naturally resonant and loud, even when he was trying to be polite. He stepped forward and was offering a massive, pale blue hand. He had meticulously suppressed his corrosive and toxic aura so as not to melt the human on contact.

  Li Yu reached out and shook the Sovereign’s hand firmly. "I am. It is an honor to meet the Lord of the Violet Deep."

  "The honor is mine, little one." Morven laughed. It was a deep and hearty sound. "I hear you’ve been doing the impossible. You’ve brought a blush to the girl’s cheeks when the greatest alchemists in the sea, land and sky have failed."

  "It isn't a cure, Sovereign Morven," Li Yu clarified while maintaining his humble posture. "I am only somehow holding it at bay. It provides her temporary relief."

  "Temporary relief is the foundation upon which cures are built!" Morven declared as he went to slap his free hand against his scaled chest. He looked at Li Yu and his pale eyes were entirely devoid of the haughty arrogance most Demon Lords displayed toward others. Instead, there was a sharp and pragmatic intelligence shining through the boisterous exterior.

  "Let us speak plainly, Li Yu," Morven said while gesturing toward a pair of dark ironstone benches. He sat down and the stone groaned slightly beneath his damp cape. "I am a man who pursues his heart. My heart belongs to Ignis. Ignis’s heart belongs to Asha. Therefore, ensuring the girl breathes is my ultimate priority now."

  Li Yu sat opposite him and appreciated the refreshing lack of shadowy scheming. "A straightforward philosophy."

  "Exactly!" Morven grinned. "Now, I see the board clearly. You are the only thing keeping the girl stable. Which means, my human friend, you are in a very precarious, yet highly lucrative, position. Ignis is a conqueror. She will either build a golden cage to trap you here forever or she will bury you in so much wealth you voluntarily refuse to leave."

  Li Yu sighed internally. It was exactly what he feared and hearing another Sovereign say it out loud confirmed his dread.

  "I have no desire to be trapped and I have enough wealth," Li Yu admitted quietly.

  Morven leaned forward and was resting his massive elbows on his knees. "I understand the call of the open horizon. But until a true cure is found, you are stuck. So, I have made a decision."

  "And what is that?"

  "We are going to be excellent friends," Morven declared while offering a wide and slightly fanged smile. "I am going to empty my vaults trying to cure that girl. You are going to sit by her side and keep her stable enough for my doctors to work. And since the daughter is the singular path to the mother's heart... perhaps, when Ignis looks upon you with gratitude, you might occasionally mention what a dedicated, handsome and altogether stellar fellow Morven of the Violet Deep is?"

  Li Yu stared at the Demon Lord. Morven was openly bribing him with friendship to act as a wingman for a Sovereign courtship. It was absurd. It was ridiculous. But Li Yu actually found himself liking the man immensely.

  "Sovereign Morven," Li Yu smiled as he was relaxing his posture. "I think we are going to get along quite well."

  "Excellent!" Morven roared happily and reached into his robes and produced a massive, coral encrusted flask that sloshed with glowing blue liquid. "Then let us drink to stability, to cures and to the inevitable merging of our great domains! Do you partake in Kelp Wine? It has a kick but I assure you, it will only melt your throat a little bit!"

  As Li Yu accepted the flask and was preparing to test his Devouring Abyssal Leviathan Physique against a Sovereign's toxic alcohol, he realized his life in this realm had officially reached a new peak of strangeness.