“Uh, is this okay?” He asked her as he understood what they were doing. “Didn’t you say before that it’s dangerous to go through here?”

“As long as we’re only here for a day we’ll probably be fine. We need to get you checked out and unfortunately, there probably isn’t anyone better suited for it than her.”

“Look, I know the skill sounds bad, but I feel fine. Besides, I dealt with bacteria and fungus growing across my flesh during the trial, not in a huge rush to repeat it.”

“Ben, I’m worried about you so I need you to do this for me. Trust me, I have no interest in being here either.”

She looked at him, filled with an earnest desire that he be okay and whatever small amount of opposition he had to the idea crumbled.

“Okay, I guess a day isn’t too bad. Where do we need to go?”

“Um, I’m not actually sure.”

It was her first time there and she didn’t know much about the area. Looking around, they were in the heart of a dense forest, with the peaks of the death mountains just visible in the distance through the trees. Around the gate was quiet enough, but she knew better than to let her guard down. From what she understood, this land was basically her aunt's playground, and she didn’t want to know just what sorts of things she kept there.

Seeing no obvious signs of where to go, she briefly thought of leaving to get her father to help lead the way, only to stop as she saw a life spirit floating by.

“Excuse me, could I bother you to guide us to Vividus?” She politely asked, getting a positive response as she did.

“Ah, earthkin! Of course, follow me!”

She hadn’t been expecting such a positive response from the spirit, but word about her had been going around amongst them in a way it never had before. The fact that she could replenish their mana elevated her to all of them, changing her from someone who had a connection with Abrus they couldn’t quite understand to something else entirely.

They were led through the woods, no path to use since the concentration of life mana there would leave it overgrown in days or weeks, while she stood at the ready with her staff in hand. She knew the area was known for its dangers, but as the woods gave way to a small town they’d encountered none of them. It seemed like far too peaceful of a trip, but that thought was quick to vanish from her head as she saw what was on the other side of the town and was clearly their destination.

“God’s above Viv, why are you like this?” She muttered to herself as she saw the castle that towered into the sky.

Perhaps she shouldn’t have judged too much. The home she’d grown up in herself was of a ridiculous size as well, but it also served the purpose of handling her mother’s government affairs. This just seemed needless.

They made their way through the town at a quick pace, ignoring the people they passed as they did. It was mostly just groups who found it easier to live near vast swaths of life mana for one reason or another, with life affinitied fairies flying amongst them all until they reached their destination, with Thera taking the initiative to bang on the front door.

They waited and waited, getting no answer as she tried again. It was understandable that it might take time for someone to get there considering how big everything was, but after half an hour of knocking she gave up and let herself in, finding a wide entry room, filled to the brim with sculptures and other decorations.

Ben gave her a look that she shrugged off. “She’s the one who said to come if anything changed with you and she knows we can’t stick around here. If she’s unhappy she can deal with it.”

“Not exactly the most respectful stance, but it’s no matter,” Vividus said, appearing at the top of a large stairway with what seemed at first glance to be an incubus by her side. “Thera, I wasn’t expecting your visit.”

“Aunt Vividus, uncle Nox. I wouldn’t be here if I could avoid it so why don’t we get this over with. You said to come here if anything changes with Ben so we’re here.”

She cast a look to him as she walked over, whatever was on the life spirit’s mind impossible to tell due to the shape she took. While she chose to match the form of a succubus as many of the other great spirits had after her father started to, she still looked like a white void beyond the basic outline, it was impossible to tell her thoughts from any sort of expression if she didn’t go out of her way to create it.

Without so much as touching him, she eventually switched her focus, staring into Thera. “So what level is your life magic these days?”

“I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”

“You came to me for help, you can answer the question.”

“Tch, it’s level nine.”

“I believe I told you to come to me at the sixth level.”

“And I believe I had better things to do. So are you going to actually look at Ben or not?”

The great life spirit stared at her for a moment longer before turning and waving for them to follow. “Nox, it seems I’ll be busy for a while. If you’d come back in a few days or so we can continue our work.”

They walked through a number of halls, each decorated in a way to seemingly show off wealth or power, and she couldn’t grasp why. Spirits didn’t care for such things, and as annoying as her aunt could be, she didn’t think she was different in that regard.

Luckily, Ben had the same thought and had no problem voicing it. “Quite the big place you’ve got here. Is there any reason you need so much space?”

Unlike how she would have asked it, he spoke with only polite curiosity, and it seemed that was enough to get an answer.

“You mortals tend to value it and it makes negotiating with them significantly easier. Anyone who comes here already knows I’m more powerful than them, but something like this conveys that I have more resources as well, even without having to say it. Having a quick mental victory typically makes things smoother later on.”

“How delightfully manipulative,” Thera muttered.

“I’ll do what I need to to accomplish my goals. Now come here and take a seat,” She told them as they were led into what looked like a guest room.

Thera was pointed to a chair while Ben was told to take off his shirt and lay on the bed right before Vividus plunged her arms into his chest the same way she’d done the last time, only for her voice to take on a sound of something other than dismissal. She spoke with a touch of surprise.

“Were you tortured recently?”

“What? No,” Ben told her, before thinking a little more. “Actually, maybe I kind of was. Why?”

“Your body’s a mess. There’s signs of you being healed multiple times, as well as a level of strain that I’m not used to seeing.”

“Uh, so was I not healed properly?”

“You were, but it’s like you were scarred on a cellular level. Give me a moment,” She told him, focusing for just a few seconds and Thera felt the prickly sensation of the room filling with mana, even as she sat a few feet from them. “And fixed. Though from the looks of things that wasn’t the actual reason you came here. What caused the change to your body, or should I say your demon organs in particular?”

“Ah, it’s a funny story,” he said with an awkward laugh, briefly explaining all that had happened from his skill transitioning to getting it to the third level.

By the end her aunt seemed shocked, a fact that would have amused Thera plenty if she didn’t agree so completely with the sentiment.

“To be clear, you took a job you knew was connected to your demon organs and then after linked yourself to a demon's soul?”

“I feel like you're missing some nuance,” He tried to argue in his defense as Thera shut him down.

“No she’s not. So how much of a problem is this?”

“Hard to say, it’s obvious that this has gone far beyond how I’d adapted them to him, I’ll need to look your pet over in more detail. It might take a week or so.”

“What? Vividus, you know we can’t stay here for a week. I’d rather not die of a bacterial infection or something from just breathing the air too long.”

“I’ll make arrangements for a different place to examine him so for now just stay the night, a single day here won’t kill you and I’ll check you both in the morning. I’ll have some food sent to the room later.”

“Wait, are you expecting us to stay in the same room?”

“Is that an issue? I’ve been led to believe you will be joining your life with him one day.”

“That’s just something mom forced on us!”

“Oh, then is there another reason the microbiome in his mouth more closely resembles yours than the last time I examined him?”

“Ah, what? Why do you-”

“It seems like one room will be fine. I’ll have a meal sent here later so for the time being make yourself comfortable.”

With that she left, leaving Thera frozen with no idea how she was supposed to react to that as she eventually defaulted to throwing her hand over her face.

“Gods above I hate her so much!”