After listening to Luke, Tibbers visibly let out a breath of relief, though he still stared at him warily. "Then what do you want?"
Back during that great battle, his source had indeed been wounded. After being sealed away for so many years, he had never had a chance to recover.
Until those bold humans began trying to use his power to achieve other goals.
Only then had he been released from the seal. Using that chance, he escaped the seal, but he was also confined within another cage.
That cage was Annie's mother, Amoline.
"Obviously, I want her. Did you think I wanted you?"
Luke glanced at Tibbers, then shifted his gaze back to Annie. "A child this innocent will be led astray by you sooner or later if things keep going like this."
Tibbers was briefly at a loss for words. He had more or less guessed Luke's goal.
Now, it seemed that was indeed the case.
However, the second half of Luke's words was actually wrong. Tibbers did not intend to deliberately guide Annie into becoming bad. The road she would walk in the future would, in truth, all depend on Annie's own decisions.
For safety's sake, he stared at Luke and said, "Right now, my soul is bound to hers. If you harm me, it's the same as harming her."
Hearing him say that, Luke smiled. "That would be the worst-case scenario. Killing you would actually settle everything once and for all, wouldn't it? Even if it hurt her, with her spiritual strength, she would recover sooner or later."
Hearing Luke's words, Tibbers fell silent again.
Damn it. This guy was right again.
In this soul binding, he was the weaker party.
Hurting him was indeed the same as hurting Annie, but if he died, Annie would not die.
And this girl had considerable spiritual strength. It would not take too long for her to recover.
But Tibbers also noticed that Luke said this was only the worst-case scenario.
Staring at him, Tibbers asked, "So what exactly do you mean?"
"Obviously, I'm going to take her in, then keep an eye on you."
Luke briefly explained his intentions. "As long as you stay honest, don't cause trouble, and don't force my hand, I won't do anything to split the two of you apart."
Annie was a born fire mage, and Tybaulk was a born fire demon.
Their compatibility could be called perfect.
With the fire demon, Annie could bring out the power of fire to its greatest possible extent.
And Tybaulk could use Annie to restore his own power.
Since their souls were bound together, naturally, neither would do anything that hurt the other. In the truest sense, if one prospered, both prospered, and if one suffered, both suffered.
Luke naturally had no need to deliberately separate them. He only needed Tibbers to be as obedient as the little black dog.
At this moment, as Tibbers listened to Luke, his bear eyes pondered seriously.
If this had been in the past, how could he possibly have been threatened by a mere human?
But now, he had no choice but to consider it carefully.
This human currently did possess the ability to hurt him at any time. His true body was sealed inside the teddy bear, and his soul was bound to Annie's.
If Annie did not consciously release fire elemental magic, then his power could not be fully unleashed at all.
On top of that, he had not fully recovered his strength.
He was still counting on slowly recovering his power through Annie.
Annie could be called the most compatible apostle for him in the entire world. She could control fire elemental magic however she wished. The stronger her magic became, the stronger he would become as well.
At the same time, the people devoured by flames would also strengthen his power.
In this way, recovering his strength, or even surpassing his former self, was only a matter of time.
Most of the time, he would not interfere with Annie's decisions, because not interfering was, in truth, also a form of interference.
After all, Annie was still young. Her heart was pure, flawless, and white.
But living in a melting pot like Noxus, sooner or later, she would be dyed the same color as this place.
And that was actually the result Tibbers wanted to see.
But now, Luke had stepped in halfway. He wanted to take Annie away, while also controlling Tibbers so he could not do anything bad during Annie's growth.
And Tibbers did not seem to have any room to choose.
"Fine. I promise you. I'll behave."
After hesitating again and again, Tibbers finally spoke and chose to yield.
"That will do." Luke nodded in satisfaction, though in his heart, he was already making other plans.
Making a verbal agreement with a demon was the stupidest thing in the world.
Who knew? Maybe one day, they would suddenly break the agreement.
After thinking it over, he felt he needed at least some kind of balancing method.
So, right in front of Tibbers, Luke took out the Secret Key and made a video call to Frey, who was far away in Demacia.
These few simple actions left Tibbers staring in confusion, completely unable to understand what Luke was doing.
Until Frey quickly answered, and her voice came from inside. "Your Highness? Is something wrong?"
Tibbers was immediately shocked. As an experienced demon, he rapidly analyzed the reason behind it.
He could sense fluctuations from the spirit realm coming from the Secret Key in Luke's hand.
Its purpose seemed to be communicating with another human.
To Tibbers, this was absolutely unheard of.
What kind of method was this?
Seeing Frey in the image, Luke asked, "Suppose I want to make a contract with a demon, and both sides need to reach conditions that prevent either party from violating the agreement. Is there any way to do that?"
Listening from the side, Tibbers immediately understood Luke's intention.
After thinking about it, he felt this was indeed normal behavior.
After all, even he himself did not think a demon's verbal promise was particularly reliable.
At this moment, Frey frowned in thought for a while in the video, then said, "Signing a contract with a demon is inherently disadvantageous to the human side. Unless both parties have equal spiritual strength and can reach conditions that restrain each other, demons basically always have the advantage."
"So aside from certain people who want to obtain great power through demons, almost no one would sign a contract with one."
After Luke listened to her, he roughly understood. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Is the little black dog beside you?"
"He is."
As Frey spoke, the image shifted toward the little black dog lying on the ground and yawning.
He looked listless, but once he saw Luke's face in the video, he immediately stood up from the ground.
Luke looked at him and directly asked, "You heard our conversation just now. Is there any way?"
The little black dog did not think for long before speaking in human language. "There is one method, and you can do it too."
Seeing a dog speak in human language, Tibbers did not feel any great shock.
He only instinctively sensed that something about this little black dog was off.
But the distance was too great. Through the image alone, he could not see its essence clearly.
"Say it."
"You can plant a dream seed in the other party's subconscious. When I used to control humans, this was basically how I did it. Human spiritual strength is weak, and in order to obtain power, most of them don't resist either, so it's easy to leave a dream seed. For demons, the difficulty is somewhat greater."
The little black dog spoke like this, then explained further. "A dream seed is a seed left at the essence of the soul through demonic power. In other words, it means applying a thought. The thought will automatically manifest as a seed. The seed can deepen the connection between both sides, and when that thought is violated, the dream seed will automatically explode."
He had once used this method to control human dark mages who tried to obtain power through him.
When those humans wanted to betray him, the dream seed would automatically detonate.
At this moment, as the little black dog explained, Tibbers felt a chill of fear. Then he suddenly froze, connected it to something, and his eyes became somewhat horrified.
If he had guessed correctly, this little black dog speaking right now was also a demon.
Just like his own situation, the other party's true body had been sealed inside this dog's body.
And if he had still not guessed incorrectly, this demon was one of the two demonic powers inside the human before him.
This guy had actually captured a great demon alive and was using it for himself?
Although he himself had once served a powerful existence, one had to know that that existence was not human.
As a human, enslaving a demon was absurd no matter how he thought about it.
After listening, Luke became thoughtful and said, "Tell me how to do it."
"First, you need to establish a connection with the other party's spiritual strength."
The little black dog began to explain.
Luke possessed a portion of his source power. Although he could not use all of his abilities, using the dream seed was still something he could do.
"The other party cannot have emotions resisting the dream seed. After all, it is planted in the subconscious. If he doesn't want to be bound by it, it's actually very easy to fail."
The little black dog spoke slowly.
Although most humans would not resist him planting a dream seed.
Following the little black dog's explanation, Luke roughly understood the process. Afterward, the little black dog told him what the dream seed's magic seal was.
The dream seed was also a kind of magic. For Luke as he was now, it was not too difficult.
After hanging up the video, Luke looked at Tibbers, who had been watching for a long time. "You understood too. Simply put, in order to know you won't break the agreement, I'll leave a dream seed inside your body."
After listening for so long, Tibbers actually understood it a little better than Luke did.
Because he himself was a demon.
"I have no objection. But if you want to use the dream seed to achieve some other purpose, I can only say that's impossible. The agreement between us is limited to me honestly staying with Annie."
Tibbers stared at Luke as he spoke.
Luke said, "You can sense the terms of the dream seed yourself too. If they don't match, then the worst that happens is that you resist and cause it to fail."
Tibbers nodded. "You can begin whenever you want."
Following the method given by the little black dog, both sides began establishing a spiritual connection.
With Tibbers actively cooperating, this step was fairly easy to carry out.
Luke only felt his soul sensing a scorching energy. The feeling was extremely strange, as if his own soul was burning with blazing flames, but it did not make him feel uncomfortable.
His spiritual strength found Tibbers, and demonization also began on his body as he released Nocturne's demonic power.
In an instant, a gloomy chill emerged, driving away part of the heat.
Tibbers only felt a terrifying demonic aura surge toward him, carrying a soul-seizing might. He immediately knew that his guess had been correct.
This demonic power belonged to an existence on the same level as him.
At the same time, he also discovered that this human's spiritual strength was not weak either. It gave off an extremely sharp feeling.
In truth, if an ordinary human established a spiritual connection with him, how could they possibly withstand it?
He had also wanted to use this chance to test Luke. Now, it seemed the other party truly was not simple.
At this moment, following the method the little black dog had told him, Luke began the first step in leaving the dream seed, applying the thought.
It could be understood as imagining a sentence, a scene, or something else.
If one's spiritual strength was insufficient, it was impossible to accomplish this step.
After the dream seed was planted, Tibbers sensed that energy. After confirming there were no problems, he accepted it willingly.
As long as he confirmed that the dream seed was harmless to him, behaving for the next period of time was not a big deal.
Naturally, the dream seed could not restrict him forever. As time passed, it would slowly dissipate.
Luke knew this too, but what he required was only the present.
As for the future, even he himself did not know what would happen.
The spiritual connection between both sides began to break. Luke felt the heat in his body fading away, gradually returning to normal.
After opening his eyes again, he withdrew Nocturne's power.
"Are you satisfied now?"
Tibbers spoke.
"More or less. Next, tell me about Annie's mother."
Luke nodded, then asked again, "She seems to still be searching for her mother. You should know what happened."
"She won't find her."
Tibbers's voice sounded very cold at this moment. "Because her mother is already dead."
Seeing the look in Luke's eyes that wanted to keep probing, he thought for a moment, then slowly began to speak.
It really had been a long time since he had appeared in this form and spoken.
Thinking that the long night was still far from over, and that he had reached a stable agreement with the human before him, he was in no hurry to do anything.
"I'll start by telling you about her mother, Amoline. She was indeed a fire elemental mage with very high compatibility with me. But compared to her daughter, she was far too inferior."
Demons rarely held feelings toward humans. Even though he admired Amoline very much, while telling this story, his eyes still gave off a cold, eerie chill.
Amoline was a fire elemental mage of exceptional talent. Because of this, when she was young, a magic academy named the Ravenbloom Conservatory took notice of her and then conscripted her into its halls.
And at the time, Tibbers was sealed inside a specially made furnace bottle within the magic academy, often accompanied only by loneliness.
All of his abilities were imprisoned inside a bottle the size of a palm, with no way to use them.
As a fire demon, just as the name implied, his power came from flames. The more living beings flames devoured, and the greater the disasters swept up by fire, the stronger the power he could obtain.
At the same time, he also liked tempting humans into accepting the harm of fire. Watching their pained expressions and struggles as they burned themselves to death was also one of his pleasures.
It was just that he had no chance to start fires at all.
Ever since that great battle back then, he had been sealed away. He had no idea how long those lightless days had passed.
Until the ambitious Grand General launched an invasion of Ionia. They needed more weapons to fight against that pure land.
So Amoline was fortunate enough to be chosen.
As a fire elemental mage herself, she naturally had a certain degree of compatibility with a fire demon.
The headmistress of Ravenbloom Conservatory decided to use a ritual to soul-bind the fire demon to Amoline, thereby allowing Amoline to obtain even greater power.
The ritual was very successful. Tybaulk was released, and he could finally feel the outside world again. But because of this, he was also transferred into confinement within Amoline's body.
These memories were all read by him from Amoline's mind. After several centuries, his understanding of the outside world was also expanded through Amoline.
Having regained freedom, Tibbers naturally was unwilling to remain sealed forever inside the shell of a human woman, so he began deliberately guiding Amoline toward ruin.
At that time, this human woman did not even know of his existence, and she relied entirely on her tenacious willpower to resist.
Along with occasional coincidences and luck, Tibbers failed repeatedly and temporarily gave up.
Determined never to use magic to harm anyone, Amoline fled Ravenbloom Conservatory after realizing the danger of the element within her body.
At the time, the northern region of Noxus was very barren. The climate was cold, there were many mountains, and ferocious beasts prowled about. Danger was common.
Very few people would choose to settle there, so she fled north all the way and met Annie's father, Gregori, on the road.
The two of them experienced many stories together and eventually made their home in a remote, uninhabited forest in the north.
Amoline soon became pregnant. Immersed in the joy of becoming a mother, she had not yet realized just how severe the consequences would be.
Not long after, the child was born. The couple named her Annie.
The family of three lived in seclusion like this, enjoying a happy life undisturbed by anyone.
But they did not know that Annie's talent was quietly awakening as well.
Soon, little Annie reached the age of babbling and toddling. Then, suddenly, one day, an accident arrived without warning.
That day, both Gregori and little Annie fell ill. The one in the most serious condition was little Annie.
Her entire body was burning hot, almost hot enough to scald the hand, as if she were enduring a transcendent heat. Even Amoline could not hold her in her arms.
Amoline did not know what was happening. Flustered and at a loss, she finally decided to fetch some cold water from a nearby river.
Naturally, Tibbers knew the reason behind all of this.
Even he was greatly surprised.
Because Amoline had already possessed considerable fire elemental magic talent, and after fusing with his power, she had ultimately given birth to Annie, a born fire elemental mage.
Her talent far surpassed anyone else's, standing at the peak of humanity.
Tibbers saw it at a glance. She was in the middle of a crucial transformation.
If she could survive this day, then without a doubt, human history would welcome its strongest fire elemental mage.
She was a natural controller of fire. Before her, all flames had no choice but to submit.
But if she could not survive it, then that could only be called a pity.
At the same time, Tibbers also realized that for him, this was an opportunity.
Of course, Amoline knew nothing about any of this. She did not even know that, all this time, a fire demon had been secretly watching everything.
She anxiously fetched a basin of water from the riverside, then hurried back home.
However, even cold water could not dispel the heat on Annie's body.
At that moment, Tibbers appeared.
Amoline was shocked by the fire demon's appearance, and fear appeared in her eyes. But out of motherly love, she also quickly calmed down and linked Annie's condition to the fire demon.
She believed the fire demon had caused all of this.
In truth, that was indeed partly the reason.
Without the fire demon, even if Annie possessed outstanding magical talent, she would not have awakened this early and faced such a difficult trial.
"I told her that I had a way to save her daughter. But before I could even state the price, that woman agreed without the slightest hesitation."
The waves of flame around Tibbers shrank somewhat, making him look like a bear the size of a human. He sat cross-legged opposite Luke, behind the teddy bear.
"She said that no matter what I wanted her to do, as long as I could save her daughter, she was willing. So… I told her my condition."
"Amoline was a fire mage. If she were ultimately devoured by flames, then for me, she would naturally be a great supplement. At the same time, I would also be able to escape confinement. I had wanted to do this for a very long time, but I had never succeeded. This time, however, I found my chance."
"When she heard that she would need to burn herself to death, Amoline still agreed without hesitation. She carried Annie outside the house and took the teddy bear she had sewn for her."
"She lit the campfire and stepped into it without hesitation."
When Tibbers reached this point, admiration appeared in his eyes. "She is one of the very few humans I acknowledge. I have witnessed many humans burn themselves to death. When people are scorched by flames, they either scream in agony, roll around on the ground, or suffer unbearably. I enjoy watching them like that. But Amoline, even when great flames burned across her body, even when the fire charred her skin and burned out the smell of flesh, she never made a sound."
"Annie had my protection, so she had no fear of the flames' assault. I watched her hold Annie in her arms. The tears flowing from the corners of her eyes were evaporated by the heat of the flames before they could fall. At that moment, the expression on her face was more beautiful than anything I had ever seen. I finally witnessed a human mother's love."
"While I was distracted, I failed to notice that I was about to be tricked by that woman."
At this point, Tibbers did not show much anger. He said calmly, "In that extremely short time, she almost immediately discovered that I was bound to her soul, and that she occupied the dominant position."
"She endured the pain while secretly casting magic. She sealed my true body inside the teddy bear and sealed my soul within Annie's mental world. This way, I had no choice but to save that little girl. Otherwise, I myself would suffer a backlash."
"I barely had time to react, and everything was already complete."
"She really was too clever. Almost all of humanity's virtues were gathered in her."
Recalling that scene, Tibbers still remembered it vividly even now. "In the fire, after seeing her daughter safe, she actually smiled. Before she died, she begged me. She did not command me. Instead, she looked at me with eyes like a stray puppy begging at the side of the road. She begged me to take good care of her daughter."
"In the end, the flames devoured her. Her body was burned away entirely, without even ash remaining. Part of her soul fed back into me, strengthening my power. As for the remaining part, it is inside this."
As he spoke, his gaze turned toward the teddy bear.
"Usually, I would devour a person's soul completely. But this time, I did not. I thought she must have wanted to continue guarding her daughter forever."
Tibbers spoke slowly.
There was one thing he did not say.
That was that, at the final moment, he had agreed to Amoline's request.
Although she had tricked him, this woman had made Tibbers feel a tremendous change in his view of humans for the first time. This time, he had lost wholeheartedly.
He strengthened the magic Amoline left behind and deepened his connection with Annie.
This woman had earned the respect of the fire demon.
A human life was far too brief for a demon.
But at the very least, he would protect the little girl for the rest of her life.
That was right. Although at the beginning, he had indeed thought about controlling Annie to speed up his recovery, and that was also why he had directly appeared.
But this time, he did not do that.
Ordinarily, he was just a teddy bear full of a mother's love, given to her daughter.
But when necessary, he would also be the fire demon who killed without blinking, Tibbers.
Tibbers's story came to an end.
Perhaps she sensed something, because Annie, sleeping soundly, frowned uneasily. A glimmer of tears appeared at the corner of her eyes.
She was probably having a nightmare.
Luke reached out and gently stroked her brow with great tenderness.
Very soon, Annie's frown eased, and she entered a good dream again.
Tibbers was also watching her as he said, "The little girl still believes her mother will come find her. I do not plan to tell her the truth. Though to me, it means nothing, for you humans, I think it would be too cruel."
Because of Amoline, he was slowly coming into contact with human emotions.
He knew that this was definitely a truth Annie would not want to accept.
As the cause of it all, he did not feel guilty, and he had already prepared himself to face Annie's hatred.
This would not affect his determination to protect Annie for her entire life.
"If you insist on telling her the truth, I will not stop you."
Tibbers looked at Luke as he spoke.
After listening to this story, Luke felt only admiration for Annie's mother.
Looking at the sleeping Annie, he did not respond to Tibbers. He only said, "Go back."
Tibbers stared at Luke for a moment, then dove headfirst into the teddy bear.
The teddy bear trembled twice, then returned to its ordinary appearance.
The heat in the air also dissipated quickly, and everything soon returned to normal.
Early the next morning, Annie woke up very early. She rubbed her eyes and first confirmed that the teddy bear was still in her arms. Then she said blankly, "Tibbers… Annie slept so comfortably."
She was usually quite sleepy too. Most of the time, she was either walking, eating, or sleeping.
But it had been a long time since she had slept so comfortably. She had slept so deeply that she forgot the time and did not even sense Tibbers.
After waking up, even her body felt light.
"Are you awake? Want breakfast? I cooked some hot porridge."
At this moment, Annie heard Luke's voice. When she looked up, she saw him tending the fire and cooking porridge. From a pot he had somehow gotten, a sweet fragrance drifted over.
While she was still dazed, Luke had already brought over a bowl of hot porridge he had ladled out. "Careful. It's hot."
"Thank you, Mister…"
Annie reached out her little hands to take it and sweetly thanked him.
She looked at the porridge, blinked, and for no reason, felt a wave of loss in her heart again.
She was about to part from him soon.
Just then, she suddenly heard Tibbers's voice, then lifted her head in surprise.
The little girl could not hide what was on her mind and immediately said, "Annie wants to stick with you again!"
Hearing this, Luke smiled. "Why did you change your mind again?"
"Because… because…"
Annie could not exactly say that Tibbers had changed his mind.
She also did not know why, but after one night of sleep, Tibbers had suddenly changed his opinion of Luke greatly and was praising him in all kinds of ways.
But this was a good thing, because she really liked Luke, and now Tibbers liked him too.
This way, she could keep "sticking with" Luke.
Unable to come up with a reason, she pursed her lips and secretly looked at Luke. "Do you not want Annie to?"
"Of course I do."
Luke smiled, reached out his hand, and extended his pinky. "This time, to keep you from changing your mind again, let's pinky swear."
"Mm-hm! This time, Annie definitely won't!"
Annie immediately beamed with joy and stretched out her little hand to pinky swear with Luke.
"Pinky promise, no take-backs for a hundred years."
For some reason, she felt very happy.
After all, her fate with Luke had only just begun.
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