The woman led him through the winding hallways of the High Tower’s upper floors. They eventually reached another lavishly decorated room.

“Have a seat,” Ira pointed at a raised seat placed under the crystal chandelier. She rummaged through the drawers of her desk for a while before finally finding what she was looking for. With a small object wrapped in grey cloth, she approached Ash.

“What is that?” He asked, still standing at the entrance. Wary, he narrowed his eyes as she unwrapped the cloth.

“I do not intend to harm you,” She put the cloth aside, showing him the item. A small, colourless crystal that was small enough to fit comfortably in her palm. She could easily clench her fingers around it. “The Oracle uses crude methods because she is blinded by her faith. She doesn’t stop to consider the human side of corruption.” Her lips formed a thin line. “There are other, harmless ways to remove soul magic from a diluted mana pool.”

Ash remained hesitant. “What will you use that for?”

“I’ll separate the dark mana from you and pour it here.” She once again pointed at the seat. “But it will exhaust you. It’d be better if you were seated.”

He shot a glance at the seat. It was placed on a raised section of the floor. If he sat there, his head would easily reach her shoulders. It reminded him of the raised beds at the hospital in the lower floor of the High Tower. Like them, there was a crystal chandelier right above it, shining a bright, yet neutral coloured light upon the seat.

Looking at Ira, he slowly stepped closer to the seat. Did he trust her enough to let her try? No, he decided. But the Crown Prince wouldn’t stop the Oracle from probably killing him just to let some other woman do the same. So, the question at hand was whether he trusted the Prince or not.

The answer was clear. The Prince wouldn’t clash with someone as influential and powerful as the Oracle just to have someone else kill Ash. He climbed onto the seat.

“Thank you.” Ira approached him, with the small crystal in hand. “It won’t hurt at all,” She reassured him. “It’s perfectly safe.” She placed the crystal on his chest, then raised her hands.

A mix of dark blue and bright red mana rushed out from her hands like a raging river. The vivid, bright colours flowed towards him, covering his chest and legs like a blanket. They formed weaves so complex he couldn’t follow them, and slowly began sinking into his chest.

Stolen story; please report.

He braced himself, expecting waves of excruciating pain, but all he felt instead was a warmth slowly spreading through his body. His hand clutched the pendant from over his shirt as all of his instincts screamed at him to protect it.

Then, the mana flowed back, away from him, and with it, it dragged something else. A writhing black mass of mana seeped out of his body and flowed into the crystal she put on his chest.

It felt as if a great weight had been lifted off of him. He felt lighter and freer, and somewhat different. His mana felt as if it was his own once again. He clenched his hands around the pendant. A momentary dizziness was all he felt as Ira stumbled back and held onto the armrest of the seat to keep her balance. She took the now black crystal and dragged her feet towards her desk.

She wrapped the crystal in that same grey cloth, then put it back in her desk drawer before wiping her forehead and looking back at Ash. “It’s done, I pulled out all of the dilution in your mana pool.” A faint smile appeared on her lips. “I honestly didn’t expect it to be quite so bad. You should be feeling much better.”

Ash nodded. He did feel better. He wasn’t exhausted at all, to the contrary, he felt rejuvenated.

“I cleaned the dilution.” She repeated. “But I wasn’t able to completely cleanse your soul.”

Ash felt his heart sink. “What does that mean?”

“Imagine your mana pool is a bucket of water.” Ira explained. “And the dark mana I pulled out was the oil spilled in it. It was at the top, and easy to separate from the water.” She then touched below her chest, where her mana heart was. “Your soul, however, is now fused with your mana heart. And what I felt was a tinge of soul magic within it. I can’t cleanse it, nobody can.”

Ash scowled. “But… I don’t have a mana heart.” He protested. The hunt hadn’t even properly begun when the Apostle captured him and everyone else. Before she killed them all and tried to sacrifice Ash.

Ira raised her eyebrows. “You do.” She stated. “It’s small, and weak. Grey and far from perfect, but you have one.” She tilted her head to the side. “How are you unaware of this? Absorbing a mana heart is a long and arduous process.”

Ash shook his head. He didn’t have a mana heart, he never got the chance to receive one. “Are you sure?” he asked, trying to remember how Maya and the others summoned their own mana hearts to show Ash and Fionna.

He clenched his right hand, then opened his palm instinctively.

A small crystalline object floated above his open palm. It was crude, far from the smooth mana heart Maya had received. Grey and unimpressive, it emitted a pale, weak light. Streaks of black appeared on its surface rarely.

Ash glared at it. He didn’t feel surprised, though he probably should have been feeling so. He instead felt satisfied. As if everything was the way it should be. He wasn’t disappointed that all he got was this small, crude, grey and pale mana heart. He wasn’t sad that it wasn’t a divine one, or even an arcane one. This was fine.

It was perfect.