"What can be done?"

"His poison is mana-deteriorating one. It is the type of poison to kill instantly. It spreads throughout the body mana and makes it start working negatively. For now, a major part of his mana is still working positively but that won't be for long. This guy is a smart one, creating mana-oriented poison for me was a good step to take. It's a pity..."

"Working negatively?"

"Mana supports the basic body system and provides supernatural strength, working like a catalyst for the actions and reactions in our body. This happens when it is working positively when the mana starts acting like a negative catalyst, everything starts going downhill.

"What is it that we can do?"

"I don't know."

"Aren't you a doctor??"

"Doctors don't know everything. I am done explaining all I know about this matter.."

"...ok then lemme get this straight." "A major part of his mana will start working negatively soon enough, we can't pass new mana to him... and his mana is degrading his body. Is that right??"

"Yes."

"Nothing can't be done, means nothing had been done."

"What do you mea..."

"Hardest questions have simplest answers, think Ashleen Think!!"

"Calm down a bit"

"Mana... If his own mana is all okay then there is no problem..." Ashleen looked at Wind Master expecting an answer. Wind Master was quick to grasp the situation and understood what she was thinking. Seeing that Wind Master didn't reply she continued.

"If his mana can be cleared of any poison then there is no problem. This situation is like kidney failure, we need dialysis."

Even Earth Master understood what she was thinking at this moment. "No that's absurd!"

"Why?!" Exclaimed Ashleen.

"What do you think is the dialyzer here?"

"What is the problem with that?" That was the only question Ashleen had for now. What can be used as a dialyzer? Seeing the reaction Wind Master gave earlier, he understood what she meant but since he chose to pretend that he didn't, there was something he didn't want Ashleen to know. So now she needs to use her brain to form some tactics to extract the answers. Questioning like you already know everything is one.

"Using your own body is suicide!!" Wind Master saw through her trick long ago but Earth Master played right in her hands.

Ashleen looked stunned for a while before continuing, "How does that work?" She said looking at the guy lying next to her. Earth Master still didn't realize what he had just done and looked at the Wind Master.

Wind Master sighed and said, "You don't need to"

"Are you going to do it then?" Ashleen said mockingly. He was silent for a second. He didn't expect her to be so blunt.

"He saved your student, didn't he??" She said looking at him with eyes full of anticipation. "You'll work as a dialyzer, right"

"This won't work on me, kid." He said looking in her eyes, "You can't piss me off enough to get this information out." Ashleen was silent for a while, but soon realized she couldn't trick this guy. He can feel her nerves excited and calm. If using his skill carefully he can always understand her actual emotion, along with the experience he would have gathered throughout the years...

"...Then what should I do?" Ashleen lowered her head as she said slowly.

"Why are you so desperate?" He said in a calm tone, paying attention to how her body would react.

"Why..." Ashleen wondered... Was it because of the 80% power... but that won't want her to become the sacrificial lamb... "I don't know," she said honestly "But I want to save him regardless."

"You won't regret it, will you?"

Ashleen looked at Anik and nodded her head slowly. He got into this situation because of her suggestion in the first place, it's her responsibility. She controlled her mana, concentrated all of it in her core leaving nothing in the rest of her body, and touched his face. It was cold, the previous warmth was like it never existed. She held the side of his face in her hand and looked for a while.

"I am willing, I also know the method now, but how is it going to work? How am I supposed to cleanse the mana? I can transfer mana but taking it from him... how?"

"I can't let the king and queen know." Ashleen startled by the sudden voice of the demon felt a dull pain in her head before passing out.

Demon prince appeared behind her and looked at the two masters.

"Aroura and Vihaan will be here in about an hour."

"That... your previous host body and her partner?"

"Yes, after our fight the last time I confined those two in a cell underground. It wasn't a comfortable place to live in but I had to make sure they think it was you people who did it."

"We would have given them a better place..." Said the Earth master.

"So, what is the plan ahead." Wind Master asked.

"We need the least number of people to know about us five working together. I firmly believe Gayatri is not dead. So we'll play for a bit longer. Aroura and Vihaan don't know anything at all so pretend that you both got tricked and let them take Ashleen along."

"Why not Anik? He'll be dead soon anyway."

"That's more of a reason to keep him here, Jade platform is an artifact left by that guy..." There was a moment of silence before he continued again "Anik won't die if we can get everything done on time."

"You have a solution?"

"I'll let Ashleen do what she wants..."

"..." After a brief moment of silence and a dumbfounded look on his face, he spoke, "You didn't go crazy, did you? Even if we are to think rationally and choose one to save, in every possible way Ashleen is a better option."

"I choose to believe in her companions." He said looking certain.

"... I don't know what that means but... It's too risky. What if she died?"

"She'll soon figure out about us working together, so I'll choose her dead instead."

"And. Why. Please??" "Is she not trustworthy enough?"

"I suspect that Ashleen is Gayatri's next target. If Ashleen survives then knowing this will let her be cautious... If she dies it won't be bad either. Being dead is far better than being that girl's target."

",.." Both of them didn't say a word anymore and looked at the prince for a while. His outer arrogance hides a lot beneath.

2 Days Later

Ashleen removed her finger from Vanshika's forehead thinking she passed on the Demon prince's memories, without knowing what she did. In the few milliseconds from Vanshika stumbling and falling to opening her eyes a dark red aura formed around Ashleen and the demon helped her disappear from there.

Ashleen coughed out blood and looked around her surroundings, She was in a forest and there were no living organisms nearby. She held onto a tree to support herself. Ashleen sat down with her back to the tree trunk. She took out a small bottle from her waistband and drank the liquid in it. It was something she asked for from the healer lady. This thing was an instant mana healer, it can't work on the body but when it comes to mana. Nothing works better than this. After using her skills for too long and filtering the demon prince's memories along with handling the poison she got from Anik, all of this became too much, if not for the healer lady's help she wouldn't have been able to get back to her feet again. I hope the healer lady had a solution for the poison itself.

Ashleen got up once again and walked towards the monument glowing lightly in the night. She looked at the night sky. There were numerous stars in the sky.

You know I used to be star gazer She sent this through mayday trust to Anik. Ashleen wrote a long letter writing what she liked and what she didn't, what she aspired to be, and what she hated so that Anik wouldn't feel the way she did. She didn't get to know him but she can let him know about her. She moved to the water stream.

"Miss I want to wash my face," Ashleen said with a smile. Her makeup was long ago smeared and there were blood droplets on her face. She was about to dip her hands in the water when a face popped out of the stream and looked at her. Whatever happens in the monument is known to all four masters instantly. Stripping Gayatri out of this pact was hard but now that it's done, the monument is a safe place to do whatever everyone wants to. The head soon was a full body and she touched Ashleen's face tenderly. Everywhere she touched was washed clean. Even the makeup got removed instantly. The water was warm but even it didn't manage to give warmth to her heart. Water master was aware of what was happening and had a vague idea of what would happen but she was in no place to interfere. She doesn't need to either, many people come and go in life, and caring about each one is too much.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Ashleen soon was at the door of the monument. Wind and Earth Master had sensed her presence long ago but they didn't have the heart to bring her in. Ashleen walked in. She looked at the jade platform in the middle of the room. She got up on the platform and touched Anik's face with tenderness.

When the demon prince shared his memories with Ashleen he also shared the way this could be done.

There are many ways to pass or share mana, except for double cultivation every other could be done without the consent of the 2nd person. One can even remove the mana from another person as long as they are on a considerably higher level. As for Anik's case, Ashleen needs to remove the mana, purify it, and pass it back in.

Ashleen is not stronger than Anik but for now, Anik's body is too vulnerable to stop his mana from getting removed.

The best way to pass the mana back is to pass it to the place where the mana is stored, regulated, and circulated from the mana core. Ashleen, if was strong enough could have removed the mana in a single go, purified it in her body, and passed it back. But last time Wind Master showed her how strong Anik's poison is. He wanted to show her that she would die in the process of purification and this would be no better than double suicide. Even if Anik managed to survive without the mana then he would basically be crippled in a world where mana is everything.

Purifying was another thing that the prince made her understand. As long as the body doesn't treat the mana foreign core will try to clean it on its own. Since Anik had shared her mana once earlier as a form of medicine her body recognizes it. It was going to be hard, maybe even impossible if it was not for the prince leaving her body, now she has all control over the negative parts she was suppressing. This is not something she was going to let out if not for this weird series of situations.

But Ashleen thought of a better way instead. She will do all these three things simultaneously. Removing the mana, purifying it on the core, and passing it back altogether. There is a chance Ashleen might die midway. The best thing to do is to get out all the poison and send back enough mana for his core to function normally.

The fastest way to get the poisoned mana out is by...

"Mr. Anik, consider yourself lucky. You got my first kiss... and also the last one."

She held his face with one hand while the other hand was on his abdomen, right where the core was. Ashleen looked at his face and smiled before closing her eyes and placing her lips on top of his cold ones.

As soon as she did this too much poisoned mana rushed into her body almost choking her to death. Wind Master had warned her about this, "If it was a normal person he would have died as soon as he touched." This was the other thing that liquid she got from the healer lady was helping with.

Ashleen was well aware of the fact that medicine won't work for long enough, if this medicine was this strong she would have given it directly to Anik but there is a limit to its working and after getting exposed to more than a certain amount of damage it'll stop working.

Ashleen was prepared to die anyway so she wanted to take the safest way possible when it came to the poison purification. She gathered the mana purified till now in her left hand above his core and kept taking the poisoned mana to her core, making sure both of them wouldn't get in contact. In less than 15 seconds all the poisoned mana would be out. She was not passing the mana back, overloading her body. If she started giving it back too soon there is a fair chance it'll be poisoned again. She felt an overpowering force in her throat but she kept it in. In less than 5 seconds, she was almost there.

Soon enough, Poisoned mana was all out, she lifted her face weakly. Her face was now turning purple-black as she started the mana transfer to his core. She looked at Anik, his complexion looked visibly better.

Ashleen felt burning pain throughout her body. She touched his face with her free hand again. It was warm. Ashleen smiled. Her heart felt warm again. Ashleen felt darkness taking over her eyes. She closed them and focused on the mana left to purify. Just a little bit was left then she can go freely.

The burning sensation in her body was growing stronger and stronger as she felt the force in her throat again. She quickly, supported herself with her free hand to prevent herself from passing out. There was still some mana left to purify. She refocused on it... in 5 seconds.

Mana was done purifying and she passed the last bit of mana through her hand before lifting it abruptly. There was darkness in front of her eyes and she felt the same strong sensation in her throat she rushed closer to the head of the platform and vomited blood down it. Ashleen wiped her face lightly as she sat on the platform. The process of purification was over. Her rushing mana was calming down, her body was calming down as well. She felt her head spin. Her mana and body were soon done calming down and started shutting down instead.

It was inevitable. Ashleen suddenly felt nothing as she started falling. Both the Masters looked at the scene from the top floor and did nothing.

Ashleen knew she was going to fall off the platform but since she managed to do what she wanted to she wouldn't ask for more and let herself go with it. Suddenly she felt something, someone holding her wrist, it hurt where it was held. The poison was doing its task.

"So soon?" Ashleen heard something, she knew someone said something but she wasn't able to decode who it was. It was not Anik. Her brain stopped working as her body gave in to intense pain. She was unconscious and felt her breathing stop. She didn't feel the fall, she wasn't feeling anything at all. Her consciousness was going and returning continuously. Everything was unclear. One clear thing was her body was almost out.

15 Days Later

"You are up??" There was the sound of the chair falling. It was the same voice she heard back in the monument. Someone ran out of the room.

Ashleen opened her eyes slowly, There was darkness in front of her eyes, and she felt scared to the core. Memories poured in... so she managed to save Anik and someone saved her. And why was it dark? Did she lose her eyes in this process?

"Scared? That's what you get when you are too reckless." It was a very familiar voice. It was Anik. Tears rolled down her eyes uncontrollably. She wanted to sit up straight but she wasn't able to move a finger. A sudden gloom took over her.

"You are right. Something is wrong with your body" There was no sadness in Anik's voice, it sounded disappointed. Ashleen felt scared. Why did she survive if this was going to be this bad?

"I..." Even her voice was cracking badly.

"Use mayday trust, your throat is in the worst condition."

Ashleen felt sad. Not because her body was a mess but because Anik was not acting the same as he did in the past. She wanted to save him, she had no trouble dying. Living like this was a trouble but this coldness was worse.

"You wanted to say something, didn't you?" His voice was louder than the last time.

Nothing! And what do you think you are shouting for?! Ashleen was happy about Anik being alright but what made him think she'd listen to him go rude like that?

"What do you mean by loud? I am not loud at all"

Ashleen heard something else. It was a chuckle. It didn't belong to Anik.

Something felt off, something was wrong. But there is no way to know. Her eyes are not working at all.

She remembered something, her 3rd person perspective. She quickly tried to turn it on but felt a pain in the back of her head. She resisted it and tried again.

"Don't bother with it." Anik sighed as he walked over to her bed. Ashleen heard his footsteps stop right in front of her face. Anik bent over and removed the black blindfold from her eyes. Ashleen opened her eyes. Anik was half smiling. Dark circles under his eyes were the evidence he hadn't rested in days. Ashleen looked around, she was in her room. The chandelier looked beautiful again. Ashleen smiled.

She looked at Anik again. A tear came down her left eye. Anik sat down beside her and wiped it away. He bent down and hugged her tightly.

"Why did you do that??" Anik's tears wetted her shoulder, and Ashleen felt warm again. She smiled, "Because my 80% power is very important" She chuckled. "Oh, my voice" Ashleen moved her limbs, there was slight pain but everything was working again. "How this?" "Don't tell me this was a prank." She said putting her arms around his lean back.

After a few seconds, they let go of each other. Ashleen sat up with Anik's support.

"It wasn't a prank. But it was a punishment."

"Why do I already know who came up with this one?" She smiled and looked at the smiling face of Anik in front of her. The side of his eyes were red, but his smile was happy now.

"You right my sis." Said Vanshika walking in, "I am the one who planned it, after all, what can scare you more than being crippled?" She was cross-armed with a lot of confidence in her walk. She sat down on the empty side of the bed while Anik moved to the chair beside her.

"Don't you think that was too cruel?"

"Oh was that?" She said tossing a letter towards Anik. Ashleen recognized it instantly. She wanted to catch it but Anik was quicker. "Don't read that!!"

"Why? You wrote it for him, didn't you? I am disappointed though" She said shaking the letter Ashleen wrote for her. "A few words," She said looking at her letter... "A few pages," she said looking at Anik's.

"I had nothing to tell you, you know everything already."

"No, I don't. I don't know when Ashleen became so dumb to lay her life for a 'psychopath'" She said looking at Anik. "I don't know what the reason for that was." "I don't know a lot."

"Oh, by the way, where is Akansha?? And that stupid prince??" Ashleen asked trying to change the subject.

"Don't change the topic, you always go rambling about how one should take advice if they are feeling mentally messed up before making a decision. You could have talked to me too."

"...What could you have done?... I did think about it before doing that."

"What did you think?"

"I've talked to the masters before being brought out by the demon and they said there was nothing they could do, they are so old, they couldn't do anything... that's why I didn't expect from you either."

"Did you know my skills?"

"..." There was a look of sudden realization in Ashleen's eyes.

"That's right, I am the one who helped your legendary doc you idiot. You don't know how hard it was to find a chance to talk to your demon after getting all those memories. He disappeared. No one else knew how to get there, you should feel lucky."

"Sebastian didn't know either?"

"He didn't, he used a teleportation talisman to get out of their area and there is no talisman strong enough to get you there. Only demon is the one except for those five who knows where that place is."

"..."

"When I finally reached there Anik had already made the antidote and the wind master was helping him with the mana. To say he's a master but he doesn't understand how strong his mana is, that's ridiculous. The way you two work is like helping the other up just to fall yourself. Like what the hell is wrong with you two?"

"... Oh,... where are others?" She said again trying to change the topic.

"They are waiting outside?" She said helplessly.

"...I won't do this again," Ashleen said slowly. All three of them were silent.

There was a sound of the door opening and everyone walked in, Akansha, prince, healer lady, king, queen, Dhruv.

She was happy. Why wouldn't she be?? Everyone was safe and sound. Akansha walked over to her, she had her fists clenched. She stood there for a while before finally breaking into tears. Ashleen stood up on her knees, and Anik helped her with that. She patted her shoulder because what else was she supposed to do? She smiled in her cry and she raised her hand. Slap incoming... It did come. Her hand landed softly on Ashley's cheek before she moved back saying lightly, "That was embarrassing but I'll give you a tighter one soon enough if you do this again"

Ashleen sat back down and felt a sharp familiar pain on her forehead, without any doubt it was the prince's forehead flick. He smirked and walked out of the room. It was a lively noon. After an hour or so everyone walked back into their rooms, leaving Anik and Vanshika.

"What is the entire story though?" Asked Ashleen.

Vanshika sat down on the bed, "From the beginning to the end it was the demon's plan. Anik's poison was unexpected for him though." She said stretching.

"And the books played as a variable as well," added Anik.

"Books?"