Ryan formed a link with both of Gaia's fragments; both the one within his mind and the one inside the walking mountain of metal, plastic and glass in front of him. The moment the link fully formed, a sharp pain coursed through his mind; a splitting headache, as a connection with two fragments of a not whole mind came to be.

It was like looking through a shattered mirror. One side, the one already with Ryan, showed an almost irreparable sorrow that made Ryan want to break down into tears himself. Meanwhile, the other side had nothing to offer but a deep malice. Pure hatred. And all of it, right at this moment, seemed directed at nobody else but Ryan.

Ryan could see the corrupted mana climb the thread of the link, all the way up to Ryan's chest. But within a few centimetres of his chest, the corruption seemed to almost be repelled. As if an invisible wall surrounded him. He still didn't know what was going on, but he obviously didn't mind this situation. It was coming in pretty handy for him right now.

With a jump back, Ryan tried to build some distance between him and Energiser. And though it didn't exactly copy Ryan's actions, it stopped moving, and its legs flinched, as if trying to jump back before interrupting itself. Clearly, he could influence the fragment to some degree, maybe even more than he could with Maximus, but the corrupting malice fought against him every step of the way.

Ryan focused as much as he could on trying to actively 'control' Energiser. He didn't try to suggest anything, he tried to command. To force an action to be taken onto the fragment. As much as it hurt him, that was the only thing that he could do, and with how weak the mind within the fragment itself clearly was, it might work.

"Stay still," Ryan stared deeply at the face of the metallic abomination, taking a step forward as he reached out to the jacket wrapped around its arm. Though it was trying to move, Ryan was stopping it every step of the way. It was making his own movements somewhat clunky, but it was fine. He didn't need to move much any more. He held his breath as he untied the jacket, letting it drop to the ground. It still didn't move.

And then, Ryan took a few more steps back, reaching out to his own chest. He grabbed his shirt, and managed to make Energiser copy the action. It crunched the metal of its chest within its grasp and then tore it away. It was a lot, but not enough. There were still some layers between Ryan and the core.

Right at that moment, Maximus climbed back out of his domain. Ryan had been trying to hold him back, because it would be too dangerous for Maximus. If he ended up being corrupted as well, Ryan would never be able to forgive himself. But Maximus wasn't a child; he was a knight. His job was protecting others and slaying monstrosities like the one in front of them right now.

"Go back to the clubroom and find pliers... or anything else to open up the original robot," Ryan told Maximus, who didn't hesitate for a moment to do as told. He sprinted past Energiser back toward the clubroom, while Ryan and the thing in front of him were stuck in a stalemate.

The more he was trying to dictate Energiser's actions, the more it was fighting back. Like it was learning what it had to do to stop him. At this rate, Ryan wouldn't be able to hold it back until Maximus returned. He had to think of something else. Some way to stop that thing and save Gaia's fragment.

That was when Ryan felt something move by his chest. He glanced down for just a moment. The corruption was slowly encroaching on him, creeping closer by the second. Whatever was protecting Ryan, it wasn't invincible.

Ryan tried to glance around without letting go of his focus on Energiser, trying to see if he could find anything that might be of help to him. But there was nothing; he was just stood here in the hallway, in a stand-off against something that could rip him apart if it got a proper grasp on him. His heart beat heavily, though at this moment it didn't feel like fear.

"Ryan!" Modak's voice came from behind. He quickly glanced past Energiser to try and see what was going on, and noticed the orc running toward him with not only a large wrench in his hand, but also Roxie, while Maximus was running right by his side. On the other end of the hallway, Ryan could see Richie, still weak from those few moments of being attacked by the corruption.

"What are you doing here? You need to-"

"Oh shut the hell up already!" Modak barked out, "I'm here to help!"

Modak slowed down when he got close enough to Energiser, glancing down at Roxie in his hand. He took a deep breath while Ryan was trying to figure out what his friend was doing. And then, something happened. The flow of mana inside the figure across from Ryan suddenly changed. It was like it was being pulled away, like water creating a vortex as it flowed down the drain. Not only that, but Energiser started shivering. Like an earthquake running just through its body.

Once this started, Modak rushed around Energiser, taking a closer look at the gaping hole in its chest, "Do you have it locked down properly?"

"... For now, but I can't... I can't do it much longer," Ryan responded, watching as Modak glanced around the interior for a moment, before shoving the heavy wrench into a very specific spot. The corrupted mana immediately tried to pull the wrench into itself, practically gluing it into that exposed layer.

And then, without hesitation, Modak started pulling on the wrench with his whole bodyweight behind it. His large hands were wrapped around the handle; his knuckles clear and apparent as the veins in his hands bulged.

Ryan didn't even have to ask what he was doing; it was the exact thing that he himself had been planning on doing once Maximus came back with some kind of tool. Modak was trying to finish the job and tear the last layers off Energiser. But then, Ryan might not have been able to concentrate on locking Energiser down like this.

The last few layers were slowly being peeled back. This would be impossible if it were made just out of metal, but it was layered with plastic and wires and foils; things that made it ultimately weaker to what Modak was doing. As the layer was removed, Ryan could see nothing but an ocean of black threads, slithering around each other like worms or maggots, climbing onto one another as if fighting for dominance. There was nothing left of the calming sensation of Gaia's mana.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"Alright, keep it locked down, I got this-" Modak started, but Ryan immediately tried to stop him.

"Wait! Don't do that! The... the corruption attacks mana, it tried to latch onto Richie earlier and Maximus as well, I don't know if it can do that if the mana's not directly exposed, but-"

"It latches onto mana? That makes this easier, then," the orc responded as he shoved his hand inside that writhing mass that he himself couldn't see. The only reason Ryan could was because it was originally Gaia's mana, and he was already Gaia's keeper. Modak might not understand the gravity of the situation, or at least that's what Ryan thought.

Modak wrapped his fingers around Energiser's original body, and Ryan could feel the sensation on himself, as if stabbing needles into every part of his skin, over and over again. He could feel the skin on his arms tear and pain flow through his muscles as if it was the only thing he ever knew. His face went deathly pale as he tried to resist, soon watching the original Energiser's torso be torn out from the mass.

Ryan's arms felt numb as he stared at the writhing mass of blackness that Modak was fiddling with. But he didn't feel like he could let go of the link yet; there was something he still had to do. Meanwhile, the figure that had been built around Energiser was now just standing there in the middle of the hallway. A one-armed statue with a gaping hole in its chest, made from both old and new electronics. Ryan was finally able to properly see it, as all the mana was falling away now that it was disconnected from the fragment.

And the same thing happened just a moment later, as Modak managed to finally pull the fragment from Energiser's torso. That black mass fell away from the small robotic body and all that could be seen was a small glass tube with a mostly black crystal within it. But around the edges, Ryan could still see a green hue. It seemed like the mana was no longer being pulled out of it now.

"Thanks, man, this... thank you," Ryan said, carefully taking the corrupted fragment from Modak, but the orc pulled back when he saw Ryan's hands.

"Are you okay? Your hands are clearly..." he pointed out, and Ryan looked down at his palms. They were still bleeding, but they didn't particularly hurt any more. Stinging and burning, sure, but nothing else. He should get them cleaned up properly, though, but that could wait right now. Modak gave the fragment to him, and Ryan pulled open the glass tube, letting the fragment fall onto his palm. The link was still up, and the corruption from within the core was still trying to attack Ryan.

"That's fine... come here," Ryan whispered, rubbing his fingers over the fragment. He tried to speak to the part of Gaia within it, now overcome with nothing but hatred and fear. Without the link, he doubted he would be able to even get through to it at all.

Slowly, the fragment fell apart into threads of mana that climbed along the link, directly into Ryan's chest. Parts of the corruption were stripped off at the point of that wall that it couldn't pass earlier, but it soon broke through and touched Ryan's skin. Just like what happened with Maximus before, most of the corruption was then stopped by his own skin, but even that wasn't enough.

Part of it bore into Ryan, into his flesh. He could feel the tendrils of the corrupting force spread over his chest, as if someone had poured molten metal over him. But the pain soon settled down, and he only felt some numbness as a number of system windows appeared in front of him.

----------------------------------------

[You have found another Fragment of Gaia (2/3)]

[The Fragment of Gaia has been purged of Corruption]

[The -Spirit Domain- Skill has Levelled up]

[You have levelled up]

----------------------------------------

Ryan took in a deep breath, placing his palm onto his chest. He could feel that something was off, but that could wait. He looked inward at Gaia's domain. The second fragment had properly settled and joined the first. Currently, they were floating beside each other, moving in a slow dance as if happy to be reunited.

At the same time, he noticed that the two domains had grown a little larger again, giving both Maximus and Gaia more space, though the latter obviously had no use for it just yet. Now that he checked on Gaia, he had to focus on Modak again.

"Are you okay? You just stuck your hand in that, did you not feel anything?" Ryan asked nervously, looking at his friend's hand, but Modak just slowly shrugged.

"Well... no, I didn't. You said it latches onto mana, right? I mean, I... don't have any mana."

A bit confused, Ryan looked up at his friend, "What do you mean?"

"... Mana Rejection Disorder. My body physically cannot hold any amount of mana. Not even healing magic works properly on me," Modak laughed awkwardly, clearly hoping to move the conversation away. He turned to the 'statue' now stood beside him, "So... we probably have to report this, right?"

"Yeah, we definitely have to, yeah. Let's head back to see how the others are doing, first," Ryan sighed loudly, reaching down to pick up his jacket. The inside was completely torn up, as he had feared. But better the jacket than himself. His shoulder was more than enough in that regard already.

Ryan also reached out to Maximus, "Want to get back into the Domain?"

The knight shook his head, looking deep into Ryan's eyes. Looking at the spirit, he could tell that Maximus was probably not too happy about how little help he ended up being just now, and wanted to stick by Ryan out here just in case.

As he walked past the figure of metal, Ryan looked at its back. Roxie was fused into it, barely recognizable.

"Richie altered it so that it would start just immediately turning as much mana as it could into kinetic energy," Modak explained, and Ryan scoffed lightly.

"And he did that without hesitation? I've got to thank him for that. I could feel it resisting to my influence less when its mana went out of whack."

The three made their way back to the clubroom, which had emptied out a fair bit. There were still some people in here, but even most of those were in the middle of heading out after all of this. Beside Silvia, the only club members that remained were the three whose Duellists were destroyed. Kit, Richie, and of course Vanda.

Kit was in the midst of trying to salvage what was left of Lightspeed. Luckily, only its arm was really torn off, so it might be possible to repair it. As for Richie, he had sat down and was still recovering from the corrupted mana. It must have been a real shock to him. Once again, Ryan felt grateful for whatever it was that protected him, though that protection was clearly used up by now.

And meanwhile, Vanda was seated in the corner, her face in her hands, sobbing. Silvia was next to her, trying to comfort the girl somehow. Ryan immediately beelined toward them.

"Vanda," Ryan called out, and with a flinch, the hobgoblin looked up. She could see the blood dripping from his fingertips.

"I-I didn't... I didn't know that was going to happen, I-I just-"

"I know, don't worry," trying to be sympathetic, Ryan squatted down in front of her, "It would be stupid for you to do that kind of thing. But either way, I need you to tell me where you got that fragment from. Who gave it to you?"

Vanda hesitated for a few moments, glancing past Ryan at Modak, who slowly nodded his head. She tried to calm herself down, closing her eyes while wiping the tears away from the fur on her cheeks. She opened her mouth... and not a single sound came out. Vanda looked up at Ryan and Modak confused, "I said it was -----! Why can't I... It was -----, -----!"

Whenever Vanda tried to say the name, she simply was not able to. Something had forbidden her from doing so.