[Location: The Abyss – Layer 1: The Ash Wastes]

[Time: Unknown]

Time soon passed, and after an unknown amount of time, Damien finally woke up.

No longer wearing his Zero mask, his eyes were sunken, his lips were parched and veins all over his body began to bulge

Even breathing was hard as he constantly felt like he was drowning.

Every breath he took felt heavy, oily, and wrong.

His chest heaved, his ribs straining against the leather of his suit, but no matter how much he inhaled, he couldn't get enough oxygen.

[System Alert.]

[Mana: 0 / 120,000]

[DP: 0]

[Status: Mana Poisoning (Stage 2).]

[Regeneration: BLOCKED.]

Damien stared at the blue window floating in the dark.

'Blocked,' he thought, his mind sluggish.

'My physique... it's trying to filter the air, but the air is poison. If I keep breathing this, I'll rot from the inside out.'

He tried to sit up. His arms shook uncontrollably. He fell back against the bone wall of the skull-cave.

"Young Master?"

Isabelle was there instantly. She had been sitting at the entrance of the eye socket, watching the grey wastes outside.

She knelt beside him. In the gloom of the cave, her eyes glowed like two burning embers.

She looked strong. Healthy. The Abyss mana that was killing him was empowering her.

"Water," Isabelle said, producing a canteen from her own spatial pouch. She lifted his head and tipped it to his lips.

Damien drank greedily. The water was cool, but it didn't stop the burning in his veins.

"It's not just thirst," Damien rasped, wiping his mouth. "I'm starving"

He looked at his hands. They were pale, the veins turning a dark, bruised purple.

"My core is empty," Damien explained, his voice barely a whisper.

"with neither Aura nor mana in the air, I'm no different from a regular person." he sighed

Yes unlike before were he could easily go through months without eating or drinking anything as a sixth order peak, here he was no different from a regular mortal

He looked at the Pantheon Sword lying in the dirt. It was just a rock now. Without his mana to fuel it, it couldn't cut anything.

He was defenseless.

"Fortunately, I have food," Damien wheezed, tapping the Void Gem on his neck.

Isabelle frowned. She looked at her own hands. Small sparks of purple electricity danced between her fingers.

"I have too much mana here," she said softly. "The air here... it's like rushes into me. I feel like I could run for days without any meditation."

Damien looked at her. A thought struck him.

"The Contract Gem!" he whispered.

He instantly thought of this innate ability he had been born with.

"Isabelle," Damien said, looking her in the eyes. "We need to reverse the flow."

"Reverse it?"

"Yes reverse it!," Damien said, his breath hitching. "Using the contract gem's connection between us, I should be able tp siphon some purified mana from you" He pointed to her chest

"You are a Half-Demon. Your core is a natural filter. You can eat this poison air and turn it into raw power."

Damien gripped her hand. His grip was weak, like a child's.

"I need you to be my filter, Izzy. I need you to feed me."

Isabelle hesitated. The idea of feeding mana to her Master, of being the one in control felt wrong.

But then she saw him shiver. She saw the black veins creeping up his neck.

"Tell me what to do," she said firmly.

"Come closer," Damien instructed. "Physical contact increases the transfer rate. Hand to hand. Or..."

Isabelle didn't wait. She shifted closer, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing her forehead against his.

"Like this?" she asked.

"Yes," Damien breathed. He closed his eyes.

"Focus on your core. Pull the ambient mana in. Scrub it. Remove the chaos. Then... push it through the bond."

Isabelle closed her eyes.

She breathed in. The heavy, oily Abyss air rushed into her lungs. She felt the chaotic energy sizzle in her blood.

'Clean it,' she thought.

She imagined her core as a furnace. She burned away the malice, the corruption, the noise. She distilled it down to pure, violet energy.

Then, she pushed it toward the golden thread that connected their souls.

VWMMM.

Damien gasped.

It felt like cool water rushing into a dry riverbed.

The violet energy flowed from Isabelle into him. It wasn't the golden, warm aura of italica, nor was it the shadow Voss mana.

It was darker, heavier, tasting of ozone and iron. But it was clean.

The burning in his veins subsided. The black lines on his neck faded slightly. His heart rate stabilized.

[System Alert: External Mana Source Detected.]

[Mana: 150 / 120,000.]

It was a trickle. A tiny drop in a bucket. But it was enough to keep him alive.

Speaking of which he had to thank the system as it seemed to have updated at some time giving him more concrete values like how much mana he has.

And so time soon passed, they stayed like that for a long time. Huddled together in the ribcage of a dead monster, forehead to forehead, breathing in sync.

Isabelle breathed in the poison. She exhaled life into him.

Slowly, Damien opened his eyes. The color had returned to his face.

"Better," he whispered.

Isabelle pulled back slightly, but she didn't let go of his hand. She looked at him with a strange expression. It wasn't pity. It was a fierce, possessive determination.

"No matter how much mana you need, you can count on me young master," Isabelle said with a fierce look in her eyes.

"Thank you…" He whispered under his breath

Isabelle looked at the grey wasteland outside. She looked at the storms brewing on the horizon.

She stood up, pulling him with her. Damien stumbled, his legs still weak, and she caught him instantly, supporting his weight against her shoulder.

"We can't stay here," Isabelle said, her voice echoing the authority he used to have.

"The wind is changing. Something is coming."

Damien looked at her. He realised, with a jarring clarity, that the roles had flipped.

He was the damsel. She was the knight.

"Lead the way, Isabelle," Damien said quietly.

Isabelle nodded. She adjusted her grip on him, her eyes scanning the dark.

"Yes, Master."

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