“You can back off right now if you are afraid.”The Witch said.

Mannat shrugged off her words like they were the suggestion of a devil and tightly clenched his mother’s hand in return. He didn’t spare a glance to the old rickety hag. “What do I do?” He asked instead, causing the Witch to snort.

“Do you even know what makes Miasma different from Mana?” She said with a click of her tongue and bludgeoned through without waiting for his answer. “Though both are the children of emotions, they are not the same. Happiness might be contagious, but it’s momentary. The corruption of a mind by maliciousness lasts forever. It is easier to be jealous of other's happiness than to be happy for them.”

“What are you trying to say?” Mannat finally looked at her. Why couldn’t he figure her out for once? Why couldn’t she be straight with him? A year was long enough to make people despondent, to break relationships, to crack the foundation of trust between two loves. Yet, time, for all its strength, seemed to have no effect on the Witch.

Didn’t she understand the importance of what he was trying to achieve? Couldn’t she see that everything he had done for the past year had all been for the exact moment, to bring his mother back into his life? Her pranks, her animated ways of sharing knowledge, they had helped him on the way. Now he needed her support; he needed her to tell him this try wouldn’t decide the life and death of his mother. Failure wasn’t eternal. He would have time. Why couldn’t she support him for once?

Mannat didn’t hold back his disappointment. He let it out for her to see and sense. He hoped she’d tell him he was wrong. That she cared, even favored his chances. Nothing. The Witch didn’t seem to care about his thoughts.

“I’m saying, Miasma doesn’t need to be controlled by someone; It’s a force by in and itself, hostile by nature, unfathomable, untamable. Don’t try to force it. You won’t crack the wall by throwing eggs at it. Retreat, when you start losing.” She had definitely noticed his disappointment because she wouldn’t have sighed otherwise. “I can’t help you from here on out.’ She acknowledged his desire, but her response made Mannat frown. “Everything that happens next is up to you.” She was staring straight at him when she asked, “Do you understand?”

A nod was all Mannat gave in response. He couldn’t promise her anything since he knew he would not try to save himself if things went south. He meditated to calm his heart, then focused his attention on Noor. He didn’t show, but his heart was trembling. The glint in the Witch’s eyes suggested she wasn’t untouched by his silent emotional outrage. There was a reason she remained silent. Success or failure, their time together was ending.

Decisiveness was the key. Mannat grabbed his mother’s hand.

“You’ll have an easier time reaching her mind through her heart.” The Witch suggested, and Mannat put a hand on his mother’s breast.

“No hesitation whatsoever.”

“Stop interrupting me!” Mannat said impatiently. He calm down, and then let mana flow from his heart and enter his eyes. Normal colors disappeared from his sight as ‘mana vision’ activated. He saw the flow of mana once again. Noor’s body glowed a dull blue in his eye, the color of mana. The tree roots had created uncountable pathways inside her body to transfer mana to each individual cell. A thin root tendril coiled around each vein and nerve-like weeds around a plant. The difference was that the roots worked for Noor’s survival instead of leeching off her body for their survival like a parasite.

Actually, Mannat found upon comparison that the mana inside her body was taking the same path his mana would take when he cultivates, which he thought was honestly baffling.

“A mana core and pathways called roots are what separate a Magician from an apprentice.” The Witch said. “If you manage to make it that far, you will understand the difference. You’d be a fool to worry over them until then.”

Doubtful, Mannat asked, “Are you saying those roots and the tree roots are one and the same?” He expected a no. Unexpectedly, the Witch surprised him with a lopsided smirk.

“I don’t know that.” She said. “Remember one thing: The flowers grew to cull the demons. There was no mana in the world before them. ”

Mannat had a few more thoughts, but as she said, he decided to worry about them later.

His attention suggested the Witch had fulfilled her promise. The mana pumped by the roots into his mother’s body had fought the miasma and protected her from corruption. He didn’t find a speck of the corruption in any part of Noor’s body except her brain. Her heart was empty… but her mind was full.

A familiar shroud of darkness covered Noor’s mind. The shroud was highly active in comparison to the one covering Little Bother’s mind. A black sun hid behind it. Her miasma had crystallized.

“Do you see it?” The Witch asked.

Mannat nodded.

“You need to destroy every speck of that darkness that surrounds her mind. Expect retaliation from the crystal in return. It wouldn’t back down without a fight.”

“Anything else?”

“She has no mana roots to absorb mana. You have to remember what that means.” The Witch reminded.

“All right,”

Mana moved through his veins, gathered at the palm of his hand, and entered his mother’s body through the skin connection. He opened a mana channel to her heart and got into her veins from there. He expected resistance on the path but found none. He guessed since neither his mother nor the tree had any hold over the mana permeating through her body, it existed in a state of neutrality inside her. Perhaps, it was possible to get a hold of it. He tried and surprisingly succeeded, getting an ally on the way.

“Her veins have adapted to mana over the year. In a way, if she could absorb mana she’ll be a better magician than you.” The Witch’s words put a smile on Mannat’s face.

While Manant’s mana calmly flowed through Noor’s veins, a thought arose in his mind. He had already established that the fake tree of life could save his mother because she had no mana. Since it was true, then it was also the fact that Little butcher would have met the same end even if Mannat had succeeded in opening the underground chamber. The wound of his death had closed long ago. He had learned to live with it. However, the realization did ease his heart, took off a weight from his conscience that he didn’t realize he had been carrying.

This not only revitalized his mood but also strengthened the flow of his mana.

The mana from the roots had no leadership and was not aggressive, while Miasma couldn’t grow since his mother was in a coma. So they were in a stalemate. That was where Mannat came in.

Like an army of soldiers, his mana marched through the wide and rarely trodden road with vigor. Though they knew it would be a hard and bitter fight, they marched in formation, strictly following Mannat’s order.

It wasn’t long before the blue mana soldiers reached the enemy castle. A thick dark storm loomed above the crystal castle, a shroud of darkness around it. The soldiers marched on, screaming and shouting, fearless, determined.

The storm thundered above them as the two armies collided. The blue army made a beeline toward the castle, but how could the demons let them have it easy. The army of miasma pounced upon them. Miasma covered the blue soldiers like the veil of night, but it didn’t take long for the determined soldiers to pierce through the veil like a ray of sunlight. They tore through the shroud and kept going forward, but not without paying a price. The shroud of miasma did everything in order to stop them from advancing. Soldiers died left and right, their numbers decreased with every step.

The collision between the two forces didn't cause an explosion. Mana and Miasma swallowed each other, creating an opening for their fellow forces to gain an advantage.

By the time Mannat’s mana soldiers reached the castle, hundreds and thousands of the soldiers had died, but they had completely torn the shroud apart.

The goal in sight, the soldiers charged forward with renewed vigor under Mannat’s command. They knew it wouldn’t be easy to take over the crystal castle, but it was something they had to do. They prepared to face the worst, what they came face to face with was impossible.

The castle shook and a thick column of dark, overwhelming army flooded out of it. The Mana soldiers lost motivation upon seeing the monstrous wave of demons coming their way. A few ran astray, but the rest followed through with the mission. They believe their commander wouldn’t let their death be in vain. They charged into the monstrous wave of demons knowing their destiny.

The numbers of soldiers left were meager in comparison to the wave of demons that had shot from the castle. The demons were vicious, intelligent. The column of demons was like a spear; the soldiers had no way to stop it from rampaging in their ranks.

The miasma ground Mannat’s mana to dust. Quantity was one thing, but the difference in quality was too big for Mannat’s mana to cross.

“That’s it. Pull out before it’s too late.”

“NO!” Mannat opened a mana channel to the frontline and poured all of his mana into the attack. No matter how he tried, he failed to find a way through the dark tentacles that had risen from the miasma crystal. In the end, he fell back exhausted and drained.

His first battle ended in failure.

First time since his childhood, he ran out of mana, and the headache was back with a vengeance.

“Don’t blame yourself too much, kid.” The Witch tried to pacify him. “The world wouldn’t call Miasma poisoning a sure-death plague if it was so easy to cure.”

“I know!” Mannat responded. He wanted to open another mana channel with the roots to recover some mana when he noticed that he already had one open with his mother. And as skills go, he needed to close the previous mana channel to one a new one. That or he becomes a magician. The Witch had been clear about it.

He thought about closing the pen channel then remembered the mana circulating inside his mother’s body was under no one’s control. It was the same as mana in his surroundings, neutral and up for grabs. He wouldn’t even have to fight it for control, unlike if he absorbed the tree’s mana.

He commanded and the mana channel reversed its action and started sucking mana from the other end. Mannat didn’t think it would work out so easily. Perhaps, he found it easy because his mother had no ability to resist. He thought. And he was right. Which also meant it would be a pipe dream to drain others mana and recover his mana pool at any time unless he could erase their control at the snap of a finger.

Mana flowed into the channel, as he wanted. What he didn’t expect was for some miasma to break away from the crystal and flow into the mana channel. The flow of mana through the channel was almost instantaneous. By the time he and the Witch realized the truth, it was already too late.

“CUT THE CHANNEL, BRAT!” The Witch yelled, however, the miasma had traveled over and entered Mannat’s mana drained body by that time. There wouldn’t be much problem if Mannat wasn’t mana deficient, which was not the case.

They both found themselves staring at each other. For the first time, Mannat saw the Witch look fearful. That was not the only good thing that came out of the whole ordeal. As Mannat stood straight and looked around wondering what was happening, something strange happened. Despite his mentor's reaction, the corrupting miasma that should have injured him simply disappeared after entering his body.

“What now?” Mannat asked, confused and dazed. He would have liked to check out his body, but he was out of mana, so there was no mana vision either. “Why is nothing happening?”

“Are you feeling comfortable anywhere?” The Witch said.

“No— Wait!” Mannat said in confusion. “My headache is gone,”

He examined himself before the Witch could intervene and the result he found was a fascinating one.

He looked back at the Witch for the final time and told her with utter bafflement. “I not poisoned — but my mana recovered by fifty points. I think, I somehow converted miasma into mana.”