After drawing several hexagrams on the ground using what looked like purple sand, Argen and Cassandra got into position.

"You two need to leave," ordered Cassandra, a determined look in her eyes.

"N-No, I'm not leaving my baby," whimpered Lillian, her face red from crying.

"Mom, we have to go. They're the only ones who can help," whispered Armin, his shaky hand tugging on his mother's shirt.

'I can't believe I forgot about Armin,' Lillian realized, before turning to hug him.

Armin was merely 5, and seeing something like this must've been traumatizing for him as well.

"Please take care of my boy," said Lillian, wiping the tears off her face before walking out with Armin.

"Are you ready?" asked Argen.

"Let's just get it over with,"

"Serpus Nihil," they chanted in unison, before a massive black hexagram appeared on the floor, causing streaks of black light to seep from the ground.

The hexagram slowly changed shape, from a hexagram to a pentagram, until eventually, it became a circle.

The circle then projected itself into the air, disassembling into several rings -the rings were so massive that the entire house was shrouded in black-.

A chilling purple smoke spread across the house, before seeping into Arya's chest.

"What's going on?" asked Cassandra as she watched the purple smoke being repelled by a glowing golden light.

"His mana core, it's rejecting the spell," whispered Argen, his mind elsewhere.

"Even if his mana core were still intact, you can't reject Servus class spells," retorted Cassandra, before trying to approach Arya.

"You old hag, have you forgotten that the Nihil spell is still in effect. Or are you looking to leave Merrum so soon?" scolded Argen.

"L-Look," stuttered Cassandra, as the two forces began mixing with each other, before entering his body.

"Did it work?" asked Argen as the black rings disappeared, signifying that the spell's effect was over.

"H-He's stable," confirmed Cassandra as she used her palms to inspect his internal organs.

"W-Wait," she muttered right after, before placing her palm in a different area, as if something was disturbing about her readings.

"What's going on?" asked Argen, touching Arya to see for himself.

"His magic system, it merged with his blood system," exclaimed Argen in utter disbelief.

His inner workings seemed like that of a normal human, except that now his blood had mana mixed into it. But what was most unbelievable were the millions of nodes located in the blood vessels all over his body.

They seemed to act like miniature mana cores, constantly spinning on themselves, restructuring the very blood system itself to meet its new requirements.

"This is a miracle, a breakthrough. We have to report this to the mage tower," shouted Argen in joy.

"And say what? That two former Arch Magi performed the Nihil curse on an infant? This is why I could never stand you, Argen. Your hunger for recognition always got in the way of your rational thinking," snorted Cassandra as she picked Arya off the ground.

"You truly are a lucky child. Mother Vitra seems to have plans for you," she murmured to herself.

"H-His hair," stuttered Cassandra once more as she noticed the thin strands of baby hair that sat on Arya's head turn silver, with some strands turning a deep purple.

"He's just full of surprises, isn't he," smiled Argen, a bitter look on his face as he stared at Cassandra longingly.

The image of a younger, prettier Cassandra overlapped with the image he was now seeing.

'My hunger for recognition huh?' thought Argen bitterly.

"I-Is he okay?" asked Lillian, barging into the room.

"Your boy is safe. It might just take some time for his body to... to get used to the changes though," said Cassandra, a warm smile on her face as Lillian grabbed Arya from her arms, her tears dripping to the floor.

She hadn't heard any of what Cassandra had said after she confirmed that Arya was safe. All that mattered was that he was okay.

***

That night Lillian had not slept, she stayed up all night waiting for Arya to wake up, but nothing.

Streya and Gray wanted to know what had happened during their visit, the people in the district had reported seeing massive spell rings, but they got no answers.

Armin was too traumatized to speak about it, and whenever they asked Lillian, she would break into tears.

Gray was forced to take over all of Lillian's duties. To make sure that everyone was well fed, and to take care that his younger siblings didn't begin despising their mother because of this.

"She just gave birth, and now Arya is sick. Of course she's going to shut down, just give her some time," he would often comfort his younger siblings when they began crying.

Gray was just a kid too, so he couldn't avoid feeling envious that Arya got all their mother's attention. He felt sorry for his sick brother, but at the same time, he hated him.

Everything seemed to have gotten worse ever since he was born, he couldn't help but feel that Arya was a curse to their already cursed family.

***

A week passed and Arya finally opened his eyes, the abyss he had once been surrounded by now replaced by the image of his sleeping mother.

"I'm sorry mom," he whispered, the image of his mother on earth overlapping with the one here.

'Huh?'

Something was odd about his vision. Everything seemed to be painted in a golden hue, and streams of blue dust seemed to be flowing in the air.

"Arya, you're awake," she shouted abruptly once she had opened her eyes, a mixture of emotions in her voice as she hugged him.

'What is that?' wondered Arya as he made contact with his mother.

It was as if he could see a strange, highly complex ball, orbiting on its own axis within his mother's core.

The strange thing was, that he wasn't certain if what he was seeing was real or not. A network of what seemed to be blood vessels carrying blue blood pumped into and out of it, as if it were a heart.

"Hello," echoed a voice suddenly.

It sounded as if it were coming from inside Arya, rather than outside. The voice didn't seem to have a particular gender, it just sounded like a voice.

"Who are you?" asked Arya.

His mother stopped hugging him and looked at him with a worried expression.

"I don't know, who am I?" asked the voice back.