Chapter 138: A Difficult Choice II

Chapter 138: Chapter 138: A Difficult Choice II

Damon’s eyes widened slightly.

"It really wants it."

Caelia watched closely.

The Zone Heart absorbed the purified essence almost immediately.

Then something changed.

The next pulse was stronger.

The Heart pushed against the corrupted Aether moving through one of its damaged channels.

The unstable energy was forced backward.

Only slightly.

But it was enough for Damon to notice.

"It worked."

Caelia’s eyes brightened.

"Really?"

Damon nodded.

"Look."

The darkened section of the channel became slightly clearer.

Not much.

But there was a difference.

Caelia smiled.

Then Damon frowned.

"There’s a problem."

"What?"

He looked at the channel.

"The amount I gave it was tiny."

Caelia’s smile faded.

Damon continued.

"And it barely pushed the corruption back."

The next pulse proved his point.

The unstable Aether returned.

The dark cracks spread through the channel again.

The small improvement disappeared.

Caelia became quiet.

Damon stared at the Heart.

He understood what this meant.

If he continued like this, he could slowly provide pure Ice Elemental essence and help the Heart push the corruption back.

But there was too much corruption.

Far too much.

Damon increased the amount.

He purified another portion.

Then another.

Each time, the Heart absorbed it.

Each time, the pure essence helped.

But the improvement was still too small.

The corrupted Aether kept coming.

Damon’s forehead slowly became covered in sweat.

Caelia noticed.

"That’s enough."

Damon didn’t answer.

He continued.

Another portion entered the Spirit Origin.

He purified it.

Then sent it toward the Heart.

The Heart absorbed it greedily.

The surrounding ice trembled.

For a moment, one of the damaged channels became noticeably clearer.

Caelia’s eyes widened.

"It worked more this time."

Damon nodded.

"But look at the other side."

Another channel darkened.

The corrupted Aether had simply moved elsewhere.

Damon stared at it.

His expression became complicated.

The Heart wasn’t destroying the unstable Aether.

It was pushing it away.

Just like the other Distorted Zones.

"So that’s the real problem."

Caelia looked at him.

"What?"

"We can push it back."

Damon pointed toward the channel.

"But it doesn’t disappear."

Caelia understood.

"If we keep doing this..."

"We’ll just move the corruption around."

Damon sighed.

"And if we stop, it comes back."

They both became silent.

The experiment had worked.

That was the frustrating part.

It worked.

But not enough.

Damon looked at the enormous Heart.

If they relied only on his purified essence, it could take years to push the corruption out of Frostveil.

And that was assuming he had enough resources to keep doing it.

They didn’t.

Even if they somehow managed it, the problem would still remain.

The unstable Aether would simply enter again through the connection with Tempest Hollow.

Then another zone would suffer.

Then another.

Damon leaned back slightly.

"So this won’t solve anything."

Caelia shook her head.

"Not by itself."

Damon stared at the Heart.

He could feel his Spirit Origin pulsing again.

It had been doing that ever since they entered the cavern.

Almost like it was reacting to the Heart.

He closed his eyes for a moment.

There had to be another way.

The amount of pure essence he could produce wasn’t enough.

The Heart needed something much larger.

Something that could deal with the unstable Aether itself.

Damon opened his eyes.

He looked at the damaged channel again.

Then at the Heart.

Then at his Spirit Origin.

A thought slowly formed.

His expression changed and Caelia noticed immediately.

"Damon?"

He didn’t answer.

He kept staring at the Heart.

The idea was dangerous.

Extremely dangerous.

But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

Damon finally let out a long breath.

"I guess there’s no other way."

Caelia’s eyes widened.

"What are you thinking?"

Damon stood up slowly.

Caelia immediately grabbed his arm.

"Wait."

Damon looked at her.

She looked genuinely worried now.

"Don’t tell me you’re planning to absorb and refine the mutated Aether."

Damon remained silent. Caelia grip tightened.

"Damon."

The Heart pulsed behind them.

Boom.

A wave of corrupted Aether rushed through the cavern.

And Damon looked toward it, as he remained calm.

At least, he looked calm.

His heart was beating much faster than usual.

He knew exactly what he was about to do.

And he knew how dangerous it was.

If the corrupted Aether entered his body and he couldn’t control it, the result could be disastrous.

He could lose control of his Aether.

He could damage his Aether Veins.

Worse, the corruption could spread through his body before his Spirit Origin had a chance to deal with it.

Damon didn’t want to lose himself to it.

Especially not while he was standing alone in the middle of the Zone Heart.

Caelia clearly understood the danger too.

"Don’t do it."

Damon looked at her.

"I’m only trying a small amount."

"That’s still corrupted Aether."

"I know."

"If you feel anything wrong, you stop."

"I will."

Caelia stared at him.

Damon smiled.

"You know, I’m the one taking the risk."

"I know."

"Then why do you look more nervous than me?"

"Because you’re an idiot."

Damon blinked.

"That’s harsh."

"It’s true."

He laughed.

Caelia didn’t.

But the corner of her mouth moved slightly.

Damon smiled.

That was enough.

The tension between them had eased a little.

They were both on edge, and Damon knew he needed that small moment before starting.

He took a slow breath.

"I’ll only try once."

Caelia nodded reluctantly.

"If it’s too much, we leave."

"Agreed."

She finally stepped back.

But the worry on her face didn’t disappear.

Damon noticed.

He didn’t say anything this time.

He understood.

She wasn’t worried about the experiment failing.

She was worried about him.

Damon turned toward the Zone Heart.

The massive frozen tree continued its slow pulse.

His Spirits were also watching from within his Spirit Origin.

Freya.

Sylphie.

Shiro.

All of them had felt the corrupted Aether.

And they didn’t like it.

Freya was especially restless.

Damon could feel her concern through their connection.

"I know."

He closed his eyes.

"I’m going to be careful."

A/N:

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