While Damien was within Lily and Mei's spiritual world, the situation on the outside had also calmed down.
Since the girls weren't fighting, their mana also stopped responding. That's how it should've been since the beginning.
And as they worked together to balance their spiritual world, Damien put in the work to help them balance their body.
His Void Essence wall split into countless threads that went forth and enveloped all the mana within Lily and Mei's body. Considering how much vaster his capacity was compared to hers, it wasn't too hard.
And then, he used a property of Void Essence that he had never used on someone other than himself. He brought the two different forms of mana together and used Void Essence as a bridge to fuse them.
The reddish-black and blueish-white mana wrapped around either other like a yin-yang symbol, but there was still a wall of Void Essence in between.
After all, trying to act too fast might be detrimental to the girls' growth.
Damien carefully concentrated his awareness on the process and took utmost care in slowly merging parts of the energy together. With his pace, he would finish completely within the day.
Hours passed like this. The process was going smoothly since Lily and Mei were so cooperative, and next to the sphere of dual-energy types, there was a separate sphere of grey mana.
'This mana looks impure simply in appearance, but it's actually insanely pure and dense. The power within also can't be underestimated.'
Damien nodded in satisfaction. Not only was this powerful mana something the girls would be able to use proficiently, they would also be able to separate it into its two different parts and harmonize it for an exponential increase in power.
'Actually, maybe I should let them meet Xue'er? Hmm, that lass will definitely help them recover with her magical charisma and charm, but it isn't the time yet. I have to make sure that Mei learns to control her destructive urges first.'
VOOM!
As Damien was thinking, he suddenly felt a massive wave of power emanate from a place far deeper in the subterranean world.
VOOM!
Once the first wave passed, a second came. And after the second, a third. It was like the ringing of a bell when the clock struck midnight.
As the waves passed through the atmosphere, an air of vitality spread through the realm uncontrollably.
Even in the dark space under the shrine where Damien was, countless flowers and trees bloomed out of nowhere, filling the space with the air of nature.
'That old tree…it's announcing its presence!' Damien realized in shock.
"Dammit! So what was the point of all that shit you said in the Trial of Self?! This damn old tree is playing with me!"
[The Primordial Undying Tree smirks.]
"Damn old man! Don't just randomly send notifications and come fight me!"
[The Primordial Undying Tree asks if you have time to fight a 'damn old tree' like him when the geniuses are already congregating at his location.]
"Fuck! See how I deal with you after I get those fruits!"
Damien hurriedly turned back to Lily and Mei. The process of fixing their body was already nearing its end. But now that such a situation had appeared, he had to speed up.
But it wasn't a problem. With the intense waves of vitality that had just rushed through the space, a large portion of the girls' internal damage had been healed, granting Damien the freedom to move with more force.
Within an hour, Damien had completely fixed her physical body, and the two girls had also sorted out their spiritual world.
Their appearance suddenly began to change. Mei's side of the body began to crack and splinter. Pieces of her skin fell to the floor, and underneath, a new layer of skin was revealed.
Her skin was still red in color, contrasting Lily's blue, but it had taken on other properties. It was no longer scarred and horrendous. Mei's skin had also become crystalline and pure like Lily's.
The two sides of her body had an odd dichotomy that seemed to work perfectly together. But only a moment later, the red skin symbolizing Mei vanished entirely.
She finally opened her eyes. When she saw Damien standing in front of her, a bright smile appeared on her face.
"Big brother!"
She leaped into his arms and rubbed her head against his chest with reckless abandon, as if trying to soak up all of his warmth.
"Eh?!"
Damien gasped in surprise. Big brother? Again? It wasn't supposed to go like this, though?
"Um…Lily? Why am I big brother?"
"Hmm..because you saved me!"
"Eh? That's enough?"
"Yep! Mei said yes too!"
Damien furrowed his brows. This was going to be a problem.
He knew Xue'er's personality best. Although she was always a happy-go-lucky kid, she was also incredibly possessive.
Whenever he entered the Sanctuary, she would immediately find him and cling onto him. He didn't even know how many times Elitra had been blocked by Little Xue when they were competing for affection.
If he showed up with another little sister…no, two of them…he shuddered thinking about what that girl's reaction would be.
'But I can't just tell them I can't be their big brother. Especially since they're going to be Ruyue's in the future, I'll technically still be their big brother, just in-law…'
He decided to leave it as is. He could figure out how to appease Little Xue's anger once these three girls actually met each other.
'But that's not important right now. I have to move, and fast.'
"Okay. For now, big brother will take you to a safe place, okay? I need to do something dangerous now so I can't take you with me."
Lily frowned. Her skin soon turned red, and a pouting Mei appeared as well.
The two girls glared at him using the same face, causing him to sweat a bit. But it couldn't be helped.
"Don't worry. You won't be bored in there since there are a lot of friends for you. Also, big brother will come there as well in a little bit."
Damien patted their head and brushed his fingers through their hair. The girls' face showed a contented smile as he did so, and their anger seemed to be slightly dealt with.
In the end, Damien finally managed to get them to enter the Sanctuary after a great deal of convincing.
'If they meet Little Xue it's going to cause a headache…damn that old tree! It's all his fault!'
As he cursed the Primordial Undying Tree, Damien flashed away from the space. With Lily's disappearance, the ice domain that froze his mana had also been released.
He soon arrived at the entrance, where Lunaria was also waiting for him.
"Did you feel that mana wave?" She asked.
"I did. And we need to find it as soon as possible. The others are already congregating there. The final struggle for the Primordial Undying Fruit is about to begin. Oh, also, I apologize in advance."
"Wha—!"
Damien didn't even stop to hear her answer. He grabbed her shoulder and teleported, causing the two of them to appear ten kilometers below their original position, in another underground tunnel.
"You…!"
Lunaria wasn't even given a chance to gather her breath before he teleported again.
The Primordial Undying Tree had called. There was no time for anything else.
