They were all gathered in the living room, Aella was sitting on the main couch, she glanced over at Kye who was planning to go back to cultivating instead of going to the kitchen to cook, she frowned.
"Kye, that's enough."
He turned to Aella and said, "S-since I don't have the ring anymore, I think I can keep on cultivating, I still have some energy left".
"No!" Aella said firmly.
"B-But I-I-"
"You think just because you don't have the ring on you that everything is solved now? And the poison's gone from your body?" Aella glared at him. "No shit."
"If you're going to do whatever you want and ignore my words, then there's no reason for me to help any of you." Although her words sounded as if she was very angry, her face said otherwise. Her expression was very calm, but her intimidating and intense eyes pierced through the guys faces.
"Um... Sorry, Aella. I think it's because everyone is feeling a bit sensitive right now, they've been through a lot and now something like this is happening, it might be a bit too much for them to deal with right now. I think they feel a bit betrayed because they really believed Darius wanted to help them but now .....". Professor Tony couldn't finish his words. He himself felt betrayed by Ohyo and Darius.
Aella just gave Tony a glance before turning her attention back to the others.
"So-sorry Aella" Seeing Aella's irritated state, Kye was slightly shocked. He felt bad that he had ignored Aella's words because of his greed for power. Now she might not even want to help him anymore.
"Do you know what happens when you cultivate too much mana, and what happens when the mana in your body comes into contact with the poison that is left in your body? You will go into a state of paralysis, the mana energy will get out of control because you won't be able to condense it due to the state you are in, and eventually the energy in your body will explode... like a BOOM... and you will die. And I have only told you half of the nightmare you will go through before you explode".
"But since you insist, continue, but do it outside. I don't want you to stain the room with your blood," Aella snapped, her words were very harsh, but you could tell she was worried about them.
"....." No one expected Aella to give such a gruesome and bloody description. They all looked at her in horror, surprise and fascination.
"Errr" Junior gave Kye a look, as if to tell him that he should listen to Aella.
After a moment's hesitation, Kye got up from the floor and sat down next to Francois and Aisha, who had grim expressions on their faces.
Aella sighed at the sight of everyone's gloomy faces, "Listen, I completely understand your feelings. You're hurt and upset by the constant lies and humiliation you've endured at everyone's hands. You all want revenge, and I completely understand, it shows on your faces."
"But I also need you all to know that there is a time for everything. Right now, each and every one of you is in a very delicate situation. Although none of you can feel it, you are all standing on the thin line between life and death. This is because of the poison that has already settled into your core essence," she explained.
In order to purify this poison, everyone will have to be very patient, you will need all your willpowers to endure what is to come, and have a strong determination to fight for your lives in the process.
"Now let me ask you a simple question. Aella looked at all of them and said, "What do you think would happen if a person who has an old, cracked bucket and fills it up with too much water? "
Nara raised her hand and said, "The water will overflow from the bucket. And there will be water spilled everywhere".
"Correct, and what else is there?".
'This is more than a simple question,' Yui pouted.
"Huh, wh-what else?" everyone started to think until Kathleen raised her hand and said.
"Since the bucket was old and had a lot of cracks in it, once it's loaded with too much water, it will either burst or break."
'Exactly, and if the bucket breaks, what's left?' Aella asked once again.
"Nothing will be left. Only fragments of the bucket will be left," it was Adam's turn to answer.
"Again, correct. Of course you can try to put all the pieces back together, but it won't be the same, will it?". Aella looked at the astonishment in their faces.
"No, it won't."
"That's exactly what could happen to you all."
Everyone was horrified at the mere thought of it.
"When I look into your cores, you guys don't have a very stable core essence right now due to the poison. Therefore, having too much mana in your core is the same as trying to destroy your core essence, making you completely useless for the rest of your lives. So be patient and let's eat," Aella said brightly at the thought of food.
There was a long and uncomfortable silence in the living room, and finally, after a long and intense silence, Aisha looked at Aella and said.
"I can't believe what's happening to me. I mean, I know I've been a pretty unlucky girl but...It's one thing after another."
Nian looked at Aisha who was laughing madly and sighed, "We have too much going on. We all have a deadly poison in our core. And that poison can literally kill us...have I forgotten anything else?".
"Exactly, we are doomed," Yun leaned against the couch and sighed. The atmosphere was bad, everyone's energy and determination was dropping.
"Huh!!!" Aella felt like they were ignoring her mentioning the food part. They were thinking of everything but food.
Yun stroked his chin and sat down on the empty chair next to Aisha, "Does it also mean that Darius has something to do with Professor Ohyo's disappearance?"
"This has become very complicated, there are too many holes in the story and we need to get to the bottom of it? And what did Darius mean when he said he couldn't SCAE let us and meet?"
"Sigh... Right! We don't even know her. Well, I wish I knew her, but she's way out of our league."
"So, first of all, this isn't just a simple matter. There's a lot going on," Shion felt a headache coming on.
Aella was tired, hungry, sleepy and hot. She massaged her forehead and sighed.
"I shouldn't have trusted you guys when you said you were going to cooking for me," she gave everyone a murderous look.
"Ahh, we almost forgot about Aella's party," Sara mused.
"Like I said, I'm hungry, don't you know talking for so long makes one hungry? Get me something to eat first, and if I don't get lazy after eating, we'll talk some more," Aella said.
"Well, it's true, we were going to cook for you until you mentioned the poison in the ring.
A crack appeared on Aella's face as she looked at them in annoyance. "Aisha, when I'm hungry I'm very sensitive, I'd appreciate it if you'd keep your mouth shut."
"Erg..." Aisha wanted to keep talking but Aella was startled by Aella's murderous expression.
Professor Tony clapped his hands to get everyone's attention, he stood up from his chair and walked towards the kitchen while saying.
"Alright guys, I know you all have a lot of questions about the poison, but Aella is hungry like the rest of us, we haven't eaten since this morning... so let's start cooking."
They all stood up and followed him into the kitchen. Aella followed them. And she arrived in the kitchen, her eyes shining as she sighed at the last slice of cheesecake left on the table.
Shion, Nara and Yun were in charge of washing and chopping the vegetables. Kye, who was the main cook, seasoned the whole chicken after cleaning it. Later he started to make the white rice, then he took out three packages of bacon and started to fry them without oil.
Kathlyn, Aisha and Francois washed and dried the groceries and then sorted them in the small refrigerator. Yui and Amari were preparing the ingredients for tomorrow's breakfast.
While Sara and Junior washed the dishes. Nian and Tony cleaned the dining room and living room.
Aella felt uncomfortable seeing how hard everyone was working while she was just eating, so she put her cheesecake down and walked over to the group in charge of cleaning.
"What can I do to help?".