Yiren and Lisa didn't know what exactly what going on. Even when they asked, Mona was in too much pain to answer. All they could do is wait, hoping for the Detoxifying Pill to work.
Thankfully, within a few seconds, Mona stopped shivering, her body slowly recovering. The black lines coming from her heart went away as well as if sucked inside.
"Mona, are you okay? What was that?" Yiren questioned worriedly, helping Mona stand up on her own.
"I'm sorry…" Mona replied weakly, finally recovering completely. "I didn't expect to be hit by it so soon… Can I have a few of those pills? They seem to be working well to stop it."
"Sure, I have a whole vial of them, but what was that? Are you poisoned?" Lisa asked as she passed Mona the pills.
"I am not. It's more complicated," Mona replied softly, not going into details but Yiren pressured, "Mona, we saw it already. If something is hurting you, we need to know. We will help you fight it back. Trust us."
"Only I can fight against it. No one else can help me," Mona sighed deeply.
"Against what?" Yiren pressed, making Mona crack and finally spill everything.
"It was all 'His' doing… When I discovered he was always after my talisman, a huge battle broke up between us. Naturally, I was stronger than him so I quickly overwhelmed him. I really didn't want to kill him till the last moment. I still loved him even then. I wanted to spare him and let him go when he attacked me one last time. He used some object which struck my soul, splitting it in half. After that, I couldn't leave him alive anymore."
"Oh my… Your Soul is injured?"
"It isn't exactly injured… It is just split into two parts. We Spirit Foxes are extremely spiritual and our Souls are one of the strongest from all races. Even with half of my soul, I can still survive somehow but it won't be long. The longer I live without my other half of the Soul, the more painful attacks I get. If I don't recover it in time, my Soul will die," Mona explained while submerging herself in the hot water. "My daily baths helped me cope with the pain."
"If your second half lost or can you somehow recover it?" Yiren wondered.
"I can connect with it, but it's hard. Once my Soul split, it gained its own consciousness. Whenever I get close, it attacks me and I can't fight back. I am scared that once I attack, trying to recover it, I will lose it forever and end up dying. I don't want to die yet," Mona expressed worriedly.
"Don't worry," Yiren assured, swimming up to her with a tight hug. "We will help you. Aren't we sisters?"
Mona was quite surprised by the hug but she didn't push Yiren away. Lisa quickly approached as well, hugging the two of them while snugging her head into Mona's shoulder. "We are a team now. Of course, we will help you."
"But how…?" Mona asked, her eyes trembling but this time not from any pain.
"I will just gain her trust and then you connect to her. She is you after all. It's best to resolve it peacefully," Yiren suggested. "Shall we go to where it is?"
"You want to do it now?!" Mona cried out in shock, her tails straightening but both girls hugged her tighter, giving her all the warmth she lacked.
"We don't want to see you hurt ever again. The faster we settle it, the better," Yiren proposed. "Lead the way."
Mona hesitated for a moment but nodded in the end, returning the hug. "I'm really lucky I met you two…"
"Please follow me."
With the call, Mona let go of them and dove into the water, swimming to the depths of the spring. Yiren and Lisa gave each other a look and quickly followed. With Air Qi at their disposal, they could breathe underwater without any problems.
The water was extremely clear but the deeper they dove, the darker it was. The Spring turned out to be extremely deep as they didn't even reach to the bottom of it when Mona stopped, waiting for them. With her tails all moving and pushing her forward, they couldn't rival her in speed.
Mona pointed at the small underwater passage, bubbles coming out from her mouth as she swam first. The passage wasn't long, leading upward instead of horizontal.
"We arrived."
Breaking through the water surface, they found themselves in a small, dark cavern. Mona reached up and a ball of light burst from her palm, illuminating the place. There was nothing special aside from the claws marks and some damage on the walls.
"Is it hiding here?" Yiren wondered, getting out of the pool. The stone was ice cold despite the water being hot which she found weird.
"It's not hiding. I put it in here once I tried to connect with it. I almost succeeded when it suddenly got out of control and began attacking me. Thankfully, it cannot escape anywhere so it didn't create any problems in the outside world," Mona explained as she took Yiren's hand, helping her leave the pool. "It would be hard for me to find it once it escaped."
They pulled out Lisa who shivered from the cold and finally moved through the only tunnel in the cavern. It wasn't that long till they reached the end, reaching a second cavern that was almost ten times bigger. All walls were covered with white frostiness and Mona didn't need to light up the place anymore.
Her Soul was illuminating the place plentifully.
In the middle of the cavern laid a meter-sized white-fox with nine tails wiggling in the air. Just when they entered, its eyes opened and it glared at them.
Grrrr…
It growled, staring at Mona with its fangs showing but Yiren walked forward, blocking the view.
"Why are you glaring at her? Isn't she the same as you?" Yiren questioned and walked forward without hesitation, her eyes brightening with gold.
The Fox quickly jumped onto its feet, growling at her but Yiren didn't mind. She left marks with her warm feet as the ice melted, walking steadily towards the fox.
"Do you realize you are hurting her? You two are one and can't live separately. Once enough time passes, both of you will die. You need to connect once again," Yiren explained, talking to the Fox with the calmness of the Goddess.
The Fox got confused at her words, but it stopped acting hostile, giving Yiren a chance to approach it. When there was only one meter away between them, Yiren halted and crouched, reaching out to the fox.
"Come, I'm not going to hurt you. I will help you reach peace," Yiren promised.
The Fox gave her a glance and then walked forward cautiously. Its nose moved up and down as it sniffed Yiren's hand only for her to start rubbing it and caress Fox's cheeks.
"See? I don't bite," Yiren muttered sweetly as she began brushing her fingers through Fox's fur. At some point, the fox even licked her on the face, causing her to giggle.
"Mona, you can come now," Yiren called out as she continued to play with the fox. "It should be ready to connect with you."
Mona's eyes were shining brightly and she walked towards them, her face showing a mix of emotions. Her steps were uneven and breathe irregular till she finally reached them. Her body was literally shaking from ecstasy, forcing her to crouch as her legs gave in.
"Thank you, Yiren… I don't know what I would do without you," Mona expressed, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.
"I will leave the rest to you," Yiren said happily and finally pulled away, letting Mona take over.
"Let's connect," Mona announced emotionally, hugging into Fox's neck and a flash of light immediately blinded them. Mona began shining with white light, spreading it onto Fox's body when it's expression changed.
Bang!
One of its tails moved as quickly as the wind and smashed against nothing expecting Yiren. She got sent flying, crashing into the wall with a loud thud.
"Yiren!" Both Lisa and Mona cried out in worry but Yiren shouted despite blood spilling from her mouth, "Cough! Finish the connection!"
The Fox struggled, wanting to escape but thanks to Yiren's cry, Mona caught it tightly, not letting go.
"Come back to me! Please!" Mona cried out into Fox's ear and the light around her multiplied, slowly covering the Fox.
It struggled, smashing against Mona's back but she didn't let go, squeezing it tightly until they were both swallowed by it.
Swoosh!
The ball exploded without any sound, blasting the light into all directions. When Lisa and Yiren looked at the Mona once again, she was already gone, replaced with a tiny fox wrapped with its one tail.
"Mona…?" Lisa questioned as she helped Yiren up, passing one of the healing pills to her.
The Fox didn't move but they heard Mona's voice resounding in the air.
"I turned into my basic form to mend my soul. Don't worry though, I will recover the more I rest. If you see I recover my tails, it means I'm on a good track. Please, protect me for a while."
