Dawn Of Twilight

The hours passed. Tobi could only check on Bella from time to time. Neither he nor she could afford to lose focus or getting tired. Until her awakening was completed, Tobi preferred to be around her.

"I think I have learned Mana Technique! Bella suddenly said. "I can feel a warm flow of a subtle breeze entering my body."

"It's Natural mana, and don't lose your breathing rhythm!" Tobi almost scolded her. "When the process starts, you need all the concentration needed. If not Mana Technique stops working!"

Bella wanted to rebuke, but realizing Tobi was just worried about her, she moved to Mana Accumulator instead. Now she could clearly feel the world around her, the soft but cold air brushing against her skin, the leaves dancing with the tree.

But she kept her focus high, visualizing a vivid the sensation of her core transformation from phantom to vivid, giving her a prickling feeling as the natural mana slowly revolves around it.

Bella was about reporting it to Tobi when she suddenly felt something struck her core merging with it. Pain invaded her body, almost breaking her concentration. Bella had never felt such pain after her recovery when breathing was even a miracle to her.

The pain was an old mate, so she welcomed it gritting her teeth and without losing her breathing rhythm.

"I guess, her transformation has begun," Tobi said, as he took note of her transformation.

Tobi could watch via his mental world [his mind world] encompassing her surrounding, a small-scale war of matter versus energy took place inside Bella's body. The pin size white core slowly turned black, as more and more impurities were amassed around it.

The pain grew as Bella's core darkened until Bella couldn't bear it anymore and was about to scream, but Tobi inserted his left hand on her mouth, as the ends of her teeth elongated long enough as it dug two bloody holes on his palm slowly making warm blood liquid trickle down her throat. 

Tobi knew the scream might cause an alarm, so he had planned to give her some blood to alleviate the pain. Even with his left-hand hurting, Tobi still kept watching over her.

Bella's Mana core started pulsing, contracting, and expanding like it was about blowing up. Then it released a powerful wave of dense white natural mana, that forced the impurities inside and outside.

Tobi could see the natural mana coursing through her body like it was searching for impurities to vent its wrath on. Whenever it encountered them, they would dissipate no matter the cost. 

Her flesh, muscle, and bones were torn and cracked as they augmented themselves. It was like Bella's body was suddenly disgusted by itself, and had decided to start over from the scratch.

Bella's pain was nearing an unbearable level since he felt his blood was about being suċkėd dry. Tobi kept watching, even though his body was feeling faint and shaky. The only thing he could do was force his blood energy to it maximum, to ease her pain whenever her body experienced a major breakdown.

Not knowing what was actually helpful and what wasn't, he couldn't directly interfere. The self-inflicted wounds brought Bella to the verge of death, but the sweet warm liquid flowing through her mouth kept giving her energy to heal the wounds.

Tobi did his best to keep her stable, making the natural mana abundant to not ruin her awakening process.

Only when the last skin shredded was Bella's body fully repaired with glossy color. Tobi felt his body shivering, from losing too much blood.

'I guess, why I didn't experience pain was my early awakening. My body developed like that of those divine beasts. So I grew slowly in strength, so my body had all the energy it needed with my breathing technique, if not I don't think a baby could endure so much pain.'

Tobi checked Bella with his mind world energy again, to make sure she was perfectly fine. Since his mind's world energy could also be used for detections, strangely her core was now deep white and was constantly absorbing the natural mana around her.

'But wait, mine is light grey does it mean grey, is of a higher mana core?' Tobi thought with exhaustion. During the past years, his power core had been further enhanced, allowing it to turn completely grey in color.

Unfortunately, he had yet to know how the mana core phenomenon works or its levels.

'I'll have to pump natural mana to her non-stop. It should help her recover her vigor faster.'

Tobi brought Bella home to her room to sleep, he needed to let all that she had just gone through digest.

Bella woke up the next day, feeling the subtle bed expressed against her spotless skin. The first thing she noticed was that her body felt different, she was lightweight with her three senses much more active than usual, but most of all smellier.

'Did I fall into an open waste bin or what? She took off her dress, throwing it into a corner, yet the stench didn't subside.

After a while of staring at herself, and everything around her in amazement, she snapped out of her reverie with a thought. 'How long has little brother being keeping such a burden to himself?'

'All these years, how difficult has little brother life been? Going through all kinds of difficulties.' Bella's thoughts wander, as she changed into a set of a bathing robes, taking strides towards their wooden family bathing yard, through a room door made just beside their house.

This had all been made possible through Tobi's earnings for the family. 

After entering, she had submerged herself into a warm water, Bella had a much easier time thinking straight, as she calmed her mind.

'I already know a lot, telling mother, father and sister might harm them. Just keeping them out of the main picture would pose a challenge.

'Once little brother comes back from those people, I want to see the world with everyone. But now it feels like a cage to little brother

'Looking at little brother growing up, he had always been calm even though he was always being ridicule as a demon child. Only that if he didn't tell me about all these, I would have been kept in the dark, but I pray they don't harm him.

'If I could I would have helped lil brother, but there is not much I can do. Soon they will come to take him away.

'I never got why little brother endures so many burdens. With just a glimpse of it, I know it not going to be easy for him.' She sighed. Her whole life she thought, she would never be well again but her little brother had helped her. After experiencing all this, she had thought things would start afresh and live happily, with no worries but life was like a twist of fate.