Try as he might, nothing he was doing was working. Reinhart truly felt helpless, but Aldren's words echoed in his mind of times when he wouldn't be able to save everyone. This was one of those times.
Even if he removed all their mana, their bodies had been forever changed, and their minds fractured beyond repair.
"Gentle... easy..." he muttered to himself, tears of frustration and despair running down his face. He could not save their bodies, but perhaps he could save their souls. If he were able to, at least their essences could pass on peacefully.
But as the removal continued, their physical forms mutated into forms more gruesome than before. Reinhart pressed on carefully, resisting the urge to hurry. Though the pain was agonizing, he kept telling himself - it was better than trapping them in their tortured existence.