[Book 1 Completed] Industrial Mage: Modernizing a Magical World [Kingdom Building LitRPG]
B2 | Chapter 45 – Aftermath

Freya POV

Freya came to slowly, wincing at her pounding head. What happened? She felt as though someone had repeatedly hammered her skull. She swallowed, frowned, and then scowled at the taste in her mouth. It was wrong. It was harsh and metallic, with a hint of sweetness that made her stomach turn.

Cocking her fingers up, she touched her lips languidly. She glanced at her hand, and her eyes grew wild. Blood. A lot of it. She blinked at her surroundings, trying to focus. The training field was completely destroyed. It was just... gone. Or, at least, what remained behind could hardly be considered a training field anymore.

The terrain was speckled with craters, one of which was so deep she couldn't see the bottom. Metal and stone fragments were strewn all over, twisted into different shapes.

This had been an enchanted training field, or had Theodore lied to her about that? No way. She herself had felt the enchantments; this place was nothing to scoff at. Built to withstand magic of the highest caliber—or at least up to someone Rank 4 like her. Rank 3s could go all-out here without leaving so much as a scorch mark.

About twenty feet away, Theodore lay seemingly unconscious, breathing slowly, his chest rising and falling. At least he was alive. That was... something.

"I should fetch a [Healer]."

Freya glanced across to Juliana, who was standing next to her. Freya could see the worry that was hidden beneath Juliana's perfectly neutral expression.

"I didn't mean to do that," Freya said, gesturing at the destruction around them.

"Sure."

"I mean it. That purple fire, it did something to my Body Familiar. I couldn't hold back anymore. Then it took over, and now my head hurts like a bitch."

"Sure."

Freya scowled. "Don't just blame me! Blame him as well! Just look what he did to my arm! And my stomach!"

She attempted to demonstrate the harm Theodore had caused to Juliana by making a motion with her right arm.

Except her right arm wasn't there anymore.

Where her arm should have been, Freya gazed at the empty space. There was nothing. She couldn't see any blood, or feel her forearm or her hand. Her Body Familiar had already cauterized the wound.

The purple flames. They had been called forth by Theodore, and they had whipped at her, destroying everything in its path. Her Body Familiar had screamed inside her skull, hammering around and taking control, jumping at the fire to eat it up. She'd reached out to block the fire instead, forcing her Familiar's instincts down.

She had no idea why her Body Familiar was being so difficult today. Granted, she loved absorbing fire, but today this felt completely out of hand.

In any case, the flames had eaten through her hand like it was made of paper, rather than her hand shielding the fire as it should have. The fire just consumed it, devoured it completely. And then, her Familiar had absorbed that fire, and hungry for more, it'd compelled her to move and she'd actually lunged toward the source—Theodore.

What the hell had she been thinking? Sure, she hadn't been in control, but still, what the hell had she been thinking?

He vanished in a burst of sound and light after using thunder. However, he didn't appear to have been very skilled at manipulating thunder in that manner, so he smacked into the ground a second later and rolled to a stop before getting to his feet. She had used what was left of her right arm to intercept another round of purple flames that had come flying at her.

Because apparently she was an idiot. She lost her arm, too, and then there was chaos.

Theodore had unleashed something she would later come to learn as thermal and kinetic release, which was a massive explosion with him at the center. He'd probably been trying to get her away from him, to put distance between himself and that horrifying purple fire.

It had worked, sort of. She had been flung across the training field by the blast. But there had still been remnants of that fire floating around, and they'd torn through the reinforced walls like they were made of paper.

After that, things got a bit fuzzy.

Her Body Familiar had taken control completely, and she'd blacked out. When she'd come to, the training field was even more destroyed, Theodore was unconscious, her arm was cauterized, and...

Freya looked down at her stomach.

A chunk was missing there too, carved out in a perfect sphere. She could actually see her internal organs through the gap, though they seemed to be sealed over with the same cauterized skin that had replaced her arm.

When had that happened?

During the blackout, presumably.

While her Body Familiar was running wild.

"What the fuck was that fire?" she asked, not really expecting an answer.

Juliana was quiet for a long moment.

"I don't know. But I intend to find out."

Freya tried to comprehend what had just happened as she gazed at Theodore's unconscious body. Of course, he had been holding back too, similar to her. But when he'd finally stopped, when he'd used that purple flame...

Her Body Familiar had gone berserk. Completely out of control. She'd never experienced anything like it before.

Usually, even when it took over, she was able to stay somewhat conscious and could maintain some level of awareness and she could even exert some control. However, nothing had been there this time. Nothing but blackness.

Why? What was it about that fire that had triggered such a violent reaction?

She was certain she could've ended things without all this damage had she been the one in control.

And more importantly, what the hell was Theodore, really? After all, norma Rank 2 people, even abnormally strong ones, did not conjure flames capable of disintegrating matter in such a manner.

It had hurt her, goddamnit! And she was Rank 4!

She let her passive skill [Life Conversion] do the work while pumping her body full of fire mana and clicked her tongue in frustration. Her arm exploded into full recovery, and her stomach began to patch up in a matter of seconds.

Freya closed her eyes and attempted to recall more of their fight after she'd blacked out. But it was all bits and pieces. The sensation of her Familiar clawing at the interior of her head, the taste of blood, the flashes of purple light...

She heard a chuckle.

Pushing himself up on his elbows, Theodore let out that same infuriating chuckle. Even though there was still blood on the corner of his mouth, his expression was almost... satisfied.

"I made you stop holding back," he said, grinning through the pain like an idiot.

Freya's head snapped toward him, eyes wide.

"...What?"

"At the end there." Theodore winced as he sat up fully, one hand pressed against his ribs. "You stopped holding back. It took a lot out of me, but that stomach wound of yours? I did that when you weren't holding back anymore."

The audacity of this bastard.

What was he, a child? Then again, she wasn't any better and she was Rank 4, and he had likely wanted to test out that fire, whatever it was. Not that she hadn't gained anything from this fight; a few of her skills had gained a lot of levels, and her Familiar especially seemed happy and a lot higher level than before.

However, regardless of that, here she was, having just regrown an entire arm and patched up a hole in her torso back to pristine condition, and he was acting like he'd accomplished something impressive?

But... he wasn't wrong.

And he had accomplished something impressive…

"I might've lost control for a bit there. My Body Familiar went completely berserk." She paused, studying his face. "But don't get cocky about it. I don't know what that purple fire did to me."

Freya's voice trailed away. Right. The purple fire. Her defenses had been shredded by the fire as if they were paper. The thing that had driven her Familiar into a feeding frenzy.

"What the hell is that anyway?" she demanded, gesturing at the scorched craters around them. "That's not normal fire. That's not normal anything. I've seen Rank 4s work, Theodore, and they don't casually summon flames that can disintegrate matter."

Theodore's smile dimmed a bit. Glancing down at his hands, he flexed them as if to see if they were still functional.

"Honestly? I don't know."

"You don't know." Freya's voice was flat. "You don't know what the mysterious purple fire that just ate my arm is."

"I mean it." Theodore shrugged, then immediately regretted it based on the way his face twisted in pain. "It just... appeared one day. I was fucking around with fire magic, trying to see if I could make it burn hotter. And then—" He gestured vaguely. "Purple."

"Just like that?"

She wished it was that easy for her too. She'd love some mysterious purple fire that could eat through two fucking ranks higher than her.

"Just like that. Lost my arm that day too, actually. Good thing I figured out how to heal it back."

Freya blinked. "You lost your arm?"

"Completely. Just like yours. One second it was there, the next second it was gone. Purple fire doesn't discriminate, apparently. It hurt like hell, but it was... interesting. The way it just consumed everything. No heat, no burning sensation. Just... gone."

"That's terrifying."

"Yeah, well." Theodore started to shrug again, caught himself, and settled for a lopsided smile. "Speaking of healing, I should probably patch myself up. Everything hurts. And yeah, that was quite idiotic, but don't tell me you didn't enjoy that."

Freya stared, a little irritated that he had seen right through her. He placed his hand over a particularly nasty gash on his forearm and a soft light emanated from his palm. The wound began to close, skin knitting itself back together.

"Oh, you have a healing skill?" she asked, leaning forward slightly. There was something fascinating about watching the magic work. Most healing she'd seen was either crude battlefield medicine or the flashy, over-the-top displays of professional [Healers].

Hers was different, more brutal to herself than normal healing could ever be.

"[Healing Touch]," Theodore confirmed, moving his hand to a cut on his forehead. "Want me to heal you?"

Freya shook her head. "No, I've already healed. I have a self-healing skill."

"Of course you do." Theodore's tone was dry. "What don't you have?"

"A good explanation for what just happened, apparently." Freya crossed her legs, studying him as he continued patching himself up. "So let me get this straight. You're Rank 2, you can summon fire that disintegrates matter, you have a healing skill, and you can use thunder magic well enough to teleport."

"Barely," Theodore corrected. "And I wouldn't call it teleporting. More like… I just went fast as fuck there? I don't know. I have never used lightning that way. I just wanted to escape back there, and I had a lot of excess mana running wild. It latched onto my intent, and the next thing I know, I am rolling on the ground some feet away."

"Right." Freya's lips twitched despite herself. "That's definitely what I'd call slamming face-first into the ground."

"Hey, I landed on my shoulder, not my face."

"My mistake. Very graceful. And what was that ungodly amount of mana, anyway?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. You know what's weird? Your Familiar. The way it reacted to my fire."

Freya's amusement faded. So he realized it was her Familiar?

"What about it?"

"It wanted to eat it. I could tell. The way you moved, the way you reached for it even when it was destroying you..." Theodore tilted his head. "What kind of Familiar feeds on fire?"

"A Body Familiar that's been with me since I was twelve," Freya said carefully. "It helps me absorb and convert fire magic. That's why I'm so good with flames."

"But it's never reacted like that before?"

"Never. It's always been... manageable. Helpful, even. But with your fire, it went completely insane like it was starving and had just seen a feast."

"So either my fire is different enough to trigger some kind of feeding response, or..."

"Or what?"

"Or your Familiar knows something about my fire that we don't."

Freya's spine tingled at the thought. Her Familiar was really old, much older than she was, considering that it had not been her own choice and had come straight from her Constellation. If it had recognized something in Theodore's purple flames...

"That's a terrifying thought," she said.

"Yeah, well. Add it to the list." Theodore finished healing the last of his visible wounds and sat back with a sigh. "Right after 'why can I summon fire that shouldn't exist' and 'how did I manage to hurt a Rank 4 at Rank 2.'"

"You hurt a Rank 4 who was holding back," Freya corrected. "There's a difference."

"From where I'm sitting, it looks like we were both holding back until we weren't. And when we stopped..."

He gestured at the destroyed training field around them.

Freya followed his gaze, taking in the massive craters, the twisted metal, the scorched earth. They'd done this. Together. A Rank 2 and a Rank 4 who'd both been playing nice until they hadn't.

She loved it.

It was exciting.

She wanted to do it again.

"We're going to be in so much trouble," she said finally, thinking of Juliana.

She had been traveling with her friend for some time, so she knew nothing good would be coming out of this.

"Oh, definitely." Theodore grinned. "Juliana's going to murder us both. Where is she, anyway?"

"Went to get a [Healer]. Should be back soon."

As if summoned by her words, the sound of footsteps echoed across the training ground. Freya turned to see Juliana coming toward them, accompanied by a tall woman wearing a healer's robes. With her hands shining a gentle white light, the [Healer] was already getting ready to use her powers, clearly expecting to find two grievously wounded people.

Instead, she found Theodore and Freya sitting casually in the middle of the destruction, both fully healed and apparently engaged in pleasant conversation.

Juliana came to a complete halt. Her gaze moved over them, seeing their unmarked skin, their relaxed postures, and the total lack of any wounds that would need to be treated by a professional [Healer].

Then her expression shifted. She seemed relieved at first. Then her face soured, as if recalling what the two of them had done. Stormy didn't begin to cover it…

Theodore and Freya looked at each other, both wincing at the same time.

They didn't need to speak to know they were sharing the exact same thought.

We're fucked.

***

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