B2 | Chapter 45 - Bringing a Princess to her Knees

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B2 | Chapter 45 - Bringing a Princess to her Knees

Freya POV

Freya came to slowly, wincing at her pounding head. What happened? It felt like someone had hammered her head constantly. She swallowed, frowning at the the taste in her mouth. It was wrong. Metallic and bitter, with an underlying sweetness that made her stomach turn.

Hazily, she cocked her hand up and touched her lips. Her eyes widened when she looked at her hand. Blood. Lots of it. She blinked, trying to focus on her surroundings. Nothing remained of the training field. It was simply... gone. Or at least, what remained barely qualified as a training field anymore.

Massive craters dotted the landscape, some so deep she couldn't see the bottom. Chunks of stone and metal lay scattered everywhere, twisted into impossible 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 go all-out here without leaving so much as a scorch mark.

And now it looked like a war zone.

Theodore lay unconscious about twenty feet away, his chest rising and falling in shallow, irregular breaths. At least he was alive. That was... something.

"I should fetch a [Healer]."

Freya turned her head, winced at the pain, then frowned, and moved her head carefully, because movement hurt—to see Juliana standing beside her. Juliana's expression was carefully neutral, but Freya could see the concern lurking beneath the surface.

"I didn't mean to do that," Freya said, gesturing weakly 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."

"Sure."

Freya scowled, or tried to. Her face felt numb. "Don't just blame me! Blame him as well! Just look what he did to my arm! And my stomach!"

She tried to gesture with her right arm, to show Juliana the damage Theodore had inflicted.

Except her right arm wasn't there anymore.

Freya stared at the empty space where her arm should have been. From just above her elbow down, there was... nothing. No hand, no forearm, no blood even. Just smooth, sealed skin where the amputation had occurred.

The memories came flooding back.

That purple fire. Theodore had summoned it and sent it whipping toward her, disintegrating 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 it was being so difficult today. Granted, she loved absorbing fire, but today this felt completely out of hand.

Regardless, instead of her hand blocking the fire like it should have, the fire had eaten through her hand like it was made of paper. 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?

Theodore had panicked. She remembered that much clearly. He'd used thunder and disappeared in a flash of light and sound. But it didn't seem like he'd been that good at using thunder that way, so he'd slammed into the ground a second after, rolling to a stop before he stood up. More purple fire had come hurtling her way, and she'd blocked it again with what remained of her right arm.

Because apparently she was an idiot.

Then chaos.

Theodore had unleashed something she would later come to learn as thermal release and kinetic release, a massive explosion with him at the center. Probably trying to get her away from him, to put distance between them and that horrifying purple flame.

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

After that, things got 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 gone, and...

Freya looked down at her stomach.

A massive 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 smooth 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 stared at Theodore's unconscious form, trying to process what had just happened. He'd been holding back too, obviously. Just like 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, she could maintain some level of awareness even when it took over. But this time, there had been nothing. Just darkness.

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

And more importantly, what the hell was Theodore, really? Because normal people—even abnormally strong normal people—didn't summon flames that could disintegrate matter like that, especially not at Rank 2.

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

Clicking her tongue in annoyance, she pumped her body full of fire mana, and let her passive skill [Life Conversion] do the job. In moments, her stomach started patching up and her arm started healing.

Freya closed her eyes and tried to remember more details from their fight. But it was all fragments. Flashes of purple light, the taste of blood, the feeling of her familiar clawing at the inside of her skull...

She heard a chuckle.

Theodore pushed himself up on his elbows, that same infuriating chuckle escaping his lips. Blood still caked the corner of his mouth, but there was something almost... satisfied in his expression.

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

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. Here she was, having just regrown an entire arm and patched up a hole in her torso, and he was acting like he'd accomplished something impressive?

But... he wasn't wrong.

"I might've," she said through gritted teeth. "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 words died in her throat. Right. The purple fire. The thing that had eaten through her defenses like they were made of 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 4 [Mages] work, Theodore, and they don't casually summon flames that can disintegrate matter."

Theodore's grin faded slightly. He looked down at his hands, flexing his fingers like he was testing whether they still worked.

"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, next second it was gone. Purple fire doesn't discriminate, apparently. 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."

He placed his hand over a particularly nasty gash on his forearm, and Freya watched as 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].

"[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 feets 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."

Theodore was quiet for a moment, processing this. "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."

The thought sent a chill down Freya's spine. Her Familiar was ancient, older than her by far. Given that it came directly from her Constellation and it hadn't been something she chose herself. 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."

"Is there?" Theodore's eyes met hers, and for a moment, she saw something sharp and calculating behind his casual demeanor. "Because 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.

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

Having travelled with her friend for a while now, she knew nothing good was 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 approaching, a tall woman in healer's robes beside her. The [Healer] was already preparing her magic, hands glowing with soft white light, 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 stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes swept over them, taking in their unmarked skin, their relaxed postures, the complete absence of any injuries that would require professional healing.

Then her expression shifted. First, she appeared to be relieved. Then, supposedly remembering what the two of them had done, her expression soured.

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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