Rules of Biomancy: A LitRPG Healer Fantasy

Sasha moved into range without warning, firing off a quick jab. It barely touched Cas's skin, doing little damage, but it made him blink. An opportunity to strike hard, with a low roundhouse kick.

A normal person would've been hit hard against their thigh, a devastating blow that could allow for a finisher. Cas wasn't normal. The split-second distraction didn't work against a man who could see the future. He shifted his weight, feet moving him perfectly out of range.

A growl left her throat when she saw his grin.

She pushed on, not allowing him to get distance. He predicted it, sending a jab of his own. Sasha took it head-on, trading the pain for a hook on his cheek.

Got you.

The smile didn't leave his face as she tried for a cross. Another impact, followed by a low kick. Didn't hit. He dodged. Cas played it defensively. Slower than normal.

What are you planning?

Sasha didn't push a second time, spotting the footwork that allowed for a spinning back kick. Cas wanted to lure her into thinking she was winning before giving her a reality check. He wasn't the first with that line of thought.

With her refusal to close the distance, Cas took up that task. Leaving behind his preparations, he sent out a cross. She countered, getting him in the side. Sasha could've stepped back then, but she didn't relent.

I'm done playing.

That slight stumble and his watering eyes gave her courage, and she launched a roundhouse kick.

In a surge of movement, Cas stepped into the kick and snatched the leg mid-strike. Sasha knew she'd messed up, trying to pull back, but he twisted the leg hard. Her balance was broken, she couldn't recover, and Cas's punch into her gut made all the air leave her body.

A normal person would've collapsed.

Sasha wasn't normal.

Cas knew that, already sending off a hook for her face, but Sasha's mind had locked in again. Her balance was back, her muscles had tightened, and she ducked under the blow with ease.

She feinted a kick. It didn't work. The Chronomancer knew her too well. A frustrating reality.

What she couldn't make up for in unpredictability, she had to make up for in sheer speed and strength.

Channeling of [Active Desorption] has been activated! Current cost: [NaN]

Focusing the release of kinetic energy on her leg, it doubled in speed, a low kick becoming a force of nature. The Chronomancer had seen it coming, but his body was still limited by human reflexes. He began to dodge, but the leg made impact with the hip flexor and continued.

A sound of pain left Cas' lips as he collapsed. The body refused to keep on.

"Happy to see you learning new tricks," Cas said in a tight voice, while Sasha went over to grab them some water and towels. Before she'd returned, he'd already regressed the damage, with barely a sweat on his brow. "A little hesitant in the middle, but much better than last week."

"You could've predicted that finisher," Sasha accused, as she sat down beside him. "You were going easy on me."

"We're going easy on each other," Cas corrected. "If you were going all out, none of my hits would've meant anything, and, if I were going all out, you wouldn't have made it into the ring."

"Sounds pointless."

"My thoughts exactly," he agreed. "Now, I think a certain spectator wants a word."

Going by the squeals of excitement, Sasha had to admit he was onto something. Mila, with her half-finished drawing, fought to climb into the ring while Jack looked on with mild amusement.

"Careful, now," Jack said, helping when the small hands began to lose their grip. With a push, he got her up into the ring, where Mila swiftly ran to Sasha's side. "I figured out how to make crayons. Turns out she's a bit of an artist with them."

"You don't say," Sasha replied. Hugging Mila with one arm and holding the drawing with the other, she inspected the work. "Beautiful as always."

"I drew you," Mila said, pointing at the head.

Sasha knew. Even when it was something close to a stick figure, Mila had still added the black fractures on her face.

Mila thought they looked amazing. Sasha didn't share that opinion, though she never voiced it. After the last round of upgrading in the Dungeon, they'd taken a full day to disappear again.

At least it's not getting worse anymore.

They had been back in the city for three weeks now, though it felt like a fraction of that. Everybody around Sasha had been busy with one thing or another. Elijah and Aleksi had done nothing but work in the castle or outside the city walls, and people in the street now walked in military formation, preparing for excursions into the Dungeon to train. That included Grace, who took a dozen other Mages into the caves at all hours of the day. Sasha and Jack had been invited to do the same, with the goal of 'passing on tips and tricks,' but Sasha hadn't accepted.

After so long away, she refused to let Mila sit by herself. The old Mage in charge might've kept her healthy, getting her food and shelter, but Sasha could see the signs. The kid was lonely, in need of attention, and nobody around here could get that into their heads. Children, no matter how much trauma had been thrown at them, needed a chance to act their age.

And, though some might've disagreed, the basement of a brothel wasn't the worst place to do just that.

"Can I fly again?" Mila asked. Putting down the drawing, Sasha grabbed Mila and raised her into the air.

"Not a problem," Sasha promised. Though she denied it later on, a smile might've even crept onto her face. "You remember how it works?"

"'Point where to go!'"

"Exactly."

Channeling of [Active Desorption] has been activated! Current cost: [NaN]

After the new round of absorbing Mana from the Dungeon, and the two weeks where Sasha had made sure she had enough control to not hurt Mila, she'd allowed the kid to float around in the air again. This time, however, she'd taken it a step further.

Encouraged by the screams of joy, Sasha made Mila fly around, the direction guided by wherever the kid pointed her finger. It required a small amount of extra control, since Sasha still made sure not to make her dizzy with rapid swinging, but that mattered little to Mila. She found joy in the act, and that was more than enough for Sasha.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"Maybe we shouldn't mention this to Grace, next time we see her," Jack commented, as he sat down in the ring beside Sasha. "She'd be too jealous that you can do it so smoothly."

"She just needs to practice," Sasha fired back. A small nudge from inside and the slight change in Mila's speed made her straighten her back. "It's not that hard."

"The number of times I hit the ground makes me think otherwise."

"You volunteered."

"Is that what we're calling it?"

"Yes."

During one of the first fights after getting back, Sasha had discovered the trick of using kinetic energy to change her speed. It had been erratic, hard to fine-tune, but it had revealed another technique that Jack had been frustratingly fascinated by. Even more so when they figured out that the act of pushing objects wasn't limited to Sasha's own body but anything in her vicinity.

The world didn't give her another so-called Spell from that accomplishment, like Jack with Ranged Transmutation, but it worked similarly. Any chunk of energy, whether it was kinetic, light, heat, or whatever the magical forces were called, could be released away from her own body. It was only with the kinetic forces that Sasha was able to gain any reasonable amount of control; however, since that was the only required part to give Mila control when flying, it wasn't too big of a concern.

Jack had been used for practice first, though. Sasha refused to accidentally hurt Mila.

"That latching mechanism still weirds me out, by the way," Jack commented, as they watched Mila spin around at speeds that would've made anybody else queasy. "That you can just choose a side of something and make the force push or pull from there doesn't match anything else I've seen from magic around here."

"The range of the magical arts is far wider than any of us will ever truly comprehend, Jack," Cas supplied, eliciting a groan from the man. "But, you'll learn a little more than most."

"Oh, yeah? Any hints about that?"

"I'd rather not spoil the surprise."

"Of course, you don't. You just like pointing at me and calling me 'Harbinger of Dawn.' I really would like to know where that title comes from."

"You'll figure it out in time."

"... You enjoy this."

"Yes, I do."

Sasha shared that enjoyment, as Jack grumbled unkind words under his breath. Despite the anger, he still made sure to remain proper around young ears, which Sasha appreciated. Having to beat him up so early in the morning wouldn't do any good.

Despite the ungodly constitution of a child's stomach, the endless spinning did seem to affect Mila after another ten minutes. Sasha brought her back out of the ring to rest, while Jack and Cas stayed.

While Jack hadn't shown off any notable talents in close-quarter fighting, Sasha had to admit that his military past brought some level of experience. His footwork was terrible, with him favoring his right side, but at least he knew how to guard.

"Shit," Jack cursed, as Cas' shin made an impact.

Reflexes need work.

"Does that hurt?" Mila asked, as the two watched the sparring.

"If you do it right, yes," Sasha said. "A proper kick can put most people on the ground instantly. Without being used to it, the shock is just too much."

"Cool. Can I try?"

"Fighting?"

"Yes!"

"You're a little young for that," Sasha tried, but the eyes that followed were too well-practiced. "I'll see about getting you some gear tomorrow. Maybe you could learn some techniques."

When Elijah had commented about Mila's unnatural ability to convince anybody around her to fall in line, Sasha had thought it was just old men being weak. That was no longer the case now. She was good.

Not like the other kids were any better, I guess.

That thought ruined her mood, and she hugged Mila a little tighter. It was nice having somebody to hug, but she wished that she could see the others again. Their smiles, their laughter, and how their faces had started to fatten after getting to eat properly… it'd warmed her heart. She'd been happy to give everything away to see that.

Sasha didn't like to think about how much she would give to see it again.

"Are you okay?" Mila asked, and a small hand reached up to touch her face. Sasha had to close her left eye to stop a finger from poking it out.

"I'm fine," she promised, but the kid's instincts stopped Mila from being fooled. "Just old memories."

"Hurts?"

"You could say that."

Mila hugged her back, the small arms failing to get around Sasha's torso but still trying their damndest.

"Does it hurt less now?"

"... Yeah. I guess it does."

Kids were too good sometimes.

"Okay, okay, I think I need a break now," Jack wheezed out, raising a hand in surrender. Sweat ran down the man's face, the skin turning red while the lungs fought for air. "How the hell do you two do this for hours?"

"Good cardio? Knowing the moves?" Cas suggested. The Chronomancer laughed when a middle finger was pointed his way. "I'd say to hit the showers, but I think it's a little too late for that."

"Too late? We haven't even had lunch yet," Jack countered, taking a swig of his water. "And, now we're on that topic, how do you all feel about…"

Through the thick walls, the rapid beat of boots could be heard. Just a single pair, but the speed made everybody quiet down. And, when the door blew open to reveal a panicked-looking Mia, Sasha knew something was wrong.

"Troops are getting pulled from the rooms," she said, adjusting the frantically put-on shirt. "Castilla attacked a village. War's starting."

… Shit.

Sasha supposed that three weeks of quiet meant that something had to go wrong.

"Any idea what village it was?" Jack asked, already changing into his everyday wear.

"One of the larger ones close to the Castillan border," Mia explained. "Far from here, but with enough numbers that everybody is freaking out."

"That's not good," Jack supposed, sitting down on the bench to get his shoes on. "Sasha, you want to change? I can grab some food with Mila in the meantime, before we head to the castle."

A terrible excuse. Jack had just spotted her mild shaking and misunderstood the reason.

"Sure," Sasha said, regardless, handing Mila over. "Get something you can eat moving."

Mia had already left to deliver the news to others, leaving Sasha and Cas alone in the room.

"You could've warned us it would happen," Sasha said.

"I could've," Cas agreed. "Wouldn't have helped. You needed time to destress."

"How selfless," she muttered, joining him in the ring. "Except that you know I can't. You can see the future. You can see what I'm thinking."

"I can see enough to know your troubles," he countered, trying and failing to sound comforting. "Not easy to sleep?"

"For the past two weeks, I've been waking up with ice on my skin," Sasha bluntly said. The calming smile on the Chronomancer's face fell. An act. He already knew what she was going to say. "I can't turn it off completely anymore. It's always on, in some way or another. I haven't felt cold or hot for weeks. It's all just the same."

When was it going to end?

"You just need time," Cas promised. "I've seen what you can do. I've seen what happens. This doesn't have to be the curse you think it is."

Sasha thought back to her talk with the elven diplomat from several months ago. That woman had called her an abomination, a flaw of creation, with the only chance at salvation being Sasha's death. The elf hadn't tried to do it herself back then. Sasha thought it'd been a sign of cowardice, that she couldn't stand by her own words, but maybe she'd thought Sasha too far gone back then already. Maybe she didn't think anybody else had a chance of killing her.

Maybe she was right.

"Please understand that I know your pain," Cas continued, when Sasha kept quiet. "I've seen what will happen to this world since I was four years old, I've known how I would die for more than a hundred years, and I know what part every person plays in it, yet I still move on. I still do my damndest, and I still support you. You, Sasha Petrova, Protector of Kids and Beater of Idiots, are a good person. You will do good. You just have to trust that it will be alright in the end."

… Maybe it was a moment of weakness, or maybe the bastard in front of her had practiced this speech too well, but a glint of hope did appear in her heart.

"Fine," she murmured. "Just promise me Mila will live through whatever shit comes her way."

"Live? She'll do better than that," Cas countered. "That little storm is going to save the world."