Rules of Biomancy: A LitRPG Healer Fantasy

N-Tuple Channeling of [Active Absorption] has been activated! Current cost: [NaN]

Sasha blinked.

She'd made it to the brothel. The lobby was empty. She felt no souls nearby. She could hear the screams far away, the pleading and the begging unending, but it was all drowned out by the silence of the abyss that grew inside her.

"Cas, I need you," Sasha growled with gritted teeth. The flesh inside her body that the black void hadn't replaced screamed at her, as the nerves were pulled further and further apart. Without focusing on keeping herself together, parts of her face would begin to float away. Was she even looking with her eyes anymore? "Cas!"

Nobody was here. She was alone. Nobody here but her.

Another burst of pain, as some part of her legs disappeared from this world, caused her to scream out. Sasha forced herself to keep going regardless, her hands on the walls to stop herself from collapsing.

Even with the mildest pressure, the stone crumbled in her grasp.

Just keep moving.

Sasha blinked.

She was outside. It was snowing. Cars honked in the distance as the working class headed home for the night. Sasha had never done that herself, staying in one place for most of the day. An alleyway, to be precise, right next to one of the heated air vents. It smelled terrible, and it made her cough up grey slime after a few days, but it kept her warm during the nights.

It was nice. She made friends, with whom she huddled to keep warm.

Sasha blinked.

The door to the brothel's basement was locked. Typical. One of the workers usually unlocked it for her. That wasn't possible anymore, though, so she just kicked the spot right beside the handle.

Even with her normal strength, her foot shouldn't have been able to go straight through. Neither should the door have crumbled into nothingness, black lines floating midair where the hinges had sat.

She didn't think about it, avoiding the growing fractures while she headed down the stairs. Each step felt like a gamble, the creaking louder than normal.

"Cas!"

Sasha blinked.

Her spit tasted metallic, as her heart beat loudly in her chest. Drumming filled her ears, and blood fell from her nose and onto the face of her former friend. A disagreement, the smell of food, and the fight for who would get it. Sasha had won, but the cost had been the loss of another who had been starving just as much as she had.

She'd stayed beside the body for two days after that, refusing to move away from the heated air vent. The snow had been harsher that winter, and any unneeded movements made her shiver.

Sasha blinked.

The boxing ring was empty. The benches on the side were the same. Everybody had fled hours ago, leaving food and drinks behind to rot. A disgusting sight, though one that Sasha couldn't consider as she fell onto the ground.

"I'm in control," she mumbled. How the words left her mouth was a mystery, as she could feel neither her tongue nor her lips. Even her fingers had started to disappear, the distance between the remaining skin only growing wider. "I'm not dead yet."

It took more effort than ever before to crawl up in the boxing ring. Sasha couldn't feel the padding, and the ropes fell apart when she went under them. Everything around her was falling apart.

She was falling apart.

Sasha blinked.

Loud music from the other room blared into her head as she sat on the stained sofa. Everybody around her was too drunk or drugged to notice anything amiss, as one guy convulsed on top of the table. An overdose, a stroke, or maybe a seizure. Nobody cared, including her. She could barely keep her eyes open as the twelfth shot worked itself through her system.

Life was good.

Sasha blinked.

She was screaming. Louder than ever before, without a mouth, without a throat, but the sound still travelled through the basement. It made the walls shake, made the metal under the padding of the boxing ring rust and fade away, and she could feel it as the remains of her nervous system began to be ripped apart. The greatest pain, greater than fire, greater than drowning in saltwater, was being pushed into her brain, and it refused to end.

Just kill me.

Sasha blinked.

Her face carried bruises, her body trembled when she stood, and several of the toes on her right foot were probably broken, but she still grinned when the crowd cheered. Money was thrown towards her, her manager was congratulating her, and the announcer was praising the unrelenting hunger of the fighters.

The fighter that remained, at least. The guy beneath Sasha had stopped breathing after the first three hits. Normal standards would've caused a judge to interfere, but the crowd had loved it too much.

And, hey, she'd get a bonus when she was the only one standing.

Sasha blinked.

"Please just stop. I don't want this."

Nobody listened. Nobody was around her. The abyss was consuming her.

Sasha blinked.

She'd been nostalgic, and two days of not drinking had caused her to revisit her old spots. That heated air vent in the alley, which barely worked these days, had gotten new visitors. Younger faces, younger than what she'd been back then.

They'd looked frightened when her black-eyed face had looked them over.

"Come with me," Sasha ordered. "No reason to freeze outside."

She'd repeated those words twelve times the week after.

Sasha blinked.

She had no eyelids, no mouth, and barely a body, but she still blinked, still begged, still felt the pain coursing through her non-existent flesh. Each second was a nightmare, each breath of air making the proportions of the basement twist and twirl.

A growl left her throat, making vibrations travel through the stone, as her heartbeat stopped, the organ consumed by the void. Her flesh still demanded her blood to be oxygenated, to travel through the skin, and she felt the pain of that deprivation. Brief hope made her think this was the end, that her mind would finally succumb to the darkness, but the feeling of choking only worsened. The void wouldn't let her die.

"Just stop."

Twisting around onto her stomach, or whatever it counted as now, she used her remaining fist to punch the padding of the boxing ring.

Sasha blinked.

She walked—

No.

Sasha didn't accept the world around her. She wasn't back in the housing facilities, celebrating this month's list of birthdays. The children at her feet, chanting their demands for cake, weren't real. None of this was real.

"I'm not—"

Sasha blinked.

Her fist shattered the ring, the metal crumbling into dust beneath her fingers.

Wait.

Fingers.

The swirling rust gathered into a vortex, centering around Sasha before slowly growing tighter. The pieces entered into her, the energy of the physical matter being absorbed and assimilated.

For just a moment, the pain was gone. Sasha felt air enter her non-existent lungs, felt her sight gaining color, and the paleness of her fingers was seen.

It ended a moment later, as the final pieces of the ring disappeared, and she was left on the stone floor of the basement with a hunger twice what it was before.

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Sasha blinked.

A fist reached her left cheekbone, making her mind sputter as the shot of pain travelled through her body. Another fist already flew through the air to finish her, but she guarded just in time, countering with a kick.

No.

"Stop."

The alleyway grew fuzzy, the wannabe thief froze mid-fall, and the snow from above ceased.

I can control it.

Sasha—

No.

Sasha—

I don't want to.

The world shattered, the physical realm turning to dust and revealing that endless nothingness behind it. Her mind wanted to categorize it as black, but that would entail it carrying a color and an identity, which the nothingness didn't possess. It was the color of the world outside one's vision, past the corner of one's eyes, past what could be seen.

Nothing.

An absence that needed to be filled.

It trembled, a wave travelling through the void. Waves of pain, waves of hunger, radiating from Sasha's being. Even when forced inside the wrong side, the agony of her body could be felt.

Just let it disappear.

Sasha did not blink, but the world appeared again. She was on the ground, her back on the floor, and her eyes formed just enough to let her see the sky above her. Sasha was still in the basement, in the spot where the boxing ring had sat, but the chunk of brothel above had vanished. A hole had been carved out, a hole which grew larger and larger with every second, as an invisible force tore out pieces of the stone and made it crumble into that impossible dust.

It's me.

Her fingers were moving, twitching by her side, and guiding each strike into the physical matter. It was instinctual, as each piece carved allowed her an instant of reprieve. Nothing compared to that initial pause in the pain, but it was enough for Sasha to keep at it, for any break in the agony was worth it.

"Maybe I am an abomination," she murmured. Her eyes, which continued to fall apart and float into the air above her, glazed over while she thought about that night with the elven woman. "Maybe you were onto something."

She was selfish. Sasha knew that this wouldn't last, that the void inside her chest required more and more if she wanted the pain to stop. What she took from the world, what entered that endless abyss, would never come back.

Yet she couldn't stop. She feared the pain. The tightening of her throat, as she lost the ability to breathe, and the slow separation of her nerves. It scared Sasha, beyond anything else. Like all the times before, she was willing to put herself above others, to doom them if it meant she didn't have to share their fate.

Please.

Sasha blinked.

Nothing changed. The chance to ignore the truth was gone.

She wanted to cry, but her tear ducts were gone. Any tears that had left her would've been absorbed instantly anyway, as the physical material around her body began to disappear. Sasha stayed in place anyway, floating without assistance. Gravity's pull was being absorbed now. It wouldn't take long before she would have to branch out further.

"I'm sorry," she said on repeat, as the central pillars of the brothel were absorbed, and the building began to truly collapse. The stones that flew closest vanished instantly. They did next to nothing.

I'm a coward.

"There's nothing to apologize for, Sasha."

Her fingers froze, the pain erupted in full, and her body began to tear itself apart in rapid fashion. The sensation was torturous like nothing before it, but shock stopped Sasha from continuing.

Her head could only twist around, allowing empty eye sockets to look towards the stairs.

Cas was there, holding Mila's hand.

No.

Cas smiled warmly, while Mila stared at Sasha with frightened eyes.

No.

"Please… leave," Sasha begged, fighting through the lack of air in her half-formed body. "I can't… I can't control this."

"You can," Cas threw back at her, his warm smile staying in place as he reached a hand towards her. The arm came within five meters of her body, and the void inside her took the opportunity to start peeling away the layers of flesh. "You're strong, Sasha. I know you."

"Don't!" she continued to beg, but Cas stepped forward with Mila in tow. The Chronomancer went first, the void accepting the readily available meal with glee. Skin was torn off, the muscle tissue beneath becoming a Mana-filled feast, but Cas did not falter in his step. Without pause, the Chronomancer merely channeled his powers, making the wounds revert and allowing the void to tear him apart yet again. "Just leave!"

"Why would we, when you're in pain?" Cas questioned. She could hear the strain in his voice, well-hidden but obvious to her ears. She could hear everything. Their breathing, the flexing of their muscles, the grinding of their boots against the stone, and…

Sasha felt the instant Mila entered the zone around her. She felt the void seeing the new target, the physical matter to tear apart. She felt the hunger, the unstoppable desire to satiate the abyss.

Her finger twitched, a slice of that small arm was absorbed, and Mila cried out.

No.

No.

No.

"You're the strongest person I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, Sasha," Cas continued, as Sasha wrestled with the void. She screamed, her voice fracturing into a dozen different tones, but she could still hear the Chronomancer's every word. "You are destined for greatness, to see the world improve, and to stand beside the Harbinger. You just need to realize it."

Every piece of her conscious mind fought the hunger, the power of the void. Her nerves had been fully transformed into that black nothingness, into the manifestation of the abyss, yet the pain still felt just as real.

Nothing struck Mila; no harm came to her, yet Cas' body still received the void's full attention. How he continued to rebuild his body as Sasha tore him apart, she couldn't understand, but she knew she didn't want it.

"Leave," she repeated, each word a battle to get out. "Just get out of here."

"No," Cas refused. He stood a meter away from her floating body, looking up at her without judgment. "Take my hand."

The limb flashed between being whole and having nothing but bone left, as the proximity to Sasha magnified the danger.

"I can't."

"Please!" Mila begged. Sasha wanted to reply, to plead to Mila, but the small hand getting closer required all her attention. Each instant of time made Sasha's entire life flash before her eyes, her mind doing anything and everything in an effort to spare Mila. "We can stop it from hurting!"

"Just trust us," Cas added. Then, without warning, the Chronomancer's hand broke the distance, grabbing Sasha and pulling her down to the ground. "It'll be alright."

A small body lunged at Sasha, thin arms doing their best to wrap around her torso. Mila cried out instantly as the void began to devour.

No.

"Trust me," Cas advised her, smiling as he disappeared from view. His Core had grown empty, and the void was allowed to consume him in his entirety.

It grew satisfied for a millisecond before the attention returned to the girl who kept hugging her tightly, screaming her name. Pain blossomed, and instinct forced Sasha's eyes on Mila. She was selfish. She didn't want to hurt.

I can't.

She couldn't do this.

"Please get better," Mila begged, as she grew weaker. Tears rolled down her face. Sasha couldn't look away.

The void lashed out again.

Sasha held it at bay. Anger at the abyss grew louder than ever. Not at the pain the nothingness caused upon Sasha alone, but at the pain it tried to cause Mila. To hurt a child, to kill somebody so innocent… She rejected the attempt.

With anger, with determination, and with a pitiful type of desperation that her life had made her grow accustomed to, Sasha pushed for the impossible.

Error! Core meltdown! Absorber is advised to—

"Shut up," Sasha muttered, ignoring the blue screens that tried to flood her vision. Warnings, upgrades, and half-formed symbols that made not a lick of sense to her kept popping up, but she waved it all away.

With a mighty fist, she forced the void back into the cage that was her chest.

It didn't appreciate the action. The second she felt the briefest respite, the regathering of her skin and flesh from the void, the fractures began again.

Automatic N-Tuple Channeling of [Active Absorption] has been re-activated! Current cost: [NaN]

Fuck off.

It didn't. The pain grew exponentially, but Sasha kept trying, Cas's words and Mila's hug making anything else incomprehensible to consider.

Give me balance.

An idea appeared in her head, between the internal pulling forces that should've spaghettified any normal person. Sasha needed to be balanced, for the forces to be equal. For each pull, a pull had to be there to match.

Absorption and Desorption.

One part already sat ready, waiting for the chance to tear the world apart. The other had yet to be called upon.

Get out here, you little shit.

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

A drop to fight against an ocean.

Dual-Channeling of [Active Desorption] has been—

More.

Quadruple-Channeling of—

I said more, you piece of shit.

N-Tuple Channeling of [Active Desorption] has been re-activated! Current cost: [NaN]

An ocean against an ocean. Waves of pushing and pulling, relentless in power but mirrored in output to create the perfect balance.

Sasha could breathe.

Spells learned! [Passive Absorption]Tier N) and [Passive Desorption](Tier N) have been added to your spell collection.

Oh, shut it.

Sasha allowed herself to fall to the ground, as the effort required to stop the collapse of her body became easier. Mila followed her down, arms still tight around her torso.

"Are you better now?" Mila asked, quiet and tired. Sasha could see the pale expression on her face, and the bleeding arm made it clear she needed attention.

"Better but not great just yet," Sasha replied, squinting at the sky above. It had turned a different color. "Could you… Could you grab some bandages from the cabinet over there? And one of the bottles with clear liquid."

She felt like shit, but she wasn't imploding.

Guess you were right, Cas.

…Thank you for believing in me.

If Mila hadn't been there beside her, looking like she needed a brave face, Sasha would've had tears rolling down her reformed face already.