Rules of Biomancy: A LitRPG Healer Fantasy

Aleksi had walked through many challenges in his life. From his youngest years of fighting in the street, getting in trouble with the law, and being bailed out by his family, to the later years of being on the run with Elijah, where he had done plenty of terrible things.

He'd broken necks, crushed skulls, and torn people in half, previously under the banner of a country that didn't care for him and now for the sake of keeping somebody dear to him safe. Aleksi had walked through fire, had used his body to protect Elijah from a hundred arrows, and had allowed himself to be burnt a hundred times over by a magical sun, in the small hope that the man he cherished would keep breathing.

There was little he wouldn't do if it meant Elijah survived.

He also knew that Elijah thought the same, though neither of them said it aloud too often.

"From what I'm hearing, you might not come out of this alive," Aleksi commented as he helped get Elijah comfortable on the floor of the cave tunnel. They were about two hundred meters into the Dungeon, just barely inside the domain of whatever mind controlled the place. "It's going to wear your soul like a second skin, and then try to put you back together."

A major risk. It came with the potential reward of an end to this pointless battle, but Aleksi still felt wary about it. Even when he'd known it would come to something like this, that a sacrifice would have to be made, the chance that it might go wrong… It pained him to accept.

"Something like that," Elijah said. His old friend tried something akin to a smile. It didn't look right, Aleksi didn't mirror it, and the understanding from Elijah became clear. "If you think the risk is too high, we can try something else."

"Anything else carries just as high a risk," Aleksi lied. If Elijah really wanted to, if he was willing to go through with it, Aleksi knew he could get both of them out of this city. They could keep on living. But… that would mean breaking their promise to protect Sasha and Jack. "If you believe that this is the right call, I will trust you."

"I—" Elijah stopped, as both their heads turned towards where they'd come from. A deep roar filled the tunnel, one which caused Aleksi's muscles to momentarily stiffen. "She's dying."

"Who?"

"The tarrasque, she's— Somebody is stopping her paralysis from working. They're killing her through sheer numbers," Elijah explained hurriedly, making several final adjustments to how he was seated as Dawn popped out. "Mana is streaming in. More than ever. I have to get this started now, or it'll be too late."

Aleksi took a deep breath, nodding in understanding.

"Best of luck," he said. Elijah nodded back before closing his eyes. In mere seconds, the shoulders loosened, Elijah's head fell forward, and Aleksi knew that his friend was gone. "I know you can do it, no matter what."

From below, the monsters scrambling around quieted down. Thousands of small thuds, as they hit the stone floor, their minds probably going the same place Elijah's had. Aleksi couldn't truly say, and neither did he want to think much about it.

Vera asked you for a miracle, and you knew you had to deliver.

That was one of the many reasons Aleksi had stayed by Elijah's side through the past decades. His own survival had been a given, as his heart would've given out on him without Elijah's hand, but the person that Aleksi grew to understand… something special had come from their time together.

Above all else, he knew that he would miss that the most.

"Dawn, I need you to promise me something," Aleksi said, getting the golden duck's attention. He'd never been as connected to the little familiar as Elijah, but he liked to think that she could understand his words. Or at least repeat them to Elijah after everything was over. "I need to go now, so I can stop a lot of bad people. Going by my old luck, I'm not betting on coming back. That's why I need you to protect him on my behalf. Can you do that?"

Those big eyes looked at him, the little head tilting to get a new perspective of his face.

"I'll have to take that as a yes, I guess," he muttered, using one finger to scratch the fuzz on her neck. From how the back feathers shook, he could only assume she liked it. "I put my trust in you, Dawn. Keep him happy. We both know how he can be with these things."

His ears picked up the shouting on the streets. They were getting too close for comfort.

Aleksi sighed.

No point in delaying this.

Turning around, he walked back the way they'd come, towards the light of the sun and the sounds of fighting.

One big finale, Aleksi. One last fight. Let's make it a good one.

One hand reached into the belt satchel on his right. It was empty, save for a single vial that Elijah had handed him weeks ago now. The green contents made him grimace as the veins on his arm began to bulge out in recognition of the concoction. The malignant, nearly self-aware elixir could sense more of itself. It craved unification.

Without his consent, his body nearly opened up the vial to down. So strong was the addiction in his mind. The feeling of the hit, of the strength, of the cloud that would wash over his mind when he consumed the elixir… it was the greatest feeling Aleksi had ever experienced. Years of constant use had made his body accustomed to downing vial after vial, always looking for the next dose, all complex thought thrown away.

Disgusting.

Some part of him had wanted to do this fully present, to retain full awareness, but Aleksi knew he needed the boost. His ears were picking up the shouting, the stomping of hundreds of soldiers, along with countless mages counting incantations, and the screams of the people slaughtered.

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The improvements to his body and the decades of using elixir had turned him into a killing machine, but he still had his limits. To go against such a number… he needed a boost.

In one gulp, he downed the contents of the vial before throwing the glass on the floor.

Oh.

His eyes widened, his fingers flexed, and every joint in his body seemed to pop, as strength he hadn't experienced in years flooded through him. Time seemed to slow down, and the suddenly clear shouting and talking ahead came to a crawl.

But Aleksi's body was outside of those effects. Each of his steps felt as quick as always, his body was as strong as it always had been, but he was faster, he was more observant, and he knew the position of every person outside.

He could hear their hearts, how they beat fast, how they increased in speed when Aleksi reached the entry to the Dungeon.

Castillan soldiers.

On one side of the open area stood a squadron. Hundreds were behind them, yet they were the ones closest to Aleksi.

Even when they stood a hundred meters away, Aleksi could see every individual interlacement of threads on their uniform, and the insignia of the Castillan crown on their shoulder pads.

"What the—"

Aleksi's fist passed through the soldier's skull before they could finish the sentence. The reactions of the others were instant, hands on their weapons, but it mattered little. None could raise their blades before Aleksi's fingers found their way to their heads.

Brain matter got under his nails.

I used to enjoy this.

The second-long pause was punished by one of the distant mages getting him with a ball of fire. It wrapped around his torso, burning through his shirt and dancing across his skin. Aleksi barely felt the heat.

Green eyes locked onto the one responsible. Younger woman, in her mid-twenties.

A wall of fire covered the street as he made his first step. Aleksi lunged through it without a care, reaching the mage. He felt the start of a scream in her throat before he removed her head.

Protect the entrance.

Don't let them get close.

Aleksi continued without breaking in his stride. His strength and speed were far beyond any foot soldier, and his fortitude made any regular battle mage useless. They burned him, froze him, tried to bury him in stone, tried to rip out his blood, along with a dozen other tricks that would instantly kill a man.

Nothing stopped him.

Nothing could stop him.

He was invincible.

You're not.

He was.

Protect the entrance.

Aleksi blinked, turning his head to look back at where he'd come from. He'd gotten too far out, too deep in the slaughter to notice the distance he'd created.

The elixir made him hear the heartbeats close to the entrance.

Too close.

He turned to rectify his mistake, but what sounded like the crack of a whip stopped him. Even with his face and body covered in thicker remains, his senses revealed the mage above.

Enemy.

"Purify."

Aleksi heard the word spoken, and he saw the line of light flying down towards him. It looked slow. Unimportant.

He lunged upwards, towards the mage, and met the line of gold without fear.

It hit his left shoulder and passed right through, cutting off his arm cleanly. Aleksi didn't blink, using the remaining limb to grab the caster when he got near. They tried to speak again, but his hand was quicker. No words could be spoken with a crushed neck.

Whatever magic allowed them to fly ceased upon their death, and they both fell twenty meters down to the ground. The old body of the mage popped open as they landed. Aleksi felt nothing, just looking around for his lost arm.

There you are.

Blood vessels grew out from the clean cut on the limb, floating towards him. From his shoulder, tendril-like vessels did the same, with rapid beats of green.

Disgusting.

He grabbed the separated arm, putting it back in place. In less than a second, full feeling returned, and he charged back towards the entrance.

How much time had passed? Aleksi didn't know. The army of Castilla kept approaching, and fresh bodies filled the streets. They fought him from all angles, trying everything. Spears, axes, arrows, hundreds at a time. Nothing worked. Nothing kept him down. Aleksi refused to fall.

Protect the entrance.

The blood covering his body was never allowed to dry. Only the acts of mages allowed new colors to appear on his skin. Black, purple, reflective silver, and dirty bronze.

They fired projectiles that moved faster than him, that exploded when they penetrated his skin. As the enemy forces realized what they were dealing with, they sent out only the most powerful. Mages of a higher caliber, who could tear chunks out of his flesh.

Yet everything regrew.

Molten Metal flew through his skull.

Aleksi didn't blink, continuing to rip apart the enemy by their spines. Only when the light around him began to disappear, and a particularly quick group of mages got him in the chest, did Aleksi break away from the battle mantra.

His heart.

Oh.

It didn't beat.

Stress, the accumulation of injuries, the countless regenerations of his internal organs… Standing on top of a pile of corpses, with a random axe in his hand, Aleksi accepted what he had achieved.

He laughed as another spear of molten metal impaled his shoulder. Pain had started to come back into existence, and by the gods did it hurt, but Aleksi didn't find himself caring.

"Can you hear it?" he yelled. His first words since he'd started. He didn't know if the enemy mages could hear him. It didn't matter. He could hear himself, alongside the shaking of the ground below. The howling of monsters. "He did it!"

Aleksi threw the random axe, getting three of the ancient mages. The other twenty struck him down a second later, a hundred spells of countless colors and types hitting his body. It hurt; the elixir in his body had started to fail, and Aleksi had never felt happier.

Through the blood-soaked stone tiles and through the piles of bodies that had tried to end Aleksi, plants were appearing. Flowers, bushes, and trees. Aleksi could name none of them, though he knew he'd seen every type on his old travels with Elijah. And the way each of the plants started to move…

I knew you could do it, Elijah.

A final chuckle left Aleksi as he looked up at the sky. Even if he went out a little early, none could deny he hadn't done his damndest to keep true to his oath.

He could leave with a clean conscience.