Chương 59: Speed

Of all the runes Lio had accumulated across a thousand loops, [Mach Heart] was the one that had kept him alive more than any of the others. It was during Loop 12 that he'd acquired it. Back then, he had still been foolish enough to believe that he could reach Rion in time. So, so very foolish. ◈◈◈◈ Lio dashed forward, his boots skidding over the stone, slick with the blood of Lamb.

In the distance, the arcane silhouette of the Primus Pilus began to glow, the rising internal pressure barely being contained by the brass plates. Faster. Faster. He slapped his hands on his wrist, activating the rune. [Mach Heart]. A roar of searing power flooded into his thighs and calves, swelling and thickening the muscles with a sweltering pressure. He pushed forward. But he wasn't fast enough. Again. [Mach Heart]. His legs became a blur of frantic motion.

The wind tore and slapped at his face, threatening to peel his very skin from his cheekbones. As his speed built, his vision began to blur, the world smearing into a hazy, unrecognizable streak of white. His muscles tore under the unnatural strain. But he paid the injuries no mind, as he berated himself, the voice in his head a self-loathing snarl. You're too slow. Always too slow. Loop after loop, death after death, and you still couldn't save Rion. And now you can't even save her? He could see Ophila clearly now.

The shock was still frozen on her face, while in front of her, a crown of white-hot light began to bloom across the giant's torso, the brass plates buckling outward as the pressure finally reached a breaking point. He was still too far away. He wasn't fast enough. He was never fast enough. He was a failure— Then, the heat filling his body… Erupted. It wasn't just in his legs anymore. No, it was an all-consuming, frantic blaze that swallowed his entire being. His very senses vanished.

The weight of his boots, the slap of the air, the agonizing pull of his tendons—it all fell away into nothingness. There was no sensation of running. And for a split-second, it felt as though he was flying. There was a deafening crack as the sound barrier broke, like a whip. And he was there. He found himself standing directly in front of Ophila. He could feel the first lick of the explosion's heat against his back, and the shrapnels of brass whizzing through the air, but that wasn't important.

Lio had made it in time. His body acting on instinct, he lunged, wrapping his arms around Ophila, pulling her small frame near his chest. Then the explosion hit him. The Prosperous Mantle flared to life, glowing a bright gold as it met the wall of white-hot heat, absorbing the thermal surge. The heat that should've stripped the very skin from his bones all but disappeared the moment it neared Lio. However, the shrapnel wasn't affected by the magic.

Dozens of jagged brass shards slammed into Lio's unprotected back, shredding the skin. Lio didn't scream. He had felt pain much worse before. And with his mind still clear, he used the blood spurting out of his mangled back to activate [Pyrolysis]. The blood hadn't even hit the ground before it ignited. The familiar blue-gold flames erupted from his wounds, shielding him and Ophila by melting the rest of the incoming brass projectiles. Then the shockwave reached them.

The world turned into a deafening roar as it lifted Lio and Ophila off their feet, hurling them forward like dolls. They slammed into the cobblestones together. Lio took the brunt of the impact, not letting go of Ophila. He kept his body around her, acting as a human shield, cradling her head in his arms to protect her. The world went white. And then, it went silent. The roar vanished, the only sound left being the ringing in his ears. He released his tight grip on Ophila. His muscles felt pulverized.

For a long moment, he just lay there, staring up at the orange sky still filled with the smoke from the Amberpulp fields. He wetly coughed, a spray of red dotting the ground. His lungs felt like they were filled with crushed glass. But it was okay. It didn't hurt that much. He turned his head toward the blackened area where Torquatos had once been, his lips curving into a blood-slicked smile.

"Told you," he rasped.

"That it's for the worse." Then he looked down at Ophila. She was unconscious. Even though Lio had protected her from the worst of it, her head had still hit the cobblestones hard. He watched as a thin line of blood dribbled down from her temple. Her breathing was steady though. Lio checked her pulse. Strong as well. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. He sat up slowly, new blood oozing from his back at the movement.

The brass shrapnel wounds were numerous, but still rather shallow, though two or three had gone deeper than he'd have preferred. Luckily, [Pyrolysis] had defended him from the worst. Looking back down at Ophila, he gathered her up, draping her across his back. She was light. He made sure her head was supported well enough, and stood up. His legs shook, heavily injured from the [Mach Heart] bursts. Walking over to where he had left Senna, he found her still there, propped against the front step of her house.

Her color was still poor, but her breathing had steadied. He glanced back at Ophila's slack face, and decided to bring her back to the lodge first. With that, he began walking. The street around him was quiet. Most of the able-bodied people were over in the Amberpulp fields, trying to quench the fires. And it had worked. The worst of the flames had died out, leaving behind only a column of thick, oily smoke. He passed the scorched section of cobblestones where Torquatos had once been.

There really was nothing there. And luckily for Lio, that meant no evidence either. He turned around, continuing to walk— Lio frowned, as he spotted a small figure lying in the street face down, one arm mangled badly, a deep cut on their forehead, leaking blood onto the cobbles. Lamb. Lio stopped, studying him for a long time. Then he scoffed Lucky bastard. ◈◈◈◈ Lio swung the lobby door open. Inside, William was sitting on the couch, his expression being one of an anxious silence. He looked up when Lio walked in.

Then his eyes widened, as he took in the sight of the bloodied boy and the unconscious girl draped over his back. William sprang up to his feet, sliding his chair back, his eyes going straight to Ophila.

"What happened?" he demanded, walking over.

"Is she alright?" He grimaced as he took in her wounds.

"Her head is cut. How hard did she hit it?"

"She's fine," Lio muttered.

"That's not what 'fine' is," William rebuked sharply, moving toward the supply shelf behind the front desk where the lodge kept a basic medical kit.

"How hard did she hit her head?"

"It's just a superficial head wound," Lio said. William wrenched out the kit, and as he walked back, looked over Lio's wounds as well. Studying his shredded back still running blood, the stab wounds on his thigh, knee, and abdomen, and the various bruises and cuts from his multiple fights. William sighed, shaking his head as he pointed to the couch.

"Sit down, buddy."

"I'm fine," Lio said.

"You say that, but you have a bunch of metal in your back." William rolled his eyes.

"I've had worse injuries," Lio replied.

"That doesn't make this injury better." William opened the kit, extracting the bandages and antiseptic, while Lio laid Ophila down on the lobby couch. William crouched beside her and began to clean the head wound. Lio watched silently. Then with reluctance, he spoke up.

"William?"

"Mhm," William mumbled, not looking up from his work.

"I have some brass shrapnel in my back," Lio said.

"I can reach it myself, but I don't want it to get infected." William looked up, cocking his head at Lio.

"So?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Lio sighed.

"So can you help me remove them?" William stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"Hm… can I…?" Lio stared back at him, exasperation creeping into him.

"I would appreciate it if you figured out an answer soon," he managed through gritted teeth. William stared at his shredded back, frowning at the multiple shards of metal still sticking to the mutilated flesh. Then he turned back towards Ophila, and resumed cleaning her wound.

"Nope," he said. Lio blinked, as he stared at the back of his head.

"William?"

"Yeah?"

"I need—""I know what you need," William said, nodding thoughtfully.

"And my answer is still nope." He wrung out the cloth, inspecting his work.

"You knocked me unconscious and then you got our departure canceled." He shook his head sagely.

"So with the utmost respect, Lio, you can manage." Lio frowned.

"But I could be dying."

"You're not dying," William said, rolling his eyes. Lio frowned even deeper. Then he let out a sigh.

"Fine. Have it your way." He reached around and shoved his hand into his own back. William recoiled, wincing as the secondhand agony reached him.

"What—" His face was green.

"What are you doing?" Lio said nothing, extracting each of the brass pieces one by one using his fingers—which were coated in ash, dirt, and mud. He deposited them onto the floor beside him in a small, bloody pile, some of the metal still having pink flesh stuck to them. William watched on with horror.

"You're going to get it infected." His voice sounded strangled.

"You know that, right? You might lose the entire back half of your body!" Lio extracted the last piece, then gave William a look.

"Not if I disinfect it." William fervently shook his head.

"We don't have enough antiseptic for your entire back!"

"Who said anything about antiseptics?" Lio picked up his Adamantine knife and walked to the fireplace. William watched him crouch down and hold the blade directly into the embers, the metal beginning to glow an angry red. There was a healthy silence, as William looked with his brows furrowed. Then his eyes widened with realization.

"No," William managed. Lio turned the blade, heating up the other side.

"No, no, no." William stood up.

"Stop! You can't—" Lio pulled the blade from the fire.

"Lio, no—!" He pressed it straight onto his back, without any hesitation. There was a long sizzle, and the smell of cooking meat filled the room. Lio didn't make a single noise, his expression remaining completely vapid. He moved the knife up and down, completely cauterizing his entire back. William stared at the cauterized back for a long moment. Then he exploded.

"Are you out of your mind?" He threw his hands up in a panic.

"Do you have any idea what you just did to yourself?"

"I disinfected it," Lio intoned.

"You gave yourself third-degree burns!" William began to shriek.

"You just killed all of your flesh! Do you know what dead tissue does?" He shook a trembling finger at the still-bubbling back.

"It rots!"

"Hm."

"Don't 'hm' me!" William shouted.

"I'm trying to explain to you that you've just made everything worse—""I have my reasons."

"What is that supposed to—?" Lio sighed, tuning the guy's rant out. Of course he knew what he'd just done was stupid. Well, in common medical sense. But Torquatos had not been a common being. No, he'd been an arcane entity. Lio had known that because of that, the shrapnel it left behind wasn't ordinary brass. If left in the body, the supernatural metal would act as a rot, infecting the entire area and killing cells at a miraculously fast rate. The only way to remove it had been to burn it all away.

Lio looked over at Ophila. Luckily, the shrapnel hadn't touched her. He turned back to William, who was still yelling his head off. He raised a finger.

"Be quiet and just watch." Lio reached into his pack and withdrew a small twist of dried black root. He pinched a piece off and put it in his mouth. William stopped mid-sentence, watching him chew with narrowed eyes.

"What's that?"

"Felt Cabbage." William frowned.

"Isn't that the weird stuff you bought from that apothecary?" Lio nodded.

"I was planning to use it on some other stuff, but this is also a fine time to use it."

"What—?" Then William frowned. He leaned forward, squinting. Lio's back, which moments ago had been a landscape of deep burns and charred, bubbling skin, was no longer burned. The angry red was fading, the blackened skin falling off, being replaced by an assortment of white scarring. William's mouth fell open in disbelief.

"There's barely any burns left," he managed. He looked aghast.

"How?"

"Flet Cabbage accelerates cellular regeneration when consumed raw," Lio said, chewing placidly. William stared at him.

"How did you even know that? I never heard of anything like this."

"Just because." William sat back down heavily, staring up at the ceiling.

"You know what? Why am I even getting surprised at your antics anymore? You're the smartest and the most aggravating person I've ever met."

"Is that a compliment?"

"No!" William glared at Lio.

"Not at all!"