Supreme Magus novel Chapter 458

Kamila quickly snapped out of her reverie and made Tista slowly drink a healing potion. She was the more gravely injured of the two and needed immediate assistance. Kamila checked her pulse between gulps, to make sure that Tista’s body could handle the strain.

Once the bleeding stopped and Tista’s heartbeat became steady, Kamila took care of Dorian. A few seconds later, the Carpenter was dead and Lith rushed to her side.

’Remember to chant. We don’t know who could be watching.’ Solus warned him before he could forget to keep up his act in his worry. Treating two people at once was already something unheard of, doing it with silent magic would have been beyond stupid.

Lith’s chant was a streak of English swear words as his hands performed random gestures before he activated Invigoration on both Tista and Dorian. Contrary to Kamila’s expectations, he was the one in the worse shape.

Even though she had received a full-force attack from a Carpenter, her Awakened body amplified the potion’s effectiveness and reduced the life force consumption the healing process required.

’Dammit! Both arms have compound fractures, cracked and splintered ribs, punctured lungs, internal bleeding, ruptured organs, second-degree burns from lightning, lacerations and a concussion. Those are not injuries but a fucking grocery list!’

Lith inwardly cursed while he used tier four true magic to heal their bodies and replenish their life force. The abundant energy from the respiration technique brought color back to their pale complexion.

Kamila had no time to rejoice. She noticed two brown stains on his chest and left leg that were slowly getting bigger as the red of his blood mixed with the green of his ranger uniform.

The holes in the fabric had yet to self-repair. Even though light fusion had almost stopped the bleeding, the wounds looked pretty nasty. Kamila was about to splash a potion on his injuries to make them heal when Jirni caught her wrist.

"Right move but wrong moment, Lieutenant. If Lith loses his focus due to the combined exhaustion from the fight, his wounds, and the potion, these two could need days instead of hours to recover."

"I’m sorry, Constable. It’s just..." Kamila didn’t know what to say. Her eyes moved from the potion in her hand to Lith’s open wounds. She inwardly cursed the gods and herself for being utterly useless.

"First time on the battlefield?" Jirni sat beside her. A flick of the Royal Constable’s wrist made all the needles scattered throughout the room return to her pockets.

Kamila nodded, biting her lower lip in worry. Whatever Lith was doing, the effort was draining color from his face by the second. Healing was much harder than destroying. Even Invigoration had its limits.

"Well, it’s normal to worry about the people we like. Normal and a bit rude." Jirni said, drawing Kamila’s gaze on herself.

"I may not be as young and sexy as he is in your eyes, but I’m wounded nonetheless." Jirni took the potion from Kamila’s hand and gulped it down. It was only then that Kamila saw the scorch mark on Jirni’s chest and her bleeding back.

"Oh gods, I’m so sorry. I..."

"Relax. I was joking." Jirni cut her short with a laugh. "You did a good job keeping them alive. With no specimens, Manohar gone, and no more suspects to interrogate, at least no one died. That’s all that matters."

Kamila grimaced and pointed at the bloody mess in the main hall. Bits of nobles, soldiers, and Carpenters were splattered on the walls.

"I mean none of us. You can’t save them all. Do this job long enough and you’ll learn that small victories are what lets you keep moving forward. If you focus on the losses, you’ll go crazy in no time."

***

Later, back at the Association headquarters, everyone was eating like there was no tomorrow. Sharing life force with someone prevented them from dying, but they still needed to replenish all the nutrients spent to reconstruct bones and mend flesh.