Chapters 83-84

Chapter 83

She looked at the two men who had brought him in.

"Where are his limbs?" she asked.

"What?" Another one looked confused. "He's our leader... he was attacked by a Revenant and–"

"His limbs!" Lily shouted at them. "Why didn't you carry them?!"

"W–why?" the [Templar] stammered.

Even Laurentia couldn't really understand.

"What do you mean ‘why?’! How am I supposed to reattach his limbs if you didn't bring them to me?!"

"He's above Level 100..." the [Templar] said, confused.

For people of much lower levels, reattaching a limb wasn’t impossible. If you poured enough Mana into the healing, the limb would slowly reattach and, with enough luck, most of it would work all the same. But even then, it was impossible to fully reattach a limb and make it functional. Sometimes, they even rotted away.

And when it came to high-level individuals, it required way too much Mana. Among the present, only Laurentia, who was close to Level 200, would be able to attempt such a feat. And even then, it would leave her completely drained.

"Liliana," Laurentia coughed as the young girl inspected the man, "he's done fighting. Let me seal the wounds and—"

The older woman, who thought she was about to do the girl a favor, had channeled her healing spell and was about to work when her arm was swatted away by the blonde with enough force to make her recoil.

"STOP!" the blonde girl growled. "Are you insane?! Move back."

Everyone looked confused and Laurentia was about to take offense when everyone felt a shift in the energy inside the tent.

It was hard to describe for them. It was as if they had entered a Dungeon overflowing with Life Mana. And not simple Life Mana, but the purest Life Mana they had ever seen. It was like entering an otherworldly spring of untainted Life Mana.

How can her Mana be this pure? Laurentia's eyes went wide. How powerful is her healing spell, even?

Golden veins appeared on the girl's arms and face as she extended her palms to touch the leg of the man first.

What happened next made every single [Healer] present almost pop their eyes out of their sockets.

Trying to regenerate a stubbed limb the way that one would regenerate a wound was nothing short of insane. Wounds were easy to heal because the body itself would direct the healing. That made it extremely easy to just pour Life or Light Mana into a gash and expect it to heal. But when it came to missing limbs, it was a whole different story.

If you poured healing into a limb that had been cut off, you'd just be generating loose flesh that would then rot away or even slowly peel off the limb.

It didn't matter how pure your Mana actually was. If you attempted to do something like that, there was only one possible outcome: tragedy. In fact, it could even kill someone. And it had.

That's why what Lily was about to do was a gigantic taboo among [Healers].

She was trying to regrow his limb.

Yet, Laurentia didn't see the loose mass of flesh that she would have expected. Nothing like that appeared on the stump of the man. No, it was something else completely.

Slowly, she saw the blood actually drain away from the exposed flesh. She zoomed in with her [Mana Sense] Skill and saw the little arteries and veins that Lily had mentioned—the ones described in the notes that the blonde girl had the man distribute.

Slowly, she saw those filaments, arteries, veins, and nerves, starting to grow. Then they stopped, and it was the bone's turn. Laurentia saw it easily reform.

She's directing the healing to one part at a time?

The old woman was stunned by the degree of [Mana Shaping] control that Liliana Claudia was showing.

Is that a Grandmaster [Mana Shaping]? It has to be.

Her own [Mana Shaping] was at the [Grandmaster] level, which allowed her to know the young girl was an absolute freak of nature.

The leg had been cut at the upper thigh and she saw the girl easily reform the bone, then stitch some...

Ligaments? Laurentia double-checked her notes.

Liliana Claudia stitched ligaments together and created the rest of the bones, up to the foot, making a weird skeletal frame that almost freaked out all the other [Healers]. The two [Templars], who had brought their leader inside, widened their eyes, bringing their hands to the hilt of their swords.

They thought the man was becoming an Undead.

But it was clear, at least to Laurentia, that he was not.

Slowly, his flesh, arteries, veins, and nerves started appearing out of thin air, materialized by the pure Life Mana that Lily was controlling.

Only as the limb's flesh slowly started to form back, did Laurentia realize something.

She's Level 21—that’s what she said before! How is she doing this? She's regenerating a perfect limb for someone much higher-leveled than her!

While everyone held their breath, Lily finished regenerating the leg. Then, sweating profusely, she did the same with the arm.

Soon, the man was stable and had all his limbs back.

Lily staggered to a chair and almost fell into it, breathing heavily.

"Damn idiots!" she muttered. "You!" She pointed at one of the two frozen [Templars]. "Go tell my dad I need to talk to him!"

The man, not knowing what else to do, listened to the girl who had just performed a miracle.

"Liliana," Laurentia said, "how did you do that?"

The young girl was breathing heavily and looked at her in confusion.

"You just have to know how the body is made. If you do, it's no harder than regenerating a wound. The problem with your healing is that you're just pouring it all over and waiting for the magic to do its trick. What you need, instead, is real knowledge. We'll be doing autopsies later today."

A few [Healers] looked at each other in horror.

"That's...heresy."

Lily looked at them and nodded.

"Yes. Yes it is,” she shuffled in her chair, getting more comfortable, then said, "I need a few minutes and then we'll move to the field lesson."

Lucianus did not expect to be berated on the first day that his daughter spent in his encampment. If anything, he had imagined that bringing Lily along would make him look much cooler and perhaps earn back some points. He was the strongest man here and the leader of an entire army—without a doubt the strongest army there was in the Dead Lands and the Papacy. 

"Limbs can heal! And they're easy to reattach! You have to immediately issue orders to save the cut-off limbs!" Lily shouted his ears off.

Lucianus frowned, his tone iron. "That is not how healing works in this land, Lily. I have fought in a hundred battles and never once seen a limb restored.”

Lucianus had tried explaining to Lily that this was not possible. He had forgotten for a moment that his daughter had apparently inherited knowledge that came from another world.

"Lord Lucianus," Laurentia said. "May I speak?"

Lucianus was about to reprimand his daughter when the Chief [Healer] that had been with him since he was a child asked to talk.

"Sure, Laurentia. Please do."

"Your daughter regenerated a limb in front of my eyes. She's not lying. Please, listen to her request."

Lucianus looked between the two for a moment and then nodded.

"Did she, now?” he raised an eyebrow. “Alright, we'll save the cut-off limbs from now on. Who was injured?"

Laurentia explained and Lucianus's eyes widened at the recounting of the story. It had been a minor commander from one of his units. Yet, despite not being among the strongest, he was still above Level 100, which should have made healing him—much less regrowing his limbs—a task beyond Lily's capabilities.

Lucianus asked to see the man. When he did, he saw that indeed the skin was fairer where it had been regrown, and the newly-minted flesh was brimming with Life Mana. He decided to assign even more responsibilities to Lily.

Yet, when he asked his daughter to teach all she could to the [Healers], Laurentia replied that the young girl had already started doing that.

In fact, she mentioned that Lily had promised that they would perform corpse studying that evening.

That gave Lucianus pause.

He summoned his daughter back in his tent and erected barriers between them.

"You can't open up corpses here, Lily. It's going to be a problem. The spies of the Papacy..."

"This is just the start," Lily said. "I'll teach the [Healers] Death Magic. It's fundamental for our cause, dad."

Lucianus felt his throat go dry.

"Darling, we talked about putting your mother's family in their place, but this... Can't we do it one step at a time? If the Inquisitors come and ask—"

"You're stronger than the Inquisitors, no? Are you going to let them take me away?"

The question floored Lucianus.

"Of course not!"

"Then what's there to fear?" Lily asked with a shrug. "What are they going to do? Attack your army?"

"Ennius is salivating at the idea, darling. He could gather the other Great Families and try to rout us."

"The Gens Cornelia wouldn't follow," Lily said. "Would the Gens Aemilia do that?"

"Aurelianus and I haven't been on the best of terms lately, but I seriously doubt it. He'd pay me a visit, most likely, and ask me what's going on. Which could earn us time. But that leaves two more Great Families who would jump at that chance."

"Send a communication to Uncle Caesar," Lily said. "And let it be intercepted by grandma's spies. They'll know Caesar will come to your rescue. Exaggerate the number of high-level people Caesar has on his side. That will create a powerful deterrent in case they want to attack you. And by the time we go back to the Champion's Trial with a cure for the Undead Disease, we'll have enough ammunition to reveal that the Church used to have as many Death Magic users as it now does Life Magic users."

Lucianus did not know how to respond. The plan his daughter had just outlined was nothing short of outstanding. This was not the machinations of a fourteen year-old—this sounded more like the devious plan of a seasoned old general.

"That’s sharp thinking, Lily, darling. How did you come up with this?"

"I've been thinking about what to do since the moment I came back. We need the Champion's Trial to be a showoff moment, but then we'll need men and women to be able to use that knowledge. It'd be normally impossible to train someone to the amount of knowledge that it takes to be a doctor in the other world. But, thankfully, this is about a very straightforward problem. Injuries and one disease. But to do that, I needed to break the rules of the Church. That's why I've been thinking how to break them without having our family burned at the stake."

"You're..." Lucianus was speechless.

"Your daughter, Dad," Lily smiled. "You made a deal with a God. That's more impressive than some planning."

Lucianus straightened and smiled at his daughter.

"You're a ruffian, Liliana. Now, tell me, what is it that you need to make this plan of yours work?"

Lily spent the next half an hour explaining details of what she needed to her father. Teaching the [Healers] was only the first part of her plan. The second required her to be on the frontlines.

Yet, when they finished speaking and Lucianus lowered the barriers, a [Templar] stormed into the tent.

“Milord! The Empire—the Sons of Neocles—are here! They said they’re taking over the campaign under order of His Holiness!”

Chapter 84

The air was tense as Lily followed Lucianus out of the tent. They marched through the muddy terrain of the Dead Lands, framed by the gray, cloudy sky that never saw a single beam of sunlight.

Lucianus's commanders started falling in line behind them as they approached the gates of the encampment.

The Sons of Neocles were the dynasty ruling the Empire on the other side of the sea, a powerful war machine whose might even the Church had to recognize.

As they crossed the gate, Lucianus shielded them with barriers and said in a level tone, "Not a word, not a frown. Just listen to whatever they say. No one interferes."

Lucianus looked down at Lily, who nodded back.

She understood the importance of such a diplomatic exchange.

Ennius, her uncle, had apparently ordered for the General leading the Sons of Neocles's forces to take over this campaign in the Dead Lands, effectively undermining her father's authority. Lucianus, of course, had no intention of relinquishing his men to someone who had not been in the Dead Lands for decades.

Yet, as he had explained to Lily on the way out after receiving the announcement, the Sons of Neocles had apparently decided that the Dead Lands posed a threat too great for them to ignore. They did not trust the Church to finish the job and had therefore sent a great army to start cleaning up the place and kill as many Undead as possible before they got overwhelmed. Even the Empire feared the kind of horde that would cross the sea if the Church were to fall altogether.

Lily saw a tent erected in the middle of some empty land and several men and women standing in front of it.

 A large man with gray hair and a bushy beard stood in their midst. He had many scars on his face and, most importantly, he had the strongest aura that Lily had ever felt.

Even using [The Seven Stars of Twilight], Lily couldn't fully grasp the amount of power in the man's body.

He's stronger than Dad, Lily suddenly realized. He's as strong as Uncle Caesar...

"Philostratos Demokleon," Lucianus greeted the man. They came face to face and shook hands. "The greatest [General] of the Empire. What an honor."

"Lucianus Claudius," the old man said with an appraising expression, "you were but a child the last time I was here."

"Time passes," Lucianus smiled. "And things change."

Philostratos looked at Lily and then back at Lucianus, "They change, indeed."

"Shall we?" Lucianus said, pointing at the tent.

Philostratos gestured at Lucianus's men, eyeing Marcus, the giant [Monk], with a frown. "These are talks between friends, Lucianus. There's no need for your entire war band to join. I have with me Prince Nikandros, Princess Antigone, and Prince Kallikrates. They're the children of King Themistocles, following in my shadow so that they can learn from me before I finally pass away to a better life."

"Uncle Philostratos!" Princess Antigone, a redhead woman, exclaimed indignantly. "Stop saying that!"

The two princes sighed and shook their heads.

Prince Nikandros, clearly the oldest, looked at Lily with a curious light in his eyes.

"Youngsters," Philostratos chuckled, not peeling his eyes away from Lucianus.

"This is my daughter, Liliana Claudia. She shall remain present alongside me so that she may learn how to conduct diplomacy."

Lily was surprised by that. By speaking such words, Lucianus had almost publicly shared that she was to be his heir. That was something that Lucianus had yet to fully reveal to everyone—he’d even told Lily to wait to publicly wear the signet ring of the Gens Claudia.

"Where's your wife?" Philostratos asked Lucianus. "Princess Adriana was the smartest young woman I've ever met. I wanted Antigone to meet her."

"She's dealing with some of our family business. But she'll join us soon enough. Your niece will have the opportunity to meet her."

Princess Antigone looked ecstatic at the idea.

I didn't know Mom was famous even in the Empire...

Lily didn't know much about the Empire of the Sons of Neocles. She knew of their existence, of course, since she had been instructed in history. But usually, the Sons of Neocles and the Church preferred to ignore each other. Crossing the sea cost too much money to establish regular trade routes through it. The kinds of monsters that inhabited the ocean required high-level escorts to protect the ships at all times, which meant that only a few convoys ever left one shore for the other.

Plus, the Empire, from what Lily had studied, wasn't too fond of the Church's dogmas. It was one of the things that had been taught to Lily when she had been younger: the Empire didn't condemn those who used Death Magic nor [Librarians]. But they didn't encourage them either; they just let people do what they wanted as long as they minded their own business—especially the business of war.

All the books Lily had read mentioned the Empire as a machine that was hungry for war, with a powerful fleet of ships and soldiers ready to march through any kind of danger in order to bring glory back to the Empire.

She was pulled from her thoughts as they entered the tent and Philostratos and Lucianus sat at the table. They looked at each other meaningfully until both created several barriers around them for privacy. 

"So, Lucianus, you must have heard the orders."

Lily watched her father nod.

"Yes, Philostratos, I have."

"What do you think—are you ready to give me your men?"

Lily tensed. That was a very straightforward question to ask her father. It was borderline disrespectful.

"Of course not," Lucianus said. "You're a great general, Philostratos. But these are the Dead Lands. I have been fighting the Undead for two decades now. I would have not given you control over them ten years ago, much less now that I'm closer to several breakthroughs."

Philostratos leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

"Breakthroughs?"

"My daughter," Lucianus said, not even looking at Lily, "was able to regrow an entire limb, Philostratos. She's now working alongside my [Healers] in order to spread that knowledge. She is, without a doubt, the strongest [Healer] the Church has ever seen since its inception."

Everyone turned toward Lily, including Philostratos, which made her sit up straighter. Thanks to her experience from a previous lifetime, she kept her features unreadable.

"Impressive. I would like to hear more about this," Philostratos said in a straightforward tone. "I would pay unfathomable amounts in coin, artifacts, and knowledge, in exchange for such information. Yet, what does that have to do with leading an army against the Undead?"

"Liliana," Lucianus looked at Lily with a meaningful gaze. "Care to explain?"

Lily was confused for a moment before slightly widening her eyes at what her father was saying.

He wants me to reveal the fact that we're trying to cure the Undead Disease?

As if Lucianus had just read her mind, he nodded.

"Do you have Undead in your lands, General?" Lily asked, trying to keep her tone as respectful as she could.

"Some have emerged here and there. None as vicious as yours, though."

"Yours don't carry the Undead Disease," Lily said slowly.

Lucianus raised an eyebrow, not knowing if that was true, but then he saw Philostratos smile.

"How do you know?"

"The Undead Disease is only carried by the Undead here. I've discovered the origin of it. No Undead is born with such a thing. It's more akin to a Curse than anything else."

Philostratos was the one who now stood straighter, starting to catch the implications of what Lily was saying.

"And Curses can be healed," Lily finished speaking.

There was a moment of silence before Prince Kallikrates, the youngest, scoffed.

"Is this a joke? We came here because your Church has been trying to kill the Undead for centuries and has never succeeded. If the Undead were to storm your Capital and turn you all, you would be a threat for everyone. And now, you say that the Undead Disease can be cured? Just like that? This is a lie. And regrowing limbs? Another lie."

Despite the lack of respect in Prince Kallikrates's voice, Philostratos didn't say anything. Lily glanced at the General, who clearly wanted to see how she'd handle herself in front of these accusations.

Lily carried a dagger on her and she took it out of its sheath. Philostratos raised an eyebrow and Kallikrates shot to his feet.

"You want to challenge me?! Put away that—”

But he did not expect what Lily did next.

The young blonde brought the dagger down to her wrist, using Death Magic internally to numb her own nerves. She felt a sharp ache and then a phantom pain where her hand, which now rested messily on the table, used to be.

"What in the name of the High Tide is she doing?!" Prince Kallikrates grabbed at his hair, his face a mask of horror. "Is she insane?!"

It was clear that he was the youngest and the hot blooded one in the family because neither Prince Nikandros nor Princess Antigone even batted an eye at Lily's display.

The next moment, however, even they couldn’t hide their shock.

Lily did not close the stump like any [Healer] would have done. Instead, she briefly closed her eyes to visualize the complex anatomy of the hand. Then, she regenerated the bones one by one, tying them together on the spot through ligaments and connective tissue. Right after, she grew muscles, veins, arteries, and nerves.

In less than a minute, she had reformed her entire hand.

She opened her eyes, took up the hand that had been left on the table, the one that had belonged to her until a moment ago, and tossed it into a nearby brazier, letting the acrid smell of burnt human meat fill the place.

"One of the two claims is true," Philostratos declared, turning toward Prince Kallikrates. "Prince, sit."

Prince Kallikrates, whose mouth was still hanging open—shocked into silence—obeyed and sat down.

"Lucianus, we'll discuss that later," Philostratos said, pointing at the brazier and then suddenly gripping the air.

Before Lily realized what was happening, the brazier crumpled like wet paper and became a ball no larger than a fist.

"Can your daughter actually heal the Undead Disease?" Philostratos asked.

"She can, Philostratos. But she needs some time. I will not allow you to push my men into a meat grinder just to satisfy the bloodlust of your people. We're moving slowly in this campaign for a reason. This is going to be a long probe in the Dead Lands. But we've decided to slowly make it to the core and check what's happening outside the Dead City."

Philostratos raised an eyebrow.

Lily had heard of the Dead City before. It was where her grandfather and his entire generation had disappeared when they had tried to storm the capital of the Necromonarchy. It was the most dangerous place in the Dead Lands, a distorted, twisted mirror of Alba.

And now, Lily knew that it used to be a real city—that it used to be where the Seats of Darkness resided.

"Then I have an interesting proposal for you, Lucianus," Philostratos said. "How about we settle this in a fun way?"

Lily frowned, having no idea what Philostratos meant by that.

"Fun?" Lily turned toward her father.

"There's only one type of fun in the Empire," Lucianus said with a smile.

"A duel," Philostratos said.

"You want to try your hand at a younger generation, Philostratos?" Lucianus said, letting his aura start to fill up the room. "I won't go easy on you."

"No, no," Philostratos laughed him off, waving his hand. "These bones of mine are growing tired, Lucianus. They have seen too much water, too much death. I'll only fight when necessary. Instead, how about we stage a match between the future generations?"

The three members of royalty all turned toward Lily. Prince Kallikrates smirked.

"Prince Kallikrates only got his Class four months ago. I know that your daughter is around his age. Why don't we let a duel decide who will lead our armies?"

"I'll take a [Healer] any day, with a hand tied behind my back," Prince Kallikrates said.