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"No...

" Layn muttered, watching how the ball of fire rose from the spot where he left his girlfriend at.

"No, that doesn't make any sense,

" he told himself as he rushed towards the scene.

n'They know that I would kill them all if a single bead of hair would fall off her head,' he thought, trying to figure out just what could've happened. But as Layn got closer to the place where the massive fire-magic had yet to settle down, he saw that all the logic in this world had no meaning against idiots.

nIrea was alive. That was the most important thing. But outside of that, there was hardly anything positive that Layn could tell about her state.

nHer hands were burned dark. The skin was scalding off her arms. All the soft hair that Layn loved to play with was gone, leaving only the bare skin. In fact, the top of her head appeared to be in the worst state after her hands, with red bubbles marking it all over.

nYet, despite all those injuries, Irea held her place and her hands in the same position.

n'What happened here?' Layn asked himself, forcibly stopping his jump short of its initial distance. Without any idea what just happened, he couldn't carelessly waltz into the place.

n

"D-dear...

" Irea attempted to speak out, only for a spasm of unbelievable pain to shake her entire body. But even as this torturous experience exploded in her mind, she held her burn-out hands extended forward.

"I-I stop-ped t-them,

" she said in a breaking voice. Even though her face was scarred almost beyond recognition, Layn saw how the corners of her lips moved up in a smile of satisfaction.

nLayn wasn't angry. He wasn't furious, shocked, or even mad. His head and soul were completely devoid of any emotions right now. In a sense, one could say that Layn's soul left his body, leaving just an empty marionette.

nBut there was one thing that was different about him. The power that he never bothered to showcase or flex to others was no longer restrained. All the energy that Layn stored in his cultivation now returned to its usual place in his aura.

nThe world itself around the archmage started to crack.

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"You dummy,

" the archmage said, slowly approaching the girl. In his eyes, there was no love or affection. But there was no worry, anger, or fury either. It was the dead look that only some of the few veterans and survivors of massacres could have.

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"Boss...

" A silent voice reached Layn's ears. He had to seriously search around the burnt-out area to find a shape that shouldn't belong there.

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"Pavrien?

" Layn asked, turning his head towards the messy shape of darkness sprained on the dark ground.

"What happened?

" Layn asked the dying man without even an iota of feelings in his voice.

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"I-I tried to stop them,

" Pavrien spoke up weekly, barely capable of moving his lips.

nTom approached the man, seemingly ignoring Irea altogether.

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"D-dear...

" Irea called out after her partner. Her eyes filled up with a flood of desperation, loss, and longing.

n

"DON'T YOU FUCKING SPEAK!

" Layn shouted. But this wasn't your usual shout. With his aura already brimming with mana, it seemed as if his shout sent a shockwave traveling in all directions. Whoever was hit by the wave had his ability to speak sealed completely.

nThey could still move their mouth. They could push the air out of their lungs. But their vocal cord were all immobilized by Layn's order.

n'To think that I would use the primal magic so easily,' Layn coldly noticed. There was no happiness in his soul, even though he just did something that required extensive preparations on a damned whim.

nThen, he placed his hand on the burned-out body of Pavrien. From the looks of things, he was the one hit the worst by the attack. And the simplest way to figure out what happened was to ask the person that seemingly knew that.

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"Regenerate,

" Layn said. 'Since I'm already in the zone,' he thought, going for yet another instance of the primal magic.

nPrimal magic in itself was the simplest kind of magic one could ever encounter. It didn't require structures. It didn't even require extensive knowledge to pull off.

nThe problem with primal magic that made it one of the least popular arts in the magic academy was one of its requirements. The one thing that someone has to do to achieve was the perfect understanding of what wanted to do.

nBy invoking the primal magic of the explosion, one would only be able to pull it off if he had a perfect grasp of all the natural laws that made the explosion happened. If one missed even the tiniest element of the picture, the magic would simply fail to act.

nIn Layn's original timeline, primal magic was only used by the specialized staff. Layn also got to use it once, but for the sake of keeping him from becoming the absolutely strongest being in the entire world, he was forbidden from using it ever since.

nBecause in essence, primal magic was all about invoking the very laws that governed the entire world.

nAs such, while Layn was used to confirm one of the theories with the primal magic, which was the only situation when anyone could use this kind of magic in the modern world, he never got the chance to dabble in this magic ever again.

nThat is all the wait until today.

nAs soon as Layn spoke the word and invoked the law of recovery, the oppressive aura that surrounded him instantly changed its feel. Then, it flew down to Layn's hand, right as he placed his finger on what seemed to be Pavrien's head.

nIn an instant, the magic filled the man. But rather than healing his injuries, it started to kill every last bit of his injuries.

nHis burnt skin and flesh evaporated. His broken bones vanished. The parasites that the man wasn't even aware of all went through instant genocide.

nAnd once everything that was wrong with his body was gone, all the magic that Layn infused in the man, along with the magic obtained from dissolving his dead flesh, now started to rebuild his body all over.

n'Thank God,' Layn thought while keeping his perfectly straight face. 'It seems that constructing my body from nothing but magic alone means that I actually understand the process,' he thought, bringing back the memories of the hours he spent on learning human anatomy just to be able to pull out his recovery after the time leap.

n'Who would've thought that all those hours in the study would payout like that?' Layn thought, barely stopping a chuckle from escaping through his lips.

nThe spell didn't last long. As Layn was the one supplying mana for it and constantly keeping up the necessary information for the law to be invoked, his perception stretched the experience of this moment by a fair margin.

nWhat others saw as just a few second's worth of act seemed like over a month for the archmage.

nThis lapse in perception was also the reason why Layn didn't dare to use this kind of magic on Irea. Not only because failing to hold the spell could potentially end up hurting her way further than she was already injured.

nLayn made that decision because of another reason. Because there was no way Layn could keep his sanity and calm mind while watching the girl go through one of the most painful experiences that a human could go through.

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"Sir, it was Befrel,

" Pavrien spoke up as soon as his body allowed him to. With most of its flesh getting replaced by the magic itself, the skill that restrained everyone's vocal cords no longer applied to him. After all, his vocal cords were slightly injured by the silencing spell.

nAnd that meant the recovery would take care of this slight injury as well!

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"Why did he attack Irea?

" Layn asked, instantly aiming for the most important question.

nIf this was all just an accident, he could find it in his heart to spare the man. But if there was even a hint of the intent behind this action...

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"Sir, I believe Lady Irea is the one behind this explosion,

" Pavrien replied, instantly shocking Layn.

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"What?

" Layn shouted his question, losing his pristine focus for the very first time since all his emotions retracted.

"What do you mean with that?!

"

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"Boss...

" Pavrien turned silent for a moment only to shake his head, get on his feet and then fall flat on the ground, striking his forehead against the burned-out ground.

"They wanted to send the attack your way, hoping to stir up trouble between Boss and the monsters. I conspired with them all the way in hopes of stopping them when the time would come... But I didn't expect Lady Irea to take action,

" Pavrien explained, striking his forehead against the ground again.

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"I don't understand. How can Irea be responsible for what happened if she wasn't the one casting the spell?

" Layn asked, even though he could already tell the answer to the question.

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"Boss...

" Pavrien pleaded before turning silent for a moment. Then, as he raised his eyes, he looked straight into Layn's pupils.

"Boss, she forcibly pulled the fire towards her. I can tell that she just wanted to protect you,

" he added with a sense of guilt written all over his face.

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"Well, that will be enough,

" Layn said, standing up from the man. 'I can tell she is hurting all over,' he thought, turning his face back towards the girl.

"And that means,

" he muttered, approaching Irea once again.

"I really need to do my best now,

" he said, placing his hand on the girl's back.

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"Dear, this will kill you a little. So I only want you to tell me one thing,

" Layn started, keeping the entirety of Irea's body in a magic hold to prevent her from moving.

"Do you trust me?

"-

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