68. Exploration Battle (11)
Karla’s face stiffened.
“Can you help me?”
“Help you?”
“With what?”
“How?”
Karla thought that since the state of the homunculus was like this now, there wasn’t much she could do about it. The only option that came to mind was capturing Venere, tearing her apart, creating a new homunculus, and attaching it to Karla—there was nothing else.
Meanwhile, Ivan—Dark Ivan—was saying he would help, still managing a leisurely smirk despite receiving Karla’s fierce glare.
“I didn’t think you’d have the audacity to look at me so defiantly. Bold of you… but I’ll forgive you. Your body gave me a rare pleasure after such a long time.”
“Stop talking nonsense. What… what help are you offering?!”
Karla was desperate.
Wasn’t she the one who feared nothing when her limbs were intact?
But now, with one arm gone, she had become a magician worth less than a penny—her only pride was her title as a magician. The years that followed were filled with immense pain and humiliation for her, whose life had been sustained by the pride of being a magician thus far.
“For instance… something like this.”
Ivan turned away from her and approached the homunculus, grabbing one of the fungus-covered arms and brutally pulling it out.
At this cruel sight, Karla shuddered at her left shoulder, but Ivan nonchalantly twirled the arm around as he spoke.
“Isn’t this just a useless lump of flesh when you look at it closely? You seem to be a soft-matter magician, but if you’re unable to use preservation magic, I wonder if there’s another reason—it feels like the heart might have been removed or something…”
“What… what are you talking about? Explain clearly!”
Karla was burning with frustration.
Was he deliberately responding with random questions, or examining the arm while pulling it out, mumbling unrelated things? Regardless, Karla felt like she was about to go insane. He must say something meaningful.
“This is so covered in mold; it can’t be reattached as it is.”
Ivan smiled at Karla and she stood there, struck dumb, staring at him in bewilderment.
“Sew… sew…sew what? You’re saying you’re going to sew it on?”
“Of course. That’s why, isn’t it? Your arm is gone, presumably without a trace. Even I can’t create something out of nothing.”
“But do you…understand about soft matter magic?”
“I don’t know about the girl but I do. She apparently hasn’t learned this branch of magic, but she does have the necessary circuits, so maybe I could replicate it.”
“Then, then…!”
Karla lunged at Ivan.
With her only right arm, she clung to him and shouted.
“Arm… my arm… please, please give it back to me!”
One who hasn’t lost a limb will never understand.
The anguish of losing something is something only those who have experienced it can fully grasp. At least in her case, Ivan’s words were nothing short of salvation.
Magic power flowed abundantly within her.
She was confident that in terms of magic power, she could rival any magician in this empire.
But that didn’t matter; her body was still one-armed, and the battles among magicians weren’t fought with magic alone.
Moreover, for her, a lightning magician, the lack of full mobility was a tremendous blow. Struggling against someone like Lucas was humiliating.
“Interesting. The fiery woman comes running, her eyes brimming with tears. Must have been desperate for that arm.”
“Of course it is!”
Karla shouted. Tears had silently gathered at the corners of her eyes.
The pain she had endured and didn’t want anyone to understand, perhaps now with a glimmer of hope of deliverance from that pain, was too overwhelming to bear.
“And even then… yeah, that’s right. There’s an old saying that goes: don’t just do what you do well for free.”
“…What do you want?”
Karla instinctively knew Ivan wouldn’t hand over the arm easily.
Even his smug smile hinted as much, and his words carried that meaning as well.
“Kneel, and beg.”
“Beg?”
Karla, who would have shouted and scoffed at such nonsense in the past, did not entertain that thought this time.
As soon as Ivan’s words ended, Karla dropped to her knees in front of him.
Whether Ivan was a commoner or not didn’t even cross her mind.
If he was going to give her her arm back, who cared about knees?
“Knee… knees are down… my arm, give me my arm…”
The eyes Karla looked up to Ivan with were shaking uncontrollably,
A desperate, urgent, and anxious gaze all mixed into one.
“Swear that you’ll become mine. Swear that you will be my consort. If you do that, I can attach your arm. I might even make it stronger.”
Karla’s mind, inflamed with excitement, suddenly came to a halt at his words, momentarily cooling down.
As the heat subsided, she began to wonder if she could trust what Ivan was saying.
“Judging by that look, even in the midst of this, you’re keeping your cool judgment. You were thinking about my true identity the entire time, weren’t you? It’s a good stance, indeed, Karla.”
With the arm he had ripped out from the homunculus, Ivan swung it around as he circled the kneeling Karla.
In his seemingly playful footsteps, Ivan smiled as he looked at Karla.
“Well, whether you believe me or not is irrelevant. I, too, have seen nearly the end of magic. The one who has reached the pinnacle of magic by creating thirty-three buds. The one who once stood atop the empire… but, well. Honestly, I only wish to see the end of magic. The empire… hmm, yes. Of course it matters, it does.”
In this sense, Ivan—Dark Ivan—was pleased with Karla.
What woman possesses a drive and desire for magic that surpasses even the most ardent men?
‘She grows on me the more I look at her.’
She had already been embraced by him, but it seemed a pity to discard her as just a one-night stand.
In fact, she was destined to be a great help in achieving his lifelong goal.
“Swear to me, Karla. If you want your arm back, if you want to fulfill your ambition, promise me you will become my consort.”
Karla looked up at Ivan with a bewildered expression.
His voice was soft but carried a commanding weight.
If one had to compare it, even though she had never met him before, his voice carried the same royal dignity as the Emperor’s.
“If you swear, I will too. If you promise to be mine, I’ll promise to attach your arm again. How’s that?”
Karla’s gaze wavered.
At this point, it was certainly safe to consider it a solid promise.
If this means she can have her arm reattached, then there’s no other option for her.
Moreover, she had already given herself to him countless times.
There shouldn’t be any further issues.
“…Fine. But don’t expect me to call you by name, Ivan…”
“Actually, it would be inconvenient for you to call me Ivan. That’s not my real name.”
“Then tell me your name at least.”
That he wouldn’t even reveal his name and dragged on for so much time made Karla restless.
“Hmm, maybe it’s better to still call me Ivan. After all, there are malicious traitors out there who would try anything against me, eyes blazing with hatred.”
“Traitors…?”
“It’s something you don’t need to know yet. At any rate, will you swear to become mine?”
Karla closed her eyes tightly.
Even for her, who was still vividly remembering being a man not so long ago, it wasn’t a choice to be taken lightly.
But ultimately, all those considerations were worth less than an arm.
Besides, she had already given up her gender to become powerful.
Not out of choice, but having already given up her gender, her body having been claimed multiple times by a man—
What meaning did such gender distinctions hold after all this?
“…Alright, fine. I’ll swear it. Whatever you want. If you…you give me back my arm.”
Her voice trembled but wasn’t weak.
Ivan smiled contentedly as he looked at her.
“…I swear. I, Karla della Cascata… will… be yours.”
“Well said, Karla. You said you’re Karla della Cascata? Good. I’ll remember that. From now on, you’re my woman. The woman who belongs to this body and will belong to no one else in the world.”
Ivan burst into hearty laughter.
Karla glared at him with an unsatisfied gaze, and Ivan promptly waved the arm of the homunculus in front of her.
“Now it’s my turn to keep my promise. This form of sorcery is unfamiliar to me… Hmm, alright. Like this…”
Ivan closed his eyes and quietly intoned the activation phrase “Creation” with a low voice.
A large circular disc formed behind the standing Ivan.
The disc interlocked and twisted, with 31 buds gathering systematically in a consistent pattern, creating complex circuits that coiled and intertwined with one another, resembling threads forming new pathways.
Flashing in red, blue, violet, light green, and green on the disc, these colors continually blinked on and off. Finally, dark-brown magical power billowed profusely from Ivan.
The magical circuit behind Ivan was far beyond what one usually sees.
Too intricate and precise for a normal magician to handle—this seemed to be the infamous transmutational magic.
Instinctively, Karla sensed it: Ivan was no ordinary magician.
“Incorporation.”
As Ivan intoned the spell, the dark-brown magical power amassed and directed itself toward the arm of the homunculus Ivan was holding.
The fungus that had covered the arm disappeared, exposing fresh skin as the palm turned a healthy red. From the cross-section of the arm, dozens of dark-brown tendrils extended out.
“Hold still.”
As Ivan ordered, Karla only watched the tendrils come toward her, helpless against the intense urge to avoid the creeping tendrils that were approaching her shoulder, the now-empty shoulder socket where her left arm had been.
The tendrils reached her left shoulder, crawling and circling over it, even climbing over to her right arm, as if measuring something. At the moment those tendrils entangled each other, Ivan moved the homunculus’ arm towards Karla’s shoulder socket.
The tendrils quickly gathered on her shoulder socket, circling it like threads. Heat began to emit from the area.
“Don’t move. Stay still. I’m not trying to hurt you.”
Karla frowned but endured the warmth.
Even though she was unfamiliar with transmutational magic, she clearly understood what she was experiencing—her arm was regenerating.
