136 136 Aftermath
“I guess not everyone loves me. But I should apologize to the others. I drew a lot of power through them, and they might not be alright.” Wolfe explained.
“Go do what you need. I’ve given them the day off today to recover, so they can rest and heal if necessary.” Priya agreed.
When he returned to the bunkhouse, all five Servants looked shell-shocked, simply sitting on the floor and staring straight ahead.
Wolfe sat down beside them and rubbed the twins’ backs. “Are you alright? I’m sorry for drawing so much, but the leader was a powerful magic user.”
“Will it be like that every time?” Mio whispered.
“I can stop the side effects, but you won’t be able to use Witch Magic while I’m using magic, or possibly at all while I’m awake.” He explained, unsure how the effect of his newly gained ability worked.
“I can’t do that again. I just can’t. It’s like my soul was being torn apart and constantly remade, but the pain wouldn’t let me pass out, only it felt good even though it hurt so bad, and I can’t even be mad at you for it.” Alice whispered.
The amount must have been beyond their limits, but instead of stopping, it had overdrawn the extra requested power through their body. That’s what happened to weak Magi or male Witch children when they were made Familiars, and their minds didn’t usually last long.
Wolfe activated [Control Servants], and the girls all sighed in relief as the spell effect suppressed their aura.
“Can you still use magic? I don’t sense any aura from any of you.” Wolfe asked, worried that he had misunderstood the description.
Mio hesitantly picked up the military manual and cast a water elemental spell that cleaned all the rugs and blankets on the floor.
Wolfe could feel the mana flow through all six of them and himself equally as she cast the spell, and she looked at him in shock.
“I can’t even feel the source. I can still use magic, so I’m not just mundane, but that’s how it feels. Even when I cast, I can only feel the mana, not the conversion of it through my aura.
Is this what it’s like to be you? Just raw power and no sense of connection to the world?” Mio asked.
“I can sense and feel mana, but it’s just energy.” Wolfe shrugged.
“That’s kind of sad. As our aura got stronger, we could feel everything. The plants under the snow, the other Witches nearby, the pulse of the world. We couldn’t feel that before. We were too weak, but now that it is gone, the power feels hollow, like there is no natural order.”
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“I can turn the spell off if you like?” Wolfe asked.
“Give us a few hours first. I just need you to hold me for a while and let the energy balance before I will be ready to feel everything again.” Mio agreed.
That made sense, so Wolfe focused for a second and drained the lingering energy from their bodies since it couldn’t be converted into aura in this state, and they were already overstimulated to begin with.
Pup and Flame joined them on the rug by the stove while Stephanie slept on a pillow under the bed, making the best of her life as a Familiar Cat.
That’s how the others found them, napping on the floor when they came in to grab everyone for lunch.
“Are they going to be alright?” Mary asked, poking Pup to wake him up.
“Sort of. They got the same sort of backlash that the accused Magi get when they’re sentenced to life as Familiars. I found a way around that, but it cuts them off from the Source entirely. No aura, no Witch Magic, no feeling of connection.”
“I’m not sure that’s any better,” Mary replied.
“No, not the backlash from my magic, but what everyone expected to happen to me when I became a Familiar. Our magic is incompatible, so one of the two needed to be blocked. If both are active, they clash.
They can still use Elemental Magic like this though, which is a small consolation.”
Mary winced when she realized what Wolfe meant and gave the sleeping girls a sympathetic look.
Wolfe dismissed [Control Servants], and everyone woke up with happy mumbles.
“The world is back, and there is no more pain. Thank you, being without our connection to the world was too disorienting. But please enable that ability again before the next time you fight.”
Wolfe gave Mio a hug and helped her to her feet. “There will likely be many more ‘next times.’ The amount of power I can put into a spell with you five helping is insane.”
“Defeat an undead army in seconds type insane.” Cassie agreed.
“Seriously? Then maybe it really was worth it after all.” Mio mumbled while the others nodded.
“Yeah, he threw them across the battlefield, then filled the barrier in an instant and attacked the leader of the undead, who was casting spells that were taking down the barrier faster than every Witch in the line put together could fill it.
Normally Wolfe is just Wolfe. There to be a pool of mana when we need him, but when he attacks, it is on a whole other level.” Ella informed them.
“Is that how everyone sees me? Just a convenient source of power?” Wolfe joked.
“I mean, it’s hard not to when everything you do makes us more powerful. Since we’re all linked and share power, even your romantic interludes are an intense source of power for everyone else.” Cassie reminded him.
“Well, power and overwhelming emotions because we can all feel what the others feel, and that was really hard to hide while on duty until we learned to dampen the effect a little.” Reiko agreed.
“Back up. How does doing that equate to gaining power?” Alice asked.
“The push and pull of mana increase your own capacity to handle mana, and his bodily fluids contain lingering energy you can directly cultivate into your aura. It’s the fastest way to grow powerful. Even the Lieutenant has done it to increase her power.” Ella told her with a wink.
Five sets of eyes turned to Wolfe in shock as the Servants processed that news.
“I’ll show you later. First, we need to eat.”