The pain hit before the command finished settling and Naro's vision shattered into white.

  His knees slammed into the stone and his hand tore away from the arm like it had burned him. His throat opened in a raw, animal sound he did not recognize as his own. The world tilted, then snapped back, then tilted again.

  Every nerve in his body screamed at once, as if something enormous had tried to pass through him in the wrong direction. His chest seized. His fingers clawed uselessly at the ground, leaving shallow scratches in the blackened stone.

  "Ghh—!"

  He vomited bile and ash.

  The arm did not decrease in size and it laid there exactly as before. Almost like it was mocking his futile attempt.

  Naro sucked in air through clenched teeth, forehead pressed to the floor. His heart pounded so hard he thought it might burst. Sparks of heat crawled across his skin, fading only slowly.

  "Bad idea," he muttered hoarsely.

  'My authority didn't change much... Well there's a bit of it that got drained but not too much.'

  He forced himself to sit up, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. His palm trembled when he lifted it again, hovering over the arm without touching.

  'Maybe if I ask gently ?'

  "Please Shrink," he said again quietly.

  The pain surged instantly, worse than before. His body locked, breath stolen from his lungs as if the space inside him had collapsed inward. He screamed, the sound tearing out of him as his vision blurred.

  He cut the command short, gasping, choking on air as the pressure released.

  Naro collapsed onto his side, shaking.

  "No. No," he hissed. "That's not it either !"

  He lay there for a long moment, listening to his own breathing. Each inhale scraped. Each exhale burned. A little bit more of his Authority had drained.

  "Why is it so hard ! Isn't the stone supposed to bend to me like Paro ?? I'm sure Astor can do that !"

  Naro knew though, he wasn't born a demigod, nor did he fully inherit Paro's authority. The demigod candidates had a higher part of it, and thus— could do it better than him.

  It was no wonder he couldn't do it like they would.

  He let out a long exhale.

  '...'

  'Wait a minute...'

  Finally, he laughed. It came out broken and sharp.

  "Isn't that just impossible ? Shrinking something on the go... Authority's not magic !"

  Naro wasn't sure if there were even spells that could shrink things, he had not paid attention to magic classes back in Zyr.

  What was the use of magic to someone who could not even use it ? It was useless !

  He pushed himself upright again and observed the arm again with his hand on his chin.

  Asking something so big to shrink forcefully was definitely a bad idea, but he couldn't carry the arm either.

  'I have to find a loophole but how...'

  The arm was dense. The corruption of the devourer had shaped it over decades, there was no space for the arm to shrink into.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  'Of course it hurts... the world doesn't work like that.'

  To him at least, maybe as he killed more guardians he would be able to brute-force it.

  Naro closed his eyes and breathed through the ache pulsing behind his eyes.

  "Alright," he said quietly. "Let's try something else."

  His hand settled against the arm once more.

  "Remove parts of what makes you be," he said slowly. "without changing what you are."

  The Authority shifted.

  Pain flared, but this time it was contained. It was like gripping something too hot, which was better than being thrown into a furnace like last time. So Naro grit his teeth and held on, sweat pouring down his face.

  The arm twitched and a faint grinding sound filled the cavern, fine cracks spread along the surface of the arm carefully.

  'Finally listening, huh ?'

  Then the first piece fell. A slab of blackened stone peeled away from the forearm and dropped to the ground with a dull thud.

  Another followed. Then another.

  Layer after layer loosened and slipped free, as if the arm was shedding itself like a snake. The surface roughened, losing its polished density, the veins of magma running through it dimming as excess matter was stripped away.

  Naro's vision blurred. His teeth ground together hard enough to hurt.

  "Keep it together. It's almost over," he whispered to himself.

  More pieces fell, fingers grew thinner as stone plates detached and crumbled at the wrist. The upper arm lost its bulk slowly. Each falling piece sent a fresh pulse of heat through Naro's body, but the pain no longer overwhelmed him.

  By the time the grinding stopped, the arm was no longer gigantic.

  Naro's hand slipped from it as his strength gave out. He staggered back and dropped onto one knee, chest heaving. The stones that had fallen littered the ground around him, inert and lifeless, no trace of Authority left in them.

  He laughed weakly.

  "So that's how," he muttered.

  It laid on the stone beside him, still unmistakably Paro's. But it was small enough to be his own arm now.

  Naro stared at it for a long time, then let out a shaky breath that almost sounded like relief.

  "Yeah," he muttered. "That'll have to do."

  'I can't attach it yet though, I'll need outside help for that.'

  He looked back towards the shaft or what was beyond it.

  Slowly, painfully, Naro pushed himself to his feet.

  "Time to walk back towards the village I guess," he said with a small smile.

  —————————————————

  Rami found him on his way back up.

  She just appeared at the edge of the shaft, ash-stained and exhausted, eyes immediately locking onto what he was dragging behind him.

  Her gaze dropped, then sharpened.

  "...What," she said quietly, "is that."

  Naro flinched harder than he had from the pain.

  "Ah! Good morning to you too," he tried, forcing a smile. "So, funny story-"

  "You went back," she cut in with crossed arms.

  Her voice was as cold as icebergs.

  He gulped.

  "And I told you I'd be quick !" he protested. "And technically I was !"

  She crossed the distance between them in three furious strides and grabbed his collar with both hands.

  "YOU ARE MISSING AN ARM," she snapped, yanking him down to her eye level. "YOU COLLAPSED IN MY ARMS. YOU WERE BLEEDING OUT. And you thought this was the moment to go experiment?!"

  Naro opened his mouth.

  And then closed it.

  "I needed a solution," he said, a little firmer. "I can't just... walk around like this."

  His gaze was turned to his ruined shoulder.

  Rami's gaze softened for a moment but regained its sharpness right after.

  "You needed to rest, also."

  Naro's gaze dropped.

  "Sorry."

  She turned away from him abruptly, hands clenched.

  For a moment, Naro thought she might scream.

  Instead, she exhaled, slow and shaking.

  "...Fine," she said. "We'll talk later. Right now, we're leaving."

  Naro took a step after her.

  And nearly stumbled.

  The arm pulled at him, dead weight asserting itself. His teeth clenched as he adjusted his grip, shoulder screaming in protest.

  "...It's heavier than I thought," he admitted.

  Rami stopped.

  Slowly, she looked back at him.

  "How far do you think you can carry that?"

  Naro hesitated.

  Minutes, maybe. An hour if he pushed himself. It probably couldn't do day-to-day travels.

  "...Not far," he said.

  She exhaled sharply through her nose.

  "Thought so."

  "Alright," he said, trying to sound confident. "I'll just make it float."

  Rami raised her right eyebrow:

  "...What ?"

  "Something I can do... I think !

  "just watch !"

  He focused on the arm.

  "Float."

  A sharp, stabbing pain lanced through his skull, sudden and precise. He gasped and staggered back, hand snapping away as if struck.

  The arm didn't move even one bit.

  "...Nevermind."

  Rami's gaze no longer held anger, it had turned into disappointment.

  "...I really don't know what you were expecting... but that's not how you do it."

  She walked past him without waiting for a response, placed her arm on the arm, and murmured a simple incantation.

  The air shimmered.

  The arm lifted smoothly, weightless, suspended by gentle magic.

  Rami turned toward the exit and started walking without looking back.

  Naro stared after her, stunned.

  "...I thought your magic was drained."

  "It doesn't take much to use that spell," she replied, voice echoing ahead of him. "so c'mon, I already know what you'll need to do with that thing."

  The floating arm followed her obediently, drifting like it belonged there.

  Some things, it seemed, were still easier when you didn't try to force the world to listen.

  Naro stood alone for a moment and rubbed his temple.

  "Great," he muttered. "I've been outdone by a spell."

  He still needed to explain how Authority worked to her and so Naro hurried after her.