As Theo had learned and witnessed and even applied, rhythmic music was a well-established branch of action magic. There was quite a lot that could be accomplished with even just footsteps or breathing, be it walking on thin air, changing the terrain to your advantage, or making the air around you a little warmer.

The reason action magic was generally more dangerous than the other forms of magic was simply the fact that it was tied to time. This meant it was easier to be interrupted or lose focus, and thus result in a backfire.

Backfires themselves do not solely result from that, otherwise only action magic would have any issue at all. The less focused and directed the magic is, the harder it is to keep the mana together, and the likelier backfire becomes. This is the main reason that improvising action magic is such a dangerous and difficult thing. However, improvising did allow him to utilise things that would otherwise require preparation and practice to cast magic.

It is also possible to deliberately cause backfires by consciously interrupting it, like Jenny does in order to propel herself with explosions.

Backfires also relate to the difficulty of the casting. The more complex the magic is, the higher the likelihood of backfire. This applies to every dimension of difficult, including distance. This was why bards use instruments close to their persons, and wizards draw their runes in front of them.

The strength of a backfire is related to the amount of mana that was infused, which is another reason why more difficult magic results in worse backfires.

All that to say, that if you were able to identify sounds and targets of potential action magic, were able to improvise in order to utilise them, and do nothing but deliberately cause backfires, you could remotely trigger explosions.

Theo wasn’t sure if it was adrenaline, internal magic, or plain concentration, but every footstep Love in Judgement took seemed to slow down.

He focused on the click of her heel on the floor, sent his mana farther than he had ever done before, felt the way it wavered in the air before it made contact, and then cut it off.

Her foot exploded.

It was a deafening boom, painting the white chiselled tiles and bone ornaments a misty red as a shockwave tousled his hair. Any air that was left in his lungs was forced out, but it would have taken his breath away regardless.

She crumpled to the ground, yelping. Theo switched his target.

Next, her head exploded.

He almost hesitated. Partially because he still wasn’t too comfortable with killing others but he didn’t really have a choice here if he wanted to escape. Mostly because he was starting to realise what he had discovered, and the way the hair stood up on the back of his neck wasn’t reassuring.

He also realised that he didn’t need to rely on a consistent rhythm; after all, his aim wasn’t successful action magic, it was to backfire.

Next to him, Sparrow somewhat figured out what was happening, and rattled their shackles. Theo happily obliged, carefully sending out the smallest amount of mana possible.

The small firecracker pops did nothing to the cuffs, but Theo felt a tug. Sparrow was close enough for his mana to almost reach unconsciously, and that resulted in a second round of backfires that surprised even him.

There was a pause, as he digested that.

Sparrow rattled the cuffs more urgently, breaking his reverie. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that someone was bound to come investigate the noise. The firecracker became a series of increasingly loud explosions as the sound from one was all Theo needed for the next backfire.

He stopped once the shackles burst open, internally wincing at the reddened flesh and broken skin around Sparrow’s wrists.

They stood up, removing the gag from their mouth, and spitting in the direction of Love in Judgement’s unmoving, headless corpse.

“Good job. Now, let’s get you out of here.” A wry grin adorned their face, and their eyes lit up in mischief.

As they took a step, and tripped over themselves. Sparrow cleared their throat. “Right, exhausted body, and the only mana I have is what I gathered after you broke the siphon. Sorry to say that you’re going to have to keep that up for now. But we’re going to have a chat about it later, promise.”

“Stop!” A temple’s worth of priests came running from around the corner, some winded, some managing, but all looking very unprepared.

Especially once they saw the bleeding, stumpy body on the ground.

They quickly surrounded them as best as they could. Which was pretty good, considering Theo was still paralysed.

Sparrow picked up Theo’s rigid body, hefted him carefully over their shoulder like a stack of timber, and rushed towards the weakest side of the enclosure. They started out incredibly slowly, almost limping, before Theo felt some internal magic activate and Sparrow’s speed rose to a respectable level (but nowhere near what the two of them are capable when at full capacity) as they prepared to break out.

“Murder-urk!” The priest who had yelled at them to stop, was now permanently stopped, as their head also joined Love in Judgement’s in redecorating the courtyard.

Theo chained that backfire off to slowly reach around the circle, as he made Sparrow’s escape attempt a lot easier than it was moments ago.

Another funny thing about backfires is that, given the fact that they inherently require a lack of focus, it is much easier to multitask with them.

Which is why every rustle of clothing, every audible heavy breath uttered by a priest around them, every unconscious sound and muttered prayer, resulted in explosion upon explosions upon explosions. Theo and Sparrow were almost shielded by a solid barrier of backfires, and that followed them as Sparrow carried him as fast as they could go.

They soon left that courtyard and all the (now rather dead) priests behind as freedom loomed.

Theo’s world became a collage of pressure and explosions, and for the first time he could remember, his mana reserves started to run low.

He didn’t care.

It was intoxicating, the feeling of this much power for very little cost.

He felt powerful, unstoppable –