Chapter 15: Shield and Dagger (3)

**clank**

The knife landed one step in front of Natashia.

The knife was similar to the knife that she used when making soup.

"What the hell are you up to?" There was a voice that came from where the knife was thrown.

It was a female voice but the way of talking resembled a rough man.

Natashia looked towards the source of the voice.

Under the bright moonlight she could see a young girl although it was faint Natashia could clearly see that her hair was Chestnut and her yellow eyes glimmers under the moonlight like a predator.

This young girl was clearly Fumi who she had taken care together with her sister.

But this time it was different it felt like Fumi was another person, She was already walking towards Natashia but her steps were as quite as a passing wind the way she threw the knife was clearly skilled albeit weak.

"Oh you finally show yourself Rogue"

Natashia smiled brightly as she looked at Fumi now currently Rogue.

This made Rogue feel uncomfortable and he quickly stepped away from Natashia.

"Wipe that damned smile away from your face!"

"Oh come on now dear Rogue you know I won't harm you..."

"Bullshit! I've had enough experience with your teasing to know you'd screw me over!"

Rogue was clearly wary of Natashia or to be more precise Rogue was afraid of Natashia.

Ever since Rogue saw how Natashia used her healing power to kill he had marked her as a person he would never mess with or get closed to but the fact that they were in the same party didn't help him.

His tendency to flinch and be afraid near Natashia(Nicole) made him the primary target for her sadistic nature.

"As cute as always" Natashia smiled brightly once again.

"I know your standards for cute and I ain't happy to have all of them"

Rogue pulled out another knife, it was a bit smaller than the first one that was thrown. It reflected the moonlight on its surface giving off an eery aura.

Back then when Rogue was still on his male body he was only a target since he was afraid of Natashia but now that his in Fumi's body he had literally checked everything out on Natashia's 'to tease' standards.

Natashia stared at Rogue and the knife.

If Rogue had been on his original body this sight would've been intimidating but now that he was in Fumi's body it didn't exude intimidation but instead cuteness.

"Oh~ how Sca~ry"

Natashia covered her mouth and badly acted like she was scared.

"Well anyway what happened?"

Natashia turned away from Rogue and faced a certain area.

It was an area where the most carnage can be seen. Dismembered body parts, blood stains, cracks and fissures .

"I don't know myself, but as far as my host's knows it seems that they were chased by a screaming ghoul that can call over other ghouls apparently it's called an 'Ech' after they somehow escaped from it they were surrounded by ghouls again and Alsyel voluntarily became a bait for the 2 sisters to escape"

Rogue started explaining while keeping a good distance between him and Natashia while still holding onto his knife.

Natashia found it funny but decided to not mention it.

"I see ... But what do you mean you 'don't know yourself'? Weren't you basically also there at that time and what do you mean by 'host'?"

Natashia turned towards Rogue again.

Rogue is inside Fumi's body that was undoubtedly the truth and the fact that Fumi reacted to her like Rogue would means that this is Rogues new body but he spoke like he wasn't there when Al disappeared.

*That's odd I thought we were given perfect bodies for our soul*

Natashia found it odd.

"Now that I think about it were you always this good at acting? You've even been fooling Shizuka that you're still her sister Fumi."

Natashia has been watching Shizuka and Fumi's interaction together and she had concluded that Rogue was only acting as Fumi and that he had fooled Shizuka until now but unfortunately that wasn't the case.

"I don't own her body she's currently unknowingly sharing it with me"

That was the truth. Rogue doesn't have absolute control over Fumi's body the reason for this was because his Grim Reaper had to forcefully wake his soul inside Fumi in order to save them from the Big mutant Ghoul's attack which lead him to an incomplete awakening, Rogue shared this details including the fact that he couldn't see what happened to Al since he was asleep inside Fumi to Natashia while still keeping his distance.

"Hmm I see"

Natashia contemplated and looked at the dark night sky, countless stars filled the sky and the full moon gave out a modest light.

"Graa!"

One ghoul approached Natashia but she just easily held its head and spoke a word.

"Heal"

A small bright light shined between her palms and the ghouls head.

The ghoul lost power over its body and slumped at the same time Natashia let go of the now unmoving Ghoul's head.

The face of the ghoul which came in contact with Natashia's palms was burned to a point it looked like a charcoal it was still smoking as if it was burned by fire and the smell of burned flesh also accompanied that smoke.

It fell to the ground like a puppet with no strings and stayed there.

"It seems we have some company"

Natashia turned to look at the direction on were the ghoul came from and she could see dozens of them approaching her.

"Rogue I think you're also gonna be bu—"

She turned to look at Rogue but he wasn't there anymore the figure of a girl holding out a knife while scowling wasn't there anymore.

"Leaving a woman alone at night isn't very gentlemanly of you Rogue"

Natashia felt irritation for Rogue but it was overpowered by another thing.

"Graa!!!"

An undead suddenly rushed forward towards Natashia it's steps were a goof and it ran like a drunkard from bar.

"Oh dear how unsightly"

At some point Natashia was already holding the knife that was thrown to her by Rogue earlier.

The moment the ghoul got near Natashia its head fell to the ground along with a sizzling sound of something burning.

Natashia had cut off its head from its body with a single knife like it was butter.

Yes the knife was indeed sharp but it wasn't sharp enough to cut off a head like butter and make it sizzle like a barbeque.

"It has been awhile since I used this"

The knife that Natashia was holding was faintly glowing white it wasn't the moonlight that made it glow white but rather something that Natashia did.

"Constantly using heal on this weapon is too taxing"

Right after she said that the faint white glow of the knife disappeared like its switch was flipped to off.

Weapon enchantment it was a way of applying extra abilities to an inanimate object or weapons like swords, shields, and bows for a long period of time.

For example a normal sword could turn into a flame sword if it was enchanted with fire and a normal arrow could turn into a homing arrow the likes that would follow a designated target until it hits, these were simple example of enchantments.

Of course enchantment can't be done easily by anybody and its extremely hard to enchant something even Natashia can't do it.

But she found a way to imitate enchantments by constantly casting specific spells onto the weapon on set intervals, it isn't a perfect method as the effects will only last according to the users Mana, focus and spell strength.

"Graaa!!" Another ghoul got close to Natashia.

**Shhh**

And once again the knife glowed white and effortlessly sliced through the middle of the ghoul's head.

"Ahahaha!! Ahahahaha!! Haha!"

Natashia suddenly started laughing crazy like a deranged psychopath as she started charging towards the ghouls.

"Gra—"

"Heal"

She grabbed a ghouls face and casted heal and just like any other the ghoul's face was burned till charcoal like state and the ghoul was killed.

"Gr–"

Another one was stabbed on its forehead by the glowing knife.

Another one charged at her but she swiftly kicked it back and following with a quick stab on the head.

Despite the overwhelming advantage of numbers the Ghouls weren't able to even scratch Natashia the only thing they were able to do is splatter their blood on Natashia's white lab coat.

"Crazy Healer"

*Stab*

While Natashia fought the ghouls with her knife and hands Rogue was also attacking but in his own way.

*Stab*

Like a silent shadow Rogue silently stabbed a Ghoul's head through its ears it's a quick and precise work that requires experience Fumi herself might not have this experience but for Rogue who's done assassination for most of his life this was an easy task albeit it was more of a challenge to adjust on his new body.

*Fumi's body is naturally weak but its also naturally suitable for quick and precise work like assassination*

Fumi's hands and fingers were docile, her eye and body coordination was at its possible best, her body was light and flexible. It was a body that has appropriate skills and qualities for assassination.

*Moreover her body seems to have already learnt 'silent step'*

Silent step it was the bare minimum necessity for any stealth related jobs and Fumi herself has subconsciously learned that skill while living in this apocalyptic world.

Moving around without being noticed while being protected by her sister the best Fumi could do was to keep herself from being a burden to her sister learning how to move without a sound was a skill she developed while surviving with her sister.

In this world it would have been a unique ability but for Rogue who had a different sense of value this skill was called "silent step" and one of the most common skills out there.

"Gra–"

A ghoul that was about to take another step suddenly stopped and fell to the ground its head had a stab hole on it.

"!!"

While one more ghoul fell as its face burned to charcoal sizzling along the way.

"It seems your skills needs refinement"

"!?"

Suddenly Rogue can hear Natashia's voice right next to his ear.

Fear ran through his very soul it was almost instinctual as he reflexively and willingly swung his knife towards Natashia who was behind him.

It was swung with the sole intent of getting rid of whatever was behind him and by "getting rid" I meant killing.

The tip of the knife was heading straight towards Natashia's skull with all the strength that Rogue can muster in Fumi's body which was by all means not weak.

**Clang**

The knife was stopped by another knife that glowed white.

"That is quite an extreme take"

Despite her relaxed voice Natashia wasn't exactly unscathed after Rogue's attack.

She was able to block the knife from stabbing her skull but with Rogues sudden outburst of strength the block merely redirected the knife's trajectory to her cheeks of course she was able to stop it from actually stabbing through her cheeks but nevertheless the knife still reached her cheek.

"Stay the f*ck away from me"

Rogue while despite nearly killing his fellow ally didn't seem sorry or even regretful of his actions as he moved away.

Blood dripped from Natashia's wounded cheek the wound was by no mean shallow as if the knife had gone any deeper it would have already reached the gums from the outside.

"You sure are still rough as ever "

Natashia touched the wound with her fingertips and blood colored her finger but a faint glint of white light shined between her cheeks and fingertips.

**Shhh**

The wound released a sizzling sound but it wasn't burning but instead it slowly closed on itself erasing any traces of being stabbed by a knife not even a scar remained.

"Oh my it seems your fingers are a bit swollen"

Natashia smiled brightly as she looked at Rogue's (Fumi's) fingers that held the knife.

"!"

It was indeed bigger than normal as if it was a balloon that had more air than usual moreover it seemed like the fingers would explode at any moment as it swelled and pulsated.

This were the characteristics of Healing Overdose.