You're ruining my face

“Monsters!” The bloodied adventurer stumbled towards Will, falling down at his feet. “Lady Crestfall, please, they’re everywhere,” he murmured, gargling on his own blood.

Screams echoed from the streets outside, followed by the viscous sound of carnage, and the roars of monstrosities.

Will looked to his body, turning from it to the open door.

“Ah!” Will jittered, scrambling his red hair. “I’ll deal with you later!” he pointed at Natalia. “Someone needs to help them!”

“My lady,” Shisa stepped forward. “Let the others handle it. You don’t need to trouble yourself, especially so soon after your injury.”

“I’m not going to stand by when I have the power to stop this,” Will declared.

He moved towards the door, turning one last time, getting the full look of his party. They were all okay, he was glad.

“Stay safe,” he told them.

“Don’t need to tell us that,” Anissa crossed her arms.

His friends looked at him with suspicious looks. Gone were the familiar warm gazes of his companions. Instead, he was met with a stiff coldness. He was an enemy to them, as far as they were concerned.

“My lady!” Shisa protested, but Will was already out the door. “Why is she getting more stubborn?” Shisa questioned.

She lingered, turning to meet eyes with Natalia. She gave her a perplexed look, before turning and walking out the door.

“We should help,” Ren declared.

“Yeah,” Dan nodded in agreement.

“Of course we will!” Lina said. “That’s what heroes do.”

“Girl,” Anissa rubbed her the bridge of her nose in annoyance. “You really, really need to temper your expectations.”

“After you, Will,” Alan patted Natalia on the back.

Natalia did her best to groan internally, but found herself unable to break away from their expectations. They all admired her, well not her but the person she was pretending to be. They didn’t see her as a weapon that needed to be sated with empty words and political promises like they did before, but as a genuine pillar to lead them. Compelled by this unreasonable demand placed on her, she found herself responding, already reaching for her knife.

“Fine, let’s go,” she said. She’ll deal with this, but then after that she’s running away.

Will emerged to a world of chaos. Dozens of goblins and slimes of various colors terrorized the streets, killing random citizens or looting food from stores. Giants bats and small wyverns filled in the sky, turning the once quiet night into a cacophony of flapping wings and shrill shrieks.

“What is happening?” Will gasped at the sheer insanity of the situation unfolding before him. “I don’t understand, the dungeon door shouldve been sealed, and adventurers should have been guarding it.”

“I don’t know my lady,” Shisa rushed to her mistress’s side, annoyed, but ready to assist.

A citizen rushed out from a bar, slapping away giant bats that swooped down, trying to take a bite out of him. Some goblins glared at him, seeing him as an easy target,. They leapt from the food stall they were ready, one of them swinging a club at the man.

“Watch out!” Will leapt forward.

Weapon-less, he opted to punch the attacking goblin in the face. The blow, enhanced by Natalia’s natural strength, caved in the creature’s skull. In a swift movement, Will grabbed the goblin’s club, smashing another goblin with it, before turning and kicking the last one away, sending it flying so fast into a wall it’s body splattered, before slowly sliding down, leaving a trail of gore.

“Are you okay?” Will asked, picking the man off the ground by hand.

“Blade Princess!” he gasped in astonishment. “I am all right, but what about the city? Are the other S rankers going to help?”

“We’re working on it,” Will nodded. “Get inside the guild hall, it’s safe there. I’ll deal with these monsters.”

The man thanked her again, before rushing down the street to safety. The monsters seemed to divert from Will, seemingly recognizing his strength. Even the flying monsters above left a gap in the air, flying around him like he was a storm.

“Wait, Shisa, Where are the other S rankers?” Will asked.

“The High Priestess is most likely setting up a healing station as we speak,” Shisa explained. “As for the others…”

“They’re not going to bother, right?” Will grit his teeth. “This is a job for the common adventurers, why waste their time huh?”

“My lady,” Shisa tried to say something, but found herself unable to.

“I need a sword,” Will said. “I’ll deal with this mess personally.”

“But your dress, you can’t fight in that,” Shisa pointed down to the evening gown Will was wearing. He had kicked off the heels earlier, and was barefooted.

“Shisa,” Will said again. “A sword.”

“I can go retrieve one from your carriage,” Shisa said. “But, shouldn’t you be able to use Blade Ballet to conjure one?”

“Blade Ballet?” Will thought for a second. “Oh that skill she used when she tried to kill me. Good point.”

Will was completely inexperienced with skills, especially one as many as the Blessing of the Blade Goddess. However, he had to try. He reached into himself, trying to the best of his ability to conjure a sword.

“Sword, sword, sword,” He chanted to himself. “Sword!” he lifted a hand, trying to grasp the non-existent weapon.

Shisa blinked, unsure of what he was doing.

“It’s uh, not working,” Will said.

“I’ll go retrieve your weapon,” Shisa replied.

Ren activated Noble Guard, dahsing in front of Lina and blocking the attack from the gray slime. It rattled his bones, but he remained standing.

“My turn! Prepare monster to face the lovely Lina’s wonderful spell!” Lina leapt to the side of Will, presenting her lantern.

An enormous plume of fire erupted, completely consuming the gray slime, leaving behind a black ashy core.

“Holy crap this chick is strong,” Anissa said, eyes wide in surprise.

“Who’s next?” She winked.

Natalia flew backwards, the hit stinging her side. The second gray slime continued its attack. She scrambled to her feet, narrowly dodging as the solid tentacle slammed into the road where she was. She sprinted, using the strength of Mana Flow to outmaneuver the slime.

“Without Blade Mastery, I actually don’t know where to hit it,” she complained.

The gray slime hovered in the air, a perfect looking sphere, its smooth body only warping as it made an attack, sending out a tentacle of solid matter with enough force to shatter stone. Alan peppered the object with newly purchased arrows, only for the projectiles to harmlessly bounce off its surface, sending ripples out where it hit.

“Allow me to be of assistance, hero Will!” Lina leapt forward. “I need to prove my stuff to you, so watch out!” She got ready changing a lantern.

“Wait for the right moment,” Alan directed. “Will, can you draw another attack?”

“What do you think i’m doing?!” Natalia yelled, flipping over a low swinging tentacle attack.

“When did Will get so acrobatic?” Mina asked. “He seems faster too, even though he was bed ridden for days.”

Alan shrugged.

“I’m ready!” Lina yelled.

“All right,” Natalia wheezed, catching her breath while leaning against a lamppost. “Come here you stupid ball. Normally i’d slice you in half by now, but i’m inbetween bodies at the moment.”

The ball hovered, moving towards Natalia at an even pace.

“Not taking the bait?” She wheezed. “Fine.”

Natalia leaned down, picking up a dislodged rock. With a quick flick, she threw it. The stone bounced off the floating slime, sending out a ripple where it hit. The slime vibrated, almost like it was angered.

“Come on,” Natalia raised her out to her sides, prompting the creature to attack.

A spot on it bubbled, Natalia knew she had split second to dodge before she was impaled.

“Now!” She yelled, dodging out of the way with a flip as the tentacle surged forward.

“Hya!” Lina unleashed an enormous fire attack, consuming the ball in a blazing inferno.

“I’d say you pass the interview,” Alan grinned, lowering his bow. “What do you think Will, she can start tomorrow!”

“I won’t be here tomorrow,” Natalia muttered under breath.

“I won’t disappoint!” Lina danced forward, trying to grab Natalia’s hand again. She stepped back to avoid her.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something shifting.

“Look out!” Natalia pushed Lina back, shifting to endure the attack.

The tentacle buried itself into her shoulder, nearly piercing through, only stopped by the armor plating. The ball lay in half melted state, its core completely exposed, its molten body mostly used up in the impaling tentacle.

“Will!” Lina cried.

Natalia positioned her knife, before tossing it. The weapon buried itself into the exposed core of the creature. It shrieked as it died, its core cracking and splitting in half. The tentacle dissolved, liquifying and falling to the ground as a gelatinous gel.

“Ow,” Natalia grasped her bleeding shoulder.

“Oh no,” Lina gasped, tears forming in her eyes. This is all my fault!”

“He’s all right,” Alan sighed. “I’ve seen him take worse.”

“I’ll heal you,” Mina said, walking over and casting her healing spell. “Heal!”

A soft blue light emitted from her staff, forming onto Natalia’s wound. The wound closed, but the blood remained.

“Wow,” Natalia patted her shoulder. “You’re better than Shisa.”

“I don’t know who that is,” Mina said.

“Oh, sir Will!” Lina hugged him.

“We just met!” Natalia groaned.

“We got most of our monsters,” Ren ran over. “And some other adventurers are clearing out the side streets.”

“We should head towards the dungeon,” Dan said. “That’s where they seem most concentrated.”

Alan offered a hand to Natalia. She hesitated to take it. Frankly, she was done with the whole matter. She didn’t like getting hurt, and the past week has been nothing but her getting wounded. She wanted to lie down in dirt, crawl into the fetal position, and let whatever would happen to her happen.

Something suddenly skidded across the ground near them. It was Will in Natalia’s body. He was bloodied and bruise, and the dress he was wearing was in shambles, torn at waist on along the his side. He was barefooted, his feet covered in dirt and blood.

“It’s the blade princess!” Anissa said.

His opponent appeared. It was onyx skinned, hunched back beast. It had furry legs, with goats hooves. On its head it had a crown of horns that twisted inwards. It’s eyes were glowing yellow, with a wicked grin on its face. In its clawed hands, it wielded an enormous meat cleaver. It was already stained with blood.

“Get back!” Shisa dashed in, kicking up dust and debris as she placed herself between Will and the demon foot soldier.

She raised her hand, conjuring several ice knives and hurling them at the demon. The demon responded, knocking away several with its weapon, but failed to block a few burying themselves into its right leg and left shoulder.

“Damn,” Will cursed, getting to his feet and retrieving his fallen sword. “She made this look really easy,”

“My lady, let’s get out of here,” Shisa said, hurling forth another volley of ice knives. “You’re still in no condition to be fighting clearly.”

“It killed six people,” Will said. “I’m not letting this thing out of my sight.”

Will dashed, trying his best to stay on his feet. The first time he had moved with Natalia’s speed, he tripped and slammed into a wall. But he was getting used to it now. He just had to be careful about sliding. The demon balked at him, turning to face the attacker approaching his flank. Will saw the the blue threads form again. He still wasn’t sure what they did, but they shifted quickly, forming and disappearing in mere fractions of a second, seemingly responding to the demon’s minute movements.

“Got you this time!” Will swung, the enormous force of his attack kicking up a gust of dust as he swung for the demon’s head.

The demon blocked, its weapon screaming with steel from the force of the attack.

“Damn,” Will clicked his tongue.

They sparred for a few moments, attacking and parrying with their blades. Will was quickly overwhelmed. This thing was a much better swordsman that he was, even with this enhanced body. If he had been in his original body, he knew he’d already be dead. Will was beginnging to understand Attack Anticipation. He knew it was a premonition of an attack that would hit him. Responding to it was a different matter. Oftentimes it was only a split second window to respond. He saw an image of the cleaver cutting deep into his flank. He shifted a short moment later, but failed to block the blade completely. The cleaver still shallowly sliced into his side, causing him to yelp in pain.

“My lady!” Shisa yelled, sending forth another barrage of ice knives, forcing the demon to retreat.

“Damn,” Will cursed, touching a finger to his wound. It was red with blood.

Will looked like a mess. His dress was virtually destroyed, and his hair had been undone, his long red locks fluttering freely, stray frayed hairs sticking to his face, caked in blood and dirt.

“Please my lady!” Shisa pleaded.

“Hey you idiot!” Natalia yelled. “Can you see the blue threads?!”

“The what?” Will asked, turning to face his body.

“You’re ruining my face!” Natalia growled, noting the terrible bruises covering her skin. “The blue threads, do you see them?”

“Yeah,” Will nodded.

“So my skill is working for you,” Natalia clicked her tongue. “You need to match your sword strokes with those lines.”

“That’s not really easy,” Will said. “They changed in like a fraction of a second.”

“You have to try,” Natalia said. “They’re instant kills if you do it perfectly. Each thread is a lethal blow.”

“He’s better at fighting than me,” Will said. “I can’t beat him in a sword battle.”

“We’ll help.” Ren said. “I can block his attacks, you just land yours.”

“Lina will hit him hard!” Lina said.

“Thanks you guys,” Will smiled. “I knew I could count on you.”

“I’m only doing this so you don’t mess up my face anymore,” Natalia said.

Will rushed forward, Ren following closely behind. The demon grinned, taking a swing at him. Ren suddenly appeared, blocking the blow with his shield. Will side stepped him, thrusting with his weapon, trying to follow one of the threads. It shifted just as he struck, the demon narrowly dodging the stab. The demon danced back, swinging its cleaver, only to once again be met with Ren’s shield. A moment later, an ice dagger dug into its leg. Shisa was standing near Lina and Mina, a cold look on her face as she launched a few more daggers. The demon howled, just as it clashed blades with Will. With masterful technique, the demon disarmed him sending the blade flying into the air.

“Now!” Will yelled, crouching low and tackling the demon at the waist.

“Lighting blade!” Lina yelled.

A spark erupted from her lantern, arching at the demon. The demon shifted its weight just as the lighting blade singed off its sword arm, sending its scorched limb and meat cleaver flying away. Natalia leapt into the air, grabbing Will’s blade, landing, cleaving the demon’s head off cleanly. She flicked blood away from the familiar blade, trying to return it to a scabbard she did not have. Embarrassed, she turned and handed the weapon to Will.

“Another kill for Will!” Ren laughed.

“Your friends are crazy,” Natalia told him. “Every single one of you.”

“That’s why they’re my friends,” Will said, taking the sword from her hand. “Now then, now that I have you…”

The soaring dragon landed on a nearby watchtower, letting out a terrifying cry. Will cursed to himself; he was never going to get this whole body swapping business sorted out.