F Grade Healer Becomes Strongest Biomancer-Chapter 48: Tamei Stick Together

Nana

Nana’s lungs burned. She clawed upward, fingers scraping porcelain, and broke the surface gasping.

The bathtub was overflowing. Water spilled across the tile in sheets, soaking the bathmat, pooling around the toilet base.

A hand grabbed her shirt and yanked.

She left the water entirely. Feet dangling. Kagami held her at arm’s length like a wet cat.

"You trying to kill yourself?"

Nana coughed. Water streamed from her nose, her hair, her clothes. She burped out more from her mouth.

"No sir."

Did she still smell like the cell? The salt? The cheese was gone from her fingers but what about the damp?

He didn’t put her down. His eyes moved over her face. Then lower. His head tilted.

He noticed something on her skin. A faint glow, residue that shouldn’t exist on someone like her.

But Nana wasn’t integrated. She didn’t have the System. She couldn’t use abilities.

The dots were connecting behind his eyes. She could see them.

"What were you doing?"

"Uh—" Think. Think think think. "Taking a bath."

His grip tightened.

"Try again."

"Killing... myself?"

He expected her to double down. His face didn’t change.

Didn’t buy it. Shit.

"Kagami-san."

OG stood in the doorway. Blonde hair past her elbows. That smile. Warm on the surface.

She saw his hand wrapped around Nana’s shirt. Her feet off the marble. His stance. His right arm, the one that split open when things got serious.

"Good, you found her." OG’s voice didn’t waver. "Where have you been, girl? We thought you went wandering to the gardens."

She dismissed Kagami’s iron grip like it was nothing.

Kagami looked at OG. OG looked back.

If this were the wild, it would be a lion and a tiger fighting over its meal.

Even though I’m all bones. She gulped.

He set her down.

Kagami’s eyes stayed on Nana. The residue was fading. In another few seconds, it would be gone.

"Come. Your sister is back."

"Mio!"

Nana met fingers with OG. She didn’t look back at Kagami whose palm was wet from clutching her shirt.

"She’s in the infirmary."

"Again!?"

"She wants to see you."

"She better."

OG stopped at a door. Third floor. The medical wing.

"She’s awake. But Nana-chan—" OG knelt. "She’s different now."

"Different how?"

OG didn’t answer.

***

Mio

Infirmary. Second time now.

At least she wasn’t vomiting this time.

"Try it," the man in scrubs said. Ishida sat with a clipboard. His eyes were serious.

[Vitalize]

The warmth flooded her body, then into her reservoir on excess. The cycle. How she’d missed it.

The stump stayed a stump.

She stared at the nothing where her arm used to be.

Okay.

She reached for the glass of water on the side table.

Her brain sent the signal. Nothing answered. The stump twitched.

She used her other hand.

"Interesting." Ishida made a note.

"Reattachment was theoretically possible," the doctor said. "Twelve percent chance. If we had the limb within the first hour."

"We don’t." Ishida didn’t look up from his clipboard.

"Then it’s moot."

I thought Shizuka...

"And Vitalize can’t regrow it?"

"Repairs damage." The doctor shook his head. "Can’t regenerate what’s gone."

"Tracks with the third one." Ishida made another note. "He could heal his tongue but never the organs he pulled out."

"Healer logic." The doctor crossed his arms.

Ishida’s pen stopped. "Remind me."

"Lose a finger, lose your head, you’re done for."

They kept talking. Cellular rejection rates. The third Biomancer’s autopsy notes. She stopped listening.

Then she heard him.

Not a voice. A pull. From the arm she still had.

"Can you guys leave?"

The two men looked at her.

"Sorry?"

"Leave. I need time alone."

They exchanged glances. Shrugged. Gathered their things.

The door swung open. Mori was still there, hazel eyes peeking through the gap. Watching.

Then the door shut.

Silence.

"Can."

He emerged from her remaining arm. Six inches of obsidian knight, climbing onto her shoulder. Visor down. Stance ready.

"Hi, Can."

He saluted.

She tried to smile. It came out wrong.

"I lost my arm."

He tilted his head. Looked at her stump. Then looked at himself. Back at her stump. Back at himself.

"I don’t understand."

He pointed at her shoulder. Then pressed his tiny gauntlet against his chest.

"Can, I don’t—"

He did it again. Stump. Chest. Stump. Chest.

The pull was stronger now. Coming from him.

[Would you like to consume your Chimera—Putrid Knight?]

Her breath stopped.

"What?"

Can saluted again. Slower this time. Like a goodbye.

"No. No, I’m not—you’re not—"

He climbed down her arm. Stood on her thigh. Looked up at her with that blank visor.

Eight hundred years at the threshold, alone. And now this.

"Can."

He didn’t move.

"I can’t."

He pointed at her stump. Then at himself. One last time.

"I can’t lose you too."

He saluted. The same salute from the first day. When Nana named him.

Tin can. Because he’s made of metal.

[Would you like to consume your Chimera—Putrid Knight?]

"Yes."

The word left her mouth before she could stop it.

[Are you sure you would like to consume your Chimera?]

"Yes."

[This is irreversible, are you s—]

"Yes!"

Can dissolved.

[Equipped: Putrid Knight’s Vigil]

Grade: — Type: Permanent (Unequippable)

Passive: +25 STR, +25 VIT

[Unlocked: Final Vigil]

Obsidian crawled up from her shoulder, weaving across the stump, filling the space where her arm used to be. Black glass and green-white veins, then just black, then smooth, then real.

It didn’t hurt. That was the strange part.

She watched her fingers form. One by one. Obsidian knuckles. Obsidian palm. An arm that wasn’t flesh but moved like it. An exoskeleton that felt like skin.

She flexed.

The fingers responded.

She stood. Hospital gown still on. Bare feet on cold tile. One arm flesh. One arm knight.

The door creaked.

Nana stood in the doorway. Wet hair. Wet clothes. Eyes wide.

"Onee-san?"

Mio looked at her new arm. Then at her sister.

"Hey."

Nana crossed the room. Stopped at the bed.

Her hand reached out. Touched the obsidian.

It hummed beneath her fingers. Faint, like a second heartbeat. The surface wasn’t warm.

"Does it hurt?"

"No."

"He’s in there, isn’t he."

Her thumb traced the obsidian.

Nana didn’t let go.