Natsume Saizuki

*"Say goodbye to your souls! You're one step closer to hell!"*

*-*Saizuki Natsume

"Mercy? Not from me!"

## History

Born to an ifrit father and oread mother with her twin sister, Setsuna, it didn’t take long for Natsume to firmly establish herself as the black sheep of the family. By the time she could walk and form full sentences, Natsume was already attempting to willfully escape the bonds of her home. Her family had settled themselves in the calm little village of ??????? in the country of ??????? where they enjoyed a peaceful life that she absolutely loathed.

While her sister seemingly wanted for nothing and did everything as her parents told her to do, as she became older, Natsume wanted nothing less than everything she set her eyes upon and would regularly disobey and sneak out of the house to watch the local militia train while shirking her chores. Setsuna was always more than happy to do her share of the work as well and she held a deep seated resentment for the perfect little girl anyways, so she didn’t feel much remorse at all for leaving her to do double the work.

Before she was even old enough to hold a sword, Natsume was already practicing her sword fighting techniques and once she was of age to join the militia, she did so and began practicing cavalry and jousting techniques with a spear.

In time and much to the chagrin of her family, Natsume departed with nothing more than some basic rations, the clothes on her back, some second-hand armor and an old blade to travel, battle and find her way in the world.

It didn’t take her long to partner up with a group of rowdy adventurers and mercenaries looking for a good time beating down some monsters and looting dungeons. On their very first outing together, however, they delved deeply into a cave that had been recently infested by what appeared to be a cult only to find a bearded devil harbored near the deepest points of the cave.

The infernal creature made quick work of her party while Natsume ignored the growing carnage, dodging and blocking the devil’s attacks whilst furiously attempting to bring him down till she was the last to remain alive. Once all his attentions were focused on the fire-eyed woman it was a simple task to bring her down, grasping her tightly round the neck and preparing to end her life before he found a spark of promise blazing in her soul.

Within but a breath, the devil changed Natsume’s life forever as she accepted a pact for greater power with the devil, swearing her life and body to Asmodeus in exchange for the fiendish life of an antipaladin.

From there, Natsume traveled the world, continuing her mercenary work until she'd amassed a minuscule fortune and truly set herself apart from the common traveler in terms of strength, fighting prowess and pure savagery.

Roughly eight years after the violent incident that changed her life, Natsume chanced to come upon one of her old mercenary friends, a man named Onozol, who had the good fortune of departing from the company of her mercenary party not long before her comrades were all wiped out by the devil. Out of pure fascination and a desire to reconnect with a part of her past she'd since long forgotten, Natsume deigned to travel with Onozol and his companions without actually considering herself as a member of their traveling group, though after nine months it was likely that everyone had become accustomed to her presence by then.

## Personality

Fiery and brash, Natsume isn't afraid to tell it like it is while also being dangerously intelligent enough to realize that sometimes one needs to withhold information to get their way. She finds no pleasure in being coy, but will generally respond to advances with a sharp word or a sharp weapon if she doesn't find the one speaking to her to be worthy of her time.

## Loves

Natsume lives for the adrenaline surge of bloody, ruthless combat and will rarely turn back from the promise of a fight unless she's highly overmatched, even if there's nothing to reward her at the end of the fight. She also has a certain pleasure for all the finer things in life and one of the goals on her bucket list is to amass a wealth of gold for her alone to enjoy.

## Fears

Natsume's greatest bane is a constant feeling of irrelevance, constantly pushing herself to become stronger and do better to continue supporting whatever team she's found herself a part of. Feeling as though she's not pushing her weight in combat or otherwise will tend to frustrate and even possibly incense her.

## Hobbies

Combat is Natsume's only true passion and so one might say that her hobby is the constant training to improve her martial prowess. She has a habit of training her body to a nearly unhealthy degree.

## Enemies

All those who would align themselves as foes of evil or who may dare to cross her or her current band of friends are counted amongst her list of enemies.

## Aspirations

Natsume aspires to become a great warrior someday and will stop at nothing to achieve said goal. She'd also really like to live in a palace with all the gold she could ever desire to live comfortably for her and her children and their children.

## Family

Aside from her parents who still reside peacefully in ?????????, Natsume shares her birthday with a twin sister named Setsuna. If pressed for information, Natsume will never openly speak about her childhood or her sister unless she's in the right mood.