"Still here, Miss Vigilante~?" Jane called out as she backflipped away from two criminal Hunters.
"Yup. Just.. watching your back." Belle replied, catching a fist with her metallic arm and twisting his wrist before pulling him in front of another criminal, who swung an electric baton at her. The poor Hunter was smacked across the face by his companion, suffering a broken nose.
And Belle's words were technically true, as she had found herself awed by Jane's flashy moves. Plus, her heart shaped butt didn't exactly make it hard to keep her attention on her. Though it did make fighting these criminals difficult. One hunter shot an arrow at her from the end of the hall they were fighting in, forcing Belle to kick away her meat shield and leap back, where three Hunters surrounded her as if she were a raid boss.
"You guys should really give up.. It'll be less painful."
Unfortunately, the Hunters didn't listen to Belle's warning. The archer notched an arrow, the dual blade user dashed behind the tank, who ran at Belle with a black metal greatshield. Given the tight quarters of the ship's interior, it was like an unavoidable battering ram coming at her.
"Haah~" Belle sighed and struck her palm out as soon as the greatshield came at her. A magic aura emerged from her hand, though not too much, just enough to push the shield up.
"Uaaagh..!!"
Belle struck the tank in the side, hitting him in the liver with her metal hand, then striking him in the chin. The hulking tank fell over, foaming at the mouth.
*CLANG!*
She was then immediately met with the blades of the assassin, who had leapt up and swung both blades at her. Belle's blade of extermination interrupted his swing before her eyes spotted an arrow coming at her. Quickly ducking, she backflipped into a handstand and tried to donkey-kicked the assassin, who used a skill to disappear into thin air before her blow hit him in the face.
"Motherfucker thinks he's Jin Woo.." Belle muttered before ducking a particularly powerful mana arrow that pierced through the steel door next to her.
Belle quickly moved back, feeling a sense of danger approaching. The assassin reappeared where she previously stood, slashing into the metal floor with wide eyes.
*CLINK*
The white wheel materialized over her head, having partially adapted to the assassin's power. Her sensing the phenomena of his disappearing skill had kick started her adaptation.
*THWACK!*
The assassin was then met with the most vicious 360 tornado kick to his temple, courtesy of Belle. He wobbled, dropped his blades and collapsed in a heap atop the unconscious tank.
"Shit..!!" The archer cursed as Belle locked onto him.
He notched three arrows, already seeing Belle sprint at him like a white haired demoness. Leaping back, he used his skill and the three arrows shot at her like ballistae. Belle ducked down, arching her body back and sliding on her knees as the deadly arrows pierced through the ship's hull behind her. Then reinforced her hands with Ether and hit the archer with a right hook to the face, a shot to his ribs, a knee to the sternum and an elbow to his temple.
Needless to say, he was incapacitated after receiving that beatdown.
"Haah... I hate snipers." Belle muttered before looking back to where Jane was.
The rat Thiren was currently beating down her sixth Hunter with a series of spinning kicks that made her look like a beyblade. After the tenth kick, the poor Hunter was knocked down, joining a heap of his unconscious companions.
"Your moves are.. interesting." Belle stated, having returned by Jane's side.
"Yours too~. Mixed Martial Arts.. I saw quite a few moves. Boxing, Taekwondo, Muay Thai.." Jane replied, her tone casual still, yet impressed nonetheless.
"Ehe- I mean.. ahem! We should.. get out of this hall. It's cramped in here." Belle corrected, clearing her throat.
Jane snorted softly, spotting more Hunters coming their way. Though seeing their equipment and feeling their strength, she was still rather casual about everything. Her tail wrapped around Belle's hips, almost intimately.
"I prefer to call it.. intimate.. But I suppose you have a point. Let's deal with the rest real quick~." Jane whispered before going on the attack.
Luckily, she couldn't see the atomic red Belle's face became.
Observing Jane's quick dashes, jumps and flips, Belle copied her style and spin kicked a greatsword Hunter's kneecap, forcing him to brace himself on one knee. Then, she raised her leg and twisted her hips and smacked his head into a wall with a hook kick.
"Eyes up, Miss Vigilante! They have a healer in the back~" Jane yelled out as she bounced between two different fighter Hunters.
Seeing the man in the back line in white robes casting healing magic on the man she just took down, Belle sprang into action. A heavy armored tank Hunter tried to block the way with his body, but Belle had reinforced her legs with Ether and ran at him, cocking her fist back to punch him in the chest.
"Hmph! Nice try!" The tank Hunter shouted, holding his arms in front of his chest.
Belle grinned and stopped right before her punch could hit, executing a successful feint as she brought her raised arm back in and copied one of Jane's moves.
*BANG!*
The sound of metal smashing into metal sounded out as Belle executed a kick flip, her foot smashing into the tank's chin and knocking him unconscious. She then bounced off the ceiling and hit the healer with her metal arm, catching him in a lariat that immediately took him out of the fight.
Belle sighed and glanced back at Jane, who had already finished and was watching her with an unreadable expression.
'She's using my moves.. And that wheel on her head. It moved. What exactly are you..?' Jane's tail flicked as she observed Belle.
"Come on. We still have a few more still around." Jane pushed her curiousity aside and gestured for Belle to follow her as she began to explore the inner workings of the ship.
Belle stepped over the unconscious bodies and cleared her throat. That glint in Jane's eyes told her she'd likely try to coax a few answers out of her later.
"So.. these Hunters.. from Carrion you said. They're smuggling contraband in and out of New Eridu?" Belle asked.
"I believe that to be the case, yes. Given how many of my sources say they've seen a few suspicious crates come and go from the port."
"I don't understand them. Even as D rank Hunters, they could find work in Dungeons no problem."
Jane stopped and glanced back at Belle as they stepped into a large room full of metal containers and crates. Her eyes looking at her in surprise, as if she had found something unexpected.
"You thought the Hunters we were fighting were D rank? I'll admit, we had no real trouble with them.. But they were equipped with actual gear, you know? We were fighting C ranks."
Belle furrowed her brows, not having expected that. The Hunters thus far had been on Miguel's level. But somehow that didn't feel true.
'Well.. maybe that assassin? But the rest? No way.'
*CREAAAK*
Her thoughts were interrupted when Jane kicked the lid off a container marked in red paint. Inside, Belle saw a saber that looked and felt odd. It's edge was a semi-solid state of unstable ether. Something that, normally should have dissolved outside a Hollow or exploded. But it was contained, thanks to the mana making up the actual frame of the blade. It was a weapon made by fusion of mana and ether.
"You asked why they'd go this far when they could earn in Dungeons, right? Well, this is why. Power. In most countries, even trying to create these weapons is highly illegal."
Belle looked at Jane's serious expression, seeing a look of apprehension and disgust as she looked at the weapon.
"Why..?" Belle clenched her metal hand.
"Because-" A loud snort cut off Jane's next words as a tall, robust man with a beard, cowboy hat and light armor procured from a dungeon stepped up from the end of the room.
"Because they're shit scared of a Hollow Dungeon formin'. Ether 'n Mana are capable of Fusion. So a Hollow and a Dungeon break are totally possible. But I think you've snooped around my business long enough, ladies. You spared my boys, so I'll give ya an opportunity to leave with yer lives. I'd take it." The man spoke, hos voice gravelly, with a southern drawl.
"Afraid not, Adam~. You played with fire. Be a good boy and let us pull you out before it's too late." Jane replied, smirking as the Hunter whistled and brought more of his men into the room behind him.
"Well, I can't say I'm surprised.. Smoke 'em."
With his last words, both Jane and Bell were attacked by twenty rogue Hunters.