'Sambo Swordsmanship' was a sword style heavily influenced by olden fencing and Sambo wrestling.
These two words seemed like they wouldn't be able to coexist in the same sentence, but there was a Demon Hunter that originally practiced Sambo before taking up the sword. Managing to create it.
Thus, a new form of fighting was archived.
Staying in the database of Starshine Academy until someone was willing to pick up this fighting style.
Low grade Demon Hunters who didn't even make it to the F Rank required extensive training to fight.
Having Mana wasn't enough.
Sacred Weapons also weren't enough.
When Bella first entered the Academy as a regular student, she wasn't that strong in physicality.
Some would think that they should focus on imbuing their Mana into a blade if that was the case, but as a smart girl, she realised something that others might've overlooked in their training,
Everyone was different and had to think of their own cultivation of battle techniques in a vacuum.
This was all because everyone started off with different Gifts, Affinities, Magical Talent, and etc.
Unlike the previous Academies created by the immortal Overseer, this one rewarded pragmatism.
And she took the opportunity reaped the benefits of that. Cultivating her skills in a certain direction.
To understand her methodology, it was crucial to know the beginning steps making her foundation.
Sages of high ranking families and low ranking families had different upbringing from a young age.
Although her family fell, the Mag-E Company raised her as a successor using great funding.
Allowing her to be taught what was called a 'Combat Gift', which was a lesser form of Innate Gifts that were naturally created. This was so when her true Gift materialised, she'd have two abilities.
A main Gift and sub Gift, to dumb it down.
Her mother, Maggie Smith, naturally wanted her to become stronger even if they hadn't inherited any strong Combat Gift through lineage. She wanted her daughter to be better than anyone else.
It was why her mother chose to teach her a certain Combat Gift that'd been severely overlooked lately.
This Gift was known as 'Manual Regeneration'.
It was a Light Attribute healing ability that required the user to stay still in and focus on self-healing.
An ability pretty much similar to resting.
It healed mental and physical fatigue along with any wounds inflicted. A survival type Combat Gift.
Those who learnt this Combat Gift usually were the ones who weren't planning on becoming Demon Hunters. After all, wasting the only chance they had on an gaining an extra Gift on a survival ability would stop them from reaching further as Hunters.
There were other Combat Gifts that protected the user and had more versatility like 'Barrier Creation'.
The long list of techniques Overseer Celest had made public to those who had the capital to buy them ranging from: 'Graviton Shackles', 'Sheathed Blade', 'Mana Moulding', and skills of all affinities.
The amount of choices was daunting to anyone who was a Sage. Especially those with high capital.
Still, Maggie taught her daughter 'Manual Regeneration' out of all of them for a reason.
While the ability didn't help much in combat, it was useful if the user had the willpower for training.
Bella had originally wanted to take her time learning Rune Formulas of every Attribute before moving onto her training, but the disaster that happened at her middle school changed her path.
She had to make due with only knowing the Lightning Formula focused entirely on training.
Which was when she picked up Sambo Swordsmanship from the archives of the Academy.
Different from other forms, Sambo was a type of martial art that focused on 'forceful gentleness'.
Rather than flowing like a stream to use the opponent's force against them, the original military Sambo focused on creating a body that could force their opponent into these grappling techniques.
It was because of the inherent 'active' mindset exorcists were taught alongside their training.
These soldiers of humanity couldn't stop and wait for Nether Demons to attack. They had to take initiative. Control the pace before someone got hurt using whatever means they were capable of.
This was exactly what Bella after hacking the first Nether Demon apart. She tightened her muscles.
"Hah…" She took in a deep breath and filled body with oxygen. Immediately turning that into power.
The incredibly dense muscles under her clothes generated strength beyond her appearance.
'Seeker Spawns.' Bella immediately identified these types of Demons and knew what they'd do next.
Rather than charging at her, the creatures nailed their limbs into the ground at shot out their mouths. An extending snake-like neck and peck would create enough force to destroy a boulder.
It was a good thing she'd learnt Demonology beforehand. The low-rank Demons were no match.
She used her chokutō to deflect attacks, then unsheathed the short sword behead them.
All while moving around with electric highlights.
Her awakened Innate Gift, 'Electron Boots', allowed her to naturally improve the speed her body.
Her short sword, a single edge wakizashi that was made with Divine Ore of purple hues, infused with the Lightning Mana and Light Mana her body now naturally stored. Cutting through flesh like butter.
'This much is fine.' Bella was feeling relaxed.
Non of these creatures were beyond the D Rank in terms of danger. Only being fast in their shots.
Their attack patterns were indeed something that could catch her off guard if not careful, but they were too predictable. The paths of those extending tendrils with beak-like mouths was always in a line.
They were only called Seeker Spawns not due to any homing ability, but their nature to be obsessed.
Once they honed in on a Demon Hunter, all they had to do was win if they wanted to protect people.
A simple condition for victory.
'Is this really it?' Bella started to have a bad feeling when she realised Seeker Spawns rarely travelled in groups. In fact, Nether Demons in general normally didn't come out with only one type.
She'd expected there to be other types of Nether Demons mixed in, only to find more of the same.
'Odd…' As her blades flashed, the chokutō and her sub-weapon 'Purple Glitter', started to store power.
'Enoch Custom- Confessor Executioner' was building up Mana Tokens every time it struck.
Although it could only hold one of them at a single moment each strike, Bella sustained them midair.
Drawing a runic circle of the Lightning Formula and allowing the Mana Tokens to grow in sheer number.
Ten, Twenty, Thirty, Forty…
It hasn't been that long, but the number of slashes made by the hand holding the Confessor Executioner increased tremendously. Awaiting the appearance of a Demon that'd require preparation.
'Why are their numbers increasing?' Bella started to sweat when she realised a problem happening.
They seemed to be trying to tire her out.
But how was it possible for so many Seeker Spawns to appear in this district without warning?
Their special Arkra Cruiser hadn't purified Miasma for nothing. The environment was free of taint.
Meaning that there was no way in hell there could be a gate open that was letting these Demons in.
If it wasn't that, then how were they even here…?
Bella needed to figure out the answer fast, and she needed some breathing room to actually think.
'My bad…' She suddenly realised that even though Seeker Spawns were predicable, their range was high. Those snake-like necks extending out were slowly falling beneath her feet into a tainted floor.
The corpses were piling up.
What was even worse was the fact that Miasma was growing thicker. The fog dulling her speed.
Although her Limiter could prevent her from becoming a Nether Demon herself, it couldn't stop the corruption settling in over time. Even if she managed to slay them, she'd eventually succumb to the taint. Becoming a Nether Demon herself.
She could feel her limits being challenged…
The memory of Betty asking why she didn't bring the rest of the team for these incidents arose in her mind. This was a good question. After all, they were paired up together to cover their weaknesses.
Usually, Tia was the crowd control expert that took care of these mooks one shot at a time… and she herself was reserved as a single target duellist and supporter. Filling in the gaps with bursting power.
This was reflected in the different in their Mystic Code battle dresses. The suits they could manifest.
Tia could wear her flaming battlesuit for long stretches of time without consequence, while Bella could only hold her dual affinity battlesuit for a short time. It even burdened her body over time.
Which was the reason she hadn't used it early on.
Pulling it out on mere spawn level Demons would be wasting strength, and proof she needed help.
Something Bella couldn't admit.
This wasn't out of pride. Someone like her who'd done extensive training knew her limitations well.
She could admit this situation was her own fault.
But if one was to ask if she regretted not telling Tia about this, then they would be surprised by her.
Because she was driven by her lack of regret…
'Tia…' Bella remembered the smile of the girl she loved. The hopes and dreams still in her eyes.
That girl was the starlight illuminating her soul.
She respected her strength and talent, but Bella couldn't bring herself to let her experience reality.
The world wasn't a nice place to live…
Citizens had to live with the fact that their lives could be threatened at any time and moment.
That any lesser demon straggler could ruin their lives, and that they needed Exorcists regularly.
Enough to darken the soul of any Demon Hunter.
Seeing one tragedy could be lived through, but seeing so many in succession would break them.
That was just life.
Should Bella had told Ryan and Tia about these incidents, they would've stopped playing around.
Focusing entirely on their job as heroes.
Tia would never be able to throw herself into a game of Shaolin Soccer with a carefree heart.
She'd naturally try to save others thoughtlessly.
And Bella couldn't allow that.
Seeing Tia suffer was the last thing she could ever want. As the person who loved her most, she'd…
…Bella would, herself, protect her only starlight.
The only ray of sunshine in this hopeless world where people couldn't 'live' like humans anymore.
"BETTY!" Bella roared the name of the only comrade she allowed to follow her to these battles.
She knew that girl was somewhere nearby.
And as if reacting to her voice, an explosion occurred in a nearby building away from her sight.
Her phone started ringing…
"Good…" Bella mumbled before running closer to the crowd of Seeker Spawns and jumping in the air.
The soaring leap to the sky powered by 'Electron Boots' Innate Gift. Making the Demons look high.
They awaited her fall into their clutches patiently.
Powering up their neck canons by tightening their muscles far beyond the limits of a human being.
Their next attack would be fatal to her.
Bella herself saw no difference in whether they did this or not and quickly picked up her phone midair.
"Come to where I am." Betty's voice was immediately heard on the other side of the line.
The restlessness in her tone was hard to ignore.
"Did you destroy what was spawning Demons?" It was a question asked just to make sure of this.
"Yeah. You can go nuts now. And please be quick and help me over here. I don't want to die." This coming from the defence specialist of their squad did wonders to tell how much danger she was in.
Bella had no time to deal with these mooks.
She had amassed more than a hundred floating Mana Tokens at this point (minus the ones that were spent keeping her alive by filling the gaps in her defence). Only half of them were needed now.
There was around fifty Seeker Spawns looking at her dangerously down below. Looking at their prey.
Awaiting her fall directly into their mouths.
Perhaps the fastest way to overcome this hurdle was by using her Mystic Code, but it was too early.
She needed to save it to protect Betty.
'Take this…' Instead of relying on power, Bella focused on the skills of Sambo Swordsmanship.
Sheathing her Confessor Executioner and holding her short sword, Purple Glitter, with two hands.
Bella focused her concentration and overlapped another Formula she half-learnt at the Academy.
A yellow Formula infused into the purple Mana Tokens that had lightning imbued on them earlier.
Now these Tokens had two Formulas with a single ability tethered to them: 'Shock' and 'Mark'.
The former was obvious. Electrocuting the target of the Formula after it had been applied to them.
The latter was a bit different from the norm.
She demonstrated its effects by shooting fifty Mana Tokens onto the neck of the Seeker Spawns.
Then readied her blade.
'Activate!' With a single thought, Bella electrocuted the fifty Seeker Spawns and halted them shortly.
It was enough time for the descending girl to land safely and switch the reinforcement type on her blade. The lightning turned into a flash of light that expelled from the blade as sharp sword waves.
All the 'flying slashes' that were thrown unnaturally shifted their routes cut through the Formula Marks.
'Done.' Bella thought while sheathing Purple Glitter.
Click. The sound of the hilt touching the sheath at the end seemed to be triggering a chain reaction.
All the Seeker Spawns suddenly lost their heads.
Their bodies collapsing in on themselves due to the extreme tightening of their muscles now misfiring.
Their blood soaked the nearby buildings instead.
Bella didn't even give a second look before hurrying towards where she'd saw an explosion.
Things were somehow spiralling out of control.