"Boogie Woman, just hang in there until I come. We can beat whatever you're fighting together."
"Oh you son of a-!" Betty didn't even have time to swear before an explosion resounded next to her.
Boogie Woman, Boogie Woman, Boogie Woman, again and again… That lil' git kept calling her that.
She had half a mind to leave this annoying girl to her fate. Leave this area and let these idiots fight.
But that wasn't her nature.
Although she had never been called Boogie Woman by anyone else, she DID have a codename.
In the time of her youthful mercenary life as a child soldier, Betty was feared by many as 'The Ripper'.
A pseudonym referring to her killing method.
She was a mercenary of the assassin variety that had been sent out for training at a young age.
And she grew up exactly as her mother wanted her.
Becoming a killing machine too good at doing what she was tasked for. The hands that brought death.
But that was all in the past now.
She was no longer a boogieman for criminals and psychopaths as a contract killer, but a B Rank Demon Hunter. Since she didn't fight Humans anymore, she'd never use her body to kill again.
Leaving the dirty work to her knight, Beary Kuma.
Betty actually felt at ease being outside the 'safe' bounds of Faustus City, since there were too many arguing political factions in there. All caring less about humanity and more about their influence.
It a stupid thing to do in an apocalypse…
But maybe because of the dome-like barriers and airships circling Faustus City, they could act dumb.
Regardless of the consequences.
It was something Betty had never thought of doing her entire life. Even more so as a Demon Hunter.
Because Humans were easier to deal with than the living dead. 'Nether Demons' from hell itself.
"Are you feeling tired, worm?" A winged creature like that of a dragon spoke while cornering her.
Black Flames were being shot towards them.
One might think there would be a problem with Exorcists hunting sentient creatures capable of speech. As rare as they were, the mental damage from killing a Demon begging for its life was high.
How fortunate was it that those of the Demonic Dragon species were usually animalistic in nature.
Those low ranging evil dragons were grouped together with Lesser Demons, but they only truly lived up to their namesake when they'd grown enough to be capable of human speech…
'Middling Dragon' was their classification.
And each one was at least a B Rank in strength.
One might think this should put a B Rank Demon Hunter like Betty on the same level, but that wrong assumption stemmed from a misunderstanding in the nature of Magical Energy and Nether Force.
Magical Energy stemmed from 'Life Force' of the living. Having many functions when properly used.
On the other hand, the Middling Dragon she was fighting had magic stemming from 'Nether Force'.
The antithesis of life.
Even without transforming it into something dangerous, Nether Force inherently killed life.
Along with any magical construct stemming from it.
'Beary… Just keep holding on!' Betty thought while directing her knight following along with her mind.
Her only Innate Gift and ability, 'Synchronous Guardian', connected her with her blue knight.
Beary Kuma roared while taking the brunt of the black flames. Making sure its owner was still alive.
The only reason this game of cat and mouse could continue was due to its strange ability to negate corrosion. Nether Force entered its body, but nothing seemed to be dying within the machine.
The great Bear Knight protected its princess.
But it wasn't just the Nether Force itself that was the problem. Betty's hardship was somewhere else.
'Metal… It just had to have Metal Affinity.' If humans were capable of being attuned to the elements of nature, then demons were usually attuned to four particular laws instead. Each with its own merit.
This smart Middling Dragon had the Metal Affinity of the Four Laws. Able to empower itself greatly.
Each scale of its body had both magic and physical resistance. Making all her attacks meaningless.
Betty initially controlled Beary Kuma to go on the defensive, but this also wasn't possible to do.
Out of the the Four Laws, the Metal Affinity was the best in terms of offence and defence in battle.
"I'm screwed…" She mumbled while running around. Claw marks and cuts covered the area.
She thought back to how things got this way.
After she destroyed a strange Demon acting like a gate, this strange creature popped out to attack.
Although she knew it was a Middling Dragon, this was her first time fighting one due to its rarity.
Demonic Dragons rarely came near Faustus City.
Unlike Bella, she couldn't predict the appendages similar to Seeker Spawn heads growing on its back.
Only being able to watch as Beary Kuma was being damaged severely. She wouldn't be able to hold out until Bella returned. What could she do? There must be a way. Something to turn this around.
"Hey, let's talk a little." Betty tried initiating a conversation. Long enough to pass the time.
"Do you think I don't know what you're doing?" But the Middling Dragon wouldn't fall for such a trick.
It could sense that someone was coming towards them at a rapid pace. Ending this fast was best.
Betty could've avoided what would happen next.
If she just took a hit and run approach using her guardian's shared levitation function along with the environment, then she could've earned enough time… but she ended up fighting it instead.
It was because there was a hospital nearby…
People indoctrinated by the Harmonic Theory definitely had higher survivability, but they were still just humans in the end. If they couldn't run away in time, Exorcists were given the choice.
Either save them or choose to slay Demons for the greater good. This was a choice they were given.
And Betty just couldn't allow that to happen.
She fought while adopting the skills she'd buried as a mercenary. Using her knight as a body extension.
Parrying the bladed claws and Seeker beaks rather than blocking straight up… until a scale nicked her.
Betty's lower resistance to Nether Force compared to Bella caused her to stagger just enough...
A serpentine neck slithered around Beary Kuma before slamming her away. It was a cruel sound.
Sounds of bone snapping along with a body falling.
"Betty!" Bella's frenzied shout was the last thing she heard before falling unconscious right there.
The incident would then be wrapped up in a literal flash. The strong Mystic Code was finally used.
Betty only saw herself falling, blacking out, then finding herself looking at the infirmary's ceiling.
She didn't need to be told to know what happened.
Unless something unexpected occurred, Bella was enough to take down a Middling Dragon like that.
There was something else on her mind instead…
"Hah…" Betty let out a hissing sound of air through her teeth. Her arm was damaged badly this time.
She looked up to see Bella was already here.
"This is going to take some time to heal. You should stay here in the meantime." The girl gave her diagnosis without blinking. Telling her to sit out any dangerous missions until she had recovered.
"And whose fault is this?" Even though they were technically 'friends', this just crossed the line.
She expected Bella to keep up the prideful look and try defending her actions, but it didn't happen.
Instead, Bella looked a little more pale in the face.
"…I wasn't expecting that." Even though she didn't fully shirk responsibilities, it wasn't exactly right.
"No one ever does." Betty leaned in on that.
"I'm sorry…" Finally, Bella lowered her head and gave an apology that was really out of character.
The expressionless girl widened her eyes a little.
"So you can apologise too? Alright, let's forget all that." Betty didn't feel like joking around yet. Her eyes narrowed while continuing: "We have to write a report about what we saw. It's important."
"Did you see where those Seeker Spawns were coming from?" Bella took a breath and responded.
"Yeah. There was this strange living gate being protected by a Middling Dragon. The cleanup crew in this town probably took care of the remains, but there should be recording of what happened. Use those in the report." Betty threw this work over.
Originally, she would have done it herself, but there needed to be some changes in their relationship if she was going to be apologetic. Bella also seemed to understand her motive and didn't interrupt her.
But this was hardly the end of it.
"This is about Tia." When Betty brought it up, a chill visibly ran down Bella's back. She fiddled a little.
Trying to break eye contact.
"Y-you're not planning on telling her, right? We can talk this out. Want me to brew you some tea? Does your legs need a massage?" Bella became increasingly more desperate and pathetic looking.
"Calm down. I haven't said anything yet." (Betty)
"So…" (Bella)
"I'm just wondering why you're not fine with bringing Tia along, but have no problem throwing me into danger on the regular. I'd be dead if there were other unexpected variables this time." (Betty)
"…You DO know that you're the only one on this team that wouldn't feel bad about making hard choices on the regular, right? It's not like I could ask Ryan to help me fight Demons all day." (Bella)
"That so… You really think like that…" Betty spoke with a low voice, but her friend didn't catch that.
"Anything else?" Bella asked with innocent eyes.
"Nothing. You better get going with writing the report." The injured girl shooed this idiot off.
There were words just on the tip of Bella's tongue at this point, but she chose not to say anything.
This shared understanding was how they worked.
None of them pried too deep into each other, but respected each other as fighters of the same goal.
Protecting the people and peace.
Though they may have had their own ulterior motives besides compassion, who didn't?
Only Tia was the one desiring to be hero.
The rest of them joined Starshine Academy for different goals initially. That's just how it was.
Which was why Betty wasn't surprised when a sudden visitor arrived not long after Bella left.
"She thinks I'm the only one who can stay calm when people are being threatened." She told the youth who just arrived, and he replied back with the same casual tone as if nothing was wrong:
"Really now?" Ryan tilted his head playfully.
"Don't you feel ashamed?" Betty found his entire personality rotten to the core in some aspects.
Unlike Tia, their Captain played around while knowing well that his strength was being wasted.
That he could use his time to save more people.
Instead, Ryan chose to indulge in his hobbies regardless if the world was destroyed or not.
The type of scum that only cared about himself.
"Aren't we two of a kind on this ship? In fact, I think Bella is worse than me at this point." Now there it was, the kind of self-justification from the youth that she'd expected. He was a simple person.
"Fine. Just get on with the deal already." Betty didn't dig any deeper about his morality anymore.
Since it was already obvious that was in the gutter.
"Alright. Alright." Ryan decided to finish his work here quick so he could get back to relaxing more.
He raised his hands over her body and focused his C Rank Mana Capacity. Exuding a yellow light.
This wasn't a secret from the rest, but the fact that he could use the Light Affinity so well to heal others wasn't well-known. Ryan coated Betty's corrupted arm and purged the corrosion from it.
"…You're good at this." Betty was the only one talking at this point. Even though he needed focus.
She started to monologue away at his expense:
"You could have become a Healer or something else, but chose to become a Captain of an Exorcist squad instead. I'm not sure if the pay is different or if you wanted the position of power over others."
"Your face isn't saying anything. Maybe I'm wrong about that. Then let me make this clear, scum."
"I'm not some robot. Sure, I can stay calm, but it isn't like watching people die doesn't affect me."
"Then there's someone like you, who really could stand by and watch people die just to play soccer."
"Are you selfish or crazy? Whatever the hell you are doesn't seem clear. Maybe your just obsessed."
"What drives you to obsess over a game so much like this?" Betty spoke more than ever before.
She wasn't the type to get caught up with silly thoughts, but sometimes sins needed addressing.
She couldn't trust this 'Captain' of theirs.
Maybe Bella was fine so long as Tia was happy and well, but this wasn't a camping trip from school.
They were burdened with responsibility.
…It was after thinking so that she realised Ryan had already finished his treatment. Her body was better. The broken arm fixed back together as if nothing had ever happened to it in the first place.
"You speak with so much reason and logic, but why does that suddenly not apply with other stuff." He boldly criticised her, but the now healthy goth girl had nothing to say to such a childish argument.
"Like what?" She spoke in a truly chilling voice.
"Harmonic Theory." Ryan spoke slow with intent.
Betty's pupils constricted when she realised what he was implying. Heathen! This was all blasphemy!
"Can you take responsibility for your words?" She spoke while not hiding the danger of his words.
They should stop talking about this now.
But this brash youth continued without a care.
"Harmonic Theory. A bastion of reason that replaced the 'inflexible', 'irrational', and 'foolish' Holy Doctrine of the past. People see this religion as the future, but it's basically the opposite of what a religion should be… right?" Ryan rolled his eyes.
"What's wrong with that? Has anything Harmonic Theory ever done made things worse? They don't even force anyone to follow them. If you ask me, I'd rather follow logic than flimsy excuses." Betty, as someone well read in history, wasn't affected.
She knew full well the dangers of foolish actions.
Tough times came for tougher measures.
It might be true that they indoctrinated people into a cause, but the 'Harmonic Theory' has no flaws.
"That's what you say… Even though the reality is people going under a regime that tells them what's factual and 'logical', rather than teaching them how to figure that out on their own." Ryan's words became sharper, and Betty felt her heart thumping.
Crazy… He was too crazy!
"You know saying that could get you done for. The Overseer wouldn't let what you said slide." Betty was now sure he had a screw loose, because no one in their right mind would say this out loud.
Just look at her. Even though she had these thoughts before, she'd never dared speaking them.
Those under the Harmonic Theory were that scary.
So long as you had a clear 'reason' justifying your actions, you'd become a crusader of the Theory.
Those people would target them if they heard him.
"I'll say no more then. Just know that I treat soccer as my reason for living, rather than the 'reason' given to me on a silver platter. Don't forget, you and everyone here aren't heroes." Ryan spoke while heading towards the infirmary's open door.
Leaving two last words for her to hear:
"We're soldiers."
Bang! The sound of Ryan's anger being expressed by his actions had really shown their differences.
It wasn't like only one of them had their thoughts about the Harmonic Theory, but he wasn't her.
Betty would never be able to be as bold as him.
She sighed… Everything had turned messy these days. Their friendship was breaking at the seams.
There was no anger in her eyes towards Ryan.
She only insulted him because of wanting him to change, and not solely for the sake of her ideals.
Ryan was a ticking time bomb at this point.
Since that was the case, Betty could only observe him like the rest and hope he'd be sensible.
They had to investigate a sighting that would definitely test their faith after everyone was ready.
At least, after they independently checked about why a Lesser Demon and 'Gate Demon' appeared.
The latter being a name for what she killed earlier.
She came up with it by herself.
Betty held Beary Kuma's miniature inactive form in her arms like the comfy teddy bear that it was.
Hoping to rest off her current stress.