Chapter 5

The next day had arrived. Something Belle was excited for. She even lost some sleep in the excitement. It had absolutely nothing to do with her various nightly activities involving Zhu Yuan's uniform. Belle grabbed a protein shake from her mini fridge she hid under her bed, chugging the fruity-tasting contents with a determined look.

"Today's the day, Belle.. Power, Adventure, Girls... POWER! All of it shall be mine." Belle confidently stated, tossing the empty protein shake bottle in the trash bin beside her door.

Her ambitions were a little basic, but she genuinely did need power, for the events to come in the future. Dungeon breakouts, Monarchs mobilizing, then a full blown war. Belle took this quite seriously. The Commissions weren't until later, and Wise could handle opening the store, so Belle began to test her newly acquired Photographic Reflexes.

How? By binge watching various videos of Hunters executing different moves.

-Two hours later-

*Ding! Ding!*

Random Play's front door opened, prompting the bell above the door to ring out. In stepped Nicole, who was playing it cool and looking at her painted nails. Anby and Billy walked in after her, both taking an obvious interest in the movies all around them. Especially Anby.

"Hey everyone. Coming to pick up Belle?" Wise greeted, coming out from the employee only section.

"That's right! She is ready, right?" Nicole asked, putting her hand on her hip.

Wise smiled a little nervously. Belle hadn't come down yet. She'd sleep in if he didn't wake her up himself or set an alarm. The only reason he hadn't, was because he wanted her to be absolutely ready for today.

"She's upstairs. Why don't you go grab her? I'll hand you guys some money for coffee before you head off to the Hollow." Wise offered, immediately getting Nicole's attention.

"Well if you're offering! I'll be back in a second." Nicole walked upstairs, hearing grunts of exertion.

Her mind pretty much instantly thought of something lewd. Nicole stood at Belle's door with a dry throat, internally debating.

"Hmph..! Hah..! Mmgh.." Nicole felt a few beads of sweat build up near her brows as she considered what her next actions would be.

'Interrupting would be bad, right? And embarrassing! But we do have to go, so..' Nicole peeked in through the crack in Belle's door.

She didn't know whether to feel disappointed, or amazed. Belle looked to be performing a series of kicks. Not the kind some beginner performs either. The kind some Hunters execute on larger monsters. Belle switched up from standing kicks, to handstand kicks, aerial kicks and even some strange form of breakdancing kicks that'd take years of effort to pull off.

"What the-!?" Nicole exclaimed, opening the door quickly and seeing Belle pause.

"Oh. Is it that time already?" Belle wiped some sweat off her face and looked at the bewildered leader of the Cunning Hares.

"No no.. Don't shrug off my amazement like that..! How are you doing.. this!? You just awakened.." Nicole's eyes roamed Belle's body, noting the different, combat oriented clothing she wore, internally approving of the style.

"I discovered an ability.. sorta?" Belle replied, walking out of her room to see Billy, Anby and Wise coming upstairs due to the yelling, courtesy of Nicole.

"Oh! Nice look, Mana- Ahem! I mean, Belle!" Billy exaggeratedly flailed around and gave Belle a thumbs up.

"Huh.. When'd you get those clothes?" Wise muttered to himself.

Anby said nothing, but looked at Belle in approval.

"Wait hold on! You have another ability? That lets you.. kick good?" Nicole asked.

Belle shook her head. "No. I just.. replicate moves I see perfectly. I call it 'Photographic Reflexes'. Though I'm limited to my current body's limits, so I can't do really advanced moves."

There was silence for a few seconds.

"Woah! So you can perfectly copy all of the Starlight Knight poses by just seeing it once!?" Billy cut in, grabbing Belle's shoulders in excitement.

"You bet!" Belle nodded proudly.

"Hax... That's hax! Urgh.. No, this is good. You'll learn fast. Which means more commissions! Ah, I feel better now." Nicole puffed out her chest, unknowingly catching Belle's gaze.

"Did you discover it this morning..? No wonder you were up here so long." Wise mused to himself.

"Come on! Let's get coffee and head into the Hollow~!" Nicole cheerfully took Belle's hand and pulled her along.

Belle scooped up Eous at the front door and saluted Wise before being pulled out by Nicole.

"See you out there, Wise!"

-Minutes later, within the Fourteenth Street Sub Hollow-

Eous sprang into action, with Wise assuming control, using the HDD system.

"Okay, we're all set. This time, we're grabbing some lost supplies for General Chop. Driver got lost on route. Must've been using an outdated carrot.." Wise stated through Eous.

"Got it. So, look for a truck carrying Waterfall Soup's supplies, right?" Belle asked.

"That's right. Follow me." Eous started moving his little legs, prompting the Cunning Hares, plus Belle to follow after him.

It wasn't long until some basic Ethereals showed up in front of them. About a dozen of the same type. All having Ether blades replacing one arm. Nicole stood in front and readied her weapon.

"Okay, Belle. You may not have a weapon yet, but with these guys, any Hunter should be able to beat them with their bare hands. Show me what you got. We'll take on the majority. Billy, Anby!" Nicole stated, calling her companions to her side.

"You got it, Boss!" Billy unholstered his guns and walked forward with Anby.

The Cunning Hares immediately ran forth, taking the attention of ten of the Ethereals. Leaving Belle to deal with two of them, who locked onto her and started to run at her.

"Huu..." Belle took a deep breath and locked in.

One of the Ethereals leapt up and swung its deadly blade down at her. The other lunged in from the side, stabbing at her. Despite the lack of intelligence they possessed, the pincher attack was decent.

*SWISH*

Belle quickly dodged back and kicked the stabbing Ethereal in the chest, knocking it back five feet. Then, waiting for the leaping one's blade to smash into the ground, Belle reeled her fist back and punched it in the stomach as hard as she could, following up the attack with a swift kick to what should be its head, which caused its body to spin in the air before it smacked into the ground.

*CRACK!*

Something clearly broke when the Ethereal smashed into the pavement, but Belle was focused on the Ethereal that quickly recovered and tried to sneak up on her side. Their coordination was uncanny, but Belle knew better than to let her guard down, having ducked under the swinging blade before driving her elbow into the round would-be head of the Ethereal, successfully destroying it.

Belle took a shaky breath and looked at her handywork. Both Ethereals defeated under ten seconds. Before she could get too proud, she heard clapping.

"Nice one, Belle!" Nicole called out from the side, long since having finished with the ten Ethereals.

Though that was natural. It was Belle's first fight. And they all had weapons. Belle shook off the budding feelings of inadequacy. She just needed time.

"Hehe! Thanks. That was something else though.. Props to you guys for doing this so easy. I'll work hard to catch up soon!" Belle declared, with a determined smile.

She hadn't realized the effect that had on Nicole..