Chapter 21: Three Heroes vs. Fu Hua
Before the battle, Fu Hua asked her to choose a weapon that was suitable for her.
Kiana looked around and finally chose a chainsaw sword.
Although she is more accustomed to using dual guns in combat, she has also dabbled in other weapons.
This giant sword is huge, much bigger than her body, but for Kiana, who possesses the extraordinary strength of the Kaslana Family, it is not a problem at all and it is not heavy at all.
A moment later, Fu Hua and Kiana stood on the training ground.
Kirataka, Mei, and Bronya were watching from the sidelines.
"Come, Kiana-san."
Fu Hua stretched out her right hand and hooked it slightly, indicating that she could start attacking.
"You... you don't use weapons?"
Looking at the gray-haired woman with empty hands, Kiana was a little surprised.
"Well... I do have my usual weapons, but they are useless against you."
Fu Hua waved her hand and said with a smile.
This sentence is tantamount to saying that her strength is far from enough compared to her own.
"…Don't blame me if you get hurt!"
The white-haired girl grasped the sword with both hands, exerted force with her feet, dragged the sword towards Fu Hua at an extremely fast speed, and slashed it down fiercely.
Fu Hua slowly turned sideways and took a small step. The sword's trajectory brushed past her body and fell, and Kiana's powerful attack missed.
At the same time, she gently stretched out her palm and lightly tapped the center of the sword, and the sword immediately deviated from its direction without Kiana's control.
Originally, it was Kiana who was swinging the greatsword, but now the greatsword forced Kiana to twist to the side, making her body unable to be controlled by herself, exposing all her flaws in front of Fu Hua.
Facing Kiana, who was full of flaws, Fu Hua just casually swung out her other hand, turning it into a hand knife, and slashed towards her neck.
Kiana, who had failed to hit the target in her first attack, felt the fierce blow and resolutely gave up the sword. She clenched her fists in front of her body and blocked it.
—In her opinion, she, who possesses natural supernatural powers, would be able to gain an advantage even in a bare-handed battle with Fu Hua.
After blocking Fu Hua's knife hand with both hands, Kiana grabbed one of Fu Hua's hands with one hand, and immediately used the other hand to hit Fu Hua's chest.
Unfortunately, the scene where Kiana's fist hit the opponent's chest and knocked her away as she expected did not appear.
Instead, the scene in front of her eyes was spinning wildly, and she didn't know when she was knocked to the ground by Fu Hua.
'…What happened?'
Kiana was still a little confused at this time.
Fu Hua walked slowly to her side, leaned over to look at the girl lying on the ground, and said:
"Kiana, I can see that your Kung Fu has not undergone much systematic training, but it still has a certain power. I think that is probably because of your own understanding. This is enough to show that you have considerable talent."
"Humph, of course, I am a goddess..."
Without waiting for Fu Hua to finish her words, Kiana immediately jumped up from the ground and attacked Fu Hua again.
To cheat, to sneak attack!
However, once again, her fist was forced to stop when it reached Fu Hua.
Because Fu Hua's knife had already been placed on her neck.
—She didn't even see the opponent's movements clearly, and the several fights that took place a few seconds later were completely within the opponent's expectations.
"I haven't finished what I'm saying yet... Although you are very talented, you don't have a solid foundation, so your performance is only one tenth of yours."
Fu Hua said calmly:
"Your current strength is indeed at the level of a B-rank Valkyrie, but it is still some distance away from the goal Theresa has set for you."
—Not to mention the level of the strongest Valkyrie that Kiana had just longed for.
"If you want to become an A-rank Valkyrie, you need solid training and must not rush for quick success. Otherwise... haste makes waste."
Fu Hua advised.
She had indeed seen many talented girls like Kiana.
But talent does not mean strength. If one cannot use appropriate training to bring out his or her potential, he or she will just be like everyone else.
"What do you mean by "hurry up and achieve success"...? And what does "haste makes waste" mean?"
Kiana asked with a confused look on her face.
She was a girl who had been wandering around the world in the past. To put it bluntly, her cultural level was quite insufficient.
Now, when she met Fu Hua, a Shenzhou native who spoke in a very flowery manner, she didn't understand a word she said.
"…"
Fu Hua also noticed that the girl in front of her didn't seem to understand what she just said. She rubbed her head helplessly and said in a different way:
"You need to practice your fighting skills, train your physique, and... "
Thinking of Kiana's bewildered expression at her two ancient Chinese sayings, the gray-haired woman added:
"And you have to study hard in your cultural studies."
"…I will refuse the latter one!"
Kiana protested.
She had no objection to the combat training, but as for the latter part... forget it!
"Okay, get up."
Fu Hua smiled slightly, stretched out her hand, and pulled up Kiana who was sitting on the ground.
—Kiana, defeated.
Then, she looked at another girl in the audience:
"Mei, it's your turn."
"Okay, Senior Fu Hua."
The black-haired girl came to the training ground obediently.
Her weapon was undoubtedly a katana.
"...Please advise me."
After bowing deeply, Mei drew the sword from her waist and slashed towards Fu Hua with a subtle arc.
Unlike Kiana's half-baked skills, what she possessed was indeed swordsmanship that had been trained hard.
Thanks to her father who often dressed up as a 'Houm Swordsman' to practice swordplay with her, she was able to develop strong martial arts skills despite living in a safe big city.
hokushin ittō-ryū's sword skills are specialized for special attacks against people, and therefore it also caused a certain amount of pressure on Fu Hua.
Fu Hua's eyes became a little more serious, and she kept turning and dodging Mei's attacks.
However, although Mei's attack seemed extremely fierce, she was still unable to touch Fu Hua at all.
The girl naturally saw it. She pursed her lips slightly, and a flash of lightning flashed in her eyes.
At the same time, her movements also quickened several points, intending to change her offensive.
Fu Hua was quick-eyed and quick-handed. She caught the moment when Mei changed her posture. She attacked with both hands at the same time, one hand hitting Mei's abdomen and the other hand hitting Mei's wrist holding the sword.
The girl reacted quickly and adjusted her posture to mitigate the impact of Fu Hua's attack.
However, when she reached for her weapon at her waist, she found herself empty-handed.
——she doesn't know when her own sword ended up in Fu Hua's hands.
"Ta...Tachitori?!"
She exclaimed.
In Shenzhou's words, it is a technique similar to disarming.
"your swordsmanship is pretty good, but... you're still quite unfamiliar with the use of Honkai energy. Forcing it to work makes it difficult for you to adapt."
Fu Hua smiled and returned the weapon to Mei.
This is natural. After all, before entering St. Freya's Academy, Mei had never had any serious contact with Honkai energy - Raiden Ryoma took great care of her.
This is exactly why Theresa wants to take the Herrscher into the academy, to teach her how to master the power in her body and control herself.
"Thanks for the guidance."
Mei took the sword, thanked politely, and returned to her seat.
——Mei was defeated gloriously.
There was no need for Fu Hua to say much, as the third challenger had already appeared on the training ground.
"...Bronya."
After a brief self-introduction, the silver-haired girl arched her body, shot out like an arrow, and engaged in close combat with Fu Hua.
Fu Hua's eyes also became solemn.
——This solemnity is not because the opponent's skills pose a threat to her, but because of the source of these skills.
What Bronya used were all killing techniques.
If Kiana's fighting skills are half-baked and have no power, and Mei's swordsmanship is just to make the opponent lose the ability to fight as quickly as possible, then the most petite Bronya in front of her is using the most dangerous skills, and every move is aimed at taking the opponent's life.
There are no unnecessary movements, no unnecessary purposes, every attack is to take away the opponent's life, and every attack is aimed at the most vulnerable part of the human body.
'This child's background…I'm afraid it's not very good.'
Fu Hua thought silently in her heart.
The only place where young children would be taught this art of killing is almost exclusively the military.
Considering her Siberian origins... the result is of course obvious.
This child must be a victim of the second eruption fourteen years ago.
As a Valkyrie who had personally experienced that battle, Fu Hua sighed softly.
Then, as expected, Fu Hua interrupted Bronya's attack with a palm and knocked her away.
However, at the moment when Bronya was knocked away, a huge mecha appeared out of thin air, and the mechanical fist smashed down almost at the same time.
"...oh?"
The floor beneath her feet cracked. Fu Hua took the heavy punch from Project Bunny with one hand and looked at the huge mecha in front of her with some surprise.
This thing looks like a product of a previous civilization... or at least it uses technology from a previous civilization.
Is close combat just to create opportunities for its sneak attack?
It's a pity that it's still a little off.
"…The sneak attack failed. Bronya admits defeat."
The silver-haired girl got up from the ground and admitted defeat honestly.
She could clearly feel the huge gap between herself and Fu Hua.
——Bronya was defeated.
"You three are very talented, but at this stage, I can only rank you as B-level Valkyries."
Fu Hua looked at the three girls and said with a faint smile.
She immediately looked at the last person, the young man who was sitting obediently on the bench.
"Okay, then next, it's your turn... Kirataka."
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