Of course, just because Fu Hua knocked Kiana down didn't mean Kiana had lost the ability to fight.
In fact, for a warrior of the Kaslana clan, the damage Fu Hua inflicted on Kiana wasn't actually that serious.
Besides, being beaten down right when she wanted to show off...
—How could she stand for that!
"Damn it, I... I haven't lost yet!"
Fueled by anger, the fallen Kiana abandoned her dual pistols, used a ukemi to stabilize herself, and lunged directly at Fu Hua.
If it were any other Valkyrie, they might have had their rhythm disrupted by Kiana's sudden burst of speed.
But for Fu Hua, Kiana's outburst was not enough to make her change her combat rhythm.
Her speed had indeed increased significantly, but because her mind was clouded by anger, Kiana now had even more openings than before.
After effortlessly dodging several of Kiana's attacks, Fu Hua once again punched the same spot on Kiana's body she had hit hard before, knocking Kiana down again.
"Damn it... I can still..."
"Alright, that's enough."
Watching Kiana clutch her stomach, still trying to get up, Himeko said with resignation.
"This spar is Fu Hua's victory."
"I can still fight!"
Kiana retorted defiantly at Himeko's declaration.
"I know what to do now. Next, I just have to—"
"Kiana Kaslana, I don't know if you've really figured something out, but you need to understand one thing—you are a Valkyrie now."
Looking at the girl before her, Himeko spoke in an incredibly cold tone.
"Valkyries are, to put it bluntly, warriors who fight against the Honkai. And warriors who fight against the Honkai will sooner or later step onto the battlefield."
"On the battlefield, the enemy won't be like Fu Hua, holding back when they hit you and choosing not to press the attack when you're down."
"You could have fought better, but blind confidence and underestimating your enemy led to you almost 'dying' on the battlefield twice."
Hearing Himeko's reprimand, the anger and unwillingness on Kiana's face gradually faded.
She wasn't an idiot. When she was heated, Kiana might temporarily lose her mind, but now that she had calmed down, she had to admit—she had been pretty stupid just now.
"And you need to understand that when you go on missions in the future, you'll have other comrades by your side."
"Bravery is not recklessness. Charging in recklessly and putting yourself in danger will implicate your teammates during a mission."
"I heard from Theresa that you hunted Honkai Beasts with your father in the snow. But it seems your father protected you too well, which is why you don't understand these most basic principles for a warrior."
...There was no way to argue.
*This auntie is right. When Dad hunted Honkai Beasts with me, he did protect me well.*
*And later... in the years after Dad left, I was on my own, so naturally, I didn't have to worry about anyone else's safety.*
*But now, if I continue to be so willful—the next time Senior Leo acts recklessly and I follow suit, wouldn't that be even worse?*
Sensing Kiana's gaze suddenly turn to him, Leo said calmly.
"What are you looking at me for? I always make preparations before I act."
Kiana wanted to retort, but after thinking about it, she realized—what Leo said seemed to have a point.
Before jumping off the building, he had calculated the time it would take for them to land, and because he had special attack methods, he could alter their trajectory in mid-air to reduce the impact upon landing.
And when charging into the swarm of Honkai Beasts... well, Kiana didn't know what methods Leo had at the time, but judging from the fact that he later drove up to her unscathed, his statement 'I'm a professional' wasn't a lie.
"Alright, what I've said today might not be easy for you to accept, but I hope that in the days to come, you'll think about two things before you act—is this the right thing to do, and will the people around me be affected by this action?"
Sensing that Kiana's defiance had mostly disappeared, Himeko gently pointed to her own head and said to Kiana.
"Using your brain before you act can prevent a lot of problems."
"...I get it, okay?"
Watching Kiana leave the center of the training grounds like a deflated balloon, Himeko's expression remained unchanged, but internally she was quite satisfied with this new recruit.
To be honest, Kiana's abilities weren't bad; in fact, they could be called very strong.
Being able to hold out for so long against Fu Hua while at a disadvantage was enough to prove Kiana's own strength.
The fight just now seemed like a veteran beating up a rookie, but if it had been someone else, it might have been rookie Kiana beating them up instead.
During the exchange, Kiana had relied on her ridiculously good physical constitution and reaction speed to block Fu Hua's fists several times.
If it had been an ordinary B-rank or even a newly promoted A-rank Valkyrie against Kiana, they might have been instantly overwhelmed by Kiana's unreasonable physical stats and her half-baked Kaslana Gun Kata.
She lost not because she was too weak, but because her opponent was too strong.
*This rookie has talent, and she even listens to advice...*
I have to say, Himeko was very optimistic about Kiana's future.
And the next two fights were far less intense than the first.
Bronya ultimately chose to deploy her Quantum Mech, and then—she too was taken care of by Fu Hua.
Project Bunny's firepower was strong, but Bronya, the 'summoner' herself, was too weak.
Fu Hua only needed to bypass the summoned unit and attack the main body directly; Bronya couldn't last long at all.
And although Mei had become a Herrscher, to prevent her other personality from taking over, she naturally didn't dare to use her full Herrscher power in this situation, only using a small amount to fight Fu Hua.
And her long-practiced swordsmanship was still no match for Fu Hua's fists.
The range advantage of her Far East tachi vanished the moment Fu Hua closed the distance.
Not only that, because her opponent could easily chain attacks at close range, Mei was shocked to find that—by the end, she could hardly even swing her sword.
Just like that, Fu Hua, who had expected to be greatly fatigued, easily defeated the three of them.
It wasn't until she faced Yuno that Fu Hua was unable to fight as easily as before.
At this moment, Yuno, having undergone a change in her state of mind, had succeeded in temporarily suppressing her Herrscher Personality.
As a Pseudo-Herrscher who had temporarily suppressed her own Herrscher Personality, she could naturally wield her power to a greater extent than Mei.
Fu Hua's ability to easily defeat three in a row was not just due to her vast experience and perfectly honed techniques; her blitz tactics had also caught everyone off guard.
But now, facing Yuno, who could create plants out of thin air, Fu Hua found that she couldn't close the distance as easily as before.
Yuno's powers as a Pseudo-Herrscher were mainly focused on two aspects: 'Creation', creating plants and making them grow, and 'Destruction', invading the enemy's body with the Herrscher's poison.
Even though this was a spar and Yuno wasn't using the Herrscher's poison, the mere fact that she could use the power of her Pseudo-Herrscher Core to freely change the 'terrain' was enough to be a perfect counter to Fu Hua.
Even when Fu Hua finally managed to close the distance, Yuno made trees grow on her body, using thick wooden armor to block Fu Hua's attack.
*What a pain. No wonder Theresa lost to this child.*
*She seemed so timid and shy before, but now it seems I was thinking too much.*
*And from her tactics, it's clear she analyzed the previous fights to find a strategy to counter me.*
*She gives me no chance to get close, and even when I do, she has wooden armor prepared to block my attacks.*
*Although it's also because the [Herrscher of the Void] hasn't awakened and the [Herrscher of Thunder] is wary of her own power and doesn't dare to go all out, but...*
*—I never thought that, aside from Leo, she would be the strongest among them.*
After dodging Yuno's subsequent attacks, Fu Hua took the initiative to speak.
"Major Himeko, classmate Yuno, I surrender."
"Eh, did you really win?"
Seeing Fu Hua concede, Kiana looked at Yuno in utter shock.
"Yuno, you're amazing."
"It's not me who's amazing, it's everyone."
After retracting her power, Yuno smiled at Kiana.
"If it weren't for everyone fighting first, I wouldn't have been able to discover the problems in classmate Fu Hua's tactics."
"So, this isn't my victory, it's everyone's victory."
Watching Yuno and Kiana happily high-five, Leo felt a sense of dissonance from the scene.
Yuno, who was as timid as a little rabbit before, could now not only analyze enemy intelligence and immediately formulate tactics, but she would also proactively share the credit with everyone to make them all happy.
[Hey, feeling a little left out? Right now, she's more like a 'captain' than you are.]
*What's there to feel left out about? I never thought of myself as a 'captain' in the first place.*
*I just feel that this scene is still too bizarre.*
*Can a person really change this quickly?*
"Mm, not bad."
Looking at Yuno in the center of the battlefield, Himeko glanced at Theresa and said with a mischievous smile.
"As expected of the rookie who could defeat Theresa. Truly outstanding."
"MU! RA! TA! HI! ME! KO!"
"Major Himeko, if you could please not make fun of me for that."
After hearing Himeko's teasing of Theresa, Yuno said apologetically to Theresa.
"Headmaster Theresa was trying to save someone back then, which is why I was able to cowardly ambush and poison her."
"If it were a one-on-one frontal confrontation, I believe Branch Commander Theresa could have easily suppressed me."
"You hear that!"
Looking at a slightly speechless Himeko, Theresa said triumphantly.
"Look at Yuno, what a sensible child—the person involved said so herself!"
*Wait, you still don't see the problem?*
Himeko, who had intended to test Yuno, now truly felt that something was off about this rookie.
She had seen many Valkyries, but she had rarely seen a Valkyrie like Yuno, who was timid upon first meeting and then suddenly transformed the next day.
Yuno had not only successfully suppressed her Herrscher Core but could also perform tactical analysis and would then choose to unite her comrades and respect her superiors...
Alright, to put it bluntly, isn't this just currying favor with Theresa and using worthless credit to win over Kiana and the others?
These two gullible white-haired fluffballs on site, their combined cunning probably doesn't match Yuno's alone.
*It's not that people can't change, but for a transformation of this degree...*
*Whatever, I'll just keep a close eye on her.*
*Let's just hope she hasn't been possessed by the Herrscher Personality and is planning to lie low and cause trouble. It would be a bit ridiculous if we didn't notice by then.*
"Alright, you all can talk about whatever you want back in the dorms. Now..."
Watching Leo step into the center of the training grounds, and Fu Hua who had already recovered, Himeko said to the two of them.
"Unlike the previous spars, in this fight, I want both of you to go all out, without killing each other."
Himeko didn't give any more reasons, but the two on the battlefield now knew very well—to put it bluntly, Otto was preparing to sound him out.
If Fu Hua had wanted to continue fighting just now, her chances of winning the spar were actually quite high.
But her purpose in fighting them wasn't to win, but to test their skill level.
She chose to surrender to conserve her strength for the fight with Leo and to test his limits to the greatest extent possible.
"Well, normally, when the atmosphere gets to this point, you're supposed to say something, but..."
Leo, who was stretching his joints, suddenly had his eyes become incredibly calm.
*Mind Like Still Water, activate.*
"—I really can't be bothered with any more nonsense."
"Wha—"
Looking at Leo's body, which was full of openings, Fu Hua never expected him to attack just like that.
*This shouldn't be happening.*
*According to Schicksal's intelligence database, Leo is not only Rita's adoptive brother but also the disciple of the A-rank Valkyrie [Wraith] from the intelligence department.*
*Under the tutelage of those two, how could Leo's fighting skills be so terrible?*
With this question in mind, Fu Hua threw a decisive punch.
*Could it be that he doesn't want to reveal his strength, so he's acting?*
*Or is it... this!*
Fu Hua, who had just dodged Leo's attack, should have landed a punch on his body, which was full of openings.
But at that very moment, Fu Hua looked at the enemy before her, a hint of shock in her eyes.
Leo, who had been full of openings in her eyes just a moment ago, had not only blocked her punch but had also seized the opportunity to throw a simple straight punch at Fu Hua's body.
In everyone's line of sight, Fu Hua, who had been incredibly agile just a moment ago, was now, after just one exchange...
—sent flying by Leo.
..