"Hah!"
With the girl's soft cry, the wooden training post before her snapped in two. The palm of her hand, however, was pristine, without so much as a hint of redness or swelling.
"Yo! Up for some early morning training, huh?"
Michael waved a greeting, a steamed bun stuffed in his mouth and a large bag of them in his hand, his voice muffled.
Hua merely glanced at him before taking a deep breath. With a punch and a kick, she demolished two more posts.
"Didn't sleep well last night?" Michael asked, walking over to her, already knowing the answer.
"None of your business."
So Michael said no more, simply leaning against a nearby post and silently eating his pork bun beside Hua.
Hua, naturally, didn't initiate a conversation either. She just took a deep breath and, in one go, smashed the remaining twenty or so posts in the outdoor training area. Then she turned around and stared blankly at Michael.
"…"
"Uh…" Michael's lips twitched. He asked softly, "Bad mood?"
A very bad mood. A visibly bad mood.
Hua's brows were furrowed, her eyes averted to the side.
Truthfully, after her initial anger had faded, Hua didn't think she and Michael needed to cut off all communication.
But sometimes, it wasn't that she didn't want to talk. It was like now—she wanted to speak, had formulated countless sentences in her mind, but couldn't pick a single one she could actually say out loud.
What was there to say? What could she say?
Should she say, "What exactly are you trying to do?"
That was an old, tired question. From five hundred years ago until now, never mind the person being asked, she herself would be sick of it if she actually said it. Besides, what was the point of asking a question Michael would never answer?
Or perhaps, "Don't you know what's going on? Why were you in Kiana's dream last night?"
That was even harder to say. The first half was too familiar, and the second half carried a questioning tone. Either way, Hua felt their current relationship was neither that close nor that distant.
This sense of distance was too difficult to manage. But it wasn't as if Hua absolutely had to speak.
She was a quiet person by nature, so she chose to remain silent.
But just because she was silent didn't mean Michael would be.
Prolonged loneliness often leads to two opposite outcomes. One is to become even more silent, like a mountain rock, unmoving through wind and rain. The other is to become a chatterbox.
Clearly, Hua was the former, and Michael was the latter.
"Hua."
"Hm?"
Hua quickly covered her mouth. She knew she should have just stayed silent like before. But whenever Michael simply called her name, without saying anything else, her body would respond without her brain's consent.
It was like how she could always regain her mastery of martial arts and swordsmanship, no matter how many times she burned her memories. It was muscle memory passed down from a long, long time ago.
"How are things in Shenzhou these days? Is the Honkai situation severe?" Michael asked casually.
Hua glanced at him, increasingly certain he was just making small talk. As the "Herrscher of Finality," how could he not know the situation in Shenzhou?
But thinking about it, the intensity of Honkai Eruptions in Shenzhou had always seemed relatively low…
"Acceptable." As usual, Hua was a woman of few words.
But in the instant she opened her mouth, Michael, with lightning speed, stuffed a bun into it.
"Mmph!"
Hua frowned, not liking the feeling of being force-fed. If she remembered correctly, these pork buns were Li Sushang's favorite food. But she was different. Especially after a morning workout, the greasy meat filling always felt nauseating.
Despite that, she took a tentative bite, only to find it was filled with pickled vegetables.
Seeing the complex emotions in her eyes, Michael suddenly reached out and ruffled her hair.
Smack!
Hua slapped his hand away, only realizing what she'd done a moment too late.
"I… I didn't mean to…"
Her lips trembled upwards, but in the end, she said nothing.
Michael wasn't particularly surprised. In fact, he had known from the start that his rash action would be met with such a reaction.
In front of Hua, he pressed his lips together, then suddenly turned and walked away.
The early morning sun was exceptionally gentle, yet Hua felt a trace of heat rising in her chest.
She wanted to call out to Michael, but what would she say if she did?
To her surprise, Michael only walked to the edge of the outdoor training area, placed the large bag of steamed buns on a bench, and carefully tied a knot in the plastic bag to prevent any small insects from the nearby bushes from crawling in.
Then, he slowly walked back to Hua's side, straightened his back, and began to do stretching exercises.
"What… are you doing?"
"Nothing. Just realized I've been slacking off for a long time. It's been a while since I found an opponent worth fighting."
Michael smiled and rolled his wrists, adding in a low voice, "No powers, just martial arts."
Hua let out a surprised laugh.
"Are you sure?"
She did have a lot of pent-up resentment. She just never expected Michael to be the one to suggest such a…
"Of course, I'm sure."
Michael tried to offer a gentle smile, but before his lips could even curl, a small fist slammed into him, sending him flying backward.
---||---
Kiana walked aimlessly through the St. Freya campus, a piece of toast dangling from her mouth.
Usually a notorious late-riser, she had woken up unusually early today. After a trip to the bathroom, she couldn't fall back asleep. For a moment, she had no idea what to do.
Review? The day before the Valkyrie exams, St. Freya traditionally suspended classes to allow for self-study. But the stuff in those textbooks… without the class president or Major Himeko there to explain it, Kiana could stare at it for a year and still not understand a thing. Okay, even with them explaining, she still wouldn't be able to pay attention.
After mulling it over, she went to the just-opened cafeteria, bought two pieces of toast, and started walking towards the training grounds while eating. Michael had said that theory scores could make up for a lack of points in the practical combat assessment. But looking at it from another angle, didn't that mean that as long as her combat score was high enough, she could become an A-rank Valkyrie even if she just scraped by in theory?
"Hahahaha! I really am a genius! Principal, Michael, Himeko, class president—they all want to fix my weaknesses, but I'm going to play to my strengths… uh… wait, how am I supposed to pass theory… Aaargh! So annoying!"
The girl stomped her foot and took a few vicious bites of her toast.
"Whatever. I'll go to the training grounds and blow off some steam first. There's no way anyone is more diligent than me at this hour, right?"
Ever since the mission in Canghai City, she had been busy taking care of the injured Mei and Bronya. By the time they recovered, the Valkyrie exams were already here. It had been a long time since she'd had a proper workout.
The timing was perfect. It was early in the morning, so no one should be competing with her for the outdoor training area in the middle of the garden…
Right?
BOOM!
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—
No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than a series of explosions erupted from up ahead. A black shadow flew from the distance and shattered with a thud at her feet.
It was a piece of stone. Kiana bent down and picked up a fragment. The pattern was identical to the floor tiles of the training area.
"Holy—! Who's training so hard this early in the morning?!"
The broken tiles had flown hundreds of meters. Who in the world was at the training grounds, being so ferocious?
And also, wouldn't the Principal be angry about the destruction of public property?
The painful memory of the last time she broke a desk flashed through her mind: Theresa, eyes glowing red as she held Judah's Oath, deducting the repair costs from her allowance while forcing her to drink three glasses of bitter melon juice as punishment. Kiana backed away hastily, afraid of getting involved and giving the already-displeased Principal another excuse to come after her.
But after taking two steps back, she thought she heard a faint, intermittent cry for help. Was she hallucinating from waking up too early?
"He—lp—me—"
"Some—one—save—me—"
"I—was—wrong—I—don't—want—to—die—"
"That voice… sounds a lot like Michael?"
Kiana scratched the ahoge on her head. Once that tiny spark of curiosity was lit, there was no going back. She glanced around, hesitated for a moment, then decisively dove into the nearby greenery and crept quietly towards the training grounds.
Bang!
Bang!
The closer she got, the more debris flew around her. It was impossible to imagine what kind of battle was taking place up ahead.
It couldn't be that a Honkai Beast had snuck into the academy, could it? Don't be ridiculous. The school's alarm system wasn't just for show.
The girl crawled forward. After getting two bumps on her head and catching a steamed bun that flew past her, she finally reached the edge of the training grounds.
The once-thick bushes were now bent and twisted, looking like a set of crooked teeth. Peeking through the gaps, Kiana carefully poked her head out—
BOOM!
Another powerful shockwave swept past. She quickly ducked her head to prevent her hair from being blown off along with her scalp.
When the shockwave subsided, she raised her head again to look at the devastated training grounds.
The once-level ground was now a concave crater. Two figures darted around in the space, less than a hundred meters in diameter. Every collision sent stones and dirt flying.
"Uh… What is Uncle Michael doing?"
From Kiana's perspective, the two weren't exactly evenly matched, but it wasn't like Uncle Michael was being completely overwhelmed. And yet, after every clash, he would let out an exaggerated shout…
Kiana felt a sense of disappointment, as if she'd been scammed.
Of course, that disappointment might not have been entirely due to the "scam."
But her attention was soon drawn to the other figure on the field.
"Is that… the class president? No way… The class president is this strong?"
Bang!
Their fists crossed. Hua and Michael instinctively turned their heads to dodge each other's punches, their elbows crashing together instead. They brushed past each other, their knees colliding, then their shoulders slamming into each other.
"Help me!" Michael let out a bloodcurdling scream, his body floating to the side. Hua's lips twitched violently. She quickly grabbed his wrist, pulled him back, and struck his abdomen with her right elbow. Then, she brought her elbow up, hitting his chin, and finally slammed the heel of her left palm into his throat.
The entire sequence was as fluid as flowing water, clearly intended to be lethal.
But it didn't matter. It wasn't like Michael would die. And since he was screaming so pitifully, she had to give him some kind of response, right?
BOOM!
Michael's back made intimate contact with the earth, leaving another human-shaped crater in the ground.
"Stop! Don't hit me anymore!" Michael yelled, laughing, as he twisted his wrist and reversed the lock on Hua's arm.
"Hm?"
Hua narrowed her eyes, a hint of a smile playing on her lips. She suddenly bent her knee and pressed down on Michael's arm, freeing her other hand to chop down at his throat.
"Shit!"
Michael flinched. The next moment, Hua's palm stopped just an inch above his Adam's apple, yet it produced a loud thud.
The two of them stared at each other in a strange posture. A smile suddenly tugged at Hua's lips, but she quickly suppressed it.
She stood up, dusted herself off, and said calmly, "You lose."
In a fight where powers were forbidden, Michael had been forced to use the authority of the Void. Naturally, he had lost.
Although Hua couldn't be sure if it was an instinctive reaction in a moment of crisis or if Michael had done it on purpose. From her perspective, Michael had plenty of other options at that moment. He was far from needing to use his powers.
Could it be, as he said, that he had grown rusty from not having a suitable opponent for so long?
But what did that have to do with her? She just wanted an excuse to beat him up.
"So? Satisfied?" Michael smiled, slowly climbing up from the ground.
Hua nodded, then shook her head.
Violence was indeed one of the best ways to vent negative emotions, but it was only a temporary solution. The things she truly wanted to do couldn't be solved just by beating Michael up…
"Uncle Michael… actually lost?"
Hiding in the bushes, Kiana clicked her tongue in amazement.
She knew from their sparring session yesterday that the class president was a skilled fighter, but she never imagined she would be this strong!
"Surprised?"
A familiar voice suddenly sounded in her ear. Kiana turned her head and saw a flash of fiery red.
"Aunt Himeko, what are you doing here too?"
"First of all, don't call me 'aunt'!" the woman, reeking of alcohol, slurred as she shook her head and gave Kiana what she probably thought was a gentle smile. "Second, with all this commotion, the whole school heard it."
"Oh, really… hahaha… that's amazing…"
Kiana laughed nervously, scratching her head. Then she suddenly remembered that this had nothing to do with her, so there was no need to feel guilty. She quickly suppressed her instinctive fear and puffed out her chest.
But Himeko's gaze wasn't on her.
She stared blankly at the two people in the middle of the field, an inexplicable light shining in her eyes.
"Aunt Himeko, what's wrong?"
Himeko smiled and turned her head, letting out a soft sigh. "Neither of them has artificial Stigmata installed."
"Huh? What does that mean?"
Himeko sighed and patted Kiana's head.
"You dummy. This is what you get for not paying attention in class. Artificial Stigmata are essential for most Valkyries in combat. Compared to traditional 'weapons,' the artificial Stigmata, the battlesuit, and the Valkyrie herself are the true weapons. But the fight between those two just now… from beginning to end, they were fighting with their own strength alone…"
Kiana tugged at her ahoge. She could sense that Himeko was feeling melancholic, but she didn't understand why.
"By the way, Kiana, I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"
"Good news!" Kiana chose without hesitation.
"Fu Hua won't be able to tutor you today. We just received notice that the Overseer's arrival has been moved up. He's expected to arrive at the academy in half an hour. I came to inform Teacher Michael and Fu Hua to join the welcoming party."
"Yay!"
Kiana laughed happily. There was no news more exciting to a student than a canceled tutoring session.
But there was still a hint of annoyance—why could the class president go to the Overseer's welcoming ceremony when they were both students?
She wasn't particularly interested in Schicksal's Overseer. The sour feeling in her heart, much like her dream of becoming the strongest Valkyrie, was more a manifestation of the competitive Kaslana genes.
But looking at the training grounds, where there was no longer a single patch of solid ground, and at Michael, who was rubbing his sore body and wincing, Kiana didn't feel so sour anymore.
She had thought Uncle Michael was already incredibly strong, but she never expected the class president to be even more formidable!
"Oh yeah, what's the bad news?"
"The bad news is—today, I'll be tutoring you."
"…"
Michael and Hua left the training grounds. Himeko's words had reached them, despite the distance.
"Remember to have Ling Shuang transfer the money for the training grounds to Theresa," Michael said abruptly.
"You—you're really…"
Shameless!
Hua was so shocked she couldn't even form such a simple adjective.
"Uh… ahem! Don't look at me like that. My salary combined isn't enough to pay for one training ground…"
Michael sounded like he was explaining, but also… just stating a fact.
He casually kicked a small pebble at his feet. The pebble bounced twice before coincidentally falling into a sewer grate.
Perhaps telepathy really did exist. The moment the pebble fell, Michael and Hua suddenly turned their heads in unison. The instant their eyes met, they both quickly looked away.
Michael continued walking forward, but Hua stopped in her tracks.
"I'm not going." Hua stated her decision calmly.
"Oh, if you're not going, you're not going."
Michael tilted his head in confusion. He wasn't confused about why Hua wasn't attending Otto's welcoming ceremony, but simply why she had bothered to tell him.
Hua suddenly smiled.
No matter what, Michael always respected her choices.
Then she had to repay that trust in kind.
Hua walked towards the dorms without another word. Michael, of course, didn't stop her.
Returning to her dorm alone, the first thing Hua saw when she opened the door was a slender figure sitting in a chair in her bedroom.
"It's been a long time, Hua."
Hua's pupils constricted. She inconspicuously closed the dorm room door, leaned her back against it, and then whispered the other's name:
"It's you, Fuxi…"