Drive Parry, also known as the Blue Parry.
It was a special defensive function added to the Street Fighter 6 system.
In theory, as long as you had enough Drive Gauge, you could block anything from a normal punch to a world-ending super move without taking any damage.
While everyone thought that the various fighting styles inherited from the Street Fighter 6 Mo Wang were their biggest gain, in reality, this was the most ridiculously overpowered move.
"Inch-Force: Cleave the Heavens!"
As Fu Hua's blow landed on Mo Wang, a massive crater instantly appeared in the ground behind him.
The Valkyries who witnessed this stared with their mouths agape, many of them dropping the melon seeds in their hands without even noticing.
"I say, Immortal, isn't this move of yours a bit over the top?"
Mo Wang deactivated his Drive Parry and glanced back at the crater. Even knowing he wouldn't be hurt, he couldn't help but wipe away a bead of sweat.
If he had taken that hit without any defense, he'd probably have been folded in half.
"Hah... hah... If I didn't use this move, I probably wouldn't have been able to end the fight quickly, right?" Fu Hua couldn't help but chuckle.
Seeing Mo Wang completely unscathed, she shook her head.
Without using her trump cards, Inch-Force: Cleave the Heavens was basically her strongest move.
And this kid, Mo Wang, had blocked it without taking a scratch.
Although Fu Hua had anticipated that Mo Wang could block the attack, to see him do it so effortlessly still gave her the feeling that the new generation was surpassing the old, leaving the old to die on the beach.
"I surre—"
"Aiya, I'm out of stamina, out of stamina. As expected, my body is still no match for a Valkyrie's."
Just as Fu Hua was about to admit defeat, Mo Wang beat her to it, plopping down on the ground. His expression instantly changed from full of vigor to that of a college student who had just run a thousand meters.
The kind that looked like he was just one step away from death.
"I'm done, I'm done. Just count it as my loss. The immortal is the immortal, after all."
Mo Wang gave Fu Hua a strained thumbs-up, leaving her completely stunned.
He was perfectly fine just a moment ago. How did he end up on the ground all of a sudden?
It had to be said, Mo Wang's acting was truly convincing. If this were anywhere else, he would have easily won a little golden Oscar.
When it came to surrendering, Mo Wang had always adhered to a simple strategy: if he surrendered fast enough, no one else's surrender could catch up to him.
From the very beginning, he had never intended to beat Fu Hua.
What good would come from beating her?
For Mo Wang, absolutely none.
Beating Kiana was no problem at all. After all, in the eyes of the other Valkyries, no matter how strong Kiana was, she was still just a problem student.
Even if he won, not many people would care.
But Fu Hua was different.
First, Fu Hua was an academy idol-level figure, with super high popularity among both the male and female students.
If he won, a whole bunch of people would probably start to dislike him.
He had just become captain and hadn't even established his own crew yet. Doing something like that was pure suicide.
Second, while Fu Hua appeared to be an A-rank Valkyrie on the surface, she was actually Otto's double agent, the legendary Immortal Phoenix, a top-5 powerhouse in the Honkai world.
Even if he only beat a Fu Hua who was holding back, a bunch of people, including Otto, would probably put him on a high-priority watchlist.
Mo Wang would have to be insane to do something so thankless.
And to be honest, although he had a lot of trump cards, aside from the nuke-like object inside his body, his other tricks probably weren't as strong as hers.
Losing was to be expected.
Besides, on the surface, he lost, but in reality, he had won.
Not only did he get a solid grasp of his current martial arts skill level, but he also used the immortal to boost his own prestige.
From now on, he could say that he went toe-to-toe with the Immortal Phoenix.
He had just jumped from the bottom of the Honkai power rankings straight into the top 10.
Simply put, if he won, not only would he be unable to play the part of a hidden master, but he would also be watched by a host of powerful figures. If he lost, he could continue to lie low and develop his strength discreetly.
And the immortal was still a bit dazed, looking like she hadn't quite figured out what was going on, completely unaware that she had been thoroughly used by Mo Wang.
"Mo Wang! Are you okay?!"
Just then, the trio, seeing that the battle was over, were the first to react and ran over to Mo Wang.
Seeing him lying on the ground looking weak, Mei and Kiana quickly helped him up.
"Yo, Tuna, Mei, and Bronya, you guys are here too? See that? I just went fifty-fifty with the immortal."
When he saw Kiana and the others, Mo Wang's expression turned smug as he bragged to them.
"Are you an idiot?! Why didn't you dodge that last attack?!"
However, Kiana didn't care how spectacularly Mo Wang had fought. Instead, she started scolding him.
When she saw the power of Fu Hua's attack, Kiana's heart had leaped into her throat.
"That's right, Mo Wang. Even if you're confident in yourself, you have to know your limits. Look at you, how injured are you now?"
This time, even Mei started to chide Mo Wang, which made him feel a little embarrassed.
He wondered if he should tell them he was just faking it.
But he figured Mei would believe him even less.
"The Bronya seriously suspects that Mo Wang has spent too much time with Kiana, to the point where his brain has started to turn into that of an idiot."
Bronya's words were even more venomous.
However, seeing her have Project Bunny perform an emergency scan on Mo Wang, it was clear that the girl's bark was worse than her bite.
"He's already like this. We should probably take him to the infirmary," Kiana said, glancing at Mo Wang's pale face, which showed no signs of improvement.
"No! I'm fine! I don't want to go to the infirmary!" Mo Wang immediately started to struggle.
However, Mei's large hand clamped down on Mo Wang's arm.
"Mo Wang, be good," Mei said with a 'gentle' expression, but the strength in her hand didn't lessen one bit.
"Wait, Mei... Mei-neesama, can you let go first? It really hurts."
Mo Wang's face was stiff. He hadn't felt this much pain even when Fu Hua hit him. Why did he now feel like he was being held down by a mechanical arm?
Unfortunately for him, an angry Mei's combat power increased exponentially.
In this state, Mei was basically in the top three of the Honkai power rankings.
Mo Wang's body, without the use of Reinforcement Magecraft, was no match for her.
And just like that, Mo Wang was dragged to the infirmary by the Queen of Thunder, Mei, unable to resist.
CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!
After Mo Wang left, the surrounding Valkyries who had been watching finally began to applaud.
"I never thought Mo Wang was so strong!"
"Could it be that he was just pretending to be weak all this time?"
"You guys still think Mo Wang is weak? He beat Kiana before and rescued Lady Fu Hua and Ms. Himeko all by himself."
"I see! No wonder the Lord Overseer made him the captain of the Hyperion!"
"It seems he just wanted to slack off before, so he didn't show his true strength. Now that he's the captain, he's no longer holding back!"
"So, this is the new captain of the Hyperion, Mo Wang?"
Just as Mo Wang had predicted, the rumors about him from that day quickly spread throughout St. Freya via the mouths of these Valkyries, earning him a huge boost in prestige and, along with it, a bunch of bizarre, fabricated stories.
Of course, that was a story for another time.