Fu Hua does not think she is someone who enjoys unexpected situations.
She thinks of herself as too conservative, disciplined, and strict with herself and others.
Perhaps due to this personality trait, she always feels that she lacks charm and is a boring girl in any relationship.
Therefore, she is unsure how to improve her relationship with that person.
It can be said that she is quite poor in her feelings or care.
She really believes that she would achieve a low score in an EQ test, if given the chance.
And as mentioned above, she does not like surprises because she is not sure if she can cope with them properly.
Especially when a new wind blew into her routine life three months ago.
Her first impression of that teenager was that he was an unlucky person.
Her initial encounter with him was not when he introduced himself to the class as a new student.
But rather when that teenager was escorted to the teacher's room to complete his enrollment paperwork.
And by chance, she brushed past him as he arrived in the teacher's room.
Perhaps because of nervousness, he did not notice her, and when she thought he resembled Kiana when Kiana was being scolded by Principal Theresa or Himeko-sensei.
Okay, perhaps that is also why the next thing he encountered was crashing into the door of the office because he kept looking down as he moved.
Not stopping there, when he reached out to find support to lift himself up, the office door swung open.
Causing his fingertips to get painfully caught in the door gap.
She could hear that scream clearly even though she had walked quite a distance, but she just glanced back a little before returning to her class.
When he came to her class and introduced himself, she learned his name was Yumeji Satsuki.
That isn't a rare name, but it is quite feminine and not commonly given to boys.
However, she thinks that name fits him quite well. Because he has mystical purple-black hair like the night sky and bright amber eyes reminiscent of the moonlight.
Overall, he has a handsome face and an upright physique; he is the archetype of a hot boy.
Even so, he has a quite casual dressing style if not to say messy, as he seems to be indifferent to the colors or fashion of his clothes.
Making it poorly contrast with his naturally attractive appearance, diminishing his appeal to girls.
The class that followed was quite noisy.
Partly due to Kiana's hard-to-get-rid-of bad habits, and partly due to that new student.
It seems that Himeko-sensei has a personal grudge against that boy, as she finds excuses to punish him along with Kiana.
Although she thinks that is a bit excessive. And then, rumors about a pervert spread widely in the school due to an incident.
Considering Kiana's personality, it seems that she and the boy Yumeji Satsuki, while being punished in the hallway, might have clashed, resulting in some silly accident afterward.
Because of this event, Fu Hua thinks she should pay more attention and care to her classmate Yumeji since he is the only boy in the school and it would be very unfortunate if he were isolated or shunned due to some exaggerated silly rumors.
And then, coincidentally, on that very day, a request for training was proposed to her by that boy.
Leading to him becoming an unwilling disciple of hers.
Since then, training him has become a part of her daily life.
To be accurate, at first, Yumeji was completely a novice in bare-handed fighting; however, he had a good intuition for predicting incoming attacks, something that only those who have experienced many fights possess.
Fu Hua would not know that the reason for this was that Yumeji had always had VIP seats to watch street gangs clash violently since his sister was a notorious racing gang leader during her rebellious age.
And unlike democratic countries like the US, where people enjoy communicating with each other through guns and candy, Yumeji, as a Japanese native, was accustomed to violent bare-handed fights or with blunt and sharp weapons.
(Note: Yumeji's sister's weapon of choice is a spiked baseball bat, along with a long chain and a Honda Shadow 750 ABS motorcycle; she has roamed all over Tokyo and became a legend. Yumeji's sister is very fond of reading medical books, especially those about human anatomy, so she can hit someone without them dying or being in life-threatening danger but just leave them unconscious; she is a super sadist. However, she is very easy-going and kind to her younger brother Satsuki, only giving him a loving beating when he ran away from home at the age of 11.)
Even so, Yumeji was really inexperienced and had an untrained physique, so Fu Hua had to drill him on the very basics.
Gradually, Yumeji's presence became a natural part of Fu Hua's life.
And she truly felt proud and satisfied as she saw him improve.
Although accompanied by a sense of unease when she realized that something else was inside Yumeji.
She deliberately overlooked that detail and didn't even mention it in her report to her superiors to keep her disciple in a safe zone.
For some reason, Fu Hua always felt an invisible worry about Yumeji, that if she didn't focus on keeping an eye on him, he might disappear at any moment.
Both of them had developed a rather complicated master-disciple relationship because she noticed Yumeji's tendency to tease those close to him.
Causing her to sometimes keep distance from him to prevent this from going too far, even though he always made puppy dog faces and skillfully set traps for her to pull their relationship back to the old ways afterward.
Recently, she also felt grateful to Yumeji for saving Himeko-sensei, although that also meant revealing the powers he had been hiding from her and others.
Along with that, there was a feeling of self-blame for having been negligent, which led to Yumeji being seriously injured to the point of needing to be taken to the emergency room by the enemy. She also cursed herself for her slow reaction, allowing the culprits to escape.
Still, she etched the shapes of those who had harmed her disciple into her mind.
And today, coincidentally, the attacker at the Valkyrie dormitory at midnight was one of those culprits.
Fu Hua is very poor at dealing with unexpected and coincidental situations, but that only applies to ordinary life situations.
In matters of combat, there is absolutely no such thing.
She fixed her bullet-shaped eyes on the attacker and recalled the pale and bloodied image of Yumeji when he was taken for emergency care.
Thinking this, Fu Hua tightened her fist.
This time, she would not hesitate or waver. She would use all her strength to defeat the enemy.
Then, Fu Hua ripped a tree trunk off with her bare hands, accurately aiming for the enemy's center of gravity before throwing it with bullet-like speed and chasing after it with equally remarkable speed.
*****Back to the Present*****
After beating the man before her to a pulp, leaving him barely recognizable, Fu Hua crossed her arms and looked down.
Her fury had not yet subsided, but at least now she had regained some patience after the icy wrath that had consumed her moments ago.
She didn't know for certain if this man was the true perpetrator, but she did know that the one who stabbed Yumeji was someone else. And she would extract that person's whereabouts from this wretch's mouth.
She nudged him lightly with her foot, flipping him over.
The man gasped sharply, as if finally drawing air into lungs that had been suffocating under her relentless blows.
His eyes darted up to meet hers, filled with terror and desperation.
(Pathetic. Disgusting. When that child was injured by the likes of you, he didn't even have the strength to scream or cry out for his life—the most basic right of any human being. And yet, filth like you dare to beg for mercy from me?)
These cold and seething thoughts flooded Fu Hua's mind as she silently listened to the pitiful pleas spilling from her enemy's lips.
"P-Please spare me… I-I was wrong… No more… please…"
Fu Hua remained still, arms crossed, staring down at him with an unreadable, icy gaze, not even dignifying him with a response.
But then—
Suddenly, the man thrust his arm forward, manipulating the gravitational field to pull a broken metal rod from the wreckage ahead, suspending it behind Fu Hua.
A twisted, cunning grin contorted his swollen, battered face.
"DIE, YOU BITCH!!"
He roared, commanding the metal rod to pierce through her.
CLANG!
Without even turning her head, Fu Hua simply tapped her heel against the ground, kicking up a small stone that struck the flying rod, knocking it off course.
His eyes widened in sheer horror.
Before he could even process what had happened, Fu Hua spun around, caught the rod in the blink of an eye, and—without hesitation—drove it straight into his right shoulder.
"UAAAARRGGHH!!"
He shrieked like a pig being slaughtered.
Fu Hua wasn't done. She followed up with a brutal kick to his face, sending him soaring through the air once more.
"GUHH—!!"
He was flung dozens of meters away, tumbling across the dirt-covered ground, bloodied and broken, his teeth scattering like shattered glass. He was far beyond any hope of continuing the fight—he could barely even crawl.
Helpless, humiliated, and consumed with rage, all he could do was lie there, screaming and cursing everything in existence with pitiful, agonized wails.
What remained before Fu Hua now was nothing more than a defeated wretch—a broken man who once dared to call himself "the First Herrscher," now reduced to nothing but a tattered heap sprawled across the dirt.
oOo
His breathing was heavy, each rise and fall of his chest bringing waves of agony that tore through his body like blades slicing into raw flesh. No, this couldn't be happening. He couldn't end like this. He was the First Herrscher—wasn't he supposed to be feared?
But no.
He had been humiliated, crushed so utterly by nothing more than a mere woman! Someone he had once dismissed as nothing more than a fool babbling about outdated ideals. Someone he was certain he could trample underfoot at any time. Yet here he was, beaten to the point that even his own reflection in the water was unrecognizable.
Unacceptable.
Dark purple veins bulged from his left arm—the one Bronya had burned into a charred lump of flesh. Jagged, hook-like spikes erupted from his skin, stretching taut as if they were about to rip him apart from within.
"Grghhh... GHHHAAAHHHH!!"
The scream that tore from his throat was no longer human—it was bestial, raw. A searing sensation spread from his shoulder down his spine, through his twitching, claw-like fingers, driving his thirst for destruction and slaughter into a maddening frenzy.
((Kill the one before you.))
((Destroy everything that offends you.))
((Are you not suffering? Are you not enraged? Then unleash it all and burn down the world that rejected you!))
((Because that is what it means... to be HONKAI. BWAHAHAHA~))
The voice was dripping with malice—and it was his own.
This was the Will of Honkai.
And that was fine. That would make things easier for him.
(Then consume me, Honkai! Let me annihilate them all!! Bwahahahaha!!)
Honkai energy surged into him like a raging flood, searing through his very cells, setting every nerve alight. His veins swelled grotesquely, writhing like severed serpents refusing to die.
Beneath the cloudless night sky, a tide of Honkai aura roared in like a deathly tsunami.
He would not lose.
He would not die here.
THEY were the ones who would perish.
In that instant, a new arm formed where his charred left limb had once been. But it was no longer human.
His swollen, Honkai-infused skin ruptured, giving way to glowing purple energy circuits. His twisted joints contorted unnaturally before being encased in a hardened, white-gray exoskeleton—like a beast hatching from its shell.
This arm—no, this thing—was no longer part of a human being.
The grotesque veins stretched from his mutated arm up to his neck, spreading into his nervous system.
These aberrant veins pulsed along his skin, forming a sprawling web-like network. They didn't just look parasitic—they moved like living creatures, pulsating eerily at his throat.
His skin turned a sickly shade of grayish-purple, ashen and dangerous.
And then, like creeping vines, the mutated veins invaded his nervous system, and—
"UUUUGAHHHHH!!!!"
He clutched at the side of his face in agony.
-Crack!
The sound was unnatural, jarring, yet it perfectly conveyed the horror unfolding.
His left eye had burst apart like a bloated abscess, a grotesque squelching noise accompanying the gruesome rupture.
-Brzzz!
And in the gaping black void of his eye socket, something new formed—swelling like a grotesque bubble.
It resembled a water blister more than an eyeball, but it filled the hollow socket, bulging outward in a misshapen mass.
The malformed eye was a deep, ominous shade of Honkai purple. It darted erratically before a narrow, slitted pupil formed in its center—a predator's gaze.
Fu Hua stared at the abomination before her. It was neither human nor a true Honkai Beast—just a wretched, grotesque existence. She shook her head in distaste as the blaring Honkai alert sirens wailed behind her.
[Red Alert! Red Alert! Honkai energy levels in the area have reached 870 Hw!!]
The noise was loud enough to wake the sleeping Valkyries from their much-needed rest, pulling them back into the task they dreaded most.
-Eliminating Honkai.
"What a pathetic, revolting fool."
Fu Hua sighed. If he was allowed to linger any longer, the rising Honkai concentration would only draw in more Honkai Beasts, making the situation even worse.
A swift, decisive elimination was the best course of action.
"Bwahahahaha!!! I even scare myself! Bwahahaha~~~ With this power, I'll kill you, you damned bitch!!!"
His laughter was deranged, raspy, twisted by mutation. He roared, bloodlust pouring from him like a cornered beast.
With a single monstrous flex of his new arm, he launched himself forward like a bullet through the air. In a blink, he was upon Fu Hua—a fist filled with nothing but hatred crashing down like a meteor from orbit!
BOOM!!
The impact was catastrophic, shattering the ground, carving a massive trench that stretched for dozens of meters. Dust exploded skyward, boulders were flung into the air before crashing down like deadly rain.
"Hahahaha~~ How does that feel? How does it feel? This is the power of a god!! Bwahahaha!"
He cackled madly and slammed his fist into the ground again, again, and again, pounding like a relentless pile driver, sending shockwaves rippling through the area.
But then—
"Below."
A voice, steady yet so chillingly cold that his chest tightened in response.
Panic seized him as he turned his gaze downward—
SMASH!!
An elbow strike crashed into his jaw with crushing force.
His already-loosened teeth scattered like shattered glass. His vision blurred in an instant, his skull ringing as if struck by a sledgehammer.
And for a moment, everything went black.
Fu Hua leaped forward, unleashing a relentless barrage of kicks as he staggered back, raising his massive, grotesque arm to defend himself.
Taking a deep breath, Fu Hua lightly stepped onto that enormous arm, causing his eyes to widen in shock before she delivered a powerful kick that sent him flying.
Fu Hua stood her ground, her gaze as sharp as a blade forged through countless battles. She wasn't surprised—no, she had grown too accustomed to this sight. A defeated enemy, trampling on their own pride in a desperate bid for power.
But this time, something was wrong.
The air around them began to distort. The shattered remnants of the ground trembled, drawn toward his body as though an unseen force was restructuring him from within. Sharp spikes sprouted from his back, spreading rapidly, while his pupils shrank into swirling vortexes of black and violet.
"Haha... HAHAHA!!"
His laughter erupted—warped, twisted, filled with sheer excitement and madness.
"You filthy bitch... YOU THINK YOU CAN DEFEAT ME SO EASILY?!"
A gust of wind blew against her, carrying the suffocating presence of something that did not belong to this world. Fu Hua remained still, her muscles tensing instinctively, ready for whatever was to come.
He was... transforming. The bruises, burns, and gashes inflicted upon him by Bronya and Fu Hua herself began to emit a ghostly white steam, slowly healing as vast amounts of Honkai energy surged into his body through his open wounds.
One vortex, two vortexes—exactly three gravitational swirls hovered ominously behind him.
It seemed he had devised a way to directly absorb Honkai energy from the environment.
The artificial Stigma embedded in his forehead—once a mere conduit for Honkai energy—shattered like fragile glass, leaving behind a deep, ominous violet scar etched across his face.
His body, now acting as a vacuum for Honkai energy, swelled and expanded grotesquely.
Before long, his massive shadow completely enveloped Fu Hua.
She glanced up slightly and couldn't help but think—he now resembled a brutish giant, barely distinguishable from a Honkai Beast.
And of course, in exchange for this raw destructive power...
Nine-tenths of his identity, his very sense of self, had been devoured by the Will of Honkai.
"Bwahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!! KILL!!! KILL!!! KILL!!!! OBLITERATE!!!!! ANNIHILATE!!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I AM GOD!!!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"
His maniacal laughter echoed, as if it could reach the other side of the planet itself.
At this moment, Fu Hua narrowed her eyes, evaluating the situation.
Things had escalated far beyond what she had anticipated.
"Madman."
There was no longer any doubt—the self-proclaimed First Herrscher had now become a true calamity.
But Fu Hua did not feel fear or despair, for she had one final ace up her sleeve.
A power she had only just perfected the day before.
She wasn't sure if it would work—but it was her only option in the current situation.
"New Grade: On."
With that whispered command, a surge of searing heat—rivaling the molten fury of magma—burst forth from Fu Hua's body.
"BWAHAHAHA!!! TRANSFORMATION?! YOU THINK I'LL GIVE YOU THE TIME FOR THAT?!"
He lunged at her, his arms wide open. He executed a move known in wrestling as a Lariat, swinging his massive, pillar-like arm forward to crush Fu Hua in his grasp. He then charged through the forested section of St. Freya Academy's vast campus, slamming her body against countless trees along the way.
The impact was no less than being hit by a speeding eighteen-wheeler at full throttle.
—Screeech!!!
And with a sudden halt, he used the G-force from his charge to hurl Fu Hua into the grand academy hall.
Her body smashed through several concrete pillars before crashing onto the marble floor, rolling to a stop.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! I WON!!! I WON!!!! BWAHAHAHAHA!!! YOU DIED BECAUSE YOU DARED TO CHALLENGE ME, YOU STUPID BITCH!!!!"
He laughed, howling in pure insanity, oblivious to the fact that his forearm and elbow had been charred black, reeking of burnt flesh—like smoldering coal.
*******
"Uwah!!! What was that noise!?"
A few C-rank Valkyries, who had not been deployed and were instead assigned to maintaining order and security within the academy to prevent any potential intrusions, jolted in shock as something violently crashed through the main gate of the academy's central building. Whatever it was then ricocheted off several concrete pillars in the grand hall, much like a tennis ball bouncing wildly, before finally coming to a stop, sprawled across the floor.
As the dust settled and their vision cleared, the Valkyries focused their attention on the object in question.
And then, they screamed in shock upon recognizing what—or rather, who—it was.
"Aghhhh!! Fu Hua-senpai!! Are you alright!? What the hell is happening!?"
"Wait, that's Fu Hua-Senpai!?"
"Oh my god! Fu Hua-Senpai, are you okay!?"
Three C-rank Valkyries, who had been guarding the area, rushed toward Fu Hua while shouting in panic.
But before they could get close, Fu Hua raised her hand to stop them in their tracks.
"Fu Hua-senpai?"
Fu Hua slowly lifted herself from the rubble, assessing her injuries. After a quick self-diagnosis, she realized that two of her ribs had been fractured from the previous attack. Wiping the blood trickling from the corner of her lips, she steadied herself and stood up.
The spot where she had fallen was scorched, with some of the debris visibly deformed due to the sheer heat radiating from her body.
(Note: The temperature Fu Hua is emitting at this moment is fluctuating between 300-420°C.)
The heat caused the marble floor beneath her to soften and partially melt, but she paid no heed to it. Instead, she gestured for the approaching Valkyries to keep their distance.
"Everyone, evacuate to safety. It's dangerous here."
With those words, Fu Hua suddenly vanished from their sight.
The three Valkyries froze for a moment before exchanging glances with one another.
"Was that really Fu Hua-Senpai?"
"What are you saying, Reia? That face was definitely Fu Hua-Senpai's. Damn, she's so cool."
"And her chest is small too."
One of the three, a petite girl with black hair, muttered under her breath.
"Oi, Fujikawa. That's really rude. Show some respect to our senior. Fu Hua-Senpai is an A-rank Valkyrie, you know."
A girl with short, auburn bob-cut hair and slightly tanned skin wrapped an arm around the petite girl's neck in a playful headlock.
"Urgh, ugh! Let go of me, Akari-chan!"
Charlotte Reia, a French girl with long blonde hair and gray eyes, tilted her head and voiced her thoughts.
"But her hair... it looked completely different."
"Ah, yeah, you're right! Her hair was burning red, just like Himeko-Sensei's! Did she dye it?"
The tanned girl named Akari placed a hand on her chin, lost in thought.
"She was definitely Fu Hua-senpai. I've seen her plenty of times while she was training Yumeji-kun."
"Oh, oh, that guy. The one who's always hanging around Fu Hua-Senpai. Ugh, I hate him."
Akari muttered with a frown. Reia interjected.
"Why do you keep calling him 'kun'? In Japanese, shouldn't we call upperclassmen 'Senpai'?"
"Ah, well, even though Yumeji-kun is in the senior class due to his age, he only recently transferred here, right? So, like with Kiana-chan, I decided to address him more casually, like someone from our own year."
"Huh? I see, that makes sense."
Akari frowned as she listened to their discussion before butting in.
"Come on, come on. Why are you guys talking about that guy so much? Isn't he just a pervert?"
"Mou, Akari-chan, you shouldn't call Yumeji-kun that. It's just a false rumor."
Fujikawa pouted and glared at Akari, who shot back with equal intensity.
"Well, duh! A guy who constantly surrounds himself with girls—if that's not a pervert, then what is!?"
"Hold on a second, you do realize this is a girls' academy, right? Who else is he supposed to be surrounded by?"
"Exactly! A single guy suddenly enrolling in an all-girls school? That's definitely suspicious! He must have done something shady to get in!"
"Ugh! Akari-chan, why are you so harsh on Yumeji-kun? He's a good person!"
"I should be asking you that, Fujikawa. You barely even know him, so why are you defending him so much? Don't tell me you've fallen for that pervert just because he helped you clean the training field?"
"I-I have not!"
Fujikawa averted her eyes.
"You're avoiding it again, huh? Then stop looking away and face me properly. Besides, didn't he help you because he was punished by the principal?"
"No, that was the time before! This time, I'm telling you, he did it voluntarily!"
"Nonsense, I remember that time it was part of Fu Hua-senpai's training program. I even heard him complaining the whole time. Damn it, why does Fu Hua-senpai care about him so much?"
"Uuughh... But Yumeji-kun is really easygoing, kind, cute, and handsome too."
"Ha! You totally gave yourself away. You're just lovestruck."
"I'm not!"
Charlotte Reia sighed, completely exhausted. She wasn't sure if she should get involved in the escalating conversation between her two dormmates.
Shaking her head, she turned her gaze towards the school grounds. The entrance of the main building had collapsed after the recent incident.
Lost in thought, she stared outside, wondering how things were going out there.
******
"Bwahahahaha!!!! NOW I AM UNDEFEATED!! NO, I AM GOD!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHA—GUAGHHHHH!!!"
As the monstrous man was still busy laughing maniacally, an immense force suddenly struck his chin, launching him into the sky.
"WHA—GUAAAGHHHH!!!!"
Before he could regain his senses and stabilize himself mid-air, another overwhelming impact slammed into his back, sending him flying even higher.
Flung into the endless void above, his disoriented vision caught sight of a full moon, glowing brilliantly before his eyes.
Then, a shadow gracefully descended upon him, casting its silhouette over him through the moonlight.
It was the figure of a young girl—the very one he thought was dead just moments ago.
Under the ethereal glow of the moon, she looked nothing short of a divine being descending upon the mortal world.
But something about her was different from what he remembered.
Now, her hair burned crimson like flowing blood, and her golden eyes blazed like raging flames.
Fierce streaks of ember-hued markings stretched from the corners of her eyes, sharp and untamed like a demon fox's, and at the center of her forehead gleamed an emblem resembling a roaring flame.
It was an appearance too surreal to belong to a mere human. But he didn't care—because he could crush her with his bare hands.
Except… he couldn't.
She had already driven her foot into his chest, sending him plummeting down.
His body fell from the sky like a satellite knocked out of orbit, yanked back down by Earth's merciless gravity.
But who was he? He was the master of gravity. The supreme ruler.
Just as he prepared to counteract his fall, a searing pain erupted in his chest—the very spot where that wretched girl had stomped on.
A sinister hissing noise crackled from his torso, followed by an ominous expansion—before it suddenly detonated like a firework.
—BOOMM!
The explosion accelerated his descent, and in an instant, his entire body crashed into the ground, carving out a deep crater—like a meteor had just struck the earth.