Thump, thump, thump—
To the rhythmic sound of Durandal's punches, Rita entered the training room with Ryn, Kiana, and the others.
As they walked through, Kiana, Mei, and Bronya each had different feelings about the atmosphere of the Schicksal headquarters, which was completely different from St. Freya High School. However, they all shared the same sense of anticipation for the upcoming special training.
Seeing Ryn and his group arrive, Durandal quickened her training pace. After finishing a full set of boxing exercises, she walked over to them.
Since they were all Valkyries, there was no need for modesty. And for the convenience of training, Durandal was only wearing a simple, tight-fitting crop top and a pair of short shorts.
Her beautiful figure often made other training Valkyries stop and stare. Well... Ryn and Kiana were no different.
Durandal walked over and handed clean towels to Ryn and Kiana. Snapping out of it, Ryn and Kiana gave each other a disgusted look, then quickly turned away to wipe the drool from their mouths.
Durandal paid it no mind and began to speak:
"Kiana Kaslana, Raiden Mei, Bronya Zaychik, hello. We should all be somewhat acquainted from the recent war against the Herrscher of Corruption. Now, I will reintroduce myself. My name is Bianka "Durandal" Ataegina. You can call me Durandal or Bianka. Ryn has already given me your files. From now on, I will be conducting targeted special training for you."
Kiana & Mei & Bronya: "We'll be in your care, Durandal."
Durandal nodded and then looked at Kika, expressing some surprise that she had come as well.
"Is Kika also participating in the special training?"
"No, I'm not! I was dragged here!" Kika waved her hands frantically. Training with Bianka? You might as well just kill her.
Durandal shook her head with a look of pity, glancing at Kika a couple of times. The look in her eyes, as if scolding a child for not living up to their potential, made Kika's skin crawl.
As for Ryn... a single punch from him at full power could take down an Imperator-class Honkai Beast without him breaking a sweat. And his fighting style, though she didn't know its origin, was something even she couldn't overcome.
Durandal felt that if Ryn wanted to spar with her, she would be happy to oblige. But for her to train him? That was just making fun of her!
The more Durandal thought about it, the angrier she got. She shot Ryn a glare, then turned and led Kiana and the other two away.
"Huh? What did I do..."
Ryn threw up his hands, completely baffled. It was one thing for Durandal not to greet him, but why did she have to glare at him...
Kika tugged on Ryn's collar, smiling sweetly and cooing at him, "It's just the two of us now. Let's go play!"
"Training, training, and more training. Getting stronger is what we should be doing right now. What kind of example are you setting by indulging in play all day!" Ryn shook off Kika's hand and righteously refused her.
"Alright, if you say so, Ryn..." Kika sighed helplessly, then with a wave of her little hand, she summoned Sabayon and placed it in Ryn's hands.
"Otto said this is already the pinnacle of technology; he can't improve it any further. My strength relies entirely on my external armor. As long as it can be upgraded, I can get stronger. For the sake of your little mistress getting stronger, I'm entrusting her to you!"
Ryn picked up Sabayon, weighed it in his hand, and then stuffed it back into Kika's.
"Instead of having me research this, you might as well hope that Yiselian can upgrade this into a Divine Key with a Herrscher Core someday..."
"Also, don't call yourself a mistress! You're all my future wives. Calling yourself a mistress sounds bad."
"Hmph, hmph, then when are you going to marry us!" Kika felt a surge of happiness and asked with a smile.
"Don't you know whether you're an adult yet?" Ryn tweaked Kika's nose in exasperation, then took her hand and led her out of the training room.
"Let's go, let's go, don't overthink it. Schicksal headquarters has a lot of delicious food. Let's eat our fill today."
Kika swung their joined hands and shouted happily:
"Yay!"
"Tsk, you say not to ignore you, but then you end up ignoring others anyway," Rita muttered awkwardly to herself, then tidied up and left as well. "Speaking of delicious food, what should I make for Lady Bianka tonight..."
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"Improving one's strength doesn't happen in an instant. It's a gradual accumulation over time, achieving a qualitative change through quantitative change..."
Not wanting to start with overly intense training, Durandal first had Kiana and the others warm up. As they warmed up, Durandal did the exercises with them while imparting her philosophy.
Kiana, being impatient, quickly finished the tasks Durandal assigned and clapped her hands, saying to Durandal with a grin, "You're so long-winded, Durandal, just like my class monitor Fu Hua!"
"Long-winded?!"
Durandal felt a little hurt by Kiana's words, then she sincerely apologized to Kiana.
"I'm sorry, I've made you dislike me, Kiana."
"No, no, that's not what I meant... You don't need to apologize, Durandal!" Kiana waved her hands in a fluster. Durandal's sincerity actually made Kiana feel embarrassed.
"Idiot Kiana..." Bronya, having transformed into the queen of roasts, looked at Kiana with disdain.
Mei also tapped Kiana on the head and made her apologize to Durandal. "Sorry, Durandal. Kiana is very blunt, so she speaks without thinking.
"It's alright... Since Kiana doesn't like it, I'll try to talk less. It looks like everyone has finished warming up, so let's begin the special training!"
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"Kiana, your strength and physical fitness are far from what they should be. Your daily training has been too lax."
Called out by Durandal, Kiana squirmed a little embarrassedly, but still insisted stubbornly, "My combat talent is amazing! It's enough to make up for all that..."
"Overconfidence is not a good thing. Blindly trusting in your talent without training to turn that talent into actual strength is a waste of your gift...
Kiana, attack me. I will correct your mistakes through combat."
Durandal took a fighting stance, inviting Kiana to a duel.
"Underestimating me will get you in big trouble! Take this!"
Kiana charged straight at Durandal and, while still two meters away, launched a flying kick.
Then, Kiana was knocked unconscious on the ground by a single punch from Durandal.
Mei & Bronya: "..."
Durandal silently took out Abyss Flower and healed Kiana.
After she was done, Durandal smiled and pulled the awakened Kiana to her feet, saying, "It seems your talent didn't quite make up for your weaknesses as you claimed."
"Th-this time was a mistake! One more time!!"
"Alright, alright, I'll fight as many times as Kiana wants.