I have to say, Kiana is truly talented. The same attack would no longer have much effect on her. Although Kiana's physical fitness wasn't up to par to dodge them, she had already come up with several countermeasures.
Then Durandal changed her moves, and the undefeated Kiana-cat fell once more.
But for Kiana, you can knock me down, but you can never make me submit.
Kiana-cat was repeatedly knocked to the ground by Durandal, but after being healed by Durandal, the unyielding Kiana would get up again and continue her assault.
Durandal grew happier the more they fought. She was pleased with Kiana's talent, and also happy that the pouting, unyielding Kiana looked more and more like a little kitten.
Abyss Flower could only mend physical injuries. Kiana's mental state grew more and more exhausted as she fought, until she finally could not get up again.
Durandal took her aside and let Bronya take care of her, then turned to continue Mei's training.
"Mei, your willpower is quite good, but your personality is a bit self-deprecating. To be honest, the Herrscher of Thunder back then was so... so irritable? Yet you yourself are so humble and gentle. It really surprised me."
Durandal took two training katanas and handed one to Mei.
"The report Ryn submitted said your swordsmanship has reached the level of mastery, but that is, after all, just the swordsmanship of ordinary people... Do you wish to reach the realm of swordsmanship of your ancestor, the legendary Beichen Mei, Raiden Mei?"
"Although the Beichen Ittō-ryū lost its soul long ago in its transmission, I will forge my own Beichen Ittō-ryū, and then reach the realm of my ancestor's swordsmanship," Mei replied with determination.
Durandal and Mei faced each other, holding their blades. They bowed to each other in accordance with the Far East's swordsmanship etiquette. With no referee and no one to give the order, they drew their swords and clashed in unison.
Looking at Mei's determined eyes, Durandal's lips curled up slightly as she smiled and repelled Mei.
"Your spirit is excellent, but you said one thing wrong."
"What?"
"Since you're going to forge your own style of swordsmanship, you can't be satisfied with just matching your predecessors. You must surpass them! Raiden Mei, you need to surpass the swordsmanship realm of Beichen Mei!"
Mei took a deep breath.
That's right, her own talent for swordsmanship was not bad... how could she be satisfied with just being on par with her ancestors. If she only reached that level, she wouldn't be able to walk with Kiana, Ryn, and the others to the very end.
"I will."
"With Abyss Flower and the advanced medical facilities at headquarters, as long as your head isn't severed, no injury is a problem!
Raiden Mei, come! I will be your opponent. Let me be your whetstone, and break through the limits of your swordsmanship to your heart's content!"
After speaking, Durandal said no more. Next, she would begin to feed Mei every sword technique she had mastered.
No, not just sword techniques... lances, longswords, staves... everything Durandal knew, she would use to train Mei.
For Durandal, knowledge was meant to be shared. She never hesitated to teach her skills to others. As long as you were willing to learn, Durandal was willing to teach.
——————————————
As for Bronya... Durandal was a bit troubled.
Bronya was captured and trained as a child soldier in her youth. Her will, skills, and so on did not need to be further tempered by Durandal.
After her brain and legs were damaged, Project Bunny became her primary means of combat. But Project Bunny belonged to the power of reconstruction, and Durandal couldn't help Bronya with that.
But since Bronya also wanted to become stronger and had come to her for special training, Durandal certainly couldn't just give up on her.
Durandal had Bronya summon Project Bunny, then raised her lance and aimed it at her.
"Bronya, I'm sorry, but I don't have a very specific plan for your training. Conventional methods are useless for you, so I'll have to use unconventional ones.
You are a back-line support type, so you need to be familiar with various combat environments.
So, think of me as an Imperator-class or Judgment-class Honkai Beast! I will simulate all kinds of battles you might encounter in the future!"
After saying that, Durandal charged at Bronya with her lance raised.
Bronya estimated the combat strength of both sides, turned, and ran.
"Bronya, don't run! Charge towards my lance!"
"Durandal, the Bronya does not understand, this is too dangerous!"
———————————————
St. Freya High School.
At the moment the Helios fell apart, Ai-chan angrily ran to Himeko to complain.
Knowing that her beloved ship was wrecked, Himeko was so angry she snapped the fountain pen in her hand. But then she happily started searching for something in her drawer.
"Found it, the repair list! Hehehe, although I feel sorry for the Helios, my Hyperion can get a configuration upgrade!"
Himeko giggled as she calculated how much it would cost to have the Helios sent back to the factory for repairs. After calculating, she lazily lay on the sofa and started browsing for new configurations to purchase for the Hyperion.
——————————————
At Schicksal HQ, Ryn and Kika were touring Schicksal's various advanced technologies when they were interrupted by a series of text message tones from a phone.
"You're on a date with a girl, don't you know to turn your phone on silent? You've completely ruined the atmosphere."
Kika stood with her hands on her hips, pouting angrily at Ryn.
Ryn could only apologize quickly, then took out his phone to check. He froze after just a few glances.
Kika curiously peeked over to look.
Wow, a stream of payment notifications... Kika calculated the amount; it was probably enough to run her own humble family for several years.
"Where's my money?!" Ryn shouted in alarm, then immediately summoned Cortana and shook her vigorously by the neck.
"Did you go gambling? This money is flowing out like water, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, and it's gone!"
"Isn't this because we wrecked the Helios! Himeko directly asked me for compensation, so I gave it to her. But I felt sorry for her, so I gave a little extra..."
"That still doesn't explain this amount! Wait... I misread. Cortana, are you and Himeko trying to max out the data transfer limit here?! You send it, she sends it back, what's going on?"
"Oh, that... Ai-chan, that little brat, also asked me for emotional distress compensation. I refused, so she just took it herself. So I took it back... If you find it troublesome, just turn off your phone for now! I'll go beat Ai-chan up later."
"..."
——————————————
Back at the training ground, tempering, skill-feeding, and providing experience couldn't be done in a single day, so Durandal only conducted a portion of the special training.
Now that the individual training was complete, it was time for team training!
Durandal led Kiana and the other two into the Memorial Arena, then led several dozen Honkai Beasts to attack them.
The three of them needed to practice teamwork, to survive the Honkai Beasts' assault, or defeat them.
The three little ones started running without looking back. What kind of hellish special training was this?!
"Damn it, Durandal is still chasing me."