Chapter 49: Practical Exams(Part 1)

"As expected, passing will be difficult." Fu Hua muttered while looking at the monitor.

On the screen was a group of Valkyries facing against a huge boar like honkai. Although it seems like the students has gained the upper hand, it was obvious from an expert's eye that they are slowly losing control of the advantage as the time goes on.

The exact scenario seems to be repeating again. The team that is fighting at the moment is already the fourth team to go against the emperor level honkai. So far, none of them came out victorious with the cause of their defeat is the same as with the others.

Truth to be told, just watching others fail has the moral of the students lowered. However, that wasn't the only reason why. Fu Hua turned around as her eyes landed on the boy who has his arms crossed while leaning at the back corner of the room.

Due to his stunt yesterday, the atmosphere inside the the preparation room is tense. No one seems to dare to approach him nor even try to meet his eyes. With just his presence alone, he would cause the the other to became nervous thus effectively killing the moral.

Even so, there are still some students who are not afraid of him. "Hey Glynne, are you okay?" one such case was a student with twin braided white hair and blue eyes.

Glynne open one of his eyes to see Kiana looking at him with worried eyes. He stood up as let out a sign while scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, I'm just in a bad mood, that's all." he reassured.

Kiana's furrowed her eyebrows. His words is taking the situation very lightly. It has a high chance that the boy has overheard the conversation at yesterday's lunch. She understand his mood if this was the case, but with how he is greatly affecting the mental health of those in his surroundings, including his team, she needs fix it before it could get any worse.

"You know, my old man would always say that a leader should always look out their teammates." Kiana said as she goes to his side and leaned on the wall.

"Heh, is that so," Glynne tried his best not to flinch when the girl mention her father. Kiana never really talk about him in public. Well, he had a general idea why. "Your father must be quite a good man to be able to give you that advice."

"Not really.., " Kiana muttered. The boy notice her eyes seemingly staring at the distance as if she is longing about something. However she quickly shook her head as it is not the problem right now. "Anyways as a leader, I am responsible for the team. That's why you're free to say your problems to me."

Glynne smiled in response. Kiana was not a person who one would associate with the word 'responsible'. That's why it's cute seeing her do her best to fit into the role that was given to her.

"I appreciate the concern," Glynne said. "But you shouldn't bother."

Kiana stared at the boy's eyes for a few seconds, before letting out a sigh, "...I understand," and surprisingly, she quickly back off. She simply doesn't want to repeat the same mistake again back when they first tried to pry Glynne about what he is hiding. Whatever it maybe, she learned that the boy would only share his secrets if he is willing to"... Hey, about our bet,"

"What about it?" Glynne asked while raising an eyebrow.

"...What will happen in case we fail?" Kiana said in a low voice.

"Pft.., ahahaha!!!" however, Glynne begun to laugh out of nowhere. He begin to gather a lot of attention to his direction, but he doesn't care.

"Geez, this is serious!" Kiana protested as she pout at the boy's antics.

"....Sorry," Glynne said while holding his stomach and wiping the tear that formed under his eye. "I just never expected you to say those words."

Kiana pouted, "That is why I — Fuwehhhh..."

Glynne cannot stand it anymore and interrupted Kiana by pinching her cheeks. Once is still alright but hearing it twice from her is not funny anymore.

"Listen here," Glynne brought his face close and stare at the girl's blue eyes. This made her cheeks redden a bit. "We will never lose, you got it."

"Bwut— "

"No buts" Glynne quickly cut her words. "We will definitely win, I can guarantee you that. You said it right, a leader must look over their teammates but the same also applies vice versa."

Kiana opened her eyes wide. He was right, a leader must never doubt their skills and their teammates. They must always look forward no matter how difficult the challenge is. With Glynne letting go of her cheeks, he shook her head of the negative thoughts and shows a wide smile. "You're right, we can definitely beat that honkai!" she announced with confidence.

Glynne nodded in satisfaction. No matter how many times he saw it, Kiana is much more better being all confident and cheerful.

His eyes follows her as the girl left to maybe check on the others. At this moment, Glynne realizes his mistake when he begun to look around him.

With a huge clap sound, he slapped both of his cheeks enough for it to redden. This, of course, surprise the onlookers but he didn't care about them. He realized that he really shouldn't stay mad all the time. He begun pumping himself up as his lips formed into his signature smirk.

@@@@@@

It's finally their turn to fight. Kiana and her team did a quick check on their equipment as the they got out of the preparation room. They were about to walk outside, into the special battlefield that the St. Freya prepared for this occasion, but stopped on their tracks when they noticed a maid standing beside the door. Glynne have a guess about her intention and signaled the others to go on ahead.

"Rita? What are you doing here?" he asked, just in case.

Rita smiled as she greeted the young man, "I came here to wish you good luck." she said.

"Is that so.., thanks, I guess. " Glynne responded while scratching his head. "Though, I don't think that's all."

Rita giggled at his question. He still was as sharp as ever when it come to things that involve his life. Maybe due to him sensing something amiss with how the maid is here despite being supposed to be one of the judges. "Right, I also came here to warn you."

Glynne raises one of his eyebrows. "And, what would that may be?"

"I advise you not holding back." Rita told him as she begun walking near him. "You plan facing it without relying too much on your stigmata, right? I do not think that will be a wise choice."

Glynne scoffed at the maid's words. "We'll see about that." he said as he glared at her.

Rita only smiled in response. She then bid the boy goodbye as she begun walking towards judge's seats.

Glynne's narrowed his eyes in suspicion as it followed the maid for a bit before she turned around the corner. Letting out a big sigh, he scratched the back of his head as he also faced forwards. "So troublesome...." he muttered under his breath.

@@@@@@@@

The field was a huge circular area with six huge white pillars on its circumference. The pillars are giving off some sort of an orange barrier that covers the the whole area like a dome.

In actuality, the pillars are the special devices that will be used to simulate the emperor level honkai beast. The barriers aren't used solely for defense, but it is present to mark where the area of simulation will gonna happen.

The pillar soon let out whirling sound as it begun to power up.

"Alright, let's do this!!" Kiana shouted and her team quickly positioned themselves for battle. Mei and Fu Hua being frontline, Kiana in the middle as a mid range damage dealer, and lastly Glynne and Bronya on the backline as a support.

Purple lightnings form at the middle of the field as a circle of the same color appear underneath. It was not soon that Ganesha, a boar like honkai beast, appeared spinning out of the circle as it landed on its four small stubby feet and let out a deafening roar.

"Go!" with Kiana's signal, Fu Hua quickly rush in near the beast. Using her heavy kicks and fist on its side, she begun wilting down its lower body strength.

Ganesha tried to retaliate but it was having a hard time turning around. With it having a focus on her, Fu Hua quickly retreated back as it was pelted of explosive bullets and missiles.

It was Mei's turn to attack this time and dashes in while charging her blade. As she got in range, she unsheathed her blade and, using the battlesuit support system, unleashes multiple slashes.

The beast then shifted its attention to her. But just like a while ago, she retreated back when it started turning as it was attack by those in the back.

Hit, run, gun, and repeat; this is the core of their strategy. Fu Hua and Mei will alternately try closing in and shave off its energy while the others would try to attack in between the swaps. It was quite a simple strategy that took advantage of the inflexibility of the opponent.

Perhaps it had enough being the only one getting damage, the honkai beast hop backwards and curved into a wheel.

"Quick! Scatter!" Kiana commanded as the beast begun rolling in place to charge its attack.

After a few moments, Ganesha started charging at the nearest person it could find, that being Fu Hua. However, the girl quickly dashes to the side by a hair's breadth. With the beast unable to turn in a 90 degree angle, it just passes through her. That said, it quickly did a U-turn in order to try to strike her again. And just like earlier, she dodges to the side to avoid it.

Now it just looks like a beast and a person are playing a game of tag.., though, it is a bit on the deadly side.

As the honkai beast has its whole focus on Fu Hua, those who are the back started aiming their weapons. It was a bit tricky this time as Glynne's bullets might get deflected off it if hit the frontal side due to it spinning around. Even so, it didn't pose much of a problem as explosion soon burst into its side, making it mess its turn and crash into the barrier.

It is not yet confirmed if a honkai beast really has a brain, but it seems like it is the case as the beast shook its head to shrugged off its dizziness it got from slamming into a hard surface. This gave time for the whole team to reposition themselves.

They didn't wait for the beast to fully recover and begun their onslaught of attacks again.

Signs of damage begun to appear at the smooth white surface of the honkai beast. It tried its best to retaliate by counter-attacking with its tusk or body slamming but it prove to be difficult as the Valkyries are quick in dodging its attacks.

The team clearly had the momentum, and they are doing their best not lose it like the previous teams.

Their efforts soon showed results. The honkai beast let out a weakened roar as it drop on the ground.

"Now!" with Kiana's signal, eveyone's stigmata begun to glow. Mei and Fu Hua was the first one to charge in as their repective weapon glow in orange light.

The martial artist unleashes a flurry of heavy combos infuses with her Ki energy. At the end of her attack, she step back and released a huge ball of orange energy.

The dark haired girl soon step in with her blade unsheathed. She raises it overhead and, as if it was extended, a huge enegy shaped like a sword tip appeared. She brought it downwards and begun attacking the honkai beast with multiple strikes.

By the time of her combo counted almost 20, Mei felt a huge amount of energy forming from the back. She didn't need to look where it came from as she is already familiar of the feeling. Ending her attack with a huge sweep, the dark haired girl leaped backwards to get out of the way.

That was the signal, Kiana brought out a huge white and orange cannon and Glynne put a magazine full of experimental bullets on his weapon. The two aim and lock on the beast as they pressed the trigger.

"Gungnir Fire!!!!"

"All in!"

They shouted as two huge beam of energy came out and connected at the body of the honkai beast. It tried to penetrate its hard surface as the enegy is pushing the beast backwards.

"Fire" At this moment, Bronya also unleashes her attack from her cannon that is carried by a robotic like thing on her back. Three missiles flew and hit the honkai beast. A huge explosion followed as it generates black smoke around it.

The atmosphere became tense, the team was holding their breath as they wait for the smoke to dissipate.

Watching through his scope, Glynne had his finger on trigger, ready to shoot as soon as the the beast would appear. It took a few seconds for the smoke to thin out, however he quickly let out a gasp.

"Watch out!" maybe sensing the same thing as the boy, Kiana tried to warn the others. However, it was too late as a pulse of purple energy came out of the honkai beast.

This, caught off guard those in the front as Mei and Fu Hua covered their eyes before losing their footing and got blown away.

"""(Big sister) Mei!""" the three at the back shouted as they saw the honkai beast started charging at the still recovering girl.

Both Glynne and Kiana begun to fire at it in hopes of slowing it down. However, it did nothing as their bullets were only getting deflected by the hard shell of the beast.

"Tsk!" Glynne click his tongue. The sniper only has a small amount of ammo in each magazine so he is the first one to run out. He was about to reload but realized that it would be too late.

"What to do?" Glynne was frustrated as he in a dilemma. It was like the world began to slow down for him as two hard choices are presented to him.

However, he knew that he don't have that much time left. Once again, Glynne clicked his tongue. Having no other choice left but to trust his instincts, he stood up and disappeared in his position.

============

Ahhhh..... Now I've gone and seriously messed it up. Just saw the japanese dub of HI3 anime and... Wow.... It made me realise a lot of my mistakes.... Honestly, I might just put this book in heavy editing after I finish act 2... Sigh~ now that I think about it, rewriting is also a choice, Nope, I'm too lazy.....

Anyways enough ranting, Thanks for reading!!