Chapter 31: I Am Black-Stockings Fu Hua!

“What?!”

Kiana had expected the enemy to attack.
She had even anticipated that the Titans would open fire on her.
But with their vision systems destroyed, the odds of those Titans blindly hitting her from the air were less than fifteen percent. And since they were positioned so close to each other, any random firing could easily cause them to hit their own allies with shell fragments or stray rounds.

By all logic, this should have been Kiana’s advantage.

But she had never expected those Titan pilots to be this decisive.

Yes — the moment their monitors went black, these pilots didn’t even think about what to do next. They skipped straight to action.

With the neural connectors plugged in, they had ripped open their cockpits and forced their brains into overdrive, burning pain searing through their skulls to drive their nerves into hyper-reactive speed.
Their tactical visors could process aim data in 0.1 seconds — so all that was left was to do what they had trained for: raise the steel arm, and crush the enemy!

Only when the massive metal fist — big enough to cover half her body — was almost upon her did Kiana realize she’d made a terrible mistake.

“Kiana!”

What’s the most important thing on the battlefield? Individual combat ability? Weapons? Ammunition?

No — the most important thing is your comrades.
Because of them, even when you make mistakes, someone will always drag you back — or dive into the mud with you and go insane together till the end.

Raiden Mei stepped onto a boulder flung up by an explosion and leapt into the air, her Winchester shotgun firing three rapid shots!

Guns weren’t Mei’s specialty, but at this range even a novice couldn’t miss. All three shells struck the Titan’s mechanical elbow joint. Sparks and shrapnel burst out, black oil splattering as electrical wires spat bright arcs of light.

The Titan pilot’s neural feedback froze for a moment — and in that moment, Kiana’s eyes lit up.
She twisted her body midair, grabbed onto the massive metal arm that had nearly struck her chest, and scrambled up it like a monkey!

But in an instant, the exposed, sparking wires ignited the spilled oil — fire raced up the Titan’s arm.
Kiana didn’t flinch. She charged through the blaze straight toward the pilot!

“Too naive!”

The young Titan pilot swung his other arm in a blade-hand strike.
Kiana vaulted upward, flipping over the icy steel claws and the burning arm, her empty guns now nothing more than blunt weapons. She swung them hard at the pilot’s exposed head!

“I said— you’re too naive!”

The pilot roared. His other arm, the one disabled by Mei’s blast, suddenly reactivated.
With veteran speed, he drew the pistol at his waist and fired several rounds at Kiana mid-leap!

“Uwah!!”

Pain exploded in Kiana’s chest. She screamed — her momentum broke, and her charging body, once like a flying arrow, became a helpless falling weight. She plummeted past the pilot, toward the ground.

All five bullets struck her squarely in the chest. The shooter clearly wasn’t an expert marksman — at this distance, a headshot would have been easy.

But instead, he’d aimed center-mass.
Maybe it was reflex, maybe luck — but it saved her. The Valkyrie’s improvised combat armor was strongest at the chest. The rounds couldn’t pierce it, but the impact slammed through completely.

Kiana felt like five iron hammers had smashed into her ribs.
Agonizing pain robbed her of control — her mind blurred as the ground rushed up toward her.

Crap… I’m falling head-first.

Then — a sudden force jerked at her waist.
Her vision sharpened again, and she realized she was hovering half a meter above the ground, watching the terrain blur beneath her.

And in front of her, the smooth curves of a pair of armored thighs — powerful, wrapped tight in Valkyrie combat plating — and annoyingly perfect.

“As the ancients said: the tides of battle shift in a heartbeat! Drop your guard, and you’ll fall into the abyss!”

“…Class monitor, I told you, my Chinese grades were never passing! Stop quoting old sayings — I don’t understand them!” Kiana shouted in protest, though her hands stayed busy — Desert Eagle clamped between her teeth, one hand grabbing bullets from her belt to reload the Colt Python.

“Stay alert, or you’ll die!” Fu Hua yelled.

She leapt — the thrusters of her Valkyrie armor roared as raw energy surged into her legs.
The jump sent her soaring eight meters into the air. She landed briefly on a tree trunk, used the remaining momentum to push off again, and launched herself higher.

The thick tree trunk bent under her strength, nearly snapping — and Fu Hua became a bullet, flying through the air, carrying Kiana on her back, spinning midair, and meeting the Titan’s next punch with a brutal whip-kick!

“Whoa! Class monitor!” Kiana screamed.

“HAAAAAA!”

The impact that followed was like a car crash. Close your eyes, and you’d swear two speeding vehicles had collided head-on.

Except this was real — a flesh-and-blood leg against solid steel.

And the result—

Metal fragments burst outward like shrapnel, sparks scattering like fireworks.
The Titan’s massive metal fingers were sliced off, flying through the air as its circuitry sparked violently. The raw physical force behind Fu Hua’s kick was beyond comprehension.

“You’ve gotta be kidding…” gasped the KC4 pilot, his face pale.

“I’m not done yet!”

Before the recoil had even faded, Fu Hua twisted midair, performing a spinning back kick —
another crash rang out, this time not two trucks colliding, but a truck plowing through a parked motorcycle.

A shockwave visibly rippled through the air.
The Titan staggered backward more than ten meters before regaining balance.
The pilot looked at his mech’s mangled left arm — and cold sweat drenched his back.

But fear didn’t overtake him.
Impressed yet unbroken, he barked into the comms:

“All units—Level 1 battle readiness! Remove all fire restrictions! Target: Schicksal Valkyries!”

If he couldn’t win alone, then he’d drown them in firepower!

No matter how strong she was, no one could block bullets.

His right arm transformed, unfolding into a heavy autocannon capable of wrecking a tank in three seconds. Shoulder panels opened, exposing missile ports now fully unlocked.

“Shoulder missiles remaining: six. Left arm, 88% damaged. Transferring ammo feed to right cannon—transfer 100% complete. Remaining rounds: 2,151! Switching to full-auto, manual aim confirmed!”

In just two seconds, the KC4 pilot had completed the sequence flawlessly.
His composure under pressure was proof of his skill.

“Not good—Kiana, quick—”

“Go, class monitor! I’ll cover you!”

“…Understood!”

Kiana jumped from Fu Hua’s back. Fu Hua crouched low, blue energy surging from the reactor at her back into her legs. The ground beneath her cracked under the tension.

“FIRE!!”

The KC4 pilot roared.

“Be quiet!” Kiana shouted back.

Her Colt Python fired first — a thunderclap of sound —
followed instantly by the Titan’s autocannon, spitting death like a typewriter gone mad.

“Clang! Clang~”

Bullets whizzed past Fu Hua’s face, her head, her feet —
one shattered her glasses, another sliced a few strands of her hair, a third shattered the rock beneath her, spraying shards that smacked rather rudely against her rear.

And that was all.
The Titan’s heavy autocannon had fired only three rounds before it was destroyed.

Kiana’s single bullet had struck its barrel dead-center — bullet against bullet, gun against gun.
With impossible precision, she’d shot directly into the gun’s muzzle between volleys, lodging her round inside.

The next instant — boom!
The entire cannon exploded like a firecracker stuffed by a mischievous child.
The weapon disintegrated, permanently retired from service.

“Now, class monitor—finish it!”

Wind roared. Energy surged. The ground shattered under Fu Hua’s leap.

Fifteen meters — no distance at all.
Not enough time to breathe. Not even enough to blink.

The KC4 pilot’s eyes widened — there was no time for fear, only disbelief and despair flooding his mind.

And what he saw charging toward him wasn’t a girl—
but a humanoid dragon.

Limit Release!

The pale blue glow deepened into a fierce azure.
Energy born of Honkai surged and condensed, wrapping her fist in the form of a dragon.

Cannon Fist — Dragon Strike!

For a heartbeat, it looked as though her fist had stopped against the Titan’s chest —
but that was an illusion.

There was no thunderous blast, only the ping-clang of metal deforming under heat and pressure—

Then reality caught up.
The Titan’s chest armor crumpled inward as though crushed by dozens of tons of force.
It pierced straight through.

A gaping hole — as wide and tall as a human — yawned through the mech’s torso where its reactor used to be.

The blue-violet Titan froze, then toppled like a mountain.
Its pilot, still strapped in the exposed frame, stared blankly upward.

He was alive — save for a concussion, he was unharmed.
But his eyes were empty, hollow, fixed on the night sky as though he were dreaming.