Honkai Impact 3: Noah's Ark

09: 《Considerations》

《Tuesday 3:10 PM, Present Day》

Combat exercises. Valkyrie training in the afternoon mostly consisted of a team battle against hard-light holographic Honkai, which is to say, holograms given substance using forcefields. It was more dangerous than a reality simulator as the trainees can experience actual pain.

"And remember," Major Himeko said. "The best way to defeat a Honkai beast is to destroy its core. Just taking off limbs or cutting off their heads won't do. It has to be shattered."

Noah grunted in assent as he used his herculean strength to bisect a Chariot. His instructor facepalmed.

"Or do that. It works too."

The Valkyries have differing training regiments according to their overall combat rating. The Fifth actually had an overall rank of A simply because of how effective they were. Mei and Kiana would move in and interrupt all enemy movements while Bronya took out the Honkai cores using her Bunny 19-C's particle cannon. Noah, meanwhile, was relegated to emergency support, supposedly only pitching in when the his teammates get into trouble...

...Even the slightest kind of trouble.

Suffice to say that he was everywhere, one-shotting even Palace Guards, which are notorious for their missile-stopping defense.

"Hey that was my kill!" Kiana cried over the sounds of the battlefield.

The transmitter buzzed in Noah's ear as he rammed his sword through a Hasty. "As much as I'd hate to admit," Himeko said, "Kiana's right. Noah, If you keep babysitting them all the time then these kids won't grow as soldiers--"

"Hey!"

"--So you should hang back in the meantime."

"Understood," he said, freeing the flying Honkai's corpse from his sword. Then he went behind his team and decided to really only pitch in when the situation becomes dire. There were only twelve enemies left anyway.

Thirty seconds passed. No one needed his help. Another ten. Then he frowned. Why did I want to see them fail suddenly? The thoughts were starting to overwhelm his usually one-track mind. He decided to spread his focus around the field.

In all, there were five other Valkyrie squads training there, making it a total of 15 not including himself and two instructors. He was surprised to find Jenny's squad. Her teammates were a short-haired red-headed European and an Asian girl whose hair was tied in a ponytail. Both were close-ranged fighters, wielding a claymore and a naginata respectively. The three were locked into a fight with a single Chariot.

If his memories served him correctly, those two were called Eclair Campbell [origin: Scotland] and Matsunoki Yoriko [origin: Japan].

Eclair caught the Chariot's stomp using the flat of her blade, giving the other girl a chance to thrust her weapon into beast's chest. It didn't reach the core. Quickly, Yoriko twisted the blade away and dove away from it, leaving the core exposed. Her co-vanguard directed the stumpy leg to her left and spun, dismembering the beast's right hind leg. As it fell, Jenny unleashed her clips into the exposed core until the enemy began fading into light.

She breathed a sigh, then turned. Their gazes connected for a moment, then went back to battle.

Mei's voice. "Noah"

"Roger"

The boy slipped a throwing knife from his Deflector Coat and launched it, knocking aside an Emperor-class's sigil--no, the Honkai lessons dictated them as carapace--that was about to hit Kiana, who was busy shooting down the Hasty around her. When they was finally down, she glanced at the boy. Then turned to face the new threat.