Grown Dedication
a Honkai Impact 3 fanfiction by The Overlord Bear
Summary: On a certain day during the years after the Otto-Serpent Honkai War, Bianka and Mei have a spar with some new suits and styles.
Previous Part: “Childish Dedication”
Bianka decided to perform the first move. Unleashing bladed drones from the back of her suit and into the leg parts, she rushed with bright streaks towards Mei, whose eyes narrowed as she stood against the approach. If the one called Durandal were holding a lance, the one who had been known as the Third Herrscher would’ve already started keeping her distance.
Not like the different fighting style made Bianka any less dangerous. After bouncing around, Bianka released the drones from her legs and launched some kicks towards Mei, who managed to easily dodge them all. And then the katana user could only answer with lightning parries as she found herself attacked by Bianka’s drones, which were circling around her while firing bullets at a machine gun’s pace.
“I can imagine Kiana and Fu Hua being quite astonished by that, Bianka!” Mei smiled as she smoothly did lightning parries until the drones exhausted themselves. At that, she flicked her loosened and straightened length of hair with a purple glove.
“Banter, Mei?” Bianka smiled back as she raised an arm, which became covered by the drones forming ethereal arm shields to block Mei’s retaliating charge and its barrage of slashes. “And I thought I had a companion in wordless combat!”
And then Bianka pushed back with all the kinetic energy her shields gathered, making them burst their energy back to send Mei flying. The blonde immediately ran towards her opponent again right after, her mostly white armor and drones changing their blue glow into red as she went to grab Mei by throat and slam her into the ground. The drones had also embedded themselves into Bianka’s arms again, now forming spectral blades that served to enhance the blonde warrior’s next attacks.
But Bianka had to set that aside, as she had to generate and explode a small and quick arm shield to more safely escape Mei’s bright expulsion of electricity through her body. Then Mei rolled forward with quick and precise strikes that Bianka made a new set of arm shields for.
But when Bianka managed to fire back her arm shield energy at her dark-haired opponent, the targeted figure vanished into fizzles of electricity, causing the blonde fighter to duck and spin with kicks against Mei’s back attacks.
When Bianka managed to make distance between them again, she smiled at the yelling Mei, who was now charging in with electricity clones of herself. As Mei’s clones encircled Bianka with cuts past and back, the blonde warrior continued to stand her ground by gathering energy from the attacks through her arm shields.
When the clash broke up, it seemed like Mei had gotten knocked away, but Bianka soon saw the Herrscher of Thunder streak back into the air. When the electric swordswoman’s figure became visible again, her body was unleashing a great amount of energy again, sword pulled back to soon unleash screeching forms in the shape of birds.
At that point, Bianka answered by tensing up and pulling back like she were holding a javelin, energy gathering through the lined-up drones to form something shaped exactly like that. It was powerful enough to clear those lightning birds away, but not quick enough to stop Mei from continuing her attacks.
Still, Bianka stood firm against that approach while giving some room for her suit’s cooldown by meeting Mei’s still electric slashes with two non-enhanced fists, the drones now resting on Bianka’s back again.
“You have grown, Mei!” Bianka couldn’t help saying, and even as she was confident in herself about continuing to be leagues above her opponent, this wasn’t the first time the blonde warrior told the dark-haired swordswoman such a thing.
But Mei’s only replies were more intense slashes combined with a battle cry, and Bianka made herself glow red once again, gathering energy into her arms to shield herself and then blow her opponent back with an explosion.
And in a flash, the fight ended, Mei lying on her back up ahead as Bianka readjusted her own breathing. Bianka’s suit had quite the combat versatility, but its energy management still needed more work. While she was sure that she was being observed through some cameras, she’d still have to make some written reports about the suit to Dr. Tesla.
And then Bianka caught a sheathed sword as she turned her back on Mei.
“So the lady has a sense of humor,” the blonde warrior looked over her shoulder with a smile.
“An improved one, I must say,” Mei smiled in return as she lied on her back, wisps of electricity crackling around her.
“Indeed,” Bianka chuckled as she turned again to approach her fellow Valkyrie, reaching a hand and a sword out to her.
“Madam Mei and Master Durandal were totally awesome!” a certain Honkai hybrid in pink whooped into the scene as Mei allowed herself to be pulled up by Bianka. “Half Vodka Hug!”
“So that’s Master’s new and top secret battlesuit,” the pink one’s blue twin noted. “And Roza, they just came down from some intense activity. They’re probably sensitive right now.”
“Haha, that sounds dirty, Lili!”
“Seriously, Roza Idiotka…”
And then Bianka’s arm met a shrieking jumper who quickly found herself dazed on the ground again.
“You sure love being a punching bag, no, Sin Mal?” Bianka then heard the Herrscher of Death speak through Seele, who currently wore a blood-eyed smirk at the sharp-teethed outcast of Cocolia’s girls.
And before Sin Mal could get a word in, Bronya used a bipedal Project Bunny 19C to casually toss the outcast over and over like she were a toy.
“Incredible as always, Master Durandal.”
Bianka turned to face the Valkyrie wearing a fancy maid outfit again. “Thank you, Rita. How are the Wing’s children?” And soon enough, Bianka was thinking about more work again, this one focused on her own group of young orphans under more personal care.
“Admiring your performance as usual,” Rita gestured to the serious youths in the distance behind her with a smile. “Madam Rozaliya also tried to infect them with her energy, but of course, their silence humiliated her.”
The blonde master chuckled at that. “We should form more and better team-building exercises for them, then.”
“Indeed we should,” the smooth and sharp maid bowed. “And have Madam Rozaliya as our assistant, difficult it may usually be for her. She always makes them very worthwhile, after all.”
Bianka nodded in agreement, and then she looked at Mei again.
“Oh, I’ll be making dinner for you all later!” the raven-haired swordswoman announced, even to the Wing’s children. “Please feel free to join, and thank you very much for watching our spar!”
“Madam Mei’s looking more like a perfect idol again!” Rozaliya made an exaggerated cry. “And Madam Mei’s going to cook like a perfect housewife again!”
“Don’t forget to save me some, Roza, or I’ll hog all your food again next time,” Liliya threatened with a yawn.
“Hey, don’t cause a mess, okay, you two?” the now normal Seele told the twins. Then she turned to Mei. “I’d love to help you out with the cooking!” Then to Bronya. “Would you like to join, Sis?”
Bronya nodded with a smile. “I’d love to.” And then she had Project Bunny use its added legs to dropkick a dizzied Sin Mal to the bleachers, where the children of Durandal’s Wing caught her without a crash and gently placed her on the floor in front of them.
“Let’s go, then!” Mei smiled and started walking, her volunteering helpers and the Olenyeva Twins right behind her.
At that, Bianka smiled. “To think that she bore hatred for me before.”
“And you are talented at everything except holding grudges, Master Durandal,” Rita remarked with another mischievous smile.
Again, Bianka chuckled, and then she gestured for her personal students to stand up and follow her. “Rita, take care of Sin Mal, please.”
“Understood, Master Durandal.”
And as with any meal cooked by Mei, they had quite a feast.
Author’s Note: Observing Bianka and Mei in the wonderful Story Chapter XVIII while remembering how Mei is in the SSStylish APHO makes me wonder about how they’d interact in between those two arcs and with a friendlier relationship. That, and I’ve been trying to imagine Bianka fighting more like Dante from Devil May Cry, which was something that got boosted by how the Bright Knight: Excelsis suit’s signature Stigmata set is, well, Dante Alighieri. XD
Also, I think Bianka’s awesome enough to have a bunch of young orphans living and training under her care and tutelage, but I’d end up derailing this one-shot if I tried to go into detail about them here. I think it would be a good idea to write about them more in a multi-chapter story, though the top plan I have there so far is a mostly OC-centric story about boys studying in St. Freya. Whatever it’ll be, though, I think it’ll take a long while to make if I ever decide to push through with it.
Next Part: “Persistent Dedication”
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