Let Your Fists Do The Talking! Akyu Quest Continued!

[Mr_Bob]

We'll have to confront this shadowy rival at some point or another, but I want to make sure if we fight we can expect some serious backing from the shrine. And you pretty much nailed it, I want to see what the goddesses say about our offer.

[Hello Purvis]

Seems like we're gonna have to do it right here, right now.

[Hello Purvis]

>Ignore the shadow for now.
>Instead look to Yasaka and her associate to speak.

[Fightest]

>Ignore the shadow for now.
>Instead look to Yasaka and her associate to speak.

> "What're you looking at us for?" says the child. "We like ourselves a good scuffle as much as the next anthropomorphic deity, and you just called our Informant out. So go on. Scuffle."
> The child twirls her left hand, and, out of nowhere, a familiar-looking object appears in it - is that the Hakkero?
> "Hey, that's mine!" shouts the silhouette, but is silenced by a glare from the goddess.
> "Winner gets to do the honors... given they figure out how, now the solar furnace is busted."

[Mr_Bob]

Looks like that bridge was burned.

>Stand up.
>Loosen anything constrictive
>"Who will be acting judge?"
>Adopt ready stance

Take off gauntlets for speed? y / n? (May need some hand wrappings)

[Fightest]

Looks like that bridge was burned.

>Stand up.
>Loosen anything constrictive
>"Who will be acting judge?"
>Adopt ready stance

Take off gauntlets for speed? y / n? (May need some hand wrappings)

> The goddess raises an eyebrow.
> "You possess a rare dose of common sense. What irony. And what a shame. Judge Yamaxanadu, your presence is required!"
> After a few seconds of nothing happening, the goddess grins sadistically, and shrugs.
> "It seems that-"
> The vast ceremony room hums with power, and, with a sound of breaking glass, contracts to its natural size. You spot a brief look of shock on the faces of the goddess and the child as this happens.
> With a familiar low hum, the air parts and Shikieki steps out, wearing an unusually grim expression.
> An unnatural noise threatens to overwhelm your senses, as if that of glass breaking, but in reverse, and suddenly the ceremony room expands in all directions again.
> "What did you expect, Judges Yasaka and Moriya? That you would engage in your activities without my noticing? You may be obeying the letter of the law, but you certainly hold no respect for its spirit. You might think yourselves almighty in your sanctum, but there are boundaries to even a god's power. Now, I am to fulfill my duty, correct? I am ready. Contestant Inaba, Standing 777 and contestant Hieda, Standing 6■╦... "
> Shikieki's right eye twitches.
> "Contestant Hieda, Standing ?4|9..."
> Shikieki rubs her eyes.
> "...and Contestant Hieda. Are you ready?"
> "Oh, not this bullshit again," says the silhouette, "whatever, I'll still grind the dumbass kid to a paste. Yeah, ready."

[Hello Purvis]

>Stand and take the time to assess our target via Qi senses.
>Take a couple of stretches while doing this, we have been kneeling. Continue to assess the target.
>Once we feel adequately loosened up: "I am ready."

[Fightest]

>Stand and take the time to assess our target via Qi senses.
>Take a couple of stretches while doing this, we have been kneeling. Continue to assess the target.
>Once we feel adequately loosened up: "I am ready."

> Oh goodness is the target magical.
> Very, very much so.
> They are shrouded in a thick and evershifting layer of deeply arcane magic. They wear it like a second skin. It is going to be hard to strike through that - your blows more likely than not will just be harmlessly turned aside.
> In addition to that, there's the visual effect - much more modern and very functional. It does not serve much use against your Qi sense and the mass of magic pinpointing the silhouette like a beacon.
> You are loosened up.
> Shikieki looks at the both of you in turn, then says, "then begin."

[Hello Purvis]

>Does it feel like that arcane second skin would get in the way of grapples or throws? Or just strikes?

I'm thinking we're going to have to judo our way through this for awhile, Bobert.

[Mr_Bob]

Judo? Sounds good, I'll have to brush up on it, maybe some sambo too.  And geez, we're fighting Tewi, no wonder we didn't encounter her at Eientei.

>Don the goggles to attempt piercing the shadow cloak.
>Adopt Marble Bulwark to make sure we aren't vulnerable during acquisition.
>Eidetic Memory: Tewi Inaba. Have any of our past incarnations had any dealings with her?

[Fightest]

>Does it feel like that arcane second skin would get in the way of grapples or throws? Or just strikes?

> You should have no trouble throwing once you get a solid grip. Getting a solid grip in the first place, though, looks to be more of an issue.

Judo? Sounds good, I'll have to brush up on it, maybe some sambo too.  And geez, we're fighting Tewi, no wonder we didn't encounter her at Eientei.

>Don the goggles to attempt piercing the shadow cloak.
>Adopt Marble Bulwark to make sure we aren't vulnerable during acquisition.
>Eidetic Memory: Tewi Inaba. Have any of our past incarnations had any dealings with her?

> Bweeeeeee. After a few diagnostic messages and Enhanced Acquisition popping up, the goggles manage to locate the silhouette's outline, and accentuate it, overlaying a high-contrast red on top of it. The words adolescent female and hostile are attached.
> Visual Amplification flashes at the top-right, and the ceremony room grows more comfortably brighter.
> You enter a defensive stance.
> You've met her personally, but did not get any impressions off her - she is very fickle and secretive, and her relationship with Eientei has never been properly understood by anyone. She appears to come and go as she pleases, and appears to enjoy using her power to equally help and hinder anyone around her, most likely for her own sheer amusement. The only thing known about her for certain is that she is ancient, with the cunning and experience that comes with age.

[Hello Purvis]

>What does she seem to be doing?

[Mr_Bob]

>Begin to close distance while remaining bulwarked.

[Fightest]

>What does she seem to be doing?

> Your opponent hops from one foot to the other, then spins her arms in an elaborate set of motions, each one releasing a wave of bullets.
> The bullets travel slowly, but start to accumulate into a very dense screen.
> "Now, what, dumbass? I can keep this up all day!"

>Begin to close distance while remaining bulwarked.

> Going to be hard, with all them bullets.

[Mr_Bob]

> Going to be hard, with all them bullets.

>Then change into Meiling's Tower, channeling into the forward fist, and as much body coverage as we can acheive without exertion.
>What happens when one of these slow-moving globules is struck towards Tewi?

[Fightest]

>Then change into Meiling's Tower, channeling into the forward fist, and as much body coverage as we can acheive without exertion.
>What happens when one of these slow-moving globules is struck towards Tewi?

> The stance moulds your flow of Qi, forming the familiar protective shield to cover your front.
> You press on, through the cloud of bullets. You feel the impacts as they glance off at every angle, and it is like water droplets bouncing off jagged rocks at the bottom of a waterfall in slow motion.
> The silhouette frowns and stops the barrage - not many bullets have been redirected in its direction, the remaining ones easily dodged, but more and more would no doubt become an annoyance to it.
> "Cute. So the dumbass kid has a trick up her sleeve. I've got sleeves in my sleeves!" snarls the silhouette, a white rectangle forming in one of its hands.
> "Spell Card: Superstition: Lucky Rabbit's Foot," says the silhouette, its wicked red grin spreading from ear to ear, "improbability factor: two to one."
> The silhouette lunges forward, haloed by the the now-spreading in all directions cloud of bullets, and sends a simple, obvious strike at your torso...
> Or is that strike going for your head?
> Or your legs?

[Hello Purvis]

Bobert: I'm thinking let the tower's effect stand in front of us, and cross counter?

[Mr_Bob]

>How much space is there between the impact of bullets and the impact of the spellcard?
->Qualifier: How quckly can Two Fight as One be implimented?
-->Take most of the bullets with The Tower.  Then Two Fight as One, Akyu performing a vertical high jump into a heel drop, and Double doing a rising handspring bicycle kick.  Ideally a high to low attack comboed with a low to high.
--->"Let's even up those odds."

->If not, retreat and evade without getting hit from behind with leftover bullets.
-->If unable to safely retreat, prepare to CrossCounter! at (going to guess) torso.

[Fightest]

Well that there was some hiatus.

>How much space is there between the impact of bullets and the impact of the spellcard?
->Qualifier: How quckly can Two Fight as One be implimented?
-->Take most of the bullets with The Tower.  Then Two Fight as One, Akyu performing a vertical high jump into a heel drop, and Double doing a rising handspring bicycle kick.  Ideally a high to low attack comboed with a low to high.
--->"Let's even up those odds."

->If not, retreat and evade without getting hit from behind with leftover bullets.
-->If unable to safely retreat, prepare to CrossCounter! at (going to guess) torso.

> Although it may seem like an eternity, the mental link takes but an instant, enveloping you in the warm blue light of Meiling's projection.
> The proxy follows your thoughts perfectly, executing its part of the maneuver, the force of its kick tearing up the flooring from below, while you leap and aim a crushing axe kick at the silhouette from above.
> The sudden change in status quo seems to catch the silhouette off-guard. Its strange attack stops, and the silhouette briefly appears to be in three places at once:
> One taking the full brunt of your downwards kick.
> One unable to block the proxy's blow in time.
> One just dodging both of your attacks, but toppling to the ground in a clumsy mess.
> The three images align to match the one that had dodged.
> "You are seriously starting to piss me off, kid. Just lie down and play dead, before someone loses an eye. Improbability factor: five to one."
> The silhouette's already vague outline seems to almost waver.

[Hello Purvis]

Bobert: Seems our options are to try to defend against it, retreat away from it, or deck her before she can launch it.

>In the meantime, let's see if we can infuriate her into clumsiness the slow and steady way.
>"You should show more respect to your opponents."

[Fightest]

Bobert: Seems our options are to try to defend against it, retreat away from it, or deck her before she can launch it.

>In the meantime, let's see if we can infuriate her into clumsiness the slow and steady way.
>"You should show more respect to your opponents."

> "Listen to her talk! Listen, dumbass, you don't get to tell me to do jack. I was hanging out scrubs like you to dry before your little excuse for a dynasty thought growing legs and crawling out of the water was a good idea."
> The silhouette blurs in a flurry of motion, as images of her crossing her arms, shrugging, and doing all sorts of mocking gestures overlap.
> She can't seem to decide how to make fun of you best.

[Mr_Bob]

Wow, that's a good trick we're up against.  If I'm reading this right, we'd only be able to counter 40% of the attack. 

>Stick tongue out.
>See if we can't learn more about the attack by taking an assault or five.
>Akyu and Proxy enter back-to-back Marble Bulwark into a Marble Carapace.

[Fightest]

Wow, that's a good trick we're up against.  If I'm reading this right, we'd only be able to counter 40% of the attack. 

>Stick tongue out.
>See if we can't learn more about the attack by taking an assault or five.
>Akyu and Proxy enter back-to-back Marble Bulwark into a Marble Carapace.

> "Oh, that's really mature, well done. Didn't your parents ever teach you to respect your elders? How about I remove that tongue of yours?"
> The silhouette blurts and splits, fenting left and right, leaping into a charge, or hanging back, then going low, all simultaneously. How could it be possible to keep yourself covered from all that?
> Developed Stance: Marble Carapace. Complexity: 4. Surrounded on all sides, your defense remains unwavering. Marble Carapace augments the effects of Marble Bulwark when you employ Two Fight As One. During this stance, you take no penalties to defense against multiple opponents, and cannot be caught off-guard in combat. At Complexity 5 your defense cannot be reduced by any effect when in this stance.
> You become an unbreakable bastion as none of the silhouette's attacks, despite her wavering, evershifting attempts, are able to connect.
> The silhouette splutters in frustration, catching her breath.

[Hello Purvis]

>Does she seem open?

[Mr_Bob]

>Can the Proxy throw us?

[Fightest]

>Does she seem open?

> As good a time as any.

>Can the Proxy throw us?

> Sure can!

[Fightest]

Whoops nearly forgot

> Martial Arts increased to 5.
> With your ability to use small thoughts directly in combat, your control of mind and body has reached its peak. Your focus allows you to perform near-superhuman feats of agility, and, even without tapping on your Qi, your resistance to supernatural effects is phenomenal. You have no limit on the amount of actions you may try to perform simultaneously, but the quality of each one will suffer with each additional action. Governs technique, combination attacks, agility and spell resistance.

[Mr_Bob]

>Lauch the Akyu Missile.
>Nimble Shift into a German Suplex
>Proxy follows up with an Elbow Drop.
>Attempt to engage in ground combat.

So with this unlimited simulataneous action, we could hypothetically do something like:
"A punching, eye-gougeing, elbow, while doing a kneeing kick, and a biting headbutt" ? With similar actions for all limbs?

[Fightest]

>Lauch the Akyu Missile.
>Nimble Shift into a German Suplex
>Proxy follows up with an Elbow Drop.
>Attempt to engage in ground combat.

> Before the silhouette regains enough composure to engage in more shenanigans, you spring at her.
> She is quite surprised at this sudden turn of events.
> Without your feet even touching the floor, you grab the silhouette by the waist, feeling an odd, oily sensation as you pass through the silhouette's magical field, spin yourself around using her as a pivot, then plant your feet and
> yank her backwards into a floorboard-crushing suplex.
> You notice Shikieki, the Goddess and the Child wince. Shikieki rubs the back of her neck unconsciously.
> With a quick spin-and-flip, you hold the silhouette on the ground as Meiling's proxy appears out of nowhere right above the silhouette, elbow at the ready.
> The impact is satisfyingly meaty. The silhouette gurgles.
> "Im... Improbability factor: th...three-thousand seven hundred twenty... to one."

> ...Things start to get weird. You're pretty sure you're sinking into the floor.

So with this unlimited simulataneous action, we could hypothetically do something like:
"A punching, eye-gougeing, elbow, while doing a kneeing kick, and a biting headbutt" ? With similar actions for all limbs?

> Yes. However, the quality of each action will deteriorate as more actions are added, if such maneuvers are performed without specialised Moves or Stances.

[Hello Purvis]

>Do we still have a hold on her, post suplex?