Birthday Boogaloo, Part Twogaloo
[QUOTE=MrSandman;4022329]Chrona watched quietly as they dig out the rubble.....and at their speed it wasn't long before they bore fruit.
"Gah.....my magicite hip..." Zaofan discovered the White and Red Etrinas under some broken dishware and an overturned shelf. The white one had been pinned between the shelf and the floor while the red had somehow managed to remain completely untouched...as if the house had collapsed around her and not on her.
Ishtar Found the Blue Etrina cowering under a pile of books she had seemingly been reading at the time, and had made a sort of makeshift defense when things started collapsing around her. Not wishing to lose face...the Mini-Blue put an exasperated expression on. "....Well....this is indeed a mess worthy of Erosa...."
The Green Etrina....was already outside and sitting on Chronas Shoulder when they got to turning their attention back to her. Both were eating popcorn and had a general look of being comrades in arms in general laziness.[/QUOTE]
Ishtar gave the blue Etrina, a small pat on the head when she was found. "I consumed the energy hidden away at the core of Parsic, too. Without Erosa around at current, who else would have ?"
Pausing a moment as Zaofan discovered the others however, the Oni sighed.
"That said ... You need to help the Cookman find his love. I should not like to see him a loss so similar to mine; and while I could simply hunt her down. I feel this is not for me to do."
Turning to Chrona, then, the Oni flashed an almost pleasant smile.
"Hello, dear step-sister. How goes your gambit ?"
Zaofan and the Demon Lord Ryu Shingen
OOC: please feel free to step in with corrections if I've misread the situation, Cyke.
[QUOTE=Cyke;4020510]
"Wha-wait - WAIT!" Toh Magoh's feet flap almost amusingly in the air, his desperate grip on Ochazuke's pull, all for naught considering the rather sizeable gap in power between the two of them. Toh Magoh naturally attempts the [B]Shiyoken Four Arms[/B] technique, with two hands attempting to resist the pull while another two attempt to pummel Ochazuke to let go, all to no avail. If there was ever a better example of how truth overpowers lies, this would be it. " If he wasn't in the air, the fraud of the Neo Crane would get on his knees if he could. "Alright ALRIGHT! I'm no Crane! Bu-but Zaofan saved me! Honest!"[/QUOTE]
Ochazuke's face was stock still, even as the self-aggrandized Crane Elder sprout two more withered wings. As Toh Magoh's flailing limbs that swung and beat listlesly upon his arm with a desperate fury, his composure seemed to dissolve completely with his facade.
"What a sad display. Two limbs or four, that is immaterial if you can never reach your opponent."
[I]This useless, stupid remnant. All spectacle.[/I] He wondered if this parlour trick was how this fraud picked his marks among those who wished to learn from him.
[QUOTE]A-and I know Chahan![/QUOTE]
At the mention of the Old Master's name, his grip only tightened and his eyes widened.
"Then you know well, 'brother', that there is only one Master among the Crane that they may call 'Sensei'," he said, [B]Karura no Kaen*[/B] resolving around his fist, burning invisibly at the Pretender's living energy, "And he does not share power or tolerate weakness."
An unspoken fury fell from him, a raw, hate-filled gaze, so eerily like the Grand Master's. "A Crane who cannot use his wings is like a man who is too stupid to draw a breath. Beggars of the merciful [I]deserve no pity.[/I]"
The fire burned with a spectral heat that went beyond his old, frail frame, and yet it took from Toh Magoh only the remnants of that wicked shroud that surrounded him with blooded fear; the energy that appeared to manifest itself there on their mutual foe opposite among the Lookout. Next, Ochazuke expanded his field of sense-awareness, and imbuing Toh Magoh and himself heightened focus through [B]Kei'i-ken**[/B], loaning him a portion of resolve to cut through his blubbering.
"You taught him everything he knows? He must have been a poor learner, then," he grunted, "if a student has learned [I]nothing [/I], what does that say about his teacher?"
He pulled him in close so that they were face-to-face, standing sideways before the battle.
"Zaofan saved you, and you think only to save yourself while he continues to fight, content to rest upon the laurels of others," he said, "You are a man of much stolen valour, but neither sensei, nor Crane, or brother do I see here. So what are you?"
Shifting his weight, Ochazuke twist at the weight and pitched Toh Magoh by the collar straight towards Ryu Shingen.
"Make your choice!"
[SIZE=1]*Ochazuke has removed Toh Magoh from the influence of Shinku no Mato's magical connection
** Ochazuke has hurled Toh Magoh toward the battlefield with increased accuracy; the efficacy of the latter's next action has also been increased[/SIZE]
[QUOTE=Cyke;4022194]
Meanwhile, Zaofan's stance grows stronger, refreshed, reinvigorated. "My thanks, Ishtar...!"
Even with the Wolf's Prowl fading away, he summons his own speed and instead activates the Bear's Strength, which increases his physical strength three-fold. He manages to fly into the path of the sword slash with Bojack, holding steady with the block well before it can reach Sarada and Ishtar, forcing both himself and Shingen to apply both arms to their weapons.
Struggling now in a fierce competition of strength, Zaofan turns to face them. "Hello, friends! Be my guest!" He motions with his nose and mouth, pointing at the now-exposed armored torso of Shingen, presenting the opening like a gift.[/QUOTE]
When Zaofan braced the opened armor of the Dark Shogun, Ochazuke made his mark. Concealed in the Pretender Crane's trajectory, he threw his right hand forward, carrying upon an iron wind the paired palms of [URL="https://i.imgur.com/8BnIGsI.jpg"][B]Kongosho [/B][/URL] that struck at Ryu Shingen's frame, aiming to separate the blood-drunk man from the power of his shadowy patron.