Zhai Liang (FIN)

History:


Li was born into a low-class family that never had much to their names. His mother had never worked and his father rarely held on to jobs for long, often taking low-paid and easy-hiring positions just to barely make ends meet. As a result, Li never received a higher level education, and the tension and stress his family always went through caused them to drift apart even under the same roof. He was never close with either one of them, and while deep down they did indeed care for him, they never formed a strong and out in the open relationship as a family. Arguments were fairly common, and the only time Li really enjoyed himself was when he was at school. Living in a lower-class district put a curb on how effective the education actually was, but he learned enough to get by well enough. He began to find more and more reasons to stay at school rather than home and sought to fill up his free time with extracurricular activities, and the one that had sparked his interest the most was a junior martial arts club. He performed odd jobs and errands all around town to save up enough money for his entry fee, and things really began to take off from that point forward. While he had a hard time grasping basics, he had an excellent tutor who refused to let him give up. He often had many one-on-one lessons with this tutor and began consecutively winning sparring matches.

He began to spend more and more time at the club until it began to bother his parents. Their concern was in equal parts relieving and insulting; they hadn't been a large part of his life up until their decision to forbid him going back to the club in favor of soon joining his father doing under-the-table work, but he disregarded their opinion and continued to do what he loved, much to their annoyance. At this point he was barely home at all, sometimes even staying at the club after hours and sleeping in the equipment rooms. When he was thirteen years old, this finally came to a boiling point with his family and a large fight resulted in an ultimatum; leave, or focus on his education to prepare to work with his father. Li chose the former, and soon found himself homeless. His education for the most part ended here; he allowed his grades to slip in favor of doing what he wanted to do, and practically lived at the martial arts club. That is, until one day, his tutor decided to introduce him to the man that had trained him. He lived in a run-down dojo outside of town tucked away in the hills, and while at first their relationship was extremely rocky due to Li's anger and frustrations the man accepted Li as a student and allowed him to live there with him. What had been considered advanced at the martial arts club with his tutor were easier than what could be considered basic under this new teacher's guidance, and it was here that Li's real skill in martial arts came into full bloom. He learned the martial arts that he still puts to use today, and as the days passed, the two formed a strong family bond over time; the old master never had a family of his own, and as far as Li was concerned, he didn't either. He took on his teacher's last name upon graduating from his training, but continued to live under the same roof regardless. For once, he felt he had a true home and somewhere he really did belong.

A year ago, his master unfortunately fell ill. While Li did everything he could, the sickness worsened and he was faced with the inevitable; his master passed away in the comfort of the dojo he'd always been so proud of. Burying him on its grounds, Li felt more driven than ever to carry on the sole thing in his life that truly mattered to him. He decided he would return the dojo to its former glory and one day possibly even take on students of his own, but he realizes that the road to mastery has only just begun. It will be a long time before he is ready for such a task, but lately has taken to repairing and rebuilding the dojo that doubles as his home. After his master's passing, he disregarded his given name in favor of the name he shared with his mentor and role model. Now, he trains himself harder than ever to push the limits of martial arts prowess. He has mostly taken to wandering in search of what life can bring, and keeps his eyes focused on his goal of restoring his master's legacy while traveling the land to become stronger.




Starting Planet: Earth


Techniques:



Offensive


[N1] Explosive Palm: This is the last technique of his dojo taught to students deemed to have exceptional potential. The user channels their ki into the striking arm in a loose and relaxed stance, forming a pea-sized ball of ki in the center of the palm. They will then flick this palm upward to intercept or strike the opponent and flood their ki into the construct, causing it to expand into a beach ball sized orb of ki that grinds into and concusses the opponent before blowing them away with a large amount of force. This technique is mostly used as a counter-attack after a successful evasion, striking at an opponent's vulnerable opening in their offense to reverse the pressure of a fight and deal a surprising amount of damage. The discipline and form of this technique has inspired him to revive his ''family'' dojo using it as a baseline for further techniques. 

[UP2] Tiger King Impact: Liang has now developed the technique for more power, causing the center of the orb when expanded to hollow out somewhat and resemble the jaws of a beast. This new shape and larger form allows it to coil into an opponent, concussing them repeatedly and more closely before launching them away. A 66% PL attack.

[MP3] Tiger King Fist: Zen Impact: The mastered technique that Li's sensei didn't live long enough to create, and his answer to carrying his Master's legacy. The Tiger King Impact is now charged in both hands, both hollowed-out orbs combining to create one massive complete one. Extending his arms fully and locking his elbows, the large orb will expand into a huge dome of energy enveloping Liang and his opponent; the technique is complicated in the sense that it contains an ''eye'' much like a storm. The ''eye'' is located in Li's immediate body-centered position of the dome, while the rest of the dome is considered the ''storm' itself. The enemy is battered by an area-enveloping attack; as the energy grinds against the opponent, it feeds back into the ''eye'' position, is recycled, and flowed back through to continue the assault. When the technique ends, the ''storm'' area of the dome detonates, causing heavy blunt trauma and possible burning as the opponent is launched away. (Note much of the description is just fancy flavoring. I decided to go nuts because this has had a lot of build-up in character ). A 100% PL attack.

[N1] Tiger Style Martial Arts: Liang's personal martial arts system handed down to him by his beloved Master. By infusing his chi into his striking limbs, he is capable of causing incredible damage through the myriad of uncanny and explosively powerful maneuvers. Charges at 33% PL.

[UP2] Wild Tiger Martial Arts: By focusing even more chi into his striking limbs and performing more advanced and more damaging maneuvers, Liang can boost the power of his chi-enhanced martial arts to charge at 66% of his PL. This technique is also capable of splitting strikes between multiple opponents.

[MP3] Beast King Martial Arts: By keeping his body and chi in perfect harmony, Liang can maximize his flow of his energy to enable his chi-enhanced martial arts to strike at a staggering 100% PL per charge. Only the deadliest moves are reserved for this deepest level of his martial arts form. Like the previous technique, this one is also capable of splitting.

[N1] Mystic Shot: Charged and manifested in a similar fashion as his Explosive Palm, the orb of ki is instead kept resting in his palm. He then throws the exploding orb at an enemy, causing a concussive impact and resulting explosion. The Mystic Shot is a blue-colored, roughly beach-ball sized construct of ki.

[UP2] Mystic Bomber: An upgraded form of the Mystic Shot, the first projectile Liang ever learned. The orb grows in size, going moderately past a beach-ball before it is fired with one hand in a large explosion after concussing the opponent. Charges at 66%.

[MP3] Mega Mystic Cannon: The fully mastered version of Mystic Shot. The orb now crackles with volatile chi electricity, swelling up to over twice the size of a beach ball and compressing an insane amount of destructive force into its construct. The explosion released on impact is massive. This technique charges at 100% PL.

[UP2] Soul Stream: An unguided but much more powerful version of Soul Sparks, where Liang lashes his palms together in front of his body to let loose a storm of energy orbs against an opponent. Charges at 66% per turn. This technique is often used to deadly effect as a shotgun-style burst of energy at close range. The PL is split between the shots fired.

[V2] Soul Sparks: An offshoot of his Mystic Shot and Mystic Chaser abilities, Liang will form the Shot, which then promptly splits into a desired number of orbs. The orbs will float around his person, evenly dispersed in power, and with the help of the Third Eye opening the way to psychic-like ability, he can direct them without motion to attack or intercept attacks, which is their variant ability; remote control. He can use these, for example, to aid him in combinations in melee combat, or to punch through basic ki blasts. Combined and of sufficient PL, they can strike against oncoming attacks as well, though obviously this destroys the orbs. He has a total of 33% PL to disperse among the orbs per charge.

[UV3] Soul Salvo: The mastered form of Soul Sparks, which allows Liang to charge it at a faster rate. It now has 66% PL per charge to disperse among the orbs. It works in the same way; the summoned orbs bludgeon against his mentally-tacked targets before detonating, allowing him to push the opponent around in certain situations while damaging them.

[V2] Mystic Chaser:  Finely tuning his control of ki by using his Mystic Shot as his practice instrument, he has learned to control it after launching it at an opponent. Unlike a Spirit Ball, it is colored blue, and also unlike a Spirit Ball it is incapable of bludgeoning an opponent before exploding. It is an ''all go, no show'' technique, designed to surprise an opponent and damage them in the same instance when they carelessly dodge it once and stop worrying about it. It should be noted that this is not a ''Homing'' style technique; it must be manually controlled by Liang through physical movements, and if these movements are disrupted for any reason the construct detonates on the spot.

[UV3] Super Mystic Chaser: This technique is a direct upgrade to Liang's Mystic Chaser. While still carrying the properties that allows it to be precisely controlled and detonating on impact, the energy the Chaser contains is strengthened and refined, causing the sphere to enlarge and crackle with white electricity. It now strikes with 66% PL instead of 33%, while also still capable of being controlled finely by Liang.

[N1] Breeze Splitting Claw: Through intense chi manipulation, Liang is capable of manifesting a pair of ki claws from both of his hands to slash opponents. These can also be used as flavor weapons when he desires a more lethal option than the Satya Yuga staff. Charges at 33%.

[UP2] Wind Slicing Claw: A direct improvement to the Breeze Splitting Claw, the claws that manifest spring into existence faster, are more durable, and hold a more refined edge. With a claw on each hand, this technique is capable of splitting but only once. Charges at 66% PL.

[MP3] Whirlwind Carving Claw: The maximized form of Breeze Splitting Claw, the edges are honed to a razor's bite, the claws spring forth instantaneously, and they are extremely durable. Again, with a claw on each hand this technique is capable of splitting but only once. Charges at 100% PL.

[V2] Stone Slicing Claw: In this variant that charges at 33% PL, the blades of the claws become more narrow and end in sharper points while the rest of the constructs remain more fragile. This is a Piercing Variant, allowing the claws to strike simultaneously (no Splitting) to combine their new shape in order to shred through the PL of barriers and defenses by half.

[UV3] Mountain Carving Claw: The maximized variant of Stone Slicing Claw, the constructs become durable, the blades elongate and taper off to a narrow, ultra-sharp point, and the claws strike together at 66% PL per charge (again, no Splitting). This is a Piercing Variant like the one before it, ignoring half of a barrier's PL.

[N1] Soul Parry: With his new heightened control of chi thanks to his Third Eye mutation, Liang is capable of shelling his body within a field of hardened energy. This is a Barrier that charges at 33%, and any bleed-through damage is halved.

[UP2] Soul Deflect: With training, the thickness of the chi woven into Soul Parry is skyrocketed. This increased output allows it to charge at 66% PL, and as a Barrier, any bleed-through damage is halved.

[MP3] Soul Force: With mastery comes maximized output and not an ounce of wasted energy. Soul Force charges at 100% PL, and as a Barrier, is capable of halving any damage that bleeds through it.

[N1] Soul Ember: Liang's connection to his Third Eye has given way to a heightened mastery of chi manipulation. He can form an ember of ''raw chi'', that is, a spiritual construct with no hardened shape or form. Often forming at the tip of a finger, a knuckle, or in his palm, he can supplement his strikes with this ember, causing 33% damage on contact.

[V2] Soul Flame: The Soul Flame is the heightened form of Soul Ember, where its usage takes a drastic turn. Liang can now coat an entire hand or foot in the flame, and after striking an opponent he leaves the impact zone alight with the raw chi, causing 33% PL damage per charge, dealt over the course of three turns. (Example: Turn 1 11%, Turn 2 11%, Turn 3 11%)

[UV3] Soul Wildfire: Now able to manifest the flame as a coating to his entire body, he transfers all of it in one strike at the opponent, even capable of lashing it off of his body completely for a strike with far extended range. The spiritual flame will engulf the struck enemy, causing 66% damage per charge over three turns. (Example: Turn 1 22%, Turn 2 22%, Turn 3 22%)

Support


[SU] Flight: The ability to fly by using Ki to levitate. This was the second ability he learned from his dojo before it became condemned.

[SU] Ki Sense: Simply the common ability to sense the power signatures of others. Ever since he was a child, he could almost naturally feel the energies of others around him, which was fine tuned during his years of training.

[SU] Ki Suppression: The ability to mask one's actual power by lowering its output, effectively hiding the user's actual strength. Li can hide up to half of his energy at tier one.

[SU2] Advanced Suppression: Instead of merely hiding their actual power, the user has learned to fight at the level they suppress themselves to. This allows them to play into a more convincing facade against opponents, or train with those that they may seriously injure otherwise. It also works as a form of comfort control; instead of merely hiding output, Li reduces his output entirely while this technique is active putting less stress on his body than always being at full strength. He is able to, at maximum with this technique, fully suppress three fourths of his energy. It should be noted however that Liang cannot disguise the actual power level of a technique that he launches. However, if he is fighting at a suppressed level which technique grants him the ability to do, he can launch a technique at his restrained strength but he cannot change the strength of the technique after he launches it.



Example of what he can NOT do: Launching a technique which appears to have extremely low PL, when it is as strong as his full powered value. He can not ''cloak'' a technique to make someone believe they can swat it out of the way or shrug it off with a giggle when in reality it would cause serious damage.



What he CAN do: Fight at a suppressed level, then release his full strength to launch a technique as a surprise attack. A lag effect can occur, such as "right as his fist flew through the air, his ki spiked to maximum!" or something similar. This gives the technique usage as part of a surprise attack strategy.

[SU] Afterimage Technique: The ability to move at a speed faster than the eye can track, leaving behind a momentary illusion of the user in their wake to deceive opponents and also serving as a crafty evasive maneuver. Dodges at 100% for 1 KP. 

[SU2] Orange Shift: A stage two evasive technique. Focusing his energy internally and flooding his leg muscles with chi, Liang is capable of a burst of rapid movement that creates several Afterimages at the point of origin, who then split away in opposite directions from the origin point. He is capable of using high-speed movement to swap places with one of these Afterimages. It is essentially a small squad's worth of copies that have a recorded basic movement. creating Costs 2 KP, a 200% evasion.

[SU3] Orange Drift: In similar fashion to Orange Shift, Liang internalizes his energy but uses it for a moderated but highly tuned output. The result is a breakneck dash of Afterimages that trail off of his body and follow out his recorded movements, almost as if they were one ''frame'' at a time. Essentially creating a larger volume of Afterimages with still basic recorded actions, only these actions come as a follow-up reaction of his own physical form. At any point, he can use high-speed movement to shift places with a copy still in the trail before it fades away. A stage three evasive technique costing 3 KP, dodging 300%.

[SU] Rite of Postponement: With his newly heightened ki manipulation, Liang is capable of charging energy for first-tier attacks. When the time is right, he is capable of switching to his desired technique in a flash to release that energy.

[SU2] Rite of Postponement: Like the previous technique, Liang can now not only charge first-tier attacks in this manner, but second-tier attacks as well.

[SU3] Rite of Postponement: Like the previous two techniques, Liang can now disguise the charging of first, second, and third tier techniques, excluding Ultimates and Specials.

[UT] True Sight: By training his use of his Third Eye, Liang has a heightened visual awareness. Not only is his cone of vision naturally expanded by a large margin, but he can also perceive heightened high-speed movement, allowing him to more easily track enemies that perform Afterimages and see through techniques that work off of illusion. Hypnosis and such techniques fool him only briefly. Against techniques that affect the mind or senses, their duration is shortened, and he can more accurately track opponents using evasive techniques, more easily predicting their point of arrival. Opponents significantly stronger than him can still slip past his sight, however. This technique allows him to move each of his three eyes independently, allowing him to track multiple objects or people by vision alone. This is a non-tiered support/utility tech that's mostly for flavor.

[UT] Chi Breathing: This technique allows Liang to survive in the vacuum of space by liquefying the oxygen in his lungs and regulating it with a minimal though balanced output of chi. Using this technique, he can survive in space or the outer atmosphere of a planet for around two days, allowing him to battle opponents in these outlandish locales or survive what would be a slow death of suffocation after a planet is destroyed.

Transformations:


Mastered Focus: Tapping into a wellspring of humanity's potential, Liang has mastered his fight-or-flight Intense Struggle state. No longer causing grievous injury by exhaustion, he can enable this at will. When active, his aura spikes and flares in waves of white, his power output increases threefold, and his muscles become more toned without adding much bulk.

Ro'Shi: By intricately weaving ki through his body's energy network, Liang laces each and every muscle in his body with chi causing muscle fibers to expand and harden. He bulks up significantly in this state, adding weight through sheer muscle. What comes as the most surprising fact is that while this looks like a bulking technique, all of his physical parameters are increased sixfold, as well as his energy output.

Eye Of The Tiger: An extremely rare genetic mutation in Liang's ancestry, the Eye hasn't been seen by his family in many generations. Those few who walked the path of a warrior often carried it as a recessive trait, while those where the trait was dominant never unlocked the mutation, namely because of their mostly civilian lives. The Eye is located on Liang's forehead, an orange color to it as opposed to his natural brown eyes. The Eye opens up supreme avenues for chi potential in human beings, and caused a massive spike in fighting strength for the young man. Not only does it increase his energy level sixteen-fold, it has also become his new base form to build further from.


Special



Items: 1000 Zenni
(500 base, plus 500 human bonus)
One-Use Pod[/div]

Note on name pun: An ''i'' has been added to ''Zha'' to make ''Zhai''. When dropped back off and his two names are read together, it refers to Zhaliang, a chinese dish consisting of wrapping a steamed rice roll around youtiao, or fried dough.