Ryukuza Barrier Combat

BARRIER COMBAT

This little primer isn't required reading at all, and you'll do perfectly fine in Ryukuza Quest without having ever opened this little note and perusing its contents.  But if you have done so, you will be at a definite advantage in Barrier Combat.

Part of the problem of being a dragonette (or an oni-child, but they don't count) is that you're superhumanly destructive, because, well, dragon.  But because you're soaked in human flesh and blood, you can't step into the real spirit world and cut loose with chi and faster-than-light swordplay and You're-Already-Dead mystic powahs.

Luckily, the kami have set aside a nice little place for you to take out all those hormonally charged aggressions that won't wreck the world too much while not forcibly ripping your poor soul out of its nice little house and making you a ghost.

A Barrier is an enclosed area between the real world and the spirit world.  There is nothing alive in them except what you take into it, and ordinary humans and animals don't usually count for anything in one anyways.  There is no wind or water movement, time stands still, and you can see magic quite obviously regardless of how it looks in the real world.  It can extend for as little as a room, or envelope and entire city.  The creator has total control over the Barrier's existence and unless they are rendered unconscious, any half-breed trapped inside is stuck there unless they can find a border and break through (easier said than done).  Half-demons often like to set up a Barrier then leave, trapping other half-breeds in the Barrier for what seems like days, but can be as little as a few minutes to as long as several hours.

The general scale for power among the spirit-born is so:

WEAKSAUCE:
Witches, spiritualists, magicians, sorcerers, priests.
AVERAGE:
Half-demons, oni-childs, dragonettes and dragonnes, youkai-tainted, demigods.
TOUGHER THAN YOU BUT YOU'LL KICK ITS ASS ANYWAYS:
Oni, Youkai, Kami, Demons, Ghosts.
FUCK NO!
Gods, True Dragons, Great Kami, Devils.

The half-breeds are associated with a single element, while the more powerful non-deities have multiple elemental associations and therefore lack an exploitable weakness in a Barrier.

While the real world is represented inside a Barrier, any destruction, no matter how violent it is, is temporary and not reflected in the real world.  When the Barrier is taken down, the world returns to what it was like before the Barrier was erected.  However, the damage to the buildings and landscape is spiritual in nature, and eventually will come to pass in some fashion or another.  Crashing through a window may result in a crack appearing in the real world, or a baseball being hit through it; burning down a house might result in a gas explosion, or it may be condemned and bulldozed.  Cutting a tree down with a sword might result in termites or rot setting in, or a car may smash into it.

Random acts of destruction in Barriers are noticed by the Kami, and they might tell your folks, so watch it!

While each elemental force has it's own set of powers and abilities inside a Barrier, We'll concentrate on the only one that matters – Ryukusa's.

Despite her boisterous, energetic demeanor, Ryukusa is a creature of Water.  Her powers are deadly, thoughtful, and clever.  Water is penetrating, which means she can usually find a way to pierce most defenses even outside a barrier, and often she will come up with alternative options in situations that benefit her despite being less than stellar choices normally (Classy-Cute Business Short-Yukata!).  This also means she is weak to Stone, strong against Fire, and closely matched against Void and Wood.  Being a dragonette, this gives her power over winds and rain and storms, though she cannot control lightning strikes in a storm (no one can – even those who use Void can only create their own).

Ryukusa has five 'styles' she can chose from in Barrier Combat.  Outside of a Barrier, she is basically limited to Style and Sword, or a weaker version of Scales and Claws, or minor weather control, but she won't have access to any of the powerful abilities they grant inside a Barrier.  But she can shoot someone instead.

>>Razor Wit and Cold Heart.
Physical attacks are nothing compared to the malicious words and cruel thought. Pain and suffering are meaningless when you have no heart.
>>Scales and Claws.
You are a dragon; your claws can slice through steel and your scales are impenetrable. The air and the water are your battlefields.
>>Storm and Wind.
The purest form of your elemental self - the power of wind and water to utterly destroy all before you.
>>Style and Sword.
You are swift and your panache unmatchable. Your weapons are invincible and you can bring down the stoutest of foes with grace.
The Deadliest Smile
>Your love is pure, unassailable, and generous, even in battle.  All that would harm it shall be destroyed utterly if they will not yield.

In Barrier Combat, Ryukusa will be presented with her choice of the above options first.  Then, she will be given five related choices to visit ruin and destruction upon her hapless and worthless foes!  Each one has a florid description, but is basically what it says on the tin.  For example, she might select Style and Sword, and be presented with One Hundred Thousand Papercuts, Shield of Infinite Blades, Feet Never Upon the Earth, or Silk and Satin are Iron and Steel.  The fourth one is based on one of the five Elements, and they will be presented in order – Wood, Fire, Stone, Void, and Water.  Each one is both an attack and a defense, which is partly dependent upon what your enemy is trying to do to you and partly upon your goal in the fight.  They choices change, but the overall effectiveness does not. Usually there will be two of each part of her choices (stylish choices, and sword choices, in this case).

If she were to use Feet Never Touch the Earth, she would most likely leap from where she was to the nearby buildings, rocks, trees, powerlines, walls, and kick the everliving shit out of whatever her opponent was while dodging innumerable attacks.  While elements make a difference, so can experience, power, and biology – kicking an oni-child a dozen times with Feet Never Touch The Earth is a lot like hitting a punching bag, and they don't really care that much; a dragonette is just going to close one eye, suffer a couple of slight cuts, and give you a glare if you use One Hundred Thousand Papercuts.  Generally, terribad choices wont show up like that.  You're clever, not retarded.  And maybe a little schizophrenic, but fuck it.

Should her opponent survive her first onslaught, she will then be offered one less choice, usually more of the kind she did not use before and less of the kind she has, and they will be significantly more powerful than her previous choices.  For example, if she were using Scale and Claws, her second tier choices against a half-demon might be Rend to the Very Bones, Coiling Scales of Sapphire and Diamonds, and Boundless Strength of the Ancestors, along with an ability of Fire instead of Wood.  Needless to say, this will usually seriously fuck up an opponent while giving her much better defenses.

By this point, however, she will have also used a significant portion of her life force in doing so – unlike a true spirit or kami, Ryukusa has severe limitations on how much of her life force she can burn because her human body runs off of it, unlike kami flesh....this comes out to roughly a sixth for the first tier, a fifth for second tier, a fourth or more for the third tier, and if she has to push to fourth tier, she's soending enough that she is risking exhaustion.  If she has to push to Fifth Tier, then she's in serious danger of a coma, or worse sorts of self-injury; even immortals can harm themselves badly.

While she recovers Shen quickly (and there are ways of doing so faster if her imoutos, minions, or pets are handy!), the elements she is fighting will have more or less drain, and she can be hurt much more easily outside the Barrier for a while – even by humans.

If Ryukusa's enemy has made it to the  third attack, then Ryukusa is in deep trouble.  She'll only have three choices, and those will be freakin' deadly-powerful.  For Razor Wit and Cold Heart, she might have the choice of You Have Shamed All Who Have Come Before you and Are A Curse upon Those Who Come After, or There Is Nothing But Pain In Life And You Are As Nothing In Comparison.  The first is such a cruel, hateful barb that you might destroy all sense of self worth in a person (better hope those psychotherapy bills don't get sent to Ryo Clan), and the second is such a glaring contempt and disdain for the opponent they may fly into a self-destructive frenzy and suicide themselves against your uncaring and unresisting frame.

Hopefully though, the opponent has been beaten, and one choice will be a graceful ending to the fight, and the other a powerful punishment against the loser that decided you needed to fuck them up.  If there are more than just two choices, then the others will often be humiliating  and firm reminders that you're the bitch in charge.  Choosing to end the battle without killing them will weaken or lower the Barrier and leave your opponent at your mercy, often wounded and suffering, but otherwise unharmed; the other choice is a mystical and spiritual punishment that places the opponent under your power, to do with as you will.  You will be able to call upon them at any time or place and demand their obedience and power.

Needless to say doing that sort of thing is really bad karma usually, and it will always fuck up the person you did it to; it will often permanently scar them physically or psychically, or worse, spiritually.

One hopes that it never comes to pass, but if Ryukusa faces a powerful opponent – such as an Earth dragonette or a incredibly powerful and experienced Fire oni-child, or an actual Kami, Youkai, or Demon -  then she will only have one choice left.  It will burn off most of her remaining life force, leaving her weak and vulnerable after, but it is the ultimate form of the destructor.  In the case of Storm and Wind, this will usually be The Tsunami Rising from the Abyssal Depths, or The Wrathful Heavens Descend Upon Earth.  Names change, but the end result is the same – one last chance to utterly destroy your enemy, and probably a good section of whatever city you might have been inside when the Barrier went up.  Even threatening to use it may cause an enemy to capitulate, but that doesn't mean they don't have a trump card of their own they might decide to use on you.

Of course, you could – GASP! – relent or give up before you reach that point, which means you'll be alive and not entirely worthlessly exhausted, but we all know Ryukusa better than that.

One of the two most important things to remember about Barrier Combat is that while Ryukusa is obviously deadly and powerful, so are every single one of her opponents who can engage in it.  Her battle with the oni-chick Yui could have gone quite differently if Yui had decided offense>defense.  The other thing to remember is that death is a very real possibility in such fights, even by accident – as Ryukusa-chan found out when she nearly drowned Yui.  If Yui had dropped Ryukusa into the Void itself, she might have suffocated to death before she escaped, and even if she had escaped she might have suffered harrowing side effects – burst blood vessels, damaged lungs, or even permanently injured chi.

And finally, there are two other situations of note in Barrier Combat.

The weaksauce witches, spiritualists, and other annoyances only start off with three of their slotted attacks/defenses; True Dragons, Kami, and Devils have FIVE.  The scale is absolute – even though a spiritualist has three choices, they're as powerful as your first tier four-slot choices, while the two-fourth tier choices a Devil has are equal to yours, and they have one beyond that as well.  The weaksauce group does have an advantage or two – they aren't always bound by elemental limitations,  and they can get together with friends and drop a Barrier on you then hammer you with a group spell.  Likewise, the real powers-that-be aren't supposed to fuck with humans, and despite your heritage you're still pretty human, so they're not likely to assault you directly (though you can bet that they might talk to your dad....or worse....Oba-chan).

Barrier combat isn't going to happen too often, but when it does, this little guide may help make it that much more enjoyable for you.

~Xiombarg's Storyteller

Addendum:  These are the technique listings for the other dragonettes in Ryukusa's circle, as well as for Yui.  Yui's techniques are different as she is not a dragonette.


Matagama Kiku's Barrier Techniques:

>>Hot Blood and Burning Words.
Your enemy cannot inflict harm that you cannot ignore.  Your words will burn the very life from him.
>>Scales and Claws.
You are a dragon.  Your claws are diamonds forged in volcanoes and your scales are forged in the sun and tempered in acid.
>>Fire and Smoke.
The purifying, destructive flames of your Element combined with the choking ash and poisonous smoke it creates represent your purest Elemental self.
>>Speed and Skill.
Nothing moves as swiftly as fire can consume, and your martial arts are invincible regardless of your stature.

Hebiki Akari's Barrier Combat Techniques

>>Impenetrable and Inscrutable.
You are stone given life, unbreakable and invulnerable.  Your mind and heart are the darkest secret the earth can keep.
>>Scales and Claws.
Your scales are as sharp as razors, and your claws rend the very fabric of of the world, oh dragon.
>>Stone and Earth.
The earth itself will swallow your enemies, and it's bones and teeth will rise up to smite your foes as your Elemental nature demands.
>>Strength and Movement.
You are the immovable object, the unstoppable force.  The strength of the world is infinite in scope and marvelous in breadth.

Er Yin Long's Barrier Combat Techniques

>>Empty Body, oh Doomsayer.
Your words are curses that flay the spirit, your body is as emptiness to the enemy's assault.
>>Scales and Claws.
The living metal of your flesh is your armor and your weapon; your claws have the delicacy of a scalpel or the brutality of a maul as you desire.
>>Void and Sky.
Air and Metal are yours to use as you see fit, and the lightnings and the thunder are weapons enough to slay armies; the emptiness of the world is filled with your Element.
>>The Way and the Art.
The you move with the Tao, and none can interfere; there is no weapon which you do not own, no tool you cannot use, no movement that is not yours.

Kumatori Kiki's Barrier Combat Techniques

>>Like the Felled Tree, Words; Against the Forest, a Single Blade.
Your body is as the forest, the fields, the flowers....what is but a single blade?  Your words fall like the felling of the great trees, crushing your foes heart and soul.
>>Scales and Claws.
The sharpest axe can only bite so deep into the wood before being caught; stone, flesh, bone, metal, all crumble under the grip of root and branch.
>>Root and Branch.
The living branch, the tangled root, the blade of grass, the petals that fall....all are yours to command.  Paper, staff; sheaf, rod; beam, timber....all that mortals craft, you control.
>>Taihenjutsu and Bo and Bow.
The art of the Bo and the art of the Bow is at your fingertips and unerring in your skill; the way of the body is movement, and all movement of the body is perfection.

Yui's Barrier Combat Techniques.

>>Angry Face
RAWR, you worthless mongoloid cretin!
>>Blood and Bone.
YUI SMASH(ed)!
>>Thunder Drummer.
Call the wind, throw the lightning, make thunder, drink the sake, breathe fire!
>>Sumai no Sechie
Sumo slaps and sumo throws, Yui wins everyone knows!