A/N: As usual, before we get to the dialogues, we have to go through Kombatant Koncepts. This time, we'll focus on the Shio Family. Since I have a lot to say about the family patriarch, let's get the easier Shio out of the way first.

Shio Kimura, the Kabuki Samurai of the Full Moon.

Kim was made to add some levity to the story since the general atmosphere was growing quite dark. From the moment it was revealed that Jerrod killed Okada and Joseph, it just got worse. Think about it. Jerrod's revealed crimes, Mai, explaining the Maddox Family Massacre, Jade's scars, Ilah Soul Trapping herself, Dakini's origins, Jade and Callie arguing, Jade's torture at Ko'atal and Tanya's hands, Jade's attempted suicide, Xan's origins, and his attempted Seppuku. It was getting out of hand. So, I made Kim the light at the end of the tunnel.

The first OC introduced that doesn't have a tragic backstory. The darkest it got for her was when she was abandoned. However, she found a new loving parent in Xan and a loving parental figure in Ivy. Even Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi helped them raise her, so they've been close to Kim since she was little. Considering that she's 150 and will be 175 in Arc V when it begins, she's known them for a long time.

Kim was always going to be in the story, and after I introduced Xan, she would be his daughter. Her origin went through a developmental stage before I decided on her final version and attitude. Had I went with the original version, she wouldn't be human.

She'd be an Edenian.

Orphaned because of Shao Kahn's constant conquesting, Xan would've found her sitting on the side of one of Edenia's stone roads. She'd be nameless, and as such, Xan named her Kimura. He kept her fed, having pity before directing her to his home in the realm, the same cottage where Mai raised Benji and Callie. In the time skip, Kim learned the way of the sword from him. She would then try out for the Freedom Fighters and did well enough to earn Kitana's personal bodyguard position. She wouldn't be as positive, but just as funny because she would be a ditz outside battle.

The inspiration came from looking at the concept art of Setsuka. (As a fan would do when he's bored) The concept for her P1 outfit in SCIV really caught my attention. The design was terrific where I liked it more than what they went with. So I used it as a base for Kim's appearance. (If you want to see it, here. . /revision/latest?cb=20200828185537) When Kim was introduced, her outfit was a straight reference inspiration. Whether or not I did the description justice or not is subjective. I'll let you all decide that.

As for Kim's attitude, that went through development as well. She wasn't always this happy-go-lucky, carefree woman. But she can still turn you into a shish kebab with minimal difficulty-type character. As I said, she was to be a fish out of the water, slightly stupid due to not having anyone to care for her and having to fend for herself as she matured. It was never intentional. I decided to add some light to the dark tones and origins of the cast, molding her into what she eventually became - a smiling warrior of an enigmatic joy. Kim always prioritizes the joy and happiness of others over her own. Most of all, her father's.

Making Kim a Kabuki Dancer is a reference to Xan's first crush, Izumo no Okuni. He told her about his crush on the inventor of Kabuki Theater, and after moving to the Japanese cities, she joined a troupe. She knows about his first love, Setsuka. In her original version, she used Illusion magic to hide her Monohoshizao as a Paper Umbrella. As such, she would carry it with her without the need to worry people who walked past her.

Back to why I created Kim in the first place. No scene with Kim present is dark for long. Something that leaves her lips is bound to either lighten the mood, make someone laugh, piss someone off, or a combination of the three. This is amazing since I took a unique approach to write dialogue for Kim. Writing her dialogue is like writing narration for the 2nd POV stories. So long as what I have her say makes sense in context to what's happening, I can write nearly anything.

Since Xan taught her for nearly a century, she fights with his teachings in tandem with the Laundry Pole she had him made for her as her 100th birthday present. Since in lore, Xan was the one who invented the Hirazuki technique. Kim also knows how to use it but takes a different approach. I didn't do a good job, but I based her fighting style off some characters from underrated fighters. Her take on the Hirazuki is based on Keiichiro Washizuka and Kojiroh Sanada from the Last Blade 2. The White X technique she used to disorient Shang Tsung comes from their projectile. She adopted the 'Ikken Hissatsu' combat philosophy or 'Kill with One Strike in tandem with that inspiration.' With her skill using her Laundry Pole, she only needs one clean slash to end a confrontation. But she doesn't go for it immediately. Instead, she bides her time using Kabuki motions and physical deception to wear her opponents down. When the moment is at hand, she unleashes the finishing blow. Just look at her confrontation with Shang Tsung for a clear example. She can also freestyle her attacks. Also, notice when Kim made an example of Reptile in her debut chapter.

Can you count the references? Okuni, Setsuka, Washizuka, Kojiroh, Xan. As well as the connection to Rurouni Kenshin, one of my favorite animes of all time. And her attitude is reminiscent of Dante from Devil May Cry.

Now, before the transition, a quick note that you might have concerning Kim. Will she have a romantic partner? I have no clue at this point in time. It's a possibility, but the question would be, who would mix well with her? Plus, her being 150 naturally kinda has ruined her perception of romance. Her standards are a bit high now since she's going to most likely outlive her partner. So the answer is possibly, but don't bet on it.

Despite debuting in this Arc, Kim has become one of my favorite characters to include and write for. And from the things she's done in this Arc, I can tell I'm going to have a field day writing her Arc Dialogues. But let's get to the man who I personally deem the MVP of Arc IV.

Kim's theme song would be: Windmill Isle (Apotos Day)

Shio Xan, the Black Dragon of Osaka, and Edgemaster of Earth's Sun

So, what did I smoke to include Xan, a Soul Calibur OC, as a central cast member in an MK story? In his debut chapter, I said that if the SC fic didn't involve the three most popular females sleeping together, it wouldn't gain traction. (Not an opinion. Ivy, Sophi, and Taki being the most popular SC female characters is a fact) My very first story somehow was an exception. As I improved as a writer, I axed a few chapters before slapping a completed tag on it.

I would do it all over, but since I started writing on FF in High School and used my school email to save the docs, they disappeared when I got my Diploma. They're lost forever. The sequel story was what made me realize it.

Initially, no one was supposed to know of Xan's inclusion, my editor included. By the time I made that decision, I had begun writing the Arc III dialogues. Those took so long, and I got impatient before telling him. I can only imagine his reaction if it went through like how I planned it. Had I thought far enough ahead, I would've included Koga as a primary cast member. However, Xan was established at that point, and adding an OC from another verse would've been overload.

Tales of a Mercenary and Monk was where Xan originally came from. He was a 19-year-old duelist born to an unknown Chinese woman and a Japanese man. Yes, Xan is half Chinese. He doesn't know his birth parents like Kim, yet neither cares. Xan was raised by the Demoness of Kyoto, Mani, who was also a duelist. She went undefeated and was so strong, she offered her hand in marriage to the person who handed her first loss. That day never happened, so Mani died a virgin. Xan turned 18 and completed his training under his mother before joining the Japanese Border Patrol. Due to corruption in Kyoto, he killed the Shogun and was deemed a criminal. He fled to Osaka, where he began dueling for a way to make money.

Eventually, Xan received a fragment of Soul Edge and was marked for death by Nightmare and Inferno. He then met a Monk named Shun, the two going back to China to tell his wife, Kalina. The trio traveled to Osthrheinsburg to confront Nightmare and save their souls.

The trio would then meet Edgemaster, Xianghua (who'd duel for Xan's hand in marriage, a tradition taken from his mother), Seong Mi-Na, Raphael, Amy, Hilde, and Siegfried. All this occurred before the time skip. Then, you know... Oak Trees.

Since you've pnly heard of his closest friends, and their relationships with the Weeping Dragon, I'll go over them. I'll speak on the others who Xan met, what they meant to him, and their (mostly) sad endings. We'll be going in Chronological Order from when they debuted.

Edgemaster, the Master of Edges

Edgemaster was the first established character the pair met in their travels. He temporarily joined them as they met Xianghua and Seong Mi-Na before separating at the Silk Road.

Edgemaster and Katti, a pupil of his, found Xan before Elysium nearly killed him. He began training Xan to fulfill his duty of helping Katti seal the Swords away in the Astral Chaos. After doing so, Xan returned and finished his training to become an Edgemaster.

Edgemaster died shortly after bestowing the title to Xan due to holding it for centuries.

Chai Xianghua, the Heroine of Soul Calibur

Xan's first love. Xianghua met him while Xan traveled with Shun, Kalina, and Edgemaster. The pair dueled for Xan's hand in marriage but lost. After the time skip, she traveled with them before heading back to China. After Abyss perished, she was one of the people who stopped Xan from killing himself. As a result, they spent a few years together before falling in love. One night, Xinanghua made the decision to sleep with Xan before having to marry for political reasons. She wasn't impregnated then, but Kilik had other plans.

Despite not being a royal, Xan visited her often. He became Leixia's Godfather due to earning favor with her husband's family and the royal family. It was revealed that he would've received the blessing to marry her from the Emperor if he started visiting earlier while breaking down mentally.

Xianghua died at the age of 95, surrounded by Xan, her husband, Kilik, Xiba, and Leixia. Xan visits her and Leixia's grave with Kim twice a year.

Kin, the Altruistic Thief

Kin met Xan after separating from the group when they trekked the Silk Road. He disbanded the group of thieves he headed, and with Xan's help, killed them all. After traveling to Romania, Kin disappeared to work for Grandall as a spy before returning to become a member.

He and Taki would eventually fall in love and became a pair during their travels. Indeed the oddest couple, they had rare chemistry. He was also one of the survivors of the Lost Cathedral, bearing witness to Xan's finishing of Abyss. The pair wedded and lived happily for nearly a century and a half until Toki killed Taki. With Xan's help, the couple found Toki and tortured him relentlessly for days before killing him.

Initially, the pair gave birth to a daughter named Tomoe, the Manjitou's newest member. But this isn't the original take.

Kin died a month later after being diagnosed with Tuberculosis, an incurable disease at the time. With Kin's death, Xan was the sole survivor of the Lost Cathedral Battles.

Baba or Barbara, the Barbarian

Baba met Xan when he left the Proving Grounds after completing his training. She wished to make a book chronicling the evils of the Soul Swords and became Xan's new travel partner. Before becoming a Scholar and Author, Baba was an undefeated gladiator at Lakeside as Ivy's number one gladiator, earning mass riches. She married before meeting Xan, but they developed a close bond, considering each other best friends. She kept Xan grounded and was essentially the group Mom, one of the four survivors of the Lost Cathedral Battles. Before going into Astral Chaos, Clair made Baba promise to make sure Xan was always safe. After everything died down, she wrote everything she learned and handed it to her husband, who worked as a publisher. The book became a best seller in England and was shipped en masse all over Europe. As a result of dealing with Soul Edge for so long, the entire group who survived stopped aging physically, Baba included. Her husband wasn't affected and died at 55.

Shortly after that, Baba took her own life. She was only 57, and to this day, her death is the one that hit Xan the hardest. So much so, he picked up her smoking habits and learned how to summon her weapon, the Phantom Edge. He visits her grave with Kim six times a year.

Taki, The Fu-Ma Nukenin

After traveling to Japan and receiving the Jyurakudai Villa, the pair prepared to head to Greece. Taki intercepted them during the night and joined the group forcibly. If Baba didn't check Xan while he did questionable things, Taki did so in her place. Despite this, they got along well and formed a sibling-like bond to the point where Xan called her Senpai. During her travels, she fell in love with the Altruistic Thief, and they became a couple.

After being the fourth and final survivor of the Lost Cathedral Battles, the odd couple of Kin and Taki married. Initially, the pair gave birth to Tomoe, who would become a central character in the sequel story starring Sonia. In this take, as the three remaining survivors grew, she eventually taught Xan how to hunt and kill demons. He showed a rare talent in the art, so she said. One day, the pair chased her personal demon personified, her master, Toki.

Before the pair could kill him, Taki hesitated momentarily, and Toki took advantage and slit Taki's throat. Only through bringing her corpse back to Kin did Xan learn that she was six months with Tomoe. Xan had to comfort Kin for two whole days while he wept and grieved for his dead wife. The pair then hunted the weakened Toki, and after torturing him for days in Aoikigahara, avenged the ninja's death.

Isabella 'Ivy' Valentine, Deliverance Personified

At first, Ivy met Xan as he visited Kalina's grave with Baba and Amy. After paying respects, they traded information and offered Xan's group asylum in her mansion if they found themselves in England. Ivy tipped Xan on Xasalamel's tribe that he was banned from. After Abyss died, the others went back to their regular lives. Xan started spending time with Ivy and did more of it after Baba's suicide.

When Taki and Kin died, Ivy, Xianghua, Edgemaster, and the Twin Deities prevented Xan from committing Seppuku. The next few years, Ivy spent every waking moment with Xan to make sure his mind was fixed. She singlehandedly mended his scarred psyche. Because of it, the pair held an unbreakable bond. They eventually became intimate, but Ivy is still afraid of commitment. Still, Xan owes Ivy a debt that couldn't be repaid for bringing him his mental deliverance. The silver lining was that Ivy didn't want the debt repaid since it meant they'll never see each other ever again.

Ivy is the only other SC character who's still alive besides Xan. She acts as a Wisewoman in England at 451 years old.

A mouthful, but rare for Xan's former group to face a happy end in this take. Most of them are dead, and one is afraid of a romantic commitment while the other two are in another dimension. It made sense for Xan to be a loner, stoic, and bitter man.

Kim helped him find peace after tireless work. This take of Xan is my editor's favorite over the original version. Still, my deleting of his original story had a big part since he only had 3 chapters of the supposed sequel story and the Recollections for a visual of the original take.

I didn't want to make Xan an edgy character since this dark backstory would've allowed it. Yet, he still ended up being quite tense on paper. I believe I did a decent job in not making it so. Traumatized or depressed are, in my opinion, the best words used to describe this take on Xan. He's just tired of it. Kim, Shana, and now Mileena is helping him get out of it. Mai has pitched in as well. It's through his inclusion that Baraka and Rain can bite the bullet since both are dead.

His time being Leixia's Godfather allowed him to be good with children since before, they used to be frightened by him. His time dealing and coping with depression allowed him to make new friends in Ivy, Sasaki Kojiro, as well as the Maddox Family (Probably not Jade yet) A work in progress that can be rectified with time. For now, Xan should stay in his lane while Jade does the same. Both have their own priorities to worry about. (Kim, Dakini Benji, Sareena, and Jade building a reputation with her warriors.) So the only direction his psyche can go is up.

Xan, inventing the Hirazuki, is inspired by Hajime Saito's famous use of it in Rurouni Kenshin. Even though he wasn't the one who created it, Hajime Saito made the technique famous in history. Saito is also my favorite character in Rurouni Kenshin, Sanosuke being my second favorite. Like Kim, the fighting styles he's exhibited have also been inspired by the Last Blade 2. Namely, Moriya Minakata. I didn't do well describing it, but the way he held his sword and his assault he unleashed on Scorpion are a reference to Moriya and his techniques. The rapid quick draw he released refers to Moriya's Super Hidden Move, the feints to his teleports. The off-screen battle he had with Rain where he had his Jiao covered in Black Fire refers to Kagami Shinnosuke.

Kagami was the boss of the first Last Blade and fought with a Jiao encased in blue flames. He used his free hand to shoot various fire forms at his enemies. Kagami became a playable character in the sequel and an antihero in the game's lore. He was the guardian of the Hell Gate as he held the spirit of Suzaku. He wielded his Jiao with one hand like Xan did. His technique, the Black Star, is a reference to Kagami's Hidden Technique, the Hououtensyou. Kagami dived at his opponent, and after swiping them airborne with some flame pillars, shot them out of the sky with Suzaku's wings. Black Star refers to that, instead of Suzaku's wings, It's the wings of a Wyvern. And like Kagami, Xan's Jiao is just his Black Flames in a weaponized form, including the scabbard, though you didn't see it in this Arc.

Xan's Jiao is the most powerful weapon he has on his person. His style is more on the fly than Kim's as he's mastered every weapon. He can afford to be more unpredictable, unlike Kagami, one of the most predictable characters, depending on if you use Power or EX Mode. Also, Kagami is a smug bastard since he's a Japanese man using a Chinese Weapon. He also looks European, which makes sense since The Last Blade takes place during the Bakumatsu Period.

Also like Rurouni Kenshin.

One thing I learned while researching Black Fire. You'd think that it's hot since the only other characters that made use of it described Black Fire as inextinguishable. Touching that will kill you. (Both characters are also from a Shonen Anime, so I can see why they didn't bother changing properties) In reality, Black Fire is actually frigid. It freezes to the point where you get burned, an extreme version of IcyHot. Black Stars are also real. To an idiot who doesn't understand astrology that, well (i.e., me), it's essentially the aftermath of a star's death or an alternative approach to a Black Hole. It doesn't simply burn like Hiei and Itachi would have you believe. I can't begin to understand what it does, but getting hit with a Black Star wouldn't feel pleasant from what I can piece together.

Also, Black Fire can be argued as impossible to light. Black Fire is most likely cold since the void of space is frigid to where there are galaxies that border on Absolute Zero. (Which is the point where everything in reality freezes, eventually screwing the world.). So yeah, just a cool thing I found out while researching what powers to give Xan. If I wanted to provide him with the hottest flames that weren't fictional, then I would've given him Purple Flames. This would've been original, but since he was given the ability to summon fire from Amaterasu, his blessings from Tsukiyomi turned them black. Much like Kim, able to shoot lightning from Tsukiyomi, her blessings from Amaterasu turned them white.

If you want to learn more about Xan's perspective on his love life, read the A-B-C Challenge I did with him since I wrote both takes of him.

So Xan was incorporated, and I'd say he's a welcome addition to the cast. He may rub a couple of the characters the wrong way due to lacking a filter, but he always means well. Here's to seeing more of him and Kim in the upcoming Arcs.

One more thing before I go. I want to help visualize the bond Kim and Xan have. Imagine a porch or veranda with a fence in the front to prevent people from falling off. Xan sits on the fence, his weapons hung on the wall next to him, a lit cigarette in hand. Shana is sleeping to his left, your right. Kim's on the floor sound asleep, her Gourd with Sake in her hand, her Laundry Pole next to her. She's in front of Xan slightly to his right, your left. She's snoring comically and comfortably, not annoying anyone. Xan has bags over his eyes as he's been sleep-deprived. Yet, a small smile is on his face because he's with his two daughters.

How's that for imagery?

Now, imagine 'Artifacts' by Eli Filosov playing in the background. That image perfectly describes their dynamic. Alright, I've kept you all long enough. I'm going to let you all go. Thanks for sticking by.

Xan's theme song would be: Sanctuary

A/N: And Kombatant Koncepts on the Shio Family is done. Hopefully, I don't take too long with the Dialogues since I have to do Four Arcs worth for Xan and Kim. Pray for my mental health, please.

JK, I'll see you all later.