Taokaka
Backstory:
She is a respected warrior of the Kaka clan, who is attempting to apprehend Ragna the Bloodedge and use the bounty to secure a new homeland for the Kaka. Though she quickly forgets the task and ends up befriending Ragna due to him feeding her. Ever since then she refers to him as "Good Guy" and helps him in whatever way she can, even if her help can be... superfluous.
Powers and Abilities:
Superhuman Physical Characteristics,
Weapon Mastery,
Martial Arts,
Acrobatics,
Enhanced Senses (Her senses can detect Izanami),
Pseudo Duplication and Damage Reduction (via Super Tao),
Hammerspace (Can carry a seemingly endless amount of junk that she tosses as projectile),
Body Control (Can manipulate her body in superhuman ways),
Summoning (Can summon little Kakas to help her in battle),
Non-Physical Interaction (Can hit Arakune),
Statistics Amplification,
Shockwave Generation (Capable of blowing people away by bursting),
Regeneration Negation (Up to High-Godly; is able to utilize Ars Magus, a weapon capable of killing the Black Beast, a creature that has the ability of Self Observation, which is what Terumi used to regenerate from Hakumen's Time Killer)
Resistant to the following:
Poison Manipulation, Madness Manipulation, Biological Manipulation, and Statistics Reduction (Everybody can resist Seithr to some extent which is poisonous, can induce addiction and deteriorate bodies, as well as reducing the power of others),
Paralysis Inducement (Could fight Hakumen without getting paralyzed),
Explosion Manipulation.
Weaknesses: Is ditzy and quite dumb. Always wants food and considers anyone who gives her food as a "good guy".
Hsien-Ko
Backstory:
Hsien-Ko and her sister Mei-Ling were twins born in a family of chinese hermits, whose village was once attacked by a pack of Darkstalkers. Their mother sacrificed herself by using a powerful spell to annihilate the monsters, condemning her soul to be trapped in darkness in return. In order to free her, Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling unleashed a forbidden ritual which turned them both into supernatural creatures and allowed them to hunt the Darkstalkers as Darkhunters. Hsien-Ko gained incredible strength and special powers, though with the risk of falling victim of her savage new nature. Mei-Ling then developed the ability to transform into a talisman and place herself on her sister's forehead, preventing her from losing control.
Powers and Abilities:
Superhuman Physical Characteristics,
Multiple Selves (Like Venom),
Immortality (A Jiang-Shi is a resurrected corpse, and she states numerous times to be an undead),
Longevity,
Weapon Mastery (Expert is using her claws and many other weapons),
Dimensional Storage (Hides dozens of weapons under her clothes),
Skilled Martial Artist (Her fighting style incorporates several types of kicks),
Acrobatics (Can somersault while jumping, fight and defend in mid-air, land on her feet after being hit, spin with her claws over a downed opponent and perform moves such as Houten Geki and Senpuu Bu),
pseudo Flight (Can walk on air),
Teleportation (Instead of dashing, she teleports for brief distances),
Sound Manipulation and Attack Reflection (Via Henkyou Ki),
Summoning (Via Tenrai Ha and Chireitou),
Explosion Manipulation (Via Chuukadan),
minor Shockwaves Creation (Via Tenrai Ha),
Status Effect Inducement (Some of the weapons thrown with Anki Hou have a "stun" effect),
Statistics Amplification (Via Rimoukon),
Berserk Mode (Losing Mei-Ling's protection causes her to go berserk),
Soul Manipulation (Every Darkstalker is able to collect the souls of defeated enemies and use them for a variety of purposes, such as absorbing them to become stronger),
Passive Aura,
Corruption (Type 2) and Madness Manipulation (Type 2) (All the Darkstalkers give off an aura that corrupts the heart of the opponents and drives them insane),
Non-Physical Interaction (Able to interact with Pyron, who doesn't have a physical form, and with Bishamon in Vampire Savior, whose body is made of souls),
Resistance to Soul Manipulation (Possesses a very strong soul, due to it being directly connected to her power. Souls such as her own, if separated in multiple parts, are able to draw each piece to the other and return one),
Corruption and Madness Manipulation (Totally unaffected by the aura of other Darkstalkers)
Weaknesses: A strong mind/spirit can resist the madness-inducing effect of her aura and a dark heart can resist the corruption.
Song: Claws and Spikes
In Orient Town, at sunset, one could find Taokaka, a member of the humanoid cat-like Kaka Tribe, hanging out in a alleyway. She had managed to procure herself a meal, and was now eating it in relative peace.
"Nya! So tasty! Taokaka loves these steamed buns!" Taokaka continued enjoying the steamed buns with a delighted expression, as she devoured her favorite food. The catgirl seemed to be in her own little world, content with the meal in front of her. She was enjoying the buns so much, she paid no attention to her surroundings.
Walking on the streets, the Jiang-Shi Hsien-Ko was searching for her friend Donovan, when they had gotten separated due to certain circumstances. The undead vampire woman kept wandering about, seemingly having no idea as to where her companion might be at this point. She looked around in a sort of bewildered and confused manner, as she was trying to determine whether she had the chance of finding her friend again.
Not paying attention to where she was stepping, Hsien-Ko stepped on Taokaka's tail, which was sticking out of the alleyway. This caused the humanoid cat-like Kaka clan member to screech with a look of pain and shock on her face. Additionally, Taokaka flipped over the meal was about to eat, which further added to the catlike girl's misfortune.
"Ny-ooo! My buns!"
Hsien-Ko immediately apologized upon realizing that she had stepped on the catgirl's tail, which caused her to screech. However, the undead vampire woman could not avoid taking notice of the immense sadness in Taokaka's eyes, after the feline-like girl had dropped her meal.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" Hsien-Ko said with a look of concern, her apology genuine. Taokaka's mood quickly shifted from sadness to rage, as she became determined to take some kind of revenge against Hsien-Ko since the undead vampire had ruined her meal.*
"My food's spoiled! I'mma gonna beat the crap out of you!" The humanoid cat-like Kaka clan member exclaimed, as she suddenly tried to take a swipe at Hsien-Ko, blades that emerged from her cloak acting like cat claws. However, the Jiang-Shi was quick enough to dodge the attack, jumping out of the way just in time.
Taokaka kept up her aggressive onslaught with her various different attacks, as the feline-like kaka clan member was not going to let up on her assault on Hsien-Ko, no matter what the undead vampire girl had to say. Taokaka first used a claw swipe, which was followed by a crouch punch that transitioned into a sweeping kick, before using a lunging uppercut claw swipe, culminating in her throwing a hadouken palm strike.
This final strike finally managed to make contact with Hsien-Ko, pushing her back into the wall hard.
"Ow! Alright, no more nice Miss Jiang-Shi." Hsien-Ko took up a Chinese martial stance, as she brought out her giant metal claws that were hidden within her traditional Chinese dress. The undead Jiang-Shi was no longer going to try and reason with Taokaka, as she was prepared to bring out the claws against the raging kaka clan member now.
Taokaka lunged with her claws extended in an effort to strike the undead Jiang-Shi with them, however, Hsien-Ko reacted rather quickly to the incoming attack. Jumping forward over the strike, the Jiang-Shi managed to evade the attack, as the claws sliced through the bricks of the building behind her instead, damaging the wall upon impact.
Hsien-Ko took a rather unique approach to her attack against Taokaka, as she swung back through the air while simultaneously shooting out her claws to grip the edge of the building's roof, allowing her to gain leverage and maneuverability. She then proceeded to try and stomp the feline-like girl into the wall, before following up with a sweep kick aimed at her side, in an attempt to knock the kaka clan member off-balance.
Taokaka managed to manage her landing, as she quickly bounced up onto her feet (or rather paws), as she proceeded to shimmy before getting herself into a position to attack. Hsien-Ko had managed to evade the catgirl's initial attack by jumping over her, before utilizing her Jiang-Shi ability to run across the air and stay out of reach. Seeing that Hsien-Ko was making an obvious attempt to keep a distance between the two of them, Taokaka growled in annoyance.
"You ain't getting away from me! Nya!" The Kaka clan member seemed intent on not allowing the Jiang-Shi to avoid her for much longer, as she proceeded to leap onto one of the buildings, using her feline agility to run on all fours across the wall after the undead vampire girl, giving chase.
Taokaka and Hsien-Ko both engaged in a fierce aerial battle as they continued running through Orient Town. The cat girl proceeded to jump from building to building in order to keep trying to slash and kick at Hsien-Ko with each attempt, only for the Jiang-Shi to match the former's efforts with her own claws, kicks, and even her black Henkyo Ki gong. Their overall exchange of attacks was pretty evenly matched, as the two kept trying to out fight one another throughout the fight.
Taokaka decided that she had grown tired of this back-and-forth exchange that the two of them had been repeatedly engaging in. The feline-like girl proceeded to run up towards the top of one of the roofs with the speed of her super-powered legs. Once she reached the top, the Kaka clan member suddenly leaped into the air, flying towards Hsien-Ko with the gracefulness of her agile body. The catgirl descended rapidly towards the Jiang-Shi like a falling comet, her claws stretched out fully as they were about to strike her opponent.
"Nya?" Taokaka seemed to be taken by surprise by the sudden teleportation of Hsien-Ko, as she seemed confused for a brief moment before trying to correct her form in a panic. Unfortunately, the overextension had thrown off Taokaka, as she was now going to crash onto the ground. She would need to move quickly if she wanted to avoid severe injury from the fall.
Despite her best efforts, Taokaka was only able to avoid the worst consequences of the fall, as she still ended up landing awkwardly. Landing in a splayed position, the feline-like girl hit her head against the ground, causing it to sting momentarily. She also let out an exasperated and pained cry, as she found herself on the ground with a somewhat dazed expression upon her face.
"Nyaaaauuuugh."
As Taokaka lay on the ground, the undead Jiang-Shi proceeded to step nearer to the feline-like girl, seemingly intent on applying some kind of restraint upon her opponent.
"Bad kitty. This ought to hold you down long enough." As she looked down at the catgirl, a metallic weight suddenly dropped from the sleeve of Hsien-Ko's sleeve. Taokaka's scream of surprise was cut short by the action of getting out of the way in time, preventing the weight from flattening the girl entirely.
Taokaka had managed to get enough distance to create space between her and the Jiang-Shi, before she proceeded to hiss in a rather aggressive tone.
"Alright, you asked for it! Time for my special ranged attacks!" The cat-like girl seemingly meant business now, as she declared her intention of launching attacks from a distance. Hsien-Ko put her metal claws up, ready to brace whatever attack Taokaka threw at her, the feline-like girl proceeded to grin with a devilishly excited expression, as she readied herself on her end.
When the attacks finally came, they for some reason felt really light and weak. Opening her eyes, Hsien-Ko was stumped to see her throwing laughably mundane items, such as an apple core, a pillow, some fish bones and a baseball.
"Take that, blue meanie! Nya!" Toakaka laughed, feeling rather successful despite the weak offensive. Hsien-Ko was utterly stunned to see the types of "attacks" that the cat-like girl was throwing in her direction, as she proceeded to throw out hilariously mundane items that the feline-like girl employed, as she attempted to hit the Jiang-Shi with.
"Take that, blue meanie! Nya!" However, despite the catgirl's clear excitement, the attempts were rather ineffective, as they all seemed incredibly light in weight and rather weak. Hsien-Ko seemed to express a certain amount of disdain towards Taokaka's attempts of ranged attacks, which she labeled as rather weak.
"Really? Those are what you call ranged attacks? Let me show you."
The undead girl then proceeded to proceed to demonstrate the difference in their respective techniques, by spinning and throwing out a barrage of spiked steel balls at the cat-like girl. The steel balls bounced along the ground, heading directly towards Taokaka with rather frightening speed.
Taokaka managed to dodge every single one of the steel balls that the undead Jiang-Shi had thrown in her direction, moving around with a remarkable amount of agility that was rather typical of the feline-like girl. Hsien-Ko had managed to launch a rather fierce barrage, yet the cat girl managed to evade all the objects with a casual ease that was rather amusing to see.
Hsien-Ko attempted to come up with a strategy in order to surprise Taokaka, as she threw a bomb into the mix of steel balls that she had launched in the kitty's direction. The bomb was set far above the feline-like girl's head, which meant that she didn't seem to notice it as it fell. The fuse on the bomb was seemingly burning pretty quickly, as the bomb itself looked rather nervous and reluctant to explode for whatever reason.
Hsien-Ko attempted to pull off a bit of a bluff, as she feigned that she was runninng out of ammo in order to try and fool Taokaka.
"Drat! I ran out!" The Jiang-Shi seemed pretty confident in her deception, seeing as she had stopped throwing the steel balls at her opponent. The feline-like girl was obviously pleased by this, as she took her chance to try and pounce at the Jiang-Shi in an attempt to attack.
"Nyow you're mine!" However, Toakaka was surprised by Hsien-Ko's sudden summoning and strike against the black Henkyo Ki gong with the padded mallet, as it sent a shock wave that sent her flying backwards abruptly. The cat girl was sent spiraling backwards over the bomb, before the bomb itself exploded in an ear-piercing shriek, sending her hurtling even further up into the air due to the shockwave from the explosion.
Taokaka was sent flying into a vending cart, as she slammed into it hard enough to cause a rather large crash. The cat girl immediately began to moan out in pain from the damage that the attack had dealt upon her, as her cat ears rang from it as well. She also seemed rather disoriented from the two attacks that she had just received, making her situation all the more difficult.
Taokaka managed to manage climb out of the wrecked vending cart, as she stumbled up slowly off the ground. However, the cat girl did not feel as if she had the luxury to wallow in the pain and discomfort of her current situation, as she immediately looked up to see Hsien-Ko slowly approaching her, while the Jiang-Shi continued to juggle three short swords, as if to further humiliate and taunt her opponent.
"Time to almost become two, nya!" Taokaka seemingly was eager to ramp up the offensive after having taken a severe amount of damage, as she activated her Overdrive. This overdrive of hers caused the cat girl to gain a sem-physical doppelganger, which was slightly lagging behind her as it followed her exact movements. With her newfound double being able to distract Hsien-Ko, the Kaka clan member decided to use it to her full advantage to launch her assault on the undead Jiang-Shi. She charged at Hsien-Ko, seeking to overwhelm her through numerical advantage. Hsien-Ko was rather caught off guard by this move done by Taokaka, as she initially attempted to defend herself against the two cat-like girls at the same time.
Unfortunately, the Jiang-Shi found herself in a conundrum, as she was forced to block the blows by the doppelganger first, which ended up leading to the original cat-like girl striking in with her own strikes. The combined onslaught of attacks from the two of them caught Hsien-Ko off guard.
One of Taokaka's attacks seemed to have struck the talisman that was still present upon Hsien-Ko's hat. As it turned out, the talisman was an object that acted as a seal that suppressed the Jiang-Shi's vampiric nature. Once removed, Hsien-Ko's twin sister, Mei-Ling, was freed from the suppression that had prevented her from succumbing to her vampiric nature. The girl proceeded to scream in a berserker rage, as her primal vampire nature seemed to kick in full force.
Taokaka noticed that instead of the calm and collected Hsien-Ko that she was used to fighting, she was now up against the Jiang-Shi in an berserk, blood-fueled state of pure primal nature. With Hsien-Ko's hopping ability becoming more like that of a traditional Chinese hopping vampire, the Jiang-Shi was intent on disorienting the cat-like girl by appearing every which way.
Taokaka was caught off-guard by the sudden strike to the back of her head from behind, which had caught her by surprise. She proceeded to hiss in pain from the hit on her head, before she seemed to be able to figure out how to counter Hsien-Ko's teleporting movements. The cat-like girl proceeded to move with a similar agility and speed as the Jiang-Shi, utilizing slashing and kicking maneuvers to try and launch counterattacks against the undead girl.
Hsien-Ko had attempted to attack head on with the intent to strike Taokaka head-on, only for the cat-like girl to declare her attack as such:
"Slashy, slashy!" From her cloak, serrated saw blades suddenly extended out from where her claw blades used to be, which attempted to make Hsien-Ko back off. If she did not do so, she would risk having her body literally cut and sawed apart.
Hsien-Ko's self-preservation instinct kicked in when she realized that the cat-like girl's back saw blades were a danger to her, which led her to instinctively back off in order to avoid being sliced up. Seeing that Hsien-Ko backed off, Taokaka couldn't help but grin with excitement, as she had apparently been able to force her opponent to withdraw.
While the Jiang-Shi had managed to move back to avoid the danger at hand, she found herself surrounded by a ball of smoke when Taokaka pounced onto her, which seemed to hint towards an intense fight going on within. The smoke also served as a good attempt of concealment from observers outside the smoke.
Observers who happened to lay eyes on the scene would've seen the three smoke breaks, which offered snippets of what was happening inside the smoke. One particular moment that was visible through the smoke saw Taokaka biting on Hsien-Ko's head with her feline teeth, a surprisingly effective tactic that managed to cause the Jiang-Shi quite a bit of torment. The second moment that was visible through the smoke showed a rather brutal and gruesome sight. It showed the Jiang-Shi seemingly choking Taokaka by strangling the cat girl's throat, with her own braided hair of all things, which was incredibly surprising due to how absurd it was.
The third and final time that the smoke lifted showed a sight that was perhaps rather embarrassing, if not at least surprising. As it turned out, it showed the cat-like girl playing with Hsien-Ko's medium-sized breasts from behind, enjoying their squishiness. The Jiang-Shi was seemingly frozen in a state of blushing embarrassment from the feline-like girl's antics, which made it all the more embarrassing. This blush soon turned into raging anger, as the undead girl soon launched back into a fierce offensive against the cat-like girl again.
After a few more seconds in the smoke, the smoke suddenly began to clear enough once more, as a body was thrown out from within it. The cat girl was launched out of the smoke, before slamming her back against one of the brick walls with enough force to crack it, and then falling down to the ground as she was no longer in overdrive anymore.
Taokaka lay there, hurt and in pain upon the floor, as her vision was a little bit blurry from the intense fight that occurred in the smoke covered fog of combat. The cat-like girl could hear the Jiang-Shi in the process of finishing her off, as the undead girl was now trying to finish things off with her ultimate technique. Soon, a row of large blades covered with Chinese inscriptions, burst out of the ground, heading directly towards her.
Thanks to the burst of adrenaline that she just received, Taokaka managed to jump over the blades coming from the ground. The cat-like girl utilized a triple jump which she utilized in order to gain enough air time to land behind the Jiang-Shi, who was shocked by this sudden unexpected surprise. With this, the feline-like girl then swiftly lifted the undead Jiang-Shi off the ground, before flinging her into the air with all her remaining strength.
With her last remaining strength of will, Taokaka seemed determined to finish the Jiang-Shi off once and for all. She proceeded to use her Astral Finish, with the last remnants of her energy, sending the undead Jiang-Shi flying in various directions, using the recoil to soften her opponent. Finally, Taokaka then sent the Jiang-Shi straight upwards, preparing to deliver the finishing blow, with all that she had left in her. The undead Jiang-Shi was now about to meet her demise, with this last strike. Taokaka went in for her final slash, as she aimed to cut straight through the Jiang-Shi, only to get her claws blocked by Hsien-Ko.
"Nya?!" The undead girl then gazed back at Taokaka with a murderous intent, as if to warn her that this was not going to end well. The feline-like girl, however, was met with much more than what she expected, as Hsien-Ko spoke up in a tone filled with rage and bloodlust.
"Die." Hsien-Ko continued to look down on Taokaka with a look of sheer rage on her face, as she proceeded to spin her own claws like drill. The Jiang-Shi then proceeded to bring her claws down against the feline-like girl in a brutal and violent manner, seeking to evisceration the cat-like girl with no more than a single move. Soon enough, Taokaka's body was essentially torn asunder by the Jiang-Shi's brutal claw drill maneuver, ultimately killing her.
"Taokaka... don't feel so... good. Meow."
Taokaka did not manage to last long enough to even properly utter her final words, as she was brutally killed by Hsien-Ko's attack. The feline's body was essentially ripped apart and shredded to bits, with the blood and gore from the attack painting the ground with a rather vivid red hue. Soon, the cat-like girl's eyes slowly closed, as her mouth finally went slack. Her facial features disappeared into the shade of her hood, never to be seen again.
Hsien-Ko was soon brought back to her proper mindset once Mei-Ling re-attached herself to her forehead. The Jiang-Shi took a quick glance at Taokaka's dead body, as she was immediately shocked and horrified at what she had just done.
"No. Please, I didn't mean to, I…"
The Jiang-Shi was filled with an immense amount of guilt at her actions, as she quickly ran off into the air, seeking a moment to herself after what had just happened.
Strength: Okay, taking planet busting outliers out of the equation, Taokaka's always been more comparable to the more modestly powerful characters like Arakune, Bang and Iron Tager, the last of which has the power output of 900 Kilotons. However, compared to the Darkstalker, that's only a little around half of her the Jiang Shi's attack power, when compared to B ranked fighters such as Donovan, Lord Raptor and Anakaris, the last of which was able to sink Ancient Egypt into the sands. And double is a conservative estimate over Taokaka as they're likely much higher.
Speed: Even when taking her supersonic speed into account, somewhere in between 2.5-3 times faster than sound, that's nothing compared to Taokaka who can react to those with infinite attack speed in the Boundary. And even regularly, she's shown to have faster than light feats.
Skill: When comparing the two, Hsien-Ko seems to be the more traditionally skillful fighter, because while Taokaka is certainly a threat in her own right and is the guardian of her village for a reason, but she seemed to more follow her feline instincts to fight rather than anything considered formal training.
Experience: While both appear to be equal in the amount of opponents they fought, the sisters being reincarnated and growing up normal for 16 years sort of hinders how long she's been fighting, while everyone had to deal with Taokaka being herself the whole time in her games.
Powers: Both are relatively even in their power sets, both being agile and maneuverable along with having metallic claws, but Hsien-Ko has the better weaponry to throw her her way, has teleportation to counter Taokaka's speed if she really needs to, and her claws could qualify as slabs of iron, compared to the claw knives and saws that come out of the catgirl's cloak. The only advantage Taokaka had was having a resistance to the Jiang-Shi's madness and corrupting aura.
The winner is Hsien-Ko.
Next Time:
"There's a whole world beyond your borders, whole tribes of people just as good as you, and it is all in danger! It's a world worth fighting for. Not just here. Everywhere."
"No, I chose. I chose my own life. And those of us who've died for this sword, have died in vain. I'm not sent from heaven, father, and neither is the sword."