Part 67: Blood-soaked Fist - Li Shuwen - Part 1

Blood-soaked Fist - Li Shuwen





His DLC outfit gives him a balla ass coat. A fine purchasing decision. Well, we now fight alongside the Master of the Demon Fist. Like many characters in this game, Li Shuwen was indeed a real person, born in 1864 and dying in 1934. He trained extensively in a Chinese martial art called Bajiquan. Li himself was born in Hebei County, Cangzhou, a city in far eastern China (not "Manchuria" east, but still pretty east). From what we know of him, he was an extremely accomplished martial artist who gained infamy for the brutality of his physical strikes. This is where his declaration of killing with one strike, needing no second strike comes from.

There's not that much history regarding Li Shuwen's life, but if the Type-Moon wiki is to be believed (referencing from EXTRA bonus materials), some indirect victims (as in, relatives of dead family) ended up poisoning him. Similarly, if Wikipedia is to believed, some of his students would go on to be bodyguards to folks like Chiang kai-Shek and Mao Zedong, those kinds of characters. I've mentioned before that Li can be summoned as a Lancer, as well. Well, Assassin Li Shuwen is from his younger days, whereas his Lancer form is from later in life, when his techniques had become more fully refined. Bajiquan itself specializes in elbow and shoulder attacks, but I'm sure someone much more knowledgeable in martial arts could explain more. Point is, he's arguably the most famous practitioner of one of China's great fighting styles.

Well, Li Shuwen's first stage is based on Flame Poem stage 1, so you know it's gonna be a walk in the park. Well, let's get to it, then.


Li Shuwen stage 1

It would be the perfect time and place to test the sharpness of my Six Harmony Great Spear. Hmm, yes indeed. A shame I was summoned as an Assassin. If I were free to display my strength openly, my spearmanship would amaze you.

No doubt. Normally, an Assassin's advantages are best suited for the Holy Grail War. With or without the Presence Concealment skill. But Assassin, that doesn't apply to you, does it? Even against an army, you have more than enough skill and experience to take them all on. Not exactly your usual scouting duty, I know. But what do you say? Are you willing to push these invaders out of the Roman territories yourself?

While the class skill of Assassins is Presence Concealment, Li Shuwen doesn't have that. He can achieve an effect similar to that, however, by using a Qi (chi) technique called Sphere Boundary, where he can largely make himself invisible and still be able to attack. In-universe, very few people are able to manipulate Qi to such an extent.

Of course, that's what I intend to do. All that reconnaissance work was getting boring. Time to show a bit of my strength and bolster the Emperor's supremacy!

The time has come for the master of the Demon Fist to show his technique! And for the cause of uniting my SE.RA.PH, no less... Truly, this is a glorious day! We will hold a great celebration upon your triumphant return. Master of the Demon Fist! Batter down all enemies in your path, and return safely to me!



So gameplay-wise, Li pretty much owns. While he has the obvious disadvantage of a lack of reach, he more than makes up for it in sheer attacking speed and the general quickness at which his physical attacks come out. He's not someone who plays well at longer ranges, but can put an enormous amount of pressure on a single target. A lot of fun to play as.



His first special, S T, involves launching a group of enemies into the air and slamming them back down with a pinwheel kick that twirls around and around. Can do a decent amount of damage to a single target or a small group of Aggressors.



S S S T launches a quick combo that ends with Li slamming his fist down and launching a large wave of electricity ahead of him. Pretty powerful, all things considered, but most effectively used when the enemy doesn't have much room to go flying from the martial combo.



So usually I don't mention the L1 + T power-up that a few units possess, mainly because it's just a simple damage-increase, but Li's power-up method deserves mention. So he does have a power-up move, it's just it's activated in a different way. I'm pretty sure it's the same effect as the others, but the way you activate it is, you finish any special combo , then press T again after the attack. Li will charge up for a second or so, and a bit more sting to his punches. You can stack up to two buffs before the effect goes away. However, you can easily replace it by doing the exact same thing. I'm pretty sure activating it again is just to keep it going for a longer period of time. You can reset the countdown only once.



This is Li's only ranged attack, and even though it's pretty short-ranged, it's all you got. To be fair, it is pretty big, so you don't need to be too precise with the aiming, and it does a good amount of damage.



And his final special move, S S S T, is very similar to Jeanne's. While he lacks the "thrusting the spear forward a few times" part, the second part still stands. He'll summon a vortex beneath him and drag a bunch of enemies in toward him, before detonating all the Qi and sending the group flying. Quite powerful, indeed.



His T attack is pretty simple. It's not something he'll throw out instantly, but he will charge up again, then step forward and slam his feet into the ground REALLY hard, creating a huge blast that tosses enemies away. There's nothing you can follow it up with, since it's designed to throw enemies away, but it can be a quick way to close a little distance and deal some nice damage to a group. In general, Li is really good at single combat, but struggles a bit with group fights, so this helps him a bit.



Another problem Li has is his mid-air combo. His standard attack is like a half dozen punches, none of them doing any particular amount of damage, that ends with a slam downwards. While the slam is okay, the punches themselves are very weak, so it's a bit hard following up attacks in the air. It does look pretty cool, to be fair.



The camera seems to flip out more than usual with Li's EM, and this is a perfect example.



Time to investigate the source of that JPop playing since the second Sector we conquered. Cu was complaining about the noise, so I think it bears checking out.



Man, it's been a long time since I heard this.

All right, you little piggies! How're you all doing? Thanks for coming to see my show!

Hmph!



You're behind this? Were you training in Taolu? Hm, those bird calls were impressive, albeit strange...

Taolu is a village in Mynamar, right on the Chinese border.

How dare you not recognize great singing! Bird calls?! I was pumping everybody up with my song!

Cu Chulainn's words suddenly echo in my mind. Is she the "weird band" he was talking about?

You mean to say, your voice gives you power. I'll make sure to silence you, if you're ready?

I see, so you're just an uncultured bumpkin. In that case, I'll make sure you know art by the time I'm done!



Hm, she got away. ...I'll clean up here before following.



So this is where Li kind of has a problem, shooting down Plants. It's kind of random, but it'll probably take you like a couple rounds of punching the stupid thing to knock it down. It can leave you quite vulnerable, especially if an enemy Servant is nearby.



Here come the 100 lashings! Ah, I can't lose to that!

Indeed you can't. Elizabeth is still Elizabeth, so she's pretty easy to beat, but it's a good chance to see how well Li stacks up against a single target.



His Noble Phantasm time...













Basically, he concentrates his Qi to such an extent that he can devastate an opponent in a single strike. After all, he needs no second. Also, I think I'll give that points for "Dramatically walking away from explosion", but it's not quite the same...



So you'll notice that I've conquered this Sector, and this is where I'll finish Elizabeth. Just keep this in mind...



So, I conquered a Sector, but somehow, my idiot comrade got himself killed by, not Elizabeth, but...another generic Aggressor? How the hell did he let THAT happen? What a pain. I have NEVER seen this happen before, especially like 2 minutes after I conquered the Sector.



Bajiquan is strong. Side Missions were 4/5, with only the "Drink 6 sake bottles" mission failing, but the weird thing is, I got a ton of Yakisoba Bread drops, even though I was never low on health at any point. RNG is weird.






This scene is genuinely really funny, and it's only more so because Li Shuwen is talking so earnestly to a vampire dragon idol maid girl. It's the contrast between these two characters who have so little in common, and interact so little, that makes this scene work.

I had thought you might be some sort of special Extra Class, but now I see you're a common Lancer. Strange, I see no spear.

You totally see it! Look at this, my beautiful Sarkany Csont Landzsa. It's a real dragon lance! What are you, blind?

You might think me a hypocrite for saying this, but if that looks like a spear to you, you shouldn't be so drunk in the afternoon.

What...? How can you even say that? I'm telling you, it's a freaking dragon lance!

Oh, it might be in the shape of a spear, but if you don't treat it like one, it becomes something else, no matter what you call it. What you're holding there is a microphone. I suppose there have been Masters who struck through sound, but that's another matter.

Y-You know, you might be right... I guess I really do mostly use it as a mic, so maybe it's not a spear after all... B-But wait, if it's not a spear, what would that make me? I mean, I've been summoned to SE.RA.PH as a Lancer, so if my spear isn't really a spear, what am I, really?

Such a willful child. Well, I suppose one cannot be both young and wise, so I should not expect you to understand. Hmm... I suppose I have the time to explain, just this once. You are in no way a Lancer. But from the way you screamed at the top of your lungs... You are...

I am...?

A roaring Guai-niao. A bird creature. Call yourself that from now on.

I looked up what a guai-niao looks like... It does seem to be a bird-like thing, but there's something book that was published in 2013 that was the only thing even remotely relevant l could find to such a beast.

A bard creature, you said? Whoa, that's like, so cool. Maybe that's even better... Yeah, I can live with that.

Off with you, then. Leave these territories. I can't say I understand what sort of show you were putting on here, but... Since these are the lands under the Emperor's rule, you'd best ask permission before you cause a little ruckus like that. I won't say it twice. Now goodbye, little one.

I miss pre-crazy Elizabeth. Well...she's always pretty nuts, but less so, you know?