Part 68: Blood-soaked Fist - Li Shuwen - Part 2

Li Shuwen 2



Well this is quite the difficulty spike, from Flame Poem 1 to Golden Poem 2. You'll recall last time we were here, it was quite the rumble,with Lu Bu showing up as the stage boss. We'll get to him. Instead, let's discuss our martial artist's history.

Of course, Li Shuwen first appeared in EXTRA and CCC, but he was just one among many antagonists, with little more than his name and Master (Julius B. Haraway) being known. Like many others, he also appeared in Grand Order, during the E Pluribus Unum (America) chapter, specifically. He was randomly summoned by the local Grail, and proceeded to embark on the path of strength by fighting anyone he thought looked strong. He first showed up as an enemy not connected with the main antagonist of the chapter, and after being chased off, ran into Cu Chulainn's teacher, Scathach, quite by accident. Recognizing a fellow wielder of the spear, he wanted to challenge the legendary queen to a duel, but they both had more important things to attend to at the time and put off their duel until the main battle had been resolved. Late in the chapter, he got into a fistfight with Beowulf, of all folks, and his prowess as a fistfighter, even as a Lancer, was able to frustrate the hero's attacks. You see, Li attacks with precision, whereas Beowulf fights with raw strength, which served him well against the monstrous Grendel, but was not of as much use against an agile, human-sized opponent.

At the end of E Pluribus Unum, he finally got his match against the original user of Cu Chulainn's Gae Bolg, and the outcome of that fight...we have no idea. The story cut to black just as soon as they began fighting. Use your imagination. I should also note that I do stand corrected from the prior update: Lancer corresponds to his early days, his Assassin form to his later years. He can also be summoned under another class, but you'll have to watch Last Encore to see what that's all about.


Li Shuwen stage 2

Another invasion looms at our gates. These enemies of Rome are clearly skilled warriors and strategists, unlike that little street concert...including a thundering Berserker! We would need many Servants to fell it. Enemy or not, one must respect its terrible strength. And so I ask our master of the mystical fists to go forth into battle!

"Thundering and rampaging", is it? I have a sneaking suspicion I know that Berserker. I've heard stories of that general. A hero unparalleled with bow, spear, or horse. It's said that none can match his martial prowess. If the Great General of Treachery is my opponent, then I can't satisfy myself with reconnaissance, can I? I shall go, Emperor.

Oh, so you will...! That is a relief!

I will go with you, Assassin. To bring the light of glory to our King.

"The light of glory", you say. I don't have the slightest interest in that, but I suppose I'll lend you a hand if it's not out of my path.

Your path? What do you mean by that?

A duel with my very life on the line. To see how far my blood and body will take me! That is the true nature of wushu.



Like in Flame Poem 2, the field of action is split in half at the start. Medusa guards the only Sector that allows you access to the eastern half of the map, and after his brief fight with Lu Bu, Gawain will decide to take on Karna, which will end poorly for him if you don't help out. You're under heavy attack from the start, so you need to prioritize Sectors to take over (to make no mention of the fact we only have 3 anti-Flame Code Casts). Since I wanted to finish this stage at lightning speed, I decided to take over the Sector with a Plant on my side, then take out Medusa. We'll have to sacrifice that 2-Key Sector, but we'll more than make up for it.



However, this can be a dangerous course of action, as there are a TON of bomb enemies here, and these guys are annoying as shit, and potentially dangerous if they swarm you. The best thing you could do is hit-and-run until you can fill up a couple notches on your EM bar, then nuke the group to take out all the bombers at once. Of course, your goal is to take this Sector as soon as possible.



There's something just so fundamentally satisfying about slamming a Servant to the ground with Li's aerial combo.



But we forced Medusa to withdraw in record time, so now we have a choice of how to handle things. I decided on the safest route, in that taking down the Plant in the southernmost Sector was the most prudent course of action. This turned out to be the correct one. Note that even if Medusa goes down, you still have to take over the Sector to get rid of the barricades.



Getting ready for the invasions or something, this Sector is mostly clear of Aggressors, so taking over this area will be cake. Even so, I didn't take any chances on taking out the Plant, so I used my Moon Drive to really live up to that "No second strike" reputation.



All according to plan. Now to help our earnest friend.



Me and Gawain handled this pretty well. Karna is a tough opponent for Li, because Karna will always have pretty staggering range with his spear. You really need to keep up the pressure on Karna to keep things even. Thankfully, that's what Li does best. As a fun aside, Gawain's AI was really aggressive this time, so I got to hear him shouting a lot. It was fun.



This all is going pretty well. Karna's back, but I knew he was going to be back. He can have his fun with the trash mobs while I'm cleaning up here. Spoiler: I do what I came here to do before Karna is able to do what he came to my Sector to do.



The level of detail is appreciated, but could have used a little more context.



Only two Sectors to go... We can handle that fine with Lu Bu chasing us around, right?



This was a badass moment. The hammer Aggressor swung at me, so I pressed triangle to do the step forward to avoid much of the damage, then the subsequent attack killed him. It was beautiful. Moving on, this is what Li says about Lu Bu. He just shouts. We'll get to his shouting later.

Ancient General of Violence! Let us compare our strength!



Damn the big boy took a lot of damage from my last Moon Drive. Unfortunately, the problem here is that I have to dash around a lot, dodging his halberd and killing enemies when I can to make the Aggressors show up. It wasn't particularly entertaining, and was close to costing me an EX rank.



But that's enough of this. If he put on sunglasses out of nowhere, at the end of his NP animation, it would be perfect.



Another superb performance, last bit aside.






I regret only that Lu Bu Fengxian was summoned to the class he was. And, I suppose, I could say the same for myself. Had we both been Lancers, there would have been a fight like nothing you've ever seen before... Is it my pride that fuels that regret? Or is it...?

We have defeated the occupying force and retaken the territory. Assassin, kindly return to the throne room.

...

Assassin? Is something the matter?

No. Nothing, I just realized something. It seems my true nature lies in comparing my wushu with formidable opponents. I can't imagine there will ever be another such opportunity, unless SE.RA.PH again becomes engulfed in war, but...

if you've forgotten, "wushu" is just the Chinese term for martial arts in general. It's also the name of a specific sport, one which was developed kind of after Li's time.