Voice test

[failedtwomasters]

Liao Jiyu the One Man Army: Soul Artist. Wanderer. Grump. Hero? Possibly. Trained by Aline the renegade and Cado the master, and a disappointment to both, but still probably in the top 10 most powerful soul artists in the galaxy. Jiyu disdains the political nature and comfortable lifestyles of the Soul Artists of Soul Sanctum and instead spends his time traveling the frontier, bringing the light of hope to people in danger everywhere he goes.

Let's plot out some threads with him.

Comments

[machinesoul]

All pretense of being able to block Jiyu's attacks was cast aside the moment the first struck. Her eyes and mind couldn't keep up with him. If they could, she wouldn't be fast enough to raise her guard. If she was, she wasn't strong enough for it to make a difference.

Each blow was like getting hit squarely by a massive hammer. Metal bones cracked, joints snapped, her frame barely holding together. By the time he was ready to deliver the final blow, she could hardly stand.

If she didn't act now, she never would.

In that brief moment of hesitation, Stacia extended the arm that could still move properly. As she did, a perfectly straight ray of pale white light erupted forth, aimed at Jiyu's chest. It was a feeble attack, not even an above-average execution of it by Stacia's own standards, and something Jiyu could almost just ignore, if he wanted to.

But when she hit the ground, white soulflame still burned faintly around her right hand.

[failedtwomasters]

Jiyu deflected the bolt out of habit, but the match was forgotten almost immediately. That last blow of his never landed.

Instead, he was right in her face, holding her up by one arm so she was actually at eye level with him, looking at her with intense eyes. His eyes were always intense, but now they were more so.

"How did you do that!?"

[machinesoul]

Well beyond the point of being able to resist, Stacia hangs limply in Jiyu's grasp. However, despite having lost so completely that it could barely be called a fight, she smiled.

"The same way you do. I drew it out of my soul."

[failedtwomasters]

"You were built in a factory! You don't HAVE a soul!"

He sounded certain, but he always sounded certain. That didn't mean he WAS. The automatic response of what everyone knew to be true rang hollow against the evidence of his eyes and ears. Jiyu had traveled much of known space and he had never seen any manufactured weapon that behaved exactly like soul arts. In all the stars, the power of the soul was unique.

And that was soul arts. There was no mistaking it.

[machinesoul]

One of Stacia's eyes had gone dark. Her voice wavered with static from damage to her voice box. But still, she laughed.

"Are you so sure of that... that you'd ignore what you saw with your own eyes...?"

[failedtwomasters]

After a moment, Jiyu dropped her and turned to start striding away. He stopped before leaving the area entirely, and spoke without turning around.

"...I need to think about this. Figure out what to say to Soul Sanctum. I suggest that you don't go too far."