Even though the soldier standing in front of him was mute, faceless like a blank piece of paper, the remaining features of the body were reminiscent of Zeru. Sure, Jin might not have been under the intense tutelage of his master for quite some time but for the days that he was under his supervision, Jin remembered how his master's stance was more than just unique.
It was efficient.
Each step and movement were not wasted compared to some of the techniques and even the flashy strong ones. In fact, there was no need for comparison when one were to understand that his stance had incorporated the strengths of various techniques combined together. The only problem was that Jin did not have the time to learn much from his master mainly because he had to run his business to prosperity.
But as days, weeks and subsequently months passed by, he took the easier route of blasting his Maqi whenever he felt like it and relied on brute chi force to overwhelm his enemies. When it comes to techniques, Jin could only perform the few basic ones which Zeru taught him. There was a chance that the WereMouses had better in depth training than Jin considering the amount of time that Zeru had spent training those peasants that had been marginalised.
"No excuse now not to train, is that it?" Jin said to himself as the Zeru clone went at him at full force, just as Jin was about to change his axe into a sword to have a fighting chance against the clone. And as he parried, the great axe split its transformation allowing Jin to have a Boo to be the customised sheath once again while Bam was still in axe form. It allowed Jin to parry one additional blow against Zeru before Bam swapped entirely into a sword. However, in the process of switching weapons, Boo which had been used to defend had been smacked out of the Panda Cultivator's hands because of the force that Zeru had used.
Jin's clones managed to get it but Jin specifically told the clones to focus on pushing the rest of the faceless soldiers back away from them so he could concentrate on fighting Zeru. "Why does this faceless Zeru have more moves than the usual soldiers?" Jin thought to himself as he had to use a variety of defence techniques concurrently to block the onslaught of attacks from Zeru.
"You must be wondering, why is this faceless soldier giving you so much trouble as compared to the others." Suzaku spoke out as if she knew exactly what Jin was thinking. "It's because he was a friend that turned into a foe."
"A friend?!" Jin nearly got stabbed in his neck just because the information he received caused him to focus for a second. Because of Jin's experience in switching and moulding Bam into any particular weapon, the sword Bam had transformed now had the capability to switch on faster than before. This allowed Bam to grow wider in size, saving Jin within a hair's breadth.
"Oh, you managed to listen even though you are afar? Shouldn't you be concentrating?" Suzaku said nonchalantly and Jin did not have the time to reply. If the previous close shave was anything of an expensive lesson, it was not to break concentration from this particular Zeru as well even though it was a mere clone.
"This wretched bastard tricked my beloved friend into marrying him. To be his lifelong partner and forever. Sure, he was strong, stronger than anyone within the city that no one was a match against him. Even I admired him at some point." Suzaku talked about Zeru not knowing that Jin had a connection with him. She merely thought that he knew a thing or two about the infamous swordsman.
"But things changed when an assassin targeted me for the want of my feathers and my friend used her life to protect me." Suzaku's eyes wandered into the distance as she monologues.
"I tried to save her with my own powers. Feathers? They are just residue portions of my powers for I personally gave her my blood." Suzaku said as she stared at her wrist and still touched the scar which she refused to heal till this day.
"My blood has the restorative power beyond comprehension according to the fellow commoners and yet she did not live through it." Suzaku's words were getting shaky.
"That bastard said that he was some Banned Emperor assassin and they dealt with spiritual damage instead of the flesh. The wound she received could not be cured by any ordinary means, as if there was a hole in the soul and her spiritual being was leaking away into the abyss."
"And yet as the bird of resurrection, I was not able to save her. What kind of phoenix am I if I can't save even a friend of mine?" Suzaku began to tear and for some reason, it resonated with the faceless soldiers, causing them to be more rampant with their attacks.
The clones had to fight harder than before, with some of them utilising the astral powers stored within them to shoot out area magic spells in order to keep them at bay. As for Jin, the Zeru that he was fighting against had started portraying his Lotus Cultivation which Jin had witnessed them to be sure kill techniques regardless of their potency level.
"I would not let you defeat me this easily! I am not the same Jin as you fought months ago!" Jin said as his transverse eye's pupils glowed brighter even though it was obvious that he was straining them to the limits. The Maqi within Jin shot out of his body and started to glow and the Pandas above began to change shape.
From the usual cute little Pandas they were, the silhouettes began to throw away the current costume set they were wearing to don on a very familiar coat which was iconic to one particular person. "I did not expect to follow you but honestly, you are the only person whose cultivation that I know could rival against Zeru's powers." Jin said to himself as he used a Panda Swipe to create a bit of distance so that he could activate the technique.
"I have no freaking idea what kind of style you use, but I am definitely copying your technique, Kraft." He took one deep breath before shouting out the words that could potentially save his skin against the enraged fake Zeru.. "Extreme Magic! Graveyard Combo Third Stage! The Land of Scars!" As the words came out of his mouth, Jin slammed the sword on the ground to activate the technique around him.
