Jí Lián Xiá

Jí Lián Xiá

The Uninterested Observer

Age 16
Height 5'4" (163 cm)
Birth Date May 27
Ethnicity Japanese / Chinese
Hair Dark Blue → Violet → Black
Eyes Grayish Blue
Key Attribute Uninterested
"But can we like, not tho?"

Overview

Jí Lián Xiá maintains a calm and emotionally detached demeanor. She generally shows little concern for external events and avoids unnecessary involvement in conflict. She prefers stability and comfort, engaging with others only when she has a clear purpose or need.

Appearance

Jí Lián presents with a distinctive aesthetic that reflects her preference for indoor, controlled environments. Her long, flowing hair reaches her waist and features a striking gradient: dark blue fading into dark violet and finally black. Her grayish blue eyes convey quiet observation rather than active engagement.

Her notably pale complexion results from consistent avoidance of direct sunlight. When visiting the beach—one of her few outdoor interests—she employs extensive sun protection including large protective umbrellas and high-grade sun-blocking lotion.

Personality

While previously socially awkward, Jí Lián has grown more composed and is capable of initiating interaction when required. However, she still prefers solitude and quiet environments over social gatherings or high-energy situations.

Core Traits

  • Reserved & Introspective: Values internal reflection over external engagement
  • Selectively Approachable: Engages socially when beneficial or necessary
  • Minimal Expressiveness: Shows little emotional reaction to external events
  • Comfort-Oriented: Prioritizes predictability and low-stimulation environments
  • Generally Passive: Avoids action unless circumstances demand it

Behavioral Traits

  • Actively avoids conflict whenever possible
  • Only engages in combat or confrontation when absolutely necessary
  • Prefers indoor environments and controlled settings
  • Demonstrates patience and quiet observation
  • Practical and deliberate in communication

Personal Growth

Jí Lián displays subtle but meaningful personal growth in social capability. While maintaining her preference for solitude, she has developed the ability to navigate social situations more effectively when circumstances require her participation.

Interests & Lifestyle

Hobbies

  • Reading books extensively during leisure time
  • Spending time at the beach in shaded environments
  • Collecting or studying written knowledge

Habits

Jí Lián frequently reads during her leisure time, often choosing secluded and quiet locations. Her beach visits represent a paradox—she enjoys the environment but takes extensive precautions to avoid direct sunlight, demonstrating her characteristic approach of selective engagement with the world.

Kesshō Yīng

Kesshō Yīng

Master of Transformation

Evolution First Form
Weapon Tenebris Operiet
Combat Style Adaptive Transformation
Specialty Multi-Configuration Mastery
Approach Calculated Escalation
Philosophy Victory Through Transformation
"Victory is achieved through the mastery of transformation itself."

Overview

Kesshō Yīng exhibits a matured and highly disciplined evolution of the aggressive, velocity-driven combat doctrine associated with her earlier fighting lineage. Where her younger counterpart Kesshō Kawa emphasizes overwhelming momentum and relentless pursuit, Yīng refines those principles into a calculated and multifaceted sword discipline centered around adaptability, spatial dominance, and deliberate escalation of threat levels.

Weapon: Tenebris Operiet

Her weapon, Tenebris Operiet, serves as both the core of her combat identity and a physical manifestation of her tactical philosophy. The blade's transformative architecture allows Yīng to alter her fighting methodology dynamically in response to battlefield conditions, opponent temperament, and engagement distance.

Rather than committing to a singular weapon style, she treats each configuration of Tenebris Operiet as a distinct combat doctrine, transitioning between them with fluid mechanical precision and minimal telegraphing.

Configuration 1: Standard Longsword + Sheath

In its standard form, Tenebris Operiet manifests as a double-edged longsword paired with a sheath. In this configuration, Yīng favors controlled dueling techniques built around:

  • Refined Footwork: Precise positioning for optimal strike delivery
  • Thrust Vectors: Measured probing for structural weaknesses
  • Disciplined Parry Mechanics: Efficient defensive integration
  • Edge Alignment Control: Seamless transitions between slashing and piercing

This form represents her most balanced combat state, prioritizing versatility and measured pressure.

Configuration 2: Dual-Wielding (Separated Sheath)

When the sheath separates and transforms into a secondary blade, Yīng adopts an advanced dual-wielding methodology:

  • Layered Offensive Timing: Synchronized and staggered strikes creating deceptive cadences
  • Asymmetric Attack Patterns: Overwhelming defensive prediction through varied rhythms
  • Independent Off-Hand Use: Secondary blade for interception, counter-thrusting, and guard disruption
  • Multi-Vector Control: Maintaining continuous pressure across multiple threat angles

Particularly dangerous against groups or highly defensive opponents.

Configuration 3: Double-Ended Butterfly Sword

By attaching the sheath at the hilt to form a double-ended butterfly sword, Yīng transitions into a rotational combat paradigm:

  • Centrifugal Momentum: Spinning slashes and pivot-driven deflections
  • Sweeping Area Denial: Wide rotational arcs controlling engagement zones
  • Continuous Directional Transitions: Highly kinetic fighting style
  • Blurred Defense/Offense: Rotations that serve both purposes simultaneously

Exceptional spatial awareness allows control of large areas while suppressing opponent mobility.

Configuration 4: Elongated Greatblade

The final transformation—attaching the sheath to the distal end—produces an elongated greatblade:

  • Long-Range Dominance: Extraordinary reach dictating engagement distance
  • Precision & Intimidation: Sweeping cleaves and delayed thrusts exploiting reach
  • Territorial Control: Extended feint chains capitalizing on opponent misjudgment
  • Remarkable Handling: Maintaining speed despite apparent size through grip transitions

Combat Philosophy

Yīng's combat rhythm is characterized by smooth, deliberate transitions between weapon configurations. She often alters Tenebris Operiet's form mid-engagement to disrupt opponent pattern recognition, weaponizing unpredictability as a strategic advantage. These transformations are executed with near-seamless integration into her movement sequences, allowing her to convert defensive recoveries into offensive initiations without pause.

Her mobility reflects a balance between elegance and lethality. Yīng favors gliding footwork, controlled lunging advances, and rotational disengagements that maintain her positional advantage. She rarely wastes motion, ensuring each step contributes either to angle acquisition, strike preparation, or defensive repositioning. Her battlefield presence often feels methodical and oppressive, as she steadily constricts opponent maneuvering options while expanding her own.

Psychologically, Yīng conveys a composed and calculating demeanor in combat. She approaches engagements as exercises in technical mastery rather than raw dominance, frequently studying an opponent's rhythm before escalating her offensive output. Unlike more impulsive duelists, she demonstrates patience, allowing conflicts to unfold at a pace that favors her adaptability and weapon versatility.

While her fighting style is rooted in sword mastery, Yīng's greatest strength lies in her ability to transform both her weapon and her tactical identity in real time. She embodies a philosophy that victory is achieved not through singular excellence, but through the mastery of transformation itself—adapting shape, rhythm, and reach until resistance becomes structurally impossible.

Kesshō Tǐ

Kesshō Tǐ

Calculated Domination

Evolution Second Form
Weapon Tenebris Operiet
Combat Style Overwhelming Inevitability
Specialty Sustained Pressure
Approach Aggressive Forward Momentum
Presence Tactical Severity
"Resistance collapses under sustained pressure."

Overview

Kesshō Tǐ mirrors the refined, flowing lethality displayed by Kesshō Yīng, maintaining the same foundation of elegant, high-speed bladework and aerial maneuverability. However, where Yīng embodies grace and precision as an art, Tǐ expresses combat as an unrelenting campaign of calculated domination.

Her movements retain their dancer-like fluidity, but each step advances territory, each strike establishes control, and every motion pressures opponents into defensive collapse. She fights with the mentality of overwhelming inevitability—never rushing blindly, yet never allowing adversaries the stability needed to recover or regroup.

Combat Philosophy

Tǐ favors aggressive forward momentum. She chains attacks into prolonged offensive sequences designed to exhaust resistance through layered strike patterns. Rather than relying solely on surgical eliminations, she destabilizes opponents through sustained pressure, forcing errors that she exploits with devastating finishing blows.

Unlike Yīng's emphasis on beauty and technical mastery, Tǐ demonstrates tactical severity. She anticipates counterattacks several exchanges ahead and adapts instantly, turning enemy momentum into opportunities for escalation. When facing multiple opponents, she instinctively prioritizes targets whose defeat will cause the greatest strategic collapse among their allies.

Her presence on the battlefield often alters the rhythm of combat entirely. Opponents are forced into reactionary fighting, struggling to reclaim initiative as she dictates pacing, spacing, and engagement flow with commanding authority.

At her peak, Tǐ's combat becomes less a duel and more a systematic conquest of the battlefield itself, where victory is achieved through relentless advancement and absolute control.

Combat Techniques

Sustained Offensive Pressure

  • Prolonged Attack Chains: Exhausting resistance through layered strike patterns
  • Error Exploitation: Forcing mistakes through sustained aggression
  • Destabilization Focus: Breaking defensive cohesion before finishing
  • Territorial Advancement: Each step claims battlefield space

Aerial Dominance

Her aerial combat is particularly oppressive:

  • Using altitude and velocity for tactical positioning
  • Striking from angles that divide enemy focus and disrupt formations
  • Alternating between rapid flurries and heavy cleaves
  • Creating unpredictable tempo shifts that fracture defensive timing

Strategic Targeting

  • Anticipating counterattacks several exchanges ahead
  • Adapting instantly to turn enemy momentum into escalation opportunities
  • Prioritizing targets whose defeat causes greatest strategic collapse
  • Identifying keystone combatants in multi-opponent scenarios

Battlefield Authority

  • Rhythm Control: Dictating pacing of entire engagements
  • Spacing Dominance: Forcing opponents into reactive positioning
  • Initiative Suppression: Preventing adversaries from reclaiming offensive
  • Flow Command: Determining when and how combat escalates
Kesshō Zhàn

Kesshō Zhàn

Apex Convergence

Evolution Final Form
Weapon Tenebris Operiet
Combat Style Annihilating Efficiency
Specialty Perfect Synchronization
Approach Relentless Certainty
Presence Terrifying Composure
"Combat unfolds according to a rhythm I alone conduct."

Overview

Kesshō Zhàn represents the apex convergence of speed, discipline, and annihilating efficiency. Where earlier evolutions of Kesshō Yīng and Kesshō² Tǐ refine technique or expand battlefield authority, Zhàn operates with terrifying composure, blending absolute precision with sustained, overwhelming force.

Her movements are no longer simply fluid or aggressive—they are perfectly synchronized with the natural escalation of combat itself, as though every clash unfolds according to a rhythm she alone conducts.

Combat Philosophy

Her fighting style is defined by seamless transition between offensive and defensive states, eliminating the traditional distinction between the two. Every block becomes a strike. Every evasion becomes a counteroffensive. Opponents attempting to create distance find themselves intercepted mid-action, while those who attempt direct confrontation are dismantled through cascading chains of perfectly timed blows.

Zhàn demonstrates total mastery over engagement tempo. She accelerates exchanges to disorient foes, then abruptly slows her motion to create false openings that lure opponents into fatal miscalculations. Her strikes carry extraordinary density of force, often collapsing defenses with minimal visible effort. Even restrained attacks possess finishing-level lethality, forcing adversaries into constant retreat or catastrophic overextension.

At full exertion, Zhàn's presence transforms battlefields into environments where resistance steadily erodes under unceasing assault. Engagement against her becomes less a contest of strength and more a matter of survival against a force that advances with relentless certainty, leaving devastation in perfectly measured intervals.

Combat Techniques

Seamless State Transitions

  • Unified Defense/Offense: Every block becomes a strike, every evasion a counteroffensive
  • Mid-Action Interception: Catching opponents during distance creation attempts
  • Cascading Chains: Perfectly timed blow sequences that dismantle confrontation
  • No Traditional Distinction: Offensive and defensive states merged completely

Tempo Mastery

  • Acceleration: Disorienting foes through sudden speed increases
  • Abrupt Deceleration: Creating false openings for fatal miscalculations
  • Force Density: Strikes carrying extraordinary impact with minimal visible effort
  • Finishing-Level Restraint: Even controlled attacks possess lethal potency

Aerial Omnipresence

Her aerial mobility becomes nearly omnipresent:

  • Attacking from multiple vectors in rapid succession
  • Initiating from blind angles using spiraling dive patterns
  • Delivering crushing impacts before transitioning to close-quarters barrages
  • Ground footwork mirroring aerial unpredictability

Multi-Opponent Dissolution

When facing multiple enemies, Zhàn does not divide attention—she dissolves opposition:

  • Rapid Prioritization: Surgical elimination in rapid succession
  • Structural Weakness Identification: Instinctively targeting coordination gaps
  • Formation Dismantling: Removing key combatants to collapse entire groups
  • Thriving in Chaos: Combat flow accelerates amid escalating numbers

Inevitable Advance

  • Resistance erodes under unceasing assault
  • Engagement becomes survival rather than contest
  • Force advancing with relentless certainty
  • Devastation delivered in perfectly measured intervals

Relationships

Thematic Significance

Archetype

Jí Lián embodies the Reluctant Participant archetype—someone fundamentally disinterested in conflict who nonetheless possesses overwhelming capability when circumstances force engagement. Her evolution through combat forms represents the gradual loss of passive detachment.

Core Themes

  • Apathy vs. Necessity: The tension between preference for non-involvement and unavoidable participation
  • Hidden Capability: Extreme power concealed beneath disinterested exterior
  • Evolution Through Engagement: Each combat form represents increased commitment
  • Loss of Passivity: Gradual transformation from observer to active force
  • Comfort vs. Duty: Conflict between personal preference and imposed responsibility

Combat Evolution Symbolism

  • Yīng (Master of Transformation): Adaptability and technical refinement
  • Tǐ (Calculated Domination): Sustained pressure and tactical severity
  • Zhàn (Apex Convergence): Perfect synchronization and annihilating efficiency

Each evolution represents not just increased power, but increased engagement with a world she would rather observe from a distance. The progression from adaptive to dominant to overwhelming mirrors her psychological journey from reluctant to committed to inevitable.

Narrative Function

Jí Lián serves as a counterpoint to characters driven by ambition or ideology. She represents the individual pulled into conflict against their natural inclination, whose quiet preference for comfort transforms into overwhelming force when circumstances demand action.

Her connection to Takino Retsu as an original identity suggests complex layering of selfhood across different contexts and allegiances. The transformation from a Royastellan identity to participation in Destiny's Penance marks a significant shift in engagement level.

Trivia

  • Name Etymology: "Jí Lián" (集聯) can mean "cascade" while "Xiá" (峽) means "hero". "Kesshō" (結晶) means "crystal" in Japanese representing clarity and hardness. Yīng (影) means "crystal" as well in Chinese while Tǐ (體) means "aspect," and Zhàn (戰) means "battle/war."
  • She maintains one of the palest complexions among characters due to extreme sun avoidance
  • Despite enjoying beaches, she uses large umbrellas and high-grade sun-blocking lotion
  • Her hair features a distinctive gradient: dark blue → violet → black
  • Jí Lián has grown from socially awkward to composed, though still prefers solitude
  • Her signature quote "But can we like, not tho?" perfectly encapsulates her disinterested demeanor
  • She wields Tenebris Operiet, which has four distinct configurations
  • Each Kesshō form represents escalating engagement with combat despite her natural inclination to avoid it
  • Zhàn can seamlessly merge offensive and defensive states into unified action
  • Her combat philosophy centers on transformation—of both weapon and tactical identity
  • Member of Destiny's Penance despite her preference for non-involvement