The greater Me

Kicking the ground with her bare feet, Ulv took a deep breath and then the boots appeared, hugging her legs and rising up to the knee. They looked really nice, the white colour was attractive and the soft shining bits up the side were something she really did like about this new, "Mask" form.
"How is it?" she asked, tapping them on the ground to get a good feel of their weight and hardness.
'It's pretty stable. I like this form, there is a lot of me coming through it. Just need one last push and then it'll all be me~' Hvit teased. Ulv gave a giggle at the idea, but Hvit being out was an interesting idea.

Still, she needed to test what these boots could do for her, and so took off in one direction. They certainly did a lot for her because she took off like a frigging bullet, rocketing past the landscape to come to a halt some dozen or so miles from where she started.
"Certainly got an output to them, aye?" she asked, rather rhetorically. Laughing softly at how strong these things were. And damn right as well, with the power they were consuming to be out.

Suddenly, sounds of combat. She couldn't hear it properly but could feel the emotions off yonder and hear something that was definitely combat. She sighed, and wondered if she should put down her Noble White Fangs. But, then that would hardly mean this was a training session, huh? So she scooted over there and saw a mad man flailing his sword. She could immediately tell from his emotional state and spiritual output that he was being controlled by something. But, as to what was doing that, was the question. This day, just got weirder, so she waked over to him, and caught the sword, putting on her Punchinators to give her some metal covering.

"Easy on the-" she was cut off by a kick in the gut, and she was sent off into one of the buildings. 'Ok. Wow. That's strong' she thought, shaking her head before climbing out of the rubble and smacking him in the back of the head with a Bala. While it was only a quick-cast Bala, he was barely scuffed by it. The, spiritual power he was putting out was considerable, but somehow...strained. As if he wasn't meant to have this kind of power normally.

"As I was saying. Easy on the sword" she told him, sliding her feet into a fighting stance.

The strange, forced-powerful man gave her a strange, deranged look as she shot him, and suddenly Ulv wasn't so hyped at getting into a fight with him. That look on his face was not something she wanted to get involved with.
"For...the lady! The fairest!" He spoke the way he looked like someone had sat on his mind and then tried to beat it back to shape to convince people it was totally fine. He rushed at her, and his sword swung with great force. Not a lot of speed though. Guess whatever this thing was wasn't something that worked for speed.

Ulv's leg came up and she blocked the attack with her boot, the power inside the boot exploded outwards, a powerful Cero shattering the sword, and then she snapped her foot back, across his jaw and threw him to the floor. There seemed to be a limit on how much these Impact Ceros shot off, but that was fine, the rest of it was mucho goodo.
"He's getting back up" Ulv muttered, feeling the strength of his jaw and knowing she hadn't even broken it with that kick. And as if on cue, the creature-man staggered to his feet, and stared at his sword.
"The..the lady" he groaned, looking at the broken sword.
"I hope I haven't just broke his girlfriend" Ulv commented, before he looked up her and his face contorted into something like anger, but if he wasn't entirely sure what anger was.
"The Lady!" he shrieked, and rushed Ulv again.

Seeing him rush, she took a second to focus on his speed, her own, the distance he was moving and how fast it would take her to make her move. And then she did it, spinning and lashing out a kick as he arrived, smashing her boot into his head and frying it with an Impact Cero. No breakages, which was kind of scary, actually. The blow that shattered the ground simply through the sheer force that was forced into the man's body was not enough to break his skull. Drove the guy into the dirt, but didn't break him.

"I hate mind-controlled buggers like you. I mean, what is the point in being this strong if I can't get some quips or monologuing from you as we fight? Hell, I'll take Typhoon over you. He's got that creepy Oedipus complex thing going on but at least I get quips" Ulv picked up the slack of the guy who couldn't give her what she wanted - not the first time a guy was unable to give a woman any pleasure.
"L-lady...Lady! LADY!!" the shriek of the man who make lesser people take a step back in trepidation of it's intensity. But Ulv was getting into this fight, and her Fury was building~

Ulv was going to go as hard as she could without her release states, and exhaled. This next trick wasn't one that she could really do, but something she was simply copying from what she remembered of doing it. The mad man stumbled towards her, a shrieking howl filling him as he had taken more damage than Ulv expected, even if his bones were intact. It was a cruel fight, this fight. He was deluded and only given strength, not skill. His body pushed to the breaking point, the highest possible point it could go, without factoring if it could handle that.

Recoiless Roundhouse crashed against the very same precise point that her jumping spin kick had landed upon. It was an eerie feeling to not feel any recoil from her kick, but that was implied in the name, so she didn't give it much of a thought. Instead, she just gave a morbid grin as she felt skull finally yield to the force it had been put under and fracture. Even more, Recoiless Roundhouse was a near-perfect application of strength, and with the power in this form, it was terrifying. So she damn-well expected it to break his skull. Double after everything she had put it under. Squishy brain was a lot less sturdy than the skull and she felt it crumple under the kick, the creature collapsing with one last whine that could easily be assumed as something about the Lady.

Now that he was dead, Ulv walked over and looked over the man. Nothing special, totally ordinary human. No real spiritual powers or anything. Which meant these really were something that was from another. What could do this, though?
"Ara ara. You took him out~ I should take you next instead!" A woman came up to her. Ulv had assumed her to be just one of the people in the village, but apparently not. She looked over, and the ornate blade flashed, the light reflecting off Ulv's eyes. It whispered promises of many things Ulv didn't really pay attention to.

"So you are responsible for this, then?" she asked. The woman seemed spooked that nothing had happened, and the flash shone again, brighter than before. The whispers were louder, more prevalent than before. And so Ulv released an explosive burst of Reiatsu and the woman was thrown backwards by it. "Stop that. It's annoying" she told the woman.

Standing up, a blade whistled past her shoulder and hit the woman, who got her own sword up in time to block it, but was still driven back till she hit a wall, and then the sword flew back to its owner. A magnificent thing, Ulv recognized it as it drove the woman back. Sky-Piercer, the relic blade of the Naku clan. Which meant....
"Xian?! You have interfered in my plans for the last time!" the woman screamed. But then, she looked at the woman and hissed. Something was going on between these two.

"Xian? What..are you doing here?" Ulv asked, looking at the shameless vagrant that was the prodigy of the Naku clan. Ulv had never seen, never felt her so focused, so steely determined.
"Ulv. I am here on clan duties. Thank you for your assistance" she spoke. Her voice was hard and like the sword, she was carrying. her eyes had a yellow tint to them, which was kind of spooky but they were just contacts. Maybe against the power of the sword? She assumed that glow was what did that thing to the man she had just taken out.

"Always around to help my friends, Xian" Ulv then looked back at the woman. Seeing the forces arrayed against her, she seemed to condense into a ball and shoot off into the sky. "Meteor walking?! What the hell?!" Ulv exclaimed, kicking a boot-enhanced Bala at it just incase it did something. It didn't. Xian exhaled and sheathed the sword, looking and feeling furious at something. "So, gonna keep me in the dark because I don't cultivate anymore or...?" Ulv asked. Xian turned to her, and after a few more seconds let out a sigh.

"It's clan stuff, and you were always more of Tsu's girl than Naku's. But having someone like you on the look out for this is a good idea, so come on. Gotta be a base of some sort here" she groaned, looking about the place.

That was the Xian that Ulv knew, and so - keeping her boots on, it was training after all - she followed Xian into the village. And had to deal with a frustrated Xian because while she found the bar, the people were still dealing with the fact that half the population had been murdered by a mad man with a sword and the bartender was one of them. So she just leant back on the chair and looked up at the celling. Clearly not sure where to start. So Ulv gave a prompt, with a grin to ease the tension she was feeling.
"So, Sky-Piercer, huh?"

It did the job. Xian snorted and grinned, looking to Ulv with a flicked pair of eyebrows.
"I should have guessed you'd recognize it. Yea, Sky-Piercer. Alavazi is still slumbering, otherwise you'd be meeting out grand partiach" She explained, sliding on the chair. Ulv swore she had some sort of ADD from the way she just pottered about constantly when not drunk.
"Now there is something I am sad to have missed" Ulv commented, swinging her boots about.
""Mmm. So I can't tell you all of it because clan secrets and all. But someone recently stole something from the vault in the Phalanx, and it is very dangerous. If you find her, don't underestimate her either" Xian spoke, emphasizing the fact before getting back to fidgetting.

"I guess as much from the whole Meteor Walking. Shit's not even meant to exist anymore" Ulv muttered, shaking her head before getting up. "Well, I'll not keep you from your drink any longer. You got a stressful set of days ahead of you. And if I meet your queen bitch, then I'll hit you up"

Kicking off from the ground and leaving the area, she gave a quick sweep for the woman, but found nothing, so just climbed a mountain and sat on the peak. It took her only a few seconds, and she was sure to not get bothered up here except by those that she wanted to be bothered by.
"What is going on? Xian taking her clan duties seriously is one thing, and a thing enough for me to raise an eyebrow, but to go out against this woman with an irreplaceable relic like Sky-Piercer? Clan secrets or no, there is something serious going on" she said, looking slightly off to the side.

'Something enough to spook people into that kind of action. Xian meandered when there was a War going on. But now, she is pursuing this with more passion than you could have possibly have thought she possessed. Nobody came to you though, so its a secret they are keeping. You aren't Cultivating but they would still call you in for something like this. Xian telling you as much as she did shows just how bad it is' Hvit was always around to help Ulv out, and it was wonderful having such a friend always by her side. It was a shame that not every Inner Hollow was born to be able to be made friends with like this.

Whatever was going on, Ulv needed to get better. That one guy went down with a surprising amount of effort considering the power Ulv had. If someone of actual competence - like Nenatalev, or Noctis Gandr - Ulv would have been in trouble. So she needed to get some practice in. Some martial practice. She had neglected it somewhat in favour of her hollow powers and other spiritual stuff. So standing on the Mountaintop, she took a stance, and began. While she couldn't cultivate, she had been and still was partial to the style that was made in Wulin, the foot-based Re-Taekwando.

Sweeping a kick up, she started to go through the motions. Arang. Baeku. Baek Rok. Bo-Bup. Cheonji. Dongbaek. Chen Fangs. Front Kick. Gor Yo. Ground Drawer. Hwechook. The air roared at the power of that last one, and she let out a breath she had been holding. Each one of the leg-based martial arts she had just thrown out felt like they could be better. Felt like they could be stronger. Felt like...she finished up with her Recoiless Roundhouse. The specifics so hard to grasp. So profound and enlightened. But she wasn't going to give up. She was going to practice, to train, every day until she grasped these.

And then the boots dissolved, and Ulv decided she was going to catch a nap. Burning her mask out was exhausting....