The way her foot flexes out to catch the first N'yari in the chest is like the answering of a prayer. For the first moment after her strike there's a [i]flicker[/i] of blue, the shocked desynchronization of one soul marveling at the effortlessness with which another can wield this power. For a moment, as the catgirls close in, she's frozen, and then the unity snaps back into place with a wild and terrible revelry.

Cautious games of grace and denial against a surprised priestess are one thing; the whirl of battle against a N'yari warband is another - and the craving that Zhaojun answers is her own. She pulls the umbrella from the ground as the catgirls close in and as she falls she spins and strikes it against a skull with one hand. Her other hand spears the ground with her chopsticks and balances her by her fingertips above the mud as her heels lash out in a whirlwind of kicks and silken blue robes. 

Then the game is reversed again; and the momentum of her latest strike carries her forwards, umbrella opening and closing with snaps of colour and radiance to conceal the flow of strikes and stance changes. She is dazzlement and delight, just look at her! A flower opening and closing and warding away perilous foes with her beauty, a true maiden of the Flower Kingdoms, a battle the N'yari are prepared for and know how to engage. And so she lures them along with their own instincts, letting them fall into the tactics they use for fighting mortal maidens.

But Zhaojun dreams of claws and lions.

With a whirl she casts away her umbrella, tangling it into the crowd of warriors, and pounces as pure and vicious as any N'yari. She catches Machi in the chest and her momentum carries them both to the ground. It is not claws around Machi's neck, though - it is chopsticks held between her knuckles that she uses to tilt the head of the proud warrior up with delicate force. Her hair, tangled and wild from the surge of action, has fallen down to cover one of her mask's glowing eyes, but even on that blank surface is the intention of teeth.

"I am already here to grant your wishes," she said through heavy breathing - a body straining to keep up with what was demanded of it. "I am already here to bring you glory. Follow me and I will serve you the greatest knight of the Flower Kingdoms and her retinue," she was close, hot breath against stone, bamboo wood against flesh.

[Fight: 7
Flirting with and gaining a superior position]