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- "You've got it all wrong. You're nothing like me. Kanoh Agito, you're just a protoype. But I inherited everything from Tokita Niko."
— Lu Tian, revealing himself as a Worm[1]
Lu Tian (
Appearance
Lu Tian was a tall man with a muscular build. He had long, white hair tied into a ponytail and a chinstrap beard. He wore a trench coat over his clothes, only taking it off when fighting in a match. He had a small black Worm tattoo on the tip of his tongue.
When unleashing his latent strength, his muscles grew, and his hair became messier. Also, his eyes gained the black-sclera typical of the descendants of Wu Hei.
In Xia Ji's flashback, Lu Tian had shorter hair and was clean-shaven, though he still wore his trench coat and clothes underneath.
Personality
On the surface, Lu Tian was a stern, no-nonsense individual. In reality, it's a mask to hide the vicious beast he was. His ability to socialize and form genuine bonds with others is why hardly anyone suspected him.
As someone who claimed to have mastered the Formless stance under The Other Niko's tutelage, he looked down on Kanoh Agito, deeming him to be an inferior prototype since the Other Niko never taught him. Despite his affiliation with the Worm, his loyalty lied with his master rather than the organization. Unlike Agito, Lu Tian "surrendered" to the beast within, being described by Xia Ji as a "loose cannon".
History
Lu Tian hails from Hong Kong, and is known as a local celebrity.[1] About twenty-five years before the events of Kengan Omega, Lu Tian took part in a human Gu ritual, like that of Agito. [5][6] He managed to survive the ritual and then became a student of The Other Niko, who personally taught him to perfect the Formless stance.[6][7]
In an undisclosed time after the ritual, he met Xia Ji, who desired becoming the Worm's next head. Making his ambitions clear, Ji attempted to persuade Tian to join his cause. Lu Tian bluntly rejected the offer, mocking the former's lofty goals. In response, Xia Ji disparaged both him and The Other Niko's faction as "eyesores" and ordered his three henchmen to kill him. Lu Tian brutally defeated the three but spared Xia Ji, admitting admiration for his determination to further himself at any cost, encouraging him to work harder for the Worm.[8]
Sometime after that incident, Lu Tian entered Purgatory and eventually worked his way to the top as one of its A-List Gladiators, adopting the epithet "Three Demon Fists: Centipede."[1]
Plot
During one of Purgatory's fight nights, Lu Tian was present with Nicolas Le Banner when Yumigahama Hikaru encountered Yamashita Kazuo (along with Narushima Koga and Gaoh Ryuki). While Yumigahama was making a scene with Jose Kanzaki, Lu Tian shared words with Nicolas.
Later, in the aftermath of the Kengan Association VS Purgatory Tournament's fifth round, Lu Tian, Nicolas, Arashiyama Jurota and Rolón Donaire entered the arena to deescalate the situation following the fatal outcome of the match between Naidan Mönkhbat and Ryuki. After preventing a brief altercation between Kure Raian and Jurota, everyone but Lu Tian returned to their gate, becoming the next gladiator to fight in the sixth round. Lu Tian presented the bracelet that every participant in the gu rituals wore. Agito, a survivor of the practice, immediately recognized what it was and where Tian's true loyalties lied, provoking him to be Tian's opponent.
Taunting Agito as a king of a small island, the match began. Lu Tian was immediately pressured by Agito's onslaught, unable to use his Wuwang Fist. As the referee, Shiina Alisa counted, Agito demanded Lu Tian to reveal his Formless stance. At that provocation, Lu Tian told his true self, revealing the Worm tattoo on his tongue and his tutelage under the Other Niko, who he claimed to have inherited all its teachings.
A battle between two "Formless" fighters ensued. Five minutes into an even match, Lu Tian's perfected stance connected a few hits on Agito, prompting him to switch to Martial Arts. Despite the change, Agito's flawed styles could not scratch Lu Tian's perfected Formless. When Agito starts using both at once, Lu Tian started to falter; the imperceptible delay between the shifting dual style prevented him from adequately anticipating the strikes.
Pushed to a corner, Lu Tian unleashed his latent strength with the Wu Clan's Guihun, to the surprise of everyone who bore witness. The boost of power and speed, combined with the Formless stance, proved to match Agito's shifting styles. However, a feinted uppercut to the chin caught Lu Tian off guard, only to receive a Dragon Shot to the face. The blow knocked him out, causing him to lose his match.
Power & Abilities
Lu Tian is considered a "mainstay" of Purgatory, and as such, is reputed to be one of the best fighters in Purgatory and the strongest of the Three Demon Fists. His combat prowess allows him to evade and even absorb blows from a fighter of Kanoh Agito's caliber. With a tough physique paired with fast kinetic reflexes, he can casually intercept a punch from Raian, with Lu Tian not even flinching to the strike to his palm.
Due to his experience as a Gu ritual survivor, Lu Tian demonstrates exceptional control and competence in chaotic combat scenarios. He is well-versed in dealing with multiple opponents, as seen when he defeated three regular Worm combatants without outwardly damage or effort and weather Kanoh Agito's onslaught and later, even push Agito back with his martial skill and masterful proficiency with the Formless stance.
Lu Tian also practices the Wuwang Fist (
As a second-generation student of The Other Niko, Lu Tian only knows the Formless stance since his master has long abandoned the Niko Style.
Formless
As a survivor of a Gu Ritual, Lu Tian can use the Formless stance like Kanoh Agito. Unlike Agito, Lu Tian had help learning and perfecting it from The Other Niko. Tian's Formless stance is remarkably aggressive, fluid and refined, able to outperform Agito's flawed stance. Kuroki Gensai described Lu Tian's mastery of the stance as a flawless spear, while Agito's dual styles were akin to fighting him with two flawed swords.
Guihun
Through The Other Niko paying off Edward Wu to teach the secrets of Guihun, Lu Tian knows how to unshackle his latent strength by utilizing it.[9] Lu Tian's full release rate is 96%, second only to Kure Raian, and gives him enough raw power to be on par with that of Julius Reinhold. His constitution is enough to unleash it in the first place since, according to Kure Erioh and Edward, the technique "would kill a normal human using it".
Trivia
- Lu Tian likes ramen and is into jazz.[10][11]
- It's unknown whether the "Centipede" part of his epithet was a deliberate, audacious choice on Lu Tian's part, or if it was used by a previous Demon Fist.
- In his life as a purgatory fighter before revealing he was with the worm, he seemed to be friends with Arayishama Jurota and Nicolas Le Banner (Jean Luc) and have a bad relationship with the fellow demon fist Liu Dongcheng.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Chapter 89 (Omega)
- ↑ 1 win by ring out against Liu Dongcheng prior to the Kengan Association VS Purgatory Tournament(ΩCh110)
- ↑ 1 loss against Kanoh Agito in the Kengan Association VS Purgatory Tournament(ΩCh93)
- ↑ Chapter 32 (Omega)
- ↑ Chapter 224
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Chapter 90 (Omega)
- ↑ Chapter 92 (Omega)
- ↑ Chapter 91 (Omega)
- ↑ Chapter 93 (Omega)
- ↑ Sandrovich's Twitter: 16th June 2021 ("Ok! Lu likes ramen.")
- ↑ Sandrovich's Twitter: 16th June 2021 ("He likes jazz.")
