I’d argue ESP would let Cinner know Ako is trying to throw something out and let him dodge or power through it.
Worth pointing out that Ako fought against Vacteria who’s ESP is more like precog than not. She seems to have far more advanced extrasensory than Cinner does, and Ako can still hold his own through sheer skill and analysis with her. Albeit she wasn’t really in a ‘killing mood’ so to speak, he was still able to frustrate her with how well he did.
Even if Check lands, Cinner could break out with LS or just overpower it, taking impalement and electrocution isn’t new to him so he won’t let it stop him from continuing his attack.
The big problem with this is that Check has many massive spikes and is large enough to basically turn him to mincemeat the same second Check is used at all. It’s a killing trap, the electric afterwards is more used to clean the mechanism off some than harm the enemy further, since they are already dead. To survive, Cinner needs at least High-Mid regen, which he doesn’t have (he caps out at High-Low, not even close to enough). If check lands, the battle ends.
Cinner has also sort of taken impalement from lasers, being shot by Kernel’s rifle which fired lasers that could scorch holes in a target. His skin was able to mitigate the effect thanks to that heat resistance, so effectiveness on that could depend.
The lasers impale the target all the way through and remain active for a few moments after, holding them in the air while further lasers do their job as well. Could Cinner counter this? What if the lasers aim for vitals only? The heat damage really seems more like a bonus effect rather than anything meaningful, but it’s also able to hurt monsters normally resistant to extreme heat so that’s worth something I think
I’m unsure any data on monsters really matches up perfectly to Cinner considering his style is unique to him and his weapon of choice. Even then, knowing what your opponent can do doesn’t prepare you to defend against it. Sasuke could see Lee’s moves but not respond for example. I don’t see why we’re talking about Cinner attacking from behind either.
Cinner is definitely a unique case, but Ako should have enough combined data to be able to make plans quick. Even without data Ako excels at making plans on the fly. I was also just pointing out that Ako has a myriad of ways to stop a back-attack, especially in Frost.
Vacteria seems like a fair reference point, but Cinner has plenty of martial arts feats and weapon skill feats as well as 12+ years of experience in martial arts and weapon handling to back him up. He’s taken on people far more experienced than him and assassins as well as a small army of people on his level at the start of his journey.
Ako himself is similar, being able to fight off armies of weaker Monsters even with minimal experience as a Cyborg, but in this key he fought multiple Parasite Kings at once including all of their summoned minions. The parasites were unpredictable and strange, also being able to take over/slow his body with eggs, but he still was able to plan and beat them in real time. Even despite this, Cinner still has experience advantage, but it’s not like Ako is some novice.
I’d argue a staff that can tear through people with 15000 degrees Fahrenheit is on the same level as claws, especially with his maneuvers such as Lightning Breaker and Shield Piercer to use freely.
Cinner can emit his aura which’ll constantly cover him with temperatures as hot as if not hotter than light to make Ako’s defending himself with weapons and tricks even harder.
Even Cinner’s powerful heat will actually result in his loss, because Ako’s Gale is able to absorb heat and fire energy/power/attacks and covert it to much more energy, putting all of his stats and stamina into overdrive. Ako will be able to swap through all of his forms nearly instantly and obliterate lifeline and Cinner if he attacks Gale with heat attacks like that. Ako should know by now that Cinner uses strong heat, so a combination of Bubble and Gale will give him a much better chance. Even if he didn’t know, the second he feels it, he will alternate to his Bubble/Gale strategy.
Bubble to defend all the moves and send out Shield Grenades and Gale to absorb all the energy and slice him with the Plasmasword. Gale also gives a speed amp and layered armor using which further raises defense too. Further increased stats from the heat will make Ako faster and faster, soon surpassing the advantages Cinner gains with extrasensory.
Cinner isn’t devoid of options to defend himself either with Metal Whirlwind’s spin and Strong Leap if the two end up back on the ground. The extension can also be used to approach Ako without need for spamming energy attacks.
Approaching Ako in a direct way like that is a clear opening for Check, Frost, Gale, or Tremor or a combination of them all to finish the battle. Metal Whirlwind can’t block Check because it flies in from horizontal angles. Cinner defending his front, back, or top with the spin leaves him open for the other half of Check which would win the fight right away via extreme impairment. But also, Cinner wouldn’t be able to fight him so close anyway, since every time Ako switches, his parts explode out for a very brief moment, basically being like a little and instant nuke every time he changes. Not only would he be exploded, but most likely shredded to a bunch of pieces by the sharp flying metal parts.
I will say I’m unsure if Cinner could get through the plasma bubble, so that could be something in Ako’s favor.
Vacteria could hardly break them even with 60 megaton attacks, so Cinner would have an especially difficult time. The shield grenades will allow Ako to tank Cinner’s attacks very, very well, and basically opens up everything for him since he can abuse them to approach. He can make walls around him by firing the grenades in specific ways and activating them all at once, either blocks Cinner out from him or making a grand protection. He can also launch the shields like holders towards Cinner.
Flood’s anesthetic is a good option, but Cinner can fight for a period while unconscious. Assuming he doesn’t get waken up by any sort of attack, Cinner is basically bloodlusted going for anything he can to win until he collapses.
Only for up to 25 seconds, easy enough for Ako to camp him out in Bubble until he just falls down. Using Cosmic Bubble should be enough, assuming Cinner is suddenly able to break through the grenades easier due to bloodlust.
Acid would have to be heavy to dissuade him. It seems like Ako has sufficient options to win, but we have to assume he lands on them while not getting caught by Cinner or using anything disadvantageous like Blast which is practically useless or True Faith which is a mixed bag.
Cinner just seems to be more consistent with his winning options, having the LS to potentially choke Ako out and the tenacity to beat him until he can’t beat him anymore. I’d also like to know Ako’s stamina, his profile says he searched a place for hours but can he fight for hours?
The acid is powerful, strong enough to threaten Dragon Level Monsters, but if it doesn’t work on Cinner himself Ako can target lifeline with it instead. Based on the course of battle and how his opponent fights, Ako will know not to use Blast at all.
LS advantage is good for him, but Ako could box him out with an instant shield emerging from his body using Bubble, or simply swap to Gale and slice through lifeline/Cinner himself, or to Tremor and get to the point of being too large to grapple (he could also instantly obliterate Cinner with an overwhelming plasma blast, since he’d need to be close enough to capitalize on LS advantage, and I’m unsure if Cinner even has that advantage on Tremor anyway), or he could even switch to Frost and freeze/stab him at the same time (again assuming he survives being next to the transformation, which, with Tremor, is even more unlikely). But based on Cinner’s heat, a combination of Gale/Bubble to defend against that is most likely.
For stamina, the location of the battle is a godsend for Ako, since there are abundant energy sources everywhere. Even a single car in the street can restore him significantly. As long as they remain in the city, Ako can fight basically forever. Powerlines are much better for him than cars though, and with powerlines he could even gain an excess of energy and raise his stats all around. This combined with Gale absorbing all of the Cinner heat gives Ako huge boosts, which also makes things like Check which are already a bit faster than Cinner much faster.
Even without the heat, Ako can abuse Shield Grenades to wall Cinner away from him while he takes a brief moment to sap all the energy from the cats around the nearby streets. Without any extra energy sources, he would still have great fighting stamina, being able to battle for at least a couple hours. Also worth saying that Ako won’t seem that tired until he’s totally drained. Until he loses all stamina, it will seem like he’s lost barely any stamina at all, and with all the energy sources listed already he won’t be at any risk of losing stamina before Cinner does. Bubble gives him an easy out to go and sap energy due to the blocking strategy.
His play style is dodge and block until he can rush in for the win.
Doing constant swapping between Gale and Bubble basically invalids most of Cinner’s ability to win. Check would also instantly kill Cinner on contact, and Ako has experience fighting someone with much better ESP and doing very well, so he should find a way to land Check sooner rather than later. If Cinner tries to win through incap via LS, Ako has multiple ways to get rid of him (Bubble is also very good for keeping him away before it even comes to that, and the big if of whether or not Cinner can even live against Ako transforming right in his face). It’s unwise for Cinner to get so close to Ako, but he doesn’t seem to have a way to win without being close (you did say yourself that Cinner waits to be able to charge in) yet Ako has multiple wincons regardless of what Cinner does, and stamina won’t be an issue because there are lots of sources around for Ako to replenish with. For the moment, I will vote for Ako.
