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.::Riot of Blood?::.
Last updated 2nd September 2007
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This is the most conflicted and confusing part of the Orochi saga. The low down is this:
in-game Iori in this form gets a mega boost in power and speed. the original description of this is when Iori's Orochi blood awakens fully (evidence is Goenitz's comments to both Iori and Leona in KoF96 and KoF97). also in-game we see that it can only be triggered by a full-blooded Orochi or an Orochi himself as seen in KoF96 and KoF97 Kyo/Iori/Kagura ending when Orochi controls him. however, Iori did show that he can, in fact, fight it as well with great will power (this guy rocks!). But then there are contradictory bits like Kusanagi's also entering riot of blood (Souji Kusanagi entered riot of blood prior to KoF97 as seen in KoF: Kyo and Kyo himself enters it when he does his HDSM in KoF2001 onwards as is evident with his facial expressions, grinning and eyes darkened). So that much is obvious: it hasn't got to do that much with blood as is normally believed since why else do the Kusanagi's, a clan clean off the Orochi blood, enter this state.
In game this seemed to imply that Orochi blood is normally dormant in Iori and only awakes in this mode...but it doesn't' make sense as otherwise the Yasakani's wouldn't have made such a pact. To me since Orochi Iori is Iori in berserker rage, he is stronger in the same sense as a person suffering from such a rage becomes stronger because he no longer restrains himself (guts for instance becomes faster and stronger when he goes berserk). berserk in fact means just this.
It is pretty obvious that Riot Iori is more powerful than regular Iori. However, Ash later comments in KoF XI that Iori (who was in Riot form) had his powers decreasing steadily. He clearly implies that Riot Iori is in fact "weaker" than regular Iori. This was very conflicted and didn't add up with what was shown before in games like KoF97 etc where Riot Iori is insanely powerful.
However, "power" and "strong" are terms used in Japanese videogames for "fighting power" pretty often. to be more specific, saying a person is stronger than the other doesn't necessarily mean physically stronger but that the person is a better fighter. best example, Ryu's words to Apocalypse in MvsSF: "let only the stronger one survive!"
It is obvious that Ash could was talking about Iori's overall fighting powers. Normal Iori is a fighting genius who mentally dominates a fight and unnerves his opponent through taunting and bantering with the opponent. Orochi Iori however is a mindless machine that knows only outright attacks. if we take it from this point of view, Ash IS correct: if Riot Iori is fighting someone more powerful than himself then he is in for a sure defeat because he'll be doing an outright attack. if we look at it this way then it makes the most sense in the world. do you all agree?
so seems I was right and wrong: physically Iori may be weaker than Riot Iori but as an overall fighter, Iori is still "stronger". I'm sure everyone agrees to this since he is more refined.
So basically, riot of blood is a state of mind rather than his blood "waking up" (Japanese people and their love for clouded metaphors!). that's what we see in Iori's SvsC ending as well. What "waking up" really means is that the Orochi blood in Iori somehow has its own consciousness which then tampers with him. This was evident in KoF97 where Iori is talking to Orochi and tells him not to mess with him just before he undergoes Riot of blood. This was also there evident in Riot Iori's SvsC ending where we clearly see Orochi whispering into Iori who then simply loses control and flies into a berserker rage. This is LITERALLY like the beast that speaks into Guts' ears and draws at his anger in order to turn him berserk. Orochi does the SAME THING. Iori's mind making him berserk. I've already addressed that. otherwise there is literally no explanation for Riot of blood in Kusanagi's...which is also Kyo going berserk mind you. Notice that all times Kyo does that is when he is extremely angry (first at NESTS and then at Ash and the reoccurrence of Orochi)
as for the flame gene, like I said for some reason techniques pass on via genetic framework. its not unlike Kazuya's devil powers that passed on to Jin as "devil gene". its the same with the Kusanagi's and Yagami's. apparently techniques become a part of the genetic framework. AGAIN, to give examples: Kaphwan's, Howard's, Bernstien's etc all have their father's ki's (rock's purple flames etc) while some even have the same moves.
as to what you pointed out with K' and Krizalid NOT doing Kusanagi-ryu moves is explainable. for one Kusanagi ryu is a mix of Chinese martial arts and their own pyro-techniques. so its likely that the pyro-techniques are what actually pass on and not the martial arts. this makes perfect sense when we look at the fact that the Kusanagi's were expert flame wielders before they even incorporated the Chinese martial arts to take on Orochi. the other explanation for K and Krizalid not knowing Kusanagi ryu is the fact that k' is not actually a full clone of Kyo but merely a child infused with his flame gene, i.e. his pyro-technique knowledge that has been passed on in the Kusanagi family for centuries. notice how Kyo's clones perform pyro-techniques AND his moves. K' only performs the pyro-techniques. and finally, NESTS weren't trying to make an ULTIMATE Kyo clone in the case of k' and Krizalid. him not doing Kusanagi-ryu could very well be their tampering with him.
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