"When you inflict a critical strike, you may increase or decrease its severity
by an amount up to your school rank."

Does the Crane impact severity after being parried? or does it becomes severity 4 or 9 in all cases?

I would argue that Way of the Crane adjusts critical strike severity directly after you determine whether or not a critical hit is actually inflicted.

Not clear. You could argue either way but it's the sort of thing which really needs to be defined. Especially since there are potentially four things off the top of my head affecting severity (aside from anything modifying a weapon's deadliness like grip):

• Opportunities spent on Striking-as-fire
• Way of the Crane
• Way of the Crab
• Fitness Test or Parrying (which are at least mutually exclusive)

i starting to think that Parry should go. There is the fact that parrying unarmed is not a bright idea, but its actually great mechanically. and a Durable katana would be disgusting in Duels.

Makes it feels, that as long you have void, you can get out of really good critical strikes/Finishing Blows for free (which will make you save the void point, unless you can use to win the conflict somehow.)