>Help Lily up.
>"Kiku needs us, let's go."
>Soldier onward, helping Lily as needs be, leaning on her if we need to and it feels like she can take it. Kiku needs us, there's no time to rest. Even if we are completely drained, that is fine. Magic isn't necessary to open one's mind, and that is what we came to do.
>Lowering your scepter, you don't even give yourself a moment to catch your breath, or to let some of the ache in your limbs go away. Kiku needs you, that's all there is to it.
>You take Lily's arm and help her regain her vertical base. She is clutching her ribs again, and looks like a wilted flower. You yourself are aching nearly all over your body, your head throbbing behind your eyes. You feel very tired, drained. And you're still hungry. You sincerely hope that this demon is more reasonable than the last one; the last thing you want is another fight, in more than one way.
>You and Lily both support each other as you head through the entryway to where the youma and the statues were. The youma is truly gone, and the four statues have been replaced by four people- three females and one male. They all appear to be alive, but unconscious. Probably drained of power, like the other youma victims. They'll have to wait; they're safe, for now, and Kiku isn't. Lily makes a noise of surprise as you go past, but says nothing.
>There are two doors within this chamber, the one to your left leading to what seems to be a bathroom, the one to your right leading to the pool, so you head through that door.
>'Pool' is a bit of a misnomer, in this case. The body of water within this large room isn't shaped like a standard swimming pool. It's been styled to look like a small lake, with curves and bends, rather than a rectangular shape. The floor around the pond is actually a mix of sand and gravel, the floor farther out the same tile surface that the locker room has. You note that the ground here is not covered by water, but there are small puddles on the floor and at two places on the wall, as well as what appears to be a large burn on the west wall. A shredded paper charm is near your feet, mute testament to Kiku's battle.
>Kiku herself is on the northwest side of the room, approximately 15 feet away from you. She is on her knees on the tile portion of the floor, her clothes and hair dripping wet, damaged. Several paper charms lie discarded around her. Her body language is that of one completely defeated.
>Floating in front of her is a creature that looks like a nightmarish combination of a snake and a bat. It is a serpentine shape, at least twelve feet long from head to tail, with dull blue scales on its back, its belly scales an off-white. It has two bat-like wings protruding from its back, hovering in place. A spiny crest of long hair-like scales extend from its head.
>Perhaps most disturbingly of all is the small glowing object that hangs in the air between them, the object that Kiku seems transfixed by. A black and yellow ring. By the energy pattern your othersight shows you, it is the same kind of ring that the crazed woman you fought was wearing.
