Magical Lotus - Mahou Shoujou Byakuren - Episode 5

[Oldmansour]

>"Not exactly. It resonates with the spirit and will and even love in people's hearts, and if that feeling is strong enough, a ring can manifest from mine of its own accord. But you're right; I don't know exactly why or how it works as it does - though I am forever grateful not to have to fight this war all on my own."

>"It's a shame we don't know." Nitori muses, eyeballing your own ring. "Being able to control that would be mighty handy."
>"Perhaps we should discuss that." Reisen suggests. "I'm with Nitori. I'd like to know what made that ring choose us as well."
>"And why us and not others." Minoriko adds.

[DracoOmega]

>"Did you have any ideas that I hadn't already mentioned, then?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Did you have any ideas that I hadn't already mentioned, then?"

>"Well nothing specific." Reisen admits, leaning forward. "I can think of a lot of things that aren't a factor, but not that many things that are unique to us. Obviously species isn't a factor, nor is birthplace. Nor is planet of origin, for that matter, or I couldn't have gotten my ring. We're all female, but that doesn't explain why Nitori isn't a candidate. Or Letty, for that matter. All of us go to Moyoiga High except Kiku, so it can't be something about the school."
>"Unless she was an alumni." Minoriko suggests.
>"Possibly, but somehow I doubt that's a factor. And I don't think it has to do with age, either. I'm three times the age of any of you all." She temples her fingers in thought. "And the circumstances of everyone getting their ring was different. Rin, Minoriko, you two got your rings in the comfort of home, while Kiku and I got ours under rather more severe circumstances. It's not a matter of skills: Kiku and I have more advantages than the rest of you in combat, but we were recruited after Lily. I should ask, actually." she interrupts her train of thought, looking at you. "Was Lily the first one your ring reacted to that way?"

[DracoOmega]

>She was, right?
>Assuming so: "Yes."

[Oldmansour]

>She was, right?
>Assuming so: "Yes."

>She was.
>"That also means it's not related to how close they are to you. Otherwise, Rin would have been first, not Lily."
>"And Marisa'd probably have been next." says Nitori. "Unless she HAS set off that ring of yours and you haven't told us yet."

[DracoOmega]

>She hasn't, right?
>Assuming so, shake our head
>"In Lily's case, I think it was because she knew there was a darkness coming - she'd been shown it and wanted with all her heart to stop it. That goodness in her heart was directed towards this specific goal, something she now knew was possible. After all, I scarcely had to mention recent events to Rin before her ring manifested - the instant she expressed her determination to stand beside me in this. So I think it's not just 'goodness' or 'resolve', but also 'purpose'."

[Oldmansour]

>She hasn't, right?
>Assuming so, shake our head
>"In Lily's case, I think it was because she knew there was a darkness coming - she'd been shown it and wanted with all her heart to stop it. That goodness in her heart was directed towards this specific goal, something she now knew was possible. After all, I scarcely had to mention recent events to Rin before her ring manifested - the instant she expressed her determination to stand beside me in this. So I think it's not just 'goodness' or 'resolve', but also 'purpose'."

>She has not.
>Reisen's ears twitch. "You might be on to something there. That darkness you mentioned, that was the Champions, yes?"

[DracoOmega]

>"The Metal Tiger showed her a vision. She described it as seeing a wave of blackness spreading across the world, withering flowers and trees and extinguishing life everywhere it touched. I... told her what I thought that might have meant and she said she wanted to help me stop it - no matter how dangerous it was. That declaration was all it took."

[Oldmansour]

>"The Metal Tiger showed her a vision. She described it as seeing a wave of blackness spreading across the world, withering flowers and trees and extinguishing life everywhere it touched. I... told her what I thought that might have meant and she said she wanted to help me stop it - no matter how dangerous it was. That declaration was all it took."

>Reisen lowers her head, lost in thought. "I had a thought that, maybe it was awareness of the Champions, of their purpose, that might have been a contributing factor. That somehow being willing to oppose their takeover of our world might play a part in triggering your ring. But I suppose that vision might not be referring to the Champions, but to something else."
>"Maybe Makai itself?" Rin suggests. "We know it's a bad bad place, and we know the creatures that live there destroy anything they can."
>"I suppose there's no way to know for sure. Visions are notoriously murky."

[DracoOmega]

>"A black wave that renders things lifeless certainly sounds like that entity we fought at the shrine the other night. I wonder if that might also have been connected to Makai in some way."

[Oldmansour]

>"A black wave that renders things lifeless certainly sounds like that entity we fought at the shrine the other night. I wonder if that might also have been connected to Makai in some way."

>"Maybe that's why Fire and Ice came to help." Rin offers. "Ta keep somethin' from Makai outta this world."
>"That would make sense." Minoriko agrees. "If these people are trying to escape the horrors of their world, the last thing they'd want is for one of those horrors to follow them."
>"Two, if ya count the one Byakuren and Kiku beat."

[DracoOmega]

>"They did seem very immediately aggressive towards it."
>"Although whatever it was had been here for decades already - long before any of the Champions breached the barrier."

[Oldmansour]

>"They did seem very immediately aggressive towards it."
>"Although whatever it was had been here for decades already - long before any of the Champions breached the barrier."

>"If they could breach the barrier between worlds, then that means the barrier isn't perfect." Reisen posits. "Something else could have penetrated it before they did."
>"And what, it just sat around waiting for the Champs to show?" Nitori asks rhetorically.
>"It had plans of its own." says Rin. "And there were more than just that one. The evil in Motormaster came from the same thing."

[DracoOmega]

>"It does make me curious how they came to be here or how many more might be lurking."
>"Or, for that matter, what they would want from our world - however much such an entity can be considered to 'want' anything. Louise spoke of Makai attacking their kind because they were 'foreign' to it - like some kind of horrific planetary immune system. But if that is so, then why should they care about us, all the way over here?"

[Oldmansour]

>"It does make me curious how they came to be here or how many more might be lurking."
>"Or, for that matter, what they would want from our world - however much such an entity can be considered to 'want' anything. Louise spoke of Makai attacking their kind because they were 'foreign' to it - like some kind of horrific planetary immune system. But if that is so, then why should they care about us, all the way over here?"

>Didn't that corpse-girl say there was just one more of those splinters? Rin asks privately.
>"Perhaps it sees everything beyond itself as foreign bodies to be destroyed." Reisen suggests. Her ears drooping slightly, she adds, "I knew some Lunarians who thought the same thing."
>"Or it can't control itself." says Minoriko. "Immune systems aren't always perfect. Sometimes they go haywire, or go too far. This might be a case of some kind of auto-immune disease, but on a much bigger scale than anything on Earth."

[DracoOmega]

>She did, but Junko also said there were no more after the one in Satori and I'm not sure I should assume that either of them is completely correct - or completely truthful.
>"Perhaps. Would that I'd had a chance to discuss the subject with Louise; she might even have answered."

[Oldmansour]

>She did, but Junko also said there were no more after the one in Satori and I'm not sure I should assume that either of them is completely correct - or completely truthful.
>"Perhaps. Would that I'd had a chance to discuss the subject with Louise; she might even have answered."

>Never trust mysterious strangers, right?

>"One way or the other, I think you'll have another chance to ask before all is said and done."
>"You wouldn't trust her, would you?" Nitori asks. "We're talking about the demons that stole Patchy, aren't we?"

[DracoOmega]

>I think it's a good policy.

>"I think it's more complex than 'stole', I'm afraid. Whatever link there is between the two of them, it existed before they'd ever met - before any of the Champions had crossed into this world. Whatever has happened to Patchouli, I think the seeds of it were laid a long time ago by someone else."

[Oldmansour]

>I think it's a good policy.

>"I think it's more complex than 'stole', I'm afraid. Whatever link there is between the two of them, it existed before they'd ever met - before any of the Champions had crossed into this world. Whatever has happened to Patchouli, I think the seeds of it were laid a long time ago by someone else."

>"So this someone else's the guy we need to thrash?" Nitori asks.
>"Shouldn't that be 'YOU' need to thrash?" Reisen asks lightly.
>"Look here, just 'cuz I ain't got one of your fancy rings don't mean I'm not with you guys!"
>Reisen chuckles quietly. "Throttle back, Nitori, I was only teasing. But getting back to the point, I would assume that the someone else in question would be the leader of the Champions, right, Byakuren?"

[DracoOmega]

>"That seems plausible - this 'Mother' they spoke of."

[Oldmansour]

>"That seems plausible - this 'Mother' they spoke of."

>"Who at this moment is still in Makai. Meaning she's out of our reach for the moment." Reisen leans backwards, bracing herself with her hands. "Which is probably for the best, really. If Makai is that dangerous to the Champions, we wouldn't have a hope in hell of lasting there. And if she was on Earth, well, that would probably mean we'd have lost."
>Minoriko says, "So if we want to talk to her, we would have to do it from this side of that barrier."
>"Which none of us have the ability to do at this time. As far as I know."

[DracoOmega]

>"No, but it's something to work on."
>We can't think of a convenient power at our disposal that would allow us to attempt this, do we? What if we had the Purpose's help in this?

[Oldmansour]

>We can't think of a convenient power at our disposal that would allow us to attempt this, do we? What if we had the Purpose's help in this?

>To your knowledge, neither you nor any of your colleagues possess the ability to communicate beyond your home dimension. Presumably the Champions have a way to talk with their Mother entity. If you had the opportunity, you think there's an outside chance you might convince Louise to help you talk to her mother, but that's not immediately helpful.
>Though in thinking about it, there IS an ally of yours that does have the ability to speak to life forms beyond your world. Alisaie Knowledge. Her magic allows her contact with otherworldly creatures. She might be able to reach someone in Makai as she does the place she calls dragons from.
>As for the Purpose, you're fairly certain it wouldn't help you. It would probably see the act of reaching through the barrier as going against what it is. It's designed more like a wall than a prison interview window. You can't say it's impossible to secure its help, but it's not something you'd want to hold your breath on.

>"No, but it's something to work on."

>As though reading your thoughts, Reisen suggests, "I imagine the Champions have some way of contacting this Mother of theirs. No leader would be out of contact with their troops if they could help it. You and Louise have a rapport of  a sort, Byakuren. Do you think she'd tell you how to talk to their Mother?"

[DracoOmega]

>But didn't The Purpose say that it didn't actually care about things that weren't the Champions and their kin coming back and forth through the barrier? That it was only meant to contain them and other things were irrelevant?

>"I'm not certain. It is possible. Though she has also said that Mother's focus is so preoccupied with keeping Makai at bay that she has little left to spare for anything else; she might see aiding in 'distracting' her as dangerous. But there is no doubt in my mind that she too wishes for a better end to this than the subjugation of our world, one way or another."

[Oldmansour]

>But didn't The Purpose say that it didn't actually care about things that weren't the Champions and their kin coming back and forth through the barrier? That it was only meant to contain them and other things were irrelevant?

>"I'm not certain. It is possible. Though she has also said that Mother's focus is so preoccupied with keeping Makai at bay that she has little left to spare for anything else; she might see aiding in 'distracting' her as dangerous. But there is no doubt in my mind that she too wishes for a better end to this than the subjugation of our world, one way or another."

>From what you know of the barrier, it is possible that in order to talk to the Mother, you'd need to open a hole in the barrier to do so, or at least exploit a hole that's already there. Which would go against its purpose. But that's not a guarantee. For all you've spoken to the Purpose, you still don't know everything about it. It may be willing and able to help you, or it may not, in this context.

>"She obviously had the time and opportunity to create these six Champions, and do whatever she did to Patchouli and Sanae and the other four Avatars, whoever those people are. I'd say she can spare a couple of minutes to talk to someone who wants to help her."

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, I intend to speak to her whether she thinks I'm worth the time or not - but that doesn't affect whether or not Louise would help me in this directly or even if she can. It's definitely an avenue to consider, though."

[Oldmansour]

>"Well, I intend to speak to her whether she thinks I'm worth the time or not - but that doesn't affect whether or not Louise would help me in this directly or even if she can. It's definitely an avenue to consider, though."

>"What about Kiku?" Reisen asks. "She has magical powers we don't. Do you think she could contact Makai?"
>"Doubt it." Rin answers. "She probably would have said so by now."
>Reisen leans back again, thinking. "It's kind of a pity you didn't steal any of Madame Knowledge's spellbooks when you took me from her, Byakuren. We saw her use dark magic. She might possess knowledge that could help us."
>"What good would her books have done?" Nitori asks. "You guys don't have regular magic, do you?"
>"No, but when I transform, I can take one of seven different guises. One of them is Caster, a magician-type fighter. I might have been able to discern how to use her kind of magic as Caster."

[DracoOmega]

>"Alisaie has at least some knowledge of contacting other planes, no? If there is an answer to the problem that lies in conventional magic, she might be a good one to ask. I'm sure she'd be willing to help us if she could, at any rate."
>Pause
>"Wait, seven?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Alisaie has at least some knowledge of contacting other planes, no? If there is an answer to the problem that lies in conventional magic, she might be a good one to ask. I'm sure she'd be willing to help us if she could, at any rate."
>Pause
>"Wait, seven?"

>"Possibly. But from what I know, she seems to be more of a good mage than an evil one. By that I mean, she uses more... Light-type magic than the dark of her sister. And the place we're trying to reach is about as dark as it gets. All the same, it is worth asking her about."
>She smiles. "Yes, seven. It turns out that recruiting Minoriko here had a side effect. When she got her ring, I became aware of Archer."

[DracoOmega]

>"Oh, really? Just like that?"