>"Kiku, stop!"
>Dash toward her. If she stops, get to her side. If she does not, interpose ourself between her and the ring.
>"I'm right here with you Kiku!"
>Shouting to Kiku, you disengage yourself from Lily and make haste to put yourself between Kiku and the evil ring floating before her. Lily follows behind you, but not quite as fast; you're obviously in better shape than her, despite the pain and the fatigue gripping your body. She does activate her shield, however.
>"Leave her alone, you flying creep!" Lily cries.
>Kiku takes no notice of either your presence, or your words of support, her empty eyes remaining transfixed on the ring before her. Based on appearances, you'd guess the only reason she's not wearing it already is because she doesn't have the energy to raise her arm.
>The demon, however, does react, and places itself between you and Kiku, sinuously slithering through the air. You practically skid to a halt about 4 feet in front of it, rather than run into its scaled belly.
>
"You destroyed my youma, Terrans." The demon's voice is a sibilant snarl floating through the air, and its words make the air reek before it.
"I shall have to start again somewhere else. But you did provide me this excellent replacement for my flawed servant, which grants you the opportunity to escape my wrath. Flee now, or submit. Your resistance is as pointless as that former shrine maidens'".>Have we seen any evidence that Kiku is under any corruption, as opposed to just highly stressed?
>Your Othersight reveals a slight.... well, like an oil slick, really, on Kiku's mind. It's faint, but distinct. You're not certain exactly what it is, or what it's doing, but it is definitely demonic in origin. Whatever it did, or is doing, can't be doing Kiku any good.
>Purity beam Kiku. Hopefull, that'll snap her out of her trance.
>You take a step to the side of the flying snake and point your scepter at Kiku. The winged serpent is blocking your shot at the ring floating there, but you can still get a clear shot at the tiger youkai, and unleash your violet light, hoping to scrub that blotch from her mind and bring her back to her senses. The winged snake's eye follows your movement, while its other eye stays locked on Lily, but it makes no effort to stop you firing on Kiku. A short burst, this time, as your energy is running a bit low, hopefully that will be sufficient.
>You succeed in wiping the black stain from Kiku's mind, it fades instantly. Unfortunately, this has no outward effect on the defeated miko. She remains on her keens, her eyes empty, her position one of utter defeat.
>However, a strange sensation flows back into you through the violet light of your attack. Somehow, touching Kiku's mind with your light allowed you to see her emotions. She is completely overwhelmed by fear, consumed by despair. The demon showed her its world, showed her its power. The demon challenged her in combat, she pitted everything she had trained for for over a decade against it, and barely scratched the scales on its wing. She was completely outclassed, helpless on her own against such power. She had been afraid that her power wasn't going to be enough, and she was right, or so she believes. She was a fool to hope, a fool to believe she could make a difference. A fool to think the world could be saved. She was afraid of failure, and she was right to be. She was afraid of letting down her sisters, and she was right to be. And, oddest of all, she was afraid of
you.>And at that last thought, seeing her fear of you, your ring reacts with that same 'pinging' feeling you've felt before. Only this time, it is accompanied by a faint yellow light shining from the jewel inlaid therein.
