Magical Lotus - Mahou Shoujou Byakuren - Episode 3, Part 6 [COMPLETED]

[Hello Purvis]

>"Not yet..."
>Let's try to get a deeper look at this thing, turning all our mystical senses toward it. What is it, why is it, and so on. Is it independent of Satori? And extension of her? Is she just an extension of it?

[DracoOmega]

>We can tell this how? Do we feel that it is reaching out to us with its 'mind', or whatever passes for it in such a being?
>Aside from appearing to be observing, it does not otherwise seem to be engaging in anything, though?
>Can our mystic senses detect any shielding or other defenses about the being?

[Oldmansour]

>"Not yet..."
>Let's try to get a deeper look at this thing, turning all our mystical senses toward it. What is it, why is it, and so on. Is it independent of Satori? And extension of her? Is she just an extension of it?

>Can our mystic senses detect any shielding or other defenses about the being?

>Examination of the thing beyond the sensations you already register brings about a sense of.... dread. A sense that this thing touches your soul as you reach out to it. And its touch is an unwelcome thing. Instinctively you pull your senses back on, out of a distinct sense of self-preservation.

>We can tell this how? Do we feel that it is reaching out to us with its 'mind', or whatever passes for it in such a being?
>Aside from appearing to be observing, it does not otherwise seem to be engaging in anything, though?

>Your preternatural senses have been enhanced by years of being watched by others. You have a rather well developed sense for when you are being watched by someone. Or rather something, in this instance.
>It doesn't appear to be.
>Though as you think this, a black energy forms around Satori's eyes, and instantly your mind comes under attack once more. But the force behind this assault is far heavier than that which Satori herself brought to bear against you. Helplessly your hands press against your head as you scream as the sensation of someone tearing into your skull to pry your brains out wracks you with unholy agony. White Rose and Lily don't even manage to keep their footing, unlike you, as the two girls drop to their knees, screaming in pain.
>Over the terrible screeching sounds that deafen your mind's ear, though, you think you hear a voice, calm and soothing, whispering in your ear. "Kept asleep for so long. Trapped. Killed by the light. Wakened by light."

[DracoOmega]

>If we can muster enough will to response to this voice: "W- who are you?"

[Oldmansour]

>If we can muster enough will to response to this voice: "W- who are you?"

>"Eternal peace." the voice whispers. "Held silent for a life."
>The voice has a point. At the moment, it's the one thing in your mind that doesn't seem to be agonized.
>"Embrace me, child, and know relief."

>A surge of psychic torment rips through your mind as you converse with the voice, driving you to one knee. Its invitation seems a very welcome one. Though some part of your mind warns you, cautions you.

[DracoOmega]

>"Who... are you?"

>Try to reach out and grasp hands with Rin and Lily and reach out our powers to theirs. When we merged our powers in the battle with Ice, the result was something far greater than the sum of our strength. Perhaps now if we can lean on each others minds, our mental defenses can also be greater than the three of us standing alone?

[Oldmansour]

>"Who... are you?"

>Try to reach out and grasp hands with Rin and Lily and reach out our powers to theirs. When we merged our powers in the battle with Ice, the result was something far greater than the sum of our strength. Perhaps now if we can lean on each others minds, our mental defenses can also be greater than the three of us standing alone?

>"I bring repose to the pained." the voice replies. "Joy to the miserable. I take suffering and turn it to peace. Embrace me, child, and end your pain."
>The voice is as warm as a mother's words soothing a child awoken from a nightmare. It calls to you, pulls your attention, offers you a way to escape the hideous suffering being heaped upon you. And you have fought for so long, against terrible things. Have you not earned some peace? Some relief? Some rest?

>But that part of your mind that warned you before is not so easily silenced. It tells you that there is another way. Your friends.
>White Rose reaches out for your hand, immediately. Despite the agony contorting her face, you can see the effort she makes to look strong, no doubt for you. But Lily is not as easy to reach. The poor girl writhes in agony on the ground, screaming as loud as you've ever heard someone scream.

[DracoOmega]

>No, no! We will not let her suffer like this. Together, we can be stronger than this. We must be. No matter how much we suffer, so long as there is a breath left in us, we will try to end everyone's pain.
>Shift closer and take firm hold of her hand, whether Lily can notice us or not. If she is thrashing too much, then just embrace her bodily and grasp for it as tightly as we can. Collapse next to her if we have to. As the power of our heart resonates with the suffering of those we love, let our hearts resonate together.

[Oldmansour]

>No, no! We will not let her suffer like this. Together, we can be stronger than this. We must be. No matter how much we suffer, so long as there is a breath left in us, we will try to end everyone's pain.
>Shift closer and take firm hold of her hand, whether Lily can notice us or not. If she is thrashing too much, then just embrace her bodily and grasp for it as tightly as we can. Collapse next to her if we have to. As the power of our heart resonates with the suffering of those we love, let our hearts resonate together.

>Anger washes over you again at the sight of Lily in torment. The girl is one of if not the most pure-hearted person you've ever had the pleasure of knowing. To see her contorted in anguish by this vile force is infuriating.
>Fiercely determined, you stab your free hand out and grip Lily's right, hard. Although she screams as you do so, she stops her wriggling on the ground, opening one eye just enough to look at you and White Rose.
>"Together!" the kasha roars, visibly trying to cut through the agony assaulting your three minds. You know what she means. You need protection for your friends from this assault, and you can sense, even through the chaos and misery your minds are being forced to endure, that your friends desire to protect you as strongly as you desire to protect them. Your three hearts are one, your goal the same, but just as when you sought to imprison the Water Demon, the conjoining of power sometimes needs some words to bring the intent to life. You're not sure, but you think it is Lily this time who conceives the spell, "Rainbow Lotus Bulwark!"
>Power surges between you and your two friends and bursts from you in a corsucating blast. Several feet above your heads, the light stops and spreads out, forming a hemispherical dome of shifting, scintillating light over and around you, a dome of rainbow power. The psychic barrage upon your mind ceases, and you sag in profound relief, a sensation magnified by Lily's screaming stopping, and Rin's tremendous sigh of relief. But the black lights dancing over your dome signify that the battle is far from over. The black titan's attack is no longer reaching you, but its power still strives with yours.

>At least for a moment. Seemingly realizing that you are, for the moment, untouchable via this line of attack, the titan's psionic attack ceases, and the black power striking your shield fades, giving you and your friends time to collect yourselves. The titan then raises its hand, and a tree-sized wedge of black power shoots out from its truck-sized hand. It does not aim at you, however, but at the middle of the shrine's yard. A wave of dark energy bursts forth from the object as it embeds itself in the ground, which your shield absorbs, but the colors of your Bulwark are much dimmer after the wave passes.
>Observing the black wedge has had another effect as well. In turning your eyes towards the shrine's staircase to observe the thing, you spot a rather angry looking red dot in the sky, one that visibly grows larger as you observe it. That has to be the Champion of Fire. Your estimates earlier may have been off. It may be here in only a minute, possibly two. Maybe less.

[DracoOmega]

>We will have to ignore the champion for now, and pray that it considers this abomination to be a mutual enemy - we simply cannot afford to fight this on two fronts.
>Does the titan seem to have aimed at anything in particular that we can tell?
>Is this object that it launched continuously emitting energy at us, or does this seem to have been a one-time burst on impact?
>If we think the dimming color of our bulwark is a measure of its defensive power, then try to pour more of our power into keeping it strong; we cannot afford to let it fall against this creature
>Do we think we could fire our own spells through this bulwark without disrupting its integrity?

[Oldmansour]

>Do we think we could fire our own spells through this bulwark without disrupting its integrity?

>You believe so. You don't think you have the ability to reinforce the Bulwark and employ offensive powers at the same time, but using the latter should not result in a weakening of the former. Assuming you don't have a need to draw power from the Bulwark to reinforce another spell.

>We will have to ignore the champion for now, and pray that it considers this abomination to be a mutual enemy - we simply cannot afford to fight this on two fronts.

>Optimistic, aren't we?

>Does the titan seem to have aimed at anything in particular that we can tell?
>Is this object that it launched continuously emitting energy at us, or does this seem to have been a one-time burst on impact?
>If we think the dimming color of our bulwark is a measure of its defensive power, then try to pour more of our power into keeping it strong; we cannot afford to let it fall against this creature

>It didn't seem to have a specific target.
>It appears to have been a one-shot. And it wasn't directly at you, it was a radial burst of power. The rest of the ring is still carrying on, towards the woods surrounding the shrine, and the shrine itself.

>It does appear to be. The ring of power seems to have an almost withering effect, snuffing out light and life. Reinforcing your Bulwark affords you the time to have a better look at the object the titanic thing launched. It seems that it isn't merely tree-sized, it IS a tree. Or at least something that closely emulates a tree. It is made of the same black material that the titan is, something not quite flesh or fluid, surrounded by a hazy black cloud. Sickly looking green and blue veins, more like scars, scratch their way across the dark trees' trunk and through the bare skeletal branches.

>While you focus your attention and power elsewhere, White Rose helps Lily to her feet. "You okay?"
>"Ahhhh...." Lily still holds her head, but she seems largely back to herself. "That was not fun."

[DracoOmega]

>So, does this ring seems to be killing regular trees and other such things that it passes across?
>Does the tree seem to be doing anything actively besides looking creepy and utterly wrong?
>Do we think that we could move our bulwark, with us still inside it? Without especially weakening its defensive power during the process? If so, how quickly?

>"I do not know the exact nature of that being's connection to Satori, but I feel that its power is still somehow acting through her. What it just... did to us. We need to somehow separate it from her. If it can still exist independently, then at least it should not have access to her powers."
>Do we feel that Amber Lotus could have any effect on their bond, or do they feel too much as one entity for this to be applicable?

[Oldmansour]

>So, does this ring seems to be killing regular trees and other such things that it passes across?
>Does the tree seem to be doing anything actively besides looking creepy and utterly wrong?
>Do we think that we could move our bulwark, with us still inside it? Without especially weakening its defensive power during the process? If so, how quickly?

>At the moment, it hasn't hit any trees, it hasn't reached the woods yet. It has struck the temple and the shack outside, but to no visible effect. But those structures are made of dead wood and inorganic materials. If that ring is as you sense, a circle of death, it wouldn't necessarily affect non-living things.
>Not at the moment.
>Powerful though your shield is, to move it would not be easy. It seems to be sort of like a turtle shell, protective yet ungainly. You could move and keep it over your head, but you probably wouldn't be able to move much faster than a stately waddle. At least without compromising its integrity. Also, you would have to keep close to the Heroes who evoked the Bulwark with you. In this case, White Rose and Lily.

>Do we feel that Amber Lotus could have any effect on their bond, or do they feel too much as one entity for this to be applicable?

>The last time you used Amber Lotus, it was to disrupt an enemies' hold over an object, rather than a living thing. Assuming.... that Satori is still alive. But whether she is or not, you don't know if your Amber light will work. It was designed to work on weapons and tools of the enemy, not necessarily a controlled or possessed person.

>"I do not know the exact nature of that being's connection to Satori, but I feel that its power is still somehow acting through her. What it just... did to us. We need to somehow separate it from her. If it can still exist independently, then at least it should not have access to her powers."

>"Any ideas how to do that?" Lily asks.
>Before you can answers, though, White Rose points up towards the top of the giant. "Ya might not get the chance." As she speaks, you see Satori's body pulled into the titan's body, sinking into it as though it were oil.
>And then Lily gasps. "The trees!" In the intervening time, the black ring has reached the treeline to the north and south. The trunks wither under its touch, rotting away in seconds, leaving shriveled lifeless husks in the waves' wake.
>As the trees die, the titan's tree reacts. Its veins glow with a sickening light, and something resembling buds begin to emerge from its limbs.

[DracoOmega]

>Well, maybe that tree will count as a 'tool' if Satori doesn't
>Fire an Amber Lotus at the titan, and give it as much power as we can muster without compromising our barrier

[Oldmansour]

>Well, maybe that tree will count as a 'tool' if Satori doesn't
>Fire an Amber Lotus at the titan, and give it as much power as we can muster without compromising our barrier

>Trusting in your defenses, you point your scepter up at the looming giant and invoke your Amber light. A single gold tinted projectile blasts out from the tip of your scepter, the lone projectile much larger than the multiple shots you deployed the last time. The titan makes no move to counter or block your attack, and the bolt of energy strikes the thing in its sternum.
>While this has no visible effect on the titan itself, nor does Satori emerge from the thing's body again, the tree DOES show an effect. The glowing veins lose their light and start leaking green and blue fluid, while the buds fall from the tree like dead leaves.

>Unfortunately, the buds then shudder once they hit the ground, and open like a foul flower. The things expand, sprouting a quartet of spindly legs and a pair of wing-like appendages. They grow to the size of a medium sized dog, each, insectile faces sprouting mandibles and fangs long enough to do some fairly serious damage.
>Rin swears in Eire. "Giant death bugs. Great."

[DracoOmega]

>Did this appear to do anything to disrupt the black wave, or at least the dark tree seeming to draw power from what it passed over?
>Do we believe our bulwark offers any protection from physical attacks, or merely psychic ones?

[Oldmansour]

>Did this appear to do anything to disrupt the black wave, or at least the dark tree seeming to draw power from what it passed over?
>Do we believe our bulwark offers any protection from physical attacks, or merely psychic ones?

>The wave has dissipated, and the tree appears to be inert. At least as far as you can tell.
>It should offer complete protection, assuming you have enough power to ward off the attack in question.

[DracoOmega]

>When we faced Ice, we crafted an attack which incorporated something directly opposed to its power (in this case heat) woven together with our light of love and purity. Can we do something similar here? Lily's power seems to evoke the flowering of life and bloom, while this creature is its opposite: death and withering. Could we create an attack combining both our powers - the purifying light of our Violet Lotus with her powers of spring - into a flow of unquenchable, inevitable life? Show this manifestation of death that no matter what it destroys, no matter what withers beneath its touch: life will always bloom anew.

[Oldmansour]

>When we faced Ice, we crafted an attack which incorporated something directly opposed to its power (in this case heat) woven together with our light of love and purity. Can we do something similar here? Lily's power seems to evoke the flowering of life and bloom, while this creature is its opposite: death and withering. Could we create an attack combining both our powers - the purifying light of our Violet Lotus with her powers of spring - into a flow of unquenchable, inevitable life? Show this manifestation of death that no matter what it destroys, no matter what withers beneath its touch: life will always bloom anew.

>You have proven capable of channeling enormous amounts of pure energy, purifying light. You have proven capable of giving physical form to the emotions of the living. You have proven capable of destabilizing extra-dimentional horrors and enhancing your strength to the level of an oni and possibly beyond. But to give physical form to life itself, to channel the antithesis of death through your body, is a task that normally falls into the realm of the Gods. Even if you were capable of this act, and you're far from certain you are, it would certainly drain every ounce of energy you and Lily possess both. Whether it succeeded or failed, you would have absolutely nothing left when the Champion of Fire arrives. You would be leaving Rin and Kiku alone to combat the demon.
>Attempting this attack could even kill you. You sense that to externalize life could consume your own, and most likely Lily's along with it.

>Thinking on the matter, at some point it might just be possible through another means. Emotions, known to the living and unknown to the dead, seem to be central to your power. With enough of your friends calling forth and evoking the light of emotion, you could bind those lights together to create the White light of life. Kiku's fear, Rin's devotion and loyalty, Lily's joy, your Love. With more Heroes, more emotions, more hearts joined together, the White light could be conjured safely for all involved, except of course for the unlucky entity you're pointing it at. But for right now, the four of your would not be enough.

[DracoOmega]

>Dialing back on the ambition slightly, can we visualize some way to entwine Lily's power to encourage bloom with our own powers of purification to create a surge of energy that would invigorate surrounding life and repulse its opposite - something that might be a less pure form of what we wanted, but still antithetical to this titan as heat was to Ice - at least to some degree? Not pure life energy, but the will and love to bid it grow and push back that which would wither it?

[Oldmansour]

>Dialing back on the ambition slightly, can we visualize some way to entwine Lily's power to encourage bloom with our own powers of purification to create a surge of energy that would invigorate surrounding life and repulse its opposite - something that might be a less pure form of what we wanted, but still antithetical to this titan as heat was to Ice - at least to some degree? Not pure life energy, but the will and love to bid it grow and push back that which would wither it?

>That would be much simpler. When Lily and White Rose joined their attacks with yours to battle the Ice Champion, it was as though their attacks enhanced your Vermillion Lotus. You could do the same again, joining one of your attacks with Lily's. This time however, you would want her attack to be the 'dominant' one, as it were. One of your own lights, Violet or Scarlet would probably be best against this enemy, could serve to reinforce Lily's power.
>The only problem to this approach would, you're not sure if Lily actually has a purely offensive ability. Every power she's demonstrated before has been either primarily defensive or passive in some way.
>Of course, you could have Lily merge one of her spells with yours, thus imbuing your attack with her element in addition to increasing its power, but the effect would be more pronounced the other way around, if you wanted to throw 'life' at the Death Titan.

[DracoOmega]

>"This creature seems to breathe death and feed off the withering of life. Lily, your powers are of bloom and growth, yes? And thus perhaps fundamentally opposed to its being. Do you have any spell that could strike it directly? If I can weave my Violet Lotus into it, we might be able to repulse this decay more powerfully than it could alone."
>While we're explaining, take a free moment or two to fire some quick Scarlet Lotuses at the death bugs, if they start to take offensive action

[Oldmansour]

>"This creature seems to breathe death and feed off the withering of life. Lily, your powers are of bloom and growth, yes? And thus perhaps fundamentally opposed to its being. Do you have any spell that could strike it directly? If I can weave my Violet Lotus into it, we might be able to repulse this decay more powerfully than it could alone."
>While we're explaining, take a free moment or two to fire some quick Scarlet Lotuses at the death bugs, if they start to take offensive action

>Lily takes a moment to reply, her eyes stuck on the now dead trees. "What? Oh." She gives her head a bit of a shake before turning her head towards you. "You mean like my shield? Sure, I just need something to charge it first."
>"I think she meant something more direct than that." White Rose says, her attention on the treespawn as well. "Something like THIS." Thrusting her hands out, she invokes her White Retainer's Fire towards the insects, which had started to move just as she started to speak. The sight of that white flame is a welcome one for you, and its use as well, considering the last times Rin was forced to employ her fire powers. "Lotus, are we locked in here?" she asks as she tracks one group of bugs that fan left while others fan right. "I fight better in the air."

[DracoOmega]

>"I'm afraid moving this shield while still inside is impractical, and I wouldn't risk stepping outside of it. For now, we may just have to manage. And yes, Lily - what Rin said."

[Oldmansour]

>"I'm afraid moving this shield while still inside is impractical, and I wouldn't risk stepping outside of it. For now, we may just have to manage. And yes, Lily - what Rin said."

>"But... I don't think my power works that way." Lily protests.
>"You want to see that thing kill more trees?" Rin yells over the fire she pours at the insects. "Or US?"
>While White Rose has one group of bugs handled, the other group, the ones fanning around to the right of your Bulwark, are free to attack. Three of the ugly brutes snap their wings forward, sending clusters of shining splinters into your shield. The shots don't seem to do any significant damage, but enough of them could prove to be a drain on your resources. In reply, you direct a Scarlet Lotus at the group. Five of the creatures pop like balloons, leaving only a spray green and blue goo, but at least a dozen more remain.
>When you turn back to Lily, she has her eyes fixed on the dead trees at the edge of the woods. You can see that what Rin said to her struck a nerve. Knowing her and her affinity for nature as you do, the sight of what that titan's tree has done must be infuriating. In fact, she even looks infuriated. "Right. Right, let me think."

>Her time to think runs out almost as soon as she finishes talking. The Death Titan raises its clawed foot with surprising speed for something its size, and brings it down upon your Bulwark, the light ringing with a hollow sound as it struggles to ward off the force and the weight of the vile creature.

[DracoOmega]

>While it may be slow to move the bulwark completely, can we change its shape? Essentially resculpt the part the titan is connecting with so that the foot would slide off, rather than bring all its force to bear directly against it?

[Oldmansour]

>While it may be slow to move the bulwark completely, can we change its shape? Essentially resculpt the part the titan is connecting with so that the foot would slide off, rather than bring all its force to bear directly against it?

>Yes. Though you will have to reinforce the Bulwark first, considering the force the Titan is placing upon it.

[DracoOmega]

>Okay, then pour some power into reinforcing the bulwark against this blow, and then at the first moment we feel we have a chance to do so, pull in the curvature of the bulwark around the titan's foot to hopefully deflect it aside and away from us.

[Oldmansour]

>Okay, then pour some power into reinforcing the bulwark against this blow, and then at the first moment we feel we have a chance to do so, pull in the curvature of the bulwark around the titan's foot to hopefully deflect it aside and away from us.

>With Lily's help, you and she shore up the shield over your head, and you notice the Titan's physiology change. The 'top' of its body bubbles and a distinct head emerges, completing its humanoid look. This head holds four eyes, one set on top of the other, each one a dark red, the color of old blood. No mouth is visible, which you are thankful for. Those bloody slits in its bruise-black head are unnerving enough.
>The remaining insects take their toll on the shield as well, but with Lily's help and White Rose's covering fire, you gain your opportunity to reshape your hemisphere of protection, slanting the top of it down so to, hopefully, make the titan's foot simply slide off.
>Much to your relief, it works. Although the titan tries to tighten its claws around your bubble of protection, its toes find no purchase and the foot slides off with a terrible grinding sound. But this provides you with only a very short reprieve, as the titan lashes its leg out again, kicking at your Bulwark. The massive limb strikes with more force than a runaway train, and the colors of your bulwark dim noticably. One of the insects sinks its mandibles into the shield, and for a moment it seems as though it could penetrate, before it is struck by lateral fire.
>A bolt of white energy shoots out from the side, striking the offending bug and blowing it to goo. Three more blasts, each one bearing the sensation of holy power, burrow their way into the titan's leg before it can kick you again.
>Kiku has joined you, and she's brought reinforcements. Three other mikos bear talismans and magical auras, and more are arrayed behind them, some armed with bows, others not evidently armed.

[DracoOmega]

>Reinforce the shield again; we can't let it fall!
>"Lily, do you think you can do it?"

>Did the Titan seem affected at all by the blasts which struck it?