Magical Lotus - Mahou Shoujou Byakuren - Episode 4, Part 3

[Oldmansour]

>"Satori, there has been a malicious entity residing within you since the day you saw the bombs fall - a being almost the literal incarnation of death. That black splinter I spoke of last night was only the tip of that iceberg; it had spent decades growing within you, infecting you with its own mentality. It was not your fault that it attached itself to you, and no one could remain untainted by such a thing while it dwelled in them. But now, for the first time in forty years, you are free of it."

>As Satori gapes at you, obviously trying to process what you've told her, the green haired woman shakes her head, and while you detect some anger in that gesture, you note that her hand is no longer gripping her dagger. "Y'expect me t'blieve that my Mistress's ben puhsessed fer all these years?" she demands in rather heavily accented Yamato.

[DracoOmega]

>"Perhaps it may be difficult to accept, but it is the truth. Perhaps its influence may have been weaker at first, slowly taking hold as it grew within her, but the sheer corruptive power of the entity we fought last night would be obvious to anyone who witnessed it."

[Oldmansour]

>"Perhaps it may be difficult to accept, but it is the truth. Perhaps its influence may have been weaker at first, slowly taking hold as it grew within her, but the sheer corruptive power of the entity we fought last night would be obvious to anyone who witnessed it."

>"Evil can be very good at concealing itself." Kiku adds. "Even from those who specialize in detecting it. Satori hadn't touched my mind the first time we met, and I had no idea that thing was inside her."
>The tanned woman looks down at her mistress, then returns to scowling at you. "So you woke this thing up?"
>"No, no, it was me." Satori protests before you can reply. "I wanted... I really did want to change the world, make it so people didn't hurt each other! How could... it was my desire."

[DracoOmega]

>"I imagine your wish for a world where people don't do harm to each other is genuine. But the shape of that world, and the harm you were willing to do to others yourself in order to obtain it.... You would not feel so guilty now if these were choices you would have made without that thing tainting you."

[Oldmansour]

>"I imagine your wish for a world where people don't do harm to each other is genuine. But the shape of that world, and the harm you were willing to do to others yourself in order to obtain it.... You would not feel so guilty now if these were choices you would have made without that thing tainting you."

>"Why... How can you say that?" she asks, puzzled. "How do you I... I DID want to..." she insists, though she doesn't sound as convinced of that as she did before.

[DracoOmega]

>"At the time, I am sure you did want to. But you were under the influence of a very powerful will, external to your own - and one that had woven itself so deeply within you that even you could not sense its presence from your own."

[Oldmansour]

>"At the time, I am sure you did want to. But you were under the influence of a very powerful will, external to your own - and one that had woven itself so deeply within you that even you could not sense its presence from your own."

>"But, I am psychic." Satori protests. "There are.... there WERE... no secrets... How could something hide from me? Inside me."
>White Rose asks her, "Your powers. Did they get stronger after that event?"
>The kneeling woman pauses to consider that. "But... that was me... I, I wanted to get stronger, needed to... I needed power."

[DracoOmega]

>"If that thing was embedded so deeply in your mind, it might have grown nearly impossible to distinguish from your own thoughts - even for you. Even I could not sense the depth of the darkness embedded in you until after I had tried to cleanse it."

[Oldmansour]

>"If that thing was embedded so deeply in your mind, it might have grown nearly impossible to distinguish from your own thoughts - even for you. Even I could not sense the depth of the darkness embedded in you until after I had tried to cleanse it."

>"S'ow'd ya see it inna first place?" the pointy-eared woman inquired.

[DracoOmega]

>"I can sense... it is a little difficult to put into words, perhaps, but let's call it 'darkness' - powers malign and corruptive and 'evil'. As I said last night, I could see a black splinter in Satori's third eye - something very dark and wrong and which did not belong there. I did not truly understand what it was, but I knew it was causing her harm; the concern I expressed then was genuine. But it was not until I tried to purify this darkness that it manifested fully, and showed all of us just how black it truly was."

[Oldmansour]

>"I can sense... it is a little difficult to put into words, perhaps, but let's call it 'darkness' - powers malign and corruptive and 'evil'. As I said last night, I could see a black splinter in Satori's third eye - something very dark and wrong and which did not belong there. I did not truly understand what it was, but I knew it was causing her harm; the concern I expressed then was genuine. But it was not until I tried to purify this darkness that it manifested fully, and showed all of us just how black it truly was."

>"So y'DID wake it up."
>"We can't say that for certain." Kiku argues. "We have no way of knowing how long that evil might have remained hidden. It may have had its own schedule. For all we know, Lotus may have prevented it from becoming unstoppable later."
>"That's right. It coming out now might actually been the best thing." White Rose adds. "It might have gotten stronger if it'd stayed in her."

[DracoOmega]

>"And it was already causing harm to her, and through her. It could not simply be allowed to fester."

[Oldmansour]

>"And it was already causing harm to her, and through her. It could not simply be allowed to fester."

>"Couldn' do't in one shot?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Not nearly, I'm afraid; what manifested from her was the most profound darkness I have ever seen."

[Oldmansour]

>"Not nearly, I'm afraid; what manifested from her was the most profound darkness I have ever seen."

>Satori holds her hand up to the green haired woman. "Help me up, please."
>"Of course, mistress." she replies quickly, and you note a deliberate effort on her part to pronounce the language better as she helps her mistress to her feet.
>You hear Satori's stomach grumble as she starts to speak. "Even if... What you say is true, if everything is true... I'm still guilty. Everyone has... darker thoughts, things that cross their mind they never talk about. Desires that never get mentioned. But I... have spent the past half a decade acting on those impulses. Those desires. They were mine, I'm sure. I have done... terrible things."

[DracoOmega]

>"Things you did only because of the deathbringer's influence. It is not fair to yourself to shoulder the blame for those actions when your mind was not wholly your own."

[Oldmansour]

>"Things you did only because of the deathbringer's influence. It is not fair to yourself to shoulder the blame for those actions when your mind was not wholly your own."

>"Even if that were true, they were my desires. My hands, my mind, my power. It's not fair to all the people I've wronged to dismiss my guilt. But I... I know that I can never make up for it." For the first time since you arrived, the disgraced miko straightens herself. "For everything I've done, I deserve to die."

[DracoOmega]

>"No. Satori, you had an incarnation of death wrapped around your mind, and yet you still held fast to your commitment not to kill. If not for the kindness in your heart and your own will, the damage that being could have wrought through you would have been far more terrible. Who knows how many might now be dead if not for your convictions, even in the face of such corruption."

[Oldmansour]

>"No. Satori, you had an incarnation of death wrapped around your mind, and yet you still held fast to your commitment not to kill. If not for the kindness in your heart and your own will, the damage that being could have wrought through you would have been far more terrible. Who knows how many might now be dead if not for your convictions, even in the face of such corruption."

>"You give me far more credit than I deserve. If I had that kind of will, these years would have been different ones." She looks over your shoulder, towards Kiku. "They deserve justice for everything I've done to them. Especially you, Kiku. But I can't make it up to them any other way."

[DracoOmega]

>"I don't believe that's true. Your death won't make this world a better place, but your life still might. Your dream of a more peaceful world was not a wrong one, only your methods. But even without bending minds, each of us still shapes the world around us every day, through the kindnesses we show other, the values we demonstrate, the teachings we impart. Even in these dark decades, your counsel still helped many people, and I think there is still good you can do in the world."

[Oldmansour]

>"I don't believe that's true. Your death won't make this world a better place, but your life still might. Your dream of a more peaceful world was not a wrong one, only your methods. But even without bending minds, each of us still shapes the world around us every day, through the kindnesses we show other, the values we demonstrate, the teachings we impart. Even in these dark decades, your counsel still helped many people, and I think there is still good you can do in the world."

>"Don't forget that that 'counsel' you mentioned was part of my plan as well. It was a way to ingratiate myself to the people of this city. It's easier to rule if the people love you, whether they should or not."

[DracoOmega]

>"Whether driven by ulterior motives or not, people were still helped by your words. And you could help people again - this time for the right reasons."

[Oldmansour]

>"Whether driven by ulterior motives or not, people were still helped by your words. And you could help people again - this time for the right reasons."

>"Nothing I could do could ever make up for what I've done." Satori replies bitterly, turning her side to you. "All the people I've hurt.. invaded.. Nothing I could do in the future will ever let their memories fade."

[DracoOmega]

>"The past cannot be undone, but it does not invalidate the worth of what is done now."

[Oldmansour]

>"The past cannot be undone, but it does not invalidate the worth of what is done now."

>"Then... How would you suggest I try?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Be good to people. Do good for people. There is no limit to the number of ways one can do good in the world - feeding the poor, tending the sick, advocating for those who lack power, or teaching people how to treat them fairly. You know best where your own aptitudes lie, but your name caries weight in this city. If you speak, people will listen - that itself is a power which can do great good."

[Oldmansour]

>"Be good to people. Do good for people. There is no limit to the number of ways one can do good in the world - feeding the poor, tending the sick, advocating for those who lack power, or teaching people how to treat them fairly. You know best where your own aptitudes lie, but your name caries weight in this city. If you speak, people will listen - that itself is a power which can do great good."

>"Would it stop then?" she asks quietly, so quietly. "The faces in my memory, the minds I violated. I can see them all, even now."

[DracoOmega]

>"That..."
>Put a gentle hand on her shoulder, assuming she doesn't flinch away from this
>"May take some time. But it won't always feel this way."

[Oldmansour]

>"That..."
>Put a gentle hand on her shoulder, assuming she doesn't flinch away from this
>"May take some time. But it won't always feel this way."

>She does flinch, but she does not recoil. The pointy-eared woman twitches visibly as well, but keeps her obvious protective impulses in check. "I don't know..." Satori breathes. "I... I, I think I'd, like something to eat, now. Please?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Of course."
>Hand over the lunch