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

[Oldmansour]

>"Well, I'd like to take a look at it, if that's alright?"

>"Of course." the bird says with a nod. "If you'll come with me?" she adds with a gesture towards the stairwell door.

[DracoOmega]

>"Thank you."
>Follow along

[Oldmansour]

>"Thank you."
>Follow along

>The tall woman folds her wings in close to her body as she makes her way down the staircase, leading you and Rin back down to the door you used the last time you came here. She explains that there is an elevator that goes down to the pool area when White Rose asks, but she states that it's often faster to walk. Better for a body, too. She also informs you that the freshwater pool is presently occupied by two recently ascended youkai who haven't quite got comfortable breating atmosphere yet, but they shouldn't disturb you. As is not uncommon among 'newborns', one of the two, the shark, isn't all the outgoing just yet. Evidently she bites strangers.
>The large room where you swiped your bagel the last time you were here is nowhere near as empty this time. Half a dozen seats are filled with the employess of the CRA, all either on break or on lunch. A tan-skin man with a rather ridiculous mohawk calls out to you and your Rin, but Hatoko informs him that you two are here on business and that he still needs a haircut. The colorful bird sits down to join him at his table, leaving you and Rin to carry on unencumbered by civilians.
>The air down here is no longer oppressive or ominous, apart from being a couple stories below ground. But even so, you have to fight to keep a shiver from running down your back. The memories of your experience the last time you were here, both with the Tar and then the Water Champion, may follow you for a long time.
>Just as Hatoko described, that sheet of lead is still there, right where you left it. A very innocuous leaving by a very malevolent thing.

[DracoOmega]

>Cast our mystic senses towards the sheet of lead and then the surrounding the area. Be cautious, but thorough. Do we sense anything at all amiss, however slight? Any sign that the metal at our feet is anything more than a sheet of lead?

[Oldmansour]

>Cast our mystic senses towards the sheet of lead and then the surrounding the area. Be cautious, but thorough. Do we sense anything at all amiss, however slight? Any sign that the metal at our feet is anything more than a sheet of lead?

>You pause for just a moment before turning your mind towards that lead once more.  The memory what happened when you touched that Tar with your mind is going to be with you for a very long time. But after collecting yourself, and taking a deep breath, you scan the patch of lead with your mystic senses. To your immediate relief you sense nothing out of the ordinary. Your thorough mental probing provokes no otherworldly or magical sensation of any sort from the lead sheet. It is a dense patch of metal, and it descends down into the floor- you don't imagine it'll be cheap to remove all that lead and then fix up the floor after. But at least it will just be removal with no extra threat beyond that which usually comes from mundane construction efforts.

>But, while the lead is just that, you are sure it's nothing more than a hunk of inert metal, there are other magical auras around. Most are above you, and very very faint. Best guess is they are people with latent magical powers or abilities that either have not been trained or their powers are not very profound.  The strongest aura has the now familiar sensation of the magic of the shrine maidens around town. Water element dominant, if you're not mistaken. And most bizarrely of all is a peculiar sensor 'ping' coming from beneath you. That one is strange not only for its location, but because it's a type of aura you've never sensed before.

[DracoOmega]

>Is there another floor below us that we know of, or does that mean this ping is coming from inside the ground?
>Focus on that one a little more and see if we can get a better idea what it is

[Oldmansour]

>Is there another floor below us that we know of, or does that mean this ping is coming from inside the ground?
>Focus on that one a little more and see if we can get a better idea what it is

>When you were here with Kiku, she mentioned detecting a chamber about 20 feet below this area with an unusual metal content. She was confused about the sensation, so you're inclined to think it probably isn't part of the CRA. A wild guess would be an old bomb shelter. Old Mayoiga had a number of such shelters before the last war, none of which seemed to provide any benefit against the blink bomb that destroyed the city. Without knowing what stood here before the CRA building did, though, there's no way to know for sure if that's true.
>As you narrow your focus on that subterranean aura, you sense that, whatever it is, it waves at you. As though it can sense your mental probing.

[DracoOmega]

>Waves at us? Does it feel... friendly? Or, at the very least, not malicious?
>Do we have any idea at all what or who it might be?

[Oldmansour]

>Waves at us? Does it feel... friendly? Or, at the very least, not malicious?
>Do we have any idea at all what or who it might be?

>You can't sense any obvious hostility. On the other hand, you can't sense any obvious beneficence, either.
>You sense a humanoid shape, but not enough detail to guess at species or gender. It has a strange kind of power, but not enough to threaten you or Rin. You're not even sure it could threaten the miko you sense above ground, not with the amount of energy you sense right now. And you also sense that it is now moving up, in your direction.

[DracoOmega]

>Moving up? Like, directly through the ground towards us, or just upward in a way that might suggest it using a stairwell or elevator somewhere we aren't aware of?

[Oldmansour]

>Moving up? Like, directly through the ground towards us, or just upward in a way that might suggest it using a stairwell or elevator somewhere we aren't aware of?

>It direction is diagonal. It could be using a stairway, albeit a somewhat steep one.

[DracoOmega]

>Well, maybe we'll get a better idea what it is before too long, then?
>To Rin: Well, the good news is that I can't find the slightest trace of the tar's presence anymore. Probably it really is well and truly gone. More oddly though, I sensed a strange kind of presence below us. I... think it waved at me, metaphorically-speaking.

[Oldmansour]

>Well, maybe we'll get a better idea what it is before too long, then?
>To Rin: Well, the good news is that I can't find the slightest trace of the tar's presence anymore. Probably it really is well and truly gone. More oddly though, I sensed a strange kind of presence below us. I... think it waved at me, metaphorically-speaking.

>Proximity does tend to aid your sixth sense's sharpness.
>What'd ya find, some kinda mole?

[DracoOmega]

>I have no idea, to be honest, though it felt humanoid.
>Let's give it a bit and see what happens

[Oldmansour]

>I have no idea, to be honest, though it felt humanoid.
>Let's give it a bit and see what happens

>Mole youkai, maybe? White Rose speculates. Nevertheless, you note her shift from casual to defensive, and her glance from light to wary.
>About half a minute later, an area of the wall across from the entrance to the salt pool locker room begins to shimmer and waver slightly, like the surface of pool. White Rose moves up to stand in front of you, a motion almost automatic on her part. "Relax, you two." a faint, feminine voice drifts out from behind the wall. "I'm just here to talk."

[DracoOmega]

>Is this the same presence that we felt beneath the floor?
>And not a voice that we otherwise recognize, right?
>Assuming both of these are true, motion to Rin to stand down and greet her amicably.

[Oldmansour]

>Is this the same presence that we felt beneath the floor?
>And not a voice that we otherwise recognize, right?
>Assuming both of these are true, motion to Rin to stand down and greet her amicably.

>It is.
>It is not.
>Rin relaxes, but she doesn't move from her position in front of and to the side of you as a humanoid figure passes through the wall. The human woman appears middle-aged, dressed in clothing that went out of fashion more than thirty years ago. She is pale. Very pale, in fact, and her brown eyes are dull and lifeless. She is flanked on either side by a small faint flame that leaves no embers and shines an almost invisible blue light. The woman turns towards you after she emerges fully into the hallway and smiles, a gesture that, for some reason, makes you rather nervous. "So we meet at last." she says in a voice with more verve than her body displays.
>White Rose tenses once more, on guard again.

[DracoOmega]

>"At last?"

[Oldmansour]

>"At last?"

>"I've been keeping an eye on you ever since you started stalking through town like a thunderstorm." She turns her head slightly to look at White Rose. "You seem tense."
>"Yeah." Rin intones. "'cuz you're dead."

[DracoOmega]

>"That doesn't mean she's hostile."
>"But you say you were... 'keeping an eye on me'?"

[Oldmansour]

>"That doesn't mean she's hostile."
>"But you say you were... 'keeping an eye on me'?"

>"I guess." Rin says with a frown.
>The woman nods. "After I saw that fight at the Metal Tiger shrine, and your destruction of that splinter, I knew I had to speak with you the first chance I got. Which happened to be now. I have some information you may find useful."

[DracoOmega]

>"Oh? What is it?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Oh? What is it?"

>"There are two more splinters like the one you destroyed still in this city. Some of them have been destroyed over the years and some have been taken out of Mayoiga, but two remain within the city limits."

[DracoOmega]

>"There are? Where?"

[Oldmansour]

>"There are? Where?"

>"One of them is in the possession of Tobias Scatterclaw. But that one is out of your reach, since a confrontation with him would cause far too much destruction. If you went after him and his splinter, the resulting battle would destroy at least half of this city. I think you would agree this is more harm than good."

[DracoOmega]

>"Left unchecked, might the splinter not represent as great a threat itself - if not already, then eventually?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Left unchecked, might the splinter not represent as great a threat itself - if not already, then eventually?"

>"No, not unless one of his own kind comes after him. Scatterclaw isn't interested in widespread carnage anymore, not like he used to be. And he's not like Satori. He has not been corrupted by the splinter, he commands its power. He uses it only to aid in his communion with the dead and dark places."
>"And how do you know that?" White Rose asks.
>"My knowledge is vast." the woman replies simply.

[DracoOmega]

>"I believe it takes a little more than being well-informed to know such details about as dangerous and isolated a man as that."
>"But where is this second one?"

[Oldmansour]

>"I believe it takes a little more than being well-informed to know such details about as dangerous and isolated a man as that."
>"But where is this second one?"

>"The second is in the possession, or rather HAS possession, of the being you know as Motormaster. That one will be a more immediate threat to you. It would have been anyway, but especially now that you have something that it wants, and badly."

[DracoOmega]

>"Reisen."