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

[Oldmansour]

>Reach out and touch it; can we feel the shield, or just it?

>You carefully stretch a probing hand towards the youma's hide, coming into contact with its bristly torso. You touch naught but flesh, or whatever passes for flesh on this youma, but you do get a sensation of a kind of warding power radiating from the area touched. You would guess from this touch that the aura your othersight shows you is a sign of some inherant property of this youma's body, if not complete being.
>You then hear the sound of a very heavy tail flying through the air, heading in your direction.

[Hello Purvis]

>Duck under that tail.
>Do we feel we could use a bit of magic, and our enhanced brutality stat, to physically grab onto this protect aura and rip it away?

[Oldmansour]

>Do we feel we could use a bit of magic, and our enhanced brutality stat, to physically grab onto this protect aura and rip it away?

>Very doubtful. This invulnerability effect seems effective against physical force, magic and Light powers all. The only thing that's affected it at all is when Lillian punched it in the jaw, since the defensive effect doesn't seem to include the youma's head.

>Duck under that tail.

>Adroitly you make yourself shorter, and the brute's tail misses your head by inches. The youma then bodily hauls Lillian off the ground and pivots its torso impossibly around, hurling the reptilian youkai into you. The shrine maiden's body didn't hit near as hard as the youma's hoof, but carries a lot more mass, and the two of you are sent sprawling backwards, collapsing in a heap. The youma rears its tail back again, but the call of "White Retainer's Fire!" rings out and twisting stream of orange and white flames lashes down from the sky, striking the beast on its upper back and neck. The youma grunts and staggers slightly at the assault of your kasha.

[Hello Purvis]

>Try to get back up to our feet
>"Please, let me handle this!"

[Oldmansour]

>Try to get back up to our feet
>"Please, let me handle this!"

>"Hey, you're gettin' your butt kicked, too." Lillian grumbles as the two of you disentangle from each other.
>The youma roars its defiance at Rin's assault and spins its upper torso around a hundred and eighty degrees, its whirling arms warding off White Rose's flames. As that attack dissipates, however, Makie's spell manifests, as a quartet of tendrils of water spring up from the ground. Two of them wrap themselves around the youma's thick arms while another binds its front legs, the last of the four coiling around its neck. The youma all but shrugs off the first three, scattering them into harmless droplets, but the fourth tendrill seems to give it some trouble.

[Hello Purvis]

>Let's take this opportunity to hop up on it's back; close to its torso so that it cannot easily reach us with the tail, and will have a hard time turning to grab us. Latch onto it's shoulders, and see if we can sense where the edge of that barrier is.

[Oldmansour]

>Let's take this opportunity to hop up on it's back; close to its torso so that it cannot easily reach us with the tail, and will have a hard time turning to grab us. Latch onto it's shoulders, and see if we can sense where the edge of that barrier is.

>Boldly, you leap forward, landing heavily on the youma's back just as it swings one of its arms through the water binding its neck, scattering the liquid harmlessly. The sensation of clinging onto a warder youkai like this is uncomfortable, like melted tires being rubbed against your skin. The hulking beast pauses as you further scan its defensive warding, glancing over its shoulder at you. "You realize you're only making me angrier." it snarls at you.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Mere anger will not serve any purpose."
>Prepare another Touch of Avidya. We'll make a literal touch of it! Play defensively in the meantime.

[Oldmansour]

>Smile, and prepare another Touch of Avidya. We'll make a literal touch of it! Play defensively in the meantime.

>Your up close and personal scan of the youma shows what your eyes had revealed before: the creatures' head and neck are not protected by the force keeping the rest of it inviolate. Seems an odd place to leave unprotected, but then again, you didn't build the thing. With this knowledge in mind, you ready your scepter in order to ready another Orange Lotus attempt.
>The trouble with your positioning on the things back is, while you do seem to be out of range of its tail, that puts you in range of its long arms. The youma reaches both of its arms over behind its head to reach you. You lean back as much as you can, but the beasts arms are too long for this alone to suffice, so you have to release your grip on its upper back to put more space between you and its arms. Unfortunately, this puts you back in range of its bulky tail, which you can hear swinging in front your left, an upward swing this time.

[Hello Purvis]

>Does there seem to be a way that its arms cannot bend that we can exploit to find a blind spot?

[Oldmansour]

>Does there seem to be a way that its arms cannot bend that we can exploit to find a blind spot?

>Not from what you can see. Any place that would keep you safe from its arms puts you at risk from its tail, and vice versa.

[Hello Purvis]

>Duck down, then, and force it to reach. Once it gets close, snap our free hand up and grab one of its arms by the wrist and give it solid enough tug to pull the youma's upper half off balance, then favor that side against the other hand. If the other gets close; catch it between our occupied elbow and knee, counting on the awkward positioning to deprive it of strength and leverage, and pin them til the spell is complete.

[Oldmansour]

>Duck down, then, and force it to reach. Once it gets close, snap our free hand up and grab one of its arms by the wrist and give it solid enough tug to pull the youma's upper half off balance, then favor that side against the other hand. If the other gets close; catch it between our occupied elbow and knee, counting on the awkward positioning to deprive it of strength and leverage, and pin them til the spell is complete.

>The youma's tail coming up at the angle it was, shortening your profile may have made you a smaller target, but not quite small enough. The heavy club at the end of the youma's tail strikes a glancing blow against your ribs, but even this reduced impact feels as bad as its kick did. The blow sends you reeling to the side, and despite your best efforts, the impact carries too much energy for you to maintain your grip, and you end up tumbling from the back of the youma and onto the ground.
>The brute's bony tail is still alarmingly in sight above you, but before the youma can bring it down on you, you find yourself and the beast surrounded by a dense mist. "Get outta there!" you hear Lillian shout from behind you as the Youma snarls in confusion.

[Hello Purvis]

>Is the spell ready yet?

[Oldmansour]

>Is the spell ready yet?

>Your Orange Lotus? Yes, you may fire when ready.

[Hello Purvis]

>Tap it on the head with our wand and cast, then leap away.

[Oldmansour]

>Tap it on the head with our wand and cast, then leap away.

>You cannot reach its head while you are prone.

[Hello Purvis]

>Do it as part of the standing and leaping away, then.

[Oldmansour]

>Do it as part of the standing and leaping away, then.

>While the youma's powerful tail remains dangerously above you, it seems at least momentarily vexed by the dense cloud of fog that appeared around you. You can make out its horse head swishing back and forth, giving you a prime target to poke with your scepter. So, boldly, you pull yourself back to your feet and evoke your Orange Lotus as you thrust your scepter up at the youma's cranium. Your spells' discharge casts the mist in a brilliant tangerine glow, and the node of Light leaves itself attached to the youma's head.
>Unfortunately, this also reveals yourself to the confused youma, whose fist catches up to you as you try to get out of its range. The stiff blow strikes your stomach in nearly the same place its hoof did, and over the sound of flesh being struck you swear you can hear the sound of a bone breaking. The last two impacts had to have at least bruised a rib, but this time you're sure that at least one is broken. The punch also takes you off your feet and sends you flying out of the fog bank.
>You don't fly too far, though, as a pair of powerful arms catch you, breaking your fall a lot more comfortably than hitting the ground and rolling would do. "You okay?" Lillian asks from behind you.

[Hello Purvis]

>"I'll live, for now."
>Can we feel the spell doing its thing?

[Oldmansour]

>"I'll live, for now."
>Can we feel the spell doing its thing?

>You take a couple of seconds to catch your breath as much as you can before answering the reptilian youkai. You really don't want to take any more of those shots.
>"You manage to dent that thing?" Lillian asks as the youma roars from within the mist.

>You can, but the flow is power is quite minimal at the moment. Your Orange Lotus was designed to draw more power when its victim expends more power. The youma hasn't done that yet. But at least it's working.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Give it a moment."
>Do we feel we might be able to repair some of these injuries; or failing that temporarily reinforce them til we have time to be hurt?

[Oldmansour]

>Do we feel we might be able to repair some of these injuries; or failing that temporarily reinforce them til we have time to be hurt?

>Outright healing your damaged ribs feels possible, but it will take more time and energy than simply warding off the pain of the injuries. The latter would seem to be the better of the two options at the moment, at least until the youma finds someone else to pick on for a minute.

>"Give it a moment."

>The reptilian youkai has enough time to grin before, with another tremendous bellow, the youma stamps out of the dense cloud surrounding it. Angrily it looks about until its eyes fall upon you and Lillian, and the brute unleashes another burst of its flame breath at the both of you.

[Hello Purvis]

>Then let's do a temporary reinforcement, so that we can function without trouble, but without making the wounds worse for it.
>BUT FIRST: Are we in a position where we can get ourself and that reptile youkai out of the way? If so, let's make it happen.

[Oldmansour]

>BUT FIRST: Are we in a position where we can get ourself and that reptile youkai out of the way? If so, let's make it happen.

I'll answer this one first, in the event you wish to delay your first command to do something else first.

>In the event the croc doesn't want to move on her own, you could use your Sapphire Lotus to move her. She's much heavier than you, you can tell, so a simple shove wouldn't be certain to do the trick.

[Hello Purvis]

>Move and have faith she will do the same. If it does not seem like it, try to erect a shield in front of her.

[Oldmansour]

>Move and have faith she will do the same. If it does not seem like it, try to erect a shield in front of her.

>Disengaging from Lillian, you sprint to the right to get past the edge of the cone of flame. The miko does not in fact move, but she doesn't stand there helpless either. The big youkai brings her glowing arms together and her magic surges. The blue glow vanishes from her arms and a shimmering barrier seemingly comprised of bubbles appears a couple feet in front of her. The flame and the damp barrier collide with an evil sounding hiss and a gout of steam. Lillian's shield seems to be doing its job, but since you're not sure how strong the muscular youkai's magic is, you set up a blue shield of your own behind hers, in the event hers fails. The shrine maiden looks your way and gives you a quick nod of thanks.
>Before the steam cloud dissipates completely, the youma bellows and starts to charge you again, but doesn't get more than two steps ahead before another one of White Roses discs comes flying in from the left, striking the brute in the side of its head. The youma staggers to the side under the heavy impact of your partners' attack, and you spy another weakening of the blackness surrounding the youma's core of darkness.
>The agile can youkai lands on the ground to Lillian's left after thirty feet away, watching the youma try to get its feet under it again. "It's head." she mutters before looking back and forth from where Makie is and you. "Aim for its head! It's soft there!"
>With an enraged roar, the centauric youma turns on Rin and unleashes another of its weapons. The yellow line on its horse torso splits open, like a second mouth, and a quartet of yellow tentacles fly out of the orifice towards White Rose.

[Hello Purvis]

>Do we feel that White Rose should be able to handle this?
>Does our spell seem to be working?

[Oldmansour]

>Do we feel that White Rose should be able to handle this?
>Does our spell seem to be working?

>She's lost the advantage of flight at the moment, but you know from experience that it doesn't take her long to create those discs of hers. And she may be agile enough to dodge them, though you're much less certain on that front. So long as the youma doesn't have anything else up her sleeve, White Rose should be able to handle those tentacles. Hopefully.
>Your Orange Lotus is still gathering energy, yes.

[Hello Purvis]

>Let's place a barrier between the tentacles and White Rose. While we expect they can go around it, the idea is to buy time; and force more exertion.