Magical Lotus - Mahou Shoujou Byakuren - Episode 4, Part 2

[DracoOmega]

>How far away is that? Do you think they might be locked up somehow?

[Oldmansour]

>How far away is that? Do you think they might be locked up somehow?

>Reisen tilts her head slightly towards the door on the eastern wall. Down the hall that way. It isn't too far. And I doubt they'd be locked up, since nobody that works or visits here goes into that room.

[DracoOmega]

>Not even servants to clean the place?
>"You needn't; you've made it clear you value your autonomy more than her safety. I suppose I should not have expected more concern from a woman who tried to hypnotize her own daughter into obedience rather than treat her with any kind of respect."

[Oldmansour]

>Not even servants to clean the place?
>"You needn't; you've made it clear you value your autonomy more than her safety. I suppose I should not have expected more concern from a woman who tried to hypnotize her own daughter into obedience rather than treat her with any kind of respect."

>I'm not sure. But they wouldn't do so without direct orders to do it.
>Madame Knowledge no longer bothers to even try to hide the haughty disgust on her face when she looks up at you. "Samuel?"
>"Madame?" the brown haired man standing to your right answers.
>"Show these women to the door. They have far overstayed their welcome."
>"Yes, Madame." the young man turns towards you. "Would you please follow me?"

[DracoOmega]

>Look to Alisaie
>"Alisaie, I'd like to apologize if anything I've said or am about to say has made you uncomfortable. And thank you again for your kindness earlier."
>To our allies: And I apologize to the rest of you for putting you on the spot, but I've had quite enough of this.
>Back to Madame Knowledge, and be firm
>"One last thing. Under the oni slave codes that govern all slave ownership in Yamato, forceful seizure of ownership papers is considered a legal transfer of ownership, if the original owner is unable to prevent it. When we leave here, I intend to take Reisen's with me. Feel free to try and stop me, if you like."
>Calmly turn and walk towards the door Reisen indicated, though keep our awareness up for any reprisals

[Oldmansour]

>Look to Alisaie
>"Alisaie, I'd like to apologize if anything I've said or am about to say has made you uncomfortable. And thank you again for your kindness earlier."
>To our allies: And I apologize to the rest of you for putting you on the spot, but I've had quite enough of this.

>The meek summoner nods slightly. "I am sorry, Lotus. I knew it would turn out this way."
>We're with ya, Mistress. Rin replies automatically.

>

>Back to Madame Knowledge, and be firm
>"One last thing. Under the oni slave codes that govern all slave ownership in Yamato, forceful seizure of ownership papers is considered a legal transfer of ownership, if the original owner is unable to prevent it. When we leave here, I intend to take Reisen's with me. Feel free to try and stop me, if you like."
>Calmly turn and walk towards the door Reisen indicated, though keep our awareness up for any reprisals

>The reprisal you receive doesn't actually come from Madame Knowledge, but from the muddy haired young man now standing behind. He catches your shoulder rather firmly. "I don't think so."

[DracoOmega]

>Sheath ourselves in a close-range Sapphire Lotus and firmly push his hand away from us with it

[Oldmansour]

>Sheath ourselves in a close-range Sapphire Lotus and firmly push his hand away from us with it

>Samuel finds his hand repulsed by your shield of blue light.
>"If you want to make yourself look foolish, I would rather you do it somewhere else." Madame Knowledge says as Samuel tries again, this time reaching out to grab Rin.
>Mistress? the kasha asks, plainly looking for approval to strike the young man, who still seems determined to obey his employer.

[DracoOmega]

>Can we extend the shield around her, likewise? Even around all of us, in a sort of bubble-fashion?

[Oldmansour]

>Can we extend the shield around her, likewise? Even around all of us, in a sort of bubble-fashion?

>You believe you can, yes. But while your Sapphire Light is passing through your allies, it will be softer and more permeable.

[DracoOmega]

>Permeable enough for someone's hand to pass through? Would standing closer help?
>And did this mean only while in transit? Would it be more solid again AFTER extending it?

[Oldmansour]

>Permeable enough for someone's hand to pass through? Would standing closer help?
>And did this mean only while in transit? Would it be more solid again AFTER extending it?

>Technically yes, but it would take a level of strength beyond the norm for a human, at the very least. Even in its softer state, your Sapphire Lotus should be able to repel anything south of an Oni or an exceptionally strong human or Kappa.
>Yes. Once you stop expanding the light, it will resolidify.

[DracoOmega]

>Don't strike him.
>Expand our light quickly to shield Rin also

[Oldmansour]

>Don't strike him.
>Expand our light quickly to shield Rin also

>Okay, but-
>Rin's objection is silenced by the growth of your blue light. Samuel may be determined, but he doesn't have the power to force his way through your softened light, and is pushed farther back.
>"Do you even realize where you are?" Madame Knowledge demands. "This is the home one of the strongest mages in all of Yamato. How far do you think you'll get?"

[DracoOmega]

>"I already told you my intentions. I have no grievance against anyone else here, but I will not brook the way you've treated her, the things you've made her do. I will see her free of you, and anyone else who would dictate the way she live her life."
>Move with me.
>Continue in the direction we were going

[Oldmansour]

>"I already told you my intentions. I have no grievance against anyone else here, but I will not brook the way you've treated her, the things you've made her do. I will see her free of you, and anyone else who would dictate the way she live her life."
>Move with me.
>Continue in the direction we were going

>"Then so be it." Madame Knowledge touches her throat faintly and you sense a faint surge of magical energy. "Intruder alert in the dining hall." she says, and her voice echoes from each exit of the room, likely throughout the house. In a number of places ahead and behind you, you sense other sources of magic for a moment, then they fade.
>That might make this more complicated. Rin muses.
>It's not gonna stop our leader! Lily replies brightly. She's on a mission.

>Your blue light pushes the door ahead of you open, and you exit out into a short hallway than curves to the right before ending in a T junction. Two young women in maid uniforms of a similar unimpressive shade of brown that Samuel is wearing stand in your way, one in the middle of the hallway holding a short dirk, the other about five feet back from her and armed with nothing but her broom. That one, however, has her arm outstretched, and appears to be conjuring a spell.

[DracoOmega]

>Can our Indigo Lotus counter forming magic without the kind of violent backlash it had the time we used it on the woman in the CRA's basement?
>To Reisen: Which direction?

[Oldmansour]

>Can our Indigo Lotus counter forming magic without the kind of violent backlash it had the time we used it on the woman in the CRA's basement?
>To Reisen: Which direction?

>Sadly no. Indigo Lotus is designed to take the gathering energy of an attack and turn it back on its wielder. But on the upside, you can't imagine that it would do that much damage to the girl. The magic she's preparing is very weak, a very simple, basic spell. It is of no threat to you whatsoever. Even without your Sapphire light protecting you.
>And that's assuming you'd damage her at all. Your power is geared towards fighting things that are evil, and this girl in all likelihood isn't, and nor is her magic. Your Indigo Light may very well work on her, but unless she is an evil-minded girl, it may not damage her at all. Or if it does, it certainly wouldn't be as much as an evil target.
>To the right. Reisen replies after a brief pause for thought.

[DracoOmega]

>Well, if the magical energy of the spell is that ignorable, then let's ignore it.
>Keep moving forward, with our shield around us for anything that woman might try to do with that dagger, though try to keep a nonthreatening posture.
>"We mean no threat to anyone or anything here. We are just going to free a woman from unjust bondage, and then we will be gone."

[Oldmansour]

>Well, if the magical energy of the spell is that ignorable, then let's ignore it.
>Keep moving forward, with our shield around us for anything that woman might try to do with that dagger, though try to keep a nonthreatening posture.
>"We mean no threat to anyone or anything here. We are just going to free a woman from unjust bondage, and then we will be gone."

>Confident in your defenses, you continue your advance.
>"We're sorry, too." the blonde in front of you says as she raises her dirk. "But what Madame says goes." The woman charges forward, only for her and her dagger to be repulsed by your light, and she staggers back against the wall. Down the hall, the brunette unleashes her spell, and a single bolt of pinkish energy flies from her hand. The impact of that bolt against your shield is about as hard as blowing a hair out of your face. Plainly dismayed, she starts to invoke another spell as you advance on her, but she doesn't complete it before your shield does to her what it did to her comrade, brushing her aside like a drift hit by a snowplow.
>The sound of footsteps rapidly approaching from the left and right sides of the junction speak to the fact that you'll have to do this again very soon, but as you advance a couple of feet beyond the spellcaster, one of the symbols on the blue carpet beneath your feet emits a surge of magic, and the corridor is filled with a blinding white light, momentarily blinding you.

[DracoOmega]

>Did anyone close their eyes in time to avoid that ?
>Could we sense anything about that before it triggered? Can we sense other such magical traps nearby? Or any other magic at work, for that matter?

[Oldmansour]

>Did anyone close their eyes in time to avoid that ?
>Could we sense anything about that before it triggered? Can we sense other such magical traps nearby? Or any other magic at work, for that matter?

>I did. Reisen replies telepathically before you hear her say aloud, "Saber blade!", materializing her sword.
>No, not until you stepped on it.
>You cannot.
>You can sense a spell forming from the room you came from. It appears to be Alisaie's summoning magic.

[DracoOmega]

>Oh no, she's not going to get involved, is she...?
>Then tell us what you see and where we should tread, until our eyes recover.
>Keep moving forward until given instructions otherwise. Steady pace, so we don't trip up in each other until we can see again.

[Oldmansour]

>Oh no, she's not going to get involved, is she...?
>Then tell us what you see and where we should tread, until our eyes recover.
>Keep moving forward until given instructions otherwise. Steady pace, so we don't trip up in each other until we can see again.

>You would certainly hope not, for more than one reason. But the practical side of you has to admit that, given the sort of person Madame Knowledge seems to be, it really wouldn't surprise you one bit if she made her sister do her dirty work for her.
>Got it.
>With you, Rin and Lily temporarily blinded, the three of you join hands to aid your slowed steps, and ensure you don't fall over each other. Plenty of time for that once the job's done. This might be tricky. Reisen reports. There's a lot of these patterns in the carpet, and I can't tell which ones are magical.
>As the rabbit slowly guides you down the hallway, you hear two sets of footfalls stop some distance ahead of you. "Uh, isn't that the girls who were fighting outside?" you hear a young man ask.
>"Sure is." a girl's voice answers.
>"Nuts to that." the man's voice is accompanied by the sound of feet going back the way they came, followed almost immediately by another pair of feet following them.

>Hey, boss. Lily's voice says as you hear another sound coming up behind you. It sounds like insect's wings, but the bug they're attached to has to be very large indeed. I can clear the road ahead if you want, like I did it back at the Tiger shrine.

[DracoOmega]

>What's that coming up behind us?
>Did we actually step on the symbol that triggered the flash of light before it did so?
>Do we think Amber Lotus could deactivate a sigil like that even if it were 'dormant' at the time?

[Oldmansour]

>Did we actually step on the symbol that triggered the flash of light before it did so?
>Do we think Amber Lotus could deactivate a sigil like that even if it were 'dormant' at the time?

>Yes.
>You're not certain.

>What's that coming up behind us?

>Your vision is now starting to clear, and even through the white blurry haze, you can see Reisen's expression of dread. Bees.
>Bees? says Lily.
>Bees. Three of them. And they're the size of Hyozan.

[DracoOmega]

>You can try to put them to sleep, at least, Lily. I'd rather not lay a hand on any of the people here, if we can help it, even one as gentle as that.

[Oldmansour]

>You can try to put them to sleep, at least, Lily. I'd rather not lay a hand on any of the people here, if we can help it, even one as gentle as that.

>"Roger roger." Lily says aloud, the sound of her wings rustling indiacting her turning around. "Oh wait, I can't shoot through your shield."

[DracoOmega]

>Oh, right, sorry.
>Let's open up an appropriate-sized hole for her to do her thing

[Oldmansour]

>Oh, right, sorry.
>Let's open up an appropriate-sized hole for her to do her thing

>The buzzing the bees fills the hallway as you open up a very small hole in your Sapphire dome to allow her energy to pass through. You daren't open a larger one, for although the bees, each of which has tried to sting your shield, have failed to anything signifigant to your defenses, you still wouldn't want to get stung by a bee the size of a dog. "A little to your left, Lily." Reisen guides the blonde. "Little more. Down a little. There, go now."
>"Spring Evening Dozings." a sweet smell wafts out from Lily's hands as she conjures a stream of pink flower petals and sends them out at the bees. Your eyes have cleared enough to see, as one, the overgrown insects drop to the ground like they'd been gassed. "Done and done." Lily declares with an energetic nod.
>"Nice trick." Reisen compliments her. Lily beams.