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

[Oldmansour]

>"Have you not seen her communicate to any others that way, then? I did actually wonder if she could not speak at all."

>"In what little time we spent together, Fire did the communicating for her."

[DracoOmega]

>"As seemed to be the case during our encounter. Or rather Fire said what he wanted, and Ice's will did not matter. I cannot say that this sat well with me."
>"I understand your desire not to endanger your fellow Champions with the words you share with me, but can you trust me when I say that I ask out of genuine concern for Ice's well-being and not for some means to strike at her?"

[Oldmansour]

>"As seemed to be the case during our encounter. Or rather Fire said what he wanted, and Ice's will did not matter. I cannot say that this sat well with me."
>"I understand your desire not to endanger your fellow Champions with the words you share with me, but can you trust me when I say that I ask out of genuine concern for Ice's well-being and not for some means to strike at her?"

>"Whether I trust you in this regard or not is irrelevant, Terran. The truth is, I really don't know what, if any, connection exists between Ice and Fire. It may be that, if you were to break that bond, it might make Ice even more powerful. Or it could weaken them both. But I don't know that either. And I can't take that chance."

[DracoOmega]

>"I suppose I can appreciate that. Thanks nonetheless."

>"One other matter. Back in the place where we fought, in the corridor leading to the saltwater pool, there was a strange brackish sludge spread across the ground - putrid and foul. It was almost like water in some ways, if not quite. Was this your doing?"

[Oldmansour]

>"I suppose I can appreciate that. Thanks nonetheless."

>"One other matter. Back in the place where we fought, in the corridor leading to the saltwater pool, there was a strange brackish sludge spread across the ground - putrid and foul. It was almost like water in some ways, if not quite. Was this your doing?"

>"I don't actually know the meaning of the word 'sludge', but whatever that water-like substance was was none of my doing."
>"Sludge is a kinda gooey liquid." Rin answers. "Usually pretty dirty, kinda like tar or really thick oil."
>"And it really stank, too." Lily adds, wrinkling her nose. "I can make things smell...." she trails off as she looks at Louise's face.
>The Water demon's eyes have opened, and the color has drained from her face. In a rather small voice, she asks, ".. tar? A- A black, viscous puddle?""

[DracoOmega]

>That does basically match its appearance, yes?
>If so: "Yes, more or less like that."

[Oldmansour]

>That does basically match its appearance, yes?
>If so: "Yes, more or less like that."

>More or less. You believe the word 'tar' crossed your own mind at the time.
>"That's impossible." the demon breathes. "It couldn't be here. It's impossible."

[DracoOmega]

>"It's something from Makai, isn't it?"

[Oldmansour]

>"It's something from Makai, isn't it?"

>All of a sudden, Louise's arms flash out, gripping you by the shoulders. The blonde woman looks... horrified. "Where is it now? Tell me you killed it!"

[DracoOmega]

>"The priestess transmuted it into a sheet of lead. It seemed inert enough afterward, but I was... unconscious at the time."

[Oldmansour]

>"The priestess transmuted it into a sheet of lead. It seemed inert enough afterward, but I was... unconscious at the time."

>"Unconscious.... You came close to it? Wait..." Louise seems confused. "The Priestess? She couldn't have. Her magic couldn't damage me, she couldn't have killed the Tar."

[DracoOmega]

>"Perhaps she might have been able to affect its substance in a way she could not your own because it was closer to non-living than living matter? As I said, I was not conscious to witness it. Though... now that I think back on it, she did say that I had left some kind of... 'instability' in it. I... touched consciousnesses with it, if you could call whatever that substances possessed a consciousness."

[Oldmansour]

>"Perhaps she might have been able to affect its substance in a way she could not your own because it was closer to non-living than living matter? As I said, I was not conscious to witness it. Though... now that I think back on it, she did say that I had left some kind of... 'instability' in it. I... touched consciousnesses with it, if you could call whatever that substances possessed a consciousness."

>"You did WHAT?!"

[DracoOmega]

>"I tried to drive the taint from it."

[Oldmansour]

>"I tried to drive the taint from it."

>"You... You turned your power on it?" She ponders that for a moment. "Yes, that had to have been it. Your power could have weakened it. Left it vulnerable to another attack."

[DracoOmega]

>"When you spoke of the will of Makai, I was reminded again of that... thing. What I felt from it was an insatiable primal hunger, almost beyond description - an overpowering need to consume everything that was not itself."

[Oldmansour]

>"When you spoke of the will of Makai, I was reminded again of that... thing. What I felt from it was an insatiable primal hunger, almost beyond description - an overpowering need to consume everything that was not itself."

>Louise stares blankly at you. "Terran, you should be dead." she states bluntly.

[DracoOmega]

>"Would that be the normal result of coming into such close contact with... whatever that was?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Would that be the normal result of coming into such close contact with... whatever that was?"

>"We call it the Devouring Tar. It is the bile of the planet. It oozes up through rock and water, an ambush predator. Just a drop of that Tar is enough to consume a Child. It is mindless hunger, an unceasing need to consume everything. I think it would consume itself if it could."
>"And it is not just physical." Louise continues. "The Tar's hunger is psychic as much as it is physical. It eats minds just as much as flesh. It devours memories, emotions, even instinct, and leaves nothing but hunger. It turns Children into mindless hunger-mad husks, mockeries of Mother's creation. Just being near that Tar is lethal, and yet, you actually touched it with your mind. You should be dead." she repeats. "There should be nothing left of you but a need to feed a hunger that never dies."

[DracoOmega]

>"I... felt it. That hunger you describe. It was... deeply disturbing, if I am frank. I wish that I could say it did not affect me, but I cannot. But I pulled away from it when I felt myself slipping too far and... do not remember much of what happened afterward. When I awoke, it had already been subdued."

[Oldmansour]

>"I... felt it. That hunger you describe. It was... deeply disturbing, if I am frank. I wish that I could say it did not affect me, but I cannot. But I pulled away from it when I felt myself slipping too far and... do not remember much of what happened afterward. When I awoke, it had already been subdued."

>"The priestess saved your life. But she was fortunate there was anything left to save. Both of you should be dead, if not consumed by the Tar then by consuming each other just by bearing near it."

[DracoOmega]

>"It seemed entirely inert until I touched it with my power, then it started to bubble and churn."
>"Lily, you said that the fluid pooling around the drains upstairs started to bubble around the same time, yes?"

[Oldmansour]

>"It seemed entirely inert until I touched it with my power, then it started to bubble and churn."
>"Lily, you said that the fluid pooling around the drains upstairs started to bubble around the same time, yes?"

>"It does that." Louise says, still sounding scared. "In some places, it looks indistinguishable from rock. You put your foot down on what you think is safe stone, and you never take another step. The bubbling sometimes happens when we attack it. If we recognize it in time."
>"The water? Yeah, it did." Lily says with a nod. "'least I THINK so."

[DracoOmega]

>Wasn't the water pooling around the drains somewhat similarly brackish to the Tar below? Certainly the scent in the place was awful, no?

[Oldmansour]

>Wasn't the water pooling around the drains somewhat similarly brackish to the Tar below? Certainly the scent in the place was awful, no?

>It was before Lily released her potpourri magic. And you do recall the bad smell of boggy water was slightly worse when you were around those pools of water around the drains, although you were not completely certain the water itself was the source.

[DracoOmega]

>"I wonder if that would mean the Tar had spread itself thinly through the drainage system? The air up there was still quite foul."
>To Louise: "Can it do that, as far as you know?"

[Oldmansour]

>"I wonder if that would mean the Tar had spread itself thinly through the drainage system? The air up there was still quite foul."
>To Louise: "Can it do that, as far as you know?"

>"Yes, it could happen. But it doesn't do so often, not that I know of. The Tar seems to want to stay in a large body, for whatever reason. If it did that here, it would be in search of prey. And there were no reported deaths at that building after my arrival."
>"I gotta ask, Louise, how could you not know it was there?" Lily asks, somewhat cautiously. "It was kinda hard for us to miss."
>"For one, I didn't leave the vicinity of that pool you found me near. For another, that Tar and other forces of Makai like it have been hiding from my kind for ages beyond count. Makai knows how to hide its predators from its victims."

[DracoOmega]

>"But even if you hadn't left the pool yourself, others had come and gone from there. That woman you took as a servant, for one, I presume."

[Oldmansour]

>"But even if you hadn't left the pool yourself, others had come and gone from there. That woman you took as a servant, for one, I presume."

>"You presume incorrectly. That pool went unvisited after my arrival there. And that woman, I reached through an extension of my will."

[DracoOmega]

>Did the main body of the Tar which we saw seem to be positioned in some way that could connect it to the drainage pipes upstairs?
>Did we notice the aftereffects of any metallic transmutation back upstairs when we left again?
>For that matter, was the scent upstairs similar in kind to the one by the Tar itself, if more faint?