That alone isn't enough, it's too much lost utility.
I'm not saying he can't upgrade them or that they aren't dangerous as a group, but clearly there are other reasonable restrictions here because they their behavior doesn't make sense if such restrictions don't exist.
Yama Kings value their position and sovereignty over lost utility, and internal security over everything else.
Its not like its exclusive to them; authoritarian governments in human society sacrifice significant utility to retain power.
See what the then-PM of Iraq did to the Iraqi military after the US withdrew, and how that resulted in their collapse in front of ISIS.
And we know that canonically even greater akuma have managed to rebel, which justifies the paranoia of Yama Kings.
It certainly happened to Emma-O.
Its possible, even plausible that other restrictions exist.
But there is nothing I can find in the sourcebooks I have, and I've looked.
No it isn't. Her line about clawing back free will was very specific in that it's within the clauses of the oath they swore.
Eiko is an experienced elder playing this game, and her best play is leaning in real hard on the best interests clause of her orders. Something that still obligates her to fill her other duties while she plays her game.
Absent very limited outside intervention they will continue following orders because their time to choose has passed and they're on to the consequences part of the process.
I feel we've been talking about this without references to what their limitations actually are.
Here's the passage:
THE CHAINS OF SLAVERY
Sooner or later, the akuma habituated to Soul Commerce
will go back to the well one too many times and lose his last
Soul point. At that point, possibly after a short delay during
which the vampire's soul fragments make their way into the'
hands of a single owner (short in immortal terms — it may be
as long as several mortal years), the vampire's master assumes
control of her new property.
What this means for the infernalist is that his existence has
just gotten a lot bleaker. On demand, the akuma must perform
the Rite of Renunciation, either in his dreams before the Yama
King or before one of the Yama King's servants in the material
world. After he has performed the Rite of Renunciation ana
been stripped of his Dharma, he is completely at the mercy of
his new master.
The Yama King or her servants may observe the akuma at
any time, and at their discretion, the Devil-eaten may be
destroyed, reduced to consuming flesh to gain the Chi neces-
sary to sustain his accursed existence or transformed into a
ravening chih-mei. Additionally, the Kuei-jin cannot disobey a
direct order from the Yama King whose chattel he has become.
Upon performing the Rite of Renunciation, most akuma are
generally ordered to preserve their own existence by any means
necessary, and prohibited from self-destruction or revealing
their Devil-eaten condition. Most are — but not all. Some are
simply destroyed on the spot (usually over the course of several
hours) for the amusement of the master. Others are sent on
suicide missions, often after having been reduced to chih-mei
status. Some unfortunates are taken to Yomi Wan to amuse
their owners more extensively, and these are perhaps the least
fortunate of all.
Those whom the Yama Kings deign to allow to retain their
sentience and self-will occasionally benefit to a small
degree from their new state. Many are given multiple
Touch of the Yama King Investments and ordered into
seclusion until they are needed to lead troupes of bakemono
or otherwise serve as the soldiers of the Yomi lords. Cer-
tainly some of these akuma gain a degree of satisfaction
from their duties. Other akuma are kept in place as spies, or
painfully reshaped, provided with new identities and sent
to infiltrate the society of the Wan Kuei. Many of these
Devil-eaten are sometimes able to pretend that their souls
are still their own, and that they are not slaves to darkness.
Many Yama Kings encourage this sort of self-delusion,
even allowing their pawns to think that they have slipped
through the cracks and been forgotten. Sometimes this is
the case—-Hell's bookkeeping is not as efficient as it could
be. In most cases, however, the Yama Kings simply watch,
amused, as the akuma infiltrates the society of the Quincunx,
only to strip him of his new foster-family and associates
when the time is right.
There are a few positive aspects to becoming one of the
Devil-eaten. First, if the Yama Kings so deign, the Kuei-jin may
be made able to feed on breath or blood as well as flesh. The
lesser akuma created by Soul Commerce are prohibited by their
masters from feeding by osmosis — this is reserved for the
exalted akuma created by the Pact of Ebony and Scarlet Jade.
Also, these Kuei-jin will never again enter Shadow Soul.
While the P'o and its urges of hate and terror remain, it is
forever the subjugated toady and stool-pigeon of the Kuei-jin's
new masters. It may inform on the vampire, but it never,
attempts to seize control outside of the instinctual urges of
Wave and Fire Soul. Akuma immediately gain the Merit:
Demon Mentor (Kindred of the East, p. 94). Finally, the Kuei-
jin may be given new Investments at his master's discretion, if
his owner feels it will make him more useful. While these latter
Investments may be given only to be stripped away at the
discretion of the Yama King and her minions, it may provide
the akuma with some small consolation to know that the
Investments that cost him his soul, at least, are forever his.
Lesser akuma are both more and less restricted than it would seem.
Those with the personal attention of their Yama King have much less wiggle room than others.
And in the absence of direct orders from their Yama King, even greater akuma have rebelled.
Intimacies matter, but they aren't mental transplants. You learn from your role models, and sometimes what you take away is that you think they're wrong.
Note that the other option isn't just killing them, it's trying to get them to legitimate authorities first. It's just that I'd take killing them over letting them go and I think Molly has the experience and divergent views via her connection to her mother and own experiences to reasonably make that choice.
You might disagree that it's a good idea, but I don't buy the idea that it's irreconcilable with Molly as a person at this juncture.
As to Harry and Micheal's responses; Harry had to be stopped several times from doing something like this, so I don't think he's likely to strongly object. Micheal might, but then we can have this conversation with him and work it out in character.
1)Parents and children, mentor and mentee are not photocopies of each other, yes.
But they generally retain the same principles. When they remain on speaking terms, at least.
This would represent a sufficient rift that I would expect to lose the Mentor background entirely.
2)There are no legitimate authorities here.
The Library does not qualify in my opinion, and Molly has existing doubts about their loyalties and their capabilities, let alone the ability to hold the servitors of a Yama King in any sort of security anyway.
3) In the short story The Warrior, Harry Dresden stopped Michael from killing the guy who kidnapped Alicia and strapped an explosive vest to her in order to get his hands on the Swords. Harry let Binder walk away from Demonreach. Harry let Rudolf live despite significant provocation including setting him up for murder, and didnt go after Madrigal Raith after dude tried to sell him on Ebay.
Zero chance he'd let Molly kill prisoners in cold blood.
Nevermind Michael.
Not saying it wasn't impressive, or proof of penetration, but that is not the same as full control
Oh, Im not saying its full control.
My apologies if you got that impression. Just that its vastly greater degree of infiltration than the term one helicopter would suggest. Especially given the lack of political kerfluffle afterwards.
Akuma are not capable of rejecting their masters, denarians theoretically can, the situation is not the same because the Fallen are limited by the White God smacking them if they breech certain rules.
They do not have any capability to be anything other than servants of Emma-O and Molly knows this. The only ways out of the being total monsters is death, being forcefully contained in the hope that Emma-O will eventually be killed or the incredibly unlikely event they encounter Jizo-Bosatsu.
Since they don't really have the capability to be anything other than monsters killing them is the moral option to prevent them inflicting further suffering on others. (I would also argue that destroying their souls to prevent them suffering in Yomi Wan would also be a morally correct action. But that would be OOC for Molly as she is a devout Catholic and thus has views about the sanctity and inviolability of souls, even if Christian theology is provably incorrect in the setting.)
1)Akuma
must obey direct orders of their Yama King.
That leaves room for maneuver if your Yama King is not giving you direct orders, or you can avoid receiving orders except by intermediary.
2)Thats not actually true. Let me quote the story of Tashimoto Hanko, greater akuma of Emma-O:
Thousand Hells pg 117 said:
TASHIMOTO HANKO
One of the greatest generals of the uji no Bishamon, Tashimoto
Hanko was a Devil-Tiger warrior who was instrumental in the
successful defense of the Azure Dragon Court from invading
Korean and Chinese Kuei-jin after the invasion of 1274. Said to
be of unearthly cunning and possessed of strength beyond even
the mightiest of the Guan Ren, Tashimoto was worshipped by his
troops. Yet after the invaders were successfully thrown back and
the kamikaze destroyed the second invasion fleet, Tashimoto was
accused of Lesser Commerce with the Yama Kings by one of his
fellow Devil-Tigers, the yojimbo of Clan Bishamon's daimyo.
Hanko fled rather than stand trial, and it was only after much
investigation that it was ascertained that Hanko had not only
been engaging in Lesser Commerce, but had in fact accepted the
Pact of Ebony and Scarlet Jade several years before the invasion
of Japan, Indeed, training in Yomi was at least partially respon-
sible for his great prowess.
Yet this was not Tashimoto's greatest trick. Several decades
after his flight to the court of his patron
Emma-o, the island of Japan seemed to
turn upside down. Kumo and bakemono
walked openly during the daytime,
black magicians were found murdered
at crossroads with the marks of the
shikome on them, and packs of Hakken
known to have walked the Ebon Maze
were seen searching across the coun-
tryside. After weeks of turmoil, two
Kumo who knew the purposes of this
seemingly pointless activity were cap-
tured, and they revealed a story unique
in the annals of the Yomi World.
Tashimoto, with the assistance of a
number of shen including a powerful
Dragon Wizard, had stormed the gates
of Emma-o's treasury, seized the gold and
jade vase which contained his soul, and
then fled along the Ebon Road toward
Japan. Emma-o was furious, and would
stop at nothing to recapture Tashimoto
Hanko and his accomplices.
Yet, though the servants of
Emma-o combed the entirety of Ja-
pan (and much of China and Korea as
well), they never located Tashimoto Hanko. For six centuries
now, Tashimoto Hanko has gone without being seen or heard
from, and despite the fact that Emma-o offers a massive reward
for information that even hints at his location, his whereabouts
have never come to light. It is as if he had stepped off the edge
of the world.
That canonically happened to Emma-O. In his own capital, under his own nose.
Thats in addition to the other sections I've qupted about lesser akuma up the page.
This is evidence that Yama King control is nowhere as comprehensive as they would like.
And sufficient reason for their paranoia towards their servants.
