When she tried to regenerate her wounds from the original fight, using the original phoenix's regen powers, that worked. When she tried to replicate the phoenix's powers with shadow bits, the regen apparently didn't work, or at least, not well enough to outpace the damage she was doing to herself.
Shards of a Broken Sun [Megaten/Shugo Chara/Exalted]
- Thread starter Baughn
- Start date
- Crossover
- Location
- Laniakea
......Wasn't the Lunar meant to be someone who "barely counts" as psionic?
Kana is, like, pretty full-blown psionic. Mind-crushingly psychic, in the way typically associated with the term "psychic", that you wouldn't expect to be attached to someone like Utau or even Amu, who changes costumes like a magical girl.
Kana is, like, pretty full-blown psionic. Mind-crushingly psychic, in the way typically associated with the term "psychic", that you wouldn't expect to be attached to someone like Utau or even Amu, who changes costumes like a magical girl.
Interlude: Lulu's visit to the Library
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
High Council meeting notes, Oct. 23, 2009
Present: Éloise Montclair, Armand de Valois, Geneviève the Glacier, Matriarch Morcerf, Auxiliary Isabelle de Châtillon (Protocol Enforcement), Archon Philippe de Rochefort (Secure Processing), Lulu de Morcerf Yamamoto (Observer), plus delegations.
Note: Châtillon is taking the minutes for this session. All typed words in this document are hers unless otherwise stated.
Security: Auxiliary Charlotte de Beauçart (Civil Protection)
Topic: Recent developments.
Montclair: It was agreed at our last meeting that no further discussion would occur without evidence of progress. Considering you brought your granddaughter, I assume you've come to tell us something new?
Matriarch: You're correct, Madam President. Philippe?
Rochefort: The Secure Processing branch has recovered evidence from the Seiyo Academy incursion. Details are available on the intranet, and have been copied to your secretaries. The gist is that psionics appears functionally identical to sorcery as far as we can tell, though we've recovered no formal documentation that makes that claim beyond the videos taken by Châtillon during the battle. The immediate trigger for the event was, as we suspected, a clash between the Lock-bearer and one of her classmates.
Mingled noises of disbelief and anger from several of those present; the latter primarily from the Matriarch's corner of the table. Morcerf motions for silence.
Matriarch: And the root cause?
Rochefort: JPs believes accidental interaction with a deliberate, sorcerous weakening of reality in that section of Tokyo. The clash destroyed control lines in unrecoverable fashion, exceeding failsafe tolerances of the disrupted spell. It subsequently deranged, cross-connecting control and power nets and producing... the effects seen on the video. Analysis is difficult because of the damage, but the effect itself was likely the intended outcome, weakened significantly from design parameters. If the power feed hadn't bled off into computational segments-
Morcerf: Not relevant at this time, Phillipe.
Rochefort: —sorry ma'am.
Morcerf: Does Secure Processing concur with JPs' analysis?
Rochefort: Essentially yes. We do believe JPs is missing a portion of the picture. The eigensignature of the spellcraft matches that of recent D-class incursions here in Europe, and I have speculated that it may be the same spell.
Uneasy murmurs from most of the assembled participants in the room, Matriarch Morcerf included; Lulu Morcerf Yamamoto stiffens but remains silent.
Matriarch: Don't tell me this is an Arms affair after all?
Rochefort: It may well be; in which case we have the same attacker cause a seemingly unrelated situation in the city of Tokyo. However, that is speculation for which we lack evidence. Both Secure Processing and JPs concur that the effect itself was incomplete, and the underlying spellcraft was substantially ruined by power bleed-off through secondary computational segments; but Secure Processing is unable to speculate on how the intended result might have differed from the observed results given current data. We will continue to attempt to gather more information on this front, but expect that acquiring answers may prove... difficult. We also have no combat-capable assets in the region.
Montclair: You should strengthen our cooperation with JPs. Proceed as you see fit, and keep us informed. Anything else?
Rochefort: The Lock-bearer was hospitalised with grade one mental abrasion subsequent to the event. Her opponent was hospitalised with grade five.
General commotion.
Matriarch: Hold-
Charlotte: You're saying the Lock-bearer is injured!?
Lulu, shrieking: Five? What-
Rochefort: Madam President!
Montclair: Silence! Everyone sit down!
Arguing continues; President Montclair and Auxiliary Beauçart have to intervene on multiple occasions before a semblance of order is restored.
Rochefort: -both have recovered, in the Lock-bearer's case without apparent damage. Most notably, her opponent is accompanied by a rogue Seelie.
No replies. Apparent disbelief, lasting for several seconds.
Rochefort: ...there is no question. Saaya Yamabuki is recovering from grade five abrasion. She is accompanied by a rogue Seelie who appears to be acting as her guardian. We've attempted to investigate her history but can find no reliable records indicating magical background. Given the extreme nature of the injury, we can only attribute her recovery to psionic adaptations.
Silence descends over the room, lingering for several seconds.
Montclair: That doesn't match the lock-bearer's personality. Is there any evidence that Yamabuki's wounds are self-inflicted?
Rochefort: Yes, ma'am.
Silence resumes.
Geneviève: We're talking about a twelve-year-old! Morcerf, I'd like you to explain why this is in any way acceptable. It isn't the 1800s. We're meant to be better than this.
Matriarch: ...I...
Montclair: Geneviève, control yourself. We had no opportunity to intervene. Yamabuki is entirely a wild card.
Geneviève: Then make one! For heaven's sake-
Rochefort: JPs is already arranging psychological support for those who need it. There will be no repetitions.
Geneviève: A twelve-year-old with grade five abrasion-!
Rochefort: We're not ignoring this. Nor is JPs. Please calm down.
Matriarch de Morcerf observes that her granddaughter is crying, and moves to comfort her.
Montclair: I concur with Phillipe. Geneviève, calm down. Matriarch Morcerf—Armand has been passing on your reports to me for years now, and I have always had reservations about your meddling. The Lock is a divine artefact, not an object we are meant to tamper with—much less turn into a weapon for our own purposes. Now it's soul-bound to a teenager.
Matriarch: That, in fairness, wasn't me. Amakawa Tsukasa is a loose acquaintance at most.
Châtillon: Could anyone explain why we are talking about interfering in Japan, on another agency's turf?
Several voices speak up at once; Montclair demands silence and calls for an explanation from Rochefort and Morcerf in turn before the noise subsides again.
Morcerf: My granddaughter spotted a pattern. It's one I should have noticed, except it's entirely too big. Does anyone know what this is?
Morcerf presents a standard, type L (spherical) calcinating pattern, set on a white background.
Châtillon: Is this a joke?
Morcerf: Not at all.
Another slide. Now the same pattern is set with a world map as the background, including the surrounding oceanic areas and polar regions. The feedback knot is located inside Tokyo, Japan.
Morcerf: Tell me this isn't interesting.
Châtillon: Why did you make this?
Morcerf: To play connect-the-dots.
Another slide. The map is overlaid with a large number of dots spread loosely across the continents. Some, overlaying the pattern, are in red.
Morcerf: These are all D-type incursions for the last seven months. I asked Rochefort to filter for the ones with matching eigensignatures to the Tokyo incursion.
Another slide. Every dot except the red ones disappear.
Morcerf: And then he filtered out every other anomaly to minimise visual clutter. Currently there is one D-class incursion event every eight hours or so, down from one every six hours prior to the Tokyo incursion. I believe the matching eigensignatures are due to each incursion being caused by literally the same spell. There was a pause of one week after that event.
Rochefort: I concur.
Montclair: And no sign that Operation Armsbreaker had anything to do with it?
Morcerf: None. Our actions have been band-aids. The timing doesn't match.
Geneviève: Just what are you suggesting?
Morcerf: The Tokyo incursion was a major failure, damaging the core of the spell—which resulted in a significant decrease in global incursions—which is to say, we are facing an enemy capable of casting a singular, planet-scale spell which we don't understand but can recognise by its fingerprint; one which follows the general principles of alchemic calcination; and who is capable of repairing it after that level of damage. Our opponent is either a god, or someone backed by one. It suggests a reason for the recent failure of precognition.
Commotion; Montclair motions for silence but does not achieve it for some time.
Châtillon: That's- You're insane! This is all completely-
Morcerf: We have all heard seers claim the world will end. I propose it's time we take them seriously, and to that end I'm supporting Seiyo's request for funding. We should tie them closer to our council.
Morcerf lays out plans for recruiting additional members and reinforcing Seiyo Academy in case of another incursion as discussion proceeds, with Rochefort in particular joining her in contributing suggestions for personnel.
Geneviève: When will you tell us why you brought your granddaughter? I doubt it was merely to scare her with apocalyptic predictions.
Morcerf: Ah, of course. Charlotte?
Charlotte: Ma'am?
Morcerf: Transcribe the following at your convenience, and store it in the archives. I hereby declare Lulu de Morcerf Yamamoto to be the heir apparent of the Morcerf clan and its resources. This declaration is effective immediately, subject to revocation by myself or Lulu de Morcerf.
Lulu blushes and murmurs something indistinct but too quiet to overhear. The Matriarch hugs her briefly and then returns to her seat.
Montclair: Do you intend to retire?
Morcerf: No, but I do intend to hedge my bets. It will also help her to be taken seriously when she starts to sell these.
Morcerf tosses several jewels onto the table—all black onyx—with a distinctive pattern visible on the surface.
Rochefort: These are?
Morcerf: Lulu?
Morcerf: Your turn, dear.
Lulu: These are... um... a prototype, I guess? Anti-demon grenades.
Lulu fiddles with her bracelet before launching into an explanation of her work over the past two months with the help of diagrams prepared in advance of the meeting. The details are proprietary and omitted from this document.
Morcerf: I can speak to their effectiveness. These are approximately three times more powerful than our regular issue.
Lulu, nervously: Though I only succeed about half the time when I make them.
Minor commotion. The participants appear to be getting tired of Morcerf's escapades.
Montclair: Lulu de Morcerf here is, to be clear, psionic as well. She wasn't putting herself in danger. Is that correct?
Lulu nods vigorously; no further explanation offered or requested by the council.
Montclair: I assume you'll be marketing these eventually?
Morcerf: At a reasonable price, yes; I suspect Rochefort will want them badly for our agents on the frontlines.
Rochefort: In high quantities, yes. I would prefer establishing a sustainable manufacturing process—Seiyo could likely assist—but these could be the difference between life and death in some circumstances.
The discussion moves on.
⁂
Lulu walked downstairs from the meeting room feeling like she'd been hit by a truck. Not physically, but...
It wasn't that it hadn't gone well, per se. It had gone fantastically! Her grandma had been amazing—and shown her so many sides of herself that Lulu had never seen before in the process—and with Seiyo funded properly things would start going a lot better for Amu-chan, surely. No one would doubt Lulu now, not with concrete evidence backing her up, and they'd be able to research things properly without making bad assumptions all the time, and—and—and—
It had been overwhelming, okay?
"Fuwaaaaah," she sighed tiredly as she slumped into one of the heated couches downstairs, staring up at the icy ceiling above her. The doors were on the other side of the room and her grandma was still upstairs discussing things with everyone else, which left Lulu with a few minutes of silence and solitude.
The library was made literally of ice, and it was beautiful. Shelves upon shelves of books and scrolls covered every inch of the walls, while a shimmering carpet of pure ice lay at her feet. The ceiling was just as breathtaking: a canvas of fractals and patterns carved into the ice above her head. There was no sun to light the library, but there was a sourceless glow that emanated from the ice itself, casting soft shadows throughout the room.
A frozen pendulum swung lazily back and forth above her head; its swaying motions inching back and forth in a soothing rhythm that was almost hypnotic in nature. With each swing it broke entropy, compacted heat into coolness into a perfect ice cube which would never melt. The Glacier's creations were terrifying that way. It was beautiful though, and Lulu felt a momentary pang of guilt for thinking the word 'terrifying' as she watched it; and then she lost that thread of thought as exhaustion sank its claws into her head and turned her brain into mush instead.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Liliya asked quietly, gently putting a hand on Lulu's shoulder. "Is it over already?"
"Hi," Lulu mumbled sleepily as she looked at the girl in surprise, having forgotten about her entirely in the chaos upstairs. "It's still going." She paused and shivered slightly as she took in the sight before her for a second or two before she spoke again; "...didn't see you here."
Liliya shrugged slightly. "I was reading. And you know Rosa, she doesn't like libraries." Her voice sounded tired as well, like Lulu's was. "There's something I wanted to ask you before I forget about it." She hesitated for a moment as she spoke, looking nervous before continuing on. "D-do you remember when we met?"
Lulu nodded slightly at the question, squinting at Liliya with bleary eyes.
"Well, I..." Liliya hesitated again; cheeks tinted slightly red in embarrassment at whatever it was she was trying to say. "I..." She shook her head once or twice before speaking again; her voice still quiet and hesitant as she continued on: "I decided to say yes."
She pushed aside her arctic-blue bangs, revealing a small horn on the side of her head, poking out just above her right ear; a bone-white extrusion that looked almost like a crown. She didn't say anything else as she waited for Lulu's reaction—only watching her nervously.
Lulu stared at her blankly for several seconds before blinking rapidly as it finally clicked, eyes widening slightly in surprise as she sat up in her seat.
"You went for it?" she said. "I thought... you said you like wizardry more. That it wouldn't be worth the trouble." Lulu paused before shaking her head once again in confusion at the girl's sudden change of heart. "Not that I'm complaining," she added hurriedly, holding up both hands in a placating gesture, "-but really, why now?"
"Because," Liliya replied softly, blushing faintly as she looked away from Lulu and out into the room again instead. "I didn't want to feel like a coward anymore." She fell silent for several seconds, finally looking back at Lulu with an unreadable expression. "I don't want to be the one they're protecting. Wizardry is great, Lulu. But you can't use it in combat."
"Oh..." Lulu mumbled awkwardly, fidgeting slightly as she mulled over Liliya's words. "I guess... yeah." She frowned thoughtfully for a moment. You could, if you were experienced enough. Not at Lili's age. "Okay." She smiled faintly and held out her hand towards Liliya. "Welcome to the club then!"
"The- what?" Liliya replied in confusion. "What club?"
Lulu laughed softly. "The 'people who aren't going to die' club," she said cheerfully.
Present: Éloise Montclair, Armand de Valois, Geneviève the Glacier, Matriarch Morcerf, Auxiliary Isabelle de Châtillon (Protocol Enforcement), Archon Philippe de Rochefort (Secure Processing), Lulu de Morcerf Yamamoto (Observer), plus delegations.
Note: Châtillon is taking the minutes for this session. All typed words in this document are hers unless otherwise stated.
Security: Auxiliary Charlotte de Beauçart (Civil Protection)
Topic: Recent developments.
Montclair: It was agreed at our last meeting that no further discussion would occur without evidence of progress. Considering you brought your granddaughter, I assume you've come to tell us something new?
Matriarch: You're correct, Madam President. Philippe?
Rochefort: The Secure Processing branch has recovered evidence from the Seiyo Academy incursion. Details are available on the intranet, and have been copied to your secretaries. The gist is that psionics appears functionally identical to sorcery as far as we can tell, though we've recovered no formal documentation that makes that claim beyond the videos taken by Châtillon during the battle. The immediate trigger for the event was, as we suspected, a clash between the Lock-bearer and one of her classmates.
Mingled noises of disbelief and anger from several of those present; the latter primarily from the Matriarch's corner of the table. Morcerf motions for silence.
Matriarch: And the root cause?
Rochefort: JPs believes accidental interaction with a deliberate, sorcerous weakening of reality in that section of Tokyo. The clash destroyed control lines in unrecoverable fashion, exceeding failsafe tolerances of the disrupted spell. It subsequently deranged, cross-connecting control and power nets and producing... the effects seen on the video. Analysis is difficult because of the damage, but the effect itself was likely the intended outcome, weakened significantly from design parameters. If the power feed hadn't bled off into computational segments-
Morcerf: Not relevant at this time, Phillipe.
Rochefort: —sorry ma'am.
Morcerf: Does Secure Processing concur with JPs' analysis?
Rochefort: Essentially yes. We do believe JPs is missing a portion of the picture. The eigensignature of the spellcraft matches that of recent D-class incursions here in Europe, and I have speculated that it may be the same spell.
Uneasy murmurs from most of the assembled participants in the room, Matriarch Morcerf included; Lulu Morcerf Yamamoto stiffens but remains silent.
Matriarch: Don't tell me this is an Arms affair after all?
Rochefort: It may well be; in which case we have the same attacker cause a seemingly unrelated situation in the city of Tokyo. However, that is speculation for which we lack evidence. Both Secure Processing and JPs concur that the effect itself was incomplete, and the underlying spellcraft was substantially ruined by power bleed-off through secondary computational segments; but Secure Processing is unable to speculate on how the intended result might have differed from the observed results given current data. We will continue to attempt to gather more information on this front, but expect that acquiring answers may prove... difficult. We also have no combat-capable assets in the region.
Montclair: You should strengthen our cooperation with JPs. Proceed as you see fit, and keep us informed. Anything else?
Rochefort: The Lock-bearer was hospitalised with grade one mental abrasion subsequent to the event. Her opponent was hospitalised with grade five.
General commotion.
Matriarch: Hold-
Charlotte: You're saying the Lock-bearer is injured!?
Lulu, shrieking: Five? What-
Rochefort: Madam President!
Montclair: Silence! Everyone sit down!
Arguing continues; President Montclair and Auxiliary Beauçart have to intervene on multiple occasions before a semblance of order is restored.
Rochefort: -both have recovered, in the Lock-bearer's case without apparent damage. Most notably, her opponent is accompanied by a rogue Seelie.
No replies. Apparent disbelief, lasting for several seconds.
Rochefort: ...there is no question. Saaya Yamabuki is recovering from grade five abrasion. She is accompanied by a rogue Seelie who appears to be acting as her guardian. We've attempted to investigate her history but can find no reliable records indicating magical background. Given the extreme nature of the injury, we can only attribute her recovery to psionic adaptations.
Silence descends over the room, lingering for several seconds.
Montclair: That doesn't match the lock-bearer's personality. Is there any evidence that Yamabuki's wounds are self-inflicted?
Rochefort: Yes, ma'am.
Silence resumes.
Geneviève: We're talking about a twelve-year-old! Morcerf, I'd like you to explain why this is in any way acceptable. It isn't the 1800s. We're meant to be better than this.
Matriarch: ...I...
Montclair: Geneviève, control yourself. We had no opportunity to intervene. Yamabuki is entirely a wild card.
Geneviève: Then make one! For heaven's sake-
Rochefort: JPs is already arranging psychological support for those who need it. There will be no repetitions.
Geneviève: A twelve-year-old with grade five abrasion-!
Rochefort: We're not ignoring this. Nor is JPs. Please calm down.
Matriarch de Morcerf observes that her granddaughter is crying, and moves to comfort her.
Montclair: I concur with Phillipe. Geneviève, calm down. Matriarch Morcerf—Armand has been passing on your reports to me for years now, and I have always had reservations about your meddling. The Lock is a divine artefact, not an object we are meant to tamper with—much less turn into a weapon for our own purposes. Now it's soul-bound to a teenager.
Matriarch: That, in fairness, wasn't me. Amakawa Tsukasa is a loose acquaintance at most.
Châtillon: Could anyone explain why we are talking about interfering in Japan, on another agency's turf?
Several voices speak up at once; Montclair demands silence and calls for an explanation from Rochefort and Morcerf in turn before the noise subsides again.
Morcerf: My granddaughter spotted a pattern. It's one I should have noticed, except it's entirely too big. Does anyone know what this is?
Morcerf presents a standard, type L (spherical) calcinating pattern, set on a white background.
Châtillon: Is this a joke?
Morcerf: Not at all.
Another slide. Now the same pattern is set with a world map as the background, including the surrounding oceanic areas and polar regions. The feedback knot is located inside Tokyo, Japan.
Morcerf: Tell me this isn't interesting.
Châtillon: Why did you make this?
Morcerf: To play connect-the-dots.
Another slide. The map is overlaid with a large number of dots spread loosely across the continents. Some, overlaying the pattern, are in red.
Morcerf: These are all D-type incursions for the last seven months. I asked Rochefort to filter for the ones with matching eigensignatures to the Tokyo incursion.
Another slide. Every dot except the red ones disappear.
Morcerf: And then he filtered out every other anomaly to minimise visual clutter. Currently there is one D-class incursion event every eight hours or so, down from one every six hours prior to the Tokyo incursion. I believe the matching eigensignatures are due to each incursion being caused by literally the same spell. There was a pause of one week after that event.
Rochefort: I concur.
Montclair: And no sign that Operation Armsbreaker had anything to do with it?
Morcerf: None. Our actions have been band-aids. The timing doesn't match.
Geneviève: Just what are you suggesting?
Morcerf: The Tokyo incursion was a major failure, damaging the core of the spell—which resulted in a significant decrease in global incursions—which is to say, we are facing an enemy capable of casting a singular, planet-scale spell which we don't understand but can recognise by its fingerprint; one which follows the general principles of alchemic calcination; and who is capable of repairing it after that level of damage. Our opponent is either a god, or someone backed by one. It suggests a reason for the recent failure of precognition.
Commotion; Montclair motions for silence but does not achieve it for some time.
Châtillon: That's- You're insane! This is all completely-
Morcerf: We have all heard seers claim the world will end. I propose it's time we take them seriously, and to that end I'm supporting Seiyo's request for funding. We should tie them closer to our council.
Morcerf lays out plans for recruiting additional members and reinforcing Seiyo Academy in case of another incursion as discussion proceeds, with Rochefort in particular joining her in contributing suggestions for personnel.
Geneviève: When will you tell us why you brought your granddaughter? I doubt it was merely to scare her with apocalyptic predictions.
Morcerf: Ah, of course. Charlotte?
Charlotte: Ma'am?
Morcerf: Transcribe the following at your convenience, and store it in the archives. I hereby declare Lulu de Morcerf Yamamoto to be the heir apparent of the Morcerf clan and its resources. This declaration is effective immediately, subject to revocation by myself or Lulu de Morcerf.
Lulu blushes and murmurs something indistinct but too quiet to overhear. The Matriarch hugs her briefly and then returns to her seat.
Montclair: Do you intend to retire?
Morcerf: No, but I do intend to hedge my bets. It will also help her to be taken seriously when she starts to sell these.
Morcerf tosses several jewels onto the table—all black onyx—with a distinctive pattern visible on the surface.
Rochefort: These are?
Morcerf: Lulu?
Morcerf: Your turn, dear.
Lulu: These are... um... a prototype, I guess? Anti-demon grenades.
Lulu fiddles with her bracelet before launching into an explanation of her work over the past two months with the help of diagrams prepared in advance of the meeting. The details are proprietary and omitted from this document.
Morcerf: I can speak to their effectiveness. These are approximately three times more powerful than our regular issue.
Lulu, nervously: Though I only succeed about half the time when I make them.
Minor commotion. The participants appear to be getting tired of Morcerf's escapades.
Montclair: Lulu de Morcerf here is, to be clear, psionic as well. She wasn't putting herself in danger. Is that correct?
Lulu nods vigorously; no further explanation offered or requested by the council.
Montclair: I assume you'll be marketing these eventually?
Morcerf: At a reasonable price, yes; I suspect Rochefort will want them badly for our agents on the frontlines.
Rochefort: In high quantities, yes. I would prefer establishing a sustainable manufacturing process—Seiyo could likely assist—but these could be the difference between life and death in some circumstances.
The discussion moves on.
⁂
Lulu walked downstairs from the meeting room feeling like she'd been hit by a truck. Not physically, but...
It wasn't that it hadn't gone well, per se. It had gone fantastically! Her grandma had been amazing—and shown her so many sides of herself that Lulu had never seen before in the process—and with Seiyo funded properly things would start going a lot better for Amu-chan, surely. No one would doubt Lulu now, not with concrete evidence backing her up, and they'd be able to research things properly without making bad assumptions all the time, and—and—and—
It had been overwhelming, okay?
"Fuwaaaaah," she sighed tiredly as she slumped into one of the heated couches downstairs, staring up at the icy ceiling above her. The doors were on the other side of the room and her grandma was still upstairs discussing things with everyone else, which left Lulu with a few minutes of silence and solitude.
The library was made literally of ice, and it was beautiful. Shelves upon shelves of books and scrolls covered every inch of the walls, while a shimmering carpet of pure ice lay at her feet. The ceiling was just as breathtaking: a canvas of fractals and patterns carved into the ice above her head. There was no sun to light the library, but there was a sourceless glow that emanated from the ice itself, casting soft shadows throughout the room.
A frozen pendulum swung lazily back and forth above her head; its swaying motions inching back and forth in a soothing rhythm that was almost hypnotic in nature. With each swing it broke entropy, compacted heat into coolness into a perfect ice cube which would never melt. The Glacier's creations were terrifying that way. It was beautiful though, and Lulu felt a momentary pang of guilt for thinking the word 'terrifying' as she watched it; and then she lost that thread of thought as exhaustion sank its claws into her head and turned her brain into mush instead.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Liliya asked quietly, gently putting a hand on Lulu's shoulder. "Is it over already?"
"Hi," Lulu mumbled sleepily as she looked at the girl in surprise, having forgotten about her entirely in the chaos upstairs. "It's still going." She paused and shivered slightly as she took in the sight before her for a second or two before she spoke again; "...didn't see you here."
Liliya shrugged slightly. "I was reading. And you know Rosa, she doesn't like libraries." Her voice sounded tired as well, like Lulu's was. "There's something I wanted to ask you before I forget about it." She hesitated for a moment as she spoke, looking nervous before continuing on. "D-do you remember when we met?"
Lulu nodded slightly at the question, squinting at Liliya with bleary eyes.
"Well, I..." Liliya hesitated again; cheeks tinted slightly red in embarrassment at whatever it was she was trying to say. "I..." She shook her head once or twice before speaking again; her voice still quiet and hesitant as she continued on: "I decided to say yes."
She pushed aside her arctic-blue bangs, revealing a small horn on the side of her head, poking out just above her right ear; a bone-white extrusion that looked almost like a crown. She didn't say anything else as she waited for Lulu's reaction—only watching her nervously.
Lulu stared at her blankly for several seconds before blinking rapidly as it finally clicked, eyes widening slightly in surprise as she sat up in her seat.
"You went for it?" she said. "I thought... you said you like wizardry more. That it wouldn't be worth the trouble." Lulu paused before shaking her head once again in confusion at the girl's sudden change of heart. "Not that I'm complaining," she added hurriedly, holding up both hands in a placating gesture, "-but really, why now?"
"Because," Liliya replied softly, blushing faintly as she looked away from Lulu and out into the room again instead. "I didn't want to feel like a coward anymore." She fell silent for several seconds, finally looking back at Lulu with an unreadable expression. "I don't want to be the one they're protecting. Wizardry is great, Lulu. But you can't use it in combat."
"Oh..." Lulu mumbled awkwardly, fidgeting slightly as she mulled over Liliya's words. "I guess... yeah." She frowned thoughtfully for a moment. You could, if you were experienced enough. Not at Lili's age. "Okay." She smiled faintly and held out her hand towards Liliya. "Welcome to the club then!"
"The- what?" Liliya replied in confusion. "What club?"
Lulu laughed softly. "The 'people who aren't going to die' club," she said cheerfully.
They had people on site, ready to take video, before JP's could show up. (Not ready to help, though.) I wonder how long they've been watching, and if they were watching while Lulu pulled all her bullshit.
I'm surprised we didn't hear anything about this figure, or meet them while visiting Saaya.
The demon we called? Someone else's summon? Something created by the lock, perhaps?
I wonder if they've heard about what we did with it.
At least something good came of that whole mess.
I hope they don't hire any Manticore personnel. We ought to think about what to tell Lulu about Manticore. I'm leaning toward "a lot".
Schoolkids mass-producing grenades. What could go wrong?
I wonder what that funding is actually supposed to do.
That doesn't sound good, especially if it's anything like what happened to Honkai Impact 3's Liliya. I wonder why it's a closer match for HI3 Rozaliya's horn than HI3 Liliya's horn, though. (It's a lot smaller than either of the HI3 girls' horns, and might be shaped differently, but the color and position match Rozaliya's.)
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I mean, we're dropping Hotsuin on them.
Like, I can't accept another outcome.
They are everything any psychic child has nightmares about in the late night vanishing them in their sleep never to see their parents again. Only they're actually real and very much a problem.
And have two known people kidnapped right now. Even if we get a ransom phone call from Kana's mom, like... no? Because how many hundreds of kids have vanished, died, or are suffering in Manticore right now.
And if we cave to a ransom like that, we're next up on the chopping block. Or Miki. Or Ami. We have too much heat on us, for the moment, but that will cool in time and then Amu gets to live out her nightmares.
That's, not acceptable. No matter the cost.
There's the question of whether Hotsuin is a reliable ally, but in-story text and out-of-story comments seem to be pushing toward "just trust him already".
1) I see we should get in more fights to save the world?
2) What is Big K doing? Even if overloaded, surely this is on the top of its priority list?
He's Lulu's cousin, telling him is just cutting down one step on the communication train really.
We can have girl talk about our horrifying nightmares made reality lived through via Kana later.
It wasn't JP's in that meeting - the French counterpart organization is looking at hiring more Japanese assets. Talking to Lulu may actually be more direct than talking to Hotsuin, for getting information to these people. Talking to Hotsuin is a more direct way of getting information to Hotsuin, of course.
- Location
- Laniakea
This one seems likely.
We had hints that what Amu summoned was a fairy, due to the fairy-related analogies, it being called a Seelie tracks. Which I guess that would be confirmation that what Amu summoned really was a demon and not a Persona, given we now know Su is closer to a Persona (being made from the same seed material) than an actual demon, despite the summoned entity referring to her as one.
Dunno how much Kana would like the idea of putting Naomi, Aoi, Yuna and especially Big Yui in the firing line by sending JPs after Manticore while knowing that they were all still being held hostage.
I wouldn't put it past Hotsuin to be less-than-subtle with his approach, assuming there wasn't governmental red tape stopping them from cracking down on Manticore. Asahi would probably fight them to the death to keep Big Yui from being taken by them, which would come with a not-insignificant chance of her getting caught in the crossfire, to say nothing of the other Scavengers.
What.
Hikawa's managing 3-4 demon summonings a day in Tokyo? How the hell has he been leaving so many bodies behind without ending up on headline news?!
I think that's the worldwide figure, not Tokyo-specific.
Alright, the dozens to hundreds of other kids are on you now.
Its one or the other unless Hotsuin threads the needle.
- Location
- Laniakea
Uh, those dozens to hundreds of kids are also potential hostages too, they are all going to be in the firing line when JPs starts sending their demons in to clear out the Manticore buildings. The Scavengers (and Big Yui) are just the ones we know the names of.
....Which also makes them the only ones we really care about getting out of that firing line, but hey, better 4 people safe than none at all.
That makes more sense.
......That's still some 20-30 demon summonings every week. Oof, that man sure has been getting work done.
Its make an operation to save as many as possible or don't.
The former is likely to be bad, the latter is worse.
There's also the optimistic option of trying to get Manticore to collapse without violence, but I'm not that optimistic.
- Location
- Laniakea
Or, you know, could try for an option that isn't between "bad" and "worse", but actually "good".
I am.
The approach I envisioned was using the media to expose Manticore after collecting information on their leadership and sending JPs primarily after the leadership at the same time as the broadcast, to ensure the whole thing was dismantled properly and the executives couldn't just run away and start the whole thing up again under a different name.
If the leadership got decapitated in one go, the facilities probably wouldn't even need to be raided by force. JPs could just assume control of all their assets and declare them and their staff under new management. Shuffled from one government branch to another.
That really doesn't sound like enough to get the job done. Also, I don't want a "HYDRA inside SHIELD" situation.
- Location
- Laniakea
What part of it wouldn't get the job done?
Unlike HYDRA, I don't expect most of Manticore's people to be particularly religiously devoted or especially loyal to some greater cause of establishing a new world order. Pretty sure Asahi at least would happily sell her boss's organs if she thought it would bring back her daughter.
The leaders aren't the only ones responsible for a bevy of crimes. The rank and file know what's coming for them. At the very least, there's likely to be a lot of frantic destruction and falsification of documentation, as people try to make sure they're not the ones ending up on death row. A lot of people trying to flee, too. A lot of people trying to kill the remaining witnesses and make it look like it wasn't them who did it.
Stopping this is going to take raids. And once all is said and done, JP's should absolutely not just try to absorb the staff into their own organization. At the very least, these people need to go to trial first, and many of them will need to go to prison.
- Location
- Laniakea
That's exactly why all the information gathering needs to be done beforehand. Those very raids you're talking about are going to result in documents getting destroyed regardless.
And as it happens, I also disagree about JP's not absorbing their staff, for the exact reasons you mention about subordinates trying to flee and kill witnesses. They are a lot less likely to do that if JPs made it clear they were only really interested in the leadership.
It's all well and good to say "kill them all", but backing people into a corner on a jihad for justice tends to lead to exactly that kind of suicidal desperation in retaliation.
Far better to keep them under close watch somewhere they can't get into trouble, as opposed to having them run off to join Hikawa's cult or worse. The most problematic can be tried with the leadership if needed. The rest can be stuck in dead-end jobs cleaning toilets and clearing rubble from the aftermath of JP's other fights.
Trying to gather that level of evidence before the takedown, without tipping Manticore off first, isn't going to happen. Stuff will get destroyed in the raids, but other stuff will get recovered.
And again, note the part about killing the witnesses. These people aren't going to know how much JP's has on them. Someone who's going to end up on death row if the kids talk might decide, "hey, my odds are better if they can't talk, right? As long as I don't leave any evidence I killed them." They need to be stopped before they can do that.
This is neither a conscionable position nor one that we can expect these people to believe, especially since JP's would come under fire for letting murderers, torturers, and child rapists off with a slap on the wrist.
That's what prison is for. A prison is a lot more secure than a janitor job.
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No.
That's just how you get all the politicians who want things to be neat and swept under the rug, publicly at least, also mad at you and then have all the middle management and researchers either kill everyone out of spite, run for the hills, take all the kids hostage, or give up.
Half of those options just end up with even more people dead.
The only time to really go public is when you need to force the government's hand either because they refuse to act, are too slow (even by government standards), or are low-key against you.
- Location
- Laniakea
I myself can see multiple ways for it to happen.
If you disagree with the idea that Asahi would be willing to spill everything she has in exchange for her daughter's recovery, please say so. Otherwise, I've repeatedly brought that possibility up as a route by which said information could be extracted before any sort of takedown.
As well as infiltration by planted agents. We know Easter had 2 of their ex-scientists working for them, depending on the circumstances of leaving, I can see them rejoining with significantly less loyalty than before. The Kirijo Group was the original source of the Persona Suppressants, I can see Mitsuru being able to sneak in a plant through the channels Manticore have set up to acquire their drugs.
Given how new Manticore is and the fact they hired a two-bit runaway mage like Asahi, I would even wager they'd be desperate to get hold of prospective candidates from more the traditional families. JP's themselves would likely have a good few candidates seen as highly attractive hires by Manticore and the fact that JP's is also a fellow government agency would make them even less likely to suspect their transfer was leaking information in preparation for a major crackdown.
Not to mention, I can see a way to preserve evidence and hostages during and after the takedown - by guaranteeing Manticore's rank and file on live TV during the public exposure broadcast that they not be held responsible for the actions and orders of their leaders and will simply be transfered to JPs as long as they cooperate with JPs to preserve all evidence and/or give testimony against the leadership.
Again, unlike HYDRA, I don't see the rank and file somehow having this huge, religious levels of loyalty to the organization.
I fully expect that, given the chance, 90% of those subordinates will absolutely stab their bosses in the back with zero hesitation to save their own skins.
Given the snippets that we've already had from Kana's Shadow about the people she had to kill during her escape and her seemingly considering them decent enough, I find myself somewhat doubting that you actually genuinely believe every single member of the rank and file are murderers, torturers and rapists to the last man.
And since we have existing evidence that the rank and file do in fact contain regular people who are not each and every one avatars of evil, I find the idea of NOT going scorched earth on them and driving them into the desperate act of killing kids, to be a perfectly conscionable position.
Rather, it's this "off with their heads, too bad if kids get caught in the crossfire, killing the guilty takes precedence" position that I am finding myself highly alarmed at.
Manticore being a government outfit means they already have direct political backers somewhere up the chain funding them. These people are going to be mad regardless of what approach is being taken to crack down on them.
Dealing with these politicians is exactly why I say the media broadcast is necessary, since even if the organization called "Manticore" is shut down, if the whole thing was done behind closed doors these original political backers can easily start it up again under a different name, maybe even bail out the executives out of trouble if their names weren't publicly known.
In fact, I expect these very same political backers to immediately move to cockblock JP's attempts to crack down on Manticore, as soon as it becomes known that JP's plans to make a move on Manticore.
For this whole thing to become too toxic for the political backers to even think of touching it again, it all needs to be aired in public and it needs to happen early, before they have any chance to do damage control and cover it up.
With enough information and evidence, we might even be able to drag those original political backers into the spotlight alongside the executives of Manticore.
I don't expect that level of success, but at the very least having it all aired out publicly should tie their hands and makes it more likely they'll just cut the leadership loose instead of try to protect them and have them start the whole all over again under different branding.
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This is a gross misrepresentation of my position. My position is that raids will need to happen, and that JP's cannot simply arrest the leadership and then let everyone else join JP's. My position is not "kill them all". A raid is not an extermination mission.
You're relying on everyone believing that would actually be enough to save them. You think of your plan as eminently reasonable, so you think people would actually believe it. But JP's claiming they'd let all the murderers, torturers, and child rapists among the rank and file go on live TV makes them look terrible, and is not a believable claim. Even if somehow, JP's leadership genuinely intended to go through with that, Manticore personnel would have to worry that public outcry would be enough to get someone else put in charge of dealing with them.
Also, even if most of them go quietly, there's still the rest of them to deal with. The people who would go quietly in your plan are mostly a subset of the people who would immediately surrender in a raid. The people who wouldn't go quietly have a lot less chance to do damage if they get arrested than if JP's just... waits for them to turn themselves in?
Two-bit runaway? Asahi is the daughter of a "named sorceror", probably someone on the level of Geneviève the Glacier, and directly taught by them. She only ran away after having kids, and it wasn't because she sucks. She's probably quite good.
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