Since the youma was quite clearly not in control of itself (as was mentioned by several people) my point was that it would have removed whatever Cendrillion had placed on it to force it to suicidal lengths and we could have had Usagi convince it to stop fighting. It may have still been a youma, but it would have been a free youma instead of controlled. Given the reaction when Terra Healing Escalation hit, that is proof that it was being controlled and that when the control was gone it had no desire to fight us. So Moon Tiara Stardust would have been the best solution, especially since it is an AoE and so it could have been cast immediately, since she only needs one hand to cast it where Moon Healing Escalation takes two.
I don't think there's enough evidence to support that. Your key claims are:
1) The youma was "clearly not in control of itself."
2) Therefore, the youma was being forced to go to suicidal lengths to attack Sailor Moon.
3) The effect of Terra Healing Escalation on the youma proves that it was being controlled.
4) Therefore, Moon Tiara Stardust would have broken the control.
My responses:
1) This youma's behavior doesn't seem out of line with the behavior we've seen from other youma. While not
ALL youma exhibit this kind of extreme, berserk aggression, it's not atypical of youma as a whole. Compare to the behavior of the Crystal Seminar youma. It is
normal for youma to rant about how they're going to bring Sailor Moon's head to their master and be lavishly rewarded, and even for them to squabble over the privilege of doing so.
2) For this youma to launch a solo attack on a large group of magical girls may seem suicidal, but note that there were at least four other combatants present. None of the other magical girls present made any effort to aid Sailor Moon, and the youma had a clear shot at her. The youma we just fought is, furthermore,
nearly as powerful as Jadeite, and much stronger than Cendrillion herself was when we last fought her at the Shapelin Gym. Furthermore, while we know that Sailor Moon is strong enough to easily overpower even a Prowess 25 youma. The Dark Kingdom's last opportunity to gather intelligence on Sailor Moon's capabilities was at the Shapelin Gym, and she's gained several points of Prowess since that time. About +7, if I recall correctly, mostly from the Moon Stick. Furthermore, our overall superiority at the Shapelin Gym was so overwhelming that Cendrillion may not have had a clear idea of how much of the damage Sailor Moon did personally before being incapacitated. In other words, this youma had good reasons to overestimate their chances in a solo fight with Sailor Moon, and it turns out that a solo fight was
exactly what they got for an extended period of time. Literally a few weeks ago, Usagi would have been in terrible danger from this situation.
3 and 4) We don't know if Terra Healing Escalation broke
control or
corruption. There is a significant difference between the two, especially given the way youma use "Life Energy." Moon Tiara Stardust breaks most control magic we've come across, but it doesn't
purify- it cannot, for example, revert transformed youma into humans. As such, it might well not have reverted
this youma into the "I can't believe it's not a night-gaunt" form under which it reconsidered its life choices.
In any case, setting aside the question of how useful it would have been at the start, it is the best spell to use now for obvious reasons. It covers a wide area so Usagi doesn't even need to leave the roof where she is now, and is designed to disrupt possession and corruptive magic, all of which are Poisony's arsenal. It could actually be said to be the natural counter to her powers as the Sonic attack was to the glass sisters (we just need to make it permanent next time).
Again, Moon Tiara Stardust counters possession but not corruption. It's not clear that it would beat a Zakenna or Uzaina, or a lot of other things Poisony does... But it
IS a reasonably good choice for
specifically driving the Zakenna spirit out of Kintoleski.
On the other hand, so is Moon Healing Escalation, and the greater spell is usually a better choice over the lesser. Furthermore, Moon Healing Escalation breaks
mind control as well as possession, and might break whatever compulsion Kintoleski feels to his master- although that's something of a speculative Hail Mary pass.
I'm aware of all that. Is the situation prior to Healing Escalation that different from Poisony's? We can hold her still in the middle of a battle, but we don't have anywhere to keep her or any other way to prevent her from coming back later to try killing Nagisa and Honoka again.
To be fair, yes.
Again, Poisony demonstrates in canon extensive mind control and rapid shapeshifting abilities. Furthermore, she has high enough Prowess that she's probably quite a lot stronger than human,* she can probably pick a mechanical lock
with her freaking hairstyle based on her Episode 20 fight, and she can turn random piles of literal garbage into Prowess 20+ monsters by snapping her fingers... at least sometimes.
And she
really seems to want Cures Black and White
dead.
It's possible that we can get through to her somehow and convince her to defect, but I don't want to bet on it. The only concern I have is that if we kill her now, it may be very difficult to find her Prism Stone, because she doesn't have it on her at the moment and we don't know where she put it.
___________________
*(Remember,
Usagi had Prowess in the mid-teens in the early week or two, back when she was deadlifting the back end of an excavator. Poisony is on that level.)
I'm sure Poisony is counting on Jupiter having to switch to dealing with the Kinto-Zakenna situation, giving her an opening to escape. But how about instead of giving her that chance, we kill two birds with another bird, and just have Jupes take Poisony
with her to wield her as a club to beat the Zakenna out of Kintoleski? Whichever one of the three gets knocked out first, it'll probably end the possession one way or another.
I'm having flashbacks to Poptart's quest.
Dandeer flail?
Dandeer flail.
Think of it like the bicycle elemental, the corruption makes them congeal into a single Very Upset entity, and the filtration spell untangles that back to the lesser component elementals, which in the normal course of things just function as reality should - i.e. metal doesn't normally move on its own.
So in his case, remove the corruption and he should be sorted back into the content Fountain of Metal. Which may remember being him but will not behave like him.
If true, then Kintoleski is essentially the same kind of being as the Uzaina, only stronger and less animalistic and crude-minded.
On the other hand, I think this makes a few too many speculative inferences about what's going on "under the hood."
Okay. We've got a path for Kintoleski, now we just gotta figure out... *quick google* Kiriya.
Honestly, part of me wants to try and help all of them, on account of the whole arguably-technically-children thing, but they may not be entirely willing.
Yeah, not entirely willing.
Also it's kind of complicated inferring ages. We don't
really know how long ago Kintoleski was created, and it's inherently a bit tricky to talk about the age and maturity of beings created out of nowhere, fully formed, by magic. Athena from the brow of Zeus, sort of thing, y'know?
And we
definitely don't know how old Poisony is.
