Rites

Battle of the Mind VIII

True battles unfold within...

Before entering the Sultan's game, you never imagined venturing so far in exploring soul power.

Once on this path, you continued inexplicably... as if something attracted you.

You suddenly realize - might something purposely entice you? Having grasped magic's essence, can you understand this fascination's source?

ID: 5004825

Type: Enemy

Tips: None

Duration: 1 days

Waits For: 3 days

Marked as New Only on First Occurrence: 0

Starts Automatically: No

Triggers Result Automatically: No

Tag Tips: None

Tag Tips Up: None

Tag Tips Text:

Random Text: None

Random Text Up: None

Actions When Wait Expires

Action:

Slots

Slot #3
Your Own Thoughts

Locks: No

Is Key: No

Is Empty: No

Is Enemy: No

Conditions:

Pops: None

Slot #4
Your rationality can help, if you possess it

Locks: No

Is Key: No

Is Empty: Yes

Is Enemy: No

Conditions:

Pops: None

Slot #6
Consider the people and events around you for inspiration

Locks: No

Is Key: No

Is Empty: Yes

Is Enemy: No

Conditions:

Pops: None

Activation Conditions

This rite has no activation conditions.

Outcome

Prior

This rite has no prior outcome.

Regular

Hollow Ecstasy
The more you trace your magical journey, the more lost you become.

Looking back reveals countless twisted paths, impossible to identify which you traveled. Examining your notes, traces, fragments yields contradictory clues pointing to different answers. Obsessively questioning your past motivations leaves you disoriented - when awareness returns, servants stare fearfully.

They claim you've been shouting alone in your study for hours. You recall nothing...

Your head throbs painfully, yet you feel strangely exhilarated, uncontrollably drawn toward ecstatic states.

Perhaps you've ventured too far...

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Lost Path
You foolishly seek to resolve your spiritual crisis through the absurd gods of the cultists.

You pray, plead, beg... only to be answered by cold laughter from the darkness.

Perhaps you still need to prove your worth to the chaotic gods.

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Impurity
You attempt to resolve your inner conflict through the god will of the Purist...

A white light surges into your mind, piercing your spine and triggering waves of agony - this is the Purist's response to your prayer -

"You are unworthy," says the pain. "Think again, consider what you could do for the Purist."

It "helps" you ponder for quite some time before gradually subsiding.

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Carrot and Donkey
You carefully retrace your spiritual journey, thinking impartially, neither relying on god will nor falling into nihilistic traps.

You discover each exploration represented overcoming difficulties. Challenges demand greater power, using greater power brings satisfaction, this satisfaction unconsciously leads you toward the next challenge... and greater power.

Without challenges or risk of failure, no greatness exists. You've gained so much merely to repeatedly verify you possess so much.

Understanding this brings weariness yet spiritual calm.

Even if you're merely a donkey chasing a dangling carrot, at least you understand the trick's nature.

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Moth and You
You recall another persistent pursuit: remaining virtuous within the Sultan's game.

No simple task. You face not just survival threats but misunderstanding, confusion, even hatred from many. Abandoning this path would be easy - simply using the card on someone more deserving... Yet you avoid this when possible, though no one requires it.

This parallels your magical explorations - perhaps everything you seek represents one thing -

Maintaining "selfhood" amid turmoil. This "self" needs no clear definition. Simply altering fate slightly through free will confirms you remain alive.

Night deepens, moth-catching lamps illuminate your estate. Watching those delicate-winged creatures repeatedly crashing into flames, you recognize yourself among them.

You harbor no regrets. Living inauthentically seems worse than glorious death in flames.

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Muddied Stream
Contemplating your magic, you feel it surge pleasurably through your body.

You realize your fascination with magical power drives your journey. Magic unlocked realms previously unseen - chaotic solutions, bizarre gods, unprecedented killing methods.

You stand at the doorway, pulling it wide; from it pours turbid currents into this game. You've complicated everything, made situations more confusing and exploitable, introduced supernatural variables into reality.

How fascinating to watch people collide within your created chaos!

Closing your eyes smiling, before sleep you consider adding a small stream to your courtyard gardens, curious how worms and crickets might respond...

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Soul's Reshaping
You had thought of those Ladies of Delights, finding yourself time and again unable to resist seeking them out. Were you fascinated by them themselves—or by how they had accommodated you?

Perhaps "obsession" had always derived from the joy of shaping others. You had molded them to appear infatuated with you, genuine or otherwise—and that illusion, though false, had proved irresistible.

On closer thought, hadn’t all intoxicating things worked the same way? Alcohol had shaped drunks into self-imagined men of importance; swords had turned warriors into life-and-death arbiters. The Sultan had reshaped courtiers into toys and slaves. Watching another human soul bend through your own actions—nothing had ever enticed you more.

You had shivered slightly then, not from cold, but from the dark, approving laughter that rippled through the void.

"Precisely," They said. "I appreciate your insight."

...Have you ever heard Their whispers so clearly before?

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Desire's Blame
You consider Nayla.

She wants everything - costliest fabrics, finest jewels, rarest spices. She ensures her possessions surpass all women's, standing taller, demanding this, that, everything!

Yet many remain captivated. Her greed clearly generates powerful allure, with men's continued offerings and women's continued indulgence shaping her current form.

What creates this fascination?

Contemplating your interactions with Nayla... Ah, you understand - desire... Nayla's charm springs from her vigorous desires. Desire sustains her, as it sustains us all - hunger, thirst, embracing loved ones - so her desires' intensity signals exceptional vitality, captivating weak-willed shallow admirers.

Just as you reach this conclusion, an icy thought makes you shiver.

"Precisely. Desire represents most hateful, most impure, most eradication-worthy element," They say. "Follow my path, purify all desire."

...Have you ever heard Their whispers so clearly before?

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Happiness Overflows
You recall moments bringing happiness—that incomparable sensation surpassing any sensory pleasure or material delight.

Only while happy can you enjoy life's sweetness without guilt; only while happy can you proudly continue existing; only while happy can your soul's reservoir store additional water against inevitable future droughts.

Perhaps your magical fascination stems from happiness found in wielding power, which protects what brings you happiness.

Life represents a one-way journey seeking happiness. You regret nothing.

But wait... a paradox emerges. You concentrate intensely... god whispers and visions never brought pure "happiness." Do They scorn human fascinations, or... cannot achieve them?

You gain deeper understanding of existence.

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Boiling Cauldron
You rub the ink stain on your palm, summoning Them to answer your inner question.

They respond immediately, as if eternally awaiting your call.

They show you an enormous boiling cauldron... massive beyond comprehension, filled with thick black broth, stirred by a she-demon with two pairs of breasts.

Hands lift you up. You kick and flail uselessly, held like a grasshopper between a child's fingers - then thrown into the cauldron!

...Remarkably, nothing burns. No, that's incorrect - it isn't cool, but your magic protects you. Watching other victims scream agonizingly in the boiling broth, the she-demon repeatedly submerging their briefly emergent heads with her ladle. They swallow filthy broth, intestines cooking from within - but you? Your magic forms a beautiful protective shield. The demon's ladle avoids you, broth cannot touch you, even heat remains distant.

You understand Their message. Your magical fascination exists because it allows you to safely navigate the Sultan's game, witnessing others' suffering while remaining unscathed.

How captivating.

...

You awaken refreshed, slightly proud. Perhaps next time, ask whether the Cultic God might grant you this she-demon. Her appearance wasn't unpleasant...

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Celestial Staircase
You relax, allowing god will to fill you... This experience feels wonderful, effortless, like a child returning to mother's embrace...

They guide you to immaculate stairs ascending beyond sight. You climb each step, requiring significant effort. To continue upward, you must summon all your strength, even your magic...

Ah, you understand Their intended answer: your magical fascination stems from devoted Purist faith. You know greater power qualifies you for higher steps, making you more valuable to the god...

As if rewarding your insight, the staircase's end suddenly appears - a magnificent celestial palace. You cannot see its inhabitants, only pairs of pure, gold-dusted bare feet.

...

The dream ends, leaving you deeply satisfied.

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Extra

Rebuking Darkness
You dare invoke the most unholy name before the Immaculate Purity!

They thunder through your mind, Their light a spear piercing heaven and earth, a ruler lashing the world...

Until the next day's sunset, whenever your focus wavers, everything before you shatters into light and flames... This divine punishment They foretell... fortunately, They cannot execute it immediately.

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Ancient Enmity
Darkness boils as you mention Their enemy's name before a god.

Their anger transforms into a dark forest, intending to make you lost forever... Fortunately, you still pray for light in your heart. This beam, like a faint lamp, illuminates your path back to the mortal realm... it also reveals the monstrosities the evil god created from your fears. Masterpieces crafted from your inner terrors... about death, betrayal, failure, love... After waking, these images linger.

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Spiral of Destruction
Two gods, two enemies both craving world destruction, meet unexpectedly in the depths of your mind.

Here is an excellent battlefield where They can destroy each other... destroy your mind... again and again.

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