Gensoukyou:Byakuren Hijiri

Background
Byakuren began her life as a simple nun that worked at a temple under the discipline of Buddhism with her younger brother, Myouren. They each led a simple, yet enjoyable lifestyle, learning the dharma from their masters, practicing their sutras, and so on. The actual location of the temple was located in what would later become Gensoukyou. The population density of youkai was high here, and the masters of the temple often had to drive away rampant youkai that attacked their homes, and for a while, everything was right within Byakuren’s world.

As expected of an elder sister, Byakuren was extremely protective of her little brother and loved him with all her heart, however, that alone is not enough to protect anyone from a youkai. Under the cover of darkness, while most of the monks were sleeping, a lone youkai snuck into the temple, and in a savage blood bath, murdered several inhabitants of the temple itself, including her beloved Myouren.

Needless to say, this threw Byakuren’s heart into turmoil, nearly overwhelming her with grief. Only her strict training and careful advice from the other monks kept her sane. However, even that did not protect her thoughts entirely, she began to fear death and sought for a way to do away with human fragility. Unfortunately, such a thing was not within her current art and practice, and so she looked for an alternative. After reading through many books, be it from the temple itself, from some of the stalls that sold such wares, she finally found something with which she believed she could accomplish her goals.

Of course, all of this was done in secret, she didn’t want to risk any of the other monks to find out, after all. She delved into what she found in these books, teaching herself the dark arts. After some time, she finally found the spell that she needed, and after casting it, she lost her human self, becoming a different kind of being. For a time, she was satisfied with this, and it didn’t seem to affect her daily life much at all.

However, she grew nervous. The power she wielded was extremely reliant on human belief, if they came to reject her power as a whole, it would fade away. Fearful of losing the key to avoiding death, she sought yet another answer. She came to know that her power was connected to the youkai in a way, and that to ensure her power remained, she needed to ensure that the youkai retained their prosperity. She decided that humans needed to fear youkai to a lesser degree, she wanted to make a balance between the two. She made herself out to be a youkai exterminator for hire, but had the exact opposite intent. Instead of killing the youkai, she would befriend them, tame them. Surprisingly, it worked. She had a remarkable talent of her very nature, her words, actions, her gentle aura, all of these calmed the youkai who had been out for human blood just moments before. She persuaded them to leave the humans be, promising them a time of prosperity that they had never known before.

The humans looked up to her as a great exterminator, as she led them to believe, and humans came to fear youkai to a lesser degree, relying on Byakuren to ‘exterminate’ them should they become a problem. Up until this point, Byakuren had been helping the youkai out of her own interests, trying to preserve her power. However, she became aware of the plight of youkai outside of the province that would become Gensoukyou. Their troubles found their way straight to her heart, and she found herself genuinely concerned for them. Of course, she was still an ‘exterminator’, and was asked to deal with a youkai every so often during her travels.

She was asked to exterminate a ghost of the seas, one who had gained a bad reputation for sinking ships. Byakuren set out at once, determined to save this youkai, as she had all the others. She made arrangements for a ship of her own and set sail to the area the ghost was said to frequent often. The area was quite stormy and the waves tossed her ship from side to side, the captain of her ship pleaded with her to try again another time, the sea was too rough. Byakuren insisted that they carry on, she needed to resolve this. Sure enough, the ghost she sought appeared before her, easily capsizing her ship. Byakuren herself plunged far underwater, sucked downwards by the sinking ship. She had to concentrate for a moment to gather her strength before trying to swim back to the surface, but she felt a strange presence...She reached out with her being, feeling something of considerable importance below. With a wave of her hand, she brought whatever it was from the gloom of the sea up to herself; what should it be but a massive ship. She used the ship to push herself up to the surface, much to the surprise of the ship phantom, who seemed very much ready to sink this other boat as well. But this ship was in itself a sort of artifact, that much she could feel within it, and she got an idea. She offered the boat to the ghostly captain, promising that the artifact would be able to lift the curse that bound her to the sea. of course, she wasn’t lying, and it showed in her demeanor and tone. She smiled warmly as the captain gained some hope for herself, and not too long after, she had the captain’s eternal gratitude. Minamitsu Murasa, as she introduced herself, helped her savior aboard and offered to take her anywhere she wished to go-- so long as she got to be the one that piloted the ship. The palanquin that she had used to save Murasa became her transport, a ship that could fly through the sky was quite a novelty and allowed her to get to where she was needed much more quickly than she had been capable of herself.

During her travels to save youkai, a youkai nun-- a rare sight to behold-- confronted Byakuren, believing her to be as her reputation painted her, as someone who hunted youkai. With her, she had a very special companion, a nyuudou, who, in anticipation of an attack, grew to an enormous size, drawing one arm around the youkai nun protectively. However, Byakuren simply smiled at the display, recognizing the touching relationship the two shared, it almost reminded her of herself and Myouren. she extended a gentle hand to the nyuudou, who would so viciously protect his charge. The nyuudou was old and wise, he could immediately sense that Byakuren meant no harm to them, or any other youkai for that matter. Breathing a heavy sigh, he let down his guard, much to the confusion of she who would call herself Ichirin. He took a moment to explain things to her. By the end, she merely looked at Byakuren incredulously, a human that protected youkai was such a rare thing-- even if Byakuren wasn’t exactly human. Wanting to follow such an honorable path, Ichirin asked Byakuren to be her teacher. To be honest, she was a little taken aback, she had never considered teaching anyone before. But, her dharma was good, she had learned a great deal from her time at the temple, and so she agreed.

By this time, Byakuren had found a little temple on a mountain, not to far from where she had originally trained with her brother. It was a temple to the god Bishamonten, but it served her purposes well enough. The youkai on the mountain mistrusted her, however, fearing her reputation as a youkai hunter. Even then, she received requests to deal with youkai, and so she dutifully set out, intent on saving this youkai from real youkai hunters. As soon as she beheld she whom she was tasked with dealing with, she could already see how this youkai suffered, though the other might not have known it at the time. The tiger-like youkai didn’t seem to care much for Byakuren’s kindness, resorting to violence rather quickly. Of course, Byakuren hadn’t studied the dark arts for nothing, quickly activating a spell that would increase her speed and strength. Thus she countered the tiger’s own strength, which seemed to confuse the youkai, who continued to attack. But each time, Byakuren countered her. Eventually, the youkai lay exhausted on the ground, asking Byakuren to go ahead and kill her, as she couldn’t stand the shame of losing to a human. Kneeling next to her, she began explaining why she couldn’t do that. She explained her goal for co-existence between youkai and humans, and so on. She spoke until there was no more to be spoken. Eventually, she swayed the tiger who became her disciple from that day forth, the most loyal of all of her followers, perhaps. However, her new disciple’s existence was unstable, as her source of being began to fade away with human knowledge of tigers. In order to save her Byakuren summoned up her will and called out to the god of the shrine they resided in, asking him to help her in her time of need. Bishamonten indeed appeared before her, asking to know why Byakuren deserved such a favor from he. However, Byakuren insisted that this favor was not for herself, but for her friend. The god paused a moment, as though gauging the sincerity of the monk's words before glancing at her again, seeming to have come to a decision. He asked a favor of Byakuren in return for the favor she asked of him. He already knew that he was not a god that Byakuren had ever worshiped much before, but he asked her to make him one of her patron gods. The monk considered this a moment, but found that she had no real alternatives if she wished to save Shou; so Byakuren agreed to Bishamonten's terms. Satisfied with this, Bishamonten converted Shou into his avatar before fading away for the time being, promising to come to their aid should they need him. Once word got out that Byakuren converted Shou to an avatar of Bishamonten, the youkai of the mountain came to see the magician in a different light, and she earned their trust that day. Two birds with one stone, as they say.

However, all good things come to an end. The word got out about Byakuren’s love for the youkai and the fact that she hadn’t really exterminated the youkai at all. She was branded as a demon in human form, and the nearby village gathered all the spellcasters that they could. Byakuren went to calm them, hoping that she could talk them out of it. But they did not listen to her words, blinded by their hate and fear of the youkai, the village had their spellcasters seal away Byakuren in Makai, much to the dismay of her companions, who only avoided destroying all of the humans because of Byakuren’s teachings.

Makai distorted her sense of time, so she wasn't sure exactly how long she had been imprisoned there. However, thanks to the efforts of her followers, who were able to gather the fragments of the artifact called Tobikura, she was released from her magic prison. Before she could exit Makai, she was confronted by someone she had never met, another religious leader, it seemed. The shrine maiden was incredibly wary of Byakuren, who she believed must have been sent to Makai for a good reason; she refused to let the monk leave her place of imprisonment. Byakuren could not give up, however, she couldn't just abandon those who she called friends, and all the youkai she had yet to aid. With a stalwart sort of determination, she set herself to defeating the shrine maiden so that she could continue her mission. Unfortunately, the miko was considerably powerful, easily going toe to toe with the magician, who fought with all the might she could muster. After a long and tiring fight, Byakuren was unable to continue, though the shrine maiden didn't look much better. She made one final plea to her, explaining her purpose and ideals. Reimu didn't seem very interested in what she had to say, but humored her. Something surprised Reimu, though; from what Byakuren said, it was clear that what the monk was trying to do would ultimately make her job easier. Reluctantly, Reimu allowed Byakuren to return to Gensoukyou after all that time.

Power
Magic, specifically magic that boosts the performance of the body. The majority of her powers rely on sutras, which normally require a brief chant in order to activate. However, the sorcerer’s sutra scroll allows her to by-pass this as the scroll can be set to recite sutras automatically. When not using any danmaku, she relies on physical blows-- generally aimed at pressure points to incapacitate opponents rather than injure them. Due to the nature of her specialty in magic, she can push her body to extreme limits, boosting her speed, strength, reflexes, and so on.

She does have a khakkhara and has training in its use, but this is more like a walking stick to her rather than something specifically to be used as a weapon. She sometimes carries a few vajra that she uses as projectiles, they function in a similar manner to tasers, but they don’t really hurt, focusing on merely stunning her opponents instead.

She is able to use something called the lotus butterfly, which is conjured by a specific sutra within the sorcerer’s sutra scroll. Few are actually able to use such a technique, and it is the most powerful ability in her arsenal. The lotus butterfly itself does nothing to her opponent, however, it is extremely efficient at channeling energy, making her magical attacks that much better.

Personality
Kind, thoughtful, and prefers balance in all things when possible. Byakuren is the kind of person who helps any and all that come to her seeking aid, within reason. She still holds true to her Buddhist ideals, even forsaking meat and alcohol for her beliefs. She tries to convert youkai by teaching them her dharma, but she does not force them, believing that it will only work if the youkai in question wishes it to work. Of course, she does not tolerate the breaking of rules within her temple, often arriving to break up squabbles that might occur within.

She wishes for humans and youkai to co-exist with each other, going to great lengths to preserve the fragile balance between the two existences, even though that was what had been the cause for her to be sealed away.

She speaks with a serenity few in Gensoukyou can call their own and has been known to talk down a raging youkai on more than one occasion. She is fairly mild mannered and has never been seen in a state of anger, almost as if untouched and detached from the world. Some call this enlightenment, but she insists that it is only patience and steady training and that anyone could do such a thing if they worked hard enough for it.

Her actions and words are generally thought out before she actually speaks. Though she doesn’t always speak many words, the meaning behind them can speak volumes if one were to look deeply enough. She seems to have a degree of love for everyone she meets, no matter who they are or what they might have done; everyone can be saved in Byakuren’s eyes.

Spellcards
Good Omen "Nirvana's Cloudy Way in Purple"

Magic "Mystic Fragrance of a Makai Butterfly"

Light Magic "Magic Milky Way"

Great Magic "Devil's Recitation"

"Nikou Hijiri's Air Scroll"

Flying Bowl "Legendary Flying Saucer"

"Yugyou Hijiri"

Syncretism "Manifestation of Mahavairocana"

"Star Sword Apologetics"

Heaven Sign "Master of the Great Trichiliocosm"

Heaven Sign "Brilliance of Mahavairocana"

"Angiras'Knowledge"

Pestle Sign "Vajrapani's Incantation"

Superhuman "Garuda's Wings"

Heaven Sign "Five-Element Mountain of Shakyamuni"

Major
-Nue Houjuu: After her resurrection, Nue offered to be a sort of assistant or aid, doing various things around the temple. Byakuren became aware of Nue’s involvement in the incident regarding the magical treasure shortly after her service began. Although she found it a bit troublesome that she would cause everyone trouble just to entertain herself, Nue showed genuine remorse and took responsibility for her actions, something that most other troublesome youkai would never do. As such, Nue gained a great deal of trust from the saint. She had expected Nue to leave after a certain amount of time, as there was very little actually binding her to the temple. However, Nue surprised her again by continuing service much longer than Byakuren had expected. Over time, the two developed a deep sense of friendship and came to know each other on an emotional level that few others can boast.

-Shou Toramaru: Byakuren’s right hand among those in the temple. She has Shou take care of things when she is occupied or otherwise unable to oversee things. When Shou was in danger of fading away, Byakuren converted Shou into an avatar of Bishamonten in order to save her faithful assistant. She won’t tolerate any bad mouthing of Shou-- or anyone, really, and the two are quite close because of their travels together.

-Minamitsu Murasa: Although the ship phantom had tried to drown her when they first met, Byakuren found a solution to her problem, bestowing upon her a ship of her own, allowing her to leave her watery grave. As is the case with anyone in the temple, Byakuren treats the ghostly captain with utmost respect.

Minor
-Ichirin Kumoi: A youkai nun that inhabited Byakuren’s shrine before the saint was sealed away. Along with Shou, Ichirin is one of the people that Byakuren has to do things for her should she not be able to take care of it herself.

-Nazrin: Shou’s little helper, appointed to her by Bishamonten. The two don’t actually interact very much, but they are on good terms, as is expected of someone that has a relationship with Byakuren.

-Unzan: Perhaps the closest person to enlightenment within the temple other than herself. Unzan’s opinion is highly esteemed by the saint, even though she has to speak to him through Ichirin.

-Mamizou Futatsuiwa: She's one of Nue's friends that hangs around the temple. in Byakuren's opinion, she's a nice girl with a good head on her shoulders. The only real issue is the drinking and the smoking. at the very least, she's considerate enough to move outside before partaking in such things. She enjoys seeing Mamizou's sisterly side towards Nue, it's always nice to see such interaction between youkai.

Trivia
-The gradient effect of Byakuren’s hair is actually natural, it was an odd cosmetic side effect of becoming a magician.

-Perhaps unexpectedly, Byakuren takes it upon herself to do chores around the temple rather than asking someone else to do them, although, she’s often assisted by others if they catch her cleaning.

-How to Byakuren in UFO