Divine Possession

From Assault Lily Wiki
Shirai Yuyu's appearance when possessed

Divine Possession (神宿り), less commonly known as Awakening (覚醒)[1], is an aberration[2] that occurs when a Lily's Magi resonates with that inside her CHARM. There are a few Lilies who are naturally susceptible to becoming possessed while using their Rare Skills, and have had it happen to them repeatedly, but the vast majority of Lilies never enter this state.

Divine Possession is a trance state more profound than that of Lunatic Trancer; when she becomes possessed, Shirai Yuyu has said that she retreats within herself and relives her most traumatic memory again and again, with no awareness of what her body is doing and no memory of what she has done during that timespan afterwards[3].

The signature visual indicator of Divine Possession is that the Lily's aura, and her hair, change color to match that of her CHARM. They change back when the state ends.

A Lily who is experiencing Divine Possession becomes much stronger, but negative Magi also begins to build up inside her rapidly, making it extremely dangerous to her if she remains that way for long. She also indiscriminately attacks any living things nearby, whether Huge or human, and is impossible to communicate or reason with. She can be saved if other Lilies exhaust all of her Magi by fighting her[4], at which point the possession will end.

Sakuranomori trains some of its Lilies to deliberately enter Divine Possession as a combat tactic. Their best Lilies are able to do this for no longer than nine seconds[5], while Lilies naturally susceptible to Divine Possession often remain in the state for a substantial period of time.

The following Lilies are known to have experienced Divine Possession:

Magi Crystal Limit Breaking[edit | edit source]

Yumeno Kanon in her Awakened state after a Magi Crystal Limit Break

Because of its location within a fallen area, Kaiseizan permits some of its Lilies to disable the safety limits on their CHARMs in a technique known as "Magi Crystal Limit Breaking" (マギクリスタル上限解放)[7]. Just as Divine Possession does, this causes the Lily to become stronger, and her aura and hair change color in much the same manner.

However, the practical similarities end there. The increase in power from a Magi Crystal Limit Break is modest compared to Divine Possession, it doesn't affect the Lily much otherwise, and it's possible for her to remain in the state for a long time in comparison (although it is still quite taxing for the Lily.)

Awakened Lilies[edit | edit source]

Not to be confused with the Phase Transcendence subskill also called "Awakening".

Lilies empowered by either voluntary Divine Possession, or a Magi Crystal Limit Break, are described as being Awakened (覚醒).

The Assault Lily 1/12 scale toyline features "Awakened ver." variations of the Kaiseizan and Sakuranomori Lilies with different hair colors that depict their appearance in these states. In late 2023, a similar version of Hishida Haru depicting her appearance in Assault Lily: The Singular Ability was released, but it is called her "Divine Possession ver." in contrast to the older dolls.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. @assault_lily twitter, September 17, 2020.
  2. @assault_lily twitter, June 27, 2021. When first mentioned in 2015, Divine Possession was referred to as a "state" (状態), not an aberration. Later it was sometimes also called a "phenomenon" (現象). It was not described as an aberration until this tweet.
  3. Assault Lily: Last Bullet, Ensemble of the Eldren Valkyries event story (scene 2-1)
  4. Assault Lily: Last Bullet, Ensemble of the Eldren Valkyries event story (scene 4-3)
  5. @assault_lily twitter, December 9, 2015.
  6. In some earlier sources, the state Yuyu enters is described as simply how Lunatic Trancer manifests for her, with a Fumi tweet in October 2020 (later contradicted by other Fumi tweets) calling it 'similar to Divine Possession, but uncontrollable.' This was apparently retconned in Ensemble of the Eldren Valkyries.
  7. @assault_lily twitter, May 20, 2021. "Q: About Kaiseizan's Magi Crystal Limit Break technique, is it usable by everyone in that school" "A: While technically it is taught to everyone in Kaiseizan, effectively applying it requires practice. As such, the garden won't grant permission to use Magi Crystal Limit Break to those who have yet to attain a certain degree of proficiency with it. Additionally, similar to the Divine Possession technique of Sakuranomori, this skill puts a heavy strain on the user, so Lilies are instructed to not abuse it.". Translation by Hắc.