Summary
Marguerite Steinhols is an Australian Witch that was sent to Japan with the mission of finding a powerful being like an old god, make a contract with them and use their power to pacify an aboriginal god that was going on a rampage in Australia. However, while she was in Japan she found a traditional European demon, the Succubus under a contract with Jinnai Shinobu, so she switched targets to her. In the end, Marguerite was tricked into summoning a demon far outside her abilities, and she had her soul ripped from her body and dragged to Hell. She would later be rescued by Shinobu when her body was used as a vessel for that same demon.
Powers and Stats
Tier: Likely 9-B
Key: Original Appearance | Base
Name: Marguerite Steinhols
Origin: The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village
Gender: Female
Age: Unknown
Classification: Human, Witch
Powers and Abilities: Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Magic, Spatial Manipulation, Summoning
Attack Potency: Wall level (Should be able to easily overpower and kill humans, Hishigami Mai thought they would be fairly evenly matched in a fight)
Speed: Likely Subsonic (Should be able to easily kill a human and be capable of matching Hishigami Mai in a fight, reacted to Saiki Kazu while barely conscious and out of energy)
Lifting Strength: Superhuman
Striking Strength: Wall level
Durability: Wall level
Stamina: Above Average
Range: At least tens of meters with magic
Standard Equipment: Witch tools used for summoning, Furutsubaki | Witch tools used for summoning
Intelligence: Average, knowledgeable in magic
Weaknesses: Normal human weaknesses, her isolating magic circle has no effect on demons
Feats/Statements
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“It’s simple. Witches worship demons to borrow their power. …So what exactly are demons? There are two types: the pure species of demons and the altered forms of gods from other religions that have been registered as ‘evil gods’ by the world’s largest religion which uses the cross as its symbol. Witch rituals come from those old religions as well. In that case…” [...] “They are especially skilled at twisting polytheistic religions. And what structure is created by the gods of this country?” “You don’t mean…” “It’s a stereotypical situation. A witch that wishes to use a god for her own purposes would find Shinto or Buddhism to be almost irresistible. That said, the process of turning a god into a usable demon does weaken the god a fair bit.” “So this witch’s group wants to reconstruct a god of this country into the form known as a ‘demon’? So this is just like a Package where people build a Youkai into a system that makes use of one of that Youkai’s properties?” “Exactly. That is why they want to slaughter everyone in the Intellectual Village by disseminating hydrogen sulfide disguised as volcanic gases. The most common reason for the downfall of gods the world over is the destruction of the land they rule over. By devastating an area of land within Japan, the witch’s group can affect the god in that area.” |
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| ~ The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village 02 - Witches are able to draw power from demons, and can twist gods and beings like Youkai from polytheistic religions into demons |
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“Instead of using a Package that builds a Youkai’s power into a system, they bring a portion of a demon’s power into themselves. While a Youkai might be able to handle one, a witch’s powers are incredibly effective against humans. And as much of an oddity as I may be, I have not left the category of a ‘human’. In a direct fight, we would probably be fairly evenly matched.” [...] But what could I do? That creepy “branch” was still holding me up in the air by my collar. Was there anything a normal high school boy armed with only his wits could hope to do against a witch who Hishigami Mai had said she would be evenly matched against? |
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| ~ The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village 02 - Mai mentions witches can bring a portion of a demon's power into their bodies, so they gain superhuman abilities. She also mentions a witch would probably be evenly matched with her |
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“Leave it to me. If I am right, they will almost certainly fall for this trap. They are an annoying force to handle head on, but as long as…you do not…face them…head…on…” “?” I frowned as I started having difficulty hearing her. I then smelled a sweet aroma. And just as the light truck turned onto the mountain road to pursue the parachute… I suddenly lost all feeling from my surroundings. The next thing I knew, I was wrapped in some kind of fog. I looked around while standing. And then something else occurred to me. Why was I standing? I had been hunkered down in the back of the truck to make sure I was not thrown out. Where was I? Had I been dragged out of that truck racing along well above the speed limit? Who had managed that without harming me at all? “It is a simple magic circle. It is not even worth calling a barrier,” said a female voice. “Now, if you were able to predict I would head toward an even better target if one appeared, why did you not realize I would change my target again if one even more important than Hyakki Yakou’s leader showed up?” [...] “Oh, and do not think Hishigami Mai will come to save you. The magic circle isolates this space. I mixed in the oil of the Furutsubaki to pour demonic power into a ceremony that defines the scope of a temple using incense, but it should be enough. At the very least, no one will be able to break in for 12 hours and it has been made so no one will even notice anyway.” |
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| ~ The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village 02 - Shinobu is kidnapped from a truck by a magic circle |
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I was not given enough time to take action based on the caution welling up in my chest. Something moved with tremendous speed, ripped apart the thick fog, and forcefully grabbed my collar. Yes. This “something” had a hand and five fingers with which to grab at me. “Gah…ghhh…!?” I was lifted up. My legs dangled down in midair. It may have just been the excessive thickness of the fog, but that motion was all it took for the ground to disappear from view below me. However, the sight that lay before me was so strange that I did not particularly care about being lifted up. What had grabbed me was a giant tree. However, it had countless arms stretching out in place of branches, hands blooming in place of flowers, long, narrow legs wriggling along the ground in place of roots, and smooth woman’s skin in place of bark. [...] “Horrible, isn’t it? I’m sure you understand the general situation, but unlike European witches, we live in an environment that makes using traditional demons difficult. I had no choice but to take the methods used to turn old gods into evil gods and use them to turn a Japanese Youkai into a demon. That was enough to force some magic out of it.” [...] But the blonde-haired, blue-eyed witch smoothly said, “Yes. Haven’t you heard of a Furutsubaki?” “That’s a Japanese camellia tree that has built up great power over the years. They can transform into a girl, but they don’t turn into something this messed up!!” “No, they don’t. Japanese Packages simply borrow the skills of Youkai, but Western witches distort the physical body of their object of worship into something else entirely. We give them a form much easier for a human to use.” “You’re…kidding…” “About what? What is needed to efficiently control an existence that exceeds humanity is not flexible negotiation skills or plentiful offerings. You need to remake their hardware into a form that must do what a human tells it to.” [...] “We can just take it. Go ahead, Miss Witch.” With the sound of a whip cracking, one of the Furutsubaki’s arm-like branches shot through the air and snatched the postcard from the Zashiki Warashi’s hand. |
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| ~ The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village 02 - Twisted Furutsubaki |
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“…How did you get here?” “Is it really that surprising? Isolating a space using incense sounds good and all, but you basically used the exact same structure as a ceremonial ground for summoning a demon. None of this does a single thing to keep a demon out. I didn’t even have to try.” |
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| ~ The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village 02 - Margurite's isolating magic circle cannot stop demons like a succubus from entering it |
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“Do not worry about that. More importantly, there is one piece of information I must know first: Your true name. To form a contract with you, I must know your personal name. Simply knowing you belong to the Succubus species is not enough.” [...] “Unlike in Hollywood movies, demons are not free to be as evil as they wish. I cannot reveal my name in this situation. My contract with my temporary master, Jinnai Shinobu, still remains.” “Even though you stabbed him in the gut?” “Yes, even though.” The western European Succubus shrugged. “Making a contract with a demon is like walking across a dangerous tightrope. The slightest opening in your method of using the demon can easily lead to the demon killing you.” “And that is what happened here?” “However, if a demon betrays their old master and reveals the information needed to create a new contract despite the old contract still existing, they will simply be breaking the old contract. I have no pretext for acting freely, so I will be unable to remain in this world if I disobey those rules.” “That boy has been fatally wounded. Can’t we just wait until he dies?” “The contract between a human and a demon does not end upon the human’s death. After all, the demon is usually trying to obtain the human’s soul after death.” “Then how can I make the new contract? I need your name to perform the ritual.” “It is simple.” The Succubus raised her index finger. “I am afraid of breaking my contract by teaching you my name. However, it is often shown in fairy tales that demons are weakened when a human learns their name against their wishes.” |
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| ~ The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village 02 - The name of a demon is needed to make a contract, and it cannot be easily broken |
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“So have you stolen a look at my name? Then let us get this contract over with. What will you do about the temple for the ceremony?” “We can use this. Not the Furutsubaki itself though. It is said a wooden pestle or mallet can transform into a human form. A lot can be done with the oil of the tree.” “Oh? So you didn’t just scatter it around as incense to create this ceremonial ground. You also drank it to remake your body.” “What is needed to summon a demon and make a contract is a temple to draw a set flow of power into, a protective circle for the witch, and a summoning circle to call in and fix the target in place.” “What were you going to use for that last one?” “This.” “A pocket watch?” “It can also be used as machine oil.” “This does not seem to have anything to do with time. Do its gears create a precise combination of circles that you pass the Youkai’s…no, the demon’s power through with the oil?” continued the Succubus. [...] “Do we need a written contract?” “No, with this much preparation, a verbal contract should be enough. And it would be a pain to calculate out all the values while writing it out in the alphabet. More importantly, are you sure you want to make a contract with me?” |
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| ~ The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village 02 - Marguerite's preparations to make a contract |
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“I’ll admit you’re the strongest one here and no one can hope to stand up to you. But at the same time, you needed to use Marguerite’s body to gain freedom. In that case, I only have to use the same method that Australian witch did. I can use the method to summon a demon in order to summon Marguerite’s soul and place it back inside your body. And like a game of musical chairs, you’ll be forced out of that body!!” “But where would you gain that secret technique!?” “Yeah, that isn’t something a mere high school boy would know. And even Hyakki Yakou doesn’t know that much about Western magic. The Succubus might be from the West, but if she could use magic herself, she wouldn’t have been chased into my attic by Hyakki Yakou.” The Succubus supported my unsteady body as I smiled and continued my explanation. “But there’s someone else here, isn’t there? There’s an Australian witch who carelessly summoned an archdemon who didn’t quite qualify as one of the seven deadly sins!!” “You don’t mean…” Tselika focused on that quiet whistling sound. It did not sound like a voice, but it clearly spoke. “…necessary components change depending on the date, time, and direction, so the exact calculations were performed outside. And instead of directing the incantation outwards, I focused on this inner world as a plea to my own soul. Making an on-the-fly shift from a tattva image to an astral projection is exceedingly difficult, so I made sure…” “I dropped a single note inside,” I told the dumbfounded archdemon. “I told her I would pull her soul out of there if she helped me. This was her one and only chance, so I knew she would jump at the opportunity whether she was my on my side or not. To put it another way, the key to it all was to have you open the door to her cell once more. Since my soul’s wavelength or whatever gives away if I’m hiding something, it was a race against time until you found out!” [...] With the help of that specialist, I was standing before Tselika with that stopgap knowledge of the Western methods.0 “For the aforementioned reasons, the veil of ignorance may become the key to the door of the unknown. I name the soul of Marguerite Steinhols as a new demon and command her to pass through the door in that vessel of flesh!” “Ohh…” “Return, Marguerite Steinhols!! Cast aside your old self and take hold of your new self. Like a snake shedding its skin, cast aside the name of Tselika Wien Alpha Chelydia Lumidrier and fill yourself with a bright new soul!!” “Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!???” The gray scale-like things covering Tselika’s…no, Marguerite’s body all burst off. The obvious symbols of the horns, tail, and wings turned to pure white ashes and dissolved into the air. The serpentine eyes returned to human ones. |
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| ~ The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village 07 - As her soul is being tortured in hell and Tselika uses her body as a vessel on Earthin hell Marguerite gives Shinobu the knowledge to summon her soul back into her body, kicking Tselika out |
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A black wind raged. It took me far too long to realize Saiki Kazu, that ventriloquist-like man in a dark suit, had physically “moved”. His claws slashed through the air right in front of me and tore the chest of my jacket open. It wasn’t my own power that saved me. First, the Succubus had grabbed my shoulders and leaped backwards with all her might. Second, Marguerite must have felt a debt for being freed from Tselika because she reached out a hand from the ground and did something. That was a demon and a witch. With the help of two Western paranormal beings, I only managed to avoid the attack by a few millimeters. [...] The stopped man formed a gun with his right hand, like a child playing around, and aimed at the orange-dyed sky. In other words, at us. First, the Succubus and I were knocked to the side. Next, the region of space we had just been floating in was entirely compressed. A fist-sized glowing orange ball floated at the center. As if it had suddenly remembered gravity existed, it fell straight down. Once I realized it was the air’s dust and dirt after it was compressed and heated, a chill ran down my spine. If we had been caught in that, we would have been immediately turned to mincemeat! “That first impact was Marguerite’s help, but I doubt she can save us every time. Not to mention that she doesn’t have a contract with anyone at the moment and that man is far too skilled!!” |
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| ~ The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village 07 - Marguerite helps save Shinobu from Saiki Kazu's attacks using magic |
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“And can you really just shove a demon like the Succubus and a witch like Marguerite into the occult category?” “Not a problem. From the moment we make a contract with a demon, our souls are shut out of heaven but we become a being who can bring about supposedly impossible phenomena in this life.” |
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| ~ The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village 09 - Marguerite mentions that as a witch that has made a contract with a demon, her soul is barred from heaven |
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“What’s this, Marguerite!? It looks like you have horns, wings, and a tail!” “Oh, these?” “And that’s one hell of a micro bikini! Man, it’s something else entirely when an authentic Westerner wears one!!” “I guess you would care about that most.” For some reason, the witch hat didn’t fall off even when she was upside down. And they must have been demonic parts because the blue fabric of the skin-tight gloves and knee socks was wriggling a little. The exasperated sounding witch traced her index finger along the underside of the micro bikini top’s shoulder strap. “I’ve temporarily fused with the Succubus to help the ritual go more smoothly.” “Yahoo, master!” said the Succubus’s voice from somewhere. “If you miss me, just call for me. Your dreamtime partner is right here!” “Well, her master contract is connected to you, but we added in a bypass to trick the contract. Demons don’t actually have physical bodies, but a Succubus is a rare exception. They have the power to construct their own body and we’re using that to hide her in my womb by-…” [...] “And did you say you messed with my demon contract? Succubus, this isn’t like opening a hole in the bottom of the bucket of my soul, is it!?” “I wouldn’t screw up like that, master. It’s just sharing your senses a little. Oh, and your lifespan.” “Hold up! Is there no going back on that!?” “In some rare cases, it can fluctuate pretty wildly and end up something like a market crash.” |
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| ~ The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village 09 - Marguerite temporarily fuses with the Succubus Henrietta, adding a bypass in her contract with Shinobu |
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“Do something about this. Witches are pretty general-purpose, so you can handle any element right? Use some kind of fire magic.” “How will that help!? If a candle was too much, why would you think fire itself would be fine!?” “Ehhh? It’s magic, so won’t it just all gently melt away?” “Let her roast you a little first if you think that!!” As she hung upside-down from the attic with her wonderful micro bikini, Marguerite thought for a bit and held out a strange item that looked like a magnet on the tip of a red-painted plastic umbrella. “It’s cliché, but summoning a Salamander might work. I’ll restrict the amount of the gathered element to keep it at the size of a chameleon.” [...] As the weird orange-glowing lizard or chameleon played around with the Yuki Onna’s calf and toes, the frozen TV stand gradually thawed. At the same time, the Yuki Onna shrunk. |
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| ~ The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village 09 - After Hyou gets stuck below furniture due to accidentally growing in size Marguerite summons a small Salamander to weaken her using the fire element and make her small again |
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In a world where Australian Witch Marguerite Steinhols had obtained the Succubus, I was continually afflicted by the dreadful sensation of having my soul rot thanks to Western magic. |
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| ~ The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village 09 - Alternate timeline where Marguerite did end up getting the contract with Henrietta has Shinobu's soul "rotting" |
Notable Attacks/Techniques:
- Magic: Unlike Japanese specialists, who borrow power from a Youkai's natural traits, witches distort the physical body of their object of worship into something else entirely to force them into a shape that is easier for them to use and more suitable for their purposes. For example, they can turn old gods into evil gods and Youkai into demons. Marguerite has also shown to be capable of projecting an invisible force by gesturing with her hands. Witches can also bring a portion of a demon’s power into themselves.
- Isolating Magic Circle: Marguerite can use Furutsubaki's oil to pour demonic power into a ceremony that defines the scope of a temple using incense. This creates a magic circle that isolates a space for 12 hours. She can transport a target to inside the magic circle. Not only is the magic circle basically impenetrable, normally it cannot even be noticed from the outside. However, there's an exception. Since the circle uses the same basic structure as a demon summoning circle (which serves to invite and call demons) it does nothing to keep demons out.
- Summoning: One of the specialties of witches is the summoning of demons, though this requires the witch to make a contract with the demon and know their true name. Additionally, this can backfire if the witch summons a demon too powerful for them to control, as the demon might decide to rip out their soul and bring it back with them to Hell.
- Demons: Marguerite can summon both Henrietta and Tselika.
- Salamander: Another of Marguerite's summons is a Salamander. However, its true capabilities are unknown as the only time she summoned it was to weaken the Yuki Onna with a fire element creature, as she was freezing the room Marguerite and others were in, so she restricted its elemental power to the point it appeared as a weird small orange-glowing chameleon-like lizard.
Others
Notable Victories:
Lich (MÖRK BORG) Lich's Profile (Starting distance was 15 meters, Marguerite had 15 minutes of preparation time, and speed was equalized)
Notable Losses:
Inconclusive Matches: