Shiramochi-ō


 * "You want to challenge me? Fools..."
 * — Shiramochi-ō's statement.

Shiramochi-ō (白餅王) is an enemy that appears in Mass for the Dead.

Appearance
A tall imposing muscular being with pale white skin and flowing golden hair. He wears a gold helm of horns that has an elaborate symbol of a rising sun in the front and covers most of his eyes. Red veins appear from his eyes. His chest is encrusted with a red crystal. Behind him, there is a gold dharma wheel along with a halo of sharp bamboo shoots. He has a gold belt with the triquetra, a nio-dasuki, and black pants. He walks barefoot his feet tied with shrine talismans.

Personality
Possessing a haughty attitude Shiramochi-ō is self-assured and confident of his abilities and power.

Mass for the Dead Arc
Demiurge and his Evil Lords were conducting an investigation of the ruined Throne Room trying to make sense of the carvings on the Throne of Kings. After spending time speculating on the meaning, the ruined throne beings to glow and a strange monster resembling a Kagami mochi appears. Demiurge tries to use his mental magic on it however to the demons' shock is immune to his spell. The Floor Guardian deduces that the creature is a Summon and under the control of a powerful Summoner. He orders his demons to destroy the threat in Nazarick, which proves tricky as the monster is not an easy foe to defeat with. When the last blow is struck the monster begins to glow and the entire room in engulfed in light.

Momonga, who visiting the Round Table Room for a meeting, finds Albedo and Demiurge hanging there in with a kotatsu and is confused. He investigates and discovers that a mysterious New Year mood has spread through Nazarick. Disturbed by the lax behavior of his Floor Guardians, Momonga conducts his own investigation and summons several Death Knights and Skeleton to search for any clues to the source of this New Year's mood.

Shalltear Bloodfallen is recruited as it seems the New Year's mood does not affect undead beings. He accompanies her to the 6th Floor where they find the Mare Bello Fiore and Aura Bella Fiora dressed in New Year kimonos playing Hanetsuki. Though everything seems okay, a fissure appears and Chaos Beasts emerge along with a new monster that resembles a kadomatsu. Easily dispatching them with the help of the Floor Guardians, Momonga wonders what type of monster the kadomatsu was. A Death Knight reports that two of its agents have returned with no abnormalities, making Momonga sure that whatever is happening is only affecting the dungeon. Deciding to go to the first level alone, he greets the protagonist, Slimeko and Solution Epsilon that have returned. He nearly loses composure when Slimeko wishes him a Happy New Year as it shatters his belief that the New Year phenomena is the only epidemic to the tomb. The protagonist explains a strange New Year's mood was settling in the outside world. It appears whatever is happening is spreading and the group now see the seriousness of the situation. Faced with this Momonga decides to recall Sebas Tian. Later a strange tori is found on the 1st Floor. Having discovered it to be a Hatsumōde and the source of the New Year epidemic Momonga and his allies enter it and find themselves in a changed Nazarick where all the floors have transformed into desolate misty deserts. Solution scouts the area and so far despite the looming eerie feeling finds no danger. Though she encounters Entoma Vasilissa Zeta, baking New Year's confections. Unsure if Entoma is compromised the group decides to greet her. Entoma welcomes them and explains that she was making mochi, which Momonga finds odd as she is not supposed to have a Cook class and surmises that the phenomena is responsible. After killing a few more enemies as they travel, Momonga believes that if they defeat whoever is responsible for the change to Nazarick, all will be returned. Hearing a sound similar to a gunshot the party follows it deeper into the misty dimension. Solution scouts ahead only to return to report she found CZ2I28 Delta acting odd in that she shooting a metal plate in the air. Momonga is left confused and decides to see for himself, where Shizu is doing as Solution reported. Momonga asks if she is targeting an enemy only for the Automaton to state she is playing with the wind and continues to shoot in the distance as it's fun. It's apparent that Shizu is affected in some way though different compared to the other NPCs, though Momonga guesses that her Automaton race could be a factor. The group then runs into a Kadomatsu Type Beast and swiftly defeat it.

Abilities and Powers
Shiramochi-ō is a powerful summoner, able to call forth New Year-theme monsters. His connection to his summons is strong enough that renders even Demiurge's [Command Mantra] ineffective. It appears he can mentally affect minds, inducing a New Year's mood remotely over a large region. It can be almost an empathetic passive ability, putting victims in a holiday spirit, but also grant them temporary class abilities to assist them in the revelry. This ability can affect various races, though it appears the undead are immune to this ability. They are attacked by a mochi monster, which they kill and are surprised when Entoma gleefully eats the leftover mochi pieces. When questioned about what transpired Entoma believes that they were only collecting mochi, making Momonga ponder on the mental effect of the New Year's atmosphere as his influenced subordinates are not perceiving these new Chaos Beasts as threats. The group realizes that the effect of the phenomena seems harmless though the summoned monsters only appear to take action when interlopers interfere with the holiday atmosphere. Since they are unable to locate a transfer gate, they reason that something is purposely leading them to some goal.

Trivia

 * Shiramochi-ō translates as White Mochi King which suits him as it appears he is made of rice mochi.
 * Shiramochi-ō is the sixth new character from the game Mass for the Dead. He was added as an event character on December 31, 2019.