Shiramochi-ō


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

Shiramochi-ō (白餅王) was an event boss that appeared in Mass for the Dead during the New Year celebration.

Appearance
In his first manifestation, Shiramochi-ō appeared as a tall imposing muscular being with pale white skin and flowing golden hair. He wears a gold crown that has an elaborate symbol of a sunrise that emerges from the horizon. Not only the physical beauty reminiscent of developed muscles, but also the eerie glow of red crystals embedded in the chest and the wonderful contrast of red and white combined with the skin color are the harmonious charm of "strong" and "beauty" to overwhelm the viewer. He has a gold belt with the triquetra, a nio-dasuki, and black pants. He walks barefoot his feet tied with shimenawas wrapped around the ankles and hips. Behind him, there is a gold dharma wheel along with a halo of bamboo and pine on his back.

In his second manifestation, Shiramochi-ō took the form as a young pale, blonde hair boy in a white robe with white eyes.

Personality
Originally due to his imperfect entry into the New World, Shiramochi-ō possessed a haughty attitude an was self-assured and confident of his abilities and power. He appeared to have no actual personality or intellect as his responses are scripted in a very basic, simplistic fashion.

In his second reincarnation as Shiro, he displayed being curious and quite child-like. After spending time with the NPCs of Nazarick he gain an emotional attachment to them. Shiro was awed by their relationship to the Supreme Beings, who they considered their gods, as they depicted them in such a positive light, making Shiro envious on his grudge towards his uncaring creators.

Background
According to Shiramochi-ō's dialogue he claims to appear at the beginning of the year to purify everything old. Later Shiramochi-ō's origins are explained by the entity as a product of creation by the Seven Lucky Gods who called him forth from the Sea of Possibilities. The gods unwilling to fulfill the wishes of their mortal worshippers created Shiramochi-ō as their solution to administer the the aspirations and wishes of their followers on every New Year making Shiramochi-ō's both a blessing and a curse. Somehow by mistake, Shiramochi-ō was summoned into the New World which resulted in an imperfect manifestation on himself and also the Bishamonten Shrine which was corrupted due to the influence of the existing data creating a shrine dedicated to one of the local gods.

Mass for the Dead Arc
Momonga, noticing the change in scenery of the dungeon, and the strange behavior of his NPCs in having a New Year theme, tracks the source of the anomalies to Fake Nazarick, where it has transformed into the Takemikazuchi Shrine. After battling multiple strange Chaos Beasts and humoring the NPCs in their odd behavior he, and his team finally arrive in the replica of the Throne Room where they find a bunch of Chaos Beasts by the throne. Momonga orders his summons to eliminate the intruders. When the last enemy falls, a mysterious being appears and proceeds to annihilate the skeleton party. Momonga observing the battle through his summons until their defeat analyzes the entity as a strong Chaos Beast and deduces that it is unable to leave the Throne Room.

Planning an all out attack, Momonga and his allies cross the Gate. The entity introduces himself as Shiramochi-ō, before Momonga starts the fight by using [Reality Slash], but the being remains unfazed. Momonga notices the entity's lack of personality and surmises that he lacks an actual will. The group begins to battle the entity, injuring it to a point where Shiramochi-ō is forced to use area attacks. In the end Shiramochi-ō was defeated and Nazarick is returned to normal.

The death of Shiramochi-ō was not the end as he later shifted his body to a new reality, one that was similar to the previous world where he was defeated and one where the New Year event had yet to take place. Following his creed to purify everything old, Shiramochi-ō body broke down to form a new body as a young boy. The boy though had no memory of who he was or even where he was. As the New Year mood began to take on effect and bring the existing NPCs under its influence, the boy wandered into the Round Table Room where he met Albedo and Demiurge lazing around a kotasu and eating mandarin oranges. Due to the "New Year mood" they Floor Guardians were unable to register him as a threat and invited him to join them. Eventually Momonga arrive for the daily staff meeting and found the situation to be puzzling. Later he took notice of the boy and out of fear he was the causes politely excused himself so as to privately address the situation. The boy followed him, deducing that Momonga knew what was going on and perhaps provide him with answers on his identity. Though Momonga did not trust him, keeping the boy who called himself Shiro, next to him would be more convenient to monitor him.

Together the two went to the Throne Room, where Shiro admitted that this to be where first appeared. After being joined by Shalltear Bloodfallen, the three encountered a Chaos Beasts and a Kadomatsu Type Beast. After defeating them a drop item was discovered in the form of a biwa. Momonga was unable to get what the item was with his magic but Shiro seemed to recognize it but was unable to fathom on why. Later the protagonist and his team composed of Solution Epsilon and Slimeko came to the 1st Floor. Momonga and Shiro went to greet them. The trio unlike the others in Nazarick were unaffected by whatever was affecting the NPCs. After being introduced to Shiro, Momonga decided to bring in Sebas Tian to assist them.

Sebas Tian came when the party were dealing with an infestation of Mochi Type Beast s that appeared on the surface on Nazarick. From one of them Sebas Tian produced a strange scroll. Like the biwa the Momonga's magic was useless in appraising it but when Shiro touched it, he recieved a vision of Shiramochi-ō and Momonga fighting in the previous world. Using that vision, Shiro led the party to a Hatsumōde that led into Fake Nazarick. There upon entering it the group found themselves in a strange area simlar to a Chaos Zone.

Traveling through the group encountered Aura Bella Fiora and Mare Bello Fiore who were playing hanetsuki. Shiro interested in the game wanted to play with the elves. It was allowed by Momonga as Shiro's happiness was required to discover the mystery of what was happening. The boy proved to be a skilled hanetsuki player having defeated the twins. For his victory Shiro was given a fishing rod and cane. Upon receiving the items, Shiro recieved another vision that directed him to lead the others deeper into the area.

The party came across the Pleiades who blocked their way at Pandora's Actor insistence in order to play a game of kurata. Seeing it as the only way to get passage Momonga's team played a kurata version based on the Supreme Beings. The game was enjoyed by Shiro who despite having briefly been told about Momonga's comrades seemed to impress him to a great degree. The game ends with Momonga's team's victory and they are awarded a treasure bag and mallet. Momonga takes the opportunity to give everyone a YGGDRASIL gold coin as a New Year's gift. After Shiro touches the prizes he urges the others to follow him.

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 almost be considered an empathetic passive ability, putting victims in a holiday spirit, also granting them temporary class abilities to assist them in the revelry. This ability can affect various races, and powerful enough to have the Floor Guardian under his influence.

In addition, the bamboo carried on his back is not only a decoration, but it can also be operated freely and floats high in the sky as well. It rains all at once like heavy rain, and is good at range attacks that destroy enemies at once, boasting unrivaled strength.

The fighting style is more suitable for long-distance battles, but he is still like a strong man in close quarters. As his name suggests, his body is that of white mochi, and yet it is reminiscent of that of a well-trained monk. A half-baked attack cannot be made on him. If an enemy attacks in front of such a tough body, countless bamboos will skewer the enemy's back in the gap.

More so, he is strong enough that even a powerful tier spell like [Reality Slash] does not faze him even the slightest. In fact, he appears to be immune due to his body being made of mochi. As a matter of fact, any such attack that separates him into his component parts, he can reform as needed. Momonga estimated Shiramochi-ō's strength to be equivalent to that of a Raid Boss.

Active

 * Attack Power Destruction: Inflicts magical damage on a single enemy and reduces attack power.
 * Tana kara Botamochi: Increase hit and evasion rate.
 * 一Salvo Pole: Inflicts magical damage on all enemies and randomly grants abnormal conditions with a certain probability.
 * Nichirin Amaterasu: Causes magical damage to all enemies with the "light" element.

Passive

 * Quickness UP: Quickness improves.
 * Magic Attack UP: Increases magic attack power.

Summons

 * Mochi Type Beast
 * Kadomatsu Type Beast

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.
 * In his reprint appearance, Shiramochi-ō in in the laitasana pose, or "royal ease" position. The laitasna is a position in Indian art where a figure sits on a throne with one leg tucked inwards on a seat while the other leg is pendent. on the ground.
 * According to Mass for the Dead's classification, despite emerging from a Crack, he belongs to the demon race, making him the second original game demon to appear in the game.

Quotes

 * (To Party): "Stupid trying to challenge me."
 * (To Momonga): "I'm the Shiramochi-ō, Ruler of the New Year."