Aoki Lapis

Lapis in Deep Sea Lily.

**Aoki Lapis** is the main antagonist in *Silylily - The Story*.

Appearing as an innocent counterpart to her evil sister Merli, Lapis' desire to do good sends her into a spiteful pursuit of Lily from anim.o.v.e. Her status as a "good" fairy makes it difficult for others to stand against her, causing Lily to fall into a moral conflict upon becoming her enemy.

## Summary

### History

Created by the gods as a "good" fairy, Aoki Lapis grows up alongside her "evil" sister Merli. From birth, Lapis devotes her life to spreading goodness everywhere she goes. Her standards for good and evil become conventional and she begins to use her powers to uphold the law and punish those she deems evil. This leads to an unending war with Merli. Even the police department receives help from Lapis by allowing her to place magical barriers on prisons to keep inmates from escaping. Apart from this lifestyle, Lapis continues her fairy tendencies, granting wishes to people who need them. On the other hand, Merli tricks everyone who accepts a wish from her.

Upon meeting Lapis and Merli at the same time, Lily wishes to become a "popular vocaloid." However, she decides to give her wish to Merli, aligning herself with evil in the eyes of Lapis. Lapis then commits to the task of bringing Lily to justice by any means necessary. Upon learning Lily's darkest secret, the fairy builds an army to take her down, planning to make Lily confess to her misdeeds herself.

Donning a cloak to keep her identity secret, Lapis recruits her fairy friend Violet, Lily's long-time nemesis Namine Ritsu, twins Kagamine Len and Kagamine Rin, the accursed ghost Suzune Ring, Lily's ex-one night stand SpongeBob SquarePants, and Nekomura Iroha's cat Scourge.

### Incognito

After a battle, Lapis traps Merli in a lamp, temporarily defeating her. However, Lily comes across the lamp and accidentally frees Merli, leaving the evil fairy indebted to her. Merli later captures Violet and interrogates her to reveal information on Lapis' whereabouts. Meanwhile, Lapis comes to possess the magical katana blessed by the goddess LUMi, VY2. She gives VY2 to Ritsu in the hopes Ritsu will convince Lily to confess her secret to the world. Instead, Ritsu is bested in combat by her opponent. When Lapis discovers that Lily formed a band with Cocorobo and kokone, she decides to target Lily's friends instead of her, believing it will be more convincing.

At Gumi's birthday party hosted by Kamui Gakupo, Lapis sends a disguised Len and Rin to attack Gumi in front of a crowd. Due to Rin's blonde hair that matches Lily's, Lily is accused of the attack and removed from the party. This causes Lily and kokone to team up and catch Rin and Len, bringing the perpetrators to justice. In the meantime, Ritsu, SpongeBob, and Scourge are tasked with kidnapping Gumi, but they kidnap her lookalike Sonika instead.

Lapis once again tasks Ritsu with apprehending Lily. Ritsu books Lily's band a performance in the Execrated Forest, where Ring is able to capture them one by one. Lily's ex-girlfriend Luna, Cocorobo, and kokone are then imprisoned by Lapis. When Lily is the last one remaining, Ritsu wins her over with an emotional connection before knocking her out and bringing her before Lapis. It is there that the good fairy reveals herself and insists on making Lily confess.

### The War

Following Violet's directions, Merli arrives at Lapis' kingdom just in time to save Lily. They escape by teleporting to Merli's secret base, causing Lapis to swear revenge. Her army is soon weakened when Len and Rin go missing thanks to the work of Sukone Tei, but she decides to pursue Lily on her own. She heads to Lily's home, the Internet household, only to find Chika there alone. Lapis interrogates Chika, but learns Lily has moved in with Merli and the other members of Internet have gone away on a tour.

Lily and Merli raise their own army to fight Lapis with, recruiting the demonically-possessed Hiyama Kiyoteru to break Iroha out of a prison guarded by Lapis' magic. Recognizing Kiyoteru's demon as an Indefinable Shadow Beast, Lapis concludes there is only one way to deal with it. She visits the AHS household and kills Kiyoteru with a blue spell. She later provokes Lily by magically altering her presence online, cutting her off from the rest of the world. Viewing this as an attack, Merli attacks the kingdom with Lily and Iroha under guidance from Violet. Lapis battles her sister with VY2, but Lily is able to rescue her friends and overwhelm Lapis' army. During the scuffle, Lapis loses VY2, but mentions LUMi's other artifact, VY1. Gathering her minions along with Violet, Lapis teleports away to seek it out.

### Downfall

Lapis, Ring, Ritsu, and Violet set up an undersea kingdom in the abyssal plain while they search for VY1 underwater. When Lapis senses that Merli has come to find it first, she sends Ring out to patrol and takes control of the fish to hunt down the opposition. Ring is soon killed by Solaria, but the other three head out to find VY1 themselves. Lapis and Violet find the ancient ruins containing it, but Lily, Cocorobo, kokone, and Iroha find it at the same time. This leads to a battle, but when Merli joins in, she and Lapis are locked in a duel that allows Cocorobo to make off with VY1. Lapis and Violet break away from the fight to catch her, but find she has lost VY1. They take her prisoner and bring her back to the castle, where they hold her along with her other teammates captured by the fish or Ritsu.

They capture Kaai Yuki and kokone soon after, but when they launch an attack on Merli's group, Merli fends Lapis off. Lapis and Violet still overwhelm and capture her. At last, they capture Iroha and flower, leaving Lily as the only member of her team alive and free. When LUMi herself comes into the ocean to give Lily a blessing, Lapis and Violet confront her. LUMi denounces Lapis for going against her desire to do good, but Lapis deems LUMi a traitor for siding with Lily. As a result, Lapis kills LUMi before returning to the castle with Violet. There, they hatch a scheme to catch Lily.

Lapis brainwashes kokone into working for her by convincing kokone that Lily hates her. She fills kokone's mind with bad memories of Lily and turns her into "Dark kokone." Seeing this as going too far, the already reluctant Ritsu decides to betray Lapis. While kokone does attack Lily, Lily is able to bring her back to her senses before Ritsu helps both of them rescue the prisoners. When Lapis hears about this act of treachery, she kills Ritsu. However, her enemies start to destroy her castle from the inside. As it crumbles and they make their escape, Lily runs back in to find Yuki, who ran inside with VY2 to avenge Kiyoteru. Lapis then confronts her from atop a balcony.

Lapis and Lily argue about morality while Lapis prepares to kill Lily. Before she can, she is stabbed in the back by Yuki with VY2. She crashes through the bannister and falls to the floor, dying at Lily's feet as her kingdom collapses.

## Characterization

Lapis initially appeared as a comical character, being used in more lighthearted comics and memes on silylilyanimove. The *Vocaloid* character herself soon became the subject of controversy after her creators engaged with NFTs, a questionable business decision. Seeing this, silylilyanimove's admin decided to have the character take a more antagonistic turn. Even prior to the scandal, the admin had considered making her the "mystery villain" that debuted in Lily Needs a Date, believing it would make for a good twist. Understanding the irony of making the "good" character evil, the admin incorporated a more philosophical approach to the subjects of good and evil to differentiate where Lapis and Merli stood. Lapis' definition of "good" became more conventional and based on societal expectations, while Merli's definition of "evil" became more rebellious. At the same time, the admin feared making Lapis seem too "cool" as a villain, feeling it would be counterproductive to antagonizing her due to her controversy. As a result, they sought to make Lapis unlikable by having her kill Kiyoteru and act unreasonably during moral discussions.

## Trivia

* Lapis can be seen at Gumi's party during Gumi's Birthday. She likely attended to ensure her plan went accordingly.
* Lapis has a friendly exchange with Lily after their initial scuffle, sympathizing with her plight of being an unpopular vocaloid in The Unheard Voices.