Ever since that day, March 5, 2010, Minato Arisato felt nothing. Ever since his consciousness faded as his head lay on Aigis's lap, he was left in a state akin to death. The only mere difference between that eternal slumber and his current predicament was that he did still barely cling on to his life essence, or what was left of it anyway. While he had used his life essence to devote himself to act as the Great Seal in between Nyx and Erebus, he did not use all of it. He, in a last valiant stand against his fate, allocated a large sum of his life force to stay with them as long as he could, even if it was only for under three months. The bonds he had forged over his year with S.E.E.S. had been so precious to him that, when he promised he would be with his trusted allies on graduation day, he was willing to defy death to ensure he kept his word. What mere amount of his life essence was left was eternally preserved in a stone copy of himself, chained on the enormous doorway to Nyx, defending her from Erebus's unrelenting onslaught of attempts to once again bring about the Fall, as it had failed its initial endeavor. However, the seal he created from himself stood strong, and continuously prevented the beast who had been born from humanity's malice from reaching it's goal, time and time again, for what would seem to be eternity.

Of the few who knew entirely what had occurred only a few months before his death, what he did to save the world from impending doom at the hands of Nyx, only one had not given up hope of him returning to the world of the living. She was merely an elevator attendant created by Igor to assist him in aiding the owners of the Wild Card, one of which was Minato. During his journey, she had fallen in love with the boy, but restrained herself, putting her job ahead of love. After his death, however, she resigned from her duty in the Velvet Room. She had one purpose in mind. Free him. Make the chains of death that had bound his fate relinquish him to her. Unfortunately, as the negative emotions of all of mankind had come together to form Erebus, he could not be fully destroyed. As such, a seal of some sort was required to prevent the Fall from ever occurring again, but the soul embedded in that seal had no specific requirements. It just had to be a soul. Plain and simple. It was here that her plan formed. After many attempts to piece together another option, she accepted that there was only one way she could possibly save him. She would sacrifice herself. She knew it was what she had to do. His life, which only months before had a true purpose, true friends he could rely on as family, had been cut short, when she, whose life had no such meaning, as all she did was attend to the Velvet Room with her master, was allowed to live. She believed that it would be better to have her act as the seal, in his stead. She approached the stone statue of her only love, and, as she promised, she freed him.

His eyes opened for the first time in what felt like eons. He knew when he sealed Nyx that he was giving himself up forever. So why was it that he had feeling again? Why was it that he could feel his heartbeat, pulsing with life? His answer came from the women before him. He recognized her immediately. It was hard to mistake the blue elevator attendant's outfit combined with the short-cut, white hair of the figure standing before him. After all, she had been a vital ally in his quest to end the Dark Hour. To prevent the Fall.

"Elizabeth..." he said, shocked that he could see his friend from the Velvet Room once more. "Why? How am I alive? I gave my life to be the Seal."

"I have liberated you from this prison you bravely subjugated yourself to," Elizabeth stated with a look of happiness on her face as she held out a gun in her hand. "Here. This evoker belongs to you. After your death, Kirijo-san collected all of the evokers, as S.E.E.S.'s job had ended. But I believe you should have yours."

"But, if I'm not the Great Seal, then what will protect Nyx from Erebus? What will prevent the Fall?"

"I will."

"Pardon?" Minato needed her to repeat her statement. He was unsure he had heard it correctly.

"I love you Minato. And I do not want you to suffer for eternity as this wretched seal." Elizabeth had an almost sorrowful expression on her face at this point. "Which is why, in order to give you new life, I will become the Great Seal." Before he could protest, Elizabeth began to envelop him with her magic. "Goodbye, Minato. I love you..."

Minato's vision drifted away from him as his mind began to shut down. White light enveloped him, and he disappeared from the world he knew as his home. Eventually all of his senses failed him, and he was no longer conscious. He felt a similar feeling of nothingness, but this feeling, unlike when he was the seal, was only temporary.

Minato awoke laying face-down on the concrete ground. He slowly pulled himself up, to discover that he was in a back alleyway. He had ventured into many of these during his journey with S.E.E.S., most of which were to enter the Velvet Room. The two times he had ventured into an alleyway not for the reason of entering that room, it had not ended very well. The first was when Yukari had forced him and Junpei to accompany her to a popular gang hangout, in order to gather some intel on a recent rumor that had been floating around the school. What resulted from that misadventure was Junpei being knocked to the ground, and Minato just barely keeping himself from being ripped apart by delinquents. It was not a fun situation to be in. The other time was much, much worse. On October 4th, He had, along with most of S.E.E.S., searched desperately for their to allies, Ken and Shinjiro. When they had found them, Shinjiro had suffered two gunshot wounds to protect Ken. One of which proved to be fatal. After that horrific event that was his friend's death unfolded before his eyes, Minato had a noticeable distaste for alleyways, so his first priority was to move to a better location. Having left the alleyway, he was able to take in his surroundings much better than he had before. His current location was a city. It definitely was not Tatsumi Port Island, he knew that for sure. It was evening; the sun had almost set, with most of the sky colored a light purple. He looked around a bit more. He located a few shops, places he could get food and clothing from. He was still dressed in his prestigious Gekkoukan High School uniform, just as he had been during his final battle. His uniform was a very nice, formal outfit but it wasn't exactly something he could wear as his every-day, casual dress.

He rummaged through his pockets to see what he had. What he found, in addition to the evoker Elizabeth had given him, was his his MP3-player, favorite headphones, a cell phone strap that had been given to him when he accepted Yukari's feelings towards him, and his wallet. The last object he found turned out to be the most helpful. His wallet was still packed with all of the yen he had obtained while journeying through the seemingly endless labyrinth that was Tartarus. He had wondered how many humans driven purely by greed would throw themselves into Tartarus if they knew of it's existence, despite not having any protection against the Shadows, just to obtain the countless amounts of money found within. Even once he divided it among his friends, he still had enough to live off of, even though he may not actually be able to sleep under a roof. The first thing he decided to do was to buy some clothes. He entered a store and began searching through, trying to find something he liked.

After searching through he store, Minato decided on what he wanted. He made his way to the cashier and paid. He had bought a few sets of clothes, and having changed into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, topped off with a light hoodie, prepared to leave. As he walked out of the door, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He spotted a figure that seemed familiar to him. One thought entered his mind, and that thought hit him with excitement, although his stoic face didn't show it.

That red hair... Was that Mitsuru-senpai?

To think that after being in an unfamiliar city, after awakening from what should have been his eternal slumber, he had found one of his precious friends so soon. She had vanished from his sight as soon as he saw her, but he still followed, desperately attempting to locate his invaluable friend. He followed her through many twists and turns of the city. He went through alleyway after alleyway to see his beloved friend. He eventually did catch up to the person who he had seen. But, upon a closer look, to his disappointment, it was not Mitsuru Kirijo. It was someone who he did not recognize. The only reason he had mistaken her for Mitsuru was because he had only seen her for a split second, and in that split second all he could really see was red hair. The girl he had followed unintentionally led him to an abandoned building. Minato watched as she met up with a few people, totaling out at five, herself included. He could not hear the from where he was, and he was too exhausted from chasing her to move in closer. The pitifully low amount of life essence he had when he left the seal he had created on the moon was not yet fully replenished, so he was exhausted both physically and mentally, he could feel the pain coming from the seal of souls that came with his painfully low energy supply. He chose to sit down against a portion of the fence surrounding the building. Neither the girl nor her current companions could detect his presence. He was glad, as it would have been awkward to explain why he was there.

"I... was completely... wrong..." Minato wheezed out in between his breaths. "I... just exhausted all my energy by chasing... after someone who... wasn't even who I wanted." He watched as the group entered the building. "I guess I'll rest here for a bit... I need to regain my strength..." Minato's eyelids slid shut as he drifted off into sleep.

Rias Gremory brushed aside some of her crimson red bangs as led her peerage into the building. The report they got claimed that three stray devils were in her territory, and they were starting to get aggressive. She was in the front. She was always very protective of the members of her peerage, and as such, she always liked to be at the front, so they wouldn't be directly in harm's way. Behind her was Akeno Himejima, her queen. She was quite the attractive girl, having a buxom figure and velvet eyes. Her long, black hair was tied into a ponytail by an orange ribbon and reached down to her legs. On Akeno's right was Issei Hyoudou, Rias's pawn. His hair was long by male standards, reaching down to just above his shoulders and hanging down in bangs in the front. Behind him were Rias's rook Koneko Toujou and knight, Yuuto Kiba. Koneko was petite with white hair, styled in a bob cut in the back, with loose bangs in the front. She wore a black cat hairpin. Yuuto was rather handsome. He was blonde with grey eyes. The team moved into the building's main hall. It was a spacious room, decorated with multiple pillars. In reality, none of them were actually need to support the room; they were just there to look nice. Standing right in the center were their foes.

"Issei. This is your first time accompanying us in a stray devil hunt. I want you to stay by Akeno, and observe unless I say otherwise. Understood?" Rias ordered her newly recruited peerage member.

"Yes, Buchou." Issei was a little disappointed. He was excited to fight. The fact that he would merely be watching put a bit of a damper on his mood.

"I must admit, I've never seen stray devils like these before." Yuuto said, his voice harboring a tone of curiosity. "Those two are practically just pairs of dice."

Yuuto's description of the two was accurate, despite how non-detailed it was. They were each a pair of white, six-sided dice, floating with a sharp, thin ring of the same color orbiting around them. Each side of a die was inscribed differently. They had dots representing the numbers one through four, odd numbers colored red and even numbers colored blue. One side had a green scarab on it and on the other were a black skull and cross bones. Their other enemy, the one in the center, was a white, fat figure with six arms. The front two arms were linked together by a long chain. A grey mask adorned it's face. It sat on a silver rocking horse, lightly swaying continuously forward and backwards.

"Yes, these definitely are among the stranger stray devils I've seen. Let's proceed with caution. Akeno, I want you to concentrate on attacking the one in the center with me. I can sense more power coming from it than the others. Your electricity should be enough to take it out. Yuuto, you fight the dice pair on the left. Koneko, you take the one on the right. Be careful everyone!"

"Yes!" all three shouted out at once, as they spread out to fight.

Yuuto's abilities as a knight allowed him to move extraordinarily quickly. He had drawn his sword and was upon his target in a matter of seconds. His upwards slash left a scar on the side bearing the skull and cross bones of his target. Immediately after striking, Yuuto put a decent distance in between him and his foe, keeping himself out of range for a counter attack. Unlike Yuuto, Koneko did not rush her opponent. She walked over to one of the pillars and punched it, cracking it into a few large chunks. She picked up one of the newly formed pieces of rubble with her right hand and hurled it at her dice pair. Kiba was preparing for another strike, but as he approached his enemy, it cast a pinkish light around itself and it's allies. He wasn't sure of what it just did, but he attacked anyway. This time he attacked from above with a downwards slash. However, this time, a large, glass-like shield appeared in front of the blow. Despite being glass-like in appearence, it was incredibly durible, as it forced Yuuto's swing back towards him. The hilt of his blade smashed into his forehead, causing a small amount of blood to seep down his face. Yuuto quickly jumped away from the dice.

"Ah... ow. That hurt," he muttered, rubbing the wounded part of his head. "I guess that had to do with the pink light," Yuuto noted as he saw the light around his enemy fade.

Having noticed what happened with Yuuto, Koneko was prepared. She threw a pillar piece at the enemy, and when it was reflected, she dodged out of the way. The pink light had faded, and Koneko could attack once again. She did the samewit the one on the rocking horse, opening up an opening for attack for Rias and Akeno. Koneko and Yuuto continued there attacks, carefully bating out their shields so that Koneko could render them useless with her projectiles, allowing plenty of time to strike without the danger of being countered.

Rias formed a red magic circle with her right hand. Multiple black, softball sized bullets protruded from the circle and launched at the white figure before her, striking into it with a resounding thud. The chain linked between the two arms had been severed, and its two middle arms had been disintegrated. By this point, Akeno had formed a yellow magic circle where she was, off to Rias's right. Her face began to light up as her energy was concentrated on her magic. She began to smile.

"Alright, show me what you're made of, big guy!" she giggled. A gleeful expression overcame Akeno's face as she cast a bolt of her powerful lightning towards the center of her opponent. Her pleasureful expression changed to a frown as her attack made contact, for it had no effect. Or at least that's what she thought. Once the full bolt had been absorbed, the stray devil's missing appendages began to regenerate. "Awwww, I thought this was going to be entertaining. Yet you take no pain from my lightning? That's not fun. That's just... disappointing," she pouted, clearly upset. "I wonder, will your friends be more willing to have some fun with me?" Akeno turned to face Yuuto's adversary. Her Holy Lightning collided with a shield similar to the one that had repelled Yuuto's attack. She wasn't expecting it, as there had been no pink light glowing around the devil that time. The reflected lighting struck the pillar next to her, causing it to explode into millions of pieces immediately.

"Fine then. How about some fire instead!" Akeno grinned as she began creating another magic circle. A few small flames formed around her circle as she channeled her energy.

"I wouldn't recommend doing that. It'll just be reflected right back at you." Akeno turned to see who had just called out to her. By the entrance to the hall stood a boy. His dark blue bangs draped over his right eye, contrasting with his left eye, which shone as a pale blue. The rest of his hair hung down to the nape of his neck. He was medium height, definitely under 182 centimeters. The boy began approaching them. "Elemental spells don't work on the other one either, just so you know."

"Who are you and how did you get in here?" Rias asked. "I put up a barrier to keep people out!"

The boy responded with a smirk. He didn't answer her. He just started moving towards the rocking horse devil.

Minato's eyes opened suddenly. There had been a loud explosion, which woke him instantly.

"What?" Minato yawned. He stood up quickly, preparing to investigate the the cause of the noise that had woken him. He felt much better after his short nap.

Minato's breathing had returned to normal, even breaths. He felt a bit more energetic too. He first surveyed his surroundings. Behind him was a wall of distorted shades of red. Minato touched the barrier, only to receive a small shock in the hand he had used. Seeing as it was the only other option he had, Minato turned towards the building in front of him and proceeded to the entrance. He opened the the door and stepped into the hall. The first thing he saw made him halt.

Shadows!? No, that should be impossible. When I sealed Nyx, they should have died out with the Dark Hour... But just because they shouldn't exist any more didn't change the fact that they were standing there, in front of him. That's definitely the Jotun of Grief. And those are Reckoning Dice. Minato could see the five he had watched enter the building before he decided to sleep as well. They were fighting with the shadows. Are they Persona users? No, they can't be. That one's fighting in such close quarters with a sword. It'd be a better idea to use personas at a distance, to put yourself farther out of your enemy's range. And the girl over there is just throwing random rubble. The blonde boy and the white-haired girl appeared to have dealt quite a decent amount of damage to the dice, judging by the scars on them.

The closest person to him was a girl with long black hair. She was looking at one of the dice pairs.

"Fine then. How about some fire instead!" There was a red light near her right hand. Around it, some flames formed. Minato knew this was a mistake against the enemies they were up against.

"I wouldn't recommend doing that. It'll just be reflected right back at you." Suddenly becoming aware of his presence, the girl turned and looked at him. He walked towards them. "Elemental spells don't work on the other one either, just so you know."

The redhead Minato had confused for Mitsuru asked him some questions, but he ignored her. He had his sights on the Jotun. He slowly moved towards it. Minato began to concentrate. An image began to form at the forefront of his mind. That image was of a golden-brown, humanoid bird, adorned with a golden headdress and a multi-color scarf. The image progressively got clearer and clearer in his mind.

"Garuda." Minato whispered. When he had closed the distance between him and the Jotun to about five meters, he reached to his left hip, where his holster was located, and drew his evoker. "You guys concentrate on those two. I'll handle this one."

Rias was dumbfounded. "A handgun? You think a handgun is enough to-" She stopped. No one in her peerage could have predicted what Minato would do next. He turned the gun on himself. Most people would have shown an incredible amount of fear when a gun was to their head, even if they were the one holding it. Minato, however, kept a steady breathing pace and a calm expression. His firm grip on the handle of the silver gun did not quiver once. His index finger squeezed the trigger in.

"Persona!"

Multiple small wisps of light swirled around Minato as the power surged through his veins. Behind him materialized the image he had focused to call forth in his mind only seconds before. It was Garuda, the immortal bird-man of Hindu mythology. Garuda sprung into action immediately sending a barrage of arrows raining down on the Jotun. The Jotun writhed in pain as arrow upon arrow pierced it's skin.

The blonde struck the dice he was targeting once more. His blade cut through it cleanly. The second the blade's slash had ended, the dice dissipated into a black mist, which then evaporated into the air. One of their foes had fallen. The next set of dice lasted barely any longer than it's ally. The combination of the blonde and the white-haired girl overwhelmed it, and it too evaporated.

The Jotun rushed forward at an incredible speed, plowing straight through Minato. Some of the others saw this, and winced as they expected him to be crumpled on the floor, due to both pain and crushed bones. Minato stood, however, without any trouble.

A red glow formed under the Jotun. Circles of dark red electricity formed around himself as well as each of his allies. Minato recognized the attack immediately. Infuriate. We should be fine. That spell has poor accuracy. Minato thought, glancing around to see if anyone had been enraged. Minato gaze met the boy with brown hair, the one who had been staying out of the fight. His face was flushed red with anger.

"Fuck you, you bastard!" he yelled as he disregarded his orders to observe and charged straight at the Jotun. A red gauntlet formed around is left arm and he brought it back into a fist as he approached the enemy. His swing met the Jotun dead on in the chest, but the blow was absorbed, giving it more strength. "You piece of shit!" He tried once again, but to no avail. Another red light glowed around the Jotun. This time a mix a purple and white light crashed down on the Jotun.

Megidolaon... Realizing what was happening, Minato warned the others. "Brace yourselves!"

The light exploded and expanded, hitting the brown-haired boy immediately, as he was right in front of the Jotun. He was sent flying a few meters, where he landed in a crumpled heap.

"Issei!" the redhead screamed as she watched her friend take the brunt of the blast.

By the time the blast had reached the black-haired girl and the redhead, they had brought up magic barriers to protect themselves. The white-haired girl took the hit, and while her clothes had been slightly torn, she stood firm. The blonde was quick enough to get out of the way of the attack before it hit him. Like the white-haired girl, Minato also took the attack. It hurt, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.

"I suppose it's time I finished this," Minato let out a faint sigh. Garuda faded away. He began to concentrate once again, forming a new image at the forefront of his mind. This image was of a massive fly. Draped around its neck was a necklace of skulls. I one hand it held a scepter constructed of vertebrae, topped off with a skull. It's wings each bore a skull and cross bones similar to the ones decorating the dice. Minato once again lifted the evoker to his head and pulled the trigger. "Beelzebub." The image that had manifested in his mind was born into reality. Beelzebub produced a white ball of enegry in front of Minato. As he uttered the words, "Primal Force!" The energy blasted forward, ripping straight through the Jotun's chest. The Jotun attempted to retaliate with the insufficient strength it had, but fell short and collapsed. Once more, the black mist that formed the remains of the shadow vaporized. Beelzebub let out a loud roar as it vanished from both reality and his mind. Minato felt the pain of the few wounds he had procured vanish. Minato holstered his evoker, put on his headphones, and pressed the play button on his MP3-player, and silently made to leave. His temporary allies were too busy tending to their fallen friend, so they did not notice him leave, or at least if they did, they were more concerned about the brown-haired boy.

As Minato walked out of the doors to the building, he looked up towards the sky. The previously formed barrier had disappeared, so the moon was in full view for Minato to see. It was a strange feeling, fighting a powerful shadow on a night that wasn't a full moon. But that monthly schedule had been broken once he and the other members of S.E.E.S. vanquished the Hanged Man Arcana on the Moonlight Bridge. Minato lowered his head to a 90 degree angle and continued on.

BANG!

A sharp pain formed in his left shoulder as the gunshot rang out. Minato turned to his left, in the direction the bullet had entered him from. Standing there was a tall, slender, pale figure, with platinum-blonde hair falling to his shoulders. He wore light blue jeans but no shirt. Both of his arms were decorated with tattoos. His right hand held a white revolver, with smoke still rising from the barrel. His eyes were yellow.

"Takaya..." Minato muttered.

"Well, I must say that I never expected to see you again, not after you killed yourself to become the Great Seal, despite your strong desire to live." Takaya uttered, his voice soft and eloquent. "I didn't think I'd have to worry about you meddling in my damn affairs anymore!"

"I saw you die at the peak of Tartarus. How are you here?" Minato was confused, but he didn't bring himself to say resurrection was impossible, not with what had happened to him.

"I have been reborn by the blessings of Nyx. You may have sealed her away and postponed the Fall, but humanity still wishes for her salvation. As long as that desire is still existent, the Fall will come." Takaya grinned. "My strength has thrived since the last time we met. You won't defeat me so easily anymore."

"I don't know. Last time you were quite the push-over, and yet, you still had the same level of arrogance as you do now." Minato could predict where the situation was headed. He once again drew his evoker and prepared to fight.

"Hm... It seems you want to meet your death once more. Did you enjoy your sacrifice that much. If so, I'll gladly bring you the sweet release of death once more."

Takaya fell to his knees, clutching his head in pain. Behind him formed a thin, white figure, being held in the air by wings which seemed to be connected to his back by nothing more than arteries. It was Hypnos, son of Nyx and brother of Thanatos, one of Minato's Personas. The lightning of Ziodyne rocketed towards Minato, but he countered by evoking Odin, the chief god of Norse mythology. The bolt was absorbed into Minato's body as it made contact. Minato had Persona's to block every one of Takaya's attacks. He knew he couldn't lose. But the fact that Takaya was smirking bothered him. He learned the reason for Takaya's grin as excruciating pain erupted across his back. Minato fell to the ground. Behind him stood another figure. This one was shorter than Takaya, with his dark blue hair, similar to the shade Minato's was, slicked to the right side. His green and black jacket was a familiar sight to Minato. His right hand held a briefcase, and the left repeatedly tossed a hand grenade into the air.

"Sorry I'm late, Takaya."

"No matter, Jin," Takaya said pleasantly. "And thank you for that Garudyne, by the way."

So that's what happened... Minato thought to himself. He used the weakness of my persona to strike me immediately after absorbing Takaya's attack, effectively taking advantage of whatever my weakness is. Well played. But there's one problem with that plan, and it should let me win. "Jin. You sacrificed yourself with that grenade the last time I saw you. I suppose you've been 'reborn', just like Takaya, right?"

"That's right. Now that I'm stronger than ever, I'll never lose to you amateurs ever again!" His fierce tone gave Minato a pretty good idea of Jin's hatred for him. "We will bring about the fall. We'll start by killing you, Nyx's suppressor!"

Minato forced himself back to his feet. His mind focused on another Persona.

"You can't possibly block every attack we send at you!" Takaya shouted out. "We will slowly but surely weaken you until you die." Takaya sent a Bufudyne hurdling towards Minato. The Persona became crystal clear in Minato's mind. As he evoked this persona, he smiled. This is the gaping whole in their plan. His mouth opened to allow two words to escape. "Orpheus Telos."

A mechanical figure formed behind Minato. It's face, arms, and legs were colored silver, while it's torso was a bright crimson, with a speaker imbedded in it's abdomen. Mounted on it's back was a golden lyre. It's godlden hair was styled similarly to Minato's, with it hanging over his right eye. The ice spell crashed directly into Minato's face, but there was not change in his body's features. There were no scars or wounds, only the same smile he had been wearing when he evoked the persona. Takaya expected another painful strike to send Minato to the ground, but Jin performed no such attack. He only stood there in disbelief.

"Jin! Why aren't you exploiting this persona's weakness!? What are you doing!?"

"Ta-takaya! It has no weaknesses! It resists everything except almighty damage!"

"What!? Is it possible to have such power!?"

"You didn't crawl up to the top of Tartarus until after we finished the battle with Nyx's Avatar, so you didn't get to see me use this, Takaya. Jin, you were already dead by that point." Minato oved towards Takaya. "This is Orpheus Telos. He holds the power of Cipher, which holds endless possibilities. He is the fruit of my many unbreakable bonds with every single one of my friends."

"If it isn't phased by anything else, I guess this will have to do," Takaya muttered as Hypnos cast Megidolaon.

Megidolaon was one of the few attacks that could actually hurt Minato when using Orpheus Telos. The other types of attacks could hurt him, but the damage left by them was so minuscule that it would take fifty hits to deal the same amount of damage it would to another persona. Takaya's Megidoloan stopped Minato for only a few seconds. Minato commanded Orpheus Telos, and it readied it's lyre.

"Thunder Regin!"

A massive lightning bolt struck Takaya, toppling him. Before Minato could strike again, he felt a light pinch on his back. It was the effect of an Agidyne, cast by Jin.

"I won't let you kill Takaya!" Minato prepared to strike Jin down, when another Megidolaon hit him. Takaya had gotten back to his feet.

"Jin, you can't hurt him! Run!"

"Never! We will bring about the Fall once more!" Jin ran to Takaya joining his allies side.

Orpheus Telos cast a blueish light around Minato, filling him with power. Hypnos did the same to Takaya. Minato struck first, but Jin jumped in front of Takaya to take the hit, causing him to collapse on the ground.

"Go Takaya! Finish him!" he sputtered out.

The mind charge had greatly benefited Takaya's attack. Upon colliding with Minato, the explosion blinded him for a few seconds. When his vision returned to him, the sight that met him was of a large crater surrounding his body. Takaya and Jin were nowhere to be found. They had escaped.

Damn it. They got away. Minato thought. His vision was blurry, and it only continued to fade. He didn't mind though. He knew that even if he did die, Orpheus Telos's final trump card would save him. All he had to do was wait for Enduring Soul to go into effect. His senses began shutting down as he heard the sounds of approaching footsteps. They grew quieter and quieter, until there was nothing.

Just wanted to say that this is an updated version of chapter one (and let me say that damn it took me forever to write this update! This is the busiest week I've had in a while!) Thanks to some reviews, I realized how weak the fight scene towards the end was (and by weak, I mean awful), and I just ended up not liking it at all. So, I decided to rewrite the fight scene and change it to make it more believable and overall just handled better. If you're reading this chapter after the update, then you don't need to pay any attention to the update notice I'm going to put in chapter two. Also, I changed the title from The Devil's Arcanas to Arcanas and Devils, as not only was it the title I was originally going to use, but I also thought that it fit a bit better for what I have planned. Thanks to all of those who reviewed, and I hope that this turned out a lot better than the first version did. I get the feeling that anyone who read the first version is going to think I uploaded another chapter when they see that the story is updated, as I almost doubled the amount of words used in the chapter, but Nope! Now I just need to get started on chapter two! Hopefully it won't take me all week to wright!