I don't own the rights to Persona 3/FES/Portable, Fate/Stay Night or Campione!

Death's Slayer

Detours, detours


I saw myself walking towards a giant building. That was the HQ of the Kirijo group if I remember correctly. Noticing that my right hand was being held, I turned to look at the one holding it, only for my eyes to widen slightly in surprise. My mother was holding my hand, wearing her standard white lab-coat, her spectacles, and that seemingly casual attire underneath the lab-coat.

She looked just like she did whenever she was working in her laboratory. We soon were inside the building only to be greeted by Kirijo Takeharu. He commented on his daughter, Mitsuru, and on how she looked forward to our visit. I was four at the time.

Was I watching my own memories?

The vision shifted from that scene to when the blasted accident happened. I and my family were discussing our plans for tomorrow, only for the world itself to change. It was the first time I would be seeing the dark hour, Thanatos and Aigis.

Was I dreaming?

The scene again shifted to another, this time to my days at the orphanage, brief as they were. A man I've only seen in passing before, Kuzuki Genshirou, former colleague of my father, offered to adopt me and take me on his travels around the world.

Was I seeing my life flashing before my eyes in my last moments?

I didn't want to die. That's why I did what I did to Ryouji, why I accepted his offer despite myself. Then, why was I dying I wonder? I stirred. I stirred and felt something soft beneath my head. A pillow perhaps? No. It wasn't soft enough to be that, but not hard enough to be the ground either. Where had I felt this before?

The scene changed again. I have been traveling along Kuzuki for a few years now. We were in Greece. Looming ahead of us was the temple of Thanatos. I remember feeling a strange pull once I stood in front of its gate, almost as if it was my home. Going into the temple I notice that Kuzuki is waiting in front of the temple, telling me to go on. Strange. Did he know about my situation back then? I never questioned him on it as I was too young to think as clearly as I can do now.

I saw myself going on ahead, until I saw an altar. It was unassuming and simple. Something told me however, that what I was seeking was further inside, so I started looking around for any clues, just like I always did with Kuzuki during our visits to the temples of other gods and deities. After a while, I found a passage a bit further in and knew that what I was seeking was inside.

Delving deeper into the temple, the inscriptions on the walls began changing in nature, as if they were even more ancient than those before. The depictions of Thanatos were different from the ones from before as well. While those before depicted him as an angel similar to Cupid holding what seemed like a sword and a reversed torch, the current ones looked more like a grim warrior, rather than a peaceful angel. He wielded a sword, was surrounded by coffins and...had a beard?

Never-mind. I reached the end of the passage only to be greeted by a small room which, contrary to the passage leading to it, didn't have a single speck of dust in it. A small altar was built in the middle of the room, which was decorated with inscriptions I had never seen before, not even in this very temple. What caught my attention however, was not the state the room was in, nor was it the inscriptions on the altar.

It was that alluring sword that looked like a Japanese Katana of sorts, the only difference being that it was straight instead of curved. It was sheathed in a pitch-black sheath with a golden tip and was missing a hand-guard. Though I was sure I had never seen it before it seemed so familiar to me, that I found myself walking towards it, intending to claim it for myself. The moment I touched the blade, would lead to my second meeting with Thanatos and the discovery of a part of the truth regarding the events that lead to my parents' demise.

The scene changes again. What is happening to me?

I was sitting in a chair beside a hospital-bed. In it was Kuzuki, lying in his final hour of life. As the man I had come to regard as a second father, despite his flaws and our many misadventures, lay before me, dying, I couldn't help but ask why death was there to begin with. As I found my tears flowing down my face, I heard a voice I was accustomed to hearing, now after a few years of conversation.

The first time I heard that voice was a few days after picking up that sword, in the middle of an urban area. Needless to say, my reaction at the time was something I would laugh at now. It didn't help that all of these people were looking at me as if I was insane. It was Thanatos' voice.

He didn't really speak mind you. It was more like he was projecting his thoughts into my head, and I mine into his, when I learned how to talk to him, but "speaking" and "voice" are the closest terms I can attribute to the…sensation.

In answer to my question, he told my that death is a natural part of life and that no one can run away from it. I asked whether death itself was exception, to which he answered that it was, in fact, not, even if death is probably the last of creation to die. He furthermore provided, that life would not function without death for it is an integral part of it.

Decomposition of food inside our bodies is necessary in order for our bodies to absorb nutrients, he offered as an example. Talking to Thanatos was always very informative and I had to contemplate his words often, which left me with the habit of thinking on everything I hear or read. As I was once again contemplating Thanatos' words, two figures entered the room. The first was Kirijo Takeharu, who I haven't seen in years. The second was my grandfather on my mother's side, Kusanagi Ichirou.

Takeharu-san offered me a scholarship at Gekkoukan due to my good grades and my grandfather wanted to know my opinion on this. Needless to say that I accepted it, in order to find the entire truth of the matter regarding the shadows.

Time skips forward again. I'm hearing someone talking. The voice was familiar to me for some reason.

I arrive at the dorm that would be my home for the next year. Stepping inside I can't help but marvel at the décor, for it was classy to say the least. As it was still during the dark hour, which I was calling shadow time, I didn't think that anyone would be active now and decided to wait.

All of a sudden a girl ran towards me and pointed a gun towards my head. Just as I wanted to draw my blade the voice of a certain heiress resounded, telling the girl to stop. As she stood there in a commanding posture, she widened her eyes at the sight of me and greeted me with a smile I haven't seen in a while, prompting me to smile back at her in greeting.

The first girl was introduced as Takeba Yukari, while I recognized the second as Kirijo Mitsuru. After a few words exchanged between us Yukari went upstairs to her room, while me and Mitsuru had a brief reunion talking about our lives since then. A short while later the door to the dorm opened, revealing a boy of Mitsuru's age. He was introduced as Sanada Akihiko. A bit of small talk later, I headed to my room preparing myself for my first day of school. There I met Iori Junpei for the first time.

As the scenes kept on changing, and I saw more and more of my memories seeing how I met my various friends in Iwatodai, I realized what was happening. My memories were coming back to me.

At the sudden realization, I snapped my eyes open, only to find my gaze met with that of another, someone I had met before.

Said individual looked like a slender young woman in her mid-teens with violet hair and pointed ears. However, she was far older than she looked, as indicated by the light of wisdom that shines through her green eyes.

A hearty and energetic "Hi there, Minato-chan~" was all it took for me to snap out of my daze. Noticing that my was head was resting on her laps I sat up and turned around to face her, ending up sitting opposite her. I gave her a smile after a moment of silence, for there was only one thing I should say here.

"Hey there. I hope you're well, Pandora." I said, while looking around making sure that I wasn't dreaming my encounter.

"Didn't I tell you to call me mama, Minato-chan?" She responded with a cute pout. "You can also call me mutter, mother, or even okaa-san!" she continued in a lecturing pose.

"I'll have to pass on your generous offer, but thank you for offering it anyway. Are we here in the border between life and death, or am I dreaming about all of this?" I questioned my self-proclaimed adoptive mother.

After giving me a cute look of irritation, Pandora eyes me with a serious expression before saying "I have never, in my entire life, seen a godslayer achieve enlightenment before, and always thought it impossible! And then you come and achieve it, as if the laws of the universe can't even think of applying themselves to you! And you shrug it off, not even paying it a bit of attention, and ask whether this is real or not?! What a problem-child you are!"

I stare at her with my usual deadpanned expression, waitig for her to answer me. After a while I relent though, seeing that she wouldn't give me my time of a day, and simply answer her. "I'm a wild card after all. Moreover I have wielded the power of the universe, the power to make the impossible possible. And I don't really think that it's something worthy of making such a big deal over. It happened and that's that. Now, is this real or not?" I ask again despite knowing the answer already. I'll have this woman entertain me for a bit longer. Heh.

Giving me another cute pout, she sighs after a while and answers my question, much to my personal dissapointment. "Yes you are truly here, and your little gamble payed off. However not in the way you wanted it to."

I became serious at that and noded, urging her to continue.

"Though you were indeed reborn as a godslayer, thanks to Thanatos' sacrifice, your battle against Nyx ended up taking the entirety of your life force, which put you in a heavy comatose state. It'll take you years to awaken from it. And with years I mean decades at least, you know? And even then it wouldn't have worked if you haven't been immune to death, thanks to Thanatos' authority."

Well, damn. That wasn't part of the plan. I sigh, trying to figure things out. Thanks to Ryouji's offer I somehow made it, but now it looks like i might be stuck here for a while, something I really don't want to be. Ah I haven't mentioned anything about that yet have I?

Ryouji came to us on the 31st of December 2006 and revealed to us, that he was in fact Thanatos, son of Nyx and harbinger of the fall. While S.E.E.S. was dumbstruck by the revelation, he looked at me and began explaining how everything came to be. He then gave us a choice. We could simply forget about everything and enjoy our lives until the fall happened, or we could fight the impossible.

S.E.E.S. decided that they wanted to fight after all, treasuring the memories we all made over the year. Ryouji looked at us dumbstruck, not getting why we would risk it against the very concept of death itself. Telling hin that our memories were part of us, and that we treasured them. He appeared jealous somehow, so I told him that it included our memories of him as well. With wide eyes he looked at everyone and noted that they were afraid of him. I smiled and did one of the most stupid stunts in history.

I told Mitsuru about how we were in the hot springs while the girls entered and how we managed to hide from them, when they began looking. Adding to that the fact, that it was Junpei's and Ryouji's idea, while holding Ryouji so that he couldn't escape the wrath of the empress, we were executed on the spot, Ryouji included. Ouch.

After finally managing to calm the girls down, I pointed out that Mitsuru here just executed him without any signs of fear, surprising everyone present. The look of surprise on everyones faces prompted me to laugh, which led to the others joining in as well. When Junpei, in his usual way of lifting the spirits, walked over to Ryouji and slapped him on his back, and told him that it was fun, Ryouji started to tear up and cry.

Anyone familiar with Thanatos should be able to tell, that he was someone who was despised and feared by gods an mortals alike. Seeing people that seemed to accept him, and gaining friends that way, seemed to have broken the dam. It also helped that he was influenced by my emotions while he was sealed within me.

He wanted to help us now avert our fate and so he told me in private about people who are called godslayers. Apparently they are mortals who managed to slay a god in an ancient ritual made possible by the witch Pandora, enabling them to take over a gods powers, or authorities as he called them, and reach superhuman levels of strength, endurance or any other parameter. He had wanted me to kill him and become a godslyer, so that i might be able to survive my fight with Nyx.

Though I hesitated for a while, I gave in after he told me that he would unite with Nyx and lose his individuality, something he didn't want to happen. After asking him how it would be possible to kill death incarnate, he told me that I was the only one who could, having part of his essence within my soul. After our battle, which ended in a double-kill, we were transported to the border between life and death, the realm in which Pandora dwells.

After recieving the blessings of Ryouji and Philemon, who I met then for the first time, Pandora too gave me her blessings, and so i became the newest godslayer.

As for Pandora herself, she is the wife of Epimetheus the foolish titan and the one who unleashed all the evils and the one hope by opening the box that was named after her. She appears to be the adoptive mother of godslayers.

Looking at said individual, I notice her staring at me with motherly concern, probably thinking that I wasn't taking the news she gave me well. Not that it wasn't correct to say so, but I really was only lost in thought. If only that look of hers wasn't so out of place on her youthful appearance.

"Is there any way I might be able to accelarate my recovery?" I ask her hoping for a solution, seeing that she is the most knowledgeble about my situation.

"Do you want to be rid of me that eagerly? Why don't you stay a while? It's been to long since I last had anyone stay here with me" she answered, testing my patience.

Just at that moment someone else joins us, as if he was waiting for his cue. He was wearing a white suit, his face covered with a butterfly-mask, while his long black hair was tied into a low ponytail. He looked at us, smiling before saying in a refreshing tone of voice "Hello Pandora, Arisato Minato. I trust you two have been well?"

Enter Philemon, patron diety of the velvet room. Nothing's ever simple when the gods are involved.


So yeah, thats the story on how Minato managed to survive his predicament of sealing Nyx, which is used to pave the way for the planned sequel of this current story.

As for the Campione! characters and Philemon, you won't be seeing them for a while, if at all after one or two chapters at most, since this story is supposed to take place in the nasuverse. I'll make a few twists and turns in the Fate-part of the story, maybe even including elements from all three routes of Fate/Stay Night. We'll see.

As for what Pandora was saying, it all meant mother. For those who have read the first chapter, it was edited later on, have another look.

Anyway, enjoy reading my story, point out mistakes you can see or give me some tips for better storytelling. See you next time.