Chapter 03: Dual
Rolling out of bed, Minako gave a surprised squeak when her door slammed open. Tied up in her sheets, she looked at the intruder with frightened eyes. She calmed down when she realized it was Yukari, but the urgency and sharpness in her friend's voice only made her even more worried.
"Get up! I don't have time to explain. We have to get out of here, now!" Yukari was breathing heavily with a clear panicked expression.
Blinking, the bright-eyed girl struggled to get untangle herself before she noticed Yukari lean a long, thin implement against the wall. It seemed to be a naginata. It took her a moment before she suddenly pulled herself free of her sheets and cried out, "Wh-What are you doing with that?!" It was then that she also noticed Yukari carrying a bow with a small quiver on her back.
"You might need it just in case, okay? Now, hurry up and let's go! We can go downstairs and leave through the back door. Before...whatever gets here," Yukari's voice grew quieter before she turned and left the room to wait outside.
Did she suddenly lose her mind over night? Minako also noticed that it was oddly green wherever she looked. That weird, sickly kind of green. She cautiously moved closer to the naginata before noticing that it was just an imitation. Sighing in relief, she wondered why Yukari was trying to scare her like that. Still, something like an imitation naginata could still be dangerous! She didn't know that Yukari was the kind of girl to collect such weird and dangerous things.
"Hurry up, Minako!"
Minako jerked herself upright before grabbing the naginata and holding it close to her chest, "S-Sorry!" Even while there seemed to be urgency in Yukari's voice, the auburn haired girl couldn't help but look down at herself, and perhaps against her better judgment, she moved to grab her school uniform.
"What's taking you so lon – " Yukari was turning around before a shattering sound and a large thud from the floor below caught her attention.
Taking a deep breath, Mitsuru lowered her gun as a large figure wielding a dagger and a rapier disappeared in front of her. Shards of ice littered the floor as Akihiko was hunched over against the wall with those strange things still swirling around him. Exhaling in relief, the gathered female gripped the stair railing before casting her dark red eyes over at Minato, "Are you okay, Arisato? I'm sorry you had to get hurt like thi – " She was interrupted by a growl from the hunched over Akihiko, and she quickly took a step back onto the stairs while cautiously holding up her gun again. "...Arisato, Yukari and Minako should be here soon. Can you walk? You should follow them and get out of here as soon as – "
Akihiko's loose grip on the gun in his hand tightened and raised it, pressing it to his forehead, uttering that name again, "Poly...Polydeuces!" Minato was propped up on his elbow as he watched the shattered glass appear out of nowhere again before the shards spun around that reformed monstrosity. Akihiko looked up at her with piercing eyes just as she pressed the gun to her temple. Before Mitsuru could utter a word, the monster, Polydeuces, it seemed to be called, rushed toward the girl with wild abandon.
"Penthe – " Mitsuru dropped herself back on top of the stairs at the very last minute to avoid Polydeuces crushing her. She could feel the large entity passing over her and slamming into the wall next to her. When she had dove down to press herself against the stairs, Polydeuces had just barely brushed against her shoulder, but it was enough. Pain seared through her shoulder as her gun flew from her hand into the wall before it fell to the stairs below with a clatter.
Minato struggled to get on his feet, but he only ended up on his hands and knees. Raising his blue hues, he watched as Akihiko stood up slowly, a devious grin on his face. Polydeuces pulled itself away from the dent it had made in the wall and returned to the silver haired male. Minato swallowed as he could feel the attention being refocused onto him. Those grey eyes slowly came down on top of him, and he could see Akihiko sneer at him. Without even a word, Polydeuces raised its right arm and pointed that needle-like arm at blue haired boy.
"Damn...it..." Minato couldn't help but be angered at his helplessness. He was beginning to regain some strength to move, but it was already too late for any kind of heroic comeback. Not like he had a chance against the boxing champion he had heard so much about at school. Lowering his blue gaze, his breathing grew heavier as he continued to try and push himself up, refusing to keel over and wait for death.
Clink.
Almost reluctantly, Minato looked up just in time to see something fall down from hitting Polydeuces in that metallic arm of his. The object dropped at Akihiko's feet and in front of Minato.
A short sword.
Before the thought of even grabbing it came to mind, someone called from the stairs, "Hey, A-Akihiko-senpai, y-you stupid, thick skulled idiot! Wh-Why don't you pick on someone your own size?!" There was hardly anything convincing in that voice of hers. Minato had turned his attention toward the voice where he found those pair of brilliant crimson eyes. He swore they seemed to follow him everywhere. Minato could see her, in a messily thrown on school outfit, next to Yukari, who carried a bow in her left hand. The auburn haired girl was picking up long object, so he assumed she was the one that had thrown the blade. Even though it had essentially saved him, albeit perhaps for just a few more seconds, he couldn't help but think that he was lucky she hadn't missed and impaled him.
Her legs were trembling. "Y-Yukari, I...I think we should...u-uh...r-run. A-Akihiko-senpai doesn't look happy..." Minako swallowed as she was slowly backing up the stairs as Akihiko's eyes were turning to the pair on the stairway. Shaking her head, she held her naginata with her right hand before tugging on Yukari's arm, "C-Come on, let's go!"
"Y-Yeah," Yukari stuttered as she was a bit dazed by the scene. Even though she didn't know Akihiko-senpai very well, she had never thought she'd see such an unfitting look on his face. Such a bloodthirsty and...depraved look. Following Minako's tugs, she turned and started running up the stairs as well.
Polydeuces had disappeared by then as Akihiko hungrily eyed his new targets. It was clear to Minato that Akihiko couldn't think straight in any kind of fashion. Even though he was at the mercy of this possessed Akihiko, the focus was lost so easily as Akihiko was making it obvious that he wanted to go after the two girls. Like a rabid dog preferring the more feisty prey.
Akihiko made for the stairs just as Mitsuru stood up with a hand on her injured shoulder. Even though she could tell that her old friend wouldn't be stopped by just her, she still had to try. Raising her hands, she forced all of her weight down on Akihiko's shoulders when he tried to run through her. He paused for merely a moment before he twisted his shoulder and arms and effortlessly tossed Mitsuru over the railing. Without a second glance, he continued up the stairs.
Mitsuru let out a sound of surprise as she was thrown over the side of the railing, but she quickly regained her form in midair and grabbed one of the bars of the railing when she was flipping over to keep herself from tumbling down to the stairs below. Watching Akihiko go, she looked down and slowly slid down the bars of the railing before dropping, landing gracefully on the lower stairs despite her high heel boots. Picking up the gun she had dropped before, she moved up the stairs and rushed over to the injured blue-haired boy. "Arisato," her words were parted as she as trying to catch her breath while attempting to ignore the pain in her shoulder, "Are you alright? Can you move?"
Groaning in pain was probably enough of an answer for the redhead, but Minato wouldn't let up as he forced himself onto one foot.
"Don't move if it hurts too much. Can you stay put for now? I need to go help Takeba and Minako, so – " Mitsuru widened her eyes in surprise as Minato suddenly grabbed her shoulder and raised his eyes. His other hand reached for the sword. "...Are you sure?"
"Wh-What's wrong with Akihiko-senpai?!" Minako cried out in a panic as Yukari slammed the rooftop door shut and locked it from the outside.
"I...I don't know, but it's clearly the fault of whatever he found out there..." Yukari did little to ease the tension.
A loud thud came from the metal door. Someone had run into the other side.
Yukari jumped back next to Minako, who was already backing up toward the middle of the rooftop as she held the naginata nervously in both of her hands.
Another thud.
Minako felt a shiver run down her spine. While she wanted to blame the current situation for that reaction, she couldn't help but look over her shoulder to look at that gigantic moon in the sky. She felt like it was watching her. Had there been eyes on the surface of that eerie moon, they would no doubt be boring into her. An uneasy, sickening feeling.
The door broke free suddenly, and Akihiko's body flew forward, his hand reaching out wildly for Yukari. Even then, his eyes seemed to have look past Yukari and focus on the uneasy girl behind her. On impulse, Yukari stepped to the side and swung her bow at him, not wanting to shoot any potentially fatal arrows at her senpai. It caught Akihiko's head and clotheslined him, sending his body back into the ground. He landed with a rather sickening thud before he tumbled across the rooftop. Minako quickly ran to the side as his body rolled toward where she had just been.
"Takeba, Minako!" Mitsuru arrived with a new weapon in hand: a rapier. A hand reached around the doorway and Minato came into view, using the wall and doorframe to support himself.
"M-Minato?!"
It was her voice. Always her loud, annoying voice. He wanted to tell her to pipe down, but he could hardly keep himself standing let alone play word games with that girl. Minato held a short sword loosely in his right hand as he leaned against the door frame. Minato honestly didn't know what he was doing there, especially when he was in such an injured state. But he felt some uneasiness tugging him to that rooftop. His body was wracked with pain, yet that uneasiness felt so much worse.
Mitsuru advanced past Yukari and toward Akihiko's crumpled body, "You didn't...?"
"N-No, of course not!" Yukari quickly answered with a wave of her free hand.
"Good," Mitsuru let out a relieved sigh, "I'm glad we avoided anything drastic like that." She raised a hand to her ear and waited for a moment, "...Ikutsuki? Can you bring up two stretchers? ...yes, Akihiko's out of commission. Arisato...ah, Minato Arisato is heavily injured. Please be quick with – "
"Mitsuru-senpai!" Yukari's voice cried out.
His crumpled body began to have those floating black strips, like pieces of cloth, circle his body again. Scrambling to his knees, Akihiko pushed himself onto his knees and reeled back, letting out a monstrous, inhuman scream into the sky. Standing up slowly, he picked up the gun that had rested by him and began to raise it to his head.
"Stop, Akihiko. Come to your senses!" Mitsuru's loud, commanding voice almost echoed as she raised her rapier with her other hand readying her gun. "Fight it, Akihiko! You don't train everyday to be overtaken this easily, do you?!"
Akihiko faltered, but that gun nevertheless came to his forehead, and the trigger was pulled. Polydeuces reformed above the silver haired student as he got into a fighting stance. One that lacked any kind of finesse he had when he was still conscious.
Gritting her teeth, Mitsuru narrowed her eyes at Akihiko. "Takeba, provide backup," she ordered.
Yukari quickly ran up next to her senpai as she put her bow across her back and pulled out her own gun, the gun that both Minato and Minako had seen the first time they arrived here at the dorm. Minako had made her way over to injured boy by the door, concerned with the way he was struggling to stand, before looking over to the three figures gathered in the middle of the rooftop. "M-Mitsuru-senpai, I haven't even...not even against the normal ones yet! I don't...I don't know if I can...against Akihiko-senpai – "
"You want to help him, don't you? Then pull that trigger for his sake...otherwise we may not be able to save him. I'm counting on you, Takeba."
Swallowing, Yukari nodded as she readied herself early by putting that gun to her forehead with both of her hands.
A different monstrous scream filled the sky above them.
Mitsuru widened her eyes and took her gaze off of Akihiko to look around for the source of that new sound. Returning her eyes to Akihiko, she could see a long, black arm suddenly hook itself over the rooftop edge. Even she felt unnerved by the aura this monstrosity gave off as more of those arms began to appear over the edge. Akihiko showed no signs of reaction. In fact, it might have been that he was waiting for this new entity. "Takeba, we must take care of this quickly!" Mitsuru pointed her own gun at her head.
"R-Right! Yukari took a deep breath and closed her eyes, "I...I can do this...I can...I..." She always came so close to pulling the trigger, but the tension she felt was just too great for her body to respond. She wasn't like her two senpais. She had never used this thing for real, and it was just too much for her to use it on the spot like this.
"Takeba!"
She opened her eyes just in time to see the one hand holding a mask rise over the rooftop edge before a blast of fire sent her flying back. "Uaaah?!" Yukari's body landed a ways back from where she had been, her bow and gun skidding in different directions across the rooftop. Her gun came to a stop when it reached Minato's shoes. Groaning, she retained consciousness, but both her mind and body were in a state of shock from being in such danger. To be in a real battle where her life could be forfeit.
"Takeba...!" Mitsuru said her name under her breath, looking toward Yukari before looking back forward. "Penthesilea!" Pulling the trigger, that same glass shattering sound could be heard as the shards floated up and above Mitsuru, a large figure forming. It appeared as an iron-masked queen, and in her hands were a rapier and a dagger. "...Magician?" She did a short scan of the monstrosity and only obtained its arcana type. Raising her own rapier, Mitsuru slowly moved back a few steps as the mass of chaotic arms moved behind Akihiko. The arms suddenly brandished blades out of nowhere, and it was evident that there was the malice intent of cutting down Akihiko. Widening her eyes, she ordered Penthesilea forward, "Bufu!"
The figure Penthesilea motioned toward the arm creature, and the creature was soon hit by a blast of ice, pushing it back away from Akihiko's unmoving figure. Was he waiting for the Magician to kill him?
Propping herself up slowly, Yukari looked on as her senpai fought the new enemy. She doubted Akihiko would stay stagnant for long, and the thought of having to fight that arm creature made her shudder. That attack had sent searing pain through her body, and it was a sensation she had never felt before. A sensation that she never wanted to feel before. She was physically hurt, but she could easily recover from such injuries. The damage to her psyche was much worse, however, as it prevented her from even thinking of trying to recover her gun to join her senpai in battle.
"Do you...think Mitsuru-senpai will be alright?" Minako asked with a shaky voice.
"...Just wait and see. That's all we can do. Mitsuru-senpai and Yukari clearly know what's going on, and they have the ability to stop whatever the hell is happening. We...We can't do anything to help them," Minato sounded angry at himself for uttering such helpless words. His knuckles turned white as he tightened his grip on the hilt of the short sword. Shifting slightly, he heard a strange sound below his foot. Lowering his blue hues, he found what he had stepped on.
Yukari's gun.
Swinging her rapier deftly, Mitsuru was able to keep up with the flurry of blades coming at her. Penthesilea was also handling the majority of the arms to keep the redhead from being overwhelmed, and it made sure to try and disarm them to lessen the threat of the Magician. All in all, it was essentially a duel. She could tell she was getting nowhere with this though, as she would no doubt tire out before the Magician would. Even as she was fighting, she was trying to find a strategy to use in her favor. But her time was cut short as movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention.
"Look out, Mitsuru-senpai!" Minako's voice rang out.
Parrying a swing from one of the arms, Mitsuru spun around to see Akihiko dashing at her. While she didn't want to fatally injure Akihiko, she knew she wouldn't be able to beat him in a true duel when he would no doubt pursue her even if she tried to steal the use of his limbs. Polydeuces would no doubt aid in making sure he didn't stop till he was killed. Blinking at the thought, Mitsuru gracefully swooped down underneath Akihiko's first assault and spun to the other side. His movements were too obvious. This style of fighting was nothing but a barbaric attempt to hit her. Akihiko's agility and strength were abandoned for this disgraceful style. Frowning, she kicked Akihiko down with her high heel boots before fluently swinging her rapier to the side to block another incoming attack from a stray arm. Catching her breath, she noticed that the length of time she had Penthesilea summoned was beginning to take its toll on her body as beads of sweat rolled down her face.
The realization from before was also taking form now that she had a small breather as Penthesilea held back the Magician. While Akihiko was certainly being used, it was clear that whatever was controlling him also wanted him dead. It was proven to be true when he stayed motionless as the Magician appeared, as if he was waiting for death. And while it seemed like Akihiko wanted a battle to the death, it felt like there was some hidden intent of trying to force their hand in killing him.
Mitsuru lost her train of thought as Penthesilea took a blow to the side. This threw her focus awry, and Penthesilea disappeared as she felt the throbbing pain from the blow it had taken. Widening her eyes, she felt her legs being swept out from beneath her by Akihiko, who was still on the ground, looking over his shoulder at her. Catching herself on the ground with the hand that held her gun, the redhead grunted in effort to stop an blade from cutting down on her neck. Her victory was short-lived as one of the disarmed arms found an opening and struck Mitsuru in her side.
"Guh...!" Her body flew in the air for a few seconds before falling onto the shoulder that had been previously injured. This time, she could hear a sickening sound ring through in her ears, telling her that there was no use in trying with that arm anymore. It had been the same arm that held her gun, which was still flying through the air after she had landed. Her gun hit the wall next to the door and landed with a familiar clattering sound. With a huff of breath, she blew her bangs out of the way of her face. Bolstering herself against her rapier, she got up onto her feet yet again, her other arm limp at her side. Despite her condition, her eyes still had plenty of fight left in them.
Even though her odds were nonexistent.
"...Takeba," Mitsuru called out to get her attention without taking her own eyes off of the Magician picking up the blades it had been disarmed of. "I will keep them busy, so..." She paused to catch her breath before continuing, "Take Minako and Arisato and run... Run till the Dark Hour is over!" Mitsuru didn't wish to admit any kind of defeat, but she wanted to at least protect the younger students if at all possible. Her dark red eyes followed the movements of her old friend getting up on his feet again, hardly recognizing him as their eyes met.
"Akihiko..."
Hearing those words, Minako felt her heart sink at the thought of abandoning Mitsuru while she was risking her life just to buy them some time. She tightened her hold on her naginata as she felt conflicted. She was scared. Frightened. Terrified. None of those words were enough to describe the extent of her feelings.
Yet...
There was a growing feeling inside of her that she couldn't ignore. Just even thinking about abandoning Mitsuru made her disappointed in herself. It was a strange feeling. A feeling of not wanting to abandon someone close to her. Even though she had so much respect for Mitsuru and admired her in a way, they hadn't really spoken with each other. She hadn't even known her for a week yet! But... The yearning to be with them grew the more she thought about it. Yukari-chan. Akihiko-senpai. Mitsuru-senpai.
Everyone.
"N-No..." Her voice was quiet at first before she shook her head, screaming her answer, "No! I don't...I don't want to leave you, Mitsuru-senpai!" Minako knew that her eyes showed fear, but she honestly didn't care. Even as the attention from the arm monster and Akihiko made her shudder, she refused to back down. She wasn't stupid though. She knew running in swinging that imitation weapon of hers would be suicide. With no battle experience and any kind of ability, she had even less of a chance than the handicapped Mitsuru. What was she missing to fight like her senpais?
After screaming her refusal to follow Mitsuru's orders, Minako cast her bright crimson eyes down to where Mitsuru's gun had landed. Should she throw it back to her? Even if Mitsuru couldn't use her other arm, Minako expected her to still be able to summon that weird figure like before. If anything, maybe Mitsuru could use it as a distraction so they could all run? Swallowing, Minako quickly moved and bent down to pick up the gun.
The moment she touched it, a cold sensation ran through her entire body.
A tingling sensation that felt...satisfying.
Exhilarating.
Minato could feel the panic rising in him as the events turned out as they did. Mitsuru couldn't do it alone, and Yukari seemed to be out of action. If only...Akihiko wasn't... He ran his free hand over his midriff, wondering if he had really broken anything. He didn't want fear to be the only thing holding himself back from engaging in the fight, to be the holding thing holding him back from giving any kind of help. No matter how futile it was. Still, as his hand ran over his midriff, he winced at notable places.
He had definitely broken something.
As the auburn haired girl left his side for the firearm that Mitsuru had lost, Minato dropped down to a knee as he tried ignore the pain with sheer willpower. The thought of Mitsuru-senpai bearing that burden and still fighting on was motivating, but there was a more obligating feeling underneath it all. Watching the people he had met just a few days ago being beaten in such a fashion angered him to no end.
It...infuriated him.
Minato knew it was illogical to think that he would stand a chance. He knew that he'd probably go down to the first thing that even glanced at him. But he wanted to fight. He didn't want to end up as a coward. He didn't want to run. "Yeah..." He muttered to himself as he had a self-deprecating smirk. Reaching down with his left hand, he pulled Yukari's gun from underneath his foot. Minato knew he was weak, but at all costs, he needed to do it.
Protect everyone.
With gun in hand, whispers resounded through his mind.
Yukari panicked as she looked toward Mitsuru after her order. She couldn't help but blame herself when she was the one that couldn't pull the trigger. She had the ability to help, but she failed to even put up a fight. She saw the reason behind Mitsuru's decision, even though it pained to think about abandoning someone to their fate to that...thing. "A-Alright..." She answered meekly as she pushed herself onto her feet. Turning to lead Minako and Minato away, she stopped when she saw them rise with the silver guns in their hands.
"W-Wait! Put those down! This...this is out of our league. We...we can't win like this... Let's listen to Mitsuru-senpai and run to cut our losses!" Yukari struggled to say those words, but she didn't want to see anyone else get hurt like this. Running over to them, she stopped in front of the two as they turned to her, but they were looking past her. She opened her mouth to say something more, but she nothing came out as she realized that they weren't listening to her. Or...couldn't hear her.
"Takeba, what's going on?!" Mitsuru called back, slowly backing up as the Magician finished picking up all of its blades and was making its way over to her, ignoring Akihiko, who became a lifeless doll again, for the time being.
"I...I don't know..." Yukari answered in a shaky voice.
Glancing back quickly, Mitsuru saw the two advancing past Yukari and toward the middle of the rooftop. Toward her. Toward the Magician and Akihiko. "What do you two think you're doing?! Listen to me and run while you still can! Don't worry about me, I...I'll be fine!" Her words faltered for the first time before she narrowed her eyes at how they ignored her. That familiar, monstrous growl made her turn again to see that it had come dangerously close. Gathering what strength she still had, she jumped to the side while swinging her rapier to try and block parry any attack that aimed for her vital points. Doing so only resulted in her uniform being cut up a bit with some blood drawn. Mitsuru landed to the side and immediately tried to get a hold of her shaking legs. If anything, she planned on trying to lead it away from the two until they realized they needed to run. But as she focused her attention on the Magician again, the auburn haired girl and the blue haired boy were already standing in front of it.
"Run, you – " Mitsuru's desperate order was cut off as they dropped their naginata and sword from their hands.
Minako's skirt fluttered in the wind as she stood next to the blue haired boy, looking forward at the monstrosity with glazed over eyes. The mangled mass of arms seemed to not bother them. Her right hand grasped Mitsuru's gun while Minato's left hand held Yukari's gun. Despite Minato's injuries, he stood upright as if there had never been any pain to begin with. They slowly raised their guns as the wind picked up in strength around them.
And pointed at each other's temple.
The wind began to circulate around them, momentarily trapping Minako and Minato inside a vortex with the monster. The Magician let out another unearthly scream before raising its arms with the intent of sinking its blades into the two. Yukari's and Mitsuru's voices could faintly be heard calling out their names, but their voices were mostly drowned out by the whistling of the gale around them. Their breathing aligned with each other as their bodies could almost hear and feel the other's heartbeat. As they pulled the trigger, they whispered in unison.
"...Per...sona."
.::|| For those that mentioned it, no, Polydeuces does not learn any almighty attacks. I felt like the almighty damage skills have a much stronger feeling of demise and evil than even that of dark skills. Anyways, thank you all again for the many positive reviews! I was hoping to push this out earlier, but I found myself playing my file on P3P on maniac mode. The game is addicting... x_x Also, I was planning on making this chapter all action, but my writing style ended up making it a lot of dialogue and inner turmoil again, and it might have made it a bit slower paced than I had imagined... I'm not entirely sure if the flow of the battle and their thoughts worked well together, but I'm praying it's readable. I hope you enjoy this chapter and leave more wonderful reviews! I'm planning on putting out the next chapter soon.
