Stretching out his sore arms, Shinjiro sat down on the bench. Aki soon sat down beside him, equally exhausted, and went into stretching and flexing his arms. The battle axe given to him by Mitsuru was leaning on the bench next to him while Aki's brass knuckles were removed and was now beside its owner on the seat. His best friend was clutching his Evoker instead of having it around their holsters, inspecting it with a serious stare.
Not that there was anything wrong with it, it was just that his best friend was equally surprised and intrigued at the contraption used to summon forth their Personas. It was shaped as a gun and from the discreet inquiries he made to Mitsuru, it was shaped in that way to properly set one's mind to easily call their Personas; a psychological side-effect of having a firearm aimed at their temples, a simulated near-death experience. It was proven and tested before by Mitsuru's own experiences, as it was the same way she had first called upon her Persona to protect her and her father years ago. His and Aki's initial summoning were so different to Mitsuru's, for there was no immediate threat to their lives, but Shinjiro rationalized being in the Dark Hour was already enough for being in a life-threatening situation.
He looked around and saw Mitsuru was back at her bike, fiddling with the machine she had on the its back. She then raised the gun-shaped Evoker to her head and pressed the trigger, its emulated gun-shot noise ringing throughout the ominously serene streets of the city briefly. The air around her began to pick-up and behind Mitsuru her Persona formed, materializing from a light blue hue into a corporeal form with the wind masking the shift from incorporeal into solid state. Her Persona, Penthesilea, raised its rapier up in the air as Mitsuru closed her eyes and placed a headset on her head, looping around her head at the forehead area.
The Dark Hour was halfway through and the Shadows the three of them had faced were much more in number than the day before. Good thing that they had already cleared the area around the dormitory yesterday - the Shadows tend to return to an area a week after it has been cleared - or else they wouldn't have the chance to clear Iwatodai Station; it was a fact that once the Shadows had sensed an active person within their vicinity, they would hound them down until the Dark Hour ends and would continue it again once it resumed. It was more on side of convenience, not having to wade through another sea of blobs instead of a leisurely stroll back to their dormitory, than thinking of the safety of the community; though the latter was their priority most of the time, it wasn't such the case when they are all exhausted from coming back after an hour long struggle battle. Nonetheless, aside from making sure the Shadows wouldn't get the chance to lobotomize their intended victims, they had to ensure there wouldn't be any collateral damage from the Shadows' attacks.
Shinjiro scoffed. He was lucky that the attacks made by the Shadows back then were directed at him, with him steeling himself on the incoming magical attacks. Shinjiro had thankfully managed to have the Shadows attack him instead of the area around him like the buildings during the past Dark Hours because apparently, whatever damage had done during the Dark Hour tend to reflect on the world after the Dark Hour passed. What a way to break the idea of it being a different dimension further by revealing everything happened at the same place, just in a different timeslot.
"Good work. It seems we have cleared the Iwatodai Station in that wave," Mitsuru announced loudly from her position beside her bike.
"No shit, Mitsuru," he spoke quietly. Aki punched him lightly on the arm. It didn't hurt at all. "Just joking. Can't take a joke?"
"I heard that, Aragaki . Be thankful Penthesilea is concentrating on searching Shadows for I won't be disillusioned on making sure you get a frostbite. Bufu 's different from regular ice, just so you know."
"You're just jealous Castor's have no elemental weakness. Ouch!" He looked at his side and saw Aki used his weapon at his side. "Sorry, I forgot Mitsuru had power over you with her Bufu - Hey! That hurts!" Aki kept on drilling his side with the sharp ends of his brass knuckles.
"Setting that aside, I found a quite large wave of Shadows nearby. They're somewhere near a group of houses which I assume to be a residential area. About 5 blocks away from our position," Mitsuru said, Penthesilea disappearing the moment she took off her headset and placed it on the back of the bike. She sighed before muttering, "What I would give to have a map at this moment." Shaking her head, she continued.""A couple of Shadows had already shifted into battle mode and now are in the middle of calling out people from their transmogrified state. I had scanned the active ones and they have no resistances to Physical Attacks and Zio Skills. They won't be much a threat but be careful, their numbers will be a force to be reckoned with."
Hefting the large battle axe on his shoulder, Shinjiro smirked. "Got it, Mitsuru. Get that bike up and started so you can join in with the action. Aki here might leave you in the dust." His best friend just glared at him and rolled his eyes. "See you there Mitsuru."
"Take care Shinjiro. You too, Akihiko."
Ever since he had successfully summoned Castor, the miniature screams inside his head cleared up and Shinjiro felt himself being whole for the first time in his life. His Persona sure reflected his relationship with Aki since his Persona was said to be the twin brother of Aki's Persona, Polydeuces. The timing of their first summoning must have affected their own Personas but Shinjiro immediately threw the thought away. According to the Kirijo Group's research on Personas and Shadows, Personas reflect the mindset of their summoner. Thus, to know that his Persona and Aki's were related didn't surprise him a bit; it instead gave him a sign of their deep relationship with each other.
Their Personas were brothers in a sense, which only meant he and Aki regarded each other as brothers as well, regarded each deep enough that they subconsciously now accepted as the truth. As it was, both of their Personas also employed similar characteristics and abilities.
Shinjiro had always knew that for whatever reason he was 'magical'. It wasn't hard not to think he was, with the way his relatives were adamant on not mentioning the word 'magic' around him or even referring to 'magic' or anything 'supernatural' whenever he was around. If someone was hiding something from a person, most cases it has something to do with the said person. So Shinjiro knew that 'magic' was connected to him, both in a good and a bad way.
Bad that he was being treated badly by his relatives, as he had discovered in the orphanage and the subsequent years in Japan. But it was also good since the said 'magic' helped him survive up to the point he had met his best friend and brother-in-all-but-blood. Not to mention Miki, the sister they wished they had again and the one that allowed them to meet in the first place.
All in all, Shinjiro decided his Persona was the realization of his magic. It was the only explanation why his wounds would heal as fast and why he was significantly stronger than other kids. There was also the strange shield he could call up whenever a Shadow decided to attack him directly, magically bouncing the attack in full force like it was reflected.
Which was why he could carry the said heavy-as-fuck battle axe like it was only a candy cane. The same reason why could wield the huge sign post the moment he decided to secure the dormitory from the Shadows.
Though he still wanted a different appearance of his Persona, the stick horse Castor was riding on was distasteful. But at the very least, Castor had the same appearance as Polydeuces, with the exception of Polydeuces had a needle as its arm and the long silky hair. Shinjiro laughed and thanked that Castor decided to ride a horse unlike Polydeuces who reflected how Aki's mindset on boxing truly was through his own body. The sword that went through Castor's body, on the other hand, didn't affect Shinjiro at all, mainly because he saw it as a representation of his own wounds.
It basically represented his own injury from the years before meeting Aki. His Persona just showed it differently, a sword stuck in his chest much like the mental trauma of being 'gutted' by the actions of his own relatives.
A call from his best friend behind him broke his reverie, making him turn around and notice Aki catching up to him. 'Heh.' Here he was, brooding over the implications his Persona showed, then Aki showed up with a grin on his face, summoning Polydeuces to cast Dia over himself off-handedly. As if he doesn't care Polydeuces had a needle as an arm instead of a normal one. It was like he…
"…You really don't care that your Persona looks like that?" he opened, placing down the battle axe on the ground and giving Aki a concerned look. While Dia's best on patching up wounds immediately, its side-effect of taking away exhaustion was its selling point. Although in the end, after the Dark Hour has ended, the exhaustion Dia had managed to stave off will return. It somewhat depended on the number of times they had summoned their Persona, leading them coincidentally to create a system in measuring their capacity before becoming exhausted.
Still, the entire matter was complete and utter bullshit to him, but that was what Shinjiro noticed. When Mitsuru and her company found more about the Dark Hour, then he would revise his idea of Dark Hour Exhaustion.
"…Why? Polydeuces doesn't look that bad. Besides," Aki replied, summoning his Persona again to cast Dia on Shinjiro. The sudden surge of power that felt calm and helpful flowed suddenly through his body, making Shinjiro tremble slightly. "Polydeuces is also me, in a sense. He shows the power I have, both good and bad. Just like me. Even if his arm could be something else. And the hair. Shinji, why does he have long hair?" His best friend pointed to the long gold hair Polydeuces had, as his Persona returned to motes of light. "I don't even like having long hair and Polydeuces sports one! What does that even mean, Shinji?! It looks smooth just like Mitsuru! I bet it is. Anyway, he's strong and that's fine with me because it just shows that I am strong as well."
Shinjiro chuckled. Even though his pseudo-brother went on a tangent about his Persona's luscious hair, his words did have some sort of sense. Whatever their Personas' appearance looks like, it doesn't change the fact that they are them. Whatever abilities their Personas have, it ultimately reflects their own capabilities. It was only more emphasized and pronounced.
"As much as I would I love to hear Akihiko speak more about how beautiful my hair is," Mitsuru's voice echoed through their earpieces, interrupting Shinjiro's contemplations and startling Aki at the same time. "The Shadows are about a block away, take a left at the next corner and approximately 5 meters you'll find them."
"Got it." "Do I have to say more?"
"…No, you don't have to. Your actions speak more than your words. By the way, after you two are done, there's still one more area left and I would like for us three to deal with that area. The Dark Hour is almost over and it would be efficient to have the three of us there to clean it up. I'll be in contact."
"You heard her, let's go."
Both of them fell into place, running at a fast pace to the residential area beside each other, and soon they arrived at the scene of Shadows lurking the streets. Some were already in what Mitsuru termed as 'battle mode': typical-monster-like forms of birds and other illogical beings like dice and floating masks; some were still in their 'passive form' and most likely be their back-up the moment Shinjiro and Aki demolished the 'battle-ready' Shadows. Taking in Mitsuru's analysis, Aki whipped out his Evoker and placed at his forehead. With a mutter of Polydeuces' name, he pressed the trigger and his Persona appeared from the spectral shards of glass that appear at where the figurative bullet of the gun would exit.
Polydeuces appeared to silently roar, his body's movements doing the speaking instead, causing several small-scale thunder clouds appear above the shadows. The clouds rained down lightning bolts to the Shadows, some paralyzing while some outright bursting them back to black mist. Just like Mitsuru said, the Shadows of that night don't have any resistances against Zio Attacks. "Did you see that Shinji?!" Aki asked, moments after Polydeuces finished his barrage of lightning strikes. Controlling one's Persona took some mental concentration, which was why Shinjiro moved ahead from his best friend and covering the temporary lapse of defense Aki had when he summoned his Persona.
"As clear as day!" Shinjiro retorted back, swinging down his battle axe at the shocked Shadows and kicking those that decided to attack him. "Come out Castor! We got have a party to crash!" In a spinning motion, he swung his weapon around, hitting several shadows and killing some. He placed the weapon down and brought out the gun-shaped Evoker from his holster. Shinjiro then placed the Evoker at his head and concentrated momentarily to the presence at the back of his mind.
'Let's do this, big guy! Aki's not the only one who can call the shots here, right?'
With a bang, Castor appeared and rushed towards the Shadows, using the horse stick he was on as a ramming vehicle. Castor had a force field around him, crushing the Shadows that caught in his way, and at the moment Aki came to Shinjiro's side, Castor had already cleared a portion of the street, Shadows evaporating already into mist. As Castor reached the end of the road, the horse he was on let out a neigh and disappeared into broken shards of glass.
'Huh. So that horse was also sentient? Or a part of Castor? Maybe both?'
"Heh. Was that a challenge?" Aki asked, readying his fist and his Evoker on the other. The teen with a beanie on his head smirked and readied his weapon of choice. Summoning their Personas took a lot of mental strength - unlike Mitsuru's who was more on the spectrum of magical than physical, thus giving her a bit of a push in summoning -, so Shinjiro couldn't have Castor materialized for quite some time. Aki's Persona was a mix of his and Mitsuru's as Polydeuces could cast magic spells while doing Physical attacks. Penthesilea was focused on magic that Shinjiro felt the dagger and rapier Mitsuru's Persona had on was for show only. And he doesn't plan to tell it anytime soon.
Once a Persona has been awakened, the summoner could do certain abilities of their Personas outside the Dark Hour; Mitsuru had awakened hers since she was 8 and her Bufu Skills were honed both in the Dark Hour and in the real world. Shinjiro had no plans to experience being bombarded by her ice shards again. Even if he had an enhanced healing factor, Mitsuru was creative with her Bufu Attacks. One time was enough for him.
"Mitsuru, can you tell us which area would be the best for us? Do we have to split up or not? The Shadows split into two streets, both at different ends. " Shinjiro asked, taking in the sight of retreating Shadows. Some went to the left while some went to the right. Aki already chased down the ones that went down the street and both Polydeuces and Aki himself battered down the distressed Shadows.
The familiar sound of her bike was then heard through the streets and moments later, Mitsuru's voice returned in their earpieces. "Akihiko, the street to your right is best for you. The majority of Shadows there have a weakness to Zio. Shinjiro, the left is for you. Your strength would be appropriate to the Shadows that went there. They have resistances to the Elements, even nullifying Zio attacks, which meant his Persona's skills would be wasted there. Better to have you two at places where you specialize at the moment, am I right?"
"…Are you certain of this, Mitsuru?" Aki asked. "This would be the first time we would be fighting Shadows separately."
Shinjiro patted his best friend's back. "You forgot that I've been fighting these guys for months before you were aware of them. And that was before I even summoned my Persona." He hefted the Battle Axe over his shoulders. "Besides, Castor has Counter. He got a surprise for those Shadows. And I'm sure Mitsuru will follow you there, right? I believe she has experience in fighting them solo, much like me"
"You're correct, Shinjiro. While it is pleasing to hear you have confidence in my abilities and the choices I'll make from my experiences, the Shadows won't stay still as we talk. So please, get moving. I will be there in a minute or two. Despite my Persona having scanning abilities, Penthesilea's abilities are more battle-oriented than supportive."
"See? So get your ass up there Aki and show them who's the boss in these parts!" he said, pushing Aki to his designated area while he marched off. "Mitsuru, better hurry up. Aki might become a frozen snowman there with his weakness against Bufu."
"You too, Shinjiro. I am positive, however, that your prediction won't come to that for the Shadows there have no Bufu Abilities, though at yours have some. Be careful." And with that, Mitsuru ended their connection. She couldn't bring her bulky equipment while fighting but her passive scanning abilities wouldn't be hindered by the lack of machinery. Just like him.
Well, not entirely. His was just a perk while Mitsuru's was a legit, full-blown, authentic scanning ability. He could only sense people and the Shadows was a recent development, Mitsuru could sense both and tell their affinities. It only showed how her 'magic' is different to his, leading Shinjiro to believe what his relatives used to say weren't correct at all. Mitsuru's 'magic' wasn't hurting anyone; gods, it was even outright useful most of the times, despite her complaints of it not a battle-oriented ability .
"Tch. You guys should watch out instead of me. I'm not the one who has weaknesses to the Elements." Shinjiro counted himself as blessed since after he successfully summoned his Persona, Mitsuru's scans showed Castor has no resistances nor weaknesses to the Elements. Unlike Penthesilea who has a jarringly suspicious but quite obvious weakness to Agi attacks, which then carries over to Mitsuru physique whenever the Dark Hour hits. Strangely their Personas just shatters into spectral glass whenever they got hit by an attack directed at them but their defensive capabilities were adopted by their summoners instead of themselves. Which was both a good and a bad thing.
Good, because their Personas wouldn't be injured and could be summoned again as long as they have the mental stamina to continue; and bad, primarily whenever they got hit by an attack their Persona was weak to, they receive significantly stronger attacks and immediately gets stunned. Which was bad against fighting Shadow. What Mitsuru said one time perfectly summed it up: They have no sense of battle etiquette.
Aki got hit by a Bufu one time and he was dazed . Like stars in his eyes, jaws wide open and ass on the floor type of dazed. Mitsuru and Shinjiro had to wake him up with one of the special 'medicine' that would instantly 'revive' an unconscious ally. Aki was severely winded out by the strangely overpowered 'Ojou-sama' Shadow, which had focused on Aki by making sure he was hit by all of its countless Bufu attacks, and they had to retreat on that mission. Of course, they enjoyed tearing the Shadow the day after into little pieces with Mitsuru's fencing skills and Shinjiro's bludgeoning style of fighting; all the while Akihiko was taking cover behind Mitsuru as Polydeuces calling down Zios at them.
Penthesilea was resistant to Bufu while Castor was resistant to Zio. Thus, everytime a Bufu attack comes to Mitsuru or a Zio to Aki, the attack seemed to be significantly lesser than other attacks according to her and his best friend. Shinjiro sometimes felt being jealous of Castor's lack of resistances but he immediately scoffed at the idea. Having a resistance meant also having a weakness and he preferred Castor having no weaknesses whatsoever.
Mitsuru's words came true as Shinjiro and Castor bulldozed through the suspiciously large number of Shadows lounging at the streets of what he assumed as the residential district of Koto-ku. He never was good on places except for the one he frequented, like Tatsumi Port Island and Shinonome. Now that he recalled Shinonome, they were in Shinonome. He lightly hit his head from the momentary lapse in his mental faculties.
Shinjiro surveyed the area around him, the 'corpses' of the Shadows were slowly dissipating into mists. "Heh." With Castor and his speed in demolishing the Shadows, even their corpses were still in shock from the attack. He immediately frowned and tensed up. The first time he, Aki and Mitsuru decimated Shadows en mass at the area around Naginaki Shrine, something strange happened. It was around 2 weeks after Shinjiro, Aki and Mitsuru founded SEES. The moment the three of them had cleared the area, the 'Ojou-sama' Shadow appeared from nowhere and they had to retreat. Good thing that whenever the Dark Hour ends, the Shadows were seemingly caught in the weird time distortion and it allowed the three of them to recuperate until the next Dark Hour hits.
The situation was comparable to an English saying, something he learned in their English classes: "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." Though in their cases, the Shadows will stay in the Dark Hour regardless of the location they were at. Sustained damage, on the other hand, was a different matter on its own.
Closing his eyes, Shinjiro used his senses to search out Aki and Mitsuru. He never lost his ability to search his surroundings despite his Persona actually lacking the full version of the said ability, unlike Penthesilea and Mitsuru. He just didn't make it known to his best friend and Mitsuru and just explained it as some sort of natural sixth sense. It was said normal people have them despite not having a Persona at all so it was accepted as such, though the look Mitsuru gave to him that day made him guilty. Slightly guilty.
Mitsuru and Aki were already coming at his direction and by the pace they were making, Shinjiro expected them to be around the corner in about a minute or so. He was about to end his 'trance' when a sudden surge of coldness went through him, making him gasp.
'It's here!'
Mitsuru must have felt it much worse, or better, than him since Penthesilea's abilities make her more in-tune in feeling out Shadows.
"Shinji!" "Shinjiro!"
Turning around, he gave the two a smirk. "You felt it too Mitsuru?" The redhead nodded. "I think we can expect this shit to happen every month or so." He immediately went beside his best friend and searched with his eyes any injuries. As far as he saw, there was none but the meat-head had a habit of concealing them so Shinjiro had to make sure. Aki bristled at his pats but he didn't stop Shinjiro from continuing.
"Accurately speaking, every 3 weeks," Mitsuru added. "The only area left is the one near the gasoline station… Oh. God."
The two guys immediately turned their heads to Mitsuru with a surprised look. Even Mitsuru was shocked by her realization. "No shit Mitsuru! You better have a plan for this 'cause not even gasoline is stopped by the Dark Hour." And it didn't. The last time a Shadow misfired, its attack hit a gasoline station and the explosion it caused shook, burned and killed any remaining Shadows. Thankfully, the said station was empty of customers and the worker on standby was at the station's garage area fixing up a vehicle when it happened. Shinjiro, Mitsuru and Aki saw in the news the next morning how the police investigation ruled the cause of the explosion as faulty material malfunction or something similar. "Let's hurry, we spent enough time already here. Aki, how much is left?"
His best friend pulled out the pocket watch from his pockets and opened it. "It's… 15 minutes left." Though electronic equipment stopped working, wind-up clocks worked during the Dark Hour like a charm and Shinjiro discovered that fact during a mission one time when he had to chase a Shadow hiding inside a clock shop. "Can you scan without your equipment Mitsuru?"
"Of course I can. The equipment I have is only for convenience and a Shadow database for those we've already encountered. Cover me while I check its resistances." Shinjiro and Aki nodded. "Shinjiro, have Castor hit it to distract its attention. Akihiko, cover Shinjiro and me with your Persona's attacks in case it retaliates. Shinjiro will be momentarily incapable of moving as he summons Castor, as he have to concentrate on his stamina to allow his Persona strength to attack."
The three of them quickly sprinted to the intersection where the gasoline station was. It was sandwiched by an empty lot and a two-story building, a building Shinjiro assumed as another residential building in the area. And in the middle of the road stands the Shadow. It was a giant or a Justice-type Shadow, according to Mitsuru. Justice-type Shadows have a tendency to shift into a giant's hand with a sword, a balance scale or a giant carrying a sword and a scale. The Shadow in front of them was a Giant Shadow since it was carrying a scale and a sword. Where its face was supposed to be was replaced by a mask that has a Roman Numeral 8, which confirmed Mitsuru muttering at Shinjiro's side.
"It's a Giant. Rare for one to be found all alone," Mitsuru commented. She paused for a bit before she gasped. "Ah! So that's why it is so large. The Shadows I sensed before condensed together to form it. But…" She readied her rapier and prepared her Evoker. "Just to make sure. Alright, same as always. Proceed with caution." And with that, she pressed the trigger.
Immediately after Penthesilea appeared and began scanning the Giant with Mitsuru, Aki and Shinjiro summoned their Personas. Luckily, or unluckily for the Shadow, it wasn't alert for any incoming attacks. Castor rammed the body of the Shadow while Polydeuces rained down lightning on it, resulting into shocking the Giant if the visible jumping electric shocks on its arms were to be believed.
"This is… unfortunate," Mitsuru voiced out from their back. "It has a weakness to Garu but we three don't have that. Fortunately, it lacked any resistances to our own attacks." Shinjiro smiled at that. Mitsuru opened her eyes and pointed her rapier to the Giant, commanding Penthesilea to fire several Bufus. Ice shards materialized in mid-air and then honed towards the Giant, specifically towards the area with its mask on. The ice lodged themselves on the Giant's surface and exploded, but the mask and the area it exploded on looked barely touched or scratched at all "Persistent."
As if it was awakened by the shards of ice, the Giant raised its scales, ignoring Polydeuces Zio attacks and force punches. The resounding clang the scales made allowed several Shadows to appear, as if beckoned by the Giant. Both Shinjiro and his best friend grimaced at the sight.
"Can you believe this?!" Shinjiro questioned out loud, swiping a Raven that decided to do a kamikaze attack at him. "It called reinforcements like it was nothing!" He saw a Raven stopped on its tracks, raising its wings and making minute blue crystals to appear in mid-air. At the sight of an incoming attack, Shinjiro quickly ran towards Aki, who was across the road punching several headless pairs of Dancers. With a push and a block with his Battle Axe, Aki stumbled down the road and Shinjiro braced the Bufu attack. Since he had taken the place of his best friend, the ice materialized in front of him instead of Aki, who was quick enough to get up on his feet.
Ice hastily materialized an inch in front of him and it was only with the battle axe already in position allowed Shinjiro to push the exploding wave of frost and ice from damaging him much. It was quite strong since he can still feel the frost on his weapon and the creeping cold at his arms, but the full force of the attack was negated mostly.
Still, it was a wise decision. Aki acknowledged Shinjiro's action with a nod and immediately whipped his Evoker out of his holster. Polydeuces appeared and Shinjiro can feel the effects of Dia flow through him, working in tandem with his own innate healing abilities. "You shouldn't have," he muttered, swinging his weapon at an incoming Beast and summoning Castor afterwards.
"Heh. Just accept it." Aki then commanded his Persona to unleash several Sonic Punches at the surrounding Shadows, with Polydeuces punching the air with the needle arm and the air solidifying itself to hit the Shadows. Some immediately dispersed into mist from the strong displaced air while some were thrown across the pavement. Shinjiro turned his head and saw Mitsuru keeping up with the two of them, making holes at several of the Shadows that thought she was an easy prey. He inwardly smiled at the sight of their leader kicking a Beast in the head, her sharp heels of her boots making an actual hole on the Shadow's forehead, and summoning Penthesilea to freeze any remaining Shadows around her.
The wave of Shadows the Giant had summoned were disposed in just a span of 3 minutes from their joined efforts, leaving the lone Giant Shadow in the middle of the intersection making a ruckus of its scales. Shinjiro saw a smirk in Aki's face and he agreed at his best friend's expression. Either the Shadow had already exhausted its own reserves from summoning or there was nothing left to call, it was still something all three of them were glad to have happened.
Aki immediately pulled out the watch and called their attention, raising three fingers after he returned it to his pocket. "We've got less than 15 minutes, let's finish this," Mitsuru remarked, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead. The two boys readied, weapons ready and Evokers back in their holsters. All three of them were quite exhausted already; their Personas reflecting their exhaustion by a decrease in their attack strength, judging from the repeated castings of Zio and Bufu done by Aki and Mitsuru moments ago despite the fact only a single hit from their Elemental Attacks killed the Shadows minutes after the Dark Hour hit. As such, summoning them would be inconvenient and outright waste of effort and time at worst or a clincher and turnabout at best.
The three of them rushed the drained Giant with their weapons, Mitsuru slashing the scales it had, Shinjiro swinging his battle axe at the sword it was using as a stand and Aki punching the shit out of the Shadow. It was exhausted, just like them, and its previous upright stance was replaced by a hunched over position, allowing their resident boxer to punch the Shadow's mask. It was through numerous tries and countless mishaps that they discovered the Shadow's 'true' weaknesses, their masks.
Normally they wouldn't be able to hit the mask with their own and their Personas' attacks or when they do, its constitution was much stronger than they expected. But there were certain cases that when they managed to hit the masks, the Shadow got knocked down from its stance and its defenses wide open for the three of them to attack. Hence if the situation allows them to hit the mask, they would do it without hesitation. Though Shinjiro grimaced at the existence of various Shadow masks that were harder than steel when his weapon hits it but were like china when Mitsuru's rapier pierced instead. It was annoying, having varying physical resistances. As if Elemental weaknesses weren't a problematic thing already.
The Shadow toppled over itself from the enhanced punches Aki let loose on it. Its large sword was already broken and already halfway into mist when Mitsuru finished the scale it had, that for some reason moved and gained a mask on its own. Thankfully, the Balance - the type of Shadow that resembled a pair of balance scales - had Bufu skills only and Mitsuru enjoyed making holes at the Shadows faux metal body, sporting a small smile as she made her way beside Shinjiro. He and their leader would have joined Aki into finishing the Giant but it rose out of the ground instead and decided to flail around. Out of desperation most likely, not thinking on the possible collateral damage it would cause.
Shinjiro would have remarked that it was funny to see a large Shadow flailing around in terror but the Giant's actions hit Aki at his midsection with the halfway gone sword it had, taking the words out of his mouth and replacing it with a gasp of disbelief.
"Akihiko!" Mitsuru shouted, scrambling across the pavement towards Aki with her Evoker ready. Penthesilea appeared and cast Dia on Aki, exhausting their team leader's last remnants of mental stamina. She knelt down on one knee, cradling Aki's head as his best friend braced his arms around his torso from the pain. The weapon's sharp portion was already gone so its hilt was instead used to strike Aki's midsection, a fact Shinjiro was silently thankful for since it would be much worse if Aki had a large gash on his stomach.
It was like time stood still for Shinjiro. Aki got hit and the strike was probably stronger than Aki had expected; his eyes were still shut, sweat forming from his scrunched forehead and eyebrows tensed up, showing how much he's in pain. Mitsuru was already out of strength to summon Penthesilea, shuffling her pockets for any healing items that mysteriously worked in their hands. While her hands were patting around her pockets and the small bag she had around her waist for their medicine, her eyes were focused on the remaining Shadow in the middle of the intersection instead. Shinjiro was focused on it as well.
It seemed to have calmed down from its flailing and saw Mitsuru and Aki as easy and wide open targets; the gaping strange hole its lower body belonged to rippled across the concrete, bringing the Giant closer to his friends. The Giant had discarded already its useless weapon, the hilt already motes of reddish black mist in front the gasoline station's signboard, and instead had its large, bulky and obviously heavy as-
'Fuck!'
Shinjiro pulled out the Evoker from his holster and readied to press the trigger, its barrel at the side of head. He was too far from the, the Shadow's void-like hole apparently ignored gravity with its magic bullshit. They haven't seen a Giant move before since it wasn't moving at all at their past missions with it as a target. But as he was about to activate the Evoker, his thoughts immediately went to Aki and Mitsuru.
'Castor's fast enough to stop the Giant. I'll just summon him and have him materialize at the Giant's trajectory and he'll do the rest but Aki and Mitsuru would still be in the way!'
His hands felt clammy.
'What if they still got hurt? What if the Giant's hands are too much for Castor's force field? Counter would be the best choice but it has to take some time to charge and time is limited right now!'
He began to shake.
'Mitsuru will get hit and even if she already had her Persona awakened, she's at the perfect location to get injured. Severely. The wall behind her will collapse at them, tumbling down and covering them in rubble. The weight of the cement will knock them out or worse, kill them.'
The air around him seemed to be thin all of a sudden.
'And Aki is with her. He's already hurt and he's in pain! It will… kill him.'
The green glow of the moon disappeared and he can smell dust. And wet paper. Cardboard.
'If they die… Miki's gone. Mitsuru will be. And Aki will too.'
The almost gone scar around his head was throbbing again. He can see the shapes of large men and he can hear something about 'a deal is a deal, sir'. Something was being forced into his mouth and was forced to swallow it with water.
'I'll be alone again.'
He can see the window and freedom. The man was gone and he will be soon.
'No! Castor! Kill the Shadow! With all of you've got!'
He pressed the trigger and the last remnants of his mental strength went to summoning Castor.
'I won't allow them to die! Kill it instead of them!'
Castor appeared. In a flurry of blood-stained glass, he came with eyes glowing in an eerie yellow light.
A.N. Happy New Year!
