Disclaimer:
Atlus is the creator of the Shin Megami Tensei series of games, which this story uses as source material. As per the subject matter, all characters, events, places, and concepts used in this story are a work of fiction.

Fall and Rebirth
By: RB3

Fool Arcana 9: King of Bel

Saturday, July 14, 2012

After being rescued from the TV World, the prisoners had returned to their ordinary lives. After experiencing such surreal, harrowing events, they were relieved to be back home with friends and family. The media interviewed each person who had been kidnapped, but nobody believed their fantastic tales about demons, a world beyond the TV, and super-powered teenagers. The Investigation Team had also discovered a new Persona user, Ai Ebihara, the beautiful popularity queen of Yasogami, among the victims. She now sat with the team, who asked her about her kidnapping.

"I was at an electronics store," began Ai. "I heard buzzing and a swarm of flies just came out of the TV and grabbed me. They dumped me in the prison cell with an egg. Then you guys showed up and you know the rest."

"It's likely one of the Bels," remarked Naoto.

"Bels?" asked Ai.

"They're demons like the one who kidnapped you," replied Naoto. "We got two, but there are still more at large."

"So, do all of you have a Persona, like I do?" asked Ai.

"Yep," replied Chie.

"I've seen you guys together, but I'd never think that this was why," remarked Ai. "How did you meet up?"

The Investigation Team took turns telling Ai about their efforts during the murders which began with Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi. Each member had been thrown in, except for Chie and Yosuke, who had ventured into the Shadow world on their own to explore it. They also told her about Rise Kujikawa and Souji Seta, former members who had left Inaba earlier in the year. As the new school year started, they had a new case dropped into their laps. Demons started to appear on the other side, crossing over to kidnap people on this side. They had recruited Nanako Dojima and Naoki Konishi during this case.

"Souji was part of the team too?" asked Ai incredulously.

"Yes," replied Naoto. "We'd appreciate it if you'd join us. It will be dangerous, but your Persona will help us greatly."

"Of course," replied Ai.

"Wonderful! Tell me more about you Persona," asked Naoto.

"Yeah, I want to know more about that hot babe," said Teddie.

"Her name is Alraune," replied Ai. "Her vines can tie people up and she has healing magic. She has many attacks which can confuse or weaken her enemies. That makes it easy for us to pick them off while they're distracted."

"Nice, so she's a healing and ailment-based Persona," remarked Naoto.

"Ah, I see you have some new friends with you," remarked an unknown man as he approached the team's table. The team looked over to see that the voice was from the gigolo.

"So, have you come to tell us anything new?" asked Chie.

"My, my, straight to the point, but yes, that's exactly why I'm here," replied the gigolo. "From your adventures over on the other side, you've crossed paths with Belzaboul. He is known by many names, Beelzebub, Baal Zebul, and Lord of the Flies. He is one of the most powerful Bels, if not THE most powerful, yet it even he is but a mere underling. Whether his master is involved in these events remains to be seen."

"Beelzebub?" asked Naoki.

"Does he mean the demon from Christian myth?" asked Yukiko.

"The one and the same," replied the gigolo. "Another of the Bels who has become active is Pabelsag. He also has a master, but has only recently come under his service. Under orders, he will head to Okina City on the other side to summon more demons for his master. He will do this throughout the first day of August. You might be able to catch him then."

"Just when summer vacation starts," remarked Yosuke. "...And I was hoping to relax."

"The other Bels may try to interfere, so you might meet them as well," suggested the gigolo. "Well, I guess I've said enough for one day. You guys are a riot! I'm having a blast watching all this unfold. Put on a good show for me." The gigolo chuckled as he disappeared into Junes.

"He thinks this is all some kind of game," remarked Yukiko.

"Well, I'm not having much fun," quipped Naoki.

"I wonder if he's leading us into a trap," remarked Ai. "Even if he's not, if the other Bels show up, we'll get caught in the crossfire."

"We'll be ready. We can kick all of their asses in one go, no waiting around for them to start killing people before we fight back," said Kanji.

"Yes, I agree," said Naoto. "Let's mark our calendars for that day."


Wednesday, August 1, 2012

End of semester exams came and went for Yasogami High on the last week of July. The students studied diligently, hoping to make the highest grade possible to impress their families and enrolment officials at the universities and colleges. When the week long hell was over, all the students breathed collective sighs of relief. Summer vacation came just shortly after, granting the students a much needed break and the freedom to do whatever they wished.

In Okina City in the Shadow World, a scorpion-man stood before an eight-pointed star drawn by red paint. At each point of the star was a burning red candle which filled the air with smoky incense. With arms raised, the scorpion-man, the demon named Pabelsag, focused his great power upon the star. It glowed with a passionate red light which rose into the sky. A beautiful goddess descended from above, hovering over the magical sign before Pabelsag.

This goddess was a woman with silky skin and long blonde hair which flowed all the way to the small of her back. She had long horns on her head which made her look somewhat devilish. She had a youthful face with eyes closed and very delicate features. The only things she wore was a short white skirt, a matching top, and anklet. She was Ishtar, the Sumerian goddess of love. "Ah, so it's you, Pabelsag. What can I do for you or do to you?"

"You are bound to me, Ishtar," stated Pabelsag. "You will assist me in the service of my master."

"Of course, honey. Lead the way," said Ishtar.

Some time later, the Survivors had entered Okina City of the Shadow world. They approached an intersection and cast a gaze down the nearest street. "The city's so huge. How are we going to find Pabelsag?" asked Yuzu.

"We'll have to try," replied Keisuke. "Fushimi is getting close to finding a lead on the summoners. He wants every man he can get on it, so we've got this one by ourselves."

"I don't like it, but we'll have to split up," said Saemon. "If you see Pabelsag, don't try to face him alone. Call for back up. I'll take the south end. You guys divide the rest among yourselves."

"Okay, I've got the east," said Atsuro.

"I'll go downtown," said Midori.

The Survivors split up and started to comb the town for the whereabouts of Pabelsag or any of the demons he had summoned. Ten minutes elapsed in his search before Saemon sensed residual demonic energy as a tingle in the air. Following it, he found himself inside an eerily quiet shopping mall. There were rows of stores lining the hallway, each with stocked shelves, but no sales clerks or shoppers moving about. As Saemon pursued the demonic energy, he found the food court.

All of the tables and chairs had been gathered and piled in the corner of the room. On the ground was a pentagram, drawn with red ink or paint. At each point in the star was a black candle, some of which still continued to burn and fill the air with smoky incense. Most of the candles had already burnt out by the time Saemon's team had entered the scene. The area around the pentagram had an electricity to it, an eerie feeling of supernatural power to it. Whoever had drawn this pentagram was clearly not in the area.

"Master Abel, Pabelsag was here. He summoned powerful demons," snarled Azathoth.

"I'll report this to the others," said Saemon. He closed his eyes, sending a message through the Babel system to this friends. "Let's go."

He and his demons passed by several stores, looking into each of them for clues. None of them had anything of interest. They soon descended a flight of stairs and came across a movie theatre. Like the rest of the mall, the whole place was empty and eerily quiet. Saemon was much more used to malls filled with the bustle of random shoppers. It was unnerving to find one so unusually vacant and quiet. He hoped that nothing was lurking in ambush, like perhaps a Shadow or a demon.

Saemon's group sat on benches near the theatre to rest. "Abel darling, we'll find what we're looking for, hang in there," said Scarlet.

As Saemon pondered where to go next, someone hidden behind a large potted plant attempted to duck under his line of sight. The spy accidentally hit his head against the pot as he lowered his head down. "Ow!" he blurted out.

Saemon immediately turned to that direction. "Is someone there?" he called out, getting up to investigate the noise.

"Oh crap!" said the spy, once he realized that he had been discovered.

The spy bolted for the nearest set of stairs. "Stop him!" cried Saemon.

Saemon, Scarlet, and Azathoth chased in hot pursuit. As Saemon approached the stairs, Scarlet flew over and ahead of the spy, descending directly in front of his path. The spy, looking over his shoulder to see his pursuers, crashed face-first into Scarlet's breasts. She was livid. "You... My body is for Abel. Hands off!"

Scarlet shoved the spy down the stairs, right past her master. As he landed at the base, Saemon came close to take a good look at his face. "Yosuke? Yosuke Hanamura?" he remarked, his jaw literally dropping.

"Ow!" groaned Yosuke, still sore from landing on the ground.

"What are you doing here? This place is dangerous!" informed Saemon.

"Yosuke, are you alright?" asked a girl as she ran in to check up on him. It was Chie Satonaka, one of the girls who sat near Yosuke in 3-2.

"Chie? You're here too?" asked Saemon incredulously.

"I'm fine," replied Yosuke.

At that moment, Chie and Yosuke's other friends came into the area to investigate. "Saemon?" asked Yukiko incredulously, gasping upon seeing him.

"What are you doing here?" asked Chie. "How did you get here and what's with that get up? You look like a sorcerer."

"I can't tell you that," he replied. "I don't know how you got here, but you shouldn't have come. It's too dangerous."

"Oh wow! Look at that babe!" remarked Teddie.

Chie looked at the shamelessly naked Scarlet. Her wings, spaded tail, and feral countenance were what drew Chie's attention. "She's..." remarked Chie.

"She's a demon," informed Nanako, manifesting Cherub to scan her and the others. "There's another one flying above us."

Chie and Yosuke immediately backed away from Saemon and Scarlet. Ai and Yukiko, noticing Azathoth floating above, kept a firm watch on him as he moved to rejoin Saemon's group. "Demons? You know about demons?" asked Saemon.

"It seems you do too if you're with them," remarked Chie. "Just who are you?"

"Abel darling, do you know these people?" asked Scarlet.

"Yeah, they're from my school," he replied.

"Abel? He's one of the Bels!" remarked Naoki. "I see, so you're the one pretending to be human! Do you know how much your kind made me suffer? I won't let you hurt anyone else like you did to me!"

Naoki summoned Hell Biker and boarded the motorcycle. "Wait!" cried Nanako, but it was too late.

Naoki had already inflamed Hell Biker and jammed the accelerator. The Investigation Team scattered as he raced by them straight for Saemon. Saemon suddenly vanished in a puff of blue light, reappearing in a new location. Hell Biker turned around and made a beeline for him once again. To defend his master, Azathoth opened his mouth to fire an Atom Smasher. The blue particle bolt struck the ground, triggering a small explosion. Hell Biker swerved away and continued his advance.

"Saemon is a demon too," Nanako informed the others. "His demon name is Abel. He's the King of Bel."

As Hell Biker closed, he lifted his front tire and attempted to drop it onto Saemon. As Hell Biker leaned on the tire, Naoki felt something resisting the downward force. When he looked down, he saw Saemon holding up the bike. Saemon lifted it overhead and hurled it at the movie theatre with Hell Biker and Naoki still on top. Hell Biker uprooted the ticket booth and smashed through a wall on his way into the viewing area. After Naoki and his Persona emerged from the hole, lightning crackled forward from Saemon's fingertips. Naoki winced in pain as it surged across his body.

His body quickly gave out and he collapsed. "I wanted to ask him more, but after this, I don't have any choice!" said Yosuke.

"No!" said Nanako. "He only attacked because Naoki came at him first."

"Still, what should we do?" asked Chie. "He's hurt and needs our help!"

"Stop!" said Naoto, as she immediately got between him and the rest of her team. "That's enough. We won't attack you anymore!"

Saemon dissipated the icy air which had formed around his hand. "You'd better have a good explanation for this," said Saemon.

"This is all a misunderstanding. We just want to ask you some things," said Chie.

"Your friend shouldn't have attacked me. I wasn't responsible for whatever harm he had suffered," stated Saemon.

At that moment, another person dashed into the area, stopping near Saemon to check on him. "Saemon, are you okay?" the person, Midori, asked.

"I'm fine," replied Saemon.

In the meantime, Teddie and Yukiko had retrieved Naoki from the theatre and applied Dia magic to heal his wounds. When he recovered enough to stand, Kanji got straight into his face. "What the hell's wrong with you? Huh?"

"Ah shove it, Kanji! You don't know how what the demons did to me. You don't understand!" retorted Naoki.

"Oh, like hell!" Kanji snapped back. "He wasn't even the one who did those things to you. We got him already."

A few feet away, Midori spoke with Saemon about what had happened. "Saemon, who are they? Why are they here?" she asked.

"They're from my class. Well, a few of them are," he replied. "I think they were here to look for Pabelsag."

Midori looked over the Investigation Team. "Yeah, I see that now. There's Naoto and Yosuke. Naoto's coming over here."

Saemon turned to Naoto. "Saemon," addressed Naoto as she approached. "We should talk somewhere safer, when things have calmed down. We're going to meet at Junes tomorrow for lunch. We'd like you to join us."

"An invitation for lunch? Sure, see you then," replied Saemon.

Saemon received a message from Yuzu through his cellphone. "Saemon," addressed Yuzu, the caller. "I saw Pabelsag, but he saw me and teleported away before I could do anything. He sent demons after me, but Atsuro and I defeated them."

"What happened over there?" asked Atsuro, taking the line from Yuzu. "We see smoke coming from the mall."

"Don't worry. I bumped into some of our classmates from 3-2 there," replied Saemon.

"Really?" asked Yuzu.

"Yeah," confirmed Saemon. "I think they were investigating the Bels like we were. One of them attacked me, thinking I was an enemy. He used a special power to call a demon-like being to fight me."

"You're not hurt, are you?" asked Yuzu.

"I'm fine," replied Saemon. "I took the guy down and Midori's here to back me up too. We're coming back for the night. They've arranged a lunch meeting at Junes tomorrow. We're going to talk to them then, so be there."


Thursday, August 2, 2012

As the minutes wound down towards noon, members of the Investigation Team started to make their way to the place of the meeting. Yosuke, who worked at Junes, was the first to step through the doors to the food court. He took the group's usual table and waited patiently for the others to arrive. Next to come was Saemon's entire group, with Chie and Yukiko following behind soon after. Five minutes later, the remaining members of the Investigation Team entered the food court and took seats around their standard table. They ordered some food to munch on while carrying out the meeting.

"Okay, now that we're all here," began Naoto. "Saemon, why don't you begin by telling us about yourself?"

"We originally came from a different world other than yours and the Shadow world," began Saemon. "In our world, we have technology which gives us control over the demons. We're part of a group which keeps the system running. I am also the King of Bel, the demon who rules over the other demons that are a part of the system."

"Wow, I'd never expect you to be a demon lord, not in a million years," remarked Yosuke.

"I don't talk about it," said Saemon humbly. "People would be scared if they knew demons existed. We came here because someone had gotten through our system's security. They've been using that vulnerability to bring demons into the Shadow world and even managed to split the Bel demons from me. All this started the trouble you've had to deal with."

"I'll say," remarked Kanji.

"During the week before Saemon became King of Bel, demons were running around all over the area in the Yamanote train line," informed Yuzu. "The government locked the area down while we were still inside to keep them from escaping."

"So you're afraid that a similar lockdown might be set up in Inaba?" asked Yukiko.

"Yeah," replied Yuzu. "Even if that doesn't happen, it's still not good to have the demons loose like this. So, how did you guys find out about them?"

"They kidnapped me," said Nanako. "They did the same thing to Naoki and Ai too."

"I see, so your friends went to rescue the three of you and fought the demons," observed Yuzu.

"To be exact, the demons had kidnapped and murdered other people before they went for Nanako," said Naoto. "It was Nanako's kidnapping that led us to the Bels."

"In that case, thank you," remarked Saemon. "You've done us a big favour. We've eliminated Beldr and Jezebel, so taking into consideration all of the ones that are dead, that leaves only Pabelsag, Belzaboul, and Belberith still at large. We have the same goals, so we should unite towards that end."

"I agree," said Naoto. "Is everyone else in favour?"

The other members all voiced "aye" votes, except for Naoki and Ai. "I still don't fully trust them," he admitted. "I haven't forgotten what the Bels did to me or Ai. I'd watch him if I were you."

"Your objections have been noted. However, the majority has voted 'aye' in favour of the alliance," announced Naoto.

Friday, August 3, 2012

The Survivors brought the Investigation Team to their base in the Shadow world, a group of houses in a quiet neighbourhood of Shadow Inaba. There were guards everywhere. These men and women appeared to be soldiers of the JSDF from their uniforms. The entire area was like a fort. The chain-like fence around the perimeter had barbed wire wrapped along its top. Soldiers and demons constantly patrolled the area. The Survivors and Investigation Team passed by an Abaddon, who simply paid them no attention as it continued its patrol.

Nanako hid behind Yuzu as the huge, blob-like demon approached. "Don't be scared, Nanako. They won't hurt you," assured Yuzu.

"Hey Nanako, I have someone you might like to meet," remarked Midori. "He'll keep the big mean demons away."

Midori summoned a demon which looked like Black Frost, but in different colours. This cute little demon, Jack Frost, was a white snow man in a blue jester's cap and mantle. "Hi hee-ho!" said Jack Frost.

"So cute!" remarked Naoto, as she gave Jack Frost a hug. He was cold to the touch, but that didn't take away from his adorable nature.

"So many soldiers here," remarked Teddie. "It's like you're going to war."

"We take this matter very seriously," said Atsuro. "We know demons can cause a lot of damage if they aren't kept under control."

Fushimi ran over to report something to Atsuro and the others. "Saemon, Atsuro, we have some good news. Thanks to the readings from your comps, my men have triangulated the summoning signatures back to their source," Fushimi reported.

Atsuro was elated to hear this. "Great! Where did it lead?"

"It led to an electronics factory on the other side belonging to Kirijo Electronics," Fushimi reported. "This facility is east of Inaba, between it and Okina City. The signal actually originates from underneath the building. I have sent men and demons to watch and infiltrate this facility. In time, we should learn who they are and what their motives are."

END OF CHAPTER