Mercenaries of Fortune Chapter 9
The Midnight Channel, Inside the Castle, Saturday, April 23, 15: 26 local time.
It took only two trips, but now the Investigation Team, whose members were Yu Narukami, Yosuke Hanamura, Chie Satonaka, Teddie, and Minato Arisato, had managed to reach the top floor of the TV world dungeon that was known as Yukiko's Castle. Enforcer accompanied them on this trip since he didn't have anything that required his attention for the afternoon, and he proved to be a valuable ally since he knew the strengths and weaknesses of the random Shadows in the dungeon.
"She is probably in the room behind this door. I hope you guys are ready." the mercenary said.
The members of the Investigation Team nodded in agreement and then opened the door, revealing a large room. There were two Yukikos inside, but Enforcer knew that one of them was a Shadow.
As soon as the Shadow began to speak, Enforcer whispered to everyone, "Aw shit. I don't think it would be a good idea to try to prevent Yukiko from denying her Shadow, so we should stay silent and get ready to kick some ass."
Sure enough, after a bit of talking, Yukiko shouted at the Shadow, "You're not me!" and it immediately started gaining strength as it leapt to the chandelier and transformed. The chandelier crashed down towards the real Yukiko, but Izanagi formed and intercepted it before the furniture piece could crash on top of the heiress to the Amagi Inn, giving Yu enough time to get her out of the way. He placed her behind a pillar while Minato summoned his persona, Neo Orpheus, and slapped Shadow Yukiko with War Cry.
The Shadow attacked Chie normally, but the damage was negligible due to the attack's reduced power. She fired off a Skull Cracker in retaliation and harmed the Shadow, which looked like a large bird in a golden cage.
Shadow Yukiko quickly summoned something that resembled a prince after Minato attacked again, at which point the blue-haired boy focused on taking out the new enemy. Yu also shifted his attention to the enemy reinforcement and attacked it as did Yosuke. Chie also joined in on attacking the Charming Prince, allowing Minato to shift his attention back to the Shadow, which was trying to attack Yosuke. After about five or seven minutes, the Charming Prince was defeated. Shadow Yukiko tried to summon it again, but failed since it would not answer.
Enforcer caught on to what was going on and said to Yu and his allies, "No reinforcements will come. Now's your chance to attack!" They decided to do so and some time into the fight, the Shadow decried them, calling them worthless commoners and unleashed a nasty fire attack that would have caused some problems if War Cry wasn't in effect since it got applied again before Shadow Yukiko could act. Chie had guarded before the attack came since she was weak to fire attacks, preventing the Shadow from being able to act for while.
After another round of attacks from the Investigation Team, Shadow Yukiko flat-out used a powerful physical attack on Yosuke, knocking him down and then attacked him again, rendering him unconscious. Before the Shadow could retreat back into its cage however, Izanagi fired off a Zionga spell that hit it.
"NO!" Shadow Yukiko yelled as the cage crashed to the ground, taking the chunk of ceiling that the chandelier was attached to with it and the stone completely crushed the cage and its Shadow resident, stirring up dust in the process.
After it settled, the Shadow had regressed back into its normal form, but its clothing was heavily damaged and tattered.
"Ugh." the real Yukiko grunted as she got onto her feet. At the same time, Yosuke woke up and managed to barely stand.
Yu noticed and said to her, "Are you alright, Yukiko?"
Yukiko nodded in agreement and then noticed the Shadow. "No. . . I'm not-" she began to say.
Yosuke interrupted her thought and said, "We understand. You're not the only one like that, Yukiko-san. Everyone has something they can't show to other people, or don't want to admit to themselves."
After about a few minutes of talking with everyone present, Yukiko finally mustered up the courage necessary to face herself and accepted her Shadow, which transformed into the Persona Konohana Sakuya. After that was done, Yu felt the presence of something that brought out an emotion that he didn't experience before: Fear.
"The ever-long pursuit of truth beckons me to the battlefield! I do not know who your are, but. . . If you intend to seek the truth, then it is our destiny to fight!" a voice that definitely belonged to whatever was terrifying Yu Narukami echoed.
Yu then said, "I accept your challenge, whoever is there."
The voice replied, "Well then, let us duel to the death within my realm, where no one can interrupt us! Your friends shall come too, by the way."
An orange vortex then appeared below Yu, Chie, Minato, and Yukiko, sucking them in before it disappeared.
Unknown Realm.
Yu immediately landed on his feet and was surprised that none of his bones had broke. Looking at his surroundings, he noticed that he was standing alone on a red plain. The sky of the realm was quite erratic too. Yu then noticed Yukiko falling towards him from above and caught her in his arms before setting her onto her feet. Chie and Minato quickly ran by and rejoined.
The terrifying voice returned and said, "Only one of our two teams will escape this domain alive. The team who wins will get closer to the truth and return to the normal realm in triumph. You seek the truth. . . then, like me, you must be seeking to ensure that Hope passes the test."
A skeleton wearing a matador's outfit appeared in front of everyone and said, "Only the strongest can be allowed to represent Hope in the test to see what humanity truly wishes, but I know that you have a mystery forced upon you to prevent the truth from being seen. This test is meant for a master swordsman that has put an end to countless lives amidst blood and applause. . . That warrior is I, Matador. It is unfortunate that we have no spectators, but I believe this will be an excellent show regardless, as you and I contend to solve the case. Unfortunately, the case cannot be solved by mundane means. You should leave it to someone more supernaturally experienced, like myself. . . But, since it is unlikely that you'll heed my advice. . ."
Matador raised his sword and continued, "I challenge you to fight to see which one of us is truly worthy of solving the case. . . I swear by my Sword and Capote that once again I shall prove victorious! Now let the battle begin."
It immediately began as Yu, Minato, Yukiko, and Chie felt a cool breeze refresh them. Matador then quipped, "Charge me with all your strength! Your horns cannot pierce my soul! Red Capote!" as he increased his agility.
Minato quickly slapped War Cry on Matador as Yu had Izanagi increase his attack power with Tarukaja. Yosuke quickly cast Dekaja on Matador to get rid of Red Capote's effect, but the embodiment of death simply cast it on himself again, prompting Yukiko to use a Purifying Water to cancel it out again. Minato attacked Matador and managed to land a critical hit on the Fiend, allowing the team to follow up with an All-Out Attack. Yu then had Izanagi use Cleave on the Matador and Chie attacked with a Black Spot.
Matador then said, "Impressive. . . but the moment of truth is beyond your grasp. . . I alone can discern it!" as he focused. Yukiko fired off an Agi spell at Matador, which hit and allowed Minato to unleash a Bufula attack that also hit. Yu used a normal attack as did Chie, but when they were done attacking, Matador made a gesture with his sword that meant, 'Bring It.' and enraged everyone. Yukiko threw her fan accurately at Matador and hit the Fiend and repeated the action. Minato also unleashed two powerful normal attacks as did Yu and Chie. After that round of attacks, Matador simply hit everyone hard with a Rampage attack that criticaled and followed it up with Tarukaja. Yukiko was nearly unconscious, but recovered from her rage and healed while Minato unleashed two normal attacks again. Yu also attacked twice and the second strike defeated the Fiend and allowed him, Chie, and Minato to calm down.
Yu Narukami noticed something appear where Matador once stood and picked it up. It was a Candelabrum that that had the Kanji for 'Foundation' written on it.
A/N: well, we have some abilities in this story that are not in the game.
Persona abilities from this story introduced in this chapter: War Cry, Red Capote, Taunt, Focus, Pierce.
War Cry: decreases the strength of the next Physical, Fire, Ice, Electric, Wind, or Almighty skill or normal attack used by one enemy to 1/5 and lowers their attack by 40% for three turns. Power reduction negates and is negated by Power Charge or Mind Charge while attack reduction negates and is negated by Dekunda or Tarukaja. Costs 24 SP.
Red Capote: raises one character's hit/evasion by 250% for three turns. Exclusive to Matador. Costs 24 SP.
Taunt: Enrages all enemies and increases their attack and hit/evasion by 40% for three turns while reducing their defense by 40% for three turns. Exclusive to Strength Arcana Personae, Yoshitsune, and Fiend Bosses. Costs 20 SP.
Focus: Ensures that the next attack that hits an enemy will be a critical hit. Costs 18 SP.
Pierce: Bypasses all means of elemental protection except Absorb. Ignores Supreme Insight. Passive Ability.
Now it's time to show the statistics of Minato's initial persona, Neo Orpheus.
Neo Orpheus
Description: Scientists began a massive project to create robotic soldiers to combat the Shadows as early as the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, and their first attempt at creating an Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon happened to have succeeded a little too well. Now given life again by advanced technology, Orpheus embarks on a journey to find the one who will put an end to human sacrifice after escaping the laboratory.
Arcana: World
Current Level: 21
Abilities: War Cry, Agilao, Bufula, Megido, Power Slash (LV 22), Focus (LV 23), Diarahan (LV 33), Arms Master (LV 35), Megidola (LV 38), Agidyne (LV 43), Bufudyne (LV 46), Ziodyne (LV 51), Torrent Shot (LV 60), Megidolaon (LV 65), Spell Master (LV 85), Pierce (LV 97).
Resistances and Weaknesses: Resists Physical, Fire, Ice, Electric, Wind, Light, and Dark.
And finally, I decided to take a liberty from Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne by having Fiend battles set around. All Fiends are Personae that have to be fought first before they can be summoned, and they all bear the Death Arcana. Here's Matador's stats.
Fiend Matador
HP: 1000
SP: 800
Resistances and Weaknesses: Immune to Wind, Light, Dark, and all status changes.
Abilities: Red Capote, Taunt, Rampage, Power Charge, Dekunda, Tarukaja, Focus.