Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 3, P3P, Persona 4
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Chapter 11
Bookworms 05/03/2009 (Sunday)
After finishing our training session, Hamuko and I both left the dorm for the bookstore. On the way there she put me up to date about the situation at school. Turns out the rumor about the persimmon tree being cut down wasn't just a rumor. The staff of the school had indeed decided to cut down the tree. Why? Well, we had no idea as Mitsuru herself didn't knew that much about the situation. So now we had to report the news to Bunkichi and Mitsuko. Not even ten second after entering the store, Bunkichi and Mitsuko noticed us, and...
"Souji-chan! Are you alright? What happened to you?" Exclaimed a panicked Mitsuko while rushing toward me. I guess I couldn't fault her reaction seeing as the top of my head was completely covered in bandage. Hamuko had gone a bit overboard during our training and scored a nice hit right on my head. Of course I could've easily healed that wound by now, but Hamuko forbade me to do so. She said it was my punishment for going to Tartarus alone and being, I quote, a 'reckless idiot'. That woman was pure evil... But I could be evil too! I smirked inwardly.
"Well, you see, the truth is...!" I was silenced by a elbow to my ribs. I glanced at the responsible, only to see Hamuko giving me 'the smile'. She had obviously anticipated what I was about to do. It was bound to happen after spending so much time with each other. She now had a basic understanding of how my mind was functioning.
"He fell down some stairs. Right Souji-kun?" Hamuko said all too sweetly.
"Y-Yeah. I fell down some stairs." I stuttered in fright. My thought of vengeance all but forgotten.
"Really...Who in their right mind would play in the stairs at night." She said with a sigh. "Next time do tell me when you do something like that, so that if something happen I'll be able to help you." She finished, locking her eyes with mine, her smile still present. I quickly understood the real meaning of her words. I dropped my head in shame as she had just managed to increase the guilt I felt for my actions last night and made me look like a complete fool in front of Bunkichi and Mitsuko at the same time. Yep. Definitely evil.
Mitsuko and Bunkichi observed the both of us for a long moment, and to our surprise, began to laugh.
"So Souji-chan, what did you do that warrant Hamuko-chan hitting you?" Bunkichi asked me. I blinked in surprise.
"W-What? I-I did not-!" Cried a panicked Hamuko. I quickly cut her off.
"How did you know?" I asked, entirely ignoring Hamuko's cry of protest.
"Bah, Mitsuko used to do the same to me every time I did something stupid." He replied with a slight laugh. I placed a hand on my chin as I contemplated his words.
"Hmmm, does this mean we act like a married couple?" I muttered mostly to myself. Hamuko's head snapped in my direction. Her face turned a bright red. She was reduced to nothing more than a sputtering mess. Guess I got my revenge in the end. Though for some stupid reasons I felt the need to continue. "Should I buy you a ring then, Dear?" I asked her with a wide grin. It was then that I noticed it. Body trembling. Teeth gritted. Breathing raged and uneven. Such were the signs of my impending doom.
Five minute later we find ourselves in the back of the store, sitting at a table and drinking some tea with the eldery couple. My bandage was slightly bloodier than before I came to the store. There are some things you just don't joke about.
Anyways, Hamuko and I quickly found ourselves engaged in various conversations with the couple. Time flew by, and then came the time to inform them about the tree. From there, the mood made a complete 180°. Mitsuko was now crying and Bunkichi had a somber look plastered on his face. I knew I may come to regret that question but I needed to ask.
"If you don't mind me asking, why is that tree so important to you?" I demanded quietly.
"That tree is a reminder of our son... Before his death, he was a teacher at Gekkoukan High School..." Bunkichi started. He then explained how his son and his first students planted that tree for graduation day. I understand now, why this situation was affecting the old couple so much...
"I see... I apologize if I brought up unpleasant memories..." I said, my face grim.
"Nonsense, it's only natural for you two to know after everything you've done for us." Answered Bunkichi with a wry smile.
When Hamuko finally managed to calm down Mitsuko, we both decided it was time for us to go home. I let out a sigh as we left the store. Bunkichi and Mitsuko really didn't deserve to go through such ordeals...
Hierophant: Rank 5
"Thou art I... And I am thou..."
"Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Hierophant Arcana..."
Once we were outside of the store, I decided to focus my mind on some happier thoughts.
Sooo, let us see how much time it will take her today. Let's start the count!
One... Two... Three... Fou-.
Snatch!
Four second. That's all the time it took for Hamuko to grab my arm after leaving the bookstore. My time was definitely improving. I glanced at her face with a raised eyebrow.
"What?" She asked innocently as if she hadn't done anything strange. I shrugged with my free arm.
"Nothing." I answered.
We both started to make our way back to the dorm in silence, simply enjoying each other presence. Maybe there was some truth in what I said earlier after all... We really do act like a couple sometime... Not that I really minded... If I were to be honest with myself I would even go as far as to say I enjoyed it... Back in Inaba, there were times where Rise would try to do pretty much the same thing. However I would always try to pry her off as subtly as possible, much to her dismay. I didn't feel the need to do the same with Hamuko. Being like this with her just felt so... right. Still, I was surprised to how quick I adapted to this situation. I couldn't help but to be embarrassed the first few times she did this. Now? I merely saw it as a common thing for us to do.
Sadly, it was also during those times that I couldn't help but feel guilty for all the things I was hiding from her. It made me feel as if our relationship was founded on nothing else but a lie. Then again, the same could be said for all the members of S.E.E.S. I sighed inwardly. So much for the happier thoughts. Still, I couldn't continue like this... I still refused to tell anyone the whole truth about myself, but maybe I could at least tell Hamuko about the Velvet Room... Sure, it would raise some questions as to why I lied to her but...
"Souji-kun, are you alright?" Hamuko's voice pulled me out of my depressing thoughts. I gave her a small smile.
"Yeah, just a lot on my mind, is all." I tried to reassure her.
"Are you worried about what will happen on the next full moon?" Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth I jumped at the excuse Hamuko provided me with.
"A little I guess."
"...Should we tell the others?" She asked me quietly. I closed my eyes and thought about it for a moment.
"No." I finally said. "I don't want to put any more stress on the team that there already are, especially not over some unfounded assumptions. Besides, if we were to tell them, we would have to explain about the ghost, and I really don't look forward to that discussion." Though it would be funny as hell to see Yukari's reaction.
"I see your point." Hamuko replied with a sigh. "Still, it doesn't feel right to lie to them..."
"I know... Believe me, I know..." I muttered.
Iwatodai Dorm: Lounge
I was currently in the lounge, sitting on one of the couch. I was watching TV in an attempt to pass time before going to Tartarus. As a matter of fact, everyone was here. Hamuko and Yukari were both sitting directly to my right and left, respectively. Mitsuru was reading a book, again. Akihiko was doing, whatever, with his boxing gloves. And Junpei appeared to be in a near comatose state in front of the TV.
"Damn, I'm bored..." I complained with a sigh.
"Then now may be a good time for you to go study." Replied Mitsuru. I laughed for a good minute at that.
"Damn, good one Mitsuru." I said, wiping a tear out of my eye. I then noticed her starring at me with a blank expression. "Wait, you were serious?" Of course she was serious. It's Mitsuru after all...
"Well, the midterms are approaching." Explained Yukari. Midterms huh... Man, it feels like such a long time since I had to take one of those...
"Speaking of which, do you mind if I borrow your notes?" Junpei asked me.
"You may want to ask someone else." I answered him without missing a beat. He raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Why?"
"The truth is, I didn't write jack shit in my notebook, and this since the start of the year." I chirped happily, proud of my accomplishment. Not everyone shared my enthusiasm though.
"You what?" Bellowed an angry Mitsuru. I shrugged.
"I didn't see the need to. It's mostly materials I already knew, so I usually use a Dormina spell to sleep in class."
"...You use spells at school?" Mitsuru was now hissing instead of talking. It was not a good sign. At all. But then again, since when did I care? I just needed to turn her accusations against her and that would be enough to shut her up.
"As if you're one to talk. You freely use your Ice spells against me when you get into one of your fits." I said, scoffing.
"T-This has nothing to do with this." She stuttered with an embarrassed blush. I sighed.
"But seriously, I'm pretty confident I'll ace this test." I said, getting back on track. "Hell, I'm even ready to make a bet out of it." I continued with a confident smirk.
"What are the terms?" Mitsuru demanded with a strange glint in her eyes.
"It's simple. I have to score the highest score in my year to win. Anything else will result in my loss. If I lose, I will join the student council and promise not to ditch a single day of school for the rest of the year." I knew it was too good an opportunity for Mitsuru to pass up.
"And if you win?" She pressed on, slightly narrowing her eyes at me.
"If I win, you have to ditch school with me for a whole day." I told her with a large smile.
"Hahaha, there's no way you'll get Mitsuru-senpai to agree to this!" Exclaimed a laughing Junpei.
"I agree. She'd sooner kill herself than break the rules," Commented Akihiko in mild amusement.
"Deal." Mitsuru announced, much to the shock of... well, everyone. I admit I expected her to make a fuss when I stated my conditions. Or at the very least try to impale me with a Bufu spell. Strange. I'm not going to complain though. I glanced at my watch. One hour before Tartarus.
"If I hurry I may be able to sneak inside the school and steal the answers for the test before the Dark Hour kick in." As soon at those words left my mouth I found myself with a makeshift blade of ice pointed at my throat.
"Try to cheat and I assure you this is the last thing you will ever do." I glanced at the weapon in utter surprise but with no real worry. The sword had some flaws here and here, and the blade itself wasn't as sharp as it should be, but it was combat-usable nonetheless.
"You went from freezing my door to creating weapons made of ice in just one freaking day? You really took a shine to shape manipulation, didn't you?" I saw Mitsuru giving me an arrogant smirk. "That's pretty cool, though I bet you still can't reinforce your body with SP, correct?" And there goes the smirk.
"All of us would probably already know how if you had bothered to teach us!" She snapped angrily.
"That again? We just talked about it the other day! I will not teach you anything unless you can summon your Persona without an evoker!" I retorted, just as angrily.
"I fail to see why you're so adamant about this." Mitsuru continued, not bothering to hide her annoyance in the least. Though she did take the blade away from my throat. That's an improvement, right?
"Because by all right you guys should not even be able to summon your Personae. And I highly doubt those Evokers allows you to draw on their full potential. Believe me, it's imperative that you guys learn how to do this." Because I'd rather not have to use the other method... That's why I was hoping to use the whole training thing as a motivation of sort... So far it didn't seem to work...
"And how do we do that exactly? No offense but you've been pretty vague about it." Complained Akihiko.
"Fair enough. Let's start from the very beginning. What are Shadows and Personae?" I asked to everyone in the room.
"That's an easy one! Shadows are the evil monsters and Personae the thing we use to defeat them!" Declared Junpei proudly. I shook my head in amusement at the simple answer.
"Technically, you're not wrong. But that's not the answer I'm looking for. Let's put it another way. Why are Personae able to damage Shadows? Why are Persona-users, the only thing able to kill Shadows for that matter?" After a minute with no one answering I decided to give the answer. "It's because Shadows and Personae are the exact same thing to begin with." I said calmly
"What?" Everyone in the room stood up in shock at my declaration. I frowned at their reaction.
"I can understand Hamuko, Junpei and Yukari not knowing about this since they just got their power, but you two?" I continued with a pointed look at Mitsuru and Akihiko.
"Are were we supposed to know?" Demanded a slightly disturbed Mitsuru.
"You created a means to summon a Persona artificially, yet you tell me you did so with no understanding of what Shadows and Personae are?" I inquired with a raised eyebrow. "Well, no matter." I continued before she could answer. "May I continue with my explanation?" Once everyone was back to their seats I went on with the explanation. "Shadows are suppressed human thoughts given physical form. Everyone has them inside. You guys are no exception. The only difference is that you've tamed your Shadows. Thus becoming a Persona... Sort of." I finished lamely.
"What do you mean sort of?" This time it was Akihiko who asked.
"To tames one's Shadows, means to be able to accept every single aspect of yourself. You can do so naturally or... forcefully." Judging by Hamuko's expression she caught on on what I was implying.
"...Forcefully?" He demanded once more. I took a deep breath and began to explain.
"Imagine a copy of yourself coming out of your body and divulging all of your deepest and darkest secrets for all the world to hear. Failure to accept oneself will result in the Shadow going berserk, and trying to kill its host. Add to that the fact that those Shadows are exceptionally strong. Remember the one on the rooftop? Well, I guess it falls in the same category... A strong-willed Shadow that draws others to it in order to increase its own power..." I let the words sink in before continuing. "Now the thing with all of you is that your Personae were already in the process of awakening, but you've forced the process in yet another way. The Evoker." I paused, thinking of the best way to explain why the evoker caused such a problem. "Forcing the process by calling out one's Shadow while dangerous can still be considered natural. You, however, literally jumped a step, binding your Persona to yourselves without having to face your own Shadows. Because of this, you are now unable to summon your Persona without outside help, and things like Shape manipulation or Reinforcing will probably be harder for you to master. If Mitsuru got it so quickly it's in great part due to how much experience she actually has as a Persona-user. There is also the risk of your Shadow popping out at any given moment to have a nice chat with you." Though in reality it would only happen if I took them to the Shadow World. Which will probably be the case at one point or another. I purposely ignored the blanching faces of all the S.E.E.S. members and went on with my list. After all, fear was a good motivator. "Let's not even talk about the possibility of your Persona transfiguring being drastically diminished."
"Transfiguring?" Questioned Hamuko quietly.
"When a individual reach a certain state of mind, it is possible for its Persona to... evolve. For example, my main Persona used to be Izanagi. Not Izanagi-no-Okami. It took me nearly being killed by Shadows to have an epiphany, which in turn allowed Izanagi to transfigure." Mitsuru's eyes flashed with realization.
"It was when we found you, wasn't it?" I nodded at her question. "I see... I guess I can understand why you were so insistent about this now..." She muttered. I glanced at everyone face and saw them lost in their own thoughts. I guess that was a lot to take in...
"Hey..." I turned my head toward Yukari when she called me. "You said Shadows are born from humans right? Does this mean, humanity is to blame for Tartarus? For the Dark Hour?" Yukari's question got everyone's attention. I could fell all of their combined stares on me. I gave a small sigh and answered.
"Partially." I admitted. "Humanity as a whole is responsible for all the Shadows residing inside of Tartarus. We, however, are not responsible for whatever created Tartarus. What I'm trying to say is, without Tartarus, the Shadows would have never been able to appear in the first place."
"But didn't you say there was a possibility for a Shadow to be behind the creation of the Dark Hour?" She pressed on. I was treading on dangerous ground right now. Igor's warning kept ringing in the back of my head. I had already disclosed a good deal of information. However it was way too soon to even think about mentioning Nyx.
"It's just that, a possibility. As your leader I have to prepare for all kind of situations and how to best deal with them. I am merely envisaging the worst case scenario by assuming that the Dark Hour and Tartarus are being caused by a living entity. Just as I said before, if someone or something is behind this, it has enough power to literally tear apart the fabric of both time and space. Hence the reason why I'm so insistent about you guys training outside of Tartarus." Once I was finished with my explanation I glanced back at my watch. "We have half an hour left before we need to depart for Tartarus." I stood up from the couch. "It would be best for you all to use that time to reflect on everything I told you. In the future if you happen to have any questions about Shadows or Persona don't hesitate to come to me. I'll answer them to the best of my abilities." With that said, I left the lounge for my own room. I had to get ready for battle.
Tartarus
I was seriously starting to regret informing the team about what Shadows and Personae were. Right now we were waiting in the lobby of Tartarus, and during all the time it took us to come here, no one had uttered a single word. Not even Junpei! What was the world coming to, really?
As for what we were waiting well... Mitsuru merely told us she would be a little late...
Vrooooom!
Speaking of the devil, here she was...
…
HOLY FUCKING SHIT! I now perfectly understood why she was late. I highly doubt she wanted the rest of the town to see her like this. Indeed, Mitsuru was clad in nothing but the infamous High cut armor. And it was... Freaking. Awesome. Damn! Why can't electronic works during the Dark Hour! I need to take a picture!
Once Mitsuru got down from her motorcycle I took notice of the huge blush adorning her face and the fact that she was fidgeting uncomfortably. Not surprising given that everyone was starring at her with various expressions plastered on their faces.
"W-What?" She stuttered, though the question appeared to be mostly directed at me. I would have love nothing more than to spend some time teasing her, but we had already lost too much time and I was dead set on not fooling around anymore, at least not while in a Shadow-related environment. There was a place and time for everything.
"Nothing." I said with a shake of the head. "You do realize you could've just put the armor on top of some normal clothes, right?" I deadpanned. True, doing this may have slightly reduced her mobility but the protection gained from the armor made it more than worth it. Speaking of which, why didn't I think of that earlier... Maybe my perverted mind was clouding my thoughts at the time... Damn, I was really starting to act like Ted if that was the case. I ignored Mitsuru's shock filled face, which was probably due to my reaction or lack thereof. Or maybe she was simply too busy mentally berating herself for not thinking of an alternate solution on her own, therefore indulging herself in such shameful act... Definitely the second.
I clapped my hands loudly for all to hear. "Alright kids! We have a tower to explore! No fooling around. I want to reach that so called barrier by the end of tonight's session!" My announcement done I headed toward the teleporter.
The ascension of the tower was made without any outside support. Apparently Mitsuru was too busy venting her frustration on some poor innocent bystander. May your soul find peace, Akihiko.
Anyway, thanks to that Mitsuru hadn't noticed the fact that my SR had increased even before entering the tower. Therefore I could now put the blame on the Shadows we had encountered today. Yep. Everything was going just great.
We finally reached the stairs leading to the last Boss Shadow currently accessible. Time to contact Mitsuru.
"Hey Mitsuru, sorry to interrupt your private time with Akihiko but we kinda need support here." I called. My teammates all let out a slight chuckle at that, and I could swear I somewhat heard Mitsuru hiss at me over the communicator. Nah, probably some crappy interference.
/- Just go already. -/ She answered coldly.
I glanced back at my teammates. No words were exchanged. They all nodded at me to indicate that they were ready. I gave a nod of my own and went up the stairs. We were immediately greeted by an huge Shadow rushing at us. It was obviously a Chariot arcana. A huge armored body mounted on leg shaped wheels. Its arms if they could be called that, were two giants spike protruding from each of his sides. The last thing worthy of notice, was the yellow mask laying on top of the armor which may have been an indication about which element this thing was using..
I immediately acted on instinct and ran ahead of the group. I reared back my right arm and started to use shape manipulation in conjunction with the water element. The result? A water shaped fist roughly the size of the Shadow was now covering the extremity of my arm. With a cry I swung said appendage at the monster. The impact was enough to send the creature fly in the opposite direction. The Shadow crashed against a wall, effectively killing it's momemtum. I took out my luger and shot three bullets at the monstrosity. My fear were confirmed when all of them bounced harmlessly off the heavily reinforced armor.
"Surround it! Keep yourself at max distance! It's most likely immune to all physical attack! Yukari be careful for any Zio spell it may use!" I barked my orders, my eyes not leaving the Shadow.
I placed my gun back into the holster and rushed toward the recovering monster. Now was a good time to use my second fusion spell. I crossed my arm, palm wide open, and closed my eyes. Two cards descended in my hands.
"Fusion spell..." I muttered, not stopping my charge. "LIFE CYCLE!" I crushed the cards, uncrossing my arms as I did so. My eyes flew open as a familiar rush of power began coursing through me. Yamato-Takeru and Izanagi-no-Okami appeared, flying at my side. Two blades began to form in my hands.
In my right hand, a blade made of pure light. Radiating a calming warmth. A blade capable of cutting through the deepest darkness.
In my left hand, a blade made of unrestrained shadows. Swallowing all light and oozing nothing but cold and unforgiving emptiness.
In my right hand, was the physical incarnation of life, whereas in my left, was the incarnation of death.
This, was Life Cycle, my second fusion spell.
To be perfectly honest I hadn't perfectly mastered this spell yet. In addition to that, my experience in dual-wielding was passable at best. Yet, this was the perfect weapon I needed against this foe.
Now in range, I jumped at the monster and swung both of my blade downwards, aiming at the mask. The Shadow shifted its body at the last moment and I ended up cutting through one of its arm instead. I sliced through it effortlessly. The monster let out a roar of pain. His body began to spin and I had to duck under the remaining spike in order to avoid getting hit.
The sound of gunshots reasoned through the room. A fireball crashed right into the yellow mask of the Shadow. An ice spike went through his body and a wave of wind made him lose its footing. Taking that as my cue to continue my attacks, I lunged toward the downed form of the monster.
/- Be careful! It's starting to charge up a spell! -/ Warned Mitsuru.
I stopped in my tracks and leaped backward, narrowly avoiding being struck by lightning. I shifted my Persona to Rokuten-Maoh and sliced at the card with one of my blade. A second wave of lightning hit me but I was unaffected by it. The same couldn't be said for the others as I heard a sharp cry of pain from one of my teammates. Rokuten-Maoh had closed the distance between the Shadow and myself and delivered a massive strike at its body. For the second time tonight, the monster went crashing against a wall. This time however it ended up buried under a pile of rubble.
/- Strike attacks are effective! -/ Announced Mitsuru.
I switched my Persona one more and sliced the card. Susano-o materialized and cast a Sukukaja on me. Again, lightning began to fall, I dodged the spell with my newfound speed. The form of the Shadow emerged from the rubble, only to get struck by another fireball along with a second ice spike. I lunged toward the monster once again and quickly found myself at striking distance. The body of the Shadow began to spin on itself once more, in preparation for an attack. I crouched down, dodging the blow, and spun in the opposite direction, slashing the air with both of my blade. My weapons hit their mark and began eating through the frame of the enemy. I found myself forced to leap away as the Shadow began to trash around violently. I dismissed my blades, my SP starting to run dangerously low.
"Junpei! Hamuko! Give me some fire!" I shouted.
Bang! Bang!
Two fireballs appeared, flying fast toward the enemy. I crushed Susano-o's card and fueled the fire with a Garu spell. Our combined actions resulted in an inferno that engulfed everything on its path. I didn't lowered my guard yet though.
"Mitsuru?" I called quietly.
/- It's still alive. -/ I groaned at her answer.
A loud roar was heard through the room, making the walls vibrate under its intensity. The Shadow ran out of the fire. It was in a bad shape. Its body was charred everywhere and it was incapable of standing straight anymore. To my surprise though its body began to expand. And that same surprise ended up costing me a lot. The monster was upon me faster than I could react and was hit in the chest by the blunt side of its remaining spike. I heard my bone creak under the pressure and spat some blood upon the impact. I flew away due to the massive force of the blow. I gritted my teeth in pain. I switched my Persona.
"IZANAGI!" My impromptu flight was cut short as I was caught by the white-clad god. He carefully dropped me on the ground before disappearing. The Shadow was running toward me in an berserk rage, shrugging off all the spells thrown at him by my teammate. I switched my Persona once again I threw my right arm out in front of me.
"Aqua!" Several water blast shot out of my hand, hitting the ground in front of me and forming a large puddle. The Shadow didn't change its course and ran directly in the puddle. My arm still placed in front of me, I smirked and calmly whispered the name of my spell. "Zio..." Lightning struck water. The monster began to twitch madly, electricity arcing through its body. He slowly began to catch fire until it finally stopped moving altogether. The frame finally dispersed in a black shroud, indicating its death. I let out a sigh of relief.
Tired from the fight I decided to sit for a moment, my body protesting as I did so. Bastard only touched me once but man, what a hit...
Swish!
Here comes the cards. So, what do we have today... Terra, again... Charm, again... Acid breath? I think I'll pass for now. I sighed. May as well go with Charm. The cards began to spin, I quickly caught the one I wanted. I turned the card, making sure I didn't miss. I was so used to this by now it wasn't even funny. And here comes the headache.
I blinked in confusion as the pain subsided. This, was a demon card? Honestly I was expecting something a little more... impressive. From the information I got, Charm was merely a Dia spell that had the possibility to gift the target with a -kaja spell. An interesting fact about this spell though, was that it didn't require any SP at all. All in all I guess it wasn't that bad of a choice.
"Are you okay, Souji-kun?" I glanced at the worried face of Hamuko and gave her a small smile.
"Yeah, just trying to sort out my new skill." I replied, not wanting her to worry too much. My chest was still hurting a little but nothing too excessive.
"A new ability? Again?" Junpei asked, sounding a bit miffed.
"What can I say? I'm like Megaman. I get a little more awesome each time I defeat a boss." ...Maybe I should lay off video games for a while.
"Well, when you put it that way I guess that make sense." Junpei conceded with a nod.
Both Yukari and Hamuko shook their heads and sighed at our antics. I stood up, suppressing a wince. Time to test that new spell of mine.
"Charm!" I called the name of the spell. And regretted it almost immediately. I was bathed in a pink light along with what appeared to be... flying hearts and fairies. The spell healed all of my injuries and I could somehow feel the effect of a Tarukaja spell taking hold on my body. But, at what cost... Indeed, the pink glow wasn't leaving at all, and it would probably stay like that until the -kaja spell ran off.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Junpei began to laugh like crazy at the light show that accompanied my new healing spell. Even the girls let out a slight giggle. I groaned in annoyance.
"Alright, alright you all had a good laugh so now can we move? We still have a barrier to reach." I said before heading toward the teleporter for a short stop by the lobby.
"C'mon! Don't get your panties in a knot miss leader! HAHAHAHA!" Junpei continued. You want to play it like this? Fine! I aimed one of my arm at Junpei...
"Charm!" I called for the second time. Junpei was now covered with his very own pink aura.
"D-Dude! Not cool!" He cried in alarm. I shrugged and went for the teleporter.
While the team was busy using the recovery machine, I chose this moment to start a conversation with Mitsuru.
"You really did a number on him didn't you?" I commented, nudging the unconscious body of Akihiko with one of my foot.
"What of it?" She demanded curtly to which I simply shrugged.
"Say, what happened with that Shadow at the end of the fight?" I finally decided to ask. It was something that kept bothering me ever since we defeated it.
"I don't know. I can only say that its overall fighting capacities increased when it was about to die. Maybe a Tarukaja spell?" Mitsuru suggested. I shook my head in the negative.
"No. I've seen Tarukaja and that wasn't it at all. That Shadow freaking grew in size... In all my time as a Persona-user I've never seen something even remotely like this. It's not that it was overly dangerous but I don't like being in the unknown." I gave another nudge at the body, but in my frustration it ended up looking more like a kick than anything else. I heard Akihiko groan in pain but thankfully he still didn't wake up.
"We're ready!" Called Yukari. I turned my attention back to my team and saw them near the teleporter. I sighed.
"Time to get back to work..."
Starting from the last teleporter, it didn't took us very long to reach the stairs leading toward the last level currently available to us. And what we found beyond them was mind-boggling.
"How is that even possible?" Yukari muttered, and I found myself sharing her opinion.
The last floor was nothing else but a flying platform with stairs leading toward a new block of Tartarus. The access to the stairs was blocked by a greenish barrier and a vast number of school desks. The barrier appeared to be generated by some kind of pylon. All attempt to destroy it were met with failure.
But what really got our attention was the surrounding of the platform we currently were on. A gigantic maze that seemed to be in perpetual evolution. Sure, it was nothing new, but seeing it with our own eyes was something completely different. There was also the fact that the maze was half the size of Iwatodai in terms of width, which was technically impossible. Basically, it was nothing short of a big 'fuck you' to every single law of physics.
"Well, we completed our objective for tonight. Good job everyone. Let's go home and catch some sleep, alright?" I finally said.
Yukari and Junpei took the teleporter back to the lobby. I was about to do the same when Hamuko grabbed one of my sleeves. I turned my gaze toward her.
"Here." She said quietly, handing me a piece of paper. I looked at it. It appeared to be an old document. Most of it was impossible to read. except for a single sentence.
'The electricity's hooked up. But why do they need so much? There's only a school on this island...'
A dark frown came across my face. It was still too soon to make assumptions, but this message only served to reinforce my already growing suspicions. I sincerely hoped that I was wrong for if I wasn't, it would mean that...
Tartarus, may have been created by man...
Chapter 11 End.
Note: First of, a big thank you to Dragginninja who is now the official beta-reader for this story. I hope it will made reading this story as a whole, a lot more enjoyable for you guys.
Chapter 11 finally here, a little late but a little longer than the last one so that's okay... It was a pain to write as I had to check with canon source when I wrote the whole explanation about Shadows and Personae. Indeed, S.E.E.S. did not learn about that until the end of 'the answer'.
Question time!
A little descriptions of the fusion spell Life Cycle:
Name: Life Cycle Type: Light/Shadow/Almighty Spiritual Cost: Low / Drain SP continuously
Description: Summon two blades made of both Light and Shadows. When the two blades are used with one another they both negate their respective element, thus turning the spell into an almighty attack. It is possible to summon only one of the blade.
May posses some other abilities that are yet to be found.
Demon Cards: Some of you may think it's slightly disappointing. True, the demon card shown in this chapter is less than impressive. The thing is, I don't want for Souji to become godlike just because of said cards. This chapter introduce a demon card that function very much like a spell card, but in the future in intend to integrate demon cards that will modify up to the very physiology of Souji. I won't go into too much details yet but to give a few example: flight, devil speed and of which: If you do have idea about some of the spell you would like to be introduced(In any categories, and it can be an completely original spell) Please add it in your reviews. The only thing I really ask is that it doesn't end up being too overpowered.
Now to answer the reviews:
Bobcat86: The scenario for Izanami's fight is already planned(Mostly), still thank you for the idea. :p Universe arcana will appear, as for how, you will have to wait and see!
AngrySquid8: About the animal cracker: Sadly no because Souji took the animal crackers... and ate it! (Did I just made a crappy death note reference? Yes, yes I did.)
About the universe/world arcana: That's a good question. Personally the way I see it, Hamuko is far more powerful than Souji when she reach the end of her journey. I will even things out in this story.
Anon: Sorry, strictly SoujiXHamuko. (Not to say there won't be other pairings though.)
Humilityhehe: The demons weren't 'real' demon but demon cards. For a more detailed explanation, you can read what I wrote just a little higher. :p
I thank you all for the reviews and will see you next time!