August 20th, 20XX (Saturday)

Evening - Ishida's Palace (Underground Shrine)

"What the hell are you…!?" Ishida yelled, his eyes wide as he looked at Toya. He was holding onto his head with one hand and gripping his sword tighter than ever in the other, having bloodshot eyes and a demented smile the entire time. It was terrifying to look at… almost as if he was a different person. However, even though Toya was staring at Ishida as if he wanted to murder him, Makoto was still more scared than he was. She knew Toya for months at this point- and they had been through so much. He was always so caring- and helped her through so much without even realizing. Makoto was a different person because of him… she saw the entire world differently now. She used to care only about results- and that lead to her getting herself into horrible situations, namely when she was kidnapped by Kaneshiro. But now… she didn't think like that, and she loved it. That was only possible because of Toya, but now… it's like Toya wasn't even there anymore.

"Don't you get it? I'm free!" Toya gripped his head tighter, laughing maniacally as he stared down Ishida. "Justice… morality… to hell with that shit!" Toya suddenly ripped off his mask, the purple flame around him growing even larger as he laughed louder. "Power is ALL that matters in this world!"

"Toya…" Makoto was in complete shock. The way he talked… that wasn't Toya at all. It was like he was possessed- like someone took control of him, but… what?

"Do you know what you put me through, Ishida…? Do you know what it's like to go through life the way I did? A single father, and a famous brother… in one word… it's TORTURE." Toya's purple flame sparked even brighter, the sheer force of it enough to shake the entire room. "No matter what you want to do, or how you want to do it… the only acceptable outcome is PERFECTION, and ANYTHING less is considered FAILURE. But the worst part about it is… there is NOTHING you can do about it. You can't even be angry- because you have pity for your single parent, as they mourn the loss of their love every single day. All of that hatred, that primal fury… that all gets directed towards yourself." Suddenly, Toya started to chuckle softly, before breaking out into a fit of maniacal laughter. "But now…? Now, I'm DONE berating myself with my own hatred. I don't give a damn about my father's expectations… or my brother's wishes. Everything I'm going to do at this point in time will be of my own volition... " Toya gripped his mask tightly, grinning as he stared at Ishida. "The first thing I'm going to do… is DESTROY YOU!" Tearing his mask off of his face, he summoned Mephisto in front of Makoto and Ishida. They both gasped at the sight of it… Diabolos was creepy in its own right, but Mephisto… Mephisto was bone chilling. Between it's long, lanky body, its condescending pose, and lack of emotion… it was scary for completely different reasons, and the fact that Toya was suddenly using it so casually made Makoto even more scared. Toya held his hand out, aiming at Ken's crystallized body, before Mephisto snapped its fingers as a large, purple gun materialized in front of it, spinning around once before holding its hands forward, shooting a massive bolt of lightning out at Ken's body, breaking it apart.

"Damn it… fine then! Come at me, I'll show you what it means to go against me!"

"You took everything from me…and now I'm gonna do the same to you. I'll break every single gem on your body, one piece at a time!" Toya took his hand off of his face, clenching his fist before rushing forward on his own, dashing straight towards Ishida. "I'LL CRUSH YOU!" Gripping his blade tightly, he quickly ran ahead, faster than he had ever run before. Ishida grit his teeth before bringing forth as many gemstones as he possibly could, hurling them all directly towards Toya, who was suddenly gripping his mask tightly. "Ascend, MEPHISTO!" Toya's body was surrounded by a dark purple flame, as he summoned his new Persona again. Mephisto conjured a powerful blast of wind magic, and then fired it off, sending all of the gems flying back at Ishida. Unable to stop the redirected attack, Ishida took the full force of it, cracking his crystallized skin.

"Damn you…! I don't give a damn about your new power, I'm still going to win!" Ishida clenched his fist, as several crystals extended down from the ceiling, shooting down to the ground. Toya smirked and put his fist forward, a grappling hook flying out of his gauntlet and hitting one of the crystals, letting him fly through the air towards it. Once he got close to it, he yanked his hand back to pull his grappling hook out, shooting it towards another crystal and swinging through the air. "What the hell is this!? Damn it… fine! If you really want to die that badly… I'll show you what true power looks like!"

"Bring it!" Toya shot out his grappling hook and hit a crystal right closer to Ishida, flying straight towards him. Ishida's skin turned pitch black as he held his hand out, a large blast of dark magic flying towards Toya. Toya crossed his arms in front of him, covering his face as he collided directly with the blast of magic, gritting his teeth as he made contact.

"Try surviving THIS, Phantom Thief!" Ishida suddenly turned completely white, and began to glow. He was charging an attack, a powerful blast of holy magic being prepared. This was his trump card… his ultimate attack. While Toya was stuck dealing with the dark magic, he would finish him off with his holy magic.

"Toya…!" Makoto tried desperately to get up. She had to help… she had to save Toya. However… something was up. She couldn't even see Toya… was he already gone…? No, he couldn't be… that blast couldn't possibly be enough to finish him off, but… where was he? While she was searching, Ishida was almost finished charging his attack, but that's when he saw it. Coming out of the blast itself, he saw Toya, flying through the air. His body was covered in bruises from taking the blast, and he looked like he was in so much pain, but he kept going. His eyes were even more bloodshot than before, and his smile was horrifying.

"What!? How did you-" Ishida was suddenly cut off when Toya fired shots right into both of his shoulders and legs. Ishida tried to move, but he couldn't. He was completely stuck in place, as he watched Toya land on the ground right in front of him. Toya smirked, and charged right into him, cutting right through his body, breaking the throne in the process. Suddenly… he felt a thrill, and cut through Ishida again, causing him to scream out in pain. Hearing Ishida's suffering… it pleased Toya. He started to laugh, and kept dashing through Ishida's body, cutting apart more and more of his crystallized body with every dash, as both the screams of pain and maniacal laughter got louder and louder. Toya broke Ishida apart, the gems that made up his body all cracked, until suddenly, Toya stopped. He stood still in front of Ishida for a moment, before slowly walking towards his broken and mangled body.

"Mephisto… EXECUTE HIM!" Ripping his mask off, Toya summoned his Persona, who grabbed Ishida's face directly. Toya panted for a moment before grunting making a fist. "You call those pathetic blasts from earlier magic…!? I'll show you… OBLIVION!" Quickly charging a blast, Mephisto unleashed a blast of dark magic with the hand he was using to hold Ishida's face, making direct contact with him and sending him flying, breaking the throne he was originally sitting atop of and into a wall. He fell to the floor in pain, as he returned to his original size and form. For all intents and purposes… Ishida was finished. Toya stood still for a moment, taking deep breaths and panting. The golden outline around his eyes flashed off and on, before he walked forward, grabbing the book that was on the throne and standing above Ishida.

"I don't understand… How could you be so strong…?" Toya said nothing. Millions of emotions ran through his mind, as Makoto slowly picked herself back up, finally regaining her strength and slowly making her way forward.

"Allow me to enlighten you..." Toya pointed his blade forward, pressing the tip to Ishida's forehead. He held his finger on the trigger, as he condescendingly looked down on Ishida. "Corrupting the government… killing the people who got in your way… enslaving everyone who worked under you… This is how such idiocy ends." This was everything… this was how he redeemed his brother. He could stop the corruption in the government… he could save Japan from the fear of Medjed… he could finally end this chapter of his life. However, before he could do anything, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head and saw Makoto, a concerned look on her face. They exchanged glances for one moment… and Toya's arm started shaking. His blade fell out of his hand, as the golden outline around his eyes faded completely.

"I'll do it… I'll confess to everything. I'll tell everyone that I'm behind the Medjed threat."

"Then go. Go back to your real self… and confess." Makoto stepped in front of Toya, staring down at Ishida. With a nod, Ishida faded, returning to his real self. It was over… Ishida's change of heart was going to happen.

"I…" Toya's voice was shaky. Something happened to him… it was like he lost control of himself for a bit. He almost killed someone… even though it's the person in question was the person who ordered the deaths of his entire family. Suddenly, the entire mine started shaking.

"There's no time. We have to go, now!" Makoto turned around and started to run out of the mine, but Toya stood still for a moment. After hesitating for a moment, he followed her, running out of the mine.

August 20th, 20XX (Tuesday)

Evening - Shinjuku

Escaping the mine and returning to the real world, Toya and Makoto took a sigh of relief… one that was rather short lived. There was nobody else around… it was just the two of them, with Toya now holding a piece of paper. He picked it up and looked closer at it, reading what was written.

"It's… a letter of inauguration, stating Ishida's position as the director of the SIU. This must be his treasure…" Toya's eyes closed, as he nearly collapsed to the ground. He was in so much mental pain, and his body was absolutely exhausted… he could hardly move. However, before he fell to the ground, he felt Makoto grab him, gently holding him up on her shoulder. The two looked at each other for a moment, before he turned his head away and closed his eyes, feeling absolutely ashamed. "I'm sorry… I'm so weak…"

"Weak? You're not weak at all…"

"What are you talking about? You saw what I did… the monster that I became."

"I did… but I heard what you said, too…" Toya's eyes opened back up. He had completely forgotten everything he said before until just then. "I used to live like that too, you know… with everyone having high expectations of me. You're right. It is complete torture… you get judged for everything. Your grades… your friends… even your interests. If it's not beneficial for your future, then… they think it's a waste. I believed that for almost my entire life… but you showed me that I was wrong. I finally figured out who I really am… and I thought I was weak for not realizing and embracing who I was earlier. But I'm not weak… and neither are you. No matter how weak you think you are for losing your temper… I promise you, you're not."

"Makoto…" Toya was speechless. He felt so many different emotions in that very moment. In his moment of weakness and confusion… he started to cry, just a bit. Out of every emotion he felt… he definitely felt thankful, at the very least. There was something wrong with him… and they both knew it, but they would get through it… somehow, together. Makoto helped Toya along as they made their way to the subway station. However, once they got there, they ran into a slight problem… there was only one train left, headed to Shibuya. There wouldn't be any others running until morning.

"You can stay at my place if you can't get home, Makoto."

"Are you sure…?"

"Yeah. Nobody is using Ken's bed, anyways." The two nodded. Makoto felt a little awkward about staying over, but… there was no other option. With how tired the two of them were, they wouldn't even be able to do anything. They had a long, tiring night… not to mention, Makoto was still in a little bit of pain from earlier. While they were on the train, she ended up falling asleep, with her head naturally leaning against Toya. It was a little uncomfortable for him, but at the same time, he kind of enjoyed it. He slowly wrapped one arm around Makoto, doing his best not to wake her up. He stared at her for a moment, before turning away and putting a hand on his face, rubbing his eyes as the train stopped. He thought about waking her up, but instead, he mustered the strength to carry her all the way back.

August 20th, 20XX (Tuesday)

Evening - Shibuya (Kazero Household)

Finally making it home, Toya took a sigh of relief. His day was all over the place, but… he was glad that most of it was over. He slowly carried Makoto upstairs, placing her down in Ken's bed. She was completely passed out… Toya wasn't surprised though. It took a lot of willpower for him not to fall over and pass out right next to her, but he thought it would be way too awkward in the morning for that to be a good idea. He slowly stumbled out of the room, making it into his own and laying down on his own bed. He wanted to think about everything that happened, but… he fell asleep instantly, before he even got a chance to. Everything between Ishida and Mephisto… it could wait until tomorrow.


Someone asked in the reviews, so I'll address it here:

Diabolos resists Cursed attacks, and is weak to Blessed attacks. Meanwhile, Mephisto resists both Cursed and Blessed attacks.

I'm gonna start posting some trivia at the end of chapters from now on, just to give some more context for the future. I'll also answer some questions from reviews, if any of you have them. However, I don't plan on spoiling the story, so try not to ask anything that I can't answer without doing exactly that.

For now, let's talk about Ishida. As a reference point, Shadow Ishida is MUCH stronger than the boss that the Phantom Thieves fight at the end of the Medjed arc. If I had to give him a level... I'd say he's around level 53. This puts him around the same general power level as the final boss of the 6th Palace in the main story, meaning he's clearly FAR too strong for Toya and Makoto to beat on their own. However, if you read the end of the last chapter, you'd know that Mephisto is even stronger than Ishida is, which is why Toya was able to defeat him so easily this chapter, and why the fight seemed short lived. But... don't worry. Believe me when I say that this isn't the last we've seen of Mephisto. I won't say when or why, but believe me, Toya is far from done with that Persona.

For now, that's all I have for you. If you have any questions that you'd like to ask, feel free, and I'll answer as many as I can.