Shin Megami Tensei
Persona 3: RES
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Persona 3, SMT, or any characters within. They belong to Atlus…and…Oh my God. It's almost time to end the story, isn't it?
Chapter XXXVII: The Horseman of Death
The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed…only with strength can one endure suffering and torment
When S.E.E.S. made it back down to Earth, they saw three things: it was still the Dark Hour, all of their friends were gathered around Tokyo Tower, and Ryoji was busy fighting all of them at once.
"The Reaper's final form…the Horseman of Death: Humanity." Nyx shouted at them all when they emerged seemingly out of nowhere. Before, S.E.E.S. didn't know what was going on, but now they knew for sure. Each of their "friends" down there were simply incarnations of the Reaper. They were not actually human, but instead the Reaper was using their identities to manipulate the hearts of S.E.E.S.
It was only too bad that The Fates were on S.E.E.S.'s side.
"Back from the dead so soon? I guess the Fates have rejected my rebellion…" the demon Yukari said, looking the real Yukari straight in the eye as she emerged back into the dimension. "Nevertheless, it is my duty as the Horseman of Death to kill every last one of you…and so I shall!"
Instantly, the demon forms of S.E.E.S.'s various friends began to attack each other wildly, with only a select few actually attacking S.E.E.S. itself. It was mostly the demon forms of themselves that S.E.E.S. began to fight against, sparking a confusing and overwhelming confrontation.
"Die!" the demon Mitsuru shouted as she swung her sword down on her mortal counterpart. Mitsuru blocked it by using her own sword before leaping backwards to face her "shadow".
Mitsuru began to pant as soon as she landed on the ground. The Reaper, even divided into a hundred different forms, was apparently more powerful than anyone in S.E.E.S. had predicted. When Mitsuru got up to stand, she found herself having to duck down on the ground once again as Akihiko was being thrown around by his shadow self.
The two shadows of Mitsuru and Akihiko merely looked at each other and nodded their heads in disappointment.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. And here we thought that S.E.E.S. could put up a better fight than this…"
"Indeed, it is a disappointment that such strong and able members of the 'glorious' S.E.E.S. aren't able to put up more of a fight, it is truly a heresy – now then, I believe it is time for you to-"
"Take this!" shouted Aigis as she threw her shadow form into the ground, making an impact with both the shadow Mitsuru and Akihiko. Again, the air was filled with smoke and haze as the three shadows began to rustle around before getting back up and walking through the smoke. Some slight scratches could be seen on their faces, but the three shadows remained virtually unharmed.
"Is that all you got!? Is it!?" the shadow Aigis shouted towards the real one, before leaping back into the sky and tackling her in mid-air, punching Aigis in her midsection until finally kicking her into the base of Tokyo Tower.
Meanwhile, just around one of Tokyo Tower's supporting legs; Junpei and Yukari were fighting for their lives against their shadow counterparts. Yukari was trying her best to keep her shadow self at bay with her bow and arrows, but to no avail – her shadow self simply dodged them, smiling all the while. It was a game to her shadow self. Personas were incredible weapons of power and symbols of mental strength, but what was the use of a persona if one could not summon it?
Junpei, on the other hand, was another story altogether. He had his evoker in his hands currently, the only problem was, apparently, so did his shadow self.
"Can you do it? Can you pull that trigger before I do? Can you really control Trismegistus better than I can? Let's see, shall we?"
"No!" Junpei shouted as he pulled the trigger to his evoker, roughly at the same time as his shadow self. Trismegistus leapt forth from Junpei's forehead and sat in the air in between the two Junpei's, waiting for orders from its master.
"I come to serve. Give me my orders, my Lord." Trismegistus said, looking at Junpei.
Junpei held his forehead in pain with his free hand, before pointing his evoker at his shadow self and giving Trismegistus his orders in a pant, "kill him!"
"Understood." The persona said as it jumped into the air, ready to perform an agidyne attack on the shadow Junpei, before it suddenly stopped and looked at its target.
"Master?"
"You will not attack your master! You will do no such thing!" the shadow Junpei shouted, causing Trismegistus to stand down and slowly descend from its spot in the air.
"What're ya' doin' Trismegistus!? Get him! Now!"
"Oh, I believe Trismegistus won't be doing that…you see, you and your persona are merely two representations of the same coin. Your organization claims that your personae are the dualities to your souls…no. No! I am! My true form is the evil of humanity. The nascent hatred that lies within your heart is manifested within me as an alternate personality to yours. Yes – yes, I am you. I represent your true self. I represent your humanity, unaltered by the false façade you humans know as 'society.'"
Junpei could feel a lump gathering in his throat as his shadow self kept talking, eventually materializing an apple from out of nowhere and devouring it in a single bite.
"Ah! Scrumptious! Now, if only you damn children will stop blindly following what the Fates decide for you and embrace the New World!"
The shadow Junpei clapped his hands together before summoning an inter-dimensional portal next to him, eventually pulling out the Blade of Kusanagi – the same sword that Junpei was supposed to be wielding.
"Now will be the Day of Reckoning! The moment of Salvation is upon you, and I have come to –"
The shadow Junpei took an explosive shell straight to the face as Aigis leapt from building to building, trying to help her friends as best as she could without getting caught by her shadow self. Her final destination would be Minato, who she could see was on the second observation deck of Tokyo Tower, levitating in the air with his shadow self and apparently doing nothing.
But her final destination didn't matter much to Aigis right now, as her shadow self appeared from an alley and caught her off guard to tackle her into the pavement below, sending a cloud of dust everywhere in the middle of Shinjiro and Fuuka's battle…
"Bastard! I'll kill you and all you're little friends here!" Shinjiro shouted while getting into a fighting position. Fuuka stood behind him, evoker in hand, ready to prop up a wall of energy at any moment to protect them both.
The shadow Shinji simply stood on a bench, waiting for them to make the first move. He looked uninterested – a stark contrast to the angry and ready human Shinjiro.
"Diiieee!" Shinjiro yelled as he ran towards his shadow self on the bench, hot blood rushing through his veins. His shadow self stood without flinching, before slowly lifting his right arm up from his side and emitting a bright blue bolt of energy that hit Shinjiro straight in the chest, sending him flying backwards. Were it not for Fuuka and her ability to slow him down to an eventually stop using her persona, Shinjiro would have collided with a building at over seventy kilometers an hour.
"A real shame. I was hoping you would die so I could get this over with." The shadow Shinji said without any real regard for the two humans he was fighting.
"Pft. Say all you want. You're all talk!" Shinjiro answered in an angry tone as he was put down on the ground by Fuuka. This wasn't supposed to be happening. He was supposed to be winning against this demon and saving Fuuka's life, not the other way around. But as both of them already knew, this was no ordinary battle, and they wouldn't win as easily as their earlier fights.
The shadow Fuuka floated in, her red eyes gleaming with disrespect for her human counterpart as she wrapped her arms around the shadow Shinjiro.
"Of course, if we killed them now, we won't have any fun…isn't that right, dear?" the shadow Fuuka leaned down and kissed the shadow Shinjiro on the cheek, to the mild shock of the two humans directly across from them. The shadow Shinjiro waived off his counterpart of Fuuka before returning to face the two humans.
"That's right. You better hope that you can pull that off again, because you're in for a whole load of pain if you can't…" he said as he raised both of his arms and aimed them directly at Shinjiro. Fuuka did her best to erect an energy barrier in between them, but by the time the blast hit the barrier, nobody could tell whether or not it had worked from the size of the explosion.
S.E.E.S. was fighting its final battle against evil – and it was losing. From the second observation deck of Tokyo Tower, both Minato's could see the battles raging below. They could see Akihiko and Mitsuru holding on for dear life against the relentless attacks of their counterparts. They could see Yukari running and taking cover against the seemingly endless stream of arrows from her shadow self. They could see Junpei slowly losing control of his persona, and thus, his own identity. They could see Aigis jumping around nearby buildings engaged in a firefight with the shadow Aigis; both Koromarus strapped to their chests and throwing fireballs into random directions in the sky. And they could see Shinjiro and Fuuka making a last stand against their enemies: a bloodied Fuuka supporting an unconscious Shinjiro. This was how the world would end: not with a bang, but a whimper. A whimper that was violently forced through upon the whim of a demon who had defied Fate itself.
No.
The world would not end tonight, not on Minato's watch, at least.
With Nyx levitating behind him, Minato was the first engage in dialogue.
"So…what is it that you want here?" he asked reluctantly, almost assured of the answer he would get.
"What I want? Why, that's an easy question…you have the answer yourself. I seek to liberate this world – to set it free from its own self-destruction. I wish to transform it to a world where only demons will have purpose. A world that does not distinguish between good and evil; moral or immoral. The very same world that your God sought all those millennia ago." The shadow Minato answered, looking down upon Tokyo and closing his eyes.
"Don't you think this world has deserved its liberation?"
"I think the world's deserved a second chance. I believe in the future: that we humans can change ourselves and our world for the better."
"And in the eighty or so years that you will live, you expect to accomplish this? Before Earth existed God, and before God, the Fates. You are forever trapped within their grasp. Forever tangled in their mercy. What you hope to accomplish is impossible, a mere distraction in a delusional world." The shadow Minato said in a hushed tone before raising his arms to the sky, his jet black skin blending in well with the night.
"You know what they say about the impossible," Minato said in the same hushed tone as he began to pull Yukari's evoker from his jacket, simultaneously using his other hand to call Nyx forth from the expanse of sky beyond Tokyo Tower.
"The final battle to decide the fate of the world? Are you sure you're up to this, boy!?" the shadow Minato said, grinning while pulling his own evoker out of his jacket.
"Considering I have the Fates watching over me and you don't…yes," Minato said as he raised the evoker up to his head pulling the trigger as he ordered Nyx to attack his shadow self from across the platform. Nyx did so, swinging his mighty sword down upon the shadow form of Minato just as the Messiah came in and blocked the attack with one of his arms.
"You shall not harm my Master."
"Messiah! What is this? Move, now! Upon my authority in the Valley of the Kings, I order you to attack that shadow!" Nyx shouted as sparks of spiritual energy flew from the two of them; the shadow Minato stood there in mid-air, grinning from ear to ear.
"You, Nyx, apparently do not know that your authority in the Valley of the Kings means nothing to these shadows – personas have the power of free will – and can be manipulated as such. Only he can exercise your "Godly" authority over them now…of course, so can I!" he pointed at the human Minato, who stood in the air, stunned that the Messiah would defect to the Reaper's side so easily, before noticing that Orpheus was hovering above him, looking down on them all.
"My Lord, what is it that you have me do?" Orpheus asked, seemingly oblivious to the Messiah's deeds.
Minato blinked a little, completely stunned at Orpheus's complete apparent oblivious nature to the entire situation. He looked at the Messiah, who had backed off from Nyx and was now hovering over the shadow Minato as if he was its real master.
"Hm? What's this? A single persona I cannot control…don't tell me – the Fool Arcanum?" the shadow Minato looked in awe at Orpheus for a moment, before breaking into complete laughter. "You expect to beat me with a persona of the Fool Arcanum!? Hah! Oh, this – this is too funny, I'm sorry, can we postpone our battle, hah!" A quick punch from Nyx into the shadow's stomach sent him flying towards the moon, before the Messiah teleported behind him and caught
the shadow Minato. Blood trickled down from the shadow's mouth, which he wiped off with the back of his hand, before looking back at Nyx.
"I guess my fun is over, then? You really should not have done that," the shadow Minato said before disappearing with the Messiah into the night. Nyx and Minato kept a steady look out for the shadow, before Minato spotted his hand slowly emerge from a portal behind Nyx.
"Look out! Ryoji!" he yelled, but to no avail. A blue flame shot out from the shadows, cutting through the demon as though he weren't there. Nyx began to lose his grip on his sword, slowly falling to the ground before completely losing the power to levitate.
Shock and fear welled up in Minato as he saw Nyx hit the ground, sending a plume of smoke and dust up towards the tower, forcing the shadow to come out and look. But this time, the Reaper did not take on the visage of Minato. Instead, it was the shadow Kenji that appeared and looked down upon the impact crater that Nyx left behind.
"Too bad, Minato. He could've been a good friend to you – like me!"
Another voice appeared out of nowhere, before Minato turned around and found Kazushi limping towards him from the edge of the observation deck.
"Yeah! We're your pals Minato, won't you come hang out with us?" the shadow Kazushi said, only, he wasn't a shadow anymore. The black skin began to fade and the reddish-yellow eyes began to turn white. More and more of Minato's shadow friends began to appear around him, slowly becoming human in their appearance.
The shadow Yukari even appeared out from a portal behind him and embraced him from behind.
"Come back, Minato – we miss you."
"Augh…Orpheus...agidyne!"
"Yes, Master!" rising from inactivity, Orpheus spun in the air and produced an agidyne attack that sent all of his shadow friends flying back, including the shadow Yukari.
"Stay! Away! From! Me!" he shouted through pants, looking into the sky where the Messiah was holding position.
"Why have you betrayed me, Messiah! Why have you gone to help these demons! Why are you bringing about the end of the world!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, making sure the Messiah heard him loud and clear.
"Because the world is in no more need for a Messiah, Master. You know what you have to do. I am merely acting as your deepest desires wish. Those which have manifested themselves into your shadow heart I have merely been acting upon."
Minato nodded and turned to Orpheus, who also nodded. Turning back towards the Messiah, Minato nearly jumped back when Igor appeared in his face, Elizabeth in tow.
"You know what you have to do, my boy! You know what must be done in order to save this world and act an agent of salvation! Elizabeth and I shall be going soon, and you shall not see us for quite a time, but here's my card, just in case."
For the first time since they met, Minato could see a smile form on Igor's face. Not merely a stupid grin, but a genuine smile. Igor extended his arm, holding what appeared to be a business card in his hand. Amidst the darkness of the night and the howls of the shadows around them, Minato took the card. Instantly, it transformed into a persona card, bearing a familiar white wolf on it.
"Igor…this is-"
Igor shut him up before he could finish by putting his hands up.
"I know, my boy. I know. Now, go on your true path and liberate the world! Fulfill your destiny!"
A portal appeared behind Igor and he let go of Elizabeth for just a moment so that she could say her goodbyes. She placed her left hand on Minato's cheek before coming in close to Minato's ear.
"We'll be watching over the world until you're in need again, so don't worry!" she whispered, before scurrying back towards Igor. Looking back over her shoulder as she walked through the portal with Igor, she could see Minato smiling, before turning around to face the shadows square in the eye and put his evoker to his head. Just before the two of them left this dimension, she saw a brilliant white wolf come out of Minato's forehead as he pulled the trigger to his evoker.
Right now, it was 25:59. The final minute of Earth's final hour. Some called it the "Dark Hour", not only because of its unparalleled blackness of the night, but because of the pure evil that inhabited its depths.
But as Elizabeth saw. As all the members of S.E.E.S. knew as they tilted their bloody heads towards the sky towards Tokyo Tower: they knew tomorrow would be a bright new day.