A/N: Apologies for the delay! I just wanted to take a few days to really hammer out this next chunk of the story to make it as good as it could be (and also to bring it in line with the style of the previous chapter). Thank you for your patience and your continuous support!
The Shadowy girl raised a gloved hand above her, then rolled all digits save her forefinger into a fist. Light purple energy exploded into existence around her Persona, spiralling over and into its skin as it too raised its finger to the sky, a perfect recreation of the former's motion. As soon as its finger reached the zenith of its arc, a massive orb of black and white energy burst into being inches above it. The orb lingered for a split second before exploding into countless streams of two-toned light that filled the air between it and the Thieves, crisscrossing over each other as they swam towards them.
"Scatter!" Ren yelled.
The quartet ran in different directions but the beams of light curved through the air after them. Each Thief ducked, jumped and rolled under and over the numerous attacks, but sheer numbers overcame them. Ren felt a beam crash into his back just as he rose from a slide. He staggered forward and two more crashed into his right, sending him flying. He crashed into the ground with a loud grunt and looked up to see Morgana and Sumire already struggling to their feet. Hanako was the next to fall, a beam of light catching her in the chest and throwing her back. She rolled past the more experienced Thieves but landed in a crouch, jumping to her feet and shooting herself in the head. Orpheus appeared - lyre already drawn - and played a familiar muted tune, healing their wounds and filling them with energy. Ren got up and clenched his fist as the new strength settled into his bones, but when he looked up the Shadow touched her mask again.
Just like that, he felt his body quake. He bent down, clutching his stomach as he gasped for breath. He felt so...hollow.
"But...but our wounds are still healed!" He turned at the sound of Morgana's voice. The others wore the same shocked expressions he knew he was. With a single motion the power Orpheus had given them had been stripped away.
He held his face. Arsene appeared behind him and formed a head-sized black orb an inch from his palm, firing it towards the enemy Shadow as a beam of cursed energy. Both Persona and Shadow stood still, but the latter's dress came to life instead, rustling as feathers from her wide skirt peeled away to form six wings, as beautiful as a swan's. Six wings, humungous but of the same color and shape as hers, sprouted in a circle behind the Persona and folded around it, then flapped outward as one, deflecting the attack into the sky; the gust from the movement snuffing out the source of the strike. Ren grit his teeth.
"Attack the Shadow!"
"S - Senpai?!" He couldn't bring himself to look at her.
"Got it!" shouted Morgana from behind him and sent a huge blast of Wind towards their masked foe.
But she didn't even flinch, simply letting the attack wash over her as though it were a gentle summer breeze.
"What the..?" Ren saw Morgana turn to him from the corner of his eye. The cat opened and closed his mouth again, but this time no sound came out.
Morgana didn't get any other chances to finish the sentence. The Persona raised a hand again, this time summoning a swarm of shining rocks that hovered in the air for an instant before being hurled at them. Ren called Rangda and cast a protective barrier around Hanako, then sent his Persona to shield Morgana as he covered Sumire, holding her tight in his arms as he turned his back to the hail. He heard Sumire scream as the attack made contact with him but the rocks bounced off his jacket: though the impacts still stung, the Magician's innate immunity to the Skill protected him. He let Sumire go once the sound of the sudden avalanche faded and looked around. His plan had worked: all three of his allies were safe. He clenched his fist and allowed a small smile onto his lips.
Yes! We can do this!
He switched to Fafnir and called for two Nuclear explosions, one beneath each of their foes. The Persona bobbed in the air slightly as the attack made contact, but as with Morgana's before the Shadow saw the bright blue light blooming beneath her and did nothing. She stood still even as the blast consumed her, the ends of her hair fluttering ever so gently being the only indication she'd even been hit by it.
"I guess she really is immune," he thought aloud. He pretended not to hear Sumire's sigh of relief beside him before she ran into the fray, hand on her mask to call Ella. The Princess appeared and turned her bouquet into an ball of Blessed energy before throwing it at the Persona. The Persona merely caught the orb and threw it back. Ella spun on the spot with her leg raised, kicking the attack off the roof. It exploded in a flash of white light, dispersing the nearby clouds. A new bouquet formed in Ella's hand as she disappeared. Ren saw wisps of black vapor begin to fill in the hole she'd left behind in the sky, blotting out their surroundings once again.
So. The Persona is immune to Bless attacks and probably resists Nuclear ones. Okay, we're learning.
Ren watched Hanako and Morgana launch waves of Fire and Wind at the Persona. It braced, reacting with no more than a shiver from each, but at least that was two more Elements he could add to his mental checklist.
The Shadow raised her finger again, this time coating her Persona with a faint red aura. It fired a second, but smaller, blast of Almighty energy. This too broke into multiple branching streams.
"Everyone, hold out as best you can!" Ren braced and saw the others do the same. They each skidded back as more and more beams hit them, eventually overpowering and sending them into the air. They rolled into four separate heaps on the floor and Ren yelled out Morgana's name as the lights faded, the cat jumping to his feet and healing them. Ren rose next, clutching his mask. "Thor!"
The tall god of thunder appeared behind him and summoned a giant golden gauntlet above their heads, then fired it at their foe. The fist crashed into the Persona, sending it skidding back through the air, scraping a foot against the marble floor as it tried to slow itself.
"Yes!" shouted Sumire "It felt that one!" She sent Ella to follow up the attack with her signature move. She flew in, spinning once she was mere metres away to increase the power of her kick.
But the Shadow spread her wings. More wings enveloped the Persona just as Ella's attacks landed, each impact leaving a glowing white gash in the air. The wings threw the attacks back with one unified motion, fading as the two giant waves raced towards Sumire. Ren broke into a sprint and dived, tackling Sumire to the ground. The waves sliced through the air in a crooked cross-shape where her torso had been as the teens rolled across the floor. Ren let go of her a few seconds later and the two sprung to their feet in unison.
"We need to stop her protecting it," he yelled to the others. "But we can't hit her!"
"We just need to keep trying, Senpai!"
"Right!" He clutched his mask and roared. "Arsene!" The pillager of twilight attacked once again with a beam of Curse energy and again the Shadow spread her wings, deflecting it. He spun away and felt the air behind him shake as repelled attack flew past but just pointed at the Persona. "Now!" he yelled. "Hurry, get it quick!"
A gunshot answered him before he'd even finished speaking and sent Orpheus shooting towards the Persona as the wings protecting it faded away, lyre at the ready. Four golden fists appeared around them as she drew close, extending towards their foe from all directions just as Orpheus swung her lyre. All five attacks made contact as one, sending the Persona reeling. It staggered away, but froze mid-fall, righting itself and floating back to its original position. The Shadow raised her finger yet again and coated it in purple energy once more, the Persona using that energy to form another massive orb of Almighty energy. This time there was no delay in its attack: as soon as the orb coalesced it exploded into a waterfall of light that billowed out, turning Diego and Orpheus to ash in an instant. Ren and Sumire were far enough away to avoid the wrath of the counterattack, but Morgana and Hanako received twice the blows as if to mock former's escape, sending them into the air.
"No!"
Ren didn't know which of the two had yelled. Hanako flipped onto her feet as soon as she landed and shot herself, healing all four of them and filling them with additional strength, but with another simple tap of the face the Shadow robbed them of the latter. Gritting his teeth through the sickening feeling, Ren saw a flash of lightning where the Shadow stood as she touched her mask again.
The Persona hurled the same at the still struggling pair. Ren tried to shout, but before he could even form the words Hanako and Morgana were blasted away again, rolling to a halt on the fronts, bodies singed. He cursed and ran to them, Sumire at his side, switching to Maria and healing them. They pushed themselves to their hands and knees and smiled at him, at which point he switched to Thor and fired another golden fist. It collided with the Persona's gut and sent it floating back a foot, but it simply floated back into place once more.
The Shadow touched her mask again and this time Ren saw a flash of darkness.
"Violet!"
Sumire glanced at him and immediately understood, jumping back as a beam of Cursed energy passed through the spot where her head had just been. Nodding to himself at the sight of her escape he switched to Shiva, using the Hindu diety to assail their foe with a barrage of Psychic energy. The Persona took the hit head on with nothing but a slight tremble. The Shadow touched her mask again. This time she surrounded the Thieves with light instead, this one red. Ren felt his strength leaving him as he watched Hanako and Morgana launch another joint barrage of Fire and Wind attacks, the Persona shrugging them off with only another small shudder to show for the efforts.
Okay, he thought to himself. It's resisted all the Magic attacks we've tried so far but doesn't seem to have any resistances to Physical moves...
He called on Arsene and used his natural element again, but the Shadow blocked it without missing a beat. Ren sidestepped the reflected blast, mind racing. Whether she blocked other attacks or not seemed to be entirely up to chance - if anything it felt like the Shadow only did so out of obligation - but was he imagining things or did she always block Cursed ones?
As he processed his thoughts, Sumire summoned two giant swords above the Persona that tore into it. It spun to the side with the force of the blows before turning back to face the Thieves head on. Ren attacked with Arsene, but once again the Shadow blocked his attack. This time the counterattack crashing into Arsene's torso, dispelling him at once, but Ren was too shocked to react to the dull throbbing it created in the back of his head.
"I knew it..." he muttered before shouting to the others. "I knew it! It's weak to Curse skills! Everyone, try to distract the Shadow! As soon as she uses a Skill, I'll use Arsene!"
"Got it!" Hanako gave him a quick wink and thumbs up.
"Great going, Joker!"
"You can count on us, Senpai!"
Morgana healed the team as Orpheus flew in, lyre at the ready. She swung the instrument single-handedly and the Persona blocked with its left arm, still keeping a tight grip on its chains, but Orpheus punched its face with her off-hand. She kicked off just as Sumire surrounded the heavenly looking Persona with thin ethereal blades that slashed down, digging into its artificial flesh once more, forcing it down as they tore their way back out of it. It rose to its original height and the Persona imbued it with darkness. It fired a beam of Curse energy at Sumire, but Ren shoved her aside, taking the full brunt of the attack himself, hissing as he crossed his arms before his face.
"Senpai?!"
"I - it's okay!" He grunted. "It...it isn't doing...much!" He gasped out the last word as the attack ceased, flashing Sumire a sweaty smile. The Shadow raised her hand again and filled the Shadow with bright purple energy once more. The Persona raised its hand to summon another gigantic orb of Almighty energy, but Ren just smirked.
Now's my chance!
"Arsene!"
The gentleman thief fired a blast of Curse energy at the Persona but their foe simply fired its own attack first, the two-toned blast completely blotting out Arsene's attempt, dissolving Arsene himself before even making contact...and consuming Ren.
Through the ear-rending rush of energy surrounding him he could make out Sumire screaming his name as he was thrown up into the air. For a moment it felt like he was suspended in the sky...and then he crashed down flat on his back, bouncing back like a stone skimmed across a lake a few feet before coming to a halt, hissing as his body erupted in pain.
"Senpai!"
He heard Sumire run up to him and the faint woosh of a Persona forming. The agony of his limbs disappeared alongside the black spots in his vision, his eyes refocusing just in time to see Ella end the healing spell she'd cast upon him, fading away with what he could have sworn was a worried smile. Sumire obscured his sight next, hand outstretched.
"I...I'm fine..." He accepted her hand and let her pull him to his feet, shaking his head once he was back up. "Thank you. Okay," he muttered to her "I'm not sure if this is going to work, but..." he turned to the team at large. "Sorry about that!" He yelled. "It's not just the Shadow; we need to catch the Persona off-guard too! Everyone, keep piling pressure on it! I'll attack as soon as I get an opening, don't let up!"
The Persona raised its hand, preparing another volley of small meteorites. Even so, his teammates stood strong, their own Personas by their sides.
"We're with you, Senpai!"
"Okay, Joker!"
"Let's do this!"
Ren could only look at their turned backs, mouth open.
They...they still trust me after all that?
He shook his head: this was no time to be getting sentimental. The Persona dropped the rocks in a continuous hail. He only had time to cast a barrier around Morgana with Rangda before the trio ran into the fray. Sumire slid beneath a small cluster of rocks as Ella launched two fierce kicks at their foe, a bag of the items he'd crafted in her hand. Morgana sent another small hurricane towards the white Shadow, protected by Ren's earlier spell. Hanako let loose a wave of flame to obliterate the rocks directly in front of her, sending a second wave towards the one who'd sent them.
Those guys...
The Shadow channeled Electricity through her Persona next. Ren put a barrier around Hanako and sent Thor to shield Morgana, wincing as he turned to Sumire, too far away for him to reach her in time.
"Violet, I'm sorry! Look out!"
"It's fine!" She dodged, jumping and ducking this way and that with that grace of hers he'd always admired, but eventually collapsed from a stray bolt colliding with her shoulder. Other bolts struck her as she fell like hyenas jumping on wounded prey and he cursed, running up to her as soon as the attack ended with Maria by his side, healing her. She got to her feet as he drew near.
"I'm so sorry," he muttered. She just gave him a radiant smile he felt too guilty to return, so he flashed her a small grin instead. "Please hang in there, guys!" he shouted to all three of them. They resumed their assault, the back and forth volley of attacks continuing until the Persona fired a beam of Curse energy at Sumire. She spun out of the way and sent Ella to counterattack, the Princess spinning in the air once more before lashing out with her leg. The Shadow in turn enveloped the Persona with her giant wings.
"Violet!" he shouted. "Watch out!"
"Right!"
Two shockwaves shot towards her, one after the other. She ducked under the first, a horizontal cut through the air, only to be hit head-on by the second, vertical slash. She rolled back and jumped onto her feet, still winded with an eye shut from the pain. Ren wanted to heal her right away, but with both the Shadow and Persona having just used an ability each...
"Arsene!" Ren roared once more as he tore off his mask. His other self formed a black orb between his palms and fired an ever-expanding, spiralling beam of energy towards the Persona. The attack struck true, barreling into the angelic figure's torso. The Persona touched the floor and took several steps back, trying to withstand the attack until the beam exploded outward. It took a few more, wobbling steps back.
And fell to one knee.
"Yes!" he cheered, hearing the others do the same. "Everyone, use your Physical skills!"
They did just that. Suddenly the space surrounding the Shadow was filled with shining kicks from Sumire, golden punches from Morgana, bashes of a lyre from Hanako and even more spiralling kicks from Arsene, his legs glowing with faint light in the shape of blades. The Shadow tried to repel their blows as best she could with her wings, but there was only so much she could do to shield a Persona that couldn't defend itself. In time though, the latter recovered with a rumbling of the tower beneath them. The four Personas retreated and the Thieves jumped back in turn as the white being rose to its feet and took to the air once more. It was still silent, its eyes still the same shape and color as before, yet they could each sense the searing rage emanating from those red slits in its face.
The Shadow raised her finger again. This time the Persona turned pitch black, just as she was beneath her new outfit.
"What now?!" asked Morgana. The air grew thick around them as if in response.
The Persona raised its own finger. Another orb of energy, far bigger than any they'd seen before appeared above it, blazing a fierce red and black. The air grew thicker still. Ren could feel his lungs betraying him.
"Everyone...brace!" He choked out.
They did so, Hanako healing them first with a quick "Wait!" and filling them with energy.
"Thanks!" he shouted. Still tensing himself, he summoned Fafnir and sent it towards the orb, having it charge a Nuclear strike within its robotic arms as it went.
"Senpai, no!"
Sumire ran towards him with her arm outstretched, but the orb exploded outward, blotting out the sky with a seemingly endless wave of fiery Almighty energy that cascaded down on them. Fafnir stood no chance, annihilated by the mere presence of the attack. The energy smashed into the marble tiling and spilled outward, crashing into the four Thieves and sending them flying. Ren felt his spine slam against one of the pillars and fell a metre to the ground. He opened his eyes in time to see Sumire tumbling past him, just managing to reach out and grab her wrist before she flew over the edge. Head spinning, he looked there and was just able to make out Morgana pull himself back up from it. Further ahead, Hanako's blurry figure was already dragging herself to her feet, using the pillar she'd no doubt hit for support. She shot herself to heal them, the Shadow immediately robbing them of the increased strength granted by Orpheus' Skill.
Ren's eyes continued rolling in his head, eventually landing on the raven staue directly above him and the feathers forever peeling away from it.
Those feathers...
They...they look just like the feathers on that Shadow's dress...
Wait, no...what am I doing?
He shook his head, he and Sumire helping each other to their feet as Morgana stood up beside them. "We...we can still do this..." he forced out, still seeing double of everything. "Everyone! The same...the same tactic as before!" He stood firm and made out Sumire's smiling face as a pair of cheers reached him from Morgana and Hanako. The trio threw themselves back into the fray. Waves of Fire and Wind rained down on the Persona - now white again - once more. It shrugged them off. Sumire swung two etheral swords down, aiming for its shoulders. It caught both, but slid back from the effort. Ren clutched the pillar, shaking his head through the rising urge to vomit. He kept shaking until her threw off his dizzied state, then ran to join the others.
"Keep pushing!" He screamed. Arsene appeared beside him for a moment before launching himself at the enemy Persona, spinning as he flew and landing a kick to its chin with his bladed heels. The Persona's head reeled back, but it retaliated with a fistful of Blessed energy. Ren swapped Arsene for Vohu Manah at the last second, the Councillor Persona nullifying the magic but being thrown back by the larger spirit's hand, then switched again to Fafnir, launching a colossal Nuclear blast beneath its feet. The Persona shuddered and Orpheus flew in from behind the dragon, bashing its head to one side with her lyre.
The Shadow raised her finger, turning the Persona black again.
"Now!" Arsene answered Ren's call, launching a second pillar of Cursed energy from his hands. The Persona skidded back, trying to halt its momentum by dragging against the floor with its foot as it had before, its black coating peeling away like dried paint as it went. It stopped and tried to stand, but again fell on one knee. Arsene followed with another spinning kick, the attack a wordless trigger that launched a second barrage of Physical Skills from the other Thieves. The attacks - be they physical projections like Morgana's fists, ethereal like Ren and Sumire's kicks and blades or mundane like Hanako's lyre - battered the Persona further and further back, knocking it back down each time it tried to stand. They got it to the very edge of the roof, its back foot scraping closer and closer to the edge of one of the three stairwells leading back into the tower, before it managed to rise accompanied by a familiar rumbling of the ground beneath them. Their own Personas backed off, still poised for battle. The white figure managed to stand for a moment but sagged as it floated back into the air, covered head to artificial toe in deep cuts and dents covering its metallic body.
"We're almost there!" shouted Ren.
But before the words had even left his mouth, the Persona raised its arm and bathed itself in pale blue light.
"No!" Ren saw Morgana's stubby legs tremble as his eyes widened. Ren felt his breath catch in his throat once more as he saw the Persona's scars fade, bit by bit, and yelled. Arsene answered his unspoken call, firing a short blast of Cursed energy at the larger being, but the Shadow simply spread her wings, enveloping it once again and throwing the attack back at him. He ducked out of the way and looked back, clutching his head as the wings faded into the ether.
Revealing a Persona in perfect health once more, its eyes shining bright against the night sky.