The tower, FL: ?, ?

Entering Nyar's throne room, I saw the man himself dancing down the steps that lead up to his throne chair. He would change forms as he went down each step into random humans. When he jumped off the final step he transformed back into the form he was regularly in.

"M, there you are." "I see you were having fun." "I can say the same for you, you look like you've been put through the gutter." "Yeah, nothing too eventful happened." "You're lying~ I know you took our bait from her cage." "You knew about that but you didn't stop me?" "Yes, but you know what I don't get is why you did it?"

I rubbed my head to act as if I didn't know. The reason I took her was so I could spice up the stakes a little bit. I was going to threaten to kill her or something like that to make him fight harder, but to be honest, I wasn't since it was too much of a bother to do so.

"I don't know, maybe I just wanted to take her out for a stroll." "Come now, we both know that you're not a fantastic lier. You wanted to stir up some fun, and it worked wonders, didn't it?" "Yep, absolutely, I had a blast watching Kazuki and that purple dye hair kid shakes it up a bit." "That was until you got mixed up in a fight of your own. That masked man really did put you through the gauntlet." "...About that, who is he?"

Nyar began to walk back and forth in a sort of pattern. "That man is the person I have been waiting for that person to come here." "What, an old fling?" "More like an old humiliation and a possible threat." A threat to Nyar? Now that's something I need to hear about.

"How is this guy a threat?" "As you experienced first hand, he's a strong Persona user. Surely you figured that much out?" "I had a suspicious feeling he was but I couldn't believe it due to how powerful he was." "Yes, I'd think that was to be expected given how many years its been."

Nyar went back up the stairs to his chair. "In any case, I think you should sit out on the fun for a while until he reaches the top. So until then, how about you go to sleep for a while or read a book." "What will you do?" "Spectate of course, what else." "Then you do you, and I'll go read a book or something like that."

I left the room with my hands in my pocket. I could tell Nyar was serious on that threat thing but he didn't seem disturbed by it; he must have something planned dor him. But it would explain why he would be able to keep up with me, or rather, beat me in strength and magic.

"It's been a while hasn't it. Maybe next time I shouldn't pull my punches..."

The tower, FL: 3, ?

Ichirou was quivering in fear from the Shizuka that was standing in front of her. "What's...going on with her," she asked herself. "She has unlocked her true abilities and self." Shizuka was creeping over to them slowly but with a deathly aura to herself. Getting too close would be considered a death sentence for any that tried.

"I think we should test this," Hifumi said, snapping his fingers to summon his demons. They lunged at Shizuka the moment they appeared. If anyone else was fighting these things they would be killed in an instant... But Shizuka was different from a normal person. She instantaneously responded to all of them, killing each of them in a blink of an eye. "How did she do that!?" "Her instincts responded to their presence focuses on them so she can hit her mark accurately."

She continued to march on towards them. "Master, we need to leave!" Ichirou urged themselves to get out of the area. "No, we must capture her, alive. Ichirou, distract her for me, I need to prepare." Ichirou knew what she would have to fight Shizuka as she was now. The fact of the matter was: going over there and fighting her was suicidal at best. But even with all this in mind, she didn't back down from fighting.

"I shall buy you time, master." She took out her sword only to throw it at Shizuka. She immediately had hit it with her sword. It had clattered on the floor. She effortlessly slashed off the blade of the katana. She reacting and all things coming at her and she'll hit it almost instantaneously. Approaching her without a plan is what'll get me killed...

"I finally get to use these." I took out two balls from my pouch and threw them at Shizuka. And as expected she sliced them into halves. "Shouldn't have done that Shiz~" They grenades to put in an adequate way. They released a gust of air at Shizuka who was caught in its outward gust. She was standing her ground against it, but I bet she couldn't see through the wind. I took the time to try and close the gap between us and make an attack. But upon attacking, I saw a sword cut through the wind. I had to use whatever toes I had on the ground to move out of the way. I was able to evade but I got a scratch on my side.

"How did she see me coming?" With the wind blowing in her face she couldn't have possibly seen me coming, unless... "She heard me!?" It's not impossible, I can do the same if I focus, but she's doing it like it's second nature. She's not only more vicious but too fast to even get near.

"Ichirou, move!" Immediately as he commanded, I jumped out of the way for master to make his attack. "Lethargy circle." Chains came out of the circle Shizuka was in, tying her themselves around her ankle. "Finally, Dormina." Master had cast a sleep spell on her but she was still moving.

"Can't put asleep something that is already sleeping." She seemed awake to me, but I get what he's saying. She subconsciously fighting right now, her eyes were evidence of this. Just when I was getting ready for another attack she ran off in a different direction.

"Ichroiu, go after here." "What about you master?" "Don't mind me, just go after her. I need to get something from the lab. Do not lose her no matter what." "Understood!" I gave chase after her. She couldn't have gotten too far from where I'm at, she's still affected by master's agility debuff. "No matter how fast you run I'll catch up Shizuka, just you wait..."

The tower, FL: 3,?

"How long do we need to carry this guy," Junpei complained. "Who knows, just make sure he's protected." We were fighting demons from every corner. We had eliminated most of them, only a few remained. Junpei and my Personas were doing most of the fighting. I didn't have a sword with me at this time so I was using my fists defend myself.

"Final stretch, there's only three more left!" Hisoka and I charged in to eliminate them.

"Persona!" Hisoka sliced the demon in front of him into halves, Skeith just crushed them to death...

"Hew, done." I sat down to take a rest for a moment. "Why are you tired, that being did all the fighting," Hisoka asked. "Well it's not like I can call the thing without spending a bit of stamina, it's exhausting to keep it out for a long period of time." I've really gotta use my Persona more. Yuki seemed like he was suffering a lot more than I was. He seemed like he was barely able to stand at this point, and he wasn't even fighting.

"Makoto, you okay?" "Yes, I'm fine." "You don't seem fine, you look as if you're suffering." "I'm fine, really, just give me a moment." Ever since he came back, Makoto seemed as if his energy was sapped from his body. He would stay in his room most of the time when he was back in the dorm. I can't see how he was allowed to come along to the tower. But at any rate, we should take a break.

"Guys, let's take a short break," I ordered. "We should keep moving," Hisoka suggested. "We got one guy who's barely keeping up, and besides, we should pace ourselves," I told him. I sat down on the floor with my legs spread out. Hisoka sighed to himself and took a seat on the floor as well. We all had taken a sit down to catch our breaths.

"What the?" Junpei's bag was going wild as if someone was trying to break free from inside the bag. The zipper to the bag was moved from one end to the other. Everything in it came falling out, and Ko, who was posing dramatically before landing.

"My stuff!" Junpei got on the ground to collect his stuff. Most of it was useless junk. "That place was uncomfortable and less spacious; I felt as if I was being crushed to death in there." Ko ran over to me. "Bro, you're okay." "Yep, I am, are you okay though? That kick you took seemed pretty bad." "It's okay, I don't feel anything, and the bruise is probably gone already." Now that I noticed it, there was no bruise on his head. "Wow, you heal fast." "Mhm, I can heal all on my own, cool right?" "Very cool."

He climbed onto my jacket and on my hood. "Oh bro, who are they?" Ko pointed to Junpei and Makoto. "He's Junpei and that's Makoto, they're my friends." "Nice to met ya kid." "You too, sir." I had a sudden idea in my head. "Ko, can you go over there and heal Makoto, he's in a bit of pain." "I'm on it!" He gave me a little salute and went over to him. I had gone over to Ryota, who was resting on the wall opposite of us. I wanted to see if he was okay. Before I could, I felt something coming. It was a coffin standing in front of me. It's coffin opened to reveal a hand. I was about to turn on Shadow-mog but something pierced through the coffin.

"Expand." The pole-like object widened and then disappeared after making a large hole in the demon. "Ryota, you're awake," Hisoka yelled with shock. I got down to the floor and was going to lift him up but then I remembered what happened when I touched his shoulder last time.

"*Yawn* Hey guys, why is it so dark in here," he asked as he stretched his arms and legs. "Ryota, are you all right?" "Yeah, fit as a fiddle and as chipper as a bird." He was yelling these out as if they were a battle cry or something like that. It was nice to see him up and about.

"So, where are we now, on the next floor?" "Yes, right now we're looking for someone on this floor," I explained. "Who, Hana?" "No, another friend of mine." "Ah... Is it the girl with black hair from the picture?" A pretty good guess for it being random. "Yeah, she came to this tower along with him and another friend of mine." "I see, well that must be the gist of it then." I was surprised he was able to get all that down in his head.

"So how long have we been in here?" "I'd say about an hour," Hisoka replied. I didn't even think we were in here for an hour now. We need to pick up the pace a bit.

"Guys, I don't want to stay in this place for another hour, so let's just run the rest of the way. Ko, climb on." Ko scaled up my back and latched himself onto my neck. I began to dash ahead of everyone else. I wasn't going to slow down right now, I needed to keep running until I hit the end. After a while, I began to see a light appear ahead of me. Finally a way out of here. When we went through the light we were able to see that we weren't finished yet. The others had come in seconds after me. Makoto was on Junpei's back.

"Man, you guys run too fast," Junpei said as he was breathing heavily. "We thought you were able to keep up," Ryota told him. There were no other pathways except for a door on the left and another one in front of us. I went to investigate it.

"Is this a door," Ko asked. There were no handles and it was metal upon touching it. It was only when I looked to my right and saw some buttons that realized what this was.

"This isn't a door, it's an elevator." When I looked at the panel there was only one slot and it was empty.

"Huh, there's no." "Is that bad?" "Yep, that means we can't go down to any other floors." There was a door on the left of the elevator. I guess we'll need to go in through there to find another way down." I opened the door on the left, it revealed another hallway but this one had corners.

"Let's go..." We went through the door and walked along the hallway. The purple-colored walls here now had people on them, suffering from something. The hallways had many traps I was unaware and if it weren't for Ko and Hisoka I would've been mince meet. As we were roaming these halls it felt like we were going around in circles, or rather, many different dead ends. At this rate, it'll be a while before we can navigate this place properly.

"I think we're lost," I said in exhaustion. "If that isn't obvious," Junpei responded. "Bro, what are we going to do?" "Calm down, we'll sort through this soon, just gotta figure out how we can map this out." "Map out..." Ryota repeated to himself as he seemed like he was thinking hard about something...

"Oh, I got it!" He pulled something out of his coat pocket. It looked like a cell phone with a square box on the back of it. "Let's see... Yep, there we go! Guys look." We all gathered around Ryota. The phone display was grey with a square map format. It was sort of filled out, probably from our path.

"Ryota, did Arata give you this," Hisoka asked. "Yep, this thing is pretty nifty. Apparently, this thing can communicate with anyone who has this thing." Ah, I remember my first time getting my phone, I didn't have many people to call but I was still giddy about it.

"Kazuki, does your world have one of these." "Course." I took mine out and showed it to him. "Whoa, it's much slimmer without a box on the back. You think I can keep it?" "No, you already have one!" I snatched my phone out of his hands.

"Anyway, does this thing auto-fill," Hisoka questioned. "No, I'm supposed to have it scan the layout of the floor, not the specific detail, just layer and room outline. That way we can get an idea of how large the room is." So it's like a jigsaw puzzle. Judging by the room size it won't take long at all. There was something else that I noticed on the map as well aside from the room size. There was a large dot on the map.

"Ryota, what is that?" "That... That could be an enemy, a rather strong enemy." "Should we investigate it?" "Why not, we got nothing better to go on, so let's do it." We began to march off towards the red dot. Ryota was leading the charge as our navigator. We still needed Ko's nose to detect if any enemies were nearby since the phone couldn't detect common demons. We were filling in the map little by little, eventually, we made it to the source.

"Okay... it's up ahead?" We were only a minute or two away from the red dot. However, when we were getting closer it began moving towards us. I could also hear something faint in the distance but I could hear something coming closer to us. After a while, two figures began to appear, running towards us...

"Is that...?" I was able to make them out a little now. They looked like... Yukari and Hana, and they were running with some scared looks on their faces.

"Out of the way, freaky monster behind us," Hana yelled out before stopping and crouching down in front of us. When the monster came in view we could see why they were freaked to high hell; it was the same one from before. It was charging for us with the same bloodthirsty feeling from before. "Guys, the red dot is that monster!" He put away the phone and began to summon up a beam saber. "Get ready!" When the monster was close in range, Hana had summoned up a chunk of the ground to stab through the monster's chest.

"It's pinned down." "Good." Ryota changed his sword to a spear and threw it at the monster's head. I thought that would've been it for the monster but it was still alive and kicking. It had destroyed the piece of the ground that was stuck in its chest. I then noticed that it was recovering the moment it took those things out of its body.

"This thing can regenerate!?" This is bad, if this thing can self-regenerate we're gonna be in for a bad time. "Regeneration has its limits." Hisoka stabbed his sword into the ground. "And we're about to seem it..." Ice came out from where the sword was. It was spreading across the floor and up to the monster's feet. It was covering every inch of its body until it was completely frozen. We could smash it to bits. "Skeith!" Skeith had immediately punched away at the monster and shattered it into separate pieces...

"Did that do it?" I asked as the ice began to shatter. "After that, it better be dead." Looking down on the monster I saw something on the ground. It was a sort of button on the ground. There was a number on it: 3. This probably belongs to the slot for the elevator panel. With that in mind, I put it in my pocket for safekeeping...

"Is everyone alright," Ryota asked. "Yes, we're fine, just scared shitless," Hana cursed. "I thought we were going to die," Yukari trembled. "Well, no need to be frightened now, it's dead." Hisoka took his sword out of the hole and put it back its scabbard. "Guys, we should go back to the entrance, I think we can get to lower floors now." I took out the button as evidence of that. "Sweet then let's get going then," Junpei excitingly hopped.

"Ryota, everyone else is going on ahead." "Hang on Kazuki, I'm just trying to..." Something was behind him and it was a monster. I turned on Shadow-mog and push Ryota away by his shoulder. I blocked its attack but it nearly destroyed my defense. I was able to get a good look at the monster in question, it was the same thing we just killed!

"What the hell, why is this thing still alive?" It let out a beastly roar and pushed me back with its other fist. Ryota had caught me but he wasn't able to stop us from hitting the floor. "Ugh!" The punch was made my hands a bit sore but I knew we needed to get out of here. Before I could get Ryota, it was already on us. I was going to jump at it with my shoulder but something ran past us and severed the monster's head like a speeding bullet. "Run to the elevator!" It was Hisoka. He had picked up Ryota and took out the phone from his coat pocket. He threw it to me. Already picking up on this, I started leading the way while the monster was headless. The others were waiting for us up ahead. "Run, it's still alive!" With my warning, they began to run as fast as the wind. I got up in front of them all and I began to direct them back to the elevator. It was like a marathon back to the elevator, except there was a monster that was threatening to kill us...

"The elevator is just around this corner!" I turned the corner and put the button inside the slot. I pressed the button but the damn thing was coming up from the bottom floor.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" "Kazuki, what are you doing!?" "The damn thing is coming from the bottom floor!" "What, we need it here right now!" "I know Junpei!" The tension was getting thicker and thicker as the elevator was taking its sweet ass time to open up. That thing was coming closer by the second and in a tight space like this, fighting that thing will get us killed.

"Bro, it's getting closer," Ko yelled as he was shaking like a leaf. "I know, I know!" I peaked outside the corridor and I see Hisoka used his ice magic to freeze the floor. He was going to freeze the monster. However, the monster jumped the moment the ice was near its feet.

"It dodged!?" He dodged and I can't blame him, so was I. "It's probably smart to learn from its mistakes," Ryota guessed. "That's just great! Io!" Yukari summoned her Persona and shot a gust of wind at the monster, holding it at bay...

"Kazuki, tell me it's almost up here!?" "It's almost here..." The light had finally hit the top one, and the elevator opened up. "It's here!" When I had said that, everyone had come from around the corner and clambered inside the elevator. It became too cramped for any of us to move freely. The monster was in sight and it was almost like it was going to run right into us. We all made a collective yell as this thing was getting closer and closer, to the point where our lungs were about to burst. But before it had made it anywhere inside, the door to the elevator close with haste. *Thud* The elevator shuck around like it was on a string. After a while, the swinging stops and the elevator is filled with silence...

"So...that was fun," I joked to kill the silence. "Fun, sure," Yukari replied. "I think I'm being crushed," Junpei complained. "I'm smaller than the rest of you, all of you crushing me," Ko tried to squeeze out but he wasn't successful. "God, you guys smell," Hana said in disgust. "We've fighting demons for days, sorry if we didn't think about our odor," Hisoka sarcastically replied. "At least we're all okay, right Makoto?" "Yes... I just wish that I wasn't being crushed by you and Junpei." "Sorry," we both apologized. This was certainly a group bonding moment for us all, I think.

...

I was hot on Shizuka's trail. She was running down the halls fighting all the monsters in here. Most if then were strong by themself but in droves, it should be impossible to beat them ally80 at once. Her strength has definitely increased and her speed has too, but there's something else to her, something that's, even more, deadlier now. That's why when I see her I need to strike when she doesn't even notice me, and as quickly as I could... I had finally caught up with her. She was standing in the middle of a platform. On this floor, strong demons are position on each of these floors. She must've already killed it by the time I caught up. But that doesn't matter, now was my chance, I could strike now. I took my blade out and positioned myself towards her back, and I use all the muscle in my and I jumped from where wth all my might and went as fast as a speeding bullet. I should've been moving fast enough to slice her neck, but that's not how that turned out. My landing was rough as I was sliding on the floor with a blood trail with it. I noticed she had sliced open my arms and legs.

"How is this possible, I was faster than her!" I should've been able to slice her neck wide open without any problems but here I was, with open wounds and nothing to show for it. However, it's not like they hurt too much nor would they stop me, I was finally alone with Shizuka, and I was under no restriction to go easier on her...

"Hey, Shizuka, now that we're finally all alone, nobody in sight, I can finally say what I wanted to say to you for the longest time... I hate you!" I was not joking now, nor was I pretending, that one word was filled with emotions that I've been waiting to say for a long time now. "I always hated you, it was ridiculous how long I kept that bottled up, but I'm not just going to talk you to death, I'm going to break everything in your body."

I took a stance with my sword. This was going to be the start of a real fight, I was going to destroy her with all my might, even if it kills me, I will destroy her, even if it destroys me...

...

Fighting was the first thing we did on this floor. We had to move and fight and then fight a powerful enemy on each of these platforms. We kept descending further and further down the floor. It was almost as if we were descending into hell as we kept going on. We had to defend Makoto as well, so we had Ryota, Hisoka, Junpei and myself in the front, while the girls and Ko stayed in the back.

"How much longer are we going to keep going down," Yukari asked with audible irritation in her voice. "What's the matter, scared?" "Not really, just tired of the constant fighting." "Oh..." Junpei's attempt to tease her was shot even before he tried. "This floor is perfect, fighting in the dark and relying mostly on your senses, it's excellent," Ryota beamed as he threw out a slight chuckle. "Hey, he's kind of like Akihiko-senpai, isn't he," Junpei whispered to me. "Oh yeah, most definitely. Speaking about senpai, what were they doing when you both left?" "I think they were interrogating Shizuka at the hospital." "For what?" "I think they said they suspected her of being an enemy." Shit, they figured her out? Wait, if they did that, does that mean they think I'm an enemy as well?

"So what happened after that?" "Didn't finish because she got away from them and the police." Police... God, what are we going to do when we get out of here with Fuuka? Is she going to be on the run? The better question is what's going to happen to me...?

"The morning before joining the rescue party we got a phone call from senpai. She told us to be on the look-out for Shizuka-tan and to stay away from her. So when she came to the dorm, I was sort of confused about what was happening, and the Yuka-tan started grilling her for answers and then Shizuka-tan said she was going to help you. So in no time at all, we decided to join her to help you guys."

Junpei was smiling with no worries at all. He and Yukari were taking big risks to help me and they haven't complained about it one bit, they're not hesitant to help me at all, despite what's going on. "Whoa, what's with the bright smile?" Junpei pointed out. "Nothing, I'm just glad that you guys are here." "Hehe, it's nothing, we got your back." Hearing him say that was reassuring, it also solidifies the point that I'm not in this by myself.

"ARGGHH!" A scream came from below from the platform. Someone cane flying up towards us. I caught the person. "Who's that?" It was a boy and he was all bloody up. Multiple cuts all over his body.

"Hey, are you okay?" I tried to see if he was still alive. There was a pulse and his breathing was low. "...Wait a sec, Kazuki, that's-" Something else came speeding up from the stairs below, I could barely dodge it in time with the person in my arms. I turned on Shadow-mog as the blur was going after Junpei next. I moved just as quickly as that blur and caught their wrists. I was able to get a close glimpse at who I was holding.

"Shizuka?" She was unresponsive, she only gave me this blank stare that seemed as if she wasn't awake. "Yo, Shizu. it's me, Kazuki." She still did 't say anything but instead broke from my grip and tried to slice at me. I dodged the first few strikes she did.

"Whoa, you almost hit me there!" She continued her onslaught of attacks. "Shizuka, what the hell are you doing!?"She was going faster and faster until I couldn't keep up anymore. She had hit me square in the stomach, which had knocked me to the other set of stairs that led upwards. The kick was harder than any attack that Shizuka threw at me before, I wasn't ready for it.

"What the hell was that?" I got up from the floor but it wasn't easy for me to stay on both of my feet. I slowly walked over towards her, trying not to push myself all that much.

"So, is this the woman we came for," Hisoka asked as he was pulling out his sword. "More or less, but there's something wrong with her." "Cleary, but what?" "That doesn't matter now, we need to defend ourselves," Ryota said as he made an energy sword. Everyone was ready for a fight but I didn't know if I was ready to take on Shizuka. And there was the other fact that Shizuka was omitting a scary presence right now, something that made all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. And as I was in my thoughts, Shizuka took a few steps forward.

"Here she comes!" With that one sword in her hand, she walked forward towards us with no hesitation at all...