Sorry about how infrequent updates are. Unfortunately, the 2020 rerun is just as bad as the first, if not worse. Once again, I'm also trying to update my other stories, but having writer's block on them for a long time is making things hard. Also, I had TMJ a few times, and painkillers, cold compresses, massages, and gentle jaw stretches weren't working, so I had to suffer days of pain and sleepless nights.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Megami Tensei franchise or Symphogear

Miku watched in concern as Hibiki wobbled into their room, visibly exhausted. Sprawling onto the bed, the girl groaned almost exaggeratedly. She mumbled, "Makoto-san is so strict!"

Curious, Miku asked, "What happened?"

Looking at her roommate, Hibiki responded, "He's making me take lessons with him to learn to manage my time… It's so hard!"

Sighing, her best friend lamented, "If you were more responsible, you wouldn't be struggling so much with it. He's doing it to help you." Sitting down next to her, she continued, "Besides, you can learn a lot from this."

Indignant, Hibiki whined, "But he made me write down my regular schedule and made a new one for me to do!" Reaching into her bag, she pulled out two sheets of paper. The first one was clearly identified as the schedule Hibiki made, as shown by the somewhat messy writing scrawled across the paper. The other one was neatly written and had detailed notes, with annotations marked here and there.

Comparing the papers, Miku exclaimed, "Hibiki, this is serious! No wonder Makoto-san is doing this! Your regular schedule is a mess compared to the one he made." Putting the papers down, she huffed, "That's it, I've decided. I'm going to help Makoto-san enforce your new schedule." Ignoring Hibiki's look of betrayal, Miku sat down on the bed and finished, "I'll be making sure that you're following the new schedule when Makoto-san isn't here." A second later, her eyes widened as she did a double-take at the modified schedule again. She exclaimed, "Makoto-san got Kanade Amou to help with the new schedule?!"

Scrambling to get up, Hibiki snatched the paper and glared intensely at the writing. She relaxed and smiled. "Maybe it won't be so bad, after all," she sighed in relief.

Collapsing onto one of the sofa benches in the Section Two headquarters the next week, Hibiki wheezed, "It is that bad…" Not only was Makoto strict, he had also asked Kanade to teach her how to operate on a packed time schedule that was constantly changing. And after that, she had lessons with Genjuro to learn how to properly fight. It started with simply watching martial arts movies to understand and copy the movements, then it escalated to intense exercise and regulated diets. Even worse, some of the man's lessons took place during class hours, and she had to ask Miku to make up excuses for her.

Sitting down on the bench across from her, Genjuro proudly said, "We're counting on you, champion of tomorrow." Next to him, Makoto and Kanade sat down as well, looking like they hadn't gone through the same hell she had.

Handing Hibiki a bottle of water, Aoi kindly said, "Here you go. Good work."

Happily accepting the drink, the girl exclaimed, "Ooh, thanks!" She greedily gulped down the water and sighed in relief. A few seconds later, she asked, "I feel bad for saying this because I was the one who decided to do this, but isn't there a way to fight the Noise without having to rely on high school girls?"

Shaking his head, Genjuro answered, "Officially, there isn't. In Japan, Symphogears are considered top secret classified information. And the Persona ability that Kanade-kun and Makoto-kun have are known only to Section Two at the time being."

Chuckling sheepishly, Hibiki nervously squeaked, "When I'm out there fighting, I don't really pay attention to that…"

With a reassuring smile, Aoi interjected, "That's why controlling information is Section Two's job."

Over from the terminal he was sitting at, Sakuya piped up. "But that means stepping on toes, so we have a lot of people in the government who don't like us." He turned away from his terminal to look at the group. "Since we're the Special Disaster Response Team, they call us the Disaster Team instead."

Frustrated, Aoi lamented, "Even though the government heads ordered us to keep it classified, it's tough."

Speaking up, Kanade snorted, "Typical. They'll tell you to do something, then when you do it, they get angry at you for doing it while actively ignoring that they told you to do it in the first place."

Makoto mumbled, "That's how politics are…"

Ignoring the two, Sakuya continued, "They probably plan to use the Symphogears as a diplomatic tool."

Aoi elaborated, "The EU and America are always looking for a chance to come back. The Symphogears are based on technology and theory that completely differ from anything else in existence. No other nation than Japan can replicate them, making everyone want them more."

Laying down on the bench once more, Hibiki sighed, "All I'm getting is that it's complicated…"

Makoto suddenly asked, "By the way, where's Ryoko-san? I want to ask her about the progress of our project."

Genjuro answered, "She's in Nagata. The higher-ups in the government called her there to explain Section Two's security and defense systems. And what project are you talking about?"

Makoto replied, "It's something we wanted to test, and it involves the Gungnir fragments that were able to be removed from Hibiki-san's chest two years ago."

Kanade perked up and asked, "Wait, do you mean that you're finding a way to use the fragments to make a new weapon?"

Nodding, the blue-haired boy said, "We're testing to see if relic fragments can be fused with a nihil weapon to create a new weapon. If it works, then you'll have your own weapon to fight with your Persona. Ryoko-san is also trying to make armor that can use the energy from our Persona ability to replicate the Symphogear's abilities without the use of a relic."

Suddenly, Genjuro's phone rang. Answering it, he listened to the caller. Seconds later, his eyes widened. Hanging up the call, he turned to the others when Ryoko entered the room.

She cheerfully exclaimed, "Hi, everyone! I'm back!"

Everyone turned to her. Genjuro asked, "Ryoko-kun! Where were you?"

The woman teased, "What? Did you get lonely without me?"

Solemn, Genjuro said, "Defense Minister Hiroki has been killed." Everyone's eyes widened. Continuing, the man said, "Several extremist groups have taken credit for the assassination, but we don't have any details. We're doing the best we can to investigate, but…"

Cutting him off, Hibiki interrupted, "We tried to call you, but you didn't answer!"

Confused, the woman pulled out her phone and fiddled with it. However, nothing happened. Chuckling sheepishly, Ryoko said, "Sorry. It's probably not working." Setting down the briefcase she was carrying, she said, "But thanks for worrying about me. Besides, the classified documents I got from the government are safe." She pulled out a green data card, showing it to the occupants of the room. However, unbeknownst to them, there was a small bloodstain on the corner of the briefcase.

An hour later, Makoto listened silently to the briefing regarding the Noise attacks. Apparently, the Noise seemed to be targeting Durandal, which was locked up in the lowest level of Section Two, also called the Abyss. Despite the Abyss being the most secure place to hold the perfectly intact relic, the government had decided to move it to the Memory Ruins below Nagata. And finally, the transfer would be happening the next day. With the meeting concluded, Makoto quietly beckoned to Kanade, gesturing to follow him. "It's time to see if the test worked," he simply said. Eagerly, the girl followed him.

Inside the simulation room, the two stood across from each other, holding their Evokers. Makoto quickly pulled the trigger and called out Orpheus, who floated silently behind him. He said, "Kanade-san, it's your turn to bring out your Persona."

Grinning, the girl replied, "Alright, let's do this!" She held up her Evoker to her head, placing it under her chin. But when she moved her finger over the trigger, her body froze. Gulping, she tried to pull it again, only to find that she couldn't. "Wh-what? Why can't I…?"

Makoto said, "It's in human nature to fear death. You know that it's not real, but the Evoker feels the same as a real gun, so you feel doubt." Sending Orpheus charging at her, he added, "But think of it this way." Right as the girl dodged, he finished, "If you pull the trigger, you might die. But if you don't, you will die."

Scrambling as she dodged another swipe, Kanade shouted, "The hell? You trying to kill me or something?" She didn't have time to catch her breath as she ducked and rolled, trying to avoid Orpheus's attacks.

"I first summoned my Persona in a life-or-death situation. Things don't always work out, so it's better if you can do it in a controlled place." Makoto calmly said. Turning to the table next to him, he picked up a pendant that was nearly identical to the one Tsubasa and Hibiki wore, though it was a metallic silver as opposed to a ruby red. Putting it on, he held the crystal-shaped structure and observed it for a moment, before turning back to see the progress.

Kanade stumbled, falling to the ground. Looking up, she saw Orpheus wind back its arms. Her blood running cold and heartbeat skyrocketing, she broke into a cold sweat. Fumbling with her Evoker and placing it under her shin, she managed to pull the trigger, summoning her Hell Biker in time for it to block the strike. Panting as the rush of adrenaline slowly subsided, she shot a glare at Makoto. "I get why you did it, but at least tell me first, you bastard!" Grumbling as she walked over to the table, she grabbed her own pendant and put it on as well. Fiddling with it, she asked, "So all we have to do is use our Persona power or whatever and put it into the armor pendant, right?" Without waiting for a response, she channeled her energy, causing the pendant to burst in a bright light.

When the light faded, Kanade looked at her attire. Similar to when she still had Gungnir, she was clad in a skintight suit, though it covered more skin. It was a dark shade of blue, and had grey armor plates on her chest, shoulders, and upper legs. She had armored boots that went up to just below her knee, and gauntlets that reached her elbows. Her headset was nearly identical to the one Gungnir had, though it was a mix of blue and grey, much like the suit and armor.

Activating his armor as well, Makoto did a few stretches, testing its flexibility and range of motion. Grabbing the nihil spear, he tossed it and a small bag to Kanade. "The bag has the Gungnir fragments that were able to be removed from Hibiki's chest. If you fuse them with the nihil weapon, you should get a new spear for yourself to use," he called out. "Don't think about how to do it. Just do what feels right. I had to do it that way when learning about my Personas."

Groaning, Kanade snarked, "Wow, this Persona thing is a big learn by doing thing, isn't it?" Nevertheless, she opened the pouch and dropped the steel fragments into her hand, holding the spear in her other. Narrowing her eyes, she looked at the items, pursing her lips and contemplating what to do.

Behind her, Hell Biker impatiently snarled, "For the love of… Don't think about what to make it look like! Think about what you need!" When Kanade turned to look at her Persona in confusion, it continued, "Yeah, you're making a weapon, but what do you want it to do? What do you want from it?" Suddenly holding his pipe out, barely three inches in front of Kanade's face, to which the girl managed to not flinch, it explained, "Look at mine. It's on fire because I want my enemies to burn. And the chain's there so that nobody escapes. Now what do you want?"

The heat was blistering, making it near impossible for Kanade to focus. However, her Persona's words struck a chord within her. What did she want? Narrowing her eyes, the girl remembered. 'Oh yeah, that's right.' She placed the shards on the nihil spear, focusing her energy. She whispered to herself, "I have to make them pay. I need to wipe them out so they'll never do it again. They must die…" The items glowed, blinding the two Persona users, as well as Genjuro and Ryoko, who were watching the experiment from the monitors.

When Kanade could see again, she took in the appearance of her new weapon. "What the hell is this?" she gasped. Faintly, she could hear Genjuro and Ryoko gasping as well from outside. Though it had the same coloration and basic structure as Gungnir, it was the only resemblance. The weapon looked like the fusion of a spear, macuahuitl, and kanabo. It had the same general shape as Gungnir, but where the smooth surface of the conical spearhead should have been, it was covered in jagged blades sticking out from all angles. Simply put, it wasn't a weapon for fighting. It was a monstrosity made to kill and destroy, whether through stabs, swipes, or swings.

Fiddling with her new weapon, Kanade commented, "Well, this isn't what I expected, but it's kinda cool, I guess. Hey, what's this?" She found a trigger hidden on the handle, and upon pulling it, the blades retracted, then popped out again after a second pull of the trigger. Smiling, she turned to Genjuro and Ryoko, calling out, "I'm ready to start the test! Start it up!" The world around Makoto and Kanade blurred, forming a city landscape. Projections of Noise surrounded the duo, prompting them to prepare their weapons. "Try not to freeze," quipped Makoto as he brandished a standard shortsword.

Grinning, Kanade shot back, "I've been fighting Noise for years! You should be trying to catch up with me!" She charged into battle, eager to pull ahead in the simulation.

…

The next day, Genjuro addressed a group of Section Two agents, with Makoto, Kanade, and Hibiki standing among them. He declared, "We've set checkpoints under the pretense of looking for Defense Minister Hiroki's killer. We're headed straight for the Memory Ruins!" Behind him was a projection of a map detailing the path the escort would take, marking certain checkpoints and locations of interest.

Ryoko cheekily added, "I call it Plan Keep the Road to Yourself!" Needless to say, it was exactly what it sounded like.

As the cars drove through the empty roads, Kanade fiddled with her new necklace with one hand, keeping the other on the handle. She and Makoto were following Ryoko's pink two-seater minivan, riding motorcycles that were specially modified by Section Two for increased speed and durability. As Makoto glanced back for a moment to look at the Section Two helicopter that was following them, his Evoker, which was holstered at his waist, gleamed in the sunlight. Kanade removed her hand from the pendant and palmed her own Evoker. After some thought, she had decided to have a wing engraved on the barrel on each side, to remind herself of Zwei Wing.

"Kanade-san, can I ask you something?" Makoto suddenly spoke over the radio, snapping her out of her thoughts.

The girl responded, "What is it?"

Makoto said, "I never got around to asking it, but why are you in the same class as Tsubasa-san? We're the same age, so I thought that you would have graduated already."

Chuckling sheepishly, Kanade replied, "Well, the attack on the concert two years ago did more than just cause people to die. It turns out that it was also one of the rare times the electric system in the city got damaged and corrupted or destroyed information stored in data files. Unluckily for me, it included the last two years of my education. And I was in a month-long coma from the attack and needed to go through a lot of medical evaluation after waking up, and then one thing led to another, and here I am."

Lips twitching at the answer, the blue-haired boy was about to speak when he heard Hibiki gasp. Looking ahead, he saw part of the road suddenly break apart, prompting everyone to try to swerve around it. "We're under attack! Get ready!" he shouted. Barely holding a grimace back as one of the Section Two escort vehicles failed to swerve in time and fell off the bridge, exploding somewhere below, he amped up the speed and got ready to pull out his Evoker. Right next to him, Kanade did the same.

Over the radio, Genjuro reported, "We don't have a visual, but it has to be Noise!" As if on cue, two of the remaining escorts were sent flying into the air when the sewer grates on the road blasted off in powerful columns of water, Noise crawling out.

Ryoko inquired, "Genjuro-kun, isn't the situation getting a little bad here? If the pharmaceutical factory up ahead explodes, Durandal-"

Genjuro interrupted, "I know! The only reason they're attacking our cars is because the Noise are being controlled to avoid causing any damage to Durandal!" Unaware that Ryoko gritted her teeth at his words, he continued, "If they're after Durandal, the best thing to do is to go somewhere dangerous and limit what they can do!"

A final sewer grate opened, Noise launching out to leap at the gravelling vehicles. While Ryoko, Makoto, and Kanade were able to avoid the Noise's trajectory and drive into factory grounds, the final remaining escort was not, forcing the occupants to leap out before the vehicle crashed and exploded, luckily taking out the Noise as well.

From her seat in Ryoko's minivan, Hibiki joyously exclaimed, "Master, it's just like you thought!" As though she had tempted fate, the vehicle was flipped over and spun in circles on its hood. As the two occupants crawled out, dragging the case with Durandal between them, the Noise surrounded them, ready to attack.

Seeing this, Makoto and Kanade activated their armors and sped towards the duo. Pulling out her Evoker, Kanade quickly summoned Hell Biker and shouted, "Hell Burner!" The demon-like Persona shot forwards and skid to a halt, flames bursting from its motorcycle and scorching the Noise into dust. Quickly leaping off and summoning her new weapon, she slashed through the horde, clearing some room for Ryoko and Hibiki to escape. Next to her, Makoto fought ferociously, swinging about his Silver Saber and cutting down just as many as she did. If they had looked back, they would have seen Ryoko creating a purple barrier to block another Noise attack from behind.

Ignoring Hibiki's transformation to assist Kanade, Makoto prioritized keeping the Noise at bay. Diving out of the way of an aerial Noise, he summoned Pyro Jack and called out, "Maragi!" The Halloween-esque Persona giggled as it waved its lantern, sending a wave of flames at the Noise and driving them back. A sudden movement in the corner of his sight caught his attention; the girl using what Genjuro and Ryoko had identified as the stolen Nehustan Armor had returned. As she descended and tried to perform a sneak attack on Hibiki, Makoto leapt in between and held up his weapon, blocking the kick.

"So, you're here too, huh?" the girl spat as she stepped back and swung at him with a violet whip that resembled a chain made of crystals. Makoto moved to block the attack, but much to his surprise, the whip changed directions before shooting at him again. The armored girl attacked again and again, forcing him to stay mobile to prevent the whips from changing directions and striking his blind spots.

"Take this!" shouted Kanade as she suddenly ambushed the girl from the side, going for a stab with her spear. However, their opponent dodged out of the way, leaping back to create distance between them. Preparing to attack again, the former Symphogear user stood next to Makoto, who glanced at her for a moment. "Damn," she panted as she tried to catch her breath, sweat dripping down her brow. "You weren't kidding when you said that using the Persona takes a lot of energy out of you."

"Remember," he said, "don't push yourself too hard. It'll get easier, but it takes time." After a moment, he added, "Foods and drinks that contain stimulants help too." As the two Persona users attempted to attack the armored girl again, the sound of steel bursting caught their attention.

Turning to look at the source, the trio saw an ornate golden sword shoot into the sky. "So that's Durandal, huh?" the girl smirked as she leapt to grab the relic. However, she was hindered by Makoto and Kanade, both of whom grabbed her legs to slow her down. "What the-" she sputtered, "let me go, you damn bastards!" Unfortunately for her, it wouldn't end there.

Tackling the girl out of the way and using her body as a springpad, Hibiki shouted, "I won't let you get it!" Her fingers wrapped around Durandal's hammer, and the blade glowed as a ripple of energy pulsed through the air.

Makoto's eyes widened as he felt the dark aura burst into existence, a vaguely familiar one he recognized. 'Wait, is that what I think it is?' He watched with Kanade as Hibiki's upper body was coated in a dark aura that obscured her appearance, her eyes turning into glowing red orbs. Next to him, Kanade gasped in shock. They barely noticed the girl getting up and escaping.

Snarling, Hibiki swung Durandal and destroyed the remaining Noise with a single strike, along with several of the structures in the factory. As the attack faded, her transformation came undone. Collapsing to her knees, she fainted as Durandal dropped to the ground.

Walking over and picking the blade up, Makoto frowned in thought. Giving the sword a few experimental swings, he was surprised to feel power humming within the relic. "What was that?" he asked to Ryoko.

Shifting the unconscious girl into a more comfortable position, the scientist replied, "That's the power of a complete relic, though I certainly didn't expect that to happen either." As emergency services pulled up, she gestured for Kanade to carry Hibiki and finished, "Anyways, we should go now before we get stalled any longer."

As the group got into the Section Two helicopter, Makoto glanced back and forth between Hibiki and Durandal. 'What's the connection?' he thought, 'and why is that girl after Durandal?' Unfortunately, answers would not be coming soon, and more questions were piling up the more he thought about the battle.

Yeah, for those who don't know, now might be a good time to mention that Hibiki canonically refers to Genjuro as "Master." Master as in mentor/teacher "master," not master and servant "master."

Please tell me what you think, review, constructive criticism appreciated, and NO flames. Keep your insults to yourself. They contribute nothing to the story (unless you're insulting characters that honestly deserve the burns).