"Be careful, everyone!" Oracle's voice echoed in their minds from Al Azif. "That Shadow is almost as strong as Shido's was! Don't hold back, use your strongest attacks!"

"Any weaknesses we can exploit?" Minako asked.

"It's a boss! Bosses don't have easily exploitable weaknesses!"

Cries erupted from Joker, Queen, and Morgana.

"Come, Lucifer!"

"Charge, Agnes!"

"Come forth, my other self!"

The three Phantom Thieves split up and moved to flank Eris on both sides, with Joker blasting her with a Morning Star while Queen blasted out an Atomic Flare at her left side and Morgana swept a Panta Rhei at her right side.

There was an explosion of magic as the three spells slammed into the black-garbed goddess, but she only laughed harder as she shrugged off the damage.

"I am strife, I am pain!" the Shadow screamed, blasting outward with a wave of curse energy. Joker stood his ground and spread his arms, absorbing as much of the curse energy as he could before it could reach any of the other Persona-users standing behind him, although Sho was already racing forward to take part in the battle as well, and some of the curse energy reflected off of him right back at the Shadow, dealing no damage. Morgana and Queen weren't so lucky, both of them taking direct hits from the attack, but neither of them were weak to curse magic, so they remained standing.

"Penelope!" Minako chanted, firing her Evoker upon herself and summoning the queen of Ithaca to cast Diarama on their wounds. No sooner had the spell been cast than Sho sprinted forward, laughing like a maniac.

"You think you're strong, bitch!? Try this on for size!" Sho shot forward like a bullet and slashed with his sabers. Eris raised her free hand, catching one strike on her nails, but the other slashed sideways across her leg, dealing minimal damage. Eris laughed and swung her arm, knocking Sho away. The wound in her leg and the damage from the previous spells was already healing.

"Guys!" came Oracle's voice. "She's drawing power from the cage! She's still connected to Tominaga-san through it, and she'll keep on healing if you can't break her out!"

"In that case, I can at least try to keep her busy in the meantime," Maruki reasoned. Adam appeared in a flare of light. "Zanma!"

The force blast struck Eris in the side of the head, dealing barely any damage. Aigis followed up with gun attacks and Labrys summoned Ariadne to finish with her signature Beast Weaver spell, slamming the bull-shaped thread construct against Eris' chest.

Eris only cackled. "Your resolve is weak, little Taku," she taunted, causing Maruki to flinch. "Did you finally break down after you realized what you did to this poor girl?"

She gestured with the cage, but before she could taunt Maruki further, Morgana darted forward and slashed at the bars of the cage with his silver cutlass. Eris shrieked when she realized what the catboy had done, now trying to cover the opening in the cage with her arms. "No! I won't let you!"

"Good shot, Mona! Keep that up!" Oracle congratulated him.

"Turn up the heat!" Joker commanded, summoning Attis and directing the dismembered Persona to attack with a powerful fire spell. "Inferno!"

The rest of the team also contributed, bombarding the Shadow with powerful spells. Eris started to show signs of tiring, hunching over in a vain attempt to protect the cage. "Ngh! You… impudent VERMIN!"

With this cry, Eris threw her head back and screamed, blasting out a wave of magic that washed over the entire group, slamming down on them from above and forcing everyone to their knees. Sho and Maruki were flattened entirely, their bodies making indents in the ground.

"Gravity magic? That's new!" came Oracle's voice.

"You will know PAIN!" Eris screamed, slashing her free hand in front of her and setting off a series of nuclear blasts. Queen and Labrys were entirely unaffected, but the downed Sho took a direct hit to the back, knocking him out cold. She spun to try attacking Morgana, but an instant later was interrupted by blasts of lightning and non-elemental magic blasting her in the back.

Wolf and Police Chief Sanada sprinted over to join Queen at the Shadow's other flank. "Do you kids seriously have to cause a disturbance every time I turn my back!?"

"It wasn't our fault this time!" Joker shouted back. "We're just dealing with it."

"We need to free Tominaga-san from that cage," Queen explained, pointing at the shadowy bars even as Eris started to heal again. "If we can do that, the Shadow won't be able to keep healing."

"Just cut me an opening," Sanada told her, cracking his knuckles and entering a boxing stance. "I'll have her out of there in five seconds flat."

Eris screamed and turned to slash with her claws at the newcomers, but Wolf caught the boodred nails on his zweihander and parried them with a strained grunt. As Minako summoned Penelope to use Recarm on Sho, Joker and the rest of the group on point opened fire with barrages of spells once again. Blasting out another wave of Nuclear magic that Joker shielded Sho from, Eris caught Morgana trying to sneak in and deal another slash to the cage and aimed another swipe at him with her nails. "I won't fall for that a second time!"

Morgana only grinned as he completed his flourishing dodge and poised his cutlass cockily on one shoulder. "I didn't think you would."

"HAAAAAA!"

Screaming in with incredible speed, Labrys slammed her axe into the cage, carving a massive rent into the bars. Darting in right behind her as Eris began to shriek with rage and attempt to cover up the hole with her other hand, Sanada caught Labrys' hand as she threw him up at the Shadow's face and slammed an uppercut into her jaw so powerful that Joker was sure that even Oracle, hovering over the battlefield in Al Azif, could feel it. Kicking off the Shadow's arm as he started to fall, Sanada tucked into a roll when he hit the ground, ripped open the remnants of the cage, grabbed Tominaga's body, and darted back out of range before Eris could get her bearings back.

"I knew you were experienced, but I never expected that," Joker commented.

"Heh. You just need to train harder," Sanada told him, carefully setting down the rescued woman.

"Rumi? Rumi!" Maruki shouted, kneeling by his former fianceé's side and holding her head and arm.

Back on the battlefield, Eris screamed with rage. "Give her back! She is MINE!"

Aigis, Queen, Wolf, and Morgana all leveled their guns and slings at her. Joker moved to join the perimeter, drawing out his own pistol. "That woman doesn't deserve to suffer."

Eris cackled, still collapsed on the ground. "Deserve! Such a weak concept. ALL must know pain! Pain and vengeance and suffering as you pathetic little worms slowly kill each other one by one! Such is the way of the world. The strong trample the weak. If someone is your enemy, you kill them and spit on their grave!"

"You know nothing," came a voice behind Joker.

Minako surprised herself with her own declaration. Still, she stepped up alongside her fellow Wild Card, naginata in hand. "You're nothing but a Shadow, a haunted reflection of a past trauma."

Eris laughed. "Yes, I am. I am pain and strife and trauma. And I see those before me are no strangers to me. All of you, outcasts. The rejected. The trampled. The spat-upon. Oh, how I love the taste of your suffering. Just imagine what you could do, what power you could have if you unleashed all your fury!"

Eris looked Minako in the eyes. "Especially you, O Abandoned Sister. How lonely you must have been, all those years alone with relatives who never cared about you, who insisted you change your name, who kept you from your brother so that you could not be there for him when he died. Oh, how you must hate them, don't you? I can taste your pain. So much pain…"

"God damn it, SHUT UP ALREADY!" Minako screamed at it. "What the hell do you even know about me!? My brother gave his life to save this world from the Fall! So what!? He did his duty. And now as his big sister, I will do mine. I am going to go to the Abyss of Time and BRING HIM BACK!"

"So your goal is finally determined?"

The voice echoed in the back of Minako's mind. "Yes," she breathed.

"Then the contract may proceed."

A sudden flare of pain as though her entire mind were being compressed at once. Minako dropped her naginata and Evoker as she fell to her knees and wept with pain.

"Your beloved one is lost. But there is no more time to mourn. The winter fast approaches, and the ill-prepared will be left caught in the storm. Your journey begins now, O brave moonbeam."

"I am thou, thou art I."

"If he will not return on his own, then you must seek him out yourself!"

At these last words, Penelope appeared in the air above Minako, her form immediately dissolving into flames that reformed into an elegant indigo domino mask, decorated with silver runes lining the edges and tear streaks below the eyes. One hand wrapped around the far edge of the mask, blood spurted, and a cry went up as Minako ripped the mask free and was engulfed in azure flames.

The Persona emerged first from the blaze, a young girl no older than twelve, standing barefoot on a sled made of pure gold, a crow perched on one shoulder, and a reindeer with silver-tipped antlers at her side. Then the flames parted to reveal Minako herself.

Her new attire consisted of a crimson dress in ancient Greek style paired with a long cloak black on the outside and white on the inside. The pauldrons on her shoulders and the vambraces on her forearms were of silver metal, etched with white geometric designs and accentuated with deep blue stones that matched her mask. Her belt was similarly constructed of silver metal and deep blue stones, her feet were sandaled, white silken gloves covered her hands, and on her left arm, poking out a few centimeters from beneath the cloak and pauldron, was a small red armband etched with black. Her hair came loose from its tight bun and flared free, draping across her shoulders.

Minako spun her naginata and poised with the weapon, directing the blade at the still-collapsed Eris, who was now struggling back to her feet. "One with me, GERDA!" Minako cried aloud, slashing her naginata downward. A torrent of water was summoned around her and propelled in a powerful jet towards Eris, blasting her in the chest and almost knocking her over again.

"Alright, everyone! Bombard her!" Joker commanded, and the other Persona-users unleashed their might. Morgana, Queen, Joker, Wolf and Minako continued pounding Eris with magic, and when Eris threw off their attacks to launch one of her own, Aigis, Labrys, Sho, and Sanada moved in with guns, axe, sword, and fists. Over and over they pounded the Shadow, with wave after wave of attacks. Screaming in fury, Eris raised both arms up above her head and started to charge up one final attack.

"Curse you all to HELL!"

"I got you guys!"

As the Megidolaon exploded around them, a green force field appeared around everyone on the battlefield, shielding them from the attack. Oracle's Final Guard.

"Now finish her off!"

"Charge!" Joker shouted, drawing his pistol and firing at Eris as the other Persona-users dashed in to finish Eris off with one final assault. Sanada slammed two fists into Eris' knee and shattered it. Morgana scampered up her arm and slashed his sword across her face. Queen got a little boost from Sanada and shoulder-checked the Shadow in the chest, knocking her over onto the ground. And finally Sho charged in screaming bloody murder, leaped onto Eris' chest and drove both of his sabers into her heart.

The Shadow froze, even as Sho withdrew his swords and darted back. Her head tilted and fell to one side, sending one last withering glare at the victorious Persona-users. "This is not over," she warned. "Pain and strife are eternal. I shall never die… so long as… man… remains…"

Eris' body dissolved into black smoke that evaporated away from the earth. A single humanoid form was left behind. One identical to Tominaga.

"Is that…?" Queen wondered.

The black-shrouded form of Rumi Tominaga's Shadow slowly rose to her feet and approached soundlessly. "Thank you," she told the Persona-users. "Now that my other self has been released from her trauma, I am free. And with me, our memories."

Maruki stood and walked forward. "Rumi, I…"

"Save your breath, Taku," the Shadow told him. "Rumi knows deep down that you did what you thought was right. And while her life without you these last few years was not pleasant, you did manage to alleviate her pain. So long as you do not attempt to alter reality again, you are fine."

"Never." Maruki's words were firm. "Never again. I have learned my lesson."

Tominaga's Shadow nodded. "Good. Then I will now return to my other self. Farewell for now." The Shadow turned into a violet orb and flew into Tominaga-san's chest. Still asleep, her breathing eased, her muscles unclenched, and she smiled.

Maruki picked up his beloved. Joker laid a hand on his shoulder. "Take her home. Make sure she stays safe."

Maruki looked Joker in the eyes and nodded.

Queen stepped forward. "I should escort them out, to make sure the crowds leave them alone."

Joker stepped right up to her and planted a deep, romantic kiss on her lips. "Be careful," he murmured to her when the two pulled away.

"I will. I promise," she told him quietly before gesturing for Maruki to follow and walking back to the cars.

Sho sidled up to Joker. "So… she's your girlfriend, right?"

"Yes."

"And she has nuclear magic too?"

"Yes."

Joker barely caught Sho muttering under his breath, "Gah, you're shitting me. Her too?"

"Yes, her too," Joker stated flatly, turning around and grabbing Sho by the shoulder. "Now come over here so we can discuss what happens next with everyone else."

"Ack! Ow! Okay, okay! You don't have to grab so hard, dumbass!"

The rest of the group was paying attention to Minako admiring her new outfit. "Wow, this dress is gorgeous!" she giggled, doing a little twirl that caused her cape to flare around her. "And it's loose enough that I can still move around and fight! I almost hate the idea of fighting in this and getting it dirty…"

"Very nice, Minako-chan!" Aigis said appreciatively.

"That armband brings back memories," Sanada said wistfully.

"Why? What's so special about the armband?" Oracle asked. She had emerged from Al Azif to join the group on the ground.

Sanada explained, "Back when the Shadow Operatives were in high school, we were a school club called S.E.E.S., and our trademark was a red armband similar to that."

"I noticed it in an old group picture back at headquarters," Minako explained. "I guess my subconscious added it to my Phantom Thief outfit as an homage to my brother."

"Anyway, now that the immediate crisis is over," Wolf interrupted, "we need to figure out where we go from here."

"You're such a killjoy, Wolf," Oracle told him.

"Heeeeyy!" came a loud male voice. Skull and Panther came running over. "Man, is it over already!?"

"What took you two so long?" Morgana chastised them. "Skull, you'd better not have been hitting on Panther!"

"Why do you always assume it's my fault!?" Skull demanded. "We had trouble finding this place, okay? The only reason we managed it at all is by jumping up onto the rooftops to locate Oracle's Persona. Come on, back me up, Panther! Uhhh… Panther? Are you alright?"

Panther's face was crimson. "Eep! What! Yes, I'm fine! No need to worry, Morgana. If he had been hitting on me, I probably would've set him on fire. Haha!"

Morgana still looked suspicious, but he let it go. "Grr. Fine. Wolf, what were you saying?"

Wolf sighed and continued, "People are going to want an explanation for what happened here. So what do Sanada-san and I tell them when we get back to headquarters?"

"The truth, I should think," Joker suggested. "The victim was a woman who had close contact with a Shadow, it reawakened memories of an old and very deep trauma, and the trauma turned into a Corporeal Shadow that we then beat. Hopefully when she wakes up, she'll no longer be quite as haunted by that trauma."

"Does that mean you guys don't need me around anymore?" Sho asked. Immediately, Aigis, Labrys, and Minako all glared at him. "Okay, okay! I wasn't planning on running off again anyway, geez."

"Regardless, Sho, your assistance this time was appreciated," Sanada told him. "Thanks. That should go a long way towards helping your case."

Sho grumbled a little under his breath. "...didn't do it for you…" Then the other three Shadow Operatives led him away.

Wolf turned to the remaining Thieves. "We'd best head out as well. The crowds should disperse once we leave. Make sure all of you get to your classes on time, got it?"

"Sure, Gramps," Skull grumbled.

Panther laughed. "Man up, Skull. Get through classes and we can train some more afterwards."

Skull perked up a little. "Well, if you say so."

Joker coughed into his hand. Morgana was eyeing Skull with a death glare. Then Oracle yelled, "Get a room you two!"

All of them fled when Panther summoned a pair of fireballs to her hands.

By the time lunch rolled around, the gossip storm had rolled in with a new topic: the big Shadow fight that had taken place in Yongen-Jaya this morning. Naturally, me being a Persona-user was conveniently forgotten.

"Who do you think that new girl was?"

"Had to be a member of the Shadow Operatives. She used that gun device to summon before she got a mask!"

"Joker kissed Queen! I knew it! They are dating!"

"And Skull and Panther showed up late, you think they are too?"

"Oh, Chief Sanada is so awesome! He punched that Shadow right in the face!"

"Who the heck was that screamy red-haired guy?"

"Heh," I gave a little chuckle as Shen, Arisu, and I headed out into the courtyard. "No one's even paying attention to us anymore. Guess my ability to stop existing still works after all."

"What do you mean by stop existing?" Arisu questioned.

"No one pays attention to me," I told her as I sat down and unpacked my bento. "Ever."

Shen frowned. "Not even your family?"

I paused. "They do. Not really anyone else though. You may have noticed that none of the teachers ever call on me. One time, back in middle school, I was even left out of the seating arrangements because the teacher forgot I existed."

Shen looked a little bewildered, like he didn't know what to do with this information. "I don't think I could forget about you now even if I tried. Shadow fighting aside, you're one of the most unique individuals I've ever met."

"Speaking of Shadow fighting," Arisu interrupted, "are we going to continue tonight?"

"That's the plan," I confirmed. I reached back into my bag. "But before then, I feel now is the best time to give you some of these."

I retracted my hand from my bag and laid a handful of stones on the table. Most of them were barely the size of pebbles, but each was enchanted with a cyan, brown, red, yellow, or green glow. I started sorting out eight of these, two each of the red and green varieties, one large and one small, and one each of the yellow, brown, and cyan, of which there were only small stones.

"This material is called Spellstone," I explained to them. "Persona-users are capable of enchanting it to carry spells that cost magic energy. The brown ones are earth spells, the red fire, the yellow lightning, and the green wind. The little ones carry single-target spells, and the bigger ones carry wide-area spells."

"So anyone can use this stuff?" Shen asked.

"Not quite," I corrected. "One has to have sufficient potential to Awaken to be able to use this stuff at all. It's sort of a… fallback measure for people who haven't Awakened yet or when a Persona-user is fighting a Shadow immune to the element they're using."

"Where do you get it?" Arisu asked.

"From killing Shadows," I told her. "Most Greaters drop the stuff when killed."

"Good to know," Shen remarked, tossing a Zio stone in his hand. "Huh. Why does this one feel so… right?"

"That's a lightning stone, enchanted with Zio," I explained. "Maybe when you Awaken, your element will be lightning."

Shen grinned. "I can't wait. You see any that you really like, Arisu-san?"

Arisu started out of a little trance. "Oh, no, I just… you never explained what these ones do, Kenzo-kun." She held up a cyan stone.

"Ah, that's a healing stone," I told her. "Dia. Heals a lot of injuries."

"Are you giving this stuff to us?" Shen asked.

"Not right now," I told them. I started to gather it all back up. "First, we need to see if you guys are even capable of using it. And for that, I think we'll wait until tonight."

"What are you doing until then? Want to hang out after school?" Shen asked.

I gave him a slightly sad grin. "Sorry, I have somewhere I have to be after school. You want to meet up tomorrow?"

"Sure man, give me your contact info." After we exchanged numbers, he looked at Arisu. "Hey, Arisu-san. You wanna swap contact info too?"

"That… would be useful," she admitted.

Kojima Blacksmithing had not changed. Kojima himself hadn't either. He still glared when I walked in and admired the various metalworks he had on sale. "Look kid, if you're here for my answer, then stop stalling and get over here."

I looked up from where I was admiring a decorative dragon statue. "Am I not allowed to admire all these works you have on sale?"

"If you're planning on buying something, maybe," Kojima grumbled.

I shrugged, stood, and walked over to the counter. Kojima gave a heavy sigh. "Why the heck am I doing this?" he said to himself. He looked back up at me. "Look kid, the things that I make fall into two categories: tools and art. Tools are purely meant to serve a concrete functional purpose. They exist to be used. Things like shovels, tongs, nails, and yes, blades. The other category is art. These pieces are purely meant to look pretty, and serve no functional purpose. I do not make toys. That is, I do not take steel that is meant to make tools and turn it into pretty tool-like objects for kids with no clue how to use the real thing to wave around. Do you get what I'm saying, kid?"

"I do," I told him. "I'm not asking you for toys. I'm asking you for weapons. Weapons capable of killing Shadows."

Kojima sighed again. "You're really not giving up, are you?"

"I can't afford to," I insisted. "It's not just me anymore. I've also started teaching a couple other people how to fight Shadows, and if we're going to do it right, we're going to need weapons sooner rather than later. So will you help us or not?"

Kojima glared. "Learn to respect your elders, kid, before that mouth of yours gets you in trouble."

"Yes, sir," I asserted, my face completely deadpan.

Kojima grumbled a little under his breath before telling me, "Alright, here's how this is going to work. My forge can only accommodate one or two projects at a time. And the biggest problems I have are with materials and fuel, iron and charcoal. You've already made your point that you can provide iron for me. The bigger issue is the charcoal. Not only does it not come cheap, it's also heavily regulated nowadays because of how much it pollutes."

"That shouldn't be too much of a problem," I told him, holding up one hand and letting a few flames dance across my palm. "Hephaestus can conjure fire."

Kojima glared at me. "You better not use any of that magic anywhere near my shop, you hear me? If you set anything on fire that you're not supposed to, I'm kicking you out and making you pay for it!"

"Yes, sir," I said again, closing my hand and extinguishing the flames.

Kojima grumbled again. "Anyway, I'm willing to train you as an apprentice part-time twice a week. I'll teach you the basics, and you don't progress until I say you're ready. Don't try to make anything on your own without my supervision. As an added bonus, if you assist me with the projects I'm working on and bring me more iron like the stuff you brought in here freshly hunted last time, I'll give you some exclusive deals on anything in the shop and your special orders." He dipped behind the counter for a second and brought something out. "Like this."

He laid the piece on the counter, and my eyes widened as I realized what it was. Two blades laid almost parallel to each other, spreading out just a little towards the points, with a handle welded to them below and perpendicular and a strap at the very bottom so they could fit on the back of someone's hand.

"The blades aren't sharpened," Kojima told me, "but that shouldn't matter too much against Shadows, right? I made this out of the scrap you dragged in here last time, so I'm willing to give you this for only 2,000 yen. If you want any more discounts, you'll put in the work. What do you say, kid? You willing to put in some real work?"

I pulled out my wallet and put down 2,000 yen on the counter. "I could hardly ask for a better deal, sensei."

Kojima smirked at me. "Well, well. It looks like you have some manners after all. Your name's Kenzo Okuda, right? Then if we have a deal, it's official. You're hired."

Immediately, Saraiah's voice echoed in my mind:

I am thou, thou art I...

Manifest hast been thine vow...

Reforge thy soul and seize thy future with thine own hands...

The birth of the Strength Arcana shall give thee the power to open thy wings to freedom...

"Come in on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the afternoon after school, and I'll teach you how to smith and you help me with my work. That sound good to you?" Kojima was saying.

"That sounds perfect. Thank you," I told him. I carefully picked up my new claws and stowed them in my bag.

"Hmph. Now if you're not going to buy anything else, git going."