Disclaimer: I do not own Persona or Fate or anything in the nasuverse, any resemblance to any other Persona 4/Fate fan fiction is coincidental and plagiarism is not intended. No flames please, constructive criticism only.
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Yu felt surprised as he found himself sitting in a chair a circular table. As his mind woke up he realised that the each of his friends was sat near him, Yosuke and Teddie to his left but with a space for one more between him and them, Chie and Yukiko to his right, with Kanji, Naoto and Rise were sat on the far left. They all began to stir and as well while he took in details of not a room, but rather a large field of flowers with a blue cloudless sky above them.
"Where...are we?" Yu wondered aloud.
"What the hell? Flowers?" Kanji said groggily rubbing his eyes.
"What is the place?" Yukiko wondered.
"What a pain in the ass." A familiar voice said causing the whole team to snap to attention.
"Adachi," Yu said upon hearing his voice noticing his presence directly opposite himself, how had he noticed the murderer until now?
Yu prepared to fight, but realised, his personas were all quiet. He tried calling on the Arcana but nothing happened, not even the sensation of prana flowing through him.
"Bastard!" Yosuke made to stand up but found he couldn't "Hey, what gives? I can't stand up."
"Me either, I'm stuck!" Kanji growled fighting against some invisible force that held them all in their seats much to Adachi's amusement causing him to make mocking gestures only riling the two boys up more.
"Please, calm yourselves there is no need to be alarmed, all will be explained." A new voice cut in as a man appeared in the space between Rise and Adachi. He was wearing a red business suit and was sat in a wheelchair.
"This is all just a dream." A new man appeared, with long silver hair and a white cloak appearing on Adachi's other side. "For this meeting to happen, I linked all your minds together and brought you here into this dream."
"Now that you all know each other's identities we can explain things and began the Inaba Holy Grail War in earnest." This voice belonged a wizened old man wearing black robes. He looked familiar to Yu-
"Hey, I know you," Chie yelled pointing at the old man. "You're the guy that bumped into me at the start of the year, the day before Narukami came to town, you shook my hand and then vanished."
"Hey, he did that to me too." Yukiko said, "The same day as well but I was taking a break outside the inn."
"Me too, on my way to school that morning," Yosuke stated.
"I think I remember knocking into him outside my ma's shop around that time," Kanji recalled.
"He appeared to me in my world sometime before you guys came to me, I tried to find him again but he was gone," Teddie stated. "I thought I just imagined it so I never mentioned it."
"The same for me, I was leaving home that day to help on another case, and I presume the same happened to you as well Rise?" Naoto inquired switching into detective mode.
"Yeah, security never found him after he somehow got backstage after a concert." Rise confirmed. "What about you senpai?"
"Yeah, met him and shook his hand, when I got off the train and came to town," Yu confirmed looking at the old man questioningly.
"I met him too, time sounds about right," Adachi commented, the sound of voice causing the others to glare at him.
"Well, that was me connecting you to the Throne of Heroes, I needed to do that otherwise this War wouldn't have gotten going properly." The man replied with a shrug. "Anyway, I am Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, just call me Zelretch most people do."
"And I am Merlin, the Magus of Flowers." The silver-haired young man introduced himself.
"Merlin, the court wizard of King Arthur." Yu realised recalling him from the legends.
"And my name is Stephen, I am a programmer of sorts." The man in the Wheelchair introduced himself. "The Three of us together helped to establish this Holy Grail War the Hybrid System with which it is fought."
"Hybrid system..." Naoto parroted rubbing her chin before a look of realisation crossed her face and turned to stare at the three men harshly. "What have you done to us exactly?"
"Wait, what do you mean done to us?" Chie asked the detective.
"Archer and I tend to have talks when I'm home, ever since he awakened, he's told me a lot of things, one of them being that Heroic Spirits do NOT become Persona's naturally." Naoto explained "Normally they are summoned as Servants in Holy Grail wars, which are beings separate from normal humans, Persona's however from what Archer says and my research are a manifestation of a Persona User's personality, from our Minds and Souls. But the Heroic Spirits who have become our Persona's have their own thoughts and feelings and desires separate from us, but personas are, part of us, ourselves, you can't expect me to believe that shoving Heroic Spirits no matter how like or close to it is healthy at all."
Naoto's bombshell had caused most of the team to become rather nervous, looking at each other and then focusing the trio for an explanation. Yu, however, noticed that Adachi looked rather calm as if he didn't care at all.
"Please, keep calm," Stephen said soothingly. "I can assure you that although we have imposed the Heroic Spirits over your natural Persona's that you are in no danger, between my programming and Merlin's magecraft, we made sure that the process was seamless and without any adverse side effects, I'm sure you've noticed your increased strength, agility and durability in the real world. Your existences are similar to Pseudo-Servants which are heroic spirits summoned by using a human body for their vessel to act as a Servant. So please rest assured, your souls and minds are in no danger."
"Alright, that seems to make sense," Yukiko said with relief.
"Yeah" Chie Agreed.
"Alright, how long are these guys gonna stay with us?" Kanji asked, "I'm not in a rush to get rid of my partner, but don't they have better shit to do?"
"Well, as part of the contract for this Holy Grail War, after the War sis concluded they are obligated to stay with you for the rest of your lives just like your natural personas would," Merlin replied dreamily.
"Hold on, Senpai, how many personas do you have now?" Naoto inquired.
"Twenty three since last night," Yu answered without a beat causing the rest of the team to gasp while Adachi merely clicked his tongue and look away.
"Twenty three?" Naoto breathed before glaring at the men again. "You can't seriously expect me to believe that having that many Heroic Spirits inside one person is in any way healthy or safe."
"Calm down." Zelretch sighed. "He was chosen for this, he has the Wild Card ability, which lets him change Personas. He was more ready for this then the rest of you were."
The team looked unconvinced and looked at their leader with concern.
"Alright, so what's the point of this war?" Yu asked changing the subject "Why go to all the trouble of creating a wisher granter, partnering us with Heroic Spirits and setting this whole thing up?"
"Simple, Persona users tend to be in the middle of a great cosmic wager between two entities, Philemon and Nyarlothep." Zelretch began to explain. "Philemon is to see if humanity will eventually become enlightened, or will succumb to their vices and ruin themselves as Nyarlothep thinks."
"So all of this, Saki, Ms Yamano they died for some stupid bet?!" Yosuke yelled angrily. trying and failed to stand up.
"Well it could be far worse" Zelretch stated with a shrug. "After all back in Ninety-Nine it got to the point where he Earth's rotation stopped, destroying everything on the surface of the planet, a new timeline had to be created to give humanity a second chance."
This caused everyone to freeze up, barely able to believe it, it sounded so absurd and yet, it didn't seem like a joke.
"It was only after that whole mess with Philemon coming out on top, that they decided should they ever do this again to keep it small and well that time is now," Merlin said nonchalantly.
"Of course, things right now would also be smoother if he would've added to the agreement that the bombastic abomination would play fair for once and not interfere like all their previous plays." Zelretch quipped.
"True, but his rule-breaking gives our side some leeway as well." Stephen pointed out.
"Yeah, but not as much as I'd like," Zelretch grumbled. "Anyway, back on topic, if you want all this to end you not only to have defeat Adachi, but you have to make a wish on the Holy Grail and to do that you need to energize it."
"And how do we do that?" Teddie asked suspiciously.
"Simple, the winner has to sacrifice the losers to the Holy Grail," Zelretch stated bluntly and with a smile as everyone gasped with horror.
"Indeed, the Holy Grail must be powered, and the easiest most straightforward war to do that is with eight competitors souls," Stephen began explaining. "You see all those competing in the war are unique in that you are Persona users and thus your souls have a great deal of potential energy enough to this Holy Grail of ours which can grant any wish at all."
"You're saying that even if I win, I'd have to sacrifice my friends," Yu interjected, calm anger in his voice. "There's no way I'd do that no matter what the Grail can give me."
The team all nodded and yelled in agreement only really quietening down when Adachi rather loudly clicked his tongue receiving glares from them.
"That's all well and good, but Adachi, on the other hand, won't hesitate to throw you all to the Grail," Zelretch said. "Plus he's just as strong you are, remember when you bent the street light Kanji, or Narukami when you shattered the concrete to save Ebihara and then jumped back onto the rooftop? He has all those abilities too in addition to his Persona, so even if you defeat him he can break out of prison and try again and again."
"We won't sacrifice each other but we can't just do nothing either," Naoto said going over the situation. "
"Plus, even if we win our Persona's stay with us for the rest of our lives, so Adachi would still have his powers even if we found a way to use the wish without sacrificing everyone." Rise pointed out.
"Wait, you said that sacrificing people was the easiest way, not the only way." Naoto realised as she looked Stephen dead in the eye. "That implies that there's another way right?"
"I told you the easiest method to attain a wish," Stephen stated. "If there is another path then you must discover that truth for yourselves."
"Naoto, what are you getting at?" Yosuke asked curiously.
"Rise is correct, but if we can find a way to power the Holy Grail some other way then we can use the wish to take Adachi's powers away making him just a normal human again." Naoto said, "We can do that right?"
"As we said the Holy Grail of Inaba is a true omnipotent wish granter capable of granting any desire, so yes such a thing is easily within its power," Merlin confirmed.
Any other comment stopped by an amused snort from Adachi.
"Look at you cocky brats, all making plans as if I've already lost." He laughed madly. "You morons don't even know how strong I am, plus the TV World loves me, it's on my side you have got a chance in hell of beating me, so if I were you I'd spend less time planning what your gonna wish for and more time picking out tombstones."
"Alright." Merlin cut into the tense situation with all subtlety of a battering ram. "This meeting is concluded, there is nothing else that you can't figure out ourselves, good luck." He then tapped the ground with his staff and like that team and Adachi vanished, leaving only himself, Zelretch and Stephen.
"Welp it's done," Zelretch stated with a smirk leaning back into his chair. "I made the adjustments just like we discussed."
"When the World Arcana is awakened it will begin putting out the signal, attracting Its attention, to Mr Narukami," Stephen said calmly bridging his hands.
"Excellent, and with that Humanity's future should be secure, at least in this world," Merlin agreed nodding his head.
When he heard no response he looked up and saw both men had vanished abruptly leaving without a word, in their place was a teenager, a rather familiar teenage girl wearing a stereotypical witch's hat, a pair of glaring red eyes focused on him, a keyhole in her forehead contained an eye which glowed an eldritch purple. This girl was Abigail Williams.
"Merlin." She spat his name furiously and a tentacle wrapped around his neck appearing from the ground. He didn't worry, after all, this was just a dream, his real body was safe in Avalon far out of even her reach.
"Hello, Abigail." He croaked out as the tentacle lifted him from his chair and closer to her. "Is something...the matter?"
"You three...tricked me." She growled, he felt the tentacle tensing around his throat as she spoke.
"We told you what you needed to know...glrk...and we never told you anything but the truth." Merlin croaked out as the tentacle squeezed his throat.
"I watched over him, his journey through the singularities, the remnants, the lostbelts and beyond." Tears began to stream from her eyes "I saw what he became, because of what you insisted I help you do, all so he could become what you, Stephen and Zelretch needed him to become."
"I assure you...it was all necessary." Merlin tried to assure her, only to receive a squeeze upon his throat, the tears were gone wiped from her face and replaced with look of pure hatred, even the eye within the keyhole seemed to be glaring at him, no wonder Stephen and Zelretch bailed on him, its eldritch purple gave even him shivers. "Humanity needs a Me-GLRK!"
"Stephen and Zelretch might be out of my reach." Abigail cut him off, squeezing his throat to silence him, her tone becoming menacing "But I promise I will wait until the end of the world, and when you are finally released from Avalon I WILL be waiting for you, and when that happens you'll beg, you'll pray for death by the time I am done with you."
With that threat, Merlin was released, and Abigail vanished. He coughed and rubbed his throat as air filled his lungs once again.
"Well, that's something to look forward too, I suppose." He laughed nervously, slightly more intimidated than the threat of Vivian finding him.
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[22nd November, TV World, Inaba]
Now fully rested the team had gotten together and met at Junes before entering the TV World. They had all gone over and confirmed that he dream they shared last night was real. The fact of the Holy Grail and what it would cost to use it haunted them, but for now, they put it out of their minds. They one goal, to bring Adachi to justice.
To that end, they followed Teddie's nose to a familiar place. The apartment building where Yu, Yosuke and Chie first found themselves in this world. As Yu silently expected he led them right to the room where it began, the room that no doubt belonged to Mayumi Yamano.
"His scent is definitely in there," Teddie stated with a sure nod.
"He's right, his prana trail leads there." Rise confirmed looking into her mirror.
"I had a thing for her and then that bitch went and had an affair." Adachi's voice drifted out of the room.
The Team pushed in and saw Adachi standing there looking out of the window.
"So you finally came and brought your friends this time?" Adachi asked, "Do you have any idea how annoying you all are?"
"Wait, this time?" Yosuke wondered before it hit him and he gave Yu and look. "Dude you promised you wouldn't chase him without us!"
"I needed to try and talk to him, but it's obvious that he's far beyond talking down now," Yu answered unapologetically.
"Well look at you working it out." Adachi snorted in a mock congratulatory tone. "Well does catching me even matter anymore? After all these two worlds are about to fuse together, will anyone care what I did when that happens?"
"What are you talking about?" Naoto demanded as Archer appeared next to her glaring at the killer before talking to Rise who began to use her mirror.
"This world is going to become our world and the humans will all turn into shadows," Adachi explained apathetically.
"Is that possible?" Yosuke asked.
"There's no way a creep like him has the power to do that even with a persona," Chie said definitely.
"He's not lying." Rise said causing everyone to look at her. "The worlds are fusing, and I don't detect a reaction from the Counter Force. It seems that Alaya doesn't seem to be reacting and Gaia is ignoring it altogether."
"If Gaia is ignoring it, then he can't be responsible." Archer stated firmly, "Something much more powerful is at play here. Gaia wouldn't let a human do what he wants something else, much stronger and more in tune with nature must be behind this, but what could it be?"
"And he can't be using the Grail to do it even if it is powerful enough to do it." Yukiko pointed out.
"We'll figure that out later." Yosuke interrupted pointing at Adachi. "You were the one who threw Ms Yamano into the TV didn't you?"
"You really wanna know the truth?" Adachi chuckled "I guess if the worlds gonna end there's no harm in telling you. It was an accident. I told her to meet me out in the lobby because I wanted to ask her something. But when we met, that bitch went berserk on me."
Yu was about to ask what happened next, but Rise let out an audible gasp. "Caster!"
The fox eared persona needed barely another word before she materialised and kicked at Adachi only for her foot to pass right through him, his whole form flickering like a broken TV.
"Hold on, that's just a projection, his real body is somewhere else." Rise stated glaring at the killer.
"Bravo, bravo, I'm impressed, little girl." Adachi mockingly clapped, his laughter grew more and more maniacal, as the projection vanished and a large hole ripped open in the wall, forming a portal with red and black lines in it.
"He's definitely in there, I can sense his presence he's taunting us." Rise declared.
"Come back here!" Kanji growled giving chase
"You're not getting away!" Chie yelled joining Kanji through the portal.
The rest of the team followed readying themselves for any traps he might have set. However, what they saw was not what they expected. Kanji and Chie had both frozen in place and were looking around at the destroyed ruins of the shopping district.
"Guy's something feels different here, unlike our shadows I think he has complete control over his world." Rise said.
"I like here." Adachi's voice came from above and they looked to see him sitting on the destroyed rooftop of the Moel gas station. "This place seems to have taken a real shine to me, it's like I'm the king of the world, I can go anywhere I want and the shadows just leave me be."
Suddenly a creature wielding two long-barrel revolvers emerged behind Adachi. Its face was shrouded in a cloth sack, with only one ominous white eye to see its surroundings. It also wore two long chains across its left and right shoulders, forming a cross.
"Danger danger that's a very powerful grizzly." Teddie cried just before it fired its guns sending power blasts of magical wind at them, barely deflected as Archer materialised with Rho Aias, both his blades were at the ready.
"Shit it's The Reaper" Archer clicked his tongue with annoyance.
"What's The Reaper?" Naoto asked as Kanji summoned Heracles.
"It's like a counter guardian, expect to keep the universe in order, as a shadow it's much weaker the original lucky for us, but it's still really powerful despite being a fake."
"Come on kiddies, catch me if you can, the only real challenge will be making it to me alive." Adachi taunted as he vanished.
"We've got things handled over here." Naoto stated as Heracles roared and leapt the Reaper, tackling it, Archer projected a bow and began taking potshots from a piece of rubble nearby."
"She's right, you go after Adachi." Kanji agreed and began focusing on the battle.
"Got it, thanks," Yu said before running after the others who seemingly didn't get far before Yosuke tripped over a piece of rubble.
They all looked to see a familiar building, even catching sight of a sign declaring the place.
"Wait a second."
"This place..." Yukiko paused, her voice sad almost heartbroken at the sight, "is my Inn."
Adachi's voice came from inside the building, they all looked through a pair of shattered glass doors, they saw him sitting on a seat looking down at a TV screen with Ms Yamno's image on it.
"This hick town was so damn boring I had to whittle away my hours watching TV." He complained, "I watched her every day and developed a little crush on her, but not anymore." He tapped the TV screen and the team found themselves watching an interaction between an alive Mayumi Yamano and Adachi, clearly, the day of he did it.
"Who exactly are you?" She asked taking a step back towards the television which sat on a stand, clearly creeped out by Adachi who had a strange look on his face. "And what's this something important?"
"This whole story about the affair it's all a lie right?" the past Adachi inquired.
"That is absolutely none of your business!" She yelled defensively.
"Then you're telling me it isn't a lie." Adachi's tone became low with suppressed anger. "And here I had a thing for you, but I didn't know that in the end, you're just another stupid bitch…"
"What's wrong with you? D-Don't make me call for help!" She threatened.
"Ugh, shut up, shut up, shut up. I think you need to see what it's like to fear for your life...It'll get your head straight."
Before she could say anything Adachi rushed her, grabbing her by the collar of her shirt and slammed her into the TV Screen, where she promptly fell right through the screen into the Midnight Channel, she screamed as she completely left the world.
"She fell in..." Adachi chuckled before laughing manically. "Ha...hahaha...Wow...So people can go completely inside..."
"It's a good thing for me that nobody was there in the middle of the night," Adachi said with a smirk from his chair.
"This happened...in the lobby of our inn?" Yukiko asked as they came back to the destroyed Inn of Adachi's dungeon.
"I learned about the Midnight Channel through some rumour. You hear a lot of fishy stories like that on the force. But it was pure coincidence that I touched the screen and discovered my power. I burst out laughing when I found out. I knew right away that this was going to be interesting!"
"So you used Ms Yamano to test your power." Yu accused him.
"Not at all" Adachi denied standing up from his chair "You see I'm far more of a gentleman than that. The bitch had betrayed me with her affair so and I was simply trying to teach her lesson."
"You're a real scumbag you know that!" Chie yelled furiously when suddenly another Reaper appeared from behind them. It pointed its guns at the group but was hit by a roundhouse kick from Assassin.
"I'm gonna fill you full of holes!" Yukiko vowed summoning Rider to do battle.
Rider blasted the Reaper with a pair of culverin cannons, only for it to shrug off the attack and blast both Persona's causing Yukiko and Chie to cry out as they felt the pain too.
"You're wasting your time fighting back!" Adachi cackled. "This town will soon be swallowed by the fog, this will be the only world you'll know!"
"We'll handle this, you guys get after him." Chie cried and focused on the fight, Assassin and Rider both kept moving dodging shots from the Reaper.
The rest of the team kept moving, they followed after Adachi and before they knew they were on the other side of the one-way mirror of the interrogation room in the police station.
"Isn't this…" Yu didn't get to finish as Yosuke suddenly pressed up against the glass.
On the other side was Saki Konishi, Adachi sat opposite her.
"Saki it's me!" Yosuke called out to her but it was futile she couldn't perceive him, this was the past after all.
"That's enough," Saki said standing up from her chair. "What's going on here? I thought you called me in here for questioning."
"Ok you had a fling with Namatame didn't you?" Adachi asked accusingly standing up and approaching her.
"No" She denied "I barely even know the guy."
"Hey It's cool you can tell me," Adachi said invading Saki's personal space as she backed up into the TV set in the room, his rested his hand near her head and leant towards her, putting another hand on her cheek. "Just do what I say and you can keep your secret."
Her response was to slap him across the face causing him to recoil in pain and anger.
"So that's how its gonna be?" Adachi sighed rubbing his face. "Well if that's how you wanna play" Adachi rushed and grabbed Saki's head and began forcing her into the TV. "Then I know just what to do with you."
It was over even quicker than with Ms Yamano, Saki vanished through the screen and into the TV World. Her screams lasting even less time. Yosuke punched the window and growled as fury bubbled up inside him.
"High school girls these days are such a pain the ass." The past Adachi complained at the TV "This world is going straight to shit." He then stuck his head partway into the screen. "Let me hear you beg a little maybe then I'll let you out." He then pulled his head back into the real world. "Or maybe not I would never walk into a death trap like that." He laughed to himself.
"I graduated first in my class at the academy," Adachi said as the memory ended and they were back in the ruined police station. "But then I got sent to the boonies. I guess the upside to this story is me getting these cool powers."
"You bastard!" Yosuke growled as he picked himself up and glared at Adachi. "You're gonna pay."
"Hey wait a sec, look at it from my perspective." Adachi objected vanishing and then appearing just behind Yosuke. "I had no idea what it was like inside the TV World. I never did it thinking I was killing them." He vanished and appeared between them and the destroyed wall. "And besides those bitches played Namatame like the stupid bastard he is. They got what they deserved." He vanished and appeared standing on the ceiling just behind Yosuke. "I think I've done this world a favour."
"SHUT UP!" Yosuke swung only for his punch to miss.
"Over here." Adachi taunted leaning against a piece of rubble "The pop star over there already said this isn't the real me."
"So, what about Namatame?" Yu asked as the followed Adachi to the rubble of what was Namatame's living room judging by the projection of the man sitting in it with a phone held up to his ear.
"Well after that Saki girl's body popped up he called the cops in the middle of the night to give us his insight," Adachi explained.
"Huh…That's the pattern to the two deaths so far?" Adachi's voice asked clearly from over the phone "And now you're seeing a girl in a kimono on that weird program, and you think she'll die too. Is that right?" There was a short pause before Adachi began talking again. "Mr Namatame...Do you seriously expect us to believe something like that?"
"B-But...it's true!"Namatame objected desperately. "If there's any way the police can protect her..."
"Listen...There's no way the police are going to make a move based on a fantasy story like that." Adachi told him... "It does sound interesting, though..."
"B-But...
"Oh, I have an idea...If you want to save her that much...Why not do it yourself? Like...You could shelter her somewhere. Someplace where no one could find her." Adachi suggested with barely restrained glee.
"Where no one could find her...?" Namatame said looking at the TV before the idea that would set things in motion hit him.
"Save her yourself...You can do it. I'm busy, so I'm hanging up now. Bye." With that Adachi hung up.
"Too easy wasn't it?" Adachi asked with a smirk as the memory ended and saw him before them again. "Of all the people who could have picked up that call from Namatame it just happened to be me." He vanished and appeared atop the end back end of a wrecked bus which lay with its front end in the ground. "And all I had to do was give him a little push. By rescuing people from this world you convinced Namatame that he was saving them, your good intentions created a game of cat and mouse that would never end...Haha, it was awesome."
"You're a complete pig," Rise stated angrily "A total scumbag."
Suddenly another Reaper burst out f the ground behind Adachi. This time Yosuke and Teddie prepared to take it on. They summoned Diarmuid and Angra Mainyu, the latter of who immediately leapt at the Reaper, clinging to its face and clawing at its single eye like a wild animal, causing it to flail and shoot wildly. Diarmuid deflected a few shots and leapt into action.
"Leave this battle to us, you two go after him," Yosuke said.
"Thanks, guys." Yu thanked them before giving chase to Adachi who was walking away rather casually.
He came to the ruins of another part of the police station where Adachi waited for him.
"You were the one who put Mitsuo into the TV didn't you?" Yu accused.
"That was his fault, the attention-seeking fatass came to see me too soon in the game, but It had been a while since I put someone in, so I got a real kick out of it at least." Adachi shrugged uncaringly. "The police didn't have any idea who the killer was yet, so they wrote him off as a joke and then they tossed him over to me. I never thought for a second that someone would show up willing to take the rap for a crime they didn't commit. If I let him take the fall and close the case then Namatame would stop saving people, I couldn't let that happen, the game would be over, so I said he passed out during questioning so I sent him home. But I threw him into the TV for fun."
"So that's your reason, it was all a game to you." Rise said with disgust.
"You gotta have some excitement in life, don't you agree? But then you guys put your foot in it again and ruined my fun. Thanks to you, Kubo was arrested again, and everyone acted like he was the true culprit behind it all. Tch...I don't know why they did, that copy cat killing was so bad."He teleported and then made copies of himself. "But I suppose it worked out in the end, though, because good ol' Namatame kept saving people. I guess the guy started to develop some kinda messiah complex, huh? What an idiot. And you guys, you never stopped searching so I guess you never bought it either, out of curiosity what gave it away?" the trio of Adachi's stared at Yu expectantly.
"The fact that Mitsuo's murder of Mr Mooroka was so different from the others, like the cause of death and the fact that Mr Mooroka never appeared on the Midnight Channel," Yu replied as Rise stared hard into her mirror occasionally glancing at Adachi's projections. "And the fact that your Persona attacked us on the trip to Port Island."
"What a pain that was." Adachi sighed rubbing his head. "My Saber was bored with all the waiting around, so I let 'em have a little prana but wouldn't give anymore, in hindsight I should have just gone to an arcade or something but whatever, you all came out alive and Saber's expression coming back was priceless."
Yu and Rise kept walking forward, eventually, they came to the ruins of the Dojima household, Adachi was sat at a Chabudai which was set with empty plates, dishes, bowls, glasses and cutlery. Rise gave Yu a nod, this was the real one. Adachi himself clapped as he approached, Rise staying back.
"Nicely done, I'm surprised you made it this far." He said still clapping before stopping looking over his shoulder. "Seriously kid I'm impressed."
"Alright, enough, why are you really doing all this?" Yu demanded.
"You mean what's my motive? I don't have one, I did it because I could and it was fun." Adachi shrugged. "But I guess, if you really want something, I needed eight sacrifices for the Holy Grail, and every time another one of got a Persona you became a valid sacrifice candidate." Yu merely stared at him and Rise gave him a hateful glare. "You know thinking about it, I don't think this world is the killer, all this place does is reflect people's thoughts," He then stood up and faced Yu. "So if that's the case then the 'real' killers are the people from our world including you."
He then began laughing again hen Yu didn't rise to his bait.
"Aren't all a bunch of High School Kids? Shouldn't you be studying instead of wasting your time with this crap? Study hard, get into a good college, work at a respectable company, marry a cute girl...Why are you guys so worked up over something you can't stop? Or are you all just a bunch of lonely losers who can't get a life?"
I think you're the lonely loser." Yu told him causing Adachi to stop and glare at him.
"Don't think for a second you're better than me, cocky brat," Adachi said regained his composure quickly. "After all you chose to get close to me remember? "Let's find the culprit ourselves! Let's meet up at the special headquarters today!" Am I right, or am I right? Man, it's embarrassing. How old are you guys? Ahahahahahahaha! Oh crap, my stomach's hurting. I told you," he threw his arms outwards and continued talking excitedly confident he was still in control. "I told you, once your world gets swallowed whole everyone will turn into shadows and there's not a thing you can do about it, especially when I sacrifice you brats to get my wish."
" But that is your wish." Yu stated causing Adachi to look at him.
"Huh?"
"This world doesn't turn people into Shadows on its own, so the worlds fusing is just one part of it." Yu pointed out. "Your wish is to turn all humans into shadows."
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Adachi laughed loudly and clapped as he did so. "That's amazing you figured it out, yup, the way I see it my wish will be doing all those sad sacks out there a favour, as shadows they'll see what they want to see, do whatever they wanna do, without having to worry about what other people think or the consequences to society. They'll all be way better off than they are now."
Spending so much time with Adachi, talking at Junes, having dinner, hanging out with Nanako had helped Yu put the pieces together and see through Adachi, to see what he really wanted. What he wanted was to put an end to suffering in his own twisted cynical way, and yet there was only one thing he could say.
"You're pathetic," Yu said after a few moments of silence.
"You're so freaking naive brat!" Adachi yelled angrily getting into his face. "That makes you VERY ANNOYING! EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE IS A WASTE! THERE'S A NEW WORLD COMING AND WHAT IT DOESN'T NEED IS ANNOYING ASSHOLES LIKE YOU!"
"Fine, let's finish this," Yu stated ready for battle and prepared to summon Gawain. "Rise, stay back and keep scanning."
"Right." She nodded standing back and installing Caster, gazing deeply into her mirror with solid focus.
"I'm going to cripple you and make you watch as I sacrifice your little friends to the Holy Grail one by one!" Adachi vowed clutching his head as power began to gather around him.
"Here it comes, his Persona is going to be summoned and there will be no handicaps this time!" Gawain warned him.
"I'm ready," Yu answered calmly as red flames burst into being near Adachi, similar to the ones that came when Yu summoned a new Persona. As the figure materialised fog rushed in like it was filling a vacuum until there was a burst and the summoning was finished. The Persona besides its silhouette was completely concealed by the fog
"SABER!" Adachi called out as his persona finally appeared.
"GAWAIN!" Yu crushed the Arcana in his hand the Knight of the Sun appeared in his full glory, Galatine ready to do battle.
"Now be a good little boy and die quickly!" Adachi yelled as the two Saber's charged at each other, ready to battle for the fate of Inaba and the Holy Grail.
