Chapter 4: Vessel of God

Yu Narukami

Evening - 04/11/2012 – Junes, Inaba

All member of the Investigation Team had regrouped in front of a large TV inside Junes. They all have their weapons ready and waiting for Yu's order to go in. "Oh no senpai! You're hurt!" Rise Kujikawa(Persona: Kanzeon) was firmly holding Yu's arm to check his condition.

"Thank you, Rise-chan but I'm okay. We need to catch Adachi as soon as we can." Yu turned to all his friend and lastly Naoto, "Thank you Naoto, for coming to help us today."

"Mitsuru-san is going to scold me after this…" Naoto mumbled to herself. But Yu heard that clearly and grinned.

"Don't worry, you're in my care, I will personally talk to Mitsuru-san later." Naoto cheeks turned beet red after hearing Yu's word.

"Senpai, can we go now?" Yu turned to see Kanji somehow annoyed face.

"Yes. But before that, how's my uncle?"

"He's fine, don't worry about him. Let's just hurry already." Kanji answered. Yu then turned to the TV and realized what he must do.

"You're right, let's go." And they all jumped inside the TV one at a time.

Evening - TV World

"Do you find him yet?" Yosuke impatiently asked Rise, "He's going to run away, you know."

"Be quiet! I can't focus with all this fog!" Rise responded. She was correct, the fog that should be lifted had start to fill the TV world again. But this time, the fog was so thick that not even Teddie's glasses could help them see clearly. If they took off the glasses, they will not see anything else but fog.

"The fog had become so thick for some reason." Yukiko commented, "Luckily we have the glasses, but we still can't see very well." Teddie jumped in front of her.

"Don't worry Yuki-chan, I'm gonna make a better glass for you next time!" Teddie looked at his surrounding, but then he sniffed. "But why? Why did my world become so bad?"

Ignoring all the commotion, Yu turned to his behind and searched for a door. 'No sign of Velvet room.'Yu thought to himself. But he quickly turned back to his friend when he heard Rise shouted.

"I got him! I know where he is!" But she then turned quiet, "Wait, he's in…Yomotsu Hirasaka? Isn't that the place where we fight Izanami? Why did he go there?"

More questions had been raised with every moment that happened in that single day, but everyone was too confused by the situation to answer Rise. "Then we need to go there and find out." Yu stated, "I will make sure he's not going anywhere before I find out what happen at the police station." Yu tightened his fist, while gritting his teeth and curious about what was going to happen. "Lead the way, Rise-chan." Yu turned to Rise, and began to walk through the heavy fog.

Evening - Yomotsu Hirasaka – TV World

They arrived at the dungeon front gate and observed it very carefully. It was the same as the last time they came here, but the aura was so intense that they felt chill all over their body. But the thing that made them so frightening was the sound of Adachi laughing from inside the dungeon. Yu looked at his friend and saw fear in their eyes.

"What is this aura?" Rise said, "It's not the same as any other shadow we fought."

Yosuke turned to her, "We don't want to wait here any longer, let's just find him and take him back." Everyone nodded, and they began to go inside until the furthest end of the dungeon.

When they reached the end of dungeon, they saw Adachi facing the wall in front of him and he kept staring at the place where they fought Izanami, without looking back toward the group.

"Adachi!" Yu shouted at him, "Like it or not, you're coming back with us!"

Slowly, Adachi turned around to look at them. To their horror, his eyes were blood red and they can see blood bleeding from his eyes.

"You finally arrive." Adachi smirked, "I can finally destroy you ONCE AND FOR ALL!" He began to scream louder than before and slowly, the fog that covered the entire place began to be absorbed by him, allowing the team to see clearly what had happen. As all the fog was absorbed by him, Adachi was seen moving around like a drunkard and foul black aura was surrounding his body.

"Adachi! What were you thinking?" Yu questioned him, "Do you want the same thing to happen all over again? Please stop all this, return to the real world!" But Adachi seemed not bothered by what he said.

"I don't want to return to that stupid prison. But you're wrong, what I'm about to accomplish is not like what I would do last year."Adachi said with a disturbing voice, "I going to do something better, andthat is helping them lead the world to its' true Judgement! All of you can DIE!"

And he suddenly stood still and faced them while clutching his head. "Magatsu Izanagi-no-Eien!"

Investigation Team VS Adachi

The area quickly turned into a battlefield, they all took their fighting stance while Rise summoned Kanzeon to start her analysis. "Oh no! Everyone, be careful! His state is extremely high with his evolved persona, Magatsu Izanagi-no-Eien!" Rise stated.

"What?! Isn't Izanagi supposed to be Yu's persona?" Yosuke asked in panic.

In front of the team, a dark version of Izanagi was floating above Adachi. It is almost the same as Yu's ultimate persona, but it have black aura and the state was as equal as Yu. "Im-impossible!" Yu frowned.

"Hahaha! See? The god himself has come to help me! You don't stand a chance!" Adachi pointed his index finger at the group, "Vorpal Blade!"

In a blink of an eye, Adachi's persona sprinted towards them and swung his long spear around them.

"No you don't! Izanagi!" Yu quickly shattered the card in his hand and summoned Izanagi to withstand the attack and shouted again, "Izanagi-no-Okami!"

With the blade still holding the blade of his counterpart, Izanagi evolved into Izanagi-no-Okami. He parried the blade away and sent Magatsu Izanagi-no-Eien flying and crashed to the wall behind Adachi.

"Urghhh, you're going to pay for that!" Adachi growled in pain because of the damage inflicted on his persona.

"Everyone, attack!" Yu gave his first order. Many glowing blue card appeared in front of all member and they shattered it at the same time.

"Susanoo!"
"Suzuka Gongen!"
"Amaterasu!"
"Rokuten Maoh!"
"Kamui!"
"Yamato-Takeru!"
Everyone summoned their persona at the same time and they began to fly toward the fallen Magatsu Izanagi-no-Eien.

"You think you can beat me?" His persona then swung his blade to cast a heavy wind and pushed all the others persona away. Everyone fall to the ground and try to recover their stance.

"Everyone, his persona is immune to light and darkness, his element is also extremely strong. He has no weakness! Try using Almighty damage on him." Rise said. But it was too late, Adachi launched another skill, "Megidolaon!"

A huge almighty attack was continued to injure the group.

"W-we can still fight!" Yu commanded while enduring all the attack. "Chie, attack him with almighty damage. Naoto and Kanji, cover her while she is launching her attack. Yukiko and Teddie, both of you will distract him. Yosuke, you and me will find an opening to attack after Chie." Everyone nodded.

"Hey, maniac clown, OVER HERE!" Teddie shouted at him from the right side and Yukiko threw her fan at Adachi to attract his attention. When he turned to Teddie and Yukiko, Chie, Naoto and Kanji took their position from his left side. "Here I come! God Hand!" Chie sprint toward Adachi while Naoto and Kanji used their persona to protect her from Adachi's persona attack.

But the plan was prove to be a failure, as Adachi quickly realized about distraction and ordered Magatsu Izanagi-no-Eien to throw his spear toward Chie, Naoto and Kanji and they're being pushed backward again. When Chie looked toward Adachi, Adachi's persona was in front of her and he lifted his spear to cut Chie down.

"CHIE!" Yosuke screamed was heard behind her and before she had a moment to look up, Yosuke was standing there taking the blow from the spear.

"Y-Yosuke!" Teddie glared at Adachi with anger, "H-how dare you hurt my friend, Bufudyne!" Kamui summoned a huge ice block and threw it at Adachi.

Apparently, Rise was right, he don't even have a single scratch on his body yet, he was almost immortal with his new persona Magatsu Izanagi-no-Eien.

"He-he's too strong!" Naoto said, lifting the injured Kanji, "There's no way we can win with our current state." Yu gave an order to Izanagi-no-Okami to give everyone a boost of element and almighty attack.

"You're too slow." Before they could think of the next move, Adachi had already launched another skill, "Darkness Smile!" All of the sudden, everyone became inflicted by Fear, except for Yu that was strong enough to withstand the skill.

"The next one will be your end, Ghastly Wa-"

"I won't let you, Megidolaon!" Izanagi-no-Okami threw a huge Almighty damage at Adachi before he could do anything.

"Come on, guys! Don't give up!" Yu tried to encourage his friends, but everyone were still affected by Adachi skill that they fell to the ground. "Everyone!"

"It's just you and me, Yu. No one else can interrupt us." Yu turned to see Adachi fully recovered and everyone else just lying on the ground, "Soon, I'm going to be a perfect 'vessel' for lord Strife. No one can stop me!"

Yu was shock to hear that, "'Strife'? What the hell are you talking about? Who's 'Strife'? What do you mean by vessel?" Yu walked toward Adachi, "Who planted the bomb at the police station? What is your goal?"

Adachi smirked when he heard Yu's question. "You ask too many questions! How am I suppose to answer all of that?!" Adachi's laugh began to fade as he looked at Yu, "But I don't have to, when the judgement day arrive, everything will be answer. And Izanami, that stupid bitch will be a good sacrifice for them."

Yu became furious after hearing Adachi's word, "You know where Marie is? Tell me where she is, NOW!" Yu shouted. He sprinted towards him with his sword, and jumped to swing it at his head. But all of the sudden, a strong gust of wind rush all over Adachi and Yu was thrown back far from him. When Yu returned his gaze back at him, a mysterious black silhouette appeared behind Adachi, Adachi turned to his back in fear and he immediately bowed to its feet.

"I-I'm sorry! I took too long and kept you waiting! Please, allow me to assist you to fulfill the prophecy!" Adachi cried, "Let me be your vessel!"

The black silhouette's empty eye looked upon him, and it faced Yu who was standing there exhausted and glaring at the silhouette. "You…the 'father'…" It began to speak with deep voice, "You are… the man of the prophecy…" It suddenly casted a black fog all over the place and blinded Yu's sight.

"Magarudyne!" Izanagi-no-Okami spun his spear in a 360 degree arc and managed to push away the the black fog slowly being lifted, Yu quickly expanded his search for Adachi and the black silhouette. They were nowhere to be seen.

When Yu turned to check on his friends, they finally recovered from the skill and recalled their persona. "Are you guys okay?" Yu asked after seeing their condition.

"We're fine, but where's Adachi?" Yosuke stood with his two feet but the cut from the spear suddenly bleed out, causing him to collapse on the floor, Chie and Teddie rushed to help him. As he looked around, Yosuke turned his gaze towards Yu while regaining his feet, "What happen just now? I remember Adachi did something and then I suddenly felt terrified for some reason and my mind become blur, then I wake up and don't remember anything else after that."

Yu stared at Yosuke and the rest of the team. No one remembered seeing a black silhouette that appeared behind Adachi. "Wait a sec, you don't remember anything at all?" Yu said unsatisfied, "Adachi had escape together with some 'figure' that appear with him." Everyone look surprised at this turn of event.

Fail to catch Adachi, the Investigation Team returned to the real world while feeling disappointed. The thick fog had been lifted but there was still no clue to answer the question on that day. The word 'Strife' had been lingering in Yu thought over and over again, but nothing seemed to come out of it.

Aigis

Night - 04/11/2012 – Destroyed Police Station, Inaba

Detective Kurosawa observed carefully the area of the now destroyed police station. Aigis and Labrys stood behind him and they looked at their surrounding, only the police and fire department were to be seen at that location, most people had gone home leaving only the family of the victims. Labrys had been talking about Yu and his friend for the entire journey to Inaba, and they were yet to be seen.

From the distance however, the entire group of Investigation Team was seen coming from the street, badly injured. As soon as Labrys noticed them, she rushed to them leaving Aigis alone with Kurosawa. She quickly came back to Aigis bringing all of them with her.

"They all were badly injured, we need to take them to the hospital right away." Labrys grasped Aigis hand, "Please come with me."

Aigis was about to answer when Yu walked toward Labrys side and stared at Aigis in the eye. "Have Mitsuru got any information about the suspect yet?" Asked Yu in a firm tone, but Aigis shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but we need more time to investigate the case." Her eyes wandered around Yu and the rest of the team, "I suppose… Adachi escaped?"

Yu and the others frowned after hearing the statement. "I'm sorry Aigis, but someone helped him escape from inside the TV world, and Adachi has become stronger than what we expect he could be." Naoto answered for everyone, "But Yu have some information about why Adachi escape, we can use that to start our investigation." Despite all the failure, there's still hope to find Adachi for the Investigation Team and revealed his plan.

Night - Hospital, Inaba

Aigis and Labrys walked through the corridor of the hospital searching for Yu and his friend's room. The entire floor was filled with the victim of the explosion. The doctors and nurses had been coming in and out from the patient room treating the injuries. As they look at all the victim, they finally reached the end of corridor where Yu and his friends were.

All member of the team shared the same big room with each have their own bed to lay down. Yosuke was sitting on his bed growling in pain because of his injury while Teddie was putting some medicine for him. Chie and Yukiko looked for each other wound and covered them with bandage. Kanji was busy rubbing his stomach and mumbling about needing more food while Naoto was changing her outfit behind the furthest curtain. For some reason, Yu and Rise wasn't there.

Aigis and Labrys walked toward Yosuke and Teddie and they both were happy to see the sisters there. "Labby-chan! Ai-chan! You come to visit us!" Teddie gracefully reached for the sisters hands and kissed their hand with a grin, "It's bear-y good to see you!"

"TEDDIE!" Yosuke shrieked at him, "Aren't you suppose to help me put the medicine on my back? What were you thinking?!"

When Teddie turned to Yosuke, he realized he was rubbing his injured back while glaring at him. "I-I'm sorry, Yosuke. I just can't stand the looks of these two BEAUTIFUL girls!"

But before he could say anything else, Yosuke threw his pillow, hitting Teddie in the head. "Hahaha, oh Teddie." Labrys laughed, she stopped her laughing when she saw Chie walk toward four of them.

"Hey Yosuke, I need to talk to you." Chie said without looking at him, "I…I'm sorry. Because of me, you got hurt. I should have been more careful back there…" Yosuke quickly reassured her after seeing her guilty face.

"Sorry? Why? It's not your fault, Chie. If anyone should be blame, it's that damn bastard Adachi." Yosuke said feeling irritated, "But how did he become so strong? He was as powerful as Yu now, and we can't even touch him!"

The atmosphere suddenly became quiet, minus Kanji's grumbling about food. This stayed until Aigis broke the silence.

"By the way, where's Yu-san and Rise-san? I don't see them with you all." Aigis looked around the room, and Yosuke coughed to catch her attention.

"He was going to see his uncle at the other room, Rise volunteered to accompany him, she look happy for a mo-"

Yukiko suddenly appeared in front of them, preventing him from continuing his sentence. "That Rise! Why does she always get to him first? I should have asked sooner!" Yukiko said, Teddie and Yosuke noticed the amount of jealousy in her tone.

"She is not hurt as much as all of us, so she's willing to accompany Yu to see his uncle." Yosuke said.

"Ooooh, do I smell some jealousy here?"

Blood quickly rushed towards Yukiko's cheeks. "I-it's not like that!"

Teddie smirked, "Don't worry Yuki-chan, you can have me all by yourself. I will always be here for you."

In a blink of an eye Teddie was sent crashing down by Yukiko's hand chop. She then left while puffing her cheeks, leaving the crowd to continue their conversation.

"I have to go and meet Yu-san now, I need all the information about Adachi." Aigis said as she faced Labrys, "If we didn't return to Inaba by tonight, Mitsuru-san will be worried."

Labrys nodded, and they walked to the exit.

Late Night - Hospital, Inaba

They both reached the room to see Dojima sleeping on his bed, Yu and Rise were standing beside him and Nanako was seen sleeping on the empty bed on the left side of Dojima's bed.

"How is he?" Aigis asked, Yu kept silent leaving Rise to answer for him.

"He had serious injury on his shoulder and his back bone, he may not wake up for tonight and tomorrow." Aigis turned her attention towards Nanako, "What about her?"

Rise was willing to answer again but Yu pulled her shoulder backward and shook his head as signal for Rise to speak no further, he then turned to Aigis.

"When I brought her here, she was crying nonstop and didn't let go of her father's hand. But I managed to calm her down and persuaded her to sleep here." Yu said with a sad tone, "Since her school is closed for the time being due to the prisoners escape, Nanako will not have school tomorrow either."

Aigis and Labrys zipped their mouth after hearing his word, but then Labrys faced toward Yu with determination look. "Naoto said you have information regarding Adachi. Please tell us."

Yu took Rise's hand and led the three of them outside the room and closed the door behind him before he faced the three of them. "Listen very carefully to what I'm about to say."

Dark Hour - 04/11/2012 - ?

Adachi had been running nonstop after returning to the real world, he had no idea where he was, all he could see was an empty city without people and car on sight. As the giant moon shine upon the street, he saw someone waiting impatiently for him in the middle of the road. Adachi could only sighed in relieve when he looked closely, a man wearing a black hooded shirt with his face overshadowed by the hood.

"You're late." The hooded man said, "You should arrive at our rendezvous point before the Dark Hour started."

Adachi slowly walked toward the man while growling. "You don't know how much trouble I've been through just to come here. That persona team I told you about has been interfering with my escape plan." Feeling irritated, but suddenly he started to smirk, "However, I really need to thank you for making that police station exploded. Your deal was so promising that I had to follow even if you look likes a complete weirdo to me. It's really great to see them suffer by that explosion."

The hooded man suddenly reached under his shirt and took out a gun and pointed it at Adachi. "Let me remind you that I only follow the order of lord Nyarlathotep. I have no interest in saving you from your own misery."

Adachi burst out laughing after he heard his confession. "Then let ME remind you that lord Strife has chooses me as his vessel, killing me would lead you to your own grave." Adachi lowered the hooded man gun with his hand, "Don't get angry just because they don't choose you."

The hooded man quickly delivered a right hook at Adachi, causing him to stumble backward. He then pointed his gun again at him. "They didn't choose me because they already choose their vessel! You're simply the last one in their list!" The hooded man then started to quell his own fury as he lowered his gun.

"Consider yourself lucky this time because lord Strife choose you. If not, you would already drown in your own pool of blood. Come, follow me." The hooded man turned to his back and moved toward the empty street follow by Adachi who was regaining his composure after the sudden outburst towards him.

? - 05/11/2012 - Velvet Room

Theodore was seen alone with Igor in the room without Margaret, and he became more worried when he heard of his master recent news. "Strife and Death has found their vessel, only two of them left. If the other two find their vessel, the odd will be with them to win the battle!" Theodore said impatiently, Igor began to fit every piece of the puzzle for the recent incident that happen and spoke without turning to Theodore.

"It seems that Elizabeth did not make it in time." He took out a single card and put it on his desk. "Of course, this is Death we're talking about, the strongest of all four. It is certain that he will find Minato body first before Elizabeth can, since he was the perfect 'death'." Igor gazed at the card in front of him, a unique blue half-transparent Arcana card with the word 'CONTACT' written on it.

"However, do not worry." Igor turned to face Theodore, "They simply need the vessel as a preparation for the day of prophecy. We can reclaim the vessel if all persona users unite force to find the vessel, so there is still hope to reclaim Minato body. We can leave them to Naoya and Tatsuya." Theodore nodded in agreement.

"Speaking of Elizabeth, Margaret doesn't seem to have returned either." Igor took the card and kept holding it in his hand, "So something terrible must have happen to the both of them. I wonder if Erebus was at fault."

Theodore face immediately became pale, he couldn't just stand there while two of his sister was at the edge of possible death. "Do you think my sisters going to be alright?" Theodore asked, Igor chuckled as he landed his elbow on the table.

"They're going to be fine. Besides, failure must not be accepted. We can't afford to lose Minato, no matter what happen." Igor said calmly while keeping his serious expression, "Since the body had been stolen, it would be wise for them to find the body as soon as possible. And that's when Tatsuya comes into the picture." Igor revealed the unique card to Theodore and smirked. Slightly confused by Igor words, Theodore spoke nothing more and simply agreed to his word.

A/N: How is my first battle scene? I never realize that making a fighting scene would be this hard. For your information, 'Eien' means eternal or forever in Japanese, it was mean to show how powerful Adachi's persona has become. But once again, Naoya and Minato are yet to be seen. Don't worry, Naoya is going to appear in the next chapter with Tatsuya. As for Minato… he's going to come back, I promise on that.