Chapter 17: The Return of Minato Arisato

Tatsuya Suou

Clear Sky – Dark Hour – 14/11/2012(Wednesday) – Central tower, the Tower of Seven Chain of Time, Sumaru City

49th floor

The loud sound of bell rang across the space of the center tower right after a powerful earthquake that struck Tatsuya's group that nearly made Eikichi tripped on the spiral staircase. They had been trying to open each door that presented itself besides the staircase, but none of them ever butch open. The group realized that the date had change as the timer on the wall reset itself to become -:06:18.

"Damn it! Who trapped us in here?!" Katsuya screamed, clueless when he realized that they reached closer to the highest floor of the center tower.

"What did I said about trapped in here?! Now what're we gonna do? This door won't open either!" Eikichi was unable to contain his anger as he tried to open the metal black door in front of him.

"Come on, just one more door upstairs!" Maya said, pointing to the double doors at the highest floor of the center tower.

"I know!" Tatsuya said. The group marched for the double door on the highest floor and aimed for the handle. The feeling of extreme relieve flew to their breath when the handle actually turned. "Finally!" Tatsuya said as he burst opened the door.

Gear Chamber, top floor of the Tower of Seven Chain of Time

50th floor

Tatsuya and his group became speechless by the gigantic grey room surround them. The ceiling and the wall was filled with all size of gears. The front view opposite the door was the back of a gigantic red clock made of glass on the top of the tower. There's a stair on the right that lead to the bell balcony above but the ceiling door was shut tight. The room was almost the same as the gear room of the Seven Sister High, only much bigger and the ground was wider. At the middle of the room, stood one big black coffin tied with steel chain.

"Is this… the top floor?" Ulala said, narrowing her eyes on the coffin in the middle of the room. "Is that…"

"Yes, that must be it, the body of Minato Arisato." Tatsuya said as he began his first step towards the coffin, "We can finally free his body."

"I don't think so, the 'sun'." Suddenly a soft yet cold female voice echoed the room, making the group shivered in fear. "Should we kill them all, Nut?" A second voice, this time a deep male voice was heard across the room. "Show yourself!" Lisa shouted, searching for the voices.

From the dark ceiling, two giant figures stormed down to the ground next to the coffin. Their sizes were twice the size of average human and twice the height of Eikichi. "Who are you?!" Katsuya asked, reloading his pistol.

Nut
"I am Nut, the goddess of sky. I shall not allow you to step anywhere near 'messiah' body."
Arcana: Strength
The Egypt goddess of sky. In mythology, she was supported by Shu, the god of air, Heh, the god of infinity and Geb, the god of earth as the 'sky'. Under the order of Conquest, she agreed to defend Minato's body from being reclaimed.

On the left side, stood a female figure dressed in a sand-color cloth designed with multiple stars on it. She seems to wear a golden earing and golden bracelet on both hands and feet. Her skin was pale white, her hair was mix black and white and her eyes were completely empty white. One more thing, there's a cow's horn on her head.

Geb
"And I am Geb, the god of earth. Cross this line and I'll smash you myself with my laugh."
Arcana: Hermit
The Egypt god of earth. He was the brother and husband of Nut in mythology. It is said that his laugh were the earthquake and allow crops to grow. He second Conquest's order to defend Minato's body.

On the right side, stood a male figure who was slightly shorter but muscular than Nut. His cloth was muddy dirt in color with male Egyptian cloth design. His skin was dark peach. His face was fierce with his brownish hair with completely black eyes. A bronze snake necklace was seen spiraling around his neck.

"Two boss shadow at once?" Baofu said, standing by with his coin. Soon after, everyone began to change to their fighting position.

"Stay out of my way! I didn't come this far just to give up!" Tatsuya pointed his sword at the two figures in front of him. "I'll defeat both of you!"

Naoya Toudou

Clear Sky – Dark Hour – 14/11/2012(Wednesday) –The Tower of Seven Chain of Time entrance gate

There was an awkward silence for Naoya and his friend when they tried to open the gate again. "I'm sure it wasn't locked before." Yukino said, confused when she realize that the gate was locked even without padlock.

"It looks like there's no other choice." Hidehiko said. Like a monkey, Hidehiko began to climb the gate and swiftly jumped to the other side of the gate. "See?" Hidehiko proudly said.

"There's no way I can do that!" Eriko said, blushing while she pulled downward her short skirt. "I'm…"

"Don't worry, I won't peek." Naoya smirked, only to be kick at the leg by Eriko. "Urgh! Come on, we need to be fast!"

After a moment of trouble, they eventually crossed the locked gate and began making their way to the main door, only to face another trouble. The door won't open either. "Now how are we supposed to get inside?" Nanjo said.

"Darn it, we suppose to look cool by saving them but now we're stuck outside." Naoya frowned.

"How about we check behind this tower?" Nanjo suggested when he saw a dark alley behind the tower.

Thus they made their way surrounding the tower. There were many big holes for the giant steel chain to flow inside connected to the top of the tower. "Where did this chain come from? Where did it linked to?" Yukino said.

They stopped when they saw a small penthouse not far from the tower. It was so small that it might only fitted 3 persons in it. Curious, they decided to let Hidehiko and Yukino to enter the unlocked dark room inside the penthouse.

"Is there a passage, stairs or anything?" Naoya asked.

Hidehiko was the one who replied, "No, it's just a room. Besides, it's too dark in he-"

Crash!

…Everyone stopped when they heard a breaking sound from inside.

"I-I think I just kick something!" Hidehiko nervously said.

"*Sigh* Looks like we can't find a way inside." Nanjo sighed.

"My, my, who could possibly disturb my 'house'? …Oh, it seems that someone disturb the chamber, I better return to my 'body'." All of the sudden, a deep male voice was heard from inside. Yukino and Hidehiko quickly rushed outside to see any presence from the inside, no one. Instead, a broken grandfather clock was found on the ground with a Greek word 'Chronos' on it.

"What does it said?" Eriko said. But before anyone could replied, a small earthquake suddenly occurred from the tower. "Woah, what happen?" Naoya asked.

Aigis

Dark Hour – 14/11/2012(Wednesday) – Great Seal, Sea of Soul

"Come on, we're close." Theodore said to Aigis as they approached the giant gate not far from them. As they getting closer, they saw Margaret worriedly waiting for them near the gate.

"Have Nameless return yet?" Theodore asked when they regrouped.

"…No, he said he sensed a faint presence somewhere and he's been looking for her." Margaret replied in worry.

"Where's Erebus?" Aigis was the second to ask.

"I don't know. Maybe he has met with Yog-Sothoth to attack the seal at the same time." Margaret replied.

"If I may ask, who is Yog-Sothoth?" Aigis asked for details.

"We never met him ourselves, but my master said he cannot be destroyed permanently like Nyarlathotep. My master also said that Tatsuya and his friends once fought him 12 years ago, but he is now a shadow we should pay attention because he is said to have the power to travel between dimension in Sea of Soul with his 'key' like power. It is no surprise if he can break the seal." Theodore explained.

"The seal…" Aigis mused as she glanced at the gate in front of them. The gold color of the gate has turned to pale grey. The brightness from it has disappeared and there was a crack on the edge of the gate. Even the 'eyes' on the gate wall were half closed.

Suddenly, they heard a loud roar not far from them. They quickly stood by their fighting position and preparedfor anything worst. "I sense two extremely powerful shadows coming this way." Margaret warned them.

"Come if they want, I will not let anyone hurt Minato." Aigis said.

From the darkness of the Sea of Soul, emerged two gigantic monsters approaching them. The first shadow was the one they recognized too well as Erebus, but it's the second one that made them gasped in fear.

The shadow's appearance was yellow sphere in shape, like a ball of mixed yellow eyes, fanged mouths and clawed hands. Two long hands extended from his left and right body unlike others short hands around his body. On both his hands, a multiple ring with ancient language acted as a wristband. Surrounded his body, two big rings made of number and ancient language was orbited him. This was exactly the shadow that appeared on the Midnight Channel a few days ago.

"Get ready!" Theodore shouted as the second shadow marched toward them.

Elizabeth

Dark Hour – 14/11/2012(Wednesday) – Somewhere far in Sea of Soul

"Wait, there's someone." Ryoji warned Elizabeth when he sensed someone's presence.

"No, that's…" Elizabeth reconfirmed as she stretched her arm to stop Ryoji from stepping further.

Out of the endless space, Nameless appeared floating toward them. "I have finally found you, Elizabeth." Nameless said.

"Who are you?" Elizabeth asked.

"I am sent by Master Igor to bring you back to the Great Seal along with the Wild Card. We need the-"

"I know. We need the piece of the 'universe'. Lead us the way." Ryoji interrupted.

"We better be quick, the Great Seal is beginning to collapse." Nameless said and raised his hand toward a deeper part of Sea of Soul. They began to dash towards where the Great Seal was.

Tatsuya Suou

Sumaru City Persona users VS Nut & Geb

"Ahahaha! You want to save 'messiah'? Then try to defeat us! AHAHAHA!" Geb laughed. Suddenly, the ground began to shake and rumbling simultaneously with the earth god's laugh. As Geb's laugh began to enhance, the room was now shaking madly, along with the tower. Unable to sustain the shock, Tatsuya's group fell to the group.

"Sh*t! Hades!" Eikichi summoned the Greek lord of underworld despite being unable to stand on his two feet. "Malaques!" From Hades tri-skull ornament, medium water damage burst open and washed over the two shadows body. Nut only received small amount of damage while Geb completely absorbed the water.

"That's not all, Venus: Aquadyne!" Lisa summoned the roman goddess of fertility after the earthquake become stable to deal high water damage on Nut who staggered for a moment, completely pushed her toward the balcony of the room behind the red glass clock.

Stardust- "Is that all?" Nut taunted as she recovered and began to take a deep breath through her mouth into her lung. With one blow, she released the air from her mouth toward the group. A blow of sparkling dust flew like a gust of wind and slammed them back to the double door where they entered. With the medium wind attack, Lisa received the most damage and fell to the ground while Jun easily sustained the damage.

"We're not finish! Apollo: Gigantic Fist!" Tatsuya summoned Apollo and launched a large strike attack on Geb.

"Don't go do things on your own! Hyperion: Justice Shot!" Katsuya assisted Tatsuya by summoning Hyperion to form a small energy ball and launched it at Geb. As Hyperion's small energy ball successfully slammed Geb's head first to drop his HP to 1, Apollo's blazing fist reached Geb's stomach with perfect timing.

"Dia!" Geb healed himself with a small amount of HP after the attack. They underestimated these gods completely, as Geb quickly punched Apollo and threw it at Hyperion, making both of them disappeared. Meanwhile, Nut was seen swinging her long extended claw to slash Maya, Jun and Baofu while Ulala and Eikichi tried to distract her by Eikichi's machine gun and Ulala powerful jab. The damage was made, but it was small.

"Ok, let's make a plan. Tatsuya, Lisa, Eikichi and Jun will fight with the female shadow." Maya ordered, Tatsuya then continued. "And Maya, Katsuya, Ulala and Baofu take the male shadow. Now go!"

"Roger!" Everyone replied and began their strategy. Maya, Katsuya, Ulala and Baofu parted away and walked to the left side of the room to fight Nut. Tatsuya, Lisa, Eikichi and Jun had made their way to the right side of the room to fight with Geb.

"The time is running out, I'm done with you! Sky Stair!" Nut began her second attack as she raised both her arm. Suddenly, a wide sheet of blanket-like white cloud fell down on four of them. It was too late for them to realize that they had been inflicted with illusion ailment.

With the opportunity at hand, Nut lifted her hand to attack them, only to be stop by Ulala's scream. "Astria: Me Patra!" Astria emerged and healed her party from illusion ailment. Unfortunately, Nut's clawed hand successfully slashed Baofu in his left arm. "Baofu!" Ulala screamed. "I'm alright!" Baofu replied.

"Artemis: Crescent Moon!" Maya summoned her persona to cast an extremely large almighty damage at Nut. The successful attack on the female shadow connected with Katsuya's and Baofu's persona.

"Flare Shot!" Hyperion emerged from Katsuya and inflicted small gun damage with his heated fireball, successfully caused illusion ailment on Nut.

"Prometheus: Baptism by Thunder!" Baofu seconded the attack with Prometheus launched large lightning damage on Nut. Maya can finally regained her confidence when she saw Nut was getting weaker by the continuous attack.

Meanwhile, Tatsuya's group was currently dodging Geb's earth attack. "Lifted Ground!" Geb punched his hand to the ground and amazingly broke the solid rock ground under them and lifted it fast like a bullet to the ceiling. With quick alert, Tatsuya and his group jump from the lifted rock and fell to the surface near the hole being lifted by Geb. Failing to damage them, Geb zoomed back down the lifted rock straight to Lisa to finish her.

"Apollo: Freila!" Tatsuya summoned Apollo to cast a moderate nuclear damage at the falling rock by smashing it with burning red fist while Tatsuya himself was covering Lisa from the attack. "Lisa, hurry!" Tatsuya commanded.

"A-Alright. Venus: Mamagnadyne!" Lisa summoned the roman goddess of love and casted high earth damage at Geb and Nut. The damage was not as strong as she expected, and so Jun continued.

"Chrono- Arghhh!" Jun suddenly cried in pain while clutching his head and fell to the ground, shocking the others. "Jun! Hang in there!" Tatsuya screamed in panic as he lifted Jun's shoulder with his shoulder.

"The headache…it's getting worse…" Jun weakly said as he stood back on his two feet.

"Grrrr, Dark Verdict!" Eikichi summoned his persona in anger to cast high dark damage on both shadows while shielding Tatsuya and Jun from any further attack. Blessed with greatest luck, Both Nut and Geb were heavily damage by the attack and fell both on their knee with only few HP left.

"Maya, Katsuya, Ulala, Baofu, lets launch the fusion spell!" Tatsuya ordered as they regrouped in front of the two gods. They nodded and faced the shadows, slowly summoned their persona at once to finish off the shadows.

"Apollo: Nova Cyther!"
"Artemis: Crescent Mirror!"
"Hyperion: Justice Shot!"
"Astria: Twinkle Nebula!"
"Prometheus: Wiseman Snap!"
"Fusion Spell: Dragon Cross!" All five of them screamed at the same time. With all five personas gathered around the two shadows, they combined their energy from their hands and summoned a white serpent dragon. With its huge white fang, the serpent dragon bit Geb at the shoulder and killed him before he turned into a dust. The serpent dragon then made its way to tied Nut's tall body with its long body before biting her head, killing her. With the two shadows completely defeated, the serpent dragon disappeared along with all others personas.

"We…we won…" Maya said before jumped happily, "Tatsuya, we did it!"

Everyone began to cheer happily, added with Jun who headache's finally gone. "Now, the body…" Tatsuya said, turning to the black coffin that remained still even with all the impact from the battle. "Come on!" Lisa said as she rushed towards the coffin.

With Tatsuya's sword, he broke the chains that surround the coffin. The females didn't volunteered to look inside in case he looked like zombie, so they turned away allowing the males to check inside. "This is it." Katsuya said to Tatsuya. Nodded, Tatsuya opened the coffin to find a pure looking and non-rotten body of a handsome blue hared boy. They became surprised to see that not even a single scratch on his body nor wound. Carefully, Tatsuya extended his hand to pull him out of the coffin, only to receive another surprise.

An extremely powerful force pushed all of the persona users backwards. When they turned to the coffin, another large figure appeared next to the coffin. "Just as what lord Conquest anticipated, you have defeated my children." A figure spoke.

"Who…who are you?!" Eikichi shouted as they regained their stance.

Shu
"I am Shu of Egypt, the god of wind and air."
Arcana: Temperance
The Egypt god of wind and air, the father of Nut and Geb. In mythology, he hold Nut(sky) above his head and below Geb(earth) to allow human to exist in between.

He was muscular than Geb and taller than Nut. A silver crown of cloud was seen on his head and he was wearing a male Egyptian cloth that covered his entire body with silver palette. He had a pale white skin like Nut, but fierce looking face like Geb with his grayish hair. On his left hand, he carried a silver ankh(Egyptian symbol of life).

"Please forgive me, but Nyarlathotep has command me to destroy the body immediately if the seal is successfully broken and 'messiah' reclaim his 'universe'. I must prevent you." Shu spoke with rather soft voice.

"Why are you trying to side with Nyarlathotep and the Four Horsemen?! He's just using you to destroy everything!" Tatsuya screamed, "Give me the body, I made a promise to his friends that I will save him."

"…We never destroy everything permanently, lord Conquest only desire for the 'cycle' to complete. His path was not the same with Nyarlathotep, he never hated you human. Now…" After the word, Shu lifted his hand toward the clock's back view and closed his palm into a fist. Instantly, the clock that was made of glass was shattered with a single blast of wind, allowing them to see the new moon above the sky outside. All the numeral numbers and arrows of the giant clock fell right to the ground in front of the entrance door to the tower.

The group stood in horror as they saw Shu was holding Minato's body by the collar with his right hand and slowly walked to the opening space of the broken clock. He was threatening them by throwing Minato's body from the top floor. "PLEASE STOPPP!" Maya screamed, lunging to the powerful shadow.

"Maya, NOOO!" Tatsuya screamed as he marched toward his wife.

Aigis

Dark Hour – Sea of Soul

Aigis, Theodore and Margaret VS Erebus and Yog-Sothoth (Aforgomon form)

Yog-Sothoth (Aforgomon form)
Known as: Lurker at the Threshold, Opener of the Way, Beyond-One, All-in-One, One-in-All
"GrRrGTRf! GrEaT SeAl…DeStRoY!"
Arcana: Wheel of Fortune
The Cthulhu god of time and space. Aforgomon is Yog-Sothoth's most powerful avatar, where he is believed hold the power to manipulate time and space by many culture with this avatar. He is the child of Nameless Mist. He is said to be one existence as all time and space but locked outside human'sreality. He was the avatar or vessel of his grandfather to watch over everything outside his reality and possibly on equal power with Nyarlathotep, his uncle.

"Yog-Sothoth, the All-in-One, One-In-All…" Margaret said in fear.

"Margaret-san, please don't get distracted!" Aigis warned her as she reloaded her bullet and began to shoot the giant sphere shadow like a machine gun. Shockingly,the gigantic sphere disappeared in a blinding light. "Where did it go?" Aigis scanned around to search for him.

"Aigis, above you! Uriel!" Theodore summoned the archangel of flame to withstand the sudden attack from above by Yog-Sothoth's clawing attack. "Maragidyne!" Theodore commanded Uriel to launch large fire attack on Yog-Sothoth. Theodore, however, can only watch in surprise when the attack was absorbed by one of Yog-Sothoth's 'mouth'. "He-He absorbed it?!" Theodore said, turning to Margaret.

"I will not hold back! Ardha: Megidolaon!" Margaret summoned Ardha and casted severe almighty damage on both Yog-Sothoth and Erebus by slamming two gigantic energy balls at the heads of the two shadows. Erebus took great damage from the attack, but Yog-Sothoth simply 'ate' the energy ball into his sphere body.

"We can't attack it! He will just absorb our attacks!" Theodore warned the others of Yog-Sothoth's power.

"We must attack Erebus first, and then we handle Yog-Sothoth!" Aigis said.

"Leave it to me." Margaret said as she summoned another persona, "Siegfried: Ragnarok!" Siegfried emerged from the card of Margaret's compendium book and launched a severe fire attack on Erebus's front head. Erebus roared in anger as he casted an ice attack on himself to remove the deadly flame.

Thunder Reign- Erebus opened his back head's mouth to launch a massive electric damage on three of them.

"Athena: Marakukaja!" Aigis summoned Athena to increase her party defense as the powerful electric attack from Erebus stunned them. Even with the increased defense, Aigis received a great damage as the electric stunned her machinery body, frozing her from moving for a moment. "You…you must protect Minato." Aigis said in agony to Theodore and Margaret.

"Stay here, Aigis-" Margaret wanted to speak further but stop when she saw Yog-Sothoth marched closer to the gate. "What's it doing?" Margaret said.

Whispering in an unknown language, Yog-Sothoth placed his long right hand on the surface of the gate. In instant, a strange symbol began to appear on the gate before it exploded like a burst of dust. Due to the explosion, the crack on the gate widen until a little gap on the gate began to open. "No…Minato…" Aigis said in a sad tune.

As the gap slowly began to open, it suddenly stopped when it stuck to the statue of Minato, causing the chain that entangled him to vibrate heavily by the impact. Yog-Sothoth screamed in anger as he began to print another symbol to the gate. The symbol exploded but the statue remained still.

"Stop, please stop…You're going to destroy Minato…" Aigis pleaded as she tried her hardest to stand.

"I command you to stay away from the seal! Beelzebub: Diarahan!" Theodore summoned one of his most powerful persona and began to fully heal Aigis. He then turned to Yog-Sothoth to launch his attack, "Megidolaon!" He sent a massive almighty attack on the sphere shadow.

Yog-Sothoth changed his attention to the gigantic energy ball sent by Theodore with his creepy yellow eye. His biggest mouth on his sphere body somehow changed to smirk before he opened his main mouth as wide as he could. As the gigantic energy ball reached him, Yog-Sothoth swallowed it into his stomach before charging himself for a powerful attack.

Lurker Door- Yog-Sothoth reopened his mouth to release a circle of magic before it casted countless yellow sharp arrows and threw it at Theodore. Too late to dodge, Theodore could only screamed in extreme pain as the arrows pierced his body and some of it even penetrated through him. Aigis realized another wave of arrows coming at Theodore, summoning Athena to shielded both herself and Theodore. Although Athena's shield was strong, Yog-Sothoth was able to overpower them by pushing them backward until they both lay weaken as the arrows stopped.

Meanwhile, Margaret was seen fighting Erebus after she casted Diarahan on herself. As Erebus used Dark Embrace to charge his ultimate skill, Margaret opened her book and used all cards of her to charge her ultimate skill. Fully charged, Margaret and Erebus launched their skill at the same time.

Ultimate Skill: Shadowy Primal Darkness- Erebus opened both his mouth and released an extremely powerful energy burst and aimed it upward. The two energy burst from the two head combined itself above him and made its way toward Margaret.

"Ultimate Skill: Ultra Megidolaon!" Margaret combined all her cards and summoned a gigantic energy ball twice the size of Megidolaon in front of her. Stretching her hand frontwards, she pushed the gigantic energy ball towards Erebus's burst of darkness.

The two ultimate skills collided in between them, where the impact was so strong that some of Erebus's dark energy was thrown aside to the endless place of Sea of Soul. Margaret didn't even care about the damage she will caused to the space anymore. Just as what Igor said, Minato's life must be their main priorities. If Minato's life failed to be saved, then the world will lose their hope.

Fortunately, Margaret won the collision and sent both her attack and Erebus's own back at him, dealing twice the damage he should took. However, the attack suddenly stopped and disappeared by the invisible force. Margaret took a closer look at the fallen shadow, only to see Nyarlathotep in his initial form protecting Erebus. "N-Nyarlathotep!" Aigis gasped.

"I simply cannot let Erebus to be killed now! I'm going to need him to completely bring Death to reality! He will be served as one of the sacrifice for Nyx to contact 'him'!" Nyarlathotep laughed evilly as he turned to Yog-Sothoth who's still trying his best to break the seal. "Yog-Sothoth, rip it open!"

"GAAARRRHHH!" Yog-Sothoth screamed as he slipped both his long arms into the small gap of the gate, slowly opened it by pulled it with his full strength while his other hands continued to attack the statue of Minato. "Please, stop…" Aigis said weakly in a low tone.

"Where's Elizabeth?! We can't hold them anymore!" Theodore said while Margaret came to his site and healed both Theodore and Aigis.

"We need more time-" Just when Margaret looked at the seal, she became shocked to see Aigis jumped toward in front of Yog-Sothoth. Her first word when she stretched her hand outward to cover was, "Kill me first… if you want Minato, you have to kill me first."

"Aigis-sama, what are you doing?!" Theodore screamed. Theodore and Margaret, however, stopped when Nyarlathotep suddenly appeared between them and the seal, blocking their way. "Stay out of this, Nyarlathotep!" Margaret taunted in anger.

"HAHAHAHA! NO, I want to see this!" Nyarlathotep laughed, dashed towards them, "Play with me for now!"

Nyarlathotep marched towards the siblings, forcing them to face him instead. "Nameless is taking too long!" Margaret frowned, as she fought him.

Back to the seal, Yog-Sothoth was mercilessly attacking Aigis who stood in front of the statue. Weaken, Aigis turned to the statue and gave a fake smile, "Minato, please come back… Yukari, Mitsuru, Fuuka, Junpei, Akihiko, Ken and Koromaru are waiting for you… I'll introduce to you to my sister, Labrys. Do you know, Yukari said if she sees your face when she wakes up, she's going to hug you and never want to let you go."

Slash! Yog-Sothoth whipped her with his hand and continued to do so. At her last stand, she smiled at the statue as her tears began to roll down her cheeks. "Minato…"

"I love you…"

With the final blow, Yog-Sothoth pushed the now unconscious Aigis to the side. "AIGIS-SAMAAA!" Theodore and Margaret screamed simultaneously as Nyarlathotep laughed hysterically. "AHAHAHAHAHA! NOW YOU KNOW THAT NO ONE CAN STOP ME-"

SLASH!

Nyarlathotep held his laugh when he realized that his right hand has been sliced by a sharp sword that separated his hand in a speed of light. Nyarlathotep, Yog-Sothoth and Erebus, along with Theodore and Margaret turned to where Aigis fell unconscious. Upon the view, Margaret said in mix sadness and happiness, "You're late, Elizabeth. What took you so long?"

Thanatos was seen carrying Aigis in bridal style with his sword still dripping from the blood of Nyarlathotep with Elizabeth beside him. As she floated besides Thanatos and Nameless, Elizabeth spoke, "I'm sorry, sister, for being late. Now let's bring Minato back." Elizabeth took out Minato's Evoker.

Tatsuya Suou

Gear Room

As Maya lunged towards Shu, the god of wind and air decided moved towards the opened space of broken clock and warned, "Don't make this hard for me! I don't want to-" But before he could finished his word, Maya jumped to catch Minato by the wrist to release him from Shu's hand.

"Let go of them both!" Tatsuya screamed as he dashed toward the shadow. Everyone else began to follow and choose to attack Shu. "Stay back! I refuse to hurt you human! I said, STAY BACK!" Shu shouted. They all stopped by his word and carefully back away. "Maya, just do as he said for now!" Tatsuya ordered.

"No, we were so close!" Maya replied as she struggled to release Minato. During that moment, an unexpected event happened…

Naoya Toudou

The tower of Seven Chain of Time entrance door

"You heard that too right, the sound of broken glass?" Yukino said when Naoya's group heard a loud sound of glass being shattered from the top of the tower after wandered the tower for more than half an hour.

"I know, let's check it out." Naoya said, as they sprinted toward the front section.

They became shocked to see a fragment of glass and big clock arrows were laid on the ground exactly in front of the unopened entrance door. They gazed upward to see Shu was holding Minato grabbed by Maya from the opened space of broken glass clock.

"Wait, is that Maya?! And who did she grab and- Who is that?!" Hidehiko shouted, pointing towards Shu.

"Maya, can you hear me?!" Eriko shouted, but of course, she couldn't possibly hear it.

"Did the door still lock?" Nanjo asked.

"Of course it still locked! *Sigh* I regret coming here tonight-" Naoya stopped when he looked again at the top floor. Everyone can only watch in horror when Maya, along with Minato's body, fell from the top floor when the shadow released his hand that grabbed Minato's body.

"They…they fall down!" Naoya screamed.

Tatsuya Suou

"You are really stubborn, aren't you?!" Shu said as he struggled to keep hold of Minato's body and shook it to released Maya from her grab.

"I said, let go-" Maya said but suddenly, Shu accidently slipped his hand that held the body. She fell from the cliff of the clock before she could reach her hand to the ledge. "MAYAAA!" Tatsuya screamed, jumped to the edge of the cliff to reach his hand to grab her."TATSUYAAA!" Maya screamed.

But it was too late, their hand could reach each other and Maya was waiting for her life to end.

"I-I lose the 'messiah' body, I will be punished by lord Conquest…" Shu said in regret, before he jumped away from the cliff and tried to run away.

"Don't you run away, you bastard!" Eikichi screamed and began to shoot Shu but failed. Everyone became too shocked to handle such incident.

"Ma…Maya…" Tatsuya could no longer hold his tears any longer as Maya almost reached the ground. He can only allow his tears to fall down from the top floor of the tower.

[[[[[[0]]]]]]

[All of the sudden, the sound of strong wind that blew through his ear has disappeared instantly. The surrounding became soundless and motionless. Tatsuya blinked his watery eye, Maya and Minato's body somehow 'froze' in midair before they could fell to their death. He turned to his friend, only to find them became motionless as well. The tears from Ulala stopped dripping besides Baofu who tried to comfort her. Katsuya tears was the same, it 'stop'. Lisa was seen holding Eikichi back from shooting Shu with his guitar case machine gun while Shu evaded it. But the bullet was the same, froze in midair. As for Jun…

"Tatsuya, what happen here?" Jun, who was the only one that can freely move while everything else stopped, asked.

"I-I don't know, it's like the time has stop." Tatsuya confusedly answered.

"Indeed, the time has stop." A male voice was heard across the room where they stood. In a blink of an eye, the surrounding changed to a new place, where they were standing on top of a giant white clock with golden palette surround by a white space. Everyone except Tatsuya and Jun has disappeared along with the place where they originally at. "Where is this place?" Jun said.

"My, my, my, don't be so surprise. This is simply my temporary 'realm' for me to talk to you." The same male voice spoke again. They both searched for the voice, only to find a strange man in his 30, wearing a blue suit with golden palette and a gold watch on his left arm. His hairless face was rather young added with plain white hair wearing a white top hat on his head. His face somehow strangely resembled Jun,but his white hair has back-fired their similarities. An image of lion was printed on his right shoulder of his suit and an image of bull was printed on the left shoulder of his suit.

"Who are you?" Jun asked.

"Oh my, have you forgotten about me? You used my body as a persona in the past when my true consciousness was still trapped in collective unconsciousness." The man with the hat smiled. Jun widen his eye in disbelieved.

"C-Chronos?!" Jun said. Tatsuya was shocked to hear it as well.

"Oh please, don't call me by my real name with this form, I will feel old. Call me Father Time instead." Father Time (True persona: Chronos) introduced himself. "I already foresee your arrival for tonight, which is why I wrote down that extra text of the prophecy for you before you arrived at the Gear Room, for you to read. But you have my apologies, Jun Kashihara, my power sudden return to me has cause you headache for a while." He mention about the text they saw at the 24th floor and about Jun's headache.

"No wonder I have headache…" Jun thought.

"So you were the one who wrote down the text. How did you know so much about the prophecy?" Tatsuya said.

"Of course I know. I am a primordial god and one of the first generation of god in collective unconsciousness. Everyone with the Archetype should know it. I even built this Tower of Seven Chain of Time right here with my Archetype power. Well of course, this tower can only activate itself after I received back my Archetype from Philemon after I gave it to him when the great war between Archetype of bond and Archetype of destruction took place."

Tatsuya and Jun blinked their eye in confusion, which confused Father Time as well. "Wait you don't know what is Archetype?" Father Time said.

"It was written in the text, but we were clueless about it." Jun said. Father Time's joyful face drastically turned to serious as he began to explain.

"As a persona user, you should know about collective unconsciousness and its purpose, along with the fact that persona and shadow came from our emotion and our unconsciousness, am I correct?" Tatsuya and Jun nodded.

"Alright, alright, listen very carefully, you two. Archetype, as I said it, is like a core or source of all humanity's consciousness and unconsciousness. All our appearance and our power came within our respective Archetype. Only those of primordial gods of creation in mythology may hold the blessed power of Archetype. With this power, we have the power to create our 'children's appearance and existence, a prophecy of world end, a time manipulation power and we are able to create specific realm for ourselves. Each Archetype represent different source and emotion of humanity's heart and it even has its respective symbol." He put his hand on his chest.

"Look at me for example, my Archetype is humanity's memory of their precious moment and my Archetype symbol is 'clock'. Philemon, however, possessed the most powerful Archetype in the beginning of time, the Archetype of humanity's bond and all positive emotion, famed for his symbol the 'grand butterfly'." Father Time continued.

"This power, however, can be removed or passed down if certain conditions are met. Example if I remembered it right, Thanatos inherited the Archetype of Death from Nyx in the past, even though he is not a primordial god of creation himself. As the power of Archetype was the source of our existence, we cannot enter the conscious reality without it and cannot exist with human appearance. The same goes for me. In the battle between Philemon and the primal god who hold the Archetype of destruction, I surrendered my Archetype of memory to Philemon in order to defeat the enemy, I have been living as a persona of humanity ever since, until today."

"The Archetype of destruction, could you mean Nyarlathotep?" Tatsuya said, but Father Time shook his head.

"No, no, no. Not him. Every god in collective unconsciousness knew him. He is a fearsome god in our realm. In fact,you have been hearing his voice yourself for a while now, aren't you Tatsuya? He was the Nuclear Chaos who possessed one of the most powerful Archetype in existence, the Archetype of destruction and he once fought Philemon in the past before his defeat." Father Time's next word was the one that caught Tatsuya off guard.

"He is Azathoth, the Archetype of destruction with his symbol, the 'red star butterfly' as well as Nyarlathotep's father, known as the Nuclear Chaos, Blind Idiot God, Daemon Sultan. I can see he is trying to communicate with you, Tatsuya, because he is starting to awaken by the prophecy through your memory of the 'other side'." Father Time finished his word as he adjusted his hat.

"A-Azathoth?! Nyarlathotep's father?!" Tatsuya stuttered in fear as he dropped his body to the ground. "Tatsuya, relax yourself!" Jun rushed to his side and comforted him.

"Now, now, now, let turn back the time for a while, shall we?" Father Time said as he changed his form, the new form of Chronos. Tatsuya gazed the figure above him as he recovered his panic.

Kairos Chronos
"Thou art I, I am thou…I am the awakened god who watch over time and space of all humanity. I am Kairos Chronos, the true god of time and space."
Arcana: Wheel of Fortune
Archetype: Humanity's memory of precious moment
Archetype symbol: Clock
Prime version of Chronos, the Greek god of time. His first name, 'Kairos' came from Greek word which means 'the right or supreme moment'. In mythology, he has existed before the beginning of time and even older than Nyx, Erebus, Tartarus and Gaia. Unlike his past form, he is now far more powerful than before and can freely control time and space and can even send anyone back through time.

His appearance was almost similar to his original form, but now his face has turned into an elder man with a beard while the white clock has repositioned to his chest. He has a small statue of lion on his right shoulder and a small statue of bull on his left. Slowly, he disappeared into Jun's body.

"I feel… powerful…" Jun commented after receiving his new persona and turned to Tatsuya, "I feel like the time is literally in my hand!"

Jun raised his index finger to the air and circled it in anti-clockwise before he shouted, "Reverse Hourglass!"]

[[[[[[2MIN]]]]]]

[Tatsuya and Jun returned to the room, only to see another miracle. The time slowly moved backward as everyone's action was reversed. As the only two that can move freely, Tatsuya looked outside though the broken clock to see his wife slowly 'flew' back upward with Minato's body. The time continued to turned backward until it stop after roughly 2 minutes, where the time stopped exactly at the time before Maya dashed toward Shu to grab Minato's body.

"I have stopped the time for now, so we can change whatever we want according to our plan." Jun said.

"Okay." Tatsuya smiled at him as he walked towards the frozen Maya. He first lifted her body like a statue and placed her behind back at the exit door. Then he used his sword to cut Shu's arm that hold Minato's body and carried the body to a safer place and lay it carefully down on the floor. For the last act, Tatsuya and Jun summoned Apollo and Kairos Chronos, and repeatedly attacked the motionless Shu with their strongest attack. They then proceed to push Shu to the balcony until one leg was outside the balcony. After their plan was done, Jun smirked as he turned to Tatsuya, "Let the time move forward." He said as he snapped his finger.]

[[[.]]]

The time moved again like original, except that Maya tripped her leg falling to the ground jumping to nowhere. Everyone except Tatsuya and Jun became shocked and confused to see Minato is safe besides them while Shu was heavily being damaged until he himself fell from the top tower to the ground when one of his legs slipped.

"What…WHY AM I BEING DEFEATED?!" Shu screamed as he slipped and fell to his death on the ground floor, weaken by the heavy damage taken and a little push from Tatsuya and Jun until he fell during the stopped time.

"H-How did I get here?" Maya asked in confuse when she realized her 'position' has been changed and she was currently lying on the ground behind the group. Everyone turned to Maya, then to the dead Shu. Jun almost wanted to burst out laughing when he saw their expression.

"Maya?! The-The shadow is dead?! When?!" Ulala said as she thought she had just gone mad.

"Tatsuya, what happen?!" Katsuya walked towards Tatsuya and grabbed his shoulder to ask him.

"Let's leave it for now, can we…" Tatsuya said, released himself from Katsuya's hand and walked towards Maya. "Maya…"

Maya, still confused, stared at him when she saw his face became pale. "Tatsuya ah-"

"MAYA YOU IDIOT!" Tatsuya screamed with his eye wet and hugged Maya tightly, "DON'T YOU DARE DO YOU OWN THINGS LIKE THAT AGAIN! I WAS SO SCARED TO LOSE YOU, YOU UNDERSTAND?!"

Everyone became more confused than ever to see Tatsuya's reaction. Jun began to speak during that time. "Minato's body…"

They all turned to Minato's body to see he was completely fine. "I will tell you all after we escaped from here. For now, let's bring the body outside." Tatsuya said, "Now we just have to wait for his soul to return to his body."

Elizabeth

Sea of Soul

With the Evoker in her left hand, Elizabeth dashed toward the statue. "It's now or never!" Elizabeth screamed.

"NO! Yog-Sothoth, stop her!" Nyarlathotep screamed as he raced towards Elizabeth, tagged along with the weaken Erebus, only to be stop by Theodore, Margaret and Nameless who's carrying the unconscious Aigis. "You and Erebus are not going to pass." Margaret said, opening her compendium book.

As for Yog-Sothoth, he tried to attack Elizabeth with all his hand, only to have his hand sliced by Thanatos's blade. "It's time for your death!" Thanatos spoke with Ryoji's voice. Thanatos continued to attack Yog-Sothoth with his sword until he back away from the seal.

Elizabeth made her way for the final jump to reach the statue when she realized her chance was perfect. "This is it- Ahhhh!" Elizabeth yelped when she realized her right hand that was holding the Evoker was being pulled by a yellow tentacle. She turned to see Yog-Sothoth grabbing her hand while enduring Thanatos's attack. "I… TaKe YoUr…'BuTtErFlY'!"Yog-Sothoth screamed in anger as he mumbled in unknown language.

All of the sudden, a few blue butterflies began to burst out from the Evoker. Yog-Sothoth began to open his main mouth and sucked the blue butterflies like a vacuum and ate it. "Yes. Yog-Sothoth! Take it, take the 'piece' of the universe! TAKE IT ALL!" Nyarlathotep laugh in victory.

"He's trying to separate the 'butterfly' from the Wild Card!" Nameless explained Yog-Sothoth's action.

"We're trying to fight Nyarlathotep and Erebus here! Thanatos, do something!" Theodore said while he and Margaret were still holding back Nyarlathotep and Erebus.

"I will! Let her go, Yog-Sothoth!" Thanatos spoke. He began to cut every hands of Yog-Sothoth to release Elizabeth. His hand just kept on growing again and again, but refused to let go of Elizabeth's hand. Thanatos tried to cut the yellow tentacle that grabbed Elizabeth, but that tentacle was as hard as jewel.

The number of blue butterfly that were removed from the Evoker has increased. A quarter of the power of the universe has probably been eaten by Yog-Sothoth. "Must…give it… to Minato…" Elizabeth said as she struggled to release herself from Yog-Sothoth's grabbed.

Leave with no choice, Thanatos threw aside his sword and decided to forcefully loosen the grip of Yog-Sothoth with both his hand. The struggled continued as Thanatos slowly removed the yellow tentacle with all his might. As Thanatos finally loosened the grip for Elizabeth to move, he shouted, "Elizabeth, NOW!"

Finally, Elizabeth freed herself from Yog-Sothoth's grip and jumped towards the statue of Minato. With three quarter of the Universe's power still inside the Evoker, she hugged the statue with one of her arm around his neck and pointed the Evoker with her other hand at the statue's temple.

"NOOOO! STOPPP!" Nyarlathotep screamed.

"GrEaT sEaL…bReAk!" Yog-Sothoth growled.

"Go Elizabeth!" Theodore, Margaret and Nameless Mist said in unison.

"Elizabeth, do it!" Thanatos shouted.

Elizabeth turned to the statue's face and gave a smile, "Go back to your friends, Minato, and live happily with them after the prophecy ends. I'm going to miss you…"

She kissed the statue's lips. After a while, she stopped and smiled.

"Farewell, Minato, I love you…"

She pulled the trigger.

Bang!

Minato Arisato

Dark Hour – 14/11/2012(Wednesday)

"Thank you, Elizabeth." Minato Arisato(Wild Card – Initial Persona: Orpheus) said while sitting cross-legged in the white space that has completely turned into pitch black.

The blue haired Wild Card stood up, closing his grey eyes. He put his hands inside his pockets and smiled softly.

'Don't worry Eli-chan, we will definitely meet again.' He suddenly pulled his hands out of his pockets, and stood straighter than he had ever been after a long time.

Minato Arisato opened his now cobalt blue eyes, filled with brimming power.

"Now… I have return."

The Slumber of Death, Sea of Soul

Crash! The sound of glass breaking echoed through the gate.

Thou art I, I am thou…

Thou shall reestablish the power of Wild Card…

I bestow upon the power of Universe Arcana…

Naoya Toudou

The Tower of Seven Chain of Time entrance door

Naoya smiled suddenly and his smile didn't go unnoticed by his friends. "Naoya, why are you smiling?" Eriko asked.

"Nothing." Naoya grinned as he thought, 'This power, it must be him. Heh, took you long enough, 'messiah'.'

Tatsuya Suou

Gear Chamber

'Wait, what's this power?' Tatsuya thought when he felt a powerful energy when he touched Minato to carry him.

Yu Narukami

Clear Sky – Dark Hour – 14/11/2012(Wednesday) – Dojima Residence, Inaba

Still fully awake, Yu felt a sudden shiver in his body. "I feel something powerful, but what is it?"

The alternate realm of collective unconsciousness

"He finally returned…" Conquest spoke in the dark realm with Strife who didn't have to visit Marie to know what she had done as he continued. "I must say, Izanami did the right way."

Strife replied, "I shall not blame her…"

Philemon

The realm of consciousness and unconsciousness of all soul

"All man of prophecy has revealed themselves to the world." Philemon said, "It won't be long before you meet that girl, Minato Arisato."

After the sound echoed, all the moving eyes on the gate shut close and the crack on the gate began to spread. The chain that tangled Minato statue's arm has broke by itself and was being released from the Great Seal. The skin of the statue began to turn bright and slowly disappeared into a swamp of blue butterfly. Minato has finally returned to his body.

However, upon the released of Minato, the gate began to open widely as the wall of the gate starting to crumble. Behind the darkness of the gate, a figure appeared as it approached toward outside.

"All Arcana will be one and become all. May you stop the world from returning to chaos…" The figure spoke with a deep yet feminine voice. As the figure approached the outside gate, one can see she's wearing a black dress, a pair of black wing on her back and a pale woman face. She was Nyx.

"M-Mother!" Thanatos called for her as he returned to his human form. But everyone was instead shocked to see another silhouette behind Nyx.

Behind Nyx, a large pale silhouette revealed his unclear and shadowy appearance. A swamp of green and black butterflies flew out of the gate and into the endless Sea of Soul.

"It is you, the last rider of the Four Horsemen, Death!" Nyarlathotep screamed.

"No, it will not be now!" Elizabeth said as she shot herself in the temple with Minato's Evoker. She suddenly released the Evoker from her hand as a swamp of blue butterflies shrouded her entire body. In a blink of an eye, her body transformed into a statue with both her hand rested on her chest. Slowly, the statue of her sank into the opened gate and pushed both Nyx and the pale silhouette back into the gate with an invisible force and as the gate reclosed itself again without a chain. "Elizabeth…" Ryoji said with Minato's Evoker on his hand.

Ryoji smiled nonetheless, knowing that Minato has finally returned to his original body. Nameless, Margaret and Theodore smiled as well for their success. "I pray that we may meet again, Elizabeth." Margaret said sadly, looking at the broken and closed gate of former Great Seal.

"Darn you all! Yog-Sothoth, Erebus, retreats!" Nyarlathotep commanded Yog-Sothoth to escape with him along with Erebus. Finally assured that they are safe, Ryoji turned to the others. "My job here is done. I need to go back to Minato's body and give him the Evoker. See you later, and be safe." Ryoji parted away from the Velvet Room's resident and disappeared.

"I need to go as well to return this girl to her home." Nameless said while carrying Aigis in bridal style, "You two may return to the Velvet Room." He disappeared along with Aigis.

As Theodore and Margaret were the only one left, Theodore comforted Margaret. "Let's go, Margaret, don't look back." Theodore said sadly after glancing at the broken seal where Elizabeth resides with Nyx is.

Naoya Toudou

Naoya's group widened their eye when they saw Tatsuya was carrying Minato's on his back along with the others. "So you did it." Naoya said.

Tatsuya, finally noticed their presence, asked, "Wait, what are you guys doing here?"

"What am I doing here?! You've been missing for day and we were trying to save you but the door was locked!" Naoya said, annoyed.

"Locked? We're just fine." Tatsuya replied, turning to Jun and glared. 'It's Father Time's fault, isn't?' Tatsuya mumbled. 'He didn't mean it.' Jun smiled.

"WHAT?! Sh*t! My wife is going to be worried sick about me!" Eikichi said.

"Matsuya must be missing for me right now! I should be going home, but you shouldn't be worry anymore, we did it. We checked his pressure and noticed that he's breathing in a very slow rate. He's sleeping right now." Maya said, looking at the sleeping Minato and smiled.

"Let's go home, your family is waiting for you." Yukino said.

They all returned home that night after a tired battle at the tower. It is decided that Minato will stay at Lisa's house that night. After a rest at his house, Tatsuya told Maya about her fell to her death but she was saved by Jun's new persona. Maya find it hard to believe at first, but then again, her husband has no reason to make up story about it.

Meanwhile, at Tatsumi Port Island…

Aigis

Clear Sky – After Midnight – 15/11/2012(Thursday) – Iwatodai New Dorm, Tatsumi Port Island

As the Dark Hour ended, the Shadow Operative who waited patiently for Aigis to return change their attention to the exit door when they heard someone opened it. Everyone became shocked to see Nameless carrying the unconscious Aigis into the lounge. "Aigis!" Everyone called for her.

"Don't worry, I have treated her injuries. She is just unconscious and tired, that is all." Nameless explained, walking to the main lounge and put Aigis on the long sofa before turning to the others, "I am a former resident of Velvet Room before Elizabeth, Margaret and Theodore. All of them were fine as well."

"…How's Minato?" Yukari asked Nameless. Everyone leaned closer to him to hear his answer. Nameless gave a warm smile and said, "Minato Arisato has successfully returned."

Everyone's heavy expression has drastically changed to smile of satisfaction and joy. "You serious? No joke?" Junpei wanted to reconfirm. Nameless nodded.

A small party began to happen that night at the lounge. Labrys, despite knowing nothing of Minato, joined the celebration as well. Yukari dropped herself to the ground in extreme joy until her tears flew down her cheeks. It was the first time as well that everyone saw Mitsuru's grinned despite being serious almost all the time.

"Where is he now?" Mitsuru asked in concern.

"He is currently resting himself at Sumaru City where Tatsuya Suou, the 'sun' resides." Nameless answered, as he began to walk back to the exit door, "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to return. I wish you all the best of luck on the day of prophecy." Nameless closed the door behind him.

"We can finally meet Minato again." Fuuka said.

"Mitsuru-san, there's better be sushi for our welcome party!" Junpei suggested.

"As you wish, Iori. I will contact the others from Inaba to tell them about our news." Mitsuru said smiling. She slowly mumbled to herself, "Welcome back…Minato…"

A/N: FINALLY, MINATO IS BACK! I'm trembling in excitement as I writing this chapter! Ok, now you know who 'Nuclear Chaos' is. He is Azathoth, Nyarlathotep's father as well as the ancestor of all gods in Cthulhu mythology. How was Kairos Chronos as Jun's new persona? Trust me when I say Father Time is going to be a very important in future chapter. And again, Minato is back! With his Wild Card! Okay, okay, that's enough excitement.

Sad news though, there's one important thing I need to tell my reader. From now on, my update will be EVEN SLOWER because of my sudden change of routine, and I probably update once a month or maybe longer. Really sorry! I promised I will finish this story, but I will need some time.