Gathering Arc:
Chapter 21: First Step
Four Man of Prophecy
Clear Sky – Dark Hour – 16/11/2012(Friday) – Stairway of Underworld, Tatsumi Port Island
All Persona Users VS Yog-Sothoth
"Go to hell, Yog-Sothoth!" Tatsuya screamed as Yog-Sothoth roared madly while Nyarlathotep disappeared into thin air, escaping from battle.
Lurker Door-Yog-Sothoth launched the first move by sending thousands of arrows from his circle of magic to the team. It was almost impossible to dodge those arrows that were moving extremely fast.
"Too easy." Jun however, commented.
[[[[[[0]]]]]]
[Jun summoned Kairos Chronos and froze the time, stopping all the arrows from reaching the team, at the same time commanded the team who were given the immunity to the time stoppage with a smile. "Your turn, everyone."
"Verdandi!"
"Durga!"
"Gabriel!"
"Tyr!"
"Mot!"
"Artemis!"
"Hyperion!"
"Astria!"
"Prometheus!"
"Venus!"
"Hades!"
"Athena!"
"Ariadne!"
"Artemisia!"
"Caesar!"
"Trismegistus!"
"Kala-Nemi!"
Cerberus-"Woof!"
"Susanoo!"
"Suzuka-Gongen!"
"Amaterasu!"
"Rokuten Maoh!"
"Kamui!"
"Yamato-Takeru!"
"Juno!"
"Kanzeon!"
It's like an all-out battle of persona, finished by the last four leaders.
"Vishnu!"
"Apollo!"
"Orpheus Telos!"
"Lucifer!"
About 30 personas went straight for the arrows and crushed it with multiple fusion attacks. Yog-Sothoth, immune to the time stop, charged his own time power and canceled Kairos Chronos's skill.]
[[[.]]]
"Everyone listen, he can absorb all kind of elemental skill and use it to regenerate his HP!" Fuuka explained.
"His power is extraordinary! Physical attack won't give him much damage either! He's immortal!" Rise added.
"We got 30 people here, even the smallest damage is still crucial!" Naoya argued. "Alright, here's the deal. Don't use elemental skill, just keep attacking him head on!"
"Easier said than done!" Some of the party members shouted back, which startled him.
All personas began to dash towards Yog-Sothoth at different speed and weapon. Yamato-Takeru and Trismegistus were the first to land a hit on the sphere shadow before a strange thing happen.
Yog-Sothoth suddenly disappeared in front of the marching personas, causing all personas to slam each other, unable to stop on time. The shadow reappeared again behind the group. Maki was the one who detected him.
"Everyone, behind you!" Maki screamed. By the time everyone turned around, Yog-Sothoth was already charging his second skill.
Beyond One- Yog-Sothoth opened all his 'mouth' and gave a loud high pitch. The surrounding began to change like a slime liquid while the persona users were down on their knees covering their ears.
"What's happening?! Is it an illusion?!" Yu said, forcing himself to look around.
"It's not!" Jun suddenly said, "It's a time-space destruction."
As the roar stopped and everyone recovered from the pitch, they were shocked to see the entire ground inside the school was 'lifted' in zero gravity state high to the air. A moment later, a crack began to form on the lifted ground and soon everyone was separated into small groups.
"This monster is as strong as Nyarlathotep!" Reiji commented in the group of Yu, Yukino, Maki, Ken and Lisa.
"Yu-Senpai!" Rise shouted from the group of Mitsuru, Katsuya, Kanji, Eriko and Hidehiko.
"Jun, think of something!" Eikichi said, Minato, Junpei, Yukiko, Ulala and Chie surrounding him.
"Hold it, he's taking his time!" Tatsuya responded in front of Jun, Naoto, Fuuka, Baofu, and Teddie.
"We got no time! Just attack!" Naoya shouted, the rest of the team with him.
"We are above ground right now. We could fall any moment if we do anything reckless!" Mitsuru disagreed.
"…Guys, you talk too much." Minato pointed his finger towards Yog-Sothoth's last seen place. "He's gone."
The shadow disappeared, leaving the party in panic. Another attack might come soon. They began to search for the shadow all direction.
"Wait, I sense a strong energy from… all direction!" Fuuka and Rise said in unison, only to receive another surprise.
The entire group's vision began to blur, heads begin to hurt and their HP and SP were slowly drained. Then, their body became heavy, as if they were being pushed to the ground by atmosphere. This continued with a scar and bruise suddenly began to form on some members of the team by an unknown force, forcing the summoned persona to turn half transparent by the damage from the attack.
"It's like we're inside his field of attack, where he can absorb all our energy from up here!" Fuuka said.
"Dammit! Amon-Ra: Hieroglyphein!" Naoya had finally lost his patience when he switched persona and enlightened the air with bright light. As the light dimmed back, Yog-Sothoth was now in presence a few inches behind Maki.
"Lucifer, go!" Yu ordered Lucifer to deal a heavy punch right above Yog-Sothoth's main mouth. A few second afterward, the entire surface floor finally dropped back to the ground by force. Some of them were heavily injured by the fall, but Minato knew just what to do.
"Victory Cry!" Orpheus Telos restored all HP and SP of all party members. They began to recover their stance as Yog-Sothoth began to mumble an unknown language as the two rings that circling him began to duplicate and covered his entire body with over hundreds of rings.
"Everyone, step back." Jun suddenly step forwards approaching the highly floated Yog-Sothoth with strong aura within his body, "It's time versus time." He summoned Kairos Chronos and closed his eye, as if waiting for something.
All in One : One in All-
"Endless Clock!"
[[[[[[0]]]]]]
[Both Kairos Chronos and Yog-Sothoth released an extremely powerful burst of energy wave, freezing the destroyed building in the island halfway from being completely destroyed while none of Jun's party members were now immune to the time stoppage.
Jun was able to feel it; the entire ground itself began to move upwards. The entire island was completely lifted by the collision of two time-space god. The Moonlight bridge and monorail tracks were destroyed as the entire island began to float high to the sky, while the huge staircase began to change its position. Not wanting to waste any time, Jun took out a single red rose from his shirt pocket and placed it right on his lips.
"No matter how powerful you are, you are nothing without the universe, nor can you defeat me. Return the 'universe' to Arisato before I force it out from you."
"tHiS uNiVeRsE… fOr tHe SaCriFiCe… DeAtH!" In instant, Yog-Sothoth gave a scream loud enough to be heard outside the island. The island began to slowly fell downward with an invisible force.
"Trying to sink this island, are you? Don't underestimate the power of the god of time." And Jun gently blew the red rose from his hand. The petals were blown and they glowed and continued to be carried by the wind to all over the island. Slowly, he walked towards the 'frozen' Minato and patted his shoulder, disabling the time stoppage on him.
"Hmmm?" Minato looked confused at the moment when he looked at Jun then his friends.
"You and I were the only one in motion right now. Do you mind helping me recover your universe power?" Jun pointed to Yog-Sothoth.
"Oh, alright." Minato simply agreed, though in his blue eye was filled with determination. Smiling, Jun turned to Yog-Sothoth and snapped his finger. "Go!"
In a blink of an eye, the entire Tatsumi Port Island and the sky was flooded with countless red rose petals, shocking Minato as the petals flew past him and circling Yog-Sothoth's body. Seconds later, Kairos Chronos put his hand on both the statue of bull and lion on both his shoulder before a powerful energy ball appeared on both his hand. Kairos Chronos merged together the two energy ball and blasted it at Yog-Sothoth.
The endless petals were forcing Yog-Sothoth to open all his mouths while he struggled to push away the petals. The energy blast from Kairos Chronos was entering inside Yog-Sothoth through his mouth. He began to roar in pain and his mouth was opened wide.
A swamp of blue butterflies burst out from Yog-Sothoth's mouth. Minato smirked and pointed his Evoker to his temple, before whispering.
"Messiah."
He changed his persona to Messiah and slowly raised his index finger towards the swamp of blue butterflies. At the same time, Messiah raised both his arm to the air before his body began to glow in blue light.
The swamp of blue butterflies flew towards Messiah and slowly entered his body before it covering his entire body. Minato suddenly smirked and said, "It's done."
All the blue butterflies were absorbed into Messiah's body before disappearing into thin air. Simultaneously, the time…]
[[[.]]]
…returned to its original state, where every party member except Jun and Minato fell to the ground by the strong cancelation effect. Yog-Sothoth was left in a paralyze state because of the after effect of Kairos Chronos's power.
"…What did we just miss?" Tatsuya glared at Jun, knowing that Father Time was at fault.
"Well, the island is in mid-air, the universe's power returned to Arisato and now the shadow is completely open. Finish him and everything will return to the way it is. Can I have a rest now?" Jun explained in a single breath while pointing towards the 'frozen' Yog-Sothoth before sitting on the floor.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Naoya smirked without a second thought, "IT'S AN ALL OUT ATTACK!"
Stuttering for a moment, everyone summoned their persona and began to charge towards Yog-Sothoth. Punch after punch, slash after slash, added with multiple sword played attack with a few gun shots. Yog-Sothoth was not able to absorb all the physical damage, and his HP slowly reached zero.
With a few moment left before he was completely defeated, Yog-Sothoth used his gigantic body as his final resort to fall to the ground. Jun, cross-sitting, quickly stood straight and warned the team. "Ops, his weight can sink the island, someone better stop him."
"Instead of talking like a boss, how about you help us again?" Naoya complained.
A second too late, Yog-Sothoth crashed to the school ground, causing the entire island to shake. One could felt the ground was descending downward fast, panic entered everyone's mind.
"Don't panic!" Yu spoke, commanded Izanagi to lift Yog-Sothoth's body. Not succeeding, Apollo and Orpheus Telos came helped but still failed.
"Lend them a hand!" Maya said as Artemis helped, joined with Amon-Ra. Yog-Sothoth was actually extremely heavy for an unknown reason, Naoya remarked. Shortly after, everyone joined to lift the gigantic shadow.
"Woah, this shadow is heavy!" Junpei commented.
"If we let go, this island will sink! We must finish him in mid-air!" Aigis said.
"Hold him still." Minato said, his body began to emit strong energy as if charging something. But he only held a few moments, as he was quickly on his knees due to the stamina loss. "I… just need to finish him…"
"Here." Yu approached Minato and lend out his hand, "We'll finish him together."
"…Yeah." Minato took his hand. Yu and Minato's body began to glow as they stood straight facing Yog-Sothoth.
"You ready?"
"After you. *chuckle*"
Evoker and Wild Card in their hands, they both screamed in unison, "Satan+Lucifer= Armageddon!"
Yu and Minato burst out an extremely powerful energy wave that went straight to Yog-Sothoth. All other personas disappeared on sight and the other party members took cover from the powerful wave. The skill was so strong that it sent vibration to the skin and lifted their hair. No one was able to see what was happening to Yog-Sothoth, but as the brightness dispersed, Yog-Sothoth was not on sight while Yu and Minato were down on their knees, breathing heavily.
"So…" Naoya spoke, "That's it-"
The island suddenly went down the sea. Everyone fell back to the ground. Yosuke even sprained his ankle while Aigis was covering Yukari's unconscious body. But after everyone got on their feet, everything suddenly turned quite. The battle ended well for them.
"Hey, we did it!" Hidehiko was always one of the first to cheer despite falling face first during the crash.
"No, not yet." Tatsuya's face turned dark when he looked towards the giant staircase. Everyone turned to see Nyarlathotep was back in presence. However instead of anger, he laughed and congratulated the persona users.
"Splendid, my persona users! With this victory, I am one step closer to my plan."
"Wait, what do you mean?!" Tatsuya screamed.
"Hold it, Tatsu-kun, he's not finished." Naoya interrupted.
"Using my niece as 'bait' was a plan all along to bring all four heroes here in the first place. Your gathering is the main reason behind all the towers rise for the Horsemen to ascend to this world. You just fulfilled the prophecy."
Everyone looked at each other in mixed feeling. If they didn't reunited, the 'towers' would never been there. But then again, Yukari was safe right now by Aigis's side, so it was still worth it.
"Fulfilling the prophecy or not will be decided on the last Friday, so don't talk big with that ugly mouth of yours." Naoya countered which Nyarlathotep laughed.
"Until we meet again, hahahaha!" Nyarlathotep disappeared into a puff of black dust, leaving the team of persona users once again in silence.
"One more thing." Jun placed his right palm on the ground and closed his eyes. A burst of white petals suddenly flowed around the entire island. "Just need to 'reset' the island back to the way it is and we'll be good."
The monorail tracks and bridge were connected back to the way it was. Everyone finally took a deep breath of relieve and rest. Some of them that injured were treated with healing skill, Mitsuru was seen talking to Katsuya and Baofu, the Investigation Team were talking to their leader while Minato and Fuuka were seen sitting beside Yukari.
"How is she?" Minato asked Fuuka as she placed her hand on Yukari's forehead.
"I'm sorry, I don't know." The teal haired girl lowered her head in defeat. Seeing her worried face, Minato placed his hand on her shoulder and smile.
"You've done great, that's enough. We can check on her when we get back to the dorm, so don't worry okay?"
Blushing slightly, Fuuka nodded shyly and decided to talk to Mitsuru. Minato rolled up his sleeve and slowly carried Yukari in bridal style and walked toward the rest of Shadow Operative. "We need to get home now, Dark Hour is almost ending."
"Wait, what about our city? Did Yog-Sothoth still in control of that city?" Eikichi asked.
"Don't worry, from my tower, I know that the city is now in its proper position. By tomorrow morning, everyone will forget about Sumaru City being lifted at all." Jun explained with a smirk.
"You, who the hell are you? You're seriously strong, you know that?" Akihiko commented, the others turned to Jun in questioning gaze.
"It wasn't me, it was my persona." Jun answered. Everyone raised their eyebrows in curiosity.
"Now, now, we done it for tonight, so let's go back to our city, what do you think?" Lisa interrupted, which everyone nodded in agreement.
And after a few moments left, the Dark Hour ended…
After Midnight – 17/11/2012(Saturday) – Alternate realm of unconsciousness
"Are you satisfied, Conquest?" Strife asked.
"You mean, am I being impatient? I do not."
"Have you completed your requirement?"
"The 'vessel' is mine from the start, the sacrifice will be fulfilled soon. I am rather concerned for Death."
"You have my blessing from this side."
"I don't need it. Moreover, my 'Friday' will be the first to arrive. You have my blessing instead for Izanami and Izanagi. Now all that is left is to wait."
Clear Sky - After Midnight – 17/11/2012(Saturday) – Nanjo Mansion, Mikage-Cho
After an hour of sandstorm outside his window, the sky finally became clear again as the Dark Hour ended. Shortly after, Nanjo's phone rang with a call from Eriko.
"Eriko, are you alright? I heard news about Sumaru City. Tell me what happen."
"Lots of things happen, Nanjo-san. Arisato is safe back at Port Island. Then there's this shadow that supposedly lifted Sumaru City and we defeated them. And, and-"
"Stop, I think you can leave it later. I need to speak with you about Toudou."
"Naoya? What happen?"
"Look, I need you here at Mikage-Cho as soon as you can. Something he said to me before made me more suspicious of him. How fast will you be here?"
"Ummm… I'm not sure. I mean with all this stuff with the city and all, I need a rest. Maybe 2 more days?"
"Alright, we talk again tomorrow. Keep me up with the news." Nanjo switched off his phone and gave out a big sigh.
Minato Arisato
Iwatodai New Dorm, Tatsumi Port Island
Mitsuru opened the door and showed Minato the new room for him to stay. It was quite clean and the room was slightly bigger than his previous room. The curtain was blue, there's a desk and wardrobe, completed with a bed for him to rest.
"This will be your room now, and here are your old clothes with your mp3 player inside. I've kept it safe in my room, waiting for you." Mitsuru lent out a baggage pack with everything he had before his dead.
"Thank you Mitsuru, but why did you keep my clothes in…your room?" Minato asked with a small smirk.
"…" Minato could notice Mitsuru's face turned red by his question, which he choose to leave it unanswered.
"That's alright. Oh…how's Yukari?" Minato asked again.
"She's alright." Aigis was the one who answered it as she approached them from Yukari's room. "Fuuka said she found a mark made by an injection on her arm. It could be a special drug like those Takaya once had, but it's not that serious."
"That's a relief, thank you Aigis, thank you Mitsuru." Minato smiled, "Thank you everyone."
Without hesitating, Aigis hugged Minato tightly while Mitsuru watched with a smile. Minato closed his eyes and hugged her back. "I need to rest for today, introduce me to your sister properly tomorrow." Minato said.
"I'm sorry, I know you're tired." Aigis replied.
"Please don't." Minato slowly walked into his room before suddenly turning to Aigis and Mitsuru. "I want to ask something, if I may. Do you know any girl with auburn-hair who is around the same age as us? Or rather, a girl that might be close to us?"
Mitsuru narrowed her eyes, thinking deeply while Aigis did the same. "What kind of girl is she?" Aigis asked.
"…I don't know her name, but she went to Gekkoukan High school with us, has a hair pin that formed numeral number 'XXII', has a same mp3 player brand like mine, her hair is tied in a high pony tail, and… crimson red eyes. Ah, and she knew Shinji."
They looked even more puzzled than before, and before they could ask, he waved his hand dismissively. "…Forget it, it's not that important. Good night, Aigis, Mitsuru."
Still confused, they nodded and Minato closed the door behind him. Aigis tuned to Mitsuru and asked. "Is there such a person in our school?"
"I'm sure I don't recall anyone besides Arisato to bring mp3 player to our school. But I don't think he made it up."
"Minato will never lie in such thing, not when involved Shinjiro." Aigis said but decreased her volume on the next sentence, "But his heartbeat did suddenly increase when he mention about her. What does that mean?"
On the other side of the door, Minato carefully eavesdropped to their conversation before slowly walking to his wardrobe. Minato undressed and find any shirt in his wardrobe that he might wear since all of his old clothes won't fit. It seems that Mitsuru had prepared a spare blanket for him. He landed his body on his bed facing the ceiling in deep thought.
'My heart skips a beat, huh…'Minato mused under his breath, 'Well, she is beautiful. But why do I felt… so close to her?'
A/N: What a hard chapter for me to make, and I'm sorry for the late update. Next chapter will separate two arcs from this one. Hope you enjoy it so far.