Author's Note: Had this one pre-written before I posted the previous chapter
Birth of the New Potential
"Were you two close?"
"No. We never spoke and I don't believe our parents were particularly close either, family only in blood" Ajuka Beelzebub, chief advisor of Devil's technology department and one of the four rulers of Devils, answered Sirzechs question as they look over the information they had regarding Diodora Astaroth.
Which was frustratingly very little, no physical evidence could be found and any who could have seen anything weren't speaking. Sirzechs looked at the collection of Diodora's connections to the Old Satan Faction and his personal activities, seeing what the Astaroth heir had done in the past left a sour taste in his mouth and the things he had planned for Rias's new Bishop Asia angered Sirzechs. While a part of him wanted him to admit the rage was because of what he planned to do to Asia and what Diodora had done to other nuns like her, Sirzechs knew himself well enough that his anger came mostly from how it would have affect his sister.
"Even examining the body itself, I'm still not sure how this happened" Ajuka stepped back from Diodora's monstrous form, it's face frozen in an expression of despair and pain that was haunting to look at. Sirzechs looked over the corpse of Diodora and turned to Ajuka with a question Sirzechs was finding difficult to ask "I'll be able to revert the body back to how it was, mostly, in a day or two. You can assure Lord and Lady Astaroth that they can have the planned funeral, though send my condolences as I won't be able to attend personally"
Sirzechs nodded, thankful for not having to ask when Diodora's parents would be able to get their son's body, though that wasn't the question he wanted to ask "How similar is this to the transformation Stray Devils undergo?"
The transformations Stray Devils undergo was something of a sore spot for Ajuka, a critical flaw in the Evil Piece system he had been working to patch for centuries since the conception of the system. While Ajuka was able to prevent unwanted transformations a Devil revolting against their King would undo the patch and only escalate the issues further, and to rub salt in the wound certain Devils would use such things for their own personal gain.
Disposing of unwanted members of their peerages or as an excuse for whatever they truly wanted, assassination, blackmail, dubious research, whatever a Devil Noble could get in trouble for they could use a Peerage member as a scapegoat. While they had been able to crack down on such behavior they hadn't been able to stop it completely.
Ajuka closed his eyes and sighed "While I believed it at first, this isn't Evil Piece mutation. While Diodora gained a monstrous form it wasn't random like it it with Stray Devils, in fact the transformation seems to have traits connected with the Astaroth Clan Progenitor" Ajuka turned to Sirzechs, wanting to change the conversation to something other than the idea of a Devil Heir somehow turning into what Devils once were "How are things on your end?"
"Not much better" Sirzechs answered as he and Ajuka left the lab they were in and made there way to a dinning room to take a break "We've been investigating the staff on the premises at the time, but either having nothing to say or are unable to say anything"
Ajuka paused mid-step turning to Sirzechs "What do you mean unable to say anything?"
[1] "I mean those who want to say something are compelled not to and those able to fight that compulsion have their own bodies turn against them" Sirzechs answered as the memories of Devils covering their mouths, clenching their teeth and biting their tongues to prevent themselves from talking came to the forefront of his mind, especially a particular maid whose own vocal cords twisted to stop her from speaking "We have recordings of the interviews in question, I'll send them over with one of our more secure methods"
Ajuka's shoulder slumped at the news "Well, I suppose witness testimony is a bust then"
"Not entirely, we have been able to learn something from one butler" Sirzechs turned to Ajuka with a sour look "He's a fanatical supporter of the Old Satan Faction, and the smugness off him is palpable"
"That doesn't sound out of the ordinary" Ajuka said just as they neared the dinning room.
Sirzechs gave his friend a grim look "No, but willingly shoving their own hand into a Power of Destruction sphere is. I conjured it to remind him of the position he was in and without hesitation he shove it in, I dismissed at fast as I could but by then his forearm was gone completely" Sirzechs thought back to the Old Satan fanatic, how even after losing half an arm still looked at Sirzechs with the same smug look "Whatever happened there, it's enough to embolden members of the Old Satan Faction into a self destructive ferver. We have them somewhere safe, sadly that's only a temporary solution until we find out what really happened"
The air around the two grew heavy, their thoughts drifting to possibility of another Devil Civil War. While their government was stable both Devils had lived long enough to see how stable governments could easily fall due to unrest, especially something that could cause Old Satan members to act in such a manner, the two shared a look agreeing that they had to prevent such an outcome at all costs.
"We'll need to inform Serafell and Falbium as soon as possible" Ajuka took a notebook filled with dates in them "We're meant to meet in a weeks time for our annual meeting, but I think we should be able to push it up to sooner"
Sirzechs nodded, hoping nothing else that would happen to upset things.
Meanwhile, at the Arisato Residence.
Ophis had sent some of her snakes to follow Minato and the others when they went looking for Chloe, partly to warn of them anyone in particular getting close to running into them during their search and to cover their tracks if needed.
Through her snakes Ophis saw Katina awaken to what she thought was a Sacred Gear, though Minato's and his Personas reaction told her it was something else. Ophis had her snakes keep watch as they made their way back, having Minato and the former nuns to wait for two minutes to avoid running into the current Red Dragon Emperor, when they came back Ophis stepped aside and let things play out with minimal interference on her part.
Ophis watched as Minato began preparing his explanation to the former nuns what Persona was, listening intently to take in any new information Minato hadn't yet told her about. She had asked him after they met, however his own admission of not being an expert regarding the Persona power and not wishing to be too obvious in her learning more about his power to use against Great Red stopped her from learning more.
Ophis glanced at Katina for a moment before turning her attention back to the blackboard Minato had set up, Ophis wasn't sure what Katina had awakened to earlier in the night and would have just called it a Sacred Gear and left it at that. However, Minato's and his Personas reactions and insistence of it being something akin to the Power of Persona made Ophis rethink things.
'As far as I know, I'm the only one in this world with Persona' Ophis thought back to Minato's words, saying that no one else had the Power of Persona in this world since it came from his own. Only now with what happened in the last few hours did Ophis consider something else, though it was too early to say for certain.
Standing in front of a blackboard Minato gave it a considerate look as the former nuns looked on "Everyone comfortable? This is going to take a while" Minato asked.
Receiving a nod from everyone Minato turned around and began writing on the board 'Persona 101' "Before we can talk about Personas we need to talk about their counterparts, Shadows" Minato drew a slime creature with outstretched arms and a face "Shadows are the aspects of oneself they suppress or reject, forced out of one's conscious state and into one's personal subconscious"
"So, their the bad things people keep bottled up?" Tanya asked softly.
"Not quite, a person's Shadow self is not always made up of negative traits. Though it's an understandable mistake, and may be due to mixing up Carl Jung's Shadow with Sigmund Freud's Id" Minato wrote down both Shadow and Id on the board with a line going down between them "The Id is the primal, animalistic and Instinctual aspects of a person whereas a Shadow is everything that one suppresses about themselves. Such as a person who sees themselves as strong hides away any gentleness, someone suppressing their anger all the time or someone having to suppress their own kindness to achieve a goal" pausing for a moment Minato turned around and showed his open hand to everyone "An overly simplied way to look at it is that all Ids are Shadows but not all Shadows are Ids, like how all thumbs are fingers but not all fingers are thumbs"
"Okay, but how are these Shadows connected to Personas?" Katina summoned one of her shields and held it up for everyone to get a look "Just, where did these things come from?"
Ophis sighed "He's talking about Shadows because they are Personas, albeit one's not tamed by an ego" Ophis turned to Katina just as the former nun turned to her "I asked Minato about them several months back"
Minato nodded "Thank you, Ophis" turning back to the board Minato drew a stick figure above the Shadow before drawing a mask above the stick figure "When someone holds a firm grasp on who they are as a person, acknowledging and accepting their Shadow it becomes a Persona that will help them overcome whatever obstacles appear in their life"
Katina looked at her shield with a frown "Okay, so I know myself well enough to get some kind of power but why is it appearing now?"
"That's a far more difficult a question to answer" Minato admitted, hiding a wince as he did so "While a firm grasp on one's Self is fundamental the actual trigger for awakening varies, it could self preservation, the summoning of other Personas, embracing the parts of yourself outside influences have forced you to hide, strong desire or facing your own mortality" for a moment Minato thought back to the first full moon and the battle against the Magician Moon Shadow.
"Sort of like a Sacred Gear" Chloe commented, speaking her thoughts out loud.
Katina looked down at her shield arm, her hand clenching into a fist "Back at the church, I made a promise myself" Katina closed her eyes as she brought her fist to her chest "After that these things appeared and, wait a minute" Katina opened her eyes as she remembered something "Something happened right before that, it was like a thought or a feeling. I can't really describe it well at the minute, but something echoed in my mind"
"I am thou, thou art I" Minato said, Katina whipping her head to look at Minato "It's pretty standard for Persona awakenings, it's your Shadow, the 'other' you, giving you a heads up on what's happening"
Katina frowned "I just heard I am thou, I never heard Thou Art I. Does that mean anything?"
Minato hung his head and sighed "I don't know. This world is different from my own and I'm still figuring out what exactly is different, I didn't even think Persona Powers could be here" Minato rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration "It's impossible for you to miss the latter half, meaning Personas are different here or you haven't fully awakened yet. I don't even think there was such a thing as a partial awakening"
"...What?" Minato turned around and saw everyone giving him a blank look, Chloe slowly raised her hand "I'm sorry, I think I misheard you. Because I thought you said you were from a different world"
Taking a deep breath Minato nodded "That's right. The truth is I, and the Power of Persona, are from a different world. How I came to this one I did not know, all I can say is that I woke up in this one several months ago and met up with Ophis some time after"
[2] "...Are you going to probe us, Mr Alien?" Andree asked aloud, a cheeky grin on her face.
Minato stopped dead in his tracks as he turned to the former Pawn "I, uh, what? What do you mean probe?"
"You know, probe us for information. That's what aliens do, especially up the butt" Andree continued.
Minato frowned "What could I learn from someone one's butt?"
"A lot" the former Peerage of Diodora Astaroth said in perfect unison as Minato did his best to ignore the whispers of Personas telling him what he could learn from someone's butt and what to search for.
"I'm not joking here, I am actually from another world. One beyond the Dimensioanl Gap" Minato repeated himself to make sure everyone understood he was serious about the whole thing.
The former Peerage looked among themselves for a minute, looking at each other to see what they made of what Minato had just revealed to them. As they turned to look at Minato again Katina frowned "Yeah, that joke was not very funny. I understand wanting to lighten things up but I'd rather just continue with the lesson and leave the jokes for after class, maybe something other than joking about something I'm really concerned about at the minute"
Katina looked Minato in the eyes to hit home about how she felt about the situation, but as she did Katina saw no humour or amusement in Minato's expression, seeing the look in his eyes Katina asked "Wait, are you being serious?"
Minato nodded "Yes, as impossible as it all sounds, I am actually from another world. With what information I have been able to learn about this world from Ophis the best way I can describe where I come is from beyond the Dimensional Gap" tilting his head in thought, Minato considering the words his used to describe his situation "Though I suppose calling it another reality would be a more apt way of putting it"
Gabriel turned to Katherine beside him and mouthed the words 'Is he insane?'
"I'm sorry, but I can't believe something as outlandish as that" Regula said as she crossed her arms "There's a lot of odd things in the word, and aliens coming to it for undisclosed reasons is too much"
"I believe you" Ophis said, her response gaining everyone's attention as they looked at her with varying expressions..
Katina frowned, giving Ophis a questioning look "Do you seriously believe he came from somewhere beyond the Dimensional Gap? And if you do then why do you believe such an impossible, downright insane, idea where they could be more rational answers?"
Ophis turned to with her response, however as she did a stray memory came to the forefront of her mind leaving her with a surprised look "Huh"
Katina looked unsure at Ophis's response "What?"
"It's nothing, just that those words are similar to the ones others used when I first made myself known to the beings of this world" Ophis answered, her mind drifting back to the early days searching for means to defeat Great Red to reclaim the Dimensional Gap when the initial meeting between Ophis and Great Red proved brute force would be ineffective.
Those Ophis met either flat out called her a liar for saying she came from the Dimensional Gap and insisted that she was someone else, proclaiming her delusional, ignored her entirely or even attacked her without warning.
Those that attacked Ophis were the first to learn of the power of the Infinite Dragon God, word of her power spread throughout the world in hushed whispers leading to none questioning her origins. Ophis was confident there were many in the world who disbelieved her origins in private, though what they believed mattered little to her in the end.
"Oh. Wait, since Ophis is from the Dimensional Gap does that make her an alien?" Ionna asked as she looked around the others for answers, all the while images of Ophis as a stereotypical alien floated around the minds of those in the former peerage with Minato joining alongside Ophis with UFOs in the sky.
"I mean, I don't think so" Sofia furrowed her brow as she considered the idea "The Dimensional Gap is a part of our world, if admittedly barely, saying Ophis is an alien because of that would be like calling Angels and Devils aliens as well"
Davina tilted her head as she thought about what Sofia had just suggested "I mean, you could argue for it. Same with those who come from other realms"
Katina clapped her hands to gain the attention of the others "Discussion on the alienhood of beings later, Ophis still hasn't given us an answer"
"It's simple really, he outright stated that the idea of him being from another world sounds impossible" Ophis said, giving her reasons for why she believed Minato when he said he was from another world "In the months I have lived with him he had never so much as suggested the idea he was from another world"
"I'm aware of how crazy the whole thing sounds, if I hadn't lived through it I would have found it hard to believe myself, no sane soul would believe such a thing so I kept quiet about it" Minato added, giving extra weight to Ophis's words.
"I believe the only reason he even revealed this fact is due to you awakening to a power alien to this world. A power unlike anything I have seen in this world" Ophis met the gaze of the former peerage and knew the question they all shared but didn't wish to ask "My research into the powers of this world has been thorough, I can assure you"
"Thank you, Ophis" Minato said with a relieved smiled aimed towards Ophis, receiving a small smile and nod from Ophis in return, before turning to the others with a more neutral expression "I know this sounds ludicrous to hear, but I swear to you it's the truth"
Katina was silent as she looked at Minato, after a minute of trying to find anything that would hint to Minato being dishonest with them, Katina closed her eyes "If this happened several hours ago I would have called the loony bin on you, but things are different. We are under contract, so I'll humour you for the time being even though I don't fully believe this whole from another world thing"
Katina looked to the board and examined the drawings on it "Okay, you need a firm grasp on who you are as a person to use Personas with an untamed Persona being a Shadow. But what can they do exactly?"
Turning back to the board Minato made more drawings to help convey the information "Personas differ greatly from person to person, while nothing is set in stone there are some general aspects we can categorize with them. That being said, gaining intuitively knowledge on how to use the Persona and weapons is a common element along with increased physical and mental abilities" Minato drew an arrow from the Mask to the stick figure with the words [knowledge/skills] written beside it before turning to fully face everyone "The knowledge on weapons is based mostly on the individual, everyone having a fighting style they prefer over others"
Minato summoned several weapons to show everyone, going through the motions of using the weapons themselves to emphasize his point "You could learn to wield several different weapons or attain greater mastery in one augmented to better suit you, like wielding a great sword with a form similar to a baseball player"
"So, I'm a master at using a shield now? Katina asked as she re-summoned her shields again.
Minato shook his head "Kind of, it depends on your Persona in question. The level of skill is usually around someone familiar with the item and how to use it properly, not instant mastery but you could reasonably hold your own in a fight. That and normally you don't get weapons during the awakening, so unless you can improvise something you can't make use of that newly gained skill"
Katina nodded as she thought about ways to train with her new shields, she had been considering getting a shield to offer her some defense when battling with her flame swords.
[3] "Another thing to keep in mind about Personas is your Arcana which helps define your Personas strengths and weaknesses, they aren't fixed by any means as when you grow and change as a person so too does your Arcana change" on the board Minato drew a rectangle with the Roman numerals for one and twenty written inside it "People tend to have one main Arcana ranging from the Magician Major Arcana to the Judgement Major Arcana along with several sub Arcana as one Tarot card could not describe a person's entire being, sub Arcana tend to change more easily compared with their main or prime Arcana" Minato drew three rectangles beneath the first with a five written on the side.
"While the number of prime Arcana are usually fixed to one sub Arcana can have anywhere from two to five different sub arcana at the same time, which can be made up of the minor arcana suits of sword, chalice, pentacles and wands and alternative Arcana" on one side of the three rectangles Minato drew minimalistic drawings of a sword, chalice, wand and coin with Judgment written with it's Roman numeral with an equal sign connecting it to Aeon with the same Roman numeral.
[4] Ophis listened intently to how Minato described Personas, going over different Arcana, specializations, Skills, how to strengthen one's Persona, the aspects of oneself affecting their Persona and what forms Personas could take. How it was possible for someone to have a particular power beyond the standard Persona, though he only knew about his Wild Card power of wielding multiple Personas and another user's who granted her the ability to imbue life force into others.
Ophis had already seen enough of Minato's power to speculate on what Personas could do, but having Minato confirming much of what she expected and revealing even more made Ophis positively giddy.
"And with that, that's all I know about Personas" Minato said, looking over the jumble mess of the a board he had created and was thankful legible "Any further questions?"
Chloe raised her hand "I'm not sure if I missed it somewhere, but where do Personas come from?" as Chloe asked her question she quickly pointed to the drawing of the stick figure, shadow blob and mask "I know Shadows become Personas, what I'm asking is where did they come from. Who created the Persona power, Sacred Gears originate from God of the Bible and Devil's Imagination Magic originated from the original Lucifer, do you know who gave out Personas?"
[5] "No one created and gave out Persona" Minato answered flatly, surprising everyone with his answer "Persona is something develop out of necessity, an evolutionary defence mechanism needed for any conscious life on my world to even develop. From the earliest forms of life, to the mighty beasts that once roamed the world to humanity's distant ancestors and of course humanity itself who grew to me the most prolific users of it"
"Evolutionary… Defense mechanism…" Katina repeated in dawning horror, she looked at the board Minato used to explain to them a power that could give a normal human the powers of a God or Demon and how it was a necessary defence mechanism "What was it to defend against?"
Minato turned away from the others and back to the board, through her snakes Ophis saw Minato notable flinch in Minato's eye "That's a long story, we've cover a ton of ground already and I don't want to overwhelm you all with too much information" Minato looked at the board again with a deep frown "That being said, I'm still not sure why your Persona took that form Katina"
Katina leaned back into her chair "So your not convince a partial Persona awakening is responsible for this Not Sacred Gear?"
"Perhaps you arriving here is what's causing Katina to evolve a Persona of her own" Ophis suggested, voicing the conclusion she had been suspecting with no proof to back her idea until now "Evolution is affected by environmental factors, perhaps you coming into contact with them is what opened that evolutionary path for Katina?"
Katina looked at Ophis dumbfounded "Wait, are you suggesting I'm part alien now?"
Minato eyes widened, he looked between the board and Katina as realization dawned on him "That must be it, it also explains why Katina's power took the form of shields. It's still new, developing according to the environment it's in, taking the form of a Sacred Gear because THAT's what this world and it's souls are most familiar with" Minato turned back to Ophis astonished "Ophis, your brilliant"
Ophis smiled at the compliment, a sense of jubilation filling her being at Minato's praise "It's nothing really, I just suggest what made the most sense"
"Alright, we know the what a Persona is, why my looks the way it does, but how did I get a Persona from you?" Katina asked, turning to the others as she did "How does this power spread"
"That I have two theories on" Minato said, flipping the blackboard over to reveal the back blank side "Either prolong exposure to myself, meaning my friends, schoolmates and work colleagues could start developing Personas. Or, a sufficiently high amount of my power could be the trigger" Minato drew a stick figure representing himself with a clock face without numbers on one side and on the other four lines making up an eight pointed star "Both options are possible, and possessing their own can of worms"
"Broadly speaking, which would produce more Persona users?" Ophis asked.
"I mean, broadly there would be little difference in numbers but there would be a lot more animal Personas users due to the number of animals I usually heal with the latter" Minato answered as his mind was constructing a scene where Shiba Inu like Koromaru stood protectively in front of their owner before summoning a Persona with their teeth clenching a sword, a heroic display of loyalty.
The former Peerage broke into a cold sweat at the thought random animals developing powers that ranged from common Sacred Gears to that of gods, Chloe raised her hand tentatively "Um, have you worked with… animal Persona users before?"
Minato was brought out of his imagining an expy of Koromaru battling evil by moonlight and turned to Chloe with a smile tugging at his lips "Yeah, I have actually. He was an albino Shiba Inu named Koromaru and I can't tell you how many times that little guy save me and my friends lives"
Ophis made notes regarding Minato's experience with animals capable of using Personas, however she noticed something odd, the more details Minato went into the hotter the room became. Turning to the side Ophis saw what the source was, a clearly upset Bridget laid on the ground with her eyes glowing with flames.
"-I wasn't much a dog person before but little Koro changed my opinion" Minato barely had time to block a smoke ball aimed for his head, turning around he found Bridget standing up and looking at him angrily "Bridget, what are you doing?"
'BarkBarkBark!' Bridget stood up, growling but not baring her teeth.
Minato took a step back surprised "I'm not comparing you to Koromaru, that's not fair on either of you, and I'm not saying Koromaru is better-"
Bridget angrily barked several times before running deeper into the house, Minato reached out a hand to call out to the chimera hellhound but stopped himself as he knew it was something that couldn't be fix at that moment.
"Looks like someone is in the dog house" Andree joked, earning her groans from all those present with even Bridget coming back to jump onto her knees and slap her with a paw before running off again "Yeah, that's fair"
The lesson ended there, everyone went to have a late dinner before going to bed. Minato excuse himself to his room as he had some homework he still needed to finish, Maria forcing Minato to take a large lunch box filled with food so he wouldn't go hungry.
Ophis ignored her food, instead her eyes were focused solely on the board detailing the powers Minato wielded that gave him the power to call upon gods and demons to his side. The same power he may have introduced into this world, which complicated things a bit as it's propagation was still largely unknown. While she wished to return to the Dimensional Gap it didn't mean Ophis would allow the world she found herself in to fall to ruin.
Worst comes to worst, isolate those affected and exterminate redundant factors.
"Um, Phis?"
Ophis turned to see Chloe came over to her, giving her a nod of acknowledgement Ophis waited to see what the former pawn wanted.
Chloe was clearly nervous but steeled herself to push forward "Is everything okay, you've been staring at the blackboard for a while now"
"I am fine, thank you" Ophis answered, returning her gaze to the blackboard "I'm looking over what Minato has written down to ensure I haven't overlooked anything"
Chloe slowly nodded, sitting next to Ophis examining the board as well "What do you think about him, you know, being an alien from another reality?"
"Nothing in particular" Ophis answered honestly, it didn't matter to her about Minato's origins no matter how strange they could be "It doesn't change who he is, Minato is Minato and that's enough for me"
Chloe looks to Ophis a little surprised "You really like him huh, guess your not worried about being probed" Chloe looked at the board with a longing look "Do, do you think I could get a Persona like Katina?"
Ophis turned to Chloe to fully face her "It will depend on you if you gain a Persona or not, despite gaining the potential it won't mean anything until you realize it" Chloe looked away with a pained look, trying to hide it but failing to do so. Seeing this Ophis thought of anything to change the subject since the current one was uncomfortable for Chloe "That being said, what exactly do you mean being probed?"
Chloe sputtered as she whipped around to face Ophis "Um, well… You see"
An hour later….
As everyone made their way to bed, everyone taking one last look at the blackboard before one of Minato's Personas erased it's contents, Ophis found Bridget outside Minato's door with all three heads out. Seeing Ophis approach Bridget stood up and tried to act nonchalant, Ophis rubbed the top of Alexa and Dealla's head as she let Elda put her head up to Ophis's chest.
"He still cares for you" Ophis whispered to the chimera, her eyes drifting to Minato's door as she thought about him talking about Koromaru "He just misses them as well"
Ophis thought back to the smile Minato had when he was talking about Koromaru, while it started out as him explaining his experience with animal Persona Users Minato's smile throughout it told them he loved talking about his comrade, Ophis had grown curious about those Minato had bonded with in the past.
While Ophis had been curious before when Minato mentioned people who made him better during their dance training in the woods seeing him actually talk about one of them amplified that curiosity into something she needed to know, Ophis had been meaning to ask beforehand but after seeing Minato's smile as he talked about his comrade pushed her into action. Remembering how happy he looked pushed Ophis forward.
Opening the door Ophis saw Minato at his desk writing something with his headphones on, Bridget laid down in the hall when she saw Minato. Ophis frowned at the chimera's actions but entered Minato's room regardless, leaving the door open so Bridget could enter if the hellhound changed her mind in the middle of the night.
After finishing his work Minato laid in his bed with Ophis besides him, watching him like so many times before, though this night was different.
"Hey" Ophis said, little more then a whisper.
"Hmm" Minato opened his eyes to look over to Ophis "Is something on your mind?"
Ophis wasn't sure the words she needed to use, so instead she choice to be direct "I want to learn more about your friends, the people who made you better" Ophis looked away from Minato "I was curious about them when you talked about how others can make us better, seeing you happy as you talk about Konomaru made me want to learn more about them and you"
Minato was silent as he thought over Ophis's request, being able to tell others of the evens he and SEES had done was something he found joy in doing. With a smile Minato answered "Sure, it'll be a long one though so hope you don't mind me going on for an hour about them" Minato looked around the room as a thought crossed his mind "In fact, we could make it a habit of me telling you about them at night. Sort of like a bedtime story"
"That sounds nice" Ophis moved closer to Minato, as she thought over what she was asking of Minato Ophis winced "Do you miss them? I don't want to force you to recall painful memories"
Minato patted Ophis's head in response to words, surprising her at the sudden action "It's no trouble at all. Yeah I miss them, but the bonds we have together means we're never truly apart even in other realities"
'Though, that doesn't mean I don't want to see them again in some way' Minato thought to himself as he took his hand away from Ophis's head, missing the disappointed look on the Infinite Dragon God's face "Still, even though I can't see them again, there's a silver lining. I got to meet you, not a day goes by I don't miss my friends in my original world and at the same time, not a day goes by I'm not grateful I met you Ophis"
Ophis felt an unknown sensation throughout her body, her face was oddly warm with her heart beating faster then she could remember, the closest thing Ophis could compare to how she felt was being happy but that did little to describe how she was feeling.
Without thinking, Ophis snuggled closer to Minato before slowly wrapping Minato in a hug "I'm happy I met you too"
As Minato returned the hug Ophis tightened her own, not wanting to lose something so precious she now held in her grasp.
-=-][-=-
Hearing the bell signaling the end of the school day Minato began packing his things away, as he did he could over hear some conversations amongst his classmates.
"I swear, I've been seeing a lot foxes around town lately. Their cute and not bothering anyone but it's just weird they appeared all of a sudden" One of male seniors said to his friend as they hung around the back of the classroom.
One of the female seniors in his friend group frowned with a nod "I think I know what you're taking about, but I think it's like four or five that's been wandering around town"
The male senior blinked surprised before gaining a thoughtful look "Now that you mention it"
Minato is drawn away from their conversation when he heard the sigh from the student sitting beside him, turning over to see their tired look Minato held out his notebook towards them. The tired student turned to look at it with a hesitate look, Minato gave them a small smile encouraging his classmate to take it.
"Thanks man, looks like I owe you another one" The tired student said dejected.
Minato shook his head "It's fine, you just worry about looking after yourself. Has work been busy lately?"
The tired student nodded with a smile tugging at their lips "Yeah, place I work at got a new boss. Hellva upgrade over the last one, but his enthusiasm takes a while to get used to, and he's been really supportive of me going to cram school" the tired student looked to their watch before getting to their feet "Speaking of which I need to head there now, otherwise a certain someone will chew me out"
"Best of luck" Minato said, brightening his classmate a little before they left the room. Getting up himself Minato made his way to the door, as he neared it Minato was ambushed.
"Yo Minato! Prez is treating us to dinner, you wanna come with?" Issei said with a cheery look, Asia beside him smiling brightly as Kiba giving an apologetic look to the annoyed seniors.
Minato shook his head with an apologetic look "Sorry, I can't make it"
Turning down invitations from others was something Minato still wasn't fully used to, while it pained him to disappoint those dear to him he learnt that to make time for everyone meant not spending all his time with a certain individuals at the expense of others.
Minato fully expected those disappointed looks, what he wasn't expecting was for Issei to grab onto his arm with the same cheery disposition.
"Come on, it'll be great. We're having Wagyu!" Issei began pulling Minato along with Kiba following along and Asia bright smile making it harder for Minato to say no.
Minato admitted defeat as he let himself be dragged along "Well, I suppose there's no harm in it"
][Several Days later][
"Yeah, Minato already left. No idea how you missed him" The tired student told Koneko and Issei, Koneko looking around the room to see if she could pick up any trace of Minato but found nothing.
Issei gained a look of determination as he clench his fists "Alright, then we just need to find him. Let's go Koneko, otherwise Minato will miss out on swimsuit shopping" Issei daydreamed about the girls of the Occult Research Club in swimsuits at the beach before being pushed out of the classroom by Koneko.
"Thank you senpai, sorry for disturbing you" Koneko bowed before leaving with Issei to search for Minato.
As soon as they were far enough away the tired student reached into their bag to take out Minato's notebook and placed it on the desk behind them were a student was sleeping with his head in his arms.
"Thanks for the notes, really saved my butt with them this time" the tired student said, forcing down a yawn as they packed up their things. Meanwhile Minato removed the wig he was wearing and put his notebook away, maintaining focus on the technique several Personas taught him on how to mask his presence.
"Thanks for dealing with them, seriously their really getting on my nerves at this point" Minato said as he put the wig in his bag, sending a thankful nod towards the classmate who let him borrow their desk.
The tired student turned to Minato with a confused look "You know, a lot if people would be thrill at the idea of spending time with the Occult Research Club. Two of Kuoh's Great ladies, the school's mascot Koneko, the innocent foreign transfer student Asia and the school's prince Kiba. I'll admit Hyoudou is a bit of a drawback but still"
"Then clearly I'm not like most" Minato answered with a sour look "Truth is, I don't mind them that much. But the fact they don't take a no for an answer really ticks me off"
'In hindsight, waiting several days to see if there was any negative effect with Katina awakening her Persona was a better decision than I thought' Minato thought to himself, they had decided to wait a few days if anything else happened to Katina before moving to practical training and with Bridget still sore about how Minato talked about Konomaru meant Tamer work was on hold as well 'Aside from work and school, there weren't many other responsibilities I had to handle personally that my Personas couldn't handle'
Taking a moment to centre himself, Minato expanded his sphere of awareness to better detect the members of the Occult Research Club, giving a grateful nod to his tired classmate Minato began his mission to get off Kuoh Academy's grounds without running into the Occult Research Club.
For the most part everything went smoothly with Minato waiting out of sight for the Occult Research Club members to move to a different area or slipping through by walking with a ground of students or using corners to remain out of sight, the only real issue he encounter was when he bumped into two students waiting by the main entrance.
"Sorry" Minato apologized to the students he bumped into before setting his sights on the main gates.
""YOU!""
Minato frozen at the voices directed towards him, quickly scanning the area showed no sign of the Occult Research Club, turning around he saw the two male students he bumped into glaring at him. Looking between the two of them Minato searched his memory to see if he had previous interactions with them, just when he was about to give up a memory from his first day at Kuoh Academy when Aika was showing him around resurfaced where she pointed out the 'perverted trio'
"Ah, your Issei Hyoudou's friends right?" Minato asked, not being able to remember the two's names "I'm Minato Arisato, I believe this is the first time we've spoken if I'm not mistaken"
The two gave Minato heated looks as they introduced themselves.
"Kenichi Matsuda" the young man with a shave head introduced himself first, as he pointed to himself Minato couldn't help but notice how he handle himself. It remained him of Akihiko, Kazushi and Mamoru though something was off, the only conclusion Minato could land on was Matsuda was out of serious practice.
"Hideaki Motohama" the young man wearing glasses said, Minato getting a clear view of Motohama's eyes for a moment before the reflecting light hide them again. Motohama's eyes gave Minato the feeling of being observed by someone whose specialty lay in a different field of study.
Minato nodded "Right sorry for bumping into you, I'm in a bit of a hurry so I need to head out" Minato bowed apologetically to the two, as he did Minato saw a book on the ground between them "Ah, sorry" Minato picked up the book to return it to the two, as he did Minato missed Matsuda and Motohama tense up "Wait, is this that new Manga series I've been-"
Minato's words got caught in his throat as he got a better look at the cover of the book he picked up, while the characters on the cover were those of a popular series Minato had overheard during school and work the position and facial expressions on the manga characters were concerning.
"What is this?" Minato asked slowly, more confused at what he was holding. Matsuda Motohama looked at each other as a scheme began forming in their minds. Positioning themselves to make a three man circle with Minato as he looked at the book baffled, looking up from the book Minato saw the grinning faces of Matsuda and Motohama.
"That, pretty boy, is the third issue of a multi-part series in which the babes from that manga you were thinking about do lewd things" Matsuda said with a grin, face flushed at he breathed heavily through his nose "It's honestly pretty great, the series already have doujins this good and more are coming out everyday"
Doujins, Minato was aware of the existence of the fan books based on pre-existing properties that met certain requirements, this was the first time he held a real one and it turned out to be an 18+ book.
Looking at it a deep worry rose in Minato's mind "Do they make these kind of Doujins for everything or just those are popular? Minato asked, his eyes never leaving the book as his worry began to haunt his every thought "If I make a Manga or Light Novel would there be Doujins like this of it?"
Minato had recently got the idea to turn his time with SEES into a Light Novel or Manga, as a way to honour his friends and to share their story so what they went through wouldn't be forgotten. Some changes would need to be made to keep the plot going and to ensure it's message was coherent, but with his Personas it wasn't impossible to create a light novel or manga on his own even with the hellish time crunches normal Mangaka were put under.
"Definitely" Motohama said without hesitation "While most focus on the popular ones there are plenty who seek out less well known series to lewd up, even helped some get off the ground to become more popular"
For a moment Minato saw the faces on the cover of the book shift to resemble-
Crunch!
The book in Minato's hand was crushed, the pages destroyed and the back spine ruined. Looking up with a blank look Minato saw Matsuda and Motohama were as pale as ghosts, handing the ruined book to them Minato gave the two a small smile.
"Thank you both, Matsuda, Motohama. You have stopped me from making a terrible mistake, I am in your debt and I promise to repay you both one day" Minato bowed his head before walking away.
Matsuda and Motohama felt weak and needed to lean on each other to stay upright, both breathing heavily as they allowed the ruined book to fall to the ground with it's pages spilling out without the spine to keep it all together.
"Matsuda, is it just me or did Arisato look like he was contemplating murder for a second there?" Motohama asked his friend, strength slowly returning to his body.
"I don't know man, but I swear I felt my heart stop for a minute there" Matsuda answered, using his free hand to check his pulse to see if there was any irregularities "I think we need to check in with the nurse, just to be on the safe side"
Motohama nodded, the two slowly making there would back into the school. Meanwhile as Minato left the school grounds he ran into a familiar face.
-=-][-=-
"So, trouble in paradise" Aika said as she walked with Minato as they looked through the various stores, Aika gave Minato teasing smile "From what I hear, your spending a lot of time with the Occult Research Club. Almost everyone at school are thinking your part of the club now"
Minato frowned "No. I'm not, though I get the feeling they really want me to join them with how forceful they are about it"
Aika stopped as she looked to Minato concerned "Is everything alright? You can talk to me if their really bothering you that much, we could even bring it up with the student council if it's bad enough"
"No, it's fine for now" Minato shook his head before giving Aika a thankful look "Honestly I feel better just by spending time with you, your a breath of fresh air after the last few days"
Aika looked surprised at Minato's response, gaining a confident look as she walked with her head held a little higher "Not going to lie, being picked over the most popular girls in our school is one heck of a confidence booster" getting closer to Aika shot him a teasing look "How about we- hmm?"
Whatever Aika was going to suggest was cut off when she saw something out of the corner of her eye, a game store that seemed pretty busy with people of all ages in the store or just outside it trading playing cards or carrying out boxes.
Looking over to the store Minato tilted his head "First time I've seen this store here, do you know anything about Aika?"
Aika nodded "Yeah, I used to frequent here a lot when I was younger. Haven't been over in a while" turning to Minato Aika saw his interest in the game shop, turning back to it she felt nostalgia come over her for a moment before shrugging her shoulders "Couldn't hurt to take a look inside, shall I escort you?"
"I'm in your care" Minato said with a smile as Aika lead him inside.
Several minutes later…
"You're planning to make a manga" Aika said as she played Minato in a card with the score between them even, Aika trying to remember the rules and plays while Minato was learning as he went. The two of them falling into idle conversation as they played, their conversation leading to Minato slipping by the Occult Research Club and his run in with Matsuda and Motohama "How far along are you in developing it?"
"The entire story's figured out, even have some rough designs for the title. However after learning what happen to popular series, I'm doubting on making it" Minato answered, looking over his cards before trading one on the field for a stronger one in his hand.
Aika looked to Minato worried before turning her attention to her cards not sure what to say, while Minato hadn't mention exactly 'happens' to popular series the fact his doubts formed while interacting with two-thirds of the perverted trio it wasn't hard to put two and two together.
Looking over her cards gave Aika an idea, in place of a perfect answer give one from the heart "Do you really want make it?"
"Yeah…" Minato answered, the desire to make the SEES Manga to honour his friends was still strong in his heart even with the spectre of what the supposed 'fans' of it would do to it.
Aika nodded "Well, don't let the negative aspects hold you back. While it will suffer the same fate as all those that get really popular, it'll also do good" Aika took a card from her hand to put the back of the card on full display "Take this card game for example, it's suffered many of the fates associated with being really popular but it's also done good. Just look around and you'll see"
Following Aika's words Minato looked around and saw people of all shapes and sizes playing a simple card game with a smile on their faces, even spotting parents helping their kids learn how to play the game as well.
'If my manga could bring people together like this and honour them' Minato thought to himself as he reconsidered his decision on the SEES Manga "Fair point, I'll give the idea another look. Maybe use a different art style to mitigate the worst offences" Minato smiled as he made eye contact with Aika "Thanks, I really needed to hear that"
"Could you two keep it down, we're trying to have a match here!"
Aika and Minato turned to the side to see a male South Kuoh student glaring at them, his friends looked at him surprised.
"Excuse me, we weren't the ones almost yelling at the top of their lungs as they played a card game" Aika said, pointing at the South Kuoh student causing him to flinch.
The shop manager came over to de-escalate things before it could get worst, after finishing their game they left after Minato bought some tabletop games. The two went their separate ways afterwards, as Minato made his journey home he spotted three male foxes laying on their stomachs as a female one seemed to glare at them.
-=-][-=-
"So, your going to whip yours out?"
"Yeah, I feel we've waited long enough" Minato answered the question before giving the one who asked it a blank look "Also, phrasing"
Katina stood with her fellow former Devils as they stood in an open area of the forest that surrounded the Arisato Residence, as there had been no new developments with Katina's Persona Minato felt comfortable having Katina train her new ability with his own Persona.
With a wave of her arms Katina summoned both her shields, the others cheering her on as she did so, everyone turned expectantly to see Minato summon his Persona.
Minato looked over everyone to see them all waiting on him, however before he could summon his Persona a little warning was needed.
"Alright, just a heads up, everyone remember what I told you about summoning methods?" Minato asked.
Chloe raised her hand excitedly "Oh, that how their summoned initially could affect how their summon there after"
"Correct" Minato answered with a smile, before putting his Evoker to his head "For example, I summoned my Persona my facing my own mortality" before another word could be uttered Minato pulled the trigger as the familiar sounds of a gun shot and breaking glass rang out, slowly Orpheus took shape above Minato in a pillar of light that hid Minato revealing only his silhouette and a single glowing eye.
I am Thou, Thou Art I
From the Sea of thy Soul I come.
Let us create a new song that shall echo throughout the world
I am the Master of Strings, Orpheus.
Katina took an involuntary step back, her attention like the others was focused on Orpheus as it loomed overhead. Katina's eyes roamed over Orpheus's form and quickly noted how robotic it looked, almost looking like a puppet without strings on it's arms or legs.
In the back of her mind Katina remembered the stories she was told of Orpheus and his wife Eurydice, and the gruesome end of Orpheus after failing to save his love from the Underworld with his head being removed from his body after his death.
With grim realization, Katina looked up at the severed head placed on a mechanical full body replacement with only a red scarf hiding where the organic and inorganic met "Oh Jesus…"[6]
Minato gave Katina an odd look, his eyes glancing to Orpheus for a moment before turning back to Katina "Is something the matter?"
"Other than how morbid your Persona, and how you summon it, is everything's fine" Katina shook her head before giving Minato an annoyed look "Can't you summon without that thing?"
Minato looked down at his Evoker for a moment before holstering it "With the exception of a very particular one, I need my Evoker to summon" already knowing what they wanted to ask Minato answered them ahead of time "And no, you don't want me to summon that Persona"
Katina sighed before rising up her shields with a determined look "Fair enough, let's move on and get this practical training underway"
Minato stepped aside as Orpheus moved forward, his eyes closed as he walked over to join the others watching on the sidelines "Well, you heard her Orpheus"
The training session between Orpheus and Katina began surprisingly well, Orpheus limiting itself to simple fire spells and relatively weak physical blows gave Katina time to adjust to using her shields, Katina was able to block most of Orpheus's attacks and dodged out of the way of those she couldn't block.
Midway through the fight Katina summoned forth a magic circle to create a sword of hellfire, as she held it in one hand Katina could feel the hellfire dancing along the shield on the same arm she held the sword, charging forward Katina slash at Orpheus who block the attack with it's lyre.
Seeing the sword Tanya let out a relieved sigh "She really can still use her flames"
"She spent years memorizing the formula needed to create the thing, even if she doesn't have imagination magic she can still use her flames" Hermina gave Tanya a smirk "What, worried she was bluffing on still being able to use it"
Tanya shook her head "No, it's just seeing it is different"
Orpheus dodges a wide slash from Katina and floats out of reach but not above the tip of the trees around them, gritting her teeth Katina raised her free hand out of instinct causing a magic circle to appear and shoot out bolts of magic.
The attack connects but doesn't harm Orpheus who raises their lyre to attack from overhead, stopping mid swing as Minato saw the shocked and confused looks on everyone's faces.
"T-That was Devil magic, how is Katina still able to use Devil magic?" Minato wasn't sure who asked that question, only that everyone save for Katina turned to him looking for answers.
Merlin whispered knowledge to Minato, offering a possible explanation.
"Thoughts and Imagination are not separated things, perhaps due to her experience using Devil's Imagination magic Katina can replicate it using her Persona powers" Minato answered not sure if that was the case himself, Minato turned to Katina to see her summon and de-summoning various magic circles that all held a blank centre that shimmered at something seemed ready to be formed.
Before he could give the idea any more thought laugher could be heard, caught off guard Minato looked to Katina to see her on her knees as she laughed with tears forming in the corner of her eyes. Getting to her feet Katina wiped her eyes as he laughter subsided, she gave the others an apologetic look before grinning at Minato.
"Care to share the joke?" Minato asked, wondering what could cause Katina to laugh like that.
"It's just, the absurdity of it all" Katina pointed to Minato with Schadenfreude mirth clear in her eyes "This Persona power of yours is not only capable of reversing conversions but also giving them access to imagination magic that Devils are so proud of and market it as one of the reasons given to have non-Devils to accept Evil Pieces" Katina shook her head "I'm not sure if you being an alien is the cause, or my world view being more limited than I thought"
Katina looked at Minato with a crooked smile with a worried look in her eyes "If no Devil took issue with you being able to reverse Evil Piece conversion then they will if you can give out Imagination based magic like that"
Minato gave Katina a thoughtful look before dismissing Orpheus "Let's stop here for today, I don't want you to over exert yourself due to how draining it can be to use a Persona in the beginning"
Katina shot Minato a half hearted annoyed look "I'm not made of glass, I can still keep going" Katina lazily waved her hand out as a new magic circle formed on her palm "Though, I do want to see if I can still use all the magic I've used before. Want to join, see if Imagination Magic is possible with Personas in general or just circumstantial"
Minato agreed and trained with imagination based magic circles, concluding that it was possible for him as well. When Minato wasn't looking Katina made gave a signal for the others to give her and Minato some alone time, seeing this the others headed back to the house to do their own things leaving Minato and Katina alone.
"Hey, sorry for the whole trying to kill you in your sleep thing" Katina said as she dismissed a magic circle, turning her head to see Minato using two magic circles to create strings that created beautiful music when plunked.
Minato shrugged "No harm, no foul. You were all in a confusing and honestly terrifying situation so I can't fault you for doing it, though I won't lie I am interested in what was going through your head at the time"
"Nothing, really" Katina looked at her hands as she became lost in thought "I guess, I wanted a sense of control"
"Control?" Minato asked, prompting Katina to keep going.
"Yeah" Katina leaned back against a tree "I guess, I wanted to prove to myself that I could kill you if I needed to" letting out a sigh Katina rubbed the bridge of her nose "Thinking about it, control has always been a concern for me"
Minato considered his words carefully, not wanting to step on Katina's toes or say something to bring up bad memories "Did you worry about control with the others?"
Katina nodded "Yeah, as the Queen it naturally fell to me take care of things when the King wouldn't" Katina's shoulder slumped as she looked down at the ground with a disheartened look "I'm not proud of my early years, too blunt and ended up hurting them anyway"
Thinking back on her past, Katina remembered how cold she was to the others in her Peerage as she tried to protect them from the worst Diodora wanted with them and how it took her almost being to late to save them to realize how wrong she was in her thinking.
"Recognizing our past mistakes is the first step in improving" Minato answered hoping to raise Katina's spirits "The fact you look back on your previous actions and find faults is proof of that"
Katina nodded "I guess. I wanted to keep them safe, even if it meant they would hate me for it" shaking her head Katina turned to Minato with an apologetic smile "Sorry for getting heavy with you, it just sort of slip out"
Minato answered with a smile reassuring smile "It's fine, even if you just need someone to vent at I'm here if you need me" 'you wouldn't be the first' Minato thought to himself
Katina sighed with relief "Thanks, your strangely easy to open up to" she gave Minato a suspicious look that passed as quickly as it came "Before we head back is there anything you want to ask me, doubt we'd get peace until the next training session"
"Actually speaking of your ability, how is it you were still able to summon your sword without Devil Magic?"
"Human Magic, duh" Katina summoned her flame sword and performed several practice swings "While most Devils rely on Imagination magic it's not unheard of for those wanting to improve to study human magic to enhance a particular spell with mathematical formulas, especially those who aren't very creative" Katina dismissed her sword as she crossed her arms "Devils enlist the help of Human Magicians to help, or to do most of the work, in creating the formulas they want in exchange for protection, information or public standing along with exclusive access to whatever else the Magician makes for a certain amount of time"
"Sounds like copyright" Minato commented as he thought over what Katina just told him "Is there a way to back out of deal if one party acts in bad faith?"
Katina paused as she thought over the question "I think so, I know some rulings about it exist due to overhearing on the news but I can't tell you anything else"
Shrugging Minato put his hands in his pockets "Fair enough, ready to head back?"
"Yeah, if we're not back soon they might start thinking one of us killed the other or something more unlikely" Katina answered as they both made their way back to the house "By the way, what was in the bags you brought back the other day?"
Shrugging Minato answered "Games. Seemed like something fun to do in a group, got some trading cards and a couple tabletop games, wasn't sure what everyone would like so I picked whatever looked good"
The two walked in silence for a moment before Katina began picking up the pace in her walk "Okay, I'm curious let's see what these things are like"
Several hours Later.
"Good news, the Sultan is still alive. Bad news, he has about a year left to live unless you can stop his wife turned genie" Adam said as he sat behind the Dungeon Master screen as he looked over the players for their DnD one shot.
"Is the vault door still open?" Minato asked, receiving a nod Minato decided on his course of action "Okay, I go inside and take the life gem inside to revive Uz"
Ophis made a fist as she looks at the character sheet for her Changeling Draconic Sorcerer "I am going to burn that genie"
"I'm taking as much gold as I can carry in our spare bag of holding" Katherine says.
Adam nods "Okay, as your doing this the Sultan coughs up as they raise their hand trying to stop you from going inside 'Wait, you would steal from me?' he says with a dry voice"
Tanya jumps on her seat "I aim my bow and arrow at the Sultan, telling him he can either die now or later. Either way we're taking the gold"
Katina sighs "I go over to point Tanya's arrow away from the man who is the only who knows how to stop the genie general from summoning an army from another plane"
The DnD one shot went well into the night, finding frustration and joy in the game even if it meant they could never return to the Dwarf Sultanate ….
'Perhaps we should have played the one were we're bears out to steal honey?' Minato asked himself as he cleaned up after the game was over.
Author's Notes:
[1] Demon's are able to alter the bodies of Devils if they focus on it, when Devils were being used as soldiers / Bio-Weapons to wage war on behalf Demons. The purposes behind it was to augment their soldiers for various purposes or simply for amusement, such as a subset of Devils having suspiciously pointed heads.
[2] Yes I made an alien probe joke, all these characters coming from different worlds to others and no one makes them.
[3] Sub Arcana are from Persona 1 and 2, likely removed for simplifying the game it helps round out characters instead of having someone having only one Arcana. I'm aware of others in the series have alternative Arcana as their main but Minato doesn't know that.
[4] Was getting a bit long here and didn't want to make the whole thing an info dump, I'll flashback to parts of explanation if and when needed.
The only thing you would need to know is that Minato goes over how Personas can get stronger from events in a person's life and bonds, think those special Skills that can be gained from Social Links in Persona 4 Golden and the Jazz club in Persona 5 Royal but for everything and not needing a wild card and the Arcade games in Persona 3 that boost Persona stats.
[5] The Collective Unconscious was formed due to Nyx crashing into Earth and Personas came about later on, Philemon didn't create Personas he more jump started the powers of the Persona 1 cast like Izanami did for Yu in Persona 4.
I'm aware there could be some issues with Persona powers developing in other worlds due to Nyx not being involved [using old lore so not sure how canon it remains], but I'm hand waving it that while Nyx was needed to jump start the evolutionary creation of the Persona Power it can be passed onto beings from different worlds without Nyx's involvement so long as conditions are met.
[6] I'm a Spider, so What? Kumko reference!
Omake: Persona Academy
Minato adjusted his tie before making his way to the podium to address his students.
This was not how he picture his life turning out, not by a long shot, but it was part of him accepting responsibility for what he had done.
With Persona Powers becoming more common in the world he found himself in they needed someone to teach them on how to grow, adjust to and use their powers properly. As the most experienced Persona user in this world it fell to him to guide the next generation.
Looking over his students, several were around his age when he first awakened to his Persona and came from different schools. It wasn't hard to tell who came from different schools as one they almost seemed to have different themes to them, some seemed more grim while some looked like they came off an idol stage. Two groups from different schools seemed to already have leaders in their groups with one seeming to have more cutting edge tech than the other, the two giving the other cautious looks but thankfully held no malice.
Minato turned to the teachers of his school, still surprised he missed the family connection they all shared. Or the fact they all had Jojo as a nickname.
Letting out a sigh Minato put on a brave face as he stepped forward.
Author's Note:
Series:
-Teachers: Jojo
-Students: Tokyo Xanadu, Tokyo Mirage Session, Mind ZerØ, Caligula Effect and any other series that could be considered to be 'inspired' by Persona.
Omake: Meanwhile, in another timeline.
A continuation of Gamer!Issei omake from 'The World Moves forward'
Name: Kumo
Title: Guardian of the Izuma Household
Species: Canine
Issei took a step back as the lady's bark growled and barked at him, baring it's teeth showing it was prepared to fight. It's owner had a firm grip on the lead but the suspicious looks she sent Issei's way told him that she was ready to call out for help if he made the wrong move.
It was something he had been experiencing since he got the [Saviour's Adversary] debuff from Minato, how Minato got a karma value high enough to give him that debuff Issei still had no clue, everyone was looking at Issei as if he was moments away from committing a horrible crime.
He thought he knew what those sort of looks were before, when people looked at him for openly expressing what he loved, but this was on a whole other level. Issei had been stopped several times by police already and even his own parents knew there was something of about their son, Issei parents still loved him and were treating him with kid gloves along with Matsuda and Motohama until they could figure out what changed with Issei.
Things were bad, and the only way to get things back to normal was raising Minato relationship metre to get out of the enemy status.
However...
Name: Kumo
Title: Guardian of the Izuma Household
Buffs:
Beast Guardian of Izuma
Doubles all stats when defending family and friends from perceived threats, all damage dealt is doubled and cannot be reduced, capable of calling for nearby allies for aid and temporarily granting them the effects of Beast Guardian of Izuma.
Kind Man's Mercy
Being healed by [Minato Arisato] has left this little fella with more than just a new lease on life, gained low level regeneration [Slower aging], all base stats increased,?,?,?,?
...A superpowered Shih Tzu was blocking his way! Looking at the question marks filled Issei with trepidation, the last time he didn't think about questions marks relating to Minato ended up with The Gamer Ability damaged and earning him several debuffs beyond the initial ones he got from Minato himself.
The Wisdom penalty from Sona was rubbing salt into the wounds, and likely played a part in what came next.
Seeing Minato getting further and further away Issei took out the gift The Game assured him would help raise Minato's relationship metre.
"What the-!?" "Where was he keeping that!?"
"Arisato, this is a gift from me to you!" Issei tossed his gift with all the strength he had in his arms, power enhanced further through a mixture of The Gamer Ability and Devil mixed with Draconic Powers.
With an annoyed groan Minato turned back to glare at Issei but as he did Minato saw something flying towards him, as it got closer it left Minato dumbfounded "Wait, is that a saxophone?" Minato squinted his eyes as he noticed the saxophone hurling towards him at an alarming speed was getting bigger "Oh, it's a contrabass" Minato jumped out of the way as the massive contrabass saxophone slammed into the ground cracking it.
Getting up from his impromptu dodge Minato saw several police officers worked together to pin Issei to the ground.
The next day
"So, this was bait to lead me into a trap" Minato said as he held out the love letter he had found in his desk, he had planned to meet with the person to let them down gently and perhaps strike up something of a relationship to make a new friend.
Seeing Asia enter the Kuoh Academy music room crushed any chance of extending an olive branch of friendship, looking around the room Minato gave Asia a suspicious look "Did Issei get that contrabass saxophone from here?"
Asia tensed for a moment, stopping herself from saying something before shaking her head "No, Issei… asked Rias for it"
'Meaning Rias used her pull with the school to give the instrument to Issei or bought it for him, either way she's in on it as well' Minato thought grimly, pissed that the Occult Research Club wouldn't leave him alone after what they did to him "Sona assured me you all understood the situation"
"Well, she said you didn't want to interact with us beyond going to the same school and to keep our distance from you" Asia said, recalling the scowl Sona had on her face as she stood beside Grayfia and Serafall reprimanding them for what they had done.
"Then why the Hell won't you all leave me alone?"
Seeing Asia flinched did little to sway Minato, his words were perhaps a little but he was passed the point of caring for something as minor as that, they had to do one little thing after they betrayed his trust and held a metaphorical knife to his heart.
Maliciousness and Stupidity could be hard to differentiate at times but Minato didn't care which it was at this point.
Asia try to speak but found her words caught in her throat "W-we want to bury the hatchet and make amends so we, we thought-"
"Trying to force things to make amends, like how you all tried to force me to join Rias's Peerage against my wishes" Minato threw back at Asia.
Asia voice started to shake "I, I didn't do anything-"
"Wrong" Minato said, his tone leaving little room for argument "You held your voice Asia Argento, you made the conscious decision to not say anything as you saw your king break our contract and betrayed my trust" Minato rubbed the bridge of his nose, his mind going back to the moment Issei stole one of the few physical things that connected Minato to his original world and confirmed it wasn't all some dream "Not even a token effort was given"
"I, I-" Asia fell to her knees with tears falling down her cheeks "I'm so sorry, Archangel Phanuel"
Minato looked to Asia, Phanuel coming closer to the surface of the Sea of Souls with other Archangels close behind.
Asia bowed her head, her tears falling to the ground as she tried to pray even as it caused her pain "Y-you saved from dying at the church and in turned I went on to become a Devil, I spat in your face and betrayed Heaven after saving my life. I'll do whatever I must to fulfil my debt to you, so please don't-"
"Stop" Minato said, Phanuel's power leaking into Minato's words, reaching into his pocket Minato pulled something out.
On reflex Asia closed her eyes, not knowing what Minato was pulling out and wasn't sure if she had the heart to face it.
"Here" slowly, Asia opened her eyes to see a handkerchief being offered to her by Minato. Taking it Asia dried her tears and got to her feet "You have no debt with me Asia" seeing Asia about to protest Minato continued "I saved you because I wanted to, I acted under my own will and you happened to benefit from it. And any misgivings would only be between you and I, not Heaven"
'Though, to be honest your betrayal hurt the most' Minato kept his thoughts to himself, deeming those words better left unsaid.
"But, I still betrayed you" Asia said, her past actions haunting her like a spectre.
Minato shrugged "Let's be honest, you got dragged along into it. You aren't innocent but your not the guiltiest party" Asia offered to return the handkerchief to Minato, who shook his head to let her know to keep it "If you really want to make things right, then be the voice of reason in Rias Peerage. Even if they don't act on your words being the voice of reason and decency can prevent things from getting worse, or at least slow them"
Asia dried off the last of her tears and gave Minato a determined look "I will, I promise!"
Minato nodded, Phanuel smirking in the Sea of Souls as he watched Asia "Hmm, that looks suits you better. And who knows, perhaps in time you will even Ascend into Grace"
Asia looked at Minato confused, the implications of his words not fully setting in "A Devil, Ascending?"
"It's rare, but it does happen" Minato looked around before stepping closer to Asia to whisper into her ears "That being said, there are methods to reverse Evil Piece Reincarnation. The only real drawback, besides those losing the Pieces lose any benefits being a Devil gave them, is the Evil Pieces themselves are unusable for a little over a week. But that's not really an issue unless the king want to reincarnate someone else immediately afterwards"
Asia gasped, pretty sure she wasn't suppose to know something like that. Questions swirled around in her mind, but choice to keep them to herself for now.
"Well, I'm off then" Minato made his way to leave, as he neared the door a thought crossed his mind, turning to Asia with a blank look Minato asked "The others are waiting for me out there, aren't they?"
Asia nodded "Their downstairs in the beneath this one, Koneko was convinced you would spot them if we were all on the same floor. If things went bad I was suppose to call to them from that window over there since the music room is sound proofed"
Looking over to the window Minato noticed how large it was, large enough for him to fit through.
Meanwhile…
"-Not even a normal saxophone, it was a contrabass" Sona said as she rubbed her temples, Rias sat across from her with Akeno standing right behind her. Sona was glad her own Queen was there with her to support her "Have you seen a contrabass instruments, they look like instruments made for giants that normal humans somehow got their hands on"
"How was I suppose to know Issei would hurl it at Minato in the middle of public in broad daylight" Rias replied back, honestly having no idea Issei would do that.
Despite how stupid it was Rias couldn't be too hard on Issei, it wasn't truly his fault but that of his Gamer Ability. At first it seemed like a boon that could rival a Longinus Sacred Gear, letting him gain power at an accelerate rate and gain new skills almost instantly when it should have taken even peerless geniuses a day or an hour.
Now, now she genuinely hated it.
"Rias" Sona took off her glasses as she rubbed her eyes before looking at Rias with tired eyes "You and your peerage can't keep doing things like this, you're already on thin ice as it is. Your my best friend and I love you, but you need to stop this. Just leave Minato alone and keep interactions to a minimal, if we're lucky things will have cooled off after college"
'We can't wait till after college, Issei's Gamer Ability is screwing him over as it is' Rias wanted to say to Sona, but felt unable to share the existence of Issei's strange other power. Sona was her best friend, and admittedly on Rias's short list of girl crushes, but despite everything Rias couldn't bring herself to reveal the truth behind their actions.
If she didn't know any better, Rias would think Issei's Gamer Ability was affecting her despite not being in a Party.
Rias nodded "Okay, I promise we'll work on it-"
Her words were cut off from the sound of her phone ringing, looking at the caller ID Rias saw it was Kiba.
"Put it on speaker" Sona said as soon as Rias showed her the caller ID, while not an order a part of Rias felt like it was. Knowing she was already on thin ice as it was Rias put the phone on speaker and placed it on the table between Sona and herself, answering the phone like normal and not mentioning Sona and Tsubaki were present.
"Rias, I think we may have made some progress on making amends with Minato" Kiba said, his words coming through the speaker lowered the temperature in the Occult Club room by several degrees.
Rias turned to Sona to mouth the words 'I didn't know about this' but stopped when she saw Sona's expression.
Sona didn't get angry like most people, instead of tempers flaring Sona's anger made her became colder. While the reflection of candle light hid her eyes the cold expression on Sona's face spoke volumes of how angry she was, Rias thought back to the one of the few times she even saw her best friend angry and how Rias's brother Sirzechs compared how similar Sona's anger was to her older sister.
Feeling a cold sweat beginning to form Rias was about to ask Kiba on what they were doing when a shocked yell came through the phone. Everyone save Sona stood at attention, wanting to know what was happening.
"Minato jumped out of the music room window!" Kiba reported, doing his best to keep his shock under control.
Tsubaki almost exclaimed how that the music room was on the top floor but was stopped when Sona placed a finger on her lip, stopping her queen from letting Kiba know they were listening in.
"Wait, okay, Minato's fine but he just drew in a lot of attention. What are your orders Rias?" before Rias could utter a word Kiba cursed through the phone "Someone from the Newspaper club overheard us, I'll contact you later- Issei, don't strip the girl!" the phone call ended there.
Slowly, everyone turned to Sona to see how she'd react. Rias and Akeno both breaking out into cold sweat not sure what was going to happen next.
"I'm borrowing this" Cold and Empty, that was how Rias could describe the words Sona just spoke. Tsubaki seemed ready to follow her king but a shake of Sona's head was all her queen needed to stay where she was, Sona stepped out of the room with only a pillow in hand.
Once the doors closed behind Sona there was a moment of silence before the sounds of Sona screaming into the pillow she just took could be heard through the door.
Author's Notes:
Had some ideas on how to continue this, so I decided to add to it.