The darkness is all he could see as his eyes darted around. It felt like he was stirring awake from a long sleep even though he knew, he was no longer supposed to exist.
Yet, here he is. Awakening from another long slumber after coming close to the edge of existence.
What happened? How am I still here? Makoto asked internally knowing what was supposed to happen after the clashing of two powerful almighty spells.
Makoto got himself up and analysed the situation.
Right below him were an intricately made spell which glowed continuously with warm, serene light. The symbols marking the spell looked similar to the ones used by Igor whenever he was fusing personas, only with some new markings he haven't seen before.
This is Elizabeth's doing isn't it?
There's no one else besides those two residents of the Velvet Room who knows of his circumstance as the Seal. It is difficult to consider this as Igor's doing however, as that old man is very strict to his rules. Therefore only Elizabeth could have possibly done something beyond a mere violation from that room.
This spell is probably set up to help him invigorate and mend his soul. Without it, there's a high possibility that he will continue to be erased like what was supposed to happen.
Elizabeth must have arrived and found him at the right moment before he completely disappears.
Even if Makoto was determined to destroy Erebus along with him at the time. That act alone is something he would only choose to make when there is no other choice. Makoto couldn't help but sigh in relief for having someone to rely on in that dire situation, and was grateful for the help she provided.
Speaking of which... Where is she?
The darkness suddenly started to move like ripples of water when Makoto walked near the edge of Elizabeth's spell. It moved towards him in a manner akin to a slime that were thankfully neutralized when it went past the spell's fixed radius.
"An enemy?"
This darkness surrounding him wasn't part of Erebus' skill set, — that much he knew after fighting against that being for what felt like more than two hours. — meaning something else is here in the realm of Collective Unconscious along with Erebus.
If not for Elizabeth adding a layer of defence in her spell, Makoto may have unintentionally given her more burden than she already had. Especially now when he is unable to summon any persona due to his incomplete soul. Or at least, not supposed to.
Although the most logical option for him to take is to simply wait, he refuse to remain seated here doing nothing when Elizabeth is potentially fighting against two powerful entities at once. If he cannot fight, then what else would be the better to do other than to find a way to reduce the burden she has been carrying on her own.
Seated in a meditative position. Makoto closed his eyes and focused on the spell beneath him.
The serene light encompassing the spell began to grow in intensity as its energy responded to his command. The energy escaped from the spell and gathered around Makoto in order to mend his soul, which is now way faster than it previously was.
This have been a great development so far to lessen the time he initially needed, and would be able to freely summon a persona without the risk of vanishing once finished. However, due to inexperience when utilising the power of the Universe Arcana, a sacrifice is necessary for every use. That sacrifice this time around would be to forcefully tear parts of the spell beneath him, knowingly letting the darkness come closer as time goes on.
The slow destruction taking place around him will not cease even when he halted the process, so Makoto kept his focus on mending his soul as fast as possible and take the risk.
This seems to be enough. Makoto told himself internally as he felt the malicious aura coming closer in less than a metre radius from him. The warm energy coalescing into his soul doesn't seem to be getting absorbed hungrily any longer.
The large excess amount of energy still coiling around him are not wasted however, as Makoto have other plans for them.
Just as the darkness was about to devour him completely, Makoto tapped into the Universe Arcana once again and used the remaining energy coalescing in his palms as an alternative to his psyche, casting one of his most powerful almighty spell, [Morning Star].
Soon enough, Makoto's immediate vicinity is engulfed in a pillar of light, purging the darkness threatening to reach him until not even a trace of it were left behind. With the darkness previously around him now gone, he could finally see clearly what's on the other side
His eyes immediately found Elizabeth fighting against a dark entity standing in three legs. A strange sight, but not too surprising for him. Both looking straight towards him as the duration of [Morning Star] ended.
—Wait... Where is Erebus?
Makoto looked around and found no trace of Erebus, nor were there any sign of the large golden gate that should be towering in the midst of the realm of Collective Unconscious.
Makoto previously have his reservations about the state of the world as he slumbered away as the Great Seal. But now, there are no longer uncertainty left behind as he is faced by the answer in front of him.
It's over...
With Erebus coming into contact with Nyx, the appraiser will arrive to determine the fate of humanity. But with Erebus being able to severely weaken the Great Seal, the judgement it will place upon the world will no doubt be to bring about the Fall.
But even when he did fail, there were no regrets found on his face. With him gone from the Great Seal, Erebus will inevitably fulfil its role and reach Nyx. Makoto have known for this to happen right before he their last attacks clashed against each other. At the very least, he was able to give them another year to live, no matter how ignorant they were about the inevitable.
Makoto caught sight of several tentacles shooting their way towards him as he turned his attention back towards the on-going fight. Their distance from him remains to be a hundred metres, but those tentacles were so fast it could cross that distance in mere seconds.
The attack would have reached him right then and there if not for another spell suddenly taking its place beneath him and negating it, followed by another spell which gave him a weighty feeling of something akin to a moving elevator.
Makoto caught a glimpse of Elizabeth — who is smirking smugly towards him — at that instant. Her expression reminded him of her usual antics and mannerisms, a kind of way to tell him there's no need to worry for her safety. She bowed, and he followed with a nod.
Then, his vision is once again completely engulfed in light. A few seconds later, Makoto found himself standing in the middle of a forest.
Everything looks normal so far. The grass and dirt on the ground, the bark and leaves from the trees, the sky is as normal as he last saw it. Nothing which points towards the destruction of the world so far. Looking to his left, he found a metal briefcase placed conveniently beside him.
...Wait, wasn't Erebus supposed to trigger the Fall?
It was confusing, to say the least. Makoto is now certain that the time it took for him to regain his consciousness has been very long, it might have even taken hundreds for him to do so. The reason for that is due to the fragility of his former state, which definitely requires Elizabeth to take the longer route and be careful restoring him. Thus, the slow recovery rate he found himself previously in.
Putting that level of caution into consideration, the world should have long been destroyed when Erebus came into contact with Nyx. Therefore it doesn't make sense how everything he could see at this moment to be this normal and... Peaceful.
"Did I miss an important detail...?" This is more likely to be the case as there could always be factors obscured in the dark. Not to mention...
That enemy... I don't know who or what it is, but it definitely wasn't connected to either Nyx or Erebus, given that our roles were long over now. So what is that entity's objective? There's nothing important in that realm other than Nyx, the Sea of Souls, and...
Makoto doubted if what he is thinking could possibly be its objective. But after considering the first two options and the actions the enemy took, there's no doubt what the reason is.
"...I see."
If it is the Universe Arcana that entity is after, then there's no doubt about it. Why else would Elizabeth choose to fight if its objective were of something else? Including the fact that that entity has been very clear on its intent to capture him.
"What a drag..."
Of all times to choose... Fate truly is cruel. Makoto bitterly smiled at that thought.
This would meant he couldn't just return and rest in the Sea of Souls like what everyone would, as it would only make it easier to obtain the power he held. The only remaining option for him is to get strong and defeat the enemy.
Makoto attempted to summon the personas resting in his mind. But as expected, he didn't receive any response. He have no choice but to discard them all and let them rest in his soul until he calls for them again. Calling forth Orpheus' initial form who immediately responded and manifested itself into reality.
As I thought, I will need Elizabeth to efficiently get stronger.
Makoto currently have no access to Elizabeth's compendium so he could only call a persona in its initial level, restricting him in fusing personas. However, once a persona has been summoned via fusion, its level will immediately begin to rise due to his social links. Which is a good way to reach his full potential, if not for the fact that they will become unusable until he reaches a prerequisite level himself.
So with that, he could only sigh.
"Let's see what we have..." He tells himself as his eyes turned towards the briefcase beside him.
Despite his ghostly appearance, influencing a physical object and flicking the latch off still felt natural as if nothing have changed. Despite that, he might have to change his appearance later so people would not run away in fear. Seeing a ghost is not exactly a well received phenomenon after all.
Upon opening the briefcase, Makoto found something he thought he'd never see again. What lay securely inside were his Evoker with its holster, as well as his SEES arm band. Along with these items came his Mp3 player that is an important accessory he would never be found not wearing on his neck. Even with the current appearance he have taken, a replica can be seen hanging on his neck.
The rare smile on his face was accompanied by a small chuckle as Makoto realized what this all meant.
She actually kept this all with her. Did she also sneak these items out of Mitsuru-senpai's or Aigis' watch? Makoto would have wanted to reminisce more of the past, but still...
"There's not much time." Seriousness took over as Makoto reminded himself at the risk Elizabeth has been putting herself into.
There is not much she could do to prevent whatever being that is from following after a period of time. Probably even shorter than what she is trying to lead him on. That girl is very stubborn about doing what she wanted even when an obstacle is in her way, after all.
He can only hope Elizabeth will choose to escape immediately rather than make any more decisions that would put her at risk.
Makoto closed the briefcase and carried it on his right hand.
"Now then..."
Based on the hue of the sky, it seems there is only a few hours left before night sets in. The first objective he should take at this moment was to figure where in the world he is currently at.
It would be inefficient if he hunted shadows blindly without knowing which location could potentially generate powerful negative emotions, which is both a way for shadows to manifest Themselves into reality and a sort of magnet that attracts them to congregate into masses.
There were also those that should be scattered around the outskirts, or in this case, wilderness. But those are scarce and would not give him any significant boost for his main objective.
With that, Makoto identified the direction the sun is moving towards, before picking his own and walking straight for south without a hint of shift in his path.
It took barely two hours since he started walking when the sky eventually turned dark and was given the opportunity to peak at the moon. But when Makoto caught sight of it, he could barely contain the shocked look on his face.
Half of the moon has been blown and scattered like a debris following its whole body. It is way larger than it previously is, but not to the size comparable to when the Dark Hour is active.
"Did— did we really go that far...?" Makoto muttered in shock. His eye widened just at the sight of it.
It seems having two powerful almighty spells clashing against one another does have devastating effects outside of what is supposed to be a contained, and isolated realm. This probably have caused some panic and irreversible effects which can no longer be negated at this point.
With an audible sigh, Makoto pushed back the emotions and thoughts going over his mind to continue on his path.
Makoto paused when he suddenly caught a shadow move in the far corner of his vision. It was only in an instant, but it was large enough for him to tell it's not normal.
Soon enough, a large wolf like shadow emerged from a bush and leapt towards him with its maw open.
A new type?
Makoto easily avoided the surprise attack by stepping aside, before summoning Orpheus to attack.
Although the shadow retaliated by swiping its claws repeatedly at him, the attacks were easily read by Makoto and was destroyed after receiving another [Bash] attack from Orpheus.
—Hmm?! Orpheus can use [Agi] now. Makoto noted as a pale blue glow emanated from Orpheus for a few seconds.
That has been the first shadow he found in this world so far, and have finally gained access to a skill that will not drain him of his soul. Physical skills' costs depends on the user's stamina, or in this case, his psyche. The higher it is, the higher the costs required to use one.
Therefore similar to his battle with Erebus, cycling through both gauges to last longer in a fight is not possible.
However, while that may have been the case previously. Right now, the costs for a single [Bash] skill is only equivalent to the cost of two [Agi] spells, which would help him with a lot of scenarios at the moment, but not if he wanted to preserve as much of his psyche as possible.
Makoto was about to continue treading down his path when he found more signs of the same type of shadow in his vicinity.
It remains unknown how many shadows were here since they all possess higher speed stats for a shadow at their level, but Makoto is certain they have already surrounded him.
"Come, Orpheus. We have some training to do."
Orpheus floated behind him whilst he idly stood and began to recuperate even just a bit of what was expended during the first attack, including the gap when his power increased. Eyes darting around for any immediate threats.
"There's no chance for escape but, hm..."
With a plan in mind, Makoto gave his command to Orpheus who took the lyre on its back, ready to cast [Agi] at moment's notice.
Not long after, the shadows stopped circling around him and changed directions. Approaching at a speed that could reach him at breakneck speed. But before they could completely reach him, they were suddenly engulfed by several explosions coming out of nowhere.
Just a second ago, Makoto caught one shadow pause and suddenly change its direction. At the same time, Orpheus' eyes began to glow with an intense red, like a fire is brewing inside, and conjured small explosions in front of each shadows that appeared.
Exactly twelve [Agi] spells exploded until Orpheus stopped attacking.
The damage they took should make it easy enough for Makoto to dispatch of them once they reached his attack range.
Just as the first shadow was about to attack him from behind, Orpheus immediately sent an [Agi] spell at it. Letting Makoto dispatch of the shadow quickly with his usual unarmed combo.
An upper-cut was thrown at a shadow who dared dash at him with its head lowered, with a force that made the shadow stand straight on its two hind legs before dying from another [Agi] spell.
A shadow was promptly sent tumbling down to the ground head first after a wind-up punch. Making it disappear right immediately after an [Agi] was sent its way.
They kept coming at him as they were slowly being taken care of, not one giving him a chance to leave the encirclement he found himself into. Which is a good strategy, he admits. In addition, knowing that he cannot carelessly expend skills and tank damage like in the past, this is actually proving to be more dangerous than when he first entered Tartarus.
However, as long as he paid attention and focused more on dodging their attacks, the limitation will not be too restrictive. His psyche could at the very least manage to keep itself to about seventy five to eighty percent excluding the costs of Orpheus' skills.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. With Orpheus' stats reverted to its innate form, dodging wasn't exactly his strongest suit at the moment. He may have easily dodged those he caught sight of due to their telegraphed attacks, but those that came from behind were just too difficult to evade without Orpheus bombarding them with [Agi] to hold them for a second.
They were moving like an actual pack of wolves. Preying on a lone pitiful soul to feast upon. However, they are still too weak when it comes to their endurance stat.
Of the twelve shadows who came to prey at him, only four remained with one of them being an evolved variant.
It's probably the leader of this pack of shadows if he regarded them as actual pack of wolves, but he doesn't really care. Makoto scanned its large frame, but nothing seems to point towards an elemental type of skill that he should be wary of. This type of shadow is probably one of those that prioritizes physical skills over magic.
While this shadow in particular is larger than the others, its intimidating appearance ends there even with its bones protruding from its back and skull exposed. The lack of any signs pointing to what Arcana it is aligned to made Makoto frown in disappointment.
Orpheus hovered down beside him and conjured a round of [Agi] spells on the normal ones until they were all destroyed. A set up to learn what sets of abilities this variant have in particular.
The shadow growled and dragged its claws to the ground before swiping upwards, its attack came way faster than the others but was successfully avoided nonetheless. But its attack seem to have two purposes however, as rock and dirt came at him from below, dealing a few damage to him as he took a step back.
Is this thing trying to blind me? The attack wouldn't really affect him due to his lack of functions a human body has, so it doesn't really matter in the end.
The shadow didn't let him get too far away as it immediately closed their distance from each other in a blink of an eye with its paws going to no doubt pounce at him. However, the shadow didn't consider Orpheus — who remains to be hovering beside him — to attack with its lyre, so it seems to have been startled when it was sent back rolling to the ground.
Makoto would have let Orpheus follow the attack with an [Agi] spell, but stopped when the shadow lunged forward and forced Makoto to step aside immediately. Its claws grazed him from the side and dealt almost double the current requirement for the [Bash] skill.
"Lets end this!"
Testing this shadow's capabilities any further proved to be more risky than destroying it in his current level. With that in mind, Makoto made Orpheus charge forward and bash the shadow with its lyre on hand. The shadow was able to immediately stand up like before, but Makoto wasn't having it and made Orpheus continuously pummel it with its lyre.
The ground beneath the shadow formed a crater as Orpheus' lyre was brought down for the last time, followed by an [Agi] spell which finally finished the shadow.
Makoto sighed as the battle ended. He starting to feel himself edge closer to his threshold once again after failing to avoid that shadow's attack, so he immediately called for Orpheus to end the test.
He wasn't surprised to see the incorporeal cards in his mind and casually flipped a card to reveal the wand minor arcana.
Both him and Orpheus' power increased by two levels, which somehow fulfilled some sort of requirement for Orpheus to give him an item.
"What is... Hmm."
Makoto immediately realized what the card is for after seeing the word [Agi] written on the bottom. The front was drawn with a picture of a weak fire, while the back had the same half black and white mask that the major and minor arcana cards have.
The card isn't that useful right now, but it should be possible to give certain skills that are previously inaccessible to a persona via skill inheritance. An advantage that could balance the piles of disadvantages stacked against him.
However, based on how the card was obtained, the possibility of it being a one time use item is very high.
Unless he have a similar copy ready to be used. Without a compendium, using one would be a waste once the need to fuse for a powerful persona arise.
With a sigh, Makoto decided to pocket the [Agi] card for now. But instead of placing it in one of his pockets, his hand ripped open a portal which seem to lead to nowhere.
Having no qualms on spending a mere [Agi] card, he let go and took his hand off the portal, which immediately closed as he did.
Just to make sure, Makoto reached out in front of him to take the card back, which surely enough, ripped the space open again and felt the card within his reach.
Huh, does it have any limit? Makoto wondered as he bent a knee to pick the metal briefcase up beside him.
The portal opened again when he lifted the briefcase up in front of him, but there's a drastic change. The portal is now three times larger than the size it was before. He reached with his other hand to confirm if the card is still there, but he couldn't feel it.
Makoto thought he have lost it on the other side already as he couldn't feel anything even after waving his hand around in a certain pattern. Only when he began to think of taking the item out did it finally let itself get caught by his hand and appear from the other side.
Makoto hummed in affirmation before letting the metal briefcase get swallowed into the pocket dimension.
Neat. At least I wouldn't have to always carry it around with me anymore. He idly thought with a sigh.
A/N: Sorry for the late upload, for those who are expecting a weekly one. This should have been uploaded a week after the first, but I have to edit a lot of things and change how to balance the advantages and disadvantages Makoto will face in the new world.
I am able to finish proofreading and editing this by friday night, which should have been the time this was uploaded, if not for me forgetting about it entirely.
If you see something hard to understand, difficult to read, or the fight scene doesn't seem good. Please give me Feedback. I'd hate to find myself deleting this Side Project of mine because I found a lot of errors and restart right from the beginning like how I did multiple times with the Main Project. The "Webnovel" site is a barren wasteland you see.
The third chapter may come next week — I remain uncertain about that, — but the rough details and outline for chapters 3-4 have already been written, so I guess it will only take me a whole lot of dedication to not procrastinate again.
This chapter contains 3958 words.
Thank you for reading, I'll see you next time.