Author's Notes: Welcome back, one and all, to the best Persona 3 fic out there. This is neither pretense or hyperbole, of course, but simple statement of fact, and anyone who reads this work must naturally think so. First we will address those who have commented on this most perfect of works, and then we will enjoy more of said perfection.

A Gentle Goodnight: Welcome again. I'm glad you're enjoying the story this much. I'll strive to make it all worth the wait, I promise. I hope you're feeling better, and all the best to you as well these days. Take care, and enjoy!

SomebodyLost: To be fair, it's kind of a given that this is the sort of amazing awesomeness you won't find anywhere else. But since you mentioned it, I naturally have to say it more to make up for any absence of its mention before. You're welcome! I'm glad you liked all the details, I strive to make them as on-point as I can. And as to the last scene, what you described was exactly what I went for. If I achieved that, then I'm glad. Thanks again for the review, and I look forward to hearing what you think about this one.

Myalko: You love seeing the new chapters, and I love having people read them. Everybody wins! I'm sure you'll love this one too. Enjoy!

Brightwizard21: I like spicy. I'll take that as a compliment, thank you very much. And the other details, they're a blast to write, so I'll always have them there for you to enjoy. Cheers!

Armeh: Always great to see you. Welcome to the next chapter and the continuation of this little ball of insanity. I'm glad you're enjoying the story, and I will strive to make sure you feel the most of the scenes I put together. It's the least I can do for my readers. Hope you like this one!

Especial thanks to Firion for his help in making this as perfect as it is. The extra help went a long way on this one, good buddy – I couldn't so this without you. To my readers, do be sure to let us know which part you liked the most, yes?

With that, here we go.

Chapter 27 - Zornhau

This was it. The weeks had passed, the training had twice hit and crossed the breaking point, and the inexorable, pitiless current of time had brought everything and everyone to December 31st.

SEES was gathered outside of Tartarus, watching as the tower formed before their very eyes. They had avoided the New Year's Eve celebrations, declined party invitations and made sure not to get caught up in the crowds. Every one of them knew friends and classmates who were out there, who had gone out to party it up and watch with bated breath as January 1st approached. Those people were all in their coffins now, clustered together and glowing bright enough to see even against the murk of the Dark Hour and the bright full moon.

They awaited a future that now pirouetted and quick-stepped on the sword's edge.

SEES took it all in, reflected on how long they'd been doing this, and each one knew that this would be the last time they would see it. Every one of them was set on making sure that they would put this thing and the Dark Hour in the rear-view mirror, that this was their last battle together. More than one of them wondered if there would be the chance to celebrate on that first minute after midnight; Heaven knew they all deserved it.

Minato could feel the others getting restless, equally eager to get started yet paling against Nyx's presence. He shared the sentiment. The feeling was strong now, a constant blotch in the sky as though the sun was eclipsed even on bright, clear days, and more than once in the weeks leading up to now they had found themselves looking up and shuddering at the prospect of what was coming.

A leader should have some words at a time like this. That was what happened in the books and the movies, after all. Problem was, he had no idea what to say, so the best he could do was wing it.

"We've come a long way to get here," he began. "Gone through a lot, lost friends and made them. When it all comes down to this… well, I don't know anything about writing speeches, so make sure you're all here with me tomorrow. I'm not accepting anything less than our best, and once we're all back on our feet, we're going somewhere to celebrate and shutting the place down."

"Damn right!" Junpei cheered, and the others nodded. "And you're footing the bill, right?"

"The Kirijo Group can afford one night out for us," Mitsuru told them. "Either that or I'll buy everything and we'll do it at the compound. Seems the least I can do, and all the staff deserve a break, too."

"Means we have to make it through tonight," Akihiko noted. "Alive and in one piece, no surgeries or screw-ups. All of you watch your asses and don't get careless."

"And it wouldn't hurt for us to try and do something normal for a change," Yukari put in. "Let's make sure we get to the shrine tomorrow. There's no way next year's going to be anything like this one was, after all."

Junpei grinned. "That mean we get to see you guys in kimonos?"

"If you beat Nyx? I think I can swing that. We even have one for Aigis, just because I knew you'd ask."

"I am so there."

That got a nervous laugh all around. Some of them trembled, others were pale or grinning too wide to be completely okay. They were all showing the strain of Nyx's approach in different ways, but they were also here, ready and eager to fight when it counted. Minato looked at them and was proud to have met them, fought beside them and been counted as a friend to each one. He couldn't imagine going through life without these guys at his side, and now that the doomsday clock was ticking toward the end, he wanted to see what was on the other side of tomorrow for each of them.

He glanced at Mitsuru, the one who was so much more than a friend.

She looked back and smiled that smile he'd become so familiar with, the one that was offer and promise and expectation all at once. He wanted to see that smile tomorrow, the day after and every other day. He wanted her to not have to worry about the Dark Hour ever again, to only use a sword in sparring matches to blow off steam, and have something that kind of resembled a normal life. He wanted to be there and share that life with her, whatever it looked like.

Actually, this would be a perfect time to ruminate on the past and think "what if?" or freak out about some last-minute detail. But he'd told himself already; no more doubts or second-guessing. He'd promised his team, his family, and his girl that they would come through this, and by the gods that was exactly what all of them were going to do.

And, he reminded himself with a smile he couldn't suppress, he and Mitsuru still had four condoms to go through. If that wasn't enough, they could always stop somewhere and buy more; both of them would have good reason to celebrate, after all, and winning a fight this big would be a serious high.

He nodded back at her, straightening and trying to project that determination he felt, to be a man she could rely on even if he was the younger one and to be the leader the group knew and needed right now. Then he pulled in a steadying breath, drew his sword and his Evoker, and told his comrades and boon companions, "Let's do this."

The trip up Tartarus was familiar now. Weeks of practice and training had given them the monomolecular edge they needed to cut right to the top, and even the new floors beyond the final gate posed only some challenge to them. They struck in between each other's attacks, covered their weak spots on reflex, and moved like a single unit. Even when the Shadows attacked in a crazed panic, driven mad by Nyx's approach, SEES put them down hard. Wounds the crew took were healed, enemies were brought down, and every step forward was paved with combat and the victories that had brought them this far. Up a floor they went, then another, up and up and up until the very air trembled with Nyx's power.

If any one of them thought that it was bad at ground level, they hadn't considered the sheer density of it up here. It clung to them and clogged the lungs like smoke, reached out to suffocate them with untrammelled certainty. Yet each of them knew that when the bony guy with the scythe looked you in the eye and pointed your way, all you could do was stare back and smile. More than one of them wore such a grin, intoxicated with adrenaline and alive with purpose. With such force of will, upward and onward the team went.

It was at the last room, a circular chamber that sported only a towering staircase leading to the top floor, that they encountered a face as familiar as it was reviled.

"So Sakaki failed," Ikutsuki grunted, looking haggard and worn out with a rumpled and stained suit and unshaven jaw even while that crazed gleam lit his eyes. "When I contacted him, he had such potential. All of Strega did. But to die to children and fools... What a waste. Incidentally, how have you managed to make it this far without losing anyone else?" Despite the murderous fury from the entire group, he seemed undaunted and almost indifferent, like he was killing time without the faintest interest in anything else. Perhaps steeping in the compressed time of the Dark Hour had deadened his emotions, or maybe this was the real Ikutsuki, mask finally removed. Perhaps Nyx and the Dark Hour didn't affect him because there was so little left in him to affect anymore.

"Hiding behind your pawns like always," Akihiko snorted. "You could've at least tried something new, made this interesting for us. Or was that the only card you had to play? Did losing the death cult and your pawns scare you away because, for all your schemes and betrayals, that was the best you could do?"

"No kidding," Yukari added. "Don't tell me you've been hiding up here the entire time. I always thought you were crazy, but to just sit here and wait after all the hell you've caused us is pretty pathetic."

Ikutsuki brushed them off. "I have been awaiting Nyx and the completion of Kouetsu-sama's vision. That takes precedence over whatever you've been doing. So much work and study, the sheer measure of what he set out to accomplish, you wouldn't understand it."

"I think we understand more than you realize," Mitsuru growled, hand tight on her sword.

"You assume and theorize, but you don't have any idea what we did, what we aspired to even ten years ago. Kouetsu-sama's vision was incredible then, and the others… Children like you are blind to his vision, no matter if you saw it yourselves or not."

Aigis raised her hand. "Might you be speaking of the vision as stated in the records on your computer? I saw your passwords and security measures when we spoke; naturally, I gave my friends access to it when they asked."

"And we got into your safe, too," Akihiko put in. "The lock was pretty easy to break once we knew what to look for. We know all about what you were doing back then, right down to your precious Kouetsu-sama's master plan. Thanks for keeping all your notes around for us to find."

Ikutsuki went pale and trembled in disbelieving fury.

"And Abe-san wanted us to pass on a message," Junpei went on, a cold grin on his face. "Just in case we saw you. He said thanks for all the research data. The Kirijo Group can make a strong recovery and help a lot of people with what we got from you."

"I do owe you that much, Ikutsuki," Mitsuru stated. "That's the only good thing you've done in your entire career, perhaps in your entire life, but you were useful to us in that capacity, at least."

"You… you little rats! You worthless, meaningless idiots! How dare you use that information like that?! You wouldn't even begin to understand what potential it possesses! Aigis, how dare you betray me!?"

"I was always loyal to SEES, to the Kirijo Group, and to the mission of eliminating the Shadows," Aigis replied, her vocal synthesizers rattling with anger. "You chose to betray us, thus you are the enemy. Enemies are not given consideration or quarter."

More than one of the group snickered at Ikutsuki's outburst. Abe-san had been right on the money, and seeing their traitor snap over something so elementary brought a fierce kind of joy to them. They had gotten back at him in a way that truly hurt, at a time when he was anticipating victory and vindication, and with the very information he so richly valued. When someone valued so little else and based their existence on it – particularly when they believed themselves smarter than anyone else – any disruption to their plans was critical. Nothing highlighted their faults more. Accordingly, Ikutsuki drew himself up and tried to look imposing, but all the team saw was the remnant of a failure, someone clinging to a fleeting idea with all his strength because without it, he was nothing at all. A hanger-on clinging to the coattails of greatness, fluttering about in the wind because he wasn't strong enough to stand on his own.

For that one fleeting moment, it was hard to hate him, because a compassionate heart had difficulty hating someone so pathetic.

Then the tower began to vibrate and tremble. The very air pressed in under the weight of approaching doomsday. SEES flinched and bared their teeth, bracing against Nyx's presence.

Ikutsuki, on the other hand, looked up and raised his arms in reverence. "She is here at last." He turned and ran up the stairs.

SEES followed, weapons and Evokers at the ready. They came to the top of the tower, took the final steps to their destination, and saw the markings on the black granite surface. It was a giant spell, one that was almost impossible to follow or decipher, but they all knew it was there for summoning something enormous, like a giant bullseye on Earth telling Nyx, "Aim here."

And standing in the centre of the space was a person, only they all knew immediately that this thing wasn't human. No human felt this much like a Shadow. The figure wore flowing grey robes and a cloak. In the place of a face with even the facsimile of life or humanity, here there was a mottled stone mask complete with empty eyes and mouth. The figure could see – feeling the weight of its gaze as it watched them proved as much – but behind the mask there was only twisting, bottomless darkness.

"Welcome, children of Man," it intoned in a voice similar to Ryoji's. This thing's voice was also multilayered and varied, different inflections and emphases coming together in a wave of sound, and even the base voice sounded the same as the flighty student. This thing, however, had more of them and possessed an even greater presence than Ryoji had. Its words crashed forward like water rushing from a dam, rolling over all in its path and flooding over whatever was not carried away. Even from this far away, SEES braced against the impact.

Minato stepped forward, knowing what this thing was without any introduction. It was strange, seeing an element of himself – or even something foreign that he'd harboured for so long as to think of as himself – outside of his body. But now the pieces came together with a neat little click, and the familiar bone-deep revulsion and hatred, same as with Ryoji, roiled in his marrow and spread through his body, the purely human reaction to this thing before him. "You're Death, aren't you? The harbinger of Nyx, Her avatar and the last Shadow."

"Correct. Mortals and their machines cannot conceive of this concept with their flawed, organic senses, so they create a face for the idea. What you see now, what you saw when the others first emerged, it is a crude manifestation of what we are. Even with your Personas, your means of perception are mundane. Primitive. You seek to understand an idea that predates accurate description of it, so I have provided you with a figure you might interact with. Your efforts have earned you this smallest of privileges."

Aigis trembled, coming face to face with the thing she had lost to before, the thing that had forced her hand and caused so much suffering. It had shed its mortal shell now and faced them, its power clear and purpose manifest, and her subroutines began to fire and cascade, heating her up.

Ever the opportunist, Ikutsuki went up to the figure and bowed in genuflection. "I have delivered this world to you, Great One," he said, trembling with awe. "It is rife with corruption, filthy and unfit for any purpose beyond destruction. Death comes to wash life clean from this planet, and I have aided you in what meager means that I can."

Death turned incrementally, deigning to see the prostrated human in its most peripheral vision. Even from that distance, SEES could feel the towering contempt the figure held for him.

Apparently Ikutsuki could too, because he talked even faster. "I have done as I should have. I facilitated the destruction of Nyx's messengers, brought forth Her glory before Her arrival, and facilitated the ease of destroying this world. I have followed Her all this time, and I ask only that I see Her as She arrives."

"You who believe yourself an Acolyte to Nyx's will, you are a failure," Death declared, its voice heavier and feeling like it came from further away, so hitting with greater impact and increasing pressure. "Not worthy even of perception, let alone notice. You kill and cause evil in Her name, you cleave to a borrowed idea that was broken to begin with, and you think yourself enlightened. Were your blindness not so pitiable, it would be pathetic. You renew nothing, you destroy with paltry cause, and you believe this is Death? You believe this serves Her?"

Ikutsuki recoiled as if struck, eyes wide and body starting to shake. "I.. I did this for Kouetsu-sama. His vision for Nyx has brought this to pass. He set these events into motion, he brought all of this to pass, and without him–"

Somehow, Death spoke with even more contempt. "The mortal you name. The deluded one. He was a tool of convenience, nothing more. Many destroy with no desire for renewal, and they would have bastardized our purpose as well as he did. He merely looked into the abyss sooner than other children of Man did and dabbled in what he did not understand. His purpose does not persist; it ended when he did because neither had any further use. Neither ever did."

Ikutsuki shook even harder. "I… he said he would control it. He had the power to command Nyx, to harness the Shadows and bring his vision to the world! With what he knew, he would have been master of everything! I know this! I saw it!"

Death didn't laugh, but its tone took on a note of amusement, as much as an entity like this could find anything humorous. That was even more frightening, Persona or no, than its anger. "Your mortal master was wrong, as a mortal would be. To destroy without meaning or purpose, without desire for something more, this is the inverse of Death. Viruses behave that way. That is not what was intended by Nyx, and to pervert such great intent is as much an affront as the presumption that your mortal could ever control Her. Only a mortal could be so insignificant and yet so arrogant, and neither aspersion has gone unnoticed."

The voice ended on a distinctly threatening note. It was a greater revenge on Ikutsuki, SEES realized, than what Junpei said or anything they could have done. Only now was he seeing the truth of what he had followed and worshiped, and he had no illusions to hide behind or defences to run to. The foundation of his life was nothing but background on a theatre stage, and the curtain had been drawn back to reveal what everyone else had always known was there.

"You disregard these children of Man as insignificant and without intelligence," Death continued, "yet they know this truth, so I will illuminate only you. What you so proudly refer to as the Fall, that which you believe your master set into motion, is natural to mortals. We are rooted into your psyche, into the very threads that constitute the fabric of your existence from when you arose from the dirt. Those which you call gods have their potential in all of Man, and few are stronger than the mortal drive toward death. You wish it on others, fear it when it comes for you, and seek to appease it through the basest of understandings as only your species can. And those who look to it for wisdom see themselves as exalted, as though it holds greater meaning than worshipping tides or the stars, both equally inevitable and beyond your species."

Death focused on Ikutsuki, who was gaping in place like a mouse in the gaze of a viper.

"Your master acted on the inevitable and you perceive him as unique. Nyx, the Fall, I, all would have occurred without him. His actions, your studies, the technology you have built upon and the treacheries you have enacted for this cause you believe to be divine has as much bearing on what you see now as a hurricane owes its power to a butterfly. You use Nyx as your justification for your own purely human actions, Her name and Her cause to rationalize the atrocities you have committed. Should She ever hear of such, She would be deeply displeased. I will not allow Her to hear such, and so the disgrace will be tended to right now. You have sown the wind, little parasite. Now reap the storm."

Death negligently brushed its hand back, but a concussive wave ripped forward and crashed into the traitor, hitting hard and then disappearing without a trace. Within seconds, Ikutsuki began to tremble, cough violently, and curl into himself.

"This is the death that so fascinated you and your master. This is what you have brought upon others so willingly when you bore none of the risks they did. I find it only fair that you experience the same. Do you not agree?"

Ikutsuki crumpled to the ground, writhing in agony so intense he couldn't even scream. "Please," he croaked as he clutched at his stomach, "it hurts. It hurts." His skin turned blotchy, dripping in sweat. In under a minute, he was trembling so much he could barely even talk.

"This is sepsis. You will find it to be quite lethal. You should feel honoured," Death noted, dangerously entertained. "But you do not feel honoured. No, you're afraid. Why? What could possibly scare you, the one who so bravely sacrificed others in your place?"

"The… pain…"

"Pain precedes death and defines life. Without it, you do not have existence, nor could that existence end. This is a fundamental rule. Where is your determination? Your faith? Why do you now want it to end? Others suffered more for longer than this and they didn't have your dedication. Some have even enacted their own demise in pursuit of sacred causes and the promise of the afterlife. It is the nature of Man to confront death and sacrifice for others, to die so others might live. Surely you, with your manipulations and great cause, are superior to these you deem to be fools. Are you not?"

"Pl… please… I can't..."

"How disappointing. How utterly inadequate." Death flicked a finger as though at a fly. Darkness twisted and writhed in front of it, curving into the hazy forms of sharpened teeth and curved blades.

Ikutsuki was cognizant enough to flop back, screaming madly for help as his doom approached. Then the blackness raced at him like a fired shot, and the echo of Ikutsuki's scream was all that was left of him – the rending shockwave liquefied him, flesh and bone and all, and left him as nothing but a long, wet blood smear on the ground.

"The wages of evil," Death concluded.

SEES looked at what had been a human being, then at Death. "Is that what you'll do to us, too?" Akihiko asked.

"I enforce Her will. Nyx has a vision for this world and its peoples, and those who stand against Her will be disposed of first. I presume you count yourself among that number? It is why you came here." Death looked at them, its air shifting from arrogant to assessing. "You, at least, have earned the right to do battle for what you believe in. It stood to reason that those who killed Her messengers would become strong, would harness themselves and wield their darkness as Personas. But are you strong enough to face your fate? Do the children of Man have the power to avert this destiny?"

"We do," Minato asserted, stepping forward in the face of Death's presence. "We all do. We're putting an end to Nyx and stopping the Fall, right here and now."

"With such determination, perhaps you might do so. I am curious. Show me what you can do, young ones, and fight this battle at your best – these will be your last moments of life, otherwise."

The team braced and glowed with power, but Aigis shivered. Her systems had amped up and were now kicking into overdrive, running hotter than ever.

Sister.

The word rang through her cortices, an audio signal with no external stimuli, and her hands shook. No longer was Metis's voice a cry of betrayal or a keen of lament. Now it was an affirmation in anticipation of triumph. Aigis stared at Death and her vision cleared of any doubt or recrimination. She felt an immutable sense of rightness, and her circuits glowed with power as the air whipped and bent around her. This feeling was purpose, she knew. Her purpose. Not to fight Death as it was sealed inside Minato-san, not to face Thanatos while riddled with guilt or to fight with herself about the nature of her mission, but this, here and now, to defeat Nyx and prevent the Fall of Man.

Sister.

Her combat protocols initiated, cascading faster than she'd ever experienced, reaching for the parts of her that had broken and filling in what was missing. The programs she had received from Metis overrode her limitations, substituted those functions and compensated for her flaws from the ground up and burned bright, so bright that her aura manifested and cracked reality.

Sister.

Not just Metis, but all the others, dead or deactivated or lost. They were with her, here at the very end, and their will and focus joined hers. They were beside her, and they would not let her fail. Aigis looked upon her enemy and knew that she'd been created – had been born – for this. She stepped forward, and the ground trembled as she blazed incandescent.

Palladion appeared, then disintegrated into light and armour, reforming into the goddess that did not know defeat. A warrior's helmet and breastplate manifested, covering a face and body made of pure energy and clad in a scarlet cape that had once been Psyche's ribbon, a spear and shield in hand.

Aigis looked at her Persona, whole and ready after so very long for what they had been created to do. "Pallas Athena," she said, and the Persona readied its spear.

Now, after so much and so long, they were ready.

Death nodded. "You are set on this path, children of Man. Show me your resolve." The last Shadow shifted its form, grew two more sets of arms, and tore the Dark Hour open as it struck.

SEES blazed bright in unison, meeting their final enemy.

Fuuka stepped back and summoned Juno, scanning the last Shadow with all the skill their training had imparted on her. She read its nature, saw its flaws and strengths, and when it stared at her and tried to change its nature or confuse her readings, she grit her teeth and pushed past its influence. Its whispers in her head became commands in her ears, her skin prickling as she teetered on the edge and stared into Death, but she didn't submit to its will. So long around Thanatos, feeling the aura of power around the giant, had bolstered her resistance to the fear Death radiated, and it was the same with all of them. "I can see it," she told the others, and the fight was well and truly on.

Death altered its nature in between strikes, shifting from throwing spells to hurling blades and repeats, but at every turn SEES adjusted and fought back. It hammered at them with sledge hands and sickles, but Athena shielded everyone, taking the hits without budging. Death chilled the air and shot icicles at them, but Artemisia buffeted against the sub-zero winds with grace while Junpei and Koromaru burned bright, hitting back with flames straight from the forge of the gods. Lightning and wind, darkness and light, at every turn Death fought them unrelentingly, and at every turn the team met its attacks and struck at its weaknesses. In the middle of it all was Minato, adjusting his Personas to the situation and either buying the others time or being the first to fight back. He was moving as fast as Fuuka could relay information, sometimes even faster. He was on the edge of himself, past the point of perception. He read Death, felt the shifts within himself, and acted an instant after the Shadow did, cutting its advantages down to almost nothing.

The numerous iterations of Death fell, one by one. Its armour was scorched, its arms broken, whole parts of the empty darkness inside revealed as its shell was torn apart by the force of their blasts. The metal monstrosity disintegrated and the figure floated in place once more, sounding slightly muted and almost respectful.

"I am impressed, children of Man. You know the fate of your species, yet you fight against it with such might and determination. By such actions is the world changed. Had more people been like you, then and now, perhaps the Fall could have been prevented."

XIII appeared behind it, and Death reached its hand out.

"But it is too late. Your demise is written, and so it shall be brought to pass."

The Shadow's hand twisted, and Minato crumpled to his knees, feeling something jerk and tear inside of him. He lost his breath and couldn't even scream as that something was ripped out through his chest, leaving him barely hanging onto consciousness. Black streams of power burst from him, and he was left with the horrifying absence where his power should be.

Yukari rushed up to him, her hands already glowing, and her healing twisted the knife in his nerves, but the pain was tertiary as he looked up. Those black streams coalesced into the air before Death, forming into familiar denizens of his soul that he knew now weren't under his control. The Red Serpent from the Garden, the Entombed God of the Underworld, the Pale Rider, and Thanatos itself manifested and stood against them. The Death Bringer looked furious and especially anticipatory, finally free of Minato's control and able to enact its mission upon the world.

The most ancient manifestations of death known to man. The strongest of the thirteenth Arcana. There was poetry to the idea, really. Death had granted this power upon Minato, knowingly or not, and the Shadow could as readily take that power back.

"Like we weren't fighting hard enough already," Junpei bit out.

"If it's pulling tricks like this out of its hat," Akihiko answered, cracking his neck, "then it has to be on the ropes."

"It is," Minato confirmed, hunched over and biting back the pain. "It's running out of cards to play." He glanced over at Mitsuru and Yukari. "This is up to you."

"Are you okay?" his beloved asked.

"I'll make it. I've got a plan in mind, and I need to focus on that."

"Please tell me it isn't something crazy."

Minato shot back a vial of one of their emergency preserves, feeling his vitality and focus return. "It absolutely is, but I think it'll work."

She looked at him, dirty and sweaty and worried and utterly beautiful.

He smiled, hoped it was charming, and told her, "Trust me."

Mitsuru nodded, sent the orders to Yukari and Akihiko, and healing spells blazed through the team. "This is it," she announced to the team. "But even if there was more to come, we would fight. We'd fight it all, and we would win."

"Damn straight," Akihiko breathed. "Let's do this."

Again, the team's countless hours of training and trials showed through. They formed a half-circle around Minato, dug in, and blazed blue. When the Pale Rider stormed forward, scythe low to cut down any who stood against it, Akihiko blew the air apart with lightning, forcing the steed to dodge and weave, cutting out its momentum. Aigis met the charge head-on, Pallas Athena taking the blow on her shield and hammering back with her lance. When the horse lashed out, hooves shod with sharpened bone to cut, Athena took the hit and let her armour be scraped but slammed the edge of her shield into the horse's head, staggering it back and ducking under the scythe blow that would have cut through her neck.

Mot clambered forward, undead legions materializing around it and scrabbling toward the team, and Samael swooped in with bared fangs and sharpened claws. Yukari brought the winds down, sending the serpent banking and rolling to try and get a good approach. The undead rushed forward, their infirmity a facade, but Koromaru howled while Junpei slammed a foot into the ground, both turning yellow-hot with flames and burning the undead to ash. Mitsuru and Ken struck from the sides, cutting and ducking this way and that, leaving corpses in their wake that disintegrated into darkness.

Worst, however, was Thanatos. Not content to wait, the Death Bringer waded forward, chains lashing out and coffins whipping through the air. Athena was knocked back, but she refused to give ground. She braced for the impact, and Aigis stared at her foe with inhuman determination. "No," was all she said, and her aura burned bright.

"That settles it," Mitsuru growled. "Amada! Akihiko!"

The pair nodded, rushing to intercept the Pale Rider. Caesar blocked the strike, but the steed crashed into him, flailing and tearing at this foe that wasn't as hard as Athena had been.

A weaker opponent. An easier target.

That had been the point.

Ken gripped his Evoker so hard his knuckles were corpse-white, threw himself inward, and pulled the trigger. Kala-Nemi manifested, letting loose a blast of the strongest, purest light she could. The Pale Rider flinched under the blow, then was disintegrated under the force of something it couldn't withstand. Both it and its horse screamed out once before being obliterated.

The light had been aimed upward as well. Samael had banked to avoid some of it, but its wings were sheared as it tried to move, and the serpent was caught by a furious wind gust and hammered into the ground with bone-breaking force. Yukari growled and blasted it once more, and the creature broke apart into darkness even before its body finished tumbling.

The undead were learning to fear the fires of the forge, but they couldn't move back fast enough. Junpei's sweat was evaporating as fast as it came out, and he grinned fearlessly as the flames grew hotter. Mot shambled forward, finally ready to fight them directly, but Caesar brought the lightning down and shattered its coffin open. Before it could respond, Koromaru and Junpei sent the fires inside to cook it where it stood, and Ken sent one last blast of light in to finish it off.

It didn't have the time to shout out its fury, and no one would have heard it – Thanatos was doing that all by itself.

Athena was in trouble. Being hammered by the coffins and held in place by the chains, she was looking to share Palladion's fate from when Ikutsuki betrayed them. The Persona's armour was gouged and pale blood spilled from its wounds, its shield was battered and broken on the edges, and its defenses were quickly being pushed past their limits. But Aigis refused to back down. It was clear she would rather die than fail again, and she was swiftly looking to suffer exactly that. Still, she smiled grimly as the Death Bringer pressed forward, its growls promising a slow, agonizing demise.

But this wasn't like last time. Not in the least.

Artemisia darted in and struck, diverting the giant's attention. Caesar hit from the other side, and Junpei projected a shield in time to deflect a coffin that would have caved Athena's skull in. Thanatos rumbled and lashed out, taking on the three new opponents with savage drive. More than just its fury against the living, it retained the rage at being restrained, interfered with, and even bested by some of these warriors. For the living, Thanatos felt no mercy, but for SEES it harboured a special hatred. This was what fuelled its sword strokes that fell like a butcher's cleaver, totally without finesse or subtlety. Caesar was driven back a step, but blazed bright and fought back just as hard. The winds crashed into Thanatos, driving it back and robbing it of its momentum, and flames from Koromaru scorched its armor and blew holes in it. And when Thanatos broke Junpei's blades, Trismegistus crafted a massive sledge and slammed it into the titan's shoulder, driving it back. Each strike came easily and naturally to the team that had trained against this very foe, and what started as Death's advantage was quickly turned against it, especially as Athena choked up on her spear, ducked under one wild swing and thrust into the behemoth's throat, crunching between armor and helmet.

Thanatos staggered back, trying to stem its now-mortal wounds, and bowed under the weight of losing to the mortals it so roundly detested. Its aura wavered, but then solidified as Death materialized above it. The dark remnants of the others gathered inside of Death and morphed it, changed it as the last Shadow took to the stage itself. Pure power surrounded it as its hood was raised and two familiar pistols manifested in its hands while that terrible red glow emitted from its eyes.

The last card of extinction. The Reaper itself.

Death trembled with its own power, pushing Thanatos even harder while it built up to something that would eradicate SEES once and for all. At Mitsuru's command, the group rushed next to Aigis, behind Athena as she raised her shield. And that shield glowed with runes graced by Trismegistus, able to withstand any blow from any foe.

Before Death or Thanatos could move, Minato completed his preparations.

The others had bought him the time to prepare the one little trick he'd devised after the fight with Ryoji. It wasn't something Thanatos would know about since Minato had never used this before, but the potential had been there. He'd thrown himself into it as the battles were waged, and now, around him, a new spell was engraved into the ground, glowing and pulsing with the force of his will. He stared at their foe and threw all of himself into what he was doing without hesitation. His right hand went up toward Heaven, left hand down to Hell. Light and dark swirled around him, twisting in a vortex of power that whipped and churned around him, pushing out sound and light. The currents pulled at him, tried to yank him in every different direction, and he steadied himself only through focus. Every wound he'd suffered, from the Shadows and Sakaki to Metis and Akihiko-senpai, helped him ignore the pain, and he pushed onward.

The spell manifested and grew around him, expanding as light blazed on one side and was utterly absorbed on the other. White and black shone with a circle of each in the other, a grey line snaking between the two halves. Absolute good balanced against absolute evil with Man standing in the middle, a foot on each side. Minato grit his teeth and concentrated as the spell coalesced and gathered power, burgeoning inside him and demanding an outlet, seeking any weakness through which to burst out of him. His control slipped once, but he ground his teeth together and fought on.

Impossibly, this was worse than his fight with Ryoji. He was going further than he ever had before, and he could only do so because of their extra training. Every molecule of his body strained against the pressure of what he was doing, braced against the sheer force of the entities he held within. But in the heart of that storm, past the deafening noise and the slipping control, he found an instant of calm presence and stillness of mind.

There, as he stared at his foe, he understood. He well and truly got it.

This was the essence of Death, both the Shadow and the tarot card. Not annihilation, but transition. One thing ends, something new grows from the husk and lives a fresh existence, continuing the cycle. That also meant personal change. Child to adult, amateur to expert, failure to success, over and over. Mistakes were learned from and served as the foundation of future lessons, and the individual died and was reborn over and over until they were truly capable, strong, and whole. Even life ending was not a true end, but a shift to a new phase of existence.

All that was only possible so long as they were alive and free to make those mistakes and grow, to be reborn through one's own actions after even the worst failure. The potential their future promised would be lost for everyone if Nyx won now. It would mean life on Her terms, only as She decided, if She indeed bothered letting them live at all.

Minato rejected that future. He pushed every fibre of his being to make his vision come true, and completed the circuit of light and dark inside of him, forcing the powers and entities to bend to his will.

His die was cast.

Your fate against mine.

The two aspects of the fallen angel – one light and pristine, the other dark and prideful – appeared over each shoulder, two sets of six wings outstretched with the one summoner between them. Their powers rose and merged, blending into the purest form of anything conceived by man.

"I am thou."

Minato held his hand out and directed that power, a blast that tore through the Dark Hour in its passing.

Thanatos tried to defend itself, but its armour and coffins disintegrated in a concussion of light, its last roar of disbelieving fury cut short as it was blown into component atoms. The Reaper was next. It tried to fend the blast off, but it was hit too hard, too fast, and overloaded from its magic. It writhed on the blast, broke apart, and its own power detonated, leaving not even a shadow or a glimmer behind. And so Death was hit with the perfect spiral of light and dark, and no matter how it twisted and turned, it wasn't enough. The combined blasts struck and spun like a drill, boring into its chest and expanding outward, ripping and tearing the figure until its body exploded in one final concussive blast that sent them all to their feet.

The only thing left of it was its burnt and ragged mask, and even that tilted and tumbled to the ground. Nothing else remained.

The Dark Hour went silent. Even the team's laboured breathing stopped as they all looked for another enemy, expecting another Shadow or some new form of Death to arise.

Seconds went by, then half a minute. Nothing.

"Is…" Junpei asked, panting but quiet like he was afraid to jinx them. "Is that it? Is it dead?"

"I don't feel anything," Fuuka offered, just as gingerly.

Minato trembled in place, hands on his knees. If he tried to move, odds are he'd be on the ground. "Hard to imagine anything could have survived that. Damn thing took everything I had."

Mitsuru was at his side, easing herself under his arm and supporting him. "Are you okay?"

"I could sleep for a week," he admitted, letting her brace his weight as he began to shake.

"I think we all could."

Everything was still. The wind was calm, the oppressive gravity of Nyx was lightening, and the moon began to flicker and dim, looking almost normal.

Yukari looked up. "Does… that that mean we–"

The mask rattled, bumped and rocked. Scraped on the ground.

Then it rose, the inside facing out, its eyes bright and its mouth up in a macabre smile.

The pressure hammered into them, worse than anything they'd felt yet. It crushed air from the lungs, buckled the knees, and forced the joints inward, down, down to the ground in submission. All of them, even Aigis, were made to kneel. Their Personas all vanished, snuffed out by the growing presence of something even worse than what they've faced so far. The force of the compulsion radiated from the mask, hissed in the air like an invisible tempest.

Minato covered Mitsuru even as she tried to do the same, and they all looked at the mask in growing horror.

"My children," a new voice said to them, layered and echoing off of itself, feminine and burning the nerves in passing. It was worse than Death or Ryoji. This was a sound no mortal was ever meant to encounter. "My dear, precious young ones. You have come this far and worked so hard, and you did it all in greeting and grateful obedience, have you not?"

"Is this…?" Akihiko ground out.

"It's Nyx," Minato confirmed, too drained and numb to let the fear hit. He knew it, had the residual elements of Death in him to confirm it. No, he thought with horror, it was Death that resembled Nyx, an infinitesimal fragment broken off and used for purpose. To compare Death to Nyx was setting a candle next to a hydrogen bomb. Despair tried to get in, but even that failed, so oppressive was Her presence. She conquered all, even their every scrap of attention.

"Your defiance is misplaced," the voice continued, the mask bobbing in a morbid mimicry of joy. "Truly, to think you would all be so badly misled. It is a tragedy for you to have presumed you could change what has been set into motion. This is the way of things, you see. It is necessary, and it is all for your own good."

"We don't… want it." Junpei managed.

"Now, now. Kindly refrain from acting in haste, and certainly do not think to dismiss something without considering it. After all, you cannot possibly have thought through all the details."

"I said… you can take it and–"

"SILENCE!" The mask jetted forward, carrying the full weight of displeasure that almost blasted their joints apart. It was a pain they could feel in their eyes and between their teeth, between muscle and bone and marrow, right in between separate thoughts.

No one dared speak. They were just trying to hold their bodies together.

"You felt that, did you not? That is the punishment for bravado. Do not presume to try that again, or it will be much, much worse, I assure you. It can always be worse. Am I understood? Am I clear?"

One could barely nod through the pain.

"Good." The pressure eased up a little. "Insubordination will not do. Not among my subjects and certainly not among my darling children. You will learn, though. Everyone will learn."

"What... will you do?" Minato asked, staring at the mask.

"Why, what I am supposed to do, of course. What I must do. Look at the mess humans have made of things. I certainly cannot stand by and do nothing, can I? No, what I will do, it is necessary."

"We tried… to stop you."

The mask bobbed in gentle laughter that somehow still hurt. "My dear, who convinced you that such a thing was ever possible? Tell me, please, so that I can correct them. They should never have spread such lies. No, my darling, what I will do is what is necessary, and it has been coming for a very long time. This is what everyone wanted, what they desired even as they say otherwise. They are all quite convinced that they did not want me to come, actually. Calling to me one minute, then pretending the contrary when someone comes by and asks. Short-sighted and inconsiderate of them, honestly, but what can one expect of mortals?"

"What now?"

"The future comes now. I am here, so you can rest. Stop your struggles and your fighting, let go, and I will do what I have come here to do. You will understand when I get started, and you will see how right I am. You will have quite some time to realize that, too. All of you in particular. After all, you are strong enough to live quite a while to see it all. Assuming you behave, of course."

Minato's chest clenched and grew hot. Something stirred in his soul, something foreign and hot. "Wait… we–"

Her voice was gentle now, soft and lulling. "Hush, little one. Sleep now. I will take care of everything."

One couldn't fight against that instruction. No one had any fight left in them. Minato's head hit the ground, the last of his resistance draining out.

"Shhhh."


The ground felt like carpet, and the wind sounded like gears. Worse, everything rocked and jostled like he was inside some kind of lift. Something else to figure out when–

Wait. There was no something else because there was nothing else right now. Nyx, the Dark Hour, the presence in his head and body… It was all missing. If there was something to feel, then he wasn't on Tartarus anymore.

So where was he?

Minato opened his eyes, groaned against the pain, and pushed to his feet. The pressure, the agony, the voice, it was all gone, and at least he could live with this kind of pain. Wherever he was, it felt vaguely familiar. The lightning, the clicking of gears, even the smell...

"Greetings, young man." That voice was familiar. "I'm glad you could make it."

Minato grabbed onto the nearby chair to steady himself and blinked blearily at Igor, the crooked old man sitting behind the table like always. And this was still the Velvet Room, complete with the clock on the wall. Even Elizabeth was there, watching silently and eyes distant as she kept her silence.

"Where have you been?" Minato's voice sounded rough even to himself, and it hurt to push the words past his aching vocal cords. Nyx had even hit him there. "I haven't been able to get in here in months. You locked the door."

"That was necessary, I'm afraid."

"Necessary? I'd love to know why. You said we could fight Nyx, but… She's here, at Tartarus, and we couldn't even stand up. We killed Death, but She came anyway."

Igor shifted in his seat. "One thing at a time, my Contractor. First, my absence was necessary so that you could find the truth on your own. Thanatos, Death, the other side of yourself, those were all things you needed to learn without any interference. If you could have come here and gotten the answers, things would have been different. And I could not take that chance."

Minato growled in understanding. "Because you're here to make sure things go as they're supposed to, right? Because you're a facilitator, not an ally. I thought you said we had a chance, that letting things go as they did was our best chance of beating Nyx."

"I did say that, and it still is. Nothing has changed. Ah, are you perhaps thinking that you missed something important, that you don't have what you need to stop Her?"

"We did what you said and She still came down. We couldn't even move. I'd call that a loss, wouldn't you?"

"Only if the match, to use your analogy, has actually concluded. If you had missed something crucial or failed to learn something important before now, then you would be correct. But your assumption is mistaken."

"You're saying it hasn't happened yet? We're staring at Her right now, Igor, assuming that you've stopped time or something and She hasn't already started killing everyone. Whatever I'm supposed to get to stop Her, when am I supposed to get it?"

Igor held a hand up. "Right now."

The room jarred to a stop, gears and mechanisms clicking as the door at the back of the Velvet Room opened. This place wasn't a room, Minato realized, but an elevator carriage that had just reached the top. The gate revealed a stone wall and a casket. It had a frightening gravity to it, like it occupied more space than just the physical. It also felt like it was tugging at him, like it wanted him as close as possible, and he backed away from it instinctively.

"The purpose of the Wild Card," Igor began, "of the Appriser, was not to defeat Nyx. That is beyond the power of any human, even one with a Persona. You'd have as much luck defeating the sun. Your efforts up to now have been to prepare for this, to make yourself ready for the real means of stopping the Fall. That purpose begins here and now, and you've come here right on time."

Unseen, Elizabeth bit her lip.

Minato didn't like where this was going. "Wait... what am I supposed to do?"

Igor indicated the wall behind him, his smile widening and his eyes sparkling. "Seal Nyx away. Stop Her from feeling Humanity's desire for destruction, and maintain watch over Her forever."

"Wh… what? I'm supposed to do that?"

"You are the one uniquely able to do this. The role of the Wild Card has always been to defy fate in the face of impossible odds. This is the only way it can be done, for reasons that have already passed us. Understand, these events are culminating now, but they began long ago. To stop Nyx in some other way would have meant stopping Her back then. That's impossible. This is what victory looks like in these circumstances, and you have worked so hard to win, haven't you?"

Minato felt his Personas humming around him, within him. His bonds with his friends around town and the rest of the team passed through him, bound him, and pulled him toward the open gate where a stone wall and metal shackles awaited. A new Arcana glowed in front of him, one with the power to do just as Igor described and bring an end to this fight.

At a cost he realized he had no choice but to pay.

He immediately started thrashing against the bonds, pulling back from the threads that were stronger than chains in an engine. "Stop, Igor! This isn't what I wanted!"

"You wanted to stop Nyx and save your loved ones. That has always been what you desired."

"I also wanted to be there with them, to keep on living! This wasn't what you told me! You're telling me to die!"

"My dear young man, I didn't tell you anything about your purpose up to this point. I can hardly be said to have lied about this, now could I?"

"You knew?!" The bonds were dragging him up off his feet, closer to the wall.

"Of course. This was always the cost of the Wild Card, the necessary sacrifice taken by one whose bonds and power could encompass humanity. That is the power of the World Arcana, and without your investment, you would never have been able to reach it. You have, and your participation allows the others to live, such as your actions dictated."

Minato fought his hardest, but he was getting closer to the wall and the restraints. "From something I never asked for in the first place! Your contract said I'd be responsible for MY actions! I didn't have a choice about Death and my parents!"

"The alternative is annihilation, young man. That is not acceptable. If it's any consolation, thank you for assuming this burden."

Elizabeth's hands clenched into fists, but she did nothing.

Closer. "Take it back! Igor, let me go! Find me another way!"

"Goodbye, Arisato Minato."

"Wait! Help me! Mitsur–"

And the Great Seal yanked him in and slammed shut around him, cutting him off for good.