Got shot motivation again so yay... but managed to complete this. Before I start, here are a few notes.
First of all, I was looking through the AN and someone was asking about Koro? No he's not dead. Thing is... which I believe is a huge problem for me : I have a lot of trouble writing characters who are not very relevant to the plot. If you notice, in meetings, the ones speaking are Minato, Hamuko, Yukari or Mitsuru because in the game, they have a lot of plot relevance. I struggle with that a lot and that is why you barely see Ken or Fuuka talking much. Hell, my favorite character Elizabeth has barely spoken in this fic because she's not relevant. 2nd point, this is bloodlust and I'm sure you don't want to read him getting the same treatment right? yyyeah, even I wouldn't write that. 3rd... I'm much more of a cat person so I dunno how to write a dog. Cats for life!
To Lightlyy (I thank God that you didn't start with a T) : Well, there is a crossover happening, check my profile and you'll get the answer. Here's a preview tho.
Ryoji : HAHAHAHA!
FM Minato : HAHAHAH!
Rinse and repeat. If you're asking who is more psycho then well... Ryoji ate humans here, Minato, in that story gulped down Ryoji's arms, nuff said. He has no problem eating shadow flesh lol.
Now, onto the story.
Minato placed his palm against his patched up eye and struggled his way through the snow and storm which was already brutal enough and his gaping wounds that help one bit. He didn't waste a second in the dorm and just went out in his usual school clothes because there was no time to waste.
"Damn this storm," Minato shivered, looking up at the dark grey clouds which were an indication that the worst was yet to come. "He'll freeze the entire city at this rate."
Tick Tock.
Minato widened his eye and started running as fast as he could. There was only one place to search and that was Tartarus. Ryoji had to be there even though his team had searched the place countless times to find nothing.
"I need some help," Minato said to himself, knowing just the place.
As soon as he saw Tartarus, the blunet quickened his pace and ran into the tower, getting into the lobby which provided some warmth but at the same time, he cringed upon the dreadful odor of blood and the massive amount of evil energy which no doubt belonged to Ryoji.
"Guys!" Minato shouted out loud, hoping for an answer.
"Hamuko!"
"Yukari!"
"Junpei!"
He kept yelling their names for the next few minutes but there was no answer. "Well..." he turned to face the door to the Velvet Room. "Just one thing left to do now." he hoped that Igor would have the answer. With slow steps, Minato walked over to the blue door and pushed it open, leading to a flash of blue light that blinded him momentarily.
"Welcome..."
Minato opened his eyes to see Igor who was staring at him with pity in his gaze.
Elizabeth was next to him. She was trying to smile but it was clear that she felt pity for him too.
"H-Hello-" Minato winced and collapsed to the ground, shuddering violently because of the frostbite on his body.
"Minato-san!" Elizabeth knocked the table over when she ran forward in worry. She crouched down next to Minato and grabbed his hand to help him stand up. "Are you alright?" she asked.
"No," Minato said, rubbing his face to get rid of the snow. "Igor!" he called out.
"Yes?" the master of the room faced the injured persona user.
"You know what is going on, right?" Minato asked and got a nod in return. "Help me please."
"Now Minato, I have told you before, we cannot interfere-"
"I don't want help," Minato cut in. "Just tell me where I can find them. Give me the location and I'll try to handle the rest."
Igor shook his head. "I cannot help you there either, forgive me."
"Dammit,"
Elizabeth felt him shiver against her before he fell down and started punching the ground, head hung low because this was his last hope.
"I apologize..." Igor bowed his head.
"Time is too short," Minato bit his lip, his voice cracking with every word. "I barely got an hour to see if they are okay. I don't have it in me to search the entire tower."
"..."
Elizabeth looked down at him, gold eyes widened in concern for her guest.
Minato sighed. Guess there was no else. He had to search the tower-
"Minato-san," Elizabeth interrupted him with a small giggle. She crouched down next to him and closed her eyes, a mischievous smile playing on her face.
"What?"
"Would you..." she winked at Igor before facing Minato again. "Like to fulfill a request of mine? I was supposed to inform of you this request later but I think I can... bend my own rules a little, hehe..."
"Elizabeth..." Igor said with a frown.
"Master, this is merely a request-" she winked at Minato who couldn't help but smile and chuckle, almost wanting to hug the attendant for helping him despite being bound to the room. "You said I had authority to issue new ones whenever I pleased, correct?"
Igor sighed and leaned back, knowing it was useless to argue with the silver haired female.
"So, Minato-san, would you like to... accept my 'request?" Elizabeth said, helping him stand up.
"Sure," Minato smiled. "What is it?"
Igor sighed again. "Elizabeth..." he breathed out but he also couldn't help but give a small smile.
"I want you to retrieve the Bloody Button from Tartarus," Elizabeth said. "As for the reward... Hehe, you will see for yourself."
"Thank you," Minato nodded. "Where can I find this Bloody Button, which shadow?"
Elizabeth's smile faltered and her golden eyes flashed concern again. "Um..."
"Well?"
"The Reaper..."
Minato took a step back, the chill returning to his body and running down his spine. The Reaper...?
"You mean... T-That Reaper?" Minato gulped, knowing the shadow was way too powerful for him currently. He couldn't even summon a persona, how the hell was he going to beat the most powerful shadow in the tower?
"Y-Yes," Elizabeth said weakly. She leaned close and started whispering into his ear. "I apologize, I cannot help you further on this."
Minato shook his head. This was the only glimmer of hope and he couldn't give up on it so easily. "No, thank you," he said, patting her shoulder. "I-I'll take it..."
"Good luck, Minato-san," Elizabeth said. "Is there anything else I can do for you...?"
"Um," Minato swallowed the lump. "Can I purchase some personas from the compendium?"
"You can get them for free, special Elizabeth offer," the platinum blonde female smiled, summoning her compendium. She opened up the tome and held it out for Minato, telling him to pick whichever persona he pleased.
Minato flipped through the pages and looked up at Elizbaeth. "These..."
"Are you that eager to die?" Elizabeth said, clearly surprised at his choice. "Are you sure...?"
"Yes..."
"Very well," Elizabeth muttered something under her breath and closed the tome.
"Ugh," Minato nearly crashed to the ground as soon as she closed the tome. He reached for his pocket and pulled out a small bottle which was filled with familiar persona pills. He gulped a few down and panted, waiting for the pain and shouting to die down.
Elizabeth stepped away from Minato who turned around. "The Reaper, huh...?" he grabbed a hold of the knob and was just about ready to head out to hell-
"Stay safe," Igor said from behind, giving a small, encouraging smile to his guest. "Remember... You are so much better than you think."
Minato nodded and stepped out, coming out in the lobby. He took a deep breath and checked his supplies. He had a few beads and a gem for teleportation. He didn't bother using the access point and just steeped into the broken clock at the top of the stairs, spawning in the very first floor of the tower.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
He heard the laugh and whipped around. "Ryoji!" he yelled out but the maniacal laugh was in the back of his head and after a few seconds, he realized that it was his own laugh.
The laugh of his old self.
Minato looked down, remembering his first visit to the tower, on the same floor where he went wild on the shadows. "Tch..." he pushed the memory to the back of his mind and looked around the first floor, sighing in relief when the shadows scurried away from him.
"Ugh!" he stumbled and rested himself against the wall, trying to ignoring the rebellious personas in his psyche. He just had to hold out for a little while, hopefully Ryoji had done nothing serious and he could still reach-
"Huh!"
The rattling of chains made him stand up. It didn't matter on which floor they were, spend too much time on one floor and the guardian of the tower was sure to spawn in the vicinity.
Minato was already shivering. He took several steps backwards, blade shaking in his grip as the noises grew close by every second. "The reaper-"
He was cut off by a gigantic, blood thirsty roar from the gigantic shadow who came to a stop next to him, his two revolvers smoking. He looked even more imposing and scary than before but it had more to do with Minato being weakened than the first time he fought him... and nearly lost his life.
"Dammit," Minato cursed, stepping back under the gaze of the shadow. "If this was the old me, I would have-"
His lone eye widened.
"What the hell am I saying...?"
The Reaper wasted no time and started shooting, unloading a number of bullets for Minato who grabbed his sword and jumped out the way, barely avoiding the gunfire. He rolled to safety and looked ahead, only to see a blur of darkness speeding towards him.
Crack.
"Shit!" Minato was blown backwards by the hit to the middle of his forehead which pricked it open, sending blood gushing down his working eye. He rolled away again and came to a stop with his back against the wall, panting hard and exhausted even though the battle had barely begun.
"I knew this was going to be bad-"
The Reaper gave out another horrific roar, calling forth an almighty attack that formed up in the air, rapidly plummeting downwards.
"Oh no," Minato crossed his arms and jumped out of the way and seconds later, the spheres exploded, some of the purple energy crashing against his body but he had moved away just enough to save his life. The explosion sent him rolling across the ground until he dug his sword, coming to a stop quite a few yards away from the Reaper.
"What can I do...?" he wondered, not willing to take the risk of conjuring up a fire ball or summon his persona, at least not yet...
"Tch," the shadow floated closer and Minato got up.
"Whatever!" he spat and gripped his sword, bolting towards the reaper to try his luck. He stepped inside the pocket and swung his sword which was easily blocked by one revolver. Minato's knees buckled momentarily and he backed off to another a swing which was aimed for his head.
The Reaper growled, blasting the blunet backwards with a gust of wind which Minato partially blocked by his arm but the spell was strong enough to rip through his entire limb and sent him soaring far away.
"Gack!" he crashed against the wall and collapsed down, punching the ground. "I can't even touch him.
Bang.
Minato looked up and moved away from another round of bullets. He deflected the last one with his blade and started panting. The Reaper was clearly toying with him. He could sense that the teenager was severely weakened than before, maybe this was his way of getting revenge for his defeat months ago.
Another barrage of bullets was followed by a number of elemental spells, burning and electrocuting the teenager who pulled back, holding a hand against his temple to calm his throbbing forehead.
"Not now..." he growled, cursing his personas for breaking his focus.
The reaper bolted and, slamming the hilt of his gun into Minato's temple with enough force that the blunet was sent rolling all the way to the end of the floor. As soon as he got up, he heard a bang which was followed by his own scream.
"Dammit!" Minato growled, looking down at his leg which now had a gaping bullet wound.
The reaper started laughing, shooting another bullet for the paralyzed blunet.
Minato screamed out loud, both of his legs were damaged badly.
"Pitiful," the shadow finally spoke, getting closer to the blunet who was shaking, his face turning purple due to the lack of air. He clenched his fist and was forced to look up when the reaper placed the barrel of his revolver against his forehead and forced him to look up. "There will be no miracle this time."
Minato winced. That was true, the only reason he was able to beat the shadow the first time was because of Ryoji.
"Say goodbye-"
Minato widened his eye and shoved the barrel away, just seconds before the reaper fired. Another bang rang out and the creature pulled backwards due to the whiplash, giving Minato enough time to fish out his evoker.
Minato braced his heart and soul and shot the gun against the side of his head, yelling out just one word.
"Armageddon!"
The reaper was pushed back a powerful gust of wind which was hot enough to burn his body. Minato fell to the ground as he held onto his head, screaming and yelling out in agony as the ground beneath him started cracking, fissures spreading out throughout the floor.
"Now!" the blunet yelled out loud again, screaming out blood when another nasty spasm of pain shot through his body and soul. His personas were going wild. He had hoped he would be strong enough to control the spell but as soon as he pressed the trigger, he had lost control of everything and there was no way he was going to control the blast.
Light blue flames surged upwards from the cracks, forcing the mighty shadow to retreat a bit more. The burn from the flames was brutal but to Minato's dismay, they didn't outright kill him like they did to Makoto who was several times stronger than the shadow-
Minato heard a crack from inside his psyche and completely lost control of his two personas. The mirage of Helel and Satan flashed before him for a few seconds before the flames detonated into a hellish explosion of flames that reached across the entire floor, engulfing the reaper who roared out in pain.
"Ugh," Minato powered up to his feet, his working eye rapidly losing vision because of the strain on his psyche. He could still hear the two personas roaring and cursing him. There was no way he could survive another minutes with the two in his psyche.
Minato gulped down a bead and despite having busted legs, the blunet bolted towards the reaper who was still alive, badly burned and deformed but he was still trying to get away from the flames. The huge shadow saw Minato coming and aimed his revolver.
Minato jumped forward as soon as he heard the last bang.
"Ugh!"
He dove right pass the reaper, tearing off the damn button from his tattered clothes and soon as he collapsed to the ground, he lost his senses, blinded and deafened from the strain on his psyche. He could feel the heat approaching, burning his body and slowly seeping into his wounds.
Minato stayed calm and pulled out a gem from his pocket. He crushed it between his palm and disappeared, just narrowly missing the bullet that was aimed for his head and was a sure kill if it connected.
...
Knowing that he was safe and back in the lobby, Minato reached into his pocket and gulped down the entire contents of bottle, swallowing dozens of nasty pill to block out his personas which were seconds away from killing him from the inside. As soon as the effect kicked in, Minato whimpered in pain, knowing he had taken more wounds, had opened up old ones and was burned from head to toe by his fusion spell.
His vision was still blank and he could barely hear the storm outside.
"Haah..." he breathed out, searching his pockets once more and pulling out a number of beads. He gulped them down one by one and after a couple of seconds, stood back on his feet, his vision had returned but it was mostly blurry.
"Damn button," the blunet muttered, glancing at the item in his palm. The reaper was very close to killing him. The only reason he survived was because the shadow was toying with him, Minato was sure he could have easily pierced his heart with a bullet anytime he desired.
By his estimate, barely 10 minutes had passed in the Dark Hour. He gulped once more and staggered towards the door, pushing it open and stepping inside the room.
"Minato-san!"
He heard the cry from Elizabeth and smirked, falling down as soon as he came in their view. He looked up to see Elizabeth running at him and hell, even Igor was standing up, looking on with concern and surprise.
"Are you... alive?" the attendant said, helping him to stand once more.
"Y-Yeah," Minato choked out, throat still dry after the fusion spell which nearly took his life. He placed the button in her hands and continued. "Here, I fulfilled your request."
Elizabeth widened her eyes, not believing he that managed to retrieve the button from the guardian in THAT condition. "You really..." she blinked, still a little surprised. "Amazing..."
"What now?" Minato winced. "What do I do now...?"
"Step outside and you will see," Elizabeth said.
"Thank you," Minato gave a curt bow and turned.
"Do you feel... different, Minato-san?" Elizabeth said.
Minato curled his hand into a fist, a few tears leaking out of his working eye. "... I can't feel the sea..."
"You have lost your Wild Card altogether," Igor said, not looking at Minato. "In fact, you have long your ability to summon... Forever."
"Heh," Minato chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "I see..." he grabbed the doorknob and looked back with a smile. "This is farewell then, thank you for everything."
"We will miss you," Elizabeth said, speaking for Igor as well. "I hope... you succeed, even without the Wild Card."
Minato bowed at them again and stepped out from the room, disappearing back into the real world.
Elizabeth glanced back at Igor. "Master, how is he even alive...? Without a Wild Card...?"
"I have no idea," Igor said, sitting back on his seat. "But I see nothing good for him... I suggest that you not look, Elizabeth... This will be painful."
"Yes, Master,"
"Even for me..." Igor sighed bitterly.
...
Minato thanked Elizabeth because when he stepped out, he saw another door had opened up at the other side of the lobby, large and gold in color. He walked over to the gates and swallowed the lump in his throat. The shadows inside the door were outrageously strong and he was no match for them.
"Whatever now," Minato said as he pushed the door open and took a step inside and as soon as he did, the master of the tower was alerted.
...
Ryoji removed his palm from Hamuko's mouth and hummed, a devilish grin growing on his face. "Well..." he looked down to see Hamuko staring up at him with gritted teeth, trying her best to ignore the wounds that Ryoji had given her.
"Surprise," Ryoji cackled, staring at the redhead. He pulled his scythe out of her stomach, finally giving the redhead a small breather from the nonstop torture. "Looks like your filthy boyfriend finally found the place..."
"What...?" Hamuko widened her eyes. Minato was here...?
"He deserves something," Ryoji smirked. "No mere shadow is going to kill him. He deserves death by my hands!"
"Y-You..."
"Which number where we up to?" Ryoji wondered.
Hamuko whimpered.
"I took we were well into double digits, right?" Ryoji readied his scythe again. "Until he comes here, I'll be sure to give you my full attention."
"No, no, no, NO!"
Ryoji's laugh easily overrode her horrified shout.
...
Minato was surprised. As soon as he took a step inside, the shadows completely disappeared. He looked around for a few seconds and couldn't locate a single one which was strange because he could hear them growling and snarling even when he stood in the lobby.
"Maybe... Ryoji is doing this...?" he wondered. It had to be his doing, was he finally getting his sense back...?
Minato noted that 15 minutes had passed. If Ryoji had done this then there was still a chance that he was willing to listen. He prayed that his friends would be alive and Ryoji would listen and just leave him the hell alone. He deserved that at the very least, just a month without any sort of conflict.
"Ugh," Minato's entire body was rocked with more spasms of pain. He stumbled his way forward and held onto the wall for support. "Just a bit more... I can do this..."
Minato started moving, a little cautiously at first but slowly he got comfortable. Yeah, Ryoji had killed the shadows. And maybe, he had spared his friends too... There was still hope.
Minato found the steps which went down instead of up, like Tartarus. After every staircase, he could feel himself getting closer to Ryoji who was no doubt waiting for him at the very bottom of the dungeon.
"He's coming..." Ryoji said, pulling his scythe out of her wound. He stood over her and smirked, noticing that Hamuko was just about ready to pass out. "Don't worry, when you wake up... you'll die just a second later."
"Ugh," Hamuko couldn't curse at him this time. Ryoji was a goddamn monster and there was no way Minato was going to talk his him out of his goal and there was no way Minato was going to win against him, not even the old Minato was capable of that. She whimpered in pain for the last time before she passed out.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Ryoji laughed out loud, crushing the nearby beads under his feet. "Come on, I'm waiting for you!" he spat, eyes fixed on the staircase.
Minato took a deep breath because Ryoji was waiting just down the steps. "Nothing to worry about, he'll listen to you, Minato," he said, trying to convince himself as he slowly made his way down the staircase, one step at a time, with his eyes closed.
"Heh," Ryoji smirked, seeing the head of blue hair marching down the steps.
Minato stepped down to the ground with his eye closed but... something was horribly wrong. The smell in the place was nauseating, beyond horrible and it almost made him empty his stomach on the spot.
He opened his eyes and just stopped...
Everything around him blurred.
Ryoji was gone.
His pain was gone.
The weight on his shoulder was gone.
Because the sight before him came very, very close to breaking him. He had seen and been in some brutal wars and torture but this... this was just on another level.
"..."
"So good of you to join us, brother," Ryoji greeted him with another shit eating grin.
Minato didn't pay attention to him. For once, even the pain on his broken body was completely numb because he was completely lost in the horror as his heart skipped several beats because of the graphic scene before him.
"No..."
"Heh,"
"G-Guys..." Minato took a step forward, shuddering violently because the whole thing was fucked up beyond words.
What had he done!?
The members of SEES. His friends. His friends who had risked their lives to keep him safe were hanging like puppets on the wall just behind Ryoji, their bodies were ripped open, their faces were bloodied and beaten and their limbs were held against the wall with a number of swords and blades.
But worst of all... they were blank.
He could see them barely breathing but their faces were blank. Their eyes were wide open in horror but he could see nothing inside.
They looked like corpses, scarily familiar to The Lost.
"Guys!" Minato shouted. "Guys, wake up!"
Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. Even Sho had his eyes and mouth wide open, hanging on the wall, just staring ahead like a zombie without a soul.
"Mitsuru!"
"Akihiko!"
"Fuuka!"
None of them replied, even when Minato begged them to respond.
Minato nearly collapsed back down when he saw Hamuko seated against the wall, her arms pinned against the wall with knives that kept her glued. "Hamuko..." unlike the rest, she was only knocked out, most likely because Minato had arrived and Ryoji had to stop early.
"W-What did you do...?" Minato finally looked at Ryoji who was caked in the blood of his friends, caked in the blood of Hamuko!
"A lot," Ryoji snickered. "Brought them to the brink of death and revived them, over and over and over again."
Minato couldn't believe it. He had done that? Not even his old self was that sadistic and brutal. "Y-You..."
"You can call them but it won't do a damn thing," Ryoji assured. "Nothing will wake them up because I've broken them. They'll be awake for a second and that is when Nyx descends, until then, they are worse than dead."
Minato gritted his teeth, anger finally surging. He clenched his fist and glared at Ryoji.
"Only to die again because trust me, Nyx is beyond horrible, even more than me," Ryoji said proudly, licking some of the blood off his fingers. "Well then brother, do you wish to say something? If you kiss my feet then maybe, I'll take you back because after hearing their screams for the past several hours, I am in a good mood."
Minato said nothing and marched up to the God, slapping him hard across the face.
Ryoji widened his eye. He wasn't hurt in the least but his head did snap to the other side slightly.
Minato was glaring at him, his hands were clenched into fists. "I hate you..." he spat with venom. "I HATE YOU!"
Ryoji turned his head back to stare at him. "Tch, I see that you want to be disciplined in the worst possible way," he spat, cracking his neck. "Very well then, Minato. Away with you weakling, you disgust me!"
Minato couldn't even see Ryoji moving and the next second, he was pressed up against the wall, not even able to move under his grip. "Let me go, you monster!" he demanded, trying to struggle but the appraiser didn't feel a thing. Ryoji pushed Minato down, forcing him to sit. He then ripped the eye patch from his face and grinned at the disgusting ball of blood and fluid that had formed on his wounded eye.
Ryoji curled his hand into a fist and punched him with full force.
Minato screamed at the top of his lungs as the swollen flesh on the side of his face exploded, splattering blood and other fluids.
Ryoji grinned, licking the blood from his lips. "Not bad!" he growled, looking down at Minato who was shivering and screaming at the top of his lungs, his wounded eye was completely busted. "Let me sample a bit more."
Minato stopped struggling for a few seconds until Ryoji dug his teeth into the side of his face and ripped a large portion of flesh from his bare cheek.
Minato screamed, only louder than before. Half of his cheek was bit off by Ryoji who chewed on the flesh and grinned.
"I'm not finished with you, Minato," Ryoji spat, curling his hand into a fist again. He was prepared to unleash hell on Minato and give him the cruelest death possible.
"Your final lesson is at hand!"
Here we are. Short chapter, I could have written more but I wanted a slow burn and well, this is all that I could manage with my crap motivation.
Minato has lost his wild card.
Hooray for Elizabeth.
Minato barely survived against the reaper. Just to give you an idea, Ryoji is level 50 and the reaper is level 10... yyyyeah. He is fooked.
You see what happened to SEES.
40 minutes till Ryoji disappears. IMO, he had plenty of time to torture Minato. Get ready because the next chapter will be an uholy godstomp. Let me remind you or something, Ryoji did in 5 minutes what Minato couldn't do in 5 plus months : Kill Takaya. And you heard Hamuko, even the old Minato would been beaten by Ryoji.
THIS WILL BE FALLEN MESSIAH LEVELS OF BRUTAL. Yes, this needed caps.
He lost his wild card so no miracle.
What will happen?
A Bad end?
Who knows?
You know what I'll say, same old story of review being drugs (the good shit) so do send me your thoughts because like I said before, nothing more brutal than a crap ratio, like... 60 to 1.. wince.
Thank you for the support so far. have a good day/night! cheers!