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2020...
The chaotic mass of red energy merely brushed past the charging persona user but he did stop in his tracks for a second or two to ponder what the hell Ryoji had thrown at him. The attack was deadly, as he had seen Hamuko take the full force of the energy head on, but at the same time he almost wanted to step inside despite knowing that would have been the end of the battle.
Minato shook his head and his prime persona picked up the speed upon command, swinging the lyre for a shot to the dome of the appraiser but the entity blocked at the last second, and with a smirk of confidence, withstanding the impact of the clash and the shock-wave that followed with no problem, while Minato was stopped in his tracks yet again, struggling to get his focus after the force crashed against his body.
"Are you tired, brother?" Ryoji sneered-
The persona howled and his single eye flashed red, the lyre igniting into flames that quickly exploded in the direction of the God and engulfed him in a storm of searing heat. Minato quickly picked up the pace, channeling more of the mist around his body to summon Thor, the Norse God of thunder who launched the hammer in the direction of the fiery storm, calling the bolts from the sky which crashed against the dome of heat, sandwiching the God in between before the two elements blew up with a tremendous amount of force, knocking Ryoji out of fusion spell with brutal burn marks.
Minato panted for a few seconds to get his break, growling when he took off in hot pursuit, switching personas and looking back towards the skies to call upon God's hand to pummel the bastard into the ground-
Ryoji saw the attack coming and lashed out with a storm of almighty energy, dissipating the golden fist from above, and despite the new burns he stood up to mock and beckon Minato over, and the persona user did not stop for a second, even without a persona, he was pissed off to obliged with a blade in his hand and blood in his eyes-
"Ugh!"
Now almost twice the height of Minato, the clashing of blade made the blunet reel and drop to a knee, struggling to not get overpowered and smashed to the ground. He kicked the nearby blade into the eye of Ryoji, pumped a buff across his body and tackled the bastard backwards, managing to knock him to the ground with a hook, and then a stomp to broken blade deeper into his eye-
Ryoji fired back with the same slice that had split his forehead open, and while Minato did manage to dodge, he did not see the other hand coming from the opposite side, which grabbed a rough hold of his face and smashed him neck-first into the bloodied ground. The blade came next and Minato moved just enough to take the metal into his already managed shoulder, retaliating with a howl of rage and a counter slash that sliced half way through the neck of Ryoji and allowed Minato enough time to get out from under-
"Fuck this!" Minato didn't even bother healing his shoulder and smashed his knee against the temple but to his surprise, the blow did not Ryoji knock down this time, and the appraiser countered back with an open handed slap that knocked Minato to the ground, but he quickly got up, foolishly deciding to tussle with the much larger entity, and getting blown backwards with a punch to his exposed chest-
"Ugh!" Minato pushed himself off the ground with his palms and projected a spear, twice his own height into his free hand before he exploded to close the distance, chucking the katana that breezed past the neck of Ryoji, followed by the thrust of the spear into his throat-
"Gack,"
Minato twisted the blade in deeper and kicked the blunt end upwards to shred through his throat and mouth, spilling more of the filthy, mucky blood of the God on the already darkened ground but-
"Hahahaha..."
Minato, even with all the rage that he was holding, was caught by surprise when the gruesome wound started healing as soon as he pulled the spear out of his mouth. Why was he refusing to regenerate in the battle before? The thought pissed him off and Minato yelled at the appraiser-
"Don't fucking mess with me!"
Ryoji dodged the thrust this time and grabbed the other end of the spear, actually lifting Minato off the ground when he yanked the weapon in his own direction, cracking one side of his jaw with a darkness infused punch that was made worse as the blunet actually ran into the punch with full force-
Minato widened his eyes and released the grip around the spear, deciding to back off and heal his broken jaw. The pain had numbed his face but Ryoji was easily able to get into his head with a few, choice words.
"I broke her jaw too,"
The howl that Minato let out this time was almost distorted, partly due to his busted up vocal cords and partly because of the rage that was fueled by every word from Ryoji. He stopped midway during the healing and broke into a blind run towards his worst enemy, suffering another slash on his injured shoulder but eventually, he closed the distance, at the cost of more damage, injuries he could have avoided if-
Ryoji sailed a punch that broke his closed guard and Minato gripped his wrist, at first struggling and then taking aid of another power charge to launch Ryoji to the ground, quickly stepping up and stomping onto his face with both his feet-
"Fool!"
A single hand was enough to knock him backwards and the same was quickly wrapped around his throat and Minato struggled to get the air in his system. He was able to match the brute strength of the appraiser previously but now...
Was Ryoji getting stronger or was he slowing down?
Ryoji pushed the blade into his abdomen and Minato screamed out blood, throwing a kick to the jaw to break free. He shook his head and stepped onto the blade that Ryoji was reaching for, summoning a single evil glove into his power hand and swinging a hook-
"Hahahaha..."
Ryoji swung a hook his time and the impact blew Minato out of the close range, almost knocking him off the edge again but he scrambled to the middle and panted, badly roughed up just after a few seconds of being in the close range. He rubbed the more grotesque wounds on his chest and shoulders, but the images of Hamuko made him snap again, and it did not help that Ryoji was smirking him at him from the distance.
"I hate your goddamn face!" Minato yelled at him from the other side of the top. "You piece of incestuous shit! I should have fucking killed you when I had the chance."
"Keep talking," Ryoji actually urged him this time. "You talk, while I end this world."
"I said. FUCK THIS WORLD!" Minato screamed back with twice the volume and the pitch, getting a sinister, all-knowing grin from the God of Death. "I will kill you, at the cost this world and every single piece of shit living and breathing!"
"There is no difference between the two of us then," Ryoji said with a sneer. "I am sure Hamuko would not mind the two of us at the same time-"
A brutal bolt of thunder blasted Ryoji backwards before he could finish the insult, slamming him into and then through the pillar when the volts doubled after the scream of hate from Minato who pushed through his own attack, coming up and thrashing Ryoji with about a dozen hammer shots before the final one finally managed to overwhelm him to the ground-
Minato quickly stood over his body and called another vortex of thunder from the skies, shivering but managing to channel and condense the influx around the hammer of Thor, ready to smash and burn his rotten head through the ground and into pieces-
Ryoji wrapped his blade with heat and Minato caught the first spark and was forced to defend before completely finishing the charge, bringing the hammer down to block the upwards swing of the much larger blade that managed to damage his elbow despite the block. He felt the heat explode through his arm and barely held his grip on the hammer amidst the surge of thunder and the burn of flames, layers of the two volatile elements swirling around the point of contact of the two weapons, burning the two bitter enemies until the explosion finally separated Minato from Ryoji, followed by a gigantic mushroom cloud of smoke and debris.
...
...
Minato wiped the mask of carbon and soot off his burned face and his whole body protested due to the marks that he had sustained in another damaging scuffle but even with the smoke obscuring the top of Tartarus, the much larger outline of the God was prominent and unlike Minato, he had not moved from the impact and had gotten up to his feet much faster than he did.
The blunet stumbled out of the wreckage and fell to a knee, smoking out of his collar and sleeve, having burned off the right arm of the jacket. He panted and coughed out more of the soot that was in his mouth, but his stare was still defiant and locked with Ryoji who took a couple of steps forward as the cloud of smoke started clearing up.
The grin on the face of Ryoji forced Minato to get back up, shakily grabbing the sword for another brutal round of battle. Even after all the damage that he caused, Ryoji was without a scratch thanks to his godly regeneration but currently, that meant little to Minato who was past the point of rational thinking and defense, as every punch that Ryoji landed reminded him of Hamuko, made her scream ring in his ears, worsening his already unstable sanity as the battle raged, slowly but clearly in the favor of the appraiser.
"You did say you would destroy me when you would summon your personas." Ryoji reminded him of his taunts during the battle on New Year Eve. With the way the battle was going right now, it almost felt as if he was fighting a completely different person than cool and calm blunet who laughed and danced his way out attacks and mocked him with every breath. "Was that another lie? Just like your so called promise of keeping your bitch scar free from my blade?"
"Keep your fucking mouth shut!" Minato yelled with his now busted voice, cracking and worsening with every word. "Every word of yours make my skin crawl! Shut up and go crawl back into the shit-hole you came out of!"
Oh how the tables had turned.
Ryoji was proud. Sooner or later, one way or another, he always got Minato to break. The battle on New Years was an exception to rule, a fluke but the reality was, his cursed hand was always going to be around the throat of the boy he was sealed into.
"Orpheus!"
Ryoji welcomed the twin charge, stepping out of the blast of wind from the persona without major damage and blinding the user with a swing of his wing, getting the little chance he needed to retaliate with the orbs of almighty energy that forced the two on the backfoot, with Minato getting blasted off the distance but he yelled at his persona to obliterate the son of Nyx, and the same entity laughed at his desperate order-
The lyre of the musician again met with the blade of Death and Minato felt the impact several feet away, getting a peek at the grin of Ryoji through the eyes of persona, adding to his already towering he rage and his persona flashed red, managing to slap the blade out of the grip of Ryoji and staggering the now weaponless entity with a shot that was music to the ears of Minato-
"Useless..."
Minato took a step back as Ryoji suddenly grew in size yet again, digging his claws into the chest of Orpheus and ripping him in half, akin to the very first time that Minato had summoned his persona, and the user screamed just as loud as he did the first time, trying to clear his head off the numbness but Ryoji pressured this time, getting a nasty crack when he smashed a hook into his already broken jaw-
A lunging hook from Ryoji almost caught him but Minato leaned back to avoid the knuckles and ducked under, summoning a small blade that he stabbed into the stomach, quickly running to stay on the outside. Another barrage of punches later, Minato slipped back into range and kicked the stabbed katana deeper into the cursed flesh-
A wing from the left blinded him for a few seconds and Ryoji smacked his face with a open hand and smashed his cranium against the ground, digging the same blade out of his body and stabbing the whole length into his back to draw out a maddening scream of pain and rage, one that fueled him to streak the blade down his back, with the intent to cleave him him in half from the chest down-
Minato sensed the imminent end and summoned through the pain, the sword of Surt managing to burn and stun the appraiser but the entity came back with a blizzard of ice from the tip of his blade, tearing through the stomach of the Fire Giant with sub-zero cold icicles but by then-
Another persona crashed into the body of Death who fought back and caught Minato running with a spear which he soon launched forward like a javelin, gashing the left cheek of Ryoji who gripped his own blade with both hands and slammed the heavy weapon down, forcing Minato to stand his ground and block with his arms-
Eventually, Minato closed his eyes in pain as he was quickly overpowered, and smashed into the ground with a dust of smoke and debris. Ryoji waited for a moment for the dust to clear and was caught off guard by streaks of red, blue and green energy that pushed him back and allowed Minato enough time to slide under the sloppy swing of the blade and come back up, both of his busted hands now wrapped up in the evil gloves-
Ryoji swung again, gashing the ear of Minato who ducked and started slamming punches into the thick armor of the God, at least knowing that without exposing the body, he was not going to do any lasting damage. Minato looked up with a scowl and Ryoji grinned back, pressuring and putting the persona user on the back foot with a slew of slashes, followed by a blast of almighty from his mouth, which Minato was only able to withstand with a closed guard-
"F-Fuck!"
Minato kicked the incoming blade back towards the appraiser and slid through the opening, managing to crack the armor around the stomach with a hook that damaged his knuckles as much as it did the armor. He blocked the punch and reflected the force to the side, lunging with another stab of a short blade to the crack surface of the armor-
"Do you really think this will do any good?"
"Go fuck yourself!"
Minato snapped back with venom and escaped the grasp of Ryoji, panting but quickly going back into close quarters, rolling and ducking under the punches and slashes but with the improved range of the much larger Ryoji, the shots that he was previously able to dodge roughed him up, as he had no intention and senses to actually time and figure out the new range-
Another blast of red energy burned one glove around his hand and Minato scowled, giving a brief glance to his marred hand and busted knuckles, with the middle one being just a soft paste of broken bones and tissue-
Ryoji lifted him off the ground when he smashed the blunt end of his sword and knocked a couple of teeth out of his mouth, but Minato managed to land on one feet, having enough balance to slide around the follow up counter slash, and concentrate enough to dual summon two random personas to push Ryoji backwards-
The God came back quicker than he had estimated, throwing the remains of his personas at his face as an insult, only to trigger the blunet into another blind rage.
Minato was playing on his rules, completely and utterly bent to his well. Every reaction that Ryoji wanted, he got out of Minato with a simple sneer.
"Come on brother! Remember, this is for the bitch is lying broken just a floor down!"
Even the persona users outside and way below heard the screech of Minato as he dove towards the large God, lunging forward with all of his power with a spear that he aimed for the mouth and the blasted tongue inside-
Ryoji blocked the tip of the spear with his blade and Minato summoned a blade that he swung to slice the right arm, and he did so at full force, bloodshot eyes locked with the hollow ones of Ryoji-
The blade shattered to pieces, only leaving behind a small crack, meanwhile Minto suffered the whiplash and was thrown off balance, open to another full force punch that he caught on the throat, damaging the lump of cartilage that made him hack out blood and tissue-
"Ugh!"
Minato slithered away from the pounce of Ryoji and fell to his knee again, coughing out more of the broken cartilage that was stuck in his throat. He sneezed and had to defend himself from the rush of Ryoji, with the second punch to the stomach forcing Minato to spew out blood on the face and body of Ryoji, much to the sadistic delight of the God.
Ryoji caught a fistful of blue hair and brutally smashed the front of his face into the ground, lifting him up briefly only to slam him back down, this time hard enough to crack the hard ground, as well as more of his forehead that began to gush out blood. Minato struggled and tore himself out of the grip, leaving a good chunk of blue hair in the fist of Ryoji shook his head dismissively, silently telling him that the battle was now out of his grasp.
Minato evoked the mist from the sea of his soul, and healed his broken throat the best he could as it was getting hard to breath with the broken remains stuck in his airways. He tried his best not to show that he was dizzy from the loss of blood and injuries, not willing to give Ryoji the fucking satisfaction of seeing him struggle and wobble.
He was going to get the head of the appraiser on his blade, at the end of the day, by any means necessary, even if it meant forsaken the world that he had sworn to protect.
At the end of the day, he still had the foul power of Death in his veins, the hatred and bloodlust that did not differentiate and discriminate.
All would perish.
Everything was going to fuck perish!
Nobody deserved to live!
Minato screeched through his broken throat when he summoned, sending Siegfried and Thor towards the direction of the God, using the very same personas that had previously reduced Ryoji to pieces but this time, the appraiser met the dual charge with a grin, the clashing of the three blades widening the insane grin as he buffed up his body with a defense spell and withstood the havoc-
A swing tore through Ares and Minato quickly summoned Odin, unleashing a stronger bolt that struck Ryoji in the chest, giving the German Hero enough of an opening to slice through the thick armor-
Ryoji quickly regenerated the broken armor across his chest and waist, ripping the head off the persona that rolled to the side. Minato grunted and discharged another bolt of thunder, which Ryoji blocked this time with his blade and started making his way towards Minato and his persona.
Eventually, Minato called off his persona and moved forward, quickly switching to another persona for a buff and then back to Odin when he got close to Ryoji, feinting to draw out a swing of the charged blade that he kicked back into the stomach, forcing the volts to course through the innards and effectively stunning the appraiser in place-
Minato grabbed the spear and jumped up to stab the tip in the middle of his forehead, gasping Ryoji shrugged off the build of electricity and caught the lunging persona user by the throat. He quickly snatched the same spear out of his grip and stabbed him on the arm, digging it back out to then aim for his head-
"O-Orpheus!"
Ryoji coughed out when he was blasted by a lyre shot to the side of his stomach, forcing him to drop Minato who brought Seth to the front of his mind, working alongside his persona to move around the appraiser, first annoying him with a few orbs of flames, until Ryoji lunged in and the two yelled, discharging a massive stream of magma that spiraled upwards like a tornado, trapping Ryoji inside-
Orpheus dissipated and Minato switched again, this time to Helel and then stepped inside the vortex of heat, surprising the avatar of Nyx who was struggling to break free, only able to watch when Minato grabbed onto his armor with a scowl, discharging the holy light all at once to force another brutal explosion that would break through the damn armor of his-
Ryoji thought fast and even with the heat, he caught Minato off guard by expelling another beam of almighty energy from his mouth. With his hands holding onto the armor, Minato was completely off guard and closed his eyes at the last moment, the pain breaking his concentration and forcing him to unleash the light all at once.
Even Ryoji had to scream in pain when the heat, light and energy crashed together, all at once, condensing around the frames of the two bitter enemies and then expanding across the top of the tower, burning and stabbing through the two bodies, until the build up went off in another catastrophic explosion, which finally separated the two and leveled the floor.
"What is going on there?" Yukari could not help but worry and pray for Minato, especially after witnessing the explosion that had stretched across the sky.
"Come on, Minato!" Akihiko said through gritted teeth. He badly wanted to knock the shadows out and then race up to help his friend fight the God of Death but... at the same time, he knew...
"I'd just slow him down!" the boxer admitted with a click of his tongue.
"Yeah, the only one who can beat him now is Minato-senpai," Ken said.
Yet, all three of them had a bad, bad feeling.
The feeling that even Minato was outmatched.
...
Minato saw double, and briefly thought the attack had split his hands into two. After a couple of deep breaths, he staggered to his feet and his vision started to clear. That last attack had caught him off guard and unable to defend with his hands, he was forced to take the brunt of energy, which had burned and blackened the left side of his face.
To his greatest displeasure, when he got to his feet, he saw that Ryoji was already standing, a little burned up due to the attack but overall, it seemed as it the attack did not hurt him as much as he wanted. Or maybe it did, and he simply healed up just like he had done so countless times before.
"The clock is ticking," Ryoji said, tilting his head side to side to mock Minato. "You disgust me but I am impressed that you are still standing."
Minato flipped him the birds, drawing out another sneer from the appraiser.
"But that broken body of yours will give out and I will finish this," Ryoji swore, further mocking Minato by healing the remaining burns that were still present on his body. A flap of wings later, the God was completely healed and good as new, meanwhile, Minato was struggling to even stand, the repeated summoning having taken a lot out of him.
"It will..." Minato hissed back but still took steps forward, not at all done with the battle. "But I'm still going to get you. I don't know how, but one way or another, I will rip your soul out and send it to the vilest pit of hell."
"Hahahaha..." Ryoji laughed at his current situation. The tri-attack of spells had only warmed him up, and Minato was delusional enough to think he still had a chance of winning. Sure, the blunet had performed miracles but there was no miracle against the cold, hard truth that was Death as there was no escaping him. "Guess... I'll be joining Hamuko then."
Ryoji wanted Minato to rush and the persona user did just that, leaving a heavy trail of blood in the straight path that he took, loading up on his left hand as a reflex when he saw Ryoji do the same. The appraiser wanted for his previous vessel to come close, and even with his battered body, he quickly came within striking distance, every ounce of force packed into his left hand-
It was the beginning of the end...
Ryoji rifled his left hand and much like before, Minato did so at the same time. Previously, he was able to match the God in strength and hold his ground but now, with the extra strength that Ryoji had attained with the added size, Minato was the only one to loose his senses when the knuckles made contact, a mixture of cold and hot pain shooting through through his left arm that broke upon contact, in hundred different places, from the tip of his fingers, all the way to the edge of his shoulder-
Minato lost his vision when the shock traveled all the way to his brain, and he backed off, his left arm hanging limp, only able to see the shadow that quickly closed in, with the intention of finally putting the nail in his coffin.
Ryoji knocked the blade that he had summoned out of desperation and shredded open a diagonal slash from his neck bone, all the way down to the opposite hip, showering the incoming appraiser with another volume of blood, and that was only the beginning.
Minato backed off and held onto his limp left arm, slipping and falling to his knee when he tried to dodge the opposite swing, only to get kicked up back to his feet where Ryoji slammed a fiery hand to his chest, launching him to the other side and through the debris.
"Dammit..." Minato powered out of the broken pillars and saw Ryoji marching. He squeezed his left arm to force some feeling and gripped dual blades with both his hands, knowing that this was the only way to combat the extra strength.
Ryoji grew in size yet again when he lunged forward to resume the attack, getting another gasp out of Minato who stood no chance to block the swing that smashed him backwards into the stones, his spine almost bending around the large rock and he barely got off the rock to avoid the sword.
Minato scrambled to his feet and grabbed the dual blades, barely blocking the tip and looking up to take a look at the appraiser who was so much larger than him now, so much stronger but worst of all, damage free and with unlimited endurance.
Minato deflected the blade to the side and ran into Ryoji, doing his best to cut through the armor but it was much thicker than the last time. He was forced to back off and duck and move through the torrent of slashes that the appraiser was firing off, with each one with the intent to finish the battle.
"No, no, no!" Minato stopped and dropped the blade in his left hand, unable to hold a firm grip due to the injury and Ryoji took the chance, as his fist came from the left and smashed the blunet sideways into the ground, followed by a open hand slap that left Minato in a pool of his own blood.
Much to the surprise of the avatar of Nyx, Minato growled and stood back to his feet, shaking his head with his bloodied teeth gritted. He was starting to look even worse than Hamuko, with his mangled body, burned face and limp arm. Meanwhile, Minato saw his own reflection in a puddle of his own blood, looking akin to a corpse as the battle went on.
"You had a lucky fluke that night," Ryoji spoke, referring to the battle on New Year's Eve. He flapped his wings to appear even larger, and sent the message that resistance was futile and the battle was already decided. "I told you at the end, I will be back to put you out of your misery."
Minato started to twitch.
"I already did put that worthless bitch out of hers," Ryoji spat, slamming the gigantic blade down next to Minato, the length of the steel being triple his size but the blunet did not flinch one bit, too taken over by the rage as every word that came out of his dirty mouth exploded like a bomb into the deepest, vilest part of his psyche and even now, all he saw was his bloody corpse.
Minato yanked on his hair and let out another bloodcurdling scream, evoking the mist from under his feet much to the sick delight of Ryoji, who was going to enjoy the torment as long as it went. There was no rush as the Dark Hour was eternal now.
With all the force he could muster, Minato summoned the strongest persona he could spare and the two blazed towards the direction of Ryoji, only slightly pushing him back and soon went screeching back into the sea, but that did little to deter Minato who ran ahead and switched, seeing summoning as his only hope now.
Every persona that he forced out was met with the same fate as Ryoji lashed out, not playing around this time and cutting through every persona that Minato summoned over and over again, launching a slew of physical and elemental attacks that the God shrugged off and finally retaliated after he grew bored-
Minato switched back to Oprheus and summoned the reawakened musician to guard against the shower of hellfire that came his way, and his persona, despite suffering burns managed to rush out of the flames and knocked the appraiser off balance with another shot to the dome.
Another summon of Ares and Siegfried weakened the lower armor and Minato bolted, power-charging his right hand and slamming a straight to shatter what was left-
Ryoji swatted the persona user to the side and Minato flipped through the air, managing to land on his feet, panting and sneezing but after quick second of rage, he went back to the suicidal attempt of fighting the God up close, eyes on the exposed lower body of the bastard-
"Tsk, tsk..."
His left eye caught a glint of silver and Minato froze at the spot, being stupid enough to forget that he was not just fighting the 13th Arcana...
Stab-
Minato dug the sword of the magician out of his arm and backed off-
He was fighting the embodiment of all twelve shadows.
Ryoji gave a haunting laugh, more limbs and blades erupting out of his back and forming a shield around the appraiser. To add more insult to injury, the armor that he had tried so hard to break regenerated right in front of his eyes.
"Come forward, brother..."
Minato picked the blade from the ground and dove in, the pain only worsening his insanity, making him lash out at the limbs surrounding him and while he sliced and cleaved through dozens, he was getting busted up with every passing second, desperately trying to close the distance because fighting at range was going to be suicidal against the gigantic entity-
The blade sailed towards his heart, neck and head and Minato panted through the assault, summoning a weaker blade to fight his way the never ending barrage of thrusts, stabs and swipes, and each time he got close, Ryoji simply moved and summoned more limbs out of his back-
His left sword was knocked out of his grip and Minato howled in pain, getting stabbed in the other three limbs and being picked off the ground until he cut through the slimy arms, backing off as soon as he touched the ground in order to get his breath back but Ryoji went after him, sailing countless arms in his direction and laughing as he missed every shot but only by the skin of his teeth as Minato had greatly slowed down.
Minato hacked out blood when two blade stabbed into his chest and drove him against the pillar. Another series sailed for his head and Minato tilted his neck, crushing the limbs in his grip and rolling to the side to avoid-
"There is no end to this..." Minato said through a mouthful of blood, jumping back after the roll and looking up at his enemy who now towered above him. Even with all the damage he had sustained and the apparent invincibility of the avatar, just one look was enough to rile him up.
Even with the hopelessness, suffering and futility of the batt;e, just one prominent thought was racing through his mind.
That bastard had mutilated Hamuko.
Possibly...
Pant.
Possibly killed her...
Ryoji almost saw something snap in his eye and the wild card starting shivering on the spot, his bloody and beaten face contorting into a venous scowl, a mirror image of the shadow behind the mask. Minato began to claw again at his own face, thinking back to the week long healing session where he had exhausted himself, half to death in order to heal her from the damage and scars and the bastard came in and ruined everything.
"Hahahaha..." Minato laughed in the face of the hell he was going through, his hollow laugh echoing in the dead of the Dark Hour, but there was something so broken about the laugh, almost like a laugh of defeat because Minato had realized something, and Ryoji caught that.
No matter what happened in the battle, he was never going to be the same again.
All those months of getting his humanity back and Ryoji had forced him back to square one and this time, there was no getting better again.
Minato, broken down as he was, still made the dash and Ryoji, tired from dragging on the battle actually met his charge and the two quickly met in the middle, the dozens and dozens of blades raining down on the persona user, picking him apart as he tried to get closer and closer-
"P-Persona!"
Ryoji leaned back to avoid the predictable swing and ripped the musician apart with his blades. He caught Minato lunging in and dug a blade into his leg, just above his ankle and the insane Fool fell down in a heap, getting stabbed in the other leg and letting out another scream as Ryoji started to abuse his legs with a grin, effectively leaving him with his right arm as his only working limb-
When he was sure the blades were deep enough, Ryoji slowly lifted Minato upwards and into the air, leaving him hanging upside down, taking a good look at his work as he raised him higher and higher, watching the blood dripping down to the ground off his broken frame. The sight was just right, a bloodied and beaten Minato hanging lifelessly upside down, almost every limb of his broken and his body begging for the end.
His heart was still screaming bloody murder but his body was talking as well, unable to take the abuse that he had gone through.
Ryoji pulled back on his right hand as Minato was barely able to struggle, clawing at the hands that held him in place until the full force punch from the gigantic God knocked the last bit of breath out of his body, eventually bringing his fist down and crashing Minato through what remained of the debris, making sure to shatter the stones onto his body.
Ryoji waited for a few moments for any sign of movement and eventually, the rubble started to shudder indicating that Minato was still breathing. Hissing in annoyance, Ryoji summoned the limbs of the priestess and dug Minato out of the remains, dragging him across the ground and forcing him to look up into his hollow eyes.
Stab.
Right arm.
Stab.
Left arm.
Stab.
Right thigh.
Stab.
Left arm.
Ryoji listened and waited until the end of every scream to abuse the next limb, grinning ear to ear as he had Minato right where he wanted.
"Look into my eyes, you pitiful fool!" Ryoji demanded when he shattered his knee and he snapped back with a coarse scream, glaring through his bloodied eyes-
"Fuck. YOU!"
Minato powered through with his right hand and summoned a knife to cut through the binds that held him against the ground but the limbs of the priestess quickly wrapped him from head to toe, covering his mouth shut to stop the screaming as Ryoji picked him off the ground and crashed him head-first back down, cracking the other side of his forehead open-
His spine crashed against the ground the next time, an audible crack ringing in his ears when he lost the mobility and feeling across his body. Ryoji tightened the grip and tried squeezed the last drop of blood out of his body, soaking the tentacles in blood until he raised him for the last time, several hundred feet up in the air and with a final curse to his soul, brought him back towards the ground at full force. Minato braced himself for the vicious impact and eventually, he crashed down with brutal force, shattering the ground and opening a hole on the top floor and Minato fell inside, possibly crippled for good as the sound was dreadful enough to even make Ryoji flinch.
"..."
Much like before, Ryoji waited and took a second to glance through the battlefield that was drenched in the blood of Minato, his broken and pitiful weapons scattered across the top. A whole minute passed and nothing happened and Ryoji was sure that the dirty hole was the resting place for Minato, a fitting end for the filthy piece of shit that he was. The shadows were going to devour his body and now that he was gone, Ryoji himself was going to drag the dead body of Hamuko across the dirt of the world, just like he promised-
A pillar of blue mist exploded out of the hole that Minato had fallen into, and another defiant screech made Ryoji hiss in annoyance. He watched on as Minato climbed out of the hole and by some miracle, got to his feet, face and body drenched in blood, sweat and dirt but not a single tear-
"I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU!" Minato screamed at the top of his lungs, evoker in his grip as he staggered forward and kept cursing the seemingly invincible God. "You piece of fucking shit! Where did you think you were going!?"
"You are annoying me now, Minato," Ryoji said through clenched teeth.
"And you disgust me!" Minato screeched back, spitting out the mixture of blood and dirt in his mouth. Even after the beating, the hate and insanity in his eye had not lessened one bit. "Enough of this goddamn show!"
"I'm going to blow you to pieces, damage you so bad that you won't even have time to regenerate!"
Having heard enough, Ryoji lunged for the final attack, this time aimed for his heart but Minato stood still, even in the face of the numerous blades and tentacles that came his way. He held his ground, pressed the evoker to his temple and yelled just as Ryoji came close.
"Rot in the depths of hell, you filthy little bitches!" Minato unloaded the bullet into his psyche and was nearly knocked to his feet due to the stress of summoning his two strongest personase-
"Come forth!"
Ryoji stopped in his tracks for the first time during the battle, actually gasping in shock when the blue flames surged in his direction, bringing forward a tremendous amount of heat which actually made the God shiver, and he quickly located Minato standing in the middle of the raging conflagration, slowly lifting his finger in the direction of the harbringer of the Fall-
"Armageddon..."
The howls of the two personas echoed in the night and the unforgiving flames exploded in the direction of Ryoji, momentarily freezing him in place and Minato gave chase, looking to land the killing blow after the flames had burned him from head to toe-
"Heh..."
Minato caught the smile and looked up with wide eyes, shaking his head in denial-
"Moonless Gown!"
Ryoji said at the last second, summoning a barely visible and absolutely impregnable barrier around his gigantic frame to shield himself from the heat and much to the utter surprise and confusion of Minato, the flames, his strongest fusion spell that was his ultimate miracle bounced upon contact with the barrier and came back towards the very persona user who had summoned the flames-
"No, no, no!" Minato, for the first time, actually panicked and took a step back, fearing that flames would burn to ashes if he was not quick. He switched up his personas and the flames dissipated, still leaving behind a large amount of heat and smoke. The Wild Card coughed and was almost blind, unable to see but he did heard a loud bang, like the sound of steel clattering on the ground-
"It is over..."
The first punch that Ryoji threw made Minato collapse to the ground. He looked up and saw Ryoji towering over him, now scowling and without a mock or a sneer, the God of Death started to unleash punch after punch upon his broken body, repeatedly and without pause, horribly beating the already lifeless persona user into the ground, with each successive smash getting louder and louder and the cries of Minato dying out as Ryoji did not even stop to look-
His large hands were soaked in red-
All he could see was a heap of blood and skin-
But the appraiser kept punching and punching, making sure to finish the job once and for all, and he did so without pity, not minding that the person getting mauled under his fists was the same called his brother and best friend once upon a time-
Punch.
Splatter.
Hack.
Rinse and repeat.
"..."
"..."
Eventually, after so many punches, Ryoji stopped the brutal assault and rose up, his hollow eyes trying to scan the shattered ground for the remains and dead body of Minato and he found him, limbs bend in opposite angles, body almost drowning a pool of his blood, mouth open and his eyes closed.
"..."
Finally, after months of waiting, Minato laid beaten, abused and victimized next to his feet, not even twitching after the assault. He had warned the persona user of this and finally, the weight had been lifted from his shoulders because he had finally brought divine punishment upon the insolent and along with that, dashed the hopes of Hamuko who had sacrificed herself to give Minato a fighting chance...
All for nothing...
"Haaah..."
Ryoji had to stop for a second when he heard the soft inhale and exhale, and saw his broken chest rising and falling, indicating that Minato was alive and breathing, even after that-
The irate God almost lost his senses but a whisper of Nyx calmed him down and he took a few deep breaths, grabbing his sword from nearby and towering over the beaten persona user who was hanging on to life by a breath.
In a way, Ryoji was almost glad but the because the death was much too peaceful for a piece of filth like him.
The blade of the appraiser began to surge with energy, the same chaotic and deadly essence that had finally crumbled Hamuko at the end of their long battle. He slowly raised the blade upwards, the steel pulsing with the energy of Death. He saw Minato pop one eye open and he met the blunet with a smirk, which was a fitting end for him.
"Farewell, brother..."
Minato could only see a bit of light from his right eye, and even that was blurry and double as the punches had effectively crippled and damaged his body to the point of paralysis. He laid there, breathing softly, not able to even cry because he had failed to avenge Hamuko and after wasting every of blood, sweat and tears, he was again conquered by Ryoji, just as he had promised months ago. There was no escaping him and no chance of victory, and now, all his foolish notions of putting an end to the God of Death crumbled in the brutal reality, that Ryoji was indeed unbeatable.
And he had lost...
Ryoji said, finishing the charge of his most brutal attack.
"May you rot in the depths of hell for all eternity..."
Ryoji brought the blade down and Minato closed his eye, his yell dying inside his throat-
"Night Queen!"
Minato felt pain but only for a split and everything went dark-
"..."
¯\_(ツ)_/¯