P3: Bloodlust

by Nightlyy

Minato had been staring down into an abyss for as long as he could remember. He does not know if the darkness stares back, if it calls him in or if he, himself is the abyss staring up, reaching out for the light beyond. Will he be helped up by someone who shares the curse or will he be drowned? A more dark and brutal novelization of Persona 3.

116. Chapter 116

Minato was somewhat familiar with what he was going through as he was sent to this place before, way back in October when Pharos knocked his soul out of his body and plunged the same into the abyss where life originated and then eventually returned to. The euphoria was said to calm the tortured soul for smooth and painless passage into the next world but both times, then and now, Minato knew nothing but despair.

"I lost...?"

That was all that he could think and torture himself over even when his consciousness started to evaporate out of his spirit, numbing his broken body to the brutal crackles of pain sustained in the battle. No, that was not a battle. That was a one sided slaughter which ended in his death.

"D-Death...?"

There was no one else beside him and he alone stood alone in the dark, without light and sound for miles but a bitter and heartbroken gasp almost broke the Wild Card, tears spilling at the corner of his eyes when he realized that he had failed and let everyone down, especially the girl whom he promised to avenge, the same who possibly breathed her last in his arms-

The failure of his defeat choked out whatever was left in his mangled throat and Minato struggled to remain in existence, fearful that his consciousness was going to leave his spirit and then get wiped out of existence as the despair was suffocating his very soul-

"Someone!"

A single tear escaped his eye and Minato laughed to himself bitterly, thinking back to the promises that he made earlier, all of which were crushed by Ryoji who reminded him something he should have learned from the very start, he was indeed unbeatable and there was no use resisting-

Minato cried out for help, but the voice never really left his mouth and died down.

"Anyone!"

The next yell manged to come out of his mouth but vanished due to the pressure of the black void he was trapped in.

"Please!"

His plea for help echoed across the expanse of infinite size but nobody came for him-

"Hamuko!?"

Her name was the first one that left his mouth but again, there was nothing. Nobody to save him from the darkness and his eventual shift into the next world.

"I... lost..." Minato broke his own heart when he muttered the truth. He thought he was going to pay Ryoji back for every wound but the opposite happened and the cruel God brutalized him to the point of paralysis and left him for dead next to his feet. He recalled painful hints and flashes of the one sided slaughter but the last memory of the final attack was vivid and clear, and that was what knocked his soul into the hell he was trapped in now.

"I was such a fool..."

Minato began to break down-

"T-Thinking I had a chance..."

Click-

Click-

"I never stood a chance against fate..."

"Hahaha..."

"I-I just wanted a chance..."

Minato said through clenched teeth, not sure he had the tears to spare.

Flashes of his evil deeds in the past made him choke and the blunet fell into a heap on his knees.

"To atone..."

The last battle raged across his broken psyche, spilling another drop from his eyes-

"But I lost my way again..."

"I have no one..."

"Hahaha..."

"But that is what a bastard like me deserves at the end..."

"G-Good riddance, Minato Arisato, you waste of life..."

All those promises were going straight to hell along with him-

When he was a second away from giving up, he felt a grip on his shoulder and life started to gather in the middle of his chest, bubbling softly like small embers before the flames of rebirth. The once darkened place was now illuminated and Minato sucked in a deep breath, heat and warmth on his back but he was afraid to turn around, fearful that the entity behind him would drag his rotten soul into the next world-

"Brother..."

That voice. That soft and childlike voice inspired so many different emotion, anger, pain and betrayal but there was something warm bubbling along those negative ones-

"That voice..." Minato said to himself and painfully turned around, still thinking this was a cruel trick as a final fuck you for all that he had done but the minute he laid his eyes on the familiar boy, the light blinded him and Minato fell backwards-

"W-Why...?"

After all this time...

Why now...?

"P-Pharos?"

The last time he had seen the boy was in Tartarus, after he had done beating the shit out of Takaya but then life went on a tailspin after that night and he was never really the same and then there was just one thing after another, all that led up to his death but after so many months of being alone and a brutal December where he prayed for Pharos to come back, the blue eyed child sat next to him, the only one who came for him when he was at his wits end.

He had not changed, not one bit but his gaze was soft and concerned, like the one he gave him the last time they saw each in Tartarus, where he said his goodbyes and begged him to get out of the tower as soon as possible. The soft gaze was far different from the ones of hatred that Ryoji gave him when he lost his mind a week before New Year's Eve.

Pharos said nothing and simply wiped the escaped tears with his sleeve, as a small gesture of comfort but Minato did not take too kindly to his affection and backed off as if he had seen something vile and the touch was cursed.

The child merely laughed but there was a clear look of hurt across his face. "You have forgotten me, brother."

The memories of his short and painful life were coming back, especially the cold month of December-

"You have the one who forget me!" Minato countered, recalling the hole that Ryoji had left on his chest after the betrayal, when he knocked him out and then started to pick apart his friends one by one.

"Do I do disgust you, brother?" Pharos asked with another lopsided smile, tilting his head to hide the glister in the corner of his eyes.

"I loathe you!" Minato found his voice and cursed the boy, for all that he had done. He spat on the bond that he said he cherished and broke his spine to prove that when he was begging Ryoji to stop. "Did you forget all that you did to me!? You grew up into a monster and spat on everything we shared. Go fuck yourself!"

"Just like you spat on everyone else?"

Minato stopped his tirade upon those words and bit back on whatever he was about to spew. He glanced at his deformed hands and just silently gazed at the same, hands that had abused so many innocents. He gritted his teeth and heard a small sniff, catching the first tear that escaped the eyes of Pharos-

A silence lingered in the void and Minato lowered his gaze, mulling and trying to make sense of his thoughts.

Yes, a long time ago, he was not much different than the person he was cursing right now.

He had spat on trust, friendship and even love, when he turned on Hamuko and left her alone.

"You forgot, brother..."

Pharos repeated the words from earlier.

"What did you say?"

"..."

"Just forgive me already..."

Hypocrite...

That was all swimming in his head currently and Minato tried to find a loophole, a reason to fire back at Pharos and prove that he was innocent in the bloody mess but now that he thought about it, the descent to madness for Ryoji was not much different than his own.

Almost action to action.

Minato finally glanced at Pharos and did not shy away from his gaze, catching the watery eyes and he quietly moved in his direction. This time, he was the one who wiped the tears off the face of the blue eyed child and but there was still a small bit of hesitance.

"I was late but I came back for you, didn't I?" the child said after another sniff. "I am right here with you, brother."

"..."

"Please, brother..." Pharos called out painfully, tugging on the sleeve of the older male. "Please..."

Minato stayed silent-

"I want a chance..." the boy pleaded. "Just give me a chance..."

Minato cut him off and quickly embraced his little brother in the cold dark void, something he had wanted to do ever since they said their goodbyes to each other in Tartarus and even trapped in a cold hell, there was a wave of warmth and relief that washed over his mangled body when he clutched the boy close and breathed out softly. Pharos soon returned the gesture, akin to the first time Minato had hugged him after his battle with Theodore, a battle where Pharos guided him through and gave him a second chance at life and love-

"I'm sorry..." Minato whispered softly, trying to stop the shiver of shame rocking his body. "I'm so sorry, little bro..."

"I am sorry too," Pharos muttered against his sleeve. "I am sorry for all the pain and suffering I have caused you but I will a selfish bastard and stay by your side no matter what you say to me."

"I don't want you to go anywhere," Minato replied, clutching him with more force. "Not again..."

"I must, brother..."

"Not again, you little brat..." Minato scowled but Pharos was adamant.

"You wanted a chance at atonement and I will give you that chance one last time," Pharos said. "The psyche of Nyx, something that only we, the 13th Arcana can hold is the root of these distortions."

"The psyche of Nyx...?"

"You have to keep fighting, brother," Pharos said after he broke the hug but he remained close, gazing up at the blunet with hope. "Can you keep fighting? To give me peace?"

Fight again? Fight against the seemingly unbeatable Ryoji who had reduced him a lifeless husk and banished him to this place? Every second of the battle made him realize that resistance was hopeless but-

"I will," Minato swore. "I may have lost Hamuko but as long as you are there, there is still someone I have to save and a reason to live."

Pharos finally gave the kiddish grin that he was used to before and the child quickly disappeared into the darkness of the realm, starting Minato-

"Don't worry, brother..."

The voice was deep but had the same effect and Minato quickly calmed down. He picked himself off the ground and stood up to full height, even with his battered body-

"Put an end to this chapter..."

A familiar gloved hand emerged from the darkness, something which he had forsaken in his hypocritical rage but this time, Minato grasped it tightly-

He saw the figure hidden in the darkness, a bond long forgotten and forsaken-

"I will..."

The moment he said that, a familiar roar rippled across the void and life struck Minato one more time, coursing through his cold veins and filling his spirit until he was hit by the pain of his worn out body-

"Ugh!"

"Keep fighting..."

Minato trusted the only person who came from him during his time of greatest need and endured the horrific spasms, getting ready to head right back as he had promised-

"Very well!"

He shouted at the escaping darkness-

"All for you, Pharos!"

---

Ryoji was somewhat unnerved, even with the silence that he had longed hoped for and his blade, surely plunged into the dead body of his brother had budged a centimetre or so. Minor deviation but that was not lost on him because while he was in complete control of the battle, he knew better not to-

"What the!?"

Pressure and decay gathered in a heap around his blade and gales of black mist exploded upwards, startling the God of Death who was definitely surprised but somewhere, even with the hate he harbored for Minato, he knew the blunet was going to rise up one more time. So be it-

The maelstrom of darkness grew dense, a surge of white gleaming in the middle as the layers folded onto each other in never ending succession but amidst the vile sound of darkness clashing against the air, the God definitely heard a low sigh followed by the click of feet against the ground. He shook off the surprise and brushed off the pressure coming from cyclone of black, his blade once again capturing the essence of Death for the final strike-

Another flash of darkness and Ryoji halted when something, a glint of white and black, flew at him from within the cyclone and crashed into his body with a good amount of force and for the first time he was knocked off balance and stumbled backwards, his massive blade escaping his grip, followed by a surge of purple energy that detonated point blank against his face-

A familiar roar brought him back to his senses a second later and Ryoji hurled the creature that was attempting to grapple off himself, doing so with minor difficulties but a second later, the weight was back on him, knocking him to his knees and he was forced to endure another explosion of purple energy, scattering more layers of dust and smoke-

"Enough of this!" the blade spawned back in his grip and after another shove to the decently strong persona, a swing sliced through the coffins and the body, eliciting another screeching roar echoed across the skies but the same brought back memories, strong vivid images of a certain battle in the forest back in October-

Ryoji brushed off the vile memories and smashed the persona into the ground and this time, he was ready for the charge and lashed out when he felt the approaching weight closing in, correctly timing the opening and shredding through the spiritual flesh of the persona. He endured another torrent of past memories and-

Slice-

His right hand was sliced off the wrist joint after the second of hesitance and Ryoji widened his eyes, immediately unleashing a violent surge of red energy to quickly take care of the persona but just then, the cyclone a few yards away from the skirmish exploded, the raging tempest of darkness cancelling out his almighty spell and covering the apex of the tower with black mist and small specks of white-

His vision was somewhat dimmed but after a wave of his hand to disperse the dust and darkness, Ryoji saw the persona that he had battled against briefly, injured and fading into static but still in the real world. "Tch!" he had avoided looking at the persona out of disgust as it was the personification of the bond between him and Minato-

Minato, rose up from the puddle of his own blood on the ground while clutching his injured arm. The struggle to get to his broken feet was tremendous but eventually, he stood up to a vertical base with his body beaten to resemble a corpse, ripped, punctured and broken after the vicious abuse from the appraiser.

"You just do not know when to lie down," Ryoji was more pissed than impressed by his endurance. He had no concern for his sliced off hand, which spoke levels about his confidence. In fact, he did not even need his hands to crush Minato one more time. The writing was on the wall and Minato had no chance, his own face told the same story and he looked aware of the ruthless beat-down that would follow, even worse than before. "Would you call this a miracle?"

Minato said nothing and instead he trudged towards his beaten persona growling next to him. His toe broke on the first step and his ankle twisted upon the next, ligaments coming off the bone but that did not stop his advances, pitiful and hopeless in the eyes of the God who simply observed him. He had nothing left as evident by the limp and gait of someone on his death bed.

"It seems I have still allies in this battle," Minato said when he stopped next to his previously favorite persona, with the entity struggling to remain in the world and protect Minato from the appraiser. A crushed hand went over to caress along the now broken coffins and Minato smiled slightly. "And something left to give..."

"Pathetic." Ryoji said, disgusted by the display of affection. The scene before him had lighted up a disgusting fire in him and the only way to dispel such a horrid feeling was to wipe Minato off the dirt of the world and the goddamn persona which was a mistake in the first place along with him. "Is this your new Hamuko?"

Minato finally took notice of the mammoth problem he had to deal with but surprisingly he did not explode at the jab to Hamuko. His beaten and bruised face did flinch momentarily but a deep breath later, Minato shook his head and his hand still had a firm grip around the single finger of Thanatos-

"Say whatever you want," Minato replied back, taking a stance and evoking a gust of wind from under his feet.

"But I will close this sick and twisted chapter tonight,"

Ryoji was ready to charge and this time, cleave him in two and burn the remains to ashes for a definite end to the now annoying battle but the first feint did nothing to budge Minato out of his stance. Instead, the blunet breathed out, pale blue mist escaping from his clenched fists and from under his feet. His stance relaxed further and his prime persona rose up along, regenerating and healing as the spiritual mist coiled around and across-

"Enough!"

Minato glanced over to the appraiser and a second later, without even bothering to regenerate his missing hand, Death flew at him with the intent to finish him off for good when he was still injured. The blunet retained his posture and a bright circle spawned under his feet, emitting a blinding flash of holy light which halted the incoming charge-

Ryoji did not hiss or yell out but the flash of light did sting at first, and that developed into an irritating burn along the place where he was struck. Even worse, the flash left him blind momentarily and the intensity only grew by the second, forcing him to lash out with random attacks in hope of taking Minato out-

Minato held out his right hand to block the sphere that came right for him. The attack burned through his nerves before he deflected the same to the side and he chuckled at the exposed bone on his hand but he clenched the same, more mist escaping from his fingers and gathering around him.

"This is it..."

SMASH-

Minato raised a finger to the sky when he evoked a second persona, the broken version of Orpheus, a sign of his corruption due to the blood-lust of Death but the light and mist healed the physical and spiritual scars of his initial persona, restoring Orpheus to his original form, light blue and white with a face resembling Minato.

The circle shone through the dense darkness on the floor and Minato held out his arms at either side, exhaling as the build of light was finally unleashed upwards and the surged engulfed the blunet, gold and silver wrapping around his injured body while his two personas, Thanatos and Orpheus, the proof of his bond with Pharos and his true initial persona merged upon his command-

"This power..."

Minato glanced at his broken and deformed hands, stained with the blood of so many people, deserving and innocent alike.

Another roar from Ryoji was followed by a heap of almighty spheres in his direction but the same bounced off the barrier of light around the rejuvenated Wild Card.

"To think..."

The skies above were split apart and more of the glorious light was ushered towards the dead world from the heavens, each photon coiling around the blunet who was still at a loss for words, only able to glance at the wounds on his hands that began to close up. He took a small glance backwards, easily able to see through the mass of light and making out the definite shape of-

"A bastard like me..."

His ultimate persona.

"Hehe..."

A gentle smile later, Minato clenched his fists again and looked straight ahead, regaining the determination to put an end to the twisted chapter like he had promised.

"Come forth, Messiah!"

Ryoji audibly gasped upon the word. Messiah? That was not a persona he had come across and he knew Minato better than anyone, having spent 10 years sealed inside his soul. The burn had now worsened to a patch of burned flesh and but the appraiser forced his eyes open, barely able to see past the thick mass of light which began to writhe and come to life, quickly gathering around the blunet who now stood upright, not longer hunched over to the pain but the last thing he saw before the final flash, and the most concerning was the smirk on his face-

Just like New Year's Eve-

The shine of the holy light was powerful enough to light up the dense darkness of the Dark Hour and the warmth was felt all the way down towards the lobby, somehow healing even the worst wounds left on the bodies of his friends by the appraiser, the long awaited salvation after the once hopeless battle.

"What is this...?" Akihiko said, his busted knuckles reforming before his eyes.

"Heh! It's Minato!" Sho exclaimed loudly. "It has to be!"

His rival slash best friend had ascended yet again and left him in dust.

"Go on, leader! Kick his ass!"

...

Back up at the top, the bulk of light finally subsided and Ryoji was able to open his eyes fully. The darkness that had been left as residue due to their clashes had evaporated under the light, so did the rotting scent of decay and death which was previously thick in the already vile air of the Dark Hour. None of that mattered as the only cause of concern was the persistent mortal and after a glance ahead, he finally saw Minato again.

The goddamn face which he had beaten black and blue was now mostly free of the bruises, so was his body which was brutally crushed beyond repair, at least that was what he had thought. Somehow, someway, despite low-key expecting it, Minato had risen up from the ashes of his body and soul, having clawed his way out of the miserable domain one more time and around him was the same mass of heat and light, spread across almost half of the top floor.

Minato stood at the front, his passive gaze held by a furious look of anger of the appraiser of the fall. He looked calm, way too calm after getting mauled into an almost lifeless husk of torn skin and broken bones and that was what pissed him off the most.

"Tell me, would you call this a miracle?" Ryoji sneered with barely disguised rage. "Revived only to get beaten even worse?"

"Speaking of miracles," Minato said slowly, in a cool and calm voice, accompanied by the same smirk which was the bane of Ryoji's existence. "It is a miracle you haven't shot out a filthy, ugly baby yet."

The jab finally set off the appraiser into a towering rage and he immediately regenerated his sliced off hand and willed the blade back into the same, letting out a pent up roar of frustration when he took off towards Minato, fully intended to beat him back to a corpse and extinguish the light with his darkness-

Minato held out his hand and the shape of the heat behind him began to distort upon command-

Psyche of Nyx, huh?

"Here is my miracle, you bitch,"

The lunging fist of the appraiser was caught by something intangible and his entire limb was frozen when the light wrapped around his wrist and above. He struggled to break free but then soon launched his blade towards the head but that too, after a quick movement of photon was frozen. The bringer of the fall grunted and began to power through but not before he finally a caught a glimpse of what he was up against-

In the core of the heat and holy light, there was an entity shrouded and engulfed to the point of invisibility but Ryoji saw bits and bits after each blink, catching a chain of coffins, a large cross along the back, red eyes and that face-

"Messiah..."

"Ugh!"

The same face as the blunet smirking at him from below-

Minato saw the surge of red between his maw and reacted quicker, clenching his fist and detonating the first burst of holy light which was able to cleave through the thick armor and burn the appraiser from the inside out. His massive body was caught up by flames and Ryoji backed off when the force of the explosion sent him stumbling backwards-

Ryoji was finally knocked on his back and even Minato let out a small gasp at the power he was blessed with.

"So... this is my ultimate persona?" he could not help but smile at the thought, the cause of this power which was a merger between his own self and the friendship he had with Pharos. A bond that he had forsaken due to the hatred of Ryoji and Nyx but after a miserable beating, in which he was abused beyond imagination, the only one who reached out to him was that little brat. "Hehehe..."

Ryoji had gotten up and he seemed ready to take the battle more seriously. So was Minato who knew he could not retain his ultimate persona indefinitely as the strain was taxing and so, the two rivals found themselves staring at each other again as if the battle had not even begun yet. The roles were reversed one more time however as Minato smirked and Ryoji gave a grunt of rage.

After another glance at his ultimate persona, Minato was the one to take off and the light followed his rapid footsteps, quickly catching up to him in a blink while Ryoji moved quite a bit faster than before, closing the distance between them and firing off an experimental sphere of red to gauge his new abilities-

The sphere dissolved under the heat and Minato planted his feet for a counter, plucked a sphere of light out of air and chucked the same towards Ryoji who sliced through the incoming and grunted at the bright flight which left him blind, open to a violent blast of heat which melted his lower armor-

"I got everything I need right here!"

He heard his voice and backed off, barely escaping another imminent detonation that Minato was forced to call off due to the distance. A quick regeneration of his armor later, Ryoji hissed in impatience, clenching the hilt of his blade tightly as Minato hopped a few times and cracked his neck from side to side, still surrounded by that blasted light.

Minato stomped the floor and the same element quickly raced along the ground in a column of pillars, forcing Ryoji to move backwards yet again. Tch, despite being several times larger than Minato he was the one moving backwards and after that infuriating thought, the massive God braced his body and glided through the dome of heat, closing in on Minato in a second-

The roar of the appraiser pierced through the quiet night but Minato welcomed the charge with a glare of his own, running to catch up on the distance until the lunge and swing of the massive blade which was caught by his ultimate persona, leaving Ryoji to open a small speck of light which Minato flicked into his right eye and the same, barely noticeable orb exploded out of the back of his head in a violent burst-

The screech was certainly invigorating to Minato, especially after getting beaten to a pulp but he did not stop to mock as Ryoji drew on the powers of the full moon shadows and the the shadowy limbs emerged from his back-

Minato melted the tentacles of the priestess and dodged the swing of the magician blades, rapidly making his way through the barrage and stopping right next to Ryoji who was healed and even more pissed than before-

Another quick stomp on the floor led to another bright flare, potent enough to melt the black limbs and Ryoji was forced to engage himself, this time wrapping his weapon with clusters of red energy before a wild swing-

Minato constructed a weapon out of the light around him, a simple looking blade which he conjured a second before the sword of the appraiser came for his neck and the same was blocked to another flash of white and a surge of black-

Ryoji hissed in irritation while Minato was rocked down to his knees but he held on, getting pushed backwards because there was still a noticeable difference in brute strength. "Hehe."

Minato kicked at the air and a slew of particles exploded against the massive body of the God, forcing him to disengage but he came back with a burst of darkness, crushing the second wave and cancelling a good portion of the light behind the blunet but that did little to discourage Minato and he was back in the pocket, blocking the next swing of the sword with the weapon he made from the light-

Ryoji saw the incoming particles, barely visible to the normal eye but thanks to his godlike senses, he was able to deflect a good portion of the charged particles with his blade and cancelled out the rest with a timed burst of magic, occasioning another shockwave and several small scale explosions across the ground but that did not push back Minato who was still standing at the same spot.

"This light won't save you forever," Ryoji scowled, blowing over the distraction with a strong gust of wind from his fingertips. "I will get my hands on you again and when I will, I will snuff out every last bit of hope this time."

"You keep talking," Minato replied, the element around and below him picking up the intensity, akin to that of a supernova amidst the vacuum of a dead and dark sky. "You talk and I win."

At that, Ryoji lost his cool and screeched in his direction. "YOU WIN NOTHING!" the fury of his work being undone had certainly unhinged the cruel God and despite the abundance of danger, he took flight and rushed back down, wings expanded at either side to not allow Minato even a glimpse of an escape-

Minato condescended the residue into a thick cloak of holy light and picked his feet off to dodge the downwards smash, skidding along the ground due to the force but that was quickly brushed off and he met the charge of his rival with a smirk, generating another holy weapon to block the swing that came from the side-

The force and explosion of dull grey generated enough force to ripple across the entire top floor of the tower and while the light construct dispersed upon contact, the blunet projected another to guard the next swing-

Another clash of blade against light matter dissolved the latter and Minato backed off, kicking the blade in the opposite direction to leave the appraiser open and he at once capitalized with a spear which he picked up from thin and hurled the same towards the throat-

Ryoji shielded and blocked the spear with his forearm and the energy melted the armor and lodged inside. He hissed in irritation but swatted Minato to the side when he was open as well, sending the persona user halfway across the floor-

A crushing surge of darkness followed but Minato landed on his feet and countered with a bright flash, light and dark cancelling each other out and leaving a cloud of smoke across the floor. After shaking his head, Minato raced through the mist and lunged at Ryoji, hurling another spear in his direction-

Ryoji made sure to back off when he sliced the incoming weapon made up of pure energy, avoiding the delayed explosion, which drew a grin from Minato as there was plenty more where that came from. The avatar scowled back in response to the cocky grin, looking down at the bug that he once crushed and yet-

"Stay down!"

Minato blocked the fist with his bare hands and backtracked, kicking another slew of photons in the direction of Ryoji who simply walked through the minor disturbances and slammed the massive blade down with utmost force, cursing out loud when the blunet dodged at the last second and gave another infuriating smirk during his twirl, a split second gleam surging across his body-

The following burst of light sent the blade flying out of his grip and Ryoji had to use both of his hands to dispel the force and deal with the burn, being brought to the edge of the tower before he was barely able to fend the spell off a quick burst of almighty energy-

He barely saw Minato running through the smoke and slamming into his exposed stomach at full force, bringing the ungodly heat along which made him screech out and the next tackle knocked him off the edge and down below. Minato was left alone at the top and hung around the edge for a few seconds, reforming the cloak that he used to blast Ryoji off the top.

"Huh, Nyx being bottom," Minato mused as he rubbed his chin. "By a mortal no less."

He got a screech of utmost hatred in response and the appraiser glided upwards in a flash, far above his range of his attack but he did not seem intent on staying up there too long, wanting to crush Minato by own two hands and the blunet beckoned him over, daring him to do the exact same-

Ryoji fired off a beam of red and black towards the ground before he came rushing down, managing to grab Minato as he dodged to the right and he smashed the Wild Card against the ground, slamming a massive right soon after to crush the little bug against the ground-

"God's hand!"

The massive fist clocked Ryoji on the side of his face and Minato escaped from under his hand, slicing the same off with a wild swing of another weapon of light but Ryoji swung his other fist in his direction, knocking the Wild Card backwards into the pillar-

Minato got off as soon as he made contact, clicking his tongue when he saw Ryoji regenerate the hand he sliced off earlier. That ability of his was a pain in the ass but he shook off the frustration and focused back on Ryoji who tracked his movements and remained at a distance, bringing out the tentacles and arms the moment Minato made a turn in his direction-

"Tch!"

Minato powered his way through the distractions until a single arm wrapped around his ankle and flung him into the rocks nearby, smashing him back first. Ryoji saw the chance and bolted, condescending his ultimate attack around his right fist-

"Night Queen!"

Minato stopped playing possum upon the vile surge and jumped out of the range of the attack, which barely brushed past his arm while he dodged, going on quite a trajectory before the hideous explosion of decay across the sky. He had dodged most of the damage of easily the most painful spell that had ever abused his body but at the same time, a part of him had the urge to step into the nexus of the bubble of death and endure the pain for one more-

Ryoji flew up during his distraction and cursed him, gathering a cluster of almighty energy in his free hand and launching the sphere towards the blunet who was quickly brought back into focus by the approaching heat, flinging a sphere of purple towards the path of the attack and bracing his body for the chaos to follow-

The eruption of almighty did not knock him off his feet like the previous ones did, a sure sign that his new persona had increased his strength massively but the force was still a little brutal to endure and he had to dig his feet to not get blown off. He squinted his eyes to see through the flash of purple and the layers of dust, catching the reflection of moonlight that stung his cornea-

Minato relaxed his weight and slipped to the left to avoid the blade that cleaved through the two spells and the maelstrom detonated in his direction, forcing the blunet to expand the cloak of light to guard against the lashings but the blade came for him this time and Minato gasped, tilting his body to avoid his torso being sliced off but the tip of the sword opened up a deep gash from his side towards the middle of his stomach-

A punch that came from the shadows led to blood gushing out of the fresh wound but Minato gritted his teeth through the pain and wrapped the massive blade in his light, hurling the weapon several yards back to leave the appraiser weaponless. Ryoji stepped back when he saw Minato advance, raising his guard and scowling-

"Moonless Gown-"

"Oh no you don't," Minato bolted to close the distance before Ryoji could complete the spell and the appraiser glanced up after a strike of golden thunder, witnessing the skies opening up and a pillar of light striking the floor of his tower, already adding to the ridiculous amount that Minato had gathered and the blunet gave a bloody grin, coughing out blood but after a wag of his finger, he took his stance and the massive amount of light around him began to luster in the darkness-

Minato forced out another explosion, burning through the ground with the massive amount of heat but the bulk of the energy struck the appraiser seconds before he could summon the ultimate defense, not able to match the speed of light which pierced through his flesh and armor hundred times over in a span of a few minutes and burned him from inside out, triggering another flash of white light on the apex of Tartarus.

...

...

...

The aftereffects began to clear off and Minato stood in a crater, panting slightly and without the light guarding him, having used up most of it during the explosion which was not too bad as just a few yards away, Ryoji laid in a heap, smoking from his body but still very much alive, if that was even possible. The God of Death was a little slow to get back up and Minato noticed that he was trembling, most likely due to the rage and not the attack which was really just a small hurdle thanks to his limitless stamina and bullshit regeneration.

Ryoji noticed that the cloak around his body had disappeared and calmed down a little. Now that he thought about it, his new persona gave him the same abilities that Hamuko displayed in their battle but the manipulation of light instead of the darkness that Nyx blessed her with. He was able to power through the darkness with brute strength but the holy light was far more difficult to battle through as every little flash would burn him as if he was exposed to the sun.

Not to mention, the last explosion hurt him far worse than anything ever did.

"What's the matter, afraid of the light?" Minato sneered from a distance, letting rapid breaths to get some stamina back. Ryoji said nothing and merely picked himself up, reforming the missing flesh and armor in the span of a few seconds-

"I don't blame you," Minato snickered. "I would be too if I saw Nyx naked."

Ryoji was rapidly losing his temper and the bloodcurdling scream that rocked the top was further proof that but much like always, the ferocity of the roar did little to scare Minato and he brushed it off, not the least bit intimidated.

"Far better than seeing that mangled bitch, Hamuko," Ryoji countered as he started getting up. He saw the flicker of rage on the face of the blunet but Minato soon closed his eyes, exhaled and then gave a dismissive shake of his head, raising his guard again.

"Nice try…" Minato gave a dismissive chuckle instead of the eruption that Ryoji hoped. He was just about to blow up once more but a quick glance over Minato made him relax and he stood up, pleased at the complete lack of light around the annoying blunet.

"You lost your shield," Ryoji pointed out, once again willing his sword back in his grip. Minato was definitely slowing down again, as evident by the deep breaths and his sweaty face. Another few minutes of pressure and the boy would wilt just like he did before.

Minato regained his stance and evoked two personas in response, Siegfried and Ares before he walked ahead and beckoned the Avatar of Nyx with one finger just like before-

"Night Queen!"

The wave of destruction tore across the ground and Minato stepped to the side, as did his personas to avoid the damage but Ryoji came right back from the skies, launching his sword towards the open Wild Card who ducked and came out from under, calling upon his personas to block the second swing-

The clash of three blades blew Minato off his feet and after a few seconds of struggle, Ryoji knocked the two personas aside and made a mad dash towards the teenager who had barely gotten up to his feet. Minato was forced to block the downward slash by his bare hands and the resulting blood splattered across his face, making blink to dispel the red in his vision but then again-

"Not too bad of a sight…"

"Scarlet Havoc!"

His lead hand was ripped straight off by the first saw-blade, allowing Minato to escape from under him. Ryoji snapped his head to the side and backed out of the second one and then the third one came straight for his head-

Ryoji quickly discharged a massive amount of flames to melt the incoming blade and he dispelled the residual with a wave of his hand but as the flames began to die out, a flash of orange and blue streaked out, the heat far more intense than his own flames-

"Ardhanari!"

Cloaked in flames, Minato shut his eyes and slammed his own body with full force, hearing his own bones crack again when he collided against the thick armor which was fast to dissolve under the ungodly heat and the flames began to lash out at the real body of the appraiser-

"Night Queen-"

Minato was a second quicker and expelled the full scale of the flames the second he heard Ryoji call for the attack. The surge of Death subsided when Ryoji lost his concentration, his innards rotting and evaporating when the heat reached up to his throat and Minato gave a final push, exploding out of the other side of his body while caked in black fluid and the putrid smell of corpses.

"Oh ewww!" Minato wiped his hands on his pants and looked back, finding the mess of what used to be the Avatar surrounded by a black shield, missing half of his body and an arm. "I guess that's an orgasm for Nyx."

He just had to-

"Whatever gets you off, you masochistic bitch!" Minato yelled after the little inside joke, occasioning another quake through the top floor when the appraiser fastened his healing and slowly started to rise up, finger coiled around the new weapon

BANG-

Something sharp and hot blasted through the flesh on his shoulder and the next opened up a gash along the side of his neck, a few inches shy of his throat. He swung with a blade after the third bang and deflected the bullet aimed for the head, watching the damn thing skim past his cheek and the sight was vaguely similar, so was the massive revolver in the grip of his foe, the revolver of the guardian of Tartarus, the Reaper.

"Oh great…."

Ryoji unloaded more than a dozen of bullets which Minato deflected with his blade until the steel shattered and he switched to a more resistant persona, taking note to be careful as he would not survive along with anything but his absolute strong personas-

Ryoji closed the distance while firing bullet after bullet, catching Minato off guard with the edge of his blade and opening a massive cut along his chest. He smashed the blunt end of the revolver and forced him to the ground, pressing the barrel against the back of his neck to blast his throat to chunks of flesh-

"MESSIAH!"

The revolver and his blade were upwards after the expulsion of light, leaving the appraiser weaponless and open to the brutal burn of the holy element but this time, something rose out from the core of the heat and struck him hard across the face, a punch far more painful he had endured in the long battle, one that planted him on the ground and left a burn mark on his face which was not fast to heal unlike the other wounds.

Minato stomped and launched the body of the Avatar into the skies from another explosion of photons, hurling a spear seconds later but Ryoji shrugged off the damage and crushed the same using his bare hands, catching his sword and revolver and arming himself once more. The two locked gazes and Ryoji was the first one to screech, locking his aim on the blunet below and unloading another blistering torrent of baseball size bullets-

He was not expecting Minato to create a shield of light to guard his body from the bullets and while the first one broke after a few seconds of assault, he constructed one soon after and stayed at the same place, plucking another spear from the light around him and launched iit towards the air-borne appraiser-

Ryoji shifted and watched as the weapon soared past his face but another flash of light approached, far more intense and the same punch from earlier rocked his senses, knocking him down from the skies.

Minato took off running, dismissing Messiah and switching over to a more physical persona but Ryoji picked him off and unleashed a beam of red energy and Minato ran right into the core, getting his flesh ripped off until a raven hand grabbed him by the body and hurled him off the edge of the tower-

"Good riddance-!"

"Seth!"

The Egyptian God soared past the top of the tower and Minato launched himself from the skies, wrapping his body in the flames of Shiva and Parvati but this time, Ryoji was ready to counter the spell, summoning a wall of ice and a barrage of icicles which lessened the heat and gashed Minato open in several places but that did not stop his trajectory and this time he aimed for the neck-

Ryoji caught the blunet by his hand in mid-air, enduring the spasm of pain and quickly slapping him against the ground to drench the floor with blood. He closed the same hand into a fist and trapped the Wild Card under, channeling the red energy and unleashing it a second later to rock the place and send Minato plummeting into the hole below. He withdrew his burnt hand from the ground and winced slightly, as the fusion spells were always a pain to deal with. Minato's berserk mindset did not allow him to summon two personas but now that he was somehow calm, he was constantly spamming the spells to gain the edge in the battle-

"Armageddon!"

Ryoji took flight when he processed the name of the brutal fusion spell but after a few seconds of staying afloat, nothing happened, aside from Minato climbing out of the hole and dusting his pants. That little bastard had trolled him!

"You really are scared, aren't you?" Minato cracked his neck. "Told ya, you'd be pissing your pants when I summon my personas."

"You insolent…"

"Oh wait, you're Nyx," Minato gave a nod. "You don't wear any!"

The insult brought Ryoji back to the ground and Minato at once summoned Messiah again, healing some of the more minor wounds and burns which he had sustained. The skies divided above, ushering another massive mass of light towards the Wild Card.

It was clear his normal personas were not a match for Ryoji at this stage.

"I have to finish this, or at least bring him down to normal size," Minato muttered to himself, clenching his fist as the next few minutes were going to be extremely taxing-

Minato moved first, avoiding the swing of the sword and discharging another stream of light towards the appraiser, countered by a wave of darkness that split the gray explosion across the skies, blowing up smoke and debris but that was dispersed when Ryoji saw his figure and called upon a bolt of thunder from the skies-

"THOR!"

The single bolt was dissolved into nothingness when the area shook, blue mist blending with the light around the frame of Minato who gritted his teeth to work through the strain, yelling out moments later to force the persona out of his psyche-

Ryoji was not expecting the persona to emerge from the mass behind Minato, several times larger and cloaked in holy energy. The strain of the summon was noticeable on the face but Minato had managed to buff up his personas thanks to his gifts, something Hamuko could only accomplish for a second in their battle-

"Ziodyne!"

The mixture of light and thunder was violent enough to launch the appraiser off his feet and the persona caught up to the limp body of the appraiser in seconds, crushing one side of his face with a brutal hammer strike which knocked him down below but Ryoji retaliated as soon as he touched the ground, firing a bullet into the mask of the persona to vanquish the God of Thunder.

Ryoji saw Minato fast approaching and unleashed the limbs out of his hands, something Minato saw coming and the Wild Card summoned yet, calling upon the mightiest angel Metatron from the light and the divine being heeded the call, illuminating the skies further. He was knocked to a knee but the persona remained, easily fending off the blades and tentacles until he punched the ground and evoked the golden fist from the skies for the appraiser on the ground-

Ryoji halted the fist by a surge of almighty energy and bolted towards the persona user, getting stopped in his tracks by the persona he had summoned from earlier. Usually, a persona was no match for the God of Death but buffed by the light of Messiah, Ryoji started to struggle, body beginning to show signs of the struggle but he opened his mouth and aimed the bubbling energy for Minato who stood a few feet away-

"Change!"

Ryoji lurched forward upon the sudden disappearance of the persona, leaving him open and Minato capitalized, bringing Seighfried out of his psyche in a sudden burst, hacking and burning the dazed appraiser until a desperate slap from Ryoji knocked Minato away-

"I can't keep up a sustained attack on him, not like this," Minato said with another click of his tongue. The size difference was too much to overcome, that alongside his stupid healing factor made this quite the battle to get through.

Another screech from the Avatar made Minato rush at him but he stopped midway through and his eyes began to grow wide, a look of disbelief crossing his face when he realized-

"He's getting bigger!"

While he was roughly the same size as Metatron, Ryoji, fed up from the pesky insects that Minato constantly summoned out of his psyche grew to even tower over some of his biggest personas, which was another pain in the ass.

Ryoji screeched louder this time, full of rage and bloodlust and he brought his blade down with unbridled force, shattering the ground when Minato dodged out of the way and ducked the swing that came from the side. Each strike left quite the impact and collateral damage, cutting through whatever material Tartarus was made of-

The hilt met the ground next and Minato trembled due to the quake that rippled across the floor, knocking him off balance and Ryoji violently slapped him into the nearby pillar, crushing the structure under the force and discharging another surge of red for good measure-

Minato forced his way out when the light exploded several times over, spitting flames across the battlefield and forcing Ryoji to withdraw. The crushed remains of the pillar flew in his direction, momentarily blinding him for the javelin that came next, shredding through the thick flesh of his mask and digging into his temple-

The Wild Card jumped out of the wreckage and summoned a persona to knock the Avatar off his feet, concentrating to raise the pillar of light around him towards the skies. The towering column of light crackled with surges of thunder and flames before the particles began to assimilate and another persona began to emerge from the cyclone, the bringer of light to the world.

Minato began to pant but called forth the name of the persona, several times larger than before, enough to match the size increase of the avatar-

"Helel!"

The godly persona emerged from the depths of the column Minato had conjured, burning in a glorious, golden flame, akin to that of a sun. Ryoji could not even stare at the persona for too long before Minato called for the attack, on the last legs of his concentration-

"Nova Blaster!"

The rumble of thunder was followed by the splitting of the skies, with a colossal amount of light escaping the heavens and rapidly descending towards the ground within a blink of the eyes of the avatar, and soon as the first ray touched the ground, the spell went off in a brutal chain reaction, encompassing the entirety of the top floor in a dome of heat and light which soon tore into the massive body of the avatar and triggered another blinding flare of white across the sky-

"Fuck it," Minato coughed into his fist, almost out on his feet after the ungodly attack but he was able to see through the intense brightness and knew his work was far from done. The body of the appraiser was burned to a literal crisp but the flesh soon began to reform, although it took a while and Ryoji struggled to regenerate for the first time in the long battle.

A burst of darkness from the God of Death took care of the lingering protons in the air and Minato stepped back to avoid the full blast. More sweat drenched his face but he relaxed his stance and let out another round of deep breaths. Deep breaths. This was not just for him. He had to remind himself that, something he foolishly overlooked but that was the last time Nyx got in his head.

Ryoji floated into the air a second later and he was quiet, a little too quiet for his liking. In fact, the God was not even moving or twitching, which led Minato to believe that he was finally defeated but Ryoji defied him a second later with an absolutely murderous screech that came close to shattering the drums in his ear-

"Yikes!"

The scream was deafening and possibly heard across the dead city, fortunately saving the citizens of having to listen to the death spewing out of the mouth of the appraiser but Minato was able to keep his senses in order and could not help but toss snark-

"Wasn't those the best two minutes of your life!?" Minato yelled as loud as he could and judging by the increase in the pitch and volume, his insult got through. "Huh, Nyx!?"

Surprisingly, that did not bring Ryoji back down screaming bloody murder but after a few seconds of laughing to himself, Minato did notice a black circle spawning across the entire floor, grunting and growling sounds echoing along with the maddening screech from above-

Shadows emerged from the void, ranging in the dozens from the tiny maya to those annoying wrestlers and Minato found himself surrounded by the little insects which he had demolished with utmost ease before but these insects were sure to open him to more punishment in the current situation-

The charge of the first shadow led to an ambush from every side and Minato, after enduring a few spells and scratches, evoked a physical persona to free himself from the shadows that had swarmed him. He projected a blade into his own grip and began to battle back the wave, kicking, punching and hacking his way through the mass of filth-

A massive wave of energy burned through the shadows in the way and struck the persona user head on, burning the blade in his grip and the persona he had summoned to defend himself. He struggled to escape but the shadows just lunged at him with another barrage of physical and magical attack until a tackle knocked him to his knees-

"Ugh!"

"Night Queen!"

The pulse of the dreadful spell caught his eye and Minato panicked, still being held against the ground by the numerous shadows which gave Ryoji ample time to collect the essence of Death and hurled a storm of vile energy towards the blunet who saw more flashes of his life but somewhere in there-

"Brother…"

The quiet whisper came back to him and Minato concentrated, even when the shadows bit into his flesh and broke the bones in his body during the minute of distraction and eventually, the same pests were completely annihilated when the flash of Death came crashing down like a tidal wave black, red and gray, enveloping and crushing the entirety of the floor, spreading the decay across-

Ryoji simply hovered above the chaos he had caused, scanning for any sign of movement and he caught a small blob of the same attack being flung back at him, which did not do much as the same bounced off his body but that did bring a more sinister scowl to his face when the smoke and ash began to clear up-

Minato was still standing on his feet and was mostly unharmed, having suffered wounds in the skirmish with the shadows but he was not blown into a walking corpse like the appraiser had hoped. The little bastard had summoned the fusion spell of infinity at the last second, evident by the complete lack of damage and the breath of life in him.

"That was close," Minato wheezed after dropping the barrier, his two hands shaking but all was well and he was still alive, much to the ire of the God above him. Last time he was able to put a stop to his attacks with minimal effort and broke through his defenses whenever he wished but currently, despite leading the battle still being in his favor thanks to his godly gifts, Minato was able to counter and escape a good bulk of the damage.

"You crave punishment, don't you?" Ryoji said and had to put effort into getting each word out. "Much like that corpse I left on the floor below."

Minato did twitch once but shook his head again. "Whatever you say, little guy." he blew him off with a nonchalant wave and Ryoji at once came back to the ground, just about had it with the infuriating mortal.

"I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU!" Ryoji screamed at the top of his lungs, and those words were familiar to Minato, so was the look of unmitigated anger on the hollow mask of the harbinger of the Fall. He was far more drained than the immortal God but that was no reason to back down.

He still had work to do.

A quick wave of the blade summoned another infestation of shadows and Minato took a step forward, picking the blade off the ground and raising his guard to let them know he was ready for much worse-

The shadows took off towards the lone blunet upon the screech of Nyx but Minato was ready as he ducked into the incoming wave and sliced a shadow in half, stomped on another one and punched whatever came in range with his free hand. He made short work of the shadows but his main concern was Ryoji and the avatar of the goddess joined the battle, rolling the heads of several shadows with a swing meant to rip Minato in half-

The impact of the blade with the ground led to a shockwave emerged from the contact and Minato was hurled off his feet and into a filthy nest of shadows that piled up on him in a blink of his eye, clawing and scratching until he burned his way out of the infestation and just in time to roll out of the way from another attempt to rip him in two-

Slice-

The damn blades of the magician shredded into his feet and Minato was nailed to the bloodied floor, open to the next slash which he barely blocked using his bare hands and own body, supported by a number of buffs, saving him from a gory death but the blade did sink a few inches into his sides, drawing out a bloody cough and screech-

Minato was soon crushed after another punch from above, spilling more of his blood but Ryoji did find some resistance as his fist did not completely splatter him across the floor like he had hoped. Instead, Minato was brought down to his knees which soon broke from the pressure but he held the fist from crushing him entirely with his two hands-

"Shadow Hound!"

A dual summon of Scathach and Cú Chulainn generated enough force to push Ryoji off the persona user, and his massive body was assaulted by strikes of blue energy from the shadows, cracking the armor with the first hit and sending him to the floor with the follow up-

Minato grunted when the same blades were plunged into his arms and he was flung into the air, open to another stream of almighty energy as he came crashing down. "Ugh!" he crossed his arms and survived through the spell, coming down at the downed appraiser with a small knife in his grip and he stabbed the entire metal into his forehead, occasioning a jerk from the massive God which led to Minato breaking the weapon inside his head, stomping the hilt deep in for good measure-

The hollow eye of the avatar snapped open and Minato was crushed by the hand that wrapped around his body and he soon found his entire frame being crushed against the remains of the rock on the side of the floor. The avatar was not ready to let him go and started slamming him against the ground over and over again, each smack brutal and made worse by the the massive hand which doubled the force and crushed his body from each side-

Ryoji squeezed out as much blood as he could and grew in size a little more, squeezing and crushing the blunet in his fist who was surely just a mass of broken bones and torn skin-

"M-Messiah!"

Minato evoked his ultimate persona when he was out of options and the blaze of golden light burned off the hand he was trapped in but Ryoji was fast enough to hurl him back to the ground and not give him a second to generate the light as he began to punch his body into paste with his other hand, over and over-

A white hand grasped the wrist of the appraiser and Ryoji finally stopped, locating the entity which had gotten in his way and for the first time, he saw the real physical body of the new persona, bright white and massive in frame, with the face of Orpheus and the features of Thanatos-

"G-Get him!"

Minato's yell snapped him out of the stupor but by that point, his ultimate persona had already catapulted the God away from its master but Ryoji soon came back, with a wild swing of the blade, packed with more of the purple storm of energy-

Messiah blocked the blade with the shield of coffins on his arm and endured the explosion that followed, his hand escaping from the maelstrom and grabbing Ryoji by the head to burn half of his face off with another gleam of light-

A slash at the persona's chest led the two massive entities to disengage but the persona was faster and closed the distance first, red eyes shining when he unleashed another brutal blast to burn the armor of the body until the blade came towards his midsection and blew the persona backwards-

"Gack!"

The cross on the back of ultimate persona was flung in the direction of the Avatar and the same slashed the appraiser into two, ripping his lower body clean off and what remained of him collapsed into a heap on the floor-

"Now!"

Minato's yell echoed across the tower and the heat began to build up from under the ground, triggering another ignition of holy light towards the sky, burning through the sawed off body of the appraiser while the residual light dispersed into the atmosphere after another strong luster-

"Hehe…" Minato was on his knees after the last attack, having lost the concentration to keep his ultimate persona in the real world as every second of the summoning was more taxing than even his fusion spells and just a few yards away, Ryoji was reforming once more and the avatar took his time, growing to an even larger stature when he was done healing himself.

"Tch," Minato healed the smaller wounds the best he could and glanced up, now pretty much a fly compared to the size of Ryoji who reached up into the skies, several hundred times larger than Minato himself. "He keeps getting bigger."

He looked at the side out of sheer disgust but made sure to keep his volume high. "Just like that thing in Nyx's drawer-"

The missed swing of the sword now launched him into the air due to the force and Minato evoked the winds across his body to stay afloat, sending the gales towards the incoming slash to deflect and spare his already wounded body from further damage but then he caught something from the corner of his eye, a purple shine-

"S-Shit!"

The beam was massive enough to completely engulf him and the blunet screamed out towards the skies, eventually getting plucked from the stream of purple by the gigantic hand of the avatar-

Minato drilled two blades to force open the palm Ryoji was about to squeeze shut and he looked ahead to see the face of the now skyscraper sized foe while he stood in the middle of his hand and waved at him-

"Hi there!"

Ryoji roared in annoyance and Minato jumped out of his grasp to escape the brutal grip, getting his face smashed in when Ryoji struck him with his hardened wings to send the Wild Card plummeting below-

Minato touched the ground with his palm and once again evoked the winds to propel himself back up into the skies, as his attacks would have no effect from the ground. Ryoji waited for him and let out another dozen or so beams of purple energy from his maw, most of which Minato managed to duck but the last one struck him head on, dispelling the cloak of green around his body and sending him back down-

"Persona!"

Minato summoned the Egyptian God under his feet and took flight, unleashing a massive stream of magma for the Avatar of Nyx when he got close but a slap of his hand swatted the magma back down and he punched the persona into nothingness-

Minato hopped onto his hand and ran up along his arm, summoning the light around his body for a split second to burn a good chunk of his face before Ryoji thrashed and sent him flying into the skies-

The two clashed again in the skies, with Ryoji hurling a sphere of purple towards the blunet who regained his focus and countered with the same attack, hacking out blood when the resulting force crashed into his body and he was sent further away while Ryoji was slightly dazed but soon got his senses back. He sent the blade for Minato's head and the blunet summoned at the last second-

The two personas managed to save him from getting his head cut clean off cut were soon split in half themselves, forcing Minato to switch and summon another persona to stay afloat in the skies, hanging off the back of Kohryu while the dragon picked up speed and coiled around the massive body of the avatar but only barely-

"Hah!" Ryoji powered out of the bind and reduced the persona to bits of static and mist in the skies. He looked around for Minato and the portion of armor on his chest came undone, followed by a bad surge of heat that he felt across his entire upper body. He clawed at his own chest and dug Minato out of there but the attack had already melted into his frame and the blunet hurled a spear into the hollow spot on his face, sending the avatar backwards-

Another wild smack of his hand catapulted Minato away and further up. He vomited a disgusting amount of blood and Ryoji took another attempt at his life, not even bothering to repair the armor as he was completely blinded with rage at that point-

Minato had to push the blade from his vital organs by his bare hands once again and he looked up, calling another attack just when Ryoji lunged in again-

"Morning Star!"

The summoning of Helel halted the appraiser and the blast from the heavens sent him to a knee but he picked himself off in a span of a few seconds and punched the blunet as hard as he could-

"Gack!"

Blood, teeth and sweat rolled off his body as he was hurled backwards yet again and this time, the flow of time itself slowed down and his heartbeat began to pick him. He was rapidly approaching the limits of his body yet again and when he lifted his head, he saw that Ryoji had wasted no time and had already prepared his ultimate spell in the form of a massive sphere-

"Infinity-"

Ryoji flung the sphere as soon as he heard the first letter of the word leave the mouth of Minato and the blunet panicked in mid-air until the first gust of wind brought the voice back into his head and the Wild Card growled, bracing his body to take the attack head on and he was wrapped in the layers of decay in a matter of seconds as splotches of black began to taint his vision and Minato was knocked out in the skies-

But still alive-

He felt another strong tug on his soul but then a small hand around his shoulder, followed by the voice coming from the darkness of his mind-

"Use them…"

"Ugh!"

"It is the only way…."

Minato forced his soul back into his abused body and yelled out to the skies when he regained his senses and escaped the final explosion of the ultimate attack, something that drew a shocked gasp from Ryoji when he saw Minato alive, and well enough to summon another persona to stay in the skies-

"How is this…!?" Ryoji was beside himself as this was the second time he had struck Minato with the spell but the bastard was still alive, a feat that was simply possible as the very attack was the essence of Death, used to put countless mortals to rest and yet, this one-

Minato called the weak persona back into his mind and glared at the avatar, with a mixture of hatred and determination. This was his last shot to put the God down and he summoned his ultimate persona for one final attack, unleashing a burst of light and getting Ryoji to raise his guard for another imminent explosion-

The photos merely collected around his body but the light shone through the dark sky, with another persona emerging from inside the light, letting out the signature roar which was even louder than before-

"N-No way!"

Thanatos shot out of the mass of white like like a comet, wrapped up in the element and several times stronger than before. A small flash of light blinded the Avatar when the reawakened beast got close, cutting through the armor on his arms and tackling the appraiser backwards, the mere contact of body to body burning his own and the persona eventually melted through the remaining armor on his body-

A slash of the blade splattered gallons of ichor on the floor and a brutal discharge of pale purple burned the crown on the top of Ryoji's head and Thanatos dug into his flesh ruthlessly, nearly splitting in half again until a desperate burst of darkness knocked the persona back towards Minato-

"CURSE YOU!"

Minato retained the cloak of light and jumped onto the edge of the blade, running up the entire length until Ryoji thrashed the blade upwards and the blunet soared above, burning as fiercely as the sun in the night when the flare brightened up by several degrees as Minato began to draw upon the last molecule of energy left in the last drop of his blade-

He evoked Thanatos again and the darkness blended with the light, shifting the coil of white into dull grey around his body but the merger was far from harmonious when the opposite elements began to crush his own body and the strain came very close to knocking him out but Minato braced through the mental and physical assault and held out his arms upwards, clenching his hands together and sending the mixture of light and dark around his wrists-

Another irritating flash halted Ryoji and Minato yelled to get his attention, the cloak around his body evaporating and the mixture now taking a definite form directly above him, in the shape of a massive crescent scythe made up of pure energy, the fusion of light and dark-

The last spasm of pain told Minato that the spell was done and the blunet came back down with a vengeance, gripping the massive scythe with both hands and brought the weapon down to cut Ryoji in half-

"Night Queen!"

Ryoji did panic and shot a mass of the same chaotic energy upwards, directly in the path of Minato who shut his eyes and gritted his teeth, blood leaking out from his eyes, nose and ears when he passed through the attack but managed to keep his concentration through sheer willpower, with the whispers of the little boy he had befriended edging him to keep going and put an end to this-

An end to the sick and twisted chapter-

Minato escaped from the core of the attack and Ryoji was left bewildered, open to the slash of the grey scythe which gave off an awful amount of pressure even from the distance but there was still one thing left for him to do, a barrier strong enough to repel each and everything attack-

"Moonless Gown-"

"HEY!"

The yell broke his concentration and Ryoji froze just before he could put the barrier up-

SMASH-

Something was hurled at him from down below and could not see clearly but the same object collided against his head and he heard a smash of glass, forcing his eyes to open and he saw bits of a broken mirror going past his eyesight-

And his distorted reflection, of a pale boy with blue eyes sobbing in the broken pieces of the same mirror-

Crack-

Ryoji blackened out completely and Minato took the chance, bringing the scythe down at full force, with the pressure and heat of the mixture easily cutting through the head of the appraiser and eventually splitting the avatar into two in the middle, leading to a waterfall of disgusting ichor when he was cut completely in half-

Minato saw the first flicker of healing magic and wasted no time, immediately summoning Helel and Satan and unleashing the flames of Armageddon to blast and burn the God into ash, his own scream of exhaustion and pain dying in the middle of the fusion spell which he brought out with all that he had, finally sinking the massive frame of the God and then he fell from the skies, completely drained from the final assault and completely devoid of senses but he did hear a voice on the way out-

"I got you, Minato…"

Someone caught him from falling to his demise-

"I got you…"

Hamuko whispered-

….

After several minutes of being knocked out, Fuuka woke up after Akihiko brought a balm of life from the lower floors. The support persona gasped upon coming into her senses and was slow to get up. She did recall Minato knocking her out but she also knew that some damage was coming her way the moment she brought him back to the lobby against his wishes.

"Are you okay, Fuuka?" Yukari was by her side, patting her sweaty back.

"Y-Yes," Fuuka muttered and began to concentrate, summoning Juno to observe what was going on at the top. They were still alive which meant the battle was still going on up above.

"What's going on up there?" Mitsuru, as well as her other friends were anxious, only able to witness the flashes of white and black and hear the screaming of Minato from the apex for the past hour, in surely the most vicious battle that was ever waged between man and God. "Is Minato okay?"

"H-He's fine," Fuuka said and got up to her feet. "He is injured and exhausted but…"

A tired smile came to her face-

"Hamuko is there with him…" the teal haired girl breathed out. "She's taking care of him."

By that point, Sho had already begun moving towards the access point. The two idiots were fighting together no doubt and upon that, he raised the blade towards the sky as an early declaration of victory-

"We've already won!"

….

Minato had enough energy to work the muscles in his throat to chew and swallow whatever was being rammed down his mouth and after a few seconds and several beads and eggs, Minato regained his vision and saw someone else hovering him-

"H-Hamuko?"

"Oh thank God," the girl exhaled in relief and allowed him space to breathe but Minato found it hard to do so. He reached out and touched her face, making sure it was really her-

"Y-You're alive?"

Hamuko clenched the same hand and squeezed it, assuring him that she was very much alive, as evident by the pulse in her hand and the beat of her heart.

"Sorry for showing up so late," the redhead apologized. "I was pretty messed up for a while."

Hamuko was still busted up badly from her previous battle but she had healed some of the major wounds to the point that she was able to catch him without collapsing herself. Her eye was still injured out and she had wrapped the torn piece of her jacket around her eye to keep it hidden and safe from further damage. She looked like a car crash victim ran several times over but the determination in her single eye was clear and somewhat inspiring.

Minato had to laugh slightly when he fully understood that the girl he loved was alive. Sure she was still heavily injured but she was breathing. He almost reached out to hug her but a growl from behind reminded him of the bigger issue.

Ryoji was still alive.

The avatar of Nyx was slow to reform from the ashes and the two wild cards could hear small pants coming from the mass of waste that was once Ryoji. This was the first time either had heard him pant in exhaustion and that was a small glimmer of hope.

Minato got up to his feet and watched on as Ryoji began to rise up, thankfully in normal size after the successive fusion spell that would have crippled almost every other God but him. The spells did leave a mark on him, a wound stitched in the middle and various burns across his body.

"He just doesn't stop, does he?" Hamuko snapped him out from staring at him when she came up beside him, standing shoulder to shoulder beside the blue haired persona user.

"Yeah," Minato chuckled softly, glancing ahead at Ryoji who was seemingly hunched over and quiet, most likely due to his pride being dealt a huge blow when Minato sliced him in two and burned him to ash a second later. He felt a squeeze on his injured shoulder from the redhead next to him and the carrier of Death smiled, the first one of joy after the most painful hour of his life.

Ryoji lifted his face and the two Wild Cards caught something unusual, beside the lasting damage. On the edge of his creepy was, on the top left was a small crack, barely enough to be noticeable but Minato caught that first, so did Hamuko a second later and she threw a quick glance over to the demon mirror which she had launched at Ryoji to distract him-

Guess that came in handy after all.

"His mask…" Minato saw a small ray of hope and now the panting and damage made sense. From what he had heard earlier, the psyche of Nyx made him invulnerable to damage and the mirror was the only thing capable of exorcising Nyx, much like the case with Hamuko when she was possessed and taken over by the mask.

Ryoji hissed and grunted, exhaling rapidly when he saw the red haired bitch next to Minato, triggering him into another towering rage when he realized that Minato was not the only one to survive his ultimate spell, the girl was still alive and had joined the battle again but why!? What made those two so different from an ordinary human or persona user to survive death itself?

"He's mad," Hamuko pointed out and Ryoji proved that a second later when he screeched loudly in their direction. "Like really, really mad."

"I've had it with the two of you!" Ryoji said after the screech came to an end. He picked the weapon off the ground and flapped his wings to send a gust of wind at the two injured persona user-

"This is the end game, huh?" Minato said to the female beside him, pretty mangled himself as half of his face was burned red and black and the ear was blown off completely. That was not counting the number of bones in his body but even with the hideous condition, he knew there was one final push left.

"Yeah," Hamuko said, matching his step to stay beside him when he began to walk forward, still shoulder to shoulder as the two Wild Cards held the gaze of the irate God of Death who was as ready as ever to torture them. "You cannot stop me this time, Minato. There is no other way and I am not letting you fight alone."

"I can't do this alone either," Minato admitted with another chuckle and looked at her with a lopsided smile. "No point in saying no to you now, if we lose this, it'll be the end of all."

Another roar towards the heavens made Minato stretch his broken body while Hamuko hopped a few times, switching her persona much like Minato to prepare for the finale.

"Beyond the beaten path lies the absolute end!" Ryoji yelled at them from a distance, clenching the blade as tightly as he could. "Resist and thrash all you want, a very cruel death awaits you at the same, that much is inevitable and already written in destiny!"

"Come forward and embrace oblivion!"

"Come then," Minato whispered as he began to walk with slow steps. He turned in her direction and beckoned her over with a finger, aware that he was not going to win the battle alone now. The girl was quick to catch up to him after a small run and then walked shoulder to shoulder with her fellow Wild Card.

"Just the two of us, huh?" Hamuko chuckled, matching his step and walking beside him, towards the God of Death.

"Yeah," Minato replied.

"If this is the end, then I want to say this to your face for the last time," Hamuko glanced up at Ryoji and smiled, knowing that defeat and death was a very real possibility. "You have been absolutely amazing all this time, Minato."

Minato let out a small laugh and held out his fist for her. "You too… Let's pull out a miracle one last time, together."

"Our last battle, huh?" Hamuko wondered and bumped her broken fist with his, barely able to feel his knuckles as each one was busted and crushed inside his hand.

"Together," Minato whispered and after the bump of broken and bloody fists, the duo of Wild Cards set off towards the incarnation of Death for the final battle and the God roared one last time, shifting, letting out a surge of death and decay to send a message, seconds before the clash which would decide the legacy of life.

SMASH-

Thou art I... And I am thou...

Thou hast established a new bond...

It brings thee closer to the truth...

Judgement Aracna, Rank 1.

'Together, one last time…."

---

IT ALL ENDS IN THE END CHAPTER!

Yes, that one needed caps. This battle, which has now got to 60k words from the fight Hamuko vs Ryoji fight will come to an end, the last battle of this story.

When was the last time Minato and Hamuko fought together? Chapter 53 I think and it seems fighting that they would fight the last one together.

Man, talk about a journey and it's finally coming to an end. This chapter was the culmination of pretty much everything building up since Ryoji first appeared and the next one will put the final stamp on that.

Before I pat myself on the back for 15k words of constant fighting, I do have to put out a few recommendations so behold!

fanfiction dot net /s/13662118/1/The-Bad-Omen

Just stated and this one deserves a lot more attention than it is getting. Basically, a vastly more entertaining nihilistic Makoto with the potential to create massive chaos. No MC x Femc ship however but still a great read.

fanfiction dot net /s/13272876/1/P3-Angel-of-Death

Another story about a brutal and mysterious Minato but far different from bloodlust. This just started as well and might have the most cold start to any p3 story. High hopes and a feeling this will turn into a diamond down the line. Hell, might even have a lemon, for the one guest dude asking me to write more. ._. This does have the MC x Femc ship too.

Anyway, that's it for me!

See you on the final battle I'll ever write!

Cheers!