Chapter 4: Loan
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Mysterious Tower
"PERSONA!"
The sound of glass shattering filled the air. Figures emerged from the glass, and began to come into view. They all had varying sizes, with one holding a globe and a sword, and another with wings across its body. There was one with a whip held in his hand, and a three-headed dog howled.
A mess of shouts filled the air. Kazuo caught only a few.
Magarudyne...Mamudoon...Hamoan…
Kazuo stared in awe as a tornado formed out of nowhere, with a black mist swirling underneath. He blinked, and pinched himself.
This is a dream…
"Fuuka, protect Nagahashi!"
"R-right, Mitsuru-san!", the green-haired woman yelled. Kazuo stared at her. She was the only one not attacking. Her figure was protecting her in a way. She extended the bubble to surround Kazuo within it.
"Are you okay? Here, take this bottle.", she said carefully dragging it out. Kazuo looked at it, questioningly.
"Its okay. It's just soda.", Fuuka said, mildly distracted.
"Mitsuru, try Bufudyne!", she yelled.
Mitsuru nodded, and she raised her gun.
CRACK!
The figure emerged again. It stretched his whip as a huge ice tower surrounded the Shadow. It dodged it easily, and leaped forward and slashed the ground. The floor split open, and everybody fell down. The shadow waved its swords menacingly.
One of the swords hit the bubble surrounding. Fuuka grunted. She wasn't used to attacks connecting with her shield.
Kazuo drained the strange soda, and instantly felt better. His mind cleared, and he could finally see the situation. The baseball head was lying on the floor, breathing hard.
The boxer raced towards Mitsuru, "What the hell?! I thought it was weaker than this?!"
She shook her head, "The damage it already took should have finished it."
He panted, "What now?"
"I-I don't know! I'm not good at field leading! Try Strike damage!", Mitsuru said, panting visibly now as she summoned her figure once more.
The Shadow suddenly stopped, and looked straight at Kazuo. Kazuo stepped back, stunned. It raced at blinding speed towards the the shield, and bashed it with all of its force and swords. It broke in a flash, and Fuuka yelped as she fell to the ground.
Kazuo leapt away, scraping his knee against the cracked floor. He grunted as he landed on the ground, hard.
He got up quickly, and surveyed the situation. Everyone was on the floor, groaning, with Mitsuru and the boxer struggling to get up.
He stared at the Shadow. It seemed to sense that he was the only target left. He began to side shuffle a little, trying to reach for any of the weapons littering the floors.
His hands closed around a small knife, held by the dog (he stopped asking questions to himself). Kazuo readied himself for the oncoming attack.
The Shadow paused, then leapt forward again.
"Stop!", Fuuka said, "You're not strong enough to fight it!".
Kazuo barely had time to register that before the Shadow slammed into him. He coughed blood. Grunting, he dug the knife deep into the black body. No response.
The knife was struck out of his hand, and Kazuo was knocked back by the force of the blow.
He grunted as he hit the base of the steps. He slowly sat up, before collapsing on the ground.
Am I am I really going to...?, he thought as he felt the strength draining from his body. The shadow stared at him, before creeping forward again.
The group struggled to get up and help the Kazuo, but the Shadow already had weakened. They watched helplessly as they watched the boy struggle. Ken could barely sit up, before collapsing again. If they only had their field leader…
Kazuo tried to get up once more, only to fall once more. Blood was trickling from his mouth, and he could taste the bile in his throat.
Why here? Why in this kind of place? Why do I have to…, Kazuo thought.
Do you?, a voice spoke in his head.
Kazuo blinked. He looked around.
What?...I-I don't know, Kazuo thought.
If I give you my power, will you live on?, the voice said. It had an almost ghostly tone to it.
Kazuo seemed to recall that someone had said that before. Kazuo grunted, as he sat up on the stairs. Clutching his right arm, he stood warily on the steps. A new fire in his eyes, he glared at the monster. The Shadow paused for a second, before continuing forward.
Very well...Your silence speak volumes..., the voice remarked.
Suddenly, Kazuo could feel something growing inside his head.
A blue flash came from above. The group's attention turned to the flash and saw a card descend from the sky, right in front of Kazuo.
Kazuo looked questioningly at the card, before, clutching it carefully in his hand. The back of the card was blank, and when he looked closely, it began to glow.
A new strength seemed to flow within him. One that came from his new power.
He let out a soft laugh, before the word came to him.
He had it now...Power.
"Per...so…", he muttered, before crushing the card within his hand. The sound of glass shattering filled the large room.
"PERSONA!", he yelled, as the card turned to glass, before disappearing. Instantly, the air around him began to blow harder, as the shards of the card began to form something above him. Machinery sounds filled the air as the figure became clearer.
"I am thou...and thou art I…From the sea of thy soul...I cometh...", it bellowed, "I am Orpheus Telos, master of strings…"
The figure's cry echoed in the room, halting the Shadow in its track. Its blue eyes seemed to blur with the surroundings, and its red and gold body seemed to hum like a machine. A golden harp rested on its back, and it stopped its cry and glared at the shadow.
Instantly Kazuo felt his body reach peak condition. He glared at the shadow, before another phrase came to his mind.
"Maragidyne!", Kazuo yelled.
Instantly, fire began erupting around the Shadow. It managed to dodge, but it seemed to have sensed a shift in power.
Another phrase flew into his mind.
"God's Hand!", Kazuo yelled.
The figure above Kazuo flew forward, and it drew its harp once more and bashed the Shadow. The shape of a fist could be seen as the harp flew forward.
The shadow took the brunt of the hit, and a loud squelching sound came from its body.
It stumbled backward, its arms no longer moving as deftly as before.
Fuuka managed to sit up now. She could sense the power levels of everyone in the vicinity.
Koromaru, Ken, Junpei, and Yukari are down...Akihiko and Mitsuru are struggling, and the Shadow seems to have weakened slightly.
She stared at Kazuo, trying to process the information. The boy was able to summon a Persona now, and for someone who just awakened to it, it seemed way too powerful.
It's stats are off the charts! But why can't I read its skills? And...why does it look like his Persona?
The redhead and the boxer were able to stand, and watched as Kazuo proceeded to destroy the Shadow, move by move.
"Mahamaoan!"
"Megidolaon!"
The Shadow took spell after spell as it began to shrink. Its arms began to recede within its body.
Sensing the opening, the figure took the opportunity to snatch the mask from the Shadow. Roaring, it smashed the mask on the ground, destroying it completely.
Instantly, the Shadow's body disintegrated, being absorbed into the ground. The figure let out a cry before disappearing in a flash.
The three members stared at the boy, panting heavily.
He stared. Weapons littered the floor, and only the redhead, the boxer, and the green-haired woman remained. The rest were lying on the floor, barely breathing.
Kazuo sighed in relief.
I did it...Thanks...whoever you are…,Kazuo thought as his mind shut down. His previous power left his body, and he fell on his knees before collapsing to the ground.
...
Whew! That snow storm was really annoying.
My boss gave me today off, so I managed to finish up the rest of the action sequence. How is it? Please feel free to review, like always.
Also, the formatting is messed up in Copy-Paste mode. Please notify me if any grammatical mistakes happen.
PS: Subtle reference is subtle. See if you can find it ;).