-P3 Eternal Punishment-
-The Road to Oblivion-
The ragtag bunch of misfits went through the plan one last time before heading out.
- Get thru Tartarus' front gate, flood of Shadows included
- Make their way to the top of the tower
- Deal with the empowered Shadows in their way
- Find and finish off Ikutsuki and whoever else he put up to pulling this off
- Get Gig to fix the tear in the Space-Time Continuum
- If the above didn't work, do something very, very stupid
The team, if one would go as far calling this gathering one, consisted of Officer Kurosawa, Demon Summoner extraordinaire, Shinjiro Aragaki, brute force, Minato Arisato, field leader, Souji Seta, Jack-of-all-trades, Margaret, external support, and Ken Amada, plucky child-sidekick. The group armed themselves with the best that the Kirijo could offer, state-of-the-art vibration swords, impact hammers, heavily customized firearms, heat spears. To avoid unfortunate misunderstandings with the Evokers and actual guns, the scientists developed custom head gear that allows the usage of Persona. Armed and dangerous, the group heads to the emergency garage, where Takeharu stood in wait.
"All of you," the corporate executive addressed the group, "it is because of the mistakes of the past that we face this great trial today."
The policeman paid only the minimum amount of attention, the man had become disillusioned by fanciful speeches.
The delinquent sighed, the world was full of empty promises in his eyes.
The quiet one looked sleepily at the man, unsure of what to believe.
The honest one held a firm gaze at the man, unwilling to believe any more lies.
The mysterious woman gave an unsettling smile, wonder at what could be humanity's last great assemblage.
The boy, the boy just curled his hands into a fist, impatient for his revenge.
"Right now," Takeharu took a deep breath, "we are facing enemies far stronger than any we have ever faced, with powers we cannot begin to fathom, but we will persevere and we will win."
After the president's brief speech, the group headed into a heavily armored van, provided by the Kirijo Group of course. Outfitted with the intent of being fielded in wartorn countries, the van instilled some measure of confidence to its passengers.
*Bump*
"Really rough ride, eh, guys?" the Master of Death's voice projected in the air.
"At least we don't have to deal with that hell out there," the bluenette pointed at the mass of Shadows devouring the landscape.
"I can see that you've decided to grace us with your presence," Kurosawa joked uncharacteristically.
"I've been busy numbnuts," Gig replied to the cop, "working on a special Anti-Shadow Persona in the kid's head takes a lot out of my beauty sleep."
"Aren't Personae supposed to be Anti-Shadow in the first place?" Ken wondered.
"That's a common misconception on your part," a feminine voice said over the intercom, "Personae are Shadows that have been accepted by their wielders."
"Manifestation of the masks we choose to wear in front of a cold, unfeeling world, right?" Shinji said in a disgruntled voice, "Ikutsuki kept saying shit like that since way back when."
"..." an uneasy silence came over the young Amada.
"Then an Anti-Shadow Persona is what exactly?" the silverette in the troupe asked curiously.
"It's a Persona that manifests all the destructive intent, the hatred, the anguish, and vengeance of its wielder," the ghastly voice answered, "it is a being of pure unstoppable fury."
"That's not gonna have any long lasting effects on me is it?" the bluenette's eye twitched at the revelation.
"I honestly can't say," Gig's tone changed drastically to reflect the direness of the situation, "Personae are usually determined by the sum of someone's aspects, focusing on just one aspect would leave no room for the rest of you."
"So I'll be a creature of anger at that point, like the Hulk?" Minato rubbed his eyes in clarification.
"Even I can't answer on how this freaky shit'll turn out," the psychopomp replied, "the only thing I can say is that this crazy fuck right now has the kind of power to lay waste to the dumbass enemy that's hiding in that damned tower."
"Oh my," Margaret's voice turned grim, "I can honestly say that Elizabeth's guest is truly fascinating to be able to do something like this outside the power of the Velvet Room."
"Wanna keep him?" the boy said sleepily, "He's been driving me insane since he got stuck in my head."
"Aw, I really did make your life miserable you whiny emo fuck," Gig announced happily, "I wo-"
"We'll have to test out Gig's new toy soon," Souji interrupted, "the Tower is just around the corner."
The group gazed at the small window of the van, the very image of terror began engraving itself into the minds of the unlikely heroes. Carrying their armaments over their shoulders and taking their last look of the sane world, the Shadow Entity Elimination Squad braced for impact.
*Crash*
Deciding that subtlety was useless at this point, the adrenaline fueled Reiji Kido, former Persona user and currently the man behind the wheel of an incredibly expensive and one-of-a-kind 'battle' van, rammed said irreplaceable piece of technological advancement into the front door of the Tower.
"Alright boys," the reckless driver turned to face the passengers in the backseat, "go ahead and do what you have to do, I can more than take care of myself here."
Taking the chauffeur's cue, Officer Kurosawa kicked the doors open and initiated the assault by cutting down a Magic Hand in half and summoning Oberon and Titania into the fray.
"Yagh!" Shinjiro let loose an inhuman battle cry as he bludgeoned three Maya at once, "Stay down you worthless bastards!"
"Let's do this," the silverette said jumping out of the van, "Izanagi!"
The Japanese deity appeared from the recesses of Souji's mind, unleashing a flash of lightning at a Venus Eagle, frying the unfortunate avian to ashes.
"Move now," the bluenette drew his sword and began cutting a path to the stairwell for his companions to traverse, "the more time we spend here..Gaaah!"
Minato grasped his head with his free hand, a surge of pure pain overcoming his self-control.
"What is this?" the once stoic facade of the boy broke down, "Where am I!?"
"You've got more Personae than your little friends, kid," the psychopomp appeared, "That shitty feeling right now, the stabbing and unholy pain in your head, those are the maddening ramblings of our old pal Ikutsuki, you're just more sensitive than they are right now."
"The hell did the bastard do?" the bluenette almost coughed up blood.
"Someone's put the sick fuck up to this," Gig hypothesized, "and that someone's given him the resources and more importantly, the power to do this."
-Tartarus 5th Floor-
The group was beginning to feel the fatigue of battling their way thru the endless waves, the ever shifting layout of the Tower was scratching at the group's sanity.
"This tower houses an extreme distortion in spacetime," Souji began pondering, "for all we know, Tartarus could be much larger than we see it from the outside."
"Yo guys," Reiji spoke thru the communication lines, "you might wanna move faster, HQ says that the Tower is starting to make things permanent."
"The hell do you mean by permanent!?" Shinji yelled impatiently as he knocked down a Gigas with a headbutt.
"He means that the properties of the Dark Hour are flooding into regular time," Margaret explained, "unless you can reach the top within the next 48 hours, then this will be the new normal."
"This is getting worse," Ken admitted as he pierced thru a couple of Maya, "Isn't there an elevator or a teleportation device in this place?"
"It's just by the corner, but..." the silverette was cut off by gunshots that drove the lesser Shadows away.
Turning their heads in the direction of the shots, the team saw a brunette with a polearm and a large cannon attached to her arm, cold steel reflected in her eyes.
"This is Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon Number 32-X 'Metis'," the girl said mechanically, "targets have been found, preparing to engage."
"This is it kid," Gig said to Minato alone, "this bitch is going down!"
"Activating Orgia mode," the mechanical maiden announced as she released her limiter, "commencing battle."
-In Minato's Mind-
"Kid, to draw out the sick bastard I made, you're going to have to focus and summon him with your own power, no Evoker, no magic from me, it's all you," the psychopomp pointed at the bluenette.
"Got it," Minato nodded.
"Think of all the shit we've been thru, from the very beginning to now," Gig smirked, "and pay that son of a bitch Ikutsuki with interest."
-Tartarus 5th Floor-
"Enemy neutralized," Metis stared blankly as she knocked Ken out of the fight, leaving a bruise on the kid's chest.
"You," the bluenette whispered grimly.
"Senpai?" Souji lowered his guard, something was off.
"I can never forgive you," Minato's gaze did not elicit any response from the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon.
"Enemy power levels rising," the brunette took a defensive stance, "increasing Orgia mode output by a factor of one."
"I'll kill you," the bluenette stopped in his tracks, raising both arms to his face, "with my own hands!"
"External armament delivery on schedule," the mechanical maiden stared into space.
Beside the obstacle barring the team's path, a package had appeared, containing guns, ammo, arm mounted spears and propellant tanks conveniently packed together into a heavily armored external weapons system dubbed 'Fortress'.
"That kind of firepower can level this whole floor," Kurosawa said, "but she's blocking the only way out of here."
"She knocked the kid out, he won't be doing much when he decides to wake up," Shinji groaned, "think we can take her?"
"Come on, come on, come on!" the team leader screamed uncharacteristically, "This is for Akihiko, Takeba, Asshat...and Mitsuru."
The remaining Shadows were stunned by the incredible demonstration of will.
"I'm right here," an otherworldly gust of wind blew in the Tower's interior, the bluenette's hair coming unkempt, his hidden eye turning a bloody red, "SKEITH!"
A great darkness devoured the floor where Minato stood, a vagueley humanoid shape erupting from the ground, with three 'eyes' on its head and a sinister scythe in his hands.
"I ART THOU, THOU ART I, FROM THE SEA OF THY SOUL I COMETH," the creature's voice boomed, "I AM SKEITH, THE SHADOW, NOW, LET US SHOW YOUR ENEMIES, THE TERROR OF DEATH!"
-End-
Been a while, for those unfamiliar, Skeith is the name of the epitaph summoned by Haseo (voiced also by Yuri Lowenthal) in .Hack/G.U.