-P3 Eternal Punishment-
Port Island's last hope, a quintet assembled in a last ditch effort to make one final stand against overwhelming odds, traversed many floors since incapacitating the blonde that the field leader now brought around with him.
"Hey, you really planning on lugging the tin can all the way to the top?" the senior student raised an eyebrow as he overtook the pale Minato Arisato in order to down several Shadows with his new Persona.
"There are pieces of my memory from the night my parents died, they never made sense before, but meeting this chick..." the former bluenette hesitated, looking for the words to explain his course of action.
"It made things fall into place," Souji finished the thought, bringing out Izanagi to throttle a Gigas thru the Tower's wall, "is that it?"
"So she was there?" Ken threw out a questioning look, "During the accident, I mean."
"Gig says she was, but I can only recall our memories when we're both conscious," the leader answered, "and he's not exactly the type to give a damn about remembering things."
"I take offense to that you little fucker!" the Master of Death roared, "I remember she was there, hell, I don't even know how she managed to seal me in you!"
"That would be my doing," Kurosawa stated calmly, "the coup against the former president was planned meticulously, there was no room for error, so in the event of a sufficiently strong Shadow coming out of nowhere, the researchers managed to digitize my clan's exorcism techniques to an extent and upload the data to the Anti-Shadow Weapons they constructed."
"Wait...Weapons, as in plural?" the eldest teen shivered at the thought of having to fight more mechanical men.
"From what I've heard, most of the line was destroyed or scrapped, the last two that we faced recently were deactivated until now," the cop reassured the minors that they were safe for the time being.
"So no more robo-bitches popping around, no problem, we can make our own," the psychopomp scoffed, "I'd love to see the look on that four-eyed bastard's face when we pull that shit off."
"You can do that?" the freshman silverette inquired, turning his gaze to a large platform just beyond the current floor's staircase, a crowd of Shadows further ahead.
"If the Master of Death, that's me, or his numerous minions, that's you, kill anything, I gain the ability to summon similar beings with similar abilities, give or take a few points in power depending on how much of my own strength I decide to put in. Hell, I can even summon more of you punks, once you've been 'dominated', I can pull as many of you as I want, like the rabbit and hat thing that magicians do."
"So you're some kind of god and the more that psycho commander here powers up, he's not really becoming stronger," Shinji's eyes slowly widened as he realized what Gig's true nature was, "you really aren't a Persona."
"He's really just gaining access to whatever power that you already have," Kurosawa completed.
"Then doesn't that mean you can bring back the others that were killed off by Ikutsuki and the other Persona users?" the youngest member of the team pointed out.
"Holy shit this kid really is smart!" Gig facepalmed, causing Minato to tumble forward from the resulting migraine, "Sure we'd be violating the laws of nature, but I'm a rule breaker anyway."
"Dammit!" the former bluenette cursed as he wrapped a bandage around his forehead, "Dumbass, I'm carrying the blonde who happens to be a freakin' robot here!"
"Man up, ya pussy," the red-eyed being blew a raspberry, "we'd need lotsa foo-Shadows, the Onyx Blade, no Skeith before or after, since he'd compete with the sword for the power, oh and you'd have to give up use of whatever Arcana they were in life."
"Just for clarity's sake senpai, you only need to land the killing blow on the Shadows right?" Souji asked, a glint projected from his eyes, preparing his sword for battle.
"Not really, since I'm going to hold off on Skeith, as long as we get the kill, I'll be drinkin' the spill," Minato answered, releasing Skeith's power and reverting to his original blue hair, his skin however, was still pale.
More Shadows arrived from all possible entrances, the dispersal of the Epitaph's terrifying aura gave the lesser enemies a false sense of courage. Kurosawa unveiled one new vial, his off hand hanging onto his service firearm. Ken took a defensive stance with his lance, hand ready to make the necessary twitch to bring forth Nemesis. Souji Seta calmly sheathed his blade, ready to execute a batou-jutsu maneuver like in some obscure anime. Shinjiro Aragaki cracked his knuckles and made an offensive gesture at a crowd of Shadows before lifting a mace designed like a skull, an object found several minutes earlier when the team was rushing thru the oddly placed staircases of the ever shifting Tartarus.
"Go down!" Shinji roared, crushing one Shadow, as well as cracking the floor beneath it, with a mighty swing.
"Take this!" Ken made a thrust with his weapon, his Persona following thru with a Zionga in synchronization, forcibly frying the enemy with a well-timed strike.
"Asagi!" Minato balled his hands into a fist, his personal configuration for his sleeve-type Evoker, summoning the Main Character(?) to unleash a Vile Assault on a Scale-type Shadow.
"Alice," the policeman said under his breath, unleashing the being held within one of his vials.
The summoned demon looked cheerful, if not eerie for how out of place she seemed in the situation.
"Will you die for me?" the blonde girl said with the warmest of smiles, bringing down creatures from a fantasy world on the Shadows, a great many of them falling at that single attack.
"Leave the rest to me," the silverette grunted, not needing an Evoker, instead focusing his will and turning it into power, causing a brilliant light to flash briefly, "Yoshitsune!"
A warrior garbed in red walked out of the blinding light, and as if on a whim, imitated his summoner's stance, both fighters twitched in a strange coordination, blinking and even breathing as one being.
"Hassou Tobi!" Souji made a quick slash with his blade, as did the warlord of ancient Japan.
A ring of red soon surrounded the battlefield, sudden pangs against walls and posts, splishes and sploshes against the glob-like innards of the Shadows, and quick, but irritating pangs against those that were immune to the vicious attack.
"Hey kid, remember that red guy's name, we need, REALLY NEED, to get one of those," Gig chuckled, "the rest seem to be immune to physical strikes, because seriously, how else do you live against that!?"
"Got it," the sleepy teen nodded, balling his hand once more, "Asagi!"
The character of unfortunate circumstance appeared once more, with a cannon far larger than herself in tow. The other humans took note of the weapon's size and decided it would be best to huddle around Minato while the kooky Persona(?) proceeded to attack.
"Magic Shot Mk. II(Megidolaon)!" the quirky girl yelled, firing a condensed stream of light that launched several smaller streams that locked onto other Shadows.
The design of the immediate area became murky, in no small part due to the massive energy discharge that left the place in shambles with the scent of scorched earth wafting about.
"Yeah, that should be enough power...for one revival," the Master of Death claimed dryly, disappointment lining his voice, "I was expecting a lot more of 'em though."
{Sorry, that would be my fault,} Margaret apologized, floating down from the floor above, {seeing as I'm not exactly human, and the limits of your power in your current state, your ability to 'dominate' my soul was simply insufficient.}
"That means that you killed the ones that got in your way, doesn't it?" Minato groaned, rubbing his head from the strain of Asagi's ultimate attack, "Have to remember that I'm fully human without Skeith."
"You seem troubled," the silverette noted as the woman's eyes emitted a slight feeling of sadness around them.
{It seems there are more people that willingly serve Nyx,} the woman reported telepathically, {I dealt with a small group outside, but I believe that the treacherous one you speak of may have recruited a much larger force over the years.}
"That seems to coincide with a lot of strange individuals that simply moved into the island," Kurosawa analyzed, "we'll need to exercise caution, a lot of them are well connected, they may be well-armed or even have access to Personae."
{Most of them are outside, and Kido-san seems to have the assistance of his old colleagues,} the attendant of the Velvet room smiled warmly at her beloved, {It is advisable to make your first revival now to avoid excessive buildup of energy that your body won't be able to handle later on.}
"Let's make it count then," Gig announced, "Not the boxer since the kid with the overgrown toothpick here has electricity covered."
"Not Iori either, I've got fire covered," the cop pulled out a red vial from his coat, "and Aragaki simply hits harder at the moment."
"Takeba would be the ideal choice then," Minato said after a moment of silence, "she covers our issues with range, we don't really have strong wind abilities and Mitsuru-senpai would be a front-line fighter...which all of us are."
The group nodded at the logic, clustering at an area where no Shadows were in sight. Margaret made a quick scan, noting that the group had made it in record time, the top of the tower was much closer now.
"Resurrection!" Minato/Gig yelled out, the Onyx Blade leaking energy to the area around it.
A white light flashes before the group's eyes, all except Margaret turned away. A prone form lay before them, unconscious, but alive, a strong bow made of oak lay in her hands.
-END-
AN: So yeah, I'm kicking things up a notch.
-The revivals aren't 100%, they have their limits, but I'll explain more as the story goes on
-Souji can summon all the tier 3 Personae of his S. Links at the Investigation Team, albeit weaker by a small margin, except Rise for obvious reasons, he will only have 12, the rest will be revealed later on
-Ken will be focused on soon, I'll be taking liberties with his character, and I may change his resolved Persona
-Stat Sheet-
Alexander, King of Conquerors
Resist: Physical
Weak: None
Passive: Death or Glory! (apply Heat Riser to self when near death)
Skills:
Regenerate 3
High Counter
Power Charge
God Hand
Akasha Arts
Endure
Pierce (ignores defensive abilities except -rakarn skills)
Conqueror's Aura (chance to Fear enemies when attacking/attacked or KO'ing Shadows)
-END-