A machine thrice the size of a normal human stood before Kunino-Sagiri, ready to attack. It is a heavily armed war machine equipped with a missile launcher and Chain-gun on the back, energy chainsaw currently erect and open on the right arm, a nuke mortar hidden inside the left arm, knee-mounted flamethrowers, and an energy shield that protected the mech from harm. This was the Mercenaries' pride and joy: the NZT-4000 "Death Burner" war mech.

Inside, the pilot, a soldier only known as Enforcer said to his nearby allies, "Go. Escape from here. I'll handle this thing."

Enforcer's nearest ally, a silver-haired teenager by the name of Yu Narukami, said to him, "Understood. Everyone, we must flee from here. Enforcer will cover our escape and we will return to Inaba."

The others agree and take off with Yu while Enforcer prevented Kunino-Sagiri from following with chain-gun fire.

"No! You can't! I won't let you leave with her! I must save her! To do that, I have to stop you!" Kunino-Sagiri pleaded with Enforcer.

"You tried to 'save' three others and managed to get two of them into mortal peril instead of safety. We kept the idol girl safe because we caught on to the true suspect's motives before he could get to the Tofu Shop in town. We had warned you not to trust Tohru Adachi and you obeyed us for the first three victims after Konishi Saki, but after the Mitsuo Kubo situation, you ignored our warning and ended up as an unwitting accomplice in his plan. The two you had got into mortal peril were Shirogane Naoto and Konishi Saki. Saki was understandable since you had merely warned her of what was happening and that she was in danger, but Naoto had a plan to expose Adachi as the one who threw the victims into this fog-ridden world. You had unintentionally put a wrench in that plan by throwing her into this world." Enforcer coldly replied as his mech hurt the Shadow with its energy chainsaw.

"You. . . You. . . You're right. I should have never contacted him after that situation with the Mitsuo kid. I must flee as well. Destroy this Shadow in my stead. I am not yet ready to face my true self." Taro Namatame said before forcing himself out of Kunino-Sagiri and escaping.

"This Shadow is not your repressed feelings, but a part of something far more mysterious, Namatame. Your own Shadow has yet to reveal its true face." Enforcer said before opening the mech's left arm and firing the nuke mortar's projectile at Kunino-Sagiri, enveloping the Shadow in a nuclear explosion that the Death Burner had to outrun before it was safe. When the explosion stopped, Enforcer looked back and saw a smouldering crater where the entrance to the unnatural reality called 'Heaven' had once stood.

Mercenaries of Fortune Chapter 4

The Amagi Inn, Reception area, the Dark Hour local time.

Hideki's response was a perplexed, "The Dark Hour?! I figured that would be a fitting name for this phenomenon."

The Reaper then explained, "Normal people transmogrify into coffins during it, but those who can summon something called a 'Persona' retain their human form during the Dark Hour. So far right now, those mercenaries outside, you, Yukiko, Yu Narukami, Ryotaro Dojima and his daughter Nanako, some former high school students from Iwatodai City, and I are the only ones alive who can retain their normal form during this phenomenon."

A mercenary came in and said in a British accent, "Two of my buddies are on their way from the Police Station. They just found Saki Konishi unconscious inside one of the interrogation rooms."

Yu then asked, "And who are you again?"

The Mercenary then said, "I guess I didn't bloody explain earlier today that I have a British accent. Name's Wellington."

Wellington got out of the doorway and positioned himself on a wall as two more mercenaries came in and set down the unconscious Saki on the floor.

Wellington then asked, "Tunazu, Enforcer, any idea on her condition?"

Enforcer's response was, "Yeah. She's unconscious, but I can't exactly pinpoint how it happened."

The Reaper then said, "I'll handle this."

The Reaper then put a hand on Saki's head for a few moments before pulling it back. "She's just exhausted and recovering from something traumatic."

Tunazu sighed and then said, "Well, that's a relief. She was lucky to have not been preyed on since right now it's the Dark Hour."

Enforcer then asked, "Hideki, Yukiko, Yu, do any of you know what Shadows are?"

They nodded in disagreement. "Well, Shadows are monsters spawned from human emotion that for some strange reason only appear during the Dark Hour and at 2300 hours each day before the Dark Hour comes exactly at midnight. It was supposed to end about a year ago when the world should have ended, but something happened and the world is still going. We were in this area two years ago and now we've just recently set up permanent shop in the vicinity." Enforcer explained.

Tunazu then asked, "How about you explain what our mission is, Wellington?"

Wellington shrugged and then started explaining, "What we are doing here is collecting the Core Essences of certain Shadows in order to end what currently stands as a permanent threat to our world's existence: The Fall."

Hideki asked, "What is this 'Fall,' Wellington?"

"The Fall is when the Night Queen, Nyx, destroys this world. In order to stop the fall, Nyx must be destroyed. To do so, we are collecting the Core Essences of Shadows that represent the reverse of the following Major Arcana: Temperance, Devil, Tower, Star, Sun, Moon, and Judgement. So far right now, we only have the Core Essences from Shadows that represented the reverse of the Temperance and the Star Arcana. We took down Star back in this area about two years ago while Temperance was defeated in South America seven months later."

Yu then realized and said, "So that means the only components left are. . ."

Enforcer answered, "Yes. The only Core Essences left unextracted from the corpses of their Shadows are Devil, Tower, Sun, Moon, and Judgement."

Saki then stirred before she awoke. "Where am I?" she asked.

Wellington answered, "This is the Amagi Inn. We found you unconscious at the Police Department earlier."

The mercenaries then explained what the Dark Hour was to Saki. She was surprised to hear this information, but she listened to it.

Enforcer then said, "Alright, back to the topic on Shadows. These things only feed on the minds of humans, leaving them helpless and vulnerable husks that are unable to care for themselves unless the local nest has been intruded into."

Hideki then said, "I guess Shadows do more than just eating the minds of their victims if one did intrude on their nest."

Enforcer replied, "Correct. The Shadows will go absolutely bat-shit insane if a human intrudes upon their local nest and they will chase and attempt to kill the intruder before they calm down."

Yu thought for a few moments and then said, "Then the only reason that the TV announcer was found dead on an antenna-"

Tunazu then finished, "-Is that the Shadows had gotten to her when she disappeared and, believing her to have intruded on their local nest, murdered Mayumi Yamano in one of their rages."

Wellington added to that, "Exactly, and the police can't figure out anything that happens during the Dark Hour because they are all hiding inside of their coffins. Essentially, we're on our own."

The Reaper then said, "Well then, we should wrap things up for now. Hideki, I will be seeing you when the next Dark Hour comes."

Hideki replied, "Agreed."

Yu responded with, "It was nice to meet you, Mr. Amagi."

Hideki said to Yu, "It sure was nice meeting you as well, Yu Narukami. You could either take this as a joke or take it seriously, but I think that you would be a great choice for Yukiko. She's already rejected or ignored many of the local guys."

A tired Yukiko then complained, "Father. . . ah, I feel tired right now. I'll see you in class, Yu-kun and Reaper-sensei."

Yukiko then left the room. The mercenaries took off with Yu and the Reaper only seconds later.

Junes Department Store, Food Court, Wednesday, April 13,14:35 local time.

Yu Narukami, Chie Satonaka, and The Reaper were sitting at a table since Yosuke was taking their order.

"THIS is the cheap place you were talking about earlier. . . ? They don't have grilled steak here." Chie exclaimed as Yosuke came with the meal.

"Yeah, well, once you hopped in on the freeloader train, I had to change my plans." Yosuke calmly replied.

Chie replied, "Still, that's no reason to take us to your place."

"Dude, this isn't my place or anything." Yosuke replied calmly again.

Yu asked, "What's going on?"

The Reaper replied, "Huh?"

Yosuke then realized that they were clueless as to what they were talking about and explained, "Oh, right. I haven't told you yet, huh? I moved here from another city about six months back. This location just opened up, and my dad was assigned to manage it. So my entire family came out here."

Yu then explained, "I'm here because of my parents' occupations taking them overseas."

The Reaper added, "And I found myself taking a teaching job at Yasogami High School this year."

Yosuke then gave Yu and The Reaper a soda before he said, "Here, this is to welcome you to town." before his eyes darted to Chie and added, "Satonaka, yours is on me too."

Chie replied, "Yeah, I know."

As the four of them toasted, at another table, Wellington said to Tunazu, "Tunazu, we'll need to keep an eye on that Narukami kid and that Reaper."

Tunazu replied in an obviously Japanese accent, "Sure can do, comrade Wellington."

While the non-mercenaries engaged in conversation, Tunazu got a call from HQ that said, "All personnel, report to our field base. We've got some Intel regarding Shadow movement in your area!"

Wellington asked, "What was that just now?"

Tunazu replied, "We're needed back at the base, Wellington. We can surveillance these people later!"

Wellington then said, "Okay then, let's go!"

The two Ghost Force soldiers left.

Ghost Force 969 Field Base Juliet-Alpha-six-niner, Command Center, three miles east of Inaba, 17:03 local time.

Enforcer said to everyone, "Well, this is not something that we had expected."

Tunazu asked, "What?!"

Enforcer then explained, "Judging by how erratic the Shadows are acting in Inaba these past few days, I say that we've found a nest somewhere in town. The only question is where is it?"

Wellington said, "Yeah. We'll need to station ourselves near Yasogami High because that is a probable location for the Shadows to hide their nest."

Aiko heard this and explained, "True, but at the same time, the Junes Department Store is another likely location."

Enforcer noticed her chatter and said, "Smart call, Aiko. Anyways, in lieu of recent events and accessing a classified section of your profile, the higher ups decided to honorably discharge you starting on Yasogami High's summer break. Your service to the Ghosts has been great, but it seems that a shard of the past, specifically your past, holds much more importance."

Aiko then realized what Enforcer had just said and started, "You mean. . ."

Enforcer finished, "Yes. The higher ups are sure that your childhood friend has been found."

"Where is he?" Aiko asked as she took her helmet off to reveal her auburn hair.

Enforcer replied, "Iwatodai City area. Unfortunately, he can't move on his own, so he'll be coming by train. It will arrive on the 28th of this month at the latest."

Yasogami High School gates, 23:59 local time.

Enforcer noticed nothing out of the ordinary so far and said, "Well, no Shadows whatsoever in town. I have a feeling that our answer will only show itself during the Dark Hour."

Wellington replied, "You got that right."

Suddenly the Dark Hour came. As it did, a structure rose and twisted out from beneath Yasogami High School and only when it stopped rising did it cease twisting.

Enforcer said in awe, "Tartarus. The Greek name of the land of the dead. HQ, you getting this?"

Ghost Force HQ transmitted, "Yeah. Shadows are crawling everywhere inside of that tower and since dedicated support is over in South America right now, we won't be able to explore that nest until May at the earliest. Focus on locating where the true home of those things is. HQ out."

A/N: Read and Review.