Tartarus, First floor, July 1st, Friday, New Moon, Dark Hour local time.
Enforcer looked around and saw that everything was still set up. He then motioned for everyone else to follow him inside.
"There's a ton of Shadows crawling around inside, and we know that Minako's younger sister Rise Kujikawa either heard the Shadows calling for her or she must have the potential since she ended up in here. We're not sure right now, so stay alert." Dmitri said.
"So who's heading in?" Enforcer asked.
"I am. I'm also bringing along with me Saki Konishi, Yosuke Hanamura, and Minato Arisato." Yu answered.
"Then in that case, I'll lead Kanji, Chie, and Yukiko and clear up any enemies that you guys don't notice." Minako said, twirling her skirt around.
"Alright, let's get moving!" Minato said.
"Since I'm accompanying you guys, I should tell you that radar has picked up Rise's vitals on the twenty-fifth floor. We need to move carefully." Enforcer reminded.
Yu, Minato, Saki, and Yosuke went up the stairs and into the main labyrinth with Minako, Chie, Kanji, and Yukiko following them. For the most part, it was rather uneventful aside from the occasional Shadow trying to attack them, which any that tried got annihilated. This pattern continued until the sixteenth floor was reached. The floor was simply a flat platform that had an access point near the leftmost edge and a barricade made of school desks that blocked off the stairs. Yu walked up to the barrier and poked it. After he did, it collapsed for no apparent reason.
Heading past the now-dismantled barricade, the team went up the stairs and into the next block of Tartarus: Arqa Block. This area had Shadows crawling everywhere, so Chie, Kanji, Yukiko, and Minako decided to join Saki, Yosuke, Yu, and Minato in fighting through as did Tunazu, Enforcer, and Dmitri. Fuuka was able to analyze the Shadows instantly so that no mistakes were made as the single search team made its way up to the 25th floor, where Rise apparently was. Things got somewhat odd once on the 20th floor while searching for the stairs when Minato, along with Kanji and Minako, found not one but two gold treasure chests that contained armor that looked more like fan-service outfits than actual armor.
"The hell are these? From what I know, these aren't made for guys." Minato said as he looked at a fan-service armor that was white in color before he then realized what he had found and gave it to Minako as he said, "Don't wear it, not a good time to talk." She decided not to question Minato on the armor and stored it as they continued looking for the stairs.
Once on floor 25, Yu noticed that they were in a dark room that apparently had a small stage with a pole in the center while a green laser barricade blocked off the only way out that was lit up.
"What is this place? Where am I?" Yu heard a voice say. Yu had everyone else stay put and searched around in the darkness of the room. Eventually he found another passageway out of the room but before he could tell anyone, he saw Rise walking towards him and she asked, "Who are you? Where am I and what is this place? Is there a way out?"
Yu introduced himself before saying to her, "This place is Tartarus, the so-called Tower of Demise. There should be an access point somewhere on this floor that we can use to return to the entrance and then leave." before he called the rest of the team over. When they came, Minako practically hugged her sister and Rise returned the gesture by hugging her. When it was broken, a voice from the stage called, "Where do you think you're going?"
Everyone turned around to the stage and saw that it was completely lit up. Standing next to the pole was Shadow Rise, thankfully in normal form. However, Minako noticed that the Shadow wore only a yellow bikini. Everyone stepped forward, ready to fight as Saki Konishi and Minato Arisato switched out with Yukiko Amagi and Kanji Tatsumi.
"They're all watching! All eyes are on me now!" Shadow Rise shouted.
"Guys, get ready to kick some ass! We'll protect the real Rise while you handle the Shadow!" Enforcer said to Yu's team.
After a small banter between Rise and her Shadow, she shouted, "You're not me!" at the Shadow. At that, the Shadow immediately absorbed power and transformed into something that attempted to defy description. It was a female humanoid that had a satellite dish for a face and was completely naked.
"I am a Shadow, the true self. . . and now the moment you've been waiting for! It's time for me to show you every last inch of myself! And for those up in the front row, I'll give you extra-special intense service!"
Yu immediately had Ose use Rakunda and then Yosuke placed a Sukukaja on Narukami as Yukiko used an Agilao on Shadow Rise, who immediately used a Garu on Yukiko. Kanji fired off a Zionga at the Shadow before Yu had Ose Power Charge and Yosuke placed a Sukukaja on Yukiko who then used another Agilao. Shadow Rise decided to use an Agilao which hit Yosuke and Kanji used another Zionga before Yu had Ose Focus and Yosuke decided to renew the Sukukaja timer on Yu by casting it on him again while Yukiko used Agilao again. Shadow Rise use Bufula on Yukiko, knocking her down due to her weakness to Ice and then using the same spell on Yu, which failed to hit due to the Sukukaja. Kanji used an Assault Signal on Yu and then Ose used a Gigantic Fist that criticaled because of Focus and then an All-Out Attack was unleashed.
Shadow Rise was shocked at how she only had half of her stamina left yet the Investigation Team still showed no signs of exhaustion. She said to them, "What?! I dealt all that exquisite pain and you're still not satisfied? What a finicky guest. You might as well die then! Supreme Insight!"
Yu then realized that he, Yukiko, Yosuke, and Kanji were analyzed by something along with the other members of the Investigation Team and the members of Echo Squadron plus Minako. "No touching allowed. Ahaha!" Rise's Shadow taunted. Yosuke unleashed a physical attack, but it didn't hit the Shadow at all. The same thing happened when Yukiko and Kanji tried to attack. Assessing the situation, Enforcer said to everyone, "We'll be getting nowhere by attacking right now. Wait for me to act and then attack."
Yu did so and noticed Shadow Rise unleash a Bufula attack on Enforcer, knocking his helmet off and revealing that the mercenary wore a mechanical mask covering the lower half of his face and solid black hair that was kept short. The irises of his eyes were a black color as well.
"Grr. I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS! PROMETHEAN VISION!" he yelled.
Yellow light suddenly shot out of Enforcer's eyes and illuminated Shadow Rise. "It's time to die!" he yelled as he set up a Power Charge and Tunazu healed as Dmitri fired his mini-gun and managed to hit the Shadow. Minako also managed to hit Shadow Rise with a slash from her Naginata.
Shadow Rise then said in a confused manner, "It's not possible! Why?! How come you can harm me!?"
"Her ability's been rendered useless! Now's the time to attack!" Enforcer shouted.
Yosuke unleashed Garula on the Shadow and the attack hit. Yukiko unleashed an Agilao that also hit Shadow Rise and both Minato and Yu used the combined power of both Ose and Flauros in the devastating Fusion Raid known as Gate of Hell to seriously damage the Shadow. Chie hit hard with a Black Spot and then Enforcer opened fire with a full clip of ammo, allowing Tunazu and Dmitri to follow up with a defensive Fusion Raid and Minako unleashed a Fatal End attack that defeated the Shadow.
"Argh!" Shadow Rise said as she collapsed and regressed to normal form.
Rise walked up to her Shadow and apologized to it before saying that it was part of her that she had refused to believe that it existed. Rise accepted her Shadow and it transformed into Himiko, which notably had the satellite thing replace its right hand. The laser barricade turned off and behind it Echo Squadron found both the stairs upward and something better: a Warp Point.
"By using these Warp Points, we can return to this floor should we need to resume exploration instead of starting from the bottom." Enforcer explained before warping back to the entrance. Everyone else followed suit and then left Tartarus. Once outside the tower though, a Shadow resembling Yu attacked and immediately the real Yu went to fight it along with Minato, Yosuke, and Yukiko. After a single normal attack from Yosuke hit the Yu-like Shadow, it changed into its true form: a Shadow that resembled the Yamato-no-Orochi and had eight masks on it, one for each head. The Shadow's main body was twice Yu's height and the necks of the individual heads were even taller if they were reaching to bite into the sky.
Persona abilities and Fusion Raids introduced in this chapter: Gate of Hell, Promethean Vision.
Gate of Hell: Fusion Raid that can be used by having both Ose and Flauros ready to be used as Personae. Ose and or Flauros must be the current active Persona in order to use this Fusion Raid. Deals extreme Physical damage to all enemies and 100% chance to inflict Fear unless an enemy is resistant or immune to Fear. Cost: 35% of caster's max HP or if two casters use it, 17% of max HP from both casters.*
Promethean Vision: scans an enemy and cancels out the effect of Supreme Insight, any -kaja skills, and any wall skills on that enemy. Grants a single 'One More' turn to the caster and restores 25% of caster's max SP upon use. Exclusive to Enforcer.
* If current HP is lower than required amount, Fusion Raid cannot be executed.
A/N: this has been in the pipeline for quite a while, but I've been lazy as fuck. Oh yeah, by the way, I write this story because I like it. If you have a problem, go somewhere else.