Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything
Author's Note: I usually reply to reviews in Private Messages so if you have an asked question or etc, check your inbox to see if I replied for it. I only don't do it in the introductions anymore, because my replies may be regarding spoilers. P.S. So, incase RaidEye or Blazehawkins might have been waiting for my response to any questions they asked in a introduction, I hope you saw the P.M.s in your inbox, because I answered them in the messages.
Note: Late on update for several reasons. A: Arkham City, nough said. B: I didn't have power for nearly a week. C: Writer's block sucks. D: Honestly, I wanted to take a break considering I been working some-what nonstop on this since the start.
The start of the second story arc of three. The longest arc out of all three known as the Ideal World Arc. You'll understand the meaning of the ideal world in due time. This arc ranges between Chapter 10 through Chapter 24, fourteen chapters total. For the record, this is my favorite part of the game where the action and story is extremely picked up and elaborated on. Since I enjoy the section in the other world so much, I want to promise to novelize the events in the game as awesome as possible and as well as integrate my own flare into the story, which I've all ready planned out, I mean our heroes still have the rest of the demon quartet to face as well as many more demonic and angelic obstacles to face. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter 10.
Chapter Ten: Aki
Reiji swallowed down three capsules as he recovered from the crash-landing inside the classroom. The wounds inflicted by Kandori were stitching themselves up as well as his jacket.
"These meds those demons dropped really do the trick. You'd think if they drop shit like this, they'd use it on themselves. Any ways," Reiji groaned rising up, knocking over several desks around him in the process.
He was in a empty classroom. The only source of light was the beaming rays of the sun from the windows. Reiji shouldered his assault rifle.
"God damn, I shoulda just shot the bastard in the heart! I can't believe I was stupid enough to let him cow me into this shit! I don't even know where the hell I am. It's looks like the school, but…" Reiji looked down out the window. "The courtyard's down there, the gates are chained shut. Who the hell's sitting on the monument stone? A little brat in a black dress? When did this shit-hole school start excepting first graders?"
A metal crashing sound passed through Reiji's ears. "That came from outside. In the courtyard, the front doors were slammed open. It's those assholes again!" Reiji gritted his teeth, clenching his fist. "They're in the same hole I am! Fucking great, now I might end of spending eternity in this place with a bunch of chumps! I'm getting out of here! Before I kill Kandori, I'll force him to get me out of this mess. Would help if I knew exactly where I was?"
Reiji turned away from the window.
"ERUSAER TSYUMMON!"
He snapped his head back. "What the hell are they doing?"
Persona: Be Your True Mind
Busting through the front doors of the school, Maki in the lead, the Persona Users reached the courtyard. They had managed to protect the students from the demons infested in the school on the way down to the ground level. The emergency exits and windows were indeed sealed shut by unbreakable chains. Maki assumed that the girl's voice was coming from the courtyard. That's where she usually caused her mischief.
Naoya kept abreast to Maki, there shoes clacking on the cobblestone path. The girl in black, twiddled her thumps, tapping her heel on the monument stone erected in the middle of the courtyard. "Heeeey!" She shrieked, in a high pitch voice. "You're the ones who were making trouble for my Daddy!" The brunette slid off the top of the six foot tall rock and landing gracefully on her feet.
Maki scowled. "You better fix the school, or I'll spank you 'till your butt's twice as big!" Maki commanded, in a genuinely gruff tone.
"No way, Jose! I don't listen to anybody but my Daddy! Try and stop me, flatty!"
Maki's face drained of color. "Flat-?" It flared up with red. "Oh, that does it! What a little brat!"
Masao turned toward her. "Hey, cool it, Maki. She's just a kid. You gotta have patience with a-"
"Shuddup, monkey boy! Ook ook, eek, eek, it's a monkey!"
Masao gritted his teeth, glaring right at the girl. "What did you call me, you spoiled brat?"
Naoya's sweat dropped. "What happened to being patient, Mark?" He sighed.
"Calm down, monkey!" Kei ordered, taking charge yet again.
"Nanjo, you jerk!" Masao snapped. "You're next!"
"Geez, won't you shut up?" The girl exclaimed, ceasing her monkey imitation. "Now would be a good time…for you to die here!" She thrust her finger to the sky. "ERUSAER TSYMMOM! Come to Aki, Tesso!"
A light started to swirl.
Everyone took a fighting stance. "What the hell is she doing now?" Yukino asked to no one in particular, readying her Ithaca, razorblades in her other hand.
"Whatever it is, be prepared, everyone!" Naoya said.
Eriko nodded, unsheathing her rapier. "Yes, brave leader."
Ayase absentmindedly examined her handgun as the light brightened. Brown was panicking, trying to decide between his spear or TMP.
Kei and Masao stood by each other, rifle sighted in Kei's hand, shotgun cocked in Masao's.
Naoya nervously aimed his MP5 forward, noticing Maki knocking an arrow and pointing the shot at the blotch of conjuring light cloaking the girl, now known as Aki. "Here it comes! Hope we can win without my Persona."
The light expanding, creating a animal shaped mechanical beast. The creation itself looked like a wind-up mouse toy, except heavily and densely armored and the wind-up key replaced with a tri-barrel Gatling gun mounted on the back. The head of the beast was a cartoon mouse face painted over the orange metal. Tesso appeared to be an over-sized mechanized rat. (A/N: No Scott McKneil here! Extra points to who knows what I'm referring too)
"Tesso, get em!"
"Sgweaak! Tesso!" The voice of the machine was like a parrot.
Masao raised an eyebrow. "What the hell is this thing?"
Maki titled her head, her lips spread in a half-smile. "Awww...it's adorable!"
"Maki, you realized that things has a chain gun on it's back!" Naoya exclaimed.
The gun rapidly rotated, firing off it's first twenty rounds directly at Maki. She gawked and Naoya fiercely pulled her aside and chucked her into Masao's arm, the bullets digging deep into the earth, right through the cobble stone.
"Take it seriously or pay the price!" Kei scolded, observing it from his scope. "The girl is using the rodent as a shield."
Aki was casually kicking a stone near the monument stone as Tesso continued to squawk.
"Todo, the robot is a wall to protect the girl." Kei informed. "We disassemble the unsightly machine and we can get straight to her. What's our course of action? I suggest you not take to long, because if my timing is correct, it'll open fire in another thirty seconds."
Naoya eyed Tesso, the tri-barrel was rotating. "Skirt the sides! Unload into the feet! Immobilize it as soon as you can! If bullets don't work, strike it with you weapon! Your weapon doesn't work, summon your Persona!"
Naoya, Masao, Maki, and Eriko rushed to the right of the rat as Kei, Ayase, Brown, and Yukino took the left. The Gatling gun had unloaded it's second barrage of bullets, tearing up the path further.
Naoya aimed his machinegun low at the feet of the steel beast, which were actually tank treads decorative with mechanical mouse paws. "First time firing this thing! Hope it's not my last!" Naoya pulled the trigger, spraying the back-right tread with high velocity fire.
Masao joined him with his buckshot, the spread and rapid-fire bombarding the foot, and tearing it up to a disheveled wreck.
Tesso squawked loudly.
"How'd you like that?" Masao mockingly shouted.
The mounted gun proceeded to alter it's angle, turning to face the right side.
Masao's earnest face displayed a statement. A statement only described as "OH SHIT!"
"Masao, you're an idiot!" Kei yelled, firing his rifle and denting a painted eye on the head. Kei fiddled with the bolt-action as the gun started to spin, but turn to face Kei.
"Strike out it's front leg, while it's aimed at us!" Kei ordered.
Brown freaked out. "Your deliberately putting us in danger, Nanjo! YOU ASSHO-" Yukino and Kei tackled Brown's agape mouth to the stone floor, the roaring bullets barely missing them. Ayase leisurely stood over them, somewhat oblivious to the danger.
"Is that, like, all this thing can do?" She asked to no-one in particular, lashing it gently with her whip.
Naoya nodded briskly. "Eriko, Maki! Fire on the front leg! Me and Mark are gonna give it more targets to shoot at!"
"Huh?" Masao didn't even have a chance to raise his eyebrow or a raise an objection as Naoya dragged him back in front of the rat's now damaged face.
Naoya fired into the body as he brought Masao forward, the bullets not as damaging. He let the MP5 go, the strap straining across his chest as the weight of the machinegun fell. He unsheathed his katana stopping at their destination.
Naoya starred down the "scarred" face of Tesso, Masao loading more shells into his Remington and the Gatling gun circling to him.
Maki hesitantly fired her Browning at the front foot, her reluctantly index finger becoming sore with each pull. Eriko skillfully aimed with the scope. Her father taught her how to hunt with a rifle well. She knew how to handle it properly. She fired three shots, each leaving a deep pore in the thick tread as Maki's peppering of 9mm bullets severed the rest and destroyed the mouse paw.
Brown unloaded his TMP into the back left foot as directed by Kei. "Jesus, giant robot rats with chain guns! What'll this world think of next? Huge-ass monkeys with laser bananas!"
Yukino added Brown by tactically unloading and reloading her Ithaca and swiftly slashing the opposite side of Tesso with her razorblades, leaving wearing gashes in the steel. "Keep digging the blades in the same spot! It'll be progressive if I keep it up! Shit the barrel is spinning!"
Kei slammed his broadsword home into the front right leg, Ayase firing her VP70 as instructed. "Staying with Masao Inaba for so long has to have cause injury to my brain. I asked Uesugi to do an important task and Ayase to aid me with gunfire. Surely, I've lost my mind." He hit the leg again, causing a heavy break in the limb. "The thirty seconds is up. What's Todo doing?"
Naoya kept himself locked with Tesso, the tri-barrel aimed directly at him.
"Nao you gotta move!" Masao exclaimed, jogging to the right. "It's gonna fire on us!"
Naoya yelled out as he rushed Tesso. His katana steadied and vertically angled in front of him. "What am I doing? I'm charging a Gatling gun wielding rat!"
Persona: Be Your True Mind
Reiji watched the battle unfold from the window. "These guys are useless. They aren't even fighting with their Personas and that punk from before is setting himself to be offed. He's running at a high-powered gun that could destroy him in seconds and is ready to fire."
Reiji turned away. "I don't have time to watch a dick-headed fool run to his death. Though that punk did piss me off. No one talks shit to me and gets away scot-free."
"ZGWEAAAAK!"
"What now?!" Reiji turned back to the window.
Persona: Be Your True Mind
Naoya threw his weight backwards, slamming his back on cobblestone. Using his momentum he slid his entire body across the path, the bullets whistling pasts his hair. He thrust the katana above, stabbing cleanly threw Tesso's head.
"ZGWEAAAAK!" Tesso squawked in pain.
"Nao-kun!"
"Todo!"
"Leader!"
"Quit gawking! Break the damn thing down!"
The mouse machine was indeed nearly crumbled. Each leg was wrecked and bending inward, the torso slouching, the entire structure near collapse without any support.
Kei swiped his hand to the right. "My mov-" Glass shards rained on them. A window had been broken. A gray blur was falling from the second floor. The figure steadily fired an M4 Carbine into the Tesso's back.
Naoya's eyes broaden. "Reiji…and shit he's gonna drop right on the thing!" Naoya struggled, pulling his sword from the beast's sparking head and scrambling out from under it just as Reiji crashed his feet and all his weight on Tesso, crushing the legs inward and totally under.
Reiji's faced the sun, the M4 resting on his shoulder. He licked his lips. "I'll clean up! If you assholes don't mind!" Reiji jumped on and compressed the damaged head like a tin can, waltzing off the mess of ruptured steel.
He threw an uppercut in the air. A scarlet mist wrapped around his form. "Hell yeah! Bres!"
Emerging from the scarlet mist was a armored warrior standing six feet tall. An deep purple armet dressed with long slicked back devil-like horns surrounded the head, the slit in the visor only showing pitch darkness. Faulds of a crimson red protecting the breast and back, but the armor tails for the back of hips were the same deep purple and extended sharp-edged similar to the shape of daggers. Deep purple spaulders and gauntlets crafted with rising wave-like creases covered the shoulders and arms up to the elbow. Matching greaves sporting the same color and design armored the legs up to below the knees. The unprotected portion of the bodies, the forearms and the knees were in a crimson read as the torso was. Bres' right hand itself was a bastard sword, the sword forged or permanently stained with scarlet.
The Persona of the Devil Arcana put it's legs together in a proper stance, raising the blade hand up to his helm.
"MUDO!" Reiji ordered pointing to Tesso.
Bres slashed the air instantly. Characters and kanji strewn about in a meticulous ring of inky black energy circled the rodent, a large purple stylized diamond in the center. A pressure erupted upward and flowed downward smashing against the machine from both angles with incredible power. A eerie cackle and scrapping filling everyone's ears as the symbols constricted smaller and smaller on the target until eventually the mass was gobbled up in a jaw of darkness, completely gone in thin air, no where to be seen, removed from existence and sentenced to Hell.
Reiji grinned, showing off his canine's. "That's how you kill shit!"
Aki stomped her feet, pouting. "HEY! Grr…I'm gonna tell my Daddy on you! Daddy's real strong! You guys won't stand a chance!" She raised her finger in the air.
Maki dropped her weapon and ran at her. "Hold it right there!"
In a flash of white Aki vanished.
Maki pouted herself, stomping her own feet. "Aww! She got away again!"
"Maki and this Aki are similar." Kei rolled his eyes. "…Who is that girl…?" He asked himself, as the chains on the gate cracked and shattered.
"A better question and where did you come from?" Yukino stated, pointing at Reiji.
"Second floor, bitch. Shouldn't be that hard to comprehend." Reiji replied.
Yukino gritted her teeth. "I'll beat that smile off his fast." She was still irritated at the fact that an hour ago, he pointed the M4 at her head.
Naoya glared daggers at Reiji's back, a feeling of distress and anger creeping up his spine. The overly aggressive nature complete with unwarranted anger started to consume him. He felt like he was losing himself, his mind. He wasn't himself again.
Nao rubbed his head. "I feel like I'm going to black out again, but I didn't even use my Persona. Why do I feel like I'm losing my grip on my mind? The questions just keep flowing and the conflicts keep occurring and now Reiji is here, a huge wrench in the situation. Is he the reason why I'm feeling different, like I'm not myself. Back in the S.E.B.E.C. Building I felt the same way. A person of a different mind set, totally different and I don't understand why. There has to be a reason. It has to be due to the Persona. It has to be. There has to be something about it that alters my personality. Philemon and Igor haven't told us everything. I can't just tell, but I can feel, I know for a damn fact, they're holding out on something. If that's the case though, why hid it from us and why is it only effecting me…unless…Reiji is like it too…maybe his personality is altered by his Persona, maybe that's why I'm feeling the change, because he's here. His summoning was red, like Kandori's and Takeda's, but ours are blue. Does that have something do with it? Is the color represented of ourselves or is it due to our actions or is it both?"
"Is everyone okay?" A winded voice exclaimed. Yosuke had burst through the doors.
Maki immediately moved to side as everyone crowded around him, Reiji hanging in the back. "Yosuke! Is everything all right?"
"Yeah! The school's back to normal, thanks to you guys."
Masao rubbed his index finger under his nose. "Don't worry about it. It was nothin'."
Yukino jabbed him in the rib with her elbow. "You barely did anything." She hissed.
"I really can't thank you guys enough. By the way…Tsutomu wants to meet you guys. Would you mind coming with me back to the library?"
Kei noticed Naoya in a long thought. He decided to ask the question. "Why?"
"Tsutomu helped me out since I came here. He actually believed me. He's investigating the two worlds…maybe's he figured something out by now."
"Are you seriously gonna waste your time on this?" Reiji interjected. "If I'm understanding this guy, who looks like hammered shit, right…we're in another world. From the looks of things another Mikage. You don't need a annoying dumb-ass like the Devil-Boy to tell you how to get out of her. I know the answer all ready, find Kandori and force him to send us back. I'd figured coming down to help you idiots would've been worth my time. Clearly not. I'm out of here!"
"Kido, hold on!" Kei commanded.
Reiji stopped his strut to the gate, the assault rifle still rested firmly on his shoulder. "What do you want, four-eyes?"
"How to do you think you fare against Kandori by yourself? I witnessed what happened last time you tried to face him. He baited you into throwing caution to the wind and trying to strike him head-on."
"That bastard won't play me again!" Reiji raised his clenched fist up. "I'll kill him in a single second."
"Kido, Kandori wished to be here, that girl, Aki, took him here along with us. He wanted to come to this other world for his own reasons. You cannot surely believe that he's going to let you storm his new fortress, whatever and wherever it may be, as easy as last time. You'll need assistance and we share a common goal."
Reiji paused for a moment, the rifle dropping by his hip. "Feh, all right, I be part of your little group." He walked with Kei to the rest of the group, who were following behind a limping Yosuke.
"Man, Reiji! You look so uptight. You gotta take it easy, y'know?" Masao commented, tucking away his weapons in his backpack.
Reiji's features were blank. "…Leave me alone…"
"Whatever you say, man."
Reiji narrowed his eyes. "Why did I agree to be a part of this? This band of morons consists of a bimbo, an airhead, a rich nerd, a shemale, a lying worm, a yellow hat wearing stoner by the sound of it, a popular bitch, and a snot-nosed punk. Four-eyes did have a point though. Kandori will see me coming a mile away. They at least can help me get at the bastard, but after this talk with Devil Boy, we're gonna have a chat about whose the fuckin' leader around here."
Masao stuffed his hands in his pocket. "This Reiji jerk sure acts strange around people. Most of the time he clams-up, but other times he's shooting his mouth off. He's kinda been acting like Nao, well Nao since we played Persona."
Kei kept to Yukino's right, aiding her in lifting the ammo bag and distribute more ammunition to everyone. "I succeeded in having Kido join us, but…that girl…she referred to Kandori as her father. Is she really his child? This is the first I've heard of him having a daughter."
Brown accepted a fresh clip for his TMP after sticking it in his pants. "Sure, let's just shrug off the attack from the armed robotic mouse. No problem and why don't we bring in the guy who held one of us at gunpoint, I'm sure that's good for us. You know, I'm starting to think I'm the biggest idiot on the planet for even willingly being in this. There isn't a dime in this for me even if there is what are the chances that this worlds currency is the same as ours and that's only IF we hit the mother-load which I doubt we will." A light bulb turned-on in Brown's brain. "Unless…I document this whole story as an article for the newspaper or T.V. show or write a fantasy novel entitled How Hidehiko Uesugi Saved Mikage? It'll sell like hotcakes in any form of media. God, I'm brilliant. I can turn it around every time as long as it's to land cash in my pocket." Brown rubbed his palms vigorously together, chuckling a bit to himself at his own brilliance.
Persona: Be Your True Mind
"You're the newcomers. Yosuke told me about. It seems you're having a unique experience…I'm rather jealous." The word Tsutomu spoke were annunciated and sane.
"Are you really, Tsutomu?" Masao questioned. "Dude, he's talking like a normal persona!"
"Hm…the me on the other side must be an odd duck, indeed. I'd like to meet him. Hmm, then visitors, let us get down to business."
Kei spoke up. "We heard your investigating the two worlds. What are your thoughts thus far?"
"The things in this world seem unrelated,…but they are all connected by the string of fate. The same holds true for the black door that suddenly appeared." Tsutomu flung his hand at said object behind him.
Maki eyed the door, expressing discomfort. "That door…I don't like it. It feels…"
"Only those who can draw on that strength may learn the truth. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be my role."
Kei nodded. "Or coming here was inevitable. Which means…it's on us to solve everything."
Naoya sighed, playing with his earring. "Sure, Kei, answer it with fate and destiny, that's the easiest way."
Tsutomu coughed through his mask. "I don't know who spun the thread, but that's a helpful way to think of it. Now, name the man you pursue who holds the strings end."
"Takahisa…Kandori," Maki announced.
Reiji growled.
"Hm. Exactly the name I expected. In truth, I knew beforehand that these incidents would occur…thanks to the prophecy of a certain monkey-suited gentlemen at the shrine."
Naoya face palmed. "You gotta be shittin' me."
"Monkey-suited?" Masao repeated. "There's nothing gentle about monkeys!" He blurted.
"Will someone quiet that ape up?" Kei snapped.
"Your one to talk, bib boy!" Masao countered.
"Shut up and let Tsutomu explain, Masao." Yukino scolded.
"Yes, I would like to hear about this mysterious gentlemen as well." Eriko added.
"Like, can the freak hurry it up. I'm, like, starving."
Reiji faced the wall. "What a bunch of children." He said under his breath. "They have no idea of the gravity of the situation. I may come off as a foul-mouthed little bastard, because partly I am, but I know when to take shit seriously."
Maki snapped her fingers. "Hey, Tsutomu…this guy…? Did he wear a mask?"
"Y-yes…He said his name was Philemon, but…" Tsutomu paused.
Naoya's eyes shot open. "Philemon!"
The Devil Boy continued. "should we do something about them?" Tsutomu pointed a shaking finger at Kei and Masao in a heated argument.
"Oh, it's fine. Just ignore them, they're always like that!" Maki looked at Naoya. "Nao-kun, let's try our luck at the Alaya Shrine. I've met that man before too. Maybe he knows where Kandori is!"
Naoya checked his gun. "Good luck getting a direct answer out of him."
Yosuke, leaning on the wall of for support. "The Alaya Shrine is right where it is in our world. Find a way home and…" Yosuke paused in silence for a moment. "If you see Chisato, save her for me I'm begging you." He sounded desperate due to his disheveled and injured state.
"Don't worry Yosuke. We'll save Chisato from that brat and find us a way home. Right, Nao-kun?" Maki asked with resolve.
"If we see her Yosuke," Naoya let go of his gun and placed his grip firmly on his sword. "We'll send her your way. You stay here and rest."
Kei, who finished his argument with Masao hmphed. "Let us leave then, Todo, to the Alaya Shrine."
Persona: Be Your True Mind
At the front gate, everyone was prepared to exit onto the new streets, not sure if they were the same streets they knew back home or something completely different than before. Naoya was leading the group, explaining the formation they're would move in to reach the shrine.
"Kei, Maki you're in the middle. Masao, Yukino, you're hanging back. Ayase, Brown, I want you two to keep on a side. Eriko, Reiji, and I are taking the front." Naoya explained, pointing to the specific directions.
Reiji approached Naoya, his chain casting that subtle jangle and his shoes' taps on the concrete, grabbing Naoya's attention. He towered over the Ebony-haired boy, looking down on him with his weapon dangling from the carrying strap behind him. His eyes were drilling into Naoya. Naoya kept his composure, gulping, trying to maintain eye contact.
Reiji spoke first. "Well, if I'm joining your puny brigade, I'm leading the pact." Everyone else stopped their shuffling around into formation. "I watched your performance against that rat and it wasn't impressive. If that's the kinda strategies this punk's leadership displays, then I'm taking over!"
Naoya scowled, opening his mouth, but Masao spoke first. "Like he-"
Naoya cut him off, a scathing edge to his exclamation, "Like hell you are!"
Reiji half-smiled. "Didn't we already have this dance back at the S.E.B.E.C. Building?"
Naoya's fingers touched the hilt of his sheathed katana. "It hasn't even started!"
Reiji grinned even farther, wagging his finger to his right cheek. "Give me your best shot then punk! I dare ya! Make my d-" To everyone's surprise Naoya planted a burly jab to Reiji's cheek, sending him flailing backwards to the ground.
"If it's a fight you want, IT'S A FIGHT YOUR GONNA GET!" Naoya's hand darted across his face, Reiji recovering, a scarlet mist swallowing him up.
"Bring it on!" Reiji swung an uppercut in the air, the similar scarlet mist blanketed him as well. "HELL YEAH!"
"HERE IT GOES!"
"PERSONA!"
A powerful wave of scarlet energy pushed everyone else back as Seimen Kongo and Bres materialized and clashed. Seimen Kongo screeched in rage as the aura of red rose higher and spread farther. The Persona gripped Bres' sword arm and precede to plant kicks to his torso.
Reiji rushed Naoya chucking his gun away, feeling the pain of Seimen Kongo's blows onto his Persona. Naoya threw his MP5 aside in favor of his katana. Reiji connected a swift right cross to Naoya's face as pay pack for the previous shot, but Naoya retaliated with a mad stroke that sliced Reiji deep across his bare chest at the close quarters. Reiji shouted and landed three jabs to his opponent's ribs.
Masao attempted to rush in, but the scarlet aura was pushing him backwards with an invisible force. "What the hell? Why can't I get through?"
Kei scoffed. "What in the seven hells are they doing?"
"Yeah, like, why are they fighting?" Ayase wondered, watching as Naoya and Reiji traded blows and strokes like they were experts in closer quarters combat.
"This isn't like him at all?" Eriko hissed, her handing covering her mouth as Seimen Kongo grabbed at Bres' helmet and slammed his head on his knee.
Reiji cringed at the blow his Persona received, lowering his guard for Naoya to slash him again, following up with a stabbing kick to the stomach, that hurled him father backwards. Reiji countered with a swift strike to Naoya's knee with his leg. The knee pulled his leg inward, causing Naoya to hunch. Reiji taking his opportunity sent him on his back with a sky-high uppercut under the jaw.
Bres shoved Seimen Kongo back. "Bres, TWIN SLASH!" Bres readied his sword arm and hit Seimen Kongo with two consecutive slices.
Naoya raised his head, attempting to regain his standing. "Seimen Kongo, SPIN KICK!"
His Persona returned the attack with his rapid spin kick to the side of Bres' head, staggering the Persona and his user. At Reiji's disorientation from the kick, Naoya returned to his feet and swung a wild stroke that barely knicked Reiji's swaying figure. Reiji shifted to the right out of the way and taking advantage of Naoya in closer range with his upper body hunched forward, he thrusts his knee firmly to his stomach, sending him hunching forward for his neck to receive the follow-up elbow drop that sent Naoya to dirt again.
Maki looked on, her bangs covering her eyes, whimpering slightly. "Masao-kun stop them please! Nao-kun isn't like himself anymore! He's like he was in S.E.B.E.C. during the fight with Takeda!" She pleaded.
Masao shoulder barged the field, sweat matting his brow. Yukino and Kei were also trying to aid him in breaking up the squabble as Kei put it. Masao banged his head on the barrier to no effect. "GODDAMN IT!" He hit it again. "Nao, dude, what are you doing? You wouldn't do this at all! Fuckin' come on! DAMN IT! BREAK THROUGH!"
Reiji pulled Naoya up by his collar. "Funny, isn't it?" One punch to the stomach. Naoya yelled in pain. "Our Personas are the vice versa of our respective selves!" A second punch to the stomach and another yelp of pain. "I use my fists and feet, your Persona use his fist and feet!" A third blow to the gut. "My Persona uses a sword and you use a sword!" Reiji let Naoya free from his grasped and connected a fourth jab, this one to his face.
Seimen Kongo bellowed a battle cry at the pain. Bres took the instance and ran his arm through. Naoya screamed in anguish, the wound appearing on his own arm.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Reiji stomped on the arm, licking the blood from his fingers. "AAAAAAAAH!" Reiji stomped again.
Eriko looked on in horror. "Naoya's screams are agonizing! We have to stop this! At this rate, one of them can be seriously injured or killed! What's wrong with them? Why are they fighting? This isn't my Nao at all!"
Kei swung his broadsword, but the weight of his swing was repulsed by the aura. "This barrier is obnoxious! Is this what happens when two Persona Users fight and if your Persona is wounded and struck, you too take on the damage. This is enthralling but at the same time 100% childish! There are many ways to settle a dispute, but fighting it out with our Personas is the easiest way to screw us over! By exhausting their spiritual power now, they won't be able to invoke their Personas later!"
Naoya gritted his teeth to bare Reiji's stomping. "SEIMEN KONGO, GARULA!"
Seimen Kongo roared, punching the air down on his User and Reiji, firing a spiral of strong wind. The Garu Skill slashed Reiji from all-directions, tearing into his skin and ripping his jacket.
Naoya yelled out, pulling his stabbed arm up with all his force to topple Reiji off him. "SEIMEN KONGO!"
Reiji scrambled to his feet, jumping backwards. "BRES!"
"GARULA!"
"MUDO!"
"NO!" Maki screamed, sadness welling in her eyes and pouring down her rosy cheeks. "STOP!"
Seimen Kongo shot off a powerful eddy of wind straight to the firmly standing Reiji. Bres swung his sword to the right, throwing his real hand out, casting off the characters and circle of purple darkness at Naoya, whose determinately stood despite a badly bleeding wound. He kept his resolve and starred down the Death Skill with a maniac's eyes.
Reiji shared the same eyes with a conceited grin, showcasing his sharp canines even more. "I'VE WON YOU SON OF A BITCH! I'VE WON!" BAM! Reiji felt the full attack of the Garula Skill, the existing cuts pulling apart and more opening, blood escaping from each slit, all the while he was laughing, living up his alleged victory as he dropped to his knees, the darkness taking over his vision, his senses fading, and his consciousness leaving him as he collapsed into a fatigued slumber.
Naoya's hair whipped backwards as the kanji and entrapping circle flew through him, phasing through his being, not touching an inch or fully forming. The Skill had missed, Naoya had won, yet his legs weakened, the ferocity leaving his irises, the katana slipped from his fingers, laying to the beaten earth. The vast red dimmed, the air clearing, the mist dissipating. He fell forward, his eyes shutting, his nostrils taking in one breath and his mouth exhaling it before he lost consciousness at the rough slam. He'd won.
"NAO-KUN!"
Persona: Be Your True Mind
Apologize for the supreme delay, but I ended the first major story arc of three and in my opinion that warrants at least a month break. So, apologies to anyone who might've been waiting for this for awhile, but I been consecutively working on nine chapters in a row nonstop I burned myself out so I just needed some chill time to work on other things and plan out more chapters thoroughly. For the record this chapter was supposed to have two other scenes, but for the sake of updating plus the scenes fit better in the next chapter which will be shorter and I love cliffhangers so…Either way, I hope you enjoyed the start of the Ideal World Arc, Chapter 10 of Persona: Be Your True Mind and I'll see you next time for Chapter 11: The Expel Mirror.