"RRRAARRGGHH!"

BOOM

I fell back as fire and ice flew into the mass of flesh, pushing them back. I got back to my feet and charged in, beating down a Tiara with my metal gloves.

"Hey Jack!" one of my Personae said. "Why do you carry that lantern around with you?"

Ignore! Ignore! Just lose yourself in the melee!

"Because the Shadows make it dangerous to walk near traffic!"

Holy crap that was bad. But hey, half the Shadows fell down, making them easy picking.

"Here's our chance!" I glanced to the side and saw Junpei slice through another Shadow. "LET'S GET 'EM!"

I grabbed the nearest Shadow and smashed it against a metal pole. "KILL THEM ALL!"

Junpei grinned, charging after a fleeing Shadow. "GET BACK HERE YOU SON OF A-"

"One minute fifty seconds remaining!"

I drew my Evoker and pulled the trigger. BURN

I charged and plunged my fist into another Shadow. CRUSH

A Shadow slammed into my back, so I span round and broke its arm in half. MAIM

I pulled the trigger again as lightning filled the room. KILL

Junpei sliced through Shadow after Shadow, delivering death with each blow. Yukari mowed her way through behind him. Both were covered in the black ichor the Shadows left behind. I was probably soaked in the stuff myself.

"ONE AND A HALF MINUTES! HURRY!"

Damn. There were still over two dozen Shadows remaining.

Putting the Evoker to my head, I roared as I pulled the trigger, and holy light filled the room. The Shadows screamed as they burned.

This. Is. JUSTICE!

"HERMES!"
"IO!"

Flaming wind filled the room, picking off the survivors of my attack. Finally, the room was empty. Yukari collapsed to her knees, gasping for breath. "We… We did it…"

"Yeah…" Junpei seemed overwhelmed by it all.

I stopped too. That was intense.

"What are you stopping for?" Mitsuru shouted. "THERE'S ONLY SEVENTY TWO SECONDS LEFT TO KILL THE PRIESTESS!"

We all froze. Not good.

"SEVENTY!"

We all got moving. I smashed the door to the next compartment with my shoulder, not bothering to slow down. I saw this giant woman, her right side was black and her left was white. She wore a cloth between her legs, and her hair fused into the power cables in the walls.

It looked at me and summoned two more Shadows, Tiaras.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Junpei arrived, followed by Yukari. "IS THIS THE FRIGGIN' BOSS?"

The Shadows charged for us as the Priestess launched ice spells. Dodging, I asked "What's it weakness?"

"Hold on." Grunting, I charged forward and elbowed the nearest tiara, Junpei slashing through the other. Yukari summoned Io and cast a Garu. "It doesn't have one, but the only spells that won't work are Bufu, Mudo and Hama."

"Thanks." I grunted. That meant everything we had was fair game. "EVERYONE! ALL OUT!"

We charged forward, but every time we got close the Priestess sent us all flying back.

"Forty seconds left."

Grunting, I put the Evoker to my head.

SMASH

"CADENZA!"

BLAM

As soon as I heard the music, I felt better. Everything else slowed down. Smiling, I pulled the Evoker to my head and switched Persona.

SMASH

I pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

"You've run out of Spiritual Power!" Mitsuru shouted. "You'll have to rely on your own strength for now! Thirty seconds left!"

Damn.

Junpei and Yukari both paled and hesitated. How can I blame them? Their secret weapon just ran out of bullets, and we're all gonna die because we can't kill this damned Shadow!

It laughed.

The damn Shadow was laughing at us.

It was laughing at me.

"SHUT UP!" the world blurred for a moment as I charged forward and plunged my fist in its face.

I was four feet in the air.

I grabbed the back of the Shadow's head and plunged my knee into its face. It hurt like hell and I lost my grip, but I heard a crack. I kicked it with the other leg as I fell down.

I landed flat on my shoulders and rolled while the Priestess screamed. It launched an attack that flew over my head, striking Junpei and Yukari right in the stomach, making them drop their weapons.

"One Strike? Come on! Get up! Twenty two seconds left!"

I got up and grabbed my shortsword and Junpei's katana. I span round and plunged the shortsword deep into the Priestess, the blade only stopping when the hand guard met flesh.

It screamed in pain as I vaulted onto the weapon and jumped up, gripping the Katana with both hands over my head.

"RRAAARGH!" I swung the blade down through its head. And through its body. I felt the Katana hit my sword, but I kept pushing until I hit the floor.

The Shadow screamed in agony as the white fell apart from the black. Both sides dissolved into the black mist and my sword fell to the ground. I fell back to the ground, panting.

Junpei got up "Did-Did we stop it..?" he fell back down as the train shook. "HEY!" I felt the panic. "Why're we still moving?"

Crap. Getting up I tried to ignore everyone's rising panic as I ran into the driver's compartment. I squeezed past the coffin to the controls and saw the train up ahead.

Ignoring the screaming in my ears, I grabbed the nearest lever and pulled it.

The train began to scream in pain, but it was too late. The two trains hit, and the world turned white.

"I told you already." That voice was familiar. "I'm always with you…"

When my vision cleared, my head was resting on the controls in a pool of blood.

"Ha mina moushibun nakuaru?"

"Uh, H-Hai, watashitachi ha yoi." Yukari was talking. "Ha, haa…watashi no hiza ha yure teiru…"

"Otoko…" I heard Junpei and decided to get my brain into gear. "I'm like, drenched in sweat…" Good, brain working.

"I'm so glad you're safe… I'm sorry I couldn't do more on my end…" Mitsuru seemed really sincere about that. "I don't detect any more shadows. You guys did a great job, so come on home."

"What about the other train?" I asked, forcing myself up. "Don't we need to stop that too? We don't know whether or not this train was in reverse or not."

"Yes we do." Mitsuru said. "That train just left the station in the direction it was headed. Everything is fine. Thanks to the mild collision, we can easily explain the damage done to the train."

"In that case…" I punched through the front window and climbed through, kicking the remainder of it back into the train. "Now the front window shattered from the collision." I stepped back inside the train and through the drivers room to see Yukari and Junpei.

Wow, they were covered in sweat and ichor. I didn't blame them. "Junpei, you go get Yukari's bow and grab any arrows you find." I told him, walking over to them. "Yukari," I turned my back to her and sat down, taking my jacket off. "I need your help."

Junpei looked annoyed at this but couldn't argue with my logic. "Got it…" he murmured, jogging back to the previous compartments.

As Yukari began healing me she asked "But, how did you know which one was the brake?"

I laughed. "I didn't."

"What!" Yukari smacked me lightly on the shoulder. "Don't scare me like that... Seriously, how did you know?"

I shook my head. "I am serious. I grabbed whatever one was closest."

Yukari sighed. "Well, either way, you saved my life again… thanks."

I shrugged. "It was a lucky guess really."

"WHAT!" Junpei had just returned with Yukari's bow and arrows. "Are you freakin' messing with me man? Ah, whatever..." This seemed to cheer Junpei up somehow. "Wanna grab a bite to eat? I'm damn hungry!"

I nodded and stood up, shrugging my jacket back on. Yukari rose and took her weapons back from Junpei.

I tossed him his Katana and I sheathed my own sword. I saw a couple of stones where the Priestess's corpse was and pocketed them. Might come in useful later. "Mitsuru's treat." I decided.

"Not that I object, but why am I the one paying?"

"You said that you were sorry about not being able to do more to help?" I asked. "Well now's your chance!"

We all had a good laugh about that. I helped Junpei and Yukari out through the broken front window since I was the only one with gloves on. As we walked down the track, I thought about what would have happened in that battle if I'd conserved my SP while going through the train instead of blasting my Personae left right and centre.

Priestess would have been a lot easier to kill, for one thing. Mental note, keep that in mind later on.

As we were approaching the dorm, we heard a clock strike the hour and life returned to the city. I noticed that we got a few funny looks from people, since we were covered in black liquid, were carrying weapons and looked like hell.

We upped the pace and entered the dorm, heading straight for the showers. Junpei got into the men's shower before I did, so it was my job to go grab everyone's Pyjamas and throw their clothes into the wash.

I considered complaining at first, but then considered that Yukari probably wouldn't have been happy about Junpei going into her room to get her clothes, so that made me feel a little better.

By the time I got out of the shower, everyone was eating Chinese. Sweetness. I vaulted the couch and grabbed a bowl of chow mein, then I noticed the late night news.

_\_ "Two trains miraculously avoided a collision today on the Iwatodai monorail tonight. Around midnight the driver pulled the emergency brake, minimizing the collision with the next train. It appears that a power surge made the train's speedometer malfunction and give an incorrect speed reading. Were it not for the heroic actions of the condutor, many lives may have been lost. We now go live-" _\_

"What?" Junpei whined in disbelief. "They're taking the credit for what we did and shifting it onto the guy driving!"

"Hey, at least we know what happened, right?" Yukari told him. "They don't know about the Dark Hour, so they don't know any better."

"Yeah, I know… it's just…" Junpei sighed. "It'd be nice to get a little recognition, you know?"

"We got Chinese food, what more do you want?" I joked.

Everyone laughed. I wasn't even concerned when time stopped again and I saw the Fool Arcana. It had been happening almost every day lately.

I was actually getting used to heart-warming moments being interrupted by these cards.

Well, at least it wasn't getting awkward. Time started again and we were all in great spirits.

I think I actually stole Junpei's chicken ball right from his plate just for the fun of it. He tackled me, shouting how nothing gets between a man and his food, but we were all just laughing.

Come to think of it, we were just trying to forget about how close we had actually come to dying. Still, it was much better than brooding about it.

The three of us just sat there, laughing and joking all night. Junpei and Yukari both fell asleep before morning came though, so I ended up carrying the two of them to their beds. I was just about to collapse on my own bed when my phone rang.

"Yello..?" I muttered.

_\_ "Hello? This is Elizabeth…" _\_

That was an eye opener. Didn't expect her calling so soon.

Wait, when did she get my number?

"I'm calling to inform you about a change in Tartarus…" she said. What kind of change I wonder? "I believe a path that was blocked is now open." Just after we defeated that huge Shadow? That's too much of a coincidence… "I thought you might like to know. I wish you a safe journey."

"Hey, wait!" but she'd already hung up. Well, I was too knackered to think about it.

Right now I needed Sleep. I fell into the bed. Sleep… Sleep is… Sleep is… Yawn… Sleep is my… my friend… nussle…