Before reading this, I would like to apologize to some people if I still made a mistake for this chapter. I did my best to correct some of my grammar and punctuation inside this chapter. Also the Hanged Man Persona users makes an appearance with his persona for the first time.
I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 3
The Upright Magician
"That is Tir Na Nog. Also Known as Paradise." A voice ringed in my head.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"You shall know, when the time comes..." The voice soon faded from my voice and I looked over at the shining tower, known as Tir Na Nog. For some reason, the tower looks very familiar to me. Like I've been there before. I soon got lost into my thoughts thinking about this for some time, when Rin broke me out of my thoughts.
"You alright?" I nodded my head. I then suggested that we should check it out tomorrow and just discuss about it back at the dorm. We all agreed and headed back into the clubroom and waited for the Light Hour to end.
After School
School's finally over and there was still time left before I had to return back to the dorm. I packed up my bags and at the same time, Rin approached me.
"Hey do you have time right now?" I thought for a bit if I had anything to do for school before smiling and nodding my head. "Cool, then lets go grab something eat. I know a great place where they serve great ramen. My treat." We headed off and when we got to the front gate, I saw Michiko talking to a group of girls and soon noticed me. giving a cold glare towards me, but behind that masked expression. She was embarrassed. I should probably apologize to her tomorrow.
We soon passed her and headed to the monorail, where we headed off to the Iwatodai Strip mall. Going to a restaurant known as Hagakure.
"Two Orders of Ramen please!" He ordered. we took a seat down and decided to talk for a bit while waiting for our Ramen.
"We never have got the chance to hang out like this ever since school started." I nodded my head.
"So anything happened while you were gone four years ago?" My expression then turned dark hearing that.
"Promise you won't tell anyone if I show you?" I said. He nodded his head. I then pulled up the front bang of my black hair, revealing my scar. Showing a shocked look on his face.
"Two years ago, I got into an accident that caused me to get head trauma. Ever since then, I can't remember much about my childhood other than being your friend." I noticed a faint tear in his face.
"...I'm sorry about what happened Kai." He said very depress.
"Don't worry about it, I survive. Isn't that what counts?" I reassured him. Our ramen then came and I began eating.
*Munch* *Slurp*. I ate happily with a red tint on my face showing that I was satisfied with the meal. I also noticed that Rin, wasn't eating his bowl, probably after what happen to me. Which gave me a fiendish idea, when I finished up my bowl. I snatch his bowl and started eating it.
"What the hell! Thats mine!" He glared at me. I quickly finished up his bowl in about a few minute and gave a satisfied look once more.
"That was good ramen..." I happily replied, with my face still having its red tints. While a pissed-off Rin was talking crap about me.
"You asshole! That was my ramen! If I knew you were still going to be hungry after one bowl, I would've have brought more money!" As he continued rambling. I took my wallet out of my pocket and gave 1000 Yen to the chef.
"Two more orders of ramen please!" I asked. He then took the money and we then waited for another bowl of their famous ramen. Rin looked at me with a blanked face. I soon began to start chuckling.
"What? You think I take your food without buying another one for ya?" I said, while continuing to laugh, soon he began to lightly chuckled and join in and after a few minutes two more bowls we're ready to be chow down.
*Munch* *Slurp*. I happily ate my third helping of ramen and this time Rin began to eat too. Man this ramen is so delicious. I can't get enough of it. I happily thought, while continuing to devour the noodles from its bowl. For some odd reason, even though we were just eating ramen. I felt that me and Rin felt closer than ever. Than when we were younger.
*Crash* The sound of glass shattering and a voice ringed in my head once more.
Thou art I...And I am thou
Thou hast established a new bond
Thou shalt be blessed when thou chooseth
to create a persona of the Death Arcana
"Rank 1 Death Social Link"
Hearing the voices once more, telling me that I have formed my second social link with my childhood friend. The Death Social link. Its sorta suits Rin a bit. I thought as me and Rin finished up eating. It was starting to getting late, so the both of us decided to head back to the dorm.
Evening
The Dorms
"Welcome back." Ms. Kirijo voice was heard upon entering the door. She stood in front of the door as if she was expecting us. Next to her was Ken. "Come to the fourth floor in the command room. Will discuss the light hour and that new tower that appeared." I nodded my head and all four of us headed to the command room and started the meeting. Before we started though, Ms. Kirijo picked up the suitcase on the table and placed it in front of Ken and opened it. Inside was a gun like ours and an armband that says S.E.E.S.
"I've asked the Kirijo group to make you a new evoker Amada. It should be weighted to your liking." Ken then picked up the gun which was called an evoker and put it in his holster and strapped on his waist and then seated down and started the meeting.
"Now then lets began." She announced. Ken was the first to speak.
"This new tower. It sorta similar to tartarus right?" Both me and Kai didn't know how to answer it.
"We can't say that its similar to tartarus yet, Amada. We haven't even seen the inside of it." Ms. Kirijo answered. I nodded my head in agreement.
"So what about other people? What happened to them during the Dark Hour?" I asked.
"Regular people will transmogrify into coffins during the dark hour. They don't know what's happening since their sleeping in their coffins. However people who are active during the dark hour will either be consumed by the shadows or have the 'Potential'." Ken answered. I tilted my head to what he meant by potential.
"What do you mean by Potential?" I asked.
"People with Potential are like us. They have the ability to summon their persona and fight against the shadows. We might need their help." Ken added. Rin began in the middle of the conversation.
"What about the old S.E.E.S members? Can't you ask them to help us?" He suggested. Ms. Kirijo then shook her head.
"I don't want the Dark or Light hour to be a burden to their daily lives. Amada joined only because he volunteered." Rin seemed disappointed about their answer and sat back down. "So does this mean that only the four of us will stop this?" Rin added. Once again, Ms. Kirijo shooked her head.
"Not necessarily. I said, I didn't want the old S.E.E.S members to get involved. Excluding Amada. Which is why we're going to look for people with the potential like us.
"I see..." I looked over to Rin and he nodded his head.
"Yeah, but what happens if they choose not to join?" He added.
"Its all up to them whether or not they want to join. We won't force them" Ms. Kirijo answered. I nodded my head and looked at the clock. It was almost midnight.
"The dark hour will be starting soon. As well, I would like everyone to go to Tartarus tonight. Ever since that battle with that last shadow. I noticed that my skills have gotten rusty. I would say the same to you Amada." Ken nodded his head. "Also since you two will be helping us. I want you two to get accustomed during the dark hour." We both nodded our heads.
"Alright lets head to the school before the dark hour starts." The four of us then left to the school.
Late Night
(Approx. 5 minutes before the Dark Hour starts)
We arrived at Gekkoukan High. Five minutes before the Dark Hour started, a strange feeling began surrounding the school as it got closer to midnight. who was carrying a suitcase along the way here. Open it up and inside it we're weapons. To be specific there was a short and a two-handed sword, pair of knives, a long spear that was in half and could be put back together, and a rapier. She then picked up the rapier and began swinging it around elegantly.
"The three of you. Please choose a weapon that fits your liking." Ken grabbed the two parts of the long spear and put them together and began twirling it around. Rin who seemed to be best with using both of his arm picked up the Pair of Knives and began swinging it around. As for me, I had the choice of the short sword and the two-handed sword. I tested the both of them out to see which one fit me the best. The short sword was pretty easy to use weapon and was fast and light, but it wouldn't seemed to do much damage, like a two-handed sword. Which was heavy and powerful, but its pretty slow to use. Choosing between them was a hard choice since both swords had their ups and downs. It took me about 3 minutes to finally decide to use the short sword. I decided the next time we visited Tartarus or Tir Na Nog. I'd use it, and in about a few seconds the dark hour would start.
5...
4...
3...
2...
1...
0...
Dark Hour
The Dark Hour had began and what happen next was a shock to both me and Rin. A earthquake of some sort began and the school began to change and morph into a twisted-looking tower up all the way to the top. If you look at it from afar it looks like its reaching the moon. I just remained speechless while Rin swallowed his saliva. As we approached and entered the creepy tower. The inside of it looked a bit different from the outside however. It had stairs going up to a strange clock, next to it was a green transporter and a clock between it. As well as the marble design all around the room from the columns, the floor, even the stairs. It seemed to look like it was based on the building designs of Greek.
"So this is tartarus.." Rin replied.
"It seems like forever. Since I've been here." Ken said.
"I'd never thought. I returned to this very spot now." Ms. Kirijo replied, with a sad expression. For me, I looked around and tilted my head. What a bizarre looking place... I thought.
"Since we can't risk all of us getting lost. I'll be providing backup from here." She then looked over to me and then Ken.
"Akira I would like you to be in charge." I nodded my head, and both Rin and Ken agreed. Right before we headed to the entrance to the labyrinth I noticed the velvet door next to the clock.
"Hold on, I need to do something..." I approached the velvet door, and took out the key from my pocket and unlocked the door. Entering the Velvet room. A flash of light blurred my vision for just a few second before I appeared in front of the bar table, where I was seated right in front of him was Minato. Igor was nowhere to be seen.
"Ah, welcome back. Igor's currently busy somewhere else. Also I see you made the fool and death social link. Well done." I nodded my head. He gave a slight smile and opened his books. Cards then began to float in the air. Spinning around on the open book.
"As you know you possessed the numbered zero. The Fool, meaning infinite possibilities and beginnings, your journey has only just begun. " Cards sooned to start to shattered into glass one by one until only one cards was left floating. "It is both me and Igor job to fuse persona to create even more powerful ones. Speaking of it..." The card began to float near me.
"A gift from me to you. He is the Father of songs and the one who traveled to the underworld to retrieve his wife, Eurydice. He is Orpheus, master of string. You'll need him in the near future" The card then shattered and a figured appeared before me. A metallic man with flowing silver hair and red eyes, that had a platinum body with an embedded speaker on his stomach and a silver lyre on his back, appeared in front of me and spoke.
Thou art I...and I am thou
From the sea of thy souls I cometh
I am Orpheus, Master of Strings
I shall walk thy path with you.
Orpheus then slowly disappeared and entered into the sea of souls. I then felt something born into me. Like a second facade. I looked over to Minato and he smiled.
"I believe that is all the time we have. The next time we meet you will come here by your own choice." I smiled and left to the door behind me and reappeared back inside Tartarus.
"Orpheus..." The name of the Father of Songs still echoed in my head.
"Hey Kai are you okay?" Rin called my name. I turned around and saw him approaching me.
"Yeah I'm fine..." He looked at me with concern.
"You sure? You were spacing out for a minute and was just staring at the wall." I nodded my head.
"Yeah I'm just tired that's all." He decided to just nodded in agreement and we headed off into the labyrinth.
Inside Tartarus
"Can you hear me?" Ms. Kirijo voice appeared. We were on the 2nd floor of Tartarus and its already started to creep me out.
"Yeah, we hear you loud and clear." Ken replied.
"Since Akira and Hitoshi both lack experience in Tartarus. I would like the both of them to fight the shadows on this floor. Amada I would like you to watch over them and help them when they're in serious danger." Ken then nodded his head and we began to hunt for some shadow on this floor. We then encountered three cowardly maya and two muttering tiaras.
"Ms. Kirijo! Please scan the enemies for their weakness!" I commanded.
"Very well. Just give me time to scan the enemies weakness." I nodded my head and began to strike the shadow with my short sword. Spraying black goo on the sword. Rin began slashing them with the short pair of knives at a close range with lightning fast coordination, while Ken stabbed them with his spear at a far range.
"I found it! The Maya's are weak against Agi, Zio, and Garu. The Tiara's are weak against Bufu and Garu. Its strong against Agi skills though.
"Alright! Thanks!" Both me and Rin then took out our evoker and placed it on our temple. Pulling the trigger at the same time and summoning our Personas.
"Garu!"
"Zio"
Partholón was the first to attack shooting an arrow at one of the Maya and exploding into a small hurricane which turned into a black mist. While Cichol created electricity from his scythe and pointed his scythe at another Maya. Instantly incinerating it with a small lightning bolt and turning into a black mist. I shot my temple once more and cast another Garu at both of the Tiara's, dealing damage and knocking them out. Rin summoned Cichol again and finished off the last Maya with another small lightning bolt. Burning it into a crisp.
"Here's our chance. For an all-out attack!" Rin announced. I nodded my head and we rushed at the enemy with all we got. I began striking my sword at them. Rin continuously attacking them with his knives, and Ken stabbing and slashing them with his Long spear. The two tiara's we're not nothing more than black mist after.
We continued on slaying the rest of the shadow's of the floor with me and Rin doing most of the work and Ken just watching from the sidelines. I kept summoning Partholón and casting Garu at the enemy which most of them were weak against. The same thing with Rin. He summoned Cichol and cast multiple Zio's at the enemies. This continued on until Ms. Kirijo couldn't sense the presence of the shadow in the floor anymore.
"Good work you three. How about you come back for now? There's an access point that will bring you back to the first floor." I nodded my head and I ordered everyone to split to search for the access point.
"I found the access point! What do you want me to?" Ken asked.
"Lets head back to the first floor." I answered. The three of us then regrouped and transported back down to the bottom.
"So how does it feel?" She asked.
"I feel tired..." I said.
"Me too." Rin added.
"Thats the side effects of the Dark Hour. You'll develop more stress than you would normally, but don't worry you'll get used to it." She explained. " The Dark's hour about to end. Lets head back to the dorm. Will explore the tower in the light hour on a Sunday. So everyone will get their energy back" She added. We all agreed and decided to head back to the dorm and get some rest for tomorrow.
Friday
April 12, 2013
Morning
Exploring Tartarus last night made me even sleepier than before. Making it even harder for me to even get off my bed, resulting in me rolling off my bed and falling down onto the ground. I sloppily stood up and got dressed up for school. Not even bothering to tighten my bow ribbon and buttoned my school blazer like always. I headed downstairs and grabbed myself a quick breakfast of cereal with both Ken and Rin sitting down eating breakfast.
"Good morning senpai!" Ken greeted me. I simply waved at him and made myself a bowl of cereal.
"So how did you sleep?" Rin asked me. I looked over at him with a dark face.
"I feel like crap..." I said roughly. Before I started eating my bowl of kellogg's.
"Well someone's acting Grumpy." Ms. Kirijo appeared before us and I just waved my hand at her, before resuming to eat. "Also I want to talk about the report early this morning. It seems the apathy syndrome has returned and not only aren't they doing anything. But their preaching." She added.
"Preaching what?" Ken asked.
"The report says that their preaching about something known as Judgement days." Oh god, this is some reference from that Devil Survivor 2 game, that was published by Atlus last year. To think I ever heard someone say that.
"Judgement day? What do they mean?" Rin asked as well.
"I'm not quite sure, but its got to do something with the Light hour appearing out of nowhere." She added. I soon finished up my bowl of cereal and put it in the sink before grabbing my bag and headed outside.
"Kai where are you going?" Rin asked.
"School...I don't want to be late." I said before heading to the monorail and both Ken and Rin caught up to me and headed off to the school.
Lunchtime
The first few classes flew passed by and before you know it. Its already the Lunch break. I should probably apologize to Michiko about what happen yesterday. I looked over to her seat and saw her ignoring me. As she continued giving me cold glares.
"Um..." I paused. I then caught her attention and she looked angry.
"What do you want?!" She said calmly. However she's actually being rude behind that expression of hers. I could tell.
"About yesterday...I like to apologize about what happened."I bowed down towards her and she looked a bit surprised. The whole class noticed that and she seemed embarrassed with everyone staring at us. She then grabbed my hand and tugged me out of the classroom.
"Come with me." She then dragged me all the way outside towards the courtyard, before letting me go.
"Explain." She said demandly. I looked at her with honest eyes and gave her my answer.
"Like I said, I wanted to apologize about what happened yesterday. When I accidently fell on top of you." Her expression began to change and she seemed to calm down a bit. But still shown a bit of a cold expression.
"Its fine. You didn't do it on purpose, besides I wasn't looking where I was going anyway..." She had a guilt expression. Somehow she seemed to be guilty on what happened yesterday. So I decided to reassure her.
"Its fine. Besides I wasn't looking where I was going too." I took out my hand.
"My name is Akira Kai. Just call me Kai." She had a worried look on her face and then shaken my hand.
"Kawazoe Michiko. I'm sure you already know that, considering of all the rumors thats been spreading around the school." I tilted my head.
"What rumors?" I asked.
"The rumor about me and you going out." I tilted my head.
"Going out where?" I asked. She looked at me confused.
"Um, let me say that again. The Rumor is that you and me are dating." I tilted my head once again.
"What's dating?" I asked her. This time she seemed to be shocked.
"Wait are you saying that you don't know any of those stuff?!" I nodded my head and she looked a bit shocked. Yet glad too. "You're pretty dense. You know that?" I shrugged my shoulder and she looked at me with a normal expression.
"Well don't worry about it. Also I'm sorry that I ran into you yesterday." She said. before walking away back to the classroom. I tilted my head and was a bit confused on what was going on. But I didn't bother about it like always and decided to head to the clubroom for the rest of the lunch period. On my way there, I noticed Daiki standing in the hallway listening to music. So I decided to go and say hi.
"Hello..." I said. He then just waved at me and continued listening to his music. I was about to leave him, when noon had struck. The Light Hour had started. Everything began to be covered with blue, along with the power going out and the water starting to glow. I looked over to Daiki and saw that he wasn't transmogrified into a coffin. Don't tell me Daiki has the potential?
"Kai there you are!" Rin waved at me while running up to me. "We got trouble! Mitsuru senses a huge threat approaching the school." He then noticed Daiki and was shock.
"Huh?! Daiki what are you doing here...wait, don't tell me Daiki's got the Potential?!" I shrugged.
"We don't know that. Remember what Ken told us yesterday." I answered. He nodded his head.
"What's going on?..." Daiki finally said something, removing his headphones from his ears and wanted answer.
"We don't have time to explain. But can you please follow us?" Daiki nodded his head and we headed to the S.E.E.S clubroom where we saw Ken and Ms. Kirijo grabbing their gear from the closet inside the room.
"Akira, there you are!" She walked up to me and then noticed Daiki in an instant.
"Akira, who is that?! Don't tell me he is the potential." I shrugged.
"This Daikurou Itou. As for the Potential, I'm not quite so sure." I responded. Ms. Kirijo nodded and then took out another evoker from the closet and gave it to him.
"For you Ito." He looked at it cautiously, before hesitantly taking the evoker and putting it on the holster thats strapped on his waist like the rest of the other male members.
"Ms. Kirijo where is the threat coming from?..." I asked.
"Its outside at the school gate it seemed to stop to look for something...or someone." She said. I then grabbed the two-handed sword and looked around for a weapon for Daiki and found a crossbow and tossed it to him."
"Use it to defend yourself." I said.
"What about the gun?" He asked.
"You'll find out." I said before the all of us left to the school gate and what caught out suprised was a silver colored figure, that had a silver like robe that was covering him along with holding a golden chalice and had an average muscular build. Wearing a hood on his head and had a mask that says the roman number one on it. I then asked Ms. Kirijo to scanned it and when she finished up she was shocked.
"Its arcana is the...Upright Magician?!" She replied. Ken was a bit a shocked too. But that didn't seemed to worry Rin, instead he took out his evoker and placed on his temple. Which gave Daiki an expressionless look.
"Wait Stop!" He shouted. But Rin already pulled the trigger and the sound of glass began to shattered. His Persona Cichol, the King of the Formers appeared and was ready to obey his command.
"Zio!" He shouted and Cichol who started charging up electricity before striking it will a small lightning. However, it didn't deal any damage to him instead he seemed to get even stronger.
"Crap seems like Electric attacks won't work." Ms. Kirijo then began to tell us more about the Magician we were facing.
"You two listen! The enemy is weak against Agi skills! Any other Magic attacks it will only drain and make it stronger." I nodded my head and placed my evoker on my temple and summoned Partholón.
"Cleave!" Partholón appeared and took out his gladius and slashed the Magician on the chest dealing moderate damage at him. The Magician was next and it began to charged up electricity into its chalice and hurled a Zio at me, which was my personas weakness. I braced myself and endure the impact of the attack that pushed down on the ground. Shocking me at the same time. It attack once more and it charge up a Bufu in its chalice and hurled it at Rin who's persona was weak against Bufu skill. Impacting and sending him onto his legs too. It began to head towards Daiki and the others.
"Look out everyone!" Both Ken and Ms. Kirijo braced themselves while Daiki just stood there frozen and soon reacted by taking out his evoker from his holster and placing it on his temple. A blue aura began surrounding and he then pulled the trigger.
"Persona!" He shouted. A witch-doctor like figure appeared holding a flask that had fire in it and wears a mask on his face. His top was bare and he wore a skirt on the bottom with sandals along that we're celtic tattoo on his chest. Also having a waist-load with other medical flasks.
Thou art I...I am Thou
I am Dian Cecht, Healer of Tuatha De Danann
"Dian Cecht! Agi!" The Healer began to manipulate the fire from the flask and it came popping out of the bottle and was being juggled in the witch-doctors hand before throwing it at the Magician dealing heavy damage at it and knocking it out.
"Dia!" He shouted. His persona then waved his arm around at us and a green light began to surround both me and Rin. The pain was gone, and I standed up with Rin and grabbed my two-handed sword and was ready to fight again.
"Alright, everyone let's do this!" I rushed at the Upright Magician close at him and then shot myself in the temple. Summoning Partholón once again, using another cleave at the Magician, weakening it a bit more.
Rin shot himself in the temple right after I summoned my persona and summoned Cichol and used Cleave as well. Swinging its massive scythe at the shadow splashing silver goo on the ground. It began screaming in pain and soon fell down once more.
"Here's our chance for an all-out attack!" I nodded my head and Me, Rin, Ken, and Daiki attacked with everything with got before it got back up. It was all scratched and screaming in agony. Ken then shot his temple this time, revealing his persona to us for the first time.
"Kala-nemi!" He shouted. A red mechanical robot with huge spinning shoulder and small arms finished it off with one final attack. Striking down on the ground. Killing the Magician and turning into a white mist instead of a black mist.
"We did it!" Ken cheered. Everybody began cheering with glee that we defeated the shadow even Daiki smiled a bit.
"Amazing cooperation. You four, Tres Bien!" Ms. Kirijo said.
"I can't believe it with did it. We beated it!" I smiled and nodded when I noticed a blue sphere of some sort appeared in front of me, after killing the Magician shadow. I slowly approached it and touched it out of curiosity. It then just got sucked into me suddenly and familiar memories started flashing into my head, making me go unciousious. I felt someone caught me before I slowly lost my consciousness.
"Kai!, Kai!. Wake up!"
"Akira! Can you hear us?!"
"Senpai!"
"Please wake up!..."
I heard the voices of everyone before I fell into a deep sleep inside my head.
And there's Chapter 3. With Daiki's Persona making an appearance to the team. Next chapter will understand more about why Kai falls unconscious from touching that strange sphere. Also Dian Cecht is a demon from the Shin Megami Tensei series however it only makes its appearance in Devil Children. So it doesn't have an actual look other than its cartoonish design. So I decided to make his appearance looked like a Witch Doctor.
Anyway thats it for this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it :)
(I may be adding this on chapters sometimes) Fun Facts: Dian Cecht in Irish mythology is the God of Healing and Medicine and was the official doctor of the Tuatha De Danann.