SO! An explanation is in order.
Remember that I started a 'mini' mission, back in December 2010? Where I served as a missionary but not my official mission, which started in April 2011 and would end April 2013? I posted FES chap 2 during the gap between those.
So, turns out those four months counted towards my two years, so my mission was over, whether I liked it or not.
So, I'm back.
Why the slow updates? I've been busy getting my life back on track. Friends to catch up on, jobs to seek out, houses to clean, mangas to read, etc.
But hey, here I am, ready to deliver the epic I have been preparing for the last two years, right?
Wrong.
At the start of my mission, I tried to write. After a few months of producing poop, I figured out I had to make a decision.
Keep planning stories, or drop the whole thing altogether and put all my focus into spreading the word.
So I threw away my notebooks and wouldn't even think about Persona. At all. Zilch.
It worked, I focused pretty well.
Of course, now I'm here, no notes other than my previous ideas which, to be honest, weren't that great in retrospect.
You probably would have enjoyed it, actually. Minatos and pals galavanting around the world fighting and devouring demons respective of arcana until a cumulative inter-world war with time travel involved, but meh. Weak.
So, let's see what I can throw together at the drop of a hat!
Normally, such a statement would be worrisome, but my Beta just pointed out that Ive already proven myself as more than capable of doing just that.
Now, I've officially ended Rebuild, check the AN at the bottom of chap 37 to find out why.
Open two internet tabs, one with chap 37 of Rebuild, and one with chap 37 of Fairly English Story.
Skip both down to the point where the mask starts growing onto Minatos' face.
Read the two accounts. Not the differences between the narration of the same event from the same pair of eyes from two different narrators.
I'll let you draw your own conclusion, but it's best you check that before reading on this chapter. It'll make events here make some sense.
And to pre-emptively answer your questions. Persona 4 Arena is not FEStory canon. So no Labrys. Or other such things.
=}+{=
I never wanted freedom. The loyal slave learns to love the lash.
Not many people really want freedom, although they always protest otherwise.
Freedom always comes, of necessity, with the freedom to take the consequences.
Indeed, it is the freedom upon which all the other are based.
I stepped through the TV screen with Yosuke, following Seta into the lounge and almost tripping over a sleeping Koromaru,
Quick scan tells me that Shinji's still up, sitting in his office, Marina and Kenjamin asleep in their rooms.
Naoki's cleaning up downstairs, talking to Mitsuru while Fuuka guided more people here.
Knock on the door, And they sneak Chie and Yukiko in.
Aigis is in the bathroom, treating herself. Teddie's trying not to make himself noticed.
Kenji and Rio are on their way, And Kazushi's stuck in traffic with Elizabeth.
No sign of Yukari- she's still at the hospital. Of course she is, the place is jam packed.
Junpei is miles away, he won't be coming any time soon. Same goes for Chidori, and Rise. Inaba group is still way over there.
Least I got that skill still going for me.
Which reminds me.
"Seta." I said, him turning towards me. "Nanako was awake for last night, and saw Kanji and Funky fight a load of Shadows with Namatame. She's safe." I pointed out before he raised his voice. "I need you to get a message to your uncle at a sensible hour before he leaves for work and get him to approach her about the subject Today." I emphasised. "Tell him to get her to open up to him, and he needs to believe what she's gonna tell him otherwise it might just mess her up because she is way too scared to start that conversation."
He looked at me, then glared.
"I am not getting Nanako involved in this." I told him. "Someone else has and she needs to be kept out of this mess."
He nodded, and Yosuke calmed down.
"Right." I said, stepping out of the room and into the corridor. "I'm not in the mood to talk to anyone human right now, so I need a couple of hours to sort my head out otherwise things will go wrong very quickly. Yosuke, you and Mitsuru are to explain what you guys know already to everyone else."
"What?" he snapped. "I know less about this mess than you do!"
"And I'm not going to talk to anyone until everyone gets here." I pointed out. "In fact, I'll probably be eating, sleeping, pooping or doing other fleshy body functions until I figure out what's going on myself... look out the window guys."
They both turned around to look outside.
It was snowing.
In april.
Bear in mind, this place barely rains, it's so warm.
"Hey, get over here." Shinji shouted from the corridor, leaning through a doorway on his chair. "I need you to look at something."
Alright, everyone's a little calmer about this whole mess than I was expecting.
I walked over, and Shinji had a word processor document open.
[ Wednesday, April 16, 2014. ]
[ MEMO. ]
Quick glances of the document was.. interesting. Talked about Bad Wolf, summary of the battle against Leliel last night, although it said Erebus on the document. Talks about me being Minato's shadow. Talked about the Homo-daemonic symbiotic-mitosis inside the teeth. Talked about what we knew about Veritas de Sköll.
Talked about the Dark Hour. Talked about Tartarus. Talked about the midnight channel, the TV world. Talked about how Akihiko was killed, yet seems to be back and is now refereeing, and Seta's ability to morph into his personae. Talked about Nyx and Ameno Sagiri. Talked about Izanami and the deep dive- wait, what?
Focused on that more. March 31st, 2010. The S.E.E.S. dorm was trapped in a time loop. Knew about that. A being known as Metis attacked dorm. Knew about that. Shinji killed her.
Did not see that coming.
Why the hell was David in that time loop?
He took them on a journey through everyone's subconscious?
That's how they obtained multiple personae?
David was brought by Minato to help everyone find truth? I never did that.
Minato kept a record of his dealings with everyone? In reformed Norse?
He gave his life to seal Erebus from getting Nyx, and will stay there until humanity no longer desires its destruction.
...
...
"Am I missing something?" Shinji asked me as I wiped my hair.
"I put you in a time loop to go through each other's memories to rebuild the team and come to terms with Minato's death, leading in the explanation about Erebus..." I whispered. "What the hell was David doing there..?"
"Minato's friend from England?" Shinji asked me. "You're his Shadow, right? Don't you know everything he does?"
"Apparently he can hide things from his subconscious..." I muttered. "How the hell does someone do that- he's Minato. Of course he can do that."
Shinji sighed as Yosuke considered voicing his confusion. "Anything you want to add?" Shinji asked me, turning back to the document.
"For now?" I asked. "Reclassify the demon we fought as Leliel, posing as Erebus. Erebus came afterwards, and was sent back when I summoned Jacob."
"Right." Shinji grunted, going over and typing it up. "Everyone's either asleep or downstairs." he explained. "We've agreed not to start the discussion until these memos are distributed, so we're all on the same page. Junpei won't be able to make it, and Kujikawa's on the other side of Japan. Everyone else will be here for a sensible hour. Go socialise."
I nodded. I forgot just how... competent S.E.E.S. were, even without me and Minato. We were so much of a one-man show, we- or at least I- kept forgetting just how much Mitsuru and Shinjiro actually ran everything.
I was just there to kill things and get the new info from my various sources. Mitsuru and Shinji were the brains of the operation.
"You're the boss." I told him, turning around to Yosuke. "Chie just arrived. She looks okay."
Yosuke nodded, then turned to Seta. "Coming?" he asked.
"I'll stay here with Shinjiro-san." Seta replied, taking the second seat at the desk. "Call me if you need anything."
"Right." Yosuke nodded, heading off at a run before falling backward with a "GLURK!"
Right, we're still chained to each other. "I think we only get a few feet of distance between each other." I pointed out, then set out to follow him."
I did a quick inventory check over what was going on as we headed down the stairs. Marina has a lot of high-levelled Personae, but she doesn't have the same amount of sheer spiritual power to use it for extended periods of time like the others. Kenjamin, well, he used a hell of a lot of power against Priestess. He deserves rest.
And Aigis is trying to repair both a biological body and a mechanical body. Not an easy task. I'd help, except my Hollow Arcana skills are kind of limited-
You know what? I'm sick of this Hollow Arcana business. It is SUCH a huge misnomer.
I'm redubbing it Alter Angel, effective immediately. That's what I'm calling it, but I can guarantee that everyone will still continue calling it Hollow Arcana, and I'll probably backslide as well, but I have a point to prove.
Alter Angel. The power to overwrite reality by the power of one's insanity.
Job done.
Now to face the masses.
Had to sprint to keep up with Yosuke's charge for Chie. Everyone's happy they're back together.
"'Sup Minatos." Naoki waved.
"Hey Hito-Shura." I replied back. "Can you run to the kitchen and grab something for me? Apparently I need to eat now."
That raised an eyebrow, but he got to his feet as I sat down at a nearby table.
"Alright, last thing I remember was suddenly sitting in a bar with Yosuke then passing out." I announced to anyone who cared. "Next thing I'm in Gekkoukan. What'd I miss?"
"Everyone returned to the location they were when Veritas De Sköll began." Mitsuru explained, moving over to my table and standing next to Yukiko and Chie. "Within the next fifteen seconds, all the damage from the night's battle manifested itself on the city, almost as if the entire ordeal had been a dream, only for fraudsters to replicate the damage and fatalities to convince us it was real."
"There's something else..." Yukiko added, reaching into her bag and withdrawing some red cloth from within- oh.
Chie withdrew a green, bloodstained dress from her bag. "This was in my hospital room." She explained. "Yukari found one in her locker too."
"Shinjiro and Naoki-san both found tuxedos in their possession after the battle, despite wearing their normal clothing." Mitsuru continued. "I myself found no such objects in my possession, as I did not take part in the battle against Fortune. It's almost as if the Shadow wants us to know it existed."
"Demon." I corrected. "That was a demon, not a Shadow. Big difference."
"Demons have class." Naoki smirked as he passed me a bowl of left-over noodles. "Shadows are just left-over bits of psyche."
"Thanks." I muttered, grabbing the chopsticks and getting my fingers right. Hm, I'm pretty sure I knew how to do this once.
"Oh, uh, hey." Chie announced awkwardly. "Uh, so, Yukari kinda explained it, and Yukiko did again on the way here, but... what are you exactly?"
Aaand that made a potentially good meal awkward.
Well, fair question deserves a fair answer.
"Alright, I'll tell you, but first I want you to imagine an entity, and this will explain just what I am Chie." I said, sighing. "I want you to imagine a being with a similar kind of ability to Seta Souji. Can you do that?" I asked her.
"Uh, sure?" Chie asked, thinking that she knew where I was going with that.
"Now imagine that this being, instead of feeling unloved by his parents, had them both killed in front of him when he was seven years old, only for him seconds later to go against a being of darkness so powerful that Izanami-no-ookami would cower before it." I told her, glaring right into her eyes. "This seven year old boy, with no knowledge of his abilities, his dead parents in a car behind him, now absorbs this entity and traps it in his own psyche for the next ten years. This gives him horrific nightmares and a constant, internal struggle not to be annihilated from within and kill every living creature on the planet. He's seven years old, fresh orphan, similar power to Seta Souji. Are you with me so far?"
"Y-yes?"
"Good." I told her. "Now imagine that his little sister, his only anchor to sanity, dies the night he lets grandfather look after her while he goes off with grandmother. On top of this, due to trauma caused by absorbing Death incarnate, he can no longer exhibit any emotion he genuinely feels other than a face of absolute boredom. Compiled with the constant whisperings of Death in the back of his mind, this boy begins to doubt his own humanity, and attempts suicide, before getting shipped off to another country. The boy is now eight. Are you with me so far?"
Only a nod this time.
"Excellent. Every day, at a point between three and four in the afternoon, the world stops for one hour, and everyone around him transforms into a coffin." I told her. "The sky turns red and the sun burns black. Water turns into blood, and the walls bleed. Electricity stops, nothing moves for the space of an hour except for him, and at the end of this hour everything goes back to normal and people ask him why he's crying in a corner clutching a blanket. The boy has yet to discover the abilities of Persona or even enter middle school. With me so far?"
Silence, then a murmur or agreement.
"Despite the constant bullying for his dazed look, foreign nationality, and his mental insecurities, this boy manages to make a few friends. One of these friends begins to experience this world with him. They have fun, exploring this demented world, but everything turns sour after they steal a guitar and several kilograms of cocaine from the back of a car."
Gulps.
"Within a few months, these boys, barely beginning puberty, are in an industrial estate with guns to their heads. The boy, the entity you are imagining, his friend who he shared this world with, and a few other friends, in the hands of drug dealers who intend to make a point about what happens when kids steal from them. One friend takes a bullet through his skull and is dumped in the river. The boy isn't fourteen yet."
"The entity you are picturing manages to scramble away with a bullet hole in one of his kneecaps after caving a dealer's skull in with a brick." I continued, painting a vivid image into their craniums. "Two of them track the entity down, drag him back to the other boys, only one of which is still alive, severely injured. One dealer puts a gun to the entities head and pulls the trigger."
Time for a mouthful of noodles. Chew. Swallow.
"A red beast charges from behind the boy and tears each of the drug dealers into pieces." I told them. "The police are baffled. This must have been the work of a lion, or a bear, or some other creature that you just didn't find in that area, but even then the carnage was just too severe. The only survivors was this entity I am describing to you and his friend called David. You'll read about him in the memo."
"After recovering in hospital, these two boys go to an advanced musical academy in Germany where they both received scholarships for their outstanding musical talents." I told everyone. "In this place, they became involved in games involving the psyche and the occult, including one by the name of Deep Dive, where one enters the very depths of one's subconscious and can meddle, changing their very selves as they wish."
"During their first summer back, however, these boys get involved in gang violence because of actions gang members threatened to take towards the Entity's close cousin." I continued explaining. "The violence escalated. It grew to the point where the entity took the life of many gang members. The preferred tactic was to wait until this time where everyone became coffins, then drag the target out of their coffin, murdering them during their disorientation before fleeing the scene before time returned. These dozens of murders were classed by the police as gang violence, with the entity's involvement never being suspected by the police or by the enemy gang. Bear in mind," I pointed out, "That a hell of a lot of this was suppressed by him and he did not like to talk about it. Most of this did not even make it to the very in-depth file the Kirijo organisation had on this entity."
Quick glances at Mitsuru, and she nodded, everyone now paying close attention to my metaphor.
"This state of affairs did not continue, however, as the boys were expelled from the school in Germany for violence against certain students who the entity believed were irredeemable in their actions." I continued. "The violence with the gangs escalated until the gangs, through espionage and blackmail amongst both their own members and the entities close associates, one of their members entered this time where the world froze over to target the entity."
"The entity killed the intended assassin with his own blade." I told everyone. "The assassin was a close friend of the entity, as well as the brother of the entity's current girlfriend. Unable to call an ambulance in this time where everyone was in their coffins, the entity carried his assassin's corpse to his family as he bled out. The boy is not yet sixteen. Are you all with me so far?"
Silence.
Then nods.
"Alright then." I said. "After being released from a juvenile correctional facility, where he served six months for manslaughter, this entity's life was filled with blood baths where people constantly sought his life. After one particular battle in February, when the entity spent much of a frozen hour dragging the coffins of his enemies from a river of blood, the entity decided to accept the invitation to attend a school in Japan in order to escape the violent life he was trapped in where he was the king and everyone sought his life. The boy is now seventeen."
Mitsuru and Fuuka both looked down, Chie, Yosuke and Yukiko dumbstruck in the shock. "Within a week of coming to Japan to escape a life of darkness and violence, the entity awakened to the power of Persona, and for the next year of his life would spend most of his nights fighting denizens of darkness, fighting for his life and for the life of others in bloodier battles than he has ever faced before. As he progressed into this dark path, as his powers of Persona increased, the cracks of his fragile psyche, buried under a decade of numb violence and successes, this boy began to break under the pressure."
"Slowly but surely, his sanity and self-control waned." I explained. "Were it not for the constant vigilance of his allies around him, he would have quickly collapsed into an engine of destruction. However, by keeping reality in check, by calling him out on his actions, and by simply caring for him, the entity held itself together until returning home for Christmas, where the pains and damage from the past decade returned in full force, climaxing into an utterly shattered psyche of a wrathful emperor, who tore down any attempt to dethrone him from his throne. For one month, the boy was an unrequited king, his power unmatched, his vengeance unfettered, until not even the goddess of death could kill him."
I looked into everyone's eye. "In a momentary lapse of madness, the entity decided that there was only one way to stop himself. Splitting his psyche, he took all that was good, all that was noble, all that he was proud to declare was him and used sealed himself to the door to the night, locking himself in a constant battle against the despair of humanity made manifest to hold back the night, to keep mankind alive for one more day, leaving his darkness, his pain, his fury on the earth, alone to carry out the actions that he could or would not do himself while he held onto what was left of his humanity. This entity is not yet eighteen years old."
"Imagine what you, with your relatively peaceful lives, had to go through when you faced yourselves in the hollow forest." I told the three members of the Inaba scoobies as my eyes turned yellow and a black mist began to gather around me. "Now imagine the entity I just described."
I am His Shadow.
I am that entities darkness.
I am what that boy could not accept about himself.
Imagine how messed up I am?
The mist dissipated and my eyes returned to a more... human colour, and I returned to my noodles.
"And on top of that, I am psychically linked with every single Shadow on the planet, manifest or subconscious, just as my Other is linked with every single human soul. Hope that answered your question Chie." I told her, shovelling another mouthful in. "Hey, could someone grab me a glass of water? Thanks."
People decided to not ask personal questions about me after that, which kinda killed the mood.
So, I took a nap for a few hours.
It's... kinda interesting.
Having time to take a nap.
It's not like I can go anywhere.
Waking up, everyone was here.
Well, I say everyone.
I was there. Yosuke was nearby, thanks to magic soul chain.
Chie, Yukiko, Mitsuru, Naoki and Fuuka was here.
So was Shinji, Ken, Marina, Seta and Koromaru.
Aigis is here, Kenji, Rio, Kazushi and Elizabeth,
So's Yukari, and Natalie, and Teddie.
A nice round twenty.
And hey, everyone's read the memo.
That makes life easier.
I swung my legs around and moved to the table Yosuke was sat on, near Chie and Yukiko. Everyone was looking at me expectantly.
Hm...
"So..." Yukari started, trying to break the awkward silence. "Hey."
"Hey." I raised my hand back. "Need to have a word with you afterwards, but it can wait for now."
"Oh, okay..." Yukari replied half-heartedly. Awkward.
"Alright, let's get this over with." Shinji announced, decided to take the lead since I clearly wasn't. "We all fought that thing last night, and a lot of people died. No one knows we're involved, but it's clear that if we hadn't got involved, a lot more people would have died."
"While the initial form was admittedly less destructive than subsequent transformations, the fact that the enemy would have attacked civilians if allowed to enter normal time is clear." Mitsuru explained to everyone. "Despite the heavy civilian casualties, it was a successful operation."
"I'd disagree." Seta interrupted, glancing at the memo. "We've just been thrown into the middle of some freak's vendetta against this guy-" He pointed at me. "And nearly four hundred people died because of it. Game's still on so more people are gonna die with this carries on. That does not sound like a success to me."
I nodded. "This is my mess, and I wish you weren't involved." I told everyone. "If you weren't involved, then I wouldn't have my power jammed up and I could just go to the warp, track down this woman and make a public example of her to anyone else who dared oppose me before devouring her and taking her power. As it happens, I need your help to stop this from happening again."
"To do what?" Seta snapped at me. "Go arcana hopping, fighting whatever demons she decides to throw at humanity, kill it before it destroys the entire city, and hope the death count doesn't overtake the birth rate?"
Awkward silence.
Everyone's deliberately not getting involved in this one.
"You don't exactly realise how much crap we are in, do you?" I asked him.
He glared at me.
"The being that has kept the entire demonic race in fear against messing with humanity has just been disabled." I pointed out. "Hito-Shura, what is the human equivalent to how the demons view the Shadow of the Universe?"
Naoki thought about it.
"Put Goku into Neon Genesis Evangelion." He decided. "Imagine one man, super saiyan, capable of destroying the planet with a shrug, a mortal so powerful that he could take the strongest angel in one hand and crush its skull like butter. Imagine how everyone, human and angel, would feel about something that powerful being in a show where everyone is completely outclassed. There is no measuring stick to compare the sheer level of power."
He pointed to me. "Boom. That's how they see this guy. That's why everything's been so peaceful for the last four years. Most threatening thing that happened was one goddess who didn't quite get the memo and that was resolved with only a handful of fatalities on both sides, Shadows not included."
"We are sub-class citizens in the human-demonic plane, yes." I sighed, turning back to everyone. Kinda goes with the territory of having less than animal sentience most of the time. "Of course, once word gets out that I am reduced to the level of your average Persona user, humanity will have an armageddon to deal with. The only way for humanity to survive will be evacuation or allowing the situation to cross the Nyx threshold."
"Nyx threshold?" Ken asked, not liking where this was going.
"The point where letting Nyx loose to end all life on the planet wouldn't make the situation that much worse, because at least then Minato Arisoto would be free to lay the smackdown on everyone. Naoki, comparison to how the demons view Arisoto."
"Imagine if a man took a bunch of toddlers, taught them to throw snowballs, and those kids then overthrew the entire US military overnight." Naoki told everyone. "That's what Arisoto did to the Warp- the demonic world- while he was still mortal. Now he's got to the point where he can crush planets in his hand. How do you think they feel about him?"
"Thank you." I nodded, turning to everyone. "In other words, I'm the errand boy of an omnipotent being, and I was the only thing keeping them back. Once they realise that there is no goalkeeper in the net, as it were, it's only a matter of time before someone takes a pot shot and ends the world."
...
Ah.
"So, the danger is not necessarily in the being claiming to be World." Natalie explained. "There are political enemies to consider as well."
"Right." I confirmed. "Current plan is to go along with this game, devouring demons along the way to build up my power while Minato separates me from his psyche for some reason completely unknown to me, something I'm really trying not to think about, and we keep going like this until I'm capable of severing ties with Arisoto and going after World, ending this whole farce and reinstating myself as the line that must not be crossed before war breaks out. Until then, I'm going to need your help. And Kanji's." I added. "I'll need an Emperor to link myself to in a couple of days even if it's only for him to babysit me for twenty four hours."
And now to see everyone thinking about it.
I already know the majority will say yes.
S.E.E.S. is too battle soaked to consider otherwise. Battle is an obligation for them. They've fought for less clear objectives before, and in their minds, it's what their role to do is.
The scoobies, on the other hand, aren't as battle-hardened. They are, however, very concerned about letting innocents die by their inaction. Seta would be the main obstacle, primarily due to how much he hates my guts, but there's also that little voice in the back of his head, suggesting he should be on the demon's side anyway, and things would work out fine if they run their course.
But then he'll realise that's stupid and, as someone who reached World, just doesn't have the heart to let his responsibility slide like that.
Elizabeth clearly wants in, Naoki likes it when demons aren't eating people, which leaves Kenji, Rio and Kazushi.
Kenji's concerned about his pregnant wife, Rio has never dealt with this before, and Kazushi?
"I'm not exactly needed here, am I?" He asked everyone, drawing them out of their thoughts.
"They way you guys were fighting that thing... I'm nothing, aren't I?" He asked, looking around the room for confirmation. "I was pretty much dead weight when we were fighting that thing, at least after it transformed."
"Kaz-" Kenji started, before I cut him off.
"I would be lying if I said that you weren't the Yamcha of the group." I told him. "However, you and I are of similar power levels at the moment. Kenji, Rio, you two aren't that far ahead of us. However, weaker does not mean invalid. One entity can make a difference in skirmishes like last night, all of you proved that to everyone."
"Besides, when Persona is involved, you catch up pretty quick." Ken pointed out. "I've got two years on these guys." He said, gesturing to Chie, Yukiko and Yosuke, "And I'm not that far ahead in terms of power."
Kazushi didn't seem to convinced, even though he clearly wanted to help.
"I'm in." Rio said, much to the surprise of Kenji.
"We'll do it." Yukiko agreed, looking to Chie who nodded with her.
"Still here for ya." Naoki smirked, and others began voicing their agreement, some not so much.
"Alright." I announced, raising my hands. "If we're forming a team of Persona users, demons and shadows, I want to make it clear that I have no intention of leading this group. I have my reasons, but I intend to fight alongside humanity."
I should have received some complaints at that point. I really deserved that.
But they didn't come.
People are doing things that I'm not expecting them to do.
As someone intrinsically aware of what each individual on the planet is thinking, this is really worrying.
Wait.
When did I start referring to myself as Someone?
...
This is bad. Next thing I'll have a Shadow.
"So who to lead?" Yukari asked, pulling me from that dangerous train of thought as she looked around the room.
There seemed no obvious takers.
Actually, no.
It was the complete opposite case.
We had too many candidates for leadership.
Both Marina and Seta are full-scale Wild Cards, both capable leaders. However, Marina is somewhat less experienced in demonic conflict, while Seta has a nasty temper on him.
Aigis, on the other hand, is very level headed, very capable of leading a team, but the same qualifications fall on Mitsuru and Shinji.
However, no matter who it falls on, and no matter how well intentioned and willing to help everyone is, there will always be that divide between the S.E.E.S., the scoobies, and the newcomers.
No one will admit it now, but that rift will remain.
It may not even cause conflict, but it's a barrier nonetheless.
Not an agressive barrier.
It's a barrier of 'I don't know you as well as I know my friend.'
How to get rid of that...
"How about this?" I asked, letting a slightly blue aura spread across the room.
Once the room was enveloped, the aura vanished.
"I've just created a Sekai-Rei, a sealed-off plane for Shadow Games." I explained as a sphere covered in little poles materialised in the space between everyone. "The rules for this game are simple. Everything is indestructible, no one can be injured, and nothing outside this space can interfere with the outside world, and so on. We'll play thirty four rounds of a common party game, the winner at the end will lead the team. If you take a pole from the sphere, then you intend to stay in this group. If not, and you leave through that door over there," I pointed, and the door in question was the only object in the room that glowed ominously. "Then you return to your life. You keep your memories, your abilities, but you hold no obligation to assist in the current situation."
"A line in the sand, an election of leadership, a team building exercise and training in demonic arts all in one." Mitsuru noted. "I'm impressed. You thought this through."
I shrugged. "The game is simple. The only changes to the traditional version is that each forfeit must be carried out." I warned everyone. "If you receive a forfeit and refuse to comply, your body will simply perform the action for you. As overseer, I reserve the right to veto forfeits that exceed to acceptable limit, but that shouldn't be a problem since everyone playing intends to make friends with people they'll still be friends with next week."
"Who decides the forfeit?" Shinji asked, concerned.
"Each other." I replied. "But, enough talk. Draw a stick if you intend to join this team."
I was impressed.
No one left.
In fact, it only took thirty seconds for twenty people to take their stick and commit themselves to fight a battle for the fate of the human race.
It took slightly longer for that to people to realise that their sticks were numbered.
One to nineteen.
"KINGS GAME!" I shouted, holding my stick in the air, a red band surrounding my stick. "The one who draws the king's sceptre is to be crowned king, and the kings orders must be carried out! I shouted, a golden crown appearing above my head. "And the King MUST issue a command for the game to progress!"
I rose to my feet, grinning. "Number nineteen is to wear its true form for the next ten rounds."
Now lets hope nineteen is someone interesting- OH HEY Teddie's glowing.
And two wings have sprouted from his back.
One black, leathery, and nasty looking.
One white, feathery, and quite comforting.
His hair is paler and he seems slightly leaner.
And his eyes are yellow.
"Well..." I said, lowering my arm. "That was unexpected."
Teddie looked at me, glaring as my crown vanished.
"This just got Bear-sonal." he growled as everyone's sticks floated back into the floating sphere for the next round.
=}+{=
So, yeah.
This game was going to take place this chapter, but come on people. Sitting around talking is long.
And before the suggestions flood in, I've already got the piece of paper detailing who's gonna be king, what orders they'll give, and who'll respond and how. But I do need your help on something.
Who's Minatos going to be chained to next? Fuuka or Yukiko?