"Be ready for anything," Mitsuru muttered, earning a nod from all the other team members. "Yukari and will take Red. I'll take Illusion. Akihiko and Ken will take Raz, and Koromaru and Junpei will fight Lightning."

"Alrighty!" Junpei exclaimed with gusto as the four assassins appeared in front of them in black blurs.

"Why aren't they attacking?" Ken wondered aloud.

"I'm Jiro," Raz started.

"I'm Tsubasa," Red continued.

"I'm Ayumi," Illusion sighed.

"And I'm Sekirei," Lightning finished, giving everyone a V-sign.

"Ya see, Erebus doesn't exactly care about any of us. We're kinda just pawns in his kinda messed up scheme. Understandable, ne?" Jiro laughed. "So. Knowing that we're probably going to get slaughtered against all of you in due time considering our numbers, we might as well fight fairly, ne?"

"How can we trust you?" Yukari demanded.

"You can't. But hey. We're gonna fight all the same. You'll just have to see how we do," Tsubasa said.

"Yup! So, let's get this show going!" Sekirei twirled around and swung her hood off, appearing just behind Kormaru and Junpei.

"Whoa!" Junpei's eyes widened when he spun around to meet Sekirei, jumping back to dodge the electricity that nearly singed his nose. "She's a hottie!" he declared as he observed her blue eyes, pale skin and blonde hair, swinging his katana at Sekirei.

"Hey! At least someone appreciates my awesome beauty!" Sekirei grinned. "It's nice to be recognised!" she laughed. "Ziodyne!"

"Whoa!" Junpei fired an Agidyne to counter the stormy electricity that was coming at him. "Koromaru, do your thing!"

The shiba-inu barked in response and from his maw, summoned a stream of blue-white hell fire onto Sekirei. Junpei did the same with a yellowy Agidyne of his own, and the two attacks combined to create a large firestorm to swallow Sekirei.

"Aw damn it!" Sekirei muttered. She used a Ziodyne to coat her body in electricity, and when the attack came at her, it mitigated some of the damage that the combined Agidynes would have caused. But of course, not all of it. The fiery attack gave her some considerable pain from burns. "Tch… Thunder Reign!" she called, summoning vicious bolts of lightning to strike Junpei and Koromaru.

The golden beams struck Junpei's Agidyne shield, but eventually the flames succumbed and tendrils of electricity coursed through the two of them. "Argh, that hurt," Junpei gritted his teeth.

"Good thing!" Sekirei laughed. "You're Shocked! You aren't moving from here!"

"Oh shit," Junpei chuckled nervously as he tried to move, finding no success. His limbs were paralysed and he could hardly defend himself in the position that he was in. For that matter, neither could Koromaru.

"Indeed, 'oh shit'," Sekirei grinned as she came forward to the paralysed duo and readied an attack that she was sure would end them. "Arrow Rain!"

"Gaaah!"

"What?" Sekirei could barely mutter a curse as a flying Tsubasa smacked right into her and knocked her off balance before she could kill Junpei and Koromaru.

"What the fuck Tsubasa!?" Sekirei exclaimed as she pushed the fire wielder off her, muttering several curses under her breath as Koromaru and Junpei recovered from their Shock status.

"S-Sorry," Tsubasa said weakly as he stood up and charged towards Yukari, brandishing his bladefists.

"Sorry won't cut it!" Sekirei growled as she formed whips of lightning in her hands, swinging their biting lengths to Koromaru's direction.

"Tch," Yukari mumbled as she fired a wind infused arrow at Tsubasa. He cancelled the attack out with an Agidyne, and stepped forward to slash Yukari with his weapons. Yukari only barely managed to block the attack with her bow, but Tsubasa was gaining ground with his superior strength. "Garudyne!" she growled, sending a blast of wind at Tsubasa to create distance between the two of them.

"Oh shit," he laughed nervously as he took the attack, only blocking a little of the damage with his bladefists. "Sekirei, help!"

"What now?" she snarled, cancelling out her lightning whip and the incoming Mudoon from Koromaru. "Ouch…"

"Weakness? Hit? I'm surprised that it hasn't worn off yet," Tsubasa rolled his eyes as Sekirei backed him.

"I'm surprised mine hasn't worn off yet either," Sekirei sighed. "Ziodyne!"

"Agidyne," Tsubasa grunted. White blasts of fire and lightning spewed everywhere. Pillars of laser-like lightning and fire expelled from the two of them as they acted as a nexus, pushing and singeing everyone to the ground. "If only we worked together more often," Tsubasa lamented.

"Don't you even think about it," Sekirei rolled her eyes. "And your hood's off. Didn't you notice?"

"Eh?" he blinked as he looked up, realising that yes; his hood was blown off by Yukari's Garudyne. "Oh. You're right," Tsubasa chuckled, matting his brown hair down.

"Pfft. Goddammit Tsubasa," Sekirei just shook her head. "We better just take these guys on together. These guys are powerful, ne?"

"I agree," Tsubasa grinned. "Akasha Arts."

"Arrow Rain," Sekirei followed along.

Strike and Pierce damage rained down on the recovering Yukari, Junpei and Koromaru. "Guys, we've gotta team up too," Yukari groaned, nursing some of her injuries with a Diarahan. Ziodyne was one of her weaknesses after all.

"Yeah, this ain't good," Junpei agreed, however painfully. "Let's go!"

"Arf!" Koromaru jumped as he tried to shrug off his wounds, summoning the three-headed dog Cerberus with a howl, although its form was flickering when he brought it out.

"Koromaru's not doing too good," Junpei noted. "Agidyne!"

Yukari nodded. "I'll try to heal him when I can… Garudyne!"

Koromaru howled once more, his Persona pointing its great heads to the sky where the physical damage was coming from. White-gold streams of fire amplified by Yukari's wind magic engulfed the majority of the Pierce and Strike attacks.

Sekirei chuckled. "So… how screwed are we now that they've teamed up too?"

"Very," Tsubasa nodded. "Ragnarok."

"Thunder Reign!" Sekirei said nervously, shooting golden orbs of electric magic to the three with the fireballs, spreading it with large proximity.

"Tch," Junpei clicked his tongue as he tried to dodge as much of the spells as possible. Yukari and Koromaru did the same, however Yukari was still busy trying to heal herself from the Thunder Reign orbs that were starting to hit her.

She sucked in her breath as the barrage of fire and bolts subsided, Tsubasa and Sekirei starting to get tired from the usage of their Personae. "Oh it's over," Yukari sighed, healing her injuries and alleviating some of the pain.

Koromaru had taken the least amount of damage, seeing how fast he was and Junpei had negated some of the damage by using Agidynes and dodging. "This is hard," he groaned, trying to shake off some of the effects of Shock from Thunder Reign.

Sekirei gathered her breath and energy as her SP was being spent, spent and spent from the battle. "Urgh, I don't think I can keep this up much longer," she said.

"Me neither," Tsubasa shook his head, panting and feeling some of the pain catch up with him. His Blue Wall was starting to wear off, and Sekirei's Red Wall was disappearing too. "But we're only here to buy some time. Erebus is going to be playing with Minato right now…"

"Bastard," Sekirei rolled her eyes.

"Don't you know it," Tsubasa laughed as he dashed towards Yukari, aiming his bladefists as she was paralysed. Yukari struggled to ready her SP to fight Tsubasa back, finding no success as the Shock status did its work. What now?

"Arf arf!"

A grey blur crashed into Tsubasa just as he was about to strike Yukari and end her. Koromaru blasted a Mudoon down into his chest as he fell, smashing the Dark energy right through Tsubasa's rib cage and eventually his heart.

"Oh dammit…" Tsubasa mumbled as he felt numbness overtake him.

"Tsubasa!" Sekirei cried, casting Maziodyne everywhere into the air to divert Koromaru away from him. "Dammit, why'd you go down first!?" she cursed as Yukari backed away from her and Tsubasa, steadily healing herself as she recovered from Shock.

"Elec Break," Sekirei growled, a blue haze falling dropping down.

…

"Damn, Tsubasa's fading fast," Jiro growled.

"I haven't heard you use that tone before," Ayumi commented, summoning a row of ice to strike Akihiko. "Are you that concerned about Tsubasa?" she asked.

"Yeah," Jiro nodded, negating the icy winds that were being thrown at him by Mitsuru by using a Garudyne. "Of course. He's a numbskull, but meh."

"So eloquent," Ayumi rolled her eyes as she dodged a Hamaon.

"They just keep dodging!" Ken exclaimed with a frustrated growl.

"That's what they do. We just have to catch them," Akihiko said. "Gigantic Fist!"

"Ziodyne!" Ken called. From his spear, a bolt of electricity joined with the Strike attack, driving straight towards Jiro.

"Bufudyne," Ayumi muttered, mitigating some of the damage by blocking off the Strike attack with a wall of ice. However, the attack broke through due to the combined power of the Gigantic Fist and Ziodyne, and Jiro was pummelled away into the ground.

"Shit, Jiro," Ayumi growled as she sidestepped Mitsuru's rapier strikes. "What am I going to do with you?" she sighed, zipping to Jiro's side, checking to see how good he was to continue fighting.

Jiro groaned considerably as he struggled to his feet, finding a Bufudyne being blasted in his direction. "Garudyne," he mumbled, breaking the block of ice that was coming his way to tiny, harmless pieces.

"Niflheim," Ayumi whispered.

"Panta Rhei," Jiro said quietly as the two of them stood back to back. A vicious tornado with ice and ripping snow blasted apart in all directions, hitting Akihiko, Ken and Mitsuru.

Akihiko was badly affected by the Ice element of the attack, and his wounds were aggravated even more so by the already razor-like winds. Ken did not get off unscathed, and he took a considerable amount of damage in the form of multiple slashes. Mitsuru had the same wounds, but to a lesser degree.

"This is becoming difficult," Mitsuru muttered, quickly patching up any more major wounds.

"D-Damn…" Akihiko groaned, trying to heal his injuries and alleviate the pain that was coursing through his body.

"We'll get through this," Ken said with a determined face, although there was no doubt that he was in pain too. Razors whizzed towards Akihiko, and Ken tried to block off the majority of the blades, although he was getting hit by some as well. "But it'd be nice to… Freeze them up or something!"

"Bufudyne!" Mitsuru commanded, right on cue. Icicles appeared around Jiro, trapping him inside.

"Oh shit," he laughed a little.

"Dammit," Ayumi shook her head. "I can't break him out… And Tsubasa's down…"

"Z-Ziodyne…" Akihiko gritted his teeth and shot an unexpected bolt towards Ayumi, hitting her for a considerable amount of damage as she staggered.

"I'm not gonna last either," she muttered to herself, after being burnt by the electricity, dropping to a knee. "Jiro, I think we've lost this," Ayumi laughed, earning herself a shrug from the lazy assassin.

"I think so," Jiro agreed.

…

Sekirei panted, dropping to a knee as she felt her Elec affinity disappearing.

"What is she doing!?" Junpei shouted.

"Ziodyne!" she cried, a bolt dropping down onto her. If Sekirei had her Null property to Electricity, it wouldn't have been a problem. But she didn't. She gritted her teeth as the electricity coursed through her and she fell next to Tsubasa.

"Did she just…?" Yukari stared wide-eyed. "Did she just kill herself?"

"Tch…" Sekirei growled, not trying to recover from the pain that she was feeling. "I wasn't going to die to you losers…"

Koromaru whined, hopping over to nuzzle Tsubasa and Sekirei. "Goddammit… stupidly cute dog… did me in…" Tsubasa mumbled.

"Shut up Tsubasa," Sekirei growled.

"What do we do now?" Yukari asked.

"There isn't really anything, is there?" Junpei laughed nervously.

"J-Just leave us alone to die you idiots," Sekirei sighed, dropping her head to the ground.

"Yeah… go after your buddies," Tsubasa continued, giving a rest to his heaving chest and closing his eyes.

"U-Uh alright," Yukari nodded slightly. "Let's go Junpei, Koromaru. Help the others," she said.

"Yeah," Junpei agreed with Koromaru right behind them.

…

Ken fired a Ziodyne at Jiro that travelled through the ice and shocked him, breaking the ice apart and letting him drop to the floor.

"Jiro…" Ayumi mumbled.

"Haha," he laughed a little. Ayumi shook her head, dropping to her knees as a Garudyne from Yukari hit her weakness.

"Did we win…?" Ken panted.

"You guys won," Ayumi chuckled. "You better catch up with your friends. They'll need… all the help they can get…"

"Uh right," Yukari nodded. After a while, the wounded team members left the assassins after Minato.

…

"Tsubasa…"

"Yeah, Sekirei?" he asked, seeing Jiro and Ayumi moving a bit closer to the two of them. Somehow. They were crawling.

"Do ya think that maybe we coulda turned out different if we were normal?" Sekirei asked.

"Probably," Jiro let out a sigh as he dropped down on the ground again. "Kurow's the only well… I think he'll be the only one surviving this…"

"What makes you say that?" Ayumi mumbled.

"You know. I've got Geras…" Tsubasa said. "Ayumi's got Achlys… Sekirei has Ker, Jiro with Momus… Hikari has Eris…"

"Oh yeah. Daughters and sons of Nyx," Jiro agreed.

"Ew. I don't wanna be called the daughter of that Nyx girl," Sekirei coughed.

"Of course that's what you're worried about…" Ayumi sighed as she closed her eyes. "Well… goodnight guys."

"See ya Ayumi," Tsubasa mumbled, going to sleep. "And everyone else…"

"In the morning," Jiro chuckled a little, letting fatigue overtake him.

"Sweet dreams," Sekirei finished. "Maybe I'll get some beauty sleep for real…"

AN: Much fight… much fusion spell…

Plz box me yo thoughts and imma see ya guys later.

Raidou: lol.
Yup. I dunno about epic, but I'll try.

Yoshikunitsu: I'm just going along with what's been set. I don't have anything that could possibly precede Chaos. Canonically even, 'chaos' is one of the most powerful things in SMT. But meh.
Yeah. I have. I might've started the finale arc, but there's going to be a lot of chapters even before it will get to the end. (And maybe some bonus chapters…)
Haha, yeah. Mmhm. I'm splitting the different ends into different chapters to tie up as many loose ends as I can.
Sure will.

Technodude458: …why? That's mean.