Well, time for the big battle of the story. I'm no battle expert, but I hope this still turns out well enough.

Since it's a big battle, you know what that means!

I will erase your existence!

The only thing getting erased is your hold over my husbando!

*eats a biscuit* this'll be fun.

*grabs popcorn*

RAX: He's… very dead.

Bitch, I only died once. Sure, I did a fake-out when I had the shit kicked outta me and was tossed off a bridge.

I wonder who did that… *whistles*

I wonder who stabbed your eye…

Tch, bunch of cunts you all are.

Nightlyy: Oh, I intend to.

Come and get me.

Ultimate Kuuga: Go fuck yourself!

Raze Olympus: Hehe, at least someone is on my side.

Matemeo3: He probably had Minako flashbacks. I mean, Pharos DID kill his family.

Ha, he loves~ me!

Helel The Guardian of Light: Kotone couldn't even dual summon even if she tried. I mean, the only reason Minato can dual summon in the canon is because he's had Death in his guts for so long. Meanwhile, Aigis, Yu, and Akira are incapable of dual summoning, and the latter of which was able to summon a massive-ass persona but STILL couldn't dual summon.


Streets

Cut them all down. Pharos whispered into Makoto's ear. Even if they had Kotone now, he had done this before and he just needed to do it again. He was not going to lose now, not after coming so far.

Makoto stood still as the same brawlers that attacked him before charged at him once again, but this time Kotone joined them as well. This did little to change anything, however, as Makoto was still as strong and agile as he was before.

Makoto continued to move almost effortlessly to avoid their attacks. No matter where they attacked and how fast they were, the most they could get in was a few clips and scrapes as he continued to dodge and counter just like he had done before.

"Is this it?" Death taunted them as it stretched its wings and an invisible force pushed everyone back several feet away. "We have waited ten years for this moment, and this is all you can offer? Are you truly going to continue boring us?"

"B-Boring…?" Everyone slowly repeated its words as Death continued to stand behind Makoto, its strange face seemingly making a taunting smirk alongside the one already present on Makoto's mask.

"Yes, boring. You have had over about half a year to prepare, so give us something to remember." Death chuckled as Makoto tilted his head slightly to the right. After all these years, is this all that they had to offer?

"We're not here to entertain you," Kotone grunted as she lifted herself from the dirt.

"You're clearly not here to win." Death let out a sigh as SEES prepared to attack them again. It simply remained still as they prepared another futile effort to attack.

Makoto let out a yawn and pulled up his gloves, not even pretending to be cautious. The boy sighed before clutching onto his sword and slowly began dashing towards SEES. Death faded away, but remained ready to reappear should the situation call for it. For now, it was time to show them just how pointless this struggle is.

Catching them by surprise, Makoto slung his blade of his shoulder as he dropped to the ground and began to crawl like an animal and a mass of dark magic began to coat his blade again.

Makoto leapt into the air again, shifting his weight while swinging his sword to build up the momentum and force as he aimed his sights on the only one in the group that could pose any real threat to him.

Kotone jumped out of the way of the attack just in time before Makoto and his blade slammed onto the ground again. In the midst of the debris scattering from the attack, Makoto's arm broke from the whiplash, giving off a disgusting snapping sound but that didn't seem to bother the possessed persona user.

Makoto and Kotone briefly locked eyes with one another. Even beneath that determination, Makoto could see the fear in her eyes as clear as day; the fear of actually having to hurt him. Beneath his glare and that cursed mask, Kotone knew that the boy she loved had to be in there somewhere.

Looking away from Kotone, Makoto's attention turned to her teammates who were quickly approaching to aid their leader. A soft growl came from Makoto as he summoned a sword in his left hand and dashed towards them with the bones in his right arm slowly pinning themselves back in place.

Makoto slashed the air, causing a dark wave of magic to be launched towards them. As SEES scattered to avoid the attack, Orpheus Kai, the twisted parody of the original Orpheus appeared and played his lyre, causing sudden explosions of dark energy to scatter throughout the entire area.

Within the dark cloud caused by the magic and dust, Makoto sensed the movement of one of the things he hated most in this world. Just like when Sakuya used Umbra to try and throw him off, there was one thing that both he and it shared.

Makoto dashed forward and attacked, narrowly missing when Aigis avoided his sudden attack. A faint clicking sound could be heard as she quickly locked on to his limbs.

Before she could get her chance, Death reappeared in front of the prince and knocked the android away with a strike from his wing.

Rather than looking behind him, Makoto heard footsteps rapidly approaching and parried the attack with the blade in his left hand. Of course the only one who could fight that much like an amateur was none other than Junpei.

Makoto quickly attempted to counter attack with the blade he wielded with his right, but Junpei was able to jump back before getting severed in half.

Stumbling back, Junpei clumsily reached for his Evoker and summoned Hermes who proceeded to attack the boy with the sharp edges of his heels.

Before the messenger of the gods could reach him, Death showed himself again and grabbed the persona by his legs before slamming him on the ground repeatedly like a ragdoll.

Junpei let out a loud grunt as he felt the pain his persona was in, but that only left him vulnerable enough for Makoto to dashed forward and attack.

Junpei tried to block too late when Makoto put all of his strength into his swords which caused the capped boy's defence to completely shatter on contact. All it took was Death using the wind to send him flying, and the boy was left too injured to continue again.

Makoto had to time to relish in his enemies defeat as he spotted Caesar and Kala-Nemi coming from the corner of his eye. It was interesting to see that both Akihiko and Ken had managed to get their ultimate personas since he was gone, but they were still not match for him.

Death easily finished off Kala-Nemi with a single uppercut slash from his broadsword. Meanwhile, Caesar's attack was intercepted by Siegfried, causing the persona to stumble back.

With his balance broken, Siegfried morphed into Orpheus Kai who sent a barrage of ice crystals at the roman, leaving both his and Kala-Nemi's masters in pain and vulnerable.

Both Death and Orpheus Kai moved next to their master and summoned a single mass of dark energy, causing the resulting explosion to incapacitate the two persona users.

As Orpheus Kai was recalled, Death spotted Mitsuru not far to his right. Flapping his wings and dashing forward, Death proceeded to slam his blade downwards in the hopes of finally killing the heiress and making her father feel the same despair that Makoto had felt for ten years.

A loud clang echoed through the streets as the strike that Death was about to make never connected with Mitsuru. Instead, the attack was intercepted by the sword of the persona Chernobog.

Makoto's eyes widened for a moment before he looked back to see the redhead that had caused everything to escalate this far clutching her Evoker tightly in her hand.

Makoto growled loudly and was about to attack her again, but then SEES's leader began to speak to the boy again.

"Minato, stop it! I know you're there somewhere!" Kotone continued her desperate plea, which only served to aggravate him more.

Mitsuru retreated from the area to avoid any further attacks of Death who was now sinking his jaws into the persona that had saved her life.

"When will you learn it's hopeless?!" Death screamed as it forced the persona to be recalled. "He feels nothing for you anymore!"

"You say that…" Kotone cringe and grunted in pain as she felt the burn from her persona, "but I don't see him lashing out at me for calling him by his real name."

Makoto and Death both stood completely still for a moment after what she said, leaving a moment of silence that seemed to go on for hours. After a few moments, Makoto glared back at her, growling just like he had done ever since this fight started.

Makoto quickly dashed forward, no longer wasting any more time for her and Death to continue bantering.

Kotone ducked her head and dashed to the right avoid his first attack aimed directly for her head. Makoto attempted to strike again, but Kotone reached for her Evoker and summoned Kingu who used his snake-like body to knock Makoto away several yards away.

Makoto let out a brief scream in pain in before shifting his weight mid-air so that he was able to land feet-first without any more injury, and glared at the redhead again.

Kotone bit her lip as she felt the coldness of his eyes, and all of the pressure from having to face him while not wanting to hurt him began to add up. "Goddammit, Minato, is this it?! You're going to spit on her face again! Do you really think she wants you to be a puppet to her murderer? Wake up! Or else it'll happen all over again."

"…" Makoto was rendered completely still again as her words hit him harder than any persona possibly could.

"Silence…!" Death screamed as he forced his own summoning, flapping his wings and dashing towards the girl.

Kotone quickly fired her Evoker and re-summoned Chernobog again whose blade clashed with Death's, almost forcing them into another stalemate.

Chernobog was forced back by the sheer force behind Death's blade, unable to match the power of the old god.

Death raised his blade, ready to finish off both the persona and its user in just one—

"Gah…!" Death screamed in pain as he felt an attack to its side, forcing it away from both of its targets.

"Huh?" Kotone looked towards the direction of the attack and saw Mitsuru, Yukari, and Koromaru who had attacked it.

"Shiomi, keep getting through to him," Mitsuru ordered, "We'll deal with this monster."

Kotone nodded, "Don't do anything stupid!" She ordered her teammates as she ran back to the possessed and brainwashed boy.

Makoto continued to remain perfectly still, unable to speak or move as the words continued to echo in his head.

"Minato, please…" Kotone pleaded with him again, "She's crying up there! Not because of anything you did! She's crying because she'd never want this to happen to you! For god's sake, she loved you!"

Makoto grunted as he slowly began to twitch as so many emotions flooded into him at once, "S-Shut up… Shut up…"

"She's burning in pain up there! All because of him! At least give her peace if you couldn't save her!" Kotone continued to reach out to him, trying desperately to break the curse placed on him in any way she could.

Makoto covered his ears over his hood as he shook his head as his agitation grew, "SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Screaming, Makoto glared at Kotone and dashed towards her…

Death screamed in anger as it cut through Penthesilea, trying its best to rush towards Makoto. Instead, Io used powerful winds to force the god of death further away from his goal as Cerberus pounced onto its back and dug all three of his jaws into the monster.

"Grrr…" Death growled in anger as he reached for his back and grabbed one of the heads of the three-headed guard dog and pulled him off.

"You little—" Death was cut off when he turned, only for something to suddenly pierce straight through its torso and force it to crash back onto the gravel on the ground.

"I will not allow you to torment them or him anymore!" Aigis announced, having recovered from Death's earlier attack.

"Grgh…" growled as Palladion was recalled. "I will tear all of you to pieces. Boil your eyes. Rend the flesh from your bones..."

Death continued to shout curses as he spotted the rest of SEES had recovered from the onslaught thanks to the healing spells from the rest. Everyone chose to surround the monster in front of them, hoping that they would be able to buy Kotone enough time to either get through to Makoto or to rip that mask off his face. "Die… Die, die, die…!"

"Watch out!" Fuuka warned her teammates as Death let out an ear-piercing shriek. SEES could only brace themselves as Death went back on the offensive.

"SHUT UP!" Makoto screamed as he attempted to pounce on the redhead again, only for her to move out of the way to avoid it.

Kotone clutched onto her Evoker and pulled the trigger again, her gaze meeting his as they echoed each other's words.

"Persona!"

From the sea of souls, Kotone summoned Thor, the same persona that Makoto had used just a few moments ago. Meanwhile, Makoto had once again summoned the sick parody of his initial persona, Orpheus Kai.

Thor swung his hammer at the musician who used his lyre to block the attack. Again and again, the god of thunder clashed with the poet who wanted nothing other than to bring his wife back from the dead, just as in the end, Makoto wanted nothing more than to have the life that was stolen from him back again. Alas, just like Orpheus, Makoto was never going to have his wish fulfilled.

Makoto ran to the girl again with his swords coated in dark energy again, whispering the same two words he had been repeating for several moments now.

Kotone braced herself just in time to defend herself against the flurry of rapid slashes coming from the same boy who just a few weeks ago was holding her in his arms as she slept. Makoto was swinging wildly, launching attack after attack with Kotone barely able to either parry or evade the assault from his twin blades.

Kotone sidestepped just in time to avoid a dropping slash that likely would have split her head in half if the blades had connected. Seeing her chance and knowing that she could not keep fighting like this forever, she slashed her naginata and sliced through the flesh in the boy's right leg. Even though it pained her to hurt him, she needed some way to slow him down.

"Grgh…!" Makoto grunted in pain as he jumped back, giving time for the wound in his leg to close. Unlike him, her weapons were not summoned using her personas so it would not leave any mortal wounds, but it certainly still hurt.

"Minato… don't make me do this," Kotone begged him one more time, clutching tightly to her Evoker. "You're the last person I want to hurt! Please, she wouldn't want this! She loved you! I love you! I hate having to do this to you, so please, stop!"

"Stop… Stop…" Makoto whispered as his involuntary twitching in anger only increased in frequency, "Stop talking, stop talking, stop talking…!" No matter what she said to him, he was beyond being reasoned with now.

I'm sorry, Minato. Mentally apologizing for the pain she was causing him, Kotone pressing her Evoker against her head and firing it to summon Siegfried to incapacitate the boy.

"Kali…" Makoto whispered the name of the persona, whose blades clashed with the dragon slayer's causing brief sparks to fly with every attack.

Siegfried attempted to overwhelm the goddess with pure strength alone, but Kali was more than able to match the ferocity with her quad-blades. Every time Siegfried attacked, he could immediately be forced back, lest he be cut into pieces by the two other blades that were not blocking/evading any attack.

Siegfried attacked again with an outwards slash aiming to sever the goddess in half, but instead Kali pulled back as she transformed back into Orpheus Kai who played his lyre and hit the persona with the one type of attack it could not take—darkness.

Just like the fate suffered by Eurydice, Siegfried began to fade away as the dark clutches of the underworld began to take hold of him until he had completely vanished without a trace.

Seeing Kotone writhing in pain, Makoto bolted for her again, ready to finally finish this and close this overly long chapter of his life.

As he leapt into the air as he had done so many times before, Kotone fired off her Evoker to summon her next persona in a desperate attempt to save her own life, "Hariti!"

A clocked woman appeared before Kotone before launching a barrage of ice crystals at Makoto before he could land, slicing through the flesh all over his body before he crashed into the ground.

Feeling its friend's pain, Death immediately ceased his fight with SEES and screamed, "ENOUGH!"

Lifting its wings and letting out a deafening shriek, an invisible supernatural forced suddenly pushed everyone around Death before it quickly made its way to the persona of the girl who dared to hurt him.

Grabbing the persona with its bare hands, Death proceeded to rip the ogress' head off almost effortless. As she was left to recover from the pain, Death gave her a quick strike from his wing that launched her towards her teammates.

"Argh…. Grgh…" Makoto grunted and hissed in pain as he slowly stood himself up, his blood now dripping onto the ground from the several cuts and lacerations left by simple crystals of ice that would not heal.

As he began to make his way towards SEES again, Kotone could not help but gaze at Makoto. Even when she was healed and could properly stand up again, her focus was focused more of him than that of her own team.

"I don't mean to be that guy, but," Junpei gulped, "This isn't working out so well."

"I can see that, but—" Kotone's words were cut-off when she heard the sound of crackling and shattering. She looked to the ichor on the walls that had frozen from Death's sudden appear and were now shattering the ice to retreat from the walls, and that could only mean one thing.

"Uh, guys, the Dark Hour is ending!" Kotone shared the bad news, "If I had to guess, I'd say we only have around five minutes!"

Everyone looked at Makoto with horrified looks on their faces as the gravity of the situation sunk in. They only had five more minutes to defeat an old god of Death who had brainwashed/possessed a boy who had the same talents as Kotone in just five minutes?!

"How the hell are we supposed to beat him in just five minutes?!" Akihiko verbalized the question that was on everyone's mind.

In contrast to everyone's horror, Aigis looked at the scene with a more dejected look in her eyes. Even if she cannot remember it, she knew that everything that god had said was true. She was the one who had sealed it inside the boy named Minato Arisato, and she was the one responsible everything happening to the boy now known as Makoto Yuki. Everything that was happening was her fault, even more so than the Kirijo group's.

"You should go." Aigis spoke up, surprising her friends.

"Huh? What do you mean, Aigis?" Fuuka asked.

"We cannot win this fight today, therefore it is best if you enact a tactical withdrawal," Aigis explained to the rest, "If my hypothesis is correct, either he or the shadow inside him can sense the plume within my Papillon Heart, meaning it would be ill-advised for me to go with you."

"W-What are you suggesting!?" Yukari screamed, but everyone knew what she was implying.

"I am a machine," Aigis reminded them, "I do not have 'life' like the rest of you. If I am damaged, I can be repaired or replaced."

"Aigis, this is ridiculous!" Mitsuru tried to convince the android to change her mind, "We've already lost Aragaki! We can't risk losing you too!"

"I'm afraid that we do not have time to argue," Aigis said glancing at both the retreating ichor and the boy who was getting closer and closer, "You must retreat to a safe area immediately!"

Amidst her teammates, many of which were trying to talk her out of it, Aigis focused on Kotone, "Kotone-san, please… free him from this curse I forced upon him all those years ago! I do not want him to suffer like this anymore!"

"I-I… I promise," Kotone swore as she accepted what she had to do. "Guys, come on! We… We don't have a choice."

Giving one last glance at the android, the members of SEES reluctantly left their teammate behind with same boy whose life she had sentenced to this hell ten years ago.

Makoto's eyes were not focused on Aigis, however. Instead they were too busy noticing Kotone running with the rest of her team. Upon witnessing this, Makoto began to dash forward with the intention of tearing her and the rest to shreds, but then felt something grab onto him from behind and retrain.

"Minato-san, please listen…" Aigis tried to reach out to him as he fought against her restraints, tugging and pulling desperately to get free.

Makoto paused for a moment as the anger welled up inside him, "Don't… call me that!" Makoto screamed as he backed up into the wall of the nearest building as hard as he could to get the robot off of him.

Still unable to get free but having loosened her grip, Makoto dropped the sword in his left hand and instead reached out to grab one of the arms restraining him and threw the android over him.

Aigis easily landed on her feet, but that was nothing compared to the sudden flurry of slashes that came after, each one needing to be dodged lest the magic channeled into the blades tear through her mechanical components.

After one more attack, Aigis saw his face along with the mask covering it exposed for just a few seconds. If she could just get that off him, then just maybe this nightmare could finally end.

Aigis desperately reached out with her hand open trying to reach for the mask to save the same boy she had condemned so long ago, but it was all in vain.

Seeing her attack coming, Makoto leaned to the right to avoid the hand while at the same time taking the chance to counter with an uppercut slash that completely severed her right arm at the shoulder.

Not giving her anytime to even register the damage, Makoto focused on power charging his left fist before sending straight through the mechanical maiden's chassis causing all of her movements to come to an immediate stop.

Aigis could do nothing but make small involuntary facial twitches as she was eye-to-eye with Makoto who leaned closer to her ear.

"Go back where you belong…"

"Go back to hell…"

Makoto pulled out his hand from the robot and jumped backwards, just avoiding the one last explosion of dark energy for the night. However many pieces she was in after that was anyone's guess, but Aigis was taken care of.

Makoto turned to the direction where Kotone and the others had escaped to. They thought that just by running away they would be safe.

No. There was nowhere they could go where they would be safe from him. This would not end until he had anointed this entire city with their blood.

"Run while you can…" Makoto whispered.

"We know just where you'll go…"


Well... that didn't go as planned now did it?

Something tells me this arc is going to take awhile.

W-What..? N-No! Why couldn't I rip that mask off his face!

Haha, it's not that easy, bitch.

Yikes, this was a slow month, wasn't it. Eh, its the end of the school year for me. I have a lot of shit to do... I had to writing a fucking haiku for a project that involves making a life-size samurai (I'm learning about the feudal era of Japan). I'm no fucking poet! I hate writing poems...

Whiner!

At least my father loves me!

... Low blow.