Here we go, chapter 55. Jesus, I thought this thing would end around maybe the 60-ish mark, but here we are.

And he's still a lunatic. Then again, I spent my entire story as a sociopath, so who am I to judge?

And I kicked the asses of four persona users in just one night!

I'm still alive!

Allow me to fix that…

Tch, try it…

Raze Olympus: Why don't you go fuck yourself, fuckface!

Christ, that's harsh!

Shut the fuck up, mother fucker!

Nightlyy: …. I WAS LIED TO! DAMMIT!

Helel: I'm working! This stuff takes time!

He's also lazy…

And can't work on weekends

And it's the end of his school year, so a lot of student responsibilities are coming up.

Thanks for the reminder.

IAmSoCleverWithMyNameLol: … You need a doctor.

*sigh*

What's up?

Funny story, his co-author actually blocked him.

Wait, what?!

He told me not to say "whatever" anymore.

You said that just to piss him off, didn't you?

Of course I did!


Outside the Dorm

Panting and exhausted, the members of SEES continued to drag their feet to return home, the Dark Hour having long since ended. In just one night, they had witnessed the death of three persona users, learned that Ikutsuki was planning to betray them, lost another one of their own, learned the truth behind what happened to Makoto since he was gone and his past, and now know they have to fight a persona user who had the same talents as their leader—only his seemed to be even stronger.

Maybe Igor might know something? Kotone thought as she continued to walk with her exhausted friends. Igor, the so-called master of the Velvet Room was never the most helpful in most cases due to how cryptic he made everything. But alas, he was the only person left who could know anything about anything that is going on.

In any case, it was going to have to wait. For now, all she could do was return home for the night and sleep on it. Whether she liked it or not, she was going to have to face him again, and she could not run forever.

Sometime later, SEES finally made it back to their dorm after a long and exhausting day.

"Uh… Guys," Junpei called to everyone as he stood in front of the door, "It is still October, right?"

"Huh, what kind of question is that?" Akihiko gave a confused look along with the rest of his peers, "Of course it is."

"Then look at this!" As everyone exchanged confused glances, Fuuka walked up to the door to see what Junpei was taking about, and let out a surprised gasp.

"T-The door, t-the lock has completely frosted over!" True to her word, when everyone investigated the doorknob, they could only find that the lock had completely iced over, making entry without breaking down the door impossible.

"How did—" Mitsuru never got to finish her sentence. Instead, she and the others could only watch as the frost began to spread from the door to the surface of the walls and windows.

Kotone froze in place. There was only one time that she saw something like this happen, and that was when she first saved Makoto from Pharos…

Kotone slowly turned to look back as her team focused on the dorm, and she saw him on the other side of the street silently watching with a silhouette of a winged monster above him. The glowing white orbs in the eyes were gone, either because the Dark Hour had passed or so it would be easier for him to blend in.

It did not take long for the rest of SEES to notice and follow their leader's gaze and saw Makoto silently watching them as their dorm continued to freeze and a dull pressure began to set in.

"W-We need to go…," Mitsuru told the rest of her teammates.

"But where," Yukari asked as she backed away from both the dorm and they boy who was still silently watching them.

"It doesn't matter, anywhere but here!" And with that, she and the rest of SEES took off running. It was dangerous to remain at the dorm any longer with Makoto there, and now they were going to have to find somewhere else to hide until they could find a way to deal with him.

Go on… run. Pharos chuckled as he watched SEES run with their tails between their legs. It doesn't matter where you go. We will hunt you down to ends of this world.

Makoto continued his silence as he looked back at the dorm, the frost that had covered it now beginning to leave now that its purpose had been fulfilled. The wounds he had received from Kotone earlier continued to drip with blood, but that would end in due time.

Letting out a sigh, Makoto tugged on his gloves as he into the dorm. It would not many more nights for this to end. He just needed a few more…

Until then, it would be nice to have a decent hideout for once.


?

After a long night of running, SEES were led into an unfamiliar building by Mitsuru where they gathered and were finally able to catch their breath after a long night.

"What is this place?" Fuuka asked as she rubbed her exhausted eyes. The whole building looked like the command room in the dorm, complete with the large computers and monitors.

"After the incident in April, I decided to have this place remade into an emergency headquarters should the dorm become damaged or destroyed." Mitsuru explained her friends. "Although, it was never finished and I had prayed that we would never have to use it."

Junpei let out a sigh as he sat against the wall, "Hey… if he was there, do you think that means that Aigis is…" No one wanted to finish that sentence.

"I… arranged for a team to search for whatever remained before daylight could strike." Mitsuru said as she looked down with a visibly sour mood, "I'm afraid it's true. Aigis won't be coming to help us."

A long moment of silence filled the room as they silently grieved for another lost friend.

"It's been a long night. We should rest before deciding what course of action to take." Mitsuru advised as she walked towards another section of the building, "The rooms are unclaimed, so take whichever one you want for now."

As everyone dragged themselves their rooms, Kotone remained looking out the window, gazing at the desolate streets.

"I'm sorry, Minato…" She whispered as she went to an unoccupied room. Makoto was left to break when she and the others left him alone with Pharos, and then she failed to find him when he went missing. She failed him… and now, she was the only one who could defeat him.

As she lied on the bed, the thoughts of her mother came worming their way back into the back of her mind, drawing parallels between the both of them. The redhead unconsciously rubbed her hand that was still bruised and bloodied from when she had punched the floor.

This was a monster everyone had made somehow. Kirijo took away his family, Aigis sealed Death inside him, she caused him to open up, and then she and the others left him alone to break. She made him into the monster he was now, and now she had to find a way to fix it.


?

"Welcome…"

Kotone opened her eyes as the familiar sounds of a piano playing along with a woman singing filled her ears. In front of her was the strange long-nosed man known only as Igor, and by his side was none other than Theodore (or rather, Theo).

"Huh? Igor…?" Kotone blinked in surprise. Normally she had to visit a door (which she dubbed the "Velvet Door") in Paulownia or Tartarus to visit the Velvet Room, but now she seemed to called here in her dreams, something that has not happened in ages.

"Wait, this is a good thing! Igor, I—" Before she could even finish her sentence, Igor held up his hand and began talking.

"Yes, Yes. I am well aware of the situation between you and the one with the Death Arcana." Igor said, his voice as calm as ever. "Hmm, it would seem that the entity inside him is allowing him to use his dormant Wild Card. My, what an interesting turns of events."

"Interesting…?! Are you insane?!" Kotone could not hold it back. The anger came pouring through her throat. "Is this some kind of sick game to you?! He's completely lost it and I… I…"

"Calm yourself, Master Kotone." Igor urged the young girl. "Rest assured, I do not take these events lightly. Rather, this is the first time even I have seen something like this happen before."

"It's that damn mask…" Kotone muttered as pinched her nose. "If I could just get that thing off him…"

Suddenly, Kotone looked back up at Igor as an idea came to mind, "Wait, do you have anything that could help me?!"

"W-Well…" Igor and Theo both exchanged glances as an uncomfortable silence befell the both of them.

Theodore swallowed a lump in his throat and spoke, "Under normal circumstances, we would provide you with a special mirror that would break the curse the moment when the affected sees their own reflection."

"Alas, these are not normal circumstances." Igor sighed. "I'm afraid there is nothing we can give you to help you save your friend."

Kotone lowered her head upon receiving the news. As if everything was not bad enough, now she was being told that there was nothing anyone could do, and that she was in this by herself.

"If that's true…" Kotone slowly raised her head, her eyes seemingly lit by the fire in her eyes, "Then why the hell did you bring me here!?"

Igor let out another sigh, "Though we cannot assist you in breaking whatever curse has befallen the boy, we can assist you in your next battle."

With a snap of his fingers, tiny fragments of light began to gather on the table between Kotone and Igor until they properly materialized into the familiar shape of a naginata.

Before Kotone could say anything, Igor began to explain, "As you many have noticed, both the boy and the one that shared his Arcana were both able to summon their weapons with nothing other than their connection to their persona. Thus, the one's weapons were able to harm the other… for a time."

Igor looked down at the table, "While with practice, you would likely be able to perform the same technique along with the rest of your teammates, I do not believe we have that time. As such, we have given you this to defend yourself with."

Kotone slowly picked up the weapon and carefully ran her index finger along the blade's razor-sharp edge. "So, this can…" she paused, hesitant to consider harming Makoto more than she already has.

"If you desire, then yes." Igor answered. "If nothing else, you will find it easier to channel your personas' powers into your weapon, much like he can. If you do not wish to kill him, then you at least have the means to incapacitate him now."

Kotone said nothing. She had nothing to say at this point. If she refused it, then she would be left with nothing but her personas to defend herself with, and it would be much harder to leave non-fatal injuries that way. At the same time, this meant that she was going to have to harm him herself and there would no longer be any excuses.

Disregarding her silence, Igor began to speak once more, "Now, dawn will soon be breaking in your world. Good luck on your journey."

And the image of the Velvet Room began to fade from Kotone's mind as she began to wake up.


Hideout

When Kotone awoke and looked at her surroundings, she found the same weapon that was previously in the Velvet Room leaning against the wall.

She could only sigh as the fact that she had to hurt Makoto continued to sink in. She knew she had to, no question. He was dangerous right now, and he has already killed three persona users plus Aigis.

He had to be stopped.

She had to stop him.

But how was she supposed to do that without anyone else getting hurt?

And more importantly, how long did they have until he found them?


Dorm

Makoto remained as silent as ever as he carefully searched every room he could find, searching endlessly for any clue on where they may have ran off to.

Time after time, he could only find nothing!

Akihiko's room was filled with nothing more than useless exercise equipment and protein crap, the former of which were left in several pieces by Makoto after a fit of anger and frustration.

Junpei's room was simply a mess and not worth checking, but that was fine with Makoto after he burned that laptop of his, the same one that was used to show the only thing capable of scarring Makoto at the time.

Ken's had nothing but a pet hamster, leaving it being a complete waste of time. Despite being filled with computers and other parts from various other things, Fuuka's room was roughly the same in that regard.

Yukari's was filled with nothing more than more pink and girly trash, most of which was burned to ash by the time Makoto was done searching.

Aigis' room was more like an armory. Like an armory, it was useful for finding weapons, but nothing in regards to information.

Mitsuru's room was more like a giant lounge, and was even more of a waste of time. In an act of anger at her family and his frustrations, her room was left the most damaged which several scratches, marks, and broken furniture littered throughout.

Finally, the only room that was left was Kotone's. When Makoto entered, all he could find was a mostly barren room with pink sheets on the bed and blue curtains.

"Grrr…" Makoto growled as he searched top to bottom, and come up with nothing. The only thing of note was the portrait sitting on her desk.

When the hooded boy took a closer look at it, he saw a picture of a young girl who was maybe 4-5 years old. Alongside her are two others, one man and one woman whose features look remarkably similar to that of the girl's. It was not hard to figure out what this was; it was the last family photo Kotone's family took before her mother abandoned her.

Makoto felt the urge to lash out, but his eyes remained transfixed the family's happy faces. Even though he tried to block it out, this photo only brought back memories of his seventh birthday before everything went to hell.

"I wanna do a photo!"

"I don't know…"

"Come on, big bro! It's just a photo! Mom~…!"

"All right! All right! Gee, you're really pushy!"

"Yay!"

Shaking his head, Makoto retreated out of the room and entered the so-called 'command room.' Inside was a giant computer. It had to have something on where they went.

With Pharos guiding his every action, Makoto searched every database he could on the computer. There were several things on shadows, the Dark Hour, Tartarus, and even Personas, but there was NOTHING on where they might have gone.

"Argh!" Frustrated, Makoto gave the computer a solid kick which left a noticeable dent on the surface. All of the hours of search, and it all amounted to nothing!

Where were they?! Where could they have gone?!

Shh, it's all right…. Pharos whispered to quell the boy's anger. Even if we don't know where they are, we still have something to bring them out.

Smiling beneath his mask, Makoto left dorm as he prepared to put Pharos' next idea into fruition.


There we go. Maybe a bit on the short side, but hey, I've been busy. I mean, I had to make a fucking mask out of clay... I don't know how to sculpt things!

So... not gonna address—

Nope.

Why?

Because I'm not taking everything seriously.

What was that sigh about then?!

I was bored... I sigh a lot. You're the one that mentioned that for no reason.

Do you just... do everything your told not to do?

It's like telling me not to throw a tomahawk at someone at the park... I will suddenly feel the urge to throw a tomahawk at someone.

... I think YOU need the doctor here.

Pf, I've been trying to get one for the past 10 years, and I haven't gotten shit.