It's almost over… the school year is almost over, at last! My god, school just sucks the goddamn life outta ya.
And then you miss it all in your later years.
Yup, life fucking sucks.
Clevernameeh: Yup, it's time for round 2. Let's see how it goes this time…
I know I like my gimmick, hehe…
Tch, sickening…
You looked up her skirt.
Point taken…
RAX: Relax this arc is nearing its end. Just a little bit longer now. If you're talking about the update speed, then I have this to say: It's the end of the school year! I have a lot of shit to do in preparation for finals!
Raze Olympus: You're a real bitch, aren't ya?!
You're getting really hostile.
Of course I am! You took away my greatest stress reliever!
…. Ew.
Side note: I want this arc to end as much as RAX does.
Streets
Makoto extended his arm and his sword slowly began to materialize in his hand. Behind him was nothing more than a pile of ashes, dust, and flames replacing the building that had been there a few moments ago. Even after that, he was not panting or showing any signs of exhaustion.
Kotone gritted her teeth as she clutched onto the weapon in her hand. No matter where she went, he was going to follow them and pick them off one by one. Running was not an option, which meant that she could only do one thing…
"You guys can go if you want," Kotone warned her teammates. There was no way out of this for her, but it did not mean that they had to do this too.
"H-Hey, you're not thinking about to pull an Aigis, are you?" Junpei asked as everyone gave her the same look they gave Aigis.
"I'm the one that brought the monster out. None of you need to be in this." Kotone said as she glared not at the boy but at the mask that was on his face. Getting that off him was the only hope she had of getting him back to the way he was before.
"Don't be an idiot, Kotone!" Yukari berated her leader. "We're not losing another friend again."
Kotone smiled as her teammates stood their ground by her side, "You guys are the best idiots I could ever ask for."
"We're a team Shiomi," Mitsuru said as she pointed her rapier at the boy in front of her, ready for Makoto to suddenly attack at any moment. "While he was never part of SEES, Arisato is still one of us."
Makoto instantly jumped into the air without any warning, targeting the two redheads who quickly scattered with the rest of the group leaving him in the center.
His eyes became fixated on the heiress and a dull pressure began to set in the area and the silhouette of the monster that was the cause of everything formed behind him, almost as if Makoto was nothing more than a puppet with Death moving the strings.
"Don't call me that." His voice came out as a low growl full of hatred at being called by his old name. He had abandoned it years ago the day he killed his uncle and began his crusade, and to hear it again was nothing more than a reminder of everything he had lost.
So much for giving us a choice, huh? Kotone thought as she readied herself. They were going to have to make it so that this was the last battle between him and them. Somehow, they were going to have to get that mask off of him before the Dark Hour can pass.
"Time for this all to end," Death whispered as Makoto stabbed his blade into the ground causing a sudden black shockwave to push everyone back and make them lose their footing.
Makoto was still fixated on Kotone and Kirijo. He made the mistake of diverting his attention last time, and he was not going let them walk out of this alive.
Letting out a loud roar, Makoto rushed for his so-called beloved with his sword ready to slice her apart piece by piece.
But this time she was ready.
Kotone moved quickly on her feet and slipped past her possessed lover's attacks. Luckily, the injuries she caused to him last time must have still been having an effect on him, slowing him enough that not none of his follow up attacks could land on her either.
Evading one last uppercut slash from Makoto, Kotone dashed forward and used the naginata Igor had given her to slice through his leg. Even though she could not bring herself to kill him, she knew that she was going to have to slow him down at least.
"Grgh…!" Makoto held back a scream as he took a step back and placed a hand on his injured leg. When he slowly removed the hand from his leg, he could see that his leg was still bleeding and that none of Death's regenerative abilities were working on this wound either.
"How did—" Death was cut off when Akihiko suddenly tackled Makoto from behind and restrained his arms.
Makoto twist and turned his body as quick as he could in an effort to break free from the restraint. Alas, the boy's injuries mixed with the boxer's strength let it difficult for him to break out of.
"Do it! Get it off now!" Akihiko screamed to his teammates as he struggled to keep the boy restrained.
Makoto growled as the boxer's words made him struggle harder, refusing to go through the pain that removing the mask would put him through.
Junpei quickly ran to the boy to pull the mask off of him, but Makoto only squirmed more and more which rendered it impossible to get a grip of the mask.
Seeing an opportunity to break free, Makoto jumped and kicked Junpei away and forced Akihiko to take a few steps back into a wall of a building.
With Akihiko's grip weakened, Makoto leaned forward and quickly reeled his head back with enough force that he could feel Akihiko's nose break as he hit the wall again.
Disoriented after having the back of his head hit the wall, Akihiko could do nothing as Makoto was finally able to break free.
Dashing forward as fast as he could with his injured leg and old wounds that had resumed bleeding again, Makoto raised sword in preparation to attack the capped boy who dared to attempt to remove his face.
Before Makoto could reach him, Junpei was joined by Ken who thrust his spear into Makoto's chest. Unlike Kotone, none of SEES had to hold back when fighting him as long as his could still heal from everything they did to him, which made normally fatal wounds like this about as harmless as a scratch.
Makoto growled as he clawed at the spear that had lodged itself between his ribs, unable to either break the spear or reach for the boys on the other side.
Before Makoto could rip the spear out of him, a burst of wind suddenly lifted him into the air and launched him a fair distance away into a nearby lamppost which broke on impact.
"Tch…" Makoto grunted as he slowly stood himself up and glared at SEES as his blood continued to drip both old and new wounds.
"Please tell me we have a plan this time," Yukari asked as she steadied an arrow on the hooded boy.
"You guys can go all out—I can't." Kotone said as she eyed the blood on the edge of her blade that made her bite her lip as she remembered that the real Makoto likely felt all of the pain she just inflicted on him.
"Keep him busy and I'll try to wear him down," Kotone continued. "Maybe try getting him hurt enough that we can get that thing off of him while he's healing or something."
"Understood," Mitsuru nodded in agreement with the rest of the team who noticed something forming in the sky.
"Last Judge," Makoto whispered as a massive hammer formed in the clouds above and slammed its way down towards the Prince's enemies.
"Watch out!" Fuuka warned her teammates just before the hammer began to move giving them just enough time to avoid being crushed to death.
Kotone and the rest of the team stumbled when the hammer struck the ground behind them. As they tried to figure out what exactly had happened, Kotone spotted Makoto dashing towards them again.
Before he could get close enough to do any damage, Koromaru spotted the threat in time and ordered Cerberus to tackle Makoto to the ground.
With Makoto struggling to break free, Cerberus dug one of his jaws into each arm to keep him restrained. Even though Makoto was strong enough to even overpower Aigis, the persona's strength combined with the wounds that were never given time to heal were too much for the boy to break free from.
From behind Cerberus, Death appeared with its wings outstretched and its sword nowhere to be seen.
Grabbing the neck of the two heads that were biting into his friend, Death pulled the guard dog of Hades off while sinking its own jaws into the persona's free center head and tearing it off.
Putting its foot on the persona's main body, Death pulled hard on the two heads that had dared to harm Makoto until they too were ripped apart and the persona was forced to be recalled.
Barely having enough time to get on his feet, Makoto was caught off guard when he felt something slice through his back.
Letting out a suppressed scream, Makoto quickly turned around and saw it was Mitsuru who was about to attack again.
With the threat recognized, Makoto easily parried the attack with his own sword. Unleashing a flurry of his own attacks, Mitsuru was quickly pushed further and further back and her footing became more and more unsteady.
Before he could deliver a potentially fatal blow, Makoto barely had enough time to see the naginata on his right until it sliced through his shoulder.
Letting out a loud scream that was slightly muffled through his mask, Makoto took a step back and put his hand on his shoulder.
That did nothing to stop Kotone from attacking again, this time aiming for the mask on his face. Unfortunately, all that attack could do was slice through the hood the boy was wearing while the mask was completely unharmed—not even a scratch was left on the mask's surface.
Following up the attack was Yukari who fired an arrow straight into the boy's good leg and had her persona launch him near more of her teammates that were ready to attack.
Not long after hitting the ground, Makoto spotted Hermes just a few moments before he was suddenly engulfed in an inferno.
Just a few moments after the attack had started Death reappeared from the flames and easily cut the persona down in a single strike from his broadsword.
From the side came Caesar who was about to perform a similar attack, but his attack was blocked when Orpheus Kai appeared with his lyre.
After blocking the attack, Orpheus Kai transformed into Thor who swung his hammer and knocked the Roman away.
Hearing footsteps approaching, Makoto turned to see Ken running towards him with his spear ready. Before the spear could pierce the boy's flesh, Makoto simply grabbed the spear with his free hand.
Ken pulled to free his spear from his senior's grip, but Makoto simply held on almost effortlessly to the weapon.
Makoto used his sword to cut off the tip of the weapon which left Ken's spear essentially useless. Disarmed and helpless, Ken was helpless when Makoto kicked the elementary student away.
Makoto reached up and tore off what was left of his hood, exposing his black hair and the unnaturally pale skin on his neck.
Turning his head, Makoto spotted his 'girlfriend' running for him again. Makoto let out another soft growl before charging to meet her attack head on.
Letting a familiar dark magic coat his blade again, Makoto met her attack blow for blow. Whatever Kotone's new weapon was made from, it was not going to be easy to simply cut it in half and ending her.
Again and again Makoto attacked only to be parried again and again by the auburn-haired girl. If his attack was not parried, then it was evaded entirely as his body slowly began to slow down more and more as he continued to lose blood and Kotone managed to inflict one small injury after the other.
After several moments of this stalemate, Makoto's sword intercepted Kotone's next attack only to suddenly feel the pain of being shocked by several volts of electricity which left him stunned.
"Senpai, now…!" Kotone shouted as she quickly jumped several feet away from Makoto.
Recovering from the (literal) shock, Makoto had just moments to glace at Mitsuru with Penthesilea before he was forced to endure a gruesome All-Out attack.
Penthesilea unleashed a barrage of ice crystals onto the boy, much like what Kotone had done to him the night before with enough force to leave him suspended off the ground.
Before he could begin to descend to the ground, Hermes caused an explosion with Makoto at the center which sent him flying helplessly in the air as the rest of SEES prepared their attack.
As she was using her persona to help rejuvenate her teammates, Yukari used Io to direct Makoto towards the rest of them to finish the attack.
Firing his Evoker, Ken summoned Kala-Nemi who charged into the vulnerable persona-user before he could have a chance to recover. Outside of Kotone, none of the injuries that were inflicted upon him were going to stick very long so they needed to act quickly.
Still in mid-air, Caesar attacked the boy with in a similar manner to Kotone with amplifying his attack with electricity—both harming him and leaving him unable to do anything as the final blow was delivered.
Howling loudly, Koromaru summoned Cerberus who delivered one more explosion of fire at the boy that immediately sent him crashing into the ground hard enough that everyone could hear the sick snapping sounds of multiple bones breaking.
After delivering what might have been the most painful attack SEES had ever delivered, they gathered around Makoto both to prepare themselves for a counter-attack and to make sure they had not done anything too brutal.
"D-Did we do too much..?" Fuuka questioned as the fear of the worst case scenario began to play into her mind.
Had they taken Pharos' constant healing of Makoto for granted?
Had they inflicted so much damage that he simply could not heal fast enough?
Had they done so much that it simply wore them both out?
"Y-You…" A low whisper could be heard as the dust settled, revealing Makoto in a pool of his own blood.
"K-Kill…. You…." Makoto continued to whisper as he tried to get up only to continuously slip in the thick crimson liquid that had been spilt as his bones tried desperately to put themselves back together in their proper place.
The team was briefly paralyzed as they continued to watch the boy try in vain to stand again and again, only to fall and re-break his healing bones again.
However, it was then that Kotone saw her chance.
"Akihiko, Tarunda him right now!" Kotone ordered as she fired her Evoker and ordered cast Tarukaja on herself as she dashed towards the injured boy; she was going to need all the strength she could get right now.
Taking advantage of the boy's injured state, Kotone gripped onto the mask as hard as she could a desperately tried to pull it off of him as the boy struggled to break free.
Death appeared immediately, but was soon confronted by the rest of SEES who were doing everything they could to keep it separate from Kotone and Makoto.
After several moments of struggling, Makoto let out a bloodcurdling scream as the mask was torn from his face causing his blood to splatter everywhere and for him to use Garu on himself as he screamed and hissed in pain.
"Makoto…?" Kotone looked down at the mask that was still in her hands and saw that his blood was now covering her hands. Seeing this and seeing him with his back turned to her as he continued to cry out in pain made her realize just what she had made him suffer through.
Dropping the mask onto the floor, Kotone slowly approached the boy with unsteady footsteps as she imagined the pain she had just put him through. Even if Pharos heals that, he likely was not going to be the same mentally after going through that type of agony.
Kotone reached her hand out to him, but her heart sank as she spotted him looking back at her with bright yellow eyes.
With his face having healed in a matter of seconds, Makoto stood up and glared at the entirety of SEES.
"That…"
"Really…"
"Fucking…"
"HURT…!"
"I-It didn't…" Almost everyone stuttered together as Makoto took a step forward with his yellow eyes and the familiar large silhouette stood just above him.
"I-It didn't work…" Kotone gulped as she and the others realized what they had just done. They did not just hurt him; they had just managed to anger both him and the monster inside him in one fell swoop.
An intense pressure began to set in the area that could be felt in everyone's stomach as they remembered one fact—they were not just fighting a persona-user, they were fighting a persona user with a god of Death.
"I never wanted to use this, but now… Now I just want to see all of you suffer." Death whispered as Makoto's lips curled into a small smirk at what was about to happen.
Kotone looked behind her and saw that her entire team had suddenly fallen to the group seemingly in pain. Before she could even question what was happening, she saw their personas appear with each letting out a loud shriek as if they were in pain as well.
"W-What did you do to them?!" Kotone glared at the silhouette that continued to hang above.
"Simple, we're making them endure the same amount of despair that he has been feeling for the past decade." Death answered as its figure seemingly glanced at the writhing children, "It's so much that their personas can't even take it. If this goes on for much longer, becoming one of the Lost is the best they can hope for."
"Y-You mean…" Kotone desperately reached for her Evoker, "I-I…"
"Think a Me Patra will fix that? Truly," Death laughed. "That's not going away unless *I* want it too… or if you can stop both of us by yourself."
Kotone took another step back as the figure fully materialized into the physical plane again and then the gravity of the situation finally set in.
It was either settle it here, or her friends die at best.
Running was not an option this time.
It was just her versus the monster that Death had transformed Makoto into.
The mask was off, but it did not matter.
No matter what she did, someone was not going to walk out of this alive.
And next chapter is the end of this arc that's gone on for too long. Pf, ripping that mask off didn't help much, now did it?
I-I...
Hehe, I win, bitch!
*grabs popcorn* This'll be fun.
Yeah, I've been pretty infrequent with the updates lately. Sorry, but... next week is my last week of school this year. Would have gotten this out Yesterday, but...
It was his birthday.
Well, time to finish this year of highschool that's gone on for far too long... like this arc.
