Chapter 13: Tower of Mayhem
Within another location, Other Yu is watching the TV to see the festival coming to an end and see the third tower beginning to creep up into the sky. "Perfect timing, Kanji you are up," Other Yu said as Other Kanji shows a big smile.
"Wait for me, I will take care of those losers," Other Kanji said as he slips his arm gauntlet which pops up his collapsible shield.
"Don't get killed out there, we lost Rise and Yosuke. Don't be careless," Other Yu said.
"Come on man, it's me we are talking about. See you later," Other Kanji said as he goes over to the tower via teleportation to guard the tower.
"Taichi and Yukiko, I got a task for you both," Other Yu said.
"What is it darling?" Other Yukiko asked.
"We have found the Velvet Room; the doorway is within the forest near Inaba. I need you to destroy and kill everyone inside," Other Yu said.
"So, we managed to track them down," Other Yukiko said.
"Yep, the old big nose was hard to pin down but now we will get our revenge for what their master has done to all of us. What cowards they are for hiding in another reality while the two worlds fall victim to the Chaos which their master recklessly called," Taichi said.
"Indeed, there will be the Velvet Siblings guarding the room but with the army of Demons it will be enough to crush that room out of existence. Anyway, Yukiko your power is more than enough to crush them," Other Yu said as Yukiko bows her head for a flash of power appears on her forehead in the appearance of a diamond.
"It will be done my love," Other Yukiko said as she gathers her weapons which are her katana and blade fan to magically put them away. "Taichi, you will be a navigator," Other Yukiko said.
"Yes madam, time to give them some payback," Taichi said as they were all very confident to pull this off.
Elsewhere the festival is long over but before Rise and Yu can get to bed. They see the tower in the distance and Yu just lets out a big sigh. "Oh goodness, another tower now," Rise said as they are getting a call from Adi on their phones.
"Yeah, we need to head there instant. I will gather as many people as possible," Adi said as she only can reach Naoto, Kanji, and Yosuke.
"Gee, we managed to have some fun and then this shows up," Rise said getting into an outfit to wear to go outside.
"Yeah but what can you do," Yu said as he got dressed for them to outside to get into the car to head for the tower which is within the forest nearby Inaba.
"It was going to get steamy later but we got to put it on hold now," Rise said as they go down the road to see the dark tower looming in the distance.
"Gee, these things again," Kanji said on the phone.
"Yes, this is becoming quite troublesome. How is that musical voice of yours, have you trained it yet?" Naoto asked remembering Rise's musical voice she used to save Yu within the second tower from the Other Rise.
"Yes, I have been practicing since then. I am pretty decent with it; it's been a while since I have done some singing. It brings me back to my idol days," Rise said sounding nostalgic about her younger years.
'Rise," Yu said softly as Rise catches it to place her hand on his cheek.
"It's okay, it's in the past now. The present is wonderful, I am happy my singing skills can be of use to the team," Rise said as she kisses him on the cheek.
"What do you call your skill?" Naoto asked.
"Valor Song seems to fit well, it will boost the morale and abilities of my allies and demoralize and weaken our enemies," Rise said as she taps her microphone to see if it was okay.
"It will come in handy," Naoto said as everyone managed to reach the tower with Yu, Rise, Adi, Naoto, Kanji, and Yosuke reached there.
"I had Yukiko and the others standby within the town just in case the enemy tries something fun," Adi said as they approached the tower entrance to see no demon guarding the door.
"Seems like no red carpet for us," Yosuke said pulling out his dual daggers to be ready for any demons to attack them. They all go into their fusion forms as Adi uses her Gravity Kick to kick down the door to see Other Kanji waiting for them there with a bit grin on his face.
"So, you guys made it, seems like you are coming here at half strength," Other Kanji said as Kanji looks at his original self makes him feel very uncomfortable.
"Gee, do I look this stuck up," Kanji said as O. Kanji laughs at him.
"I wouldn't be compared to a loser like you," Other Kanji mocks him as Kanji tries to calm down from his mocking tone.
"I am not falling for that one," Kanji said as he summons his wrist-mounted shield. Other Kanji laughs at him to teleport back to the top of the tower.
"Well, I hope you get up here. I have a lot of plans to play with you all. Keeping you nice and busy," Other Kanji said with this line of words making Adi feel a bit worried but focused on stopping Other Kanji and this tower.
"What is the quirk of this place," Rise said as the spiral staircase along the walls have sections moving in and out of existence.
"You got to be kidding me," Kanji said.
"The platforms are moving and the blocks out of the walls can shove us off the staircase leading us to our early graves," Naoto said as she wields her special revolver getting ready for a fight.
"Let's not get turned into a pancake," Yosuke said as the five go up the staircase which has certain sections moving and exiting away making it hard to causally go up the stairs.
"Gee, what a pain in the ass," Kanji said.
"You are telling me, at least we don't drown here," Rise said.
"Instead, we can get crushed or fall to our deaths," Yu said as demons were summoned to stop them. Seekers and Howlers go on the offensive trying to stop the Persona Users.
"Don't let them near Lord Kanji, wipe them out," the Howler lunges at Kanji to bash it with his shield to knock it into a wall. Naoto fires nuclear-infused bullets to blast the demon to bloody pieces.
"Lord Kanji, that just sounds wrong," Kanji said as Yu summons Ishtar to unleash waves of lightning bolts from her hands to zap away the incoming demons.
"Shock Wave," Yu ordered as Ishtar unleashes a wave of lightning energy to zap and push back demons into walls to get crushed by shifting stones. "Oh, that is nasty," he said as more Howlers spit balls of energy from their mouths with him deflecting them away with his blade. Ishtar is zapping them to dust along with Yu using his bolts of lightning to burn away anyone in his path.
Rise summons a water whip to leash and slashes at incoming Howlers to slice them up and send demon blood onto the walls. She conjures bubbles to slam and explode into several enemies with the floor under her disappearing making her fall.
"Watch it," Adi summons a gravity bubble to trap Rise inside and get her back on the staircase safely.
"Thanks, Sensei, that was close," Rise said as she uses more bubbles to seek out her targets to wipe them out.
"No problem, keep it up," Adi tosses orbs of gravity to create domes of high gravity to pin down demons.
Naoto is blasting away entrapped demons with her gun via nuclear bullets frying them into dust. She pistol whips an incoming demon to knock it into a wall to be crushed by a huge block. She fires several shots taking out the Howlers to reload her Rex revolver.
"Hey babe, you okay?" Kanji asked as he charges up his shield with lightning to bash into several enemies to zap and shove them away. Naoto follows up with her precise shots to finish them off.
"Yes I am, don't worry about me. We need to take care of Other Kanji and secure that demonic gem," Naoto said.
"Gee, they are pouring in the welcome party," Yosuke said as he is weaving and dodging enemy attacks.
He infused his daggers with wind energy to slice and cut up demons rushing towards him leaving behind a path of bodies. Yosuke kicks a Howler off the staircase as he flips away from the disappearing section of stairs.
"That was close," Yosuke said as he slices the air to release several wind crescents to chop the enemies to pieces.
"I can't let you pass," an echoing voice said as a Guardian Demon called a Lurker appears looking like a huge, misshaped gecko using his tongue to hit Yosuke to pull him in and slam him into the wall. A block is going to crush him but Adi uses her gravity powers to stop the stone block and crush it to dust.
"Gee a Lurker. Those can turn invisible," Adi said as Rise summons her visor over her mask allowing her to sense the demon but it's trying to mask his presence.
"That power is trying to block me out but I can still feel him," Rise said as she points in the direction of the beast. "Lightning Spear," Yu tosses a spear of electricity to strike into the back of the demon.
"Aqua Laser," Rise unloads a high-pressure beam of water to strike her target. It shakes off the damage to go back into stealth mode as more demons try to stop them from attacking the Guardian Demon. "Don't get in our way," Rise summons a barrage of bubbles to seek out and strike her targets destroying them.
"It will not matter, soon our operations will be successful. My master's revenge will be complete," Lurker said as they were confused by this line.
"Clam up and fight," Yosuke said as he whips out a blast of wind into the area where the Lurker last was but missed.
Yu switches from Ishtar to Undine who is a beautiful mermaid floating behind him. "Aqua Laser," Yu ordered as Undine opens her lovely mouth to unleash a beam of water to skirt across the walls to strike the monster covering it with water. Both Yu and Kanji zap it with lightning bolts to stun him and make it fall onto the staircase.
Naoto fires all her infused shots into the beast to trigger several blasts to increase damage due to it being stunned. Yosuke unleashed a gust of wind to cut up the body and push it into a shifting block to knock it off the staircase.
The Lurker uses his tongue to latch onto Rise trying to pull her over the edge but Yu using a quick slash from his katana frees her from the demon's grip. "Thanks, baby," Rise said as Yu pulls her into a hug to get her away from the edge.
"No problem," Yu said as the Lurker gets onto the wall again trying to hide from them. Rise is using her scan skill trying to find the beast again.
"The revenge draws nearby and you can't stop it," Lurker said as Rise manages to find the demon again on a certain section of the wall.
"Got you, get nailed," Rise tosses balls of light to slam into the beast to knock it back down again. Yu prepares for his Persona to finish it off.
"Go now, Stormcaller Song," Yu said as Undine unleashes her siren song to conjure a ton of water needles to hover over the demon to stab into the target multiple times.
The water needles impale into the beast over 100 times and Undine gives a cute wink to snap her fingers. This unleashes a chain reaction of water blasts ripping the demon apart until it becomes a pile of gore covering up the staircase.
"Well, that is unfortunate, come up here now. Face your fate of death with style," Other Kanji said as his voice echoed throughout the huge tower.
"Getting cocky, huh, we are going to take you down," Kanji said.
"Don't be silly, Rise is a bit of a mess. That demonic energy twisted her messed-up personality. We got a job to do and she is trying to dick around with an inferior copy of my leader," Other Kanji said as Kanji is upset with this.
"Inferior, my senpai is not a crazy son of a bitch trying to justify murdering an entire town," Kanji said.
"Justify, you think this is a game to us. We are trying to do what is best for the people of this world. Our world is dying and this world will get a second chance that we never got," Other Kanji said sounding thoughtful with his words for this put off the group but they remain unfazed by this.
"We can't just let you destroy the place we love," Naoto said.
"Yeah there has to be another way to deal with the Chaos," Rise said being steadfast along with the others.
"There is no other way and you are getting in the way of us doing our mission. You are all selfish for doing this and putting the world at risk," Other Kanji said as they avoid the moving platforms and them reaching the top of the section to leave it behind. "So, you are here, let's have some fun," Other Kanji said as Yu summons Undine to unleash a powerful flood that swirls into Other Kanji's room.
He unleashes a barrage of lightning bolts to vaporize the incoming flood reducing it to steam. Adi swoops in to fly towards Other Kanji and uses a Gravity Kick to knock him into a pillar.
"So, the traitor appears," Other Kanji said as Rise gets out of her Fusion form to get ready to use her Valor Song.
"I am going to back you up, Kouzeon back me up," Rise said as her Persona nods her head.
"Don't fuck up, our hubby and friends need us," Kouzeon said as Rise nods her head to put the mic near her lips to begin using her Valor Song which begins to weaken Other Kanji and empower her allies.
"Damn it, doesn't matter. I have to muscle my way through this ad kill them all," Other Kanji powers up with demonic power with a dark aura covering his body summoning his Dark Persona Take-Mikazuchi. "Let's rock," Other Kanji is fighting the four members of the IT with Rise acting as support in the background.
Naoto is firing her gun with Kanji using a shield to block her shots to shove into her launching her away with Kanji punches Other Kanji but it gets blocked by the shield. He deflects his blows by him kicking him in the knee to make him buckle over and give him a powerful shock that sends him flying across the room.
"Even with that Valor Song, I can hold my own but man it's throwing me off," Other Kanji said feeling weakened by Rise's mystic song with the four gaining an edge.
"Suck this, Gravity Well," Adi tosses an orb of gravity to set up a dome of high gravity to pin him down and tear into his body. Naoto fires several shots of nuclear bullets to score their hit with a series of nuclear blasts which set off the gravity dome. This made it implode to cause even more damage to Other Kanji as Dark Take-Mikazuchi is knocking away Adi and Naoto away with his lightning sword.
"Gee, what is wrong with that Persona? So much demonic power flowing through it," Rise said within everyone's mind while she is still singing to give them the extra willpower they need to push through.
"Demonic power gives humans amazing gifts but it comes with a steep price. It corrupts the human soul and wraps it until they become demons themselves and lose their humanity. The Persona will become a demon as well which can kill its owner," Adi said as she jumps into the air with Yosuke sending out wind crescents to cut into the Dark Persona.
"That's horrible, do you live like that on the Other Side?" Rise asked within Adi's mind as she is using Gravity Shift to roll and tumble away from Other Kanji and Dark Persona attacks. She launches herself to deliver a powerful kick to send the Persona flying into a pillar.
"Yes sadly, normal Persona Users are too weak to fight against the demon hordes. The choices were clear, die now or die later," Adi said as she tosses orbs of gravity to pin down the Persona onto the pillar. "Yu now," Adi said as Yu nods his head.
"Switching Cybele," Yu summons Cybele wielding her twin blades behind him. "Slice and dice, Blade Storm," Yu ordered as Cybele is flying towards the big Persona with Yu following after him.
Other Kanji tries to back up his Persona but Yosuke slides between his legs to cut his legs to blast him with wind. "Oh no you don't," Yosuke said as Naoto is setting up mines with her bullets trying to control Other Kanji's movements.
Kanji joins with Yosuke to put pressure on Other Kanji but he leashes out a wave of energy to blow them back. Other Kanji catches wind and lighting spells from Kanji and Yosuke to store the energy within his shield. "Counter Blast," he releases a ball of energy from his shield to strike Yosuke to send him flying across the room.
"Damn it," Naoto is reloading her gun as Other Kanji zaps her with lightning and then slams his shield to knock her onto the ground.
"Too slow missy," Other Kanji is about to crush her head with his shield.
"The hell with that," Kanji uses his shield to slam into Other Kanji to shove him away. "Don't you fucking dare hurt my girl," Kanji said as he empowers his fist with lightning to score a punch to the face knocking Other Kanji away.
He tosses his shield like a boomerang to hit him in the forehead to stun him and then deliver a powerful punch to knock him face-first into the floor.
"Kanji," Naoto said as Kanji can see his girlfriend has a bruised eye.
"Are you okay?" he asked to check on her status.
"I am good. Thank you, you looked pretty cool out there," Naoto said as Kanji blushes from this.
"Yeah I was trying to help and protect you," Kanji said as Naoto is blushing in turn as well. Rise is watching this from the background and is cooing at this.
"Oh, you two are so adorable," Rise teases them.
"Shut up Rise!" both of them said trying to hide their embarrassment.
"You can't hide the love from me," Rise said with a smirk on her face.
"Less talking, more singing," Kouzeon said as she is floating around Rise to be her guard while she is singing to boost their morale and undermine the enemy's resolve. Other Kanji can feel Rise's Valor Song beginning to wear him down as he is getting pushed beyond his limits.
Cybele is dodging incoming lightning bolts conjured from the Dark Persona but managed to close in to unleash her Blade Storm. She is rapidly thrusting into the enemy with lightning-fast jabs with each one getting stronger than the last. From afar, her thrusts were sheer blurs with her completing over 100 thrusts in no time at all.
"Grave," Yu ordered as Cybele summons rows of stone spikes to tear out of the floor and impale the Persona. "Cross Slash," he powers up his sword to crave and slashes into the chest of the Persona. He conjures a ton of black lances to stab into the Dark Persona until it begins to fade away until there is nothing left.
"Damn it," Other Kanji said about to punch Yosuke but he is stopped by intense pain done to his Persona which has been defeated. "Not bad for a lesser version of my leader," Other Kanji said as Yosuke blasts him with wind magic. Naoto and Adi tossed Gravity and Nuclear spells to pepper his wounded body. Kanji comes in and bashes O. Kanji with his fist and shield to follow up with a powerful blast of lightning.
Naoto fires all her shots to set off a chain reaction with the lightning to bring Other Kanji to see he is dying from his wounds. "Well, I play my part, pretty good fight by the way," Other Kanji said.
"What are you talking about?" Rise questioned.
"I am just the decoy. The real target is the Velvet Room, where we will get our revenge," Other Kanji said as Adi is scared by this.
"You are going after them?" Adi asked.
'Yep, that bastard Philemon is the reason why we are in this mess in the first place with the Chao. Now Yukiko and Taichi we will use demonic power to destroy the Velvet Room forever," Other Kanji said as he dies from bleeding out.
"Shit, we need to go now," Adi said as everyone is dumbfounded by this.
"They are going after Igor and the others?" Yu asked as Adi takes the demonic gem to depower down the tower.
"They are going after the big man himself. This is going to be rough, especially with Other Yukiko there," Adi said.
'How strong is Other Yukiko?" Rise asked.
"She has become something else. She is not human anymore; she has given her life to make sure her missions are successful. I don't believe you are ready to fight her yet. She is too strong and Margaret and the others are going to fight for their life if they last that long," Adi said as she begins to call the others to head for the Velvet Room in the park.
The Velvet Room has become a battlefield with Margaret, Theodore, and Lavenza getting pushed back by a horde made up of hundreds of Demons overwhelming them. They are all battered and wounded from the prolonged fighting with Other Yukiko looming in the background seeping with demonic powers putting the attendants in a state of fear they never felt before.