The Mask Shatters
Chapter 16
"This is Alpha. The Beginning…."
"Oh holy shit…." Kaneshiro murmured, taking a slight step back as the young Arthur stepped forward, raising his blade towards the man. Rage boiling from his eyes.
"What's the matter, Kaneshiro?!" Arthur called him out, looking around to his remaining security forces. Expecting trouble over all else. "Where's your steel balls from earlier, huh?!"
Kaneshiro gulped, with Graham stepping before him, Pistol in hand. "You dare talk down to the President?! You insolent little…"
"All bark and no bite, Officer Graham." Arthur fired back, chuckling all the while at the perceived empty opposition. "If you have something to say, then say it and let's be done with this nonsense!"
"It's "Chief"' to you…" Graham growled, leveling his weapon on Arthur. He looked over his shoulder towards Kaneshiro, who simply froze as he stared at the majesty that was Shiro. "President Kaneshiro!"
He jumped, looking up at Graham with fear-laden eyes.
"W-what?!" Kaneshiro mewled.
"What should we do?!" Graham asked. "Just give the order and I'll ice this sonofabitch!"
Kaneshiro blinked, his lips quivering as he stood there. Almost slack jawed as he beheld the tall, legendary figure standing over Arthur like a guardian angel born from the dreams of a cardinal.
Its emotionless kami mask, staring down at him with a perceived feeling of divine hatred burrowing deep inside of it only served to unnerve Kaneshiro even further - who could do little else but there in sheer terror. Quiet and timid as the idea of dying here loomed over him.
Then, he simply sighed and straightened up, finding a semblance of courage - or, rather, faux indifference - with Graham standing guard before him. He moved a lone hand to his tie as he gave the order.
"Take him down, Chief."
Graham didn't hesitate, and the room was quickly filled with the deafening strokes of a pistol discharging. Light flashing in return, and some of the other guards even jumped in place.
*BAM*
*BAM*
*BAM*
He fired once, twice. Again and again. Time after time, bullet after bullet. He kept firing, over and over until the clip had run dry.
Graham lowered his gun, eager to lay eyes upon what he had done. But nothing short of a gasp escaped him as he beheld what he had done.
Or, more accurately, what he had failed to accomplish.
There Arthur stood, glaring at him over the holy standard that Shiro had shielded him with. Shiro huffed, laughing and crowing as he brought the standard back to bearing over his shoulder, stepping back behind Arthur all the while.
Arthur cracked his neck, returning to his fencing stance. A hand behind his back, he challenged Graham with a single utterance.
"En garde!"
"Dammit!" Graham cried out, taking a step back to "protect" Kaneshiro. But even this false display couldn't shield himself from Arthur's ever keen eye.
He could see him shaking.
Graham was terrified.
Terrified of the power he was witnessing.
"I-I'm gonna evacuate the President!" Graham said as he looked in between the remaining security officers. "50 million yen to whoever offs this yankee piece of shit!"
The guards looked at each other for a moment with avarice burning behind their masks before Kaneshiro opened up his mouth to speak.
"Make him suffer while you're at it!"
And with that, Kaneshiro sped around on his heels and booked it down the way he came, with Graham right behind him.
Leaving Arthur with five security guards standing before him: Guns at the ready, taking positions to deal with him on their own terms. A 50 million bounty had now just been placed on his head, and the familiar demon of eager gluttony soon found itself taking root in their minds and hearts. Arthur huffed, watching as two guards began a slow approach, pistols drawn and ready to rock.
"Not all is as it seems…" Shiro said, causing Arthur to glance up at him over his shoulder.
"What do you mean?" Arthur didn't hesitate to ask, turning his eyes back onto the approaching duo.
"Watch and learn, my dear shogun…" Shiro nodded forth.
"Shogun, huh…" Arthur rolled his shoulders back and took an idle step rearwards, doing his best to keep some distance between himself and his enemies.
They stopped, dropping their pistols to the floor below. Listening to the shreek thuds, Arthur rose a brow, confused as to what they were doing.
Then, taking Arthur by complete surprise, they snapped over backwards, their heads nearly coming to rest on the floor below as their arms shot out behind them. A sickening, bone-snapping noise followed, with the sounds of viscous dripping liquid accompanied soon after.
"W-what the…?!" Arthur jumped back, unsure of what he was witnessing.
The guards began to convulse, shaking and trembling in place. Gurgling at the mouths, almost like they were rabid animals.
All the while their comrades watched, unperturbed by this sudden development.
The crumbling guards then vanished in a flash of red and black smoke, transforming themselves into what looked to Arthur to be a couple of felines.
But they weren't just felines…
Arthur watched as they stood up, taking in only the figures and tails, but when they got to their feet, Arthur cocked his head and he realized that they were actually women.
Women wearing mink coats and black leggings, staring him down behind bright yellow eyes with pupils the shape of a cat's. A mask protecting their mouths and cheeks, and served only to confuse and frighten Arthur further.
"Still they choose to die…" Shiro murmured, catching Arthur's attention.
"What?" Arthur glanced up at him.
Shiro shook his head, huffing as he stepped forward past the young American. "Now is not the time for talking. Now is the time for fighting!"
Arthur nodded, looking back at the foes before him. But inside, despite the sudden excitement and adrenaline he was feeling, he wasn't sure what to do. He could attack, that much was certain. A fencing sword was great for frontal defense and offense, but looking around himself he knew that neither he nor Shiro could deflect all of the weapons pointed at him.
And glancing at what Shiro referred to as "Nekomatas", they seemed to be preparing themselves as well: Entering into a low stance that saw them hunch over and unsheathe their claws like cats stalking their prey. Arthur gulped, unsure of what to do against this.
Shiro chuckled, looking down at him. He said simply, "I will teach you."
He then looked to the foes before him, stretching his arms out and daring any to attack him. "I am the champion of Japanese Catholicism!" He shouted, raising the banner high above before bringing it down with a single twist of his wrist - a bright white light accompanying it. "Amakusa Shiro!"
He slammed it into the floor, smashing the tile upwards in a bright, cataclysmic white explosion that expanded outwards to Arthur's foes. Sweeping them off their feet as they shouted with fear and surprise.
"FUUUUUUCK!" One of the guards yelled,finding himself lifted up almost to the ceiling above.
"Oh, ooooooohhh!" A nekomata cried, losing her footing for a moment before landing on her feet as she glared up at the two. "You're gonna have to try harder than that, sweety."
Shiro chuckled, lowering his sword to level as he glanced over at Arthur, bleak eyes behind an angelic mask staring into Arthur's green, shocked emeralds. "...and I am the rebel's soul that dwells within you." He said, turning to face him fully. "I am the other you who has longed for what seems like forever to break free of the chains imposed upon you… And together, we will smite our foes with God's might!"
Arthur glanced over the scene before him, beholding the now vandalized battlefield before him and huffed with amusement, watching as security struggled to stand to their feet. "Woah…" Arthur smirked. "Awesome!"
"Use the anger and the hate inside you…" Shiro commanded Arthur, gaining his sharp attention. "Call forth my name, and I will do battle alongside you!" He called out, demanding that Arthur take part.
Arthur nodded, gritting his teeth with this reminder that the only way out now was with bloodshed.
"Very well." Arthur said, tightening his grip on his sword. "Then let's get this over with!"
He idly watched the scene unfold through the CCTV live feed.
Arms crossed, a hand stroking his concealed chin, bright yellow eyes staring into what seemed unknown even to him. His Scottish voice hummed with amusement as he beheld the awakening in its entirety.
The screaming, the bloody reveal, and the cowardice of Kaneshiro as he fled from the scene.
And the Persona standing over the unknown young man. As angelic as it was terrifyingly intimidating.
Even to this individual, who only watched as the Persona struck the floor below - sending a blessed shockwave outward and stunning its owners foes with such power that rivaled his own, he couldn't help but feel both awed and humbled.
"But where did he come from…?" He asked himself, cocking his head as the Persona turned to its master. He could not hear the words being exchanged, but the message was clear. The man shook his head, watching as the new persona user rushed forward towards his closest foe: A Nekomata, still struggling to get to her feet. The Scot sighed, shaking his head slowly. "The gowk is gonna get 'imself killed…"
The persona user lashed forward, piercing the Nekomata into the floor and running her through as she sat there on her hands and her knees, struggling to even stand. He then tightened the grit on his teeth, twisted his arm, and forced her face first into the tile below.
He could not hear it, but her reaction and the persona user's surprised expression told him all he needed to know of the sounds it emitted.
She vanished in a pool of black and crimson smoke, leaving the persona user to ready himself his new defense.
Another Nekomata jumped at him from the side. The persona user turned, strafing to his left to dodge her before throwing a thrust her way to counter. She dodged as well, grabbing his blade and tugging him forward. However, he was having none of it. Closing the distance between them, he gave the Nekomata a jab to the throat, forcing her to release his weapon as she moved to clutch at her discombobulated throat.
The persona user took the opportunity, and quickly ran her through as well, grabbing her by the shoulder and pulling her close until his blade had completely exited the other side.
She vanished just as the last one did, and the persona user turned to face the security officers, who were just getting their bearings back.
The Scot tapped his cheek, surprised at how well the persona user was doing.
"Hmph." He huffed, watching as the kid took his rather unique defensive stance. "Not bad…."
"Not bad at all…"
"Take the target down! Kill him!" The radios crackled out, with Arthur pointing his sword towards his attackers, who were just beginning to level their weapons on the young American.
"For President Kaneshiro!" One of the guards shouted, to which Arthur chuckled and fired back.
"You'll die for "President" Kaneshiro!" Arthur countered, glancing at his idle Persona, who until now only observed his other self in what could only be assumed as a moment of study. "Smite them, Shiro!"
"You take well to this…" Shiro chuckled, raising his banner high above him as he turned to face the security officers "...As expected!"
With one flick of his wrist, the banner crashed into the floor, sending a blessed shockwave outwards towards the security officers. They screamed in terror as the blast of holy light lifted them off their feet, tossing them around like simple ragdolls in a girl's playset.
"Our true selves are now met!" Shiro shouted, lifting his sword off his shoulder as he readied to defend his other self. "Now let us fight like one!"
"Reinforcements Omega-19 on scene!" Someone had shouted, capturing the attention of the both of them. Arthur especially found a semblance of fright as he beheld a baker's dozen security officers entering the security station. Some moved to help their fallen comrades, while the rest turned their weapons on Arthur. Even so, he flicked his blade and took his stance, tired of running from it all.
"Blast the yankee!" One of them shouted and all at once, Arthur heard the unanimous clicking off of their safeties.
Then, almost in unison, they opened fire.
Thinking swiftly, he ducked and he weaved, nearly slipping as he danced through the hellfire falling upon him - jumping over the security station's counter and taking cover from the reaper's glare.
Wood chipped and splintered, flying in every direction around him as the bullets whizzed and screamed like an angel's siren call, come to recce his soul. He covered his head, shouting in absolute anger as the thunderous echoes of the gunfire pounded in his ears, shattering the scene around him.
"Strike them, Shiro!" Arthur managed to get above the sounds of war, to which Shiro gladly obliged. Shiro raised his blade and took a single step forward, capturing the attention of Kaneshiro's reinforcements. "For justice!" He added, gripping his sword tight in preparation for a counter-attack.
Shiro swung swiftly and hard, bringing the blade to bear as he cut through a group of security officers like bread. They had no time to shout, no time to scream in terror. They simply fell, each officer cut into two, their lives forfeit as their bodies exploded into black smoke.
Arthur, teeth grit, adrenaline pumping, jumped out from his hiding place. Sliding over the counter, he rushed to his closest foe - a security officer that was still reeling from Shiro's assault.
Arthur struck him in the visor with his clenched fist, knocking him to the shattered tile floor below like crumpled paper; shouting in agonizing surprise as his visor blistered into pieces. He didn't have the time to fight back as Arthur finished him with a stomp to his throat.
Turning his attention to the remaining five who were regaining themselves from the brief stagger, he pointed one out with his blade and shouted angrily. "Shiro! "
Shiro responded by lifting his banner to the sky above, and before long the officer was erased into the annals of history. Evaporated by a sudden, holy explosion by his feet. An explosion that had caught one of his comrades as well.
"Hrrrr…!" One of the officers grunted, frustration dripping from his voice. "The target's too strong!" He shouted, dropping his weapon to floor below. Before it even landed, however, he jerked backwards - transforming into a Nekomata! "For the glorious President Kaneshiro!"
Another followed suit, and the third final one exploded within a black, shadowy mist.
In its place, replaced by what could only be described as a Japanese demon…
An Oni…
"You're going down." It said, swinging its blade over its shoulder, practically commanding the room as it towered over Arthur.
"Oh, holy shit… " Arthur took a shaken step back, wary of the Oni's size.
"Take heart." Shiro said, stepping to Arthur's side as he blinked, unsure of what he could do to such a massive beast. "We are the scissors to its paper!" He shouted, crying out a battle cry as it charged forward to deal with the Oni on his own terms.
"Let's end this quickly!" The Oni countered, rushing forward to meet Shiro head-on.
Their blades collided with a sharp spark, a sickening screech being emitted as Shiro's sword ran the length of the Oni's, all the while Arthur dodged and weaved between the Nekomatas. They jumped and clawed at him, outnumbering and outmaneuvering him with their superior agility.
But no matter what, he kept them within his sight at all times. Never once did he turn his back, even as they skirted all about on their sickening hands and legs.
At one point, one jumped at him. Claws sheathed and howling for blood, only to meet the pommel of Arthur's blade. She crumpled to the floor like a sack of bricks, with Arthur placing a firm foot on her chest to pin her.
And with one swift motion, he ended her with a thrust through her throat.
The other watched, giggling near psychotically as she watched her comrade evaporate into a fine, black mist.
"Oooh." She cooed, arching forward in a seductive manner. "Seems you're a bad boy…"
Arthur could only scoff. He knew not what this creature was to be in the laws of nature. He knew only that it wanted him dead, and he was more than pleased to turn the tables. He placed a hand behind his back, taking his combat stance as he challenged the Nekomata.
And the Nekomata was more than willing to oblige.
Meanwhile, Shiro and the Oni clashed their blades together, one after the other. Loud shockwaves that rocked the room and staggered Arthur and his opponent with each blow. The Oni twisted, ducking as Shiro swiped for its neck. Rising back up with an uppercut that struck Shiro clear in the chin. He cried out, stumbling back as the Oni rised for an overhead slash.
Shiro countered, deflecting the blow while planting the banner firmly into the smattered tile below. It crashed through, sending holy light in every direction that blinded both Arthur and his opponent as she leaped at him and burned the Oni. He cried out, falling to his knees as Shiro looked on.
And the Nekomata's leap fell short, skidding and sliding across the floor until she was right at his feet.
To which he happily finished her off with a single, gruesome downwards thrust.
"God's will be done!" Shiro shouted, raising the banner back up to combat his foe. But the Oni laughed at his cry, rising to his feet as he spun his blade on the angelic samurai.
"Your "God" can't save you here!" The Oni countered as he swung. "Now. Die!"
Their blades collided with a brilliant shining spark, and they looked one another in the eye. Grunting and heaving with the effort of battle dawning upon the two of them. The fatigue set in as the Oni's defense weakened and weakened from exposure to holy might.
Shiro took advantage of this misstep, and shoved the Oni away. It staggered backwards, and Shiro swung his banner outwards, knocking the Oni to the side.
Then? He swung his blade next, catching the Oni in the gut. He ripped and teared through his flesh, eliciting brightly-lit screams that cried havoc and echoed through the halls in every direction.
Going even so far as to drown out the bank alarm.
Shiro, with a flick of his wrist and a heavy shout, then ripped free his blade from the Oni's abdominal grasp.
It keeled over, falling onto its back with a heavy thud before evaporating into a thick, black fog.
Arthur could only watch, mesmerized by the display of brutality until he finally managed to usher forth a sigh of relief, thankful the fight was now over.
Shiro hefted his black bloodied blade back onto his shoulder and looked about, noting the sudden emptiness in the room with silence dawning between the both of them.
A sudden silence that was occasionally interrupted in the psych by the alarm.
It was almost deafening, though. Any minute now, Arthur expected reinforcements to arrive. But as turned to face the opposite direction of Shiro - sword readied for more of his performance, he was surprised to see that the enemy had, for the moment, ceased active hostilities.
Instead, all that remained was a small headache pinging in the back of Arthur's skull…
A headache that made him feel as though he had just been struck from behind.
He groaned, standing up fully as he rubbed the pressured point, turning to face Shiro as Arthur put the other to work surveying the scene.
The crumpled tile, the sickly-dark blood streaks…
The bullet holes, the large crevice in the floor where Shiro had slashed Arthur's enemies in two…
Not a single Nekomata or security officer in sight.
Only an empty, destroyed station. One beyond repair that would, in the real world, probably have to be condemned just to even start becoming habitable once more.
And then, it hit him.
The gleeful joy of realization as he took in everything. The great and indisputable feeling of victory over his enemies - such a feeling he hasn't felt in forever. Not since his days fencing back in America.
A smile cracked his lips open as spun around on his feet, taking it all in. He wanted to say something. To cheer and rise his arm up in solidarity within his hard-earned victory, but he couldn't. His arm was shaking, and his lips felt cold. A blue flame burned in his vision, and soon he found he was looking through the mask that he dawned.
It was here that he realized he was out of breath. The fighting that took over had given way to adrenaline, but when the adrenaline had faded, he was replaced with nothing but fatigue. He lurched forward onto his knees, as if the air had just been knocked out of him from a sharp jab.
Another feeling that he remembers quite well…
Falling onto his hands, he devolved into a loud, fracturas coughing fit as he attempted to take in the air he so desperately craved. Meanwhile, he shook and trembled, dry heaving as if he had gone weeks and weeks without sleep. He gasped, trying his best to attune his vision to the new narrow cone he had.
"S-Shiro?!" He coughed up. "W-whats….what's wrong….what's happening to m-me?" He asked, the shakes making it near impossible to form a coherent sentence.
"The fight is over… and your adrenaline has dried up…" Shiro responded, this familiar Irish voice of his own speaking with near impunity. "I, meanwhile, have returned to the depths of your soul, for the time being… It is time we beat our hasty retreat…"
Just then, he heard a voice pipe up from behind.
A voice with an accent from the land of the Scots dripping out from behind every word…
"Ya fight like an Irish barmaid."
Post-Chapter Author's Note
Proof read and edited by Frozen Foe and Kabuto S. Inferno.