What awaits them behind the door where they fought the Hierophant is a repelling mass of floating pink fluid, heart-shaped and goopy. There's a revoltingly sweet musk in the air, wafting around the room in peach patches of fog but the girls don't hesitate to rush in.

"So it was you!"

Her voice shrill, Yukari rushes through the lines, her bow fully cranked, barely containing her opening shot.

"I'll teach you not to mess with a girl's heart!"

Minako and Mitsuru are flanking her, weapons at the ready, and their leader gives her the go. Takeba scores a bullseye that resonates across the room but the arrow bounces back and falls to the floor, broken. She takes out her evoker in a rush and screams Io into existence.

"I'll never forgive you!"

Her support joins in, Penthesilea shadowing Mitsuru to summon blocks of ice in complement to her forward lunge. Minako calls forth a large chimera roaring tornadoes, using the gusts to propel her, naginata held like a javelin. The boys exchange a glance of confusion at the female assault; the girls seem intent on fixing this all by themselves.

Iori whistles appreciatively at the spectacle, smiling.

"Glad that ain't me, dudes. Well, don't mind if I do!"

He runs in, going to bat on the shadow. Half the team seems intent on simply brute forcing the enemy down, so Akihiko keeps back next to Minato to focus on support. They'll be more effective if the syrupy tentacles can't interrupt them.

He'd rather be punching out his feelings right now, drown out the buzz that consumes his train of thought, but keeping them safe is more important than his guilt. Polydeuces and Minato's serpentine warrior shower their friends with various enhancements in rapid succession.

The spongy slime of the shadow makes it hard to deal any damage, even its glassy panes protecting the core are cushioning hits. Junpei groans in frustration and calls for Hermes' flame dive. The persona is pushed back on contact like it hit a brick wall, so he takes his broadsword and resumes hacking at it the old-fashioned way.

Mitsuru is growling, jabbing her weapon, and dancing around the Lovers alongside Minako. Both girls are timing their strikes with Yukari's persona attacks, summoning wind gales that hide their next points of attack. There's something eerie in their coordination, an unspoken understanding that this thing needs to die for its transgression.

There's a rumbling coming from the pink mass and bright projectiles, coated in slime, start peppering the field. Everyone's trying to dance out of the way since there's no cover anywhere, but one of them flesh wounds Mitsuru in the shoulder and she stops fighting, dazed.

Her frosty eyes turn around to her companions and with a cruel smile she chuckles in glee, turning her sword toward Minako.

Junpei, closer to her, seems to realize what's happening faster than any of them.

"Oh, SHIT! Mina-tan!"

Akihiko is too far to jump in, and neither is Minato but they both rush forward. Forewarned by Iori, Minako manages to jump backward and dodge sideways once she sees the rapier is coming for her face, but it cuts her cheek and a chunk of her hair, throwing her off balance on the floor. Iori tries to push Mitsuru down from behind, keeping his blade on the flat, but quick as a cat, she turns on him.

He desperately tries to block, but his large sword is not one for finesse and Mitsuru is swinging hers like a live cobra, all small jabs and quick strikes, scoring some light hits until she skewers him in the shoulder like a butterfly. The heavy weapon clangs on the floor, along with Junpei who groans in pain, while the shadow riles itself for another attack behind. Yukari is screaming, he's still a tad too far and Minato will get there first, so Akihiko fires his evoker straight through his forehead while running.

"Polydeuces!"

A column of white lightning explodes on the shadow, not to great effect but enough to startle it out of another projectile volley, giving him the precious seconds he needed to roll next to Minato's position. They're both standing in a weird and vulnerable formation, pinned between Mitsuru and the large monstrosity, back-to-back. Iori is on one side, Minako on another, and Takeba is trying to tend to Junpei's wounds from afar to avoid provoking the Kirijo heiress her way. Minato looks at his partner's knuckles then cracks his wrist, murmuring.

"I'll hold her off, take the other."

Akihiko nudges his shoulder with his own.

"Watch her left, on down."

With that, he lunges toward the shadow, covering Minako who's getting up. He barely caught a glimpse of the crimson river marring her face and the roar of tension in his limbs is tuning them to a shaking rage as he strikes the sludge again and again, rolling under the wing slaps.

Kendo lessons are paying off as Minato duels with Mitsuru, a blank expression of concentration on his face and blade held loosely. Behind her he sees Yukari doesn't have Junpei up yet, but he's not bleeding so much anymore and he seems to be waiting for an opening to retrieve his weapon. That, he can handle.

Mitsuru is wailing on him like a screeching banshee, but Minato focuses all his movement on avoiding her hits and deflecting the epee just enough to avoid serious injuries. Numerous slices appear on his jacket, but he doesn't react, just grunts and parries, studying his opponent like he's been taught to do. She has more formal training but now he knows exactly what to look for now. As soon as the rapier dips to the left, he unleashes his evoker and summons Jack Frost to pummel her with hail and snow.

She's still advancing, not quite hurt but shivering, and he barely deflects another jab with the hilt of his sword before repeating his summon, earning a slice on his knee for it. This time, she's downed to her knees, frozen.

The Lovers shadow finally connects a sticky appendage around Akihiko and slams him to the floor, making his ears ring. The impact releases a cloud of pinkish haze around him, and his vision starts to swim. There's something familiar about the feel of the humid, cloying mist and he shakes his head.

"Oh hell no!"

The enemy pulses a weird, reddish burst of energy through the room but just as it's about to hit him and Junpei, who just got back into the fray, a bluish one counters it with a refreshing shower of energy. Turning his head, he can see a dazed Mitsuru cradled by Yukari and Io still emitting sparks, while Minako and Minato are raising evokers and holding hands, both determined despite their bloody state.

"Jack Frost!"

"Pyro Jack!"

The two little spirits that appear almost look like puppets, but they start dancing together in a circle and explode in a flash of brilliant light, destabilizing the shadow. Akihiko and Junpei waste no time in rushing in to exploit that opportunity, but its Yukari who deals the finishing blow with a flesh-rending burst of wind.

"And screw you, too!"