Chapter 5

Iwatodai and Port Island were generally regarded as one of the safest areas in Japan. Having been built from the ground up by the Kirijo Group, there were almost no places in town that existed without some sort of protection. Thanks to continuously updated security systems, the city's crime rate was ridiculously low, and the few areas that weren't part of the main grid, those frequented by the few thugs and gangs that existed, were kept strictly in control by the powerfully funded Police Department. While the Kirijo Group usually attracted bad press due to its size and secretive nature, even its worst critics had to grudgingly agree that the group had done a stellar job with safety in Port Island.

Of course, a small part of Akihiko's brain mused, "safe" is relative.

Sprinting through the streets like a bat out of hell, the boxer glanced up at the rooftops for a sign of the monstrous shadow tailing him. At least, he assumed it was a shadow, and while it couldn't be anything else, who knew they could grow to be that huge?

A familiar, bellowing growl snapped him back to attention, and he tore around a corner, grabbing a streetlamp to help himself pivot, just as he caught a glimpse of the monster leap from one roof to another. The grey-haired boy shook the sweat from his brow and cracked his knuckles, forcing his legs to move faster as he splashed through a bloody puddle with a wet noise.

Then, he grinned a little, because damn, this was the most intense experience he'd had in ages.

Suddenly, the boxer heard a whistling noise above and in front of him. His instincts took over, and he immediately grabbed the corner of a building to stop, feeling like he nearly yanked his arm out in the process. He winced, but had no time to contemplate when a huge impact from ahead of him sent asphalt flying, forcing him to involuntarily cover his face.

Akihiko lowered his arms at the sound of a low growl, and he found himself face to face with the bastard.

Face to mask being the more accurate description. The shadow was a tangled mass of arms, all colored a shadowy black, but with varying lengths and muscle masses. One arm, grotesquely narrow and tall with a length of nearly two meters, held a lightly glowing blue mask, clearly stained with blood, which leered down at the slight human below it. Twitching erratically, it stalked forward, reaching out dozens of arms towards the boxer as it grew closer.

Like hell was he going to let that thing grab him.

Taking a step back, Akihiko tore a silver handgun out of its holster. Ignoring its intricate design and the abbreviation S.E.E.S. engraved onto its side, he jammed the weapon against his forehead with a smirk and pulled the trigger.

"Come on, then! Polydeuces!"

Blue-tinted glass burst out of the back of his head, and a loud shattering echoed around the street. Above the grey-haired boy, blue shards swirled and crashed together, materializing into a blond humanoid with a blue body and a tiny red left hand and feet. Its right arm formed a huge drill, whirling as it stared down the demon in front of it.

"Sonic punch!"

At Akihiko's command, Polydeuces charged forward, spinning its drill even faster, before slamming it into the shadow at the last possible moment. The shadow's longest arm jerked backwards, taking its mask out of the persona's range, while several other limbs, now severed, went flying. The other arms shot forward, and several latched onto the bulky persona while more materialized knives with a sickening sound of too many blades being drawn at once. The monster sliced down at its opponent, but most blades bounced off of the persona's metal flak vest, and the shadow growled in frustration.

Akihiko didn't wait to see the rest. As his persona grappled with the monster, he took off down the street, wincing at the bruise he had gotten when he ordered his persona to attack. Mitsuru would probably give him a lecture for that later. She hated him taking risks, and, well… moves that drained health were pretty risky.

But in his defense, this was a terrible match-up for him. In boxing, one of the most important lessons is that if someone has greater range than you, you need to let them make the first move, and look for an opening. Otherwise, you'll get the crap beaten out of you since they can both stay out of your range while whaling away on your shorter frame. This shadow, however, had extended range and zero openings, since it had so many arms. And all of those arms looked like they could do some damage. Hell, he wasn't afraid to say that some part of him was legitimately jealous of some of those arm muscles.

He felt the familiar settling within him that told him Polydeuces had returned to him. The shadow had obviously noticed too, and he heard it roar from several blocks away. Spitting out phlegm, he sped up again, breath heavy and ragged as his exhausted body objected to his pace.

Only a few more blocks…!

And speaking of which, he'd better let them know. He whipped out his flip phone (a Razr) and hit speed dial 2. After one ring, someone picked up.

"Akihiko, is that you? What's going on?"

"Sorry, Mitsuru, I don't have time to talk-" A much closer roar him made him cringe, cutting himself off.

"What was that?!"

He chuckled, almost without meaning to. "You're not gonna believe this, but there's a huge shadow right here. It's chasing me, but I'm almost back. Thought you guys should know."

Mitsuru was about to reply, but he never heard it, instead flipping his phone shut and shoving it back into his pocket. Just then, he heard a crunching noise come from the buildings to his left, and he looked up to see-

He nearly stumbled. The shadow was running after him, not on top of the buildings or on the ground, but on the sides of the buildings. What?! That wasn't even logical, it wouldn't make chasing him any easier!

With a throaty bellow, it tensed to leap towards him. Jerking his head back down, Akihiko quickly noticed a tiny alley between the buildings, just wide enough for him to fit. Without further thought, he changed his tack and squeezed into the space, just as the earth-shattering impact of the monster landing caused the buildings to shake.

He then realized what a stupid mistake he'd made.

The wall covered most of his body, but the space was too small for Polydeuces to be summoned without seriously damaging the structural integrity of the two buildings surrouning him. The shadow, on the other hand... its arms were long enough that it didn't need to worry about that.

Through the gap, the boy saw the shadow's mask turn towards him slowly, before the rest of its "body" prowled forward menacingly. While it deliberately took each step, casually summoning a knife with one of its longer arms, Akihiko scrambled backwards until he hit an poorly placed wall, preventing further movement.

Shit!

He swallowed as the monster's arm grew closer. At this point, the only thing he could do was charge and get the hell out of there, since he'd get hurt doing anything now. He tensed his body, preparing for a sprint and a stab of pain...

But before he could do anything, the shadow stopped.

Shoulders relaxing in surprise, Akihiko peered around the hand extended towards him, and saw the mask was now turned away from him. The monster made a low noise (and, come to think of it, how did it do that?), retracted its hand, and sprinted down the street away from the dorm.

Akihiko stood there for a moment, completely dumbfounded. What just happened?

Quickly shaking his head, he made his way out of the alley before running back to the dorm, admittedly at a much slower pace than before. He burst through the door, immediately shutting it again behind him and sliding down to the floor with an exhausted sigh.

"Akihiko!"

Even after so many years of working with Mitsuru, hearing her voice still made him snap to attention. He immediately sat upright, still gasping.

"What happened? Are you alright?" Mitsuru questioned as she, the Chairman, and Yukari rushed into the room.

"I'm fine," Akihiko assured her, not telling her that he almost wasn't. "There was a huge shadow, but I got away from it. I'm pretty sure that it'll be here soon anyways."

"How big, Akihiko?"

He opened his mouth to reply, but the building suddenly shook, swinging the chandelier and knocking cups and a few plates off of the lounge's coffee table and shelves.

The Chairman gripped the wall and widened his eyes in fear, and Yukari squeaked. "You've gotta be kidding me!"

Mitsuru narrowed her eyes and drew her evoker. "Mr. Chairman, please get to the command room. Takeba, go wake Arisato up, and get her down here; you two will be our backup if something goes wrong. You have your headpiece?"

"Y-Yeah," Yukari replied and raised a hand to her ear to make sure her communications device was working.

Mitsuru nodded. "Good. Please go quickly!"

Yukari nodded and dashed off, followed by Ikutsuki. Akihiko then turned to Mitsuru, one eyebrow raised. "Only one Arisato? What about the boy?"

"He never came back to the dorm tonight."

"What?! Mitsuru, where is he?"

"I don't know, Akihiko," Mitsuru replied tightly, "I would've dragged him back here by his ears if I did!"

Some part of Akihiko was pleased to see his old friend's real, slightly sarcastic personality seep through (Slightly, because Akihiko wasn't totally sure she wouldn't have dragged the taller Arisato back by his ears). Most of him, however, was more worried about the boy.

"Something else got the shadow's attention when it was chasing me," Akihiko reported quietly. "You don't think-"

"We're wasting time," Mitsuru cut him off. "We need to go out there and destroy that monster before it can cause any more damage to the city."

Mitsuru put up a good show. But Akihiko had known her too long to miss the worry and minute despair that flickered on her face when he mentioned the missing Arisato. He shared her sentiments.

Another tremor shook through the building, and the two veterans glanced at each other before running outside. A quick movement on one side of the dorm caught their attention. Akihiko jabbed his finger in its direction. "There!"

Sprinting after it, they rounded the corner to find the shadow pounding on the wall. Noticing their presence, it turned its mask towards them, while its other arms flailed around as the monster began to stalk towards the duo. Mitsuru glared at it, clenching her silver evoker tightly, but Akihiko just stared at it suspiciously, because…

"It should be bigger…"

Mitsuru turned her glare on him in all its terror. "Akihiko! This is no time-"

"No, Mitsuru!" Akihiko interrupted, in a rare showing of boldness against the Kirijo heir. "I mean it was bigger earlier, much bigger! Nearly twice the size of this one! I don't think this is the one that was chasing me!"

Eyes widening, Mitsuru pressed a finger to her ear. "Takeba! Do you read me? There might be more than one shadow! I need you to-"

Akihiko didn't hear what she said next, as she was drowned out by the mini-shadow's high-pitched squeal. He almost laughed. Seriously? This was his opponent now that he had reinforcements?

It charged forward regardless, much more clumsily than its larger brethren, and summoned knives in its hands as it leapt into the air. Akihiko sidestepped neatly, and it crashed into the spot where the boxer had been standing moments ago before turning to face him. Unfortunately for the monster, Akihiko already had his evoker out and fired, Polydeuces exploding into existence above him.

"Zio!"

The blond persona raised its drill, the air charged with energy, and the shadow was hit with a small bolt of electricity accompanied by a sharp crackle. Crying out in pain, the shadow took a step backwards before shaking itself and once again charging forward, this time with more purpose. The grey-haired boy tensed, ready to dodge…

Until the shadow tripped over one of its hands with a squeak, dropping its knives and mask, and landed in a tumble at the boxer's feet.

Akihiko just stared at the shadow, which was now making distressed noises and fumbling around desperately for its mask. He was seriously considering giving it back to the shadow, too. Sure, it had been trying to kill them a second ago, but now it just looked like it needed a hug.

Mitsuru, however, had no qualms. Striding forward, she immediately brought a heeled boot down on the mask with a crack. Akihiko winced, and the shadow screamed in its death throes, arms falling one by one to the ground before they dissolved into black sludge and soon evaporated.

As the shadow fell apart and its groans died with it, Mitsuru let out a deep breath. Having visibly collected herself, she turned on a heel and faced her compatriot. "Well, Akihiko? Where do you think the other one is?"

He hummed. "We need to check the rooftops. That thing can climb faster than a damn monkey."

Mitsuru blanched. "It can what?!"

"Climb faster… Mitsuru, you didn't tell them to go to the roof, did you?!"

"We need to go, now!" the Kirijo heir ordered. "Talk later, Akihiko!"

The boxer nodded, and the pair went sprinting for the entrance. Mitsuru tore the door open, almost ripping it off its hinges, and they scrambled through the lounge and up the stairs. As they arrived at the first floor, Akihiko tried to speak. "Mitsuru-"

"Akihiko, sending them to the Control Room would draw the shadow there, where they would have to defend the chairman as well as themselves! And I wasn't going to keep them on the first floor when the other shadow could ambush them through the back door! Did you want me to send them out with us?!"

"Uh, actually," the grey-haired boy panted out, "I was going to say to not blame yourself, I should've told you about its abilities earlier."

Mitsuru stayed silent while her face heated up slightly. They continued bolting up the steps, taking two at a time, before finally arriving at the roof's entrance and slamming into it, only to realize that it wasn't budging.

"Dammit!" the redhead hissed, nearly losing her composure entirely. "Why the hell would they lock the damn door?!" She jammed her hand into her pocket, fumbling with her keys, before they heard a cry come from the other side of the door.

Yukari!

Akihiko clenched his fists in frustration as Mitsuru's actions became more frantic. After a few more moments, she finally found the right key and rammed it into the keyhole. She twisted the doorknob and kicked the door open in one movement, leaping out and drawing her evoker-

Before stopping in surprise, looking at something to the left of the door, and ignoring the injured Yukari lying down to her right.

Akihiko jumped out beside Mitsuru, to see what exactly was more important than their fallen comrade and the enormous shadow right in front of them, before a shattering noise wiped everything else from his mind.

A girl with reddish-brown hair (probably that Hamuko) had summoned a persona and was smirking widely, eyes glazed over, with glowing blue shards flowing from her temple. Meanwhile, her persona, a brunette with a gold, metal-plated body, mechanical joints, and a heart-shaped lyre on its back, swirled into existence above her.

"It seems we were correct about her potential," Mitsuru muttered, dazed from the spectacle. Akihiko nodded slowly, and was about to speak until the sound of breaking flesh made him freeze in shock.

A white-gloved hand had burst out of the persona's chest, causing it to clutch itself near the opening while Hamuko gasped in pain and grabbed her head. The persona's midsection convulsed and wriggled, until a gleaming blade slid out of the stomach and next to the hand.

Akihiko's eyes widened.

In one fluid movement, the sword swiped sideways, almost bisecting the gold-plated persona, while the hand viciously tore the rest of the upper half away. The remains of the split persona dissolved, melting into dark ectoplasm that hit the roof with a sickening squelch, and something else slowly rose out of it, momentarily hidden from view by the gore.

As the persona's remains settled, the figure was revealed, and the veterans and Yukari gasped.

Almost more gruesome than the shadow itself, the hand was part of something straight out of nightmares. White gloves were attached to an abnormally tall and thin body, dressed in a black overcoat that reached its ankles, while its face was covered by a bone-white mask, split in two like sharp jaws. Most disconcerting were its long, slim sword, now stained in dark matter from the previous persona, and the string of coffins chained to its neck that hovered ominously as the new persona rasped for breath in short gasps.

Suddenly rearing back, it deeply inhaled before bellowing out an animalistic war cry. The resulting shockwave (Seriously? Akihiko thought. A shockwave?!) made the veterans and Yukari wince and cover their faces as their hair blew back. Hamuko, directly below the monster, fell to her knees and dropped the evoker, clenching the ground with one hand while still holding her head with the other.

The noise stilled as the persona stared at the shadow. In the resulting silence, one of the shadow's hands, now trembling, dropped its knife with a clang, strangely loud in the deathly quiet of the night.

Then, the persona pounced.

Merciless could be used to describe the new persona. So could terrifying, monster, and things to never see again. But for some reason, Akihiko's mind kept thinking death.

The black persona flew forward while the shadow desperately backpedalled, feebly swiping to keep the monstrosity at bay. Completely disregarding its attempts, the persona swung its sword, cutting knives and a good deal of arms into pieces, before reaching out with its other hand and crushing the arm holding the mask. As the shadow screeched in pain, the persona neatly caught the mask, white-gloved fingers through both eyeholes and the thumb through the mouth hole. With a bellow, it clenched its fist, crushing the glowing mask through its center. The shadow screamed in terror, just like its counterpart, and its arms fell one by one while the mask fell apart in the persona's hands.

The persona surveyed its work for a moment, breathing heavily as it watched the shadow's remains dissolve, before letting out another nightmare-inducing roar. Everyone present winced, but when they looked again, the persona had reverted to its older, golden form, before soon fading away with the sound of static.

Nobody moved, stunned and in shock at what had just happened, until a faintly cheery voice shook Akihiko from his stupor.

"Hey-a… Senpais… glad you could make it…" Hamuko said with a faint smile. "I'd hate to have you miss the… party…"

She began tumbling over from her kneeled state, but Mitsuru and Akihiko caught her before she could hit the ground. Laying the girl on her back, Mitsuru quickly checked for a pulse, holding her hand to the girl's wrist for a moment before sighing in relief. "She's alive, just unconscious. It could just be dark hour exhaustion, but we should still take her to the hospital right away."

Akihiko nodded. But life was never that simple.

Somewhere from their right, Yukari squeaked out, "S-senpais!" They both whirled around to find two small shadows, merely blobs on the floor with arms and blue masks, inching their way towards them.

Akihiko could have snorted. Cowardly Mayas. He didn't even need to summon Polydeuces for them.

He cracked his neck and took a step forward, but an arm moved in front of him to block his path. "These ones are mine, Akihiko," Mitsuru stated in a dangerously quiet voice. "Stand back."

The boxer gulped and obeyed.

His old friend strode forward, lightly placing her evoker against her temple, before firing with a glare at the shadows. "Penthesilea!"

Mitsuru's persona rose from behind her, its female face hidden behind a slit knight's helmet while a corset-shaped breastplate covered its body. Swinging its rapier and dirk experimentally, it looked down at its redheaded summoner, who pointed her smoking evoker at the shadows.

"Attack."

Mitsuru turned away and began walking back to Yukari, not even watching as her persona threw its blades with deadly accuracy, impaling and killing the shadows instantly. While her persona retrieved its blades and dissipated, Mitsuru knelt by Yukari and helped her up, gesturing at Akihiko. "Come on, we must take Arisato to the hospital. The dark hour should be ending soon anyways."

As she spoke, the world turned from a faded green to its normal hue. Akihiko picked up the girl's limp body (surprisingly light), and he and the two other girls exited the roof, closing the door behind them with a click.

Yukari closed the bathroom door and turned on the faucet, sliding down the wall as the water fell with a relaxing gurgle. The girl heaved a frustrated sigh, wincing in pain as her deep breath aggravated a bruise on her side. What the hell was wrong with her? The shadow was terrifying, of course, but she should have done something! All she had to do was pull the damn trigger! But no. No, she couldn't. Instead, she had just stood there like a moron! Like an idiot! Like a novice! Like…

Like a damn weakling.

She knew that's what she was, of course. But to hear it from herself… it hurt. It cut deep.

The brunette shut her eyes and slowly drew out her evoker, unbuckling the weapon's holster with a click as the button released, and placed it almost gently on her forehead. Furrowing her brows, she took another deep breath, and tightened her grip on the trigger. Yukari exhaled explosively, opening her eyes with a frighteningly intense glare as she began to pull the-

All she found was several inches of cold silver steel staring back at her emotionlessly. Her glare faltered, and as her hands suddenly went numb, she lowered the quivering gun down to her lap and bent her head low, brown bangs covering her eyes.

No, she really couldn't do it. Not now, not the last time, and not even when someone depended on it.

God dammit. God damn her. And her fucking weakness too.

She glared at the object in her hands, eyes wet with frustration. She wouldn't give up now. She'd never give up until she found out what really happened that day. But at the same time… God, it was hard. Who knew that such a small piece of steel could so thoroughly run and ruin her life?

Yukari shook her head. It didn't matter now. Now, she needed to wait for her Senpais to get back from the hospital so they could all debrief, and the bathroom wasn't the most… comfortable place to wait. Yukari got up with a sigh. After turning off the water with a squeak, she opened the door, although not before noting that her cardigan was a complete mess (Great, that was just what she needed). She stepped into the lounge slowly, taking off her torn pink outer layer and tossing it onto the armchair before plopping down on it herself. After absently unbuttoning the top button of her white dress shirt, she flopped a bruised arm across her eyes as she waited for the leaders to return.

It seemed like only a few moments later when the door opened with a sharp crack, and Yukari started from her half-asleep state. "O-Oh, Senpais! I didn't know you'd be back so soon, how's she-"

She froze and immediately cut herself off in shock as she focused on the figure in the doorway. That was not one of her Senpais.

The person, a male, was breathing heavily, one hand gripping the doorframe while the other was clutched against his chest, trying (and failing) to stop the massive bleeding coming from his shredded shirt. Blood had seeped through nearly all of his clothes, staining his torso a dark red and seeping down to his legs, where Yukari noticed that he was leaning entirely on his right leg. The boy's left leg was bent at an impossible angle, the ankle twisted abnormally far to the right and trailing slightly behind the other.

She gasped as she suddenly recognized who it was, and the figure finally spoke.

"What the hell," Minato rasped, "is going on here?"

Many things can be said about Takeba Yukari. But despite what she sometimes believed, one of them is not that she is totally useless.

She leapt up and dashed forward, stopping for a moment by the boy to swing his arm over her shoulders as she said authoritatively, "We're going to the hospital. Now." Minato nodded weakly in agreement, inhaling sharply as they took a step forward. Crimson seeped through Yukari's clothes as she slammed the door open with her foot and practically carried the boy outside, making sure to keep him off of his clearly broken leg while taking a left down the road towards the hospital. The dorm's door was left hanging open, and blood slowly dripped down its frame and soiled the welcome mat below as the sound of feet and gasps of pain faded into the distance.

AN: Oh, man, this chapter was fun to write!

Side note… did you guys know that any pictures on have to be in 6x9 format? 'Cuz I sure didn't until I had finished my 8.5x11 cover pic for this story…

Anyways, shout outs to: ademolix, MarkOfGod, GdGsflame, crymblade, Chris ShadowMoon, wisdom668, Meia42, DogKnight, shanagan, and Teal96ko for following; ademolix, GdGsflame, blarg7865, Meia42, and Teal96ko for faving; and last but not least, gerson, blarg7865, crymblade, and Gue3t for reviewing.

(And in response to Gue3t: Thanks for reviewing, I'm glad to hear you're liking the humor so far! And if by 'overdone setting' you mean the 'Minato goes back in time' plot, then yeah, I agree with you there. But hopefully I'm adding enough new perspectives/ideas to keep you interested!)

One final thing: who here would be interested in a sort of "mythology corner" in the AN whenever new mythological concepts are introduced? Greek and Roman mythology is one of my favorite subjects, but I'd guess that some of you don't know what these terms/characters are referring to in mythological terms, or why they were put in the game. If enough of you are interested, I'd effing love to talk about myths and stuff after the normal chapters!

I'll set up a poll about this soon. Until then, feel free to drop a review or send a PM.

As always, thanks for reading, and I'll see you next week!