Chapter 25
Even before the alarm blared in the middle of the night, rousing her from a restless, useless sleep, Yukari wasn't having the best day.
First, her afternoon archery practice had been terrible. Her aim had been slightly off and bugged her to no end (most people probably didn't notice, but to her it was clear as Junpei's hat in a crowd). She got home, still fuming at herself, and read a few chapters (futilely) for her literature class, before deciding to give up for the night. She was already tired from staying out too late with Hamuko, Junpei and (would wonders never cease) Akihiko a few nights ago.
She'd really just had enough.
But then, just when she had been getting ready for bed, she got a call over the loudspeaker for all active members of S.E.E.S. to meet in the control room for an important announcement. That announcement was a very unwelcome hypothesis from Minato that massive shadow attacks may be related to the phases of the moon, possibly the full moon. And when asked why he hadn't told anyone aside from Mitsuru earlier, he simply replied, "Didn't want to make you all worry about it sooner than you had to."
Because he had requested everyone's presence, Minato had gathered all of the active members of S.E.E.S. (aka S.E.E.S. minus Fuuka) to the dorm. But most people were already planning on being there anyways, which just meant (ironically) that the main thing Minato had done was prevent Yukari from getting any sleep, instead just staring up at her ceiling and waiting for the dark hour to swoop in like a dark omen. Waiting to see if he was right.
And so for once, Yukari totally agreed with Junpei's snarky "Thanks, Minato" as he stumbled out of his room, bleary-eyed and half-dressed while the alarm shrieked overhead.
Despite her irritation, here she stood, back rigid and face going numb from clenching her teeth. Her legs wouldn't stop shaking, either. She stood in the control room, staring stonily at the wall, trying to keep her limbs from trembling out of control. Her bow was clenched tightly in her hand, clutching it like she'd never hold it again, and her arrows were strapped to her side. Ikutsuki had briefly described the situation (something about another big shadow, outside of Tartarus again, etc., etc.), but Yukari could barely do anything but remember to inhale and exhale, in… out… in… out…
She nearly forgot a few times.
The door to the command room snapped open with its normal click, but to Yukari's ears the noise was bombastic. She let out a startled 'meep!' as Mitsuru strode in, the redhead's frown etching lines across her face. She stopped in front of the current active field operatives, all in a line: Akihiko, Junpei, Yukari, and the Arisato siblings (including Minato, finally standing on his own after his recent cast removal, with one crutch was still strapped to his backpack just in case). Fuuka had stayed at home today, and Yukari was extremely thankful she wasn't here. What a nightmare that would be, waking up on a day when a literal nightmare was roaming the streets.
"It appears your hypothesis may be correct, Arisato." Mitsuru said, a wry smile sneaking onto her face. "So perhaps, next time, alert us to your good ideas earlier."
Minato shrugged.
She continued speaking. "Regardless, I am assuming the chairman has explained the situation."
Under other circumstances, Yukari would've scoffed (ok, hidden a scoff) at the redhead's official tone, but at the moment, Yukari was actually quite thankful for its all-business focus. It helped keep her… well, focused.
Mitsuru went on. "There is indeed a large Shadow signature outside Tartarus now. We have been tracking it, and it appears to have initially left from Tartarus' entrance. We must contain it before it causes too much damage to the Port Island area. Unlike the previous encounter, this signature seems to already be mobile, so Arisato and I will scout out the area. If need be, the team can contact the chairman via Akihiko's cell phone. He can alert us to its location from here." She looked at Hamuko, whose face was already in her now-familiar soldier-mode. "Arisato, you will be taking operational leadership. If you have any personal directives, speak them now."
Hamuko smartly nodded, took two large steps forward and turned on a heel to face the group:
"As usual, I shall be taking three others along with me today." Hamuko said. She made brief eye contact with Mitsuru. "Mitsuru-senpai. While you and Mina are scouting, be careful, and stay a good distance away. Do not engage the enemy. If it attacks you, retreat until the main operational team arrives." She glanced at the rest of the group. "Everyone, make your final preparations and meet outside in five minutes."
Yukari had already completed all of her preparations (the only thing she forgot was to not be scared, and it was a bit too late for that now), so she continued standing in place, watching the others as they scurried about. (Junpei was doing most of the scurrying - his gear was often scattered all over the place. At the moment, he was frantically searching for his broadsword. Again. How he lost something that big, nobody knew. It was a Junpei-specific skill).
She did notice Hamuko walk up to Minato, a silver briefcase in one hand and a sheathed saber in the other.
"I got your items, Mina." She extended the saber first, which Minato took, but held onto the briefcase for a moment when he tried to take it as well. "But, please, be careful."
"I'm going to do something crazy."
A bit stupefied, Hamuko momentarily dropped out of soldier-mode. "Eh?"
"I promised I'd tell you. So I'm telling you, I'm gonna do something crazy with this."
For another beat, Hamuko stood stunned. Then she hung her head, shaking it back and forth with a small, soft smile. "Of course you will." After another moment, Hamuko straightened her back, and the smile was erased from her lips like it was never there. "Mina. Listen to my orders, and do not push yourself on your first mission."
Minato met her eyes. "I know my role."
"Good. Then keep that in mind before you… 'do something crazy.'"
And with that, Hamuko released her grip on the briefcase, leaving it in Minato's hands. She turned away, heading towards the doors of the control room. As she reached the doorway, she paused, placing a hand on her chest… the same position where she had pulled out that dagger during the last huge fight.
After taking a moment to calm herself, Hamuko lowered her hands to the door and pulled it open, calling to the rest of the room as she left. "Four minutes left. Look alive!"
As she said that, Akihiko and Mitsuru finished strapping their evokers to their hips (they already had their S.E.E.S. armbands strapped on) and followed shortly afterwards. Junpei was still frantically scrounging around for his broad sword, muttering, "seriously, how the hell did I lose a broadsword?!"
Yukari totally agreed, but she was still distracted by Minato.
He had already strapped on the saber, secured to his backpack (on the opposite side as his crutch) for the motorcycle ride ahead, and had put the silver briefcase on the table. With a click, the briefcase flipped open in front of him (Humorously, it actually clipped his nose as it opened). Inside, as was typical, was the S.E.E.S. armband, and an evoker with its holster. The armband was on Minato's arm with unnatural speed, and he strapped the holster to his hip like second nature.
However, that wasn't what held Yukari's attention. Minato spent several seconds just staring at the evoker lying nestled in its foam packaging within the silver case. And as he finally reached in to slowly pull it out (carefully, like it was porcelain), a beatific smile grew on the usually taciturn boy's face, looking very out of place to Yukari.
(A part of Yukari did think that Minato's smile suited him well, though. It looked exactly like Hamuko's natural smile, only furthering the few distinct connections between the twins.)
"Aha, found it! Er, why're you smilin', Minato?...kun?"
Meanwhile, Junpei had finally discovered where his weapon had been hiding (it was behind the couch) and had turned around in victory… only to be met by the confusing sight of Arisato Minato with a completely natural, fully realized grin on his face, holding his evoker like a family keepsake.
Minato turned to face him. Still smiling and uncaring of Junpei's confusion, he said:
"Because now… I'm really one of you."
There was a brief pause, where Junpei switched his focus to Yukari with a classic Junpei expression of 'I think I'm confused, what'd he just say?' Then Minato seemed to remember himself, abruptly shoved his evoker and smile away, strode over to the door, and exited the room, making a last-ditch attempt to be smooth.
Emphasis on attempted. Yukari almost laughed at him. She honestly didn't know why he even tried to be smooth. Minato wasn't nearly as subtle as he thought he was.
"So, uh… what the heck?!"
Yukari just shook her head. "C'mon, Junpei-kun. We're gonna be late."
"Yeah, I know, but are we not gonna talk about-?"
"Later. Come on!"
Yukari opened the door of the control room, waving a goodbye to the chairman (who had watched the entire scene from the back of the room with a light smile and a contemplative expression) as she left, holding the door open for Junpei.
…Well. At least her legs had stopped shaking now.
Yukari and the rest of the operational team (minus Minato and Mitsuru, who'd roared on ahead) set off at a light run towards Tartarus. Their footsteps resounded on the empty streets and echoed back, the monotony broken only by the occasional splash of a foot through blood or a weapon bouncing against its owner.
Yukari found herself obsessively checking her bow, arrows, and evoker, again and again, for lack of anything better to do.
Bow? Strung and taut, check.
Arrows? All 30 accounted for, check.
Evoker? Tucked away in its holster, check.
…
Wait, did I check my bow?
She lost count of how many times she repeated the pattern as she ran. The group was just starting to cross over the bridge connecting Port Island and Iwatodai, when-
"We have visual on target! I repeat, we have a visual on the target! Two Shadows are moving away from Tartarus, heading west along the main road!" Mitsuru's voice burst into Yukari's head, making the brunette gasp and wince at the sudden loudness.
"Mitsuru-senpai," Hamuko's voice replied on the persona-based link. "What do these Shadows look like?"
This time, Minato responded. "Focus on driving. I'll explain," he directed."Large, both of them. The shorter one is three meters tall and holds a scepter, the other about four and has a sword. Both bipedal, human-like. They appear to be simply wandering west, though they have taken an interest in us."
"Understood." The expression on Hamuko's face didn't change, but Yukari did notice the tight fist she made while running start to tighten further as the group approached the bridge's end. "We should arrive in a few minutes. Stay out of battle until then, and see if you can scan the Shadows from a safe distance."
Their leader re-focused on her immediate surroundings. "Everyone, we need to pick up the pace. Let's move."
Hamuko sped up, feet pounding against the pavement with increased urgency. Akihiko easily kept up with Hamuko's new speed, but Yukari and Junpei struggled. Yukari's breath was already starting to run ragged (the bow bouncing on her back was starting to get really annoying with how it threw off her normal running cadence), and Junpei's enormous broadsword made quick movements a huge hassle.
"Hey, Hamu-tan," he panted, readjusting his huge weapon, "Can ya slow it down for a sec?"
"Junpei, this is an emergency, we need to go now. We can't slow down."
"I just… don't want to be completely wiped by the time we get-!"
The four S.E.E.S. members had just cleared the bridge when they heard the familiar low drone of an approaching motorcycle. Sure enough, within a moment, they saw the familiar glistening white of Mitsuru's mechanized steed, rounding the corner more slowly than normal. The cycle still carried Mitsuru and Minato, but now Mitsuru's persona Penthesilea was hovering above Mitsuru, her hands splayed on Mitsuru's head. Upon seeing the rest of the team, she dispelled Penthesilea and slightly accelerated after her turn, gunning down the straight street towards the operational team.
The reason why became clear a moment later.
Behind the scouting team, the corner exploded in multiple green bursts, shrieking with intense speed. Brick and cement shattered, scattering debris onto the road. Several other shots hit the road itself, rending tears in the pavement, and sending tar as shrapnel into the air.
Fortunately, all the magic strikes missed the fleeing duo, who continued to shoot forward towards the rest of S.E.E.S. Decelerating, Mitsuru swerved around the operational team, screeching to a halt behind them in a hockey stop. Before the cycle had completely halted, Minato leapt off, wincing slightly as he landed on his bad leg but slinging his backpack to the ground regardless. He moved to the side of the cycle and unclipped the pannier containing the new dark hour laptop.
As he booted it up, Junpei was gawking at the corner they had come from. "Was that a magaru spell?!"
"Magarula."
Junpei's eyes somehow got wider. "A magarula?! I think that's a bit more than just taking an interest¸ Minato!"
"That's enough!" Hamuko barked over his interjection. "Get focused, here they come!"
Mission Start
DH:15 (15 Minutes into the dark hour)
Before she saw them, Yukari could feel them.
Heavy footfalls reverberated through the street, rumbling through loose-framed windows and overshadowing the now gentle purr of Mitsuru's motorcycle. In the pale green of the full moon, non-monstrous shadows stretched long, and after a moment, Yukari noticed the long forms of approaching Shadows on the road, their shadows wavering back and forth as they walked.
Then, a normal sized, tar-black hand grasped the corner of the building, almost 2 meters above the ground.
Yukari swallowed.
Peering around the corner, the new Shadow revealed its head, a tiny, round swab, devoid of any face, but with a petite mask shaped like a crown perched on the top of its head. It turned its mask to face S.E.E.S. As it did, a high-pitched noise resounded from the monster, repeated in quick succession like a snicker. It pushed off with the hand on the ruined corner, stepping forward in an awkward waddle to reveal the rest of its body.
In any other situation, the shadow's body would have been comical, a mishmash of shapes Junpei would've drawn when bored in class. Its body was huge and exceedingly round, taking up most of its physical space, and interestingly had two handles on the front chest area. The rest of the shadow was tiny in comparison. Its legs, half covered by short, light-blue pantaloons, could barely carry it forward, given by how strained its movements were. Its arms and head were similarly proportioned, and as Minato had said, in its right hand was a scepter. Behind its petite head was a tall frilled collar, reaching up about a meter, while behind its body trailed an elegant white cape... or what would have been a white cape, since after dragging it around the streets of Iwatodai, this Shadow had accidentally colored it brown and red with the mixture of dirt and blood that accentuated the dark hour.
Continuing its awkward move away from the corner, it turned its mask away from S.E.E.S. It waved its scepter forward, from back to front, in what appeared to be a kind of command, like 'get over here!'
Turns out, it was a command.
From behind the corner, the second shadow appeared. When this one stepped forward, the earth shook. Easily standing an extra meter higher than the first shadow (or higher, Minato's estimate might have been a bit off), it took thundering steps with similarly small legs as the first shadow. However, its small legs continued up into a narrow waist and a wide, triangular chest, with massively long arms, less than a meter away from reaching the floor. Its head was similar to its counterpart's, although there was no neck in sight: the only thing visible was the mask, a purple variant of the crown shape that adorned the other Shadow. Between its head and chest, it wore a laughably small red cape, flowing with a stale wind breezing by it.
But there was nothing funny about the massive sword, easily over half as long as the shadow itself, it carried in its right hand. Yukari twitched, and rolled her shoulder as she looked at the weapon. To be able to carry a weapon of that size in one hand… it was a cause for some concern.
As the larger, purple-masked shadow trudged forward with heavy steps, the rotund one turned in the middle of the street, now fully facing S.E.E.S. It raised its scepter behind it and tottered to its side a bit with the action, rearing back and holding that position for several moments.
As it did, wind began whipping around the scepter.
Hamuko's eyes widened. "Everyone, scatter!"
At Hamuko's command, all S.E.E.S. members dashed for cover. Hamuko and Junpei went left while Akihiko and Yukari dove right, behind the corners of the other nearby buildings. Mitsuru shifted into first gear and shot forward on her cycle, while Minato flipped the laptop shut, grabbed his backpack, and leapt in the same direction, leaving Akihiko, Yukari, Minato, and Mitsuru on the right side, and Hamuko and Junpei on the left.
And not a moment too soon. Seconds after the team cleared the street, bolts of wind streaked by and tore at the section of pavement they'd previously occupied. Yukari winced and covered her face, feeling small bits of pavement scatter across her body, even behind the relative protection of the building.
"Mitsuru!" Hamuko yelled, drawing her evoker, keeping her Naginata strapped to her back. "Can you scan them?"
"Yes! Give me a moment." Mitsuru followed Hamuko's movements and drew her evoker as well, firing it to summon Penthesilea, hovering above Mitsuru in the persona's usual scanning position of resting her hands on top of Mitsuru's head. Mitsuru closed her eyes in concentration, responding over the link now that Penthesilea was corporeal.
"I will need a few moments before I can scan them. Please wait."
Junpei groaned, still panting hard. "What are you, a call center?"
"Not now, Junpei." Hamuko gave him a sharp look, which he replied to with a tired grunt of acknowledgement. Opening her mouth to speak, Hamuko took a breath-
SHREEEEEEEE!
B-B-B-B-BOOOOM!
…Before another volley of wind magic screeched by, bursting into the building currently hiding the four members of S.E.E.S. Yukari looked up, swallowing as the rumbles continued and dust drifted down from somewhere above. "I-I don't know if this building can take many more blasts like that…!"
Hamuko looked over to their building. "I agree. We need to get you out of there. Mitsuru-senpai, as soon as you're done-"
"I have them!" Mitsuru cut Hamuko off in an uncharacteristic outburst before remembering where she was. She coughed. "…I apologize. I have scanned both Shadows. The shorter one is called the Empress, while the taller one is the Emperor. The Empress is weak to all physical attacks, and nullifies all magic based attacks. The Emperor is the opposite, weak to all magic, and nullifying all physical."
As Mitsuru spoke, Minato typed away at a furious pace, marking down as much data as he could. When the duo was finished, Hamuko nodded. "Understood. Now let's move. We'll flank them. Junpei and I will go around them this way, behind the corner to appear on their side. The rest of you mirror us. We need to get rid of the Empress first; with those magic attacks, it's the more pressing concern." As if to emphasize her point, another bombardment assailed the team, this time on Hamuko and Junpei's building. Hamuko flinched as the building shuddered, but continued, "Mitsuru-senpai, dispel Penthesilea for now so you can move quicker. Everyone: If you have a physical attack, use it on the Empress. Otherwise, once most of us arrive, I'll issue you new orders for a specific attack. Now, move!"
At Hamuko's word, the two groups split, Hamuko sprinting off with Junpei in hot pursuit behind their corner (although with how tired he was, it was closer to lukewarm pursuit). The remaining members of S.E.E.S. turned to go around their corner, Mitsuru revving her cycle (while her persona disappeared from above her) and Minato shut his laptop. But before they dashed off, Minato had a surprise comment.
"Mitsuru…senpai," he said, causing her to turn her head with one raised eyebrow. "Since you're our scanner, stay closer to the back for this fight. If we need you to scan anything else, you can't be taken out."
Mitsuru paused, digesting this, before turning back around. "I will not stay back, Arisato," she began, "but I will stay careful."
And with that, she gunned the engine and powered off, leading the charge on her cycle. Akihiko immediately followed, a light smirk on his face (Yukari was pretty sure he wasn't even aware of it himself). Meanwhile, Minato had paused, laptop halfway into his loaded backpack as he watched the two charge ahead.
"That stubborn-!" He blew out a frustrated sigh, before taking a moment to calm himself and carefully placing the laptop fully into his backpack, zipping it shut and throwing it onto his back. He glanced back at Yukari, who had watched the short display of emotions (and full sentences) from Minato with no small shock. "Let's go."
"E-er, you got it." Yukari bobbed her head in a jerky nod, and followed Minato after he turned around and started running after the other two. Yukari caught up to him in no time, given his huge backpack loaded down with… well, it looked like everything in the world was in there. Not to mention his bulky crutch and sword dangling awkwardly on opposite sides of his pack. His breaths were already ragged, and he was clearly limping on his bad leg (why he wasn't using his crutch, Yukari didn't know).
"You ok there, Minato-kun?" Yukari blurted out, not having the thought to censor herself. Sure, the comment in and of itself was totally innocent, but this was Arisato Minato. He'd normally just shrug his shoulder and give some ambiguous answer, before continuing on.
But apparently, today was the exception, as he had just as much trouble censoring himself as she did. "Oh, peachy," he muttered, taking deep gasps for a moment before continuing. "Nothing like having a stubborn leader… who can't take the back seat for one damn moment."
Maybe it was the dark hour, or the fact that he was on his first S.E.E.S. mission in a while, but… that was one of the most un-Minato-like statement the boy had ever said.
Despite the situation, Yukari had to stop and laugh. Actually laugh out loud. Minato turned back in surprise, nearly tripping himself as he looked at Yukari and his face turned vaguely mortified as he realized what he'd said out loud.
"Sorry, sorry," Yukari finally got herself under control. "It wasn't your comment exactly, it's just… did you say 'peachy'?" Yukari shook her head, smiling. "That was such a Hamuko-chan thing to say."
Minato shrugged, reverting back to his usual mannerisms as he tried to salvage the situation (much to Yukari's continued amusement). "She learned those words from someone."
"Actually, I'm pretty sure she makes most of them up."
A chuckle came from Minato. "True."
And once again, Yukari stared.
She wasn't sure… but she was fairly confident that right here, in the middle of the dark hour, was the very first time she had ever heard Arisato Minato laugh.
She opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, the distinct sound of a magarula's wail made both of the juniors flinch. The following explosions didn't sound good either.
"Go ahead," Minato said. "They'll need the backup."
"You got it." Yukari nodded, turning back around. "But I'm coming back for you if you don't show up in five minutes."
"Don't. We need to get rid of the-"
"Hey!" Yukari threw a glare back at Minato. "I'm coming back for you. Got it?"
Yukari watched as Minato hesitated for a moment, before glancing up at her. There was a pause, while Yukari brushed some of her hair to the side (it didn't work; her hair was a total mess) as her eyes met his, challenging him. Then he looked down, letting out another light sigh, more… bemused, this time.
"Alright. But still, go now."
Yukari huffed. "Yeah, yeah. I know."
And with that, she turned around and started jogging. The bow on her back started to become even more of a nuisance than before, now that she was already tired from running, so she slung it off her back, carrying it in front of her like she usually did in Tartarus, ready to be fired. After a moment, she decided to notch an arrow too.
A few seconds later, Yukari rounded the corner, running into the fray. Unsurprisingly, pandemonium greeted her.
The flanking maneuver had worked… initially, at least. The Empress and Emperor stood in the center of a four-way intersection, backs towards Yukari. Half of the Empress' cape lay on the floor beneath it, and there was a large, Empress-shaped dent in a nearby car. A massive set of 3 scars in the pavement was probably the Emperor's counterattack, and the explosion Yukari and Minato had heard likely caused the demolition of a nearby shop's windows, glass still tinkling to the ground as the Emperor and Empress faced the four S.E.E.S. members on one side of the street: Hamuko, Junpei, Akihiko, and Mitsuru, having now joined forces after the first attack.
Well, momentarily joined forces. As Yukari continued running, she also watched S.E.E.S. between the Shadows' legs. Hamuko said something to her three companions, who all nodded and split off in separate directions. Junpei and Akihiko dashed around the two Shadows on opposite sides, once again flanking the two Shadows. The Empress turned to follow Junpei, still panting and nearly dragging his broadsword in the ground behind him. The Emperor instead followed Akihiko, his dash much less burdened than Junpei's, with no weapon in his hands aside the gloves covering his fists and the evoker tucked in its holster.
As the two boys split off, Mitsuru zoomed away from both Shadows, disappearing around a corner behind Hamuko. Hamuko then looked to Yukari, and pantomimed firing a bow at the Empress.
Yukari got that message loud and clear. Slowing her run to a stop, she spread her legs in a wide stance beneath her as she willed her shaking chest to slow and raised her bow up. Taking aim, she drew it back to its full tautness, storing momentum behind the arrow. She closed one eye, line of sight following her arrow's point towards the Empress' body. Taking several more deep breaths, Yukari finally relaxed her body.
In…
Out…
In…
Out…
Twang!
On her second exhale, Yukari let her arrow fly, and watched as it buried itself into the Empress' side, the force of the ambush tottering it off balance. A grin burst onto Yukari's face at the hit, before she reached her hand down to grab another arrow.
She whipped her head around at a shattering noise from the other side of the battle. As she notched the arrow to her bow, she watched Akihiko release his persona into the world, having whipped his evoker out while Yukari took aim. Polydeuces immediately sprang into action. Tearing out of Akihiko with its drill arm buzzing above its head, it summoned down a strike of zio on the Emperor's head, crackling and exploding with energy as the blow struck true.
The Emperor staggered back with the blow. Tripping over its legs, the taller shadow crashed to the ground hard, its back taking the brunt of the fall while its limbs splayed out roughly around it, almost hitting the beleaguered Empress. Most surprisingly, as its right arm smacked against the tar, its sword fell from its grip, clattering a meter away from its hand.
Akhiko grinned, and raised his evoker for another zio on the downed shadow…
"Hermes! Cleave!"
…but Junpei's yell reminded Yukari that S.E.E.S. wasn't done yet. She raised her bow as the impact of the Emperor's landing rattled through her legs, and while Junpei had finally dragged himself to the opposite side of Akihiko to summon his own persona. Twirling around in a breakneck spin as it left Junpei's mind, Hermes finished its motion by screeching to a halt in front of the unbalanced Empress. Tucking its arms and legs in, it dove feet first at the Empress' legs, driving itself straight forward with extended arms to breach the Empress with a slice from the blades attached to its hands. Black blood splattered into the air and onto the pavement as Hermes' weapon cut into the Shadow's legs, staining the side of its blade. Hermes halted in mid-air behind the Empress, slowly turning back around as it disappeared back into Junpei's psyche.
The Empress careened precariously from side to side following the blow, the gouge in its legs oozing charcoal vitals, before its left leg gave out and it collapsed, falling back near the Emperor's head, leaving a small, square-meter wide gap between the Empress and Emperor on the street.
And then Akihiko released his second zio while Yukari loosed her arrow, with both Shadows finally stationary targets.
Bzzzzzap!
Whhhhhiiiisssshhhh-THUNK
Both attacks struck true. Akihiko's lightning bolt crackled down on the Emperor's still head, jolting it, and Yukari's second arrow buried itself in the hip of the Shadow. A second victory smile broke across Yukari's face before she took a moment to glance at Junpei's expression. To say his face showed pure awe from the combo they were performing was an understatement: his jaw was open so wide she could have fit an entire ramen bowl inside. Yukari felt her lips twitch even higher upwards.
KLANG!
Then Yukari jumped in surprise at the next booming clash. She zeroed in on the Empress' head, now recently slugged by a large harp and reverberating with noise where mask had met metal. Hovering above the Empress, Orpheus wielded its harp in two hands, lifting the weapon before vanishing and revealing its owner behind it. Hamuko lowered her fuming Evoker, smirking like a demon, and Yukari had to take a moment to marvel at Hamuko's brash plan.
Hamuko raised her hand to her mouth and gave a loud whistle as she raised her evoker to her head again. And the responding sound of an approaching motorcycle signaled the final step of the blitz.
Yukari turned just in time to see Mitsuru hurtle by, taking an instinctive step back as the wind whipped up by Mitsuru's beast whistled by her and tossed Yukari's caramel-brown hair backwards. Yukari wiped her hair out of her face before notching yet another arrow, while Mitsuru powered onwards, the redhead drawing her elegant fleuret with one hand as she gunned the accelerator… somehow egging her cycle to charge even faster at the Empress' wriggling, upended body.
As she approached, Mitsuru raised her weapon, pointing it upwards at the Empress. The distance grew nearer and nearer, 100 meters… 75… 50… 25…!
Just when she reached striking range, Mitsuru slashed into the Empress' side, right next to Yukari's arrows. Her sword dug in deep, carving a nasty line through the Empress, before it hit a snag when it hit the Shadow's legs. The weapon was ripped out of Mitsuru's hand, clattering to the floor behind her, but Mitsuru just tucked herself and her previously outstretched hand as close as she could to her cycle as she shot through the small gap left between the downed Shadows.
After swerving around the Emperor's outstretched hand, Mitsuru braked hard to a stop next to Hamuko, sharing a smirk with her before glancing at Yukari. And she couldn't help but share the smirk with Mitsuru too, giving her a respecting nod as well. No one could deny that what she'd just done was one hell of a fancy move (losing her sword notwithstanding).
"Haaa… Holy crap…!" Junpei panted, then called out, "Hey, Hamu-tan! Think it's time… for us to give 'em an all-out attack?"
Hamuko blinked, and looked over at him blankly. "Junpei, that basically was an all-out attack."
Junpei may have had a response ready (oh, who was Yukari kidding, no he didn't), but before he could say anything, the Emperor shifted. Rolling over, it bumped into the Empress, who started tilting back and forth on the street like an angry egg, squealing in rage as the Emperor stretched its long arm out and grasped its hand around its sword. It pressed its other hand against the earth to raise itself off the ground, stumbling once as the street cracked against its weight. But after it stabilized, the Emperor leaned on it harder and started to rise.
"Everyone!" Hamuko shouted. "Don't let that thing get its footing! Fire an att-ack…?"
Hamuko hesitated at the end of her sentence. As the Emperor rose, several multi-colored circles wavered into existence from thin air, like two-dimensional holograms in front of both Shadows. The smaller circles formed two rings, one inside the other, spinning in opposite directions for a brief moment before narrowing their circumferences and being absorbed into the shadows in a white flash, making all of S.E.E.S. wince or cover their eyes.
"Wh-what the hell was that?!" Junpei yelped.
"I don't know- ah." Hamuko glanced up as the Emperor had once again raised up to its full height. "Let's finish off the Empress while it's still grounded. Junpei, you-"
"Wait!"
Hamuko's order was drowned out by the volume and pure shock of hearing a yell from the other side of the street. All S.E.E.S. members present (and the Emperor, surprisingly) turned to look at the person causing the racket: Minato, now leaning on his still-sheathed saber, huffing for breath.
After a moment, he straightened up to his full height with a wide stance and rigid spine, even with his backpack. He was still panting from exertion, and yet looked steadily at Hamuko as he spoke, words tinted with power and infused with sharp authority.
"We need to fall back. That move by the Shadows may have changed something about them, or they may be preparing for an attack. Regardless, we don't know their strategy, and must fall back now."
As he spoke, even Yukari registered the minute surprise wavering on Hamuko's face for a moment, before her stony soldier-mode expression overrode it. However, she remained frozen for another moment in indecision.
"Hamuko!" Akihiko hollered, cracking his knuckles and bouncing on his feet. "Make a choice!"
The operational leader stared for another beat at her brother, her crimson eyes searching his face. Then:
"Fall back! Everyone find the nearest piece of cover and get behind it! Mitsuru, run another scan on those Shadows after you find cover!"
As she spoke, Hamuko turned and sprinted towards an as-of-yet undamaged car, sliding over the hood and hunkering down behind it. Akihiko and Minato both dashed in the opposite direction from Hamuko (albeit at a much slower pace in Minato's case), leaping into the building with the ruined window and taking refuge in the wrecked shop. Meanwhile, Mitsuru just gunned her cycle and flew off, heading around a corner and out of sight.
Yukari snapped her head around back and forth as she scanned for the closest piece of cover… but she wasn't impressed with her findings. A car heavily damaged by at least one blast from the Empress was within close running distance, its center massively dented, all windows but one (facing away from the Shadows) completely pulverized, and one of its front doors lying in the street. But it would have to do.
As soon as she reached it, Yukari scrambled to get behind the car (not everyone could be as cool as Hamuko or Mitsuru when running for their life), flinging her back to the side of the car away from the Shadows and breathing out a sigh, her bow extended in front of her.
Then Junpei landed next to her with a fwump, nearly slicing her leg as he let his broadsword down hard.
"Junpei!" she hissed, edging her leg further away from the weapon. "Seriously?!"
"It's the closest... cover… to me… whaddya want?"
Junpei was gasping even more roughly than before, eyes drooping and shoulders slumped. Yukari's hazel eyes narrowed at him. "Hey… look at me. You doing ok?"
Drained steel-colored eyes met hers. "Never… better." He gasped, letting out a raspy chuckle. "Obviously."
"Ugh," Yukari murmured. Really, that word could express her feelings about this entire night, but it definitely was how she felt about Junpei right now. "Just take it easy, alright? Don't go off and be… and do something stupid."
"Ah… but Yuka-tan…" Junpei managed to produce a tired grin. "That's… my specialty!"
This time, Yukari didn't have a chance to respond, as Mitsuru's voice thrust itself into her mind on Penthesilea's link. "I don't understand, but their weaknesses have changed." The slight strain of confusion was as obvious as a fluorescent highlighter in Mitsuru's words. "Please stand by, I need to scan them again to discover the details."
"Mitsuru," Hamuko replied, her own voice tense. "Scan the Empress, then return. We can stay out of range of the Emperor until the Empress is finished."
"Understood."
From their positions, Yukari and Junpei exchanged vaguely bewildered glances.
The weaknesses had changed…? Yukari frowned. That had never happened for any Shadow before. Did that mean they could change their weaknesses at will?
Further, Hamuko had been about to ask Junpei to attack it first. If Minato hadn't stepped in, and he had struck at the Empress' former weakness… Yukari swallowed, shoving the rest of that "what-if" into the "let's not think about that again" pile.
Junpei, meanwhile, was having a different sort of thought.
"Minato guessed that," he muttered, his wheezing now reduced to mere heavy breathing. "And he guessed… that the Shadows show up to party… on full moons. Is he actually… like, smart?"
Yukari spared him a glance of pure, distilled exasperation, before glancing back at the Empress.
In the short time since S.E.E.S. had scattered, the Empress hadn't moved much. It had, however, begun rocking itself back and forth with more urgency. After another few moments of wriggling, it finally gained enough momentum to right itself, and the Empress finally returned to its feet, nearly toppling over again on the other side. But then, like nothing had happened, the Shadow acted as regally as it could, waving its scepter casually like it hadn't been flopping like a fish on land and yowling for the past few minutes.
As amusing as that could have been, it was decidedly less so once the mask turned to face Yukari, whose head was barely peeking out over the car's trunk.
Oh, come on! She dropped her head back down beneath cover, but she had a feeling it was too little, too late.
"Junpei, get ready to move!" she muttered, fists tightening around her bow.
"Aw, c'mon, really?"
My thoughts exactly.
Yukari poked her head back up for a brief moment, getting a visual on the situation. The Empress had reeled its scepter back, and the telltale swirls of wind began to gather, churning around the weapon like a brewing storm condensed into a small sphere. As the Empress thrust the scepter forward, Yukari got a front-seat view of several shafts of highly compressed wind appearing from the tip of the scepter, firing at her location and gaining their bright green shade as they picked up speed.
Yukari slammed her head back down and put herself in a semi-fetal position, praying the feeble car would hold together, and quickly shoving Junpei's head down when he tried to take a peek himself. The magarula's shrieks became louder fast, the crescendo finally reaching its peak as they crashed against the duo's shelter.
And surprisingly, it did hold together… sort of.
Above Yukari and Junpei's heads, the last remaining window shattered, raining glass down on the juniors as the car jumped sideways with the magic projectile, smacking them both forward and assuredly leaving dark bruises on their backs. The previously removed car door skittered past them, spinning around with its forward motion before it lightly bumped against a gutter and stopped just next to a fire hydrant.
"Move! Junpei, now!"
Yukari yelled at her companion as she snatched her bow and sprinted towards the next nearest cover: Hamuko's car, still nice, fresh, and un-demolished. The Empress' attacks had left more cracks in the street, and Yukari danced over them, stepping lightly between her harsh gasps for breath.
As Yukari arrived, Hamuko's face still held firm in its adamant neutrality, nodding at her as the archer collapsed behind the car. Then, glancing past the auburn hair partially obstructing her vision, Hamuko's entire face seemed to twitch. "Junpei! Get away from your cover, it won't last another hit!"
Oh, you've got to be kidding me, Stupei…!
Yukari twisted around so fast she accidentally cracked her back (ouch). Junpei hadn't moved a muscle (the idiot), still hunkered down behind what was left of the damaged car. The side of the car facing the shadows was ripped, and much of the car's interior had been completely wrecked already. Hamuko was right: one more magarula spell would go right through the car.
And into Junpei. Whose persona was weak to wind attacks.
"Sorry Hamu-tan, can't," Even over the link, Junpei's exhaustion was clear as his goatee. "I ain't gonna make it all the way over to your car before that Empress attacks again. Better to have some cover than none."
"Junpei, you need to- never mind. Too late now, stay put, and stay down."
Hamuko was about to continue, but then Mitsuru's voice crackled in. "The new weakness of the Empress is Pierce! All other attacks are negated. I'm returning now."
"Alright." Then, Hamuko turned to her companion. "In that case, Yukari. You're our only shot."
Yukari froze.
After a moment, she looked sharply at Hamuko, not even trying to camouflage her horror. "Wh-what?" she whispered.
"No one else on our team has a normal or persona-based attack with pierce." Hamuko kept her gaze steady on Yukari's frightened features, even as the heavy steps of the Emperor and Empress moving forward resounded through the pavement, and into Yukari's legs… which, naturally, had started shaking again. "None of my personas have it either."
"She's right," came the sound of Akihiko's voice. "I can try to make a makeshift pierce attack from Polydeuces' drill, but it'd end up as another strike attack."
"Whoever can get to Mitsuru's sword can likely use it as a stab attack," Minato continued. "But I don't want to remove anyone from cover unless it's relatively safe."
"Mina, how do you know- never mind." Instead of pondering Minato's odd words, Hamuko clapped a hand on Yukari's shoulder, making her wince (partially from tenseness, partially from the new bruise on her back). "Yukari. You can do this. I know you can."
Glad to hear it. That makes one of us.
Sure, Yukari had done some pretty cool stuff during the last big battle. Even she had to admit that (and yeah, she was pretty damn proud of it). But this time, unlike then, she had all the time in the world to think about if she could do it or not.
And after some thought: yes, she was fairly confident she could mess this up.
But at Hamuko's confident gaze, Yukari squared her shoulders, huffed out a breath, and stood, raising her bow like she'd done a thousand times before. For a moment, she closed her eyes. She could imagine it was archery practice at school. Just her, her bow, and her concentration. Simple.
She opened her eyes, staring down at the Empress and Emperor, continuing to lumber forwards… towards Junpei's "hiding" spot. The Empress, not needing to get as close to Junpei to attack, reared its scepter back yet again in the now-terrifying motion of prepping a magarula.
Yukari's eyes narrowed, and she gripped her bow even tighter.
Like hell was shegoing to let them attack him that easily.
She took in a breath.
In…
Out…
Twang!
The arrow shot through the air. The wind sliced around it, whistling through the tufts of feathers as it flew towards its rotund target with deadly intent …
…And then, as the Empress waddled its way forward, the arrow continued soaring just under it, between its legs as gravity yanked the projectile downwards sooner than Yukari anticipated. It hit the pavement with a light rattling noise, skittering away and lying to rest several dozen meters away from its target.
Yukari watched her arrow's momentum slow to a stop in a silence, her face frozen.
Fast as she could kick herself into movement, she grabbed another arrow from her quiver, snapped it to her bowstring, and yanked it back. Adjusting her now-trembling aim upwards, she fired. Her projectile flew and sunk into the Empress' side, sending it slightly off-kilter, but not enough to truly knock it down.
And that made all the difference.
It was too late now for another shot… but that didn't stop Yukari. She reached into her quiver for another arrow as she watched as the Empress thrust its scepter forward and unleash its spell. Bolts descended on Junpei's miniscule, sickly hiding spot.
Yukari had only one word for the situation.
Shit.
Yukari found herself desperately wishing that Hamuko was wrong, even as she notched her new arrow to her bow. That the meek-looking, broken car would prove to be much stronger than initially expected, and that it would hold firm. That it would be there to protect Junpei, where Yukari had failed.
Unsurprisingly, it was just wishful thinking.
Although Yukari's arrow had hurt the Empress enough to get it off-balance and misalign its aim, it was still highly destructive. The magarula spat out by the Shadow scored a wide area around Junpei's cover, but also annihilated it. Bits of metal and scrap from the car exploded out around the point of impact, and Junpei let out one surprised yelp before he was violently thrown away from the car. He crashed into the pavement, thrust by the power of the bolt, his limbs a jumbled mess as he tumbled over and over, only stopping when his body met the corner of the gutter, right next to the resting place of the removed car door.
As soon as he made impact, Junpei lay still. His broadsword was forgotten by the side of the now-completely destroyed car, and blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth and from his back, his shirt covered in small scattered cuts, eyes closed and hands limply lying to the side.
Yukari didn't realize she was running before she was already halfway across the gap from Hamuko's cover to Junpei, feet and heart pounding together. Without thinking, she raised her bow (arrow still notched) at the Empress, not breaking stride as she performed her typical breath and fired. The arrow struck true once again, sinking into the Empress' hip and making it wobble even further. But Yukari barely noticed.
She slung her bow onto her back (which was still annoying as it bounced around, but that was much less of a concern now) and sped up, pumping her arms as fast as she could. When she reached close to Junpei, her foot slipped in a puddle of blood and she fell to the ground hard, knocking the wind out of herself as she slammed into the ruined car door next to the downed boy. She lay there gasping for a moment, before dragging herself upwards on one knee.
"Junpei…" she muttered (though with the breath still knocked out of her, it sounded more like "jjjjjj-piiiii").
The damage was worse from close up. The wind spell had scored a hole in the boy's back, leaving a large chunk of his skin torn and bleeding, although that injury wasn't as bad as it could have been. The car had stopped most of the blast from reaching Junpei… but the spell had exploded on the car itself, and it showed. Junpei's back was littered with bits and pieces of metal and glass, imbedded in a large swath across his back, most of the cuts bleeding and staining what was left of his navy blue shirt a dark purple.
Yukari sat in front of him, hands hovering uselessly in indecision.
What do I do?
What should I do?
I need help.
Can I save him?
I-
"Yukari. Listen to me, o-ok?"
She started and snapped her head to the side to see Hamuko, now kneeling beside her and Junpei with grimly focused eyes… in addition to wavering hands and quivering lips. "We n-need to help him. Let's carry him out."
Yukari nodded, and tried to rise, before stumbling as she got to her feet, a sharp pain from her right leg objecting to the movement. Looking down, she saw a new bruise on her right thigh, from where she had slipped and fallen moments ago... as well as a sharp, jagged cut, which she hadn't noticed from her recent slip. After a moment, she connected the dots and realized it was caused by her collision with the edge of the removed car door lying next to Junpei.
"Th-this time…" Yukari said, with a tiny laugh as she gestured downwards, "I think you have to carry him, Hamuko."
Hamuko's eyes followed Yukari's hands, and she flinched when her eyes reached Yukari's legs. "Alright, alright," she muttered to herself. She tossed her naginata off her back, rightfully wanting to avoid stabbing Junpei, before scooping him up, struggling under the larger boy's weight for a moment until she got him securely on her shoulders in a fireman's carry, tottering like the Empress before taking a wide stance and finding her balance.
"Alright. Time to- Yukari, what are you doing? Yukari, get back here, that's an order!"
As Hamuko had gathered Junpei, Yukari had unstrapped the evoker from her hip and took small, unsteady steps towards the duo of Shadows. The Emperor had waited for the Empress to regain its balance following Yukari's attack, but now both Shadows had restarted their approach, the smell of blood in their minds as they closed in to finish off their injured quarry.
There wasn't any time to think about it. Yukari wasn't going to let them do that.
"You're not g-going to make it back to cover with Junpei before th-the Empress casts another spell, r-right? And the Emp-peror will soon be in range to hit you." Yukari spoke with a nervous jitter, shaking like a small leaf in a gale.
Hamuko's voice turned even more strained. "Yukari, please, just come with us. We need to regroup-"
"Look, my persona resists wind, and – a-and I can't carry Junpei because of my leg. This makes the most sense, so just-"
"Dammit, Yukari!" Hamuko yelled, voice shrill as her emotions finally burst to the surface, shattering whatever remained of her cool demeanor. "Just come with us! I can't save two injured people!"
"Hamuko, unless someone stays back to cover him, or distract the Shadows, Junpei's going to die from the next attack!" Yukari cried back. She drew her evoker, fear and determination warring within her. "Just go! Get him out of here! P-please!"
"You can't just protect us with… gah, fine! Here!" Fumbling for a moment with Junpei's prone form weighing on her shoulders, Hamuko drew her evoker and fired, summoning Orpheus above Yukari. She shoved the evoker back away in its holster. "Now you've got some protection. But stay close, and-"
A strangled noise from over her shoulder quieted Hamuko.
"Y-Yuka-ari…?" Junpei gurgled, hacking up blood onto Hamuko's shoulder as he looked backwards, his eyes deeply scrunched, whether in pain or confusion Yukari didn't know.
Yukari met his gaze before glancing up at Hamuko's face, terror painted on it with the broad strokes of panic. A surge of protectiveness rose from somewhere deep, deep down within Yukari.
"You know what?" she murmured to her friends, taking in the sight of them both, quivering, injured, and partially broken. She looked down at herself and her own trembling hands, not faring much better, as she took in an unstable breath. "You two may be a-annoying as hell…" she chuckled. "But I'll protect you both."
She turned around, once again facing both Shadows' imposing figures.
"I s-swear… I swear I will."
Yukari didn't know where these words were coming from… but in spite of all the fear pulsing through her soul, damn it all, saying those words just felt right.
She meant every last stuttering syllable.
The Empress reared its scepter backwards, in that all-too-familiar motion, cackling in apparent glee with its high-pitched noises. Then, confusingly, it halted its casting, lowered its scepter and turned to the side, facing… Mitsuru? Where had she come from?
No time to ponder that though. In the meantime, the stoic Emperor had paused to look at the Empress for a moment before it continued moving towards Yukari. As it approached, it looked down at her almost forlornly, grasping the hilt of its sword tightly with one hand and raising it upwards, continuing to stalk forward.
(The Empress was making some kind of noise at the same time, but Yukari didn't pay attention to that at the time.)
In response, Yukari raised both of her hands. Her evoker was lifted to her head with her right hand, just like how Hamuko used it, but she stretched her left arm out to her side, standing between her friends and the Shadows in a protective gesture.
Yukari's light brown eyes narrowed in concentration.
You're not getting past me… Not today!
"Io!"
Yukari pulled the trigger and shouted, the noise almost drowned out by the harsh explosion of her persona bursting from her mind. It materialized in front of her and beneath Orpheus with arms crossed in a defensive pattern, glancing at the two Shadows in disdain.
And then, several things happened very quickly:
The Emperor took one final step to get within striking distance of Yukari, the impact rattling Yukari's knees, and began its series of strikes.
The Empress shifted harshly to the side and squealed, beginning to tumble over.
Finally, and most noticeably, agony detonated through Yukari.
DH: 33 (30 seconds earlier)
Racing forwards on her cycle, Mitsuru pulled around the corner as both Shadows prepared to strike, staring down at Yukari who stared steadfastly back.
Mitsuru eyes narrowed and she drew her evoker.
Maybe she couldn't attack either Shadow directly… but there was something else she could try.
Twisting her wrist, Mitsuru's cycle roared with delight as its engine started churning on all cylinders, barreling down on both monsters. She focused on the Empress, whose cape was now completely gone except for a small piece, no larger than a handkerchief, meekly fluttering about behind it.
As soon as she got in casting range, she hit the brakes and screeched to a halt, raising the evoker to her head. She fired it, blue glass shattering from the opposite side of her evoker.
"Marin Karin!"
At Mitsuru's shout, Penthesilea burst out of Mitsuru's mind, rising above her in a slow, single spin. At the end, when she was fully formed, Penthesilea pointed her long sword at the Empress, casting the spell.
But then, something odd happened:
The spell worked.
The Empress, so focused on its initial target, paid no heed to the persona at its side, or the normally inaccurate spell. This ended up being costly, as the charm spell hit its target, and the Empress immediately froze its casting. It slowly turned its face to Mitsuru and lowered its scepter.
Mitsuru narrowed her eyes, mostly in confusion, and took a hesitant step forwards.
The Empress fully turned to face Mitsuru, taking wobbly steps as it changed its direction. The Emperor had momentarily stopped too, turning its head to follow its companion's movements, undoubtedly as confused as Mitsuru.
Then, the Shadow cooed at Mitsuru. Cooed, like a… Mitsuru wasn't quite sure. Like a baby animal. Or, more worrisome, like a grown animal's mating call.
…Oh, God.
Mitsuru's eyes widened, and she took two giant steps back.
Not only had Marin Karin worked, it had worked too well.
The Empress took steps towards Mitsuru, dropping its scepter at its side, reaching its tiny arms towards Mitsuru as it waddled forwards.
Mitsuru honestly wasn't sure what she would have done if the situation had gone on any longer. But fortunately for her, it didn't last long. Right behind the Empress, Minato and Akihiko charged up, finally reaching their target.
DH: 32 (2 minutes earlier)
Akihiko was about one minute away from killing Minato.
"Let me go!" He seethed, attempting to get out of the duo's hiding spot in the ruined shop. He yanked his arm back from Minato's grip on his sleeve, only to find him grabbing it again. "Haven't we waited enough already?!"
"No, not yet."
"We need to help Junpei!"
"I know, have patience." Akihiko snapped his head back down to his companion, a snarl curling at his lips, while Minato's chalk grey eyes drilled into Akihiko's hardened steel. "We couldn't do anything except get in danger if we went now."
Akihiko's mind was still in turmoil. "We could do something. Help get them out, help… God, don't you have anything in that damn bag of yours to attack?!"
"I only have daggers. Could be used as stabbing, but not worth risking it when Yukari's got arrows. I also over packed, so it's too bulky. I'll be leaving it here for more maneuverability." Minato unstrapped his sword from his backpack before quickly glancing at the two Shadows, maybe determining their position. Akihiko barely cared.
After a moment, Minato looked back at Akihiko and continued. "Akihiko. Get Mitsuru's sword when the Empress steps away from it."
Fury (and fear) temporarily forgotten, Akihiko digested Minato's words… before coming up more confused than before. Akihiko slowly tilted his head, doing his best impression of Mitsuru's what did you just say look. He almost would have been less surprised if Minato had just suggested trying ballet, maybe asking the Empress for a dance.
(Later, he would also be surprised in his realization that Minato was actually speaking in full sentences, instead of his usual short phrases. But for now, that thought was far off from his mind.)
"…I've never used a sword before. And Mitsuru always uses it for slashing-"
"I don't care. And it's a rapier, so unlike my daggers, you can definitely use it for stabbing by using its point. You're probably right about Polydeuces' drill, but humans are more versatile. So use the sword, and stab the Empress with it."
Minato turned his focus back to the battle, where the Empress had just righted itself from Yukari's arrow, and was waddling forwards with the Emperor… slowly getting closer to Junpei and Yukari, and soon to be Hamuko, who had been hot on Yukari's heels following the latest attack.
"Alright, you have your plan." Akihiko furiously whispered, growing less patient by the second (though Akihiko could practically hear Shinji's wry comment of 'you can't have less patience than zero'). "So why the hell are we still waiting?! We need to go, now!"
"Hamu and Yukari have medical support covered. I trust Hamu to give Yukari the proper instructions. We need to wait for an attacking opportunity…"
And at that moment, the Empress took one waddling step over Mitsuru's sword… leaving it between Minato and Akihiko and the duo of Shadows.
"…which is now! Get the sword, Aki!"
Minato leapt through the window frame at his yell, while Akihiko stumbled, giving the back of Minato's head another bewildered glance of huh?
Because… had this transfer student just called him Aki?
Then, he mentally kicked himself. He sprinted after Minato. Just before he caught up, he noticed that Mitsuru had accelerated from the side and summoned Penthesilea, casting a spell.
"Marin Karin!"
…Although when he heard that, he couldn't help but look to the heavens for guidance, even mid-sprint. When was she ever going to learn that it was not worth it to use that spell?
And yet, as he did catch up to Minato, he realized that the stars had aligned, and the spell had worked. Now… the Shadow was an even easier target.
Akihiko couldn't help but smirk.
He continued to dash towards the monsters, leaving Minato completely in the dust, though not before Akihiko noticed him peeling off slightly to the side. Akihiko didn't pay that any more attention. As they approached, Akihiko leaned over to scoop up Mitsuru's sword with his hand, grasping its hilt tightly.
He glanced up at the Empress, slowly wandering towards Mitsuru, who had taken a step back, her totally mortified expression clear as the Empress crooned at her, dropping its scepter and raising its arms out. Maybe for a nice hug.
Yikes, that was gross. Akihiko would've made the same face had the Empress done that in his direction.
By the time he had that thought, he had reached the thoroughly distracted Empress. He lunged forward with a shout, plunging the sword into the underbelly of the Shadow. Its croon turned into a wail of surprised agony, and it shifted its weight. Akihiko looked up as the Empress looked down, the human and Shadow staring at each other in determination and (presumably) horror respectively. The Empress raised its hand (now scepter-less), but-.
SHUNK
From seemingly out of nowhere, Minato appeared at his side, ramming an arrow into the Empress right next to Akihiko's strike. It took Akihiko a second to realize that it was Yukari's missed shot from minutes ago.
The Empress immediately stiffened and shrieked again, but Minato paid that no mind, yanking the arrow out and stabbing it again, snapping the arrow shaft with his force. He winced as it splintered into his hand, but didn't comment on that as he looked at Akihiko, a vicious scowl marring his face.
"Again, Akihiko!" he yelled. "One more!"
Akihiko blinked, then smirked. He was more than happy to oblige.
He yanked the sword out, grabbing its small hilt with both hands. Inhaling, he thought about everything he'd felt during the past few minutes: all of his anger at not being able to protect Junpei, and… and, uh…
…actually, he could stop there. Akihiko was just angry.
And so, with all of his strength, he yelled and thrust forward as hard as he could, smashing the blade deep into the Empress.
Given Akihiko's power, the sword was jammed up to its hilt in the Shadow, but Akihiko still kept his hold on it, leaning on it and accidentally pressing his face into its underbelly. It was the first time Akihiko had pressed his face into a Shadow… and he wasn't sure he wanted to repeat it. The Empress was cold, ice cold. Its stomach was unsurprisingly made of metal, but the aquamarine pants covering its meager legs were also hard as a rock: not actual pants, but mere replications of what humans wore, with none of the true functionality.
As soon as Akihiko registered all that, it gave a much different noise: a lower-pitched, long bellow reverberating through its body and into Akihiko.
"Get back!"
At Minato's command, Akihiko complied, using all his strength to yank the sword from the Shadow and leaping a few steps back with Minato while the Empress leaned from side to side, much more unsteadily than before. It tilted all the way over, collapsing to the ground with a shudder resounding through the streets.
Akihiko glanced at Minato, and the duo shared a smirk… in fact, Minato's very much so reminded Akihiko of his own. Maybe they were more alike than Akihiko thought.
Then, Minato glanced back to the Emperor, and his frame stiffened.
Akihiko followed his movements… just in time to watch the Emperor's sword come crashing down towards Yukari.
Hamuko was still fully focused on dragging Junpei away from the battle when she heard the first shattering.
The sudden noise made her jump. But she didn't feel dread trickle into her mind until she noticed the familiar settling within her chest of Orpheus returning to her soul.
Her stomach lurched. She turned.
In the middle of her twist, she heard another shattering noise. From the corner of her eye, she saw Io, cleaved in two by the Emperor's second strike, dissolving into fragments of glass and evaporating, the persona's lips in a silent gasp.
Hamuko had now fully turned. The Emperor's sword was raised again, preparing the third strike of its attack.
Yukari was left standing alone, holding the same position as she had before, her left arm raised to the side while the right was still raised to the side of her head from summoning Io. She stared defiantly upwards at the Emperor, while the Empress squealed in pain and terror as it listed to the side. Minato and Akihiko stood underneath with their weapons buried into its side, backing away from the Shadow as it bellowed in pain and fell sideways.
Hamuko absorbed all this in a few moments. But then the Emperor swung a third time, and while Hamuko's hand shot down towards her evoker, attempting to defy Yukari's fate… in reality, there was no time to react.
A scream ripped from Hamuko's throat.
"YUKARI!"
The gargantuan blade swung down with deadly force, arcing down, down, down… and smashing Yukari into the ground with a sickening crunch.
.
.
.
(Update on Oct. 20 2018 - Updated the links to my beta's sites with his new username)
Thank you all for waiting for this chapter! The next chapter (26) will be ready for you shortly (in 2 weeks, so I don't kill my poor beta), but the two final chapters of season 2 will have to wait another few weeks after that. Yeah, again… I'm sorry for that. Hopefully you guys can see why after this chapter – it's about twice the length of the past few chapters (ch. 23 aside)! But again, like last time, I really want to make sure I get these chapters right, so I want to take some extra time.
Regardless, lesson learned: before I publish the first chapter of season 3, I'll actually finish writing every chapter. Writing on a schedule like this is harder than I thought it'd be!
Also, if you liked this chapter, I suggest checking out the subreddit r/yesyesyesyesno
I know that the 'Hamuko has no personas with pierce' idea may sound contrived… but I actually looked for personas level 10 and below, and I swear, none of them had a pierce attack! I hope I'm right about that… if not, well, chalk it up to "it's Lateral canon."
And now, a message from my beta:
Beta note:
Hi, folks! I was a bit busy this week (and this chapter is huge) so it may not be quite as thoroughly proof-read as usual. I take full responsibility for any errors I missed. -Noj
*flails off into the sunset*
In response to that, I'd like to mention that I only gave him about 4 days to review this entire chapter. So, I'd actually argue that it's my fault!
But regardless, his name is Disasternoj! And here are the links to his stuff, which you should check out:
www(point)disasternoj(point)tumblr(point)com
www(point)archiveofourown(point)org/users/Disasternoj
Anyways, shout-outs to:
Kirizero, Lucifer's Remnants, LeBlueHelix, GreyMan19, zero1991, mikaerusan, Incomplete Data, The Sky Beyond, basti100998, Galaxy Knight Of Fanfic, Hatsune 01 Story, boothnat, AceBlazer007 [dash] Harudere, aseif15, CrazyCraig, God of Eternal Strife, The Observer2013, Lordbobly, Neo[dash]A'ppo'lyon, MaxstxXL, Warick, Mobili, and Axel's Lullaby for faving;
6ShadowWhoWalks9, THomassun300, tclaw46, LeBlueHelix, Corundrom, zero1991, The Sky Beyond, Willgm, I am the Secret, Mungobungler, Tercra, EternalPanties, basti100998, Galaxy Knight Of Fanfic, So It Goes4, 0lcra, boothnat, AceBlazer007 [dash] Harudere, aseif15, Maniell, CrazyCraig, God of Eternal Strife, The Observer2013, Lordbobly, JustALazyAuthor, musette de cour, MaxstxXL, Adamantium[dash]Soldier74, Warick, Mobili, and Axel's Lullaby for following;
And Symphony of the Night, KageFuego4, Guest, Pharos666, llat[dash]2, I throw rocks at retarded kids (plz don't tho), and sayumi[dash]konotofor reviewing!
Apologies in advance if I missed anyone, let me know if so.
I'm also editing this right before work, and I need to go now, so sorry for the formatting errors in the shout-outs!
(And sorry I don't have time to respond to the review of Guest, but I did see your review!)
Gotta go, but thanks as always for reading, and see you all soon!