As the days, months and years went by, Akihiko Sanada found himself with an uncomfortable dilemma. What comes next with his life?
Here and now what comes next was smacking a combo into these weaker demons, while trying to keep those larger shadows contained.
What comes tomorrow was a question he was hesitant to ask since he might not live to see it. It wasn't him being defeatist but he has seen people get obliterated in these types of fights.
Talking to someone one moment the next moment they're pink vapor. Some he would easily say were heads and shoulders above him in skill and power.
Ducking around the shards of a Bufu, the boxer steps into a rear hand uppercut, sinking his fist into the gut of a Silky.
It stood no chance.
Maybe he shied away from answering it because he was certain that he wouldn't live to see the end of the Dark Hour. It was a distinct possibility given how he had already had his fair share of close calls.
The sounds of gunfire open up. Akihiko trusts that he won't get shot and if he does it'll be better than the alternative. Besides, he's survived it before.
Anyone on these battle fields knew it was better to take the shot and hope for the best than wait if it takes too long to find a better angle.
Mercifully he isn't shot.
He steals a glance back as Polydeuces lets off a Zio on the Shadow with the strings while he moves to engage another low tier demon, a Tam Lin that seemed to be biding its time.
Baiting out a thrust for his face by lowering his guard the silver haired teen was able to duck beneath the spear enough to counter it by turning it into a shoulder throw.
Its back smacking into the ground robbed the demon of its breath before a point blank sonic punch from Polydeuces would have reduced its head to gore if it hadn't turned to ash.
Ah Mitsuru was starting to arrive, hopefully between the three of them they would be able to mop this mess up quickly enough.
How these larger shadows or rather why these shadows came out the basement he wasn't sure, no one had gone down there after the last time.
If they stayed out who knows what they might do to the innocents of the island.
For the Kirijo heiress this week had objectively been one of the most tumultuous that she's experienced thus far, topped only by a few others.
Landing into an easy guard with her rapier at the ready Mitsuru waited to see if the bait of vulnerability would be taken.
It was.
Stepping into a graceful ripost the claws of a Shiisa had been batted aside before she lunged and with a simple thrust to the eye, slaying it, whilst her persona took its own prerogatives, easily cutting down some angels that thought they might get away as the fight turned against their favor.
The Demons here were a minor threat tonight. Whatever spurred their rampage seemed to die down as of tonight. At this number they'd be no threat to her nor Akihiko, while that contractor seemed to be… not a novice but closer to rusty he held his own as well.
The crux of her issues stemmed from the U.N. which had mismanaged its own changeover so badly that it had found a way to trainwreck her own plans. Shirogane neé Arisato Minato, Takeba Yukari and Iori Junpei, they not only had potential but they all had something that for lack of better terms made them easy targets… Recruitment material.
"Bufu!"
Bolts of frozen ice pierced through the air, finding purchase in the abnormal shadow that seemed to be a collection of hands with cut strings hanging from them.
Minimal damage.
-Two targets, they mimic each other one with swords and another with strings. A collection of hands with no center body mass, mask held in hands, weak point?-
Her plans would need to be rewritten now that UNDIT was hamstrung from their run of bad luck and mismanagement. Ideally the heiress would have used them as a support system for her new potential team mates.
It might be so easy now, on the training front that is.
"Penthesilea!", with a quick flourish of her evoker her spirit was brought forth.
This night could go more smoothly with more members but in the meantime she needed to figure out the weaknesses of this duo.
In contrast to most Shadows and definitely Demons, this duo of Magician Arcana Shadows seemed to be… not quite vicious but certainly held a lethal edge that most others she'd encountered didn't possess. Despite the lack of higher intelligence for planning.
With keen wine red eyes the young woman watched the borderline super natural looking man pull an FN F2000 back out from… somewhere and begin to lay down covering fire.
"Sukukaja!"
A field of green energy briefly covered Akihiko as he weaved through a veritable blender of blades to land a devastating left hook to the mask.
It seemed she wasn't the only one to deduce a potential vulnerability.
Despite landing that clean the Shadow looked no worse for wear and didn't feel any more damaged according to her senses.
The man called Faer Jaecar was an abnormality despite his willingness to play ball. He had an actionable service record, things that were standard if it weren't for the fact it was more black ink than not. Even things like his age were blacked out.
"Mabufu!"
Sending out bolts of ice at both of the Shadows she saw that the one with disconnected strings had been knocked down while the other had taken the hit with minimal damage.
-Shifting weakness?-
Maybe…?
"Akihiko! Try to get that one out here! We'll try to finish off this one here!"
Hopefully the weaknesses would stick and although none of them had any fire typing coverage that shouldn't prevent Akihiko from nullifying the threat.
"Got it!"
Immediately the stubborn boy began running towards the dorms.
Shit… that definitely wasn't ideal.
Pulling out a plume of dusk powered radio she watched on mutely as Faer placed the rifle away and engaged in melee.
Objectively speaking, this night had been one of the lowest stress ones so far. Although UNDIT weren't patrolling tonight this fight had been easy enough to manage since there had only been a handful of Demons.
Also, no crippling wounds should have maimed or killed him.
Ducking beneath an errant wire he stepped in with forward slash into one of the numerous arms of his current opponent.
The attack hadn't done much but it wasn't ineffective.
He needed to pick a better target.
Throwing himself into a roll to the side he threw his knife at the mask being held up by strings.
It found little purchase as it only chipped off a small fragment as the knife tumbled off to the side.
Maybe he should take back what he said about this being a good night. Sure, it wasn't a terrible night but this thing's durability was pretty ridiculous.
And he didn't have a lot of MP to use for his magic gun or a lot of ammo left for his normal gun. If he used either he might screw himself later.
"Tch."
Faer watched as magic energy coalesced down the strings similar to electricity arcing down a wire.
Throwing himself even further away in another roll the young man could hear the sound of concrete giving way with a concussive blast.
Running counter clockwise to the monster he pulls his Evoker with reluctance and shoots two shots at the mask again that ring out like steel plates let off tiny fragments.
Evidently it still wasn't enough damage to amount to anything. Picking up his knife again Faer couldn't help but wish he had a recall skill so he wouldn't have to pick it up again.
He was either too slow or had run into a trap as he suddenly found himself pulled into the air from one of the loose threads of the shadow. Before he could manage to cut himself down two more wires had laced around his arms pulling him taut.
Then without restraint he is shocked without restraint the lightning burning through his nerves as his still loose leg flutters full of energy.
"Bufu!"
The freshly fried foreigner finds himself crashing into the ground bonelessly.
If there was a phrase to describe what he was feeling it would be distant and tired. Even though he knew his life was on the line it wasn't like every other time where he still had the ability to shove down the pain.
He was just worn in a way that previous times didn't push him to.
"Dia."
As he stared into the green sky he could see green motes of healing energy suffuse in his body.
It reminded him of the chill of working on the waterfront in the winter.
…
" Jaeca, you must continue to fight."
That's right, this was still life and death, not just his, this woman's as well.
Regardless of how he thought his week was going, he had to fight.
Pushing himself to his feet, Faer could remember so many little moments, from the smell of ********* at his first- to his -. As he steadied himself to stare down his opponent as the heiress and her apparition fought with a precision that bespoke extensive practice, the young man realized that those moments were forgotten, like dust in the wind.
Tch
Doesn't matter.
He dove back in without restraint.
"Sukukaja!"
As the green field of energy surrounded the wine haired heiress the fight seemed to shift in a way that it hadn't before.
Prior to this, neither had been making much progress, due to not being strong enough to cause more than minor damage or fast enough to pile it on.
Or in Faer's case he had been unwilling to spend the rest of his ammunition for the toy soldier he was carrying.
Now though, with the buff Mitsuru had been more than capable of beating back the limbs in a display of grace that had her resemble a fictional character rather than one limited by the constraints of physics. From easily stepping through the monster's lazy guard to side stepping and ducking through the myriad of wires and spells.
It wasn't quite up to snuff of what those soldiers were doing in some cases but something about her pacing…
Regardless even as she ducked and tucked riposted and chastised the monster Faer made sure he committed his own job as best he could, marksmanship. With his rifle in full auto it was best to take a prone position so his cone of fire could remain tight.
It had to be because while he was sure he could get closer he wasn't sure he could do what the red head was doing and maintain shots on target. He was ashamed to admit that much, feeling that there was no reason he shouldn't be able to contend with that.
…
Definitely something to train towards.
Regardless in the meantime between three, if one counted the summon, sided assault the monster had no other recourse than to die.
And it did.
As the being faded away into black ashes swept away by an invisible wind Mitsuru flicked something off of her rapier as she turned to walk towards him.
Faer rose to his feet, keeping his face stony though he couldn't say how well he managed.
"You have my thanks, Mr. Jaeca, I'm afraid to ask you for your assistance again though."
"It's not like I don't purposely go searching for trouble."
"Then let me ask this; help me out one more time, the other Shadow, it got away and it feel-"
A look of horror crosses onto the woman's face.
"Akihiko is in danger! I need your help, the others there have never fought anything like this before!"
Panic began to show on her face as the seconds stretched on.
Even though Faer felt exhausted he knew that he would have to help unless he wanted to attend the funeral of maybe four students in school.
Sure that would be great to get some conflict but it would be something that could only be milked for so long.
Probably two months at best considering he didn't think that either Mitsuru or Akihiko had many friends.
As the woman gets ready to turn around the Contractor takes an audible breath in and exhales just as loudly.
"Alright, let's get this over with."
The Demonica was an amazing piece of hardware, probably some of the most adaptable machines if not the most adaptable machine in the world. Given enough time and the right pressures someone could use it to endure incredible forces and dish it right back.
With negative pressure to stand at the bottom of the ocean and enough positive pressure to resist the vacuum of space.
These are some of the default testing that this machinery has to go through to be put to use.
Problem was the people who wore them.
By default the people who outfitted with these suits were some of the best humanity had to offer. Nothing less than excellence could be afforded given the nature of their opponents.
However, it wasn't like anyone could just pump out the best of humanity on a whim. It wasn't like anyone could intuitively know who the best for the job was.
Until they started selection it was impossible to know who has the physical and mental strength needed to perform on a level that was superhuman.
Sure the U.S. has its SOCOM but this is even more specialized than that and in fact that was where the U.S. derived its main surplus of potential recruits.
Of course that didn't play well with their war hungry branch, the Marine Corps, but of the platoons of Scout Snipers, Recon and their own Raiders there were maybe enough potential candidates for two 13 man squads, and of that only 6 passed.
This reflected a great credit since of the branches coming from the U.S. few actually matched that when proportioned were equalized.
With only Delta Force having a better score for entry.
All this reflected across the board, from the UK, to the French, the Germans, the Japanese etc.
Low acceptance rates were expected and after vigorous training with the equipment each squad could essentially break a country over its knee.
That was not their purpose.
They existed to fight Demons things that go bump in the night. After the veil was ripped asunder by the 2003 apocalypse the eggheads and the chicken shit bureaucrat globalists realized there would be no great reset (in their image) if there was no humanity.
There was no hiding it, and even less point in trying when there was no negotiating with something that saw you as food.
For maybe the first time in recorded history everyone was able to be on the same page.
When the next big threat came around, they took care of it.
Or rather one person took care of it.
Yeah, all that specialized training, selecting the best of the best. That amazing machine capable of power straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon.
None of it meant shit.
2000 of the best the world had to offer.
Summarily crushed through a meat grinder where God was not on your side.
And one man managed to survive.
That was two and half years ago.
For two and half years we realized that whatever we had done, hadn't really been enough.
Demons, God, and Monsters still roamed the earth in a hidden 25th hour that apparently no one was tracking on.
Something about the nature of the Demonica allowed people to stay conscious during it. It only highlighted who knows how many Demons are running around causing massive issues.
Who was to blame, the fucking Japanese. Almost to no one's surprise considering that last one was centered around it.
That fucking armpit of a nation couldn't not be an issue for everyone for at least two seconds.
Hell there was even talks about seeing if the power of the sun could fix their stupid again, since they absolutely love fucking with beings beyond human comprehension.
The Kirijos even had the audacity to treat the rest of the world like they were wrong for rightfully asking "What the fuck.", to add insult to injury this had been going on for 10 fucking years.
As in this issue has been happening longer than there has been recorded history of modern supernatural occurrences.
This is literally a worst case scenario being lived out here. Sure everyone who managed to get to the suit knew more than likely they were going to die horribly but God damn it all.
This whole thing is just a giant terrible religious experience gone fucked all ways to Sunday.
"Shit. And to think that we might not even get more bodies for this."
In another enlistment he might've even called them Boots. But objectively speaking almost no Boot in any country had the ability to get this done.
And if one did, he would probably survive because he's a monster of talent.
Enough dallying around. He had to just keep his men alive. Whatever the cost might be.
If that meant picking and choosing battles, so be it. The only judgment he feared was the look on a dying comrade's face.
This was fucked with a capital FUCKED.
After the Kirijo heiress' ghost had gotten them up onto the roof they had been met with the scene of a crime in progress.
A boy with blue hair and a sword was duking it out with the shadow Akihiko ran off with while the man himself looked like death warmed over.
His arm was nearly severed and his ghost was barely visible as casted that magic healing spell constantly.
Faer couldn't do anything about that, hell he was still low on MP and he realized that he didn't get any stats from that last fight nor leveled up.
He was down to a single magazine for his disgusting bullpup rifle and ultimately the only thing that was reliable at this point was his fucking knife.
"Well, ya either get fucked or start fuckin."
"H-huh?"
Oh it was the cardigan girl, Yuka- something. She was here too. Huh, small world.
"Nothing."
With that Faer pulled his rifle and began pelting the magic of 5.56 at the mask of the "shadow" as the noble looking girl called it.
It eased the tension off the blue haired boy whose silver eyes were quite distinctive in this lighting.
Momentary surprise showed in those same eyes as the blade that almost ran him through was deflected and disarmed by the Contractor's shooting.
Heh.
He was out of ammo.
Luckily he was given a perfect weapon of opportunity. Sprinting towards the fallen sword and stowing the rifle away in favor of his knife.
"It doesn't matter if you do something stupid so long as you look cool doing it. If you look cool it probably wasn't stupid anyways."
Throwing his knife at the mask as the shadow turned its attention to him he was just barely able to pick up the sword before the beast was upon him.
Things like edge alignment and proper posture went through Faer's cavernous psyche as he took his first swing.
Superhuman strength meets him in return. The slim blade sends vibrations down his body.
It takes a full commitment to meeting the blade again full on to avoid being slaughtered by the many armed monster.
That kid, fought this thing on his own? What that the hell was he fucking made of?
As more arms brought their swords to bear against him Faer tried to match them but was easily brought to his knees against the otherworldly strength.
Throwing himself into a roll he had honestly hoped the other hadn't-
"Bufu!"
Ice spontaneously conjured around the arms stabbing the ground in his wake were trapped. Allowing him to push to his feet.
"Per-so-na!"
The sound of glass echoed out as a wave of energy washed over Faer, who still was facing down his opponent.
Not a moment too soon as the wave of energy was an unspoken signal, the shadow conjured a heavy heat wave that shattered the ice around it, knocking back Mitsuru who came to follow up her attack from behind it.
Faer on the other hand jumped over the wave trying to jump and cut off one of the opposing limbs, but it was for naught as he had to commit to a block which had him slamming into guard rail.
"Hya- agh! Ah!" The screams of the blue haired boy echoed out as a barrier seemed to break from within him.
That rush of power from earlier hadn't been everything he had, it was just the beginning, a pressure that reminded Faer of the un-perception of death, the unfair tiredness that settles in against one's will as the ultimate predator announces its attack.
An apparition or Persona rather stands above the sleepy looking boy who collapsed to his knees. Coffins hang around it as if something between being a cape and wings tethered to its shoulders by its harness. An over all humanoid shaped being that had a beak styled helmet that obscured its face with a long navy blue coat and matching white gloves and boots.
And of course it's long katana that was as big as it was.
「End. Entropy. Fall.」
「Refusal.」
It was instinctive but the Contractor, tired and beaten as he is, refused to die like a dog.
He found himself on shaky legs as the hulking creature briefly looked at him before charging in with reckless abandon.
What followed was a slaughter, it had to be since all Faer was able to make out was a blur of steel that cut through the shadow fast enough to make it sound like thunder had cracked in front of him.
…
When it was done, it broke apart for lack of better words leaving a robot that looked like the near passed out kid, turned into a robot with white hair and a harp.
Talk about underwhelming.
But on the bright side, there were no more shadows left.
【Level Up】
【Due to intense fighting gain +1 End】
【Due to intense fighting gain +1 Mag】
【Due to intense fighting gain +2 Dex】
【Due to intense fighting gain +2 Agi】
【CQB Hand to Hand (Novice) 4/50 - 7/50】
【Perseverance Lvl 5/100 - 6/100】
That's good too.
It made sense in a way, he basically rolled into two back to back major fights, and he only got obscenely crippled once. He was getting better at this wasn't he?
God fucking damn if he wasn't tired… and hungry.
"Ms. Kirijo, all hostiles eliminated, will you need help with the casualties?"
Please say no.
"If you wouldn't mind? I'll have my hands full keeping Akihiko stable."
That's right, the silver haired youth was nearly amputated, and might still have to lose the arm given how everything looked.
He had a bone deep tired look to him… no pun intended, as the gre- white moonlight came to shine down on him.
Right with the dark hour over it was clear that the danger had mostly passed.
"I suppose I can help these two back to their rooms at least."
"No, Takeba will be fine on her own, Arisato needs medical attention as well, please help me get him downstairs, I'll have an ambulance come grab them."
Feh, what a demanding woman. Still with nothing else to do and all the reason in the world to keep them alive, for now Faer complied.