5A/N: This chapter had turned out longer than I had expected it to be, which is why I couldn't update it in supposedly one week. Anyway, no more nonsense speech and up we go!
[ 3 ]
The Awakening
[Thursday, April 9, Early Morning]
Eyes opening and...
"Haah, Haah, Haah,..."
She gasped quickly, as if a drowning person who had just got on the ground and tried to draw in some air. After a while, her breathing was down to a normal level, though her mind was still unstable from the most realistic dream in her recent 10 years.
What a nightmare. Usagi grumbled in silence while morning lights were only starting to wander inside her room through the half-closed windows.
...
Wait a minute. Why half-closed? I remember shutting the windows tight last night. The auburn-haired girl got up immediately when she realized the odd thing. Then she noticed that her right hand was clenching a steel-like object.
The glittering velvet key was lying idly inside her palm, which gave her a shock as she dropped the key reflexively, or out of fear. But that action only served to further her confusion as the key disappeared the moment it touched the ground with a light 'Clang!' sound. After that, the companions she had left were the room and quietness itself.
This can be waited. I need to take a look at the windows first. Shaking her head as she had recalled her uncertainty about the windows, Usagi moved to where they were and checked them out. And her suspicion was right: the windows were surely opened during one moment of last night; although, she didn't have any idea of how they were opened nor who was the intruder.
Seeing that everything within the room was intact, Usagi stressed out her arms as she prepared for another boring school day to come, or at least that was what she thought the day would be.
[Thursday, April 9, Evening]
Just as Usagi predicted, the day didn't have any surprise or special incident that was worth mentioning. What's more, the Kozaki boy was once again nowhere to be found, like yesterday, much to her relief (or her little sadness, though the girl wouldn't dare to admit it). Yukari made some excuses to go back to the dorm earlier, Junpei was hanging out at the arcade, and Kenji was going to his favorite ramen shop. Since the auburn-haired girl had no interest to go to neither places, she decided to return to the dorm without any afterschool activities.
When Usagi was back at the dorm's entrance, she somehow felt that the dorm was quite empty. No one was there to greet her, as well as showing up on the higher floors when she went up the stairs and to her respective room.
If this boredom keep going on then this year might go by in a blink of an eye. Usagi thought as she plopped down onto her comfortable bed, leaving all of her present worries behind.
[Thursday, April 9, Dark Hour]
At the command room on the fourth floor of the dorm, Ikutsuki, Mitsuru, and Yukari were all watching their new resident with keen eyes. There was nothing different from yesterday, as they had the usual observance of Usagi's very moves inside her room. The bespectacled man had just arrived here, so he decided to ask, both out of curiosity and formality.
"So, how is she tonight?"
"The same as last night." Mitsuru responded curtly, not sparing a second glance at the Board's Chairman of her school. Ikutsuki knew that she always focused intently on whatever thing she kept an eye on, so he would let the rudeness slide for now as he commented.
"Hmm... very interesting. Even those who have the potential tend to be unstable at first: memory loss, disorientation... But, this subject is rather unique; she hasn't exhibited any of the common symptoms."
Yukari, who had been quiet up until now, voiced her concern as she looked at the screen with nervousness.
"But... we're treating her like a guinea pig."
Chuckling at the girl's naivety, Ikutsuki spoke with lots of conviction in his tone, making sure that the brunette would feel better of what they were doing.
"I understand your concern, but it's imperative that we recruit new members. I heard she's in your class... Wouldn't you be more comfortable working with someone from the same grade? And it is a female classmate, at that."
"Yeah, I guess. But, still..."
The girl wasn't able to finish her speech when there was an emergency call from outside rang through the room. The red-headed senior immediately picked it up as she asked, knowing full well who was on the other end of the line.
"Command room here. Is that you, Akihiko?"
"You're not gonna believe this...! This thing is huge!" Sanada Akihiko, another senior living in the dorm, answered with some pauses in middle to catch his breath. As if the anxiety in his voice wasn't enough, he gave the people inside command room another bad news. "Unfortunately, I don't have time to talk... It's chasing me... I wanted to let you guys know. I'm almost there."
"Does that mean... he's bringing that thing here!" Yukari asked in disbelief and horror. She didn't face any of them before, and now Akihiko had to lead a huge one back to their dorm. The idea was definitely not delighted to her, but the brunette had to cope with the situation as Mitsuru had already been giving order.
"Kaichou! Let's suspend our observation for now. We'll prepare for battle!"
"...R-Right! Be careful!" Ikutsuki replied, being perplexed a bit by the red-haired girl's seriousness, while ignoring the fact that he was supposed to be the one in charge.
After running non-stop for his destination, Akihiko was able to make it through as he had opened the door and shut it down instantly. The silver-haired man clutched onto one of his arms while he tried to regain his breath. As if to make it clear that he was injured, Akihiko let out a painful moan while blood had began to drip down from his arm.
"Argh..."
"Akihiko, are you alright?" Mitsuru asked as she kneeled down to examine the silver-haired man's injuries.
Still keeping the smirk on his face, Akihiko replied with a forcefully joking voice.
"I'm fine. Get ready to be surprised... It'll be here any second."
Hearing such an inappropriate response at a time like this, Mitsuru finally lost her calm demeanor and snapped at the silver-haired boy.
"This is no time to joke around, Akihiko!"
Ikutsuki, on the other hand, didn't care much about his student's injuries as he asked a question that had been nagging him ever since the senior boy had arrived.
"Akihiko, is it one of them?"
"Yes, but not an ordinary one..."
Suddenly, something had slammed hard into the door as he was in the middle of his sentence, making all of them jump back while the walls had shook violently at the impact.
Yukari, unable to hide both her fear and panic, squealed and spoke in a frightful voice.
"Ahh!... What the...! ...You've gotta be kidding me!"
Luckily for them, the red-headed senior had always been in a prepared position for such a situation as she had regained her coolness back and started to place everything in order.
"Kaichou, please head for the command room! Takeba, go upstairs and wake her up, then escape using the backdoor." She turned to the silver-haired man with a stern face. "You led it to us, Akihiko, so I'm afraid you'll have to fight with me."
Knowing full well that he had no way out of it, Akihiko growled in frustration as he stood up and readjusted his equipment, which seemed like a custom made gun.
"Like I had a choice!" He then looked at his junior and shouted at her for she was still standing there. "What are you waiting for, Yukari? Go!"
"H-Haiz, Aikihiko-senpai." The brunette was snapped out of her daze and instantly ran to the stairs while her two seniors readied for battle.
Usagi grumbled at the sound which woke her up, and that apparently had left her in a bad mood. The auburn-haired girl was about to kill everyone on her sight for disturbing her sleep, especially right in the middle of 'Emerald Night'.
Unfortunately for her, Fate had always been messing up with her life as there was a bang on the other side of her room's door, followed by a familiar voice.
"Wake up!" Yukari shouted, then she opened the door without the owner's permission as she hurriedly excused herself. "Sorry, I'm coming in! I don't have time to explain. We have to get out of here, now!"
Great, why didn't you just barge in from the beginning? That would have saved a LOT of time instead of knocking on the door and come in as you pleased. Usagi almost said those out loud, but decided to keep the thoughts to herself as she could sense the urgency and severity in the brunette's expression.
Yukari, not noticing the slightly ill-tempered attitude on her dorm mate's face, talked with a bit of force in her tone.
"Something's happened. Hurry! Downstairs! We'll leave through the back door!"
So without another words, the two girls immediately ran down the stairs to the ground floor and faced the backdoor. Yukari didn't see her seniors everywhere, which she deduced that they must be outside dealing with them. Then a beeping sound could be heard as the brunette brought her hand up and covered her left ear, which had a communication device being put in.
"Takeba, do you read me?" Mitsuru's voice was coming through the other end. Yukari felt that something odd was up, but she had swept it aside for the moment as she answered the red-haired senior.
"Y-Yes! I hear you!"
And her vexing feeling was right when Mitsuru's voice became grim as she gave the brunette one bad news.
"Be careful! There's more than one enemy! The one we're fighting isn't the one Akihiko saw!"
"What?" was all Yukari could mutter before a loud bang came into contact with the backdoor, shaking the dorm's walls for the second time that night. That last incident had took the brunette's hesitation away as she quickly pulled back from the backdoor and ran for the stairs again, while not forgetting to call for her companion.
"Let's get to the rooftop."
Usagi couldn't do anything but nodding and followed her friend's lead. Yukari-chan really has her rationality blown up.
When Usagi thought that the brunette had got her rationality blown up, she meant this kind of most idiotic thing Yukari would do in their current situation.
"The door is locked. I think we're safe for now..."
Safe? She led me here to the rooftop and locked the door, preventing us from GETTING INSIDE while there is A MYSTERIOUS MONSTER DWELLING OUTSIDE AND WAITING FOR ANY CHANCE TO ATTACK US, Great. The only thing we are still lacking right now is a human-sized food being prepared for that whatever-thing-it-is, which in this case is either me or her, Excellent. No weapon to defend ourselves, especially since that gun of her is a fake, meaning two damsels in distress here and no Prince Charming coming on his way, and I doubted that there would ever be one, Perfect. The auburn-haired girl's barrages of sarcastic thoughts ran wildly, while Yukari had been observing around with obvious panic in her expression.
And the next thing came to them only made that panic grow to a higher level.
First, it was a crooked growl that could not be specified as a human-made sound – heck, even an animal could not make such a sound like that – accompanied by lots of slippery sounds, as if something slimy was dragging on the dorm's walls.
And, come the most grotesque being that Usagi had ever seen in her life: a black mass of liquid-like material was on the edge of the roof, climbing up using many hands that stuck out of its body. Then a blue mask rose, being held by many hands as if they want to rip the mask off. The mask watched over the rooftop area, until it stopped its gaze on the girls. After that, it used both tentacle-like limbs with several mouths on each of it and the remaining hands that were still on the walls to lift itself off and stood on the rooftop's ground completely.
Even though she was still in her panic rage, Yukari was able to make out an explanation.
"That's the thing that attacked this place... We call them Shadows." Her hand then went to the silvery gun on her waist-attached holster. The brunette was trembling, her face was as pale as ice, sweats were pouring down while she held the gun and mumbling some words. "A-Alright... I have to fight... I... I can summon mine... No problem..."
Usagi thought that may be the gun was real after all, seeing how her friend was depending on it as if it was life itself for the latter. However, the way Yukari pointed her gun was awkward no matter which angle you look, and that had made the auburn-haired girl gasp in horror.
Dear Kami-sama! Is she really that frightened to suicide right here? Ridiculous! I gotta stop her now or else...
But Usagi didn't have her chance to stop the brunette, for she had shortly forgotten that she wasn't the only one present. The grotesque being had materialized many daggers on its hands and lashed out at Yukari, who was its greatest threat at the moment.
Fortunately, the sharp edges had missed the brunette's face by a mere few inches. But the shear impact from its assault had knocked her back, and her gun had landed perfectly at the auburn-haired girl's feet.
Logically, if one was in a desperate situation and saw a weapon that he – or she in this case – could protect themselves with it, they would use it. And Usagi did just that: she picked up the gun – briefly wondered how light it is for an object of killing purpose before shooing the thought away – and pointed it at the beast. The auburn-haired girl pulled the trigger and expected a following recoil or a blasting sound.
To her surprise, nothing happened; and that had evidently made the beast angrier as it launched the same attack on her. Unlike the time with Yukari, the auburn-haired girl had dodged the daggers out of pure instinct and jumped backward to gain some distance from the beast.
Too bad, it was a wrong move as her shoulders had touched the wall behind, and the beast left her no time to regain her breath as it had immediately struck at her again with three of its mouth-covered tentacles. The mouths were continuously clashing its teeth together, revealing the sharp fangs and instilling the nightmare if one would ever get bitten by its tentacles. Such thoughts had paralyzed Usagi as she looked at the tentacles reaching for her with hollowness, awaiting an inevitable death.
Suddenly, a female voice can be heard, which had snapped the auburn-haired girl out of her petrified state.
"Penthesilea!"
At that instance, a humanoid figure blocked Usagi's sight and used its dual swords to slice off the approaching tentacles, which vaporized into black smoke and in the end, nihility.
Being her normal self again, the auburn-haired girl looked at her savior, who was none other than the red-haired senior, Mitsuru. Usagi was about to thanks her senpai for the timely intervention, but the grotesque being did not give them any breathing room for it had launched another assault, with both the hands and tentacles reaching toward their preys. Mitsuru stood strongly as the humanoid figure – it had a woman's body in tight suit, a breastplate, and an iron mask – had shielded her with its dual swords and its own body, while she called out to the auburn-haired girl.
"Kawano, go help Takeba up! I and Akihiko will take things from here."
Lightly nodding at the red-haired girl's order, Usagi had ran through Mitsuru's back and to the brunette who had fainted out from the 'Being's' assault earlier, while the silver-haired senior had taken the front line, although the blood was still dripping from his shoulder.
The auburn-haired girl finally got a clear view at Akihiko, who she assumed to be another resident at the dorm like her and everyone else. He had quite a handsome face, a slender but masculine body build. In short, he would be popular with girls enough if he was a playboy type, despite the present impression of his blood-stained white shirt and sweater vest. But that wasn't the thing that made the auburn-haired girl's jaws drop for he was pointing the same silvery gun at his temple.
"Wait, what are you..." Usagi was trying to stop him again like she did with Yukari. However, her question was soon buried deep within her throat for Akihiko had pulled the trigger.
"Polydeuces!"
Surprisingly, instead of blood or brain matters splattering everywhere, there was a card rising up. Then, the card shattered into many glassy pieces and they all formed a blue light, which later turned into a large humanoid figure. It had a muscular and long haired body with an injector-like object on its right hand.
"GAAAAAAAAAARGH!."
Yet, her little sightseeing time was interrupted for the 'Being' had roared loudly as many of its hands and tentacles were cut off by Penthesilea as well as the newly summoned Polydeuces. The deafening howl had put the two seniors to cover their ears with their hands. But that only resulted in their biggest mistake.
The 'Being', using the short-timed distraction it created, raised a pillar of flame right where Penthesilea stood, thus making the humanoid figure shrink into a card and flew back to its master's body, while its master had seemingly got knocked down by the same move. As if it was born with an intelligence of its own, the 'Being' had furthered its attack by lashing out fully-equipped-with-dagger hands toward Mitsuru and impaled her body. The red-haired senior gasped as the excruciating feeling shot throughout her every blood vessel.
Akihiko, seeing his friend in such a state, ordered Polydeuces to shield him while he made his way to Mitsuru. But, everything went wrong when the aching pain in his shoulder acted up, which left him collapsing on the floor while clutching the said place. With the master in his weakest moment, Polydeuces simply disappeared the same way as Penthesilea.
The 'Being', without ever casting off its malevolent side, drew out a tentacle and wrapped around Akihiko. The mouths that were on the tentacle immediately bit and tore away the silver-haired man's flesh, leading the man to scream out with all the air inside his lungs. However, that didn't last long as he gradually lost his consciousness, or even dead, for his blood had flown down in torrents and painted the greenery floor with nothing but glittering red.
And so, with the two strongest fighters out cold on her side, Usagi was the only one who could fully function at the moment. But those who wished for some last hope would surely be disappointed, for she couldn't even move one finger, not because of physical pain but rather the fear that had devoured her entire soul.
What is this thing? Why is it killing everybody? Why me? Why them? Why? Why? WHY? WHY? WHY?–
Her line of messed-up thoughts was cut off as the 'Being' swung one of its dagger down, leaving behind a huge wound on her body. Blood was guttering out like a fountain while she slowly fell onto the ground with her face on the left side looking at the 'Being'. It was walking to her awkwardly with its none-dagger hands as its feet.
Usagi felt her consciousness fading little by little as the 'Being' coming closer to her. That moment, she cursed herself.
Why can't I do anything at all?
Why am I so powerless?
As if answering her self-blaming questions, the world had changed from green to gray and white. The 'Being' had also stopped its movements, or to be more precise, frozen like watching a paused movie's cut scene. The auburn-haired girl, with her half-closed eyelids, saw something that should have not been there in the beginning.
A boy with distinguished blue hair was standing right in front of her. His face was neutral as always, not a hint of emotion could be showed. He crouched down to where Usagi was lying and muttered.
"Do you really want power?"
Yes, I do.
"Why?"
So that I can protect myself and my friends.
"Doesn't that sound hypocritical?"
Because I can't do anything without power.
"You do."
Huh?
"You have the necessary strength to do what you desire."
But I can't feel it.
"Don't let fear get into you. Just close your eyes for now and call the name."
The name?
"The name of your soul, it will reach you naturally if you cast aside your fear."
It will?
"Yes, and don't forget to pull the trigger."
The blue-haired boy made a finger-gun and pointed it at his head, then he 'shoot' it figuratively.
After that, her vision turned black.
She blinked.
Usagi was surprised as she found herself standing in front of the 'Being' again, but not in the same position that she had just experienced. She was holding the silvery gun in her hand while Yukari had still not wakened up yet.
The auburn-haired girl remembered what she had just saw, for her hands were terribly shaking in fear of what would happen in the next few seconds, if the 'future' she had witnessed came true. Sweats were starting to pour down on her cheeks and forehead, her breathing became ragged, and her face got pale as the bloody scene attacked her mind. She was, literally, another version of Yukari one minute ago.
However, she then recalled the words that Munetaka – she assumed that it was the same blue-haired boy she knew – had told her. Usagi inquired herself: she wasn't meant to be this weak, and she had never simply given up on anything before, so why did she suddenly go helpless just because of an unidentifiable monster called 'Shadow'?
No, she would NOT stay put and do nothing, she would NOT tolerate that 'Being' for having its way with them, she would NOT allow it to destroy everything she had, and more importantly, she would NOT let the fear eat her soul, because there were many people that would be in need of her help.
Don't be afraid. I know you can do it, Kawano Usagi. This is the time when we need to become strong more than ever. We will defeat this monster and save our friends.
Having calmed down with her new resolve, the auburn-haired girl stood valiantly as she put the gun on her right side and pointed it at her temple, mimicking what Akihiko had done and what the blue-haired boy had taught her to. The only thing she didn't know that she was smirking evilly with her mouth mumbling.
"Per, So, Na."
And she finally shot it.
Just as Usagi imagined, there was a card rising up and shattered into many glassy pieces, which flew above her and formed a blue light, eventually created a humanoid figure. The thing said in a robotic yet mythical voice, announcing its grand appearance.
"Thou art I... and I art thou...
From the sea of thy soul... I come forth...
I am Orpheus... the Master of Strings..."
To many people, this might be a successful feat in order to eliminate the 'Being'; but to Usagi, something was definitely wrong here, for she was feeling that Orpheus was not what she expected, or rather, she didn't feel that it was a part of her soul, and she subtly hated it. The Master of Strings, on the other hand, was floating in front of her with a strange tingle of peace, as if awaiting her to do something, but she didn't know what it was.
Her question was soon answered as someone had jumped down behind her. The auburn-haired girl attempted to turn around and confront the intruder, but the blue-haired boy – Usagi caught a glimpse of him – had hugged her first, which prevented the girl from doing what she had intended earlier, and his right hand held her one. She shuddered at the cold sensation of his touch.
The boy, however, didn't pay any mind to it at all as he grasped Usagi's wrist and raised her hand up, which Orpheus had responded by extending its left hand forward. Usagi tried to resist, but the Kozaki boy had whispered in her right ear – she mentally admitted that she enjoyed the act at some level.
"Don't be afraid. You know that Orpheus doesn't belong to you, so you have to make him yours."
At that point, all her hesitation and suspicion was blown away, being replaced by the natural call of her soul to reach out, to evolve, and to break the false mask.
As her hand and the Persona's hand touched, a bright light glowed at the contact and began to engulf the Persona itself, starting from the finger and steadily up to his elbow, revealing a smaller arm. Another voice can be heard, it had the same robotic and mythical tone as Orpheus, but instead of a male one, it was the voice of a girl.
"Thou art I... and I art thou...
From the sea of thy soul... I have reincarnated...
I am Pandora... the Damned One..."
And when the Persona had completed transforming, Usagi could feel that this was truly her soul, her mask, her Persona. The feminine humanoid figure had changed into an offensive stance and waited for its master's command.
The auburn-haired girl almost forgot that she was supposed to fight a monster, until the 'Being' roared loudly, getting annoyed at being ignored for the whole time. Usagi was about to order her Persona to stand forth and engaged in a battle, but the blue-haired boy had already taken the front line and held a 5 feet long katana elegantly in one hand, while he gestured the girl to stay back with his other hand. She wanted to protest, but there were footsteps behind her, and when she turned back, her seniors had also joined the fray.
As if waiting for this chance, Munetaka spoke up, making sure that everyone presenting would be able to hear.
"Kirijou-senpai, Kawano-san, back me up. Sanada-senpai, you are injured, so go help Takeba and find somewhere safe to cover."
The blue-haired boy wasn't the one in charge. However, his tone had some strange authority for the others had acted right as he had told them to. Mitsuru was on his left side with her Penthesilea, and Usagi on his right side with her Pandora. Without another word, Munetaka rushed forward, which gave the two girls no choice but to comply with him.
They had been going at it for quite some time. Munetaka acted as the main attacker with Penthesilea closing up behind him, often creating some icy lances to strike at the Shadow while Pandora brushed every attack that tended to reach outside of the battlefield.
Usagi was amazed by the blue-haired boy's combat abilities. He didn't have any Persona with him, and yet his strikes were powerful, his speed was unrivaled by a human, and most of all, he never seemed to get fazed no matter what the Shadow threw at them, as well as having no difficult in swinging a sword that almost had the same size as his height.
But the most problematic thing was that the giant black 'Being' didn't seem to be weaker with time as it always reproduced new parts of its body whenever there was a part that got cut off by the trio. That irritated the hell out of Usagi while Mitsuru was worried that the Dark Hour might end at any time now.
Feeling the need to finish this battle quickly, Mitsuru had stopped and stayed behind Usagi with her Penthesilea – she knew that the Shadow had Fire-based moves, and her Persona is weak to Fire so she wanted to make sure that she wouldn't got hit. The red-haired girl shouted out at the boy who was still busying taking on the Shadow.
"Kozaki-dono, we must end this fast. Anymore delay will only make things worse."
"I know, but..." The blue-haired boy said as he parried three consecutive strikes. "...I can't reach its mask. It keeps hiding the mask whenever I try to cut it." He vaguely grumbled at those last words, which slightly surprised Usagi a bit for the first human-like emotion she saw on him.
No time to space out though, for the Shadow had slammed into where Munetaka was standing, creating a spider-web-like crack and shaking the dorm for God-knows-how-many-times-already. The blue-haired boy jumped back to gain some distance from the Shadow and stared at it, as if trying to find a way to obliterate the grotesque being.
Then, for some reasons, the boy casted his head down and mumbled, his voice was so low that the auburn-haired girl was barely able to hear it.
"I'm sorry, but please bear with this for a while."
"Eh? What are you..." Usagi was about to ask him when Munetaka suddenly leaped backwards and out of the rooftop. "Kozaki-kun!" The girl screamed as she watched the boy fell down. But before she could ran to the edge, the Shadow had reached out its tentacles and blocked her way.
And it didn't stop there. The Shadow lashed out with its daggered-hands toward the auburn-haired girl. Pandora immediately stood in their ways and tried to parry the attacks, but the shadow had unexpectedly charged in with its whole body and knocked the scarf-wearer Persona aside, attempting to reach Usagi. However, Mitsuru was able to halt its movement with Penthesilea as she turned her head to the girl behind.
"Kawano, stand back!"
Big mistake.
The Shadow had grabbed the ice Persona while Mitsuru wasn't looking and shot a fireball at point blank range. The red-haired girl could only let out a painful squeal as her Persona gradually returned to its card state.
Normally, the Shadow would kill Mitsuru while it had a chance right there. But strangely, it continued lurking for the auburn-haired girl as it charged forward.
Usagi ran as fast as she could to avoid the black 'Being', yet she was still got captured by its hands. The Shadow pinned her to the ground, and instead of murdering her instantly, it put the blue mask near her face. One of its hands that held the mask had released and opened its palm with a newly formed mouth inside. For the first time since the fight, Usagi could hear the 'Being' spoke with a crooked voice, just like its earlier growl.
"Ven con nosotros."
What is it talking about? The auburn-haired girl asked herself, which was soon replaced with another surprise as a slicing sound could be heard, and a katana's tip stopped right when it was only 5 millimeters away from her nose.
Then the Shadow dropped on her as its body steadily vaporized into black smoke together with two pieces of its mask, which was cleanly cut in half.
After all the remnants of the Shadow had gone, Usagi tried to stand up on her own, but the blue-haired boy had already extended his hand to help her. She took it with a forceful smile on her face...
...only to fall on the ground again as she lost her vision for the second time that night.
And when she opened her eyes, the girl had met someone she wouldn't want to see for everything that had occurred.
"Welcome to the Velvet Room."
END OF CHAPTER 3
Without waiting for anyone, nor letting anyone help him, Munetaka had carried the auburn-haired girl quietly in a bridal style back to her room. The girl looked awfully peaceful for someone who just had her first battle against a Shadow, an Arcana One at that.
After having settled her down on the bed and covered her with a blanket, the blue-haired boy, instead of returning to his room, dragged a nearby chair to the bed's side and sat on it.
He had been through a lot of events before, and this time it wasn't something new to him. The Kozaki boy had been planning many things for this journey, a journey that he had imposed on the poor girl in his place, and some of them were life-threatening gambles, such as tonight. If Usagi didn't wake up from her fear, if she didn't gain her resolve, then the result would be ugly, VERY ugly. Anyone would cringe if they knew the possible dreadful outcome of tonight incident.
Munetaka sighed as he watched the girl sleeping; his poker face was still the same as usual. Ever since ten years ago, he had lost all of his emotion, which he sacrificed in order to save the life of a young girl. He had always been wondering himself why he would even bother to do that, while he could complete the journey by his own strength. Perhaps it was the human part of him that forced him to do so.
But now he was glad that he did, for he had found out another way to change fate, to prevent her from the same thing having happened to him. All he need was time, and the girl to become stronger on her own volition.
It felt like watching a child growing up, in his opinion. He had been following her everywhere, directly or not. With the unlimited resource that the Komatsuzaki Zaibatsu had in store, the girl was protected for every single second she was on Earth, except in the Dark Hour.
Munetaka chuckled lightly – something he hadn't done in the last ten years – as he thought of the reasons for building the Komatsuzaki Zaibatsu as powerful as it was now. All because of her, all were meant for her, and may be – just may be – that he wanted to have a high social standing as the one he had loved, to talk to her equally, to impress her with his vast knowledge, to claim her before anyone else did...
The blue-haired boy shook his head, which was very unlike him to do so. No, he didn't want himself to stray from the goal he had made. Only the first piece had fallen into place, and there were many left that needed to be done.
He stood up and left, knowing that his mind would be thinking about more sentimental things the more he stayed here. Still, he didn't forget to leave a word behind, as any gentleman would do.
"Oyasumi, Kawano."
Pandora
- Arcana: Fool.
- Level (After the battle with Magician): 5.
- Owner: Kawano Usagi.
- Visual Appearance: It took the female Orpheus form with a few modified places. Firstly, smaller and more slender limbs, especially the legs which shape like a lance-head. Secondly, its scarf is bigger and way way longer with two tattered ends, one floats behind like a cape while the other wraps around her right arm. Thirdly, its chest is more ample like a girl's torso while the waist and hips are smaller with no speaker on them. Fourthly, it has chains wrapped around its left arm that ended with a jar (Yes, it's a jar, not a box. If you are thinking that I may be wrong then go and wiki it), which is also wrapped tightly with a lot of chains, as if to prevent it from being opened. Finally, it has no lyre on its back.
- Attributes:
+ Resist: Fire.
+ Null: Dark.
+ Weak: Light.
- Skills:
+ Empowerment: Infuse Fire element into the Persona's weapon, which would deal a bonus small Agi damage every time it unleashes a normal physical attack.
+ Sonic Wave (Acquired at level 4): Create a wave of supersonic sounds, reduce all enemies' stats by 30% and have a 35% chance to inflict Enervation on them.
Penthesilea
- Arcana: Empress.
- Level (After the battle with Magician): 21.
- Owner: Kirijou Mitsuru.
- Visual Appearance: Nothing changed from the original version, will not have this part in the next update of this Persona as well as Polydeuces.
- Attributes:
+ Resist: Ice.
+ Weak: Fire.
- Skills:
+ Winter's Blessing: Regenerate physical wounds, but reduce the agility of the one affected in a short amount of time.
+ Blue Guard: Create a wall which reduces both physical damage and Bufu damage.
+ Ice Lance: A typical Bufu with a bonus medium physical damage.
+ Frost Ground: Mabufula in disguise. If you are wondering then no, I'm not kidding.
+ Keen Eyes: Allow a simple analysis on enemies.
Polydeuces
- Arcana: Emperor.
- Level: 19.
- Owner: Sanada Akihiko.
- Attributes:
+ Resist: Elec.
+ Weak: Ice.
- Skills:
+ Interceptor: Deal medium Physical damage in a cone-shaped area.
+ Lightning Bolt: Basically Zionga, nothing special.
+ Electric Shock: A field-type Zio level spell with bonus Elec Break on those who Resist or Null to Zio, cannot inflict on those who Absorb or Repel to Zio. This spell can be dodged by moving outside the field.
+ Speed Booster: Greatly increase one's agility by 200%, but reduce both output physical damage and defense in a limited amount of time.
Orpheus
(Beep Beep) "ERROR! ERROR! NO INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ON THIS PERSONA!"
A/N: Alright, today the Author's ending Notes will be focusing on the Persona Compendium, which are listed as below.
- The Orpheus that appeared before Usagi is the male Orpheus version.
- The battle style is more like the Persona 4 Animation one, with all characters' Persona floating above them during the battle.
- There are many Personas that would be listed here, and some of them would have designs and skills that are far different from the original ones; so don't be confused or mad at me for these changes.
- About half of Personas' listed in my fic would have their Arcana switched and skills changed depends on what I seem fit for it.
- All basic light physical damage skills such as: Bash, Skewer, Cleave, etc... will not be put in the Persona's skills list. Only the medium physical damage and above would be put in.
- Any other notes will be mentioned in latter chapters.