11/3 Tuesday Full Moon
Well. It’s time. Today is the final day. It’s also a holiday.’’ Minako chuckled. ‘’Well, time to sleep in and not worry about it too much.
Dark Hour
“I found it. It’s currently at the south end of the Moonlight Bridge,” Fuuka informed the group. “The 12th and final Shadow.”
“Hmmm. This is it…” Ikutsuki said.
“And as we expected, there are two Persona-users nearby…Strega.”
“They know this is their last chance. Even though we were expecting this, we should still be careful,” Mitsuru said to the group.
“Those bastards…” Ken practically spitted out and said.
“Hmph. Saves us the trouble of looking for them,” Akihiko said.
“You’ve all done a fine job up to this point,” Mitsuru said. “This will be our last operation. Let’s all come back safely.”
“Alright then, let’s go all out!” Minako shouted.
“Hell yeah!” Junpei shouted.
Okay. I’m not breaking the team now.
Minako looked out over her favored teammates. Junpei was, as usual, bounding with energy, itching to get in the fray. Mitsuru was ever as calm and composed as she appeared to be. And Ken…he seemed to be calm but she could tell that his anger was simmering. She could see that now.
“Ken, Mitsuru, Junpei, commence the operation.”
The four were greeted by the two members of Strega. “You know the significance of today, do you not?” Takaya asked. “You claim to hunt the Shadows to prevent the disaster they bring, yet countless lives are lost each day without their intervention.”
Ken glared angrily at him for that one.
“The power we wield is no itself evil, you cannot deny that. So why don’t you admit it? You do not wish to eliminate the Dark Hour. You are merely deceiving yourseves.”
Well now…the benfit of this green blood time is that I have friends now, but it also brought inescapable personal pain to Ken, Akihiko, Mitsuru and Yukari. That pain needs to end.
“That is not true.”
“Look within yourselves and you will see,” Takaya said in response. “You are indeed foolish children. Erasing the Dark Hour is the same as erasing yourselves. Tch, is even that beyond your comprehension?”
Wait…is he speaking metaphorically or literally? Because that’s sorta…
“As I believed, our goals are irreconcilable. Jin.”
“Forget these maggots,” Jin said.
“Fate shall decide who will prevail. Come,” Takaya said.
The battle was on. While her teammates rushed to attack, Minako hung back. “Persona!” she shouted, summoning Titana who casted Marakukaja on the team. Ken quickly summoned Kala-Nemi who cruelly attacked Jin, while Mitsuru used Penthesila to freeze up the duo while Junpei followed up with a Blade of Fury from Hermes which broke the ice and injured the two.
“It appears you have more than just luck on your side…so be it!” Takaya shouted throwing a Bufudyne on Mitsuru…where it did little damage.
Mitsuru smirked at that. “It seems you aren’t really that observant.”
“Play time’s over kids. It’s time for the real deal!” Jin shouted, lobbing a grenade at Ken. Despite what everyone feared, it seemed Ken’s Persona blunted the blow, so that while it hurt, he could still stand and fight.
“Power of the heart huh?” Minako mummered. “Titania!” she shouted, summoning a huge gust of wind at Jin, which he effortlessly dodged. However, it left him open to another strike from Kala-Nemi and Mitsuru and Junpei performed another one-two-ice-slash combo on both Jin and Takaya.
“I never imagined that your power would rival ours! Astonishing. Perhaps I misjudged your strength.” Takaya said, performing a Mind Charge on himself.
Misjudged? We have you two nearly half-way defeated!
“Oh you are going to pay for that!” Jin shouted. He performed a Mudoon…on Ken and landed a successful hit on his weakness, with Ken surviving thanks to a spare Homunculi. Jin laughed quite loudly as he lobbed another grenade at Mitsuru, knocking her off her feet and threw another at Minako. “There’s no cure for stupidity.”
And Minako, just slightly enraged that her love was attacked, switched to her strongest physical Persona, Kaiwan and slashed at Jin. To her disappointment, her attack wasn’t as strong as Ken’s from Kala-Nemi. Okay stick to Titania and her magic.
Mitsuru performed one more Mabufula and Junpei, noticing Jin’s very low health, give him a sharp slash with his sword. “Son of a bitch!” Jin explained as he fell back on unconscious. But just as he was about to exclaim something in joy…
“Now you shall be judged!” Takaya summoned Hypnos, throwing a Medigo at the group.
“Ngh!” Minako looked out at the team. The damage was slight but Minako could hear Ken beginning to breathe heavily. “Throne!” she said, summoning the Persona to perform Mediaharan on the team, healing everyone up. As the warm, healing light enveloped everyone, she thought she spotted Junpei raising an eyebrow at Minako.
And now the focus was on Takaya. Ken seemed to use Kala-Nemi even more angerliy against him and even then, Takaya was weary. It was easy for Mitsuru to pull a Bufudyne against him and for Junpei to give him another slash of his blade but it wasn’t quite enough.
“So…this is the power of those who’s Personas awakened naturally.” He spinned his gun and aimed at Minako.
Oh shit! Even if her Persona would take the majority of the damage, she did not want to be hit by a bullet and swiftly dodged it. “Persona!” She summoned Titania and finally gave him a Garudyne that knocked him out of commission.
“Damn it,” Jin said. “Is their power THAT different from ours?”
“Different?” Mitsuru asked.
“For us, it’s not that simple. It has to be forced out. Didn’t your pal tell you?”
“So it was you who was giving Shinji those pills!” Akihiko said.
“You guys don’t have the slightest clue what will happen if the Dark Hour disappears, do you? It won’t matter for normal people, since they don’t remember anything anyway, but for us-”
“That’s enough,” Takaya said. “Now then…Ordinarily, we’d withdraw…but not tonight. This body, as ephemeral as it is…It is worthless without my power. Therefore, only one choice remains…I shall prove my existence here and now!” He readied his evoker but…
“Takaya!” Jin shouted, as he knocked he gun out of his hands.
“What are you doing?!”
“Don’t be so reckless!”
“Jin!?”
“…sorry. But those are your words, not mine.” Jin carried Takaya and climbed over the bridge railing. “You win. Looks like you’ll get your wish. Go do what you came for.”
“Wait!” Junpei shouted. “Don’t tell me you’re gonna jump!”
“I’d rather die than surrender to you! Take a good look! This is how we live!”
And then…they jumped into the blood-red ocean below. They…no way they could survive that…
“They jumped,” Yukari said.
“What the hell were they thinking!?” Junpei shouted.
“They chose their own fate. Don’t let it faze you,” Akihiko said.
“The operation has only begun,” Mitsuru said. “Our true adversary is waiting. Focus on that, alright?”
“Right. Let’s go,” Minako said.
But…what was that going to be about losing ourselves if we defeat the Dark Hour. It sounded like…
A giagantic Shadow hanging in from what looked to be a floating chandelier flew in. “This is it,” Fuuka said. “I’ll do everything in my power to help you. Just promise me that you’ll be careful!”
The group ran in, noticing some sort of statues underneath the Shadow when they came close. “I think that floating thing is your target but it’s out of your attack range. Give me a minute. I’ll see what I can find out,” Fuuka said to the group.
“Alright then! Fuuka please analyze those statues!” Minako once again used Titania to Marakukaja the group with a better defense while Ken attacked the right statue with a Cruel Attack and Mitsuru prepping herself up with a Mind Charge. Fuuka reported in that the right statue nullified electric attacks as Junpei slashed the statue out.
The Hanged Man Shadow then summoned a Maya shadow to the field as the left Statue used Agialo and the middle one used Bufula on Misuru and missed. "For some reason those statues feel similar to the Shadow. They must be related somehow,” Fuuka reported in. Minako gave it a gust of Garudyne and instantly took it out.
Really need to stick on Titania. Gonna be a shame when I have to fuse her away.
Ken used Kala-Nemi’s Cruel Attack to take out the middle statue while Mitsuru finished it off with a flourish from her rapier, causing the gigantic hanging Shadow to fall down and be knocked down. However, that Maya was still there. Junpei called on Hermes with a Blade of Fury, hitting the Maya enough that it was defeated. The Shadow responded by using God Hand on Mitsuru. The team now pulled all their attacks on the Shadow, Fuuka reporting in that it nullifies Light and Dark skills.
As to be expected.
Right after their volley of attacks, the Shadow summoned some more Statues, and once more, the team had to take them out. Fuuka managed to tell info on the middle one, which nullifies ice moves. The team took out the left one and right ones while the Shadow summoned another Maya.
Minako used Marukaja again while Mitsuru and Ken attacked the final statue, causing the Hanged Man to fall down. Fuuka reported that the Devious Maya nullified Ice, just before another Blade of Fury took it out along with damaging the Hanged Man, who quickly summoned another set of statues.
Okay this is getting annoying. Minako Garudyne’d one of the statues and took it out while Ken and Mitsuru teamed up on another and Junpei finished of another. “Here’s our chance! Let’s get ‘em!”
“All-out-attack everyone!”
“Get back here you son of a-!”
The team layed into the lone Hanged Man, in return, he layed into Junpei with a God Hand. Minako, noticing Junpei’s damage and Ken’s constant Cruel Attacks were beginning to tire them out, performed a Mediaharan by Throne. Refreshed, the team attacked the Hanged Man while he summoned a Maya.
At least it isn’t a statue. Minako and Ken focused their attacks on it, leaving Mitsuru and Junpei the Hanged Man who just summoned another. Minako refreshed the Marukukaja, leaving Ken and Mitsuru the Maya and Junpei botching an attack on the Shadow, who finally summoned a row of statues. Minako Magurala’d the group leaving each of her teammates one to take out and forcing the Shadow to face another all-out-attack.
As if mad from these attacks the Hanged Man performed Akasha Arts on the team. His madness must have increased, to summon another Maya after a volley of attacks. The team just kept pressing, easily defeating the Maya. The Shadow attacked Minako with a God Hand who decided in turn to heal everyone up to full. This Shadow had no hope at all, but who knows if it had hope in the first place. It summoned Statues which fell quickly and an all-out-attack finished the monstrosity.
That was…annoying but hey, we are done!
“…is it over?” Junpei asked.
“Operation completed. Or shall I say, ‘Mission complete,’” Aigis said.
“Yes…it’s finally over…” Mitsuru said.
“Minako-san, I believe a celebration is in order. What will be our victory cheer?”
“Hip hip hooray!”
“1-2-3 Hip hip hooray!”
“Hip…hip hooray?” Yukari said uncertainly.
“Hip hip hooray!” Junpei shouted.
“Hip hip hooray!” Fuuka said cheerfully.
“So, um, Senpai, you’re gonna throw us a pary tomorrow, right?” Junpei asked.
Mitsuru sighed. “You don’t waste any time do you? Well, I suppose I could arrange for it.”
“Ooh! In that case, how ‘bout sushi!?”
“Sushi, huh…It’s been awhile…” Akihiko said. “Well, I got dibs on the halibut and sea urchin!”
“Oh, then I call the fatty tuna,” Yukari responded.
“Um, we’re divvying it up already? In that case, save me the salmon roe,” Fuuka said.
“Hey, wait a minute, you can’t do that!” Junpei exclaimed.
“The sweet shrimp’s mine!” Minako shouted out.
“What, you too?” Junpei asked.
“I reserve the shrimp, squid, scallops and sea eel,” Aigis said
“Hey! That’s not fair! You can’t even eat!” Junpei exclaimed.
“You should all be ashamed of yourselves, fighting over sushi,” Ken said. Koromaru barked. “Senpai, please order tamago for me. They say you can tell a chef’s skill by how he prepares his eggs.”
“Um, how old are you again?” Yukari asked.
Oh no. It’s totally because he likes eggs. I know this for a fact!
“Okay, okay. I’ll have the very best delivered tomorrow,” Mitsuru said.
“For real!? Aww man, it’s great to be alive!” Junpei said.
“Don’t be too excited Junpei. You’re getting the leftovers,” Yukari said.
“What!? But it was my idea in the first place!”
Everyone had to give a little laugh at that.
“I guess it’s time to say goodbye to the Dark Hour,” Mitsuru said. “Even though it seemed like a curse, for some reason I’m reluctant to let it go.”
“Yeah…” Akihiko agreed.
“We really did it, didn’t we?” Yukari said.
“Yes…we saved the world, even if no one knows it.”
“Yeah.”
It’s…finally over.
Minako: Level 53
Persona
Dominion - Justice - Level 45
Titania – Lovers – Level 52
Nebiros – Hermit – Level 55
Quetzalcoatl – Sun – Level 46
Kaiwan – Star – Level 52
Koumokuten – Chariot – Level 43
Taraka – Hermit – Level 38
Throne – Justice – Level 55
Ubelluris – Hanged – Level 52
Social Links
Fool Rank 6
Magician MAX
Priestess Rank 9
Emperor Rank 7
Hiero. MAX
Lovers Rank 7
Chariot Rank 7
Justice Rank 8
Hermit MAX
Strength Rank 6
Hanged Rank MAX
Death Rank 8
Temper. Rank 7
Star Rank 6
Moon MAX
Sun Rank 6
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